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Brian Hester

@ibehester.bsky.social

🌟 Medieval history (really any history), Politics (an unapologetic shitlib), languages (living and dead), Georgia Football, and Good Beer. Yale/Hopper, Painter and girldad. Educational consultant for folks trying to get into college.

created November 21, 2023

447 followers 2,355 following 827 posts

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Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Maybe try being less weird and misogynist first?

3/9/2025, 12:26:14 AM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

Zero dimensional chess from TACO

2/9/2025, 5:59:59 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Joni Askola (@joniaskola.bsky.social) reposted

1/7 The Trump admin’s plan to lure russia away from china by gifting Ukraine to russia is not just failing—it’s backfiring spectacularly. Instead of isolating china, it’s fueling a deeper russia-china-india axis. This thread breaks down the strategic disaster 👇

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1/9/2025, 1:15:53 PM | 144 51 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

😈

2/9/2025, 12:59:19 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Have they heard of ChatGPT? With very little tuning, it can produce a decent simulacrum of a TACO rant.

1/9/2025, 6:08:04 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

You would think they would’ve made a cursory effort to bronze him up. Also, no effort to make his tweets sound authentic. I get that these people aren’t too bright, but damn

1/9/2025, 6:03:57 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

I know this isn’t your point, but this was obviously not written by Trump

1/9/2025, 3:30:00 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Showing people a photo of how to wreck their knees in an article about saving their knees is so on brand for the NYT.

1/9/2025, 3:15:56 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

30/8/2025, 6:05:32 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

So where are you posting politics?

30/8/2025, 12:51:26 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

It helps gentility that Harris voters aren't fascist or fascist tolerant and aren't in a constant state of pique over some culture war shit.

29/8/2025, 11:12:08 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

It has to do with putting money in Trump's pocket, somehow

27/8/2025, 1:19:51 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

I get you, but its nearly impossible to anoint a 2028 nominee in the middle of a crisis. Too many variables: Candidates rise/fall, the rules themselves may shift. First priority is making sure there’s still a functioning democracy to run in.

25/8/2025, 11:21:14 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Way too soon. Save Democracy. Worry about this shit later.

25/8/2025, 10:31:20 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Is all the Democratic leadership using the same poll-driven terminology now? "Unpopular?" He is dismantling the Democracy and is a de facto dictator! You guys have got to do better.

25/8/2025, 3:20:00 PM | 9 1 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

Say it ain't so Snoop!

25/8/2025, 2:16:24 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Politics as tent revival, performance, affiliation, enlightenment, and entertainment. Can I get a huzzah!

25/8/2025, 2:00:42 AM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

The Romans had a handy way of dealing with his type: the “damnatio memorae.” His name literally needs to be erased when he expires.

24/8/2025, 1:11:03 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

That’s a stupid comp.

23/8/2025, 11:24:57 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Looks like the neighborhood pool

23/8/2025, 10:57:26 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

If we get a chance, Conor. I don’t think it’s alarmist anymore to think we may not.

23/8/2025, 1:40:32 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Your show should be renamed Press Submission

22/8/2025, 7:50:35 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

You are correct

22/8/2025, 5:42:35 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

We can only hope the Calvinball Court is how this travesty is remembered.

22/8/2025, 5:10:15 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

That will be a beautiful day

22/8/2025, 5:07:35 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

But but but egg prices” excuse doesn’t even work anymore

22/8/2025, 4:56:08 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Powell doesn't want the FBI to raid his house next

22/8/2025, 2:48:31 PM | 4 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

doesn't want the FBI to raid him next

22/8/2025, 2:46:05 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

what a fucking horrible human being

21/8/2025, 8:52:48 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

You are right. I care about as much as I care for last night’s turd circling the bowl after a flush.

21/8/2025, 3:47:36 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Maybe name the next ones should be named Beelzebub and Cthulhu.

21/8/2025, 12:14:09 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

And the media won’t note the obvious. Infuriating.

21/8/2025, 12:08:49 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

Hard to argue with this piece. Changing the clause "vesting" executive power in the President must be changed. We don't need a "quasi-monarch" who by his or her own whim enforces the laws and regulation passed by Congress.

21/8/2025, 11:51:07 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

no one cares who you vote for whoever you are

21/8/2025, 3:41:15 AM | 5 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

When? Looks amazing!

20/8/2025, 5:32:57 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

In the early Nazi years, Hitler didn’t need show trials or mass executions yet: he weaponized prosecutors and judges. Opposition papers, unionists, professors got dragged into court on flimsy charges like “malicious gossip” or “slandering the state," using fines, detentions, "legal" harassment.

20/8/2025, 5:27:52 PM | 3 1 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

That is fantastic, Jamelle. You locate a real blind spot for Dems: just because something is lurid, inept, and transparently sensational doesn't mean it doesn't move the country towards some kind of shambolic principate.

20/8/2025, 5:20:35 PM | 9 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Put a statue of him in front of the effing gold dome downtown

20/8/2025, 5:14:16 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

You were right, but don’t get owned by their nihilism: ridicule, parody are all in order too!

19/8/2025, 4:48:07 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

More please!

19/8/2025, 4:45:52 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Holly Ober (@sciwri.bsky.social) reposted

UCLA Fields Medalist Terence Tao: "This is not a routine policy shift—it is a deliberate dismantling of the institutions, funding, and freedoms that have sustained American science for generations." newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar... đŸ§Ș

18/8/2025, 7:03:30 PM | 42 25 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Those looked like body spasms

18/8/2025, 11:35:54 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

At this rate, TACO will need way more seats than he can squeeze out of Texas!

18/8/2025, 12:26:58 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

It was a debacle--the magnitude of which we are beginning to fully grasp

18/8/2025, 11:50:17 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

Fascinating!

16/8/2025, 11:38:11 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

TIRED (SAD)!

16/8/2025, 11:36:22 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

A really uncool upper middle class white person?

16/8/2025, 12:43:27 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Barely made it up those stairs

16/8/2025, 12:20:05 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

A genius

16/8/2025, 12:18:03 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Trump looked like an addled lickspittle. It’s gonna take a lot edits and actual CGI to make that look like good propaganda for him.

16/8/2025, 12:14:19 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

You can care about multiple things or one thing at a time, absolutely.

15/8/2025, 2:47:11 AM | 5 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

It’s the incumbent party’s fault. If the Democrats can’t hit that out of the park, then god help us. If Harris were POTUS there would be no GOP handwringing in that regard.

14/8/2025, 10:54:52 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

He hurt your feels? Cause you don’t make much sense.

14/8/2025, 10:43:05 PM | 6 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

He has his own personal mRNA lab while we peasants down here have to tough it out or die.

14/8/2025, 5:16:37 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Altman and his ilk like to use "vision" to obscure "lack of execution."

14/8/2025, 1:07:59 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

So these motherfuckers can’t even blame it on “I was drunk.”

13/8/2025, 4:12:18 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Also: you can bet the vast team of medical professionals working on Bezos ensure he is up to date on every shot known to man.

13/8/2025, 11:55:59 AM | 4 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

That’s not even accurate. I think most people are grateful for the vaccines and took them gladly. It’s really a vocal MAGA/MAHA minority that’s driving the mRNA skepticism.

13/8/2025, 11:54:41 AM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Almost a second Nobel

11/8/2025, 11:27:45 AM | 9 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

This is an amazing resource

10/8/2025, 8:00:47 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Only surprised we haven’t seen more targeting of medical professionals.

10/8/2025, 12:56:35 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

100%

9/8/2025, 1:21:38 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Assuming you know it is a poison. That takes some basic knowledge and a willingness to undertake a little due diligence: this is exactly the kind of personal agency chat boxes undermine.

9/8/2025, 12:41:50 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Definitely huge to hold a sleeping infant!

8/8/2025, 10:02:40 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Can 25 years periods suck for "normal" people. Absolutely. Let's consult history.

6/8/2025, 7:43:59 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

For how long? Do we need to retrofit everything for a potentially evanescent format?

6/8/2025, 6:47:46 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Yup. Horrible.

6/8/2025, 12:04:47 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

I’ve got young kids too and honestly have no idea how to guide them. I used to teach and now work in elite college admissions, and still feel lost. The only thing I’m sure of: they’ll need killer core skills plus real fluency in how they present themselves online and off.

3/8/2025, 8:36:20 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Building one too at Cumming/Coal Mountain too off exit 18 on 400.

2/8/2025, 6:30:17 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Yeah that’s the reason


2/8/2025, 1:29:22 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

I continue to wonder why these fools agree to an interview with Chotiner, who will bring the receipts.

30/7/2025, 8:56:02 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Another poll from the Economist paints a very different picture concerning party preference on issues. This suggest that the Democrats need to keep their powder dry but be looking carefully at the leadership strategy, which seems to be entirely too passive. www.economist.com/interactive/...

26/7/2025, 7:32:26 PM | 2 1 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Same here in Forsyth County, and I’m loving it for my kids and everyone else.

23/7/2025, 8:54:59 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

You’re treating Trump-era tariffs like a neutral revenue stream, but they’re regressive, inflationary, and distort trade. Framing Dem choices as “keep tariffs or raise taxes” just bakes in bad policy. We should be debating better options—not GOP leftovers.

23/7/2025, 4:04:51 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

He should definitely not be president

20/7/2025, 7:18:59 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

His whataboutism argument regarding the George Floyd protests is rambling—and to the extent it makes any sense at all, it amounts to a textbook tu quoque fallacy

17/7/2025, 2:55:53 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Has she ever heard that probable cause cannot be established by mere association?

14/7/2025, 11:12:57 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Why surprising? Cuaron is one of the best directors working.

14/7/2025, 4:58:22 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Cf, Kim K2, DeepSeek culture emerging in China. How can Meta justify its approach?

14/7/2025, 4:06:09 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

This isn’t controversial, but I frequenty hear people post versions of Noem’s confused claim on the internets.

10/7/2025, 2:30:26 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Needs to read Stephen King On Writing or Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses by MT

9/7/2025, 2:11:10 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

It’s a very good score, actually. It was average for people applying to Columbia (a high bar), and anybody who knows anything about admissions to Ivy League schools knows that can get you rejected.

8/7/2025, 5:53:34 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

It’s a sharp observation

6/7/2025, 10:41:22 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

This was clearly not written by him. There are some nods to his style—that’s it.

6/7/2025, 10:38:43 PM | 6 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Did you ever consider doing anything from the Silmarillion?

5/7/2025, 10:58:21 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

I’m afraid we will be seeing too many of these types of stories going forward.

5/7/2025, 7:25:37 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

Acrylic on paper. Mirielle (left) and Johanna (right). Kids’ art is the best.

Two abstract acrylic paintings on paper, each divided into multiple squares by painter’s tape. The first, by Johanna (age 3), features bold, spontaneous strokes and vibrant colors in a chaotic, joyful composition. The second, by Mirielle (age 6), shows more controlled patterns, varied textures, and playful experiments with rhythm and repetition image image image
5/7/2025, 7:02:23 PM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

This is insane footage

5/7/2025, 6:32:19 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

Apposite historical perspective from Yale’s great historian of the American Revolution Joanne Freeman.

4/7/2025, 9:22:08 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Looks great and timely!

3/7/2025, 10:52:13 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Ted Underwood (@tedunderwood.me) reposted

This post tries to explain why I find language models exciting. But it doesn't try to persuade skeptics that they should agree. It's aimed more at people already working with AI, and its goal is to sharpen our collective sense of what the upside potential might be. #MLSky đŸ€– đŸ§Ș

2/7/2025, 2:48:58 PM | 152 45 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

One of my favorite audio books ever

28/6/2025, 9:39:35 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Even the stalest wonderbread centrists are fed up with the centrists.

28/6/2025, 1:59:12 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

Everybody needs one

28/6/2025, 1:31:58 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Peoples actually do that?

28/6/2025, 1:30:56 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

J.M. Coetzee too

25/6/2025, 7:38:00 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

😆

image
24/6/2025, 12:21:30 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Keep your powder dry about the “successful” part

22/6/2025, 12:23:52 AM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social)

This: “That’s why critical thinking education isn’t optional, it’s foundational. If verification now happens at the level of the individual, then the individual needs the tools institutions once provided, rigour, scepticism, and the ability to challenge their own assumptions.”

21/6/2025, 3:24:36 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Brian Hester (@ibehester.bsky.social) reply parent

Come on. Two weeks means it won’t happen. It’s not a clarion call for creativity.

21/6/2025, 1:32:56 PM | 6 0 | View on Bluesky | view