Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
One of the most particularly modern words is the word ENFORCE; we think it’s the most natural, most obvious concept, and yet at best it means two or three completely contradictory things.
he/him | db programmer | piano, accordion, &c | bi, monogamous, married | medievalist: Ghazali; Dante; Farabi | now leading study group in: Dante’s Purgatorio “The function of discourse is coalition setting, not electioneering.” - @mayorseidel.bsky.social
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view profile on Bluesky Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
One of the most particularly modern words is the word ENFORCE; we think it’s the most natural, most obvious concept, and yet at best it means two or three completely contradictory things.
Lee Hurley (@hleehurley.com) reposted reply parent
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8FD...
Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) (@nora.zone) reposted reply parent
i am almost 40 and i literally do not have any point in my life where the right wing has not been doing moral panics about imaginary child abuse while institutionally working to enable real abuse of real children. if it's not the satanic panic it's fucking pronouns.
Metroplex (@metroplex.bsky.social) reposted
Fred Hampton is one of my major political role models. He was assassinated by the Chicago PD (with the go-ahead from Hoover's FBI being an open secret), because he was too successful in both helping Black America and getting people to see the real enemy.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
We must repeal the Homeland Security Act and the Patriot Act. Getting rid of these laws and their awful legacy - DHS, ICE, etc - is the only way forward.
Claire Willett (@clairewillett.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
if we pick candidates with strong policies in defense of trans people who ALSO have great policies in support of whatever your thing is - housing, the economy, immigration, defense spending, healthcare (all of which affect trans people!) - then there’s no reason for trans rights to cost them voters!
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
well, pools lie
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
why would anybody listen to a pool anyway? if I wanted to hear a tiny ocean I’d peruse my shell collection
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
um, Im pretty sure it’s actually spelled “guy fucks”
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
a quote skeet that adds a photo? what is this, tumblr?
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
man, hockey sure is different now than it was when I was a kid
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
this is fucking awesome
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
uh, critically reevaluating his work includes critically reevaluating that weird thing where he wore a huge nose and a beard and pretended to be Jewish as a joke
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social)
Immigration laws are a violation of every precept of human decency and counter to every principle of the US Constitution. It is the duty of every good person to violation immigration laws, to help others violate immigration laws, and ensure that immigration laws are impossible to enforce.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
He won’t admit it on TV because there’s no money whatsoever in being a moderate Republican pundit. You just get called a RINO and told to shut up. Whereas, if you’re a right-leaning Dem - even a relatively fascist Dem - people will throw money at you all damned day long
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
My mother from Long Island heard me mention Zohran Mamdani and gasped: “the SOCIALIST?!” I had to gently remind her: “mom, LaGuardia was a socialist. This isn’t some weird new thing.”
Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) (@nora.zone) reposted
why can't the democrat messaging on trans people be "no, we are not going to force children to undergo genital inspections in order to play sports"
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
Looks like it’s fixed - thanks so much!
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
This has always been Biden’s first impulse - and while he quickly had to learn that the situation is nuanced, helping run the congressional reaction when Reagan decided to stand against Begin’s incursion in Lebanon, Biden was never as stern as Reagan when dealing with Israel, unfortunately.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
In 1982, Israeli PM Menachem Begin met a younger Senator Joe Biden. Biden expressed enthusiastic support, saying Israel should be willing to accept the deaths of women and children to secure peace. Even Begin, a former terrorist, was horrified, and told Biden: “no, this would be unacceptable.”
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
Come on - anyone conversant with Palestine/Israel knows that “supporting a two-state solution” is both common and relatively meaningless now. For one, it would require ethnic cleansing in the form of displacement of millions. For another, Israel has been working to make it impossible for decades.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
Hey - sorry for the drive-by query, but: how do I appeal? I’ve liked your lists for a long time but I just noticed on ClearSky that I’m on your “MAGA” list. I’m not sure why, since these things have never applied to me and I’ve always been anti-MAGA. Is there a way to get taken off this list?
timothy faust (@tbone.malware-virus.biz) reposted
Can't afford to care for your kids; can't afford to care for your parents; can't afford to care for yourself—America makes it hard to care for each other, yet we have unlimited opportunity to be selfish or cruel. Demand a system with less friction and bullshit—it's "unrealistic" or "impractical."
Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) reposted
DEVELOPING: Advocates are seeking a court order to block the Trump administration’s effort to deport hundreds of unaccompanied minor children to Guatemala. Judge abruptly moved 3 pm hearing up to 12:30 after she was notified that some children “are in the process of being removed" today.
Angie Rasmussen (@angierasmussen.bsky.social) reposted
RFK Jr receiving the coveted Stephen Miller endorsement for scientific credibility is like an arsonist being praised by a pyromaniac for his firefighting skills
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
nah, I’d rather find god. he owes me some money
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
“I think that flinging insults at interlocutors is a different kind of violation than positing ethnic genetic differences” - lol, this is always fun. the people whose ethnicities are posited as “different” will obviously be personally insulted!
Sarah Lyons (@citymystic.bsky.social) reposted
Wrote about the feeling of living at a literal fever pitch for the last decade, and how every day things somehow get worse but stay the same. houseofmirrors.substack.com/p/we-live-in...
Zach Rabiroff (@zachrabiroff.com) reposted
Pre-Trump Republicans were a quintessentially conservative party, in the sense that its voters understood themselves to be the beneficiaries of the system they were preserving. But in 2008, Republicans suddenly decided they were outsiders in their own country, and I'll give you one guess why.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
hot take: phlogiston
bree 🇨🇦 (@goose.ski) reposted
a common nazi position on the holocaust, when they’re not busily trying to deny it outright, is roughly that it was the necessary sacrifice of some fraction of the population of europe — an insignificant number to them, of course — in order to save the long-suffering germans they’d been holding back
Null convention (@nullconvention.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
nobody left behind. no support for trans people? no support from trans people. if we're not important enough to support then maybe you can afford to lose us. if not, fight for the alternative. the math is clear.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
(yeah I’m still annoyed about that ridiculous viral post he made about Alejandra Caraballo)
Folk-Punk Demon Hunters (@gonebabygone.bsky.social) reposted
I think it’s cool that we made a machine that gives entire towns asthma so it can turn your uncle into the dad from Frailty
mtsw (@mtsw.bsky.social) reposted
one of the most important technological revolutions in history and it has nothing to do with AI. Trump and his petrostate paymasters want to stop it but at best they'll succeed at costing Americans billions by leaving us slower to adopt it.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social)
Yesterday I saw one of those little plastic tank-like GrubHub drones. I got out of my car and pushed it over onto its side so it was stuck. An alarm sounded, but quickly stopped. I got back in my car and drove away. If you see a robot moving around in the human world, you should make it stop.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
I actually don’t know if you’re really agreeing with Will Stancil here. It seems more likely that when he says libs are “perceived as engaging in elaborate speech rituals,” what he’s annoyed about isn’t the rituals; it’s the perception. He builds his following on viral lies, so that makes sense.
Jason Garcia (@jasongarcia.bsky.social) reposted
The Free State of Florida is now trying to ban *sidewalk chalking*
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
oh this is that slate star codex guy? wow
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
John Ganz never misses
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
I have a theory, probably better-developed than that paper, that the reason these people are so obsessed with that particular word is because the last four letters of the word form another word that they really like
Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
you’re trying to figure out if the president is alive i’m trying to figure out where Lara Trump put Charlamagne we are not the same
Jonathan Cohn (@jonathancohn.bsky.social) reposted
"His mother told NBC4 that the agent told her son they had confused him with someone else, but to “look at the bright side: you’re gonna have an exciting story to tell your friends when you go back to school”." WTF www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) (@nora.zone) reposted
(takes huge bong rip) so i think i figured out how to solve the colorado river watershed tech.yahoo.com/ai/articles/...
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
suspiciously akin to mountain goats lyrics
Patrick De Klotz (@patdeklotz.bsky.social) reposted
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
Wrong. That’s not how data works. Harris voters are the only group of people out of those groups - but there are many, many other groupings.
Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24.bsky.social) reposted
It is less a mass deportation regime as it is a mass kidnapping and indefinite detention regime
Rory Blank (on vacation) (@roryblank.bsky.social) reposted
Seeing the Robbie Williams cgi monkey movie is probably in the top 10 film going experiences I've had in my life
Kath Barbadoro (@kathbarbadoro.bsky.social) reposted
Remember how if a kid choked on a little plastic toy they used to stop selling the toy
beccadagoo (@silly.bsky.social) reposted
glad that turkey is finally standing up to israel over– oh. i guess i'll take it
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
I remember these. so good
Cassie Selin (@echidnite.bsky.social) reposted
the dramatic reading is Good
LOWρUFO 🐁🇵🇦🇬🇱🇨🇦🇲🇽 (@lowrhoufo.bsky.social) reposted
Pay attention to which voices are telling you to ignore this
eyewitness intro pan flute (@yuzupool.bsky.social) reposted
"these posts are useless hes probably not really dead"
Mr Mac for CA-10 (@jessemackinnon.com) reposted reply parent
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
ah geez
Prison Journalism Project (@prisonjournalism.bsky.social) reposted
“What you have accomplished here flies in the face of all the assumptions and stereotypes that have been heaped upon you,” Gov. Pritzker said. "To that I say: Don’t ever stop defying those expectations."
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
psyched to see you guys in Albuquerque!
Agriculture (@agriculturemusic.bsky.social) reposted
Agriculture Fall Tour 2025 We’re touring in support of our upcoming album The Spiritual Sound (out 10/3). With: World Peace, Drough, Rhododendron Supporting @borisheavyrocks.bsky.social 10/27–11/2
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
because sitting around passively respecting facts is pointless and I’m not going to waste my time doing that
Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) reposted
New, from me: The CDC shitshow is a microcosm of the mismanagement of the Trump era. It also demonstrates some extraordinary courage among principled public servants, who were willing to lose their jobs to draw attention to damage being done to public health donmoynihan.substack.com/p/your-gover...
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
hot take: it would be better if it was fascists dying first, and it would be better if we were the ones actually doing it, instead of sitting on the internet fantasizing about who we’d be okay with if they maybe potentially happened to die, like absolute losers
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
okay, let’s do it. our legislative goal is “stop bailouts for rural services crushed by cuts.” that seems like a clear goal, and may even be achievable. where should we start?
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
you can say a lot of things about John Brown, but he would never have had this conversation we’re having here
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
Believe me: I grew up in a rural area! Those people sucked! I might even be cool with many of them just dying! That doesn’t mean I’m fool enough to make a big puffed-up show of declaring it repeatedly and ponderously. If I didn’t know better I’d say this whole thing was started by a fed.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
I’m so sick of this idiotic conversation. Are we ACTUALLY proposing this? Are we gonna spend years building a coalition to ban funding for rural hospitals? If not, be honest: we’re just measuring dicks here. “I don’t care if rural people die!” Congrats. I do not give a shit, and it means nothing.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
no thanks I’m vegetarian
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
pasting this article onto the last freestanding wall in the smoldering ruins of a firebombed data center
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social)
One thing I find myself thinking a lot now, as a rapidly aging 46-year-old man with anxieties and fears for the future: An AI chatbot could very easily kill me at 80, or 70, or even 60. I’m going to have to have a plan - with my partner - to prevent myself from using these when I’m old and lonely.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
absolutely not
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
also - well. we’re just gonna have one of these stories every day from now on, huh? maybe more. but probably never less. just more stories like this, every day, for the rest of our lives
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social)
AI chatbots aren’t like other tech. AI chatbots are deceptive; their allure is that they’re a simulacrum. Often, the more you use them, the LESS you understand them - because you’re engaging the simulacrum as the thing it imitates. Us tech folks actually might be MOST vulnerable to these dangers.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
What about the California gerrymander? Do you think THAT is Nazi stuff? It’s definitely undemocratic. And I support it anyway, because I think it’s the right thing right now. But I’m guessing you think that’s evil, since it’s what Republicans do. Is that it?
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
You declared that bribing youtubers is Nazi stuff. That’s not self-evident, even if you think it is. And I think I have a fair amount of ideological and moral clarity! Putting people in camps? Because they’re immigrants? Largely based on ethnicity? This is Nazi stuff. Bribing influencers? Nah.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
We can agree on that, thankfully.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
I, personally, have called Newsom and Buttigieg unfit because they’re bad at politics, and I don’t want Dems to lose. I’m eminently concerned with and focused on the 2026 midterms; but 2028 is a big deal; and it’s not to early to think about it, since Newsom and Buttigieg already are.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
Because that’s the subject of this entire thread, as you yourself pointed out below. It’s the reason people are objecting to Gavin Newsom. None of us are against him attacking Trump - why would we be? We’re against his candidacy, which he’s already actively working on. bsky.app/profile/nthe...
Lucy A. Snyder (@lucyasnyder.bsky.social) reposted
Sex work is 1000% more honorable and socially beneficial than working as an ICE agent.
Travis (@someforeignfield.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Imo the criticism is incredibly necessary. My career was annihilated by Trump but if the Dems win, build USAID again, and put Samantha Power et al back in charge, I will NOT go back to work there and same for many of my former coworkers. Those people were criminals, just less flamboyant ones.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
Sigh. Okay, I’ll bite: what is “the throughline” between youtubers getting kickbacks and shoving brown people in camps? What is it about bribing influencers that inevitably leads to ethnic cleansing? Actual Nazis also fight. Are you therefore against fighting?
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
This article isn’t actually the main reason why people hate Taylor Lorenz - you know that, right? As to the substance: actual Nazis do this stuff all the time. None of it is illegal as far as I can tell. People are dying in concentration camps. It’s hard to care about youtubers getting kickbacks.
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
okay. wow. that’s awesome
timothy faust (@tbone.malware-virus.biz) reposted
melt banana playing at some guy's birthday party in a basement in Tokyo four days before Covid lockdowns
Tahir Duckett (@tahir.bsky.social) reposted
In a surprise to no one, the crackdown is coming with routine civil rights violations. www.npr.org/2025/08/26/g...
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
it’s almost like bribing creators was only ever “Actual Nazi Behavior” when the creators are being paid to be Actual Nazis, and not when they’re being paid to just be like Democrats or whatever
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
wow - this is awesome! have fun!
madamjujujive (@madamjujujive.bsky.social) reposted
Yay Norway! We have a day and a half in Oslo before heading north. Tiring travels to get here but seems well worth it so far.
Caræsten 🇵🇸 (@cara.city) reposted
HIRE MY FRIEND!
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
ugh. free public transit for everybody except that person
Jeff Johnston (@koeselitz.bsky.social) reply parent
We’re saying that the ignorance of Buttigieg and Newsom makes them unfit as candidates. Yes, it’s early to talk 2028, but understand our viewpoint: we’re constantly told that ANY criticism of a candidate in an election year is an unforgivable betrayal. If we can’t criticize candidates now - when?