Drop an old person you’re going to turn into in the future
Politics, intl relations, psychology, etc. Making sense of a world that doesn’t Smith College BA, MSW | LSE Patreon: patreon.com/leahmcelrath
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Drop an old person you’re going to turn into in the future
Yeah, I think I recall that it is also ADHD related, which very much applies.
I used to know the answer to this and think it has something to do with messed up cortisol levels, iirc (less in the morning and more at night, instead of the other way around, leading to reduced brain inflammation late at night). Whatever the case, it’s very problematic.
Why in the hell does my brain finally start halfway working at 10 fucking PM every night?
2pm EST, baby.
I wouldn’t have thought so, but there’s so much circumstantial evidence pointing in that direction that I have to consider the possibility.
He’s either announcing a health-related resignation or that he’s militarily occupying Chicago. Kind of 50/50 at this point, lol.
I no longer believe in Blueskyism, but I continue to observe the memetic rituals to keep the traditions and culture alive for the internet children.
⚠️ Trump to make unspecified announcement from Oval Office tomorrow
Perhaps my life went awry because I forgot to say “rabbit” first thing on the first day of each month.
NEW: Mercenary spyware is coming to the US. ICE just quietly unsuspended their contract with spyware maker #Paragon. Remember them? Caught earlier this year being used to hack Italian journalists. This is bad, let's talk about how we got here 1/ jackpoulson.substack.com/p/exclusive-...
The White House just posted a video on its YouTube channel: “President Trump’s 11 Life Lessons” youtu.be/SXGIN7Er9Y0?... (I think he’s alive, but this has a strange eulogy-like feel given the timing and context.)
I can’t stress how dead DC is right now. Walking down U Street before and after a movie on Labor Day weekend, and it’s about as close to a ghost town as it was during COVID.
Some insiders have theorized that the White House installed Fugate to oversee a pivot away from traditional counterterrorism and to steer resources toward MAGA-friendly sheriffs and border security projects before eventually shuttering operations. (Published June)
Class act here:
Yeah, that’s kind of where I’m leaning at this point.
The White House just posted a video on its YouTube channel: “President Trump’s 11 Life Lessons” youtu.be/SXGIN7Er9Y0?... (I think he’s alive, but this has a strange eulogy-like feel given the timing and context.)
A Labor Day reminder: today there isn't a single city, metro area, or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment. Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Yes, he’s also the senior-most Jewish representative, I believe.
Some notable pull quotes: “Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party…” “I am not terribly optimistic…this is the most severe threat we’ve had to our system of government since the Civil War…” “I can’t defend what Israel is doing.” 🎁🔗
⚠️ Per the NYT: Rep. Jerry Nadler will NOT be running for re-election.
Ever since we gave him the vaccine my dog has been non-verbal
The White House needs to be pressured and start answering questions and providing information. This is the latest photo that’s been released (he’s in his limo—I cropped it):
A 76% point gap between how satisfied Republicans are with the country versus how satisfied Democrats are. The largest partisan gap ever. news.gallup.com/poll/694370/...
GDI. That explains a lot.
Need.
Perhaps my life went awry because I forgot to say “rabbit” first thing on the first day of each month.
Perhaps even better. More versatile.
I’m waiting until I find one that can fire bullets.
Many people seem concerned that Trump may be dying. They may be overlooking an even worse outcome.
Proof of life, lol.
⚠️ International Association of Genocide Scholars: "Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide” “Israel's policies and actions in Gaza constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity” genocidescholars.org/wp-content/u...
On Labor Day, it’s worth remembering the people in prisons across the United States who are forced to engage in what amounts to slave labor. www.epi.org/publication/...
Russia jammed the GPS on the top EU leader’s plane. The pilots navigated using paper maps to land the plane. www.cnn.com/2025/09/01/w...
Meanwhile… 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/w...
Bug report: system calendar says it is September but 2025 clearly started like 3-4 weeks ago
Trump has no public events scheduled today.
He might be trying to do that, but he’s doing it poorly and in a way that strengthens rather than challenges the false framing.
Trying to placate extremists like Tommy Robinson or Nigel Farage with this kind of rhetoric just doesn’t work. Starmer is conceding the false frame and thereby strengthening their position.
The people he’s appealing to would be happy to see him in a coffin draped with one.
On Labor Day, it’s worth remembering the people in prisons across the United States who are forced to engage in what amounts to slave labor. www.epi.org/publication/...
Leaving aside the typical histrionics, this seems to be Trump beginning to distance himself from Kennedy (who’s “ripping apart” CDC), and inviting mainstream physicians and scientists to defend the vaccines, so Trump can then say, I got them to explain it better and vaccines are OK.
⚠️ International Association of Genocide Scholars: "Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide” “Israel's policies and actions in Gaza constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity” genocidescholars.org/wp-content/u...
A Trump post reacting to news coming out about Modi’s participation in the summit in China: “We do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us.”
Russia jammed the GPS on the top EU leader’s plane. The pilots navigated using paper maps to land the plane. www.cnn.com/2025/09/01/w...
Meanwhile… 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/w...
Trump has no public events scheduled today.
This is kind of what it feels like to live in a crazy family where there’s all sorts of weird stuff happening and you’re expected to pretend like everything is fine and normal.
Robert Mueller has Parkinson’s Disease, has developed difficulty speaking, and will not be able to comply with a request to testify before Congress about the Jeffrey Epstein investigations. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/u...
btw, you can upload a gif file from your computer (in Bluesky web app) and it will be animated. The trick is upload it via video button.
I’m not any happier about this than you are, lol. Just calling it how I see it. It’s subtle, but the pacing, style, and content seem more like him than his account has for the past five days or so. Maybe he had a major medical procedure and the anesthesia has finally fully worn off. IDK.
Fwiw, the most recent posts on his account sound more like him than they have in a while:
“The people in this book are brave,” said Toad. “They fight dragons and giants, and they are never afraid.” “I wonder if we are brave,” said Frog.
Cool and enlightening website:
Thanks—I’m out of them.
Robert Mueller has Parkinson’s Disease, has developed difficulty speaking, and will not be able to comply with a request to testify before Congress about the Jeffrey Epstein investigations. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/u...
⚠️ US suspends visas for ALL Palestinian passport holders “The new measures affect visas for medical treatment, university studies, visits to friends or relatives and business travel, at least temporarily.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/w...
This is kind of what it feels like to live in a crazy family where there’s all sorts of weird stuff happening and you’re expected to pretend like everything is fine and normal.
Make of this what you will:
⚠️ US suspends visas for ALL Palestinian passport holders “The new measures affect visas for medical treatment, university studies, visits to friends or relatives and business travel, at least temporarily.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/w...
“Decision on West Bank annexation in Israel's hands, US officials say” www.jpost.com/israel-news/...
Israeli propagandist implies @mehdirhasan.bsky.social is Hamas and then (“jokingly”) suggests he’ll be targeted with an exploding pager:
![Eylon Levy @EylonAL...•2h New opening if you're interested, @mehdirhasan Israel Defense Forces V•2h Abu Obeida can no longer spread his lies, propaganda and terror. Will Chamberlain • 2h Watch out, he'll try and get you banned from CNN for a joke like this Follow Eylon Levy @EylonALevy [pager emoji] 9:42 AM • 8/31/25 • 1.8K Views](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gvda6fem6r7selm4gzjjww4a/bafkreifikb4wmf7s3efvw3zitscvojp6pzybcwrhwempavvgs5jj2e4c2q@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Israel has killed 63 people—including 32 aid seekers—in Gaza so far today.
![Drop Site News Drop Site % @DropSiteNews At least 63 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, including 32 aid seekers. Below: a father carries the body of his child killed in a strike on their home in Al-Maghazi camp in the middle of Gaza Strip. [photo of three men, one carrying the body of a small child with a yellow bow in her hair]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gvda6fem6r7selm4gzjjww4a/bafkreifmhjzai5fmbcuejbxr73xupxz465iml37u4dhubwaw4ivkux5daa@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Rudy Giuliani has been in a car accident, which his representative says was “not a targeted attack”:
“Decision on West Bank annexation in Israel's hands, US officials say” www.jpost.com/israel-news/...
Rudy Giuliani has been in a car accident, which his representative says was “not a targeted attack”:
When Trump had COVID in 2020, he appeared before the public and press sweating profusely and breathing like a guppy out of water while asserting he was fine. He does NOT like to be out of the spotlight or to project anything other than strength. That’s what makes this situation the weirdest to me.
I don’t know what’s going on, but there is a lot of weirdness.
This is all very weird.
Secret Service guy in the pool photo released today and in a video from July also seems to have a favorite outfit:
Israel has killed 63 people—including 32 aid seekers—in Gaza so far today.
While Trump isolates the United States, Xi consolidates alliances for China. www.cnn.com/2025/08/30/c...
Israeli propagandist implies @mehdirhasan.bsky.social is Hamas and then (“jokingly”) suggests he’ll be targeted with an exploding pager:
⚠️ One plan for Gaza circulating in the WH calls for displacing the Palestinian population through either $5k relocation payments or exchanges of land for digital tokens and then turning the territory into “a gleaming tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing and technology hub.” 🎁🔗 wapo.st/4g2eATo
Digital tokens. They’re gonna put genocide on the blockchain. Crypto grifter-style ethnic cleansing.
NEW: A week or so ago, one federal agent kept popping up in videos from Trump's violent DC crackdown—so @jsweetli.bsky.social and I investigated. Turns out he's a 26-year-old US Parks Police officer, a lesser known law enforcement unit currently championed by Interior Sec. Doug Burnum. Our report:
This is exactly what’s happening—if Pritzker can tell it like it is, why can’t other Democratic leaders?!
The lies' laughable implausibility is a feature, not a bug. They're not trying to convince discerning, skeptical, fact-based people. They're trying to give supporters a fantasy that validates their feelings and creates a sort of loyalty test, while flaunting the absurdity in everyone else's faces.
“China and Russia have…touted the SCO as an alternative to the NATO military alliance. This year’s summit is the first since…Trump returned to the White House…and the gathering is a powerful show of Global South solidarity amid wars, conflicts and Trump’s tariffs upending the world’s economies.”
While Trump isolates the United States, Xi consolidates alliances for China. www.cnn.com/2025/08/30/c...
This is exactly what’s happening—if Pritzker can tell it like it is, why can’t other Democratic leaders?!
Palestinians who refuse to “voluntarily” relocate would be placed in “restricted, secured zones inside the enclave” during redevelopment. The GREAT—Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation—Trust proposal forecasts a “fourfold return on a $100 billion investment after 10 years.”
⚠️ One plan for Gaza circulating in the WH calls for displacing the Palestinian population through either $5k relocation payments or exchanges of land for digital tokens and then turning the territory into “a gleaming tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing and technology hub.” 🎁🔗 wapo.st/4g2eATo
Beautiful 1860s Victorian butterfly, which was used to store small packets of sewing needles on the underside of the wings. This was a collaboration between a London-based drapers company and a sewing needle manufacturer. On exhibit at Tatter Blue, a Brooklyn textile museum. IG tatterbluelibrary
After losing an appeal against CNN, Alan Dershowitz plans to ask the Supreme Court to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan, the 1964 case that protects journalists and others from weaponized lawsuits. edition.cnn.com/2025/08/29/b...
Cool and enlightening website:
I’m not saying he’s supporting it. My concern is he’s feeding the delusional construct inadvertently.
Right? I’m concerned it feeds the delusion rather than highlighting the absurdity.
I’ve been complimentary of Newsom’s trolling in the past for highlighting the absurdities of Trump’s communications, but the Q thing is more like a cult and best to stay far away from.
Not sure Gavin Newsom leaning into the Q thing—even as mockery—is a good idea, tbh:
![Governor Newsom Press Office @GovPressOffice THE WORLD WILL SOON UNDERSTAND Q‡ [AI image of Gavin Newsom] NOTHING CAN STOP WHAT IS COMING 9:54 PM • 8/30/25 • 129K Views](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gvda6fem6r7selm4gzjjww4a/bafkreif22brf6eastubsvj3adbi4rzab3b5qa5cqdnpewpbv5542i2wy7u@jpeg "Click to view full size")
![Donald J. Trump @realDonald Trump x.com/florintruth/status/19619... THE WORLD WILL SOON UNDERSTAND Q+ [AI image of Donald Trump] NOTHING CAN STOP WHAT IS COMING x.com Flopop (@florintruth) on X @patriot6962 4.76k ReTruths 15.7k... 8/30/25, 5:00 PM](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gvda6fem6r7selm4gzjjww4a/bafkreicln26r2arxhuyb5r2kzydqwaaeowmtfhutzacb7imsfhfmc7mxhi@jpeg "Click to view full size")
A closer look at my "City of Forgotten Dreams" print, with its namesake music by @sonicmayhem.com. Only two copies left of this in the large size! Signed/numbered, only 25 made: robsheridan.storenvy.com/collections/...
Oh my, lol:
Wrote about Comer/Mace attempting to doxx and intimidate Wikipedia editors in an effort to force their own viewpoint onto Wikipedia.
The images on X out of Gaza today have been horrific.
Oh my, lol:
🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics. The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.
A Senator of the United States of America says that he was refused the ability to see Gaza for himself as part of a Jordanian aerial mission over the occupied territory.
⭐️ Worth reading on the reality of “end times fascism”: “We are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the livability of our shared world...” By @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...