Anyways, these days it's scary as hell to express my thoughts so publicly. But I still believe in the first amendment and believe the only way to keep it is to use it.

I switched to bluesky with the intent of only posting science. That has switched to mostly posting about politics because my entire life (science and personal) has been under political attack this year. But I'd love to just post about science.

Pritzker: "One of the reasons Trump wants to send troops into cities is bc he wants to be able to take control of the 2026 elections...if they've got troops in cities, & it becomes a kind of norm for people, then it won't be abnormal for them when they're going to vote having troops at ballot boxes"

Statues of President Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein on the National Mall show the First Amendment continues to be upheld in one of our most sacred civic spaces for freedom of speech, expression, association, & the press. (I spoke with a Washington Post reporter about what this means.)

the strangeness of the current moment lies in how the administration is consolidating authoritarian power while also being extremely weak

Folks look at you like you're crazy when you say we're in the midst of the worst, most unprecedented Article I constitutional crisis in American history, & then, well, another day happens:

for no reason at all i'm thinking about how white people make up 59% of the usa

Incredible image. Also incredible that the vast majority of white Christians in this country align with the men in camo.

Did the Mariners score a touchdown?

In a less insane time, if it was discovered that the President of the United States said this privately to their AG, it would’ve triggered an all-encompassing, impeachable corruption scandal. Here, Trump is saying it publicly and it’s just another Saturday.

It really does seem like most of the pastors I know who had an intense Bonhoeffer phase now have a shockingly lenient stance on Nazis

I hope some newspapers use a crop where you can easily read the sign.

Dutch late night TV has its take

America. 2025. Oil on canvas.

At Broadview ICE facility, federal agents hurl tear gas and pepper spray at protesters blocking vans www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/19/t...

It is remarkable how few national Dems have been willing to put themselves on the front lines here.

This is the clip. I still can't believe this is all he said. gizmodo.com/why-jimmy-ki...

From Feb 4th 1939

no one ever knows what the thing will be that changes everything. it's probably a million things, many of which are already in progress. keep moving, don't fall prey to doomism

Are we all ready to admit, once and for all, that the culture wars over "free speech" this last decade or so have been entirely about the *content* of the contested speech, not procedural commitments to speech as such?

Always let your conscience be your guide. Bye, Disney!

Important to keep remembering and repeating that Kimmel didn't mock Charlie Kirk or celebrate his death in the monologue. He mocked the president's lack of feeling and criticized the regime.

My first academic article was on the dictatorship of Uzbekistan inventing a group called "Akromiya" that did not really exist but which they used to arrest anyone with whom they disagreed under the pretext of "terrorism". Just bringing this up for no reason whatsoever!

This is the top headline on CNN. A good warning sign that your country may be becoming a dictatorship is when your plain-jane straight news networks start saying “Our country is becoming a dictatorship”

genuinely crazy that this is happening on behalf of charlie kirk of all people

Samurai moves. At first it scans like the same “we must learn to disagree” pundit spiel. No harm, no foul. Then you look down and your guts are spilling out from the katana slice.

A complete collapse of political norms around virtue and ethics since 2016. This celebration of cruelty and violence, and the encouragement of the public to take joy in violence against others, is very unhealthy for society.

It's as if Republicans lied about who pays these tariffs.

Me buying some pogies from Sweden for the new bike, and not seeing a huge tariff on the total: haha yes this rules Me getting the email from UPS *after* purchase that I owe a $36 duty: oh wait this sucks wtf

He’s like Saruman but dumber.

Q. Why is there a special election in the Minnesota House tonight? A. Because the Democrat who held the seat was assassinated in June. www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-di...

I'll always remember Redford for choosing Madison as the location of his first Sundance Cinemas location, which opened right when I moved to Wisconsin. It was quite a nice experience compared to Regal or AMC, and such a gem for finding independent films.

you'll never get fired for posting a robert redford quote

Patel is saying the Epstein victims who have publicly said they were trafficked to other men are liars and are not "credible." Dems should file articles of impeachment against Patel tomorrow based on defaming those victims.

Discovering computer as an adult makes you go crazy. Discovering computer as a baby makes you go crazy. In all of human history, there will only ever be one generation to discover computer at the correct age: 13

Ladies and gentlemen... the weekend. (also: you are important and are not alone 🧡)

Time for people to learn about Nick Fuentes and Groypers. I apologize in advance. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/u...

I’ve long believed (semi-seriously) that the internet was a mistake. As my kids are getting older, it’s increasingly clear how important it is to give them diverse, positive experiences away from the internet: nature, sports, board games, art, music, etc.

Watching the cable news commentary on the bullet engravings is wild because none of these people seem to realize that the content of the engravings are indicative of extremely online meme brain rot

There are very, VERY few people who are equipped to talk about this shooter correctly given the brainrot written on the shell casing. You have to understand so much of online culture to get it and also understand how that culture is both connected to and separate from real world ideological spaces

A little background on the groyper/Charlie Kirk "feud."

did not think I would be learning what is a "Groyper" today

The U.S. military strike on what the Trump administration says was a drug-carrying speedboat from Venezuela came after the vessel had turned around and was heading back to shore, raising fresh questions from members of Congress demanding more information about the provocative attack.

Big sigh. Watch this. Can you see why the Yankees’ moment of silence, the lowered flags, the promise of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, feel like a gut punch to the very people he spent years targeting? No one wished death on this man, but what we’re seeing right now is too f*cking much.

The shooting of Charlie Kirk was the 46th school shooting of the year. The 47th one happened moments afterwards. www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/u...

don’t post anything you wouldn’t want being used to justify throwing you into a black site folks

My parents took me out of a country where this was the norm and where it led to the execution and imprisonment of millions of innocent people. They brought me here, to America, believing that it would not happen here. And yet here we are.

Art

Okay, this lede from the NY Times coverage of Trump's dinner out is pretty great.