imagine living in a world of eight billion people and just writing endless stories about this guy and that weird cosplay couple

Russia is about to enter the fourth year of a protracted quagmire they thought they'd wrap up in a weekend so kind of a weird example

I don’t talk about this publicly, but hegseth drives me out of my silence. I attended West Point from 1998-2000. I left, along with about 5 other young women, as a direct result of the military’s then-shameful (non) policies addressing sex harassment and assault.

Sending thoughts & prayers to the war-ravaged city of Portland, Oregon now under siege from attack by Antifa & other domestic terrorists. Take solace in dear leader's words: "Nothing bad can happen. It can only good happen." (and "DON'T TAKE TYLENOL"). Let the healing begin...

The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy. www.chosun.com/english/nati...

the whole thread. and especially this.

Dog stick core

Warning: Expressions of sympathy for stalled escalators may be construed as terrorism.

Morning walk

10th Anniversary of the Lin Centre Oct 30 Political theorist Jill Frank (McGill BA '83 BCL/ LLB '87) "Crafting Order: Plato and the Shape of Democracy," 1-2:30 Historian Steven Pincus, "The South Asian Origins of American Independence: Empire, Political Economy, and Partisan Politics," 3-4:30

Absolutely incredible news, Huntington’s is such a terrible disease. I hope they can continue to build on this success.

I jotted down some quick notes about where things stand post-Kimmel: www.unpopularfront.news/p/notes-on-t...

This is so good, and the United States is so obviously speed-running its collapse into Argentinian/Brazilian/Peruvian-style delegative democracy that we can barely keep up with the proper vocabulary muse.jhu.edu/article/225426

I’m autistic. Not because of Tylenol. Not because of vaccines. Not because of some headline. I’m autistic because that’s how my brain works. Stop treating us like a problem. Start listening to us.

I no longer identify as a Realist, but one of the things that Realists get right is about how great powers affect the international system merely by the fact of existing.

Sixteen years later, still the funniest piece of writing on the internet. I revisit it every year the way some people rewatch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or reread A Christmas Carol. You’re either ready to reap this freaky-assed harvest or you’re not.

This is important information and a good post. One caveat: Polls can help predict electoral outcomes, but their value is limited beyond that. What matters is what people do publicly, not what they say privately in a poll. (Shorter: we can't expect opinion polls to do our political work for us).

shit ain’t over til it’s over

BREAKING: Incomprehensible Shouting Named Official U.S. Language

Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Robert DeNiro, Olivia Rodrigo headline new ACLU letter with 400+ signers against government threat to free speech, citing Kimmel. Also signed by comedians including Nimesh Patel, Mary Beth Barone, Sam Morril, Gianmarco Soresi, Anthony Jeselnik, Pete Holmes

They abandoned the whole free speech thing as soon as people started saying things that genuinely offended them. It wasn’t that they were so tolerant that they accepted nazi talk as a necessary evil to protect speech writ large, they just liked saying and hearing slurs bsky.app/profile/jame...

We wrote a thing about AI, fascism, and why framing this as "hype" is too apolitical www.liberalcurrents.com/deflating-hy...

Nothing is inevitable. In either direction. Hope and work.

“What is therefore worth stressing is the myriad ways in which the Trump administration has been unable to autocrat its way out of a paper bag.”

Porcelain Fungus & Amethyst Deceivers for the win! 🍄📷 #FungiFriends #MushroomMonday

⚡️Estonia asks NATO to activate Article 4 after Russian fighter jets violate airspace. Article 4 allows member states to call for discussions with allies if they believe their security is threatened. Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland on Sept. 19.

In an abusive relationship, the perpetrator makes the biggest power grabs when he feels his control over the victim is slipping. I’m keeping that in mind whenever we see massive escalations from Trump. It’s all still very dangerous. But these moments are a sign of weakness, not strength.

“Where AI falters technically, it delivers ideologically”. A really useful re-framing of the AI discussion: The trouble is not that it's "overhyped." The trouble is that it's heavily involved in promoting fascism (and the errors are part of that project): www.liberalcurrents.com/deflating-hy...

Clarifying the stakes is important, but so is creating a sense for the real possibility of collective action

Most “sacred” citizenship.

1. Just so we’re clear, this is the clip that got Jimmy Kimmel’s show shelved by ABC. If I’m missing any other clips please let me know.

Report: You To Be Fired For Reading This Headline About Charlie Kirk

I recommend this talk with Col. Bree Fram. She's a patriot who's being treated appallingly, but expresses no bitterness but rather gratitude for the chance to serve. I'll add that the administration's attempted erasure of trans folks is a true disgrace. www.youtube.com/live/YMySsrg...

update: male loneliness epidemic solved

We often worry about the wrong things. People killed annually by Sharks 10 Elephants 100 Hippos 500 Snails 10,000 Dogs 25,000 Snakes 50,000 People 475,000 Mosquitoes 725,000 🧪

Bill Kristol having a more firm position on trans rights than the Democratic establishment is one of the weirdest things about this timeline.

The right sets the terms of our political discourse in so many ways, one of which is the idea that there isn't enough "debate" and "free speech" on campus. We need to push back on this. The truth is (speaking for myself as a history prof), I don't really emphasize debate much in my classes/

Another cultural document of this is a movie I saw in the theater and adored and we all ended up memorizing scenes and lines and memes: “Animal House.”

#APSA2025 Foundations of Political Theory book awards David Easton Prize: co-winners: Banu Bargu, Disembodiment (Oxford) Melissa Schwartzberg & Jack Knight, Democratic Deals (Harvard) Best First Book Prize: Lowry Pressly, The Right to Oblivion (Harvard)

Judith Butler on being named to a list of UC Berkeley faculty & students provided to the Department of Education to be investigated for anti-semitism, w/ zero transparency about what they're being accused of or by whom. Pure McCarthyism & totally indefensible. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

A big undercurrent of the « NATO expansion was bad » claim is that the Cold War was a period of peace/stability in Europe. Sure, life in a NATO country was good. Life under the Soviet boot meant dictatorship, indignity, and shortages. Stop blaming EEurope for wanting to share in the peace/stability!

Could satire at least be allowed to die with dignity

continued from the above. ⬆️ you don’t have to include a reason you’re requesting the post be removed, but when the account is a verified news source, maybe you should. here’s how!

Just been reminded by @gilliancarrin.bsky.social to post this link open.spotify.com/track/6bbQuT...

man they really didn't give a shit about that guy. as soon as it was clear they couldn't use his death to launch a purge they started to treat it like a nothingburger

Trump’s plan to massively increase your grocery bill is working