just saying: it's possible that "I'm gonna dramatically constrict my state capacity while plotting dramatic imperial expansion, and expanding my set of internal enemies while alienating most of my foreign allies" is the beginning of a world-historical masterstroke. but also possible that it isn't

"make hay while the sun shines" implies the existence of night hay, obviously to be used as fodder for night mares.

Re-education camps but it's just watching episodes of How It's Made like this:

marx wanted capitalism to go into overdrive. he wanted massive corporations. he wanted unfathomably large/efficient economies of scale that would create endless abundance. he wanted this machine of hyper-concentrated economic power to come into being - and *then* be seized and run by the proletariat

ive said this before but i do think second-age eregion would be an incredible ttrpg setting. you got government by a junta of magic smiths, pro-galadriel jacobites, some neo-feanorians out causing trouble, probably a bunch of sindar really embittered by the loss of doriath, etc

King giving a speech to the pawns like ”Most of you will die. Some of you will become women like my wife. She has superpowers and is deeply homicidal.”

has anyone who follows me ever played Burning Wheel and did they like it as a system?

catgirls have been making a comeback. i have an exhaustive theory that doggirl--democratic president, catgirl--republican president. ill be publishing it in Foreign Affairs shortly

I don't know why, but the judge is now citing the historical precedent of Charles I of England. This is an incredibly ominous sign for Yoon.

In the concentration camp universe, this is what's known as a filtration camp. A government preemptively takes a whole class of people to interrogate and detain extrajudicially in order to inflict duress on them while arbitrarily assessing their (supposed) culpability.

i think the platonic representation hypothesis is using the word "platonic" in a fun but hyperbolic way and i think this makes the platonic representation hypothesis seem crazier than it is.

i'm going to say a controversial thing that also shouldn't really be controversial if you think about it for a second, but: citizenship is only about loyalty in the same way as loyalty cards are about loyalty

"what if phyllis schlafly became pope and then acting president" god what a beautiful TV show

first time in new york since zohran took office and other than having to recite the shahada on arrival at laguardia nothing much has changed

When I got the contract to write a history of concentration camps in 2014, I hoped to keep the US from ending up here. That didn't work out! But now it's critical to understand how much is already in process and the enormity of what's coming. The sooner we act to stop it, the more people we'll save.

“Did you do those fighting Uruks, Frank?” “Sure did boss, real sexy just like you asked.” “What”

feels like i should make sure this one escapes the deep thread:

fascinated to discover i apparently sit in the open waters between "pet lovers," "financial markets," and the Wynona Earp fandom?? i mean i guess i do post photos of my cat sometimes...

The Great Bajor Political Compass. Some of these people Ping Ping based on their point in the Star Trek timeline.

sousveillance state

worf mohavič has a unique recipe for kybynai stuffed with stewed qagh that his mother invented for him as a child, and he makes it for every yom tov both jewish and klingon

IT'S HERE! We are SO thrilled to officially reveal our Issue 1 table of contents! Every single piece in this issue is unbelievably good, and we cannot wait for you to read these stories and poems in March. These authors are amazing 🪐🗡️ More details in the thread! 🧵 (1/6)

every morning before breakfast worf mohavič says a prayer in the lithuanian karaite manner: to Hashem, Kahless, and Vytautas the Great

Utterly ridiculous that there are like five different canonical groundhogs. Either there should be one, housed in a temple of graven idols in Washington DC and propitiated with sacred offerings, or you should just have to go out into the woods and find your own.

My therapist: Don’t worry, Merovingian cursive is not real, it can’t hurt you Merovingian cursive:

My art has been commended as being strongly dilithic, which bothers some men. The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Dilithium

the shakers in the world where ann lee stayed in New York: eyyyyy, im feelin’ religious ecstasy over here. you bettah watch yourself, buddy, cause im devoted to the cause of pacifism and universal equality

the regime will never be stronger than it is today

Ernst Fraenkel: In my book I invented the concept of the Maßnahmenstaat as a cautionary tale US Federal Goverment: At long last, we have created the Maßnahmenstaat from classic political science and law work The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship

"I wish people appreciated the federal reserve." ***finger bends menacingly***

The Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon is the first album of my instrumental post-rock band, The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

I would be hard pressed to actually defend this position if I had to, but I feel like games that offer a zillion gameplay customization options don’t have enough faith in their underlying design.

Love it when there’s a gaggle of small children on the train. Makes me feel like Godzilla.

I genuinely hate "actually the Federation are the real colonialists" attempted out-woke-Star-Trek Takes. They're just flatly not true, like straightforwardly no this organisation is not that. And the people who give it credence are ultimately supporting Romantic ethnonationalist rot. Hate it so much

not a movie, but I’d adapt one of those philip k dick books where the plot breaks down halfway through and you have no idea what’s going on. lies inc maybe or the eye in the sky.

O Elbereth Drilthoniel! We still remember, we who dwell on this platform where much is told of Thy shitposts on the forums old

[0003420] Dwarf cancelled job: Needs 10000 bones

tbh this is my actual objection to Sexy Shelob: its fine if we make shelob fuck, but if she fucks it must be in Spider form

Skyscraper (horse) was born in 1786 which was a century before the first skyscraper building!!!

again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce again as farce

Right now the US position is literally that Trump cannot be held to account in our own courts but can be unilaterally surrendered by his powerless domestic opposition to be held to account in any other nation that wants to do it, and I say we take him up on it

I imagine that, over the course of the early Middle Ages, you had this exact dialogue play out thousands of times: - I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding you, we speak Latin here. Can you speak Latin? - I am speaking Latin! How about YOU speak Latin, pal?

Planning a The Great Gatsby themed party, in that I’ll put a green gel on the lights and run guests over with a car.

Anyone looking for the full map or wondering who made it, it’s the work of Matt Brown and it’s here. open.substack.com/pub/londonis...

you can talk about how much the valar suck and mismanage things and how much the noldor are the only ones taking the fight directly to morgoth but feanor is still explicitly on a mission of conquest and domination and is willing to murder or abandon anyone who might slow that down