Scalzi's brilliant worldbuilding explains how kaiju could biologically exist, but glib dialogue and thin plot feel like a nerd daydream with token villains. Best for world-building fans and science dorks. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/the-kaiju-...

President Grandpa is once again yelling about stuff he can't and won't do.

Galeotti's military history explains Russia's paradox: destabilizing the world in its quest for stability. Solid primer on how war shaped and shapes Russian identity, with Putin's shadow looming heavily over every era. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/forged-in-...

Bluesky in a nutshell. Some context: BLS released its jobs numbers today, which were better than expected, and resistance libs would rather stay mad/conspiratorial than listen to actual on-the-ground experts that the data is still reliable.

In another shocking reminder that we live in a fascist state, you can still say whatever you want and the God-Emperor has to let you. They aren’t winning. They aren’t going to win. The great toilet flush of history is coming.

Somewhere, the Bills and the Rams are preparing to play each other in the Super Bowl. Alas, we live in the darkest timeline.

Dropping a ballot against Trump while some loser in a skull face diaper watches helplessly is the most American thing I can imagine.

I don’t care what anyone says about Vance being more dangerous than Trump: he isn’t. Trump gets away with crazy and horrific comments because he says them with the earnestness of blunt force trauma. Vance is too eager to prove that he knows he’s smarter than you. He could not survive as president.

This was a remarkably crazy response by Mike Johnson's standards. He's going full "stop the steal" and clearly would line up behind any effort Trump makes to rig the midterms and 2028 elections

Harris's origin story reveals Hannibal as humanity post-WWII: traumatized, facing the choice between pushing through ashes toward light or surrendering to darkness. The tragedy is that we know which he chose. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/hannibal-r...

Sapkowski's war-torn Witcher tale shows Geralt learning that salvation requires community, not isolation. Best descriptions of war's cruelty meet profound truth: debts to others sustain us through fire. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/baptism-of...

Clark's debut novel expands his world enjoyably but stumbles with a flawless protagonist, unclear societal norms, and a recycled plot. Supporting characters are better than the primaries in this capable entry that undershoots its potential. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/a-master-o...

oh they are going to rip each other to shreds as it becomes clear that the country has decisively turned against them

The only thing I would say differently is that the Trump clown show didn’t hold it together so much as our elites kept backing up. All our universities and media and politicians had to do was stand their ground, but they preferred that everyday Americans die in the streets instead. Never forget.

ALL MN PROTESTERS Absolutely nothing could be worse for our cause than violence and rioting. It is what ICE and Trump obviously want. Do not burn down our own city to protest invaders; they do not care; they will enjoy it. Do not do it. Do not let your fellow protesters do it.

Doomers get instablocked. Take your addiction to fear porn somewhere else.

Lloyd's accessible intellectual biography shows how Aristotle revolutionized thought by inventing formal logic and systematizing empirical investigation. Aristotle's rational method, born from rejecting Plato's abstractions, built our world. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/aristotle-...

accelerationists (of any stripe) always think that after The Shit Hits the Fan, they’ll be the Monarch of Skull Mountain but they’ll just be one of the skulls not even one of the good skulls, just a bulk skull from somewhere in the middle

This is the key point in this fine summary thread. Doomers have to make a series of wild assumptions that contradict 100% of our experience to date. It’s the triumph of anxiety over reality. Don’t fall for the fear porn.

ICE is an infestation of vermin.

Since we now know that awards are transferable at will, let’s give Rush Limbaugh’s medal to Jerome Powell and call it good.

Danish Parliament Deputy Speaker Lars-Christian Brask: "If I could come with some advice, it would be for the Senate & House to start to take control of political power in America because with this erratic & mad behaviour, you have to ask the question, is the President capable of running the US?"

Bluesky posters will be like you “you think massive universal legal resistance with total support from the population works? that pales in comparison to my strategy, winning a shootout with an ICE army” and then not win a shootout with an ICE army

This a good antidote to the despair that sneaks in through a cascade of cruel, insane headlines. The Trumpists are already losing, and there is nothing they can plausibly do to stop it.

Agents Nasr and Youssef investigate a haunted tram in Clark's slow but thematically rich entry in the "Dead Djinn Universe" series. Explores how freedom and progress empower the marginalized to solve the problems that come with progress. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/the-haunti...

Aliaa seeks a miracle from an enigmatic angel in Clark's intimate tale set in Cairo's Khan el-Khalili bazaar. Quieter than the first entry, it deepens the mystery of angels and their hidden purposes. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/the-angel-...

Fatma el-Sha'arawi investigates a murdered djinn in Clark's steampunk 1912 Cairo where magic replaced colonialism. Detective noir meets mythic fantasy in this inventive, fun novelette. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/a-dead-dji...

Trofimov’s novel traces twenty years in the life of a Jewish-Ukrainian woman and a people ground down by famine, terror, war, and lies, showing how trauma shapes identity and survival substitutes for love in a country repeatedly broken by history. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/no-country...

Worthwhile thread for cold, hard legal reasoning.

Matthew’s Bible repackaged Tyndale’s banned work for authorized use in 16th-century English churches, shaping English Scripture and reflecting Reformation polemics. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/matthews-b...

Dense, dry, and confusing, Volume II of Marx's "Capital" charts capital’s ceaseless circulation, overproduction shocks, and labor exploitation, yet never grapples with the problem of power. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/capital-vo...

I am supposed to be a 'words' guy, yet I find that I lack the words to fully express the sense of rage and betrayal that I feel, having been raised to believe in the beauty of the United States as an - imperfect - pluralistic republic, to see these quislings try to turn it into a boring ethnostate.

The other day I experienced an inhuman assault on Christmas – an AI carol. The machine's inability to understand the carol's message of love made it eerie. Basic cultural forms like holiday ritual and music are weakened under the assault of algorithms. snyder.substack.com/p/the-inhuma...

Geralt holds to honor in a cruel, contemptuous world, making this Witcher entry a powerful story of integrity under siege. Full review: nwcasebolt.substack.com/p/the-time-o...

Lots of strands of modern atheism that are just Calvinism with the serial numbers filed off

I worked myself up to give the last full measure of devotion for this last great hope of earth. Instead, they’re just stepping on rakes and slipping on banana peels. I’m embarrassed to have enemies like these.

Greenland, be afraid. Iceland, be afraid. Venezuela, be afraid. Canada, be afraid. Mexico, be afraid. He’s a cruel, ignorant, lawless madman. And his approval #’s are way down. He needs a fucking distraction. He’s probably gonna declare war on some country. Hey world, heads up.

The volume of self-congratulations among my MAGA friends will be so gleeful that they won’t even notice how small the island’s getting.

Monkeys haven’t gone for $2k since 2019, monkey inflation under Biden is an under appreciated factor in Trump getting reelected

This is why there will be parties when he dies. Not just gleeful or angry partisans sniping at each other online. Literal parties, in physical space, and well attended. His will be the most celebrated death in recent American history.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

A blessing for you: May you find as much joy today as a Cardassian capturing a Klingon Bird of Prey. 🙏

I donated. Because I hate what MAGA is doing to our immigrant communities. Because I hate Trump’s project to dim the light of Lady Liberty. Because I hate feeling helpless. Because I won’t feel helpless. Will you donate?

My dear cousins across the pond: these are the sorts of barking mad proposals that make right-wing madmen seem like lesser evils to your average voter. As an American with some experience in this, I implore you to find some normal politicians now.

UPDATE: Another Chicago-area church has put up an immigration-themed Nativity scene. A church member at Urban Village Church sent this one along, where Mary, Joseph and Jesus are gone and replaced with a sign that reads: “Due to ICE activity in our community, the Holy Family is in hiding.”

i think to understand the meaning of the birthright citizenship clause to the framers of the 14th amendment, you have to understand significance of dred scott to the civil war republican party. dred scott wasn't just a bad ruling, it was understood as a rejection of the declaration itself.

The media network that turned me against Trump was C-SPAN, because they aired his campaign speeches unedited and without commentary. I saw a pathological liar without shame, honor, or attachment to reality. I tried to warn people he would remake the GOP in his image, they laughed, and here we are.

Nothing is more ironic than the fact that the party that trumpets itself as defending a "Culture of Life" is actively working to kill as many people as it can.