"We do not any longer accord unchecked power to our leaders." This book is an excellent read but sadly it has has grown a little dated since @aaronjames.bsky.social published it in 2012. (Or maybe we just need a second edition. One that's HUUUUGE.)

we're looking into becoming george w. bush in 2007, doing it very strongly, stronger than anybody ever has before, big men with tears in their eyes come up to me and tell me how they've never seen anyone become george w. bush in 2007 like this

They've spent years courting people whose main mode of thinking is conspiratorial, and now they're trying to openly cover up an actual, honest-to-god conspiracy by appealing to...conspiratorial thinkers. I don't hate the symmetry

Been a while since Trump has done a Watergate; he needs to get back on that horse if he's going to keep up the Watergate-a-day pace.

Watching the movie PLANES with my son and getting upset that the talking plane with the counter-rotating propellers has both propellers pitched like they were rotating the same way.

I sat down last week for a fantastic interview with the Lumpen Radio crew about All Trap No Bait and its myriad themes--phone addiction, poverty, the socio-economic kaleidoscope that is the modern South. If you missed it Sunday, you can give a listen here! www.mixcloud.com/lumpenradio/...

Sissie Butt United States, Census, 1930

'A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London, EC4' (1940) by Leonard Henry Rosoman (Imperial War Museums)

It always feels a little weird when AMC plays THE DIRTY DOZEN on Veteran's Day because star Lee Marvin, who saw brutal action in WWII, hated the movie and called it "Unrealistic crap." It's like my Vietnam vet friends going to similar movies just to laugh at the bullshit.

When CA launched Prop 50, it was polling at 38%. And so, we did it anyway. Winning campaigns requires that your GOALS define your actions, recognizing opinion - including who agrees to vote - is malleable. In other words, be a thermostat, not a thermometer. contrarian.substack.com/p/bringing-a...

Now we would never ever ever wish anyone a Happy Marine Corps Birthday...buuuut we will happily announce that we signed an agreement today to publish @nkweidman.bsky.social and his awesome Marine Corps recruiting memoir, THIRTY-SIX FIGHTING HOLES, and it's scheduled to come out one year from today!

today, like every day, is a good day to remember everything Lake Superior has taken from us. the only language the Great Lakes understand is force. RIP to the Eddie Fitz

oh ok this explains why they keep telling me about it even though I didn't ask

I am working from home, and my spouse is in the house fasting for a...invasive medical procedure that requires fasting and...uhhh...cleaning your insides out. So I'm pretty sure it's my duty to cook the most sumptuous meals possible, right?

OK, God. I love fall foliage, and I love heavy snow, but foliage and snow TOGETHER...maybe not so much. It just looks weird, ya know?

Interrupting my regularly scheduled Sunday non-programming to let you know that I'll be on Lumpen Radio today (105.5 FM) at 11:00 AM to discuss ALL TRAP NO BAIT by Joe Worthen (and @tortoisebooks.bsky.social in general) on the Preserving Disorder show.

Why is everyone so good at this?

hell yeah this is sick

Folks I made a pile of the books I'm intending to read "soon-ish" and it extends above and below this pile and I think I am in fact a little delusional. (Showing them spines-away because I don't want anyone to be offended by their exclusion or inclusion in the stack.)

Proud of my neighbors.

I just feel like if you're reportedly the richest person in the world and can't get one real person to SAY they like you FOR REAL, you're probably also the worst human being alive.

[interview with a vampire] where do you see yourself in 105 years

Post a pic from your camera roll that no one has seen but you.

This is basically why I find myself massively rooting for Mamdani despite still having a fair bit of scepticism about his specific policy ideas

federal agents are back in the skokie/evanston area this morning. this video, posted to facebook about 10 minutes ago, shows federal agents driving through the williamsburg village subdivision amid construction vehicles parked along the road. lots of residents out with whistles.

I regret to inform you that the only way to finish your novel is to keep writing.

The problem with scammers and loneliness these days is that everything is digital, so the scammer never gets the chance to fall in love with a plucky local librarian and change his wicked ways. And forget about the implications of not even having to buy a bunch of marching band instruments.

Good grief. This administration is so soft on crime.

The funniest thing about how absolute dogshit journalists are at their job, is that when you see a chatbot regurgitate strange sounding phrases the *only way it could do so* is by having stolen them from somewhere. Searching for those weird phrases, yields the source the chatbot stole.

incredible photo that's definitely worth at least 1,000 words from Andrew Harnik of Getty

It’s very funny how the MAGAs genuinely had no plan in place for “the American people actually do blame Republicans and not Democrats for the shutdown.”

Someone mentioned the sheer Kubrickian malevolence of many images in the Trump canon, e.g. the "Congrats everyone! Here is a buffet of Big Macs" pic. And it looks like we have another entry. (Thanks, @ironspike.bsky.social)

This is the way

It has come to my attention that, if I put the teeniest tiniest bit of effort into improving my appearance and attire at work, people pay more attention to my suggestions. It gives me no pleasure to report this.

It has come to my attention that, if I put the teeniest tiniest bit of effort into improving my appearance and attire at work, people pay more attention to my suggestions. It gives me no pleasure to report this.

[to the tune of tenth avenue freezeout]

Chicago: ICE heavily active in West Ridge and Edgewater. Landscapers heavily targeted. Put on your whistles and patrol if you can.

Don't Mess With The Zohran is this anything?

Seeing this chart as an impressionable young man was a formative moment in my political development

Ukraine is facing a critical scarcity of funding in the first half of 2026. The EU NEEDS to come up with serious financing at its December Council meeting. Otherwise Ukraine is in dire straits. Trump is doing nothing for Ukraine, not giving a cent, since he supports Putin.

LOOOOOVE the takes. Keep 'em coming!

team of rivals (appoint sliwa to be rat czar)

Didn’t even take 24 hours for billionaires to decide they aren’t leaving New York after all.

whatever you think of Spanberger, the fact that her opponent ran a campaign based almost entirely on transphobia and is on track to eat shit in the biggest blowout the state has seen since 2009 is unambiguously a huge win

Theis: The Party Antithesis: The Company Synthesis:

Mike Johnson knew about Dick Cheney's death and had a statement ready right after the news broke, but ask him about a new policy Trump announced or something he posted or said the day before and he doesn't know anything about it.