Been both, can confirm

NEW ESSAY: Origins of the Anti-Trans “Groomer” Slur. it provides historical context, a timeline of how it spread, & how it shapes anti-trans/LGBTQ legislation. pls share! on Medium (friend link): juliaserano.medium.com/origins-of-t... & Substack (no paywall): juliaserano.substack.com/p/origins-of...

I think people keep looking for a more complicated answer than "we elected one of the worst men in America to its highest office, then let most of his supporters walk away unscathed when they tried to take Congress hostage or kill them. And neither he or his supporters were meaningfully punished."

May David Bier fight the good fight for as long as it's needed! But at the same time, man, are we up the creek. "Should we tear our country apart, commit ethnic cleansing, and turn millions into refugees? Experts disagree! Let's debate..." This is not a good place for us. We should leave it.

Almost certainly true

I’m going to need more words than this, and I’m going to hate every single one of them.

This is a really great essay:

In fairness, Russia got a lot of its inspiration on LGBTQ issues from U.S. evangelicals www.thenation.com/article/arch...

“Children need forceful protection from LGBT adults” is a sincerely held belief, and our laws increasingly reflect it. I’m glad that my life overlapped with the brief era when LGBT parenting was legal and tolerated. I don’t think it will be for long.

I have spent more time on design stuff in the last six months than in the 40 years before that, and it's been very fun. The only thing left to reveal to you guys will be the way The Reconstruction Papers looks beyond the cover :)

It's just one thing. But vowing to make federal funding contingent on voters electing his favored candidate is unprecedented, incredibly destructive, and astonishingly corrupt. But he keeps doing it, and there's really no way to stop him.

One of the wildest things about Kavanaugh's now-notorious quote is that there was ample evidence *on the record before the court* that this was untrue, yet he stated it as an undisputed statement of fact. Did he bother to read the record before writing his opinion?

What if spellcheck, but everything's wrong

Incredible. A+, 10/10, no notes

Not for nothing but freedom of navigation has been a core US foreign policy objective for 200+ years and preserving the Arabian Gulf from domination has been one for just a hair under 50. When I say things like “calamity” or “inexcusable defeat”, I am not being partisan or exaggerating.

@jacobtlevy.bsky.social doing something completely different as the Declaration of Independence approaches 250. www.libertyfund.org/250th/when-a...

Lampedusa, Turgenev, Madox Ford, Tarkington, Waugh, Trilling, Bellow, and Roth would like a word. (Not to mention that this is a prevalent theme even more in Asian literature and film. Ozu alone made half a dozen variations of the story.)

"One thing that actually propelled actual US greatness after World War II was tying large scientific investments to a non-partisan, merit-based process. But that is not the way of Trump, who wants to extend tools of control and retribution over science." Trump is wrecking everything. Illuminating:

More of this please.

And another one. “These are unprecedentedly strong responses in patients whose disease has become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy.”

“I’m helping!”

Yeah, that’s the thing. The overwhelming majority of these performative types don’t actually line up with any of the classical masculinities most of us grew up with, which were often toxic but at least useful. Where is “can’t talk about feelings but changes your oil?”

My friend @marychilds.bsky.social has a new video podcast out, and the first episode with economist @alroth.bsky.social is so so good. Watch the whole thing: youtu.be/6lEUAz9Pzqs (I just hit subscribe, and recommend doing the same.)

People on Bluesky are weirdly convinced that they can intuit what the median voter wants; my working assumption is that the people who decide most election hate me and everybody I love and want us to die.

Time to let the old folks have a well-earned rest - or serve out their prison sentences 😑

I can see from some responses that people are still confused about what's going on. A lot of us liberals are very literal! So we assume Trump is "confused" about this. He's not. "Trans" is an all-purpose category on the right now to describe anyone who doesn't conform to rigid MAGA gender roles.

The other advantage MAGA gains by calling everyone they hate "trans" is that it puts their targets in a bind. Saying, "I'm not trans" can sound like a concession to the idea that it's bad to be trans. But if you say there's nothing wrong with being trans, you accept the misidentification.

Most of us on the left, especially the nerdier sorts on Bluesky, probably experienced being called by anti-gay slurs, even if we aren't gay. That's all that's happening here. Gay isn't as stigmatized, so "trans" is their new word to police everyone, regardless of gender identity.

THIS

I don’t at ALL have a normative stake here, but this seems most like the Project 2025 Mandate For Leadership (which, remember, was not the sum total of Project 2025! They also drafted a ton of secret memos/EOs!!) It wasn’t just a policy wishlist it was _a manual for MAGAfying the executive branch_

The inventory system in Pokopia feels oppressive. This probably has something to do with capitalism or transphobia or something else that will get me likes and engagement.

It probably plays better when you’ve already consolidated control over the media.

The best shows I’ve ever attended were all by smaller acts and nowhere near the big festivals. Going into debt for a music festival isn’t oppression. It’s a skill issue, and the skill is “don’t do that.”

BlueSky is expanding support with long-form content, which might be a good way to get back into blogging. techcrunch.com/2026/05/28/b...

"President Donald Trump botched the 250th anniversary celebration. Almost all the musical guests canceled, here's the list" would be one of the funniest possible stories to time travel to 1990 with.

It was never formally enforced & has no enforcement mechanism besides impeachment or the ballot. If you keep electing a leader who refuses to be accountable to the law, you will soon find there is no law.

My new @liberalism.org article on "Liberalism's Uneasy Relationship with Democracy" addresses interlinked problems of voter ignorance, tyranny of the majority, and illiberal/anti-democrtic movements coming to power through elections, and what to do about them: www.liberalism.org/p/liberalism...

Two headlines this week: "San Francisco rent reaches new high at $4,000 a month for 1-bedroom apartment" "S.F. wants to double its historic landmarks" In the midst of a deep housing shortage, SF is on a preservation spree to subvert state housing law. Huh? www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/h...

Tacos last night. Birria style beef, Monterey Jack, pickled red onions, lime, cilantro, and fresh scallions on corn tortillas. 🌮🍜

If we give the Ukrainians Patriots and sanction Russian energy the war is over. In other words, US policy at present is to keep the war going. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Democracy and liberalism are not the same thing, and the tension between them is more apparent than ever. @ilyasomin.bsky.social shows how majority tyranny and the rise of illiberal movements pose real threats to liberal values. See what a real response could be: www.liberalism.org/p/liberalism...

It's so depressing that this gleeful evil is so popular and widespread.

in which @deadcarl.bsky.social reviews THE WAR PEOPLE, and highlights "the particular manifestation of a continuous force in history: the demands of the fighting man for recognition and compensation" worth reading www.deadcarl.com/p/rights-and...

Isn’t closing down ports of entry for some states and not others like… pretty explicitly not allowed in the constitution?

A monk asked Dongshan Shouchu, “What is the Buddha?” To which he replied: “Three pounds of flax.”

I remember being a kid in the 80s and reading these books about British kids in the 40s, and how different, and how very hard, their lives were. Whoa! And then they went to Narnia.

How did Tokyo get to be so dense, walkable and beautiful? This looks fascinating. oroeditions.com/product/emer...

Emergent Tokyo is probably the most recent, definitive read on some of the pretty Japan takes towards planning. In particular, you have the Zakkyo buildings (which aren't unique to Japan but very much prevalent there) where you have various businesses on each floor of the tower.

Our answer will be "prosecute them, crush the power of the reactionary Court majority, and reconstruct our institutions better than they were before he got there" www.liberalcurrents.com/editors-notes/

Public-sector unions bargain with politicians whose campaigns they help fund, against a public that isn’t in the room. My new piece at Liberalism.org argues this matters more than most defenses of unions admit, and looks at what it costs us in our schools and our policing.