Kelsey Atherton
@atherton.bsky.social
War, robots, & bad futures but imagining better. I edit @cipolicy.bsky.social's International Policy Journal, opinions my own. Unitarian Universalist. He/him. Husband to @alymay.bsky.social & father of 2.
Front takes towards enemies.
Front takes towards enemies.
Pinned
Beirut
There's a timelessness to plucked strings, an urgency to triumphant bass, an enduring loneliness to warbled lyrics. It fits the places you linger on nights she has the kids: breweries, street-side cafes. You've plotted your retirement: away from the city, in the high desert of 8pm closings.
There's a timelessness to plucked strings, an urgency to triumphant bass, an enduring loneliness to warbled lyrics. It fits the places you linger on nights she has the kids: breweries, street-side cafes. You've plotted your retirement: away from the city, in the high desert of 8pm closings.
Listening to the latest @morecivilized.bsky.social on the droid planet in KOTOR 2 and I am so sorry but:
The Bot Jacobins
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
The Bot Jacobins
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
122: Return to Telos (KOTOR II 13)
Podcast Episode · A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast · 11/15/2025 · 3h 22m
podcasts.apple.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Listening to the latest @morecivilized.bsky.social on the droid planet in KOTOR 2 and I am so sorry but:
The Bot Jacobins
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
The Bot Jacobins
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
[Mandalorian Ms Muffet] This is the Whey
November 23, 2025 at 10:22 PM
[Mandalorian Ms Muffet] This is the Whey
[Mandalorian Ms Muffet] This is the Whey
November 23, 2025 at 10:22 PM
[Mandalorian Ms Muffet] This is the Whey
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
I presume Foreign Affairs is not yet running my one-word rebuttal "don't"
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
How to Topple Maduro
And why regime change is the only way forward in Venezuela.
www.foreignaffairs.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I presume Foreign Affairs is not yet running my one-word rebuttal "don't"
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
“Culver City becomes first California city to allow six-story apartment buildings with just one staircase, a move to ease housing construction and affordability. Single staircases reclaim 7% of space for actual homes while creating wider units with better light—and fitting on smaller urban parcels.”
One California city’s idea to tackle the housing crisis: Take the stairs
Culver City becomes first California city to allow six-story apartment buildings with just one staircase, a bold move to ease housing construction and affordability.
www.latimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:58 PM
“Culver City becomes first California city to allow six-story apartment buildings with just one staircase, a move to ease housing construction and affordability. Single staircases reclaim 7% of space for actual homes while creating wider units with better light—and fitting on smaller urban parcels.”
Worth it, it's far better than every cinematic Star War made since 1980
www.forbes.com/sites/caroli...
www.forbes.com/sites/caroli...
Disney Spent More On ‘Andor’ Than Any Of Its ‘Star Wars’ Movies
Disney has revealed it spent $60.5 million on Star Wars streaming series Andor in 2024, giving the show a total cost of $705.5 million - far higher than the spending on any of the movies in the saga.
www.forbes.com
November 23, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Worth it, it's far better than every cinematic Star War made since 1980
www.forbes.com/sites/caroli...
www.forbes.com/sites/caroli...
Watching now!
New Mexico's US Representative Melanie Stansbury will be speaking at First Unitarian this Sunday at 10 am! She will be sharing information about the shut down and its impact on New Mexico, federal policing in our state, and all the stuff that keeps her up at night! Livestream link on our homepage.
November 23, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Watching now!
USAID's capacities took decades to build and Musk, through DOGE, gutted it all with the enthusiasim and foresight of a 14 year old given keys to a Lambourghini in a town where his dad's the sheriff internationalpolicy.org/publications...
DOGE’s Gutting Of USAID Weakened Disaster Response - CIP
For over 30 years, USAID had a leading role is disaster response for the United States, a capacity shattered when it was shut down.
internationalpolicy.org
November 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
USAID's capacities took decades to build and Musk, through DOGE, gutted it all with the enthusiasim and foresight of a 14 year old given keys to a Lambourghini in a town where his dad's the sheriff internationalpolicy.org/publications...
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
I will also say it was useless because the first jobs they cut in a lot of places was monitoring , evaluation and learning which were existing mechanisms. Its existence , much like everything associated with trump , was based on a lie
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 4:14 PM
I will also say it was useless because the first jobs they cut in a lot of places was monitoring , evaluation and learning which were existing mechanisms. Its existence , much like everything associated with trump , was based on a lie
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
first and only line of his biography: he dismantled USAID, condemning millions to die www.npr.org/sections/goa...
Study: 14 million lives could be lost due to Trump aid cuts
A new study looks at lives saved by USAID in the past and what the future without the agency will look like.
www.npr.org
November 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
first and only line of his biography: he dismantled USAID, condemning millions to die www.npr.org/sections/goa...
"Everything's a sphere if you polish it enough."
Cameron Kunzelman on the podcast Shelved by Genre rangedtouch.com/2025/11/21/p...
Perfect Sentences is an ideal newsletter: delivers on promise, concise in form yet rich in ideas,
enhanced by moments of commentary, fun to read aloud to a baby.
Cameron Kunzelman on the podcast Shelved by Genre rangedtouch.com/2025/11/21/p...
Perfect Sentences is an ideal newsletter: delivers on promise, concise in form yet rich in ideas,
enhanced by moments of commentary, fun to read aloud to a baby.
November 23, 2025 at 3:02 PM
"Everything's a sphere if you polish it enough."
Cameron Kunzelman on the podcast Shelved by Genre rangedtouch.com/2025/11/21/p...
Perfect Sentences is an ideal newsletter: delivers on promise, concise in form yet rich in ideas,
enhanced by moments of commentary, fun to read aloud to a baby.
Cameron Kunzelman on the podcast Shelved by Genre rangedtouch.com/2025/11/21/p...
Perfect Sentences is an ideal newsletter: delivers on promise, concise in form yet rich in ideas,
enhanced by moments of commentary, fun to read aloud to a baby.
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
Two new polls show learning about Trump's policies moves public opinion toward Democrats
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/two-new-po...
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/two-new-po...
Two new polls show learning about Trump's policies moves public opinion toward Democrats
Your weekly political data roundup for November 13, 2025
www.gelliottmorris.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Two new polls show learning about Trump's policies moves public opinion toward Democrats
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/two-new-po...
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/two-new-po...
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
lovely November rain in Albuquerque for anyone fortunate enough to experience it from inside while inconvenienced enough to be awake at this hour.
May the documented 3,000 or so of my neighbors without shelter have found at least a little protection from the elements between encampment sweeps.
May the documented 3,000 or so of my neighbors without shelter have found at least a little protection from the elements between encampment sweeps.
November 23, 2025 at 11:18 AM
lovely November rain in Albuquerque for anyone fortunate enough to experience it from inside while inconvenienced enough to be awake at this hour.
May the documented 3,000 or so of my neighbors without shelter have found at least a little protection from the elements between encampment sweeps.
May the documented 3,000 or so of my neighbors without shelter have found at least a little protection from the elements between encampment sweeps.
Comically I cannot remember what inspired me to make this years ago
![Wasp Bottling Company
Bottle it up forever!
[image is a wasp in an old timey seltzer bottle]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6vxkf3dayl4uyc77vv6deraj/bafkreiczicxswnp255wdtvcn4bepfr5hpshantwly6ku2phiqcki2ave5e@jpeg)
November 23, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Comically I cannot remember what inspired me to make this years ago
Saw Notorious RBG merch on sale in a college bookstore yesterday. She died when college freshmen were in 8th grade and defiantly didn't retire when they were in kindergarten. The class of 2026 had just started when SCOTUS killed Roe. (Legal abortion persists in NM because we planned better than RBG)
November 23, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Saw Notorious RBG merch on sale in a college bookstore yesterday. She died when college freshmen were in 8th grade and defiantly didn't retire when they were in kindergarten. The class of 2026 had just started when SCOTUS killed Roe. (Legal abortion persists in NM because we planned better than RBG)
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
[the worm in JFK's brain (every Kennedy has one) right before he decided to make a rapid exit in Dallas, November 22, 1963]
I love paying a ransom to get out of JFK. To me that is always cool
May 26, 2024 at 8:37 PM
[the worm in JFK's brain (every Kennedy has one) right before he decided to make a rapid exit in Dallas, November 22, 1963]
Sometimes Kennedys just do that
November 23, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Sometimes Kennedys just do that
1) While unemployed I tweeted a drone fact correction at a journalist who, in what I assumed to be staggering magnanity and now understand to be long-form revenge, messaged me about an open position covering defense technology for Popular Science
2) With friends ran an unpaid Left-FP blog in 2018
2) With friends ran an unpaid Left-FP blog in 2018
November 23, 2025 at 12:52 AM
1) While unemployed I tweeted a drone fact correction at a journalist who, in what I assumed to be staggering magnanity and now understand to be long-form revenge, messaged me about an open position covering defense technology for Popular Science
2) With friends ran an unpaid Left-FP blog in 2018
2) With friends ran an unpaid Left-FP blog in 2018
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
Why grant anonymity to someone who is lying to you with the company line? This adds nothing but misinformation to the story and the person quoted isn't going to get in trouble for saying it.
November 22, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Why grant anonymity to someone who is lying to you with the company line? This adds nothing but misinformation to the story and the person quoted isn't going to get in trouble for saying it.
Reposted by Kelsey Atherton
Inside you there are two language consultants, only one of them reaches the working masses via soundbite media
November 22, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Inside you there are two language consultants, only one of them reaches the working masses via soundbite media