Andy Vitek
@avitek.bsky.social
Political science professor. Teacher/researcher of terrorism and extremism with a focus on the far-right.
Posting through it.
#BillsMafia
Posting through it.
#BillsMafia
Pinned
Andy Vitek
@avitek.bsky.social
· Feb 28
I seem to have gotten an influx of new followers. Welcome friends! To those hoping for sober and insightful academic analysis: I am so sorry.
McKellen is 86 years old and still an absolute force of nature. A true legend of the stage and screen.
Ian McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.
February 6, 2026 at 5:42 PM
McKellen is 86 years old and still an absolute force of nature. A true legend of the stage and screen.
Currently using sea lions to stave off a psychotic episode.
Reject modernity. Embrace sea lions.
www.youtube.com/shorts/Bxs8R...
Reject modernity. Embrace sea lions.
www.youtube.com/shorts/Bxs8R...
February 5, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Currently using sea lions to stave off a psychotic episode.
Reject modernity. Embrace sea lions.
www.youtube.com/shorts/Bxs8R...
Reject modernity. Embrace sea lions.
www.youtube.com/shorts/Bxs8R...
Setting aside this dumb article, because it's dumb, I do think this exposes a huge contradiction of the modern liberal state. Because if you don't view conquest as legitimate grounds for ownership, what is the basis of territorial sovereignty? How many groups can claim true 'original ownership'?
It’s time to put Billie Eilish’s theory of property out to pasture, Richard Epstein and Max Raskin write.
"Americans are not thieves who built on stolen land." https://wapo.st/4rDYzrn
"Americans are not thieves who built on stolen land." https://wapo.st/4rDYzrn
February 5, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Setting aside this dumb article, because it's dumb, I do think this exposes a huge contradiction of the modern liberal state. Because if you don't view conquest as legitimate grounds for ownership, what is the basis of territorial sovereignty? How many groups can claim true 'original ownership'?
I just started "Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right" by @lkatfield.bsky.social and in the very first chapter she launches an absolute broadside against liberals who are convinced the far-right has no true intellectual underpinnings and appeals only to the stupid or uneducated.
a man in a striped shirt is saying `` did we just become '' while looking at the camera .
ALT: a man in a striped shirt is saying `` did we just become '' while looking at the camera .
media.tenor.com
February 5, 2026 at 6:37 PM
I just started "Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right" by @lkatfield.bsky.social and in the very first chapter she launches an absolute broadside against liberals who are convinced the far-right has no true intellectual underpinnings and appeals only to the stupid or uneducated.
This is what scientists refer to as 'Yglesias-core.'
This is an actual thing happening on Saturday. Imagine being this much of a pick-me shill.
February 5, 2026 at 4:20 PM
This is what scientists refer to as 'Yglesias-core.'
Signs your paramilitary terror campaign might be failing:
People show up in front of Congress after getting mag dumped in the streets just so they can say "I lived, bitch" under oath.
People show up in front of Congress after getting mag dumped in the streets just so they can say "I lived, bitch" under oath.
Marimar Martinez: “The government told the people they were targeting the worst of the worst…They are not targeting the worst of the worst. They are targeting individuals who fit a certain profile, who simply have a certain accent, a non-white skin color, just like me.”
February 5, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Signs your paramilitary terror campaign might be failing:
People show up in front of Congress after getting mag dumped in the streets just so they can say "I lived, bitch" under oath.
People show up in front of Congress after getting mag dumped in the streets just so they can say "I lived, bitch" under oath.
I should receive a major award with a juicy honorarium over the fact that I haven't turned into the Joker yet.
February 5, 2026 at 2:47 AM
I should receive a major award with a juicy honorarium over the fact that I haven't turned into the Joker yet.
In the entire multi-millennial span of human civilization, it is likely there has never been a more divorced man than Elon Musk.
they're trying to be coy about salivating over the prospect of raping women, they'll contest that but if pushed to explain, that's exactly what they would describe. forced pregnancy of any kind, by a man or by the state, is gender-based violence
February 4, 2026 at 11:32 PM
In the entire multi-millennial span of human civilization, it is likely there has never been a more divorced man than Elon Musk.
Again, with DHS on a 2 week clock and the rest of the government funded through September, the Democrats have ALL the leverage right now.
Chuck is seriously as worthless a politician as I've seen in my lifetime. Like Harry Reid must be rolling in his grave.
Chuck is seriously as worthless a politician as I've seen in my lifetime. Like Harry Reid must be rolling in his grave.
Masks might still be OK in "extraordinary and unusual circumstances," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
No, masks are never okay.
www.huffpost.com/entry/democr...
No, masks are never okay.
www.huffpost.com/entry/democr...
Democrats Ease Up On 1 Of Their Biggest ICE Demands
Masks might still be OK in "extraordinary and unusual circumstances," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
www.huffpost.com
February 4, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Again, with DHS on a 2 week clock and the rest of the government funded through September, the Democrats have ALL the leverage right now.
Chuck is seriously as worthless a politician as I've seen in my lifetime. Like Harry Reid must be rolling in his grave.
Chuck is seriously as worthless a politician as I've seen in my lifetime. Like Harry Reid must be rolling in his grave.
The irony is that most authoritarian movements depend on large portions of the opposition surrendering to despair and accepting defeat.
Too many people on Bluesky think that relentless expressions of despair are a sign of intellectual sophistication.
February 4, 2026 at 9:37 PM
The irony is that most authoritarian movements depend on large portions of the opposition surrendering to despair and accepting defeat.
This could work but with major caveats. The thing about election manipulation a lot of people don't get is that it's most effective when the margins are small and gets exponentially more dangerous to the regime the more they have to cook the results. There needs to be a minimum level of credibility.
The Trump regime's plan to rig the 2026 election is becoming clearer:
- Send ICE to polling locations to intimidate voters
- Attempt to federalize the elections and seize control of administration in critical states
- Cast doubt on the results and declare they've won
- If needed, seize ballot boxes
- Send ICE to polling locations to intimidate voters
- Attempt to federalize the elections and seize control of administration in critical states
- Cast doubt on the results and declare they've won
- If needed, seize ballot boxes
🚨BREAKING: Steve Bannon said Tuesday that the federal government is planning to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to patrol polling stations during this year’s midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
February 4, 2026 at 5:57 PM
This could work but with major caveats. The thing about election manipulation a lot of people don't get is that it's most effective when the margins are small and gets exponentially more dangerous to the regime the more they have to cook the results. There needs to be a minimum level of credibility.
Truly remarkable things are happening on the other site.
February 4, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Truly remarkable things are happening on the other site.
I realize the phrase "at risk of running out of lawyers" sounds like a punchline, but it's actually a massive problem looming for this administration.
Apparently morale at DOJ is so low that line attorneys are asking to be held in contempt so they can get some sleep yikes
February 3, 2026 at 11:18 PM
I realize the phrase "at risk of running out of lawyers" sounds like a punchline, but it's actually a massive problem looming for this administration.
Hell, the death blow for Occupy came when they sent two cringe undergrads on Colbert with practically zero prep to speak for the movement and normies realized it was just a bunch of college kids playing direct democracy in the park as opposed to anything close to a serious political movement.
Occupy failed because it was a half-movement with vague demands and absolutely no structure, not because normie libs entered it.
February 3, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Hell, the death blow for Occupy came when they sent two cringe undergrads on Colbert with practically zero prep to speak for the movement and normies realized it was just a bunch of college kids playing direct democracy in the park as opposed to anything close to a serious political movement.
Look, yes it was one of the first boards to get absolutely overrun by nazis, but /k/ still produced some of the funniest shit to ever come out of 4chan.
February 3, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Look, yes it was one of the first boards to get absolutely overrun by nazis, but /k/ still produced some of the funniest shit to ever come out of 4chan.
Yup, plus it's that very complexity that makes them so appealing. The feeling that you're unraveling a mystery and accessing proscribed knowledge is exhilarating and can become an adrenaline rush akin to any other addiction.
Very often, in fact. Most conspiracy theories are far more elaborate and cognitively demanding than reality. Generally speaking, they don't appeal to people who want the world to be simple, they appeal to people who want the world to be certain--with cause reliably following effect.
And sometimes the opposite is true! Some conspiracy theories, what makes them conspiracist thinking, is that they assemble an overly complex and unnecessary constellation of disparate claims to posit an overarching but unwarranted narrative that is bigger than the sum of its parts.
February 3, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Yup, plus it's that very complexity that makes them so appealing. The feeling that you're unraveling a mystery and accessing proscribed knowledge is exhilarating and can become an adrenaline rush akin to any other addiction.
A lot of GOP cope is talking about how the bad winter weather depressed turnout. Listen, I'm not an elections expert, but I'm pretty sure that when opposition voters are willing to brave catastrophic bad weather to vote against your ass, you might be in some trouble.
The largest GOP county in the US, Tarrant Co, TX, suddenly turns blue. And it isn't even close.
February 1, 2026 at 10:57 PM
A lot of GOP cope is talking about how the bad winter weather depressed turnout. Listen, I'm not an elections expert, but I'm pretty sure that when opposition voters are willing to brave catastrophic bad weather to vote against your ass, you might be in some trouble.
A live look at the strategic communications meetings that will be taking place all across the country tomorrow morning:
February 1, 2026 at 8:58 PM
A live look at the strategic communications meetings that will be taking place all across the country tomorrow morning:
I would like to lodge a formal complaint against @ifbookspod.bsky.social and request a remuneration of Patreon donations, as listening to Peter read quotes from this book almost made me chew through my own forearm.
This month's bonus episode is about Olivia Nuzzi: her rise to the top of political media, her FaceTime sex with RFK Jr., and her awful new book.
Olivia Nuzzi's "American Canto" | If Books Could Kill
Get more from If Books Could Kill on Patreon
www.patreon.com
February 1, 2026 at 8:29 PM
I would like to lodge a formal complaint against @ifbookspod.bsky.social and request a remuneration of Patreon donations, as listening to Peter read quotes from this book almost made me chew through my own forearm.
Look, while it would be extremely annoying to watch the sheer insanity of the GOP rescue the Democrats from their own incompetent cowardice, it would be on par for this coconuts ass timeline.
Mike Johnson on Fox today says he doesn't believe House GOP will "allow" two of Dems' key asks in a new DHS bill: unmasking & putting ID on ICE agents
"Taking the masks off and putting their names and addresses on their uniforms .. there won't be enough GOP votes for that"
Long week ahead ..
"Taking the masks off and putting their names and addresses on their uniforms .. there won't be enough GOP votes for that"
Long week ahead ..
February 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Look, while it would be extremely annoying to watch the sheer insanity of the GOP rescue the Democrats from their own incompetent cowardice, it would be on par for this coconuts ass timeline.
Given how much this post blew up I want to stress again: I don't actually think there was some Dan Brown shit between moot and Epstein. The nazis were already on the site pre-pol and moot hated them, even going to far as to ban all discussion of gamergate from 4chan (8chan was born as a result).
That feeling when you, a terrorism and extremism scholar, see documentary evidence that shows moot met with Jeffery Epstein on the same day /pol was launched:
January 31, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Given how much this post blew up I want to stress again: I don't actually think there was some Dan Brown shit between moot and Epstein. The nazis were already on the site pre-pol and moot hated them, even going to far as to ban all discussion of gamergate from 4chan (8chan was born as a result).