Calliope
@calliope5431.bsky.social
Not the Greek muse, just a casual fan. I study the Third Reich. The demands to READ THEORY will continue until you have actually read Christopher Browning and Ian Kershaw.
Pinned
Reposted by Calliope
Meanwhile we are dramatically losing a naval build race with China and face the very real prospect of just simply being out built and losing a Taiwan contingency without firing a shot
November 25, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Meanwhile we are dramatically losing a naval build race with China and face the very real prospect of just simply being out built and losing a Taiwan contingency without firing a shot
There is, after all, a substantial risk of leaks. And nobody wants to see Donner and Blitzen have to take evasive maneuvers against an S-400:
November 26, 2025 at 5:18 AM
There is, after all, a substantial risk of leaks. And nobody wants to see Donner and Blitzen have to take evasive maneuvers against an S-400:
Reposted by Calliope
look i think China was wrong to make the comments they made, but I'm not exactly sure viewing Takaichi this uncritically is a good idea
Adam Zivo: Japan’s Iron Lady shows how Canada should handle China nationalpost.com/opinion/adam...
November 26, 2025 at 4:40 AM
look i think China was wrong to make the comments they made, but I'm not exactly sure viewing Takaichi this uncritically is a good idea
The fact that most medical treatments didn't exist isn't talked about because nobody likes to think about it, but it really is critical.
When the options are "you either have the sniffles or you are dead of cancer in six months" health care costs just aren't a big percentage of your family budget.
When the options are "you either have the sniffles or you are dead of cancer in six months" health care costs just aren't a big percentage of your family budget.
Tapping the sign that says
“middle class people felt richer in the 50s & 60s because their houses and cars were smaller and many expensive medical treatments were undiscovered leaving them with a greater % discretionary income”
but the font is too small to read
“middle class people felt richer in the 50s & 60s because their houses and cars were smaller and many expensive medical treatments were undiscovered leaving them with a greater % discretionary income”
but the font is too small to read
November 26, 2025 at 4:50 AM
The fact that most medical treatments didn't exist isn't talked about because nobody likes to think about it, but it really is critical.
When the options are "you either have the sniffles or you are dead of cancer in six months" health care costs just aren't a big percentage of your family budget.
When the options are "you either have the sniffles or you are dead of cancer in six months" health care costs just aren't a big percentage of your family budget.
The tendency (not just in the US) to not declare wars is actually something of an issue. Formalizing all of these processes was a key way that armed conflict got less bloody in the 18th and 19th centuries. Colonial "police actions" were almost invariably undeclared - and generally crueler.
November 25, 2025 at 11:15 PM
The tendency (not just in the US) to not declare wars is actually something of an issue. Formalizing all of these processes was a key way that armed conflict got less bloody in the 18th and 19th centuries. Colonial "police actions" were almost invariably undeclared - and generally crueler.
It's going to be bombing (if it happens at all). This will be horrible for the Venezuelan people, quite possibly create a migration crisis in LATAM, and on top of all that will be a massive waste of American tax dollars for the sole purpose of destroying America's image abroad.
What’s amazing is the administration ran a month and half long case study 6 months ago using air power to coerce a political outcome and it didn’t do shit so why is this going to be different? secretaryrofdefenserock.substack.com/subscribe?si...
November 25, 2025 at 9:50 PM
It's going to be bombing (if it happens at all). This will be horrible for the Venezuelan people, quite possibly create a migration crisis in LATAM, and on top of all that will be a massive waste of American tax dollars for the sole purpose of destroying America's image abroad.
Asking for Democrats' "plan for AI" is like asking the British opposition in 1846 what their "plan for railroads" is.
I can't imagine why the opposition party doesn't have a detailed regulatory policy proposal to match the "plan" of a kleptocracy shoving billions at its cronies.
Only Republicans have a plan for A.I., David Byler writes. “Democrats, at best, have concepts of a plan. And if they want to stay relevant in 2028, they need to plan carefully now,” he says.
November 25, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Asking for Democrats' "plan for AI" is like asking the British opposition in 1846 what their "plan for railroads" is.
The Allies ran several tests on captured German Panther tanks, and concluded their final drive lasted only 150km (under 100 miles) before being gutted. Wehrmacht officers showcased their men's care and precision by writing reports on exceptional Panthers that had gone over 1,800km and still worked.
one thing i don't think people appreciate about military technology of the WW2 era is that there was a vastly lower expectation of what counted as "reliable"
November 25, 2025 at 9:17 PM
The Allies ran several tests on captured German Panther tanks, and concluded their final drive lasted only 150km (under 100 miles) before being gutted. Wehrmacht officers showcased their men's care and precision by writing reports on exceptional Panthers that had gone over 1,800km and still worked.
Americans (and most other people for that matter) just do not care about foreign policy. They have consistently expressed this over many decades. Trump could single-handedly slay Maduro in hand-to-hand combat and build Venezuela into a pristine paradise and voters would yawn.
He could do everything perfectly, a heavy lift, and it would still not be the price of hamburgers
November 25, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Americans (and most other people for that matter) just do not care about foreign policy. They have consistently expressed this over many decades. Trump could single-handedly slay Maduro in hand-to-hand combat and build Venezuela into a pristine paradise and voters would yawn.
If there is one thing we have learned, it is that vice signaling is astronomically worse than virtue signaling.
There used to be a sort of universalized hypocrisy, where everybody assumed that somebody else cared about good and evil and right and wrong, and so at least tried to pretend they did too, and the whole system slouched onward more-or-less functionally. Don't know how you restore that now.
Rep. Salazar on Venezuela: "We're about to go in ... we need to go in ... Venezuela for the American oil companies will be a field day"
November 25, 2025 at 8:15 PM
If there is one thing we have learned, it is that vice signaling is astronomically worse than virtue signaling.
Yes, while it's today overwhelmingly associated with two regimes (the USSR and the Third Reich) its origins are in Mussolini's dictatorship.
Bessner then goes on to condemn Arendt's *On the Origins of Totalitarianism* (and yes, it has issues) but the word did not originate with that book.
Bessner then goes on to condemn Arendt's *On the Origins of Totalitarianism* (and yes, it has issues) but the word did not originate with that book.
This is historically wrong, as totalitarianism originated first as something Italian fascists called themselves and second in the 1930s as a way or comparing the remarkably similar ambitions and techniques of governance in the USSR and Nazi Germany.
Ofc it became a bit of an analytical bludgeon in/
Ofc it became a bit of an analytical bludgeon in/
November 25, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Yes, while it's today overwhelmingly associated with two regimes (the USSR and the Third Reich) its origins are in Mussolini's dictatorship.
Bessner then goes on to condemn Arendt's *On the Origins of Totalitarianism* (and yes, it has issues) but the word did not originate with that book.
Bessner then goes on to condemn Arendt's *On the Origins of Totalitarianism* (and yes, it has issues) but the word did not originate with that book.
Reposted by Calliope
This is identical to Russia invading Ukraine. Illegally invading a country for their resources and likely killing thousands—if not more—is immoral and should not be supported by anyone with any shred of moral conscience.
Rep. Salazar on Venezuela: "We're about to go in ... we need to go in ... Venezuela for the American oil companies will be a field day"
November 24, 2025 at 9:36 PM
This is identical to Russia invading Ukraine. Illegally invading a country for their resources and likely killing thousands—if not more—is immoral and should not be supported by anyone with any shred of moral conscience.
People on the left have a habit of going down this rabbit hole. Does every midwestern suburbanite dream of NYC? No. Is every MAGA plumber a socialist waiting for class consciousness? No. Is every businesswoman happily married to a man a closeted punk lesbian? No.
Some of them, sure. But mostly, no.
Some of them, sure. But mostly, no.
While it’s probably true that housing costs are keeping people out of CA and NY, there’s this notion that middle America or the sunbelt will empty out and depart to Brooklyn if Brooklyn built more units, and I’m pretty sure the people who believe this all live in Brooklyn already
Will is totally I missing the rejoinder. Way more people would live in the Northeast and coastal CA if we allowed for abundant home building.
November 25, 2025 at 7:22 PM
People on the left have a habit of going down this rabbit hole. Does every midwestern suburbanite dream of NYC? No. Is every MAGA plumber a socialist waiting for class consciousness? No. Is every businesswoman happily married to a man a closeted punk lesbian? No.
Some of them, sure. But mostly, no.
Some of them, sure. But mostly, no.
Urban areas account for 80% of the US population, or approximately 272 million people. Of those 272 million people, only around 24% live in the Los Angeles, New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Portland, Seattle, San Diego, Baltimore, and San Francisco metro areas.
I don’t think that acknowledging the actual distribution of US population across metro- and micropolitan areas is equivalent to arguing for an American heartland herrenvolk! In fact many of the arguments saying “New York is the only place worth living” use that same herrenvolk logic, but inverted
He’s doing the “Real Americans” bit from Fox News now
November 25, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Urban areas account for 80% of the US population, or approximately 272 million people. Of those 272 million people, only around 24% live in the Los Angeles, New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Portland, Seattle, San Diego, Baltimore, and San Francisco metro areas.
Reposted by Calliope
somewhere between 10/7 and today, an economic and ideological split happened where the largest donors to a bunch of Jewish community institutions decided that a tidal wave of antisemitism was coming, and also that antisemitism consists exclusively of antizionism. not even Holocaust denial counts.
November 25, 2025 at 5:04 AM
somewhere between 10/7 and today, an economic and ideological split happened where the largest donors to a bunch of Jewish community institutions decided that a tidal wave of antisemitism was coming, and also that antisemitism consists exclusively of antizionism. not even Holocaust denial counts.
Now is a good time to point out that almost half of the Forbes 400 list of billionaires is Jewish.
Viewed in that light, it's more a matter of statistics and osmosis than anything ideological. Billionaires have trended right in the past decade, and the right has trended towards antisemitism.
Viewed in that light, it's more a matter of statistics and osmosis than anything ideological. Billionaires have trended right in the past decade, and the right has trended towards antisemitism.
i went through like nine separate revisions of this tweet because the actual substance of it -- "conservative jewish billionaires somehow don't care about antisemitism against american jews" -- has the pattern of an antisemitic conspiracy theory but is substantively the inverse of one.
November 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Now is a good time to point out that almost half of the Forbes 400 list of billionaires is Jewish.
Viewed in that light, it's more a matter of statistics and osmosis than anything ideological. Billionaires have trended right in the past decade, and the right has trended towards antisemitism.
Viewed in that light, it's more a matter of statistics and osmosis than anything ideological. Billionaires have trended right in the past decade, and the right has trended towards antisemitism.
Warlordism tends to reward people good at war. It's a bad fit for people whose primary skill set is "raising VC money", "hyping up the board with vaporware" and "was good at coding 20 years ago."
Postapocalyptic tech billionaire: “My private security is well paid, and only I have the passwords to access the goods!”
Postapocalyptic private security team: “It will take us maybe eight seconds to extract all of his passwords, just make sure we don’t accidentally kill him before he coughs up.”
Postapocalyptic private security team: “It will take us maybe eight seconds to extract all of his passwords, just make sure we don’t accidentally kill him before he coughs up.”
In which @philipchristman.bsky.social makes a compelling aesthetic objection to libertarianism
November 25, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Warlordism tends to reward people good at war. It's a bad fit for people whose primary skill set is "raising VC money", "hyping up the board with vaporware" and "was good at coding 20 years ago."
Reposted by Calliope
this kind of "throw every random social justice accusation at the wall and see what sticks" approach actually just discredits social justice. come on. let's do better
November 25, 2025 at 4:42 PM
this kind of "throw every random social justice accusation at the wall and see what sticks" approach actually just discredits social justice. come on. let's do better
Once again - Japanification is a choice. It's not inevitable.
November 25, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Once again - Japanification is a choice. It's not inevitable.
It is perhaps humbling to realize that the United States has the world's oldest government apart from the UK. Consider that Norway has only existed as an independent country since 1905. France is on its fifth republic since 1789. South Korea dates back to 1948, and as a democracy is 37 years old.
I think the cognitive error here is what I am going to call - from A Man for All Seasons - the 'This Isn't Spain!' fallacy: the assumption that some special forcefield enforces the regularity of your country's politics, so that things that happen elsewhere 'cannot happen here.'
November 25, 2025 at 4:39 PM
It is perhaps humbling to realize that the United States has the world's oldest government apart from the UK. Consider that Norway has only existed as an independent country since 1905. France is on its fifth republic since 1789. South Korea dates back to 1948, and as a democracy is 37 years old.
This is quite correct. The law only matters if enforced, and that becomes much easier if Trump is unpopular.
The problem with this article is they asked too many lawyers and not enough historians.
As a historian, I'd say the legality of Trump's immunity and pardons depends on how he leaves office.
At 40 over 55 approval? He's immune.
At 25 over 65? He's probably not immune & self-pardons aren't legal.
As a historian, I'd say the legality of Trump's immunity and pardons depends on how he leaves office.
At 40 over 55 approval? He's immune.
At 25 over 65? He's probably not immune & self-pardons aren't legal.
John Roberts has secured his place in history alongside Al Capone and Bernard Madoff. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/o...
November 25, 2025 at 4:29 PM
This is quite correct. The law only matters if enforced, and that becomes much easier if Trump is unpopular.
The fact that many people in the West think Buddhists have never militarized and that the entire religion is pacifist is one of the more naïve pieces of Orientalism out there.
Dangerous Buddhist Extremism, you say??
November 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The fact that many people in the West think Buddhists have never militarized and that the entire religion is pacifist is one of the more naïve pieces of Orientalism out there.
There is a reason people love Narendra Modi, in spite of the fact that his tenure as PM of India does not vastly differ economically from his predecessors and GDP growth actually slowed down during his first few years in office. He believes in something - even if that "something" is horrifying.
So many popular theories of politics are guided by open contempt for the electorate and nothing else. “Just give the dumb schmucks more treats and they’ll love you” - what if that’s wrong, actually? What if human beings are often guided by ideas and beliefs?
Obamacare should have included a provision where everybody gets mailed a $100 prepaid debit card every year they can use exclusively to purchase medications; dim Midwesterners who vote for President based on their opinion of the infield fly rule love that shit.
November 25, 2025 at 2:44 PM
There is a reason people love Narendra Modi, in spite of the fact that his tenure as PM of India does not vastly differ economically from his predecessors and GDP growth actually slowed down during his first few years in office. He believes in something - even if that "something" is horrifying.
Jensen Huang is *probably* sane enough to realize this. He's consistently shown himself to be the only adult in the Big Tech room: he's the only tech CEO to skip Trump's inauguration, hates science fiction, and doesn't believe in an AI utopia. And he did lead Nvidia through the dot com bubble.
NVIDIA has had the excellent luck to wind up in a market position where it just fucking prints money, and they're on the verge of squandering it out of FOMO and market mania.
Hello! One of Enron's incredibly junior investment bankers here. One thing we discussed a lot at the time is that we couldn't trace the business model of the company due to its Byzantine accounting structure. But Enron was so high flying on Wall Street, we assumed we were missing something.
November 25, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Jensen Huang is *probably* sane enough to realize this. He's consistently shown himself to be the only adult in the Big Tech room: he's the only tech CEO to skip Trump's inauguration, hates science fiction, and doesn't believe in an AI utopia. And he did lead Nvidia through the dot com bubble.
Elon Musk is, barring a miraculous conversion, a lifetime of penance, and the will of a singularly merciful God, going directly to Hell.
DOGE set out to break things and kill people and we can all say with unequivocal certainty that it sure did do that
November 25, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Elon Musk is, barring a miraculous conversion, a lifetime of penance, and the will of a singularly merciful God, going directly to Hell.