Caroline Baxter
@ccbaxter.bsky.social
Once and future🙋public servant.
Global risks; music; food; the occasional drink.
Impact and leverage are not verbs. I am not your key stakeholder.
Global risks; music; food; the occasional drink.
Impact and leverage are not verbs. I am not your key stakeholder.
Every now and again I misunderstand my neighborhood listserv’s acronyms and think someone wrote an email with the subject like “F#%^ Sake Toddler Boots” and for minutes I think the “get off my lawn” vibes have gone to a new high until I realize they’re just looking to sell some shoes.
November 25, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Every now and again I misunderstand my neighborhood listserv’s acronyms and think someone wrote an email with the subject like “F#%^ Sake Toddler Boots” and for minutes I think the “get off my lawn” vibes have gone to a new high until I realize they’re just looking to sell some shoes.
But here's the thing: Americans' energy bills are already 3x inflation, so the WH needs to figure out how to power this AI boom real fast. Putting it under DOE suggests it'll be nuclear but it takes 10 years to build a plant and our current stock won't cut it.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
November 25, 2025 at 2:53 AM
But here's the thing: Americans' energy bills are already 3x inflation, so the WH needs to figure out how to power this AI boom real fast. Putting it under DOE suggests it'll be nuclear but it takes 10 years to build a plant and our current stock won't cut it.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
The Boy brought home a construction paper ring garland thing (whatever those things are called) from school on which he’d written things he’s thankful for, two of which were “glitter” and “pain” because “pain is useful for the body” and I think he wins the “who needs a vacation most” competition
November 24, 2025 at 11:57 PM
The Boy brought home a construction paper ring garland thing (whatever those things are called) from school on which he’d written things he’s thankful for, two of which were “glitter” and “pain” because “pain is useful for the body” and I think he wins the “who needs a vacation most” competition
Like what foreign policy practitioner worth the title, having watched Venezuela these past few weeks, wakes up one morning and exclaims, “Yknow who we *really* need to hear from? The Iran-Contra guy”
Because when I want to get ideas for how the US should manage a brewing crisis in Venezuela, I want to hear the perspective of a guy who served in the Reagan Administration, one noted for its restraint and skill in South America.
War criminal says what
November 24, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Like what foreign policy practitioner worth the title, having watched Venezuela these past few weeks, wakes up one morning and exclaims, “Yknow who we *really* need to hear from? The Iran-Contra guy”
Because when I want to get ideas for how the US should manage a brewing crisis in Venezuela, I want to hear the perspective of a guy who served in the Reagan Administration, one noted for its restraint and skill in South America.
November 24, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Because when I want to get ideas for how the US should manage a brewing crisis in Venezuela, I want to hear the perspective of a guy who served in the Reagan Administration, one noted for its restraint and skill in South America.
This is spot on — and my biggest fear is that it will become more expensive to learn how to think and a lot cheaper to just use AI. Majoring in the humanities will resurge as a marker of class.
Who invests in critical thinking and who invests in an AI chatbot to help you think will be really telling.
November 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
This is spot on — and my biggest fear is that it will become more expensive to learn how to think and a lot cheaper to just use AI. Majoring in the humanities will resurge as a marker of class.
One ping only.
Nov 23rd 1984 - Jack Ryan came to the conclusion that the rogue Soviet naval captain, Ramius (Sean Connery), plans to defect to the United States.
📽️📅 The Hunt for Red October (1990)
📽️📅 The Hunt for Red October (1990)
November 23, 2025 at 2:37 PM
One ping only.
Just another normal afternoon in America, parking at a supermarket near a car with a “THE-1488” license plate.
www.adl.org/resources/ha...
www.adl.org/resources/ha...
www.adl.org
November 22, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Just another normal afternoon in America, parking at a supermarket near a car with a “THE-1488” license plate.
www.adl.org/resources/ha...
www.adl.org/resources/ha...
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
The Moscow Times: „The very emergence of such a U.S. initiative signals, in Putin’s view, that Washington is capitulating. And capitulating not because it has suffered losses — it has lost neither tanks nor aircraft nor soldiers — but because it is tired,frightened and eager to avoid involvement.“
November 22, 2025 at 5:28 AM
The Moscow Times: „The very emergence of such a U.S. initiative signals, in Putin’s view, that Washington is capitulating. And capitulating not because it has suffered losses — it has lost neither tanks nor aircraft nor soldiers — but because it is tired,frightened and eager to avoid involvement.“
305 down, 1,156 to go.
November 21, 2025 at 11:31 PM
305 down, 1,156 to go.
Until humans evolve to have little floppy disk slots in their brains for new files, learning will always take (1) time, (2) effort, and (3) a certain degree of friction. I don't know why we needed to study this but ok.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Until humans evolve to have little floppy disk slots in their brains for new files, learning will always take (1) time, (2) effort, and (3) a certain degree of friction. I don't know why we needed to study this but ok.
Ah yes - the extremely opaque, hard to nail down swastika. One man’s hate symbol is another man’s historical throwback to fascism. This’ll do wonders for unit cohesion.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”
www.washingtonpost.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Ah yes - the extremely opaque, hard to nail down swastika. One man’s hate symbol is another man’s historical throwback to fascism. This’ll do wonders for unit cohesion.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
NEW: Sean Duffy frequently calls safety his “top priority” as transportation secretary. But I spent months wading through regulatory notices and found something far different: that USDOT has been delaying, weakening and killing dozens of safety rules, many opposed by the transportation industry.🧵
November 20, 2025 at 12:36 PM
NEW: Sean Duffy frequently calls safety his “top priority” as transportation secretary. But I spent months wading through regulatory notices and found something far different: that USDOT has been delaying, weakening and killing dozens of safety rules, many opposed by the transportation industry.🧵
This is an essential point: “A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window.”
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 19, 2025 at 3:54 PM
This is an essential point: “A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window.”
Approaching a technology as powerful as AI with a “ooh what can this do?” mindset instead of “here is the problem we need it to solve” is the primary reason we’ve gotten to a place where a teddy bear even has AI in the first place.
November 19, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Approaching a technology as powerful as AI with a “ooh what can this do?” mindset instead of “here is the problem we need it to solve” is the primary reason we’ve gotten to a place where a teddy bear even has AI in the first place.
“According to an OPM email summarizing the regulations, the rule states that employees transferred into Schedule Policy/Career will no longer be protected by the removal protections in Chapter 75 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code or the right to adverse action appeals”
www.govexec.com/workforce/20...
www.govexec.com/workforce/20...
Final Schedule F regulations to describe civil service protections as ‘unconstitutional overcorrections’
OPM officials told agency HR leaders Tuesday that President Trump has Article II constitutional authority to remove tens of thousands of career federal workers in jobs over potential “resistance to po...
www.govexec.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 PM
“According to an OPM email summarizing the regulations, the rule states that employees transferred into Schedule Policy/Career will no longer be protected by the removal protections in Chapter 75 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code or the right to adverse action appeals”
www.govexec.com/workforce/20...
www.govexec.com/workforce/20...
So if we want better journalists (and we should ALL want better journalists) may I humbly propose making it *way cheaper to go to college?* Northwestern, one of the best j-schools: ~$96k/yr. Lizza's alma mater UC Berkeley: ~$50k/year. Widen the talent pool to increase the quality AND quantity.
these people were supposed to be the cream of the crop of the industry, btw
oh my god you have to read this until the end www.telos.news/p/part-1-how...
November 18, 2025 at 8:09 PM
So if we want better journalists (and we should ALL want better journalists) may I humbly propose making it *way cheaper to go to college?* Northwestern, one of the best j-schools: ~$96k/yr. Lizza's alma mater UC Berkeley: ~$50k/year. Widen the talent pool to increase the quality AND quantity.
Call me old-fashioned but isn’t teaching a public commitment…?
Larry Summers tells @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 18, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Call me old-fashioned but isn’t teaching a public commitment…?
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
A potential prelude to military action against Venezuela—even though the FTO designation as such confers no authority to use force.
(And this supposed cartel may not even exist.)
A regime change campaign in the guise of counterterrorism.
(And this supposed cartel may not even exist.)
A regime change campaign in the guise of counterterrorism.
November 16, 2025 at 10:44 PM
A potential prelude to military action against Venezuela—even though the FTO designation as such confers no authority to use force.
(And this supposed cartel may not even exist.)
A regime change campaign in the guise of counterterrorism.
(And this supposed cartel may not even exist.)
A regime change campaign in the guise of counterterrorism.
Random personnel cuts -> civilian faculty loss -> accreditation review. Loss would be huge. All military academies are accredited by civilian groups - it’s how we ensure they get an education that’s valued by civilian employers after people leave the service.
www.military.com/feature/2025...
www.military.com/feature/2025...
Higher Learning Commission Opens Review of the United States Air Force Academy
Dr. Kent Murphy, an Air Force Academy alumnus and longtime pre-medical advisor, filed a complaint after an April 2025 resignation program led to the loss of many PhD-level faculty, particularly in STE...
www.military.com
November 16, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Random personnel cuts -> civilian faculty loss -> accreditation review. Loss would be huge. All military academies are accredited by civilian groups - it’s how we ensure they get an education that’s valued by civilian employers after people leave the service.
www.military.com/feature/2025...
www.military.com/feature/2025...
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
last night at a bar I learned that they improved pinball by making machines that are entirely computers and they’re much better than what we had before
November 16, 2025 at 6:43 PM
last night at a bar I learned that they improved pinball by making machines that are entirely computers and they’re much better than what we had before
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
Seriously, what is wrong with these people?
November 16, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Seriously, what is wrong with these people?
Meanwhile SOUTHCOM is without a Senate-confirmed commander since Adm. Holsey stepped down.
Trump launches “Operation Southern Spear,” Hegseth says, targeting narco-terrorists and drug networks to “protect the homeland.”
Donald Trump Orders New Military Operation
www.newsweek.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Meanwhile SOUTHCOM is without a Senate-confirmed commander since Adm. Holsey stepped down.
It’s a good point: the surface area of my ass, which an adult male groped when I was a child of six, or the size of my lips, which an adult male kissed without my consent when I was a child of eight, were much smaller than when I was a child of 15 and propositioned by an adult male on the street.
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 13, 2025 at 9:03 PM
It’s a good point: the surface area of my ass, which an adult male groped when I was a child of six, or the size of my lips, which an adult male kissed without my consent when I was a child of eight, were much smaller than when I was a child of 15 and propositioned by an adult male on the street.
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
Glad this story is finally public but also incredible that it is taking media so long to dig up what is essentially open knowledge in these communities rn.
November 12, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Glad this story is finally public but also incredible that it is taking media so long to dig up what is essentially open knowledge in these communities rn.