@chortles81.bsky.social
Reposted
A big part of why Mamdani won is that he actually seemed like he was interested in doing the job of mayor, and I would appreciate it if people let him focus on what is already going to be an uphill battle without demanding that he also declare war on the Democratic party.
AOC has been playing inside ball to climb the national dem party for years and this is why a lot of NY DSA now hates her; Mamdani barely just won over the NY machine, he has good reasons to not immediately start fights with the state party before he is even in power and has his people staffed.
AOC and Mamdani, arguably the two most prominent members of the DSA, allegedly choosing not to back Ossé in his potential primary run against Jeffries is certainly an interesting choice in the face of the NYC-DSA's reputation of being anti-Black
November 18, 2025 at 4:23 PM
A big part of why Mamdani won is that he actually seemed like he was interested in doing the job of mayor, and I would appreciate it if people let him focus on what is already going to be an uphill battle without demanding that he also declare war on the Democratic party.
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Ukraine is of course actually dangerous.
They have some conception of what it means to be a "real journalist" but they want all the glory without any of the actual risk. That's why they got pissed Biden took away the opportunity to get safe flack vest photos in Afghanistan and while they will never stick their necks out with Trump.
November 18, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Ukraine is of course actually dangerous.
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This is basically correct. The fantasy is that he's a gritty antihero who lives by his own code and shows no mercy. Which is attractive. This all flows quite naturally from 80s and 90s popular culture - edginess as the sole barometer of morality.
It makes them respect him more. They treated Biden with contempt because they knew he wouldn't kill them, they show deference to Trump because they think he might. Mentality of whipped dogs.
I wonder if the journalists in the WH Press Pool have realized yet that Trump wishes he could do to them what MBS did to Khashoggi when they ask him questions he doesn’t like.
November 18, 2025 at 6:11 PM
This is basically correct. The fantasy is that he's a gritty antihero who lives by his own code and shows no mercy. Which is attractive. This all flows quite naturally from 80s and 90s popular culture - edginess as the sole barometer of morality.
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I worked at the Pepperberg Lab back in the day where I cared for African grey parrots. It was a very rewarding experience, but caring for an African grey is a JOB!! The birds are very intelligent and social, and they are NOT TOYS.
A Rolling Stone x WIRE investigation: TikTok Is Obsessed With Parrots. It’s Fueling a Global Black Market
A probe into the African-grey trade reveals a web of poachers, egg smugglers, businessmen & multitudes who want a talking bird.
Read: www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
A probe into the African-grey trade reveals a web of poachers, egg smugglers, businessmen & multitudes who want a talking bird.
Read: www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
November 18, 2025 at 2:15 PM
I worked at the Pepperberg Lab back in the day where I cared for African grey parrots. It was a very rewarding experience, but caring for an African grey is a JOB!! The birds are very intelligent and social, and they are NOT TOYS.
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Violent anti-mask protests, 1918 (by me). From www.thenewatlantis.com/publications...
November 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Violent anti-mask protests, 1918 (by me). From www.thenewatlantis.com/publications...
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resources re: ICE presence in North Carolina, distribute widely if you feel like it. all love to my community, no love to the people who said "but what is fascism really? historically, blah blah, name-calling gets us nowhere" when we were all saying "these people are fascists"
linktr.ee/apply_heat
linktr.ee/apply_heat
@apply_heat | Linktree
Show up for our neighbors
linktr.ee
November 19, 2025 at 1:20 PM
resources re: ICE presence in North Carolina, distribute widely if you feel like it. all love to my community, no love to the people who said "but what is fascism really? historically, blah blah, name-calling gets us nowhere" when we were all saying "these people are fascists"
linktr.ee/apply_heat
linktr.ee/apply_heat
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wrote about the president’s flagrant and destructive corruption in a column that references street fighter, the simpsons, machiavelli, and a host of revolutionary-era americans (gift link)
Opinion | The White House Gold Rush Is On
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:51 AM
wrote about the president’s flagrant and destructive corruption in a column that references street fighter, the simpsons, machiavelli, and a host of revolutionary-era americans (gift link)
Reposted
"The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant has been awarded a $1 billion federal loan guarantee that will enable it to shift onto taxpayers some of the risk of its plan to restart the Pennsylvania facility and sell the electricity to Microsoft for its data centers."
Trump officials give $1 billion loan to restart Three Mile Island
The plan to reopen Three Mile Island to supply Microsoft with power wins a federal loan guarantee, shifting some of the risk onto taxpayers.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:02 PM
"The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant has been awarded a $1 billion federal loan guarantee that will enable it to shift onto taxpayers some of the risk of its plan to restart the Pennsylvania facility and sell the electricity to Microsoft for its data centers."
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This is the hardest I have seen any member of Congress work to try and address transphobia in Congress, and her ability to get nearly all Democratic lawmakers to sign onto this letter is something any first would applaud
House Dems unite to tell GOP to stop "demonizing" trans people with "dehumanizing" slurs - LGBTQ Nation
Rep. Nancy Mace's "tra**y, tra**y, tra**y!" tirade is just one example.
www.lgbtqnation.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:49 AM
This is the hardest I have seen any member of Congress work to try and address transphobia in Congress, and her ability to get nearly all Democratic lawmakers to sign onto this letter is something any first would applaud
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“Most officers can tell the difference between orders that uphold our values and those that contradict them. They are not ignorant — they’ve simply been given permission to look away. Concocted legality offers cover, and the system rewards those who take it.” www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Contributor: Do our military leaders have the backbone to disobey illegal orders?
A recently uncovered memo promises U.S. soldiers immunity for the killing of more than 80 people in boat strikes throughout the Caribbean, effectively conceding it crossed a line.
www.latimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:50 PM
“Most officers can tell the difference between orders that uphold our values and those that contradict them. They are not ignorant — they’ve simply been given permission to look away. Concocted legality offers cover, and the system rewards those who take it.” www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
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Interesting to note: she's stumping for a woman who called Israel's assault on Gaza a genocide in April 2024.
November 19, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Interesting to note: she's stumping for a woman who called Israel's assault on Gaza a genocide in April 2024.
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but that last part did happen. imo it is particularly important to emphasize that the oil majors + big three did, in fact, directly reshape much of public transit in major cities and this included the literal dismemberment of public transit systems.
was it the only thing? no
did it happen? yes
was it the only thing? no
did it happen? yes
Because a lot of leftists/progressives have pseudo conspiratorial models of reality where they think the only reason Americans live in suburbs is bc GM tore up the streetcar lines in LA etc.
November 19, 2025 at 12:18 AM
but that last part did happen. imo it is particularly important to emphasize that the oil majors + big three did, in fact, directly reshape much of public transit in major cities and this included the literal dismemberment of public transit systems.
was it the only thing? no
did it happen? yes
was it the only thing? no
did it happen? yes
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The cowards should remake Ghosts with the perspectives reversed: a scrappy coalition of nations who don't exactly like each other team up for mutual defense against an increasingly unhinged country with a terrifying mix of vast wealth and obsessive delusions who cannot be reasoned with
November 18, 2025 at 9:56 PM
The cowards should remake Ghosts with the perspectives reversed: a scrappy coalition of nations who don't exactly like each other team up for mutual defense against an increasingly unhinged country with a terrifying mix of vast wealth and obsessive delusions who cannot be reasoned with
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Powerful op-ed from Btselem on accountability in Gaza: "Accountability is essential – not for revenge, but because there’s no reckoning without responsibility. Genocide must not be normalized. And a system that carries it out must not go unchallenged." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Israel needs to face accountability for our genocide. And so does the US | Yuli Novak
The international community allowed all of this to happen. We must not look away or move on
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Powerful op-ed from Btselem on accountability in Gaza: "Accountability is essential – not for revenge, but because there’s no reckoning without responsibility. Genocide must not be normalized. And a system that carries it out must not go unchallenged." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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I'm honored to earn the endorsement of former Congressman Andy Levin. Congressman Levin fought for Michigan's 9th district with courage and conviction. He’s a champion for working people, our environment, and human rights. Grateful for his support.
November 18, 2025 at 7:19 PM
I'm honored to earn the endorsement of former Congressman Andy Levin. Congressman Levin fought for Michigan's 9th district with courage and conviction. He’s a champion for working people, our environment, and human rights. Grateful for his support.
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"defense attorneys are telling us they can’t get their clients to take good or reasonable plea offers because they felt they’re better off spending their money on a political donation, drawing Trump’s attention, and getting the case dismissed or going to trial and getting a pardon."
November 17, 2025 at 2:05 PM
"defense attorneys are telling us they can’t get their clients to take good or reasonable plea offers because they felt they’re better off spending their money on a political donation, drawing Trump’s attention, and getting the case dismissed or going to trial and getting a pardon."
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The DOJ ordered US Marshals to the house of the pardon attorney who refused to sign off on a pardon to give Mel Gibson back his guns. Big law firms told her they supported her but did not want to be seen representing her.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
November 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The DOJ ordered US Marshals to the house of the pardon attorney who refused to sign off on a pardon to give Mel Gibson back his guns. Big law firms told her they supported her but did not want to be seen representing her.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
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Mary Beard: Hollywood Lied to You About Ancient Rome. Here’s the Truth. “We’ve inherited the history of Ancient Rome through movies, ruins, and shallow stories. The truth is far messier.” [kottke.org]
Mary Beard: Hollywood Lied to You About Ancient Rome. Here’s the Truth.
In an interview lasting for more than an hour, classicist Mary Beard shares her knowledge & experience about how the picture of Rome we might have in our heads, inherited from Hollywood movies like Gladiator, is incomp
kottke.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Mary Beard: Hollywood Lied to You About Ancient Rome. Here’s the Truth. “We’ve inherited the history of Ancient Rome through movies, ruins, and shallow stories. The truth is far messier.” [kottke.org]
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if white voters in southern states were the same as white voters in New York this would be every electoral map of our lifetimes
November 17, 2025 at 5:27 PM
if white voters in southern states were the same as white voters in New York this would be every electoral map of our lifetimes
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the great self-liberation of humanity is precisely our self-liberation from the shackles of our natural condition--yes, including our natural biology. fuck that noise
November 17, 2025 at 10:27 PM
the great self-liberation of humanity is precisely our self-liberation from the shackles of our natural condition--yes, including our natural biology. fuck that noise
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chicken
ice cream
convenience
who could possibly object?
(lots of people, it turns out)
ice cream
convenience
who could possibly object?
(lots of people, it turns out)
November 17, 2025 at 10:47 PM
chicken
ice cream
convenience
who could possibly object?
(lots of people, it turns out)
ice cream
convenience
who could possibly object?
(lots of people, it turns out)
Reposted
don’t you just think every day of your life about how the only reason anyone still takes JFK seriously is because his side pieces didn’t have Twitter or TikTok to blow up his spot
November 18, 2025 at 2:39 AM
don’t you just think every day of your life about how the only reason anyone still takes JFK seriously is because his side pieces didn’t have Twitter or TikTok to blow up his spot
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great thread on how trump's personalist regime is playing out in the international arena. personalism as a mode of rule is not identical with, but is quite compatible with, reactionary policy agendas. it is this corruption we are going to need to CLEAN OUT
www.liberalcurrents.com/americas-pat...
www.liberalcurrents.com/americas-pat...
November 18, 2025 at 3:30 PM
great thread on how trump's personalist regime is playing out in the international arena. personalism as a mode of rule is not identical with, but is quite compatible with, reactionary policy agendas. it is this corruption we are going to need to CLEAN OUT
www.liberalcurrents.com/americas-pat...
www.liberalcurrents.com/americas-pat...
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I spoke to Mahmood Mamdani about his new book, his expulsion from Uganda, his son Zohran, and *that* NYT article.
Mahmood Mamdani on Zohran, Uganda and forced expulsion: ‘Who is part of the nation and who is not?’
After being expelled from his homeland in 1972, the academic has grappled with questions of political belonging – a major theme of his son’s mayoral campaign
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I spoke to Mahmood Mamdani about his new book, his expulsion from Uganda, his son Zohran, and *that* NYT article.
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I will be writing another "Myth of Israeli Military Independence" entry soon. The hits keep piling up, and the more we disabuse the general public of the idea that the US was only indirectly involved in the war Israel unleashed across half the planet, the better.
Thread of The Myth of Israeli Military Independence: you want to know how much Israel needs the active, constant, and unquestioning support of the United States, and how that relationship is unique and irreplaceable? Read on (and more coming, as there's so much to talk about!)
The Myth of Israeli Military Independence (Part 1)
They need us more than you think
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I will be writing another "Myth of Israeli Military Independence" entry soon. The hits keep piling up, and the more we disabuse the general public of the idea that the US was only indirectly involved in the war Israel unleashed across half the planet, the better.