John
@drspiff.bsky.social
Life is simple: it's either cherry red or midnight blue (CWRU’03, UVA’95) The enemy gate is down. The Doctrine of One Ship.
Pinned
John
@drspiff.bsky.social
· Feb 3
Literally all our lore, stories and mythology about technology is about how destructive it becomes when unregulated by humanity.
I don’t know what more I can say than the ENTIRE body of human creative expression to ppl who choose to ignore those warnings.
I don’t know what more I can say than the ENTIRE body of human creative expression to ppl who choose to ignore those warnings.
I’ve decided this conference is going to be about enjoying learning. I don’t need to promote myself or sell anything. I don’t need to see certain ppl. At this stage in my career, I am free to generous and soak it in.
January 5, 2026 at 2:40 PM
I’ve decided this conference is going to be about enjoying learning. I don’t need to promote myself or sell anything. I don’t need to see certain ppl. At this stage in my career, I am free to generous and soak it in.
Reposted by John
A hidden problem with euphemisms such as this is that the current generation of young voters will grow up thinking it's normal for the U.S. to interfere with the sovereignty of Latin American nations, bullying them for fun and profit.
New euphemism for "bottomless corruption and naked abuses of power" just dropped
January 4, 2026 at 1:43 PM
A hidden problem with euphemisms such as this is that the current generation of young voters will grow up thinking it's normal for the U.S. to interfere with the sovereignty of Latin American nations, bullying them for fun and profit.
The fuckers told the papers but didn’t inform Congress!
(Semafor) - The New York Times and Washington Post learned of a secret US raid on Venezuela soon before it was scheduled to begin Friday night — but held off publishing what they knew to avoid endangering US troops ..
@semafor.com
www.semafor.com/article/01/0...
@semafor.com
www.semafor.com/article/01/0...
January 4, 2026 at 2:25 AM
The fuckers told the papers but didn’t inform Congress!
Dems should impeach and go after Sec Defense and the generals. Sends a message to those who would enable and throws the shade that Trump is too far gone to really be calling the shots.
January 3, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Dems should impeach and go after Sec Defense and the generals. Sends a message to those who would enable and throws the shade that Trump is too far gone to really be calling the shots.
Under the original Civ rules a Democracy or Republic could not attack another player unless that player attacked them first. The normal strategy was to convert to Despotism for a few turns to start a war. At least in the game there was a penalty in loss of bonuses for doing that.
Never thought the foreign policy I employ when I’m playing CIV would be copied by the United States of America. .
Hegseth on Maduro: "He effed around, and he found out"
January 3, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Under the original Civ rules a Democracy or Republic could not attack another player unless that player attacked them first. The normal strategy was to convert to Despotism for a few turns to start a war. At least in the game there was a penalty in loss of bonuses for doing that.
Reposted by John
The House Armed Services Committee also was not briefed, I've confirmed.
News: Gang of Eight in Congress were only notified about Trump's Venezuela operation after it began, source familiar tells me. That means the heads of the Intelligence Committees in Senate and House were *not* consulted. Just crazy.
January 3, 2026 at 3:58 PM
The House Armed Services Committee also was not briefed, I've confirmed.
Reposted by John
The President has just sidestepped Congress, launched a strike on Venezuela, and deployed U.S. troops. This is an act of war. Any member of Congress who respects the Constitution should be outraged by this reckless escalation. (1/2)
January 3, 2026 at 5:28 PM
The President has just sidestepped Congress, launched a strike on Venezuela, and deployed U.S. troops. This is an act of war. Any member of Congress who respects the Constitution should be outraged by this reckless escalation. (1/2)
don’t fool yourselves. He wants to run the Caribbean the same way the Russians ran eastern Europe after World War II.
ah well, nonetheless
Trump: "I think Cuba is gonna be something we'll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation. It's very similar"
January 3, 2026 at 6:29 PM
don’t fool yourselves. He wants to run the Caribbean the same way the Russians ran eastern Europe after World War II.
I feel like we should also be drawing up charges against and impeaching the generals who made this illegal operation possible.
January 3, 2026 at 6:29 PM
I feel like we should also be drawing up charges against and impeaching the generals who made this illegal operation possible.
My kiddo “accidentally” used Kerry Gold premium butter to make her Kraft Mac n Cheese dinner last night so I’m taking first dibs on the left overs for lunch today.
January 3, 2026 at 6:26 PM
My kiddo “accidentally” used Kerry Gold premium butter to make her Kraft Mac n Cheese dinner last night so I’m taking first dibs on the left overs for lunch today.
Reposted by John
Reading the Maduro “indictment” I’m suddenly reminded of WHY Gitmo existed and Obama didn’t shut it down.
It’s because you can’t KIDNAP people, based on “evidence” you violated rights to obtain, and bring them to trial in U.S. courts.
It’s because you can’t KIDNAP people, based on “evidence” you violated rights to obtain, and bring them to trial in U.S. courts.
January 3, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Reading the Maduro “indictment” I’m suddenly reminded of WHY Gitmo existed and Obama didn’t shut it down.
It’s because you can’t KIDNAP people, based on “evidence” you violated rights to obtain, and bring them to trial in U.S. courts.
It’s because you can’t KIDNAP people, based on “evidence” you violated rights to obtain, and bring them to trial in U.S. courts.
Reposted by John
Donald Trump has multiple indictments in the United States for crimes against the US government. And also pardoned top drug dealers.
Vance pushes back and says this was not illegal, arguing "Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don't get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas."
January 3, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Donald Trump has multiple indictments in the United States for crimes against the US government. And also pardoned top drug dealers.
Reposted by John
News: Gang of Eight in Congress were only notified about Trump's Venezuela operation after it began, source familiar tells me. That means the heads of the Intelligence Committees in Senate and House were *not* consulted. Just crazy.
January 3, 2026 at 3:06 PM
News: Gang of Eight in Congress were only notified about Trump's Venezuela operation after it began, source familiar tells me. That means the heads of the Intelligence Committees in Senate and House were *not* consulted. Just crazy.
Reposted by John
We are a rogue state, run by a dictator, and the international community should treat us as such including all appropriate economic and diplomatic sanctions
January 3, 2026 at 3:36 PM
We are a rogue state, run by a dictator, and the international community should treat us as such including all appropriate economic and diplomatic sanctions
Reposted by John
Big congrats to the Nobel Committee for awarding the prize "for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" just so she could immediately conspire with a foreign government to murder civilians on the high seas then invade and stage a coup.
I feel like the history of western imperialism is often like this, where there's an almost-plausible case for resource-grabbing, an almost plausible geopolitical explanation (first Caracas, then Havana), and a sort of liberal imperialist fig leaf to keep democrats from being too mad (the Nobel shit)
January 3, 2026 at 12:51 PM
Big congrats to the Nobel Committee for awarding the prize "for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" just so she could immediately conspire with a foreign government to murder civilians on the high seas then invade and stage a coup.
Reposted by John
Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts.
Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.
Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.
January 3, 2026 at 10:52 AM
Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts.
Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.
Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.
Reposted by John
Among the many reasons you don’t kidnap a foreign head of state at gunpoint even if you have the capability, is that it sparks consequences you can neither control nor anticipate.
January 3, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Among the many reasons you don’t kidnap a foreign head of state at gunpoint even if you have the capability, is that it sparks consequences you can neither control nor anticipate.
Reposted by John
I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war
January 3, 2026 at 9:13 AM
I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war
Shaolin Soccer is a pretty darn awesome movie. I laughed. I cried. And Team Evil lost.
January 3, 2026 at 5:07 AM
Shaolin Soccer is a pretty darn awesome movie. I laughed. I cried. And Team Evil lost.
I initially read this headline as “Kennedy Center Fascists Cancelled” and it is sad we live in a time when that isn’t nonsense.
First, a takeover of leadership, then a renaming. Now, the Trump-Kennedy Center is facing canceled performances and a drop in overall ticket sales. https://to.pbs.org/4ppKbkJ
Kennedy Center faces artist cancellations, drop in ticket sales after Trump's name added
First, a takeover of leadership, then a renaming. Now, the Trump-Kennedy Center is facing canceled performances and a drop in overall ticket sales. Jeffrey Brown reports on the turmoil at one of the n...
to.pbs.org
January 3, 2026 at 3:02 AM
I initially read this headline as “Kennedy Center Fascists Cancelled” and it is sad we live in a time when that isn’t nonsense.
Reposted by John
there are endless headlines about "grok apologizes" or "grok says it will be fixed" after it generated CSAM using pictures of minors and zero headlines about "grok being shut down" or "musk and xAI in big legal trouble" and I think something fundamental has broken here
January 2, 2026 at 6:59 PM
there are endless headlines about "grok apologizes" or "grok says it will be fixed" after it generated CSAM using pictures of minors and zero headlines about "grok being shut down" or "musk and xAI in big legal trouble" and I think something fundamental has broken here
Reposted by John
This is a thread of major media outlets falsely anthropomorphising the "Grok" chatbot program and in doing so, actively and directly removing responsibility and accountability from individual people working at X who created a child pornography generator (Elon Musk, Nikita Bier etc)
#1: Reuters
#1: Reuters
January 2, 2026 at 8:02 PM
This is a thread of major media outlets falsely anthropomorphising the "Grok" chatbot program and in doing so, actively and directly removing responsibility and accountability from individual people working at X who created a child pornography generator (Elon Musk, Nikita Bier etc)
#1: Reuters
#1: Reuters
My resolution this year is easy to keep.
I resolve to vote for the opponent of everyone endorsed by or endorsing Trump.
I resolve to vote for the opponent of everyone endorsed by or endorsing Trump.
January 1, 2026 at 10:15 PM
My resolution this year is easy to keep.
I resolve to vote for the opponent of everyone endorsed by or endorsing Trump.
I resolve to vote for the opponent of everyone endorsed by or endorsing Trump.
Reposted by John
In a closed-door interview, Smith characterized the Republican president as the “most culpable and most responsible person” in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. https://to.pbs.org/4qkxKI9
Jack Smith tells lawmakers his team developed 'proof beyond a reasonable doubt' against Trump
The private deposition before the House Judiciary Committee gives the former special counsel his first chance to face questions, albeit behind closed doors, about a pair of investigations into Trump t...
www.pbs.org
January 1, 2026 at 6:32 PM
In a closed-door interview, Smith characterized the Republican president as the “most culpable and most responsible person” in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. https://to.pbs.org/4qkxKI9
Reposted by John
Mamdani: For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty
January 1, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Mamdani: For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty