Disillusioned Optimist
@jenmiwri.bsky.social
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
One argument I used to make to my students about why it was important to learn history (and historical thinking) is that someone was always going to be trying to tell you things were natural or had always been this way and that you needed to be able to see that as an exercise of power.
December 7, 2025 at 10:09 PM
One argument I used to make to my students about why it was important to learn history (and historical thinking) is that someone was always going to be trying to tell you things were natural or had always been this way and that you needed to be able to see that as an exercise of power.
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
ICE raided a James Beard award winning restaurant & because the chef/owner was prepared, left emptyhanded:
December 5, 2025 at 3:24 PM
ICE raided a James Beard award winning restaurant & because the chef/owner was prepared, left emptyhanded:
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
If anyone cares at all, EV battery recycling is now hitting 99% recovery for important metals
Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is
interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...
Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is
interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...
New recycling tech recovers nearly pure nickel and cobalt from old EV batteries
Researchers have developed an eco-friendly recycling tech that extracts 99 percent pure nickel and cobalt from waste batteries.
interestingengineering.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:17 AM
If anyone cares at all, EV battery recycling is now hitting 99% recovery for important metals
Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is
interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...
Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is
interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
In 2019 a group of Bolivian indigenous women aka the “Climbing Cholitas” summitted Mount Aconcagua, Argentina (highest point - Southern Hemisphere) The women had previously worked for years as cooks for mostly rich male mountaineers. They climbed in traditional dress #WomensArt
December 5, 2025 at 6:18 AM
In 2019 a group of Bolivian indigenous women aka the “Climbing Cholitas” summitted Mount Aconcagua, Argentina (highest point - Southern Hemisphere) The women had previously worked for years as cooks for mostly rich male mountaineers. They climbed in traditional dress #WomensArt
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
Like I've said before, if you have any doubts about climate change, just go to a super-boring insurance conference and listen to the super-boring panels where they dryly talk about the growing threat of disasters so catastrophic and unpredictable in scope they simply cannot be insured at any price.
Wild how the Fed chair saying that *entire regions of the United States* won’t be able to get a mortgage in the next decade barely registered as a news event
June 18, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Like I've said before, if you have any doubts about climate change, just go to a super-boring insurance conference and listen to the super-boring panels where they dryly talk about the growing threat of disasters so catastrophic and unpredictable in scope they simply cannot be insured at any price.
Something I need to get better at in my own life. (Sometimes pride gets in the way.)
December 4, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Something I need to get better at in my own life. (Sometimes pride gets in the way.)
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
I’m legit in awe of the concept of poems that are too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands
this is quite the detail
November 30, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I’m legit in awe of the concept of poems that are too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands
Every time I read this kind of thing, I think about how the people who work for ICE wouldn’t be able to keep a job anywhere else because they enjoy being bullies. And they'll fight tooth and nail to keep this administration in power because they want to stay in power too. And they like being mean.
The teenager told officers he was a U.S. citizen, but an officer broke the car’s driver’s side window and detained him. In a video, the boy can be heard telling an officer that he is a citizen, to which the officer replies, “Get out of the car” and “I don’t care.”
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
High school senior, a U.S. citizen, detained by ICE in Oregon
The 17-year-old was held more than five hours Friday in an ICE facility, his brother said.
www.oregonlive.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Every time I read this kind of thing, I think about how the people who work for ICE wouldn’t be able to keep a job anywhere else because they enjoy being bullies. And they'll fight tooth and nail to keep this administration in power because they want to stay in power too. And they like being mean.
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Trump Has a Recipe for War and Corruption, Not Peace
Who would benefit from the White House’s 28-point proposal for Ukraine?
www.theatlantic.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:11 AM
This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
Massive shoutout out to whoever handles the Royal Canadian Air Force’s social media account. They responded to every single comment on their already very solid Trans Day of Remembrance post and they responded like this…
November 22, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Massive shoutout out to whoever handles the Royal Canadian Air Force’s social media account. They responded to every single comment on their already very solid Trans Day of Remembrance post and they responded like this…
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
will admit i don't fully understand this but POETRY OUTFOXES AI is the best case for preserving English degrees i have ever heard. 'all the teenage girls who were really into Sylvia Plath at one point vs tech bros' is the battle for civilisation we deserve
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 1:05 PM
will admit i don't fully understand this but POETRY OUTFOXES AI is the best case for preserving English degrees i have ever heard. 'all the teenage girls who were really into Sylvia Plath at one point vs tech bros' is the battle for civilisation we deserve
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
Instead of considering whether the super-rich really need a tax cut, the Trump regime is considering whether poor people really need to eat.
Brooke Rollins on why the Trump administration is cracking down on food stamps: "We're really opening up the market here, wanting to make sure that those who are receiving this *supplemental* nutrition benefit -- it was never meant for the long term -- are really those who need it."
November 19, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Instead of considering whether the super-rich really need a tax cut, the Trump regime is considering whether poor people really need to eat.
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
It was Miami Herald local reporter Julie Brown @jkbjournalist.bsky.social who actually covered the Epstein story and blew it wide open. She cared about the victims and Epstein's crimes, not access.
National outlets not only didn't, they refused to. They thought it was tawdry and beneath them.
National outlets not only didn't, they refused to. They thought it was tawdry and beneath them.
November 19, 2025 at 1:48 AM
It was Miami Herald local reporter Julie Brown @jkbjournalist.bsky.social who actually covered the Epstein story and blew it wide open. She cared about the victims and Epstein's crimes, not access.
National outlets not only didn't, they refused to. They thought it was tawdry and beneath them.
National outlets not only didn't, they refused to. They thought it was tawdry and beneath them.
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
I think it should be a bigger deal that before Trump made him a life-tenured appeals court judge, Emil Bove was at DOJ taking the position that the White House should do war crimes
Report: Trump’s Most Corrupt, Least Qualified Judge Was Also an Enthusiastic Proponent of Extrajudicial Killings
Yet another reason for Senate Democrats to impeach Emil Bove the moment they take back the upper chamber.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 18, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I think it should be a bigger deal that before Trump made him a life-tenured appeals court judge, Emil Bove was at DOJ taking the position that the White House should do war crimes
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
If you're ever wondering why every party seems to bend over backwards to appease the right you could do worse than this observation.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has been disliked by the left for years and years and had never had to fear for her life. She's been disliked by the right for 1 day and now has to hire security.
November 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM
If you're ever wondering why every party seems to bend over backwards to appease the right you could do worse than this observation.
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression
The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
A reminder that seven years ago almost to the day, the CIA determined that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing of @washingtonpost.com journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination
Audio recordings, intercepted phone calls and other intelligence link Mohammed bin Salman to killing that Saudis say was conducted by rogue elements.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
A reminder that seven years ago almost to the day, the CIA determined that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing of @washingtonpost.com journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
Bingo.
And imagine the Democratic politician who said this did so as he sat next to the podcaster's assassin whom he reminded everyone was his close personal friend
And imagine the Democratic politician who said this did so as he sat next to the podcaster's assassin whom he reminded everyone was his close personal friend
Imagine if a Democratic politician said “a lot of people didn’t like him” with respect to that assassinated podcaster. Seriously.
November 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Bingo.
And imagine the Democratic politician who said this did so as he sat next to the podcaster's assassin whom he reminded everyone was his close personal friend
And imagine the Democratic politician who said this did so as he sat next to the podcaster's assassin whom he reminded everyone was his close personal friend
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
Imagine the arrogance of coming to another country as an immigrant, becoming a citizen, and then having the audacity to publicly say you're ready to destroy their constitution.
He should have lost his citizenship awhile ago.
He should have lost his citizenship awhile ago.
November 17, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Imagine the arrogance of coming to another country as an immigrant, becoming a citizen, and then having the audacity to publicly say you're ready to destroy their constitution.
He should have lost his citizenship awhile ago.
He should have lost his citizenship awhile ago.
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
"Traditional health insurance" pre-ACA didn't cover pre-ex, had annual/lifetime caps, didn't cover important things like having a baby, led to many declaring bankruptcy when they got sick. Even then, ~50M had no insurance at all because they still couldn't afford it. They clogged ERs to get care.
November 18, 2025 at 3:39 PM
"Traditional health insurance" pre-ACA didn't cover pre-ex, had annual/lifetime caps, didn't cover important things like having a baby, led to many declaring bankruptcy when they got sick. Even then, ~50M had no insurance at all because they still couldn't afford it. They clogged ERs to get care.
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
I spent October traveling to schools throughout the South talking to students about American history. What I found were young people who understand we can tell a story that includes both the positive and the negative. As one 8th grader in Memphis said, “Doesn’t seem that hard, just say both things.”
Tell Students the Truth About American History
We owe it to Americans of all ages to be honest about the country’s past, including its contradictions.
www.theatlantic.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:57 PM
I spent October traveling to schools throughout the South talking to students about American history. What I found were young people who understand we can tell a story that includes both the positive and the negative. As one 8th grader in Memphis said, “Doesn’t seem that hard, just say both things.”
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
BTW, Democrats are looking to @larrysummers.bsky.social about advice on the party moving forward. He also supported Cuomo over Mamdani.
Maybe it's time for this entire class of people to retire permanently from social life. They have money. They'll be fine.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Maybe it's time for this entire class of people to retire permanently from social life. They have money. They'll be fine.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Summers To Step Back from Public Commitments Amid Epstein Scandal | News | The Harvard Crimson
Former Harvard President Lawerence H. Summers will step back from all public commitments in an effort “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me,” he wrote in a statement...
www.thecrimson.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:39 AM
BTW, Democrats are looking to @larrysummers.bsky.social about advice on the party moving forward. He also supported Cuomo over Mamdani.
Maybe it's time for this entire class of people to retire permanently from social life. They have money. They'll be fine.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Maybe it's time for this entire class of people to retire permanently from social life. They have money. They'll be fine.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Disillusioned Optimist
I’m not sure I see the logic in continuing to teach but stepping back from, like, making public appearances? The issue is with behavior while teaching. Why would it do anything to, like, step off the lecture circuit or whatever? That’s emphatically not the problem.
Larry Summers steps back from public commitments, ‘deeply ashamed’ by Epstein revelations
Larry Summers steps back from public commitments, ‘deeply ashamed’ by Epstein revelations
Emails revealed that Summers sought advice from Epstein on romantically pursuing a woman he referred to as his mentee.
dlvr.it
November 18, 2025 at 1:17 AM
I’m not sure I see the logic in continuing to teach but stepping back from, like, making public appearances? The issue is with behavior while teaching. Why would it do anything to, like, step off the lecture circuit or whatever? That’s emphatically not the problem.