John Carl Baker
@johncarlbaker.bsky.social
nuclear weapons, foreign policy, Korea, the left - occasional antiquity and cocktail posts
Words: Nation, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, NK News, US Institute of Peace, Jacobin, New Republic, elsewhere
seniores tollunt omnia
Words: Nation, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, NK News, US Institute of Peace, Jacobin, New Republic, elsewhere
seniores tollunt omnia
Pinned
Sen. Charles Sumner attacking the whole notion of white supremacy in 1866
Please do not name your baby “Kaiser”
To zoom in on the partisan names, here, we're looking only at names used >100 times (in 2023) and only 50 names on the outskirts of the partisan divide, labelling the 5 outliers on each side and the 5 most commonly used on each side. inequalitybyinteriordesign.wordpress.com/2025/04/03/p...
November 24, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Please do not name your baby “Kaiser”
North Korea offered to shut down this facility during the diplomatic opening of 2018-2019 en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN2025...
Modernization, expansion ongoing at N. Korean nuclear complex: report | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- A key North Korean nuclear complex has been undergoing "mo...
en.yna.co.kr
November 24, 2025 at 5:44 PM
North Korea offered to shut down this facility during the diplomatic opening of 2018-2019 en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN2025...
Good @emmaclairefoley.bsky.social piece pushing back against a recent Foreign Affairs article:
"Below the confidence in America’s power to shape the global status quo seems to lurk a quiet admission that the American empire is fracturing" jacobin.com/2025/11/nucl...
"Below the confidence in America’s power to shape the global status quo seems to lurk a quiet admission that the American empire is fracturing" jacobin.com/2025/11/nucl...
The Return of Nuclear Proliferation
A recent article in the establishment security journal Foreign Affairs makes the case for nuclear proliferation among America’s allies. Not only are its arguments unsound, but they also understate the...
jacobin.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Good @emmaclairefoley.bsky.social piece pushing back against a recent Foreign Affairs article:
"Below the confidence in America’s power to shape the global status quo seems to lurk a quiet admission that the American empire is fracturing" jacobin.com/2025/11/nucl...
"Below the confidence in America’s power to shape the global status quo seems to lurk a quiet admission that the American empire is fracturing" jacobin.com/2025/11/nucl...
No one could have predicted, etc. www.reuters.com/business/aer...
November 24, 2025 at 3:59 PM
No one could have predicted, etc. www.reuters.com/business/aer...
“If there is a threat of resumed testing today, it most likely comes from a desire for political posturing rather than technical necessity” - @dkspaulding.bsky.social of @ucs.org www.denvergazette.com/2025/11/22/s...
Should America resume nuclear tests?
America’s last nuclear detonation was nothing special. Smaller than the bomb that killed 73,000 people in Nagasaki, it exploded 1,397 feet below the Nevada desert. It shook the ground, created a shall...
www.denvergazette.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:51 PM
“If there is a threat of resumed testing today, it most likely comes from a desire for political posturing rather than technical necessity” - @dkspaulding.bsky.social of @ucs.org www.denvergazette.com/2025/11/22/s...
My god - there is so much here but I have to share this section
November 22, 2025 at 2:17 PM
My god - there is so much here but I have to share this section
Reposted by John Carl Baker
the woke mind virus is too powerful
November 21, 2025 at 11:04 PM
the woke mind virus is too powerful
Man I’ve been revisiting it today - honestly kind of a masterpiece and I swear I’m not just saying that because it was my favorite album in 7th grade.
Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness 30th birthday re-release is upon us
November 21, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Man I’ve been revisiting it today - honestly kind of a masterpiece and I swear I’m not just saying that because it was my favorite album in 7th grade.
This is great - now do concert venues. I went to a bunch of shows this year and you would not believe all the people filming the performance instead of, you know, enjoying themselves.
In the TikTok era, people are filming rather than dancing at nightlife spaces. Now, a growing movement of venues in New York are banning or limiting phones on dance floors. “I’d rather live in the moment and feel the joy,” said one reveler in East Williamsburg.
‘Everyone’s in Sync’: Phone Ban on NYC Dance Floors Is Getting Rave Reviews
In the TikTok era, people were filming rather than dancing. “I’d rather live in the moment and feel the joy,” one reveler said.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM
This is great - now do concert venues. I went to a bunch of shows this year and you would not believe all the people filming the performance instead of, you know, enjoying themselves.
Cool well maybe they shouldn't have nodded in approval as the US and Israel struck Iran during ongoing negotiations www.reuters.com/world/middle...
November 21, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Cool well maybe they shouldn't have nodded in approval as the US and Israel struck Iran during ongoing negotiations www.reuters.com/world/middle...
Cannot be stressed enough that the US and Israeli strikes on Iran just made things worse - which is exactly what we said would happen, by the way www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/w...
Iran Withdraws From Deal to Let International Nuclear Inspections Resume
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Cannot be stressed enough that the US and Israeli strikes on Iran just made things worse - which is exactly what we said would happen, by the way www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/w...
Unpacking records and I just noticed this warning sticker
November 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Unpacking records and I just noticed this warning sticker
Reposted by John Carl Baker
Reposted by John Carl Baker
Useful. You don't get to Trump saying anything he does abroad is legal (& jumping to calls for executing dissenting lawmakers) without decades of US officials avoiding uncomfortable conclusions. The pattern of a lack of accountability for foreign policy has been deepened by Democrats & bureaucrats..
Another aspect is that the USG may simply refuse to reach an adverse legal conclusion which would render presidential directives unlawful.
If the USG refuses to determine that Saudi Arabia or Israel are committing war crimes with US weapons, then continued arms sales aren't aid & abetting...
If the USG refuses to determine that Saudi Arabia or Israel are committing war crimes with US weapons, then continued arms sales aren't aid & abetting...
November 21, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Useful. You don't get to Trump saying anything he does abroad is legal (& jumping to calls for executing dissenting lawmakers) without decades of US officials avoiding uncomfortable conclusions. The pattern of a lack of accountability for foreign policy has been deepened by Democrats & bureaucrats..
It's funny that the right thinks foundations fund political subversion because in reality much of philanthropy is based in the assumption that social struggle doesn't (or even shouldn't) exist.
November 21, 2025 at 2:58 PM
It's funny that the right thinks foundations fund political subversion because in reality much of philanthropy is based in the assumption that social struggle doesn't (or even shouldn't) exist.
“To be clear, we do not believe the solution to these issues is to avoid using LLMs”
OK well I think that’s a perfectly valid and obvious solution. gizmodo.com/learning-wit...
OK well I think that’s a perfectly valid and obvious solution. gizmodo.com/learning-wit...
Learning With AI Falls Short Compared to Old-Fashioned Web Search
In virtually all the ways that matter, getting summarized information from AI models was less educational than doing the work of search.
gizmodo.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:21 PM
“To be clear, we do not believe the solution to these issues is to avoid using LLMs”
OK well I think that’s a perfectly valid and obvious solution. gizmodo.com/learning-wit...
OK well I think that’s a perfectly valid and obvious solution. gizmodo.com/learning-wit...
Rule by the rich www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
How billionaires took over American politics
The current concentration of wealth is unlike anything in history. So is billionaires’ involvement in politics.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Rule by the rich www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
Reposted by John Carl Baker
Reposted by John Carl Baker
1) @washingtonpost.com reported Thursday on a controversial policy downgrading how nooses and swastikas are labeled in the Coast Guard.
2) Admin officials attacked The Post, falsely alleging the reporting of "fake crap."
3) The CG said it would review policy language.
4) The CG reversed course.
2) Admin officials attacked The Post, falsely alleging the reporting of "fake crap."
3) The CG said it would review policy language.
4) The CG reversed course.
November 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
1) @washingtonpost.com reported Thursday on a controversial policy downgrading how nooses and swastikas are labeled in the Coast Guard.
2) Admin officials attacked The Post, falsely alleging the reporting of "fake crap."
3) The CG said it would review policy language.
4) The CG reversed course.
2) Admin officials attacked The Post, falsely alleging the reporting of "fake crap."
3) The CG said it would review policy language.
4) The CG reversed course.
I love how if you slap “OPINION” on something you can just lie without consequences.
November 21, 2025 at 12:47 PM
I love how if you slap “OPINION” on something you can just lie without consequences.
Reposted by John Carl Baker
(I should add that Dario Argento apparently said 'Free Palestine' during his meeting with the Pope, if you didn't already love him enough)
November 21, 2025 at 11:46 AM
(I should add that Dario Argento apparently said 'Free Palestine' during his meeting with the Pope, if you didn't already love him enough)
“17. The United States and Russia will agree to extend the validity of treaties on the non-proliferation and control of nuclear weapons, including the START I Treaty.”
START I? Is this a drafting error or is something else afoot? apnews.com/article/russ...
START I? Is this a drafting error or is something else afoot? apnews.com/article/russ...
This is Trump's plan to end the war in Ukraine
President Donald Trump’s 28-point draft proposal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine has been presented in Kyiv.
apnews.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:29 AM
“17. The United States and Russia will agree to extend the validity of treaties on the non-proliferation and control of nuclear weapons, including the START I Treaty.”
START I? Is this a drafting error or is something else afoot? apnews.com/article/russ...
START I? Is this a drafting error or is something else afoot? apnews.com/article/russ...
Anonymous JAG quoted here: “There is no world where this is legal” www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...
Top military lawyer raised legal concerns about boat strikes
The lawyer at U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the operations against alleged drug-smuggling boats near Venezuela, disagreed that the strikes are legal and was overruled, according to six sources...
www.nbcnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Anonymous JAG quoted here: “There is no world where this is legal” www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...