John Pettus
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johngpettus.bsky.social
John Pettus
@johngpettus.bsky.social
Social venture entrepreneur. San Francisco native. Iraq veteran. Economics-trained, MBA liberal. Both more liberal and more conservative than you, in some ways. Working on improving public discourse and teaching & measuring critical thinking at scale.
Pinned
Reposted by John Pettus
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
We are taught that the Constitution cannot be amended without supermajorities in the House, Senate and states. But in Heller, a 5-4 SCOTUS struck the first 13 words of 2A. Much like in Anderson when they effectively struck section 3 of 14A. Nothing good comes from politics masquerading as justice
November 27, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by John Pettus
Trump's speech about the shooting in DC veered into him attacking the Somali community in Minnesota, which of course had nothing to do with the shooting. Gives away his bigoted game.
November 27, 2025 at 4:14 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
Collective, racist punishment.
It didn’t even take 6 hours.
November 27, 2025 at 3:33 AM
I'm at the end of the 3rd and the "foul luck" has been atrocious for the #Warriors.

Gui just had a defender jump into his literal face on a shot without a call. Meanwhile, Moody is getting fouls called on ordinary box outs.
November 27, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Anyone think they're going to announce that Afghan refugees commit fewer crimes than native born Americans and we are thankful for their sacrifices and supporting our servicemembers overseas?

No?
President Trump said his administration will conduct a full review of Afghan nationals who were admitted to the U.S. under the Biden administration in the wake of the National Guard shooting.
Live updates: 2 National Guard members in critical condition; D.C. shooting suspect is an Afghan national
By 3 p.m., D.C. police said they had one suspect in custody.
wapo.st
November 27, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
What workload? All he does is schedule vacation time, hold press conferences to announce he has no knowledge of anything, and monitors his son's porn usage. Did anyone every figure out where his paycheck actually gets deposited since he doesn't have a bank account? That would be good to know.
November 27, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
shoutout to all my fellow queers for whom family of origin sucks around holidays (and those of us who are still working on finding that found family). everything is pretty bad right now but being queer is still fucking amazing and you are amazing and not alone and i love you and am grateful for you
November 27, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
AC-130 gunships lasing targets. Griffin missiles captured fractions of a second before impact. RQ-4 Global Hawk drones filming it all. Seeing beyond the redactions in the Pentagon’s attack videos w/ @docubrent @carolrosenberg @cjchivers www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
What the Pentagon’s Attack Videos Reveal About the Boat Strikes at Sea
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by John Pettus
big late breaking news: the market monitor for the largest energy grid in the u.s., covering much of the midwest and mid-atlantic, has called to block new data centers connections to the grid, saying current course of growth assures regular blackouts
No more PJM data centers unless they can be reliably served: market monitor
The PJM Interconnection’s market monitor urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to rule that large data centers can only come online if the grid operator can still meet reliability metrics.
www.utilitydive.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:17 AM
I 100% believe this.

Obamacare getting healthcare to 20 million people saves about 30,000 people's lives a year. Or about a 9/11 worth of lives EVERY MONTH, in perpetuity.

This would be bigger than that.
November 27, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Are the people of Louisiana - one of the poorest and worst performing states in the nation on every metric - going to be paying him $54 million?
5:45 pm on Thanksgiving Eve?

Now THIS is how you news dump.
November 27, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
We can become desensitized to what this guy does but this was such a sick combination dribble. I mean there was zero chance of Shannon doing anything about this.
Well alright Shai
November 27, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
A sad irony in Washington, D.C., where West Virginia National Guardsmen were shot today. Six days ago, a court ruled their deployment was illegal, but stayed the order pending appeal. My heart goes out to these public servants and their families. oag.dc.gov/sites/defaul...
November 26, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by John Pettus
Just thinking about the profound impact on our lives that the craven, selfish, petty choices made by ‘access journalists’ has had. Never working again is the bare minimum of accountability.
November 27, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
Elon Musk, the guy who did two Nazi salutes in public and has previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” thinks it should be a crime to “falsely” call someone a Nazi or a fascist.
November 27, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
World AIDS Day was cofounded by an American journalist--James Bunn, a San Francisco reporter who was the first person at a local TV station to make the AIDS crisis his beat, in 1983. An administration that did not loathe the press, history, and knowledge itself might have considered honoring that.
November 27, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Reposted by John Pettus
Fifteen Years

xkcd.com/3172/
November 26, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by John Pettus
Cover Reveal!

“The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy" arrives on August 4, 2026.

How extremist tech billionaires are dismantling democracy to crown themselves as kings—and what we can do about it.

Please pre-order! ➡️ www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ne...
November 26, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Reposted by John Pettus
I contain multitudes

Oh

Oh shit

My multitudes containment system is failing, everyone retreat to a safe distance
November 26, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by John Pettus
as always:
November 26, 2025 at 10:05 PM
I STRONGLY object to using the term "amoral" to describe immoral people.

Math is amoral. Nature is (mostly) amoral.

People are moral actors. They live in a society and are bound by our moral requirements. When people choose to act selfishly, they are being immoral.

Have the courage to say so.
"One of the many problems with installing an amoral doofus without a coherent governing philosophy at the helm of the world’s richest nation is that [he] will then behave as an amoral doofus without a coherent governing philosophy." @michaelianblack.bsky.social
www.thedailybeast.com/travel-plans...
Travel Plans For Thanksgiving? We’re All Headed to Crazy Town
Forget fighting over politics at the Thanksgiving dinner table, because we can all agree that the United States is (over)cooked.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by John Pettus
An agency designed to protect U.S. elections should be staffed by people who believe in the integrity of our democracy.

That’s why we’re investigating Marci McCarthy and her connection to election denialism in light of her position as CISA’s director of public affairs.

https://bit.ly/48luyoa
Big changes to the agency charged with securing elections lead to midterm worries
The federal agency that oversees the security of election systems was largely absent from planning before elections this month in several states.
apnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:00 PM