Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
joshstein.bsky.social
Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
@joshstein.bsky.social
Philosopher by training; cranky by nature. Professional in science and technology policy. Also photography, combatting antisemitism, politics, and ethics.
Pinned
Yesterday, I walked ~4 miles through #DC with my camera, starting with the Logan Circle #nokings protest (which then marched to the north side of the WH), then I walked down by the WH to the Mall Wanted to share some photos and thoughts. I'm on insta @/shape_color_motion; doing more politics there.
Ammon Bundy is truly the Rand Paul of domestic terrorists.
February 2, 2026 at 2:38 AM
If Chotiner called me, I would simply flush my phone down the toilet.
February 2, 2026 at 2:33 AM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
the one-two “triumph of the will” and heat 2 questions made me actually laugh
February 2, 2026 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
A reminder that Bad Bunny performs in front of the biggest audience on earth in seven days
February 2, 2026 at 2:22 AM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
Tens of thousands of people across Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana have gone a week without power or heat after a brutal ice storm. At least three dozen people have died in connection with the storm, officials have said.
Fear and Anger Grow as Thousands Remain Without Power in the South
More than 30 people have died across three Southern states in connection with last week’s storm, and thousands remain without power.
nyti.ms
February 2, 2026 at 1:30 AM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
worth scanning the whole 50-page document here, but even this topline is stunning. imagine if, say, the fbi had a crime rate like this.
February 1, 2026 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
multiple trump-created crises converging with deadly results.
February 2, 2026 at 1:27 AM
The DOJ is pretty much Hanlon’s Razor made manifest.
February 2, 2026 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
death from disease in concentration camps is so widespread and so predictable that it's pretty clearly a feature, not a bug.
ICE now confirming that there is a measles outbreak at the Texas concentration camp where young Liam was held.
February 2, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Tonight, I am going to see the worst team in the Eastern Conference play the worst team in the Western Conference. A friend gave us her excellent season tickets, because (for some reason) no one wanted to buy them.
February 1, 2026 at 10:02 PM
Two thoughts:
(1) As I've said many times, no serious group thinks US GDP will hit 5%. Goldman (historically bullish) is at 2.8%. Most of Wall Street is 2-2.5%. CBO is at 1.8%. All of these assume AI growth isn't a bubble.
(2) It just hit me that he sounds like Mark Proksch. Get Mark on SNL.
Kevin Hassett: "We are reordering the world order"
February 1, 2026 at 6:11 PM
There are a lot of state parties within the GOP that are in really bad position, for a range of reasons. MI, AZ, GA... if the fundraising continues to develop on these lines (and I think it will), it'll exacerbate the already very blue environment.
A tale of two #copolitics political party. The Colorado GOP raised about $125k in the last six months, is $167k in debt 1/2
February 1, 2026 at 4:25 PM
We're about to have one of the most hotly contested primaries with two dozen highly qualified candidates. If you can't find three candidates you like in this field, then I don't know what to tell you.

Also, Jon Stewart lacks the knowledge and temperament to be a politician, much less President.
“Got that take?”

“Yeah, absolutely brain bleedingly awful, just like you wanted.”

Good old reliable Nathan
February 1, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
As an adult survivor of child abuse who interpreted the silence of the adults who failed me as evidence I deserved it, I just want to say a hearty FUCK YOU to everyone logging on to say some version of “it doesn’t make me a bad guy for working with a rich, well connected child rapist.” Yes it does!
February 1, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Johnson, like all Republicans, is fine with the corrupt self-dealing of this DOJ. The party of open corruption, and this should be a constant narrative. Any Dem (especially national leaders) too chickenshit to make this argument has no place in contemporary politics.
BASH: This is a sitting president suing American taxpayers for $10 billon. Are you comfortable with that?

RON JOHNSON: I don't doubt the federal government deserves to be sued. The problem is we don't have $10 billion.
February 1, 2026 at 2:49 PM
People who study homophily should notice a trend among the academic subgroup of Epstein associates: branded heterodox figures who push back against contemporary stigmas. Christakis fits in pretty neatly with Krause, Pinker, Dershowitz, inter alia.
I promise you, even if someone is your mentor and friend, you should have the ability to say they made a mistake in FUCKING COMMUNICATING CASUALLY AND ALL FRIENDLY WITH JEFFREY EPSTEIN NOT WRITE AN EIGHT POST THREAD ON HOW WE SHOULDNT JUDGE
February 1, 2026 at 3:27 AM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
straight up Gestapo shit
January 31, 2026 at 8:54 PM
One of the largest failures of major public institutions (government, media, academia, and others) is missing what many experts in online culture were warning about over a decade: we see it with extremist message boards, with propo campaigns and manipulation, CSAM/NCII networks...
It appears that 4chan was used as a massive psyop by Jeffrey Epstein and his associates to help install pro-pedophilia rightwing figures into the American government:

"The potential for manipulation is huge"

www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
January 31, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
yeah, definitely one of those, "you're saying this like it's a bad thing," moments. Miller's concept of immigration as purely "importing labor" also erases the benefits of socio-cultural exchange, presenting a reified assessment that misunderstands the nature of value.
I like how correct this is though, maybe more than he meant. One of the beefs the Declaration of Independence has with the king is English meddling in naturalization (ie the right to buy land) of foreigners, Common Sense mentions how Pennsylvania was speaking all sorts of languages.
January 31, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first

Some of their greatest hits are those like Nick "Blacks are more stupid than white's" Bostrom taking the stage to tell us about so-called "superintelligence", and other eugenicists we discussed in this paper: firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph....
The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence | First Monday
firstmonday.org
January 10, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Ariely should've been fired years ago for gross misconduct in his research. But hey... now's a fine time too.

Also, I have a particular loathing for Ariely as a major popularizer of the Gino-style work that everyone in business schools insists is "real scientific support" for their bullshit.
Here’s Duke behavioral economist Dan Ariely asking Jeffrey Epstein for “the name and email of the redhead that was here with you.” This is four years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution.
Doo do doo
January 31, 2026 at 5:49 PM
There is something perfect about Jeffrey Epstein having to get so literal and explicit with Musk that it makes Musk ever denying knowledge impossible.
Cross-posting this comment from Jeet Heer over on Twitter. It really is kind of funny that Musk is just totally unable to pick up on code and innuendo.
January 31, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Not the Governor of North Carolina; got the handle first
btw the civility panic a few years ago was about precisely this: the ability to have polite conversations about how black people are racially inferior in public without criticism or backlash bsky.app/profile/hann...
Jeffrey Epstein sent a link to the white nationalist podcast The Right Stuff, whose core hosts played an active role in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally. He did so in February 2016. Before TRS made national news, really.

Genuinely bizarre.
January 31, 2026 at 12:33 PM
I'm shocked to learn the guy in Nazi officer cosplay is antisemitic. Very surprised.
January 31, 2026 at 4:57 PM