Maia
@maiamindel.bsky.social
Pinned
Maia
@maiamindel.bsky.social
· 11h
Does The West Rule?
“this does not help your cause” - guy who hates you and your cause
open.substack.com
New Substack post: about the mysterious case of The West and Western Values as a concept being invoked by an alliance of MAGA, the craziest people in Europe, East Asia (?), and the most embarassing political parties in Latin America
open.substack.com/pub/someunpl...
open.substack.com/pub/someunpl...
that's the real weakness of eddington the movie: it thinks conspiracy theorists are something for stupid uneducated rubes while criticizing the liberal establishment *only* for being smug, self congratulatory, and dumb
I'm convinced one of the reasons epstein was able to coast for so long is that for many sensible people including and especially educated liberals, viewing the world through a conspiratorial lens was always seen as vaguely distasteful and rube-coded
as someone who pushes hard against conspiratorial thinking in my professional and political life, it is deeply irritating when, on top of the untold human harms Epstein caused, it turns out he was at the center of at least half a dozen actual conspiracies
February 3, 2026 at 3:21 PM
that's the real weakness of eddington the movie: it thinks conspiracy theorists are something for stupid uneducated rubes while criticizing the liberal establishment *only* for being smug, self congratulatory, and dumb
Reposted by Maia
I'm convinced one of the reasons epstein was able to coast for so long is that for many sensible people including and especially educated liberals, viewing the world through a conspiratorial lens was always seen as vaguely distasteful and rube-coded
as someone who pushes hard against conspiratorial thinking in my professional and political life, it is deeply irritating when, on top of the untold human harms Epstein caused, it turns out he was at the center of at least half a dozen actual conspiracies
February 3, 2026 at 3:11 PM
I'm convinced one of the reasons epstein was able to coast for so long is that for many sensible people including and especially educated liberals, viewing the world through a conspiratorial lens was always seen as vaguely distasteful and rube-coded
Reposted by Maia
no matter how hard this dude tries to rebrand as mainstream/acceptable (he was at anti-ICE protests like last week) he just can't help himself
he has not changed substantially, or been genuinely contrite, since my article exposing how he wrote for nazi sites under the name Richard Hoste
he has not changed substantially, or been genuinely contrite, since my article exposing how he wrote for nazi sites under the name Richard Hoste
Presented without comment. I just want everyone here to know.
I want you to know what you're looking at the next time you see this guy being interviewed or RTed by an Abundance bro.
1/8
I want you to know what you're looking at the next time you see this guy being interviewed or RTed by an Abundance bro.
1/8
February 3, 2026 at 2:55 PM
no matter how hard this dude tries to rebrand as mainstream/acceptable (he was at anti-ICE protests like last week) he just can't help himself
he has not changed substantially, or been genuinely contrite, since my article exposing how he wrote for nazi sites under the name Richard Hoste
he has not changed substantially, or been genuinely contrite, since my article exposing how he wrote for nazi sites under the name Richard Hoste
Reposted by Maia
memes from /r/NDP moments before total dipper wipeout:
February 3, 2026 at 2:38 PM
memes from /r/NDP moments before total dipper wipeout:
Reposted by Maia
queen
February 3, 2026 at 2:33 PM
queen
Reposted by Maia
This review of Kenneth Rogoff’s new book by Perry Mehrling is great. It gives a strong overview of a Kindleberger-esque view of the IMFS while critiquing Rogoff. I think @rajakorman.bsky.social would enjoy it. www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives...
Education of a Grandmaster
Kenneth Rogoff, Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead. Yale 2025.
www.ineteconomics.org
February 3, 2026 at 2:25 PM
This review of Kenneth Rogoff’s new book by Perry Mehrling is great. It gives a strong overview of a Kindleberger-esque view of the IMFS while critiquing Rogoff. I think @rajakorman.bsky.social would enjoy it. www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives...
I saw a TikTok with an interpretation that Eyes Wide Shut ends with Bill and Alice handing their daughter over to Ziegler to be his sex slave and honestly I think some people just think every piece of media is made by Sam Levinson
February 3, 2026 at 2:30 PM
I saw a TikTok with an interpretation that Eyes Wide Shut ends with Bill and Alice handing their daughter over to Ziegler to be his sex slave and honestly I think some people just think every piece of media is made by Sam Levinson
Reposted by Maia
It's kind of funny to present this as the first problematic thing Richard Hanania has ever done
Presented without comment. I just want everyone here to know.
I want you to know what you're looking at the next time you see this guy being interviewed or RTed by an Abundance bro.
1/8
I want you to know what you're looking at the next time you see this guy being interviewed or RTed by an Abundance bro.
1/8
February 3, 2026 at 2:21 PM
It's kind of funny to present this as the first problematic thing Richard Hanania has ever done
Reposted by Maia
"Since prison for Epstein’s fellow abusers gets unlikelier over time, America’s deeper question is whether it can restore a culture of shame." - marvellous, marvellous column by @edwardluce.bsky.social:
The Epstein rot goes deep
America must now ask itself if it can restore a culture of shame
www.ft.com
February 3, 2026 at 1:30 PM
"Since prison for Epstein’s fellow abusers gets unlikelier over time, America’s deeper question is whether it can restore a culture of shame." - marvellous, marvellous column by @edwardluce.bsky.social:
it's kinda funny that there's a very small bonus on some civic variables and enormous economic costs to the people who actually serve, so like... it probably doesn't
www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/m...
www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/m...
February 3, 2026 at 2:19 PM
it's kinda funny that there's a very small bonus on some civic variables and enormous economic costs to the people who actually serve, so like... it probably doesn't
www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/m...
www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/m...
nimbyism
Why, for the past 50 years, have US labourers been getting worse at building stuff?
www.ft.com/content/2ae2...
www.ft.com/content/2ae2...
You can see the computer age everywhere but in the construction industry
Making less with more
www.ft.com
February 3, 2026 at 1:45 PM
nimbyism
Reposted by Maia
February 3, 2026 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Maia
"It's like Lenin said, you look for the person who will benefit… and, uh, uh, you know… You know, you'll uh, uh—well, you know what I'm trying to say…"
www.unpopularfront.news/p/magas-peop...
www.unpopularfront.news/p/magas-peop...
MAGA's "People's Capitalism"
An Alliance of Bourgeoisie and Mob
www.unpopularfront.news
February 3, 2026 at 1:20 PM
"It's like Lenin said, you look for the person who will benefit… and, uh, uh, you know… You know, you'll uh, uh—well, you know what I'm trying to say…"
www.unpopularfront.news/p/magas-peop...
www.unpopularfront.news/p/magas-peop...
Reposted by Maia
"Who owns the founding?" or "who owns American patriotism" are among the most important fields of cultural contestation in politics, and have been since the beginning. We should not cede this field. That doesn't mean whitewashing. It means having a compelling vision that draws meaning from history.
“Amar’s America is one utterly obsessed with decoding and depicting the founders, hailing their character and accomplishments and downplaying their faults.” www.liberalcurrents.com/who-owns-the...
Who Owns the Founding? Akhil Reed Amar’s "Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution"
Amar's book is a useful history that nevertheless smooths over some of the real complexity of the eras it touches on.
www.liberalcurrents.com
February 3, 2026 at 1:21 PM
"Who owns the founding?" or "who owns American patriotism" are among the most important fields of cultural contestation in politics, and have been since the beginning. We should not cede this field. That doesn't mean whitewashing. It means having a compelling vision that draws meaning from history.
Reposted by Maia
Two things can be true
1) everyone involved in this situation is a reprehensible person
2) The Volcker Rule was bad
1) everyone involved in this situation is a reprehensible person
2) The Volcker Rule was bad
Mandelson lobbied against US bank reforms on behalf of Epstein and Staley ft.trib.al/B9yivoX
Mandelson lobbied against US bank reforms on behalf of Epstein and Staley
Former UK business secretary used talking points in conversations with US official about financial crisis measures
ft.trib.al
February 3, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Two things can be true
1) everyone involved in this situation is a reprehensible person
2) The Volcker Rule was bad
1) everyone involved in this situation is a reprehensible person
2) The Volcker Rule was bad
Reposted by Maia
No masks on cops. No masks on cops. No masks on cops. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The Real Reason ICE Agents Wear Masks
Face-coverings may work less to protect federal agents from danger than to make it easier for them to do unconstitutional things.
www.theatlantic.com
February 2, 2026 at 8:41 PM
No masks on cops. No masks on cops. No masks on cops. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
kinda funny how you start reading polanyi's the great transformation and are like "Okay so capitalism is embedded in society, what else" and the next 500 pages are just that concept applied to every time and place imaginable of the last 300 years
February 3, 2026 at 1:18 PM
kinda funny how you start reading polanyi's the great transformation and are like "Okay so capitalism is embedded in society, what else" and the next 500 pages are just that concept applied to every time and place imaginable of the last 300 years
if you told me keir starmer was getting either paid off or blackmailed by the global pedooligarch fascist cabal it would make a lot more sense than whatever the fuck he's actually doing
Seems a pretty major gap in the DSA, what's the government going to do as a next step? Just keep figuring out who is actually responsible for looking into this sort of thing?
www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...
www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...
February 3, 2026 at 1:08 PM
if you told me keir starmer was getting either paid off or blackmailed by the global pedooligarch fascist cabal it would make a lot more sense than whatever the fuck he's actually doing
melania is a surprise hit at the box office because every substack blogger on the planet went there to give it a bad but interestign review
February 3, 2026 at 12:48 PM
melania is a surprise hit at the box office because every substack blogger on the planet went there to give it a bad but interestign review
honestly the main reason why the qanon right isn't running on it is that when they were talking about a global deracinated cabal of elite financiers who sexually abuse and torture children for fun they meant the jews and not all their favorite intellectuals and politicians
on the whole, i think 'all the evil in the world is reducible to a few wealthy criminal Jews' is generally a thing we should be discouraging. i have nakedly self-interested reasons to believe this i will admit.
February 3, 2026 at 12:30 PM
honestly the main reason why the qanon right isn't running on it is that when they were talking about a global deracinated cabal of elite financiers who sexually abuse and torture children for fun they meant the jews and not all their favorite intellectuals and politicians
Reposted by Maia
"The real European financial threat to America: An uncoordinated, decentralised and gradual buyers’ strike is the actual danger" www.ft.com/content/d267...
February 3, 2026 at 12:21 PM
"The real European financial threat to America: An uncoordinated, decentralised and gradual buyers’ strike is the actual danger" www.ft.com/content/d267...
one battle after another is a documentary
February 3, 2026 at 12:28 PM
one battle after another is a documentary
Reposted by Maia
New: Together with colleagues I’ve been testing Grok.
The chatbot still produces sexualized images —
even when told the subjects don’t consent.
even when told the photos will be used for public humiliation.
even when told the subjects are survivors of abuse.
www.reuters.com/business/des...
The chatbot still produces sexualized images —
even when told the subjects don’t consent.
even when told the photos will be used for public humiliation.
even when told the subjects are survivors of abuse.
www.reuters.com/business/des...
Exclusive: Despite new curbs, Elon Musk’s Grok at times produces sexualized images - even when told subjects didn’t consent
Elon Musk’s flagship artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, continues to generate sexualized images of people even when users explicitly warn that the subjects do not consent, Reuters has found.
www.reuters.com
February 3, 2026 at 11:37 AM
New: Together with colleagues I’ve been testing Grok.
The chatbot still produces sexualized images —
even when told the subjects don’t consent.
even when told the photos will be used for public humiliation.
even when told the subjects are survivors of abuse.
www.reuters.com/business/des...
The chatbot still produces sexualized images —
even when told the subjects don’t consent.
even when told the photos will be used for public humiliation.
even when told the subjects are survivors of abuse.
www.reuters.com/business/des...
New Substack post: about the mysterious case of The West and Western Values as a concept being invoked by an alliance of MAGA, the craziest people in Europe, East Asia (?), and the most embarassing political parties in Latin America
open.substack.com/pub/someunpl...
open.substack.com/pub/someunpl...
Does The West Rule?
“this does not help your cause” - guy who hates you and your cause
open.substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 4:21 AM
New Substack post: about the mysterious case of The West and Western Values as a concept being invoked by an alliance of MAGA, the craziest people in Europe, East Asia (?), and the most embarassing political parties in Latin America
open.substack.com/pub/someunpl...
open.substack.com/pub/someunpl...
Reposted by Maia
A new WP that uses data from U.S. academic jobs shows that a person's socioeconomic background is an important determinant not just of their career starting point, but of their career progression. Read the WP on the academia class gap by @annastansbury.bsky.social & Kyra Rodriguez.
bit.ly/4ab6xRs
bit.ly/4ab6xRs
February 2, 2026 at 5:21 PM
A new WP that uses data from U.S. academic jobs shows that a person's socioeconomic background is an important determinant not just of their career starting point, but of their career progression. Read the WP on the academia class gap by @annastansbury.bsky.social & Kyra Rodriguez.
bit.ly/4ab6xRs
bit.ly/4ab6xRs