Mikhail Gorbaechev
@mikhailgorbaechev.bsky.social
Once a Reverend of the Avocado kind. The General Secretary is dead, long live the General Secretary.
Pinned
I'm back.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified
At least 60,000 murdered in Sudanese city, which resembles ‘a slaughterhouse’
Satellite evidence shows extent of paramilitary massacre in El Fasher
www.irishtimes.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:50 AM
So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s Nephew speaks out after ICE arrest: I think what I would have to say to Karoline is just because you went to a catholic school doesn't make you a good catholic.
December 13, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s Nephew speaks out after ICE arrest: I think what I would have to say to Karoline is just because you went to a catholic school doesn't make you a good catholic.
"Speed cameras and ignition interlocks are carceral" really emphasizes that for many people, carcerality is about whether laws are enforceable at all rather than whether they are enforced through prisons.
The Discourse is about speed cameras and ignition interlocks. Neither of these are carceral, because they are alternatives to police and prisons. Speed cameras remove racist and violent cops from enforcement of speeding, and interlocks prevent multiple offenses - or crashes - that lead to jail time.
December 13, 2025 at 2:10 AM
"Speed cameras and ignition interlocks are carceral" really emphasizes that for many people, carcerality is about whether laws are enforceable at all rather than whether they are enforced through prisons.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
I honestly don't think this is all that terrible of a poll for Talarico. It's definitely not a "Crockett entering ends the race" kind of lead for Crockett.
TSU poll | 12/9-12/11 LV
Texas Senate Democratic primary
Jasmine Crockett 51%
James Talarico 43%
Unsure 6%
www.dallasnews.com/news/politic...
Texas Senate Democratic primary
Jasmine Crockett 51%
James Talarico 43%
Unsure 6%
www.dallasnews.com/news/politic...
New poll offers early look at Senate fight between Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico
A Texas Southern University poll offers insight into Democratic Senate showdown between Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico.
www.dallasnews.com
December 12, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I honestly don't think this is all that terrible of a poll for Talarico. It's definitely not a "Crockett entering ends the race" kind of lead for Crockett.
Jim Costa's district is safe, there's no reason for him to be doing this.
7 Democrats joined Republicans in voting to prevent states from applying their own clean water laws to pipeline project reviews.
Jim Costa
Henry Cuellar
Don Davis
Jared Golden
Vicente Gonzalez
Adam Gray
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
clerk.house.gov/evs/2025/rol...
Jim Costa
Henry Cuellar
Don Davis
Jared Golden
Vicente Gonzalez
Adam Gray
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
clerk.house.gov/evs/2025/rol...
clerk.house.gov
December 13, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Jim Costa's district is safe, there's no reason for him to be doing this.
*most racist guy you've ever met voice* I am on the left and think it's bad when we focus on Palestine for purely tactical reasons
December 13, 2025 at 12:36 AM
*most racist guy you've ever met voice* I am on the left and think it's bad when we focus on Palestine for purely tactical reasons
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
December 12, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Listen I'm not going to front like I'm the best driver in the world. I absolutely have a lead foot. And this is a bad quality and if/when I get tickets, I deserve them.
A lot of the resistance to traffic enforcement seems to come from people taking it as a personal judgment on their decision to occasionally speed, check their phone while driving, or roll through a stop. So I want to be absolutely clear: Yes, I am judging your shitty, selfish, reckless behavior.
December 12, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Listen I'm not going to front like I'm the best driver in the world. I absolutely have a lead foot. And this is a bad quality and if/when I get tickets, I deserve them.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
No, Matty has actually been pretty consistent he doesn't just want people to compromise in candidate selection or in specific races, he wants to impose party discipline on anybody left-of-center to try and shift the entire range of acceptable popular opinion.
December 12, 2025 at 10:12 PM
No, Matty has actually been pretty consistent he doesn't just want people to compromise in candidate selection or in specific races, he wants to impose party discipline on anybody left-of-center to try and shift the entire range of acceptable popular opinion.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
i'll say this, though, i think habitual speeding and reckless driving offenses should be treated with the same kind of seriousness that DUI/DWAI offenses are, because, as a pedestrian, i'm far more likely to be hit by someone not paying attention or speeding while stone sober than someone drunk
re: today's discourse, as a person with actual personal experience here, i think the penalties for first-offense DUI/DWAI (it's almost always the latter) are probably about where they need to be, and repeat offenses should probably be punished somewhat more harshly than they are
December 12, 2025 at 9:14 PM
i'll say this, though, i think habitual speeding and reckless driving offenses should be treated with the same kind of seriousness that DUI/DWAI offenses are, because, as a pedestrian, i'm far more likely to be hit by someone not paying attention or speeding while stone sober than someone drunk
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
Somali Minnesotans can speak to this xenophobia so clearly because they feel the consequences of his hateful words.
Read what Faisa has to say:
Read what Faisa has to say:
December 12, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Somali Minnesotans can speak to this xenophobia so clearly because they feel the consequences of his hateful words.
Read what Faisa has to say:
Read what Faisa has to say:
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
See also: debates about speed cameras.
There's a problematic reflex among some progressive reformers to move from "conventional criminal legal responses are bad" to something too close to "accountability in general is bad."
I think (as Jamelle argues here) it's rooted in not thinking abt victims.
There's a problematic reflex among some progressive reformers to move from "conventional criminal legal responses are bad" to something too close to "accountability in general is bad."
I think (as Jamelle argues here) it's rooted in not thinking abt victims.
someone tell the California ACLU who is disproportionately more likely to be killed in traffic accidents including those involving people under the influence
The California ACLU is staunchly opposed to the ignition interlock device program and is a big reason that it has not been expanded. Despite the fact that California heavily subsidizes the cost for low-income drunk drivers, the ACLU says that the program is a form of "racialized wealth extraction."
December 12, 2025 at 8:42 PM
See also: debates about speed cameras.
There's a problematic reflex among some progressive reformers to move from "conventional criminal legal responses are bad" to something too close to "accountability in general is bad."
I think (as Jamelle argues here) it's rooted in not thinking abt victims.
There's a problematic reflex among some progressive reformers to move from "conventional criminal legal responses are bad" to something too close to "accountability in general is bad."
I think (as Jamelle argues here) it's rooted in not thinking abt victims.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
As I never tire of reminding people, the two plausible alternatives to automated traffic enforcement are that we either rely on the discretion of individual police officers or we simply don't enforce traffic laws at all. We have been trying both alternatives now and they are failing us.
See also: debates about speed cameras.
There's a problematic reflex among some progressive reformers to move from "conventional criminal legal responses are bad" to something too close to "accountability in general is bad."
I think (as Jamelle argues here) it's rooted in not thinking abt victims.
There's a problematic reflex among some progressive reformers to move from "conventional criminal legal responses are bad" to something too close to "accountability in general is bad."
I think (as Jamelle argues here) it's rooted in not thinking abt victims.
someone tell the California ACLU who is disproportionately more likely to be killed in traffic accidents including those involving people under the influence
December 12, 2025 at 8:47 PM
As I never tire of reminding people, the two plausible alternatives to automated traffic enforcement are that we either rely on the discretion of individual police officers or we simply don't enforce traffic laws at all. We have been trying both alternatives now and they are failing us.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
Ignition interlocks are a *less carceral* option! DUI is a common crime, many drunk drivers are not societal threats in other aspects, and we have a device that notably reduces proclivity to drive drunk without otherwise restricting their liberty.
I think it was a huge mistake to make our society so car-dependent. But man. The Discourse today is a good reminder that when it comes to roadways policy, otherwise progressive anti-car people quickly become some of the most pro-carceral, anti-civil liberties people on the planet.
December 12, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Ignition interlocks are a *less carceral* option! DUI is a common crime, many drunk drivers are not societal threats in other aspects, and we have a device that notably reduces proclivity to drive drunk without otherwise restricting their liberty.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
It's been over a year and countless iterations but *finally* I can announce that my Masters thesis project, a historical strategy deckbuilder based on the Late Bronze Age is finally playable!
Requires Tabletop Simulator to play as this is still just a prototype of the eventual game, but enjoy!
Requires Tabletop Simulator to play as this is still just a prototype of the eventual game, but enjoy!
The Jagged Time by Stephen Friedrich
Because
subrosagames.itch.io
December 11, 2025 at 11:57 PM
It's been over a year and countless iterations but *finally* I can announce that my Masters thesis project, a historical strategy deckbuilder based on the Late Bronze Age is finally playable!
Requires Tabletop Simulator to play as this is still just a prototype of the eventual game, but enjoy!
Requires Tabletop Simulator to play as this is still just a prototype of the eventual game, but enjoy!
TBH there are circumstances you should probably be able to do this and keep your job, but none of those circumstances involve you also calling said customers a racial slur and saying "I'm a racist."
Still laughing at this. Cannot imagine a more self-discrediting argument for socialism than “under socialism, you should be able to gesture to your crotch, tell a customer to suck it and keep your job”.
“Those of us on the left should be fighting to improve protections for workers of all races, and thereby for the betterment of people’s material conditions regardless of their views,” Arash Azizi argues:
December 12, 2025 at 7:54 PM
TBH there are circumstances you should probably be able to do this and keep your job, but none of those circumstances involve you also calling said customers a racial slur and saying "I'm a racist."
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
there is a very good book about transatlantic exchange of fascist, eugenicist and racist ideas in the early 20th century and how those ideas shaped the nazi government in its early years. this has been transformed in popular understanding to "the nazis copied jim crow"
If you’ve heard the “the Nazis got their ideas from the US segregationists” I beg you to please stop. This is both false and it minimizes historical European antisemitism in a misguided attempt to emphasize the nature of US anti-Black racism.
It’s horrific without comparison to Nazism.
It’s horrific without comparison to Nazism.
May I politely encourage you to reconsider this framing. It is inaccurately stated and suggests consistent and strong linkages that do not exist.
The Nazis did not “get their ideas” from confederate laws. Antisemitism and anti-Jewish laws existed in Europe long before the Confederacy…
The Nazis did not “get their ideas” from confederate laws. Antisemitism and anti-Jewish laws existed in Europe long before the Confederacy…
December 12, 2025 at 6:40 PM
there is a very good book about transatlantic exchange of fascist, eugenicist and racist ideas in the early 20th century and how those ideas shaped the nazi government in its early years. this has been transformed in popular understanding to "the nazis copied jim crow"
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
Yeah people don't really realize it yet but in 2028 almost every single Democratic candidate for president is going to be attacked relentlessly by the pro-Israel lobby, even the most rightward flanking ones on the issue.
Incredible. Making this distinction is like the only way liberals can continue to justify continuing to support Zionism – yet the more conservative part of the Zionist coalition is trying to undermine it.
December 12, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Yeah people don't really realize it yet but in 2028 almost every single Democratic candidate for president is going to be attacked relentlessly by the pro-Israel lobby, even the most rightward flanking ones on the issue.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
If I were a Member of Congress, I would not have voted with Republicans to censure Rashida Tlaib (like 22 House Dems did).
But I sure would have already introduced a resolution to censure this bigot:
But I sure would have already introduced a resolution to censure this bigot:
GOP Rep. Randy Fine says he's "not afraid" of being called "Islamophobic" and that, instead of making peace with Palestinians, "destroy them first."
This was during a hearing on "Judea and Samaria"—a term used to erase Palestinian ties to what's actually known as the West Bank.
Subscribe to Zeteo.
This was during a hearing on "Judea and Samaria"—a term used to erase Palestinian ties to what's actually known as the West Bank.
Subscribe to Zeteo.
December 12, 2025 at 5:21 PM
If I were a Member of Congress, I would not have voted with Republicans to censure Rashida Tlaib (like 22 House Dems did).
But I sure would have already introduced a resolution to censure this bigot:
But I sure would have already introduced a resolution to censure this bigot:
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
honestly, if i were trying to design a place for the political opposition to take a stand against trump, i couldn't have done better than abrego garcia. by trying to destroy basic constitutional protections, it was *trump* who made this a dispute over due process and the Constitution.
December 12, 2025 at 6:33 PM
honestly, if i were trying to design a place for the political opposition to take a stand against trump, i couldn't have done better than abrego garcia. by trying to destroy basic constitutional protections, it was *trump* who made this a dispute over due process and the Constitution.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
someone tell the California ACLU who is disproportionately more likely to be killed in traffic accidents including those involving people under the influence
The California ACLU is staunchly opposed to the ignition interlock device program and is a big reason that it has not been expanded. Despite the fact that California heavily subsidizes the cost for low-income drunk drivers, the ACLU says that the program is a form of "racialized wealth extraction."
December 12, 2025 at 6:19 PM
someone tell the California ACLU who is disproportionately more likely to be killed in traffic accidents including those involving people under the influence
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
In a shock to absolutely no one, the spineless dem’s “plan” to reopen the government and force an ACA vote didn’t work and healthcare subsidies are gone.
Healthy people will take the tax penalty.
Sick people will go broke or die.
Those are the options in 2026.
Healthy people will take the tax penalty.
Sick people will go broke or die.
Those are the options in 2026.
December 12, 2025 at 6:22 PM
In a shock to absolutely no one, the spineless dem’s “plan” to reopen the government and force an ACA vote didn’t work and healthcare subsidies are gone.
Healthy people will take the tax penalty.
Sick people will go broke or die.
Those are the options in 2026.
Healthy people will take the tax penalty.
Sick people will go broke or die.
Those are the options in 2026.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
the thing that makes me angriest about arguments from Yglesias and Bazelon is the bland, placid insistence that it is not just imperative to vote for politicians with no principles, but that if you as a private citizen have principles then you may as well be turning on the gas chambers yourself.
December 12, 2025 at 5:52 PM
the thing that makes me angriest about arguments from Yglesias and Bazelon is the bland, placid insistence that it is not just imperative to vote for politicians with no principles, but that if you as a private citizen have principles then you may as well be turning on the gas chambers yourself.
Reposted by Mikhail Gorbaechev
there are pundits who will say that immigration is trump's strongest issue and that picking fights around immigration helps him on the margins. but i think this misunderstands the way public opinion works, as evidenced by trump's declining fortunes on his handling of immigration.
December 12, 2025 at 5:59 PM
there are pundits who will say that immigration is trump's strongest issue and that picking fights around immigration helps him on the margins. but i think this misunderstands the way public opinion works, as evidenced by trump's declining fortunes on his handling of immigration.