Phillip
@obscureshapes.bsky.social
Reposted by Phillip
Driving a car creates immense pressure to act selfishly & think in zero-sum terms, while also physically isolating one from the outside world, inhibiting both our ability to empathize with others & our comprehension of speeds and force
It promotes & even rewards reckless, nihilistic individualism
It promotes & even rewards reckless, nihilistic individualism
Human beings interacting on foot have a very different dynamic than when they're interacting behind the wheel of a car stuck in traffic. And guess how suburbanites spend most of their time in public?
December 3, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Driving a car creates immense pressure to act selfishly & think in zero-sum terms, while also physically isolating one from the outside world, inhibiting both our ability to empathize with others & our comprehension of speeds and force
It promotes & even rewards reckless, nihilistic individualism
It promotes & even rewards reckless, nihilistic individualism
Reposted by Phillip
it should probably be a bigger story that the richest man on earth and leading Republican is a fucking Nazi
media needs to stop beating around the bush. this is Nazi shit.
media needs to stop beating around the bush. this is Nazi shit.
December 3, 2025 at 5:03 AM
it should probably be a bigger story that the richest man on earth and leading Republican is a fucking Nazi
media needs to stop beating around the bush. this is Nazi shit.
media needs to stop beating around the bush. this is Nazi shit.
Reposted by Phillip
There are 75,977 people born in Somalia who are now citizens of the United States, including those specific people.
He is talking about US citizens. He is talking about *us*.
The truth is that none of us are garbage, and the job of the US president is to represent all of us.
We, the people.
He is talking about US citizens. He is talking about *us*.
The truth is that none of us are garbage, and the job of the US president is to represent all of us.
We, the people.
Trump on Somalis: "We're gonna go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage."
December 2, 2025 at 8:00 PM
There are 75,977 people born in Somalia who are now citizens of the United States, including those specific people.
He is talking about US citizens. He is talking about *us*.
The truth is that none of us are garbage, and the job of the US president is to represent all of us.
We, the people.
He is talking about US citizens. He is talking about *us*.
The truth is that none of us are garbage, and the job of the US president is to represent all of us.
We, the people.
Reposted by Phillip
"With the news that the administration plans to link the COVID vaccine to child deaths using data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), it’s worth revisiting how we actually detect whether a vaccine is causing harm."
Excellent explainer from @drjenndowd.bsky.social from 9/2025😷🛟🧪
Excellent explainer from @drjenndowd.bsky.social from 9/2025😷🛟🧪
When “Stuff Happens” After Vaccination
How scientists separate coincidence from true side effects
jenndowd.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:10 AM
"With the news that the administration plans to link the COVID vaccine to child deaths using data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), it’s worth revisiting how we actually detect whether a vaccine is causing harm."
Excellent explainer from @drjenndowd.bsky.social from 9/2025😷🛟🧪
Excellent explainer from @drjenndowd.bsky.social from 9/2025😷🛟🧪
Reposted by Phillip
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
November 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Phillip
Various group-philosophical pessimisms will have you believing that universalism is impossible, not worth striving for. That if you don't oppress, you will inevitably be a victim. I refuse. We are best protected by democracy, by the rule of law, by human and civil rights.
November 18, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Various group-philosophical pessimisms will have you believing that universalism is impossible, not worth striving for. That if you don't oppress, you will inevitably be a victim. I refuse. We are best protected by democracy, by the rule of law, by human and civil rights.
Reposted by Phillip
This has gotten surprisingly little attention — it's not even on the front page of @science.org right now — but it's really hard to describe what the SAFE Research Act would do to US science and scientists without sounding insane
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
November 14, 2025 at 5:16 PM
This has gotten surprisingly little attention — it's not even on the front page of @science.org right now — but it's really hard to describe what the SAFE Research Act would do to US science and scientists without sounding insane
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump is the ultimate Facebook Boomer.
With a “WOW!,” President Trump posts a claim about DOGE and “royalties linked to Obamacare” that originated on a satirical website. That site’s own About section reads: “Everything on this website is fiction… If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined.”
November 9, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Trump is the ultimate Facebook Boomer.
Reposted by Phillip
This isn't a closing election argument, it's Vidkun Quisling explaining why surrender is better than resistance.
November 4, 2025 at 3:00 AM
This isn't a closing election argument, it's Vidkun Quisling explaining why surrender is better than resistance.
Reposted by Phillip
Can't overstate how fucked up it is that unraveling what is arguably the greatest achievement in the history of humanity is now a motivating issue of one of the two dominant parties in the U.S.
FL is moving forward w/ plan to end all childhood vaccine mandates. Starting with hepatitis B, chickenpox, and the bacteria causing meningitis and pneumonia. Then next year GOP FL legislature is expected to revisit 1977 law re: whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus.
October 31, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Can't overstate how fucked up it is that unraveling what is arguably the greatest achievement in the history of humanity is now a motivating issue of one of the two dominant parties in the U.S.
Reposted by Phillip
This is the sound of candidates losing the struggle against the crushing weight of partisan gravity.
This is nationalization and polarization and presidentialization swallowing everything else.
This is the dangerous collapse of dimensionality, in one chart
leedrutman.substack.com/p/the-modera...
This is nationalization and polarization and presidentialization swallowing everything else.
This is the dangerous collapse of dimensionality, in one chart
leedrutman.substack.com/p/the-modera...
October 30, 2025 at 12:34 PM
This is the sound of candidates losing the struggle against the crushing weight of partisan gravity.
This is nationalization and polarization and presidentialization swallowing everything else.
This is the dangerous collapse of dimensionality, in one chart
leedrutman.substack.com/p/the-modera...
This is nationalization and polarization and presidentialization swallowing everything else.
This is the dangerous collapse of dimensionality, in one chart
leedrutman.substack.com/p/the-modera...
I've been watching the Foundation series on AppleTV and I'm not sure if I'll make it thru- I like all the characters, but I hate when they speak to each other. Granted, they're usually in extraordinary situations, but no one talks like a normal human being- the dialogue is all so portentous.
October 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
I've been watching the Foundation series on AppleTV and I'm not sure if I'll make it thru- I like all the characters, but I hate when they speak to each other. Granted, they're usually in extraordinary situations, but no one talks like a normal human being- the dialogue is all so portentous.
Reposted by Phillip
Before the civil rights act was signed it was a great question how effective the civil rights movement was going to be, too. Difficult to predict the future but we're much better off that people tried so hard to do the right thing to the best of their ability.
October 16, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Before the civil rights act was signed it was a great question how effective the civil rights movement was going to be, too. Difficult to predict the future but we're much better off that people tried so hard to do the right thing to the best of their ability.
Reposted by Phillip
Student government leaders of MIT, UVA, U of AZ, Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown, and Vanderbilt united in their opposition to the "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
October 13, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Student government leaders of MIT, UVA, U of AZ, Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown, and Vanderbilt united in their opposition to the "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
Reposted by Phillip
Here is an enduring challenge in my field, foreign policy. For decades, there was a broad and bipartisan consensus of US foreign policy abroad, within which presidents would vary. Things like "treaties will be honored" and "basing commitments will last as agreed to by our predecessor", predictable.
“Win every election” is not a viable strategy for preventing authoritarianism
October 14, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Here is an enduring challenge in my field, foreign policy. For decades, there was a broad and bipartisan consensus of US foreign policy abroad, within which presidents would vary. Things like "treaties will be honored" and "basing commitments will last as agreed to by our predecessor", predictable.
Reposted by Phillip
this is fucking obscene
Bondi: "We've been living through a horrific cycle of political violence in this country ... night after night antifa wrecks havoc on the streets of our cities. In Minnesota, a gunman murdered a state lawmaker and her husband."
October 11, 2025 at 6:47 PM
this is fucking obscene
If Dems win in 2028, Trump will likely pardon everyone in his administration.
Starting now, Dems should run on ending the presidential pardon power. Maybe it makes no difference, maybe it wins elections, but maybe by 2028 Trump is so unpopular that we have the votes for a constitutional amendment.
Starting now, Dems should run on ending the presidential pardon power. Maybe it makes no difference, maybe it wins elections, but maybe by 2028 Trump is so unpopular that we have the votes for a constitutional amendment.
October 11, 2025 at 10:11 PM
If Dems win in 2028, Trump will likely pardon everyone in his administration.
Starting now, Dems should run on ending the presidential pardon power. Maybe it makes no difference, maybe it wins elections, but maybe by 2028 Trump is so unpopular that we have the votes for a constitutional amendment.
Starting now, Dems should run on ending the presidential pardon power. Maybe it makes no difference, maybe it wins elections, but maybe by 2028 Trump is so unpopular that we have the votes for a constitutional amendment.
Reposted by Phillip
This may be the last time you ever see a current issue of the CDC's weekly MMWR: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index.h...
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
The MMWR series is the agency’s primary vehicle for ,,,
www.cdc.gov
October 11, 2025 at 8:46 PM
This may be the last time you ever see a current issue of the CDC's weekly MMWR: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index.h...
I don't know what congressional Dems should demand in a funding bill. The basic issue is that the Trump admin is trying to dictate spending in violation of Congressional appropriations. If Trump, Miller, and Vought can't be trusted to obey the law, what is the point of negotiating a funding bill?
October 11, 2025 at 5:25 PM
I don't know what congressional Dems should demand in a funding bill. The basic issue is that the Trump admin is trying to dictate spending in violation of Congressional appropriations. If Trump, Miller, and Vought can't be trusted to obey the law, what is the point of negotiating a funding bill?
Reposted by Phillip
Over the weekend ICE abducted an NIH contractor when he showed up to a courthouse for his green card hearing. He is documented. His wife is a citizen.
He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.
He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.
October 7, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Over the weekend ICE abducted an NIH contractor when he showed up to a courthouse for his green card hearing. He is documented. His wife is a citizen.
He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.
He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.
Reposted by Phillip
I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win
This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.
Community action works.
Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...
Community action works.
Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...
October 5, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win
Reposted by Phillip
IMO this hasn't gotten enough attention: a recent memo at NIH announces that peer review will be devalued in determining which grants get funded, granting more power to political appointees to make decisions based on the admin's whims over scientific merit
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Changes at NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund or Block Research - KFF Health News
The National Institutes of Health’s long-held standard of peer review for grantmaking has been subverted by President Donald Trump and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who gave unprecedented power to po...
kffhealthnews.org
October 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
IMO this hasn't gotten enough attention: a recent memo at NIH announces that peer review will be devalued in determining which grants get funded, granting more power to political appointees to make decisions based on the admin's whims over scientific merit
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Reposted by Phillip
I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America
October 4, 2025 at 8:49 PM
I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America
The basic problem for Trump's popularity is that he won in 2024 arguing that the US (inflation, crime, immigration) and the world (foreign wars) were in chaos because of Dem weakness and we need a strongman to bang heads, but now he's the one creating chaos and people don't like it.
October 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The basic problem for Trump's popularity is that he won in 2024 arguing that the US (inflation, crime, immigration) and the world (foreign wars) were in chaos because of Dem weakness and we need a strongman to bang heads, but now he's the one creating chaos and people don't like it.