James Felix Black
@tft.io
A large person, in Canada. Father to two, smaller persons. Wife guy. Dual citizen, a modicum of discipline.
Proud liberal. Hobbesian. Unix apostate, Classic Mac OS revanchist, tilter at path-dependent windmills. Emacsist.
Proud liberal. Hobbesian. Unix apostate, Classic Mac OS revanchist, tilter at path-dependent windmills. Emacsist.
Noted leftist and ICC fan [checks notes] Jack Goldsmith
Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith:
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
November 29, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Noted leftist and ICC fan [checks notes] Jack Goldsmith
I think this is an extremely astute take
I think the difference isn’t that the Trump people aren’t descended from Bircherism. It’s that they were the people reading the pamphlets and later the websites, not the ones printing them. They’re the true believers that the Nixon and Reagan (and all but a few Bush 2 types) were grifting for votes.
November 29, 2025 at 2:21 PM
I think this is an extremely astute take
Nothing ventured, nothing gained! This should be the minimum political ask of the next administration; they may have to back down from it, but it has the virtue of being simple to explain, and in my opinion, simply true.
This is right. I think there may be other grounds to deem the pardons void but a key one is that, at the root, Trump was not a person legally capable of issuing them.
Mass pardons are coming. There will be no accountability without treating those as null and void. And that means a future administration taking an official position that Trump is not the legitimate president right now because he is disqualified by the 14th Amendment. The two things are inextricable.
November 29, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Nothing ventured, nothing gained! This should be the minimum political ask of the next administration; they may have to back down from it, but it has the virtue of being simple to explain, and in my opinion, simply true.
Reposted by James Felix Black
“I was just following otters.”
November 28, 2025 at 9:09 PM
“I was just following otters.”
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Elephant seal
Polar bear
Mountain lion
Alligator
Manatee
Elephant seal
Polar bear
Mountain lion
Alligator
Manatee
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Coyotes
Beavers
Raccoons
Tūī
Cougar
Coyotes
Beavers
Raccoons
Tūī
Cougar
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
November 28, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Elephant seal
Polar bear
Mountain lion
Alligator
Manatee
Elephant seal
Polar bear
Mountain lion
Alligator
Manatee
Here’s the thing I don’t get about this pipeline business — there is no future for expensive Canadian tar sands oil in a world where Chinese demand is cratering, right? And Carney knows this, right? So is it all a sop to Smith to get the Albertans to shut the fuck up, or what?
November 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Here’s the thing I don’t get about this pipeline business — there is no future for expensive Canadian tar sands oil in a world where Chinese demand is cratering, right? And Carney knows this, right? So is it all a sop to Smith to get the Albertans to shut the fuck up, or what?
Propagandhi - Hate, Myth, Muscle, Etiquette
YouTube video by SkankinLozer
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Reposted by James Felix Black
One of the reasons i love tolkien is the theme that despair is an enemy
and it makes clear you don’t need to have constant hope, you can get by with grim determination or spite but never despair
and it makes clear you don’t need to have constant hope, you can get by with grim determination or spite but never despair
You can be as terrified or nonplussed or unperturbed as you like; the sun will still rise tomorrow & the rent will still be due on the 31st. The world has no romantic narratives for its fate except those we invent, because the world does not die. That is our privilege.
I said it elsewhere, but it’s weirdly exhilarating and addictive to be terrified all the time, and the people addicted to it, when they say this, may as well be saying “I can stop at any time, it’s just the world doing this *to* me.”
December 31, 2023 at 3:23 AM
One of the reasons i love tolkien is the theme that despair is an enemy
and it makes clear you don’t need to have constant hope, you can get by with grim determination or spite but never despair
and it makes clear you don’t need to have constant hope, you can get by with grim determination or spite but never despair
Good thread. Also, the fact that he got like 31% of the eligible vote should put paid to the idea that he’s operating with anything cognizable as mandate.
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election that are obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment
steady.page
November 28, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Good thread. Also, the fact that he got like 31% of the eligible vote should put paid to the idea that he’s operating with anything cognizable as mandate.
The 8 yr old, expressing her feelings about the state of Canadian policing.
November 28, 2025 at 3:23 AM
The 8 yr old, expressing her feelings about the state of Canadian policing.
Well well well don’t mind if I do
November 28, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Well well well don’t mind if I do
Also, fuck him, the Somali community in Minnesota is great.
hi that's racist
TRUMP: If you look at Somalia, they are taking over Minnesota.
REPORTER: What do the Somalians have to do with this Afghan guy who shot the National Guard members?
TRUMP: Ah, nothing. But Somalians have caused a lot of trouble. They're ripping us off.
REPORTER: What do the Somalians have to do with this Afghan guy who shot the National Guard members?
TRUMP: Ah, nothing. But Somalians have caused a lot of trouble. They're ripping us off.
November 28, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Also, fuck him, the Somali community in Minnesota is great.
I like this very, very much
A Terror Bird in seven-league boots. Brown pencil, 68 × 89 mm. From 2020.
November 28, 2025 at 12:03 AM
I like this very, very much
All of these please
random ideas for a silmarillion show:
1. oscar fischinger-like sequence of wild abstraction for elbereth kindling the constellations as the elves wake up in cuivienen.
2. sequence after beor the old dies showing the humans being relatively nonchalant and the elves deeply traumatized
1. oscar fischinger-like sequence of wild abstraction for elbereth kindling the constellations as the elves wake up in cuivienen.
2. sequence after beor the old dies showing the humans being relatively nonchalant and the elves deeply traumatized
November 27, 2025 at 9:53 PM
All of these please
What I’m sort of fumbling at is that the way in which people Go Nuts over trans folks is so weirdly homogenous and so detached from everyday experience that it seemingly can’t be “about” anything specific to trans folks.
The universal descent into utter bugfuckery by all these “gender critical” or whatever types seems like there’s something else there and they’re all grasping onto trans shit as a way to do something other than mere out-group hatred, you know?
November 27, 2025 at 9:46 PM
What I’m sort of fumbling at is that the way in which people Go Nuts over trans folks is so weirdly homogenous and so detached from everyday experience that it seemingly can’t be “about” anything specific to trans folks.
I would watch the fuck out of this movie
Post something random or you'll have an awful December
November 27, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I would watch the fuck out of this movie
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you’ve seen
The Touch & Go 25th anniversary festival
My Bloody Valentine
The Skatalites
Prince (x5)
Fugazi (too many times to count)
The Touch & Go 25th anniversary festival
My Bloody Valentine
The Skatalites
Prince (x5)
Fugazi (too many times to count)
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you’ve seen
Weird Al Yankovic
G3 (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Kenny Wayne Shepherd)
Ben Folds (Five) (x5)
Nine Inch Nails
Regina Spektor
Weird Al Yankovic
G3 (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Kenny Wayne Shepherd)
Ben Folds (Five) (x5)
Nine Inch Nails
Regina Spektor
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you’ve seen
B.B. King
James McMurtry
Aerosmith
Judas Priest
Bonnie Raitt
B.B. King
James McMurtry
Aerosmith
Judas Priest
Bonnie Raitt
November 27, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you’ve seen
The Touch & Go 25th anniversary festival
My Bloody Valentine
The Skatalites
Prince (x5)
Fugazi (too many times to count)
The Touch & Go 25th anniversary festival
My Bloody Valentine
The Skatalites
Prince (x5)
Fugazi (too many times to count)
This gets at something really important I think which is that we software people have often mistaken the means for the ends, much to the cost of ourselves, the structures we are embedded in, and society at large. The plasticity of software is a miracle but also a blade with no handle.
To paraphrase Fred, his point was that much of IT work is building systems that are too complicated and mostly we just needed to give better *basic* tools to people and let them figure out a process that worked for them.
We should consider ourselves toolsmiths.
This part I agree with.
We should consider ourselves toolsmiths.
This part I agree with.
November 27, 2025 at 5:45 PM
This gets at something really important I think which is that we software people have often mistaken the means for the ends, much to the cost of ourselves, the structures we are embedded in, and society at large. The plasticity of software is a miracle but also a blade with no handle.
This is excellent
Okay I'm feeling like a damn fool today so I'll contribute to the Machine Learning Discourse, Pat's standard rule of false dichotomy* nonwithstanding:
November 27, 2025 at 5:31 PM
This is excellent
I like this Murray-Bowles kid
November 27, 2025 at 2:23 AM
I like this Murray-Bowles kid
Nice seats.
Observation: Jay Huff, to quote my wife, looks like an Amish Casey Affleck.
Further updates as events warrant
Observation: Jay Huff, to quote my wife, looks like an Amish Casey Affleck.
Further updates as events warrant
November 27, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Nice seats.
Observation: Jay Huff, to quote my wife, looks like an Amish Casey Affleck.
Further updates as events warrant
Observation: Jay Huff, to quote my wife, looks like an Amish Casey Affleck.
Further updates as events warrant
Reposted by James Felix Black
pigeons are a kind of dove. so the CPSC would be showing those deep fryer inferno videos with the song "this is what it burns like when doves fry"
November 26, 2025 at 11:37 PM
pigeons are a kind of dove. so the CPSC would be showing those deep fryer inferno videos with the song "this is what it burns like when doves fry"
Reposted by James Felix Black
one of the purest Everyone Sucks stories I can remember
November 26, 2025 at 10:51 PM
one of the purest Everyone Sucks stories I can remember
... yes, this tracks.
My most extreme take on this would be that the first '90s record was Mission of Burma's VS., which came out in--checks notes--1982.
November 26, 2025 at 10:50 PM
... yes, this tracks.
EKRAN!
O!
PLAN!
O!
PLAN!
E K R A N O P L A N
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November 26, 2025 at 9:44 PM
EKRAN!
O!
PLAN!
O!
PLAN!