Ben Blythe
@visitingwriter.bsky.social
520 followers 370 following 1.7K posts
Jewish SciFi/Fantasy/Horror author. Developmental editor. University instructor. Chicago Manual of Style enthusiast.
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Reposted by Ben Blythe
dieworkwear.bsky.social
It's hard to help Americans left behind because so much of US identity is rooted in individualism. The average American conservative holds all three positions at once:

— Virtue signals about supporting US manufacturing
— Against raising the minimum wage
— Buys foreign imports because they're cheap
HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "I'm willing to pay more for quality products if they are made in America, by Americans, who are paid a decent income." The tweet shows Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting, which is often used to show the tweeter is expressing a brave opinion. HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "MINIMUM WAGE JOBS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE A CAREER. Why does no one understand this? Entry level jobs are STEPPING STONES to better jobs. No one wants to work towards that though." HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "Buy $5 gloves instead of $50 ones. Trust me." The tweet shows a box of "Gorilla Grip" gloves. The label on Gorilla Grip gloves show they're made in China.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
The correct response to someone like that is to just block the shit out of them and ignore them for the rest of their lives.

Silence is violence, and it's the only real weapon to wield against someone with that kind of attention-seeking mindset.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
Whole thread's worth a read.
avishaybsg.bsky.social
🧵 I'm excited to share that my article "Democratic Backsliding and the Limits of Civilian Control of the Military" has been accepted @thejop.bsky.social.

It answers the question "how ought militaries act when civilian leaders turn on democratic institutions?"

1/
#CivMilSky #PolTheory
visitingwriter.bsky.social
First one, then the other.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
This is just straight-up booking the death of a man.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
wrestling is better than what you like.
andy.wrestlejoy.com
Mexican luchador Charro Negro being helped by a fan to avoid being eliminated touching the floor during a Battle Royal match. 🤼
visitingwriter.bsky.social
Be real nice if Once in a Lifetime events would stop happening every five to ten years.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
Feel like Eddie belongs in the forced dress-up category. You know that man would have the time of his life but he'd also be super miserable about it.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
RFK Jr. should be tried for crimes against humanity.
luckytran.com
They have fired the staff of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, who are disease detectives that respond to outbreaks around the world.

I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous it is to dismantle our disease surveillance infrastructure.
Reposted by Ben Blythe
beijingpalmer.bsky.social
this man's name is written in the book of life
visitingwriter.bsky.social
But also that strike clean through the Hadoken was just sick. If you did a career retrospective/hype piece for Omega/Danielson II (III? IV?), you could frame that spot as the exact moment Omega decided to level up in order to beat Danielson down the road.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
Interesting is that most of the match was just Danielson and Black beating the snot out of Omega.

The ending also feels like an audible (Danielson hard wayed Omega with the rolling elbow strike counter at the end, Omega legit looks kind of out of it, match probably had 10 minutes left in the tank).
visitingwriter.bsky.social
Wild seeing these guys all go at it, knowing they're all half-formed as the legends they'll grow into. Only one of them even has his 'real' finishing move at the time of this match (Omega was three years out from the OWA, Black was four out from the Stomp).
FULL MATCH: Bryan Danielson vs Kenny Omega vs Tyler Black! | ROH, 11/8/08 | Hidden Classics
YouTube video by All Elite Wrestling
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Ben Blythe
bbkogan.bsky.social
Three key points:
1) The admin has been planning mass firings to begin in October since February
2) The work necessary to carry out mass firings is illegal during a shutdown, violating the Antideficiency Act, which carries a criminal penalty
3) This harms America, ridding us of talent and expertise
Russ Vought v @russvought
The RIFs have begun.
12:27 PM • 10/10/25 • 15K Views
visitingwriter.bsky.social
Pretty much skipped Game of Thrones and only ever liked the Jon Snow parts when anyone cajoled me into watching it.

Took one look at the books and skipped those too, 'cos I instantly clocked that Martin is someone I'd detest (and I kinda do, for reasons that have nothing to do with his work).
hannahfearn.bsky.social
Inspired by a post I just saw in which someone admitted they hadn’t seen a single episode of Friends nor the film Love Actually… what cultural hole do you have that’s a bit weird for your generation?

I’ll go first: I haven’t seen Dirty Dancing.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
Which is not to defend ADL or Netanyahu, who have slathered themselves in shame of late, but, like.

We're tokens to them. Tokens get spent. It's just a matter of when.

The one bright side here, if there is one, is that it'll probably include Miller getting ousted at some point.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
From the turn on ADL to yelling at Netanyahu to this has been a remarkably unsurprising pivot. I don't even think it's a conscious decision on Trump's part--it's just the path of least resistance as he looks for a new way to make people love him.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
This feels like a vague homage to Ajit Pai trying to stitch together a real human personality by having a large coffee cup.
Pictured here is a man who destroyed large swaths of the internet as we know it. He is drinking from a "comically" large coffee mug with a Reese's label on it. Nobody loves him.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
Looking for a new apartment + a better job in this current environment is positively soul crushing, lemme tell ya.
visitingwriter.bsky.social
I wonder how much of it is down to Literature Twitter going on crusade every other week back in the 2010s. A lot of those folks literally could not (would not?) distinguish between fiction and reality or author and character, and they were hellbent on making it everybody else's problem.
Reposted by Ben Blythe
josephcox.bsky.social
New from 404 Media: the Discord hack is every users' worst nightmare. Yesterday the hackers started posting Discord users' selfies, identity documents, email addresses, phone numbers, more. I watched in real time. This is risk of tech storing ID for age verification
www.404media.co/the-discord-...
The Discord Hack is Every Users’ Worst Nightmare
A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive informa...
www.404media.co
Reposted by Ben Blythe
mtsw.bsky.social
it should be a tell about what's happening in the media now that most mainstream commentators seem openly frustrated that polling does not blame democrats for the shutdown
visitingwriter.bsky.social
If your industry cannot exist without massive levels of theft, then your industry does not deserve to exist.
Reposted by Ben Blythe
tobyontv.bsky.social
if you’ve ever watched the apprentice, that’s the world without arts or humanities degrees