Aaron Homer
@ahomer.bsky.social
Father, husband, dog-owner, programmer. Somewhere left of center.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
yeah the cross-subsidy model of IZ turns out--as goddamn bertaud pointed out very clearly--to depend on market rents inflated by artificial scarcity
It's also *good* that market-rate rates are low enough that many people who could live in dedicated affordable housing are able to choose superior market-rate units instead. Kind of a YIMBY success story. But the marginal affordable housing tenant turned out to be subsidizing a lot!
December 23, 2025 at 1:43 AM
yeah the cross-subsidy model of IZ turns out--as goddamn bertaud pointed out very clearly--to depend on market rents inflated by artificial scarcity
Reposted by Aaron Homer
Guards began beating him. Beat him until he bled. Knocked his face into the wall, broke all his teeth. No access to outdoors, no contact with relatives.
Now describing US knowledge of CECOT's torture practices, followed by footage of Trump praising those practices.
Now describing US knowledge of CECOT's torture practices, followed by footage of Trump praising those practices.
December 22, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Guards began beating him. Beat him until he bled. Knocked his face into the wall, broke all his teeth. No access to outdoors, no contact with relatives.
Now describing US knowledge of CECOT's torture practices, followed by footage of Trump praising those practices.
Now describing US knowledge of CECOT's torture practices, followed by footage of Trump praising those practices.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
Spent 6 months in detention waiting on a decision on his asylum application until he was deported to CECOT
The detail that they sent out an asylum seeker who presented himself to immigration correctly also seems new. Again, did we know this? Seems like a weird thing for a terrorist to do
The detail that they sent out an asylum seeker who presented himself to immigration correctly also seems new. Again, did we know this? Seems like a weird thing for a terrorist to do
December 22, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Spent 6 months in detention waiting on a decision on his asylum application until he was deported to CECOT
The detail that they sent out an asylum seeker who presented himself to immigration correctly also seems new. Again, did we know this? Seems like a weird thing for a terrorist to do
The detail that they sent out an asylum seeker who presented himself to immigration correctly also seems new. Again, did we know this? Seems like a weird thing for a terrorist to do
Reposted by Aaron Homer
who is ready for #GamerGate2, this time doing investigations and writeups about suspected use of AI...
yeah this sucks
That pretty much guarantees no one will admit to using any of these tools or practices again while disgruntled ex employees make wild accusations. Gamers are going to turn to AI investigating everything
Embark taking strays, Larian, too
Crappy postal game but who cares about postal
That pretty much guarantees no one will admit to using any of these tools or practices again while disgruntled ex employees make wild accusations. Gamers are going to turn to AI investigating everything
Embark taking strays, Larian, too
Crappy postal game but who cares about postal
December 22, 2025 at 5:18 AM
who is ready for #GamerGate2, this time doing investigations and writeups about suspected use of AI...
Reposted by Aaron Homer
The story is insane. The acting head of cyber security, a Noem crony, repeatedly demanded to see highly classified information he didn’t need access to, and when staff set up a lie detector test as a condition to grant him access, he failed it. So DHS suspended the staffers.
Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.
Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.
At least six career staff were placed on leave after DHS opened an investigation into whether they misled the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, into taking the test.
dlvr.it
December 22, 2025 at 3:20 AM
The story is insane. The acting head of cyber security, a Noem crony, repeatedly demanded to see highly classified information he didn’t need access to, and when staff set up a lie detector test as a condition to grant him access, he failed it. So DHS suspended the staffers.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
Skilled-worker visa holders who traveled back to India this month to renew their US work permits are now stranded far from home after their appointments were abruptly canceled by U.S. consular offices and rescheduled for months later.
H-1B workers flew to India to renew U.S. visas. Now they’re stuck.
H-1B holders who returned to India this month to renew their visas had consular appointments canceled, stranding them far from their homes and jobs, lawyers said.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 21, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Skilled-worker visa holders who traveled back to India this month to renew their US work permits are now stranded far from home after their appointments were abruptly canceled by U.S. consular offices and rescheduled for months later.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
An immigrant works a dangerous job to protect Americans. It puts him in medical debt. Now he also has to worry about being deported by ICE when he goes to work or takes his kid to a soccer tournament.
Feel safer?
Feel safer?
December 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
An immigrant works a dangerous job to protect Americans. It puts him in medical debt. Now he also has to worry about being deported by ICE when he goes to work or takes his kid to a soccer tournament.
Feel safer?
Feel safer?
Reposted by Aaron Homer
To be fair to Ezra, he does specifically talk about this, but also seems completely uncurious about what instruments drove this "vibe shift" and how did the narrative get set so much that elite institutions bought it. The information environments here are critical and his institution got us here.
I mean, if one actually was curious and looked at data there never was one? Global anti-incumbent backlash gave the man a narrow victory and the rest was effectively elites whipping themselves into a frenzy declaring a sea change completely unsupported by facts on the ground.
December 21, 2025 at 4:45 PM
To be fair to Ezra, he does specifically talk about this, but also seems completely uncurious about what instruments drove this "vibe shift" and how did the narrative get set so much that elite institutions bought it. The information environments here are critical and his institution got us here.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
Yep, my sense is that Vance is the figurehead for the less-obviously-Nazi wing to push ethnonationalism into the mainstream.
Takes halfway through this article to get there but, yeah its not just Fuentes preaching blood and soil politics, the most prominent person doing that, quite explicitly, is JD Vance (like Vivek, a Peter Thiel protegee) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
Ramaswamy Challenges Conservatives on Surging Bigotry on the Right
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Yep, my sense is that Vance is the figurehead for the less-obviously-Nazi wing to push ethnonationalism into the mainstream.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
Americans & Europeans needlessly exposing African babies to preventable diseases just to see if they can find something that would justify their preexisting antivaccine beliefs is not only unscientific and actually anti-science, it is very much reminiscent of colonialist, racist human rights abuses
“It is not clear what the research question is. It seems to be about the safety of the vaccine rather than its effectiveness, but both are already well-established, and to undertake such a study in a population where almost 1/5 of the adult population has a marker of infection seems extremely risky”
US plan for $1.6m hepatitis B vaccine study in Africa called ‘highly unethical’
Experts decry ‘neocolonialist’ Guinea-Bissau study after Trump administration changed advice for US babies
www.theguardian.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Americans & Europeans needlessly exposing African babies to preventable diseases just to see if they can find something that would justify their preexisting antivaccine beliefs is not only unscientific and actually anti-science, it is very much reminiscent of colonialist, racist human rights abuses
Reposted by Aaron Homer
forgot to mention this last night but a municipal candidate is tight with my dsa chapter but was scared of joining this cycle because of the fear that association would make their family a target for immigration.
anyway, they’re reconsidering it now that their mom has self deported out of fear.
anyway, they’re reconsidering it now that their mom has self deported out of fear.
It's cool that I get to constantly think about whether my modest political involvement puts my immediate family at risk 🤠
December 21, 2025 at 1:54 PM
forgot to mention this last night but a municipal candidate is tight with my dsa chapter but was scared of joining this cycle because of the fear that association would make their family a target for immigration.
anyway, they’re reconsidering it now that their mom has self deported out of fear.
anyway, they’re reconsidering it now that their mom has self deported out of fear.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
Nothing to see here, just a right wing hyper-nationalist government going to their party’s youth event sponsored by a group with a martyred leader they’ve pledged to avenge, recruiting people to join their masked police force devoted to removing auslanders from ze homeland.
December 21, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Nothing to see here, just a right wing hyper-nationalist government going to their party’s youth event sponsored by a group with a martyred leader they’ve pledged to avenge, recruiting people to join their masked police force devoted to removing auslanders from ze homeland.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
Remains absolutely wild to me we have a functional cure for HIV/AIDS.
Over 91% of Clients in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Reach Undetectable Status www.poz.com/article/91-c...
Over 91% of Clients in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Reach Undetectable Status
New data confirm Ryan White’s success—undetectable equals untransmittable (and healthier)—but GOP leaders want to slash these HIV funds.
www.poz.com
December 21, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Remains absolutely wild to me we have a functional cure for HIV/AIDS.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
The Lynching Memorial in Montgomery drew over 1 million people between 2018 and 2022, and EJI has expanded it and added a memorial to victims of slavery.
“American people will have no patience” for any museum that is “uncomfortable conveying a positive view of American history,” Trump aides wrote.
"It was not immediately clear how much money the White House might try to withhold, from which parts of the Smithsonian or on what authority."
"It was not immediately clear how much money the White House might try to withhold, from which parts of the Smithsonian or on what authority."
White House threatens Smithsonian funds in sweeping content review
It is not clear on what authority the administration could withhold Smithsonian funds, as President Trump tries to purge “woke” content from cultural institutions.
wapo.st
December 21, 2025 at 1:15 PM
The Lynching Memorial in Montgomery drew over 1 million people between 2018 and 2022, and EJI has expanded it and added a memorial to victims of slavery.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
US seized another tanker carrying Venezuelan oil, this one not already on the sanctions list for Russian oligarchs and Iran.
Panamanian flagged and belongs to a legal, China-based oil trader.
Unclear what US will do with the cargo, but this looks like at least a partial blockade, an act of war.
Panamanian flagged and belongs to a legal, China-based oil trader.
Unclear what US will do with the cargo, but this looks like at least a partial blockade, an act of war.
December 21, 2025 at 12:57 PM
US seized another tanker carrying Venezuelan oil, this one not already on the sanctions list for Russian oligarchs and Iran.
Panamanian flagged and belongs to a legal, China-based oil trader.
Unclear what US will do with the cargo, but this looks like at least a partial blockade, an act of war.
Panamanian flagged and belongs to a legal, China-based oil trader.
Unclear what US will do with the cargo, but this looks like at least a partial blockade, an act of war.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
The body cam footage from Beker’s arrest has been released.
“Hey, this is Officer Hingiss with the Whitefish Police Department. Just out with a male that only speaks Spanish, wondering if you want to check him?”
flatheadbeacon.com/2025/12/19/c...
“Hey, this is Officer Hingiss with the Whitefish Police Department. Just out with a male that only speaks Spanish, wondering if you want to check him?”
flatheadbeacon.com/2025/12/19/c...
NEW — I wrote about Beker Rengifo, a Montana resident from Venezuela who was taken by ICE on Thursday after a routine traffic stop, and how local law enforcement is working with the feds to ensnare people with legal status.
ICE abducts Montana resident with legal humanitarian status
Beker Rengifo is the latest victim of Trump's reckless and illegal war on migrants.
www.thehandbasket.co
December 21, 2025 at 3:48 AM
The body cam footage from Beker’s arrest has been released.
“Hey, this is Officer Hingiss with the Whitefish Police Department. Just out with a male that only speaks Spanish, wondering if you want to check him?”
flatheadbeacon.com/2025/12/19/c...
“Hey, this is Officer Hingiss with the Whitefish Police Department. Just out with a male that only speaks Spanish, wondering if you want to check him?”
flatheadbeacon.com/2025/12/19/c...
Reposted by Aaron Homer
The spread of the idea that the ultimate sin wasn't cruelty or selfishness but rather "virtue signaling" has horribly corroded public morality over the last decade. A sizable bloc of the public now openly believes that supporting violent domination is preferable to advocating traditional virtues.
That they want to do and are doing evil things does not surprise me. Other administrations of both parties have done likewise. What is surprising and disturbing is how glib they are about it, not trying to hide it or spin it, but thoroughly reveling in the cruelty.
December 20, 2025 at 11:54 PM
The spread of the idea that the ultimate sin wasn't cruelty or selfishness but rather "virtue signaling" has horribly corroded public morality over the last decade. A sizable bloc of the public now openly believes that supporting violent domination is preferable to advocating traditional virtues.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
Unfortunately what happens is you get a new cartel because whoops turns out that when you empower paramilitaries with the ability to Go After Bad Guys with little oversight it turns out being around lots of untraceable money you can take with violence leads to exactly what you think
Part of me wants to see what happens when a bunch of Trump megafans take their luxury yachts with the MAGA flags and try to interdict actual cartel operations.
December 20, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Unfortunately what happens is you get a new cartel because whoops turns out that when you empower paramilitaries with the ability to Go After Bad Guys with little oversight it turns out being around lots of untraceable money you can take with violence leads to exactly what you think
Reposted by Aaron Homer
House member WAR is a reasonable guide to how much slack you should cut red district Dems but it is not a terribly good basis for shittalking sitting reps.
as Brian Scalabrine once said “I’m closer to LeBron than you are to me.”
as Brian Scalabrine once said “I’m closer to LeBron than you are to me.”
December 20, 2025 at 11:45 PM
House member WAR is a reasonable guide to how much slack you should cut red district Dems but it is not a terribly good basis for shittalking sitting reps.
as Brian Scalabrine once said “I’m closer to LeBron than you are to me.”
as Brian Scalabrine once said “I’m closer to LeBron than you are to me.”
Reposted by Aaron Homer
He's actually mostly arguing that your knowledge of energy policy is substandard and slipshod and not reflective of reality, but we're not even really pretending to care about policy outcomes anymore I see.
There’s nothing wrong with @casten.house.gov being an electoral underperformer in a safe seat, but in his thread attacking me he is asking Democrats to defer to his political judgment. I think it’s a smarter bet to defer to folks who overperform in tough races.
December 20, 2025 at 11:10 PM
He's actually mostly arguing that your knowledge of energy policy is substandard and slipshod and not reflective of reality, but we're not even really pretending to care about policy outcomes anymore I see.
Reposted by Aaron Homer
Creating a new generation one environmentalists who will work against the cause of saving the planet for specious reasons
December 20, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Creating a new generation one environmentalists who will work against the cause of saving the planet for specious reasons
Reposted by Aaron Homer
another shitty thing about data centers is that people are getting trained to be reaaaally good at killing transmission lines
December 20, 2025 at 8:53 PM
another shitty thing about data centers is that people are getting trained to be reaaaally good at killing transmission lines
Reposted by Aaron Homer
For sure. I think the difference between DeSantis and Trump 2 is the sheer volume of Nazi shit. It's both too many stories to properly cover and sometimes almost too controversial. I don't think anyone picked this story up besides me and Mother Jones, for instance:
Border Patrol Posts Instagram Propaganda Video Featuring Antisemitic Slurs
The video was pinned to Border Patrol's Instagram Reels.
gizmodo.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
For sure. I think the difference between DeSantis and Trump 2 is the sheer volume of Nazi shit. It's both too many stories to properly cover and sometimes almost too controversial. I don't think anyone picked this story up besides me and Mother Jones, for instance:
Reposted by Aaron Homer
I keep expecting to encounter one immigration attorney maybe one who isn’t a fire breathing leftist who will say something like yes this is bad now but u have to put it in context of clinton bush Obama etc and… no, literally all of them are like: we’ve never seen anything like this
December 20, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I keep expecting to encounter one immigration attorney maybe one who isn’t a fire breathing leftist who will say something like yes this is bad now but u have to put it in context of clinton bush Obama etc and… no, literally all of them are like: we’ve never seen anything like this