Alex Bloom
@alexpbloom.bsky.social
Pittsburgher by birth, DC (>10 years) resident. Professional researcher (non-politics).
Occasional commentator on American politics: https://alexbloom.substack.com/
Occasional commentator on American politics: https://alexbloom.substack.com/
Absolutely elite Christmas Eve content.
I calculated a soccer-specific chess rating for 4,400 online games between ~100 players' accounts
Top 10:
1. Marten de Roon
2. Yussuf Poulsen
3. Antonee Robinson
4. Stefan de Vrij
5. Borna Sosa
6. Christian Pulisic
7. Michael Olise
8. Kevin Prince Boateng
9. N'Golo Kante
10. Josip Stanisic
Top 10:
1. Marten de Roon
2. Yussuf Poulsen
3. Antonee Robinson
4. Stefan de Vrij
5. Borna Sosa
6. Christian Pulisic
7. Michael Olise
8. Kevin Prince Boateng
9. N'Golo Kante
10. Josip Stanisic
December 24, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Absolutely elite Christmas Eve content.
The thing is most people are good people! Why would one of these dudes randomly murder me in the middle of the night? No reason! People aren’t inherently violent against all other humans. And most of these guys aren’t even criminals!
No 60 Minutes segment can be considered complete without this kind of erudite analysis on the issues of our day.
December 24, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The thing is most people are good people! Why would one of these dudes randomly murder me in the middle of the night? No reason! People aren’t inherently violent against all other humans. And most of these guys aren’t even criminals!
Great thread!
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 21, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Great thread!
The anti-Cinderella story everyone wanted! The richest team in MLS allowed to flout all the roster rules to buy a retirement title for Messi (who is still totally the best player in MLS). But does anyone care?
December 6, 2025 at 9:46 PM
The anti-Cinderella story everyone wanted! The richest team in MLS allowed to flout all the roster rules to buy a retirement title for Messi (who is still totally the best player in MLS). But does anyone care?
Any Democrat not willing to demand Hegseth’s resignation and investigate him and the commanders who executed this clearly illegal order for war crimes should resign or be primaried.
Exclusive: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody” in the first strike on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. After two men survived, the mission commander ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, according to two sources.
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Any Democrat not willing to demand Hegseth’s resignation and investigate him and the commanders who executed this clearly illegal order for war crimes should resign or be primaried.
If some people have no due process, you can be called such a person and then you don’t have due process either. This is exactly why due process for immigrants is as essential as for everyone else.
Missouri AG, seeing petition signature gatherers having success in challenging the latest Gop gerrymandering of the state, baselessly tells ICE the petition workers are illegal immigrants, so they'll go jump them and interrupt their work.
www.kansascity.com/news/politic...
www.kansascity.com/news/politic...
Missouri attorney general involves ICE in push to halt anti-gerrymandering group
The attorney general did not provide any evidence to support her claims, which the campaign called false.
www.kansascity.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:51 PM
If some people have no due process, you can be called such a person and then you don’t have due process either. This is exactly why due process for immigrants is as essential as for everyone else.
This is actually a good argument for why the legacy political parties should embrace proportional representation or RCV or some sort of electoral reform. They have a chance for survival with it, but without, they could be totally swamped/overthrown.
I have a hypothesis: the two party system is currently collapsing in ways that will only seem obvious in retrospect.
There is not a place in Congress for Cori Bush, or Jared Golden or MTG—but they collectively represent more voters than the Democrats or Republicans.
There is not a place in Congress for Cori Bush, or Jared Golden or MTG—but they collectively represent more voters than the Democrats or Republicans.
November 22, 2025 at 7:57 PM
This is actually a good argument for why the legacy political parties should embrace proportional representation or RCV or some sort of electoral reform. They have a chance for survival with it, but without, they could be totally swamped/overthrown.
This is really important messaging. More of this please, Dems!
We want to speak directly to members of the Military and the Intelligence Community.
The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution.
Don’t give up the ship.
The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution.
Don’t give up the ship.
November 18, 2025 at 10:46 PM
This is really important messaging. More of this please, Dems!
This is example 45,338 of why left/liberal voters hate Democratic politicians. More concerned with doing favors for buddies than with actual democracy.
Chuy Garcia, a Chicago Democrat, pulls off a maneuver to ensure his aide succeeds him in the U.S. House.
The IL filing deadline was today. Garcia's chief of staff filed to run for the seat *this afternoon,* and Garcia is now expected to withdraw, so boom, no one else is running for the open seat.
The IL filing deadline was today. Garcia's chief of staff filed to run for the seat *this afternoon,* and Garcia is now expected to withdraw, so boom, no one else is running for the open seat.
In a surprise move, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is not seeking re-election, leaving in place a succession plan for his chief of staff, the only Democrat to file for his seat on the last day to do so.
trib.al/Z6twS77
trib.al/Z6twS77
November 4, 2025 at 1:18 AM
This is example 45,338 of why left/liberal voters hate Democratic politicians. More concerned with doing favors for buddies than with actual democracy.
Yet more evidence that DC needs to cease any and all cooperation with federal agents who tried to kill a guy for having tinted windows by shooting into a car where *they couldn’t have known if there were other people present*.
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Lawyers allege cover-up after fed shoots at man during D.C. traffic stop
Neither D.C. police nor the Department of Homeland Security have explained why the Homeland Security agent fired his weapon.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Yet more evidence that DC needs to cease any and all cooperation with federal agents who tried to kill a guy for having tinted windows by shooting into a car where *they couldn’t have known if there were other people present*.
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
It's easy for "leaders" to hide behind the notion that you are "protecting the staff at your institution," or "not doing anything to make the situation worse," but the reality is that the situation is dire. You can either lead the fight against fascism or hide. But don't expect kudos for hiding.
ordinary americans are filming ice agents and trying to save their neighbors. for all the hemming and hawing during 2024 about how democracy was an elite concern, the elites gave up far more quickly than average people.
October 24, 2025 at 1:56 PM
It's easy for "leaders" to hide behind the notion that you are "protecting the staff at your institution," or "not doing anything to make the situation worse," but the reality is that the situation is dire. You can either lead the fight against fascism or hide. But don't expect kudos for hiding.
It's genuinely insane that we don't have answers to basic questions about how our tax dollars are being used by MPD to support the abductions of our neighbors. Hold the hearings! Make the details public!
Ward 4 CM Janeese Lewis George @cmlewisgeorgew4.bsky.social says DC residents deserve answers on MPD & ICE coordination.
"Our police must prioritize community needs – not the cruel agenda of a federal administration determined to tear immigrant families apart."
www.petworthnews.org/blog/cm-lewi...
"Our police must prioritize community needs – not the cruel agenda of a federal administration determined to tear immigrant families apart."
www.petworthnews.org/blog/cm-lewi...
DC residents deserve answers on MPD & ICE coordination (Councilmember's Corner) — Petworth News
Our police force must prioritize our community needs – not the cruel agenda of a federal administration determined to tear immigrant families apart. DC residents deserve answers on the extent to which...
www.petworthnews.org
October 23, 2025 at 3:50 PM
It's genuinely insane that we don't have answers to basic questions about how our tax dollars are being used by MPD to support the abductions of our neighbors. Hold the hearings! Make the details public!
Just offering a reminder to those who infrequently tune into baseball that the Mariners and Blue Jays have each won more playoff games *this year* than the Pirates have won in the entire lifetime of someone who is 30 years old.
October 21, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Just offering a reminder to those who infrequently tune into baseball that the Mariners and Blue Jays have each won more playoff games *this year* than the Pirates have won in the entire lifetime of someone who is 30 years old.
Reposted by Alex Bloom
We have been told that the National Guard deployment in DC will cost the federal government $201 MILLION through the end of this calendar year. If the Guard is really staying through the America 250 celebration, the total cost to the taxpayers could easily top half a billion
October 20, 2025 at 6:09 PM
We have been told that the National Guard deployment in DC will cost the federal government $201 MILLION through the end of this calendar year. If the Guard is really staying through the America 250 celebration, the total cost to the taxpayers could easily top half a billion
Literally negatively polarizing themselves into being pro-monarchy.
Mike Johnson: "The irony was that they called it the No Kings Rally, but if President Trump was a king, the government would be open. If President Trump was a king, he would've closed the nationals parks and the National Mall so they couldn't of had the rally out here."
October 20, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Literally negatively polarizing themselves into being pro-monarchy.
I think this is true. I also think it's true that up until Trump, there was a check on bigotry at the top of the Republican Party (e.g., McCain saying Obama wasn't Muslim at a town hall). When you put an open bigot at the top, who can enforce rules of decorum down throughout the rest of the org?
the idea that one became a conservative to uphold a great tradition of small government and free enterprise with no necessary connection to such base emotions -- perhaps to a great degree a polite fiction or a lie that conservatives could tell themselves -- I'm thinking now it was load-bearing
October 15, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I think this is true. I also think it's true that up until Trump, there was a check on bigotry at the top of the Republican Party (e.g., McCain saying Obama wasn't Muslim at a town hall). When you put an open bigot at the top, who can enforce rules of decorum down throughout the rest of the org?
Reposted by Alex Bloom
Yes, you should be surprised and horrified by secret federal police running around our city kidnapping immigrants, crashing cars, launching chemical weapons and shooting and killing people. This is a thing you should be *perpetually* shocked by. We lose when we become numb to it.
October 14, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Yes, you should be surprised and horrified by secret federal police running around our city kidnapping immigrants, crashing cars, launching chemical weapons and shooting and killing people. This is a thing you should be *perpetually* shocked by. We lose when we become numb to it.
This gives cover for Ds to come forward about every off-color thing they've ever heard a Republican staffer say. And that keeps this story - "Young Republicans are all Nazis" - in the public eye. Hopefully Dems don't opt for "message discipline" and try to make this, too, about healthcare.
This is the most important politics story in a long time. Twitter has radicalized the young GOP into overt Nazism and white supremacy and the news has spent years pretending not to see.
It’s a gleefully racist and antisemitic party now. Stop pretending otherwise www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
It’s a gleefully racist and antisemitic party now. Stop pretending otherwise www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
October 14, 2025 at 6:27 PM
This gives cover for Ds to come forward about every off-color thing they've ever heard a Republican staffer say. And that keeps this story - "Young Republicans are all Nazis" - in the public eye. Hopefully Dems don't opt for "message discipline" and try to make this, too, about healthcare.
I think this is right. The thing that has always fascinated me is the hypothesis of the politics-doers that *not the truth* is somehow politically better than the truth. Like, is there any theory of when/under what circumstances?
Since the Ezra & Ta-Nehisi discussion is still happening: the main point I think most are missing is that Klein is saying the role of the journalist-intellectual is to do strategic politics, whereas Coates says the role of the journalist-intellectual is to tell the truth
September 30, 2025 at 6:10 PM
I think this is right. The thing that has always fascinated me is the hypothesis of the politics-doers that *not the truth* is somehow politically better than the truth. Like, is there any theory of when/under what circumstances?
This honestly feels like the sort of thing that could bring the whole admin down. Dems should make absolute hay out of this. Brazen corruption. Everybody hates corruption!
Border Czar Tom Homan was caught by the FBI accepting bribes - on camera - to deliver government contracts in exchange for $50,000 in cash.
Pam Bondi knew.
Kash Patel knew.
Emil Bove knew.
And they made the investigation go away.
A corrupt attempt to conceal brazen graft.
Pam Bondi knew.
Kash Patel knew.
Emil Bove knew.
And they made the investigation go away.
A corrupt attempt to conceal brazen graft.
September 20, 2025 at 10:35 PM
This honestly feels like the sort of thing that could bring the whole admin down. Dems should make absolute hay out of this. Brazen corruption. Everybody hates corruption!
Bowser testifying to congress and not mentioning the national guard or ICE is just utterly feckless. She's just totally out of step with voters in the city. My biggest issue is people being disappeared by ICE. She genuinely doesn't seem to give a s***.
And in what is absolutely a strategic decision, Mendelson goes hard on ICE activity in D.C., as well as the deployment of the National Guard. Bowser doesn't mention either in her remarks.
September 18, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Bowser testifying to congress and not mentioning the national guard or ICE is just utterly feckless. She's just totally out of step with voters in the city. My biggest issue is people being disappeared by ICE. She genuinely doesn't seem to give a s***.
CNN's quoting Jack Posobiec, and the NYT Mag won't quote Kevin Kruse. We're living through attempts at mass erasure of leftist (and not even extreme left) opinion in mainstream media (cc: @karenattiah.bsky.social) that represents the POV of >25% of Americans.
I spoke with the NYT Magazine a while ago but have now heard that an editor said they can't quote me because I'm "too liberal" to be a trusted source.
You know what's always the first example conservatives use to claim I'm "too liberal"?
My work in the 1619 Project, organized by the NYT Magazine.
You know what's always the first example conservatives use to claim I'm "too liberal"?
My work in the 1619 Project, organized by the NYT Magazine.
September 15, 2025 at 4:07 PM
CNN's quoting Jack Posobiec, and the NYT Mag won't quote Kevin Kruse. We're living through attempts at mass erasure of leftist (and not even extreme left) opinion in mainstream media (cc: @karenattiah.bsky.social) that represents the POV of >25% of Americans.
How close are we to a nationwide fugitive immigrant law that attempts to criminalize the most banal interaction with any undocumented immigrant under the guise of aiding/abetting? We’re near true 1850s anti-abolition stuff.
September 9, 2025 at 3:36 AM
How close are we to a nationwide fugitive immigrant law that attempts to criminalize the most banal interaction with any undocumented immigrant under the guise of aiding/abetting? We’re near true 1850s anti-abolition stuff.
Racial profiling is blatantly unconstitutional. The fact that the Supreme Court doesn't understand that and is supposed to be the primary interpreter of the constitution is less an indication that racial profiling might be constitutional and more an indication that SCOTUS it isn't fit for purpose.
September 8, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Racial profiling is blatantly unconstitutional. The fact that the Supreme Court doesn't understand that and is supposed to be the primary interpreter of the constitution is less an indication that racial profiling might be constitutional and more an indication that SCOTUS it isn't fit for purpose.
This is why “Abolish ICE” (or, perhaps with more nuance, “significantly circumscribe ICE’s power” was and is the correct position.
Genuinely, yes. Immigration officers have legal authority to, without a warrant, "interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States."
September 3, 2025 at 8:38 PM
This is why “Abolish ICE” (or, perhaps with more nuance, “significantly circumscribe ICE’s power” was and is the correct position.