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arnelson.bsky.social
Adam Nelson
@arnelson.bsky.social
180 followers 500 following 950 posts
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Reposted by Adam Nelson
frownwardfrog.bsky.social
The BHP is really well-researched and thoughtful, and they made this subscriber episode free. It’s about research into how authoritarian followers and leaders think, perceive, act, react, etc.

“I know that stuff.” So did I. I’m telling you: listen to it. You’ll be glad you did, and maybe furious
thebhp.bsky.social The British History Podcast @thebhp.bsky.social · 2d
I can be real with you, right? We're all friends here.

I'm publicly releasing this episode for two reasons.

First, because people have been requesting I release it for years now... and second, because look at the news. It's here.
Bonus Episode: The Authoritarians | The British History Podcast
By popular request, we're releasing the full member's episode on The Authoritarians.
www.thebritishhistorypodcast.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
garius.bsky.social
Happy Big Jet TV day to all who celebrate.
January 9, 2026 at 8:04 AM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
combatcavscout.bsky.social
Forgive me, @kenjennings.bsky.social, I was not familiar with your game.
ladyemily.nebula.tv Lady Emily ☄️ @ladyemily.nebula.tv · 3d
here's this vintage jeopardy clip with ken jennings
January 8, 2026 at 3:27 AM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
whatahellofawaytodad.com
A long time ago on a website similar to this one, we had a picture we loved. A picture of a pig pooping on it's own balls. It was an affirmative and it was a negative. It was posted to mock, but also posted for joy. And it was a picture of a giant turd on even gianter balls
January 5, 2026 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
craigcalcaterra.bsky.social
In today's newsletter I led with my take on Venezuela. I've sat with it for more than 48 hours and all I can think is how ashamed I am of my country. We're a malignancy. We have been for a long time, but now we don't even aspire to be anything other than evil. www.cupofcoffeenews.com/cup-of-coffe...
Allison and I have been traveling since late last week and jet lag was still messing with me so I was awake and online scrolling just as the news began breaking of the attack on Venezuela Saturday morning. Most of the US was asleep as the word was spreading and for the next several hours I watched as my friends and other people I follow woke up and posted some equivalent of "what the fuck?!" It's amazing after all of these years of authoritarianism and blatant illegality that Trump maintains the ability to surprise, but I spent most of my Saturday in a gobsmacked stupor. To say what Trump has done and what he is continuing to do in Venezuela is brazenly illegal is an understatement of massive proportions. The attack itself was a textbook act of aggression in violation of the U.N. charter. The arrest, removal, and imprisonment of Nicolás Maduro and his wife was an abduction, not a "capture" as so many media outlets have put it. Trump's vow to take over Venezuela's oil reserves and to "run" the country is an admission that this is all about plunder and conquest despite whatever weak and wildly inconsistent legal justifications Trump and his accomplices have been trotting out over the past 48 hours. Calling the invasion of Venezuela a "law enforcement" operation doesn’t make it legal and doesn't make that assertion true. And to be sure, the notion that Maduro is himself a bad actor doesn't justify this. Anyone starting their official statements off with "While I am happy that Maduro has been removed from power . . . " is giving cover to Trump. Regardless of what anyone thinks of Venezuela's leadership, this still constitutes an unlawful use of force against a sovereign nation which violates both international law and U.S. domestic law. And despite all of that, Trump is threatening even more nations, telling reporters over the weekend that Colombia, Mexico, and Cuba are potential targets while reasserting his dangerously irresponsible threats against Greenland. Trump is an out-of-control war criminal. America is a rogue nation. None of this is justified in any conceivable way and anyone who attempts to justify it is either an idiot or a stooge. Yes, I know there are precedents for this – Panama and any number other previous incidents of American aggression – but those precedents were mostly illegal too and that this is the tenth or one hundredth time America has meddled with, attacked, and/or oppressed another sovereign nation doesn't change that. No one excused Ted Bundy's 25th murder because, hey, he had already killed 24 people before that. The only way one can even begin to atone for past bad acts is to stop being a bad actor and that's nothing the United States has ever thought about doing. Every Democratic elected official should be calling for Trump’s impeachment. They should be doing it now. They should be doing it loudly. They should be doing it continuously. They should file articles of impeachment immediately, in fact. I don't care that the effort will fail due to Republican control of Congress. You do it anyway to make it clear that laws still matter and to make it clear that what is happening is, in fact, unlawful. You do it to force everyone to take a side. You do it because, politically, it's the only way to get a ball rolling that could, at least theoretically, put Trump in check or serve as a warning to future would-be tyrants. You do it because to do nothing is to condone brazen illegality. You it because, morally, it's the right thing to do. Beyond what happens domestically, we should be condemned by the international community. Other countries should be pulling their ambassadors, boycotting the L.A. Olympics, the World Cup, and whatever else one does to pariah nations. I'm assuming that won't happen because unlike most pariah nations America is wealthy and powerful and true backbone is hard to find – the cowardice, equivocation, and bootlicking already being demonstrated by other world leaders is notable – but we've done the worst and we deserve the worst and I stand with any foreign leader who treats us the way we deserve to be treated. And yes, I am using "we" here. I mean, I could sit here all day and talk about how Trump isn't my president and that the United States is better than we're currently behaving, but all of that seems like empty and naive coping. It's the equivalent of slapping one of those "I bought this before Elon went crazy" stickers on your Tesla. Most of the people reading this are Americans and what America has done, particularly in the past year, demonstrates that we are a force of evil, brutality, and pain in the world. At present the death toll from this attack is at least 80 people, and those who have to buried their loved ones because of what America has done don't care that 48.3% of us voted for Kamala Harris. I'm ashamed of my country. I'm ashamed to be an American. I've never felt that way before. I've always had at least something to hold on to which kept me from going that far, but there's nothing now. If America ever did embody its stated ideals and values it stopped doing so a long time ago. We don't even bother to give them halfway convincing lip service anymore and our leaders don't even bother to build a superficial case for our aggressive and malicious adventurism anymore. America is an evil and dangerous nation that, if it stands for anything, stands as an example that only the world's tyrants and would-be tyrants should want to follow.
January 5, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
ourobororoboruo.bsky.social
Another post from a Venezuelan friend:
They speak of justice while ruling through fear. They speak of sovereignty while stealing the vote. They speak of dignity while condemning their own people. I learned that those who insist the most on calling themselves "the good ones" are often the ones most afraid to face themselves. The Maduro regime wraps itself in flags, in anti-imperialist rhetoric, in a false epic where any criticism is labeled as betrayal. They claim to defend Venezuela, yet they stole the people's voice when they refused to respect the elections. That act alone strips away any moral authority. But do not be mistaken. The fact that a tyrant is real does not automatically turn an external aggressor into a savior. The United States does not act out of love for democracy. It acts out of interest. It always has. The language changes, the enemy changes, but the method remains the same: pressure, punishment, displays of power. And as always, the blow is not absorbed by those in power, but by ordinary people. The Venezuelan people are trapped between two narratives that do not represent them. One that oppresses them from within, and another that exploits them from outside. One that claims legitimacy without real elections. Another that claims justice without taking responsibility for the human consequences of its actions. I do not defend Maduro. I point at him. But I also refuse to accept that a global power can appoint itself as a moral judge while its history is written in interventions, sanctions, and broken countries. Pain does not need propaganda. Hunger does not understand geopolitics. Dignity is not imposed with missiles, nor with dictatorships. While some sell themselves as the good ones to justify repression, and others sell themselves as the good ones to justify aggression, the result is always the same: more suffering, more rage, more generations learning that force replaces justice. And once again, pain is inherited.
January 4, 2026 at 6:07 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
What they said. Also, @mcbath.house.gov now would be a good time to do something to earn my vote. Impeachment articles need to be drawn up…today.
okty.bsky.social Tyler @okty.bsky.social · 7d
Hey @ossoff.senate.gov @warnock.senate.gov

See below. I voted for both of you. Do your jobs.
slack2thefuture.bsky.social David Slack @slack2thefuture.bsky.social · 7d
To @housedemocrats.bsky.social
@senatedemocrats.bsky.social

Publicly and repeatedly demand impeachment or resign.

If you do neither, go ahead and pack your office because you’re losing your next election.

IMPEACH NOW.
January 3, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
chadloder.bsky.social
A special military operation, if you will.
While the C.I.A. played a critical role in planning and carrying it out, the mission was a law enforcement operation by the U.S. military's special operation forces, rather than operation carried out under the agency's authority.
January 3, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
elienyc.bsky.social
We are a rogue state, run by a dictator, and the international community should treat us as such including all appropriate economic and diplomatic sanctions
January 3, 2026 at 3:36 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
God damn this evil country. Fuck Trump and fuck everyone who voted for him.
January 3, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social
On this day in 1972, Lester B. Pearson died.
A Nobel Peace Prize recipient, he was Prime Minister from 1963 to 1968.
A star hockey player, he was nearly the first Secretary General of the United Nations and once drank Nikita Khrushchev under the table.
This is his story

🧵 1/12
Black and white portrait photograph of a middle-aged man seated and facing forward with a serious expression. He has short neatly combed hair, wears a light-colored suit jacket and trousers, white dress shirt, dark bow tie, and holds eyeglasses in his right hand resting on his knee. Plain light gray studio background with minor specks. Faint text "4528 A 1" at bottom right.
December 27, 2025 at 4:00 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
Merry Christmas, all. Here's my favorite version of this one....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s8l...
'Fairytale of New York' played at Shane MacGowan's funeral
YouTube video by RTÉ News
www.youtube.com
December 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
coachgowron.com
A true warrior is not too proud to express gratitude. Indeed, acknowledging when you have been helped, when others have shared with you, is essential to an honorable life. I am grateful to have spent another day with you, those who make my days lighter and more hopeful. Thank you.
December 24, 2025 at 2:37 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
Well, just looked at the forecast here in ATL and it looks like this will be my Christmas…
The scene is of a living room all decked out for Christmas. The caption reads, “Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, the A/C was running because we live in the South.”
December 22, 2025 at 8:14 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
If you see this, we (I) IMPLORE (gently encourage) you to post a picture from your device without explanation
December 14, 2025 at 11:40 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
I’m old enough that the ability to send this while still 35k feet in the air will never get stale.
A night view from an airplane. The left engine and wing are in the foreground. Beyond that, behind the clouds are the lights of Chicago.
December 13, 2025 at 11:47 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.
December 7, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
wesburdine.bsky.social
But his soul goes marching on.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=StFB...
December 2, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
apocalypticanow.bsky.social
I long for an aggressively liberal party that rejects the very premise of Republicanism instead of one that thinks we can negotiate with it to obtain a softer landing into staggering inequality, environmental destruction, and a race to the bottom in every part of society.
December 2, 2025 at 9:09 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
@profanity.accountant 👋
November 29, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
alexdecampi.bsky.social
this is the correct answer to that “if you were a despotic president what film would you force to get made” question
carllafong.bsky.social Carl LaFong @carllafong.bsky.social · Nov 25
...one must always choose the lesser of two weevils.
November 25, 2025 at 9:48 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
🎶 Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
🎶
The Pope breaking it down on the mic.
November 23, 2025 at 1:19 AM
arnelson.bsky.social
Without downloading new pics, what is it like to date you.
Scene from All The President’s Men. Deep Throat, in shadows, saying “The truth is, these are not very bright guys and things got out of hand.”
November 22, 2025 at 6:24 PM
arnelson.bsky.social
Post you from a different era
A woman (maternal grand mother) in a very 70s pink outfit holding a baby (moi) and bottle feeding it.
November 7, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Adam Nelson
ruthkapelus.bsky.social
Never doubt how many people believe a man's right to a career is far more important than a woman's right to safety.
velodus.bsky.social Velodus✨ @velodus.bsky.social · Nov 4
This thing where the entire political establishment decided it didn't matter that Cuomo is a sex pest is pretty abominable
November 4, 2025 at 8:31 PM