Brendan
@bpdiamond.bsky.social
Views are my own. No one else's.
For fiction, I'll always recommend the best modern fiction book ever written, "The Just City" by @bluejo.bsky.social. It involves Greek gods, rescued orphans, Plato's Republic, time travel, sentient robots that are not AI, Socrates, and, in later books in the series, aliens. Honestly just stunning.
December 14, 2025 at 12:49 AM
For fiction, I'll always recommend the best modern fiction book ever written, "The Just City" by @bluejo.bsky.social. It involves Greek gods, rescued orphans, Plato's Republic, time travel, sentient robots that are not AI, Socrates, and, in later books in the series, aliens. Honestly just stunning.
If you like history and, in particular, reclamation of history by marginalized groups, "Open Me Carefully" explores the extremely intense what could (with plenty of plausible deniability) be called love letters between Emily Dickinson and the girl/woman who became her sister-in-law.
December 14, 2025 at 12:49 AM
If you like history and, in particular, reclamation of history by marginalized groups, "Open Me Carefully" explores the extremely intense what could (with plenty of plausible deniability) be called love letters between Emily Dickinson and the girl/woman who became her sister-in-law.
Seconded! I found his post-presidential life in "Colonel Roosevelt" particularly fascinating. His break with his friends like Henry Cabot Lodge was quite interesting in how it affected him on a personal level.
December 14, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Seconded! I found his post-presidential life in "Colonel Roosevelt" particularly fascinating. His break with his friends like Henry Cabot Lodge was quite interesting in how it affected him on a personal level.
Honest to God, the fact that THE HEAD OF CBS NEWS can't see that this woman is the same kind of hatemongering grifter her husband was does not speak well of @cbsnews.com. This isn't journalism; it's propaganda.
December 13, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Honest to God, the fact that THE HEAD OF CBS NEWS can't see that this woman is the same kind of hatemongering grifter her husband was does not speak well of @cbsnews.com. This isn't journalism; it's propaganda.
Or that Radiohead's "Kid A" had already dropped and Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and the Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" were a year away.
Or that the biggest Y2K concert in the world was by a rock band, not a pop or country act.
This story seems to get recycled every few years.
Or that the biggest Y2K concert in the world was by a rock band, not a pop or country act.
This story seems to get recycled every few years.
December 13, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Or that Radiohead's "Kid A" had already dropped and Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and the Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" were a year away.
Or that the biggest Y2K concert in the world was by a rock band, not a pop or country act.
This story seems to get recycled every few years.
Or that the biggest Y2K concert in the world was by a rock band, not a pop or country act.
This story seems to get recycled every few years.
You have a nice weekend yourself. Always nice to have a conversation that doesn't devolve into namecalling. We just disagree. Still wish Warren had won, though.
December 12, 2025 at 8:29 PM
You have a nice weekend yourself. Always nice to have a conversation that doesn't devolve into namecalling. We just disagree. Still wish Warren had won, though.
I get your point (now; didn't before), but idk if you've seen all the Biden boosters on this platform making the ahistorical argument that Biden just looked bad once, and that's why he got bounced. That's just not true.
December 12, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I get your point (now; didn't before), but idk if you've seen all the Biden boosters on this platform making the ahistorical argument that Biden just looked bad once, and that's why he got bounced. That's just not true.
For his first two years, I'd agree with you. But I can't take any pleasure in the guy's successes because he deliberately armed a genocide (if he *was* with it). And his successes are almost all gonna be undone by his successor. So... yay progressivism?
December 12, 2025 at 8:27 PM
For his first two years, I'd agree with you. But I can't take any pleasure in the guy's successes because he deliberately armed a genocide (if he *was* with it). And his successes are almost all gonna be undone by his successor. So... yay progressivism?
while incompatible with Christian ethics nonetheless has tons of Christian precedent, from the Crusades to the Inquisition to North Atlantic slavery. This is just the latest iteration of that rot within Christianity.
Of course, it's ultimately semantics. They're sure as hell not following Christ.
Of course, it's ultimately semantics. They're sure as hell not following Christ.
December 12, 2025 at 8:25 PM
while incompatible with Christian ethics nonetheless has tons of Christian precedent, from the Crusades to the Inquisition to North Atlantic slavery. This is just the latest iteration of that rot within Christianity.
Of course, it's ultimately semantics. They're sure as hell not following Christ.
Of course, it's ultimately semantics. They're sure as hell not following Christ.
Oh totally. I've known some great Christians throughout my life who weren't claiming the title for Nazism. But if we're to take the ultra-religious nationalists seriously, which I'm sorry to say I think we should, I don't think we can call them "fake." They're representing a specific vision that
December 12, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Oh totally. I've known some great Christians throughout my life who weren't claiming the title for Nazism. But if we're to take the ultra-religious nationalists seriously, which I'm sorry to say I think we should, I don't think we can call them "fake." They're representing a specific vision that
This is an opinion piece. I'm not sure what you're trying to prove with it other than you agree with its author.
December 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
This is an opinion piece. I'm not sure what you're trying to prove with it other than you agree with its author.
Ok, would you prefer Biden boosterism?
December 12, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Ok, would you prefer Biden boosterism?
What I'm saying is that I don't think Biden wins in 2020 if he has to campaign in a traditional way. I don't think he had the stamina *then.*
I was a Warren supporter, but to me, anyone but Gillibrand would have been better (and I only say that about Gillibrand bc she is legit nuts).
I was a Warren supporter, but to me, anyone but Gillibrand would have been better (and I only say that about Gillibrand bc she is legit nuts).
December 12, 2025 at 8:18 PM
What I'm saying is that I don't think Biden wins in 2020 if he has to campaign in a traditional way. I don't think he had the stamina *then.*
I was a Warren supporter, but to me, anyone but Gillibrand would have been better (and I only say that about Gillibrand bc she is legit nuts).
I was a Warren supporter, but to me, anyone but Gillibrand would have been better (and I only say that about Gillibrand bc she is legit nuts).
Literally just about any of the other potential nominees would have been better than a senior citizen whose entire career would have been defined by bad votes for bad laws and bad wars if not for a generational political talent picking him to be VP.
I'm not trying to revise history. Biden won.
I'm not trying to revise history. Biden won.
December 12, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Literally just about any of the other potential nominees would have been better than a senior citizen whose entire career would have been defined by bad votes for bad laws and bad wars if not for a generational political talent picking him to be VP.
I'm not trying to revise history. Biden won.
I'm not trying to revise history. Biden won.
I'd also ask where I said YOU SAID BIDEN WAS THE BEST or put any words into your mouth. The claim was that Biden got bounced from the race because he was bad on TV one time. Several people in the thread agreed. I didn't. Want to convince me otherwise? If not, that's fine, but I don't see your point.
December 12, 2025 at 8:13 PM
I'd also ask where I said YOU SAID BIDEN WAS THE BEST or put any words into your mouth. The claim was that Biden got bounced from the race because he was bad on TV one time. Several people in the thread agreed. I didn't. Want to convince me otherwise? If not, that's fine, but I don't see your point.
I used your post to repost feelings I've had for a while. You made the claim in another thread that people freaked out because Biden was bad on TV one time. That's a ludicrous, but too prevalent, opinion in some Democratic quarters for the reasons I outlined.
December 12, 2025 at 8:13 PM
I used your post to repost feelings I've had for a while. You made the claim in another thread that people freaked out because Biden was bad on TV one time. That's a ludicrous, but too prevalent, opinion in some Democratic quarters for the reasons I outlined.
It really is incredible to me how utterly despicable basically all @judiciarydems.senate.gov are. Thanks for killing the party, @durbin.senate.gov!
December 12, 2025 at 8:10 PM
It really is incredible to me how utterly despicable basically all @judiciarydems.senate.gov are. Thanks for killing the party, @durbin.senate.gov!
@durbin.senate.gov You are the ranking member of this committee. The fact that you are in support of this cements your status as a fascism enabler. We have told you why you're wrong on this. You refuse to listen. You and @whitehouse.senate.gov are going to kill the internet as we know it.
December 12, 2025 at 8:10 PM
@durbin.senate.gov You are the ranking member of this committee. The fact that you are in support of this cements your status as a fascism enabler. We have told you why you're wrong on this. You refuse to listen. You and @whitehouse.senate.gov are going to kill the internet as we know it.
You are getting hosed. Section 230 IS the internet. When that goes, so does the internet as we know it. You are taking a bad ecosystem and making it worse.
But this has been explained to you, time and time again. You don't care. You just want power for power's sake.
But this has been explained to you, time and time again. You don't care. You just want power for power's sake.
December 12, 2025 at 8:10 PM
You are getting hosed. Section 230 IS the internet. When that goes, so does the internet as we know it. You are taking a bad ecosystem and making it worse.
But this has been explained to you, time and time again. You don't care. You just want power for power's sake.
But this has been explained to you, time and time again. You don't care. You just want power for power's sake.
Similarly, live stuff by famously drugged-out rock bands in Japan is usually amazing, too. Looking at Phish's Japan run in 2000, the Polyphonic Spree at SummerSonic '02 or '03 (not sure which it was), the recent run the Flaming Lips did...
December 12, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Similarly, live stuff by famously drugged-out rock bands in Japan is usually amazing, too. Looking at Phish's Japan run in 2000, the Polyphonic Spree at SummerSonic '02 or '03 (not sure which it was), the recent run the Flaming Lips did...
If Biden doesn't run a second time, we have an open primary and a stronger candidate.
If Biden had tried harder, been a little more vital, a little more with it, maybe we even get Roe enshrined in law.
In 2020, Democrats picked the wrong candidate, and we're *still* paying the price.
If Biden had tried harder, been a little more vital, a little more with it, maybe we even get Roe enshrined in law.
In 2020, Democrats picked the wrong candidate, and we're *still* paying the price.
December 12, 2025 at 7:57 PM
If Biden doesn't run a second time, we have an open primary and a stronger candidate.
If Biden had tried harder, been a little more vital, a little more with it, maybe we even get Roe enshrined in law.
In 2020, Democrats picked the wrong candidate, and we're *still* paying the price.
If Biden had tried harder, been a little more vital, a little more with it, maybe we even get Roe enshrined in law.
In 2020, Democrats picked the wrong candidate, and we're *still* paying the price.
And I'm ready for blowback from Biden apologists. Go ahead. The fact remains, he made a ton of mistakes as president, many of which led us directly into the predicament we find ourselves in.
If Biden appoints a more tenacious AG, Trump might be behind bars.
If Biden appoints a more tenacious AG, Trump might be behind bars.
December 12, 2025 at 7:57 PM
And I'm ready for blowback from Biden apologists. Go ahead. The fact remains, he made a ton of mistakes as president, many of which led us directly into the predicament we find ourselves in.
If Biden appoints a more tenacious AG, Trump might be behind bars.
If Biden appoints a more tenacious AG, Trump might be behind bars.