Master Allusionist
@jamesofleiden.bsky.social
I used to do lots of things, then we had a kid. Now I do fewer things. ItllHappenToYou.jpg.
Reposted by Master Allusionist
you've got a big swath of the press that actively participates in spreading this bad faith right wing bullshit, and another large swath that's too feckless or stupid to be able to identify and counter lazy information warfare and agitprop
December 31, 2025 at 6:18 PM
you've got a big swath of the press that actively participates in spreading this bad faith right wing bullshit, and another large swath that's too feckless or stupid to be able to identify and counter lazy information warfare and agitprop
Reposted by Master Allusionist
New, from me: The NYT reporter who specializes in profiles of beleaguered right-wingers on campus went to New College...and found out that things were going ok!
So let me explain some pretty massive errors of omission: 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...
So let me explain some pretty massive errors of omission: 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...
The NYT Recruiting Brochure for New College
A failing Ron DeSantis higher ed experiment gets a boost
donmoynihan.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 7:50 PM
New, from me: The NYT reporter who specializes in profiles of beleaguered right-wingers on campus went to New College...and found out that things were going ok!
So let me explain some pretty massive errors of omission: 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...
So let me explain some pretty massive errors of omission: 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...
Reposted by Master Allusionist
Ah I think it's a bit worse than I said! My take was that the bit re the failure of the meritocracy when it turns on these people didn't seem well supported by argument. Having read this I now think it's even more substantially just false, incorrect.
www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/12/17/w...
www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/12/17/w...
What Does the Census Data Say About “The Lost Generation”
Savage appears wrong, but the reality is potentially bleaker.
www.peoplespolicyproject.org
December 17, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Ah I think it's a bit worse than I said! My take was that the bit re the failure of the meritocracy when it turns on these people didn't seem well supported by argument. Having read this I now think it's even more substantially just false, incorrect.
www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/12/17/w...
www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/12/17/w...
Reposted by Master Allusionist
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...
The Real Way Schools are Failing Boys
“If we really want boys to succeed, we need to ensure that they know how to both beat—and lose— to girls."
time.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:21 AM
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...
Reposted by Master Allusionist
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
Reposted by Master Allusionist
hearing reports out of Japan that Tatsuya Nakadai has passed away at 92. RIP to a legit legend.
November 11, 2025 at 2:54 AM
hearing reports out of Japan that Tatsuya Nakadai has passed away at 92. RIP to a legit legend.
“Because the makers of AI aren’t damned by their failures, they’re damned by their goals. They want to build a genie to grant them wishes, and their wish is that nobody ever has to make art again… Their dream is to invent new forms of life to enslave.”
anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...
anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...
I Am An AI Hater
I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater.
anthonymoser.github.io
November 4, 2025 at 1:18 PM
“Because the makers of AI aren’t damned by their failures, they’re damned by their goals. They want to build a genie to grant them wishes, and their wish is that nobody ever has to make art again… Their dream is to invent new forms of life to enslave.”
anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...
anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...
Reposted by Master Allusionist
Do some of you remember how I said a few months ago that the fascists aren't having fun? They still aren't, lol.
Their parties [when they have them] SUCK.
They make bad art.
They aren't funny.
They CRAVE Leftist popular culture & resent the fact that they do.
They aren't actually having fun
Their parties [when they have them] SUCK.
They make bad art.
They aren't funny.
They CRAVE Leftist popular culture & resent the fact that they do.
They aren't actually having fun
October 30, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Do some of you remember how I said a few months ago that the fascists aren't having fun? They still aren't, lol.
Their parties [when they have them] SUCK.
They make bad art.
They aren't funny.
They CRAVE Leftist popular culture & resent the fact that they do.
They aren't actually having fun
Their parties [when they have them] SUCK.
They make bad art.
They aren't funny.
They CRAVE Leftist popular culture & resent the fact that they do.
They aren't actually having fun
Reposted by Master Allusionist
Centrist extremists, man. They don't care where they move, they care only that they remain moveable. They say they wish to persuade, but their only tactic is to be persuaded.
October 23, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Centrist extremists, man. They don't care where they move, they care only that they remain moveable. They say they wish to persuade, but their only tactic is to be persuaded.
“AI corporations erected new digital barriers… Content creators found themselves facing an industrial extraction machine that profited from their work without compensation. The internet, once conceived as an open network for all, morphed into a centralized data mine for tech giants.”
"The protocol taught us that technology can be based on human values like ethics and morality. It showed that voluntary compliance works when all parties benefit."
On robots.txt.
www.heise.de/en/backgroun...
On robots.txt.
www.heise.de/en/backgroun...
Obituary: Farewell to robots.txt (1994-2025)
The voluntary compliance protocol that civilized the internet has departed, bids Henning Fries farewell.
www.heise.de
October 17, 2025 at 11:31 AM
“AI corporations erected new digital barriers… Content creators found themselves facing an industrial extraction machine that profited from their work without compensation. The internet, once conceived as an open network for all, morphed into a centralized data mine for tech giants.”
Reposted by Master Allusionist
As far-right billionaires buy up media and social media, we are going to need wealthy liberals to start throwing their money behind local and independent investigative media.
We can’t compete at scale, but we should have a goal: No news deserts where the only options are right-wing corporate crap
We can’t compete at scale, but we should have a goal: No news deserts where the only options are right-wing corporate crap
October 3, 2025 at 1:31 AM
As far-right billionaires buy up media and social media, we are going to need wealthy liberals to start throwing their money behind local and independent investigative media.
We can’t compete at scale, but we should have a goal: No news deserts where the only options are right-wing corporate crap
We can’t compete at scale, but we should have a goal: No news deserts where the only options are right-wing corporate crap
Reposted by Master Allusionist
Live footage from Hegseth’s big speech
September 30, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Live footage from Hegseth’s big speech
Caught a morning showing of One Battle, and still a bit surprised how well Anderson’s usual aesthetics can handle an action-suspense story. Superman however felt like it only worked if you’re already emotionally invested in superhero tropes & the character’s lore
#LetterboxdFriday
#LastFourWatched
#LetterboxdFriday
#LastFourWatched
September 26, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Caught a morning showing of One Battle, and still a bit surprised how well Anderson’s usual aesthetics can handle an action-suspense story. Superman however felt like it only worked if you’re already emotionally invested in superhero tropes & the character’s lore
#LetterboxdFriday
#LastFourWatched
#LetterboxdFriday
#LastFourWatched
Reposted by Master Allusionist
if one party gives you a lot of what you want, and the other says it wants to murder you, and then you say they're both the same...like, that seems like a poor approach even in terms of just self preservation.
September 26, 2025 at 5:38 AM
if one party gives you a lot of what you want, and the other says it wants to murder you, and then you say they're both the same...like, that seems like a poor approach even in terms of just self preservation.
Reposted by Master Allusionist
This makes total sense when you realize that in halls of power and on platforms of influence, "bias" has nothing to do with facts or equality; it only ever means and can only ever mean "contradicts white supremacist narratives."
WTF. This guy is the bias adviser? Was Alex Jones not available?
September 24, 2025 at 12:05 PM
This makes total sense when you realize that in halls of power and on platforms of influence, "bias" has nothing to do with facts or equality; it only ever means and can only ever mean "contradicts white supremacist narratives."
Took an extended break from the early start to spooky season. 14 Amazons was a disappointing muddle of wuxia tropes. Dreams was engaging but conventional; The Devil Probably was great but also soul crushing. Might need some horror schlock to even things out
#letterboxdfriday
#lastfourwatched
#letterboxdfriday
#lastfourwatched
September 19, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Took an extended break from the early start to spooky season. 14 Amazons was a disappointing muddle of wuxia tropes. Dreams was engaging but conventional; The Devil Probably was great but also soul crushing. Might need some horror schlock to even things out
#letterboxdfriday
#lastfourwatched
#letterboxdfriday
#lastfourwatched
Took a break from horror for A Different Man, a dark comedic take on familiar stories about doubles and taking on a new face/identity. Dramas like Face of Another and Enemy may be more complex, but this one is more straight up entertaining, so I’ll probably revisit it more
#FilmSky
boxd.it/b5zr2B
#FilmSky
boxd.it/b5zr2B
A ★★★½ review of A Different Man (2024)
A bleakly funny spin on pretty familiar stories about becoming unrecognizable and having our lives stolen by more charismatic, competent doubles. It doesn’t bring any new depth to themes explored in m...
boxd.it
September 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Took a break from horror for A Different Man, a dark comedic take on familiar stories about doubles and taking on a new face/identity. Dramas like Face of Another and Enemy may be more complex, but this one is more straight up entertaining, so I’ll probably revisit it more
#FilmSky
boxd.it/b5zr2B
#FilmSky
boxd.it/b5zr2B
Reposted by Master Allusionist
I want our young people to know that there is a path forward, that a better world is possible. I don't want them to give up, to become cynical. They deserve to be young and full of optimism. They are owed a world that supports and sustains optimism.
September 16, 2025 at 8:28 PM
I want our young people to know that there is a path forward, that a better world is possible. I don't want them to give up, to become cynical. They deserve to be young and full of optimism. They are owed a world that supports and sustains optimism.
At the spouse’s request, we’ve started spooky season early. She didn’t expect me to pick one of the grimiest and gnarliest to start. Could do with a little less Sally screaming in the climax, but that backwoods bone church aesthetic is something else
boxd.it/b30VF1
boxd.it/b30VF1
A ★★★★½ review of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
boxd.it
September 16, 2025 at 1:47 AM
At the spouse’s request, we’ve started spooky season early. She didn’t expect me to pick one of the grimiest and gnarliest to start. Could do with a little less Sally screaming in the climax, but that backwoods bone church aesthetic is something else
boxd.it/b30VF1
boxd.it/b30VF1
Reposted by Master Allusionist
the thing that schumer could do that would most effectively inspire his coalition is to resign.
September 15, 2025 at 10:13 PM
the thing that schumer could do that would most effectively inspire his coalition is to resign.
Reposted by Master Allusionist
“It’s another reason to love RSS: seems like the tech lords hate it.” Why you should let RSS feeds back into your (digital) life.
Why you should get (back) into RSS curation.
Right after college, I moved to San Francisco, a city where I knew one person. I had a lonely time at first, and in particular I struggled to stay connected to the friends I no longer shared a camp…
buff.ly
September 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM
“It’s another reason to love RSS: seems like the tech lords hate it.” Why you should let RSS feeds back into your (digital) life.
Reposted by Master Allusionist
any outlet that reported the “pro-trans ideology on bullet casings” thing owes the public an apology and an explanation
if you are serious about turning down the temperature, start by showing some shame and regret for your role in turning it up in the first place by allowing yourself to be played
if you are serious about turning down the temperature, start by showing some shame and regret for your role in turning it up in the first place by allowing yourself to be played
September 12, 2025 at 5:04 PM
any outlet that reported the “pro-trans ideology on bullet casings” thing owes the public an apology and an explanation
if you are serious about turning down the temperature, start by showing some shame and regret for your role in turning it up in the first place by allowing yourself to be played
if you are serious about turning down the temperature, start by showing some shame and regret for your role in turning it up in the first place by allowing yourself to be played
Reposted by Master Allusionist
Oh, I should also add that we don’t know details about the shooter yet—including their motive.
September 10, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Oh, I should also add that we don’t know details about the shooter yet—including their motive.
Reposted by Master Allusionist
Remember that you don’t have to post your first reaction and Bluesky is forever even if you delete
September 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Remember that you don’t have to post your first reaction and Bluesky is forever even if you delete
Reposted by Master Allusionist
SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
September 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool