J. Sam Drolet
@jsamdrolet.bsky.social
Personal account. He/him/his.
So is Kalshi taking bets on who wins next year’s FIFA Peace Prize?
December 6, 2025 at 5:42 PM
So is Kalshi taking bets on who wins next year’s FIFA Peace Prize?
This is fascinating in lots of ways. The emperor is Philip the Arab!
www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/12/f...
www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/12/f...
Five artifacts and the only known Sanskrit inscription mentioning a Roman emperor prove the presence and worship of Indians in the port of Berenike
An international team of archaeologists has discovered in the ancient Egyptian port of Berenike (or Berenice), on the coast of the Red Sea, a set of six exceptional artifacts that demonstrate, for the...
www.labrujulaverde.com
December 5, 2025 at 8:28 PM
This is fascinating in lots of ways. The emperor is Philip the Arab!
www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/12/f...
www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/12/f...
It's only matter of time until the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace awards the inaugural Trump Peace Prize. I wonder who will get it.
December 5, 2025 at 7:30 PM
It's only matter of time until the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace awards the inaugural Trump Peace Prize. I wonder who will get it.
Seen on the shelf at the local Catholic church’s bookstore.
December 4, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Seen on the shelf at the local Catholic church’s bookstore.
Interesting development. The US oil industry historically is famously non-union, but as the article notes there is some precedent for this in Alaska, which is actually one of the most unionized states.
www.adn.com/business-eco...
www.adn.com/business-eco...
ConocoPhillips’ North Slope employees take steps to form union amid global layoffs
A petition seeking an employee vote was filed after ConocoPhillips announced it was laying off North Slope workers.
www.adn.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Interesting development. The US oil industry historically is famously non-union, but as the article notes there is some precedent for this in Alaska, which is actually one of the most unionized states.
www.adn.com/business-eco...
www.adn.com/business-eco...
Polish Liberia was never quite a thing in reality but it came very close; note the length of this section in the Wikipedia article linked upthread relative to the others.
TIL Poland attempted to colonize Liberia.
December 2, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Polish Liberia was never quite a thing in reality but it came very close; note the length of this section in the Wikipedia article linked upthread relative to the others.
Argentina's behavior toward the indigenous inhabitants of the Falklands is totally consistent with its general behavior toward indigenous populations within territory it claims.
December 2, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Argentina's behavior toward the indigenous inhabitants of the Falklands is totally consistent with its general behavior toward indigenous populations within territory it claims.
Another Phoenix recommendation: this fascinating Afrocentric/Black nationalist bookstore/juice bar. I bought three books there. Didn't try any of the juices, though.
grassrootzbookstore.com
grassrootzbookstore.com
Grassrootz Bookstore
Grassrootz Bookstore
grassrootzbookstore.com
December 2, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Another Phoenix recommendation: this fascinating Afrocentric/Black nationalist bookstore/juice bar. I bought three books there. Didn't try any of the juices, though.
grassrootzbookstore.com
grassrootzbookstore.com
Good thread on the context of the current election in Honduras and Trump’s pardon of their former president.
From 2009 through the previous election, I co-ran a blog dedicated to explaining Honduran culture and politics to people unfamiliar with its recent and deeper history. The erosion of available media and the shift away from blogs means this year, we are watching and wondering how things will go. 1/
Honduras election: Polls open in vote shadowed by Trump aid threats
The US president is threatening to cut aid to Honduras if his favoured right-wing presidential candidate does not win.
www.bbc.com
December 1, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Good thread on the context of the current election in Honduras and Trump’s pardon of their former president.
Fractal polarization.
“They got a Dairy Queen” was one of the reasons the hicks surrounding Lubbock thought that the city housed pink-haired Leninists
People who lived in Rocky Mount, NC (population 54,000) were referred to as "city folks" by the people I grew up with in nearby Pinetops, NC (population 1,200). And even the folks who lived in Pinetops were seen as richer and snobbier than the ones who lived on the farms surrounding it.
December 1, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Fractal polarization.
Flying into Phoenix and renting a car to drive up to Flagstaff seemed like a great plan, but then came the temperature differential: the windows were totally iced over this morning, and of course the car didn't contain an ice scraper. Luckily a credit card works in a pinch.
November 30, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Flying into Phoenix and renting a car to drive up to Flagstaff seemed like a great plan, but then came the temperature differential: the windows were totally iced over this morning, and of course the car didn't contain an ice scraper. Luckily a credit card works in a pinch.
Relevant context about my recent posts about Phoenix: Arizona was a Confederate Territory, Phoenix was founded by a Confederate veteran, everything about this state until very recently was *heavily* slanted to the right, even though there was always an undercurrent of protest.
November 26, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Relevant context about my recent posts about Phoenix: Arizona was a Confederate Territory, Phoenix was founded by a Confederate veteran, everything about this state until very recently was *heavily* slanted to the right, even though there was always an undercurrent of protest.
To expand on this, Phoenix feels remarkably boring and suburban, even in the downtown core, for such a big city. It definitely has pockets of interesting stuff, but they're harder to find than you would expect for a city so big. And it's very big! Overwhelmingly so, even. And yet.
I'm in Phoenix and for the first time I've had a chance to spend some time exploring and getting a sense of the city. Verdict: It kind of sucks.
November 26, 2025 at 6:27 AM
To expand on this, Phoenix feels remarkably boring and suburban, even in the downtown core, for such a big city. It definitely has pockets of interesting stuff, but they're harder to find than you would expect for a city so big. And it's very big! Overwhelmingly so, even. And yet.
I'm in Phoenix and for the first time I've had a chance to spend some time exploring and getting a sense of the city. Verdict: It kind of sucks.
November 26, 2025 at 6:08 AM
I'm in Phoenix and for the first time I've had a chance to spend some time exploring and getting a sense of the city. Verdict: It kind of sucks.
The link contains a further link to an official DHS website confirming that this is a real person and that really is her name.
November 26, 2025 at 3:37 AM
The link contains a further link to an official DHS website confirming that this is a real person and that really is her name.
Donald the Dove? No, War for Oil!
November 24, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Donald the Dove? No, War for Oil!
All models are wrong, but some are useful.
November 23, 2025 at 9:03 AM
All models are wrong, but some are useful.
Ethnonationalism is a type of ideology that developed in the modern era out of medieval antecedents that were more focused on religion. People in the classical era would have no idea what any of this was about.
November 23, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Ethnonationalism is a type of ideology that developed in the modern era out of medieval antecedents that were more focused on religion. People in the classical era would have no idea what any of this was about.
The Trump administration is a failed state.
They are somehow unable to even negotiate an agreement across their own government, never mind one for an actual war
November 23, 2025 at 5:51 AM
The Trump administration is a failed state.
Politics is annoying lately. Might be time to check out for a while.
November 19, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Politics is annoying lately. Might be time to check out for a while.
Evil geniuses, they're not. Evil, yes.
you do not haul Lauren Boebert into the Situation Room if things are going *well*
there's too much flopsweat and trying to arm wrestle the holdouts for me to believe this was a plan bsky.app/profile/thew...
November 19, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Evil geniuses, they're not. Evil, yes.
One advantage of having these people as enemies is that they all hate each other.
Kind of amazing how Speaker Johnson used the phone a friend lifeline to get John Thune to bail him out on Epstein and Thune just backed the truck right over him.
November 19, 2025 at 6:10 AM
One advantage of having these people as enemies is that they all hate each other.
I'm not saying he's a *good* writer, but he's clearly a much *better* writer than she is. That post is a rich text.
I think the Sanford thing has obscured that there's just layers and layers of crazy promised in that Lizza post, including "She orchestrated a plot with the help of a senior Trump official to try to have me imprisoned."
November 18, 2025 at 7:47 AM
I'm not saying he's a *good* writer, but he's clearly a much *better* writer than she is. That post is a rich text.