Andy
@optickled.bsky.social
Chemist, gaymer, DM, not-that-kind-of-doctor. Just here for the vibes.
Reposted by Andy
GERMAN PRESIDENT STEINMEIER:
“.. the United States has broken with the values that it helped to establish ..
“.. we have now moved beyond the stage where we can lament the lack of respect for international law or the erosion of the international order; we are far beyond that, I believe.”
“.. the United States has broken with the values that it helped to establish ..
“.. we have now moved beyond the stage where we can lament the lack of respect for international law or the erosion of the international order; we are far beyond that, I believe.”
January 9, 2026 at 9:15 AM
GERMAN PRESIDENT STEINMEIER:
“.. the United States has broken with the values that it helped to establish ..
“.. we have now moved beyond the stage where we can lament the lack of respect for international law or the erosion of the international order; we are far beyond that, I believe.”
“.. the United States has broken with the values that it helped to establish ..
“.. we have now moved beyond the stage where we can lament the lack of respect for international law or the erosion of the international order; we are far beyond that, I believe.”
Reposted by Andy
Listen to @duckworth.senate.gov
“If Donald Trump wants to run a country, he should think about running the United States of America.”
Her #CupOfJoe is factual, with a lot of been there, done that.
#FDT
“If Donald Trump wants to run a country, he should think about running the United States of America.”
Her #CupOfJoe is factual, with a lot of been there, done that.
#FDT
January 9, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Listen to @duckworth.senate.gov
“If Donald Trump wants to run a country, he should think about running the United States of America.”
Her #CupOfJoe is factual, with a lot of been there, done that.
#FDT
“If Donald Trump wants to run a country, he should think about running the United States of America.”
Her #CupOfJoe is factual, with a lot of been there, done that.
#FDT
Reposted by Andy
75 democrats voted yes on that motion on june 9, 2025, nearly six months into trump's second term. the link has the list. no one wanted to talk about it on here back then, so how about now?
ICE becoming issue in another Senate race. Lt. Gov Stratton campaign hitting Rep. Krishnamoorthi for vote denouncing terrorist attack/expressing "gratitude" for ICE
“Illinois deserves better than [senator] who says one thing on the campaign trail, but votes to praise ICE when it actually counts"
“Illinois deserves better than [senator] who says one thing on the campaign trail, but votes to praise ICE when it actually counts"
www.congress.gov
January 9, 2026 at 8:25 PM
75 democrats voted yes on that motion on june 9, 2025, nearly six months into trump's second term. the link has the list. no one wanted to talk about it on here back then, so how about now?
Reposted by Andy
"The world is worse than I can comprehend, and getting worse every day. But people are still loving one another and people are still gay and people are always going to write stories. And there is no world in which stories aren’t worthwhile, even stories about the ephemera of love."
i wrote about dissociation, reading as comfort, vice and self obliteration during times of horror, and also about reading exclusively about gay love for like. a year
buttondown.com/theswordandt...
buttondown.com/theswordandt...
My Own Inner Elba
Let me start by saying that the news is incredibly awful. I’m very aware of this, in the way you’re aware of, say, a ninety-seven degree day with one hundred...
buttondown.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:09 PM
"The world is worse than I can comprehend, and getting worse every day. But people are still loving one another and people are still gay and people are always going to write stories. And there is no world in which stories aren’t worthwhile, even stories about the ephemera of love."
Reposted by Andy
Yeah, what kind of shithole country would shoot their own citizens?
Trump: "I tell the Iranian leaders -- you better not start shooting, but we'll start shooting too."
January 9, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Yeah, what kind of shithole country would shoot their own citizens?
Reposted by Andy
"Guilt and pleasure should only go together when your pleasure hurts others, which reading romance novels doesn’t. It never hurt anyone to read a story about love."
I stopped referring to reading all my beloved smut as a guilty pleasure recently because of this. What's to feel guilty about?
I stopped referring to reading all my beloved smut as a guilty pleasure recently because of this. What's to feel guilty about?
i wrote about dissociation, reading as comfort, vice and self obliteration during times of horror, and also about reading exclusively about gay love for like. a year
buttondown.com/theswordandt...
buttondown.com/theswordandt...
My Own Inner Elba
Let me start by saying that the news is incredibly awful. I’m very aware of this, in the way you’re aware of, say, a ninety-seven degree day with one hundred...
buttondown.com
January 9, 2026 at 9:18 PM
"Guilt and pleasure should only go together when your pleasure hurts others, which reading romance novels doesn’t. It never hurt anyone to read a story about love."
I stopped referring to reading all my beloved smut as a guilty pleasure recently because of this. What's to feel guilty about?
I stopped referring to reading all my beloved smut as a guilty pleasure recently because of this. What's to feel guilty about?
Reposted by Andy
I see the book piracy discourse is back and as a writer I only have one opinion which is that yea I would actually quite like to earn a comfortable life doing an easy, likeable creative job, I don't think the world owes that to me, but it would be nice, and it's not an insane thing to want
November 26, 2025 at 9:53 PM
I see the book piracy discourse is back and as a writer I only have one opinion which is that yea I would actually quite like to earn a comfortable life doing an easy, likeable creative job, I don't think the world owes that to me, but it would be nice, and it's not an insane thing to want
Reposted by Andy
from a left wing standpoint, an ancient vampire living in their ancestral home and eating 500 peasants a year has more politically in common with you than a billionaire
December 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM
from a left wing standpoint, an ancient vampire living in their ancestral home and eating 500 peasants a year has more politically in common with you than a billionaire
Reposted by Andy
my husband is going away for a week and it's been exactly 37 seconds since he left and not to be overly dramatic or anything but I think I might kill myself
December 20, 2025 at 11:51 AM
my husband is going away for a week and it's been exactly 37 seconds since he left and not to be overly dramatic or anything but I think I might kill myself
Reposted by Andy
latest writers discourse is whether it's acceptable to hate the writing process sometimes, and the answer is very simple, if you hate writing then you are an ungrateful indulgent wretch, and if you don't hate it then you are a vain shallow popinjay, everyone is wrong, and we should all die
December 21, 2025 at 11:20 AM
latest writers discourse is whether it's acceptable to hate the writing process sometimes, and the answer is very simple, if you hate writing then you are an ungrateful indulgent wretch, and if you don't hate it then you are a vain shallow popinjay, everyone is wrong, and we should all die
Reposted by Andy
i am reading sherlock holmes lately and every conversation is like
WATSON: that is a chair, is it not, holmes
SHERLOCK: oh, watson, you fool, you absolute mockery of a man, that is a CHAISE and a man was killed in it this morning
WATSON: that is a chair, is it not, holmes
SHERLOCK: oh, watson, you fool, you absolute mockery of a man, that is a CHAISE and a man was killed in it this morning
January 8, 2026 at 12:23 PM
i am reading sherlock holmes lately and every conversation is like
WATSON: that is a chair, is it not, holmes
SHERLOCK: oh, watson, you fool, you absolute mockery of a man, that is a CHAISE and a man was killed in it this morning
WATSON: that is a chair, is it not, holmes
SHERLOCK: oh, watson, you fool, you absolute mockery of a man, that is a CHAISE and a man was killed in it this morning
Reposted by Andy
The Good Place
It had an impossible task and yet managed to stick the landing. Just excellent work all around.
It had an impossible task and yet managed to stick the landing. Just excellent work all around.
Given that apparently the Stranger Things finale was meh (idk, didn't watch it, just the scuttlebutt) and we're not that far removed from the disastrous GOT finale that retroactively made everyone have never cared about the show:
What's the *best* ending to a show you've ever seen? Quote/reply etc
What's the *best* ending to a show you've ever seen? Quote/reply etc
January 7, 2026 at 1:51 AM
The Good Place
It had an impossible task and yet managed to stick the landing. Just excellent work all around.
It had an impossible task and yet managed to stick the landing. Just excellent work all around.
Reposted by Andy
.@PabloReports: What do you make of the White House blaming the police for the violence on January 6th?
McGovern: That’s offensive. What kind of sick human being would say that? I was here that day.
McGovern: That’s offensive. What kind of sick human being would say that? I was here that day.
January 6, 2026 at 10:08 PM
.@PabloReports: What do you make of the White House blaming the police for the violence on January 6th?
McGovern: That’s offensive. What kind of sick human being would say that? I was here that day.
McGovern: That’s offensive. What kind of sick human being would say that? I was here that day.
Reposted by Andy
Like the hatching of cicadas, the discovery that women are human with independent thoughts, emotions, and sexual desire, cycles around and everyone is surprised by it. Then everyone will forget and revert to unsatisfying slop until a new show emerges that we go berserk for, and it will start anew.
Why Would Women Like Naked Gorgeous Men Talking About Their Emotions. Why Would Women Like Beautiful Sexy Men Yearning Sexily. Why Would Women Like Sculpted Butts And True Love. The Female Mind Is An Enigma.
January 7, 2026 at 3:41 AM
Like the hatching of cicadas, the discovery that women are human with independent thoughts, emotions, and sexual desire, cycles around and everyone is surprised by it. Then everyone will forget and revert to unsatisfying slop until a new show emerges that we go berserk for, and it will start anew.
Reposted by Andy
"Who’s who at X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter." In an age of cowards, it's great to see the FT simply bodying these clowns.
Who’s who at X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter
A look inside Elon Musk’s big tent
www.ft.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:13 AM
"Who’s who at X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter." In an age of cowards, it's great to see the FT simply bodying these clowns.
Reposted by Andy
AOC to Walz: We are talking about individuals who cheered the pardoning of people who attacked the U.S. Capitol while flying the Nazi flag and the Confederate flag
And they want to act offended because someone has the courage to say: if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, maybe it’s a duck.
And they want to act offended because someone has the courage to say: if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, maybe it’s a duck.
June 12, 2025 at 7:25 PM
AOC to Walz: We are talking about individuals who cheered the pardoning of people who attacked the U.S. Capitol while flying the Nazi flag and the Confederate flag
And they want to act offended because someone has the courage to say: if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, maybe it’s a duck.
And they want to act offended because someone has the courage to say: if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, maybe it’s a duck.
Reposted by Andy
I cannot emphasize enough how true & real this is.
In almost anywhere on the political spectrum you ID with or major issue, there’s probably a bot/troll operation to encourage your rage and vitriol.
And how/where that rage gets directed, esp understandable rage, is what they are out to influence.
In almost anywhere on the political spectrum you ID with or major issue, there’s probably a bot/troll operation to encourage your rage and vitriol.
And how/where that rage gets directed, esp understandable rage, is what they are out to influence.
People on this app get really angry every time I point out that social media manipulation is a real phenomenon that we are all stewing in and that’s having real world consequences and I’m sure part of that is engagement farmers who do that manipulation not liking people talking about it
July 4, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I cannot emphasize enough how true & real this is.
In almost anywhere on the political spectrum you ID with or major issue, there’s probably a bot/troll operation to encourage your rage and vitriol.
And how/where that rage gets directed, esp understandable rage, is what they are out to influence.
In almost anywhere on the political spectrum you ID with or major issue, there’s probably a bot/troll operation to encourage your rage and vitriol.
And how/where that rage gets directed, esp understandable rage, is what they are out to influence.
Reposted by Andy
AOC: We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was. A man who believed that the civil rights act that granted black Americans the right to vote was a mistake… His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans.
September 19, 2025 at 4:19 PM
AOC: We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was. A man who believed that the civil rights act that granted black Americans the right to vote was a mistake… His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans.
Reposted by Andy
Most of the power authoritarians have is freely given. We should not comply with them in advance.
Trump is far weaker than he looks. So is the GOP. We should draw them out, drain them at every opportunity, and fight for people’s wellbeing at every turn.
We have been sent here to fight for people.
Trump is far weaker than he looks. So is the GOP. We should draw them out, drain them at every opportunity, and fight for people’s wellbeing at every turn.
We have been sent here to fight for people.
AOC: I think there's two things that are happening at once: One, there absolutely is an unprecedented abuse of power, destruction of norms, erosion of our government and our democracy in order to prop up an authoritarian style of governance
However, they are weaker than they look…
However, they are weaker than they look…
October 1, 2025 at 3:10 AM
Most of the power authoritarians have is freely given. We should not comply with them in advance.
Trump is far weaker than he looks. So is the GOP. We should draw them out, drain them at every opportunity, and fight for people’s wellbeing at every turn.
We have been sent here to fight for people.
Trump is far weaker than he looks. So is the GOP. We should draw them out, drain them at every opportunity, and fight for people’s wellbeing at every turn.
We have been sent here to fight for people.
Reposted by Andy
For those of us not in the cult, this is what we hear when anyone from the Trump administration speaks.
For the people in the back, this is satire and so well done…
For the people in the back, this is satire and so well done…
January 4, 2026 at 7:56 PM
For those of us not in the cult, this is what we hear when anyone from the Trump administration speaks.
For the people in the back, this is satire and so well done…
For the people in the back, this is satire and so well done…
Reposted by Andy
it is your DUTY as a parent to be basic and cringe. if your child says "6-7" and you do not say, loud enough for their friends to hear, "8-9?", causing profound silence and intense discomfort, you are neglecting your responsibilities. being cool is for kids. your days of being laughed WITH are over
January 4, 2026 at 10:42 PM
it is your DUTY as a parent to be basic and cringe. if your child says "6-7" and you do not say, loud enough for their friends to hear, "8-9?", causing profound silence and intense discomfort, you are neglecting your responsibilities. being cool is for kids. your days of being laughed WITH are over
Reposted by Andy
The end goal of Grok sexual harassment is to make women afraid to be visible. It’s a punishment for daring to exist in a way the perpetrators can’t control. There’s no one solution to this, because the problem isn’t just technological. It’s cultural. It’s misogyny. This is just one expression of it.
January 5, 2026 at 1:10 AM
The end goal of Grok sexual harassment is to make women afraid to be visible. It’s a punishment for daring to exist in a way the perpetrators can’t control. There’s no one solution to this, because the problem isn’t just technological. It’s cultural. It’s misogyny. This is just one expression of it.
Reposted by Andy
my new AI powered lamp is trained on millions of lamp interactions so it understands that 50% of chain pulls are to turn it on and the other 50% are to turn it off. and honestly, it's a little spooky how it knows exactly what i want almost half of the time
March 17, 2025 at 10:59 PM
my new AI powered lamp is trained on millions of lamp interactions so it understands that 50% of chain pulls are to turn it on and the other 50% are to turn it off. and honestly, it's a little spooky how it knows exactly what i want almost half of the time
Reposted by Andy
Through art we can reach the most hidden crevices of our being and exorcise the demons within by casting them into the light
November 11, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Through art we can reach the most hidden crevices of our being and exorcise the demons within by casting them into the light
Reposted by Andy
The calls from America this weekend to "abolish the EU" are for one simple reason: the EU is the only thing that can keep European nation-states from becoming Russian or American vassals.
The US has declared rhetorical war on the EU
The calls from America this weekend to destroy the EU are revealing. They hate the union because it's the only thing that can keep European countries from being Russian or American vassals.
davekeating.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:19 PM