Steve Olson
@steveolson.bsky.social
1.5K followers 610 following 3.5K posts
Humble ad guy. potato influencer. whiskey & cephalopod obsessed. expat minnesotan. Novice wine drinker and bonsai... uh... keeper? Sportsball: Vikings, Tottenham, Bath Rugby.
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steveolson.bsky.social
Damn, "Hurricane Season" was dark.. A perfect book to kick off the 2025 Reading Season. I did struggle with how to feel about it, but reading @jcljules.bsky.social's 2020 review citing Marlon James' quote about the need to risk "pornography" in describing the impacts of violence helped. #booksky
Cover image of "Hurricane Season" by Fernanda Melchor
Reposted by Steve Olson
zunguzungu.bsky.social
Dolly Parton called a press conference to clarify formally that no weapon formed against her will prosper
Reposted by Steve Olson
donmoyn.bsky.social
The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."
Reposted by Steve Olson
mcopelov.bsky.social
Folks look at you like you're crazy when you say we're in the midst of the worst, most unprecedented Article I constitutional crisis in American history, & then this guy speaks again
atrupar.com
Q: Do you agree that the mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois should be in prison?

MIKE JOHNSON: Should they be in prison? I'm not the attorney general. I'm not following the day to day on that
Reposted by Steve Olson
adamweinstein.bsky.social
Kinda wild that Zach Bryan is to the left of CBS News today
steveolson.bsky.social
Dublin is amazing, but even I am going to balk at potato gelato. @darthbluesky.bsky.social were you aware of this?!
A gelato store sign reading: “ Sample our potato special.”
steveolson.bsky.social
For today’s lesson in sensitivity: Rando American old dude came up to me in the Irish National Gallery to mansplain Caravaggio.

Can’t imagine how much it must suck to deal with that on the regular.
Caravaggio’s “The Taking of the Christ”
steveolson.bsky.social
from your lips to The Dark Lord’s ear.
steveolson.bsky.social
oh, we didn’t GO there… but thanks for the porterhouse tip. we were looking for our next stop after dinner at Fish Shop!
steveolson.bsky.social
only been here in Dublin for a few hours, but can confirm.
steveolson.bsky.social
why would you ADVERTISE this?!

(naturally a girl was selfieing in front of it when I was walking by, so i guess that answers that.)
A flag hanging from The Quays pub in Dublin advertising they won “Ireland’s Best Tourist Bar” for 2 different years.
steveolson.bsky.social
We had a two hour drive from Galway to Dublin today, and the curiosity was killing me, so paused the Clancy Brothers and Stiff Little Fingers playlist to listen to T Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl.
Reposted by Steve Olson
polgreen.bsky.social
Not to be a pedant but Bari Weiss was a junior editor who occasionally wrote opinion pieces in the opinion section, not a columnist.
steveolson.bsky.social
sweet jeebus, ireland rules the potato game.
a poster from subway promoting “your sub on a spud”
steveolson.bsky.social
The GOP gonna lose their shit when they learn Bad Bunny’s name. The conspiracies shall be glorious.
katferreira.bsky.social
We must protect Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio at all costs.
steveolson.bsky.social
hot take, but i detect exactly zero lie
otsumamiboy.bsky.social
If I ever get suspended from this site you can honor me by reminding people that Paul McCartney is the only person on earth with the distinction of making shitty music with both Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder which is a feat that no fraud could accomplish, only a saboteur.

God is he dog shit.
Reposted by Steve Olson
justinbaragona.bsky.social
Just imagine the thermonuclear reaction -- not just from Fox News, but the legacy media sphere -- if any Democratic president said this about the GOP during a speech to a military branch.

Meanwhile, this won't even stay in the news cycle 24 hours, if at all.
atrupar.com
Trump to the Navy: "We have to take care of this little gnat that's on our shoulder called the Democrats."
Reposted by Steve Olson
edidin.bsky.social
My qualifications are that I have moderated a lot of small online communities and also would ban Jesse Singal immediately.
Reposted by Steve Olson
jlray.bsky.social
A Texas megachurch pastor and GOP leader has been arrested for crimes against children. Not Robert Morris, a different one. Not Josiah Anthony, a different one. Not Luke Cunningham, a different one. Not Tony Evans, a different one. Not Scott Crenshaw, a different one. Not Steve Lawson, a different o
steveolson.bsky.social
thankful to have missed the first half of the vikings game today as we were gallivanting about Galway. #skol
steveolson.bsky.social
this is the most only winning strategy with bad faith actors.
kjephd.bsky.social
In game theory, this strategy is called "tit-for-tat", where you return either cooperation if your counterparty cooperates or punishment if they defect. It's a powerful response to bad actors that can discipline and tame them into cooperation. Something like it is probably necessary for Democrats
gregsargent.bsky.social
Trump just ordered his secret police to arrest anyone who burns the flag and imprison them for a year. Stephen Miller just issued new threats to arrest leftists.

Every time the fascism escalates, the logic should be that Dem resistance stiffens, as Sen Chris Murphy says in our pod discussion:
Reposted by Steve Olson
archpundit.bsky.social
Feds so out of control they are gassing the Chicago PD. So it’s all local cops they will do this too and not just the Broadview PD
Reposted by Steve Olson
nicholasgrossman.bsky.social
America did not collapse into authoritarian rule all that quickly. It’s been in democratic backsliding since at least 2016, with lawbreaking, norm violations, dismantling of checks-and-balances, attacks on rights, etc.

A lot of this is just building on Trump’s first term. Too many discounted that.
lmorgenbesser.bsky.social
The speed by which America collapsed into authoritarian rule is the most shocking thing. Faster than other contemporary cases. Faster than the alleged “dictator’s playbook” suggests. So fast we *shouldn’t* call it “competitive authoritarianism.” It may be worse than that.