Simon Lester

@simonlester.com

7.1K followers 720 following 7.2K posts

Founded WorldTradeLaw.net & ChinaTradeMonitor.com Non-Resident Fellow @bakerinstitute.bsky.social

Trade Policy feed: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xqzu2eazvxb5fohoc4nap33y/feed/aaab5ctu4u4fc

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Political science 43%

Economics 28%

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · Apr 3

I see lots of new followers popping up today. I assume you are here for the trade policy, in which case you might like my custom trade policy feed: bsky.app/profile/did:...

Reposted by Simon Lester

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 2h

Sinatra has gone woke

Civil rights activism
From the 1940s Sinatra refused to perform for segregated audiences. In Las Vegas he forced the Sands to serve Nat King Cole in the dining room and, with Sammy Davis Jr., ended Jim Crow policies in Nevada hotels and casinos by
1961. 9! He headlined Carnegie Hall for Martin Luther King Jr. in 1961, led Rat Pack boycotts, donated heavily to SCLC and voter registration, and was praised by Vice President Humphrey after the Watts riots for teaching tolerance."] Orson Welles witnessed Sinatra physically
threaten a restaurant owner who refused service to a Black musician.

Reposted by Steve Peers, Simon Lester

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 5h

The Washpost edit board calls Trump’s bombing in Nigeria “a welcome change in a part of the world that has always been little more than an afterthought for the president” — and has zero mention of the thousands in Africa facing starvation because of USAID cuts

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Why West Africa is worth worrying about

Strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria are welcome but insufficient.

www.washingtonpost.com

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 6h

"three separate policy goals began merging that night — crippling Mr. Maduro, using military force against drug cartels and securing access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves for US companies."

No mention of the dovish non-interventionism we heard so much about.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 6h

New details of White House deliberations reveal how aides with overlapping agendas drove the U.S. toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela.

How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign

New details of deliberations show how aides with overlapping agendas drove the United States toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela.

nyti.ms

Reposted by Simon Lester

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 6h

New details of White House deliberations reveal how aides with overlapping agendas drove the U.S. toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela.

How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign

New details of deliberations show how aides with overlapping agendas drove the United States toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela.

nyti.ms

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 9h

New product idea: mom-tarts.

Reposted by Charlie Beckett, McKenzie Wark, Kate Starbird , and 2 more Charlie Beckett, McKenzie Wark, Kate Starbird, Simon Lester, Matthew Bodie

Eoin Higgins @eoinhiggins.bsky.social · 11h

Some ~personal news~

Yes, I'm being sued by Matt Taibbi

Does that make me the realest free speech warrior?

open.substack.com

Reposted by Gavin A. Schmidt, Simon Lester

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 12h

Wrote about the State Department's made up censorial rationale for banning visas for some folks based on their speech. It's nonsense.

www.ms.now/opinion/marc...

Opinion | Marco Rubio is using real censorship to fight fake censorship

Mike Masnick: In the name of protecting free speech, the U.S. government just banned five Europeans from entering the country because it doesn’t like their speech.

www.ms.now

Reposted by Steve Peers, Simon Lester

Senator Ruben Gallego @gallego.senate.gov · 13h

Winter in Arizona usually means snowbirds, busy restaurants, and Canadians spending money in our communities.

But this year they’re staying home because Trump insulted them and slapped tariffs on their country. Arizona tourism is paying the price.

Reposted by Bessma Momani, Simon Lester

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 13h

“'The bottom line is that removing the 935,000 Venezuelans and Haitians would cause the entire economy to contract by more than $14 billion,' said Michael Clemens, a professor in the Department of Economics at George Mason University."

www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trum... cc @piie.com

Trump canceled temporary legal status for more than 1.5 million immigrants in 2025

WASHINGTON — Since Inauguration Day, more than 1.5 million immigrants have either lost or will lose their temporary legal status, including their work authorizations and deportation protections, due t...

www.newsfromthestates.com

Reposted by Michael A. Clemens, Robert C. Richards, Scott A. Imberman , and 2 more Michael A. Clemens, Robert C. Richards, Scott A. Imberman, Simon Lester, Maksym Polyakov

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 15h

Actual 2025 tariff rates are, to date, far less than statutory rates, but the costs of the tariffs are mostly borne by the US – estimated tariff pass-through to US prices in 2025 is 94%. Tariffs on imports act like a 1 to 2pp tax on US manufacturing. brentneiman.com/research/GN2...

Reposted by Nandita Sharma, W Grant, Simon Lester

elias isquith @eliasisquith.blog · 16h

i am not going to pretend there’s a debate about what heritage american means. there is not. the debate over whether there’s a debate is a means of infiltration and normalization. if we are going to debate this then we must also debate if 2 and 2 make 5. it’s no less obviously stupid and malignant.

Reposted by Simon Lester

Willow @rockshrimp.bsky.social · 16h

So much time spent on coming up with “Heritage American” when they could just call it “Uncritical Race Theory”

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 16h

If I had to bet on whether the survivor of current debates will be (1) some form of post-liberalism or (2) something close to the existing liberal order, I would go with (2). That's not because the existing liberal order is without flaws but rather because the post-liberal options are so much worse.

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · Nov 13

Adrian i think has also realized this (this is from yesterday)

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Mark D. White, Brian Keegan , and 2 more Anna O. Law, Mark D. White, Brian Keegan, Simon Lester, Dunlap

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 16h

They're desperate to rationalize "heritage American" as if it's some serious intellectual theory and not a white nationalist twitter meme. Which doesn't work because it is, in fact, just a white nationalist twitter meme.

Paul Gowder @gowder.io · 1d

He comes *so close* to understanding that his buddies are all racists

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 16h

Counterpoint for Vermeule to deal with: The Puritans banned the public celebration of Christmas.

Being an American is complicated!

When Massachusetts Banned Christmas

They banned the celebration of Christmas for a generation.

www.history.com

Reposted by Simon Lester

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 19h

Royal visits to the US are probably less to revitalise trade talks, more to try to distract the US from asks the UK doesn't want to deliver.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

King Charles and Prince William expected to visit US in 2026 to revitalise trade deal

Royals are reported to plan separate trips, after Donald Trump paused implementation of agreement

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Simon Lester

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 1d

bro

Let's bring it back to the personal: if you look at my kids
— half white, half-South Asian — they were among the most discriminated against in the entire elite-college and jobs hierarchy under Joe Biden. And the Left explicitly promises to bring that hierarchy back if they ever again get power. It pisses me off that Fuentes calls my kids "jeet," and I appreciate that Ro Khanna would never do that. You know what pisses me off a million times more? That Ro Khanna, AOC, and Chris Murphy would deny them jobs and opportunities because they have the wrong skin color.

Reposted by Steve Peers, James Cameron, Simon Lester , and 1 more Steve Peers, James Cameron, Simon Lester, Olivier Mannoni

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 1d

A case where the quote is even worse in context than out of context. JD is scaremongering about “Islamists” winning elections in the UK/France and then somehow militarily threatening the US. Saying we should hold Europeans and Africans to different moral standards but anti-wokely.

“SA: But there's a bit of a paradox there, isn't there?
Because on the one hand, the administration says that America in the past too often lectured the world on moral values and so on. And yet the National Security Strategy document that was recently published made certain claims about what Europe should be like civilizationally. So even to get them to be where we want to be, we still have to lecture them.
JDV: We have much greater cultural, religious, and economic ties with Europe than we do with anywhere else in the world. That is just the nature of things. And
so I do think that we're going to have certain moral conversations with Europe that we might not have, for example, with a Democratic Republic of the Congo, because there is this sense of shared history and shared cultural values. To tie it back to a more specific or direct American interest, France and the United Kingdom have nuclear weapons. If they allow themselves to be overwhelmed with very destructive moral ideas, then you allow nuclear weapons to fall in the hands of people who can actually cause very, very serious harm to the United States.”

SA: What sort of ideas?
JDV: I think there are, for example, Islamists-aligned or Islamist-adjacent people who hold office in European countries right now. Right now, maybe at an extremely low level, right? They're winning mayoral elections, or they're winning municipal elections. But it's not inconceivable to imagine a scenario where a person with Islamist-adjacent views could have very significant influence in a European nuclear power. In the next five years? No. But 15 years from now? Absolutely. And that is very much a very direct threat to the United States of America. So I do think there are ways in which the moral conversation does absolutely bleed into America's national-security interests.
I just think that we want Europe to be strong and vibrant. I want Europe to be a place where Americans can go and visit, where there's cultural sharing;
Europeans are coming to American universities;
Americans are going to European universities; where our militaries are fighting together, training together.
That is impossible without some sense of a cultural foundation. The United States and Europe have that, but there's a risk of losing it over the long term.

Reposted by Simon Lester

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 1d

The risk of adopting overly simplified solutions to address child online safety may have a significant impact on the fundamental rights of both children and adults, Joan Barata writes

The Age of Age Restrictions Poses Policy Dilemmas for Kids Online Safety | TechPolicy.Press

The adoption of legal and regulatory frameworks around children's online safety must strike a proper balance, Joan Barata writes.

buff.ly

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

I wonder if HBO promoting so many comedians in the 80s helped everyone up their game.

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

Yeah, that makes sense. I do feel like some of the 90s network sitcom humor aged better than the 70s humor. Maybe they had to up their game due to more competition?

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

I see some complaints about how Bluesky is toxic and I'm sure it is for some people. But I don't know if you can have microblog-style social media without some toxicity, and Bluesky has created tools to help deal with the toxicity. If you are having a bad experience, it's worth using these tools.

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

I stumbled across episodes of Alice and Three's Company earlier today, and here's my question for anyone who wants to take a crack at it: How did 1970s TV age so poorly while 1970s music aged so well?

Reposted by Simon Lester

Dalindyebo Shabalala (he/him) @dyebo.bsky.social · 1d

What is this sympathetic fluff piece on an Afrikaner asylum seeker who repeats the Trump administrations lies about South Africa? In what world is this a special case for our attention? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/u...

Trump Invited White South Africans to America. One Ended Up in Detention.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Mark D. White, Simon Lester , and 1 more Anna O. Law, Mark D. White, Simon Lester, Dunlap

Paul Gowder @gowder.io · 1d

He comes *so close* to understanding that his buddies are all racists

Reposted by Simon Lester

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 1d

I wish everyone a merry Christmas, too. The problem is the next sentence. Americans are not required to believe in any particular religion, and those who believe differently share just as fully in our nation as Americans whether or not they share in a religious celebration of this season.

Screenshot tweet from Department of Homeland Security @DHSgov: picture of two skyscrapers lit with cross motifs and words, "Merry Christmas, America. We are blessed to share a nation and a Savior."

Reposted by Simon Lester

NPR @npr.org · 1d

The original Betty Boop, the first four Nancy Drew books and Greta Garbo's first talkie are among the many works from 1930 that will be free to use, share and remake starting on Jan. 1. n.pr/4scrT9d

The cultural works becoming public domain in 2026, from Betty Boop to Nancy Drew

The original Betty Boop, the first four Nancy Drew books and Greta Garbo's first talkie are among the many works from 1930 that will be free to use, share and remake starting on Jan. 1.

n.pr

Reposted by Simon Lester

Jason, ex Inferis @benedictsred.bsky.social · 2d

Die Hard was actually appropriated from pagans

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Conway Waddington, Simon Lester

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 2d

First-ever US airstrikes in Nigeria put the second Trump admin’s 2025 combat actions at:

—Nigeria—tonight’s strikes
—Yemen—1,000+ strikes (Mar-Apr)
—Somalia—120 strikes, 1 ground raid
—Syria—78+ strikes, 3 ground raids
—Caribbean—11 strikes
—Eastern Pacific—20 strikes
—Iran—3 strikes
—Iraq—1 strike

Reposted by Simon Lester

Vishnu @iamvishnurajan.bsky.social · 2d

fascinating read about the history of Christmas in India

“St Thomas the Apostle is believed to have reached the Malabar Coast around 52 AD … the communities associated with his mission existed ‘independently of Western Christendom for over a millennium‘”

www.theweek.in/leisure/soci...

More than a colonial import: The ancient roots of Indian Christmas

If Christmas feels imported today, it is only because we have forgotten its older story, one that began in India long before Europe standardised the festival, complete with its calendars, carols, and ...

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