Wannabe Apparatchik
@apparatchikwannabe.bsky.social
he/him
History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
abolition is worth pursuing on some level because, to compare it to anarchism, both are things which i don’t think can ever actually exist, but which do make very real and worthwhile critiques of the current system, and trying to address those issues, even if you don’t fully fix them, is good!
trying to sell the public on abolition at this point is counterproductive *even if you believe abolition is a worthwhile goal* (which I should note, for fairness, I don't.) But there's so much you can do first to make lives immediately better!
February 20, 2026 at 5:39 AM
abolition is worth pursuing on some level because, to compare it to anarchism, both are things which i don’t think can ever actually exist, but which do make very real and worthwhile critiques of the current system, and trying to address those issues, even if you don’t fully fix them, is good!
Reposted by Wannabe Apparatchik
trying to sell the public on abolition at this point is counterproductive *even if you believe abolition is a worthwhile goal* (which I should note, for fairness, I don't.) But there's so much you can do first to make lives immediately better!
February 20, 2026 at 3:20 AM
trying to sell the public on abolition at this point is counterproductive *even if you believe abolition is a worthwhile goal* (which I should note, for fairness, I don't.) But there's so much you can do first to make lives immediately better!
Reposted by Wannabe Apparatchik
there is a whole ton of low-hanging fruit for prison reform in the United States - like, literally just getting rid of policies that exist for no other reason than cruelty - and we should get those done first.
if we're doing this again i feel obligated to say something in support but i basically haven't got anything new
it is actively harder to make any changes to the criminal justice system if the people who consume the most attention are saying things like this
it is actively harder to make any changes to the criminal justice system if the people who consume the most attention are saying things like this
February 20, 2026 at 3:18 AM
there is a whole ton of low-hanging fruit for prison reform in the United States - like, literally just getting rid of policies that exist for no other reason than cruelty - and we should get those done first.
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"oh what a nice chinese new year card, who's it from"
"general secretary xi jinping"
"general secretary xi jinping"
February 20, 2026 at 2:11 AM
"oh what a nice chinese new year card, who's it from"
"general secretary xi jinping"
"general secretary xi jinping"
Reposted by Wannabe Apparatchik
btw the article at the top is always a funny reminder that xi jinping lived in iowa for a while and still has a bunch of random old white people as personal friends there en.people.cn/n3/2026/0218...
February 20, 2026 at 2:08 AM
btw the article at the top is always a funny reminder that xi jinping lived in iowa for a while and still has a bunch of random old white people as personal friends there en.people.cn/n3/2026/0218...
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during a meeting? please, it's gonna be at their house when one comes home unexpectedly and finds them in bed together
by 2027, i think there’s a non-zero possibility we get reports of one cabinet head drawing a gun on another one during a meeting because the latter was fucking the former’s spouse
February 20, 2026 at 3:56 AM
during a meeting? please, it's gonna be at their house when one comes home unexpectedly and finds them in bed together
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baron trump looking at Corey Levandowski's gun and seeing a "Push X to Interact" pop-up
February 20, 2026 at 3:59 AM
baron trump looking at Corey Levandowski's gun and seeing a "Push X to Interact" pop-up
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Every day there's some new horror. Forcing trans people off their hormones is just absolutely sadistic.
BREAKING: Trump admin issues new policy aimed at ending transgender-related care in federal prisons.
"It's a really dangerous policy,” an ACLU lawyer representing trans people in federal prison suing the Trump administration tells Law Dork of the new Bureau of Prisons policy.
"It's a really dangerous policy,” an ACLU lawyer representing trans people in federal prison suing the Trump administration tells Law Dork of the new Bureau of Prisons policy.
Trump admin issues new policy aimed at ending transgender-related care in federal prisons
"It's a really dangerous policy,” an ACLU lawyer representing trans people in federal prison suing the Trump administration tells Law Dork of the new Bureau of Prisons policy.
www.lawdork.com
February 19, 2026 at 10:08 PM
Every day there's some new horror. Forcing trans people off their hormones is just absolutely sadistic.
Reposted by Wannabe Apparatchik
many very smart people have proposed the running out of goons theory
FBI, FACING A STAFF SHORTAGE, WILL SCALE BACK VETTING REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYEES APPLYING TO BECOME AGENTS, ACCORDING TO TWO SOURCES.
February 19, 2026 at 11:37 PM
many very smart people have proposed the running out of goons theory
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the andrew mountbatten stuff shows that being a tenured antiwoke professor at harvard gives you more legal privileges and protection from the law than your family being divinely anointed to rule a country as absolute monarchs for 1,000 years
February 19, 2026 at 8:44 PM
the andrew mountbatten stuff shows that being a tenured antiwoke professor at harvard gives you more legal privileges and protection from the law than your family being divinely anointed to rule a country as absolute monarchs for 1,000 years
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The pop-history account of how France chose violent revolution and Britain chose gradual reform always slides over the fact that Britain fought its own very bloody revolution(s) over the same issues, they just did it a few centuries earlier.
I mean we did fight a civil war over whether the royals were absolute monarchs several centuries ago and they lost.
February 19, 2026 at 11:06 PM
The pop-history account of how France chose violent revolution and Britain chose gradual reform always slides over the fact that Britain fought its own very bloody revolution(s) over the same issues, they just did it a few centuries earlier.
race to the bottom between negatively polarized twitter centrists and online leftists who think aoc is a centrist appropriating the “real left”
the most annoying people alive will go ballistic if she picks this slogan
February 19, 2026 at 11:22 PM
race to the bottom between negatively polarized twitter centrists and online leftists who think aoc is a centrist appropriating the “real left”
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the most annoying people alive will go ballistic if she picks this slogan
February 19, 2026 at 10:28 PM
the most annoying people alive will go ballistic if she picks this slogan
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One of the things about their civil war posting is they fail to clock it would be less "war criming the libs" and more "bleeding out after being shot in some incomprehensible dispute with a faction nominally on your side".
so for those who haven't been paying attention to goontwitter (this is MAGA special forces twitter) - a bunch of them are mad at Tom Nichols because he keeps mocking them and pissing them off
as a result they are posting about IR and how Sparta was superior to Athens
as a result they are posting about IR and how Sparta was superior to Athens
you're thinking of political science
February 19, 2026 at 10:11 PM
One of the things about their civil war posting is they fail to clock it would be less "war criming the libs" and more "bleeding out after being shot in some incomprehensible dispute with a faction nominally on your side".
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the discovery process in lawsuits against doge is not going to be kind to them, these guys ruined a lot of people’s livelihoods for the most arbitrary and capricious of reasons, and those people are going to remember that
DOGE Bro’s Grant Review Process Was Literally Just Asking ChatGPT ‘Is This DEI?’
Federal grants that had been approved after a full application and review process were terminated by some random inexperienced DOGE bros based on whether ChatGPT could explain—in under 120 characters—that they were…
Federal grants that had been approved after a full application and review process were terminated by some random inexperienced DOGE bros based on whether ChatGPT could explain—in under 120 characters—that they were…
DOGE Bro’s Grant Review Process Was Literally Just Asking ChatGPT ‘Is This DEI?’
Federal grants that had been approved after a full application and review process were terminated by some random inexperienced DOGE bros based on whether ChatGPT could explain—in under 120 characters—that they were "related to DEI." That's what the newly released proposed amended complaint from the Authors Guild against the US government reveals about how DOGE actually decided which National Endowment for the Humanities grants to kill.
www.techdirt.com
February 19, 2026 at 8:41 PM
the discovery process in lawsuits against doge is not going to be kind to them, these guys ruined a lot of people’s livelihoods for the most arbitrary and capricious of reasons, and those people are going to remember that
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Guy Who owns a model train store and supports vaccination despite believing it causes autism because you gotta get that bag sweatie
February 19, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Guy Who owns a model train store and supports vaccination despite believing it causes autism because you gotta get that bag sweatie
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I like the idea that it's illegitimate for liberal democrats (small l, small d) to consider liberal democracy as an ideal destination.
Yeah, lady, they think liberal democracy is good! THey think all countries should be liberal democracies! That's the point!
Yeah, lady, they think liberal democracy is good! THey think all countries should be liberal democracies! That's the point!
February 19, 2026 at 9:26 PM
I like the idea that it's illegitimate for liberal democrats (small l, small d) to consider liberal democracy as an ideal destination.
Yeah, lady, they think liberal democracy is good! THey think all countries should be liberal democracies! That's the point!
Yeah, lady, they think liberal democracy is good! THey think all countries should be liberal democracies! That's the point!
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This bizarre homophobic rant from WIRED is a perfect exhibit of how Woke 1's normalization of casting general aspersions on 'privileged' groups was easily, trivially turned into just indulging whatever gutter bigotry you feel like, but leftishly.
Misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism, you name it!
Misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism, you name it!
February 19, 2026 at 9:24 PM
This bizarre homophobic rant from WIRED is a perfect exhibit of how Woke 1's normalization of casting general aspersions on 'privileged' groups was easily, trivially turned into just indulging whatever gutter bigotry you feel like, but leftishly.
Misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism, you name it!
Misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism, you name it!
Reposted by Wannabe Apparatchik
i am somewhat convinced that he's going to try to get bondi to charge obama with something before the end of his term
lol what
*TRUMP: OBAMA GAVE AWAY CLASSIFIED INFORMATION ON ALIENS
*TRUMP: OBAMA GAVE AWAY CLASSIFIED INFORMATION ON ALIENS
February 19, 2026 at 7:37 PM
i am somewhat convinced that he's going to try to get bondi to charge obama with something before the end of his term
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You know, I kept meaning to write up something like this, but @hawkwinglb.bsky.social has done such a fine job, now I don't have to.
Go read and then stop asking about Aragorn's tax policy!
Go read and then stop asking about Aragorn's tax policy!
Here, have the thread as a blog post: lizbourke.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/1...
137. Aragorn’s tax policy and other weird shibboleths
Yesterday I found myself diverted by people on Bluesky revisiting the issue of Aragorn’s tax policy that George R.R. Martin so memorably quibbled over back in 2014. The vast majority of my wr…
lizbourke.wordpress.com
February 19, 2026 at 7:40 PM
You know, I kept meaning to write up something like this, but @hawkwinglb.bsky.social has done such a fine job, now I don't have to.
Go read and then stop asking about Aragorn's tax policy!
Go read and then stop asking about Aragorn's tax policy!
Reposted by Wannabe Apparatchik
The next president should just immediately seize Trump's assets to the dollar value of all of these corrupt emoluments on the grounds that because emoluments are unconstitutional, the money was never Trump's in the first place.
Let him try to get them back in the civil asset forfeiture process.
Let him try to get them back in the civil asset forfeiture process.
Wow the exact same amount he was suing the IRS for. He just took it. Not only impeachable but [Redacted] as well.
February 19, 2026 at 7:00 PM
The next president should just immediately seize Trump's assets to the dollar value of all of these corrupt emoluments on the grounds that because emoluments are unconstitutional, the money was never Trump's in the first place.
Let him try to get them back in the civil asset forfeiture process.
Let him try to get them back in the civil asset forfeiture process.
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Finland did not stave off fascism lmfao, just cause it had a nominally left wing elected government, it collaborated with the Nazis in Barbarossa. I will concede the Finns generally protected the Jews but “co-belligerent for four years with Nazi Germany” is not “defeating fascism”
How Finland Defeated Fascism in the 1930s. "A violent, conservative, political movement...almost pushed Finland into authoritarianism. But then something happened. They managed to stave off fascism, and they've remained a stable democracy ever since." [kottke.org]
How Finland Defeated Fascism in the 1930s
In the 1930s, a radical conservative political group almost succeeded in overthrowing Finland’s democracy:
Called the Lapua movement, it was a far-right group of Finns who sought to overthrow the republic, margina
kottke.org
February 19, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Finland did not stave off fascism lmfao, just cause it had a nominally left wing elected government, it collaborated with the Nazis in Barbarossa. I will concede the Finns generally protected the Jews but “co-belligerent for four years with Nazi Germany” is not “defeating fascism”
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the real hot take is that democrats are the actual party of capitalism (complimentary) but neither capital nor democrats want to acknowledge that for reasons that have nothing to do with economics in either case
The funny thing about modern economic discourse is that The Wealth of Nations is very clear that market failure requires regulation.
I am a capitalist because “planned economy” vs “lawless markets”‘is a false choice.
A smartly regulated economy is literally what Smith articulated.
I am a capitalist because “planned economy” vs “lawless markets”‘is a false choice.
A smartly regulated economy is literally what Smith articulated.
for lack of other options, i am nominally a capitalist, and i think we should get back to first principles about making capital productive. any one person having tens or hundreds of billions of dollars is grossly unproductive and bad for business.
February 19, 2026 at 6:05 PM
the real hot take is that democrats are the actual party of capitalism (complimentary) but neither capital nor democrats want to acknowledge that for reasons that have nothing to do with economics in either case
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i can't read and i'm going to make that your problem: the case of the bsky reply guys
February 19, 2026 at 3:45 PM
i can't read and i'm going to make that your problem: the case of the bsky reply guys
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the main reason to go after the rich is that if you don’t the entire structure of your society is predicated on the whims of people who are entirely disconnected from ordinary life
billionaires are simply too dangerous to exist, and any budgetary stuff that comes out of it is just a bonus
billionaires are simply too dangerous to exist, and any budgetary stuff that comes out of it is just a bonus
It will not work, and is wrong in principle
Don’t go after the rich to fix broken budgets
It will not work, and is wrong in principle
econ.st
February 19, 2026 at 4:56 PM
the main reason to go after the rich is that if you don’t the entire structure of your society is predicated on the whims of people who are entirely disconnected from ordinary life
billionaires are simply too dangerous to exist, and any budgetary stuff that comes out of it is just a bonus
billionaires are simply too dangerous to exist, and any budgetary stuff that comes out of it is just a bonus
