Avram Grumer
@avramg.bsky.social
Brooklynite, early blogger, general-purpose nerd, ttRPG noodle-arounder, once and future cartoonist, typeface addict, doggerelist, one-time Hugo finalist, occasional crank. He/him.
Pinned
Avram Grumer
@avramg.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Hwæt! Aid for the free-trader, from all in hearing,
foemen besiege us, our fusion-oars failing,
gun-spool gone feeble, ship-breath escaping…
foemen besiege us, our fusion-oars failing,
gun-spool gone feeble, ship-breath escaping…
How long before they start trying to convince us that ICE was founded under Obama?
we are witnessing historic backpedaling here
January 27, 2026 at 6:52 AM
How long before they start trying to convince us that ICE was founded under Obama?
Reposted by Avram Grumer
if bovino is out and conservatives are turning on noem then there is a real opportunity to demand that miller resign too.
January 27, 2026 at 1:07 AM
if bovino is out and conservatives are turning on noem then there is a real opportunity to demand that miller resign too.
Reposted by Avram Grumer
Reposted by Avram Grumer
In fact the pundit’s job depends on never fighting alongside you. The work of the pundit is only to shift & secure the borders of punditry, maintain allegiance to nothing material, & make rhetoric of people’s lives & deaths.
January 26, 2026 at 5:36 PM
In fact the pundit’s job depends on never fighting alongside you. The work of the pundit is only to shift & secure the borders of punditry, maintain allegiance to nothing material, & make rhetoric of people’s lives & deaths.
Reposted by Avram Grumer
so bari definitely got the heads up that noem is being shitcanned, right?
January 26, 2026 at 5:51 PM
so bari definitely got the heads up that noem is being shitcanned, right?
January 26, 2026 at 7:09 AM
Just to show how life has changed for #ttRPG players since 1979, here’s Marc Miller, in issue #2 of The Journal of the Traveller’s Aid Society, talking about the lengths he had to go to just to get some black d6es with red dots.
![[pen and ink drawing of a six-sided die, credited to Judges Guild]
Traveller Dice
The idea had been lurking in tne back of my mind for some time, but it came to fruition at GenCon XII. After looking over all the dealer tables, I simply could not find any dice in the Traveller color scheme, that's black dice with red spots. It became apparant that, if I wanted them, I would have to put some together myself.
The Armory table provided black half-inch six-sided dice, though with white pips, at 20 cents each. A dice coloring crayon in red was available, but being designed for filling in polygon dice, it proved ineffective on the deep holes of ordinary cubical dice. Instead, I turned to the acrylic paints also being sold at the table and picked up a jar of British Crimson for 89 cents, and a brush. It was just a few minutes work in a corner of the convention site to produce a dozen truly great looking Traveller dice. Because the paint was acrylic, the excess washed up with water in a matter of minutes. I proceeded to use the dice in an adventure | ran later in the day.
Roy Lippman, who runs the Armory, informs me that his dice (in half-inch, as well as other sizes) and paints are available at many hobby shops, or directly from him. His address: the Armory, Dept. TAS, 3424 Janellen Dr, Baltimore, MD 21208.
—Marc W. Miller](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:76ahqapcojnivrabrjtohb7v/bafkreidhnlklvrjhaxgijkybm3soq4s553jfadt6n4t7pasjrday2uqgei@jpeg)
January 25, 2026 at 9:58 PM
Just to show how life has changed for #ttRPG players since 1979, here’s Marc Miller, in issue #2 of The Journal of the Traveller’s Aid Society, talking about the lengths he had to go to just to get some black d6es with red dots.
I’m glad to hear this, but I ain’t goin’ out there to see.
There are about 100 protesters outside Schumer’s building in the middle of the blizzard urging him to whip Dem votes against any more ICE/CBP funding.
January 25, 2026 at 7:43 PM
I’m glad to hear this, but I ain’t goin’ out there to see.
Reposted by Avram Grumer
Reposted by Avram Grumer
The facile pun I’ve resisted making about Trump’s Board of Peace is that it belies the greater truth of Bored of Peace.
A hegemon committing suicide by dismantling the world order it created for its express benefit out of ennui, decadence, and gleeful ignorance. A historically grotesque display.
A hegemon committing suicide by dismantling the world order it created for its express benefit out of ennui, decadence, and gleeful ignorance. A historically grotesque display.
January 25, 2026 at 7:35 AM
The facile pun I’ve resisted making about Trump’s Board of Peace is that it belies the greater truth of Bored of Peace.
A hegemon committing suicide by dismantling the world order it created for its express benefit out of ennui, decadence, and gleeful ignorance. A historically grotesque display.
A hegemon committing suicide by dismantling the world order it created for its express benefit out of ennui, decadence, and gleeful ignorance. A historically grotesque display.
Alt text: Poster with grayscale drawings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Under those, a rose, and under that: "PRETTI GOOD" then another rose, then "REASON FOR A NATIONAL STRIKE"
January 25, 2026 at 7:38 AM
Alt text: Poster with grayscale drawings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Under those, a rose, and under that: "PRETTI GOOD" then another rose, then "REASON FOR A NATIONAL STRIKE"
Reposted by Avram Grumer
This can have consequences for how agents see themselves. If they put on clothes designed for war, they are more likely to see cities as hostile terrain and citizens as enemy combatants, which can increase the chance of violence. Link to the story here:
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
The Problem With Greg Bovino’s Overcoat Isn’t What You Think
The head of Border Patrol isn’t referencing the Nazis — but he is sending a message.
www.politico.com
January 24, 2026 at 4:21 PM
This can have consequences for how agents see themselves. If they put on clothes designed for war, they are more likely to see cities as hostile terrain and citizens as enemy combatants, which can increase the chance of violence. Link to the story here:
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Reposted by Avram Grumer
ICE is executing protesters the right way.
by Ezra Klein
by Ezra Klein
January 24, 2026 at 7:08 PM
ICE is executing protesters the right way.
by Ezra Klein
by Ezra Klein
Reposted by Avram Grumer
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
-James Baldwin
-James Baldwin
idk what’s wrong with me that compels me to seek out deeply upsetting political films during deeply upsetting political times
i should get the theater to show Punishment Park (1971)
youtu.be/X04-bpHCCCU?...
youtu.be/X04-bpHCCCU?...
January 24, 2026 at 6:51 PM
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
-James Baldwin
-James Baldwin
Reposted by Avram Grumer
This is, ultimately, a data-driven argument:
January 23, 2026 at 6:05 PM
This is, ultimately, a data-driven argument:
Reposted by Avram Grumer
The biggest media story of the last 40 years is that there were very clear signs of this for the last 40 years but America's most influential news companies spent that time pretending the parties had equal and symmetrical flaws and so here we are.
The biggest political story of the last 40 years is the Republican Party losing their fucking minds
Rep. Greg Steube: "You see Macron and the French sending troops to Greenland. I would love to see the US military up against French troops in Greenland, because it would not last very long. It would be a very small skirmish ... we don't care about what Macron and the French want."
January 23, 2026 at 6:08 PM
The biggest media story of the last 40 years is that there were very clear signs of this for the last 40 years but America's most influential news companies spent that time pretending the parties had equal and symmetrical flaws and so here we are.
I wonder how the neurological traits that manifest as hyperlexia nowadays, manifested before writing was invented (prob ~5,000 years ago).
January 23, 2026 at 12:38 AM
I wonder how the neurological traits that manifest as hyperlexia nowadays, manifested before writing was invented (prob ~5,000 years ago).
He missed the opportunity to release this at Christmas.
The Trump administration today announced a new government-backed fossil fuel industry mascot.
Meet Coalie the lump of coal!
Meet Coalie the lump of coal!
January 22, 2026 at 11:06 PM
He missed the opportunity to release this at Christmas.
Muppet a rated R (or worse) movie:
Fifty Shades of Grover
Fifty Shades of Grover
Muppet a Rated R Movie:
Bram Stoker's Muppet Dracula
Bram Stoker's Muppet Dracula
Muppet a Rated R Movie:
The Muppets Take Salò
The Muppets Take Salò
January 22, 2026 at 10:59 PM
Muppet a rated R (or worse) movie:
Fifty Shades of Grover
Fifty Shades of Grover
Great gods have greater gods above their heads to smite ’em,
And those gods have still greater gods, and so ad infinitum.
And those gods have still greater gods, and so ad infinitum.
I have long been oddly haunted by Ovid's observation that the homes of the gods have household shrines to other, unknown gods.
January 22, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Great gods have greater gods above their heads to smite ’em,
And those gods have still greater gods, and so ad infinitum.
And those gods have still greater gods, and so ad infinitum.
Reposted by Avram Grumer
It's genuinely a leaderless (or leaderful) movement, decentralized in a way that the state is absolutely unequipped to handle. There are a few basic skills involved, and so people teach each other those skills, and people are collectively refining them.
January 22, 2026 at 3:58 AM
It's genuinely a leaderless (or leaderful) movement, decentralized in a way that the state is absolutely unequipped to handle. There are a few basic skills involved, and so people teach each other those skills, and people are collectively refining them.
Reposted by Avram Grumer
I have been actively involved in protest movements for 24 years. I have never seen anything approaching this scale. Minneapolis is not accepting what's happening here. ICE fucking murdered a woman for participating in this, and all that did is bring out more people, from more walks of life.
January 22, 2026 at 3:58 AM
I have been actively involved in protest movements for 24 years. I have never seen anything approaching this scale. Minneapolis is not accepting what's happening here. ICE fucking murdered a woman for participating in this, and all that did is bring out more people, from more walks of life.
Reposted by Avram Grumer
Honestly love the new Sailor Moon Abridged videos. The way Mercury is like "staahp" gets me so tickled. (And the voice acting is insanely good.)
January 22, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Honestly love the new Sailor Moon Abridged videos. The way Mercury is like "staahp" gets me so tickled. (And the voice acting is insanely good.)
Reposted by Avram Grumer
If you have read even a single history of fascism, you are already aware that one thing that its rise has in common in every case is an opposition party that refuses to intervene for fear of looking weak or putting the left into power
To quote one source:
“They’re terrified of being labeled anti–law enforcement. They want this to go away so they can talk about the cost of living more. Problem is, it’s not going away.”
prospect.org/2026/01/21/j...
“They’re terrified of being labeled anti–law enforcement. They want this to go away so they can talk about the cost of living more. Problem is, it’s not going away.”
prospect.org/2026/01/21/j...
Jeffries Won’t Whip Vote Against ICE Funding - The American Prospect
While the House Democratic leader announced personal opposition to a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, he won’t pressure his colleagues to do the same.
prospect.org
January 21, 2026 at 8:46 PM
If you have read even a single history of fascism, you are already aware that one thing that its rise has in common in every case is an opposition party that refuses to intervene for fear of looking weak or putting the left into power