Ben
@benctc.bsky.social
Hockey podcaster at Circling the Cup (a San Jose Sharks podcast). I primarily care about the three h's: Hockey, History, and Hboardgaming. Working teacher (history/interdisciplinary sciences).
Reposted by Ben
19-year-old Macklin Celebrini is tied for the NHL lead in points. 🔥
Only four other players in NHL history have tallied 20+ points as a teenager through their team's first 14 games: www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tin...
Only four other players in NHL history have tallied 20+ points as a teenager through their team's first 14 games: www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tin...
November 6, 2025 at 3:39 PM
19-year-old Macklin Celebrini is tied for the NHL lead in points. 🔥
Only four other players in NHL history have tallied 20+ points as a teenager through their team's first 14 games: www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tin...
Only four other players in NHL history have tallied 20+ points as a teenager through their team's first 14 games: www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tin...
Reposted by Ben
[Christopher Walken voice] "Holland's art is destroying teams by signing useless binkies to exorbitant contracts. He's about to paint his masterpiece"
October 8, 2025 at 5:44 AM
[Christopher Walken voice] "Holland's art is destroying teams by signing useless binkies to exorbitant contracts. He's about to paint his masterpiece"
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It's a well-established global phenomenon: secret police organizations always recruit losers, mediocrities, people who can't succeed in a competitive environment, whether bureaucratic, academic or commercial. These are people who will follow orders and engage in depraved, violent conduct when asked.
October 8, 2025 at 4:51 AM
It's a well-established global phenomenon: secret police organizations always recruit losers, mediocrities, people who can't succeed in a competitive environment, whether bureaucratic, academic or commercial. These are people who will follow orders and engage in depraved, violent conduct when asked.
Reposted by Ben
my favorite robert redford story is that mike nichols considered him for dustin hoffman's part in THE GRADUATE. during their conversation nichols asked redford something like, "have you ever struck out with a girl?" and redford's response was basically, "i don't understand the question"
September 16, 2025 at 1:24 PM
my favorite robert redford story is that mike nichols considered him for dustin hoffman's part in THE GRADUATE. during their conversation nichols asked redford something like, "have you ever struck out with a girl?" and redford's response was basically, "i don't understand the question"
Reposted by Ben
[the shooter is unidentified] the left must be purged with the sword
[the shooter is, again, a compulsive masturbator who loved Hitler] I believe it was pascal who said that the heart has reasons that reason may not know
[the shooter is, again, a compulsive masturbator who loved Hitler] I believe it was pascal who said that the heart has reasons that reason may not know
September 12, 2025 at 9:22 PM
[the shooter is unidentified] the left must be purged with the sword
[the shooter is, again, a compulsive masturbator who loved Hitler] I believe it was pascal who said that the heart has reasons that reason may not know
[the shooter is, again, a compulsive masturbator who loved Hitler] I believe it was pascal who said that the heart has reasons that reason may not know
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I have a couple of comments about the "free speech hero" narrative about Charlie Kirk.
First, was Charlie Kirk really notable for supporting the free speech of people he disagreed with? I haven't noticed that, though I could have missed it.
/1
First, was Charlie Kirk really notable for supporting the free speech of people he disagreed with? I haven't noticed that, though I could have missed it.
/1
September 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
I have a couple of comments about the "free speech hero" narrative about Charlie Kirk.
First, was Charlie Kirk really notable for supporting the free speech of people he disagreed with? I haven't noticed that, though I could have missed it.
/1
First, was Charlie Kirk really notable for supporting the free speech of people he disagreed with? I haven't noticed that, though I could have missed it.
/1
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Which work? Calling for gay people to be stoned to death? Blaming airplane crashes on black pilots? Anti-vax bullshit? Election denialism? Pushing Great Replacement Theory?
Kirk’s murder is awful and ominous for this country. But no, we don’t need to honor him or “continue his work.”
Kirk’s murder is awful and ominous for this country. But no, we don’t need to honor him or “continue his work.”
September 11, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Which work? Calling for gay people to be stoned to death? Blaming airplane crashes on black pilots? Anti-vax bullshit? Election denialism? Pushing Great Replacement Theory?
Kirk’s murder is awful and ominous for this country. But no, we don’t need to honor him or “continue his work.”
Kirk’s murder is awful and ominous for this country. But no, we don’t need to honor him or “continue his work.”
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It’s fine to say that violence is never the answer, but I can’t help but observe that for Charlie Kirk violence was always the answer, and it was the only answer he offered, and, because of the privilege that he refused to admit he had, he could enact it from a comfortable and respectable place.
September 10, 2025 at 11:43 PM
It’s fine to say that violence is never the answer, but I can’t help but observe that for Charlie Kirk violence was always the answer, and it was the only answer he offered, and, because of the privilege that he refused to admit he had, he could enact it from a comfortable and respectable place.
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It’s not celebrating to note his direct, sustained, and exploitative contribution to a culture of intolerance, anti-intellectualism, and violence.
September 10, 2025 at 9:23 PM
It’s not celebrating to note his direct, sustained, and exploitative contribution to a culture of intolerance, anti-intellectualism, and violence.
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The bar for what it takes for these people to say the gloves are off and they’re going to start a civil war the next morning or to get Mike Cernovich to say Nazi shit is not so high that it requires someone being murdered to clear it. It’s an inch off the floor. Everybody breathe for a second.
September 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
The bar for what it takes for these people to say the gloves are off and they’re going to start a civil war the next morning or to get Mike Cernovich to say Nazi shit is not so high that it requires someone being murdered to clear it. It’s an inch off the floor. Everybody breathe for a second.
I'm sorry, but "violence is never the answer" explicitly misunderstands the American Civil War and the end of slavery. I'd prefer a world with no violence, but an opponent who does violence habitually (as slaveowners did and as fascists do) is not going to yield to your "respect" or your "reason."
September 10, 2025 at 9:03 PM
I'm sorry, but "violence is never the answer" explicitly misunderstands the American Civil War and the end of slavery. I'd prefer a world with no violence, but an opponent who does violence habitually (as slaveowners did and as fascists do) is not going to yield to your "respect" or your "reason."
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I don't feel any particular joy in Charlie Kirk getting shot. It's not the sort of thing I celebrate.
But I also struggle to care when someone gets the very thing they've wished for openly, on multiple occasions, in multiple iterations, for literal years, b/c they thought it would be someone else.
But I also struggle to care when someone gets the very thing they've wished for openly, on multiple occasions, in multiple iterations, for literal years, b/c they thought it would be someone else.
September 10, 2025 at 8:32 PM
I don't feel any particular joy in Charlie Kirk getting shot. It's not the sort of thing I celebrate.
But I also struggle to care when someone gets the very thing they've wished for openly, on multiple occasions, in multiple iterations, for literal years, b/c they thought it would be someone else.
But I also struggle to care when someone gets the very thing they've wished for openly, on multiple occasions, in multiple iterations, for literal years, b/c they thought it would be someone else.
Reposted by Ben
If you spend your life demonizing your opponents, advocating for gun ubiquity *and explicitly accepting the violence that results as a reasonable price to pay*…I just don’t think anyone is obliged to just pretend none of that happened and wish you well when you get shot.
September 10, 2025 at 8:12 PM
If you spend your life demonizing your opponents, advocating for gun ubiquity *and explicitly accepting the violence that results as a reasonable price to pay*…I just don’t think anyone is obliged to just pretend none of that happened and wish you well when you get shot.
Too many Americans, with less history education than they should have, don't realize that we've already crossed over into civil war. Fascists have seized the reins of the Federal government, and there's absolutely no reason to expect them to let go.
September 10, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Too many Americans, with less history education than they should have, don't realize that we've already crossed over into civil war. Fascists have seized the reins of the Federal government, and there's absolutely no reason to expect them to let go.
Unearned "respectability politics" in the face of fascists who have no respect for democracy is how we got here, tbqh.
September 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Unearned "respectability politics" in the face of fascists who have no respect for democracy is how we got here, tbqh.
Wait, the internet went semi-gaga over a guy who killed a CEO, but we're going to clutch our pearls over Charlie Kirk? REALLY?
September 10, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Wait, the internet went semi-gaga over a guy who killed a CEO, but we're going to clutch our pearls over Charlie Kirk? REALLY?
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Political violence disproportionately hurts people with less power, not people with more power. Political violence will disproportionately hurt people of color and women and LGBTQ people. It’s not fair, but that’s the way it works. Celebrating political violence means at best indifference to that.
Political violence is bad. It usually begets more political violence.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
September 10, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Political violence disproportionately hurts people with less power, not people with more power. Political violence will disproportionately hurt people of color and women and LGBTQ people. It’s not fair, but that’s the way it works. Celebrating political violence means at best indifference to that.
Reposted by Ben
Every last bit of this. That I'll shed no tears for Kirk doesn't change any of it.
Political violence is bad. It usually begets more political violence.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
September 10, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Every last bit of this. That I'll shed no tears for Kirk doesn't change any of it.
Reposted by Ben
Reposted by Ben
I’m an alpha male who has domain over my wife. Here’s why I was scared during my entire trip to New York City.
by Charlie Kirk
by Charlie Kirk
July 29, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I’m an alpha male who has domain over my wife. Here’s why I was scared during my entire trip to New York City.
by Charlie Kirk
by Charlie Kirk
Reposted by Ben
Look, you can say a lot about Hogan's legacy: he was racist, he was terrible to his colleagues, he put himself above other people, he firmly believed in the supremacy of white people, he was a bad wrestler, his life was a net negative for society.
That's it. That's the post.
That's it. That's the post.
July 24, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Look, you can say a lot about Hogan's legacy: he was racist, he was terrible to his colleagues, he put himself above other people, he firmly believed in the supremacy of white people, he was a bad wrestler, his life was a net negative for society.
That's it. That's the post.
That's it. That's the post.
Reposted by Ben
Tech companies only have five ideas: robot slave (actually just human slaves), hallucinatory counter-reality, untaxable money, The Everything App, and Clippy
June 23, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Tech companies only have five ideas: robot slave (actually just human slaves), hallucinatory counter-reality, untaxable money, The Everything App, and Clippy