Ben Kannenberg
@benkannenberg.bsky.social
He/Him, Aspiring Historian, Eventual Writer, (Usually) Proud DSA Member, Schismatic Catholic.
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
A little more specifically, people (including Democrats) have internalized the (phenomenally racial) idea that it's improper for Democrats to exercise power without asking permission from Republicans first
January 19, 2026 at 3:49 AM
A little more specifically, people (including Democrats) have internalized the (phenomenally racial) idea that it's improper for Democrats to exercise power without asking permission from Republicans first
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
also an aside, a partisan political attack on our democracy was never going to have a non-partisan legalist solution, its a fundamentally a political problem
the theory behind the "investigation" of donald trump was that an event which had never before happened and which the entire conservative legal movement existed to prevent (the prosecution of a republican president for a crime) would occur mechanically by operation of law, without biden's approval.
Yep. Showing vigor and resolve, and also demonstrating that he was as bad as Biden and co said. Because if you're dumb, you might work backwards from what happened to "oh they were bullshitting, if he was really that bad he'd be in jail"
January 19, 2026 at 3:42 AM
also an aside, a partisan political attack on our democracy was never going to have a non-partisan legalist solution, its a fundamentally a political problem
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Territory granted to Virginia under its 1609 charter
January 17, 2026 at 12:54 AM
Territory granted to Virginia under its 1609 charter
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
The median Minneapolis moderate right now is like “GET THESE CRIMINAL GHOULS OUT OF OUR CITY” and working arm-in-arm with DSA. People not from here cannot comprehend the degree of factional rancor that instantly evaporated when the men with masks showed up
January 18, 2026 at 5:09 PM
The median Minneapolis moderate right now is like “GET THESE CRIMINAL GHOULS OUT OF OUR CITY” and working arm-in-arm with DSA. People not from here cannot comprehend the degree of factional rancor that instantly evaporated when the men with masks showed up
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
I guess we're just saying shit now
Imagine if, against expectations, the Trump administration succeeds in bringing dinosaurs back to life and creating a real-life Jurassic Park by 2028.
Do Democrats run in 2028 on closing it down?
Imagine if, against expectations, the Trump administration succeeds in bringing dinosaurs back to life and creating a real-life Jurassic Park by 2028.
Do Democrats run in 2028 on closing it down?
January 18, 2026 at 2:09 PM
I guess we're just saying shit now
Imagine if, against expectations, the Trump administration succeeds in bringing dinosaurs back to life and creating a real-life Jurassic Park by 2028.
Do Democrats run in 2028 on closing it down?
Imagine if, against expectations, the Trump administration succeeds in bringing dinosaurs back to life and creating a real-life Jurassic Park by 2028.
Do Democrats run in 2028 on closing it down?
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Radical liberalism was the ideology of the abolitionists, and is in many ways is the bedrock on which the modern American liberal left is built more than anything else.
Liberalism is a radical idea of universal liberation, even if most of its modern-day adherents are squishy opportunists who are simply echoing what they perceive as the prevailing ideology of their friends
I have come to understand that Will Stancil was always radical, he just wasn’t (likely, still isn’t) radical about the precise thing(s) a lot of us on here wanted him to be radical about.
January 18, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Radical liberalism was the ideology of the abolitionists, and is in many ways is the bedrock on which the modern American liberal left is built more than anything else.
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
fwiw these are unionized hotels and their local sent a formal request to employers not to accept ICE bookings or allow ICE to use their facilities www.facebook.com/share/p/1aV9...
ICE agents at a hotel in St. Paul woke up this morning to news that they’re getting kicked out of their hotel today at noon.
January 18, 2026 at 5:26 PM
fwiw these are unionized hotels and their local sent a formal request to employers not to accept ICE bookings or allow ICE to use their facilities www.facebook.com/share/p/1aV9...
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
True liberals have spent centuries fighting and dying on the barricades so their brothers and sisters can have a world where they are free to live as they please in a society governed by reason and law, not arbitrary force
January 18, 2026 at 3:59 PM
True liberals have spent centuries fighting and dying on the barricades so their brothers and sisters can have a world where they are free to live as they please in a society governed by reason and law, not arbitrary force
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Think the nascent Syrian lobby is learning the hard way in recent days that people like Lindsey Graham weren't really friends of Free Syria out of genuine revulsion towards authoritarianism (al Assad) but out of paternalism, the view that Syria is an informal colony of the US that Graham can dictate
January 18, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Think the nascent Syrian lobby is learning the hard way in recent days that people like Lindsey Graham weren't really friends of Free Syria out of genuine revulsion towards authoritarianism (al Assad) but out of paternalism, the view that Syria is an informal colony of the US that Graham can dictate
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
need to see what actually happens in four years but Zohran might be the greatest (literal) sewer socialist in my lifetime because he’s out here making videos with Julie Menin about public works and can get progressives to be like “ha smoke on THAT, centrists”
January 18, 2026 at 5:35 PM
need to see what actually happens in four years but Zohran might be the greatest (literal) sewer socialist in my lifetime because he’s out here making videos with Julie Menin about public works and can get progressives to be like “ha smoke on THAT, centrists”
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
My Greenland prediction:
1.) The U.S. won't attack.
2.) It won't attack because it was stopped.
3.) It being stopped will be used to tar people urgent about it being stopped as hysterics
1.) The U.S. won't attack.
2.) It won't attack because it was stopped.
3.) It being stopped will be used to tar people urgent about it being stopped as hysterics
January 18, 2026 at 5:21 PM
My Greenland prediction:
1.) The U.S. won't attack.
2.) It won't attack because it was stopped.
3.) It being stopped will be used to tar people urgent about it being stopped as hysterics
1.) The U.S. won't attack.
2.) It won't attack because it was stopped.
3.) It being stopped will be used to tar people urgent about it being stopped as hysterics
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
decided to replay shadow of mordor so I can in very cinematic fashion decapitate a bajillion orcs
November 11, 2024 at 8:40 PM
decided to replay shadow of mordor so I can in very cinematic fashion decapitate a bajillion orcs
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Each show of "Chess"
Means there's one less
Variation left to be played
Each run got through
Means one or two
Less mistakes remain to be made
Means there's one less
Variation left to be played
Each run got through
Means one or two
Less mistakes remain to be made
January 18, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Each show of "Chess"
Means there's one less
Variation left to be played
Each run got through
Means one or two
Less mistakes remain to be made
Means there's one less
Variation left to be played
Each run got through
Means one or two
Less mistakes remain to be made
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
There’s been negligible ICE activity in the most dense urban neighborhoods of Minneapolis, because they’d literally be outnumbered 5000 to 1 on every block. The idea of conducting this sort of operation in New York City is comical.
As a New Yorker, I wonder how this will play out if and when they blitz over here. In most NYC neighborhoods, there’s no shortage of people who fit their target profile. OTOH, the city’s so crowded and traffic’s so busy, it’d be hard to find solo targets and drive off like they’re doing elsewhere.
January 18, 2026 at 3:50 PM
There’s been negligible ICE activity in the most dense urban neighborhoods of Minneapolis, because they’d literally be outnumbered 5000 to 1 on every block. The idea of conducting this sort of operation in New York City is comical.
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
KARL: In the hours after the shooting of Renee Good, you went on national TV and said to ICE, 'get the F out of Minneapolis.' Do you regret that language? That doesn't sound like turning the temperature down
JACOB FREY: I don't regret it at all. If I seemed like I was angry and frustrated, I was.
JACOB FREY: I don't regret it at all. If I seemed like I was angry and frustrated, I was.
January 18, 2026 at 4:31 PM
KARL: In the hours after the shooting of Renee Good, you went on national TV and said to ICE, 'get the F out of Minneapolis.' Do you regret that language? That doesn't sound like turning the temperature down
JACOB FREY: I don't regret it at all. If I seemed like I was angry and frustrated, I was.
JACOB FREY: I don't regret it at all. If I seemed like I was angry and frustrated, I was.
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Americans are going to have to learn that choices matter in a way that they haven't had to learn in a long time. They've been insulated from bad choices for decades but that is coming to an end.
Fundamentally the lesson American voters took from Trump I and Stop the Steal is that Worse Things Aren't Possible imo
The North Atlantic Treaty was, to be fair, on the ballot in 2016, ‘20, and ‘24 and a decadent voting public made some horrible choices.
January 18, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Americans are going to have to learn that choices matter in a way that they haven't had to learn in a long time. They've been insulated from bad choices for decades but that is coming to an end.
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Fundamentally the lesson American voters took from Trump I and Stop the Steal is that Worse Things Aren't Possible imo
The North Atlantic Treaty was, to be fair, on the ballot in 2016, ‘20, and ‘24 and a decadent voting public made some horrible choices.
President Donald Trump’s fixation on Greenland offers an ice-cold reminder to leaders in Europe and abroad: No deal is ever final.
January 18, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Fundamentally the lesson American voters took from Trump I and Stop the Steal is that Worse Things Aren't Possible imo
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Between Mamdani and Spanberger, the establishment of "instantly repeal all the bullshit the last pig put in place" as Democratic priority #1 for both democratic socialists and ex-CIA types is an extremely heartening development.
The first thing Virginia Spanberger did after being sworn in as Governor of Virginia was repeal Youngkin’s executive order requiring state and local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.
This is the kind of leadership Democratic governors nationwide should be emulating.
This is the kind of leadership Democratic governors nationwide should be emulating.
January 18, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Between Mamdani and Spanberger, the establishment of "instantly repeal all the bullshit the last pig put in place" as Democratic priority #1 for both democratic socialists and ex-CIA types is an extremely heartening development.
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
I’ve been thinking more about this. I think a failure to recognize that to truly follow Christ means willingness to die for others is the failure that underlies every other petty common uncharity and ordinary, defensible selfishness
can u imagine being not only a baptized christian but an ordained priest and then, when NPR asks you about the Bishop of New Hampshire's comments last week, what you find to say is "I didn't sign up to be a martyr"??
January 18, 2026 at 3:07 PM
I’ve been thinking more about this. I think a failure to recognize that to truly follow Christ means willingness to die for others is the failure that underlies every other petty common uncharity and ordinary, defensible selfishness
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Two of the charges at Nuremberg were "participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of a crime against peace" and "planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace."
Bessent on Greenland: "Peace through strength. Make it part of the US and there will not be a conflict because the US right now, we're the hottest country in the world, we're the strongest country in the world. Europeans project weakness. The US projects strength."
January 18, 2026 at 2:48 PM
Two of the charges at Nuremberg were "participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of a crime against peace" and "planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace."
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
at the end of the day the security forces didn't break. really does feel similar to beijing 1989
January 18, 2026 at 3:32 AM
at the end of the day the security forces didn't break. really does feel similar to beijing 1989
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
Sometimes I think about all the times wingnuts sneered at Obama for his "apology tours." Then I think about where our int'l rep will be when the next Dem prez gets in. Then I laugh to keep from screaming.
Bessent on Greenland: "Peace through strength. Make it part of the US and there will not be a conflict because the US right now, we're the hottest country in the world, we're the strongest country in the world. Europeans project weakness. The US projects strength."
January 18, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Sometimes I think about all the times wingnuts sneered at Obama for his "apology tours." Then I think about where our int'l rep will be when the next Dem prez gets in. Then I laugh to keep from screaming.
Reposted by Ben Kannenberg
