Chet DeFonso
@chetdefonso.bsky.social
Yooperprof. British historian. Occasional actor. Jet Set Chet. Reader of books. Likes opera. Also beer. LGBTQ club member. He/him.
Maybe you really mean "English"? I always tell my students to read Orwell, who helpfully identified himself as Lower Upper Middle Class.
Could someone explain to me what is meant when a British person refers to "the middle class" ? Like, in the US, as I hear it, it basically just means a person who makes a certain amount of money, not too far below and not wildly above the median. Seems like a complex concept when UK writers use it?
November 11, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Maybe you really mean "English"? I always tell my students to read Orwell, who helpfully identified himself as Lower Upper Middle Class.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
This feels like they’re saying that the only reason the economy is showing any signs of life is that it’s hyped up on methamphetamines. fortune.com/2025/10/07/d...
Without data centers, GDP growth was 0.1% in the first half of 2025, Harvard economist says | Fortune
Is a U.S. without data centers a country without GDP growth?
fortune.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:51 PM
This feels like they’re saying that the only reason the economy is showing any signs of life is that it’s hyped up on methamphetamines. fortune.com/2025/10/07/d...
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
English Catholics in 1678:
November 10, 2025 at 10:52 PM
English Catholics in 1678:
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
No words
My senator is speaking like she just suffered a major head injury and thinks it's 1993
My senator is speaking like she just suffered a major head injury and thinks it's 1993
November 10, 2025 at 7:31 PM
No words
My senator is speaking like she just suffered a major head injury and thinks it's 1993
My senator is speaking like she just suffered a major head injury and thinks it's 1993
Stock up now!
Trump trade war costs US Italian pasta: “Exporters say import and antidumping duties totaling 107% on their pasta brands will make doing business in America too costly and are preparing to pull out of U.S. stores as soon as January.” Via WSJ
Italian Pasta Is Poised to Disappear From American Grocery Shelves — The Wall Street Journal
Trump administration is set to impose duties of 107% on Italian pasta imports, among most punitive of tariffs it has levied
apple.news
November 10, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Stock up now!
No comment.
New: The Supreme Court DENIES Kim Davis' request to overturn Obergefell, the marriage equality decision. No noted dissents. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
November 10, 2025 at 3:25 PM
No comment.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Good morning, friends!
November 10, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Good morning, friends!
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Like many Americans, Scott Adams had insurance problems. But unlike most people he has powerful friends on social media, and when he asked President Trump for help, he got the cancer drug he needed.
Dilbert creator taps Trump to get cancer drug. Others wish they could, too
Like many Americans, Scott Adams had insurance problems. But unlike most people he has powerful friends on social media, and when he asked President Trump for help, he got the cancer drug he needed.
n.pr
November 9, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Like many Americans, Scott Adams had insurance problems. But unlike most people he has powerful friends on social media, and when he asked President Trump for help, he got the cancer drug he needed.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Imagine an EU-wide government shut down in its 6th week leading to serious disruption of air traffic. We would not hear the end of it in Anglophone media.
Look forward to more grand declations about how Europeans must emulate an America whose government is in the sixth week of shutdown and now can't provide safe air travel
✈️ FAA Ops Summary - 09/0300 ✈️
____________________________________________________________________
ADDITI0NAL STAFFING TRIGGERS ISSUED. LGA GROUND DELAY PROGRAM TIMED
OUT. DFW, IAH AND HOU GROUND DELAY PROGRAMS WERE CA... More info in image.
FAA Details. #AvGeek
____________________________________________________________________
ADDITI0NAL STAFFING TRIGGERS ISSUED. LGA GROUND DELAY PROGRAM TIMED
OUT. DFW, IAH AND HOU GROUND DELAY PROGRAMS WERE CA... More info in image.
FAA Details. #AvGeek
November 9, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Imagine an EU-wide government shut down in its 6th week leading to serious disruption of air traffic. We would not hear the end of it in Anglophone media.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Senate update: Republicans are now trying to sneak a backdoor national abortion ban into their government funding bill. Republicans will stop at nothing to control women's health care decisions.
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Senate update: Republicans are now trying to sneak a backdoor national abortion ban into their government funding bill. Republicans will stop at nothing to control women's health care decisions.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Journalists for NYT document tortures to dozens of Venezuelans Trump sent to El Salvador earlier this year.
The piece is based on the testimonies of 40 people and on doctors who said their injuries are consistent and credible
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
The piece is based on the testimonies of 40 people and on doctors who said their injuries are consistent and credible
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison
www.nytimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Journalists for NYT document tortures to dozens of Venezuelans Trump sent to El Salvador earlier this year.
The piece is based on the testimonies of 40 people and on doctors who said their injuries are consistent and credible
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
The piece is based on the testimonies of 40 people and on doctors who said their injuries are consistent and credible
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Two panels commemorating the contribution of Black American soldiers towards the liberation of the Netherlands in World War Two have been quietly removed from a cemetery in Limburg. It follows a complaint by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission.
Op Margraten zijn twee panelen over zwarte Amerikaanse bevrijders van Nederland opeens weg. ‘Past bij beleid van de regering-Trump’
Op Margraten zijn twee panelen over zwarte Amerikaanse bevrijders van Nederland opeens weg. ‘Past bij beleid van de regering-Trump’
Op de Amerikaanse begraafplaats in Margraten is het opeens stil geworden rond de zwarte Amerikanen die hielpen Nederland bevrijden. Twee panelen die hun bijdrage herdachten – én wezen op hun strijd tegen racisme binnen het leger – werden zonder toelichting verwijderd.
www.nrc.nl
November 8, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Two panels commemorating the contribution of Black American soldiers towards the liberation of the Netherlands in World War Two have been quietly removed from a cemetery in Limburg. It follows a complaint by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission.
Memos of Blood and Fire www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
Memos of Blood and Fire | Peter Coviello
So if you ask me about the signature strength of the department where I work, I will tell you. It is world-caliber field-defining research, wedded to a fantastically dynamic practice of instruction, a...
www.nplusonemag.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Memos of Blood and Fire www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
He has now erased fully 10% of the term to which Grijalva was elected.
Speaker Johnson is officially keeping the House in recess again next week. This will be the eighth consecutive week the House has been out of session. The chamber hasn't met since Sept. 19. Adelita Grijalva, who was elected on Sept. 23, has not been sworn in.
November 7, 2025 at 7:44 PM
He has now erased fully 10% of the term to which Grijalva was elected.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Today, Mike Johnson will keep the House adjourned for the 95th day out of the last 107.
12 days of work in 107 days.
With full pay and benefits.
The senate has been working, so this is not about the shutdown.
It is about avoiding a vote to release the Epstein files.
12 days of work in 107 days.
With full pay and benefits.
The senate has been working, so this is not about the shutdown.
It is about avoiding a vote to release the Epstein files.
November 7, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Today, Mike Johnson will keep the House adjourned for the 95th day out of the last 107.
12 days of work in 107 days.
With full pay and benefits.
The senate has been working, so this is not about the shutdown.
It is about avoiding a vote to release the Epstein files.
12 days of work in 107 days.
With full pay and benefits.
The senate has been working, so this is not about the shutdown.
It is about avoiding a vote to release the Epstein files.
And the one person on the ballot this year who is a personal friend won his race to serve on the Marquette City Commission.
November 6, 2025 at 12:46 AM
And the one person on the ballot this year who is a personal friend won his race to serve on the Marquette City Commission.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Posting this from September now since Conde Nast is merging Teen Vogue into Vogue and cutting the politics section.
www.teenvogue.com/story/men-dr...
www.teenvogue.com/story/men-dr...
How ICE Raids Are Making It Easier for Civilian Men to Assault Immigrant Women
"This phenomenon is only possible because of the outsized power that state agents have always had to abuse and control women and victims' bodies," argues Kylie Cheung.
www.teenvogue.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Posting this from September now since Conde Nast is merging Teen Vogue into Vogue and cutting the politics section.
www.teenvogue.com/story/men-dr...
www.teenvogue.com/story/men-dr...
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 7:52 PM
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Along the shoreline of Green Bay about 20 miles south of me sits Michigan’s largest Yooperlite rock. www.mlive.com/life/2025/11... #puremichigan
U.P. park has Michigan magic on its shorelines: See the state’s largest Yooperlite
An earlier sunset is great news for Yooperlite hunters illuminating the shorelines. Michigan's largest shining stone is hard to miss.
www.mlive.com
November 3, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Along the shoreline of Green Bay about 20 miles south of me sits Michigan’s largest Yooperlite rock. www.mlive.com/life/2025/11... #puremichigan
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Man stops his car to ask ICE to move because they are blocking a school bus stop.
So they shot him in the back.
The statute of limitations for attempted murder is longer than this regime.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
So they shot him in the back.
The statute of limitations for attempted murder is longer than this regime.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
U.S. citizen shot from behind as he warned ICE agents about children gathering at bus stop, lawyers say
Lawyers for Carlos Jimenez said he was in fear after an agent threatened him with chemical spray, then pointed a gun at him.
www.latimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Man stops his car to ask ICE to move because they are blocking a school bus stop.
So they shot him in the back.
The statute of limitations for attempted murder is longer than this regime.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
So they shot him in the back.
The statute of limitations for attempted murder is longer than this regime.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
I hope future generations recognize how quickly and strangely the contours of what counts as a political scandal changed for this president.
O'DONNELL: Why did you pardon Changpeng Zhao?
TRUMP: Are you ready? I don't know who he is
O'DONNELL: His crypto exchange Binance helped facilitate a $2b purchase of World Liberty Financial's stablecoin. And they you pardoned him.
TRUMP: Here's the thing -- I know nothing about it
TRUMP: Are you ready? I don't know who he is
O'DONNELL: His crypto exchange Binance helped facilitate a $2b purchase of World Liberty Financial's stablecoin. And they you pardoned him.
TRUMP: Here's the thing -- I know nothing about it
November 3, 2025 at 1:37 AM
I hope future generations recognize how quickly and strangely the contours of what counts as a political scandal changed for this president.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
Every member of the House of Representatives is being paid to sit at home and do nothing while every air traffic controller is being denied a paycheck while tasked with keeping the flying public alive.
That is really messed up.
That is really messed up.
November 3, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Every member of the House of Representatives is being paid to sit at home and do nothing while every air traffic controller is being denied a paycheck while tasked with keeping the flying public alive.
That is really messed up.
That is really messed up.
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
I would like for national political reporters to place a moratorium on “But what will voters in the rest of America think about New York City’s socialist mayor?” We don’t care! Red states are notably full of psycho politicians yet rarely do you see pundits asking Brooklyn people about them.
November 2, 2025 at 5:57 PM
I would like for national political reporters to place a moratorium on “But what will voters in the rest of America think about New York City’s socialist mayor?” We don’t care! Red states are notably full of psycho politicians yet rarely do you see pundits asking Brooklyn people about them.
A feature, not a bug. . .
NEW from me:
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
November 1, 2025 at 1:16 PM
A feature, not a bug. . .
Reposted by Chet DeFonso
“And as someone who voted for this president, I didn’t vote for this. I didn’t vote for people to be harassed, I didn’t vote for people to be brought out at gunpoint with machine guns, and to harass Americans.”
YES YOU DID, YOU FUCKING IDIOT. TRUMP TOLD US HE WAS GOING TO DO THIS.
YES YOU DID, YOU FUCKING IDIOT. TRUMP TOLD US HE WAS GOING TO DO THIS.
On Halloween, “state-sponsored terror” in Chicago and the north suburbs. A @chicagotribune.com team effort on the feds’ actions on what’s supposed to be a special day for families and children www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/31/c...
On Halloween, ‘state-sponsored terror’ in Chicago and the north suburbs
Despite pleas from Gov. JB Pritzker to pause federal immigration enforcement operations while children celebrate Halloween, Border Patrol agents tore through Chicago and the suburbs.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 1, 2025 at 1:10 PM
“And as someone who voted for this president, I didn’t vote for this. I didn’t vote for people to be harassed, I didn’t vote for people to be brought out at gunpoint with machine guns, and to harass Americans.”
YES YOU DID, YOU FUCKING IDIOT. TRUMP TOLD US HE WAS GOING TO DO THIS.
YES YOU DID, YOU FUCKING IDIOT. TRUMP TOLD US HE WAS GOING TO DO THIS.