Dave Andress
@davidandress.bsky.social
Historian of revolution, pessimistic anarchist. Nobody else wants these views, trust me. 'His real face is a hat' - Fern Riddell.
Still remarkable to ponder what exactly it is about washed-up, full-of-shit, generally-despised politicians that leads dodgy tech companies to pay them huge wads of cash.
February 18, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Still remarkable to ponder what exactly it is about washed-up, full-of-shit, generally-despised politicians that leads dodgy tech companies to pay them huge wads of cash.
Reposted by Dave Andress
Towns that question the value of an unsafe, costly, environmentally unsound, poorly governed monorail could be ‘left behind’, says Monorail Salesman
February 18, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Towns that question the value of an unsafe, costly, environmentally unsound, poorly governed monorail could be ‘left behind’, says Monorail Salesman
Reposted by Dave Andress
I think there are some pretty legitimate questions for the Greens to answer in this short thread – entirely possible they didn't know the history here, but if so they should say that and distance themselves.
"5 Pillars" runs a Podcast called "Blood Brothers", which has hosted some of Britain's most notorious neo-Nazis & far right activists, like Nick Griffin (BNP), Mark Collett (Patriotic Alternative) & Jayda Fransen (ex-Britain First), to rant about Jews.
Now the Greens are cosying up to them.
Now the Greens are cosying up to them.
February 18, 2026 at 7:02 PM
I think there are some pretty legitimate questions for the Greens to answer in this short thread – entirely possible they didn't know the history here, but if so they should say that and distance themselves.
Reposted by Dave Andress
I think it's really fun how ChatGPT responded to complaints about 4.0 not by making their LLM sound like a neutral, non-sentient tool but instead made it sound like a fully sentient asshole
February 18, 2026 at 6:10 PM
I think it's really fun how ChatGPT responded to complaints about 4.0 not by making their LLM sound like a neutral, non-sentient tool but instead made it sound like a fully sentient asshole
Reposted by Dave Andress
X's algorithm is in fact doing what you think it's doing. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 18, 2026 at 5:24 PM
X's algorithm is in fact doing what you think it's doing. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dave Andress
I imagine it was extremely disturbing
February 18, 2026 at 6:14 PM
I imagine it was extremely disturbing
Reposted by Dave Andress
to rephrase this in a slightly more accurate manner: numbers on twitter are bigger, and people don't push back on him from the left, so the child porn and nazis are, for now, acceptable
but the audience is bigger, the amplification wider, and the pushback at least occasionally is about the substance. Over here it's mostly people who agree with each other getting mad at anyone who doesn't validate the consensus. A group chat with a follow button.
February 18, 2026 at 6:30 PM
to rephrase this in a slightly more accurate manner: numbers on twitter are bigger, and people don't push back on him from the left, so the child porn and nazis are, for now, acceptable
Reposted by Dave Andress
Ted Lieu: “Donald Trump is in the Epstein files thousands and thousands of times. In those files, there are highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children … of Donald Trump threatening to kill children. So I encourage the press to go look at these allegations.”
February 18, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Ted Lieu: “Donald Trump is in the Epstein files thousands and thousands of times. In those files, there are highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children … of Donald Trump threatening to kill children. So I encourage the press to go look at these allegations.”
Reposted by Dave Andress
Someone doused Renee Good’s Minneapolis memorial and a nearby pile of wood with gasoline and started a fire at about 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Renee Good memorial site in south Minneapolis doused in gasoline
Damage was minimal but police are investigating.
bit.ly
February 18, 2026 at 4:50 PM
Someone doused Renee Good’s Minneapolis memorial and a nearby pile of wood with gasoline and started a fire at about 9 p.m. Tuesday.
“Populism”: telling (some parts of) a democratic electorate that they are unjustly oppressed by the people they elected, and by all the other parts of the electorate, who need to be put in their place.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
‘Populism’: we used to know what it meant. Now the defining word of our era has lost its meaning | Oliver Eagleton
In the 2010s it described an insurgent rhetorical style; in the 2020s it is inadequate to account for the wildly diverging fates of the left and right, says Oliver Eagleton, managing editor of Phenome...
www.theguardian.com
February 18, 2026 at 5:42 PM
“Populism”: telling (some parts of) a democratic electorate that they are unjustly oppressed by the people they elected, and by all the other parts of the electorate, who need to be put in their place.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This is horrendous, of course, but do the authorities just not understand what drug-gangs are like? Why would anyone be surprised by what the lowest filth do? Do politicians just not want to think about it?
Teenage girls lured into forced sex by gangs in London, BBC finds
Our investigation reveals gangs from a range of ethnic backgrounds are operating widely in the capital, exploiting girls and young women.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 18, 2026 at 5:38 PM
This is horrendous, of course, but do the authorities just not understand what drug-gangs are like? Why would anyone be surprised by what the lowest filth do? Do politicians just not want to think about it?
Reposted by Dave Andress
My grandfather filled out a one-page form two weeks after his arrival here, raised his right hand, and was sworn in as a citizen.
The more of these fascist atrocities I see, the more I become an immigration maximalist. Let everyone in, give everyone work permits/green cards. Make it possible to get citizenship within a few months. Make it as easy as getting a driver's license.
February 18, 2026 at 3:45 PM
My grandfather filled out a one-page form two weeks after his arrival here, raised his right hand, and was sworn in as a citizen.
Reposted by Dave Andress
there's a lot going on here but the first thing I would ask is "why do you assume modern literature is easier than classic literature"
Meanwhile, on threads, which actually is like what people on twitter think bluesky is like, a "teacher, author, poet" speaks...
February 18, 2026 at 5:22 PM
there's a lot going on here but the first thing I would ask is "why do you assume modern literature is easier than classic literature"
The SWP: how to sustain a half-century of existence amongst a tiny subset of the comfortable middle classes by playacting the notion that you're Bolsheviks in 1916 just awaiting your big moment.
Bonus free sex with naive first-year students...
Bonus free sex with naive first-year students...
Good summary by ex-member Dave Renton here on the SWP:
davidrenton590934.substack.com/p/is-it-time...
davidrenton590934.substack.com/p/is-it-time...
Is it time to forgive the SWP?
The SWP has gone public with its plans to remove four people from its central committee: Alex Callinicos, Charlie Kimber, Weyman Bennett and Mark Thomas.
davidrenton590934.substack.com
February 18, 2026 at 5:16 PM
The SWP: how to sustain a half-century of existence amongst a tiny subset of the comfortable middle classes by playacting the notion that you're Bolsheviks in 1916 just awaiting your big moment.
Bonus free sex with naive first-year students...
Bonus free sex with naive first-year students...
What IS "the Cultural Moment" they're meeting?
"Eva Braun is so hot right now"?
"Eva Braun is so hot right now"?
< wrestling announcer voice >
the BIBLE'S!! OOOOOOOOOORIGINAL!!!!!WOOOOOMAANNNNN!!!!!!! < airhorns >
the BIBLE'S!! OOOOOOOOOORIGINAL!!!!!WOOOOOMAANNNNN!!!!!!! < airhorns >
February 18, 2026 at 5:13 PM
What IS "the Cultural Moment" they're meeting?
"Eva Braun is so hot right now"?
"Eva Braun is so hot right now"?
Reposted by Dave Andress
On the Hall of Shame today we have Wes Streeting for his constant and unfounded claims that Autism and ADHD are overdiagnosed in what can only be an attempt to cut support
February 18, 2026 at 5:02 PM
On the Hall of Shame today we have Wes Streeting for his constant and unfounded claims that Autism and ADHD are overdiagnosed in what can only be an attempt to cut support
Reposted by Dave Andress
running through the streets crying, ripping my shirt open, screaming at the sky
Bari Weiss’s lecture at UCLA on “the future of journalism” canceled
February 18, 2026 at 5:02 PM
running through the streets crying, ripping my shirt open, screaming at the sky
Reposted by Dave Andress
three answers suggesting you might want to think about the question a little bit and one releasing you from ever thinking about anything again
February 18, 2026 at 4:59 PM
three answers suggesting you might want to think about the question a little bit and one releasing you from ever thinking about anything again
Reposted by Dave Andress
"Disciplines reject what isn’t intellectually valid... If the discipline of Geology determines that the flat-Earth theory doesn’t meet its standards, geologists do not need to hire flat-Earthers and provide lessons in flat-Earth theory to their students."
stanforddaily.com/2026/02/17/v...
stanforddaily.com/2026/02/17/v...
AAUP: Academic freedom on the line | Where ‘viewpoint diversity’ betrays the common good
History professor Priya Satia critiques Paul Brest's recent Daily op-ed. "To endorse the language of 'viewpoint diversity,'" Satia writes, "is falling for a feint in an existential war on academic fre...
stanforddaily.com
February 18, 2026 at 4:45 PM
"Disciplines reject what isn’t intellectually valid... If the discipline of Geology determines that the flat-Earth theory doesn’t meet its standards, geologists do not need to hire flat-Earthers and provide lessons in flat-Earth theory to their students."
stanforddaily.com/2026/02/17/v...
stanforddaily.com/2026/02/17/v...
The authoritative takedown we were waiting for.
Also, Rutger Bregman is just kind of a dick, now, isn't he?
Also, Rutger Bregman is just kind of a dick, now, isn't he?
i shouldn’t give this piece any more attention than it has already garnered but i feel like it is worth pointing out some flaws in the argument/unquestioned assumptions
thread 1/
thread 1/
February 18, 2026 at 5:01 PM
The authoritative takedown we were waiting for.
Also, Rutger Bregman is just kind of a dick, now, isn't he?
Also, Rutger Bregman is just kind of a dick, now, isn't he?
Reposted by Dave Andress
notorious radical left communist rag says tax the rich
February 18, 2026 at 4:03 PM
notorious radical left communist rag says tax the rich
Reposted by Dave Andress
Is this piece a parody? Every time I read an interview with one of these Fabergé martyrs who retreat to their Western Civ havens, I think — half-facetiously — does anyone want to interview *me* after leaving the academy + a presidential professorship bc of astronomical conservatism + dysfunction?
After 40 Years at Harvard, James Hankins Is Disillusioned. He’s Starting Over in Florida.
The Renaissance scholar on tensions with the conservative reform movement, his sanguine view of academic freedom in Ron DeSantis’s Florida, and the role of wine in Western civilization.
www.chronicle.com
February 2, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Is this piece a parody? Every time I read an interview with one of these Fabergé martyrs who retreat to their Western Civ havens, I think — half-facetiously — does anyone want to interview *me* after leaving the academy + a presidential professorship bc of astronomical conservatism + dysfunction?
Reposted by Dave Andress
I remember when I had to convince my students that Charlemagne's political program of translatio imperii--pretending that he was reviving the legacy of ancient Rome in order to shore up his own power--has been a leitmotif of American imperialism since the 18C. Now I just have to point at a tweet.
There is no coherent historical legacy that directly links Athens and Rome to Christian Europe and the United States while leaving out the Islamic world. This is such ahistorical nonsense.
February 18, 2026 at 1:59 PM
I remember when I had to convince my students that Charlemagne's political program of translatio imperii--pretending that he was reviving the legacy of ancient Rome in order to shore up his own power--has been a leitmotif of American imperialism since the 18C. Now I just have to point at a tweet.
Reposted by Dave Andress
2026 basically
February 18, 2026 at 4:23 PM
2026 basically
Reposted by Dave Andress
Actually, I'm pretty sure it's called the President's Daily Briefing because it's a briefing *for* the president that is prepared by the Director of National Intelligence, who chooses what to present from the various intel agencies?
Kash Patel: "You know why it's called the President's Daily Briefing? Because the president decides what are the intel priorities in that briefing."
February 18, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Actually, I'm pretty sure it's called the President's Daily Briefing because it's a briefing *for* the president that is prepared by the Director of National Intelligence, who chooses what to present from the various intel agencies?