Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
@devilstower.bsky.social
Author, journalist, old guy.
Science, climate, space, transportation, energy, and how human selection drives the evolution of all of the above.
www.unchartedblue.com
Science, climate, space, transportation, energy, and how human selection drives the evolution of all of the above.
www.unchartedblue.com
Pinned
Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
@devilstower.bsky.social
· Nov 20
The biggest problem, in both government and business, is that too many people can’t tell the difference between cruelty and leadership.
Watching Frosty the Snowman when it was 74F on Christmas Day is a different kind of nostalgia.
December 26, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Watching Frosty the Snowman when it was 74F on Christmas Day is a different kind of nostalgia.
Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
Much of Todd Blanche's Perceived Cover-Up Is Actually Incompetence
www.emptywheel.net/2025/12/26/m...
www.emptywheel.net/2025/12/26/m...
Much of Todd Blanche's Perceived Cover-Up Is Actually Incompetence - emptywheel
I have no doubt that Todd Blanche's actions will one day amount primarily to a cover-up -- such as when he is eventually cornered about his actions to silence Ghislaine Maxwell. But thus far, the chao...
www.emptywheel.net
December 26, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
DOGE was A LOT less likely to cancel contracts from companies that donated money to Republicans than companies that donated to Democrats.
December 25, 2025 at 10:47 PM
DOGE was A LOT less likely to cancel contracts from companies that donated money to Republicans than companies that donated to Democrats.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
🇺🇦 December 2018. On the main square of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, 2,888 Ukrainians simultaneously sang "Shchedryk", setting a national record.
💔 December 2025. The city in which the world-famous melody was written was turned into ruins.
📹 Video - Donbas.Realii
💔 December 2025. The city in which the world-famous melody was written was turned into ruins.
📹 Video - Donbas.Realii
December 26, 2025 at 10:14 AM
🇺🇦 December 2018. On the main square of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, 2,888 Ukrainians simultaneously sang "Shchedryk", setting a national record.
💔 December 2025. The city in which the world-famous melody was written was turned into ruins.
📹 Video - Donbas.Realii
💔 December 2025. The city in which the world-famous melody was written was turned into ruins.
📹 Video - Donbas.Realii
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post published stories about Trump writing 200 unhinged posts on Christmas Day
You almost have to feel bad for an ugly old man with no family or friends to keep him company on Christmas Day that he makes 200 crazy posts ranting about everything under the sun.
Almost.
Almost.
December 26, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post published stories about Trump writing 200 unhinged posts on Christmas Day
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Anyone who thought Trump wasn’t going to bomb people on Christmas Day hasn’t been paying attention.
December 26, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Anyone who thought Trump wasn’t going to bomb people on Christmas Day hasn’t been paying attention.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Bombing on Christmas. Yeah that tracks for the dude who gave himself a madeup Fifa Peace Prize.
December 25, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Bombing on Christmas. Yeah that tracks for the dude who gave himself a madeup Fifa Peace Prize.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
When your Christmas greeting is actually a confession…
December 25, 2025 at 11:55 PM
When your Christmas greeting is actually a confession…
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
NYT provides no evidence here, probably because the claim is flatly untrue. See eg recent Pew data, or many posts on the subject from @gelliottmorris.com this year
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
December 26, 2025 at 12:08 AM
NYT provides no evidence here, probably because the claim is flatly untrue. See eg recent Pew data, or many posts on the subject from @gelliottmorris.com this year
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
Great Moments In Blowing It:
Just thinking today about the time i took a reality show pitch to LA for a program where three pairs of detectives raced to solve a (fake) murder. The idea was clean enough to land me an agent from William Morris. …
Just thinking today about the time i took a reality show pitch to LA for a program where three pairs of detectives raced to solve a (fake) murder. The idea was clean enough to land me an agent from William Morris. …
December 26, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Great Moments In Blowing It:
Just thinking today about the time i took a reality show pitch to LA for a program where three pairs of detectives raced to solve a (fake) murder. The idea was clean enough to land me an agent from William Morris. …
Just thinking today about the time i took a reality show pitch to LA for a program where three pairs of detectives raced to solve a (fake) murder. The idea was clean enough to land me an agent from William Morris. …
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Trump, after bombing Nigeria on Christmas: “MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists [sic].”
These are the words of an evil man whom Christ does not know.
These are the words of an evil man whom Christ does not know.
December 25, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Trump, after bombing Nigeria on Christmas: “MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists [sic].”
These are the words of an evil man whom Christ does not know.
These are the words of an evil man whom Christ does not know.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
“ The daughter of a well known conservative operative , whose paper did not answer the topic at hand and had a carefully planned media campaign , had a trans instructor fired for grading a paper according to the agreed upon rubric”
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay | CNN
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
cnn.it
December 25, 2025 at 8:42 PM
“ The daughter of a well known conservative operative , whose paper did not answer the topic at hand and had a carefully planned media campaign , had a trans instructor fired for grading a paper according to the agreed upon rubric”
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Kind of wild how the take that some of Trump's supporters were "deplorable" was some huge scandal, but regularly screaming about "radical left scum" is just a thing he'll say with no media backlash.
December 25, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Kind of wild how the take that some of Trump's supporters were "deplorable" was some huge scandal, but regularly screaming about "radical left scum" is just a thing he'll say with no media backlash.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
‼️EXTRAORDINARY EVENT
HUNDREDS Of Monthly records smashed allover Central USA with insane margins locally >5F.
Together with 1936 summer and March 1907 events, it's the most extreme event in US climatic history.
Summer conditions with 84F in Colorado !
Climatic history rewritten
Updates coming
HUNDREDS Of Monthly records smashed allover Central USA with insane margins locally >5F.
Together with 1936 summer and March 1907 events, it's the most extreme event in US climatic history.
Summer conditions with 84F in Colorado !
Climatic history rewritten
Updates coming
December 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM
‼️EXTRAORDINARY EVENT
HUNDREDS Of Monthly records smashed allover Central USA with insane margins locally >5F.
Together with 1936 summer and March 1907 events, it's the most extreme event in US climatic history.
Summer conditions with 84F in Colorado !
Climatic history rewritten
Updates coming
HUNDREDS Of Monthly records smashed allover Central USA with insane margins locally >5F.
Together with 1936 summer and March 1907 events, it's the most extreme event in US climatic history.
Summer conditions with 84F in Colorado !
Climatic history rewritten
Updates coming
Their homes are being bombed and cities reduced to rubble by a ruthless invader that cares nothing for life. They are experiencing fear, privatization, and loss while being abandoned by the nation that should be their greatest ally.
And yet—
And yet—
🇺🇦🇬🇧 The Ukrainian choir Songs for Ukraine performed during King Charles III’s annual Christmas address in the United Kingdom.
At Westminster Abbey, the choir presented a new arrangement of Carol of the Bells, a piece originally based on Shchedryk by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych.
At Westminster Abbey, the choir presented a new arrangement of Carol of the Bells, a piece originally based on Shchedryk by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych.
December 25, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Their homes are being bombed and cities reduced to rubble by a ruthless invader that cares nothing for life. They are experiencing fear, privatization, and loss while being abandoned by the nation that should be their greatest ally.
And yet—
And yet—
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
In retrospect the Bush-era War On Christmas stuff seems more ominous than it did at the time. It was just cable news guys crying about dumb/fake shit, then and now; I mean the campaign to turn Christmas, which most everyone likes and feels warmly about, into just another thing to get mad about.
December 25, 2025 at 4:46 PM
In retrospect the Bush-era War On Christmas stuff seems more ominous than it did at the time. It was just cable news guys crying about dumb/fake shit, then and now; I mean the campaign to turn Christmas, which most everyone likes and feels warmly about, into just another thing to get mad about.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
This is NGC 2264, also called the "Christmas Tree Cluster." It's a cluster of young stars about 2,500 light years away.
They were 'born' during the Pliocene Epoch (2-5 MYA), about the same time as early hominids like Ardipithecus or Homo habilis, so they're barely older than humanity.
🎄💫🔭
They were 'born' during the Pliocene Epoch (2-5 MYA), about the same time as early hominids like Ardipithecus or Homo habilis, so they're barely older than humanity.
🎄💫🔭
December 25, 2025 at 1:18 PM
This is NGC 2264, also called the "Christmas Tree Cluster." It's a cluster of young stars about 2,500 light years away.
They were 'born' during the Pliocene Epoch (2-5 MYA), about the same time as early hominids like Ardipithecus or Homo habilis, so they're barely older than humanity.
🎄💫🔭
They were 'born' during the Pliocene Epoch (2-5 MYA), about the same time as early hominids like Ardipithecus or Homo habilis, so they're barely older than humanity.
🎄💫🔭
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Tested negative for Covid. Hoping fever breaks tonight because tomorrow brings the most important and blessed event of the year—my mom’s country ham and biscuit breakfast.
December 24, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Tested negative for Covid. Hoping fever breaks tonight because tomorrow brings the most important and blessed event of the year—my mom’s country ham and biscuit breakfast.
No beardos! No fatsos! No woke Santas that have donated to my ballroom!
Trump: We track Santa. We want to make sure that Santa is being good. We want to make sure that he's not infiltrated, that we're not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa. Santa loves Oklahoma like I do. You know, Oklahoma was very good to me in the election
December 24, 2025 at 11:39 PM
No beardos! No fatsos! No woke Santas that have donated to my ballroom!
It’s almost as if they haven’t had a full year to prepare for this moment. Like they were never really planning to release these files.
With more than a million pages to go, Justice struggles with Epstein files
The massive size of the Epstein files — perhaps more than a million pages — has created problems for the Justice Department.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 11:33 PM
It’s almost as if they haven’t had a full year to prepare for this moment. Like they were never really planning to release these files.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
No one says to legit business owners, "hey I see there's an underground market selling toxic knock-offs of your product: how will you incorporate the toxic product AND protect your customers against its harms?" But apparently it's fine to make this suggestion to educators with respect to AI.
December 24, 2025 at 7:56 PM
No one says to legit business owners, "hey I see there's an underground market selling toxic knock-offs of your product: how will you incorporate the toxic product AND protect your customers against its harms?" But apparently it's fine to make this suggestion to educators with respect to AI.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty:
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
December 24, 2025 at 7:00 PM
A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty:
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
Managed to come down with some kind of flu-like respiratory infection since 2020. Is my 101F fever the result of not being able to get a Covid vaccine this year? I’m going with yes (Though, admittedly, I haven’t tested because that would involve hauling myself out of bed and finding a test).
December 24, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Managed to come down with some kind of flu-like respiratory infection since 2020. Is my 101F fever the result of not being able to get a Covid vaccine this year? I’m going with yes (Though, admittedly, I haven’t tested because that would involve hauling myself out of bed and finding a test).
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Why Trump’s mass recall of ambassadors is even worse than it sounds
Trump is breaking precedent with his targeting of career diplomats.
Trump is breaking precedent with his targeting of career diplomats.
Opinion | Why Trump's mass recall of ambassadors is even worse than it sounds
Trump is breaking precedent in the way he's gutting institutional knowledge.
www.ms.now
December 24, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Why Trump’s mass recall of ambassadors is even worse than it sounds
Trump is breaking precedent with his targeting of career diplomats.
Trump is breaking precedent with his targeting of career diplomats.