Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
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devilstower.bsky.social
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
Pinned
The biggest problem, in both government and business, is that too many people can’t tell the difference between cruelty and leadership.
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
🇺🇸🇮🇹👀 JD Vance traveled to meet Meloni in a motorcade of more than 40 cars specially delivered from the US.

14 planes and about 100 vehicles were used for the delegation's trip to Italy, including armored vehicles and a separate plane with food.
February 9, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
VC, founder, dumbass
February 8, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Just a few weeks ago, the administration cancelled all remaining department of energy grid resilience projects in Puerto Rico. All of them. www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-end...
The end of DOE’s grid work in Puerto Rico
The Trump administration has canceled all eight of the remaining awards devoted to distributed energy on the island.
www.latitudemedia.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Superbowl commercial trends: Last year, crypto. This year, AI and gambling. Next year, how to get the best price for your spare organs.
February 9, 2026 at 2:16 AM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
"Explicitly intertwining the aspirations and fate of SpaceX with Musk’s CSAM generating social media website, his AI bullshit machines, and his right wing political project is horrifying and monopolistic."
www.404media.co/this-spacex-...
This SpaceX Situation: Not Good!
Elon Musk's political projects are combining into a highly concerning megacompany.
www.404media.co
February 9, 2026 at 1:45 AM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
the halftime show is a master class in joy as resistance
February 9, 2026 at 1:27 AM
All those commercials about how an AI can do your job? They’re not for you. They’re for your CEO.
February 9, 2026 at 1:42 AM
Fantastic staging, choreography, and energy. Just an absolute celebration of Puerto Rico and Latin music
February 9, 2026 at 1:33 AM
Superb.
February 9, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Donald Trump is withholding billions of dollars in New York infrastructure unless he gets Penn Station and Dulles Airport named after him.

This is not only brazenly corrupt. It is sick, twisted and egomaniacal. The time is long overdue for sane Republicans to stand up to Trump.
February 6, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Today on Volts: I'm joined by the great @michaelhobbes.bsky.social to discuss "reactionary centrism," an intellectual tendency that's come to dominate US public life. You know the type: would never view themselves as conservative, yet finds voluntary pronoun use vastly more aggravating than fascism.
All about "reactionary centrism"
Michael Hobbes joins me to diagnose the pundit class's obsession with scolding the left while the right burns down the house.
www.volts.wtf
January 30, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
New: We built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.

readsludge.com/2026/01/16/t...
The Companies Behind ICE
Sludge built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.
readsludge.com
January 16, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
This one is what Hess said: “It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now. I think it’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of. Just because I wear the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the US.”
February 8, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
BREAKING: Congress has scheduled a vote on the SAVE America Act, a bill that would restrict the freedom to vote for millions of Americans.

February 6, 2026 at 7:00 PM
All hail the king of the backyard.
February 8, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
judge a quarterback by whether or not he defrauds millions of dollars from poor people
Judge a quarterback by what he'll take a knee for.
February 8, 2026 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Amid another wave of Trump lies about 2020 election, note today's analysis from elections security expert David Becker on Face the Nation

“Not only are our elections not rigged, they're as transparent, verifiable and secure as they’ve ever been, whether you like the outcome or not"
February 8, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
On Polymarket you can now bet on how many people in a different market on Polymarket think Jesus Christ will return in this calendar year.

29% of bets say that more than 5% of bets in the Jesus Christ return market will be a "yes" 9 days from now.

Anyway everyone involved in this needs jailtime.
February 8, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
February 8, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
IN 45 STATES A DRIVER'S LICENSE IS NOT LEGAL PROOF OF U.S. CITIZENSHIP. UNDER THE SAVE ACT, YOU WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO USE IT AS VOTER ID. THIS IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY. YOU DON'T NEED TO USE DRAMATIC LANGUAGE. JUST POINT OUT, FACTUALLY, THIS INCREDIBLY INSANE THING THE BILL WILL DO.
February 5, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
FAMU can't use the word Black on anything posted around campus related to Black History Month, to stay in compliance with Florida state laws against DEI. Black students can't use the word Black at their Historically Black College during Black History Month.
February 8, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
crickets from the free speech crowd, of course
FAMU can't use the word Black on anything posted around campus related to Black History Month, to stay in compliance with Florida state laws against DEI. Black students can't use the word Black at their Historically Black College during Black History Month.
February 8, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Great overview by @cibled.bsky.social for @cmmonwealth.bsky.social here who is also writing an excellent chapter on the convergence of “space libertarians” and venture capital for a volume we are working on.

www.common-wealth.org/publications...
Star Wars: Why the Left Should Protect the Status of Space as Humanity’s Commons
Wealthy countries and corporations are seeking to rewrite international law to undermine the neutrality of space and privatise its land and resources.
www.common-wealth.org
February 8, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Begging folks to realize that ICE enforcement is a mass disabling event.

People are being shot. They’ve been blinded. They’ve been traumatized.

The camps are full of disease.

TB, Covid and measles can all kill but they also disable.

It’s eugenics.

www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Two tuberculosis cases detected at Camp East Montana ICE facility
Eighteen cases of COVID-19 were also identified. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar on Friday visited the 5,000-bed tent facility on the Fort Bliss Army base and said she saw many "chronic issues."
www.texastribune.org
February 8, 2026 at 3:36 AM
Reposted by Mark Sumner 🇺🇦
Concentration camps:

“For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick."
Exclusive: Detention Center Captives Are Throwing Lotion Bottles Wrapped With Notes to Organizers Outside Otay Mesa Facility ~ L.A. TACO
“For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh," an Otay Mesa captive communicated through handwritten note. "We are all in one big room with no doors...
lataco.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:24 AM