John Holbo
@jholbo.bsky.social
Professor of Philosophy, Illustrator of Philosophers
https://www.onbeyondzarathustra.com
https://www.onbeyondzarathustra.com
I'm starting to think there might not be any adults in the room.
November 15, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I'm starting to think there might not be any adults in the room.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=hfve... what a timeline.
Dean Martin - "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" - LIVE
YouTube video by Deano Martin
m.youtube.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:40 AM
m.youtube.com/watch?v=hfve... what a timeline.
Thank you, Donald Trump, for having the courage of your corruptions.
🚨BREAKING: DOJ reached a new low Friday after Pam Bondi publicly thanked Donald Trump for ordering the department to investigate ties convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — a longtime friend and former confidant of Trump’s — had with several prominent Democrats and institutions.
In New Low for DOJ, Bondi Thanks Trump for Ordering Probe of Dems' Alleged Epstein Ties
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Thank you, Donald Trump, for having the courage of your corruptions.
You ever hear of the fifth-and-a-halfth amendment, Justice Scully?
Mulder, that's just a legend, a spooky story for first-year law students. How would that even work?
Maybe that's the answer. IT wouldn't. Look at this series of decisions, based on the 5 & 6A, over decades. See a pattern ...?
Mulder, that's just a legend, a spooky story for first-year law students. How would that even work?
Maybe that's the answer. IT wouldn't. Look at this series of decisions, based on the 5 & 6A, over decades. See a pattern ...?
"The X-Files for the Supreme Court". Hubristic cabal of 'living constitution' mad scientist-types, bringing the dead to life, faces off against scrappy band of 'originalists' unearthing that the Bill of Rights was drafted by Mothman and the Jersey Devil, the 14A was abducted by aliens, etc.
It brings me no pleasure to report to you that Neal Katyal is working on a TV show that he's described as "The West Wing for the Supreme Court"
November 14, 2025 at 11:19 PM
You ever hear of the fifth-and-a-halfth amendment, Justice Scully?
Mulder, that's just a legend, a spooky story for first-year law students. How would that even work?
Maybe that's the answer. IT wouldn't. Look at this series of decisions, based on the 5 & 6A, over decades. See a pattern ...?
Mulder, that's just a legend, a spooky story for first-year law students. How would that even work?
Maybe that's the answer. IT wouldn't. Look at this series of decisions, based on the 5 & 6A, over decades. See a pattern ...?
"The X-Files for the Supreme Court". Hubristic cabal of 'living constitution' mad scientist-types, bringing the dead to life, faces off against scrappy band of 'originalists' unearthing that the Bill of Rights was drafted by Mothman and the Jersey Devil, the 14A was abducted by aliens, etc.
It brings me no pleasure to report to you that Neal Katyal is working on a TV show that he's described as "The West Wing for the Supreme Court"
A Brief History Of Awful TV Shows About the Supreme Court
The concept of “The West Wing for the Supreme Court” might be the only thing more upsetting than the actual Supreme Court.
ballsandstrikes.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:57 PM
"The X-Files for the Supreme Court". Hubristic cabal of 'living constitution' mad scientist-types, bringing the dead to life, faces off against scrappy band of 'originalists' unearthing that the Bill of Rights was drafted by Mothman and the Jersey Devil, the 14A was abducted by aliens, etc.
I was working on this raven for a while, for a Poe-related thing. Trying to do a Charley Harper thing. What I learned is it is hard to do a Charley Harper-style front-facing raven without it seeming like you are designing an Egyptian god.
November 14, 2025 at 10:30 PM
I was working on this raven for a while, for a Poe-related thing. Trying to do a Charley Harper thing. What I learned is it is hard to do a Charley Harper-style front-facing raven without it seeming like you are designing an Egyptian god.
My personal involvement in L'Affaire Epstein appears to have been strictly nominal. This fits with my recollections.
November 14, 2025 at 10:10 PM
My personal involvement in L'Affaire Epstein appears to have been strictly nominal. This fits with my recollections.
Reposted by John Holbo
Give a man a fish and someone with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about people getting free handouts. Teach a man to fish? Yeah, that person with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about that too.
November 14, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Give a man a fish and someone with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about people getting free handouts. Teach a man to fish? Yeah, that person with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about that too.
'Only Renfield can save London from the threat of vampires, if he has the courage.' roddreher.substack.com/p/jd-vance-i...
JD Vance Is The Right's Only Hope
And: Tucker vs. Bonhoeffer; Young Hitler; Exiling The Sacred; Two Churches, More
roddreher.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:36 AM
'Only Renfield can save London from the threat of vampires, if he has the courage.' roddreher.substack.com/p/jd-vance-i...
This is an absurd, woolly mess. He's gaming out how, whatever liberals do, you can make the case that that's exactly the wrong thing to do. It's like a plan-your-own-liberal-adventure novel, and every storyline ends with NYT Pitchbot inanity or insanity. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The Left’s New Moralism Will Backfire
Under Trump, progressives have embraced the rhetoric of “moral clarity.” It won’t help their cause.
www.theatlantic.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:57 AM
This is an absurd, woolly mess. He's gaming out how, whatever liberals do, you can make the case that that's exactly the wrong thing to do. It's like a plan-your-own-liberal-adventure novel, and every storyline ends with NYT Pitchbot inanity or insanity. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by John Holbo
The Republican president is a pedophile who has doubled my healthcare costs and let scores of violent criminals out of jail. But a Democratic mayor-elect wants to make busses free in a city I don't live in. I have never felt more politically homeless.
November 13, 2025 at 12:47 PM
The Republican president is a pedophile who has doubled my healthcare costs and let scores of violent criminals out of jail. But a Democratic mayor-elect wants to make busses free in a city I don't live in. I have never felt more politically homeless.
November 13, 2025 at 2:21 PM
OTOH, what's in the Epstein files is surely a worse reflection on Trump's personal character than any comparable character flaw-reveal concerning any previous POTUS. OTOH, it may turn out to be substantially less than we reasonably suspect, based on our limited evidence to date, e.g. new emails.
November 13, 2025 at 6:44 AM
OTOH, what's in the Epstein files is surely a worse reflection on Trump's personal character than any comparable character flaw-reveal concerning any previous POTUS. OTOH, it may turn out to be substantially less than we reasonably suspect, based on our limited evidence to date, e.g. new emails.
What a long, strange trip it's been.
(Obviously he would deflect with flim-flam 'ackshually classical liberalism ...' Still, healthy he's taking an interest in American politics.)
(Obviously he would deflect with flim-flam 'ackshually classical liberalism ...' Still, healthy he's taking an interest in American politics.)
November 13, 2025 at 2:42 AM
What a long, strange trip it's been.
(Obviously he would deflect with flim-flam 'ackshually classical liberalism ...' Still, healthy he's taking an interest in American politics.)
(Obviously he would deflect with flim-flam 'ackshually classical liberalism ...' Still, healthy he's taking an interest in American politics.)
Been thinking about how quasi-sophisticated hermeneutics of suspicion has eaten discourse. Everyone is instinctively shrewd about the games everyone plays - rhetoric, resentment, reaction, motivated reasoning, etc. It's like everything is Nietzsche - even meta-Nietzsche (like I'm being right now.)
November 13, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Been thinking about how quasi-sophisticated hermeneutics of suspicion has eaten discourse. Everyone is instinctively shrewd about the games everyone plays - rhetoric, resentment, reaction, motivated reasoning, etc. It's like everything is Nietzsche - even meta-Nietzsche (like I'm being right now.)
This is a really interesting post. I like the quote from the middle of it. Very wry.
November 13, 2025 at 1:51 AM
This is a really interesting post. I like the quote from the middle of it. Very wry.
The disinfotainment wing of the Republican Party won.
NEW: 2020 footage said to be in 2025. A neighbor who keeps reappearing in the same clip, said to be on different days & months. A broadcast from elsewhere suggested as Portland.
How Fox News misled its viewership -- which may have included the president.
www.propublica.org/article/port...
How Fox News misled its viewership -- which may have included the president.
www.propublica.org/article/port...
“Riots Raging”: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops
After reviewing coverage from the network and hours of social media videos that preceded Trump’s decision, ProPublica found that Fox’s portrayal of “Portland rioters” routinely instigating violence wa...
www.propublica.org
November 13, 2025 at 12:18 AM
The disinfotainment wing of the Republican Party won.
Out of style: elite pedo-ring harvesting adrenochrome for frazzledrip in the basement of Comet Pizza - but her emails!
All the while: elite pedo-ring mix pleasure with biz of Russian influence so openly their emails chains are clogged with 'if you have received this information in error' sig grunk.
All the while: elite pedo-ring mix pleasure with biz of Russian influence so openly their emails chains are clogged with 'if you have received this information in error' sig grunk.
NEW: Jeffrey Epstein said in emails that he had been advising the Russian government on how to deal with Donald Trump, one of several cases in which he wielded his connections to try to influence the course of foreign affairs. w @nahaltoosi
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 12, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Out of style: elite pedo-ring harvesting adrenochrome for frazzledrip in the basement of Comet Pizza - but her emails!
All the while: elite pedo-ring mix pleasure with biz of Russian influence so openly their emails chains are clogged with 'if you have received this information in error' sig grunk.
All the while: elite pedo-ring mix pleasure with biz of Russian influence so openly their emails chains are clogged with 'if you have received this information in error' sig grunk.
Reposted by John Holbo
Georgiy Nisskiy (1903-1987)
November 12, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Georgiy Nisskiy (1903-1987)
Reposted by John Holbo
Ernst Graf (1909-1988)
November 12, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Ernst Graf (1909-1988)
Just failed a captcha because of autocorrect. How am I supposed to prove I'm not a robot to the robot if robots keeps pushing me out of the way and showing off to the robot about their spelling.
November 12, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Just failed a captcha because of autocorrect. How am I supposed to prove I'm not a robot to the robot if robots keeps pushing me out of the way and showing off to the robot about their spelling.
One of the advantages of AI is its disadvantage: algorithmically diffused responsibility. A computer can never be responsible, hence a computer making decisions that would be irresponsible ... Even so, even Philip D Dick never imagined outsourcing the provision of paranoia to the machines.
November 12, 2025 at 4:03 AM
One of the advantages of AI is its disadvantage: algorithmically diffused responsibility. A computer can never be responsible, hence a computer making decisions that would be irresponsible ... Even so, even Philip D Dick never imagined outsourcing the provision of paranoia to the machines.
Reposted by John Holbo
The fact that this, and every other Trump pardonee who has subsequently broken the law, has not ended Trump's political career, that it barely even registers on the national discourse, underlines just how far we are from a functioning democracy that values accountability.
A man pardoned by Donald Trump for his role in January 6th - he assaulted Capitol Police officers with bear spray & a metal whip - has avoided prison for child sex crimes because of the president’s sweeping pardon, despite pleading guilty to soliciting what he believed was a 15-year-old girl for sex
Trump Pardon Lets Convicted Child Sex Predator Walk Free
Andrew Taake walked free because of Trump’s pardons, despite being convicted of a child sex crime.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:29 AM
The fact that this, and every other Trump pardonee who has subsequently broken the law, has not ended Trump's political career, that it barely even registers on the national discourse, underlines just how far we are from a functioning democracy that values accountability.
I forgot to mention: it's a shame Woke meant Reed Richards couldn't smoke a pipe in the movie. Honestly, that might have put it over the top.
November 12, 2025 at 2:53 AM
I forgot to mention: it's a shame Woke meant Reed Richards couldn't smoke a pipe in the movie. Honestly, that might have put it over the top.
A cleanser from conservative worries that the women are taking over, perilously feminizing our institutions, and that men are being attacked, hence Nick Fuentes. Trust regular men: in wifely indulgence of manly hobbies & preoccupations lies the path to civilisational security & salvation!
November 12, 2025 at 1:21 AM
A cleanser from conservative worries that the women are taking over, perilously feminizing our institutions, and that men are being attacked, hence Nick Fuentes. Trust regular men: in wifely indulgence of manly hobbies & preoccupations lies the path to civilisational security & salvation!