Joshua Bloch
@joshbloch.bsky.social
Effective Java author, API Designer, CMU Prof, Swell guy.
I used to read about countries like this (which we called "banana republics"). I would chortle and feel superior, and wonder how any country could act that way in the modern era.
Trump: "This building was built for peace. Nobody knew what to name it, and then Marco named it after me. I had nothing to do with it. I swear. They said, 'There's a surprise coming.' I thought they were gonna give me a lot of money or something. Maybe cash. Can always use some extra cash."
February 19, 2026 at 7:04 PM
I used to read about countries like this (which we called "banana republics"). I would chortle and feel superior, and wonder how any country could act that way in the modern era.
More looting the treasury. I will not enjoy paying my taxes this year. It used to feel like a civic duty, now it feels like tribute to a tyrant.
Wow the exact same amount he was suing the IRS for. He just took it. Not only impeachable but [Redacted] as well.
February 19, 2026 at 7:01 PM
More looting the treasury. I will not enjoy paying my taxes this year. It used to feel like a civic duty, now it feels like tribute to a tyrant.
This is not what democracy looks like. I believe the technical term for it is "looting the treasury."
The executive jet that DHS says it needs has a “bedroom with a queen bed, showers, a kitchen, four large flat-screen TVs and even a bar ..”
@nbcnews.com
www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...
@nbcnews.com
www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...
February 19, 2026 at 4:48 PM
This is not what democracy looks like. I believe the technical term for it is "looting the treasury."
This is how it works in a functioning democracy. We too had a president who led an insurrection, but he was not given a life sentence (or any sentence at all, for that matter).
apnews.com/article/sout...
apnews.com/article/sout...
Former South Korean president receives life sentence for imposing martial law in 2024
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been sentenced to life in prison for his brief imposition of martial law to suppress the opposition.
apnews.com
February 19, 2026 at 4:47 PM
This is how it works in a functioning democracy. We too had a president who led an insurrection, but he was not given a life sentence (or any sentence at all, for that matter).
apnews.com/article/sout...
apnews.com/article/sout...
And the "Best Dangling Modifier of the Year" award goes to...
February 18, 2026 at 7:13 PM
And the "Best Dangling Modifier of the Year" award goes to...
Reposted by Joshua Bloch
Well which is it? Are you for birthright citizenship or against?
From @theathletic.com: Vice President JD Vance does not seem to agree with Eileen Gu's choice to represent China, rather than the United States, at the Olympics. Gu, who was born in San Francisco, has won five medals for China, where her mother is from. nyti.ms/3ZJtaYv
JD Vance insinuates Eileen Gu should be representing the United States at Winter Olympics
Gu was born in 2003, and her mother, Yan Gu, is a first-generation Chinese immigrant. Her father is American.
nyti.ms
February 18, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Well which is it? Are you for birthright citizenship or against?
Only ~480,000 of you have watched this FCC-banned Late Show interview. Surely another 20,000 of you would like to watch it, if only to teach Brendan Carr about the Barbara Streisand effect. youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A
Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas Legislature
YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
youtu.be
February 18, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Only ~480,000 of you have watched this FCC-banned Late Show interview. Surely another 20,000 of you would like to watch it, if only to teach Brendan Carr about the Barbara Streisand effect. youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A
Agreed. Ditto for coding.
Writing is thinking.
It's not some marginal boring task you can skip. It's the heart of it.
It's not some marginal boring task you can skip. It's the heart of it.
It’s easy to think writing is mainly the transcription of ideas you already have—that is, until you try to write something worthwhile, and you find what you thought were saying transform into something far more interesting in the process. This skips that last step, and that is *not* an improvement.
February 17, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Agreed. Ditto for coding.
R.I.P. Fred Smith. If you aren't familiar with Television's eponymous debut album, do yourself a favor and listen to it today.
variety.com/2026/music/n...
variety.com/2026/music/n...
Fred Smith, Bassist for Television, Dies at 77
Fred Smith, bass player for the influential proto-punk band Television, died Thursday. He was 77. The band confirmed his death on Instagram.
variety.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:58 PM
R.I.P. Fred Smith. If you aren't familiar with Television's eponymous debut album, do yourself a favor and listen to it today.
variety.com/2026/music/n...
variety.com/2026/music/n...
So Penis Station and Dullard Airport? abcnews.go.com/US/trump-pen...
Trump wants Penn Station, Dulles Airport named after him in funding deal with Schumer, sources say
Sources told ABC that Schumer rejected Trump's offer.
abcnews.go.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:56 PM
So Penis Station and Dullard Airport? abcnews.go.com/US/trump-pen...
People who should have known better voted for this failed businessman because they thought he'd be good for the economy. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/b...
Sell America Is the New Trade on Wall Street
www.nytimes.com
January 31, 2026 at 6:43 PM
People who should have known better voted for this failed businessman because they thought he'd be good for the economy. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/b...
Shouldn't the latest FBI Epstein document dump (you know, the one that prominently features features Trump and Musk) be called the "pedo-files"? (Asking for a friend.)
January 31, 2026 at 7:10 AM
Shouldn't the latest FBI Epstein document dump (you know, the one that prominently features features Trump and Musk) be called the "pedo-files"? (Asking for a friend.)
Imagine my surprise. This is a kakistocracy, a government that fears expertise and, intelligence, and competence.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
www.science.org
January 27, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Imagine my surprise. This is a kakistocracy, a government that fears expertise and, intelligence, and competence.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Today, I am proud to be a Californian. thehill.com/homenews/sta...
thehill.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:18 AM
Today, I am proud to be a Californian. thehill.com/homenews/sta...
All hail the kakistocracy. I am old enough to have seen exactly what polio does to a person. Trust me when I say we don't want to bring this one back. More generally, we don't want to reject expertise in favor of fealty. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/h...
Rejecting Decades of Science, Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Other Shots Should Be Optional
www.nytimes.com
January 23, 2026 at 6:28 PM
All hail the kakistocracy. I am old enough to have seen exactly what polio does to a person. Trust me when I say we don't want to bring this one back. More generally, we don't want to reject expertise in favor of fealty. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/h...
Imagine my surprise.
“Foreign exporters absorbed only 4% of last year’s U.S. tariff increases by lowering prices, while American consumers and importers absorbed 96%.
“Rather than acting as a tax on foreign producers, the tariffs functioned as a consumption tax on Americans.”
www.wsj.com/economy/trad...
“Rather than acting as a tax on foreign producers, the tariffs functioned as a consumption tax on Americans.”
www.wsj.com/economy/trad...
Americans Are the Ones Paying for Tariffs, Study Finds
New research contradicts President Trump’s claim that foreigners are footing the bill.
www.wsj.com
January 20, 2026 at 9:49 AM
Imagine my surprise.
This is not what democracy looks like. Note that the man being kidnapped is a US citizen.
Sunday, at least 7 ICE agents stormed a house and took an elderly man out into the freezing cold, wearing only his underwear and a blanket.
He was a member of the Hmong community, which came to the area from Laos in the 1970s after siding with the US in the Vietnam War.
Notice the suppressors
1/2
He was a member of the Hmong community, which came to the area from Laos in the 1970s after siding with the US in the Vietnam War.
Notice the suppressors
1/2
January 19, 2026 at 4:45 PM
This is not what democracy looks like. Note that the man being kidnapped is a US citizen.
Tim took this picture in Boston last night.
January 19, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Tim took this picture in Boston last night.
R.I.P. Scott Adams. We all know what he turned into in recent years, but he wrote and drew some damn funny cartoons thirty years ago. This one, from 4/11/1994, is my favorite.
January 15, 2026 at 12:52 AM
R.I.P. Scott Adams. We all know what he turned into in recent years, but he wrote and drew some damn funny cartoons thirty years ago. This one, from 4/11/1994, is my favorite.
Cindy is knitting a cat hat for Matt.
January 14, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Cindy is knitting a cat hat for Matt.
This is not what democracy looks like. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
FBI raids home of Washington Post reporter in ‘highly unusual and aggressive’ move
Agents searched Hannah Natanson’s Virginia home and seized devices in inquiry tied to a classified materials case
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 4:26 PM
This is not what democracy looks like. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Hmm... I don't think they're immigrants. But they do have customs. www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
4 members of Oglala Sioux Tribe detained by ICE in Minneapolis, president says
The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe said Thursday that he's been "made aware" that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained four of its members in Minneapolis.
www.cbsnews.com
January 10, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Hmm... I don't think they're immigrants. But they do have customs. www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
TFW when the country you've lived in for all your 64 years, the country that took your mother in from the Nazi holocaust, the country your immigrant father fought for on the battlefields of WW II, the country that supported your undergrad education and your Ph.D. research, turns into a rogue state.
January 8, 2026 at 1:53 AM
TFW when the country you've lived in for all your 64 years, the country that took your mother in from the Nazi holocaust, the country your immigrant father fought for on the battlefields of WW II, the country that supported your undergrad education and your Ph.D. research, turns into a rogue state.
This was five years ago. The tyrant responsible is now our president, and doing his best to turn our erstwhile democracy into an autocratic oligarchy.
January 6, 2026 at 6:05 PM
This was five years ago. The tyrant responsible is now our president, and doing his best to turn our erstwhile democracy into an autocratic oligarchy.
