Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
@melanatedmagus.blacksky.app
36. Chicago. Sociology Master’s Student interested in how Nerd Culture and also Queer Culture works, but also their intersection. Also other stuff. Not angry enough to be a socialist, too 🫳🏾 to be a liberal. Gender is a scam.
Pinned
I’ve been thinking about how to best explain myself to y’all who are new to me, and I think I’m going to do a thing from Twitter where I repost 20 books that have had a big influence on me, but without any commentary. So here we go!
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
At no point in the last 150 years have fewer than one in ten Chicagoans been foreign-born. We've been a city of immigrants from the very beginning.
January 5, 2026 at 10:43 PM
At no point in the last 150 years have fewer than one in ten Chicagoans been foreign-born. We've been a city of immigrants from the very beginning.
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
BIG 2026 SUGGESTION: READ THE PIECE!
January 5, 2026 at 11:10 PM
BIG 2026 SUGGESTION: READ THE PIECE!
Re that LRT: also should be noted how often, when it’s not a trans woman, it’s a Black woman being chased off/out from somewhere.
We really need to rethink this whole “bullying is good actually” thing.
We really need to rethink this whole “bullying is good actually” thing.
January 5, 2026 at 9:43 PM
Re that LRT: also should be noted how often, when it’s not a trans woman, it’s a Black woman being chased off/out from somewhere.
We really need to rethink this whole “bullying is good actually” thing.
We really need to rethink this whole “bullying is good actually” thing.
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
I just want everyone to step back and realize how often it's a trans woman getting bullied off social media.
January 5, 2026 at 9:06 PM
I just want everyone to step back and realize how often it's a trans woman getting bullied off social media.
I want to know what happened that the AI labeled a few of the more obscure states correctly.
January 5, 2026 at 7:23 PM
I want to know what happened that the AI labeled a few of the more obscure states correctly.
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
It’s easy in these moments to get exasperated by the UN, but the Charter does two key things that have helped define the post-1945 world: it outlaws the use of aggressive warfare as a tool for remaking international order, and it underwrites postcolonial sovereignty. US actions this week breach both
January 5, 2026 at 3:45 PM
It’s easy in these moments to get exasperated by the UN, but the Charter does two key things that have helped define the post-1945 world: it outlaws the use of aggressive warfare as a tool for remaking international order, and it underwrites postcolonial sovereignty. US actions this week breach both
Great thread for following along with what's happening at the UN today.
webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1k... if you’re interested in this morning’s emergency security council meeting on Venezuela, it’ll start here at 10am. It was called by Colombia, and can help us get a sense of the public lines coming from a diverse group of countries
Threats to international peace and security - Security Council, 10085th meeting
The situation in Venezuela.
webtv.un.org
January 5, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Great thread for following along with what's happening at the UN today.
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
A really sad follow-up to this story — Alexis Erlinmeyer, one of the trans federal intelligence workers who was fired, has died of a pulmonary embolism. She was 31. Her family is burying her under her deadname, so friends are fundraising for an accurate memorial: www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-...
NEW—In late Feb, Chris Rufo published leaked chats between queer/trans employees at US intel agencies. Then Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said she’d fire all involved.
I spoke to chat members who were fired, are on admin leave, and who kept their jobs about the new lavender scare:
I spoke to chat members who were fired, are on admin leave, and who kept their jobs about the new lavender scare:
Queer intel officers targeted by top secret chat leak get their chance to speak
Chris Rufo published the chats. Staffers say a new "lavender scare" is upon us.
www.thehandbasket.co
January 4, 2026 at 10:24 PM
A really sad follow-up to this story — Alexis Erlinmeyer, one of the trans federal intelligence workers who was fired, has died of a pulmonary embolism. She was 31. Her family is burying her under her deadname, so friends are fundraising for an accurate memorial: www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-...
I’m not so smart, so I decided to look in the “Dead Dove” bag and put on Nothing But Trouble, a notoriously unwatchable movie. Turns out everyone was right and Dan Ackroyd made a horrible film!
January 5, 2026 at 6:16 AM
I’m not so smart, so I decided to look in the “Dead Dove” bag and put on Nothing But Trouble, a notoriously unwatchable movie. Turns out everyone was right and Dan Ackroyd made a horrible film!
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
This so sad. Please help out if you’re able to.
The American College of Nurse-Midwives called Dr. Green Smith's death a "profound failure of the systems meant to protect birthing people
thegrio.com/2026/01/04/d...
The American College of Nurse-Midwives called Dr. Green Smith's death a "profound failure of the systems meant to protect birthing people
thegrio.com/2026/01/04/d...
January 5, 2026 at 3:23 AM
This so sad. Please help out if you’re able to.
The American College of Nurse-Midwives called Dr. Green Smith's death a "profound failure of the systems meant to protect birthing people
thegrio.com/2026/01/04/d...
The American College of Nurse-Midwives called Dr. Green Smith's death a "profound failure of the systems meant to protect birthing people
thegrio.com/2026/01/04/d...
Fucking hell this story is horrible.
“‘If a fire occurs in the cabin ... don’t check on the immigrants. Just make sure that you and the guards and the people that work for the government get off," one flight attendant was told.
“It was as if the detainees’ lives were worthless,’” said another.
Our #3 most-read story of 2025:
“It was as if the detainees’ lives were worthless,’” said another.
Our #3 most-read story of 2025:
Inside ICE Air: Flight Attendants on Deportation Planes Say Disaster Is “Only a Matter of Time”
Current and former flight attendants for GlobalX, the private charter airline at the center of Trump’s immigration crackdown, expressed concern about their inability to treat passengers humanely and t...
www.propublica.org
January 5, 2026 at 5:15 AM
Fucking hell this story is horrible.
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
yep. i can identify any number of structural issues but at the end of the day the basic problem is the republican party. this has been apparent for at least 20 years. it is also an incredibly unpopular observation to make among “serious” people.
Right.
If you want a good explanation of why the American system of government worked well enough for 200 years and then suddenly stopped, it's because Republicans in Congress suddenly started letting their partisan interests COMPLETELY override their institutional interests
If you want a good explanation of why the American system of government worked well enough for 200 years and then suddenly stopped, it's because Republicans in Congress suddenly started letting their partisan interests COMPLETELY override their institutional interests
a lot of problems wouldn't exist if we had a congress with even an ounce of self interest
January 4, 2026 at 11:52 PM
yep. i can identify any number of structural issues but at the end of the day the basic problem is the republican party. this has been apparent for at least 20 years. it is also an incredibly unpopular observation to make among “serious” people.
What gives this man the RIGHT
January 5, 2026 at 1:47 AM
What gives this man the RIGHT
Finally seeing Forbidden Zone for the first time and my list of “movies somebody probably should have given me when I was 16” grows again.
January 4, 2026 at 7:12 AM
Finally seeing Forbidden Zone for the first time and my list of “movies somebody probably should have given me when I was 16” grows again.
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
I’ll be watching this 5,000 times
January 4, 2026 at 12:02 AM
I’ll be watching this 5,000 times
I’ll say that it was clear to me 15 years ago when I took Mearsheimer’s Intro to IR that he was 95% high on his own supply because of Vietnam, and otherwise pretty incapable of seeing the world for what it is.
John Mearsheimer, Oct. 3 2024: "I think that Biden's basic instincts are those of a warmonger, and I think that's not true of Trump. I think Trump is not that interested in fighting wars."
January 4, 2026 at 1:49 AM
I’ll say that it was clear to me 15 years ago when I took Mearsheimer’s Intro to IR that he was 95% high on his own supply because of Vietnam, and otherwise pretty incapable of seeing the world for what it is.
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
some thoughts on all of this madness from earlier in the morning youtu.be/-yUi-0vNlDA
Donald Trump’s War in Venezuela (Congratulations to the Winners of the “Fell for it Again Award”)
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
youtu.be
January 3, 2026 at 9:40 PM
some thoughts on all of this madness from earlier in the morning youtu.be/-yUi-0vNlDA
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
In this vein, what I keep coming back to is that this group of principals -- especially Trump -- have strong generalized dispositions about how social life works but unusually weak cognitive & institutional frameworks for translating that into policy. (3/n)
January 3, 2026 at 11:46 PM
In this vein, what I keep coming back to is that this group of principals -- especially Trump -- have strong generalized dispositions about how social life works but unusually weak cognitive & institutional frameworks for translating that into policy. (3/n)
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
This is a very interesting thread. I think the one part I zero in on is impeachment, and how partisanship has functionally repealed it. But that has implications far beyond just that provision. There’s *lots* of stuff in there whose only means of redress is impeachment.
A concept I've been meaning to float to make sense of what's happened to the US Constitution is an idea from the British constitutional tradition: "implied repeal."
It's useful because it helps us to understand that Article I, & much else of the US Constitution, has been implicitly repealed.
It's useful because it helps us to understand that Article I, & much else of the US Constitution, has been implicitly repealed.
January 3, 2026 at 7:43 PM
This is a very interesting thread. I think the one part I zero in on is impeachment, and how partisanship has functionally repealed it. But that has implications far beyond just that provision. There’s *lots* of stuff in there whose only means of redress is impeachment.
I feel like the way that some of y’all talk about impeachment seems off? Like i think under normal circumstances it should chasten a President to get that kind of rebuke (even without removal).
He’s been impeached twice and it seems like he dug in after that.
He’s been impeached twice and it seems like he dug in after that.
January 3, 2026 at 8:14 PM
I feel like the way that some of y’all talk about impeachment seems off? Like i think under normal circumstances it should chasten a President to get that kind of rebuke (even without removal).
He’s been impeached twice and it seems like he dug in after that.
He’s been impeached twice and it seems like he dug in after that.
As urgent now as it was on publication.
We’re in a multipolar world, like it or not.
In such a world, “Some reactionaries get to conquer their neighbors but others don’t” is not a viable position. You’ve gotta decide what norms to support across the board
In such a world, “Some reactionaries get to conquer their neighbors but others don’t” is not a viable position. You’ve gotta decide what norms to support across the board
The Number of Geopolitical “Poles” is Irrelevant Compared to their Disposition
The discourse about the structure of the world political order has come to turn increasingly around the question of ‘poles’ of geopolitical power—centers of influence and control, usually assumed to b...
www.liberalcurrents.com
January 3, 2026 at 7:38 PM
As urgent now as it was on publication.
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
1/10 🧵 The U.S. just captured a sitting head of state in a military operation—and Trump says the U.S. will "run" Venezuela “for now.” Whatever you think of Maduro, this is the most consequential unilateral move in the hemisphere since Panama (1989).
January 3, 2026 at 6:39 PM
1/10 🧵 The U.S. just captured a sitting head of state in a military operation—and Trump says the U.S. will "run" Venezuela “for now.” Whatever you think of Maduro, this is the most consequential unilateral move in the hemisphere since Panama (1989).
It’s worth noting that the reason why us process sluts get so exercised about stuff like this is that this is mechanism by which democracy can work.
The House Armed Services Committee also was not briefed, I've confirmed.
News: Gang of Eight in Congress were only notified about Trump's Venezuela operation after it began, source familiar tells me. That means the heads of the Intelligence Committees in Senate and House were *not* consulted. Just crazy.
January 3, 2026 at 4:50 PM
It’s worth noting that the reason why us process sluts get so exercised about stuff like this is that this is mechanism by which democracy can work.
Gods and now I’ve got to go have brunch with people who have a normal relationship to news
January 3, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Gods and now I’ve got to go have brunch with people who have a normal relationship to news
Reposted by Nick, the Melanated Magician (they/them)
Two things can be true, the US has engaged in imperialism and regime change longer than any of us have been alive and acting like that means only a moron would react to it in the moment is the most obnoxious kind of wrecker behavior
January 3, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Two things can be true, the US has engaged in imperialism and regime change longer than any of us have been alive and acting like that means only a moron would react to it in the moment is the most obnoxious kind of wrecker behavior