Michael Z. Lopate
@mzlopate.bsky.social
PhD in International Relations and Political Methodology. Working on rise and decline dynamics, complex systems theory, and black swan events.
As always, you can rely on Sarah Taber to scare the shit out of you about food in this country.
So that $10B bailout for farmers.
Is it a payout for political support? Yeah. Bold move for an industry that talks so much about hard work & independence!
But it's also worse than that. This is a US food crisis in the making.
www.usda.gov/about-usda/n...
Let's talk about the payoff part first?
Is it a payout for political support? Yeah. Bold move for an industry that talks so much about hard work & independence!
But it's also worse than that. This is a US food crisis in the making.
www.usda.gov/about-usda/n...
Let's talk about the payoff part first?
a man wearing glasses and a black shirt is sitting in front of a window .
Alt: gif of Dwight Schrute shaking his head in disappointment
media.tenor.com
March 29, 2025 at 1:26 AM
As always, you can rely on Sarah Taber to scare the shit out of you about food in this country.
Reposted by Michael Z. Lopate
The world needs more angry white men mad at bigotry.
March 20, 2025 at 5:55 PM
The world needs more angry white men mad at bigotry.
Reposted by Michael Z. Lopate
It's kind of impressive how perfectly Chuck Schumer is not meeting this moment. Like he brought in punch-up writers to heighten and refine how badly he's botching it.
March 17, 2025 at 9:11 PM
It's kind of impressive how perfectly Chuck Schumer is not meeting this moment. Like he brought in punch-up writers to heighten and refine how badly he's botching it.
This is all true, but let's not forget about the racism and other bigotry. Just because you're a billionaire doesn't mean you don't support white supremacy.
As another Trump-induced market crisis unfolds from tariffs, it's time we ask "What's the Matter with Billionaires?" I've run the numbers. Billionaires do better under Dems. So why do billionaires keep supporting GOP policies against their economic interests? See my latest piece on why. (TLDR 🧵⬇️)
What's the Matter with Billionaires?
How America's wealthiest sabotage their own prosperity (and ours) to avoid paying taxes
open.substack.com
March 4, 2025 at 8:33 PM
This is all true, but let's not forget about the racism and other bigotry. Just because you're a billionaire doesn't mean you don't support white supremacy.
My religion? Bad.
My horizon? Vertical.
My femmes?
Violent.
Violent.
February 26, 2025 at 11:19 PM
My religion? Bad.
Some people truly, desperately need hobbies. No one should be this bored in their lives.
I suspect this is a HUGELY underestimated factor in radicalization. If you look at, say, QAnon boards, it’s not really folks looking for scapegoats for their dire material circumstances. It’s middle-class people with boring lives who want to imagine they’re in The Parallax View.
One of my best friends is from a sleepy, wealthy small town in the south-west of Germany. He said, so many of my parents’ neighbours are rich and bored, with little to complain about, and they’ve radicalised themselves at dinner parties and online. In their aimlessness, they’ve bonded over hate.
February 24, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Some people truly, desperately need hobbies. No one should be this bored in their lives.
Reposted by Michael Z. Lopate
Looking for some contributions from all the Furiosa fans out there! popularcultureandtheology.com/2025/02/03/c...
Call for Papers: Theology, Religion, and Mad Max
Call for contributions Title: Theology, Religion, and Mad Max: Rising from the Ashes Edited by: Yael Thomas Cameron, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand; Vernon W. Cisney, Get…
popularcultureandtheology.com
February 13, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Looking for some contributions from all the Furiosa fans out there! popularcultureandtheology.com/2025/02/03/c...
Just to throw a few more out there: public transportation, NASA, the NEA and NSF, these provide *public goods*. Obviously we don't want to be wasteful, but profit shouldn't be a concern.
sesame street isn't supposed to make money. the post office isn't supposed to make money. not everything is supposed to MAKE MONEY
December 17, 2024 at 2:05 AM
Just to throw a few more out there: public transportation, NASA, the NEA and NSF, these provide *public goods*. Obviously we don't want to be wasteful, but profit shouldn't be a concern.
Reposted by Michael Z. Lopate
a cloak believed to belong to the shooter transformed into a dozen beautiful white doves and flew away, Authorities said,
December 8, 2024 at 1:32 AM
a cloak believed to belong to the shooter transformed into a dozen beautiful white doves and flew away, Authorities said,
Post someone you've been told you look like who you definitely don't look like
December 7, 2024 at 5:24 AM
Post someone you've been told you look like who you definitely don't look like
Reposted by Michael Z. Lopate
You should be a troll for love of the game not for money
December 1, 2024 at 10:17 PM
You should be a troll for love of the game not for money
Eight years ago, I reposted the following I saw on twitter:
"It'll be weird when China calls on Trump to make sure the United States remains a "responsible stakeholder" in the international system."
Eight years later, and somehow nothing has changed.
"It'll be weird when China calls on Trump to make sure the United States remains a "responsible stakeholder" in the international system."
Eight years later, and somehow nothing has changed.
November 10, 2024 at 10:40 PM
Eight years ago, I reposted the following I saw on twitter:
"It'll be weird when China calls on Trump to make sure the United States remains a "responsible stakeholder" in the international system."
Eight years later, and somehow nothing has changed.
"It'll be weird when China calls on Trump to make sure the United States remains a "responsible stakeholder" in the international system."
Eight years later, and somehow nothing has changed.
Reading political takes on reddit makes me truly want to scream. I mean this isn't new, but people are so confidently wrong it's just insane.
November 7, 2024 at 2:56 PM
Reading political takes on reddit makes me truly want to scream. I mean this isn't new, but people are so confidently wrong it's just insane.
The only thing that matters is prices, or the perception of prices. It's not real wages. It's not (un)employment. Prices go up, incumbent popularity drops. Even if your wage (eventually) goes up to match, you attribute that to your own effort, or maybe unions. But prices are the government's fault.
November 6, 2024 at 8:48 PM
The only thing that matters is prices, or the perception of prices. It's not real wages. It's not (un)employment. Prices go up, incumbent popularity drops. Even if your wage (eventually) goes up to match, you attribute that to your own effort, or maybe unions. But prices are the government's fault.
Wow, that is truly egregious.
among many, many other issues the legal system currently has with its credibility, "asshole rich guy has a personal judge invested in his companies who hears all his cases" is not exactly what you want if you're pretending things are fair and equitable
bring back judicial impeachment
bring back judicial impeachment
Woof. New TOS also sends every Twitter cases to Tesla judge Reed O Connor.
October 17, 2024 at 11:02 PM
Wow, that is truly egregious.
This is getting awfully close to reinventing company scrip. www.benzinga.com/personal-fin...
Warren Buffett's Son Who Famously Cashed In His $90,000 Inheritance at 19 Spends Millions in 'Buffett Bucks' Transforming A Small New York Town
www.benzinga.com
October 7, 2024 at 4:13 AM
This is getting awfully close to reinventing company scrip. www.benzinga.com/personal-fin...
Post a scene from a film you've seen more than ten times.
September 23, 2024 at 4:59 AM
Post a scene from a film you've seen more than ten times.
An online forum with really overzealous moderators called OnlyBans.
A website for typeface snobs called OnlySans.
A crime network of interstellar spice smugglers called OnlyHans
September 23, 2024 at 4:51 AM
An online forum with really overzealous moderators called OnlyBans.
Hey, my alma mater is making some ethical investment choices.
"San Francisco State University announced last week that its foundation will stop investing in companies that make money from weapons manufacturing, a move that’s being celebrated by pro-Palestinian activists as a win for the divestment movement."
www.chronicle.com/article/san-...
www.chronicle.com/article/san-...
San Francisco State May Be the First University to Endorse Some Divestment After Gaza Protests
The university announced that its foundation will stop investing in companies that make money from weapons manufacturing, a move one student organizer described as “historic.”
www.chronicle.com
August 30, 2024 at 9:44 AM
Hey, my alma mater is making some ethical investment choices.
Reposted by Michael Z. Lopate
"American suburbs are full of ugly, empty, liminal spaces: spaces you are not meant to linger in or enjoy. They’re the creepy hallways of the built environment, and you can’t feel comfortable traversing them unless you’re zooming past them in a car." www.strongtowns.org/...
American Suburbs Are a Horror Movie and We’re the Protagonists
Walking alone to the grocery store is, for me, like walking through a
creepy hallway at night. Why? Because America is filled with liminal
spaces.
www.strongtowns.org
July 26, 2024 at 11:30 PM
"American suburbs are full of ugly, empty, liminal spaces: spaces you are not meant to linger in or enjoy. They’re the creepy hallways of the built environment, and you can’t feel comfortable traversing them unless you’re zooming past them in a car." www.strongtowns.org/...
Reposted by Michael Z. Lopate
People complained that Chengdu zoo was letting their clouded leopard get fat, their expert explained "This cat is like thirty years old, that's twice as old clouded leopards GET, and he's just had major surgery. Making him lose weight would do WAY more harm, just let him have this."
July 5, 2024 at 9:14 AM
People complained that Chengdu zoo was letting their clouded leopard get fat, their expert explained "This cat is like thirty years old, that's twice as old clouded leopards GET, and he's just had major surgery. Making him lose weight would do WAY more harm, just let him have this."
Anyone have a screenshot of or link to that tweet that had Americanists asking how bad it could be, comparativists saying purges and IR saying nuclear war?
July 3, 2024 at 7:12 PM
Anyone have a screenshot of or link to that tweet that had Americanists asking how bad it could be, comparativists saying purges and IR saying nuclear war?
Fallout x Darkest Dungeon
Just what a post nuclear apocalypse world needs: an emerging eldritch apocalypse.
Just what a post nuclear apocalypse world needs: an emerging eldritch apocalypse.
The Great Hades Bake-Off
I would bet money this already exists on AO3.
I would bet money this already exists on AO3.
June 29, 2024 at 12:40 AM
Fallout x Darkest Dungeon
Just what a post nuclear apocalypse world needs: an emerging eldritch apocalypse.
Just what a post nuclear apocalypse world needs: an emerging eldritch apocalypse.