Simon Lester

@simonlester.com

7.1K followers 720 following 7.2K posts

Founded WorldTradeLaw.net & ChinaTradeMonitor.com Non-Resident Fellow @bakerinstitute.bsky.social

Trade Policy feed: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xqzu2eazvxb5fohoc4nap33y/feed/aaab5ctu4u4fc

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Political science 43%

Economics 28%

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · Apr 3

I see lots of new followers popping up today. I assume you are here for the trade policy, in which case you might like my custom trade policy feed: bsky.app/profile/did:...

Reposted by Simon Lester

NPR @npr.org · 7h

The original Betty Boop, the first four Nancy Drew books and Greta Garbo's first talkie are among the many works from 1930 that will be free to use, share and remake starting on Jan. 1. n.pr/4scrT9d

The cultural works becoming public domain in 2026, from Betty Boop to Nancy Drew

The original Betty Boop, the first four Nancy Drew books and Greta Garbo's first talkie are among the many works from 1930 that will be free to use, share and remake starting on Jan. 1.

n.pr

Reposted by Simon Lester

Jason, ex Inferis @benedictsred.bsky.social · 16h

Die Hard was actually appropriated from pagans

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Conway Waddington, Simon Lester

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 18h

First-ever US airstrikes in Nigeria put the second Trump admin’s 2025 combat actions at:

—Nigeria—tonight’s strikes
—Yemen—1,000+ strikes (Mar-Apr)
—Somalia—120 strikes, 1 ground raid
—Syria—78+ strikes, 3 ground raids
—Caribbean—11 strikes
—Eastern Pacific—20 strikes
—Iran—3 strikes
—Iraq—1 strike

Reposted by Simon Lester

Vishnu @iamvishnurajan.bsky.social · 18h

fascinating read about the history of Christmas in India

“St Thomas the Apostle is believed to have reached the Malabar Coast around 52 AD … the communities associated with his mission existed ‘independently of Western Christendom for over a millennium‘”

www.theweek.in/leisure/soci...

More than a colonial import: The ancient roots of Indian Christmas

If Christmas feels imported today, it is only because we have forgotten its older story, one that began in India long before Europe standardised the festival, complete with its calendars, carols, and ...

www.theweek.in

Reposted by Steve Peers, Scott A. Imberman, Simon Lester

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 19h

Merry Christmas!

The President of Peace just bombed Nigeria.

Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries! I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.

DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Reposted by Eric Goldman, Robert C. Richards, Alan Richardson , and 4 more Eric Goldman, Robert C. Richards, Alan Richardson, W. Andy Knight, James Goodwin, Simon Lester, Timothy D. McBride

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19h

Trump on Christmas: “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria.”

John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · 19h

DOGE was A LOT less likely to cancel contracts from companies that donated money to Republicans than companies that donated to Democrats.

Reposted by Simon Lester

Sebastian @seabass.bsky.social · 20h

Last but not least regulating BigTech is not enough - we must BUILD our own sovereignty. @eurosky.social is one part of this puzzle and I’m glad to be part of it. We’ll be launching in Jan 2026 and you can register today:

www.eurosky.social

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 20h

Since @mcuban.bsky.social is on here talking health care, here's my question for him: Isn't a crucial part of health care reform separating health insurance from employment, so that losing your job/changing jobs/starting your own business doesn't disrupt your health care situation?

Mark Cuban @mcuban.bsky.social · 1d

I’m asking questions to learn more. It’s something I work on every day.

But Few want to discuss ways to solve problems on here. They want to virtue signal

Aaron Blackshear @aaronblackshear.bsky.social · 1d

Mark you literally ran a TV show encouraging people to think big and solve problems, and here you are whining “it’s too hard! How could we do it?!”

Reposted by Simon Lester

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 23h

Denmark’s MP is mocking Trump’s idea of “buying Greenland”

Rasmus Jarlov ‹
@RasmusJarlov
X.com
Not that we are satisfied, but the current growth rate in Denmark is decent. We will start buying
USA states shortly.

Lars Christensen @MaMoMVPY • 18h
Denmark: +9.5%...more than double the US...

Reposted by Simon Lester

Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 1d

UPDATE: New Bluesky signups in Christmas Day are on pace to exceed 100,000 for the first time since the fallout of "Liberation Day"

Japanese users are not done with their mass exodus yet.

bskycheck.com

Bluesky Growth Tracker - Live User Activity Dashboard

Track Bluesky growth as it happens with our real-time dashboard. See live user sign-ups, monitor current growth rate, and explore verified domain handles across government, education, commercial and o...

bskycheck.com

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

He was definitely more suited for police work than for overseeing Saturday detentions in a high school, I'll give you that.

Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 1d

Here’s the U.S. government being officially religious in a country with no official religion.

Homeland Security tweet: Merry Christmas, America. We are blessed to share a nation and a Savior.

Reposted by Simon Lester

🦃 Seth Masket 🦃 @smotus.bsky.social · 1d

Merry Christmas!

Reposted by Robert W. Wallace, Sam Kamin, Simon Lester

Mark Cuban @mcuban.bsky.social · 1d

I’m asking questions to learn more. It’s something I work on every day.

But Few want to discuss ways to solve problems on here. They want to virtue signal

Aaron Blackshear @aaronblackshear.bsky.social · 1d

Mark you literally ran a TV show encouraging people to think big and solve problems, and here you are whining “it’s too hard! How could we do it?!”

Reposted by Will Jennings, Rosemary A. Joyce, Simon Lester , and 1 more Will Jennings, Rosemary A. Joyce, Simon Lester, Stuart Shapiro

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 1d

Just a general reminder that your experience on any social media app depends a lot on what *you* make of it. It is easy to find some annoying people on any platform. But platforms like Bluesky also give *you* way more power to control your own experience and to fix whatever annoys you.

Reposted by Silvia Secchi, Simon Lester, Lynette H. Ong

Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 1d

BREAKING: sparked by a mass exodus of X users in protest of a new function that feeds images to Generative AI for other users to edit, for the first time since April 8th, Bluesky gained more than 55,000 new users in a day.

There are still 6.5 hours to go before the @bskycheck.com counter resets.

Bluesky Growth Tracker - Live User Activity Dashboard

bskycheck.com

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

This should be required reading in schools.

Celeste Pewter @celestepewter.bsky.social · 1d

Also: I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

Publishing, let me write a media literacy book, I am begging you. I keep being told that there's no appetite for this...

But how can there NOT be, when it's an urgent and pressing issue, especially with how we aggregate news + use of AI?

Reposted by Simon Lester

Michael Paarlberg @mpaarlberg.bsky.social · 1d

If blockades, embargoes and sanctions were effective tools for regime change, there wouldn’t be such a long list of regimes that have weathered them…indeed, so many that they now make up a huge chunk of the global economy that coordinates specifically to evade US sanctions

Reposted by Simon Lester, David Darmofal

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 1d

Trump to child from Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania is great, we won Pennsylvania, actually three times. We won it a landslide.

Reposted by Steve Peers, Simon Lester

Celeste Pewter @celestepewter.bsky.social · 1d

Reposted by Simon Lester

Julian Arato @aratojulian.bsky.social · 2d

We have posted a new edition of Weiler, Arato, Cho, and Claussen, International Trade Law Through the Cases (2025):

jeanmonnetprogram.org/resources/th...

The update refreshes things throughout, and adds new units on Security Exceptions, Trade Remedies, and the “America First” trade policy.

Teaching Materials

jeanmonnetprogram.org

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 2d

Of course, whether the rules are, in fact, being applied "neutrally" is contested, but I would need to see more than what US government/Big Tech has put forward so far to be convinced there is a problem.

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 2d

My broad take on Trump admin. criticisms of EU tech regulation is that US platforms don't have to offer services in the EU, but if they do, they need to follow EU rules. I have doubts that all these rules are good ones, but as long as the rules are applied neutrally, EU can regulate how it wants.

Reposted by Simon Lester, Jay Shambaugh

Abe Newman @abenewman.bsky.social · 2d

12/In the US, it is unclear what national interest is being served by sanctioning EU officials. Increasingly, it looks like hyper elites (think Big Tech) is driving the bus. The result: an acceleration in the breakdown of transatlantic relations.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System | International Organization | Cambridge Core

Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System - Volume 79 Issue S1

www.cambridge.org

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 2d

"Starting the week of Jan. 7 .. [the Education Department] will notify about 1,000 defaulted borrowers of plans to withhold a portion of their wages to pay down their past-due debt. After that, the department said, notices will be sent to larger numbers of borrowers each month."

😬

Wage garnishment for defaulted student loans to resume early next year

The Education Department had stopped collecting wages to repay defaulted loans during the coronavirus pandemic.

wapo.st

Reposted by Julien Chaisse, Daniel W. Drezner, Simon Lester

Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome.bsky.social · 2d

"The tariffs are so complicated that even the government agency tasked with enforcing them can't accurately describe what they are." 🤣😢 reason.com/2025/12/23/t...

Trump's economic adviser says tariff refunds would be 'very complicated' and unlikely

Oh, so now the Trump administration is worried about the complexity of its tariff polices?

reason.com

Reposted by Simon Lester, Markus W. Gehring

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 2d

About those commitments in US trade deals... www.ft.com/content/c961...

EU spent less on US energy after $750bn Trump trade deal

Member states’ spending on US oil and gas fell 7 per cent over the past four months

www.ft.com

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 2d

Homemade is delicious. Takes a bit of effort though.

Reposted by Simon Lester

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

as per a post a few days ago about nostalgia and popular culture, this movie — which was shot in 1982 — gives you a glimpse of what life was actually like for the working poor in the early 80s.

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