Steven Brust
@stevenbrust.bsky.social
Practical ontologist, mad, drunk, and reckless troubadour (RCPM) WSWS.Org
Pinned
Steven Brust
@stevenbrust.bsky.social
· Apr 5
For years I had a problem with losing important floppies. Then I got smart.
I strongly urge all of those who believe we should deny free speech rights to our enemies to google the Weimar Fallacy before you do any more damage to our fight against fascism.
February 17, 2026 at 11:25 AM
I strongly urge all of those who believe we should deny free speech rights to our enemies to google the Weimar Fallacy before you do any more damage to our fight against fascism.
I, like all other decent human beings, hate ICE with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. But I have to agree with Popehat on this. We cannot defend our right to free speech without also defending the rights of those who say things we find abhorrent.
Adam’s right. It’s more important than ever that our institutions defend First Amendment rights, and that means not firing teachers illegally whether their offense was “Go ICE” or saying something less than hagiographical about Charlie Kirk. Fewer people want to hear that in ugly times.
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Am I going to be the only one to suggest that firing a public school teacher for speaking out on a matter of public concern raises profound First Amendment issues, and we should pause before cheering on such actions when that power can be weaponized against progressive teachers in red places? 1/3
February 17, 2026 at 12:44 AM
I, like all other decent human beings, hate ICE with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. But I have to agree with Popehat on this. We cannot defend our right to free speech without also defending the rights of those who say things we find abhorrent.
Reposted by Steven Brust
It’s day 70 of the ICE occupation of MSP.
ICE continues to terrorize our neighbors, there are still 2,000 agents here, even as the attention of the world has moved on.
When we say ICE OUT, we mean ICE out everywhere.
ICE continues to terrorize our neighbors, there are still 2,000 agents here, even as the attention of the world has moved on.
When we say ICE OUT, we mean ICE out everywhere.
February 10, 2026 at 4:28 AM
It’s day 70 of the ICE occupation of MSP.
ICE continues to terrorize our neighbors, there are still 2,000 agents here, even as the attention of the world has moved on.
When we say ICE OUT, we mean ICE out everywhere.
ICE continues to terrorize our neighbors, there are still 2,000 agents here, even as the attention of the world has moved on.
When we say ICE OUT, we mean ICE out everywhere.
Mark Twain, a strong supporter of the Russian Revolution of 1905. famously said of the Czarist regime, "If such a government cannot be overthrown otherwise than by dynamite, then thank God for dynamite."
I wonder what he would have said of the US Government today.
I wonder what he would have said of the US Government today.
February 9, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Mark Twain, a strong supporter of the Russian Revolution of 1905. famously said of the Czarist regime, "If such a government cannot be overthrown otherwise than by dynamite, then thank God for dynamite."
I wonder what he would have said of the US Government today.
I wonder what he would have said of the US Government today.
Reposted by Steven Brust
Well, everything hasn't quite worked. LIGHTNING RUNES has slipped to April 16 for ebook and April 28 for dead trees. But you can still preorder. You won't be charged till it's out.
News! We got news!
LIGHTNING RUNES, the next one after TWICE AS DEAD, is available for preorder! Coming next March (if everything works). A vampire who was a Lightning Runes officer gives Jack Mitchell more trouble than he really needs.
www.amazon.com/Lightning-Ru...
LIGHTNING RUNES, the next one after TWICE AS DEAD, is available for preorder! Coming next March (if everything works). A vampire who was a Lightning Runes officer gives Jack Mitchell more trouble than he really needs.
www.amazon.com/Lightning-Ru...
Lightning Runes (City of Shadows, 2)
Lightning Runes (City of Shadows, 2) [Turtledove, Harry] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Lightning Runes (City of Shadows, 2)
www.amazon.com
January 3, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Well, everything hasn't quite worked. LIGHTNING RUNES has slipped to April 16 for ebook and April 28 for dead trees. But you can still preorder. You won't be charged till it's out.
When objective conditions have sharpened society's innate contradictions to the breaking point, no one is more insane than the one crying for a "sane, middle ground."
February 6, 2026 at 11:43 AM
When objective conditions have sharpened society's innate contradictions to the breaking point, no one is more insane than the one crying for a "sane, middle ground."
Reposted by Steven Brust
#Minnesota #GeneralStrike #Minneapolis #TwinCities #ShutDownICE #JusticeForReneeGood #JusticeForAlexPretti #ICEOutStrike #MinnesotaStrong #AbolishICE #ICEOutOfMN #MinneapolisProtests #NoMoreICE #ICEoffOurStreets #StPaul #NicolletAvenue #ICEOutOfMinnesota #StopICE
Sign up: wsws.org/generalstrike
Sign up: wsws.org/generalstrike
February 3, 2026 at 3:59 AM
Reposted by Steven Brust
ICE has kidnapped so many people from their cars that the city had to put out this statement. Let that sink in.
Vehicles that are abandoned due to an ICE detention and towed to the City's impound lot will be released to their owners or a representative at no cost.
Learn more: https://www.minneapolismn.gov/getting-around/parking-driving/impound-lot/#d.en.200746
Learn more: https://www.minneapolismn.gov/getting-around/parking-driving/impound-lot/#d.en.200746
January 16, 2026 at 11:42 PM
ICE has kidnapped so many people from their cars that the city had to put out this statement. Let that sink in.
I am so very proud of my Minnesota people right now. I wish I could be there with you. We need a political general strike, and I believe such a thing is far more realistic than perhaps many of you realize.
January 17, 2026 at 5:26 PM
I am so very proud of my Minnesota people right now. I wish I could be there with you. We need a political general strike, and I believe such a thing is far more realistic than perhaps many of you realize.
Reposted by Steven Brust
The people of MN give me far more hope than the largely feckless “opposition” leaders of our country or the deeply compromised and ineffectual media both-sidesing white nationalist totalitarianism.
January 14, 2026 at 5:57 PM
The people of MN give me far more hope than the largely feckless “opposition” leaders of our country or the deeply compromised and ineffectual media both-sidesing white nationalist totalitarianism.
Reposted by Steven Brust
The most well paid and rewarded part of the media establishment relies on this faux knowing perspective that seeks to find middle ground in an extreme moment and to tell the powerful they are never wrong.
January 11, 2026 at 6:00 PM
The most well paid and rewarded part of the media establishment relies on this faux knowing perspective that seeks to find middle ground in an extreme moment and to tell the powerful they are never wrong.
There is a wonderful book by Adam Goodheart called _1861: The Civil War Awakening_. It describes in detail how a few incidents changed the general mood of the North from apathy to willingness to fight and die.
We are seeing that same process unfold before us.
We are seeing that same process unfold before us.
January 10, 2026 at 11:08 PM
There is a wonderful book by Adam Goodheart called _1861: The Civil War Awakening_. It describes in detail how a few incidents changed the general mood of the North from apathy to willingness to fight and die.
We are seeing that same process unfold before us.
We are seeing that same process unfold before us.
Reposted by Steven Brust
Should note: this is a free read on the BWG Roundtable web site.
In case you think the only way out of all this depressing news is through, here's a new depressing story by me!
"Old Man, With Axe"
bwgwritersroundtable.com/old-man-with...
"Old Man, With Axe"
bwgwritersroundtable.com/old-man-with...
Old Man with Axe
Adam Stemple When a wood stove’s your only source of heat, it seems like there’s not a woodpile in all of creation that’ll last th…
bwgwritersroundtable.com
January 6, 2026 at 11:39 PM
Should note: this is a free read on the BWG Roundtable web site.
Reposted by Steven Brust
Trump and Kennedy launch unhinged anti-science tirade in autism press conference
Monday’s announcement reveals the administration’s willingness to terrorize pregnant women and families with autistic children to advance its broader anti-science agenda.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
Monday’s announcement reveals the administration’s willingness to terrorize pregnant women and families with autistic children to advance its broader anti-science agenda.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
Trump and Kennedy launch unhinged anti-science tirade in autism press conference
Monday’s press conference represents not merely a return to Trump’s prior medical quackery, but a deepening of what can only be characterized as a policy of deliberate social murder that has developed...
www.wsws.org
September 24, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Trump and Kennedy launch unhinged anti-science tirade in autism press conference
Monday’s announcement reveals the administration’s willingness to terrorize pregnant women and families with autistic children to advance its broader anti-science agenda.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
Monday’s announcement reveals the administration’s willingness to terrorize pregnant women and families with autistic children to advance its broader anti-science agenda.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
Reposted by Steven Brust
If there is any individual whom #CharlieKirk most closely resembles, in terms of persona and political tactics, it is George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi Party in the 1960s.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
Charlie Kirk and the concealed legacy of American Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell
If there is any individual whom Kirk most closely resembled, in terms of persona and political tactics, it is George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi Party in the 1960s.
www.wsws.org
September 16, 2025 at 9:58 PM
If there is any individual whom #CharlieKirk most closely resembles, in terms of persona and political tactics, it is George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi Party in the 1960s.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
Sheesh. Why are so many people confused about what socialism means? It's not that hard, just ask any right-winger. It means anything capitalism does that they can't defend.
September 15, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Sheesh. Why are so many people confused about what socialism means? It's not that hard, just ask any right-winger. It means anything capitalism does that they can't defend.
"The fight against censorship is inseparable from the fight against the system that produces it."
Gaht Damn I love the Irish!
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
www.wsws.org/en/articles/...
Festival censorship of Mary Wallopers over Gaza protest backfires
Midway through their opening song, as they led chants of “Free Palestine,” festival staff cut the band’s sound and tore down the flag. The crowd booed, chanting “Let them play.”
www.wsws.org
September 2, 2025 at 10:33 AM
"The fight against censorship is inseparable from the fight against the system that produces it."
I am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity to write the obituary.
September 2, 2025 at 12:13 AM
I am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity to write the obituary.
Reposted by Steven Brust
The bulk of the party establishment opposes Mamdani not because it fears his mildly reformist program—on which he is already backtracking—but because his primary victory reflects a radicalization of broad masses.
August 27, 2025 at 2:19 AM
The bulk of the party establishment opposes Mamdani not because it fears his mildly reformist program—on which he is already backtracking—but because his primary victory reflects a radicalization of broad masses.
After adjusting for inflation, the wages of sin is now a mild head-cold.
August 27, 2025 at 1:53 AM
After adjusting for inflation, the wages of sin is now a mild head-cold.
The first computer I used was an IBM 1620. The first computer I owned was an R2E XP3--solid steel case (built for CAM), and, check it out, A FIVE MEG HARD DRIVE!!!! Shown on the dust jacket of the hardcover of To Reign In Hell.
What was y'all's first computer? I'm curious what the spread might be like.
Bonus points for sharing some anecdotal memories of your experience with it. 💜
Mine was a Commodore C64C, which I managed to semi-fry one day by knocking a pound coin off an overhead shelf down into a vent. 🫠
Bonus points for sharing some anecdotal memories of your experience with it. 💜
Mine was a Commodore C64C, which I managed to semi-fry one day by knocking a pound coin off an overhead shelf down into a vent. 🫠
a black cat is sitting in front of a computer
Alt: Luna from Sailor Moon is sitting in front of a computer tapping away
media.tenor.com
August 26, 2025 at 12:35 AM
The first computer I used was an IBM 1620. The first computer I owned was an R2E XP3--solid steel case (built for CAM), and, check it out, A FIVE MEG HARD DRIVE!!!! Shown on the dust jacket of the hardcover of To Reign In Hell.
Reposted by Steven Brust
The inability or unwillingness to accept that both of these are true causes immense confusion, frustration, and demoralization among many who fight for a better world.
Human thought is deeply conservative; it will struggle to resist any change in beliefs, attitudes, and habits.
Human thought is exceptionally volatile; under the pressure of events, it can overnight undergo fundamental changes in beliefs, attitudes, and habits.
Human thought is exceptionally volatile; under the pressure of events, it can overnight undergo fundamental changes in beliefs, attitudes, and habits.
August 7, 2025 at 10:42 PM
The inability or unwillingness to accept that both of these are true causes immense confusion, frustration, and demoralization among many who fight for a better world.
Human thought is deeply conservative; it will struggle to resist any change in beliefs, attitudes, and habits.
Human thought is exceptionally volatile; under the pressure of events, it can overnight undergo fundamental changes in beliefs, attitudes, and habits.
Human thought is exceptionally volatile; under the pressure of events, it can overnight undergo fundamental changes in beliefs, attitudes, and habits.
August 7, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Human thought is deeply conservative; it will struggle to resist any change in beliefs, attitudes, and habits.
Human thought is exceptionally volatile; under the pressure of events, it can overnight undergo fundamental changes in beliefs, attitudes, and habits.
Human thought is exceptionally volatile; under the pressure of events, it can overnight undergo fundamental changes in beliefs, attitudes, and habits.
"When an international financier is held up at gunpoint, Archie, he immediately hands over not only his cash, but his pants and his shoes. Because it does not occur to him that even a common thief would draw the line somewhere." -- Nero Wolfe
August 5, 2025 at 2:17 AM
"When an international financier is held up at gunpoint, Archie, he immediately hands over not only his cash, but his pants and his shoes. Because it does not occur to him that even a common thief would draw the line somewhere." -- Nero Wolfe