Andi Sider
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ajsider.bsky.social
Andi Sider
@ajsider.bsky.social
310 followers 2.4K following 290 posts
somehow avoided consuming any/all harry potter ip

📍 chicago, il
💄 she/her
📼 geriatric millennial
💡 enlightenment enthusiast
🌱 cannabis professional•consumer•advocate
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ajsider.bsky.social
Hegseth vs Patel on Nordic Paganism:
“I’ll see you in Valhalla”
Kash Patel meme dressed up in Vikings costume
September 30, 2025 at 2:45 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Longtime SVU obsessive and I literally just finished watching the latest episode - as @markharris.bsky.social noted over the weekend/below things are feeling *different*. Katie Miller noticed too apparently!!
September 29, 2025 at 9:06 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
I just looked him up - seems very relevant and like more of us should start studying!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultura...
From Wikipedia entry for “Cultural hegemony”: To that end, Antonio Gramsci proposed a strategic distinction between the politics for a war of position and for a war of manœuvre. The war of position is an intellectual and cultural struggle wherein the anti-capitalist revolutionary creates a proletarian culture whose native value system counters the cultural hegemony of the bourgeoisie. The proletarian culture will increase class consciousness, teach revolutionary theory and historical analysis, and thus further develop revolutionary organisation among the social classes.[9] After winning the war of position, socialist leaders would then have the necessary political power and popular support to realise the war of manœuvre, the political praxis of revolutionary socialism.
July 2, 2025 at 1:40 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Any confusion about the suspected MN political assassin’s political identity is *obviously* manufactured; the local press has solved the mystery:

www.kare11.com/article/news...
Article quote highlighted: “Carlson [suspect’s roommate and longtime friend] said Boelter was a strong supporter of President Donald Trump…”
June 15, 2025 at 4:24 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Chicago city text alerts are calling this a “public assembly”
June 10, 2025 at 11:51 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Who was the governor of California in 2020?
Wikipedia entry for Gavin Newson showing he entered office as the governor of CA on January 7, 2019 - he was the not “incompetent governor” Trump references.
June 9, 2025 at 8:18 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
From the Second International Congress of Eugenics, September 25-27, 1921; held at at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. The image was created for a certificate awarded “for meritorious exhibits” in the exhibition associated with the Congress. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...
Image of the Eugenics Tree, texts reads: Eugenics is the self direction of human evolution; like a tree eugenics draws its materials from many sources and organizes them into an harmonious entity.
April 25, 2025 at 1:12 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
I’m cis and straight and related very hard - especially to the questions she posed to herself below.

@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com’s transness (?) is the cheat code of empathy. She’s able to speak to both genders experiences authentically and clarify the bullshit.
Liberal Currents quote/highlight: “Did being a woman mean being weaker than men? Did being a woman mean getting all excited to doll myself up? Did being a woman mean wanting to be fucked by men?”
April 4, 2025 at 3:26 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
I don’t even know where to start on the “To be one among others equally real” section.

“Look at these hollow men” hits me *emotionally* just as “indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter” did. Will need to sit with that for a while to unpack why.

That emptiness should matter, as you say!
Liberal Currents quote/excerpt: “To be adored by someone you do not respect is empty. I can tell you right now it is empty. The esteem that matters—the esteem that sticks with you—is esteem from those you yourself esteem. It is in this mutual recognition that we find satisfaction. What is good in life? To be recognized as worthy by others equally real.”
April 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
The big so what: the patriarchy hurts us ALL, including men! We’ve (Americans) never had so many life options and opportunities available to this many of us. But the old adage is being proven too true: when you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression.

IT’S NOT. Get over yourselves.
Liberal Currents article quote with highlight: “Liberalism does not force us from the communal to the individual. I doubt helots had a great sense of community with the Spartan overlords who hunted them for sport. Nor does it force men from male-coded forms of community service to female-coded ones. It gives us the choice. We have never before had more ability to develop ourselves as fathers, as children caring for parents, or in who or how we date. We’ve also never before had more opportunity to be traditionally masculine—to make a vocation of the army, or pulling people from burning buildings, or competing in professional sports. Despite the silly and shallow self-pity of some, there has never been a better time to be a man. The ‘cost’ for all this is we have to give up having women as automatic social inferiors. That should be an easy trade to make.”
March 17, 2025 at 12:33 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
The overachieving sister, the annoyingly smart(er) lab partner, the nagging mother, the accountability-wielding manager, the demanding (ex?) wife.

It’s just non-stop indignity for men from birth to death, inflicted by a thousand female withering looks.

www.liberalcurrents.com/most-men-don...
Liberal Currents article quote with highlights: “When we’re asked to consider the poor, left behind young men, we’re often reminded that girls are now exceeding boys in most aspects of education. This is true and, on the surface, a reasonable enough thing for public policy to think about (for instance, is this gap due to different socialisation, different learning styles, etc?). Beneath the surface, I think something uglier is sometimes being said: That it is an unbearable indignity for boys to have girls ‘above’ them like this. I think what’s gone wrong for a lot of men in their lives is—though they might not admit it to themselves in these terms—they’re angry that their sisters went to college and they didn’t. Their lives have been fine, but their sisters or female school peers have been better and that feels like an injustice. One they’ve not been able to let go of. Their fathers had to reconcile themselves to female peers in the workplace, most young men now will be managed by a woman at some point. When we hear about how ‘disrespected’ men feel, is it that feminists are stopping men being firefighters? Or is it that men in office jobs are being told what to do by a woman?” Liberal Currents article quote with highlights: “There’s an urge in liberalism to debate the highest version of the opposing argument. Steelman, not strawman. That’s valid and useful, but we shouldn't let it get in the way of plainly understanding what the manosphere is complaining about. These are not tortured souls, reading Homer in a world of hyper-feminists who no longer care for it. They’re useless miserable prats who wish they had the courage to call their female boss a b**** and live vicariously through Trump because they imagine he’d do that.”
March 17, 2025 at 12:33 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
@polphilpod.bsky.social again pushes past the moment’s bullshit gender dynamics to what it’s *really* about:

“[…] it’s not a matter of men losing something—we demonstrably haven't—it's about women gaining something.”

The name of the game is RESENTMENT.

www.liberalcurrents.com/most-men-don...
Liberal Currents article quote/highlight: “If there is a significant societal change that these articles are responding to, it’s not a matter of men losing something—we demonstrably haven't—it's about women gaining something. They can now make their own way in the world. Women can be heroes too! We men can still earn respect in all sorts of ways, but are no longer granted it simply by virtue of being men. People like always having someone beneath them. That, I think, is what the ‘male malaise’ genre is, at its core, about.”
March 17, 2025 at 12:33 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Ditto here!! And bought/ordered from a local independent bookstore for the first time (vs Amazon).
March 14, 2025 at 1:31 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Living his best life, worry-free
February 20, 2025 at 2:33 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Chicago protest signs continued

2/2

My personal fave: NO ONE VOTED FOR ELON AND HIS TEENAGERS
Protest sign says “Don’t tread on me” with image of a snakey uterus Protest sign says “No one voted for Elon and his teenagers” Protest sign says “Resist hate”; upside down American flag in background Protest banner says “In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept a fascist America!”
February 5, 2025 at 7:37 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Signs from today’s Indivisible Chicago rally

1/2
Protest sign says “A fork in the road? RESIST!” in Maus-style font Protest sign says “checks and balances conserve our constitution” Protest sign says “fuck trump fuck musk fuck ICE” Two young women holding protest signs that say “Make a change! Keep families together, stop the hate” and “We are dreamers not criminals”
February 5, 2025 at 7:37 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Finally, don’t sleep on this last bit: 2025 plans (and presumably budgets) to open five new stores in the US have been cancelled and redirected to locations in CANADA.

Sending thoughts & prayers to any American whose holy grail bra is caught up in this
Moving Forward We had planned to open five new stores in the US in 2025. Due to these changes, we will be opening them in Canada. To our Canadian customers, if you spot an empty retail space and think we would be a good fit, send us a message!
February 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Also, when you visit understance.com?country=us&l..., if you’re in the US you will receive this gated message: shipping to the US unavailable.
Screenshot of Understance site showing shipping to US is unavailable.
February 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
Anyone looking for a real world example of tariffs in action, please see this email I just received from Vancouver-based Understance, a solution-oriented lingerie company.

Clear explanation of how a $59 bra will now cost US shoppers $95 (52% additional duties passed along).
Hi there, As of Tuesday, February 4th, new tariffs have taken effect. Here is what this means for you: For our US customers, an additional 52% in duties will now apply on top of our prices. We collect this and give it to the US border agency. For example, a $59 USD bra will now be $95 with duties included. This 52% consists of: 25% (existing tariff from 2018) 10% (new tariff introduced on February 1) ~17% (standard commodity tariffs for bras, underwear, and sleepwear, varying by sub-category) The most significant change is the removal of the "de minimis" exemption, which previously allowed duty-free shipping from Canada to the US for orders under $800. This is the reason tariffs introduced earlier were not applicable before today. The 30-day delay on Canada tariffs only applies to items made in Canada. US Shipping Pause Due to these changes, we are pausing US shipping temporarily. We expect to resume US operations in a few days once we have adjusted our processes. Order Cancellation If you placed an order with us that has not yet shipped (order numbers greater than #343549), we will be canceling and refunding your order. Unfortunately, there is no grace period for unshipped orders under the new regulations. If you have any questions, please contact help@understance.com or call us at 1(800)-847-6493. Our Commitment to Fair Pricing For the past four years, we’ve done our best to keep prices as reasonable as possible. We absorbed inflation where we could by increasing volume and keeping operations lean. We truly regret having to make this change—it’s not what we wanted either. Moving Forward We had planned to open five new stores in the US in 2025. Due to these changes, we will be opening them in Canada. To our Canadian customers, if you spot an empty retail space and think we would be a good fit, send us a message! With love, Team Understance Hi there, As of Tuesday, February 4th, new tariffs have taken effect. Here is what this means for you: For our US customers, an additional 52% in duties will now apply on top of our prices. We collect this and give it to the US border agency. For example, a $59 USD bra will now be $95 with duties included. This 52% consists of: 25% (existing tariff from 2018) 10% (new tariff introduced on February 1) ~17% (standard commodity tariffs for bras, underwear, and sleepwear, varying by sub-category) The most significant change is the removal of the "de minimis" exemption, which previously allowed duty-free shipping from Canada to the US for orders under $800. This is the reason tariffs introduced earlier were not applicable before today. The 30-day delay on Canada tariffs only applies to items made in Canada. US Shipping Pause Due to these changes, we are pausing US shipping temporarily. We expect to resume US operations in a few days once we have adjusted our processes. Order Cancellation If you placed an order with us that has not yet shipped (order numbers greater than #343549), we will be canceling and refunding your order. Unfortunately, there is no grace period for unshipped orders under the new regulations. If you have any questions, please contact help@understance.com or call us at 1(800)-847-6493. Our Commitment to Fair Pricing For the past four years, we’ve done our best to keep prices as reasonable as possible. We absorbed inflation where we could by increasing volume and keeping operations lean. We truly regret having to make this change—it’s not what we wanted either. Moving Forward We had planned to open five new stores in the US in 2025. Due to these changes, we will be opening them in Canada. To our Canadian customers, if you spot an empty retail space and think we would be a good fit, send us a message! With love, Team Understance
February 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK
Highlighted excerpt from Liberal Currents article linked in repost: “I don’t know how to say this more basically: validating men’s false feelings of persecution will not reduce the power of ideologies who feed on those feelings. It will make them stronger.”
January 21, 2025 at 3:12 PM
ajsider.bsky.social
This is it for me - wonderfully clear, true and dark statement of what we’ve been shamefully ignoring for a decade. Almost cathartic to read.

Had a brief moment of warmth reading the defense of Tim Walz - have been waiting for it!!
Highlighted excerpt from Liberal Currents article linked in quote repost: “We’re told we need to offer young men more role models, people who are both credibly masculine and embody our values. But wasn’t that Tim Walz? He was selected overtly for that purpose. The response from the poor, lonely young men we liberals have apparently been failing? Pure, visceral anger. “Tampon Tim” was arguably subject to more gender-based attacks than even Harris precisely because he didn’t validate their misogyny. The problem isn’t the left’s role models, it's the right’s.”
January 21, 2025 at 3:09 PM