BeijingPalmer
@beijingpalmer.bsky.social
Deputy editor at Foreign Policy, China nerd, gaming nerd, reads a lot
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BeijingPalmer
@beijingpalmer.bsky.social
· Aug 10
(the Great Games Recommendation Thead, part 3, only another 500 plus games to go, you bastards)
201: Brindlewood Bay. Incredible game of improvised deduction where you are the Golden Girls but investigating a Cthulhoid murder cult in a small town through Monk-style quicky/cosy stories.
201: Brindlewood Bay. Incredible game of improvised deduction where you are the Golden Girls but investigating a Cthulhoid murder cult in a small town through Monk-style quicky/cosy stories.
thinking of a 13th Age variant on its signature "living dungeons" where it functions like "Mortal Engines" - larger dungeons hunt and feed on/absorb smaller ones, with the aid of the creatures living inside who have a symbiotic relationship with the dungeon.
December 1, 2025 at 6:41 PM
thinking of a 13th Age variant on its signature "living dungeons" where it functions like "Mortal Engines" - larger dungeons hunt and feed on/absorb smaller ones, with the aid of the creatures living inside who have a symbiotic relationship with the dungeon.
shhh, he is the best option we have right now. a corrupt incompetent is better than a malicious but effective guy.
A leaked 115 page report by current & former FBI personnel describes the bureau under Kash Patel as a “rudderless ship” & says he is “in over his head,” lacking the experience & bearing needed to be an effective FBI director—
December 1, 2025 at 5:55 PM
shhh, he is the best option we have right now. a corrupt incompetent is better than a malicious but effective guy.
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
"Unitary executive" is really "24 year olds in the West Wing tell everyone in the federal government with experience and knowledge what to do at their jobs."
thinking more about this: it is highly ironic that at the same time that it serves as a test case for the "unitary executive," this administration is all but being led by two subordinate officials with no immediate political accountability.
December 1, 2025 at 5:48 PM
"Unitary executive" is really "24 year olds in the West Wing tell everyone in the federal government with experience and knowledge what to do at their jobs."
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
I have been periodically saying this for a while, but the movie is far more compatible with the worldview of the knuckle-draggers than most people think
Rewatching Sicario for the first time in 6 or 7 years.
I’m reminded of how easy it might be for some 22 y/o to watch this movie and join CBP thinking that if they play their cards right they’re going to be an operator fighting cartels rather than kidnapping construction workers off of the street.
I’m reminded of how easy it might be for some 22 y/o to watch this movie and join CBP thinking that if they play their cards right they’re going to be an operator fighting cartels rather than kidnapping construction workers off of the street.
November 28, 2025 at 4:49 AM
I have been periodically saying this for a while, but the movie is far more compatible with the worldview of the knuckle-draggers than most people think
church nerds: has anyone written a history of how theology - especially popular theology - was affected by hymns? Sydney Carter has done more to shape people's beliefs than any Archbishop of Canterbury, but I also suspect that 'blood' and 'good' once rhyming in English mattered.
December 1, 2025 at 5:05 PM
church nerds: has anyone written a history of how theology - especially popular theology - was affected by hymns? Sydney Carter has done more to shape people's beliefs than any Archbishop of Canterbury, but I also suspect that 'blood' and 'good' once rhyming in English mattered.
honestly I think that once you've lived under the governance of evil men - as most people did, historically! - that last part starts to sound a lot more appealing. tell me, honestly, that you wouldn't smile just a little at the thought of RFK being eaten alive by beetles.
People tend to blame the things they don't like about Christianity on Calvin. Did he invent the doctrine of hell? No. Did he invent the idea that most people were going there? No. Did he invent the idea that the saved take pleasure in the tortures of the damned? Also no.
December 1, 2025 at 4:58 PM
honestly I think that once you've lived under the governance of evil men - as most people did, historically! - that last part starts to sound a lot more appealing. tell me, honestly, that you wouldn't smile just a little at the thought of RFK being eaten alive by beetles.
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
(3) The actually-interesting story that the NPR reporter completely flubbed is that THIS ENTIRE "CENTRIST" OUTLET IS 100% REPUBLICANS TRYING TO SEED THIRD-PARTY SPOILER CANDIDACIES TO HELP THEIR PARTY MAINTAIN CONTROL IN 2026.
Everyone in the Independent Center worked for Trump, FreedomWorks, etc.
Everyone in the Independent Center worked for Trump, FreedomWorks, etc.
December 1, 2025 at 4:54 PM
(3) The actually-interesting story that the NPR reporter completely flubbed is that THIS ENTIRE "CENTRIST" OUTLET IS 100% REPUBLICANS TRYING TO SEED THIRD-PARTY SPOILER CANDIDACIES TO HELP THEIR PARTY MAINTAIN CONTROL IN 2026.
Everyone in the Independent Center worked for Trump, FreedomWorks, etc.
Everyone in the Independent Center worked for Trump, FreedomWorks, etc.
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
Three notes:
(1) this NPR piece is bad and dumb. They should be embarrassed.
(2) Everything is "AI" now. The Independent Center doesn't have some fresh new technology that is going to make centrist third-party candidacies suddenly viable. This is just the latest rebrand of a tired playbook.
(...)
(1) this NPR piece is bad and dumb. They should be embarrassed.
(2) Everything is "AI" now. The Independent Center doesn't have some fresh new technology that is going to make centrist third-party candidacies suddenly viable. This is just the latest rebrand of a tired playbook.
(...)
@davekarpf.bsky.social , have you seen this fresh nonsense?
An independent effort says AI is the secret to topple 2-party power in Congress
Using artificial intelligence to identify congressional districts where independent candidates could win, an organization called the Independent Center is aiming to disrupt the two-party system.
www.npr.org
December 1, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Three notes:
(1) this NPR piece is bad and dumb. They should be embarrassed.
(2) Everything is "AI" now. The Independent Center doesn't have some fresh new technology that is going to make centrist third-party candidacies suddenly viable. This is just the latest rebrand of a tired playbook.
(...)
(1) this NPR piece is bad and dumb. They should be embarrassed.
(2) Everything is "AI" now. The Independent Center doesn't have some fresh new technology that is going to make centrist third-party candidacies suddenly viable. This is just the latest rebrand of a tired playbook.
(...)
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
thought this was an Onion headline
OpenAI says a suicidal teenager should have read their fine print
OpenAI says a suicidal teenager should have read their fine print
OpenAI says a suicidal teenager should have read their fine print
www.independent.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 8:07 PM
thought this was an Onion headline
for World AIDS Day, a 1988 cartoon from the Advocate's Gerald Donelan
December 1, 2025 at 4:20 PM
for World AIDS Day, a 1988 cartoon from the Advocate's Gerald Donelan
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
Invoking "color revolutions" as a boogeyman like this really goes to show how much these guys have cooked their brains on Russian propaganda specifically.
Sen. Eric Schmitt: "This is the language of a color revolution where you're calling on military men and women to disobey orders."
December 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Invoking "color revolutions" as a boogeyman like this really goes to show how much these guys have cooked their brains on Russian propaganda specifically.
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
I wondered why replies chastised me for calling the boat strikes war crimes, saying I'm helping Trump when I do, as if "war crime" is positive.
Then I remembered some use "war crime" to mean "foreign policy I don't like," rather than "use of military force in violation of the laws of armed combat."
Then I remembered some use "war crime" to mean "foreign policy I don't like," rather than "use of military force in violation of the laws of armed combat."
December 1, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I wondered why replies chastised me for calling the boat strikes war crimes, saying I'm helping Trump when I do, as if "war crime" is positive.
Then I remembered some use "war crime" to mean "foreign policy I don't like," rather than "use of military force in violation of the laws of armed combat."
Then I remembered some use "war crime" to mean "foreign policy I don't like," rather than "use of military force in violation of the laws of armed combat."
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
Every day I get angrier abt that wretched Harper’s Letter, and the broader feckless, bothsider-poisoned media environment that treated it as legit.
I’m profoundly disappointed in the left-leaning types who gave reputational cover to a nakedly bad-faith doc.
And furious at the on-going silence.
I’m profoundly disappointed in the left-leaning types who gave reputational cover to a nakedly bad-faith doc.
And furious at the on-going silence.
If anyone is curious about the current list of search terms being used by right wing activist organizations to harass university professors, here's a public records request I received today from Mike Howell of the Heritage Foundation. Not intimidating or meant to curtail by my speech at all, right?
December 1, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Every day I get angrier abt that wretched Harper’s Letter, and the broader feckless, bothsider-poisoned media environment that treated it as legit.
I’m profoundly disappointed in the left-leaning types who gave reputational cover to a nakedly bad-faith doc.
And furious at the on-going silence.
I’m profoundly disappointed in the left-leaning types who gave reputational cover to a nakedly bad-faith doc.
And furious at the on-going silence.
a lovely thread. a really good live theatrical effect has a magic that cinema just can't reproduce
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
December 1, 2025 at 7:43 AM
a lovely thread. a really good live theatrical effect has a magic that cinema just can't reproduce
incredible to see the U.S. right echoing the Chinese Communist Party.
Wild how people like this, just like russians, still can’t comprehend that the Revolution of Dignity wasn’t staged. It was Ukrainians choosing freedom over fear. Imperialists and small minds always assume someone else must be pulling the strings, because they’ve never seen a nation with a spine.
December 1, 2025 at 4:55 AM
incredible to see the U.S. right echoing the Chinese Communist Party.
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
conservatives basically want to implement the caricature of affirmative action for conservative students. acceptance without meeting qualifications, good grades and degrees without having to do the work.
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
December 1, 2025 at 1:29 AM
conservatives basically want to implement the caricature of affirmative action for conservative students. acceptance without meeting qualifications, good grades and degrees without having to do the work.
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
Melians: please do not do a Peloponnesian War to us!
Athenian general implausibly named "Da Baby Stabber": imma do it tho
--- Every political theorist for the next 3000 years: this is genius.
Athenian general implausibly named "Da Baby Stabber": imma do it tho
--- Every political theorist for the next 3000 years: this is genius.
November 30, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Melians: please do not do a Peloponnesian War to us!
Athenian general implausibly named "Da Baby Stabber": imma do it tho
--- Every political theorist for the next 3000 years: this is genius.
Athenian general implausibly named "Da Baby Stabber": imma do it tho
--- Every political theorist for the next 3000 years: this is genius.
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
Indian speculative fiction evolved through Bengali "kalpavigyan" and post-Independence "scientifiction." Today, as this piece shows, Indian SF is finding its voice anew—bridging caste, gender, and global imagination with universal storytelling.
By @gautambhatia88.bsky.social
By @gautambhatia88.bsky.social
The Secret History of Indian Science Fiction.
Before Asimov, there was Rokeya.
buff.ly
November 30, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Indian speculative fiction evolved through Bengali "kalpavigyan" and post-Independence "scientifiction." Today, as this piece shows, Indian SF is finding its voice anew—bridging caste, gender, and global imagination with universal storytelling.
By @gautambhatia88.bsky.social
By @gautambhatia88.bsky.social
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
Trump just commuted the 7-year sentence of David Gentile, a private equity leader who helped defraud thousands of people out of some $1.6 billion, almost as soon as his prison stint began.
"I lost my whole life savings," one person wrote, adding, "I am living from check to check."
"I lost my whole life savings," one person wrote, adding, "I am living from check to check."
Trump Frees Fraudster Just Days Into Seven-Year Prison Sentence
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Trump just commuted the 7-year sentence of David Gentile, a private equity leader who helped defraud thousands of people out of some $1.6 billion, almost as soon as his prison stint began.
"I lost my whole life savings," one person wrote, adding, "I am living from check to check."
"I lost my whole life savings," one person wrote, adding, "I am living from check to check."
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
You can reason with people who are curious but un- or ill-informed: I gave an A to a student in a medieval history class who asked me on the first day when Game of Thrones took place, because she read the material, worked hard, and produced well-argued essays. You can't work with bull-headed morons.
November 30, 2025 at 10:48 PM
You can reason with people who are curious but un- or ill-informed: I gave an A to a student in a medieval history class who asked me on the first day when Game of Thrones took place, because she read the material, worked hard, and produced well-argued essays. You can't work with bull-headed morons.
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
I thought Truth or Consequences, NM was named for some wild west honor code and not some boomer game show
interesting reverse of something I talked about the other day, where modern songs with a clear origin are mistaken for traditional folksongs: "House of the Rising Sun" actually *is* a folksong. I always assumed it had been written sometime in the 1950s.
November 30, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I thought Truth or Consequences, NM was named for some wild west honor code and not some boomer game show
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
Neon Liberalism #54: Join Samantha and guest Kori Schake, author of "The State and the Soldier," as they discuss the history of civil-military relations in America—and how that relationship is being pushed to the breaking point. www.liberalcurrents.com/neon-liberal...
Neon Liberalism #54: An Army Is a Dangerous Thing to Play With
Join Samantha and guest Kori Schake, author of The State and the Soldier, as they discuss the history of civil-military relations in America—and how that relationship is being pushed to the breaking p...
www.liberalcurrents.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Neon Liberalism #54: Join Samantha and guest Kori Schake, author of "The State and the Soldier," as they discuss the history of civil-military relations in America—and how that relationship is being pushed to the breaking point. www.liberalcurrents.com/neon-liberal...
Reposted by BeijingPalmer
Some ppl have seemingly forgot that political news media spun up a "Biden secretly has parkinsons" story out of a doctor visiting the WH while the admin was working on Parkinsons policy or that Nuzzis big "Biden didnt remember me" piece was written when she was secretly working for RFK Jrs campaign
The actual "worse than watergate" scandal is how much news media collectively worked to ratfuck a Democratic presidency by largely inventing health/mental acuity concerns for hyperventilate about while largely ignoring the very real & worsening issues in front of their faces from Trump
Both taken this weekend:
November 30, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Some ppl have seemingly forgot that political news media spun up a "Biden secretly has parkinsons" story out of a doctor visiting the WH while the admin was working on Parkinsons policy or that Nuzzis big "Biden didnt remember me" piece was written when she was secretly working for RFK Jrs campaign