Chris Ruen
@chrisruen.bsky.social
Extremely chill music, writer, politics, audiobook narrator guy in a WOW county.
Reposted by Chris Ruen
Worth revisiting this @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social piece in light of the Waymo meltdown over the weekend.
Automated vehicles ignore social contracts and are only beholden to their corporate bosses. Humans are much better equipped to deal with unforeseen situations, and to prioritize human values.
Automated vehicles ignore social contracts and are only beholden to their corporate bosses. Humans are much better equipped to deal with unforeseen situations, and to prioritize human values.
This articulates my exact feelings about San Francisco, the tech industry, & the entire social crisis of Capitalism we are all facing. Ms. Solnit writes with fierce precision & grace, connecting the dots with damning evidence rather than hyperbole.
Essential reading.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Essential reading.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Rebecca Solnit · In the Shadow of Silicon Valley: Losing San Francisco
I don’t know whether these billionaires know what a city is, but I do know that they have laid their hands on the city...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 22, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Worth revisiting this @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social piece in light of the Waymo meltdown over the weekend.
Automated vehicles ignore social contracts and are only beholden to their corporate bosses. Humans are much better equipped to deal with unforeseen situations, and to prioritize human values.
Automated vehicles ignore social contracts and are only beholden to their corporate bosses. Humans are much better equipped to deal with unforeseen situations, and to prioritize human values.
Reposted by Chris Ruen
CO2 is amazing. While having just a little too much in the atmosphere is really bad, it may also be the best stuff to use for longer duration energy storage, which is key to keeping more of it out of the atmosphere. Simply convert CO2 back and forth from a liquid to gas.
energydome.com
energydome.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:48 PM
CO2 is amazing. While having just a little too much in the atmosphere is really bad, it may also be the best stuff to use for longer duration energy storage, which is key to keeping more of it out of the atmosphere. Simply convert CO2 back and forth from a liquid to gas.
energydome.com
energydome.com
Reposted by Chris Ruen
New, at Can We Still Govern?
Poverty is not some insurmountable problem, we can fix it.
A group of National Academies of Science researchers review the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit during the pandemic, showing it cut child poverty in half. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-have-...
Poverty is not some insurmountable problem, we can fix it.
A group of National Academies of Science researchers review the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit during the pandemic, showing it cut child poverty in half. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-have-...
What have we learned about child poverty in America?
Members of a National Academy of Sciences committee share insights
donmoynihan.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:18 PM
New, at Can We Still Govern?
Poverty is not some insurmountable problem, we can fix it.
A group of National Academies of Science researchers review the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit during the pandemic, showing it cut child poverty in half. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-have-...
Poverty is not some insurmountable problem, we can fix it.
A group of National Academies of Science researchers review the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit during the pandemic, showing it cut child poverty in half. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-have-...
Reposted by Chris Ruen
appreciate this post about the technocratic libs' confused messaging: "it would be like Coca-Cola commercials saying 'but Pepsi is pretty good too.'"
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Liberals Could Be Civilization's Vanguard, if We Stop Getting In Our Own Way
Or: On Rejecting Silverism, Embracing Richardsonism
substack.com
December 21, 2025 at 7:14 PM
appreciate this post about the technocratic libs' confused messaging: "it would be like Coca-Cola commercials saying 'but Pepsi is pretty good too.'"
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by Chris Ruen
I don’t like Regan but it’s funny that he’s the reason why the postwar golden age ended in the minds of many liberal and leftist Americans, given that the slowed pace of quality of life improvements pretty unambiguously can be traced precisely to October of 1973
December 21, 2025 at 3:39 AM
I don’t like Regan but it’s funny that he’s the reason why the postwar golden age ended in the minds of many liberal and leftist Americans, given that the slowed pace of quality of life improvements pretty unambiguously can be traced precisely to October of 1973
Reposted by Chris Ruen
“‘My most daring idea is to refuse,’ she said to applause.”
Professor Warns That the Wealthy Are Trying to Use AI to Seize Control of Everything
Renowned sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom says that AI is a tool for the rich to cement control over society.
futurism.com
December 21, 2025 at 1:03 PM
“‘My most daring idea is to refuse,’ she said to applause.”
Reposted by Chris Ruen
This is just gutter white nationalist agitprop from Stephen Miller. A good time to read our deep dive into Miller's ideological fanaticism (see below)
December 21, 2025 at 12:30 PM
This is just gutter white nationalist agitprop from Stephen Miller. A good time to read our deep dive into Miller's ideological fanaticism (see below)
Reposted by Chris Ruen
Hell yeah: @science.org's official Breakthrough of the Year for 2025 is ... [drumroll] ...
... the unstoppable rise & spread of renewable energy.
... the unstoppable rise & spread of renewable energy.
Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: The unstoppable rise of renewable energy
Clean energy infrastructure is being deployed with unmatched scale and speed—and China is leading the way
www.science.org
December 19, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Hell yeah: @science.org's official Breakthrough of the Year for 2025 is ... [drumroll] ...
... the unstoppable rise & spread of renewable energy.
... the unstoppable rise & spread of renewable energy.
Reposted by Chris Ruen
Do you want more measles, flu, RSV, and chicken pox? Because that's what we'll get
BREAKING: RFKJr directs that the US instantly stop recommending all vaccinations for children. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Under RFK Jr., U.S. plans to stop recommending most vaccines, defer to doctors
The plan, which is not finalized, suggests children get fewer shots and shifts to a model telling parents to consult doctors to make their own vaccine choices.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Do you want more measles, flu, RSV, and chicken pox? Because that's what we'll get
Reposted by Chris Ruen
You do, unfortunately, have to give some of it to Will Stancil, because the vibes argument is also supported by data at this point. I think it's a classic case of anchoring, where the reason some sentiment indicators break after 2020 is that people want 2019 back. www.jezebel.com/consumer-sen...
Economic Sentiment Collapses to All-Time Lows, Why?
Since 2007, Jezebel has been the Internet's most treasured source for everything celebrities, sex, and politics...with teeth.
www.jezebel.com
December 19, 2025 at 9:50 PM
You do, unfortunately, have to give some of it to Will Stancil, because the vibes argument is also supported by data at this point. I think it's a classic case of anchoring, where the reason some sentiment indicators break after 2020 is that people want 2019 back. www.jezebel.com/consumer-sen...
Reposted by Chris Ruen
* Number of additional unemployed Americans since January: 982,000.
* Number of federal government job losses: 271,000. 🤡
* Number of federal government job losses: 271,000. 🤡
Trump: "The only reason our unemployment tucked up and went up to 4.5 percent [it's actually 4.6 percent] is because we are reducing the government workforce by numbers that have never been seen before."
December 19, 2025 at 7:31 PM
* Number of additional unemployed Americans since January: 982,000.
* Number of federal government job losses: 271,000. 🤡
* Number of federal government job losses: 271,000. 🤡
Reposted by Chris Ruen
An example of how Trump is a vehicle for grievances because everyone driven by resentment projects onto him. A leftist like AOC feels America is beautiful and wants to improve it. A crank leftist likes the idea of destroying America, but is totally powerless, therefore they approve of Trump doing it
December 19, 2025 at 2:33 AM
An example of how Trump is a vehicle for grievances because everyone driven by resentment projects onto him. A leftist like AOC feels America is beautiful and wants to improve it. A crank leftist likes the idea of destroying America, but is totally powerless, therefore they approve of Trump doing it
Reposted by Chris Ruen
As a certified “alarmist” I think it’s a little odd this doesn’t really tackle the obvious rebuttal I heard most: That the first Trump term was quite bad, but it was not the relentless assault on the foundations of liberal democracy we’re witnessing now, until Jan 6.
those who predicted authoritarianism were both dismissed, & deeply misunderstood, by the media
my latest for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
my latest for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
The Americans Who Saw All This Coming—but Were Ignored and Maligned
Call them the Cassandras: the people—mostly not white and male—who smelled the fascism all over Trump from jump street. Why were they “alarmists,” and how did “anti-alarmism” become cool?
newrepublic.com
December 18, 2025 at 3:43 PM
As a certified “alarmist” I think it’s a little odd this doesn’t really tackle the obvious rebuttal I heard most: That the first Trump term was quite bad, but it was not the relentless assault on the foundations of liberal democracy we’re witnessing now, until Jan 6.
Reposted by Chris Ruen
incredible that the oldest scam in the book — “look away from the greed and poor leadership that destroy your chance to make a career, it is the [blanks] that stole your job!” — still works
December 17, 2025 at 10:01 PM
incredible that the oldest scam in the book — “look away from the greed and poor leadership that destroy your chance to make a career, it is the [blanks] that stole your job!” — still works
Reposted by Chris Ruen
Assuming we avoid armed civil conflict between now & 2029, creating a better post-Trump American government that reduces & constrains presidential power must be our top priority. Some things can be done via legislation, but the most important require constitutional amendment. My blueprint, out now.
Restoring the Republic: A Legislative and Constitutional Roadmap
Whether the governmental system that comes after Trump is gone is better or worse than what came before him is up to us.
www.therepublicsentinel.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Assuming we avoid armed civil conflict between now & 2029, creating a better post-Trump American government that reduces & constrains presidential power must be our top priority. Some things can be done via legislation, but the most important require constitutional amendment. My blueprint, out now.
Reposted by Chris Ruen
NEW: The families of two teenage boys who died by suicide filed a lawsuit today against Meta, alleging that for years the tech company ignored the danger of sexual blackmail schemes targeting teens on Instagram. www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
I interviewed one of the parents.
I interviewed one of the parents.
Two families sue Meta over teens' deaths by suicide, citing ‘sextortion’ scams
One boy joined Instagram on Sunday and was dead by Tuesday afternoon. His mother says the app is to blame.
www.nbcnews.com
December 17, 2025 at 9:12 PM
NEW: The families of two teenage boys who died by suicide filed a lawsuit today against Meta, alleging that for years the tech company ignored the danger of sexual blackmail schemes targeting teens on Instagram. www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
I interviewed one of the parents.
I interviewed one of the parents.
Reposted by Chris Ruen
Change in employment since Trump took office, by sector. www.ms.now/opinion/trum...
December 17, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Change in employment since Trump took office, by sector. www.ms.now/opinion/trum...
Reposted by Chris Ruen
US policy on artificial intelligence is caught between flamboyant, fantastical claims and government leaders deferring to industry without the imagination to drive toward real societal progress, write Arati Prabhakar and Asad Ramzanali. There is a better way forward, they say.
America Needs Better AI Ambitions | TechPolicy.Press
Arati Prabhakar and Asad Ramzanali say we are caught between fantastical claims and leaders deferring to industry without the imagination to drive progress.
buff.ly
December 17, 2025 at 4:54 AM
US policy on artificial intelligence is caught between flamboyant, fantastical claims and government leaders deferring to industry without the imagination to drive toward real societal progress, write Arati Prabhakar and Asad Ramzanali. There is a better way forward, they say.
Reposted by Chris Ruen
December 16, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Chris Ruen
It is pretty interesting how both elected officials and the media generally refuse to act like reality is reality, mostly because the people whose opinions they value are in the 17%
December 16, 2025 at 2:14 PM
It is pretty interesting how both elected officials and the media generally refuse to act like reality is reality, mostly because the people whose opinions they value are in the 17%
Reposted by Chris Ruen
Biden brought American manufacturing back but Trump is strangling it once again
The US continues to lose manufacturing jobs—payrolls are down 81k over the last year, & another 5k jobs were lost in November
Transportation (especially auto manufacturing), wood & electronics/electrical manufacturing are the biggest losers, but few subsectors are doing well
Transportation (especially auto manufacturing), wood & electronics/electrical manufacturing are the biggest losers, but few subsectors are doing well
December 16, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Biden brought American manufacturing back but Trump is strangling it once again
Reposted by Chris Ruen
Pretty crazy that Musk willfully killed 100,000's of people *earlier this year* yet Corporate Media still regularly talks about him without mentioning that.
December 15, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Pretty crazy that Musk willfully killed 100,000's of people *earlier this year* yet Corporate Media still regularly talks about him without mentioning that.
Reposted by Chris Ruen
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Federal agents use chemical irritant on crowd in Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis amid Trump crackdown
Federal agents have used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. This happened Tuesday during a identification checks amid the Trump administration's cra...
www.mprnews.org
December 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Reposted by Chris Ruen
The theory of power that says conservatives as a whole, and young right-wing men in particular, are victims repressed by the left-wing forces dominating society is, in a word, insane.
It cannot possibly be addressed, because it's not true. It's just rationalization for hatred and hurting others.
It cannot possibly be addressed, because it's not true. It's just rationalization for hatred and hurting others.
The New Right's Theory of Power is Insane
It is simply not true that radical leftists took over all major institutions and use them to crush the right, and mainstream figures should stop being afraid to say so
www.arcdigital.media
December 14, 2025 at 3:22 PM
The theory of power that says conservatives as a whole, and young right-wing men in particular, are victims repressed by the left-wing forces dominating society is, in a word, insane.
It cannot possibly be addressed, because it's not true. It's just rationalization for hatred and hurting others.
It cannot possibly be addressed, because it's not true. It's just rationalization for hatred and hurting others.