Clay
@clayinsing.bsky.social
Historian. WA voter. Just here for the news. Even a hint that you’re a bot gets a block.
Pinned
Clay
@clayinsing.bsky.social
· May 20
Mapping Middle Road: Prewar Japanese Community in Singapore
curiocity.nlb.gov.sg
Word is I’m supposed to be sharing my academic work on here. Anyway here’s a taste of the kind of research and public history projects that I do.
Reposted by Clay
a little more on one of my favored analogies youtu.be/Msz2daPeTyg
The Democratic Party's McClellan Problem
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
youtu.be
December 30, 2025 at 10:09 PM
a little more on one of my favored analogies youtu.be/Msz2daPeTyg
Reposted by Clay
Jo Ann Allen Boyce Dies at 84; She was one of the Clinton 12, a group of Black students who faced white mobs when desegregating a Tennessee high school in 1956 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/u...
Jo Ann Allen Boyce Dies at 84; Braved Mobs in Integrating a School
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Jo Ann Allen Boyce Dies at 84; She was one of the Clinton 12, a group of Black students who faced white mobs when desegregating a Tennessee high school in 1956 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/u...
Reposted by Clay
This is perfect. The DOJ's embarrassing snafu with disappearing redactions was the fault of Elon Musk. Musk cancelled government subscriptions to Adobe programs that would have made the redactions permanent. What a pack of fools.
December 26, 2025 at 9:02 PM
This is perfect. The DOJ's embarrassing snafu with disappearing redactions was the fault of Elon Musk. Musk cancelled government subscriptions to Adobe programs that would have made the redactions permanent. What a pack of fools.
Reposted by Clay
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
December 23, 2025 at 1:28 AM
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
Reposted by Clay
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Reposted by Clay
Extraordinary courage from Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim, 43-year-old father of two, who bravely risked his life to save his neighbors celebrating Hanukkah.
Praying for his full & speedy recovery.
And so deeply inspired by his example.
Praying for his full & speedy recovery.
And so deeply inspired by his example.
December 14, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Extraordinary courage from Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim, 43-year-old father of two, who bravely risked his life to save his neighbors celebrating Hanukkah.
Praying for his full & speedy recovery.
And so deeply inspired by his example.
Praying for his full & speedy recovery.
And so deeply inspired by his example.
Reposted by Clay
Today's column: "Remember Sam Doyle, the first-time activist I wrote about in March?
Now, you can call her Mountlake Terrace City Councilmember-elect Doyle. …
Her experience can serve as something of a case study for people who might be interested in running for office for the first time."
Now, you can call her Mountlake Terrace City Councilmember-elect Doyle. …
Her experience can serve as something of a case study for people who might be interested in running for office for the first time."
She took a chance, ran for City Council — and won by 20 votes
Sam Doyle’s nail-biter of a win serves as something of a case study for people who might be interested in running for office for the first time.
www.seattletimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Today's column: "Remember Sam Doyle, the first-time activist I wrote about in March?
Now, you can call her Mountlake Terrace City Councilmember-elect Doyle. …
Her experience can serve as something of a case study for people who might be interested in running for office for the first time."
Now, you can call her Mountlake Terrace City Councilmember-elect Doyle. …
Her experience can serve as something of a case study for people who might be interested in running for office for the first time."
Reposted by Clay
Who has made this 🤣
December 7, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Who has made this 🤣
Reposted by Clay
Reposted by Clay
“why isn’t christmas magic anymore” well bitch you’re santa now, sounds like the problem is you’re not magical
December 4, 2025 at 2:19 PM
“why isn’t christmas magic anymore” well bitch you’re santa now, sounds like the problem is you’re not magical
Reposted by Clay
"Strong floor, no ceiling" is a terrible slogan because it doesn't express anything clearly, it's just noises. If you have to explain a slogan it doesn't fucking work.
November 30, 2025 at 11:50 PM
"Strong floor, no ceiling" is a terrible slogan because it doesn't express anything clearly, it's just noises. If you have to explain a slogan it doesn't fucking work.
Reposted by Clay
every time I see a post by Ms Sawant about revolution I think about how she quit a position on the city council to do a podcast
November 23, 2025 at 12:23 AM
every time I see a post by Ms Sawant about revolution I think about how she quit a position on the city council to do a podcast
Reposted by Clay
“I want their morale as low as possible because a team with low morale is ineffective.”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Clifford “Buzz” Grambo patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe—and make federal agents uncomfortable.
www.motherjones.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
“I want their morale as low as possible because a team with low morale is ineffective.”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Reposted by Clay
reminded of eric williams's observation about britain's relationship to its history with slavery. "British historians wrote almost as if Britain had introduced Negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it."
holy shit: “Among the 2,000 UK adults surveyed, 85% were unaware that Britain forcibly transported more than 3 million Africans to the Caribbean, 89% did not know that Britain enslaved people in the Caribbean for more than 300 years” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Caribbean reparations leaders in ‘historic’ first UK visit to press for justice
CRC mission will seek to deepen public understanding of Britain’s colonial legacy and its lasting impact
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:11 PM
reminded of eric williams's observation about britain's relationship to its history with slavery. "British historians wrote almost as if Britain had introduced Negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it."
Reposted by Clay
Reposted by Clay
This is the message of a failed, feckless, and leaderless party. We need a party with backbone, and the only path to it is through a cleansing primary season. If your Dem is up for reelection, and you aren't damn sure they're fighting the fascists with everything they've got, primary the bastard.
November 10, 2025 at 1:50 PM
This is the message of a failed, feckless, and leaderless party. We need a party with backbone, and the only path to it is through a cleansing primary season. If your Dem is up for reelection, and you aren't damn sure they're fighting the fascists with everything they've got, primary the bastard.
Reposted by Clay
No, it can't. We cleared this up a few years ago: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 7, 2025 at 1:26 AM
No, it can't. We cleared this up a few years ago: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Clay
Me finding out @zohrankmamdani won. Captured by the great Faraz Ansari
November 5, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Me finding out @zohrankmamdani won. Captured by the great Faraz Ansari
Reposted by Clay
LET THE HERO BORN OF WOMAN CRUSH THE SERPENT WITH HIS HEEL
November 5, 2025 at 2:07 AM
LET THE HERO BORN OF WOMAN CRUSH THE SERPENT WITH HIS HEEL
In retrospect it’s so obvious. Of COURSE our gulag archipelago would start off as camps for the homeless!
Under Trump, the draconian future of homelessness policy is coming into focus: mass internment. Utah is building a 16-acre site to detain up to 1,300 homeless people inside locked "accountability centers." This is profoundly alarming.
Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:
Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:
In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:34 PM
In retrospect it’s so obvious. Of COURSE our gulag archipelago would start off as camps for the homeless!
Reposted by Clay
There’s a Hegelian dialectic to be written about how people want humanoid robots so they can be masters and LLMs so they can compel their slaves to recognize them
This is some fucked up nonsense, but also: why the obsession with humanoid robots? Human bodies are generalists. We do a lot of things pretty well instead of a few things incredibly well, and it really seems like robots should lean into specialization.
So the $20,000 humanoid robot housekeeper actually just webcams your house to a random person in a call center with an Xbox controller www.wsj.com/tech/persona... @joannastern.bsky.social
October 29, 2025 at 3:12 AM
There’s a Hegelian dialectic to be written about how people want humanoid robots so they can be masters and LLMs so they can compel their slaves to recognize them
Reposted by Clay
I think any story about Trump's autocracy should be mostly about the people and institutions who failed to stop it. This guy isn't a political genius, everything else just happens to be rotten. 'Toddler Consolidates Power In Household' is a story about incompetent parents, not shrewd maneuvering
October 28, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I think any story about Trump's autocracy should be mostly about the people and institutions who failed to stop it. This guy isn't a political genius, everything else just happens to be rotten. 'Toddler Consolidates Power In Household' is a story about incompetent parents, not shrewd maneuvering
Well this sucks
BREAKING: John Dickerson Is Departing CBS News
BREAKING: John Dickerson Is Departing CBS News
CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickerson announced that he is departing CBS News on Monday. "I am extremely grateful," wrote Dickerson in a statement.
The post BREAKING: John Dickerson Is Departing CBS News first appeared on Mediaite.
dlvr.it
October 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Well this sucks
Reposted by Clay
Thei wante us talkinge alone on our phones to a demon thei created, and not goinge places and being wyth each othir yn art and joy and communitye. Thei want cinemas to shut downe, and broadwaye to go darke. Thei want wryteres to stop writinge. Thei want to sell us hell and have us pay for it.
October 24, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Thei wante us talkinge alone on our phones to a demon thei created, and not goinge places and being wyth each othir yn art and joy and communitye. Thei want cinemas to shut downe, and broadwaye to go darke. Thei want wryteres to stop writinge. Thei want to sell us hell and have us pay for it.
Reposted by Clay
Not enough of you believe me right now, but "Rebuild The White House" is going to become one of the most popular slogans in American political history
October 22, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Not enough of you believe me right now, but "Rebuild The White House" is going to become one of the most popular slogans in American political history