Kevin Foley
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kevinfoley.bsky.social
Kevin Foley
@kevinfoley.bsky.social
150 followers 580 following 70 posts
PhD candidate in political science. Political speech, authoritarian politics, language models, China, here
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kevinfoley.bsky.social
WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN
October 2, 2025 at 4:52 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
Particularly scary at a time when the administration is asserting a right to summarily, extrajudicially kill anyone they call a terrorist
September 15, 2025 at 9:00 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
September 11, 2025 at 11:05 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
I'm sure he hasn't but has Hegseth seen Z?
Screenshot from Z (1969). The ringleader of a gang of fascist thugs is rallying a crowd to attack supporters of a left wing politician. He says "Abroad they're told, 'Make love, not war.'" Screenshot from Z (1969). The ringleader of a gang of fascist thugs is rallying a crowd to attack supporters of a left wing politician. He says "We say, 'Make war!'" Screenshot from Z (1969). The ringleader of a gang of fascist thugs is rallying a crowd to attack supporters of a left wing politician. He says "Make war on corruption, on liberalism," Screenshot from Z (1969). The ringleader of a gang of fascist thugs is rallying a crowd to attack supporters of a left wing politician. He says "and on indiscriminate liberties!"
September 7, 2025 at 11:42 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
I'm gonna say this "warrior culture" business was weird, has been weird, and it's getting weirder every day
A fitness center poster advertising a "junior warriors" class, for "tweens only"
September 5, 2025 at 10:20 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
From David Steinberg's account of Ne Win's disastrous monetary policy decisions in 1980s Burma:
Yet only five days later, the regime announced a devastating change-perhaps the most sweeping demonetization in the contemporary world and the third since the military took over in 1962. Under it, all bank notes over K.15 ($2.50 at the official rate) were declared illegal, and no compensation was to be paid for them. The motivations behind this scheme were probably complex; it was ostensibly to eliminate the black market, a quixotic gesture since in fact the government depended on it for its existence, but it may also have been promulgated to cut inflation and the expansion of the money supply, and-some say-for abstruse asirological calculations that would enable Ne Win to live to be ninety. (Nines were said to be lucky for him. He had some years earlier had all the currency bills changed to add up to nines for the same reason; thus K.45 and K.15 bank bills were introduced and K.50 and K.100 bills, among others, withdrawn.) In any case, the BSPP Central Executive Committee was not informed in advance and was simply ordered to vote for the demonetization; it had no choice. Some modest financial modifications were later announced to select groups; after student demonstrations, some small financial conversions (K.100) were allowed so that the students could return to their homes, and rumors abounded that some members of the military bought at discounts or commandeered discredited kyat and were able to have them surreptitiously converted into legal currency.
August 28, 2025 at 1:46 AM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
I did not know this about Gillibrand, much less Connie Britton!
June 27, 2025 at 2:51 AM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
1/ There's a through line from the little green men invading Ukraine in 2014 with masks and no insignia to the masked, no-badge federal agents in unmarked vehicles grabbing people off the street, to the White House launching a stealth regime change campaign while deliberately misdirecting the public
Russian soldiers in 2014 with face masks and no insignia to indicate they are Russian soldiers. Federal agents in 2014 with face masks and no insignia to indicate they are federal agents.
June 23, 2025 at 2:28 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
I get that Newsweek is not what it used to be but this is still one of the worst ideas I've ever seen
June 19, 2025 at 1:53 AM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
Video games marketed at 30 year old men, 1987 vs 2025
Leisure Suit Larry chases a deflating sex doll across an upscale condo rooftop and stumbles on a jacuzzi. Larry is dressed in a cool white suit. In the background we see a nighttime city skyline. The vibes are pretty gross. A text window reads: In the hot tub is the most beautiful girl you've ever seen! Beside her is her towel, and swim suit. You can' t believe she doesn't mind your presence here. A woman shields a baby from futuristic gun-wielding bounty hunter type guys who have been chasing her across a lonely post-apocalyptic American landscape reduced to a desolate wasteland by unseen, unknowable forces.
June 7, 2025 at 3:20 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
So now we're shutting down symbolic sites. Blocking off access, unmarked state security vehicles loudspeaker blaring "this area is under surveillance," militarized surveillance. This is pretty much the script for Tiananmen Square every year on the anniversary of the 1989 killing of protestors.
June 6, 2025 at 2:22 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
We're past the point of yelling about headlines but come on, "crack down" implies that people from China having a visa is some sort of illegal practice. That's not how visas work!
Washington Post: Trump administration to crack down on Chinese visas, Rubio says He said the State and Homeland Security departments will work to "aggressively revoke" visas of Chinese students in the United States, "including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields." Cambridge Dictionary definition of "crack down": phrasal verb to start dealing with bad or illegal behavior in a more severe way: Police organized operations to crack down in the area's most dangerous neighborhoods. The government is trying to crack down, but that risks shifting the activity towards underground money exchangers.
May 29, 2025 at 2:48 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
I eat out in DC pretty often, there is like one extra item on the receipt and most restaurants don't even do that
May 21, 2025 at 1:01 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
The Netflix "More Like This" page for The Sugarland Express is hilariously random, like it's just the last nine movies watched by the one other Netflix profile that watched The Sugarland Express
Netflix landing page for Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express (1974) Movie posters for The Mule, Hanna, Bonnie & Clyde, Lou, Black Mass, The Photographer of Mauthausen, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, May December, The Big Ugly, Emily the Criminal, The Infiltrator, The Highwaymen
May 13, 2025 at 1:39 AM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
This place is starting to feel more and more like

oh whatever, I give up
Screenshot: South China Morning Post China / Politics China's Communist Party Top China think tank shuts down research centre after questions of party loyalty Chinese Academy of Social Sciences abolishes entity, warns any activities carried out in its name would be illegal Screenshot: Washington Post DOGE plays hardball in U.S. Institute of Peace takeover U.S. attorney and FBI threatened criminal prosecution and enlisted D.C. police to enter the USIP building. Updated March 19. 2025
April 7, 2025 at 6:16 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
I just cannot watch this guy doing an interview without thinking it's Andy Daly in a new season of Review
March 30, 2025 at 3:51 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
Name a TV show you're positive no one remembers but you.
Cover art: Early Edition is an American fantasy comedy-drama television series that aired on CBS from September 28, 1996, to May 27, 2000. Set in Chicago, Illinois, it follows the adventures of a man who mysteriously receives each Chicago Sun-Times newspaper the day before it is actually published, and who uses this knowledge to prevent terrible events every day.
November 20, 2024 at 3:16 AM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
The guy from Awakenings outsquatting Conan, incredible
screenshot: When I came to the States in 1960, I concentrated on powerlifting and especially squatting. I had a routine of fives-five sets of five reps with 555 pounds every fifth day-and in 1960 I got the California record for a 600 pound full squat. screenshot: Then there were the squats, lots of them, an exercise rarely associated with the seven-time Olympia and a glaring weakness from his brief powerlifting career. Topping off an exhausting onslaught of eight pyramided sets, both men did 465 for 6-8 reps. A one-rep calculator puts Arnold's max squat at 540 to 577, depending on if he got 6 or 8 reps, which is in line with his claimed best of 545. It's possible he grew stronger over the next few years (he competed at his heaviest in 1974, but he also had knee surgery in 1973); we lack eyewitness or photographic evidence of bigger lifts
November 9, 2024 at 2:24 AM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
bliss
November 7, 2024 at 6:36 PM
kevinfoley.bsky.social
January 20, 2024 at 5:04 AM