Erich Langsam
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pedrololangsam.bsky.social
Erich Langsam
@pedrololangsam.bsky.social
130 followers 500 following 37 posts
Public Finance, Kästner und Tucholsky, the left is right
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Reposted by Erich Langsam
raypride.bsky.social
Rob Reiner: “Silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity. Speaking out is a patriotic act. Democracy doesn’t defend itself. It requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people."
December 15, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
mclem.org
The extremely reckless obliteration of USAID, and the foreseen mass death caused by everyone involved, should follow them forever.
themorrancave.bsky.social Chris Morran @themorrancave.bsky.social · 12d
The human cost of Trump's gutting of USAID: By the time Tor Top’s mother was sick with cholera, the nearby clinic had been shuttered for weeks. He bundled her into a canoe & paddled toward the nearest hospital, 8 hours away. Less than halfway into the journey, his mother died.

New, @propublica.org
Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.
Behind closed doors in Washington, top advisers made a series of decisions that had devastating repercussions for the poorest country on earth. We went to South Sudan and found people who died as a re...
www.propublica.org
December 15, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
gabrielzucman.bsky.social
It has become received wisdom in Brussels and Washington that there is a new “euro-sclerosis”: that the EU economy is lagging the US

This view is wrong

A little primer on the measurement of productivity – and why reports of the economic death of Europe are greatly exaggerated🧵
December 12, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
besttrousers.bsky.social
You've discovered Nate Silverism.
December 13, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
reneengel.bsky.social
Ich verstehe wirklich nicht, was noch passieren muss, damit demokratische Kräfte diese Jauchegrube endlich verlassen. X wäre wirklich innerhalb weniger Tage tot, wenn Politiker*innen nicht so sehr an ihrer Followerzahl dort hängen würden.
abgeordnete.bsky.social Abgeordnete auf Bluesky @abgeordnete.bsky.social · 20d
Sehr geehrte demokratische Abgeordnete des Deutschen Bundestags,

der einzige Grund, warum die Plattform X in Deutschland noch Relevanz hat, ist Ihre Anwesenheit dort. Ohne Amts- und Mandatsträger wird die Plattform auch für Journalisten irrelevant und mit ihnen für die gesamte politische Blase.
Tweet Elon Musk "The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that fovernments can better represent their people" Antwort Dmitry Medveded: "Exactly"
December 7, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
mcopelov.bsky.social
🇺🇸 foreign policy is now explicitly that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, wherever in the world we want - including murdering civilians on the high seas - while our closest democratic allies should be punished for deciding together to delegate a bit of regulatory sovereignty to Brussels.
mcopelov.bsky.social Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 20d
Naive foreign ministry official of far right authoritarian government in Washington upset that other countries have agency & domestic politics, too 🇪🇺
abenewman.bsky.social Abe Newman @abenewman.bsky.social · 20d
2/Here the Under Secretary of State is pretty clear, "The nations of Europe cannot look to the US for their own security at the same time they affirmatively undermine the security of the US itself through the (unelected, undemocratic, and unrepresentative) EU".
www.politico.eu/article/top-...
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
rufus-hickok.bsky.social
Sitting in a comfortable home with a steady income; living a life of almost unbearable tedium and routine; fantasizing about the psychopathologies potentially unleashed by the fall of civil society, the only freedom still possible for him.
sharonk.bsky.social Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 21d
that's cool, man, but have you tried the taste of a refreshing matcha latte
"I look forward to the day when liberals and conservatives go to civil war." "You liberals are not going to stand a chance against us." "Try to take us on and see what happens." That is going to be the ULTIMATE FAFO!!
December 6, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
p-hunermund.com
I find it genuinely frightening that so much power is concentrated in someone so morally compromised.
eunews.social European News @eunews.social · 21d
Elon Musk and his Russian friends call for the abolishment of the EU
On Twitter/X, Elon Musk says: “The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people.” Dmitry Medvedev, ex-President and ex-Prime Minister of Russia, a close ally of Vladimir Putin and currently the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, then replies to Elon Musk’s post approvingly, saying “Exactly.”
December 6, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
mcopelov.bsky.social
Yeah, this is the stuff 👇🎯👍
December 6, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
samfr.bsky.social
Also the Romans literally had a welfare system that included cash transfers for poor children. (And subsidised grain for low income workers...).
stephenkb.bsky.social Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 29d
There was no state. Who does she think crucified him, an anarchist collective?
November 28, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
stephenkb.bsky.social
We have got to make politics intellectual again. It is the only way that societies thrive is when politicians have the capability to actually think and reflect deeply:
I confess that I always had difficulty with interpreting the Biblical precept to love our neighbours “as ourselves” until I read some of the words of C.S. Lewis. He pointed out that we don't exactly love ourselves when we fall below the standards and beliefs we have accepted. Indeed we might even hate ourselves for some unworthy deed. None of this, of course, tells us exactly what kind of political and social institutions we should have. On this point, Christians will very often genuinely disagree, though it is a mark of Christian manners that they will do so with courtesy and mutual respect. [Applause] What is certain, however, is that any set of social and economic arrangements which is not founded on the acceptance of individual responsibility will do nothing but harm.
November 28, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
cjterry.bsky.social
I'm sorry but these grok answers are my favourite thing in the world.
nkalamb.bsky.social Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · Nov 21
I literally could not stop myself from inappropriately laughing out loud for real
November 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
claudia-sahm.bsky.social
“Claudia Sahm, a former Fed economist who blasted Summers and others for sexism in a widely shared and highly critical 2020 blog post, sounded vindicated. “Okay, so maybe I wasn’t too mean to him…” she said on social media after the emails were made public last week.” www.wsj.com/us-news/larr...
How Larry Summers’s Power Delayed the Reckoning Over His Epstein Ties
The former Treasury Secretary and Harvard president’s enormous network and clout kept him immune from past Jeffrey Epstein revelations. But this time was just too much.
www.wsj.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
dak62.bsky.social
Kühnerts Warnung trifft den Kern. Wenn die AfD auf Landesebene Sonderpolizeien fordert,erinnert das fatal an die politische Polizei Rudolf Diels, aus der sich Gestapo und Sipo entwickelten.Ein Staat, der solche Strukturen zulässt, öffnet die Tür für autoritäre Macht statt rechtsstaatlicher Kontrolle
Kritik an AfD-Forderungen: Kühnert warnt Polizei vor Zuständen wie in den USA
Kevin Kühnert mahnt die Polizei, aus Entwicklungen in den USA zu lernen. Er kritisiert bestimmte Forderungen der AfD, wie die Schaffung von „Sonderpolizeieinheiten“.
www.tagesspiegel.de
November 20, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
duncanweldon.bsky.social
I sometimes feel like I am going mad.

Owning a £1.5m home is not normal in London or the South East of England.
November 20, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
cihancelik.bsky.social
Das Bild einer Entfremdung: Die Stipendiaten der Deutschlandstiftung Integration verlassen bei der Rede des Bundeskanzlers den Saal.
Viele wollen es nicht verstehen oder wahr haben, aber die Äußerungen des Kanzlers haben enorme Kränkungen verursacht.
November 19, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
chrisgeidner.bsky.social
Bari Weiss, I believe this is your moment.
volts.wtf David Roberts @volts.wtf · Nov 18
Is it a threat to free speech when the President of the United States threatens to yank the broadcast license of a channel whose reporters are asking him challenging questions?

I ask because I feel like there used to be tons of pundits worried about free speech. Where'd they go?
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Nov 18
Trump in response to an Epstein question: "ABC, your company, your crappy company is one of the perpetrators. I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, a chairman, who should take a look at that."
November 18, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
claesdevreese.bsky.social
Today seems like a good day to point to @kristinabsimonsen.bsky.social’s recent piece on why (Britian) may not just ‘copy’ Danish migration policies.

Political context, negative consequences and mixed public sentiments matter.

ukandeu.ac.uk/denmarks-mig...
Denmark’s migration policy – an example to follow? - UK in a changing Europe
Kristina Bakkær Simonsen explains why countries feel they have something to learn from Denmark's strict migration policy, but argues that there are many key pitfalls.
ukandeu.ac.uk
November 16, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
Pundits: Why didn't Kamala Harris run to the center on immigration?

Kamala Harris's campaign speeches:
Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. The Border Patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign. So he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Well, I refuse to play politics with our security. Here is my pledge to you: As President, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed. And I will sign it into law. I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants- And reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship- And secure our border. America, we must also be steadfast in advancing our security and our values abroad. Harris: So, in this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week (applause) any day of the week, including, for example, on the issue of immigration. So, I was the attorney general of a border state. In that job, I walked underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico on that border with law enforcement officers. I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels, and human traffickers that came into our country illegally. I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won. So, I was the attorney general of a border state. In that job, I walked underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico on that border with law enforcement officers. I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels, and human traffickers that came into our country illegally. I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won. Donald Trump (applause) Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk (applause) or as my friend Quavo would say, he does not walk it like he talks it. (Applause.) Where's Quavo? (Laughs.) So, look, our administration worked on the most significant border security bill in decades. Some of the most conservative Republicans in Washington, D.C., supported the bill. Even the Border Patrol endorsed it. It was all set to pass. But at the last minute, Trump directed his allies in the Senate to vote it down.
November 16, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
getwired.com
If you need me, tap me on the shoulder. I’ll be happily working all day listening to this on a loop.
November 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
timothysnyder.bsky.social
Creating the US SA was always and obviously the idea.
shashj.bsky.social Shashank Joshi @shashj.bsky.social · Nov 13
"what began as a way to increase the pace of deportations has come to look like a national police force, answerable to the president, that is at least as focused on bullying the residents of Democrat-run cities as it is on deporting undocumented migrants" www.economist.com/interactive/...
See how Donald Trump is creating his own police force
Immigration agents are operating in cities with few legal constraints
www.economist.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
nataschastrobl.bsky.social
Ich verstehe nicht warum der 1. Weltkrieg in der Erinnerungskultur von Österreich und Deutschland keine Rolle spielt.
Er hat unvorstellbares Grauen über die Welt gebracht. Ohne ihn wäre der Aufstieg des Faschismus nicht denkbar.

Georg Trakl - Grodek

„Alle Straßen münden in schwarze Verwesung…“
Grodek. Am Abend tönen die herbstlichen Wälder Von tödlichen Waffen, die goldnen Ebenen Und blauen Seen, darüber die Sonne Düstrer hinrollt; umfängt die Nacht Sterbende Krieger, die wilde Klage Ihrer zerbrochenen Münder. Doch stille sammelt im Weidengrund Rotes Gewölk, darin ein zürnender Gott wohnt Das vergossne Blut sich, mondne Kühle; Alle Straßen münden in schwarze Verwesung. Unter goldnem Gezweig der Nacht und Sternen Es schwankt der Schwester Schatten durch den schweigenden Hain, Zu grüßen die Geister der Helden, die blutenden Häupter; Und leise tönen im Rohr die dunkeln Flöten des Herbstes. O stolzere Trauer! ihr ehernen Altäre Die heiße Flamme des Geistes nährt heute ein gewaltiger Schmerz, Die ungebornen Enkel.
November 10, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
mattseybold.bsky.social
Synthetic Risk Transfer is a financial innovation you probably haven’t heard of, the specific variety of securitization which is beginning to look like the Credit Default Swap of the next financial crisis.
November 9, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
The bad news: The elites in charge of America’s civic institutions have too often displayed an accommodationist mindset, refusing to use the immense resources at their disposal to put up a fight, choosing a path somewhere between acquiescence and active complicity instead.
November 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Erich Langsam
rusudandjakeli.bsky.social
Several more arrests in Georgia tonight — among them Rusiko Kobakhidze, a Soviet-history scholar at SovLab, professor at Ilia University, mother of nine, and one of the most determined figures in the protests.

Rusiko stood in the middle of Rustaveli Avenue yesterday and again today, risking jail.
November 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM