@radicalrealism.bsky.social
Trump/GOP/Cons' authority & power wrests on simultaneously representing themselves as victims & vanquishers--a mendacious rhetorical fantasy wch bcms ever more evidently paradoxical as Trump, et al, bully gov't, public--NGO's--& private institutions, & ppl.
November 26, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Trump/GOP/Cons' authority & power wrests on simultaneously representing themselves as victims & vanquishers--a mendacious rhetorical fantasy wch bcms ever more evidently paradoxical as Trump, et al, bully gov't, public--NGO's--& private institutions, & ppl.
Our sys isn't really "designed toward self-destruction". It was designed to protect/promote elite power/interests, w/ safeguards that are impotent agnst shameless & arrogant ambition, wch escalate thru a pos fdbck loop. Self-destrucxn, of that sys, & thereby of elites, is the unintended consequence.
Just a reminder that we could be living in an America in which Trump and his fellow conspirators are spending the rest of their lives in prison if we had serious politicians and a system that wasn’t hellbent on and designed toward self-destruction.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/w...
Bolsonaro to Start Serving 27-Year Sentence Over Coup Plot
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Our sys isn't really "designed toward self-destruction". It was designed to protect/promote elite power/interests, w/ safeguards that are impotent agnst shameless & arrogant ambition, wch escalate thru a pos fdbck loop. Self-destrucxn, of that sys, & thereby of elites, is the unintended consequence.
If this man is not running for office, I respectfully request that he consider doing so! Rarely does anyone hit so hard with factual details & contextualizing truths. Most resort to mere rhetoric to hit so hard, but rhetoric can offend those who are most uninformed, so it fails it's mission.
November 24, 2025 at 5:22 PM
If this man is not running for office, I respectfully request that he consider doing so! Rarely does anyone hit so hard with factual details & contextualizing truths. Most resort to mere rhetoric to hit so hard, but rhetoric can offend those who are most uninformed, so it fails it's mission.
This is a brilliantly peremptory, yet eminently humane way to defend against bigotry & simultaneously give an individual the opportunity to grow by amending their personal bias.
Massive shoutout out to whoever handles the Royal Canadian Air Force’s social media account. They responded to every single comment on their already very solid Trans Day of Remembrance post and they responded like this…
November 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
This is a brilliantly peremptory, yet eminently humane way to defend against bigotry & simultaneously give an individual the opportunity to grow by amending their personal bias.
It's imperative to avoid conflating vulnerability & weakness. Trump is vulnerable, but as long as he holds office he's not weak. In fact, the more vulnerable he is/feels, the more dangerous he becomes by virtue of the power--both formal to command, & rhetorical, to persuade--he wields over ppl.
November 20, 2025 at 7:20 PM
It's imperative to avoid conflating vulnerability & weakness. Trump is vulnerable, but as long as he holds office he's not weak. In fact, the more vulnerable he is/feels, the more dangerous he becomes by virtue of the power--both formal to command, & rhetorical, to persuade--he wields over ppl.
Trump & the GOP's #OneBigBombasticLie is bad for anyone outside the top 10% income &/or wealth bracket. It's just a matter of time before the harm will be experienced. Some are delayed a year or 2, like the lower tax bracket cuts wch expire in 1 - 2 yrs while the upper bracket cuts last.
Trump and Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Law” will kick 15 million people off their health insurance.
This is bad news for EVERYONE.
This is bad news for EVERYONE.
November 19, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Trump & the GOP's #OneBigBombasticLie is bad for anyone outside the top 10% income &/or wealth bracket. It's just a matter of time before the harm will be experienced. Some are delayed a year or 2, like the lower tax bracket cuts wch expire in 1 - 2 yrs while the upper bracket cuts last.
No matter how paltry the data, how specious the premise, or that their "theory" is devoid of causality, if the Right can play aggrieved victim rather than contextualize data, analyze premises, or admit their theory is spurious, they will build a grievance narrative. Any credulous cohort will do.
The “canceled people” database listing victims of cancel culture, which includes oft-repeated cases such as Bret Weinstein (Evergreen State College) and James Damore (Google), has a little over 200 entries across 18 years.
canceledpeople.org
canceledpeople.org
New: Reuters has tallied job losses, suspensions and investigations stemming from the reaction to Charlie Kirk's Sept. 10 assassination. Its findings: More than 600 Americans have been punished, and the figure is likely to be an under-count.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
November 19, 2025 at 4:35 PM
No matter how paltry the data, how specious the premise, or that their "theory" is devoid of causality, if the Right can play aggrieved victim rather than contextualize data, analyze premises, or admit their theory is spurious, they will build a grievance narrative. Any credulous cohort will do.
This Warzel piece reveals the shallowness, callowness & callousness of every elite who had contact w/ Epstein. Their interactions are all transactional, i.e., offers or offer-seeking in the mode of quid pro quos.
Importance: High
subj: An article for U (gift link)
i wrote ,,,,,, about jeff epstein. s emails.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
subj: An article for U (gift link)
i wrote ,,,,,, about jeff epstein. s emails.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
When QAnon Meets Veep
The dumb, abhorrent truth at the heart of the Epstein scandal
www.theatlantic.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:09 PM
This Warzel piece reveals the shallowness, callowness & callousness of every elite who had contact w/ Epstein. Their interactions are all transactional, i.e., offers or offer-seeking in the mode of quid pro quos.
A 27 screen cineplex operaring 24 hours/day doesn't project this much. Not even in a year.
Trump just now: “Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat's problem, not the Republican's problem! …Don’t waste your time with Trump. “
November 14, 2025 at 6:10 PM
A 27 screen cineplex operaring 24 hours/day doesn't project this much. Not even in a year.
That algorithms & AI often fail to distinguish reality from fiction is reason enough not to rely on either to judiciously & humanely mediate social interaction or the search for truth, i.e., to remove & dispose of errors injected--intentionally or not--into discourse or scientific inquiry.
I got suspended for an entire day once for calling Blanche Devereaux from the Golden Girls a slut. A thing she and every other character on the show said all the time.
November 14, 2025 at 5:13 PM
That algorithms & AI often fail to distinguish reality from fiction is reason enough not to rely on either to judiciously & humanely mediate social interaction or the search for truth, i.e., to remove & dispose of errors injected--intentionally or not--into discourse or scientific inquiry.
Reposted
The DOJ is suing California over Prop 50, saying it's a "brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process."
Nothing mocks democracy like a president ordering red states to gerrymander while prosecuting a blue state for letting its voters decide.
Nothing mocks democracy like a president ordering red states to gerrymander while prosecuting a blue state for letting its voters decide.
November 13, 2025 at 11:35 PM
The DOJ is suing California over Prop 50, saying it's a "brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process."
Nothing mocks democracy like a president ordering red states to gerrymander while prosecuting a blue state for letting its voters decide.
Nothing mocks democracy like a president ordering red states to gerrymander while prosecuting a blue state for letting its voters decide.
If this keeps up AI won't evolve to kill off or enslave the human race, at least not directly. Human use of AI will crash the world economy by making the internet & digital technologies unusable for trade & communication. That will unleashed chaos & uncertainty, but at least AI will be thwarted. 🤦♂️
(WSJ) -- China's state-sponsored hackers used artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic to automate break-ins of major corporations and foreign governments during a September hacking campaign, the company said Thursday.
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chin...
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chin...
November 13, 2025 at 9:05 PM
If this keeps up AI won't evolve to kill off or enslave the human race, at least not directly. Human use of AI will crash the world economy by making the internet & digital technologies unusable for trade & communication. That will unleashed chaos & uncertainty, but at least AI will be thwarted. 🤦♂️
This is a good assessment of the larger political realities behind & implicit in the DEM+1 defectors' capitulation to Trump/GOP. There are a couple of points I wish to expound on. A thread:
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Democrats Should Have Let Republicans Kill the Filibuster
Instead of caving on the shutdown, Democrats should have waited for the GOP to cave on Trump’s demand to scotch this antidemocratic tactic.
www.thenation.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:05 AM
This is a good assessment of the larger political realities behind & implicit in the DEM+1 defectors' capitulation to Trump/GOP. There are a couple of points I wish to expound on. A thread:
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Great short thread on the intangibles of institutional politics in an age of unscrupulous political partisans & the replacement of policy discourse w/ rhetoric & recrimination, i.e., thunderdome politics.
(1 of 3) I used to negotiate for a living, and I'm trying to determine how many basic rules of negotiation these eight schmucks who somehow stumbled into becoming United States Senators violated. The list seems endless. For instance, if your negotiating partner is fucking crazy sociopathic ghoul...
November 10, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Great short thread on the intangibles of institutional politics in an age of unscrupulous political partisans & the replacement of policy discourse w/ rhetoric & recrimination, i.e., thunderdome politics.
Durbin fails to understand how the GOP works, wch is, adversely to democracy, justice, decency & basic good-faith. The GOP must not be trusted to keep promises & obey norms because they have repeatedly reneged & transgressed. Norms apply only to those who obey them. Guess who obeys? Every damn time!
Durbin said critics of his vote “need to understand how the Senate works”
November 10, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Durbin fails to understand how the GOP works, wch is, adversely to democracy, justice, decency & basic good-faith. The GOP must not be trusted to keep promises & obey norms because they have repeatedly reneged & transgressed. Norms apply only to those who obey them. Guess who obeys? Every damn time!
Reposted
Expel the yes votes from the party and cut off all their access to fundraising, then remove Schumer from leadership. Anything less is mealy-mouthed coward bullshit.
As this vote moves to the House, I stand with Democratic leadership as they refuse to rubber stamp the full-scale Republican assault on Americans’ health care and I am proud of the majority of Senate Democrats who opposed this vote.
November 10, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Expel the yes votes from the party and cut off all their access to fundraising, then remove Schumer from leadership. Anything less is mealy-mouthed coward bullshit.
Using retail consumption as any kind of indicator of economic prosperity doesn't capture all the unrequited demand for luxury goods due to inequality, wch wld negate much of the perception of prosperity. Trying to objectively define or quantify prosperity this way is delusional; it's truly relative.
I followed the chain back and I don't think the claim is really consensus belief on here, I just think the relevant nexus of beliefs highly correlates with "likely to get in a fight with Will Stancil" and that is distorting his perception somewhat.
This is literally the consensus belief on this website. And because everyone knows it’s the consensus belief, big tastemaker accounts completely refuse to challenge it, because their game is to say things that they know the majority of their audience will agree with. So the falsehood spreads.
November 10, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Using retail consumption as any kind of indicator of economic prosperity doesn't capture all the unrequited demand for luxury goods due to inequality, wch wld negate much of the perception of prosperity. Trying to objectively define or quantify prosperity this way is delusional; it's truly relative.
This post and the one it's quoting each deserve more than one like and re-post. Alas!
👇🎯 Unfortunately, this is true & probably the only way. Voters need to realize that hating government, & illegally defunding & dismantling it, & pretending that we can run a modern society/economy on Ronald Reagan's shabby talking point & worn copies of Atlas Shrugged & Mein Kampf is untenable.
Democrats have to stop bailing out Republicans from facing the consequences of their own policies. And yeah, that means they have to stop sparing voters from experiencing what GOP government truly means.
Every time Dems step in, it only emboldens the GOP & they make it even worse the next time.
Every time Dems step in, it only emboldens the GOP & they make it even worse the next time.
November 10, 2025 at 1:00 AM
This post and the one it's quoting each deserve more than one like and re-post. Alas!
I have no notes . . . because I can't stop shaking my damn head.
With a “WOW!,” President Trump posts a claim about DOGE and “royalties linked to Obamacare” that originated on a satirical website. That site’s own About section reads: “Everything on this website is fiction… If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined.”
November 9, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I have no notes . . . because I can't stop shaking my damn head.
Reposted
Reposted
Have you heard of “The Populist Playbook?”
A few years ago, I posted what I still consider one of my most important messages.
It was about “The Populist Playbook” that I’ve watched play out often over my 33+ years of city planning.
Since then, it’s only gotten worse.
Do the steps sound familiar?
A few years ago, I posted what I still consider one of my most important messages.
It was about “The Populist Playbook” that I’ve watched play out often over my 33+ years of city planning.
Since then, it’s only gotten worse.
Do the steps sound familiar?
November 8, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Have you heard of “The Populist Playbook?”
A few years ago, I posted what I still consider one of my most important messages.
It was about “The Populist Playbook” that I’ve watched play out often over my 33+ years of city planning.
Since then, it’s only gotten worse.
Do the steps sound familiar?
A few years ago, I posted what I still consider one of my most important messages.
It was about “The Populist Playbook” that I’ve watched play out often over my 33+ years of city planning.
Since then, it’s only gotten worse.
Do the steps sound familiar?
There's an asymmetry of purposes, priorities & realities btwn L & R intellectuals that reorients the salience of the OP's point below.
LW intellectuals (LWi) read RWi to comprehend & analyze RW ideas & policies, & LW criticism of RW ideas & policies naturally flows from that academic endeavor.
LW intellectuals (LWi) read RWi to comprehend & analyze RW ideas & policies, & LW criticism of RW ideas & policies naturally flows from that academic endeavor.
I've been reporting on the Right for 25 years. You're mistaken. Their *strategists* spend an enormous amount of time studying liberal and left writers and generally are far more aware of the range of left & lib thinking than most of left/lib are of rightwing thinking. But so what? They're wrong.
November 7, 2025 at 10:25 PM
There's an asymmetry of purposes, priorities & realities btwn L & R intellectuals that reorients the salience of the OP's point below.
LW intellectuals (LWi) read RWi to comprehend & analyze RW ideas & policies, & LW criticism of RW ideas & policies naturally flows from that academic endeavor.
LW intellectuals (LWi) read RWi to comprehend & analyze RW ideas & policies, & LW criticism of RW ideas & policies naturally flows from that academic endeavor.
I second this motion!
Steve Bannon: If we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included.
November 7, 2025 at 12:27 AM
I second this motion!
"[A] strong pro-democracy conservative party" is a whimsical notion, not a serious idea. Conservatism is inherently illiberal, i.e., rigidly conventional & intransigently opposed to non-traditional ideas & ways of being.
The other thing about Nancy Pelosi is that, like all of us who are Cassandras in political science, she was right about the need for a strong Republican Party (by which she, & we, mean a strong pro-democracy conservative party). This is deeply unpopular on Bluesky dot com, but no less true for it.
No, really, we need a strong pro-democracy conservative party to survive as a democracy. Nancy Pelosi & everyone you don't like for saying that are correct. You don't have to support it, or vote for it. You may hate its policies. But the survival of democracy requires it.
bsky.app/profile/tomp...
bsky.app/profile/tomp...
November 6, 2025 at 6:37 PM
"[A] strong pro-democracy conservative party" is a whimsical notion, not a serious idea. Conservatism is inherently illiberal, i.e., rigidly conventional & intransigently opposed to non-traditional ideas & ways of being.
The preeminent purpose of policing is to avail property rights. Policing was invented to secure the chattel of enslavers, who abused their "property" with absolute impunity, & to assuage the insecurities of enslavers who feared retribution from those they enslaved.
The nature of policing is to avoid accountability and responsibility. That is how it works, in the past, today, and in the future. (I’m not allowing responses because I don’t want to keep explaining. At this point if you tell me the police need to be more professional, I’ll just tap this.)
November 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
The preeminent purpose of policing is to avail property rights. Policing was invented to secure the chattel of enslavers, who abused their "property" with absolute impunity, & to assuage the insecurities of enslavers who feared retribution from those they enslaved.