Michael Rader
@theoryof.games
chaotic good xennial ND nerd in the coastal empire. vp at Frakture. longtime digital strategist + policy wonk. If we must do without hope, there is always vengeance.
Pinned
Michael Rader
@theoryof.games
· Nov 13
🧷 Hi! I'm Michael. Work in political data. Solar policy wonk, eternal dungeon master, video game nerd, ebike enthusiast. Chronic disease haver. Mostly post about:
- Progressive politics + solar/renewables
- Video games + TTRPGs
- Assorted health + nerd shit
- My beagle Sunny, the #1 best dog
- Progressive politics + solar/renewables
- Video games + TTRPGs
- Assorted health + nerd shit
- My beagle Sunny, the #1 best dog
Anybody know what the House looks like if the 2024 results were adjusted so Dems win everything below R+15? Just curious.
December 3, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Anybody know what the House looks like if the 2024 results were adjusted so Dems win everything below R+15? Just curious.
Reposted by Michael Rader
If you ever wondered what GOP gerrymandering looks like in red states with blue cities, I present:
December 2, 2025 at 8:49 PM
If you ever wondered what GOP gerrymandering looks like in red states with blue cities, I present:
Shirk responsibility. Blame others. Be a man.
1. This is not what fog of war means.
2. There is no war
3. He's trying to distance himself from murders he had direct responsibility over
4. All I can think of when I hear this phrase now is Elon Musk complaining that he hates chess because it has no fog of war.
2. There is no war
3. He's trying to distance himself from murders he had direct responsibility over
4. All I can think of when I hear this phrase now is Elon Musk complaining that he hates chess because it has no fog of war.
Q: So you didn't see any survivors after that first strike?
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
December 2, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Shirk responsibility. Blame others. Be a man.
It is disqualifying for a Secretary of Defense to be younger than me and not have played Warcraft.
"The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war" @sodrock.bsky.social real??
Q: So you didn't see any survivors after that first strike?
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
December 2, 2025 at 9:23 PM
It is disqualifying for a Secretary of Defense to be younger than me and not have played Warcraft.
If Donald Trump is going to insist on a cabinet that praises him for stopping hurricanes like a deity, he should at least have the courtesy to stay awake for it.
December 2, 2025 at 6:29 PM
If Donald Trump is going to insist on a cabinet that praises him for stopping hurricanes like a deity, he should at least have the courtesy to stay awake for it.
Imagine reading this paragraph of real English language text in, say 2015, and trying to figure out what was happening.
Ironic memes about the "We Are Charlie Kirk" song, Kirk faceswaps, and Nazi occulist brainrot have collided on TikTok and things are getting very, very dark very, very fast. Your kids are watching nazislop on TikTok.
www.garbageday.email/p/your-kids-...
www.garbageday.email/p/your-kids-...
December 2, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Imagine reading this paragraph of real English language text in, say 2015, and trying to figure out what was happening.
The Twelve Days of Squaresoft 🎼
twelve world runners
eleven warmechs nuking
ten bards a spooning
nine time gates closing
eight fencers braving
seven Disney mashups
six limits broken
FIVE CHOCOBOS
four lunches swiped
three mana swords
two lion wars
and a white mage with a phoenix down
twelve world runners
eleven warmechs nuking
ten bards a spooning
nine time gates closing
eight fencers braving
seven Disney mashups
six limits broken
FIVE CHOCOBOS
four lunches swiped
three mana swords
two lion wars
and a white mage with a phoenix down
December 2, 2025 at 5:26 PM
The Twelve Days of Squaresoft 🎼
twelve world runners
eleven warmechs nuking
ten bards a spooning
nine time gates closing
eight fencers braving
seven Disney mashups
six limits broken
FIVE CHOCOBOS
four lunches swiped
three mana swords
two lion wars
and a white mage with a phoenix down
twelve world runners
eleven warmechs nuking
ten bards a spooning
nine time gates closing
eight fencers braving
seven Disney mashups
six limits broken
FIVE CHOCOBOS
four lunches swiped
three mana swords
two lion wars
and a white mage with a phoenix down
Reposted by Michael Rader
i'm actually struck by how pete hegseth isn't just a cowardly man but a capital-c Coward. a guy who gets off on abusing and hurting people he thinks are weaker than him and then tries to run and hide when there might be consequences
December 2, 2025 at 1:45 PM
i'm actually struck by how pete hegseth isn't just a cowardly man but a capital-c Coward. a guy who gets off on abusing and hurting people he thinks are weaker than him and then tries to run and hide when there might be consequences
Art saves lives.
I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.
December 2, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Art saves lives.
Reposted by Michael Rader
She should just skip the formalities and drop out to get on the conservative grifter tour because that’s clearly the goal here
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
November 30, 2025 at 10:33 PM
She should just skip the formalities and drop out to get on the conservative grifter tour because that’s clearly the goal here
Stop hiring CEOs
Stop interviewing CEOs
Stop interviewing CEOs about AI.
November 30, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Stop hiring CEOs
We're in the "picking sides" part of neo-fascist ascendancy.
Everybody gets that right? Does anyone need some time to catch up? We can push back on this with everything we have or it's going to (continue to) get much much worse.
Everybody gets that right? Does anyone need some time to catch up? We can push back on this with everything we have or it's going to (continue to) get much much worse.
November 29, 2025 at 2:02 AM
We're in the "picking sides" part of neo-fascist ascendancy.
Everybody gets that right? Does anyone need some time to catch up? We can push back on this with everything we have or it's going to (continue to) get much much worse.
Everybody gets that right? Does anyone need some time to catch up? We can push back on this with everything we have or it's going to (continue to) get much much worse.
Every longtime political organizer (the people who make change happen, not electeds or pundits) will tell you this is true.
'Democrat' is not a species with DNA: it is an empty box into which any combination of politics may be poured, same as 'Republican.' Try to pour in something good and useful.
Perhaps this jumps out at me more clearly because I do not identify as a Democrat myself.
Perhaps this jumps out at me more clearly because I do not identify as a Democrat myself.
November 28, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Every longtime political organizer (the people who make change happen, not electeds or pundits) will tell you this is true.
Dems should do this and announce it and campaign on it. We have to be able to make a public political case for justice, by any means.
Dems don't have to announce it, but they should absolutely internally commit to signing on to ICC and handing over most of the admin/cabinet to The Hague at the first opportunity. It's going to be the only way to get justice ultimately.
If Trump proactively pardons Hegseth, the solution is to signal either to the ICC or the country of origin of the murdered men that we will honor extradition requests on this point.
And then, in something of an irony, Noem him out of the country before anyone can react.
And then, in something of an irony, Noem him out of the country before anyone can react.
November 28, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Dems should do this and announce it and campaign on it. We have to be able to make a public political case for justice, by any means.
Reposted by Michael Rader
National Guard aren’t ICE or Border Patrol. They didn’t sign up looking to harass and repress people. They’re volunteers, part time, in case of emergency. They didn’t ask for this.
West Virginia National Guard shouldn’t have been deployed in Washington DC.
Victims of the shooter and the president.
West Virginia National Guard shouldn’t have been deployed in Washington DC.
Victims of the shooter and the president.
November 28, 2025 at 3:06 AM
National Guard aren’t ICE or Border Patrol. They didn’t sign up looking to harass and repress people. They’re volunteers, part time, in case of emergency. They didn’t ask for this.
West Virginia National Guard shouldn’t have been deployed in Washington DC.
Victims of the shooter and the president.
West Virginia National Guard shouldn’t have been deployed in Washington DC.
Victims of the shooter and the president.
Reposted by Michael Rader
Stephen Miller’s ancestors were Jewish refugees from the pogroms in czarist Russia. They came to the U.S. in the early twentieth century, even as racists said this same stuff about them.
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Stephen Miller’s ancestors were Jewish refugees from the pogroms in czarist Russia. They came to the U.S. in the early twentieth century, even as racists said this same stuff about them.
My reading of Tolkien metatexts is that Sauron of the Third Age is no longer a Maia. IMO the Istari are also no longer technically Maia, at least while incarnated in their current form, but if someone wants to argue differently I'm not going to fight too hard.
Sauron, however, seems clear cut.
Sauron, however, seems clear cut.
November 28, 2025 at 2:30 PM
My reading of Tolkien metatexts is that Sauron of the Third Age is no longer a Maia. IMO the Istari are also no longer technically Maia, at least while incarnated in their current form, but if someone wants to argue differently I'm not going to fight too hard.
Sauron, however, seems clear cut.
Sauron, however, seems clear cut.
My mom has a collection of artifacts from a trip taken by my great x 3 grandma to visit the grave of her son, who died fighting in WWI. Incredible stuff.
November 27, 2025 at 8:18 PM
My mom has a collection of artifacts from a trip taken by my great x 3 grandma to visit the grave of her son, who died fighting in WWI. Incredible stuff.
Reposted by Michael Rader
FYI: the “disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan” was negotiated and begun by…. Donald Trump
November 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
FYI: the “disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan” was negotiated and begun by…. Donald Trump
There are so many video games nowadays, I for one am relieved to be able to simply ignore anything developed by Epic.
Epic CEO says AI disclosures like Steam's make "no sense" because AI will be involved in "nearly all" future game development
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/1p7eh60/epic_ceo_says_ai_disclosures_like_steams_make_no/
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/1p7eh60/epic_ceo_says_ai_disclosures_like_steams_make_no/
Epic CEO says AI disclosures like Steam's make "no sense" because AI will be involved in "nearly all" future game development
r/pcgaming
www.reddit.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:59 PM
There are so many video games nowadays, I for one am relieved to be able to simply ignore anything developed by Epic.
After all the crypto bros crash the economy and go to jail for fraud, we should memorialize the lesson to society with a Statue of Limitations.
i love writing about crypto crime because these dudes do this constantly
November 27, 2025 at 2:37 PM
After all the crypto bros crash the economy and go to jail for fraud, we should memorialize the lesson to society with a Statue of Limitations.
Reposted by Michael Rader
Could be the result of:
- A politically motivated attack
- A robbery
- A negligent discharge
- An argument between Guard members
The point is: Don't assume anything and wait for details
- A politically motivated attack
- A robbery
- A negligent discharge
- An argument between Guard members
The point is: Don't assume anything and wait for details
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two National Guard members have been shot in Washington, D.C., and their condition isn't known, AP source says.
November 26, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Could be the result of:
- A politically motivated attack
- A robbery
- A negligent discharge
- An argument between Guard members
The point is: Don't assume anything and wait for details
- A politically motivated attack
- A robbery
- A negligent discharge
- An argument between Guard members
The point is: Don't assume anything and wait for details
It is not too late for us to have this moment with Trump.
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 4:48 PM
It is not too late for us to have this moment with Trump.
All of Sen. Murkowski's statement is true except for the last sentence.
November 25, 2025 at 11:52 PM
All of Sen. Murkowski's statement is true except for the last sentence.