Timothy Burke
@timothyburke.bsky.social
Professor of History at Swarthmore College. Writes at timothyburke.substack.com, continuing from his old blog Easily Distracted. Remembers when there was no Internet, and stays up late because someone is wrong on it.
It's not that I had any doubt about Larry Summers. What I'm thinking about now, again, are all the people who said with such conviction, "No, you're overreacting, Larry doesn't have the slightest bit of bias, he's just thinking about a point we should consider".
November 13, 2025 at 11:26 PM
It's not that I had any doubt about Larry Summers. What I'm thinking about now, again, are all the people who said with such conviction, "No, you're overreacting, Larry doesn't have the slightest bit of bias, he's just thinking about a point we should consider".
Reposted by Timothy Burke
Anyway if you ever caught skeevy vibes from the New Skeptics, Third Culture or EDGE crowd, or questioned the entire existence of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, you were not wrong.
November 13, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Anyway if you ever caught skeevy vibes from the New Skeptics, Third Culture or EDGE crowd, or questioned the entire existence of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, you were not wrong.
Epstein's life as it materialized in his emails, his contacts, his money, illuminates the world of power and influence that emerged out of the 1990s like adding contrast in an MRI exam. We already know a lot about the endemic corruption of that world, but Epstein makes its details blaze out.
November 13, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Epstein's life as it materialized in his emails, his contacts, his money, illuminates the world of power and influence that emerged out of the 1990s like adding contrast in an MRI exam. We already know a lot about the endemic corruption of that world, but Epstein makes its details blaze out.
Reposted by Timothy Burke
Just a couple of days ago, the Moral Avatar on the Charles (and Jeffrey Epstein pen pal) was trying to get an investigation launched against Harvard’s excellent student newspaper
November 13, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Just a couple of days ago, the Moral Avatar on the Charles (and Jeffrey Epstein pen pal) was trying to get an investigation launched against Harvard’s excellent student newspaper
It's not that big a deal that the Democrats caved. Well, sort of. timothyburke.substack.com/p/the-news-t...
The News: The Longue Duree of Short-Term Political Events
Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe
timothyburke.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 AM
It's not that big a deal that the Democrats caved. Well, sort of. timothyburke.substack.com/p/the-news-t...
The NYT insists on putting anything contentious into the "experts say" frame, but when they were reporting earlier on why Epstein and Trump split, they straightforwardly said, "It was about a real estate deal", as if that were fact. When it was basically two pimps arguing about their sex slaves.
November 12, 2025 at 10:57 PM
The NYT insists on putting anything contentious into the "experts say" frame, but when they were reporting earlier on why Epstein and Trump split, they straightforwardly said, "It was about a real estate deal", as if that were fact. When it was basically two pimps arguing about their sex slaves.
Josh Barro of the NYT Opinion page says sometimes when you're mad, you just gotta take it out on something. Ok. If there's anything more annoying about sensible centrism than acting like you're the adult in the room, in control of your emotions, I don't know what that might be. 1/
November 11, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Josh Barro of the NYT Opinion page says sometimes when you're mad, you just gotta take it out on something. Ok. If there's anything more annoying about sensible centrism than acting like you're the adult in the room, in control of your emotions, I don't know what that might be. 1/
Whitehouse means well, but this sort of thing just has to stop. Someone's feelings *are* wrong--saying that everybody is right or everybody has a point is just a polite way of condescending. Unity takes real agreement--and willingness to say "We screwed up". The Dem leadership screwed up.
No one’s feelings are wrong. That’s not my point. We’re in a real battle, against a corrupt and malevolent foe, with huge stakes. We must win.
November 10, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Whitehouse means well, but this sort of thing just has to stop. Someone's feelings *are* wrong--saying that everybody is right or everybody has a point is just a polite way of condescending. Unity takes real agreement--and willingness to say "We screwed up". The Dem leadership screwed up.
Reposted by Timothy Burke
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
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November 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
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Democrats who've made statements on caving making it worse. Shaheen thinks that negotiations on ACA extensions can start now. Kaine thinks this will protect federal workers from "baseless firings". Either they believe these things (appallingly stupid) or they don't (gross cynicism).
November 10, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Democrats who've made statements on caving making it worse. Shaheen thinks that negotiations on ACA extensions can start now. Kaine thinks this will protect federal workers from "baseless firings". Either they believe these things (appallingly stupid) or they don't (gross cynicism).
I will say this for Senator Fetterman. Every time I think he's shown PA voters his maximum capacity for cowardice and political incompetence, he manages to do it one better.
November 10, 2025 at 6:05 PM
I will say this for Senator Fetterman. Every time I think he's shown PA voters his maximum capacity for cowardice and political incompetence, he manages to do it one better.
Schumer said the Dems will "keep fighting". Keep fighting their own voters? Keep fighting off effectiveness? Keep fighting being held accountable for anything? As far as I can tell the Democratic leadership is good at one thing only now, which is sending fundraising messages to my phone.
November 10, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Schumer said the Dems will "keep fighting". Keep fighting their own voters? Keep fighting off effectiveness? Keep fighting being held accountable for anything? As far as I can tell the Democratic leadership is good at one thing only now, which is sending fundraising messages to my phone.
Reposted by Timothy Burke
Democrats have been fighting for months to address America's healthcare crisis
For the millions who will lose coverage
For people with cancer who won't get the care they need
For working families who can't afford to pay $25K more a year for healthcare
We will keep fighting
For the millions who will lose coverage
For people with cancer who won't get the care they need
For working families who can't afford to pay $25K more a year for healthcare
We will keep fighting
November 10, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Democrats have been fighting for months to address America's healthcare crisis
For the millions who will lose coverage
For people with cancer who won't get the care they need
For working families who can't afford to pay $25K more a year for healthcare
We will keep fighting
For the millions who will lose coverage
For people with cancer who won't get the care they need
For working families who can't afford to pay $25K more a year for healthcare
We will keep fighting
Proceduralists get screwed in negotiations because they don't have any goals or values in the first place. The negotiation IS the goal. The Democratic leadership is proceduralist in this sense. They never lose because they aren't trying to win anything in particular.
November 9, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Proceduralists get screwed in negotiations because they don't have any goals or values in the first place. The negotiation IS the goal. The Democratic leadership is proceduralist in this sense. They never lose because they aren't trying to win anything in particular.
I use em dashes and parenthetical asides a lot, especially in my online writing. I get kind of irritated by the idea that em dashing is an obvious AI tell. Where do you think LLMs learned it?
November 7, 2025 at 10:59 PM
I use em dashes and parenthetical asides a lot, especially in my online writing. I get kind of irritated by the idea that em dashing is an obvious AI tell. Where do you think LLMs learned it?
Reposted by Timothy Burke
HAPPY FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE
November 7, 2025 at 6:44 PM
HAPPY FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE
Welp, I'm not exactly surprised, but guess what, this turned out to be right on the money.
Somewhere around 8pm tonight, the New York Times and other legacy newspapers are going to pivot towards "Zohran Mamdani: why his initiatives are failing". The first thing he tries to do concretely is going to have a swarm of hostile press all over it from the first second of its existence.
November 6, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Welp, I'm not exactly surprised, but guess what, this turned out to be right on the money.
You know what I'd vote for as an actual platform? A party where everybody believes it's an important general obligation to say "I made a mistake, sorry."
November 6, 2025 at 12:45 AM
You know what I'd vote for as an actual platform? A party where everybody believes it's an important general obligation to say "I made a mistake, sorry."
Look, honestly, among the things that left-liberalism has just got to take on board is that constitutionalism, proceduralism, institutionalism, were all death traps. Honestly, the pre-liberal republicans won this argument: virtue, culture, etc. matters more than systems and designs.
November 4, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Look, honestly, among the things that left-liberalism has just got to take on board is that constitutionalism, proceduralism, institutionalism, were all death traps. Honestly, the pre-liberal republicans won this argument: virtue, culture, etc. matters more than systems and designs.
Considering that Mikie Sherrill's major TV ad in the NJ gov race was just her flying a helicopter over NJ as a demonstration of military prowess, I'm not sure where the mainstream take that she's run hard on being anti-Trump is coming from--she's been very wary of making that a central thematic.
November 4, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Considering that Mikie Sherrill's major TV ad in the NJ gov race was just her flying a helicopter over NJ as a demonstration of military prowess, I'm not sure where the mainstream take that she's run hard on being anti-Trump is coming from--she's been very wary of making that a central thematic.
Somewhere around 8pm tonight, the New York Times and other legacy newspapers are going to pivot towards "Zohran Mamdani: why his initiatives are failing". The first thing he tries to do concretely is going to have a swarm of hostile press all over it from the first second of its existence.
November 4, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Somewhere around 8pm tonight, the New York Times and other legacy newspapers are going to pivot towards "Zohran Mamdani: why his initiatives are failing". The first thing he tries to do concretely is going to have a swarm of hostile press all over it from the first second of its existence.
Watching the NYT keep trying to figure out what angle to play in trying to make Mamdani's candidacy look bad has been a fascinating exercise in polite dishonesty. I'm particularly struck by the mutability of the "but this candidate is inexperienced" argument, however. 1/
November 3, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Watching the NYT keep trying to figure out what angle to play in trying to make Mamdani's candidacy look bad has been a fascinating exercise in polite dishonesty. I'm particularly struck by the mutability of the "but this candidate is inexperienced" argument, however. 1/
I'm a Dodgers fan from my earliest childhood until now but I gotta say two things: 1) that was a great World Series and 2) honestly, the Blue Jays were a better team than the Dodgers in the Series itself and lost only by the sum total of maybe six plays determined by inches.
November 2, 2025 at 11:33 PM
I'm a Dodgers fan from my earliest childhood until now but I gotta say two things: 1) that was a great World Series and 2) honestly, the Blue Jays were a better team than the Dodgers in the Series itself and lost only by the sum total of maybe six plays determined by inches.
From here on in, expect any historical quotation, speech or evidence that contradicts or embarrasses Trumpism to be erased, lost, or changed. Materials held by government agencies including the National Archives are especially vulnerable. Digitized material also. Hold on to published books you own.
October 24, 2025 at 9:53 PM
From here on in, expect any historical quotation, speech or evidence that contradicts or embarrasses Trumpism to be erased, lost, or changed. Materials held by government agencies including the National Archives are especially vulnerable. Digitized material also. Hold on to published books you own.
Can anybody think of a person as desperate for power as Andrew Cuomo who has turned out to be a person who did really great things with the power if they achieved it? Desperate at the level of "go ahead and do some racist AI that also steals Idris Elba's image likeness, I'll just say I didn't know?"
October 23, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Can anybody think of a person as desperate for power as Andrew Cuomo who has turned out to be a person who did really great things with the power if they achieved it? Desperate at the level of "go ahead and do some racist AI that also steals Idris Elba's image likeness, I'll just say I didn't know?"