…stand up [DOT 30/9/25]

against this wall...I mean "war"...

…look…I don’t know how you solve a problem like the middle east…but…this?

Full text of Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war in Gaza [FT via archive.ph]

…sounded…iffy…*before* I read the 20 points…serious people when they talk about the reality of that part of the world…they…don’t sound like this?

1. Gaza will be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.

2. Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.

3. If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.

…I mean…great…but…aside from *saying* it is…how exactly are you arriving at “deradicalized terror-free zone” made out of a part of the world that has been undergoing nothing but a genocidal campaign of terror from the people who seem to think the only way they won’t pose a threat is if there aren’t any neighbors as just the latest flavor of the same dish they’ve subsisted on for their slice of the last half-a-hundred years?

…&…I dunno where the “agreed upon” line is…let alone which people these people think are *the* people *of Gaza*…but if battle lines remain frozen…I’m not entirely sure you couldn’t argue for a secondary sense for the “staged” thing…not least because of the redevelopment nightmare…which…I’ll get back to…but…if we assume all the hostage/prisoner exchange stuff could & did happen…#6 is hamas getting to either go someplace else or get amnesty for swearing off that sort of thing…if they can’t they get safe passage to “receiving countries” & then we get around to the subject of aid

7. Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip. At a minimum, aid quantities will be consistent with what was included in the January 19, 2025, agreement regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove rubble and open roads.

8. Entry of distribution and aid in the Gaza Strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party. Opening the Rafah crossing in both directions will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under the January 19, 2025 agreement.

…at a minimum agent orange needs to get to say it’s the aid he said there ought to be…then…because god forbid this not be about him…& the united nations & its agencies would include UNRWA…but…”other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party”…*ought* to preclude the israeli effort that keeps killing the people it’s supposed to be distributing the aid to…could have said that, though…&…it doesn’t…which…makes a certain sort of sense given that if I skip the part I’m coming back to the part that runs you through to the ending with the interfaith dialogues & the horizon that has statehood & self-determination visible & such…you have this side of that transition

12. No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.

13. Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form. All military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt. There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy back and reintegration program all verified by the independent monitors. New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with their neighbors.

14. A guarantee will be provided by regional partners to ensure that Hamas, and the factions, comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat to its neighbors or its people.

15. The United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) to immediately deploy in Gaza. The ISF will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt who have extensive experience in this field. This force will be the long-term internal security solution. The ISF will work with Israel and Egypt to help secure border areas, along with newly trained Palestinian police forces. It is critical to prevent munitions from entering Gaza and to facilitate the rapid and secure flow of goods to rebuild and revitalize Gaza. A deconfliction mechanism will be agreed upon by the parties.

16. Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza. As the ISF establishes control and stability, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the Unites States, with the objective of a secure Gaza that no longer poses a threat to Israel, Egypt, or its citizens. Practically, the IDF will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the ISF according to an agreement they will make with the transitional authority until they are withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.

17. In the event Hamas delays or rejects this proposal, the above, including the scaled-up aid operation, will proceed in the terror-free areas handed over from the IDF to the ISF.

…see…I *S* F…not I *D* F…so not under occupation at all, really…why wouldn’t you take that deal…in…three stages?

…so…now we got to the draw-me-a-picture part…about the part I was coming back to

9. Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza. This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace,” which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair. This body will set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. This body will call on best international standards to create modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment.

10. A Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East. Many thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas have been crafted by well-meaning international groups, and will be considered to synthesize the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments that will create jobs, opportunity, and hope for future Gaza.

11. A special economic zone will be established with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries.

…I would dearly love to live in a world in which nobody was long-term invested in whole peoples being or wishing they were dead…but…for these people…in that part of the world

“qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace,” which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair.”

…the only certainties described in that fate frankly terrify me…&…that would be why I went looking for the above in the FT…because…whether you go for a copy archived back as far as july 6th…or as recently as sept 7th…as long as you don’t click the misfire with today’s date on it someone who doesn’t use the search function added at the last minute…any of those will get you what this does…which is to say an archived copy of the FT thing about the pitch deck for the tony blair think tank trump-tickling “terror-free” redeveloped middle east riviera…& that…is where these come from

…”Great Trust”…you know…like “Great Power”…&…guess what kind of EV?

Trump and Netanyahu agree not to take any questions from reporters.Two self-styled strongmen, terrified by the prospect of answering a few questions.

Adam Schwarz (@adamjschwarz.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T19:15:18.726Z

…you…might have assumed if you came across that unattributed in a decidedly partisan context somewhere in a post on social media that it was a mock up designed to make you feel as cynical as possible about how the people proposing the 20 bullet points that are all you need to secure eternal peace in a land that’s been at war in one way or another for millenia defined their terms to themselves

…&…you’d have undershot the required levels of cynicism…radically, as it turns out…so…you wanna keep an eye on that because if someone can describe something about you as radical they might be able to get you arrested, these days…sort of your classic feature:bug, really…because…that last image…is picture-postcard-perfect as an engine of radicalization tailored to the region?

…so…congrats…you got this far & your head hasn’t exploded…or imploded…it’s…probably…not even really on fire…&…hurts less than your heart…but…& I’m as sorry about it as you are…that stuff…that passes for “the good news” in a bunch of places that ought to be at least more ashamed of themselves than all the patting-themselves-on-the-back suggests?

…whatever you do…don’t try to imagine the branching trees of probable outcome you’d need to backfill for any of the 20 shiny points to hold up…this isn’t a diagram of that but…you know what I’m saying

Org-chart of the week:on.ft.com/4gHkxoU

FT Alphaville (@alphaville.ft.com) 2025-09-29T11:37:43.334Z

…oh…& while tony provides the greased spinning wheel to spin that thread that combines the criminal enterprise masquerading as the legitimate plenary power of the foremost developed nation of the world with the interests of the most unjustifiably wealthy supposedly human being in the history of mankind…& the gamer guy that had the journalist famously dismembered…oh…you didn’t know he was a gamer?

EA just hopped into bed with a sovereign wealth fund called PIF that is chaired by a state leader linked with the murder of a journalist. Human rights groups also claim PIF is a culture washing tool that "has facilitated and benefited directly from serious human rights abuses."Fully story below:

Chris Kerr (@kerrblimey.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T13:41:51.983Z

If there’s two things gamers love more than EA, it’s Saudi oil tycoons and Jared Kushner.

Anil Dash (@anildash.com) 2025-09-29T13:54:55.570Z

While I would have preferred that the Saudis and Trump’s son in law hadn’t bought EA, regarding 90% of the takes I’m seeing:

Doc Revan (@docrevan.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T13:54:35.166Z

…that’s…probably why all the “funny” fuckers fucked off out there for fuck-you money…”it’s in the game™”…is EA’s strap-line, right?

First time this guy has ever made me laugh

The participation of big name funnymen, including Dave Chappelle, Aziz Ansari and Kevin Hart, provoked criticism from fellow comedians and human rights groups.

NPR (@npr.org) 2025-09-29T13:08:02.968273Z

…gotta admit…I’m not altogether surprised any more than I’m deluded enough to think the guy would give the slightest sliver of a shit what I or anyone else thought…which…if I’m honest…is sort of where my grudging respect for the guy comes from…but…I am…disappointed…to hear bill burr might be one of them

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/david-cross-slams-bill-burr-riyadh-comedy-festival-1236534601

…but…david cross is funnier than bill burr & also seems less like in person he’d be mostly a dick?

…see…when you wonder why the news isn’t all

Cool.

“Solar-powered ‘artificial plant’ purifies radioactive soil by 95% in 20 days”

New ‘artificial plant’ uses solar power to clean radioactive soil

Researchers have created a game-changing device that purifies radioactive soil using nothing but sunlight. [interestingengineering.com]

…instead of endlessly “this should probably be making more of a splash”

How is this not bigger news in tech/security circles.Jaguar Land Lover lost $250M (£200M) and counting thanks to a cyberattack that it still couldn’t mitigate. This is growing every week.The cost of underinvesting in security is very real. 1+ month recovery is bonkers

Gergely Orosz (@gergely.pragmaticengineer.com) 2025-09-28T10:05:09.712Z

…I dunno what to tell you

To be honest, I don’t understand how any of them are going to say anything funnier than “Riyadh comedy festival”

I mean yes this is funny, but the fact that these unconstitutional stormtroopers are so directionless that they literally stand around waiting for random nonwhite delivery guys to bike past them is just pathetic. No mandate, no mission, no clue. Just racism.

G. Willow Wilson (@gwillow.me) 2025-09-29T03:16:43.254Z

…there’s a slightly longer one where he disses das oranjeboomer & drops what looks like his phone & they try for him when he goes to grab that off the ground because he gets off the bike…but

NEW: Rachel Maddow drops unseen bodycam footage of feds coordinating the arrest of Newark Mayor Baraka.I REPEAT: the feds ordered his arrest even though he wasn’t breaking any laws.Federal agent: “We are arresting the mayor right now per the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.”

Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) 2025-09-30T02:05:37.177Z

…point stands if you ask me?

it may feel a little like homework, but i genuinely think people should read the lincoln-douglas debates to see what the practical politics of anti-slavery looked like in an environment where the public was neutral to hostile to the question of emancipation

jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) 2025-09-28T16:11:51.236Z

…not that it will…explain…the current context

Suing Donald Trump pro se for $40 trillion dollars is the way all Jan6ers should be spending their pardons, as the QShaman is. www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix…

emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T12:34:45.427Z

…&…not to sound like I want to be the class bully…but…come on…even…pete davidson…could probably take stephen miller…& yet

It’s extremely clear at this point that Stephen Miller and Trump are waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing. There aren’t enough criminals to hit Miller’s quota for deportation, so if you want that ICE paycheck, you gotta grab anyone who isn’t white and let the chips fall where they may.

Whatever country you are from, the officially approved way to avoid getting grabbed off the street is to have pale enough skin. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/…

Joseph Menn (@joemenn.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T01:21:59.583Z

One of the most confusing aspects of the Trump administration to me is how Stephen Miller, the world’s least likable and unremarkable man, who is openly detested by his coworkers and everyone who had known him in the past, somehow runs the entire government.

Guardian: Stephen Miller, who is directly hightly militarized domestic immigration actions, is also directing foreign military attacks: "At times, his role has superseded that of Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser."

Michael Derby (@michaelsderby.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T12:35:26.087Z

…he doesn’t really have a boss…that guy has…other concerns

President Donald Trump once again threatened New York City against voting for Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, this time suggesting he'll personally intervene at the federal level to defund all of his policies if he wins.

Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2025-09-29T14:00:56Z

…not both houses of congress making him eat those words the other side of the mid-terms…his eternal concerns

Saudi real estate developer Dar Global has unveiled plans to build a $1bn Trump Plaza project in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, as US President Donald Trump’s family business expands its footprint in the Gulf. on.ft.com/4nzDzR2

Financial Times (@financialtimes.com) 2025-09-29T14:00:06.147756Z

…well…it’s…not coal?

Coal does not make the world go round, coal makes the world go grey and black. "China continues coal spree despite climate goals." www.theguardian.com/world/2023/a…

Ashland Forest Dweller (@vaforestdweller.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T13:58:56.471Z

…oh, yeah…so…for context

"It was out of fashion with the chardonnay set"Can you incredible dorks even hear yourselves?

Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T12:50:45.168Z

…uh huh

…sure

* US INTERIOR DEPT SAYS IT IS OPENING 13.1 MILLION ACRES OF FEDERAL LAND FOR COAL LEASING@reuters.com

Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T13:50:56.605Z

…coal, coal, coal…cool, cool, cool

Trump has fried all our brains. Too many people just don't believe he possibly can be this unpopular. The "realist" stance becomes: He's secretly strong! That taints media coverage and debilitates the Dem response.My exchange with @lakshya.splitticket.org on this:newrepublic.com/article/2010…

Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T13:50:43.708Z

…I mean…maybe your brain *isn’t* fried…yet…but…all the things you traditionally associate with someone that isn’t you presenting like their brain is fried…you see in the mirror in the mornings…so…doing your bit to keep some normal in our baseline reality is a non-trivial exercise…maybe I’m not talking about you…either way…I’m…not convinced any of us can really claim to be “well” right about now

The trend I have noticed, particularly emblematic in Klein’s recent output, is that it’s never a “what” that people are willing to sacrifice in order to win hypothetical elections, it’s always a “who,” and it’s never themselves.

A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T03:26:41.101Z

…like…I had a fond notion around this time yesterday that I’d be merrily burning a chunk of the scroll-request for this post on a sequence of yet another dispshit trying to front down the authority on the what’s what of the world of teargas & CS & what is or isn’t a nerve agent…in the sense of literally having written the book…not to mention the heavily-cited-by-experts paper in nature…because dan is the guy who doesn’t understand who he’s talking to…I dunno…it seems to happen a lot…enough that statistically some of the ones he responds to probably aren’t people, even…& it seemed like a classic of the genre

…but

Well, there’s a guy named Dan Kaszeta who wrote the only bit on tear gas in 50 years in the obscure scientific journal called “Nature” (cf Darwin, C). Oh wait. That’s me

Dan Kaszeta FRHistS (@dankaszeta.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T18:13:34.255Z

…that feels like it ought to have happened some time in the 90s given how much seems to have popped up since then?

I think we underestimate the extent to which the right wing has eroded civil society simply by pulling stunts like this that make any public participation extremely unpleasant.

Moira Donegan (@moiradonegan.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T23:19:43.755Z

…not in a *new* new way…but

On the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics – our main parties don't like the people who vote for them – the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n

Ben Ansell (@benansell.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T06:40:34.375Z

‘More than half of Reform’s donations in 2024 came from people with homes in low-tax jurisdictions or with offshore business interests; 40 per cent came from climate sceptics or investors in fossil fuels.’@petergeoghegan.bsky.social at the Reform UK conference: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4…

London Review of Books (@lrb.co.uk) 2025-09-29T13:50:00.000Z

…in more of a “this got old time ago but brace yourself for today’s dose” way

I’m really grateful for Pritzker. But that he’s so good at this also makes clear just how badly most other Democrats are failing to meet the moment.

Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T00:08:39.580Z

…gotta keep those interests in alignment so they can

youtube.com/watch?v=0_Bw…

(@sher12.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T14:09:11.296Z

…compound their interest

“If you leave your door unlocked and I steal all your shit it’s not on me.”

Monteiro (@monteiro.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T22:34:17.808Z

…yeah, yeah…I know…don’t you start…I hear you

For folks interested in the whole interview, which is 90 mins long and with Katie Couric:

…but

The campaign to force TikTok to sell or shutter its U.S. platform started out as an effort to counter Chinese influence and power. It’s ending up as an exercise in crony capitalism and political power-grabbing, johncassidysays.bsky.social writes.

The New Yorker (@newyorker.com) 2025-09-29T17:31:12.635Z

…how’s this for a tortured pun

Man, first the pinkos at Cato produce a chart showing right-wing violence is much more prevalent than left-wing, and now the woke antifa National Review is claiming the Comey Indictment is invalid!

Was Lindsey Halligan Validly Appointed as United States Attorney? | National Review

As I understand the facts, it seems highly doubtful that Lindsey Halligan has been validly appointed as United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.

(Since apparently it needs to be spelled out for slow of mind, my characterization of the political leanings of Cato and NR is a thing we Earth people call ‘sarcasm’.)

…you know the saying “they got some nerve”?

Ah yes old finger-on-the-pulse herself, Juggle Kitten Rowling.

A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T01:26:21.420Z

…& how some people that seem to have a lot of nerve have “agents”?

People wanting an explanation of what a nerve agent is and why tear gas isn’t a nerve agent can read from here.

Dan Kaszeta FRHistS (@dankaszeta.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T19:35:38.749Z

…because only *your* experience…which says all signs point to the shit you think being so obviously the obvious things if you’re just suitably informed…is “real life”…& the mere fact of having taken years of extra naps compared to a fully grown adult who will always be a little girl who owes her entire self to your somehow-more-successful-than-better-riffs-in-the-same-genre, totally-not-a-le-guin-rip-off-like-all-the-others, more-original-than-gormenghast, so-lucrative-it’s-insulated-you-in-a-permanent-comfort-zone franchise revenue stream…means you need only cite the source to determine that you know better than she & fuck what the magic internet mirror-mirror-on-the-4th-wall says…so

…in this parallel to dan addressing the peanut gallery

That’s it. I’m sending you an invoice

Dan Kaszeta FRHistS (@dankaszeta.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T19:44:10.178Z

…it’s not pretty to look at the famous fictional pairings of older-woman-in-position-of-power & innocent-young-thing-who-grows-up-firmly-in-a-never-to-be-advanced-inferior-station that map onto /jk…& I say that as no particular admirer of the particular indigestible bloom of youth in that analogy…&…it is…honestly…pretty fucking hard not to day dream about being able to thanos-snap all the people it seems to me to be holding us back from getting on with getting along & getting somewhere that literally can not but be better than where we seem to be stuck into some sort of part-of-the-solution-or-no-longer-part-of-reality deal…because it does feel like getting to that isn’t possible *with* those people…& also like we need to get to that point so many yesterdays ago that it’s beyond not funny & into not-really-sure-what-wouldn’t-be-worth-it-if-it-worked territory…&…that is dangerous territory…because that’s where thiel & musk et al live in all the comfort that money can buy & still find it so uncomfortable to be them that they…do what they do with all that…& I’m pretty sure that means that somewhere down that track dividing by zero becomes your go-to move

…&…as much as they have any sort of a point with any of their must-be-achieved-obliquely-on-account-of-all-the-ways-they’re-explicitly-illegal-precisely-to-prevent-exactly-what-is-happening bullshit aggregation of pretexturally fermented sour-grapes fomentation

1) The problem with running DOJ if you've recently defended Trump is he heard you claim there was no evidence of his crimes when in fact there were entire pallets full of it.2) Who, in THIS White House, has the insight to realize the Comey prosecution could backfire?www.wsj.com/politics/pol…

emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) 2025-09-27T08:38:34.445Z

Sir that is no way to talk to the Supreme Court

MedBed Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T19:06:23.216Z

…making you roll your eyes & decide you’re too tired to do anything but roll your eyes at this shit that isn’t telling you anything about anything you don’t know more than you need to already & you already know you ain’t got time for this shit today…continues to be most of the fucking point

A meme so good I couldn’t resist touching it up a bit.h/t: Gavin Newsom

Seth Abramson (@sethabramson.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T19:43:29.298Z

…but…miss us with that shit because the bills DGAF

UCS’s new analysis reveals how millions of people across seven states are footing the bill for an additional $4.3 billion in electricity infrastructure projects approved in 2024 solely to connect wealthy private companies’ data centers. Learn more: act.ucsusa.org/4gSYUSY

Union of Concerned Scientists (@ucs.org) 2025-09-29T17:55:21.370Z

NEW: Ignoring Court Ruling, Trump Sends Troops to Portland to Break Imagined Antifa “Siege”Trump’s order to send the Oregon National Guard to Portland appeared to surprise Pentagon officials.theintercept.com/2025/09/29/t…

Nick Turse (@nickturse.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T18:49:44.420Z

JUST IN: Judge Simon sets a restraining order hearing for *tonight* on Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Oregon. Suggests he could issue a very quick order.

Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T18:46:40.566Z

20 years after Katrina, New Orleans’ levees are sinking and short on money.The city’s $14 billion flood system faces new threats from climate change, land subsidence, and Trump budget cuts.grist.org/extreme-weat…#NewOrleans #Louisiana #LA #Katrina #Policy #Climate #50501 #livingwithwater

Grist (@grist.org) 2025-09-29T18:33:16.999Z

"Where they make a wasteland, they call it peace."-Calgacus, a Caledonian warrior, speaking about the Roman conquest of Britain in the First Century AD, via Tacitus

Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T18:42:24.659Z

One mystery, and two looming disasters, in the next Supreme Court term [Vox]

“Larry Ellison once predicted ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ amid constant recording. Now his company will pay a key role in social media” 9/28/25 … 1/ finance.yahoo.com/news/larry-e…

Jenny Cohn (@jennycohn.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T16:29:36.487Z

Tony Blair for Gaza? Expect the worst

Cafe Tel Aviv (@cafetelaviv.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T18:38:14.009Z

…take a breath

I fully understand how difficult it is to remain focused on any one particular atrocity but this really ought to be a serious scandal and people need to pay heavy prices for this

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T01:33:37.057Z

i keep saying this but what i hate most about the ezra kleins of the world is their insistence is that politics is about messaging and triangulating. its never about offering a compelling vision of the world, its about trying desperately to capitulate to whatever moment we are in

jeff computers (@helldude.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T17:45:06.561Z

…I mean

The former UK prime minister has welcomed Donald Trump’s 'bold and intelligent' peace plan, but there was disbelief among some members of Blair’s Labour party on.ft.com/3WgLMgE

Financial Times (@financialtimes.com) 2025-09-30T06:13:05.386470Z

Key employees at Tesla and xAI have recently departed, as the billionaire’s relentless demands and political activism accelerate turnover among his top ranks on.ft.com/3Kl1F3d

Financial Times (@financialtimes.com) 2025-09-30T05:32:37.537239Z

…if it all misses you

In which a top US Border Patrol official, incredibly, tells my tall and Anglo colleague @chipmitchell1.bsky.social that he's not the type they're looking for as they go about downtown Chicago arresting people based on "how they look" chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/…

Dan Mihalopoulos (@dmihalopoulos.bsky.social) 2025-09-28T23:49:26.577Z

…are you even *in* that moment?

We need a bigger tent, that’s why we must betray and expel the following types of people:

A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T01:10:18.251Z

Don’t worry, once we’ve helped them come for immigrants and trans people, they’re sure to be appeased and dedicated to solidarity in our great big tent and not come after anyone else, as history teaches

A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T01:14:51.156Z

Crazy how people who seem to think I’m being very unfair in these remarks also seem to recognize without prompting who I am talking about

A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T02:26:04.333Z

…speaking of which

I think the two hardest "heel turns" of my lifetime are Elon Musk and JK RowlingCan you think of some other major ones?

Seth Abramson (@sethabramson.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T18:07:20.853Z

…you got to find your footing before you try to gain traction

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.”-Elie Wiesel, an actual Nobel Peace Prize winner

Chris Kluwe (@chriswarcraft.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T18:18:29.558Z

…because…the going isn’t getting easier

“MAGA’s Gaza Rift: How the Right Is Splintering Over Israel | Opinion” 8/27/25 … 1/ www.newsweek.com/magas-gaza-r…

Jenny Cohn (@jennycohn.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T18:07:26.284Z

…now tik tok is headed for meaning something different but mostly only in the sense of who might be hoping it keeps letting them do the thing

One in five Americans say they regularly get news on TikTok, a dramatic uptick from just 3% in 2020. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/more…

Nieman Lab (@niemanlab.org) 2025-09-29T18:16:27.983Z

…&…*these people*…pass for being “in power”?

It sort of concerns me that Brooke Rollins is explaining to Todd Bessent that Argentina pantsed us and gave China more leverage after he bailed out Javier Milei as if she thinks he's not aware.

emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T18:30:29.364Z

…in a…parallel context

I think the underlying problem and question is; can the officers in this meeting even identify they can be used as pawns for political purposes? If so, do they even know what to do about it?

Secretary of Defense Rock (@sodrock.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T16:54:43.619Z

…the consequences of un-serious people in places you need serious people when the serious stuff goes down…well…there’s books about that sort of thing

I’ve written about this repeatedly but the fundamental problem with the American “apolitical military professional” is not only do you not do politics, but you’re not even informed in the slightest, so when a situation like this arises, they straight up don’t know how to handle it

Secretary of Defense Rock (@sodrock.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T17:01:38.871Z

…&…paradox is…like…the eternal flavor of the month

If a shooter’s politics are hard to pin down, he’s a leftist If a shooter’s politics are right wing, he’s hard to pin down

Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) 2025-09-28T21:03:54.045Z

…don’t talk to me about parallels

With alt text

I think the Trump admin assumed no one would try to find out who the people on the boats they blew up really were

Michael Paarlberg (@mpaarlberg.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T15:42:09.521Z

…I don’t wanna know about your stinking parallels

1. The $20 billion taxpayer-funded rescue package for Argentina, announced last week by the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, delivers an enormous windfall to hedge fund billionaire Rob Citrone. Citrone has a longstanding personal and professional relationship with Bessent.

Judd Legum (@juddlegum.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T11:50:45.442Z

This is the President explicitly threatening to withhold federal funds from New York City if voters elect a candidate he opposes.This is an unlawful attempt to coerce voters through federal financial threats and a textbook example of voter intimidation to influence the outcome of a local election.

StrictlyChristo 🦋🇺🇦🌻❌👑 (@strictlychristo.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T16:07:55.716Z

One of the most prescient statements you made, that has stuck with me as I've watched the collapse of critical thinking in America, was this:"The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth."

Solid Gold Robot (@solidgoldrobot.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T16:44:07.228Z

Among all the other things, it is interesting to me* that no one in the National Conversation™️ frames the mercantilism or other GOP policies in terms of failure to pay attention to Kitchen Table Issues, like does for Democrats.

[*It isn’t remotely interesting, just sadly predictable]

…I can’t get the image URLs to embed but the t-shirt reads “the mercantilism will continue until morale improves”

Trump's tariffs and his administration's deportation raids are making housing so much more expensive. Even more tariffs take effect on Wednesday.I wrote about it all here:www.vox.com/policy/46311…

Rachel Cohen Booth (@rcobooth.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T17:08:05.321Z

This is a good piece, but the difference is these individual articles never become a Narrative That Cannot Fail (It Can Only Be Failed) as with the Dems. Will we now have all the Pundits stating as assumed fact that the GOP Has Veered Too Far Right & Are Ignoring Kitchen Table Issues? No. Why not?

The answer seems to be “Well, we know that the GOP is now a far right authoritarian party with unprecedentedly extreme policies, so this is not news. Dog bites man, etc.”

Except it is that matters. We embrace Murc’s Law as a psychological defense mechanism to avoid talking about it.

Anyway, the asymmetry of framing about the two parties’ economic policies has been a feature of politics for as long as I’ve been following politics (c.late 1980s), but it’s reached new levels of striking inequality.

See also: SOCIALISM

The so-called “conservative” party – the one that claims to believe in limited government & hyperventilates constantly about the SOCIALISM of the radical leftist Democrats – now supports coercing government ownership stakes from private corporations & having control over their personnel decisions.

Trump calls for Lisa Monaco, deputy attorney general in the Biden administration, to be fired from Microsoft, where she was hired in June as president of global affairs.

Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) 2025-09-26T21:21:52.090Z

Also, again, all of these tariffs are wildly illegal, but we don’t seem want to talk about that either. As opposed to the massive executive overreach by Democrats of… student loan debt relief.

Once again, all of these tariffs, whether imposed under the sham justification of IEEPA & “national emergency,” or the sham justifications of either Section 301 and 232, make a total mockery of both the rationale & process of these laws, & every single one of these Cold War relic laws needs to go.

…at this point that guy’s swung all the way back around to a month ago last century when das fartenfuhrer was sending the troops in in DC

…&…I ain’t got time for…all the more there could have been

Am I reading this correctly? A grad student … in Computer Science … enrolled in an undergraduate seminar … in the American Indian and Indigenous Studies program … where he ignored the readings and hijacked discussions to talk about Israel and defend its actions in Gaza?What the hell?

Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T14:56:17.894Z

One of the most evil men alive, Elon Musk, is on a glide path to becoming King of the World.An avid white supremacist ruling a majority non-white planet. How do you think that will go?

Seth Abramson (@sethabramson.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T17:28:35.452Z

www.theguardian.com/politics/202…

John Crace (@mrjohncrace.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T17:29:08.309Z

It's the blog hailed in Slack as "the ideal defector post" but also "i don’t think it’s possible for a blog to be more Scocca than this one is"

Tom Scocca (@tomscocca.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T17:27:33.380Z

“.. so ill-conceived that the longer one analyzes it, the worse it gets.“.. fails to fulfill an indictment’s constitutional purpose; .. to put the defendant on notice of what the government alleges he has done to violate the law.”@nationalreview.bsky.socialwww.nationalreview.com/2025/09/with…

Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T17:26:20.765Z

…but…I am conscious I’ve failed to cough up tunes a couple of times lately…so…while I try to be better & do better…bank this for a bit?

Pete Hegseth accidentally flipping a skateboard into his nuts on live TV

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T13:48:55.574Z

…because this is a half-hour late as it stands…& there’s at least one specific thing I know goes in a spot I haven’t filled…so…uhh

…I hear you charlie…I mean…if these are helping it isn’t immediately obvious how

…frankly…there’s a non-zero chance we might be in trouble even if it doesn’t?

…there’s maybe a non-zero chance I’m not done digging a deeper hole with this post…&/or a different sort of playlist of mostly-the-reasonable-sounding-lady-&-smart-people-&-comedians stuff that would take longer to watch than it would to have read all that crap I cluttered the joint up with today…

…but to get to “the point” in the sense of driving it home while the crowd goes wild…tunes?

avataravataravataravataravatar

25 Comments

  1. Fuck these guys again?

     

    Tony Blair… Once a Pomeranian, always a Pomeranian. Or Poodle.

    Jared Kushner is who I would imagine as a dipshit villain, too stupid to be effective and too connected to keep away.

    He looks like the undertaker of Western Films. He might not be a racist, but he’s still a fucking ghoul who profits off the misery of others.

  2. Yeah I thought “private loyalty oath” and instead it was Kegsy’s tight five, Trump’s Two Minutes Hate and then “we’re gonna bomb the cities and expect you to follow orders” and … yeesh, it’s not great!

    I’m sort of morbidly curious to see how this is sanewashed because even for leaky-brains grandpa, Trump was NOT having a good one up there today on top of literally all of this being what our entire country was founded to not have happen. (Admittedly, just a small note these days, but I do feel like I should keep noting it.)

Leave a Reply