Recent posts by Online Political Thinkers on Bluesky

To borrow a phrase, I'm not against all electoral pragmatism, I'm against dumb electoral pragmatism.

To borrow a phrase, I'm not against electoral pragmatism, I'm against dumb electoral pragmatism.

The most apt historical equivalent to Trump continues to be, in many ways, Napoleon III.

What's actually going to happen is Jeffries will spend six months to a year pissing and moaning about how he doesn't want to do it and then he'll do a half-assed version of it because the pressure's too overwhelming.

"the map's form: globe" that's just cheating is what that is

Say what you will* about baby geese, at least they're as adorable as hell. *you damn well better only say good things!!

I don't get the point of making it read like a verbatim unhinged Trump rant, complete with irrelevant insults and taunts. Even as a performative thing, it's not like a meaningful chunk of the general public is ever going to read this. Blanche performing for the mad king, audience of one, I suppose.

I don't get the point of making it read like a verbatim unhinged Trump rant. complete with irrelevant insults and taunts. Even as a performative thing, it's not like a meaningful chunk of the general public is ever going to read this. Blanche performing for the mad king, audience of one, I suppose.

You know what kitchen implement is total bullshit? Those little pizza wheels. They fucking suck at the one thing they’re supposed to do, pain to clean. Scissors and knife knife are better for small pizza, the pizza blade is appropriate for large industrial pizza. Abandon the pizza wheel.

Anyone who sells this product should be widely mocked. Instead we've raised them to the pinnacles of power.

"for when a desperate man wishes to believe something, however bizarre or stupid, nobody can stop him." —Chinua Achebe.

Scroll down for why he was there. For a ride in an Apache, because Hegseth thought it would make the libs cry.

It's me, the duckling who is about to force a smile on your face! 🐣 🪶

Iranian schoolgirls have faced more bullets and violence than Donald Trump. So have South American fishermen.

I kinda forgot about this guy. Sent 3 bombs to CNN and eight years later CNN anchors were dressing up in tuxes and gowns to go celebrate the president that encouraged the bombings.

Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand: “The choice of a woman for UN Secretary-General would be transformative for the world… A woman would leave no stone unturned in the search for peace.”

Let's hear from presidential security expert John Hinckley

This book was excellent. Highly recommend it. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

this is still before Judge Leon, correct?

Should have done a whole record with the Helm/Danko rhythm section!

They were designing perfect YouTube thumbnails all the way back in 1973

They are laser focused on stealing more money from us at the same time they're spiking gas, healthcare and food costs.

The founding fathers insisted that our justice system not mete out cruel and unusual punishment, but they might have made an exception for this guy.

Everyone's like "public shaming doesn't work" "making an example of guys who behave anti-socially doesn't work" until they see a video of a grown man stealing a baseball from a little girl, then suddenly it's like "this guy should be tarred and feathered and hung by his feet from the scoreboard"

I can't get over how corrupt it is that the Super PAC treasurer is also a Board of Elections Commissioner. nysfocus.com/2026/04/27/c...

Even better than ducks on ice tbh

The plot to enslave humanity

Now, granted, everyone hired by this administration is a fringe right-winger at this point, but there are definitely some stand-outs here. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

About as directly as you can possibly intervene to raise electricity costs for Americans.

It's fine they can generate users utilizing synthetic revenue.

right wing pols and influencers rushing to engage in a preposterous orgy of groveling directed at an incredibly unpopular president whose toxic presence is decimating his party downballot already. 1

Close only counts in hand grenades and horseshoe theory

i do not think they will handle a loss in the midterms well

This kind of ahistorical pablum is published by the person who now runs CBS News.

Meta can easily reverse the Chinese decision to block the Manus deal by threatening to send Mark Zuckerberg to talk to Xi Jinping at parties again.

what if I told you that our stories affect how we think about free healthcare? "narrative has nothing to do with our moral actions" is just a silly thing to say. it's also an intensely moralistic take on fiction.

if oil continues to spike up....

Given that Pragmata is set in the near future, we must assume that America has entered some kind of deflationary spiral, because no way that burger is $5.99 today.

My brother, some polling and a guy who has no connection to leftist organizations does not indicate "left-wing violence is rising." When left-wing violence is rising, there will be no mistaking it.

re-reading this paper from 2022 direct.mit.edu/rest/article...

ICE posted this video to Twitter and right off the bat it's fucking weird. You see a pixelated ICE agent pull off his mask and he's.... still pixelated?

The 1-seed Pistons going down 3 to 1 against an 8-seed team that barely even made the playoffs

update: she got to say hi to a group of guardsmen all missing their dogs back in North Dakota. they say most of their DC time is spent handing out dog treats around Dupont.

attempting to root some more planty and viney indoor friends. Please share your best tips for rooting cuttings!

“The university ‘limited the work of Dr. Wu, partly closed her lab, broke up her research team, reassigned her grants to her white male faculty colleagues, and left her isolated.’ After the investigation, Northwestern allegedly ‘cut her salary for lack of funding’” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Honestly I'm interested in what's going on with THE REST of shipping.

we must construct additional house seats

you: please act normal Ed you need these people to like you people: hello Ed nice to meet you me: the Iranian constitution mandates that one seat in its legislature must be reserved for a Zoroastrian.

to be clear this is a starvation play to try to prompt the uprising the big brains feel they’re owed

hey goldman just circling back to this on April 27, 2026

Suck it Nazis www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

This is one of those shows I need to rewatch as an adult because I bet there were plenty of jokes that went way over my head as a kid

oops! all suburbia!

What a 48 hours for the power of the human body. Meanwhile my joints feel a cold front coming in...

What a 48 hours for the power of the human body.

i have my issues with el-erian but he's absolutely right

Rough bird photography day, 3 parks without any baby bird content, but at least we organized this guy.

Matt Mahan: Paid for by big heron.

Jamal Cain, not a real name, not an actual person. Villain from Robocop 2, had a boombox that turned into a gun.

They like Trump and want to help him

That guy just shaved for the first time in years.

Jamal Cain in the membrane JAMAL CAIN IN THE BRAIN

Still extremely funny that there were people who supported Trump winning in 2024 because they felt he represented a less colonialist direction in US foreign policy than the Democrats

If you had a bad day, take heart that at least it wasn’t as bad as this:

this is good policy on both fiscal and social grounds

I like how we're sleep walking into a global energy and economic crisis and the GOP is still convinced it gets better by Nov

Anyone want to start a SuperPAC to arm sealions instead

it's so funny talking to contemporary GOP/Tory China Hawks

Matt Mahan has opposed my pro worker legislation more enthusiastically than the Washington Post editorial board lmfao.

To the degree that bluesky has a book culture, it’s largely because of this guy. Show some gratitude!

Shorter version of tonight’s Washpost editorial: Please don’t pay attention to that terrible headline we published last August! Also, you all are taking it the wrong way!

That's a really, really good question

Every asshole for himself www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/04/ever...

we should in fact tax the oil corps more (windfall tax) but this is why avoiding the greedflation story is important- there is a genuine shortage that execs shouldn't redirect into more carbon production

A real photo of Kid Rock addressing service members at the Pentagon today. Nice summation of where things stand in the United States.

on one hand this is likely going to lead to a blue electoral map nightmare for the GOP on the other, its going to be a physical nightmare for Asia

tbh this is why the Saudis want the US to put boots on the ground. a long economic war is bad for them

Nobody has given more people more bullets.

Just true fucking GOATs. Ronnie Spector’s voice is my everything. And they always looked so cool.

www.semafor.com/article/04/2...

What happens to the $400 million that was already “donated?” Is he “putting it in his presidential library?” www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

it can only good foreign policy happen

I suppose it’s pointless to note that if they go off campus, they won’t be in the ballroom. But why should a $400 expenditure make any sense?

in this sense, being indo-canadian is a blessing primarily because it means i am capable of observing news back there

Insane degenerate billionaire thing that would own: cross-ocean treadmill race. Every competitor is on a different plane and how fast the airplane will fly is a factor of the speed they are managing to set on the treadmill.

"yeah half of asia is revolting against the collapse in living standards but we managed to denuclearize iran" good luck on that pivot to Asia bro

Had a great time with Boston Ward 11 Dems tonight giving a presentation on the up to 12 ballot questions MA might see this November!

i mean i don't think we're going to like the world we see if Hormuz is closed for another 2 months

you can sign up for free...but I have a 40% off sale now, $30/yr. so if you wanted to support me, this is a good time!

have a post tomorrow about how promoting false flag conspiracy theories helps the fascists and we shouldn't do that. sign up and it'll be in your inbox, whoosh. open.substack.com/pub/noahberl...

Acrobat has always been awful. Always.

Things I love about my Husky/ Great Dane mix: Husky sing-song chatter with Great Dane vocal cords Husky zooming followed by Great Dane napping The surprising aesthetic appeal of Husky color on a Great Dane chassis Other things: The twice-annual Husky blowout shedding, supersized.

i'm going to turn into the energy market joker

I remember the first time I tried takoyaki and thought this would be a huge hit at the Minnesota state fair

There’s no “they,” it was John Jackson who circulated the whole “Black Socrates” thing. Also, I’m not sure how people haven’t heard of him: he’s Garvey’s historical precursor despite their break in politics, as well as X’s (sort of) political precursor.

It's going to be a source of *massive* confusion that Carney is calling his new industrial policy slush fund a sovereign wealth fund, which it almost *exactly* is not.