Dan Nexon
@dhnexon.net
Professor in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Power Politics | Empires | International Order dhnexon.net | https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | duckofminerva.com
This is the conclusion I’ve reached after years of seeing this. At this point I’m convinced people are three-cuing the passage
Matt Darling@besttrousers.bsky.social · 1h agoLike this seems like an instance of thinking "Boots theory" is the claim "being poor is hard" and not a specific claim about the *mechanisms* under which being poor is hard.
This is just rank Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism, based on the bigoted idea that there is something inherently scary about a president with the last name "El-Sayed." It is incumbent on all of us to call it out.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 1h agoJD Vance: "We don't want the next administration, whoever -- god forbid you're gonna have President El-Sayed in three years ... "
I meant to post this last night but if you’re mad about any of the primary results you got 24 hours to bleed, try not to say anything you’ll regret in 48, and then it’s Blue No Matter Who.
It’s Giles, he’s a Bulwark Republican, it’s Arizona, and her opponent is Andy Biggs. It’s fine. bsky.app/profile/dmnd...
Jeremy Diamond ☕️@dmnd.me · 12h agoWas about to get mad at this but then realized this Arizona-specific stuff and Giles is basically a Bulwark Republican, so it’s fine. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/u...
I have little to add to the chat, but I will say this: Those of us who spend a lot of time talking about politics overestimate how much other people care about, or are even familiar with, the labels we use to describe, denigrate, or celebrate candidates. Sometimes we’re high on our own supply.
Bessent is fine with deficits to fight needless wars, it’s only deficits to pay for healthcare or education that bother him
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 16h agoBREAKING: Republicans are no longer worried about deficits and debt Bessent: "I'm not as bothered by it ... if '26 is flat to slightly up, this isn't wasteful social spending "
Republican power grabs in Kansas and Missouri are going down in flames with 18-25% of votes reported so far. Missouri's Amendment 4 aimed to make citizen-initiated constitutional amendments practically impossible. Kansas' Amendment 1 was designed to flip the state Supreme Court to ban abortion
the day2 installment of this week’s “Start The Steal” series at @zeteo.com, focusing on Trump and Republicans’ many many efforts to rig the midterms and attack free and fair elections for years to come — and efforts to fight back: zeteo.com/p/19-ways-tr...
Here Are 19 - Yes, 19! - Ways Trump and Republicans Are Plotting to Rig and Steal the Midterm Elections
Attacking immigrants and Black voting power. Gutting election security. Voter purges. Threats of arrests and raids. And so much more. Trump’s assault on elections is truly unprecedented.
zeteo.com
“EA will take on $18 billion (!) in debt” Vulture capitalism actually making me sympathetic to EA…
Jason Schreier@jasonschreier.bsky.social · 15h agoEA officially goes private tonight, meaning: - EA will no longer trade on the NASDAQ for the first time in 36 years - All stockholders of EA (including many employees) will receive $210/share - EA will take on $18 billion (!) in debt, putting it on the hook to pay ~$1.8 billion/year in interest
"Reluctantly," a federal judge dismisses the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy cases. Trump DOJ "excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy—the peaceful transfer of presidential power—to buckle." "The court cannot write a different ending," he adds. buff.ly/NvVKnaW
honestly, the fact that we have made it through the atomic age *without* another use of nuclear weapons since 1945 is a miracle we don't fully appreciate
Rebecca R Helm@rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 17h agoToday is the day the story There Will Come Soft Rain is set. An amazing and heartbreaking work of fiction for our modern age. Read it here:
Say what you want about Schumer, but he was the guy who *finally* nailed D'Amato for trying to show he wasn't too conservative for NY by casting strategic, often inconsequential votes against his party.*
So when did qualitative journals start eliminating the ability to upload reviews or supplements to reviews? For those of us who rely heavily on tables and diagrams, this is really, really annoying.
Support Matt! He does good work and understands the right the way few do -->
Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · 5d agoHi guys, I'm sorry to have to ask for this again but I really could use your support. My father died recently and now I have fallen behind on rent. If you could please chip in a few dollars, it would really help me keep going. I need to raise $10,000 asap to pay expenses. Thank you so much ❤️
They are Charlie Brown, except they know Lucy is going to pull the football away but they need to pretend they don't (and will act shocked at Lucy's inevitable betrayal).
Bruno J. Navarro@brunojnavarro.bsky.social · 2d agoThe Republican holdouts, Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, announced in turn on Monday that they would support him.
I know this would be closing the barn door after he horse has been reelected president, but if Democrats win both chambers I'd really like to see a concurrent resolution deeming January 6 an insurrection under 14(3). 1/
If it wasn’t “capitalism,” they wouldn’t call it “crony capitalism,” right? The modern GOP is fine with the state owning (shares of) the means of production as long as the aim is to redistribute wealth to well-connected rich people. The problem with socialism is that it benefits ordinary people.
Eric Columbus@ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 2d agoThe Trump administration is so opposed to socialism that it has acquired — sometimes by coercion — equity stakes in 30 companies so far. www.cato.org/blog/governm...
Ah, OK, I get this. I think people perceive using an LLM as having long conversations with something that's like a person, but which is flattering and deferential. And some models *do* do that, and that makes plenty of people insane, but rarely anyone who like, uses them for work.
Kate Holzemer@katebits.bsky.social · 2d agoAnother thought: in his statement, Hank Green expressed quite a lot of shame about the "dopamine hit" he gets from using AI. As a non-AI user I don't really know what he's referring to here. Is the AI voice flattering him while also doing his job (presumably poorly)? Because that's big weird.
smartphones and the internet, man. they might have destroyed journalism, driven people insane by the tens of millions, fueled a rise in global fascism, and literally touched off genocides, but at least they seem to have caused a global collapse in relationship formation too
oh yeah the broader newspaper industry is turbo fucked. down ~80 percent since 1990
@rst.bsky.social · 2d agoThis is one where it might also be useful to see absolutely numbers. It is sadly likely that a lot of this is due to a drop in newspaper staffing elsewhere.
It turns out that there are only so many medium-form newsletter emails that one has time to read; and the whole point of the email newsletter is that people *don’t have to go to the website* Brad’s right here: the problem is that Substack doesn’t understand the dynamics of its own model.
Brad DeLong@braddelong.bsky.social · 2d agoMy view: The most ambitious thing SubStack could do right now is stop pushing forward. But given who is running and funding the place, that is unlikely. Scott Carney says the platform is collapsing. I say it is more likely that it has reached the limit of its supply lines—and that the cure is... 1/
As Cornyn noted at Blanche's confirmation hearing—and as Blanche agreed!—this doesn't change the underlying settlement between Trump and the government, which required the fund to be established. Trump could sue to enforce the settlement. Or Blanche could resurrect the fund once he's confirmed.
Anna Bower@annabower.bsky.social · 3d agoNEWS: Todd Blanche says he is rescinding his May 18 order establishing the “anti-weaponization fund”
If only there was a historical precedent for the punitive logic of this kind of warfare...🤔 On a completely unrelated note, have you seen this excellent new book?
U.S. team now dedicated to finding the IRGC's worst teenage photos and posting them online.
Adam Weinstein@adamweinstein.bsky.social · 2d agoWhen everything in Centcom J-2 is going great, just great, we're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?
It’s important to understand that when 1.2 million Americans are dying from a disease, any government action is excessive and tyrannical, but if a dozen trans women want to play soccer no government action can go far enough
International incidents drag a cohort of loud & ignorant takes claiming that it is *foreign power I hate* that's behind it. It's either incapacity to distinguish between responsibility in an incident and indirectly benefitting from it, or it's just blanket prejudice and obnoxiousness.
Nicholas Grossman@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 3d agoWhen you hear of an incident between foreign countries, a good rule of thumb is to start with it likely has local causes. Spain and Morocco have their own shit. It’s not a dastardly (((globalist))) plot to make Europe less aryan, nor a dastardly Zionist plot to get Spain back for verbal criticism.
High-level politicians of Germany's far-right, neo-Nazi adjacent AfD are blaming Moroccan immigrants to Spain's Ceuta last week on Israel. Progressives should ask whether they want to acquiesce to an ultimately far-right framing of migrants as "invaders," just because it lets them blame Israel.
