Joe Walsh
@josephwalsh.bsky.social
Politics adjunct prof @ American University. Formerly lots of things in government and politics. Obama Admin alum.
Well I'm no expert on icebreakers, but with unchecked climate change I'm going to take the under
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 4d agoPresident Trump decided to buy 11 polar icebreakers, worth almost $7 billion, after a game of golf with Finland’s president. The question, experts say, is how many the U.S. really needs. nyti.ms/4hK355K
"It is, of course, hard to have a course correction if it is not entirely clear what the course was to begin with."
Peter Baker@peterbakernyt.bsky.social · 4d agoTrump is now all but the most unpopular second-term president at this stage of their tenure in the history of polling. The only exception: Nixon had even less public support at this stage but at that point he was just days away from resigning. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/u...
Oh, 1000% an AI map. Now the question is: did no one check it - or did they, but just had no earthly idea where Mozambique is? Or where *any* of these counties are! Just a reminder, this was produced by the *State Department* ...
Matthew Hay Brown@matthewhaybrown.bsky.social · 6d ago“Nigeria, home to one of the continent’s largest ports, has drifted inland, grown in size and changed shape. It’s not that the map bestows the name on the wrong country; the new landlocked, splat-shaped Nigeria sprawls across Mali, Niger, Algeria and Chad, probably, resembling no existing state”
Have been a member of the @whca.bsky.social almost continuously since the 1990s. Our mission is to defend the First Amendment rights of White House correspondents to report on the president without fear or favor. Unfortunately last night did not advance that cause. Time to rethink the dinner.
95% of my communications from the Democratic Party look like this. I have never in my life signed up to be texted by a campaign or the party, and I spent fruitless months attempting to unsubscribe from these. These are functionally identical to scam texts.
Disgraceful. Simply disgraceful.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2w ago“.. the Trump administration decided to remove four service members killed this past weekend from the list .. because their deaths occurred after President Trump declared a cease-fire ..” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/u...
Presidents should not salute full stop. Also, it’s Reagan’s fault.
Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 2w agoOne Special Boy alert, presidents should not salute during the anthem edition
Exactly! Casablanca had a run time of 1 hr 42 mins and it is an essentially perfect film. I bet most people's favorite movies clock in closer to that time than 3+ hours.
Evan McMurry@evanmcmurry.theatlantic.com · 3w agoI will see and likely enjoy the Odyssey, but just a reminder that movies don't have to be long:
I’m not thrilled that apparently the secret to success in basically every field right now is “be really good at short form video”
The reboot of The West Wing's "Mr Willis of Ohio" is unlikely to be as good as the original, but one can hope
Eric Columbus@ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 3w agoDarline Graham Nordone has the chance to do the funniest thing for six months
The polar opposite reactions here to the deaths of Sam Neill and Lindsey Graham are such a reminder that we all have a choice whether to live our lives in a way that brings joy or misery to those around us. I think if you’re remembered fondly as Sam Neill is today, you’ve pretty much won at life.
This goes so far off the rails that at some point the control room realizes they have to take down the "Trump remembers Graham" chyron and puts up "Trump is on the phone"
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agobeyond parody -- Fox & Friends hosts are trying to get Trump to pay tribute to Lindsey Graham, but they can't get a word in as Trump rants and raves about the SAVE America Act and the purportedly rigged elections in California
If students are simply uninterested in the core bargain of a class like this, it’s hard to know what to do. You teach the material because you think it’s important they know it; they don’t give a shit, but want the credential; and the university wants their money. Your main option is “pretend”.
Andrew Heiss@andrew.heiss.phd · 4w agowoof ≈80% of assignments this summer term have essentially been just raw chatgpt/claude output, including assignments that required designing stuff in illustrator/affinity/canva. The battle is lost for asynchronous online courses.
You're laughing... I can't withdraw my Bonk from Kraken and you're laughing?
FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · last mo.Kraken has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals of Bonk due to an ongoing incident affecting the token, according to its website.
Thanks I guess for that live rendition of its much less well-known counterpoint essay, “What to a Vainglorious Tinpot Racist Corruption Machine is the Fourth of July?”
I don't think any American--regardless of party, despite fondness for aviation (which I share)--would enjoy being under the nonstop low-altitude, high-speed, incredible-volume of the Caligula overflights of our nation's capital right now. It feels and sounds like being under aerial attack.
James Fallows@jfallows.bsky.social · last mo.So, per @Froomkin, what we're getting now in DC is sequence of -F-35s -F-18s -More F-35s -F-22s about to arrive. Again, I love airplanes and airshows. But this is wasteful beyond belief. (Another F-35 pack zooms by just now.) Someone can calculate millions-per-flight-hr of each craft
The sound of low flying fighter jets over your capital is not as comforting as some might think
This thread is perfect. Take a moment to scroll through and enjoy.
derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social · last mo.Stephen Miller's suit here shows one of the biggest problems with men's tailoring today. 🧵
Apropos of nothing, President William Henry Harrison once gave a really long speech in bad weather.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.Trump: "On July 7, it's going to be approximately 107 degrees out. And I'm gonna go and I'm gonna make a really long speech, just to show I can do anything."
I’ve got a piece in the @nytimes.com this morning about yesterday’s decision in Slaughter - and also about how any post-Trump response *must* include Supreme Court reform www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/o...
Opinion | Congress Can Just Shrivel. Or It Can Do What It Did After Nixon.
nytimes.com
In the NYT ME-SEN poll, Platner is up by 2 because he’s running up the score with college grads, not because of any working-class pull
"See the parks department" like he's the president of Pawnee.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.TRUMP: When you have a 350 foot slit, do you think that's proof? O'KEEFE: Reporters have been down there today looking for that slit you mentioned. There's no evidence TRUMP: All you have to do is see the parks department. They'll show it to you.
Mamdani's speech at the Knicks parade was easily the best I've ever heard at an event of that sort. I posted the whole thing on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. Highly recommended.
Mamdani Remembers Some Knicks Guys during phenomenal parade speech
YouTube video by Aaron Rupar
youtube.com
When we lose faith "We open the door to the most ruthless or the most careless or the most fearful among us - [who] see government as nothing more than a way to divvy up the spoils and punish enemies and keep those who are different in their place."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoObama: "As algorithms keep feeding us a steady stream of distraction and outrage, as only the loudest most extreme voices get attention, fanning our prejudices, appealing to our basest most tribal instincts, it's tempting to give in to cynicism and even despair, to stop trying."
its crazy how this guy has been out of office almost 10 years and we are just *now* beginning to see politicians who can, again, speak the language of American civil religion in ways that can grab an audience.
Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 2mo agoObama: Shared values that make democracy possible. A belief that our military and law enforcement owe allegiance not to any president or political party, but to the people and our constitution. A belief in the peaceful transfer of power after the people have spoken in fair and free elections.