Introducing the "McCirce Meal" - you get a large pork burger and your Coke is spiked.
Tyron@tyron.bsky.social · 3d agofeel like McDonald's should have done some kind of lotus-themed Happy Meal tie-in for The Odyssey
Give me my copy of Ways and Means, Grant. Fred here understands the brief.
I don't worry at all about terminator stuff, I worry quite a lot about Augmented authoritarianism, and I worry the most of all about a gigantic metastasizing perpetually low-trust neomedieval pile of shit that AI greatly exacerbates and possibly locks in for good.
dame@dame.is · last wk.real talk, how many of y’all are genuinely concerned about super intelligent AI ushering in the end of days?
Fortunately, the effects of bombing and their knock on effects on the global economy will end precisely when you stop doing the bombing
Shipwreck@shipwreck75.bsky.social · 5d agoThere was some discussion about trying to conclude by the time financial markets open Monday because of concern about how the bombings will affect the U.S. and global economy, but an end point wasn't locked in.
Fun fact (not) : after the 2018 Toronto attack, where a lookist (incel) militant killed 11 and injured 15, Ross Douthat penned an opinion piece where he leaned into incel propaganda and advocated for a 'fairer' distribution of women's bodies among men.
Jacob T. Levy@jacobtlevy.bsky.social · last wk.' "Ross is one of the preeminent public intellectuals in America today, a thinker of uncommon rigor and a journalist of deep empathy," Bilton said. ' So those are words that have happened. www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minu...
No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...
Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation
PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...
theonion.com
On the plus side, the US has finally released $600m to Gavi for vaccines In return, Gavi has to needlessly remove a sterilizer and preservative from vaccines. This means they’ll spend millions on new vaccines that can’t vaccinate as many kids www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/...
Trump cuts WHO off from Gavi vaccine alliance funding
Decision follows long-running feud between Trump and UN group.
aljazeera.com
perhaps it wasn’t a good idea for our culture to spend the past 50 years de facto excusing every political scandal with “oh, politicians, they’re all corrupt…“ *shrugs* just sayin
Politico@politico.com · 6d agoAmericans have a high tolerance for scandal-plagued candidates. Especially Trump’s MAGA base, our new poll found. Two-thirds of self-identified MAGA Trump voters say they would continue supporting a GOP candidate accused of sexual assault. 🔗 politi.co/4g0TeHs
Only a mastermind like Tony Fauci could pull this off
Mike Rothschild@rothschildmd.bsky.social · 6d agoThe overwhelming right wing sentiment is that COVID was an engineered bioweapon that was also harmless. Trump overreacted to it by shutting down the country, then engineered a drive to create a vaccine that was the real bioweapon that killed millions, and it's Joe Biden's fault.
A friendly reminder that A Fish Called Wanda anticipated most of the right-wing politics we‘re currently experiencing
re: Heritage Title IX opposition "the Republican Party is ideologically committed to impregnating as many teenage girls as possible" is an objectively true statement that is taboo to admit in mainstream politics
arguably the most influential right-wing think tank is publishing pages and pages describing exactly how and why they want young women out of school and the workforce so they can get pregnant with a second kid by 20 and yet nobody is allowed to talk about it
Winning: It's Not An Option Success: Not Even Once Victory: What's That
i'll hazard a take on this: we shouldn't frame women outearning men as a problem the issue is that as earnings equalise, other ways of contributing to relationships (cleaning, care, planning) aren't
The Cut@thecut.com · 2w agoGen-Z women aren’t just paying for their boyfriends, Angelina Chapin writes for The Cut. They’re mothering them as well.
This feels grimly accurate. I think for most people, engagement with the party feels like getting on Temu’s mailing list: Just a neverending stream of spam asking for cash and no other meaningful call to be part of anything that might generate any sense of identity or community.
Feild@feild.work · 2w agoThere's nothing to "join" in the Democratic Party. It's a brand with products I spend my vote on once a year at the democracy store. Most people's experience of it is an endless stream of texts that read like scams, their reward for donating or signing a petition. No wonder DSA is growing
![Douthat: This is good, and I’m all for that. But you’re doing that while the president is appearing on TV or in a video still or wherever else it is with a map showing the U.S. stars and stripes covering most of North America, which is different. That’s a different policy ask from more defense spending.
Colby: I don’t think what we’re doing is different than what he’s doing.
Douthat: What is he doing?
Colby: I wouldn’t presume to characterize what the president is doing.
Douthat: Then how do you know it’s not different from what you’re doing?
Colby: [Laughs.] It’s certainly not incompatible. I think the president, as I understand it, is communicating that the United States needs to be secure and have our interests respected in the hemisphere, and he communicates it in that way.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:d7cxynfva4ff62b3ia7mclwn/bafkreigpxalspja6aoulvwwma3hsdt74tbcsz4nhsjhbarv7l6nwp6j33e)
He managed to make Douthat sound like Isaac Chotiner, which shouldn’t be possible.
I just think it's fun that, judging by recent articles, @theatlantic.com has a more favorable view of Richard Hanania than it does of DSA.
Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · 2w ago"The most valuable commodity in politics today is trust, because it is both so useful and scarce. One can build trust among those on your side by attacking someone recognizably on the other side, but one can also gain trust by being attacked." www.liberalcurrents.com/editors-note...
My official libbing out certificate arrived today, courtesy of @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com and the rest of the gang
A predictable, and by now tedious, tactic of incompetent military leaders is to attempt to spin criticism of their catastrophic misjudgements as an attack on the troops they have flung into the meatgrinder.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago😳 Hegseth snaps at Peters: "Your characterization of this incredible effort as a failure if reckless and irresponsible and smear the sacrifice of the troops. Shame on you." Peters responds: "You, sir, are the failure!"
Genuinely fascinating history of episodes of affirming pluralism in periods we think of (on the whole correctly) as incredibly intolerant
Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · 2w ago“Genuine pluralism requires people to act in ways that affirm the dignity and presence of others, even when difference remains.” www.liberalcurrents.com/the-work-of-...
honestly i'm sort of reminded about how the best GWOT analysts were bloggers we're returning to tradition
Sharon 🪳🌹@sharonk.bsky.social · 2w ago"in 2026, Chinese state media employees reads and cite a DefenseSky guy who goes by the name Secretary of Defense Rock about how the war on Iran is not grand strategy, it's just stupid" the 21st century is fascinating
I am a passionate defender of what I vaguely imagine the Western Canon to be
Have to admit, Spain responding by flying over here and winning it all was a pretty respectable flex.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4w agoTrump: "Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore, by the way. I'd like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. Cut off all trade with Spain, please. Including visits. We don't want anything to do. They're hopeless. Bad people."
"This is made for liberals" is a weird thing to say about a film that posits that the essence of civilization is upholding sacred, divine laws that tie all of society together, and when you do you destroy civilization itself and maim your soul.
Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · 2w agoThey’re having a completely normal one over at the National Review this weekend
