Thomas Beck
@tomfodw.bsky.social
Historian of 19th & 20th century Russia/Europe (mostly pre-1921); science fiction author & fan; lover of cats, dogs, chocolate, books, movies, television, baseball, soccer, ice hockey, cricket, Hawaii. Follow my Substack! https://thomasbeck.substack.com
The GOP's official party-wide slogan marching into the midterms: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"
These two posts overstate it, but they're in the right direction. Worries about shortfalls in precision missile stocks and production pre-dates Trump. US Army, not whole military. Not all out, and the US could still fight a war with anyone if needed. But yes, it's bad, and for a very bad reason.
Nicholas Grossman@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · yesterdayUS munitions shortage is serious, but that Reuters headline going around is giving people a misleading impression. The Army, not the whole military, says it’s virtually out of precise long range missiles (ie ATACMS and PrSMs). Bad—and for a pointless war the US is losing—but far from entirely out.
Long, disturbing, maybe terrifying. So many mistakes, so many miscalculations, so much borrowing from tomorrow to have a good time today. We've forgotten everything and learned nothing.
Colorado River Blues: Decades of warnings sparked no serious response. Now a megadrought and the climate crisis are forcing gigantic cuts in water allocations to the states that depend on them
“The Colorado (River) Basin, then, is a few years away from permanent drought, and it will have to make do with whatever nature decrees the flow shall be.” — Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert: The…
dailykos.com
Today I learned how you say "Spiderman" in Russian: <<Человек-паук>> "Chelovyek-Pauk," literally "Man-Spider." I figured it would be "Spaider-man" or some other attempt to convey the sound in Russian. Chelovyek-Pauk, Chelovyek-Pauk Does whatever a Pauk does
"Access to Ceuta does not give anyone automatic access to the rest of Europe. More to the point, nearly all of those who swam over the border had returned to Morocco by Sunday morning." @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu on the latest Trump, Vance, and Farage migration panic.
The Far Right Is Distorting Ceuta
We’ve seen this before.
theatlantic.com
Putin’s war against Ukraine isn’t just about gaining territory, it aims to obliterate Ukraine as a sovereign country and culture.
Like can you imagine someone saying “he grows anxious if he has an unexpressed thought” like it’s exculpatory for the literal president
Widow's Bay DSA@gonebabygone.bsky.social · 3d ago(Reassuringly) the president has the zoomies
⚠️WOKE CONTENT⚠️™️ 🧵 Did you know before the Underground Railroad went North, the path to freedom ran South? Yes it did. True story. Pull up a seat🪑, my friends—and learn the history of Fort Mose. (cont) #ProudBlue #ResistanceRoots #USDemocracy #Voices4Victory www.nps.gov/foma/learn/h...
Fort Mose - Fort Matanzas National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)
Fort Mose
nps.gov
It's pretty infuriating that Trump is denying disaster aid to Oregon for political reasons and I have barely heard anything about it, while Biden was falsely accused of doing the exact same thing to North Carolina and millions of people believed that
MAGA masculinity means declining to publicly criticize the man your daughter has accused of physical abuse, because doing so might prompt a senile 80-year-old man to write mean things about you.
Wajahat Ali@wajali.bsky.social · 5d agoThe man beat his daughter and injured his granddaughter but he's fine with it apparently. www.notus.org/ohio/bernie-...
Will the Sunday shows do anything about the people who lied to their faces about this? Doug Burgum got indignant when Dana Bash doubted the 350-foot-long knifing story. Will CNN hold him accountable or just invite him back like nothing happened?
Scott MacFarlane@macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 5d agoFLASH: Justice Dept seeks to dismiss Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool criminal case against former Olympian David Hearn Trump Admin acknowledges: "Damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor"
Wonder how they will make the LAPD the hero of this on “The Rookie”?
Los Angeles Times@latimes.com · 5d agoLAPD officer who recorded colleagues' racist comments to be charged with felony eavesdropping
By popular demand, here is everything you need to know ahead of the Women's Professional Baseball League season that starts tomorrow:
everything you need to know about the WPBL
here's your WPBL-101
thefrankiedlc.news
"Where is the gore? Where is the pathos? Stuart, Bob, and Kevin are supposed to be sex-crazed, war-mongering maniacs.” Wilson went on to say the adaptation would be unrecognizable to the poem’s original author, Gru."
EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 6d agoNo professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...
Let me tell you, having chronicled Pentagon-style war game on attacking Iran nearly 25 yr ago, every single "surprise," "darkening turn," "narrowing option," spreading warfare," "rising casualties," "no easy exit," etc that comes drip-by-drip is EXACTLY why GHWB WJC GWB OBAMA BiDEN did NOT do this
I hope you’ll check out Substack about what autocrats do when they have to cope with failure and subscribe below: lucid.substack.com
Lucid | Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Substack
A newsletter for big-picture thinking about autocracy and threats to democracy around the world. Click to read Lucid, by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscriber...
lucid.substack.com
People still think of Sweden as this sexually liberated place, but the reality is you're not even allowed to fuck inside the giant taxidermied Blue Whale anymore. Place has really changed.
jordan@jordantyranny.bsky.social · last wk.The only taxidermied blue whale in the world, 1865 CE, now housed at the Natural History Museum in Sweden. The public was allowed to enter the whale up until a couple was found having sex inside it. Now the whale’s jaws are opened only for special occasions, such as Swedish election days.
Graduation-ready! How many of these can I smuggle in the sleeves of my gown… Thanks SO much for the supply, @royalhistsoc.org! They’ll look splendid on our newly-minted historians!
As far as Ukraine is concerned, that makes Iran an indirect combatant. And that means Iranian cargo ships heading to Russia are fair game as far as military targets go.