iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What I sent my Yankees fans in-laws this evening: "Is there any better feeling in sports than beating Boston in the postseason? Yep. Beating the pants off of Boston in the postseason." open.spotify.com/track/35rcZ5...

open.spotify.com

Theme From New York, New York - 2008 Remastered

Frank Sinatra · Sinatra The Musical: His Way - The Originals · Song · 2026

110

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My former roommate and unflappably good guy.

172

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Stars and Stripes @starsandstripes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Max D. Lederer Jr., the former publisher of Stars and Stripes who was fired by the Pentagon, was named as news executive of the year by the magazine Editor & Publisher. E&P said it awarded its highest annual honor in recognition of his long career and his defense of independent journalism.

stripes.com

Former Stars and Stripes publisher named news executive of the year

Editor & Publisher said it awarded Lederer its highest annual honor in recognition of his long career and his defense of independent journalism.

28329

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I do wish it was more of a big deal that Congress, as per its Constitutional powers, appropriated money for federal programs and the Trump administration refused to spend it until it lapsed www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trum...

newsfromthestates.com

Trump administration revokes $810M approved by Congress for refugee aid and more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress.

27635

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Worth noting that Ravi Ruia, the Indian billionaire behind the Iowa steel plant Trump touted yesterday as bringing back American industry, has massive funding from Russian state companies. Here he is on the Kremlin website talking with Putin about it. en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/59216

Ravi Ruia: Your Excellency, friends here. My name is Ravi Ruia, I am the co-founder of the Essar Group in India, along with my brother Shashi Ruia. Your Excellency, we are involved with Essar Group in different businesses. We are in the oil refining and exploration business, in spill manufacturing, power generation, port infrastructure, metals and mining. Our total revenues are around $15 billion a year. Your Excellency, in the last two years, with active cooperation and assistance of VTB Bank, we have been instrumental in bringing in a large investment from the state-owned oil company Rosneft into India, which has given access to Russia to a very large market in India of over 1.25 billion people. It is a total investment of almost $13 billion, which is the largest investment ever made by a Russian private company into the Indian private sector.
And it has given a big, major outlet for potentially Russian crude into India and access to over 4,000 to 5,000 filling gas stations in India where our product will be directly given to Indian consumers. Your Excellency, we are also looking at how else we can bring in more Russian investment into India, which would add to the growth of both Indian market and access to Indian population as well as add to Russian export. For instance, in the power generation sector, India genuinely believes that there is large potential for Russian power equipment to come into India as the Indian power generation is growing. This is the background of our group.
We are now looking at, Your Excellency. My question to you, Your Excellency, is the economic growth in India is at 1.5 percent. And now that the oil price has recovered, what measures do you envisage to take it to a sustainable high level of 3 percent? Thank you.

Andrei Kostin: Do you mean in Russia?
Ravi Ruia: Yes, in Russia.
Vladimir Putin: First of all, I would like to say that we have really good constructive relations with India, thanks also to our friendly personal ties with Prime Minister Modi, who is a serious politician and a really reliable partner.
It is largely thanks to his efforts that we are moving our relations forward in many fields. Yet we are not satisfied with the current state of our relations. It is beyond the capabilities of both India and Russia. We can increase the volume of our trade and economic ties and mutual
investments manifold, yes, many times over.
One of the investment projects you have mentioned is, indeed, the largest foreign investment in the history of the Indian economy - the acquisition by Rosneft, if l am not mistaken, of a stake worth $12 billion in one of India's largest oil refineries. I hope it is not the last investment of this kind.

33526

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We’re just speedrunning Darwin Awards

061

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I spend my days fighting for voters in court. Most of what happens there never makes the news. That's why I started Democracy Docket. Sign up now. demdock.com/4w6emld

313097750

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Trump last week touted "one of the Biggest and Most Beautiful Events to take place in many years, the arrival at the White House of the Highly Respected President of China, Xi Jinping, and his beautiful wife, Madam Peng." The U.S. switched sides.

691343369

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 08/09/2026

The turnaround on this was faster than I expected. Me at CapX on the CUSMA breakdown and where it leaves Canada.

capx.co

Canada is fighting back against US tariffs

They are willing to pay some price simply as an act of defiance

052

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Ah, but was it during a local emergency or just regular fucking off in a resort?

1111

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 26/08/2026

Today at @liberalism.org, I offer a corollary to an earlier piece at @liberalcurrents.com where I proposed a new political coalition to reunite liberals. Today, I want to talk about when and why coalitions end. More than anything, I want to convince you that it's good for spent coalitions to end.

liberalism.org

Tribes, Coalitions, Parties

A theory of how political organizations form, cooperate, rise, and decline.

4139

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

"Trump supports the troops," my ass.

1221758

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

kevinwglass.bsky.social @kevinwglass.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This is probably the toughest one, because I do think it is cool and something that DC should absolutely do but it’s still run by the Freedom 250 sham that he set up and diverted funds from the real celebratory committee

062

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Doing my best not to let DJT ruin my fun

180

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

New Public Comment on the self-interested case for quitting X publiccomment.blog/p/it-is-past...

publiccomment.blog

It Is Past Time for You to Quit Elon Musk's X

Yes, I'm talking to you. 🫵

10607155

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The resurgence of Backstreet Boys songs in public spaces—restaurants, bars, etc —reminds me why I still have trouble respecting millennials.

270

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

A bunch of cops cheering at a political rally — in uniform — as the president and AG endorse a candidate and attack their political opponents is not normal. And it is not okay.

31872262288

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Jason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

If Trump were a foreign asset, how would he act any different, example #1103

15576129

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Never forget that Trump purged NSC’s top Iran expert last year bc Laura Loomer told him to.

231043359

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Ari Cohn @aricohn.com · 11/08/2026

This is so embarrassing

811411

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Dara Lind @daralind.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

NEW FROM ME: The Great Delegalization. There are now (almost certainly far more than) 1M immigrants who were protected from deportation on Jan 20, 2025, and no longer are. It’s the result of a problem that’s been building for 30 years—& now only Congress can fix. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

newyorker.com

These Immigrants Lived in the U.S. Legally. Now Trump Is Changing Their Status.

More than a million immigrants are seeing protections that granted them safe lives in the U.S. suddenly swept away.

14996443

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

. @daralind.bsky.social makes her debut in @newyorker.com explaining how Trump is stripping legal status from hardworking immigrants who have nowhere safe to go. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

Text from the New Yorker (online):

“These are people who had official documentation allowing them to work, and live, in the U.S. But their status in the United States was always subject to the discretion of the executive branch. The Trump Administration has exploited such ambiguities over and over again. Since January, 2025, the White House has stripped more than a million people of T.P.S. and similar protections. Call it the Great Delegalization.

People with Temporary Protected Status were never, precisely, safe. Instead, they lived in the chasm between most Americans’ assumptions about immigration status and what the law actually requires. T.P.S. status provides no legal mechanism to apply for a green card, or any other immigration status. Instead, people have had to spend time and money just to remain in place. “

5776273

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Being a good writer or even a good lecturer doesn’t necessarily make one a good audiobook narrator. If you have the means—and I’m pretty sure the publisher of the academic who inspired this post does—please pay a professional narrator! #booksky #history #audiobooksky

1121

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Ironically, the way mainstream papers lower the bar to give space to middling hacks in the name of ideological diversity is the closest real-world phenomeon to how MAGA imagines DEI works. Does anyone think we’d know the name Mark Thiessen if he were on the center-left competing for that slot?

91737296

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

hi, no thanks @hmmvryintrstng.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

this is both infuriating and sad to watch having him on at this point is really just taking advantage of a man who can't string together a single coherent thought

3348567

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

It's very very strange to be in a situation where Jeanine Pirro is the sane and responsible one!

561353214

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

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.

422182431

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Oh fuck here we go. The escalation spiral begins. So fucking evil, so fucking dumb, and so fucking hard to avoid when three kleptokakistocratic criminal shithole regimes are involved.

719848

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Again, this was literally the lowest, most essential bar in US politics from 1949-2017, & then everyone decided they were shameful oath-violating cowards & He was One Special Boy: bsky.app/profile/mcop...

1057684

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 07/07/2026

Some more thoughts on last week's @liberalism.org piece, as well as a link to it for those who missed it over the great North American long weekend.

janetbufton.ca

Liberalism and principles

Dealing with the reality of emergent politics

155

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Already made a Hürtgen Forest reference

030

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 02/07/2026

So much slowness to respond to global illiberalism stems from liberals struggling to find their feet after (as) the political ground shifted (shifts) underneath them. Today @liberalism.org, I suggest a framework for understanding what's happened and thinking about what to do next.

liberalism.org

A Liberalism of Principle, Not Program

Slavery’s opponents knew how to keep things simple. Today’s liberals should do likewise.

22211

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Felonious Monk @alexqgb.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

today in richly confirmed priors

2357

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

A very happy 6th wedding anniversary to @daralind.bsky.social. Thank you for marrying me; I’m so proud of you and love you dearly.

A picture of us in the vet’s office picking up our then-newly adopted kitten, Penny. Dara is smiling holding her and I’m next to her still wearing sunglasses and my library badge and a pencil behind my ear like a dork.

0592

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

leon @leyawn.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

this is your mission. our pedophile president needs you to show up in full combat gear on a hot summer day to the pool he filled with algae because he gave a paint job to one of his cigar puffing cronies. you are ordered to stop tourists from touching the green water. good luck soldier

228140403952

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

This is an excellent distillation of the tension between an anti-populist commitment to the truth and the ugly reality of electoral politics. I'm not sure I fall where he does, but it is a spot-on analysis of the internal conflicts many of us feel.

061

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

I’m glad the Knicks are playing harder in the opening minutes but can they PLEASE NOT TRY WEMBY?! #nbafinals #nyk #donottaunthappyfunball

021

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Anthony L. Fisher @anthonylfisher.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Congrats to the anti-woke dunces who claimed to be free speech warriors but made common cause with this guy because wokeness is always worse than fascism.

120647

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

With its recent rulings, the Roberts Court has now entirely perverted the purpose of the 15th Amendment, turning an outright ban on racial discrimination in voting into a right to discriminate against black voters. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

theatlantic.com

The Supreme Court Has Invented a Right to Discriminate

Alabama gambled on the Court’s partisanship, and won.

16470772776

Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

"For my next trick, I shall put my face in the mouth of a leopard!"

0103

Reposted by Jonathan Blanks

Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

I'm up at Liberty Fund with an essay on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. www.libertyfund.org/250th/disagr...

libertyfund.org

When a Doctrine Becomes Destructive of These Ends

43713