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Jonathan Blanks

@blanksslate.bsky.social
5.7K followers 963 following 1.2K posts

D.C.-based writer who spends a lot of time at the library. Hoosier by birth and college education. Some would call me a libertarian. I would not. Always check the alt text. theblanksslate.substack.com Signal: @jpblanks.36

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Reposted by Jonathan Blanks
Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 09/10/2026
Gosh. What a surprise that Brendan Carr is a fucking coward. Comedians making jokes on late night TV requires an investigation into the "public interest" standard, but a literal execution is "not my job, go talk to Hegseth who is doing a great job."
A livestream falls outside of the FCC’s regulatory power, but the Pentagon feed is something that, absent restrictions, broadcasters could pick up. The FCC’s obscenity, indecency and profanity guidelines do not directly address executions, but under his tenure, Carr has launched investigations of networks on the grounds that they may not be meeting their public interest obligations. FCC guidance earlier this year emphasized, among other things, that stations must air programming that is “responsive to the needs of their local communities.”

“My understanding is it’s not on broadcast TV, so I don’t think there’s a role for the FCC one way or the other there,” Carr said on CNBC. “But I trust Secretary Hegseth. I mean, he’s implementing the laws and regulations that are relevant to the Department of War, and I think he’s doing a great job, and I trust that he’s making the right call on these issues.”
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I think people should listen to what the administration trying to bring back spectacle lynchings, race riots, and middle passage-esque deportation voyages are trying to tell you about themselves. bsky.app/profile/bren...
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
A soldier’s death for a wannabe martyr is literally letting terrorists win. What a stupid and evil man.
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Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
It's a distinctly American irony that sovcits and militiamen frequently run into more trouble with traffic courts than with ATF agents
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
If DEI is more offensive to you than presumptive rape dens, then maybe your priorities are fucking trash.
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
At the end of the day, Warren is still my favorite problematic Southern author but reading Faulkner for the first time took me from WTF to HOW DID HE DO THAT
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I read A,A this past year. Absolutely mindblowing. I have more than a few criticisms of the man, and he’s the sort of author I’d never assign people who don’t love reading, but as an artist, just incredible.
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This is not an attack on the Unpopulist—I’m a fan of the pub,it’s founder, and their work—but man the blinders on the center right donors irk me to no end
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I’m not a DSA guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I get the appeal. Alas, I’m all too familiar with the right of center donor class and boy howdy the worst thing they can say about Nazis is that they’re “socialists.”
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Imagine a world in which the Republican donor class recognizes that racist autcratic corruption might just be a little worse than ::checks notes:: people who want affordable health care.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 06/10/2026
interesting that conservatives were militantly “we must reward hustle” when the target was affirmative action at elite universities and now, when faced with the success of south asians and other groups, it is “i think we are too meritocratic”
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Matt Eminem @legalleadtheway.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Optics of GIs blasting away at a handcuffed 50-year old wannabe martyr in a wheelchair are… something. Also a staggering amount of historical illiteracy, given firing squad is traditionally a soldier’s death. Nuremberg nazis begged to be shot, since hanging carries stigma of common criminality.
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Trump said Monday that unnamed persons at The New York Times “should be arrested” for reporting there were “empty seats” at his rally in Ohio, when instead, he claimed, the arena was “full to the brim.” The article he quoted was about a rally in Alabama. www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump...
mediamatters.org
Trump keeps demanding criminal punishment for reporting he dislikes — including about his crowd sizes
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
He is who we thought he was.
static.klipy.com
Dennis Green: Crown 'Em!
Alt: A gif of Dennis Green on his famous rant after losing to the Bears in the NFC playoffs, even though they had game planned for exactly what happened. But this team—the Arizona Cardinals—didn’t execute so he and they lost a chance at the Super Bowl. He screamed “They are who we thought they were!” and “Crown 'Em!” It really sucks when you know how something is going to turn out and despite your best efforts it happens any fucking way.
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Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I think it’s important to explore these comments and the political dimensions of male supremacy because the GOP is clearly becoming *more* hospitable to these views as it becomes more authoritarian. There is a generation of young men coming up in this. www.liberalcurrents.com/the-illusion...
You might ask why it's worth dredging up all these bilious comments. But these are coming from major media figures on the American right. Moreover, Hanania has, as I noted in a recent column, ingratiated himself with mainstream media outlets and even writes regularly at the Boston Globe. As fraternity members at one of America's major elite universities, the young men in question are well-positioned to become leaders in their chosen fields and even elected officials. The networked effects of both Ivy degrees and fraternity membership can be considerable.
Consider the Young Republicans group chat messages that leaked last year, featuring dehumanizing jokes about rape and homosexuality. In those messages, exposed by Politico, they glorified mass rape as a tool of conquest:
"The Spanish came to America and had sex with every single woman."
"Sex is gay"
"Sex? It was rape."
"Epic"This was a chat for Young Republicans, the future of their party. And it reflects dynamics we see across American society, and especially online and on the right, of young men being drawn to a culture of male supremacy and rape enthusiasm. As I wrote then, "In the context of sex, [male supremacy] comes down to a wholesale rejection of sex as a consensual act for the enjoyment of both parties."

As I noted here at Liberal Currents last year, rape is integral to authoritarian politics. Mussolini was a rapist. Francisco Franco imposed a hardline Catholic dictatorship in Spain in which women were expected to serve the nation by serving their husbands. Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Soviet NKVD during World War Two, leveraged his position to engage in serial rape on a prolific scale. As Ruth Ben-Ghiat observed in her book, Strongmen, "The strongman would be nothing without bodies to control." And authoritarianism offers up these bodies to its most dedicated foot soldiers, a point on which Beria serves as a good reminder.Yes, in this case, we are talking about the control of women's bodies. But that doesn't mean the male form doesn't enter into it. In fact, it's the male body that retains its specialness. This fixation moves, sometimes rapidly, from obsession to revulsion. We see that in the language of incels like Nick Fuentes, who has proclaimed that
"dating women is gay, having sex with women is gay. And having sex with men is gay." And we see that preoccupation in Walsh as well. When one commenter asked if the Cornell fraternity brothers should be considered "whores," Walsh replied, "Yes, and gay. But they aren't rapists. That's the point here."
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
static.klipy.com
Daffy Duck Dancing
Alt: A gif of this Daffy Duck putting on a dance routine, not unlike certain credulous law professors who magically find a reason to support Republican policy on a legal basis even when they claim to personally object to it because they adhere stringently to objective analysis that discards black letter law and decades of historical understanding.
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WIRED @wired.com · 02/10/2026
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
If you live in the following states, TODAY is the last day to register to vote before the midterm elections: Arizona Arkansas Florida Georgia Indiana Kentucky Mississippi Ohio Tennessee Texas find your state's info at IWillVote.com
iwillvote.com
I Will Vote
Be a voter. Find everything you need to vote in your state’s next election.
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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Marjory Wentworth, Springfield area activist & G92 faith group member, tells me tonight: “I have to wonder about the timing and location - the same day of the funeral for Pierre Damas Bal in Springfield. This young man was a victim of Trump's cruel policies, & the rally dishonors Pierre's memory &…
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Anu @nofirstorder.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
“Even if you hate Vivek” might be the most bipartisan, relatable thing he’s said all night.
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Fair point!
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A reminder that the word “heterodox” doesn’t actually mean “spiteful and hateful reactionaries,” despite most evidence from those who identify as such.
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Mike Levin @mikelevin.org · 02/10/2026
Is it too much to want a Defense Secretary focused on ending the war in Iran, instead of whatever this is?
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 02/10/2026
This has faced enough hiccups on the road to publication that it's probably not a book review anymore. But here are my thoughts on Quinn Slobodian's _Hayek's Bastards_ as someone who spent most of her adult life in the movement the book's history discusses.
janetbufton.ca
A hard look at libertarianism
Quinn Slobodian's 2025 book provides the starting point of a more thorough post-mortem
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Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Rufo gets to position himself as "respectable." Polite sit-down interview w/ Ezra Klein. Celebrated by Substack as one of platform's "best" writers. Senior fellow at Manhattan Institute. His "Indian Question" podcast is pretty explicitly white nationalist talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chris-r...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing
To the degree that a “respectable” or “moderate” right exists today in...
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Liberalism.org @liberalism.org · 01/10/2026
"It's really easy to think—especially when we [political coalition members] have been working together for a long time—we work together because we agree. And, I don't think that's actually true." — @janetbufton.ca Listen to the full episode: www.liberalism.org/podcast/s/li...
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
frankly, I very much prefer Dean-O as a singer and his catalogue, but tradition is what it is.
static.klipy.com
Excited Commentator: The Yankees Win!
Alt: A gif of the late great John Sterling screaming: "The Yankees Win! Theeeeeeeeee Yankeees Win!"
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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
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kenofseattle @kenofseattle.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Seattle
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
My former roommate and unflappably good guy.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Omg Waitaminute
Alt: a gif of Steve Harvey looking perplexed and dumbfounded.
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We’re just speedrunning Darwin Awards
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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
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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.
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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
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Ah, but was it during a local emergency or just regular fucking off in a resort?
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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.
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I saw it as a double feature in the theatre with ET. (I don’t think it was billed as such but I saw both that day.) I was 5. Not sure that was the best age for me to see BLWIT, but obviously it stuck with me.
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
A study in contrasts
The front pages of the Washington Post
, the New York Times, and the Washington Times. 

The Post and NYT feature massive above-the-fold pictures and headlines of Dolly Parton on the occasion of her passing. The Washington Times, the local Moonie-run GOP rag, has a picture of two non-descript dudes on a pier looking over Lake Ontario and with the headline “Trump puts “Lake America” on his map,” because he is a deeply disturbed, unintelligent, petty and fatuous human being.
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
"Trump supports the troops," my ass.
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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
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Doing my best not to let DJT ruin my fun
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Pronounced A-A-Ron.
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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. 🫵
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
static.klipy.com
Charlie Sheen #WINNING
Alt: Charlie Sheen repeating his catch phrase when he was strung out in the Aughts: #WINNING
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I was a teen thru 90s R&B, so I get loving objectively terrible music, but at least the beats were dope!
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Jonathan Blanks @blanksslate.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I also have deep reservations of people generally, which doesn’t seem to bother you as much.
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