Sign in

H R Pickens

@hrpickens.bsky.social
1.2K followers 508 following 4.1K posts

I don't expect to be followed back. When I find your stuff interesting, I don't necessarily expect you to find my stuff interesting. That photo is fake. It's not me. But also, basically, it is.

PostsRepliesMedia
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 13h
From time to time I've thought, and even said, unkind things about the kind of person who self-identifies as a leftist. But it never occurred to me to hint that Ro Khanna was one of them. I'll go only so far.
040
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
I love that. It's a neat approach to a question I like to think about: what does it mean to ask "did [some historical figure] exist?" It's not as trivial as it sounds. Because the definition of "King Arthur" or "Ragnar Lodbrok" or "Boudica" or "Jesus of Nazareth" isn't a simple thing.
010
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This guy has exactly the right energy.
010
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
If you want to spend the whole day watching salty Yankees fans on YouTube, and never listen to the same rant twice, it turns out you totally can.
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Just off hand, I imagine much stronger candidates for the nomination would be Rubio, Vance, and depending on how the next year or so shakes out, some GOP governor who has less than the median amount of Trump stink on him and is less loathsome than most of his peers.
100
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I don't know what to tell you. If you see a Stalin when you look at Pete Hegseth, that's your judgment to make. I see a Yezhov--a monster if he's given the power, but very obviously not a man who could seize it himself.
100
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I feel like we've maybe lost sight of the difference between "that guy is too goofy and weak and contemptible to rise to power as a dictator" and "that guy is too goofy and weak and contemptible to act like a monster if given great power by a dictator."
110
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I feel like in order to be scary, a would-be dictator needs to be plausible. A contemptible little toad that almost nobody likes doesn't seem like a plausible dictator.
250
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
These people are gonna be pretty sad when they're forced to return their stolen loot.
020
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Much the same way that, say, nobody talks today about the allies liberating "France" because France today is governed by the fifth Republic, which didn't exist in 1944.
020
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Congrats on being the very first people on Earth to reveal themselves to be so clueless that Donald F Trump is equipped to teach them history.
020
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
It's a shame football is still a thing. This man might otherwise be out there curing cancer.
010
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Seems to me the bad guy here is the judge. If counsel asks permission to perpetrate a fraud on the court, a judge ought properly to deny them.
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The hell was that judge thinking, viewing that as part of the proceeding?
011
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
...Jesus. Not as far as I can tell. Got briefly excited about "Snake Eyes" but then realized I was thinking of "Hard Eight." (Which I guess would look out of place on that list.)
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
And its okay to not like steak! You get to not like things. But it's more than a little bit sad to go to a lot of trouble to pretend that you like something you very obviously don't, just because you think it impresses people.
010
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Also? He does NOT like steak. He perceives steak as a high-status food, so he wants to be seen to like it. But he orders it well done. There's nothing wrong with thoroughly cooked beef. Get the brisket. Or the tri tip. Or the pot roast. But those aren't fancy enough for our little prince.
110
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Wait I assumed that was a cruel and crude photoshop job. That's...a person?
220
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Booing Freeman is shameful. His departure was more Atlanta's doing than his. Just about as much class as we might reasonably expect from Braves fans, though.
010
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I don't think I'd have predicted that California would finish ahead of Texas. But it kind of makes sense. While it's impossible for any state, it's even more impossible for the other 49.
290
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I'd expect that engaging deeply with any text, whether the subject is math or just a story made up to amuse the reader, is pretty good mental exercise.
010
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I was blown away when I heard it. The idea of Shatner covering popular music as spoken word seemed so cringe I could hardly stand to listen. And then I hear...that. Incredible. The arrangement slaps, and Jackson was an inspired choice.
020
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
So dumb. Whatever he was hoping to do, they would definitely let him be a real ICE goon and do it and far worse, and pay him besides.
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Far as I can tell, no player has ever been named World Series MVP two years running. (I get that we aren't at the WS yet.)
010
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Hell, they could sell a piece of the debris to ME.
130
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Agree 100%. I just met this game a month ago or so, so it's fresh in my mind. I loved it, but I don't think I would have before 40. This is a game about shame and regret and missed opportunities and trying to find some dignity in the remains of the day. It'll be totally lost on a kid.
030
Reposted by H R Pickens
David Roberts @volts.wtf · 05/10/2026
Holy shit.
700261108618
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Huh. I guess it never occurred to me that the work of either Nabokov or Verhoeven needed to be separated from the artist. Far as I'm aware, both were/are great artists who did great work and weren't notoriously objectionable people.
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Sure. Still, I like the look of weakness and defeat on him. It suits him.
040
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
These are people who think that the capital of Kansas is Kansas City.
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The poor schmucks who took this test have heard of the guy. Most of them would struggle to name ten presidents if they didn't have a list in front of them. I'd be astonished if even one of them could name a JFK achievement other than (1) getting shot and (2l damn near blowing up the planet.
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Also? The Senate's tradition of comity, which gets a lot of well-deserved kicking in these parts, might restrain the N+1th Senate from cutting the throats of the N'th, most of whom will still be in the room after all.
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Still might be good enough. Even a brief period of secrecy might be long enough to strengthen the spine of a weak senator. Passions can sometimes cool pretty quickly. And an impeached president might not look as scary as one still clothed in the trappings of office.
120
Reposted by H R Pickens
Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"South Korea has already run the experiment. Its law requires the National Assembly to vote on presidential impeachment by anonymous ballot, and that rule has now removed two presidents." [@andycraig.bsky.social]
theunpopulist.net
A Democratic Senate Should Adopt Secret Impeachment Ballots on a Priority Basis
Such a change, requiring no constitutional amendment, would free senators to vote their judgment instead of their fears
9498181
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Okay, to be fair, his grandfather earned it, by means that short-sighted people of his day might have called "theft, betrayal, and mass-murder" but which we today know to have been brave service to the future king. But I'm sure we can all agree that his descendants are entitled to own us.
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Some people say the Duke has too much power but they're just jealous. He earned the power to appoint judges and sheriffs and to hold most of the wealth of this part of the country and to dispense it at his whim to his various thugs and hangers-on. Anyway I can't imagine a better system.
100
Reposted by H R Pickens
Daniel Ostrowski @froakiebloke.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The all time classic
Ye @kanyewest tweets ‘I will never a make a diss record’. Ryan Pequin quote tweets: ‘When Mario starts to doubt himself during a speed run’
24257573
Reposted by H R Pickens
Standplaats Kraków could really use some cash! @standplaatskrk.pl · 05/10/2026
henstomper on tumblr: "oh my god the slot machine company says i have to keep putting coins in their machine or Im Gonna Get Left Behind. thats so scary. and it has to be true because they know more about slot machines than i do"

henstomper: "oh my god the slot machine company says if we dont give them money to build the world’s biggest slot machine the chinese are gonna build it first and win all the prizes. and then there wont be any prizes anymore"
2412128
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I don't think they ever have. rollcall.com/2007/05/25/p...
rollcall.com
Pelosi Brings End to ‘Hastert Rule’
While the leadership styles of Speakers Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) never have had much in common, the difference in their governing philosophies could not have been more stark...
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
And...you think they do that without sounding crazy?
100
Reposted by H R Pickens
Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Kevin D. Williamson believes that laws should apply equally to all. Kevin D. Williamson is weird. Good. thedispatch.com/newsletter/w...
thedispatch.com
High Crimes and Misdemeanors
There are 1,001 reasons Donald Trump should be hauled off to jail.
081
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
It's only nice if people who aren't like me can't get in.
000
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Obviously Democrats suck and the first thing any reasonable person is going to feel on hearing that Hastert has passed is anger at Democrats. But...I'm not sure how much I'd expect them to talk about a guy who's been out of politics for 20 years. Can you even do that without sounding crazy?
710
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I don't know anything about any sequels and I think I'll carry on like that.
160
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
British actors are going to have to start doing American accents to work as villains.
030
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I should clarify that I mean Starship Troopers (the movie) and Lolita (the novel.)
0100
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Starship Troopers is like Lolita, in that it's perfectly respectable to love it. But if I don't know you well, I'll worry that you may not really understand it, and may love it for deeply problematic reasons.
111312
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Vance/Rubio just sounds so weird. They're both scum, of course, but Rubio has so much more heft than Vance. That feels like an extremely bottom-heavy ticket.
150
Reposted by H R Pickens
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
My man looks like Ursula the Sea Witch addressing a shareholders' meeting
588922
H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
And why isn't it the crystal cruiser?
010