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John Kalmar

@johnkalmar.bsky.social

92 followers 81 following 40 posts

I have an unironic love of Hall & Oates.

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Reposted by John Kalmar

Zander🚈🔰 @kohiwonomu.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

if you read nothing else from rodger sherman in your entire life please read these paragraphs from the end of his newsletter, possibly the most important paragraphs anyone has ever written about Team USA

Throughout these Olympics, people asked me why I was cheering for Team USA at this bleak moment in American history. I get it! Our government is a nightmare, causing endless harm internationally and at home. Abroad, they’re picking needless fights with our closest allies — remember what I said about Donald Trump reposting AI-generated videos of himself punching imaginary Canadians in the face? And domestically, they’re building camps for immigrants, and sending masked goons to brutalize and occasionally murder our neighbors in our streets.

So yeah. It felt weird being patriotic during these Olympics. Many Team USA athletes said so themselves.

But America is so much bigger than Donald Trump and his evil government.

The flag that flies when an American athlete wins a gold medal isn’t Donald Trump’s flag. It’s ours. The anthem that plays isn’t Donald Trump’s song. It’s ours. If we refuse to celebrate what’s great about our country because of the people trying to ruin it, they’ve already succeeded.

There’s a reason Trump and his administration didn’t celebrate most of Team USA’s wins. (Except the men’s hockey team. I wonder why...) The bigots in charge of our country like to claim that our diversity makes us weaker. Every two years, Team USA proves otherwise at the Olympics. Americans of every race, every background, and every orientation show that they can work together to become the best in the world.

There’s a reason Trump and his administration didn’t celebrate most of Team USA’s wins. (Except the men’s hockey team. I wonder why...) The bigots in charge of our country like to claim that our diversity makes us weaker. Every two years, Team USA proves otherwise at the Olympics. Americans of every race, every background, and every orientation show that they can work together to become the best in the world.

This year’s Team USA featured all sorts of Americans this administration hates. While this administration tries to demonize immigrants and forcibly remove them from our country, nearly one-fifth of Team USA were immigrants or the children of immigrants, like naturalized citizen Kaillie Humphries and first-generation American Alysa Liu. While this administration cracks down on LGBTQ+ rights, Team USA had Hilary Knight getting engaged to Brittany Bowe before winning a gold medal. While this administration tries to reimagine America as a white ethnostate, Team USA had Black gold medalists like Elana Meyers Taylor and Laila Edwards. I could keep going.

Watching Team USA have their best Winter Olympics ever was a much-needed reminder of all the reasons we can’t give up on this whole America thing. The Trump administration is the worst of us. Team USA is the best of us. Why on earth would we let the worst thing about our country dampen our love for the best things about our country?

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Reposted by John Kalmar

Alexis Madrigal @alexis-madrigal.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

One of the big tidal forces of the coming years is that the baseline reliability of things you see on a screen is going to decline. I think this has not been adequately metabolized. This is one version, but there are a bunch of them.

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John Kalmar @johnkalmar.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

@grahamcouch.bsky.social how large of a donation do we need to make to the Lansing Promise to get you to join book club with me and @kaledavidoff.bsky.social ?

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Reposted by John Kalmar

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 30/04/2025

this antivax stuff is genuinely bewildering. like what do you mean you don’t know if vaccines are safe? why exactly do you think child mortality rates have plummeted since the beginning of the 20th century? why is it that you are not worried about getting polio or smallpox anymore?

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John Kalmar @johnkalmar.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

@grahamcouch.bsky.social I need those takes

media.tenor.com

a basketball player is making a funny face with his tongue sticking out .

ALT: a basketball player is making a funny face with his tongue sticking out .

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John Kalmar @johnkalmar.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

@grahamcouch.bsky.social where can we buy you the LA equivalent of a Midtown Brewing American Stout after the game? Cc @kaledavidoff.bsky.social

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Brendan Quinn @bfquinn.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Criminalize the wave at basketball games

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