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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈

@josephpolitano.bsky.social
117K followers 541 following 11K posts

Writing a data-driven newsletter about economics @ apricitas.io Nuance? In this Economy Full Employment Stan, Brazilian Coffee Tariff Victim |

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 1h
New GDP by State data is out today, and 44 states have seen their economies grow over the last year Fastest: New York (4.6%), Idaho (4.4%), California (3.6%), Florida (3%), Nebraska (2.7%) Slowest: DC (-2.1%), N. Dakota (-.8%), Maryland (-.6%), New Mexico (-.4%), Alaska (-.3%)
a map of real GDP growth, year on year
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Official monthly data is in, and US solar power generation hit a new record high, up 21% compared to this time last year!
a graph of US monthly solar generation
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Reposted by Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈
Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
NEW from me: Over the last 4 years, America has lost more than 200k jobs in creative fields like publishing, film, TV, or graphic design. It's the worst stretch for arts jobs outside of recessions. How much is AI to blame? And can the arts' business model survive?🧵 www.apricitas.io/p/ai-and-the...
apricitas.io
AI and the Fall? of the Creative Class
America is Losing Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs in Media, Film & the Arts. How Much is AI to Blame?
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
NEW from me: Over the last 4 years, America has lost more than 200k jobs in creative fields like publishing, film, TV, or graphic design. It's the worst stretch for arts jobs outside of recessions. How much is AI to blame? And can the arts' business model survive?🧵 www.apricitas.io/p/ai-and-the...
apricitas.io
AI and the Fall? of the Creative Class
America is Losing Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs in Media, Film & the Arts. How Much is AI to Blame?
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I actually do love YouGov's modern attitude of "alright lads, time to poll last month's TikTok discourse" Anywho as a bi guy these are among the least surprising numbers ever, if anything I am surprised the willingness-to-date numbers are that high for bi & gay men.
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Finally got to see Ghost in the Shell at a real movie theatre, still the best movie about an AI safety incident ever made Incredibly prescient film about the world we're currently living in, one of those bits of 80s/90s scifi that only gets more relevant with age letterboxd.com/josephpolita...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★★ review of Ghost in the Shell (1995)
The best movie ever made about an AI safety incident. Truly, humanity *has* underestimated the consequences of computerization. An incredibly prescient film about the world we're currently living in. ...
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
he’s really losing it with the AI stuff
Donald J. Trump
@reaDonald Trump
Many people think that the words "Artificial Intelligence" are inaccurate, and very ineloquent, relative to Al, or Artificial Intelligence. A far more elegant and accurate description of this new phenomena would be Superior Intelligence (SI) or, Extreme Intelligence (El) or, Supreme Intelligence (SI). This is a Poll, and I would appreciate everybody voting! Which is the best name for this ever growing "Revolution?"
President DONALD J. TRUMP
Superior Intelligence (SI)
Extreme Intelligence (El)
Supreme Intelligence (SI)
O votes • 2 days remaining
O ReTruths
o Likes
9/19/26, 11:29 AM
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“If you don’t rename the Kennedy Center after me I will close it forever” Again living in DC is experiencing the constant humiliation of “what if Robert Moses had the most gaudy taste possible and randomly got obsessed with musical theatre”
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
+
The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction. The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board's approved name.
If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place. The attorneys from the DOJ will ask for an expedited appeal. In the meantime, 17 Million Dollars, raised by President Trump, has been put into The Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President
DONALD J. TRUMP
234 ReTruths 767 Likes
9/15/26, 2:54 PM
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Census Bureau's official quarterly financial data came out this week, and companies in the information technology sector broke another investment record amidst the AI boom Net holdings of property, plant, & equipment are up more than $350B over the last year alone
a graph of information tech sector net investment
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Unspeakably excited to finally have this book in my hands
A book called “is this it: the never ending rise and fall of the strokes (and rock n roll)
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
my pet theory here is that Trump got 9/11 and 1/6 confused. like he couldn’t remember which tragedy happened which date and so posted the Jan 6 message today
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
72 Hour Special Military Operation to DeIslamize Iran Update: Fuck
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Incredibly obvious how JD Vance keeps "leaking" these "sources close to JD Vance say JD Vance was secretly against the Iran war" stories; kind of unbelievable that the Times has now published two pieces like this www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/u...
nytimes.com
Behind the Scenes, Vance Gathered Unvarnished Views of the Iran War
Vice President JD Vance received sobering assessments about the war that did not line up with what he, along with President Trump and other top administration officials, were saying publicly.
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I mean, there’s just no coherent economic pitch left, no reason to believe in the cause after two years of every policy change making the economy worse, so we’re left with promising stuff he knows he can’t deliver out of desperation. bro wants to redo April 2020 so bad
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The effort to exclude millions of immigrants from the census is obviously unconstitutional, but trying to ban questions about race/ethnicity is just arson Would delete the highest-quality population data we have because it might reveal disparate impacts by race www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
politico.com
Trump administration proposes dramatic overhaul of 2030 census that changes who counts as living in America
The changes would have a dramatic effect on representation in Congress and the expansiveness of data collected by the government.
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
the specific insanity of “what if i started a perpetually-escalating trade war with Canada two months before control of the senate is determined by voters in Maine and Michigan” is under-discussed here, just wild how unmoored from public opinion concerns the Trump admin has gotten
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
every day it gets dumber and worse
A pain Wojack
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
if you go to Glenstone it's actually illegal to take photos of any art except the flower horse/dinosaur. they won't let you do it.
a picture of me in front of Jeff Koons' Split-Rocker, a giant sculpture of the top of a rocking horse covered in flowersa picture of me in front of Jeff Koons' Split-Rocker, a giant sculpture of the top of a rocking horse covered in flowers
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
very obvious why Canadians feel this way now but Americans still need to internalize how bad the PR damage of the last 2 years has been and how hard it is going to be to rebuild trust
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
July US transit data is in today, & all of the largest US rail networks are growing! Cali leads the way, with ridership up 15% on Muni, 14% on BART, & 10% on LA Metro SEPTA (Philly) & MBTA (Boston) also have strong growth at 8%, while MTS (San Diego, +1.4%) is the slowest🧵
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
we’re like half a step away from him mailing a ransom note made of cut up magazines to Kevin Warsh at this point
Donald J. Trump
@realDonald Trump
+
Great jobs number just announced, breaking all estimates (except mine!) by double and triple - And you haven't seen anything yet! EMPLOYERS ADDED 162,000 JOB IN AUGUST. Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A. is a much stronger credit than it was just a short time ago!
A STRONG COUNTRY MEANS A LOWER INTEREST RATE - IT'S A BETTER CREDIT...Very simple! We should have the LOWEST RATE of any country in the World, like "the old days." Without the United States agreeing to allow them their big surpluses, and we could stop that immediately, they would no longer be considered financially ELITE! LOWER THE RATE OR I'LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT, which the U.S. Supreme Court, in its ridiculous and very costly Tariff decision, strongly acknowledged "the President" has an absolute right to do. ITS BETTER THAN TARIFFS!
The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart - BE PATRIOTS for a change. High interest rates put the U.S.A. at a very unfair disadvantage, and I won't allow that to happen!
President DONALD J. TRUMP
1 ReTruth 3 Likes
9/4/26, 9:41 AM
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The core economic pitch for Trump's deportations was "fewer immigrants means more jobs for Americans" Unsurprisingly, that's just not happening Prime-age employment rates for native-born Americans held near the lowest levels in more than four years in data released today
a graph of employment rates for native and foreign born americans
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The US tech sector continues bleeding jobs—official data released this morning shows employment dropped by 4k last month and is down 42k over the last year That's not as bad as the worst of the 2024 tech-cession, but extremely bad compared to the 2022 boom or even pre-2020 norms
a graph of the year-on-year change in US tech employment
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
NEW US JOBS DATA: Non-farm Payrolls: +162k Unemployment Rate: 4.1% (+0%) Prime Age (25-54) Employment-Population Ratio: 80.4% (+0%) Average Hourly Earnings: +0.3%
a graph of US jobs data
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Hard to overstate the degree to which AI-related imports have completely reshaped US trade flows at this point Another record high for computer & parts imports in official data released this morning, tracking at nearly $700B annualized, up 126% over the last year alone
a graph of US computer imports
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
What I read in August:
A picture of several books, including Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, Communist Pigs by Thomas Fleishman, Angel Down by Daniel Kraus, Democratic Drain by Justin Gest, Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, Possession by AS Byatt, Wretched Refuse by Alex Nowratset and Benjamin Powell, Disneyland and the Rise of Automation by Roland Bentancourt, The Trojan Women and other plays by Euripides, and How to Survive a Plague by David France
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
America's COVID-era warehouse boom is truly over—real US warehouse construction has fallen to the lowest level since 2019 in official data released today It's down 40% since its 2023 peak and is down 11% over the last year alone
A graph of US warehouse construction
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
American factory construction continued declining in official data released today as CHIPS Act projects finish, IRA projects get cancelled, and tariffs weigh on nearly all industries Total US factory construction is down 33% from its 2024 highs and 20% over the last year alone
A graph of US manufacturing construction
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
US data center construction reached another new record high in official data released today, exceeding a pace of $75B/yr (and this only includes data center facilities, not the expensive computers within) Spending is up 57% over the last year and 442% since ChatGPT's launch
A graph of US data center construction
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Just Watched: Space Jam With Lawyers
A picture of me in front of a Coyote vs ACME poster
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
NEW from me: The right says migrants are culturally incompatible with democracy. But those who choose to move to free states actually tend to be their biggest admirers I wrote about Justin Gest's new book on rising immigration from illiberal to liberal states www.theargumentmag.com/p/democracie...
theargumentmag.com
Democracies attract immigrants who like democracy
What did you think "City upon a hill" meant? Vibes, papers, essays? Losers
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Official monthly data is in today, and US solar power generation hit a new record high, up 20% compared to this time last year!
a graph of US monthly solar generation
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Druckenmiller admits his Op-Ed was written with AI this morning, at the absolute bare minimum this should shift the editorial standards at the WSJ www.notus.org/media/stanle...
notus.org
Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller’s WSJ Op-Ed Criticizing Bessent Was Written With AI
“I write everything using AI now,” Druckenmiller, who questioned the treasury secretary’s bond market interventions, said.
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Asking men if they’ve ever played video games, watched porn, or gambled has the same energy as this tweet
joey @joeykillah
Follow
biggie was fat tupac was a rapist xxx beat women
accept it, at the end of the day I only care about the music
2:03 PM • 19 Jul 19
1,239 Retweets
3,489 Quotes
6,680 Likes
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
sorry but this is the most obviously entirely-AI-generated op-ed ever. It has an "it's not X, it's Y" construction in both the first 2 paragraphs. Pangram has it as 100% AI. One of the most prominent billionaires in finance submitted this? The WSJ allowed it to run? are there no standards anymore?
The Treasury Department announced on Aug. 19 that it would double the size of its long-dated bond buybacks, from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation, aimed at the 10- to 30-year sector and running from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. The announcement came after the 30-year yield touched a 19-year high. Yields fell within minutes. By the next afternoon they had round-tripped to levels above where they started. The market’s verdict was swift and correct: This wasn’t liquidity management, it was price management—and a mistake far larger than $4 billion suggests.

Treasury’s announcement gave the game away. It justified the larger operations as liquidity support in sectors with “consistent strong sponsorship from market participants,” but strong sponsorship is the definition of a healthy, working market. There were no failed auctions, no dealer balance-sheet seizure, no forced unwinds, nothing resembling Treasurys in March 2020 or U.K. gilts in September 2022, the sort of genuine dysfunctional episodes that justify official action. Volatility was contained, and trading was orderly—not a malfunction but the machine doing its job.a screenshot of Pangram showing the article is 100% AI
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I mean just every day you wake up and he’s embarking on an even more ridiculous act of economic self harm
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
+
Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years. Their ridiculously high tariffs on our Farmers and farm products has made life impossible for these great American Patriots, and has long created a 60 Billion Dollar Deficit between our two Countries. Not sustainable, and NOT ANYMORE! On January First, 2027, Tariffs on all Cars, Trucks, both large and small, Automotive Parts, and Steel, will be increased to 50%. Build in the U.S. and there are ZERO TARIFFS. Canada will be treated like a State no longer! On Trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with. They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON'T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US! They do 95% of their business with the U.S., with us, the exact opposite! Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
219 ReTruths 708 Likes
8/24/26, 9:38 AM
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Anti-Trump Indycar DC church sign I ran into today lmfao
A Calvary Episcopal Church sign that says “pray the speed cameras are working the 22nd”
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
It is February 2025. I am watching the US impose a bunch of stupid tariffs on Canada. It is March 2025. I am watching the US impose a bunch of stupid tariffs on Canada. It is July 2025. I am watching the US impose a bunch of stupid tariffs on Canada. It is August 2026. I am watching the US impose a
a picture of dr Manhattan sitting on Mars from Watchmen
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
every 6 months the Trump administration realizes lowering tariffs will lower prices, applies this insight to one specific good, and then proceeds to never introspect beyond that. It’s honestly beautiful in its stupidity.
Today, I concluded a deal to substantially lower the price of ground beef for working American families. As everyone knows, under President Biden, beef prices soared at their fastest rate and the American beef herd fell to its smallest size in modern history. As we work to rebuild this herd and help our ranchers, for the next 90 days, the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported with no out of quota tariff. We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices. This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
In possibly the fastest shift in public opinion I've ever seen, local data center approval went from -5 to -65 in less than a year heatmap.news/daily/data-c...
a graph of data center support rapidly falling
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
the great benefit of being known as The Friend Who Reads a Lot is that everyone gets you a book for your birthday
A picture of “Among the thugs” by bill Buford, “There is no place for us: working and homeless in America” by Brian goldstone, “Early Recollections of Washington City” by Christian Hines, “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck, “When we Cease to Understand The World” by Benjamin Labutut, “Here Where We Livd is our country: the Story of the Jewish Bund” by Molly Crabapple, and “Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City”
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Watched Trainspotting for my 28th and its 30th birthday yesterday, it’s amazing how the movie only seems to get more prescient as the world gets more modern. One of the best movies about confronting endemic nihilism, with an incredible soundtrack and just a deluge of striking visuals. boxd.it/fUWbZ5
boxd.it
A ★★★★★ review of Trainspotting (1996)
I watched Trainspotting for my 28th birthday and its 30th birthday, and as the decades have passed it’s amazing how this movie has only gotten more prescient as the world gets more modern. How do you ...
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Heartwarming: this 95 year old diner still makes Tacos the old fashioned way
A tweet from Trump that reads “I have paused the 50% Tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL! The great Keystone XL Pipeline, long ago killed by Sleepy Joe Biden, may be awoken from the grave!
Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
RIP. It's so dumb that the "solution" Trump has presented for the Strait of Hormuz closure is to just hope that a bunch of sailors are willing to risk life and limb in service of global oil markets. www.reuters.com/world/middle...
reuters.com
Vessel struck by unknown projectile in Strait of Hormuz, crew casualty reported, UKMTO says
The United Kingdom ‌Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) received a report on Tuesday that ​a vessel was struck ​by an unknown projectile while ⁠transiting outbound in ​the Strait of Hormuz, causing ​eng...
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
IMO this is the slow-moving disaster that most epitomizes the nightmare that is the Modern Information Environment
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
INDOPACOM century of humiliation continues apace
A tweet from Donald Trump that reads “Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, 1 am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises! While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, "No thanks!" Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J.”
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
is [pop star] a feminist? Is Mastercard a queer ally? Is this tv show my friend?
A screenshot of an Economist article that says "Are the Paw Patrol enforces for authoritarian capitalism?"
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Probably my favorite new daily trivia game, where you’re given a set of senators and bills and have to guess who voted yea or nay on the bills playyeaornay.com
A screenshot of a daily trivia game where you have to guess who voted which way on historic bills
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
This “people are mad about the high costs of electricity so we should cancel a bunch of key electricity infrastructure projects” idea from the Trump administration is probably one of the more obvious blow-up-in-your-face strategies from them, which says a lot www.energy.gov/articles/ene...
energy.gov
Energy Secretary Announces Cancellation of Three Proposed National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy will not move forward with designating the three proposed National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors previous...
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
College kids also actually live in the place where they go to school Plus the “wishes” they’re “overcoming” here are NIMBY policies so bad that they’re driving students to homelessness. Sorry but it’s reasonable to expect some of the wealthiest cities in California to allow more housing!
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