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Kip Kosek

@kipkosek.bsky.social
24 followers 47 following 68 posts

Sometime scholar of American history, religion, and culture. Author Acts of Conscience. From Wisconsin to the East Coast and back again. Posts about cultural, intellectual, and political life.

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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Nothing can ever happen twice. In consequence, the sorry fact is that we arrive here improvised and leave without the chance to practice.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I also wonder if it may have been hard to represent the gods onscreen in a way that didn’t come across as parody. Like would Zeus have a long white beard and carry a lightning bolt?
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
My sense was that giving the gods a larger role would have meant Odysseus’s journey was shaped more by caprice and fate. Whereas Nolan’s insertion of “Zeus’s law” (w/o Zeus) suggested an underlying logic of justice: treat others fairly, you get what you deserve, and so on.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I’m surprised and delighted that you have a connection to Dick Barnes, whose poetry I’ve long enjoyed. This kind of opens up a whole new dimension of TMG lyrics for me.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Tom Tiffany, U.S. House member and our WI Republican candidate for governor, wrote a letter to Canada telling them to quit ruining Wisconsin summers with their wildfires
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
The Democrats’ (or maybe just the media’s) fantasy that Dems will win the presidency if they can craft a ticket with exactly the right combination of identity categories
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Reposted by Kip Kosek
Samuel Moyn @samuelmoyn.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
“We should place less hope in the courts and more faith in politics.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Courts Cannot Save Us From Trump
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Thanks! Our family does enjoy Pandemic and a few other cooperative games. I’m not sure I’m convinced but I’ll have to check out that book. I always appreciate your reframing of the big questions.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
How do you assess something like a baseball game? The participants have cooperatively agreed on a set of rules, and they cooperate with members of their team. But obviously they’re also competing against the other team. So is baseball a bad thing?
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
The Apostle was one of the most powerful films ever made about American religion RIP Robert Duvall www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_r6...
youtube.com
The Apostle (5/10) Movie CLIP - Radio Waves (1997) HD
YouTube video by Movieclips
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Agree — this is what bothers me when certain Dem party strategists say that the party simply needs a larger quantity of communication, a bigger “permanent campaign” I’d rather they asked what that campaign should actually campaign for
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Is this what we should be asking Democratic reps to do, provoke a shutdown fight over ICE? I’m having trouble coming up with specific requests when I call.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Great news!
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
The difficulty with the "resistance" framing was not that it was wrong about Trump, but that it didn't effectively convey a positive alternative vision.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
So you can trick AI with a magic spell — amazing
theguardian.com
AI’s safety features can be circumvented with poetry, research finds
Poems containing prompts for harmful content prove effective at duping large language models
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Reposted by Kip Kosek
Rutger Bregman @rutgerbregman.com · 25/11/2025
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
I have heard something like “God gave us an immune system, and medicine hasn’t improved on what He created” That probably vibes with more secular manosphere talk about optimization of the body
etc.in
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Reposted by Kip Kosek
the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
did you know the Mountain Goats have a new album out today and you can buy it or stream it and dance to it in your living room or while driving or on the subway and it's a whole vibe? well now you know that 30tgrs.ffm.to/ttfafpb
30tgrs.ffm.to
The Mountain Goats - Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan
Choose your preferred music service
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Reposted by Kip Kosek
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 31/10/2025
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com “Seizing the opportunity to reimagine the presidency, after Americans of all stripes built its authority over a century, is critical — which means a plan and promise to make Congress great again,” Samuel Moyn writes.
nyti.ms
Opinion | Resistance to Trump Isn’t Enough
Why liberals need a plan and promise to make Congress great again.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Incredible look into the monumental dreams of our tech titans (via @internethippo.bsky.social) www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
America’s Tech Right Is Obsessed With Building Giant Statues
With proposals for a 450-foot statue of Prometheus on Alcatraz and a 650-foot George Washington, MAGA adherents are racing to build America’s largest statue.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
A shift to sustainable farming in Wisconsin could benefit both farmers and the environment — important piece by Emma Waldinger in @madisonmagazine.bsky.social www.channel3000.com/madison-maga...
channel3000.com
An alternative approach to farming offers hope for Wisconsin's land and water
A growing cohort of farmers, scientists and policy advocates are championing perennial grassland agriculture to safeguard the state's natural resources and preserve family farms.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
A media cycle of circumcision discourse may be the thing that finally breaks us
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
via @sbagen.bsky.social
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
How technical debates over legality can obscure deeper questions of right and wrong www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
bostonreview.net
The Moral Stupefaction of the American Public - Boston Review
Trump’s actions are illegal, yes. Worse than that, they are wrong—precisely what the legality debate is meant to obscure.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Follow up question: photos of old windmills (like the classic Dutch windmill) often show four blades — why is that?
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
A question I didn’t know I had — thanks!
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Very astute essay by @jenniferreich.bsky.social explaining vaccine hesitancy as part of a broader individualistic approach to health www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | What Really Drives Vaccine Hesitancy
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
oatmeal butterscotch chip > oatmeal raisin
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
*apostle
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
*apostle
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Wisconsin’s governor fights back against the federal antivax crackpots content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WIG...
content.govdelivery.com
Press Release: Gov. Evers Signs Executive Order to Ensure Access to Vaccines in Wisconsin
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
After the invention of the printing press, some Protestants made the technology into an idol, even conflating the printed text of the Bible with the creative Word of God. Maybe not surprising that something analogous could happen with AI. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/u...
nytimes.com
Finding God in the App Store
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
And also failed a few times first!
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
On a whim, decided to try to grow a sunflower this summer
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
That makes a lot of sense. Can demand #6 be getting rid of RFK?
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Reposted by Kip Kosek
andy™ @andylevy.net · 28/08/2025
hey hey rfk how many kids did you kill today
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Kind of a strange piece, in which marriage is MAGA, being “all-American” is MAGA, drinking beer is MAGA I’d say we shouldn’t concede those things quite so easily
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
I’m realizing that a lot of science and tech people really do dislike writing — are even sort of afraid of it — and would be relieved to have it automated for them, sort of like you’d automate paying your bills or some other unpleasant task
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
I always learn something from reading an obituary: Eddie Palmieri, the Latin music titan, "for years . . . refused to pay taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, embracing the view of Henry George." !!! www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/a...
nytimes.com
Eddie Palmieri, Latin Music’s Dynamic Innovator, Dies at 88
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Sharp @linamkhan.bsky.social op-ed on the importance of small business and the dangers of monopoly capitalism — an opportunity for Democrats here! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Lina Khan: A Secret to Zohran Mamdani’s Success
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Good news for free culture www.openculture.com/2024/11/the-...
openculture.com
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use
Update: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic works. Even better, the museum has placed the vast majority of these images into the public domain, mea...
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
In 1930, the American Federation of Musicians launched an ad campaign denouncing recorded music in movies. The ads contain incredible images of the soulless music robots that would replace live performers. www.smithsonianmag.com/history/musi...
smithsonianmag.com
Musicians Wage War Against Evil Robots
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Still looking for the Dems to present a substantive positive alternative, something beyond “Trump is bad”
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
That depends partly on what we mean by “work,” what tradeoffs we accept. Even Francis Collins has expressed doubts about the lockdowns and school closures — it’s not only crackpots who are questioning (though to be sure there are many crackpots).
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
At the same time, as @annabower.bsky.social points out, the government denies that Musk was part of DOGE — I’d like to read your take on all of that
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Wish they would remove the paywall for this one
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
This American Life had a segment starting like that www.thisamericanlife.org/780/setting-...
thisamericanlife.org
Prologue - This American Life
Tobin Low tells Ira about Paul, who intended to have an anonymous, romantic rendezvous but instead wound up having to decide whether or not to clear up a big misunderstanding.
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Yeah, in that sense Duffy really is a northern Wisconsin guy
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Kip Kosek @kipkosek.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
One step closer to Butlerian Jihad
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Reposted by Kip Kosek
Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Good Friday is the story of a man unjustly arrested and rushed to judgment. Diana Butler Bass tells it for our time, using only pictures from the last two weeks, and it hits so heavy open.substack.com/pub/dianabut...
open.substack.com
Good Friday Now
The cross of imperial violence
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