Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Minks transmitting H5N1 avian flu to each other is significant because their upper respiratory tract is similar to humans. It's a mutation closer to person-to-person respiratory transmission. Think Covid but with a 10x to 50x death rate. The Fed response is useless, of course. 011
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Electric vehicles have speakers in the front that play a warning sound when they are moving slowly. There's an EV out there with a sound that is the slightly distorted opening chords of Bohemian Rhapsody. ("Is this the real life?") 010
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 17/09/2026When discussing crime in the US, remember that two things have happened over the past 30 years: Violent crime and property crime have dropped by half. News coverage of crime has increased by 20 times. (Minutes of airtime, words, articles) We are twice as safe and 20 times as scared. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Epic Vermont travel today. Drove through Eden to Troy. Saw fully laden apple trees on the way, but didn't stop. Trip back seemed to take forever, though. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 15/09/2026The question is why McConnell didn't provide proof of life, given the speculation. Everything he does is deliberately about power. Theory: The GOP is prepping for POTUS's final stroke/cardiac. By discrediting the "he's dead" commenters it buys time for them to plan. 010
Reposted by Minor HereticLauren Milicov @laurenmilicov.bsky.social · 09/09/2026“It appears that the president of the United States is insane, and that is the single biggest news story in the world.” Lawrence O’Donnell 044
Reposted by Minor HereticOrion Kidder @orionkidder.bsky.social · 05/09/2026For those who don't know: if you hear someone say this (below), they are eugenicists whether they know it or not. The point of eugenics it select for the "fit," people who aren't sick and (allegedly) don't get sick rather than tending to the people who need help. It's the *opposite* of healthcare. 110935
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 28/08/2026Mark Carney should mock Trump by putting tariffs on his failed products such as his personally branded vodka and steaks. 010
Reposted by Minor HereticJames Talarico @jamestalarico.bsky.social · 14/08/2026I'll never steal your pen. 267127902543
Reposted by Minor Heretice.w. niedermeyer @niedermeyer.online · 13/08/202614 million souls ended in a single year by Elon Musk's cruelty and stupidity Here are some of the comparisons: Rwandan genocide: 800k dead Cambodian genocide: 3 million dead The Holocaust: 7 million dead 7236341377
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 02/08/2026The science of Indoor Air Quality simplified: CO2 levels go up = ability to think goes down Same for particulates, VOCs, NO2. School districts: ventilate, filter, and watch test scores jump Businesses: Same, and watch productivity jump, mistakes and absences drop Bad air makes people stupid. 032
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 31/07/2026With Fauci being persecuted again, I'd like to say that I don't care where Covid came from. I care that Covid will kill 150k people this year and disable a million and 99% of Americans won't do a thing about it. We could end the deaths if people decided to be adults and mask indoors for a month. 010
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 25/07/2026The history of infrastructure innovation has been overbuilding and bankruptcy. 2nd buyer wins. From canals and railroads to "dark fiber." When the AI bubble pops, what happens to all that computing/memory capacity? Bought for pennies/dollar and deployed at low cost, for what? 010
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Despite his libertarian leanings, Alan Greenspan just proved John Maynard Keynes right on one particular point. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 25/06/2026The basic question about the economics of AI is not "Can it do X, or Y, or Z?" It is, "Will enough people be willing to pay enough money annually for AI in order to service the billions invested in physical infrastructure and software development?" If "No," then the first question is irrelevant. 010
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 01/06/2026Something weirdly ignored in most energy debates: Non-renewable energy (fossil, nuclear) will inevitably run out. Long before that, its EROEI (Energy Return on Energy Invested) will be too low for practical use. The future is 100% renewable, no matter what we do or what we want. 010
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 18/05/2026I see that people are freaking out about hantavirus now. It's like watching people calmly wander around in a minefield for seven years with someone getting blown up every day and then suddenly worrying about a shark attack. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 11/05/2026Imagine that cliche of the ragged man on the desert island with one palm tree, alone in the ocean. Americans act as if they are that man, responsible to nobody, at the same time that they rely on the cooperation and benevolence of strangers every hour of the day. And complain when it doesn't work. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 08/05/2026States with less than five congressional districts should be one district with five at-large seats. States with more than five should combine them into districts of at least three at-large seats and as many five seat districts as possible. That would make gerrymandering much harder. 000
Reposted by Minor HereticDr. Jonathan N. Stea @jonathanstea.bsky.social · 26/04/2026Alternative medicine. Integrative Medicine. Functional Medicine. None of these are medicine. They are marketing scams. They’re deceptive and illusory Trojan-horse labels designed precisely to sneak pseudoscience into health care. 410925
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 21/04/2026We should acknowledge that Iran always had veto control over the Strait of Hormuz. Up until last month the rest of the world (esp. the US) maintained conditions that made exercise of that control unnecessary and/or disadvantageous. We will have to reinstate those conditions to reopen it. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 16/04/2026The problem isn't drivers. The problem is that the health costs of pollution and the road damage 18-wheelers cause are massively subsidized. Trucking cargo long distance would be unaffordable if the industry paid true costs, driverless or not. 010
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 10/04/2026Solar panels used to be 65% of the cost of an installation. Now, in residential installations, they are cheaper per watt than the metal framework that supports them. When I was estimating commercial jobs in 2001-2004, $3.50/watt was cheap. Now I can get them for $0.35/watt. 010
Reposted by Minor HereticSimon Marks @simonmarksfsn.bsky.social · 08/04/2026Impossible to disagree with a single word that Ben Rhodes (Obama era NSC official) is saying here: 464231467588
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 05/04/2026A friend who works adjacent to the DOD told me that Hegseth's nickname at the Pentagon is "Dumber McNamara." That is, referring to Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense during the Viet Nam war and architect of our failed policy there. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 31/03/2026All sci-fi suffers from the trash can energy problem. In order for the plot to go forward, the spacecraft must extract enough power for a small nation state from an object the size of a trash can. Unimaginable energy flow per square centimeter of surface. As much magic as fantasy novels w/elves. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 30/03/2026The Iran war is reminding me of something said by Ho Chi Minh during the Viet Nam war: "You will kill ten of us and we will kill one of you and you will tire of it first." 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 23/03/2026When we have a Democratic majority in Congress, we need to focus on disempowering the imperial presidency. The president was first conceived as someone who executes laws made by Congress, not a trade or immigration policy maker or independent starter of wars. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 16/03/2026The only time most Americans are on the dominant side of an employer/employee relationship is when they are being served by waitstaff who are concerned about their tip. I wonder if this is one of the reasons why raising the tipped wage is so hard. Corporate economics mostly, but also... 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 14/03/2026A new post on Substack. Why do people insist on aiming for the wheelchairs? minorheretic.substack.com/p/death-race... 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 01/03/2026Several hundred Iranian civilians have died because of our airstrikes. This was totally predictable. A repost of an Afghanistan-era essay: open.substack.com/pub/minorher...open.substack.comDeath as a side effectIn modern war, it's not a side effect. 000
Reposted by Minor HereticAdam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 24/02/2026The US Justice Department withheld testimony that Donald Trump sexually abused a girl when she was 13 or 14 - according to a source who viewed unredacted Epstein files. This is the worst scandal in US history and should be the biggest news story on the planet right now. www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...npr.orgJustice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to TrumpAn NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump. 12249892425
Reposted by Minor HereticBilly Hanlon @bhanlon15.bsky.social · 22/02/2026VT Digger: 'Six years in, long Covid is still with many Vermonters — and they say the system is failing them' “You look around Vermont, just so many struggles,” said one long Covid patient about navigating the reality. vtdigger.org/2026/02/22/s...vtdigger.orgSix years in, long Covid is still with many Vermonters — and they say the system is failing them - VTDigger"You look around Vermont, just so many struggles,” said one long Covid patient about navigating the reality. 23016
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 18/02/2026Every observer of national and world events should familiarize themselves with the UN Convention on Genocide, especially Articles 2 and 3. It gives necessary perspective on the acts of governments. There are some statements in there that will spark recognition. www.ohchr.org/en/instrumen...ohchr.orgConvention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of GenocideEntry into force: 12 January 1951, in accordance with article XIII The Contracting Parties , Having considered the declaration made by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 96 (... 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 13/02/2026I wish that @welch.senate.gov and @balint.house.gov would learn the most basic rule of negotiation: you don't start at what you want, you start 4x on your side of that and work back. Demand abolishing ICE, a special prosecutor for their crimes, impeaching Noem, etc, etc. Get ICE abolished. 020
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 09/02/2026ICE has discontinued medical treatment for detainees. The 1951 Genocide convention, Article 2 (c) "Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;" www.ohchr.org/en/instrumen...ohchr.orgConvention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of GenocideEntry into force: 12 January 1951, in accordance with article XIII The Contracting Parties , Having considered the declaration made by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 96 (... 011
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 06/02/2026In 2025, Covid killed more Americans than prostate cancer and breast cancer combined. It killed more people than opioid overdoses. More than firearms. More than traffic accidents. There are huge efforts to fight all these other, lesser killers. 6 weeks of public masking could end Covid. Why not? 030
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 05/02/2026I was just thinking that if I ever owned a whippet I would name it DEVO. Or maybe Youmust. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 04/02/2026Can we just acknowledge that billionaires are all sociopaths? They have so much money that they could live like Byzantine emperors for 1,000 lifetimes on a tenth of their wealth. They could be ending tuberculosis or feeding the hungry but they just want to stack up another billion. It's depraved. 110
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 04/02/2026We should remind ICE employees to think about their self interest and the future. 47 will be dead from dementia before the midterms. Blue wave. Investigations. Defunding of ICE and unemployment. A resume gap. Pariah status. Lawsuits. Prosecution. Thrown under the bus by management. No future. 000
Reposted by Minor HereticHamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 27/01/2026Not since Bull Connor have we seen such PR masterminds. 010423
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 21/01/2026Hey, @balint.house.gov , have you joined this? 010
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 20/01/2026Encourage your Democratic members of Congress to do a Cato the Elder "Carthago Delenda Est" on Trump's dementia. They should begin or end every speech with something like, "Advanced dementia has rendered Donald Trump unfit to serve." In politics, if you are excusing you're losing. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 10/01/2026Let's remember that the US government* is not looking to promote democracy in Venezuela. The govt is, as always, looking for a cooperative dictator. *And the business interests who choose politicians 100
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 08/01/2026All these ICE agents are going to have a gap in their resumes for a couple of years. "So what were you doing from early 2025 through early 2027?" "Umm....law enforcement." "For....?" "...." 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 06/01/2026A new post; just an automotive rant. open.substack.com/pub/minorher...open.substack.comDo you even drive, bro?Inexplicable automotive design failure 000
Reposted by Minor HereticKevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 03/01/2026A concept I've been meaning to float to make sense of what's happened to the US Constitution is an idea from the British constitutional tradition: "implied repeal." It's useful because it helps us to understand that Article I, & much else of the US Constitution, has been implicitly repealed. 19733224
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 03/01/2026It's time to rewrite the War Powers Resolution to make it an automatically impeachable offense for the president to commit US forces overseas without prior congressional approval. 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 03/01/2026Every sentence out of the mouths of members of Congress now should include the words "war crimes" and "impeach." 000
Minor Heretic @minorheretic.bsky.social · 01/01/2026The top news story of the day is a tragic explosion in Switzerland that killed 41 people. 300 to 400 people died of Covid-19 in the US on the same day, and a similar number will die the next day, and the next, for as long as we ignore it. We could stop it if people weren't short-sighted and lazy. 031