iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Chris Cook

Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Trump's reversals on Iran are so extreme, the outcomes so ludicrous, that if it were a TV show, no sensible screenwriter would attempt to sell any of this as a coherent story. But it's a lot more dangerous than fiction. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

theatlantic.com

Trump’s Shameless Iran Reversals

America’s foreign policy is about one man and little else.

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 25/06/2026

There actually are extremely well-paying academic jobs in the humanities . . . provided you are willing to become a conservative hack who promotes "viewpoint diversity" rather than peer-reviewed scholarship.

Screenshot from ad for director of right-wing Benson Center at University of Colorado

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David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

The racist Ivy League Republican SCOTUS justices’ standard that racism is legal if you can’t prove racist intent is the same mindset that allowed literacy tests and poll taxes in the Jim Crow South for decades. It is literally the mindset & legal standard that allowed Jim Crow to flourish.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Performative public lying is a hallmark of far right authoritarian parties

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Stilgherrian @stilgherrian.com · 23/04/2026

My attention has been drawn to this delightful image.

Photo of an old newspaper clipping. A US Air Force member is looking at a glass door bearing the legend: COMMANDER LIEUTENANT COLONEL SERGEANT PRIVATE".

Text: A perplexed A3C Dennis A White hesitates worriedly at the entrance to his commander's door at Langley Air Force Base, Va. The door — and title — belong to Lt. Col. Charles Sergeant, commander of the 4,500th Air Base Wing supply unit. White, 19, is a supply clerk and joined Air Force in January, 1966 after he graduated from high school in Schoharie, N.Y. (AP)

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

No we are not on the right track. Cutting foreign aid to Africa so we can invest in infrastructure is a false dichotomy. We can do both Cutitng foreign aid, is not about teaching people a "lesson" it kills people, and excerbates underlying problems. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

washingtonpost.com

Opinion | In the new scramble for Africa, U.S. is on the right track

To counter China, America invests in infrastructure, not just aid.

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

The Mad King has decided to never leave his palaces. He will rotate between his two castles: Mar-a-Lago and the White House.

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

The Sec. of Defense fired the Secretary of the Navy in the middle of naval blockade b/c he could deliver a battleship named Trump fast enough?

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Probably the only thing that has stopped Trump going full fascist is his insatiable greed.

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

i'll never get over how inane this is. This is like demanding Boeing create a jumbo jet biplane named after you. Or a new class of typewriter. There's a reason no one uses battleships anymore. Navy jets go a lot further than shells shot out of cannons. We have these things called aircraft carriers.

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David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

@nbcnews.com is acting like Pope Leo’s responsible for Trump’s attacks.

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Christopher Hale @christopherjhale.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

UPDATE: Letters from Leo can now independently confirm that the meeting took place — and that the Vatican was so alarmed by the Pentagon’s tactics that Leo shelved plans to visit America. Some officials saw their reference to an Avignon papacy as a threat to use military force against the Holy See.

thelettersfromleo.com

The Pentagon Threatened Pope Leo XIV’s Ambassador With the Avignon Papacy

The Free Press has documented a closed-door Pentagon meeting in which a senior Trump official lectured Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador on American military supremacy.

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Trump used the cover of his ridiculous and offensive social media posts as a smoke screen to strategically retreat from a war he started that had no exit strategy, let alone clear objectives.

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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 07/04/2026

“Force is the least reliable form of social power. And this is something that is completely alien to the thought of idiots like Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, who think you (. . .)punch someone in the teeth and that’s how you win. Well, Iran is already showing how realistic that worldview is.”

youtu.be

The Use of Force is the Weakest Use of Power

YouTube video by Liberal Currents

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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

"Bloomberg examined Trump’s record of following through on threats to attack other countries and non-state actors. "Looking at his first term, he made good on threats roughly 20% of the time. "In his second term to date, that rate has risen to 50%." www.bloomberg.com/news/live-bl...

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Why even bother with a caption. This sums it up right here.

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Happy Power Plant and Bridge Day to all those who celebrate.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Are you going to impeach the president today? No? Then you do, in fact, support making a whole civilization die.

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

So is Power Plant and Bridge Day part of the never ending Infrastructure Week?

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

As someone who has gone to archives & looked up foreign policy documents of different Administratoons. Are future generations required to read this? Is this post going to be in a Presidential Library? Is some grad student going to have to footnnote this thing in a thesis on Trump's foreign policy?

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Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Average union soldier memoir: "at first I was like I signed up for this war, but is it really worth it? Then I saw the reality of chattel slavery and I had to be physically restrained from slaughtering every white southerner I encountered"

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[Christopher M. Federico] @chrispps.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

our band could be your life

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Bob Mehr @bobmehr.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

My latest for The New York Times: a look at the life & legacy of the late great D. Boon. Visited San Pedro to talk to the surviving Minutemen, Mike Watt and George Hurley, as they continue to carry forward the spirit of Boon and the band. Gift link here: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/a...

nytimes.com

D. Boon’s Death Shook Punk Rock. 40 Years Later, Minutemen Look Back.

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Marie in the Sky With Diamonds @murray6971.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

This. Is. Murder. Even. If. No. One. Calls. It. That.

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helen, gender goblin @gendergoblinhelen.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

One of my mutuals posted a meme she'd found that said in part that Israel killed JFK, I very gently said that no they didn't, she deleted the post rather than digging in (thankfully), but the nazis are leaking into discourse here like shit from an overloaded nappy.

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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

UPDATE ON THE HORMUZ COALITION (Mon, March 16): 🇫🇷 France: REJECTED 🇬🇧 UK: REJECTED 🇮🇹 Italy: REJECTED 🇪🇸 Spain: REJECTED 🇯🇵 Japan: REJECTED 🇳🇴 Norway: REJECTED 🇨🇦 Canada: REJECTED 🇦🇺 Australia: REJECTED 🇩🇪 Germany: REJECTED 🇨🇳 China: NO RESPONSE 🇳🇱 Netherlands: NO RESPONSE 🇰🇷 South Korea: NO CONFIRMATION

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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Snippet from @nickcohen.bsky.social that really resonates.

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Sitting in a bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland

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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Trump says US Navy sank Iran's warship off the coast of Sri Lanka because "it's more fun" to sink ships than capture them.

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Dr Rob Thompson 🇺🇦 @drrobthompson.com · 06/03/2026

What are words anyway

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Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Ultimately it’s about excitement, whether that’s bloodlust, rage, or attraction. www.liberalcurrents.com/pervert-poli...

What's inescapable through all of this is the sense of the human form—particularly as a subject of violence or abuse-as a source of inextricably political and sexual excitement. Yes, this is especially true of Trump, but it's a generalized phenomenon on the right.

There is, everywhere, a sense that our current leaders are aroused: aroused by one another, as in the case of Noem and her sordid alleged affair with Corey Lewandowksi; aroused by war against America's enemies; aroused by doing violence to the political opposition, especially as ICE is doing; aroused by domination and the thought of domination; aroused by resistance; aroused by their anger; and, perhaps ironically, aroused by their own internal revulsions.

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

In 1966 the New Jersey Young Republicans gleefully sang racist and antisemitic songs at their gatherings. The lyrics to one went “Riding the Reich in my Mercedes Benz, shooting every kike, saving all my friends." Hartford Courant, 13 February 1966.

Jersey
Republicans infiltration
ranks of Young Republicans state by
an ugly.
wing youth group that is openly anti-Jewish,
anti-Negro, and anti-moder-
ate. Disclosure of the these young conservatives was made
by State Senator Nelson F. Stamler.
Since he pulled the
Rat Finks from
behind the woodwork of secrecy, he
himself has been the target of anonymous filth,
threats, and harassment.
This is a small price one pays for meeting any rat-fink group head on.
Jersey's Young
had been fearful of
Republicans making public
the presence of the Rat Finks, though members had been active at their national convention Now that Senator Stamler has posed them.
New Jersey
number
of troubled
Young Republicans have
joined him.
These young men charge
the Rat Fink radicals with using in-
and fear and threatening
reprisals against liberals and moder-
even,
genuine
conservative
members of the Young Republicans.
They
and Senator Stamler unite to
identify
as a group
treme,
right-wing bigots."
Behind the Headlines -
The Rat Finks in New Jersey's GOP
By Ralph McGill
have
measure of their success may be the recent statement by the national president of Young Republicans that officers would not renounce any organization claiming to be
members of
the Young Republicans.
Refusal to
condemn a self-confessing hate group is at least mildly interesting.
It sug-
gests how far the Rat Finks may have gone in influencing the influential.
Senator Stamler asks condemnation.
He said of this new extremist youth group:
"Simple exposure of these elements
Responsible leadership
must fight back in a responsible way.
To sit on the sidelines and decry or view with alarm that which requires
is to play
into the hands of the enemy. It can - only result in the takeover
0f
the
Republican Party by a group which does not represent the great pattern and principles of what the Republican
One of the activities of the GOP group.
themselves
as Rat Finks, was to pass out a song sheet. It contained anti-Semitic and racist songs, a…

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

The amazing thing about Trump is his inability to understand the importance of allies and “soft power.” The frightening thing is how many other Americans struggle to understand it as well.

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Dónal Hassett @donalh.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

This is inconceivable for the Irish government and their outriders... International law is not conditional on self-interest. It is also the case, as Alanna O'Malley argues in today's Irish Times, that multinationals won't leave behind their tax breaks because we defend international law.

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Wow! He unintentionally made a parody video.

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Missing The Point @missingthept.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Breaking: The U.S. discovers top secret Ayatollah Khamenei production facility.

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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

The imperial decline of the United States can be measured by how "the best and the brightest" led the US to war in Viet Nam, while now it's "dumb and dumber" who have led us into a war with Iran.

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Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

After Trump launched a new war on Iran, he did not rush back to the White House or make an Oval Office address to rally the nation as other presidents have done. He stayed at Mar-a-Lago to attend a glitzy political fundraiser. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

nytimes.com

Trump Stays Out of Public View After U.S. Launches Military Assault on Iran

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

They might as well just declare Trump “Augustus” and disband

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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 25/02/2026

After pointing at Democrats and saying they are "crazy," Trump says, "We’re lucky we have a country, with people like this. Democrats are destroying our country, but we stopped it, just in the nick of time." Just insanely destructive. Indefensible — but Republicans stood and clapped.

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

The Democrats in the chamber need to walk out. I get decorum and respect but this speech is one of the worst "official" Presidential speeches I have ever heard in my life. Full of racism, and LIES, incredible amounts of lies.

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Chris Cook @professorcook.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

According to the President I am living in a paradise, a golden age of America-- a period of unparalleled prosperity and safety. Yet somehow I am not feeling it. Maybe because I am not in a cult!

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