Reposted by r_ephemeralMeredith Rose @mrose.ink · 29/09/2026...and, importantly, eliminating the Office of Technology Assessment, or OTA. What was the OTA? It was a small office, housed entirely within Congress, whose entire job was understanding complex technology issues and writing reports to explain them to legislators. 3/ 19514
r_ephemeral @rephemeral.bsky.social · 29/09/2026hard to find good help these days, in the world of GOP apparatchiks 020
r_ephemeral @rephemeral.bsky.social · 28/09/2026hmm, clearly a woke out-of-touch coastal elite who could never win except in the bluest areas 140
Reposted by r_ephemeralPatrick Daugherty @rotopat.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Someone whose wealth is derived from a grandparent born in *1855* is no longer spending $200 million on politics this cycle because they're upset voter suppression isn't happening. Good system 412935
Reposted by r_ephemeralDon Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026As @noamlupu.bsky.social has documented, we consistently do not see working class representation in elections. So policymakers systematically lack first hand experience of the policies they impose on the poor. That gap in knowledge is often filled by stereotypes. bsky.app/profile/prin... 211127
r_ephemeral @rephemeral.bsky.social · 23/09/2026just as—following the GOP’s previous period of cult of personality—with W. circa 2008 the Democrats must make the stench stick this time 1103
Reposted by r_ephemeral[Christopher M. Federico] @chrispps.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I'd go further: at this point, the NYT and other mainstream journalistic outlets -- given their business-related need to continuously ship both-sides polarization porn -- are doing way more than El-Sayed is to keep Piker relevant and make him a more influential figure than he otherwise might be 450192
Reposted by r_ephemeralhilzoy @hilzoy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026I’m thinking of the 1950s, when there were actual people who defended STALIN on the grounds that, hey, you were either on board with humanity’s glorious future or you were a reactionary. 2141
Reposted by r_ephemeralUrban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰 @urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Germany’s political leadership believed in esoteric theories around racial supremacy and ultimately believed good outcomes would naturally flow from Aryan’s natural superiority. This is the same vibe the GOP has in 2026. 3648
Reposted by r_ephemeralmathletic.bsky.social @mathletic.bsky.social · 17/09/2026This should haunt Yggy for the rest of his career 722225
r_ephemeral @rephemeral.bsky.social · 11/09/2026the human loss remains beyond our poor power to add or detract; in political terms, this from Paul Krugman on the 10th anniversary still rings true archive.nytimes.com/krugman.blog... 010
Reposted by r_ephemeralRobert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 01/09/2026"What are we, fucking Immanuel Kant??" the true universal maxim of philosophy 3734
Reposted by r_ephemeralSchooley @schooley.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Note on pieces like these, not only is there no suggestion that Republicans should distance themselves from him, there's no hint that there's a reason to. No recap of his CSAM machine. No inflammatory racist quotes. No mention of the DOGE death toll. No history of his fabulist quotes.axios.comExclusive: Musk plans massive push for GOP in midtermsMusk is resuscitating his America PAC, which spent more than $260 million in 2024. 10334251095
Reposted by r_ephemeralMichael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 28/08/2026The entire reactionary centrist case is that leftist politicians must distance themselves from Piker to neutralize him as a electoral issue. But when they *do* distance themselves, reactionary centrists still write articles making the link and criticizing their exact wording. 221809186
Reposted by r_ephemeralJohn C @badsocialism.bsky.social · 10/03/2025Cynicism has poisoned our souls so gravely that we cannot even speak out ambitions without qualification and contrition. 113526
r_ephemeral @rephemeral.bsky.social · 27/08/2026just ran a news search for the past few weeks, found 557 hits for Hasan Piker and for Peter Oberacker—an actual officeholder!—a total of 11 110
Reposted by r_ephemeralMark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 26/08/2026There is no plan. There is no funding model. 0326
Reposted by r_ephemeralSam @samd.bsky.social · 26/08/2026important reminder that donating to swing seat state legislature candidates is the best way to stop these fascist weirdos 6668145
Reposted by r_ephemeralBowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 25/08/2026a favorite bit of writing on Dolly: David Cantwell on "Coat of Many Colors" "I am poor, but I will be more than that. I *am* more than that. Despite your contempt, the things I love are worth loving." 1437136
Reposted by r_ephemeralJake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 13/08/2026I'll go another step further: the research shows that BLM protests causally shifted Americans' racial attitudes leftward and helped Democrats in the 2020 election link.springer.com/article/10.1... 342438548
Reposted by r_ephemeralMark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Congrats, again, everyone on our long National Conversation™️ about “polarization” & wHiCH pArTy hAs mOvEd fUrThEr FrOm tHe pOLitiCAl CeNtEr iN tHe 21st cEnTuRy 1275
Reposted by r_ephemeralMark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 12/08/2026Structural things are structural, & it really may not matter who the nominees are if Democratic enthusiasm/anti-Trump-driven turnout is at these levels in November. 620039
Reposted by r_ephemeralIan Jamison @ianjamison.bsky.social · 11/08/2026I have yet to see a scoldy, “Wisconsin is purple so Ds MUST nominate ideological centrists” take that grapples with Ron Johnson’s existence or Tiffany’s nom. If it only applies one way, you’re either arguing that Wisconsin is a red state (nope) or there’s a hole in your argument (yup) 18412
Reposted by r_ephemeralJoe Flynn @chinajoeflynn.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Trump's entire cabinet - even Hegseth! - begging him not to play "Macho Man" during the press conference, and Trump ignoring them. 0131
Reposted by r_ephemeralXander O’Connor @xanderoconnor.bsky.social · 10/08/2026“I’m personally putting it in a news magazine that I’m mad” is the actual job of anti-woke and/or reactionary centrist opinion writers! 1565
Reposted by r_ephemeralPaul Rosenberg @paulrosenberg.bsky.social · 07/08/2026“My research with Adam Bonica shows that, all else equal, progressive and moderate candidates perform about equally well in general elections,” @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social told me. 5/10 163
Reposted by r_ephemeralG Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 06/08/2026Twitter is a reality distortion field that stereotypes partisans as extremists and pushes the electorate right. All algorithms do this to an extent, but X is incredibly pernicious in that it's explicitly designed to do this. More on the algo here www.gelliottmorris.com/p/you-should...gelliottmorris.comYou should quit social media for goodPlatforms optimized for engagement warp our politics, erode attention, and harm our wellbeing. Here’s how I minimize time on the (anti‑)social web. 521360
Reposted by r_ephemeralEd Burmila @edburmila.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Every time you see a meltdown remember that Chuck Schumer got over it in four hours 1515
Reposted by r_ephemeralSeth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 02/08/2026Right wing Twitter has basically become a form of soap opera fandom for fascists. Did you hear who had a nasty falling out? Did you hear who is secretly gay? Did you hear who threatened to kill who? Be sure to tune in tomorrow! 420220
Reposted by r_ephemeralJessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 28/07/2026I will reiterate: Christians in the West evangelize in public for the same reason men catcall. Neither is trying to persuade you; both are reminding you that the public sphere belongs to them and you exist in it at their sufferance. 182676976
Reposted by r_ephemeralGerry Doyle @mgerrydoyle.bsky.social · 27/07/2026the problem here isn't military, it's the way the military was used. what was the desired outcome? could that be achieved by long-range strike alone? (answer to the first question is a series of question marks, answer to the second is "no") 1959288
Reposted by r_ephemeralPatrick "Inverted Vibe Curve" Blanchfield @patblanchfield.bsky.social · 19/07/2026you know its the atlantic when questions are (1) framed as entirely innocent philosophical hypotheticals but (2) also bravely iconoclastic truth-telling yet stand (3) entirely divorced from reality and (4) affirm the worst impulses while (5) coinciding with programs of true political evil 81109120
Reposted by r_ephemeralKevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 17/07/2026It's trivially easy to throw out the names of participants in these processes—social movements, civil society, interest groups, political parties, media. But there's no theory I'm aware of that orders their interactions, enumerates their motives, or traces issues' developmental stages. 1142
Reposted by r_ephemeralJulian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 16/07/2026The only real reason to find it implausible he’d attempt this is “C’mon, this is America, we don’t do that here,” which has thus far been an absolutely worthless heuristic for predicting Trump’s actions. 727229
Reposted by r_ephemeralSteve Randy Waldman @interfluidity.com · 16/07/2026“public conversation about children and technology focuses on regulating how long children themselves spend in front of screens. Our results show that this framing is incomplete… When adults engage more with the internet…quality and quantity of…interactions with young children is likely to decline” 2176
Reposted by r_ephemeralJake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 14/07/2026This keeps happening, the conflation of people disapproving of Dems being too weak and unprincipled with disapproving of Dems for being too leftwing. This is part of how a lot of Gen Z distrust for Dems gets recast into Gen Z being rightwing 141031261
Reposted by r_ephemeralMaureen Johnson @maureenjohnsonbooks.com · 13/07/2026JKR and her new org apparently helped get the new Amnesty International report on how TERF organizations destroy lives taken down from their site. Well, guess what? The Streisand Effect is real. Here's the entire report in a thread. Read it. Share it. 1356634178
r_ephemeral @rephemeral.bsky.social · 13/07/2026Bob Inglis saw what was animating GOP elites & voters over a decade and a half ago, as he lost his primary by over 30 points to Trey Gowdy www.motherjones.com/politics/201... 17513
Reposted by r_ephemeralNoah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 13/07/2026you may have seen this already, but...becoming an independent pundit in the substack space creates massive financial incentives to present yourself as a lone truth teller defying a benighted and biased establishment. 1433
Reposted by r_ephemeralDavid Roberts @volts.wtf · 09/07/2026It also has the side effect of punishing Democrats for having moral standards and giving a shit. In our current information and political environment, decency is an anchor. 620917
Reposted by r_ephemeralPetter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · 07/07/2026‘Polarization’ has become the master concept for diagnosing our current democratic crisis. But this is not polarization. It is the radicalization of the political right. By misdiagnosing it, we risk becoming complicit in the crisis. 🧵 Just out in Perspectives on Politics doi.org/10.1017/S153... 4834451428
r_ephemeral @rephemeral.bsky.social · 05/07/2026“moi, j’ai les mains sales. jusqu’au coudes. je les ai plongées dans la merde et le sang” —Sartre 000
Reposted by r_ephemeralJulia Blough @jcblough.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Considering there are 500,000 NCAA athletes and <10 of them are trans, and not all athletes are on scholarship, I'd say your daughter is more likely to be struck by a meteor than lose out to a trans girl on a scholarship. 219816
Reposted by r_ephemeralJoshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 01/07/2026You may not think it is persuasive, but it is driven by research showing that headline wording affects news perception. This actually does matter, even if you don’t want it to. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...doi.orgPNASProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans... 1547
Reposted by r_ephemeralPuppet @greenjoel.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Deterrence works by making the cost uncertainly high. Coercion teaches the adversary exactly what costs they face and allows them to take control of the transaction by choosing to pay the price when that price is suitable. Trump surrendered deterrence for bravado. 2372
Reposted by r_ephemeralNicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 30/06/2026The main defense for the archipelago of US Gulf bases was deterrence. Iran (or whoever) won’t fire, except maybe small and symbolic, because if they do then the US will unleash massive strikes. Except Trump did that unprovoked, so Iran didn’t hold back. (Also, insufficient US air defense on land.) 534272