Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 03/01/2026So… between the FIFA Peace Prize bullshit and the USA being the principal host nation, this World Cup is getting boycotted, right? 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 03/01/2026Unexpected admissions in this batshit press conference so far: “This was an attack on sovereignty” Venezuela is a company, not a country “We lost the 2020 election” 000
Reposted by Richard PreissJason P. Steed @profsteed.bsky.social · 20/02/2025The notion that Trump's "I'm king" tweet is "just trolling" or "a joke" presents an opportunity to recreate my just-joking thread (porting it over from the Bad Place): 1. I wrote my PhD dissertation on the social function of humor (in literature & film) and here's the thing about "just joking." 10733901249
Reposted by Richard PreissArchaeobears @archaeobears.bsky.social · 17/02/2025🎉We’re delighted that our first major #BoxOfficeBears paper is published Open Access today in @antiquityj.bsky.social What do we know about the 🐻 and 🐶 that lived on Bankside? How big were they? What did they eat? How long did they live?🧵 of key findings below! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...cambridge.orgWhat does a bear-baiting assemblage look like? Interdisciplinary analysis of an Early Modern ‘sport’ | Antiquity | Cambridge CoreWhat does a bear-baiting assemblage look like? Interdisciplinary analysis of an Early Modern ‘sport’ 45731
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 16/02/2025You were a feverish pirate. Now you’re an eminently available and infinitely substitutable head. 020
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 12/02/2025If you ate the 500 pounds now you could make mortality approach much much faster. 140
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 12/02/2025If a person can rename the entire Gulf of Mexico “the Gulf of America” and have all the maps changed to reflect that, then surely a person can rename themselves and have their own body changed to reflect that. 040
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 12/02/2025Every technological advance of the last 30 years has been designed to let stupid people feel like smart people without actually having to do the work of getting smart. We didn’t remove the barriers to knowledge or education; we simply removed the need for them. 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 11/02/2025Now you know: conservatives who endlessly refer to “We the people” are telling you that those are the only three words of the Constitution they’ve read. 000
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 11/02/2025Appreciate your conviction, Andy. But if we delete every app that’s in some way complicit with what’s happening to this country, it will be a long and even more disorienting four years. For my part, I’m keeping Google Maps, because I might need to make my way to the border. 230
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 09/02/2025Real job, but could not have been full-time, right? I mean, how fast can they keep making new pig scrota and the new pigs attached to them? 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 08/02/2025I get the appeal of what Musk is doing. Time, at last, to clean house! Time to empty the attic and garage and throw it all away — and better someone unsentimental do it for you. But Musk isn’t your friend or your neighbor. He’s keeping whatever he finds. He’s not Marie Kondo. He’s just robbing you. 120
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 07/02/2025The largest source of “anti-Christian bias” is Christians’ insistence that there is such a thing as “anti-Christian bias.” 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 07/02/2025Stop saying “DOGE.” It is a term designed to legitimize something that does not exist. “DOGE” is not a real federal department. It is a gang of alt-right pirates ransacking and destroying ACTUAL federal departments. Name every gang member, sue every one, and criminally charge every one. 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 06/02/2025Or, you know, it won’t be forgotten, and will be revived in a month. Or six months. Or a year. But it’s not what’s happening RIGHT NOW. Please focus on that. Please get smarter. Please. 020
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 06/02/2025Stop stop stop talking about Trump’s proposal to annex Gaza. It is not a “proposal.” It is a spitball on a napkin by a drunk at a bar. It is a squirrel for dogs to chase. It is an outrage distraction. It will be forgotten in a week. And by then half the federal government will have been liquidated. 140
Reposted by Richard PreissCraig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · 02/02/2025The men carrying out Musk's coup are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. Make them famous. And, eventually, when possible, arrest them and charge them with multiple felonies. www.wired.com/story/elon-m...wired.comThe Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government TakeoverEngineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure. 7642096812248
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 30/01/2025All true, but you’d think lawyers would know something about limiting what a witness can say! Especially when you have only 5 minutes, and you KNOW their main line of defense will be time-wasting. These guys act like they have never deposed anyone and have zero litigation experience. 110
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 30/01/2025Dear Senators: stop asking nominees if they still “stand by” previous comments that, bc they are liars, they will disavow. Just read their words, and ask “are these your words?” If they say yes, say “then that’s your position.” If no, say “then you can’t manage your image, let alone an agency.” 140
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 30/01/2025Trump: our political divisions fade on a day like today Trump 3 minutes later: this is the fault of the Democrats 130
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 30/01/2025A tweet I saw: “ChatGPT has become the first AI to lose its job to AI.” 000
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 29/01/2025What disguises itself as harmless in order to infiltrate a system, seize control of it, and then destroy its host from within in order to make more of itself? If you said “virus,” you’re correct. If you said “the nominee for HHS Secretary who’s against virus vaccinations,” you’re also correct. 030
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 29/01/2025If you claim to be leading a “movement” and that your views are in the mainstream, but then must fervently deny those views in order to be confirmed to office so you can turn around and implement them, chances are your views are not mainstream, you lead no “movement,” and you are just a liar. 020
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 28/01/2025“News-related content.” This press conference couldn’t be any more dystopian. 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 28/01/2025The bigger the cross on the necklace, the less Christian the words coming out of the mouth. 293
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 28/01/2025Commercials currently running on CNN: -extended auto warranties that rip off poor people by appealing to their economic insecurity -an app that helps corporate executives rent private jets America seems in great shape 030
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 28/01/2025And here I thought I’d spend the next four years stressed about the future of public universities. At this rate it won’t even be four weeks. 031
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 25/01/2025Hegseth buying his team a celebratory round of shots tonight 181
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 22/01/2025Generally when you empty Arkham Asylum it’s because you want your own private goon army or want to see Gotham destroyed — or don’t much care about the difference. 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 21/01/2025It does. But it merely makes plainer what to anyone paying attention should already have been obvious. And the danger of getting hung up on outrage is an entire news cycle lost to debating its signification with bad faith trolls, instead of finding ways to take meaningful action. 100
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 21/01/2025It doesn’t matter that Elon Musk gave a Nazi salute. He already does Nazi things — like run a propaganda organ that promotes Fascist ideology and encourages violence against minorities. Just like Conservatives, Progressives can’t seem to see beyond symbolism. 100
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 21/01/2025If you can revoke someone’s citizenship, you can revoke anyone’s citizenship. 000
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 20/01/2025We seem to be confused about who the President is and how far Presidential powers extend. Expect this to continue. 020
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 19/11/2024Every Fall, warmth-seeking wasps invade my office through the air ducts. Here’s one crawling on the window. Yes, I have been stung. 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 13/11/2024It can’t be more batshit than the object of inquiry! I’d say have at it — but if you’d rather not, it’s enough just to know someone else has wondered the same thing. 100
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 13/11/2024I’m not sure if we’re trying to keep this space apolitical (which seems just as unhealthy), or of whom I’m asking this, but: Do Republicans believe Democrats stole the 2020 election, and simply decided not to cheat in 2024? What’s their theory of the case? Or is rationality a naive expectation? 310
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 02/01/2024Star Wars (1977) revolves around the secret location of the Rebel base. So how is there also a “Rebel Academy” everyone knows about, to which Luke plans to submit an “application”? Does a Rebel Academy have admission policies? DEI initiatives? Are there rebel faculty? With rebel tenure? 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 28/12/2023One-sentence review: _Wonka_ is a delightful, intelligent, utterly charming film that tries to fix the second-most essential thing about its protagonist (imperialism) by sacrificing the most essential thing about him (his hatred of children). It’s a decent trade. Also, Hugh Grant is delicious. 020
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 15/12/2023Both women would end up being revealed as boys 110
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 03/12/2023(Should I be lucky enough to have time, of course, and to be abed.) 000
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 03/12/2023Ozymandias — which I’ll recite on my deathbed. 220
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 21/11/2023Wow, that is a very unusual take on Hamlet! 010
Richard Preiss @richardpreiss.bsky.social · 20/11/2023It does have that air about it — like a hyperbolic composite image of the play’s entire reception some scholar concocted. 020