iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The thing is, “illegality” is indeed just a state of mind in any society that has lost the rule of law.

0123

Reposted by Rob Shum

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Send this to every university President in the country.

361962441

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The idea that the North American auto industry needs to be as efficient as possible to be globally competitive and able to adapt — instead of somehow doing everything in USA by itself — just somehow seems inconceivable to some Americans. 🗺️ 🔌💡

030

Reposted by Rob Shum

John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“The honest truth is that — regardless of what this court does — Missouri will not be able to run an orderly 2026 general election,” she said, adding that “no option is ideal.” In other words, “I already set fire to the house,”the arsonist said; “You should let me loot it.”

nytimes.com

Supreme Court Once Again Blocks Republican-Backed Voting Map in Missouri (Gift Article)

A federal appeals court had sided with Republicans seeking to use redrawn congressional district boundaries to give their party an advantage in the midterms elections.

0154

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It really is hard to convey how the world of, say, Davos & TED Talks & the Long Now Foundation completely failed to anticipate the rise of a far-right mirror-image of themselves seizing the agenda and actually putting the world onto a *more* short-termist, extractive, rapacious, and venal path. 🗺️

081

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Imagine if other countries, or the European Union, tried to cut separate deals and negotiate directly with individual US states… 🗺️

051

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Leaders of an unfree world. 🗺️ (19/n)

000

Reposted by Rob Shum

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Important on the change in tactics post-Minneapolis

14826

Reposted by Rob Shum

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Once again, they don’t follow laws or court orders, so the solution cannot be more laws or court orders, & we need to stop kidding ourselves about that, especially if we’re United States Senators. bsky.app/profile/mcop...

1430994

Reposted by Rob Shum

Jared Wesley @jaredwesley.ca · 24/09/2026

You'll never hear me say that all proponents of direct democracy are fascists. But I have yet to meet a fascist who didn't love direct democracy. Ask Carl Schmitt.

34214

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Republicans after Reagan: The Party of Administrative Burden.

070

Reposted by Rob Shum

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Headline in 2015 about a foreign country: "Regime allies attempting to further consolidate media control"

05519

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The executive branch is trashing the constitution (just in the past day, a brazen attempt to defy the plain terms of laws re: health insurance access, for example), but, sure, run with this… 🗺️

171

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Sorry to say it again, but: Applies to liberal democracy too. 🗺️

010

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

“… The toll is on top of the early deaths resulting from temperatures already driven up by the climate crisis. It will strike across the globe, from Indonesia to India, and Nigeria to the US. Many further deaths are expected from the droughts, wildfires and flooding that El Niños bring. …” 🌱

051

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

One year later — and once again, haven’t seen or heard any adequate reporting or playback to give any sense of the sheer scale of embarrassing nonsense.

142

Reposted by Rob Shum

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Who else will they disappear next?

26826

Reposted by Rob Shum

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Secret police disappearing people

082

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

What possible sequence of works would reek more of desperation than “working with Belarus”? 🗺️

191

Reposted by Rob Shum

Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It looks like one of those brass rubbing things you do in churches when you're a kid, except the sculptor left the relief in the furnace too long and it melted.

4224

Reposted by Rob Shum

Ann Monster Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

2 and 4 make me want to find an isolated cabin in the woods to live out my days

1102

Reposted by Rob Shum

John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Definitely not extremists

0275

Reposted by Rob Shum

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Makes me think of Stanislav Petrov, one of the greatest heroes in history. We're going to need to build systems that don't rely on people like him to stop a rush to judgment.

27314

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

“The idea that the 🇺🇸 would launch an ill-advised war with undefined aims in the Middle East in order primarily to benefit its former adversary, 🇷🇺, would under almost any previous administration have been the preserve solely of the wildest conspiracy theorists. And yet …” (27/n) 🗺️

apple.news

In War, Trump and Putin Are Much Alike — Foreign Policy

Washington is emulating Moscow’s ways of fighting wars—and helping it in the process.

070

Reposted by Rob Shum

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 18/09/2026

But what if the thing driving up gas prices is also undermining national security?

0153

Reposted by Rob Shum

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 17/09/2026

Let's all commit to voting for smarter people.

1216

Reposted by Rob Shum

Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This reminds me of a story from 2020 of a couple guys from Eastern Europe who had identical sites, one ragebait for leftists, the other ragebait for MAGA, and they too had traffic that dwarfed major outlets. But they were employing staff writers to do the inventing and plagiarizing, iirc.

0158

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

But do we know the name of the horse that the mad emperor will put in the Senate next?

030

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Beware the Praetorian LLM?

040

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“…It’s just, like, transnational culture war where Putin’s manliness will overcome them. And that is just not how war works. It seems absurd to say that in the 21st century. I mean, with things like drones, you do not need to do pushups to pilot them. I mean, just, like, it doesn’t connect. …” 🗺️

051

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“… The current crisis, therefore, has the potential to not only lower fossil-fuel use and emissions in the short term, but also on a more lasting basis.” 🔌💡 (13/n)

040

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Made America China Again. 🗺️ (19/n)

020

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“… In June, the World Bank overhauled a key part of its Climate Action Plan and scrapped its commitment to direct 45 percent of its spending to projects with climate benefits. …” 🌱 🗺️

021

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I’m very aware of context gaps in the discourse today, so I’m using this cheerful little piece 👇 as an excuse to remind folks that Carney was Governor of the Bank of England between 2013 & 2020 (yes, during the Eurozone crisis), and is not a naïf about how Europe works (or doesn’t work). 🗺️

0312

Reposted by Rob Shum

Vikram Bath @vikrambath.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This is certainly a sentence a person could write (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/o...

What has made the University of California exceptional is its commitment to increase access without sacrificing excellence. In recent years, California has proudly defied a national trend:
On average, about 40 percent of its students are the first in their families to attend a four-year college. More than half qualify for free tuition. The percentages of underrepresented students have crept up, through a variety of initiatives. The California Dream Act gave undocumented students access to financial aid, as well as in-state tuition.
Students on University of California campuses may struggle with basic math, but they are graduating at record rates.

1176

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I know we’re all tired of saying it, but, yes: “Trump seems to have a theory whereby we are losing money with a country, if we run a trade deficit with them. This makes as much sense as saying I lose money every time I go to the grocery store and pay them for the food.” (17/n)

021

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Life is coming at markets fast.

191

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The backlash to this openly predatory imperialism is really going to be something. 🗺️ (7/n)

175

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I’m old enough to remember how worried people were about China’s holdings of US Treasuries, as a matter of bipartisan, serious-people consensus. I guess many people still are. Anyway, something to note as the “But China!” scare moves on to AI, and whatever comes after that. 🗺️

050

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It’s what oligarchies do. (35/n)

130

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“I would say aloud to myself, ‘This just never happens…’” (19/n)

010

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“…The 60 biggest US data centers under construction in August could produce 101.5 million tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent per year, according to a Financial Times analysis. That’s like putting an additional 24 million gas-burning cars on the road. …” 🔌💡

075

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I hadn’t thought about this before, but how often have we seen this essential context be provided in recent news coverage? I can’t recall *any* articles doing so, in the whole period since the coup in Venezuela.

062

Rob Shum @robshum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Sadly, this kind of geopolitical denial appears to be widespread — among Democrats, etc., too. 🗺️

060