iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

I just feel that the Constitution should be interpreted as if our country were an eighteenth-century agrarian republic, except for the national bank, which should be imagined back no earlier than 1913.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Happy 100th birthday to Mel Brooks, king of Borscht Belt humor and American national treasure.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

OK – the Scott Wiener thing was indeed awful, but if we could: the apparent fact that the guy spearheading the trans thing is a straight guy who calls them queers is, I'm sorry to say, screamingly funny and also so San Francisco.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Never mind that the UK left the European Union more than six years ago; never mind that the UK left the single market five and a half years ago. A "proper" Brexit has somehow not been delivered. Brexit can never fail; it can only *be* failed.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

The United States has gotten to the point where I see these stories and I know that Eric Adams was corrupt, but I have negative baseline trust in the federal DOJ and I assume their decisions are political, so I have no baseline expectation of fairness on the government side.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Case in point: bsky.app/profile/meid...

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

We have some pretty bad candidates running for various House districts in New York, and that is something the Democratic Party should probably take a look at.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Interesting dive into all of the key (House) Democratic primary contests in New York. The contention is that the intra-Democratic politics at play here are likely to be relevant nationally in 2028, and that seems quite possible to me. youtu.be/iAeb6g74A9c?...

youtu.be

New York’s Dress Rehearsal For 2028

YouTube video by GD POLITICS

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Some beautiful photographs in this photo-essay about thawing permafrost in Mongolia. Mongolia is at the southern edge of the Eurasian permafrost zone, and the effects of thawing there have been particularly dramatic. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

theguardian.com

The changing face of Mongolia as, beneath the grass, permafrost thaws

The warming caused by climate breakdown in the landlocked east Asian country is transforming its fragile ecosystem

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Happy Juneteenth. Try not to be weird about it.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

It's that time of year again where I find myself gently reminding Polish twitter that half of their actual country is reparations for WWII, and it's time to move on. It goes about as you would expect.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Lol he's acting like it hasn't been him who keeps trying to do this.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

"...Das heißt, diese Abwanderung findet, und auch diese Unzufriedenheit ist eher in der politischen Mitte beheimatet... Die Union verliert auch an die AfD, aber sie verliert deutlich mehr in der politischen Mitte, und das gilt für beide... ehemahligen Volksparteien."

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Matuschek: "...[D]ie Abwanderer, diejenigen die von der Union weggehen, ..die sind mittiger als die noch verbliebenen CDU/CSU Wähler,... und bei der SPD das gleiche, die sind weniger links als die noch verbliebenen SPD-Wähler... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

podcasts.apple.com

So ein Umfrage-Desaster hat es noch nie gegeben. Mit Peter Matuschek

Podcast Episode · RONZHEIMER. · May 12 · 49m

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Reposted by Steve Kerins

NAFO 69th Sniffing Brigade @69thsb.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

🔥 Fellas, halfway there We’ve hit 50% (Ft3,802,671 / Ft7,458,000) with the Hungarian Battalion 🇭🇺 www.help99.co/patches/hung... We’re raising for a NAFO Bus 3.0 for an Electronic Warfare company — detecting drones, jamming signals, saving lives every day 🙏 Let’s push it further!

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I don't know that I really care for Lupita Nyong'o's oeuvre; I don't recall the last time I saw her in something; I have no opinion on her casting as Helen of Troy; I'm not really bothered by that casting decision; I don't know why I should be; I don't care what Elon Musk thinks.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

"...[T]hat was true six or seven years ago. At this stage, what you need is for the true party to shine through. You need people to see it for what it really is..."

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Longwell on Cassidy: 'It is worse for the country, and it is worse for the Republican Party, to have people who they point to and say, well that's a good one... There's a lot of people who would argue, well, we need good people in the Republican Party... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.com

Trump’s Revenge Tour Takes Down Another Republican Senator

Podcast Episode · Bulwark Takes · May 17 · 16m

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

We personally consider the Alternative for Germany and its Russia-friendliness to be a major security risk, especially for the Federal Republic of Germany.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Saw Hawaii plates at the coffee shop yesterday. Love that. Long drive 🤔

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

I've heard it prophesied many times that *this* corruption will finally be Trump's undoing, and it never happens, so forgive my cynicism. That doesn't mean we shouldn't message on it, of course.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

The end of passport stamps has indeed been a devastating development. I had to check to see what my last physical passport stamp was, and it was from Russia (sadly) – my last trip there, flying out of the Saint Petersburg airport (hop to Helsinki, IIR) in November 2019.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Having a bit of nostalgia for Iceland today. Went there when I was a teenager – before they were in Schengen, before they introduced Schengen stamps.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

...environment in the US is preferable to the UK, which seems sort of absurd to me, but nevertheless. The UK is a mess, but we are a disaster.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

An interesting conversation on Shield of the Republic, as usual, though the hosts take the position that we should / need to remain in the Middle East, which I disagree with; and there is a strange reflection on British friends saying that the political.. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.com

Trump is Destroying Our Diplomatic Corps

Podcast Episode · Shield of the Republic · May 11 · 59m

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Helpful, if concerning, discussion on the implications of AI for employment, social disruption, the tax base, inequality, and concentration of economic and political power. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

podcasts.apple.com

What happens when only 4 trillionaires have all the income? And our parliaments are occupied by chatbots?

Podcast Episode · The Other Hand · May 1 · 36m

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Counties and subdivisions required to provide election materials in a language other than English (Spanish, Native American, Alaska Native, and Asian languages) under section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, 2021. (USA Facts / Census Bureau)

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Ahh, but will their noticing get them to stop voting for Republicans.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

There's been a lot of angsty back-and-forth re the NYT piece on alleged sexual abuse of 🇵🇸 prisoners between pro- and anti-🇮🇱 people, & I find it tiring. I don't know how much re: abuse of prisoners is true. I *do* know that I am dead tired of 🇮🇱, and 🇺🇸 should be done with it.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Is it allowed to roll up to random hot whiteboys on the street and offer to make his dreams come true? I was told this is discouraged.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Ehrman's book "Heaven and Hell" is illuminating here, and I've also enjoyed the writings of Huston Smith and others that touch on this subject.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

...begin to emerge and solidify from the second century onwards – i.e., postdating both Jesus and the NT. The dantesque image of hell that may come to mind for many today is of course to some extent an even later, late medieval elaboration.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

...became more gentile, we begin to see the early Church fathers engrafting these Greek philosophical concepts (from a world they understand) onto translations of Jesus's apocalyptic Jewish teachings (which are culturally foreign to them). And we thus see concepts like hell...

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

...translate Jewish theological concepts (including concepts specific to Jesus's apocalyptic Judaism) into Greek were already freighted with much preexisting Greek thought, including the duality of body and soul; Hades and Tartarus; and much besides. As the early Church...

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

One key issue here (that many will know) is that the NT authors and other earliest Christian writers were writing in Greek, the lingua franca of the eastern Roman Empire (and indeed, many Jews outside of Judea were native Greek speakers). By necessity, the Greek terms used to...

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Did Jesus believe in or preach the existence of "hell" in the common understanding, as e.g. a place of eternal conscious torment? Does the New Testament presuppose such a place? The short answer to all of the above is "no". podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/d...

podcasts.apple.com

Did Jesus Actually Believe in Hell?

Podcast Episode · Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman · April 28 · 39m

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

...conditions when I was young (which is of course the reference point most of us instinctively use), things could have been different. I'm not sure. There are many things that could have been done differently from the 1990s onward. I don't know if they could have been enough.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

It seems to me that the American experiment has been a very slow-motion failure. It has entered its last act – which isn't to say it couldn't still persist for many decades or longer in some kind of spectral form. I find myself dwelling more and more on the question whether, given...

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"The past is never dead. It's not even past", as a Mississippian famously reminded us.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The thing about the Old South, apropos of nothing, is that it revolved around animus toward a particular group, but it wasn't a democracy for anybody. The *very day* the Callais ruling came down, black voters were again sliced and diced among Southern white districts...

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

This ruling is really a serious blow. Republican states can impose new maps against the will of their voters, and Democratic states' hands are tied. This is simply not a functional democracy.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

...geographically differentiated decline in Welsh as between the industrial cities and the countryside, and there too, a significant amount of migration, particularly to and from England).

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Obviously, the emigrants to 🇺🇸, including said great-grandfather, lived their American lives in English. Apparently in Wales, for whatever reason, we see somewhat better intergenerational transmission of Welsh in the industrial cities (although there, too, there is a...

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Personal example: by 1901, my great-grandfather (father's grandfather) had emigrated to 🇺🇸. The Irish census that year shows his brother and brother's wife, who remained in Co. Mayo, as well as their (elderly) mother. The mother is listed as bilingual; the younger two, English-speaking.

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

...sign), combined with a series of upheavals with Ireland that displace much of the population and/or otherwise contribute to anglicization (e.g. English is needed by a migratory workforce, emigrants in English-speaking countries, kids in school, and so on).

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

...That crosses rapidly below 50% in the early decades of the 19th century, in a period of widespread but geographically differentiated Irish-English bilingualism, and doesn't recover. There is then a period of several decades of age-stratified bilingualism (never a good...

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Steve Kerins @stevekerins.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The picture in Ireland is complicated, but though the English language had been present on the island for centuries, we see a dramatic decline in Irish from the early 19th century. A majority of people born up to the turn of the 19th century were probably first-language Irish...

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