iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Not surprising; lots of new structural impediments imposed these past two years to students and researchers coming to the United States, & scientists living under dictatorship are oft motivated by the same desires for freedom as the rest of us. www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

insidehighered.com

“Sharp” Fall in Research Mobility Between EU, US and China

European Commission report finds 45 percent fewer researchers moved from the E.U. to the U.S. in 2025 than in 2023.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Huh. Who’d a thunk that “Do not obey in advance actually works… newrepublic.com/article/2158...

As Michelle Goldberg writes in The New York Times, a big factor driving all that early capitulation was serious elite miscalculation: Figures at these institutions got spooked into overestimating the price of getting on Trump's bad side. Indeed, if the last two years have confirmed anything, it's that the logic of collective resistance is sound. Not only is the immediate price for bucking Trump small; it actually works. It's one of the only things that can really disarm him.
Trump's own furious reaction to the media's stand against him neatly underscores the point.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

So apparently there’s still room in the Big Tent for “I’m an oligarchy-friendly islamophobic bigot, but I just can’t quite bring myself to embrace the corruption and criminality of the Republican Party”

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Hassett on nuclear proliferation: “These are solvable problems, and the private sector is the right place to solve them”

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Putin’s Dark Triad system of governance (Kremlin, Oligarchs, Mafia all hand-in-glove) is the same system Trump is attempting to emulate here in the United States. No one should imagine that any member of the Trump family doesn’t understand, in exquisite detail, the meaning of largesse.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Brick by reactionary brick, so much of the structure of ideals that made America (somewhat) admirable has crumbled in the haze of the hate sown that day.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

If Russia withdraws from Ukraine, I’m certain the Ukrainians will happily stop targeting Russian infrastructure. Problem solved. There was an easy preventative measure to the much larger ongoing energy disruption in the Gulf region too. Now a bit tougher.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The former Grey-Lady NYT has inked a long-term commitment to remain four-plus years out-of-sync with the US electorate in perpetuity.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Not the point but related: Mind-boggling that the uber wealthy believe terraforming a planet almost nothing like Earth, will somehow be easier than undoing the slight change in chemistry we've fudged-up here. Gilded Age wealth concentration seems to favor men wildly prone to magical thinking.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Vulture capitalism: • Acquire a {company;country} • Squeeze it dry for every last dollar of value • Don’t reinvest revenues; just pile-drive it into the ground • Once all value has been squeezed out, sell the remaining pieces for pennies Sounds familiar anybody?

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Right? The game theory underlying the choices of some in Democratic Party leadership seems a bit opaque. Like maybe they lack the situational awareness these times demand…

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The “sunk cost” of electing a President whose lifelong approach to negotiations has been dominance displays and magical thinking… Is that America has lost virtually every negotiation, with both adversaries and allies, before they began.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I’m thinking Peter Thiel might understand the meaning of ”tyranny” differently than the rest of us.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

They have loosed the bots upon us... Sigh. AI chatbots have learned how to email professors with questions they get from users. I've received two emails this week (from different email addresses, different names) seeking advice for a "nephew" entering college about how they should approach it.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Every small-d democratic voter should be angling for a Democratic party coalition. The minoritarian GOP has power only because of its coalition between religious, social & fiscal Conservatives (who have little else in common). Antebellum, a similar deal-of-devils, lasted decades past its shelf-life.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

What’s boxed Trump in on Iran is that he and his capos are complete f@%king morons who believed that all the blood & treasure, wealth & power of the U.S. government were just a bully platform for their theatre of dominance displays… www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

theatlantic.com

How the U.S. Squandered Its Strategic Advantage

Idle threats and munitions shortages have boxed Trump in.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

“Suffering is good for the soul”.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

What's missing from the White House plan for the future of science? About 98% of science. Not least, a basic understanding of or interest in risk and hazard, at a time when risks to the future continuation of human civilization are greater than they've ever been. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

What’s missing from the White House plan for the future of US science

To realize ‘a new golden age for science’, the United States needs open borders and must properly fund studies in the social sciences, public health and the humanities — not just research in technolog...

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Every good mafia-state propaganda minister, from Goebbels to Peskov to Russell Vought, knows they must puncture the balloon of trust in good-governance institutions. No one supports a corrupt Authoritarian government until they’ve thrown up their hands in frustration because “They’re all crooks.”

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

There's no place in America's future for those who won't let go of America's hierarchically racist/misogynist/slave-owning/Dominioneering past. Take that to the bank.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

US health & medical research is tip-of-the-iceberg. Trump’s plan to shunt scientific research dollars from universities to AI tech company coffers is tragic; best analogy: if human civilization is an aircraft, they plan to remove the engines during flight and repurpose the parts for cabin fixtures.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

The kids are all right. But some of the adults need a refresher on “Do not obey in advance”… www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

theatlantic.com

The New Chilling Effect

Too many institutions are teaching young people to stay quiet.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

This sounds a whole lot like "Bow down to your master"... Homan, and the ICE agents under his charge, need a sharp reminder that the seat of power in this nation is the American people.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

A single snowflake at the tip of the iceberg, this.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Maybe also Dem political consultants should stop trying to create candidates who’ll appeal to social-dominance-oriented white males (& who are already well-ensconced in MAGA) and instead find capable candidates who appeal to the egalitarian majority…

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

This same maxim applies to every flavor of crime and abuse of power.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Anyone who has ever sat across a table from Putin to discuss “peace” has been made to look like a fool. The Russian President is a snake. There isn’t a bone in his body that doesn’t strain toward conquest, whether by force, by duplicity, or by corruption.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

America has always had a unique undercurrent of the predator-prey relationship between hucksters & rubes. The Puritan ministers who coaxed flocks to these shores, the showmanship of P.T. Barnum, the first televangelists, the current President... All knew there's a sucker born every minute.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

A meditation on the America MAGA would like to erase, alongside (in 🧵) the America they want to take us back to.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Trump gutted the White House Office of Ethics in 2017 & refused to put his wealth in a blind trust. Conservatives rationalized that no businessman would serve The People under those strictures. A man who can't make do on a $400k salary & $250k pension belongs in prison, not the White House, sez I.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

When an Authoritarian-minded party's platform visibly dissolves down to its core principles of corruption and self-dealing, scapegoating is all they've got left to run on.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Some U.S. problems will require Progressive solutions, but agree that "non-prog/DSA Dems need to embrace a fighting posture and aesthetic... Anything short of that is going to seem meaningless, weak and out of touch to anyone who is really paying attention to what is happening in the country today."

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Ah, the late-season quacking that accompanies a President's limping-migration home to his final resting place.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

One of the remarkable features of techbro culture: They seem to be clueless that we all survive on a physical substrate with limited resources. "We'll build our own libertarian cities and power with nuclear!" Problem: Needs fuel. Expensive to mine, expensive to handle waste, & a limited commodity 1/

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

”The only good Republican, is an ousted Republican.”

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Finally: A bit of sanity peers out from somewhere in the malevolent recesses of the White House.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

There's little chance of Americans (& the rest of the world) quickly forgetting what Trump and Musk have done to our country. The harms, and resultant suffering, are ongoing... And will be for a long time to come.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Better headline: “Trump sought to break Iran’s regime. The fruits of electing a moron who decides based on magical thinking”

WaPo headline: “Trump sought to break Iran’s regime. He settled for reopening Hormuz.”

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Wisdom echoing across the centuries.

No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin.
— George Washington

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Rootin’, tootin’, Nazi-salutin’. Might be time to rethink the Volksiness of our conversations about MAGA.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Personally, I'd have opted for "Patients have taken over the asylum" to "U.S. domestic terror groups have taken over the United States". But here we are.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Zelenskyy sends a open letter to the Kremlin offering discussions to end the fruitless war that has ground on for half Putin’s 26-year reign. Putin offers to host a meeting in Moscow. Of course, we’d all love instead to see Putin walk the streets of downtown Kyiv… www.cbc.ca/news/world/r...

cbc.ca

Kremlin confirms Putin aware of Zelenskyy's open letter calling for face-to-face talks | CBC News

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed ‌about an open letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday, according to state news agency ...

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Trump’s presidency is the 21st-century equivalent of P.T. Barnum American showmanship: Hype, puffery, spectacle and humbug. The IRGC have a different view of Trump’s America, informed by broken agreements, bombed relatives, newfound power, & patience. Which perspective wins the cage match?

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Obviously, only DOJ National Security Division lawyers with top-secret security clearances are qualified to perform redactions of victim names from the Epstein files...

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Trust and mutual respect, on the executive side, means recognizing you’re a suit who handles the business model and decisions about what to investigate and how to report are the sole purview of journalists. That’s what was broken here.

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Happy-go-Loki. @twainspatriot.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Much of the infrastructure necessary to maintain the infrastructure of a technological civilization— science infrastructure, economic infrastructure, law enforcement to name a few— should be safeguarded from the whims and caprices of self-interested politicians.

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