Top recent posts by Online Political Thinkers on Bluesky

What's happening in TX-18 is more obscene than not seating Grijalva during pro formas. Turner died in March. Abbott delayed the special election until yesterday, and now it goes to a runoff early *next year.* Congress can and should require special elections to be held within 90 days of a vacancy.

The New York Times quickly sending out Douthat to argue that Mamdani’s victory doesn’t really matter is so predictable it borders on self-parody. Remember, folks: Every time the Right wins an election, it’s an undeniable expression of the will of the people. If a lefty wins, it’s just a blip.

I have to imagine far-right Catholics are really struggling with the fact that they can now hear this stuff in English directly from the pope.

I'm hard-pressed to think of a non-Jewish Democratic politician who has spoken to Jews with more respect and empathy than Mamdani. The fact that many Jewish establishment orgs are going after him while staying relatively mum on resurgent Nazism is a disaster, both for American Jews and in general.

Federal immigration cops are using "wellness checks" on minors as a ruse to get into homes and arrest people for alleged immigration violations. In this case, an alleged check on a 17-year-old let them arrest his 22-year-old brother, who was brought here at 11 and has protected status.

It was a rejection of the entire administration and Dems should see this as a signal to become an actual opposition party. On everything. You don't stop the shutdown. You don't approve another appointee. You do nothing at all. The voters saved you, not the other way around. LEARN TO LEAD.

Holy crap. MAGA diehard Danielle Jurinsky lost her city council seat in Aurora, Colorado. She more than anyone is responsible for ginning up the false claim that Tren de Aragua had "taken over" the city. She also repeatedly tried to dissolve the city's groundbreaking public defender office.

too big to fail speedrun

“authors & publishers who filed a lawsuit against the Sam Altman-led firm have secured access to internal Slack messages… discussing the mass deletion of a pirated books dataset… A NY district court ordered OpenAI to hand over the communications regarding data deletion” futurism.com/artificial-i...

Gregory Bovino is on tape telling Border Patrol agents "This is OUR fucking city." Bovino grew up in North Carolina. Until January he was Border Patrol Chief for the El Centro sector in California. To my knowledge, he never lived or even worked in Chicago.

NEW: Judge Gettleman just ordered ICE to improve "serious conditions" inside its Broadview facility in Chicago. Yesterday, people testified in court that they were crammed into overcrowded and filthy cells for days, with little access to lawyers, and pressured into deportation.

'JD interrupts me' gives insight into the goings on behind the scenes and I so fucking wish someday we get this version of the Nixon Haldeman tapes

so my cat is going to die (cancer, fast, out of what felt like nowhere) and I'm pretty bummed about it

The Reddit community r/Democrats has a conspicuous absence of any news about Zohran Mamdani today. But that's by design. The moderators have rules that ban people from talking about democratic socialists. www.reddit.com/r/democrats/

each of them represents one of the five elements: Fire, Metal, Air, Water, and Anti-Trust.

Of course the president can’t subvert the Constitution by lying that there’s an emergency. If lying that there’s an emergency is a magic loophole granting the executive branch the powers of Congress, there’s no point to Article I. The fact that this is even a question is a sign of degradation.

I know it’s trite but if Biden ever said this it’d be on every front page in America and the urgency with which it would be reported would border on blind panic

i really can't come up with an alternative explanation for this that isn't "the president is old and easily confused about where he is"

I love Bluesky because it's often fun but I hate it because I had to read a post where someone called Leslie Knope a neocon shill and to you I say it is a television show and it absolutely does not matter you sound like a maniac

there’s a thing here about for the last decade or so, online people have been very negative about small talk - the weather, or local news, or whatever - and small talk is the grease that keeps physical interactions going, and i am tired of ceding that to shut-ins

the brutal ableism of Trumpism is an underrated part of its ideology by most pundits. Trump mocking a disabled journalist *invigorated* his voters rather than repelling them, because it made them feel that they were safely on the side of the bully, rather than the victim.

Here’s a fun fact: More than 1000 people have signed up at runforwhat.net to run for office since last night. 😈😈😈

“Mommy! Mommy! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” — Leia Kahl, as she was overwhelmed by immigration agents’ tear gas. Leia’s age: 2. Via @natashakorecki.bsky.social www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

they're scared of zohran so bad

If you're not reading the New York Times you're missing out

a thing that i find really interesting about the results last night is that i can't see a way for republicans to course correct before the midterms without some pretty radical realignments. an awful lot of what people are mad as hell about is baked into the core of the party now.

tossup between being genuinely confused and being unable to read the teleprompter

remember all those 'project 2025 isn't actually real, you fools, you naifs' media pieces.

if you're in line to bribe Eric Adams, stay in line

i say thank you to the bus driver when i get on and yell thank you when i get off every day i ride the bus, and i take two buses to and from work, being nice and friendly costs you nothing and should be your default expectation for yourself because it improves your day and everyone else’s day

Network media and big papers caping for and capitulating to this administration has so much to do with their deep-held belief that all Americans are fucking stupid. They're siding with the guy who says "Gas is $2 and groceries are cheap" as if we're not paying for gas and groceries

Daycares in our neighborhood are no longer answering their doors after morning drop-off. Parents have to call the daycare when they arrive and they let them in for pickup. It's insane how we live now.

I think there is a good chance the shutdown is still going by Thanksgiving, and that the resultant travel chaos will create enough pressure that the administration will cave on actual concessions before Christmas.

They need to steal all the world's IP, and get all the world's money for free, to be successful at their business. They are geniuses.

If I were the mayor or governor, I would simply not allow masked, armed men to kidnap preschool teachers in front of their children. If this isn’t a red line for you as a leader, then I don't know what you think your job is. Arrest them. Cut power to their facilities. Send out protection patrols.

This is why you DON'T stop the shutdown. Clearly the voters know who's responsible for the shutdown and now it's gonna be even worse. Since the news isn't willing to be honest with Americans about what Trump was and is, this will have to do so they can get the message.

Oh my god he’s still doing this

I'm sick of being gaslit about "globalize the intifada." I never heard of it before Zohran started running! It's like you're telling me that "Surf Party USA" is anti-Semitic. You know what I knew was anti-Semitic? Throwing up a Nazi salute like Elon Musk www.jta.org/2025/11/05/i...

He should be surrounded by a team of nurses at all times

I'm sorry, the United States senator is a "guardian" of what country? I feel like there's one correct answer here, and if that answer isn't "the United States," then we have an issue.

i will never be embarrassed for genuinely thinking voting is a sacred act

The only thing that surprises me about seeing this opinion is the fact that it’s on Bluesky. It’s like spotting a polar bear in the desert or something. How’d you get all the way out here, little buddy? Is there like an expert we can call to help you find your way back to your natural habitat?

Cuomo on his way to Florida taking the NYPD with him

I'm confused about the video clips Trump is pushing out on Truth Social and YouTube right now. They're all shorter clips on various topics, but I'm not sure where they were shot or why they were done in this style behind a podium talking directly to camera.

This is chilling. "Ya’akub isn’t being accused of breaking immigration law — his DACA protection doesn’t expire until May 2026. In fact, Ya’akub’s lawyers say he hasn’t been accused of any crime. Rather, the Trump administration is alleging he’s 'glorifying terrorism' via social media posts."

i'm still seeing people say things like "they don't intend to win elections", and, like, look at last night's results. those are not outcomes you can reject through slim efforts at trickery, those are overwhelming defeats that can't be ignored. stop letting your doom brain do their work.

for all of the axiolitico talk about how dems are on the verge of caving, reading between the lines, every story suggests that they're not ready to cave without getting something more than a handshake deal, and a handshake deal is all thune is offering, and he can't even guarantee the house on it

*cut to campaign logo* "I'm [insert name here], Democrat for Congress, and I approve this message."

this *does* suck, but i think it also demonstrates why ellison seems destined to fail and fail big. look at how many international shows and movies have been huge breakouts in recent years. the subtitle barrier that used to hold those shows back no longer really exists.

A similar, smaller scale thing just happened in the Josephine County (OR) GOP. A bunch of county leaders and precinct captains quit the GOP and formed a group called “United Conservatives.” The OR GOP currently has no official organization in the county.

Yup. The Dodgers represent the city of Los Angeles and the people of Los Angeles. This administration has waged war on the people of Los Angeles.

I'm getting absolutely hammered with Democrat fundraising emails today. People voted because they're angry at Trump and hate what's happening in their neighborhoods. Not because you jabronis did anything. Send a fucking email JUST ONCE where you don't ask for money. One fucking time

these people mostly voted for the Nazi porn candidate btw

THIS! “I don't expect Zohran Mamdani to be perfect. None of us should. Perfection isn't the point of politics. Conviction is. What matters is that he believes the government should serve the people.” - Frederick Joseph

This could be us if we weren't strangling the solar industry to help keep oil prices up

When Cuomo resigned he was unpopular but insulated. The women going after him gave everyone license to say what they thought. Boylan, an urban planner, was harrassed by Cuomo. She broke the dam in ‘21, and when he surfaced she swore she’d sink him again. She put her shoulder to the wheel on this.

Trump officials keep acting like conditions worsening and Americans suffering on their watch reflects badly on the opposition, and the public will get mad at people without power, because those are the people who care about Americans and want things to run well. I don’t think that’s how it works.

a recurring problem for the U.S. hard left is 'the government is a force of pure evil, and also we think it should control much more of daily life".

They have no f-ing idea how big and how complex Nigeria is. No f-ing idea what they’d be getting into.

Yo this is dope. I wish I got paid to do this shit I'm so jealous. I could have an amazing show on Fox News. I would be amazing

It seems like a post-Trump left-wing US government, obsessed with pursuing revenge against Trump and Trumpists, would be an absolutely perfect weapon to destroy corruption in FIFA and thus gain the gratitude of the world's soccer fans.

looking forward to more hard-hitting journalism from the times like "Does the Negro Belong in the Modern Office?" and "Do Homosexuals Have a Place in Schools?"

One thing I learned from the past few decades is that voters tend not to comprehend nuances like "the filibuster" or even "the Supreme Court." Mostly they just blame bad things on the people in charge, and Washington correspondents should understand that too.

Clearest sign ever Chuck shouldn't do it. If Trump wants you to do something and is melting down about it, you do the literal opposite because everything he wants is about him and only him. The Art of the Deal is getting involved with a sucker who responds to bullying.

The person who runs this site also runs CBS News.

I feel like we all kind of forgot the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia ran a gay Nazi porn Tumblr page.

sort of funny how people don't get how utterly ruthless the campaign was focused on the everyday affordability angle, even from people aligned with Mamdani!

There's gonna be daily fake AI videos of subway violence running on Fox News. I'm willing to bet they'll do a segment on NYC crime at least 3 nights a week after January 1 when they swear in Zohran.

Very similar in tone, sourcing and style to the "Harvard getting ready to cave to the Trump administration's demands" reporting the Times kept trotting out.

Kevin Kiley basically overnight rediscovering that he is actually a Reasonable Bipartisan after being a gleeful MAGA shithead, now that he’s on the firing line, shows that one of the benefits of actually retaliating is that you create incentives for norms to hold. Norms are detente.

Tyranny. Americans being treated like we're conquered territory after losing a war. Intolerable

👀 "Donald Trump and his cronies can fuck all the way off." - @govpritzker.illinois.gov He also called his cronies "bootlickers." 😘

I mean the difference between the people who do this and actual ICE officers is just that the former group haven't gotten their application approved yet.

he may not have a choice in this based on staffing and security regulations, but i appreciate the administration's commitment to making sure everyone thinks it's a choice they're making

Marjorie Taylor Greene has confided to colleagues that she wants to run for president, according to four sources familiar with the matter, including one who has spoken with her directly about it. www.notus.org/2028-electio...

hey i've heard this one before

Periodic reminder that "Abolish ICE" is the moderate position

Douthat is a slimy creep, particularly on the subject of women, as he’s shown for a long time now. NYT editors are showing their asses when they publish and promote his “just asking questions” retrograde misogyny year after year.

Listen, there is very much to criticize about Pritzker, but the fact that we have reached a point in our politics where a sitting governor has told the president (and his cronies) to "fuck all the way off" is something. We should not underestimate the power of symbols to galvanize resistance.

Indian FIL walking around the development today like this telling everyone Mamdani runs NYC now

the main response to losing to a blue tsunami i've seen by people in TPUSA is "more mass deportations and ending immigration" completely gave up on the multi-racial populist project, all in on George Wallace ideology

“U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to order scheduled air traffic cut by 10% at 40 major airports starting Friday…”

167 races called, 110 wins confirmed and 8 moving to run offs. 😈 More to come!

It is sort of incredible that the mob tried to kill Sliwa twice. I can’t imagine him mattering at all to any actual serious organized crime. Evidently it was over an insult on a radio show. I guess the Hollywood version of them as sophisticated businessmen is deceiving. Just violent dumb goons.

If a Democrat did any of this, it would be nonstop, widespread media coverage of his mental decline along with calls for resignation

know the rules: every Democratic victory must be caveated, every Republican victory is a sign of What the People Want.

I am fascinated by a question @lastpositivist.bsky.social raised - will the mundane reality of Mamdani's governance cause anyone like this to reconsider their fantasies or the basis of their fantasies? How much do they even believe this crap themselves?

[big-picture thought that I’ll eventually turn into a blog post or something]: One of the real developmental challenges for Bluesky over the past year is that the site hadn’t been fun, because *2025 hasn’t been fun.* The vibes under fascism are rarely gonna be uplifting.

Indeed. With somewhat speculative but important implications. www.offmessage.net/p/25-thought...

Katyal just bodied Alito’s “yeah but what if giving refunds of tariffs are hard” question.

Cry harder

Really hoping institutions recognize which way the wind is blowing right now and act accordingly

This is what I mean when I call Sanders smart.

One of the funnier denials I’ve ever read

despite his protestations, you don’t do this the day after your party scores an overwhelming victory if you are confident you’re cruising to an easy re-election

right, like, people keep saying “they don’t intend to have to win elections”, which would be news to donald trump, who seems pretty fucking panicked that they can’t win elections

The only thing that the Supreme Court majority is calculating is whether they'd be helping Trump politically by preventing him from continuing chaotic tariff policy that's pretty obviously fucking up the economy.

This graph shows the country trying to puke up something nasty it swallowed.

Exactly this. Especially this in the wake of Mamdani. Any politician that pivots or pivoted to a campaign of fascism should get the ending to their political career they deserve

the gop just ran a vicious campaign of anti trans propaganda in VA…and got absolutely destroyed not just in blue areas, but in red ones. every county went hard blue.