I have a new reinforcing loop: I read ▶️ Molly expects lap time ▶️ I read

Day 1517 of my 3 day war. My war now last 100 days longer than our involvement on the allied side* of WW2. We control 30% less of Ukraine than we did 100 days after it started.

I remain a master strategist.

Only US Votes Against Women’s Rights Document At UN Commission - Health Policy Watch President of the UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock told the opening of CSW that the backlash against women's rights "feels as though we are forced to

For the first time in decades, consensus broke at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The United States cast the lone “no” vote on a document aimed at improving justice systems for women and girls worldwide. Misogyny is the official policy of the US under Trump.

Book cover of "Who Will Defend Europe? An Awakened Russia and a Sleeping Continent" by Keir Giles

"The unfortunate conclusion from long-term observation of Russia is that this attitude towards Russia's borders will persist for as long as its assumption of entitlement to Emipte does ... unless and until Russia suffers some kind of strategic reverse - a clear, unambiguous and undeniable defeat that sets the limits of Russian power."

Saturday night for a nerd 🤓 Important topic any day of the week!

@keirgiles.bsky.social

War spurs EU plan for electricity tax cuts, faster shift from fossil fuels, draft shows The European Union plans ​to reduce electricity taxes and expand clean technologies faster to cut consumers' exposure to soaring ‌oil and gas prices, as part of its plan to offset the Iran war's energ...

The war is pushing the EU to accelerate its plans to shift away from fossil fuels. I suspect this is true for pretty much every country in the world that isn't a major FF producer, which is most of them.

🥲

"Young people will save us!" "The next generation will lead the way!" Meanwhile, *educators* took active vengeance against them for trying (even if you disagree with their messages) in order to curry favor with the current regime.

Colleges, acting "in loco parentis" for folks outside their parents' homes for the first time, responded to demonstrations by unleashing police. Against unarmed 19 year olds.
Seems pretty obvious to me why - at least among college students - we're not observing mass mobilizations.

In 2024, we taught college students that protesting gets you tear gassed, suspended and possibly unable to get your degree. And people are wondering why young people seem under represented at protests.

Is the "ecosystem broken" or are you simply posting on an overwhelmingly fascist microblogging site?

I can't tell is Iran is doing this simply to destroy capital or they understand that OpenAi's financial backing is hanging by a thread and they could spur a financial crisis in the US by causing a rapid devaluation of OpenAi's debt.

Again and again, I return to the same thought about authoritarianism, fascism, reactionary thinking, whatever you want to call it: it is not an alternative analysis or an alternative set of values. It is permission to wallow in brainstem-level feelings. It is permission to ignore the frontal cortex.

We have an economic problem masquerading as a political one and if we do not address the billionaire crime syndicate destroying all dimensions of society, we may dilute the fascism a bit by not losing the next election but we sure as hell won't rid ourselves of it.

Rooftop solar reaches 20% of Puerto Rico’s generation mix Rooftop solar capacity in Puerto Rico reached around 1.5 GW in 2025, passing natural gas and becoming the territory’s second-largest generation source, according to the Energy Information Administrati...

Rooftop solar has come out of nowhere and is now 20% of Puerto Rico's energy generation mix -- more than natural gas.

Hard for Trump to get out of a war that is making so much money for Putin.

I noticed my YT feed became ~40% crapola overnight 2 - 3 weeks ago. So many of my regular channels buried. The enshittification of tech continues at pace.

But if I were trying to survive an empire collapsing I'd probably try to think like a marsh or a tide pool or something else watery that can take a good pummeling.

I don't think you can play chess with a collapsing empire because of non-linearities and cascading feedbacks. There aren't likely next steps so much as cracks and shudders and diversion of energy from one thing to another.

Connecting up with each other is strategy. Rooting in place is strategy and so is being flexible. Like a marsh plant in the wind.

I think we are exiting the era of strategic plans and entering an era of discontinuity, but no strategic plans doesn't mean no strategy.

One thing is empires need huge amounts of energy to operate, to coordinate their systems of control, so an empire that messes with its energy source might be in for some rapid and discontinuous change.

... one of the most thrilling and inspiring orators I've ever heard speak. I followed him around like a groupie. 😆 I never got to speak to him but it was a privilege just to observe him in real time. He's more than earned his rest. What an incredible human. 🥹💗

2/2

In 2006, Toronto hosted the International AIDS conference, and I worked there as a volunteer. In my free time, I had access to almost any plenary or panel session I wanted. Stephen Lewis was there - everywhere, it seemed - a moral giant and ...

1/2

How authoritarian parenting attitudes explain our political divides - Niskanen Center Christopher Federico and Christopher Weber find that authoritarian values, measured by these parenting preferences, increasingly structure Americans’ attitudes toward social and cultural issues and th...

Oh, and most important, deepest of all:
3) This is absolutely true of reactionary parenting. That's where it all begins. All this sweaty performative "toughness" just cranks out scared dysfunctional wrecks liks sparks from a fire. Hurt people hurt people etc. etc.

Right now, they're in an incredibly complex and fraught situation with all kinds of ambiguous, overlapping, shifting allegiances, economic forces, and diplomatic maneuvers. Success, however you define it, would require sensitivity to nuance & a deft hand. They have none of that. They have: "tough."

The reason the prescription is always the same no matter the circumstances is that their foreign policy is not derived from (or responsive to) circumstances, from the world itself. It is derived from the inside of their own heads: their own yawning, gaping, endless fear & insecurity.

Right-wing foreign policy is: be "tough." That's it. No matter what the circumstance or situation, be belligerent and bullying. Always escalate. If anything goes wrong, it's because you weren't tough enough. The prescription is always, be tougher. They literally have no other thought.

I had two organizing meeting this weekend and it remains true that organizing is an antidote to despair. It's always miraculous when people take time out of their lives to fight FOR something with others. I am grateful for these opportunities and for the chance to enlarge my circle of comrades.

Real relationships are never going to look or feel like the idealized version all these kids have been seeing on insta and tiktok their entire lives. Real relationships require work & patience & grace. They aren't edited or produced, they're not pretty. How do any of these kids ever have one?!

The relationship just *becomes* content-farming. And here's the thing: as my fellow old people might still remember, real human relationships are often awkward or silly or boring. The kind of stuff that brings & keeps people together is often quite UN-aesthetic, not fit for broadcast.