Simon Lester

@simonlester.com

Founded WorldTradeLaw.net & ChinaTradeMonitor.com Non-Resident Fellow @bakerinstitute.bsky.social

Trade Policy feed: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xqzu2eazvxb5fohoc4nap33y/feed/aaab5ctu4u4fc

Videos

Political science 43%

Economics 28%

Posts Replies Media Videos

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · Apr 3

I see lots of new followers popping up today. I assume you are here for the trade policy, in which case you might like my custom trade policy feed: bsky.app/profile/did:...

Reposted by Simon Lester

Free Law Project ⚖ @free.law · 4h

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 5h

A lot of people want the government to regulate or break up tech companies, but I think having the right government officials spread this message could be just as effective.

Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 5h

A guest speaker who previously worked at Facebook had some words of wisdom for my son's high school class today: "If an app is free, you're not using it, it's using you."

Reposted by Simon Lester

Tash @nlarimer.bsky.social · 5h

Love Actually is neither Romantic nor a Comedy (discuss)

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 5h

Love Actually is not a romantic comedy.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 6h

British public’s verdict is in: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie

Survey also reveals Britons’ favourite festive film, views on tear-jerkers and family cinema trips When Macaulay Culkin recently said he didn’t consider Die Hard to be a Christmas film – wading into one of pop culture’s most heated holiday debates – he was booed by a live audience. But it looks like the British people are behind the actor, with a survey revealing that Home Alone is the UK’s favourite festive film, while Die Hard has officially been voted not a Christmas movie. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Simon Lester

Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 5h

A guest speaker who previously worked at Facebook had some words of wisdom for my son's high school class today: "If an app is free, you're not using it, it's using you."

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 5h

Dual citizenship doesn't seem likely to catch fire as an issue, but since Bernie Moreno brought up citizenship, my question for today's Bernie is whether he still believes that 18 year old Bernie should have been granted US citizenship.

Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 8h

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, just introduced a bill to ban Americans from holding dual citizenship. The bill says that to “preserve the integrity of national citizenship, allegiance to the United States must be undivided.” It’s called the Exclusive Citizenship Act.

Reposted by Simon Lester, Dunlap, David Darmofal

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 6h

Costco sues the Trump administration, seeking a refund of tariffs www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...

Costco sues the Trump administration, seeking a refund of tariffs

The wholesaler is the latest company to file a lawsuit against a federal agency over the president's signature economic policy.

www.nbcnews.com

Reposted by Jonathan Wolff, Simon Lester

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 6h

British public’s verdict is in: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Simon Lester

The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 7h

This is truly FAFO.

heartlandsignal.com/2025/12/01/r...

Republican mayor in Kansas facing deportation over voter fraud

Joe Ceballos, a longtime Republican and small-town mayor in Kansas, is facing felony voter fraud charges and possible deportation from the presidential administration he voted for.

heartlandsignal.com

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Peter J. Spiro, Alan Richardson , and 2 more Rosemary A. Joyce, Peter J. Spiro, Alan Richardson, Aaron Sojourner, Simon Lester

Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 8h

Reposted by Simon Lester

Lindsay Beyerstein @beyerstein.bsky.social · 8h

TIL that the guy who allegedly shot the two National Guard troops was a child soldier for the CIA. I feel like that should shock more people.

Reposted by Robert C. Richards, Alfie Kohn, Simon Lester

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 8h

it looks like the "mississippi" miracle in reading scores was due to be a pretty basic stats error in the design of the experimental study (selecting on the dependent variable)... a lotta people Got Got on this one! statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/12/01/h...

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 11h

What is this talking point:

"[we need to] not allow corporations in the Chinese Communist Party to buy entire neighborhoods of single-family homes"

Did he get his anti-corporate and anti-communist talking points jumbled up?

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 11h

the comments to this Fox News article are so fucking funny, man

literally conservative boomers being like "yeah, fuck Gen Z"

www.foxnews.com/media/nikki-...

Nikki Haley’s son urges GOP to step in as Gen Z reaches breaking point on jobs, housing

Nikki Haley's son slams Republican leaders as a 'glorified nursing home' over Gen Z's economic struggles, including record unemployment and a housing affordability crisis.

www.foxnews.com

Reposted by Simon Lester

China Trade Monitor @chinatrademonitor.bsky.social · 11h

EU Terminates WTO Dispute on China's Restrictions on Trade with Lithuania

After previously suspending the dispute, the EU has now formally terminated its WTO complaint against China relating to restrictions on trade with Lithuania. ...

dlvr.it

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 13h

After all the other approaches have been tried and failed, perhaps people will finally turn to the most politically viable and effective solution: a revenue-neutral carbon tax.

Reposted by Adrian Daub, Andrew Jacobs, Simon Lester

Alex Shephard @alexshephard.bsky.social · 14h

I wrote about Bari Weiss newrepublic.com/article/2037...

Bari Weiss’s Big Secret Is That She’s Boring

The “contrarian” journalist’s new vision for CBS News appears to just mean reinventing Crossfire.

newrepublic.com

Reposted by Simon Lester

WorldTradeLaw.net @worldtradelaw.bsky.social · 14h

Guest Post: The Case for Bringing Economic Security Priorities into U.S. Trade Agreements, Part II

This is a guest post from Geoffrey Gertz of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), responding to my post on Economic and National Security Provisions in U.S. Trade Agreements An earlier post made the case for why the United States should bring economic security commitments into trade

dlvr.it

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Simon Lester

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 17h

A classic.

@apnews.com
apnews.com/article/dona...

Reposted by Simon Lester

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 1d

I know it's ever popular to dunk on the Harris campaign, but the simple branding of "FREEDOM" was actually pretty good and way better than a chart-based architecture analogy.

Reposted by Simon Lester, Stella M. Rouse, David Darmofal

Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 1d

Her parents owe their lives to the United States accepting them as asylum seekers fleeing religious persecution in Iraq in the 1980s. She wouldn't be here if we had not offered her family safe haven.

The hypocrisy is stunning.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 1d

Habba: There were individuals that were saying that this should be a safe harbor, a safe haven. Why? America is America because we protect our own.

Reposted by Daniel W. Drezner, Simon Lester, David Darmofal

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 1d

Habba: There were individuals that were saying that this should be a safe harbor, a safe haven. Why? America is America because we protect our own.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mark Kelly: "This president, when he says things like 'third world countries,' what is he really saying? I think what he's saying is he doesn't want brown people in our country. And that's disturbing. It's un-American."

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

If I were the Hyves folks, I would rebuild the social network aspect of the site using the AT Protocol, and give it a shot! There's a way to market this, and for governments to support it, without foreign bans or subsidies.

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

My take is that there is no need to ban foreign networks or subsidize domestic ones. Instead, you need entrepreneurs to build AT Protocol-based networks in the EU, which then connect to the rest of the ecosystem. Gander is trying this in Canada. We'll find out soon how well this approach works!

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

Just to clarify, when you say the EU should ban foreign social media, you would ban Bluesky in the EU? And also ban new startups like Gander, the Canadian AT Protocol-based social media network?

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Rebecca Tushnet, Aaron Sojourner , and 6 more Brendan Nyhan, Rebecca Tushnet, Aaron Sojourner, Jacob T. Levy, Ann Bartow, Simon Lester, Joanna L. Grossman, Aviel Roshwald, Andrew Kydd

Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 1d

They're not hiding it, folks—straight up neo-Nazi advertising, from the font to the language to the 11 stars for the Confederacy. Then you have the DHS openly using white nationalist language of "remigrate", which means ethnic cleansing.

This is who MAGA is now.

Reposted by Simon Lester

Kate Jackson @katejackson.bsky.social · 2d

In lieu of, you know, government econ statistics, this may be of interest

www.uc.edu/news/article...

Car repossessions surge to highest level since 2009

Car repossessions are sharply on the rise. According to WLWT, repossession rates are hitting their highest level since the 2009 recession. Michael Jones, associate professor of economics in UC’s Lind...

www.uc.edu

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 2d

Maybe I've become jaded due to all the young influencer racists, but Tucker somehow manages to be offensive and boring at the same time.

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 4d

1. Tucker Carlson, in a manner bordering on sensuous euphoria, said the word Fa**ot twenty times in his interview with Piers Morgan.

Tucker was saying it as some sort of protest to a woman who was allegedly arrested and charged for using it in response to her domestic abuser.