Jeff Boone
@jeffreyboone.bsky.social
Juarez/El Paso; NYC by marriage; Romania when possible. Social worker/librarian/grad student manqué
Reposted by Jeff Boone
Russia showing just how serious it is about peace tonight, launching waves of missiles and drones at Kyiv. Air defenses are working to knock them down. A series of explosions just rocked Ukraine’s capital. It’ll be another long night.
November 24, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Russia showing just how serious it is about peace tonight, launching waves of missiles and drones at Kyiv. Air defenses are working to knock them down. A series of explosions just rocked Ukraine’s capital. It’ll be another long night.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
Trump is incapable of resisting charm, (male) charisma, and - most importantly - celebrity. He has an unquenchable desire to be near it, has been chasing it his whole life.
That's mostly it. Forget all the "He's a populist!" bullshit from both the centrist commentariat and the anti-liberal Left.
That's mostly it. Forget all the "He's a populist!" bullshit from both the centrist commentariat and the anti-liberal Left.
Every article by a 'savvy' political analyst reads like a focus group transcript with a low-information voter.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
November 22, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Trump is incapable of resisting charm, (male) charisma, and - most importantly - celebrity. He has an unquenchable desire to be near it, has been chasing it his whole life.
That's mostly it. Forget all the "He's a populist!" bullshit from both the centrist commentariat and the anti-liberal Left.
That's mostly it. Forget all the "He's a populist!" bullshit from both the centrist commentariat and the anti-liberal Left.
@iammilliam.bsky.social Not sure if you’re a Joy Williams fan, but her new collection is vintage stuff. You’ve mentioned your mother passing in the past year; my father is dying now & I find Williams an excellent companion as we endure—liminal yet acute, feels the wicked & the affectionate.
November 19, 2025 at 1:59 PM
@iammilliam.bsky.social Not sure if you’re a Joy Williams fan, but her new collection is vintage stuff. You’ve mentioned your mother passing in the past year; my father is dying now & I find Williams an excellent companion as we endure—liminal yet acute, feels the wicked & the affectionate.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
I have been thinking about this line today, on the value of editors, from the late great John Bennet, for no reason in particular.
November 18, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I have been thinking about this line today, on the value of editors, from the late great John Bennet, for no reason in particular.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
Britain is an object lesson in how poorly arranged democracies can succumb to destructive positive feedback. The people who ensure a stagnant economy via Brexit enjoy political dividends blaming immigrants for the consequences of that very stagnation.
(US democracy is arranged at least as poorly.)
(US democracy is arranged at least as poorly.)
November 17, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Britain is an object lesson in how poorly arranged democracies can succumb to destructive positive feedback. The people who ensure a stagnant economy via Brexit enjoy political dividends blaming immigrants for the consequences of that very stagnation.
(US democracy is arranged at least as poorly.)
(US democracy is arranged at least as poorly.)
@johnwilliams.bsky.social First thought on seeing the NYT soft-focus piece today: please pleeeease assign Becca Rothfeld to review the Nuzzi…
November 14, 2025 at 6:50 PM
@johnwilliams.bsky.social First thought on seeing the NYT soft-focus piece today: please pleeeease assign Becca Rothfeld to review the Nuzzi…
Reposted by Jeff Boone
one of the underlying factors in all the Epstein stuff is that his correspondents - even the ones who likely did not participate in abuse themselves - are completely incapable of imagining his victims as people. he is real to them, the girls aren't.
I sometimes feel like they don’t want to end poverty or reduce inequality because they believe they’re entitled to a class of people they can prey upon
November 14, 2025 at 5:13 PM
one of the underlying factors in all the Epstein stuff is that his correspondents - even the ones who likely did not participate in abuse themselves - are completely incapable of imagining his victims as people. he is real to them, the girls aren't.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
The train that runs between Chihuahua and Ciudad Juárez once saw thousands of migrants riding north towards the U.S.-Mexico border. Today few migrants are riding the trains, a sign that migrants are taking more clandestine routes in hopes of reaching the border.
My story for The El Paso Times:
My story for The El Paso Times:
'Migrants are not passing anymore': the 'Devil's Train' sees few migrants riding north
The "Devil's Train" was once a major transit route for migrants traveling north towards Juarez. Today there are very few migrants riding the train.
www.elpasotimes.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:43 PM
The train that runs between Chihuahua and Ciudad Juárez once saw thousands of migrants riding north towards the U.S.-Mexico border. Today few migrants are riding the trains, a sign that migrants are taking more clandestine routes in hopes of reaching the border.
My story for The El Paso Times:
My story for The El Paso Times:
Reposted by Jeff Boone
As someone who actually lives near the border it's worth noting that very few Americans do, or ever interact with the border in a meaningful way. They know "chaos at the border" as a story through their tv and phone screens exclusively.
Some Dems and pundits overread the significance of Trump's win. They looked at dissatisfaction with the border and discerned a seismic cultural reaction to immigration levels inside the country. The former was real. The latter is a mirage.
(h/t @gelliottmorris.com)
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
(h/t @gelliottmorris.com)
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
November 13, 2025 at 2:20 PM
As someone who actually lives near the border it's worth noting that very few Americans do, or ever interact with the border in a meaningful way. They know "chaos at the border" as a story through their tv and phone screens exclusively.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
you could fact check this — there aren’t 30 million illegal immigrants and there is no evidence that the presence of an immigrant in say houston has any impact on housing in madison, wisconsin — or you could note straightforwardly that this is just nazi rhetoric
JD Vance: "A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens."
November 13, 2025 at 10:12 PM
you could fact check this — there aren’t 30 million illegal immigrants and there is no evidence that the presence of an immigrant in say houston has any impact on housing in madison, wisconsin — or you could note straightforwardly that this is just nazi rhetoric
Reposted by Jeff Boone
“Agents drove north on Kostner Avenue with neighbors in pursuit. Residents chased the convoy on foot, on scooters and in cars, sounding their horns …
Inside the iron fence of the FBI office, agents emptied out of their cars to gather in a parking lot while civilians screamed profanities at them … ”
Inside the iron fence of the FBI office, agents emptied out of their cars to gather in a parking lot while civilians screamed profanities at them … ”
Bovino went into popular Carniceria Aguascalientes in heart of Little Village.
“They said they were just here to buy something,” said Elizabeth Gutierrez. “I told them we wouldn’t serve them and escorted them out. Bovino seemed upset, but I don’t care.” www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/08/c...
“They said they were just here to buy something,” said Elizabeth Gutierrez. “I told them we wouldn’t serve them and escorted them out. Bovino seemed upset, but I don’t care.” www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/08/c...
Shots fired at immigration agents in Little Village as residents confront Bovino, Border Patrol, authorities say
Community members once again confronted a convoy of Border Patrol agents led by Cmdr. Gregory Bovino as it moved through Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:30 PM
“Agents drove north on Kostner Avenue with neighbors in pursuit. Residents chased the convoy on foot, on scooters and in cars, sounding their horns …
Inside the iron fence of the FBI office, agents emptied out of their cars to gather in a parking lot while civilians screamed profanities at them … ”
Inside the iron fence of the FBI office, agents emptied out of their cars to gather in a parking lot while civilians screamed profanities at them … ”
Reposted by Jeff Boone
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 AM
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
um, it's where people live? land cannot vote.
November 6, 2025 at 2:20 PM
um, it's where people live? land cannot vote.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
ah yes, aristocracies — known the world over for their innovation, flexibility and capacity to meet new challenges
Meet Rockbridge, the secretive donor circle that lifted JD Vance is now re-writing MAGA’s future.
It roots its action in a “controversial theory — an ‘aristocracy’ is needed to move the country forward.”
It’s method: a venture capital approach to politics.
gift link:
wapo.st/3Jsvgrl
It roots its action in a “controversial theory — an ‘aristocracy’ is needed to move the country forward.”
It’s method: a venture capital approach to politics.
gift link:
wapo.st/3Jsvgrl
The secretive donor circle that lifted JD Vance is now re-writing MAGA’s future
Chris Buskirk put tech elites in power in Trump’s Washington. His efforts are grounded in a controversial theory: An “aristocracy” is needed to move the country forward.
wapo.st
November 4, 2025 at 6:34 PM
ah yes, aristocracies — known the world over for their innovation, flexibility and capacity to meet new challenges
Reposted by Jeff Boone
ICE/CBP is rampaging through the burbs again this morning. Sightings and kidnappings reported across Bolingbrook, Summit, Addison, Bensenville, Melrose Park, Brookfield.
November 2, 2025 at 3:35 PM
ICE/CBP is rampaging through the burbs again this morning. Sightings and kidnappings reported across Bolingbrook, Summit, Addison, Bensenville, Melrose Park, Brookfield.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
Anyway, if you're familiar with the dynamic, it is impossible not to notice the way it is playing out on the national stage, with Republicans the daddy party and Democrats the mommy party. Daddy's raging, destroying, lashing out, & most political analysis amounts to ...
August 15, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Anyway, if you're familiar with the dynamic, it is impossible not to notice the way it is playing out on the national stage, with Republicans the daddy party and Democrats the mommy party. Daddy's raging, destroying, lashing out, & most political analysis amounts to ...
Reposted by Jeff Boone
Can I also just say, again, that the Biden admin under no circumstances committed to “left-wing” migration policy, in any way, shape, or form. I want Douthat to articulate what specific policies he thinks are included in that, because I think he seriously misunderstands the policies at issue.
Utterly bizarre to describe climate change policy as some kind of radical-left albatross.
The IRA contained precisely the kind of 'kitchen table' programs everyone says Democrats should focus on — and they're popular!
The problem was that Americans *didn't know* what the IRA was or who passed it.
The IRA contained precisely the kind of 'kitchen table' programs everyone says Democrats should focus on — and they're popular!
The problem was that Americans *didn't know* what the IRA was or who passed it.
November 1, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Can I also just say, again, that the Biden admin under no circumstances committed to “left-wing” migration policy, in any way, shape, or form. I want Douthat to articulate what specific policies he thinks are included in that, because I think he seriously misunderstands the policies at issue.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
chat is it good when defense intellectuals are citing Adrian and putting arguments you'd hear before the Spanish Civil War
![Sed Contra
This essay does not argue liberalism will collapse, only that military officers should be intellectually (and spiritually) prepared for alternatives. Some may argue that the answer is not post-liberalism but a recovery of “true” American classical liberalism along the lines of a Jeffersonian democracy with its suspicion of standing armies and preference for state militias. Such a vision promises fidelity to part of the Founders’ intent and added insulation against the dangers of a politicized federal military.
Three problems stand in the way. First, turning that clock back is impossible without first dismantling the post-Civil War constitutional order and possibly repealing the Fourteenth Amendment. Such upheaval is historically far more likely to result in Caesar than Cincinnatus. Second, the militia-based model of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson is not a professional military, and thus out of the scope of this essay. Thirdly, protecting a nation-state with nothing but a citizen militia is a pipe dream. Independence in the 21st century requires a permanent professional military, if only to sustain a nuclear deterrent. No polity can remain sovereign without one.
Others may object that abandoning liberalism means abandoning the rule of law — and with it, any recognizable professional military ethic. But as Adrian Vermeule notes, the rule of law is not a liberal achievement. Roman law, medieval jurists, and early modern legal traditions all operated independently of liberal individualism, yet they maintained robust systems of order, justice, and legality. Vermeule provocatively writes: “The real question is not whether the rule of law can be obtained in the absence of liberalism, for it obviously can. The real question is whether it can be obtained in the [continued] presence of liberalism.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hbpefio3f5csc44msmbgioxz/bafkreieq67a6rbb6tq43wsf3gthsgtpaye7iksi4plndskgnpsm56z2kx4@jpeg)
October 30, 2025 at 8:07 PM
chat is it good when defense intellectuals are citing Adrian and putting arguments you'd hear before the Spanish Civil War
Reposted by Jeff Boone
Vance's speech was far more extreme than anything on Mamdani's platform or his comments about the American promise. Peters quoted only his reference to union soldiers, but Vance here suggests that ancestors of Confederate soldiers have "a hell of a lot more claim over America" than creedalists./7
October 29, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Vance's speech was far more extreme than anything on Mamdani's platform or his comments about the American promise. Peters quoted only his reference to union soldiers, but Vance here suggests that ancestors of Confederate soldiers have "a hell of a lot more claim over America" than creedalists./7
Reposted by Jeff Boone
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
October 29, 2025 at 3:03 PM
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
Reposted by Jeff Boone
The actual finding here is that a huge percentage of the population believes things that are not true. Democrats objectively did not spend significant time on climate change or LGBTQ issues in the last election campaign.
Duh. Those of us on the ground last year actually speaking with middle class/working class voters and who heard from these voters every single day the same - “Trump is an asshole, but Democrats are out of touch” - could’ve saved my new political party a lot of time & money producing this “report.”👇
October 28, 2025 at 12:52 PM
The actual finding here is that a huge percentage of the population believes things that are not true. Democrats objectively did not spend significant time on climate change or LGBTQ issues in the last election campaign.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
🚨BIG changes happening -- ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino's "Midway Blitz" style.
Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.
Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.
October 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
🚨BIG changes happening -- ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino's "Midway Blitz" style.
Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.
Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.
October 27, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.
Reposted by Jeff Boone
SNAP isn't about "people who don't work." It's about people who don't get paid enough to live.
Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps:
* Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled
* Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages
Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps:
* Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled
* Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages
October 27, 2025 at 12:48 AM
SNAP isn't about "people who don't work." It's about people who don't get paid enough to live.
Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps:
* Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled
* Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages
Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps:
* Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled
* Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages
Reposted by Jeff Boone
May I present a former clerk to Justice Gorsuch.
October 26, 2025 at 9:52 PM
May I present a former clerk to Justice Gorsuch.