James Rizzo
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jnrizzo.bsky.social
James Rizzo
@jnrizzo.bsky.social
Pittsburgh, PA

24th Ward Democratic Chair and Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at the University of Chicago.
Pinned
Reposted by James Rizzo
the primary thing that TPUSA provides to young conservatives is a blueprint for weaponizing the abject cowardice of university administrators against individual teachers and instructors, and university admins should take a long look in the mirror and think about what that says about them
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
November 30, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
unbelievable. the canonical example of an illegal order in the Law of War Manual is "an order to fire upon the shipwrecked."
November 30, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
I’m not endorsing the policy opinions here, but I think it’s a good illustration of how porous the category of “illegal”/“undocumented” can be.
November 30, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by James Rizzo
Perfect Tom Stoppard story from DTel obituary:

His response to a letter from Harold Pinter canvassing support for a proposal to have the Comedy Theatre in London rechristened the Pinter Theatre, “Have you thought, instead, of changing your name to Harold Comedy?”
November 29, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
Pete Hegseth is a war criminal and should be fired immediately.
November 30, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Reposted by James Rizzo
I actually think this is a great little illustration of how fundamentally joyless these people are: they don’t find or take pleasure in the things most non-hateful people are able to—food, sex, human connections, art
Karoline Leavitt's Thanksgiving spread. Please dissect.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
November 30, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Reposted by James Rizzo
I find the 'the Democrats won't do anything' doomer line annoying, because the Democrats will be who you make them - look how much the GOP changed over the past decade!

Right now the party feels immovable but the moment it has a presidential nominee, it will be whatever that person is.
November 28, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Heavy but tidy:
November 29, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
In the 18th century he would have been Mr Beast India Company
November 28, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by James Rizzo
This is an admission that their goal is explicit ethnic cleansing of America and genocide, and it should be seen as a direct threat to millions of American lives and billions of lives worldwide.
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Reposted by James Rizzo
MY NAME IS OZYMANDIAS KING OF KINGS
November 27, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
I monitored these same sorts of white supremacists for years (to fight them), and let me tell you.

You have to CONSTANTLY, aggressively deprogram yourself.

Even just, the language. We are social creatures and we absorb the language we're around. Guess what words enter your mental vocabulary
This is the correct take. Stewing in white supremacist propaganda is bad for your thinking. And if think you are so savvy that it won’t impact you, you are the exact kind of mark they are slowly converting (I’m looking at you, centrist pundits).
It’s really funny how a generation will roll its eyes at parents who watch Fox News but doesn’t see why being immersed in Twitter is having the same effect. Lots of serious people show up on Fox News too but that shouldn’t be your primary source on the news.
November 27, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
You all MUST READ this piece by Kaitlyn Greenidge about the power of art to “exist outside of a tech lord’s algorithm.”

www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-...
The Artist Who Reminds Us that Another Way Is Possible
The late artist Abigail McGrath cultivated a creative life for herself filled with freedom, joy, and a commitment to beauty. In an age of authoritarianism and algorithms, it’s a kind of life worth pro...
www.harpersbazaar.com
November 23, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
I don't think older folks are fully prepared for the exodus of younger Americans from the country.

I have 9th graders talking about their plans to get their degrees abroad and hopefully STAY there. They're 14 and don't have confidence in any U.S. institution, including universities.
November 23, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
Donald Trump is moving too quickly to embrace Zohran Mamdani.

by Chuck Schumer
November 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
the last 24 hours on X, summed up:
November 23, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Mizpah Hotel, Tonopah, Nevada
November 23, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Reposted by James Rizzo
In normal democracy terms, we've in bad shape and things are getting worse.

In consolidated authoritarianism terms, we're doing pretty well, as the regime is haphazard, meeting resistance, and growing increasingly unpopular.

Depends on one's perspective. I started using the latter standard in Jan.
It is good to see the pushback on Trump lead to real losses for him. But it's hard to be optimistic when he still wields the enormous power of the presidency. ICE is still rampaging, HHS is harming people, the U.S. may be about to sell out Ukraine, the boat strikes...he's still doing so much damage.
November 22, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
We want to speak directly to members of the Military and the Intelligence Community.

The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution.

Don’t give up the ship.
November 18, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
“The review found that Harvard in 2005 admitted Mr. Epstein as a visiting fellow in the psychology department and readmitted him the following year. And the review concluded “it is likely” that Mr. Epstein visited Harvard more than 40 times after his release from jail, between 2010 and 2018.”

BRO.
Harvard Will Open a New Inquiry Into Faculty Ties to Epstein
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
I don’t want to seem out of touch but I don’t actually understand the economy anymore.
November 18, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Reposted by James Rizzo
we engineered grass to want to be eaten so well that rye voluntarily signed up for the deal!
November 17, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Reposted by James Rizzo
chat wtf
November 18, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Reposted by James Rizzo
In this household we are still using Windows 95 for computer AND entertainment
November 18, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Reposted by James Rizzo
I’m not sure I see the logic in continuing to teach but stepping back from, like, making public appearances? The issue is with behavior while teaching. Why would it do anything to, like, step off the lecture circuit or whatever? That’s emphatically not the problem.
November 18, 2025 at 1:17 AM