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John Carl Baker

@johncarlbaker.bsky.social

2K followers 540 following 2.8K posts

nuclear weapons, foreign policy, Korea, the left - occasional antiquity and cocktail posts Words: Nation, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, NK News, US Institute of Peace, Jacobin, New Republic, elsewhere seniores tollunt omnia

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · Jan 29

Sen. Charles Sumner attacking the whole notion of white supremacy in 1866

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 14m

I went to Paisley Park recently (which was—no joke—incredible) so I’ve been revisiting Prince. I had *completely* forgotten this song but knew it as a wee Florida yokel. Great track. open.spotify.com/track/1ESmMK...

open.spotify.com

Reposted by John Carl Baker

Lynn Stahl @msbtterswrth.altgov.info · 1d

Hot off the presses! If you need a bigger size to print your stickers let me know!

The Portland frog as a founding father, surround by the words "give me ribberty or give me death"

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 5h

there have been pro-Spanberger people outside the Vienna metro station for *months* now - have never seen someone from the GOP

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 5h

“An abstract law of population exists only for plants and animals, albeit only if human beings refrain from historical interventions into their lives.”

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 6h

“the nature of capitalist accumulation precludes all decreases in the exploitation of labor and increases in labor’s price large enough to seriously jeopardize the constant reproduction of the capital relation and its reproduction on an ever-larger scale”

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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 8h

Sens. Schumer, Merkley, Murray, and Peters are calling for the resignation of OMB Director Russell Vought.

"By impounding billions of dollars … and aggressively pursuing the illegal use of pocket rescissions, Vought has done everything in his power to gut the federal government piece by piece."

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 7h

Sure, that’s fair - definitely better than a lot of what we’ve seen!

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 7h

American Justinian

Reposted by John Carl Baker

Sexy CHOAM Nomsky costume @samthielman.com · 8h

I hate profiles of conservatives who are worried that their country is changing and would welcome profiles of liberals and leftists who are afraid of same thing from the opposite direction and treated their concerns the same kind of reflexive deference

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 8h

For all their complaints about “decadence,” our ruling class embodies it!

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 9h

This is very good - although I feel like I have recived a forcible education in Girard over the past few years www.wired.com/story/the-re...

The Real Stakes, and Real Story, of Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession

Thirty years ago, a peace-loving Austrian theologian spoke to Peter Thiel about the apocalyptic theories of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt. They’ve been a road map for the billionaire ever since.

www.wired.com

Reposted by John Carl Baker

Ben Lockwood, PhD @benlockwood.bsky.social · 10h

Worth pointing out that, historically, fascism is often heavily intertwined with mysticism and the occult

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 26d

Peter Thiel’s antichrist nonsense, Ben Shapiro’s new book, and the whole output of Curtis Yarvin show that the right wants to produce irrationality and mysticism and have other people take it seriously as philosophy, which it most certainly is not.

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Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 1d

Picked this up at a childrens book fair, should I mail it to the HHS secretary

LET'S-READ-AND-FIND - OUT SCIENCE®
GERMS
READING
RAINBOW
Воок
MAKE ME SICK!
BY MELVIN BERGER • ILLUSTRATED BY MARYLIN HAFNER

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 1d

a lot of it is this bsky.app/profile/john...

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · Jul 30

Doesn’t explain everything but much of capital is far more interested in near-term disciplining of labor than long-term profitability. Trump admin gives them the former, which stifles a lot of potential complaints.

Reconstructionist @unavaleable.bsky.social · Jul 30

one thing i genuinely cannot understand is why Pharma didn't go thermo-fucking-nuclear on RFK et al

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 1d

Very useful!

Reposted by John Carl Baker

Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 1d

Point is it's not some once in a lifetime unicorn thing, although he's very talented, it just makes you realize how few democrats ever do this. They don't tell us what they believe they wait to hear what the polls tell them 50.1% of us believe and go from there.

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Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 1d

I think Zohran is great and inspiring and much needed right now, but all he's doing is like the job as it's supposed to be. Starts with a set of principles and advocates for them. It's like how everyone goes crazy for Chotiner for just doing the job. Not an indictment on either of them but the rest.

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Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · 1d

PORTLAND, Ore. — A small group of federal agents in camouflage and face masks watched from atop the immigration processing center Thursday night as a unicorn, peacock, dinosaur and raccoon danced to Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time.” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Costumed protesters in Portland defy description of the city as a 'war zone'

Dancing frogs, peacocks and unicorns outside the federal immigration building present a joyful contrast to the Trump administration's portrait of the Oregon city, they say.

www.nbcnews.com

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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 1d

I’d like to think Sam the Eagle would be a Bulwark guy

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 1d

The funny thing about the concept of “virtue signaling” is that it doesn’t actually deny that certain things are virtuous.

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 1d

Even in constitutional times the executive branch has a ton of leeway on foreign policy - but I am deeply uncomfortable with the way that fact is now shading into “let’s get the dictator to use his cult of personality and autocratic power for stuff our policy community thinks is Good”

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 1d

That’s what he’s promising the rest of us too! Trump II is such a bizarre mix of reactionary futurism and self-imposed decline. Two sides of the same coin, I suppose.

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely. And while it shouldn’t be the opposition’s only focus - the more we can stoke elite division, the better.

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, we have major disagreements - but there is also a set of shared commitments that can form the basis for a broad coalition, which is almost certainly what we need right now.

John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 1d

Like a lot of us on the left and center-left, I was pretty cynical about the courts and—to be honest—anti-Trump conservatism. But we can now plainly see that it wasn’t all hype and there are even times when conservatives are better on this stuff than many liberals.

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