John Ma 🇺🇦
@nakhthor.bsky.social
Chinese-American anc historian, Columbia. Antiochos III & the Cities of W Asia Minor (1999), Statues & Cities (2013), Aršāma and his World (2020, co-ed), Polis: A New History (2024). Guggenheim Fellow.
Pinned
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
Hey I wrote this and got a lot of hate mail so maybe you can share it
Hitler was bad.
An essay that, you know, I didn’t think I’d need to write.
An essay that, you know, I didn’t think I’d need to write.
Perry: The pro-Hitler problem with the American right
"We need to get back to the basics: Hitler was bad. The people who suggest otherwise are also bad," David M. Perry writes.
www.startribune.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Hey I wrote this and got a lot of hate mail so maybe you can share it
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
I really appreciate that @pbsnews.org ended the interview with this graphic.
It captures, in the simplest and starkest terms, the brutal arithmetic driving this country's homelessness catastrophe.
It captures, in the simplest and starkest terms, the brutal arithmetic driving this country's homelessness catastrophe.
November 30, 2025 at 1:33 AM
I really appreciate that @pbsnews.org ended the interview with this graphic.
It captures, in the simplest and starkest terms, the brutal arithmetic driving this country's homelessness catastrophe.
It captures, in the simplest and starkest terms, the brutal arithmetic driving this country's homelessness catastrophe.
Wtf USA
The White House web site now includes a "media bias" tracker with a leaderboard and an offender hall of shame. www.whitehouse.gov/mediabias/
November 30, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Wtf USA
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
Today in life under competitive authoritarianism
It doesn’t get anymore textbook than this:
It doesn’t get anymore textbook than this:
November 30, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Today in life under competitive authoritarianism
It doesn’t get anymore textbook than this:
It doesn’t get anymore textbook than this:
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
The NLRB Is Suing to Keep States From Protecting Workers’ Rights talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/the-nlr...
The NLRB Is Suing to Keep States From Protecting Workers’ Rights
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 29, 2025 at 2:59 AM
The NLRB Is Suing to Keep States From Protecting Workers’ Rights talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/the-nlr...
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
The diehards are starting to decide after much prayerful consideration with their beautiful brides that being in the minority next year sounds like a shit sandwich.
November 29, 2025 at 6:33 PM
The diehards are starting to decide after much prayerful consideration with their beautiful brides that being in the minority next year sounds like a shit sandwich.
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
It’s very true. Both as a general principle and what we’re seeing now. I don’t think we need to fear jinxing it. The nature of the presidential system gives him huge amounts of residual power for three more years. But I think what we’re seeing is real. He looks like the weak horse.
November 29, 2025 at 7:11 PM
It’s very true. Both as a general principle and what we’re seeing now. I don’t think we need to fear jinxing it. The nature of the presidential system gives him huge amounts of residual power for three more years. But I think what we’re seeing is real. He looks like the weak horse.
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
This is genuinely big news. Shldnt be but is. Republicans are challenging Trump now because he seems weak. No one wantst to back a weak horse. Trump looks like the weak horse.
November 29, 2025 at 3:00 PM
This is genuinely big news. Shldnt be but is. Republicans are challenging Trump now because he seems weak. No one wantst to back a weak horse. Trump looks like the weak horse.
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
Dimon practicing some risk management here is a big tell.
Dimon on why JPMorgan Chase is not funding WH Ballroom:
We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it.
We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it.
November 29, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Dimon practicing some risk management here is a big tell.
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
So, who is going to prosecute them? Anyone?
A group of JAG lawyers has concluded that Hegseth and Trump violated international law, arguing that their actions amount to both murder and war crimes. The two men were in no way a threat.
November 29, 2025 at 9:33 PM
So, who is going to prosecute them? Anyone?
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
Read the recent letter by the former president of UVa about how he was pushed out. It was engineered by board members who had ties to high-ranking UVa law school alums at the DoJ.
November 29, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Read the recent letter by the former president of UVa about how he was pushed out. It was engineered by board members who had ties to high-ranking UVa law school alums at the DoJ.
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
Some good old fashioned descriptive social network analysis of these boards would be good too
November 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Some good old fashioned descriptive social network analysis of these boards would be good too
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
I think that's called for, especially the ties between board members/presidents and the administration or causes they support.
November 29, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I think that's called for, especially the ties between board members/presidents and the administration or causes they support.
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
I would love to see detailed reporting about how these deals come together. This one looks like an inside job even more than Columbia’s.
I’ll look at it in more depth later but Northwestern’s agreement seems more campus-specific than previous deals and imposes restrictions on campus conduct beyond what others ave agreed to. Northwestern seems to have surrendered autonomy to a shocking extent. www.northwestern.edu/president/do...
www.northwestern.edu
November 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I would love to see detailed reporting about how these deals come together. This one looks like an inside job even more than Columbia’s.
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
a lot of words, none of them denying that Hegseth gave an order to kill helpless people who were stranded at sea after he blew up their boats
November 29, 2025 at 12:47 AM
a lot of words, none of them denying that Hegseth gave an order to kill helpless people who were stranded at sea after he blew up their boats
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Bookselling is like the most "people go to the store and buy what looks cool to them without a particular agenda" type business left, and your purchases have a huge influence on what is ordered, what is displayed, and what is recommended.
November 29, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
i don't generally think it's nice to make fun of people's food but when the person in question is a hatemongering fascist i can make an exception
Karoline Leavitt's Thanksgiving spread. Please dissect.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
November 29, 2025 at 9:17 PM
i don't generally think it's nice to make fun of people's food but when the person in question is a hatemongering fascist i can make an exception
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
also why is the turkey platter white only
November 29, 2025 at 9:26 PM
also why is the turkey platter white only
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
if elon musk had a butler he wouldn't be spending all day online posting about trying to get grok to make a girlfriend for him, he'd be laying on the ground with jarvis spooning him, cradling his head gently
November 29, 2025 at 6:54 AM
if elon musk had a butler he wouldn't be spending all day online posting about trying to get grok to make a girlfriend for him, he'd be laying on the ground with jarvis spooning him, cradling his head gently
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
Ever since the government shutdown, it’s finally begun to sink in on people that Trump and his entire administration are a bunch of raging ideologues or incompetents or both, peddling a fantasy version of their strength that people no longer buy.
trib.al/OGQOIk5
trib.al/OGQOIk5
There’s No Doubt About It: The Great MAGA Crack-Up Has Begun
Every single prominent member of the Trump administration has had a very, very bad week.
trib.al
November 29, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Ever since the government shutdown, it’s finally begun to sink in on people that Trump and his entire administration are a bunch of raging ideologues or incompetents or both, peddling a fantasy version of their strength that people no longer buy.
trib.al/OGQOIk5
trib.al/OGQOIk5
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
When you're crushing people's rights, but you want it to sound pretty:
The word "remigration" is xenophobic and christofascist AF. It's a racist expression of ethnic cleansing and hate. Do not let it become normalized.
November 29, 2025 at 9:38 PM
When you're crushing people's rights, but you want it to sound pretty:
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
a few candidates have talked about this but any Dem planning to run in 2028 should make it explicit: the next DOJ will, in fact, go after you if you’re funding this awful ballroom, or any other pay to play deals you make with this administration
Dimon on why JPMorgan Chase is not funding WH Ballroom:
We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it.
We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it.
November 29, 2025 at 7:32 PM
a few candidates have talked about this but any Dem planning to run in 2028 should make it explicit: the next DOJ will, in fact, go after you if you’re funding this awful ballroom, or any other pay to play deals you make with this administration
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
Demolishing the East Wing of the White House before finalizing plans for what will be built above its ruins is a near-perfect metaphor for Trump's approach to economic policy. The only difference is the wrecking crew doesn’t claim the rubble is evidence of unprecedented growth.
November 29, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Demolishing the East Wing of the White House before finalizing plans for what will be built above its ruins is a near-perfect metaphor for Trump's approach to economic policy. The only difference is the wrecking crew doesn’t claim the rubble is evidence of unprecedented growth.
Reposted by John Ma 🇺🇦
I think GOP probably wins TN-07, but even a near miss would probably scare the shit out of them (laudatory)
November 29, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I think GOP probably wins TN-07, but even a near miss would probably scare the shit out of them (laudatory)
Reading Primo Levi, and noticing that university professors in fascist Italy had to wear the Black Shirt as a sign of loyalty to the regime
November 29, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reading Primo Levi, and noticing that university professors in fascist Italy had to wear the Black Shirt as a sign of loyalty to the regime