R. Eric VanNewkirk
@sotsogm.bsky.social
Nerd. Neurotic. Retired public defender. I'm sure these three things have nary a thing to do with one another.
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
![i don't do well in situations
[pic of an opossum riding a goose]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4djfp3b27soxcfkxhirydi6d/bafkreihtjsmncazmr256sw5amylw7mg563o6ykfv4fx4lrctwl7w32xoly@jpeg)
But I've seen The Lion In Winter! He sounded just like Sir Anthony Hopkins and went to England to celebrate Christmas with his parents, siblings, and ex-boyfriend (the King of France).
Fun historical fact: Richard the Lionheart was French and Gay.
No joke here, actually, he literally was. He didn't even speak English and only went to England like once, because he was too busy in France having gay sex with French kings.
No joke here, actually, he literally was. He didn't even speak English and only went to England like once, because he was too busy in France having gay sex with French kings.
November 29, 2025 at 11:28 PM
But I've seen The Lion In Winter! He sounded just like Sir Anthony Hopkins and went to England to celebrate Christmas with his parents, siblings, and ex-boyfriend (the King of France).
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One of the greatest to ever do it.
Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88
A theatrical sensation since the 1960s, whose dramas included Arcadia, The Real Thing and Leopoldstadt, Stoppard also had huge success as a screenwriter
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
One of the greatest to ever do it.
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the hardest part of writing politically charged fiction is that a good villain needs to be complex, cool and about as right as the protagonist; while evil people in real life are lame, cruel, childish morons motivated by greed or not wanting to look at minorities
November 29, 2025 at 8:04 AM
the hardest part of writing politically charged fiction is that a good villain needs to be complex, cool and about as right as the protagonist; while evil people in real life are lame, cruel, childish morons motivated by greed or not wanting to look at minorities
No one will be employed but there will still be consumers for their goods and services.
These are not intelligent, serious people, nevermind moral.
These are not intelligent, serious people, nevermind moral.
The markets are staying afloat right now on the hope that AI will destroy American workers. What a bleak thing.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/b...
November 29, 2025 at 4:12 PM
No one will be employed but there will still be consumers for their goods and services.
These are not intelligent, serious people, nevermind moral.
These are not intelligent, serious people, nevermind moral.
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Imagine overdosing on your farts and posting this without realizing that your own words make you a pimp at best, if not a slaver.
November 29, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Imagine overdosing on your farts and posting this without realizing that your own words make you a pimp at best, if not a slaver.
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat
November 29, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat
Amen.
So there’s no separating out the “Stupid” from the “Evil” really—both flow from Hubris, as we should have learned long ago in high school literature class.
November 29, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Amen.
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But ultimately the incompetence of tyrants comes from a position of arrogant cynicism, as Tolkien and Umberto Eco and Hannah Arendt all explained generations ago: they can’t imagine anyone being truly different from themselves, so they assume everyone secretly agrees with them under the fine words…
November 29, 2025 at 2:24 PM
But ultimately the incompetence of tyrants comes from a position of arrogant cynicism, as Tolkien and Umberto Eco and Hannah Arendt all explained generations ago: they can’t imagine anyone being truly different from themselves, so they assume everyone secretly agrees with them under the fine words…
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Feels weird to be the last generation who had a living relative (well into my adulthood) who survived polio and fought in WWII.
Feels bad knowing those lessons were won in blood but won’t endure.
Feels bad knowing those lessons were won in blood but won’t endure.
November 29, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Feels weird to be the last generation who had a living relative (well into my adulthood) who survived polio and fought in WWII.
Feels bad knowing those lessons were won in blood but won’t endure.
Feels bad knowing those lessons were won in blood but won’t endure.
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
There’s no such thing as national interests under Trump. He rejects the concept.
Time to ask: In whose interests is American foreign policy being conducted?
"By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies"
Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
November 29, 2025 at 1:52 PM
There’s no such thing as national interests under Trump. He rejects the concept.
Donald Trump clearly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize because if they'll give it to some random Black guy, obviously the most successful deal-maker in the history of all the deals ever dealt gets it practically by default, right?
Remember a few weeks ago when dude was all butthurt that he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize.
More saber rattling.
There are good reasons that the U.S. Constitution does not leave the decision on whether to go to war to the whims of one man.
There are good reasons that the U.S. Constitution does not leave the decision on whether to go to war to the whims of one man.
November 29, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Donald Trump clearly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize because if they'll give it to some random Black guy, obviously the most successful deal-maker in the history of all the deals ever dealt gets it practically by default, right?
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Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Bohacek, who has a daughter with Down syndrome, says he’ll vote No on redistricting following Trump’s “retarded” slur at Gov. Walz.
November 28, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Bohacek, who has a daughter with Down syndrome, says he’ll vote No on redistricting following Trump’s “retarded” slur at Gov. Walz.
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
November 25, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
JUST IN: Judge Boasberg gives Trump admin one week to file affidavits from all officials involved in decision to carry out Alien Enemies Act deportation to El Salvador despite Boasberg's order to turn the planes around. 'Contempt prosecution' could follow www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
Boasberg112825.PDF
www.documentcloud.org
November 28, 2025 at 9:42 PM
JUST IN: Judge Boasberg gives Trump admin one week to file affidavits from all officials involved in decision to carry out Alien Enemies Act deportation to El Salvador despite Boasberg's order to turn the planes around. 'Contempt prosecution' could follow www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
Perhaps the most important American idea.
Racism, sexism, and xenophobia are not just discriminatory, they are stupid. They deprive the holder of the benefits of all those other people with their myriad of experiences, knowledges, and truths. They are bad for the victims and the perpetrators.
Racism, sexism, and xenophobia are not just discriminatory, they are stupid. They deprive the holder of the benefits of all those other people with their myriad of experiences, knowledges, and truths. They are bad for the victims and the perpetrators.
November 28, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Perhaps the most important American idea.
Racism, sexism, and xenophobia are not just discriminatory, they are stupid. They deprive the holder of the benefits of all those other people with their myriad of experiences, knowledges, and truths. They are bad for the victims and the perpetrators.
Racism, sexism, and xenophobia are not just discriminatory, they are stupid. They deprive the holder of the benefits of all those other people with their myriad of experiences, knowledges, and truths. They are bad for the victims and the perpetrators.
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
From Frederick Douglass's 1867 "Composite Nation" speech, a defense of Chinese migration to the United States at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment was intensifying.
teachingamericanhistory.org/document/our...
teachingamericanhistory.org/document/our...
November 28, 2025 at 7:01 PM
From Frederick Douglass's 1867 "Composite Nation" speech, a defense of Chinese migration to the United States at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment was intensifying.
teachingamericanhistory.org/document/our...
teachingamericanhistory.org/document/our...
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
Black Friday reminder: You can support independent bookstores and get great deals without lining the pockets of billionaires 😌
November 28, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Black Friday reminder: You can support independent bookstores and get great deals without lining the pockets of billionaires 😌
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
How Republicans commemorated Thanksgiving in 1869--with a multi-racial/multi-ethnic gathering of people at a table with a centerpiece celebrating universal suffrage and self-government, and with an engraving of Castle Garden, the pre-Ellis Island point of disembarkation for immigrants.
November 27, 2025 at 6:01 PM
How Republicans commemorated Thanksgiving in 1869--with a multi-racial/multi-ethnic gathering of people at a table with a centerpiece celebrating universal suffrage and self-government, and with an engraving of Castle Garden, the pre-Ellis Island point of disembarkation for immigrants.
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
The reality, of course, is that Miller and a significant portion of Trump’s base are the ones who failed to assimilate to America’s post-WWII culture of multi-racial democracy & religious pluralism…and they are now using their power to destroy that once dominant (and still popular) American culture.
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 1:23 PM
The reality, of course, is that Miller and a significant portion of Trump’s base are the ones who failed to assimilate to America’s post-WWII culture of multi-racial democracy & religious pluralism…and they are now using their power to destroy that once dominant (and still popular) American culture.
I continue to *like* the idea that the United States imports not just individuals but societies, incorporating them into our great casserole, constantly reinventing a country in which one People is created from many.
November 28, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I continue to *like* the idea that the United States imports not just individuals but societies, incorporating them into our great casserole, constantly reinventing a country in which one People is created from many.
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
Woke up to my tweet trolling Senator Mike Lee going viral.
November 28, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Woke up to my tweet trolling Senator Mike Lee going viral.
Having read a lot of police reports in my time, I would like to commend the immigration agent who used ChatGPT to write an arrest report for making more effort than the average cop does, although it appears ChatGPT generated the same report officers usually turn in anyway.
--The judge also revealed for the first time that one body-worn camera video captured an immigration agent using the AI tool ChatGPT to “compile a narrative for a report based on a brief sentence about an encounter and several images.”--
Bodycam footage from Operation Midway Blitz released: ‘It’s all about arresting people’ (gift link) www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/28/b...
November 28, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Having read a lot of police reports in my time, I would like to commend the immigration agent who used ChatGPT to write an arrest report for making more effort than the average cop does, although it appears ChatGPT generated the same report officers usually turn in anyway.
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
Saw a long hot water bottle round my friends’ house and it looked like a scene from Jim Henson’s Dune…
November 27, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Saw a long hot water bottle round my friends’ house and it looked like a scene from Jim Henson’s Dune…
Reposted by R. Eric VanNewkirk
Happy Chompsgiving!
November 27, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Happy Chompsgiving!