Curious Jon
@jmbroad.bsky.social
Librarian, technologist, Special Circumstances Branch. Amateur collector of difficult truths. “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.” @[email protected] as well.
Reposted by Curious Jon
"Don't worry, it'll fail in the senate." Ancient cis proverb
December 18, 2025 at 1:17 AM
"Don't worry, it'll fail in the senate." Ancient cis proverb
Reposted by Curious Jon
occurs to me that we might be getting the "there's a problem of lonely males with no friends or romantic partners" and "there's a lucrative industry of toxic male influencers who tell young men to act like assholes" causation arrow backwards
December 17, 2025 at 11:53 PM
occurs to me that we might be getting the "there's a problem of lonely males with no friends or romantic partners" and "there's a lucrative industry of toxic male influencers who tell young men to act like assholes" causation arrow backwards
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.”
This kind of statement would once be made inside the most rarified councils of state, some ultralimited Special Group, wherein POTUS & his most trusted advisors would commit to never putting anything in writing yet some handwritten archival scrap excavated 50 years later would reveal the truth.
Trump on Venezuela: "Getting land, oil rights, whatever we had -- they took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn't watching. But they're not gonna do that. We want it back. They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. They threw our companies out. And we want it back."
December 17, 2025 at 10:17 PM
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.”
Reposted by Curious Jon
I keep saying this but no one is connecting the dots. The war is to satisfy legal preconditions for mass removal *domestically* of Latinos (i.e., suddenly a lot of people are going to be “Venezuelan” for purposes of removal). This is 100% Stephen Miller…oil claim is to make grandpa go along
There is no national security logic that would impel the US to want to do regime change in Venezuela. It's simply not that important. I'm not even sure wag the dog is the right metaphor for what's happening here. Seems like an insane misallocation of US national security assets and attention.
Trump: "Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled ... It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the USA all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us."
December 17, 2025 at 12:47 AM
I keep saying this but no one is connecting the dots. The war is to satisfy legal preconditions for mass removal *domestically* of Latinos (i.e., suddenly a lot of people are going to be “Venezuelan” for purposes of removal). This is 100% Stephen Miller…oil claim is to make grandpa go along
Reposted by Curious Jon
Reposted by Curious Jon
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
December 15, 2025 at 8:18 PM
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
Reposted by Curious Jon
Reposted by Curious Jon
Vandals decapitated and smashed the statue of Mary in an Evanston church’s outdoor Nativity scene Friday, and the church responded by replacing it with a sign saying Mary was beaten & dragged away in front of her son and is being held in immigration detention.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/n...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/n...
Nativity smashed, Mary figure ‘beaten’ at Evanston church: ‘God’s on the side of the vulnerable’
Vandals destroyed Lake Street Church of Evanston’s Nativity. It replaced Mary with a sign saying she’s in immigration detention.
www.chicagotribune.com
December 15, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Vandals decapitated and smashed the statue of Mary in an Evanston church’s outdoor Nativity scene Friday, and the church responded by replacing it with a sign saying Mary was beaten & dragged away in front of her son and is being held in immigration detention.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/n...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/n...
Reposted by Curious Jon
I think where Trump differs from Congressional Republicans on the filibuster is, they see it as something they will want to use in the future, whereas he's thinking of killing it as a step toward permanent rule. Kill it, pass laws that make it impossible for Dems to win again, bada bing.
Trump: "We should knock out the filibuster. If you did that, we'd get voter ID, you'd have no mail in voting, all things that make our elections dishonest."
December 16, 2025 at 12:03 AM
I think where Trump differs from Congressional Republicans on the filibuster is, they see it as something they will want to use in the future, whereas he's thinking of killing it as a step toward permanent rule. Kill it, pass laws that make it impossible for Dems to win again, bada bing.
Reposted by Curious Jon
Important post: my colleague documents an “official, nationwide policy of intimidating and threatening people who attempt to observe and record DHS operations,” or who peacefully and without interference follow and protest them, even though the First Amendment broadly protects doing those things. /1
On Dec. 4, DOJ labeled people who impede or "dox" ICE agents "domestic terrorists." I document how DHS believes following, recording, and protesting agents is "impeding," and has a policy of threatening & arresting ICE observers. That's unconstitutional. www.cato.org/blog/dhs-pol...
December 15, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Important post: my colleague documents an “official, nationwide policy of intimidating and threatening people who attempt to observe and record DHS operations,” or who peacefully and without interference follow and protest them, even though the First Amendment broadly protects doing those things. /1
Reposted by Curious Jon
Sick, immature worker ants produce a signal that triggers their nestmates to destroy them, according to a study of a single ant species in Nature Communications. This act is thought to benefit the colony as a whole by preventing the spread of infection. go.nature.com/3Ks2Kqe 🧪
December 15, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Sick, immature worker ants produce a signal that triggers their nestmates to destroy them, according to a study of a single ant species in Nature Communications. This act is thought to benefit the colony as a whole by preventing the spread of infection. go.nature.com/3Ks2Kqe 🧪
Reposted by Curious Jon
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Federal agents use chemical irritant on crowd in Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis amid Trump crackdown
Federal agents have used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. This happened Tuesday during a identification checks amid the Trump administration's cra...
www.mprnews.org
December 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Reposted by Curious Jon
I hate how much I enjoyed this
BIG NERD DESIGN ENERGY 🫦
BIG NERD DESIGN ENERGY 🫦
December 13, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I hate how much I enjoyed this
BIG NERD DESIGN ENERGY 🫦
BIG NERD DESIGN ENERGY 🫦
Reposted by Curious Jon
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
December 13, 2025 at 2:16 PM
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
Reposted by Curious Jon
Oh wow, absolute power corrupted you absolutely? That’s so weird, I got absolute power last year and my subjects say I’ve only gotten wiser and more virtuous
December 13, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Oh wow, absolute power corrupted you absolutely? That’s so weird, I got absolute power last year and my subjects say I’ve only gotten wiser and more virtuous
Reposted by Curious Jon
Impeachment is no "sacred constitutional vehicle". It's a tool to remove bad actors during a brawl. The head counts in the chambers matter; the rest is theatrics.
This bogroll from House leaders smacks of a priestly caste trying to control through incantation, not to roll in the dirt and fight.
This bogroll from House leaders smacks of a priestly caste trying to control through incantation, not to roll in the dirt and fight.
December 11, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Impeachment is no "sacred constitutional vehicle". It's a tool to remove bad actors during a brawl. The head counts in the chambers matter; the rest is theatrics.
This bogroll from House leaders smacks of a priestly caste trying to control through incantation, not to roll in the dirt and fight.
This bogroll from House leaders smacks of a priestly caste trying to control through incantation, not to roll in the dirt and fight.
Reposted by Curious Jon
There's a Hill bubble narrative, posing as savvy realism, in treating impeachment as some radioactive poison and so Democrats must squash any talk of it. But there's zero evidence for that. No polls back it up, nor recent history. It's all just pundit-brained conventional wisdom eating its own tail.
December 11, 2025 at 4:21 AM
There's a Hill bubble narrative, posing as savvy realism, in treating impeachment as some radioactive poison and so Democrats must squash any talk of it. But there's zero evidence for that. No polls back it up, nor recent history. It's all just pundit-brained conventional wisdom eating its own tail.
Reposted by Curious Jon
This is exactly the problem. You can't go on... accurately!... about how he's a lawless wannabe dictator who wants to destroy democracy and is leading a floridly corrupt kleptocracy, but then squirm and dodge when asked if he should be removed from office any time sooner than 2029.
It’s a necessity in order to actually describe many of the worst things that the administration is doing because the logical or only remedy for so many of them is impeachment. Probably part of why so many members of Congress have trouble speaking authentically about current political realities
December 11, 2025 at 4:47 AM
This is exactly the problem. You can't go on... accurately!... about how he's a lawless wannabe dictator who wants to destroy democracy and is leading a floridly corrupt kleptocracy, but then squirm and dodge when asked if he should be removed from office any time sooner than 2029.
Reposted by Curious Jon
I'm not sure why, but my LARB essay on reactionary futurism is trending again.
Reactionary Futurism 2025 | Los Angeles Review of Books
Jordan S. Carroll reviews recent scholarship on the alt-right.
lareviewofbooks.org
December 11, 2025 at 1:00 AM
I'm not sure why, but my LARB essay on reactionary futurism is trending again.
Reposted by Curious Jon
I mean, it’s a very fathomable way of doing business; many countries have worked and still do work this way. It’s just that none of them are places you’d want to live.
“.. Much of the analysis from Wall Street .. comes down to ‘Who does Trump like best? It’s an almost unfathomable way of doing business.’”
@theatlantic.com $WBD
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
@theatlantic.com $WBD
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
December 11, 2025 at 12:22 AM
I mean, it’s a very fathomable way of doing business; many countries have worked and still do work this way. It’s just that none of them are places you’d want to live.
Reposted by Curious Jon
An incredible admission at how top down the right is and how the oligarchs propagandists view their followers as lemmings to manipulate through social media rage bait. Now they're upset that they have lost control of the manipulation machine.
December 11, 2025 at 1:22 AM
An incredible admission at how top down the right is and how the oligarchs propagandists view their followers as lemmings to manipulate through social media rage bait. Now they're upset that they have lost control of the manipulation machine.
Reposted by Curious Jon
WOW. So this is obviously a huge violation of this man's rights, and it illustrates a few things we're seeing broadly:
- DHS officers are ignoring peoples' IDs and instead requiring screening through their own systems
- Confirms @404media.co's reports of use of DHS's facial recognition app.
- DHS officers are ignoring peoples' IDs and instead requiring screening through their own systems
- Confirms @404media.co's reports of use of DHS's facial recognition app.
December 11, 2025 at 12:35 AM
WOW. So this is obviously a huge violation of this man's rights, and it illustrates a few things we're seeing broadly:
- DHS officers are ignoring peoples' IDs and instead requiring screening through their own systems
- Confirms @404media.co's reports of use of DHS's facial recognition app.
- DHS officers are ignoring peoples' IDs and instead requiring screening through their own systems
- Confirms @404media.co's reports of use of DHS's facial recognition app.
Reposted by Curious Jon
Ultimately, the struggle over disinformation is a struggle over power, legitimacy, and narrative control. It goes far beyond fact-checking or content moderation.
"The war on disinformation is a losing battle. How the systems that fight misinformation and disinformation became misconstrued and dismantled." www.theverge.com/features/839...
The disinformation wars are here
How Joe Biden’s administration caved to the right in the battle for truth.
www.theverge.com
December 10, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Ultimately, the struggle over disinformation is a struggle over power, legitimacy, and narrative control. It goes far beyond fact-checking or content moderation.
Reposted by Curious Jon
🎯
"The entire project of the US right wing, is re-establishing the permissions structures [for] the persecution and dehumanization of hundreds of millions of people, specifically so that violence, whether vigilante, interpersonal or state violence, can be used to discipline... everyone it sees fit."
"The entire project of the US right wing, is re-establishing the permissions structures [for] the persecution and dehumanization of hundreds of millions of people, specifically so that violence, whether vigilante, interpersonal or state violence, can be used to discipline... everyone it sees fit."
I struggle with the conversations about “political violence,” because so many of them are based in not recognizing it’s a daily reality, not an anathema or some kind of rare occurrence. Any attempt to “deal with it,” that ignores this is doomed. Free to all.
www.patreon.com/posts/138768...
www.patreon.com/posts/138768...
The First Step is Admitting The Problem | Alex Pagliuca
Get more from Alex Pagliuca on Patreon
www.patreon.com
December 10, 2025 at 11:11 PM
🎯
"The entire project of the US right wing, is re-establishing the permissions structures [for] the persecution and dehumanization of hundreds of millions of people, specifically so that violence, whether vigilante, interpersonal or state violence, can be used to discipline... everyone it sees fit."
"The entire project of the US right wing, is re-establishing the permissions structures [for] the persecution and dehumanization of hundreds of millions of people, specifically so that violence, whether vigilante, interpersonal or state violence, can be used to discipline... everyone it sees fit."
Reposted by Curious Jon
'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
December 10, 2025 at 8:31 AM
'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez