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olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
130K followers 16K following 15K posts
DC. political philosopher at Georgetown. rhythm guitarist + vox for @femiandfoundation.bsky.social. Spurs fan #COYS
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olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
figured others here would enjoy this
screenshot of a post by comedian Dina Hashem. classic two panel left right meme format of the woman who is disgusted on the left but intrigued on the right. the caption on the left: "My relationship with Allah". on the right: "my relationship with Allah after Cheney dies and Zohran becomes mayor on the same day." a hijab has been added to the image on the right. Above the meme, her post notes she is performing in Wilmington, NC, "Tix in bio Alhumdulillah"
November 9, 2025 at 5:39 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
look, we have to stop demanding purity tests in times like these. our era will demand left unity and political discipline...
the next tweet in the above thread, which reads: "coming to terms with the fact this will be a season where my only pleasure will likely be Spurs' inevitable collapse"
November 8, 2025 at 7:38 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
here we are indeed.

(additional context for fans of other sports: Arsenal is currently at the top of the Premier League)
tweet from Zohran Mamdani on 11/22/2020 saying "never thought I'd be more hopeful about socialism than arsenal and yet here we are ."
November 8, 2025 at 7:33 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
sad man grasps sand and strikes despairing R&B poses
November 8, 2025 at 2:27 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win
screenshot from Politico article linked below: "“If you don’t terminate the filibuster, you’ll be in bad shape,” he told them over breakfast in the State Dining Room. It was classic Trump dominance theater, like many other occasions this year where he successfully muscled recalcitrant Republicans to confirm controversial nominees, support divisive policies and enact sweeping domestic policy legislation. But upon returning to the Capitol, the senators made it very clear: They planned to blow Trump off. One GOP senator, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, laughed out loud when asked about the anti-filibuster push. Welcome to the dawn of Trump’s lame duck era."
November 6, 2025 at 8:25 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
Goose chase meme with the 'Im in the 'Hitler sucks' wing of the Republican party" screenshot added to the top left corner. on the right the goose says " what's the other wing?" in the first panel. then in the second, it says again to a fleeing (silent) character: " what's the other wing, Lindsey?"
November 6, 2025 at 1:17 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/dere...
small to large domino effect meme where the tiny domino is labeled "The FBI introducing Mahmood Mamdani to Marx" and the large domino is labeled "every hot dog cart in NYC being replaced with goat meat"
November 5, 2025 at 7:45 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
Britta from Community in the famous "I can excuse racism but I draw the line at ____" reaction meme
November 5, 2025 at 6:14 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
"Others will take time in catching up to that." whew
"There’s no question in my mind that I’m Indian. And there’s no question in my mind that I’m a New Yorker. And I’m all of these things, yet in each of these places I’ve been made to feel that it’s not actually my home to call– in Uganda, I’m told this guy is actually Indian, in India, I’m told this guy is actually Muslim, and in New York I’m everything but a New Yorker. But I’m realizing that it’s not a determination I should be outsourcing to others. It’s something that if I know and feel, then I need to become comfortable in asserting. Others will take time in catching up to that. It also helps to understand that if you’re part of any diaspora you have to live in multiple worlds at once, and have multiple sets of cultural references and histories–so that if you were to describe yourself in one singular term, it doesn’t really capture the different ways in which you think about the world."
November 5, 2025 at 3:01 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
three panel Lord of the Rings "cast it into the fire" meme with the ring labeled "vocoder", the character begging to cast it into the fire labeled "the audience at Herbie's show" and the final "no" panel labeled "Herbie in minute 40 of his robot lecture"
November 3, 2025 at 1:09 AM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
have to hand it to the federal government of Nigeria for S-tier trolling if nothing else
text from PBS article linked below: While Christians are among those targeted, analysts say the majority of victims of armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria's Muslim-majority north, where most attacks occur. Kimiebi Ebienfa, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated the commitment of Nigeria to protect citizens of all religions. "The Federal Government of Nigeria will continue to defend all citizens, irrespective of race, creed, or religion," Ebienfa said in a statement on Saturday. "Like America, Nigeria has no option but to celebrate the diversity that is our greatest strength."
November 2, 2025 at 10:35 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
Animaniacs character looking dejectedly at phone
October 31, 2025 at 6:38 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
from "The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy" by Ray D. Madoff
camera photo of a section of text reading: "The stakes of this difference can be seen by considering the financial takeaways of two people who are financially involved with Uber, one as a driver and one as a shareholder. If an Uber driver earns $100000 from driving for the platform for a year, the driver is subject to income taxes and payroll taxes with combined rates of 30 percent or more. If an Uber investor earns 100000 from growth in the value of the stock, the investor would be subject only to capital gains taxes, at a rate of 15 percent"
October 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
unsurprisingly I see myself in this, specifically the "dysfunctional dissident left" but can't help but notice that the characters in this play are all politically aware, plugged in. I am not this pessimistic in part because I think the politically disengaged might save the rest of us from ourselves
screenshot of text from the essay linked below, reading: "So there we have it. I stand amidst, and am myself an unremarkable and representative product of, a social order that ruthlessly filters for its absolute worst members and gives them supreme and unprecedented power; only checking them by playing them against each other. As satisfying as this can be there is no real reason to take pleasure in it; their thwarted ambitions tending to derange our ruling class into hate-fuelled maniacs. The management of the social order so governed is carried out by a class of snivelling regime functionaries whose capacity to rationalise evil would be impressive were it not so tragic. And in the main the socially conscious section of the broader population is divided between on the one hand an alliance of irrationalist-bigots, whose goals are intrinsically cruel where they are not outright insane. And on the other hand a dysfunctional dissident left who combine a complete lack of any noteworthy achievements or promise with an intensely smug self-righteous anger. In that last, at least, they are not unusual: all of these groups are noteworthy primarily for the degree to which we have found ways to rationalise and sanctify our anger and hatred, which I suspect shall ultimately bring this all down in cataclysm. Our society is a steep pyramid built atop the roiling sands of anger and insanity, and there will be no peaceful repose within its haunted chambers."
October 26, 2025 at 6:57 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
"Net Worth Held by the Top 0.1% (99.9th to 100th Wealth Percentiles)" Federal Reserve Economic Data
line chart with time on the x axis and millions of dollars on the y axis. the line begins at less than 4,000,000, shows a increases with a sharp uptick between 2000 and 2010, a sharper uptick between 2010 and 2020, and a huge nearly vertical (on the scale of the graph) increase after 2020. the graph stops with the line approaching 24,000,000
October 25, 2025 at 3:41 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
from "The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy" by Ray D. Madoff
a bar chart depicting a huge bar Wealth of the Top 1% "$47.80 trillion" dwarfing bars for the Federal deficit ($1.83 trillion), tax revenue ($4.92 trillion) and Government spending ($6.75 trillion)"
October 25, 2025 at 2:51 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
all I'm gonna say is that these posts are hours apart
screenshot of a Jacobin post saying "Ironic fascism is a disturbing symptom of the Trumpist right’s mounting ethnonationalism and authoritarianism." with a link to the article "Take the GOP's Nazi group chats Seriously"
October 24, 2025 at 8:45 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
agree with Jesse and just would like to add this context (from the linked article)
screenshot of text from the Politico article which reads: "Jacobs’ feuds with the left have been a recurring theme throughout his tenure. In a similar situation in 2021, he declined to endorse socialist India Walton after she won Buffalo’s Democratic mayoral primary. He compared Walton, a Black woman, to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Progressives, who were also upset with the party’s lack of involvement in a series of election referenda, forced a vote of no confidence in his leadership. He survived that vote — but, unlike with Mamdani, Hochul had declined to endorse Walton."
October 24, 2025 at 6:32 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
on the other hand
happy anime girl in West African attire with an empty glass in one hand and a bottle of Malta in the other. captioned: "Nigeria mentioned"
October 23, 2025 at 7:45 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
I'm still not sure what the right read of this affair is but in general I am reminded of my concern that state bureaucracies that actively select themselves into the green quadrant 3 here are feeding their societies into a woodchipper
a political compass running from "high honesty" to "low honesty" on the y-axis and from "low competency" to "high competency" on the x axis. quadrant 1 (high, high) is blue, quadrant 2 (high honesty, low competency) is red, quadrant 3 (low honest, low comptency) is green and quadrant 4 (high competency, low honesty) is purple
October 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
from the section labeled "Agenda and Activities for a Fightback School"
screenshot reading: "Large group discussion: What impacts are we feeling? What are the most destructive impacts of the administration we are feeling locally? In those spaces feeling those impacts most directly, what kind of organizing response is already happening? Are there communication networks, worker understanding of what is happening, initiation of activity? Large group discussion: Local bad guys Who are the top local billionaires or bosses supporting the administration, or profiting from these attacks? For research before or after the meeting, the People's Audit and LittleSis are sites to look up local elites for their campaign donations, corporate and nonprofit board seats. Do union workers work locally at any companies of these bad guys? Can we pick one or two local billionaires or bosses to target with actions? Which bad guy would be the best lightning rod to rally more attention and support from working people in our area?"
October 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
What is a Fightback School?
screenshot of the Labor Notes site, reading: "WHAT IS A FIGHTBACK SCHOOL? These schools will bring rank-and-file workers and community members into conversation to: Understand how federal assaults are affecting people in your region Name the bosses and billionaires in your region benefiting Assess the power you will need to push back against these bosses Make plans for actions that build this power within unions and community organizations Our hope is that these gatherings can become the nucleus for ongoing democratic organizing within each region, to help all of us to win locally and strengthen our muscles to, together, take on the national struggle. We have developed an agenda outline and some guidelines for pulling together an organizing committee, thinking through who to invite, and knowing when you are ready to launch. The event itself should involve a wide swath of people - including rank and file workers and community members - analyzing power, assessing capacity, and make plans for next steps. "
October 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
Bring this shit back with a vengeance, and then some
screenshot from the "How Can We Live Together" Boston Review article, reading "Not all overt bigots hid behind robes or discreet book clubs, however. Some of them were willing to skirt the PC rules: the disparaging reference to the ghetto, the thoughtful suggestion to go back to Africa, the occasional “hard R.” But these were the exception. This kind of behavior got you suspended at school, in hot water with HR, disinvited from dinner parties. In other words, it was the kind of behavior that would make the Bertrand Russells of the world think better of association with you."
October 21, 2025 at 1:05 AM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
this bit feels especially remarkable to me
section of the article reading: "Periodically during the text chain, the group nudged Ingrassia to tone down his rhetoric, especially if he wanted to work in a future Trump administration, according to the person. “Very influential people were trying to give him advice on how to be, and he threw that advice right back at them and basically said, ‘Fuck you. Look at me. I can write a Substack and get it posted by the president,’” the person said. “‘Who are you to talk to me?’” Soon after the May 2024 text exchange, the group chat disbanded. People were tired of Ingrassia’s rhetoric, according to the chat participant who provided the messages to POLITICO."
October 20, 2025 at 9:36 PM
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
"sir a second Nazi groupchat infodump has hit Politico"
President George W. Bush being informed about the second plane reaction jpg
October 20, 2025 at 9:04 PM