Michael Rader
@theoryof.games
chaotic good xennial ND nerd in the coastal empire. vp at Frakture. longtime digital strategist + policy wonk. transplant patient. If we must do without hope, there is always vengeance.
Pinned
Michael Rader
@theoryof.games
· Nov 13
🧷 Hi! I'm Michael. Work in political data. Solar policy wonk, eternal dungeon master, video game nerd, ebike enthusiast. Chronic disease haver. Mostly post about:
- Progressive politics + solar/renewables
- Video games + TTRPGs
- Assorted health + nerd shit
- My beagle Sunny, the #1 best dog
- Progressive politics + solar/renewables
- Video games + TTRPGs
- Assorted health + nerd shit
- My beagle Sunny, the #1 best dog
The most accurate generalization I can make about people that deploy the "constitutional republic" line is that they have all taken one or fewer political science classes.
January 17, 2026 at 9:00 PM
The most accurate generalization I can make about people that deploy the "constitutional republic" line is that they have all taken one or fewer political science classes.
Reposted by Michael Rader
this crystallizes why, despite truly heroic solidarity and activism, i can’t quite get in the “we’re going to win” mindset right now. the harm is so active and there’s so much violence we don’t even know about. people are being turned into ghosts.
January 17, 2026 at 4:39 PM
this crystallizes why, despite truly heroic solidarity and activism, i can’t quite get in the “we’re going to win” mindset right now. the harm is so active and there’s so much violence we don’t even know about. people are being turned into ghosts.
Reposted by Michael Rader
Reposted by Michael Rader
Right now, Congress is working on an appropriations bill to fund these guys
by @democraticwins.bsky.social CNN just aired a devastating compilation of all the times ICE brutally attacked Americans. Remember, Donald Trump sponsored this. This is done at his command.
January 16, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Right now, Congress is working on an appropriations bill to fund these guys
This would have the effect of forcing more people to take a hard position on axis vs. allies, and I don't think that is a good move for them.
January 16, 2026 at 2:37 AM
This would have the effect of forcing more people to take a hard position on axis vs. allies, and I don't think that is a good move for them.
Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers. www.zombs-lair.com/spaceship-wa...
January 15, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers. www.zombs-lair.com/spaceship-wa...
Reposted by Michael Rader
So many people just remembered Trump 1.0 where a lot of the worst stuff didn't happen (because it was blocked by the skin of our teeth and the public never knew how close things got to being bad), and just presumed 2.0 would be the same level of bluster and things mostly staying the same. Nope!
It's wild to watch people like Joe Rogan come to grips that voting for the "mass deportations now" candidate meant voter for a literal war against your non-White neighbors. The entire discussion around the 2024 campaign was so fundamentally unserious it might as well have happened in a fever dream.
This is 10th-grader Arnoldo Bazan.
A citizen.
Immigration agents grabbed him and put him in a chokehold.
"We're from the United States bro!' he screamed.
Agents took and sold his phone
And when he finally got home hours later, his shirt was ripped, he neck had angry, red welts, and he sobbed.
A citizen.
Immigration agents grabbed him and put him in a chokehold.
"We're from the United States bro!' he screamed.
Agents took and sold his phone
And when he finally got home hours later, his shirt was ripped, he neck had angry, red welts, and he sobbed.
January 15, 2026 at 2:29 PM
So many people just remembered Trump 1.0 where a lot of the worst stuff didn't happen (because it was blocked by the skin of our teeth and the public never knew how close things got to being bad), and just presumed 2.0 would be the same level of bluster and things mostly staying the same. Nope!
Reposted by Michael Rader
This dude is intense and correct
January 15, 2026 at 9:05 AM
This dude is intense and correct
Very disappointed in @bradleywhitford.bsky.social (big fan!) lending his name to these guys.
If you want to raise money for state/local candidates, endorse some! It is wrong to be asking Dem grassroots donors to raise money for DC consulting firms.
If you want to raise money for state/local candidates, endorse some! It is wrong to be asking Dem grassroots donors to raise money for DC consulting firms.
Bunch of celebs who should know better pitching a PAC on tiktok that raises money from progressive donors to pay Marc Elias' consulting firm.
If you see ads for State & Local Elections Alliance, it's Norm Eisen's group which had a 54% overhead last cycle.
If you see ads for State & Local Elections Alliance, it's Norm Eisen's group which had a 54% overhead last cycle.
January 15, 2026 at 4:35 AM
Very disappointed in @bradleywhitford.bsky.social (big fan!) lending his name to these guys.
If you want to raise money for state/local candidates, endorse some! It is wrong to be asking Dem grassroots donors to raise money for DC consulting firms.
If you want to raise money for state/local candidates, endorse some! It is wrong to be asking Dem grassroots donors to raise money for DC consulting firms.
Bunch of celebs who should know better pitching a PAC on tiktok that raises money from progressive donors to pay Marc Elias' consulting firm.
If you see ads for State & Local Elections Alliance, it's Norm Eisen's group which had a 54% overhead last cycle.
If you see ads for State & Local Elections Alliance, it's Norm Eisen's group which had a 54% overhead last cycle.
January 15, 2026 at 4:19 AM
Bunch of celebs who should know better pitching a PAC on tiktok that raises money from progressive donors to pay Marc Elias' consulting firm.
If you see ads for State & Local Elections Alliance, it's Norm Eisen's group which had a 54% overhead last cycle.
If you see ads for State & Local Elections Alliance, it's Norm Eisen's group which had a 54% overhead last cycle.
Still pondering this unnamed "diplomat" just redefining extortion as diplomacy.
Hitler is primarily looking for a win on the Sudetenland.
naive
January 15, 2026 at 12:58 AM
Still pondering this unnamed "diplomat" just redefining extortion as diplomacy.
I'm introducing a bill to put complaints about ICE assaults on the blockchain.
I am introducing the Quick Recognition (QR) Act, which requires ICE and CBP officers to wear uniforms featuring QR codes. When scanned, the code would generate a digital ID displaying the officer’s name, badge number, and law enforcement agency.
ICE should be unmasked both physically and digitally.
ICE should be unmasked both physically and digitally.
January 14, 2026 at 7:06 PM
I'm introducing a bill to put complaints about ICE assaults on the blockchain.
Reposted by Michael Rader
I know people on Bsky know this but I hope it filters out: The feds are OCCUPYING the Twin Cities. This is a blockade, a siege. They are shutting down economic and civic activity. They are conducting "papers please" stops. They are criminalizing being a bystander/witness.
You could be next.
You could be next.
January 14, 2026 at 4:25 PM
I know people on Bsky know this but I hope it filters out: The feds are OCCUPYING the Twin Cities. This is a blockade, a siege. They are shutting down economic and civic activity. They are conducting "papers please" stops. They are criminalizing being a bystander/witness.
You could be next.
You could be next.
Same. I was born in Michigan, but my birth certificate is "fake".
Frustrating to see #adoption myths regurgitated.
My original birth certificate is locked away in some dingy file cabinet somewhere, and I will never be able to see it unless elected officials in my state change the laws.
And yes. You read that right. I have a falsified birth certificate.
🥚
My original birth certificate is locked away in some dingy file cabinet somewhere, and I will never be able to see it unless elected officials in my state change the laws.
And yes. You read that right. I have a falsified birth certificate.
🥚
i need everyone to understand that birthparents CANNOT unseal their children’s birth records. At most they can elect not to veto their child’s access—in states with such a veto in place.
In California, only a court order can unseal an adoptee’s birth record. And that is basically never granted. 🥚
In California, only a court order can unseal an adoptee’s birth record. And that is basically never granted. 🥚
January 14, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Same. I was born in Michigan, but my birth certificate is "fake".
Hitler is primarily looking for a win on the Sudetenland.
naive
January 14, 2026 at 1:24 PM
Hitler is primarily looking for a win on the Sudetenland.
Unrelated, I happened to be explaining to my sister the other day about how the federal government calculates the value of human life when making regulations.
Helpfully, they have zero'd that cost out, making it much easier to explain: "The federal government does not value human life."
Helpfully, they have zero'd that cost out, making it much easier to explain: "The federal government does not value human life."
"If the EPA refuses to assign a dollar value to the illnesses and deaths caused by air pollution, those harms cannot influence the outcome of the rule. And if they cannot influence the outcome, they may as well not exist for policy purposes." - @emorwee.bsky.social heated.world/p/air-pollut...
Air pollution denial is now EPA policy
Dirty air may kill people, but Trump's EPA won't count the bodies.
heated.world
January 13, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Unrelated, I happened to be explaining to my sister the other day about how the federal government calculates the value of human life when making regulations.
Helpfully, they have zero'd that cost out, making it much easier to explain: "The federal government does not value human life."
Helpfully, they have zero'd that cost out, making it much easier to explain: "The federal government does not value human life."
Who should I prosecute next? Subscribe today and vote!
January 13, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Who should I prosecute next? Subscribe today and vote!
I've been thinking about projects I want to do AFTER.
January 12, 2026 at 3:57 PM
I've been thinking about projects I want to do AFTER.
Reposted by Michael Rader
Paul Verhoeven undefeated in creating a movie that flies right over the heads of the people it’s making fun of
Rightwing influencers are so bad at interpreting source material that they can only do it correctly by accident, when they're trying to make a joke
January 12, 2026 at 2:25 PM
Paul Verhoeven undefeated in creating a movie that flies right over the heads of the people it’s making fun of
Reposted by Michael Rader
The yawning canyon between the bravery of ordinary people trying to protect their neighbors and exercising their First Amendment rights versus the cowardice, silence, and capitulation by elites is something to behold.
January 12, 2026 at 11:38 AM
The yawning canyon between the bravery of ordinary people trying to protect their neighbors and exercising their First Amendment rights versus the cowardice, silence, and capitulation by elites is something to behold.
Good afternoon from Savannah where it is currently Sunny and 77 degrees.
January 10, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Good afternoon from Savannah where it is currently Sunny and 77 degrees.
Reposted by Michael Rader
There's a reason Jonathan Ross's first priority was his cell phone and his second was the handgun he used to murder a woman. The social media sizzle reel is all that matters to them.
ICYMI: WaPo, on why ICE always has phones in their hands: to feed the social media beast.
@drewharwell.com
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
@drewharwell.com
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
January 10, 2026 at 3:56 PM
There's a reason Jonathan Ross's first priority was his cell phone and his second was the handgun he used to murder a woman. The social media sizzle reel is all that matters to them.
Reposted by Michael Rader
Kind of wild there has been almost no coverage of the fact that the federal government unleashed chemical weapons against literal kids *at school*.
workdaymagazine.org/minneapolis-...
workdaymagazine.org/minneapolis-...
January 10, 2026 at 12:24 PM
Kind of wild there has been almost no coverage of the fact that the federal government unleashed chemical weapons against literal kids *at school*.
workdaymagazine.org/minneapolis-...
workdaymagazine.org/minneapolis-...
An extremely good point.
Tina Smith: "I've worked closely with law enforcement in my roles at state and local government, and I have never seen anybody describe as protocol holding a cell phone and taking video while you are simultaneously shooting a gun that ends up killing somebody. It's kind of unbelievable."
January 10, 2026 at 12:42 AM
An extremely good point.
Reposted by Michael Rader
For a literal decade the official CBP policy has been “don’t stand in front of or behind vehicles” because the decade before that their internally commissioned studies found that agents were putting themselves in front of vehicles so as to shoot the occupants
Because he put himself in front of the car to have an excuse to shoot!
January 10, 2026 at 12:01 AM
For a literal decade the official CBP policy has been “don’t stand in front of or behind vehicles” because the decade before that their internally commissioned studies found that agents were putting themselves in front of vehicles so as to shoot the occupants