Profile avatar
atherton.bsky.social
War, robots, & bad futures but imagining better. I edit @cipolicy.bsky.social's International Policy Journal, opinions my own. Unitarian Universalist. He/him. Husband to @alymay.bsky.social & father of 2. Front takes towards enemies.
11,409 posts 26,383 followers 913 following
Prolific Poster
Conversation Starter

no draft kings (really, i think online gambling is a terrible scam)

#NoKings protest in Santa Fe, NM

Couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to be in Iowa City with thousands of my fellow Iowans standing up for the freedoms and opportunities that make our communities strong. When we come together as neighbors, we can tackle any challenge facing us.

RWE violence has a long history in the US, a straight line from the Second KKK to McVeigh to J6. but what really differentiates this era, I think, is that the info environment allows the GOP to simultaneously enjoy the benefits of credible violent threat while disavowing every perpetrator

went to roadside protest, well attended. got tons of honks of support from most whites and every POC who drove by, in particular mail trucks and huge beaming smiles from the Latinos driving contractor pickup trucks. filled my heart honestly. that's fucking right #NoKings

I wrote about Los Angeles newrepublic.com/post/196749/...

believe me, if "left-wing" extremism was producing any significant violence, a bunch of us extremism scholars would be gathering awards and swimming in grant money at some kind of Hoover Institute for Hating Lefties Lab

would love to read a story on how "spicy" became an all-purpose social media descriptor for everything from sexy content to neurodivergent to street violence, presumably linked to algo-speak

Amazing turnout in the People’s Republic of Takoma Park, MD. People lining both sides of New Hampshire Ave. as far as the eye can see in an immigrant heavy neighborhood. #nokings

The sign I made for today's march includes four of Woody Guthrie's New Year's resolutions for 1943: Don't get lonesome. Beat fascism. Love everybody. Wake up and fight.

No kings / only the Kingsmen

At the No Kings protest at the RI State House

People think the moral of Minority Report is that you can’t predict crime—but the other central moral is when you build a law enforcement system that is held up as unquestionable and objectively correct 100% of the time, people who control it can use it to do anything with no consequences.

years of lead paint

the thing about the Rubicon is as a river it's pretty easy to cross, not doing so is more about a respect for the rules than the difficulty of breaking them

Obama and Biden are not responsible for the actions of the GOP or outbursts of right-wing violence. They are, however, fully implicated in the failure to understand what the American right was becoming and accepting the consequences for addressing it honestly and forcefully.

Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government. That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.

Anwar Sadat speedrun? Anwar Sadat speedrun tonight? Anwar Sadat speedrun tonight king?

Snow More Kings

The Philly No Kings protest has already grown so big that it has spilled into the street. A variety of groups, organizations and causes represented among the crowd. This woman is now leading a chant.

Being a historian doesn’t give me the mantle of authority to say definitively what’s happening here or how anyone should respond, but I feel qualified to say this: If you were writing an account of how the United States devolved into violence and fragmentation, all this would be chapter 1 or 2.

Lot of great signs here in Love Park

*withdrew the report, but stayed DHS until 2013

There are few times I am at a loss for words. Today is one of those days. I’m mourning the devastating loss of my friend Speaker Melissa Hortman and her devoted husband Mark Hortman.

there should be an edit button that puts a strikethrough on the original text so it's obvious what was changed

This is well-intended, but I disagree. Should people try to persuade the persuadeable? Sure. But that's not the only thing these protests are about. They are about undermining Trump and his supporters. Mock him hard! They are about building solidarity. Sing and chant! Use Mexican flags!

Waymo is limiting service across the U.S. ahead of a wave of expected protests this weekend, and stopping service in LA altogether: www.wired.com/story/ahead-...

A Minnesota state Senator and a state representative, former Speaker Melissa Hortman and state Senator John Hoffman, both Democrats, were shot in their homes this morning in what’s being called “targeted shootings.” www.startribune.com/brooklyn-par...

you ever think about how in 2009 DHS released a report about the growing threat of violent domestic terrorism from the right and then Republicans got so mad about it the DHS secretary resigned?

Solidarity is a profoundly powerful feeling and I think we spend most of our time starved for it - go and get you some

No cop should be allowed to approach a civilian without identifying themselves and showing a clear, visible badge.

I will provide an update on last night’s targeted shootings shortly: youtube.com/live/VHtHNAb...

Protest the right way, the polite way:

the logical extension of castle doctrine is that every firearm makes a person into a little tyrant over a little fiefdom of their home and vehicle and, if there's open carry or even if there isn't, everywhere they are in person, armed microstates in a state of anarchy, little kings ready to go off.

American Years of Lead

"But the absence of politics is political. To make Warfare as catharsis for invaders... is a choice that privileges their sacrifice and esteems their ability to endure the primal challenge of war." - @evanhill.bsky.social lareviewofbooks.org/article/unci...