jonahblank.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 585 people and wounded 1,326 others, a human rights group says. Iran has only acknowledged 224 deaths so far.

submitted 4 hours ago • 12 comments

Can't believe I'm saying this, but: ♦️When MSM reporters interview a GOP Senator, they should emulate Tucker Carlson.

submitted 4 hours ago • 0 comments

("it's" should be "its." Obviously.)

submitted 5 hours ago • 0 comments

"Destroy the Iranians." -John Fetterman Not "destroy the Iranian nuclear program." Not even "destroy the Iranian regime." "Destroy THE IRANIANS." Even if this war were justified, smart or necessary (it isn't, on all three counts)... ...No moral person would celebrate mass killing. Of anyone.

submitted 10 hours ago • 1 comment

For those who were paying attention in the long lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, @jfallows.bsky.social cover in the @theatlantic.com was required reading. For those too young to remember, it and it's post-invasion follow-up are required reading now. Take everything Jim said, and multiply it by 2.

submitted 10 hours ago • 0 comments

Iraq has 45 million people. #Iran has 90 million. So it'll be twice as easy.

submitted 11 hours ago • 16 comments

In case you have a life and therefore haven't been following the news this afternoon: ♦️Trump effectively declared war with #Iran (a nation his own DNI says has no nuclear weapons capability), threatened to (illegally) murder its leader, and demanded "unconditional surrender." Have a nice day.

submitted 11 hours ago • 0 comments

"If Israel's war on Gaza is a genocide livestreamed to the world, its project in the West Bank is an extraordinarily efficient campaign of ethnic cleansing executed through the hidden levers of civil governance." For @thebaffler.com, I wrote about the most important story no one’s talking about.

submitted 16 hours ago • 2 comments

Sen. @chrismurphyct.bsky.social is correct: The US is under no imminent threat from Iran, and Trump is legally obligated to seek Congressional approval for an act of war. George W Bush made a tragic error in launching an unprovoked war on Iraq. But he at least secured Congressional approval.

submitted 14 hours ago • 0 comments

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander was just arrested by Trump’s ICE agents because he asked to see a judicial warrant. This is fascism and all New Yorkers must speak in one voice. Release him now.

submitted 15 hours ago • 148 comments

Maybe @theonion.com should have a new slogan: -"Less Absurd than the Truth."

submitted 14 hours ago • 0 comments

A group of unidentified and partially-identified men (some out of uniform, some masked) haul off an elected government official. He asks for a warrant, reminds them that they have no authority to arrest an American citizen. They say he's resisting, when the film shows he isn't. That's where we are.

submitted 14 hours ago • 0 comments

The National Guard members and Marines have carried out exactly one temporary detainment. That’s it. It cost at least $134 million. interc.pt/4e9lMfl

submitted 15 hours ago • 4 comments

This is how ICE treats an elected public official. With cameras rolling. Just image how they'd treat YOU. www.amny.com/news/brad-la...

submitted 15 hours ago • 0 comments

Reminder: ♦️The assassination of foreign leaders has been banned by the US government since 1981. ♦️The president who signed this ban was Ronald Reagan. Here's the text, which remains in force: www.archives.gov/federal-regi... Trump is openly threatening to assassinate a foreign leader.

submitted 15 hours ago • 0 comments

The regime has now arrested, handcuffed/decked: • Judge • Member of Congress • US Senator • Mayoral Candidate/city official of NYC/ A Trump supporter just assassinated a Dem leader in MN. And Sen. Dems are about to vote w/ Republicans to give Trump a gift on crypto - as early as maybe today.

submitted 15 hours ago • 36 comments

I doubt it's even that thought-out: They probably wouldn't be able to locate Bhutan on a map. Most likely, they did it purely by GDP/capita. Bhutan is in the lowest third of GDP/capita nations in the world by IMF estimates, so that's probably why it made the cut.

submitted 15 hours ago • 0 comments

Of the 36 nations Trump is considering placing under travel ban, only 2 (Egypt and Syria) have ever had any significant historical presence of groups on the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. (2 others, Djibouti & Mauritania, are a long stretch). The rest are guilty only of being poor.

submitted 15 hours ago • 1 comment

What a leader says matters, Secretary Hegseth. We don’t ask our troops their political affiliation. In a conflict, we do everything possible to protect civilians. We don’t use our military as political props. Our morals & values separate America from our adversaries.

submitted 16 hours ago • 13 comments

The billionaire tax cheat in the Oval Office just eliminated the office that goes after other billionaire tax cheats. Same old story. The get richer. And the little guy gets screwed.

submitted 16 hours ago • 92 comments

"We." ♦️Trump just admitted that the US is currently at war with Iran. To be clear: -His admission might reflect active US military participation in Israel's attack. Or it might simply reflect words spilling out of his brain, without any mooring in actual events. -But the Iranian people won't care.

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

Israel was able to kill #Iran's top military and nuclear personnel, and the US may provide "bunker busters" needed to degrade is nuclear assets. But that could ACCELERATE Tehran's quest for nuclear weapons. My take in @indianexpress.com: indianexpress.com/article/opin...

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

Mike Huckabee is the US Ambassador to Israel, rather than (as the post's wording might imply) vice-versa. But, in fairness: -From Huckabee's statement, and many of his prior positions, it can be quite difficult to tell.

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

Fetterman unveils a new definition of dictatorship: ♦️If the troops aren't goose-stepping: All good.

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

This experience is highly atypical: Most publishers leave fact-checking up to the author. I've had seven book publishers (two academic, five trade) in five countries. Not one of them paid for fact-checking: That was always my responsibility (and at my cost). #WritingLife

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

"We should root for success for military action." Counterpoint: ♦️We should learn the lesson of Iraq-- and consider the long-term impact of military action BEFORE we rush into it. Can the US degrade Iran's nuclear program? ✅ Will history stop at that moment, with no future impact on the US? ❌

submitted 16 hours ago • 1 comment

I've signed on. www.axios.com/2025/06/17/t...

submitted 17 hours ago • 13 comments

Thank you, Dr @ashishkjha.bsky.social! Professional institutions & blue-state elected officials: Ball's in your court.

submitted 17 hours ago • 0 comments

#RFKJr is dismantling America's access to #vaccines, and subjecting all of us to risk to deadly illnesses. And nobody is doing anything to stop him: -Not Congress. Not the courts. Not healthcare corporations. Dr @ashishkjha.bsky.social has a proposal: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

submitted 17 hours ago • 1 comment

This is how you do it. -It's not necessary to #SurrenderInAdvance. -It's not necessary to treat Trump as if he's NOT trying to destroy democracy. ♦️Thank you, NAACP. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

submitted 18 hours ago • 0 comments

Trump, this afternoon: "Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" Iran's nuclear assets are not located in Tehran: The key elements are deep underground at Fordow. Without US 30,000lb GBU-57s, Israel can't hit them. Any attack on Tehran would not be targeting Iran's nuclear program.

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Sometimes random juxtapositions in a social media feed tell a larger story: Above: ♦️Reagan-appointed judge, ruling on one of Trump's illegal actions, has "never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable." Below: ♦️After a half-year of such acts, 42% of the population still approves.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

In news that American outlets don't considered newsworthy:

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Don Jr's actual he-really-said-it explanation of his father's scam: ♦️He hasn't yet spent the money he grifted, so he never really grifted it.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Trump's financial disclosures show that, until his latest grifts, he wasn't actually a billionaire. ♦️Assets: $1.6 Billion. (Must be less-- when has Trump ever NOT exaggerated his wealth?) ♦️Recent grifts: $600 million. (It's definitely more: This is the part of his stash he has every reason to hide)

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

#RIP William Langewiesche. I didn't know him well, but was fortunate enough to have shared a few drinks with him. An immensely modest man, given his enormous talents. He left us some phenomenal writing, and showed the rest of us how you do it. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/b...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Just so I'm clear: ♦️ #RJKJr is destroying our ability to get any #vaccines. Even if we want to. ♦️And nobody's doing anything about it. OK, now that I'm clear on that: Back to your day.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Mark Carney, can you please exercise your role down here in the nation to your south?

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

This is one protest out of 2100 and the line is, as best I can tell, longer and denser than the crowd along Donald Trump‘s birthday parade

submitted 2 days ago • 12 comments

‘Extremely disturbing and unethical’: new rules allow VA doctors to refuse to treat Democrats, unmarried veterans - & refuse to hire docs based on same criteria www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

CNBC: “You’ve been accused of being partisan.” CBO DIRECTOR: “I am a Republican.” Republicans dismiss the CBO saying #TrumpsTrillionsTransfer cuts health care and food the poor… and taxes for the rich — but it is led by one of their own. 🤔

submitted 1 day ago • 28 comments

The new "M" is an anthropologist! (Her title is actually C. And she used to be Q). Am I the only one reveling in the overlap of the worlds of #Anthropology and #JamesBond?

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

If even one college student made the parallel claim-- ie, that Palestinian lives were worth more than Israeli ones-- she'd be expelled in a heartbeat, and her university would be stripped of all federal grants.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

1. The kids are alright. 2. I have not done nearly a good enough job parenting my own children.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

You may have thought Trump's birthday parade was nothing more than a shameful politicization of the US military, or a waste of $45 million, or a dangerous hinge-point in the loss of our democracy. But don't worry, there was more to the event: ♦️It was also yet another instance of flagrant corruption:

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Headline edited for accuracy: ♦️BREAKING: Trump claims credit (as he does for every event anywhere on earth, so, you know, big grain of salt) for Israel's decision (which may not have been a decision) not to target Iranian leader (which, to be clear, might have just been targeting that missed).

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

So, Trump is fiercely opposed to all undocumented migrants. ...except those necessary to operate and supply the type of businesses he owns. Got it.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments