kpaul2507.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Without going all Martin Niemöller here, I do think that it's bad not to speak up for immigrants, transgender Americans, civil servants, women, Ukraine, and everyone else the MAGA bullies are going after. We're beyond picking and choosing whom to defend. It's time to stand up and speak out.

submitted 6 days ago • 266 comments

A very minor and low consequence bad thing about the new admin is how much of a pain in the ass it is to try to figure out if people on tinder are Republicans.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

I'm going to be irresponsibly gracious and assume this is written in good faith, but this is why it's important to have at least some knowledge of basic history. Jesus Christ.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

It is fascinating how the gayest straight men alive are almost always Republicans.

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

Working on a long term project is like being in a group project with a bunch of morons, except the morons are you from 8 months ago.

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

I just remembered that time a guy in my boy scout troop said you could fire a .50 BMG out of a 12 gague shotgun because it fit. Turns out the average pressure of a .50 BMG is literally 5x higher than the max pressure in a 12 ga.

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

I remember being told in 5th grade that people sometimes outgrow autism. 15 years later, I'm organizing my bookshelf by Library of Congress call number and reading about how South African Airways operated under Apartheid during my finals week.

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Remembering that time I told my Peruvian coworker about how Tupac the rapper was named after Túpac Amaru.

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

Open carry it because it's covered by the 2nd Amendment and Stand Your Ground laws mean I'm allowed to put an ATGM through the sunroof of a Ford F-420 Childcrusher when it runs a red light

submitted 57 days ago • 4 comments

Being a Latin Americanist Spanish-speaker interested in interstate conflict right now must be how it felt to have been fluent in Arabic in 2003.

submitted 62 days ago • 0 comments

Biden's unpardonable sin really is being unable to accept that the US and the world aren't the same as they were in 2012 anymore. He's been unable to accept the severity of the threat posed by Trump and co. and unable to accept that the present Israeli leadership aren't our friends.

submitted 65 days ago • 0 comments

COVID was a massive gift for reactionary politics because it made everyone sort of insane and slightly dumber I think.

submitted 68 days ago • 17 comments

During the collapse of the USSR, one of the big fears shared between US, FRG, and Soviet officials was that the breakup would become a Yugoslavia with nukes. After 30 years, it seems pretty clear that those fears were correct, if significantly delayed.

submitted 72 days ago • 0 comments

By far the thing I miss the most about living in Chile is being able to hail a city bus like a taxi cab instead of having to wait at the stops. One even stopped for me in the middle of turning left through an intersection.

submitted 73 days ago • 0 comments

I realized the reason I'm so much more interested in the end of the Cold War than the beginning is just how much more dramatic the end was. The start of the Cold War has no equivalent to Yeltsin being too hungover to make a flight back to Moscow, and thus complicating the August Coup.

submitted 73 days ago • 0 comments

It's very interesting how West Germany had competent leaders for its entire history, but United Germany has had virtually none. Schröder gutted the welfare state and increased dependence on Russian gas, Merkel's policies made sense at the time but created larger problems, and Scholtz was Scholtz.

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

Yeltsin somewhat reminds me of Trump: -Highly charismatic populist -Successfully ran an anti-elite campaign despite being an elite -Dictatorial ambitions -International incidents are the stuff of legends

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

Among other things, it's going to be a long 4 years of trying to weed out Republican staffers on tinder.

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

imagining Nancy Pelosi hopping a fence to get inside the capitol

submitted 81 days ago • 7 comments

Obviously the situation is very serious, but a not small part of me hopes they set up shop in a tennis court.

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

Broadly speaking, it's quite striking how many bad leaders were in power in Moscow in the 20th Century. When the most competent leaders of a century are Stalin and Brezhnev, you know things were just awful.

submitted 82 days ago • 0 comments

One of the most fascinating themes in Collapse is how it shows a clear distinction between Moscow's loss of its Central/Eastern European empire and the disintegration of the USSR itself. While it would have been difficult, it is very possible to see the USSR pull a China and survive to today.

submitted 82 days ago • 1 comment

I'm rereading Collapse for the nth time and still can't get over the fact that a third of the Soviet budget came from alcohol taxes.

submitted 88 days ago • 0 comments

Look, I don't want him any more than any other good liberal, but can we not go full blueanon? It was horrendous when Republicans did it, let's not do it too.

Without going all Martin Niemöller here, I do think that it's bad not to speak up for immigrants, transgender Americans, civil servants, women, Ukraine, and everyone else the MAGA bullies are going after. We're beyond picking and choosing whom to defend. It's time to stand up and speak out.

A very minor and low consequence bad thing about the new admin is how much of a pain in the ass it is to try to figure out if people on tinder are Republicans.

I'm going to be irresponsibly gracious and assume this is written in good faith, but this is why it's important to have at least some knowledge of basic history. Jesus Christ.

It is fascinating how the gayest straight men alive are almost always Republicans.

Working on a long term project is like being in a group project with a bunch of morons, except the morons are you from 8 months ago.

I just remembered that time a guy in my boy scout troop said you could fire a .50 BMG out of a 12 gague shotgun because it fit. Turns out the average pressure of a .50 BMG is literally 5x higher than the max pressure in a 12 ga.

I remember being told in 5th grade that people sometimes outgrow autism. 15 years later, I'm organizing my bookshelf by Library of Congress call number and reading about how South African Airways operated under Apartheid during my finals week.

Remembering that time I told my Peruvian coworker about how Tupac the rapper was named after Túpac Amaru.

Open carry it because it's covered by the 2nd Amendment and Stand Your Ground laws mean I'm allowed to put an ATGM through the sunroof of a Ford F-420 Childcrusher when it runs a red light

Being a Latin Americanist Spanish-speaker interested in interstate conflict right now must be how it felt to have been fluent in Arabic in 2003.

Biden's unpardonable sin really is being unable to accept that the US and the world aren't the same as they were in 2012 anymore. He's been unable to accept the severity of the threat posed by Trump and co. and unable to accept that the present Israeli leadership aren't our friends.

COVID was a massive gift for reactionary politics because it made everyone sort of insane and slightly dumber I think.

During the collapse of the USSR, one of the big fears shared between US, FRG, and Soviet officials was that the breakup would become a Yugoslavia with nukes. After 30 years, it seems pretty clear that those fears were correct, if significantly delayed.

By far the thing I miss the most about living in Chile is being able to hail a city bus like a taxi cab instead of having to wait at the stops. One even stopped for me in the middle of turning left through an intersection.

I realized the reason I'm so much more interested in the end of the Cold War than the beginning is just how much more dramatic the end was. The start of the Cold War has no equivalent to Yeltsin being too hungover to make a flight back to Moscow, and thus complicating the August Coup.

It's very interesting how West Germany had competent leaders for its entire history, but United Germany has had virtually none. Schröder gutted the welfare state and increased dependence on Russian gas, Merkel's policies made sense at the time but created larger problems, and Scholtz was Scholtz.

Yeltsin somewhat reminds me of Trump: -Highly charismatic populist -Successfully ran an anti-elite campaign despite being an elite -Dictatorial ambitions -International incidents are the stuff of legends

Among other things, it's going to be a long 4 years of trying to weed out Republican staffers on tinder.

imagining Nancy Pelosi hopping a fence to get inside the capitol

Obviously the situation is very serious, but a not small part of me hopes they set up shop in a tennis court.

Broadly speaking, it's quite striking how many bad leaders were in power in Moscow in the 20th Century. When the most competent leaders of a century are Stalin and Brezhnev, you know things were just awful.

One of the most fascinating themes in Collapse is how it shows a clear distinction between Moscow's loss of its Central/Eastern European empire and the disintegration of the USSR itself. While it would have been difficult, it is very possible to see the USSR pull a China and survive to today.

I'm rereading Collapse for the nth time and still can't get over the fact that a third of the Soviet budget came from alcohol taxes.

Look, I don't want him any more than any other good liberal, but can we not go full blueanon? It was horrendous when Republicans did it, let's not do it too.

We need more of this attitude. This is the American liberalism I know and love.

Well that's not something you see every day.