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

A story goes Calvin Coolidge, not a big talker, sat at a dinner next to a woman who said to him, “I made a bet, Mr. President, that I could get more than two words out of you.” He replied, “You lose.” It is probably apocryphal. Yet we so wish the current president would similarly say a lot less.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Historian here posting for no reason at all. U.S. Constitution, Article II Section 4: "The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

submitted 1 day ago • 390 comments

1) trump told his followers buy stocks hours before his 90-day tariff pause, and there was a lot of suspicious stock activity. While it may seem like little can be done about it, think again. The answer is the Attorney General of the State of New York - the office open.substack.com/pub/tristans...

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

There's a foreign policy cost too. Americans traveling abroad tend to be students or retired. Even if they have the money, most employed full-time just don't have the vacation to walk the streets of our allies in person, which makes them susceptible to political demagogues exploiting that ignorance.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

🎯 🎯 🎯 graphic courtesy @pleightx.bsky.social

submitted 2 days ago • 137 comments

I had great-aunts who, on their third glass of wine, sat at the dining room table holding forth like this apparently thinking they were offering some profound new insight. They’d had no idea that in the future, FNC “commentator” could have been a career choice.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Because if only (mostly) men (especially white men) voted (like “when America was great” from 1870-1913), it would not have even been close in 2020: Trump would have won. (Naturally, Harris could not have even run in 2024 - being a woman, of course.) Disgraceful, really, are so many men…

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

#ReadingCommunity if you have not read it, it’s not a long novel. It is well-worth your time. It is also disturbingly timely.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Easy to call him the "ugly American," but there may be another reason. The final paragraph quotes an anonymous source on workload/pressure. Was he drinking to escape whenever he had a "free" moment? If so, such demonstrates - unsurprisingly - poor leadership and management by Rubio and his team.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

“Why don’t lots of Europeans buy F-150s?” asks a Trump supporter. Leaving aside any “quality” opinions about that vehicle (and vehicles like it), roads like these are not uncommon hereabouts:

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Is he quoting George Washington here?

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Today's cartoon- Sacrifices to the god of hypocrisy

submitted 4 days ago • 4 comments

The bond market shows capital flight from the United States, with people selling off US debt. It’s the opposite of what usually happens during economic turmoil, when people buy US debt because they think it’s the safest asset in the world. The US-led global economic system is dead. By suicide.

submitted 3 days ago • 280 comments

It is now clear the core dilemma the U.S. faces with its "two-party" competition is too many whites, especially southerners, simply refuse to vote for any party that also supports Black/minority aspirations. Today, it is white Republicans who proudly wave around the Confederate battle flag.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

I cannot help but feel terming this USSR-born woman “Ukrainian” is like calling Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, “Irish” because he was born in British Empire ruled Dublin.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

A reminder that if the government can send migrants to a prison camp without any due process, it can send U.S. citizens there, too. I know because this happened to me and my family in 1942.

submitted 5 days ago • 512 comments

“Never get involved in a trade war in Asia” (2025 version).

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Boat derangement syndrome

submitted 5 days ago • 384 comments

And threatening to invade allies.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

“[Alcott] wasn't sure if the book could become a novel since its opening pages seemed to be a series of character sketches without a defining narrative. But chronology provided a narrative…” - Susan Cheever, on the “Little Women” manuscript. #5amWritersClub #WritingCommunity #Biography

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

I no longer argue Trump with family supporters. By now they know what I think. And I damn well know what they do. They must reject fascism on their own. It may happen if matters get horrific for them personally. Having pushed us all over a cliff, they may then have an “epiphany.” Some never will:

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

The @apnews.com on here was silent about Saturday’s US pro-democracy protests, which may have had “3 million” participants. I scrolled the day. They did have a report on a housing protest in Spain. Oh, and a baseball game was postponed due to rain. Thus where US media is now: Fearful of Trump.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

The empty suit mouthpiece, speaking for his master. There is no level of low this bunch of slugs won’t sink to. A normal administration would not across the board destroy the lives of numerous individuals with entirely legal visas, who had followed all the rules, because of a policy disagreement.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

At best, the military will be divided - as Lee joined the illegal Confederacy, while other Virginian George Thomas did not. But we are now not “the Union” we knew; the US is now “the Confederacy.” Any commanders who refuse to carry out a Trump order to “invade Greenland” will simply be dismissed.

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

It’s not just him. He’s being enabled by squeamish cowardly courtiers (particularly in Congress; none of this happens without Congress) who follow only based on which way they think the wind is blowing. They’ll turn on him the instant they feel “the prevailing wind” is no longer coming “from Vichy.”

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Just watched an episode of “The Empress” (Netflix) where [SPOILER ALERT] a Habsburg child princess dies of Typhoid, c. 1857. Presumably, the Trump “administration” is working on bringing that happily back next.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments