Nick Carnes

The president obsessed with trade literally has no idea what our most globally competitive export industry is.

The idea of unlocking appropriated science research funds to universities in exchange for general fund revenue payments back is just a straightforward case of criminal embezzlement.

The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine How a single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.

The annoying spam texts destroying the Democratic brand:

$678M raised through those spam tactics

$282M to one consulting firm: Mothership Strategies.

$11M to actual campaigns (1.6%)

The party isn’t just treating donors like marks—it’s being fleeced itself yet continues to back Mothership.

I overheard a guy at the airport bragging about being at January 6th and I walked by him sitting in first class. Wealthy business owners stormed the capitol. January 6th was loaded with people who had the leisure time and travel budget to be there. Interrogate who is telling you to hate the poor.

Yes. Good. Say it like it is.

This is hell

What an awful thing to put yourself through

bsky.app/profile/cult...

Try and come for my marriage, you goons. Just try.

Stream is set to go live ~1100 TOMORROW August 2nd and our donation campaign is LIVE RIGHT NOW 👏🏳️‍🌈
tilt.fyi/NyPV4vONWW

Stay tuned for the game line-up! We have a ton of donation prizes from the community already (but we are still happy to take more - DM @cmassive13.bsky.social 💜)

When it's a PhD student, it's definitely a threat. I had to watch you like a hawk.

Same (zucchini) boat. We've got giant green squash for days and pitiful tomato plants.

Notice to university folks who still think "universities brought this on themselves."

But a bunch of them signed that mealy-mouthed letter a few weeks ago that partially conceded that universities were to blame and that had zero potential to have any impact on public awareness. What more could they POSSIBLY do?

Stand together or fall one by one. We should be smarter than falling for "divide and conquer." And yet here we are.

Some syllabus draft hot takes. Suggestions welcome, but no need to tell me I sound like a cranky old man . . . I'm well aware.

First up, AI:

Is that a gardening stool used to organize boots? That's inspired.

"Before we get any further with AI, I have some requests for things that I would like to be invented.
(#1) Printer that works. What's going on there?" www.facebook.com/share/r/1732...

Yeah, but this prompted me to remember, once again, that we're not in the decade immediately after the 1990s (even though it will always feel like that to me)

P.S. Sorry I read this as "what books *you've read* in the last 10 years, when I think you meant, "what books *published* in the last 10 years -- Postman's much older than that but holds up terrifyingly well today

Civilized to Death by Ryan, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Postman, Survive and Resist by Atchison and Shames, When McKinsey Comes to Town, Excellent Sheep by Derseweitz, Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Ware (you didn't say they had to be political science books)

King Kirby never let us down.

My 5pm reminder to myself: "20 yrs from now, the only people who will remember that you worked late will be your kids." Have a good night, dear friends.

Poisoning the waterways to fuel the plagiarism machine

Congratulations to greenhouse gas

As a recipient, this one may be my least favorite. It seems transparently craven and utterly cheapens the highlighted political act.

I've been documenting the manipulative fundraising texts flooding our phones. After receiving dozens personally, I've identified several categories of Democratic fundraising spam—but I know I'm only seeing a fraction. Help me crowdsource a public record: reply with your worst examples! 🧵

I felt like Pedro Pascal's portrayal of Reed Richards reminded me of someone, and then I realized it was the time Stan Lee himself became Reed Richards.

What Is America, and for Whom? A white Christian ethno-state with strict hierarchies or a pluralistic democracy with egalitarian aspirations? American society has always been divided over what this country should strive to be

What Is America, and for Whom?
 
A white Christian ethno-state with strict hierarchies or a pluralistic democracy with egalitarian aspirations? American society has always been divided over what this country should strive to be.
 
New piece:

We should have listened.

I have a neck tattoo that says, "Grading rubrics are for squares"

AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch: Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol made 6,666 more than its typical worker | CNN Business The pay gap between America’s corporate leaders and their workers grew even larger in 2024, according to the AFL-CIO’s annual Executive Paywatch report, released Wednesday.

A Starbucks barista would have had to start working in the year 4643 B.C. To make what their CEO made last year alone. It’s obscene. www.cnn.com/2025/07/23/b...