Theoderic
@theoderic.bsky.social
Anonymous policy lawyer. Personal account.
RFK Jr.: “And whether birds are real.”
September 17, 2026 at 8:49 PM
RFK Jr.: “And whether birds are real.”
I had a friend group in the early 2010s that got really into Rationalism and then, seemingly inexplicably, polyamory. Never occurred to me that the two were related.
so on the one hand i think your private sexual practices are generally your problem but in the specific case that you use it as a public recruiting tool that is directly tied to to your non-profit and for-profit businesses i think you have chosen to have your strange sexual practices scrutinized
September 17, 2026 at 8:33 PM
I had a friend group in the early 2010s that got really into Rationalism and then, seemingly inexplicably, polyamory. Never occurred to me that the two were related.
Republicans fundamentally don’t believe government can solve hard problems, which is why they shouldn’t be trusted to lead governments
Rick Scott: "With regard to destroying mankind, these companies need to do the right thing on their own. We're not going to get smart enough to regulate them. We're not going to get something done up here."
September 17, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Republicans fundamentally don’t believe government can solve hard problems, which is why they shouldn’t be trusted to lead governments
Reposted by Theoderic
Scorching take: I really dislike the term “Dog Parent.” With much love for the dogs of the world, all of whom (yes) are good dogs, parenting a human child is so, so much harder that comparing the two feels off-putting.
September 17, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Scorching take: I really dislike the term “Dog Parent.” With much love for the dogs of the world, all of whom (yes) are good dogs, parenting a human child is so, so much harder that comparing the two feels off-putting.
Reposted by Theoderic
New — I wrote about this weird thing where people within the Republican party keep being exposed as Nazis and the party then tries to claim each one is an aberration. The facts, as I lay out here, indicate otherwise:
Republicans don’t have a Nazi problem—they are the Nazi problem
A spate of recent revelations have shown the ideologies and their adherents are one and the same.
www.thehandbasket.co
September 16, 2026 at 11:26 PM
New — I wrote about this weird thing where people within the Republican party keep being exposed as Nazis and the party then tries to claim each one is an aberration. The facts, as I lay out here, indicate otherwise:
Reposted by Theoderic
October 2024 Economist cover:
September 15, 2026 at 2:44 PM
October 2024 Economist cover:
Perfect encapsulation of the moment.
• Macklemore says “free Palestine.” Kicked off a tour, endless coverage.
• Kanye praises Hitler, denies the Holocaust. Ah well show must go on.
• Vance ally Tucker Carlson casually banters about “goyslaves.” Crickets.
Our threat assessment is completely broken.
• Macklemore says “free Palestine.” Kicked off a tour, endless coverage.
• Kanye praises Hitler, denies the Holocaust. Ah well show must go on.
• Vance ally Tucker Carlson casually banters about “goyslaves.” Crickets.
Our threat assessment is completely broken.
I asked AT&T Stadium about the Rolling Stone report about how they objected to Macklemore coming to Arlington next month. They didn't comment, but as I've noted they're still hosting Kanye West in November: www.chron.com/culture/arti...
AT&T Stadium, which will host Ye this fall, objected to Macklemore
The Seattle rapper was dropped from Ed Sheeran's stadium tour bill.
www.chron.com
September 15, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Perfect encapsulation of the moment.
• Macklemore says “free Palestine.” Kicked off a tour, endless coverage.
• Kanye praises Hitler, denies the Holocaust. Ah well show must go on.
• Vance ally Tucker Carlson casually banters about “goyslaves.” Crickets.
Our threat assessment is completely broken.
• Macklemore says “free Palestine.” Kicked off a tour, endless coverage.
• Kanye praises Hitler, denies the Holocaust. Ah well show must go on.
• Vance ally Tucker Carlson casually banters about “goyslaves.” Crickets.
Our threat assessment is completely broken.
Found the rarest thing of all, a good tweet
September 14, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Found the rarest thing of all, a good tweet
Broke: Salvation by Faith
Woke: Salvation by Works
Bespoke: Salvation by Logic and Reason
Woke: Salvation by Works
Bespoke: Salvation by Logic and Reason
September 12, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Broke: Salvation by Faith
Woke: Salvation by Works
Bespoke: Salvation by Logic and Reason
Woke: Salvation by Works
Bespoke: Salvation by Logic and Reason
Tomorrow’s the 25th anniversary of 9/11, but next week is *also* the 18th anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the start of the 2008 financial crisis
Crude flying this morning—Brent now above $104/bbl.
Wheels coming off.
Wheels coming off.
September 10, 2026 at 1:51 PM
Tomorrow’s the 25th anniversary of 9/11, but next week is *also* the 18th anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the start of the 2008 financial crisis
Reposted by Theoderic
Big Tech’s PR work around AI has been a masterclass in how not to communicate with the public about technology
December 10, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Big Tech’s PR work around AI has been a masterclass in how not to communicate with the public about technology
Regulation is how disruptive technologies win public trust and mass adoption. Unfortunately, AI execs have convinced themselves that they're exempt from both politics and the laws of history.
There used to be a credible argument that AI industry statements about the potential dangers of AI were primarily a PR exercise to boost fundraising.
What’s happening in the current round of this discourse is different because some within the industry are openly asking for oversight and regulation.
What’s happening in the current round of this discourse is different because some within the industry are openly asking for oversight and regulation.
September 10, 2026 at 12:23 AM
Regulation is how disruptive technologies win public trust and mass adoption. Unfortunately, AI execs have convinced themselves that they're exempt from both politics and the laws of history.
Reposted by Theoderic
This is, of course, an oversimplification and an unfair generalization, but... everyone has lost their minds.
April 26, 2026 at 12:53 PM
This is, of course, an oversimplification and an unfair generalization, but... everyone has lost their minds.
Reposted by Theoderic
I think part of it is the potential for locking out competitors through regulation. "This needs to be handled responsibly, and we are Serious Thinkers about the issue so you should trust us and not some fly-by-night foreign startup."
September 8, 2026 at 8:17 PM
I think part of it is the potential for locking out competitors through regulation. "This needs to be handled responsibly, and we are Serious Thinkers about the issue so you should trust us and not some fly-by-night foreign startup."
Basically two possibilities here:
• AI labs are consciously ignoring well-founded warnings from their own experts
• AI labs see x-risk as a way to hype their own capabilities and so indulge some pontification by eccentric employees
Can’t wait to find out which one it is!! (My bet is 75% hype.)
• AI labs are consciously ignoring well-founded warnings from their own experts
• AI labs see x-risk as a way to hype their own capabilities and so indulge some pontification by eccentric employees
Can’t wait to find out which one it is!! (My bet is 75% hype.)
September 8, 2026 at 6:20 PM
Basically two possibilities here:
• AI labs are consciously ignoring well-founded warnings from their own experts
• AI labs see x-risk as a way to hype their own capabilities and so indulge some pontification by eccentric employees
Can’t wait to find out which one it is!! (My bet is 75% hype.)
• AI labs are consciously ignoring well-founded warnings from their own experts
• AI labs see x-risk as a way to hype their own capabilities and so indulge some pontification by eccentric employees
Can’t wait to find out which one it is!! (My bet is 75% hype.)
This is right, but I would put a finer point on it. The appropriate vocabulary centers power. Social networks democratize power. AI concentrates it.
All the big breakthroughs in Silicon Valley that happened in the 90s were about connecting people and that was exciting. Email, the internet, even social media!
'AI', as it exists today, is the opposite. It's about isolation. Stops people from talking to each other. Stops collaboration.
'AI', as it exists today, is the opposite. It's about isolation. Stops people from talking to each other. Stops collaboration.
September 8, 2026 at 2:36 AM
This is right, but I would put a finer point on it. The appropriate vocabulary centers power. Social networks democratize power. AI concentrates it.
By contrast: the best people I know in government have a commitment to public service so deeply-felt and genuine that it would make Leslie Knope blush
it's wild how republicans will be like "governing is bad, also elect me to govern you" and people do and they put their promise into practice and don't govern, run everything off a cliff, bankrupt everyone, light the world on fire, and after a while people forget about that and let them do it again
September 2, 2026 at 8:43 PM
By contrast: the best people I know in government have a commitment to public service so deeply-felt and genuine that it would make Leslie Knope blush
If the United States won anything, it was a Pyrrhic victory. You don’t get Trumpism without Iraq and the Global War on Terror, and there’s a nontrivial chance Trumpism in turn ends in a constitutional crisis the nation can’t survive as constituted.
bsky.app/profile/dipl...
bsky.app/profile/dipl...
"Islamism is on the rise in Britain but on the wane in Syria" I guess this is why they pay Noah the big bucks
September 2, 2026 at 5:47 PM
If the United States won anything, it was a Pyrrhic victory. You don’t get Trumpism without Iraq and the Global War on Terror, and there’s a nontrivial chance Trumpism in turn ends in a constitutional crisis the nation can’t survive as constituted.
bsky.app/profile/dipl...
bsky.app/profile/dipl...
Reposted by Theoderic
This is shocking behavior that should be a national scandal
This is a picture of two women from the Vernon Cadet Training Centre, which holds summer programming for 12-18 year olds to develop skills on the way to adulthood. Unlike Secretary Hegseth, they do not deserve contempt or ridicule.
September 1, 2026 at 2:26 AM
This is shocking behavior that should be a national scandal
I once worked on a case where ICE was trying to deport a small business owner paying for his daughter’s Ivy League tuition over a 30-year-old DUI conviction.
In the Obama administration, btw 🙃
In the Obama administration, btw 🙃
People who aren’t in the weeds of the immigration system generally don’t realize that the law is structured such that something like “you smoked a joint once in 1982” is grounds for indefinite detention in some of the worst facilities imaginable, even for decades-long legal permanent residents
A 76-year-old green card holder with stage 4 cancer was arrested at his citizenship application interview and has been held by ICE for two months.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
September 1, 2026 at 12:53 AM
I once worked on a case where ICE was trying to deport a small business owner paying for his daughter’s Ivy League tuition over a 30-year-old DUI conviction.
In the Obama administration, btw 🙃
In the Obama administration, btw 🙃
Reposted by Theoderic
If Dems win a trifecta in 2028 and don't push forum-shopping reform (and related judicial reforms) as their first bill, they'll doom everything else they try to do. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/30/u...
How Trump’s Policy Agenda Runs Through One Federal Court, in Texas (Gift Article)
For years, conservative litigants flocked to Judge Reed O’Connor’s district. Now, North Texas has become a favorite destination of the Justice Department.
www.nytimes.com
August 30, 2026 at 12:43 PM
If Dems win a trifecta in 2028 and don't push forum-shopping reform (and related judicial reforms) as their first bill, they'll doom everything else they try to do. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/30/u...
Reposted by Theoderic
My view is that we should not have a secret police. And any government action against a person under U.S. jurisdiction motivated by the political views of that person is a violation of the First Amendment. Follow the Constitution. Abolish ICE.
August 30, 2026 at 8:44 PM
My view is that we should not have a secret police. And any government action against a person under U.S. jurisdiction motivated by the political views of that person is a violation of the First Amendment. Follow the Constitution. Abolish ICE.
All this for a deeply unpopular president about to suffer an enormous electoral rebuke. Never cease to be amazed by the spineless of some elites.
Pathetic -- Google is now referring to Lake Ontario as "Lake America"
August 30, 2026 at 10:21 PM
All this for a deeply unpopular president about to suffer an enormous electoral rebuke. Never cease to be amazed by the spineless of some elites.