Matthew James
@matlake.bsky.social
I’m just here because it’s not Twitter (RIP)
Pinned
Matthew James
@matlake.bsky.social
· Jul 9
Fuck AI
Reposted by Matthew James
This is an important article.
The authors argue: What we’ve seen is reversible—but only if we have two parties that commit to defending democracy.
The authors argue: What we’ve seen is reversible—but only if we have two parties that commit to defending democracy.
Lucan Way and I have been writing about competitive authoritarianism for more than 25 years. We never thought we'd write this piece.
www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/com...
www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/com...
Competitive Authoritarianism in America | Journal of Democracy
The United States has slid into competitive authoritarianism. The slide has been modest and remains reversible—but it is real. Even after Donald Trump, American democracy will remain fragile.
www.journalofdemocracy.org
October 6, 2026 at 1:55 AM
This is an important article.
The authors argue: What we’ve seen is reversible—but only if we have two parties that commit to defending democracy.
The authors argue: What we’ve seen is reversible—but only if we have two parties that commit to defending democracy.
Reposted by Matthew James
Systematic theologians across the world would like a word.
“Accepted” for 3 days bro.
“Accepted” for 3 days bro.
October 5, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Systematic theologians across the world would like a word.
“Accepted” for 3 days bro.
“Accepted” for 3 days bro.
Reposted by Matthew James
Tim Snyder: The term that I came up with… is superpower suicide. I just can’t see an example of a major country losing so much power so quickly as the United States under Trump.
We’ve encouraged our enemies and we’ve made our allies not trust us.
We’ve encouraged our enemies and we’ve made our allies not trust us.
October 4, 2026 at 6:20 PM
Tim Snyder: The term that I came up with… is superpower suicide. I just can’t see an example of a major country losing so much power so quickly as the United States under Trump.
We’ve encouraged our enemies and we’ve made our allies not trust us.
We’ve encouraged our enemies and we’ve made our allies not trust us.
Reposted by Matthew James
who on his what
"Talk about testosterone!" Apparently, this guy met Manly MAGA Jesus in Heaven...
October 4, 2026 at 11:17 PM
who on his what
The @chicagostars.com are now three goals conceded away from a negative 50 goal difference on the season. #NWSL
October 4, 2026 at 8:37 PM
The @chicagostars.com are now three goals conceded away from a negative 50 goal difference on the season. #NWSL
Reposted by Matthew James
Ah, this may be it:
1989 Teamsters were put under federal oversight bc they’d been mobbed up forever. Ever since they’ve looked to Repubs to help them end the consent decree. Nothing was more important to them
I looked, & sure enough, DOJ just ended federal oversight teamster.org/2026/09/u-s-...
1989 Teamsters were put under federal oversight bc they’d been mobbed up forever. Ever since they’ve looked to Repubs to help them end the consent decree. Nothing was more important to them
I looked, & sure enough, DOJ just ended federal oversight teamster.org/2026/09/u-s-...
October 3, 2026 at 11:25 PM
Ah, this may be it:
1989 Teamsters were put under federal oversight bc they’d been mobbed up forever. Ever since they’ve looked to Repubs to help them end the consent decree. Nothing was more important to them
I looked, & sure enough, DOJ just ended federal oversight teamster.org/2026/09/u-s-...
1989 Teamsters were put under federal oversight bc they’d been mobbed up forever. Ever since they’ve looked to Repubs to help them end the consent decree. Nothing was more important to them
I looked, & sure enough, DOJ just ended federal oversight teamster.org/2026/09/u-s-...
Why was the roof closed on such a beautiful night? Oh, that’s right, Wisconsin fans can’t handle the “cold.”
October 4, 2026 at 4:08 AM
Why was the roof closed on such a beautiful night? Oh, that’s right, Wisconsin fans can’t handle the “cold.”
Reposted by Matthew James
Russle Vought confuses himself with Congress.
Russ Vought: "We fund what we need to fund. I'm not at all shy about we want to spend billions of dollars on a new shipyard. We're up there defending the $1.5t that the Department of War needs. But it's also coming at a ton of reduction on the non-defense side"
October 2, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Russle Vought confuses himself with Congress.
Reposted by Matthew James
🤡 Schmitt beclowns himself 🤡
Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong.
Here's the whole sequence:
Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong.
Here's the whole sequence:
September 29, 2026 at 3:07 PM
🤡 Schmitt beclowns himself 🤡
Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong.
Here's the whole sequence:
Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong.
Here's the whole sequence:
Reposted by Matthew James
Jack Smith: "Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation ... rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 election, he engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power"
September 29, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Jack Smith: "Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation ... rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 election, he engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power"
Reposted by Matthew James
Sure, the 2024 election was one too, but 2026 might be the clearest intelligence test ever presented to the American electorate. Taken at face value, he's saying he stole hundreds of billions from the gov't, hid it somewhere Congress can't reach, and he pinky swears he will give you a piece. Really.
Trump: "Because of tariffs, we are taking in hundreds of billions of dollars of profits. It's one of the reasons I can offer, if Republicans win the House and Senate, $5,000 to every adult. We can do it and the Democrats can't, because the Democrats don't have any income."
September 28, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Sure, the 2024 election was one too, but 2026 might be the clearest intelligence test ever presented to the American electorate. Taken at face value, he's saying he stole hundreds of billions from the gov't, hid it somewhere Congress can't reach, and he pinky swears he will give you a piece. Really.
Reposted by Matthew James
Fall Canceled After 3 Billion Seasons https://theonion.com/fall-canceled-after-3-billion-seasons-1819569446/
September 28, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Fall Canceled After 3 Billion Seasons https://theonion.com/fall-canceled-after-3-billion-seasons-1819569446/
Reposted by Matthew James
There have been lots of malevolent Supreme Court justices, but there's not really a precedent for a Supreme Court justice who is as *dumb* as Brett Kavanaugh. A complete rube. Shows his ass every time he tries to write down more than two sentences of original thought.
Brett Kavanaugh’s Imaginary Immigration Stops Opinion Gets More Embarrassing Every Day
The fact that ICE officers do not allow wrongfully detained people to “promptly go free” is a surprise to only one man in America.
ballsandstrikes.org
September 23, 2026 at 3:34 PM
There have been lots of malevolent Supreme Court justices, but there's not really a precedent for a Supreme Court justice who is as *dumb* as Brett Kavanaugh. A complete rube. Shows his ass every time he tries to write down more than two sentences of original thought.
Reposted by Matthew James
With the midterm elections shaping up to be a massive reckoning for the Republican Party, it's worth remembering that they had a fairly easy offramp from Trumpism in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th riot but they completely chickened out.
September 22, 2026 at 12:12 PM
With the midterm elections shaping up to be a massive reckoning for the Republican Party, it's worth remembering that they had a fairly easy offramp from Trumpism in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th riot but they completely chickened out.
Reposted by Matthew James
Insert this into my veins
LMFAO -- Trump is holding an event at the White House right now but there's no audio because the press pool isn't there. The Newsmax host notes that this is an example of Trump's attacks on the press "backfiring just a little bit"
September 22, 2026 at 12:01 AM
Insert this into my veins
Reposted by Matthew James
Pat McAfee's voice is so nasal it sounds like a talking dog in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon
September 22, 2026 at 1:47 AM
Pat McAfee's voice is so nasal it sounds like a talking dog in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon
Reposted by Matthew James
We really are getting into 'The Death of Stalin' and "Der Untergang' ('Downfall') territory.
September 20, 2026 at 1:07 PM
We really are getting into 'The Death of Stalin' and "Der Untergang' ('Downfall') territory.
Reposted by Matthew James
They can self-regulate, says the guy who shares a porn accountability app with his son.
Mike Johnson on OpenAI and Anthropic: "They can self-police. They can self-regulate."
September 16, 2026 at 6:52 PM
They can self-regulate, says the guy who shares a porn accountability app with his son.
Reposted by Matthew James
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that fuck horses
Are the same that fuck horses
FBI Reportedly Loosens Hiring Rules So ‘Prostitution and Bestiality’ Are No Longer ‘Automatic Disqualifiers’
FBI Reportedly Loosens Hiring Rules So ‘Prostitution and Bestiality’ Are No Longer ‘Automatic Disqualifiers’
The FBI has reportedly relaxed hiring standards that previously automatically disqualified applicants who admitted to hiring prostitutes, engaging in bestiality, or stealing from an employer.
The post FBI Reportedly Loosens Hiring Rules So ‘Prostitution and Bestiality’ Are No Longer ‘Automatic Disqualifiers’ first appeared on Mediaite.
dlvr.it
September 10, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that fuck horses
Are the same that fuck horses
Reposted by Matthew James
The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory self-regulated.
Mike Johnson on OpenAI and Anthropic: "They can self-police. They can self-regulate."
September 16, 2026 at 12:51 PM
The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory self-regulated.
Reposted by Matthew James
Genuinely an insane paragraph from Sam Alito. “Voter fraud is real and scary and we have to stop it, so the fact that implementing Trump’s mail ballot rule will disenfranchise millions is legally irrelevant.” Brain melted. A right-wing podcaster in a robe. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
September 15, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Genuinely an insane paragraph from Sam Alito. “Voter fraud is real and scary and we have to stop it, so the fact that implementing Trump’s mail ballot rule will disenfranchise millions is legally irrelevant.” Brain melted. A right-wing podcaster in a robe. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
Reposted by Matthew James
quite something this paragraph.
September 15, 2026 at 10:54 AM
quite something this paragraph.
Reposted by Matthew James
Exceptional journalism from @newyorker.com
on Jared Kushner's catastrophic diplomacy, conflicts of interest, arrogance. He represents "a new kind of Washington figure, for whom public office serves as a means to extraordinary wealth" www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
on Jared Kushner's catastrophic diplomacy, conflicts of interest, arrogance. He represents "a new kind of Washington figure, for whom public office serves as a means to extraordinary wealth" www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Jared Kushner’s Dollar Diplomacy
Jared Kushner represents the kind of Washington figure for whom public office serves as a means to extraordinary wealth.
www.newyorker.com
September 14, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Exceptional journalism from @newyorker.com
on Jared Kushner's catastrophic diplomacy, conflicts of interest, arrogance. He represents "a new kind of Washington figure, for whom public office serves as a means to extraordinary wealth" www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
on Jared Kushner's catastrophic diplomacy, conflicts of interest, arrogance. He represents "a new kind of Washington figure, for whom public office serves as a means to extraordinary wealth" www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Matthew James
I said it at the time (and before!), but I truly believe that American voters electing Donald Trump for a second term in 2024 was the dumbest and most self-harming choice made by an electorate in the history of humanity
September 15, 2026 at 12:07 AM
I said it at the time (and before!), but I truly believe that American voters electing Donald Trump for a second term in 2024 was the dumbest and most self-harming choice made by an electorate in the history of humanity
Reposted by Matthew James
Aspire to live in such a way that reporters write stories on why people don’t like you. 🙃
baptistnews.com/article/what...
baptistnews.com/article/what...
What’s so upsetting to evangelicals about Kristin Du Mez?
Unfortunately, not everyone in evangelicalism receives Du Mez’s scholarship with such openness, says Rick Pidcock.
baptistnews.com
September 11, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Aspire to live in such a way that reporters write stories on why people don’t like you. 🙃
baptistnews.com/article/what...
baptistnews.com/article/what...