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The Trump years are ending – at least for now. Granted, its somewhat problematic here to even use the past tense. Trump is still President, and he may run again in 2024. Which makes the underlying problem of how to think about the question of “what was/is Trumpism” all the more important. I have talked about this puzzle in the past, and this pos...

I honestly did not want to write another post about social media moderation/counter-disinfo for a while. Especially about Twitter moderation. But, as Jeff Goldblum once said, nature finds a way. So here we are. Within barely a day, Twitter has crossed a rubicon in one of the most (characteristically) incoherent and self-defeating ways possible. ...

It’s fall 2020, but we’re already well into our winter of discontent. In the grip of a seemingly endless omni-crisis, America lurches towards what could very well be a disputed election and all of the various bad to worse scenarios associated with it. The President has issued what many interpret as a coded signal to white supremacist groups duri...

Johnny Doom is quickly becoming one of my favorite Doom mods to play these days. What puts it head and shoulders above many of the other Brutal Doom forks? Well, its partly the aesthetics. Johnny Doom looks, feels, and plays like a collection of venerable arcade and console games. It has the alert noises from Metal Gear Solid and the color palet...

Is a virus a strategic actor? Most would say no. Many find the entire notion to be totally absurd. In wars the enemy is an active opponent capable of reasoning about goals and pursuing them. A virus is far more governed by impersonal mathematical laws than anything else. Inasmuch as it can improve and adapt its behaviors, it does so via evoluti...

We are in a period of extended turmoil that might informally be called the “omni-crisis.” There is no clear resolution in sight to the COVID-19 pandemic and the various material, psychological, social, economic, and political disruptions it has directly or indirectly produced or accelerated. Escalating civil unrest without an obvious off-ramp no...

Today, the President tweeted a plea for unspecified individuals to “liberate” states whose governors are politically opposed to his plans to end COVID-19 lockdown procedures. Some have interpreted it as voicing support for protests against the lockdown. Others see it as violent incitement. What did Trump really mean when he called on everyone a...

Something that was a small segment of one of my prior posts – It is an exaggeration to say that fringe weirdos on social media often were more well-informed than people that exclusively evaluated mainstream sources, but not that much of an exaggeration as most would think. And that is not accidental. As Ben Thompson noted, the global COVID-1...