Whaler Swift

Whaler Swift

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a black-and-white photograph of several Chicago buildings with Lake Michigan and ice in the foreground

Chicago, January 2026 - Selfies at Trump Tower

I listened to Trump's Davos speech, all of it, in real time. Which is to say, I had it on in the Chicago hotel room where I'm staying for a few days, between visits to family in Michigan and friends in New York. The speech was

Some Thoughts on Charlie Kirk

Some Thoughts on Charlie Kirk

Charlie Kirk, the pro-gun, racist, transphobic Christian nationalist, died yesterday in a shocking act of violence. Other shocking acts of violence yesterday included 43 Palestinians killed with the approval of America, and a school shooting in my county of residence in Colorado. America is violent in many ways, but Charlie

A black and white photo of the old radar dome at Tempelhof, Berlin, with some pipes in the foreground and partly-cloudy sky in the background

The 4th of July and Boredom in Berlin

It’s the 4th of July, Independence Day in the United States. Congress passed Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ yesterday, while he was touring his new concentration camp, spitting anti-semitic slurs, and telling his rally crowds he hates Democrats. He’s expected to sign it into law today. Amid the

a two part meme with 'socialism' at the top paired with a green market line going up, and 'not stonks' at the bottom paired with a red market line going down

Finding Hope in Democratic Control of the Economy

Today's big news, in case you haven't heard, is that Trump has used mid tech and three-drink-barroom-napkin math to own his haters by crashing the global economy overnight. I've been scared for my future, as well as the future of billions of non-super-rich people

🇺🇸 ❤️ Hierarchy

🇺🇸 ❤️ Hierarchy

I’ve been finding it comforting, in recent months, to reread Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy. Besides being a pretty good story, I love seeing how his First Hundred Mars colonists, as well as subsequent generations, approach building their new Martian society. It’s reminding me that different, better