Jason Ward

@MuseZack @wesyang We like having a single, easy target to blame for bad things. For whatever reason, people don't see the nuance and complexity of things, and they often really don't want to. It's a shame, bc it keeps us from having better understanding and meaningful discussions & solutions.

@wesyang It's odd how the two canonical works about the AIDS crisis, And The Band Played On and The Normal Heart-- both written by gay men--were clear-eyed and unsparing about what a political fight it was to close the bath houses, yet the popular narrative is still "Reagan's fault."

It's all spelled out exhaustively by Randy Shilts in the And the Band Played On. There was a roughly nine-month period after it became clear that AIDS was sexually transmitted and raging out of control among a category of super-spreaders in which the disease could have been prevented from becoming a global pandemic through ordinary public health measures that included shutting down the bathhouses, which were the main vector of the contagion. The response of San Francisco's well-organized gay community was to 1.) remain in denial that the disease was sexually transmitted 2.) insist that shutting down the bathhouses would be forcing people back into the closet, 3.) smear and shame members of their own gay leadership who tried to protect them from an ensuing holocaust that would go on to become endemic around the world. The brief window in which the pandemic could have been nipped in the bud closed -- the ensuing gay holocaust and the spread of HIV to devastate a continent was by then unavoidable.

@TimothySandefur Wait, are you saying "It's okay, I'm not mad at you" and then driving away isn't a threat?! 😜 Next you'll say shooting a kneeling man 9 times while he's helping someone is "murder"! To the MAGA cult, I say this: supporting your gov murdering its own citizens is NOT patriotic.

Some people just cannot let go of the lie that murder victim Renee Good was somehow magically trying to “run over” someone who was beside a car going two miles an hour. cnn.com/2026/01/17/us/… I guess hate does things to people.

I can't take it anymore. This fear of chemicals is pitiful. Your body is chemistry. Every second of every day. Food, medicine, air, water - all chemicals. Stop pretending “chemical” means something alien. It’s not. Toxicity isn’t about the chemical. It’s about the dose.

@JamesTate121 @AnnieSage You quote these instances and statistics to these fucking morons and they just retreat back to their fantasy world where men rule and women should do as they’re told.

@TimothySandefur Yes, but we don't have competent people in charge 😜

As, of course, any competent person would have predicted:

I predict this will be my favorite heavy metal album of all time in fact, it already is.

@TimothySandefur Is it just me or does this sound like it was written by a middle schooler who only skimmed the research?

This is an actual filing by actual lawyers that your tax dollars (or maybe illegal tariff dollars) are paying for. For real.

@Luizmd @fuqekgs You know what the best part about the Internet is? We can find the reasons he actually got suspended.

@Rinsky32379803 @TimothySandefur The real TDS is supporting an UnAmerican Fauxpublican imbecile like Trump. #TrumpHatesAmerica

@TimothySandefur Honest about TDS

👍

@TimothySandefur This is one of those memes that's so uncomfortable because it's so damn accurate.

@upstatefederlst We did, literally all the time, LOL. We watched TV shows from those eras, too, including Star Trek, I love Lucy, the Honeymooners and many more. What exactly do you think the channels were broadcasting? Only new stuff every minute of every day?

People out here acting like 80s and 90s kids regularly watched movies from the 50s and 60s.

@DrNeilStone Yes, but unlike Pete Hegseth, George Washington wasn't a complete moron.

In 1777 George Washington himself mandated smallpox inoculation for his troops

@philotheis49253 @MuseZack @BradRTorgersen Astute observation! It's funny, for all the pop culture claim that Kirk just hunted every woman in sight, that's almost never actually true.

@MuseZack @BradRTorgersen For me it’s that dinner scene when Kirk cunningly gets Khan to reveal his true character and intentions. “Very good, Captain!” In this ep he really gives the lie to the stereotype that he’s just a gallivanting womanizer. He’s actually a masterful tactician and courageous leader.

TOS re-watch day 23: "Space Seed" doesn't need any introduction because even non-Trek people know Mantalban as Khan. The best screen villain in the franchise, thanks to Mantalban's reprisal for the second film. Egotistical. Ruthless. Arrogant. Physically mighty. And apparently able to make red-shirt female lieutenants melt with desire just with his electric glare. My wife's been re-watching these with me, and had plenty to shout at the screen during this episode. Khan is a genetically-concocted Andrew Tate. Just with hair. Who regards women like tools to be be used or abused as he sees fit. And of course Marla McGivers can't help herself because . . . rizz and vibe. Naturally Kirk, Spock, et al., knew Khan was the heavy from the moment he revealed his character over dinner. As for McGivers throwing her panties on Khan's stage, it seemed preposterous to me that any Academy product short of the rancid Kurtzmantrek Starfleet Academy could and would so quickly abandon duty, honor, or career, just to be Khan's trailer park battered wife. Sleeper ships would of course be re-visited in later Trek lore. And Khan wouldn't be the only 20th-century personality transported to the time of the UFP. It occurs to me this episode really could have been a great season-ending cliff-hanger. Had they been doing such things in the 1960s. More of Khan's crew could have been examined (as people) and their mindset and motivations explored. Maybe one or two of them have a change of heart? Now, wouldn't that have been an interesting contrast to McGivers immediately falling for Khan's rich Corinthian leather pecs. As always, I thought the CGI makeover was very respectful to the practical effects of the time. The DY-100 space freighter is rendered very nicely, with the interstellar scarring of a 200-year trip evidenced on its hull. And Mantalban really is delightfully imposing in this part. Enough to tee up the plot of the second film such that very little exposition was needed to give Star Trek II the emotional heft it needed for a proper show-down between Kirk and his foe. Khan really would sacrifice everything to ensure Kirk was defeated. He would never forgive the bruising of his superman's pride. To say nothing of the brutal indignity of Ceti Alpha V's decay into lifelessness post-shock.

@MuseZack @BradRTorgersen Yes! It's a terrific example of being able to simultaneously see the strengths of someone while also acknowledging their flaws. We like to oversimplify people, but there's often more nuance if we're willing to look beyond the surface. TOS often excelled at this.

@BradRTorgersen The best scene in the episode is where Kirk and company are talking about Khan and basically saying "Yeah, he was bad...but still we admire him" and Spock is just baffled by how the humans find him a compelling figure. Modern Trek could never...

@TimothySandefur Personally, I'd say make it a high school requirement at the latest. Better yet, introduce the basics as early as possible and add more complex topics as students mature. I know, I know... Crazy talk.

Shocked shocked etc

This

@MuseZack @EliasToufexis Agreed. More often than not they leave you with something to think about, similar to some of the other old sci fi anthologies like Twilight Zone or Outer Limits. Their strength is in treating ideas with respect and honesty.

@EliasToufexis The thing about Trek is that like James Bond, there's almost always something to enjoy even in mediocre to bad installments.

You won’t find a bigger Star Trek fan than I am and even I think there are only about 20 good TOS episodes. But when they’re good, they’re fucking great.

@DrNeilStone This meme sums up the situation.

@MuseZack I can't think of anything more dangerous than a religious extremist computer program. Well, except maybe a religious extremist HUMAN 😜

We literally did this as a story arc in the Sarah Connor Chronicles way back when…