PinnedCharles Bastille on MediumAn index of my Medium articles you probably missed — The great conceit of any writer is that we assume other people want to read our stuff. There is heady blindness to truth in that regard, I’m sure, but I’m going to proceed as if. I recently read an article from someone complaining about pinned stories, and it made a…About12 min readAbout12 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·10 hours agoMember-onlyTrump’s Deep State Ties to RussiaTurns out Trump was sorta right about a deep state — This week we discovered that recently arrested former FBI special agent Charles McGonigal had specific ties to Trump’s association with Russia. Yeppers, everyone. One of the fellas who was supposed to be investigating Russia’s ties to America’s favorite con man was allegedly working for the wrong team. Do you remember…Politics7 min readPolitics7 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·4 days agoMember-onlyThe Far-Right Insurgency Is Alive and WellAnd it’s coming to a country and congress near you — Did you breathe a sigh of relief when a handful of extremists lost elections during the latest midterms? Well, get out your oxygen masks, because I sure didn’t. Here’s why: Steve Bannon, who somehow evades prison with the alacrity that George Santos dodges the truth, has been ratcheting up…Politics10 min readPolitics10 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·Jan 5Member-onlyKevin McCarthy’s HumiliationathonRepublicans invent a new word during their ongoing contest for worst person — Representative Kevin McCarthy of California is redefining political humiliation during a bitter contest between Republicans over who can be America’s worst person. We now have a new word. Humiliationathon. I know. It’s a long word, but it reflects McCarthy’s continuing dance with utter humiliation. As I write this, Republicans are…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
Published in Radical Christianity·Dec 31, 2022Member-onlyWas God Found on GitHub?A plugin developer claims to have found a backdoor to God in his code — In September, a plugin developer named Aleksey Vaneev claimed that he found theoretical proof of the existence of God while building an algorithm for a white noise generator (!). Then, he posted his results on GitHub: GitHub - avaneev/prvhash: PRVHASH - Pseudo-Random-Value Hash. Hash functions, PRNG with unlimited… PRVHASH is a hash function that generates a uniform pseudo-random number sequence derived from the message. PRVHASH is…github.comJesus8 min readJesus8 min read
Published in Ruminato·Dec 16, 2022Member-onlyThat Stench You Smell Is MuskWhat is that awful stench coming from the son of apartheid? — Can you imagine being so rich that you can buy Twitter and ban anyone who rubs you the wrong way? Elon Musk can. …Musk7 min readMusk7 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·Dec 12, 2022Member-onlyRepublican Charlie Baker For President?Run, Charlie, run! — If you’re a centrist or a normal Republican (are there any of you left?) looking to repair the damage, you’d do well to yell into Charlie Baker’s ear and tell him to run for president. Who is Charlie Baker, you ask? As governor of Massachusetts, he is what the Republican…Politics8 min readPolitics8 min read
Published in Ruminato·Dec 5, 2022Member-onlyWhy Andor Is the Best Science Fiction TV Show Ever MadeA story about oppression that speaks to our modern world — Caution: Minor spoilers ahead… I’ve been a science-fiction fan since I was a young lad listening to singles on my 45 RPM record player. Guess what, kids? That’s a long time. Unlike many sci-fi fans, I’m not big on fandom. I can’t tell you much about Star Wars canon even…Andor8 min readAndor8 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·Nov 18, 2022Member-onlyWhy Isn’t Charles Bastille Writing about Trump?I’m done with Trump and you should be too — Worldwide, people are asking why I’m done writing about the Orange Puffaloe of Mar-a-Lago. Okay, I exaggerate — one grossly underpaid writer named Charles is asking. See, I woke up the morning after the puffy king of rage announced his candidacy with another easy Medium rant. Adding “Trump” to a…Trump4 min readTrump4 min read
Published in Ruminato·Nov 16, 2022Member-onlyElon Musk’s MasterClass on How To Ruin a CompanyLesson Number One: Threaten your employees — If you’re a recruiter, take note of the dates Twitter software engineers mark as their employment dates. If it includes any period after Elon Musk purchased the company, skip the whiteboard test. Nobody worth a dime can possibly still be working for this guy. Since taking over Twitter, Musk has…Elon Musk6 min readElon Musk6 min read