Remembering when the NYT went on a weeks-long bender covering a decades-old real estate deal the Clintons were involved in, in which they *lost money*.
Mental health, unapologetic liberal politics, ukulele, PNW, outdoors, cats, baseball and Bowie. She/her. No DMs unless I know you, please.
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Remembering when the NYT went on a weeks-long bender covering a decades-old real estate deal the Clintons were involved in, in which they *lost money*.
Any argument that a social media platform run by an unhinged white supremacist is inherently better than anything else short of taking a knitting needle in the eye seems to be based a flawed premise.
Whistleblowers only dogs can hear in this media landscape.
One thing they’ve been very successful at is making it so when sober experts put their careers and reputations on the line to issue grave warnings, it gets mostly a shrug.
Quantifying is hard but I figure about 90% of the problems with cops can be addressed by eliminating high speed chases and making carrying lethal or severe non-lethal (eg Taser) force a specialized subset of cops with extremely high training and accountability standards.
Aside from how Obama is remembered, it's striking that Obamacare is basically the last serious presidential legislative agenda that wasn't just trying to contort an annual budget bill to fit in everything you can crowbar into it.
This thread and the one on Mark Knopfler inspired me to download a bunch of songs
Public health today is under attack, but nobody is rushing to save it Why? When public health works, NOTHING happens - bad things are prevented and nobody even knows Because the successes are not visible, people take it for granted Public health must communicate our successes We must be visible
Oh yeah
it is probably “find the river”
End of the World as We Know It
People are melting down at a Tribune article about CHSD 230 considering adding Arabic to its language learning electives. I wasted time in the comments, which I normally avoid doing since it's useless and awful, but it led to possibly the funniest thing anybody's ever said to me about France.
I love the smell of consequences in the morning. Thank you, @dragoncon.org
we should bring back corruption as a liability for politicians
What if they not letting Trump speak because he had a Reverse Fetterman Stroke and hes woke now
“people that I find personally annoying are the reason the other side wins elections” is the laziest possible form of political analysis
you cannot fix a crime problem that does not exist except in the right wing fever swamps crime is at all time lows all over the place - reality simply does not matter in the face of relentless messaging to the contrary the jackbooted thug problem, however, is very real
"do you think its a good thing that american citizens are staying inside, instead of enjoying their city and their normal lives, because they're afraid of being harassed by soldiers for no reason?" is the retort to those questions
churn baby churn
They make a desert and call it peace.
jesus man
Shocker
the thing about Zohran is he is really fucking good at politics and everyone on the Dem side behaving like he’s a liability has lost their minds I don’t care how you define It, he has It
kinda notable that all GOP candidates seem to be capped at 41% here could honestly be a floor for them, and they haven't found a way to grow past it so far
I get that it’s a Nazi thing but also “captive dreamer” is some shit you might write on your binder in seventh grade and we should mock him more for that
honestly think this is as much a fetish thing for elon as much as it is a racist thing
This by WSJ is one of the best articles of journalism about the Russian-Ukraine war. A thoroughly sourced account of why Ukraine won the battle of Kyiv in the winter of 2022.
The modern American reaction to voter intimidation and suppression has been a loud “fuck you,” manifesting in turnout and patience. And the next one’s going to be a doozy. Everyone who says it’s all over is wrong. Whether or not they realize, helping the intimidation. Not easy, but far from over.
To pick one of many possible examples: the Nazis basically went “those world class nuclear physicists are nerdy eggheads and way too Jewy, not like manly Aryans” while Hitler had people researching the occult. The 20th century equivalent of thinking Putin’s military will easily win because pushups.
It’s not true that there are no principled conservatives, and every time they appealed to principle it was merely a mask for “it’s bad if you do it, but good when we do it, and we’re eager to do it a lot more.” It’s just that principled conservatives all went NeverTrump, by Jan. 6 at the latest.
Civic education and especially the press in this country aren't great, but the big problem here is that the people acting like the president isn't a public servant tasked with faithfully executing the law, but instead The Country's Boss, includes the GOP majorities in Congress and the Supreme Court.
They're going to Baghdad Bob the economic data until the lies crash into reality the hard way.
If he's not allowed to violate the Constitution and impose illegal policies, then he won't be able to use the tools he's not using to prevent global conflicts on the global conflicts he's actively making worse.
Pritzker out here giving a master class in countering the right wing propaganda machine’s efforts to justify further federal invasions and occupations of American cities: he’s effectively reframing the discussion (beyond debates re: crime rates) to one of rising authoritarianism & federal overreach.
The lies' laughable implausibility is a feature, not a bug. They're not trying to convince discerning, skeptical, fact-based people. They're trying to give supporters a fantasy that validates their feelings and creates a sort of loyalty test, while flaunting the absurdity in everyone else's faces.
This is something I’ve thought about A LOT lately- the kinds of essential reporting that large traditional media has inexplicably stopped doing. For example, why aren’t there more reporters in the streets of DC, describing what it’s like? It’s truly dumbfounding
I think the US government putting out plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza is really bad. I recognize that some Americans like it, while some others think it isn't a relevant change and makes no difference, but I disagree. I think it's bad, worse than what came before.
Good to see a bipartisan group of former CDC Directors raise alarms in the NY Times about RFK Jr. dismantling US public health. And I can’t help but feel frustrated that they didn’t do this last year when public health was on the ballot—nor did NYT frame it that way—when we had a chance to stop it.
The “Putin wants peace” crowd, especially the “poor persecuted Russia just has some reasonable security requests” variety, really need to reckon with . Peace-seekers don’t go after the bureaucrats and diplomats.
“Polarize this debate to the max” is right. Public health is very important, real life-and-death stakes. Today’s America has one pro-disease party and one anti-disease party. “Don’t politicize high stakes issues where you’re right”—in the name of civility or unity or whatever—is a terrible norm.
I used a 5-min segment on CBC News Network to push back directly against 3 separate myths we often hear. I emphasized that: 1) BRICS is nothing more than optics; it's members are not actual allies; 2) Ru maintains its maximalist demands; no progress was made in Alaska; 3) Ru isn't winning the war.
China didn’t take it. America gave it away.
The false, explicitly bigoted “great replacement” conspiracy theory has inspired some of the biggest terrorist attacks in recent years, including in Christchurch, New Zealand and El Paso, Texas. Transnational white nationalism—oxymoronic, yes, but nevertheless real—is a top terrorist threat today.
Already bad when people in your country try to get you rounded up and kicked out. A foreigner doing it, and stoking the sentiment, including with bigoted lies at scale, because his wealth and media control enables it, is insane. It’s already caused considerable harm, and appears to be getting worse.
Hannah Arendt: If “given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness”
When they said they didn't cover Biden's age and health enough, they meant Biden's specifically, not old presidents in general.
I have a language suggestion, which everyone can do, but is primarily for media members who value truth and Democratic politicians: Instead of asking and adjudicating if an obvious lie is false, make the fact that it's false your premise. "Why are you lying?" instead of "some say that's not true."
As best I can tell, the core of the "COVID measures restricted conservatives while being permissive to liberals" conspiracy theory is "I hated the George Floyd protests." Because the big public health institutions/officials were consistent in recommending against gatherings, even outside. See Fauci:
All disease and civil disorder in 2020, while Donald Trump was president, was Joe Biden and the Democrats' fault. And the economic problems that immediately followed Trump's mismanagement of COVID were entirely someone else's fault. I don't think that makes much sense, but I don't make the rules.
It's mostly "the biggest victim of COVID was me" combined with "I can't get mad at a virus, it doesn't react in a way that gives me emotional satisfaction." Obviously COVID policy wasn't perfect. But to think it was political persecution, and pretend Trump wasn't president then, is really something.
Question: What "liberal-coded institutions" were kept open during COVID while churches—for sake of argument, pretend they're all conservative—were closed? Universities closed, Hollywood shut down production, unions met on Zoom, progressives avoided indoor gatherings. So... which institutions?
If a few health professionals say something you don't like, all said it and we should destroy the CDC. If a few students say something you don't like, all higher ed said it and we should end academic freedom. If the president and his party does something, that's one guy spouting off, let it go.
I've become a quick block on "BlueAnon" conspiracy theorists pushing BS about secretly changed vote totals through hacking or whatever (that magically left zero evidence and don't even make sense logistically). Actively making the information environment worse. Which serves to benefit the liars.
If so, barely, and with strong disagreement. He got over 11 million more votes in 2020 than in 2016. 74.2 million American adults lived through 2020 and thought "more of that, please."
The 2024 election was a national referendum on living in factual reality and trying to address challenges responsibly. A plurality said no, even if some didn't consciously grasp that. Another example: Trump & Vance lying so much it hindered FEMA response to NC floods. Then the state voted for them.
COVID was Dems' fault because they acknowledged it. Any societal disruption could've been avoided if only we pretended. First time US media and voting public didn't hold the president responsible for a bad thing on his watch. Even as he messed it up on live TV. Nothing I can think of comes close.
There seems to be a cycle of Dems soaking up frustration about the system -- when the system works well enough for such frustration to be salient -- and then Republicans crashing the system. Which leads to Dems building it back up again and rise/repeat
I've said this before, but only one party caring about governance makes it, in turn, a magnet for public anger about governance
Thank you
I love the live version of Once Upon a Time in the West on Alchemy. 13 minutes of musical joy. The studio version is very different but also great.
Same
Yes of course it is. One of my favorites
Romeo and Juliet?
This one and CS&N’s Wooden Ships are 2 of the all time understated anti-war songs. They’re both quiet and poignant about the costs of war to the ordinary people doing the fighting.
The guitar/organ solo at the end of Brothers in Arms is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music. Every note is just right.
we’re talking about Mark Knopfler over here
see, that’s how you do it
Gotta admit it is kind of odd that Trump's signature achievement was "Not change taxes at all, just extend old ones for another 10 years" while he simultaeneously added the single largest tax increase via tariffs in.. idk how long.
Scandinavia is eons ahead of the rest of the world. As are the Dutch and the Germans…….
More of this please
Mayor Brandon Johnson signs executive order banning law enforcement from wearing masks in #Chicago and requiring their agency and badge number be identifiable at all times
States have the power to determine how they conduct elections, and Congress can make laws to change the ways states do things; the Times’ framing seems to accept that Congress’s role under Trump is to make stuff he’s not authorized to do retroactively constitutional.
We have all vote by mail in WA, thank goodness
Are you allowed to wear a shirt that says “Fuck the poll ICE” to vote? (Hypothetical, I checked the box that makes them send me a mail ballot automatically)
So it seems like the thing to do here is to identify the intersection of: 1) the stuff Trump is attacking 2) the stuff most easily explainable or that people already have a sense of being constitutional (that is, not emoluments or 14AS3) 3) the stuff that SCOTUS will let him do And hammer there.
God this is so completely fucked.
That’s an exercise in masochism.
NYTimes ten months later: using questionably constitutional tactics, Trump is offering a fresh, bold reimagining of the power of the American presidency
Reminds me of a photo of David Bowie that was taken a couple of days before he died. His smile had that same strained, not-his-usual quality. Obviously that doesn’t prove anything, it’s just an observation.
How many times in the last decade have we gone 6 days in a row without seeing Trump speaking on camera?
I believe Gwen Stefani also did in one of the Y2K concerts
I can
I think that’s closer for a lot of the general public (the leaders of course are just lying)
I feel like the insistence that voters are just really upset about crime, given this reality, is instructive for the notion that they just really care about high prices
Thanks. I vaguely remembered that his reign didn’t go well, but couldn’t recall the specifics. Appreciate the history lesson!
The sole mention of RFK Jr's opposition to vaccines is a throwaway aside in the 12th graf of the story, amidst some credulous useful idiocy from Zeke Emanuel. Nothing about his destruction of medical research in America. It treats him like he and Obama are pursuing the same goal slightly differently
What? Historically speaking I don't think you'll find any greater instances of criminal madness than those cooked up by fascist movements. Volkisch medicine and science is perfectly in line with fascism.
"Fun really is the name of the game for Trump & co. It’s fun for them to see a majority-Democratic city like DC live in fear of violence/deportation, to flood the trains/buses with armed law enforcement just because they can, to unleash troops who understand that they will not be held accountable."
Counterpoint: yes it does, it explains everything, this is what fascist regimes do. This really could be a description of Nazi Germany, and if that is not widely understood—particularly by reporters!—that is a problem.
What he said. Don’t be this dude
Read that first sentence again.
The LGML case came very close to being JGG redux. But just before the hearing began, the judge decided not to wait. She entered a TRO barring removal of all the children. That made all the difference: DHS already had the kids loaded on planes. One plane even took off (then turned around).
Buried lede: judges can in fact turn planes around
Anna has had excellent coverage of this developing case in which the Trump administration tried to use the holiday weekend to secretly and illegally deport children.
The White Earth Nation’s bison herd welcomed its very first calf, marking what tribal leaders call ‘a new chapter’ in returning mashkode-bizhiki (bison) to Anishinaabe lands. Bison are being reintroduced through a partnership with the InterTribal Buffalo Council. buff.ly/XMsVVPs #ShareGoodNewsToo
I always do!
Not a good look when you open your piece on birthright citizenship by misquoting the 14th amendment. (It does not improve. It’s really really bad. And the author has been cited by Supreme Court Justices.) lawliberty.org/cutting-the-...
That was a wild game!
Zach Rabiroff 