It’s almost like the public expects leaders to address pertinent topics and not just the ones that poll well.
It’s almost like the public expects leaders to address pertinent topics and not just the ones that poll well.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i used that example because most people on the center-left spectrum agree that we need to build more housing, so i don't count it as particularly progressive just because progs support it. just trying to say silver won't get behind anything that isn't already consensus, which means "almost nothing."
When centrists adopt far-right rhetoric, they don’t make themselves stronger. They make themselves look inauthentic, legitimise the far right, and shift the political debate onto terrain defined by their opponents. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
same. i was like, "oh, yeah... i remember that twerp."
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
once told a friend who was getting paranoid that the trick to being high around people is to just assume they know and not worry about it. like, the waiter, the cashier, the pizza guy, the bank teller - even your family - probably all know and either don't care or won't do anything about it, anyway.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
for the last decade silver has done nothing but screech from the sidelines that everyone else is doing it wrong (and develop a serious gambling problem). i'd love to see his vision for a "progressive" platform that includes anything that's actually progressive and not just a concession to the right.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i would love for nate silver, just once, to say what parts of progressivism he actually likes and supports. all i've ever seen him do is scold the left. like, give me one post where he supports any progressive idea (other than "build more housing," which is basically universally agreed upon).
Remember when people used the term "false equivalency"?
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i'm not even going to try to read this article, because the headline premise is so fucking warped and stupid... like, michelle obama wasn't the HHS secretary. she didn't fire all the scientists and try to turn the FDA and CDC into like psuedo-christian science reading rooms...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
"a tragedy at a local business many would recognize... our report: next hour..."
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
it's on netflix. "unknown number: the high school catfish." it's fucked up.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
there is literally no explanation for the difference in coverage other than editors (and some "journalists") deciding, "we wanted to humiliate generic biden as much as possible, but trump is the dear, frail chaos agent we must protect... because what excitement is there living in a stable world?"
its interesting to compare this to the scant evidence that "BIDEN HAS PARKINSON'S" had behind it
Yep. I had Trumpy relatives who were *outraged* by covid mitigation, but they barely leave their houses to begin with. If they hadn't been told to be angry, they wouldn't have given a single shit.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social)
national mainstream media could easily and profitably make this a huge deal if they were inclined to...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
yeah, i don't think starmer and his crew are triangulating at this point... they've drank the kool-aid...
$24,000+ from every one of the 330 million people living in America, if true.
What these Schatz posts say to me is that Dem elected officials like him seem incapable of perceiving the right as a *political movement.* The response to Covid mitigation and the Floyd protests was not a spontaneous reaction...it was a right wing backlash organized by a reactionary movement.
You guys see where this is going? Right?
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
like, when the mom is trying to explain shit, i'm thinking, "this person is still extremely unwell." not unlike the vibe when, on that "i am a stalker" show, a guy is like, "once i get out, i'll probably get right back to it." like, "she needs a lot of help."
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i saw that doc the other night and... holy shit. i was deeply unsettled watching the mom try to explain herself. it was surreal. and i feel really bad for the girl, who seems way more forgiving than the mom deserves. harassing your kid to kill themselves is insanely fucked up.
“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.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i wouldn't be surprised if any will he has drawn up is so vague as to be useless, both because his finances are very fluid, corrupt, and illegal - so he doesn't want to notarize them anymore than he has to - and because he DGAF and would be content to leave everyone else to deal with his mess...
What a gang of mindless amateurs in Washington accomplished in Beijing:
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
your first point is great. the idea that things can only be successful if they reach the level of monoculture is silly. there's a whole aisle of different types of cereal at the grocery store. "the young and the restless" has been on for 50 yrs, and most people probably don't know anything about it.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
whatever this is from trump, i think it's important for everyone to continue increasing the pressure on the admin to at least put the brakes on rfk jr... don't know if it will work, but it's worth a shot. no pun intended.
This should be the lead story in all major national news outlets. Public health people prefer to stay out of the limelight unless there is no other choice. I can’t overstate how bad things have to be for 9 former CDC directors to band together and pen an op-ed in the NYT warning the entire country.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
also, it looks like after each event that causes a spike, the new normal bluesky settles into is higher than before. i would take that as a promising sign...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
yup, not at all surprising that there would be spikes in posting on a generally left-leaning site coinciding with biden dropping out, the election, and trump's inauguration. if this were a graph of viewership for fox's broadcast network leading up to and following the super-bowl, they'd be thrilled.
J.B. Pritzker is 100% right. Please listen to him, pay attention, and join us in speaking out against authoritarianism and to protect free and fair elections.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
"sending the national guard into D.C. temporarily reduced carjackings" is the same kind of logic as "dropping an atomic bomb on a city temporarily reduced traffic." like, yeah... i guess if that's what you think it was about...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
exactly. if you don't want people to associate and trivialize clean energy as "woke," don't start your post with a four word sentence where three of them are "clean energy" and "woke." in fact, don't use the word "woke" at all.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
if i saw some shit like this at a sporting event and had a few beers in me, i would absolutely fight a dude for doing this...
Feel like it's worth periodically reiterating that "conservative" is not a protected class. Being a minority puts you in a protected class. Hating minorities just makes you a dick. There is no moral or legal requirement for any organization to have some minimum number of dicks.
Writing teacher advice for Democratic strategists: Your audience is NEVER everyone, and acting as though it is will lead to generalities that appeal on average but not in specific. You find your audience through specificities. Relying heavily on polls and consultants leads to tepid messaging.
And this connects up to something I've been thinking about Jeffries' comments last weekend. If there's anywhere on the planet where you're NOT going to find a persuadable swing voter, it's watching the Sunday morning politics talk shows. That's a place where you talk to your people and the media.
Context, this is a particularly glaring attack on Senate advice and consent: Monarez was the more acceptable choice after they effectively rejected his first nominee (withdrawn), an antivax ex-congressman. This after Congress in 2023 changed the law to make CDC Dir. subject to Senate confirmation.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
also, not that it's really much better, but at least the bush administration did it on purpose... it wasn't just gross incompetence. you can (at least theoretically, back then) reign in and discourage malicious shit like what happened with plame. this crowd literally have no idea what they're doing.
Don’t trust the experts”? That’s not democracy, that’s recklessness. On a plane, I want a pilot. In a hospital, I want doctors and scientists who understand the evidence. Expertise isn’t religion or authoritarianism — it’s training, accountability, and data. Ignore it and we all pay the price.
Just saw a video of Bill Maher calling Mamdani a “straight up communist” and I continue to be struck by the depiction of policies associated with the New Deal Order as far-left extremism, which goes along with a refusal to depict Trump’s unprecedented authoritarian actions as far-right extremism.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
wow.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
fuck 'em. for real.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i am calling the pharmacy i go to asking if i can get the 2025 booster weekly until i can. i'll pay out of pocket if i have to, which i did once before. i've had covid twice, after the vaccines came out, and i do not want to know what's it's like catching that shit raw...
It’s not just that every accusation is a confession; every accusation is also a rationalization. Trump constantly pretended Biden was personally directing prosecutions of Trump & allies, when of course DOJ norms would have made it unthinkable for the White House to have any direct contact.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i do not understand why fast-food joints would think there is any more "efficiency" to squeeze out of customer-facing side of the business.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i've been through a drive-thru where it was "AI" when i pulled up (read: basic voice recognition prompts), and i still had to pay and be handed my food by the person at the window who would normally have taken my order.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social)
that's the crux of it: say people are basically little organic computers going through their functions... they're literally all running on slightly unique operating systems. there is no cheat-code where you get politics just right. there is no "median voter." it's 3D scattershot. use broad strokes.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i think what creeps me out the most about vance is that while trump is a once in a lifetime freak - a case study in being a natural 100% POS about everything - J.D. seems like he has to keep in practice. like fascist "imposter syndrome." a little debate club boy coached by his weird fuckin' mentors.
PERINO: Do you think specifically there has to be some sort of accountability on the transgender front? SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON: I think so. I mean, there's a common denominator to so much of this, right? The last one of these school shootings that we all saw and remember was another transgender.
The only reason for Emil Bove to be still showing up for Trump administration photo opps (in this photo from Trump’s D.C. takeover, peeking out at top right) is that Emil Bove understands himself to be part of the Trump administration on an ongoing basis www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/u...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
for real. if they don't want to "insert themselves into issues," they shouldn't be in leadership. that's the job.
This is bad
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
yup, this is really fucking gross. it would be gross even if she was just some donor/supporter who didn't die rabidly attacking congress, but trying to conflate the honor of service w/ being a random ride-or-die trump fanatic is fucked. the way he's been trivializing the military might matter later.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
same. and the only reason i probably recognize mr beast is that i've never seen a picture of him where he's not making that uniquely shit-grinning face...
8/28/25😳 second time this month, Justice Department dropped charges against a client represented by Pam’s brother abcnews.go.com/US/doj-drops...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i think there's a 4-pack to be made of "movies clooney is in that kind of combine to capture the spectrum of how high-level shit has been going lately": syriana, good night and good luck, michael clayton, and burn after reading. not trying to toot his horn, but those all hold up really well.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
as a layman, i fucking *love* "syriana" and think it's criminally under-seen.
They're now saying it out loud: The Administration's goal is to undo the political independence that Congress granted the Fed, so that the President can directly set rates.
"Pediatric Brain Cancer Trial Group to Be Phased Out" "A network of hospitals and cancer centers dedicated to early phase trials of novel treatments will no longer receive federal funding." 🎁🔗 Nina Agrawal for @nytimes.com
it is a real problem that none of the people who interview these guys are equipped to ask a question like, “what gives this president greater legitimacy than a law passed by a democratically-elected legislature, signed by a previous president and affirmed by subsequent legislatures and presidents?”
I’m so mad my middle ages are going to be defined by Donald fuking Trump
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
yeah, if the thiel or project 2025 crowd are signing off on getting vance to stop going on vacation and start seeding this ground, despite trump's ego, that's not nothing...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
this. a guy who sounds and looks like that trying to sell his lifestyle? no thanks, dude. not trying to become a human husk.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
yeah, people say, "the tweets are just his team mocking how ridiculous trump is," which, whatever... but he's also actually *doing* a lot of trump-style shit. once you start selling red "newsom was right about everything" hats or sending state police to cities, it's not parody... it's imitation.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
michigan vs. notre dame 2011. nothing else is even close.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i was at that game. the big house after that last TD was the most fucking hype thing i've ever been a part of...
remember folks, we cant have gun restrictions because if we do the federal government will occupy our streets, imprison people without due process, ship dissidents to foreign gulags and things of that nature
If major media haven't reached the obvious conclusion that Trump is building a dictatorship, they're lousy journalists. If they've reached that conclusion but are purposely keeping it from the public, they're lousy Americans.
Future Presidents, apparently, will not also enjoy the Mad King Ability To Fire Anyone And Do A Fascism. Only this One Special Boy. bsky.app/profile/mcop...
This is such a no-brainer that the lack of a coordinated response feels deeply damning. A Democratic leadership team that can't mobilize an instant all-hands-on-deck effort on RFK Jr. isn't a leadership team at all.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
this is an example of why baseball even still exists: totally ridiculous shit.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
like, even netflix has the sense to put trigger warnings ahead of episodes with suicide or abuse, and usually has a hotline posted at the end of said episode...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i don't know where the line is to be drawn between "a person can look up online how to do something" and "a major company has an entirely customer-service based product willing to walk people through how to do and encourage terrible things," but it's clearly been crossed.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
yeah, i think it's bad that the (mostly) dudes who spend this much on guns won't know what to do when they never have a legitimate reason to use them. like, if someone spent thousands of dollars on a hobby - even a miniature train set-up - you know they're waiting for a chance to show how it works.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
happy birthday and cheers.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
might even just be a new variant of covid...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
since the national debt obviously means nothing to anyone, i say pass a bill spending a trillion dollars or however much trying to hire everyone back at a 20% raise, covering the cost of rebooting their research/duties, and increase their funding...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
tom clancy's interview with a vampire
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
tom clancy's interview with a vampire
IMO many Americans don't even buy guns for personal protection or to defend themselves against a tyrannical government. They simply have a shopping addiction
Vanity Fair staffers threaten to walk out over a proposed Melania cover: “We are not going to normalize this despot and his wife… if this happens, i’m gone, and so is half my team.” www.thedailybeast.com/i-will-walk-...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i feel like if joe and mika of "morning joe" were retiring, and the pod save guys got asked to replace them, with the caveat that they must continue to bring on and humor mostly conservatives and old heads, they would agree in a heartbeat.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i had the pod save guys pegged as "early stage of fame, but on the same path as bill maher has taken" pretty soon after they became popular. when i saw peripherally over the last few years that they became tight with that bryan tyler cohen dude, i was like, "fuckin' knew it."
even the lysenko comparison is at this point an insult to lysenko
In a functional government, this would be a five alarm fire where Congress calls in Kennedy and asks him what the fuck is going on
Trump administration moves to bar states and even private (!) nonprofits, such as Red Cross, from helping undocumented immigrants after disasters. Evil. s2.washingtonpost.com/4467742/68af...
The irony/idiocy of this banner currently draped on the Department of Labor building is not lost on me, given all the federal workers he's forced out of their jobs. (Pic via Getty Images)
Every couple of days it stops me dead in my tracks and knocks the breath out of me to realize how bad things are gonna get for how many people in how many ways, and how it is all down to the petty insane whims of one of the worst people America has ever produced.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i am against adding anything to already existing types of drinks unless it's alcohol.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
at no time in my k-12 was learning shorthand a thing... i wish it had been.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social)
imagine being called up from your normal life/job to do this shit...
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i'm 40, and i voluntarily took drafting 2 in high school, where after paper and pencil for drafting 1 they introduced you to CAD...
If Trump goes “I’ll cut your federal funding,” and you go “please no, not that, let’s negotiate to satisfy your concerns,” he’ll demand more later brandishing the same threat. Then more. And more again. If instead you say no, maybe you lose that federal funding. But that’s all, you’re not beholden.
flashgordon.bsky.social (@flashgordon.bsky.social) reply parent
i do think that hillary being so polished/prepared on policy probably had the effect of swinging some low-info voters to trump, b/c to them she came off as someone who asked them to understand how she had it mostly figured out (though she mostly did), while trump dangled, "don't worry. i got it."
Kennedy today in cabinet meeting: "We’re finding interventions, certain interventions now that are clearly almost certainly causing autism, and we’re going to be able to address those in September." We already know he's employed grifters to implicate vaccines. Get them while you can.
A human being would do time for this and that's exactly why they want AI unregulated because they knew this was going to happen. Now imagine you have Mechahitler telling your kid what to do, maybe it shows him how to build a pressure cooker bomb or where to download 3d printer files for gun parts
I got around to reading this closely and it's an easy education in how David Shor rigs things. The tested messaging on deploying the National Guard is actually shit - so they lead you to conclude that the *focus* is shit, instead of the fact that the test message is (deliberately) shit
MAGA a criminal ideology, premised in the mutual agreement of the members of the right to not care about each others’ trespasses against morality, decency, or democracy. A massive permission structure to lie, cheat, steal, and torture and never hold each other accountable for it. A fascist mafia