michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
I know. It’s really fucking depressing, and I had to vote for her on principle.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
I know. It’s really fucking depressing, and I had to vote for her on principle.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
I’m not in any doubt how much Trump will sacrifice for the causes that stir his gooey moral center when his political or economic capital is at risk. He will sacrifice nothing of his own, but he can still feel something real about a real crisis (war) or a crisis that he imagines (autism).
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
Interrupting his almost continuous obsession with his wealth and power, I think Trump genuinely hates the war in Ukraine. I think he’s been sold on MAHA/autism concerns to some degree. Hitler was an ethical vegetarian. You don’t have to “hand it to him.” Just the facts…
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social)
People are dunking on politico because of this deleted post about Trump’s reported empathy re Tylenol and aspirin. (I did not read the article.) People with evil, delusional, or wildly incorrect objectives don’t think they are bad people. They don’t wake up devoid of any empathy for anyone.
How it started // How it’s going
Fossil fuel drilling, refining, and transportation already occupied huge amounts of land, as expertly documented by the photographer Edward Burtynsky. These land uses are much more destructive than solar panels!
3.6 roentgen, not great, not terrible
So it was the corn attacking our ships!
The Trump Administration does not do stupid things as part of a genius plan. The Trump Administration does stupid things because it is, in many ways, stupid. Evil and stupid so often go together like peanut butter and jelly, but, you know, evil and stupid.
Trump's model for his emerging drug war has been imprisoned and awaits trial for war crimes.
big part of this is because they sent the health reporters, not the political reporters
Mobster government; Trump always wants a taste. Literally demanding "a fee" that could amount to billions.
We have always been at war with Tylenol
I have to give Trump a tremendous amount of credit here. Getting a small central Asian country which he’s never heard of to buy 22,787 airplanes in a single contract has to be a record.
“Believe all X” was always a bad slogan, and an even worse rule to live by, because some X will always be vile lunatics. For example, some women are RFK Jr personality cultists.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social)
As they say in Yolo County, YOLO!!!!!!
Something you see from investors as well as people frustrated about the cost of homes when it comes to the appropriate level of interest rates and recession risk is an unfounded view that in a recession, they'd be the ones to outperform/keep their jobs rather than be the bagholders/job losers.
"Our measurements show that wheat and grass-clover mixtures grow just as well between vertical solar panels as in open fields. At the same time, the panels produce electricity in a daily pattern that better matches energy demand. It's a win-win," Get these to Kansas ASAP
Trump to make stuff up
I remember Lincoln was more or less a self-taught autodidact when it came to strategy and genuinely could be ranked alongside some of them in terms of his strategy: www.smithsonianmag.com/history/linc...
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social)
(1) Bsky user: Why does anyone give a crap what Ezra Klein (or any X) thinks? We should ignore him. (2) X book tour ends. [X fades from discourse.] (3) Bsky user: Posts unprovoked jokes at X’s expense, just for fun. My advice: if you are desperate for a main character, log off.
Solidly 99 percent of the people fuming at this post are making some... bad assumptions about the views of people who did not vote in 2024
For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law
Russian refinery system current status #Ukraine
Thinking about the genius of withholding funding from American universities, making it harder to pay for college with financial aid and hostility to foreign students & foreign workers then saying you’re in an AI race with China.
There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. It’s like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Let’s get a grip on what’s happening here.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
SF and Reno, NV, are good. They used to place locations in central locations to serve a whole city. Now they seem to pick 2 or 3 suburban locations. I believe it is simply a matter of going where the customers live. Urban costcos would do well if we built housing in central neighborhoods.
Digging out the politics of the shooter every time someone opens fire in a crowded place is one of my least favorite American traditions, and I think taking part in it is almost always a mistake
Only $50,000? Sad. Low man on the Trumpian corruption pole.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
Newsom has been working on encampments for years. It’s not a simple thing. If he knew which program worked, it would be done by now. I’m sympathetic to him even if I’m cynical. Cities can permit transition housing, enforce camping laws, and market housing. 3rd action requires v little public $$.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
I can advocate for: (1) a reallocation of public space from cars to transit/bikes/walking (2) permitting/prioritization for AVs in the space still available to single occupant/single party vehicles. These 2 positions are only in conflict when someone goes a step farther to eliminate private cars.
The Lennar call made clear today that despite what equity investors might be pricing, the companies actually doing residential construction are cutting back.
I strongly agree with every single word of this. Public disorder is toxic to the pro urbanist political project and we must take it seriously.
Looking forward to the third season of #Andor on Disney+, in which the Emperor Palpatine threatens Disney+ and gets them to cancel the third season of #Andor.
I saw, during my reporting in Hungary, how much putting friendly oligarchs in charge of the media matters in authoritarian consolidation. That's starting to happen in the United States. www.vox.com/politics/462...
AP-NORC poll | 9/11-9/15 President Trump approval Disapprove 60% (+7) Approve 39% (-6) (shift since last poll) apnorc.org/projects/pes...
Can call it cowardice, and it is, but regardless of how they react to it, a Congress operating under and influenced by the coercive threat of violence, as they now have been for several years, is fundamentally lacking in democratic legitimacy, it is something less than a representative legislature.
Dems don't understand. Sargent is right. You have to attack Disney/ABC. You have to threaten Disney/ABC. You have to tell them they will be punished. You have to describe the punishment. You have to go on Stephanopolous and tell him he should be ashamed and resign.
Pretty clear illustration of "you may as well stand up for what you believe in, they're coming for you anyway."
mods plz
if there is one thing I've learned from a decade in sports analytics, it's that normal people have absolutely no fucking idea how percentages work
1. He can fire all the prosecutors he wants but still a long way from getting a conviction without evidence. We'll see. 2. He's getting crazier by the hour now, isn't he? This is on top of talking about re-invading Afghanistan and no one is allowed to criticize him on TV...and that's just today.
Huh. I recall being told by Republicans that concentrating on defending Taiwan was why Trump hung Ukraine out to dry.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
I’m on it sir!
The number one thing you should be doing right now is catastrophizing and panicking. Stop exercising. Stop reading books. Eat like shit. Fuck up your sleep schedule. Eschew fresh air. Doom scroll all day.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
Assuming it isn’t attached to a gas plant and they have noise barriers, it seems harmless to neighbors. Because we prioritize homeowner concerns above all, this and other infrastructure is hard to regulate except by NIMBYs. It does nothing to cut water or energy use, which are the real issues.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
Hardcore NIMBYs vs average people who barely think about housing supply who have the normal human instincts about any change (leans NIMBY)… I don’t know exactly what the answer is. Meetings don’t help. Most design review makes things worse, but I’d like to know what design rules are helpful.
they're throwing parties without us now
Bluesky is wild man...
Every headline talking about Kimmel being suspended for his “Kirk comments” is journalistic malpractice. He was suspended for comments about MAGA opportunists exploiting Kirk’s death, after the FCC chair issued a Mafioso threat.
Cancel Hulu and Disney+ if you haven’t already
There’s nothing in right wing politics more important than pissing off the liberals. And if the liberals aren’t mad enough, the outrage machine will manufacture angry liberals out of thin air. www.infinitescroll.us/p/in-search-...
“ABC and CBS are making a serious miscalculation. Their servility to Trump will not earn them peace, only greater pressure.” That’s the German professional association of journalists, @djv.de, calling on major US media to support their journalists instead of preemptively silencing them.
Respectfully disagree: 1) in fact it is unusual for a democracy w/ this level of GDP to turn authoritarian & so quickly; 2) the weakness of both institutions (congress & courts) and individuals (Schumer etc) is shocking. Would take less than 10 people in congress or 2 SC justices to stop all this.
For years people have been yelling at me about how the FCC has to get those crooks at Fox off the air and that there’s no risks of such power being abused or used by people they don‘t like because that’s slippery slope nonsense.
A good one for this crowd
By the head of the Federal Communications Commission, in 2022:
David Frum on Jimmy Kimmel: "This is not cancel culture because it's not culture. It's state repression. It's an order from the government. Here is the script, you must read, if you do not read it, you will be taken off the air."
generally speaking, and with the glaring exception of november 2024, the more directly democratic an institution has been, the better it has checked Trump (eg grand and petit juries); the more elite and insular, the less effective (the Senate, the Supreme Court, big business)
Something that liberals could indeed learn from Charlie Kirk is that forcefully advocating for ideas that are not momentarily popular or politically ascendant is, in fact, an essential part of how that changes.
Folks, if that new centrist group, which shall not be named, is building its entire business model around getting attacked by the left, then it might be advisable to be cautious about whether to draw outraged attention to it...I'd argue for picking the right moments carefully.
is that good
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
I was confused when the 2019-2020 Dem primary became mostly a running debate about how fast we should implement single payer Medicare For All. It was right at the moment when Trump was abusing appropriated funds for Ukraine military aid to further his political ambitions.
The Trump admin is slowly changing us all into conservatives. We now completely distrust government institutions including the FBI and complain about how our tax dollars are being used to fund fiascos like $50K signing bonuses for ICE agents & the military occupation of DC.
One easy way to extend your life is to instead spend those six hours a day actually living.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
The party is a cargo cult for FDR and LBJ because those guys did entitlements. I think this remain true until the sun burns out.
Pretty much all of the US's problems can be traced to politicians who are more willing to lose their principles (indeed, lose our very democracy) than lose their jobs We need more leaders like Engardio If you're not willing to lose a race by standing up for principle, don't run for office at all
I am now starting to suspect that people doom posting themselves into saying it doesn't matter that Trump is wildly unpopular because he is going to do a dictatorship are themselves an op. Dictatorships aren't stable by magic, they need people to buy in and go along with them. This matters.
While some YIMBYs might make this argument, real world YIMBYs in California supported SB 330, which requires the 1:1 replacement of demolished rent controlled apartments with deed restricted affordable housing, and ~all YIMBY production bills include anti displacement provisions. Here are SB 79’s:
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social)
Pedocon Theory has never been defeated. @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-t...
Incredible troll www.nationalreview.com/2025/09/pres...
New research underscores how hurdles to abortion access have soared since the #Dobbs decision. Between 2022-2024: 💰 Travel costs for abortion ⬆️ from $179 to $372 🕰️ Avg. travel time ⬆️ from 2.8 to 11.3 hours 🌙 Overnight stays ⬆️ from 5% to 58% 📈 Second-trimester abortions ⬆️ from 8% to 17%
Glad to have changed a mind! TBH in most urban areas, SB 79 will look more like Middle Housing than highrises. The density limits dont lend themselves to giant projects on typical urban parcels
He has to go
Good from Noah Smith @noahpinion.blog.web.brid.gy on China's leadership on renewable energy and clean technologies which is leading to major reductions in its own climate pollution and spurring similar moves around the world. www.noahpinion.blog/p/china-is-q...
“.. It’s a scary thought to have the kind of Fed chair that’s willing to sacrifice the central bank’s independence out of loyalty to the president,” Mankiw said. @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2025/09...
Once again, Toddler Planning Brain claims another victim. bsky.app/profile/warr...
I wrote this story because the case of the Guatemalan children hasn’t received nearly as much media attention as it deserves. I wanted to highlight the full extent of the government’s depraved conduct. I hope you’ll read and share. Don’t look away. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
These characteristic wooden domestic water tanks in NYC help ensure that at least 8 psi/0.6 bar of water pressure is maintained at plumbing fixtures in the building below. Water is pumped from the lower pressure water mains below the street to the elevated tank using an electric transfer pump.
so ICE murdered a father in cold blood from a routine traffic stop, we're murdering random Venezuelans in foreign waters, we're shackling S. Koreans for building the factories we need to keep the southern economy alive, and we have a majority party trying to tie passport status to political views
[wearily] the future belongs to whoever can stop hitting themselves first
I am activating the nuclear-grade subtweet machine here but I cannot stand the genre of article that goes "Trump is wrong to attack XYZ institution—but XYZ institution *does* need reform" and then just says we should discuss reforming XYZ institution but doesn't propose a coherent plan of its own
overall 'transplants bad, immigrants good' is an example of cognitive dissonance that I hope will be properly studied in the years to come
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
People do fine from age 50 to age 70. I don’t see the need for term limits. Biden never hit a term limit preventing him from serving as president. He was doing more or less great as US senator and as VP. Age is the issue, not folks staying in one office for too long.
Kern County produces 70% of the states wind and solar and 80% of the states battery storage capacity, not to mention producing a lot of oil/gas and being a top agricultural county. Meanwhile LA County banned utility scale solar.
It’s sort of the same thing as Alberta’s role in national politics up here. Danielle Smith is empowering regressive freaks, but they’re building a shittton of houses.
Lol. A year ago these same people insisted that any effort to label foreign propaganda was an attack on free speech, and forced the dismantling of multiple orgs studying foreign disinformation
The principle of N American building codes is that it’s better to keep existing decrepit buildings than to consider the costs of raising requirements on new structures; it’s really a whole change of mindset that’s needed. Just like how in NA fire safety quantitative risk analysis is usually absent.
I know all the rightwingers are still sephiroth posting about how kirk's death is the signal to let slip the dogs of war but one thing hindering that from becoming reality is that their dear leader absolutely does not give a shit
Another banger unappreciated by the masses.
Tyler Robinson attended one semester at Utah State before dropping out. So why does it feel like he's a sophomore Trans Marxist Indoctrination major at Brown?
it’s time for universities to return to their core mission (an escalating series of pranks played by a trouble-making fraternity on the straight-edge dean who will stop at nothing to shut them down)
I hope I have given fidelity, and that everyone viscerally understands: You will have to come through me.
Looked at my data collections for state-backed activity. If the report were a picture:
Folks, the FBI director was blowing up a major investigation during his special senior dining hour at Rao's and was never going to crack the case until the perp's dad turned him in. They may break everything. They may kill a lot of people. But they lack the competence needed to solidify a new order.
michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social (@michaeltucsonaz.bsky.social) reply parent
Are you for real? The average liberal on here is annoyed on a daily basis because Tom Nichols cannot and will not shut up ever.
If someone could figure out how to make a shared space trusted by all where people got their information in a super reliable way, that would be really, really helpful. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
The American people yearn for politically coherent terrorism committed in service of legible objectives.