@fitzy3891.bsky.social
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It’s pretty hard to implement an electoral system that’s categorically worse than the one we already have, but top-two manages to do that
This kind of election result should not be possible in a democracy.
(These top-two shutouts have happened to both major parties.)
(These top-two shutouts have happened to both major parties.)
August 19, 2026 at 5:55 PM
It’s pretty hard to implement an electoral system that’s categorically worse than the one we already have, but top-two manages to do that
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There is no reason for the President to have any tariff powers after this and something I believe Dems and libertarian think tanks can unite to pursue as a long term project is utterly denuding the presidency of tariff powers
Brazil’s government unveiled a relief package worth 18.5 billion reais ($3.7 billion) in credit for exporters hit by new US tariffs, as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seeks to shield key sectors from damage ahead of October elections
Brazil Unveils New Relief for Companies Hit by US Tariffs
Brazil’s government unveiled a relief package worth 18.5 billion reais ($3.7 billion) in credit for exporters hit by new US tariffs, as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seeks to shield key sectors from damage ahead of October elections.
bloom.bg
July 23, 2026 at 10:36 AM
There is no reason for the President to have any tariff powers after this and something I believe Dems and libertarian think tanks can unite to pursue as a long term project is utterly denuding the presidency of tariff powers
Republicans are absolutely fine with affirmative action, so long as it's for white people
This story is crazy.
It would appear Trump admin officials rigged their nationally televised high school civics contest to keep a young man from a Sikh family out of the finalists.
www.notus.org/national/ame...
It would appear Trump admin officials rigged their nationally televised high school civics contest to keep a young man from a Sikh family out of the finalists.
www.notus.org/national/ame...
Suspicion and Doubt at the National Civics Contest
America’s finest young scholars competed to mark their country's birthday. It led to a disputed finish in the age of mistrust.
www.notus.org
July 22, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Republicans are absolutely fine with affirmative action, so long as it's for white people
People will make up entirely insane reasons to get mad at a Democrat, and then wonder why they're dissatisfied with the Democratic bench
This is foolish nonsense, and Mr. Cooper probably knows it. BlueAnon is a real thing.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has the constitutional authority to temporarily appoint someone to fill Mitch McConnell’s seat. If GOP lawmakers want to challenge that, they can do so.
This will be the first big test to see whether Beshear really is presidential material. I hope he passes the test.
This will be the first big test to see whether Beshear really is presidential material. I hope he passes the test.
July 21, 2026 at 8:14 PM
People will make up entirely insane reasons to get mad at a Democrat, and then wonder why they're dissatisfied with the Democratic bench
The highest-rated show on this list is getting fewer viewers than Star Trek TNG (a popular but still comparatively niche genre show) was getting at its peak (~12 million); the TNG finale got about 30 million viewers
The average American is watching none of these because these are absurdly low audience numbers. We are past the era of broadcast TV monoculture. Peak Friends was regularly watched by 30M+ (pop adjusted 40M today). The Seinfeld Finale pulled 76M (pop adjusted for today that's 100M+).
y'all should familiarize yourself with what the Average American is consuming entertainment-wise!
March 12, 2026 at 5:33 PM
The highest-rated show on this list is getting fewer viewers than Star Trek TNG (a popular but still comparatively niche genre show) was getting at its peak (~12 million); the TNG finale got about 30 million viewers
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i need someone to ask john roberts if nondelegation applies to handing over the entire federal government to a single unelected billionaire
okay so what legal authority does elon musk have to commandeer the office of personnel management and access reams of sensitive data? www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...
Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say
Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.
www.reuters.com
January 31, 2025 at 8:23 PM
i need someone to ask john roberts if nondelegation applies to handing over the entire federal government to a single unelected billionaire
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Just FYI, private businesses don't get to just decide to freeze their contractually obligated payments, so the spending freezes aren't "running the government like a business"
January 31, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Just FYI, private businesses don't get to just decide to freeze their contractually obligated payments, so the spending freezes aren't "running the government like a business"
This is pretty illustrative of the diminishing returns of the Dems trying to be more macho, in that they can run a small town football coach who likes hunting and car maintenance and people will just arbitrarily decide it's fake or doesn't count for some reason
camo-hat wearing environmental studies professor with a Ph. D in comparative literature from NYU scolding a high school football coach and teacher from rural Wisconsin about authenticity is too funny
Tyler Austin Harper’s shtick can only be explained by deep self loathing
Tyler Austin Harper’s shtick can only be explained by deep self loathing
January 31, 2025 at 4:17 AM
This is pretty illustrative of the diminishing returns of the Dems trying to be more macho, in that they can run a small town football coach who likes hunting and car maintenance and people will just arbitrarily decide it's fake or doesn't count for some reason
There was some semi-arch discourse 8-9 years ago about how we should just have Trump rule as a constitutional monarch to satisfy him and keep him away from policymaking, apparently missing the fact that Trump has none of the qualities of a good ceremonial monarch either
a very key thing about Donald Trump is that he cannot perform the symbolic roles of the presidency even a little bit.
January 30, 2025 at 8:20 PM
There was some semi-arch discourse 8-9 years ago about how we should just have Trump rule as a constitutional monarch to satisfy him and keep him away from policymaking, apparently missing the fact that Trump has none of the qualities of a good ceremonial monarch either
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these people are segregationists and their position is that no one who isn’t a white man is qualified to do skilled work of any kind
January 30, 2025 at 6:17 PM
these people are segregationists and their position is that no one who isn’t a white man is qualified to do skilled work of any kind
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yeah, Project 2025, which was itself an amalgamation of a bunch of different authors has always had this central unresolved tension: they want to simultaneously destroy the government while wielding it
January 29, 2025 at 9:39 PM
yeah, Project 2025, which was itself an amalgamation of a bunch of different authors has always had this central unresolved tension: they want to simultaneously destroy the government while wielding it
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affirmative action is yet another example of thing where there's in theory this big principled debate between the exact role that institutions should serve in society, and are the various competing missions we give institutions compatible, but in practice just mostly comes down to racism
January 29, 2025 at 4:52 PM
affirmative action is yet another example of thing where there's in theory this big principled debate between the exact role that institutions should serve in society, and are the various competing missions we give institutions compatible, but in practice just mostly comes down to racism
"He's doing evil and illegal things but wow have you noticed how fast he's doing them" is the basic idea of most commentary right now
a seemingly universal sense, from dems to journalists to pundits, that because trump campaigned on doing illegal, immoral, harmful things it's only fair that he be allowed to do at least some of the illegal, immoral, harmful things unimpeded, he's earned it, and it is melting my brain
January 29, 2025 at 4:13 PM
"He's doing evil and illegal things but wow have you noticed how fast he's doing them" is the basic idea of most commentary right now
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it is very telling of these guys’ conception of how power works that they see issuing a flurry of executive orders as evidence of presidential strength and vigor and not a sign that the president is too weak to pursue a serious legislative agenda
Real "Dear Leader" type shit here
May he be struck down by a bolt of lightning for this blasphemy
May he be struck down by a bolt of lightning for this blasphemy
January 27, 2025 at 4:52 PM
it is very telling of these guys’ conception of how power works that they see issuing a flurry of executive orders as evidence of presidential strength and vigor and not a sign that the president is too weak to pursue a serious legislative agenda
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conservatives say they want someone who will run government like a business and then elect a guy with some of the worst fucking business management instincts in history
one side effect of this is that instituting quotas enforced by managers but without incentives absolutely vaporizes morale
Perfect: Trump is angry that deportation numbers aren't high enough, so he's demanding higher numbers of daily arrests, WaPo reports. But that's going to require rounding up non-criminals.
Confirms what I tried to argue below: Manufacturing a perpetual emergency constantly requires new enemies.
Confirms what I tried to argue below: Manufacturing a perpetual emergency constantly requires new enemies.
January 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
conservatives say they want someone who will run government like a business and then elect a guy with some of the worst fucking business management instincts in history
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The way that Trump's transparently dishonest "moderation" on Project 2025 and abortion was treated with "brilliant gambit, sir!" rather than "he's a flip-flopper and liar, uh look at his actual record as president" is a vintage example of the media being wired for Republicans
This is totally amazing when you remember that Trump didn't even know anything about Project 2025
Everyone was warned about this, and it’s happening just as we feared.
January 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The way that Trump's transparently dishonest "moderation" on Project 2025 and abortion was treated with "brilliant gambit, sir!" rather than "he's a flip-flopper and liar, uh look at his actual record as president" is a vintage example of the media being wired for Republicans
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one thing i’m stuck on is this idea that “masculine” energy means license to act like a chud in public, as opposed to more traditional notions of public masculinity, such as those that put a premium on the performance of integrity, honesty, honor and generosity.
January 16, 2025 at 8:21 PM
one thing i’m stuck on is this idea that “masculine” energy means license to act like a chud in public, as opposed to more traditional notions of public masculinity, such as those that put a premium on the performance of integrity, honesty, honor and generosity.
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representative democracy is dependent on citizens having access to reliable information and we're current in the middle of pretty profound information revolution that is honestly making our information environments shittier
January 9, 2025 at 5:16 PM
representative democracy is dependent on citizens having access to reliable information and we're current in the middle of pretty profound information revolution that is honestly making our information environments shittier
Publishing this piece last year would have been sort of dumb, publishing it on January 9, 2025 after all that Trump has spewed this week is just gaslighting
January 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Publishing this piece last year would have been sort of dumb, publishing it on January 9, 2025 after all that Trump has spewed this week is just gaslighting
Fetterman is a good left-of-center example of why 1) “anti-establishment vibes” ≠ “good”; 2) there needs to be a better metric of anti-establishment politics than “is a rude dick”
Donald Trump’s crazy idea to annex Greenland to the United States seems to have an unlikely supporter: Democratic Senator John Fetterman.
One Democrat Thinks Trump’s Crazy Greenland Plan is Just Fine
John Fetterman thinks it’s just like the Louisiana Purchase. OK.
newrepublic.com
January 9, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Fetterman is a good left-of-center example of why 1) “anti-establishment vibes” ≠ “good”; 2) there needs to be a better metric of anti-establishment politics than “is a rude dick”
Something you notice watching any TV from ~1990-2005 is that “coffee shop vaguely resembling Starbucks” was considered such a hilarious joke that you didn’t even need to make an actual joke
in Frasier, Niles and Frasier's very specific coffee orders were intended as one of the signs of their snobbishness, rather than, you know, a preference that most Americans have. coffee culture altered massively nationwide since the 1990s!
January 7, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Something you notice watching any TV from ~1990-2005 is that “coffee shop vaguely resembling Starbucks” was considered such a hilarious joke that you didn’t even need to make an actual joke
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I do feel like the crux of American politics is "voters don't believe republicans support policies listed in their party platform" which has evolved into "voters don't believe republicans support policies they've announced"
January 7, 2025 at 1:35 AM
I do feel like the crux of American politics is "voters don't believe republicans support policies listed in their party platform" which has evolved into "voters don't believe republicans support policies they've announced"
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the cycle when somebody writes a stupid article and then other journalists get mad at people calling it stupid because they know the author does not help trust in the media
January 2, 2025 at 2:59 PM
the cycle when somebody writes a stupid article and then other journalists get mad at people calling it stupid because they know the author does not help trust in the media
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people using the term MAHA as if it’s actual thing rather than an extremely loosely confederated group of cranks, lunatics and weirdos who likely do not have almost any of the same beliefs (other than antivax) is going to make me lose my mind
January 2, 2025 at 4:03 AM
people using the term MAHA as if it’s actual thing rather than an extremely loosely confederated group of cranks, lunatics and weirdos who likely do not have almost any of the same beliefs (other than antivax) is going to make me lose my mind
You do not in fact have to hand it to Donald Trump for reversing his position because of naked corruption and an affinity for dictatorships
Never ceases to amaze me that the Democrats teed up Trump to position himself as the savior of TikTok, which has some 170 million American users.
TRUMP: "Biden wants to get rid of TikTok, you know why? Because he has no idea what the hell he's doing."
TRUMP: "Biden wants to get rid of TikTok, you know why? Because he has no idea what the hell he's doing."
December 31, 2024 at 2:04 PM
You do not in fact have to hand it to Donald Trump for reversing his position because of naked corruption and an affinity for dictatorships