Dante Atkins
@danteatkins.bsky.social
Fiona and Rowan's dad, basically. Spider guy, Lefty Dem, pragmatic progressive. Win elections with the majority you have, not the majority you wish you had.
Robert Kraft is an asshole billionaire, Ed Sheeran is a coward, and Macklemore is...whatever the fuck this is, so I think there's no bloom on the rose of his Palestine advocacy. The only people looking decent are the Irish musicians.
Erin Biba@erinbiba.bsky.social · 3h agoGirl wait until you see it in profile.
It never ceases to amuse me how there's convergent evolution between Jacobin and Third Way, and it's perfectly natural for it to happen when the evolutionary pressure you're selecting for is "I must appeal to poorer white men"
Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social · yesterdayPersuadable voters don't want the theory of how elites keep them down. They want to know what politicians will do about the cost of groceries.
I don't think Trump understands the degree to which residents of DC will put their bodies on the line for the Kennedy Center and I know it might seem like a small thing but to residents of DC this feels large
"in week one the ballroom is coming down and the kennedy center is reopening" - free statement to any dem who wants to win in 2028
In general, the importance of controlling a legislative chamber, and how radically more important it is to control a chamber than whatever the specific positions of any one individual caucus member, is being radically, massively underappreciated by recent BlueSky discourse.
"tests boundaries of political speech" why is it that Republicans get to "test boundaries of political speech but Democrats don't? Interesting
The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 16h agoBo French, a candidate for Texas’ railroad commissioner, tests boundaries of political speech as both parties struggle to define what’s off limits. Read more in today’s WSJ Politics Newsletter: on.wsj.com/3SI6qZe
The best way to protect trans kids this election isn't punishing specific Dems. It's subjecting MAGA to such a world-historical electoral bloodbath that media and their own pollsters tell them that making the entire referendum on trans kids was a losing strategy and they should stop doing it.
See, Talarico is one thing, but if this Riley Gaines parroting weirdo loses her re-election bid I will not shed one fucking tear
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3mo agoGluesenkamp Perez: "At town halls, what I saw was the people who were the most upset had spent the last 12 years driving their girls to sports practice & they view their best shot of their student going to college as an athletic scholarship. So when we rush to moralize we miss some of the nuance."
Also beyond maddening is the continued insistence that the Dems running in the reddest of territory somehow represent the entire party as opposed to the 90% of Dems who are running in blue territory. And that's not just the Talarico/trans issue, that's on every issue. It's intentionally defeatist.
Man it's not just that Paxton beating Talarico will be objectively factually worse for trans people, it's that it will also have tremendous bad consequences for possibly a generation if it's the difference between a SCOTUS seat and not, other judgeships, cabinet secretaries, all legislation...
The idea that a Talarico win is worse than a Paxton one for trans rights isn’t supported by how the parties function or how they draw “lessons” from wins and losses *absent organized abstention campaigns.* Worth differentiating that from personal ethical red lines for supporting a candidate.
Will Stancil@whstancil.bsky.social · yesterdayOkay, don’t go find and harass this guy, but: it’s kind of alarming to see this specific kind of madness spreading, about a vital race that is a coin-flip. Important to squelch this kind of thinking with extreme prejudice. Talarico must win.
👀"If we see that a candidate’s talking about something like democracy over cost of living, then like that’s when they should not expect to see help from us" JICYMI - House Majority Pac (HMP) the establishment super pac for House Dems - don't want Dems to be talking about threats to our democracy.
!["HMP’s red line: Affordability
House Majority PAC President Mike Smith made a lot of news on our latest episode of “Fly Out Day.”
But here’s something that stuck out to us the most: the House Democratic super PAC won’t spend a dime to elect Democrats who aren’t speaking about the economy or rising costs. This comes as HMP and other political organizations are beginning to make “cold-blooded decisions about when and where [they] actually spend.”
“We’ve been very clear to our candidates,” Smith said. “Anyone that’s not hyper-focused on cost of living and the economy as their No. 1 issue, don’t expect to see any support from House Majority PAC.”
Here’s an interesting quote from Smith aimed at candidates running on saving democracy:
“Democracy is a really important issue at the end of the day. If we see that a candidate’s talking about something like democracy over cost of living, then like that’s when they should not expect to see help from us because we want them laser focused on the thing that matters most to voters, which is the economy.”
This is a pretty extraordinary position coming from the largest outside group spending for House Democrats. HMP is demanding message discipline and is prepared to use that as a litmus test to decide how to use its limited resources on an expanding map.
The super PAC has booked more than $280 million in ads across 70-plus markets."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cf26plxwia7dxpm6plry3sj2/bafkreihzw24yczplcqoa6jsuu7422vacefslj6rpx2tboeto2dxlsvbffi)
The biggest issue with raising a son (mine is 14 months so I have years to go before we get here) is feeling like I will have to reinforce and monitor every day to make sure that every inkling of the socialization that leads to this is rejected. And even then it may not be enough.
Ej Dickson@ejdickson.bsky.social · 2d agoThere is a corner of the internet I had never heard of before I started reporting this story. It’s called the “burnerverse”: a network of anon burner accounts ostensibly discussing college sports. But they have another goal: destroying young girls’ lives.🧵: www.wired.com/story/burner...
Just seems blindingly obvious that if Paxton wins while spending millions of dollars on ads highlighting Talarico's pro-trans record and saying "he's for they/them, not you" that will actually convince Dems to be less pro-trans, not Talarico winning. Unbelievable lack of prediction and foresight
I do not feel this way about the House, where casting aside one member out of 435 is an acceptable warning for being a shitheel (see: MGP or Golden), but when it comes to the Senate, whether Schumer or Thune holds the gavel is of far greater consequence to everyone than one Dem's individual position
The idea that if Talarico wins he will spread anti-trans ideology throughout the whole Democratic Party and cause a loss of trans rights in all fifty states is objectively bonkers and I'm not sure how it came about that so many smart people all radicalized themselves around this one theory. Wild.
I'm often wrong in my predictions, but this one held up, alas bsky.app/profile/ryan...
ryan cooper@ryanlcooper.com · 2y agoif Trump wins and all prices go up 20 percent and his white nationalist militia thugs are kicking doors in and dragging families out into the street, millions of people will go "buh what? I wasn't voting for *that*"
It has always seemed obvious to me that you have much more influence being part of the team that wins than you do being a fractious entity that worked to cause a loss and I don't see why that isn't universally obvious
IMPORTANT THREAD. Organizing against Talarico to punish his waffling on trans issues, while morally understandable, would be strategically disastrous *on its own terms*. It can't work. But even if it could, it'd backfire—not just "GOP Senate bad," but "Dem establishment doubles down against you."
Dante Atkins@danteatkins.bsky.social · 2d agoThere are a lot of ways to pressure a candidate that don't cross the bright red line of organizing to cost someone a seat. We've seen that across a lot of different movements. But what I'm seeing being advocated by a lot of huge accounts here is something I can only see ending in disaster.
Live look at activists debating intentionally withholding votes in order to convince the Dem establishment to support their causes more strongly
Arrested Development But It Might Work For Us
Alt: Arrested Development But It Might Work For Us scene
static.klipy.com
Something I just really need every kind of activist across every issue to understand: The cause never benefits from losing to a Republican. It never has, it never will.
Based on some conversations I was reading through yesterday but thankfully not participating in, it seems like a strategy many prominent voices on here have embraced regarding Talarico is to leave his line blank under the assumption that an "undercount" will reflect measurable lack of enthusiasm...
I enthusiastically support Ossoff and El-Sayed (and will never give Turek any money or time) because both of them spend their time beating the rhetorical shit out of MAGA and that is exactly what is needed in this moment, despite any disagreements I have with their campaign strategy or voting record
soonergrunt@soonergrunt.bsky.social · 2d agoRank and file Democrats want fighters for candidates. Most of us don't care if they're "establishment" Democrats or if they're DSA. If they will fight for Democratic principles they are getting support and it's paying off for them.
Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.
"i will shoot myself in the gut if you do not let me cut off my dick!!!"
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d agoTrump says he will cut off all trade entirely with "some nations" unless the Fed lowers interest rates
Nothing will ever be made better by MAGA reactionaries beating moderate Dems. Dems do not move left in response to losses. It doesn't matter which group is espousing the position this cycle. Handing MAGA power does not teach what some people seem to think it will teach.
I'm not going to support Gallego for anything but if even he recognizes this it's a very good sign
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d agoGallego says he supports tearing down Trump's ballroom and arch and explains why
One one hand, I think it's perfectly reasonable for trans people to see what's happening with Labour and fear the worst about Dems becoming that. On the other...it's wrong. Talarico and Turek winning will not signal to national Dems to be "anti-trans." It's not how our politics or Dems work.
