Surprising how many timeless truisms from The Lord of the Rings have entered my everyday vocabulary since having a kid. Such as “NOT THE BEARD!!”

I fundamentally do not know how to square the politics whereby Democrats will essentially have to tell the American people that because they (the voters) made an extremely stupid decision, they need to lower their expectations substantially for the foreseeable future, but here we are.

I know it sucks, but Dems have got to be prepared to inherit a munitions-and-readiness hole that is going to be expensive to fill, but which will need to be filled. Hardly the only such hole, but it will be a big one.

Secretary of Defense Rock@sodrock.bsky.social · 51m ago

Who knew ridiculously long deployments and demanding op tempos run a ship and crew into the ground!

Why is she so fucking stupid, may I ask?

They are assholes and hypocrites who want to benefit from our side being better at democracy. That’s fine. That’s not the right right now. 60 Dems you disagree with sometimes is better than 40 you agree with all the time. No more fucking around. We pick this back up in December.

It is precisely because I believe my faction of the party is better than the DSA faction that I don’t really have a lot of time for people acting like it’s acceptable not to vote for the Democrat in the general. If you live in Michigan, you gotta vote - and convince others to vote - for El-Sayed.

Important for all Democrats to unite around the simple truth that it it’s important for Abdul El-Sayed to win his election to help make Chuck Schumer the most powerful Democrat in the country

Ok it’s pretty funny that she managed to not only lose but get absolutely blown out and then became the only notable primary loser from last night to refuse to support the winner

Nute@nutedawn.bsky.social · 15h ago

RIP Bozo

Gonna echo @nutedawn.bsky.social's glass half full post from last night and say that MIs close results last night show that both halves of the party there need each other to win and that hopefully it means they work together for the general.

we can never know because the polling ended up so off but given the result, it seems almost certain a majority of Democrats in Michigan had favourable views of both Stevens and AES, probably by a solid margin. Which... makes sense, given they're very similar on most issues!

Reconstructionist@unavaleable.bsky.social · 3h ago

Also, importantly, most Democrats like most Democrats. Most Democrats particularly like most Democrats who like most Democrats.

Polanski and Badenoch are actually very alike in that as true online natives they know that what matters most is getting the post out and you can check the details later.

Jordan@jordanpfot.bsky.social · 5h ago

Why are you commenting if you don’t know the specifics of the case!!!!!

We should probably have a specific cultural category for “perfectly ~ok artist who is idolised unduly by one particular country because they happen to chime closely with their culture”. We could call them Pratchetts?

Getting this reply to a post about Polanski defending the Neo-Nazi is just absolute chef’s kiss no notes

I actually think that there is one very important difference, which is that Zack's problems broadly stem from being an idiot in a not especially unusual way, whereas Kemi's stem from being from the planet Zebulon Five

Jordan@jordanpfot.bsky.social · 5h ago

I actually think they are such similar people fundamentally, honestly

he feels a sense of solidarity with a fellow leader who’s way too online and doesn’t do her homework before wading in

Jordan@jordanpfot.bsky.social · 5h ago

Why are you commenting if you don’t know the specifics of the case!!!!!

Hello I'm an idiot

I am going to be spending the rest of my day and possibly my week thinking about "Werner the Herzog" and quite frankly it's the last thing I needed

MaksonLima@maksonlima.bsky.social · 6h ago

Juro que tem dias que eu acordo pensando nisso aqui:

If anyone is specifically going to Istanbul to look at East Roman bits, I highly recommend Sergei Ivanov's In Search of Constantinople: A Guidebook through Byzantine Istanbul and Its Surroundings. It covers almost every monument, all the relevant context, and how to find it.

Yeah… look I’m glad this helps Dems win the seat but I have to say; it does not seem Good that Republican primary voters will refuse to vote for someone entirely because they have a Muslim sounding name

The Downballot@the-downballot.com · 13h ago

Seems like an upset might be brewing in the GOP primary in #MI08 to take on Dem Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet. Trump endorsed Amir Hassan, but he currently trails an absolute nobody who suspended his campaign a month ago by a wide margin.

It's OK for criminal ex-neo Nazis to run your bins is a hell of a line.

To be fair, “Councillors and council elections don’t matter” are a load-bearing part of the “Kemi Badenoch is doing well and the Conservative party’s prospects under her are looking good” thesis.

Chris Terry-Enescu@cjterry.bsky.social · 8h ago

It's OK for criminal ex-neo Nazis to run your bins is a hell of a line.

Looks like the only poll in the last month which is likely to get the result within the margin of error is the one that AES tried claiming was funded by AIPAC (that was Stevens +1 but the margin of error for each was +/- 2.5%)

Final thought: AES’ own campaign deserves a lot of the blame for turning what is ultimately still a victory into a disappointment which is going to leave him a weaker nominee *and* weaken his faction even when he wins the GE. Genuinely what the hell were they thinking with those internal leaks???

Yeah for all my jokes, I actually think this has a chance to be a pretty good outcome for the party overall. A more conciliatory AES and a party establishment which doesn’t feel doomed may actually be pretty good for focusing on the GOP

Vibecession Forever@ghazelleberner.bsky.social · 13h ago

I don’t think there’s enough vote for Stevens left but this will be a close result. My hope is that the El-Sayed/DSA/far left contingent don’t get despondent but realize that both factions need each other. It’s time to cut the shit and fight MAGA, not Democrats.

I don’t think there’s enough vote for Stevens left but this will be a close result. My hope is that the El-Sayed/DSA/far left contingent don’t get despondent but realize that both factions need each other. It’s time to cut the shit and fight MAGA, not Democrats.

you know i'm starting to think she just hates holidays for their own sake, not even as a woke thing

I do think perhaps the worst possible discourse outcome of this primary is that Stevens wins by a hair due to a 5 AM mega favourable Detroit ballot drop. Which is very unlikely but not like… impossible

I guess my political wisdom here is, "if you have a really popular two-term governor who also somehow managed to talk the state's terminally MAGA-brained GOP into Medicaid expansion, probably run that guy."

Whatever the final margin, the funny thing is that AES has absolutely been acting like he believed the polls that were public… and so has Stevens! Really the only indicator I see that anyone didn’t is the Whitmer endorsement, which looks much better now even with an AES win