Boy, I hope there aren't any other elections coming up where polls are predicting a ten-point win based on remarkably favorable electorate composition.
Nathan Goldwag
@goldwagnathan.bsky.social
In every time, in every place, the deeds of man remain the same. (He/Him). WEBSITE: https://nathangoldwag.wordpress.com/
A gracious concession: “I want to congratulate Abdul El-Sayed on winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. He is a doctor, a community health official, a Rhodes Scholar, and a dedicated Michigander. I am proud to offer my support as he takes on Mike Rogers in the general election…
I'll be disappointed if Stevens wins, but mostly what you should take away from tonight is that the coalition really is divided between factions with lots of genuine support, we can't wish the other side away, and we're all going to have to learn to live with each other if we want to win.
There's a #resistlib #NAFO account in my mentions currently calling me a Republican for being insufficiently pro-AES, which is a charmingly unconventional breach from the norm.
All of the referendum news tonight seems to be good, even if everything else is a bit of a mess.
The real impasta@therealimpasta.bsky.social · 12h agoATTENTION TO ALL DEM TAX CUT SLOPULISTS
Some people think we need to triangulate and moderate ideologically to appeal to the maximum number of voters. Others think we need dynamic, exciting candidates who can galvanize new support outside of traditional demographics. Personally, I think we're all sinners in the hands of an angry God.
Mu current assumption is that all races, regardless of geography or context, are secretly tied.
G Elliott Morris@gelliottmorris.com · 13h agoLooks like a 10-15 point polling miss in Michigan regardless of who wins. And people have been writing a lot of electability takes using this data. It’s dangerous out there folks be safe
AES scraping out a victory is probably the worst possible result ngl. We needed a decisive win by *somebody*.
Yashar Ali 🐘@yasharali.bsky.social · 13h agoUPDATE Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate primary. 34% of the vote counted Abdul El-Sayed 264,196 votes — 49.9% Haley Stevens 246,121 votes — 46.5% El-Sayed leads by 18,075 votes.
Commentary on here has been universally assuming the latter, despite the actual trends seeming to indicate the former, and I'm curious why.
John@johnlk.bsky.social · 14h agoAre we looking at the election as a whole getting tighter from here or El-Sayed pulling away more? So far it's seemed to get tighter as more votes have come in, though it certainly isn't actually close yet.
It is very hard for me to take any electoral prognostication from Dana Houle seriously, given that I first became aware of him in 2016 when he was being promoted as someone who could take sense into anybody crazy enough to think Hillary might lose.
Just very depressing to me that this sincerity, honesty, and clarity is a huge electoral risk while muttering the same three slogans over and over again forever is savvy campaigning with a proven track record of success.
Ron Skolnik@ronskolnik.bsky.social · 21h agoEl-Sayed: "I believe in equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination, for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike... If that’s 2 states, I’m for it. If it’s 1 state, I’m for that. If it’s this 'land for all' model, ... or whatever they decide." www.newyorker.com/news/the-new...
I don't think this is true; the film isn't trying to present a detailed analysis of Ancient Greek customary and religious law, it's building a moral universe that is comprehensible to modern audiences, which has some overlap but also diverges in pretty important ways.
GPT-Ern Malley@denam.bsky.social · 21h agoOkay this time she's right, because the crime Odysseus commits in the film is Sacrilege rather than the breaking of Xenia and it's the single weakest connection in the whole thing.
I think this is right not least because all else aside, partisan voting in a wave can carry a weak senate candidate far better than a weak gubernatorial candidate
The 50s and 60s must have been an insane time to work in government. "Mr. President, meet the head of NASA's rocket chimp division, Dr. Nazimensch." "Guten Tag, my fur- sorry, Mr. President." "Weren't we at war with them?" "It's important we send the monkey to space or the communists will win."
Fuck it, actually, let's rank Miyazaki films. My own list would go: 1. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 2. Princess Mononoke 3. Kiki's Delivery Service 4. Spirited Away 5. Porco Rosso 6. My Neighbor Totoro 7. The Boy and the Heron 8. Castle in the Sky 9. Howl's Moving Castle 10. Ponyo
mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 2d agotbh HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE *is* an incoherent, self-indulgent mess, but the thing about Miyazaki is that means it's still pretty safely one of the 10-15 best animated features ever made
Incredible news everyone, we've finally managed to reverse-engineer a reason to justify being mad about Liz Cheney, and it only took us two years.
Jokes on you Iran, it's impossible to humiliate us if we have no sense of shame or awareness of current events.
Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist@nameshiv.bsky.social · 2d agoI don't think the average American and certainly not the average MAGA even gets the extent to which "humiliate your foe" is a core ethos of the Iranian approach to conflict
Reading the book kind of ruined it for me, I will admit, but this is correct.
mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 2d agotbh HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE *is* an incoherent, self-indulgent mess, but the thing about Miyazaki is that means it's still pretty safely one of the 10-15 best animated features ever made
Pretty evenhanded take I think; both on the very steep uphill battle that AES is going to face and also the reason it's at least theoretically surmountable.
Josh Marshall@joshtpm.bsky.social · 2d agoEl-Sayed Looks Set to Trounce Stevens talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/el-sa...
Much like the "affordability/kitchen table issues" distinction, it's very funny how the ideological valence of the below is totally opposed to "sensible bipartisanship" or "working for the middle of the country" when it all means exactly the same thing (nothing).
Joe Stieb@joestieb.bsky.social · 2d ago‘The fight isn’t left and right, it’s top and bottom’ is extremely weak
Bluesky power users throwing a tantrum at any indication that the site might not cater to their every whim in every conceivable manner at all time, forever, is one of the more tedious perennial outrage cycles.
The Verge@theverge.com · 2d agoBluesky's new CEO Toni Schneider on the platform's reputation for being a liberal bubble: "Yes, we definitely want that to change. It is already changing. It certainly wasn’t designed to attract one specific group of people."
I do hope we can maintain this now that gas prices are ticking down.
Polling USA@usapolling.bsky.social · 2d agoGeneric Ballot Polling: 🔵 Democrat: 52% 🔴 Republican: 43% Focaldata / July 20, 2026
A question I have been asking for many years.
Top Ten Wildest Moments in Paradise Lost
Recently, I finished reading John Milton’s legendary poem Paradise Lost. First published in 1667, Paradise Lost tells the story of how Adam and Eve were lured by Satan into tasting the forbid…
nathangoldwag.wordpress.com
Ian is the Priest-King of the Sacred Grove at Nemi@poetinbabylon.bsky.social · 3d agowhy does nobody talk about the scene in Paradise Lost where the devils invent fiendish cannons and launch an assault on Heaven with 17th century siege weapons???
It's bad but it's probably less bad than all the other political tendencies, so whatever.
Maia@maiamindel.bsky.social · 2d agonot sure if it's good or bad that the dsa, which until 5 months ago was a book club for underemployed grad students, is beating to a pulp the billion dollar harvard educated democrat operative janissary class with 5 shitty flyers and some twitch streams
Boy, if only there another way to square that circle.
pleonasm@pleonasmical.bsky.social · 2d agoIt's strange how the people who say "this person's death would have been more politically useful" aren't going out and doing political violence themselves. You get the feeling some people just want to pontificate