I'm curious, is there good data to support the idea that candidates who win close primaries face a harder time in the general than candidates who win their primaries by a larger margin?

I'm very much not looking forward to the deluge of 'smiling helicopter pilot' ads I'm going to have to watch during football games this fall. But, on the bright side, if 2 times senate loser John James loses the race for governor he'll be completely out of office again.

Ted Lasso, Coach Beard, Roy Kent Fingers Crossed

Alt: Ted Lasso, Coach Beard, Roy Kent Fingers Crossed

static.klipy.com

Dear Friends in Maine, I now understand your pain in having the entire country tell you how you should be doing voting. I'm not saying Platner wasn't a stupid pick from day 1, but it really is obnoxious to have so many people hot taking your election. Sincerely, Jacob

chat can anyone verify that every single Flock camera has about 2-3 Ibs of copper and about 1-2 grams of gold

"the evidence is quite clear that voters don’t think Democrats are too extreme. They think Democrats are weak." There's your answer peeps. Look like you're willing to fight MAGAism, and support candidates - left or center - who will fight.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

New in PN: Moderate Democrats have a choice to make "They can spend the next three months reinforcing Republican messaging about their party & making it less likely Dems take power. Or they can put the 'battle for the soul of the party' off for a while and do what they can to help their party win."

The successor to Washington and Lincoln and Roosevelt and Reagan👇

Seeing a lot of "the DNC picked South Carolina to ensure a centrist nominee" and, no, it may feel good and validate your priors to believe that, but that's not what's happening at all. First, for obvious reasons, the DNC is going to have an early state that has a substantial Black population. 1/x

The best argument for Lebron as the GOAT over Jordan I've ever heard.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Trump: "Maybe LeBron is a racist. But maybe he doesn't like Trump. I don't know. I only like people that like me, so I would say Michael Jordan all the way."

@philsturgeon.com I've just had a lightbulb moment and you're the person I think will appreciate it. I'm planting a native wildflower & wildlife plot in my yard, and part of that is using an old dump truck to get wood chips & composted cow manure (both free, which is great) to improve soil.

Acknowledging that I'm not a basketball guy, and that Lebron is the 1a/1b GOAT... ... but from a competitive standpoint is it really that important where he signs this year? Is Lebron -this year- a top 10 or even 20 player? Maybe it's a hot take but I don't think he's putting a team over at 42.

this comparison leaves out a key point: the Edsel sold roughly twice the Cybertruck's volume at a time when the overall car market was just 6m units/year instead of the current 16m units/year that makes the Cybertruck the much, much bigger flop, hands down

Anne Cronin@annecronin.bsky.social · 2w ago

FREE LINK > Tesla Cybertruck sales have been so weak that it's challenging Ford's Edsel to become the biggest automotive flop of all time. Great tale by Bethany Benjamin > www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

is... is this a woman wearing a thin blue line flag as a cape... and rocking out to killing in the name

Gay ISIS Brony@rainbowdaesh.bsky.social · 2w ago

Complaining about Springsteen being political is like complaining about RATM being political. On that note, prepare to have your brain broken.

The Atlantic should be ashamed to have published Jamie Kirchick's "DSA is a 'parasite'" screed. Beyond that, though, no one should credit Kirchick's thoughts on DSA or the Dems. He is a bad-faith operator here, undermining those he has always sought to undermine — because he is a neocon.

Trump Insists Frequent Naps Necessary To Protect U.S. Interests In Dreamland https://theonion.com/trump-insists-frequent-naps-necessary-to-protect-u-s-interests-in-dreamland/

So many churches around the country lamenting empty pews, dropping attendance and a lack of young people... while still aligned with MAGA.

RNS@rns.org · 2w ago

OPINION: (RNS) — A new study found that, even among Gen Z Christians, the strong alliance between Trump and Christianity has had a negative impact on churchgoing for many.

If anyone would like to see a short video of a dog using their tail as a rotar blade, this is your lucky day.

I'm fairly certain that 'founders, investors and national security experts' embracing autonomous weapons is exactly the path you take to get to nightmarish killer robots.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 2w ago

An increasingly vocal group of Silicon Valley founders, investors and national security experts see autonomous weapons not as the nightmarish killer robots of science fiction, but as a vital new frontier in military technology.

Constant internal screaming at the absolute willful stupidity of this man.

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 2w ago

Trump: “Our air has been poisoned very badly by the fires from Canada. “Maybe they should pay us some damages, or maybe we should do some tariffs. “Businesses are closing because they can't breathe the air.”

Ukraine has gotten very good at this.

The Kyiv Independent@kyivindependent.com · 2w ago

⚡️ Update: Ukraine hits Russian oil depot, logistics facilities in Moscow Oblast, 6 Black Sea vessels, Zelensky confirms. "This war must be brought to an end, and that is only possible by increasing the pressure on the sole cause of this war – Russia," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X.

sorry maybe this is a stupid question and I’m just a silly little girl who doesn’t understand the smart number genius guys at these companies, but, uh isn’t “I would make a lot of money if there was a fire” just going to incentivize people to start more fires

shauna@goldengateblond.bsky.social · 3w ago

yeah we’re gonna have to ban prediction markets

1) LG (and, honestly, the tech industry at large) has completely lost the plot. 2) Gamers Nexus has gone so far beyond gaming & PC hardware at this point and they're a treasure.

Muggsy Pogues@circusmaximus.bsky.social · 3w ago

Welp, LG is now on my permanent ban list. Just watch the first 5 minutes. youtu.be/Q9uefFYe6bM

Some folks take a trip to an island zoo, but the animals are grumpy and the infrastructure sucks so they leave early. There are a number of sequels where they do basically the same thing.

Kathryn Tewson@kathryntewson.bsky.social · 3w ago

Buncha guys go to the beach

Yeah... I'm not a historian but I don't think this is true. I think they were absolutely just as bad as modern ultra wealthy people. The difference is (1) memory fades with time and (2) the world is a much smaller place now so impacts are more widespread.

GOLIKEHELLMACHINE@golikehellmachine.com · 3w ago

“why are these ultra wealthy people so much worse than their predecessors” is a question people will be trying to answer for a long time, but i think part of it is that they’re fundamentally contemptuous of humanity in a way that the men who built railroads or oil empires were not

Well there's a book we really don't need.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3w ago

Former President Joe Biden has written a memoir that will be released two weeks after the midterm elections this fall, he said. “Promise Me, America” would cover Ukraine and “restoring our democracy” after the Jan. 6 attack by President Trump’s supporters and more.

"The change happened overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, hours after the city hosted MLB All-Star game events near the site, allowing the government to switch out the displays and shutdown the television screens while avoiding public scrutiny during the takedown." -- www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

Slavery exhibits at the President’s House have been swapped for the Trump administration’s version

The change at the President's House happened overnight, allowing the government to switch out the displays and shutdown the television screens while avoiding public scrutiny during the takedown.

inquirer.com

this will be a major problem for my productivity given that lucy is in a perpetual state of either being asleep on me or just being extra cute

Chad Loder@chadloder.dev · 3w ago

BREAKING: NYC Mayor Mamdani signs new law that says you don't have to go to work if your pet is asleep on you or just being extra cute.

I'll tell you what if that blows down into Michigan bad air quality on top of 100+ degree heat is going to be just a blast this week.

Dr. Jeff Masters@drjeffmasters.bsky.social · 3w ago

A dangerous and potentially historic wildfire smoke event is headed toward the Great Lakes and Northeast. Yesterday, record 100° heat, very dry fuels, and strong winds worsened wildfires near the Minnesota/Ontario border. Their smoke will affect MN, WI, MI, OH, NY, NJ, and PA on Wed-Thu. (1/8)

This is obscene.

Reuters@reuters.com · 3w ago

Elon Musk's xAI has installed more than double the number of gas turbines than it has publicly acknowledged to power its Colossus 2 data center project, without federal permits, and the pollution is hitting predominantly Black neighborhoods the hardest reut.rs/4bIghEm

I am so very thankful that no matter when I die it won't be followed by Donald Trump using my name for narcissistic, self-aggrandizing knob polishing. I think anyone who can manage to avoid that and a bunch of people saying 'if you don't have anything nice to say...' is doing pretty well.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w ago

Trump on Lindsey Graham: "He had one bad moment in the January 6 thing when he stood up -- 'alright, now I've had it, that's it, I can't do it anymore' -- then he called me about 40 minutes later and said, 'Did I really said that? I can't believe it.' And he took it back."

…worth remembering that the modern left (and, by, extension, the religious left) is functionally a coalition of coalitions. That means you have a lot of sub-communities linked together by common cause(s). The right has that, but much less so. I.e., part of what makes evangelicalism is so powerful…