"We did nothing to help the team, and in fact actively denigrated them in crucial moments. It's time for us to lead and demand that all of you do what we refused to do in the past, for the good of the party which we despise but want to control.'

I agree, which is why I look forward to the EU coming together to spend the ~€300bn annually it takes to build a navy with independent, global power projection capabilities. :taps ear: oh, I am being told they only have two fleet carriers, neither above 45,000 tons displacement. Oh well. Alas.

@torpike.bsky.social · 5h ago

I think its both feasible and good to ensure international trade rests not on the military power and goodwill of a single country

the flip-side of underestimating the scale of government spending is how many people overcomplicate government financing basically every conceivable tax idea you can possibly think of gets absolutely mogged by "raise payroll taxes by 1%"

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII] *YIP OVERCHARGE COMPLETE. Yip output increased by a factor of 86.400. Releasing Yip...*

Also like, yes, air travel is less "luxurious" than it was decades ago, but also now you can get to far flung parts of the world often for just a few hundred dollars. Guess what most ppl actually prefer?

Constantine@ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 22h ago

Food, man. Food is so much better than it was in 1986. All of it. Poor-people food, restaurant food, fresh food, frozen food. Food is just a hell of a lot better.

Gen X and millennial hipster craft gastronomy genuinely changed the world.

Constantine@ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 22h ago

Food, man. Food is so much better than it was in 1986. All of it. Poor-people food, restaurant food, fresh food, frozen food. Food is just a hell of a lot better.

Bluesky doing the fantastic thing of warning everyone about the "Perez Hilton" content being not fit for viewing. Great job. Mute that term.

Neat! Also apparently close to Techno-Socialism and Ordoliberalism.

This is when I’m reminded that my grandfather wrote a lot of personal loans for *TV sets* while working at a small Midwestern city bank in the 40s–50s

Michigan is not New York City. It is a purple swing state with a diverse population. If this kind of pugilistic, anti-Dem candidate can’t win the primary there, that lane is effectively shut off for 2028. I don’t care how many socialists win in D+25 districts, if they can’t do it here, forget it.

Lizard of the day: Crimean rock lizard! A Ukrainian species! They feature a cool green coloration with dark stripes and blue dots! They inhabit rocky mountain areas, with a preference for moist zones. They have a great tolerance to both cold and warm temperatures!

Okay, so I think this is mostly correct, but also gets at the problem here. The real world isn't "solved," it's maintained. If someone filled your car up with gas, you can drive it for a while but that doesn't mean you never have to fill it up again.

Jane@janee.bsky.social · 2d ago

I have a hunch that part of it is that the real world/reality is kinda “solved” for lack of a better term. Using public transportation as an example, Buses should arrive at least every 15 minutes if not sooner on routes with higher demand. It’s nigh impossible to argue about that on the facts, but-

As opposed to the way these people learn about things, which is by showing each other memes instead of graphs.

Matt Darling@besttrousers.bsky.social · 2d ago

Ahhh.

I've never seen a DM wait until last minute on something this critical to campaign that *needs* to be visually presented. Like what even is this request???

Gretchen Felker-Martin PRE ORDER CHIMERA 2.16.27 🍉@scumbelievable.bsky.social · 2d ago

"I'm entitled to whatever I want whenever I want it for any reason and I don't care what satisfying these urges does to me or the world" well okay dude, seems like there's something deeper going on here, but that's just my take

Honestly, filtering for, "the Nazis were bad, Stalin was bad, the correct side won WWII" is the easiest way to filter out 90+% of bad faith interlocutors if only everyone was honest about their views but the fascists and tankies know this and so sometimes falsify their opinions strategically.

Secretary of Defense Rock@sodrock.bsky.social · 2d ago

WWII propaganda is good actually

A lot of people won’t admit it but they got the idea that the GM Streetcar Conspiracy was real from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. If your understanding of a nuanced topic came from a cartoon aimed at children in the 1990’s, it might be time to update your priors

(addendum: if you want to read the book, it's called "the lost subways of north america". if you get a copy directly from me, i'll sign it for you)

The Lost Subways of North America

Official website for Jake Berman's book, "The Lost Subways of North America," containing transit maps and his writings on cities.

lostsubways.com

this is not true. there was no conspiracy. it didn't matter whether the streetcars were publicly owned (seattle, detroit) or private (los angeles, atlanta). a thread (because i wrote a whole-ass book on this): 1/?

David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 3d ago

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

i'll declare my stance over the ceuta issue: i think it's fine for people to cross borders

I was in NYC doing decon in the thick of it. I remember, distinctly, how bad it was. Then going back to the hotel on Staten Island after a 20 hour shift and having a guy in a ballcap at a gas station tell me it was over blown and 'just a flu'. People living just across+

Jonathon Booth@jboothhistory.bsky.social · 3d ago

A good friend of mine was a pulmonary ICU nurse in Brooklyn and the thing that made me realize how bad things were gonna get were her instagram stories that went from "wash your hands guys!" to "I saw three people die today" in like a week.

Hate makes you stupid, and I'm tired of pretending otherwise.

Transgender World@transgenderreport.com · 4d ago

Christian food bank’s shelves are empty after pastor rejects supplies from LGBTQ+ allies www.lgbtqnation.com/... #transgender #trans #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

This article is hilarious. First, panic over a reseller buying used books for destructive scanning by AI companies because they must be rare books, but turns out none are particularly rare, booksellers are happy to get rid of them, and the reseller has nothing to do with AI cos or digitization

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 4d ago

‘More than just objects’: Australian book sellers raise alarm over ‘horrific’ destruction of rare titles to feed AI

i'm gonna be honest i'm a little confused by this whole freakout over the pied-a-terre tax because property titles have literally always been public? "who owns this house" is a thing you have been able to look up since before America existed, ownership records have always been public

For everyone's information: Yes, this is extremely common. This is a thing. You can call them up or contact them and get help navigating things. Example in next post:

Cheryl Arbonies@lucasaurelius.bsky.social · 5d ago

I’ve always wondered why the democrats never just went ahead and formed community assistance groups. Have dedicated staff at their offices to help people navigate Medicaid or getting their paperwork for voting or getting food assistance. Is it illegal?

Guys, the best weapons to protect your neighbors from ICE are NOT GUNS They are CAMERAS, WHISTLES, and a well-organized RAPID RESPONSE AND NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH SYSTEM. ICE is better-armed than you'll ever be. But they like to rely on secrecy, and you can make it much harder for them to be secret.

Hank Green thing once again proving people are absolute weirdo puritanical freaks about AI

there is a skill to asking tough questions in a friendly way and we'd all be better off if it were more widely distributed

noam@noamchompers.bsky.social · 4d ago

I think academic philosophy has gotten a lot less overtly mean over the last couple decades, and that’s overall good. But it is sorta *weird* that as a result a lot of people sorta linger in the hallway after talks to whisper ‘that was shit, right?’ to one another

Getting treated better today in a "red" state (and being quite openly gender queer) then I was in a "blue" state 15 years ago kinda highlights the need to involve the large, non voting portion of the population in politics. The margins are much smaller than you think.

this owl has just about had it with the bullshit and me too

yeah I’m gonna start blocking people for being shitty to Will Stancil, a person who I do not follow who does not follow me. the slashed tire is fully nuts and if you’re part of the problem from here you’re likely contributing to whatever fever swamp conditions caused it