i feel the same hopelessness and anger. also i’d point out that a growing political tendency elevates UAE as aspirational, perhaps a template for a new world order. those enthusiasts should not be spared accounting for UAE’s intercessions in Sudan.

if you’ve written for a long time, you have to hope you don’t become a stereotype of yourself. it’s not an easy thing to avoid.

the average american and the median american just hate each other.

“anti-fascists should be attentive not merely to civil society as a general category, but to different kinds of civil society. The Internet and mass media are a form of civil society, but…they are not a substitute for in-person association. (The same applies to professionally managed nonprofits.)”

also worth keeping in mind that "people who feel like they were 'canceled'" is a category largely orthogonal to "progressive" or "moderate". (perhaps not so orthogonal to the contemporary version of "right", for straightforward reasons.)

self-criticism as much as anything: we're very aware of how plutocrats use race, nationality, etc to divide us, but how about faction? when we devote time to countering searchlight etc and the pugnacious internet personalities who promote them, are we really countering or falling into a trap?

boo, y'all!

isn't he doing to grok what they did to HAL 9000?

you know the thing about the two bodies of the king? "his Body politic is a Body that cannot be seen or handled, consisting of Policy and Government…utterly void of Infancy, and old Age" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kin... it is becoming reified, materialized, technologically, god help us.

if you believe that a better world is possible, you may be tarred as a doomer, because achieving a better world involves calling attention to what is wrong with this one. your very optimism is called pessimism, particularly by people for whom the current world is more than comfortable.

I think of this guy all the time, because as a child my understanding of age and a normal human lifespan was set by his character on St Elsewhere describing it as a failure whenever patients die before their "three score and ten years". i am delighted he is 98 and kicking. hurrah!

the new Republican Party was a multiracial, working-class coalition for, like, one night.

i get knocked down / but i get up again / but not without throwing a huge temper tantrum and acting bitter and depressed for days and you're never gonna keep me down!

introspection of Claude-inception.

i just love on so many levels his use of "habibi".

So, chat, does this China trade deal make any progress on China's export controls of rare earths, or do we just TACO that?

jfc. ht @jkarsh.bsky.social

Excellent, by @ryanlcooper.com. Our political problem is not some disjunction between Democrats and voter preferences on "the issues". It's a social + informational environment in which attending Bowdoin and murdering boaters are, like, symmetrically issues to discuss. prospect.org/2025/10/29/v...

friendship is the microstructure of solidarity. AI companionship is an opiate of the masses.