we tend to obsess about Trump, but he’s already done his work. for now his chaos is a saving grace. if he were sidelined, more capable elements of the movement he brought to power might find a firmer footing.

Do you feel welcome in the United States?

it turns out when you gamify governance, you don't actually get good governance. i wonder what happens when you gamify everything else.

q: how often do you see a ghost's butt? a: once in a boo moon

you do suicide by police on the streets. you do suicide by secret police on social media.

the oath you took to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States was not an oath to protect and defend John Roberts' interpretation of it.

i'd kind of like a timed block feature. it's better to block than to engage when people are shitposting and trolling, but i don't like permanently isolating myself from people. i want the incentive blocking encourages (be civilized or be ignored), but without permanently banishing people.

i think we can agree that the nomination we all watched him withdraw from was rather young.

an irony of these times we're living through is it's failure of the Reagan Revolution that's about to put an end to the New Deal.

i think we have to concede that republican nannygates are spicier.

perhaps it was the wisdom of the American people to heighten the contradictions.

sometimes i worry that it is our inclination to insist upon competent fascists.

the richest man on the planet understands that you may suffer some hardship.

“even if i am lying to you, the sin is yours for failing to give me the benefit of the doubt.”

They’re just not even pretending anymore. Except when Democrats threaten to do anything similar. Then it’s *Radicals Destroying The Constitutional Order*. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202... via Kevin Drum

would the bluesky analog of “tweep” be “skype”?

i mean i want to say it’s because she should have run on muscular social democracy and reigning in corporate malfeasance. maybe it’d have helped! but i think the marginal voter just thought she was squirrelly and he was real and meant to do something.

No, no, it's science. Science! Science, I say!

all these takes as if Harris lost on "the issues". her takes on the issues poll much better than his takes, my dear popularists. she lost because he was perceived by low information, go-with-your-gut, voters as someone willing to let it hang out while she was cautious, scripted, hiding something.

before Trump, in these United States, what fraction of Congressional elections are competitive?