Is the ubiquitously paywalled media ecosystem of today more or less healthy than the media ecosystem of the early 2000s “information wants to be free” era? are the larger worlds they subsist in just too different to render a comparison meaningful?

Usually people who begin a claim with “I’m sorry, but…” aren’t actually sorry.

A key tactic of right-wing politics is identifying and then sabotaging the parts of government whose smooth functioning would prevent the crisis you want to demagogue.

"Congress needs to repeal the Federal Arbitration Act." ~Matthew Saroff 40yrs.blogspot.com/2024/10/yeah... // If you've ever clicked anything on the internet (or someone else clicked stuff on your phone) + you get injured in an Uber, you'll be going to arbitration rather than have your day in court

me too!

a thing i would not have predicted, presidential prediction markets on Interactive Brokers.

It’s a bit weird to hold up FL as example of good YIMBY policy. FL policy does help get a lot of multifamily housing built! But overwhelmingly in ways contrary to YIMBY urbanist/environmental ideals. Maybe some restriction shld attach to liberties YIMBYs recommend? www.slowboring.com/p/housing-po...

sure it can be a bit wriggly, maybe even a little bit gross, but that’s just what a healthy macrobiome looks like.

am i the only person for whom the names “vance” and “walz” code as oddly similar? i sometimes hear a claim about one and misinterpret it as referring to the other until i double-check myself.

freedom includes the right to be left alone, but that doesn’t mean being left alone should be the default.

“And so every American who had a home became the enemy of every American who didn't – including one another's children. Every home built threatened your own property values.” ~Cory Doctorow pluralistic.net/2024/10/01/h...

The heart of the American Constitutional system is an active, assertive Congress. Unfortunately, Congress is now a fearful, incapable, pathetic. I think we'll need electoral reform to change it's character, but @ddayen.bsky.social offers important ideas to chew on. prospect.org/politics/202...

faster just to spit.

going to start a social media site called “ruth.social”. posts will be referred to as “random acts of kindness”.

happy birthday!

In April, both sides wanted to save face but avoid a larger conflict. Do both sides want to avoid a larger conflict now?

i suspect the Saudi leadership is really enjoying its popcorn.

while missiles are flying and ground troops invading, no one will GAF what happens to stateless people in Gaza and the West Bank.

“The project of trusting markets and technology and positive thinking keeps being tried, and keeps failing, and then keeps being re-proposed, as thought it were somehow new and deserves a fresh shot.” @davekarpf.bsky.social davekarpf.substack.com/p/the-climat...

“if China’s central government has fiscal space—and it uses that space in way that gives households the confidence to spend more—China might be able to recover from its property downturn on its own, without relying even more on exports.” ~Brad Setser www.cfr.org/blog/beijing...