have we learned anything about the people who’ve been killed in the several US military operations against boats alleged to be operated by “narcoterrorists”?
there is no one more pathetic than one’s murderer.
regardless of whether they ultimately kiss up or stand up to Trump, none of the mergers involving these media companies — Disney, Nextar — should be permitted to go through. even if they do the right thing, they shouldn’t be paid off with more consolidation.
in these times, “the princess and the pea” becomes a dark parable. very sensitive, very powerful people are maybe not what you want.
“Don’t say the word pretext so loud. There has never been a pretext even once. We certainly don’t know what you mean. Just be quiet. Don’t say ‘We have to speak up now, because there will always be an excuse when the troops descend on the city or the strike hits the boat or the vans roll up and start shoving people inside.’ I’m sorry I said excuse. I’m sorry I said pretext. I should have said reason. I should have said nothing.” #AlexandraPetri https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/09/jimmy-kimmel-suspension-censorship/684267/?gift=jQN1t1D1nkO2TQodBiz5KJnoBWCrK2FN2bZjkw7xXCA&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
nihilism is cowardice.
all this makes me wanna learn to be funny.
please laugh.
[new draft post] Too much murder https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/09/17/too-much-murder/index.html
The way Google prioritizes links to TV stories when I search for newsy things has my conspiratorial dander up. TV news is the medium most susceptible to capture and control. Google, instead of linking to the text-based web—the medium most open to diverse viewpoints—privileges what can be controlled.
i'm really a single issue voter at this point: electoral reform.
if we don't "break the two-party doom loop”, as #LeeDrutman put it, it's hard to see how we don't escalate to killing each other even more than we are, let alone get any kind of sane and sensible governance.
i just had a call from a very polite gentleman running for state house in a state not mine, seeking a donation. good luck to him, but it’s getting a bit ridiculous.
one thing to say about Charlie Kirk is he had enormous emotional range. he could project — very effectively! — reasonableness, bonhomie, good will, even across deep social chasms. he could also spew bile, hatred, and bigotry in a way that left little doubt he meant it. 1/
this range renders him extraordinarily divisive. some communities will select to portray and remember him through (videoclips of) extraordinary openness and good will extended to putative adversaries. others will recall the crushing epithets and hatefulness. 2/
each will feel righteous speaking and acting in ways the other finds deplorable, unforgivable. 3/
there are few public figures whose murder could be so effective a fuse. /fin
i despair i may never stand on land that isn’t sliding.
as kind of a rule of thumb, try not to be governed by people who like palaces.
it’s rather astonishing how a news event that to a first, second, and third approximation has nothing at all to do with trans people has nevertheless been dominated by controversializing about trans people.
political movements that center martyrdom tend not to be great political movements.
some of the most horrible ways to murder people are to starve them, or to take away their lifesaving medication abruptly, leaving no plausible path to find a replacement source in time.
one can just consistently disapprove of murder. one will find one has a great deal to disapprove of.
Trump doesn't understand that this guy he admires, this person Trump wants desperately to pretend is his friend, hopes with a burning passion to see the country Trump leads (and therefore Trump himself) in crisis and humiliated. Putin, very much like Trump, takes an interest in vengeance.
pretty convenient how quickly The Left has forgotten sandwich guy.