Cruelty is not toughness. Sadism is not strength. Manliness is not dominance. Too many people are confused.

Biden deserves plenty of criticism but he was also actively trying to unravel so much shit. He was removing people left and right within his boundaries as president. He did his job. Most of my criticism comes at the end. But y’all are stupid and probably STILL wouldn’t have voted for the black lady.

I want to encourage you to read, follow and support @thomaszimmer.bsky.social's work. This is his latest.

Morris thinks Talarico can do it. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-01-01...

The idea that there is a rift b/w "centrists" & "progressives" in the Democratic Party is fictional. Both factions belief "the people" are pure & innocent, and want someone like Platner. Meanwhile, actual liberals (especially Black liberals) in the party are wtf. www.semafor.com/article/06/0...

The reason we do not have decent public transportation in America is because it would benefit the "undeserving." Americans will always shoot themselves in the foot if it prevents "those people" from living decent, productive lives. That data centers get more money is par for America.

It’s true of any hierarchical organization that goes bad—companies, the military…

Jesus, if Platner is the model for masculine toughness, then masculine toughness has no meaning at all. www.jfassler.com/p/graham-pla...

How do I watch Ghana play in the World Cup? (The woman wants to watch Ghana. I am not choosing this.)

America is set up to persuade (especially white) people that bad is good. We rationalize greed & selfishness. We tell ourselves the "undeserving" deserve their suffering. And so on. It's why Americans want relief (we want to be told we're good people) but not redemption. Redemption is too hard.

I think we need to accept as real the fact that state police departments are often insubordinate to Democratic governors, *because* they are Democratic governors. And most Democratic governors are not willing to punish insubordination.

And why I am fired up about Pete Hegseth: he is violating promotion rules that create a balanced military in the middle of a war we are losing that will turn out to be a generational defeat.

Mainers have options. Primary is June 9. mainemorningstar.com/2026/06/01/a...

White supremacists (and their accomplices) who only understand a nation dominated and controlled by straight white men said enough.

I think it's important to put this is a large framework of understanding. Democracy, equal treatment under law, accessible education, a merit-based economy, prosperity, all produced a Black president and lots of empowered women -- and elite America said enough. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/u...

As I said last week, we'd better hope he's lying. If he isn't, the last remaining partisan constraints have fallen away and we're gonna burn up.

If CBS brass doesn't now fire Pelley, they look like they'll tolerate any level of insubordination. If they do fire him, they will spur additional upheaval that will drive away viewers and advertisers. So Weiss is in an impossible position, which was entirely predictable and is a gosh-darned shame

It takes strength to look the person who could fire you in the eye and tell them that both they and their boss are giant pieces of trash. You usually don't win, but you definitely leave a mark, and you write your place in history. That's what Scott Pelley did today.

Who you gonna believe? www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/b...

Look what happens when you give Israel a veto. Trump can't crack down on Netanyahu or let Iran burn up the American economy.

Well done, Jared Polis.

He also worked for USAID. 👏🏾👏🏾

Alas, they don't vote.

A 51-49 Dem Senate is one in which, for example, many Trump nominees never even make it out of committee, making it irrelevant which way Fetterman or Platner or whomever would vote on the floor.

so if I'm going to be constructive I think some of these responses to the JP Morgan stuff are great encapsulations of a big problem that forecasters are having. Which is that this has transcended economics and become a political risk issue

This is what I've trying to say. It's a veto player problem where I would not be 100% sure that all the players completely align enough to resolve it under enough economic pressure.

this great and echoes something i said when i first saw the gunn movie: superman is best when he’s cringe, because cringe, for lack of a better word, is good.

“That Platner doesn’t carry the burdens of the working class can also be seen in the frictionless way he interacts with online leftists who will also never face the consequences of failure. They read the same books. They cite the same authors. They know the same cultural references.”

As @beyerstein.bsky.social said, Jared Polis is a sucker. apnews.com/article/colo...

If you like my interviews with Denny in the Editorial Board, you should check out his new book.

❝ I’m sure he has had his own, but the struggle he wants Mainers to believe is his is not his. ❞

I am morally bound to share this eternal truth.

How obscene must your opinion of Black women be for this to seem true to you?

As I say in the piece, the men who are drawn to Platner's kind of masculinity are "men who can afford to cosplay 'manliness' without the risk and responsibility of serious manhood." They won't grow up and therefore *must* spite their parents.

This opinion is not getting the attention it deserves. It is *insulting* to actual working class people for *progressives* to hold up Platner as a representative of the working class. As I said in my piece:

It will remain closed until Trump offers something more valuable that what's being lost with the US naval blockade. And he can't do that, because he's a terrible war president.

This man literally "grew up in a working class family in Old Town" and yet he's not getting attention for it. I wonder why.

Imagining THE INSIDER with Joe Rogan doing the interviews instead of Mike Wallace. "So you're saying that tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wygand is just a liar?" "Yes. He is a liar." "Oh, wow. Wowwwwwwwwwwwww."

10. He's deathly afraid of the humiliation of losing a war he started. He keeps chasing after Iran's nuclear program, as if it symbolized victory, but he's too vain to admit he's already given Iran something far more valuable.

8. Is Iran likely to give that up in peace talks? Never, a career intelligence analyst told me, who goes by the Bluesky handle @shipwreck75.bsky.social. "This is the new norm. [Control of the strait is] almost a replacement for their nuclear deterrent."

@beyerstein.bsky.social knew. www.editorialboard.com/this-time-no...

7. There is no going back to normal. Iran has gained too much from Trump's folly. Forget nukes, the real prize is control of the Strait of Hormuz.

About 30 minutes ago, Iran confirmed the gist of this thread, which I posted Friday.

5 minutes ago

"The index suggests America's acceptance of gay people has continued a steep decline, reversing many of the civil rights advances that increased the well-being and safety of the LGBTQ+ population." www.usatoday.com/story/money/...