Rumsfeld was the ultimate insider, & was absolutely phenomenal in meetings. Genius-level at synthesizing institutional priorities with partisan interests. But he had basically zero ability to reign in his institutions or ensure those institutions were pursuing political interests to useful ends.

I'm not sure if you could come up with a more perfect anti-Trump message for the Treatlerite age than "America deserves a refund"

Dems are already messaging hard against it, introducing a bill requiring the government refund all businesses for tariff expenses. The hard part is crossing the conceptual boundary to giving money back to consumers, who bore the pass-through costs but whose expenses can't be easily accounted for.

On the one hand I don't think even people at the pentagon have 95% confidence in what will happen next. On the other hand I know what happens when you keep moving the hammer closer to the nail

these people do this to themselves, we don't make them

As my Pandora account approaches 20 years old, & increasingly becomes my family's rather than my own, I pride myself on my musical tastes remaining largely inscrutable

read theory

The Biden administration drafted plans for a transition in Gaza in June 2021 and then shelved them. Yes look at the date I just said.

An earnest president who knows how to speak is no fun at all. With Republican presidents I can steal familiar bad words & make them gooder

More fodder for midterm ads

I broadly agree with the sense that one of the foremost Dem weaknesses in the age of Trump is trying to insist on non-existent normalcies. If people's phones are blowing up with Bad Headlines, they won't respect you for saying everything's fine or changing the subject to something that polls better.

this goes all the way back to his conviction that he could end the Cold War. It's just a deal, all they need is a dealmaker

they're lower brain functions

We have to reform the Court so that rogue justices can't write policy for the president

turns out you can't rule that the president has to govern well if he doesn't want to

hooray it's still dick briquette hours

"I'm allowed to do anything I want to them but take money of them" We are each our own devil & we make this world our hell

nothing but respect for my president

Is there a rule against bringing class action suits in the Court of International Trade

Joy as an act of resistance

thinking about the Good Numbers today

the story of the Trump Administration is constant tension between incompetence in intent & incompetence in practice

this could be a problem that solves itself, but this is plainly not a man capable of leaving women he doesn't want to marry alone

The Supreme Court's commitment to treating every major legal question as an opportunity to sell doctrine is a perfect illustration of John Roberts's failure as chief justice. The man doesn't want to rule on the law, he wants to rule

I wonder how much of this is driven by them noticing that the Chinese game emulator industry has basically caught up to them on hardware

Right wingers struggle with the concept of low-paying dead end jobs. This is a major reason why they fetishize child labor

If the UK & EU decide they don't stand, what is Trump supposed to do about it? Is he going to suddenly embrace the WTO?

Seedance can't imagine that Batman keeps crayons in his gauntlets for solving mysteries, which is one reason why playing with action figures with my daughter is significantly more fun than whatever this is.

Well that comes as zero surprise. Wish they hadn't dragged their feet for so long.

maybe the funniest referendum I've ever heard of. Not separatism, no, no, just reducing the entire Canadian national government to a glorified border guard

So what I'm hearing is the war college system is going to be dismantled specifically because Tom Nichols pisses off MAGA Pentagon guys. Sounds about right

ROU 100% That Bitch

Did I buy the new Pixel 10a because the Berry colorway is incredible? No. I bought it because my phone went terminal this week & I could get it for less than $200 with discounts. But it is spectacular nevertheless

this is true & correct & it is especially correct for my perfect wife

I can't decide how much of it was real & how much of it was Cawthorn madly repeating every rumor he'd heard, but I think enough of it was real for it to merit serious examination

Now I want to watch a series about the resettlement of Alderaani refugees on a sparsely populated Outer Rim planet

Voters elected Trump to make them rich

Always a big moment when one of the hanging folders in the old Roughneck tub gets repurposed. Right behind "Eldest Birth Paperwork", formerly "AG RUNOFF", we greet a new addition, "Baby #2 Paperwork", formerly "NEG - SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES". Due date is still 2 months away, but semper paratus I say

Voters elected Trump to make them rich

- None (if people get the impression it's this & it's not, they get very mad) - Sometimes (which is why people struggle immensely with tail risks) - About half (this doesn't mean 50/50 so much as "anything could happen") - Usually (same problem as "sometimes") - Always (same problem as "none")

I regularly see someone reply to a Reddit post with AI "proof" for something said in the comments, except the AI's only reference is those comments.

tbh Jupiter is not very nice, but she has her reasons. Just stay out of her way & she'll clear a path for you.

The trouble is that this is the closest approach to the truth--Trump doesn't give a shit who lives or dies, he's barely even paying attention to what's going on from one day to the next besides what's on the teevee--that the Times can make without its coverage seeming intolerably "biased".

ok but was it a monocrystalline banana

no one can afford to go to a "good school" & no one wants to see that dream put further out of reach, so trans sports becomes a wedge issue against LGBTQ rights & bodily autonomy in exactly the same way affirmative action has served as as a wedge issue against anti-racism

with Channing Tatum as Elrond

This is the future liberals want

What's really interesting is how much "modern" stuff you lose here. Most Foucault. Five years from starting to discard Baudrillard & hooks. My daughter would have hardly any reason to read Derrida, Harraway or Butler, unless she was an academic. At least for entertainment she could read Franzen 😊

Lamb lost because he campaigned for a dead electorate. He has since proved that wasn't who he is, but that is cold comfort. Voters can't be expected to guess that you'd give them what they want when you won't promise what the other guy will.