If an attractive young woman a third my age didn't want to date me, then why did she ask me for feedback on an economics paper? by Larry Summers

Best case: The President of the United States knew about a pedophilia ring and did nothing to stop it. Medium case: He also used his office to protect the perpetrators. Worst case: Because he was one of the perpetrators.

Northern lights down south in Alabama.

More on why it was always going to end this way, and an ongoing reminder about how American parties work. Nonhierarchical Parties in Action – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/nonhierarchi...

Shutdowns don't work to force majorities to make real concessions. It Was Always Going to End This Way – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/it-was-alway...

The PR was fine. The polling was good. The ask was targeted. And it still didn't matter. You can't win real concessions so the question is whether the base likes a long fight with little to show for it or if it just angers them more because you caved in the end.

This largely fits my initial assessment as well.

I am open to someone explaining the counter position, but I can’t see how the Dems were ever going to get legislation on the ACA out of this confrontation. This was always about making a point about the GOP and health care. So, point made (along with clear cruelty and lack of caring Trump).

Seriously: what is the positive evidence of the value of the filibuster? What actual compromise and negotiation does it regularly create? A Question for the Filibuster – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/a-question-f...

40 men Trump sent to CECOT tell the NYT they were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted. The details are worse than you can imagine. We can’t let them get away with this. Miller and the other architects of this sadism need to go to prison. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...

Happy Four Seasons Total Landscaping Day to all who celebrate. Five years now since the funniest political moment of my entire life.

Nope

Vince Gilligan and #Pluribus has crashed Apple TV

If sandwich shops don’t start offering a sandwich named “the acquittal” then what are we even doing

remember all those hot takes during the primary about how Mamdani was the candidate for rich white liberals? a "champagne socialist" ? yeah, about that

ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections

Generally, when a party is trying to appeal to a new cohort of voters, they don’t send masked men to publicly kidnap and disappear thousands of members of that cohort.

A bad night for Trump. Thoughts on Outcomes – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/thoughts-on-...

Some hope amid ongoing concern. The Main Takeaway from Last Night: Democracy Lives – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/the-main-tak...

Maybe dumping poop on voters from an airplane is not a surefire electoral strategy

Trump, holding the GOP in front of him as a shield from the bullets

I know a lot of people are excited because Democrats are winning But tonight I'll sleep easier knowing that its much harder for these proto-autocrats to consolidate their authoritarian regime after extremely strong public signals of discontent.

whatever you think about his policies, hard to deny that he is one hell of a talented politician

it's time for journos to start asking Johnson meta questions "Speaker, on 5 occasions last week you said 'I haven't seen it' when asked about news events w/big implications for public policy. Do you ever read the news, and do you agree it's problematic for the Speaker to be so woefully uninformed?"

“Don’t get lost in the facts,” says the oily liar.

So it’s a SECRET plan

A Word of Caution on the NYC Mayoral Race – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/a-word-of-ca...

Douthat writes that 2024, when Harris lost by 1.5% of the popular vote, was "an ideological referendum and progressivism lost." I wonder why he didn't view the 2020 election, when Trump lost by 4.5% of the popular vote, as a far more significant loss for conservatism. bsky.app/profile/larr...

A Crown for Trump – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/a-crown-for-...

Let Them Eat Renovations – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/let-them-eat...

My new rule is a complete and total ban on using the phrase "median voter" until a given pundit or consultant has read, and written a report about with a passing grade, at least one political science text about what the term actually means.

The "resume nuke tests" thing comports with my operating theory that Trump wants to recreate the US as it was immediately prior to Brown v. BOE, plus crypto.

The conditionality of this Virginia initiative mirrors the California version, and that's key for a healthy escalation that imposes costs for authoritarian overreach while still offering an off ramp from spiraling constitutional hardball

Consultants Like to Talk about Messaging – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/consultants-... But Political Scientists don't. Wherein I agree with @smotus.bsky.social, @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social and @gelliottmorris.com

More on diagnosing American politics, and why I am skeptical of simplistic messaging/organizing prescriptions. Presidents Shape Parties More than Parties Shape Presidents – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/presidents-s...

NYT, a year ago today.

The more I think about all of this, the more I become convinced that democratic reform is the answer, not organizing and messaging. Ezra Klein is Looking for Change in the Wrong Places – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/ezra-klein-i...

Fun fact. Trump destruction of soybean exports (rightfully) gets lots of attention. But you know what we sell even more of to China? Education. 2024 soybean exports to China: $13B. Higher Ed: $14B. Yes, all those internat’l students count as *exports.* Trump is STILL actively destroying that market.

In the "false positives" scandal, Colombia's military killed 6,402 civilian noncombatants between 2002 and 2008. That's 76 extrajudicial executions per month. With 43 "boat strike" killings since September 2—22 per month—the Trump admin is already at nearly one-third of the "false positives" pace.

I just want every person to consider this in its distilled form. ********************************************************** The President of the United States is unilaterally levying a tax on every citizen because he didn't like a commercial.

Mike Johnson doesn’t know anything about it. Mike Johnson hasn’t had time to look into that. Mike Johnson hasn’t heard any of the details. Mike Johnson is too busy to read about that. Mike Johnson really loves pretending to be Speaker.

America is very upset about migrants and drugs coming from Venezuela So America is trying to destabilize the Venezuelan government Which would create a lot more migrants And open up more space for drug traffickers

In Constitutional Republics, the people are sovereign. They decide—through their elected representatives—what government polices, programs, and priorities deserve funding. Billionaires already corrupt the process. Now they want to bypass it entirely—and dictate policy directly by cutting checks.

The billionaires will save us! (For one third of a day). Political Math – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/political-ma...

Tom and Steven are talking Jim Starlin's run on Adam Warlock this week on Ancient Geeks! (Get it wherever you listen to podcasts!). #comics #Marvel

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

Again, it all should have been stopped the instant he started openly monetizing his hotel blocks from the White House & sending his children to represent the United States Of America at international meetings. But we decided none of the laws, rules, or norms apply this One Special Boy 🤷‍♂️

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#nokings Montgomery, AL