I'm about that age and I think the sequence went: 1. Jocks get the girls 2. Nerds start getting the girls, they're nicer and gonna be rich 3. Nerds don't realize "nicer" was part of it and stop being nice 4. Nerds stop getting girls 5. Nerds blame girls and woke for not getting girls anymore

Will the alternate reality they live in lead them into a trap?

I think a lot about the story Carl Reiner told: he’d have been a sewing machine repairman if not for a free WPA drama class. That led to other theater work, to Sid Caesar, to Mel Brooks, and all the rest. All because of one free class paid for by a government that felt the arts were worth teaching.

If someone as incredibly un-hip as me knows that, certainly someone writing for an *entertainment industry magazine* should get this right.

Both "advocates" and "building owner groups" are right. Based on what ZM has said over time, he's listening and thinking. He'll figure it out. The goal is making housing affordable. Rent control helps and hurts; building more helps. He'll synthesize it all into something smart to advance the goal.

The nation balances on a knife's edge. This knife's edge.

Evil did not end with yesterday's election wins. So much work to do, and so many different kinds.

And a Mario Cuomo quote (uncredited) that ground up his appointment like a mortar and pestle.

AOC: "This is about, do you understand the assignment of fighting fascism right now? And they assignment is to come together across difference no matter what."

Really looking forward to the Speaker of the House claiming to be unaware of the election results.

A coalition that ranges from democratic socialists to neoconservatives, including a lot of energized liberals in between, is large and formidable. A big pro-democracy tent. A united front. Any internal disagreements can be hashed out once the authoritarian emergency is over. This really can work.

😎😎😎😎 GOOD THINGS CAN STILL HAPPEN 😎😎😎😎

The most important part of this is "about each other." Americans' founding myth of individualism makes it hard to organize Americans. Even our "one vote can make a difference" (it really doesn't) rhetoric misleads. Kudos to a candidate who helped people see what they have in common.

This is an original, born of weeknight desperation with the kids home and no dinner plan.

In community organizing, we talk about the two kinds of power - "power over" and "power with." By the end of the day, we're likely to have elected an exemplar of each to help us understand the difference.

even when far rightwingers are having an extremely positive experience on all fronts they’re still able to hallucinate a situation where they’re the victim

Drew just made the same 6-7 joke my daughter made during halftime. #Celtics

Rockets look like title contenders. #Celtics

class action over conditions in the Broadview processing facility illegally used as a detention facility in Chicagoland and the factual allegations have me physically ill. full complaint linked in this Block Club story: blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/31/l...

Finally a Grand Unified Theory of 2025 megalomaniacs.

"crushing our mission to defend the homeland?" Did he pour Mountain Dew on his cereal and then spray AXE Body Spray on it?

I made an image of all the art posted by US DOL on X since approximately Labor Day

The claimed legal authority for this is the President's bad faith declaration of a national emergency because of fentanyl coming in from Canada (which is miniscule in reality), I believe? What does Ontario's advertising have to do with that? We have no legal constraints on the President now.

The amount is meaningless — less than one day of salary. But the principle is important: once the armed services are paid by the oligarchs, they become a private militia, and we no longer have a country. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Having the President be this much of an asshole and this disrespectful toward his country and his office remains jarring even after all this time.

I spend a year plotting a mystery novel and then this happens.

Peak 2025 is a "cease fire" where you don't have to actually cease firing, you just have to use the words "cease fire" a lot and also say the mediator deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and you're fine

Finally this campaign of barbarism may hit a snag.

Cleveland Browns haters literally never run out of things to celebrate

The Speaker of the House has firm views that Bad Bunny is a terrible pick for singing at the Super Bowl, but hasn't had time to watch the President's speech to our military leadership or form an opinion whether furloughed federal workers should be paid or Illinois' governor should be thrown in jail.

More propaganda with painfully normal people zip-tied at the side of the road please, this will for sure convince the American people that you're the good guys

We've reached full 1984-level government propaganda now. No factual constraints left.

My husband was detained by ICE today Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away I have had zero contact or updates since #SOS @duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov

The @nytimes.com has lost its way. "Legally disputed" is only accurate in the sense that someone in power is merely asserting it's legal with no basis. There's no plausible "dispute" that people in a boat, even if they were found to be smugglers, are not engaging in armed hostilities.

Wendy's is so weird for a ubiquitous American fast food place. Baked potatoes as fast food? But the best part is marketing over a series of decades and eventually convincing people your soft-serve ice cream is a "drink."

Well-written reflection by a Starbucks barista on how public-facing people just doing their jobs can get turned into props for people doing a viral anger grift.

if i were a would-be dictator whose only civilian check on power had been consumed by total-complete partisan loyalty, something i would definitely do is call an unprecedented in-person meeting of the only people who could stop me and then proceed to illustrate why they should stop me

War-ravaged Portland

How embarrassing for the country often recognized as the "leader of the free world."

listen I am NOT a military security expert but I HAVE seen “Star Trek: Into Darkness” fourteen times aren’t there generally, like. pretty good reasons. why you avoid bringing in all your biggest military leaders from all over the world and then announcing exactly what building they’ll be in when

very very grateful to the 100+ people who are supporting my work financially!! I am only accepting $ through substack subs and committed to never paywalling anything, but for those who ask—cohen489.substack.com 🤠♥️

"unproven"

This needs to be studied.

It's not even an organization. This is like designating Katy Perry Fans a terrorist organization

Regime forces sale of foreign media outlet to domestic supporters of regime and gives those supporters editorial control.

As CNN offers daylong saturation coverage of the podcaster’s funeral, I went back and checked to see how CNN covered Melissa Hortman’s memorial on 6/28, where Walz spoke and Biden/Harris attended. It got about four minutes during the hours it was happening—less than Jeff Bezos’s wedding that day.

One stark marker of how much our society has devolved in just a few years is Bob Iger personally got on a call to convince us to let Disney/HULU make the 1619 Project. That America no longer exists.

Something seems to be awakening the romance fans ...

If Van Jones can't see the DM for what it was, I don't know what to tell him.

now is the time for every media personality to stand up and speak out, because what this shows is that nothing will save you they’re coming for all of you, unless you’re a true believer your days are numbered and your bosses are eager to comply do something you can be proud of on your way out