From the start, the Conservative Movement’s intellectual leaders defined the stakes of the conflict as existential because they saw the “natural order” under assault – an order they did not believe was up to democratic deliberation; and they derided their political enemies as violent extremists.

It’s always fascinating when the NYT news side decides to bloodlessly normalize the most extreme behavior and speech of politicians (Trump, Cuomo) and when it unleashes petty editorial asides to snark at normal political and bureaucratic behavior (anyone to the left of Giuliani).

4-FINAL/ But in the same way the iPhone didn't kill wedding photography, the world's most complex computer programs have too many moving parts to be entirely automated (for now).

This game theoretical structure works when auction participants cannot coordinate their bids. The army works when every soldier coordinates their work toward a common standard and shared goal.

which is of course exactly what happened--the least democratic branch of government, SCOTUS, intervened to protect the insulation of another institution, the fed, which is deliberately insulated from direct/immediate democratic processes

It's a relief, sure. But it's insane that it's a thing we need relief from, that it was 6-3, that Trump will now deliberately misinterpret other laws for the same ends, and that he can continue destroying world trade for another year until SCOTUS stops him again. Our system isn't equipped for this.

the mclaughlin group was far more corrosive to the American polity than anything like heavy metal or gangsta rap lyrics that those guys liked to complain about

she didn’t throw trans people under the bus and she thinks republicans are the scum of the earth and that’s good enough for me

illustrative misuse—common among Republican and centrist pundits—of “Christian” as an unaware substitute for “white”

The one thing I don't buy is liberal bias. That's just a culture war narrative, period. If anything liberals are biased toward bending over backwards not to be biased. hence all the liberal buy-in for the view from nowhere. But everything else is part of the cultural disintegration SDT describes 2/2

very annoying to be old enough to remember “regulatory uncertainty” constantly invoked by Republican politicians as a reason not to try and improve anything—and be taken seriously be the media

This is as good as any contrast between Trump and Biden: state capacity to help people from predatory capital is done. Instead the only growth in state capacity is is in building its coercive powers.

most of these "libertarian free market think tankers" were paid covertly under the table by America's shittiest companies to argue for ZERO functional oversight of corporate power, then when the corpses, rampant fraud, and mass suffering appear, they're just completely intellectually fucking absent

scrolling alone

Many people said yes. There's a scale of culpability: I think some just wanted funding and for whatever reason didn't look too closely at the source they were seeking it from, which is still bad. Others got into the sleazy misogynistic spirit of it all; that's so much worse.

”What turns people into radical jihadist clerics? A new book suggests thwarted career ambitions. A subset of Muslim clerics who advocate for jihad started out as mainstream clerics looking for state-sponsored jobs…only to become unemployed, disenchanted, and radicalized” news.mit.edu/2017/why-som...

This is about what Roy Bhaskar called the transitive nature of science: that it is an activity carried out by people, with all the attendant features of human activity, which remains true even as its methods are systematic and the object of its study is intransitive, i.e. independent and external.

total Marcuse vindication

“That was unwise”

We must ascend beyond the powers of Woke 2. We must go…even further beyond.

And here we go with some key distinctions I use to do my work. An audience is not a public. "Audience" suggests people attending to a common object, typically a performance or spectacle. A public is people with different interests who live in the same space and share common problems. 5/

This sounds like a bit, but it happened in real life during the Hunt Trophy presentation. With no irony or prompting whatsoever, my 10-year-old said, “Now the Patriots are going to a Super Bowl that I can remember! Finally!”

We will need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission when these cruel, lawless people are out of office. They must be held accountable in order for our nation to heal.

YouGov is out with a new poll after ICE killed another person in Minnesota today. Abolishing ICE is now +5 among all adults, and **+12 among independents** substack.com/@gelliottmor...

We will show them to be living symbols of racial hatreds, of terrorism and violence, and of the arrogance and cruelty of power. —Justice Robert H. Jackson's Opening Statement at Nuremberg voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/wp-content/u...

Federalist No. 51 simply doesn’t work anymore. Ambition doesn’t counteract ambition. Nearly every state, local, and federal Republican official is loyal to the Party over any region, institution, or policy. Sharp observers of Congress saw this over 15 years ago www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

at a book signing for The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, I asked John Mearsheimer if the dynamic applied to the US and Canada. I had felt extremely embarrassed about it for about 20 years, but now I can claim to have been prescient

we cannot take for granted how incredible this account is

Here’s one that I trust. bsky.app/profile/nate...

we are watching in real-time as normal people are radicalized by the fascist occupation of an American city and meanwhile the Chatterton classes are still getting paid to warn us that Democrats need to move away from wokeness or forever lose those same people

if Ross can just get himself on video calling someone a racial slur in public, he’ll hit a cool million—and be unbeatable in any Republican primary

had occurred to me a while back that the main thing holding America together is our shared reverence for Dolly Parton

The Virgin Democratic Party Establishment Candidate: "ICE isn't coordinating with local police. This is no way to bring down prices!" The Chad Episcopalian Bishop: "I have instructed my priests to prepare for martyrdom."

the fundamental mistake the contemporary right makes is to confuse the product of successful institutions with personal characteristics of the people that perform them. since they think good outcomes are about good people, they happily dismantle the institutions under which people become good.

they didn’t leak it to make the shooter look innocent, but to make the victim look guilty. not guilty of a crime. guilty of having a visibly queer wife. guilty of liberalism. guilty of opposing the regime. they don’t seek to exonerate themselves, only to demonstrate who deserves to die.

According to ICE's "Wall of Honor" website, the last ICE officer to die in the line of duty was this man, who accidentally shot himself with his own service weapon in 2021. Rest in power. www.ice.gov/topics/eow

The paragraph just before this one goes particularly hard: “Vance knows. He doesn't care. Vance’s twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity has been repudiated by two popes. His Catholicism seems to be little more than a political prop, a tool only for his career ambitions and desire for power.”

just something to think about www.startribune.com/she-was-an-a...

it’s worth pointing out that which abstract, polled issues the public cares about and what *stories* the public cares about may be entirely different things, and the stories may matter much more. 1/

In a lot of ways Trump is ironically probably the least freakish person in this administration

this is repugnant to most of us, but is exactly what Republican elites under 50 mean when they say they want to Make America Great Again

Cicero couldn’t shame Catiline today; the other senators wouldn’t be listening to Cicero, they’d be posting memes. the audience isn’t inside the chamber anymore

deep roots of academia’s wokism

The US Senate loves their traditions and none of them are in the Constitution and they are all bad

apotheosis of US conservatism

Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

the collapse of the US made this feel inevitable english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/6... Japan maybe the most obvious one, but the logic, and the momentum, will apply to… dozens of countries?