My favorite obscure historical political movement is the Locofocos, radical New York City Democrats from around 1835. They were free-marketers, but the thing is that they weren't defending markets against socialism, because that wasn't really a thing yet in the US. ...

Has she seen our titans of industry? Has she read their books and speeches? Quite a few of them hate both democracy and even the markets that made them rich.

This is *stunningly* disingenuous, and the fact that Singal continues to enjoy a career writing at the highest levels about a topic that he either unwilling or incapable of discussing honestly is such an indictment of the Anglo-American prestige media.

Just posted a thread on the old world site about the executive order designating antifa as a terrorist organization, and I think it's also worth saying here:

Ah, another conservative argument we olds remember from the War on Terror. Basically: Look how evil those other people are. You know what that means, right? We get to be almost as evil as they are, and it’s kinda like we’re being good. You should be grateful!

Yeah, this really has to be emphasized and encouraged. There's a cynical temptation to belittle this as unserious or pandering to nerds. But we need leaders to speak in the common mythos.

The passage from Nemik's manifesto is the best writing ever in Star Wars, and it's quite something to see Star Wars, which is as close as you can get to a shared American mythology, quoted by a sitting governor in this context. It's our stories that bind us together.

Happiness is a long patience. - Albert Camus

2) the point of the marketplace of ideas is that, without government interference, we air out all the ideas. The bad ones are sunk and the cream rises to the top. How is that mechanism supposed to function if we don’t say, “that idea is terrible,” and even “that idea is shameful?”

Because of the masks, the agent who aimed at the clergyman’s face is unlikely to be identified to face legal process or chilly looks from fellow shoppers at the grocery. Should someone disclose his identity, Kristi Noem threatens to charge that person with “doxing.” The answer: unmask ICE now. /1

Flights have been halted to Copenhagen Airport after multiple drones were spotted over the Øresund Strait, Reuters reports.

Wouldn’t be a bad idea to resubscribe to Disney+. And watch a few episodes of Andor when you do. Great anti-tyranny television is a benefit of life in the Cool Zone. Might as well enjoy it.

This thread is how it’s done: Reject the easy but hateful answer, interrogate the text a bit more, and don’t forget to be humane and humble.

They’ve caved.

A classic example of online rhetoric, where you talk about something that’s obviously true (the Jews depicted in the Bible accepted that they were responsible), rather than addressing the difficult, equally true reality (even mainstream Christians reject some parts of the Bible, as they should).

One of future historians' nicknames for the 2020s will be "The Snake Oil Decade" or something similar. The entire establishment, from "Smart/AI" devices, to subscriptions for things you "buy", to runaway government graft, to constantly-changing online fine print, to copaganda, and more: Omnifraud.

We mobilized over 400 actors, comedians, directors, musicians, and writers to condemn the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. Now is the time to oppose government censorship and fiercely defend our First Amendment rights.

The greatest harm the libertarian movement did wasn’t to sow skepticism about the social safety net. Conservatives didn’t need any outside nudging there. The greatest harm they did was to keep insisting that the two parties were roughly the same, even as one of them turned authoritarian.

Getting older is a whole lot of watching fads get weirder.

This is what I’m saying, they have gotten *way* out over their skis on this, and in an area where people have a broad, direct, and easy way to make their disapproval immediately known.

Good news for China, India and Canada: "firms respond to restrictions on H-1B immigration by increasing foreign affiliate employment... particularly in China, India, and Canada. The most impacted jobs were R&D- intensive."

Followers who were asking if Jimmy Kimmel can sue: Daphne Keller knows her stuff, and the answer is “It’s unclear, but it’s very possible.” Check out her thread and links:

This is a much better idea than compulsory military service, but at least for me it’s still too restrictive. People’s twenties are formative years, and my formation included a year abroad doing research. But it takes all sorts to have a good society, so I wouldn’t force anyone to follow me.

Where are the Covid nasal vaccines for the US to block infections and transmission? Here's yet another with a very good profile in people for mucosal immunity and high neutralizing antibodies in all participants (from China) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Not knowing the difference between “can” and “may” is a big part of this. I’m joking—sort of, but only halfway. We’ve impoverished our ways of saying “This thing is regularly done with impunity but in no way legitimate.”

people will say "dems need back off unpopular positions to win", then suggest *abortion rights* like, what? that our one solid wedge issue in red states

A sick thing about this is a real leader could frame an act of political violence as an attack on the whole democracy, calling for unity and trying to turn down the temperature. Except this anti-democracy leader aims to stoke division and violence, defining "Us" as only some of us against the rest.

1/ I think a lot about this passage from Seila Law: "[T]he Framers made the President the most democratic and politically accountable official in Government. Only the President (along with the Vice President) is elected by the entire Nation."

the fact that in multiple cases the Supreme Court has worked to legalize bribery in the United States is a major corrosion of our civil order

This is correct. He wasn’t subtle about it, and his supporters were very clear.

When powerful people/orgs are sure that they're doing the right thing, they don't bother hiding what they're doing.

Asking the morning folks for writing prompts. What should I write about next?

We’re not immune to groupthink, you know. Not that long ago people on here were saying Trump wasn’t going to live through a long weekend.

I do *not* think that Mitt Romney was unfairly maligned: he ran for president, politics is a contact sport, & he gave as good as he got. But I do think that a certain kind of relatively low-info person on both the right & left doesn’t grasp just how big the gap between someone like him & Trump

A fourth boat bombed in international waters. Total death toll now 19 What I dont get is, if these boats are "carrying fentanyl" as Trump says (they absolutely arent. Even the DEA says VZ doesnt produce fentanyl), then why not seize one and show us? www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...

"I have spent the last few weeks addressing and preparing for a military invasion by the President of the United States. No, I’m not a soldier or a foreign adversary. I’m the Governor of Illinois"

Sun’s gone down in Hawaii. Good night everyone!

Haleakalā, a floating island in the clouds.

Hapuna Beach. Best beach day in a while.

They still haven't consolidated full authoritarianism yet; they can still lose

I should write more than I do. I just don’t know how to feel confident about my own thoughts on a topic.

My most libertarian opinion remains that compulsory military service is an abomination, and that it wouldn’t even fix what’s wrong with us.

The only OTC fever-reducer an infant can have from 0-6 months is Tylenol. Ibuprofen should not be used before 6 months. Fevers in infants are both scary and dangerous. This is going to cause immense stress to already exhausted new parents, and probably hurt or kill some babies.

👇💯

I like that the two dominant stances in the mainstream media discourse right now are: "Donald Trump is president because of woke excess and that is good" And "Donald Trump is president because of woke excess and that is bad."

for all people mock it wikipedia is genuinely one of the wonders of the modern world

Prosecute.

Most authoritarian regimes move sooner or later to disarm politically unreliable sections of the populace. My colleague @pgeddington.com wonders how long the Trump administration will manage to maintain its reputation as friendly toward Second Amendment gun rights.

We farmers market liberals need to stand up and be counted