Honestly, I'm really trying not to be an "everything is worse now" curmudgeon, but the Universe really needs to do me a solid on something or other. Food is worse, traveling is worse. Same for TV and movies, electronic doodads manufactured overseas. And Corporate customer service is a sad joke

If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?

Everything is so much stupider than I want it to be. It’s a bummer.

Ok I don't know what kind of excessively gay shit I must've clicked on, but my timeline is now peppered with creepy old nudist men showing off their folds and flaps and public hair. @moderation.bsky.app Make it stop!

I would love to see a byline that's just the name of a datacenter

I know people think I’m too woo-woo about theory and capitalism and markets. But I sincerely believe this kind of degradation of micro-trust is the real social and economic rot. We constantly feel scammed and then we start reacting like marks instead of mutually reliant humans.

ok when you uncheck it, it takes away the promotions tab. which was the only way I was surviving in my inbox. it honestly feels like this is deeply punitive, they are holding a gun to our head to try to force us to opt-in to this shit no one wants

Because sexbots are one of the goals.

Facebook bought Instagram back in 2012. Sincere question: what social value has been created by either Facebook, Instagram, or Meta generally since that time?

My two pet urbanism theories: 1. Every urban controversy is really just a controversy about demographics. 2. Polyamory is correlated with housing costs.

Apropos of these revelations, it's useful to remember the comments that helped get Summers jettisoned from his post as Harvard's president: his musing about whether men might have a biological advantage over women in science fields. They are not unrelated events!

every time a prominent man is revealed to be a horrible abusive freak they put out a statement being like "I hope, over time, I may rebuild the trust I have lost" and just once I would love for them to say "I'm sixty years old and a multimillionaire, you never have to hear about me again."

AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.

I was yesterday years old when I learned that Noam Chomsky was friends with Jeffrey Epstein, and let me tell you it's going to be awhile before I come out of the woods!

No one leaving New York City because of Mamdani, say two top real estate CEOs

2005 discourse: Sexism? A pay gap? Well, have you considered that men might just be a little more driven and logical than women and, in fact, more inclined to genius? 2025 discourse: If we do not create a National Task Force on Pornhub, no man may ever be employable again

The vast majority of current real estate wealth in the U.S. is a direct benefit of racism.

Random thought: I still think they need to make a new The Great Gatsby about a rapper that moves into the Hamptons. Set it in the 1990s and call it THE GATZ

The entirety of every urban area, including its suburbs, should be governed by one central local government with one school district. No more exclusive enclaves with snob zoning and pseudo-private schools.

Personally I think Sydney Sweeney has no cultural significance beyond the entertainment industry and it's weird people keep using her body as a battlefield for their culture wars

No disrespect to JCO, because of course she's right, but this is just a reformulation of a very famous Groucho Marx quote.

Half a million followers

We really need to bring back cancel culture

Can't wait for the capital apologists in 5 years: "Trillionaires are NOT a policy failure. Their hard work and merit is just a trillion times more valuable than yours!" Once again, my one weird trick for solving all of our country's problems is to simply stop being impressed by rich white men.

What could go wrong?

2026 Primary Woke Wave

masterful endorsement, sir

(Cornel West beginning eulogy) Brother Dick

the "If Zohran wins I'm moving out of New York" crowd should have 30 days to post the zillow listing

My GAWD am I addicted to all the Mamdani and Cheney content right now. Someone please take this double-barreled bong out of my hands

Doing my patriotic duty and sharing this for the kids, who might not know this history of how we got here. Kamala Harris welcomed his endorsement.

Note this the exact dynamic that pushed Paul Ryan out of the speakership -- every day having to explain to the media the latest absurdity coming from Dear Leader. Accountability mechanisms meant the farce was unsustainable for him, so that had to find someone willing to sustain it.

NYC is going to have the world's biggest media-manufactured crime panic in history the second Mamdani is elected. They aren't even going to wait until he is inaugurated. Whether or not you like the guy, you need to start preparing now for the fire hose of disinformation that is about to activate.

Exactly this. Inflation had been solved, but Democrats weren't allowed to say that inflation had been solved, because that was considered insulting to voters who were still reeling from high prices. So R's (with media help) pretended DEFLATION was the goal, which everyone knew was a crock of shit

What I mean when I order a Caesar salad. Not these sad lettuce numbers drowned in sauce without anchovies.

Wait, Meta is spending $70b on data centers in one year to squeeze more money out of their platforms in *advertising*? I don't study this stuff, I'm just a simple country economist, but this feels very stupid

The Cosmo piece was only slightly more horrifying than I had expected going in. A good thread here. Discovering the basically-good-just-misguided souls at the heart of MAGA is utterly futile. Stop it. We will not be able to David Brooks our way out of this mess

I'd say that you can find good in many people who voted for Trump, but you won't find it in their reasons for voting for Trump or in their ideas about politics. I know Trump voters who can be kind and generous and loving. If you ask why they voted for Trump they'll give you misinfo and bigotry.

The Jan 6 insurrection was successful, & now it gets to be preserved as a success by this administration it brought to power.

Well, there you have it. Karine Jean-Pierre believes that politics is entirely composed of loyalty, deference to power, identity, politesse. Also, mysticism, considering how she talks about polls. I trace America's downfall to Game of Thrones. Very popular show. Was not meant as a prescription!

If Isaac Chotiner ever said to me “I’m just still trying to understand,” I’d jump out the nearest window.

In other words, the Harris-Walz '24 platform. The main issue I have with the pragmatists-who keep telling us to compromise our beliefs for the sake of winning-is y'all were real quiet on hand-downs the 2 most obvious strategic questions of the last 10 years:

I'm taking a perverse satisfaction from the ballroom thing. I hope it's ugly and gaudy and out of scale and a total embarrassment. I hope the next generation of tourists have to allay their children's horror, mommy mommy why does the white house look like it's spawning an evil white house?

A sick burn because it's true

"but he's relatable" Not to me. I have one large tattoo on my chest and it took MONTHS of planning. Drawings, blueprints, commissions were formed.

Leaning toward NO on Prop 50. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Not all heroes wear capes! (Some wear penis suits)

I love how my dad conceives of gay male partnerships as like a buddy cop movie but with some sexy stuff

Can't remember where I read about the political science theory that claimed that the substance of politics is almost drvien by its stated principles. E.g., you hear, "I'm against DEI because I believe in meritocracy," or "Ag subsidies bad because free markets good." 1/