discovering that my ability to remember that the JCPOA existed apparently qualifies as a superpower

The bar, which every prior president had cleared, was ‘don’t fight any wars with Iran’ But our very special left outflanker President did one war with Iran So now the bar is ‘well, just one war is better than lots’

Tragically, this tweet that I wrote 6 (!) years ago is even more true today than it was then

In a bit of a gender role reversal, while my wife was catching fish today I was more interested in the wildflowers

i do think this is actually the perfect response insofar as it illustrates how these dorks actually just fantasize about getting to be the bullies in high school

Wild that the ideal number of Pokémon & the ideal proof for rum are the same number

Someone was trying to tell me the MOU didn’t mean Iran was claiming the right to control other countries’ territorial waters

For years, the anti-immigrant go-to line was that they were anti *illegal* immigration, because they believed in rule of law and had compassion for immigrants who "did it the right way." Now, from the White House and Supreme Court on down, it's openly anti-rule-of-law and anti-nonwhite-immigration.

I feel this way when I look at a lot of hand tools too

The most unusual thing about Ahmari is the sheer number of different authoritarian ideologies he's cycled through

That’s it I’m calling that newspaper in Utah Melissa News from here on out

Why is Venmo telling me to put my balance in Kalshi? People should go to prison over this stuff

What DSA/Squad/etc endorsed Democrats are currently seeking to take seats the Dems don’t currently hold? Forstag is one (AOC endorsed); who else?

Kurt Alme for Senate sure is running a lot of ads on Instagram

Your americophobia is insufficient

Did any anti-New Deal N Republicans survive long enough to vote for the CRA?

Out of curiosity, were there any big races between a pro-FDR racist and a less racist anti-New Dealer back in the day?

The US does not have much to brag about on social care, but if our population was the same as Europe’s, we would have eight thousand annual heat deaths. 8,000. 4% of the deaths. That’s the effect of near universal AC. This is a solvable problem. We need not kill Metz AND Carcassonne every year.

As for the effect of the sanctions, one glance at Russia's imploding economy and inability to produce modern weapons systems tells us you are either utterly ignorant or FoS. Prove me wrong. Tell us how Russian Air Defense is keeping slow-moving drones out of Moscow.

Really feels like this guy, being incarcerated, was in fact bound by the law but when it came time he was not actually protected by it. Weird

NOW! That’s what I call Just Stop Oil

As the Dem party moves left in these primaries I think it’s important that we acknowledge the many ways this is salutary (Palestine, opposition to most sanctions) while pointing out where the left of the party errs (NATO didn’t cause the war & sanctions on Russia are good)

We should push the Magnitski Act harder and never let a Russian oligarch keep a cent of the criminal gains. Hell, we should give the whole lot to Ukraine to rebuild after Russia’s moronic war. Block the pipelines, starve the Russian bear and target Putin like an Iranian general.

About sanctions, read this whole thread by @prune602.bsky.social in response to Omar.

Sanctions play a role in those shortages because western parts such as bearings, chips,... are often needed to repair civilian and military vehicles and equipment, e.g. distillation columns, advanced optics, Starlink terminals.

Compare Mamdani to Massie, for example. Mamdani has made much more of an effort to connect with Jewish voters & turn off antisemites. Meanwhile Massie all but embraces antisemitic voters but he gets only a fraction of the approbation Mamdani does

Extremely important we not sanction Russia because Russian civilians could be harmed

I think there was a time period - roughly Jan-2025 to now - where it was possible to see opposition to Trump in the U.S. & opposition to Putin internationally as near-congruent. We’re past that stage i think but that doesn’t mean the goals don’t still have synergy, just that they aren’t identical

The simple truth is Russia demands national suicide, lol Ukraine cannot have any sort of structure in place that would prevent a Belarus-style intervention if Moscow doesn't like election results No guns, no patron, no mutual alliance, no economic pacts, no crackdowns on hybrid warfare

Yeah NATO didn't deter Russia enough in 2022 from starting the war. Biden should have been ambiguous about NATO going kinetic against Russia in case it invades, instead of ruling it out entirely. He embolded Putin.

“I will be one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights. And I will stand firmly against bigotry aimed at Jews. Those are not two different jobs. They are the same job,” Brad Lander said.

Absolutely the most common sense, moral, decent, and normal statement of values, nothing radical about it, but you try to tell that to the respectable NYC commentariat and they instantly turn into the screaming babadook child

People who say "sanctions against Russia had no effect because Russia hasn't folded yet" fail at basic logic. Have ever heard about counterfactuals??

In the intervening decade they've figured out he might have a fence instead (the EU) and occasionally they let it slip that the EU is unacceptable too because it has collective defense provisions

Wonder what the S in BDS stands for

That big purple spike in 2022 is what made the owner class turn violently against Biden

It's the fake concern about Russia's national security that gets me. The country has spent decades taking big bites out of its neighbors while leftists kick their feet awkwardly and make up increasingly absurd maps about it being surrounded.

It's also not unserious at all to say that sanctions are bad except in cases where they serve a purpose someone has a special moral interest in ("for ideological reasons" as you say). What's the point of ideologies if not to inform moral decisions.

Prior to the committing millions of troops part, the US was supporting the Allies through measures like the Lend Lease Act. Do you think it would have been better if the US hadn’t done that

It’s cool how Russia can bankroll fascists all around the world but you’ll occasionally still hear - from the arch enemies of those fascists! - that it’s important that we not cut if the funds Russia uses to do that

The article does not say that Russian sanctions don't hurt civilians and, importantly, it wouldn't automatically be unethical if they did. Trying to choke off vital supplies is of a meaningfully different order than causing economic hardship.

“It is important that we keep trading with fascist expansionists and this is a left view” is absurd. A highly industrialized country that is self sufficient in food is not the same as Iraq or Cuba. I think you know it but it’s important to you not to admit it

If your position is just ‘sanctions are bad in all cases because that’s the proper left wing position” you’ve got to wrestle a little with this one I think

Remember this tonight. If someone to the left of Tim Walz is seeming like the enemy, no they are not. Block them if they are negatively polarizing you into bad thoughts

A cartoonist named Daniel "Des" Rolando Sanchez Estrada was tried as a terrorist and sentenced to 30 years in prison for having anti-Trump comics in his car. Prosecutors connected him to a 2025 anti-ICE protest he didn't even attend because he was in the same book club as others who were.

Democrats are putting up probably the left-most slate they’ve run in years, in a mid term election against probably the least popular president of the century. I’m interested to see if they can tap into a wave of volunteer & voter enthusiasm that can replace any recalcitrant moderates

There is more than just a tension between liberalism and traditional European modes of thinking. Sometimes we forget as much though because Liberalism thrashed a lot of those modes into submission