This is GREAT, Howard - thank you!!

Ouch. Kick ‘em when they down!

Very possible.

Why doesn’t “the media” care enough about this so it is on the news every day? Biden leaving Afghanistan? 3 months of overwhelming focus by media. This man gutting the U.S. for his own profit. An article here, an article there. “He gets to be lawless, she has to be flawless.” Applied to all Dems.

Tagging some folks for their thoughts on the Harden/Curry narrative gap:
@howardbeck.bsky.social
@thesteinline.bsky.social
@johnhollinger.bsky.social
@kpelton.bsky.social
@tomhaberstroh.bsky.social
@hpbasketball.bsky.social
@bengolliver.bsky.social
@robmahoney.bsky.social
@michaelvpina.bsky.social

Why the different energy?
Critics call Harden’s G7 "quitting" despite his 13 assists. Curry’s 4-of-16 is framed as a "lack of help" or "exhaustion." We give Steph championship equity, but the reality of being neutralized by a "swamp" defense looks identical on paper. Perspective matters.

🔹 James Harden (v DEN): G6: 28 PTS/8 AST (Won in OT) ➡️ G7: 7 PTS/13 AST (2-8 FG)
🔹 Steph Curry (Play-In): Game 1: 35 PTS (Won v LAC) ➡️ Game 2: 17 PTS (4-16 FG)
Both were "swamped" by defenses—DEN blitzed Harden to force 13 AST; PHO hounded Steph into 25% shooting. Same results, different labels.

The "Harden Disappearing Act" vs. the "Curry Masterclass" is one of the biggest double standards in NBA media. Looking at the last 48 hours for Steph and the end of the Clippers/Nuggets series, the statistical parallels are wild. Both stars had one "Heroic Carry" followed by an "Elimination Slump."

Win the senate. Then based on precedent. Don’t let any nomination through period.

Consensus not condenses. 🙄

I agree with 3, especially the belligerent part. But “incorrect” and “condenses”, is how we get groupthink. Yes. He is wrong, but he also does a lot of other good work. He is ALLOwED to be wrong, still reporter in good standing if he is doing his job.

What is today’s discourse, since I am also blocked?

Hunter Walker? I read TPM for decades, and paying member for years. he blocked me when I disagreed with his NIMBY takes. (6 months ago or so?) and IMO he is VERY wrong in this view. BUT: he doesn’t have to agree everything to be a reporter/employee in good standing on TPM.

NO. This is another edition of “Simple answers to thoughtful questions”.

Hmm. Chances that this is a bot reply. High.

I chuckled at this comment. At the same time - not making more friends on Bluesky today, are we? 😀

“Tolls on international shipping are an anathema to trade”. I don’t hear this point made enough. It is very important. With explosion of drones and vulnerability of boats in seas - this 200+ year guiding principle will be under severe threat for awhile.

Tactic understandable. “If you block the world’s oil from moving through Strait, we will block your oil from moving through Strait. you want unfettered access to sea lanes 4 oil then give unfettered access to sea lanes”. In the meantime world suffers. Problem: NO skilled negotiators Trump team.

For myself, I’m coming to this as just a user, noticing the challenge of “pile-ons” here on Bluesky. I know about up rating and down rating, and as I just heard about Audrey - I had the “innovative” thought - hey, could these 2 things make a better social nwtwork? I’m SURE I’m 5 years late 😂😂

Ah - I didn’t until recently. Appreciate your politeness in reply.

Audrey Tang - Wikipedia

@moskov.goodventures.org - I don’t know enough about about Audrey Tang. I don’t know if his social tech innovations are practical. But worth reading about. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_.... I’m curious if what she proposes is “feel good but impractical” - or a way forward for social media.

Real or fake? Always suspicious now

What the death of Direct File tells us about state capacity We CAN have nice things - if we want them

New, from me: American taxpayers will spend billions of hours and hundreds of billions of dollars — not to pay their taxes, but to report them to the government.
Thank Trump, who killed Direct File, a free tax high-quality reporting tool that IRS had built. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-the-d...

Yes. So yes, someone who worked in training for longest.

This is obviously true, and you say it well. And yet, this complexity, and the role that vibes play - is also so clearly important. I haven’t seen enough hardnosed research -,non-slanted studies, interplay between economic facts and media, etc - to form any type of confidence opinion .

Ehh, maybe. Assumptions is someone else could have won. “The democrats” is a broad application of the fact that people close to Biden didn’t work in coordination to have him step down in nearly enough time. The truth is “specific democrats”, no democrats en masse.

Planned and targeted by Republican. Betrays one of the first commitments of this nation.

Very well reasoned.

Iran submits meant to type

Thank you. This unintended consequence says well what I’ve been saying badly. Iran CANNOt be allowed to”own” the strait for the reasons you outline. But the alternative is destroying all economic activity we can in Iran until Orange “submits”. That starves Iranians, but also global south nations.