Outside redder areas disclaiming the fringe is definitely less important, that makes sense.

We might be talking past each other, but my sense is that there is a population that doesn't like what's going on in the country but has been fed a diet of "Democrats are anti-family and pro-criminal."

Just not being that doesn't work*, you have to actively push back.

*or at least hasn't so far.

Counterargument, with the caveat that I don't have any real understanding of voters:

Voters know like half of the bad stuff Trump is doing, undecided/on the fence voters don't need to hear more about Rs being bad, they need to be reassured that Dems, or their local Dem, aren't crazy.

And rather than hiding his powers behind a secret identity, he was totally open about them, only for no one to believe him.

The two issues, neither of which you need to agree are a problem, are

1. If returns to wealth are higher than returns to labor it's very hard to work your way up, leading to stratification.

2. Accumulated wealth equates to accumulated power in a way that is bad in a Democracy.

The main evidence for this is the growth rate of their wealth, which some consider a problem in search of a policy solution.

If you don't see it that way then a wealth tax looks much worse as an idea!

In the second situation, you're getting more attention from employers, and clicking 'submit' 500 times has a lower time/opportunity cost vs. Addressing 100 envelopes, but I wonder if 497 rejections feels worse than 99.

There's a lot of "the hiring process is broken" anecdotes out there, and I haven't seen rigorous analysis of whether it's true and the effect it's having on sentiments.

Like, if you send out 100 resumes and get one interview, does that feel better or worse than sending out 500 and getting 3?

It's not theft if you don't believe in property rights.

Regret to inform everyone that Peter Magyar beat the world’s smartest illiberal populist in large measure by working incredibly hard for 2 straight years, meaning the rest of us are just going to have to get off our asses and do shit rather than just complaining.

Swalwell specifically won by primarying Pete Stark, who had been a stellar progressive but was also kinda past his prime (to the extent I was paying attention from halfway across the country).

Bar chart showing that tax rates are actually up for lower income taxpayers while they are down for the top 5%

Congressman Tom Emmer is touting a new IRS report saying that the average tax refund is up under the new tax bill.

Here’s what he and the IRS aren’t telling you: taxes are actually HIGHER for all but the wealthiest taxpayers.

A tough thing to grasp is that "public knowledge" is huge.

I doubt it is possible for one person to know everything contained in the category "public knowledge," so saying something is "public knowledge," standing alone, doesn't really make the case that people should know it.

I specifically want all my understanding of the mechanics of FF6 with none of my knowledge of the story or world. I want to be able to explore without fearing random encounters.

I feel like it's impossible. The original is perfect and cannot be improved upon.

I would love to know what her information environment is.

If there was a protest culture that only popped up with Democrats and then sunk down with Republicans in office doing worse you'd ask yourself just a whole host of questions about that, right

It sounded vaguely familiar, I couldn't remember if it was from that or some other book I apparently need to read.

I expected to be underwhelmed by Nickle and Dimed but it was excellent.

What was this from?

Where are you seeing this?

Tickets should be priced in non-inflation adjusted 1995 dollars.

The entire part in FFVI after Sabin falls in the river.

Doma, Phantom Train, Veldt.

Notably, this is the only part of the game where you don't have access to cure magic.

I think the opening to Lilo and Stitch reveals earth to be a protected habitat for mosquitos, with humans mainly existing as a food source.

Final Fantasy VI is 32 years old today.

It's hard to find words whenever I need to say something about FFVI because of how important and special it really is.

So I'll just say this—If you've never played it, you owe it to yourself as a gamer to experience it.

I promise, it's worth it.

I love this because it's one of those moments that you're clearly in a different discourse than I am.

(There's a lot to be said and being said about the message of passover in 2026 but it all feels pretty in bounds to me!)

This isn't "Wichita's gonna decide the election, so hop on a plane, we're knocking doors."

However, if you live in one of those states and you normally don't talk politics much, think about bringing up gas prices at the water cooler.

I guess if you have any questions about my political thoughts feel free to ask.

The others are places that can make a difference in November.

Note: KS and SC were in the approved column a few days ago, they just moved to net disapproval.

Personally, I'd skip LA and MS, and probably give MO and IN lower priority too. Those states tend to be extremely inelastic.