white cat looking at the camera next to food dish on wood floor.

it takes place in a deliberately non-existent era where smartphones and CRTs overlapped but that MFer definitely on some PUA forums

There was never a willingness to acknowledge, like, climate change was factually occurring.

Or in Andy's case he did talk to others, but only AFAICT by going out of his way to troll all the liberal tech acquaintances he had from working in the bay area (this was when Republicans still pretended to have principles).

But that's exactly what he did. I think it is very hard to avoid group think when you never talk to anyone else. Even if you think you're the above it all brain trust cleverly manipulating the great unwashed, you will still swallow your own bullshit when it's echoed back to you enough times.

But had the same brain worms as the rest on other things like climate change. No one evaluates or mitigates risk starting from the premise that the bad outcome can't happen or that the cost will be negligible if it does. That guarantees ineffective risk management WHICH WE KNOW HE KNEW HOW TO AVOID

I worked with a guy, Andrew Barkett, who went on to become CTO of the Republican party. The thing is he was good at his job. He knew how to make reasonable risk evaluations and decisions. What can we do to reduce that risk? What can we do to mitigate the impact if it happens? etc

Dan is so good, that screech at the beginning of part 2 like the essay is going into act 2 of a horror movie (which it is).

everything about DOGE was fucking wildly illegal and everyone involved in it should spend time in prison and have their assets seized

Schumer's support for this is sincere.

Related phenomenon is that this kind of rhetoric rarely survives actually meeting him. The conclusion I draw is that some of these people are lying but a lot of them are just spending all their time in group chats with other insane rich people.

the basic theory of DOGE was that if powerful people said it was fine it didn’t matter what the law said.

I think proving that theory wrong is worth significant effort

they'd be better off getting into Warhammer 40k, it would be a better use of their time, satisfy most of the same impulses, and be more socially responsible.

A bunch of headlines about how JD Vance is "skeptical" of or "opposes" the Iran War

Today's newsletter is about why mainstream media has been trying to help JD Vance frame himself as "skeptical" of or "opposed to" the war in Iran. Hint: 2028

www.readtpa.com/p/the-foremo...

Trump’s Humiliation in Orbán Defeat Stunner Is Only Just Beginning For Viktor Orbán’s epic loss in Hungary to have real meaning in America, Democrats and liberals need to proclaim themselves part of the global anti-authoritarian movement.

The massive Orban defeat should prompt Dems to align themselves more firmly with anti-fascist and pro-democracy forces abroad. There's a powerful link to be drawn between the celebrations in Budapest and the confrontations with ICE in Minneapolis. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2090...

I keep thinking about that quote "until America goes into political decline, there won't be an American pope"

"I bet you think RoboCop is political" but somehow astronomically stupider

Pro-Trump media bias: frame world events as a reality show with Trump as protagonist.

As @larryglickman.bsky.social explains, it’s absurd to cast the Pope saying war is bad as a “punch” Trump is responding to. But also, he didn’t take any action. He just said words nonsensically insulting the Pope.

Japanese sci-fi: two robots in space, yearning

American sci-fi: man gets the author's beliefs on polygamy confirmed by the aliens of ramalama IV

french sci-fi: two horny bounty hunters visit the Galaxy of Breasts

British sci-fi: nuclear war. Everyone dead. America's fault

there's a *lot* of corroborating accounts. in what world is taking this kind of baggage into the general a good idea? bsky.app/profile/cnn....

also if you can't pass a budget it triggers an election

there is no way that's true

the idea that vance is anti-war and was a skeptic seems really to come exclusively from vance and is not borne out by anything else in his record as vice president so far

The only near term alternative for someone short on LNG is solar+battery, and every solar panel installed anywhere in the world represents permanent demand destruction for fossil fuels. Good for China and bad for the US. So the US is penny foolish pound foolish. Similarly with EVs.

I think what's probably going to happen is that economic pain worsens but Trump has no forcing function to stop being an idiot so this drags on for a long time. Or escalates, and a lot of the terminal infrastructure is destroyed resulting in curtailed shipments for the rest of the decade.

This guy predicted it. That's me told!

Nope China is loving this because it's going to cement them as the world's energy superpower. The natural gas crisis in Europe lead to an unprecedented explosion in renewable energy and that's now going to happen globally, and China is by far the largest exporter of solar+battery, and EVs.

If I were India I'd understand that this is an existential fight for Iran and the US has proven they don't honor their commitments so they'd be unlikely to cooperate. On the other hand US interests have a lot of exposure in India, so I'd be looking to that for coercive retaliation against the US.

Say India sends an escort for one of their ships, will the US fire on an Indian naval vessel?