after over a year of Mike Johnson’s know-nothing stance, “I don’t know the details and can’t comment” is a discrediting position for a politician to take on high-profile recent legislation

I very much doubt Newsom’s commitment to accountability and democratic overhaul

I know he can’t run but Zohran is doing an incredible job just modeling what an effective leader looks like, the appeal (& contrast) is undeniable

Counterpoint: The Expanse

Stop putting Jared Leto in stuff I will never watch Jared Leto

Not sure what you mean by "sandbagging it", since the USPS changes (AFAIK) are very much in effect and will remain so for the foreseeable future www.ncsl.org/state-legisl...

Perhaps, but the vast majority of mail-in voters are in (all-mail) blue states, partcularly California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Vermont. The opacity around the USPS policy changes means they don't have to be applied uniformly and might, for example, be selectively applied to Dem ZIP codes.

SAVE is one tactic they're trying to flood the zone with; perhaps more concerning are the shenanigans around USPS - having only lived in vote by mail states for the last ~15 years, this seems laser-targeted at the most left-leaning voters

I didn't say there were *competent*

this is why he's pushing SAVE so hard, right? The US system is already anti-majoritarian but the GOP seems to be banking on long-term minority rule. So far, the majority appears to be letting them get away with it, even as they disapprove.

W was close (~38%) and the GOP got wiped out in 2006

This misses the point that neoliberalism leads inexorably toward open fascism, they are different stages of the same process

The Big Lebowsky, Boogie Nights, Being John Malkovich, LA Confidential, Trainspotting, Romeo + Juliet, The Truman Show, Rushmore - really undefeated 5 year period

subway ad that says "your idea could be live by the time you reach your stop"

as a culture we have really given "ideas" way too much credit. ideas are a dime a dozen. they happen all the time. the magic is way more in the doing, and the doing's diminished stature is linked to lack of respect for labor and, more recently, skill and expertise.

bsky.app/profile/gove...

It’s also one instance of a wider post-Citizens United problem of big money in politics. Politicians who accept such donations are suspect regardless of the specific interest group, because big money always works against democracy.

The argument was never “AIPAC bribes politicians”, it was more like “AIPAC spends large amounts of money to defeat anti-Zionist candidates” (see: eg Cori Bush). This worked as long as Palestine wasn’t a salient issue for most Dem primary voters, but that appears to have changed

J.K. Rowling uses Harry Potter wealth to fund anti-transgender organization This is where "Harry Potter" profits are going.

if Anita Bryant was still alive and promoting Florida orange juice, you couldn't pay me enough to drink it. how is Harry Potter any different?
here is a timeline of JK Rowling's transphobia: web.archive.org/web/20241225...
& here is where her HP money is going: www.advocate.com/news/jk-rowl...

that would mean ensuring the left had a prominent voice

Given the vast empires now owned by such elites, and the intricate webs of logistics behind their products, such an effort is going to require immense levels of organization

The Century of the Self (Full Adam Curtis Documentary) YouTube video by David Lessig

youtu.be/eJ3RzGoQC4s

“The Century of the Self”, dir. Adam Curtis (2002)

Handbill for “The Fever” by Wallace Shawn; and empty chair onstage awaits the actor’s entrance

Just saw The Fever by Wallace Shawn, a socialist tour de force about Marx, commodity fetishism, bourgeois guilt, and the moral inevitability of revolution. Shawn (at 82) gave a gripping 2 hour monologue I won’t soon forget!

Congrats to all the assholes who shit on Starfleet Academy, which had the best first season of a Star Trek show in franchise history, white supremacist homophobic Paramount has cancelled the show and you won and now there is no Trek in production

Do you feel like winners? You assholes

oh wow so am I!

there’s always that one Dan hater

The Teenjus Extended Universe gets yet another entry

A picture of Rene Magritte's "The Treachery of Images" superimposed over the "NOW that's what I call" logo from the music compilations popular during the 1990s, with the words "une pipe" next to the image

(Care of Mastodon's @funkula@goblin.camp.)

ADL is an explicit pro-Nazi organization at this point, I don't know why we care about what they think