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theoderic.bsky.social
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It's a truly jarring split screen that Kristi Noem's goons attacking Sen Padilla happened at almost the exact same time as 16 Dem senators crossed lines to vote with the GOP to invoke cloture on the crypto bill, forfeiting any leverage. Dems need to act like an opposition.

Ross Douthat when someone says something factually wrong or openly fascist on his podcast

Explosive moment during tonight's NYC mayoral debate: Cuomo: "He’s never dealt with the city council, he’s never dealt with the Congress..." Mamdani: "I’ve never had to resign in disgrace...I have never hounded the thirteen women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment."

NEW FROM CBO: brutal distributional analysis of House GOP "Big Beautiful Bill" On avg the bottom 30% of households get poorer under the GOP bill Avg gets little - and are worse off if you include tariffs This'd be the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in history

Calvin & Hobbes is widely regarded as one of the greatest comic strips of all time and I feel like we STILL underrate it.

The “tech right”

They know exactly what they're doing

NEW: Here's a striking new amicus brief in support of California from 8 "former US Army and Navy secretaries and retired four-star admirals and generals" (inc. Michael Hayden, Thad Allen, Sean O'Keefe). storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Old Soviet joke: A man goes to the newspaper stand every day, unfolds one, scans the front page, doesn't buy it, and leaves. Vendor: Why do you do this every day? Man: I’m looking for an obituary. Vendor: Obituaries aren’t on the front page. Man: The one I’m waiting for will be.

Reminds me of this guy I met at Occupy Wall Street

this is good

Relatedly, I think it’s time to reopen the conversation about why “The Last Jedi” is a terrible movie for reasons having nothing to do with racism or sexism

New this week: I did a deep dive into what I think is primarily driving the national murder plunge. Spoiler: I think enormous community investment and spending in the wake of COVID is the primary driver (though there are undoubtedly other factors as well!). jasher.substack.com/p/why-i-thin...

Who talks about their fellow Americans like this? More than 1 in 40 of us live in Los Angeles County

As an elder millennial who saw the rise of video games and gaming culture firsthand: (1) Video games are good (2) People who build their identity around them should be viewed with suspicion

Economically punishing blue states and terrorizing their citizens isn’t a sustainable way to run the country. At a certain point people will fight back.

This kind of caving to bullying by media corporations is common in electoral autocracies like Turkey or Hungary, where the media ultimately becomes owned by loyalists. Caving early seems easy, but in the long run makes these media companies state mouth pieces, no matter what execs tell themselves.

Extremely bad timing to have this come out the very day the President started using the armed forces to terrorize his political enemies

Seconding this. (Albeit for a decade and not 35 years). There is an overwhelming focus on inputs — whether that's throwing more money at a problem, or critiquing political structures that limit how much money you throw at a problem. And nearly zero focus on outputs.

No law enforcement agency is a monolith; even one predisposed by culture, mission, and lack of oversight to attract violent bullies is going to show cracks when given an amoral mission. But also:

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/o...

The way President Trump is wielding his authority to deploy National Guard troops in Los Angeles is “unprecedented and untested,” says @lizagoitein.bsky.social.

I don't really like the "they're using drama to distract you from their evil policies" talking point. They're not. Fascists are always emotionally driven clowns. This is what it looks to have them in power. The violence and stupidity are two sides of the same coin.

The uncertainty is actually at the root of the current mass dysregulation.

"It's really hard to fathom that the guy making my pizza for 25 years is a gangster and a terrorist, and the person who shows up in an unmarked car wearing a mask and body armor comes to take him away is somehow the good guy” www.wnep.com/article/news...

Thinking of a hero I knew and admired.

WOW. Breaking news from ABC that has the potential to cast serious doubts on today’s indictment of Mr. Abrego Garcia.

note that this completely inverts the public justification for the deportation scheme. they claim they’re deporting criminals, but they deported Kilmar without knowledge of a crime, and now that they supposedly found one they’re bringing him BACK.

This sounds like a scandal in the making.

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

From @nytopinion.nytimes.com “Too many Christians are transforming Christianity into a vertical faith, one that focuses on your personal relationship with God at the expense of the horizontal relationship you have with your neighbors,” writes our columnist David French.

Build Banana Better

Why was I never informed how stunningly beautiful Chicago is

HAWLEY: Let's see the Trump chart. You don't think it's a little bit anomalous that Trump has so many more nationwide injunctions against him? KATE SHAW: A very plausible explanation you have to consider is that he's engaged in much more lawless activity than other presidents

New Yorker here. Leaving aside that “English muffin” as an answer to this question should be automatically disqualifying for *any* office in New York, it’s “bacon, egg, and cheese,” not “bacon, cheese, and egg.”

They're literally doing the meme

Got two of my favorite fountain pens working with great nib/ink combos just in time for a trip! Folks I am thriving.