mikeilikemike.bsky.social
A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest virtues of a good citizen.
407 posts
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127 following
Getting Started
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This is really just a twisted variation on the population control conspiracy theories if you think about it. All such theories involve the shadowy elites nonsensically destroying the very system that creates and generates the wealth they enjoy… for some reason.
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The unnamed elites: yay! I get to survive the nuclear winter by eating powdered food and MRE’s stuck in a bomb shelter where I can’t go outside due to harmful levels of radiation.
Sounds fantastic.
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The lack of focus is here frustrating. The Dems have a golden opportunity to paint themselves as pro-police by pointing out Trump’s obvious lack of trust in the LAPD to handle this situation. *That’s* the kind of thing that flies with the average Joe in Wisconsin, not waving another countries flag.
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He even said he would vote for Bernie if it came to it. Ironically, the bros don’t seem to be reciprocating.
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Yes, and part of the problem is how we view wealth as a standalone virtue and indicative of intelligence. If you took away their money and fame, and they acted the same way, you’d think they were looney tunes.
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What that fight would actually look like. 😂
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You know, he let Elon’s cronies run around for months sticking flash drives in every government computer they could find. Who knows what Musk has access to document wise.
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I’m not sure this mattered. The real weakness the democrats have is allowing republicans to set the parameters of the debate, not challenging false narratives and the democratic message, when filtered through the consultant class, ends up sounding stilted.
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Depends on the discourse. Talking about who could be moved is one thing. It’s another if you’re talking concrete buyers and sellers. For most teams, ripping off a ten game winning or losing streak really changes things.
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Regardless of the truth on this particular point, I’m struck by the frequent lack of concern on the left regarding the effectiveness of their tactics. Then when one questions a tactic, you get called a Trump apologist. True Trump apologia is allowing him political free reign through malpractice.
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Here’s how that worked: they transitioned people from political philosophy to policy. Once politics became a list of policies you support, detached from philosophy (think the early 2000’s Bush checklist: low taxes, strong military, muscular foreign policy) it’s very to shift people into tribalism.
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Key difference between the Reagan crowd & those of today: Republicans largely believed compromise was a necessary ingredient for self governance. However, as a slight nod to your historical concern, Barry Goldwater, in his latter years, flagged the resistance of younger conservatives to compromise.
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Shocked at the OP’s surprise. This isn’t new & has been the case for years. He proudly states he doesn’t read. His tweets are illiterate. Chris Whipple’s book on CIA directors discusses how they included lots of pictures & dumbed down the PDB. The left doesn’t spend nearly enough time on this.
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Supreme Court Justice Jeanine Pirro.
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Need to bring Pete Lacock out of retirement.
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Interesting, I heard similar sentiments expressed during COVID. This type of thinking must be increasingly ingrained.
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So, how many conservative power brokers are sending their kids to trade schools?
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In Chris Whipple’s book, it was revealed that we had to extricate a valued source from Moscow in 2017-2018 because of our political situation. I’d imagine events like that would cause potential sources to fear for their own security.
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I came here looking for this comment. Can’t believe you’re the only one. 😂
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Here’s the problem I have with both sides of this debate: we can acknowledge the necessity of protecting rights, in this instance the example is LGBT, while also acknowledging that the way democrats are talking about those issues isn’t effective.
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The same people also don’t understand that the average Joe/Jane has a reallllllllly short attention span and if you have to explain this distinction you’ve likely already lost them.
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There’s an argument to this. I’d say D’s have become more unpopular as they’ve embraced far left rhetoric. Trump, OTOH, will say that he didn’t say that, he doesn’t know the person saying the crazy far right thing that well, etc etc. Unless he thinks there’s electorate benefit to embracing it.
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Such a thing never happened to Bill Clinton because he had an agenda and a brand outside of triangulation. The Republicans learned this the hard way when they tried to cut Medicare and social security. For some reason, triangulation gets distorted into being an unprincipled squish.
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These people have always been around.. they just didn’t have collective access to high speed internet in their hands 24/7.
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A comment: the right uses the mainstream media to do what Steve Bannon describes as “anchoring left and pivoting right. They use the mainstream media to introduce topics into our discourse. They don’t really care how the story is covered, they just want us talking about it.
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This is where Trump’s lack of knowledge of government is fairly obvious. I’m sure he doesn’t understand that State is being empowered at the expense of the White House.
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When people think you want to ban meat and force them to eat bugs, the actual content of the policy is irrelevant. You lost. And a large swath of the left seem unwilling to contend with this fact, because they find hard to accept people actually believe these things. 2/
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Can’t respond to the OP, but I’m not sure the specific policy matters. It’s the framing/vibe. For example, the right has convinced large quantities of people that the left, as a matter of environmental policy, wants to pursue forcing people to eat bugs, anti-natalism, banning cars, etc etc. 1/
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Personally, I think our politics is trying to cleave in three directions: right wing populism, left wing populism and then everyone else. Both of the populist elements are busying themselves trying to force out those at the edges of the tent. Problem is, our system doesn’t allow for that structure.
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Correct, wholly agree. I’m fairly moderate, and I feel like I’m I give more preferential treatment to liberals than they do.
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Trust me, right wing media ensures that everyone sees. There is an entire apparatus on the right that does nothing but monitor left leaning spaces to catch people saying things that they know your average Joe would find outrageous. Then they pump it out via email, snail mail, social media, etc.
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Lots of arguments about why this is happening. 1.) the Dems haven’t identified a solution to successfully discussing culture war issues. 2.) the Dems have repeatedly allowed Trump to spin a false narrative of economic competence.
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In 2017-2019, the Dems allowed Trump, unchallenged, to spin a myth that the economy he was presiding over was the greatest ever. Republicans ran on that economy, and acted as though 2020 didn’t happen, and the Democrats again obliged that narrative.
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What in the actual fuck is going here lol? Never thought I’d see this type of critique from someone like Ahmari.
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Good read. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with an old school guy like Black as manager, provided there is a forward looking GM as a counterweight. Doubly true when the manager is also open minded (like Clint Hurdle was), and willing to consider the new stuff. Rox failed Black in that regard.
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This is correct and it’s a cultural issue.
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Hate to see anyone get fired obviously, but I feel like the nature of professional sports requires a fresh voice from time to time. I am surprised they didn’t go with Hurdle as interim.
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That’s fair. But, at the same time, we’re supposed to be coming out of a rebuild, and there’s little hope in sight for us. Your prospects are just coming up, so at least you guys have some hope that Veen/Tovar/Dollander/Condon/Romo form a core. Sad part for us is, this IS the finished product.
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Yeah it’s been rough. 13-27 is no great thing, but the off the field stuff added in has been hell. So I feel like I can commiserate with you guys.
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www.si.com/mlb/pirates/...
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5.) the team removed bricks from around the stadium, that fans paid for, some of which honored loved ones, and dumped them in a landfill with no notice to anyone. 2/
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The Pirates aren’t far behind. We have: 1.) fired our manager 2.) had a team employee intervene in a fight and take off his belt and start whipping one of the participants. 3.) took down a Roberto Clemente honorary emblem for an advertisement. 4.) had a fan fall 20 feet out of the stands.. 1/
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We are living in a 2nd gilded age. I’ve mentioned this before, but… if there’s this much money out there for an obvious grift, imagine how much grifting is going on, more competently, below the surface?
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Back in the “good old days” you raised 8 kids in a 1000 square foot domicile, new appliances were purchased a few times in a lifetime, 1 telephone, maybe 1 black & white TV with no cable. A simple diet. I’m always amazed watching old TV shows & seeing them talk about roast beef as a delicacy.
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Do us proud Don!