Noah Smith

That one where the guy who likes DisRuPtOrS found out what that means

"One of the less frequently noticed luxuries of the postwar liberal order was the licence to be a fool. ... Indeed, those who imagine themselves the most fearless critics of modern civilisation are often its most coddled children."

And what a paragraph. 👇

Is this what the kids would call “small-dick energy?” Did I get that right?

I started, not yet knowing the frankly abusive history of the weak-willed idiot tapped by Drumpf to run DOD, at being simply angry at how someone whose only qualification to be the whole-ass Secretary of Defense is that he will stridently defend our country against an army of straw-men. And then…

I understand there could be cause for concern. And let’s let investigators investigate. But we’re dealing with…Iranian Mothership theories?? It’s true throughout history that into an info vacuum, people put their their own info. Problem is: they’re doing it EVEN WHEN presented with actual info. /Fin

But it gets worse. It goes: I already assume the wildest, most impossibly-bizarre shit, unless & until you tell me all the information you have. BUT THEN I am not bound to believing that; I’m convinced you’re still “hiding things” and so I’m going to believe the wild shit anyway. 2/

Trump says US military should talk about nature of drone sightings President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. military should tell the American public about the nature of the drone sightings that have plagued the East Coast over the last several weeks.

Here’s what’s making me nuts: there’s this sentiment on the right that folks are *owed* all the information about every little thing. And if one doesn’t give it to them, then they immediately flock to the dark corners of misinformation and use that as their truth. 1/ www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Folks. Guys. Guys. Folks. People. THEY’RE 12-2!! Relax. Remember how long it’s been for us. Clinched a playoff bid. Same record as the Eagles. WE’RE OK! GoooooOOOO LIONS!!

“That which we cannot do ourselves.” No one will pave your roads. No one will plow your streets in the winter. So so so many privatized government services (ahem…lookin’ at you, prisons) sacrifice service for profit. This isn’t guessing the future; we *literally* already have the receipts!

The screen-capture highlights a relevant quote from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien: “…the sort of rage that is only seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy suddenly lose something that they have long had but have never before used of wanted.”

Without further comment, I submit the following thought from JRR Tolkien

It’s brilliant. She’s brilliant. She made a whole religion in her book, and it’s one I could easily follow. Eerily prescient of a book, too.

Per my post from earlier today…

I am forever grateful that my closest friend turned me on to Octavia Butler, whose speculative fiction is even more prescient, tangible, & timely than The Handmaid’s Tale. I ate Parable of the Sower up. Profound & critical & accessible. Please allow me to Second @beingreese.bsky.social’s rec!