Ron Pressler

What wasn't known, for example, was how easily SCOTUS would hand over control of agencies to the president. I don't think even long-time SCOTUS-watchers predicted that with much certainty. I don't think they can predict now what the court will do regarding the Fed.

The issue wasn't the intent but Trump's typically shambolic execution that made predicting what he would actually accomplish in a short timeframe difficult. The effectiveness of institutional resistance was also unclear. The point is that what's surprising is the execution, not the goals.

I'm confused. JVL predicted that, too, just not the extent to which it would be done in a few months. It's the first item in his summary of his predictions (I don't have access to see the original from last year):

Trump: “Some of the highest quality 24 Karat Gold used in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room of the White House. Foreign Leaders, and everyone else, “freak out” when they see the quality and beauty. Best Oval Office ever, in terms of success and look!!! President DJT”

The Schmittian Enemy What's up at the NatC Conference

Eric Schmitt's speech was cribbed from Samuel T. Francis.—
www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-schmit...

When I was a kid, I overheard one of my dad's mates referring to him as a "lady killer". I spent the rest of my of my childhood worrying that my dad was a serial killer, expecting him to be taken away every time I heard a police siren.

almost archetypal Victorian humour here

When my wife annoys me, the next time I make her a sandwich, I'll make the two slices of bread "point" in opposite directions knowing full well she'll hate the lack of symmetry but can't exactly complain about something made for her.

The Road to MechaHitler Reality still has a well-known liberal bias

open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Ethno-cultural nationalism has existed in Europe, of course, but (over time) as the exception rather than the rule

Also, associating Europe - a continent that, for millennia, has been governed by super-national institutions, from the Roman Empire, through the Church, to royal dynasties - with ethno-cultural nationalism is mythical projection.

behold, Curtis Yarvin, the intellectual titan of the far right, whose erudition has awed vice presidents and billionaires

I was nervous about doing a presentation in work. So I went the pub at lunch & had a few pints to calm the nerves. I then smashed the presentation. I was confident & funny. Problem is i've been asked to repeat it for all our branches & I'm concerned I'll turn into an alcoholic

I’m petrified about today’s science news. Genetically modifying crabs to have cheetah genes? This could go sideways fast.

Image shows an owl with a hobby horse - looks like a witch on a broomstick

I have a new hero.
This owl stole a child's hobby horse and flies around with it!

This is very confusing. So if, in your serious reading of history, the founders were the richest men in the world and authoritarian reactionaries with control over the world's largest military power, who were the British, or the French, or the Spanish?

Yeah, constantly saying, "hey everyone, look how moderate I am on issue X" is a strange strategy of courting the voters who, you believe, find X to be a very important problem.

I would qualify that. People have always been given both real and fictitious "information". What's changed is their ability to separate truth from fiction (and the shades in between). It's a much bigger problem than the information. Something has broken in the people and their epistemology.

Spherical cow - Wikipedia

Yarvin cannot tear himself away from his “spherical cow” mode of thinking even in his engineering work, which is why he’s so bad at it. His big project, Urbit, is just as stupid and as ill-conceived as his social ideas.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spheric...

IWW IU 520 (Railroad Workers) PRESENTS: TROLLEY PROBLEM SOLUTION “Slip the switch” by flipping it while the trolley’s front wheels have passed through, but before the back wheels do. This will cause a controlled derailment bringing the trolley to a safe halt. Thank a rail worker today!

unions: they get the job done

When people lose economic status, it could be argued that they become more susceptible to messages that suggest they may find some status elsewhere, as in sexism, racism etc., and grow more resentful of the educated people who have moved a few rungs up the ladder.

It's not so simple, because growing inequality leads to a real and significant loss of economic status, and being able to buy two TV sets is no consolation. Wealth isn't just about stuff; it's also about status and dignity.

Plus, they voted for Trump despite his declared inflationary policies. So even if they did authentically care about inflation, they didn’t understand it, which goes to show, according to Will, that how people are made to understand the world is more important than what’s actually happening.

I *think* he's saying that voters say inflation is why they voted for Trump not necessarily because it was the issue that directly affected them personally the most, but because that was the message they had absorbed that stuck with them the most.

An island of strangers The end of England

open.substack.com/pub/samkriss...

Yes, but it’s more than that. There’s a basic logical error here. It’s like noticing that the stocks that do well are those that everyone is buying and concluding that to do well in the market, you should look at which stocks everyone is buying and then buy those.

Without even getting into the substance of this approach, the thought that a repeated game could have a risk-free winning strategy that both sides could easily follow seems problematic to me just on the mathematics of it.