Ed K

Actually on re-reading -- not missing much.

archive.is + / + the URL of the story

Just sayin'.

... I also wonder if there's a selection bias. Maybe "experts" who will feed writers whatever BS they want to hear (and the NYT always wants both-sides crap that's convenient for horse-race stories, so they'd have this bias) are more likely to be polled.

It seemed blindingly obvious last fall.

This still bothers me: experts?!

SCOTUS told him he could be a king.

Republicans who served in his first admin trashed him as an unhinged fascist, and for those who wanted to be in his second admin -- being an unhinged fascist was a feature, not a bug.

I know normalcy bias is a thing, but...

Wait, these are legal experts???

Trump had already burned through almost every Republican who could be presented as normal. The people he was running with in 2024 are those too extreme or crazy for the old GQP. And project 2025 hasn't been a secret ...

But what if you thought politics was entertainment and made money off engagement?

IMO the issue with this one isn't the use of AI, it's the racism.

Do you honestly think there was any doubt?

It's fine to listen to what people say their intentions are, but you should also judge based on their actions.

I've seen their playbook before. They weren't going to stop so long as they were getting positive feedback -- regardless of potential harms.

Honestly, I've just taken to blocking accounts like that. This account is all trolling; it's possible the operator likes even sarcastic responses.

Tylenol/Acetaminophen is a concern at high doses in terms of liver damage. This is especially a concern if mixing different medications with it.

AFAIK Ibuprofen has different risks -- in addition to the pregnancy-related risks, also stomach bleeding/GI issues. Not liver as much though.

Ouch. Not the same source, but for the past year and a half I've had cervical radiculopathy from pinched C6/C7; PT and avoiding triggers limits this to numbness and tingling rather than intense pain, but...

I read about the surgical options and had a similar reaction. :-/

How will they learn that their actions have consequences other than by experiencing the consequences of their actions?

I have sympathy for them, but it's tinged with knowledge that they would insist on tough love for others ... and experiencing it themselves might be a learning experience.

Honestly I think it's better to block folks like that. The account isn't engaging in good faith debate, and there's no point in feeding the trolls.

She described it as heartbreaking -- which they could have worked with to try to make things better.

Instead, they helped Trump win and gave Netanyahu exactly what he wanted.

For treating ideology purity and your desire to confirm your own moral superiority as more important than winning elections to reduce harm to vulnerable people.

Every single politician is a lesser evil. Every one of them. If you want someone who's not, you need to look in another field.

She's supports what I'd call democratic capitalism. To a democratic socialist -- yes, that's the lesser evil. There is nothing she can do to convince them otherwise.

If you go into elections savaging the candidate closest to you preferences as the lesser evil you're destroying your own position. 🤷‍♀️

Does guilt prevent you from seeing the point?

The problem wasn't the demands to do better. The problem was the failure to acknowledge that she took _any_ steps -- and to attack her trustworthiness per se.

If you say (in the campaign) that she's the lesser evil some people hear only the last word.

It's actually simpler.

You should have blended praise for the parts that you like (more of this! e.g. acknowledging how bad the situation in Gaza is) with criticism for the parts you don't (e.g. accepting Bibi's assurances).

Instead we heard relentless negativity and false equivalences.

I responded to a single post without reading the larger context -- my mistake. I think you should reflect on that larger context.

(The fear I have is that history won't repeat and that fascism will become entrenched in way that it can't be displaced. But people of prior ages had the same fears.)

In terms of politics and human rights, things were darker then -- no argument. Chattel slavery was horrific, with no modern equivalent.

Did you just respond to criticism of racial insensitivity by someone who is Black by talking about how you've got a black friend?

In terms of politics and human rights, things were definitely darker in the 19th century.

But in terms of the technology to impose fascism or destroy nearly all human life ... that's pretty terrifying now.

Thinking about Jimmy Kimmel ... this comment seems spot on.

(I assume the issue is that Disney & Iger just showed us their asses, and they're OK with fascism. No arguments there -- but economic incentives can be used as either carrot or stick.)

Question: I don't subscribe to Disney+ but briefly considered doing so to try to indicate support for reinstating Kimmel. Do you mean that more action is needed on Disney's part before that would make sense? Or that the framing is wrong?

(I'm still boycotting Target, for the obvious reasons.)

And FYI -- I share the pundit class's love of analytical / logical arguments; that's part of why I voted for Warren over Biden in my state's primary in 2020.

But logos only convinces some voters, and Biden had better grasp of ethos and an appeal to a different (and much larger) group of voters.

You can easily find evidence of Biden being forgetful; and if we needed the POTUS to have a perfect memory rather than good judgment, this would be a key gap. But it's not.

Anyway, you asked and I answered -- 100%, IMO we should all have gotten behind Biden in 2024.

Yes, he's old. I was aware of that in 2020; and I expected minor memory issues.

My claim isn't that he wasn't old or that he didn't become forgetful -- but rather that his judgment was intact and he used it and his understanding of government to govern effectively.

(Well, mostly effective. He got played by Netanyahu, IMO.)

He never sounded like an intellectual, and that always pissed off people who wanted one.

But his administration was effective at implementing good policies (including lifting incomes for the bottom quartiles -- and addressing inequality should be high priority). That's what I care about.