dyke madigan

I’m hesitant to ascribe politics to people suffering from any kind of mass delusion, out of touch with their real conditions. I personally have found compelling the arguments that fascism emerges from a weakened conservatism and ascendant left, like Mattei’s “The Capital Order” about Fascist Italy.

If I might press on the point: network effects and social ecosystems is a possible explanation for propagation, but not for the origin or success of political ideology. If it moves people because it moves those around them, where did it start? Why that idea and not others?

You’re saying “perceptions” like it is something that comes from nowhere, or is transmitted virally. That’s not particularly compelling. Also, researchers of fascism are not of one mind “debunking” this; if you think they are, you should probably substantiate that!

I’ll never forget our time with him, however brief

Someone should do a scientific study about why peacock teal is the universally agreed upon all-time best color

chief of staff: Mr. President, very sad news. Henry Kissinger has died.

joe biden [ munching block of Kerrygold butter ]: hot damn. we do that?

“Horseman of the Apocalypse” (1959), Rufino Tamayo. Colored lithograph on paper.

“Horseman of the Apocalypse” (1959), Rufino Tamayo. Colored lithograph on paper.

We got the wrong Israel damn

Again, take whatever reasons or intent you make of it, but Hamas was trying for some reason to appear externally more moderate in its 2017 charter than it had previously.

I think it’s fair to say that a call for a two-state solution from the Israeli side generally comes with a condemnation of Hamas (and used to come with a condemnation of the PLO), and the reverse is true from the other direction. Concession to two-state, continued opposition to the state of Israel.

Take it however you like, but Hamas’s 2017 charter specifically calls for the resumption of 1967 borders despite their overall opposition to Israel, a substantial break with their founding charter. Likud called for “only Israeli sovereignty” between the river and the sea in their founding program.

“Silver Springs, Beirut” lmaoo

Oh wow I really hope it is, this whole conference looks fascinating

How might we measure and demonstrate the left’s role in convincing people of this, to the exclusion of other forces? The American left is generally understood to be quite weak — it’s a bold claim, deserving bold proof!

lmao

can’t make a poultice these days like you used to. because of woke

did this, can’t recommend strongly enough

remedios varo instant RT

folk art style painting of cats in a bucolic forest setting surrounding a fanciful pair of towers supporting a spinning cat toy

'Cat Paradise' (1955)
- Remedios Varo

Also, Satantango is actually a good film!

I think in one sense that’s right — that’s the clear direction it’s been heading, if anyone actually wanted to change the circumstances they would’ve — although I think the recent record of IDF leadership criticizing policy re:Palestine suggests it’s not a consciously “planned” purpose

It’s also fairly similar to how the Iranian clerical regime vets presidential candidates. Up to you whether that’s sufficiently democratic to govern an entity, be it a firm or state

Any piece that takes “people are saying online” as a worthwhile political concern is a failure of editorial standards

fwiw foreign imports of manufactures start picking up in the 60s, but offshoring of American manufacturing by American companies doesn’t really get going until the 80s. Peak industrial employment in the US happens around 1979 or so

New Orleans, the clearest example

“Portrait of Jeanne Wenz” (1886), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Oil on canvas.

got it slightly backwards: $330 of 2013 $ = $435 of 2023 $. So, the comparison would be $435 vs $1400, so ~3.2x increase

A really big, juicy caterpillar. Like an absolutely honking big one. Foot long and jet black with beady little eyes. Has a worryingly mellow voice

Are folks saying that invading Iraq was in the general interests of Americans, or are they saying that the people who planned the invasion had a specific profit-making rationale aimed at benefiting a select few? I think there is, obviously, a distinction worth making between these things

Philly and Chicago is the macro scale version of raising twins in very different households as a scientific experiment