Jason Kuznicki

I don't think enough good things can be said about the people who worked hard to build the political pressure for his and everyone else's release, including senator van hollen. otoh there is no bottom to my contempt for the people who were urging the opposite course of action

The far right already believes liberals hate life and wish everyone was dead.

I'm trying really hard not to be like that, and yet an awful lot of my replies are how we're all doomed, there's no point to having kids, they're gonna have terrible lives anyway.

Not being the caricature is better, imo.

I mean, we can always choose NOT to act like rightwing caricatures of ourselves.

Opinion | Behind Trump and Vance Is This Man’s Movement

My take away from this interview [gift link] is that Vance's "National Conservatism" is a form of blood and soil nationalism that is deeply invested in claiming (and possibly actually believing) that it is NOT a form of blood and soil nationalism.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/o...

Screenshot from The Simpsons showing a Democratic Party convention where the banners read “We can’t govern!” and, to the point, “We hate life and ourselves”

😑

trump had an appeal to a certain kind of credulous swing voter who though he was lying to his hillbilly base but serious about all the things they cared about. they expected mitt romney with a makeover.

Me: You should live for things other than your bloodline

My replies: Yes, earth is doomed, happiness is folly, and it’s naive to take pleasure in anything

This quote is about Laura Loomer, and that's a really odd way to describe her ascent, which was about racist stunts not foreign policy.

The real story here is how bizarre it is that a far right conspiracy theorist can sink the appointment of someone who is fully qualified to teach West Point cadets

See, when my team talks like this, I kinda think he's got a point.

I hear all the time that I'm only gay because I don't love the world, and I want it to die. And if I did love the world, I'd have kids to help it continue.

Walter Benjamin, “The Storyteller” (1936)

To Live Inside a Lie Firing the top labor statistics official for doing the normal monthly jobs report is only the last attempt to force everyone else to abandon reality too

"This is considered impolite to point out in many mainstream venues, but to be a Republican in good standing today, you have to believe, or at least go along with, an insane amount of lies."

Firing the BLS Director for reporting monthly jobs data institutionalizes that lying, imposing it on others.

Thread

Deploying military forces inside the US for domestic law enforcement is bad, un-American, and illegal under an 1878 law reauthorized in 1956, 1981, and 2021.
I said the few hundred Marines deployed in LA as part of ICE raids looked like a trial balloon. This memo indicates they plan to do much more.

The story of how Trump sells access to the White House - to benefit himself and his family financially and to benefit his political operation - is shocking and sordid.

No President has ever monetized access like Trump has.

1/ It's a story you need to know.

Have you read the essay

When you write a thing and it just keeps getting more and more relevant

You are not your bloodline. If you don’t want to have kids, that’s okay too. A meaningful life can include kids, or not.

You’re free. Find something kind, beautiful, or brilliant, and do it. It’s okay, I promise.

How to be a man The right's narrative about male attractiveness is grounded in Social Darwinism and free market economics. Can progressives tell a better story?

This is an excellent advice essay for young straight men who want to attract women. Boils down to
1) stop trying
2) become comfortable in your skin
3) work on your skills and interests *for their own sake*
4) realize women are human beings
5) get to know women as friends.

Canada 'disappointed' by Trump boosting tariffs to 35%, says Carney | CBC News Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement just past midnight on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to increase a tariff on Canadian goods to 35 per cent. He says ...

This is what treatment of a country with an already-existing Trump trade deal looks like. Don't let anyone who thinks "making deals" will solve anything forget it.

The Core Problem is Single-Seat Districts Most of the world knows that PR is a better way to elect legislatures.

ICYMI:

Have you noticed that a lot of tech lingo and ways of viewing the world seem to come almost directly from the video game, Civilization? I wonder if it has had a larger impact than commonly appreciated, in terms of being a rare direct conduit between nerds and history/religion/literature.

Public data is the foundation of economic research & analysis. Transparent revisions are a normal part of that process. Attacking BLS for political reasons like this will have immense costs in terms of public trust even if, as likely, Trump can't get the manipulated data he wants

I was just informed that our Country’s “Jobs Numbers” are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory. This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000. These were Records — No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes. McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months. Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The Economy is BOOMING under “TRUMP” despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting “Kamala” elected – How did that work out? Jerome “Too Late” Powell should also be put “out to pasture.” Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history. Trump is firing the head of the BLS, a longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today

well, however worried about this you were this morning, you should be considerably more worried now

I’ll never forget my daughter’s face when I told her that, at least by her definition, I’m a virgin.

Here’s the thing though. If it were generally true that in straight relationships the woman gives sexual access in exchange for some other thing (security, kids, attention, idk), I suspect we’d see many more women saying that they were having more sex than they wanted.

I get that gay men are playing on easy mode, but women definitely aren’t, and they don’t seem eager to step up.

Guys, I have to say it’s a you problem.

“Are straight men getting enough sex?” is a question with layers. In order:

1. I can’t really say, I’m a Kinsey 6.
2. But I’m seeing a lot of genuine skill issues?
3. If men aren’t getting enough sex, aren’t women also not getting enough sex?
4. Women are doing just fine, they say? How interesting.

Neon Liberalism #36: Strange Bedfellows In recent years, a number of prominent right-wingers have moved left dramatically. In particular, a surprising number of libertarians have abandoned their "fusionist" association with the Republican P...

"Strange Bedfellows": @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com with @aaronrosspowell.com, on our Neon Liberalism podcast www.liberalcurrents.com/neon-liberal...

Like it’s an actually useful and grounding insight taken right from the conservative tradition: new things sometimes have surprising costs and downsides.

Libertarians are able to understand that too, but it’s not as useful in the Rothbardian project, so they tend to deny the externality exists.