Matt Dargay

Ryan Dim

democrats should internalize that this is what their colleagues think of them and act accordingly

Two simultaneous things going on 1) administration trying to consolidate an authoritarian regime, and 2) the normal weight of political gravity dragging down the administration. Fight to a draw on #1 and let thermostatic politics do its work.

Conservative politics: society's most privileged & powerful, scared of their own shadows, imagining themselves victims, compensating for their insecurities by heaping abuse on society's weakest & most marginalized, and fashioning themselves heroes for doing it.

It's repulsive.

Easier to occupy what you consider your rightful place atop society if you violently engineer said society to keep all the hardworking/smart people out of it

Noting Helen Andrews' recent hissy fit over academically talented Asian Americans, you can't untie this from MAGA's own (accurate!) insecurities over their intellect, competence, diligence, etc.

They hate everything that makes America unique, beautiful, and powerful. If they have their way the US will become just another dull, middling backwater

Springfield, too, has been given new life by immigrants. A once-thriving manufacturing hub, its fortunes so collapsed that in 2012 it was regularly called the unhappiest city in America. In 2014, seeking to stem population decline, the city launched its “Welcome Springfield” campaign to attract immigrants. Haitians, many of whom had been given T.P.S. status after a devastating 2010 earthquake, responded. As new manufacturing jobs were created in the city, more immigrants followed. Many Haitians who settled in Springfield had children. The city stopped shrinking; in 2023, there was a tiny population increase.

On Sunday evening, Rose Goute, a Haitian restaurant, was almost deserted. “People stay home,” said Jean Philistin, a 50-year-old who was there picking up takeout. “People are scared.” He said he was less frightened than many others because he became a citizen a few years ago, though he wasn’t sure how much that would matter. “The worst thing is, since you’ve got an accent, or since you’re Black, they can stop you for no reason.” Philistin had been a civil engineer back in Haiti and now worked refurbishing houses. He has two teenage children, both born in America. “I don’t know why they hate my community,” he said sadly.

MAGA is a movement of America haters who despise this country and are conspiring to destroy it

Whiskey Friday with Tony Wokeupil

Whenever you see a story about how liberals aren't making their conservative peers feel welcome enough, this is who they're talking about.

Every time I see someone like Abbott choose self-inflicted decline, I think of this quote from Pedro Sanchez:

"Spain needs to choose between being an open and prosperous country or a closed-off, poor country. It’s as simple as that."

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/o...

so to review how America works, lawmakers respond to problems by using taxpayer dollars to subsidize the vacation homes of Deloitte consultants and when the problem inevitably goes unaddressed they blame immigrants and social safety net beneficiaries

I'm way too busy enjoying a humble repast of bread, soft cheese, blackberry crumble, cherry cordial, and cool, clear water from the stream to engage in this discourse

"We love our soybean farmers, don't we folks? They call it tempeh, tem-peh. Tempeh. It's an old-fashioned word, maybe one you've never heard before, but you're going to be hearing it a lot more"

The core truth of the Trump era, and the one that journalism is forbidden from stating out loud, is that Trump has gathered around him a constituency of the country's worst people.

That's what most distinguishes them -- not economic status, age, where they live, anything else. It's shittiness.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He really is doing all of it.

And on and on and on. I could keep going

PERFECT example of this is MI House Speaker Matt Hall. Born into wealth, threatened a Black classmate in college, alleged domestic abuser and gambler of nearly $75,000 in one month

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

The extremely gifted, fortunate man who spends 24 hours a day whining about how unfairly he's treated is one of MAGA's key archetypes, so I am taking this humiliation as another harbinger of Woke 2

Yeah no if they weren't all scared shitless Trump himself wouldn't be saying "we're going to send another round of stimulus checks and we're going to be sending them very strongly" every two weeks before immediately forgetting about it

Many are arguing that they wouldn't be acting this way if they thought they were subject to free & fair elections.

Plausible. But another explanation is that they see the writing on the wall--generational backlash--and they're attempting increasingly desparate hail marys

every republican president destroys the economy

"You deserve to die if you disagree with us" is their position. bsky.app/profile/atru...

this is your mission. roll up to this daycare in full tactical gear to harass some kids and teachers. when you get spooked by your own shadow like a panicked horse and start shooting your gun, our pedophile president will call the person you shot a terrorist. good luck soldier

yep. i can identify any number of structural issues but at the end of the day the basic problem is the republican party. this has been apparent for at least 20 years. it is also an incredibly unpopular observation to make among “serious” people.

You do not need to be a fan of Maduro to think that this is both morally abhorrent and world-historically fucking stupid.

It's practically the house style of right-wing tech psychos

It’s not even “are these people racist?” It’s “do these people have any beliefs at all besides white supremacy?”

Atticus Sappington sounds like a Paul Bunyan esque figure who roams the forests of northern Michigan chopping down maple trees

Doctor: here is your baby ma'am
Atticus Sappington's dad: what should we name our beautiful baby boy
Atticus Sappington's mom: Atticus Sappington