🎄O Christmas Pete O Christmas Pete 🎄

yep. which is annoying. the one thing i've consistently heard folks who know him personally say, is that he's incredibly kind in real life, and great to work for. like, genuinely, a rare type who people really enjoy as a boss.

and then to have to reconcile that with... with everything else he does

YouTube video by JensdePens Tom Waits australia interview 1979 pt 2

yeah we are. interview and "on the nickel" - one of my favorites

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcCM...

one million percent

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

the only thing clear to Mr. Wurman

which is an argument that one can get a Stanford JD, teach ConLaw, publish in law journals, and still be a moron

what it is not is a cogent argument that the 14th means anything other than exactly what it says. that persons born in the US are US citizens

YouTube video by Tony Soprano Norah Jones-The Long Way Home

The second:

Money's just something you throw
Off the back of a train
Got a head full of lightning
A hat full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
And I love you pretty baby but I always take the long way home

youtu.be/tpeIePQpSuU?...

My high school freshman English teacher introduced me to Tom Waits.

In honor of his birthday, my two favorite covers of his work.

The first:

I don't wanna float a broom
Fall in love and get married then boom
How the hell did I get here so soon
I don't wanna grow up

youtu.be/PGXYW8OZ9og?...

they rely on experts and elites to signal whats in and out of bounds. there are issues where robust debate is appropriate, and where zealous advocacy is a duty, even.

but, especially for the electeds, there has to be self-policing, a requirement that zeal does not exceed the bounds that facts allow

the modern world is vast and incredibly complex. the general public, the voter, can't reasonably be expected to understand the intricate delicate balance struck on use of lethal force.

arguing is a skill. Lots of people think they are good at it. Most are terrible. Some are incredible at it.

If you lack a soul and are willing to go to the mat and have a talent for it, you can make angels dance on the heads of pins. But its incredibly irresponsible to do so in bad faith

bad faith sophistry from Cotton. There is no credible argument justifying killing shipwrecked survivors

If he thinks the law is wrong, he is free to try and rewrite it. He is a Senator. But what he can't do is pretend his personal preference is in any way a good faith interpretation of clear law.

On Friday, Rep Himes spoke out about the boat strikes and now he’s getting 10 minutes of air time, alone, not a panel, on Face the Nation. Broadcast tv time. A Sunday show.

Robust public oversight on foreign policy and national security is also good politics and Reps shouldn’t be afraid to.

Buster from the tv show ‘Arrested Development’ holding an arm full of plushies while he looks at his mother Lucille, saying, “these are my awards, mother, from FIFA.“

Who has made this 🤣

K Pop Lehman Brothers is pretty

Ol Blue Eyes just before he died

You had a pee tape tweet during trump 1 that was incredible

Something about fair weather pee tape fans who hadn’t been there in the dog days and long road stretches of the season hopping on board the playoff bandwagon

I hadn’t ever gone down this rabbit hole before and it’s just like the day I saw someone say something similar about Princess Diana and Harry and that red head British officer dude.

in no position to speculate. But I did look at the Ronan / Frank pictures and… I can understand why there are rumors

Nice! Ok. Good to know I’m calibrated

Hell yeah.

It’s really nice once and awhile to look back at history and not have that like … ewwwwww that’s a tough look feeling.

Like… oh shit, good for them, actually not everyone sucked.

And they’ll bring ice cream and birthday cake while doing it

the nerdy detail people who relentlessly believe in the perfectability of man and that no problem can’t be solved with enough effort and design, would rather be working on passenger rail solutions or studying a newt’s inner ear

But when roused… their wrath is efficient, meticulous, and overwhelming

I … I think that is a green flag? Like, green for a mobbed up dude. Given Woody’s… well given that whole situation

How can he be so abstruse? Is it deliberate?

Can someone just make sure I’ve got the right labels for mid century American male celebrities

John Wayne - problematic
Bing Crosby - problematic
Frank Sinatra - mobbed up but… he was good on civil rights?

Pleased to speak with Fredricka Whitfield on @cnn.com today.

Explained that the legal problems with the killing spree at sea far go beyond the September 2nd incident.

Premeditated killing outside of armed conflict is called murder.

And there is no armed conflict.

Agreed

100 percent.

I don't really have a point I can articulate except that your question, and a dozen other really thorny, but good questions, are raised by the note. And we still don't have well articulated answers for most of them. We don't really even talk about them. It's uncomfortable territory

for sure. and to be clear, i'm fine with NYT including it. I don't think its a huge error. But I think it raises all kinds of important questions that we don't have good answers for, is all

not at all. its kind of been the central question I keep coming at since I got out too. most of the things I wrote all come back to that same question.

people treat combat as a wisdom granting experience. but all it left me with was more questions. how do we live in that tension?

does the reader need that information to better judge Charles's credibility? if we say yes, why do we think the reader needs that? why include Marine veteran in the first place?

I'm not saying its wrong. I'm just saying... its worth thinking about those hard questions

would he think or feel differently if he had?

and if so what does that say about how we think about the nature of combat.

do we think it's a wisdom granting experience? do we think its an ennobling one? do we think its a necessary one? is someone more or less a Marine for having seen combat?