A Dead Weird Carnie

I've always assumed that when my cats lick me, they are seasoning me.

While we're on the subject, I've seen posts asserting that if you simply take a walk, it will also solve all your problems, and as someone who walks every day, I can tell you: Nah.

I'm willing to go to jail for fighting this regime, but that doesn't mean I'm going to directly hand them the best excuse they could hope for.

I've been critical of "cancel culture" in that I felt there was a much-to-prevalent impulse to try getting people fired over singular perceived offenses. But when people are out here proclaiming they've been "cancelled" who've experienced NO interruption to their livelihoods, the term has no meaning

It's amazing how everyone supporting her seems to forget she wasn't cancelled at all. She quit. And almost immediately was able to launch this new publication. How the hell was she cancelled?

Some people criticized shitty takes. That's not being cancelled.

You can be the safest, most attentive driver in the world and still pose a massive risk to other road users. That’s because cars and car dependency are inherently dangerous.

This doesn’t mean you’re a bad person if you drive, but I do think that drivers should acknowledge their role in this system.

There's something uniquely charming about the idea of taking an object out of a cupboard and then speeding away on it.

it's called a fleshlight because jack-o-lantern was taken

O. Lantern and I don't have that kind of relationship.

I am perpetually amazed by how the media today appear convinced that they have no impact whatsoever on ordinary people's understanding of current events. They operate as if the truth is already equally apparent to all and if the public doesn't revolt, it must mean they like whatever's happening.

I don't know why I have to explain this, but the issue is not that they SHOWED the photo, it's that they made it the cover image,so it would be viewed by anyone who glances at the headline before deciding whether to click through. Surely you understand that people can't read EVERY article they see.

fucking incredible

It's been really eye-opening to see nominally liberal acquaintances repeat the conservative framing of news stories they picked up from Twitter, while they justify their continued use of the platform simply by saying "I was here before Elon bought it." As if seniority inoculates against propaganda.

I've said this a bunch of times, but it seems like a real problem that this outlet and others like it have "News" right in their names and we all act as if that's completely normal and acceptable.

Something that should be obvious but needs to be periodically articulated as a reminder that you can't just do normal politics with these people:

Schlittle 'er? I hardly even know 'er.

"Why aren't more people reading for fun?" has the same energy as "why aren't people buying houses more often?" Do you think that there are literally zero influences on human behavior other than sheer force of will? Good Lord!

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

Seems like there's a bit of a gap in the logic here, in that nature doesn't spontaneously generate a "stream of words." If I could harvest poetry from an orchard every spring, this might be a persuasive commentary on the value of authorship, but I can't, so it isn't.

This is related to something I've been saying for years: I don't think you should be legally permitted to continue holding elected office if it can be demonstrated that you've consciously lied to your constituents. I don't see how society can function with those in charge openly manipulating others.

Now I can't stop imagining "You're gonna need a bigger boat" with really bad ADR.

Okay, but make sure you give Donald Trump enough time to put a little note on each check that says, "A special gift to you from me, Your Favorite President, Donald J. Trump. This is my own personal money."

"Well I don't support his me-killing policy. But I do support his my enemies-killing policy..."

As long as we're doomcasting: I don't think they would invoke the 25th and risk losing the cult. I'd be more worried about them manufacturing a threat to Trump's life and then telling his supporters that he'll be running the country from a "secure location."

Leaving aside AI evangelists' tendency to dramatically overestimate its capabilities, it's incredible how little imagination they demonstrate when describing how it will behave. They all seem convinced that it'll reward them and punish their enemies, like a god that is pleased with their offerings.

I periodically get numb to how stupid and insane the people in charge of everything are, but then something comes up in my feed that really knocks me back.

Does the Presidential Records Office still employ people to tape back together the documents that Trump routinely tears up, or did we just quietly give up on the idea of ever having a clear and complete historical record of what goes on in this White House?

Unitary executive theory, but the executive is a plurality of viziers vying to outdo each other in TV-attention-grabbing extremity to please the boss as well as win plaudits among the degenerate segment of the polity who's internalized his cruelty, vice, & shallowness