Rhys Needham

people still talking about how Democrats need to do more for the working class of middle America have to contend with the fact that we did exactly that and it did not work

Biden spent all of his political capital on bipartisan infrastructure and manufacturing bills and got nothing in return

Treasurer Supernintendo Chalmers is going to be under major pressure here to do the same thing, and as much as I'd actually like a seat on the bus, I'm leaning towards him not cracking for a while. Unless things get very bad.

moderate works: We should do a Swiss style healthcare system
actual moderate congressmen:

Not really a big fan of the trend this and Whitmer’s plan to exempt property taxes for the elderly are going. The welfare states the U.S. is often compared to require both higher taxes on the rich AND a broader tax base, not smaller one.

One apple per day can keep a lot of people away if you aim really well

“Grandiloquent Word of the Day” meme on an aged parchment background. The featured word is “Effulgent” with pronunciation [ih-FUL-jent] and definitions: “brightly shining, radiant, resplendent” and “(of a person or their expression) emanating joy or goodness.” An example sentence reads, “Whenever I’m sad or lonely, your effulgent smile always makes me feel so much better!” To the right is a nostalgic black-ink illustration of a young girl with a large bow in her hair, resting her chin on her hands while gazing dreamily at an open book by candlelight. The tall candle glows softly on a candlestick beside her, reinforcing the theme of brightness and radiance.

Effulgent [ih-FUL-jent]
(adj.)
- Brightly shining, radiant, resplendent.
- (of a person or their expression) emanating joy or goodness.

Used in a sentence:
“Whenever I’m sad or lonely, your effulgent smile always makes me feel so much better.”

The son is to be called Humbert?

I'm very tempted to treat it as advocacy these days.

trump at the handover ceremony

Where's Ayatollah Khalkhali when you need him?

(Strangling cats in Hades, probably).

C) Both. Pizza with a side salad.

Did his own stunts in the film a little too well?

Utterly baffling mini-thread here of Americans failing to understand that the UK, France, Germany and Canada are on exactly the same page over Iran both in terms of practical actions and declared public statements

The Germans and Italians barely co-ordinated with each other much of the time. Until Mussolini eventually had to turn himself into little more than a puppet partly because of it.

[squeaky voice] Noooooooooooooooooooo!

There was an Italian Partisan, who when his group liberated a tow, stood on the balcony of the mayor's office in the plaza, simply said "the time of speeches is over!" and left.

Are we falling out of love with nonfiction? In the early 2020s, readers flocked to books to explain political turbulence. But is the world now too grim to read about – and are podcasters taking the place of authors?

my view on this is that publishers should stop it with the 80k wordcount obsession, so many contemporary non-fic books are obviously 40-50k pieces of work stretched to the extent that they become very boring to read - just let people write cheaper, shorter books! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...

Instead of being amazed that Cheney endorsed Harris despite agreeing with Trump on 99% of his policies, people treated it as though her endorsement meant Harris now agreed with Cheney on 99% of policy. Dumbest electorate in the world.

Judge rules Kari Lake unlawfully ran U.S. media agency, voiding layoffs Sweeping layoffs at Voice of America made by Trump appointee Kari Lake were declared void by a federal judge, who said she served unlawfully.

BREAKING:

A federal judge in Washington just ruled that Kari Lake has unlawfully served as chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media — which oversees Voice of America — and nullified many actions she has taken in the role, including mass layoffs of staff.

Proxima and Ultima. Or the Long Earth series with an ailing Terry Pratchett.

I wouldn't recommend his prose, though.

Stephen Baxter?

We'll have to find other ways to speak in silly voices.

Apparently, it's mentioned in Simon Sebag Montefiore's book on Stalin.

You're not meant to shove it in your pocket sideways like a handkerchief?

My brother, we had to explain a 1/3 pound burger was bigger than a quarter pound burger and still failed

a detail I missed first time through the Revolutions podcast: when it came time for Stalin to execute Nikolai Yezhov for his role in the Great Purge, they killed Yezhov in a room he has designed himself. got damn

Gavin Newsom, Kristi Noem Nod Silently To Each Other In Plastic Surgeon’s Office

Gavin Newsom, Kristi Noem Nod Silently To Each Other In Plastic Surgeon’s Office

Interesting that mist doesn't mean manure, dung, or ordure in Dutch like it does in German.

Yanis Varoufakis follows fesshole?

there's so much bad in the world but there's also people who lift up and carry an elderly bat around every day so he can pretend he's flying again, and that's the part of the world I think is worth fighting for