KC

There have long been strains of this push-'em-down attitude in American life, and it’s even been given a name: "mudsill theory," from a speech given by South Carolina Senator James Henry Hammond in 1858. Seeking to justify slavery, Hammond claimed that “In all social systems there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life. That is, a class requiring but a low order of intellect and but little skill. Its requisites are vigor, docility, fidelity. Such a class you must have, or you would not have that other class which leads progress, civilization, and refinement. It constitutes the very mud-sill of society and of political government…” Even as it was intended as a barb against northern wage-labor, it’s still a striking insight into the views of the planter aristocracy and their need for a lower-tier population. Variations of mudsill theory run through American life. At times it’s couched in more moralistic terms: it might make a virtue out of toil and the difficulty of being working-class. Recall Andrew Mellon’s puritanical attitude at the onset of the Great Depression, when he told President Herbert Hoover to “liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate… It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life.” More recently, Russell Kirk argued in The Conservative Mind that aristocracy was “in part natural, and in part artificial; but in no state can it be eradicated…” before later adding that “the middle classes, by their example, convince the mass of people that aggrandizement is the object of existence. And once the masses embrace this conviction, they do not rest until the state is reorganized to furnish them with material gratification.”

On Tuesday @zeblarson.bsky.social talked about “mudsill theory,” which boils down to inducing suffering in order to impose hierarchy (and he argues much of the Trump administration’s seemingly counterproductive actions can be understood that way) www.liberalcurrents.com/the-pain-is-...

Judge forced to slash SF jury pool over hate for Elon Musk One candidate said he thinks sending Elon Musk to prison would benefit humanity.

“In a criminal trial, I would feel morally obligated to convict, however, in a civil trial I could set those views aside,” adding, “I believe it would be to the benefit of the human race for Mr. Musk to be sent to prison.”

www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

just to be the fascist twerp translator: Trump is the law, anything that disagrees with him is per se lawlessness

this is fucking bananas

The sundowning of the American empire

We all have been mistaken for some other random Asian people we don’t even look like. But this happens AFTER you win a gold medal?

Wild!

why did my body wake me up at 6:30am on my day off? why won't it go back to sleep? disapprove

I'm really relieved to pay my past due power bill and now i have to keep raising $500 for rent. Thank you for your patience and support. I am working on finding a more sustainable job

Book #8: When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey (I loved this, I always love Sarah Gailey's stuff)

the only rational thing to do is to abolish the whole agency and arguing otherwise is nonsense

A system built to eat people never stops eating people.

It's Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of the Lenten season, a traditional season of fasting for many Christians. It is also the second day of Ramadan, a season of fasting for many Muslims.

A meaningful fast to all who observe this time.

I have left a bad employer due to frequent injury and poor treatment. I need raise $600 by March 4th to cover part of my rent. I'm looking for work that I can physically do. I'm a trans guy and a wannabe artist looking to restart my patreon and seeking job recs in pdx. Thank you for help ❤️

Also like, girl, have babies and fake orgasms if you wanna?? All we said was "you shouldn't have to"?

me and my RCFP lawyers outside the courthouse this morning

BREAKING — WE WON! DC Superior Court Judge Darlene Soltys ordered the DC Metropolitan Police to produce ALL body cam footage of the March 2025 DOGE raid on the US Institute of Peace within 14 days.

Thanks to my @rcfp.org lawyers for their tireless work.

Details on thehandbasket.co later today!

Solar grid, smart grid, the newer, safer nuclear power possibilities, more efficient batteries for EVs—there are plenty of technologies that excite me personally. The difference is that they are technologies which support life on this planet, not hasten its collapse.

the problem with giving in on things that don't poll well is that as soon as the right wins on the the things that don't poll well, they move on and start lying about more popular things to manipulate public opinion, starting the cycle again.

one reset I'd personally appreciate: behind the insistence that we must offer the electorate a little bigotry is the idea that commoners are more bigoted than the richer and more educated, who can be appealed to with high minded policy. but then you Ctrl+F "phrenology" in the Epstein files

I am more and more convinced that when cis people want to debate whether trans people get human rights, the only correct response is "I don't treat whether or not people get human rights as a debate topic or hang around people who do" followed by leaving.

Why can't we go to Michael's without someone thinking we work there

You know, I'll take it

I wonder if there's an amount of time I could lay face up on the floor that would improve...something. anything, really

Civil rights figures like Jesse Jackson are why black feminists are theorized intersectionality: he might have forged a multi-racial coalition but black woman weren’t always in that coalition. Complicated man, complicated politics.

Book #7: Stop Me If You've Heard This One by Kristen Arnett (had me at "lesbian clown book," enjoyable but less engaging than I wished for)

Noem's jet is reportedly going to cost $70 million dollars.

Bush I's chief of staff John Sununu spent 2% of that on personal travel and it was such a big scandal he had to resign for it.

happy lunar new year

honse.

One of the lessons I hope people take away from Jesse Jackson’s life and the outpouring of remembrances small and large is that progress is made and measured in every act and utterance against oppression and not measured solely in legislative or electoral victories.