netstack
Texas is freedom land
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User ID: 647
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Oh God. It’s My Brilliant Friend? My girlfriend found it very compelling, explained the premise to me, and I had a very similar reaction to yours. I’m sure it’s deeply compelling and literary, but I do not want to inhabit those situations.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I figured 2. was referring to the Haitian dog thing.
None of these are really new phenomena. There was no shortage of tribalism in the last two centuries. What makes it “post-truth” is how deep you can go. In 1898, your ability to fact-check basically bottomed out at the newspapers. Today, you can research your way into whatever corner you want. There’ll already be a newly created Substack arguing your exact theory with links to compelling video evidence. You can do this for wildly contradictory positions and still see what looks like high-quality evidence. Hence: post-truth.
As usual, surplus breeds specialization. When building credibility is easier, contrarianism naturally gets more popular. We’ve reached a point where a fundamentally contrarian movement dominates one of the main political parties. I don’t think that happens without cheap and easy access to alternative facts.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
It was the motte for a bailey of election interference and (sigh) cybercrime claims, yes.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I’ve read a couple books like that and. Ugh.
Not going to judge if you don’t finish it. Time is the most precious commodity.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I have a gmail.
The web experience is fine. The mobile web experience always asks me to use their app. I am profoundly disinterested in adding another piece of shit to my phone for something I check once a week or less; Google does not care. Now even logging in on my desktop occasionally reminds me to put their app on my phone.
As much as I hate the term “enshittification,” this is as good an example as any.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Maybe Texas is just full of skinny-jeans reactionaries?
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Sure, that’s a great example of bizarre double-standards racism, but…
progressive institutions
Lockheed Martin
Entities like Lockheed are not publishing racist screeds, progressive or otherwise. They are subscribing to them. The publishers are usually small, interchangeable consultants. In aggregate, they might count as an institution; individually, they’re effectively free to dance on the bleeding edge.
Lockheed and friends want that +1 to saves against cancellation, but they can’t commit as hard as the consultants, since they have lots of competing interests. So they pay whoever is currently atop the pile. It doesn’t matter if that consultant gets exposed and torn to shreds because they’re fungible.
That’s part of the reason the Smithsonian infographic was so insane. They’re not supposed to be fungible! They’re not supposed to be testing new and exciting frontiers for racism!
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Damn. You hate to see it.
If I had to come up with a theory, I’d expect something about 90s revival. Or, as @Crowstep put it, the millennials were big on skinny jeans, so the fashion barber pole has turned back towards loose ones. This fits the timeline better since there was a definite 80s revival in the last few years.
Or maybe people just put on weight during COVID.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
How wide-spread has it become? Look, maybe I’m just not as up to date on fashion, but I’m not seeing this around.
Assuming you’re correct about the trend, though, I would gently suggest that not everything can or should be tied to “woke.”
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
The court didn’t find him guilty because he didn’t trust the police. They found him guilty because enacting a coverup makes more sense from a guilty party than an innocent one.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
future designated tops
I see that your pure and elegant category immediately starts getting caveats. This is because the category is bad.
Are you sure you aren’t just working through some mommy issues?
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
@ZorbaTHut I assume this is a consequence of your recent robot changes.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Less of this, please.
Scare quotes and straw men do not make for a compelling argument.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I was a bit confused too, but they’re pointing out that 59% is more partisan than gun control.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Of course not.
I still wanted to know how it worked in his model.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Oh my god.
Has SS managed to earn a set of training wheels?
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I’ve only pointed it out in response to people insisting otherwise, which happens more often than I’d expect.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
If money is doing most or all of the work, then it can be done without Epstein, can’t it?
wouldn't prevent them from also using money
Oh, so it’s unfalsifiable, too.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I’m pretty sure a couple of Roman wars were settled this way.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Did…did you read the article?
But also, AIPAC fights hard. If some random Congressman is anti-Israel, AIPAC will swoop down on their race in Middle Of Nowhere, Missouri and pour $10 million into electing their opponent. By now everyone knows this, and the mere threat of AIPAC action is enough to keep politicians in line.
Other people can try the same playbook. Crypto billionaires just did. I don’t have any reason to believe they have unusual skill at “shady tactics.”
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
In my personal opinion, I think that’s stupid. If you could wave some Polaroids around and coerce Congress, why would you bother spending all the money?
Better yet. Scott gave an example of AIPAC deploying its money to win an election. Can you give me one where they did the same with their magical kid-diddling blackmail?
But I think we’ve had this argument before.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
The Sergeant at Arms is badly in need of an update to modern law-enforcement standards, RoboCop style.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I’m confused about the stay on Callais v. Landry. It was 6-3, with Jackson pointing out that they’ve previously allowed redistricting with less lead time. Why did the rest of the court want a stay? Was it going to get mooted if the legislature workshopped an alternative to their 2024 map?
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Nnnnnnno?
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In Robinson v. Ardoine, a court convinced the state that their 2022 map was going to be thrown out for racial gerrymandering. Given its tortured outlines, that was probably correct.
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Callais v. Landry challenged the subsequent 2024 map for racial gerrymandering. Given the statements made in the legislature, again, this was probably correct. A district court thought so, too, and threw it out…
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…until the Supreme Court stayed it 6-3. I don’t understand the politics here. Maybe the conservatives didn’t want it to get mooted?
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Now the SC is actually hearing it.
I wouldn’t describe any of those in your terms.
I’m generally inclined to say no, since by default, I assume Substack thinkpieces are hysterical grifts.
But the arguments in this thread are. Uh. Not reassuring.
My model of Trump is that he would very much like to have dictatorial powers, and will not turn down any scheme that would bring them closer, even if it is never one of his personal initiatives. He really, really likes that sort of decentralized strategy—see the voter fraud investigations or the Musk RIFs. The natural result is lots of tiny power grabs. His attention serves as a strategic reserve.
With that in mind, I guess I wouldn’t expect an explicit claim to funding authority. Not unless the current advance stalls out. But I’m not even sure how Congress or the courts could stall this approach without openly opposing an executive order.
I really should call my Congressman, if nothing else.
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