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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 25, 2025

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And now you've updated your priors in the opposite direction, right?

"It's difficult to predict when the Riot Party will riot" might not be as much of an update as you're looking for.

responding with their own molotov cocktail against norms and conventions, Joe Biden.

You seem to be joking here but have you already forgotten those psychotic blanket pardons?

You seem to be joking here but have you already forgotten those psychotic blanket pardons?

Referenced later on in the same post:

Hell, Biden did too in the heady last month of his presidency when the pardon printer went brrrrr and the ERA suddenly passed. If Democrats elected left-wing Trump, I guarantee that you would absolutely lose your shit.

The point stands. Even now, the typical angle of attack is 'senile admin run by the deep state' because that lands a lot closer to the mark for normies than radical leftist firebrand.

"It's difficult to predict when the Riot Party will riot" might not be as much of an update as you're looking for.

At a certain point, this level of cynicism and bitterness starts reflecting more on you than the people you hate. You, too, seem to be even angrier now that your star is ascendant.

Referenced later on

Fair enough, sorry for missing that.

You, too, seem to be even angrier now that your star is ascendant.

I haven't posted here much in a long time and we haven't had a conversation in what, years?

But Trump's not my star. Not once in any election or primary have I voted for Trump. As much as I found Tim Walz to be an odious little troll performing a racist minstrel act, I held my nose and voted for Harris. At least Madame President could probably stay competent for 4 years and keep the creep in the closet like she had been.

Down ticket- well, did you catch the wackadoo that ran for governor where I am? I didn't vote a straight Dem ticket but it was closer than I would've predicted a few years ago.

I am angrier, because I have a kid and I want my kid to grow up in a better world, and neither of these idiot parties are going to deliver that. I am angrier because I watched scientists and public health experts and journalists shit all over the reputation of everything, and for what? They ruined and debased themselves for nothing, but the public pays the price! Fauci got his pardon and nobody that signed that braindead open letter got stripped of credentials, and here we are with Trump, RFK, Florida cutting vaccine mandates.

I just don't viscerally hate Trump the way so many people do, or the way I hate Fauci (largely as a synecdoche for broader problems in public health) or even, really, Biden. I never considered Trump in potentiality, so there's no sense of betrayal there. Trump and Republicans are my fargroup, I guess.

Someday I hope to vote for a politician I actually like, that isn't a collection of horrible tradeoffs or ends up doing things that disgust me. All I wanted was a little accountability. That the universe, sometimes, makes sense. SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY- ahem, got a little carried away there. I'll admit, I kinda like the Harvard stuff. Resentment isn't the healthiest motivator but I have so much of it. Perhaps that's my most socialist trait. Ha!