domain:alexberenson.substack.com
DradisPing
1hr ago
I see it more as a rejection of Cuomo than any great socialist uprising.
My takeaway is that it's just over for white boomer Democrats. They can keep their current jobs but won't be able to win nominations for any new office.
Ezra Klein had some good articles talking about the progressive theory of power and how it causes problems for city administration.
These are more for background than supporting my argument.
Basically the problem is that progressives are completely dedicated to the idea that billionaires and greedy corporations are the ones causing all of the problems.
However at the city level the problems tend to stem from:
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Disorderly elements. eg low level criminals like shoplifters, people with sever substance abuse problems, or severe mental illness.
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Left wing organizations trying to tack on fees to everything to get paid.
Progressives are completely unable to acknowledge that either of those groups cause problems. The idea that left wing groups are just being greedy rent seekers goes against their whole world view.
So you get ideas like government owned grocery stores. During a past attempt to tackle "food deserts", in I think Detroit, a grocery store complained that shoplifting was putting them out of business. A city councillor told them that lossage was just part of the price of doing business in Detroit. So the grocery store shut down the location.
I don't think the solution is really any fundamental social change. The issue is that people on the center left like to play defence for the farther left and hide the crazier elements of their philosophy from the general public. The progressives think that the media hides their beliefs out of some conspiracy against them instead of an attempt to protect them.
There needs to be a documentary series on a major streaming service that, as fairly and calmly as possible, shows what progressive populists believe and what the problems with it are. Right now it's being taught in colleges as the absolute truth with no analysis.
ActuallyATleilaxuGhola
Axolotl Tank Class of '24
1hr ago
I used to accept this opinionoid, but I've come to believe that shared experience matters much more than age. Sure, if you're 40, your 18 year old gf might be a bit boring at first, but after you've been together 5 years, experienced the ups and downs of marriage, and maybe had a kid or two, there will be plenty to talk about and bond over.
Me too, and I even like to cook but during my last period of being apart from my wife, I maybe cooked for myself 40-50% of the time, tops. Other times I might have gotten preoccupied with doomscrolling The Motte something or another or I might just not have had the time or bandwidth to actually cook. On those times I was either eating out or throwing frozen food in the Ninja to bake or air fry.
Primaprimaprima
...something all admit only "TRUMP", and the Trump Administration, can do.
1hr ago
Julian Edelman can be caught in a one-night-stand with a chubster, Conor McGregor can be filmed heading off with an outright fatty
It’s quite plausible that they were simply acting on their own preferences!
ActuallyATleilaxuGhola
Axolotl Tank Class of '24
1hr ago
Luckily it's in an existing neighborhood in a residential area at the center of small town, so I don't expect to have much trouble with utilities.
I need to do more research on what I'd need for hurricanes, as I'm only planning on adding storm shutters and a generator. I assume your recommendations about the pump only apply to houses that rely exclusively on well water?
We're looking at a conventional build. I was thinking of building on a slab for insulation and because the idea of a crawlspace in the deep south horrifies me. Also termites. We're not in a flood zone (officially), but I want to double check the soil to make sure it's suitable for a slab. I should probably ask my future neighbors about this as well.
HighResolutionSleep
1hr ago
It's not much good to criticise women for being shallow in the dating market when the fruits of success are to dress like this and hook your own billionaire.
I'm all for giving up, but this seems like a silly reason for doing it. Should we stop telling men to grow up and work hard because lottery winners exist?
ActuallyATleilaxuGhola
Axolotl Tank Class of '24
1hr ago
lol, well, we could all technically live, Gilded Age style, in a single room, but I don't want that, so I suppose I have more requirements than just minimizing enclosed space. I'd want a garage, a living room, a space for a dinner table, and ideally a porch. I'm also trying to do a 2 floor build because I want to minimize the footprint on my lot.
But point taken. After this thread I think I need to hire an architect.
ActuallyATleilaxuGhola
Axolotl Tank Class of '24
2hr ago
Good to know, thanks. It sounds like I'll just need to keep an extra close eye on the GC towards the end.
ActuallyATleilaxuGhola
Axolotl Tank Class of '24
2hr ago
I lived in a house that had these once when I was a kid. It was pretty cool, you just plugged a tube into the wall and could instantly vacuum. But as an adult I'm wondering how on earth you'd clean and maintain such a system. I imagine I'd have to pay the manufacturer to clean, and after 10 years they may no longer be in business. I hate the idea of "dead tech" being embedded in my house, outdated gadgets look ugly and silly. I'll have to research how it works.
Ken Livingstone, on the other hand, did self-identify as a socialist. Apart from some culture-war trolling, he mostly ran London as a pragmatic leftist - both his term as GLC leader (1981-1986) and his terms as Mayor (2000-2008) are primarily remembered for the improvements he made to public transport.
I believe the American term for this type of leadership is "sewer socialism", although by this time London's sewers were controlled by Thames Water (privatised in 1989, and now bust).
ActuallyATleilaxuGhola
Axolotl Tank Class of '24
2hr ago
Re. flooding, that makes sense, thanks.
Re. segmenting the house, after living in a place with poor insulation, I can definitely see the value. That house was at least designed so that you could essentially separately heat and cool different floors. They did this by adding a sliding door on the staircase landing. It sounds like I might need to work with an architect to accomplish this though.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
2hr ago
Has anyone tried? In the manner of these studies I mean, not by just looking at addicts. People whove done heroin generally report that naive use is an experience beyond anything they had before. I would not be surprised if this influences people even months later. But it also might not, there are always those pescy details. E.g. maybe it overlaps too much with the alcohol high to show effects in our society.
I assure you that they're not effective solutions. Cocaine is highly addictive, and the comedowns more than make up for the very short-term euphoria. Heroin? That's akin to borrowing happiness from tomorrow at a very high interest rate, it doesn't end well.
We've got plenty of studies on the long-term effects of stimulants and opiates. They don't help with depression in any meaningful sense.
"Drugs can make you feel better when used responsibly" is hardly a new insight - the entire problem is the way they lead to non-responsible use.
I've only endorsed psilocybin in a therapeutic, observed context. It's not a particularly habit forming drug. More importantly, it has a short duration of acute effect, while appearing to durably reduce depression for months after a single dose. It's highly reductive to dismiss such advances as "Drugs can make you feel better when used responsibly".
Also curious what you think of this one.
Addictions aren't made alike. Some can be entirely benign, coffee, as Katja intentionally became dependent on, won't kill you, nor will it ruin your psycho-social functioning. ~Nobody has lost their job or family because they drink too much coffee.
Contrast that to becoming a lay-about stoner, a coke fiend, or a heroin addict.
ThisIsSin
Cainanites and Abelists
2hr ago
As in, "whoa, you're telling me she hasn't had a job since college, AND she never leaves her room, AND she has severe social anxiety? Now that's what I'm talkin' about, I want that".
Translation: she's got a cute face, and while she might be a bit of a fixer-upper that's perfect for someone "gifted" with enough autism/slight sociopathy (which is why it's a 4chan thing) to obviate most of the things that [we believe] would make someone that anxious in the first place. There is an element of "might not be self-aware enough/self-doubting enough to not entirely know her full value/potential, so will be available at bargain-bin social prices", or perhaps a bit of a savior complex, but that's underwritten by the implicit co-operation you get from knowing that their actually leaving their room/inviting you into their room is the hardest step.
Could you imagine any woman saying "you know I really just want an [cute but] unemployed loser, that's what really gets me going"?
This is the cougar effect; women being sexually attracted to men with... uh, growth potential. It's kind of a trans-gender behavior (their occasional pursuit of illegally-young men is too- there's very little biological reason for them to take on that kind of risk, especially compared to men for whom that behavior is evolutionary-biologically imperative), though nobody will ever fully recognize it as such.
ActuallyATleilaxuGhola
Axolotl Tank Class of '24
2hr ago
Damn, this is gold. Thank you.
How does wainscoting help reduce flood damage? We're not in a flood zone, but along the Gulf Coast you can never truly be sure.
Why minimal backsplash for the kitchen sink? How does that relate to selecting the outlet and sink? We cook a lot at home, almost every day, so we're planning on shelling out for a nice kitchen.
Did you build or buy? Did any of these items add significantly to cost?
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
2hr ago
The "underlying issues" are that your same 100 people want to keep taking drugs to the exclusion of everything else.
Do you think Bezos didn't think of simply doing a Di Caprio, or was afraid of the backlash?
I was being cheeky in half-joking about the incentives and rock-and-hard-place nature of appeasing women's opinions when it comes to the dating choices of high-status men. I imagine it occurred to him on some level, and maybe backlash is/was a consideration of his. However, I also do believe he legitimately fell for her, at least on some respects.
I don't remember if it was specifically about sex/dating or in general, but I recall reading a comment somewhere to the gist of: When you're trying to make sense of a famous actor's behavior, just remember that no matter how cool or suave he looks on screen, he's likely still a weird theatre kid at heart.
This can be easily extended to tech figures and professional athletes.
Where, despite becoming rich and famous, the mental software of many male celebrities remains un-updated when it comes to dealing with women, their toolkit remains lacking, and they can exhibit quite what many would call suboptimal behavior—including inertia, passivity, low standards, one-itis, and/or habit of strippers/prostitutes. Hence why Zuckerberg's wife is mid even for tech-dork standards, Julian Edelman can be caught in a one-night-stand with a chubster, Conor McGregor can be filmed heading off with an outright fatty to presumably bang or at least fool around, James Harden choosing to splash cash on strippers instead of maybe resting so he can play defense, etc.
Many men will claim "what's the deal with [male celebrity]? If I were in his position I'd bang so many more and hotter chicks." A large subset of them is likely right.
For sex/dating purposes, I posit temporarily switching Bezos's mind for a few months with that of a random man who's had double-digit one-night-stands with attractive women in his lifetime would result in outcomes that would make DiCaprio look pedestrian (with non-prostitutes and non-single/divorced mothers, of course).
I've often heard an opinionoid about the idea of older guys dating 18 year olds that goes something like "there's nothing we can talk about after fucking", and while lately it does look like sour grapes/Havel's groceryism when it comes from older guys
It's sour grapes, as online dating statistics would suggest from the infamous OKCupid study or the Bruch-Newman paper. The elbows of 18-year-olds are also too pointy.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
2hr ago
Damn right. They'll be delivered.
ThisIsSin
Cainanites and Abelists
2hr ago
I note that Bezos had a noted aversion to helicopter flight (perhaps a part a fear of flight, a part knowing the horrible safety record of personal helicopters) that he seems to have gotten over, just for this woman. To the point where he would go on longer helicopter rides just to hang out with her.
Placing your life in the hands of a woman is rare enough: placing it under IFR flight rules is singularly rare.
I don't know if you've ever been in a helicopter, but it's like putting your head next to a concert amp playing the sound of a chainsaw. No amount of plastic titties can overcome that. There are easier ways to get with a chick then that. I am inclined to believe that he is genuinely infatuated with her.
sun_the_second
could survive a COD lobby and a gay furry discord server
2hr ago
First, the idea of sin isn't that you avoid sin because God will punish you for it, but because sin is bad in and of itself:
Well - yes, that's mostly what I said. I avoid [bad thing], because [bad thing] is bad in and of itself, when you dig down to the root of it. And I understand that in the Christian tradition, doing good things and not doing bad things is also thought to bring man closer to the state of Heaven.
The issues begin when people's intuition of what is good [joyful, peaceful, knowledgeable and powerful] starts coming in conflict with what the Good Book tells us is good [mostly focusing on what God said is good], and somewhere in the middle the church muddles things further. I as an atheist do not grok "sin" because "sin" to me is specifically something that a Higher Power has ontologically, fundamentally deemed to be Bad and which is separate from what a human might deem bad for their own purposes and with their own frame of seeing things. Because I do not believe into a Higher Power, or that even if a small-h higher power exists it does not hold fundamental authority over morals, I am not moved by condemnations of sin. As I said elsewhere, if a thing is harmful you don't need the S word to justify its harmfulness.
FtttG
2hr ago
Because if it felt good to be sexy even in the absence of an audience, women would dress exactly the same way while lounging around at home as they do when out in public. No woman spends an hour applying makeup just so she can rot in bed watching Netflix, ergo the audience (whether male, female or both) must be a necessary ingredient in the cocktail.
pigeonburger
2hr ago
It's not that men can't cook, I can actually cook great (by standards of men my age, though my brother is actually much better). But I also don't take much care of myself and if there's no one I'm accountable to and for, I'll probably go for least effort solutions (fast food, or junk frozen meals).
I hear what you're saying, but it's still possible to have friends like this. I have a cousin with whom I've always been very close. We've both been married for a while now, but we make a conscious effort to stay in touch and check in on each other. It's a little more awkward to open up now than it was when we were both freewheeling teens, but it's possible.
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