Erik

"You can't block someone just for being annoying!" Those are actually the most important people to block

As an American who *did* actually kinda flee Trumpism -- left in 2017 -- I am grateful every day I had the opportunity to do so, and pretty much every other American I know who did the same feels the same. But there are some people who do it knowing *absolutely nothing* and then go home.

East Potomac costs $42 to play and hosts thousands of people each year. A lot of the players are beginners. A lot of them don't have that much money. A lot of them are black. This is the course Donald Trump has decided shouldn't exist, and in the past, he's been fairly explicit about why not

Great to speak with @markleongoldberg.bsky.social about the Trump pivot to Russia today. We discussed whether the midterm elections might change anything w/Ukraine, and why “following the money” is a good strategy to see where the Trump Adm. goes on Russia. publicsphere.news/p/what-happe...

Another one. The premise: Young people are cutting off their parents for minor mistakes and misunderstandings. The lead anecdote: A woman severs ties with her family for refusing to get vaccinated before her wedding — to a man who *lost his mother and brother to COVID*

Every article has the same premise: Young people are characterizing their normal, happy childhoods as abusive and going "no contact" with their parents over minor disagreements. Every article also, late in the text, blithely acknowledges that this premise is false. www.nytimes.com/2024/07/14/h...

The base assumption that children *owe* their presence and attention to their parents is simply a false one. Also, as is always the case with moral panics, the people arguing against it have to claim that people are doing it more than ever and that it's new. We used to call it "being estranged."

“i pay tax before, but still pay tax now?” We spoke with dozens of half-literate morons about the machinations of local governance. Here’s what they’re saying.

The United States is actively helping Putin murder civilians in Ukraine. Trump is doing everything he can to force Ukraine to surrender to his friend and ally Putin so they can be subjugated by the Russians again.

Ask them how many people have been diagnosed. People are *incredibly* bad at knowing these things and tend to vastly overestimate based on media coverage.

Russia invaded a free, independent, democratic nation. But sure, let's not stand up to an aggressive militaristic dictatorship.

"On Oct. 13, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine’s “partners” did not warn about a ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, which began before air-raid sirens sounded. The U.S. has warned Ukraine of past incoming attacks through intelligence sharing." publicsphere.news/p/trump-is-t...

I can't think of a single show that had a greater disparity between how much the chattering classes cared about it and how many people actually watched it. Even at the height of the media's obsession with Girls, I didn't hear a single person talk about it in real life.

Looks like I might finally be booking that trip to Budapešť.

Sometimes I imagine my life if I’e never come out. The self-hatred. The shame. The hooded, throttled sexuality. In exchange for universal acceptance. Fitting in. Lying to absolutely everyone, as a means of existence. I was lucky enough, safe enough, to take the step that ultimately saved my life.

The therapist quoted as an expert is a fundamentalist Christian. His Psychology Today page lists "Christian counseling" and mentions his Divinity degree which he got from Reformed Theological Seminary, where faculty must believe in Biblical inerrancy. This is right-wing Christian propaganda.

Professor Wolfers is a professor of economics. This is obviously well-intentioned, but if the value disagreement in question is "do I have the right to exist as my self-professed identity" as opposed to "who should control the monetary supply," this immediately begins to look very silly.

This month's bonus episode is about how climate change is fake but the hosts' body horror is real.

Climate change is as straightforward as it gets: Democrats vote to address it and Republicans vote not to. There's a weird tic among the pundit class where they think saying "it's more complicated than that" is the intelligent stance on everything but sometimes it's not complicated!

What’s this? A Critical Darlings bonus episode about fall festivals and the famous Oscar awards?? What a treat for you, I think! pod.link/1885681327

Grand scheme of things, stuff like this is small ball esp compared to all this gang’s other abuses and atrocities but: I’ll say it again, the broken windows theory of crime is wrong EXCEPT for political and business elites like these. Every failure to crack down hard on the little, hatch act…

No, but, you see, The Atlantic said...

It is the *job* of the Legislature to hold the Executive to account, including by impeachment. Too many members have convinced themselves that their job is just to keep getting elected and hope for change. If they won't fulfill their constitutional roles, they should be given to those who will.

This is wisdom. 🤣

I suspect the new episode of The Writers' Room will be one of our most controversial. These episodes, for us, just did not hold up. At all. dwtwr.libsyn.com/the-zygon-in...

We're back! Thrilled to finally share the hate in my heart for Peter Duesberg, Thabo Mbeki and Dave Grohl

An actual quote from this article: "Looking at it from the opposite angle, 51% of voters said they had a negative view of ICE, and 52% said they had a negative view of socialism.* So, an alternative headline "ICE is as unpopular in the US as socialism."

50th anniversary of I, Claudius today. If you ever want to see how a great TV director transcends the limitations of the format, get it watched. Herbert Wise was a maestro.

Breaking News: Duncan Sheik, the singer-songwriter who traded pop stardom for Broadway as the composer of “Spring Awakening,” has died at 56.

I am a 47-year-old man and I am finally ready to stand in my truth: I don't like garlic. (Which makes me wonder what was in all those garlic breads I liked as a kid, because they didn't taste like garlic.) Regardless, here I am, and I will not be silent any longer. Garlic tastes bad to me.

Name a non-LOTR character who could resist the one ring.

Wait...a CATTLE RANCHER (and tech CEO) wants AI chatbots to have rights? This man can look at a cow and see beef, but he looks at text on a screen generated by an algorithm and he sees something with rights. Kinda makes it obvious they're all delusional, doesn't it?

I may be wrong, but not only is there no evidence for this claim, I think there's actually strong evidence to the contrary. But for decades now, folks in power have been bamboozled into thinking that all the world needs is more software devs.

It's not been memory-holed, it never existed! The sheer amount of useless, terrible, indistinct and yet seemingly ubiquitous slop AI is making now is simply not the same thing.

He should be, he's one of the people responsible for it. Though, how much of what is done in his name is he actually aware of these days? 🤷🏼‍♂️

The boat-strike murders and third-country removals are among the constant reminders of our nation's global lawlessness under the Trump administration.

The American flag cake story is one of the funniest but also most heartfelt pieces of writing I've ever read. It was incredible how The Onion -- of all things! -- perfectly captures the just post 9/11 moment without at all sacrificing its voice.

HMG position now is that the occupation is illegal. Supports ICJ process in ongoing genocide case. Ethnic cleansing is occurring in the West Bank.

The Trial of a Time Lord premiered 40 years ago. It made such a mark on me when I bought my first cheap keyboard, the first things I taught myself to play were the Doctor Who theme, and Dominic Glynn’s trial theme. So here is my own musical tribute to both. youtu.be/GghYGGeHE6w?...

I understand that COVID broke everyone's brain but it really felt like we've all spent years fighting against the entirely invented notion that people don't care about seeing movies in theaters anymore and 2026 has been the biggest relief on that front

NPR's Linda Holmes is a daily puzzle devotee. She recommends games that will test your knowledge of geography, history, and even the most obscure corners of Wikipedia. n.pr/3UwxNWF

Without saying your age, what is your favorite movie that came out when you were 20 years old?

It's not Putin "plans to" escalate. He's already escalating with daytime jet-powered Shahed attacks on Kyiv, attempts at sabotaging Ukrainian cargo in NATO territory, sending drones into Romania www.economist.com/europe/2026/...