Kierkegaarden Cop
@joshsteich.bsky.social
Let's try the medium place
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Kierkegaarden Cop
@joshsteich.bsky.social
· Mar 13
People having a lot of trouble understanding how Dems behave as a party don’t understand the Democratic Party.
It’s not a party united by ideology—like the GOP mostly is—it’s a bunch of constituencies in a basic (democratic) bargain: votes for government programs that benefit them.
It’s not a party united by ideology—like the GOP mostly is—it’s a bunch of constituencies in a basic (democratic) bargain: votes for government programs that benefit them.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
Parker Washington is the Randy Moss of Adam Humphries's
November 9, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Parker Washington is the Randy Moss of Adam Humphries's
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
To be clear, when I suggest that people sign up to be election pollworkers, I'm not trying to be flippant. I'm dead serious. It's a vital civic service where you help your neighbors vote. And you learn an absolute *ton* about how elections actually work, as well as meet the officials who run them.
November 8, 2025 at 11:05 PM
To be clear, when I suggest that people sign up to be election pollworkers, I'm not trying to be flippant. I'm dead serious. It's a vital civic service where you help your neighbors vote. And you learn an absolute *ton* about how elections actually work, as well as meet the officials who run them.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
Tech guys six months ago: haha yes we’re cutting all this WASTEFUL spending by eliminating medical research and USAID
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
November 8, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Tech guys six months ago: haha yes we’re cutting all this WASTEFUL spending by eliminating medical research and USAID
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
we need corner stores
we need neighbourhood pubs, too
we need neighbourhood pubs, too
She posted this on Instagram and the comments were about a 50/50 mix of supporters and the absolute whiniest little NIMBY babies you've ever seen lol
Oh no not a corner store! The horror! /s
Oh no not a corner store! The horror! /s
Mayor Chow posted a video about corner stores!
November 9, 2025 at 3:57 AM
we need corner stores
we need neighbourhood pubs, too
we need neighbourhood pubs, too
This is kinda backwards: the problem is that “affordable” is too many things, especially in housing contexts. There’s HUD’s guideline of 30% of household income, there’s several tiers based on area median income, and people end up talking past each other
Affordability is, in fact, not a real thing. It's a buzzword designed to respond to an invented crisis. It's the Dem equivalent of the GOP saying it'll secure our border - the public got really upset about something that mostly didn't exist, and now you'll solve it. It's anti-Glonzo sloganeering.
Ironically you and Trump have the same position now. “Affordability” isn’t a real thing.
November 9, 2025 at 4:03 AM
This is kinda backwards: the problem is that “affordable” is too many things, especially in housing contexts. There’s HUD’s guideline of 30% of household income, there’s several tiers based on area median income, and people end up talking past each other
“I will always love you, I just want a life with Kevin in Paris.”
Elon Musk is over on Twitter posting his sad/pathetic Ai prompts.
November 8, 2025 at 9:42 PM
“I will always love you, I just want a life with Kevin in Paris.”
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
completely agree, and i think it's a little like the inner narrative of gambling. can't stop NOW, i'm down so much - i at least have to keep playing until i can gain back what i've lost.
November 8, 2025 at 6:09 PM
completely agree, and i think it's a little like the inner narrative of gambling. can't stop NOW, i'm down so much - i at least have to keep playing until i can gain back what i've lost.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
Where my GOP China hawks at?
November 8, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Where my GOP China hawks at?
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
This is fucking brilliant, and you should read it: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:24 PM
This is fucking brilliant, and you should read it: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
It's actually a common belief that postdocs are real but it really comes from a mistranslation of the Chinese word for traveler
November 8, 2025 at 3:22 PM
It's actually a common belief that postdocs are real but it really comes from a mistranslation of the Chinese word for traveler
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
My quick Georgism explainer, originally on substack and now slightly expanded and added to my ghost newsletter!
Georgism in a couple minutes
This is a bit of a shift from the typical format of this newsletter, but I’ve gotten numerous questions asking for a quick and accessible survey of Georgism, and this seems like the best platform to c...
apply-liberally.ghost.io
November 8, 2025 at 1:59 AM
My quick Georgism explainer, originally on substack and now slightly expanded and added to my ghost newsletter!
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
I understand why we shut down American airspace for a few days after 9-11 to avoid a repeat attack but imagine shutting down American airspace to avoid releasing the Epstein files.
November 7, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I understand why we shut down American airspace for a few days after 9-11 to avoid a repeat attack but imagine shutting down American airspace to avoid releasing the Epstein files.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
Congressional salaries have not increased since 2009. $174,000 simply isn't a competitive salary given the amount of work/travel members are expected to do.
A ban on Members of Congress owning stocks should come with a significant pay increase to $250,000
A ban on Members of Congress owning stocks should come with a significant pay increase to $250,000
November 7, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Congressional salaries have not increased since 2009. $174,000 simply isn't a competitive salary given the amount of work/travel members are expected to do.
A ban on Members of Congress owning stocks should come with a significant pay increase to $250,000
A ban on Members of Congress owning stocks should come with a significant pay increase to $250,000
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
I always laugh when people accuse my state senator, Scott Wiener, of pursuing YIMBY housing policies because he’s being paid off by developers.
Senator Wiener is a 55 year old man with a Harvard Law degree. If he was motivated by money, he wouldn’t be making $132k/year in public service.
Senator Wiener is a 55 year old man with a Harvard Law degree. If he was motivated by money, he wouldn’t be making $132k/year in public service.
November 7, 2025 at 3:36 PM
I always laugh when people accuse my state senator, Scott Wiener, of pursuing YIMBY housing policies because he’s being paid off by developers.
Senator Wiener is a 55 year old man with a Harvard Law degree. If he was motivated by money, he wouldn’t be making $132k/year in public service.
Senator Wiener is a 55 year old man with a Harvard Law degree. If he was motivated by money, he wouldn’t be making $132k/year in public service.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
California legislators and their staff should make 3x their current salaries.
people hate hearing this but it's 100% true, creating a huge pay gap between political leaders, their staffs, and other elites is a recipe for corruption. of course the flip side of that is taxes on the rich should be jacked way the hell up
The Mayor of New York only makes $260k. I bet there are police that make more than that in NY with overtime.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
November 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
California legislators and their staff should make 3x their current salaries.
Kennedy Assassination conspiracy bullshit is still prevalent today
people like to say "false narratives will collapse" as a way to get around the uncomfortable thought that the public can react politically to imagined trends. but it's pretty trivial to think of historical narratives that have persisted for extremely long periods of time despite being wildly false
I agree narratives are inportsnt but if a narrative is wholly out of line with reality, it will not hold forever. does material conditions have nothing to do with politics? Is that really what youre arguing?
November 7, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Kennedy Assassination conspiracy bullshit is still prevalent today
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
making Jacob the stereotypical Bluesky user is the rudest and truest attack anyone has ever made on us
November 6, 2025 at 11:36 PM
making Jacob the stereotypical Bluesky user is the rudest and truest attack anyone has ever made on us
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
Senior German officials have accused the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party of deliberately abusing parliamentary powers to collect and likely pass secret information about the country's military capabilities and the state of critical infrastructure to Russia.
Source: Der Spiegel
Source: Der Spiegel
November 6, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Senior German officials have accused the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party of deliberately abusing parliamentary powers to collect and likely pass secret information about the country's military capabilities and the state of critical infrastructure to Russia.
Source: Der Spiegel
Source: Der Spiegel
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
Our friends Wings and Aji up in northern New Mexico need some help distributing grocery gift cards for people in their area who lost SNAP. I'm sending $50. I'm going to make and post a fruit or vegetable drawing of choice for the first 10 people who match my donation.
November 6, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Our friends Wings and Aji up in northern New Mexico need some help distributing grocery gift cards for people in their area who lost SNAP. I'm sending $50. I'm going to make and post a fruit or vegetable drawing of choice for the first 10 people who match my donation.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
These people are viscerally terrified of the possibility that someone else might be able to make them feel bad about something because they find that a deeply disempowering sensation, and I think a lot of their specific political stances are actually *downstream* of this.
November 6, 2025 at 3:21 PM
These people are viscerally terrified of the possibility that someone else might be able to make them feel bad about something because they find that a deeply disempowering sensation, and I think a lot of their specific political stances are actually *downstream* of this.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
Green neighborhoods should benefit from vulgar deliverism early and often. Give these neighborhoods good things and ignore small-ball objections to do it decisively. These are the neighborhoods that are bought into the vision and where it can most easily rack up early wins.
November 6, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Green neighborhoods should benefit from vulgar deliverism early and often. Give these neighborhoods good things and ignore small-ball objections to do it decisively. These are the neighborhoods that are bought into the vision and where it can most easily rack up early wins.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
This provides some insight for how to approach each of these regions when governing to sew up this coalition so it has downballot staying power and can ensure reelection in 2029. Of course this will vary immensely based on local councilors, organizations, and so on. Still, here's the broad strokes.
November 6, 2025 at 2:01 AM
This provides some insight for how to approach each of these regions when governing to sew up this coalition so it has downballot staying power and can ensure reelection in 2029. Of course this will vary immensely based on local councilors, organizations, and so on. Still, here's the broad strokes.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
I'm too lazy/out of practice/don't have a license at home to do this properly but close enough for posting work: I overlaid The City's new general election map over their primary map, and turned the general to 70% opacity. This produces four colors.
November 6, 2025 at 2:01 AM
I'm too lazy/out of practice/don't have a license at home to do this properly but close enough for posting work: I overlaid The City's new general election map over their primary map, and turned the general to 70% opacity. This produces four colors.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
Y’know how the vibes are immaculate right now, and so you’re constantly refreshing the timeline?
Bluesky didn’t cause that. It channeled it.
Good times make good platforms. Bluesky, as a platform, has been saddled with trying to scale amidst bad times.
Bluesky didn’t cause that. It channeled it.
Good times make good platforms. Bluesky, as a platform, has been saddled with trying to scale amidst bad times.
November 5, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Y’know how the vibes are immaculate right now, and so you’re constantly refreshing the timeline?
Bluesky didn’t cause that. It channeled it.
Good times make good platforms. Bluesky, as a platform, has been saddled with trying to scale amidst bad times.
Bluesky didn’t cause that. It channeled it.
Good times make good platforms. Bluesky, as a platform, has been saddled with trying to scale amidst bad times.
Reposted by Kierkegaarden Cop
I think Lander has a substantially stronger shot than AOC. AOC has done a good job realigning herself, but Lander would be going in with significantly less baggage and a solid springboard from the NYC institutional party.
November 5, 2025 at 11:30 PM
I think Lander has a substantially stronger shot than AOC. AOC has done a good job realigning herself, but Lander would be going in with significantly less baggage and a solid springboard from the NYC institutional party.