@chicaattack.bsky.social
The new Counting Crows documentary underscores both that Duritz's mental health issues were/are real and to me resulted in moving, poetic lyrics and music. But at the same time he was perceived as inauthentic and performative, at a time in the 90s that was steeped in ironic, detached cynicism.
December 28, 2025 at 4:42 PM
The new Counting Crows documentary underscores both that Duritz's mental health issues were/are real and to me resulted in moving, poetic lyrics and music. But at the same time he was perceived as inauthentic and performative, at a time in the 90s that was steeped in ironic, detached cynicism.
Hakeem Jeffries is making a short-term political calculation that will have longer term consequences for Dems. If Dems are willing to tolerate or excuse corruption on their side, it undermines them as a principled alternative to Trump. "Not being as bad as the GOP" is not a winning strategy.
Opinion | The Pardon That Represents the New Era of Corruption
www.nytimes.com
December 12, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Hakeem Jeffries is making a short-term political calculation that will have longer term consequences for Dems. If Dems are willing to tolerate or excuse corruption on their side, it undermines them as a principled alternative to Trump. "Not being as bad as the GOP" is not a winning strategy.
Great piece. The likely effects of this include more dramatic policy shifts across administrations and a return to the patronage system as experts are driven out of the regulatory agencies. On the other hand maybe it will allow a more progressive administration to make regulation more robust.
Opinion | Trump Wants Complete Control. Will the Supreme Court Hand It to Him?
www.nytimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Great piece. The likely effects of this include more dramatic policy shifts across administrations and a return to the patronage system as experts are driven out of the regulatory agencies. On the other hand maybe it will allow a more progressive administration to make regulation more robust.
It's much easier to destroy government than to improve it. What demagogues do is try to convince people the former is the latter.
December 4, 2025 at 4:31 PM
It's much easier to destroy government than to improve it. What demagogues do is try to convince people the former is the latter.
This is nicely done but I think it spends more time on the cultural and political significance of his music and not enough time on the actual music (though plenty of snippets are played). How do you do this story and not even mention the drummer Tony Allen?! open.spotify.com/episode/416u...
Introducing Fela Kuti: Fear No Man
open.spotify.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:45 PM
This is nicely done but I think it spends more time on the cultural and political significance of his music and not enough time on the actual music (though plenty of snippets are played). How do you do this story and not even mention the drummer Tony Allen?! open.spotify.com/episode/416u...
The people upset about Hunter Biden's corruption are going to be upset about this....or not. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
Family Affair: Commerce Secretary’s Sons Cash In on A.I. Frenzy
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:50 PM
The people upset about Hunter Biden's corruption are going to be upset about this....or not. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
Genuinely curious as to how many of the voices calling for Dems to keep filibustering are among those who have missed paychecks, who are working without pay, or who are directly suffering because of the closure. If that is you I am genuinely impressed by your principled and self-sacrificing stand.
November 10, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Genuinely curious as to how many of the voices calling for Dems to keep filibustering are among those who have missed paychecks, who are working without pay, or who are directly suffering because of the closure. If that is you I am genuinely impressed by your principled and self-sacrificing stand.
The framing here is aggravating. It makes it sound like the administration has found a new innovation or new approach to the challenges of governing But the piece can't bring itself to state the obvious: the administration is breaking impoundment and antideficiency laws.
October 21, 2025 at 4:36 PM
The framing here is aggravating. It makes it sound like the administration has found a new innovation or new approach to the challenges of governing But the piece can't bring itself to state the obvious: the administration is breaking impoundment and antideficiency laws.
I couldn't bring myself to read or listen to Douthat's conversation with ACB. Did he even mention the Court's obvious inconsistency in its procedures or tacit overturning of precedent while helping Trump via the emergency docket?
October 16, 2025 at 4:51 PM
I couldn't bring myself to read or listen to Douthat's conversation with ACB. Did he even mention the Court's obvious inconsistency in its procedures or tacit overturning of precedent while helping Trump via the emergency docket?
Questions reporters should ask administration officials: are people allowed to protest ICE and the administration and if so, what are appropriate ways to do it?
October 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Questions reporters should ask administration officials: are people allowed to protest ICE and the administration and if so, what are appropriate ways to do it?
I question the Democrats' ability to effectively convey this basic fact to a large swath of Americans: the administration is simply ignoring appropriations law, passed by both Republicans and Democrats. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...
There is no budget "deal" to be made
President Trump has so broken the constitutional framework as to make joint normal, responsible government impossible.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
October 7, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I question the Democrats' ability to effectively convey this basic fact to a large swath of Americans: the administration is simply ignoring appropriations law, passed by both Republicans and Democrats. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...
Reactionary centrist take: this is merely the inevitable response to the demand for ideological conformity and war against dissent the Left has imposed on college campuses and in public health discourse. www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...
Trump defends use of the U.S. military against the 'enemy within'
Earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the purpose of the department would exclusively be "war fighting."
www.npr.org
September 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reactionary centrist take: this is merely the inevitable response to the demand for ideological conformity and war against dissent the Left has imposed on college campuses and in public health discourse. www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...
I think a challenge the left faces is accurately determining which voices are reactionaries directly or indirectly abetting fascism vs. public voices we think are wrong on various issues without categorically rejecting everything they say as belonging to the former.
September 29, 2025 at 3:51 PM
I think a challenge the left faces is accurately determining which voices are reactionaries directly or indirectly abetting fascism vs. public voices we think are wrong on various issues without categorically rejecting everything they say as belonging to the former.
Bret Stephens offers a perfunctory condemnation of Trump, but his heart isn't in it. He really wants to remind everyone that there are screechy leftist scolds and that illiberalism is bipartisan. But Bret, one side is using state power in ways the left never has.
Opinion | America Darkens
www.nytimes.com
September 18, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Bret Stephens offers a perfunctory condemnation of Trump, but his heart isn't in it. He really wants to remind everyone that there are screechy leftist scolds and that illiberalism is bipartisan. But Bret, one side is using state power in ways the left never has.
A good but enraging overview of the lies being used to attack mRNA vaccines.
mRNA Vaccines Can't Be Trusted, Says Known mRNA Vaccine Prevaricator
No matter how elegant the lies, an NIH Director who lacks credibility among the public he serves cannot fulfill his public health mission
open.substack.com
August 14, 2025 at 2:38 PM
A good but enraging overview of the lies being used to attack mRNA vaccines.
REJOICE! Soviet ploughshare production is up a 1000%!
August 3, 2025 at 3:25 PM
REJOICE! Soviet ploughshare production is up a 1000%!
It's madness to me and malpractice that every story about tariffs and impoundment does not point out that the President is "almost certainly" acting beyond his legal authority. No mealy-mouthed NYTimes "challenging norms" bullshit, as if the President was a reformer or genre defying artist.
August 1, 2025 at 2:08 PM
It's madness to me and malpractice that every story about tariffs and impoundment does not point out that the President is "almost certainly" acting beyond his legal authority. No mealy-mouthed NYTimes "challenging norms" bullshit, as if the President was a reformer or genre defying artist.
"The point is not that Andor fails in its effort to depict political violence but rather that, for all the show’s intelligence and skill and ingenuity, major elements of its subject are simply incompatible with its nature. What it depicts most clearly is what Star Wars can’t show."
The Revolution Will Not Be Star Wars | Gabriel Winslow-Yost
In 1982 the great French crime novelist Jean-Patrick Manchette stopped publishing fiction. In almost a dozen novels over the previous decade, he had
www.nybooks.com
July 31, 2025 at 1:43 PM
"The point is not that Andor fails in its effort to depict political violence but rather that, for all the show’s intelligence and skill and ingenuity, major elements of its subject are simply incompatible with its nature. What it depicts most clearly is what Star Wars can’t show."
Sunday. Drove over to Glen Arbor, where there is deeper and cooler Lake Michigan water.
July 29, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Sunday. Drove over to Glen Arbor, where there is deeper and cooler Lake Michigan water.
The Court is on board with Trump's unlawful firing and downsizing of departments and regulatory agencies; they just prefer not to share their justifications in reasoned opinions. Dems have not done a good job explaining why the public should care about this. www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-co...
Supreme Court conservatives hide behind their own masks as they upend the law
When the rule of law is under attack, there are few things as disturbing as a judicial system led by people who also appear eager to avoid accountability for their acts.
www.lawdork.com
July 24, 2025 at 5:06 PM
The Court is on board with Trump's unlawful firing and downsizing of departments and regulatory agencies; they just prefer not to share their justifications in reasoned opinions. Dems have not done a good job explaining why the public should care about this. www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-co...
Like many, I've grown increasingly tired of the Times's political coverage and framing. But this piece is balanced and good and illustrates how difficult it is to run an agency in a era of weaponized antigovernment distrust. Every agency mistake threatens to be fatal. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/m...
Inside the Collapse of the F.D.A.
www.nytimes.com
July 8, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Like many, I've grown increasingly tired of the Times's political coverage and framing. But this piece is balanced and good and illustrates how difficult it is to run an agency in a era of weaponized antigovernment distrust. Every agency mistake threatens to be fatal. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/m...
As the Senate debates one of the most damaging pieces of legislation in modern American history, the attitude among most of the GOP seems to be "there's safety in numbers if we deny everything and follow Dear Leader off a cliff."
June 30, 2025 at 3:27 PM
As the Senate debates one of the most damaging pieces of legislation in modern American history, the attitude among most of the GOP seems to be "there's safety in numbers if we deny everything and follow Dear Leader off a cliff."
It's hot, even up here in northern Michigan. I like taking a paddleboard out in Grand Traverse Bay, paddling up wind, and then jumping off to swim a 1/4 to 1/2 mile back to beach, with the waves at my back and pushing the board ahead of me. Water is still in the low to mid 60s.
June 23, 2025 at 2:03 PM
It's hot, even up here in northern Michigan. I like taking a paddleboard out in Grand Traverse Bay, paddling up wind, and then jumping off to swim a 1/4 to 1/2 mile back to beach, with the waves at my back and pushing the board ahead of me. Water is still in the low to mid 60s.
I think I greatly overestimated the number of Americans who know how to identify a pretext.
February 17, 2025 at 11:09 PM
I think I greatly overestimated the number of Americans who know how to identify a pretext.