@ranthacc.bsky.social
I genuinely dislike social media. I know I'm using it wrong. I don't believe using it right is healthy. I wish we hadn't done this to ourselves. I'd rather just talk.
The problem is the public said very loudly that they hated Obama for much of his presidency, and now you're citing him as one of the good examples. So you absolutely have to acquiesce to the public mood, but it's not always obvious how to do that.
November 25, 2025 at 12:19 PM
The problem is the public said very loudly that they hated Obama for much of his presidency, and now you're citing him as one of the good examples. So you absolutely have to acquiesce to the public mood, but it's not always obvious how to do that.
Discourse on the niche microblogging site's even more niche offshoot is how you assess candidates. Waiting for voters to start paying attention is for chumps.
November 24, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Discourse on the niche microblogging site's even more niche offshoot is how you assess candidates. Waiting for voters to start paying attention is for chumps.
Back in 2016 there was a whole industry of Macedonian entrepreneurs churning out fake news for profit. They had no political agenda, they produced right wing slop because that's where the market was. Turns out conservatives have an endless appetite for toxic garbage.
November 24, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Back in 2016 there was a whole industry of Macedonian entrepreneurs churning out fake news for profit. They had no political agenda, they produced right wing slop because that's where the market was. Turns out conservatives have an endless appetite for toxic garbage.
I've had exactly one of those, which seems somehow like the weirdest number to have had.
November 24, 2025 at 4:14 PM
I've had exactly one of those, which seems somehow like the weirdest number to have had.
With all it's flaws, RCV would almost certainly be an improvement for general elections. But most RCV systems have a strong bias towards extreme candidates, and you really want to consider how damaging that could be in a primary.
November 24, 2025 at 1:57 PM
With all it's flaws, RCV would almost certainly be an improvement for general elections. But most RCV systems have a strong bias towards extreme candidates, and you really want to consider how damaging that could be in a primary.
Very much this. You can't sleepwalk your way through a whole turkey, but individual turkey pieces are honestly pretty trivial. You don't even have to do the dividing yourself, and honestly for a small group just buying a turkey breast and a single thigh might be perfect.
November 24, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Very much this. You can't sleepwalk your way through a whole turkey, but individual turkey pieces are honestly pretty trivial. You don't even have to do the dividing yourself, and honestly for a small group just buying a turkey breast and a single thigh might be perfect.
At this point even if they admitted it's a failure, they'd dismiss it as old news. So first you're a sucker for dismissing Elon Musk, and then you're a sucker for caring at all.
November 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
At this point even if they admitted it's a failure, they'd dismiss it as old news. So first you're a sucker for dismissing Elon Musk, and then you're a sucker for caring at all.
Whatever he wants is good and anyone opposing that is bad. That lets him drop grudges shockingly quickly, but it's not exactly kayfabe. The rage you see him direct at his critics is 100% authentic.
November 23, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Whatever he wants is good and anyone opposing that is bad. That lets him drop grudges shockingly quickly, but it's not exactly kayfabe. The rage you see him direct at his critics is 100% authentic.
Sort of. Trump believes everyone just makes stuff up. He doesn't understand principle, can't be offended in that way, and so grudges are very transient for him. But he's not pretending to be angry. He doesn't like people arbitrarily choosing to attack him, which is how he imagines all criticism.
November 23, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Sort of. Trump believes everyone just makes stuff up. He doesn't understand principle, can't be offended in that way, and so grudges are very transient for him. But he's not pretending to be angry. He doesn't like people arbitrarily choosing to attack him, which is how he imagines all criticism.
They expect the Republican president to be a clown, that's the party of hicks. But the Democrats are supposed to be their party. And basically none of them supported Biden. And I think that offended their sense of status in a way a Republican president does not. I honestly think it was that petty.
November 22, 2025 at 1:25 PM
They expect the Republican president to be a clown, that's the party of hicks. But the Democrats are supposed to be their party. And basically none of them supported Biden. And I think that offended their sense of status in a way a Republican president does not. I honestly think it was that petty.
Affinity bias is one of the absolute keys to understanding politics. If someone seems like your kind of people, they will seem authentic and trustworthy in ways that have nothing to do with their actual character. But you can't make people believe that, because their biases feel intensely real.
November 22, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Affinity bias is one of the absolute keys to understanding politics. If someone seems like your kind of people, they will seem authentic and trustworthy in ways that have nothing to do with their actual character. But you can't make people believe that, because their biases feel intensely real.
And our politics is full of rationalizing away tradeoffs. But I think a lot of responses like that are something else. You have to engage to reject tradeoffs. Sometimes people just want an excuse to react, because it's satisfying to feel that release and becomes more so in groups.
November 21, 2025 at 12:18 PM
And our politics is full of rationalizing away tradeoffs. But I think a lot of responses like that are something else. You have to engage to reject tradeoffs. Sometimes people just want an excuse to react, because it's satisfying to feel that release and becomes more so in groups.
Waymo could be literally perfect and there would still be fatal crashes, and of course they won't be perfect and it's worth having a serious conversation about tradeoffs.
November 21, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Waymo could be literally perfect and there would still be fatal crashes, and of course they won't be perfect and it's worth having a serious conversation about tradeoffs.
"He's completely changed!" No, you all went from fawning over him to criticising him, and he's an asshole to his critics. This is why you don't support assholes!
November 20, 2025 at 5:43 PM
"He's completely changed!" No, you all went from fawning over him to criticising him, and he's an asshole to his critics. This is why you don't support assholes!
I hate how people lash out at honest conversations about unpleasant realities. Don't care about waymo specifically, but in general it's so corrosive to our ability to address issues. But the immediate visceral thrill of reaction outweighs all other concerns, and how dare you ever suggest otherwise.
November 20, 2025 at 11:25 AM
I hate how people lash out at honest conversations about unpleasant realities. Don't care about waymo specifically, but in general it's so corrosive to our ability to address issues. But the immediate visceral thrill of reaction outweighs all other concerns, and how dare you ever suggest otherwise.
Years of his fanboys claiming the studio had ruined Justice League, and when it turned out he hadn't produced anything close to a releasable movie (4 hours!) they just carried on with the fantasy.
November 19, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Years of his fanboys claiming the studio had ruined Justice League, and when it turned out he hadn't produced anything close to a releasable movie (4 hours!) they just carried on with the fantasy.
Sadly Epstein stuff has been dominated by memes. In reality Chomsky is exactly the kind of "serious" public intellectual that Epstein was known to associate with, and there's never been any evidence Clinton and Epstein were particularly close.
November 19, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Sadly Epstein stuff has been dominated by memes. In reality Chomsky is exactly the kind of "serious" public intellectual that Epstein was known to associate with, and there's never been any evidence Clinton and Epstein were particularly close.
Yeah, at a certain level it doesn't matter. He's compatible with white nationalism and surrounds himself with white nationalists who provide the vision. Anti-immigration plays into his paranoid victim complex, deportation is the kind of simplistic "strong" solution he loves. This is who he is.
November 17, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Yeah, at a certain level it doesn't matter. He's compatible with white nationalism and surrounds himself with white nationalists who provide the vision. Anti-immigration plays into his paranoid victim complex, deportation is the kind of simplistic "strong" solution he loves. This is who he is.
Oh he's absolutely racist, and you nailed the nature of it. He believes a laundry list of crude racist cliches and is too lazy to ever examine any of it. But some of his cronies have grand white nationalist visions, and that's not Trump. Minorities are welcome to flatter him just like anyone else!
November 17, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Oh he's absolutely racist, and you nailed the nature of it. He believes a laundry list of crude racist cliches and is too lazy to ever examine any of it. But some of his cronies have grand white nationalist visions, and that's not Trump. Minorities are welcome to flatter him just like anyone else!
He had a private meeting with dreamers in 2016, came out of it talking about how they were great and he was going fix their status. The more ideological racists around him had to clean it up. Trump just does whatever flatters his ego, there's no ideology beyond that.
November 17, 2025 at 3:17 AM
He had a private meeting with dreamers in 2016, came out of it talking about how they were great and he was going fix their status. The more ideological racists around him had to clean it up. Trump just does whatever flatters his ego, there's no ideology beyond that.
Essentially what happened to the second Klan. The respectable garden variety racists became increasingly embarrassed by the feuding crazies, the movement burned out. The second Klan never took over a major party though. Not sure how that will play out.
November 17, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Essentially what happened to the second Klan. The respectable garden variety racists became increasingly embarrassed by the feuding crazies, the movement burned out. The second Klan never took over a major party though. Not sure how that will play out.
TV streaming economics were so obviously unsustainable that they created the concept of "peak TV". Doesn't matter, people were still incredulous when the correction came, because they will never believe the thing they are enjoying is anything other than the way things should be.
November 16, 2025 at 5:28 AM
TV streaming economics were so obviously unsustainable that they created the concept of "peak TV". Doesn't matter, people were still incredulous when the correction came, because they will never believe the thing they are enjoying is anything other than the way things should be.
If you care that much about accuracy, you don't call him a paedophile, you say he raped children. There's actually a really strong, completely unironic case that we should do that. But he absolutely raped children, and trying to minimize that is a hell of a lot worse than using the wrong term.
November 15, 2025 at 5:24 AM
If you care that much about accuracy, you don't call him a paedophile, you say he raped children. There's actually a really strong, completely unironic case that we should do that. But he absolutely raped children, and trying to minimize that is a hell of a lot worse than using the wrong term.
He's an obnoxious thin-skinned jerk who lashes out at anyone who criticizes him. When the left started attacking him over Israel, he treated them like he always treats his critics. Different target, same behavior, same person he always was.
November 15, 2025 at 4:35 AM
He's an obnoxious thin-skinned jerk who lashes out at anyone who criticizes him. When the left started attacking him over Israel, he treated them like he always treats his critics. Different target, same behavior, same person he always was.
All this panic about a third term, as if Donald Trump won't be the weakest candidate they could possibly run. In two years we're gonna be annoyed we have to run against someone else!
November 13, 2025 at 3:07 AM
All this panic about a third term, as if Donald Trump won't be the weakest candidate they could possibly run. In two years we're gonna be annoyed we have to run against someone else!