Mike Rifer
@thelifeofrifer.bsky.social
Citizen | Dad | (former) Public Servant | Bi-Coastal Elite | Oregon Sports Enthusiast | Something about craft beer
Views expressed are my own!
Views expressed are my own!
I literally could not care less who attended this sick spectacle to celebrate a blood-drenched monarch
November 19, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I literally could not care less who attended this sick spectacle to celebrate a blood-drenched monarch
Much better, in the short term, that those people who would be inclined to move to DC move to Atlanta, or Charlotte, or Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas or whatever instead.
November 19, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Much better, in the short term, that those people who would be inclined to move to DC move to Atlanta, or Charlotte, or Pittsburgh, or Las Vegas or whatever instead.
I think that staving off a violently oppressive techno-fascist dictatorship that hates cities is the first and only job right now.
For the country, yes — but especially for the YIMBY movement.
Packing more voters into a jurisdiction where they must give-up representation undermines that goal.
For the country, yes — but especially for the YIMBY movement.
Packing more voters into a jurisdiction where they must give-up representation undermines that goal.
November 19, 2025 at 3:34 PM
I think that staving off a violently oppressive techno-fascist dictatorship that hates cities is the first and only job right now.
For the country, yes — but especially for the YIMBY movement.
Packing more voters into a jurisdiction where they must give-up representation undermines that goal.
For the country, yes — but especially for the YIMBY movement.
Packing more voters into a jurisdiction where they must give-up representation undermines that goal.
Administrative upzoning, great. I’m all for it.
But my point is pretty straightforward.
We’re facing a fascist movement that is seeking to consolidate power by disenfranchising as many urban voters as possible.
Packing more people into DC, where they have no representation, abets that goal.
But my point is pretty straightforward.
We’re facing a fascist movement that is seeking to consolidate power by disenfranchising as many urban voters as possible.
Packing more people into DC, where they have no representation, abets that goal.
November 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Administrative upzoning, great. I’m all for it.
But my point is pretty straightforward.
We’re facing a fascist movement that is seeking to consolidate power by disenfranchising as many urban voters as possible.
Packing more people into DC, where they have no representation, abets that goal.
But my point is pretty straightforward.
We’re facing a fascist movement that is seeking to consolidate power by disenfranchising as many urban voters as possible.
Packing more people into DC, where they have no representation, abets that goal.
I do! And I’m very supportive of up-zoning, in my neighborhood and across the city, both in principle and in practice.
But it’s impossible for me to separate this issue from the meta politics of the moment.
I’m just not sure that we should encourage people to move to DC under these conditions.
But it’s impossible for me to separate this issue from the meta politics of the moment.
I’m just not sure that we should encourage people to move to DC under these conditions.
November 19, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I do! And I’m very supportive of up-zoning, in my neighborhood and across the city, both in principle and in practice.
But it’s impossible for me to separate this issue from the meta politics of the moment.
I’m just not sure that we should encourage people to move to DC under these conditions.
But it’s impossible for me to separate this issue from the meta politics of the moment.
I’m just not sure that we should encourage people to move to DC under these conditions.
In this particular moment, I think it’s extremely predictable!
I think that democratic ethics of telling people to move to DC, where they are not represented in the national legislature, in a moment of rising anti-urban fascism, are really tricky! And I haven’t seen anyone really wrestle with that.
I think that democratic ethics of telling people to move to DC, where they are not represented in the national legislature, in a moment of rising anti-urban fascism, are really tricky! And I haven’t seen anyone really wrestle with that.
November 19, 2025 at 2:17 PM
In this particular moment, I think it’s extremely predictable!
I think that democratic ethics of telling people to move to DC, where they are not represented in the national legislature, in a moment of rising anti-urban fascism, are really tricky! And I haven’t seen anyone really wrestle with that.
I think that democratic ethics of telling people to move to DC, where they are not represented in the national legislature, in a moment of rising anti-urban fascism, are really tricky! And I haven’t seen anyone really wrestle with that.
I’m going to ask a trollish-sounding question, but I mean it very sincerely:
Can you talk about the ethics of disenfranchising more people in D.C., at this particular moment in our political history?
Packing more libs into D.C. seems like exactly what an authoritarian would want.
Can you talk about the ethics of disenfranchising more people in D.C., at this particular moment in our political history?
Packing more libs into D.C. seems like exactly what an authoritarian would want.
November 19, 2025 at 12:48 AM
I’m going to ask a trollish-sounding question, but I mean it very sincerely:
Can you talk about the ethics of disenfranchising more people in D.C., at this particular moment in our political history?
Packing more libs into D.C. seems like exactly what an authoritarian would want.
Can you talk about the ethics of disenfranchising more people in D.C., at this particular moment in our political history?
Packing more libs into D.C. seems like exactly what an authoritarian would want.
If you want help with the collaboration piece of this - systematizing engagement, mainstreaming it, and fostering a common engagement approach - I’d love to connect.
November 18, 2025 at 4:12 PM
If you want help with the collaboration piece of this - systematizing engagement, mainstreaming it, and fostering a common engagement approach - I’d love to connect.
This question answers itself.
November 18, 2025 at 4:51 AM
This question answers itself.
It’s missing a comma?
He wasn’t calling her a ‘Quiet Piggy’…
It was a command, I believe? “Quiet, Piggy!”
He wasn’t calling her a ‘Quiet Piggy’…
It was a command, I believe? “Quiet, Piggy!”
November 18, 2025 at 4:46 AM
It’s missing a comma?
He wasn’t calling her a ‘Quiet Piggy’…
It was a command, I believe? “Quiet, Piggy!”
He wasn’t calling her a ‘Quiet Piggy’…
It was a command, I believe? “Quiet, Piggy!”
I know you know this but the problem is that Democrats don’t have an equivalent intellectually-disingenuous outrage machine on the Left.
There simply is no equivalent infrastructure to gin up outrage about something like this, and then launder it into the mainstream media.
There simply is no equivalent infrastructure to gin up outrage about something like this, and then launder it into the mainstream media.
November 18, 2025 at 2:44 AM
I know you know this but the problem is that Democrats don’t have an equivalent intellectually-disingenuous outrage machine on the Left.
There simply is no equivalent infrastructure to gin up outrage about something like this, and then launder it into the mainstream media.
There simply is no equivalent infrastructure to gin up outrage about something like this, and then launder it into the mainstream media.
…and then committed a property crime against him.
November 17, 2025 at 6:14 PM
…and then committed a property crime against him.
Fostering disunity among your opposition, particularly when your opposition is a nationalist fascist movement, is part of the job.
Any Dem should welcome and embrace regime defectors, however ideologically heterodox.
Any Dem should welcome and embrace regime defectors, however ideologically heterodox.
November 17, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Fostering disunity among your opposition, particularly when your opposition is a nationalist fascist movement, is part of the job.
Any Dem should welcome and embrace regime defectors, however ideologically heterodox.
Any Dem should welcome and embrace regime defectors, however ideologically heterodox.
We live in a media meta narrative in which Democrats are assumed to be the only responsible party; the only adults in the room; and therefore the only ones of whom temperance and compromise are to be expected.
November 17, 2025 at 12:29 PM
We live in a media meta narrative in which Democrats are assumed to be the only responsible party; the only adults in the room; and therefore the only ones of whom temperance and compromise are to be expected.
I agree!
As I said elsewhere, imagine if, in the midst of a lawless and corrupt Trump I administration, Biden had pledged to pick a “Tough on crime” vice president, and then selected… Kamala Harris.
It would have challenged the identity narrative, and centered her merits, not her race and gender.
As I said elsewhere, imagine if, in the midst of a lawless and corrupt Trump I administration, Biden had pledged to pick a “Tough on crime” vice president, and then selected… Kamala Harris.
It would have challenged the identity narrative, and centered her merits, not her race and gender.
November 15, 2025 at 8:39 PM
I agree!
As I said elsewhere, imagine if, in the midst of a lawless and corrupt Trump I administration, Biden had pledged to pick a “Tough on crime” vice president, and then selected… Kamala Harris.
It would have challenged the identity narrative, and centered her merits, not her race and gender.
As I said elsewhere, imagine if, in the midst of a lawless and corrupt Trump I administration, Biden had pledged to pick a “Tough on crime” vice president, and then selected… Kamala Harris.
It would have challenged the identity narrative, and centered her merits, not her race and gender.
It is! I agree! Just pick the person who you think will be best at the job! This is the point!
The constant triangulating around racial and gender identities doesn’t work and it rubs some people the wrong way. It doesn’t bother me but I’m not the electorate.
The constant triangulating around racial and gender identities doesn’t work and it rubs some people the wrong way. It doesn’t bother me but I’m not the electorate.
November 15, 2025 at 7:40 PM
It is! I agree! Just pick the person who you think will be best at the job! This is the point!
The constant triangulating around racial and gender identities doesn’t work and it rubs some people the wrong way. It doesn’t bother me but I’m not the electorate.
The constant triangulating around racial and gender identities doesn’t work and it rubs some people the wrong way. It doesn’t bother me but I’m not the electorate.
I think (hope?) this is what Pete is getting at.
November 15, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I think (hope?) this is what Pete is getting at.
Imagine if, in the aftermath of a lawless and corrupt Trump I administration, Biden had pledged to pick a “Tough on crime” vice president, and then selected… Kamala Harris.
It would have challenged, rather than reinforced the identity narrative, and centered her merits, not her race and gender.
It would have challenged, rather than reinforced the identity narrative, and centered her merits, not her race and gender.
November 15, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Imagine if, in the aftermath of a lawless and corrupt Trump I administration, Biden had pledged to pick a “Tough on crime” vice president, and then selected… Kamala Harris.
It would have challenged, rather than reinforced the identity narrative, and centered her merits, not her race and gender.
It would have challenged, rather than reinforced the identity narrative, and centered her merits, not her race and gender.
Well, exactly. There was no need for Biden to help them.
November 15, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Well, exactly. There was no need for Biden to help them.
100% agree. But it’s fair for leading Dems to publicly engage in self-critical evaluation of the past few presidential campaigns.
Again, I’m not saying I agree with everything Pete is saying. But I do think it’s worth engaging with why Dems are perceived this way. It’s not entirely GOP bullshit.
Again, I’m not saying I agree with everything Pete is saying. But I do think it’s worth engaging with why Dems are perceived this way. It’s not entirely GOP bullshit.
November 15, 2025 at 6:56 PM
100% agree. But it’s fair for leading Dems to publicly engage in self-critical evaluation of the past few presidential campaigns.
Again, I’m not saying I agree with everything Pete is saying. But I do think it’s worth engaging with why Dems are perceived this way. It’s not entirely GOP bullshit.
Again, I’m not saying I agree with everything Pete is saying. But I do think it’s worth engaging with why Dems are perceived this way. It’s not entirely GOP bullshit.
If he had pledged to pick a white man, for the sake of picking a white man, it might have been!
November 15, 2025 at 6:51 PM
If he had pledged to pick a white man, for the sake of picking a white man, it might have been!
Look, you’re definitely winning an argument that I’m not making…
November 15, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Look, you’re definitely winning an argument that I’m not making…