Douglas Bianchi

"Debate" has been corrupted by codifying it into a competitive sport imo; at this point it is rarely a method for good faith actors to hit upon best solutions or refine a shared reality; it's mostly a vector for bad faith actors to keep failed and destructive ideas in perpetual zombie currency.

Insightful observation. This is what history will teach from our period. FDT

I said this in a thread last night and in a thousand threads before it, but you really are doing the work of those who would destroy democracy and the rule of law when you are a doomer. You can be aware of — and vigorously oppose — the lawlessness of this administration without insisting on doom.

From the NY Times "The Morning" online: "The war against Iran has forced world leaders to reckon with the role of geography in global affairs."

Replacing human opinion writers with AI will result in predictable pieces that say the same thing over and over. by David Brooks

I feel like the kids who did poorly in science and history class are trying to get revenge on the kids who did well at science and history class and now we’re all going to die

Break bad premises, don't accept them. Receive obstacles as problems to solve toward the goal, not reasons to never pursue the goal. Realize there are enough of us to pursue everything, so there are no distractions, and there is no trolley problem. www.the-reframe.com/there-is-no-...

Social media platforms like Bluesky don't have to be the most popular. What matters is having a critical mass of users. Bluesky has that. The fact that Threads, yet another zombie algorithmic platform where you're routinely fed posts from a week ago, has more users is irrelevant.

Wile E. Coyote, despaired, takes a bucket of paint and a brush and paints a beautiful two-bedroom house on a mountainside. He paints a beautiful coyote wife in the window, and two adorable coyote kids running around in the yard. He tries to enter this new coyote life, but it is inaccessible to him

Yup … technology is not all it’s cracked up to be … #cdnpoli

Listen, if you don’t know the difference between Democratic socialism and communism, I’m not engaging with you. Crack a book.

Call me crazy but if we have to demand "proof of life" videos just to make sure our Senators are still breathing, it might be time for term limits and a mandatory retirement age. Subscribe For FREE : publicsquaremedia.substack.com/subscribe

The reflecting pool is being sabotaged by paid protistas

Popular unpopular opinion: touchscreens in cars meant to be operated by drivers are a terrible idea to the point that they should perhaps be made literally illegal

Bluesky isn't a bubble or an echo chamber, it's a garden. You plant some seeds and pull some weeds, you tend to it with care, and you make it into a space that pleases you when you come to sit in it a while. Other people can plant and tend to their own gardens, if they like. This garden is yours.

2/2 If you're replying to educate you have to be prepared to not reach the primary target but possibly only plant a seed for a 3rd party reader who may be more receptive to another perspective. You can’t achieve much if you feed the negative tension, best to just make your point then peace out.

“We can disagree and still be friends.” Yeah, about whether pineapple belongs on pizza. Not racism and homophobia.

Remember: Wealth cannot be separated from power. We're seeing in real time how the extreme concentration of wealth is distorting our politics, rigging markets, and granting unprecedented power to a handful of people. Taxing the rich isn't just an economic issue, it's a defense of our democracy.

Surround yourself with the kind of people who find the Oxford comma to be illuminative, beautiful, and necessary.

PSA: I simply block expressions of learned helplessness and cynical pre-capitulation these days. It's not me, it's just a matter of policy here at GoatCorp International LLC.

Make sure you’re following bird accounts and flower accounts and mushroom accounts and astronomy accounts and otter accounts. It makes scrolling so much better.

And people who refuse to enter a shared reality with a grounding in evidence and expertise and human dignity and diversity will always experience evidence and expertise and human dignity and diversity as confrontation, no matter how gently or bluntly it is delivered. "Confrontation" it is, then.

The AirPods are Tim Cook’s most underrated achievement

This

From a post: “Told my wife to have dinner ready by 6 or I'll obliterate her entire civilization. So anyway, she now charges me a fee to use the bathroom that used to be free, and I didn't get any dinner, but I'm pretty sure I won that exchange.”

I'd really like to see leadership calling for impeachment and removal, regardless of whether they have the votes to get it done. Same way we called for marriage equality before we had the votes. A leader's job is to lead. If a genocidal threat isn't impeachable, then nothing is.

“You’re not supposed to use your phone while driving.” “Got it. Let’s install large tablet touchscreens in almost every single new car.”

We need to instill an irrational dislike of video content in the next generations!

Please share widely!

PRO TIP: If you send someone a message asking if you can send them a message, it doubles the number of messages they have to get through. Instead, just send the message as a BLUF (bottom line up front) in a sentence or two. And if you send a link, give a quick summary of what it is. Stay frosty!

Excellent advice right here.

The world could be such a nice place if we allowed it. It's all so goddamn unnecessary. There's no need for any of it. It's so beautiful here. It should be so cool to be alive

Getting shown up in the arena of elite impunity by *the British monarchy* is an incredible “America at 250!” achievement

What’s so weird about men in power is how when they face scandal and should step down the world acts like no one else can do their jobs. Bottstein, Wasserman, these aren’t irreplaceable men! Stop with this delusion.

I sometimes wish the Democratic Party in Congress consisted of any 260 people in the Minneapolis telephone directory rather than the 260 dignitaries now representing us.

The people of Minnesota have executed one of the most impressive civil resistance campaigns I can remember: - Organized a city wide general strike - Maintained nonviolent discipline amidst violence - Mobilized 10,000s in subzero temps to protest and watch ICE - Flipped public opinion against ICE

One of the best things I’ve read in a while:

Average Sunday show interview: OFFICIAL: we are going to dip enemies of the state into acid vats HOST: how will you pay for it? OFFICIAL: tariffs HOST: critics say tariffs don't generate acid vat money OFFICIAL: tariffs have generated more money than has ever existed HOST: thank u for ur time

BREAKING: TIM WALZ: "If you see these ICE agents in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record." "Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity, but to bank evidence for future prosecution."

In a nation ruled by supremacy and all its many sabotages of the public good, every act of repair is a defiant act. *Every* act of repair is a defiant act.