rillzb.bsky.social

Instead of considering whether an event would be good or bad for Democrats, for example, you would ask whether an event is good or bad for American democracy.

Like we get it, you need conflict and drama for narrative structure. But how about the conflict between authoritarianism and American democracy? That’s a pretty fucking big conflict right now.

ICE crossed a line in LA

Evergreen principle to keep in mind: you never "gotta hand it" to fascists, which also means you must never feel compelled to grasp for a charitable interpretation of fascists' actions.

Ironically, this is Big Pharma's wet dream. Rather than a preventative vaccine that costs a few dollars a dose twice a lifetime, they can sell expensive new in-patent drugs for hundreds a dose that you need to keep taking.

A colleague at Stanford’s business school used The Stanford Daily to argue—poorly—against DEI. The piece was riddled with historical errors and left one searching for fact, so I broke my public writing hiatus to respond. I hope you’ll read and share the piece. stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...

I want to give credit to my editors, who asked me to write 2,000 words on why Andrew Tate wears such tight pants. I submitted 3,700. They asked if I really needed to start with a story about the industrial revolution and I said "yes, absolutely don't cut." www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Art.

This is the #mapoli Kraft/Trump policy on city streets: give it all away to out of town drivers & safety for residents be damned.

imagine if we had the chutzpah to (legally) reshape govt. this quickly and radically? Punish/reward for a green economy, walkable affordable cities, livable minimum wage, maternity leave, single payer healthcare, kill corporate lobbying, adopt a 1970s tax scheme, public funds for elections, etc.

Reason number 223.06 on why not to privatize social security.

This is the predictable result of Trump's threats against Greenland, Canada, Gaza, and Panama: Dictators elsewhere feel licensed to do the same. Eroding the foundational principle of the international legal order has consequences--and everyone will pay the price. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/w...

I have tariffed the penguins that are on Heard Island and which you were probably assuming did not export goods forgive me they were taking advantage of us so cunning and so cold

Fox removed the stock market ticker from their broadcasts.

We tried mass tariffs in 1828, and it crashed the economy. We tried again in 1930, and it crashed the economy. Third time’s the charm, I guess.

Paul Weiss: "Fight for you? Oh, honey, we don't even fight for ourselves!"

So: Russia flatly rejected one Trump envoy (Kellogg), made the next one (Witkoff) wait for eight hours, rejected the ceasefire, and instructed Trump that his job is to give Russia what it wants. That’s what Trump means by "respect" I guess.

With his permission, I'm sharing Dean Treanor's response to Ed Martin's letter: