Random Dangling Mystery

Bradford² ran a truly cynical campaign, abandoning the ground-level urbanism of his councilor days for suburban conservative vice-signaling. He knew there'd be a lane on the Right (probably it was planned that way) and so tried to become that candidate. It did not work. Good.

May your forehead grow like the mighty oak.

May your forehead grow like the mighty oak.

It is such an interesting dynamic that can be glimpsed in so many contexts but it is such an indictment of and a strong argument against right-wing political views that they supposedly stem from such firm and righteous convictions but many, many people simply won't admit to holding them in public.

I'm nursing a growing dread that despite the alarming airhorns of Trumpism, Canada is actually in more trouble than the US, and this is a big part of the reason why.

Eventually a federal election will tip to the Cons and most Canadians are very complacent about what that will mean while a small hardcore fascist cohort have revolutionary plans for when that happens. I don't see liberal or left forces in strong positions in this country for when it goes down.

I'm nursing a growing dread that despite the alarming airhorns of Trumpism, Canada is actually in more trouble than the US, and this is a big part of the reason why.

Without urban bulwarks, the Canadian left is kind of fucked. Helpless before the wavering suburbs and staunchly reactionary rural areas. And with no Conservative federal government since just before the neo-fascist zerg rush of Trump and Brexit, there's complacency about their extremism.

I'm nursing a growing dread that despite the alarming airhorns of Trumpism, Canada is actually in more trouble than the US, and this is a big part of the reason why.

Self-selection bias, maybe, but community Facebook groups in Cityplace, where I am, are full of insufferable NIMBYs, paranoid Crime Hysterics, outspoken misanthropes, and straight moderation-standards-evading bigots. They care more about their property values than about human life, period.

I'm nursing a growing dread that despite the alarming airhorns of Trumpism, Canada is actually in more trouble than the US, and this is a big part of the reason why.

Also Liberal (and NDP) support is pretty solid with middle-aged Canadians and even to an extent with older voters (who remember Harper and maybe even Mulroney), so there's a natural generational reaction element. "Liberals are my parents' party, I'm young, viral, and Conservative!"

I'm nursing a growing dread that despite the alarming airhorns of Trumpism, Canada is actually in more trouble than the US, and this is a big part of the reason why.

A worrisome trend (that I am pretty sure is data-supported though I couldn't point to where) is that young Canadians are more conservative-leaning or at least conservative-curious than demographics would tend to predict or conditions would account for.

My gf and I are finally going to catch up with the two most recent seasons of Ted Lasso (which by reputation are lesser) but re-watched the first two seasons and I was reminded that at the end of S2 they reveal that the Evil Nemesis Team will be West Ham and that is the funniest thing ever, to me.

The initial and very human disgust in some Republican quarters at the ugliness of Ramaswamy's ad siding with the people who abused his opponent as a child struck me as potentially A Brief Splash situation and now that Daddy Rapist has signaled that it's time to attack csa survivors, the cronies are.

I will add that Trump's public relations strategy (learned from the execrable Roy Cohn, I believe) is to never apologize, never admit fault, never back down, and always attack critics, opponents, or accusers. This makes Brief Splashes, as denials of observable reality, all the more common.

This is, very possibly, the single greatest thing there is.

There are many problems with Yglesias' opinion on this but really there's just one problem: he thinks that in order to do politics successfully, you shouldn't do politics.

It's all abusive fathers all the way down with this people, isn't it?

Probably it would go roughly like this.

The initial and very human disgust in some Republican quarters at the ugliness of Ramaswamy's ad siding with the people who abused his opponent as a child struck me as potentially A Brief Splash situation and now that Daddy Rapist has signaled that it's time to attack csa survivors, the cronies are.

Examples include the killing of George Floyd (some prominent conservatives agreed initially it was clearly murder before retreating to conspiracy theories) and the January 6th insurrection (GOP was split and ready to let Trump go down for it, then decided it was all a witch hunt).

The initial and very human disgust in some Republican quarters at the ugliness of Ramaswamy's ad siding with the people who abused his opponent as a child struck me as potentially A Brief Splash situation and now that Daddy Rapist has signaled that it's time to attack csa survivors, the cronies are.

This is well-observed, and gets to why political debate is theatre and little else because conservatives in particular are: - ignorant or dishonest about political issues - firm in their beliefs and cannot be swayed from them - not debating to be convinced but to waste opponents' time

It's all abusive fathers all the way down with this people, isn't it?

It's all abusive fathers all the way down with this people, isn't it?

Terry Gilliam is an interesting case to me as a film auteur. His movies are all about visionary, impractical creative dreamers dismissed and marginalized by dull rational society and that's also his behind-the-scenes story as a filmmaker and the consensus now is basically "he deserved that".

He's made some good movies but the definitive Gilliam film experience is Lost in La Mancha, the documentary story of a failed Quixote movie that functions as this perfect metaphor for the windmills that he spent his career futilely tilting at as if they were menacing giants.

I have an involved theory that this has been a big part of Trump and MAGA's appeal on the Right. Previous conservative regimes deployed this stuff to manipulate their base but didn't buy into it themselves. This latest batch got high on their own supply and the base loves them for it.

JD Vance is a bit of a bridge figure here: he thinks like a neocon and probably self-identifies with the elite vanguard, but pitches openly to MAGA. He doesn't believe it, but only because he believes in nothing. And of course he openly admitted to lying about Haitians eating pets.

I have an involved theory that this has been a big part of Trump and MAGA's appeal on the Right. Previous conservative regimes deployed this stuff to manipulate their base but didn't buy into it themselves. This latest batch got high on their own supply and the base loves them for it.