|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
As many have said, living in such historical times is not super fun. At least for the present, though, it’s better than the alternative!
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Nato Powell@hardwarehuman.bsky.social |
5 followers 5 following 108 posts
Twitter refugee, YIMBY, kinda moderate I guess. Lots of luck and some talent with data has allowed me to live in San Francisco, but I hope lots and lots more people will eventually become my neighbors.
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
As many have said, living in such historical times is not super fun. At least for the present, though, it’s better than the alternative!
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
There is still Romney and the Democrats do control the Senate for now, but the Senate can’t initiate impeachment processes or even pass laws by itself. I guess they could make some kind of committee that agrees that this is very bad or whatever, but that doesn’t carry meaningful weight.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I certainly don’t want to make it easy for them! My main point is that the only real lever any principled person has left is winning in November. We cannot expect any official acts from any branch of government pushing back against the lawlessness enabled by this decision. Only the vote can fix it.
2 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
The Republicans who voted to impeach and participated in the Jan 6 committee have been ousted and nominated for reprisal. Until voters throw them out, the Trumpists are in control of all the bodies with the power to push back apart from the presidency.
2 replies 1 reposts 9 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
The people who should have done that through all the other things he did either chose not to do so or were purged and now marked for reprisal. All that’s left is the voters.
1 replies 2 reposts 22 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Much more scared than pissed off at this point, honestly. Anyway, have a good one and I hope we’ll all be relieved in November
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Tom point, as I read it, is that we have to be realistic about the damage the debate (and the media reaction that is already well underway) does to Biden in the actual electorate’s eyes. Insisting that Biden’s slips shouldn’t matter because Trump is fascist won’t make them not matter to voters. 2/2
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Well, I’m definitely not happy about the NYT et al jumping to conclusions about how the electorate is going to process the debate rather than waiting a few days for harder evidence, but I don’t think they were *unreasonable* conclusions to jump to. Regardless, that wasn’t and isn’t Tom (or me) 1/2
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
The thing to be done about the felon is generating more electoral votes for someone else. If polls & etc. end up showing Kamala Harris or whomever has a better shot at it than Biden then we should switch rather than sticking to our guy no matter what. AFAIK that’s approximately Tom’s whole argument.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I have tons of disagreements with Tom and in a world without Trump I feel very sure we wouldn’t have that much to agree about, at least in terms of political positions. But I think he’s a really valuable voice on how to address persuadables and, more to the point, actually win elections.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I mean really, this dumb purity stuff is why the Left sucks at politics. We’d get much more progressive legislation and judicial rulings if we were better at being a big tent that welcomed GOP refugees. There’d be more moderate Dems who wouldn’t be reliable prog votes, but better than reliable “no”s
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Sure! “He rode those coattails” by saying that conservatives should vote for Clinton in ‘16 and that Republicans could save the party by electing as many Democrats as possible in ‘18. That’s some really interesting coattail riding.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I mean, Trump has never once served his country and I see no sign of interest in ever doing so. I do hope he is eventually compelled to serve as an example of a slow but steady criminal justice system finally imposing law and order.
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
It is certainly true that Tom has not had a successful tenure as CEO of the Republican Party. Very disappointing, Tom. Do better.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Humans elected Trump, you are a human, so you are responsible. It doesn’t matter if you did everything in your power to stop it, because you’re part of the group that elected him.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I mean, are you under the impression that Tom has the power to control who the Republicans nominate? It should be pretty obvious that if he did, Trump wouldn’t be the nominee this year and never would have been in any year.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
What he can do is what he is doing, which is encouraging everyone to do their civic duty and vote against Republicans up and down the ticket to defeat Trumpism. He also has other commentary about Democratic strategy, because like most people he has more than one opinion and does more than one thing.
2 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I think it would be fairest to spend like 15 seconds to contemplate the existence of sarcasm and then another 45 to skim at least a little of what Tom has actually written on the topic.
2 replies 0 reposts 8 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
You know the chuckleheads commenting without reading the article are also going to take this literally. I have to wonder how that makes you feel.
0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
In their defense, the title appeals to Biden’s desire to serve his country, and there’s no reason to believe Trump has any such desire.
0 replies 0 reposts 10 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
“Nobody has ever died from it being too warm outside” has a very familiar level of firmly-maintained ignorance about biology.
0 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I have always wondered how much of his “the CIA is trying to take me out” stuff was just an excuse to avoid rape charges and how much he actually believed. Of course, the age of Trump has shown how thin the line is between what is convenient for narcissists to believe and was they do believe.
0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Come on, now. This is clearly satire. Why else would they offer only tips calculated to amplify the worst aspects of parties?
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Wouldn’t it be great if all the young people showed up to vote and embarrassed you by solving the problems the olds created? They should do that. Embarrass Tom, young people. Embarrass him so bad.
2 replies 1 reposts 18 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I suspect that what a lot of people are missing is that narratives like “Biden needs to do more for X to bother participating as a citizen” reinforces the counterproductive frame in which (especially young) people see refusing to participate as some kind of effective political action.
1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Of course, plenty of times it *does* result in pushing marginalized people back out of frame, and as long as we’re focusing the criticism on that aspect then that’s good helpful criticism.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Honestly think the whole “savior” archetype is a useful thing to have in society when it doesn’t result in just pushing the marginalized person back out of the picture or ascribing inadequacy to them. It’s indispensable to motivate the non-marginalized to help out.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
This more or less fits my understanding, and my worst case scenario on this is that Haim gets a light sentence and becomes a conservative martyr after all the legal argument is over whether he went through the proper channels and not whether the information he leaked showed actual malfeasance by TCH
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Ah, I see! That seemed so obvious to me that I forgot that someone might have a different position, though in retrospect I should have. Separately, for my own reasons I would like the underlying facts at TCH to get litigated in court for the seven people who are still persuadable by evidence.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Hey now, how could they reckon with the examples of antisemitism described in the article without reading some of that (((mainstream media)))? They have no way of knowing about it at all, so they’re in the clear!
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Is one of your ( and @akivamcohen.bsky.social’s) main points that if it is confirmed to be really really important (i.e. a revelation of an actual crime, not just something the leaker thinks is bad) then that’s a legal defense, or are you actually saying something more nearly the opposite?
2 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Absolutely! Though honestly Trump et al. stepped on endless rakes from a policy perspective. As destructive as he was, in terms of positive policy he got much less done than even an incompetent institutionalist would have. But then, for core Trumpists, policy wins are secondary to hurting the enemy.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Honestly I think it’s one of the reasons the right has lost its mind. For years no one in the GOP explained to them what was actually possible with their coalition so they decided they wanted someone lawless who would blow up governance in order to give them what they wanted by fiat.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Definitely ask, but asking without making an effort to understand what is actually possible with the actual coalition that exists is a recipe for frustration. And of course, more and bigger asks can be fulfilled with bigger coalitions. Don’t have to cater to Manchin if he’s the 61st senator.
1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
If you ask someone to fly by flapping their arms and they fail to soar into the sky, it’s due to either lack of effort or lack of desire.
1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Well, this meme is from way back in 2021, so.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Thank you too!
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
This sort of clear, succinct, and deeply ethical analysis is perhaps the biggest single reason why I so frequently feel a sense of gladness at having followed you. I’ve had this chain of thoughts before, more or less, but the tight distillation makes it so much easier to apply consistently.
1 replies 0 reposts 9 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
We had never had kittens before, but having a pair of kittens to handle when our beloved old man passed away really helped prevent us from dwelling on it, even though he was easily the best cat we’d ever had and I’m still a bit heartbroken he didn’t get to meet our kids and vice versa.
0 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
When I see Biden keep the Fed rate high, I feel like I’m living in the Chinese Warring States period.
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
As far as I understand, the polio vaccines administered weren’t fake, but it set back the campaign anyway because it cast doubt on everyone involved in the overall effort.
1 replies 0 reposts 10 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
It seems to me that the interests of Hamas and Netanyahu align better with each other than the two peoples they govern. Rule. Whatever the verb should be for what they are doing to Gaza and Israel respectively.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
The reference are to the Fourteen Words and the eighth letter of the alphabet twice (HH), both neo-Nazi faves.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Giving me Abu Ghraib flashbacks.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Unless they’re sitting down on the actual elements of the bridge needing repairs, it’s not going to make any sense to anyone beyond the “I’m going to mess everything up unless I get my way” message. That motivates opponents and wears out the sympathetic.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I did not until now realize this wasn’t something your kids made up.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I was typing my response to this when I saw what you meant. For Israel, it is unwise because it plays into the hands of antisemites et al., but for the damage it does to Jews everywhere it is vile. It still feels slightly indirect to me, but also I’m not Jewish and haven’t been subject to this fight
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
I’m curious at the strength of your reaction and wonder if I’m missing something. While shady, it doesn’t seem beyond the pale vile or anything. They didn’t kill anybody, or try to sway an election. It feels like unlicensed lobbyist level stuff.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
This was very unconvincing to me, and reads as political polemic rather than any sort of academic review or explainer.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Nato Powell
@hardwarehuman.bsky.social
[ View ] |
“If the racist imperialist Churchill doesn’t step down I will gladly join the SS”
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes