72 billion? That's $200 per United States citizen. Not <i<nothing, but not some grievous imposition on finance whose removal we ought to celebrate as a chain off the neck of the working class.
"That DEI program included a video about the Tuskegee Airmen. Agree or disagree?
That is because that is the sort of video that you find in DEI programs. Agree or disagree?"
(emphasis in original)
hm.
old and busted: "DEI isn't nearly as widespread as you CUNservatives imagine, it's not just being 'jammed into everything' the way you say, actually it's about education regarding equity and history and structural bigotry!"
new hotness: "if it mentions black people, it's DEI."
Like, this is less "we're absolutely certain that it'll be somewhere along the red line" and more "along the red line the probability is .02 percentage points higher than the rest of the planet".
I think it'll be useful because it'll show people how much spending appears to be for Bullshit Jobs but in fact is related to specific things that the government was specifically directed to do.
"those guys are dirty jerks and you're just gonna have to put up with them using black people as pawns in a power struggle" is an interesting attempt to flex on me, but okay, I guess if you want to ascribe that position to them I'm not going to stop you.
" I think the greater danger is we have half of the legislature ready to do the same."
We had half the legislature go along with Presidential leadership back in 2009, but you've already said that you think we were lying when we complained about it back then (unlike you, who punished that Barack Obama by not voting for him twice...)
I think they finally figured out that no matter how hard they try, they are not going to get an election do-over that results in Hillary Clinton winning.
"If you have genuine principles in 2009, they ought to remain the same in 2025, no?"
Did I say somewhere that I supported the actions of the Trump administration, or are you just assuming that's the case because you're mad that someone's disagreeing with you?
If you need to actually have it said out loud to you: yes, I think what the Trump administration is doing here is a damaging and wasteful way to go about things, a way that's going to lead to a lot of trouble (some warranted, some opportunistic) and achieve only a small part of its intent, and involves a derangement of the established Constitutional interpretation of how government works.
Thing is, I don't have to go on to explain why it's a different position than I held before because it is not a different position than I held before.
"Freelancing the rules of government because it feels good is a path we should don’t want to tread."
hey remember back in 2009 when those dirty mean republicans were just filibustering everything but we fortunately had principled leaders like Nancy Pelosi who could use Deem And Pass to get important legislation out the door, and Barack Obama who could direct the regulatory bureaucracy via Executive Orders?
Like when the OMB memo came out and said "do not freeze or pause aid given to individual persons" and organizations replied "welllll, teeeechnically, that aid comes to our organization and then it goes to persons, so, I guess we'll just have to freeze and pause all that money, just like you said we should do, definitely what you said, just tryna comply here sor, goin agin'st orders mornmajobsworf sor"
Hey cool, we'll get eighteen months of everyone pretending that human spaceflight is gonna move to Starship, we'll spend a pile of money on engineering studies, and then it'll go back to SLS which was designed for in the first place.
"[T]he government asserted that the Air Force should not have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training anymore."
I'm old enough to remember people like, um, you, telling me that "look what you made me do, look at this awful thing that you made me do" wasn't a defense against intentionally doing something mean and stupid.
I mean, you're right that the directive did not specifically address how the Air Force was to honor the legacy of elite units like the 332nd Fighter Group, but it's also likely that the people writing the directive assumed that the Air Force would interpret it reasonably and say "we should create a separate method to remember these men" and not "WELP, GUESS WE GOTTA DELETE ANY MENTION OF BLACK PEOPLE WHATSOEVER, JUST FOLLOWIN' ORDERS HERE, HAIL TRUMP".
I'm not sure it's meaningful to compare sales numbers from opposite sides of 2010. Foxworthy's album came out in a time when you couldn't just go watch his entire routine for free on YouTube; if you wanted to hear it you had to buy it. These days I can listen to everything Kendric Lamar ever did, for free, as many times as I want, and without even as many ads as I'd get listening to the radio.
The issue is that a "neoliberal economics" argument assumes that all the labor involved is trading on the same terms, and (as Freddie points out) this is not the case for nondocumented immigration into the USA.
" at the same time, it’s going too far to remove references to the Tuskegee Airmen from Air Force Basic Training "
(nobody told them to do that, they just decided to do it on their own)
(and as soon as Hesgeth found out it had happened he ordered them to put it back)
I think that there was a general impression among defenses that going hard for Mahomes would draw a penalty, and for whatever reason the Eagles decided they weren't worried about that (and the refs decided not to call it).
I did note that most of the sacks were in a scrum, not the usual "Mahomes is running all over the place with four guys trying to stomp him". It's a lot less likely to get an unnecessary-roughness call in a situation like that.
He's got the same idea that I do -- which is that they should just be handing out Green Cards at the Tijuana border stop, meaning that all those people coming in to work can file wage-theft lawsuits, file OSHA complaints, sign up for welfare, call the cops when needed...a few years of that and suddenly we'll find that Americans aren't such bad hires after all. (Or, more likely, there'll be fewer jobs overall but a lot fancier machines to do the work.)
Paradoxically, what helped the Eagles offense was that they weren't doing fantastic at first; they were only playing well. The worst situation for the Eagles is when they get a big lead early, because then they figure it's all done and start fooling around, and when the other team catches up they're worn out and can't crank it back up.
The other part was that KC's defense focused on Barkley (and very effectively!) to the detriment of pass coverage, which the Eagles figured out.
Someone on Twitter pointed out that there's an entire Normie TV Universe that online people have absolutely no awareness of. As they said, "I love that the finale of succession, one of the few big tv events of the decade that felt inescapable online, could not even reach half of the average viewers of The Rookie, a nathan fillion cop show no one has heard of that has six full seasons"
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
72 billion? That's $200 per United States citizen. Not <i<nothing, but not some grievous imposition on finance whose removal we ought to celebrate as a chain off the neck of the working class.
"
(what they were saying DEI programs were is what you, now, are saying DEI programs were and are)
"
"That DEI program included a video about the Tuskegee Airmen. Agree or disagree?
That is because that is the sort of video that you find in DEI programs. Agree or disagree?"
(emphasis in original)
hm.
old and busted: "DEI isn't nearly as widespread as you CUNservatives imagine, it's not just being 'jammed into everything' the way you say, actually it's about education regarding equity and history and structural bigotry!"
new hotness: "if it mentions black people, it's DEI."
On “Thursday Throughput: Doomsday Rock Edition”
Like, this is less "we're absolutely certain that it'll be somewhere along the red line" and more "along the red line the probability is .02 percentage points higher than the rest of the planet".
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
Why should they keep protesting? They got what they wanted; the Democrats were punished for their failure to stop Israel turning Gaza into rubble.
On “Deficits, Debt, and DOGE”
I think it'll be useful because it'll show people how much spending appears to be for Bullshit Jobs but in fact is related to specific things that the government was specifically directed to do.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
"those guys are dirty jerks and you're just gonna have to put up with them using black people as pawns in a power struggle" is an interesting attempt to flex on me, but okay, I guess if you want to ascribe that position to them I'm not going to stop you.
"
" I think the greater danger is we have half of the legislature ready to do the same."
We had half the legislature go along with Presidential leadership back in 2009, but you've already said that you think we were lying when we complained about it back then (unlike you, who punished that Barack Obama by not voting for him twice...)
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
I think they finally figured out that no matter how hard they try, they are not going to get an election do-over that results in Hillary Clinton winning.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
"If you have genuine principles in 2009, they ought to remain the same in 2025, no?"
Did I say somewhere that I supported the actions of the Trump administration, or are you just assuming that's the case because you're mad that someone's disagreeing with you?
If you need to actually have it said out loud to you: yes, I think what the Trump administration is doing here is a damaging and wasteful way to go about things, a way that's going to lead to a lot of trouble (some warranted, some opportunistic) and achieve only a small part of its intent, and involves a derangement of the established Constitutional interpretation of how government works.
Thing is, I don't have to go on to explain why it's a different position than I held before because it is not a different position than I held before.
"
"Freelancing the rules of government because it feels good is a path we should don’t want to tread."
hey remember back in 2009 when those dirty mean republicans were just filibustering everything but we fortunately had principled leaders like Nancy Pelosi who could use Deem And Pass to get important legislation out the door, and Barack Obama who could direct the regulatory bureaucracy via Executive Orders?
"
Like when the OMB memo came out and said "do not freeze or pause aid given to individual persons" and organizations replied "welllll, teeeechnically, that aid comes to our organization and then it goes to persons, so, I guess we'll just have to freeze and pause all that money, just like you said we should do, definitely what you said, just tryna comply here sor, goin agin'st orders mornmajobsworf sor"
On “Off With Their (Over)heads: Trump Administration at War with Public Health”
Hey cool, we'll get eighteen months of everyone pretending that human spaceflight is gonna move to Starship, we'll spend a pile of money on engineering studies, and then it'll go back to SLS which was designed for in the first place.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
"we're gonna fuck up on purpose and blame it on you"
stunning and brave, a strong statement of confidence in the moral validity of your position
"
"[T]he government asserted that the Air Force should not have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training anymore."
I'm old enough to remember people like, um, you, telling me that "look what you made me do, look at this awful thing that you made me do" wasn't a defense against intentionally doing something mean and stupid.
I mean, you're right that the directive did not specifically address how the Air Force was to honor the legacy of elite units like the 332nd Fighter Group, but it's also likely that the people writing the directive assumed that the Air Force would interpret it reasonably and say "we should create a separate method to remember these men" and not "WELP, GUESS WE GOTTA DELETE ANY MENTION OF BLACK PEOPLE WHATSOEVER, JUST FOLLOWIN' ORDERS HERE, HAIL TRUMP".
On “Kansas City wants to Score the first Threepeat against the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans”
I'm not sure it's meaningful to compare sales numbers from opposite sides of 2010. Foxworthy's album came out in a time when you couldn't just go watch his entire routine for free on YouTube; if you wanted to hear it you had to buy it. These days I can listen to everything Kendric Lamar ever did, for free, as many times as I want, and without even as many ads as I'd get listening to the radio.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
The issue is that a "neoliberal economics" argument assumes that all the labor involved is trading on the same terms, and (as Freddie points out) this is not the case for nondocumented immigration into the USA.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
" at the same time, it’s going too far to remove references to the Tuskegee Airmen from Air Force Basic Training "
(nobody told them to do that, they just decided to do it on their own)
(and as soon as Hesgeth found out it had happened he ordered them to put it back)
On “Kansas City wants to Score the first Threepeat against the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans”
I think that there was a general impression among defenses that going hard for Mahomes would draw a penalty, and for whatever reason the Eagles decided they weren't worried about that (and the refs decided not to call it).
I did note that most of the sacks were in a scrum, not the usual "Mahomes is running all over the place with four guys trying to stomp him". It's a lot less likely to get an unnecessary-roughness call in a situation like that.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
He's got the same idea that I do -- which is that they should just be handing out Green Cards at the Tijuana border stop, meaning that all those people coming in to work can file wage-theft lawsuits, file OSHA complaints, sign up for welfare, call the cops when needed...a few years of that and suddenly we'll find that Americans aren't such bad hires after all. (Or, more likely, there'll be fewer jobs overall but a lot fancier machines to do the work.)
On “Kansas City wants to Score the first Threepeat against the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans”
Paradoxically, what helped the Eagles offense was that they weren't doing fantastic at first; they were only playing well. The worst situation for the Eagles is when they get a big lead early, because then they figure it's all done and start fooling around, and when the other team catches up they're worn out and can't crank it back up.
The other part was that KC's defense focused on Barkley (and very effectively!) to the detriment of pass coverage, which the Eagles figured out.
"
Someone on Twitter pointed out that there's an entire Normie TV Universe that online people have absolutely no awareness of. As they said, "I love that the finale of succession, one of the few big tv events of the decade that felt inescapable online, could not even reach half of the average viewers of The Rookie, a nathan fillion cop show no one has heard of that has six full seasons"
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Thunder Road Vendetta!”
You could probably find a computerised version of it on BoardGameArena.
On “Kansas City wants to Score the first Threepeat against the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans”
I mean, it did certainly show that the Eagles defense had been doing something, because when they let up KC scored just fine.
On “Keynesian Beauty Contests, Schelling Points, and the Omnicause”
"_One lawsuit_?
Please, give me smelling salts. I don’t think I can handle the trauma that one lawsuit will bring."
The tip of a spear is pretty small but there's plenty of shaft behind it.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.