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Swedish Made Prius Enlarger

@ersatzverite.bsky.social

270 followers 310 following 1.7K posts

My name is Tristan Cohen, I live in DC and work at the Federal Energy Commission mostly on Eastern US issues.

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Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · May 6

"What happened didn't matter, what it felt like was what mattered." was something an ex told me in a post-mortem on our break-up. At the time I thought she was insane, now I think it is one of the wisest things anyone has said about how we think about the world.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 10h

And the information sources are affected by what ppl are talking about ... whatever they may say. So, to some degree, ppl actually caring about shit besides what the median voter thinks can help shape what the media voter thinks.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 10h

It also assumes that median voter desires are somehow external to the process of what makes the edges angry. Most ppl's opinions are determined by their self-selected information sources and their peer group save for the occasional undeniable to them item (job loss, cost explosion).

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Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 23h

It's ok to say, "I didn't know the guy I liked was into some weird Nazi shit, and now I'm not interested." The idea that you have to stick with some guy who turns out to be an asshole is a major problem in politics. You owe these fuckers nothing, abandon them with relish!

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 1d

I remember when my dad sent me a fawning, shallow story about a democratic party up and comer. I told him that I thought she sounded pretty weak, and we didn't know enough about her to judge. I never let him forget about his brief (political) infatuation with Tulsi Gabbard.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 1d

My friend pointed out to me that the Maine guy's tattoo is very famous as a Nazi symbol. My ignorance showing!

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 1d

Well, glad it worked for you. Sad it prob won't help me!

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 1d

So, this guy committed hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud against enviro interested investors. He donates money and gets pardoned. I guess it's of a piece! gizmodo.com/trump-pardon...

Trump Pardoned Him. Now He Won't Have to Pay Back $660 Million

Trevor Milton and his wife donated $1.8 million to Trump in 2024.

gizmodo.com

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 1d

requires challenging the AMA and the hospital lobbies. Something neither party has been that interested in doing.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 1d

If you want competition in HC, you need to break up the monopolies in provision, lift the caps on number of doctors to allow competition, etc, etc. The fun thing is that these reforms should be acceptable to the left as well. It's easy to rhetorically commit to it, but it ..

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Ron Johnson: "Let's bring free market competition back into the healthcare industry. Let's bring back way more consumer choice. Rick Scott, an expert in healthcare, he's working with people like myself and the White House, let's design the Republican plan."

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 1d

Is your tinnitus related to that ailment, or is that in general? I have moderate tinnitus, but I don't really take aspirin, so I'm curious if it may be a generalized treatment for when it is bad?

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 1d

If I woke up one morning, looked at my swastika tattoo and said, "Wait, Nazis are bad!" I would run to a tattoo parlor and transform it spending the rest of my days stuck with a MS Windows tattoo as penance.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

Instead of pushing for "centrism" as an idea, it would be good for political commentators to actually project a set of ideas they think are good. It turns out that getting ppl to agree is really hard though, so calling for vague bullshit is just easier.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

There may be tactical benefits. But that isn't centrism. That's electorate based triangulation. Maybe a better story would be, "to win, candidates need to create messages that appeal to their electorate" But, that doesn't fit the above it all positioning of the Ed Board.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

I think if their view is that D candidates in competitive regions should be willing to stake positions in contradiction to the party bc they meet the specific concerns of their constituents.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

wherever the two parties land. The NYTimes form of centrism is just that, staking out space in the middle and tut-tutting both sides. Their centrism is the incoherent viewpoints of the marginal voter. It's nonsense. 7) I haven't studied the data to the extent they have, but ..

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Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

6) There is a broader issue in this sort of take, and why I hate the term centrist (even if I in some ways am effectively a centrist). Centrism can be an articulated theory of governance about balancing markets, regulation, etc .. or it can be simply positioning yourself between ..

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

well-articulated positions (bc there is no real head of a party when it is out of power and without a Prez candidate). They are defined by the news coverage which focuses on the most extreme parts of the coalition -- or by Schumer/Jefferies who are bad at the public facing part of their jobs.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

is always an interesting take from a news org that (like every news org) makes its money by tilting the news coverage towards clicks with really awful headlines designed to get rage-gagement. A problem with the Ds is not that their positions are extreme -- its that they don't have ..

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

grease the wheel of political compromise backfired. Because the NYTimes ed board is about as shallow as a crack in a driveway, they offer broad bromides instead of asking "Why are things this way beyond political positions?" 5) "Ppl think that the D party is too far to the left" ..

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Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

to campaign at home most of the year, meaning ppl don't live in DC, their families don't interact, and they have no social connection. The move to small money donors pushing ppl towards political extremes and rewarding HATING their opponents. Goo-Goos like me pushing to eliminate earmarks which

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

when you speak in total contradictory gibberish all the time bc most human minds melt when confronted with complexity; 4) The degradation in personal relationships between parties and degradation in the ability to compromise are a function of real problems ... like Gingrich pushing everyone ..

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Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

Who complains more about D and R parties than the highly polarized edges of both parties?; 3) They point out that the electorate has essentially incoherent values, but you can't run a country with total incoherence. I struggle to think that winning only happens ..

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 2d

The story here is so complicated. 1) They are correct that the Bush era "Turn out the base" strategy is not necessarily a good one in really competitive races; 2) arguing that "complaining about both parties" is a good strategy is actually not a centrist strategy.

Matt Ghoulberg @mattgoldberg.bsky.social · 2d

Beyond self-parody.

OPINION
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The Partisans Are Wrong:
Moving to the Center Is the Way to Win

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 4d

These fuckers are the biggest bunch of losers. If my closest friends/allies posted some shit like this, I'd be like "Ew, David."

Nick (derogatory) ✨ @slothropsmap.bsky.social · 4d

It is a scandal totally unprecedented in history that the Vice President has shared a video depicting the President as king. It’s an obscene violation of every founding American principle.

And nothing will come of it. It makes me physically sick.

Swedish Made Prius Enlarger @ersatzverite.bsky.social · 4d

Just silently admit you are better than everyone else, while acknowledging that everyone else feels the same way. Advocate on something ppl care about beyond pretending ppl are driven by the question "how can I be more like the person condescending to me."

Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 4d

"we can win by showing people we are better, more tolerant, more kind and more compassionate than others" great! moral condescension! people love that.