Max Milstein
@maxmilstein.bsky.social
A Republican Supreme Court allowed a Republican President to block food aid so a Republican Congress could end health insurance aid.
If you're mainly angry at Democrats about this I don't know what to tell you.
If you're mainly angry at Democrats about this I don't know what to tell you.
November 11, 2025 at 12:15 PM
A Republican Supreme Court allowed a Republican President to block food aid so a Republican Congress could end health insurance aid.
If you're mainly angry at Democrats about this I don't know what to tell you.
If you're mainly angry at Democrats about this I don't know what to tell you.
Reposted by Max Milstein
Reposted by Max Milstein
Remember 25 years ago when a photo was taken of a fed pointing a gun at a crying refugee child and the image was so shameful it dominated the news cycle for a year
November 11, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Remember 25 years ago when a photo was taken of a fed pointing a gun at a crying refugee child and the image was so shameful it dominated the news cycle for a year
There's a Simpsons where it turns out that Ned Flanders considers insurance to be a form of gambling.
Jon Lovett pointed out during the 2017 ACA debate that a large number of Republicans seem to believe this, they have a moral opposition to the concept of insuring against risk.
Jon Lovett pointed out during the 2017 ACA debate that a large number of Republicans seem to believe this, they have a moral opposition to the concept of insuring against risk.
My wife and I pay for life insurance even though we have never died. I pay for fire insurance even though my house has never burned down. That's not because we want to throw money at insurance companies. It's because THAT'S HOW INSURANCE WORKS.
November 11, 2025 at 1:16 AM
There's a Simpsons where it turns out that Ned Flanders considers insurance to be a form of gambling.
Jon Lovett pointed out during the 2017 ACA debate that a large number of Republicans seem to believe this, they have a moral opposition to the concept of insuring against risk.
Jon Lovett pointed out during the 2017 ACA debate that a large number of Republicans seem to believe this, they have a moral opposition to the concept of insuring against risk.
Reposted by Max Milstein
I would like to see some reckoning with this by people, to be entirely honest.
Yeah this part is darkly funny. Before this started, *many* people here insisted that Dems getting an ACA credit extension would be a massive GOP win (because 'TOUCH THE STOVE'!). Now many of the exact same people are denouncing it as a massive failure if they don't get one!
The goalposts keep moving on this too. If the outlines of this alleged deal are correct and it goes through and the GOP either welches on the promised vote/votes against extending the ACA credits, that’s what Bluesky wanted pre-shutdown, but now it’s the Dems selling out.
November 10, 2025 at 1:55 AM
I would like to see some reckoning with this by people, to be entirely honest.
I don't know everything in the deal. I called my Senators and asked them not to cave for nothing. Was this enough? I don't know (my Senators voted no fwiw).
there is some tension between the (correct) level of apocalypticism on this site about food aid running out and the unwillingness to make any compromises in service of making it not run out
November 10, 2025 at 2:46 AM
I don't know everything in the deal. I called my Senators and asked them not to cave for nothing. Was this enough? I don't know (my Senators voted no fwiw).
Reposted by Max Milstein
there is some tension between the (correct) level of apocalypticism on this site about food aid running out and the unwillingness to make any compromises in service of making it not run out
November 9, 2025 at 11:10 PM
there is some tension between the (correct) level of apocalypticism on this site about food aid running out and the unwillingness to make any compromises in service of making it not run out
I want this for every state. Too much energy goes into the tightest races, running no-hopers can lay the groundwork for someone to win down the line.
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Apply to run: cantwinvictoryfund.com/run
November 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
I want this for every state. Too much energy goes into the tightest races, running no-hopers can lay the groundwork for someone to win down the line.
I think that Abigail Spanberger is a very talented politician but I don't think she makes it to Congress if an uncharismatic and crazy economics professor hadn't beaten the House Majority Leader in a primary.
I don't think the GOP is done paying the price for nominating the worst people. Not yet.
I don't think the GOP is done paying the price for nominating the worst people. Not yet.
November 5, 2025 at 12:24 PM
I think that Abigail Spanberger is a very talented politician but I don't think she makes it to Congress if an uncharismatic and crazy economics professor hadn't beaten the House Majority Leader in a primary.
I don't think the GOP is done paying the price for nominating the worst people. Not yet.
I don't think the GOP is done paying the price for nominating the worst people. Not yet.
Reposted by Max Milstein
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 3:33 AM
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
I have the option of paying $25 for more than 50 digital books I'll never read containing rules for a tabletop RPG I will absolutely never play and I cannot explain why this is so appealing to me but it most definitely is.
October 30, 2025 at 1:36 AM
I have the option of paying $25 for more than 50 digital books I'll never read containing rules for a tabletop RPG I will absolutely never play and I cannot explain why this is so appealing to me but it most definitely is.
Reposted by Max Milstein
Sorry Americans but if you think you can fund a welfare state without putting a single cent in it yourself then you have actually discovered why you still dont have a welfare state.
October 29, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Sorry Americans but if you think you can fund a welfare state without putting a single cent in it yourself then you have actually discovered why you still dont have a welfare state.
Reposted by Max Milstein
I contend that she would have defeated any Republican except Trump
We don’t talk enough about how Trump lies outside the D vs R axis. Not bc he’s a dove or a populist or anything about policy. He’s just entirely his own category. He’s sui generis.
We don’t talk enough about how Trump lies outside the D vs R axis. Not bc he’s a dove or a populist or anything about policy. He’s just entirely his own category. He’s sui generis.
i mean, harris ran the campaign they’re advocating for. it probably etched out an extra point or two but that was never as important as the macropolitical enviroment (backlash from covid inflation) which, via association with joe biden, harris could not escape.
the democratic party’s basic problem is it has almost no control over how its message reaches the ears of voters, especially outside of presidential election years. but rather than devote serious time, attention and cash to that problem its consultants and pundits want to fight factional battles
October 27, 2025 at 9:31 PM
I contend that she would have defeated any Republican except Trump
We don’t talk enough about how Trump lies outside the D vs R axis. Not bc he’s a dove or a populist or anything about policy. He’s just entirely his own category. He’s sui generis.
We don’t talk enough about how Trump lies outside the D vs R axis. Not bc he’s a dove or a populist or anything about policy. He’s just entirely his own category. He’s sui generis.
Reposted by Max Milstein
I think this is basically right. And the work is really difficult!
(my broad view is that everyone is trying to find an easy shortcut rather than the more difficult work of building an actual relationship between the party and both the voters it has and the voters it wants)
October 25, 2025 at 1:04 PM
I think this is basically right. And the work is really difficult!
Reposted by Max Milstein
Thank you!! Omg I cannot even, there’s no words to describe it. You *have to see it*
October 24, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Thank you!! Omg I cannot even, there’s no words to describe it. You *have to see it*
Reposted by Max Milstein
Open the page. Scroll down to the timeline. Go through the timeline.
It’s… shocking
It’s… shocking
The White House Building
Every president since John Adams has occupied the White House, and the history of this building extends far beyond the construction of its walls. From the Ground Floor Corridor rooms, transformed from...
www.whitehouse.gov
October 24, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Open the page. Scroll down to the timeline. Go through the timeline.
It’s… shocking
It’s… shocking
This is true, but also, these guys can pick up Trump voters and not be terrible with a small amount of vetting. Tim Ryan overperformed the Dem baseline with a very generic Dem voting record by throwing a few footballs (I'm forgetting the name of the guY in MO who assembled a gun blindfolded).
But I'll say that the insistence on a particular kind of alpha-coded masculine white dude with military experience as the skeleton key to picking up Trump voters is going to raise the chances that you keep stepping on these rakes.
October 24, 2025 at 12:45 PM
This is true, but also, these guys can pick up Trump voters and not be terrible with a small amount of vetting. Tim Ryan overperformed the Dem baseline with a very generic Dem voting record by throwing a few footballs (I'm forgetting the name of the guY in MO who assembled a gun blindfolded).
This is a great read, and I've long thought that the tobacco fight is under-discussed today.
As Yglesias kind of notes, it's the kind of liberal victory that seems impossible in the post-Reagan era but did actually happen during a mostly-deregulatory period.
I'd add two things:
As Yglesias kind of notes, it's the kind of liberal victory that seems impossible in the post-Reagan era but did actually happen during a mostly-deregulatory period.
I'd add two things:
When I was a kid, trying to regulate cigarettes was a top tier political issue — huge partisan battles, big lawsuits, major motion pictures.
And it now feels absurd that there ever used to be ash trays in my local McDonalds.
www.slowboring.com/p/the-forgot...
And it now feels absurd that there ever used to be ash trays in my local McDonalds.
www.slowboring.com/p/the-forgot...
The forgotten politics of “big tobacco”
It’s worth learning lessons from the wins of the past.
www.slowboring.com
October 23, 2025 at 12:25 PM
This is a great read, and I've long thought that the tobacco fight is under-discussed today.
As Yglesias kind of notes, it's the kind of liberal victory that seems impossible in the post-Reagan era but did actually happen during a mostly-deregulatory period.
I'd add two things:
As Yglesias kind of notes, it's the kind of liberal victory that seems impossible in the post-Reagan era but did actually happen during a mostly-deregulatory period.
I'd add two things:
It used to be that 'generic Dem' and 'generic R' polled better than individual candidates, who have positions and flaws that can be exploited.
If the Dem brand is in the toilet, though (which it is), I wonder if this is reversing itself.
If the Dem brand is in the toilet, though (which it is), I wonder if this is reversing itself.
Someone made a similar point above, but The Downballot's daily newsletter just included a bunch of individual race polls suggesting a much more Democratic environment.
Not saying those polls are right and the generic ballot is wrong, just saying there's a discrepancy worth watching.
Not saying those polls are right and the generic ballot is wrong, just saying there's a discrepancy worth watching.
October 21, 2025 at 12:26 PM
It used to be that 'generic Dem' and 'generic R' polled better than individual candidates, who have positions and flaws that can be exploited.
If the Dem brand is in the toilet, though (which it is), I wonder if this is reversing itself.
If the Dem brand is in the toilet, though (which it is), I wonder if this is reversing itself.
"I don't understand why American Jews vote so heavily for Democrats." - people who are paid to write about politics, every few years
Chip Roy: "The truth is the marxist, radicals, and Islamists the Democratic Party promoted this weekend, they cannot handle the truth. The truth is that there is a king and that king is Jesus. And the president has been willing to say it, & Charlie Kirk was willing to say it & he got killed for it."
October 20, 2025 at 3:55 PM
"I don't understand why American Jews vote so heavily for Democrats." - people who are paid to write about politics, every few years
Reposted by Max Milstein
Yeah, but this is exactly true of punishment too. Causing them pain doesn’t change their minds, and even if it did we should worry because that’s usually a bad and irrelevant reason for changing one’s mind.
It's not quite @tznkai.bsky.social's point, but I hasten to add: an election result will never vindicate you.
I understand wanting this, I want it myself, but we need to know it's impossible. CNN is never going to put a green checkmark next to a box that says "you were right, they were wrong"
I understand wanting this, I want it myself, but we need to know it's impossible. CNN is never going to put a green checkmark next to a box that says "you were right, they were wrong"
I want so badly for God and/or the American people to punish the Republican party. Like it's a deep thrumming constant in all of my thoughts that I try to ignore and cannot.
October 20, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Yeah, but this is exactly true of punishment too. Causing them pain doesn’t change their minds, and even if it did we should worry because that’s usually a bad and irrelevant reason for changing one’s mind.
Reposted by Max Milstein
Protest turnout this weekend was great.
The generic ballot polling is not what I’d want to see
The generic ballot polling is not what I’d want to see
October 20, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Protest turnout this weekend was great.
The generic ballot polling is not what I’d want to see
The generic ballot polling is not what I’d want to see
It's not quite @tznkai.bsky.social's point, but I hasten to add: an election result will never vindicate you.
I understand wanting this, I want it myself, but we need to know it's impossible. CNN is never going to put a green checkmark next to a box that says "you were right, they were wrong"
I understand wanting this, I want it myself, but we need to know it's impossible. CNN is never going to put a green checkmark next to a box that says "you were right, they were wrong"
I want so badly for God and/or the American people to punish the Republican party. Like it's a deep thrumming constant in all of my thoughts that I try to ignore and cannot.
October 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
It's not quite @tznkai.bsky.social's point, but I hasten to add: an election result will never vindicate you.
I understand wanting this, I want it myself, but we need to know it's impossible. CNN is never going to put a green checkmark next to a box that says "you were right, they were wrong"
I understand wanting this, I want it myself, but we need to know it's impossible. CNN is never going to put a green checkmark next to a box that says "you were right, they were wrong"
Before J.K. Rowling let herself be defined by her worst views, someone roughly my age made a comment that so many people, when they read Order of the Phoenix, want to be Dumbledore's Army, standing up to fight evil.
October 18, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Before J.K. Rowling let herself be defined by her worst views, someone roughly my age made a comment that so many people, when they read Order of the Phoenix, want to be Dumbledore's Army, standing up to fight evil.