reading through the darkness
@ardentreader.bsky.social
Dog lover, amateur chef, bento enthusiast, science fiction nerd.
I work in tech and use words for a living.
I work in tech and use words for a living.
The thing about drug trafficking is that it's demand-driven and if you try to cut off one source of supply, it just starts coming in through another source.
December 13, 2025 at 10:49 PM
The thing about drug trafficking is that it's demand-driven and if you try to cut off one source of supply, it just starts coming in through another source.
That is it exactly.
December 13, 2025 at 8:54 PM
That is it exactly.
If you saw someone pulling that face at you from across a restaurant, you'd ask to move tables if not outright leave.
December 13, 2025 at 8:52 PM
If you saw someone pulling that face at you from across a restaurant, you'd ask to move tables if not outright leave.
There's an adage about people that once they start posting transphobic stuff, they predictably and quickly go off the deep end.
We're seeing that happen with government too. Measures that would be considered unthinkable violations of personal rights are suddenly A-OK if they hurt trans people.
We're seeing that happen with government too. Measures that would be considered unthinkable violations of personal rights are suddenly A-OK if they hurt trans people.
December 13, 2025 at 7:54 PM
There's an adage about people that once they start posting transphobic stuff, they predictably and quickly go off the deep end.
We're seeing that happen with government too. Measures that would be considered unthinkable violations of personal rights are suddenly A-OK if they hurt trans people.
We're seeing that happen with government too. Measures that would be considered unthinkable violations of personal rights are suddenly A-OK if they hurt trans people.
And in fact one of the reasons Trump is a threat is because he's an idiot and has surrounded himself with idiots.
It's very difficult to start a military operation that doesn't have some type of unforeseen blowback even if you have a general grasp of how things work, which he definitely doesn't.
It's very difficult to start a military operation that doesn't have some type of unforeseen blowback even if you have a general grasp of how things work, which he definitely doesn't.
December 13, 2025 at 7:34 PM
And in fact one of the reasons Trump is a threat is because he's an idiot and has surrounded himself with idiots.
It's very difficult to start a military operation that doesn't have some type of unforeseen blowback even if you have a general grasp of how things work, which he definitely doesn't.
It's very difficult to start a military operation that doesn't have some type of unforeseen blowback even if you have a general grasp of how things work, which he definitely doesn't.
My mom's from a rural KS area that's been depopulating since the 50s. Big local employers are the prison, nursing home, public school. Drives of at least 90 miles each way for most medical care and a lot of shopping. It's depressing as hell, which is why the real estate is cheap.
December 13, 2025 at 7:28 PM
My mom's from a rural KS area that's been depopulating since the 50s. Big local employers are the prison, nursing home, public school. Drives of at least 90 miles each way for most medical care and a lot of shopping. It's depressing as hell, which is why the real estate is cheap.
Yes! The enclosed design is bonkers for an urban shopping center.
And it's also a stressful driving experience because it's surrounded on 3 sides by one-way streets, one of which is the outlet of a freeway offramp, and the parking garage is cramped, narrow, and hard to turn in.
And it's also a stressful driving experience because it's surrounded on 3 sides by one-way streets, one of which is the outlet of a freeway offramp, and the parking garage is cramped, narrow, and hard to turn in.
December 13, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Yes! The enclosed design is bonkers for an urban shopping center.
And it's also a stressful driving experience because it's surrounded on 3 sides by one-way streets, one of which is the outlet of a freeway offramp, and the parking garage is cramped, narrow, and hard to turn in.
And it's also a stressful driving experience because it's surrounded on 3 sides by one-way streets, one of which is the outlet of a freeway offramp, and the parking garage is cramped, narrow, and hard to turn in.
That's just awful.
December 12, 2025 at 10:05 PM
That's just awful.
Yeah, in retrospect it seems obvious and we should have been more prepared, but even people who are pretty sanguine about what he's capable of may have had a hard time imagining he'd just go and demolish of a part of the freaking *White House* with no public notice or discussion. I know I did.
December 12, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Yeah, in retrospect it seems obvious and we should have been more prepared, but even people who are pretty sanguine about what he's capable of may have had a hard time imagining he'd just go and demolish of a part of the freaking *White House* with no public notice or discussion. I know I did.
I think he'll disobey an injunction; I'm interested to see if contractors will go along with it.
If he's able to tear down the East Wing but not build anything to replace it, leaving a gaping crater in the ground, the analogy to his entire Presidency will be pretty on the nose.
If he's able to tear down the East Wing but not build anything to replace it, leaving a gaping crater in the ground, the analogy to his entire Presidency will be pretty on the nose.
December 12, 2025 at 9:22 PM
I think he'll disobey an injunction; I'm interested to see if contractors will go along with it.
If he's able to tear down the East Wing but not build anything to replace it, leaving a gaping crater in the ground, the analogy to his entire Presidency will be pretty on the nose.
If he's able to tear down the East Wing but not build anything to replace it, leaving a gaping crater in the ground, the analogy to his entire Presidency will be pretty on the nose.
I think they kept it fairly close to the chest, and most of the people who knew of the plans weren't people who'd want to stop it.
December 12, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I think they kept it fairly close to the chest, and most of the people who knew of the plans weren't people who'd want to stop it.
This is somewhat standard real estate development SOP and is definitely something Trump has done in the past: if you demolish before people realize it's happening, you get ahead of any legal measures to prevent it and there's no remedy (and often no real consequences) once it's done.
December 12, 2025 at 9:13 PM
This is somewhat standard real estate development SOP and is definitely something Trump has done in the past: if you demolish before people realize it's happening, you get ahead of any legal measures to prevent it and there's no remedy (and often no real consequences) once it's done.
It seems like the reasons they'll talk about amount to maintaining independence and dislike of heavy-handed WH bullying. But concerns about spreading GOP voters too thin/and or being shut out of a D-run congress in a blue wave year, plus Trump's fading mojo, were probably also factors.
December 12, 2025 at 8:12 PM
It seems like the reasons they'll talk about amount to maintaining independence and dislike of heavy-handed WH bullying. But concerns about spreading GOP voters too thin/and or being shut out of a D-run congress in a blue wave year, plus Trump's fading mojo, were probably also factors.
That is definitely an interesting strategy in a potentially huge blue wave year and I encourage them to try it!
December 12, 2025 at 7:45 PM
That is definitely an interesting strategy in a potentially huge blue wave year and I encourage them to try it!
Retail workers legitimately have to deal with a lot of abuse from entitled customers.
This is not that situation.
This is not that situation.
December 12, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Retail workers legitimately have to deal with a lot of abuse from entitled customers.
This is not that situation.
This is not that situation.
This is an especially salient point since there is an active transatlantic right-wing, anti-democracy movement exchanging ideas and methods for radicalizing voters and implementing radical anti-immigrant agendas in multiple countries right now.
December 12, 2025 at 6:52 PM
This is an especially salient point since there is an active transatlantic right-wing, anti-democracy movement exchanging ideas and methods for radicalizing voters and implementing radical anti-immigrant agendas in multiple countries right now.
Right? Behavior like this does not come out of nowhere.
December 12, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Right? Behavior like this does not come out of nowhere.
I'm realizing that in retrospect, the ability of this extremely mediocre, dense person to constantly fail upward was a harbinger of the Trump era.
December 12, 2025 at 5:50 PM
I'm realizing that in retrospect, the ability of this extremely mediocre, dense person to constantly fail upward was a harbinger of the Trump era.
Yes, they are missing the main thing that is interesting about this story, which is what kind of mattress costs 319K.
December 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Yes, they are missing the main thing that is interesting about this story, which is what kind of mattress costs 319K.
It seems bad that they're both sitting on financial houses of cards, are tight with the current administration, and therefore have the reasonable expectation that there will be no corporate or financial oversight from the government at all in the next few years.
December 12, 2025 at 5:36 PM
It seems bad that they're both sitting on financial houses of cards, are tight with the current administration, and therefore have the reasonable expectation that there will be no corporate or financial oversight from the government at all in the next few years.
Also, for various psychological reasons, consumers tend to mentally decouple wage gains and price increases.
Not to hand it to burrito taxi complainers, but during this time period services also started charging rates closer to cost instead of subsidizing with VC $, so of course those fees went up.
Not to hand it to burrito taxi complainers, but during this time period services also started charging rates closer to cost instead of subsidizing with VC $, so of course those fees went up.
December 12, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Also, for various psychological reasons, consumers tend to mentally decouple wage gains and price increases.
Not to hand it to burrito taxi complainers, but during this time period services also started charging rates closer to cost instead of subsidizing with VC $, so of course those fees went up.
Not to hand it to burrito taxi complainers, but during this time period services also started charging rates closer to cost instead of subsidizing with VC $, so of course those fees went up.