MetaFilter

Good thing grampa's sundowning got in the way of starting WW3 today
posted to MetaFilter by Rust Moranis at 8:21 PM on June 20, 2019

Prediction: by the end of this campaign season, there will be honest to god Klan robes at Trump rallies.
posted to MetaFilter by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:17 PM on June 18, 2019

Is there anything at all that us common folk can do to put pressure on Mitch McConnell?

No. He is absolutely immune to public pressure and literally lives for your tears. He loves how much he's hated by liberals.

The only thing you can do is donate to his Democratic challenger if it's either Amy McGrath or Matt Jones, and donate to those two in the KY democratic primary to help them overcome the state party's terrible choice... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by T.D. Strange at 11:04 AM on June 17, 2019

If you like this sort of thing, Owen Hatherley has a number of extremely engaging books. If you are not from the UK and only moderately interested in architecture, you might especially enjoy Militant Modernism and The Ministry of Nostalgia. Both of them deal with using the idea of the "new" and the "modern" for different political projects as a way of trying to break out of the trajectory of the past. I mean, with other things too, but... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 8:45 AM on June 16, 2019

It's shaping up to be a good night for progressives in the Virginia Democratic primaries.

First-term Socialist Lee Carter crushed a centrist challenger 58-42

A progressive prosecutor won in Arlington, and another is barely trailing in massive Fairfax County.

And the Senate Minority leader only leads Bernie delegate and former Iranian refugee Yasmine Taeb by ~300 votes.

Primary every Democrat,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by T.D. Strange at 6:20 PM on June 11, 2019

Labor beat! BREAKING: SEIU passes resolution in support of #GreenNewDeal. This groundbreaking measure aims to address climate change while creating high-quality union jobs. We need to combat climate change while raising standards for all working people
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 8:33 AM on June 7, 2019

It's kind of shocking how often randomness plus an adequately fast fitness function beats carefully engineered algorithms.

Many years ago I remember beating my head for days against a tricky problem involving drawing the largest possible text label within highly irregular polygons in a way that "looked right". I had settled on something complicated involving a walk to find the most distant vertex in a Voronoi diagram, but it still settled on local optima.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by xthlc at 6:33 AM on June 2, 2019

I've been doing a thought experiment as I think about 2020 and the Democratic primary.

Imagine that a time traveler comes back from 2025 and says that one of the Democratic candidates currently polling over 2% won the 2020 election and replaced Trump. The time traveler doesn't tell you which candidate but does give you a complete list of judicial appointments seated, international treaties signed, and major pieces of legislation successfully enacted into law. The time... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Justinian at 2:08 PM on June 2, 2019

It's an extended demonstration of "if it's not on television, it didn't happen" and whatever Mueller himself prefers, he's going to have to do some more verbatim reading in front of the cameras.

I may be piling on a bit, but... This.

One of Metafilter's inherent biases is that this is a highly text-based community. We make, parse and accept arguments like it's 1935. We think in paragraphs here.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by tivalasvegas at 3:18 PM on May 30, 2019

The Mueller Syllogism:

1. If Trump were innocent, we would say so.
2. If Trump is guilty, we will say nothing.
3.
posted to MetaFilter by Brachinus at 4:08 AM on May 30, 2019

This reminds me of a meme I came across that said something like "Why do girls chase after the jocks when they could date a nerd who is just as entitled and sexist?"
posted to MetaFilter by Kitty Stardust at 7:30 AM on May 29, 2019

House committee chairmen demand investigation into Russian oligarch’s $200 million investment in McConnell’s Kentucky (Rawstory)
posted to MetaFilter by Iris Gambol at 6:11 PM on May 16, 2019

It's not going to sate my appetite for long but if it should happen that we get treated to the public disgrace and fall of Mammon-worshipping pious hypocrite Fallwell, Jr., I would be temporarily satisfied with that as an amuse-bouche while we wait for the chefs to prepare the main course.
posted to MetaFilter by Nerd of the North at 9:01 PM on May 7, 2019

Now we're cooking with gas.

House Democrats threaten salaries of Trump officials who block interviews


House Democrats are threatening the salaries of Interior, Commerce and Justice Department staff if they block ongoing committee investigations.


House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) sent letters Tuesday calling for eight current and former Trump administration... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by scalefree at 3:43 PM on May 7, 2019

For one reason or another, any misstep by Firefox/Mozilla seems to inspire a largely irrational anger in otherwise rational people.*

The continued existence of this browser is a testament to the cultural value of FOSS and a push back against the handful of megacorps who are taking over the rest of the web, and the literal two massive conglomerates who produce its only real competitors. It trickles along on crumbs from Google and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by aspersioncast at 9:20 AM on May 4, 2019

Never forget that David Brooks taught a course on humility at Yale and put himself on the syllabus.
posted to MetaFilter by aaronetc at 7:25 PM on April 29, 2019

Finally, Schiff says House will make a criminal referral of Trump ally Erik Prince for possible perjury (WaPo)
posted to MetaFilter by peeedro at 6:49 AM on April 30, 2019

Congress Needs To Lock Up Non-Complying Witnesses (Martin Longman, Washington Monthly)

The basic constitutional crisis we have is that the executive branch is refusing to honor congressional subpoenas, and Congress certainly cannot compel the Department of Justice to act as their enforcement arm. That knocks one of Congress’s three options out from under them. They could go to the courts, but that is time-consuming. The fact that the White House wants to go to court... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by BungaDunga at 8:32 PM on April 25, 2019

Impeachment is not about punishment, impeachment is about cleansing the office ... The point I'm trying to make is that you don't even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic.

Lindsey Graham January 16, 1999, courtesy of TDS moment of zen.

The hypocrisy is no surprise to anyone here, but if we're going to impeach it may be worth curating these 180 soundbites. Make sure all the sunday... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adept256 at 12:56 AM on April 23, 2019

He's a tool. And "unwitting agent" is the best way I have found to express that besides actually saying "tool."

Something tells me it's been that way for his entire life. He's practically a force of nature. He's a beacon that radiates wave after wave of grasping need into the void. He emits a sirens call that cries, "Use me, for I am an empty shell personifying greed. I crave nothing but immediate gratification of my... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Room 101 at 5:20 PM on April 22, 2019

As far as impeachment, timing, the deep concern about the mythic independent voter, etc go I feel like I'm caught in a time loop and we're back to the early 2000's when the Democrats were "keeping their powder dry" and couldn't stop whatever the latest horror Junior was inflicting on the nation because they believed they'd only get one chance to do anything and they had to wait until they had something **REALLY** important to spend that chance on.

I remember... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sotonohito at 10:01 AM on April 22, 2019

I just want to announce that I have updated my site to reflect the release of the redacted Mueller report. There are little fixes throughout, but the most thoroughly overhauled section is the "Plausible Explanations" page. While there is a lot that I wish were covered in the report that isn't (or isn't in the public version), I do think Mueller gave us enough to cross off a lot of the possible "theories of the case" that people have been speculating about for a couple of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by OnceUponATime at 9:56 AM on April 22, 2019

It will be interesting to see what happens when their heavily armed, grievance-collecting base finally figures out that they're being grifted by what they saw as the foundation stones of their culture.

Yeah I wonder what'll happen.
posted to MetaFilter by tclark at 1:35 PM on April 20, 2019

Ha, I am looking at the satellite view of parking lots in the industrial park where Boston Dynamics is located. I think I gave my son driving lessons right near there (if not that exact parking lot) one holiday weekend.

Needless to say, it only took one teenager to yoke up and pull the car that day. That was the driving lesson.
posted to MetaFilter by not_on_display at 10:22 PM on April 19, 2019

archimago: "The Conways are playing a game. There is nothing deeper than that."

Yes, but it may be shortsighted. At the current rate, they're soon going to have fewer than two neighbors left.

</joke>
posted to MetaFilter by schmod at 5:58 AM on April 12, 2019

=================================>
==𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜, 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖜 𝖙𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉=====>
==𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖇𝖔𝖗𝖓 𝖎𝖓 𝖆 𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖞 𝖜𝖔𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖚𝖑=>
==𝖕𝖑𝖆𝖈𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝕲𝖊𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖞=============>
=================================>
posted to MetaFilter by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:34 PM on April 3, 2019

Meanwhile, looks like at least two socialist candidates -- Byron Sigcho-Lopez and André Vasquez -- are heading to Chicago's city council. Could end up with four or five @DemSocialists in there... would outnumber the three Republicans on the 50-member council.

*champange pops*
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 8:23 PM on April 2, 2019

Democrats flip America's greatest state senatorial district, PA SD-37!

This puts the Dems in good position to flip the state Senate in 2020.
posted to MetaFilter by Chrysostom at 6:45 PM on April 2, 2019

Greenwald is reflexively pro-Assange, and discounts any narrative that involves Wikileaks being a dishonest broker. He also sees the idea that Russia helped Trump win as a way for the Democratic establishment to avoid any responsibility for Hillary's failure, and to refuse to deal with “anti-elite” sentiment that prompted voters to go with the political outsider. The idea that the election was a complicated mix of factors, or that the swing voters might have wanted racism rather than an... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:32 AM on April 1, 2019

I carry the 1.
posted to MetaFilter by swift at 9:21 AM on March 26, 2019

as soon as Trump came out to say “Mueller Report needs to be published” I knew he had already seen it, and nothing would happen.

I grew up during the Nixon years, and I became a young man during the Reagan years. As a news junkie, it was scary. But the thing is? I’m still here. As are we all. It ain’t over yet.
posted to MetaFilter by valkane at 6:35 PM on March 22, 2019

if they impeach Trump and he isn't convicted in the Senate that they guarantee his re-election in 2020.

I agree with this. It would not only mobilize his base, it would also look like a final "no" answer to the "is he a criminal?" question that the politically uninformed center was pondering.

I've also been worried for some time about this less-likely scenario:

1. Dem house... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mmoncur at 9:37 PM on March 21, 2019

Why was Franklin Graham schmoozing with a sanctioned Russian official this month?

Because American evangelical protestantism is entirely inseparable from the ascendant alliance of intercontinental ethnonationalism and has less than nothing to do with religion. Franklin Graham was schmoozing with a Russian fascist because they're buddies and their interests align as fascists, no more speculation necessary.
posted to MetaFilter by Rust Moranis at 8:46 AM on March 21, 2019

The worst part about the McCain bashing is seeing how many people (conspicuously white and Republican, of course) are disgusted by it all...but not so disgusted by the Muslim Ban, or the abandonment of Puerto Rico after the hurricane, or all the kids locked up and effectively orphaned by this administration.

They're moved by disrespect for a white man. That's it. None of them have learned anything or changed at all.
posted to MetaFilter by scaryblackdeath at 6:09 PM on March 20, 2019

DB was laundering Russian blood money through Trump. They were willing to "lose" money on him, because they made a lot more money by selling their institutional reputation to Putin.
posted to MetaFilter by T.D. Strange at 8:43 PM on March 18, 2019

We're finally getting to Justin Kennedy.

We're going to look back in 20 years at this time, and Anthony Kennedy selling his Supreme Court seat to Donald Trump to save his son will be the single most corrupt thing that happened.
posted to MetaFilter by T.D. Strange at 6:23 PM on March 18, 2019

Ah. I get it now. It wasn't that fiat currencies were corrupt that supposedly made crypto a better idea, it was that fiat currencies weren't corrupt enough.
posted to MetaFilter by Thorzdad at 9:13 AM on March 15, 2019

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon. (May Allah give them an easy and pleasant journey and shower blessings on them.)
posted to MetaFilter by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 11:01 PM on March 14, 2019

Also so no one else goes down that pointless rabbit hole...

Did you know that if you put a + on the end of a bit.ly link you can look up where it goes to without following it. And also get some simple statistics about the link.

For instance Trump's is

https://bitly.com/ RemoveSpace 2KyoPz9+

Which was created on the 30th of June 2018, was used 2358 times prior to today. If you have an account... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by cirhosis at 8:46 PM on March 14, 2019

Trump to Breitbart on how the left plays tough: "I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump — I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point and then it would be very bad, very bad."

Your occasional reminder that the right fully expects any actual threat from the left to be crushed with absolute fascist brutality. If this Trump lacks the competence to organize and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rust Moranis at 9:31 AM on March 14, 2019

The biggest joke about the Frum piece is that the Dems have been "strong on illegal immigration" for at least a decade, and that didn't stop Trump's appeal. The dems kept funding border security, Obama deported like there was no tomorrow, and it did not win them one single vote in 2016.
posted to MetaFilter by BungaDunga at 9:02 AM on March 12, 2019

Given the Democrat's response to Fox News regarding the debates, I've been giving a lot of thought to how the final candidate might counter Trump's Gish Gallop of lies (assuming that he's the Republican candidate in 2020). We've seen that wresting with the pig doesn't get you far, but neither does "going high". I'm picturing an opening address from the Democratic candidate as something like this:


"Good evening. I'd like to thank the audience... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 8:45 PM on March 6, 2019

Quis disrumpentes ipsos disrumpet?
posted to MetaFilter by gauche at 8:36 AM on February 25, 2019

A Clinton-era centrist Democrat explains why it’s time to give democratic socialists a chance

Beauchamp: What you’re describing is... a particular view of what makes policies popular and sustainable. You say something about this is wrong — do you think it’s the political part, the economic part, or both?

DeLong: We were certainly wrong, 100 percent, on the politics.

Barack Obama rolls into office with Mitt Romney’s health... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by wildblueyonder at 5:01 PM on March 4, 2019

It's real illegal to release anyone's grades without their consent. If I so much as looked up the grades of a prominent politician without a really good reason, I would expect to be fired.
posted to MetaFilter by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:59 PM on February 27, 2019

Why is it that people always want to make sure that women have access to the shitty parts of equality, and not the good?
posted to MetaFilter by corb at 1:16 PM on February 25, 2019

I forgot the word for alley so I called it a "street tunnel"

my name is Ally
posted to MetaFilter by allymusiqua at 4:42 PM on February 19, 2019

i really wish he hadn't have done this - my feeling is he had his chance and it's better to let a new group of candidates move forward

i say this as someone who had voted for him and hasn't got anyone i've made up my mind on yet
posted to MetaFilter by pyramid termite at 7:00 AM on February 19, 2019

For a 90 day mission, I think it did pretty good.

And, for one, I disagree with the idea of bringing Opportunity back to Earth for any reason at all. We **SHOULD** send a manned mission to Mars to repair and refurbish it and let it continue rolling talking, taking pictures, and doing its thing forever. Or at least to build a monument on Mars around it to honor how hard it worked.

Opportunity is a Martian though, we shouldn't take it from its... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sotonohito at 11:43 AM on February 13, 2019

@matthewjdowd
If i were Senators Klobuchar, Warren, Harris, and Gillebrand I would soon do an event together where they stand side by side and say they stand as one even while they run against each other, and say any petty attack on one is an attack on all.

/IMHO this is a brilliant idea.
posted to MetaFilter by bluesky43 at 5:48 PM on February 11, 2019