I want to like Elizabeth Warren, but unfortunately I cannot support her. She’s just as busy cheering on our military adventurism as almost all the other candidates and the establishment in general, and she’s proposing de facto open borders.

That makes her a big no for me. I want the social programs in the US to at least persist, not be destroyed.

All is becoming optimized for dumbasses, so only dumbasses can use any of it.

Google has gotten good at figuring out what I’m looking for when I don’t know myself, but fucking horrible at finding things I already know exist.

— SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) July 11, 2019

For me, Google is now terrible at finding what I’m looking for whether I know it exists or not. In many ways it’s like using a search engine from 1996 or so. I know it’s geared for and aimed at the droolers now, but it’d disappointing because I know it could be better. As, obviously, it used to be better.

Oh my god, look at this fucking moron. Of course I am talking about Kevin Drum.

Washington Can’t Solve a Housing Crisis That Doesn’t Exist.

Could this dispshit be any more of an ignorant fuckwad? Unusually, even his commenters take him to task for his latest bit of asshattery. I will quote two of them in toto.

This is grossly misleading. There’s no *national* housing crisis, but huge numbers of people are affected by very real regional housing crises. And these are the very areas where the job growth is greatest, so ever more people are being affected. So yes, we have to build a *lot* more housing in these already very populous areas. Which means greater density. Alas, Kevin hates density, and misses no chance to argue against it, even if it means using national statistics to bury local realities.

And:

It’s not just Kevin, it’s just about anyone who owns a freestanding (and now extremely valuable) home in places like LA, Seattle, or the Bay Area. If you can figure out how to change those people’s minds about living next to a high-rise apartment building instead of another charming little bungalow, we’re all ears.

Averaging rent and median income across the US means nothing. See this post for why.

Kevin Drum is a lying shill, a worthless fuckstick douchecanoe shitstack of human worthlessness. Fuck that guy.

"fully automated luxury gay space communism" is a deeply flawed meme, but it caught on because of a gap in leftist discourse.

"a better world is possible" doesn't only signify an end to injustice and free access to what we need to survive

we need a politics of joy

— trixie (@dTrixieF) July 8, 2019

This is exactly what I am talking about when I complain about the left’s absurd austerity discourse for the future. You know, their utopian dream of everyone living in gray concrete boxes and slurping algae out of bottles. Left austerity for a so-called green but impoverished future will work about as well as right austerity has for the economy. In that, you know, it won’t.

Unfortunately, the left has mostly become enmeshed in some purity movement where the more deprived you are and the more you force unnecessary hardship and privation on everyone else, the more pure and green you are seen as being. This is in large part the reason (other than protecting corporations) for the impetus behind banning the very-convenient straws and plastic bags rather than doing something more efficacious.

We have to do better.

If I were the autocrat of the US with unlimited power, I’d immediately reduce the size of the military by 90%, withdraw nearly all forces from overseas bases, immediately end all wars and overseas adventures, and repurpose the dissolved military (assuming they accepted the jobs) into a corps for building nationwide subsidized high-speed rail and other mass transit (bike lanes, streetcars, the like). Within 10 years, I’d ban all private cars in all major cities and in most medium-size and small cities.

At the same time (and this would make the so-called progressives go utterly mad) I’d spend five years deporting all illegal immigrants with really invasive roundups, etc., that mainly punished employers (why they are here), but I’d also immediately grant citizenship to any green card holders, anyone on student visas, anyone here on a tourist visa (if they wanted it), anyone here on H-1B, etc. I’d next invite all these illegal immigrants to apply through the correct channels and then fairly consider their cases over the next few years. I expect most would be economic migrants, so I’d guess most would be rejected.

This would reduce the population a good bit — say 12 million people. It would also lower housing costs, especially for those on the low end. Not that it’d matter for long, because speaking of housing, I’d seize nearly all housing in the US and start a massive building program of public housing, similar to the Singapore model blended with the German model, and actually have somewhat fair housing in this country.

Other than what’s being actively used for farmland for crops that people can eat, I’d forcibly move everyone out of the Midwest and turn into the biggest damn wilderness and wildlife preserve on the planet — let it revert to its natural state and reintroduce native animals. Ok, I’m an autocrat, who am I kidding? I am going to make some damn sabertooth tigers to run around in there, too. Hell yeah.

I’d establish Medicare for All immediately, dissolve all private health insurance companies nearly immediately (with compensation and a transition period for the workers affected), and I’d establish a UBI of some sort while increasing SSI by 40% and any disabled insurance and aid by 50%+.

Then, I’d increase the size of the space program 10x and immediately establish a real space station, start experimenting with orbital biospheres (I expect most if not all to fail utterly but the science is what matters), and have a permanent, small presence on Mars (colonizing Mars is moronic, so it should not be done).

I’d also rush work on the safe (pebble-bed, etc.) nuclear reactors, solar, wind, and transition the US to renewable energy within 20 years.

All universities would be free, private monstrosities like Harvard would be abolished and their assets seized, and the funds used to sponsor real educations for everyone else. State universities would see their funding at least doubled.

Not lastly, but all I feel like writing now, research in both science and humanities would be increased by a factor of 10, and I expect this would pay off in less than 20 years.

So why not make me your autocrat? All I want is a really cool jet. And a sabertooth tiger.

Man in underwear arrested at animal shelter after fighting invisible nemesis.

I ask you, who has not been there at least once? Invisible nemeses are very dangerous indeed. And the police never believe you when you rain down destruction on the invisible instigating adversary and only you are there to arrest.

Sounds like he also had Cotard delusion.

It’s hilarious to watch physicists and other math types argue about philosophy but not realize they are arguing about philosophy. It’s one of the best comedy routines I am aware of. It’s the Mr. Bean of the academic set.

Something odd I’ve noticed about the Fat Acceptance movement is that most of them talk about their bodies as completely separate from the rest of their being. They always say odd things like, “It feels good to my body” or “This body is strong” and similar phrasings. It’s like they don’t even associate their bodies with themselves.

I wonder if that is not part of the problem, this dissociation? It’s just a very bizarre way of speaking that I noticed. I don’t have any firm conclusions about it but it seems like a clue to something.

Given her first nomination for THE SIXTH SENSE, which (while deserved. Shoulda won) was very much a surprise, I get why people thought she might get in for HEREDITARY, another great performance in a horror film. But I never thought she would, sadly.https://t.co/U9p4rb2efy

— [kie.ran] (@danblackroyd) July 10, 2019

I’d forgotten she was in The Sixth Sense. Will have to watch that again just for Collette.

But, yes, unfortunately for horror-haters the best movie performance of 2018 was Toni Collette in Hereditary. No others I saw were even that close. Sarah Paulson in Bird Box doesn’t really count because she was only in the film for five minutes or so.