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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • You’re talking about national elections, and I’m talking about presence in state and local elections. Candidates with a sustainable/viable chance nationally must first have an established local presence. That base builds credibility and sustainability for a movement, as others in the movement can also point towards local or state wins to justify their own candidacies.

    I also happen to be familiar with my state Democratic party chairs. The idea that they could be systemically suppressing progressives in state or local elections would require a level of competence and political acumen I’ve never seen them demonstrate. They barely have control over their party, as is. I’m connected to the political world in my state both personally and professionally, and the concept of Democrats being able to exert this kind of control is actually laughable.

    The bottom line is that you’re mad that Democrats don’t support your candidates, and Democrats are mad you don’t support theirs. Both attitudes are unproductive. In the end, if either progressives or Democrats wants to pick up votes, they’re going to need to actually persuade voters to show up and vote consistently, and not just in federal elections. This will include voters you don’t necessarily like or fully agree with. You know who ran candidates in and voted for every single school board race? The damn Tea Party.


  • People aren’t going to like what you’re saying, but there’s an element of uncomfortable truth. Money and establishment power didn’t let the neocons beat back the tea party movement. I desperately want solid progressives, but the ones who appear on my local ballot are either obviously unfit or don’t garner enough votes from a “moderate” electorate. And I live in a rabidly “blue” area.

    There is a hearts and minds campaign that progressives have continuously failed at, and blaming democratic elites solely for this failure is no more accurate than Democrats blaming progressives for their losses. Politics in a democracy is coalition-building, and we’re apparently all failing together.







  • I couldn’t take the suspense and I had to look it up.

    Musk also told the crowd that he didn’t like the ideas he was presented with early in the week. “I was a bit worried at the beginning there,” he said, “because frankly nothing was funny.”

    He then went on to reveal his idea of funny, describing one pitch in particular that did not go over well.

    “One of the things that everyone’s been wondering this whole time is: Is Saturday Night Live actually live… or do they have a delay just in case there’s a wardrobe malfunction or something like that?,” Musk said to set up the pitch. “But there’s a way to test this.” (SNL does, in fact, air without a tape delay.)

    In Musk’s vision, he’d tell the audience he was going to put this to the test by taking “his cock out.”

    “So I’m going to reach down into my pants… and then I pull out a baby rooster,” Musk explained. “Like, ‘This is my tiny cock.’”

    Unfortunately, the joke didn’t end there.

    “And then Kate McKinnon walks out,” added Jason Calacanis, co-host of the All-In Podcast, who was also present in the pitch meeting. “And she says, ‘Elon, I expected you would have a bigger cock.’”

    McKinnon, meanwhile, would have been holding a cat.

    “You can see where this is going,” Musk told the crowd

    Article


  • The Battle of Chile is a three part documentary about the military coup against Salvador Allende in the 1970s. Patricio Guzman and his associates recognized that crazy things were about to happen and took to the streets to capture as much footage as they could, knowing that a record needed to be kept. One of the cameramen was disappeared, tortured, and presumably killed, while the others smuggled the footage out to Cuba.

    It may feel too prescient for American audiences now. Gods, it was plenty powerful to me as an American watching in 2012. It is well worth your time.











  • The trick for anything is time and consistency. Choose two or three things from this list and plan when you will devote a few hours each week. During your “practice” time, find and use learning resources online.

    Some of these ideas are also shorter-term kind of forming things (like avoid brain rot, touch more grass), so I would also dedicate time weekly to think of/plan concrete changes in your life to accomplish them. Rotate through the list until the habit is fully formed.