The older I get the more I admire people who are earnestly, genuinely into whatever their thing is. I know it sounds like an annoying cliche but unless you're being cruel or hurtful there is really no need to be normal about things. The dude with the bad fake accent at the renaissance faire is having the time of his life. The people having photoshoots with their fashion dolls are loving it. The old lady with a yard unreasonably full of tacky ass lawn ornaments is having a blast, HOA be damned. Don't waste your time being too cool to have fun, y'know?

I mean obviously as a certified non posable action figurine appreciator I'm a biased source here, but I do basically agree with this. Being unironically enthusiastic about weird niche things is one of the true joys of living in a society and if you can gain access to it you should.

"we would be better off if we had an actual race to the top rather than our current race to the bottom." @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com

// the headline is a bit unfortunate, bc it suggests hostility and perhaps military risk in the competition i hope we avoid. we should agree to a race to the top!

you knew they were taking us into the dark ages, but this is pretty literal.

Capital gains' share of total property income has increased some since 1960, but that share has increased A Lot for top-20%ers who own ~70% of HH assets. (Distr breakouts only avail since 2000.)

ha!

i wish we called straits narrows. it sounds cooler.

Yes. Quite.

that sounds like the tag line to a horror movie.

i think god owes me reparations for all the people who have died.

I hope that's right!

Imagine if jill Biden did this

look, you have to give the Trump administration props for efficiency. it took a years before Bush administration's adventure was universally recognized as a catastrophic debacle. this administration managed to achieve that in a matter of weeks. mission accomplished!

Full spreadsheet: wealth-economics.com/THIAs_5.2.xlsx

stares in Danish...

I didn’t think I could give out a “most depressing take” award today but here it is:

Nevertheless it's worth working at, and we've seen teachers and nurses have some remarkable successes! /fin

Objectively, these modern professions have to be more cohesive and work harder to disrupt production than traditional factories, where long linear production chains meant a relatively small number of people could cause outsize stoppages. 3/

But I think that's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it does indicate an alignment of interest. On the other hand, it's in the context of getting crushed, and a game of musical chairs, where people try to cling to fewer more privileged positions. 2/

I think it's a great point that what you might call the divide-and-conquer strategy towards labor of the neoliberal period, where a professional class is persuaded to identify with capital and break solidarity, is changing, as the trends seem now to increasingly proletarianize professionals. 1/

Here's labor share of (balance-sheet-incomplete) NIPA income, vs total income including holding gains.

what if we just did the opposite of what would be smart? what happens then?

as long as in the end there is a Trump Tower — Kish, he will score the escapade a victory.

trump this morning: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump + A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran! 715 ReTruths 2.59k Likes 4/7/26, 8:06 AM

trump just now: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump + A big day for World Peace! Iran wants it to happen, they've had enough! Likewise, so has everyone else! The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process. We'll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just "hangin' around" in order to make sure that everything goes well. I feel confident that it will. Just like we are experiencing in the U.S., this could be the Golden Age of the Middle East!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP 629 ReTruths 2.15k Likes 4/8/26, 12:01 AM

whiplash.

Actions lawmakers can propose, roughly from most to least powerful
*Impeachment
*Pass law/override veto
*Withhold/give $
*War powers resolution
*Block nominees
*Subpoenas
*Strongly worded letter
*Tweet of concern
*Sandwich tweet that puts kernel of criticism btw slices of praise
*Silence

Viral photo from some years back of a man nonchalantly mowing his yard with a tornado on the horizon .

How it feels doing literally any task right now.

After Trump's latest genocidal utterances, I'm posting this again from Anaïs Nin’s diary from 1939-1944:

“America is in even greater danger because of its cult of toughness, its hatred of sensitivity, and someday it may have to pay a price for this, because atrophy of feeling creates criminals”.

i know, i know, but it's honestly pretty amazing that (so far as i can tell) not a single Republican elected official, at any level, has publicly broken with Trump over his threat to annihilate the people of Iran at 8pm today

eclipse up close.

ht @paulcrider.liberalcurrents.com

The Moon! The Sun's corona! A crewed spacecraft! Oh my!

HOLY SHIT

it’s that authority, making or blessing which of the infinitely many contradictory arguments the LLM will be happy to make for us, that I think will require a human, one with some kind of social capital that confers authority in the context. /fin