Dumb Comments for the Week of June 16, 2024
Boy, Matt Yglesias's Popularist Ideals Sure Seem Arbitrary and Self-Serving!
As I’ve said here before, Matt Yglesias’s status as both uber-aggressive YIMBY radical and cautious incrementalist popularist makes no sense.
It makes plenty of sense. Some policies are so clearly bad and have such clearly bad results but also have such obvious and feasible remedies that it doesn’t make sense to anything less than uber-aggressive. NIMBYism falls into that category. Other policies aren’t so clear cut, their results less clear, and remedies less obvious and less feasible, so that it makes sense to be cautious. There is no tension to be had, and it’s weird that Freddie is pretending there is. I suspect his objection is rooted in ideological antagonism—he shoehorns in a complaint about neoliberalism, of course—because people with stronger ideological inclinations tend to think everything in their ideological platform is as black-and-white as YIMBYism. That is one reason to be weary of strong ideological inclinations, and it also explains why so many people on the far-left and far-right have such scorn for moderates or centrists or incrementalists or whatever label they’re throwing around this week: because ideology bundles ideas in a way that warps their perspective and treatment of those underlying ideas.
And trying to ascribe negative intentions or character flaws to Matt Yglesias for his positions is beneath Freddie.
Stupid people are remarkably consistent.
Everyone says dumb things from time to time, even smart people (see above). But stupid people say almost exclusively stupid things, time and time again, to the point where it becomes predictable. Let’s look at a few examples from this week alone.
US Supreme Court upholds federal domestic-violence gun ban. “Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the 2022 ruling in a case called New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, was the lone dissenter.” Yes, this adds up.
Senate sends package bolstering nuclear power sector to Biden’s desk. “The Senate on Tuesday passed a package aimed at bolstering the nation’s nuclear power sector, sending it to President Biden’s desk. The vote was 88-2. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) opposed the measure.” Yes, this adds up.
Louisiana requires display of Ten Commandments in all classrooms. Yes, this adds up.
Britain's Stonehenge sprayed with paint by environmental protesters. Yes, this adds up.
UK's Nigel Farage says the West provoked Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Yes, this adds up.
On a related note, …
Progressive Democrats Scramble to Save One of Their Stars From Defeat
“I cannot think of a single race that better exemplifies the battle, frankly for our democracy, between everyday people choosing their representation and big money coming in and choosing it for them,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview.
Trying to discredit the results of a democratic election in the absence of any voter fraud, suppression, or intimidation? That horseshoe theory shit is real. And I’m afraid “these people that I don’t like spent money on political ads that I don’t like” doesn’t qualify as voter fraud, suppression, or intimidation.
Speaking of horseshoe theory, …
Why do S.F.’s furthest left and farthest right mayoral candidates sound so alike on key issues?
Hint: it’s because far-left and far-right are primarily lunatics. This is not a “moderate” or “centrist” or “incrementalist” position. Really, it’s not a position at all: it’s an observation about the kind of people who fall into ideological extremes.
In First Case of its Kind, NLRB Judge Declares Non-Compete Clause Is an Unfair Labor Practice
The union salt in this case lied about his employment history to get hired, declared he was a union organizer after being hired, and then was fired. Salting is protected activity, lying about your employment history to salt is also protected activity, and firing someone for salting is an unfair labor practice.
This is so insane that I had to read it over several times because I thought the insanity must have been a result of me mis-reading the paragraph. But no, apparently this kind of preposterously unethical behavior really is protected. I dislike unions the more I read about them.
Inspired by Olympics debut, Japan's seniors blaze breakdancing trail
Saruwaka Kiyoshie, 74, a member of Japan’s only breakdancing club made up of elderly citizens Ara Style Senior, practices a dance move known as ‘chair freeze’ during a practice session in Tokyo, Japan April 26, 2024.
Caitlin Clark didn't ask to be a cultural battering ram
Last week, she was asked about being used as a weapon in the culture wars, where certain commentators point to her treatment by Black opponents as proof of some kind of league-sanctioned anti-white bent. Clark said she tried not to pay attention to any of that stuff, that her focus was on basketball.
That position lasted a few hours, as critics blasted her refusal to engage. DiJonai Carrington of the Connecticut Sun succinctly concluded: "Silence is a luxury."
I really feel for anyone who gets dragged into culture war bullshit against their will. She’s a basketball player. She plays a game for a living.
But "hiding behind basketball" could also be characterized as "avoiding the cesspool that is social media."
This is well put.