You know, back around the start of the Cold War, there was a fear among leadership that America’s racism would become a weakness to exploit. But they feared that it would be the Soviets fomenting rebellions among Black people and turning them on to Communism. That’s why Eisenhower both tried to create a national…

I hadn’t heard of Coingate before, so I looked it up and just... wow.

How much influence does Corbyn still have after Labour’s shellacking and the leadership change?

Yes and no. It’s certainly intended as propaganda. However, the hollowing out of the State Department and stunts like this that damage our standing and influence on the world stage will have real, lasting consequences beyond Trump. It’s as worthy of attention as COVID-19.

Fair point. The all belligerence, all the time strategy is Republican doctrine on foreign policy. Though the always play to win the media for a day strategy is pure Trump admin.

You know, there are times when I could understand taking a more aggressive approach to China. Like, I have no doubt there probably was some shady shit going down at that consulate, for which they need to burn the contents of their filing cabinets before leaving. But the Trump admin’s approach is so completely…

Yeah, that would be great. It’s such a weird thing to obsess about, until you remember his brain stopped processing new information around the early ‘80s, when his one goal in life was to be respected by wealthy New York socialites.

Let’s not be too hasty! She’s also a liar, a bigot, and a crook!

Yeah, sounds like he was doing it wrong, to me. I’ve run some games that were full of gravitas, but if the players aren’t having fun, there’s no point. And being a little tipsy definitely makes it easier to really chew that scenery.

Let’s keep working multiple jobs to barely live on while someone else exploits labor.

The Christian right has always stood for an ethnic and cultural hegemony rather than supporting any defensible moral values. You can see in the actions of the power-seeking cult, The Fellowship, which started the National Prayer Breakfast, as part of the Eisenhower-era movement to associate Christian religion with…

I hate to think of all the government waste that’s no doubt being used to listen in on my weekly Google Hangouts D&D game. At this point, they really ought to do me the common courtesy of paying my beer budget.

This is reprehensible of course, but what else could you expect? Disgust at a practice he likely participated in? A competent deflection that mimics empathy for Maxwell’s victims?

Yet more proof that our reality is being written by the laziest, drunkest writer.

You’re not speaking to a hypothetical coastal progressive who does the things you don’t like. You’re speaking with me. For what it’s worth, I live in a rural, purple district, in a town that’s intractably red regardless of how corrupt our first selectman is. I’m active in local politics and I’m doing my part to get…

That form of white identity politics compliments the form of political correctness this Intercept article addresses. There are things you ought to be able to say and can’t say on TV. Spoiler: it’s not white conservative men who have to hide their beliefs.

It’s possible, but I wouldn’t necessarily read it that way. Abrams has signaled before that she wasn’t particularly interested in a legislative role and turned down the option to run for Senate in Georgia. Accepting a House seat, even one as prestigious as Lewis’ would be a step down from that. She’s probably also…

Thanks. I’ve been avoiding talking about Biden and party unity for awhile, even though I’ve had thoughts (a TL;DR amount of thoughts). It’s taken me some time since we’ve entered the Biden vs. Trump reality to be emotionally grounded enough to compose them without being a total asshole. I’m still not sure I succeeded,…

I hate to “well actually,” but young voters turned out in droves for Sanders and Warren. The problem was two-fold: the establishment rallied around Biden, while Sanders and Warren split each other’s votes (I was fucking prescient about that) and cost the emerging progressive, Sanders, momentum. And while young voters…

I think there’s considerable truth to that. Biden is nothing if not a consummate finger-in-the-air politician and I think that describes a lot of his policies from busing to the Crime Bill. While that’s all pretty gross, there’s a case to make that being in that lane was the only way to stay in office during the…