Ah. So its the people that want to regulate AI that are the Antichrist. Spiderman pointing meme.
I would do anything for democracy but I won't Douthat, no no, no I won't Douthat.
3: Ten years into Trumponoia, this has to be a bit?
"All these Antichrist books people wrote" - so Thiel is literally treating Left Behind & similar religious pseudo-thrillers as liturgical text, since all the stuff he's talking about is extra-biblical (sketched in from different unconnected biblical text).
Yeah, I think this is the "You have to pretend the nonsense I say is true as submission to my power" move, like the 1/21/2027 inaugural crowds bit.
And as has been said over and over, even that extrabiblical stuff points ridiculously well to Trump.
5: like the 1/21/2027 inaugural crowds bit.
Oh shit, just got home from errands. What did the Supreme Court decide now?
I'm convinced by the one or two tweets I've seen that claim Mr Beast is the Antichrist. Just because I find him and the mysterious hold he has over tween viewers completely inexplicable, and he has really creepy facial expressions.
Like Miss Rachel for babies. (She actually seems very nice, and possibly has zero intersection here because Unfogged hasn't had babies since the pandemic, as far as I know. My baby niece and nephew love her.)
Ha. I have previously observed I seem to store years in a one-digit field.
possibly has zero intersection here
There's a possible intersection with politics and foreign policy threads that I recommend not looking up if you haven't come across it before.
Miss Rachel is awesome. (I have two grandnieces.) She's politically correct, she has the right enemies and unlike, say, the Teletubbies, she's not at all creepy.
5: This sort of thing really speaks to me, and I think Thiel and I genuinely have this in common. He's talking about the Antichrist in terms of science fiction and fantasy literature, and I am (or was) really into that stuff.
And Thiel is right in the sense that, prior to Trump, the whole antichrist thing had a big hole at the center of it -- a hole that has since been filled (as per 6).
Trump's first term was marked by a global plague!
13: Sure, but it makes for a content-free interview for Thiel to launch into the topic and Douthat to take it at face value. Better suited to the toked-up couch convo.
Better suited to the toked-up couch convo.
Another thing I was totally into!
14: The entire quite long interview, by the way, is impressively content-free, in an interesting contrast with Douthat's Marc Andreessen interview. Douthat really captured what a stupid, scary, crazy fuck Andreesen is, in a way that Douthat and Thiel seem to have mostly avoided, pretty much by not saying anything at all.
I admit to having an unhealthy interest in the mind of Ross Douthat. He's a genuinely weird individual in a way that, say, David Brooks and Bret Stephens are not.
Ross is also, despite being a weirdo and a bad person, a talented writer.
Where has Douthat random-walked to on Trump? Is he still mostly anti-anti? I haven't read him in years.
Does he still like to chatter about various ethnic restaurants in DC owing their presence to the 1960s immigration reforms?
20: are you confusing him with Tyler Cowen?
I'm not sure which of them should be insulted by that.
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There's a local proposal for a private company to build a fancy hotel on public university property. They want an economic incentive package from the city. They are proposing to invest $40 million into the hotel, and get $1 million in tax breaks per year, for ten years.
Why the hell should the city agree to this? ISTM that the alternatives are either:
1. they build a $40 million hotel and pay full taxes.
2. they build a $30 million hotel and pay full taxes.
3. the university does something else with the property, but I seriously doubt it stays vacant in this hot location.
Just to make sure: am I missing anything? This is just a shmoozey businessmen with fancy briefcase 3 martini lunch thing, or is there actually sufficient voodoo economics going on to justify this?
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I think asking what the alternatives are sounds like the kind of wise leadership a city needs.
24: I think you're supposed to make a counter --proposal. Tell Mr. Rich and Fancy that if he guarantees that he'll hire so many locals and donate some percent of his profits to the local food bank then you'll give him half the tax break he requested. You could throw in something about hiring your good-for-nothing cousin if you want to be slightly corrupt.
Would they buy the land? Lease it? At market price or another subsidy?
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In addition to being horrified by the Medicaid cuts, I am grossed out by the mount of money in this bill for ICE and detention.
I know my Rep will vote against it. But just being silent on it feels wrong.
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28.1: Yeah, I agree that's genuinely shocking and I'm not sure -- among all of the other shocking things going on -- if people have internalized the fact that practical steps are being taken to build no-kidding concentration camps.
26: the wheeling and dealing would have mostly happened before it ever got to the public.
27: I assume they're going to lease it from the university, but I don't actually know. Maybe they're buying it.
We watched Beetlejuice with the kids tonight and they found it very slow and boring. Only one of them is familiar with the musical. It was never my very favorite movie, but I thought it held up fine? I suppose there's not much plot.
I remember seeing that movie in the theater and thinking it was stupid, and being dumbfounded about what all the hype was about.
I found it stressful in the theater, because I didn't realize we were not supposed to take anyone seriously. Also this time I appreciated Catherine O'Hara's nuance, instead of just finding her character to be a terrible person.
I sent an email to city council about the hotel, and outlining why I thought the math didn't add up. Immediately the progressive councilmember forwarded it along, CCing me, with a clipped "Please look into this!" and I felt like we were in some enjoyably choreographed dance.
In our city, council members are allowed to CC emails to a majority of other council members because it violates the state laws about having a public meeting without public participation. There are good reasons for it but, in practice, its really dumb.
Is there a "not" missing? I'm confused, but also I know nothing of being responsible.
I would oppose in particular selling off the land. That's an asset for future generations to use for the public. A long-term lease is fine, but when the hotel's worn out, the land should remain public property. Or university property or whatever.
Yeah, there is a not missing. I just can't type coherently like I used to.
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Thom Thillis is retiring. Maybe there's hope for a Dem to pick up the NC Senate seat.
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Yeah, that's a huge pickup opportunity.
Tillis is just trying to distract from the news that I caught my 500,000th Pokemon today.