Steve Randy Waldman

good. big ass truck abundance is climate arson.

how much of it is policy uncertainty kneecapping investment and expansion? how much of it is AI-related labor minimization? what else?

The Most Chilling Detail in the U.S. Attack on an Iranian Naval Ship The Iranian warship was taking part in an international exercise with many other countries—including the United States.

This is a chilling crime. A shame on our country. The Iranian ship was unarmed. The US knew this. The sailors were murdered by our navy, and the survivors were left to die at sea.
newrepublic.com/post/207429/...

[some-subscribed-rss] New Post: Copyright is Dead, by Alexandru Nedelcu https://alexn.org/blog/2026/03/06/copyright-is-dead/?pk_campaign=rss

“Slurs filled a chat” is a beaut

shit. i am so sorry, and relieved that everybody is okay.

Instead of retreating into facile cynicism about the safety net and regulatory state, people on the left should be trying to occupy the bureaucracy at the state, local, and, after the MAGA putschists are finally expelled from power, federal level—not simply because we need good people in those jobs, but because enough good people in any given department can change its internal culture for the better. A lot depends, for example, on whether state and local transportation departments are staffed by car-brained traffic engineers or planners who are genuinely invested in walkability and developing viable mass transit networks. Just as much hinges on whether state health agencies are staffed by people with a genuine commitment to the cause of universal healthcare, even in the face of brutal federal Medicaid cuts. There’s another reason for occupying the bureaucracy, too. For a movement that wants to transform the state, there is tremendous value in understanding how policy implementation and institutional change happens on a granular level. If you spend some time working inside the bureaucracy and you keep your eyes open, you can learn a lot about the points of leverage that leftist politicians and outside advocacy groups can press to their advantage. On the flipside, you can also learn a great deal about the tradeoffs associated with certain approaches and how well-intentioned but undercooked policy initiatives can produce unintended consequences. These are all important lessons for anyone trying to push any level of government in a more humane direction. But they’re especially important lessons for leftist officials who have ambitious agendas, a finite amount of time in which to implement them, and little room for error.

The case against Graeberism and for Mamdanism dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=29WX...

there’s also the now unreviewable pardon power that can be promised to otherwise reluctant underlings, another gift from US v Trump. /fin

SecDef etc are following orders. they are unconstitutional and therefore illegal orders, but US courts are I think very cautious about enforcing an obligation to disobey illegal orders, on the theory they aren’t lawyers + effective war fighting requires giving superiors the benefit of the doubt. 2/

the rules-based international order never credibly threatened US allied leaders with criminal consequences. 1/

to wintarize must mean to make concise text more prolix.

"Deadwood" and the community of spirits On rewatching David Milch's masterpiece in the age of the oligarch

New URL, same post.

Do you like Deadwood? Do you want to read about why it's arguably the greatest work of art in recent American history?

Buddy, have I got the post for you.

The reason we have “stupid rules of engagement” is to make sure we don’t bomb elementary schools.

Had US v. Trump not happened, would Trump have launched a full-scale war (arguably two) without some kind of Congressional fig leaf?

#nausea

I’m so tired of seeing people bash Bluesky for being an echo chamber when X is an actual intentionally constructed echo chamber that is demonstrably radicalizing people across the political spectrum who still use it

Kristi Noem before and after her MAGA plastic surgery mistakes

dog this is straight up fucking crazy

The federal income tax is already quite progressive. This will only fuel conservative talking points about how x% of people don't pay it (which conveniently ignores all the payroll taxes, state & local taxes, etc that everyone pays).

Can coding agents relicense open source through a “clean room” implementation of code?

simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/5/c...

⬇️⬇️⬇️ So much of the “discourse” consists of people with no experience in political messaging claiming expertise in political messaging. (I’m not claiming that people with experience in political messaging necessarily have expertise or skill in political messaging, but…)

it’s not just a middle finger, it’s homeopathic homicide.

and just think of the knock-on effects on the natural gas market.

This sounds like what a teenage boy playing Fortnite would say.

What's especially wild about Target's anti-woke moment is that if they'd simply stuck to their own stated principles, and toughed it out through presidential disapproval for, like, three months, they'd look like heroes and would be more popular than ever

“The programs are contending with rising costs as H.I.V. drugs become more expensive even as health care subsidies have expired, sending premiums soaring.”

// why on earth are HIV drugs getting more expensive? shouldn’t some of these cocktails be going off-patent now?

and the best defense is a good offense, amirite?

The Roberts Court's position is that if you deserved justice or due process you would be rich bsky.app/profile/mjsd...

You have more information about this than I do. But my sense is that Trump took a correct posture (stopped clock, all of that), noted an opportunity for state reformation by a leadership willing to renounce past hostility, and has been supportive, while Israel has been if anything mildly disruptive.

Also this crap only ever applies one way. The idea that it’s anti-democratic or insulting to voters to criticize a president only holds when we’re talking about delicate Republican snowflakes. I heard this exactly never about attacks on Biden or Obama.