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Matthew Downhour

@matthewdownhour.bsky.social

15K followers 7.9K following 38K posts

Liberal, Montanan. Subscribe to Paine-Wollstonecraft-Douglass-George thought, Bolivar-Juarez-Nkomo-Zelenskyy praxis

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 12d

Tariffs are buoyed mostly by a couple myths - I try to take on a couple here

Tariffs are neither fair nor simple

Tariffs appear simple because they are baked into prices, but behind the scenes is a complicated, regressive system ripe for corruption

apply-liberally.ghost.io

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 10m

I sort of consider Anglocans/Episcopalians as sister churches to the Lutherans, mostly separated by the Channel, but that is a significant difference (one that scared Luther quite a bit when he realized the socio political implications I think)

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 12m

Which is interesting because I feel like in most other ways they are quite similar to one another

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 20m

Or depending on your point of view every Protestant is a priest

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 8h

I did not know that!

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 10h

Donald Trump has also forgotten who was president from 2017 to 2020 I guess

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Trump: "The problem with Vietnam, we, you know, we stopped fighting to win. We would've won easy. We would've won Afghanistan easy. We would've won every war easy. But we got politically correct. 'Oh, let's take it easy.' We're not politically correct anymore, just so you understand."

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 10h

I think that's true, but I also am not sure that his goal is to perpetually bomb Gaza.

I am not optimistic about him withdrawing from the half of Gaza he'll still occupy at the end of phase 1 though

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 10h

Much as Portugal is obsessed with making sure your beer is still carbonated. I feel like in hot places texture and temperature of beer kind of trump taste

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 10h

That is the one presently in my fridge

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 10h

If I were to register a prediction, I would say the IDF never fully withdraws from Gaza but withdraws from most urban areas and only periodically assassinates Hamas members. This prediction is based on this exact thing happening with the Lebanon ceasefire

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 10h

I'm more optimistic because there after next week there will be, hopefully, no hostages. No hostages means less pressure on the IDF to do anything in Gaza, and Bibi can switch to his true passion project of dismantling the West Bank brick by brick

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 10h

To the extent that Trump brought the deal about, it's because he performed several massive favors for Bibi along the way and let him probably permanently diminish the Gazan population

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

(Like I think Mexico knocked it out of the park with their mass market beers. Arguably none rise above mid, but they are easily the best mid beers on the US market)

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

This is very unfortunate, but kind of what I figured - otherwise, you'd see it here, I should think.

Does Brazil have good beers?

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

Does Argentina have good beers? They seem to have the necessary resources (grain and Germans) in abundance

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

This is where maybe an ideologically vegetarian group should step up and build a factory and run an at cost tofu company. Newman's Own for meat alternatives!

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

The meat alternative market isn’t that big yet either though

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

TIL from that site

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

Literally I think PETA would do more good just subsidizing meat & dairy alternatives than all the billboards money can buy

John Smillie @johnsmillie42.bsky.social · 11h

Now soy MILK being $3 vs $1.64 for dairy is a crime

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

Also Bing AI is still hilariously bad - not only did it not get the right answer but it didn't give an internally consistent wrong answer

Bing: Chicken is the most consumed meat globally, accounting for 34% of total meat production. Pork is the second most popular meat, making up about 36% of global meat production.

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

China raises so many pigs that pork is the #1 meat worldwide even though like a quarter of people are religiously prohibited from eating it

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

I forgot that China raises a gajillion pigs a year

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

I've been doing bean, tomato (we grew so many), and wild rice soup. I even bought bulk beans and bulk wild rice mix. At this rate I'm a couple months from buying an old Subaru and setting the radio permanently to NPR

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11h

Does China just feed the soy they buy to their pigs? Do they grow their tofu beans domestically?

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 12h

Yeah I went for the $1.29 because it's a lot better than $1.79 but used to be that if you were a little patient you could stock up for an even dollar

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 12h

Riddle me this - if we're not exporting soybeans anymore, why isn't tofu any cheaper

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