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Reposted by Megan McArdle

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 4d

It is an almost absurdly simple observation, but a great many pathologies in military policy come from the tendency to reason from values which were in the past or are merely thought to be now, connected to victory, rather than reasoning *from victory* itself as a goal.

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 6d

All legal nonsense aside about the supposed state of armed conflict between the U.S. and Venezuelan gangs, what "I wish to emphasize is that there is a word for killings outside of armed conflict for which there is no domestic legal authority. That word is murder." [@benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org]

The Situation: Murder She Wrote

There's a word for what they're doing.

www.lawfaremedia.org

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · 8d

That tariffs are bad and the administration’s immigration policy is gratuitously brutal, or that democrats will find it harder than they’d like to restore the old policy equilibrium?

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 10d

Breaking News: President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military should use U.S. cities as “training grounds” at an unusual meeting focused on culture wars. It was unclear why they needed to gather senior military leaders from overseas to tell them this face to face.

Live Updates: Trump Addresses Rare Military Gathering as Government Shutdown Looms

nyti.ms

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · 10d

The good news is that it seems like they’re overpaying

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 10d

FT: Several people said they expected the transaction to go through fairly easily.

“.. What regulator is going to say no to the president’s son-in-law?" 🤡

@financialtimes.com $EA
www.ft.com/content/61ce...

How Jared Kushner brokered the $55bn takeover of Electronic Arts

Trump’s son-in-law used deep ties in Saudi Arabia to help pull off the largest buyout

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Washington Post Opinions @postopinions.bsky.social · 16d

"You need broad and impartial principles that equally apply to everyone, and are equally enforced by everyone, even against their own," @mcmegan.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/4nG1ca6

Opinion | Charlie Kirk’s death reveals heroes — and hypocrites

Conservatives and liberals are undermining core principles of free speech.

wapo.st

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · 21d

I barely post here, since I don't have many followers, and almost everything I say tends to attract unpleasant screaming.

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · 21d

"Let me be crystal clear: I was trying to rebut the argument that 'Well, these shows aren't doing so well anyway, who can say why he was taken off air', not endorse it. Carr's actions are dangerous to democratic norms and constitutional principle, unpatriotic and utterly indefensible."

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · 21d

Just throwing this out there for anyone who was confused. I can't prove that ABC yanked Kimmel off the air because of government pressure. But that doesn't matter, because what I do know is that pressure was applied, outrageously, abusively, and unconstitutionally. x.com/asymmetricin...

Megan McArdle on X: "Since this has been widely misinterpreted on Bluesky, by people who haven't read the rest of my Twitter feed on this subject, let me be crystal clear: I was trying to rebut the argument that "Well, these shows aren't doing so well anyway, who can say why he was taken off air"," / X

Since this has been widely misinterpreted on Bluesky, by people who haven't read the rest of my Twitter feed on this subject, let me be crystal clear: I was trying to rebut the argument that "Well, these shows aren't doing so well anyway, who can say why he was taken off air",

x.com

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · 22d

Which is, of course, exactly the argument that was made for suppressing speech that might help Trump. Sigh.

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · 22d

To be clear, that doesn't mean this is the left's fault--Trump's authoritarian instincts are his own. But at least some of the people going along with it are doing so out of a conviction that the stakes are now existential and we can't afford the niceties.

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · 22d

Which means when you *do* win politically, you tell yourself you have to make it harder for them to regain political power and suppress your speech. And so the wheel goes round and round ...

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · 22d

I think it also raised the stakes--if your opponents are trying to make it impossible for you to make a bunch of arguments, that makes it harder for you to win politically.

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 23d

Today's decision being heavily criticized by Past Brendan Carr

Should the government censor speech it doesn’t like? Of course not.

The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the “public interest.”

Who, in your view, should have the power to draw the line between a “lie” and “free speech”? Government officials that want to stay in political power or the people that can hold them accountable ?

President Biden is right.

Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech.

It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people in to the discussion.

That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.

Free speech is the counterweight—it is democracy’s check on government control.

That’s why censorship is the authoritarian’s dream.

After all, there’s a straight line from the soap box to the ballot box. You retain freedom at both or neither.

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Phoebe Maltz Bovy @phoebebovy.bsky.social · 22d

This, from 2021, by @kathapollitt.bsky.social, strikes me as deeply on point. www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...

I would support free speech even if it wasn’t a tactical necessity right now, because I don’t think I have a lock on all the truth in the world. But the fact is, given American realities, where almost half the electorate voted for Donald Trump and large numbers don’t even believe in evolution, no one needs it more than the left.

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 25d

I think people would be extremely happy to accept the plain meaning of his words if they’d be clearly right-wing, but since they’re somewhat left-coded, those same people have retreated to arguing that on the internet everyone is a trickster elf who speaks in riddles all the time

ponce city marxist @butterfinger.bsky.social · 25d

You're being purposefully obtuse for someone who's Extremely Online.

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Patterico @patterico.bsky.social · 25d

If you are a Free Speech Warrior angrily demanding the firing of anyone who criticizes both Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the views he expressed, you embody the very “cancel culture” that you pretended to decry—but which you always planned to employ against your own enemies.

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 27d

Starting a podcast aimed at tiny dogs called “Your Ancestors Were Wolves.”

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · Sep 9

Boxing is even worse!

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Washington Post Opinions @postopinions.bsky.social · Sep 8

A survey of NFL players citing mental and physical decline raises the ethical dilemma of being a fan, @mcmegan.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/4pgvTV1

Opinion | The uncomfortable truth about watching football

Survey of NFL players citing mental and physical decline raises the dilemma of being a fan.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · Sep 5

An entire government department has been derailed from its extremely valuable work and is now dedicated to validating the risible delusions of a single crackpot.

George Pearkes @peark.es · Sep 5

WSJ reports RFK Jr has instructed HHS to link autism with Tylenol use during pregnancy and folate deficiency.

Exclusive | RFK Jr., HHS to Link Autism to Tylenol Use in Pregnancy and Folate Deficiencies

Kennedy’s autism report, touted by Trump, will suggest that using the pain reliever during pregnancy may be linked to the developmental disorder.

www.wsj.com

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · Sep 2

I think maybe Democrats are just bowing to the reality that a large number of voters just do not care about process norms and never have, cannot be made to care about them, and will find you somewhere between boring and infuriating if you try to make them care.

Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · Sep 2

I wish I believed that voters can be persuaded by Democrats setting their hair on fire, but Democrats spent four years doing that 2016-2020, in concert with most of the professional class and ... he's president again, after denying the results of a legitimate election and inciting a riot.

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Megan McArdle @mcmegan.bsky.social · Sep 2

I wrote about losing your parents, and what we can do for them when there's nothing left to be done. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Both my parents died. This letter explains how I kept going.

I lost my mother and father in a little over a year. It will be brutal, but you will endure.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Megan McArdle

Washington Post Opinions @postopinions.bsky.social · Aug 26

"Those who believe in the value of neutral institutions must do everything they can now to protect the rule of law — and I’m afraid that doesn’t mean condemning just Trump."

The latest from @mcmegan.bsky.social:

Opinion | When the rule of law becomes rule of lawfare

Friday’s Bolton raid and the rebuke of Trump’s $500 million fine show what happens when justice is not impartial.

wapo.st

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