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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 58m

I... is this criminal?

That's a serious question. It obviously is morally, but at the same time I have no idea if anyone ever wrote the law against something so utter shameless.

The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 19h

John 18:36

" Jesus answered, 'My kingdom does not belong to this world.' "

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 20h

I've never heard of any other state doing this. Am I wrong?

It's a very strange practice anyhow. I'm not against it on moral grounds or anything, but that's tough even for honest employers, as payroll is something of a pain to deal with weekly.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 20h

I'm not against infill stops, but I've wondered how they will affect transit times. There's not that much distance to get up to speed on some sections. Although, electrification may help with that.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 21h

To be "fair," you can't get anything if your offer is worse than the alternative. But Trump's style of "demand everything, repeatedly" is tailor-made to run into that.

It's also a recipe for unwittingly making bad deals, because your partner now has incentives to deliberately screw you.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 21h

One problem* of Trump's negotiating style is that he picks a target and demands everything.

This can work under specific conditions: the game is not repeated, and it's one-on-one, and your offer can't be worse than the alternative.

*And I do mean just one, because there more.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

This entire (long) analytical series is on the slow stumbling of Mass Effect:

www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedt...

Mass Effect Retrospective 50: The Final Affrontier - Twenty Sided

Also: All of the three solutions result in Shepard’s death.

www.shamusyoung.com

The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

But you see his awkward, cowardly smirk like he's being a naughty child who grabbed a cookie from the jar and not collapsing major government departments or shirking his primary responsibilities as a leader in Congress.

There's no prize at the end of this, which he doesn't seem to understand.

9/

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

Again, where is any vision at all? Where is the self-awareness of his responsibility to the Republic? At the last extremity, where is the last shred of self-respect?

Even trying to see from his own perspective, I cannot understand what he thinks the point is. He's not a troll like Vance.

8/

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

Indeed, he applauds publicly as Trump demands functionally control of the public purse and violates the centuries-old division of powers. He's become a national joke pretending he knows nothing of any controversy, and coming dangerously close to a Constitutional crisis with his spinelessness.

7/

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

The thing is, despite our partisan divide he really could rally Congress to take effective leadership. Instead he's running around, cheering every passing whim of a half-mad jester. He's functionally closed down Congress and blocked any oversight as the government is grinding down.

6/

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

North at least had the excuse of his upbringing and political system. He really did serve a King, and the British political system of the day was narrowly-constrained to specific interests and views. (The Revolution forced Britain to develop later.)

Mike Johnson has no such excuse.

5/

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

He could never quite grasp the concept of the larger polity; the French were "real" enough to him. But I'm not sure he could bring himself to believe in Spain, let alone an entire "American Colonies" across the ocean. So his policies focused on winning domestic fights, not a stronger Britain.

4/

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

That is, his loyalty did not comprehend any larger obligation or goal: he followed George III's desires and supported him completely.

But precisely because of this, North failed to give his King good counsel. In politics he was tactically brilliant and strategically disastrous.

3/

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

Lord North was the Prime Minister of Great Britain throughout the American Revolution. He was not an evil man. He was not a stupid man. But he was blindly and narrowly loyal, and that went about as badly as could be.

2/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederi...

Frederick North, Lord North - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

Mike Johnson is something of the Lord North of our time, except more pathetic in every sense.

Let me explain.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 1d

Not sure "if Trump could have silenced dissent by shutting down rallies, trampling on your freedoms, he would have" is quite the argument that the speaker thinks it is.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mike Johnson: "The irony was that they called it the No Kings Rally, but if President Trump was a king, the government would be open. If President Trump was a king, he would've closed the nationals parks and the National Mall so they couldn't of had the rally out here."

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

I loved playing Azata. You catch *everyone* off-guard. Maybe even more than the Trickster, your presence constantly disrupts everyone else's carefully-laid schemes.

Also, you get a pet dragon.

The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 1d

It really does sound like a cut-away joke from one of the later Ocean's Eleven sequels.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 2d

He's clever enough in the sense of being ruthless and uncaring about his impact on others.

But he's also basically a used-car huckster with no ambition to ever do anything impressive. He wants to look impressive, to do flashy "deals".

The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 2d

If this is true, it's very, very bad.

I mean, it's awful in every single way: for the victim and his family. But also, the United States may have just destroyed a crucial regional partnership on the cruel whims of Stephen Miller.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 2d

I went out to protest today myself. I will upload footage later. The key is that I went to what I assume would be a very small, low-key protest: Suburbs, well distant from even a smaller town center, Red county.

Sidewalk was packed a block in every direction, shoulder to shoulder or even more.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 3d

I will never play the game, but it makes my heart genuinely happy that something as cheerfully unhinged as Umamusume exists in this world.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 3d

Note that doesn't mean the Treasury has gained that $1.2T. Tariffs decrease the utility ([value to buyer] - [cost]) of imports, so we have less of them. But there's simply not ever going to be sufficient domestic supply, which increases prices across the board based on S+D.

Massive deadweight loss.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 4d

Son of a gun I have a Steam backlog already.

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The American Civil War Podcast @uscivilwar.bsky.social · 4d

A game where everyone everywhere must experience worldly suffering, slowly learning the true way before being freed from the cycle of pain?

I dunno. Does that really sound like something Dark Souls fans would enjoy?

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