Maximo is great. Best bang for the buck for me was Tacos del Valle.

Fully agree it’s not either/or but there’s a practical reality that cameras are generally cheaper than physical street transformations.

So he thinks upholding the rule of law and stopping corruption is a waste of time in Israel? I’m guessing he think the same about here. Explains a lot.

You can find individuals from every generation with every perspective, of course. But polling supports the idea that the younger the generation, the less positive the view of Israel and vice versa. Older people’s views were forged in a different era and context.

Consistent with Ezra Klein’s take that opinions on Israel are generational.

Boomers: It’s a plucky, American-aligned democracy under attack.

Gen X/Millenial: It’s secure and hopefully will make peace with Palestinians.

Gen Z: Its a corrupt, far-right gov’t uninterested in Palestinian lives.

Yes. In 1500, the “white population” (Europe) was about 12% of the global population. In the post-agricultural era, China and India had the largest populations for centuries. The period between 1700 and 1900 was anomalous. Using 1900 as the base year creates an intentionally distorted picture.

Not sure if I was exactly right but maybe onto something.

Excellent work putting the possible outcomes in rank order.

My only knock is that your #6 (winning ACA concessions) is not the worst. To me it’s 4th (i get your point, though).

So Dems got the 4th best outcome in your ranking and 5th best in mine. If they’d hung tight woulda had #2. Not great Bob.

Yes. They handpicked *this* specific shutdown fight among many strategic possibilities. They fundraised off of this fight. They said this was the right hill to die on and rallied the electorate to the cause. Now they’re expecting everyone to be happy with just kinda dropping it?

“praise” is maybe imprecise but you did call the shutdown/climbdown “a big deal” in your piece. I’m seeing it as much more underwhelming than that, given this conclusion.

I absolutely read it and have a lot of respect for your perspective. Not understanding it? Well, that’s certainly possible.

This is like watching someone play chess, put their opponent in check, then inexplicably release the pressure.

Why praise them for showing that they can threaten? That’s the basics of game. You’d only do that for a novice.

To fully succeed, they have to press advantage and force hard choices.

It’s a terrible deal. The GOP was in a jam. They either needed to give big policy concessions on the ACA, keep the shutdown going and take political pain, or break the filibuster and take a political hit. Dems provided an easy out and got fairly little that they couldn’t have won through courts.

What’s worse is that I didn’t demand this fight. I wanted the shut down leverage used for other things. But they focused on this issue, told me in fundraising texts it was the hill to die on, then got cold feet. It’s not that they won’t stand up for me - they won’t even stand up for themselves.

Great thread. I’ll add that aging is not helping with the Emperor for Life gambit, either. People have been wrongly predicting incapacitating dementia for about a decade now, but the visible signs of decline are becoming apparent. He moves more slowly, falls asleep in the day, and sounds tired.

I asked ChatGPT if Mamdani would be the least qualified Mayor ever and here’s its reply, contradicting the ad…

“Least qualified ever” is a hyper-extreme label and the benchmark for “qualified” is subjective. Many mayors have had non-traditional backgrounds and still managed well.

The phrasing of polling questions can make an enormous difference.

“Should EV purchases be subsidized?” will poll much worse than “To improve air quality, should EV purchases get a tax credit?”