Lowell West
@lowellakwest.bsky.social
Tennis enthusiast, Europhile, Astros fan. I know some things about bargaining, international political economy, international relations and applied statistics too. All posts reflect only my views and no one else’s.
After this year, I am not going to vote for a single #DemocraticParty incumbent in next year’s primary at any level of government. I’ve had enough.
December 13, 2025 at 4:45 AM
After this year, I am not going to vote for a single #DemocraticParty incumbent in next year’s primary at any level of government. I’ve had enough.
Reposted by Lowell West
if they were going to cave anyway they should’ve done it a week ago to spare SNAP recipients the agony.
November 10, 2025 at 12:54 AM
if they were going to cave anyway they should’ve done it a week ago to spare SNAP recipients the agony.
I used to think that legalizing sports gambling was for the best and at least it could be regulated and taxed. I don’t do it, but I thought it was fine. I think now though we have to accept that it was a mistake. Rigged games, broken lives, being flooded with gambling ads…it all sucks.
November 7, 2025 at 2:46 AM
I used to think that legalizing sports gambling was for the best and at least it could be regulated and taxed. I don’t do it, but I thought it was fine. I think now though we have to accept that it was a mistake. Rigged games, broken lives, being flooded with gambling ads…it all sucks.
Reposted by Lowell West
(6) This idea that democrats should abandon trans people and immigrants and climate change (in 2025!) is just unconscionably dumb.
Declaring “I’m focused on prescription drug prices” sounds like pandering because it IS pandering. Everyone can tell.
Try standing for something. See how it feels.
Declaring “I’m focused on prescription drug prices” sounds like pandering because it IS pandering. Everyone can tell.
Try standing for something. See how it feels.
October 28, 2025 at 4:24 PM
(6) This idea that democrats should abandon trans people and immigrants and climate change (in 2025!) is just unconscionably dumb.
Declaring “I’m focused on prescription drug prices” sounds like pandering because it IS pandering. Everyone can tell.
Try standing for something. See how it feels.
Declaring “I’m focused on prescription drug prices” sounds like pandering because it IS pandering. Everyone can tell.
Try standing for something. See how it feels.
Reposted by Lowell West
My response to the NYT’s “moderate to win” argument: The data shows the strategy is tapped out. Being seen as moderate by voters doesn’t boost votes, replacing every progressive with moderates would net 0 seats, and the graveyard of defeated D incumbents if full of moderates, not progressives.
The New York Times Argues “Moving to the Center Is the Way to Win.” But the Data Shows the Strategy Is Tapped Out.
Democrats already run moderates in nearly every swing district. It's not enough. A data-driven response to the case for centrism as a core electoral strategy.
data4democracy.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:17 PM
My response to the NYT’s “moderate to win” argument: The data shows the strategy is tapped out. Being seen as moderate by voters doesn’t boost votes, replacing every progressive with moderates would net 0 seats, and the graveyard of defeated D incumbents if full of moderates, not progressives.
Reposted by Lowell West
If Gary Larson is back that means Bill Watterson is going to come back. Light is gonna reenter the world like when Gandalf showed up with new clothes.
October 18, 2025 at 1:10 AM
If Gary Larson is back that means Bill Watterson is going to come back. Light is gonna reenter the world like when Gandalf showed up with new clothes.
Next audiobook, because I know shamefully little about the civil rights movement and this seems like an okay place to start. #MLK #CivilRightsMovement
October 5, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Next audiobook, because I know shamefully little about the civil rights movement and this seems like an okay place to start. #MLK #CivilRightsMovement
I get frustrated by this attitude because it ignores the very practical purposes that following strict rules of engagement serves, not least of which is that *soldiers who commit war crimes are undisciplined soldiers*. Lack of discipline impedes achievement of objectives.
Hegseth: "We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement."
October 2, 2025 at 1:15 AM
I get frustrated by this attitude because it ignores the very practical purposes that following strict rules of engagement serves, not least of which is that *soldiers who commit war crimes are undisciplined soldiers*. Lack of discipline impedes achievement of objectives.
Reposted by Lowell West
If you're wondering why they don't go to court with their high paid lawyers for an easy win, it's because this allows Google to bribe Trump.
All the big players are way over their skis on AI investment and are sure they will need a bailout at some point. It's 2009 but for tech instead of housing
All the big players are way over their skis on AI investment and are sure they will need a bailout at some point. It's 2009 but for tech instead of housing
September 29, 2025 at 11:04 PM
If you're wondering why they don't go to court with their high paid lawyers for an easy win, it's because this allows Google to bribe Trump.
All the big players are way over their skis on AI investment and are sure they will need a bailout at some point. It's 2009 but for tech instead of housing
All the big players are way over their skis on AI investment and are sure they will need a bailout at some point. It's 2009 but for tech instead of housing
Um @pablo.show might have Steve Ballmer dead to rights. That second episode is quite something.
September 11, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Um @pablo.show might have Steve Ballmer dead to rights. That second episode is quite something.
Linda #Noskova makes for a fascinating prospect on the WTA because she has some great skills and two glaring and unfortunately contradictory weaknesses.
September 10, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Linda #Noskova makes for a fascinating prospect on the WTA because she has some great skills and two glaring and unfortunately contradictory weaknesses.
Don't kill people. No one deserves to die.
September 10, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Don't kill people. No one deserves to die.
There is no version of opposing vaccines that does not end in eugenics.
Anti-vaxxers aren’t questioning the science, they’re questioning who deserves to live
September 6, 2025 at 1:54 AM
There is no version of opposing vaccines that does not end in eugenics.
Reposted by Lowell West
Anti-vaxxers aren’t questioning the science, they’re questioning who deserves to live
September 5, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Anti-vaxxers aren’t questioning the science, they’re questioning who deserves to live
Reposted by Lowell West
Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children
Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children
The state’s elimination of vaccine mandates is a courageous first step toward decluttering itself of any excess kids.
www.theatlantic.com
September 4, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children
Reposted by Lowell West
To be clear: this is yet another reason why many of these laws are so problematic. If people want to run fediverse instances of any size, the fact that costly age verification requirements could put them in legal jeopardy, is very bad.
Regulators make laws as if every website is Facebook.
Regulators make laws as if every website is Facebook.
Mastodon says it doesn’t ‘have the means’ to comply with age verification laws
Mastodon says it doesn't 'have the means' to comply with age verification laws | TechCrunch
Decentralized social network Mastodon says it cannot comply with age verification laws, like in Mississippi and elsewhere, and says it's up to individual server owners to decide.
techcrunch.com
August 29, 2025 at 9:15 PM
To be clear: this is yet another reason why many of these laws are so problematic. If people want to run fediverse instances of any size, the fact that costly age verification requirements could put them in legal jeopardy, is very bad.
Regulators make laws as if every website is Facebook.
Regulators make laws as if every website is Facebook.
Gavin #Newsom is a bad guy. He might post stuff that makes you feel better and he might say stuff that makes double standards clear, but never forget that there is no one he won’t throw under the bus if he thinks it’ll get him a little more power. We need to remember that.
August 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Gavin #Newsom is a bad guy. He might post stuff that makes you feel better and he might say stuff that makes double standards clear, but never forget that there is no one he won’t throw under the bus if he thinks it’ll get him a little more power. We need to remember that.
Reposted by Lowell West
much easier to understand the sheer bloody intensity of the civil war when you have a good grasp on just how terrible slavery was.
"How bad slavery was" is worse. Much worse. Much worse than you think, much worse than you're taught, much worse than museums depict. Worse.
August 19, 2025 at 11:30 PM
much easier to understand the sheer bloody intensity of the civil war when you have a good grasp on just how terrible slavery was.
Reposted by Lowell West
Something that I have been thinking about with attribution of "PhD level intelligence" or "PhD level expertise" to a machine is that it reflects an increasing trend among these AI bros and their sycophants to want the products of highly skilled training without actually doing any of the work.
August 9, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Something that I have been thinking about with attribution of "PhD level intelligence" or "PhD level expertise" to a machine is that it reflects an increasing trend among these AI bros and their sycophants to want the products of highly skilled training without actually doing any of the work.
Reposted by Lowell West
The universities are indoctrinating students!
Actual universities:
Actual universities:
This is the best photo a student sent me last school year.
July 28, 2025 at 1:34 AM
The universities are indoctrinating students!
Actual universities:
Actual universities:
Reposted by Lowell West
So Rufo's article is based on the claim that Mamdani got 2140, an "89th percentile" score, below the median for acceptance to Columbia.
2140 out of 2400 is 89%.
That's not how SAT percentiles work.
A 2140 is a 97% percentile score for that year.
This man runs a college in my hometown.
2140 out of 2400 is 89%.
That's not how SAT percentiles work.
A 2140 is a 97% percentile score for that year.
This man runs a college in my hometown.
Chris Rufo and the NY Post have a new and shocking Mamdani BOMBSHELL:
His SAT scores were AVERAGE among admitted students!!!!!!!
This is definitely the sort of thing you report when a candidate has skeletons in the closet.
His SAT scores were AVERAGE among admitted students!!!!!!!
This is definitely the sort of thing you report when a candidate has skeletons in the closet.
July 8, 2025 at 12:09 AM
So Rufo's article is based on the claim that Mamdani got 2140, an "89th percentile" score, below the median for acceptance to Columbia.
2140 out of 2400 is 89%.
That's not how SAT percentiles work.
A 2140 is a 97% percentile score for that year.
This man runs a college in my hometown.
2140 out of 2400 is 89%.
That's not how SAT percentiles work.
A 2140 is a 97% percentile score for that year.
This man runs a college in my hometown.
If your only response to criticism @nytimes.com is to decide that it indicates your rectitude, than you have lost all humility that is required to produce good work. Please consider the possibility that you made a misstep and make corrections.
July 8, 2025 at 1:27 AM
If your only response to criticism @nytimes.com is to decide that it indicates your rectitude, than you have lost all humility that is required to produce good work. Please consider the possibility that you made a misstep and make corrections.
Reposted by Lowell West
I know we're (understandably) consumed with American news, but spare a thought for these folks, many of whom were born in Iran and have never even been to Afghanistan. They're being dumped into a totalitarian state where 50% are below the poverty line & int'l aid efforts have almost dried up
Iran Carries Out Mass Expulsion of 800,000 Afghans (almost 600k since 1 June)
Afghanistan has absorbed 3.5 million refugees from Pakistan and Iran since 2023 (nearly 10% of entire Afg population)
Massive cuts to int'l aid + closure of USAID only worsen situation on the ground
Afghanistan has absorbed 3.5 million refugees from Pakistan and Iran since 2023 (nearly 10% of entire Afg population)
Massive cuts to int'l aid + closure of USAID only worsen situation on the ground
Iran Carries Out Mass Expulsion of Afghan Refugees
www.nytimes.com
July 7, 2025 at 8:43 PM
I know we're (understandably) consumed with American news, but spare a thought for these folks, many of whom were born in Iran and have never even been to Afghanistan. They're being dumped into a totalitarian state where 50% are below the poverty line & int'l aid efforts have almost dried up