Some emperor this is. He actually needs to tell his courtiers to show some appreciation for his new set of clothes.

Good advice from the Trump administration? This is too weird, I’m going back to bed

What did disabled or gay people ever do to the Nazis? Fascists need outgroups as a target for their hatred. It gives them a sense of purpose, and it unifies them, since they are all cultivating the same hole in their morality. Small and marginalized outgroups are easy prey, and trans people don’t have much of a voice in the public sphere, so it’s easy to paint them as monsters.

keep wishing for shit and you can fill up both hands at once

have a spine: don’t give into wedge issues

And that, folks, is how we made idiocracy happen

If nobody ever changes their mind, why bother having elections at all? You could just use the result from last time

On a wedge issue like this there really doesn’t seem to be a right way to do the messaging. On Fox news you’re addressing entrenched beliefs that trans athletes are this huge threat to all that is good in the world, trying to explain why it isn’t so is a losing game.

I think Talarico tried to sidestep the issue by saying he opposes trans athletes “if it endangers safety or fairness”, which is really quite a reasonable position. To the right wing it sounds like he opposes trans athletes but the condition he put on it means he actually doesn’t. He put forward a position that both sides might even agree on, but it didn’t give the trans community the impression of endorsing their side that they wanted.

I hate to say I agree with you on this. And I really hate to say it because I also agree with the trans community in principle. But it’s a really small issue compared to a lot of the other evils in this world, and it’s being used to perpetuate those other evils.

The “christian right” is a broad category going far beyond Evangelicals, and I don’t think anyone’s addressed their hypocrisy in such an appealing and convincing way before. Many will dig their heels in and stick to the tribal identity, but their claims of being real Christians are going to sound more hollow to a lot of people.

There’s no such thing as a right wing Christian

No such thing as a true Scotsman

This is a really tricky issue for him, not saying he handled it the right way. Voting the right way in the Texas House but seemingly walking it back in a Fox interview isn’t great, but I don’t know how to handle it better. Trans kids in sport is the wedge issue of the moment and if he takes a confrontational hard line about that on Fox news it would instantly alienate him from the audience he is trying to reach. I don’t think you can realistically be the guy who appeals to right wing christians and the guy who consistently champions trans rights. Getting people to break out of identity politics isn’t easy and wedge issues exist to drive people back into their tribal mindset. Not a battle you can win.

That’s why I’m saying he’s the perfect weapon, not the perfect politician. Honestly the whole clean cut white christian thing gives me the creeps and I wouldn’t leave him alone with my kids on that basis alone. But I do think he’s the right guy in the right place at the right time.

I think that’s why he’s the perfect weapon. You can’t look at that guy and say he isn’t sincere or knowledgeable in his religious beliefs, and he draws a straight line from that to his political position. His sincerity must come over as something exceptional if you’re used to listening to GOP politicians. It’s not going to win over every voter but I think it will cause a few to really question themselves.

Those absurd attempts to suppress Talarico’s interview with Jimmy Kimmel tell a different story. It shows they are scared of him. Even if they didn’t need to be scared of him, showing that you’re scared isn’t a good look.

This is such a backwards-ass way to do things. I built my house using extra large bricks so it would be pixelated to begin with

Hold up, what magic is this? You can gatekeep installations of any app on their phones? I’ve looked into doing this with Google Play but as far as I can tell they only enable it for mature content. Which doesn’t help to stop my old father in law from installing trash “security” apps on his phone.

There may be many cases where AI has been a benefit to vulnerable people. LLMs aren’t going away any time soon so it’s good if they tell you not to kill yourself. But that should be the end of it. The more we lean on AI to fix societal problems, the deeper the problems will get. Relying on an LLM to be a substitute for human interaction is a really bad idea. It’s easy, it’s compelling, and it will help you to put yourself in a much deeper hole than you were in before.

If you are banning things people see as needs, that’s not governance. That’s cruelty.

How about fentanyl, or meth? Many people see them as a need, once they get started. Much like an AI companion, they offer a quick fix to make you feel better and get away from the difficulties you’re facing in the real world. And like an AI companion, they don’t actually address those difficulties and will only make things worse.