Thread by @cinyc9

Okay, I've read enough dumb takes today to get me to actually do this. One like equals 1 controversial take - if I can think of that many.

1) This may not be terribly controversial - but nobody cares about your dumb political takes, particularly on the hot topics of the day, like impeachment. You're not changing minds. All you're doing is preaching to the choir. Don't waste your time.

2) That being said, anyone who wants to hear from impeachment witnesses from one side but not the other - like House Democrats and Chuck Schumer - is interested in scoring political points, not getting to "the truth" - whatever that is.

3) "The truth" doesn't exist in politics. It's almost always one-sided, self-serving spin.

4) Continuing my cynical streak, there's no such thing as "non-partisan" redistricting or "fair" maps. All redistricting is partisan. Moving it to a supposedly "non-partisan" commission just changes the battleground.

5) New York's bail reform will increase crime. You get more of what you make easier.

6) Broken windows policing works. So, yes, going back to the bad old days of letting subway trains get grafittied up is a sign that NYC could be going back to the bad old days of the 60s and 70s when crime ran rampant.

7) Automatic voter registration is a bad idea. It's only as good as the information is it based on. And, in 49 states, that information stinks. Plus, forcing apathetic voters who'd prefer not to be onto the voter rolls is a bad.

8) Nobody is fair or objective on every single thing. Not even journalists. Stop pretending your news is all the news that's fit to print or fair and balanced when it's not.

The media was much more honest about their biases in the 1800s, when you had partisan papers.

9) Voter apathy isn't necessarily a bad thing. Not everyone considers politics as the most important thing in their life. And that's a good thing.

10) Anyone politician or political staffer who attacks voters, questions their motives, questions their wisdom or flat-out calls them names isn't smart. They're attacking their potential customers.

11) The only "prison gerrymandering" is counting prisoners as residents of a place where they no longer live and may never return to.

12) "Voter suppression" is often (a well-crafted) code word for rules that I don't like but have no real proof will affect things the way I claim. So I'll just claim something that sounds scary without actually studying the effects.

13) I automatically tune out anyone who calls their political opponents stupid names like "fascist" or "Nazi". You're really not helping your case with such hyperbole.

14) Only hyper-partisans care about this impeachment trial. Most Americans tune out partisan political theater.

15) The Senate and House should ban TV cameras from their chambers and hearings. It leads to grandstanding, preening and other bad behavior on the floor.

If they don't, C-SPAN should be able to widen out the shot to further show what a sham House/Senate hearings usually are - most of the Congressmen/Senators aren't even there much of the time. They're often more interested in scoring political points than the testimony.

17) So-called fly-over country matters as much as New York, Washington or LA, but doesn't get equal news coverage.

18) No, red state voters aren't backward rubes or blue state voters pseudo-sophisticated snobs because many there don't vote the way you'd like them to.

19) Heat maps are not perfect, but cartograms and hex maps are much worse. They distort geographic reality.

If you're going to try to resize by economic relevance, try a 3d map.

20) If you're a nobody R living in a deep blue state, or a nobody D living in a deep red state, it doesn't make sense to contact your Congressman or Senator & tell him to vote your way on a hot-button issue. All you're potentially doing is burning bridges for when you need help.

21) Don't call those who run in hopeless elections "grifters" or question why they're running. They're doing a service for that district's political minority by allowing them to express a protest vote. The alternative - Soviet-style one-party elections - are worse.

22) The only thing that's worse than Soviet-style one-party elections are jungle primaries and top-two elections in deep red/blue states/districts. A choice between 2 Democrats or 2 Republicans is not a real choice.

23) Be careful what you wish for: a government that is big enough to give you everything you want is a government that is big enough to take it all away.

24) Twitter isn't the real world. No, really, it isn't the real world.

25) Why isn't Twitter the real world? In part, because it skews younger and is more partisan than the real world. In election land, that makes it even really less representative than the real world than in other realms because older people actually vote.

26) Election day shouldn't be a holiday. That would force school closures, which would inconvenience working parents. It probably won't even boost turnout.

27) The decision not to vote should be respected. Non-voters aren't stupid. They just have more important things to do than vote or just don't care. And in many places, their vote literally wouldn't matter, anyway.

28) If you don't vote, you can't complain. And if you're part of a group that generally doesn't vote and thus doesn't get "your" way in a 50-50 district, your remedy for losing elections should be at the ballot box, not in the courts - if there even is such a thing as a group way

29) There's no such thing as a free lunch. There's no such thing as a free anything.

30) Twitter shouldn't have an edit button. Once you've made a mistake, the damage has already been done - people have already seen your Tweet. You can't guarantee those people will see your edited change. Just delete the tweet & repost or reply with the correction.

31) I've lost 11 or so followers since first posting this thread. Do I care? Honestly, a little.

But losing some followers when posting controversial takes is to be expected - some people like living in bubbles.

32) If you see someone has made & fixed a mistake on a Tweet you RTed or liked, you have an obligation to RT or like the correction. Not doing so makes matters worse.

33) States matter. We live in the United States of America, not the United Departments of America. New York isn't New Jersey, North Dakota, New Mexico or Hawaii.

34) There is no worst U.S. state. And even if there were one, it wouldn't be worst because most of their voters vote differently from you.

35) Winter is the worst season - at least in the North.

My perspective would probably be different if I lived in much of the South. Summer would probably be worst there.

36) Boston sports teams suck.

37) Political trends happen until they don't. That's why I don't give them much credence.

38) Political coattails are overrated.

39) Jerseyites should be able to pump their own gas. It's usually faster than waiting for an attendant to pump it for you.

(Yes, I'm running out of material.)

40) Starting primary season with Iowa and New Hampshire is perfectly fine. But if the parties want other states to go first, they should be small states with relatively cheap media markets so that lesser-known candidates can compete.

41) A tomato is a vegetable. I don't care if it's technically a fruit. You usually don't put whole fruit on a sandwich or in a house salad. And definitely not on a pizza.

42) Yes, I realize some people put berries and other fruits in lettuce-based salads and pineapple on pizza. I just find that weird.

43) All primaries should be closed, unless a state's party wants it to be open.

44) People shouldn't be forced to join unions or pay union dues. Unions shouldn't be forced to bargain for or protect those who don't want to join.

45) Voting in real elections by cell phone is a terrible idea. Maybe its time will come, but in 2020, there are way too many technical and security issues with it.

46) No voting system is perfect. Every one has pluses and minuses. Voter turnout isn't the sole metric on which this should be measured. Cost, convenience, risk of fraud, and risk of voter regret (especially in primaries where candidates drop out), among other things, matter too.

47) Nobody, except overseas voters with unreliable mail, should be voting one or two months before an election - especially a primary election. Things change.

48) It almost always makes no economic sense to play the state lottery. The mob gave better odds in the numbers racket than the state does in their numbers game.

49) If anyone else advertised lotto jackpots the way the states do, they'd probably get arrested for fraud. No, your $1,000,000 jackpot isn't worth $1,000,000 if I get paid $50,000 over 20 years. Advertise the lump sum.

50) How does Shen Yun make any money when they spend so much money on TV to advertise their upcoming shows? Do they even care if they're making money? I don't know - but their excessive advertising can get annoying - just like excessive political advertising.

51) Cancel culture needs to be cancelled.

52) Yes, voter fraud exists. No, it isn't as prevalent as some Republicans claim or non-existent, as some Democrats claim. But it does exist. It's probably more prevalent in absentee/mail than in-person balloting.

53) I don’t know what they teach in journalism schools, but if they’re not teaching about how to avoid the Summer of the Shark phenomenon or requiring a basic statistics class, you should ask for your money back. The latter goes for law and other grad schools, too. Math matters.

54) When every day is a national something day, no day is national something day. Who even decides the date of national pie day, anyway?

55) Voter ID laws are fine as long as voter ID is freely available. You already need ID when you buy sudafed, enter a federal office building or get on an airplane.

56) I’m not a fan of non-partisan elections. I don’t even know how lower-information voters whose life rightfully doesn’t revolve around politics decide who would make the better dog catcher.

57) Attorney General shouldn’t be an elected position. Elected attorneys general usually grandstand way too much.

58) No, we don’t need to see our elected officials on TV every weekend telling us there ought to be a law about their claimed outrage of the week. 9 times out of 10, there oughtn’t be a new law to begin with.

59) Crucial Waukesha County is only crucial because they suck at timely vote counting. That being said, at least we know they suck at vote counting because results are broken down as it comes in. That’s more than we can say for some states.

60) Instant runoff voting isn’t a great idea. It’s hard enough to decide who to vote for in a primary, let alone who to rank 2nd, 3rd or 4th. My tentative third preference shouldn’t decide elections.

61) Blocking someone on Twitter for almost any non-harassment-related reason is the equivalent of surrendering.

62) Speed limits are set artificially low in some states to raise revenue.

63) Red light and speed cameras also mainly exist to raise revenue. Especially red light cameras that ticket drivers who don’t come to a complete stop before making a right turn on red.

64) Drivers in already an intersection have right of way over drivers not in an intersection - even after the light changes. But you should only enter a clogged intersection if you’re turning.

65) Don’t block side roads. It’s not nice to those who live, work or are otherwise trying to get onto the main road from there.

66) Don’t Tweet political views if you care way too much about your follower count. You’ll definitely lose followers for it. If you don’t care, be nice and don’t call people names because they disagree. Think twice before using the word “you” to avoid making things personal.

67) If you’re not going faster than the rest of highway traffic, stay out of the left lane. Keep right except to pass.

68) Suburbs and exurbs and low density housing are okay. If people didn’t want to live in suburbs and exurbs, they wouldn’t exist. Cities are fine, too, for those who prefer density. Let people vote for where they want to live with their feet.

69) Finally - I’ll end with what I started with - nobody cares about your hot Twitter political takes of the day. You’re preaching to the choir and not changing minds. Nor should you care or get triggered by my dumb takes. We can agree to disagree.

End of ill-advised ranting, even if this gets more likes. I lost about 20 followers because of it. I’m not shocked.

Now, back to mapping.