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3 Apr, 5 tweets, 1 min read
"I have more time and fewer obligations, yet I’m getting so much less done."

OMG I feel every word of this.

nytimes.com/2021/04/03/bus…
😩
And I chose to launch a new venture during exactly this period, so I'm haunted by the thought that I should be doing *more* than usual, showing enthusiasm, cranking stuff out, getting the thing going. Hustling! But it's like squeezing a rock for blood.
It's crazy, with so little to do, I could use every single day to exercise to stay fit, do a crossword puzzle to keep my brain spry, call an old friend to keep in touch, tend a garden, write a novel, whatever. Instead, I'm spending every day staring, vacant & glazed, at a screen.
And then feeling super-guilty about it. And then tweeting about it. And then doing it again. Great cycle!

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More from @drvolts

David Roberts Profile picture
2 Apr
Today on Volts: I take a closer look at my favorite parts of Biden's infrastructure plan, from a new Grid Deployment Authority at DOE to a plan to retrofit a million affordable residences. (If you don't want to read, you can listen!) volts.wtf/p/the-coolest-…
Luv 2 send out an email with "$10 billion" instead of "$10 trillion" in the very first paragraph. Thank goodness things like that don't haunt me.
Hard to pick a favorite part of the jobs bill, but if forced, I might choose this: “a new Grid Deployment Authority at the Department of Energy ... to spur additional high priority, high-voltage transmission lines.” ⚡️⚡️⚡️🤟
Read 7 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
1 Apr
All of this. As in the Hayes/McWhorter podcast, whenever anyone tries to question the *scale* & *significance* of this problem in the grand scheme of things, the CC crowd responds with outrageous individual examples. Which, yes, exist! But it isn't responsive to the question.
If we were going to approach "cancel culture" in a *remotely* scientific fashion, we'd have to define it, clarify what counts & doesn't. We'd have to specify what distinguishes leftie racial-justice CC from threats to speech from the right, or from the wealthy/powerful.
And we'd need to develop some empirically credible assessment of the *number* of these cases. How common are they, relative to other threats to speech/freedom?

The fact no CC warrior will answer these Qs (or even address them in good faith) inspires little confidence.
Read 4 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
31 Mar
One thing we're starting to see -- expect it to ramp up when Biden's second investment bill is announced -- is the utter contempt that Republican tough guys feel toward the care professions, care workers, & caring generally.
Had a troll in my TL a bit earlier referring to care investments as "forcing him to pay for someone else's babysitter." There's going to be lots more of that. Care isn't *real* work, not *real* infrastructure, not the *real* economy -- just something chicks do.
Getting more women into politics won't solve all problems, but it will certainly reduce the salience of that pathetic, dumbass attitude.
Read 4 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
31 Mar
A 🧵on the Republican approach to killing Dem initiatives.

Rs were caught flat-footed by the Covid recovery bill last month -- it was popular, the insurrection was still on people's minds, they couldn't find an effective attack line, it was a rout. That won't happen again.
Rs are on much firmer ground now, in the face of a big spending bill that's not tied to an immediate crisis. They will run the same play they ran on Obama several times.

Step one is promising that they are open to cooperation. They *want* an infrastructure bill, really!
That then sucks Dems into negotiations, where they will agree to give things up in the name of compromise. That will go on as long as Rs can keep it going -- they will draw it out & draw it out, with cooperation always juuuust over the horizon.
Read 13 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
28 Mar
"most people living in the United States today—certainly more than half—are not Americans in any meaningful sense of the term."

Good to see the right dropping all pretense.

americanmind.org/salvo/why-the-…
This is what I was getting at in a tweet a few weeks ago: you either see the US as a set of rules/procedures/principles meant to enable pluralism ... or you see it as a specific white/Christian/patriarchal culture. The right has chosen the latter, more & more openly.
Related: opposition to federal gun control laws is strongly correlated with Christian nationalism, which has been taking over the US right wing. Christian nationalism says the US is God's special country; to be a patriot, one must be Christian. asanet.org/sites/default/…
Read 7 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
27 Mar
1. Twitter! I need your advice & counsel.

In a couple months, we're launching a long-delayed home renovation project. Kitchen, office, & living room will be inaccessible for 3-4 months. We're trying to decide what to do with ourselves during that time.
2. One option: rent a furnished Airbnb. Unfortunately, finding one within Seattle that is open to 4 people, 2 dogs, & a cat is both difficult & *expensive*. For 4 months it would probably run us $30-$40K 😳 -- a substantial boost in the cost of the whole project.
3. The other option we're considering: buy an RV & park it in the driveway. Mrs. Volts & I would live in it & cook meals in it. Our bedroom inside would be converted to office/TV room. At the end, we'd just sell the RV. This would be *much* cheaper, albeit more logistical hassle.
Read 4 tweets

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