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15 Oct, 6 tweets, 3 min read
Dudes try to understand Kyrsten Sinema: a thread.

@sambrodey has a great reported piece on how Sinema has basically ghosted the entire network of Democratic supporters that helped her get elected. Lots of personal friendships nuked. thedailybeast.com/kyrsten-sinema…
Alex @pareene thinks Sinema is planning to leave the Democratic Party and try to succeed as an Independent. theap.substack.com/p/what-is-kyrs…
.@jonathanchait has 5 theories about Sinema, none of which sound entirely plausible ... but it's gotta be one of them, right? nymag.com/intelligencer/…
This one from @michelleinbklyn is a bit older (& she's not a dude), but I still think it's the most likely explanation: "It sometimes seems as if what Sinema wants is for people to sit around wondering what Sinema wants."
nytimes.com/2021/10/04/opi…
Any others? Might as well keep this list going. Gotta do something to occupy the time as the country crumbles.
Another excellent entry in the genre, from @tomzoellner: nymag.com/intelligencer/…

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More from @drvolts

David Roberts Profile picture
17 Oct
An idle Sunday thread about Manchin, psychology, & money.

There's a whole cottage industry trying to figure out what's driving Manchin. Is he angling for reelection in a red state? Maybe angling to run for governor? Trying to ostentatiously show WV voters he's not like other Ds?
Or is it lobbying from FF interests? Manchin is the top Senate recipient of oil & gas money, by a decent margin. opensecrets.org/industries./re…++
Is it him defending his personal wealth? He does, after all, directly benefit from the coal industry. theintercept.com/2021/09/03/joe…
Read 16 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
16 Oct
Dems are going to try to find other big emission reductions, but ultimately you're circling around an unsolvable problem. The only way to get rapid near-term reductions is by closing FF power plants & building out renewables. Manchin opposes *that goal*, not the means.
Manchin's premise is that coal & natural gas plants should be allowed to run until they can be outfitted with CCS. That's delusional -- it will never be economic & if we wait that long we're toast. The debate over mechanisms is somewhat beside the point; there's no shared goal.
That's what Manchin & Republicans mean when they talk about "innovation rather than elimination." They mean: don't close the FF plants, make them clean. Which sounds neat conceptually but is in practice deeply & fundamentally unworkable.
Read 4 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
15 Oct
😂🤣😂🤣 omg I cannot overstate how intensely SEATTLE this is. Just chef's-kiss perfect. Instead of implementing all the obvious & available solutions, let's have more process! Let's finally let the tech bros have their say! You couldn't make this up. geekwire.com/2018/seattle-m…
Swear to god, @MayorJenny is like every negative cliche about Seattle made flesh. But I guess that's what Seattleites want -- vague, business-friendly porridge. Endless process that never produces real change or challenges powerful incumbents. The illusion of progressivism.
Ah, stupid me, the article was from 2018. I mean, still funny & all, but lacking that topical bite & currency that you come to the DrVolts TL for. I'm putting together an advisory council of tech bros to develop ways of doing better in the future.
Read 4 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
15 Oct
One thing I think is worth keeping in mind around the "popularism" debate is that, in an actual democracy, where each voter counted equally & majority voter preferences carried the day, *Democrats would already be winning*. That's not much practical help, but it's true.
I think often about the Waxman-Markey climate bill. Dems assembled support from:
* a majority of the public
* a majority of the biz community
* a majority of House reps
* a majority of senators
* the president

And the whole thing is now remembered as ... a pathetic failure.
It's true that Dems have to deal with the system as it exists -- they have to overcome large & wildly unfair barriers. Gotta be realistic. But it's easy to get too down on them. They're doing well enough that, in a sane political system, they'd be winning.
Read 4 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
14 Oct
Ha ha, inevitable: reactionaries are now telling educators in Texas that books about the Holocaust must be "balanced" by "opposing views."

All you fuckwits who went along with the "illiberal college students" nonsense own this.
nbcnews.com/news/us-news/s…
It is reactionaries who want to control thought, speech, & behavior, to preserve status quo social arrangements & prevent the emergence of progress or alternatives. It is true today; it was always true throughout history; pretending otherwise has only empowered bad actors.
OK, on the original post in this thread, if you listen to the audio, it seems the school administrator is just trying to game out the consequences of TX's terrible new bill. She's not *endorsing* the practice. The reactionary TX pols are the problem.
Read 4 tweets
David Roberts Profile picture
14 Oct
Is all this going to end with a bunch of right-wing parents refusing other, more-routine vaccines? Kinda feels like that's where we're headed.
Oh. Of course it is. 🤦‍♂️
Modernity was great while it lasted.
Read 4 tweets

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