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Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

How stupid are these people?

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Everybody saw this coming.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

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Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

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You are here: Home / Archives for Balloon Juice / Something To Think About

Something To Think About

Here I Am Again, With Another Positive Message

by TaMara|  June 13, 20258:35 pm| 46 Comments

This post is in: 2025 Activism, Something To Think About, We All Need A Little Kindness

Let’s start out right here: if you’re not interested in a positive take on current affairs or interested in hopefulness instead of hopelessness, move right along. This is only going to piss you off.

But I have to get through the day. And I know there are some folks here struggling to find a way to get through the day, too. I feel like I can at least do something to help with that.

Here are two videos I watched today that I found helpful, especially since I have been both angry and heartbroken hearing all the lies about California, particularly LA. A city where I have lived, worked and played off and on over the past thirty years. A vibrant city, a lot in part due to its beautiful immigrant population.

If you’re not familiar with Hank Green, he and his brother are worth learning about. The end of the video, when he casually adds the fact they funded the hospital center in SierraLeone, should at least pique your interest in what he and his brother do in addition to their day jobs.

I really like this video, because yesterday Hank was having my day, when everything felt hopeless and I actually had to quit watching that video halfway through, because I was already depressed and stressed. I went and walked the dogs, listening to music instead. And remembered there are A LOT of good people out there.

Hank seemed to have a similar experience:

Jun 13, 2025

I’ve got three or four strategies in this video, depending on how you count. But overall, I probably need to shift my brain out of a mentality where I think about whether I’m winning or losing, and shift toward simply asking whether I am acting in ways that are in concert with my goals.

===

The second video is the one Hank refers to in his video. I was curious, and I wasn’t disappointed.  Jamelle Bouie’s thoughts:

Jun 10, 2025 CHARLOTTESVILLE

Lots of conversation about whether the Los Angeles protests will help or hurt President Trump’s political standing. Here’s my case that they are more likely to hurt him than help him, and that his response — and his decision to escalate to using the military — represents weakness rather than strength. Of course, we’ll ultimately see what happens. I hope I’m right. Also, for those of you care, I’m wearing a ballcap from my alma mater, the University of Virginia, an Italian linen sportcoat from J. Crew, a blue oxford from Proper Cloth and a emblematic tie from Polo Ralph Lauren, bought second-hand.

===

Finally, just for fun – the top 10 dogs this week:

===

If you are feeling overwhelmed, find one thing you can do, no matter how simple, even if it’s just being kind to someone you know is vulnerable, every day. Those acts make a difference. And don’t forget to do something nice for yourself, too.

Stay safe this weekend!

This is a positive vibes thread. Including sharing how you get to hope when you feel hopeless.

 

 

Here I Am Again, With Another Positive MessagePost + Comments (46)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Trump Voters Want Not Just Their Own Opinions… But Their Own ‘Facts’

by Anne Laurie|  November 9, 20247:49 am| 345 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, Media, Something To Think About, social media

Before:

I just had a convo with a Trump supporter this morning who doesn’t believe any of this, doesn’t care that Trump is a bad person, and is certain that voting machines were tampered with in 2020 – among other things. The magnitude of this problem is breathtaking. pic.twitter.com/XgQ5aWIt3x

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 30, 2024

Here’s the good news – yes, good news:

A substantial portion of the country did not consciously choose the unworthiest, shittiest President of all time to purposefully oppress you.

The bad news is, they did it because they were so ignorant as to be inhabiting a different… pic.twitter.com/XPFWFFuAMr

— JChoe (@JoohnChoe) November 8, 2024

A substantial portion of the country did not consciously choose the unworthiest, shittiest President of all time to purposefully oppress you.

The bad news is, they did it because they were so ignorant as to be inhabiting a different factual universe altogether.

STOCKPILE - Not Just Their Own Opinions... But Their Own 'Facts' (Nichols / Stancil)

After…

Uncharacteristically, I’ll say that Dems should stop beating up on themselves and firing volleys back and forth. (They can get back to that later.) American voters – as I’ve been warning for years – are changing, and becoming more like Trump. That’s hard to counteract. /1

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 9, 2024

Maybe the mistake we all made was thinking America would elect a Black woman. I had a gut feeling they would not. But in any case, when elections are about feelings, fantasies, boredom, and resentment, the candidate who services those delusions has a natural advantage. /2

Democrats are understandably focused on voters who flipped because they’re suffering economically. But a far larger number of voters were un-flippable and not poor! They’re the comfortable Trumpers who think, like, Canada conspired with Michelle O to hijack voting machines. /3

When millions of people think that way, you can’t agonize *too* much over losing another 3 pts during a global backlash against inflation (that no govt could have stopped and that the US handled well).
Especially when you’ve won impt House/Senate races in all those states./4

The Democrats should definitely have a reckoning about their inability to recognize that becoming the party of the college-educated (which is what the GOP used to be) has affected their ability to message. And you’re seeing some rumbles already. /5

But no Dem can change the fact that millions of ungettable GOP votes are set in stone not because of economic conditions – which were the best any candidate could have hoped for – but because even relatively affluent voters have spent years marinating in complete craziness. /6

And I’ll add, again, that this is not some post-hoc rationalization based on this week. I’ve written about this for years, and warned about it at length in a book I wrote more than four years ago. That’s really why I just couldn’t be optimistic about this election. /7x

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The economic conditions were not “the best any candidate could have hoped for”. Yes the stock market is up, and yes inflation is down but when people have to pay twice as much for pop-tarts as they did 4 years ago they’re gonna blame the dude in charge.

Becuase they are idiots.

— Jimmy coconuts (@Jombafomba) November 9, 2024

Almost like their just frustrated people clinging to their bibles and guns. He called it. pic.twitter.com/FD3oGnnD9V

— Mike Bryan (@wolf2point0) November 9, 2024

What a profound irony that the two men most responsible for the warping of the collective American mind are an Australian and a South African.

— TheOrangeChicken (@TheOrangeC57985) November 9, 2024

How does our beleaguered country recover from this level of willed idiocy? Best case, as far as I can see, is that the economic suffering & political chaos the GOP guarantees for the next four years will finally gut what remains of their corrupted parasitized shell of a party. The ‘hot stove theory’ of political realignment. (No) Joy.

My working theory for What’s Gone Wrong is that the plethora of media sources have enabled extremist ideologies – not by LIMITING people’s exposure to ideas, but by INCREASING it. This enables people to select whichever narrative supports their inner emotional universe best.

— Will Stancil (@whstancil) October 22, 2024

Ultimately most of these extreme ideologies are about intellectual laziness and indulgence – substituting prejudice and simplicity and emotion for the hard work of thinking through complicated problems, confronting uncertainty, and developing a consistent set of beliefs.

The endless all-you-can-eat buffet of information in front of us, as it’s grown wider, makes it easier for people to avoid contradictions and difficult thoughts. They can always find some bubble that will indulge their worst, most incoherent beliefs.

As less-centralized, partisan forms of media have grown and endlessly fragmented, this process has only intensified – to the point that it has become almost impossible to convince many people of extremely simple facts when those facts collide with their instinctive beliefs.

One of the things I’ve noticed is that sometimes it’s the smartest people who are least susceptible to new facts, because they’re better at developing rationalizations. Now we’ve created an infrastructure where they can distribute those rationalizations to millions instantly.

This explains both the why the growth of extremism is worldwide, but also how it melds itself to local characteristics: People everywhere are finding it to rationalize their local prejudices as their menu of media options grows and fragments.

I think it also explains why it’s so hard to deprogram people in the thrall of extremism. The problem isn’t lack of access to good information, but too much access to indulgent, reaffirming information. And the ultimate defect is within them: they’re unable to not indulge.

The growth of social media and partisan media and alternative media has turned people into little Skinner-box rats, constantly visiting whichever website or channel or account that will let them feel smart, angry, depressed – or whatever inner state they crave – all the time.

And it turns out that what a lot of people crave is the surge of validating anger that accompanies watching a mob brutalize disfavored minorities.

In conclusion: Sometimes I’ve grateful that my Spousal Unit & I are old, we have no kids, and our next-gen relatives don’t look like they’ll be having kids either. Tomorrow, hopefully, I’ll be back to pushing that boulder uphill.

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Trump Voters Want Not Just Their Own Opinions… But Their Own ‘Facts’Post + Comments (345)

Almost done

by David Anderson|  July 7, 202412:54 pm| 84 Comments

This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance, Something To Think About

Almost done

You are invited to attend DPHS PhD candidate Dave Anderson’s dissertation defense, “Analyzing the Impact of State Policy Discretion on Risk, Enrollment, and Plan Offerings in the ACA Individual Health Insurance Markets.”

The defense will take place on Monday, July 8 at 11 a.m. You may join us in person in DPHS Classroom A or via Zoom:

We hope you’ll join us as we support Dave in this significant milestone of his academic journey.

 

 

 

 

All you Jackals are invited tomorrow. I could not have gone on this journey without the space and the freedom that I’ve had to explore ideas at Balloon Juice.

Almost donePost + Comments (84)

One Person Can Change the World, or at Least Part of It

by WaterGirl|  April 5, 202412:17 pm| 42 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Something To Think About

One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world. ~Barack Obama

One black couple did exactly that in 1939, and now, in 2024, generations later, we can see the impact of what that couple did with one brave, bold, and simple, act.  A black couple rented a home to a Chinese family.

One Person Can Change a World

A Black couple defied racism by renting to a Chinese family. Now comes $5 million in thanks (LA Times)

Every morning, Lloyd Dong Sr. would take the ferry from San Diego to Coronado, where he worked as a gardener for wealthy homeowners. And every night, he would retreat back home across the bay, barred by racially restrictive housing practices in the early 1900s from renting or buying his own house in the town.

Gus and Emma Thompson — a Black couple who had managed to secure ownership of Coronado property before restrictions took hold — boldly rented a house they owned to the Dong family, whose Chinese heritage blocked them from living in the community. The intersection of these two families amid the embedded racism of the time would decades later become a story of gratitude, made possible by the very home that once belonged to the Thompsons.

Some 85 years since the Dongs moved to Coronado, Lloyd Sr.’s sons, Ron Dong and Lloyd Dong Jr., are donating $5 million from their portion of the sale of the house they eventually came to own to San Diego State University’s Black Resource Center.

The gift will expand scholarships for Black students and fund future renovations at the center, its director, Brandon Gamble, said.

One Person Can Change a World 1
The Dongs’ family house in Coronado, originally the home of the Thompsons. (Courtesy of Janice Dong)

“I don’t know how to describe the feeling in my chest, but there’s a feeling that racism gives that folks are familiar with; you may not be able to describe it all the time,” Gamble said. “This is the complete opposite, and we don’t get to access it enough.”

Ron Dong, 86, the eldest son, said his father “tried and tried [to live in Coronado] and the only thing that came up was Gus Thompson willing to rent his house that he had available…. That was the big plus for our family, because it has made all the difference for us.”

Open thread.

 

One Person Can Change the World, or at Least Part of ItPost + Comments (42)

Thursday Night Open Thread: Think Positive!

by Anne Laurie|  August 17, 20239:33 pm| 166 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Something To Think About

We’re all ‘realists’ now — anything can happen, and the only certainty in this fallen world is the eventual heat death of the universe. But sometimes, maybe, can we Democrats allow ourselves a little optimism, as a treat?

I have a suspicion. Not a prediction. Or maybe it's a prediction but I won't frame it as such, because I like to be cautious. The basic fundamentals of American political life have shifted and will continue to shift into 2024. All in the Democrats' favor.

— Magdi Jacobs (@magi_jay) August 17, 2023

I'm not sure how else to say this, but I do not think that disaffected youth voting will be as it has been in other elections, like 2000 or 2016. No matter how "old" Joe Biden is. It's not going to be the same.

— Magdi Jacobs (@magi_jay) August 17, 2023

I am not complacent. They can still win. They are too dangerous to take with a grain of salt. But I feel it–this shift in the political atmosphere–and instead of saying, "Oh maybe we who'll have a Dem primary ??" maybe we should just start saying, "we're stronger than they are"

— Magdi Jacobs (@magi_jay) August 17, 2023

I also don’t want to get burned again, but I legitimately think things are changing more deeply than the forecasters have any incentive to realize.

— The Fig Economy (@figgityfigs) August 17, 2023

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Odds Biden will win according to:

My heart: 100%

My head: 300%

My PSTD: 50/50

— LadyGrey 🇦🇲🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@TWLadyGrey) August 17, 2023

morning in, and I cannot stress this enough, america https://t.co/9ZhxZyzpOL

— the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist) 🥬 (@merovingians) August 17, 2023

Thursday Night Open Thread: Think Positive!Post + Comments (166)

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Gaming the Systems

by Anne Laurie|  September 27, 20225:28 pm| 53 Comments

This post is in: Something Good Open Thread, Something To Think About

Here is a lab lab!

Our lab here needs to wear PPE just like the people doing the science.

He is the service dog of a student in a chemistry professor's lab.

(Shared with permission.) pic.twitter.com/6YefNNiIwc

— Jennifer Polk, PhD (she, her) (@FromPhDtoLife) September 22, 2022

I had the remnants of a formerly capped tooth extracted yesterday (per the oral surgeon, my teeth are fragile but my jawbone is ‘surprisingly dense’), so today I’m taking it easy…

show full post on front page

Here you can see a capuchin monkey instructing a female human on how to properly use stone tools. With monkeys learning to use tools and passing this skill down for generations, what do you think future monkeys be like?

[source and more: https://t.co/C5SS7iDXaT] pic.twitter.com/iyh5BOirIY

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 18, 2022


Criticism from an expert:

It's a very fast way to teach complex motor skills, although probably most appropriate and scalable with some sort of pantograph or exoskeleton.

— Naomi Wu ???? (@RealSexyCyborg) September 18, 2022

here is a one page rpg about being a left wing office cat where you must avoid garbage cans and being buttered by colleagues pic.twitter.com/P3bxtZOMGh

— Oliver Darkshire ?? (@deathbybadger) September 21, 2022

I do not charge for my games, but you can find the full archive and/or buy a man a sandwich here: https://t.co/E59URnUlQT

— Oliver Darkshire 🌈 (@deathbybadger) September 21, 2022

Too good to be true?

feels right that if a shark could communicate with us the main thought it would have to communicate is "i am a shark" https://t.co/HLFcB0LI5A

— flglmn (@flglmn) September 18, 2022

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Gaming the SystemsPost + Comments (53)

‘Look for the Helpers’ Open Thread: What Are the Best Ways to Help Puerto Rico?

by Anne Laurie|  September 22, 20227:57 pm| 22 Comments

This post is in: How about that weather?, Open Threads, Something To Think About, Show Me On the Doll Where Rahm Touched You

More than a million homes and businesses across Puerto Rico still lacked power, two days after Hurricane Fiona slammed into the island of 3.3 million people https://t.co/jbKNV4sX9b pic.twitter.com/wqPkVJgxh3

— Reuters (@Reuters) September 21, 2022

Today, I spoke with @GovPierluisi to address the immediate needs of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Fiona.

We discussed federal personnel working to assist the island's recovery, and I assured the Governor that we'll increase support substantially in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/Qc9goBEZxm

— President Biden (@POTUS) September 19, 2022

Praise Goddess we have an actual President in office now, but does anyone have suggestions for trustworthy relief / self-help organizations that could put individual donations to best use immediately?

show full post on front page

I’m so proud of WCK teams around the world.. In Puerto Rico yesterday 5,000 meals & today doubled serving 10,000 people! We’ll keep adding restaurants to meet the need. And we’re following the path of Hurricane Fiona getting ready to help wherever it hits next.. #ChefsForTheWorld pic.twitter.com/90UXEsrWHx

— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) September 20, 2022

At FEMA office in NYC, @POTUS says federal government will reimburse Puerto Rico 100% of the cost for debris removal, power and water restoration and shelter and food for the next month following Hurricane Fiona.

“We are with you. We are not going to walk away.” pic.twitter.com/QUqfhCtFc0

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) September 22, 2022

(Mild) readership capture:

Lin-Manuel Miranda and his father, Luis A. Miranda Jr., write in Opinions, “We call on all our partners in philanthropy, business and the arts to join our family and make direct investments in Puerto Rico.”https://t.co/OwpLyT8bSE

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 20, 2022

I swear to my fellow Olds, this headline from the Washington Post makes sense in context — “Bad Bunny wants you to stop ignoring Puerto Rico”:

… On Friday, less than 48 hours before Fiona, another catastrophic hurricane, made landfall in Puerto Rico — knocking out power across the island — Bad Bunny released a stunning 22-minute documentary/music video for “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”), a pointed track from his latest album, “Un Verano Sin Ti” (“A Summer Without You”), which has been atop the Billboard 200 chart for 11 weeks. Over the song’s jubilant, club-ready beat, Bad Bunny raps about his love for the island, ticking off a list of hometown treasures, including J.J. Barea, one of only a handful of Puerto Ricans to play for the NBA (“a champion before LeBron,” BB boasts), and reggaeton pioneer Tego Calderón. “Maldita sea, otro apagón,” Bad Bunny says, briefly interrupting his joyful ode: “Damn, another blackout.”

In the video, verses of “El Apagón” are interspersed with reporting by Bianca Graulau, an independent journalist who has been documenting inequities in the U.S. territory, whose residents lack representation in Congress and are unable to vote on a federal level. Five years after Maria, persistent blackouts continue to plague the more than 3 million U.S. citizens who call the island home. As Graulau explains in the video, the documentary portion of which is titled “Aquí Vive Gente” (“People Live Here”), Puerto Rico’s billion-dollar effort to privatize the electrical grid — through a controversial contract with Luma Energy — has done little to quell the problem. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, whose administration hired Luma, publicly criticized the energy consortium for the first time last month after a report by Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau showed that outages have actually increased in duration this year…

“El Apagón” references displacement in a bridge sung by Bad Bunny’s girlfriend, Gabriela Berlingeri. “I don’t want to leave here / I don’t want to leave here,” she sings in Spanish, while urging that the developers and crypto bros do. “This is my beach, this is my sun. This is my land, this is me.”

For Graulau, the impact of Bad Bunny’s song is both professional and personal. “It’s a music video that turns into a news documentary,” the reporter told her followers on TikTok, where she regularly posts videos breaking down issues in Puerto Rico that have historically gone unnoticed on the mainland. “I am so honored that you guys think of me when you think of these issues. I’m honored Bad Bunny thought of me and that he had the crazy idea to give us this platform.”

‘Look for the Helpers’ Open Thread: What Are the Best Ways to Help Puerto Rico?Post + Comments (22)

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