Oliver Burkeman explains how it can be true both that things are overall getting better and that we still run around with our hair on fire because of all the things that are getting worse. There’s this study…

In the experiment, participants were shown hundreds of dots in shades from deep purple to deep blue, and asked to say whether each was blue or not. Obviously, the bluer a dot, the more likely people were to classify it as blue. But what’s interesting is what happened when researchers began reducing the prevalence of the blue dots they displayed. The fewer dots that were objectively blue, the broader people’s definition of “blue” became: they started to classify purplish dots that

Jeff Sessions decides that of all the things we have to worry about right now, the prospect of a generation of “supercilious sensitive snowflakes” is major enough that he should fret about it in a speech.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was speaking at an event hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA on Tuesday when the crowd began to chant, “Lock her up.” The phrase was a common refrain among supporters of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and referred to the desired punishment for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Sessions, whose position advising that campaign was parlayed into one as the nation’s chief law enforcement official, chuckled.

Heh heh heh. Chuckle chuckle chuckle. These guys are such … Read the rest

Bradley Moss at Lawfare on the taking away security clearances issue:

Trump is considering steps by which their clearances can be revoked because “they’ve politicized and, in some cases, monetized their public service and security clearances,” as well as “ma[de] baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia or being influenced by Russia against the President.” In 11 years of representing civilian employees, military personnel, political appointees and government contractors in security clearance proceedings, I can say with certainty that these types of “allegations” are nothing like anything I have ever seen in a memorandum outlining bases for denying or revoking a security clearance.

As usual with them, it’s not normal, but can they do it? It depends.

There’s a … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on It’s the sense of entitlement.

Here are some more of those Trump voters we’re supposed to respect.

People who believe in a literal, physical hell and heaven, and speculate on what appliances they will have in their kitchen in heaven. (But I was assured that Gnu Atheists were arguing against a literal form of religion that nobody actually believes!)

People who dismiss Trump’s vileness on the grounds that “we are not to judge,” but claim that Hillary Clinton is “of Satan.”

People who believe Obama was a Muslim.

People who believe that the annihilation of Christians in America is nigh. (But don’t you dare call them delusional!)

People who believe that when Jesus … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Noxious Nan on It’s the sense of entitlement.

We’ve received the hard sell for accepting Trump voters as good people who were tired and wanted a change. It’s been such a hard sell, that I’ve really tried to visualize tolerant people driven to such a point that they would vote for Trump….It just doesn’t compute.

As someone defending these voters, Skeletor, please explain to me how it computes! Every line I try leads to eventual conscious racism or misogyny on the part of the imagined voter.

As a woman I experience misogyny every single day, albeit most of the time it is limited to small, subtle demonstrations and messages. These demonstrations come from loved ones … Read the rest

A disgusting display:

They will take their revenge on everyone if they can. We just have to hope they’ll be stopped in time.… Read the rest

Pompeo was ranting at Iran yesterday a few hours before Trump’s late-night all caps threat.

Pompeo’s remarks Sunday reprised his criticism of the Iranian government, but on a deeply personal level that is likely to be repeated in the U.S. government broadcasts into Iran.

He lit into what he called Iran’s “hypocritical holy men,” saying the ruling elites have enriched themselves through corruption, and called out officials by name who he said had plundered government coffers through embezzlement or by winning lucrative contracts.

I wonder if any thoughts of his boss occurred to him while he did all that.

He cited “the billionaire general,” Interior Minister Sadegh Mahsouli; Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, the “Sultan of Sugar”; and Sadeq Ardeshir Larijani,

Not your call, dude.

Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left. This president and his Republican Party are counting on you to do exactly that. America’s great middle wants sensible, balanced, ethical leadership.

— James Comey (@Comey) July 22, 2018

First of all…please. When do Democrats ever rush to the left of any kind, let alone socialist? Democrats never do anything but drag us ever farther to the right, in the name of exactly that kind of “oooh everybody wants to be in The Center” bullshit. Voting for one socialist in one primary in New York is not “rushing to the socialist left” let alone losing anyone’s mind.

Second, it’s not his job to … Read the rest

Aaron Blake at the Post appears to be shocked by what he calls the “tribalism” of what he calls “liberals” – that is, by the fact that people who dislike Trump dislike him a lot.

Liberals don’t just hate President Trump; lots of them don’t even like the idea of being in the company of his supporters.

That’s the big takeaway from a new Pew Research Center survey, which is just the latest indicator of our remarkably tribal and partisan politics. And when it comes to Trump, it’s difficult to overstate just how tribal the left is and how much distaste he engenders. Indeed, that distaste apparently extends even to people who decided they would like to vote for