COMMON SENSE ON A ROLL

People should boycott Papa John’s, not because of their asshole CEO’s asshole politics, but simply based on their stance on pizza itself. Maybe the fact that they couldn’t give away cardboard discs with tomato-flavoring is the reason why they’re losing money.

Alternate Headline: Nation that Put Donald Trump in White House Likes Do-Nothing Governor

Who knew that a guy who doesn’t do anything so as not to stoke controversy could be well-liked in a nation that seemingly hates politicians for being so controversial?! It’s also almost as if his party is so full of divisive nutjobs that he looks sane by comparison!

“Finally, someone understands how the most oppressed people in Athens are the wealthy male Athenian landowners.”

Really, you could insert just about any issue and this is more or less how Americans think about the solution. This applies to policymakers as well as the general public. Another good one is “but who’s gonna paaaaaaaay for iiiiiit???”

Maybe—oh, I don’t know—but maybe if the Party wants to win, they should listen to their fucking base. It’s a crazy plan that just might garner some results! I know enough chickenshit Democratic “pragmatists” who would clutch their pearls at the thought of endorsing candidates who called for Medicare for all, free college tuition, and raising taxes to pay for those and other ambitious plans. The Left will continue to fight this incredibly stupid fight for years to come. And papers of record will still naval gaze over the whole affair and ponder why these “activist,” “militant,” “liberal” elements are dragging down those poor ol’ Democratic folks asking “wary voters” to give them another chance at riding the mediocrity train to Compromised Ideals Town.

Pro-tips: 

1 When your opposition has tracked so far to the right that Donald Fucking Trump is the president, there aren’t many things you can say that will turn people off—at least not completely. 

2. If you bring energy and enthusiasm to your platform, you will energize and enthuse your voters. But your messaging needs to be something better than what the Dems have been offering up for the last two decades. Give people a vision to believe in, and you’ll likely be surprised at how much you can get done.

A depressing 10-ish-year lookback on America’s shameful inaction on climate change. Notice how all of the politicians on the right who claimed anthropogenic climate change is real not only backpedaled, but doubled down on the denial. [ETA: They are the only political party IN THE WORLD whose official stance is to ignore the scientific consensus on climate.]

Could be they got a stern talking to from their donors, could be that they didn’t like the idea of a black Democratic president setting an agenda. Who will ever know? Both parties are definitely the same, doe.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

As appropriate today as it ever was.

I know it’s been said before, but Idiocracy isn’t meant to be a manual for how to govern.

So great

Commentary from this fantastic and eye-opening SF Chronicle front-page editorial from a couple of days ago. This isn’t just a problem for places like San Francisco; it’s characteristic of nearly every American city, and shows that—despite our futile search for “silver bullet, never have to revisit” policymaking—we collectively aren’t doing what it really takes to address our most basic and pressing issues in this country.

Another great quote from Arment:

That shouldn’t just resonate with our shoddy tech overlords, but anyone who is in a position to make a difference.