Writer and consultant who loves 🇺🇸 and resents its reinvention as a system of presidential hagiography, congressional disempowerment, and judicial distrust.
Atlanta, GA
Joined November 2012
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The responses to Isaac are the epitome of a pernicious fallacy in politics called relative privation. What many call "whataboutism" is actually this oftentimes: A guilty party minimizes its behavior by judging it against the behavior of its opponent instead of a neutral standard.
It's incredible watching people on the left defend the Dan Sullivan stuff in Alaska.
Yes, Republicans do dirty politics, too!
Yes, Trump denies the results of elections!
Yes, it might even be legal!
But you just handed Trump actual, legit ammunition to further undermine trust in elections.
You are abandoning the moral high ground.
Peltola now has to answer for this, which may hurt her odds in an election, so it's going to cost you politically also.
Which on top of it being immoral, scummy, and unethical, makes it bad politics and a total own-goal.
If you want to talk about the sanctity and integrity of the democratic process, don't go recruit candidates for the sole purpose of fooling voters!
There's no defense. Just condemn all of it.
Fundamentally anti-social people ironically invented I.T. called "social media," where today's users share survival guides for doomsday caused by the next-gen inventions of those same people and their peers. In-between, the technology was used to ruin ordered political society.
Chris Deaton retweeted
This is my new favorite @NRO article. I am very curious as to see how many people don't click any of the links. nationalreview.com/corner/a-…
Americans do not appreciate the extent to which the primary constituency of federal-level politics will continue to be "highly active social media users" no matter who is in charge. Everyone who is part of the market benefits. Those not in the know complain about government.
Congress has a serious, ultimately vital oversight role that has been undermined by cameras in committee rooms and increasingly is being done in by poasting.
Chris Deaton retweeted
1) this isn’t California wide. This is Ventura County.
2) there are lots of ballot styles, and they position different races, differently, so where this ballot lines up different from other styles in county.
3) the envelopes are purchased and made well before the candidates are determined. Sometimes over a year in advance.
4) the hole is a common design feature and serves two purposes: a) so when election workers take ballot cards out of envelope, they can quickly look to see if grabbed all of them, b) it’s an alignment mark that visually impaired can use to know where to sign
5) as the narrator says in video, you can easily fold your ballot so nothing shows
6) what’s the theory of fraud here? That postal employee is gonna throw your ballot out after looking at that hole? You think the election office wouldn’t notice if hundreds of ballots thrown out?
7) also, you can track your ballot to make sure it arrives an election facility
8) or you can drop off at a drop box and then picked up directly by election workers
9) I know this is your profit model — posting videos like this — but it’s an immoral and idiotic profit model.
Chris Deaton retweeted
there's evidence that the use of AI in schools is delivering the opposite of "intellectual flourishing"—maybe in some bubbles the use of these models is leading to more reading and philosophical debates but I'm inclined to think that's an exception to the rule
this is actually one of those things that needs to be called out if you merit being taken seriously as an American political commentator. hiding, even out of a well-meaning motivation to focus on the inside game, doesn't cut it with this. your country's envoy is fluffing a despot
it doesn't matter if the president is trump, Obama, Marvin the martian, whatever. the United States does not fawn over bad guys. and to frame it as a masterstroke of negotiating genius is so naive and insultingly stupid that it befits X, The Everything Is Insultingly Stupid App™️
Yet Seneca warned against having "notebook knowledge."
" 'This is what Zeno said.' But what have you yourself said? ... Take command, and utter some word which posterity will remember." Even with slight variations of old wisdom, we can add new value, or make the old current.
Good statement, real action, great stuff.
We should be increasing economic pressure on Russia, not easing up. We need to use every tool at our disposal, including fully implementing the Graham sanctions and my REPO Act, to squeeze Putin until he ends his illegal and barbaric war in Ukraine.
I have requested a classified briefing on the rationale for this decision.
wsj.com/politics/policy/trum… via @WSJ
If Congress doesn’t want to start the process of flexing muscle in this kind of way, just shut it down. It is the people’s branch, and the people’s branch is so overwhelmingly one sided on this vital question of role and national interest that to lay down would be embarrassing.
In 2017, Congress was so concerned President Trump would coddle Russia that it passed legislation by a combined House-Senate vote of *517 to 5* to require congressional review of any White House efforts to ease certain recent sanctions. (Sec. 213 of this: congress.gov/bill/115th-cong…)
Chris Deaton retweeted
We should be increasing economic pressure on Russia, not easing up. We need to use every tool at our disposal, including fully implementing the Graham sanctions and my REPO Act, to squeeze Putin until he ends his illegal and barbaric war in Ukraine.
I have requested a classified briefing on the rationale for this decision.
wsj.com/politics/policy/trum… via @WSJ
Chris Deaton retweeted
“we will pay any price….to assure the success and survival of liberty.” Is this still true? Do we prize liberty or do we prize power and purse? No more clear test than the choice between Ukraine and Russia. Abandon Ukraine and we abandon liberty. Eventually even our own.
In 2017, Congress was so concerned President Trump would coddle Russia that it passed legislation by a combined House-Senate vote of *517 to 5* to require congressional review of any White House efforts to ease certain recent sanctions. (Sec. 213 of this: congress.gov/bill/115th-cong…)
As I wrote at the time, "When literally 99 percent of Congress say that the president cannot be trusted to challenge a foe wanting to do America harm, there is reason to believe they may turn out to be right." web.archive.org/web/20180719…
