CounterPoint

@zenahitz Monopolies and other concentrations of power are usually bad. Universities are a perfect example of that, and it would be instructive to examine the long standing interventions of our government in breaking up monopolies in private enterprise.

How do these characters know whom to hire and which courses to teach? That doesn't come from space, and it can't be found in the right-wing media. Only faculty-governed institutions can hire and teach. Is faculty governance part of Rufo's vision?

@mattyglesias That's literally the Democratic Party's platform.

You can’t just steal public money because you have a kinda plausible idea of something to do with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have no particular problem with the ballroom concept but this event has zero bearing on it one way or another and there’s just never been any justification at all for building a ballroom *illegally* rather than coming to congress as if we live in a constitutional republic.

@mattyglesias It's a good and fair idea to have a secure gathering place.

Last night a few people shared with me “inside job” conspiracy theories about the assassination attempt and nobody was stupid enough to come up with “build political support for the ballroom” as the goal of the conspiracy.

@johnmilbank3 I think if you had a sober moment you would realize that if a bunch of politicians were killed it would be very, very bad for the country and for your side of the political aisle. "Trump is bad" is not a political strategy. Maybe spend time figuring out why Dems lose ejections.

Everyone who realises that Trump has already defined many civilisational norms and threatens us all should press for the shooter to be dealt with mercifully. After all, Bonhoeffer is regarded as practically a saint…even if the circumstances were evidently different.

@ASFleischman @HannahDCox If you were smart your first thought would be "wow it would be a total shitshow and bad for the country if a guy like that killed a bunch of politicians."

@ASFleischman @HannahDCox It shouldn't be your primary thought in that kind of moment. But in your case it is.

Guys, if you think a politician sucks, you get to say so. If someone tries to kill that politician, you still get to say so.

@neontaster Acosta would sit in a corner trying to fight with his feet praying his hairpiece didn't fall off.

Michael Tracey drunkenly pacing outside the Hampton Inn screaming "Acosta! Acosta!" like Achilles calling for Hector outside the walls of Troy.

@zenahitz It doesn't appear as though the academic left responds to anything but power. They don't believe in truth. They suppress evidence. They eliminate lines of inquiry. Their mission is: "let's make the world a better place according to our definition of a better world."

The problem with Rufo's approach isn't that he's uncivil -- it's that he doesn't know how to build what he wants to build. Scholars grow in communities. You can't buy them and you can't legislate them into existence.

@default_friend @DearLeftyFriend @ArthurKuntler Welp that's the kind of stealing that gets stores moved out of shitty neighborhoods, creating food and pharmacy deserts and the like. So maybe best not to glamorize it.

@DearLeftyFriend @ArthurKuntler Yes. I don’t agree with stealing. I also don’t think Jia Tolentino is actually doing it.

@micsolana She's an idiot.

a lot of people are talking about the fact that jia tolentino, the pro shoplifting lady, is rich. I think it's worth pointing out her parents were also embroiled in a scheme to traffic poor laborers from the phillipines into the united states. just think that's so interesting.

@NewSocialistEra @HistoryBoomer Shoplifting and lazy people who can't or won't learn to cook is what causes so called "food deserts."

@HistoryBoomer This is to fill in the gaps your precious market forces left food deserts. So when this doesn't crash and burn how would you try to complain then?

There is no way this won't be a disaster. The only question is how big a disaster. I'm fine with welfare, but it should go directly to those in need, not to fund inefficient state stores.

@HistoryBoomer Food stamps

@AliceFromQueens I takes a diversity admin like Alice to make a village.

I haven't seen anything to alter my initial sense, formed years ago, that Hasan Piker is best understood as a highly skilled political entertainer.

@asymmetricinfo "I finally found something so retarded on the left that I can criticize it without abandoning my very nearly as retarded beliefs that sabotage societal decency at every turn" - J. Filipovic

To be clear, I am not surprised that Jill is on the side of decency, I am surprised to find that this is now the most salient division in American politics.

@kittypurrzog Sure. But this bullshit kumbaya moment is worse than anything they have ever done.

Tolentino and Piker seem like people who would tell their landlords their dogs are emotional support animals

I used to shoplift a LOT and convinced myself that was a good and righteous thing to do but then I turned 15

@asymmetricinfo @SarahTheHaider She's full of shit that she believes in agency.

Twenty years ago, when Jill and I started writing, the main divide was left and right, and we were pretty far apart. I am somewhat surprised to find that the main divide is now normies vs. performative indecency, and we're on the same side.

@JillFilipovic Oh you believe in agency now?

This whole interview just makes me incredibly sad. Total breakdown of any moral code / sense of personal integrity / commitment to the public good. nytimes.com/2026/04/22/opi…

@mattyglesias Even you don't believe that.

It is EXTREMELY bad that Republicans repeatedly blocked a national ban on gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is bad, and Republicans are profoundly blameworthy for its continued existence.

@JoyceCarolOates The hypocrisy between what is taught and what is practiced is what is shameful.

anyone who says "academia went far left" has spent little time at a university department meeting or senate. in fact, anyone who says "academia" isn't on any university payroll.

@SarahTheHaider Killing but not eating shrimp is equivalent to the Holocaust.

If you think killing and eating shrimp is morally equivalent to the holocaust, then you are a bad person if you don’t use everything in your means to stop it. The difference between “animal welfare matters” and “animal suffering is morally equivalent to human suffering” is a difference in kind, not just degree. This is why people are pointing to doomer rhetoric as “extreme”. But I disagree with them, because I don’t think doomers are saying “we’re all going to die” because it’s inflammatory, I think they actually believe this is a frighteningly possible outcome. Therefore, it’s morally incumbent on them to speak plainly. However, the highly predictable result (and indeed, logical, depending on which other premises you hold or do not hold) is that someone will attempt to kill or maim developers of AI. So doomers are stuck with two bad options. Either downplay the risk, in the hopes of preventing another attack. Or, speak truthfully. But the cost of that is what it is, the risk of violence is real. The blood isn’t—I repeat—isn’t—on their hands. But they are weakening the foundation of something. If it shatters, in one individual or many, they can’t pretend they had nothing to do with it, and frankly it is deeply discrediting to try. This is where I take out my old dead beating horse: beliefs matter. If your beliefs are this consequential, you’d better be sure they are right.