@GregTSargent @jamestalarico Dude, this *is* a new politics. We need to reduce the influence of all sorts of special interests.
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Christopher Stone
9.5K posts
Christopher Stone
@TrueStoneCold
Fmr Senate for policy/trade advisor | Cenasia/FSU | Emerging mkt VC | @GlobalTechSympo cofounder | RT/♥≠endorsement, views mine
شامل ہوئے Ocak 2009
1.8K فالونگ1.3K فالوورز
Very sad to see @jamestalarico promise a new politics and then resort to this tired old nonsense just to please a few writers in DC.
Sahil Kapur@sahilkapur
James Talarico calls out “the groups” in the Democratic Party on immigration. “In recent years there’ve been a series of advocacy groups that claim to represent the interests of different communities like here in Texas, but actually have no real connection to the actual people on the ground. And those groups convinced the [Biden] administration that it was racist to support border security.” x.com/ElectTheBench/…
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Christopher Stone ری ٹویٹ کیا
Read this statement carefully because buried inside the triumphalist language is a significant admission.
Bessent is releasing Iranian oil onto global markets to keep prices down while bombing Iran.
He frames it as using Iranian barrels against Tehran. But what he is actually describing is the United States lifting sanctions on Iranian oil revenues because the economic consequences of this war have become politically unmanageable. The country being subjected to maximum pressure is simultaneously having its sanctioned oil unlocked by the Treasury Secretary of the country bombing it.
The structural contradiction is extraordinary. Maximum pressure as a doctrine means denying Iran revenue to weaken its economy and force political change. Releasing 140 million barrels of Iranian oil onto global markets generates revenue flows that ultimately benefit the Iranian state regardless of Bessent’s claim that Iran will have difficulty accessing them. Money is fungible. Oil that reaches buyers generates economic activity that reduces pressure on the regime.
The “winning at an even faster pace than anticipated” claim lands on the same night Victoria Base is ablaze in Baghdad, the IRGC has issued an evacuation warning for Ras al-Khaimah, the IEA declared the worst energy crisis in history, and the Pentagon confirmed detailed ground invasion preparations. If this is faster than anticipated the original anticipation had significant problems.
The final line is the most revealing. “Any short-term disruption now will ultimately translate into longer-term economic gains for Americans.” Diesel stations are empty in New South Wales. Inflation expectations hit 5.2 percent. Gas is up 45 percent in four months. Mortgage rates at 2026 highs.
That is not short-term disruption framing. That is the economic signature of a supply shock with a six month restoration timeline per the IEA.
Bessent is a serious economist who knows exactly what these numbers mean. The fact that he is describing them as short-term disruption tells you this statement is political communication not economic analysis.
Iran’s oil is being sold to fund price relief for the war being waged against Iran.
That is the sentence that defines where this war actually stands financially on Day 21.
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Christopher Stone ری ٹویٹ کیا
Christopher Stone ری ٹویٹ کیا
Governor Shapiro is doing a wonderful thing. Giving kids longer recess is so important, and so few leaders are talking about it. Combined with phone free schools, PA students will be more engaged in school than they were before. Bravo @GovernorShapiro
Governor Josh Shapiro@GovernorShapiro
The best thing we can do for our kids right now is to just let them be kids. Kids are getting cell phones sooner than any generation before them, screen times are up while real human connection is down, and foundational skills aren’t being taught enough these days. We need to take a step back. It’s why I just signed a bipartisan bill into law, requiring cursive handwriting to once again be taught in PA public schools. It’s also why I’ve called on the legislature to pass a bill requiring schools to both implement a bell-to-bell cell phone ban and guarantee recess for every Pennsylvania student. Let’s continue our work to set young people on a path to success — and let our kids be kids.
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Do you actually have any data that supports this radical assertion? Particularly data from more than the past year or two?
Many of Israel’s founders were socialists. In his youth, Sen. Sanders, though not particularly pro-Israel today, reportedly volunteered on a kibbutz that lionized Stalin as “the Sun of the Nations.”
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@lhfang @AIPACHatesUS And support for Israel is actually kind of a proxy for corporate power as well. Any Israel supporter will not support antitrust laws, tax hikes of billionaires and corporations, universal health care ect… We need to do an analysis of this because i guarantee im right!
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@lhfang Their constituents elected Schumer and Jefferies knowing their positions, no?
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@WalshFreedom @AIPAC I’m not taking a position here as to how to classify AIPAC, but most lobbyists who are registered to lobby on behalf of foreign governments are Americans.
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Everytime I bring up @AIPAC, I’m bombarded by people who attack AIPAC by claiming it’s a “foreign” lobby or it’s an agency within the Israeli government that must register as a “foreign” agent. ALL of that is false. All of it. AIPAC is an American organization, representing millions of American citizens, and it’s 💯 funded by American citizens.
Look, I support AIPAC, you’ve got every right to oppose AIPAC, but at least be factual about what the organization actually is.
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@itmedg @nazzobetweeting Cars are also compatible with density for those that want it - you just need to build parking garages, often underground. Places like Crystal City in Arlington or Highland in Denver are great examples.
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@nazzobetweeting US numtot-type people always confuse car *ownership* with car *dependency* and seek to want to harass anyone, European or otherwise, for even owning or using a car in what they deem to be a country that is entirely walkable or transit-accessible
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i am a public transportation enthusiast but i do think it’s funny when people come on here and say ridiculous euro-praise stuff like “people in italy don’t even need a car but people in america do!!!” well, people in rome or milan probably don’t need a car but people in like, roccella ionica or locri do 😂 do yall think the entire country is a metropolitan city and that suburbs and rural areas don’t exist 😭
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The reason for this is that the footprint for most American cities was laid comparatively recently - in the case of cities in the US west, in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The footprint for European city centers was often laid in the Middle Ages, even if many (eg London after the Great Fire) been rebuilt since then. You see them same thing in newer cities outside the US, such as Dubai, or Moscow outside the third ring, or indeed many Western European bedroom communities.
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exactly!!! like we can acknowledge great things like the fact that most if not all european cities have robust public transit that most american cities (barring a few) don’t have but acting like european cities are devoid of cars and that it’s solely an american thing to drive is just so weird!! and wrong!
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The Americans who are saying “Europeans don’t have cars” are either ideologues or tourists who primarily stay within city centers, where the tourist attractions are. They’re not visiting places like Majadahonda or Reus in Spain, Stevenage or Chandlers Ford in the UK, or Villiers-en-Bière in France (all places with Carrefours or similar hypermarkets with enormous parking lots).
When I did a student exchange in high school, my host family in the aforementioned Majadahonda (a bedroom community of Madrid) had three cars, one more than we did at home!
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I live in Madrid and I read one time there’s 5 million vehicles in the metropolitan area, there are motorways to every corner of the region jammed for hours every day, & a lot of people I know own a car. Right now, Friday evening, drive thrus are jammed. There’re even building drive through pharmacies. But Americans will say nobody has a car!
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@mweinbach Recharged from 80 to 350 miles for about $18 today!
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I love having an EV, haven’t looked at gas prices in ages
Apparently they’re high again
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@ImBreckWorsham May I suggest that much if this was because Trump inherited Obama’s economy and mostly avoided unsettling it.
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I miss the OLD crazy kind of Trump.
Mean tweets.
Low gas prices.
Affordable real estate.
My 401K soaring.
No new wars.
What happened to that guy?
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@kofiarhin_jnr @elonmusk The point js ultimately to select a representative capable of exercising good judgment.
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@elonmusk That’s the frustrating part, what’s the point of voting if the people we choose don’t actually listen to us? It starts to feel like our voices don’t really matter.
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We don’t live in a democracy if our elected leaders fail to implement the will of the people
InteractivePolls@IAPolls2022
CBS News Poll: Do you favor or oppose requiring people to show valid photo ID before they are permitted to vote? 🟢 Favor: 80% 🟤 Oppose: 20% —— • Dem: 65-35 (+30) • GOP: 95-5 (+90) • Indie: 79-21 (+58) • White: 80-20 (+60) • Black: 80-20 (+60) • Hispanic: 77-23 (+55) YouGov | 3/16-19 | 2,496 A
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Perhaps re-read Burke’s speech to the electors of Bristol:
“Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local purposes, not local prejudices, ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not member of Bristol, but he is a member of parliament. If the local constituent should have an interest, or should form an hasty opinion, evidently opposite to the real good of the rest of the community, the member for that place ought to be as far, as any other, from any endeavour to give it effect.”
press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/docum…
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@_fat_ugly_rat_ Because they enjoy being Supreme Court justices.
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@PollTracker2024 Is anyone buying that for a New York minute? He’s assessing whether the war has made his candidacy unviable.
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WaPo: JD Vance is in a bind, supporting a war that could cost him politically
People close to JD Vance concede that a long conflict will be a challenge for the next GOP nominee but say the vice president hasn't made up his mind about running.
washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/…
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Christopher Stone ری ٹویٹ کیا
This is a great point from @mattyglesias today - the weakest 2028 Dem nominees are ones that swing voters perceive as too far left, but the left hates anyways. You want a candidate that doesn't create internal strife, but still codes as moderate to swing voters.
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Janet Mills seems to be a (much) older version of the candidate the Dems picked in 2020, who looked good on paper but ultimately lost. If you think the past is prologue, that points towards Platner.
Also, Gov. Mills has released one very tepid statement on the war in Iran. Otherwise, it's been crickets. Her campaign website does not even have an ISSUES section -- it seems to be a never-ending stream of announcements about diner visits, inside-baseball endorsements from minor elected officials, humblebrags about how many counties she's visited, and gender-based appeals to female voters and no one else.
It's almost as if she is afraid of talking about the issues. This is one of the most hamfisted campaigns I've ever seen. I couldn't create better conditions for another loss to Susan Collins if I tried. Maybe Mills will fine-tune her campaign, but there's no sign of that yet.
I am not (yet) endorsing Platner or saying I agree with him on everything. An attack on a billionaire here and there does not add up to policy -- if you want Medicare for All, that means big tax increases on the middle class, and Platner (like many politicians) fails to understand this point. But launching a war of choice to the tune of $200 billion changes everything.
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@shannonrwatts Boy, the Democrats have a big problem. They are choosing a very problematic but charismatic?? candidate and are probably going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again. It’s so frustrating and truly discouraging.
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If you believe calling women “fat broads” and “horse-faced lesbians” disqualifies you from being elected to office, then so should engaging in racist and bigoted tropes, blaming women for sexual assault, and having an anti-Semitic tattoo.
InteractivePolls@IAPolls2022
BREAKING: Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) endorses Graham Platner over Janet Mills in Maine Senate Race.
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