Category: politics

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Omelas

Many years ago (high school?), I read “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” by Ursula K. LeGuin.

I have been appreciating (perhaps “enjoying” is the wrong word) the recent short stories that build on this concept.

Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole


by Isabel J. Kim

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kim_02_24/

The Ones Who Stay and Fight

by N.K. Jemisin

https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-ones-who-stay-and-fight/

They are worthy reads.

I think of Omelas as a sort of koan; I think this is because I cannot bear the responsibility of what it would mean to accept the reality of the world we live in. I can try to reduce my dependency on items manufactured with slave labor, my need for things that objectively make the world a worse place; but I don’t know if I can rid myself of all that entirely.

I am not a follower of Christ. I have not sold all my possessions to take up my cross and follow him. I chose a different path, many years ago. Around the same time as I read Omelas, in fact.

But I can still try to get as close as I can to that ideal, in reasonable small incremental steps.

It’s not enough. But it’s not nothing, either.

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Ghazban Ogress

I had never heard this story before today. This is a real bummer from Magic’s history. I hope they can make an apology.

The Story of Ghazban Ogress
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Reposting someone else’s thoughts on Skrmetti today

My friend shared this (itself a copy of another post), and I wanted to signal-boost it, because I think it’s important.


Skrmetti just came down and obviously it didn’t go our way, but listen to me. Listen.

I am not a parent but I have parents in my life and one thing I have learned from them is that young people will take their cue from you on how freaked out to be about things. If a young person falls down the best response is not to go “oh no oh my god you’re hurt,” because then they go “oh no oh my god I’m hurt” and it makes everything worse — the best response is to go “sick wipeout dude totally tubular” and high five them.

And the non-profit industrial complex invariably describes gender-affirming care for young people as “life-saving” because the subtext is “if trans young people can’t get puberty blockers they WILL kill themselves.”

Not having access to gender affirming care before puberty is not a death sentence BUT if we all uncritically repeat the fear that it is, the young people will take their cue from us on how freaked out to be, and they will believe that all they can do in response to Skrmetti is die.

It is really important right now that we make sure our trans young people hear other stories than that. They hear “there is a future for you” and “there is community for you” and “you don’t have to pass to be loved” and “not having access to gender affirming care before puberty IS NOT A DEATH SENTENCE.”

That we show them that we are trans adults and we almost invariably didn’t have gender affirming care before puberty and we are loved and beautiful and happy. The story of trans joy and trans beloved community NEEDS to be louder than the story of trans suicidality today.

Our kids are depending on us to tell them the story they need to hear. Don’t let your panic override that responsibility.

There is a future for you. Your Elders survived this. Yes, it will suck more this way. But: this, too, shall pass; even if it does so like a motherfucking kidney stone.

Or, for the Cosmere fans in the audience: You will be warm again.

This Blue sky post may be the source:

https://bsky.app/profile/andyeyeballs.bsky.social/post/3lrvbrowlds2z

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Reddit on the markets today

I just wanted to highlight this comment that I saw on Reddit this morning.


https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/s/F8ntmtttGp

There are two things that could ultimately happen with the S&P 500.

1. It could stabilize and continue to increase over time as it’s done for the last 68 years.

2. It could crash, along with the US economy, and never recover.

It’s important to note that if #2 happens, you and I will have far more things to worry about than the value of our retirement as it indicates the total collapse of the US economy (S&P 500 represents 80% of US market cap). In that case, it wouldn’t matter if your money were in the market or in a box in the backyard, it would be similarly worthless.

So, given that there is nothing you can do to protect the value of your money in the event of #2, you might as well continue to invest believing that #1 is much more likely (cause it is).

Don’t panic. Don’t sell your stock. Hunker down and wait it out.

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The menswear guy explains tariffs

This Bluesky thread was really excellent.

Hello! The US housing market has gotten very expensive, but I still dream of one day owning a home in a walkable neighborhood. In that spirit, I'm offering my consulting services. If you support the Trump tariffs, I can help you find US suppliers. Let me show you some examples. 🧵

— derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T02:44:35.545Z

I wear a lot of Actually Rather Expensive clothing, that I bought ten years ago, because I do try to buy and wear American…when I can.

But again: it’s expensive.

We can’t “just” move manufacturing here. There is no “just.”