Politics on Duly Noted

after all CA has enabled for business - residents flee over 5%

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 23:59:35 +0000

The measure faces opposition from Silicon Valley investors and others, including Gov. Gavin Newsom. At The New York Times DealBook conference this month, Mr. Newsom said a wealth tax was not pragmatic. The Democrat, who has been close with people like Mr. Page, is raising money for a committee to oppose the measure. The committee received a $100,000 donation from the venture capitalist Ron Conway in November, according to state campaign finance records.

macroeconomics is out - vibes are in

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 03:47:35 +0000

Economists’ way of thinking has fallen out of favor among the political class more broadly. The right has embraced Trump’s zero-sum worldview and lost faith in expertise generally. Many progressives have rejected economists’ fundamental focus on trade-offs and the unintended consequences of policy interventions. Both sides are down on the free market.

All this to say. Americans are hurting. Both from rising costs, corporate profits and international changes in exports/imports. I’m not an economist and know enough to shut up.

Herd immunity and it couldn't happen here

Sun, 04 May 2025 22:34:18 +0000

Collapse does not mean you’re personally dying right now. It means y’all are dying right now. Death is sometimes close, sometimes far away, but always there. I used to judge those herds of gazelle when the lion eats one of them alive and everyone keeps going — but no, humans are just the same. That’s the real meaning of herd immunity. We’re fundamentally immune to giving a shit.

From someone who watched the collapse of Sri Lanka, ominous words of advice for Americans. Sometimes its really bizzare to read the news and head off on my day, but that’s just it. Get busy living, or start dying.

Profile of John Thune, new senate majority leader

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 01:34:59 +0000

Thune, a fourth-term senator from South Dakota, is an awkward leader for Trump’s ruthless Republican Party, in part because even Democrats invariably describe him as amiable and honest.

Excellent tracing of the new Senate majority leader’s rise to power and what it means for the separation of powers when the current Executive Branch is pursuing rule by fiat.

_{Quote Citation: David D. Kirkpatrick, “The Senate’s Age of Irrelevance”, March 31, 2025, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/07/john-thune-profile-senate-majority-leader}