Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Well tbf some of the centrist types have been trying to make the term “woke right” stick but it’s pretty dumb. See e.g. the Opinions podcast episode where French says that Woke 2 is MAGA and Bouie shuts him down pretty nicely 010
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 21/08/2026I am getting started with Claude Pro and struggle to understand from the documentation what types of things I can do before hitting usage limits. Is that just something I have to figure out as I go along? 230
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I get that; I was responding to someone else and commenting on a broader phenomenon where many people seem to think takeout is cheaper. 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 20/08/2026What strikes me as odd is how many people don’t intuitively understand this. I always thought this was common knowledge. 210
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Sure, but the fact that we have a bunch of silly layers built up over time doesn’t mean that the core function of OOP payments is moot. Perhaps as a model we can look to Medicaid, where copays are income-based. 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 11/08/2026That’s fair, but ultimately there are always tradeoffs since healthcare is a resource that has to be allocated. We have to be prepared for some of the same ire that is currently directed at insurers to now be directed at the government. 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Serious question: both private systems and Medicare/Medicaid use copays, prior auths, step therapy, and claim denials (umbrella term: “utilization management”) to keep costs from ballooning. Surely M4A will need to have some of these too, right? To the extent benefit outweighs cost. 110
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Because they just killed tens of thousands of children with our arms and Egypt hasn’t. 0120
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Seems to imply these voters are choosing familiar candidates, sort of like a risk aversion thing. I think it bodes well for Abdul in the general—folks didn’t choose Stevens over him because they hate progressives, it’s because she was a known quantity. Against a Republican, he’d be fine. Hopefully. 010
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 06/08/2026The best argument I’ve heard for being worried about Rogers is that he has been out of congress for most of the Trump era and so he doesn’t have as much Trump baggage. He also has a brand as being somewhat more moderate. The test will be how effective Abdul is at making Rogers own Trump’s failures 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026But then I see the discourse on TikTok about straight women not wanting to date bisexual men and the types of “arguments” they make and I go back to thinking we’re completely cooked as a society. 010
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026I oscillate rapidly between thinking that the public is full of illiterate babies and thinking that the public is like this because the political class babies them. Perhaps if pols followed your advice, there would be higher intellectual expectations of the public, and we’d see improvements. 110
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026I see. So you are saying that because they run the DSCC there’s more of an obligation there. Fair. I would say that by virtue of tradition and being in the same state, I’d have expected them to immediately endorse Mamdani as well. But they didn’t, and now they’ve endorsed El-Sayed, so whatever. 130
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Now that I’m thinking back on it, Gillibrand continued to be pretty Islamophobic toward Mamdani even after he won the primary. Pretty bad, but obviously I’m pleased that she and Schumer have come around 030
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026It surprised me a little bit at first because Schumer and Gillibrand didn’t immediately do so for Mamdani, but of course that situation was different in that they perceived Cuomo as basically a Dem whereas here it’s just El-Sayed vs. Rogers. So after thinking about it, I’m not especially surprised. 4100
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026That’s because you aren’t addicted to shopping. Some people absolutely love buying new low quality stuff every few months. 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Fair enough. I think you’ll find that as they gain power, you’ll see more and more Mamdanis and AOCs and fewer DACs. But time will tell! 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Got a source for that? This very recent poll isn’t super great for DSA but I don’t see anything as bad as 5%. www.ipsos.com/sites/defaul...ipsos.com 100
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026I do think that the narrow victory is going to be a reality check for El-Sayed and his team, which is good! The reality is that I think the vast majority of Dems will get behind him but he absolutely cannot coast from primary to general. 010
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026What I originally objected to was 1) that Stevens was a Republican “warmed over in the microwave” (I think she’s worse than El-Sayed but much better than Rogers) and 2) that turning out nonvoters is *obviously* a better strategy than reaching to moderates. That may be true but is not obvious at all. 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Exactly!! Stevens said a bunch of bad and wrong stuff that made people think El-Sayed was less electable. But now that he won, it’s probably moot. First of all, electability is irrelevant now since it’s the general. Second, the very fact that he won being outspent 9:1 is evidence of his electability 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Ehh, primary polling is always bad. I think it’s also important to consider: 1) El-Sayed has many times more volunteers than Stevens. 2) The money tap for Stevens would have probably ended, since AIPAC/corp pacs are less concerned about Stevens vs. Rogers. She would still get union money though. 040
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026FWIW my personal opinion is that El-Sayed is more “electable” but my claim was that many voters did not perceive things that way. My claim was about what other people thought, not what I believed, and that would have been clear if you’d read my comment. 100
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/20264) Suppose, all else equal, that moderates were more likely to win. In MI, however, Stevens got $60M+ in outside money and didn’t get to 50% in a primary. Do we really think those PACs are going to support her in the general? There’s little evidence she could survive without the money tap maxed out. 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/20263) Really “out-there” past statements or the “socialist” label could harm a left-wing candidate, but it seems like everyone just assumes El-Sayed is like this. He isn’t! 100
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/20262) There is such a strong anti-establishment bent in the electorate right now that voters are cross-pressured in ways that don’t map to left-right (median voter theorem wrt economic policy seems less explanatory) 100
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026It’s sort of an article of faith among centrists that more “moderate” candidates are more likely to win swing states than are lefties. This ignores some key things: 1) “moderate” candidates are out of step with the electorate on key issues (e.g., Israel) whereas the left candidate is in step. 200
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026The person you’re arguing with is obviously bad faith. I almost like that he won by a bit less since it forces him to gut check and be more conciliatory. As for the reason, I think the electability argument was really load bearing. But that only applies in the primary, so hopefully things improve 110
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026I saw someone say that a ton of the remaining votes are election say Wayne County which has been coming in strong for El Sayed. No idea about the merits of that 020
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Yeah that’s the main issue. The Palestinian Authority has a degree of autonomy and theoretically the people could have some control over that government, but the PA is ultimately subjected to the whims of Israel. 010
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 04/08/2026What issue is that, and how is Stevens talking about it? 200
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Everybody who lives in a place where they are subject to the state’s laws gets to have a vote on how that state is governed. Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to control by Israeli forces, so it makes sense for them to vote in Israeli elections. 310
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Then we had different interpretations of…everything. I saw Biden during the primary choosing the moderate option every time (and winning on that), but then as president he shepherded through a decent amount of progressive legislation, at least as much as Manchin/Sinema would allow. 020
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Good post, but I disagree that Biden won because he was making “progressive noises”. He was by far viewed as the most centrist primary candidate of the bunch, and his progressivism became apparent after entering office. 101
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 03/08/2026I was thinking of this as well, and recalled an example I heard about from an ABA panel on ticketing fees: 000
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 03/08/2026How so? I am a spring chicken who isn’t aware of what you’re talking about. 100
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 03/08/20266/ …but many times those people are paid off via sponsorships. How do you trust them if they’re getting paid? For clothes, I do tend to trust @dieworkwear.bsky.social, but I think he still does some sponsorships, so what can you do. Obviously folks should correct me if I’m wrong about that. 110
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 03/08/20265/ How do we fix this? Not sure. Everyone understands that business has become cynical, and attempts to provide more information are going to be met with skepticism since it just looks like shrewd marketing. People end up relying on trusted information aggregators… 110
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 03/08/20264/ I think that this happens because in the world of online retail, quality attributes are flattened, even for good brands. When there is a lack of information about quality, the consumer’s estimation of quality reverts to the mean, and price becomes the only differentiator. 110
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 03/08/20263/ Why? The difference was mostly explained by those customers being “tricked” choosing higher quality tickets. The hypothesis was that those customers enjoyed their experience more and were then more likely to return. My takeaway from this is that to the modern consumer, price is king. 110
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 03/08/20262/ In the first, customers were shown the full price of the ticket up front. In the second, the fee was tacked on later. Same overall price was charged for the same ticket. Turns out that the group that was “tricked” was more likely to return to SeatGeek in the future for more tickets. 100
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 03/08/20261/ There’s an interesting nuance between “what they really want” and “what they decide to buy.” Interesting case study: SeatGeek did an experiment where they randomized customers into two groups… 100
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 01/08/2026I don’t completely disagree, but for someone with 50 mil in outside money spent against him in a primary, he’s doing fairly well. Granted, maybe it’s helping him… 020
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 31/07/2026This disconnect is because there is a subset on bluesky that considers everything it does to essentially just be inside baseball for Dem policy, and a separate subset that doesn’t consider itself part of the Dem party and wants to be convinced to vote Dem. On this topic that becomes irreconcilable 040
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Without defending the proposition, I have to say that catering to morons is an important part of politics. 1162
Asher Desai @asherdesai.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Many don’t find them puzzling because they have accepted their peers’ social conventions as unassailable fact without thinking critically themselves. 2240
