Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026My big issue with it was that it essentially used the "we're all the problem" approach in a moment when it's pretty clear that a small number of us are a vast majority of the problem. Apparently this was conceived in 2015, and that makes sense, because it would have played much better then. 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Is this what he thinks the Star Spangled Banner is about? 120
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Heck, fans were good with Verdugo as long as he was doing something competently, and he had the Mookie baggage... 020
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Also, is that really the danger? A D Senate is useful for investigations and denying confirmations. Fetterman can't obstruct that if he stays in the party, and he's out in 2028 either way. The only harmful thing he can really do is flip, which only matters if we have 50 or 51 seats. 020
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026And I think Troy El-Ossarico is amazing at talking about these very things! Why can't Hakeem Jeffries, who swing voters wouldn't recognize even in-context, be like them? 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026The hazard, I think, is that in 1994 if you passed stuff there was at least a chance you could get Clinton to sign it - or the nation was enough of a monoparty to create the impression that he might. Everyone knows Trump would veto all of this, so you either generate cynicism or disappointment. 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Also, can he explain how a non-governibg plurality in a single state counts as "having" Germany? That's like saying Josh Stein is President of the United States. 171
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026They *could* exist, though... viral novelty earbuds that only need to produce average sound quality? *Shines Raycon symbol into the sky* 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Being a Canadian lake, it would apparently decide to grow a new island. Maybe Trump could name that. 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Biden's worst approval on the economy in 2022 was tempered by the Dobbs decision and his perceived triumph on the IRA in the months right before the election. The 2022 midterm also seemed better for the Dems than it was - prominent statewide races went blue because of specific MAGA candidates. 270
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 29/08/2026youtu.be/FRIMb3PTrS0?...youtu.beThe Portland Polycule From HellYouTube video by STRANGE ÆONS 040
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 28/08/2026static.klipy.comSpace Tim CurryALT: Space Tim Curry 0160
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Also, isn't the entire point of this scene and the movie overall that Churchill is convincing his people to stand up to, fight, and ultimately kill the tiger? So in (what I assume is) the context, this would be inspiring Iran and Canada to defy Trump at any cost. 0140
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Not saying it's a bad idea writ large, but (a) most of those astute GWB-era people are now never-Trumpers and (b) this logic is how we got Bill Barr. 100
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 25/08/2026static.klipy.comBad Movies Rule BMR: Surprised ReactionALT: Bad Movies Rule BMR: Surprised Reaction 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 31/07/2026It's essentially the same percentage as would support a candidate who wore blackface, though. Honestly, all of those numbers for Ds are shockingly high. 030
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 22/07/2026“There I was in my leather pants and punk hairdo, pondering the distinction between ocean-going and river-going fish.” medium.com/the-riff/cru...medium.com‘Crummy’? ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’ by the Police‘200 Greatest 80s Rock Songs’ Book Excerpt 010
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 13/07/2026"Putting out pro-forma pablum to avoid static" seems like the definition of cynicism to me. 100
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 13/07/2026When it comes to influencing the tone of the discourse, legislators and elected leaders should be held more accountable than people expressing their feelings on BlueSky. 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 13/07/2026It's not attempting to spread despair to say you personally feel despair when you read those statements - I know I was personally nauseated and I'm not trying to convince anyone. The people sowing cynicism, I think, are the people doing the cynical thing in the first place. 210
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Did he get two dates wrong out of four? Iraq was 2003, COVID (in the US) was 2020, of course. 100
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 24/06/2026Also, Platner won a functionally non-contested primary, and the leftist candidates got basically shut out in all the primaries yesterday that weren't in New York City. 290
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 08/05/2026In the same way, promising Nuremberg 2.0 in 2029 makes it more likely that those targeted will do extreme things to stay in power in 2028. We all want the Hungarian outcome, but it's not guaranteed (particularly with January 6th as a precedent for violence that didn't exist in Hungary). 040
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 08/05/2026I'd maybe go one level above this, though. We've reached a point where it isn't perceived as safe for power to be transferred back and forth between two sides over time. Neither side believes they will literally survive rule by the other. That's what makes breaking the game acceptable to both. 290
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 06/05/2026Also an odd comment for someone criticized as "professorial" (which arguably started this line of criticism after the folksy Bill Clinton) to make. 070
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 05/05/2026It's also not helping that everyone close vote in the house has a bunch of crafty nonsense that keeps making it look like the Dems could win with *just one more* when that's not really true. 110
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 05/05/2026Also very different to run for a 2 year term than a 4 or 6 year term at 75... 261
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 01/05/2026Umm... they know that "Golden Years" doesn't mean the same thing as "Golden Age"... right? 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 29/04/2026One way to maybe do that is to highlight the real corruption that should be enraging these people. They want to believe it's all rigged - IT IS! If they want to be conspiratorially-minded, the job is to clearly communicate how crooked Trump and friends are, particularly as Dems become less corporate 010
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 29/04/2026What I take away from this sequence is that the SS Agent on the right could have stopped Allen by just sticking his foot out and tripping him, and the agent firing is lucky he didn't kill any of his colleagues. 1121
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 28/04/2026And the widow of the former Republican AG who audited supposed fraud in AZ 2020 ballots (and didn't find any). 1101
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 28/04/2026Dumping the filibuster should be part of a clear and detailed change agenda that Dems can sell to the public. CA and VA demonstrate that it's a strategy that works - people are willing to make major changes if you explain why they should. 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 28/04/2026That goes without saying, IMO. No choice but to do that if structural change is going to happen. 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 28/04/2026The key, though, is to MAKE him veto it. Don't seek ways that both sides can win, like Pelosi did in 2018-2020 (which was a different setup because the GOP still had the Senate). Pass critical fixes for the system the way they need to ultimately be passed, so a Dem President can sign them in 2029. 100
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 21/04/2026When did Charlie Kirk really take off? 2022 seems plausible for that. 010
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 14/04/2026Don't we already have the worst consumer sentiment ever recorded? Also, I'm not sure I see the conceptual conflict here. One side says that sentiment is low because prices have stayed high, the other says that sentiment is low because people hear in the media that prices have stayed high... 000
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 13/04/2026His base isn't shrinking, it's just becoming more selective. 040
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 13/04/2026If your hand feels ice-cold, and you look at the thermometer and see that it's 90 degrees outside, do you give up and say "I must be imagining things"? Or do you go to the ER and ask Dr. Robby to keep collecting data on you until he figures out what's wrong with your hand? 010
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 12/04/2026I honestly think it's less a conspiracy of silence, and more that (in the ways you lay out) he's as ignorant and incompetent as most Americans are. People who voted for him were tied of being lectured to and wanted an "ordinary" intellect and "common sense". They elected an idiot on purpose. 030
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 12/04/2026... And people who can't accumulate wealth would care about increasing prices way more than those who can. It's what keeps them on the treadmill. 171
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 12/04/2026...All of this despite them having gone to college (debt), worked a full career, driven a $50,000 car (debt), and lived what looked as it was occurring as a "comfortable" life. It's not that they can't aspire to be wealthy, it's that they can't aspire to have - and leave - wealth... 160
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 12/04/2026...people in the top 20% or so have quiet millions in investment accounts that may be generations old, property, and assets. The rest know that the cost of healthcare and elder care is skyrocketing and that they'll likely die technically indigent when the nursing home is done with them... 182
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 12/04/2026...You can be employed, making decent money, and financially secure in the immediate sense while still being underwater when considering student loans, mortgages, auto loans, etc. (and the interest rates are still high, compared to zero during Term 1)... 190
Joe Zissman @jzissman.bsky.social · 12/04/2026The pessimism element of this is hard to measure and very real. I think it's not just a sense of hopelessness driven by Trump's leadership but also the continuing divergence between the generational wealth held by those with assets and the treadmill experienced by those without... 190