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A sense of detachment, sense of humor, 50% deep cynicism 50% intense curiosity is probably the best frame of mind to figure out what’s going on in the world.
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Utogg retweeted
Children’s stories used to be written by an adult to help a child grow. Now they’re written by an ”inner child” to help an adult self-soothe.
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To experience soul is to realise that we are not alone, that intelligent forces interact with our lives and provide meaning and direction if we are receptive to them. . . . Jung admitted that connection with soul often comes at the cost of our normal investment in the social persona. To this extent, being normal, he says, is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful. He recognises that adaptation to social norms and stereotypes can be fatal to care of the soul.
— David Tacey, How to Read Jung
The whole two party pendulum thing is kind of dumb. I follow politics kind of like how I follow the weather. Nothing I can do about it, but it’s good to know what’s happening.
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National parks have hiking trails for everyone, from “I climb mountains for breakfast” to “I just tripped on a curb.”
The back legs are farther back because they’re more like rudders like seals have. They have to really bend their backs to get their feet under them. Some really aquatic birds like loons have the same problem walking on land.
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They don’t move as well on land as the river otters. Maybe in 1 million years they will be seals.
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A great irony of the past few years is that right-wing thought leaders became deeply invested in white identity politics precisely at the moment the party was expanding its appeal among nonwhite voters.
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One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
Utogg retweeted
Tonight’s outcome isn’t about placing faith in Democrats or socialist principles; it’s about holding Republicans accountable for betraying their promises.
All Republicans had to do was:
1. put Americans First
2. not start another war
3. prosecute sex traffickers
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Every election cycle there is a voice from the wilderness in the losing party that, had they been listened to from the beginning, would have prevented the loss. For Republicans this time it was obviously Thomas Massie.
The plan trusters shot themselves in the dick
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You might think you're cool.
But you'll never be Iguana with a crab bow-tie kind of cool
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Suppose you are faced with a situation and don't know what to do. Sit down & turn toward whatever you are feeling and wait. Hold your sense of uncertainty and anxiety gently. Do not let your ego pull you into thinking. Wait without an agenda. The art is in the waiting~Robert Moss
Utogg retweeted
When Carl Jung said;
“Synchronicity is the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer.”
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NEW: Red Baron Pizza insinuates that 'Walt Z,' the Red Baron worker who went off on an influencer who harassed him in a store, has been named Employee of the Month.
"He’s still here. He’s got a fan club. Including us," @redbaronpizza announced.
Over $325,000 has been raised for the struggling, hardworking Michigan father of four.
