It is true. The Republicans not been not been a model of spending restraint but remember when thoughtful members of GOP tried to reduce spending?

They had an advertisement against Paul Ryan literally showing him throw granny off the rocky cliff.

-- Joshua Henry (@joshdhenry) Sun May 21 12:42:32 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Welcoming Russian scientists to America is the right thing to do
morally
geopolitically, and
economically.

-- Erik Brynjolfsson (@erikbryn) Sun May 21 14:30:06 +0000 2023

Erik Brynjolfsson tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Russian scientists clearly want to flee their country.

Let’s copy the “Soviet Scientists Immigration Act” and let them immigrate to the US.

It would weaken Russia and strengthen America 🇺🇸

-- Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) Sun May 21 11:25:57 +0000 2023

I guess my profile has risen sharply since I joined National Review or something, because man these hot foreign chicks who just arrived in America can't seem to get enough of me in the DMs. Mina59763214, Lana4015324, Jana9572134, we'll talk later.

-- Jeff Blehar is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) Sat May 20 03:49:29 +0000 2023

ICU's were basically not enforcing masks in February, when my mother was dying.

I can now visit my Dad in assisted living without a mask.

But 26 year old bar-exam takers have to have one? What?

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Sat May 20 04:35:21 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

SCOOP: The DC bar will require all applicants to wear masks when they sit for the city’s 12-hour bar exam in July.

The requirement comes on the heels of a study that found masks can cause "difficulty concentrating” and "reduced cognitive performance.”🧵

https://freebeacon.com/campus/dc-bar-exam-will-require-all-test-takers-to-wear-masks/

-- Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) Thu May 18 19:44:00 +0000 2023

Hey, tweeps, SF story way back was a twist on Asimov's three laws of robotics, where hypercompetent robots end up creating well-upholstered prisons for humans who basically have no reason to live, but can't even commit suicide while the robots "protect" them. What is that story?

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Sat May 20 04:39:32 +0000 2023

This is maybe the most amazing thing I have ever seen in 20 years of observing insane government programs. Thank you, LADOT, for giving me the laugh we all need in these difficult times.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Sat May 20 04:42:40 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

https://twitter.com/LADOTofficial/status/1659671031500660741

-- Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 (@Noahpinion) Sat May 20 04:20:25 +0000 2023

If the frequent flier is lucky enough to get an upgrade, they're justified in taking it. But buying a first class ticket, and leaving your spouse in coach, is divorce territory unless you are over 6'7.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Sat May 20 05:17:00 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

No jury in America will convict this woman in her murder trial https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/magazine/first-class-ethics.html

-- Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) Fri May 19 23:09:28 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Beijing is about to discover, just as DC did in the 1970s/80s, that loans to the Global South for infrastructure, made during a time of low real interest rates & a commodity boom, are not going to be paid back. As before, this will be painful for everyone. https://fortune.com/2023/05/18/china-belt-road-loans-pakistan-sri-lanka-africa-collapse-economic-instability/

-- Nils Gilman (@nils_gilman) Sat May 20 12:04:56 +0000 2023

“I am moving to Nairobi. It has been nice knowing you.”

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Sat May 20 20:44:14 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

I have a friend who always offer to drives, but he drives like a maniac. I can barely look at the road. So I always say no. I’m running out of excuses. What do I say?

-- Eric Nelson (@literaryeric) Sat May 20 15:24:31 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

There are few points more salient to my worldview than this. Optimizing towards hedonic well-being is a dead end. In all domains, look towards goals beyond increasing pleasure and decreasing pain.

-- TracingWoodgrains (@tracewoodgrains) Sat May 20 16:29:58 +0000 2023

TracingWoodgrains tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Hedonic adaptation is so strong that even if the world became severely dystopian, people would mostly just get on with their lives. The ultimate double-edged sword of human nature.

-- Jordan Chase-Young (@jachaseyoung) Sat May 20 04:11:15 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

“I renounce my sins.” So now a person can’t even be friends with or show respect for a person of a different ideology without facing career consequences. This is McCarthyism.

Supreme Court abortion fallout: Nominee drops out over Barrett letter https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/19/court-nominee-drops-out-amy-coney-barrett-support.html

-- Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky (@LidskyLidsky) Sat May 20 10:35:21 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

This is surely a parody, right?

Actually, PARENTS are with kids every day. For years. Nights and weekends. Summers.

-- Michael Munger 🏖️🔪👨‍🍳 (@mungowitz) Sat May 20 02:05:25 +0000 2023

Michael Munger 🏖️🔪👨‍🍳 tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Teachers know what is best for their kids because they are with them every day.
We must trust teachers.

-- Secretary Miguel Cardona (@SecCardona) Fri May 19 20:10:11 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

It's easy to forget in the moment how transient much of the internet is. After being bought by Snapchat and abandoned, Gfycat's certification has expired with nobody around to bother to renew it. Just like that, a vast chunk of the internet is gone.

https://old.reddit.com/domain/gfycat.com/top/?sort=top&t=all

-- TracingWoodgrains (@tracewoodgrains) Sat May 20 03:06:37 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

This is outrageous. You have a first amendment right to your gender expression. And whether you are cis or trans, there's no "correct" way to dress as a boy or a girl, and your right to defy sex stereotypes is protected under the civil rights laws.

-- Dilan Esper (@dilanesper) Sat May 20 18:35:04 +0000 2023

Dilan Esper tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

BREAKING: Late last night, a judge ruled that Harrison County Schools can bar our client, a trans girl, from attending her high school graduation unless she wears boy’s clothes - socks, dress shoes, pants, a button down shirt and tie.

-- ACLU of Mississippi (@ACLU_MS) Sat May 20 16:54:53 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Replying to @dhaaruni

@dhaaruni to me, it's pretty obvious they figured the GOP was in disarray and would never pass a bill, so would be forced to eventually just supply the votes to raise it.

when McCarthy passed his bill Biden had no Plan B.

-- Dilan Esper (@dilanesper) Sat May 20 16:55:10 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Mother-Daughter Airplane Pilots Go Viral for United Flight.

Even 30 years ago, such an event would have been highly improbable. Our society is making progress on many fronts. https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/mother-daughter-airplane-pilots-go-viral-for-united-flight/452167

-- Nicholas A. Christakis (@NAChristakis) Sat May 20 00:36:30 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

TIP: If a friend ever says they have a chocolate lab, do not get your hopes up when you are going to their house because they are just talking about a dog

-- Nathan W. Pyle (@nathanwpyle) Sat May 20 20:13:42 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

when engineering gets invited to a sales call

-- Chris Frantz (@frantzfries) Fri May 19 03:36:24 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Video evidence shows asylum seekers in Greece, among them young children, being rounded up and stripped of their belongings, then taken to sea and abandoned on a raft by the Coast Guard.

"We didn't expect to survive that day," one woman said of the ordeal.https://nyti.ms/3pO7QlQ

-- The New York Times (@nytimes) Sat May 20 08:10:04 +0000 2023

As I said yesterday, one reason politics is so poisonous is that most (all?) people apply one standard to evidence that benefits us (“Can I believe it?) and another to evidence that benefits them (“Must I believe it?”).

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Fri May 19 12:08:32 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Americans believe by a 56-8 margin that George Santos is guilty

Lots of undecideds, but even Republicans tilt "guilty" 48-10.

-- Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) Fri May 19 11:50:48 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

People feel like their opponents are just totally, willfully blind to reality—or worse, deliberately distorting the obvious truth. But those people are convinceable—it’s just that they require absolutely overwhelming evidence.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Fri May 19 12:10:00 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

So one side argues that the other side is nothing but a bunch of fools and strategic liars. But those folks know—and can cite—the times they acknowledged conclusions that were bad for their own team, which in turn makes them feel like the other side is acting in bad faith.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Fri May 19 12:13:15 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

When the evidence is sufficiently overwhelming, even most Republicans will be convinced. And when Democrats accuse Republicans of ruthlessly protecting their own no matter what, Republicans will point to George Santos as evidence that see, that’s not really true.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Fri May 19 12:15:45 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

Because there are a lot fewer strategic liars and sociopaths than you’d think on either side, and a lot more doing the same “can I/must I?” Dance.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Fri May 19 12:16:53 +0000 2023

Is the streaming business viable with residual payments?

Actors and writers (sensibly) don't want to end up like musicians post Spotify. But consumers demand a cheap all-you-can-eat buffet. Can streamers make a profit giving both what they want? And if not, who wins?

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 04:28:57 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

the actors I follow appear to be almost as pissed off as the screenwriters I follow (not quite, but almost)

curious to see how this strike authorization turns out; guessing it won’t be as high as the WGA’s but there’s a real chance of multiple simultaneous Hollywood strikes https://twitter.com/lesleyannbrandt/status/1659044027101237248

-- David Hines (@hradzka) Thu May 18 04:00:51 +0000 2023

The relative reactions to Mueller and Durham beautifully illustrate how political bias works: "can I believe it?" (if it helps us), vs "must I believe it?" (if it's good for them.)

Folks have applied a much higher standard for "interesting and important" to news they don't like.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 11:05:34 +0000 2023

Breaking: DC plans to triple the number of tickets that won't be paid by Maryland and Virginia drivers.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 11:13:18 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

“D.C. plans to triple the number of traffic enforcement cameras with 342 new installations, starting this summer. “ https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2023/05/18/unpaid-dc-traffic-tickets

-- Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) Thu May 18 11:11:09 +0000 2023

Imagine thinking this way. SMDH.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 11:28:30 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Replying to @paulg

The lowest-effort way to get reach is by dunking on people by quote-tweeting them. Then they do all the work for you. All you have to do is prepend some vague but angry message like "Can you believe this?"

-- Paul Graham (@paulg) Thu May 18 11:16:05 +0000 2023

I know, right?

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 11:44:46 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

*eyeroll* https://twitter.com/asymmetricinfo/status/1659159018324066306

-- wiredog (@KitCase3) Thu May 18 11:41:56 +0000 2023

Finally, someone has a serious plan to break up Big IP.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 12:08:30 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

From the MCU to the DCU, LOTR, MonsterVerse, Walking Dead, GOT, Star Wars - cinematic universes are the new hot trend in tv and cinema. Enjoyable as they may seem, CUs create serious problems of consumer lock-in. Here’s how antitrust authorities should step in.

-- Lazar Radic (@laz_radic) Thu May 18 09:57:13 +0000 2023

Every time I leave my cloistered little circle of Washington wonks, I realize that most smart, well-informed people who spend a lot of time thinking about politics pay no attention to the deficit, or to the ways in which is likely to constrain political choices going forward.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 12:27:08 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

National debt and deficits are very large. Interest rates have risen sharply from the "effectively zero" level of the teens. Debt service costs will likely soon exceed military spending. We're chewing through fiscal capacity like pac-man on an adderall binge.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 12:33:52 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

But everyone still talks about economic policy like there's a lot of room for their pet projects, while in Washington, actual politicians charged with delivering those projects resort to pay-fors that are either impractical fantasies (tax unrealized capital gains!) or [crickets]

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 12:35:40 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

@asymmetricinfo I’m not sure the libertarian minded Right has gotten their heads around that under the best set of circumstances the TCJA is the last broad based tax cut we’ll ever see

-- CTIronman (@CTIronman) Thu May 18 12:29:30 +0000 2023

I think we often underestimate the extent to which voters like to make symbolic gestures, in voting and poll responses

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 15:07:34 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

2014 and 2018 both saw a basically uniform swing relative to the prior presidential election.

But 2022 was different — there was a move against Democrats, but not in the swing seats where it counts!

https://catalist.us/whathappened2022/

-- Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) Thu May 18 13:19:54 +0000 2023

Completely anecdotal, but in the last year, I have met three different people who are happily relocated from the Bay Area to DC area, compared to basically zero such people in the years before that.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 19:11:59 +0000 2023

There was a point at which DeSantis could have stopped this feud with a huge win, but he doubled down in an attempt to boost his bid for the presidency, and now Disney is clapping back, with significant costs to the state of Florida.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/05/desantis-florida-disney-parental-rights/

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Thu May 18 19:26:56 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Disney is pulling the plug on a nearly $1 billion development planned for Orlando, Florida, the company said on Thursday, as it feuds with Gov. Ron DeSantis. https://nyti.ms/3MjKQCO

-- The New York Times (@nytimes) Thu May 18 18:28:43 +0000 2023

Oxford student representatives say it’s not personal to Professor Stock @Docstockk, but rather general insofar as they want to subvert Oxford Union’s ability to recruit students, because they want to stop all debate about any topic, and they think this makes them sound better.

-- Nicholas A. Christakis (@NAChristakis) Wed May 17 12:35:50 +0000 2023

Nicholas A. Christakis tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Academics condemn ‘threats’ against Oxford Union in Kathleen Stock row https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/17/academics-condemn-threats-against-oxford-union-in-kathleen-stock-row?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1684326292

-- The Guardian (@guardian) Wed May 17 12:25:57 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

"conformity is high in the middle yet low at the top & bottom of a status hierarchy … Since high‐status actors feel confident in their social acceptance, they are emboldened to deviate … low‐status actors feel free to defy accepted practice because they are excluded regardless"… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1658543944182161408

-- Robin Hanson (@robinhanson) Tue May 16 18:44:25 +0000 2023

Have now been through rehab stays with Dad (Medicare Advantage) and Mom (traditional Medicare), and my observation is that MA means risking getting kicked out before you're ready, and TM means risking getting held long after you should have gone home.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Wed May 17 19:03:17 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

Dad's insurer kicked him out after two weeks even though he was clearly unable to care for himself at home, and the available family--two middle aged daughters--couldn't safely care for a 6'7, 200+ lb man.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Wed May 17 19:10:36 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

Mom was far more mobile even when she went in, and also, at 97 pounds, someone I could take care of ... yet HER nursing home was planning on a stay of at least a month.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Wed May 17 19:11:39 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

Now, of course, I could have sprung her AMA, and would have (she died before it became a question), but most people are neither as strong-willed as I am, nor as willing to substitute their own judgement for that of medical professionals.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Wed May 17 19:14:58 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana becomes first state to completely ban TikTok; law expected to become litmus test for rest of United States.

-- Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) Wed May 17 21:28:41 +0000 2023

⁦@henryolsenEPPC⁩ “Conservatives will regain the confidence of voters only when they can confidently reinterpret America’s own national ideals into a coherent, attractive platform.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/15/viktor-orban-republican-party-conservativism/

-- Jack Janes (@DrJJanes) Tue May 16 11:02:49 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Robert Lucas, R.I.P.
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/robert-lucas-r-i-p/

-- Matthew Continetti (@continetti) Tue May 16 12:23:39 +0000 2023

New study on a sample of 1000 transitions that began under the US military's health system finds a 30 percent detransition rate.

Expect this to be a bit of a Rorschach, for reasons I will explain in the next tweet.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35452119/#full-view-affiliation-1

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Tue May 16 12:47:16 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

For gender critical folks, this is strong evidence that detransition is not, as previously suggested, rare. One third of your study subjects going off hormones is 4-30x higher than the numbers usually bandied about.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Tue May 16 12:48:26 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

For the gender affirming, well, 70% are still on hormones after 4 years, which suggests they're happy with their transition. It's easy to argue that the good of the majority should outweigh the cost to the minority.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Tue May 16 12:50:08 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

So this study is not going to settle any big questions. That said, on first glance it looks like much better data than we've had before, and we should all be happy about that, even if we're not happy to see such a high percentage of people apparently unsatisfied with transition.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Tue May 16 12:51:27 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

And of course, as a number of people have pointed out, not being satisfied with hormones doesn't mean they want to socially detransition.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Tue May 16 13:07:37 +0000 2023

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

Which in turn is highly relevant to the question of whether medical transition is helpful; if you're a trans man who discontinues hormones because of side effects, but wants to continue transition otherwise, you may be pleased with a permanently lower voice and facial hair.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Tue May 16 13:28:51 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

It's almost as if when you make cares more expensive, fleet turnover slows.

-- Jonathan H. Adler (@jadler1969) Tue May 16 13:56:01 +0000 2023

Jonathan H. Adler tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

"Americans are keeping their vehicles longer than eve— good news for repair shops, but bad news for anyone expecting a rapid phaseout of gas-powered cars. The average age of light vehicles in the U.S. is now at an all-time high of 12.5 years, [up from 9.7 years 2 decades ago]"

-- Shanu Mathew (@ShanuMathew93) Tue May 16 13:39:00 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

This doesn't sound very fiscally responsible to us 🤔🤔🤔

-- Ways and Means Democrats (@WaysMeansCmte) Tue May 16 18:47:21 +0000 2023

Ways and Means Democrats tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

🚨HOLY MOLY🚨 Extending the 2017 tax cuts (TCJA) would add almost $𝟯.𝟱 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 to the debt.

-- Marc Goldwein (@MarcGoldwein) Tue May 16 18:05:04 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Very disturbing

-- David French (@DavidAFrench) Tue May 16 15:24:40 +0000 2023

David French tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

This is astonishing. Between 2019 and 2023, the % of Republicans who said parents should be able to put their kids in public school without the MMR vaccine (even if it creates health risks for others), more than doubled, from 20% to 42%.
https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/05/16/americans-largely-positive-views-of-childhood-vaccines-hold-steady/

-- Samuel Perry (@profsamperry) Tue May 16 15:08:51 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Jezus

-- Noam Blum 🚡 (@neontaster) Tue May 16 21:48:15 +0000 2023

Noam Blum 🚡 tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Feinstein on how colleagues have responded to her nearly 3-month-long absence:

"No, I haven’t been gone."

"I haven’t been gone, I’ve been working.”

“No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting,”

via @jim_newell
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/dianne-feinstein-health-return-to-senate.html

-- bryan metzger (@metzgov) Tue May 16 20:57:34 +0000 2023

There's customer service, and then there's customer service at Revolut:

"the head of Revolut’s UK operations accidentally texted a disgruntled customer to say he would be waiting for him ‘in the garden with my shotgun’”.

-- JohannesBorgen (@jeuasommenulle) Mon May 15 09:23:01 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Vice Media is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the latest digital media company to falter after a meteoric rise. The company said it has agreed to sell its assets to a consortium of lenders in exchange for $225 million in credit. https://apnews.com/article/vice-media-bankruptcy-digital-layoffs-chapter-11-7eb3546352dc730050ef4dbe77d65c53?taid=64621b43d47a0c0001a47b4a&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

-- The Associated Press (@AP) Mon May 15 11:45:07 +0000 2023

Conservatives will undoubtedly want to blame the Vice bankruptcy on respectability politics, but the main problem is that no one really ever figured out how to build a stable media outlet off of digital advertising.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Mon May 15 12:26:28 +0000 2023

I would certainly like to hear his answer.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Mon May 15 12:27:27 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Has anyone in the media asked @charlesallen about these tweets from 2020?

-- Potomac Fever (@FeverPotomac) Mon May 15 12:03:19 +0000 2023

"Why are you noticing the thing you are noticing?" is second only to "Why would you write this thing that is true?" as a silly question to ask a journalist--especially on Twitter, which specializes in random ephemera.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Mon May 15 13:37:21 +0000 2023

We are robbed by history.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Mon May 15 14:46:15 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Replying to @asymmetricinfo

@asymmetricinfo @bellisaurius Image what would have been in the Vice classifieds section. Oh what a world we would have had.

-- Cristine "Ps no A" Rice (@PstafarianPrice) Mon May 15 14:43:53 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

When All-Caps Verbs Go Wrong https://twitter.com/byrondonalds/status/1658230964919713795

-- jeremysenderowicz (@senderowiczj) Mon May 15 23:07:53 +0000 2023

This tweet has really stuck with me. It seems he thinks GE is going to be like, “This is our new CEO, Brock Peggins, who was most recently drummer for SAINTS AND SINNERS, the nation’s best Whitesnake cover band.”

-- Eric Nelson (@literaryeric) Sun May 14 23:49:34 +0000 2023

Eric Nelson tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Have you noticed - there’s never anyone new or from the outside who ever gets these big CEO jobs … they just keep rotating the same boring people from billion dollar company to billion dollar company.

-- Catturd ™ (@catturd2) Fri May 12 17:09:13 +0000 2023

Blue's Clues decided to publish an image featuring a beaver who is supposed to have had top surgery. Apparently it didn't occur to anyone to look up how many nipples beavers have.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwIWGcCWwAAULFa?format=jpg&name=small

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Mon May 15 02:33:49 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Actually, if I'm reading the data right (https://www.rentalhomecouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Facts-about-SFR-July-2022.pdf#page=5) these landlords are ~0.2% of homes, there are 144m homes in the country, and single-family home sales are tracking at 4m/year, so:

- If annual home sales double, and
- If PE buys 100% of homes

It'll almost happen

-- Byrne Hobart (@ByrneHobart) Mon May 15 02:15:43 +0000 2023

Byrne Hobart tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Private equity firms could own 40% of single-family homes by 2030.  If we don’t act America will become a nation of renters putting the American Dream further out of reach.  We need to pass the Stop Wall Street Landlords Act.

-- Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) Sun May 14 14:00:01 +0000 2023

I know I'm not the only one who spent her first Mother's Day without her mom this year. Hope y'all survived it okay.

Here's what I wrote about my Mom after she died. If you have any good memories of your own to share, hit reply. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/07/death-grieving-polishing-copper-megan-mcardle/

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Mon May 15 02:47:28 +0000 2023

In the “Dune” books, a long-ago war destroyed all the intelligent machines.

“For all that I enjoyed ‘Dune,’”@asymmetricinfo writes, “I don’t think there’s much chance a Butlerian Jihad could work in real life.” https://wapo.st/3HXNmx9

-- Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) Sat May 13 01:33:03 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

“It’s terrifying to imagine AI crafting a superweapon to polish off humanity, but isn’t it at least as plausible to imagine it inventing cures for cancer or diabetes?” @asymmetricinfo writes.

“Guarded optimism seems better than giving in to despondency.” https://wapo.st/3nKRCJT

-- Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) Sat May 13 22:08:11 +0000 2023

A drug policy researcher I respect has forced me to open my mind to the possibility that high-potency legal cannabis really is causing an uptick in schizophrenia. That said, the causal problems seem very difficult.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Fri May 12 13:06:06 +0000 2023

You 👏 can't 👏 win 👏 elections 👏 by 👏 working 👏 the 👏 media 👏 refs 👏.

-- Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) Fri May 12 13:07:16 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

the only thing that stops a bad guy doing a fascism is a good guy doing a fascism

-- Kat Rosenfield (@katrosenfield) Fri May 12 13:09:29 +0000 2023

Kat Rosenfield tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

Replying to @DavidOAtkins

It's time to understand that the battle isn't just to win the next election. You can't win EVERY election. There are too many variables. Also, the fascist fever isn't breaking. The battle is to stop the coup. That means changing the institutions to make the coup impossible. /9

-- David Atkins (@DavidOAtkins) Fri May 12 02:30:23 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

If we just stopped sea fishing, how long would it take for fisheries stocks to replenish to pre-modern levels?

-- Sam Bowman 🇺🇦 (@s8mb) Fri May 12 13:27:24 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Frankly funny if true.

-- Wilfred X. Reilly, Californian (@wil_da_beast630) Fri May 12 17:09:17 +0000 2023

Wilfred X. Reilly, Californian tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

BREAKING: A Florida judge has ruled that the Bible must be banned along with other books Ron DeSantis has banned because of how much murder, incest, rape, genocide, and violence is featured in the Old Testament.

-- The Halfway Post (@HalfwayPost) Mon May 08 14:58:39 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Today I put our groceries on our credit card because we have nothing left in savings or checking. 24-7 caregiving bankrupts families across the country. I am not sharing this for help, we will find a way through it. I just want the world to understand what ALS is.
#EndALS

-- Sandra Abrevaya (@sabrevaya) Fri May 12 17:09:49 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

all ChatGPT Plus users getting browsing and plugins over the next week; hope you enjoy!

-- Sam Altman (@sama) Fri May 12 21:59:01 +0000 2023

Sam Altman tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

We’re rolling out web browsing and Plugins to all ChatGPT Plus users over the next week! Moving from alpha to beta, they allow ChatGPT to access the internet and to use 70+ third-party plugins. https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes

-- OpenAI (@OpenAI) Fri May 12 21:00:58 +0000 2023

Megan McArdle Retweeted

Having majored in English lit. and shifted towards political theory for grad school, this strikes as unfortunately true; instead of assuming all humanities as politics, why not assume politics as a small feature of the humanities? Surely literature is far more than politics

-- Nayeli Riano (@NayeliLRiano) Fri May 12 23:38:54 +0000 2023

Nayeli Riano tweeted this while quoting the below tweet.

“Literary academics have ceded a fundamental principle and tried to redescribe literary scholarship as a form of political activism.”... Why study literature if you can just study politics?” https://twitter.com/j_amesmarriott/status/1657057148235395072

-- Yuan Yi Zhu (@yuanyi_z) Fri May 12 20:52:52 +0000 2023