It's probably not hard to imagine that there was a lot of conversation on BlueSky in November 2024. So much that I've decided to split it into three separate posts.
Today's will include November 1–6: through the day after Election Day. And I've decided I'm going to run the posts in chronological order, rather than the usual reverse-chronological order, so it will be easier to make sense of. The other two posts, which will appear on the last two days of November, will split the other 24 days more or less evenly, and will also be in chronological order.
Remember, the month started just after the Trump campaign's Madison Square rally. Elon Musk was bribing people on stage in Pennsylvania. I was busy ignoring stories about polls showing results in any direction because I thought they were all worthless, so there's nothing about that.
Everything below the line is quoted from the attributed account.
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I am once again reading climate research from the ’90s in which very reasonable solutions were suggested and subsequently ignored
Amy Westervelt
People need to get away from the idea of politicians as heroes and embrace the idea of politicians as cowards who must at every turn be bullied into having good politics
Emma Roller
"The thing about jokes is they have to be funny ... When a joke reveals
more about the anger and the prejudices of the comedian than it does
about the world, that’s not actually a joke; it’s just a bigoted
tirade."
Jojo @jojowiththeflow.bsky.social
it took vaccines starting in the 1700s to the discovery of antibiotics in 1933 to achieve this near elimination of maternal mortality. with it came a reduction in infant mortality. the baby boom wasn't prosperity leading to more kids, they were literally just the first generation to survive fully
@stargonewrong.gay
Public ownership of the electricity system – the grid – in the U.S. is a necessary step to break the link between fossil fuel profits and our future. And we think it’s one of the best ways that we can make sure we get more renewables, faster, and without excluding millions of people in poverty.
isaac @sevier.io
Democracy failed 8 years ago and has been failing ever since. If democracy still worked and the rule of law were still intact, Trump would be in jail already and this would be an entirely different election. The question before us is whether we'll try to repair our republic or descend into chaos.
Dan Marshall @danmarstp.bsky.social
dear media: the reason the “shoot Cheney” comment matters and the “garbage” one doesn’t is that only one of them was made by a presidential candidate and refers to how that candidate might treat supporters of their opponent if they win the election. hope this helps
Micah @rincewind.run
AI is proving to be almost nothing but downsides for ordinary people
ApocalypticaNow
The platonic ideal of an Atlantic article: 'Things will be
extremely bad under Trump but it's important to keep focus on how some
of the people saying that are slightly exaggerating.'
Michael Hobbes
It’s wild how all the people who said “calm down he won’t win and even if he did he wouldn’t overturn Roe” and “calm down it’s not like he’s going to refuse he lost and incite an insurrection” were catastrophically wrong but still have jobs and are like “calm down it’s not like he’d do it again”
Bus D. Sinclair @melbeast.bsky.social
Weird how a campaign that claims (((Woke Communist billionaires))) are brainwashing the American people is running a campaign fueled by massive amounts of propaganda funded largely by a handful of reactionary billionaires and disseminated on platforms owned by billionaires.
Seth Cotlar
Israel has damaged or destroyed nearly a quarter of buildings in Lebanon’s south
Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social
in 1923 Lubbock's first zoning code segregated by race, citing that people of color "pollute the atmosphere" and prevented them from owning property in parts of the city. then they wrapped their neighborhoods with industrial zoning intentionally. US zoning was invented for this
push the needle
You know what? bike lanes do take away space from driving, let’s get rid of sidewalks too, hell the school zones really slow you down...get rid of schools! And why not remove parks and residential areas, nothing but a utopia of roads and parking lots!
Tom Flood
We have been forced into an involuntary relationship with one of the worst people in the world, someone we would have cut out of our lives years ago if they’d been friends or family or even a business associate, because of feckless, weak OTHER men, and it has indeed driven us mad.
John Rogers
Trump has been The Main Character for almost ~a decade~ of our lives and everyone has lost their gd minds
Meredith Shiner
At some point, we all have to grapple earnestly with the fact that the radicalization of the American Right has recently outpaced what even critical observers thought was likely. “They are not going to go *that* far” has been proven wrong over and over again.
Thomas Zimmer
Rick Perlstein has usefully called this the "right wing ratchet," as in, the US right over the past decades has only ever kept moving further right and never moderating. Think about the place of Alex Jones and Breitbart in our politics in 2014. Fringe laughingstocks. Now they're normal GOP stuff.
Seth Cotlar
when trump loses we’re going to learn so many reporters sat on stories for months like idunno his recent habit of drooling all over himself or mixing up staffers with his kids while insisting he invented the concept of rivers
Starshine
Many Vision Zero cities/states in the US now have *more* crash deaths than before they "committed" to VZ. VZ is a policy structure built around the idea that humans make mistakes, and they shouldn't be fatal. In the US, it's often just a talking point.
David Zipper
Every time you read that Americans feel bad about the economy, bear in mind that what the surveys really show is that *Republicans* feel bad — or say that they feel bad — about the economy
Paul Krugman
Musk's pitch is only Trump can save us and if Trump is elected the first thing they are doing is slashing middle class wages and benefits. Every right wing economics plan is:
1. Devastate the economy
2. ???
3. Profit
Sysfin
things not in the US constitution
- judicial review
- budget reconciliation
- senate parliamentarian
- filibuster
things in the US constitution
- ironclad prohibition on insurrection participants holding public office (but that doesn't get enforced because the gang of six ignores the text)
Michael Tae Sweeney @mtsw.bsky.social
As we prepare for potential lies about election results next week, let's recognize them for what they usually are: *racialized* lies that rely on tired tropes about Black criminality to boost their credibility and, ultimately, try to maintain the racial hierarchy
Kevin Morris @kevintmorris.bsky.social
'"The costs of climate change are six times higher than the costs of climate protection, even in the next 20-25 years," said PIK researcher
Zoe James @zolou.bsky.social
Russia has just put up interest rates to *21%* in a bid to protect its collapsing economy. At this rate it probably has about two years left. Support Ukraine till then and Russia falls apart.
Mark Chadbourn
donald trump: i am literally going to have my political enemies shot
thinkpiece mutants: but, like. figuratively. you mean figuratively.
donald trump: no, i am going to have them put before a firing squad.
thinkpiece mutants: in a metaphorical sense!
Maddy B. Hare
Normal, mainstream, pro-democracy political parties do not make restricting suffrage the central pillar of their policy platform. My entire adult life has been one long episode of the Republican Party trying to keep people's votes from being counted. It's obscene. We shouldn't tolerate it anymore.
Mark Copelovitch
Yesterday someone on here told me bike lanes are a waste because only a few “hardcore bikers” use them. I asked what a hardcore biker is and they said anyone who:
-bikes downtown
-bikes to work
-bikes for transportation
My 6 and 8yo are hardcore bikers because they bike to school? The low % of people biking in the US isn’t due to bikes requiring “hardcore” people to ride them for transportation… it’s due to the US’s ongoing choice to force car dependency on us via sprawl and unsafe streets. When we build safe infrastructure, more people bike.
LauraGMitchell
Strange how any negative framing of auto culture is automatically anti-car and radical yet the billions of dollars spent on violent car ads and auto first infrastructure isn't framed as anti-pedestrian, anti-bike, anti-transit, anti-person, anti-senior, anti-child or anti-planet.
Tom Flood
Happy Birthday, Godzilla! The big guy turns 70 today:
Birds Are Dinosaurs
Calgary stopped putting fluoride in its water in 2011. Then after a decade of seeing dental problems and dental surgery under anesthesia skyrocket in kids, they decided to add it back in but it's taking a lot of time and money.
Brendan Sinclair
“In just 8 years after fluoridation ended in 2011, the need for intravenous antibiotic therapy by children to avoid death by infection rose 700% at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.”
Miles Grant
The Heritage Foundation’s Kevin Roberts lied to a Christian audience on Friday and said their right to worship would be threatened by Kamala Harris. “We’re going to lose our ability to worship… if the Harris-Walz campaign prevails.”
Hemant Mehta @friendlyatheist.com
It should have always been called "pandemic inflation," just like it was called the "pandemic recession" rather than the "Trump recession." The people who own and control the media will pay lower taxes with Donald Trump back in the White House.
Dean Baker
The quantitative benefits of cycling are obvious — decreasing carbon emissions, improving public health and traffic congestion. The qualitative benefits are less so — providing freedom and autonomy to the one-third of society excluded from a car-dependent transport system.
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com
Says it all:
@unauthorizedbeast.bsky.social
I really hope one of the final takeaways from 2024 is that 3 months is more than enough time to run a campaign.
Andrew D Thaler
It's 16°c (62°F) and Americans are idling vehicles of all sizes in parking lots. Don't tell me gas is too expensive.
American Fietser
A candidate a coin flip from the White House promises to deport 6-8% of the population, impose economy-crippling tariffs, imprison critics, dissenters, and journalists, and routinely praises autocrats — and the best some high-profile libertarians can do is ridicule those trying to sound the alarm.
Radley Balko
One of the biggest and most successful propaganda pushes in American history convinced much of the public that the world's best economic recovery was actually a severe recession.
Michael Tae Sweeney @mtsw.bsky.social
The next days will be emotionally harrowing for everyone. A great time to also share
to
help give people a micro-break from the stress. Please enjoy these
Florentine reenactment trumpeters. And please share something of your
own! #SelfCare:
Ada Palmer
"Republicans are better on the economy than Democrats" is the propaganda win of our lifetimes. Nobody should believe it, it's demonstrably untrue. And yet!
Keith @kdb150.bsky.social
cool fun fact is that e-bikes are more common in China than cars, motorcycles, microwaves, and computers
Joey Politano
Microsoft and other companies that have bet big on generative AI tech say that they're responding to "demand" for AI and I'd be curious to know how they're measuring that
Ian Boudreau
I never did understand why "virtue signaling" was some terrible thing. Like, yes, actually I do want to live in a world where people and businesses feel compelled to act like they give a shit, even when I know they're pretending. What world do you want to live in?
Rob McFadden
17 states have never had a woman senator; 18 have never had a woman governor. 5 have had neither: Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Pennsylvania. Virginia. There are 25 current woman senators & 12 governors. Only 60 women have ever been a senator & 49 governor.
Amy Diehl, Ph.D.
Pretty near perfect rose in my mom's backyard:
Argyle @dlwchico.bsky.social
heard someone say that trad wives don't want to be farmer's wives they want to be plantation owner's wives and yeah they nailed it
@elleisanisland.bsky.social
Looking forward to Elon and Ron Paul abolishing the federal reserve and creating a new, government-backed bitcoin currency called the Dunning-Krugerrand
Seth Cotlar
Elon Musk Nov. 3, 2024: "There should be no need for FOIA requests. All government data should be default public for maximum transparency." Cannot wait for reporters, self included, to cite this post by Musk when we need to challenge confidential treatment requests made by Tesla or SpaceX etc.
Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social
Speaking of slaughtered family pets . . . the California family whose pet goat, Cedar, was seized by sheriff deputies in 2022 and later killed has won a $300k settlement with the county.
Gabriel Malor
Quite the headline out of Philly:
Noah Shachtman
one of the worst fucking things in the world is the move to call sincerity and care "cringe" fuck that shit. let's build a political community based on care for one another.
Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com
Trump's DOT withheld Caltrain electrification funding for a whole year, contributing to a total of 3 years delay in groundbreaking and substantial cost overruns.
Californians for Electric Rail
I went to some Trump rallies (like I did in 2016) and I found people deeply in thrall to a fictional universe, angry about being victimized by events that did not occur but that they believed had happened because Trump told them they did
Adam Serwer
Today feels like an important day to remember how the last Trump Presidency began versus how it ended. (Credit: CalltoActivism):
News Eye
A thing that gets lost in the Jan 6 horribleness was that it was the
deadliest day of the pandemic to that point. Over 90,000 Americans died
of Covid that January because Trump buried his head in the sand and lied
to us.
Michael Morrison
getting young men to believe "you are a pussy if you don't support the king and risk your life for him" was probably in some sense necessary for the project of state building but its now marshalled for like "you are a pussy if you do not support the melting orange game show host" - very bad
Michael Tae Sweeney @mtsw.bsky.social
Among my first Critical thoughts and suspicions as a kid was noticing how often "you're a pussy / not a Real Man unless you ____" substituted for someone having anything resembling a good reason for me to _____
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
I think there's a liberal tendency to fetishize the dystopias of 20th century fascism but there are people living right now without the freedoms you're merely afraid of losing. That's not to say your fear is unwarranted or even privileged; it's just to say that, no matter what, you are not alone.
Gillian Branstetter
Laws are real but only for poor people.
Kim Marshall @dangerblond.bsky.social
we don't need to have compassion for MAGA voters. we don't want to strip away their rights and aren't trying to kill them. that's more than enough.
Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.com
Example #5,429 of why protected infrastructure is needed in the U.S.: This roundabout is at the intersection of two residential streets with 20mph speed limits. Drivers are too distracted, aggressive and driving on streets that encourage speeding, requiring protection for bike riders and pedestrians:
LauraGMitchell
look if trump loses — IF — his supporters are just going to go out and start Tea Party Phase Two or some shit like that. I'm not going to waste time sending them sympathy cards. In the meantime, don't get complacent.
Tom Tomorrow
Remember everyone: No matter what happens tomorrow, we will immediately
be deluged with takes about how it was foreseeable and inevitable
Michael Hobbes
[THE ELECTION OUTCOME BECOMES CLEAR]
I genuinely don’t have any blame or recriminations to share, and I’m not angry at anyone who wants to stop fascism in whatever way they can. Yes, we should learn from mistakes, but the fault for the rise of fascism lies with the fascists. Always and forever.
Anil Dash
I guess you can claim "the antidote to bad speech is more free speech," but unless you have several billion dollars to build your more free speech machine you're never gonna have enough speech to win. Not to mention the crackdowns on free speech that are pervasive throughout red-state schools.
Randal Cooper @fancycwabs.bsky.social
I'm thinking a lot today about the fact that over the summer it took a crew of six skilled craftsmen a week to build a new roof/deck on our house after it took me six hours, tops, with a sledgehammer, pry bar, and circular saw to demolish the old one.
Ed Burmila
I am still processing but I do think the most important frame is the global post-Covid economic backlash against incumbents. Democrats were blamed for both shutdowns and inflation but not given credit for job growth or rising wages.
Mike Caulfield
Those Americans who didn’t vote for Kamala for WHATEVER reason need to take responsibility for getting Trump in office. You cannot fix all things with a silver fucking bullet. But you CAN fix things piece by piece. Too bad more did NOT understand that and got stuck in a single issue.
Nnedi Okorafor, PhD @nnedi.bsky.social
US election result was not unique, it’s an awful time to run for re-election anywhere in the world. Voters blame their leaders for inflation and other cost-of-living issues. Harris nearly overcame that stacked deck.
Jordan Leick @beacon.bsky.social
This carbonbrief.org analysis estimates the potential climate impact of the next US administration. Lowlights:
* adds 4 GtCO2e of emissions by 2030
* nearly $1T in extra damages
* estimate doesn't even include fossil fuel expansion
* all but puts the nail in the coffin of the 1.5C target
Katharine Hayhoe
I was watching a Hasan Piker talk the other day about how basically every common hobby for young men—gaming, sports, fitness, gambling, etc--is saturated with right-wing propaganda. yeah
ryan cooper
It's really hard to ignore that America has twice shown that it prefers a rapist to a woman.
David Ho
God the corruption is going to be unlike anything we’ve ever seen. They’re going to strip us for parts.
Grudgie the Whale
The country chose misogyny and racism
Rebecca Leber
I figured he'd at least have to steal it, through the House or SCOTUS or whatever. A clean victory is just ... crushing.
Tom Tomorrow
It’s not complicated: Harris lost because people want their pre-COVID life back, especially when it comes to prices, and blame the incumbent administration for their woes. In the coming days we’re likely to find out that many D-leaning voters didn’t show up; get more evidence that another slice of voters simply don’t believe that Trump will do the things he’s promised, or that he’s not talking about them; and that many Americans simply want a “strong leader” to fix things. There are a lot of forces at play in the last. Buy we cannot ignore a basic fact: Our political system *is* badly broken. Our legislative branch is totally dysfunctional. The judiciary has usurped power and used it to do deeply unpopular things, but since process is complicated Americans blame the wrong people. There was *one* possible way out, and it remains the single most important fix for our system: the elimination of the filibuster. Yes, it will allow for bad things. But it will also restore accountability, and power, to legislators. Governing parties must be able to govern through *democratic mechanisms* rather than an imperial presidency. Legislators need to be empowered to form winning coalitions. Extremists need to be forced to live with the political consequences of the policies that they support.
Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social
Elon Musk thinks he just bought america like he bought twitter. I am not suggesting he is mistaken in this belief though people who think they can control The Trumpster tend to get thrown under the nearest bus
Tom Tomorrow
Ticket splitting voters, who backed pro-abortion ballot initiatives and anti-abortion politicians, seem like a major theme of the election so far.
southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
whatever happens, we need to accept that fascism is popular. racism is popular. misogyny is popular. I’m not sure how democracy moves towards progress when reactionaries have the votes.
Joshua Erlich
I dont think im ever going to get over the US running some of the best economic-crisis response, and voters emphatically saying "fuck you" to it
Isaiah Bishop
This from Jill Filipovic sums it up for me: "In the coming days there's gonna be a lot of opining about what the Harris campaign did wrong, but this election was not an indictment of Kamala Harris. It was an indictment of America."
David Ryan Miller
I'm naive enough to have had a lot of faith in my country because I know a lot of wonderful people who live here and have a desire to do better. I want this country to be able to do better, and live by the ideals it claims to strive for, but this just has me sick and ashamed.
Lockheed Skunk
He legit won this time. This is what America wants. Biden put together the most progressive government since FDR and Americans said "no thanks, we liked low interest rates, wage stagnation, and higher unemployment a lot better. "
Karl Appuhn
Win lose or draw we gotta accept that essentially all conventional wisdom about politics is out the window. Big stimulus to lead the globe out of a massive crisis? Fuck you. Shit your pants every day of a campaign? Doesn’t matter! Consequences for breaking the law? Well, it turns out...
Jakey @jakeythesnakey.bsky.social
Regardless of what happens tonight I just can’t believe how misogynist this country is in 2024. Absolutely devastating.
Molly Knight
No matter what happens tonight, the fascist movement in the United States is powerful and growing, and we all have to gird ourselves to fight it.
Ashton Pittman
I'd be curious to see some interviews with the NC voters who were like "can't bring myself to vote for the Black Nazi for Governor, but the white Nazi seems ok to me."
Seth Cotlar
Barack Obama's entire thing, politically speaking, was bending over backwards for Republicans. Unity was his whole brand. He introduced himself to the broader electorate with the "Purple America" speech. They remember him as a divider because they need him to be that to justify how they behaved.
April Daniels
Also: As soon as Trump is out of the picture the GOP is going to try to put this all behind them. We can't let them do that. Never forget that, in the end, the Republican Party openly & unapologetically embraced fascism.
Daniel Lerch
So here's the thing for me: Over the past year, we've been treated to the endless narrative that liberals on college campuses are the biggest threat to American Jews. Hearings, news cycles, open letters, so much more. Elon Musk is the biggest threat to American Jews, and should be treated as such.
David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social
The Trump campaign spent $134.38 on anti-trans ads for every single trans person that actually exists
Gillian Branstetter
We live in a world where That Guy is not soundly rejected. Adjust your assessment of humanity accordingly
Adam Miller @ajm6792.bsky.social
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