Joe
@htown_Joe
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Minnesotan living in Houston. Heterodox, old-school, HHH/FDR-style left liberal. (This is where I get political.) #FreeSpeech #DueProcess #FindYourPark
Joined June 2013
Democracy IS threatened by the pending Trump presidency. No, he won’t dissolve Congress. But there’s no doubt he will continue to violate norms that are designed to keep our democracy from devolving into kleptocracy and/or autocracy. E.g., And nobody… /1.
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The problem with calling Israel’s attack on Gaza a genocide is that it makes most every war between nation states with significant civilian casualties a genocide. Including defensive wars. Was Dresden a genocide? Hiroshima? Bombing of London by the Luftwaffe? And so on. /1.
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@FischerKing64 This is patently, provably false. The legality of scession was settled over 150 years ago. People have called Confederates (& Lee, in particular) "traitors”—and argued about it—since the South left the Union. And they certainly did 30 years ago. (Just search old newspapers!) /1.
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@KevinMKruse KMK, let’s say you accept D’Souza’s definition of Dixiecrat. How does that make his ultimate point—which, I think, is that the GOP was the party of civil rights? D’Souza admits “millions” of Southern Dems became GOP—including Tower, Lott & Helms. Why? Opposition to civil rights.
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Medical bankruptcy.
"School shooting.".
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It’s one thing to despise a particular war or battle or raid due to their being too many civilian causalities. We can discuss that with every war—including Gaza. That doesn’t make any of those wars genocides. Stop cheapening the concept. /2.
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@FischerKing64 Like Teddy Kennedy? See famous spat with Storm Thurmond about this. For heaven’s sake, Lee was indicted for treason. So was Davis. And Andrew Johnson pardoned thousands of Confederates preemptively. For what? Treason, duh. If it wasn’t discussed it was b/c it was so SO OBVIOUS.
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@edokeefe He loved being “up at the Lake,” too. He visited our cabin while campaigning when my grandfather worked for him back in the 1960s.
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@MargaretAtwood I admire your intent. But what @sciam has been publishing isn’t science. Honestly, it’s ok to sympathize w/ and want to protect trans people—but refuse to be bullied by activists into making things up about sex. Secondary sex traits may be a spectrum, but sex is not. It’s binary.
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Worst of all, @sam_kriss accuses #liberals of not caring about those who will suffer under #DonaldTrump. WRONG. We've worn pins since Day 1.
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@CJFerguson1111 @rawsalerts Faux protection of the other protestors. But the real purposes is that, if he moves forward, she will claim he assaulted her.
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@Taniel @benwikler It took a while, but (at least from afar) Walker seems pretty toxic in WI right now. A long time coming…I remember the dark, old days.
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@HeerJeet @jessesingal Rogan isn’t giving “medical advice.” There’s no reason to think Rogan’s fans treat his opinion like “Dr.’s orders”—or any stronger than avid The Nation’s readers weigh its views. You created a false dichotomy, as speech-suppressors always do to justify silencing someone else.
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Anti-car urbanism is, at its core, a discriminatory practice by wealthy urban elites who seek to reduce the number of suburban people w/whom they interact. People who commute downtown because they can’t afford to live there do so overwhelmingly in cars due to their efficiency.
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@ZeeshanAleem I have a degree from a school like Williams, and I took an English class there. I assure you, nobody learned anything about the English language in that class. Not grammar, not syntax, not punctuation, not vocabulary—nothing.
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@SwipeWright Has anyone ever explained to you why it’s “transphobic” to say there are two sexes? Or to disagree that trans men are male & trans women are female? One can hold these views AND believe trans folks should be free display as they please and free from threats/harm/ discrimination.
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@MargaretAtwood I admire your intent. But what @sciam has been publishing isn’t science. Honestly, it’s ok to sympathize w/ and want to protect trans people—but refuse to be bullied by activists into making things up about sex. Secondary sex traits may be a spectrum, but sex is not. It’s binary.
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@DieMadTerf Trans women are a subset of women in the same way that men are a subset of women.
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@ratemyskyperoom @DevinCow @DevinNunes I am deeply confused. I know @DevinNunes is HAVING a cow. But does he actually HAVE a cow? I checked all of California, and his family doesn’t seem to have a dairy farm anywhere. What happened? ;) .
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@espiers If you don’t believe @WomenAreReals, I check all the same left-wing boxes (except that I’m the Dad of a girl who plays sports). I’ve got left-wing bona fides up the wazoo. I’ll happily provide my identity OFF THE RECORD. This is NOT a conservative issue. It’s a fairness issue.
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THE problem w/#MeToo—which many of us said from the start—is that it destroys people’s lives/careers before all they can exonerate themselves in court. #KevinSpacey is a prime example. Self-proclaimed victims must NOT be believed blindly. Memory is faulty.
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@goldengateblond Or, more simply, he could use foreign diplomacy as leverage to re-negotiate his debts to foreign oligarchs.
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@wil_da_beast630 I actually agree only to the extent you’re talking about truly micro business—people who rent out a house or two for extra money. If you rent out five apartments I’m not concerned.
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@Timodc @benshapiro If kids are old enough to know that a @Disney Princess gets married and lives happily ever after, those same kids can know the same about your spouse. Fair is fair.
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@edokeefe One of the Mondale mementos in our family document collection. (I believe this is a mimeograph copy of my grandpa’s official reappointment letter.) I am named for my grandpa, by the way.
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@drepurse @SethCotlar I am a big fan of civility. I don’t love at SCOTUS Justices’ houses (although it’s not a HUGE deal, and I know they were neighbors). But what Beto did was PERFECTLY appropriate. He interrupted a public meeting. He said his piece. He left. It took just a few minutes. PERFECTO.
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@wanyeburkett Sometimes I try to imagine what type of people feel like this. They must be millennials still deeply in debt who have no plans to have kids. Thus they cannot fathom the position I’m in, where I paid off my student loans and will be soon paying for my children’s college education.
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Gender ideology has taken over @AskPayPal and @Etsy, apparently.
🚨 @PayPal has notified me that "after a review, we have decided to permanently limit your account.". I used PayPal to receive both 1-time and recurring donations from my supporters. When I asked why, they said I needed an attorney to submit a subpoena to find out. @AskPayPal
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@marcorubio Look dude, you’re a coward by supporting this guy. Six nice tweets—and yes, they are good—isn’t the same as washing your hands of the man.
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@dsprada @joyannreid In fairness, he has not REALLY been putting Russia first. He's been putting HIMSELF first. As usual.
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Excellent, excellent @NickKristof article. #Trump’s lack of integrity is like a cancer on the executive branch.
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God I f-ing hate Matt Walsh. But there’s a streak of his ideology that I agree with. Yes, it creeps me out. But it’s true. I sincerely agree w/this take on therapy. Sorry, folks!. Now I’ll go back to my regular, Matt Walsh-despising, ways.
I’m not saying that all therapy is a waste of time but I am saying that many of the worst and most dysfunctional people I’ve ever met have been going to therapy for years and there is no indication that it’s done them any actual good whatsoever.
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Kermit knows what it's like to be different: Kermit > bigotry! #TakeBackTheFrog #ImWithKermit #ImWithKer @joshtpm.
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@JoeGordon83 @ggreenwald And also, “use my desired (and possibly invented) pronouns or you’ll be fired.”.
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@thekm5 @SenGillibrand @SenFranken Agreed, agreed, agreed! Fact is, Franken tried the #believethewomen approach. He tried not to call them liars. He apologized for making them feel bad, even though he remembred differently. He apologized for a disrespectful photo of #Tweeden, not groping. And they fried him.
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@AJentleson It’s not necessarily that she’s smarter. Take Mayor Pete, Rhodes Scholar. I’m not sure anyone in the race is smarter than him. But she’s at least in the ballpark—and she’s BETTER PREPARED. She’s the HARDER WORKER. That’s the key. Nobody LOOKS smarter b/c she’s the best prepared.
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@anthonyzenkus Nobody’s happy about this. it’s just that some of us know that Hamas is mostly to blame and some of you don’t.
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@MsPackyetti @GirlNamedMariaS Frankly, I think the DNC and Democrat should invest in black people regardless of their turn out. We shouldn’t just reward them with their turn out is particularly good. That’s my view at least.
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@joshtpm I subscribed to TK on Substack but I paused my subscription today. He’s basically like Glenn Greenwald to me. He is often right about the freedom of speech, and he loves to buck convention, which also is good—but sometimes he’s just tiring.
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YIMBYs are some of the most entitled a-holes on the planet. When I got my first job, in my 20s, I found a small inexpensive apartment in a fringe neighborhood and commuted. But not YIMBYs! They think they have a God-given right to live in fancy neighborhoods w/short commutes. /1.
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@a_centrism To the systemic racism crowd, “equity” means, quite simply: complete equality of economic outcome, regardless of “merit” or “achievement.” Full stop. Let us be clear: this is a complete rejection of the concepts of objective merit/achievement.
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@talalnansari @digby56 Which is exactly what many Trump voters think when they menace minorities. Turn it off, I've seen this show before.
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@katrosenfield Pretty good list. How about adding:. 8. I won’t let those ideas be expressed in any forum. 9. I won’t let those ideas be thought.*. *Obviously, one would have to rely on external evidence of mindset and a system of snitches for this one.
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@jessesingal .@TheFIREorg is right-wing? Has anyone told @glukianoff? Maybe he’s heterdox (I recently bought his Bloom-inspired book). But isn’t @HASilverglate a 60s hippie lib?. It seems to me these labels are part of the Woke Left’s attempt to re-label civil libertarians as conservatives.
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I'm not into banning books, but I do think high school libraries should think twice before buying/shelving porn. Even if it's woke. This literally could not be shown on TV.
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@IlhanMN @RiskyLiberal @RepJimBanks I’m not usually a fan of Congresswoman Omar, but she’s clearly right here. The GOP really has gone to new lows tonight!.
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@RayAlexWilliams @George4Tea @Aja02537920 Good for you. And to hell with the haters who are nitpicking you and claiming you are not going far enough. Baby steps. You are walking in the right direction.
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@hyggesocks @jk_rowling But calling people who disagree a “hate movement” is respectful. Sorry, the trans movement is extremely hypocritical in this regard.
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@Scott_Spiegel @nytopinion @JLeeSoc Just imagine Lee’s take on the @NBA being 70%+ black. It’s not mostly b/c black kids worked hard, putting in 1000s of hours on the playground. Rather, it’s b/c coaches assume black kids are better ballers, and give them college scholarships—which magically makes them play better.
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@PamelaParesky @CHSommers @Newsweek @StrangelEdweird It’s always been clear that the term was created by and for activists who falsely claimed to speak for entire ethnic and/or linguistic groups.
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@kittypurrzog I said the same thing when I was watching it. It was mostly terrible, w/a few ok jokes thrown in. I commented to my wife that it basically sounded like a political rally. The audience was cheering political points, not good jokes.
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@DannyPe86171421 @RiskyLiberal @NormOrnstein @JillWineBanks @solomonosez1 @JoyAnnReid Yes, but just like w/restaurants, classrooms, etc., you need the more polling places than you normally would for the fewer people. Social distancing causes TERRIBLE voting lines. So fewer polling places is not necessarily a wonderful idea, even if everyone votes by mail.
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@mtracey Sure. But in light of our pathologies — which we won’t be eliminating anytime soon — the guns must go.
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@DrIbram No, dude, you are. As @WokeTemple has amply documented. E.g.,
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi holds the position of “Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities”, a position held by only one other person: Noble Prize winner and Auschwitz/Holocaust survivor winner Elie Wiesel. Boston University is making a mockery of a serious subject.
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@espiers You cannot be this blind. You're purposefully sticking your head in the sand. As a parent of a girl athlete who has flourished since she left co-ed for girls' sports, my mind is boggled by your hateful, dismissive attitude. Natal boys playing against girls is straight up unfair.
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@mattyglesias I would posit that the @JK_Rowling view—pro civil rights, anti-discrimination, staunchly protective against harm, but opposed to censoring the other side—is “progressive.” Or certainly “liberal.” What the Chase Strangios of the world claim is “radical.”.
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@amanbatheja @SylvesterTurner …having millions on the road w/flooding would have been FAR MORE catastrophic than having us in houses. Many homes have second stories! /2.
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State elections matter.
First, let’s talk about the race for Wisconsin governor. This is probably the most important race in the country for preventing a second Trump presidency—WI was razor-thin in ‘16 and ‘20. With elections this close and ongoing GOP attacks on our democracy, the Gov is key here.
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@ericuman @Popehat @sarapekow I love the CCRB. I volunteered for them when I lived in NYC. It’s a great and necessary concept. Don’t #DefundPolice; fund and EMPOWER the organizations that watch over the police! We deserve GOOD police, not police who act w/impunity.
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@reedgalen @TheRickWilson @POTUS Say what you want about Joe Biden’s age, intelligence, or competence. But he’s a public servant through and through. He has enormous compassion. He wants to help people because that’s why he went into politics. (No, I don’t know him personally—but I know people who did.).
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@SwipeWright I’m fairly sure that lots of teens girls would prefer to stop their periods. Usually parents don’t capitulate. This is called indulgent parenting.
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@benappel B/c trans activists (a small subset of trans folk, I believe) need affirmation. It’s not good enough for them to act/look like the opposite sex. They cannot be satisfied unless society accepts their gender identity. Admitting that most kids desist runs counter to that narrative.
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.@BillboardChris, you are hurting your cause by making it political. Please stop. There are plenty of @TheDemocrats who would stand with you. Children’s ability to consent to drugs and surgery is. Or a political issue.
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@kellabeck @tgatp @reesetheone1 @SenGillibrand @alfranken I actually agree w/that. Just not THIS particular woman.
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This is where I draw the line on gender. To the Right: Let the woman look how she wants, for God’s sake! . And to the Left: Don’t tell her that looking this way makes her “a man,” so she feels she must be transgender. Women can be feminine or not. Who cares?. #SecondGenFeminism.
Lesbian Tech. Sgt. Kristin Kingrey of the WV Air National Guard tells @TimTeeman why she is suing the U.S. Army & Air Force, claiming a male leader said she should grow her hair, wear makeup “and ultimately appear more feminine,” or suffer professionally.
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@sullydish And it’s all your fault (and mine), too!!. Seriously, I didn’t think they could expand the newly-expanded definition of “white supremacy” to include such crimes but they’ve been remarkably focused on trying.
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@KandyKittyXXX @benryanwriter A bunch of links is not “the weight of medical consensus.” . You are not a serious person. You are simply repeating what you want to be true.
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@RadioFreeTom And yes, something can be beautifully-written even if it drops in an occasional a-bomb. Especially if it’s done with obvious reluctance. (Or even feigned-for-dramatic-effect obvious reluctance.).
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@LissaJoStewart False. There is no "need," because--as she showed--the "treatments" are giving out to people who ask for them, not people who are diagnosed with a condition for which they "need" them. It's not insurance fraud to say she wants a surgery and then decide not to do it.
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@Rob_ThaBuilder @benryanwriter He needs to use pronouns to try to speak to the lefty millennial crowd who have adopted gender orthodoxy and automatically view anyone who has not as bigoted. He’s still trying to get the Sam Seders and Michael Hobbeses to listen to reason, so he has to speak that language. /1.
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@CJFerguson1111 @rawsalerts It is. There is so much unjustified anger in the current generation of "protestors." They honestly have forgotten the lessons about CIVIL disobedience. Vandalism and physical confrontations have no place at protests.
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@zaelefty You are totally ignoring the fact that we have no idea how crocodiles feel about their gender identity.
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@juddlegum This shocked me. I had no idea he was a dick!. I also recently learned that when I let go of something, it falls on the ground.
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@lexialex [Overheard at White House]. Spicer: What'd I do wrong?. Sessions: Don't they understand that Hitler gassed Jews—not Germans?.
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@mayatcontreras @JoyceCarolOates Do you have any idea what percentage of the US population was white from 1950-1970? 90% Even in 1980 & 1990 it was over 80%. Now add in high school graduation rates. College attendance rates. Without even exploring economic factors I’ve explained most of the historic disparity.
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@byjoelanderson When the supposed literati and intellectual/political class of an entire generation (or two) no longer believes in the free exchange of ideas, that IS a "real" problem. It's starting to look at lot like the 1930s, on both sides of the aisle.
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@KatyMontgomerie @jk_rowling Who gets to decide which pronouns are the “right” ones? And is that as a moral, religious or legal matter?.
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@CritFacts @ubqtpie @GChristiemd You’re lying. Not about what happens at birth, but about what trans activists use the word “assigned” to mean. They absolutely don’t use it just to mean “categorized.” The use of assigned is deliberate, to indicate it’s a choice made by a doctor rather than an observation.
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Soon we will have the anti-anti Olivers, then the anti-anti-anti Olivers, and so on. Sometimes Twitter is so darn predictable.
(🔐) RETRO: The Top-Selling Musical Artist in America Is Exponentially More Full of It Than Milli Vanilli. 🔗: Somebody had to say (and explain) it. Because honestly, this whole Oliver Anthony thing is as embarrassing as hell—even by MAGAs’ low standards.
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@remingtonreid @lhfang Um, @joerogan, it’s not a lie if the medicine is actually used for deworming horses. @drsanjaygupta should have stood his ground. Yes, their characterization of the facts was uncharitable. Perhaps they should have clarified that your dosage differed. But it wasn’t a lie. @CNN.
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@jessesingal For all the crap people give him about being an old centrist these days, @mattyglesias’s insights are still excellent.
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