Chapo Trap House and the rise of the dirtbag left

sorry i’m just a bit 🙄 about the cult of personality surrounding a bunch of cokehead rich media tyles

hell yeah

Like Hillary, their haters only make them stronger.

the notion of them as tryhard edgelord coke bros gets weirder to me every time there's a 20-minute discussion of arcane government procedure or ann hourlong history lesson or tim faust coming on to talk health justice, to name a few examples. there are a lot of valid criticisms to make about the whole phenomenon (folks on the subreddit were bitching about inaccuracies and wild conflations in matt's solo history episode), including plenty made on here, just not sure how many of them are coming from people who actually listened

virgil’s interview with kaniela ing today is great, and v much in the chapo wonklord tradition simon mentions

I hadn't heard of Ing before but he seems very cool!

yeah me neither but he seems super-good

pretty easy on the ol’ eyes too

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Kaniela_Ing_for_Congress.png

1. DSA member judge Mik Pappas seems to be doing good work in Pittsburgh
2. This interview is one of the funniest I've seen in a long time just for the reporter's hilariously dismissive tone and signoff line

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/02/02/mik-pappas-no-cash-bail-policy-criticism/

“I’ve never, ever had or heard of a magistrate trying to invoke contempt powers whenever they don’t have them, number one, and number two, I clearly was not in contempt in any event,” DePasquale said.

he's not mad he's actually laughing about it

everyone is dunking on PSA's Jon Favreau for joining up with a health care initiative whose aim is Definitely Not to derail the M4A fight

You know that life or death political struggle you're invested in? Our mission is to remove it from the realm of politics by making it human pic.twitter.com/fqtDtazruF

— Will🦕Menaker (@willmenaker) February 7, 2018

the path already exists. the movement already exists. the political will exists. what’s lacking is a willingness to stand up for values that people already agree with for fear of alienating people like bill frist https://t.co/clB2I11KFd

— robot emma (@emmaroller) February 7, 2018

Felix is on the Michael Brooks Show episode playing a game of Gulag or Reeducation Camp

I think it's unproductive to ascribe nefarious motives to Favreau's stance here, that he's primarily concerned with carving out a professional niche for himself and his ilk in the future healthcare landscape as opposed to his stance just representing a disagreement on tactics/approach/pragmatism. but I also think he's dead wrong, the time for Medicare for All is right fucking now.

im sure the group jonfav is joining is sketchy and neoliberal or whatever but it does annoys me when ppl seem think you just push a button that says universal ur a puny moral feeb if you raise questions about policy. single payer isnt even the most socialist healthcare it actually has the potential to be p neolib

it's hard to say nefarious or not because those people literally don't know any other way to "solve" problems, they are technocrats. But I wouldn't be surprised if he very sincerely thinks "oh no, this medicare for all movement is so extremist and simplistic, we need to *think* our way out of this problem and find sensible solutions" as though that isn't exactly what obamacare made a herculean effort to do and still failed to do.

I mean yeah tbh it probably is an attempt to derail M4A

cozying up with the likes of Bill Frist gets a real big "Fuck You" from me

"Pod save America? NO NO NO
Pod DAMN America!" pic.twitter.com/iFcOQ2qnup

— Gore Vidal Sassoon (@JimmyJazz1968) February 7, 2018

glenn greenwald done went on chapo

das vedanya tovarich kompromat

more on that think tank

A few thoughts on the @USofCare group, launched today. To be fair, they haven't endorsed any particular policy platform yet, but I'm rather ... skeptical about what we'll see.

— Adam W Gaffney (@awgaffney) February 7, 2018

greenwald thankfully sticking mostly to his stronger subject areas

Was greenwald not already on Chapo once? Did I imagine that? Maybe it was one of the other leftpods I listen to.

Well he took over Scahill’s podcast and interviewed Tucker Carlson that one time

o yeah, I might be thinking of that. That was an interesting interview but I thought he was a little too credulous toward Carlson

I had a hate-obsession with McArdle for years so it's sort of gratifying to see I'm not the only one

honestly I'm worn out on the McArdle segments, I feel like there are lots of more interesting chud targets

that jimmy jazz tweet lmao

Reading series on McArdle is like a movie on MST3K that's so bad that even making fun of it doesn't quite displace the depressing fact of watching it in the first place.

I liked their commentary on the super bowl commercials, that hyundai ad really is dystopian in a world where it's getting tired to call things dystopian. Mark Leyner was the right reference point.

SMDH they didn't press record on the first Glen Greenwald interview.

indeed, tho ime mistakes like that usually result in a superior second take

I always enjoy mcardle dunking but yea i agree this last one was essentially interchangeable with any of the others in the past. i'm digging the new episode w/ GG so far.

lol wait did they really fuck up a first interview with GG? I was sure that was a bit. I want to believe that was a bit.

Dude, Felix records solo casts with his xbox headset. Matt never learned how to use his mic. Shows have gotten eaten before. They never figured out what to do about their website.

I fully believe every fuckup is real, as anything they try to do which isn’t in their sole competencies of talking, writing, or books goes sideways real quick, and they ain’t all that competent at those sometimes.

enh, the fuckups are overstated imo. they generally produce two entertaining episodes a week, where a lot of more technically proficient shows are only on the ball maybe half the time

the ever-reliable Tim Crulge on ASC

Even if it doesn’t want to champion single-payer, USC can, doubtless, advocate for undeniably good things. It can harness its resources to advocate for Medicaid expansion, without exception or means-testing, in states that have rejected federal funds—this leads to a reduction in the mortality rate, especially among communities of color. It can demand comprehensive reproductive justice (including both abortion, a basic and essential medical procedure; and medical and social support for people who struggle during pregnancy) or the funding of home health support for disabled people, where we have chosen to deny it. It could throw itself behind Virginia’s HB 1466, which prohibits insurance discrimination on the basis of gender and trans identity. It could even lobby for municipal issues that advance the cause of health justice, like the upcoming city council vote on paid sick leave in Austin, Texas. These things provide immediate material benefit to people who need them and it is our collective responsibility to put our shoulders to the wheel for them whenever and however we can.

United States of Care could back any of these reforms—but if we take them at their word, they probably won’t. Because all of these reforms are political.

https://splinternews.com/the-very-bad-politics-of-putting-healthcare-over-politi-1822806820

*Tim Faust rather, lol. getting handles and names mixed up.

love that guy

saw Faust in a union hall on the outskirts of Nashville a couple of weeks ago. he's great on Chapo & other pods but he really turned it up for a live crowd. it's pretty contagious.

the andrew wk of healthcare wonkery

I have to wonder what he'll get up to when his tour of duty is done.

wait is he a troop

everyone's a troop

I don’t think he’s ever going to stop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MrMkzG44FI

the andrew wk of healthcare wonkery

― he facked his death (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, February 8, 2018 8:07 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha seems v true

i enjoy all the eric garland bits even when they repeat themselves

see garland is 1000% more fun to dunk on imo, though he is becoming more of a fringe figure. they might have to move on the idk Seth Abramson soon

oh my

Thanks for being really mean for no good reason, Emma. I want most of the same things you do and am just trying to help however I can.

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) February 7, 2018

lol what a chump

he can cry into his HBO contract

this is one of my favorite sub-genres of concern troll:

You're not wrong, either. One of the more vexing things on my end is watching people argue in favor of single payer without an open and honest acknowledgement of the political and logistical challenges inherent in implementing it.

— Daniel Summers (@WFKARS) February 7, 2018