54 Comments

I’m so happy to hear you’re on the IAAF board! Thank you for doing that important work!

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"Long Live The King"

What Biden did NOT say to Obama after the Affordable Care Act passed Congress

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Reading through this today I had what might have been an obvious thought to others but perhaps one of the reasons Trump is calling himself king is so that he feels better about everyone else calling Musk president? It's bad all around.

Also Dingus Madness is definitely the devil's work. God wouldn't have put a love of spreadsheets into my heart.

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2dEdited

Fantastic, as always! I freaking LIVE for this newsletter right now. Also, can we all just LOL at the idea that unwinding a days-old, city program was on the same level as a king conquering another province or something. Like I know “owning the libs” = conquest for him, but as someone who lives five states away and hadn’t heard of congestion pricing until this week, I don’t even feel “owned” by this one. I was expecting this declaration that we all knew was coming to be paired with something more, oh, I don’t know…impactful? (To clarify, as a lawyer I do understand how scary it is to have a president, oops I mean king, exercise this kind of power of a municipality and that he’s ripping the constitution to shreds, but it’s just funny from a PR perspective. Like this was your huge win. This was when you decided to announce your shiny new title.)

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Florida is not suing Target for ending DEI. They are suing for loss of shareholders value following 2023's dei rollouts which were boycotted by MAGA.

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You are right,Sarah. Florida would never sue a company for ending DEI. The new AG’s suit said the Gay Pride merchandise sold by Target in 2023 sexualized children and caused its stock to plummet . Actually, it was the MAGA reaction and boycott of Target that hurt Target. Investment actions like this and Florida’s decision to avoid woke companies caused my family to move my husband’s money in the Florida Retirement System to TIAA funds when he was a state employee so our investments were managed without stupid political ideas.

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Yep I crowd source a lot of these and didn’t vet that one as well. I removed from the list!

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Thank you for taking the chair position on the IAAF. Cuz we’re all tired but have recommitted to the work. Joan Baez has a great T-shirt in a recent photo —Is he Dead Yet? Some of us could use a she one, too.

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It's worth noting that congestion pricing is still in effect in NYC, and that the state is suing to make sure it remains in place going forward. As they say in Westeros, "Words are wind."

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I lived in London for 15 years, starting just before they implemented the congestion charge there.

It was amazing. Honestly one of the best plans for reducing traffic. The only people who really complained about it were the US embassy staff 😂.

I drove ans cycled in London. At no point did I ever *need* to drive into the centre when charging was in place. London, like NYC has a functional public transit system. And you can always pay for a taxi!

I live in Paris now, and the bullshit the mayor here has put in place to reduce traffic has not been anything like as successful. Traffic is just confined to fewer roads and is more unpleasant for other people as a result…don’t get me started on the irrational cycle infrastructure that has been built here 😂.

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Dingus of the week is too easy these days - there is an almost unlimited supply of candidates, and you get to choose another one next week. Dingus of the year, on the other hand, is getting pretty tough. How does one rate the relative dingushood of such deserving contenders? I feel like I need to go through the list twice so I can vote for all 32, but then I may as well not vote. In addition, lurking in the shadows is the Grand Dingus, who is almost certain to pardon whoever you/we ultimately choose, and then issue multiple royal decrees erasing the word dingus from all dictionaries, search engines, and federal documents.

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Welcome back to Texas! What city will you be visiting? We can recommend places to eat.

I am making this offer even though you were a cruel creature and put Ted Cruz against Elon Musk in this early round of Dingus Madness. This means one of the two biggest Dingi ever to soil the planet will be eliminated early!! C’mon, ‘Undecided Voters’ are NOT worse than either of these idiots! One of them will avoid another week of being humiliated!

The excellent ‘In Bed With The Right’ podcast — where I first heard of you and your book and why I purchased your book - has an excellent but VERY disturbing episode in the Pelicot trial this week. I recommend but with the biggest trigger warning in the history of triggers.

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I take the blame for all the bracket poll match-ups, but I'm not sorry. :) It's the most difficult game of "Would You Rather Not" ever conceived.

In the first round (the sucky 64) Ted Cruz coasted to victory vs. Corn Sweat. I expected him to continue to be a force in this round (the dirty 32), but it turns out that in addition to all the other terrible things that Elon Musk is doing he also makes Ted Cruz look less shitty by comparison.

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‘Making Tex Cruz look good’ makes Elon Musk the Dingus GOAT.

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I was just saying this morning that I no longer have any sympathy for Trump voters whose faces are being eaten by the leopards, but I also no longer have any schadenfreude. Just kind of dead inside, maybe? But this newsletter made me feel good, so that is a little less dead.

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Retired lawyer here. I am ashamed of those in my profession who go to court and make arguments like the ones you refer to. It it just terrible reading the things they are willing to say.

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Efete, failsons, obeisance... this is a master class in vocabulary!

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MYaM: increasing your word power since 2018

For example, as international scholars and analysts strive to understand the naked power grab of gangster capitalism in the US, they have 1) identified it accurately as the "dingus syndicate" era of governance, 2) with attributions because international scholars and analysts are classy like that, and 3) told the syndicate to put a shirt on or something because they are fucking slobs and because a plurality of voters would never.

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Amen! Retired LA teacher here and I have my Dictionary on ‘speed dial!’

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Having to choose between Elon and Ted Cruz in the Dingus Madness is the hardest thing I'll do today!

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I actually complained about this. Eliminating one of these guys this early really does skew the results.

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Who knew that Monty Python and the Holy Grail would be so hilariously relevant 50 years later! Thanks for the belly laugh!

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I knew. It is always relevant. lol

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I checked your math on that and it is accurate but I don't like it.

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thank you a thousand times for monty python. they still make perfect sense. 🤣 as for dingus madness, it's TOO HARD. how on earth do i choose between some of those match-ups?

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Same here! I am paralyzed by ‘dingus indecision!’ Don’t make me choose! My head might explode!!!!!!

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Elon Musk v Ted Crus this early is unfair

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admittedly, ted is bad but he wields less power. so i voted for the reprehensible elon.

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So did I.

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The Bezos photo in Dingus Madness cracks me up for some reason. It’s like he traveled back in time to go to the first Lollaplooza (hopefully someone kicks his ass while he’s there).

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The poll is set up in a Google Form and powered by Google Sheets (and debuted the week that Google was the dingus...ha!) and for each option I can attach an image. The easiest way is to pick an image from Google Image Search and that was the one I picked for him this week. Will I find a goofier one next week? Perhaps.

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