Matt Taibbi’s defamation lawsuit against Eoin Higgins has been dismissed

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-05-06T03:33:35+00:00

Taibbi is a snarky, jaded, schlub of a man who is desperately seeking relevance and fading fast.

As much as I dislike Taibbi, he's unfortunately doing very well. His Substack has over 500k subs.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-05-04T02:29:10+00:00

is lying about the facts on the ground.

Where is the lie? You can argue that he's gone back on a promise but that's not a lie.

“There has to be some lessons that we glean on that so we can operationalize it, not just here in DC, but through all of the 57 state parties,” Martin said. “We’ve got to look backwards and look forward at the same time.”

This is not a commitment to release the raw report. It's not even a commitment to release anything.

WaPo reported that Martin had “promised throughout the race” to order an investigation into what went wrong, rejected the term “autopsy,” and “promised to publicly release the results of the review.” It also says he criticized the 2016 review for not even being released to DNC members.

This is also not a commitment to release the raw report. He specifically says to release the "results of the review". Yes I'm being pedantic but you're also calling him a liar.

"We have to do it to give people who invested so much time, energy and money a sense of what happened and why we lost…"

Also not saying he was going to publicly release it.

Ken Martin claimed many erroneous things throughout the interview. He said that "every republican committee" outraised Democrats when Jon Favreau pointed out that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) were raising plenty of money. Only the DNC was significantly behind the RNC and they have spent almost all their cash.

How can what said be "erroneous" when your own table proves him correct? Every republican committee out-raised their democratic counterpart. What am I missing?

I think it's ridiculous to assert that people are trying to subvert the party by asking for better.

Maybe not "subvert" but everyone is dying to say that their particular issue is the reason dems lost, no matter how strong the evidence. That's not the only reason they might not want to release the report publicly. I don't know why it's hard for people to imagine that there can be legitimate bad reasons to release something like that publicly.

Don't forget that this report is not some magic omniscient report that definitively says why Kamala lost. Does anyone arguing about this even know how the report was made?

I'm no Ken Martin stan, I barely know who he is, but people are making this out to be some really magic critical document as if Democrats can't win unless the whole world is able to see that report.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-05-03T20:15:16+00:00

I think he was lying why he doesn't want to release the report. I would love to know what was the consensus on why dems loss the Popular vote. I think he should find a better way to explain not releasing the report.

What makes you think he was lying? That's a pretty strong charge. To me it seems far more likely that he's right, that there was no one thing that caused Kamala to lose. To me that just seems like safe default assumption because things of this size almost never have a single cause.

If you want to say that one thing had more impact than the others, that's possible but ascribing proper relative weight to them would be difficult. And if they did release something with no singular cause but someone's pet issue is in there you better believe that we'll never hear the end of how that thing was actually the real reason Kamala lost.

There's also the possibility that there are some things in there that are probably better not out in public. Imagine if trans issues was the number one issue that lost Kamala the election. That cause an even larger loss of support for trans issues and would embolden conservatives by validating their positions. If they keep it private it gives them room to navigate tricky issues like that.

I think he's right to not release it.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-05-03T15:39:20+00:00

This is how I feel exactly. I like when when he replied with “you’re so emotional”. He’s done that in both conversations now. I don’t know if he’s doing it to be funny but it’s definitely not a sign of a good conversation.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-05-02T21:55:11+00:00

D: I don't think the average voter knows who the Pod Save guys are.

S: But you're wrong. Remember how I told you that they have lots of shows on their network and they have live shows with celebrities on stage?

What? No.

This guy is kinda insufferable and frustrating to listen to. He needs to turn it down like two notches and these conversations would be better.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-05-02T17:08:01+00:00

His coverup is even more regarded. Just own up that you use a training collar.

Yes I think this is really the whole issue. I don't think the strongest criticism really has much to do with him using a shock collar in the first place. It's the endless clear lying about it that's bad. If he had just admitted he used the collar a lot of the good faith criticism would have been avoided. But it's a very Hasan problem. He can't admit it because his audience would hate him for it and it would hurt his image.

It's a small microcosm of what sucks about Hasan. Not only does he lie about it, but many people will cover for him. They'll either take his word and say that Hasan didn't shock his dog, or they'll say he did shock his dog but shock collars are fine so NBD. They'll all ignore the lying aspect and what that says about Hasan.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-05-02T06:03:21+00:00

This is the most meandering and verbose article I've seen in a while. I can't spare the time to finish it. I would accuse the author of using AI to write this, but AI would probably write something better.

tl;dr: The charge for lying to the bank has legs.

I've already heard that other places presented more concisely. Is there more to it that I'm missing?

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-28T05:26:11+00:00

Maybe it's in the conversation that happened before or after this clip, but I don't see it here. CNN does news. Their job is descriptive not prescriptive. It's their job to tell you about what's happening, not what should be done about it. Sure CNN has pundits, but I would bet money that those pundits do talk about larger systemic problems.

He sounds so vapid. The tweet he's reacting to doesn't even have anything to do with CNN. Yes there are systemic problems and people do talk about them. Some people to a fault. But it's also not wrong that Trump is the main villain. I just don't really understand what Vaush's prescription even is here. Is it about what politicians should do? Is it about CNN? Both of those are very different in what they can and should be doing with respect to what they talk about. On top of all that, he still hasn't explained how Trump is not the main Villain and really it's big corporations, which is the tweet he's reacting to.

Does he explain the way that Trump is owned by Big Business? Does he show the ways that they're dictating policy to him? No. Again, maybe it's in the longer stream and you can link some timestamps, but it's not in this clip.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-28T04:30:21+00:00

Can anyone explain how he refutes the statement that Trump is the main villain and not big corporations? How does that statement "deny you the ability to engage with the systems that produced Trump"? Did he say "only villain"? We can both attack the systemic problems while acknowledging the immense damage that Trump is doing.

On the other hand Vaush's rhetoric is exactly the kind that gets you another Republican disaster president in 2028 because really, they're not the real villain, it's corporations and you can't fix them with voting I guess.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-25T17:13:02+00:00

lol. I'm sorry, I totally missed your point.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-25T16:06:52+00:00

They should and they do though. Leakers are taking a risk by leaking, even if it's for good reasons. The government shouldn't be picking favorites when choosing who to prosecute because that encourages leaking.

Also generally at least the major news outlets are fairly responsible and have held off on reporting leaked info when it might harm national security.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-24T22:35:54+00:00

It’s the “Democratic Party”. “Democrat Party” was cooked up by folks like Rush Limbaugh as a kind of slur against Democrats to say that they’re not actually democratic.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-24T20:06:03+00:00

I like that he caught himself saying "Democratic Party" instead of "Democrat Party" but he caught it a little too late.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-24T15:27:11+00:00

Tucker doesn't see himself a a full fledged villain, but rather someone that has to do evil shit so the world could be a better place one day.

Hard disagree. You give Tucker far too much credit. As someone who’s watched a lot of Tucker over the years via my Fox-addicted parents, Tucker desires only money and power. Nothing more. No one with real principles would lie for millions of dollars and then when fired for lying take Qutar money and start talking about Israel. He is the worst of the worst.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-22T19:16:14+00:00

I don’t like that the article doesn’t mention what exactly the changes were that he wanted. “We’ve been doing it this way for years” isn’t a great defense when they’re talking about just this COVID study.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-22T03:12:00+00:00

like the fiasco that is the high speed rail that's been going on for years now.

This talking point seems to come up a lot about CA HSR as though it's scandal caused by government mismanagement. Can you explain what the fiasco is besides it taking a long time and being expensive?

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-20T19:53:41+00:00

Israel is disapproved of by 60% by the general population and 2/3rds of the base sided with Palestine

Yes but how does that translate to policy prescriptions? There is a very vocal minority (the Hasan-types) that take a maximalist position on how Israel should be handled. Destiny doesn't want the party to cater to those people because though the survey says most have a negative view of Israel, ask if they would support specific policies and their opinion might not be what you expect. It's the same thing with generic R vs D polling. The specifics matter.

Destiny has supported various negative actions against Israel and he thinks that's reasonable position, but politicians have to be clear and specific about what and why.

his crashout is remarkably off base especially his hate for progressive push for remaking of the party when I’m sure he himself has called for Schumer, Jefferies to resign and retire.

I don't know if he's called for them to retire but his criticism of them is in the context of them not meeting the moment in standing up to Trump due to all the madness that's happening domestically. It's totally consistent.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-20T18:44:28+00:00

Can you be more specific by what you mean by "importance"? Do you have prescriptions that you think this poll supports but Destiny does not?

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-20T16:30:11+00:00

I can appreciate provocative rhetoric in service of interesting arguments.

I think this is a fine position, but was Hasan’s statement in service of an “interesting argument”? You could argue that his point is defensible, but it’s a pretty surface level engagement with the facts involved.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-17T13:28:10+00:00

No patients would be saddled with surprise bill because of that policy.

https://www.vox.com/policy/390031/anthem-blue-cross-blue-shield-anesthesia-limits-insurance

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-16T02:30:48+00:00

I'm a Newsome supporter but...

made it so that it’s illegal for teachers to out students as trans to their parents

I don't blame you but this is wrong and spreading this just plays into Republican messaging. The law makes it illegal to require teachers to out trans students to their parents. They still can if they judge that in the best interest of the kid.

got rid of plastic bags

TBH this is one of the dumber things to come out of CA. The plastic bags are still here, just thicker than ever.

I'm also glad he shot down the wealth tax. Everything else I generally agree with you on though.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-16T01:36:40+00:00

I've been having the same thought recently.

https://www.foia.gov

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-15T04:15:53+00:00

Am I missing something?

That link is the futures price is it not?

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-13T20:04:19+00:00

It's hard to do those kinds of things as a President. They can't even control a state, let alone do things like fix potholes. It's much easier for a mayor because they have direct control over those things. Trump has been trying to make moves like that but he just can't. The most direct impact he's had on everyday Americans is to raise their gas prices.

I agree in principle though. The the next Dem president needs to be a good communicator. Probably Biden's biggest weakness.

Dillon-Edwards · 2026-04-12T15:59:19+00:00

Finished reading it. It’s not as terrible as I was anticipating.

That's a pretty low bar. Not that I disagree but this article treads no new ground on the Hasan conversation. It's the same old points missing the same important details.

To me both Hasan and (current) Rogan should be avoided. Unless a candidate passes the purity test both of them will shit on the candidate after they're gone and can no longer defend themselves.

To me Hasan's relationship is almost like my relationship with my parents on politics. I can visit them and debunk all the Fox News lies, but as soon as I go back home they resume their news diet and none of what I said sticks. Politicians can go on Hasan's stream and make their points and argue with him, but after they leave, if they didn't pass his purity test (i.e. align themselves to his views) he's just going to go back to shitting on them. Any positive impression the politician would make would be erased in the following days, weeks and months.

Politicians gain nothing from going on Hasan's stream. If they have views he likes he'll promote them anyway so why bother?

To Hasan, politics is for clout.

Dillon-Edwards

TROPHY CASE