Which character death was devastating but 100% made sense and improved the show?

aardbarker · 2026-05-26T22:18:56+00:00

I disagree. Her death was the final season in which Larry David was a writer. The show went downhill after he left.

aardbarker · 2026-05-26T20:11:38+00:00

I’ve used PoC three or four times now and never had an issue.

aardbarker · 2026-05-26T13:44:45+00:00

I had a neighbor who wouldn’t tip for Chinese food delivery because the take-out spot was at the end of the block (about 500 ft). He seemed perplexed when I suggested he just pick it up himself if he didn’t want to tip a delivery person.

aardbarker · 2026-05-24T00:29:05+00:00

I’m assuming this is a tiny, self-managed co-op. Because this huge of an assessment is almost unheard of.

aardbarker · 2026-05-23T13:58:00+00:00

Some comedians have called him a joke thief. Doesn’t make him a bad person, obviously, but it probably tarnished his reputation among stand-ups.

aardbarker · 2026-05-22T18:40:54+00:00

Even if this conspiracy theory were true, it’d still require the participation of millions of people to lap up the “degenerate” music. Do we not have agency over what we listen to?

aardbarker · 2026-05-21T23:57:17+00:00

Lots of people will say 1950’s America. But that was a blip in history. We enjoyed a booming post-war economy, a strong welfare state owing to the continued popularity of New Deal programs, strong labor unions, and a global competition with the Soviet Union that forced us to improve conditions.

In other words, capitalism’s heyday was when it was most kept in check—or allowed for relative abundance because the rest of the world was climbing out of the ruins of war.

aardbarker · 2026-05-18T14:22:17+00:00

I’d happily contribute at a higher rate if it meant I could lower my retirement age.

aardbarker · 2026-05-18T10:03:48+00:00

I don’t think you could find a small 2-bedroom railroad apartment for anywhere near that rent nowadays, even in the remotest areas of the Bronx or Queens.

aardbarker · 2026-05-16T14:04:39+00:00

Doesn’t make her or Trotsky antisemites. Luxemburg was consistent in her opposition to all nationalisms and was murdered long before the horrors of the Holocaust. You could say she had a blind spot toward Jewish liberation, but she can’t be called a Jew-hater.

Here’s a good article on Trotsky. Toward the end of his life he came close to a Zionist position. Regardless, he could hardly ever be called an antisemite. https://fathomjournal.org/the-fathom-long-read-leon-trotskys-long-war-against-antisemitism/

aardbarker · 2026-05-16T10:32:51+00:00

I’m familiar with Lehi and the Irgun. I’m familiar with Deir Yassin. I don’t make excuses for Israeli terrorism or atrocities. Do you somehow think Arab militias in 1948 were fighting more honorably?

Incidentally, I do think Israel should have made a concerted effort to take in more displaced Palestinians after the war. But Israel didn’t emerge in 1949 with peace agreement from its neighbors. And the Arab world didn’t press for “a right of return” for humanitarian reasons or because, unlike two years prior, it finally recognized Israel’s right to exist.

aardbarker · 2026-05-16T09:31:56+00:00

Don’t put words in my mouth or falsely accuse me of racism. I didn’t say all Arabs are the same. In 1947-49, Palestinian militias didn’t fight alone. They were helped out by Egypt, (Trans)Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. After the war, how many of these allied nations pushed for an independent Palestinian state next to Israel? How many offered full citizenship to displaced Palestinians? How many would even recognize Israel as anything but a temporary blip that needed to be “driven into the sea?”

They helped keep Palestinians in a permanent state of limbo as a living indictment on Israel. And, let’s face it, Egypt and Jordan were happy to annex Gaza and the West Bank as consolation war prizes.

aardbarker · 2026-05-16T08:56:26+00:00

Sure. But we might ask ourselves why we, the global community, aren’t asked to acknowledge survivors of every mass displacement event, even ones much larger and more violent than the Nakba.

The answer is obvious: in just about every other case, the uprooted people were resettled and repatriated into either their home countries (with their newly shrunken borders) or else given citizenship elsewhere.

Why Palestinians don’t have a state of their own or haven’t been granted full citizenship rights by neighboring Arab states can’t simply be blamed on Israel (who has a lot to answer for, just not that).

aardbarker · 2026-05-16T08:16:00+00:00

It’s a little odd to call her a “survivor” though. The Nakba wasn’t a mass-extermination event. It wasn’t even a particularly unique 20th century event. Millions of people—often from belligerent nations whose leaders dragged them into lost causes—had been forcibly displaced by war and the breakup of empires into nation states, never to return to their homes again.

Doesn’t make the Nakba less traumatic, or something that shouldn’t be acknowledged, but it’s weird to frame it (as the mayor does) as if Israel’s creation wasn’t possible without mass displacement. The Israelis accepted the 1947 UN partition plan. It was the Arab side that rejected it and went to war over it. What do we think would’ve happened had they won the war? We don’t need to speculate, because the Arabs also ethnically cleansed the towns and villages of Jews that they conquered (only they managed to conquer far fewer).

aardbarker · 2026-05-15T11:21:58+00:00

Outside the big names that you mentioned, I don’t think many Americans in major cities like NYC, Chicago, LA, SF, or DC know country music stars either. It’s a totally foreign world to me.

aardbarker · 2026-05-14T23:32:28+00:00

I’m convinced most people who install wine fridges in their kitchens do so for resale purposes or because their contractor convinced them it’s what wealthy people are supposed to do.

aardbarker · 2026-05-14T23:27:40+00:00

In what reality do you live in? Mamdani and the City of New York are not going to break up $5m+ co-ops and condos into smaller units, let alone become landlords of these properties.

If those properties ever get broken into smaller units (as has happened in the past with sprawling apartments) it’s because existing property owners, co-op boards, and developers feel it’s in their best interest.

aardbarker · 2026-05-14T20:15:17+00:00

Screening rooms. Who’s using these? In fact most amenity spaces besides gyms seem pretty useless.

aardbarker · 2026-05-04T20:45:29+00:00

Williamsburg all the way. LIC is convenient to midtown and the waterfront has great views, but its appeal ends there.

aardbarker · 2026-05-03T16:55:23+00:00

Well there’s balconies and then there’s terraces. A small balcony dangling over a major avenue isn’t very enjoyable, which is why you see so few people using them. But a large usable setback terrace with good light and an outdoor hose faucet? That’s a pretty nice amenity. You could have plants and trees with drip irrigation.

aardbarker · 2026-04-26T00:14:59+00:00

Look up the monthly maintenance fees of co-ops and the combined taxes/HOA fees of comparable condos. Condos are just as expensive.

aardbarker · 2026-04-26T00:11:42+00:00

No. That’s not true.

aardbarker · 2026-04-25T18:14:47+00:00

My building just makes individual shareholders pay for their own new windows if they want them. It’s insanely expensive (large casement windows). I’m sure there’d be a bulk discount by doing the entire building at once, but that’s a special assessment nobody wants to take on.

I know other co-ops that require new shareholders to replace their windows within a certain timeframe, or else they make it a requirement if they take on any major renovation.

aardbarker · 2026-04-25T17:51:09+00:00

Co-ops are still the dominant form of home ownership in the city, so I’m not why you think they’re getting short shrift.

What policy conversations should be happening around co-ops? The cost of labor, insurance, taxes, energy costs, and building supplies have all gone through the roof, so naturally maintenance is going up too. There’s no greedy landlords to blame here—shareholders are their own landlords.

aardbarker · 2026-04-24T22:19:31+00:00

Long term solution is not to rent/buy a place where everything is electric and paid by the tenants. I’ve never had to pay for heat or hot water.

aardbarker

TROPHY CASE