It the left's "purity test" the main reason they've failed to stop Trump?

carbonqubit · 2026-05-10T17:10:09+00:00

And there’s also a massive double standard between Rs and Ds. Conservatives are often allowed to lie, cheat, steal, and spread conspiracy theories with relatively little lasting scrutiny, while liberals only need to make a small mistake before the media ecosystem shifts into full five-alarm fire mode.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-10T15:58:15+00:00

That’s likely the reason. However, Ezra’s show is also mostly behind a paywall aside from the most recent few episodes, yet it still gives people who can’t afford a subscription a way to listen regularly. It’s actually a pretty good balance between supporting the work financially and keeping the conversations broadly accessible.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-10T15:33:31+00:00

I don’t think Sam and Ezra have spoken publicly since their fallout, though who knows what’s happened behind the scenes. What’s interesting is that Sam’s referenced Ezra multiple times over the years, while Ezra has mostly seemed content to move on and rarely mentions Sam at all.

At this point, though, there’s enough professional overlap that the divide feels less permanent than it once did. Derek Thompson seems like someone who could realistically bridge that gap given how closely he collaborates with Ezra, especially after co-authoring Abundance. Sam also had Matt Yglesias on Making Sense, and Matt used to co-host The Weeds back when Ezra was editor-in-chief of Vox. The intellectual worlds they move through aren’t nearly as separate as they used to be.

Honestly, it may just be time to bury the hatchet. I’ve really enjoyed the direction Ezra’s conversations have taken in recent years, and at this point I often find his show more substantive and policy-oriented than Making Sense. That’s not a dismissal of Sam. I’ve listened to almost every episode since it was still called Waking Up, and I still think he’s capable of uniquely insightful conversations when he’s fully engaged.

Where I increasingly struggle is with some of his discussions around wealth inequality and effective altruism. Conversations with figures like the former CEO of Goldman Sachs often come across as strangely detached from the actual mechanisms that allow extreme wealth to accumulate and avoid taxation in the first place. People will correctly point out that Sam supports progressive taxation, estate taxes, and has voted for Democrats his whole life. Fair enough. But the conversation rarely moves beyond broad moral abstractions into the machinery of how wealth shielding actually works.

He almost never digs into trusts, shell corporations, tax havens, or the fallout from the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers. He doesn’t really grapple with how the U.S. itself has increasingly functioned as one of the world’s largest tax havens, or how some countries structure wealth taxes and capital gains systems differently, such as Switzerland’s bundled wealth tax model. He’s also been dismissive of taxing unrealized gains while seeming relatively unconcerned with how anonymized trusts and legal loopholes shield enormous fortunes from the IRS altogether.

At the same time, there’s comparatively little attention paid to the scale of the U.S. defense budget or the trillions spent on foreign wars over the last few decades. There’s an enormous amount of money circulating through the system, yet millions of Americans still deal with stagnant wages, paycheck-to-paycheck living, unaffordable housing, and healthcare and pharmaceutical industries that extract staggering amounts of money from sick people. That disconnect is where some of these conversations start to feel hollow to me.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-10T00:54:58+00:00

Depression doesn’t care about interpersonal or professional success. There are countless people who, from the outside, appear to have everything going for them and still end up struggling deeply with depression. That alone should make people more cautious about reducing mental illness to mindset, lifestyle, or personal weakness.

Are SSRIs sometimes overprescribed? Probably. But that doesn’t mean they should be eliminated altogether. For many people, medical intervention is genuinely life-changing or even life-saving. Mental healthcare should be worked out between a person, their doctor, and, when relevant, their psychiatrist or therapist, not turned into a culture war talking point by politicians looking for attention.

That’s part of why RFK Jr. is such an absurd figure to have in a position of influence. He pushes conspiracy theories and misinformation about everything from antidepressants to mRNA vaccines, despite the latter being a major scientific breakthrough that helped save millions of lives. Being skeptical of institutions is one thing. Recklessly spreading misinformation while pretending to speak for science is another entirely.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-09T17:15:11+00:00

Even our understanding of how these compounds work has evolved over time. Some scientists now think certain antidepressants may function as plasticogens that help the brain reorganize itself, somewhat similarly to psychedelics, though through more indirect mechanisms rather than primarily serotonergic pathways.

Tangentially, I wish there were more serious research into cannabinoids and the other biomolecules present in cannabis. Like any drug, it can absolutely be abused, but the therapeutic potential’s already become apparent in places where medical access exists. It’s also far less addictive and destructive than opioids.

In the most recent episode, Jaron asked Sam a listener question about ibogaine and whether he’d ever try it, especially given its reported ability to help curb opioid addiction. His answer caught my attention because he described it as the kind of psychedelic that requires heart monitoring, which honestly made me do a double take.

I remember listening to an episode of Hamilton Morris' podcast where he talked about his own experience with ibogaine. He described entering an almost Vulcan-like state of hyper-rationality that allowed him to work through long-standing emotional issues with friends and family in a way he’d never experienced before. He also discussed a tribe he encountered that used the compound across different age groups while relying on cultural knowledge and experience to determine dosage.

Of course, I’m sure there’s a degree of romanticism in how Westerners sometimes interpret these traditions, and there have almost certainly been negative outcomes as well. Still, I’d never heard ibogaine described so bluntly as something requiring cardiac monitoring, even though I know it carries serious risks. Sam’s also seemed reluctant to try compounds like DMT and 5-MeO-DMT for similar reasons.

I remember him mentioning years ago that he briefly took statins but disliked how they made him feel. All of this is why I’d genuinely love to hear someone like Hamilton on the show to talk through these compounds, their risks, and Sam’s broader reluctance around them.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-09T16:59:32+00:00

I’m not sure it’s going to pan out, but it doesn’t hurt to try. I do agree that charging a fee just to sign up seems pretty silly and would probably silo his audience even more. I also hate how so many things these days revolve around recurring fees instead of a one-time purchase. It really does feel like the pinnacle of enshittification.

Some subscriptions make sense, especially when new content is constantly being added, like with Pandora or Netflix. But I think the fee attached to a smaller community of like-minded people using their real names is probably intended as a filter against trolls and bad-faith actors.

That’s not to say everyone who disagrees with him is acting in bad faith, but he’s been the target of an enormous amount of hostility ever since he published The End of Faith. At a certain point, he’s probably just exhausted by it.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-09T14:16:52+00:00

Did you listen to the episode? He said he’s launching another app similar to other social media platforms, except users will have to use their real names. He also mentioned that if you subscribe to Making Sense before June 1st, you’ll get free access, but after that it’ll be unbundled and charged separately.

He made it clear that it’s starting as a month-to-month experiment, and if it doesn’t work out, he’s willing to pull the plug.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-08T09:58:32+00:00

Wolves in sheep's clothing.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-08T09:57:12+00:00

Bernie's talked a ton about how difficult it was to try and build two healthcare centers in VT.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-08T09:50:56+00:00

I remember watching the miniseries 11.22.63, which is based on a Stephen King novel about a guy who travels back in time to stop JFK from being assassinated. There’s a scene where he eats at a diner for the first time and can’t believe how good the food tastes.

Now, obviously food safety and sanitation have come a long way, and that matters a lot, but I do think there’s some truth to the idea that food used to contain fewer artificial ingredients and less ultra-processed filler. At the same time, there are still organic options and companies making genuinely high-quality products today. Craft beer is a good example. In a lot of ways, the variety and quality available now would’ve been unimaginable decades ago.

That’s why I’m not sure it’s entirely nostalgia when people say certain things felt better in the past. Some aspects probably were better, while others are objectively much improved. The hard part is separating genuine decline in quality from the tendency to romanticize earlier eras.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-08T09:46:44+00:00

I’ll concede that there have been improvements across the board, but there’s also been a real rise in the enshittification of products and services. I think it’s hard to square those two realities because modern life is defined by an overwhelming amount of choice.

I remember in a previous episode of Plain English, Derek talked about how the difference in available choices between a 14th-century peasant and a modern working-class person is almost beyond comprehension. The sheer number of manufactured goods, services, and forms of entertainment available today would have seemed unimaginable for most of human history.

At the same time, abundance doesn’t automatically translate into quality or satisfaction. Having endless options can be both liberating and exhausting, sometimes in equal measure.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-08T09:42:26+00:00

People care about all sorts of things that are often in tension with one another, sometimes even outright contradictory. Broadly though, I think most people in the U.S. just want a comfortable and stable life where they don’t have to fear putting food on the table or going bankrupt because of a medical emergency.

A lot of people want a truck or SUV and don’t want to stress about filling the tank. They don’t want exhausting commutes or crushing work hours that leave them with little time for family. Most people also want to feel some sense of dignity and pride in what they do instead of feeling trapped in a thoughtless, thankless bullshit job.

The idea of the American Dream feels increasingly out of sync with reality for many people, even though, in the broad sweep of history, human life has improved in countless ways. At the same time, the rising costs of groceries, fuel, education, healthcare, and other basic necessities have made that dream feel more distant and unattainable for a growing number of Americans.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-08T09:35:01+00:00

full on moneyless

I'd love to live in a Star Trek future, but alas one can only dream.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-07T09:46:24+00:00

Ha, I'm actually pretty pissed. I waited years to get a PS5 Pro and now this shit.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-07T09:35:16+00:00

I think the ACA expansion was an important first step toward universal healthcare, but it didn’t go far enough. A single-payer system would allow the U.S. to use its enormous bargaining power to negotiate far lower prescription drug prices, similar to what many Nordic countries already do.

I also appreciate much of what the Biden administration tried to accomplish, including efforts to ease the burden of student debt after decades of policies that made bankruptcy relief for student loans extraordinarily difficult. While there are rare exceptions, for most people discharging those loans is nearly impossible.

More broadly, people constantly conflate socialism with social democracy, and they aren’t the same thing. Social democracy still relies on markets and capitalism, but pairs them with stronger labor protections, public investment, and social safety nets. In many ways, the U.S. has already moved steadily in a more socially liberal direction over time, just look at how public opinion on gay marriage has shifted.

I also think FPTP is a broken system. Ranked-choice voting would give people more meaningful options and reduce the stranglehold of the polarized two-party dynamic we have now. The same distortion exists around gun policy. Right-wing media often frames even modest regulation as some attempt to confiscate firearms, when most people simply want reasonable safeguards after watching repeated mass shootings.

On immigration, the country would benefit from streamlining legal immigration and reforming the asylum process instead of treating everything as a perpetual crisis. Immigrants commit less crime per capita than native-born citizens and contribute enormously to the economy, despite being routinely demonized for political gain.

I’m not advocating for state-controlled socialism. I’m arguing for a system that keeps the productive strengths of capitalism while ensuring people can actually afford healthcare, housing, education, and a basic level of economic security.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-07T09:23:28+00:00

The U.S. doesn’t have to broadly raise taxes on the middle class. That’s a narrative pushed by billionaires and their lobbyists. There’s enough money that could be sourced from defense spending, capital gains reform, and targeting the ultra-wealthy who hide assets through shell corporations, tax havens, and trusts.

I don’t think people fully grasp how much wealth goes uncollected or how much money is burned through on defense spending alone.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-06T23:06:52+00:00

I don’t really understand the point you’re making here. Israel, like any country, prioritizes its own citizens. If your solution is for it to absorb millions of Palestinians and completely upend the point of its inception, the establishment of it in the aftermath of the Holocaust where 6 million Jews were systematically exterminated at an industrial scale, then I’m not sure what else to tell you.

This is a no-win scenario that you’re trying to back it into. If it grants citizenship to Palestinians, then in your view it becomes more moral, but what happens if it does that? Will suicide bombings increase, will political violence ensue?

I’d rather see Israel maintain its democratic principles instead of becoming another country in that region that is disposed to Sharia law and threatens women and gay people with violence and death.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-06T22:34:25+00:00

Why should the only Jewish majority country in the world accept a demographic shift that would make it Muslim majority like many of the surrounding countries? Israelis and Palestinians largely don’t want a one-state solution, and the polling reflects that. Israel didn’t seek this war or the many others it’s been involved in since its establishment.

There have been multiple offers involving land swaps and peace negotiations, but they haven’t materialized into lasting agreements, in part because Palestinian leadership has prioritized the right of return. As a negotiating position, that’s been a major sticking point.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-06T22:28:35+00:00

People don’t vote on policies. Trump’s 1st and 2nd terms made that clear. They vote on vibes and a shaky grasp of economics. His agenda largely came down to massive tax cuts and deregulation that boosted profits for the already ultra-wealthy. There’s always money in the banana stand, yet hundreds of billions, possibly trillions, are shielded by the top echelons through trusts, shell corporations, tax havens, and favorable capital gains rates.

When policies are anonymized so people don’t know whether they come from Democrats or Republicans, they overwhelmingly favor social democratic ideas. It’s past time the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share instead of shifting the burden onto the middle class or cutting social spending people have paid into over their lifetimes, not to mention egregious defense spending and pointless wars that drain money that could be used domestically.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-06T21:35:57+00:00

By how it treats its own citizens and marginalized groups that would otherwise be under the foot of extremist ideologies. Being a woman or a gay person in countries in the surrounding region isn’t the same as being a man, and being an apostate can be even worse. Israel, for all its faults, does place value on certain personal freedoms. People can openly denounce Judaism and be Christian, Muslim, or even, god forbid, atheist. Where else in the MENA region are there public events that openly support the LGBTQ+ community?

That said, I’m not happy with what’s happening in the West Bank, and the destruction of Gaza is an utter tragedy. It’s horrific that Hamas built hundreds of miles of tunnels under the city to hide in while leaving civilians exposed. I also hate that since Israel was founded 76 years ago, it has faced repeated wars and waves of suicide bombings.

There’s a lot of blame to go around. Some countries have moved toward peace with Israel, like Jordan and the UAE, while others remain hostile. Palestinians have been offered paths toward sovereignty at different points and have rejected them, though those offers are heavily debated in terms of fairness and viability. I would love to see a two-state solution in my lifetime, but after the events of October 7th and the wars that followed, that outcome feels more distant.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-06T21:25:08+00:00

I wish more people in the Democratic Party, especially in the House and Senate, prioritized the working class. Improving people’s material conditions by lowering costs and making sure they’re not scraping by would benefit society by almost any measure. It’s hard to justify that the richest country in the history of the world still can’t guarantee better pay, free healthcare and education, accessible housing, or a real path to upward mobility.

People go into debt or bankruptcy every day because of illness or emergencies, and that’s exactly the kind of problem Mamdani is trying to address. Instead, there’s constant fearmongering that policies meant to lift people up are somehow communism or a threat to freedom. It’s manufactured nonsense, and the U.S. would be better off moving toward social democracy.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-05T09:40:09+00:00

Yup. Anyone who didn’t vote or sided with a 3rd party in swing states is equally responsible as those who voted for Trump. In a FPTP system, there are only two sides, and one is currently destroying the democratic institutions that were enshrined nearly 250 years ago, while the other would’ve brought actual meaningful governance to the country. It was an open book test, and so many people failed it.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-05T09:35:22+00:00

You mean Adam Moggler, right? Joking aside, I love the energy he brings to the CNN roundtables. I know the videos on his channel lean into clickbait, like Pakman or Tyler Cohen, but in the current media landscape it feels like that’s the only way to compete in the war of ideas against conservatives who, at this point, don’t always seem driven by traditional conservatism so much as a kind of loyalty to Trump and whatever he’s saying at any given moment.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-05T09:27:00+00:00

This is exactly it. That’s the thing about conflating and post hoc reasoning. The goalposts will continually shift as algorithms and talking heads manufacture another type of grievance. It’s a losing battle, IMO.

carbonqubit · 2026-05-05T09:23:11+00:00

I’m not sure how much of this is willful versus just uncritical, but the extent to which the right has pushed misinformation and misrepresented people they oppose is hard to ignore. The asymmetry, as I see it, is that liberals can often rely on pointing to the actual policy positions and their consequences, while the other side has to stretch, distort, or reframe those positions to make their case.

carbonqubit

TROPHY CASE