notes

misc. reading … The researchers set out to better understand recent studies showing that self-described liberals are likelier than people who call themselves conservative to shield themselves from contact with their ideological out-group, including by blocking them on social media and cutting out would-be friends because of their views. … For example, data from the 2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study corroborated the asymmetry between the groups, showing that liberals are more likely than conservatives to report both blocking and being blocked over political differences....

largely apropos of nothing given the state of things these days. the article is primarily interesting to me given the author author and the candor. Having been cosseted by self-validating coverage for so long, many Americans now consider any news that might suggest that they are in error or that their side has been defeated as an attack on them personally. The lie that Trump won the 2020 election wasn’t nearly as much aimed at the opposing party as it was at the news outlets that stated the obvious, incontrovertible fact....

so many gems in this piece. And make no mistake, I hate war. Sure, all the people responsible for the millions of deaths get tormented with Ben Shapiro’s audiobook version of Lolita on full volume for all of time. But you know what happens to the millions of innocent people? They go UP, not DOWN. … Donald Trump is refusing to pay Rudy Giuliani’s legal fees? I mean, I’m not surprised....

“A U.S. Department of Justice lawyer argued Monday that the United States can kill its own citizens without judicial review when litigation would reveal state secrets. … The argument drew alarm among judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Courthouse News Service reports. … US can kill its own citizens without review when state secrets are involved, DOJ lawyer argues … – https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/doj-lawyer-argues-us-can-kill-its-own-citizens-without-review-when-state-secrets-are-involved...

a coworker described liu’s work as having a very small view of humans. my initial interpretation of his remarks were that liu held a dim/negative view of humans and humanity. this was largely informed based on my (incomplete) reading of the dark forest trilogy. human’s don’t behave well and are driven by base desires. i was wrong.b this collection of shorts corrects my understanding of things. liu really gets the smallness of humanity in the universe overall....