Kts

#cpg #sports #cynicism

[The Mind Scourge @TheMindScourge]

Great thread, I’ll add some thoughts:

1. Pricing in the US is completely absurd. The link between pricing and value is entirely broken. Extremely mid hotels are hundreds of dollars a night; the average price for a new car is $50,000; really nothing feels like a deal. When you go out to eat, just assume you’ll spend $100 minimum. One of my personal benchmarks, Fage 5% Greek yogurt used to be $4.50 per tub back in 2019. Now I spend $7.80

2. Major cities are worse than they were a decade ago. Things have improved relatively since the nadir, but only relatively. There is still real, noticeable, quality of life decline in most urban downtowns.

3. Ubiquitous pot. You smell it everywhere now. 20 years ago, you’d usually encounter somebody smoking. Today, the cigarettes are largely gone, replaced by marijuana. This is not an improvement

4. Asian culture is much more prominent, from music to cinema and television, books, food, and the list goes on.

5. Airports have generally improved. This might not be saying much, but it’s true, with certain exceptions

6. Politics is much, much, worse.

7. Food is much better. The millennial food revolution is taken for granted, but I grew up before it in the 1990s and I remember the old world. Eating isn’t everything but the embarrassment of riches we now have is still underrated. You can get high quality food and drink almost anywhere now. That’s a major quality of life enhancement, even considering the prices.

8. There’s a broadly shared sense that America’s best days are behind it. A sort of background pessimism - on both the left and right - that shapes everything. Even in the optimistic corners of our society - Silicon Valley, say - the ambition primarily appears to be to escape the US - and the nation state itself, and even humanity - rather than to improve the country itself. Political ambitions are backward rather than forward looking.

9. Suburban amenities are significantly improved. If America’s major cities have mostly changed for the worse, America’s suburbs have changed for the better. Essentially all suburbs now have these “mixed development” zones where if you blur your eyes slightly you can (sort of) imagine you’re living out a fantasy of life in Greenwich Village or Manhattan. They’re walkable (though you have to drive to get to them), there’s clean play areas and green space for kids, a good variety of shops and breweries and beyond third wave coffee places and the like, and - because these are invariably private and because they aren’t connected by public buses - there aren’t any of the urban quality of life issues to deal with. The public has clearly woken up to this; all these places are absolutely heaving with people, even during the week.

10. The proliferation of conspiracies and apocalyptic thinking

11. The normalization of scams and “get yours by any means necessary so you can escape the permanent underclass” type thinking.

12. A much degraded intellectual environment. Politics is one facet of it, but there are many others. For example, the recent Nolan interview in China that’s gone viral on here this week. Odyssey discourse has been heavy for over a year in the US, but the relative quality of this interview is so much higher than anything we’ve seen so far. As a comparison, think about that execrable Wilson piece in the London Review of Books - ostensibly a highbrow prestige publication. The difference is honestly embarrassing, and synecdoche of what I see generally: for example, in academia.

[Kts @KyleTanner96]

@thebeltwayagent @conorsen I live in a community that is <50% college-educated, but has average home prices upward of 2 mil. I just don't see how the math works long term when the housing prices are so unmoored from the underlying income fundamentals (average household income is like $120k).

[SMB Attorney @SMB_Attorney]

I’m done with airport lounges.

Stories of a couple at the Chase Sapphire at JFK who ordered six burgers, stuffed them in duffel bags with a mountain of desserts, then hide the greasy plates behind a plant.

Someone saw a guy at a Delta Sky Club packing ribs, chicken, and cookies into shopping bags like it was Costco.

Families at United’s grab-and-go in Denver scanning one pass over and over so the whole crew can raid the free food and then throw half of it in the trash.

Kids’ clothes and sneakers dumped all over the seats, 45-minute waits just to get in, buffets cleaned out by 9 a.m., people lined up testing six different cards for free entry.

These places used to be a quiet escape. Now they’re just free grocery stores with bad lighting and zero manners.

Not worth it anymore. I’ll take a $15 beer at a bar instead.

[Sean T at RCP @SeanTrende]

Every US President’s life overlapped with that of Herbert Hoover or John Tyler.

[Aston Villa @AVFCOfficial]

ASTON VILLA HAVE WON THE EUROPA LEAGUE!!!!! 🏆

[Aston Villa @AVFCOfficial]

Aston Villa is delighted to announce that the club will be competing in the UEFA Champions League for the 2026/27 season.

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

🚨 Aston Villa eliminate Nottingham Forest and qualify for the Europa League final! 🏆✨

[Josh Billinson @jbillinson]

is there like a competition in congress right now to see who can propose the most narrow tax credit

[Charlie Bilello @charliebilello]

A 25-year old married couple earning $150k will pay over $3k more in federal income tax for 2025 than a 65-year old married couple with the same income (note: assumes no social security - 65-year old couple is waiting to age 70 to get max benefit).

This is a fair tax policy?

[Kts @KyleTanner96]

@WadeTownsendMan Need to win ECU series to have shot at at-large bid (and all the others ones too-just calling out ECU as we lack high-end wins).

[11Point7 College Baseball @11point7]

Rice takes a massive game 1 on the road at South Florida 🔥🔥

Owls are now 14-9. David Pierce has this thing turned around quick.

[Timothy Sandefur @TimothySandefur]

The significance of this exchange cannot be exaggerated. This is 1 of the most dangerous lines this admin’s crossed

It’s already taxed w/out legal authority (the tariffs). Now it’s spending w/out authority—You put those 2 things together & you have despotism, not a free country.

[Igor Bobic @igorbobic]

Incredible: President Trump ended yet another war, between the U.S. and NATO

cc Nobel committee

[B/R Football @brfootball]

59'—Subs on
63'—Scores

Ollie Watkins instant impact 👊

[Kts @KyleTanner96]

@AtTheRoost A good (serious) question for Connors tonight postgame: “What are three things Scott Abell could have done differently to prevent you from transferring?”

[Paul Finebaum @finebaum]

855-242-7285... just in case you need the number for Monday.

[Kts @KyleTanner96]

@grok And Steve scalise

[Kts @KyleTanner96]

@grok who is the most famous person to visit my twitter

[Kts @KyleTanner96]

@grok Rick Crawford from Arkansas

[Kts @KyleTanner96]

@grok When did certain politicians stop following me on twitter

[Kts @KyleTanner96]

@grok Who are some other famous followers and/or people I’ve interacted with