Jun 21, 2021

I don’t follow a lot of Joe Rogan’s stuff but from what I’ve seen/read/heard, I genuinely don’t believe he has very many concrete political opinions. A lot of the things he says I feel like are subject to change. Meaning he’s most definitely not an ideologue (which a vast majority of the country aren’t so not too surprising) but he’s also not partisan. People tend to view that as a “good” thing because he “sees both sides” & appears “fair.” In reality, it probably means 1) he doesn’t care about a lot of the things he talks about & 2) he doesn’t know what he’s talking about a lot of the time. If Donald Trump were a podcaster, him & Rogan would probably be very similar.

As for the left eating themselves/maintaining these purity tests; I do think that’s stupid. I’ve been vocal about that for a long time now but it’s nothing new. They get so tied up in their own morality & ethics that they don’t leave any room for politics. They refuse to recognize that in a multicultural democracy, you’re sometimes going to have to play ball with people that don’t 100% agree with you on everything.

 

May 24, 2021

Idk! If I had to guess, a variety of factors: cost of living in Texas I would imagine is still cheaper on average. Also, Texas has some booming local economies that are really beginning to expand so that comes with increased job opportunities. Housing market too. I would also note, Texas has a reputation of being “cheaper” than the costal states & while we’re seeing research that may not be entirely true, it doesn’t make the perception go away! People still believe that it’s cheaper!

 

Jun 17, 2021

It really emphasizes the need for more affordable housing in the U.S. Especially where I live here in California. The issue seems to be in CA/Bay Area at least is that people agree with the idea that affordable housing should be built but don’t want it built in their communities because of stereotypes associated with people who live in affordable housing. Or they don’t want their property value to go down because public housing is down the street from where they live.

 

May 26, 2021

Zoom classes resulted in lower grades for students but the effect was small



great piece on racial politics in the U.S. This passage in particular stood out to me:

farming subsidies granted due to Trump’s trade war increased Republican vote shares but not enough in swing states to win elections.

 

May 24, 2021

good to know my instincts were once again correct ty @Enigma!!

if u come across any good ones on energy (carbon capture, wasterwater, oil & gas, etc) lmk!!

 

May 24, 2021

So being a grad student, I read & come across some really cool research in this field that I think would be really cool to share!



The tax burden on the middle class is bigger in Texas than California! Shout out @Sign Language (I believe you live in Texas right? Lol).



I know @Captain Awesome AKA Papa will take his rounds with this one lol: some data showing that violent protests in 2020 led to increased vote shares for Donald Trump. This is also consistent with a paper published by political scientist Omar Wasow last year that showed violent protests after MLK’s murder in 1968 contributed to Democrats losing the presidential election that year: