The Bridge on the River Mandamus

David and Sarah discuss Joe Biden’s polling lead in six swing states, the latest development ...

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David and Sarah discuss Joe Biden’s polling lead in six swing states, the latest development in the Michael Flynn case, the Supreme Court ruling on asylum seekers, and free speech online.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Dina

    I have also published non-fiction, and it's far easier to write than fiction! I'm trying to write a novel, and it's hard. The reason you have to write so much bad fiction in order to write something worth publishing is that you have to master a host of skills. You have to learn how to craft a plot, weaving together two or more storylines (plot and subplots). You have to develop larger-than-life characters that walk off the page. You have to use dialogue to create conflict and advance the plot. You want to cultivate a distinctive storytelling voice that will captivate your readers. You have to avoid too many snowscape descriptions or you will bore your readers. And so on and so forth. I found Writing Fiction for Dummies by Peter Economy and Randall Ingermanson to be quite helpful.

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  2. Kevin Dolan

    I'm not an attorney, some say I could have been but I'm skeptical. First of all, my study habits would have had to...well, I would have had to have study habits. Even so, your podcast is turning me into a legal nerd. When you're expounding on some minutiae and you stop and say, "well, everyone just tuned out," I'm usually thinking, "wow, I thought that was pretty interesting".

    Anyway, congrats on the new baby, Sarah, babies are the best and keep up the great work both of you.

    Paid subscription was money well spent.

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    Rev Snow

    Leave to Twitter and Trump to reinvent the "Banned in Boston" promotion.

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  4. Parry Graham

    David,

    I am about the same age as you (just turned 50), have written a ton of non-fiction for K-12 education, and had convinced myself that I was incapable of writing fiction. Then, back in November, I was talking to my 11-year-old son about a book series he was reading, and I said "You know, I'll bet you and I could write a book like that." He said "Sure, why not?", and we started sketching out an idea. About 8 months later, we have a 350-page book that I don't think is half bad.

    What I found was that I needed someone else to help me think through the ideas and add a little creative sauce. I also found that my non-fiction background made me good at narrating the action that was happening, but I had to really work on trying to paint a picture for the reader. But after sketching out the basic premise of the book, I was able to imagine an initial scene, and just started writing. It wasn't super natural at first, but it became easier as we went (I would do all the writing, but my son and I developed the ideas together).

    So my advice is find a creative partner, sketch out the premise and the characters, and then start writing. It actually became something I looked forward to, and I think I derived more joy from writing that than from just about anything else I've written.

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  5. Michael Piracci

    Bluebook podcast; yes please!

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  6. Luke Thompson

    First, I think we're probably going to have a V-shaped recovery. This is based on nothing more than Paul Krugman saying we won't. With his track record, it's a pretty safe bet.

    On actual substance, I don't think there was an option other than mandamus to handle the Flynn case. The alternative would be allowing the Sullivan to make this even more of a circus. There's significant harm involved if they waited for appeal, as the majority laid out. Among other things, the executive's decision-making process when it comes to charging decisions is not subject to review or scrutiny and Sullivan doesn't have the authority to make it public, as he planned. Doing so, especially when it's transparently to score political points, is an irreparable harm.

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  7. Matthew

    I would love to hear recommendations from David (or anyone else) on the the best (smartest, most honest, most good-faith) lefties to follow on Twitter. I am trying to learn more from thinkers who disagree and my list is fairly small. The tenor of current politics kind of lets the worst voices rise to the top, and I'm immersed enough in the conservative intellectual environment that I can distinguish between the quality thinkers and grifters/bad actors, but having a hard time building a comprehensive list for the left. Jane Coaston, of course is near the top of the list. I'm also a fan of Elizabeth Breunig, even though I intensely disagree with nearly everything she writes.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Seth B

      A few more (to build on Jeff's recommendations): Sam Harris, Thomas Chatterton-Williams, Nicholas Christakis, Bari Weiss, Eric Weinstein, Steven Pinker. And - why not? - Andrew Yang.

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        Jeff Walden

        I could have mentioned Christakis, yeah -- he was a followup to the big ol' Yale dustup awhile back where it wasn't even *him* doing the "edgy" thing. Pinker was in my follows, but I realized I haven't really seen enough of his tweeting to definitely recommend him -- his more-optimistic takes on the state of the world and of progress are helpful, for sure.

        I've only recently stumbled across (or at least begun to recognize TCW. He looks like he could fit in a useful vein, definitely.

        Bari Weiss feels still in the "if I followed her it would be because she's one of those opposition voices at NYT" (even tho she isn't exactly oppositional, except in the within-NYT sense), which is not enough for me to want to spring just yet.

        I could probably stand to follow Eric Weinstein. I briefly met both of them once at an event in Palo Alto. Eric's takes are a little bit skew from left, but sometimes it's in ways that make me frown some -- I vaguely remember his takes on immigration are a little more technocratic "we should let good people in" than I would ideally prefer (tho I would let politics influence what I actually chose to advocate for as actual policy -- advocating for idealism in immigration is what got us Trump). That probably is why I don't actually follow him. Maybe, for the heterodoxy, that's exactly why I should.

        I've listened to a couple isolated Sam Harris podcasts. They seemed useful meaningful commentary, even in parts I disagreed with. Probably I haven't jumped on because I have an ingrained tendency to want to buck things that seem just "too popular", and he is. (Same reason I've never jumped on the Jordan Peterson fanclub, tho what appears to be in irrationally large backlash to him seems equally "too popular", just on the other side -- best sense I get is he says reasonable things that are perhaps close to as pablum as most motivational speaking is.)

        Andrew Yang is a big enough figure I could probably stand to follow him, yeah. But I can't actually remember ever seeing a tweet from him, which would be a factor in the decision. (I probably have seen a few retweets and merely forgotten.)

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        Angie

        I am not as familiar with most of those others...but Yang would be cool, he is an interesting guy

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    2. Avatar photo
      Jeff Walden

      Jesse Singal (I think he was mentioned on Ordered Liberty in the past). Katie Herzog too. Michael Wear. Bret Weinstein. Jonathan Haidt. John McWhorter.

      Those are just the ones I've stumbled into over time, at a skim of my follows. I am doubtless missing other picks that are not so far opposite me in every regard that I won't likely get anything from them and their comments.

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      1. Matthew

        I certainly appreciate those suggestions and I'm fans of all those people, as well as the people Seth mentioned (well, I have serious misgivings about Sam Harris). They're all well known for being dissenters from the left on culture war issues, so I didn't really think of them in that category because we're on the same page on the issues for which they're famous. I'm really looking for people with whom I can vehemently disagree and still learn from.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Angie

    That was fun, as always...funny thing, I suck at gardening too and hate it because I do probably I had to as a teenager and just hated the whole thing the snakes and spiders , the heat, the dirt...lol
    I also thought I was going to be a fiction writer, but, I have mostly only written poetry and short stories...and wouldn't even try to publish them...I have been told by people who have that my poetry if ( which tends to be like my hero ( at least the good stuff) Dr Suess...and I rhyme pretty automatically) I could find someone to draw for me ( which I also can't do, except abstractly)...I would probably be good at a children's series...and I also have dreamed of thought of great ideas...

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    Jeff Walden

    Anyone have a link to that Twitter study trying to judge an account's politics based on who it follows? If there's some public site you can just plug your username into to find this out, I'd love to know about it. (A large fraction of my follows are tech people who lean left, sometimes strongly so, so I'm guessing it would fail to predict me well -- but I can hardly know if I don't try it out. :-) )

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  10. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    Good podcast! I am waiting for September/November to start worrying about the election data. 5 months as you all say, is a long time.

    Also, tell us your trilogy idea more David. It has to be better than Aquaman.

    And Slug watching is a thing?!

    Kidding aside, thank you again for Sarah and David’s hard work, Dispatch!

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