Florida Man Blocked From Colorado Ballots

Also: some Christmas nontroversies.

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Sarah, Steve, and Jonah react to Trump being removed from Colorado ballots. Plus:
—The William Baude argument;
—The end of Nikki-mentum;
—Measuring the vibes on Biden’s youth support;
—Claudine Gay’s “duplicative language”;
—Steve’s tap dance rant; and
—Small interactions, large impact.

Show notes:
—Advisory Opinions on the Colorado Supreme Court decision
—Justin Amash’s tweet

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Comments (43)
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  1. PKirch

    On Christmas eve, I made my family (including 2 teens) listen together to the last 10 minutes of this pod. Thanks to Sarah, Steve and Jonah for an opportunity to get us talking about gratitude at this time of year.

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    George.Skinner

    I watched the video of the Nutcracker tap dance performance after hearing about it on this podcast. It’s great - I’ve always loved the Ellington interpretation of “The Nutcracker”, and the tap dancing is brilliant. Congratulations, you MAGA mooks - your tantrum about this has actually managed to lower my opinion of you further. I have never understood this populist assumption that you have to be lowbrow in all things to be authentic.

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      Stephanie

      There is a hip-hop Nutcracker that had been and probably still is on YouTube. It’s fabulous. My Dad (aged 98 at the time) turned me on to it.

      And we know the original ballet well. My dad and sisters and brothers have been to the NYC Ballet production in Lincoln Center many times.

      There is more than one but the NJPAC is the best:
      https://youtube.com/shorts/MJVsAyfHgxU?si=Pex-22a1YwplhH5t

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  3. Mkliegman

    Regarding Claudine Gay plagiarism: Even accepting a different standard at Harvard for students and faculty, Exhibit A is her PhD dissertation at Harvard. Apparently, this was given an extremely light review, which says a lot about the institution’s standards and actual objectives long before she became president of the university.

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  4. Tom Shull

    Please, Sarah, for the love of Blaise Pascal, stop talking about multiplying the three 51 percents in a three-part judicial test to get a low percentage for the ruling as a whole. These aren't probabilities being multiplied together as independent events. They are *amounts* of the evidence, like points you score (and lose) on a test. If you take three tests and get a 51 percent on each, your average score for the entirety of the three tests is ... 51 percent. You can compute that, if necessary, as (0.51 + 0.51 + 0.51)/3 = 1.53/3 = 0.51. Even if the tests are weighted differently, you'll get the same result. (You wouldn't if the three tests were weighted differently and the three percentages weren't all the same.)

    Consider this gut check. Imagine that on each of the three parts of the test, 75 percent of the evidence and argument weighed in your favor. This seems like a pretty strong case and a pretty strong ruling. But if we multiply 0.75 x 0.75 x 0.75, we'll find that the case is somehow only about 42 percent persuasive. You'd have to get safely over 79.37 percent in all three parts to have an overall ruling that was more than 50 percent persuasive. At 80 percent for all three, you'd be only 51.2 percent persuasive on the whole. Yet having 80 percent of the arguments and evidence in your favor on all three parts of a three-part test sounds good—at least to this non-lawyer.

    That said, I should concede that Advisory Opinions is my favorite podcast, and The Dispatch podcast is right up there with it. So if we do a two-part test on where you come out on this, you win.

    Safely.

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    Kevin M. James

    Just past the 30 minute point, Jonah observes, in relation to the Harvard controversy: "The point isn't necessarily the hypocrisy of changing the principles; the point is just basically seeing every set of arguments and rules as instruments to preserve their own power and status and authority."

    I've rarely seen a more concise statement of the core contention of critical theory.

    And so one could argue that such folks aren't really hypocrites, in that they've been telling us all along that this is simply how power works, that supposed rules and norms and principles have no inherent substance (much less moral force), but are just cover for the raw exertion of power...

    ...so when they get power themselves, how would one ever expect them to act otherwise?

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      Stephanie

      That statement could apply to so many groups, some of which Jonah Goldberg supports.

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  6. Smgordon67

    At the risk of ticking off my friends at the Dispatch, I feel compelled to push back on the "nontroversy" of The Dorrance Dance company. I certainly wouldn't discount Steve's review of the performance he attended, or other performances. But I do take issue with the casual brush-off of "they supported Ibrahm X Kendi and some anti-racism, and support LGBT stuff." Yes, all of that. And it seems to be at the core of the organization. Check it out for yourself. Everything from BLM to bail funds are listed as worthwhile places to support. It actually looks like a very activist social justice operation, with some dancing thrown in to support the cause judging from their website. https://www.dorrancedance.com/antiracism-donate

    I spend A LOT of time pushing back on the BS narrative created around a lot of this that has seeped into politics, from the national to municipal level. It has done significant harm and cost people their lives. It's poison. So yes, I do have a problem singing the praises of talented performers that openly advocate to support some of the most grotesque ideas in the public space.

    I know, I know, very unDispatchian of me. But I'm more than a little fired up about this stuff based on a local story we've stayed very close to, that is an outcropping of these pernicious policies. https://komonews.com/news/local/cordell-goosby-eina-kwon-bodycam-video-footage-seattle-belltown-neighborhood-murder-fatal-shooting-stoplight-king-county-behavioral-health-services-police-department-mental-health-resources-facility-community-assisted-response-engagement-4th-dow-criminal

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    Ben Connelly

    And the thing about pelvic floor and peeing when sneezing or laughing: add to that heavy explosive compound lifts, especially as performed in CrossFit.

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    Ben Connelly

    Merry Christmas to the three of you! And Happy Festivus!

    I’m grateful to the Dispatch. Jonah’s writing especially has impacted me tremendously over the years and this is my ideological home.

    Since Festivus is the time for the traditional airing of the grievances, my grievances are the following: Sarah hasn’t published a Sweep since July and Steve and Jonah don’t read the comments.

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  9. David Murphey

    Enjoyed the whole pod.
    To share in the last subject, there was a gentleman who, during my college years, was so encouraging to me, going out of his way on more than one occasion to support my work and encourage me as a human being .
    Many years later, I ran into him and was so disappointed that he did not remember me. Obviously, he had a greater impact on me than I did on him.
    But I still appreciate his positive influence. I really needed it at the time.
    Finally, I have to say that peeing thing was just weird. Just saying.

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  10. Acre00

    Steve, when it comes to Trump, you are more predictable than the sun rising in the east.

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