Rajan Narang

@rdnarang

Working for a just democracy. We’re mobilized, and now it's time for us to organize. Personal account: sometimes silly, sometimes serious

989 Folgt1.740 Follower4.291 Posts

Bluesky

alt

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir rdnarang.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· 22d

I love the Lakers front office so much. "We grifted our last trade so it's okay that we got grifted this time" is incredible spin. Downright Trumpian

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· 28d

I don't think that a Democrat will have to answer yes to this question in order to win the primary, but I do think word salad/a lack of clarity on major issues will hurt candidates

Gavin Newsom word salad when asked if he considers Israel an apartheid state

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· 29d

I don't think about Succession a ton anymore but I did enjoy imagining Kendall Roy's euphoria at being greenlighted in Montenegro

Paramount, for its part, has repeatedly emphasized the prospective deal's success with regulators around the world. Last week, the company said that the transaction had been approved by the relevant bodies in Brazil and Montenegro, as well as the regional competition authority representing 21 nations in Eastern and Southern Africa. The company also noted that it has already gotten various regulatory clearances in more than 20 other countries, among them Australia and Germany. The deal was also approved by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division in mid-June.

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· 29d

Lots of pearl-clutching in this piece about potentially low NYC turnout in the off-year for the redistricting initiative. If only there was a charismatic New York City Democrat with a proven ability to drive turnout even when he's not on the ballot....... www.politico.com/news/2026/07...

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jul 11

Great piece - this section on shared public digital infrastructure particularly resonated

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jul 11

Strongly agree with @crampell.bsky.social - Costco has the kind of corporate model for which progressives should be pushing

The real corporate hero we need, as I’ve said many times before, is Costco. The company has been unafraid to buck Trump (on both economic and culture-war issues). It also delivers low prices and pays its workers well. At one point Democrats recognized this, when former President Barack Obama cheered the warehouse club’s high pay and low employee turnover. These days Democrats are more likely to namecheck Costco as being among the “giant grocery stores and massive food conglomerates” responsible for high grocery prices and “ripping people off.” (When you’re blaming Costco for high prices, you’ve lost the plot.)

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jul 9

The reason there is "seamless coordination" between Republican Super PACs, the White House, and party committees, **which are forbidden by law from coordinating with each other,** is that Trump and the MAGA Supreme Court have gifted our elections to the billionaires www.notus.org/2026-electio...

Republicans involved in the effort emphasize how improved they think it is compared to what the party did in 2018, when tensions simmered between CLF and the NRCC and the party was still struggling to embrace Trump’s leadership. Now, they say, there’s no question who’s in charge, and there’s a seamless level of coordination and communication among all the committees, super PACs and the White House.

“We kind of compare notes on everything, making sure that we’re all seeing the world the same way. Which we do,” said Joe Pileggi, CLF’s political director. “There’s no fragmentation in our thinking.”

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jul 8

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 26

Sports gambling is generally a bad idea at scale, but if you're going to do it, this seems like the smart way (via @matt-levine.bsky.social)

Here’s an archived ESPN blog post about an unpublished paper by Mike Wohl:

Wohl found his advantage in betting the money lines for college football teams that were favored by 20-25 points. He wrote in his paper: “There were 376 games in the last six seasons (approximately 62 per season or approximately 4.5 per week) that had spreads of between 20.0 and 25.0. Of those 376 games, 94.95 percent of the favorites won the game outright. Investing equal amounts on all 376 contests produces six straight years of profitable returns with an average annual (non-compounded and non-annualized) return of 12.24 percent.”

That was in the early 2010s, and I have not examined the out-of-sample results, but it is plausible that money-line betting on 25-point favorites [1] in college football still offers bond-like returns. People want to buy lottery tickets (bet on underdogs), so they pay for them; you are selling them the lottery tickets and collecting a positive expected return. (Or: You are taking a lot of risk, by betting $100 to win like $5, and you are getting paid for that risk in the form of positive expected return.)

It goes without saying that this is not investing or gambling advice. But I wrote in March 2025 that “I kind of think we are about two years away from a sports gambling ETF.” There is a whole genre of ETFs that provide steady bond-like income by doing weird trades; we have discussed BOXX (selling option box spreads for income) and CAIE (selling autocallables, that is, crash insurance on the stock market, for income). “Selling longshot football bets for income,” sure, why not. If the Securities and Exchange Commission starts allowing prediction-market funds, there’s going to be an ETF that advertises steady 12% annual returns achieved with a diversified portfolio of college football bets.

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 25

Stamets stares in fully automated luxury gay space Communism

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 20

“We’ve had algae, yes. But what about second algae?”

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 19

who else up watching the Maine ranked choice vote tabulations

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 18

Catchy new chant from Australian soccer fans: "The Aussie boys are on a bender / Donald Trump is a sex offender" (via @therecount.com)

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 18

If you're the family's designated IT guy, even becoming the pope does not release you from the responsibility 😂😂😂😂 www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/john-im-th...

Lovera also told the Times about a recent phone call. John Prevost, the pope’s older brother, rang from Chicago with a computer problem — because Bob, as the family still calls him, has always been the one who fixes these things.

“John, I’m the pope,” Leo reminded him.

The reply came without a pause: “Oh, sorry pope. My computer is broken.”

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 18

Chakrabarti could single-handedly put, say, Randy Villegas in Congress. But instead he's going to put millions of dollars into an internecine San Francisco fight that will have no effect on the control of Congress and a pretty minimal one on the orientation of the caucus.

CA-11

Wealthy activist Saikat Chakrabarti, who finished a distant third in the primary for California’s open 11th District, has endorsed San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan in the general election and says he’ll fund a super PAC to support her campaign against state Sen. Scott Wiener.

Wiener won 41% of the vote in the top-two primary while Chan, who had the backing of retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi, took 30 and Chakrabarti 18. All are Democrats.

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 17

Greenwatergate is pretty meaningless but is also a real poignant symbol of regime ineptitude

@AaronBlake
I think I discovered the problem with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

"My company had nothing to do with water, only water proofing and water tightening," Eddie Wood, of Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the company that resurfaced the pool, told CNN. He added that he is proud of the part of the work his company did on the project.
Public records show that an Ohio company, Greenwater Services, was hired to install the filtration system. Its website boasts that the company provides
"the only water purification system in the world whose patented technology is backed by government and academic research" and that its "breakthrough solutions significantly reduce toxins, algae, microcystins, nitrates, and phosphates from contaminated water."
3:30 PM • Jun 16, 2026 • 32.1K Views

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 13

James Harden with yet another late turnover

Harden charged with unlawful carrying of weapon

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 12

All sorts of negative effects of failing to lock Republicans out of the top two in #CAGov. Sigh.

The stakes are bigger than Hilton.
Even if he won't win, he can mobilize voters to buoy candidates in state legislative and congressional races and for a voter ID measure that's set to be on the November ballot.
"He's got to work with the slate of candidates to turn people out to vote," said Mike Netter, a Hilton-endorsed state legislative candidate and former Newsom recall leader, "for these downstream races."

ONE VICTOR IN GOV'S RACE - There's an unexpected beneficiary of Hilton beating out Tom Steyer to secure a spot on the November ballot:
Paramount Skydance.
Here's the logic: Xavier Becerra, the top vote-getter in the primary, has not taken a strong position on the David Ellison-helmed company's prospective purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that has roiled the entertainment industry and drawn concerns about the possibility of mass layoffs.
But Steyer did.
The progressive Democrat routinely railed against the $111 billion deal, which he said in May would amount to
"a right-wing takeover of media," while also supporting California Attorney General Rob Bonta suing to block the transaction on antitrust grounds.
Bonta, whose office is probing the transaction, has said he sees "red flags" related to it

Steyer's presence in the general election likely would have forced Becerra, a former California attorney general, to wade into the issue more fully. To date, he has not come out against the merger - which would allow Paramount to combine its namesake streaming service with Warner Bros' HBO Max, making it a bigger competitor to the likes of Netflix
- though the Democrat said in May. that he would "certainly scrutinize any kind of a deal like that."
"The industry is going through a lot of change," Becerra said. "That doesn't mean that consolidation is necessarily good."
Hilton has also not been outspoken about the sale, which was approved by Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders in April and is slated to close by the third quarter, telling POLITICO at the time that he wasn't "focused" on it. "I don't have any sort of jurisdiction over it," the Republican former Fox News host

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 11

Andy Dwyer visits the doctor for the first time

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 10

@vanhaley_yt says friends w benefits implies the existence of friends w consequences

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 7

I love the Montana Plan (now in Hawaii too!) and/but the only way to ensure its survival is to expand the Court.

Moore believes that this Hawaiian law, and others like it in the works in other states, have a good chance of surviving at the Supreme Court. However, some critics disagree, saying this legal maneuver is likely to be struck down.

Brad Smith, the chairman and founder of the Institute for Free Speech, a nonprofit that advocates against limits on political speech, including political spending, called the move an “end run” around Citizens United.

“They’re gimmicks, and the Supreme Court is not usually impressed by gimmicks. If you want to do it, you probably have to change the makeup of the Supreme Court or be willing to pack the court and have the political muscle to do it,” Smith said.

heartbreaking: the worst person you know just made a great point

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 5

watching that watermelon get cut like

Screencap from the internet meme about all the shapes going in the square hole

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 4

Can't make a Tomelette at the Hilton

Zachary Donnini from VoteHub says Steyer is hitting his benchmarks to win for the first time and the finish will be close

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 3

Steph to seal it is *chef's kiss*

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· Jun 3

I am also relieved that Matt Mahan's campaign for governor is over

Matt Mahan concedes in speech to supporters: "While this campaign for governor ends tonight, which frankly I'm kind of happy about, our mission has only just begun."

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· May 26

Billionaire-bought politicians make promises and apologies to their sugar daddies out of the public eye. If Matt Mahan really apologized to Brin for going to No Kings, that’s disqualifying for any future run for office. www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

As poll after poll showed Mahan failing to break out of single digits and into the race's top tier, the money chase continued.
Mahan flew to make a personal appeal to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who has poured $66 million into a committee that is funding efforts to thwart a proposed wealth tax on California billionaires. Brin gave a second pro-Mahan super PAC $1 million and the maximum possible donation to his campaign. His conservative girlfriend asserted that Mahan apologized to Brin for attending a No Kings rally. A Mahan representative declined to comment on the allegation.
へ

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· May 25

Saw this analysis of Kamala Harris' potential strengths in a 2028 nomination contest, which led me to wonder how much Republican gerrymandering of the South will affect the delegate count there

Democratic nominating rules award more convention delegates to congressional districts that have been most loyal to the party in recent elections, a set headlined by majority-Black districts. If a candidate can consolidate support from the Black community, he or she can collect delegates by the bushel in cities and states with large Black populations.Memorably, it was South Carolina's majority-Black Democratic primary electorate that revived Biden's flagging 2020 campaign and forced several other top contenders to pull the plug on their own bids and consolidate behind him.
In addition to the big cities on her book tour, Harris has beaten a path through Southern states where the Black share of the overall population is high. Her stops have included Birmingham, Alabama; Durham and Greensboro, North Carolina; Jackson, Mississippi; Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee;
Savannah and Macon, Georgia; and Richmond, Virginia.

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· May 25

this would actually work incredibly well

Deedra Meero tells Syril Karn “not right now kitten, the walls are closing in on mommy”

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· May 25

if this happened (it won't), it might actually surpass tulipmania as the stupidest possible reason for hyperinflation

Elsewhere here’s a guy who used Claude to recover his Bitcoin wallet password that he lost 11 years ago while stoned. The circumstances here do not seem especially repeatable, but it would be funny if AI tools were massively inflationary because they recovered all the Bitcoin passwords lost a decade ago under the influence of marijuana. By some estimates that’s 20% of all Bitcoin.

Rajan Narang@rdnarang· May 22

I think @brianbeutler.bsky.social has come up with the cleanest set of heuristics that congressional Dems should use to judge each bill. As he points out, many of them keep failing to think through these tests.