The wife of the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, attended two meetings with foreign defense officials during which sensitive information was discussed, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Sure Why Not
Every macho guy needs a babysitter.
Concerning
For no particular reason, I've been reading people on reddit describe their experiences with long term ketamine use 😂.
Masterful Gambit, Sir
Pretend one company you mostly own is worth a gazillion dollars and have it buy the company that might personally bankrupt you.
Elon Musk on Friday evening announced he has sold his social media company, X, to xAI, his artificial intelligence company. xAI will pay $45 billion for X, slightly more than Musk paid for it in 2022, but the new deal includes $12 billion of debt.Keep the scheme going a bit longer! Hope none of the xAI investors are annoyed!
Friday, March 28, 2025
Seems Bad
I suppose the main question is whether this just a smokescreen for destroying the whole thing or if they are this stupid.
Boss Baby
Conor has been full time on the "college students are taking away our freeze peach" beat for years.
How Do Things Work
This wasn't especially important, relatively speaking, but it was an example of how the people running things do not have any idea how things work.
Feb 14 (Reuters) - Days after U.S. President Donald Trump ended duty-free entry for cheap Chinese goods entering the U.S., his administration put the order on hold after more than a million packages piled up at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.As the article says, 1.4 billion packages come in through the "de minimis" rule which negates tariffs for small value packages. Maybe there is a way to stop that from being exploited by large sellers, but you can't suddenly get rid of it and expect the system to handle it. This is something that you shouldn't have to explain. Also it is what Elon Musk is doing to everything.
It was the result of a rushed, confusing policy change that proved unworkable on short notice. Government officials are now scrambling to implement the order in a way that won't cripple America's hyper-efficient import system.
Framing
I've said this in various ways, but until journalists start making it clear that the FBI and DOJ will never go after someone unless Trump wants them to, most people in this country will have no idea what is going on.
If the crime authorities don't get involved, there's no crime, right, that's how it works?
If the crime authorities don't get involved, there's no crime, right, that's how it works?
That's A Twist
Normal brain: customers pay the tariff costs, passed on by importers
old Trump brain: foreign countries pay the tariffs
new Trump brain: importers pay the tariff costs, sell at losses:
behind paywall, everything is these days.
They probably will "comply" by not changing the MSRP, but that doesn't constrain dealers.
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Every Week
Trump says tariffs are coming, Ford implies he's going to cut off the power, Lutnick steps in to try to prevent it.
Main Character Syndrome
There's the obvious point that people are not likely to be thrilled to meet the bullies who are threatening them with invasion, but even aside from that, why would anyone in Greenland be interested in meeting the wife of the Vice President of the United States? (translated by google):
Over the past week, deployed Americans have been present in Nuuk, knocking on doors and ringing doorbells.Like if someone knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted to sit down for a chat with Bo Tengberg, the husband of Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, I'm not sure I'd be interested! I'd wonder why they thought I would be!
- They've gotten no, no, no, no, no, every single time they (the Americans, ed.) have asked if they wouldn't mind having the vice president's wife visit.
Circling Back To This
How are we doing here?
“I think it’s important for people to understand the context, that we’re coming out of four years of Biden and things haven’t been great,” one White House print reporter told CJR. “There’ve been fewer eyeballs on the press briefings and less attention than under Trump, so people just don’t understand some of the very frustrating things that we’ve dealt with and that we hope are going to be rolled back.”Among those frustrations: the Biden press office largely kept reporters at a remove from the president, who—as Cameron Joseph noted here last year—had agreed to far fewer formal interviews than any president before him. Instead, White House reporters say, the Biden team preferred to offer background quotes from in-house experts whose job it was to speak to the press; when the president did meet with a large number of outlets, like during his pre-election rounds of interviews on Black radio stations, it was through highly orchestrated conversations, sometimes including preapproved lists of questions. Inside the briefing room, reporters who didn’t hold coveted front-row seats felt they got much less opportunity to ask questions.“For a lot of people, what was the point in even going?” said a veteran White House reporter.Trump, on the other hand, adores the attention of the media, even as he frequently maligns the reporters themselves. During his first term, he regularly chatted with White House reporters during strolls to Marine One, and held a number of high-profile, if occasionally ill-conceived, televised sit-downs, with everyone from Axios’s Jonathan Swan to Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy. (On his first night back, Trump spent forty-five minutes casually answering media questions in the Oval Office, while he signed executive orders.)“Despite his sometimes strident and sometimes even violent rhetoric about the press, he loves talking to us,” the print reporter said. “And his team—they like talking to us, and they know that they’re going to have a huge audience.”
I WILL NEVER STOP FIGHTING FOR YOUUUUUUUUU
There is no one model of the true "swing/irregular" voter, but my firm belief is that they are, generally, absolutely nothing like "Joe and Eileen Bailey," the fictional Long Island residents who Chuck Schumer devotes his life to trying to please yet always fails to.
Joe and Eileen Bailey are the people [some] Democrats think will be charmed by Liz Cheney, but won't be. They voted for a Democrat for president precisely once - Obama 2008 - and never will again.
If you have to pick between someone who fits the mold of "NPR centrism" and someone who is more likely to elicit a response of "I don't always agree with him/her, but I like that s/he has principles, knows where s/he stands, and that s/he's on the side of people like me," I am sure it is mostly the latter.
As James Carville argued, when he was pushing Clinton against Obama, "[Hillary is] the candidate you want on your side in a knife fight."
Joe and Eileen Bailey are the people [some] Democrats think will be charmed by Liz Cheney, but won't be. They voted for a Democrat for president precisely once - Obama 2008 - and never will again.
If you have to pick between someone who fits the mold of "NPR centrism" and someone who is more likely to elicit a response of "I don't always agree with him/her, but I like that s/he has principles, knows where s/he stands, and that s/he's on the side of people like me," I am sure it is mostly the latter.
As James Carville argued, when he was pushing Clinton against Obama, "[Hillary is] the candidate you want on your side in a knife fight."
You can argue this is tone and style more than substance, that voters really do love moderate policies, and that your "knife fighter" shouldn't be promising full communism. Fine. Now is the perfect opportunity for those centrist ass kickers! Come on out! There has never been a more perfect time for a full-throated defense of the status quo!
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Also, Too
Only the best people.
Private contact details of the most important security advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump can be found on the internet. DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials.Above my pay grade, but I am guessing this was all made possible by the dismantling of normal background checks, on-boarding, and training of high level people.
Public Venmo
I have no idea why that is a thing and certainly not why so many public figure leave it on.
A Venmo account under the name “Michael Waltz,” carrying a profile photo of the national security adviser and connected to accounts bearing the names of people closely associated with him, was left open to the public until Wednesday afternoon. A WIRED analysis shows that the account revealed the names of hundreds of Waltz’s personal and professional associates, including journalists, military officers, lobbyists, and others—information a foreign intelligence service or other actors could exploit for any number of ends, experts say....TAP printed the full list.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Me:
One issue with supplements is people tend to think that if one is good, then two might be better, and Vitamin A is actually a bit dangerous, especially if you started hyperdosing kids.Now:
One of those supplements is cod liver oil containing vitamin A, which Mr. Kennedy has promoted as a near miraculous cure for measles. Physicians at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, say they’ve now treated a handful of unvaccinated children who were given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage.
Some of them had received unsafe doses of cod liver oil and other vitamin A supplements for several weeks in an attempt to prevent a measles infection, said Dr. Summer Davies, who cares for acutely ill children at the hospital.
“I had a patient that was only sick a couple of days, four or five days, but had been taking it for like three weeks,” Dr. Davies said.
Concerning
I missed the moment when China became the Big Bad, but whatever one thinks about that issue we should be consistent with this stuff!
One part of the Tesla - not SpaceX - story is that China offered him a lifeboat when he needed it and it isn't clear what the price of that was!
Elon Musk’s aerospace giant SpaceX allows investors from China to buy stakes in the company as long as the funds are routed through the Cayman Islands or other offshore secrecy hubs, according to previously unreported court records.And whatever one thinks about China or defense contractors, that their financing and activities get a bit of scrutiny probably isn't too controversial!
One part of the Tesla - not SpaceX - story is that China offered him a lifeboat when he needed it and it isn't clear what the price of that was!
Why They Shouldn't Have Listened To Carville For Their Own Sakes
(Though as I've said, Carville was just selling the plan they'd already decided on).
If the supposed leaders weren't going to lead, other people were. They might be disgusting lefty legislators or it might be nasty protesters or someone else. That was obvious. If the "moderates" want to lead, they can they can lead!
"Trump is bad, we should stop him" was the easiest position to take and they fucked up!
If the supposed leaders weren't going to lead, other people were. They might be disgusting lefty legislators or it might be nasty protesters or someone else. That was obvious. If the "moderates" want to lead, they can they can lead!
But it is worrying some moderate Democrats who fear Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez could tug the party to the left at a time when it is rudderless and turn off swing voters in the process.The best metric in American politics: contributions to the Third Way.
Matt Bennett, a vice president at the center-left group Third Way, said he is glad that the rallies are “giving people an outlet for that anger” against Trump. But he argued that “crowd size is the worst metric in American politics” and “it is important that they not repeat the mistakes that the far left has made that helped get us into this mess in the first place.”
"Trump is bad, we should stop him" was the easiest position to take and they fucked up!
Better
I know the way Democrats tend to think is that if they call for someone to resign/be fired, and the person doesn't, then the failure makes them look bad for reasons that can't be explained.
Obviously he should resign (fired, whatever) - he's shit and dangerous even by the current standards - but calling for him to resign isn't just about winning that battle. It's about showing you believe what you're saying - not just that it's "concerning" in the Susan Collins sense - and it's about keeping the story alive.
Normal people mostly don't hear about anything that's a one day story. If you don't give journalists something new every day they'll lose interest, in part because there are lots of things going on!
No one thinks Trump gives a shit what Jeffries thinks, but reporters need a hook!
Obviously he should resign (fired, whatever) - he's shit and dangerous even by the current standards - but calling for him to resign isn't just about winning that battle. It's about showing you believe what you're saying - not just that it's "concerning" in the Susan Collins sense - and it's about keeping the story alive.
Normal people mostly don't hear about anything that's a one day story. If you don't give journalists something new every day they'll lose interest, in part because there are lots of things going on!
No one thinks Trump gives a shit what Jeffries thinks, but reporters need a hook!
Something
Calling Independents and Democrats! In two days, we get to show Elon Musk and Josh Parsons that billionaires can’t control Lancaster! Special election happens March 25! https://t.co/bwMd22ljNV
— Mayor James Andrew Malone (@MaloneForSenate) March 23, 2025
In a stunning outcome, Democrat James Andrew Malone defeated Republican Josh Parsons to win the 36th Senatorial District seat in Harrisburg.
President Donald Trump rolled to a +15 victory in the district back in November, but northern Lancaster County voters made a statement heard ’round the Keystone State on Tuesday.
The guy ran as anti-Musk, not anti-Trump, showing that is a way to reach Trumpers (no that shouldn't make sense, but...).
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Are We There Yet, James
Carville a month ago:
Carville's similar NYT piece gave himself a massive out:
I don't know how they expect people to find out what is happening unless they tell them loudly and repeatedly.
James, himself, realized that he has no idea how people get their information! FUCKING ASK PEOPLE WHO DO and they will tell that unless you make noisy news, and repeat it, no one will hear about it, and mainstream news sources are deferential to 1) power 2) Republicans.
"I believe that this administration, in less than 30 days is in the midst of a massive collapse, in particularly a collapse in public opinion," Carville said.Trump's not popular, but he isn't unpopular either. The debt limit and reconciliation haven't happened, but Republicans seem to love the "We can just zero out spending we don't like" plan so I supect they will!
Carville pointed to the drop in approval ratings Trump has seen in the four weeks since he returned to office.
"This is the lowest approval, not even close, that any president has ever had at a comparable time," he said. "That's a provable fact."
Carville said he does not believe Republicans will be able to lift the debt limit or pass a reconciliation package, and that GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson will be forced to reach across the aisle for help from Democrats. "That is going to be the equivalent of stacking arms. It's over," he said.
Carville's similar NYT piece gave himself a massive out:
At this rate, the Trump honeymoon will be over, best case, by Memorial Day but more likely in the next 30 days30 days, 90ish days, whatever. What Carville was selling was the leadership (both of them!)-going-on-book-tours plan of doing nothing and letting America react all by itself with no prompting from Dem politicians.
I don't know how they expect people to find out what is happening unless they tell them loudly and repeatedly.
James, himself, realized that he has no idea how people get their information! FUCKING ASK PEOPLE WHO DO and they will tell that unless you make noisy news, and repeat it, no one will hear about it, and mainstream news sources are deferential to 1) power 2) Republicans.
(reader t reminded me)
Sounds Bad
They're trying to break it, but I'n entirely sure what their plan is for when it is broken.
The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts because the servers were overloaded. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones at the front desk as receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. But the agency no longer has a system to monitor customers’ experience with these services, because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk.
And the phones keep ringing. And ringing.
Rules Are For Soyboys
I suspect most of this Spy vs. Spy stuff is between pointless and destructive, but we do generally take it seriously!
Those Excuses
Will include things like this, but that fucking paper is what it is.
You can't spend billions on campaign ads and also take the position that the people should figure things out all by themselves the rest of the time.
Also, other outlets are taking it more seriously. You can come up with your own reasons for why the NYT is like this.
One Day Stories
We're about to get a good illustration of how Republicans keep BENGHAZI rolling for YEARS and Democrats just... can't.
There's the "national security" angle and also a good opportunity to explain that the DOJ and FBI won't investigate Republican crimes anymore.
I know all the excuses but they don't even try.
There's the "national security" angle and also a good opportunity to explain that the DOJ and FBI won't investigate Republican crimes anymore.
I know all the excuses but they don't even try.
Happy to be wrong!
Monday, March 24, 2025
Sure Why Not
Firing and arrests in any other administration...
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
By Jeffrey Goldberg
We Don't Really Need You Anymore
I don't think people understand that, whatever people think of the US generally, it just isn't the Main Character nearly as much as it used to be. It just isn't as important.
A belligerent US still has a lot of levers to pull, but maybe China doesn't really need to sell us their shit
Walmart thought it could use its immense power as America’s biggest retailer to make Chinese suppliers eat the cost of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. But Walmart got a response it’s not accustomed to hearing: No.
Some Good News
I admit I've never quite understood the quest to get rid of Sullivan, though I guess "beware of the consequences" doesn't really apply to people who never face any.
These Are Your Voters
It's quite clear the Dem all got together, after the election, and decided they need to be as quiet about Trump's immigration actions as possible. But I don't think they get that these are you voters! Not people with green cards, who don't vote, but their spouses and their kids.
The internet tells there are 13 million green card holders. Those families add up! I'm not saying it's fine to abuse people who only have normal visas - or anybody! - but people who imagined they were permanently settled now can't safely travel outside of the country without fear of being ripped from lives they thought were firmly established.
I know many people think, "oh they should just know to vote against the bad orange man party, no matter what secret signals the Dems are trying to send to Joe and Eileen Bailey," but why would they if Dems are up there barely distancing themselves from this stuff?Sunday, March 23, 2025
Was That Smart
I regularly think about how Dem senators and other outriders would boast about Biden's deportation record and then get mad that people weren't clapping.
People who are mad about immigration want performative cruelty, not a spreadsheet. And the rest of us aren't going to clap.
Appropriate Level Of Concern
More like this.
“If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic,” Pritzker said.
The speech stood in stark contrast to many of Pritzker’s fellow Democratic governors — who, at the same time, were on their way to Washington for face-to-face meetings with the newly sworn-in president. Pritzker skipped the gathering of the National Governors Association.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Choose Your Fighters
In the film Broadcast News, the character played by Albert Brooks says:
And she was right!
Wouldn't this be a great world if insecurity and desperation made us more attractive? If "needy" were a turn-on?In college, I shared this quote with a woman who was way out of my league, though she liked me enough to occasionally tolerate my presence, and she said, basically, no it wouldn't be a great world and it isn't a turn-on.
And she was right!
Friday, March 21, 2025
Sure Why Not
1/6 of the population gets a monthly check, much of which gets passed on to banks/landlords/nursing homes.
Acting Social Security commissioner Leland Dudek said Friday that he is consulting with agency lawyers and the Justice Department as he threatens to shut down the agency in response to a court ruling blocking Elon Musk’s team from accessing sensitive taxpayer data.
Rip The Bandaid
I don't know if this is it - a stock market crash would be better - but something horrendous that can be reversed might be better than the slow march to hell.
Stopping Social Security payments might be a bit too catastrophic.
Some Of Our Faves
Fear of being sued makes me always talk about this carefully, but Epstein's pedo island was visited by many important people!
Talking Their Book
Years ago, during peak Blog, I had a chat/lunch with a reporter. Decent guy, but he was obsessed with the then in vogue concerns about bloggers having undisclosed conflicts of interests (the blogger ethics panel era).
I asked him if his paper's opinion page adequately informed readers about the financial interests of all their contributors. He stuttered something about the editors knowing but he realized I got him.
Obviously transparency is good, but at that time journalists were trying to impose standards on random people on the internet that they didn’t apply to themselves.
I don’t know if it is worse now or if I am more aware of it, but so many people in The Discourse are talking their book. The money sloshes around, and not to lefties!
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Ladies
Google "Bradley Bartell" before you swipe right.
A man who voted for President Donald Trump says he does not regret his decision, even after federal immigration authorities arrested his wife as the couple returned home from their honeymoon.
Bradley Bartell's wife, Camila Muñoz, is a Peruvian citizen who overstayed her initial visa but was working toward obtaining permanent residency in the United States.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
I Am Uncomfortable When We Is Not About Me
I recently had a conversation with a smart German friend - historian - who put into words more clearly than I could something I had thought before. She had taught in the US and had to explain to her colleagues that the basic American world history survey - Greek/Roman history -> Magna Carta -> Renaissance -> some other bits of English history -> French Revolution -> American revolution -> somehow made America the protagonist.
All of (one strand of) human history led to America.
Travel Ban
It will take a bit of time but people will stop coming.
United States: French researcher expelled for expressing "a personal opinion on the policies pursued by the Trump administration"
The French research minister expressed his "concern" on Wednesday following the decision by the American authorities. The CNRS researcher was reportedly subjected to random checks upon arrival, before his computer and phone were searched.
Chicken Eugenics
Sure why not.
Kennedy’s Alarming Prescription for Bird Flu on Poultry Farms
The health secretary has suggested allowing the virus to spread, so as to identify birds that may be immune. Such an experiment would be disastrous, scientists say.
How can an objective editor put "alarming" in the headline?
Politics
I would humbly suggest that if you are a needy attention whore senator, then going out there and giving an inspiring speech to the rabble would be a fun thing for you.
Gym Buddies
Does Schumer tell this story because he is the mark or because we are?
2009:
"People are more frank when they’re wearing their gym clothes,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), for years a House gym regular who finally, 10 years after being elected to the Senate, made the switch to the facility in his own chamber.
Now:
And I talk to them. One of the places is in the gym. When you’re on that bike in your shorts, panting away next to a Republican, a lot of the inhibitions come off.
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Pedocons
Never surprising.
Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn was arrested Monday in Bloomington for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Bloomington police said Eichorn was arrested near the 8300 block of Normandale Avenue at around 6 p.m. Eichorn, R-Grand Rapids, was booked into the Bloomington city jail and remains in custody.
Philly's Finest Contribution
It didn't get a lot of coverage, but concerns about possible Legionnaire's disease were a big deal as things started reopening from Covid. I remember one mall suddenly evacuating and being very cagey about why they did it, but it wasn't too hard to infer it was LD concerns.
All the employees told the AP that they brought their own drinking water Monday. That’s due to a monthslong issue involving Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, which was detected at several FDA buildings. The General Service Administration, which oversees federal buildings, has been working on the issue since last summer.
Carville
I am sure he does give advice, but it is important to understand that when Carville writes for the NYT and goes on MSNBC, he isn't advising so much as he is trying to sell the strategy that has already been agreed to.
Sure Why Not
Sadly, the DOGE kids accidentally deleted them all (probably).
President Trump said on Monday his administration would release approximately 80,000 pages related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Trump did not provide additional details on what the trove of files would include, but he has long promised to release the unredacted documents.
Why Would They Do That
The greatest minds of punditry are having a hard time figuring it out.
After a recent change by the Trump administration, the federal government no longer explicitly prohibits contractors from having segregated restaurants, waiting rooms and drinking fountains.
Monday, March 17, 2025
Cruelty
I have never considered myself to be all that nice/generous of a person, but I do not understand the gleeful cruelty of these people, or their inability to ever to imagine - selfishly! - "maybe that could be me."
Break Everything
Can't collect any beautiful tariffs if you can't import anything.
“It’s causing problems left and right,” says one current USDA worker, who like other federal employees in this story asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “It’s basically a skeleton crew working now,” says another current USDA staffer, who noted that both they and most of their colleagues held advanced degrees and had many years of training to protect US food and agriculture supply chains from invasive pests. “It’s not something that is easily replaced by artificial intelligence.”
“These aren’t your average people,” says Mike Lahar, the regulatory affairs manager at US customs broker behemoth Deringer. “These were highly trained individuals—inspectors, entomologists, taxonomists.”
Lahar and other supply chain experts warn that the losses could cause food to go rotten while waiting in ports and could lead to even higher grocery prices, in addition to increasing the chances of potentially devastating invasive species getting into the country. These dangers are especially acute at a moment when US grocery supply chains are already reeling from other business disruptions such as bird flu and President Trump’s new tariffs.
What To Do
One difficulty I have is trying to figure out how not to be part of the problem, how not to be what I criticize.
Every insane Trump tweet kicks off a whole news cycle, and while you can't ignore them, precisely, it is maddening that we get "Trump declares Charlie Brown had hoes/[paragraph 18] Some experts say he did not have hoes" every time.
I Suppose It Depends On The Meaning Of The Word "Violate"
I didn’t break the law, I just declared that the law has no power over me.
The Trump administration denied on Sunday that it had violated a court order by deporting hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a prison in El Salvador over the weekend, saying that the president had broad powers to quickly expel them under an 18th-century law meant for wartime.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also asserted in a statement that the federal courts “have no jurisdiction” over the president’s conduct of foreign affairs or his power to expel foreign enemies.
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Send Up The Tapper Signal
Isn't his job Official Troop Respector.
There are other ways to write this up, WaPo, that don't make it sound as if all these people and their honors were just "DEI."
Afternoon
Doing a bit of weekending. Complaining about my "job" is mostly ridiculous - I do know this - but the inability to tune out is a bit stressful!
I Guess We Are Still Doing This
Rich guy claims nonsense, we type it up.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said his Starship rocket will head to Mars by the end of next year, as the company investigates several recent explosions in flight tests.
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Seems Bad
I know some of the reaction to this is "but he's a White European!!!" but it does drive home that the goons have been unleashed.
Senior described Schmidt being “violently interrogated” at Logan Airport for hours, and being stripped naked, put in a cold shower by two officials, and being put back onto a chair."Mistakes" at the entry points happen -- or possibly there were genuine issues - but the normal response should be to turn people back, not detain them and torture them.
She said Schmidt told her immigration agents pressured him to give up his green card. She said he was placed on a mat in a bright room with other people at the airport, with little food or water, suffered sleep deprivation, and was denied access to his medication for anxiety and depression.
“He hardly got anything to drink. And then he wasn’t feeling very well and he collapsed,” said Senior.
He was transported by ambulance to Mass General Hospital. He didn’t know it at the time, but he also had influenza.
Norms Violations
I guess Schumer is willing to violate some!
I am sure it is not the only reason, but we all are motivated by multiple things, and "Chuck Schumer shouldn't have to cancel his book tour" certainly was part of this.
Wallet Inspector Returning
Morning
I hope some more people are receptive to my occasional "maybe the Dem leadership needs to be yelled at more" posts.
Friday, March 14, 2025
I've Made An Appointment With The Wallet Inspector To Get My Wallet Back
Amazing shit.
Schumer told reporters that he would still look for options to find a D.C. fix, while a key Republican was also exploring options outside of the spending bill.
“First, Republicans made this mistake. It’s in their bill. So they’re responsible for it. But, a number of them have said that they realize it was a mistake, and I think we can fix it, and I’d work with them to fix it,” Schumer said. Asked how exactly, he said options ranged from an amendment to a standalone bill — though it’s not clear those options would be likely to succeed. “We’d have to figure out the best way,” he said.
Journamalism
Dell writes for Wired and dares reveal the secret ways of political journalism:
Off the record should be a negotiated thing - and, in fact, reporters will assure you that it is - but in political journalism it's the default.Can Grok Deal With This
Amazing paragraph.
More than 100 million people in the U.S. will be in the path of an intense March storm starting Friday as the sprawling multi-day system threatens fires, blizzards, tornadoes, and flooding as it tracks eastward across the Great Plains.
Friday Cat Blogging
Gizmo and Wiley are no longer with us, but here's a little tribute to Kevin Drum.
Dems In Disarray
If primaries against useless incumbents like Schumer start in earnest, get ready for a lot of Professional Democrats, of a certain type, to argue this is insane unprecedented extremism and that we should all be focused on fighting the Republicans.
Several members — including moderates — have begun voicing support for a primary challenge to Schumer, floating Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) as possible candidates, three House Democrats said.
One lawmaker even vowed at the House Democratic retreat to "write a check tonight" supporting Ocasio-Cortez, said the senior House Democrat.
Another Democrat told Axios the ideation has gone a step further: "There is definitely a primary recruitment effort happening right now ... not just Schumer, but for everyone who votes no."
I would like to pre-emptively remind everyone that Nancy Pelosi - who was then the Speaker of the House - endorsed Joe Kennedy III in his failed primary against Ed Markey. "No one" found that worth noting.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday defended her endorsement of Rep. Joe Kennedy in his Democratic Senate primary, saying “people can support whoever they want.”
But, yes, we would agree, "we" should fight the Republicans.
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Mad Tariff King
Tariffs could be a reasonable part of an industrial policy (something we pretend we don't have but do, deliberately or not), but Trump is just pushing the 'tariff' button because he likes to watch his little friends on the TV get excited about it when he does (or, perhaps, making lots of money on insider trading). It's his way of lashing out and entertaining himself.
Goods are inputs to production, not just for consumption, with some traveling across multiple borders at multiple production stages. No one can justify sticking a factory in the US with the mad king changing the rules every day. They won't be able to justify keeping them there.
Goods are inputs to production, not just for consumption, with some traveling across multiple borders at multiple production stages. No one can justify sticking a factory in the US with the mad king changing the rules every day. They won't be able to justify keeping them there.
Billionaires
Good billionaire Mark Cuban has a cunning plan to fight Elon Musk's evisceration of the government, which is to sell those services to the government himself!
He is effectively looking to back new companies that would sell back technology skills to the government that the U.S. Digital Service — and a small tech-focused department called 18F — offered before the offices were rocked by voluntary departures and mass terminations.amazing shit.
“I think it’s possible to out-Elon, Elon, because the people he will bring in don’t know what they don’t know,” the billionaire told POLITICO.
Have You Met Your HHS Secretary
I wonder what the actual reasons are.
The White House has decided to withdraw the nomination of its pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Dave Weldon, a Republican former congressman, just hours before he was to appear at a Senate confirmation hearing, according to a White House official and an administration official.He doesn't have any views that Kennedy doesn't have, and nothing else has been suggested, but I bet there is something!
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the decision, did not offer an explanation. But it became clear to the White House that Dr. Weldon did not have the votes in the full Senate to be confirmed, and Dr. Weldon said in an interview that he learned of the decision last night.
Dr. Weldon, 71, was to appear before the Senate health committee on Thursday at 10 a.m., the first time an agency director would have been subject to the confirmation process. The decision to withdraw the nomination was first reported by Axios.
One Simple Trick
To disenfranchise many women.
The issue, Spencer said, was that her surname on her birth certificate is different from how she was registering to vote.
“When I divorced, I kept my last name for consistency with my family,” Spencer said. “The idea that women have to prove their name change is profoundly sexist and limiting.”
Kayfabe
I would recommend you at least try to refrain from monologueing your cunning plan to trick the "left flank" - in their view the only voters who want them to use their power to thwart the Republicans - if you want the plan to succeed.
Maybe senators are much smarter than stupid people on the internet - it's possible! - but they still shouldn't treat us like we're stupid.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) suggested Democrats may seek a vote on an amendment to the bill in exchange for their support to advance it later this week. That amendment, a 30-day funding bill, would give Democrats a chance to save face with their left flank and give Republicans “an escape” out of the impasse.We hate our voters and think they're stupid, also the ones who call our offices are commies.
Maybe senators are much smarter than stupid people on the internet - it's possible! - but they still shouldn't treat us like we're stupid.
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Hopefully True!
Sen. Whitehouse says Schumer will be speaking on the floor shortly to say there aren’t enough votes for cloture
— Ursula Perano (@UrsulaPerano) March 12, 2025
Sen. Hickenlooper also saying Dems may now want a 7-day CR, in lieu of the 30-day or 7-month
Just Being A Bit More Crass About It
There isn't any difference between what Trump is saying and the erasure by most media organizations of Jewishness based on actual support for Palestinians over the past 15 months. Protests run by Jewish organizations have been labeled as antisemitic, and the large presence Jews has frequently not been acknowledged.
I mean, sure, it's not supposed to apply to CHUCK SCHUMER, but it shouldn't have applied to any of them.
Have a good look in the mirror, everybody.
Have a good look in the mirror, everybody.
Take A Selfie
One thing which weighed on me during Trump I was how many of the people around him obviously had no sense of the responsbility that they had embraced. I get the evil guys who are working to destroy everything - at least it's an ethos - but the ones who just treat it with less sense of responsibility than they would running the high school prom committee just mystify me.
As the Office of Personnel Management oversaw the layoffs of thousands of federal workers and pressed others to justify their positions, the agency’s chief spokesperson repeatedly used her office for a side hustle: aspiring Instagram fashion influencer.Maybe the phones really have destroyed all their brains. The world is just an image in their phone, a reflection of themselves.
In at least a dozen videos filmed in her OPM office, political appointee McLaurine Pinover modeled her outfit choices for the day, while directing followers from her Instagram account to a website that could earn her commissions on clothing sales.
Actual Wars
On one hand I think Trump's Canada annexation plans are deadly serious (in his mind), on the other, I'm not sure how "we" manage to wage a war when Trump can't even keep the tariffs going more than 5 minutes.
Tariff Wars
The EU, unsurprisingly, is retaliating.
The UK is not, in part because they have decided it is best to continue pretending that their PM got some amazing deal out of Trump by offering him a tea party with the King, when he actually was laughed at and humiliated.
The US isn't the only place where (some) politicians, with a compliant press, get to pretend things are not what they are.
The UK is not, in part because they have decided it is best to continue pretending that their PM got some amazing deal out of Trump by offering him a tea party with the King, when he actually was laughed at and humiliated.
The US isn't the only place where (some) politicians, with a compliant press, get to pretend things are not what they are.
Choose Your Fighters
Will Demorats in the Senate support a "CR" that isn't, which nullifies Congress, and which includes the destruction of the DC local budget just for extra giggles? We will see!
It is somewhat remarkable that dozens of House Republicans who have vowed never to pass stopgap bills to fund the government in their political careers caved on this one. But that’s why I put “continuing resolution” in quotes. In reality, this is a hastily arranged partisan Republican budget that achieves much of their anti-government, anti-immigrant, pro-military agenda while paving the way for Trump to nullify whatever spending he deems unworthy. It doesn’t just tilt spending in a far-right direction, it actually abdicates congressional responsibility as the branch of government that makes federal spending decisions.
Yet several Senate Democrats are thinking about passing it anyway.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Cunning Plans
If we just agree to the "compromise" about girls in sports, then we can otherwise avoid the topic and put it behind us forever.
Republicans are continuing their deadly crusade against transgender Americans by holding multiple events on Wednesday, March 12th for “DeTrans Awareness Day,” The Handbasket has learned.These issues never just "stop." There is no centrist dipshit "compromise" on the table that will stop them.
DeTrans refers to detransitioning, meaning the reversal of steps one has taken in the process of gender transitioning, and it’s long been used as a weapon to keep trans people—especially trans youth—from receiving life-saving medical care. Naturally, Trump has chosen to elevate and celebrate the people who wield it.
Seems Bad
We won't be able to respect any mainstream political journalism until they start making explicit is that Republican crime is all legal now because the FBI and the DOJ will do nothing about any of it.
Please Give Your Wallets To The Wallet Inspectors
With Republicans making clear that any spending bills are just fake, Dems would be insane to provide any support.
Some Dems keep saying they're worried they'll be blamed for the shutdown. They should be more worried they'll be blamed for what they've endorsed, if they do.
Trump and White House officials have been telling GOP holdouts who want more spending cuts that the administration will pursue impoundment — that is, holding back federal funding already appropriated by Congress — according to two Republicans who were in a recent meeting with the president and spoke to Meredith Lee Hill.Most people understand very well that the Democrats don't have many cards and they don't have the power to instantly stop the bad orange man and bad Republicans in Congress, but they can withhold their votes on this.
Some Dems keep saying they're worried they'll be blamed for the shutdown. They should be more worried they'll be blamed for what they've endorsed, if they do.
America's Worst Democratic Governors
Gavin Newsom.
I know I've hit this twice now, but palling around with Charlie Kirk is not the answer to anything, and Newsom should not touch that stove again.
Of course he is touching that stove again - his second guest is Michael Savage.
Signs Of Life
Many prominent Dem politicians have made applaudable statements in support of Mahmoud Khalil. This one's good: 
And then there's whatever the fuck Hakeem Jeffries released...
Worst fucking guy for the moment.
Eugenics
When Covid hit, there were a lot of right wing groups - not quite as prominent in the US as elsewhere - who saw it as an opportunity to cull the botched and the bungled, believing only the weak get sick, somehow. I'm not sure what most of these people see when they look in mirror, but most of them aren't exactly obviously Übermenschen.
In later comments, Mr. Kennedy suggested that severe symptoms mainly affected people who were unhealthy before contracting measles.Not that they would be protected from measles if they were.
“It’s very, very difficult for measles to kill a healthy person,” he said, adding later that “we see a correlation between people who get hurt by measles and people who don’t have good nutrition or who don’t have a good exercise regimen.”
West Texas is “kind of a food desert,” he added. Malnutrition “may have been an issue” for the child who died of measles in Gaines County.
Monday, March 10, 2025
RIP Kevin Drum
I didn't know him well - we only met a couple of times, though we continued to exchange friendly messages occasionally through the years - but of course we have this weird shared history of peak blogging era. I stole Friday Catblogging from him when his "respectable" gig said they didn't want him to do it.
We didn't always agree about everything - he was an Orange County car guy, after all - but I never doubted his honesty and good faith approach to everything. He was, by all accounts I ever heard, a very generous and kindhearted guy.
Sports
I have no idea how the World Cup (Canada, US, Mexico, 2026) and the Olympics (2028) can be anything other than Fyre Fest level shitshows, for various obvious reasons and probably some less obvious ones.
Designated Vance Whisperers
With this WaPo beat sweetener, we now know they are Natalie Allison and Jacqueline Alemany.
Are You Aware That The Bad Orange Man Is Bad?
I think we can take it as given that the Republican party is Not Good, and I assume anyone who regular reads this site does not need to be convinced of that.
To the extent that what I type into the little box here might have any impact on the world - and don't think I have any illusions about that - yelling at Hakeem Jeffries or NYT reporters is much more likely (not very!) to achieve something than yelling at Stephen Miller is.
Also, Jeffries has lots of people yelling at him every day, mostly the ones who write big checks. You just can't hear them.
I can't get him on the phone. I don't claim to represent popular opinion or even Democratic opinion, but I suspect I offer a some appropriate counterweight to the people who tend to be in the room and who definitely do not represent either.
Sounds Bad
I have seen (I am not aware of all things!) 3 elected Dems comment on this.
Also, too, boycott all things Columbia University, which is complicit in this quite clearly.
A Palestinian protest leader at Columbia University was arrested by Department of Homeland Security agents Saturday night despite having a green card, his attorney said.Two New York Dems are the congressional leaders.
Also, too, boycott all things Columbia University, which is complicit in this quite clearly.
Sunday, March 09, 2025
Tesla Sucks
Anti-Musk activism aside, robotaxis will always be fantasy and the only "new" product is the Cybertruck and it's a bust. The P/E ratio is absolutely absurd. The price floats on a belief in Musk's genius and the belief that enough other dumbasses will keep believing it.
Little Buddy
People finally saying out loud what "everybody" knows but most people don't - the UK doesn't really control its own nukes.
Yet the UK is – unlike France – highly intertwined with the US when it comes to maintaining its nuclear weapons, which are designed, manufactured and maintained in the US under a deal rooted in a 1958 agreement. Britain had 50 missiles left as of 2008 after purchases from a US stockpile, according to research by the University of Bradford.It isn't even entirely clear that they can fire independently of the US.
“Britain likes to call its nuclear posture independent, but it, of course, is absolutely not,” said Hans Kristensen, who monitors the status of nuclear forces for the Federation of American Scientists, a US thinktank.
“It may be that Britain can fire weapons independently of the US, but below that, the entire infrastructure covering missile compartments on submarines, the missiles themselves, all are supplied by the Americans.”
Saturday, March 08, 2025
Which Things, Motherfucker, WHICH THINGS???
As a person who spends a lot of time pointing out that the media - and not just Fox - is failing to inform people, and as in fact filling their heads with lies, I am inclined be sympathetic...
PARKERSBURG, West Virginia, March 7 (Reuters) - Jennifer Piggott proudly hung a red-and-blue Trump campaign flag outside her one-story home during the November election race. Now, after she was abruptly fired from her civil service job, her days of supporting the president are over.UNTIL:
"As much as I think that President Trump is doing wonderful things for the country in some regards, I don't understand this at all," she said.
His Whole Career
Tesla exists because of this kind of fraud.
More than 200 auto dealers across the country were “stiffed” when Tesla “had a run on the bank,” claiming tens of millions of dollars in EV rebates on the last weekend before the government abruptly shut down the public subsidy program in January.It has been reported on, regularly, by less prominent reporters, while more prominent reporters, who can't bother to google, continued to maintain the Musk-As-Supergenius narrative.
Now these independently owned dealerships are out of pocket an estimated $10 million, having provided 2,295 rebates to customers and expecting to get reimbursed, according to the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA).
...
But that weekend there was an unprecedented surge in claims from four Tesla outlets, the Star revealed this week. The four Tesla showrooms claimed 8,653 EV sales in 72 hours and filed for $43.1 million in rebates — more than half of the $71.8 million in remaining funds.
Supergeniuses
This is dumb and horrifying for all of the obvious reasons, but a "funny" thing is the MIT thing signals Trump understands planes crashing would be bad and that's why he points at America's Greatest Geniuses, MIT grads, as the solution.
Mr. Duffy said the young staff of Mr. Musk’s team was trying to lay off air traffic controllers. What am I supposed to do? Mr. Duffy said. I have multiple plane crashes to deal with now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers?
Mr. Musk told Mr. Duffy that his assertion was a “lie.” Mr. Duffy insisted it was not; he had heard it from them directly. Mr. Musk, asking who had been fired, said: Give me their names. Tell me their names.
Mr. Duffy said there were not any names, because he had stopped them from being fired. At another point, Mr. Musk insisted that people hired under diversity, equity and inclusion programs were working in control towers. Mr. Duffy pushed back and Mr. Musk did not add details, but said during the longer back and forth that Mr. Duffy had his phone number and should call him if he had any issues to raise.
The exchange ended with Mr. Trump telling Mr. Duffy that he had to hire people from M.I.T. as air traffic controllers. These air traffic controllers need to be “geniuses,” he said.
Friday, March 07, 2025
What's A Student To Do
University administrators everywhere are encouraging the use of spicy chatbots and also students are getting criticized and punished for using them. There is no way to draw that line, neatly, so that any "rules" can either be followed or policed consistently.
More than 600 Scottish students were accused of misusing AI during part of their studies last year - a rise of 121% on 2023 figures.I have read various university guidances about using spicy chatbots, and they are all, basically, "Oh yes of course students should be encouraged to use these exciting new tools but NOT LIKE THAT [the way students will inevitably use them]".
According to a freedom of information request by BBC Scotland, less than 10 students were kicked off their courses at both Robert Gordon and Glasgow universities in the last year - the first time AI-linked expulsions have been recorded at any Scottish university.
So when does turning to the internet to help find the answer to a question cross the line into cheating?
That's the big issue facing Scottish universities, as day-to-day reliance on generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as Chat GPT, becomes the norm.
Propped Up
Tesla makes a lot of money with the carbon credit system. Companies pay Tesla for their sins. That only works if Tesla actually sells cars.
BRUSSELS — Elon Musk's political meddling in Europe is cratering Tesla's sales — and that's putting at risk its revenue from selling credits to other automakers looking to avoid paying penalties for not meeting European Union emissions targets.
We Get So Much Valuable Data When They Blow Up
I didn't even bother to check if they ran with that one this time, but for years, every time one of Elon's pet rockets would blow up, SpaceX employees would quickly say that and journalists would quickly type it up.
Yes they did get valuable data like "Elon was a fucking idiot for not having a water cooling system at the launchpad" at times.
Thursday, March 06, 2025
It Is 2021 And Jeffries Is Complaining About The Extreme Left, It is 2025 And...
“The extreme left is obsessed with talking trash about mainstream Democrats on Twitter, when the majority of the electorate constitute mainstream Democrats at the polls,” Jeffries, the Democratic caucus chairman, told The New York Times on Wednesday. “In the post-Trump era, the anti-establishment line of attack is lame — when President Biden and Democratic legislators are delivering millions of good-paying jobs, the fastest-growing economy in 40 years and a massive child tax cut.”
My Focus Group
Dems always believe that people asking them to be basic Dems are THE EXTREME LEFT instead of just their voters. I don't think "people who follow politics on the internet" are representative of anything other than that, but there are a range of perspectives within that group, and "Dems are doing great!" isn't a common view at the moment.
Hey, so what, maybe they're playing the smart long game and panicky people who follow internet/cable news hour by hour are missing the forest. Maybe!
Checks and Balances
Still offering some hope that they are functioning, at least.
A federal judge ruled in favor of dozens of states Thursday by finding that President Donald Trump’s massive federal funding freeze in late January encroached upon Congress’s power of the purse.
District Chief Judge John McConnell said in his ruling Thursday the Trump administration, by issuing the freeze, “put itself above Congress.”
Social Security Cuts
You need functional field offices to serve an elderly population especially, which, unsurprisingly, Social Security recipients are (mostly).
Isn't This Where We Came In
I know this blog is giving off some 2002 vibes, but that's because The Democrats are giving off some 2002 vibes, and in 2002 they had a lot more genuine excuses to behave as they were behaving.
Then, too, they were dismissive of calls to provide an oppositional message to the actions of a rogue president, even if their ability to act was limited. Then, too, they infantalized their critics and marginalize them as being on the "extreme left" (remember bloggers in their basements, the extreme communism of Howard Dean, that kind of thing). Then, too, the more senior ones - and the consultants, and the journalists in their pockets - marginalized Dems who did try to act. Then, too, the answer was to Get More Centrist.
In 2006 they finally listened and became more oppositional. They won the midterms. The victors and their stenographers get to write history, and according to them it was because Rahm Emanuel, genius, recruited a bunch of centrist cops and troops and intelligence people, which I am quite sure had nothing to do with the win.
The era of "hysteria and hashtags—all the land acknowledgments and pronoun policing and intersectionality initiatives" led to 2018 midterm victories, INCLUDING SLOTKIN'S FIRST HOUSE RACE, and then Biden's 2020 win. Apparently that was a failure. I'm sure many Democrats see it that way, as they didn't want to win like that.
Whatever her other merits, making the face of the party a person who barely wants to be in the party - hi Claire McCaskill - is much more of a problem then any of the things she is complaining about.
She ran the campaign that wing of the party wanted and now they're pretending she ran as Bernie/AOC!
Then, too, they were dismissive of calls to provide an oppositional message to the actions of a rogue president, even if their ability to act was limited. Then, too, they infantalized their critics and marginalize them as being on the "extreme left" (remember bloggers in their basements, the extreme communism of Howard Dean, that kind of thing). Then, too, the more senior ones - and the consultants, and the journalists in their pockets - marginalized Dems who did try to act. Then, too, the answer was to Get More Centrist.
In 2006 they finally listened and became more oppositional. They won the midterms. The victors and their stenographers get to write history, and according to them it was because Rahm Emanuel, genius, recruited a bunch of centrist cops and troops and intelligence people, which I am quite sure had nothing to do with the win.
Slotkin viewed the stakes somewhat differently: This speech could, at least symbolically, commence a new chapter of Democratic Party opposition to a president whose success is inextricable from the tone-deaf ineptitude of Democratic Party opposition. If her team’s resistance to Trump’s first term was marked by hysteria and hashtags—all the land acknowledgments and pronoun policing and intersectionality initiatives—Slotkin saw last night the opportunity to set a different tone.
The era of "hysteria and hashtags—all the land acknowledgments and pronoun policing and intersectionality initiatives" led to 2018 midterm victories, INCLUDING SLOTKIN'S FIRST HOUSE RACE, and then Biden's 2020 win. Apparently that was a failure. I'm sure many Democrats see it that way, as they didn't want to win like that.
Whatever her other merits, making the face of the party a person who barely wants to be in the party - hi Claire McCaskill - is much more of a problem then any of the things she is complaining about.
I suspect that Slotkin might cringe at being lumped in with “Democrats in general.” In truth, I’ve noticed a certain unease she feels with her partisan identity.I am become Joker:
It doesn’t win elections to just speak to the base of the party,” Slotkin said. “If it did, Kamala Harris would be president.”We all watched the campaign. Sometimes it was even on teeveee or in the newspaper.
She ran the campaign that wing of the party wanted and now they're pretending she ran as Bernie/AOC!
Country over party was a nod to McCain! I am losing my mind!
Even if they are savvy (she is not), there are limits to how much should trust you should put in such obviously dishonest people.
Going to Tim Alberta was a choice, also, too, and if she feels misrepresented she can say so.
Wednesday, March 05, 2025
Mister We Could Use A Man Like Ronald Reagan Again
The thing is, even the current Republicans don't like Reagan, or care. The people who like when Democrats invoke Reagan are older MSNBC junkies who love a network filled with Republicans saying nice things abouut Democrats. You know, PEOPLE WHO ALREADY VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS.
If you praise Reagan in a high profile speech, you should know there will be a backlash from assholes like me. If that's what you want, great, then we all play our roles. Slotkin praises Reagan, Atrios gets annoyed, Democrats say, "See, we annoyed the lefties, so we are doing something right."
If you praise Reagan in a high profile speech, you should know there will be a backlash from assholes like me. If that's what you want, great, then we all play our roles. Slotkin praises Reagan, Atrios gets annoyed, Democrats say, "See, we annoyed the lefties, so we are doing something right."
At some point, Professional Democrats stopped understanding that, and decided that they were going to annoy lefties. Now they get genuinely annoyed that lefties were annoyed. It's weird!
One dumb speech doesn't matter, of course, but it does show that they really don't know what they are doing.
Cold War kid Slotkin was 12 when he left office, so she really was a kid. I imagine she has fond memories of her childhood, as many do.
No one under 45 has any real memories of Reagan at all.
There is the Trump party and the Democratic party. What the fuck are voters supposed to understand are "shared values." Please vote for us or also Republicans, but good ones. You know, such as, um, zombie Reagan
One dumb speech doesn't matter, of course, but it does show that they really don't know what they are doing.
Cold War kid Slotkin was 12 when he left office, so she really was a kid. I imagine she has fond memories of her childhood, as many do.
No one under 45 has any real memories of Reagan at all.
There is the Trump party and the Democratic party. What the fuck are voters supposed to understand are "shared values." Please vote for us or also Republicans, but good ones. You know, such as, um, zombie Reagan
Smart
If I were Canada, I'd go further, and say "every time you do this there's a minimum 90 days of retaliation."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not open to lifting Canada’s full package of retaliatory tariffs if US President Donald Trump leaves any tariffs on Canada in place, according to a senior Canadian government official.
Hanging Curveballs
You gotta at least nudge the press on this stuff if you want them to cover it.
I know it's not as bad "stood on a stage near Farrakhan once" or "a college student protested genocide" but maybe some journalists could find this troubling. You gotta prompt them though, maybe even do the full Lindsey hissy fit!
Hanging Curveballs
One to swing at.
WASHINGTON — White House adviser Alina Habba said Tuesday that military veterans affected by the DOGE-led layoffs of federal workers may not be "fit to have a job at this moment."
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn, Habba was asked about fired workers whom Democrats have invited to President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday night. Habba defended the cuts and said she had no sympathy for the thousands of people who have lost their jobs.
Morning
As a cold war kid, Reagan was a senile monster who did crimes and killed a generation of gay men.
Tuesday, March 04, 2025
Stock Manipulation
Increasingly convinced this is a motive, if not the only one.
Everybody in the know gets rich on every swing . Easy.
Sorry, Elon
The leader of Ontario - Canada's most populous province - has said that American companies will be banned from provincial government contracts until the US ends the tariffs President Donald Trump imposed on Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also emphasised that his government would be "ripping up" its C$100m ($68m; £55.1) contract with Elon Musk's satellite internet company Starlink.
Governments refusing to pay people they'd contracted with? Unprecedented.
Rooting For Stonks To Fall
I admit that I do. Not because I wish for broad economic catastrophe, but because the stonk line going down is one of the few things that might get the attention of Trump (and rich people who he listens to).
The stonk line can always go up again if everything hasn't been destroyed yet, so it is better that they crash earlier instead of later. It is harder to put Humpty Dumpty (everything else) back together again.
Who Radicalised You, Tom?
I always get a bit amused when centrist dudes (Tom Edsall, here) start freaking out.
Assuming that the past six weeks are predictive of what’s coming next, expect an age of anxiety, expect the elimination of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of jobs, expect the decimation of liberal institutions to go on for all four years of Trump’s second term, expect government services to deteriorate, expect reduced funding of the safety net, expect more homelessness, hunger and disease. Expect poverty, expect the financial starvation of universities and of nongovernmental organizations, expect unannounced raids, unreliable data, an America increasingly aligned with authoritarians worldwide, expect a pervasive climate of suspicion and a preoccupation with revenge. Expect more suffering, more fear, less security and less happiness
In other words, expect the worst.
I'm not a mindreader, so perhaps this is unfair to Tom, but I suspect if, I dunno, Chris Hayes had made that prediction 2 months ago, Tom would have thought it was ridiculous hysteria.
That Could Be An Issue
As a profession, economists were long dishonest about the economic costs of tariffs. They're a tool/tax like any other, with costs and, yes, potential benefits, and the economics costs/benefits of greater/fewer tariffs were often hugely overstated.
That isn't to say they're costless, but no taxes are.
They did this because the real issue - trade *wars* - isn't neatly an issue for economists, but economists provided the "intellectual" cover for taking them off the table as much as possible.
I suppose Tom Friedman was more honest about this stuff than economists, whether or not he was correct about his free trade obsessions back in the day.
Anyway, trade wars are messy!
That isn't to say they're costless, but no taxes are.
They did this because the real issue - trade *wars* - isn't neatly an issue for economists, but economists provided the "intellectual" cover for taking them off the table as much as possible.
I suppose Tom Friedman was more honest about this stuff than economists, whether or not he was correct about his free trade obsessions back in the day.
Anyway, trade wars are messy!
China’s Ministry of Finance put tariffs of 15 percent on imports of American chicken, wheat, corn and cotton and 10 percent tariffs on other foods, ranging from soybeans to dairy products. In addition, the Ministry of Commerce said 15 U.S. companies would no longer be allowed to buy products from China except with special permission, including Skydio, which is the largest American maker of drones and a supplier to the U.S. military and emergency services.
Lou Qinjian, a spokesman for China’s National People’s Congress, chastised the United States for violating the World Trade Organization’s free trade rules. “By imposing unilateral tariffs, the U.S. has violated W.T.O. rules and disrupted the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains,” he said.
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