Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

The willow is too close to the house.

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

Stand up, dammit!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

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Monday Morning Open Thread: Monday Moods

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(I think those are human kneepads?)

ICYM Adam’s latest update…

Reader Interactions

144Comments

  6. 6.

    lowtechcyclist

    Looks like it was a pretty subdued May 9th parade in Moscow. Guess Putin realized he didn’t have anything to even pretend to celebrate.

  7. 7.

    germy

    aus slang can be hit and miss but hearing someone call a supermarket bag of roast chicken a bachelor’s handbag has fully nuked me. sorry but that’s smarter than 90% of shakespeare

    — sean (@balmunlimited) May 8, 2022

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    How restrictions on syringe programs led to a severe HIV outbreak in West Virginia

    “I was really trying to be proactive in getting out into the community, and [to] educate people about the importance of using clean syringes,” said Teague, who along with local public health authorities was able to keep HIV numbers lower by distributing clean needles. “Hundreds” of people showed up for sterile syringes each week.

    But in 2018, the city imposed severe restrictions on syringe service programs. Soon, cases were rising. Now, amid an HIV outbreak in her city, Teague says her program can only work “with our hands tied behind our back”.

    The outbreak has been severe. Kanawha county, where Charleston is the seat, diagnosed 40 people who inject drugs with HIV in 2020, about as many as New York City, a place 47 times more populous than the rural county of 178,000. Last year, the head of HIV prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned Kanawha had the nation’s “most concerning” outbreak of HIV among injection drug users.

    Last month, the Biden administration pushed to expand access to clean needles for people who inject drugs. Its National Drug Control Strategy outlined a plan to expand syringe service programs by 85% in high-overdose counties.

    But there is little chance of that happening here, where the same syringe restrictions pioneered in Charleston and the nearby city of Huntington were later adopted statewide by West Virginia lawmakers. A Guardian analysis has found that between 2018 and early 2022, nearly half of all syringe service programs registered with health authorities in West Virginia shuttered – and the local fight against clean needles even drew in the Democratic US senator Joe Manchin.

    Stupid is as stupid does.

    By 2021, less than two months after the CDC’s warning that Kanawha’s outbreak was among the nation’s worst, and fully aware of the situation, West Virginia lawmakers passed the most restrictive syringe program requirements in the nation.

    It happened amid an acceleration of the American drug overdose epidemic. More than 100,000 people in the US died of drug overdoses in 2021, worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic. The disaster is now, in 2022, driving the most interest in syringe service programs and other harm reduction policies in “recent memory”, according Gibson. For the first time in decades, a $30m fund in the Covid-19 stimulus bill allowed for government purchase of sterile syringes.

    But it also stoked conservative outrage, sucking in lawmakers including Manchin. When the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a grant for organizations to buy and distribute clean syringes in February, the Biden administration was pilloried. A conservative news outlet described it as “distribution of crack pipes to drug addicts”; the Republican senator Ted Cruz tweeted the Biden administration’s “crime policy” was “crack pipes for all”.

    In response, Manchin joined two Republican colleagues to express concern about the plan. The following day, he introduced a bill to expand a decades-old, government-wide ban on the purchase of sterile syringes for drug use. He co-sponsored the bill with the Republican Florida senator Marco Rubio, whose home state has the second worst rate of new HIV diagnoses in the country. Although Manchin’s bill did not pass, it showed the political perils of trying to help people who inject drugs, even as the horror of death and disease ravage communities.

    Pro-Life my ass.

  10. 10.

    germy

    Here’s an article from last September about Justice Beerpong:

    MotherJones

    After all the “who paid off his debts?” conspiracy theories circulated, I wondered why so many people with media platforms had blind spots about wealthy parents lavishing money on their adult offspring.

  11. 11.

    oldster

    The little Ukrainian doggy should be called “Knee-pro”, after the river.

    Also, after the joint that he’ll savage when he viciously attacks you.

    Or would that be “ankle-pro”?

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Consider my gob to be thoroughly smacked:

    Scientists are developing magnetically guided microscopic projectiles that can be injected into patients’ blood to attack breast, prostate and other tumours.

    The project – led by researchers at Sheffield University – builds on progress in two key medical fields. The first involves viruses that specifically attack tumours. The second focuses on soil bacteria that manufacture magnets which they use to align themselves in the Earth’s magnetic field.

    “The essence of this approach is straightforward: we are using bugs as drugs,” said Dr Munitta Muthana, one of the project’s leaders. “We are taking a class of viruses that naturally target tumours and are developing ways to help them reach internal tumours by exploiting bacteria that make magnets. It’s a twin approach and it has a lot of promise, we believe.”
    ……………………………………..
    “The problem is that oncolytic viruses attract the attention of the body’s immune defences and only skin-deep tumours can be tackled this way before the viruses are blocked fairly quickly by our cell defences,” said Dr Faith Howard, another project leader.

    A solution, the scientists say, is to coat the viruses in magnetic particles. Injected into the blood, these microscopic projectiles could then be directed quickly to a tumour – by using magnets placed over a patient’s body – before their progress can be blocked by immune defences.

    “It’s like having a coat of armour or a shield,” added Muthana. “The magnets help protect the virus but crucially they also help them to target a tumour. We place a magnet over a tumour and it will draw the virus speedily and directly to it.”

    An oncolytic virus had a diameter of about 180 nanometres while the magnets needed to be about 50 nanometres in size, added Howard. (A nanometre is a billionth of a metre.) “These tiny magnets could be made in the laboratory but we have found bacteria do a better job of manufacturing them than we could,” she added.

    Some species of soil bacteria synthesise iron oxide nanoparticles that are called magnetosomes. These are used as compasses that allow the microbes to navigate in Earth’s magnetic field and help them find optimum conditions for their growth and survival. “These microscopic magnets they make are perfectly shaped and ideally suited to the microscopic packages we need to target deep cancers,” Howard said.

    To quote the immortal Jesse Pinkman, “Science bitches!”

  14. 14.

    Nicole

    As a mood lift, enjoy this lovely photo of the long-shot winner of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby with his groom:  wdrb.com/rich-strike-and-groom/image_a09cfb0c-cefd-11ec-9367-0b79edb6a0c0.html

    The groom, Jerry Dixon, Jr., has been getting a bit of social media attention, probably due to his joy after the race absolutely radiating right through the TV screens, and it’s nice to see.  Grooms do most of the grunt work, and are probably the human beings the horses know and love the best, but they don’t get the attention the trainers or jockeys do.

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    This probably was released too late to make Adam’s overnight post, but it is really worth 5 1/2 minutes of your time. Zelensky reclaiming the May 9 “Victory Day” for Ukraine. English subtitles. I’m just trying to figure out when they shot this, because Khreshchatyk is completely deserted.

    President of #Ukraine @ZelenskyyUa: “We won then. We will win now, too! And Khreshchatyk will see the parade of victory – the victory of Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine!” pic.twitter.com/339L7s6Faz
    — MFA of Ukraine ?? (@MFA_Ukraine) May 9, 2022

  17. 17.

    sab

    Warm enough that windows can be open this morning. The cats are in heaven, looking outside and contemplating hunts that cannot happen ( since indoor cats.) A cat can dream, and given the chance, will dream.

    StarScream is very old ( twelve+), so any of those squirrels he is looking at could kick his ass in an actual attack. Our late lamented Mac learned that the hard way. Mac was an outside cat. Starscream hasn’t been outside since he was an 11th month old semi-feral rescue.

  18. 18.

    Geminid

    Today is a big one for Israeli politics:

          The Knesset reopens for it’s summer session with the government fighting for survival after losing its majority during the recess and the opposition vowing to bring it down.

    The crisis was sparked by the surprise defection of the former whip, Yamina MK Idit Silman, on April 6, which ended the diverse eight party coalition’s one seat majority, leaving the 120-member parliament deadlocked with a 60-60 parity between the coalition and opposition.

    The Times of Israel May 10

    The likeliest outcome seems to be another election this fall. In the interim Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would be Prime Minister of a caretaker government. Israel has held four elections in the last four years; this would be the fifth.

  19. 19.

    germy

    The eternal soccer fan

    Ancient Greek ball player balancing the ball. Part of a marble grave stele, found in Piraeus, 400-375 BC. Item (NAMA) 873 of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. pic.twitter.com/lFGBFgLNp0

    — Archaeology & Art (@archaeologyart) May 7, 2022

  20. 20.

    Nicole

    @Elizabelle:

    Rich Strike is one spirited horse.

    I felt so bad for the track pony (and the rider!) after the race, with Rich Strike trying to bite everything in sight.  Three-year old colts are like teenagers; sometimes when they’re pumped up on adrenaline they just want to break stuff.

  21. 21.

    Soprano2

    @zhena gogolia:  My old cat, Eliot, is sick. She’s had kidney problems for a long time, so she’s been on a special diet. At the beginning of April she started losing weight and wasn’t eating; when I took her to the vet, he said her kidneys were a lot worse and she was retaining phosphorous. He gave her fluids to try to flush the phosphorous out, and gave me some special food to feed her with some pills to help stimulate her appetite and stuff to put in her food to help her eliminate the phosphorous. I think he knew it was probably not going to work, but I’m glad he gave me the opportunity to try. She did OK for a few days, but then she quit eating again, and even giving her the appetite pills didn’t help. She’s probably 17 years old or even older, and she spent her first 5 years living outside and going through who knows what; when I first rescued her the vet had to pull all but 5 of her teeth. So anyway, she isn’t eating, and there doesn’t seem to be anything else I can do for that, so I’m going to call the vet today and have a conversation about her that’s probably going to end with her going over the rainbow bridge sometime this week. If it was giving her meds I’d be willing to do that, but I won’t force feed a cat. I bet at this point she weighs less than 4 pounds; she’s nothing but skin and bones. She still has a lot of fight in her when I try to give her a pill, though.

    And, today we’ll be hearing from our other vet about whether our oldest dog has cancer, or might have cancer. We took him for a normal visit on Saturday, and she thinks there’s a mass in his chest. She did bloodwork, so we’ll find out about it today. He’s at least 14 years old, so surgery is a no-go no matter what the results are. I hope she’s wrong.

    And, my cat Killer has been missing for over a month now. I did everything I could to find him; I posted it on our local FB lost and found site and on the Humane Society site. I went around the neighborhood that first week asking people if they had seen him, and no one had. I put his litter box out even though he goes outside and knows where he lives (he grew up outside, no way I could keep him in the house especially with our dogs going out in the back yard all the time). No luck with any of that.

    And, we had over 5″ of rain here last week so I’m still dealing with that at work; it’s probably all I’ll do today. So, today is going to suck, no two ways about it. I knew Eliot was probably close to the end, but knowing and then having it actually happen are still two different things.

  23. 23.

    xenos

    Today is the EU holiday “Schuman Declaration Day”, or Europe Day.  A nice day to have off from work, but feels a bit weird to celebrate.  Still, we have Ukraine flag flying with the EU flag and the local national flag at the commune.

    People are pretty determined to use this crisis to make the EU stronger and better, SOBs of various sorts nothwithstanding.  Right now, the priority is integrating refugees into the schools and workplaces – not always easily done.

  24. 24.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    armored-dog caption:

    “it might be dangerous.

    Here, take this”

  25. 25.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: They actively want those people to die, that’s why they do this. They think those people aren’t worth saving; worse, they think they’re nothing but moochers. It’s not true, but that’s why they do this, and it’s easy to sell to other voters who know nothing about the topic.

  27. 27.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Gin & Tonic:  Didn’t they declare an all-day curfew for today, on the expectation that Russia would ‘celebrate’ May 9th by firing a bunch of rockets into Ukraine’s major cities?

  29. 29.

    sab

    @germy: My husband’s racing horse trainer best friend thinks that horse’s behavior is weird and possibly drug induced. Not normal in any case.

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    @Nicole: Nice! We watched the race, and I had a very small personal wager  on the outcome. My horse was winning until Rich Strike came out of nowhere, but you gotta love an underdog story like that!

    @sab: “StarScream” is the most hilarious pet name I’ve heard since someone revealed they had a dog named “Snarla.” Well done!

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Drug addicts are weaker, less than human, beings deserving of nothing more than pain and death. Just as Jesus proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount.

  35. 35.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Soprano2:  I know how hard it can be when they finally go, even when you know it’s coming.  You’re in my thoughts and prayers.

  36. 36.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: That is amazing. Reminds me of that old TV show where they could shrink their vehicle and people to go inside the human body and fix things.

  37. 37.

    Elizabelle

    @Soprano2:  All of this worry and sadness at once.  I’m sorry; you and pets and family are in my thoughts.

    I do hope Killer surprises you and shows up.

  39. 39.

    Nicole

    @germy:

    Rich Strike tried to eat the other horses.  A born competitor.

    There’s a famous photo of a big race in… 1980? (I can’t remember) of a horse biting another horse DURING the race.  You’re right; some of them are very, very competitive.

    (In that case, the bitten horse still went on to win, I think. Talk about maintaining focus.)

  41. 41.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    He hasn’t read the current book, the one that sold 244 hardcopies.  He’s mocking her earlier book.  I have to wonder: How many publishing contracts has she been given??

    I would love to see his thoughts on the latest Meghan opus “Bad Republican”

  43. 43.

    Nicole

    @Betty Cracker: I’m assuming you mean you had a wager on Epicenter?  He ran a fabulous race, probably the best out of all of the horses, as he was much closer to that crazy fast pace earlier than the winner.  He’s such a good horse.

    The day before was the big filly race, the Kentucky Oaks, and the winner, Secret Oath, is trained by D Wayne Lukas, who is EIGHTY-SIX YEARS OLD.  He’s considering running her in the Preakness against the boys in 2 weeks; I hope he does.

  45. 45.

    sab

    @Soprano2: What a timeline. We had to put down my uncle’s cocker and Mac our cat at the same time. Mac was completely blind and faling off things and breaking bones and in major pain. Cocker had some sort of cancer.

    In my town they mostly euthanize pets at the regional pet hospital not at the vet.  So we took them in with no medical history on file and got queried as serial pet killers. Two pets same day!?

    Actually the interrogation was helpful. Erased any lingering sense of guilt. Yes we have thought this through, and yes their medical issues are well beyond major.

    As a lifetime long pet owner it never gets easier. But it almost always is the best choice for the pet, since they don’t have hospice as an option.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Chad Loder
    @chadloder
    People are protesting outside Justice Kavanaugh’s house. Someone said “But think of his neighbors” and Kavanaugh’s neighbor replied “We ARE his neighbors. We organized the protest”

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    @Geminid:

    The likeliest outcome seems to be another election this fall. In the interim Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would be Prime Minister of a caretaker government. Israel has held four elections in the last four years; this would be the fifth.

    Where are those folks who think that a parliamentary system is so wonderful?

  51. 51.

    sab

    @Betty Cracker: I didn’t name him. My step-son did. I wanted to name him Stilts because he was so tall and skinny when we adopted him. But he soon filled out.

    But he has maintained his unfortunate habit of howling in the hall at three a.m. when we are asleep and he wants something.

    I believe the original StarScream was a Transformer.

    ETA But his name is perfect for him. His little sister Megatron (named by same step-son) has a much less than  perfect name. She is small and shy and also named for a Transformer. We call her Meg.

  53. 53.

    mrmoshpotato

    (I think those are human kneepads?)

    Kneepads with an adorable, goofy face and legs? ?

  55. 55.

    MisterDancer

    @Soprano2: Oh man, I am so sorry. I’ve been there, and fairly recently, and it’s a pain that we know is coming yet feels impossible to prepare for.

  56. 56.

    narya

    @Soprano2: That is all awful. At the end of today, I will pour you a virtual glass of your favorite beverage and sit quietly with you as evening descends. Breathe as much as you can. We’ll all be sending you love and kindness all day and all week.

  57. 57.

    Nicole

    @Soprano2: I’m so sorry; what a lot of worry and grief you are having to go through all at once.  Man, though- 17 for a cat and 14 for a dog- they have been very, very fortunate to spend their lives with you.

    And I’m so sorry about Killer; what an anxious time for you.  You are dealing with a lot.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Brachiator: Looking towards England? For some reason, and I have no idea why, Israel seems especially fond of going off the rails.

  60. 60.

    Geminid

    @Brachiator: The Israeli system is a good counter argument to parliamentary systems in general. Their most recent election saw 13 parties exceed the 3.25% threshold to win 4 or more Knesset seats. Some of these parties were themselves composed of two or more factions with a common slate.

  63. 63.

    Ken

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m wondering if McCain’s publisher went with a print-on-demand strategy, or assumed this would be a bestseller and is now sitting on a warehouse of unopened cartons.

  65. 65.

    Jeffro

    Ms. Rubin notes what many of us have been talking about ever since Alito’s Roe-overturning opinion leaked: criminalizing abortion is an enforcement nightmare.

    …given the impossibility of policing all pregnancies and running down every accusation, the discretion put in the hands of individual prosecutors will be enormous; it is an invitation for selective prosecution. (Do we really think the rich, White daughter of a prominent businessperson will be hauled into court?) Some prosecutors will play Inspector Javert, harassing and menacing women; others will choose to look the other way, making further mockery of a law meant to chill conduct but not to be enforced.

    Ultimately, we wind up with a society of snitches, suspicion and distrust. When the Texas bounty bill was first passed, Robin Fretwell Wilson of the University of Illinois law school wrote: “The encouragement of ‘voluntary espionage’ between neighbors hints at forms of totalitarianism that most Americans would publicly rail against.” She continued, “North Korea utilizes citizens as spies to inform the government of anti-government behavior of their fellow citizens. While the penalty there is certainly much greater — potential public execution ­— the underlying mechanism is the same, promoting fear and mistrust among neighbors.”

    If you think this is unnecessarily alarmist, ask yourself: How do you think cases will be proved and prosecuted — and do you trust the crowd that determined there is no “life of the mother” exception to exercise restraint in investigating doctors’ and women’s “crimes”?

  66. 66.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Btw, I’m reading Jeremy Fassler’s twitter thread summarizing and mocking Meghan McCain’s book. I should be ashamed of how much I enjoy this petty stuff. 

    She “wrote” a book?  Does she finally reveal who her father is?

  68. 68.

    Ken

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    MARKETING: So what are you guys working on? We need to start figuring out how to sell it.

    RESEARCH: An injectable magnetic live-virus vaccine.

    MARKETING: … Have you read anything other than scientific papers for the last four years?

  69. 69.

    Barbara

    @Soprano2: ​ I’m sorry. Some things are just all downside, but I sincerely hope you can find comfort for yourself and your fur babies.​

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Soprano2:

    Oh, I am so sorry. Any one of those things would be worrying and sad and stressful. All of them at once feels like the universe just piling on. Please take care of yourself as you move through these days. Hugs.

  72. 72.

    Betty Cracker

    @Nicole: Yep! I will root for the filly if she runs! ;-)

    @Geminid: Speaking of international elections, I’m still amazed Sinn Fein won in Northern Ireland. Didn’t see that coming!

  73. 73.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sab: I truly have no idea, not being a Jew, I don’t care enough to do anything more than note every few months that once again they are holding another election. I am far more focused on the Palestinian situation which no matter who is running things, never seems to improve.

  76. 76.

    germy

    @Ken:

    There’s a bunch of books sitting there, from what I read from a woman who owns a bookstore.  She says she has no interest in ordering any because she knows they’ll just sit on her shelves.

  77. 77.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I also read and enjoyed that. I’m kind of petty that way. But one passage has me baffled:

    Then she puts on a cotton dress, but her friends remind her that you can’t wear cotton at political rallies. So she starts crying again.

    Why would there be a rule that “you can’t wear cotton at political rallies”? Is this something from Leviticus? Or a subvariant of the “no white shoes after Labor Day” fashion convention? Or did the Synthetic Fibers & Fabrics Manufacturers Association give the McCain campaign a huge contribution with this stipulation? Or what? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

  78. 78.

    sab

    @Betty Cracker: They care about the border ( or lack of same) with Republic of Ireland. The other guys blew it up.

    Ireland has had a border and two religions since forever (okay only three or four centuries), but they all do seem to identify as Irish. Irish south or Irish north, but still basically Irish. I find that fascinating.

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: Israeli politics are fairly unique. Two orthodox Jewish parties, one for Ashkenazim and one for Sephardim, are run by the top rabbis. Ashkenazi Jews are generally of European origin, and the Sephardim largely come from the Middle East and North Africa. These two parties have about 14 MKs between them. They were a key component of the last government but are now in opposition.

    Almost all the Arabs, who constitute 20% of Israel’s population, vote for Arab parties. Formerly these parties all formed the Arab Joint List. A novel development in last year’s election was Mansour Abbas taking his Islamist Ra’am Party off of the Joint List and going it alone. Ra’am squeaked by the 3.25% threshold and it’s 4 MKs put Yair Lapid’s coalition into a majority. When Likud’s Netanyahu had the initial mandate to form a government, he wooed Abbas unsuccessfully.

    The 6(?) Joint List MKs remain aloof from Lapid’s coalition, but they probably won’t support a no confidence vote because that might benefit Netanyahu and they despise him.

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: ​Research: Yeah, why do you think we put the magnets right up front in the news release? All the Qanoners will run away and die. Darwinism is the foundation everything we do is built upon.

  85. 85.

    MisterDancer

    In other news: I’ve read, now, Steve Schmidt’s tell-all post. There is, in fact, a lot here, and some of it may be fabulation…yet the bulk of it rings true, to me. And it’s intense, both in the emotion I get from it, and what it says about the real state of our electoral politics.

    One thing jumps out at me: I’ve known people who I think are like Schmidt. I’ve watched them get pulled into Right-Wing Conservatism, from the Reagan era, on (remember “Reagan Democrats?” Yeah.) Part of why I disdain messaging debates is that, even by the 1980s, the Conservative Movement just had so much experience in disseminating their messaging, y’all. And by “movement” I do mean the broad range of groups, stealthy and loud, that drive Conservatism; a range we Good Guys, lack.

    By “movement,” I mean this from Schmidt’s post:

    The corruption did not start in the Trump era, but years before. It started in the K Street sewer firms where Roger Stone, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort and Rick Davis thrived.

    It’s hard to undersell how crucial firms like that, and the many groups they enable, are to how that movement impacts modern politics. Even before Citizens United, they had a wide variety of “openings” to pull people in with, from “God” to “Taxes” to “Patriot” — and over the decades since, they’ve honed how to apply that message, even target it.

    Norma McCorvey (the “Roe” in Roe V. Wade) was one of those victims.

    So was my own Mother.

    It’s hard to see otherwise good people get pulled into these swamps. And I think, sometimes, we think it’s about local and even empathy — when I fear it’s more like cult deprogramming.

    That’s not a conclusion I come to, lightly. And it doesn’t absolve Schmidt from lacking clarity and enabling immoral people, even as I think he was, in fact, not shown the depths of the Movement’s objectives in business like the Alito nomination (although I also think…well, that’s complex).

    Anyway. Schmidt may have been ill-used, yet he also has much to atone for. I’m glad he’s not only posted this, but appears to have made efforts with the reports and others he told lies to. That’s not enough, mind, yet it hints that this is not all shallow, not all for show.

    And we can but hope that it does flow with the Draft Out Of Hell, and the upcoming Hearings, to help the laypeople who rightly have a dozen things to sweat day-to-day, to understand these situations and the crisis we’re in.

  86. 86.

    sab

    @OzarkHillbilly: Everyone was so hopeful when the Russians came in in the early nineties that more leftists, since grew up Communists. Not so much. They were blazing racists, Jews against the world, and absolutely devoid of any concept of human rights. Just “us against them.” And insanely right wing.

  87. 87.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: This…

    Meghan goes on to say she cried so hard that her friends had to convince her to take a shower. She agreed, but then adds “I couldn’t find the will––or whatever it takes––to wash my hair.”

  88. 88.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Looking towards England? For some reason, and I have no idea why, Israel seems especially fond of going off the rails.

    I think in Israel you have some parties which have no real interest in compromise, but are happy to play king maker in a coalition, but then kill that coalition if they don’t get some of what they want.

    The UK may be in for some very rocky times.

    I also remember that Belgium went without a government for 589 days in 2010 – 2011, before they could finally put together a fragile coalition.

  89. 89.

    Calouste

    @Brachiator: Here. The problem with this is Israel, not the parliamentary system or proportional representation. Norway has 10 parties in parliament, the Netherlands 16, Denmark 16, Sweden 8, and those countries work.

  90. 90.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Speaking of Russians, apparently Trump’s Putin’s Victory Day Parade was a dud; no mass mobilization, speech dull, troops drunk, no flyover.

  91. 91.

    smedley the uncertain

    @jonas: Nah, the anti-vaxxers called it first.  Micro chips injected with Covid Vaccines.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Um, maybe the fact it was cotton was the least objectionable part of that dress, and the fastest dissuasion her friends could think of?

    I regret that brat McCain took the title “Bad Republican” and applied it to herself (presumably).

    Yes, but that title should have been reserved for a series.  By an actual journalist.  Not from the NY Times.

  93. 93.

    Barbara

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​He’s too nice. IMHO. Just reflect on this: we don’t really know much about John McCain’s other kids. I assume they just live their lives, have professions, families, and so on, but Meghan McCain seems clueless that in defining herself as a “daughter-of” (in her own words) she is more or less admitting that she doesn’t have much of anything else to offer the world.​

    This is borderline personality territory and it’s probably why she displays such extreme emoting when her “status” is demeaned or considered irrelevant to John McCain Campaign, Inc.

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: And one of the coalition’s right wing parties, “Israel is Our Home,” is run by the former Russian bar bouncer Avigdor Lieberman. He and his immigrant supporters deeply resent the orthodox religious parties. Lieberman has served in coaltion under Netanyahu and he basically hates the former PM’s guts.

    Another right wing coalition partner, “New Hope,” is composed of former Likudniks whose animus towards Netanyahu is similar to that of Lieberman.

  96. 96.

    MisterDancer

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I should be ashamed of how much I enjoy this petty stuff.

    Oh, I think it matters. I think Mz. McCain was able, for years, to hide a deepening alignment with forces her Father would have rejected, under guise of her love for him, and her overall “moderate conservative” moniker.

    Now all that is At Risk. It’s actually kind of shocking the usual Conservative book buy-up folx didn’t spruce her sales; one seriously wonders why, and if it’s specific to her or portends a sea change in that long-standing process.

    And more generally, now that these reports are out in the open and collaborate the reports from THE VIEW, I suspect it’ll make it even harder for her to poison our national discourse. and,maybe, it’ll make it harder for people like her to do the same.

    That is, on the whole, a good thing, even as I suspect misogyny to play a role in how this is shaping up.

  97. 97.

    Betty Cracker

    @MisterDancer: What was your read on Schmidt’s disclosure about McCain’s affair with the lobbyist in the Substack piece? We were discussing in an earlier thread whether Schmidt meant to make the point that McCain was compromised by the lie he was living, and therefore at the mercy of the corrupt, Putin-adjacent people in his campaign. I think that’s what he was saying, and also that it goes way beyond the McCain and Trump campaigns.

  98. 98.

    Calouste

    @Brachiator: But you know what, even though Belgium had a caretaker government for 589 days, the functions of the government just kept working. Unlike the United States where they shut down National Parks and Social Security offices and whatnot whenever Mitch McConnell throws a hissy fit over a budget bill.

  99. 99.

    Barbara

    @MisterDancer: ​ Occam’s razor: Whether it is genuine or mostly symbolic, Meghan McCain’s support for gay rights is completely anathema to the current Republican power structure. They will never support her.

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    @MisterDancer:

    cult deprogramming

    Yes.  And Fox News deprogramming.

    Germany got lucky and had relatively benevolent overlords after their (OK, second) defeat.  Who put in safeguards to try to protect the Germans (and the world) from the darkest impulses rising again.

    We have to pretend these people and organizations, in this country, are legitimate political parties and business operations.  With lots of protections — corporate personhood (sigh) and the First Amendment, which is woefully inadequate when you’re up against brainwashing.  “More and better” information is not going to work there.

  102. 102.

    sab

    @OzarkHillbilly: It would have helped years ago if the Bedouin (mostly Israeli citizens) and the Palestians (also Arabs but mostly not citizens) could have agreed. But of course they couldn’t. Israel is a tiny but very ethnically diverse country. Zionism is not a useful way to deal with tis complex society, but I don’t know what would work better. Country of tiny warring tribes.

  103. 103.

    Betty Cracker

    @Elizabelle: I’m still aghast that Meghan McCain staged a book publicity photo-op at her father’s grave with the book propped against the headstone! I thought I’d seen the depths of tacky plumbed before, but my god…

  107. 107.

    Ken

    @Betty Cracker: It cries out for any number of parodies. “High, I’m Ron Popeil Jr., and I’m here at my father’s grave with the next-generation egg slicer you’ll want to have in your kitchen…”

    Or heck, why not push the egg slicer at McCain’s grave? It wouldn’t surprise me to see a whole internet genre of pictures of various objects propped against McCain’s headstone. Gnome on a Stone, anyone?

  108. 108.

    CaseyL

    @Soprano2: I am so sorry.  One pet dying is bad enough; to have two in their final run, and one missing, is beyond awful.  I hope you find some solace in the fact that they lived their very best lives thanks to you.

  109. 109.

    WhatsMyNym

    @Jeffro:

    Do we really think the rich, White daughter of a prominent businessperson will be hauled into court?

    I expect the businessperson to be blackmailed in some cases.

  112. 112.

    sab

    @Betty Cracker: You are more into family love than politics, thus proving you are a weak uncommited person.

    Megan McCain on the other hand is just a grifter, probably quite embarrassing to her family. They will hold together for a while, but she has two probably decent brothers and a sister and a step-brother. At some point most of them while loyal have had enough, because they are all trying to earn honest livings and she is just  flamethrowing grifting.

  113. 113.

    Quiltingfool

    @Soprano2: I’m so sorry.  I’ve had some worry about my kitty, Baby. She has suffered chronic upper respiratory symptoms for some time now.  We go to the vet, get a shot and she’s better for a bit; then back to stuffy nose, etc.  She’s also diabetic, and I’m very concerned about her weight loss.  I’m afraid I’m looking at a short time with her, she is 16 years old.

    I have inserted my cat worries into your cat (and dog) worries, shouldn’t do that, but I understand your stress over your pets.  I am having the same, so your misery has company.  Know that I’m thinking of you.

  114. 114.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker: 

    The other thing: we know that’s Meghan. Someone else could be forgiven for looking at that and thinking “John McCain: well, maybe he was a Bad Republican. Now that you mention it …”

    Works from both the left and the right.

    Thanks Meghan!

  115. 115.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Soprano2: I’m so sorry to hear about your pets. They are so hard to part with after such long happy lives.

    A friend had a cat return after a long absence (months) as did my sister.  I had an indoor cat return after a 10 day outdoor escape. Both my friend and I put our dirty socks in the yard…she had read it somewhere. She really thought that led her cat back…

  116. 116.

    sab

    @Quiltingfool: OT Do you have cats? I don’t quilt, but I have cats who hang out with me in the basement and seriously interfere in my work there.

    How at risk are these cats when I start to sew and they are sticking paws where paws don’t belong

    ETA Stupid questions with obvious answers. Of course you have cats. I have seen yoour quilts.

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    Maybe somebody should start calling her “Mayhem” McCain.  She wants to be a brawler?  Have at it.

  119. 119.

    MisterDancer

    @sab: Country of tiny warring tribes.

    I disagree, with respect. I think a lot of that situation boils down to groups that have not had a voice since, in some ways, the freakin’ ‘Abbasid Caliphate rolled into town (yes, more complex that that, apologies to those who can write the dissertation…)

    One of the things that was really hard for me to wrap brains around, was how many groups in that region — and elsewhere — just have gone without representation, without a voice. Add to that oft-rampant poverty, and…well, I gripe about how Black folx get treated here in America, and at least I could scream and yell my way to a cushy gig on this here blog of dreams. :)

    I was watching a video of Edward Said — the academic who really opened up the dialogue on how we in The West research, think, and talk about that region. He was from Palestine, and just hearing him talk about how the Brits just…erased his entire country? Heart-rending.

    And his family was (is?) wealthy. He could get the education that allowed him to leave — and yes, fight for his peoples, yet still fight from abroad.

    I cannot, literally cannot, imagine what it would be like to be there, and to have no options but to survive.

    And I reckon that would make me a bit cranky.

    So yeah, it’s about “us” getting out of the mode where we “impose” shit, and into modes where we enable these groups to be in positions where their survival isn’t an immediate threat. Where they start to see themselves represented — in the larger culture, on the world stage, and esp. in local/regional/national governments. And yes, I know that’s hard, and yes, I know it’s “impossible” to get there from here…

    …but these are not groups that want to be at war. And we do them a disservice by even hinting that’s the case.

  121. 121.

    Lyrebird

    @oldster: The little Ukrainian doggy should be called “Knee-pro”, after the river.

    Oh yeah!

    He is a pro, and it’ll help us folks who learned the geography with the R pronunciation to say the river and town names in Ukrainian instead!

  122. 122.

    MisterDancer

    @Betty Cracker: What was your read on Schmidt’s disclosure about McCain’s affair with the lobbyist in the Substack piece?

    Schmidt’s mostly just getting this off his chest. Yet he’s also laying out that connection, sure. To me, he’s saying that McCain feared confronting the people w/Russia connections because he feared them tearing down all he built.

    McCain wasn’t compromised, in my opinion. But he was in a position to be, and he knew it.

    And yes, Schmidt’s also saying it goes way beyond this campaign. that’s why I quoted his bit about the K Street connections. I’m sure he doesn’t know, yet does fear, how deep that rabbit hole of corruption goes.

  123. 123.

    OzarkHillbilly

    GOP senators want TV rating ‘update’ amid LGBTQ character push

    A group of Republican senators want TV ratings updated so parents can block their children from watching shows with LGBTQ characters. The five senators from North Dakota, Kansas, Utah, Indiana and Montana sent a letter Wednesday to the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board asking for a TV rating overhaul.

    “In recent years, concerning topics of a sexual nature have become aggressively politicized and promoted in children’s programming, including irreversible and harmful experimental treatments for mental disorders like gender dysphoria,” the letter reads.

    The two-page letter signed by Sens. Roger Marshall, Mike Lee, Mike Braun, Kevin Cramer and Steve Daines “strongly urged” the TV group’s chairman, Charles Rivkin, to update its guidelines to ensure parents are aware of the “disturbing” content.

    Hmmmm… What we need is for them to update their guidelines to ensure parents are aware of the Republican content.

  124. 124.

    WereBear

    @sab: Mine were going nuts until I opened the window and put on a hoodie :) Mountain mornings are cold, but it’s a great excuse for my new favorite breakfast, the hot chocolate protein smoothie.

    I didn’t invent it. But I do believe I have perfected it.

    I’ve decided I want my conservatives as I do my abortions: safe, legal, and rare.

  125. 125.

    Ken

    @MisterDancer: McCain wasn’t compromised, in my opinion. But he was in a position to be, and he knew it.

    That’s a subtle distinction. If the fear of becoming compromised could be used to influence his behavior — and from what Schmidt says, it sure sounds like that — how is that different from being compromised?

  126. 126.

    Barbara

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​No, of course, it’s stupid. Killing others has zero positive effect for anyone but it’s a way of pretending that virtue will save you. At least in WV, there is no racial element — nearly everyone including the addicts are white. You have to adopt a more primitive way of thinking, the role of scapegoating in ritual sacrifice. The willingness to create a box in which living creatures are sacrificed is a way of appeasing forces you can’t control and hedging your bets that “THIS WON’T HAPPEN TO ME.” If only.

  127. 127.

    Barbara

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​ How to show you are culturally irrelevant without even trying. I mean, seriously, these shows are advertised — heavily — parents should be fully aware of their content. I don’t even watch them and I know what they are about.

  128. 128.

    Gin & Tonic

    @bjacques: I’m going to admit, when I was there for the 25th anniversary of independence, the military parade down Khreshchatyk left me feeling deeply conflicted. As with other things that summer (2016) – like my confident prediction that TFG couldn’t possibly win – I was very wrong.

  129. 129.

    Geminid

    @sab: A somewhat encouraging result of last year’s Israeli election was a comeback by the two left-most Zionist parties, Meretz and Labor. In the weeks leading up to the election some analysts eld that the two parties had better combine on one list lest they both fall below the 3.25% threshold. In the event Meretz ended up winning 6 Knesset seats, and Labor has 7.

    Meretz could be considered a “peace” party in that they would make more concessions to the Palestinians than the other jewish based parties. Meretz came into the first decade of this century with 12 MKs representing 10% of the electorate. The Second Intifada, especially the suicide bombings that killed over 600 Israelis, knocked the props outbfrom under Meretz and thie last election was the first time since that they have won as many as 6 Knesset seats.

    Meretz is still a Zionist party, in the sense that it’s members believe in Israel as a majority Jewish state, albeit within it’s 1967 borders. Many Palestinians and many of their supporters still reject the Israeli state in principle; their demand is that “Palestine will be free, from the Jordan to the Sea.”

    Most Arab states have, at least nominally, backed that position since 1948. Recently, though, Bahrain, the UAE, and Morocco have joined Jordan and Egypt and begun diplomatic, trade, and military relations with Israel. And Turkey has warmed relations with Israel that were frozen for a decade.

    These developments alarm Palestinian leaders who have relied on Arab nations to further their cause. Even Saudi Arabia, whose leaders say they will not recognize Israel while the Palestinian conflict is not resolved, are forging ahead on defense cooperation with Israel.

  130. 130.

    MisterDancer

    @Ken: how is that different from being compromised?

    That thin line is exactly why (from what I understand, and the very little bit I’ve experienced) you’re supposed to tell everything before getting a Security Clearance.

    My (again, limited) understanding is that it’s rare to get tossed into the “deep end,” esp. if you’re a high-value target. It’s better to slowly manipulate you into doing small things, and then growing the compromising position, over time. You’re compartmentalized unless/until you show you’re able to handle the “next level” without blowing the whole situation.

    If that seems similar to my description of what I think happened to Schmidt, and how the Conservative movement generally operates?

    Well.

  131. 131.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Barbara: ​ “THIS WON’T HAPPEN TO ME.” If only.

    All the while making it more likely that in fact it just might.

  133. 133.

    Soprano2

    Thanks for the kind words, everyone. My sister had a cat reappear after being gone for two years, so I know it can happen, but I also know it’s most likely I’ll never see him again.

    I’m sorry Quiltingfool, it’s certainly OK for you to post about your kitty worries. Managing diabetic cats is tough – I’ve never done it, but my mother and sister did, and it was a constant worry.

    I forgot to add to my litany of suckitude that I visited my mother’s grave for Mother’s Day yesterday for the first time. When I look around that cemetery I see so many of my relatives – my sister is there beside my mother. My mother’s parents, and some of their brothers and sisters and their spouses are there, as well as their parents and a couple of my mother’s cousins. It’s kind of sobering to see how many of my relatives are gone. One nice thing was that a man who knew my mom was there visiting his wife’s grave – he lost her earlier this year.  He offered me some grass seed for her grave, since none had grown on it yet. We talked for awhile about various people it turns out we both know. But it was a hard thing to do.

  134. 134.

    Soprano2

    @WereBear: I wish you knew something else I could do, but I figure if the vet says there’s nothing else there’s nothing else. I trust him, he specializes in cats only.

  135. 135.

    Quiltingfool

    @sab: When Baby was young, I had to keep an eye on her when I did hand quilting.  I had a pincushion with 8 to 9 threaded needles; she would sneak over to the pincushion and grab a threaded needle and race off with it.  I always caught her before tragedy struck!   And once she jumped up on my quilting frame (while I was machine quilting) and came close to getting stuck.  We had a discussion about this.  So far, I’m the only one with a needle stuck in my finger, and I do mean stuck.  I had to get a pair of vice grips to pull the needle out…it looked way worse than it felt!

    Baby is pretty well behaved in the sewing room.  She does like to sit on pieces I’m sewing, but only when she needs attention.  Most of the time she snoozes in her fuzzy bed.

  138. 138.

    Soprano2

    @WereBear: I know, this is one of the hardest things around our beloved pets, that we are almost certain to outlive them. I hate that I can’t talk to her and ask her how she feels and what she’d want me to do. I remember my mother telling me a few years ago that she wasn’t going to adopt any more cats, which was one way she acknowledged her mortality and the difficulty of rehoming older adult cats. Her bonded pair was finally adopted in April, so I was happy about that!

  140. 140.

    Miss Bianca

    @Nicole:  I was cruising some race site before the Kentucky Derby and noted that Rich Strike’s photo was with his groom.

    Amazing race!

  142. 142.

    Geminid

    @Miss Bianca: Hey Miss Bianca! I had an idea your theatre group might be able to use. It’s at #43 in the next thread.

    In a nut-shell, when someone speculated about Republican transit visas for women stranded in red states, that suggested to me a remake of Casablanca, set in a dystopian, repressive St. Louis ca.2035.

    Hope you are doing well and can stay fire-free. They’re really having it rough in New Mexico.

  144. 144.

    evodevo

    @Nicole: Yep..between the testosterone and the adrenalin, they become very aggressive, and don’t know when to stop.  Makes them dangerous to work around, which is why I admire anyone who is their groom.  The aggression is also a factor in why he won the race, in my estimation…if the jock can channel it just right, it makes for a winner…

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