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Hot air and ill-informed banter

You are here: Home / Politics / Open Thread: An Incomplete List of Russian Propagandists

Open Thread: An Incomplete List of Russian Propagandists

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From the list at Cole’s tweet…

Rand Paul.  check.

Glenn Greenwald.  check. check.

Tulsi Gabbard.  check.  check.

Can someone please remind me who Macgregor, Luttwak and Mearsheimer are?

Hopefully there were more names on that list and they only had room for 6 images on-screen.

Who else would you add to this list?

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

167Comments

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    Mearshiemer is a polisci guy who, very crudely speaking, believes that Great Powers have natural spheres of influence in which they can do whatever they please and therefore we in the US should sit back and let Russia do whatever it wants to Ukraine.

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev:

    [Mearshiemer] believes that Great Powers have natural spheres of influence in which they can do whatever they please and therefore we in the US should sit back and let Russia do whatever it wants to Ukraine.

    Okay, he gets to stay on that list.  What a disgusting way to view a world that is inhabited by humans who, you know, actually matter.

  5. 5.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Doug Macgregor is a retired army officer.  Was put forward by Trump as ambassador to Germany but didn’t get it.  Was on Fox a lot as a pro-Russian at the beginning of the invasion.  Oddly, a lot of his military reputation came from the same place as H.R. McMaster’s did.  Serving in the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment in the 1st Gulf War.*  Macgregor then, like McMaster, wrote a book in the ’90s criticizing army leadership and structure.  That book probably kept him from becoming a general which is probably a good thing as he is a nutter.

    *Oddly enough, Doug Mastriano served in 2ACR at the same time.  Maybe the depleted uranium got to them all.

  6. 6.

    SFAW

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​
     

    Can someone explain what “area substackers” are and what Cole’s tweet means?

    Add me to that “whut?” list. I thought it was some sort of mashup where IHOP has started serving subs, or Subway now offers pancakes, but I don’t think that’s correct.

  8. 8.

    Ken

    There were many other names on the list, including Baud*. Someone linked to it in the comments a couple of days ago. What I’m curious about is whether Ukraine plans any (what is the euphemism) “active countermeasures” against those named?

    * The other one.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    Hopefully there were more names on that list and they only had room for 6 images on-screen.

    Who else would you add to this list?

    See here and scroll down.

  13. 13.

    oatler

    The human race seems to be showing an inclination toward autocracy. With technology they will rule the planet, as long as the planet stays survivable…

  16. 16.

    MisterDancer

    @Adam Lang:  thanks. Let me add a lot more on Substack, because I think it’s relevant to this discussion, and why it’s not just Twitter that’s a Problem…

    Substack is a fairly successful newsletter/blogging platform. the co-founder, Hamish McKenzie, has been very active in recruiting political voices to the platform.

    That includes some absolutely toxic wankers, including GG. I’m going to just quote at length  because I don’t have the energy to re-research all this ugly crap, and the anti-Trans point being made here applies to so much else these recruits pass off as “thoughtful dialogue”. Readers will recognize some familiar voices, including a former Front Pager, in the below:

    Glenn Greenwald started his Substack by inveighing against trans rights and/or ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, is currently using it to direct harassment at a female New York Times reporter, and has repeatedly used his platform to whitewash alleged rapists and domestic abusers. Freddie de Boer is an anti-“identity politics” crusader who became so infamous for harassing colleagues, particularly women, that he briefly promised to retire from the Internet to avoid causing any more harm; he’s currently using his “generous financial offer” from Substack to argue against “censoring” Nazis while pursuing a personal vendetta against the cis writer Sarah Jones. Matt Yglesias, who publicly cites polite pushback from a trans femme colleague as the Problem With Media Today — exposing the woman he named to massive harassment from Fox News and online TERFs alike — reportedly got a $250,000 advance from Substack. It’s become the preferred platform for men who can’t work in diverse environments without getting calls from HR. [Emphasis mine — MD]

    Those are just the assholes. Increasingly, Substack is tolerating and funding extreme trans-eliminationist rhetoric: They host Jesse Singal, a high-profile supporter of anti-trans conversion therapy who is also widely known to fixate on and stalk trans women in and around the media industry. I would list Jesse’s targets, but at this point, I don’t know a trans woman in media who doesn’t have a story. Graham Lineham is a transphobic bigot so extreme and abhorrent that he’s been permanently banned from Twitter, Medium, and basically every platform but the one I’m using to talk to you right now. He reportedly considers Substack a major source of income.

    I’m not even listing all the problematic bylines here. (Andrew Sullivan! Bari Weiss!)

    And that was just of March 2021. These people have not improved, since, on this or other topics of import to the body politic.

    Substack is such a problem that I left it, and haven’t been exactly eager to subscribe to the good substackers who do use it, because I just don’t want to give McKenzie the money, even indirectly.

  17. 17.

    feebog

    Luttwak is a historian and self proclaimed military strategist.  He has been loosely attached to the right wing noise machine for decades.

  18. 18.

    Dmbeaster

    @WaterGirl: Mearshimer is actually worse than dmsilev describes.  He is a Univ of Chicago type who adheres to the “realist” school of international relations; i.e., it’s all about interests, and for some reason, having a national interest in promoting human rights and democracy does not count.  It ends up just being a cover for an odious conservatism.  This 2018 book, “The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities,” shows his attitude.

    He blames the US for the Ukraine War, but its just cover for his hatred of any values affecting diplomacy.

  21. 21.

    Wapiti

    I think Emptywheel uses “Area Substacker” because she can abbreviate it to ASS after the first use in a tweet thread.

  23. 23.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT: I am shopping for gifts to take to India and I need advice from the hive mind. Can you suggest a gift for my uncle. All his life he has been fit.  He used swim several times a week, play badminton, go for long walks etc. But he had a fall early this year and broke several bones. He has mobility issues now. He is in his 80s. He is also an avid reader and solves crosswords in ink.

    What can I give him that him that will ease his day to day life.

    Thanks

  28. 28.

    dmsilev

    @schrodingers_cat: Does he have a tablet, iPad or similar? If not, that might be a good place to start; lots of ereader apps and plenty of crossword and similar things as well.

  29. 29.

    MisterForkbeard

    @schrodingers_cat: A medical marijuana supply?

    More seriously, that’s hard. When my dad suffered from mobility issues briefly (and then) was confined to his house until the Covid vaccines came out, I bought him a VR headset so he could still get out and/or meaningfully interact with people.  Probably not what you’re looking for, but there’s some interesting work in this area: https://www.forbes.com/sites/solrogers/2020/02/26/how-virtual-reality-is-benefiting-seniors/?sh=b9fa9ed1485f

    But that would require a basic familiarity with tech and so on, and so might not be a good idea. If not, maybe just a tablet.

  32. 32.

    schrodingers_cat

    @dmsilev: IDK. His daughter lives in Florida and visits often. So most likely he does have a Kindle like device but I will check with her and my aunt

    He always had a big library and would subscribe to several newspapers and magazines.

  33. 33.

    eclare

    @schrodingers_cat:   I don’t know what bones he broke and if he uses a walker, but if he has mobility issues, maybe something to help him build up his upper body strength?  Free weights come to mind, but if you plan to bring them personally obvs that would be a hassle.

  37. 37.

    CaseyL

    @schrodingers_cat: Does he have any mobility assist equipment, like a scooter or a walker? If so, you could get him a fancy accessory for that – a basket, to put things in (like binoculars!), a water bottle and water bottle holder, something like that.

    (If he doesn’t have a scooter or a walker, maybe he can look into getting one?)

  38. 38.

    Tony G

    My nominees are …   1) Chris Hedges.  2) Henry Kissinger (how is he possibly still alive?).  3) Gary Null.       (Who the hell is Gary Null you might ask?  He’s an anti-vaxxer pitchman of “natural supplements” and “superfoods” through his daily gig on the Pacifica radio station WBAI.  Since February he has essentially been blaming the Ukrainians for interfering with Russia’s Special Military Operation.  He is also an admirer of Tucker Carlson.  What a coincidence.)

  39. 39.

    eclare

    @schrodingers_cat:   There are also some really nice features on some Apple and Samsung watches that track your movements and automatically call 911 if it senses that you have fallen.  I assume there are similar options in India.  If he lives alone might provide mental relief that if he falls again, his watch will call for help.

  40. 40.

    Tony G

    @Tony G: Oh, yeah.   I almost forgot Noam Chomsky.   Once upon a time I had some respect for Hedges and Chomsky.  Not any more.

  41. 41.

    Geminid

    @MisterDancer: When I hear about the money these substackers make, I wonder, who’s paying for this? I guess subscriptions could cover costs, but I suspect that rich assholes are funding propaganda for their causes. There won’t be any transparency on funding from the owner or authors though.

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    @kindness: I wonder how they missed Tucker. They seem to focus on governmental figures and academics rather than journalists.

  45. 45.

    prostratedragon

    @eclare: Maybe exercise bands? They’re lightweight but vary in resistance up to a pretty good level, 40-50lb equivalent. Different sets come with a variety of loops and anchors for setting up lots of exercises.

  47. 47.

    eclare

    @schrodingers_cat:   Gotcha.  Is there a subscription service he would like?  Some sort of Food of the Month club type thing?  I don’t know if those exist in India, but that would give him something to look forward to each month.

    Not kidding, I used to work with a guy who had a subscription sock service.  Cute, whimsical socks.  Every Tuesday he wore his socks with little tacos on them.

  51. 51.

    The Lodger

    Maybe this identifies me as one with an unhealthy interest in historical trivia, but Scott Ritter is also on that list.

  53. 53.

    geg6

    @sdhays: ​
     
    Thanks for explaining. I still have no idea what that means or how it relates to Greenwald though. I’m going to guess it’s Twitter-speak of some sort. I don’t Twitter.

  55. 55.

    Nettoyeur

    @dmsilev: Mearsheimer appears to be member of so called “realist school” that dates back via Henry Kissinger and to Talleyrand and Metternich to Machiavelli.  I would not classify him as as working-for-Russia-propagandist, but some might consider him a Useful Idiot.

  56. 56.

    Gin & Tonic

    The full list published by the “Center for countering disinformation” is located here. Unfortunately for most of you, it is in Ukrainian, although names are shown in Latin script as well as Cyrillic transliteration. Also unfortunately, it is an image, so you can’t do a text search or easily copy into Google Translate. It shows for each person, an example of what russian propaganda they are spreading and what their current position is.

  58. 58.

    geg6

    @Adam Lang: ​
     
    And I still have no idea what that means. But Marcy Wheeler has so many obscure nicknames for people that I’m not surprised.

  59. 59.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Since this is a more “Open” an update: my wife is out in Texas (blech…) dealing with her parents.  Mom’s lungs are better but she still hasn’t fully come out of the anesthesia and appears to have suffered some micro-strokes.  Docs say the Eeg’s look good and that sometimes patients just take awhile to come back, but who knows.  Meanwhile, my wife is trying to manage her manic-depressive Dad who is being very difficult to her and hospital staff and just acting like a real asshole.  It’s a reminder of why she’s never had a good relationship with him.  He wants to rant non-stop about decades old slights from his life and never can just shut up for even a moment (I’ve witnessed this, it’s super-annoying).  And this is while my wife is still trying to do work on her laptop.  I suggested that she needs to make sure the doctors have her cell phone to relay any updates and then start taking breaks and going back to the AirBnB and only coming back when Dad will switch out.  It’s all a mess but I just want her to be happy.

  64. 64.

    Origuy

    In Chrome, you can use Google Lens to translate the text in an image. Here’s the text for Diane Sare, Independent candidate for Senate from Kentucky (not Democratic.)

    Diane Cape (Diane Sare)
    Pro-Russian narratives:
    • It is necessary to stop the madness in Ukraine provoked by the USA
    • Zelensky is concerned only with his own satisfaction
    Position:
    ego, he doesn’t care about the food crisis
    • Ukraine demands more weapons and provokes the world into
    World War III
    Candidate for the post of US
    Senator from New York
    Geoff Young
    Pro-Russian narratives:
    The US must stop arming the Nazis in Ukraine
    Position:
    Democratic candidate for
    the US Congress from Kentucky

    Sare was a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche.

  66. 66.

    geg6

    @Origuy:

    Saw a headline for that earlier today and my first thought was, what the hell?  Is Cole wreaking international havoc now?

  67. 67.

    Origuy

    In Chrome, you can use Google Lens to translate the text in an image. Here’s the text for Diane Sare, Independent candidate for Senate from New York (not Democratic and not Kentucky.)

    Diane Cape (Diane Sare)
    Pro-Russian narratives:
    • It is necessary to stop the madness in Ukraine provoked by the USA
    • Zelensky is concerned only with his own satisfaction
    Position:
    ego, he doesn’t care about the food crisis
    • Ukraine demands more weapons and provokes the world into
    World War III
    Candidate for the post of US
    Senator from New York
    Geoff Young
    Pro-Russian narratives:
    The US must stop arming the Nazis in Ukraine
    Position:
    Democratic candidate for the US Congress from Kentucky

    Sare was a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche.

  68. 68.

    West of the Rockies

    @MisterDancer:

    Well, Freddie Da Bore certainly annoyed a lot of people here, but it was more his pompous “why use ten words when 150 will do?” style.

  69. 69.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: She’s strong and patient but she also struggles with saying no, setting boundaries and guilt.  All of which are exploited by her family.  They’ve been a major burden to her, all her life and she rightfully resents them for it.  They have their kind moments and she loves them because they are family, but otherwise they are kind of crappy and entitled people.

  70. 70.

    Origuy

    Sorry, I didn’t notice that Google Lens picked up the information for Geoff Young as well as Sare.

  73. 73.

    Nettoyeur

    I don’t thnk Luttwak should be on the Kremlin propagandist list, at least not anymore. In a June interview

    https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-war-luttwak-interview-putin-russia-plebiscite/31893485.html

    he was rooting for UKR to push to take back Kherson region and ultimately aim for a genunine intl plebiscite in the Donbas as an off ramp for Putin. I don’t know about the feasibility of latter, but the Kherson counter offensive does look to be going forward.

    He sees the idea for the war as the product of  bad intelligence, initially on both sides, but  US/UK/E. Europe wised up, while the Kremlin continues to guzzle poisonous Kool-Aid. He sees  naive, profit driven German policy as a key source of the whole mess.

  74. 74.

    Captain C

    @MisterDancer:

    Glenn Greenwald started his Substack by inveighing against trans rights and/or ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, is currently using it to direct harassment at a female New York Times reporter,

    If one is happy to attack trans people and actual civil liberties lawyers, but gleefully defend Nazis, I don’t think it’s free speech or the 1st Amendment that they’re really concerned with.

    (Granted, we here all pretty much knew this about him already).

  75. 75.

    catclub

    @Baud: and so the FED raises Interest rates rapidly.  recession by November? Usually voters make economic decisions based on conditions in the spring of the election year.

     

    I would hope that record low unemployment is considered a great thing. But the press screaming about inflation seems to value something else.

  79. 79.

    The Moar You Know

    Who else would you add to this list?

    Facebook and Twitter, for starters.  They know where their money is coming from.  Also Fox News as a whole.

  81. 81.

    WaterGirl

    I think PopeHat is on substack.  But yeah, I agree that it’s important to pay attention to where your money is going and what it (even inadvertently) supports.

  82. 82.

    bjacques

    I remember Edward Luttwak from the “Illuminatus!” trilogy, because an army officer  passed up for promotion overthrows the government by following the step by step instructions in Luttwak’s book “Coup d’Etat” (cue ‘80s punk band The Circle Jerks), on the island of Fernando Poo. (It’s off the coast of Equatorial Guinea and has a more suitable name now.) The book came out in the mid-1960s, so I’m surprised he’s still around.

     

    Yeah, Substack does seem to be full of writers who’ve managed to piss off every decent editor and publisher in the world but still found  an audience for their product.

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    @eclare:  Gifts can be tricky, though, and open to misinterpretation.

    A few years ago I gave my sister the “spark joy” anti-clutter book because I was so pleased with the results at my house.

    She was TOTALLY OFFENDED.

    I would worry about gifts like the watch or something else where the uncle could think “does she think I’m an invalid!!!”

  86. 86.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: The male punditry is underestimating the rage women feel about the Roe reversal. The news takes time to trickle down to the normies. The drip drip of stories about the negative consequences of Roe reversal has just started.

    Every fucking woman knows another one or is one whose life has been saved because procedures available to take care of pregnancies gone wrong.

    Before modern medicine childbirth was a risky event for most women.

  89. 89.

    Ohio Mom

    @schrodingers_cat: A chair exercise video/DVD? (Exercises you can do sitting down for people with mobility and balance issues). Lots of them on Amazon.

    Hard to make book suggestions when you don’t know the person’s interests, or what he’s already read. Does he do crossword puzzles in English, what about the NYT complimation?

    Safe travels to you!

  90. 90.

    Baud

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I hope so.  I’ve been wrong about expecting motivational outrage before. But Roe is at a whole other level so 🤞.

    I agree completely that our side often grossly underestimates how long it takes for information to penetrate the normie brain.

  95. 95.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    It’s the boring season for sports talk, so I’ve had CNBC on in the background as I go about my morning routines. I think most people would be surprised how they talk about low unemployment and higher wages (C-suite excluded, of course).

  96. 96.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: What happened to Savita Helpanwar (sp?) in Ireland is not that uncommon.  If Ireland didn’t have an abortion ban she would have been alive. Not helping miscarrying women until sepsis sets in is dangerous. I don’t think women want to die because of Alito’s religious beliefs.

  98. 98.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: It’s the same on-and-off issue as last night.  I am in communication with the devs about it. My gut says it’s the same issue we had on Balloon Juice shortly after the new site went up on Nov 13, 2019 and was resolved around Jan 8, 2020.

    I have shared my theory with them, and the info I could find in my notes about what the issue was and how it was resolved.

    I don’t think they are sold on that yet, but on the back end it’s TOTALLY doing the same thing it did then.  We’ll see.  If that’s not the issue now, I’m sure they’ll figure out what is.

  99. 99.

    Jinchi

    @kindness: Why isn’t Tucker Carlson listed on that tweet

    That was my first thought, too. Considering some of the obscure names on that list, they must know America’s top Putin propagandist. Especially since he’s celebrated on Russian TV.

    He’s conspicuous by his absence, which was pirobably the point. Being named on the list would have been a point of  status for him. Being off it means he’s beneath their notice.

    And what can he do? Complain that he was left off a list of Russian collaborators.

  102. 102.

    Baud

    @James E Powell:

    I think most people would be surprised how they talk about low unemployment and higher wages

    They as in CNBC?  I’d imagine they feel like someone stole their dog.

  104. 104.

    Fair Economist

    @dmsilev: Sounds like Mearsheimer was born in the wrong millennium. Too bad we can’t send him back to 1850 or so where he belongs.

  105. 105.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @West of the Rockies: That, and Freddie just wasn’t very original or smart. Because he lacked any actual life experience and didn’t know very many people, he thought he was both.

  106. 106.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Tony G:  My nominees are …   1) Chris Hedges.  2) Henry Kissinger (how is he possibly still alive?).  3) Gary Null.

    Kissinger’s still being alive also keeps alive my dim hopes that he will live long enough to be tried at The Hague.  And thanks for the info on Gary Null, I hadn’t heard of him before.

    Had to Google Hedges.  Looks like while he’s condemned Russia’s invasion, he’s very much in the camp of “the U.S. is bad, so it must’ve really been our fault.”  Chomsky Jr., basically.

  108. 108.

    Ohio Mom

    @UncleEbeneezer: Can’t the doctors give Dad something to um, relax him? I know, all sorts of legal barriers to that until someone (your wife?) gets Medical Power of Attorney over him.

  111. 111.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @eclare:Thx.  Just got an update that Mom is making more facial expressions and seems more “there” so that’s good.

  116. 116.

    Barbara

    @schrodingers_cat: Waiting for women to undergo sepsis is simply grotesque.  I found it almost impossible to read the details of what happened to Savita Halappanavar, but I did it just to understand the exceedingly low value these people assign to the lives of women.  Even if you survive a systemic life-threatening infection that is allowed to grow worse while they figure out whether it is bad enough to intervene, you are quite likely to suffer long-term consequences, including a heightened risk of infertility.  Halappanavar was 18 weeks pregnant — there is no fetus that will survive outside the uterus at 18 weeks.  They don’t care if women die if it helps them make a point.

  118. 118.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Nettoyeur: While Luttwak is shown on that Fox infographic, he does not appear on the UA govt’s list. So I don’t know where Fox came up with that.

  119. 119.

    Paul in KY

    @Jinchi: Very good point! Hopefully his handler is giving him shit about it & making the little twerp sweat a bit.

  120. 120.

    Soprano2

    @oatler: The human race seems to be showing an inclination toward autocracy.

    I heard a story about this the other day. They said that when it seems that democratically-elected governments can’t get anything done, people lean toward autocrats because at least then things happen, even if you don’t always like everything they do. That’s why the filibuster in the Senate is so dangerous, because it makes people feel that our government can’t take any action on important things.

  121. 121.

    Jinchi

    @Captain C: If one is happy to attack trans people and actual civil liberties lawyers, but gleefully defend Nazis,

    I continue to be shocked by people unaware of where they fit on the 21st Century version of the Niemoller list of targets.

    “First they came for the transgender woman, but I did not object ….”

    He has to know that married gay men are literally the next in line after that, doesn’t he?

  123. 123.

    Soprano2

    @schrodingers_cat: Before modern medicine childbirth was a risky event for most women.

    I heard an interview with a historian who said that before the 20th century the cemeteries were filled with the graves of women and children. That sentence really stuck with me, since our experience is that it’s not natural to lose a child. Before vaccines it was a somewhat normal experience to have a child die at a young age, and it also highlighted how childbirth was extremely dangerous for women. Nuns tended to live to an old age because for the most part they didn’t have babies.

    That story on NPR yesterday about the woman who had an 18-week miscarriage in Texas before Roe was overturned was a horror. There will be more and more stories like that one, and eventually a woman will die because a hospital is afraid to let a doctor treat her when she needs it. The idea of allowing any person to sue was diabolically clever, because that’s what these hospitals and doctors are really afraid of, and I doubt that their malpractice insurance will cover the cost of any of these lawsuits.

  124. 124.

    Another Scott

    @MisterDancer: Thanks.

    The apparent rush for people I regularly skimmed (Brad DeLong, nycsouthpaw, even Popehat) to nearly simultaneously throw something up there made me a little suspicious.  DeLong is sort of infamous for trying new things, but the rest haven’t done much with it that I can see.

    I agree with you that sites that overtly attract monsters aren’t worth spending time on – life is too short. It’s one of the reasons why I recently closed almost all my Twitter tabs (and never got an account).

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  127. 127.

    Paul in KY

    @Origuy: He was beat back in 2013 Gov primary by Lazy Jack Conway. That’s what helped get us 4 years of Bevin (Ick, little Lord Fauntleway being the loser that helped Bevin).

  128. 128.

    way2blue

    @SFAW: That’s how emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler) refers to Glenn Greenwald.  Calling him out & needling him is a pet project of hers…

  129. 129.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Yutsano: No its not a stupid question. Most Indian languages have joint letters (two letters joined together) that makes constructing a crossword a tad more challenging than say in English but it is not impossible.

    I used to do the daily crossword in Marathi in Maharashtra Times and the English one in ToI.

  132. 132.

    Ken

    @The Lodger: Tucker’s a journalist?

    No. This has been established legally, as a result of several lawsuits in which people sued Fox News for false reporting, and in which Fox’s (successful) defense was that their programs were not news reporting, but were opinion and editorial pieces.

  133. 133.

    Daoud bin Daoud

    @feebog: Luttwak is best known for his book “Coup d’État: A Practical Handbook” (1968), a lovingly conspiracy-toned treatise on coups d’etat. His career appears to have gone downhill precipitously.

  134. 134.

    Captain C

    @Jinchi:

    He has to know that married gay men are literally the next in line after that, doesn’t he?

    You would think, but either he’s convinced himself that he’s so useful that he’ll be one of the “good ones” who will be allowed to keep his rights and privileges, or he has a really nasty masochistic kink which he’s trying to inflict on the rest of the world instead of keeping it to himself.

    Or perhaps he figures that as long as he’s in Brazil, the bad guys can’t reach him (Narrator:  paging Bolonsaro, paging Bolonsaro…

    ETA:  Another option, possibly along with the above, is that Glem thinks that his riches will save him.

  136. 136.

    J R in WV

    Regarding sepsis, Wife suffered from pneumonia resulting in sepsis, was on a vent for nearly 4 weeks, had part of a lung removed which was necrotic, over 2 months in hospital. Serious stuff, cannot imagine Doctors being willing to force sepsis on a pregnant patient. It took months of P T for her to be mobile after getting out of hospital — she still had chest tubes here at home, I had a crash course in sucking chest wounds before they let me take her home.

    Regarding extremely dangerous reproductive events, my aunt had an agonizing ectopic pregnancy when I was quite young, so late to mid ’50s. She had prompt medical care in southern WV and recovered well enough to have a son, my youngest cousin, around 1960 or so. I’m not good about dates. These Theocratic Fascists would have killed her and I would be shy my only close relative still here in WV.
    Hoping for bad things to happen politically and personally to all of them.​

  137. 137.

    Geminid

    @Captain C: I have a theory that Putin told Bolsonaro, “lay off Greenwald, he’s one of ours.” Greenwald’s criticism of Bolsonaro is nominal.

  138. 138.

    Adam Lang

    @geg6: he blogs on a platform called substack, and “area —er” is a running joke from way back (most often found on the Onion), like “Area Man Thought He’d Squander His Life Differently.”

    And it abbreviates to ASS.

  140. 140.

    Suzanne

    @schrodingers_cat: Does he speak/read English? My husband has gotten some great games in the past few years — Machi Koro, the Forbidden games, Wingspan, Azul — but I don’t know what other languages they come in. Even Settlers of Catan might be really nice and it’s not complicated to learn.

    As for puzzles, I like the Ravensburger, Cavallini, and Liberty brands. There’s tons of graphics to choose from.

  141. 141.

    Gin & Tonic

    And, probably to nobody’s surprise, there’s talk of swapping Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner. This is almost certainly why they grabbed her.

  142. 142.

    sab

    @Barbara: I found out why Ohio doctors are running so scared. Kasich put Mike Gonidakis, head of Ohio Right to Lufe on the state medical board, even though he has no medical background. He’s an attorney and a political lobbyist. He has just completed two f8ve year terms and DeWibn just has or is about to appoint him to a third five year term.

    The local prosecutors may leave doctors alone, but the state medical board does not have their back in Ohio.

  143. 143.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Suzanne: Does he speak/read English?

    Yes of course. So could my great grandfather (he worked for the Port Authority (Bombay Port Trust) over a century ago.) We are nth generation Mumbaikars n>= 4. Knowing English was essential to get a salaried job in Mumbai/Bombay.

    Thanks for your suggestions about games/puzzles. I appreciate it.

  144. 144.

    Tony G

    @Gin & Tonic: I hope that after Griner is freed, every athlete (really everyone in any capacity) in the world will know not to set foot in Russia.  If Putin insists on acting like a pariah, the rest of the world should certainly treat him like one.

  145. 145.

    horatius

    @Violet: there’s a sudoku community on youtube called Cracking the Cryptic. Your mom will love their daily videos.

  146. 146.

    horatius

    @Violet: there’s a sudoku community on youtube called Cracking the Cryptic. Your mom will love their daily videos.

  147. 147.

    gvg

    @Soprano2: Health insurance costs for women of childbearing age is going to shyrocket in red states and fewer doctors and hospitals will server childbirth.  Those forced birthers are about to find out some serious unintended consequences and might even experience a DROP in childbirths at least in their states. People aren’t going to be able to afford it.  This is going to be like back when personal injury and medical malpractice lawsuits took off way way back.  Only a lot stupider.

    Insurance companies are going to start trying to get through to these politicians. The religion thinks its more important than business but people get scared of big bills.

  148. 148.

    Tony G

    @Captain C: Greenwald hasn’t lived in the United States in years.  He couldn’t care less about Americans, gay or straight.  He’s living in a luxury gated property with private security in Brazil.  He’ll be fine (or so he thinks).

  149. 149.

    Tony G

    @gvg: Very true, but I think that the suffering and death of women are an intended consequence, not an unintended one.

  151. 151.

    beckya57

    @dmsilev: yes this is correct.  Isaac Chotiner did one of his devastation specials on him a few months ago.  Sorry to say Mearshimer works at my alma mater (U Chicago) 😩

  156. 156.

    Mark Regan

    @beckya57: As Chotiner devastation specials go, I think Mearsheimer comes out of it fairly well.

    The first paragraph of Mearsheimer’s obituary will say that he was the co-author of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, and maybe the obituary will be all about that.

    I understand why he’s on the Ukrainians’ shit list, but he’s not as noxious as most of the others on that list.

  157. 157.

    The Pale Scot

    @Ohio Mom:

    Old ad;

    Sometimes ill-tempered old folks get too agitated and threaten you with canes. That’s why sometimes the best solution is a good old fashioned thorazine pill, or a barbiturate elixir.

  158. 158.

    Kalakal

    @schrodingers_cat: For crossword fans the internet is heaven. There’s an insane amount available. If he prefers/likes the English style cryptic crosswords the Guardian, Torygraph, and Independent are all free. Any tablet will do. If he has a printer he can print them off so he can do the ink bit, I do that now and again, it’s an aesthetic thing. These days if you have an interest there’ll be online forums/groups dedicated to it. I’m sure he can find a zillion scrabble opponents.

  160. 160.

    Gin & Tonic

    @WaterGirl: Bout is a Russian arms dealer. You can look him up more quickly than I can transcribe his resume. He’s currently living in US Gov’t housing.

  161. 161.

    Nettoyeur

    @Dmbeaster: I took a look at the March interview with Mearsheimer in the New Yorker. Looks like history is already proving him wrong. Putin is so trying to wipe out Ukraine as a nation and a people, it is not just the Donbas.  Just watch a bit of Russian TV and biased man on the street interviews. Those of us who happen to speak Russian have known this for a while, but more subtitled videos are making more widely accessible. Ukrainians are Nazi Monsters who all deserve to die. Far beyond a bit of geopolitical maneuvering and lots more like Adolf you know who.

  162. 162.

    Tony G

    @Nettoyeur: That’s right.  The invasion — sorry, the “Special Military Operation” — never had anything to do with the Donbas.  It think that it was noteworthy that in the speech Putin gave shortly before the invasion he skipped the traditional “issuing of an ultimatum”.  There was no final warning to the government of Ukraine to the effect of “You must do x, y and z, otherwise we will, regrettably, have to launch our “Special Operation”.  Instead there was a lot of gibberish about how Ukraine is really part of Russia.  (By that logic, Germany had a right to invade France in 1940, give the fact the the Franks were a Germanic tribe.).  It’s just depressing to see the reaction of “intellectuals” justifying this brutal invasion.

  163. 163.

    Tony G

    @Nettoyeur: And, by the way, Mariupol is predominantly Russian speaking.  This was NEVER about “protecting the Russian speakers in Ukraine”.

  166. 166.

    wRog

    @Another Scott:  Re DeLong, PopeHat, etc…:

    I’ll have to admit I myself never thought of SubStack as a monster farm before today, because I didn’t know.  (And if you don’t subscribe to Certain People then it’s not obvious, and I especially didn’t know about the backers).

    It’s possible they didn’t know either.

  167. 167.

    Nettoyeur

    @Tony G:  I understand that in majority Russian speaking places in E. Ukraine, what they speak is called “Surzhyk” which is Russian with Ukrainian vocabulary added. I was in Kharkiv a few times, and heard some of this. You are listening along in Russian, and all of a sudden there’s a word you don’t know, and it turns out to be Ukrainian. I remember being with colleagues…when this happened, someone would say “you are using Ukrainian, he (me) doesn’t know that word.”

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