Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Motown is Joe-Town!

When the time comes to make an endorsement, the pain of NYT editors will be palpable as they reluctantly whisper “Biden.”

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

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

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

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56Comments

  1. 1.

    bjacques

    I guess the confusion, possibly deliberate, about the Gaza hospital explosion over on Xitter belongs here. Does anyone know if the Israeli Air Force bombs Gaza at night? If they really don’t care about collateral damage, it still seems counterproductive, as they’d get less shock ‘n’ awe out of doing that. I reckon satellite imagery and forensic architects might have some answers for us after sunrise.

  4. 4.

    Aussie Sheila

    The tech bros currently pretending to be the 21st century version of the Carnegies and Mellons are out of their minds. Most sane people hate them and recognise their current impunity lies with national governments by and large too cowardly and bought to stand up to them.

    No one loves them.

    Governments around the world who are committed to an informed and free polity should smack down these A holes right quick. In fact, a good proxy for a decent Democrat would be where they stand on disciplining these Bros. I know some ‘liberal’ Dems are close to these Aholes. From where I stand politically, they need to be reigned in, in a manner they preserves safety, particularly children’s safety, and an informed electorate that doesn’t permit foreign bots to flood the zone with fascist and stupid garbage.

    I distrust so called ‘progressive Dems’ that are close to Silicon Valley.
    SV is just another money making machine, no different than the robber barons of a previous era.

    California is no good as Democratic redoubt if it can’t or won’t, reign them in. They are a global menace.

  8. 8.

    Aussie Sheila

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    Good. He is a very brave man to go there and he should be applauded for it.
    Now he has to ensure that the US’s enduring fascination and love for Israel bears some weight when it comes to reigning in Israeli fascists. I am sick and tired of the US infatuation with Israel.

    It has done nothing except breed the very worst in both Israel and authoritarian Arab governments, Sunni and Shia throughout the world. Enough already!

    If Biden can pull in Israeli fascism he will earn the enduring gratitude of the whole world, not just people who are sick and tired of the excuses offered to successive Israeli governments by successive U.S. governments/administrations.

    Just for clarification for any who are determined to misread comments on this situation. I abhor proxy terrorist organisations, and I am under no illusions regarding Hamas, Herzbollah or any other proxy militias parading as friend of the Palestinians who actually don’t give give a damn.
    Liberation movements they aren’t.

    But Israel needs to be reigned in. And fast.

    After all, what’s the point of being the worlds hegemon if you can’t control your friends?

  11. 11.

    Aussie Sheila

    @p.a.:

    I am not putting the whole responsibility on Biden. He is the best US President in my political lifetime, as I keep saying on this blog.

    But the US is, like it or not, the most powerful support for whatever Israel does. And has been for my lifetime. And I am over 70 years old.

    I am tired of it. Sick and tired of it. If the US can’t reign the Israeli government in, it means they can act with impunity. Just like Russia.

    Only worse, because no sane leftist supports Russia, but plenty of sane and seasoned leftists like myself, support Palestinian rights to self determination, and recognise that unstinting US support for whatever Israel wants to do has led to the current nightmare.

    Understanding that no one except Hamas and Iran is responsible for the terrible massacres and hostage taking of innocent Israelis that occurred last week. There can be no ‘what about ism’ about terrorist atrocities as occurred last week in Israel.

    Nor can there be excuses for Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.

    I am fed up with the US gaga about Israel. Enough!

  13. 13.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: I’m confus-ed too, but whatever.  I just wish one of my neighbors across the way didn’t have to reinflate their air mattress every 40 minutes.  Can’t make for good sleep.

  15. 15.

    sab

    Pedanting here: rein not reign? Rein in, as to stop or control a horse. Reign, as to rule as royalty.

  17. 17.

    Aussie Sheila

    @sab:

    Whatevs. So a spelling mistake is the most important point to be made? The US centre left needs to get a grip. There is no centre left plurality in the democratic ‘west’ that unstintingly supports Israel like the U.S. centre left.  The Israeli state exists. That is a given and can’t and shouldn’t be undone. But beyond that the Settlements, and the Gaza open air prison needs to be abolished. How the the US centre left deals with that I don’t  know.
    But I do know my own political community.
    Support for Israel is at rock bottom, as is any support for the atrocities committed by Iran and Saudi proxies like Hamas and Herzbellah.

    Hopes that  assists.

  18. 18.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Aussie Sheila:

    Support for Israel is at rock bottom, as is any support for the atrocities committed by Iran and Saudi proxies like Hamas and Herzbellah.

    Couple of quibbles here:

    1. I don’t know that support for Israel (which is generally never defined by politicians) is at “rock bottom”.  Personally, I distinguish between the people of Israel and the gov’t of Israel although others thoughout the US political/ideological spectrum do conflate the two.  In any case, I’d respectfully request you support that with some evidence or caveat as being your opinion.

    2. Generally speaking, both Hamas and Hezbollah are supported by Iran, not Saudi Arabia.  This has more to do with this Shia/Sunni schism in Islam than anything else.  That’s not to say the Saudis may not be meddling but Iran is the 800-lb gorilla here.

  20. 20.

    p.a.

    @Aussie Sheila: I agree.  It would be interesting to see the Dem Party in the US take an actual hard line against Israeli aggression.  And by “interesting” I mean electoral suicide.  This is my personal take, there are others here more involved and much brighter on American politics who can weigh in.  Maybe I’m wrong but this is one case where I’m confident.

  21. 21.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Nukular Biskits:

    I know the political community of which I am a part. The official government position of Australia is one thing. It doesn’t represent popular centre left views. Understanably.

    No Australian government can afford to buck the US. Unfortunately.

    However, don’t mistake official government pronouncements for popular feelings. That is a mistake the US can make in respect of Arab authoritarian governments it supports. It’s not one it can confidently make make in respect of real democracies.

    Thanks.

  22. 22.

    Aussie Sheila

    @p.a.:

    I see your dilemma. Opposing Israel aggression against occupied Palestinians in the occupied territories and opposing the open air prison that is Gaza would be electoral suicide? I understand. So how about the US centre left bends its mind and power to solving this issue?

    I have no truck with reactionary Arab governments, (let alone their proxy militias) but again, to beat a dead horse, I am sick and tired of US centre left infatuation with Israel and its by now, fascist plurality.

    I am not a lone voice on this. Make no mistake. I am a committed leftist, but not anti Israel as such. However, enough is enough.
    The US is at risk of squandering global goodwill on a polity that is demonstrably unable to reign in fascist elements. Just like the US itself. Many governments, my own included must and should, take Arab communities views into account when they act.

    Do not mistake official pronouncements as popular opinion.

    Even in ‘loyal’ Australia. Especially on this issue.

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    @Aussie Sheila: I don’t know anything about Israeli politics, and I’ve seen Netanyahu resurrect his disastrous (for his country and those who interact with it) political career too often to doubt that he can do it again. That said, I’m not seeing the typical “rally around the leader” effect happening in Israel in the wake of the Hamas atrocities.

    From what I read, I get the impression most Israelis are furious, and maybe after the immediate crisis is over, Israelis will deal with the anti-democratic right-wing government that has been actively making peace with their neighbors impossible for a very long time. Notice I said maybe — I have no idea what will happen. I suppose it could just as easily go the other way, as it did here in the U.S. after 9/11.

    But I think the opportunity is there. It’s here too. Religious fanatics and authoritarians are an obstacle to peace and freedom everywhere. We have to confront them.

  24. 24.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Betty Cracker:

    Hi Betty, and can I say I love your linguistic facility with Eff wits!

    I agree about Israeli political conundrums. However I don’t know how many US lefties understand how relentless the pressure is in satellite polities to fall in line with the US hegemon.

    Australia is the most multi cultural country on earth. Look it up. No, I am not going to supply Eff wits with the stats .

    Australia is host to hundreds of thousands of Arabic, Muslim and Palestinian communities. We also have compulsory voting, and preferential voting.

    That means the automatic pro Israeli bent of the US centre left cuts no ice here.

    The US centre left has a lot to deal with. I sympathise,

    But its reflexive pro Israeli positioning is all its own fault.
    Biden is doing his bit.

    The best the  US centre left can do is support him, and defend those Dems who object to Israeli attempts to hide what their governments have been doing for my lifetime.

  25. 25.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Aussie Sheila:

    Really quick (about to head out the door to work):

    Don’t necessarily disagree.

    Didn’t realize when you meant “left”, you were referring to left Down Under (although that should have been obvious … duh!).

    The mistake multiple US gov’ts have made is siding with Israeli gov’t (not people), regardless of their policies, some of which border on outright apartheid, ethnic cleansing and/or genocide.

    Having said that, those of us here on the US left should not allow support for Palestinian civilians and a 2-state solution to be conflated with support for Hamas, etc. Unfortunately, there appears to be a tiny minority here who do support the actions of Hamas and see them as justified.  Likewise, “conservatives” should be honest enough to admit that Israeli gov’t policies have a contributing/causal relationship to the actions of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

    Later!

  26. 26.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: The Israeli newspaper Haaretz* had an article yesterday about Likud members saying that Netanyahu must go, that his alliance with political arsonists Smotrich and Ben-Gvir and their racist party is a disaster for Israel and also for their party. These Likudniks singled out the radical MKs in their own party and said they must go too.

    It’s not clear how much reorganization can or will occur while this war continues. But this war will be over in weeks, not months, and Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir will face their political reckoning then.

    Ed. A poll taken a couple days ago indicated that  80% of Israelis want Netanyahu booted when this war is over.

    *Haaretz is a very old and liberal newspaper that is probably the best of all Israeli news sites, especially on national security matters. They are the only big media site in that nation to thoroughly cover conditions among the people in the Gaza and the West Bank, and the injustices they endure. Those stories often are not paywalled like other content, but right now it seems like all Haaretz articles are not paywalled.

  27. 27.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Nukular Biskits:

    Stop being bamboozled by a minority. Who cares what some loon thinks about how many rights Palestinians should have? Stand up for what is right . The problem is there is no real ‘left’ in the US. Only a bunch of cringy apologists for whatever a US government does, varying only whether it is a Democratic government or a Republican, or a bunch of lunatics known as the US Greens or various Eff knuckles posing as political alternatives to the Rs or Ds .

    All of them makes any lefty from any other country either laugh or cry.

     

    Your polity is truly dismal.

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    @Aussie Sheila: Our polity does not seem dismal to me. Problematic to be sure, but not dismal. And right now the trends are good I think, and this war does not change my opinion.

  29. 29.

    Trivia Man

    Elephant in the room: Arab governments in the region. The best time for a 2 state solution was immediately after WWII when the Jewish homecoming started.

     

    I am not an expert, but my shallow understanding is that the surrounding countries refused to be generous to the Palestinians or even take the new “Israel” seriously. But they waited too long to extinguish the Zionist experiment and got their clocks cleaned in the 6 day war and so forth.

    I completely understand why the neighbors are so leery (ask Jordan!) but that IMHO ties back to conflating “Palestinians “ with Hamas. My first pass litmus test: any leader, organization, or government that calls for the destruction of Israel and/ or extermination of the Jews does not get a seat at the table. Period.

    starting from there … (step 2)…. eventually step 3 is a viable solution that brings peace. Thanks Aussie S for articulating my position,

  32. 32.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Geminid:

    I have no quarrel with you. You are a Dem partisan, and I approve of partisans, even if I disagree with them ideologically.

    What I am trying to say  is that it is a mistake for US centre leftists to impose their reflexive pro Israel bias on the rest of the global centre left. I am a left wing member of  the Australian Labor Party . I support Israel’s right to exist, because it is a State with 10 million citizens and what has been done can’t be undone without unfathomable consequences for innocent people,

    But make no mistake. I do not support Israeli policies towards the occupied territories or the creation of an open air prison in Gaza.

    And what the US centre left needs  to understand is neither do most centre left pollies in Oz.

    Forget what government spokespersons say for the record.

    No Australian Politician representing an ALP voting electorate will be supporting US  policy on Palestine. Nor will any Green voting electorate.

    But Australian government statements will be full of the usual pablum. Take no notice.

    The ALP relies on Muslim votes in a number of key electorates. Rightly so.

    If Biden or any other blabbering US pro Israeli pol thinks that Australian governments are going to risk their majority to prop  up a fascist Israeli government, tell them they’re dreaming.

  33. 33.

    Aussie Sheila

    Oh, and before I forget. The UK Labour Party position on this calamity is execrable.

    See, in Oz we have compulsory, preferential voting. Unlike in the UK. Starmer and Opposition FP spokesperson Lammy’s position is simply terrible. And not reflective of their electorate.

    The Anglo Sphere has a lot to atone for. Two wars in the ME in the last 35 years, the occupation and abandonment of Afghanistan when it became inconvenient, and the ruination of secular governments across the region for the last  60 years.

    Spare me the tears. Imperialism always comes home to roost.

  35. 35.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @bjacques: I guess the confusion, possibly deliberate, about the Gaza hospital explosion over on Xitter belongs here

    Both the Israeli and the Palestinian propaganda is simply crude vilification of the other side and scolding anyone who doesn’t agree with them wholeheartedly. It looks like booth groups are using the same bot farms.  It’s quite the contrast to the Ukrainians’.

  36. 36.

    Geminid

    @Trivia Man: In sddition to Israel’s Arab neighbors  Turkiye is a major power in the Eastern Mediterranean. Turks are not Arabs, and they often emphasize this!

    Turkiye has a population of 85 million educated people, Nato’s 2nd largest Army, 3rd largest Air Force and a good-sized Navy trained and equipped to Nato standards.

    Most of the last decade, Turkiye’s prickly President Erdogan had everyone in the region mad at him, with the exception of Qatar and Algeria. But since 2020 he has mended relations with the UAE, the Saudis, Israel and Egypt.

    After Erdogan won reelection last May, he appointed a new Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan. Mr. Fidan served 11 years as the head of the M.I.T. (Turkiye’s intelligence agency) and is a familiar face to the region’s governments. He also has the trust and confidence of his President.

    The 2021 Gaza War was ended after 11 days, with Qatari mediation. Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye will probably play key roles in ending this one. So I am keeping my eye on Mr. Fidan.*

    *Fun Fidan facts: Hakan Fidan spent 15 years as a noncom in the Turkish Army, and while he was posted with a Nato command in Germany he earned a degree in Political Science from the University of Maryland Global Campus. He later taught at an Istanbul University until Erdogan made him a trusted troubleshooter in 2005. Fidan looks like a retired NFL Tight End, and his father is Kurdish.

  37. 37.

    Geminid

    @Aussie Sheila: Someone cannot have misconceptione when they don’t even have conceptions to begin with. You likely will not be surprised when I tell you that most Americans pay little or no arrention to anybody or anything in the larger world. We barely pay attention to people and events in Mexico and Canada.

  38. 38.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @sab: thank you so much- my inner pedant has been screaming, even as the rest of me’s been nodding along with Aussie Sheila.

  39. 39.

    JML

    @Aussie Sheila: the politics are a little more complex in the US for the Democrats, in part because of a significant rise in antisemitism over the past 10-20 years domestically, including violent attacks, in ways that a lot of people had thought had been stamped out. And the Israel-Palestine question ends up being used in some proxy aspects that make the domestical politics more difficult to navigate with any nuance. It’s not just a foreign policy question and hasn’t been for a while. The deeply corrupt and fascist Netanyahu government in Israel is a massive problem for Democrats in the US, and that cockroach just won’t seem to die.

    I get that US support for Israel is problematic for Australia as a matter of foreign policy, but all of it is a problem for Democrats who are fighting off the rise of a fascist right wing politic with their two hands, and quite literally a miss in the next presidential election could end the US as a democratic state, so your foreign policy issues aren’t exactly a priority.

  40. 40.

    evodevo

    @sab: ​
      Thanks…that always bugs the heck out of me – especially since I bred and trained horses for 50 years lol

  41. 41.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Josh Marshall’s comments about the Hospital over at twitter (yes, it’s Twitter, deal with it)

    https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1714611504513782048

    Two quotes stand out to me

    In fact I’m not sure any are saying it’s open and shut. That’s a high standard. But I think every one is saying the evidence points to some version of a failed rocket launch from within Gaza. And this with varying degrees of certainty. What I’ve also seen this morning …

    It’s worth noting that there were very large and very round numbers circulated almost immediately yesterday afternoon (US time) vastly faster than it would ever be possible to actually count numbers …

    Yes, I know I am dumb American who doesn’t understand anything, Josh Marshall is a wrong thinker and worst yet, he relies on the experts, I mean seriously? Obviously, we got to do the right thing, by the right thing, I mean run with our first emotional response and ignore the endless stream of bullshit we’ve been getting the last forty years.  But it does look like one of Hama’s rockets missed Israel instead blew up some Palestinians, so Hamas did some Kevin McCarthy level bullshit and blamed Israel for their own incompetence. I know this fantastical claim, after all Iran and China are noted for their fine quality control standards and how could a militia made up of a crazed religious fanatics possibly screw up?  Remember Star Wars, do the plucky rebels in Star Wars fuck up and accidentally blow up civilians, NO!  If Hollywood taught humanity anything, it’s plucky rebels are never incompetent.

  42. 42.

    gvg

    @Aussie Sheila: The problem is Israel’s more than ours. Interfering in another democracy’s election choices has never gone well for us and we object when others do it to us so…we kind of have to make the best of what choices they make.

    They have kept making IMO bad ones for quite some time, so we don’t have as much control over the world as the world imagines. There are limits to power.

    There also is the problem that the Palestinians do not have a party or leadership with enough support that they could be negotiated with for any kind of solution that would calm things down totally.  In fact, I don’t think they have anyone at all right now, but even if they did, no one will be able to get incidents down to zero, and the hardliners (both sides) will keep using them to ratchet things back up. So peace will be hard to maintain, and I don’t even know what it would look like.

    Back here in the US, we have ALOT of hardliners too and they vote. You are pointing at our left/democrats for not “doing something to rein in Israel”, when we are barely hanging on to sort of control of our country and worried about it. We can’t do anything too radical right now that might lose a percent of our voters. And yes not supporting Israel might do that. So we have to “support” them cleverly, with strings, because there are also people in our voting coalition who won’t support genocide…..

    Blunt talk about not supporting Israel is not in the cards. Especially now when we have an antisemitism problem returning among a lot of bigots who are not subtle thinkers and don’t do nuance.

  43. 43.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Aussie Sheila: By your statements here, Australia has established a *multicultural democracy,* and taking you at your word that means you don’t have a political party dedicated to ensuring that part of your electorate has no voice.

    You have a “multicultural democracy,” while we are still dealing with the effects of the Enslavement and Jim Crow.

    You have a multicultural democracy, while we are still trying to establish one. One that white supremacy is LITERALLY working to overthrow as I type.

    I don’t think you understand the depth of our problems from your lofty perch.

  45. 45.

    Yarrow

    @Aussie Sheila:

    Australia is the most multi cultural country on earth. Look it up. No, I am not going to supply Eff wits with the stats .

    Who exactly are these “Eff wits” you are referring to? The people who read and comment here, who would be the only people seeing your comment? That group does include you.

  46. 46.

    Princess

    @Yarrow: And WTH does “most multicultural” even mean? How do you measure quantities of cultures? Most kebab shops? Most Tamil dance troupes? It’s nonsense.

  48. 48.

    Aussie Sheila

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Yes, indeed.I have already alluded to that and remarked that no polity can claim political ‘purity’ especially ones that returned a vote like the Oz electorate last Saturday.

    Nevertheless, don’t mistake the referendum failure, bad as it was, for endorsement of US policies towards Palestinians or reflexive support for Israel.

    It’s not.

    My worry is that official Oz policy often sounds like reflexive support for Israel. It’s not really. For reasons grounded in basic electoral politics here. However Oz governments like the sound of their own voices reflected in the ‘big boys’ media, and rarely reflect on the electoral consequences until it’s too late.

    Eff Hamas, and eff Israeli right wing governments. A pox on the lot of them.

  49. 49.

    Joey Maloney

    “Fixing” Israel is not going to be as simple as the US wagging a finger at it. The problem is that Bibi has spent the past 20+ years doing the same thing Trump did for four: gain power by dividing people, shattering norms, and encouraging the erosion of civic institutions and civil society. This process has culminated with him forming the current government by inviting the Kahanists into his coalition, people who as recently as two years prior were absolute anathema and considered beyond the pale of Israeli political discourse.

    As a result the society is under enormous stress right now, even before Hamas launched their massacre. There’s a lot of anger bubbling up against the government for failing to protect the citizenry, being met by equal anger (and some violence) from people fed on a 20 year steady diet of “leftists are the enemy, they want to destroy Israel”.

    As in the USA, that all makes any kind of progress a hell of a lot more difficult.

  50. 50.

    Paul in KY

    @Aussie Sheila: Pres. Biden is mighty, but Likud Israel is a whole nother country and I think you overestimate his powers (or the powers of any other US president).

  51. 51.

    Geminid

    This  morning’s Politico Playbook had another article about the Republican Speaker fight. This one is tiled, “The Revolt pf the Squishes.”

    There was an observation about the 20 anti-Jordan voters: while some were “junior frontliners” like Jen Kiggans (VA), Mike Lawler (NY) and Lori Chavis-Remer (OR), they “were backed up by a cadre of powerful House veterans.” These included Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger, and sbcommittee “cardinals” Mario Diaz-Balart (FL), Mike Simpson (ID) and Steve Womack (AR).

    The writers also quoted a Jordan supporter saying, “It took McCarthy 15 ballots; we’re only at one. This may be a waiting game.” That could incentive soft Jordan supporters to bail on him in the second round of voting, in order to end his candidacy ASAP.

    I guess we’ll know that by noon, because today’s session is scheduled to begin at 11am.

  55. 55.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @schrodingers_cat: I’ll give Aussie Sheila this, she seems to be quite the booster of her country.  The question of whether Australian solutions to our problems are appropriate and/or feasible is, of course, unresolved.

  56. 56.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Now I hear the 11am House session is postponed. I am reminded of baseball manager Casy Stengel’s plaintive question:

    “Can anybody here play this game?”

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