Because we all need a laugh to start the week: Insert your favorite “When a […….] is exposed to a different opinion” meme…
— cats with powerful auras (@catshouldnt) May 5, 2024
… Right now, I’d choose ‘NYTimes pundit‘, but I’m sure the meme has many excellent uses.
Remember, sharing is caring!
Wages are rising faster than prices, incomes are higher than before the pandemic, and unemployment has remained below 4% for the longest stretch in 50 years.
We have more to do to lower costs for hardworking families, but we’re making real progress.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 5, 2024
President Biden followed through on his vow to veto a Republican-backed measure that would have repealed a US labor board rule treating companies as the employers of many of their contract and franchise workers https://t.co/aFcrPUmLHc pic.twitter.com/H2JBrh3pKz
— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) May 3, 2024
Biden has rebuilt the refugee system after Trump-era cuts. What comes next in an election year? https://t.co/2HRdklFUlx
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 5, 2024
… If President Joe Biden meets his target of 125,000 refugees admitted this year, it would be the highest number of arrivals in more than three decades.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in a 2020 rematch with Biden this fall, has pledged to bar refugees from Gaza and reinstate his Muslim ban if elected, while also putting in place “ideological screening” for all immigrants. Trump’s website highlights his first-term decision to temporarily suspend the refugee program.
Even with immigration — legal or not — a divisive campaign issue, many who help refugees settle in the United States say the growing numbers of refugees have been generally welcomed by communities and employers in need of workers…
For decades, America led the world in refugee admissions in a program that had wide bipartisan support. Trump cut the program to the quick. By the time he left office in January 2021, he had set a record low goal of 15,000 refugees admitted a year. But even that mark wasn’t hit: Only 11,814 refugees came to the U.S. in Trump’s last year, compared with 84,994 at the end of the Obama administration.
Biden said he would reestablish the U.S. as a haven for refugees. It took a while.
His administration is now admitting more refugees and added about 150 new resettlement sites nationwide, said Sarah Cross, deputy assistant secretary for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.
To reach a goal of 125,000 refugees admitted this year — the highest number since 1992 — the department has been increasing its overseas processing and making changes that streamline all the checks refugees undergo while keeping screening rigorous, Cross said. It has hired more staff and is doing more trips to interview prospective refugees overseas…
We now have two polls this week showing large Biden leads with likely voters:
ABC News 49%-45% (+4)
NPR/Marist 52%-47% (+5)
Long way to go, lots of work to do, but in every way imaginable right now I’d much rather be us than them. More 👇https://t.co/tyLglDsv3f— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) May 5, 2024
Well I’m sure the RNC will use its ready cash on hand to get those non-voters registered, and those non-voters turned out, right?
— The Fig Economy (@figgityfigs.bsky.social) May 5, 2024 at 10:21 AM
BOOM: Democratic rising star Jared Moskowitz showcases his competence by exposing James Comer and Jim Jordan as frauds.
He “slammed” the Republican committee for wasting taxpayer money on false attempts to impeach Biden – a must-see! pic.twitter.com/1222l51HjA
— Popular Liberal ???? (@PopularLiberal) May 3, 2024
On The Road – Albatrossity – Spring in the Heartland – 2
Baud
And that’s why Biden must go.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Indeed! How are rich people and big corporations going to be able to treat workers as serfs if there are plenty of other jobs available? Gotta do something about this right away!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
The veto of that heinous House bill on the labor board is Example 1,483.52 as to why Biden is easily the best labor president since Truman.
Scout211
This is good:
Doug Emhoff plans to hold an event this week to urge men to advocate for abortion rights.
TIL about Men4Choice, a men’s advocacy group for abortion rights. This is good news.
Baud
Given that public opinion on immigration (and refugees) is not with us, this is remarkable.
Baud
I posted a different picture of this guy yesterday, but happy to re-up because it’s hilarious.
Mousebumples
@Scout211: thanks for sharing!
Baud
@Scout211:
Everyone talks about DeSantis, and Kemp’s ban flies under the radar.
TBone
😆 The Lincoln Project has another ad designed to get under Trump’s orange skin.
https://crooksandliars.com/2024/05/trump-diapers-when-youre-losing-your-sht
dmsilev
Look, the RNC invited in that family of ambulatory tapeworms, and now they get to live with it.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: It is remarkable, but I wouldn’t shout it from the rooftops if I were the admin since they’re cross-wise with the general public on immigration. Biden won’t be able to get any meaningful reform done as long as Repubs hold power in either chamber. I hope Dems keep emphasizing that the House GOP rejected a bipartisan bill so Trump could demagogue the issue.
tjmn
@Baud:
That picture is now the image on my desktop. Thank you!
p.a.
It got through the Senate!?!?
Baud
@p.a.:
Not subject to filibuster.
New Deal democrat
@Baud: I’m sorry, but I really have to take issue with this.
Do Democrats really not get it that if the economy for average people were doing as well as your comment implies, that Biden would be leading in a landslide?
Paul Krugman can write about “vibe-cessions” till the cows come home, but the fact is, even leaving GOPers out of the consumer sentiment data, people do not feel the economy is doing all that well.
By some measures, real inflation adjusted wages are still lower than they were in 2020-21. And they’ve retreated for the last three months. Data:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1nbjO
And real median household income, measured monthly, until March was stuck at 2019 levels for the past 3 years (source: Motio Research).
And housing affordability remains close to its all-time worst levels. (Source: Housing Affordability Index).
The lowest quintile of workers has done very well under Biden. That’s terrific. But politically you need to be sure over 50% have done better. Until recently, they haven’t (even though some of that like gas prices and Fed rate hikes aren’t really under his control).
Pretending that Americans will come around on the economy by Election Day, without further progress, is just whistling past the graveyard.
Fake Irishman
@p.a.:
Yes. You are seeing Schumer allow a few of these to come up for a vote.
There are usually a few Dems who are jerks (Manchin) or need inoculation in a tight election race (occasionally Tester, tho he didn’t cross on this one) who vote yes.
Dems know that Biden will veto, and in return for giving the GOP a symbolic win on the Senate floor, they likely get more expedited votes on a few judges (better unanimous consent agreements) or perhaps another concession in negotiations on unrelated legislation.
Ken
To top off the good news with some schadenfreude, the publisher of Noem’s book has announced that (at her request) they are removing a passage and will issue a reprint. The passage is the one where she claimed to have met Kim Jong Un, which as quite a few people noted, never happened.
My favorite reaction so far:
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@New Deal democrat:
That’s fine. The voters can do what they want. I’m not going to stop praising Biden’s achievements in advancing liberal economics.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
zhena gogolia
@TBone: I saw that the other day — I didn’t want to watch it, but it’s surprisingly clever and funny.
Ken
I assume I’m not the only one who thinks “we let these live in our houses?!?” every time I see a cat that’s just had a bath?
WereBear
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: One of the things I really like about him.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ken:
Her doubling-down and lame justifications are worthy of the loudest, snortiest guffaws you can muster. She’s so awful it’s mesmerising. Here are some clips from yesterdays Face the Nation that Digby highlighted.
Geminid
@Ken: The problem is that George Santos set up the Noem/Kim meeting but now he won’t confirm it.
JPL
@zhena gogolia: If trump thought he could make a few dollars, he’d sell them and the maga cult member would buy them.
WereBear
@Ken: She didn’t lie about the dog and the goat. Can’t sue her…
RevRick
@Scout211: Back in the 70s and early 80s there was an ad hoc interfaith group called the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, to which I leant my name. It became moribund when it seemed that Roe v. Wade was here to stay, but also because many of the mainline Protestant churches and Jewish groups that were its backbone turned into the insular concerns of survival.
TBone
@zhena gogolia: sharing is caring 😆 Anything that will further upset him during his trials and tribulations is AOK with me.
TBone
@SiubhanDuinne: I watched that whole thing yesterday, then Senator Fetterman came on afterwards snickering and laughing. When asked why, “That interview…” 😆
New Deal democrat
@Baud: Praise is fine. But at the same time, it needs to be done with eyes wide open.
Baud
@New Deal democrat:
Agreed. And there’s no iron law of nature that says that voters can’t prefer right wing trickle down economics to liberal economics. As someone who believes in democracy, I will respect the voters’ choice.
catclub
The target audience for all those Lincoln Project ads seems to be people like BJ readers. It is not at all clear they do anything for undecided voters. Suppose I have an ad that makes trump crazy but does not win any new voters? What is the point?
jonas
It’s a bizarre situation because what they say to pollsters and what their behavior shows is often diametrically opposed. Everyone supposedly feels like we’re in a bad recession, but vacation spots are booked solid, airlines are seeing record bookings and profits, Vegas and sports betting are raking it in. Until last month, even auto sales were up over 2022-23. Those aren’t things people do when they’re really suffering financially.
I think housing remains the big elephant in the room. Rent and mortgages and home prices really are too high for most people to afford comfortably and this is making them feel like their general financial situation is more precarious than the numbers suggest. Absent some major new housing initiative like the government promoted in the 50’s, though (and which had all sorts of unintended consequences for the environment, racial equity, etc.), I’m not sure what the administration can do about that.
jonas
@catclub: It depends on where they place them. I’m not sure if they’re actually buying airtime on Fox (which they have done in the past) or just relying on a YouTube algorithm or something.
Scout211
Did anyone watch Hakeem Jeffries on 60 minutes? I don’t watch news shows on television but from the morning online news it appears he did very well. He is such a good speaker. Or rather, Speaker. 😉
ETA: Here is the whole Hakeem Jeffries interview on You Tube. 60 Minutes.
Another Scott
@New Deal democrat: One can always find economic numbers that are bad. Especially when an economy is in a major transition.
This election is very different from others where “it’s the economy stupid” tells one who will win. A 50 year old right to abortion and health care has been ripped away. An 88-count indictment guy who led an insurrection and an attack on Congress (not just an attack on the Capitol) is campaigning on being a dictator.
The economy is doing well in many ways, but gains are not evenly distributed. Too much hype and money is going into “AI” and still going into “crypto” bubbles. Too much money is sitting on the sidelines and not doing anything productive (building housing, speeding infrastructure improvements). And yes, housing is too expensive in too many places.
But people making $20 an hour is better for them and their families than making $7.25 and hour and having to work 3 jobs.
I’d still much rather be in our position than on the other side.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
TBone
https://crooksandliars.com/2024/05/fec-candidates-can-raise-unlimited-funds
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Scout211: Jeffries is right about “anything can fall.” The Dobbs decision made it clear that the law is anything the R-appointed justices decide it is.
catclub
I don’t think this is true any more. The country is polarized enough that GOP voters have decided the economy is terrible under ANY Democratic president.
The Democrats are not quite that extreme, but they are probably getting there.
Also the media has not been shouting that the economy is amazingly good, as they did under Trump. That makes a difference.
TBone
@catclub: it’s not for the undecided (morons). It’s for tightening the screws on that one guy while we all have a good laugh about it, that we richly deserve.
RaflW
Apologies if this got covered yesterday, I was almost totally away from my devices yesterday while wrapping up a 5 day trip to D.C.
The entire GOP needs to be loaded into a rocket and shot into the sun. Rick Scott is flat out saying they’ll steal the whole enchilada. That ought to disqualify one from even serving in the senate, though I know our institutions — and our red state electorates — are sufficiently broken that I’m just dreaming.
TBone
@TBone:
p.a.
MSM reporting on the economy is whack-a-mole when Dems are in charge. There’s always something with rising prices: that’s what gets the report. No big news reports on “look how inexpensive eggs are now!”, are there.
And the people interviewed; “here’s average consumer Karen Karper explaining how her kid’s activated-charcoal lined diapers are sooooo expensive!” Three min google-fu and we find out Karen is SnottyTown’s head of the Republican Ladies Against Those Types Club and a member of Women Against Mentioning Bodily Functions.
Another Scott
@catclub: +1
Look at how the GQP was screaming how terrible the economy was under Obama, yet it was great a week later under TIFG.
[ groucho-roll-eyes.gif ]
All polls have to be considered in terms of the partisan leanings of the respondents. People aren’t machines. Tribalism is very strong. Reporters and news outlets slant their coverage (mostly for bad, sometimes for good). And TIFG has told us for years that the truth doesn’t matter to him – “you just tell them and they believe”…
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@catclub:
Agree. Too, I think we would have seen more of a shift to Republicans in 2022, especially state level, if people really thought the economy was bad. Instead they say they are doing ok but everyone else is doing poorly, which to me is a reflection of media reporting on the economy. Why didn’t the economy as an issue have more salience in 2022 if it was top of mind for voters?
They’ve never behaved like it was a bad economy. Small business starts are way up and they’re still spending like crazy.
Soprano2
For those who wonder why Biden spoke the way he did about the student protests, some info from TPM.
It’s easy to say he shouldn’t care, he should just do what’s right and damn the consequences, but when that consequence is a man who has said he’s going to be a dictator is elected that’s a pretty serious one. I also know that what this is actually measuring is how much of an appetite people have for chaos, and usually the answer is “not much”. I heard Biden’s statement on the protests, which I thought was pretty measured, so I was surprised at how much criticism it got from liberals. I guess they think he should have been full-throated in support of whatever the protesters want do to, which is completely unrealistic to expect. Once you start occupying and damaging buildings, I think you’ve lost the support of most of the people who actually vote.
zhena gogolia
@catclub: The point is to raise morale of Biden voters. Something a lot of people around here don’t understand.
brendancalling
@lowtechcyclist: I am currently looking at remote or Philly-based podcast jobs, and there are quite a lot available. Damn you Biden, I might be able to leave teaching entirely, and that would be TERRIBLE. PLEASE MR.. BIDEN, NOT THE BRIAR PATCH!
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: DougJ says “off my corner, ho!”
NotMax
Let’s do some history. On May 6:
In 1626 Peter Minuit arranged the purchase of Manhattan Island.
In 1682 Louis XIV moves the French court, lock stock and wigs, into Versailles.
In 1840 the first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black, appears in Great Britain.
In 1915 the ill-fated (but surprisingly sturdy) Steam Yacht Aurora was torn from its moorings by an Antarctic gale, beginning a nearly year long sojourn to a suitable port.
In 1937 the Hindenburg explodes.
In 1994 Nelson Mandela confirmed winner of the presidency of South Africa. Also in 1994, Channel Tunnel officially opened.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Baud:
One problem has been the mainstreaming of trickle down bullshit on both sides of the aisle. There was a great piece on this over at the Great Orange Satan last year:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/22/2213332/-The-End-of-the-American-Dream
The worst political group here in Denver aren’t Denver Republicans, it’s entitled, white fauxgressive dudebros who are basically children of either suburban Blue Dog Dems or (N)ice, (P)olite (R)epublican parents. A national group has sprung up to support that crap:
https://cnliberalism.org/
Their messaging is classic forced-birther sloganing and catch phrases.
RaflW
@SiubhanDuinne: Good lord. She wrote in a book that she met with N. Korea’s leader and when pressed, says “I’m not going to talk about specific world leaders I’ve met with. I’m just not going to do that.”
This backspin tour she’s doing is kind of great, because she’s really making it plain she’s not ready for anyplace bigger than Sioux Falls. And I don’t think she ever will be.
Geminid
President Biden will meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah today, as reported by Laura Rozen among others:
A lot happened in Israel over the weekend, and Rozen’s social media account is jammed with articles about some of the events, with links. Laura Rozen goes by @lrozen on Twitter, and Lkrozen.bsky on BlueSky.
Reuters quoted a Jordanian diplomat to the effect that today’s meeting is “not a formal bilateral meeting but and informal private meeting.” The two leaders certainly have plenty to talk about. Maybe they will speak to reporters afterwards.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
I don’t really do Lincoln Project, but yeah. The casual Biden voter is inundated with negativity about Biden and the Dems. There has to be counter propaganda, or else you’re just giving up the fight.
Another Scott
Today I learned that Hitler hated red lipstick and nail polish. We know that TIFG is disgusted by the sight of blood. Someone should find his other disgusts and phobias and figure out ways to weaponize them.
Cheers,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
@RaflW: She keeps saying, “It was brought to my attention.” YOU SUPPOSEDLY WROTE THE BOOK, YOU IDIOT!
Ken
@NotMax: I’ve been using the internet too long. I read your list and was expecting it to end with a MESS of RANDOMLY all-caps words about how this PROVES <insert anything here> and the SHEEPLE have to WAKE UP!!!!
zhena gogolia
@Baud: And I’m impressed that you can read the comments on their videos and they’re mostly pro-Biden.
Baud
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Interesting. I haven’t heard of that group before. On one hand, I hate it. On the other, I can’t say I blame them. IMHO there’s an opening for them because there continues to be a lot of negativity in lefty economic spaces. At the end of the day, a positive message will win out (even if it’s harmful long term) because people don’t want to live their lives wallowing in despair.
YMMV
Ken
@zhena gogolia: Not only that, she’s the reader for the audiobook!
In fairness, she also strikes me as one of those people who never listen to what’s coming out of their mouth.
Timill
@NotMax: Also:
1837 US blacksmith John Deere creates the first steel plough in Grand Detour, Illinois
1954 English athlete Roger Bannister becomes first to run a sub-4 minute mile, recording 3:59:4 at Iffley Road Track, Oxford
2004 TV sitcom “Friends” airs season finale in 10th and final season in US (52.5 million viewers)
2020 Irish organization repays a 170 year old favor, raising over $2 million (to date) for US Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation badly affected by COVID-19. In 1840s Choctaw Nation sent $170 to aid Irish potato famine.
2023 Coronation of King Chares III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, London – first monarch crowned in the UK in 70 years
[The pub quiz we do on Mondays has an ‘On This Day’ question, so I check.]
SiubhanDuinne
@Another Scott:
SHARKS!!!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@zhena gogolia: This just does not compute for me. She wrote a book that she presumably wanted people to read. In that book, she put an easily disprovable lie. Why would you do that?
Kay
@Geminid:
Ooof, though, Geminid WHY would Blinken come out and repeatedly claim Hamas was holding up the peacefire deal? It wasn’t true. They had to know it wasn’t true. So of course Netanyahu waits until Blinken says 100 times that Hamas is holding up the deal then Netanyahu gleefully announces there never was a deal and he has no intention of changing course. At least once a month since this thing started Netanyahu has shown them to be disingenious. I feel as if they are just bleeding credibility on this. I no longer believe anything Blinken says.
RaflW
@RevRick: RCRC, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is one I’ve familiar with. A minister friend of mine was on their board at one time, and while RCRC has tended to be small, it’s held fast to their mission throughout.
UU ministers were also active in the 60s-70s in the Clergy Consultation Service (WaPo gift link). I remember hearing a sermon from a Rev. who was one of the consulters, and as I recall, in quite a few of the states where they assisted women, the clergy were knowingly breaking the law, but understood that it was just and right to do so (and I’d agree).
Seems like we’re at least temporarily back to that need.
Baud
Y’all still surprised that a Republican is a shameless liar?
zhena gogolia
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Because she never read a word of it.
Kay
@Soprano2:
They knew Democrats were punching hippies for political purposes. That was acknowleged. They still don’t like being punched, understandably.
Raven
It’s a decent day at Hatteras. 70, spotty showered and some seaweed in the water but it’s still what I love doing and we figured out a way for me to get down to the beach!
New Deal democrat
@Another Scott:
I agree with this. Unless the economy is completely in the crapper (1932, 2008), what people consider “moral” issues can overwhelm economic ones. This helped out the GOP in 2004 (the manufactured panic over gay marriage). It helped out D’s in 2022 (Dobbs). And since Dobbs isn’t going away, it will probably help out D’s again this year. Having your personal bodily autonomy taken away is very mentally clarifying.
Kay
@Geminid:
And I get it (I think). The point of saying Hamas was holding up the deal was the get Hamas to move but they had to be aware that Netanyahu could throw a wrench in this plan and renege on the deal first, right? Just like he’s done every single month since October?
There were 100,000 Israelis in the streets saying Netanyahu was deliberately not getting the hostages out to prolong the war WHILE the US was saying Hamas was holding up the deal. It’s like they’re in some alternate dimension. Events don’t track at all with their public statements.
TBone
@zhena gogolia: 💙💜🩷
WereBear
@catclub: Never-Trumpers but still Repubs. They live on spite.
WereBear
@jonas: They plant to stop venture capitalists from buying up all the housing stock and raising rents. We need regulation.
Or, the continued Trump Thunderdome.
Let’s hear more about the laws the Trump admin ordered not enforced any more.
NotMax
@Ken
Nostradoomus not my bag.
;)
TBone
@Raven: 💜 you GO!
Harrison Wesley
When fascism comes to America it will be wearing a diaper and carrying an AR15.
Kay
Personal bankruptcies are (still) low, too. They’ve gone up some in 2024 (from ’23) but they’re way, way lower than in 2012 when Obama was re- elected.
citizen dave
RE: Lincoln Project and their videos. I really do not like the ones where it is the female narrator (same one as the diaper ad) talking directly to “Donald” in a whispery voice. Can’t watch them any longer. There is no point to them.
I like some of the others–the mastercuts of Republicans without narration.
As to their use, I thought the whole point of the LP was to speak to disaffected (old-school conservative/business) Repubs to persuade them. Not to lift our spirits.
Was just thinking about how, hopefully we all make it to 2028 and Kamala Harris and the other Dems can lead on a shitstorm of policy–like Jeffries does. And recalling how in the elder Bush times, the absolute worst thing a pol could be is a Flip-Flopper. He flip-flopped on taxes–OMG! But now, for 9 years the media has coddled a career bullshitter–and party–who will say anything at anytime. Nothing has to be true. I would like Dems to point out the constant bullshit from Republicans and then calmly explain policies, citizenship, etc.
WereBear
@Harrison Wesley: Good one! I see it as a punk apocalypse musical!
TBone
JFC have a good laugh went out of fashion? I think not!
Geminid
@Kay: Bill Burns is the guy negotiating this ceasefire, not Antony Blinken, and Burns doesn’t give press conferences. Seeing as this is a negotiation between two hostile parties, I do not expect an objective account from Blinken because he’s part of the public effort to pressure Hamas into signing the agreement.
The Egyptians are a third party in this negotiation, and Laura Rozen cites an Egyptian official who says Hamas sabotaged the agreement with their rocket attack. But the Egyptians are also pressuring Hamas and this could also be part of that effort.
This negotiation is not over. Burns talked to the Qatari PM yesterday, and is said to be headed to Israel today, while Hamas’s negotiaters are scheduled to return to Cairo tomorrow. I think these negotiations will succeed or fail this week, and I don’t expect to see a reliable account of them until afterwards, if then.
Doug R
That franchise rule makes me happy. If you’re making money off your franchises and subcontractors, they’re YOUR employees too-especially if they have to wear YOUR logo.
Kay
@Geminid:
But why is this public pressure only applied to Hamas? This is (I think) the third time they have said Hamas was blocking an agreement and then the government of Israel comes out and says “hey! over here! we’re blocking the agreement, and not only that, we plan to do whatever you told us not to do last month!”
Cindy McCain said they have sufficient humanitarian aid at the border right now to feed 1.2 million people. They can’t get it in.
UncleEbeneezer
@New Deal democrat: US voters don’t vote based on a rational analysis of economic factors, even ones that effect them directly. They vote based on emotion. Emotion informed by their isms/phobias, social/cultural issues and heavily influenced by propaganda. If economic factors had such direct influence over US voters, Dems would almost never lose. “Blame Democrats” has staying power not only with the MAGA chuds, but many on the Left as well.
Soprano2
@RaflW: She claimed that a lot of people are moving to South Dakota. That needs to be fact checked for sure.
Kay
@Geminid:
Most Americans won’t follow it – they don’t care about foreign policy and they care even less about Palestinians, who are being portrayed as 2 million terrorists, but I care. It feels manipulative, like propaganda, like the State Department has decided they cannot assign any responsibility to Israel for domestic political reasons so they’re just going to gaslight us on these alleged “deals”.
HinTN
@Raven: Nice and congratulations. I love Hatteras. Enjoy
Scout211
She may not have written a word of it but she narrated the audio version. So she did read it. That came out in the CBS interview yesterday, too.
Soprano2
@zhena gogolia: Evidently she did the audio book, which means she had to know about it! She’s typical MAGA, a huge liar who refuses to take responsibility when she’s caught.
Geminid
@Kay: And RV sales were up 9% in the 1st Quarter of 2024, year over year. That would not be the case if the economy was weak.
Soprano2
@Kay: I can understand that, but when you’re doing something that has the disapproval of the majority of Americans what can you expect? And yes, I know that most people have a poor understanding of what’s actually happening and are responding to videos they see on TV and online, but that’s what the president has to live with.
Princess
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: So, I read their policy goals and I’d say that the intersection of their stated goals and the Baloon Juice commentariat is a circle. And they support reproductive freedom, or at least they say they do. What’s the problem here, because I’m not seeing it?
Kay
@Soprano2:
I chuckled at that in the clip of the interview I watched. That question surprised her. Maybe she forgot she did the reading for the audiobook?
I personally think she has some mental health issues. That doesn’t excuse the cruelty of course, but the parts about the world leaders are just nutty.
This happens a lot. A state level pol gets on the national stage and just implodes. I remember watching the Ohio state leg debate a voting bill once and just being horrified at how uninformed they were, including the Democrats. The quality is often…not there.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Soprano2:
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2024/01/10/state-demographer-projects-older-population-over-the-next-decade/
“We’re just flat out short on people”.
Kay
@Soprano2:
They knew it would be unpopular. They were passing around polls from every protest movement in modern times – they were all unpopular. They think any discussion of this is unpopular because Americans don’t want to hear what we’re backing – it makes them uncomfortable, but “making them uncomfortable” is the point of protesting.
They expected a more vigorous defense of their First Amendment rights. I did too. IMO, it goes to Biden’s real blind spot on this issue. I think he’s incapable of looking at it fairly and some of what Arab Americans say is true – that he is still in a mindset where “Arab” = possible terrorist. I suspect Harris is a lot more sympathetic. Supposedly she’s been lobbying for a more even handed approach for months.
I just don’t know about my ability to criticize protests. Every protest has been unpopular. There’s always this “if they would just do protests RIGHT!” but that always means “very quietly and unobtrusively” and sorry, that just isn’t how this works. We had months where they were quiet and meeting with college boards and what-not and the death toll kept rising. It’s still rising. “Quiet and polite” had no effect at all.
Soprano2
@New Deal democrat: I think people being unhappy about “the economy” means “food prices are higher than they were in 2019 and I think gas is too high and my rent is high”. It really has nothing to do with the economy at large. It sure didn’t help that for over a year NPR seemed to run a story every day about how high inflation was.
bjacques
Cripes! I haven’t seen a cat like that since “Sibyl”!
Geminid
@Kay: They can get some of the aid in and they have been getting some of it in. They’re just not getting enough in and getting it all distributed.
As for US officials and who they blame, this is a side issue to me. If these negotiations fail, it won’t be because of who the US blamed or did not blame. And if they do fail, there will be plenty of blame to go around.
Soprano2
@Kay: Being a big frog in a small pond where the small pond is composed of 65% of people who support you is very different than being a small frog in a big national pond. When I was in high school I was first chair flute in my band. When I went to college, I was almost last chair!
HinTN
@Kay:
That’s really true. We had The Moratorium March in November 1969 and it was barely noticed by the press and the politicos. In Spring of 70 we had May Day. Boy howdy, that got everybody’s attention. So it goes.
MomSense
@Kay:
So is your proof that Blinken is lying based on anything other than what Israeli protesters are saying?
NotMax
@comrade scotts agenda of rage
“We’re #5 on the charts. With a bullet!”
States with the most ghost towns:
Texas
California
Kansas
Florida
South Dakota
.
Soprano2
That might be part of it, but I think the other part is that most non-political people don’t like things that are chaotic, and protests are nothing but chaotic. Then some university presidents and boards overreacted, probably in response to desperate donor pleas to do something, and here we are. I agree with you about the one where they canceled the valedictorian’s speech; that was such a stupid own goal on their part. The fact that these things always follow the same predictable pattern says something about human nature – we have a hard time learning from the past.
Kay
@Geminid:
But why do you think it wouldn’t matter “who the US blamed”? It goes to good faith in a negotiation. Hamas and the Arab states are aware the US keeps blaming them for no deal when that doesn’t appear to be true. I know Blinken isn’t directly negotiating but hopefully they coordinate – I assume his chief negotiator is aware Blinken is out there telling Americans (and the world) that Hamas scuttles every deal, which is demonstrably untrue. I know it’s not true because Israel keeps telling me they’re turning down a deal.
I’m not comfortable with the US State Department manipulating American public sentiment like this. It’s propaganda that (inexplicably to me) serves to prop up Netanyahu. This is what happens when you start winking and nodding on war crimes. It gives license to create some more fantasy.
RaflW
@zhena gogolia: Well, Noem seems to have the attention span of a fruit fly, so it’s probably necessary to constantly bring things to her attention. And then whatever it is falls out of her ear anyway
eta: @Dorothy A. Winsor I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she told that Kim Jong Un story at private fundraisers and non-media events for years, and it baked into her brain that it must be true, she said it so often. Bubble people like her forget that not everyone is OAN and just eat her words at face value.
Kay
@Geminid:
And it may also be true that Hamas is holding up a deal. They both could be holding up a deal. But then say that! “Neither party will agree to terms”. Their current line that Hamas is the only barrier to a deal only helps Netanyahu.
frosty
@Raven: Good to hear! Have fun! Tight lines!
Omnes Omnibus
I remember when people were wondering if Kerry had gone crazy because of what they perceived as saber-rattling over Syria. Then it turned out that it was all part of a negotiating strategy that resulted in a deal. Is that happening now? I don’t know, but neither does anyone else here. I do know that most hot takes are garbage though.
NotMax
@RaflW
Perhaps she once shook hands with Dennis Rodman and got confused.
//
Kay
@Omnes Omnibus:
My problem with this is all it really means is “trust people in power completely”
People should be able to rely on the veracity of PUBLIC statements by the State Department. To ask them to read tea leaves on what Blinken might be doing when he’s saying (falsely) that only Hamas is holding up a deal is too low a standard. They’re entitled to expect public statements to be true.
Of course I don’t know what they’re doing behind the scenes. I can still expect and demand their public statements be true and not some secret back flip to lead Americans to believe whatever they want us to believe. Blinken always has a choice. If he’s performing some secret negotiation he can stop issuing statements that don’t even hold up as true for 24 hours.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Yep. I’ve long maintained that Kemp is that Kemp is the scary one. His policies are horrific, just like other GOP governors, but he’s managed to appear to be a moderate, including more-or-less shitting on Trump, yet somehow not enraging the MAGA wackos.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: As we’ve seen, being a stupid, mentally ill liar doesn’t bar a U.S. citizen from the highest office in the land, so I’m glad Noem did us the courtesy of self-immolating.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
It’s funny how it works, though, w/state level politicians. Ka-BOOM. Or, like with DeSantis, just a slooooww agonizing collapse :)
Kay
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m fine with “we’re working behind the scenes”. I am not at all fine with the US State Department depicting one party as holding up a ceasefire when the truth is both are holding it up or Israel is holding it up,over and over. They may not use manipulating US public opinion to “leverage” the party they disfavor in the negotiations.
NotMax
@Raven
That’s a lotta fish (and from a non-magenta state).
Legs planted on land surf fishing there also an extremely popular pastime. Basses and tuna and blues, oh my.
;)
UncleEbeneezer
@Soprano2: The protests are taking something that everyone wants (cease fire, end to war) but using it to make demands that aren’t nearly so popular. Fully divesting the US from Israel is not a policy that has majority support, even on our side. Thinking that the protestors (who take the most maximalist position possible) represent the will of most US voters, would be a mistake. Shit’s more complicated than the protests claim and most US voters understand that. Just look at the demands that universities divest from Hillel. In theory (from the protestors perspective) it makes sense, but in the real world, the vast majority of Jewish-Americans see that as a pretty damn offensive suggestion, bordering on Anti-Semitic. Most voters understand that Israelis and Palestinians both have valid claims in I/P, neither are leaving (nor should they be pushed out) and that Hamas and Netanyahu are both high on lust for power and self-righteous sentiments with every incentive to prolong war to their own gain. Biden is using pragmatism and acknowledging the complexity of everything because unlike the protestors or hardcore pro-Israel advocates, he can’t just pretend everything is so simple and black & white. That’s a privilege that you get at a protest that you don’t have if you are actually responsible for US foreign policy. I’ve always felt that anyone who treats the most complicated scenario (I/P) in the world for the last 75years, as if there’s a simple, clear-cut solution, isn’t worth listening to. And I have enough personal experience with the DSA/Progressive activist types who are running (and/or cheerleading) these protests to be suspicious of them. I’ve known and worked with (and still do) some Progressives who are very passionate about BDS and I’ve noticed an unfortunate amount of George Soros conspiracy comments and other Anti-Semitic dogwhistles about Israel. I’ve seen enough reports from credible people who’ve attended protests (people who want not just an immediate cease fire but a permanent, lasting, 2-State solution for I/P, and also take Anti-Semitism very seriously and don’t view Hamas as “freedom fighters”) and their accounts have confirmed my assumptions about the protests. I’m sure most of the protestors hearts are in the right place, but if the protests are being run/led by the people I believe they are, I’m gonna keep my distance.
Chief Oshkosh
@Soprano2:
I’m not saying that that is wrong, but that’d be news to me. I agree that university administrators are very sensitive to major donor input, but in this instance, I think the lousy administrators did a lousy job because they are lousy at their jobs. They didn’t need prompting. As Martin and others noted, some university administrations did a great job and continue to do so. They probably got the same sort of input from their donors (which I think was probably modest), but they simply handled the situation better.
kalakal
A nice addition to the Tory debacle in the London elections
Count Binface polled more votes than Britain First
Count Binface
Kay
@Chief Oshkosh:
I agree. The biggest problem that Columbia and Dartmouth and USC and IU have is there is now a list of colleges that handled this well – Brown, University of Minnesota, Rutgers. I think it’s genuinely alarming that their first instinct was to call police. I don’t think these people should be around 20 year olds. They’re ninnies who lose their shit.
NotMax
@kalakal
Britons becoming hep as to which side their toast in Marmited on? “Win with Bin.”
:)
Geminid
@Kay: I have yet to hear the administration’s “current line” on these negotiations; I don’t think they’ve given it. They’re still processing the events of the last 72 hours and more critically, focused on the next 72.
I think the Blinken statement you refer to, that there was “a generous offer” on the table, came last week with the latest round of negotiations still in prospect. At the time he was hoping Hamas would accept the framework, and Netanyahu hadn’t yet tried to scuttle the deal with his statements about Rafah.
I finally ran into a summary of the current proposal that I posted on Tamara’s Saturday afternoon thread. I wouldn’t characterize it as “generous” or “ungenerous” but I’ll say it looks like it could work and I also hope Hamas comes around and accepts it without major changes.
That will finally put this Israeli government to the test, and will make it clear where the blame is due. But if they say no, there will a lot worse than blame going around.
Kay
@Chief Oshkosh:
It was really interesting- the night of the most violent police responses, protestors were communicating with older people who had protested against apartheid. They were allowed to put up shantytowns on campus and they remained up for months and then years.
This is the University of Michigan.
What some colleges have done is change their regulations to forbid any kind of camp or tent or structure. UVA and IU changed their regs the moment the tents went up. I don’t think that’s going to pass muster under the 1st amendment. It’s content discrimination. They’re disfavoring a political opinion by not allowing student dissent on an issue of US foreign policy to the extent that they did for a different opinion.
Kay
@Geminid:
Agree., But WHY are they still doing this phony, beseeching flattery of Netanyahu? It discredits Blinken, it makes the US (and the US President) look weak and it doesn’t work at all. This is the third time he has deliberately, publicly screwed them. He obviously waits for them to make a statement and then uses that to tell them to fuck off, which helps him politically with his base.
Soprano2
@Chief Oshkosh: It’s just a guess, because I know that at a lot of universities big donors have a lot of influence, and they tend to be more conservative.
Kay
They protested wrong too.
Ksmiami
@Kay: I remember the anti apartheid movement. It was pretty peaceful in the USA and leadership was very focused on a practical outcome. A lot of the current protests are anti Jewish and losing support daily.
Ken
That could just be billionaires buying “friendship gifts” for their pet judges.
StringOnAStick
@UncleEbeneezer: Thank you, well said and reported. My husband is a nonobservant Jew and has had nothing but disgust for the Israeli RW and the expansionist policies of the last decades. He grew up with a mom who was an ardent Zionist until she passed in 1976; he didn’t adopt that attitude.
gvg
@Kay: I don’t see why they are mutually exclusive. In my lifetime it has often been the case. It has also been more one than the other sometimes.
Netanyahu is in “power” in a coalition with overseers because the Israeli political parties don’t trust him. If he refuses a deal to get back the hostages, I think some of the coalition can leave the government causing elections. So, he can SAY he will not agree, but maybe he will agree.
Carl
@Ken: or several-thousandaires realizing that an RV is cheaper than an apartment, and easier to deal with when you have to change jobs.
Geminid
@Kay: I have seen no “beseeching flattery” of Netanyahu; certainly not in Blinken’s statement. This was a good offer and even the Iranian Foreign Minister spoke in favor of it this weekend. Reports are that Hezbollah is urging Hamas to accept. They don’t care about Netanyahu’s base or the US/Israeli relationship so much as they want this war ended.
As for what helps Netanyahu with his base, that guy’s been trying to salvage his political position ever since October 7, with no success. This will play out no differently. He’ll still have the same 30% or lower approval rating, and the other 70% will hate him all the more.
Chief Oshkosh
@Kay: Hopefully the state schools will get nailed for that (the privates sure as shit won’t), but even for state schools, as strict 1A argument will be a stretch.
Kay
@Geminid:
Well, unless he deliberately prolongs the war to stay in power like 100k Israelis say he is. And/or if they continue to block aid keeping aid at JUST the level to starve Palestinians (that’s where the “500 trucks a day” measure comes from) and kill a half a million or a million people. Unless that. They only have 12 hospitals left. Where are the civilian casualties going to go with this new offensive? The death rate is now going to skyrocket and it was bonkers anyway – four times the civilian casualtiy rate in Ukraine and Ukraine has, what 50 million people to Gaza’s 2 million?
I suppose we could give it a few more Blinken units – a couple more 6 weeks- but there are going to be a lot more dead.
Miss Bianca
@Kay: I happened to be in Ann Arbor this past week and heard about, but didn’t see, the encampment in the Diag (I had planned to cross the Diag on my personal nostalgia tour, but was warned against it – apparently, the students involved were being pretty aggro with passers-by, unlike the anti-apartheid encampment you reference, which I was slightly involved with back in the day).
UncleEbeneezer
@StringOnAStick: I’m not Jewish, but when I was in college I played a gig with some Jewish friends/musicians at the Hillel House at U. Delaware. I had no idea what it even was. As they put it “You wouldn’t understand”, lol. And then they made some playful Goyim joke or whatever and we all laughed. One was very pro-Israel (probably even Zionist) but the other two were about as religiously Jewish as I was about Catholicism (not much at all). But still, they valued Hillel as a space where they could embrace their community, which was especially important as the KKK literally marched down the streets of Newark, DE recently and a Southern fraternity (Kappa Alpha) had only taken down their Confederate flag a year or two ago. The fact that Pro-Palestine groups are now targeting Hillel just reeks of Anti-Semitism, to me. It looks like an act where people come up with some sort of principled excuse to try to make life miserable for marginalized people by taking away their community spaces. It is eerily reminiscent of the right-wing outrage over the “9-11 Mosque” which was actually just a cultural center for Muslims living in NYC but ended up being blocked by a wave of post-9/11 Islamophobia. It’s the same tactic frequently used to try to undermine/destroy/defund African-American and LGBTQ spaces. And it’s sad that so many people who claim to stand up for marginalized groups are falling for this shit, under the guise that it will somehow create a Free Palestine.
Uncle Cosmo
They “don’t understand it” because IMO (and I’d wager, that of most Jackals) it’s not true. At most “raising the morale of BIden voters” is a side bonus.
The point is to get under Trumplthinskin’s orange pelt and make him the flabby butt of continual, ubiquitous jokes. Nothing unhinges a fascist/narcissist/solipsist quicker and more drastically than to be laughed at, and the more unhinged he gets, the more likely he’ll spout off in ever more ridiculous fashion and demonstrate his drastic unfitness for the office to anyone still
undecidednot paying attention.Lurker
@UncleEbeneezer: I read up on the history of the Hillel house. Its history is not as neutral as you say. I cannot speak to how each student views this organization but there is a reason beyond anti semitism that they are being targeted. Back to lurking,
cain
Except we know it’s not really the students doing this but others looking to stir up trouble. It’s essentially the same thing they did for BLM.
JaySinWA
@Geminid: I’m not sure RV sales alone is a great barometer for the strength of the economy. I’ve seen some documentaries of people using RV’s as permanent living quarters when standard housing got too expensive for them. Part of a roving economy, moving from job to job, many as retirees on fixed income + low wage part time jobs to supplement (like Walmart).
I saw this a couple of years ago I think, some doing YouTube videos on how to survive that got media attention, generating some income from that when it was still possible. I think advertising revenue is pretty much broken at YouTube now, however.
cain
@Baud: Is Bilnken a Republican? We gotta stop being a big tent. JFC.
StringOnAStick
@UncleEbeneezer: Thanks for that anecdote, I see it too.
I grew up in such an isolated western town that there were no Jews or African Americans in any school grade, including high school. That’s changed there and even in redneck western Colorado there’s a synagogue now and the school classes are much more diverse. It’s great to see.
cain
@Kay:
I just came to say how much I love you providing this perspective. My wife has the exact same position you do. I don’t have the same position so much, but you help me get her perspective much better.
My only disagreement with my wife is the ‘too little, too late’ in regards to what’s being done. She believes that young people will be what will cause Biden to lose. I don’t believe that because it’s deeply immoral to advocate for help for the Palestinian and then by non-participation elect a regime that would add accelerant on the entire thing and complete the genocide.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Nope. Not since 1998.
cain
@Kay: There were protest about student loans and it was the same playbook – be obnoxious and show up everywhere. The polls said it was unpopular.
Now we’re doing student loans – although honestly, having a bill that will provide better terms for loans for students would be good. But I think part of that is to reform insurance.
My wife’s student loans became much larger when her dental school would no longer cover insurance. This is why medical schools have become really expensive when it comes to loans. Prior, we had 1-2% student loans and they were for much smaller amounts.
zhena gogolia
@Ksmiami: I lived through the campus antiapartheid protests. They were not disruptive to everyday campus operations, and focused on trustee meetings.
Geminid
@gvg: Going into this war, Netanyahu’s coalition had 64 members from four parties: Likud, the Ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah, and a joint slate led by radicals Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. Netanyahu aligned with the toxic Smotrich and Ben-Gvir because a Center party like Benny Gantz’s would not have gone along with “Bibi’s” plans to fix his bribery case through “judicial reform.”
Now Smotrich and Ben-Gvir threaten to bolt if a ceasefire/ hostage agreement is made. That’s a bluff I think, because this is likely the last government they will ever serve in. It certainly should be.
After the October 7 attack, Gantz brought his 12 MKs into an emercency government, and his terms, including a 3-member “War Cabinet,” were ratified by the Knesset on October 12 and given force of law. Gantz catches plenty of flak from the opposition for staying with the government, but I am not sure they really want him to bolt and leave Netanyahu in charge.
If and when a finalized truce agreement is presented to the government, there will be long and contentious night of cabinet meetings. I think it will be like last December, when the 7-day ceasefire proposal was presented. This was on a Saturday so the meetings commenced after sunset. First the War Cabinet debated and the 3 voting members approved it. Then the larger Security Cabinet approved it and the proposal went to entire Cabinet. That has 30(!) members* so it took until almost 3 a.m. to finish debating and to vote (the Shas party members walked out at midnight after signing a sheet of paper saying they voted “yes”).
If the meetings in Cairo produce a presentable agreement, I think the Israeli government will vote to accept it but the matter may be in doubt until Aryeh Deri leads his Shas members out again, late in the night or early in the morning.
I think this government will ratify a truce ageement because it needs one. Israelis do not need a ceasefire quite as badly as the people of Gaza do, but their government has driven Israel into a cul-de-sac full of quicksand and they are unable to drive it out on their own.
This 3-phase truce agreement is like a strong tow-line; if the Israelis will tie it to the axle the US and responsible Arab nations will pull them out. I think a majority in this government will see this, but it will be close.
* There are 30 cabinet officers because Netanyahu needed to bribe reluctant coalition members to join his rotten government. Most of the positions have only notional resposibilities, but they come with an office and staff so they’re a means of patronage.
Geminid
@JaySinWA: RV sales are just one indicator, but a decline in sales often tracks a weakening economy. It’s like when the nation catches a cold, Elkhart gets pneumonia.
Gretchen
@Kay: Why do we believe that it’s Blinken lying rather than Netanyahu?
Geminid
@Kay: I will point out that it wasn’t that long ago, when I was talking about anti-government demostrations in Israel, that you told me “demonstrations don’t mean shit.” Now you’re yelling at me about demonstrations and Antony Blinken like I represent the Israeli PM and the American Secretary of State.
You also told me you didn’t care about Israeli politics, but now evidently you do and I think that’s a good thing.
Soprano2
@cain: I know, but how many “normie” voters know that? It’s a problem.
Bill Arnold
@NotMax:
Great. How about ghost towns per capita?
UncleEbeneezer
@Lurker: I read some of the charges against Hillel and assuming they are true, I still don’t think it justifies punishing Jewish students. And I doubt a majority of the public would either. Trying to take away one of the only Jewish centers present on most university campus’ will always going to be a pretty bad look.
Bill Arnold
@kalakal:
Count Binface beats Britain First and shakes hands with Sadiq Khan in 2024 London Mayor election (YouTube, 0:53)
Or, as the announcer says, “Binface, Count”
Ironcity
@Ken: Even Uncle Clarance can only drive one vehicle with it’s own zip code at a time. A spare or 2? Or one each for the other RWNJ “justices”? It would be irresponsible not to ask.
S Cerevisiae
@NotMax: on May 6, 2023 we lost our German Shepherd Bella. She was the best girl and we will always love her. ❤️❤️❤️❤️