Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Giving up is unforgivable.

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

I don’t recall signing up for living in a dystopian sci-fi novel.

You know he’s going to shit a cat.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

All hail the time of the bunny!

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Show Pony

Show Pony

by | 102 Comments

This post is in: 

Got to the gym later than usual this morning, and who did I see but South Dakota ex-Governor Kristi Noem, Trump’s nominee for Homeland Security, testifying at her confirmation hearing.

I don’t think many tears were shed over the loss of Kristi by (certainly) South Dakota Democrats and even a fair number of Republicans.  She was a always angling for attention on right wing media, building a TV studio at taxpayer expense so she could do more TV hits, trying to get her faildaughter a real-estate appraisers license even though daughter Kassidy couldn’t pass certification, and insisting on having fireworks shows at Mount Rushmore despite fire danger, so she could bring Trump into the state for a big show.

Kristi is a show horse not a work horse, so my question, as with the other shitty Trump nominees, is who the other political appointees are going to be at Homeland Security, since they’ll be the ones in charge of pushing that gigantic bureaucracy to do what Daddy wants.  In the case of ICE, however, she’s going to find some very willing allies for the supposed mass deportation that’s coming.

Anyway, Kristi is pretty lucky that Trump’s other nominees are a crazy anti-vaxxer, and an (alleged) rapist, in addition to being incompetent.  She’s just incompetent, so she’ll get through without any major issues.

Reader Interactions

102Comments

  2. 2.

    Almost Retired

    Based on the questioning I saw, the Dems are concerned that Tom Homan and Stephen Miller are going to be the real powers behind the throne on border and immigration issues, God help us.

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    America will be safe from hordes of German shorthaired pointers the next four years, believe you me.

    Pro tip: they are coming after your squirrels.

  6. 6.

    TONYG

    @Mark: My (obvious) prediction: The ethnic cleansing (mass deportation) of anyone who even looks Latin American (regardless of citizenship status) will be highly publicized in and largely limited to California and other blue states.  Red states like Texas and Arizona will be largely exempt from the big roundup.  Trump doesn’t want to annoy the farmers and small businesses in those states that rely on illegal immigrants.  (Actually, even in California, farmers and businesses that pay the required bribes will also be exempt.)

  8. 8.

    John S.

    They’re all incompetent, just like their boss.  But they think they can do the jobs they are being nominated for.

  12. 12.

    JoyceH

    One thing that drives me nuts and explains why all recent Republican administrations are so shambolic. No one in the current GOP realizes that management is a skill. Organizations don’t just automatically hang together and operate smoothly and continue towards the stated goal – it has to be managed! Management is a skill that can be learned but the very first thing that needs to be learned and understood is that management is a skill.

  13. 13.

    MazeDancer

    It was 28 degrees at Mr.0bama’s 2009 swearing in. With the largest crowd size in history.

    It was 22 for JFK. Snowed the night before. He didn’t even wear a scarf or hat.

    24 is predicted for Trump’s show. But he doesn’t want to risk a teeny weeny crowd turn out

    Wish all the cold weather state Dems would watch on an iPad outside in the empty chairs..

  14. 14.

    matt

    They’re putting show ponies in at all those top jobs – I think because Trump has decided to massively overindex on media management. Gauging on recent politics, that’s not a terrible strategy. People to go on TV and lie while they do loyalty tests on all federal employees.

  15. 15.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    @TBone: The first I saw of this news was when I did my daily check in of Red State this a.m.  They haz a sad.

  21. 21.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TBone:

    The Equal Rights Amendment does not require publication by the National Archives!

    The problem is that Biden saying he regards it as having been ratified has no legal status either.

    ETA: Beaten to the punch by Old School.

  24. 24.

    @mistermix.bsky.social

    @TBone:

    MISTER M I wanna thank you for alerting us to The Contrarians.

    I assume your comment is sarcasm but I’ll remind you that I said I didn’t think it was worth a subscription.

    But if your comment isn’t sarcasm, a dream is a wish your heart makes, so if, in your heart, you wish the 28th amendment was ratified, then I guess it is ratified in your dream.

  26. 26.

    Another Scott

    I’m not being sanguine about the dangers of Noem and the other monsters, but I thought (repost) this, from NPR yesterday was interesting and important.

    The Homeland Security Department is warning lawmakers in Congress that a proposed immigration enforcement bill would cost $26.9 billion to implement in its first year and “would be impossible for [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to execute within existing resources.”

    The Senate is currently weighing amendments on the Laken Riley Act, which would direct federal immigration enforcement to detain and deport anyone in the U.S. without legal status if they have been charged, arrested or convicted of burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.

    President Joe Biden holds a Laken Riley button as he delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday March 7, 2024.
    Politics
    How a Georgia nursing student’s killing reached Biden’s State of the Union
    The bill passed the House last week with more Democratic support than the previous time the body voted on it. The bill has been broadly seen as a marker emphasizing Washington’s focus on immigration and border security as President-elect Donald Trump is about to be inaugurated.

    Some Senate Democrats are giving the measure a chance. This week, a bipartisan set of procedural votes opened up the measure to further debate and changes.

    But the agency in charge of carrying out the potential new law warns that it may physically not be able to.

    New estimates from an internal ICE document obtained and verified by NPR show that the agency would need 110,000 more detention beds and over 10,000 enforcement and removal operations personnel to increase apprehensions, detentions and removals. More than 7,000 additional attorneys and support personnel would also be needed to handle immigration proceedings, according to the estimates.

    The document notes that a figure of $3.2 billion “has been shared widely as a cost estimate,” but calls that number incorrect because it “does not represent the full cost of implementation.” The document says the previous estimate — outlined in a three-page memo from ICE sent in response to questions from one of the bill’s House sponsors — was based “on only 60,000 beds.”

    Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who introduced the measure in the Senate, did not respond to a request for comment. The measure that passed in the House does not include funding for additional ICE staff or resources. ICE declined to comment on its ability to enforce the bill.

    […]

    Everything the government does ultimately has to be charged to some line of funding approved by Congress. If ICE isn’t given funding to implement these (expected) mass deportation orders, then they won’t get done.

    Yes, monsters will try to use the EOs to do it anyway, and Donnie will try to reprogram money from elsewhere, but lawsuits will be immediate. It will be a slow process unless Congress coughs up the money. As Anderson said, the available pressure point is in the House…

    Stay strong, everyone.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  32. 32.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Another Scott:

    New estimates from an internal ICE document obtained and verified by NPR show that the agency would need 110,000 more detention beds and over 10,000 enforcement and removal operations personnel to increase apprehensions, detentions and removals. More than 7,000 additional attorneys and support personnel would also be needed to handle immigration proceedings, according to the estimates.

    Wow, that’s an extremely disproportionate response to one person getting killed that this bill’s proponents are calling for.  Makes the government’s response to JFK’s assassination almost look like small potatoes.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    Woo-hoo!

    New fridge the landlord purchased for the cottage was delivered this morning.

    Emptying out the old one, coupled with moving various stuff (including furniture) to accomplish the switch was a much bigger job than I had anticipated.

  36. 36.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    She didn’t even look fully professional…she looked like a professional, in the so-called oldest profession. Or like a porn star in an office after hours sex scene. Was that the look she was going for? Tacky, cheap, skanky? Can’t they find anyone that at least looks like they have the brains to run something? Pam Bondi was the same. It’s government by porn star cosplayers. Except when she showed up in court Stormy Daniels, the actual porn star, looked classier than these women do in their Congressional hearings. Sorry if that’s petty or sexist but THEY, being who they are, shouldn’t have any problem with someone being petty or sexist.

  39. 39.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Newly-elected trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride (DE-AL) was named a House Democratic Deputy Whip for Policy, a role focused on strategic, long-term planning and coordination on policy priorities across the House Democratic Caucus.

    MTG and other MAGAts are losing their shit about it. Cry harder bitches.

  42. 42.

    Anyway

    @MazeDancer:It was 28 degrees at Mr.0bama’s 2009 swearing in. With the largest crowd size in history.

    I remember it well – part of the huge crowds freezing our buns off.  sigh.

  43. 43.

    laura

    @Sister Golden Bear: Work horse over show pony, all day every day. Let “them” piss and moan and have all the big feelings over competence, influence and growing power. I hope they choke on the bitterness.

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    @Almost Retired:

    Will they allow anyone competent to work in this disaster of a maladministration?

    I’m going with – there’s a high point and a bottom. And lower.

    We are going lower.

  46. 46.

    JoyceH

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Every woman who joins the Trump orbit ups their cosmetics use astronomically! And something that irks me so much – anyone who poses with Trump has to do that stupid thumb-up gesture, but women also assume Pageant Pose, half-profile with front knee cocked. It’s so…robotic!

  47. 47.

    WTFGhost

    @JoyceH:And something that irks me so much – anyone who poses with Trump has to do that stupid thumb-up gesture, but women also assume Pageant Pose, half-profile with front knee cocked. It’s so…robotic!

    I’ve often wondered where the dude gets his weird-ass curved thumbs, and why he decides to show off “look, not only are my hands small, my thumbs are deformed!” so often.

    A thumbs up is supposed to point *up*.

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    @JoyceH:

    It takes a lot of rational effort to learn to be a good boss or it takes hiring assholes who will do whatever the hell the boss says.

    That’s normal bossing.

    In this incoming MALADMINISTRATION – NOTHING IS NORMAL. It’s an upside down, inside out, rubics cube of bullshit. And no one involved has a fucking clue. About anything.

  50. 50.

    HeleninEire

    @TONYG: Yes. It is why Eric Adam’s is going to Mar-a-Lago. He is going to trade his federal indictment for the right for ICE to raid NYC migrant shelters.

  51. 51.

    Geminid

    @Leto: They’re towing that ship to Brownsville, Texas to be broken up. I bet the the tugboat crews will be glad when they clear Cape Hatteras, and even gladder when they make it past the Florida Keys.

    The other day I saw a picture of a massive new oil drilling platform that was lodged against the Tunisian coast, with waves breaking all around it.. The platform had broken loose while being towed from Scotland to Turkiye. Some Tunisian quipped, “Thanks for the gift!”

  54. 54.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:

    Another side to this is that a lot of these people work in jobs that are necessary but that many people would not do, even if you tripled the pay. They are dirty jobs, as in 2 showers a day dirty. As in many people would want to just throw away their clothes every day and start over. Many in this country do not do “dirty” jobs. Working making things, growing things, in heat or cold, bending over in the sun 8-10 hrs a day. Many people do not have a damn clue about any of this kind of work. PHYSICAL, sometimes dangerous, work. Hand/backbreaking, actual physical work. Lose weight kind of work. Possibly lose body parts kind of work. Most people don’t know this kind of work. But use the products/services of the people that do. I worked for over 60 yrs in a part of this type of work, making the tools that they used. If I mentioned some of the names of the products from these tools most of you would recognize at least some of them.

  57. 57.

    sab

    @Ruckus: My stepson is a machinist. He loves his job. His washer broke so he brings clothes here. Literally dripping wih oil. I run them through the washer twice with maximum water, maximum heat, maximum soap, fastest spin.

    Then I wipe down the washer inside, and then run two gray dog towells through the same, just to clean the washer.

    Same for the dryer. They come out dirty and oily but not dripping with oil.

    I can’t imagine what his lungs are like, but he does love the job.

  58. 58.

    pat

    @@mistermix.bsky.social: ​
     

    That article about the ERA was written by Lawrence Tribe, who I believe knows whereof he speaks. Check it out.
    I don’t like the name, the Contrarians, but that is where Jen Rubin and several others are posting now. I have an unpaid subscription, so it is another thing filling up my email inbox every day. More interesting, and rewarding, than the WaPo (where I have cancelled my subscription. It runs through May, I believe, so I was able to read Dana Milbank today. The last reason to go there…..

  60. 60.

    Leto

    @Geminid: yup. It was sold for a dollar to the scrap company, where hopefully they reuse most of it in new forms. Man, that oil drilling platform… oof! Would not want to be that insurance, or towing, company!

  61. 61.

    Dan B

    @TONYG: Unfortunately for Florida, and other red states the farm laborers are fleeing.  Crops are starting to rot in the fields.  Food will get expensive rapidly.

  62. 62.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @pat: the censoring of Ann Telnaes was the last straw for me. My subscription runs for months to come. I thought about demanding a refund but decided against.

    I’m glad to know that Jennifer Rubin left.

  64. 64.

    JWR

    @Ruckus:

    Another side to this is that a lot of these people work in jobs that are necessary but that many people would not do, even if you tripled the pay.

    From an NPR story I just read:

    Juhnke says attracting workers to Nebraska is not about wages. The average pay for a meat trimmer is close to $18 an hour — well above the state minimum of $13.50. “These are good paying jobs in the plants,” he says. “People say, ‘Well, just double or triple the pay [and] you’ll get United States citizens to work.’ No, you won’t.”

    One more time: “No, you won’t.”

  67. 67.

    Geminid

    I checked out Saudi-based Al Arabiya English’s social media account, and they were promoting their TV news channel. Lead stories for tonight’s show:

       Israel Cabinet Approves Ceasefire Deal, and Imram Khan Sentenced to 14 years.

    Imram Khan is the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and is considered a poltical threat by Pakistan’s miltary-backed political leadership.

    Ed. A couple months ago security forces used live fire on a large group of pro-Khan demonstrators in Peshawar(?). Scores and maybe hundreds were killed.

    A headline from an article today in Al Arabiya:

       The EU is prepared to redeploy a monitoring group to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

    Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing yesterday. They shut it down in June after getting fed up with Israel’s occupation of the Philadelphi Corridor that runs along the Gaza side.

    And this was a good one:

       Elon Musk played no role in negotiations between Italy and Iran for the release of journalist held in a Tehran prison, Itsly’s foreign minister says, dismissing a media report that the US billionaire was involved.

    The journalist was Cecilia Sala, and the erroneous media report was from that notorious Gotham tabloid, The New York Times.

  68. 68.

    @mistermix.bsky.social

    @pat: @TBone:

    I had read the piece when I posted the comment.  I know who Larry Tribe is.  Their argument is that their view of the constitution is that the 28th amendment was ratified when Virginia voted in 2020, even though there was an expiration date on the amendment when it was passed by Congress in the 70’s, and that has long passed.

    I know Cheryl Rofer buys this and I hate to disagree with her and with you two, but in 2024 the opinions of two law scholars doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.  The Roberts court will never buy it, and Biden’s proclamation didn’t make a legal difference (though nothing wrong with him doing it), especially since he didn’t instruct the Librarian of Congress to publish it.

    But, hey, if dreams came true, wouldn’t that be nice?

  69. 69.

    cain

    A lot of businesses are gonna get roasted when those mass deportations happen. My real worry is families being broken up.

    Once the deportation starts, I suppose the red states will start using child labor. Won’t that be fun?

  70. 70.

    MazeDancer

    @Steve in the ATl:

    When I was in school in MA, I road a bus, full of women, up to Hanover for a mixer.

    Ice cold, frigid, arctic.

    The sidewalks were passages with snow stacked up to shoulder height.

    The guys were in Bermuda shorts.

    They also banged on the side of the bus and bellowed like animals wanting meat.

    Decided Dartmouth wasn’t for me.

  74. 74.

    Jackie

    @cain:

    Once the deportation starts, I suppose the red states will start using child labor. Won’t that be fun?

    My guess is prison labor, but maybe both.

  75. 75.

    TBone

    @@mistermix.bsky.social: the part where the “deadline” appears is not actually in the Amendment though, according to Tribe – it’s in the announcement (“resolution”) if I read Tribe correctly.

    So too with the ERA. Congress knew by the date of its submission to the States, March 22, 1972, precisely how to include a shelf date in the text of the amendment, but instead included a time limit only in the advisory resolution. That makes all the difference, because such a resolution is not a binding law, and is not a part of the amendment the States vote whether or not to ratify. Congress recognized as much when it extended that limit by three years in 1982 through a resolution of the two houses.

    He also cites precedent, FWIW (I know, shit in one hand, wish in the other…see which one fills up first).

  77. 77.

    Jay

    @Jackie:

    Blue States and “Sanctuary” Cities will be targeted first.

    Red States will be left alone for the most part.

    The major issue for Red State will be shilled and unskilled immigrants leaving for Blue States and “Sanctuary” cities to get away from the harassment.

  78. 78.

    cmorenc

    @TBone: if you think there is any infinitesimal chance current SCOTUS will uphold the validity of the ERA rather than hold conclusively that it failed to timely win ratification and is null and void, you are hallucinating.

  80. 80.

    Steve in the ATl

    @cain:

     

    Once the deportation starts, I suppose the red states will start using child labor. Won’t that be fun?

    A friend of mine has been stuck with “defending” Hyundai for using child labor in Alabama. Where “stuck” means billing the absolute shit out of a deep pocket client in a case that can’t be won.

  82. 82.

    TBone

    @cmorenc: SCROTUS are not required to weigh in, it is already done.  It may not last, but it is now done.  King Biden has spoken.  Remember, the Supremacists said that presidents are now kings.

    It’ll take years before it gets to SCROTUS unless there is serious finagling and cheating, which I fully expect there will be.  Until then, I am a fully equal human bean.

    Also, see #75 as well as the precedent cited by Tribe.

  83. 83.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @@mistermix.bsky.social:

    there was an expiration date on the amendment

    I may be misreading the article and misunderstanding what attorneys are telling me, but I think that they are all saying that (1) the expiry date isn’t actually part of the amendment, and (2) even if it were, it wouldn’t have any bearing on whether the amendment was ratified (it was) nor whether it’s part of the Constitution (it is)

    ETA: I see Tbone (and possibly others) beat me to it.

  84. 84.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @cmorenc: Maybe, maybe not. But until then, I think everyone should state that the 28th was ratified (it was) and that it’s part of the Constitution (it is).

    There’s no downside to taking that tack. MAKE the courts tell you otherwise.

  87. 87.

    persistentillusion

    @MazeDancer: ​
      Does sound like Dartmouth, both in apparel and deportment. My brother, bro-in-law (briefly) and my then bfriend all went and were part of the same frat. It was less depraved than the standard Dartmouth frat, so there were survivors.

  89. 89.

    Geminid

    @Sister Golden Bear: Someone can pick a favorable federal Circuit and file a good test case, maybe one concerning women’s health interests that are endangered by a state abortion ban.

    There’s no downside that I can see, and plenty of upside even if the Supreme Court ultimately squelches the case. Like you say, make them own it.

  90. 90.

    gene108

    I don’t think there’s anyone significantly more qualified than folks like Noem, Hegseth, etc. who are willing to work for Trump.

    When Trump blacklisted most of the Bush, Jr. policy people from working in his first administration, there was a gap in getting qualified people in place. We ended up with some folks trying to step up and fill the vacuum. As these folks got pushed out, the quality of their replacements got worse.

    Now, who’s there to pick from to staff not only a second Trump administration, but any future Republican president’s Cabinet? There aren’t any more qualified people out there in Republican circles.

  91. 91.

    gene108

    @JoyceH:

    No one in the current GOP realizes that management is a skill. Organizations don’t just automatically hang together and operate smoothly and continue towards the stated goal – it has to be managed!

    I am of the opinion enough Republicans do not want to be team players that a well organized management structure will ever emerge. Too many of them have their own agendas and want to advance those over any type of consensus building that requires cooperation, rather than political and media “knife fights” to get their way.

    Rumsfeld and Cheney ran over everyone else in the Bush, Jr. to push for the invasion of Iraq, for example.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid:

    AlJazeera:

    Israeli cabinet officially approves Gaza ceasefire deal

    As we have been reporting, the cabinet of Prime Minister Netanyahu met on Friday night to vote on whether to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal successfully negotiated with Hamas earlier this week.

    Netanyahu’s office has now announced that, after a six-hour long cabinet meeting which ended in the early hours of Saturday morning, the Israeli government has ratified the ceasefire.

    A reporter from the Axios news outlet, citing an Israeli cabinet member, said in a post on X that 24 ministers voted in favour, while eight ministers voted against.

    Under the deal, which is bitterly opposed by some far-right cabinet hardliners, a six-week ceasefire is due to take effect on Sunday.

    The first of a series of Israeli captive and Palestinian prisoner exchanges could also take place that day, opening the way to ending the 15-month war.

    We will bring you more information when we have it.

    Good news.

    Here’s hoping it finally holds and this horrible war will soon finally be over.

    Here’s hoping that it is the beginning of the end of Bibi in power as well.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  94. 94.

    Ruckus

    @sab:

    I was a mold maker, we made the molds that make many products that the modern world uses. Milk and juice and soda bottle molds, qt, 1/2 and 1gallon, 5 gallon water bottles, Barbie dolls, and so many other products that I long ago lost count. My dad started the company when I was 13 yrs old. I started working there at 14, weekends and summers. I ended up owning it longer than dad, closed it in 1995 after the Northridge earthquake. Yes we used what is/was called cutting oil at times but a lot of what we built was using aluminum so we could use other products for the cutting lubricant. Not quite as messy.

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    Aaron Fritschner
    ‪@fritschner.bsky.social‬

    Many many calls to congressional offices – which will be closed through Monday – from people who had tickets to the inauguration, and nobody has any information to share because Trump did this last minute with no backup plan. What a way to treat his own supporters

    January 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM

    I’m sure the folks that got tickets and planned for weeks to be there are overjoyed that their tickets are “commemorative” and they’re hearing about it at the last minute.

    Are MAGA tired of winning yet??

    [ womp, womp ]

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  96. 96.

    Ruckus

    @cain:

    To be honest I’d bet that sure some will be done, but mass deportation? First – it would be difficult, second – who’s going to actually do this? It is possible the military or the National Guard could would help, but a lot of the people that would be deported are here legally by current law, have jobs that provide a lot of the things we all use every day – food, services, and who is going to do that if the people doing it now are deported. After all this time to change to fucking over the country even for the people who think this is a good idea will in the not all that long run be considered completely asinine – or worse. This country has for decades depended upon immigrants to do a lot of the work that some/a lot of people do not want to do. And likely wouldn’t ever even figure out how to do. This country works because of a lot of people that would be kicked out. It is, as stated above, completely asinine – at the very least. How many of the people that want so many to leave are only a generation or two from being immigrants? I know for sure at least 3 of my grandparents were but I believe all 4 were immigrants. Aw these pompous arrogant assholes who think they are special for some asinine concept that isn’t worth used toilet paper. Which is OK, neither are they.

  97. 97.

    Citizen Alan

    @Another Scott: these creatures deserve every bad thing that happens to them and every bit of unhappiness. I am literally salivating at the thought of magas saying in interviews how upset they are, that he’s hurting “the wrong people.”

  98. 98.

    Citizen Alan

    @cmorenc: almost certainly. Still, there is no downside to letting the partisan supreme court announce by a 6-3 margin that women are not equal to men because of an arbitrary deadline. Every woman who wakes up to the fact that the gop hates her because of her gender is a potential vote for us.

  99. 99.

    Geminid

    @Another Scott: I think the domestic political ramifications for the Prime Minister will take a while to work out. It’s like Israeli politics have been frozen since the October 7 attack, and now they can thaw.

    As for the ceasefire itself, the first 42-day phase ought to come off ok. The second 42-day phase could be problematic, though. There are a number of critical issues that have yet to be worked out; negotiations on them are supposed to commence on Day 16 of Phase One.

    One thing I keep in mind: Donald Trump does not like Benjamin Netanyahu, and Trump doesn’t trust him either. Trump has learned that, as Noga Tarnopolsky puts it, “He lies as he breathes.”

  100. 100.

    cmorenc

    @TBone: Oh, but SCROTUS certainly will.  And the challenge at the D Court level will be brought in Amarillo,Tx where RW hack Kacsmaryk has a track record of issuing nationwide injunctions on cases brought there.

  102. 102.

    dww44

    @Citizen Alan: I wish that would be true but it won’t move the needle much at all.  There are an awful lot of women who tend towards misogyny themselves. Otherwise we’d have elected a woman president by now.

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