Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

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

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

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Wednesday Night Open Thread

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Felt a ton better today, and Joelle called me from work and told me she was taking me out for sushi for Valentines Day, which I had completely forgotten about. I like that the conversation informing me of our plans ended with “you need to wear pants.” Tough, but fair.

In other news, I know everything is grim, but I need all of you to understand it is going to get much worse before it gets better. Mentally pace yourself and prepare for that reality. We have never seen anything like this in our lifetimes, and we are going to have to play it by ear, and we need to be smart and stick together.

I wish I had something more positive to say but I do not.

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  2. 2.

    J. Arthur Crank

    If you want to be contrarian, show up at the February 14 event wearing nothing but pants.  Then point out you did what you were told to do.  On the other hand, you might just want to show up at the event fully dressed.  I can see arguments for both sides.

  4. 4.

    Starfish (she/her)

    You are wearing pants for Joelle? This is a very real and deep love. I know how hard it is to get you to wear pants. Also, the pants probably should not be the tie dye overalls.

  6. 6.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @J. Arthur Crank: there is an ancient tale told about the “21” club, an old rich NYC restaurant, in the 60’s. A woman diner showed up in a pantsuit, only to be told that the restaurant would not serve women wearing pants. She asked to be excused to the ladies room and returned in only her underwear, stockings and shoes.

    She was served wearing her pants.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    it is going to get much worse before it gets better.

    Agreed.  Pacing ourselves is crucial.  For myself, we need to protect federal workers and federal expertise (and research contracts).

    Sushi date night sounds wonderful.  Enjoy.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    Was thinking those tiedye overalls might count as “pants,” but you want to dress as nicely as Joelle expects.

    How goes her knee recovery?

  12. 12.

    J. Arthur Crank

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop:   I once went to a conference in the Canary Islands. The dining room at the hotel mentioned something about “appropriate attire”.  What that actually meant was no shorts for men.  Many of the attendees did not bring long pants, since it was the middle of June.      After that, I have been a fan of precisely spelled out dress codes.

  13. 13.

    B1naryS3rf

    It’s possible to some extent to mentally prepare for the enshittening. But it’s almost impossible to emotionally prep. If you have three active brain cells in your head and a decent civics education, the monsters are likely gonna upset you more and more and more. And therefore I say, I allow myself to feel rage and fear, but I try to quickly turn my thinking to “What do I need to do to help?”

    We are being tested for sure.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    Here’s an insidious thought for any with R Congressfolk.

    Call them up and strongly suggest they introduce a bill renaming the nation’s capital to Trumpington, D.C.

    If just one of them takes the bait imagine the ensuing firestorm.

  17. 17.

    Urza

    We probably have seen something like this in our lifetimes, but American’s don’t pay much attention to other countries having coups.

  18. 18.

    Gloria DryGarden

    I just wrote 5 or 6 more small poems of rage and sweetness, bleak things, and moments of growth or beauty. A tiny sharp bouquet of comments.

    we’re still growing food, and eating it. The stars and moon still shine at night. The sky is blue.

    ETA  one year, I told my new lover that Valentine’s Day was coming up soon, and no matter how anti ceremony he was, he was required to do something valentines- ish.

    l think he wrote me a long intellectual poem, that went right over my head. I was delighted, nonetheless.

  19. 19.

    Sister Golden Bear

    John, if you don’t want to wear pants, I’m sure you’d look fetching in a dress. Just sayin…

    Me, I’ve already reserved my Valentine’s Day single-person table facing the wall, right next to the kitchen. It’ll be a poly date with me, myself and I.

  20. 20.

    geg6

    My niece had a nice experience on the job the other day.  Don’t know if anyone here is watching The Pitt on MAX, but it is set and was partially filmed here in Pittsburgh.  It stars Noah Wiley of ER fame and he’s back in the ER on this show but in a very different show.  Extremely realistic and set (kinda like 24) in season where each episode is one hour.  Very good, based on all my friends and relatives in medical fields.  Anyway, my niece works at the Children’s Hospital here as a CNMT.  She was setting up her equipment for a kid who’d just come through the ER with a head injury and she saw one of the ER nursing supervisors bringing a small group of people through the department and to the room she was working.  Caitlin kept setting up as the group got an explanation of what ground breaking techniques were pioneered there and when she finally looked up, there was Noah Wiley right beside her, watching what she did intently.  He told her that he admired people who did what they do there, especially in working with the kids, and thanked her for doing it.  She said he was very nice and very cute for an old man (she’s only 23) but she just wanted the whole group out so she could get the patient in because it was a very serious injury.  She’s great at her job and what a nice story for her to have in these terrible times.

  23. 23.

    twbrandt

    My coping strategy:

    1. Limit screen time. There is only so much you can consume without being consumed.
    2. Be kind and generous. It’s the right thing to do, and the MAGAs hate that.
    3. Remember that as a gay man, there is a target on my back, but as an older white guy, I swim in a sea of privilege. Use that privilege to help those without it.
  25. 25.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Jay: oh cool. I don’t know much Mexican slang.

    hijo de la fregada-
    Google tells me this f word substitutes for “groserías”.

    So, like “I’ll be,” or “son of a __”. Or like oh shoot: “Mier…coles”

    el golfo de miércoles…los Estados Unidos de miércoles. I’m into my South American groserías, like calling people boludos. NSFW.

    Just riffing on a few sharp labels and epithets. It could turn into a long collaborative nonsense poem.

    @Urza: We probably have seen something like this in our lifetimes, but American’s don’t pay much attention to other countries having coups

    I’ve been in a country right after a coup. And I’ve met people abroad, and here, who have lived through coups. They’ve been my students; they’ve taught me, and given me a glimpse.

  26. 26.

    New Deal democrat

     
    Last night YY Sima Qian left a lengthy comment in the open thread that I didn’t read until today, citing work by an author entitled “Voters were right about the economy, the data was wrong.”

    I wanted to reply to that author’s claims at length, and hopefully YY Sima Qian will see this. I want to state emphatically that none of what follows should in any way be seen as an attack on YY Sima Qian.

    Article claims are in quotes. My response follows each one.

    “Take, as a particularly egregious example, what is perhaps the most widely reported economic indicator: unemployment. Known to experts as the U-3, the number misleads in several ways. First, it counts as employed the millions of people who are unwillingly under-employed — that is, people who, for example, work only a few hours each week while searching for a full-time job.”

    That’s the commonly reported unemployment rate, called “U-3.” There is another rate, “U-6,” that *expressly* includes people who who work part time for economic reasons like the example used. It made an all time low of 6.6% in April 2023, but had risen to 7.7% by Election Day – still lower than any time since the turn of the MIllenium except for 2018-19.

    “Second, it does not take into account many Americans who have been so discouraged that they are no longer trying to get a job.”

    Again, there is another statistic included in the jobs report right along with the unemployment rate. It’s called “Not in Labor Force but Want a Job Now,” that measures exactly this. It equalled 3.5% of the labor force just before the election, lower than the majority of times in the past 30 years, after being close to an all-time low in March 2023.

    “Finally, the prevailing statistic does not account for the meagerness of any individual’s income. Thus you could be homeless on the streets, making an intermittent income and functionally incapable of keeping your family fed, and the government would still count you as ‘employed.’”

    That’s because, in fact you *would* be employed! Again, in the very same report, we have numbers for average hourly and weekly wages for non-supervisory workers. With the exception of three months, the former (adjusted for inflation) was at an all time high just before the election. The latter was at its highest level in 40+ years except for 2020. We also have statistics that come out quarterly that measure median vs. average earnings, which avoids the distortions of things like lower income people being laid off en masse during the pandemic, and most of those told the same story.

    “I don’t believe those who went into this past election taking pride in the unemployment numbers understood that the near-record low unemployment figures — the figure was a mere 4.2 percent in November — counted homeless people doing occasional work as “employed.” But the implications are powerful. If you filter the statistic to include as unemployed people who can’t find anything but part-time work or who make a poverty wage (roughly $25,000), the percentage is actually 23.7 percent. In other words, nearly one of every four workers is functionally unemployed in America today — hardly something to celebrate.”

    I’m not sure where he gets the 23.7% figure, but during Biden’s term the lowest two income quintiles had the fastest growth in income they’ve seen in over 20 years. And unless the author can show whether his statistic is better or worse than it typically has been over time, his statistic is meaningless.

    So, sorry, no the data weren’t wrong. The data was all right there. But partisans were ignoring other data, that was telling a different story. Like mortgage interest rates, housing prices, and affordability; car prices; and the fact that wage gains were concentrated among people who switched jobs, while people who stayed in the same job for Biden’s entire term saw their wages not keep up with inflation.

  27. 27.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @NotMax: Mr Vespucci,

    let’s go down to your beach front home on your charming international gulf, and enjoy that music and good food. Watch the starlight sparkle on the water.

  30. 30.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @NotMax: mierda is shit. They say it all the time, stopping halfway, to make it come out as miércoles, yes Wednesday, a word you can say in front of the ladies, or at work, maybe..

    golly.

  31. 31.

    Sister Golden Bear

    On a serious note, while what’s coming is something we’ve never experienced before, it’s worth taking lessons from those who have experienced harsh oppression. LGBTQ+ people, Jews, BIPOC people, especially Black folks. How they endured, how they resisted, and how they refused to let their oppressors kill their spirit.

    I’ll let Black folks speak for themselves about that, so I’ll focus on the world I know. In his excellent essay about Pride, Joe.My.God talks about how yes, the first Pride was riot, but also it’s our celebration of ourselves and our defiant survival. It’s our fuck you to the haters.

    Because even if Pride doesn’t change many minds in the outside world, it’s our PARTY, darlings. It’s our Christmas, our New Year’s, our Carnival. It’s the one day of the year that all the crazy contingents of the gay world actually come face to face on the street and blow each other air kisses. And wish each other “Happy Pride!” Saying “Happy Pride!” is really just a shorter, easier way of saying “Congratulations on not being driven completely batshit insane! Well done, being YOURSELF!”

    He closes by saying:

    I’ll end this by making one final Jewish reference. Possibly you’ve heard the Jewish in-joke that sums up the meaning of all Jewish holidays? “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.” My Pride version?

    They wish we were invisible.

    We’re not.

    Let’s dance.

    Perhaps you’ve heard the queer joke: They killed off all the nice gays, so now y’all are gonna have to deal with the pissed-off cockroach gays. Let’s be the pissed-off cockroach Americans who take our country back. Who also dance.

  34. 34.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Jay: uuhhh! deep breath. Are you permitted to, inclined to say where?

    someone said on blue sky that it may take going beyond civil dissent, here in USA. Mmm.

  35. 35.

    Bupalos

    Here’s a thread that reminds me of this-the thing I like most about BJ is that it seems the most human. Which is probably because it originally sprung from a cantankerous and ideosyncratic former right-winger that isn’t… what you’d expect.

    And yet when I see disembodied thoughts (like one does on the interne) I frequently forget that there are actual humans behind them. Well, I guess that’s starting to be an assumption. But still largely true.

    To anyone that I’ve responded to as if they are just words on a screen, I’m sorry. I’ll fight this dehumanization machine better, or give it up.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    Felt like having a very small nibble with the last glug of coffee in the mug. One cookie brings it down to the last half dozen ginger snaps left of those baked at Xmastime.

    Don’t require refrigeration, These suckers last for months when stored in an airtight Ziploc bag. As soft and chewy as when freshly made.
    ;)

  39. 39.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Jay: oh dios. I nearly went to El Salvador instead of Uruguay. My heart would be broken by no, if I had. I mean, even more broken.

    my sister went to Nicaragua with a musician contingent, to give away one of her violins. Right in the middle of all that. I spent hours doing protection rituals for her before she went, sent her an amulet, whose protection she said she felt. I tear up talking about it.

  40. 40.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop: Thanks for asking. I’m feeling about the same I did pre-hospital, i.e. just feeling like I’m in a wired near-constant state of fight or flight. ER/hospital tests concluded that there’s no immediate danger, but obviously they do want to get my pulse/blood pressure back down.

    tl;dr There’s something that’s causing the lower part of my heart to insert extra beats at seemingly random times, which in turn is causing the extremely high blood pressure. Stress and anxiety are one of the potential triggers — and to me, the most likely one.

    Spent today doing a follow up consult and getting other medical stuff rolling. I’m going into get a monitor that’ll I be wearing 24/7 for the next two weeks, then it’ll take another two weeks to be analyzed and get results. Hoping it may shed more light on the causes.

  41. 41.

    Bupalos

    @New Deal democrat: Am I getting this right, that in your estimation Yy was standing up for the idea that the economy  “in reality” was better than what “people felt or thought?”

    Because that would surprise me a little.

    and we need to get away from the idea that the economy ”in reality” is something that CAN be different from the way  people feel themselves to experience it.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    Hm.

    Sling streaming service sidestepping?

    What used to be a category each February labeled Black History Month is now Black Voices Inspire.

  44. 44.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Jay: ojalá. Oh honey, I wish. That would soften me up, like not max’s cookies.

    So many diet restrictions, careful reading of labels, and now I have to let go of two more, so I’m going up to 5 ubiquitous foods I get to avoid. Including my very favorite addiction.  My food just has to taste good, whatever fusion of flavors, if I eat them in the fucking proper order. Cornless taco filling, no cheese burrito filling, non dairy sugarless flan. Vegetables first. You betcha.

     

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    the Jewish in-joke that sums up the meaning of all Jewish holidays? “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.” My Pride version?

    They wish we were invisible.

    We’re not.

    Let’s dance.

    I love this.
    And so we shall…

  45. 45.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Van Jackson is always worth a read, even if his cynicism toward the establishment Dems will rankle many here. Much if his post is behind a paywall, so I am excerpting the key parts:

    The Balance of Forces Wants YOU: A Net Assessment on Fighting Tyranny in America

    UN-DIPLOMATIC

    FEB 13, 2025 ∙ PAID

    In a recent post, I noted that:

    “Trump is creating a solidarity of position between the immiserated working class and the technocratic class that manages state functions…Attacking everything, everywhere, all at once invites a balancing coalition at home and abroad.”

    After writing that piece, I ended up in two conversations with folks about what could possibly be done to move workers in America—federal workers, rank-and-file union members, and the precarious, non-union working class—to cohere as an actual balancing coalition. What can be done to fight back?

    Answering that question meaningfully requires at least a rough net assessment of the balance of political forces between Trumpism and democracy. In strategic studies, net assessments evaluate the balance of power in specific contexts and geographies—how do the forces of blue (us) interact with red (them) in a specific conflict scenario given how each side is organized and their respective advantages and weaknesses? That kind of analysis becomes the basis for strategy—i.e., a way of adjusting how the military allocates resources, adjusts doctrine, and deploys forces.

    We can do the same thing with political conflicts. And there are aspects of the balance that need no introduction. Everyone knows that oligarchs have all the damn money, and now occupy the presidency. Everyone knows union density is at a hundred-year low. Everyone knows that the Democratic Party is literally admitting that it can’t do anything, so nobody should expect it to act on society’s behalf. Even when Democratic leadership have taken action, it’s been to make concessions to Republicans in exchange for nothing; brilliant strategists they are not.

    These are very material weaknesses. In the abstract, they suggest that the balance of power is so lopsided against democracy and in favor of oligarchy that all is lost.

    But power balances don’t matter in the abstract; they matter in particular situations. And we’re far from powerless. In fact, some of our power comes from believing that we have agency.

    Our Meta Weakness
    Maybe the biggest non-material disadvantage we’re currently facing is a problem of consciousness, a narrative challenge. A collective mental shift is required to move from a solidarity of position to a solidarity of strategy.

    People don’t realize the extent to which they depend on the administrative state (the parts of the state not doing national security). They have no idea that the FCC, CFPB, and FTC—destroyed by DOGE—help keep inflation in check. They don’t make the connection between the billionaires surrounding Trump and the Project 2025 policy agenda designed to kill the middle class.

    Most importantly, not enough people understand that everything that’s happening is one big project: ICE’s immigration raids, the war on DEI, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the anti-China hysteria by everyone on the right except Trump personally, and the war on federal workers—all of it is a way of using the state to reward the billionaire class, weaken the working class, move America toward a white nationalist (patriarchal) social order, and move the planet toward a multipolar world of empires, protectorates, and sacrifice zones.

    Above all, people need to realize that the attack on the civil service is a threat all workers in America. The ransacking of federal unions is a probe of democracy’s capacity to resist tyranny. If Trumpism, in the guise of DOGE, is able to destroy the administrative state, scare workers into silence and complicity, and layoff hundreds of thousands of Americans for no reason but ideology, corporations will do the same. There will be ripple effects for organized labor and non-union workers alike. Life will become very dark very fast for the working class.

    …

    And, of course, fighting has already begun:

    • Protests are happening in DC—the American Federation of Government Employees is maintaining a continuous presence in the streets.
    • Some judges are ruling against Trump, including a federal judge in Rhode Island who has said Trump failed to comply with his order to unfreeze billions of dollars in federal grants. I’ve seen half a dozen stories of judges issuing rulings that ought to slow the pace of Trump’s revolutionary change but the unfreeze order stands out.
    • Military families are protesting Hegseth’s anti-DEI radicalism in the Pentagon.
    • More than 110 organizations have endorsed a statement condemning Trump’s ethnic cleansing plans for Gaza as illegal and immoral.
    • Advocacy groups are now suing the Trump administration to unfreeze/restore foreign assistance programs via USAID.
    • In California and New York, protests against ICE immigration have been loud and large.
    • High school students have been organizing school walkouts and highway closureson behalf of both Mexican immigrants and Palestine (this kids are alright).

    Realistically, this is not nearly enough—and most of it is unsustainable—but it’s also not nothing. These are signal flares, and the thing that’s promising about them is that they come from a widespread state of genuine alarm.

    I know wine moms who are enraged at attacks on DEI and trans kids. I know guys I served with who supported Rubio in the 2016 primary and they’re writing these long Facebook screeds about billionaires, oligarchs, and corruption. The federal workforce that’s under attack is millions of skilled, educated people who expect the system to work for them and are operating right now entirely on fear and a feeling they’re unfamiliar with—militancy. Can you believe it!?

    …
    The Vulnerability of Our Opposition
    Crazy as it seems, democratic forces actually have some advantages to work with.

    • Trump’s policy agenda is directly causing unemployment…which is unpopular. They’re directly causing commodity inflation through tariffs…which is also unpopular. Cutting Medicaid (which Congress is doing right now) is unpopular. And nothing in the MAGA agenda addresses the status-quo economic insecurity most Americans were already facing (e.g., where’s a Trump Executive Order raising the minimum wage, cancelling debt, lowering the cost of healthcare, or freezing rent?).
    • As I’ve written before, the MAGA coalition has fissures.
      • The ethnonationalist and oligarchic visions converge on World War 3, but contradict each other on labor.
      • There’s a potential cleavage between Musk and Trump himself as the former amasses more power.
      • And there’s no way to radically reducing federal spending without shrinking the national security state. 60% of the budget for federal employees goes to the Pentagon, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Homeland Security.
    • The billionaires surrounding Trump are not just symbols of inequality—their policy agenda is likely to crash the economy, thereby turning productive workers into surplus (and therefore exploitable) labor. As the US falls into a recession, the incumbent (Trump) will suffer the ire of the public. He will try to redirect it toward immigrants, leftists, and China—you heard it here first—but whether he succeeds at misdirection will be a narrative battle. Longer term, the $500 billion Silicon Valley investment in AI—supported by the US government—is going to accelerate automation, reducing labor costs, and making workers redundant…ie, unemployed.
    • We have the list of DOGE staffers, the corner boys of high crime (and a who’s who of Silicon Valley reactionaries). They’re not faceless; they can be investigated, sued, and charged with violating the law on behalf of their bosses.
    • Trump’s onslaught is being facilitated by a mere 3-seat majority in the House of Representatives. That’s electorally weak.
    • As Eric Blanc reminds us, “No matter which lackeys Trump and Musk install at the top of these agencies, they still ultimately depend on the labor of their employees.” Federal workers can engage in wildcat strikes. Sickouts. There’s a vast repertoireof non-violent tactics for withdrawing your labor from the machine, which both slows the machine down and denies it legitimacy.

    …
    Take Action
    Within this assessment, which is admittedly rushed and very back-of-napkin, there is much that can be immediately done beyond what is currently being done. If you’re an American, you’re part of the balance of forces in this contest against oligarchic tyranny. So here’s a few quick things you can do:

    Sign the card for a general strike (learn more about the general strike—labor’s ultimate weapon—here). This is what’s most needed and what’s hardest to do. But we’re experiencing a once-in-a-century level of cross-class grievance, so the conditions for a general strike are ripe. Also worth noting that just last year, South Korea’s largest unions successfully organized a general strike to remove Yoon Suk-yeol from the presidency after he tried a self-coup—general strikes happen.

    Tell your member of Congress to support Rep. Marc Pocan’s new bill called the Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy (ELON MUSK) Act.

    …

  48. 48.

    Bupalos

    @YY_Sima Qian: I  really can’t get through all that without an inducement… and I’m an outlier in patience here.  Do a 100 word condensation. Remember, WE’RE THE INTERNET!

  49. 49.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Bupalos: good for you!

    I’ll risk complaints, and drop you some haiku and tanka poem thingies.

    ______

    Speak kind words, my heart,

    Voice your desires, make it so;

    Something good unfolds.

    Your words of affirmation

    Open a world of wholeness

    _____

    Your acts of service

    Repair, carry, think with me,

    Kept me together

  50. 50.

    Bupalos

    @New Deal democrat: No no I would not stand by idly if I thought you were, that’s my Most Respected Commenter.

    forget the personal reference, Just trying to clarify. Because to me THE ECONOMY IS WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY IT IS.

    If their response to the data economy doesn’t make sense, we need to rethink what we mean by “the economy.”

  51. 51.

    frosty

    @Bupalos: That was a very nice comment. I have you pied. I toggle the first one or two in every thread and I’m glad I toggled this one. Keep trying.

  52. 52.

    frosty

    @Jay: Dude, you have been everywhere and done everything! I’ve lost track of the jobs, other than the Big Orange.

    I hope it was by choice and not by necessity. And especially not from desperation. My week of shifting 100 pound sacks at Manpower was one of those (I weighed 120 maybe).

  53. 53.

    Kelly

    Today was my weeklyish walk on Silver Falls State Park Trail of Ten Falls. Weather was cold and clear. Lots of icicles not many people. I wore my Yaktrax for traction on the icy trail and used ski poles. I only managed a 6 mile loop at the north end.  Very quiet and relaxing.

  54. 54.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @New Deal democrat: Thanks for the detailed response, greatly appreciate it! I don’t necessarily agree w/ every piece of analysis in the article, but I think the main thrust I do agree w/ is that the aggregate indicators failed to reflect the precarity of the lives of a majority of Americans, how many people have to work multiple part time jobs w/ no job security to make ends meet, or that much of the large gain in nominal wages was wiped out by inflation, or that inflation in necessities far outpaced (& continues to outpace) the overall CPI. On that I think we are all aligned. You have pointed to other indicators that reflect that less rosy reality.

    Unquestionably Biden oversaw an economic recovery, & it is conventional wisdom to run on accomplishments & accentuate the positives, but not if both the campaign’s & Dem partisans’ messaging is significantly out of alignment w/ the lived experiences of the multitudes facing scarcity & precarity, & w/ a platform/program insufficiently attuned to addressing these needs. Unquestionably there was progress for working class Americans during Biden’s term, but which still paled relative to the decades of stagnation & decline, & the triumphalism of the Biden Administration & Dem partisans was out of tune w/ that reality.

  55. 55.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Bupalos: YY is worth every sentence and paragraph. Yes it’s dense reading. But we are privileged to have his wide range of knowledge and his international point of view.

    He illuminates my world with things I didn’t know I needed to know.
    And he generously explains the things I do not understand, in a clear fashion, that at the very least gives me enough to know what to google to improve my comprehension.
    I could try to sum him up in some haiku, it’d be a good exercise. But I don’t think I could do it Justice.

    Btw, his command of English, while living in his culture, and usually  speaking his other main language , is nothing short of astonishing. I know how much English I forgot in one year of learning and mostly speaking only spanish. My English vocabulary was in tatters, down to basics, my grammar and spelling and native fluency were gone.

  58. 58.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @YY_Sima Qian: I’ll be back to read your long things tonight. Economy stuff is a stretch for me, yet I care deeply about our world, and the economic weaving together is a big part of  international relations. Thank you in advance.

  60. 60.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Bupalos: My perspective is that if there is a persistent disparity between aggregate economic indicators & popular perceptions, that suggests there is a wide disparity between the winners & losers in the current economy, & that warrants closer study of who the winners & losers are, & whether they are part of your political coalitions, & whether you risk losing the losers from the coalition & what is the prospect of enticing the winners to the coalition, & whether the inevitable trade offs are worth it.

    The MSM is only ever good at zooming into individual winner/loser & extrapolating those stories to the whole, occasionally interpreting/misinterpreting the aggregate indicators to support their favored narrative.

  61. 61.

    Gloria DryGarden

    In honor of everyone here looking for how to make it better

    My new poetry prompt-

    Write how I’d like it be.
    Imagine nourishment, right actions,

    Imagine goodness sprouts and grows,

    The highest good of many, of all,

    Harming none.

    Let the possible take root

    In a bed of sweet fierce goodness And inner strength

    So May it be.

  62. 62.

    Gloria DryGarden

    For balance, and in honor of the gods of savory sarcasm:

    When I Grow Up I Want To Be An Asshole

    When I grow up
    I’ll vote for silliness
    I’ll vote to please
    To appease a bully

    I’ll confirm incompetent dangers
    I’ll risk the many for just a few.
    I’ll tease my voters to believe
    In my care; to think that I care
    that I’ll plea for their needs.

    oh yes,
    When I grow up I want to be an asshole.
    but I’ll dress well.
    I’ll clean up nice.
    I’ll clean  up real good.

    //s

    ‬ ‪@gloriadrygarden.bsky.social‬  

    ____

    When high percentage

    Says block this, stop this, now.

    Then We can return home.

    _______

    And one more, inspired by manya kitty:

    No, you clueless fucks,

    Republicans voted yes

    All the rest said no

    ( at least on the tulsi gabbard confirmation)

    I’ll hush now.

  63. 63.

    Jay

    @frosty:

    Orange was necessity, were were unhoused, no income and the bank took the house, the farms and the land. A 2000 RAV 4 is a hard thing to live in with 2 cats.

    It was okay at first, I had a good DS, a good Assman, then Covid hit.

    I got both burned up, used and shafted.

  64. 64.

    New Deal democrat

    @YY_Sima Qian: Last year I was trying to drive home to people that the economy wasn’t as good for ordinary people as the partisans said it was, especially w/r/t housing. Because I watch all those numbers, and I knew.

  65. 65.

    Phylllis

    @Sister Golden Bear: I was diagnosed with irregular heartbeat (Afib, for all intents & purposes) about 15 years ago. It’s been well controlled with a daily low-dose beta blocker for years. Here’s hoping your diagnosis works out just as well.

  67. 67.

    frosty

    @Jay: That’s a lot more down and out than graduating into a recession, with parents to help with the rent. I’m glad you’ve made it out, if you have. Best wishes for your SO, it sounds like it’s going (crosses fingers) well.

  68. 68.

    Debg

    @geg6: I love stories about gracious celebrities. It costs us nothing to be kind, yet so many people, especially big names, feel the urge to dump on others. Thank you for sharing this lovely moment.

  70. 70.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Gloria DryGarden: Since I am a Chinese American who had emigrated to the US at a relatively young age, my relative facility w/ English should not be surprising.

    Although I have been mostly living back in the PRC since 2007, I do benefit from working for a US company where English is necessarily the official language of communication. The majority of my reading is also materials in English. Most of the sources of information & analyses, even those related to the PRC, are US or at least Anglosphere based. There is a wealth of expertise in the West (in media, in academia, in think tanks, among non-professional but nevertheless intent observers) who have a detailed & nuanced understanding of China & how China relates to the world, admittedly amongst a huge pile of garbage.

    Somehow, though, their work rarely percolates to the politicians & policymakers.

  72. 72.

    kwAwk

    My thoughts for today are that Dems need to talk more about how Trump is just out of ideas.  The reason he is going after Canada, Greenland, Gaza and Panama is that his whole schtick of MAGA is based upon convincing people he is leading us into a grand new future.  But he doesn’t have any ideas on how to do that so he is reaching for things he thinks will make him look like he was a great leader in the history books, but they only work if he can get consent, and he can’t.

    We’ve all thought that it makes sense on some level to have a Canada/US merger.  There’s nothing crazy there.  We’re countries with a lot in common in our culture and language.  Economically we’ve very interconnected and similar.   It’s not crazy to think that it would work.  It’s crazy to talk about it absent of consent.   We can’t force Canada to marry us.

    Redeveloping Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East, isn’t in itself a crazy idea.  It’s Trump’s vision of doing it without the consent and participation of the Palestinian people that is the crazy part.

    This is common with Trump in that you see him make a point that can be construed to make sense, but he backs it up with the crazy in the details.

  74. 74.

    Aziz, light!

    @kwAwk: We’ve all thought that it makes sense on some level to have a Canada/US merger.

    No, we haven’t. Nor have they. This is the dumbest comment I’ve seen here today. Marry us? What they need is a restraining order.

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    The ceasefire in Gaza might still be on track. A couple days ago Hamas said that Israel had not met its obligations under the ceasefire agreement and that the exchange of three hostages scheduled for Saturday was off. Reports were that Egyptian and Qatatari negotiaters were “working feverishly” to get the ceasefire back on track.

    Last night Nir Calderon, who seems to observe this process closely, posted this:

       Hamas sources told the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al Awat: “The mediators offered guarantees that Israel will abide by the ceasefire agreement and begin negatiations for the second phase,” and emphasized that “the atmosphere was encouraging.” According to them, if Israel abides by the agreement, then the release of the hostages will take place on time (Saturday).

    Steve Witkoff, who is Trump’s point man for the negotiations, was reported earlier this month to be leaning heavily on Netanyahu to complete first two phases of the ceasefire. I guess we’ll find out Saturday if Witkoff is maintaining pressure.

    Witkoff’s boss did not help this week when he demanded that Hamas deliver nine hostages on Saturday or face the Wrath of Trump. But as Calderon noted;

      Trump talks a lot. Sources involved in the negotiations tell Kann News: on Saturday, 3 hostages are to be released as agreed. The release of all [hostages] or all 9 of Phase A is not on the agenda. The sources added that the aid Israel is witholding will be delivered to the northern Gaza Strip.

    Last Saturday Hamas handed three hostages over to the Red Cross around 9am local time, we could know if the deal is still on by 2am Saturday morning, Eastern time.

  76. 76.

    sab

    @Aziz, light!: My mother’s Canadian cousins didn’t much like the USA. My nephew’s Canadian wife is willing to live here but she doesn’t much like us either, and she really scrambled to be sure her American born kids were dual citizens,

  77. 77.

    different-church-lady

    I wish I had something more positive to say but I do not.

    Resolute and clear eyed is much more what is needed, and you’re giving us that with this post.

  78. 78.

    Betty

    Wrote to new Senator, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, this morning and tried the tactic of encouraging him to use his power for honor and decency as his predecessor, Bob Casey, had done. Probably just a waste of effort, but I want him to know there are consequences to his actions if he just plays along with the Musk-Trump game plan. I will try to keep reminding him that we are watching.

  81. 81.

    kwAwk

    @Jay: Whether Canadian will consent to a merger with the US, doesn’t affect that the idea of merging the two countries isn’t crazy.

  85. 85.

    The Truffle

    @kwAwk: Great tactic.

    i have heard, weird as it is, a theory that this is the very start of a new progressive era. At the state level in certain states I can see it. And honestly, Dem recruitment for down ballot races is off the charts.

    i was hoping for MAGA to be trounced in 2024, but if this is how they jump the shark, so be it. Trump will just be Hoover 2.0. Which means the nation will need to be rebuilt into something new, perhaps.

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