Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Fight them, without becoming them!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

The willow is too close to the house.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

“Alexa, change the president.”

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

We still have time to mess this up!

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You are here: Home / Democratic Response to Trump 2.0 / Open Thread: Another SotU Viewing Alternative

Open Thread: Another SotU Viewing Alternative

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Open Thread: Another SotU Viewing Opportunity

(H/t commentor Ben Cisco)

 
Per Urban Insite:

This Tuesday, Roland Martin will be talking State of Our Union. Going live at 7 pm EST and will go to midnight or 1 am. We will break this up into 30 minute blocks. We will have CBC members, labor leaders, civil rights, voting rights, business, grassroots activists and millennials. We will NOT carry Donald Trump’s speech. When Trump walks to the mic, we will go live to New Haven, Conn. where Rev. Barber will deliver OUR speech. My team will be servicing clips of the twice impeached, criminally convicted felon-in-chief, and we’ll discuss after Rev. Barber is done. Spread the word! I would love to have 100,000 watching us LIVE at Youtube.com/RolandSMartin or on the BSN app.

Reader Interactions

160Comments

  1. 1.

    A Ghost to Most

    I’d much rather watch cricket than Lumpy, and I have no use for cricket.

  6. 6.

    thruppence

    I will be at a Mardi Gras burlesque show at Meow Wolf, where I’ll probably be the oldest person in attendance.

  7. 7.

    zhena gogolia

    Rev. Barber is doing a big event in Shrewsbury, MA, on Saturday, but I guess it’s sold out.

  8. 8.

    NutmegAgain

    I confess I am watching Dog Detectives, my first time watching. A dog-based TV show is, uh, catnip to me!

  13. 13.

    NutmegAgain

    @mrmoshpotato: It’s on Animal Planet. Seems to be a UK based show. Police dog handlers talk about their dogs, looking for drugs, explosives, etc. They show clips of the dogs working. Black labs are so cute!

  14. 14.

    MazeDancer

    Even though Howard Lutnik says Trump likely to walk back tariffs tomorrow – who knows maybe even tonight in the speech after he announces the end of the Dept of Education – want to be prepared.

    After Chewy delivers tomorrow, I will have 6 months of cat food on hand. Between bird flu and no food inspectors, safe cat food might get scarce. If not, won’t go to waste.

    New England gets its power from Canada. If Canada turns it off and the NE grid goes down, Upstate NY will possibly tumble next.

    So just bought a River 2 refurb for $119 direct from EcoFlow to charge iPad and phone, which is my internet hotspot. Also got a cheap solar panel. Can’t hurt to have.

  15. 15.

    TBone

    Not wanting to diminish the importance of this live alternative event, I’m still out for the duration tonight.

    Having never seen it before, will be watching this tonight instead. I love Jo Van Fleet.  She can be so vicious.

    en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_and_Four_Queens

    TCM has been kicking ass all damn day!

    I can wait until Heather Cox Richardson and Jeff Tiedrich give me the skinny tomorrow.

  16. 16.

    JoyceH

    I’ll just be streaming Secrets of the National Trust. But I’ll keep an eye on social media and if Trump melts down and pees on the podium or something, I might switch over.

  19. 19.

    different-church-lady

    Any news report tonight that does not refer to him as ‘Dumbfuck Hitler’ is lying to you.

    D.C.L. + BOURBON FUCK OFF ABOUT HOW MUCH….

  21. 21.

    Jay

    With the cuts to the DOE, and Grants, etc it should get rather ‘interesting”.

    T’s Institution already has a long list of Schools and Universities in the US that students do not qualify from, for Undergrad and Grad Admissions, because they basically lack the education to qualify.

  27. 27.

    John S.

    Rev. Barber for the win!

    I can listen to that man read the names out of a phone book. He’s such an excellent orator, and compassionate human being.

  28. 28.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: No I hadn’t. That is amazing.

    I only work in black and white because color confuses me. There is so much there:  emotionally hot/cold, close/far, angry/ calm plus it has to actual look okay in a just fashion sense of not clashing.

  29. 29.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: When you say “finally got” does that mean there were multiple efforts. I think a lot of people forget how much planning and studies and then trials and errors go into every successful art piece.

  30. 30.

    WTFGhost

    Let’s see:
    Stupid
    Oldster
    Talking
    Ukulele-ian?

    Scheming
    Oligarch-back-s-
    Tabbing
    Ukraine ?
    Nah, that’s even more forced than ukulele-ian.

    Sofa
    Onanist
    Taking-wank
    Under-podium.

    Not as forced, but eeeeew. To think that’s the thing he’d learn from Vance, to hide a futon under the podium.

    Anyone else in the right mood to try?

    @A Ghost to Most: Frankly, I’m impressed they can swing those HUGE bats. I mean, I’m sure they’re some big-ass crickets but, I mean, come on, man.

    Unless you mean you’re watching Republicans trying to explain what the “rule of law” means when the President is blatantly violating the law, and in those cases, those huge bats always looked like the world’s worst (spanking) paddle, you’d think the journos would find them *useful*, but *noo-oooo-ooooo.* They leave them for insects!!!

    (If you had a younger brother, you know how to pronounce that “no” and just how many syllables and ululations go into it.)

    I’m sorry – I’m flashing back to my days as the third oldest, both siblings bigger than I, and having a year more language development, and still, the magic of younger brother annoyances shine through. And I want to be needling every Republican until their effing *veins* collapse. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

    I want to say “this here, it’s the newest electric razor! Here’s the normal beard/’stache, here’s the manscaping blades, see, and the wheels on the bottom, Musk put them there so you can to *ROOM ROOM* with your little pickup-truck shaped electric razor…” and I want to watch that pathetic mass of insecurities *flinch* when he realized that goddamn, but that “pickup truck” does, in fact, look like an effing Matchbox crossed with a “manscaping” shaver.

    I can dream. (Yes, I know, it’s cruel, and it’s wishing the same harm on them as was done to me, but, I’m willing to cripple them any way necessary, and I know better than anyone, it won’t *kill* you. Not unless you let it, by dying.)

  35. 35.

    H.E.Wolf

    @schrodingers_cat: ​

    @sab: ​
     Congrats to both of you for your artist’s practice!

    The comments on “finally getting” an art piece the way one wants it, and the color palette for the Valentine’s hearts, reminded me of Julia Child’s strawberry soufflé remark:

    “The measure of achievement is not winning awards. It’s doing something that you appreciate, something you believe is worthwhile. I think of my strawberry soufflé. I did that at least twenty-eight times before I finally conquered it.” – Julia Child

    May we all be willing to try 28 times or more!

  36. 36.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I have s special / sad tale.  Our backyard neighbor is in her early 60s and is dying of cancer.  She is days away from entering hospice.  She wanted to see me on Friday in private from my wife.  They’ve become good friends over the last 15 years.

    She told me she wanted us to to have the Grandfather clock her mother gifted her many years ago.  She told me my wife always commented on it whenever she was in the house over the years.  I started crying and told her how special it was.  Then she asked my advice on how to tell my wife.  I told her to just tell her exactly how she told me.  Well that happened tonight.  It is such a sad and beautiful thing for us.  We will cherish is to our final days and then our daughter will do the same.  Cheers y’all.   Fuck cancer.

  37. 37.

    sab

    I had thought our new Ag Sec was one of the less awful choices, but Trumper with a weak backbone is a bad choice.

    We need to be growing chickens in our yards if we want eggs.? Most suburbanites dont even know how to raise chickens, and even if they do…chickens in the backyard, tended by you or your children as the waterfowl carrying bird flu pass over head and also maybe land in your yard because you have food and your tiny chickens ( against big geese) let the geese roam in the yard.

    Factory chickens have a problem. So let us compound it by exposing novice bird raisers to the new virus.

    I cannot think of a faster way to get bird flu to jump into our species.

  40. 40.

    WTFGhost

    @sab: I hope if you ever can experiment with color, I get to hear about it. I think it might be fascinating. In some ways, the way you talk here about color is not-unlike how I feel about language; and it makes me wonder about synesthesia;  and, I therefore have an extra special interest if/when/etc..

  41. 41.

    schrodingers_cat

    @sab: Yes I have messed up many a coloring page trying to render the night sky. The paper in coloring books is not watercolor paper so its pretty unforgiving and you can’t correct your mistakes.

    I tried a lot of variations in my sketch book.

  42. 42.

    WTFGhost

    @sab: Thank god I’m not the only one who saw that hole you could drive a passenger+freight train through, *sideways*, and wondered why no one called it out.

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:  Thank you for sharing some bittersweet joy and beauty.

  44. 44.

    Jay

    @sab:

    $750 on average to get started, before you see an egg, and yeah, Bird Flu central.

    On the other hand, RFK Jr wants to combat the Texas measles outbreak with cod liver oil.

    So it’s quite the contest for worst,…….

  46. 46.

    Elizabelle

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:  Your neighbor knows you will cherish the clock, pass it down as an heirloom, and think of her from time to time as you look at it.  She chose well.

    That has to be so soothing to her.  I am sorry she is leaving so early. My condolences on losing a friend.

  47. 47.

    schrodingers_cat

    @H.E.Wolf: The hearts was my second attempt with playing with negative space. I had tried leaves before. This was much better. I used 25% cotton watercolor paper and watercolor. My first attempt was my multimedia sketchbook with gel crayons.

  49. 49.

    WTFGhost

    OOOOH! Google’s celebration is MARDI GRAS! What an INSULT to TRUMP!

    Damn. That might have worked with freepers. (Is “freepers” still a thing? Was it ever?)

  50. 50.

    eclare

    I will be watching The Traitors from last Thursday.  Then I’ll be caught up for the final few episodes.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    Nice problem to have.  Got home a few minutes after 7:30, and cannot get into that Timothy Snyder Real State of the Union Zoom.  It is at capacity.

    That says something, for sure.

    Will be early to the Chris Murphy Brian Schatz online event at 8:15 p.

    I wonder if this might be the least watched SOTU in years.  To see.

  57. 57.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: Whatever you had to do, it worked. I just want jackals to know it wasn’t easy. You didn’t seemlessly slide into the right color or medium choices. You worked at it.

    If you aren’t amazing in the first draft you might be on draft three or four. Or not.

  59. 59.

    Percysowner

     

    It hit 67 today, which was great for my grandkids to play after school. It will be in the low 40s 24 hours from now. This means I have just gotten a SCREAMING headache, because weather changes mean Migraines or at least awful, awful headaches. I wouldn’t have watched the Orange Turd anyway, but now it’s quiet podcasts in dark rooms.

  64. 64.

    different-church-lady

    @Baud: I did not have Florida more progressive than the federal government on my 2025 bingo card, but I really should have.

  65. 65.

    TBone

    @Baud: I have a feeling about that FL AG & crew appointed by DeathSanta, that they’ll do an Epstein.  Much ado, then nothing.

    In the 2007 deal, Epstein avoided federal charges and served only 13 months in state prison for state prostitution charges concerning his sexual involvement with underaged girls. The arrangement also protected “any potential co-conspirators of Epstein” and specifically named four women, whom victims alleged were involved in the sex-trafficking scheme.
    According to the Herald, Acosta met privately and negotiated directly with one of Epstein’s lawyers, Jay Lefkowitz, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis – the law firm where Acosta was previously a partner. Ken Starr, another Kirkland attorney who investigated former President Bill Clinton, was also recruited for Epstein. One of those meetings was over breakfast at a Miami hotel.

  68. 68.

    NeenerNeener

    For what it’s worth, Disney+ is restarting the “Daredevil” franchise tonight at 9:01 pm, with the same cast that was in the Netflix version some years back. I’m looking forward to seeing bad guys get their butts kicked for a change.

  71. 71.

    Jay

    @different-church-lady:

    If I ship it south, you will have to pay the 25% tariff at the border.

    Just wait a few days,  barrels of Kentucky bourbon  are soon to be overflowing, they will be giving it away.

  74. 74.

    sab

    @sab: Factory chickens live in dirty but very enclosed  circumstances.

    Suburban chickens wander the yard pecking at whatever and conftronting migrating waterfowl. What the fuck doesn’t scare you about this?

    I wear a facemask to the grocery because I am a wimp and also old with health problems . When our suburbanites manage to bring the flu into our species I will be triumphant in anger:  We fucking warmed you about bird flu and it’a transfer to cows and humans but nobody who should have cared did.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    be honest, peeps: at this point, if you had RWNJ relatives like my dad and brother, and everything was going to hell this quickly under trumpov’s 2nd maladministration…would you

    1. stick to your ‘no political discussions’ boycott, or
    2. rub it in their face like all hell
  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro:  It will get worse.  Hold your fire.

    But.  Observe them closely. Maybe talk about the hit to most peoples’ investments.  Make them anxious.

  79. 79.

    Jay

    @sab:

    When we lived at the other place, we sort of had “backyard” chickens, quail and ducks.

    But it was not suburban.

    The pen was 25 x 30, white tarp (shade) and mesh wire roof, (hawks, owls), pig wire and hardware cloth sides, (coyotes, raccoons, weasels, mink, snakes) on a concrete perimeter foundation, (weasels and mink) that got moved like a massive chicken tractor every 4 months. In the winter, the interior was lined with strawbales for insulation and heat lamps.

    Not an easy thing to manage, an hour and a half every am and an hour every evening. All for 30 eggs a day in the summer and none in the winter.

  80. 80.

    schrodingers_cat

    @robtrim: How much has flowed from his followers to hi

     

    @sab: Ah yes, the struggle is real. I have become better and now I also have better supplies. I want to share my art journey, so that’s another reason to revive my blog.

    I do love the starkness of black and white as well.  I have done some stuff with black and white in graphite.

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: thanks!  I’ll do that for now, even though it’s very tempting to go nuts about it.

    I’ll have to lay this all out for the jackaltariat sometime soon…my dad, mom, and bro are all slowly realizing that the leopards are INDEED out to eat their faces

    …and my bro’s wife’s job, and his retirement portfolio…

    …and my dad’s portfolio + the dawning realization that trumpov might just be a Russian asset after all…

    …and my mom’s portfolio + the dawning realization that trumpov might just be a fake Christian after all

  88. 88.

    TS

    Just read an article where trump admin has sorted out how to avoid a massive drop in GDP

    It should be calculated without regard to government spending – a MAJOR part of GDP calculations and a major part of any economy.

    Blows the mind how they just lie their way out of any issue, rather than face reality. They are also selling off assets to balance the books – so any new admin will have to pay rent to house government workers – like selling your house to pay the bills and discovering you have nowhere to live

  89. 89.

    thruppence

    @eclare: We shall see. I’m not much for elaborate get ups but I have a couple of colorful shirts, and it’s Fat Tuesday, and I’m fat, so does that count as a costuming idea?

  90. 90.

    different-church-lady

    @TS: ​

    Blows the mind how they just lie their way out of any issue, rather than face reality.

    Not really: that’s fascist S.O.P.

  92. 92.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Epilogue to the brouhaha over PRC “control” over the Panama Canal:

    Hutchison Sells Panama and Other Ports to BlackRock and MSC in $22.8B Deal
    PUBLISHED MAR 4, 2025 12:55 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE
    China’s CK Hutchison announced that it has an agreement in principle to sell its international ports portfolio including the controversial terminals in Panama to a consortium being led by famed U.S. investment group BlackRock in partnership with Terminal Investment Limited (TiL), MSC Group’s terminal operator. The deal valued at $22.8 billion (enterprise value) is for 80 percent ownership of CK Hutchison’s portfolio of 43 global ports and in a parallel agreement for 90 percent ownership of Panama Ports Company, which operates the terminals in Balboa and Cristobal, Panama.
    …

    While the global headlines are focusing on the Panama ports, the bigger news is that Li Ka Shing (Hong Kong based plutocrat) is financially distressed enough to sell all of CK Hutchinson‘s portfolio outside of the PRC, for a cool US$ 23B.

    For years, China Hawks have been portraying the Hong Kong based CK Hutchinson as an extension of the CPC regime & the PLA, & counts all of the ports it operated around the world as potential staging sites for the PLA Navy, Marine Corps & Rocket Forces. Now that the company has sold off 43 ports around the world to a US interest, one would think the hyperventilating would dampen a bit. Not!

    Also, having BlackRock running these ports, even w/ MSC‘s terminal operator as part of the consortium, is not a good sign. BlackRock will probably look to flip these assets for a profit, rather than sustaining them long term.

  93. 93.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @TBone: It’ll about another week and half before I get the results from the heart monitor (mailed it back last week, and then they need to analyze it). But overall, my blood pressure is down, albeit on the high speed. Still having racing pulse at times, but generally not so high that my cardiologist is immediately concerned. We’ll see.

  94. 94.

    different-church-lady

    Apparently to the surprise of absolutely no one Dumbfuck Hitler is going to blame Biden for the fact that he didn’t couldn’t his campaign promise of cheap eggs. It’s literally been announced in advance.

  95. 95.

    Philbert

    I’m watching it but on cspan with closed captions. Awful but I do want to see history no matter how awful. I’ll see how long I last!

  96. 96.

    TS

    I’m watching a cyclone approach our town. At least our government is currently taking note, promising support & not changing the meteorology map with a sharpie. No eggs at all available, panic buying of everything and I am out of cheese – my open sin, cheese and biscuits with a glass of wine regardless of the political scene or weather activities.

  97. 97.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yep, as expected. The grift continues at the expense of everyone not of the plutocrats & kleptocrats:

    3 HOURS AGO
    Stock futures climb Tuesday night after Commerce’s Lutnick suggests a potential pact on tariffs

    Stock futures rose on Tuesday after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that a tariffs compromise could be in the cards.

    Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 266 points, or 0.6%. S&P 500 futures added 0.7%, and Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.8%.

    It marked an about-face from the markets action of the past two days, in which the major averages have sold off sharply on worries over tariffs and their impact on the economy.

    Lutnick, speaking on “Fox Business,” said that President Donald Trump could reach a deal with Mexico and Canada on tariffs.

    —Darla Mercado

    4 HOURS AGO

    Commerce Secretary Lutnick suggests Trump could compromise on Canada, Mexico duties
    Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday that President Trump will “probably” announce a tariffs pact with Canada and Mexico.
    He said on “Fox Business” that a compromise with the two countries, which have just become subject to 25% duties, could be unveiled as early as Wednesday.
    The levies, which took effect on Tuesday, have weighed on the U.S. stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost more than 1,300 points over the past two trading sessions as investors grew concerned on how the tariffs could affect the economy.
    Read more from CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger about Lutnick’s comments on the possible compromise here.
    — Darla Mercado

  98. 98.

    Jay

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    LMFAO, an agreement on nothing.

    paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-hates-canada-for-its-decency

    Trump may imagine that he can bully Canada into submission. But he can’t; Canadians of all political persuasions are furious. Doug Ford, the conservative premier of Ontario, has the right atttitude: he has threatened to cut off U.S. electricity “with a smile on my face.” And remember that Canada can’t concede to U.S. demands, even if it were in a mood to do so (which it very much isn’t) because there aren’t any coherent U.S. demands; Canada has done nothing wrong!

    So I don’t know how this ends. But U.S. voters will soon be feeling real pain, and I very much doubt that it will end in a Trump victory.

  99. 99.

    different-church-lady

    I’m following this from a distance and it looks like he’s not more than minutes in and it’s already a shit show.

  100. 100.

    Jay

    @TS:

    Well, no FEMA. They can’t travel, anywhere on their $1 limited charge cards.

    How it going in South Carolina or Kentucky?

  101. 101.

    different-church-lady

    Looks like certain members of congress are not going to watch fascism take over the country without piping up.

  104. 104.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Jay: It’ll be an empty agreement (if there is one), but that will allow Trump to spin as a victory through twisting Canadian & Mexican arms, & the MAGA types will believe it. & then we go through this again in 6 mo. or a year.

    In the mean time, the tariff increases on PRC imports keep going up, the PRC continues to retaliate, until a “grand bargain” is reached (if there is one).

    Trump will only want to fight a “Phony War” wrt trade, but there are advisors around him that do want to re-shore manufacturing from everywhere else & want to use tariffs as the leverage.

  106. 106.

    different-church-lady

    @Elizabelle: ​I’m only looking at the WaPo’s live blogging. Apparently Rep. Al Green started heckling right off the bat. Disorder in the chamber, with the sides trying to drown each other out.

  108. 108.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Decades happening in weeks (gift link to FT article below):

    Investors dare to imagine a world beyond the dollar

    The US could dismantle its own exorbitant privilege by pushing the big bond market beasts into the arms of others

    If the EU acts quickly, it could tap in to a deep well of willing buyers keen to trim their exposure to America

    Katie Martin Published YESTERDAY

    …

    This is already starting to show. On Tuesday, for instance, despite the shock of new US trade tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the dollar is not climbing in its usual fashion. Deutsche Bank says this in part reflects “the potential loss of the dollar’s safe-haven status”.

    “We do not write this lightly,” wrote currencies analyst George Saravelos. “But the speed and scale of global shifts is so rapid that this needs to be acknowledged as a possibility.” What was once outlandish is now becoming plausible.

    …

  110. 110.

    Elizabelle

    Hmmm.  Posted at 5:55 pm today:  WaPost:

    D.C. prosecutor drops bid to investigate Schumer for purported threat

    U.S. Attorney Ed Martin concluded a probe into Senate Democratic leader’s 2020 statement was unfounded and the wrong choice to launch ‘Operation Whirlwind’

    Is that like “reap the whirlwind?”  What a tool.

  112. 112.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @Sister Golden Bear: so glad to hear that!

    Among people I only know through the internet, the two voices I worry about the most are you and Kevin Drum who writes Jabberwocking.

  113. 113.

    TS

    @Jay:

    I’m on the other side of the world – Australia – We still have a vaguely functioning government although we have elections soon & it’s likely the trump supporting RW party will win

    @Elizabelle:

    Brisbane, Australia – I didn’t think cookies and cheese sounded right – we call them biscuits – maybe I should have said crackers?

  115. 115.

    Elizabelle

    In more important news than The Felon’s big look at me night:

    Bald Eagles Jackie and Shadow are parents of two hatchlings in Big Bear valley, CA (San Bernardino National Forest).  One further egg not yet hatched, but still within its timeframe.

    Welcome, eaglets.  May you never encounter anything as toxic as that pool of orange goo orating at the moment.

    The Guardian link.

  116. 116.

    different-church-lady

    Seems that the strategy is non-verbal protest: signs and placards held up, messages written on clothing. Dems are leaving the chamber.

  118. 118.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Heh. (Click through the link for the image.):

    Louis-Vincent Gave
    @gave_vincent

    A friend sent me this – good recap of US trade policy

  119. 119.

    different-church-lady

    Rep. Al Green told the White House press pool that he doesn’t know whether he faces any formal punishment for his protest in the chamber tonight. “It’s worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up” to Trump, he said. The Texas Democrat repeatedly yelled during the speech that the president has “no mandate” to cut Medicaid.

  120. 120.

    TS

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    good recap of US trade policy

    Good recap of any US policy at the minute. I just had a quick look at the post live blogging – not a word of push back, reporting every word as if it were the absolute truth – they still don’t know (& obviously don’t care) who is their audience.

  121. 121.

    Elizabelle

    @different-church-lady:  That’s exciting.  Hope the little ones make it through to maturity.  And let’s go, egg #3.

    We have had Great Horned Owls in our park, although not for a year or two.  That brings owl paparazzi with 2 foot long lenses.

    I guess if we cannot afford them, we can at least watch them.

    (Kidding.  Eggs available here in central VA for less than $5/dozen at Lidl.  I am good with that.)

  122. 122.

    Jim Appleton

    I’m painfully watching the thing live.

    What a horror.

    R’s should get P.E. credit for all the standing ovations,  which come about every twenty seconds.

    That’s so sad.  They enthusiastically want fascism.

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

     

     

     

    Last Day With You (@Last_DayWithYou) posted at 2:25 PM on Tue, Mar 04, 2025:

     

     

     

    The Full Conversation –

     

    KERNEN: So, Alina, you’re saying veterans—people who served this country—were fired from their government jobs because they weren’t fit to work?

     

    HABBA: Perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment.

     

    KERNEN: These are combat veterans, intelligence officers, career public servants. Many of them held top security clearances. But now, suddenly, they’re unfit?

     

    HABBA: Well, maybe there were other reasons—efficiency, restructuring—

     

    KERNEN: Efficiency? The administration fired experienced veterans and replaced them with Musk’s DOGE hires—mostly teenagers and influencers. Are they somehow more qualified?

     

    HABBA: Look, the president is focused on streamlining government.

     

    KERNEN: Streamlining? By purging veterans with decades of expertise and handing jobs to unqualified people because they’re politically loyal?

     

    HABBA: I think it’s important to have fresh perspectives in government.

     

    KERNEN: Sure. But since when does ‘fresh perspective’ mean firing the people who actually know what they’re doing?

     

    HABBA: We need people who align with the president’s vision.

     

    KERNEN: So loyalty to Trump matters more than service to the country?

     

    HABBA: That’s not what I said.

     

    KERNEN: But it’s exactly what’s happening. These veterans fought for America. And now they’re being thrown aside because they won’t pledge allegiance to one man. If that’s not corruption, what is?

    (x.com/Last_DayWithYou/status/1897020694845706330?

    t=ftDY3KhvsDr0dn8lfQIe5g&s=03)

  126. 126.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS: Haven’t seen Aussie Sheila around recently, but you might appreciate the below quip from Ezra Klein’s interview w/ Fareed Zakaria (I know, I know). (Gift link to NYT below, emphasis mine):

    THE EZRA KLEIN SHOW

    The Dark Heart of Trump’s Foreign Policy

    March 1, 2025

    By Ezra Klein
    The Dark Heart of Trump’s Foreign Policy
    The journalist Fareed Zakaria discusses the worldview emerging from Trump’s foreign policy decisions regarding Ukraine, Gaza, China and beyond.
    …
    The one part I don’t agree on with you is: I think there are countries that are going to do deals with America. Everyone is going to be wary of a long-term relationship because they realize that, certainly in this new world, those don’t mean that much.
    I was in Australia last December, and I met with a senior official there who said to me: We’re very happy to be in this closer relationship with the United States. We’re delighted that you’re sharing your nuclear technology with us — the nuclear submarine deal. But the big question we wonder about is: We have now put ourselves in a structurally confrontational role vis-à-vis our principal trading partner, China. We didn’t have to do that. China is a long way away. We were happily trading with them. We hope to continue to do that. But it has completely changed the relationship we have with China. That’s OK if America has our back. But if in a few years you decide to cut a deal with China, we will have made a generational strategic error.
    …

    Australia is probably concluding right now that it has, in fact, made a generational strategic error. Still not too late to back out of the AUKUS mess, though.

  128. 128.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS: Disagree, most other aspects of US policy are consistently & relentlessly heading in one direction – terrible & disastrous.

  129. 129.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah:

    KERNEN: So loyalty to Trump matters more than service to the country?

    HABBA: That’s not what I said.

    NARRATOR: “That’s exactly what she said.”

  136. 136.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TBone: Just pure corruption. They’re selling off the buildings to their friends at fire-sale prices so the US government can rent them back in perpetuity, and this supposed to be “saving money”.

  139. 139.

    TBone

    This handbasket is too small, gonna need a bigger handbasket for this fresh hell trip.  And Quaaludes.

  140. 140.

    Barbara

    @sab: ​”Hi, I’d like to complain about my neighbor keeping chickens in apartment 3R.”

    Seriously, lots of cities and suburbs don’t allow “livestock” to be kept in residential zones.

  144. 144.

    TS

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    Australia is probably concluding right now that it has, in fact, made a generational strategic error. Still not too late to back out of the AUKUS mess, though.

    For most of us the strategic error was made when they cancelled a contract we had with France to buy from the USA – the latter contract will probably never be filled, and we lost a good ally (France) to take on one who is at best a fair weather friend (ie when the democratic party is in power)

    There has never been a war in the memory of people I knew where we were not on the same side as the USA. How the times are a’ changing.

  145. 145.

    TS

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    Which was what I thought I was saying but my world is so upside down at the minute – words escape me because of the anger and thoughts of disaster.

    Facing a cyclone is much easier than facing world politics

  147. 147.

    TBone

    @TBone:

    “Back to the office!”

    Direct SOTU Donold quote from the one moment I could bear to watch on MSNBC when my movie ended.  It received much applause and maybe a standing ovation.  I changed the channel very quickly…

  148. 148.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Jeffro: I finally called my parents last night (I hadn’t talked to them since before the inauguration). Fortunately my dad’s unreconstructed Cold War anti-Russian reflex has kicked in, and as retired JAG Corps he is very concerned about the top JAG lawyers all being fired. As he put it, they’re trying to get rid of everyone in the JAG Corps who has even heard of the Posse Comitatus.

    So I was able to have a semi decent conversation with them, and put in the idea about “if he was a Russian asset, what would he be doing differently?” Also planted the idea that Fox News is owned by the Russians so stop trusting it.

  151. 151.

    Quinerly

    I watched it.  America has a dictator.

    Fist pump in real time for Rep Al Green. The entire Dem Party in attendance should have walked out in solidarity when he was escorted out.

  154. 154.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    You folks need to concentrate on what is important; turn the sound off, almost everything Trump says is BS anyway, and look at the right side of Trump’s face; something happened to him, stroke maybe?

  155. 155.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS: AUKUS was Morrison’s play. No sure why Albanese/Marle & company decided to latch on to it. Even w/ Biden’s election it should have been obvious that fastening to the US in structural confrontation w/ Australia’s primary trading partner, when the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region has turned against the US, was a very high risk gamble. Even if MAGA did not return.

    I guess guys like Kurt Campbell are very effective alliance managers.

    You might have also seen this news:

    ASPI suspends China research as Trump’s cuts bite
    The think tank had previously received support from the US State Department to support its China-related research.
    FINN MCHUGH
    4:00pm on 28 February 2025

    This exposes a quite pernicious aspect of the network of natsec elites in the US & allied capitals. ASPI, the leading FP think tank in AUS, ostensibly founded by the Australian government (in really lots of funding from the MIC & foreign governments), has long advocated a hawkish stances toward the PRC, to fully embrace the US in the incipient Cold War w/ the PRC. It takes funding from the US State Department to conduct PRC related “research” to make such a case, to influence the debate in Australia. Its reports are then laundered back in DC to bolster the case for Cold War w/ the PRC. (“See! It’s not just us the ‘Blob’ that’s saying it, even the country totally dependent on exports to the CCP is saying it!”)

  156. 156.

    sab

    @YY_Sima Qian: Why are no major reporters reporting what you, a random expat, sees?

    In the olden days I would have said because random expat doesn’t know enough,

    Nowadays when I am less naive I would say because random expat  being abroad sees stuff not reported to us.

  157. 157.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @sab: If you keep track, just about everything I post are sourced from Western (mostly US) sources, be they academia, think tanks, MSM articles, trade journals, or interested observers living in the West, plus some Western expats living overseas. I do follow a number of sources that platform Global South voices.

    So, the knowledge & the expertise is there in the US & the West, in fact still better than most places in the world. However, such knowledge & expertise rarely percolate to policymakers & politicians, & almost never affect policy. At this point I think it is a deliberate refusal to face reality. As Adam has said in the past, & people I’ve repeatedly plugged (such as Van Jackson) have too, the purpose of the DC think tanks is not in the voluminous reports & papers, but in access to power, as sinecures for the members of the bipartisan “Blob” when they are out of power, platforming their thoroughly conventional views, & gain prestige when these members of the “Blob” return to power. Despite the grains among the chaff, MSMs are corporate entities beholden to power, & the prevailing conventional wisdom, & preferred narratives.

    I follow a lot of heterodox voices outside of the conventional wisdom wielding mainstream, voices determined to go against the zeitgeist. Of course, I have to stay vigilant w/ such voices, against them being kooks, but in the current age of chaos, some of what was once kooky are no longer so easily dismissed.

  158. 158.

    YY_Sima Qian

    A quick summary of craziness of the most recent Trumpian tariffs, from a recent Treasury official of the Biden Administration (& a great source of the nitty gritty of balance of payments & international capital flows):

    Brad Setser@Brad_Setser

    A few quick thoughts on the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada — a move that is likely to be considered one of the most self destructive economic policy steps in recent history. 1/

    tariffing the US auto supply chain — and imports of autos from Canada and Mexico that have a ton of embedded US content — while leaving the market for imports from Korea and Japan open is a bit mad. 2/

    So mad that i doubt Hyundai and Toyota believe it will last (the auto 232 is coming) but in the interim they should bring put car than can onto a boat … 3/

    Tariffing Mexico but not Southeast Asia is equally crazy — it is a massive gift to all the Chinese firms using Chinese parts to supply the US consumer market from SE Asia … 4/

    As someone else on X stated, products assembled in Vietnam from Chinese components face no tariffs, but products assembled in Mexico from US components face 25% tariff.

    However, Setser (who also worked in the Obama Administration, so a Dem-aligned technocrat of long standing) has also become a economic nationalist (though he does not admit it), as the below exchange illustrates:

    Proud Trump supporter@Annie63486670
    What would be your plan for a better reset?

    Brad Setser@Brad_Setser
    renegotiate USMCA as the Lighthizer deal from trump’s first term envisioned …

    Anton Malkin@antonmalkin
    What part of US-Canada trade irks you the most?

    Brad Setser@Brad_Setser
    nothing much — much more concerned about Mexico’s 500K of auto imports from China. have defended Canada if you haven’t noticed

    Anton Malkin@antonmalkin
    So why renegotiate USMCA? On that note, why can’t Mexico import Chinese autos? Are they not allowed to have their own trade policy?

    Brad Setser@Brad_Setser
    USMCA allows each country to have its own trade policy usually importing 1/3 of your domestic auto demand means domestic auto job losses, and that generates a bit of a response. Mexico has offset that by increasing its exports to the US …
    so US is asking for a change in the terms of the NAFTA/ USMCA bargain in response to changing circumstances true. Lighthizer was right to think periodic renegotiation was a good idea imo.
    and US is discovering something Europe knew from long ago — that something that approaches a common market in tradables requires a common external tariff. But it is a shift – and the alternative facing mexico is likely limits on its exports to the US … my two cents

    Anton Malkin@antonmalkin
    A common external tariff shouldn’t just reflect U.S. interests. EU is not the best comparison here, as it’s a political integration project, not just a trade agreement. I don’t think it’s in Canada’s or Mexico’s interest to have a political union with the US.
    And again, why not use tariffs to force FDI and tech transfer, rather than keep our cars perpetually technologically behind and overpriced.

    Brad Setser@Brad_Setser
    Need a system of approval of FDI (not a CFIUS nat’s security review that until recently excluded greenfield and a presumption of openness) to force tech transfer. not the US tradition tho we are evolving
    and not convinced China has any real new EV tech when it comes to drive trains, the core chips in a car etc (infeon still pretty good). too much pessimism there imho. some cool gizmos yes. but real CH tech edge is in battery manufacturing imo, and i like the CATL licensing model better than a JV. alsodon’t see how the security concerns around connected cars can be solved so would start with the easier stuff i.e batteries. think Korean investment is more realistic as well and that is happening — and EV market will likely not develop in EU ahead of US so real debate is there,

    It is not just MAGA that is “America First”, Dem technocrats have just as deeply internalized primacist & hegemonist thinking. I am sure that is something the non-USians here can appreciate.

    Setser also betrays a complete lack of knowledge of supply chains, technology-industrial clusters, product design & integration, & why Chinese EVs are so competitive, as macroeconomists whose minds are captured by aggregate figures & GDP accounting identities tend to be.

  160. 160.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @YY_Sima Qian:MSMs are corporate entities beholden to power, & the prevailing conventional wisdom, & preferred narratives.

    This fully explains why major media is the way it is.

    ”Corporate entities are gonna corporate.”

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