Good morning from a sunny, warm Britain. It’s expected to reach 75° F today and 80° tomorrow – temperatures at which, in my experience, your typical born-and-bred Brit starts to melt.
Bet Keir Starmer wishes he could melt. It’s going to be yet another shitball of a week for him. Today’s Guardian has an exclusive story about how the US has busted the UK down to its second-tier priority list on trade negotiations:
This news means that a US deal will now come no sooner than July, after this month’s clutch UK negotiation with the EU. Not having a deal in place with the US before going to the EU makes it vastly more likely that the UK will piss off Trump’s people by doing any kind of closer realignment with the EU. A majority of Brits now say they would prefer such a realignment, but what would the cost in UK-US relations be?
Also, Tony Blair has been running his mouth again, saying that fossil fuel limits, such as those ostensibly proposed by the current Labour government, are “doomed to fail,” which is just what Reform UK and Conservatives (and the various oil-exporting countries that have paid Tony for his expertise over the years) want to hear.
Finally, tomorrow is local election day here in the UK, when a few people may be bothered to vote for city or county council members and mayors. Polling indicates that Reform UK could win hundreds of these smaller seats, two mayoral contests, and a parliamentary by-election in the northwest England constituency of Runcorn and Helsby. The BBC’s Chris Mason notes, “[Reform UK]’s talk is big – they say they can win the next general election. The next few days will give us a sense of how or whether, albeit up to four years out from choosing the next government, that is a plausible claim.”
Ugh. Not looking forward to a weekend awash in front-page photos of Farage’s awful mug. Maybe I’ll just lie on the ground and look at the wisteria in the garden instead.
Welcome to Wednesday! Open thread.
On The Road – Deputinize America – Malta II
Baud
I’m not sure I would blame Starmer for either Trump or Blair.
Baud
It could be worse. Trump apparently did an interview last night.
mrmoshpotato
Throw a bucket of water at them.
satby
@Baud: “I picked you because, frankly I never heard of you”. What an asshole.
I’m just waiting for the first (American) person to respond to one of his bullshit statements by calling it out as bullshit and flatly telling him he doesn’t fool anyone but his dumb cultists, and even they’re getting very quiet about supporting him.
p.a
It’s complicated, and long term who knows, but decoupling from the US as much as possible looks like a winning move for the near term. And medium-term: this idiocy will have carryover beyond Jan 2029.
eclare
If I were the UK, I’d choose the EU over the US.
And looking at wisteria always beats looking at Farage’s face, except for the one time that young woman threw a milkshake at it.
Baud
@satby:
I would pay cash money for you to be that person.
lowtechcyclist
Apropos of the header:
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
So the UK is flirting with giving the hard right a win, at this moment? After the pain of Brexit and seeing what’s going on here in the US? I don’t know. My only explanation is social media misinformation is so good at scrambling people’s brains and spinning them up on the right wing tempest in a teapot du juor that they can’t take a half step back and see the disaster coming until they’re in the very midst of it.
Then, presuming they reverse course and vote for sanity once the disaster becomes evident, within 5 minutes they’ve forgotten all about how bad it was because again, social media distracts them with more misinformation about how bad the new crew is, even though things are demonstrably better in many ways. IDK what to do about it but democracies have to come up with some effective countermeasures or we’re all doomed.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
That’ll make them melt faster if they’re wicked witches.
satby
@Baud: if I ever end up close enough to the disgusting stink pot, you know I would too. For free.
Baud
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
While most people aren’t cult members, the reality is that people are are affirmatively offended by and opposed to the fat right are a minority.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Throw water on them all, and let God sort ’em out?
Baud
@Baud:
Are are = who are
Fat = far
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: Need more coffveve?
Mai Naem mobile
@Baud: I’ve seen several clips and Terry Moran does about as good an interview as I’ve seen with anybody do with Orange Idiot. Maybe a good thing that he’d supposedly never heard of him before. hardly ever watch ABC news and i know Trrry Moran’s name.
Montanareddog
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Both these things can be true:
Baud
@Montanareddog:
I can’t speak to Starmer. IMHO, in the US, the propaganda machine tears Dems down when the don’t make everything perfect right away.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
I also prefer the Old Testament ways.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Montanareddog: Yeah but…e.g. the Biden admin was made to seem weak and disappointing despite managing the economy better than any of their peers and racking up a lot of policy accomplishments.
And it’s weak and disappointing vs. a runaway freight train of dumpster fires that you’ve already experienced once. Given those two choices why go back to the runaway dumpster fire train?
Baud
Stop the presses! Trump spoke Truth!
Gvg
I need index cards for other countries. My brain is turning to mush. Reform UK is hard right as in authoritarian and are they flirting with nazi’s or openly embracing them? Just mean and self centered? Which type of bad and who funds them? These days I assume some other state is manipulating such types and it’s becoming important to keep track of.
I know this was covered, I just can’t remember. I need this for all the non US countries these days. I am too used to the US’s simple 2 party system.
Baud
@Gvg:
It gets complicated because a “liberal” party in other countries might be either on the left or right side of the spectrum.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I suppose we could just put everyone on a scale to see if they weigh the same as a duck.
Matt McIrvin
@Gvg: It’s Nigel Farage’s party, formerly known as the Brexit Party–he was a big Trump supporter in the 2016 cycle (though Vance’s shitting on Ukraine was too much even for him) and he’s virulently anti-immigrant.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Yes, the Liberals are the center-left party in Canada and the big right-wing party in Australia.
New Deal democrat
Since it is Wednesday morning, here is the latest on COVID.
COVID-19 has been with us for over five years. The first reliable statistics started to be kept at the end of March 2020. Last Friday the CDC issued the final update for deaths ending the week of March 29, 2025, which means we now have five full years of documentation. Here is the number of deaths for each 52 week period beginning April 1 of each of the past five years:
4/1/20-3/31/21 504,000
4/1/21-3/31/22 433,000
4/1/22-3/31/23 128,000
4/1/23-3/31/24 64,500
4/1/24-3/31/25 36,400.
The tipping point where the drastic reduction in deaths began was the original Omicron variant. Every variant since then has been a direct descendant.
As a result of widespread repeated vaccinations, improved medical treatments, and the fact that nearly everyone has been infected at least once, the lethality of infections has declined dramatically. Below are particles per milliliter for each significant peak beginning with Omicron (1st column), deaths in thousands (second column), and number of fatalities per virus particle (3rd column):
12/21 24.6. 21.3. 866
6/22. 10.5. 3.4. 324
12/22. 11.3. 3.9. 345
12/23. 14.0. 2.6. 186
6/24. 9.0. 1.4. 156
12/24. 5.5. 1.0. 182
On a per particle basis, lethality declined by more than half in 2022, and then by about another half from the end of 2023 on. The overall effect is that each new variant faces a virtual wall of resistance.
And the latest wastewater analysis by the CDC shows a continued slow decline. The national level is 1.97 per mL, compared with 1.13 at the absolute lowest, and almost 25 during Omicron.
Infectious disease modeler JP Weiland recently wrote that for another significant outbreak, a new line of variants not descended from the original Omicron would probably have to develop. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it does not happen.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: There’s a fair chance COVID boosters are going to go away in the United States, because of insane politics–I’d say that would weaken the wall, but only a minority of people were still getting the boosters anyway.
Matt McIrvin
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: As I mentioned a little while ago, I don’t think FDR would have been allowed to do what he did in the modern media environment. He didn’t fix everything within two years.
But FDR was the American new-media populist in those days, using radio to go directly to the people in the way Trump used social media.
sab
@Matt McIrvin: Isn’t Farage also a Putin enthusiast, although they haven’t proven that he gets Russian money?
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin:
Agreed.
sab
@New Deal democrat: Thank you for this report.
coin operated
@New Deal democrat:
Unfortunately, viruses are very good at that mutation thing…
Ocotillo
I don’t know what to make of it but early voting for Mayor/City Council in San Antonio ended yesterday and it was the lowest turnout ever. Some reasons being given, the current mayor has termed out so there are 27 people running in the non-partisan race which will result in a runoff as a clear majority has to be earned. We are now having Fiesta a local 10-day event that is city wide and also had the Final Four for the NCAA men. Nonetheless, I just don’t get the apathy. Saturday is election day and there is a major parade and Fiesta events expected to suppress turnout. Sigh…..
Rose Judson
@Montanareddog: That’s basically the whole situation, yep.
NotMax
Midweek music.
Call it Les Minirables.
(Kid’s got an impresiive set of pipes.)
sentient ai from the future
@Matt McIrvin: my understanding is that this is due to the Coriolis effect
Librettist
A trade deal? Some brain damaged gibberish about re-industializing the Liverpool waterfront and importing steam lorries is the Trump way. Foxconned II
Baud
@sentient ai from the future:
Haha. Perfect.
Soprano2
@New Deal democrat: For a couple of weeks I was feeling kind of “off”. When I exercised, it felt harder than normal. I was more tired than usual, which is saying something. Then last Wednesday suddenly I felt better. I wonder if I had a basically asymptomatic case of Covid. There’s no way to know, but it could have happened. Or maybe I was just more run down than usual.
ETA – I see that several of you experienced that storm we had here yesterday morning. That was a hellacious storm, wasn’t it? There are trees and power lines down everywhere. The electric outage map is still big, with lots of small outages all over the city. The worst thing is, there’s another one of those type of storms coming through Oklahoma on the same path! Oh, no…..
Baud
@coin operated:
Well, so am I.
Raven
The 50 th Anniversary of the end of the American War in Vietnam.
Baud
@Raven:
Oh wow. Big day. How do you feel?
Raven
@Baud: I was in Grady Hospital in Atlanta recovering from a fractured spine and watched it on the tube in a Demerol haze! At the time I was just glad it was over.
Baud
@Raven:
We’re glad you were one of the lucky ones.
Jackie
@Raven: Watched the discussion on MJ awhile ago. It’s hard in a way to believe it was 50 years ago…
Suzanne
@Soprano2: I’m not sure if we got hit by the same storm….. but it’s a mess around here. My neighborhood has a whole bunch of downed trees and buildings with significant damage, power is still out for much of the County and it’s going to be days before it’s restored, apparently.
Raven
Jack Jacobs was a bit shaky.
Baud
NotMax
Sounds almost too British. Can see in the mind’s eye horse-drawn lorries, their sides bearing something like this:
Runcorn & Helsby
Fine Confectioners
Purveyors to the Queen
.
Jeffro
Should be the opening line of every elected Dem official/candidate speech from now through Nov 2028
Baud
@Jeffro:
Deplorables II: Electric Boogaloo?
Jeffro
a question for the next RWNJ you happen to come across (especially if you feel like giving them a stroke): “When’s the last time Fox News highlighted a crime committed by a white person?”
Baud
@Jeffro:
Other than the Biden crime family?
RAM
Back in ’94 when I was working on book research, my wife and I visited York and several areas of Scotland where small potteries were once located, primarily around Fife. The temp got up to 75° F. for a couple days, which we found quite pleasant, but which the locals seemed to think the desert winds had arrived and the survival of civilization (civilisation?) was in the balance.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: Sounds like the same storm, you’re in PA right? I think it went through there last night. Same storm.
Baud
Some good news.
Raoul Paste
@Baud: This is a classic case of “who you gonna believe, me, or your lying eyes?”
Suzanne
@Soprano2: Yeah, it was a very fast-moving storm. The severe part only lasted for about 15 minutes or so. We don’t have any damage, just some mess to clean up. But we’re lucky, others nearby were not.
Fair Economist
@eclare: The UK can’t choose to make a deal with the US, because Trump breaks any deal at the first opportunity. So the EU is the only choice.
(The EU would make far more sense since the UK does far more trade with them for geographical reason. But there’s no choice anyway.)
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: I imagine if they had per-particle lethality numbers for spring 2020 they’d be horrendous. You can see a hint of that just in the Massachusetts state counts of COVID cases vs. deaths: by case count, the Omicron wave in the winter of 2021-22 dwarfs everything else, but by deaths, it’s the comparatively tiny case peak in spring 2020 that becomes a gigantic spike. That was when COVID was killing something close to 1% of everyone who got it.
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-reporting
Joey Maloney
Trump has managed to throw the US economy into negative growth right off the bat. Good going, Shitler.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: They said we had straight line winds of 91mph. They’re going to classify it as a derecho.
Baud
@Joey Maloney:
But how are the vibes?
Jackie
@Baud: I watched the movie on Netflix. I had never heard of them prior to that. I’m pleasantly surprised this administration is recognizing them, and not discarding their history as DEI, like they attempted to do with the Tuskegee airmen.
Baud
@Jackie:
It’s Congress. The vote was taken in 2022, but it was unanimous.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Joey Maloney:
Everything Trump Touches Dies Example 3,787.
frosty
Good catch!
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: I bet it’d be a party-line vote now.
Melancholy Jaques
@Joey Maloney:
Are we hearing any Trump voters expressing regret? Admitting error?
Melancholy Jaques
@Matt McIrvin:
Would there even be a vote?
frosty
@Baud: The Netflix movie about the Six Triple Eight is definitely worth watching. A lot like Hidden Figures: Black women doing the job and getting nothing but obstacles thrown in their way.
Doug R
@Matt McIrvin:
To complicate things even further, the BC Liberal party was the right wing business party. And there was serious talk about them splitting from the left leaning federal Liberal party.
Librettist
Trump be like a religious huckster telling the rubes he miscalculated the rapture by two or three years.
Harrison Wesley
@Joey Maloney: Why not think of it as positive shrink? Always look on the bright side of life.
Omnes Omnibus
@Melancholy Jaques: Saying “I didn’t vote for this” is the first step in that process.
montanareddog
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
The US binary party system means the pukefunnel money only had one option and enough people believed Trump, and the relentless shit-shower of lies.
In England (not the rest of the UK) – there are more choices including two hard right parties now – the Tories and Reform. The Tories are discredited after the last few years and their new leader is useless. So the pukefunnel money is now lining up behind Reform and Farage is like Trump or Johnson in that many people find him “charismatic” in a way that those of us firmly on the left cannot see.
Labour are proving themselves to be a weak, tired, centre right party, not the left of centre one that the electorate thought they were getting last year. The voters are already fed up with them. Some of last year’s Labour voters will vote Lib Dem tomorrow, or Green, and many will vote Reform . Added to the traditional Tories who are swapping to Reform and you will get a shellacking for both Labour and the Conservatives tomorrow.
prostratedragon
@Baud: Well that is good news, and surprising considering all the insults to Black servicepeople of the last few months.
eclare
@Soprano2:
Those straight line winds do a lot of damage. They came through Memphis a little over twenty years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Mid-south_derecho
My parents were without power for at least a week. In July. Luckily I wasn’t living here then.
So glad you’re ok.
montanareddog
@Gvg: Reform UK is not flirting with nazis and is not an explicitly racist party. They have minority officers and candidates. But their noisy anti-immigration stance attracts the support of all the nazis and racists.
And plenty of their candidates have been outed for racist social media posts.
eclare
@frosty:
That was such a good movie. Kevin Costner was a pleasant surprise.
Citizen Dave
@Raven: There was a story on CBS Sunday Morning (on youtube) the other day about the last days in Saigon. New interviews with some of the soldiers who were there. Also another short commentary on Ford’s decision to take in Vietnamese as immigrants. Courage and doing the right thing seems mind-blowing in our current state as a nation. (Granted the opportunity was the result of colossal fucked-up decisions).
Suzanne
@Soprano2: We had probably close to that wind speed. Derecho is probably accurate for what it was here.
prostratedragon
@satby: Charming that he thinks that’s a cutting insult. (I’ve heard of Moran and I’ve seldom watched network news for many years.)
oldgold
From last night’s Moran v. Moron bout:
Exhibit “A” on question as to whether Trump Administration is “Facilitating.”
Jackie
@Baud:
I know, but FFOTUS owns Johnson, so I’m amazed it’s happening.
OTOH, FFOTUS is probably unaware, and Hegseth hasn’t objected…. YET. There’s still time; the ceremony isn’t until Tues.
Captain C
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Many people have the attention span of gnats, and are easily bored and apparently think that their politicians should serve them a steady diet of entertainment and drama, rather than competence. Plus, in many cases, the runaway dumpster fire train hates the same people that they do.
RaflW
@satby: “I picked you because, frankly I never heard of you”
Terry Moran has been a fixture on the TV news for 25 years. I say this is evidence that Trump has active dementia. (It’s more likely he is indeed playing one of his very petty power games, but fuck it, use this as evidence of his steep mental decline. It’s what the NYT would do if it were a Democrat!)
Omnes Omnibus
@Jackie:
The medal has already been voted on and signed by Biden. The time delay in the presentation is because each Congressional Gold Medal has its own design, so the medal had to be designed and made. Trump, Hegseth, or Johnson cannot change the fact they they were awarded the medal. Source
RaflW
@oldgold: “I’m not the one making this decision.”
“You’re the president,” Moran told him.
But in fact the one making the decision is Stephen Miller. Trump has outsourced almost all work, since he notoriously despises actually laboring for his paycheck. He just wants the TV time, even if it doesn’t go well as was the case last night.
Professor Bigfoot
@Suzanne: As seems to happen here all the time (touch wood) the storm split and went north of us and south of us.
Close enough to hear the thunder, but other than a teeny little branch in the driveway, no big whoop for us.
(I’ve noticed this over the last ten-fifteen years in Canton- it’s like the bad weather just kinda goes around us. (touches wood again))
Old Man Shadow
Don’t trust the United States to deal in good faith so long as Republicans are MAGA fanatics. Simple lesson I thought everyone would have learned by now.
Professor Bigfoot
@Omnes Omnibus:
Would that it could be admitted that “I voted for this to happen to other people!”
Jeffro
somewhere, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers’ ears just perked up
frosty
@Professor Bigfoot: I did storm sampling (take water quality samples from storm drain outfalls) for a few years in Arlington Virginia. The precipitation line coming from the west frequently split and went north and south, meaning we scrambled and got out to the site for nothing.
My theory was that it was the Washington DC heat island causing it.
Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@Melancholy Jaques: While I was waiting for new tires to be put on my car yesterday, I saw a chyron on foxnews yesterday that said “Only 4% of trump voters regret their vote for him.”
I assume that’s 4% of his 48.? % so about 2% of the total vote. So if the election were rerun Today he would likely lose.
And fox was probably underestimating the regret number too!
Chief Oshkosh
@oldgold: Wonder how many MAGAts can remotely understand how weak Trump is. And petty.
And I wonder how many of them understand their support of him shows how weak and petty and loathsome they are.
Omnes Omnibus
@Professor Bigfoot: We are never going to get the people who are willing to admit to that. We can get the people who didn’t think things through and say things like “I am not racist, but…” Are they shitty people who we should never listen to? Absolutely. Should we accept their votes? Yes.
RaflW
@Matt McIrvin: Lunatic RFK Jr. is already attacking Novavax, I think because its the only one currently approved that isn’t mRNA, and Republicans are going balls-out to end mRNA anything (even as it shows promise for addressing f-king cancer).
So attack the lesser known, more typical mechanism Novavax while we’re not paying all that much attention. If the GOP succeeds in nixing mRNAs, it’ll be too late to save the conventional jab. It’s absolute madness, but these freaks are on an anti-science bender that is truly frightening.
(I cannot, just really fully unable to grasp why Republicans are axing all sorts of work on curing and reducing cancer. It’s so freaking strange! They’re as at-risk as anyone else. The pundits who started calling the GOP a Death Cult some years ago are right. But what the actual fuck!?)
Professor Bigfoot
@Omnes Omnibus: Agreed on all counts; and for all of you willing to do that outreach, good on ya! Bonne chance, mes amís!
But pack a lunch. It’s gonna be a bear.
Miss Bianca
@New Deal democrat: I really appreciate that you do these posts for us. Between you and Anne Laurie, I feel much smarter than the average bear when it comes to COVID stats.
Not so much about anything else, mind…
Professor Bigfoot
@RaflW: They would prefer to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven.
Better to rule over a dystopia of poverty, disease and death than to work with others for the benefit of everyone.
Omnes Omnibus
@Professor Bigfoot: Oh, I can’t do that outreach. The effort to tamp do that urge to shout “What the fuck is wrong with you?” would be too much of a strain. I am already on blood pressure meds.
sab
@Professor Bigfoot: I’ve noticed the same in Akron. It either goes through Columbus and WV or north through Cleveland and Lake Erie.
Old Man Shadow
@RaflW: They’re embracing eugenics.
That’s it.
So if you get sick, it’s your fault. You made bad choices or have inferior genes. We don’t have to help you and we shouldn’t help you.
If you die, guess you should have eaten better.
Same attitude they have towards poverty. Just slightly adapted to account for woo and the money they can make selling woo to the masses
Basically “I am under no ethical, moral, or spiritual obligation to help anyone but myself.”
mali muso
@RaflW:
I just read a very cogent Substack post about how “RFK Jr.’s “MAHA” movement doesn’t want to eliminate chronic illness. They want to eliminate the chronically ill.” It’s eugenics.
Professor Bigfoot
@Omnes Omnibus: Brother, I had a frickin’ HEART ATTACK three weeks ago… trust me, I feel ya on that one.
Let us both wish good fortune to those who CAN reach out to the blind, ignorant morons.
rikyrah
Fly Sistah![]()
(@Fly_Sistah) posted at 5:43 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
A Haitian woman, Marie Ange Blaise, 44, who was among those held in inhumane conditions, has died. She was stopped at an airport in Saint Croix in mid-February as she prepared to board a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina https://t.co/mEaOnyScdC
(https://x.com/Fly_Sistah/status/1917349045313380602?t=JMjXG0pB9n-v2VF5AYTtzQ&s=03)
TerryC
But here is the problem: Yes, they are “weak and petty and loathsome. I thought Obama’s election would reveal them and, boy did it!
But now what do you do with them? Change their minds? Maybe create a country full of liberty they can emigrate to, like, hmm, Liberia?
Seriously, though. I don’t see them changing or going away although I do think we can maybe beat them politically.
Baud
@mali muso:
It all went downhill once we found a cure to leprosy.
rikyrah
Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) posted at 7:10 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
Did you vote for this?
Trump deported home health aide Heidy Sánchez who was breastfeeding her 1-year-old US citizen daughter who has health issues. The baby girl was so traumatized that she had to be taken to the hospital.
The father is in the US legally and Heidy was awaiting a response to a request to become legal. There was no due process. There was no option for her to take her daughter with her.
Did you really vote for this? Or are you just so ashamed that you voted for this that you are in denial?
https://t.co/zGO0PUr7Ak
(https://x.com/EdKrassen/status/1917370907695161351?t=AJ3DQSGCkCyOajHH5F6Xkg&s=03)
PaulWartenberg
The best way I can understand about Labour UK turning into wusses is that Brexit broke their internal dynamics: they’re caught between the “New Britain” elements that embraced capitalism – and ended up getting bought out by oligarchs – and the old-school Socialists who hated the EU for its corruption and didn’t want to undo the Tories’ bad idea of a Hard Brexit. There’s an inability to confront their current economic – mostly trade – woes and it’s exposed them to culture war BS like turning anti-trans and pro-AI. /headdesk
rikyrah
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 8:29 AM on Wed, Apr 30, 2025:
If this was Joe Biden’s economy, we would be subjected to days of wall to wall RECESSION IS IMMINENT coverage in the media, but Trump will just toss up some shiny object for the media to chase like compliant little puppies and this will all be forgotten by tomorrow.
(https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1917572106457604228?t=PmlJM_jucZDArqZAvS8wpQ&s=03)
rikyrah
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 8:49 AM on Wed, Apr 30, 2025:
“I could,” Trump said when asked if he could pick up the phone and bring Abrego Garcia back.
This wrecks Trumpworld’s fake distinction between ORDERING Bukele to release him and merely ASKING him to do so. OF COURSE Buleke would do this if Trump asked.
https://t.co/qGaThweQQz https://t.co/209AJi8P61
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1917576963352363421?t=Fet5f6nVYnJ22pWxeCxNwg&s=03)
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 8:55 AM on Wed, Apr 30, 2025:
“I’m not the one making this decision,” Trump said. “We have lawyers that don’t want to do this.”
That’s awful. Either Trump is knowingly defying SCOTUS and hiding behind his lawyers to do so, or they are deceiving him about what the court ordered.
https://t.co/qGaThweQQz https://t.co/qQV5T2qLmd
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1917578513403543949?t=H-8fZ9NUGPqtsjZsiZgL6Q&s=03)
rikyrah
Chris Murphy![]()
(@ChrisMurphyCT) posted at 10:15 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
Trump’s crypto coin scam is the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the American presidency and we should start treating it that way. https://t.co/iKNCWOkUfE
(https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1917417471566369175?t=7zWolbUw5qJU89_QqtSN0A&s=03)
rikyrah
Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) posted at 8:15 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
“Most economists will tell you tariffs will raise prices, so don’t your tariffs cut against your promise you made to bring prices down?”
“No.”
Well. Get ready for another episode of inflation.
https://t.co/Ttso3aMrIz
(https://x.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1917387215900139623?t=WFdKfIOYBGi_-Hkki6OUSw&s=03)
rikyrah
You Should’ve Said Nicer Things About Joe Biden (@What46HasDone) posted at 7:57 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
The big tell that none of these fucks actually care about Gaza and Gazans is that Trump has been President for 100 days and they still are only interested in talking about Gaza re: Biden. They care 0% about what is currently happening there now that their guy Trump is in.
(https://x.com/What46HasDone/status/1917382756742402348?t=UB8Yd54AI-UE95iaPbuSOg&s=03)
rikyrah
Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) posted at 6:33 AM on Wed, Apr 30, 2025:
“Since Trump took office, the DOJ froze all work on pending police misconduct investigations, including high-profile work in places like Minneapolis, where an officer murdered George Floyd, and Lexington, Kentucky, where a SWAT team killed Breonna Taylor.”
https://t.co/z1LxTgFxMq
(https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1917542949090418962?t=dLfeHOUw55bifl6Dq8mqqg&s=03)
rikyrah
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 8:39 AM on Wed, Apr 30, 2025:
Now that Trump admitted he can pick up the phone and bring Abrego Garcia back, time to press WH on the fact that their basis for refusing is the word of a cop who was indicted for serious misconduct.
Trump’s ABC interview is full of bullshit. My rebuttal:
https://t.co/qGaThweQQz
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1917574459633946879?t=_6KLJWva6B-YqDQG34ro1A&s=03)
Harrison Wesley
@Professor Bigfoot: “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”
rikyrah
CBS News (@CBSNews) posted at 10:00 AM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
Early in his second term, President Trump is struggling to deliver on his campaign trail promises to invigorate the U.S. economy. https://t.co/OnZwHoetiR
(https://x.com/CBSNews/status/1917232406945227149?t=8bvgzGOD0M9MHq510Cn7jw&s=03)
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 7:17 AM on Wed, Apr 30, 2025:
This tweet is its own form of disinformation. It starts from the premise that the economy needed “invigorating.” The reality is that the economy was strong under Biden, wages (and the stock market!) were up, and inflation was coming down. The problems now are all Trump-inflicted
(https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1917553836429918623?t=VlGT8Zz9nsFwOZvapy7QIQ&s=03)
rikyrah
Jose Olivares (@jlosc9) posted at 5:17 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
Today’s wild CNN story confirms what we’ve known: Trump’s deal with Bukele has to do with Bukele’s own corruption.
Bukele struck a deal with top MS-13 leaders for political support in 2019.
Last month, one of those leaders was returned to El Salvador.
https://t.co/q9WStQVLpr
(https://x.com/jlosc9/status/1917342511212933553?t=gTbhSAoldDsSarx10RgOJw&s=03)
Jackie
@rikyrah: You posted:
Here’s the shiny object FFOTUS is trying to make his Subjects buy into:
I believe the US economy was the envy of the world on Jan 19…
eclare
@Jackie:
That hippy-dippy magazine The Economist proclaimed just that on its November 2024 cover.
Harrison Wesley
@Jackie: You mean… he’s lying? Oh, my stars and garters!
Miss Bianca
@mali muso: wow, that a was a brilliant (if sad and chilling) read.
prostratedragon
Some good news:
He has already walked out of the courthouse.
rikyrah
Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) posted at 8:11 AM on Wed, Apr 30, 2025:
Jobs Down.
GDP Down.
Consumption Down.
Inflation Up.
If you’re still defending this, you’re either a grifter or a victim of a cult.
Which one are you? https://t.co/bFhjXfg4Qf
(https://x.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1917567515191890401?t=bdbduKYy58gaC7jJIJ_ZTw&s=03)
rikyrah
ProPublica (@propublica) posted at 9:00 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
A DOGE staffer who is helping carry out the downsizing of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau owns stock in companies that could benefit from the agency’s dismantling, ProPublica has found.
https://t.co/8ngzlOC0Gj
(https://x.com/propublica/status/1917398518957777203?t=4xHw5bRfw8rMdyVFdNVzYg&s=03)
Tony Jay
Ah, newnewlabourinc, everything you touch turns to shit.
Large majorities of those polled say they want distance from Trumpia and closer ties to the EU… so Der Starmer’s handlers order full-on abasement before The Pustule and full-bore rejection of even the concept of dismantling the Brexit barricades.
Blair’s bought-and-paid-for promotion of fossil fuel interests draw such a furious backlash that his Institute’s PR flacks immediately issue mewling retractions… so Der Starmer’s handlers announce their full support for the Toothy Twat’s nonsense.
They only have one policy. Whatever happens, however bad the error, they just punch themselves harder in the nuts and declare victory over ‘the performative Left’.
The UK is broken.
rikyrah
Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) posted at 7:15 AM on Wed, Apr 30, 2025:
His former deputy who was just fired gave an interview this week with Megyn Kelly where he said Hegseth spends 50% of his time obsessing over his press and doing Fox interviews while neglecting his most important work.
Hegseth this morning: https://t.co/C0fDOMFRqy
(https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1917553473509261434?t=N3oU9Z5OdzbAF6Ob-QuNiA&s=03)
Jeffro
@rikyrah: he’s right – as far as I’m concerned, it’s the biggest presidential scandal in history
trumpov is engaging in personal, money-making business directly from the White House…
he’s directly promoting access/favors to the presidency as a benefit of lining his pockets…
that business is not some token lemonade stand, but potentially involves hundreds of millions of dollars…
he is directly engaged in the regulation (or rather, the lack thereof) of that line of business, crypto…
that line of business allows for unlimited, untraceable amounts of bribes to be paid to him (from criminals? from hostile foreign powers?) while he’s in office…
AND
his entire party doesn’t have the slightest concern about it
absolutely unprecedented
unbelievably disgusting
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Tony Jay:
Welcome to the club! Or were you already innit and we subsequently joined?
rikyrah
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) posted at 7:59 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:![]()
Trump admits that weaponizing the DOJ
MORAN: You are the president now and I’m asking the justification for going after people you don’t like.
TRUMP: No no. People that I think are dishonest. https://t.co/cT7LhW72qN
(https://x.com/atrupar/status/1917383214395539944?t=IIJpV5LOchO65oqZAI6OtA&s=03)
cmorenc
@Baud: It’s less that a majority of people are ok with RW bigotry and more that a majority of the electorate are only superficially engaged with politics and news much deeper than tangible ways they perceive things affect them and family personally and tangibly.
rikyrah
Dr Nafeez Ahmed FRSA (@NafeezAhmed) posted at 11:00 AM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
EXCLUSIVE: For the first time, the full extent of the influence of Nazi-inspired race science on the Trump White House is exposed via my investigation at @BylineTimes into Curtis Yarvin, the tech bro who has inspired Peter Thiel, JD Vance and beyond /1 https://t.co/yM20n73X95
(https://x.com/NafeezAhmed/status/1917247591038783522?t=DgMGrTqSvyn4k512FA1OXw&s=03)
rikyrah
Syncopated Politics @syncpol.bsky.social (@SyncPol) posted at 9:28 AM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
Trump & Co definition of “Civil Rights” seems to be decidedly rooted in, shall we say, an earlier time. Certainly pre CRA, VRA, 19th Amendment, 17th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 13th, Amendment, and in many cases 1st Amendment. Not super good with 4th either.
(https://x.com/SyncPol/status/1917224449494962353?t=FBYiP0Py8MfdM77mGy1FIA&s=03)
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) posted at 9:25 AM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
Hundreds of lawyers and other staff members are leaving the Justice Department’s civil rights division, as veterans of the office say they’ve been driven out by Trump officials who want to drop its traditional work to aggressively pursue cases against the Ivy League, other schools and liberal cities.
nytimes.com/2025/04/28/us/…
(https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1917223665717911756?t=9Ue_hjFXj-ib6bs0DG96CQ&s=03)
rikyrah
Lips so pursed
ABC News (@ABC) posted at 0:23 AM on Wed, Apr 30, 2025:
The 2-year-old child of Venezuelan migrants is with a foster family after her mom was deported to Venezuela and her dad was sent to El Salvador, authorities said. https://t.co/jurG6jToci
(https://x.com/ABC/status/1917449706902347999?t=byl1a1_HZRt2PPpb5V610Q&s=03)
rikyrah
General Han Xin is asleep.![]()
(@General_Oluchi) posted at 10:23 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
Weird enough, no one ever talks about what ICE stole from and did to undocumented immigrants before deporting them. It’s good that their recklessness is hitting home so that the average American can feel how others are treated outside their picket fences and gated communities.
(https://x.com/General_Oluchi/status/1917419476368200078?t=T_ClVX1rkala8UyaGsBiqw&s=03)
ArchTeryx
In other international election news, I decided to contact my Quebecois friend and ask what he thought of the Canadian election results. Keep in mind, by our standards the guy is fairly liberal.
He said he was disgusted with the whole exercise – that Trump wanted the Liberals to win (wut??) and that the Tories were even worse, and that Bloc Quebecois had their collective arses handed to them, right alongside the NDP. Since the Canadian Liberals ended up with a minority government, he has hopes that it will fall quickly.
Political ignoramuses aren’t just an American problem, let me tell you. It’s why I joked that the best way to solve our problem is for Quebec to join us as the 51st state. They may be full of themselves, but they’d drive the fascists nuts, and within a few years we’d all be speaking French.
frosty
@prostratedragon: That’s amazing news! They (not sure who “they” are) obeyed a court order. I’ve been skeptical that it would ever happen.
Juju
@Jackie: It’s not the administration. It’s a congressional Medal of Honor, not something the president gives.
Juju
@Baud: You type faster than I read and type.
frosty
Join the club. Or did we join your club?
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Curses! I was too late for this obvious hanging curveball.
ArchTeryx
@Tony Jay: Not just the UK, believe me. Talking politics with my Quebecois friend made me feel that I was trapped in the Upside Down, and he wasn’t even conservative! “Ow, my balls!” seems to be what every single center-left party in Europe and North America seem determined to do at the moment. Nevermind their voters. Oy.
frosty
B-but, that IS his most important work!!
Or is it taking time away from kissing FFOTUS’s ass and doing makeup? That could be a problem.
rikyrah
He’s talking about COOK
unaffiliated followers of the new democrats (@reesetheone1) posted at 6:50 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
This county allows IL dems to be FREE 😆😆😆
Such an advantage for my Governor.
The IL GOP will have issues as long as Trump is In office. https://t.co/P5Q79WXjc2
(https://x.com/reesetheone1/status/1917365797267063249?t=Pu-t1gpHUo9slM62oMOYng&s=03)
rikyrah
unaffiliated followers of the new democrats (@reesetheone1) posted at 3:14 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
I never saw a president kiss unions asses more than Biden/Harris did.
The teamsters played themselves by supporting a republican in 2024.
(https://x.com/reesetheone1/status/1917311467432382731?t=-hLNn5l14GGIZtNkg07YBQ&s=03)
rikyrah
BWA HA HA HA AH HA HA HA HA HA
Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) posted at 9:26 PM on Mon, Apr 28, 2025:
Fun Fact: Conservatives were leading and projected to win the election, but when Canadians saw what Trump and MAGA were doing to America, they said, “Nah, fuck that.”
(https://x.com/acnewsitics/status/1917042808374132796?t=ZgpUYD4iYVLRm9fpRvcqoQ&s=03)
Jeffro
@rikyrah: I hope all those folks stick together, as part of a DOJ ‘shadow cabinet agency’…we’ll need them in 2029
Citizen Alan
Can’t we just go with “they’re fucking evil”?
mali muso
@Miss Bianca: I thought it really encapsulated a lot of what I intuitively felt about all this MAHA nonsense but stated it in a way that brings the unstated ideas to the surface. Really scary stuff.
rikyrah
John Garamendi (@RepGaramendi) posted at 1:08 PM on Tue, Apr 29, 2025:
Republicans are trying to hand Trump and Hegseth a $150 billion slush fund with no plan.
“Have we lost our minds? $150 billion out of the mouths of children who are not going to get a school lunch. That’s what’s happening here.” https://t.co/cBXuY1T7Ar
(https://x.com/RepGaramendi/status/1917279722846716256?t=rUo0Pqfo3Kwgc7SGTJRDyA&s=03)
Citizen Alan
@rikyrah: Is Gaza even still a thing? With no one to scream “Genocide Joe!!!” it seems that coverage of Israel and Palestine have basically vanished.
tam1MI
@Citizen Alan: Is Gaza even still a thing?
What happened to Europe supposedly leading the charge to bring Netanyahu to heel? Have they just stopped doing this or is our shitbag press not reporting on it as usual?
Gvg
@Old Man Shadow: they also seem to be under no obligation to help themselves. Thats what the rest of us find incomprehensible. We can calculate selfishness. We don’t get….suicide by stupid? What is this?
Jackie
Oooops Wrong thread
rikyrah
@Citizen Alan:
they are quiet as church mice pissing on cotton…
as the Orange Menace plans on turning Gaza into BEACHFRONT CONDOS
rikyrah
Didn’t the Orange Menace set as terms for a US/UK agreement that the UK ROLL BACK THEIR LGBTQIA+ PROTECTIONS?
sherparick1
@Baud: He can be blamed for his own awful policies and lack of backbone. He and his Government have been making the lives of most British people worse, especially the poorest, in order to appease the bond market and avoid taxing the upper classes. Improving the lives of most people, ending local government austerity in regard to services, and taxing the rich is the “raison d’etre” for the Labour Party.
The Audacity of Krope
Who’s quiet? Not me.
Lovely thing about the vague, sinister “they,” they can be doing anything you claim if you want to disparage an entire group without the accountability of holding your claim up against any specific person’s actions.
sab
@rikyrah: That will scar her for life, which I assume is the point. My oldest stepchild grew up in bad foster care (age 4 to 10) until my husband adopted her. She is 41 and still not fully recovered.