Anyone going to a May Day protest today? (Wish I could, but I can’t.)
Here’s a link to Indivisible’s May Day page, which has a searchable list of more than 1,000 events. Here’s how the organization describes the purpose on this May Day:
Trump and his billionaire profiteers are trying to create a race to the bottom—on wages, on benefits, on dignity itself. This May Day we are fighting back. We are demanding a country that puts our families over their fortunes—public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, prosperity over free market politics.
Although much of the world celebrates International Workers Day on May 1st, May Day fell out of favor in the USA because Cold Warriors detected a whiff of commie. I agree with the LOL GOP fellow from Bluesky when he says, “if the GOP gets to be led by a KGB agent, we get May Day back.”
***
Like many year-round Florida residents, I dread summer. May 1st for me marks the end of stone crab season (boo!) and a preview of the long, hot season of suffocating heat and humidity to come. And possibly hurricanes. So, not a fan.
But on the bright side, this is the time of year when lots of snowbirds decamp, so there’s less traffic and competition for seats at the local tiki bars. Bill informs me that our MAGA dope neighbor is migrating back home soon, so I’ve got that going for me.
***
Here’s one for the “You’ve Got to Hand It to Them” file:
sometimes you do have to hand it to them
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) May 1, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Backstory in case you missed it: When asked about possible toy shortages due to his dumb tariff pissing contest with China, Trump said, “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.” (YouTube)
Yep, this person actually said that.
Open thread.
West of the Rockies
What a miserable childhood to be constantly in suits and dress shirts among those two wretched creatures. Kids have sensory issues. Imagine constantly being in dress shoes and form-fitting attire.
Belafon
I read a little of the arguments being made in the Oklahoma case about the Catholic charter school, and I think people need to start being more explicit about the fact that the Constitution was in fact written to be biased against the government granting religion political power, because they knew what happened when religion gained that power.
scav
Somewhere (and I saw it) a title for this topic was No Ken Do.
One brain between ’em.
was the Guard No Ken do: Trump says US kids may get ‘two dolls instead of 30’ due to tariffs
link
schrodingers_cat
Its not dumb if his goal is to the kneecap the country that didn’t vote for him in 2020. This is his revenge and he knows what he is doing. And a majority of white people have enabled this snit fit. I am not just talking about MAGA here.
retiredeng
This miserable creature hates everyone. Especially kids.
bbleh
Not entirely sure it helps with an “everyman” image to talk about kids having “30 dolls.”
@West of the Rockies: and yes what a truly weird thing, but I will give Melania credit for making very clear where her sympathies lie, which was not and has not been with the Orange Guy in the White House.
Anyway, yes, May Day rally in Philly (with Bernie!)
French Onion Soup
Looks like the war on Christmas is back on the menu! And Halloween, and Thanksgiving, and weddings, and football Sunday, and birthdays, and well everything.
Leto
Last day of class for me; next week is finals. Almost out of the woods.
Miss Bianca
@scav: I honestly had to read the Post headline 2 or 3 times before I smoked the pun.
scav
@Miss Bianca: More an Australian locution to be fair.
Tony Jay
I’m off for a small community meeting hosted by my ex-MP (he’s still an MP, if only barely a Labour one, bring faaaaaaar to Lefty for the knee jerk red-haters and OCD trot-blamers infesting the current Party leadership) where there may be pies aplenty, then we’re taking the boy to scouts and having a pint in a local beer garden.
My Revolution is a decidedly non-ambulatory one. I’ve got work in the morning!
oldgold
Yesterday, at the N. Korean like cabinet meeting everything was reported to be going great. Today, not so much:
“Both U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Deputy National Security Advisor Alex Wong will be leaving their posts at the White House NSC, according to a report moments ago from CBS News.”
Mr. Bemused Senior
[groan] I skipped the headline at first, thanks for the pointer 😁
Jackie
BREAKING: Waltz is the first casualty of probably more to come.
oldgold has faster fingers :)
Gin & Tonic
The New York Post will forever be chasing this high.
Professor Bigfoot
“There is no horseshoe. There is only white people who are at best uncomfortable with any power being held in Black hands. Those white people are at all points of the ‘left-right’ spectrum.”
dc
I’m going to our May Day event today at 2:00. There are events in all nearby cities and towns.
One of André Leon Talley's Fifty Pieces of Monogrammed Louis Vuitton Luggage
Ha ha, he imagines that the United States will actually exist in December.
They Call Me Noni
@retiredeng:
Not all kids. He has a very unnatural affinity for his eldest daughter.
Professor Bigfoot
@They Call Me Noni: NONI!
That was COLD!
Come, sit by me. ;)
They Call Me Noni
@Gin & Tonic:
That is a high bar indeed!
🤣
They Call Me Noni
@Professor Bigfoot: Gladly!
Harrison Wesley
I was supposed to go to a May Day event this morning, but discovered that I had no way to get there. I think I’ll sign up for future events in Sarasota; they’re easier to get to.
mardam
“Skimp on the Barbie”
I consider myself a clever guy. But…no. This…THIS is clever. I can only dream of this type of cleverity…er…cleverableness….
Omnes Omnibus
@mardam: Cleverosity is the word you were seeking.
JPL
So are all toys going to cost 15 times more or just dolls?
Miss Bianca
@Gin & Tonic: somehow, I knew even before clicking on it which headline *that* was going to be!
mrmoshpotato
Aka Dump wants to bone one of his daughters.
Layer8Problem
“Anyone going to a May Day protest today?”
Yes indeed, in transit in fact.
Omnes Omnibus
@mrmoshpotato: Yes, we all understood what was meant.
artem1s
Americans nearly had a meltdown when Jimmy Carter suggested putting on a sweater when there were fuel oil shortages. Imagine what the Country Club/Real Housewives set is going to do when they can’t grant their Snotleigh’s and Boof Jr’s every wish.
BTW, does that duty free zone/private air strip that Ross Perot got legislated into a House Bill still exist? That’s gonna be a thing in every state in the Union.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: I saw that on a newsstand when it first appeared!
Sure Lurkalot
The FTFNYT editorial board has published some words on how to stand up for democracy, words they find “painful to write” and lo and behold, Trump’s authoritarian views “were closer to public opinion than those of Democrats”, not that the democracy loving FTFNYT had ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT. Read and weep.
http://archive.today/0FSbZ
And this excellent BlueSky thread which starts with:
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cu5awgjuatuagbu625ib2onr/post/3lo4kysitok2c
Geminid
@JPL: I read Trains Magazine some, for the articles on both real and model trains. One of their articles last week said Trump’s tariffs were a potential “extinction event” for model railroading in the US.
laura
@JPL: toy stores are about to be run out of business. Toys for all children about to be scarce as hen’s teeth. Blame will of course be directed at Biden. Republican legislators are already pissy and butt hurt about their riled up constituents who see just how the big beautiful tax cuts will be funded; and they know exactly what’s coming down the pipe as shipping and ground transportation are collapsing right the heck now; so just brace for the mother of all shits hitting the fan.
Spanky
A coupla things:
#1: Per CNN: “Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz expected to depart administration, sources say”
#2, specific to the blog:
Today’s image is from (I assume) Mike in Oly, but it’s attributed to “Mike in Oli”. Could someone make a fix?
Harrison Wesley
Pete Hegseth has already advised parents that they’ll raise sons who are more manly and less woke if they switch out the G.I.Joe for a Klaus Barbie.
MrPug
You have my deepest sympathies what with living in an entire state that is pretty much literally a swamp. Maybe the voters of that literal swamp will turn against the GOP when tourist season is the worst in living memory and Trump says FU when hurricane season hits. But, who knows, with that fucking state. You elected the biggest Medicare fraudster in the history of the known universe, and a Nosferatu twin to boot, to 2 terms of governor and now the Senate and, FFS, DeSantis twice as well. My bags of sympathy for stupid fucking states like FL is completely empty.
Professor Bigfoot
I have been guffawing at this for the last fifteen minutes. 😂😂
Geminid
@Jackie: I wonder how Waltz’s firing will affect foreign policy, particularly the talks with Iran on their nuclear program. I read that along with Marco Rubio, Waltz was pushing a more hawkish policy towards Iran than were other Trump advisors including Witkoff and Vance.
Citizen Dave
@oldgold: Obligatory (one of my all-time favorites): https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5978bfde14d01710f83e5cb5/master/w_960,c_limit/DC072617A.jpg (And I’m not looking down my nose. I get the occasional breakfast item and sometimes other stuff, especially if on a road trip.)
Spanky
And from the OP,
Actually, hurricanes can be thought of as a really, really big fan.
I’ll see myself out.
eclare
@schrodingers_cat:
Please go door to door and tell every white person how this situation is their fault.
ArchTeryx
You know I think a lot about wypipo’s reaction, all across the political spectrum, about black people having power.
I’m a white dude myself, in my 50s from the suburbs. I was raised on Chicago’s South Side, in one of the most segregated areas of the country at the time. Racism was everywhere, including in my own household. That left a mark in my head.
Yet my boss’ boss Shaneeva is a black woman. Most white men, it seems, would instantly recoil at the idea of a black woman two levels above them. But I’ve never minded. I have occasional issues with Shaneeva, but they have to do with her managerial style, which is like a squirrel on speed. My boss sometimes needs to interpret her stream of consciousness into actual marching orders.
But that has nothing at all to do with the fact that she’s a black woman. And frankly, I’ve had white and Asian bosses that were sociopathic monsters. Compared with that, Shaneeva is pure joy to work with. Very smart and worked in the trenches so she knows her shit, and makes a great mentor. She just goes in too many directions sometimes. It makes her human. And I have zero objection to working under her, save that occasional frustration.
So what the hell is the problem with wypipo? If I, raised in one of the most racist parts of the country, can accept this… why can’t so many others?
Spanky
@Spanky:
ETTD.
frosty
@Gin & Tonic: Here’s the rest of the song:
Doo Dah, Doo Dah
The New York Post has gone too far!
eclare
@Spanky:
So true. The only variable is how long it takes to die.
Citizen Dave
@dc:
@Geminid:
I only read Trains Magazine for the articles too. No wonder Neil Young is so mad at Trump.
Jackie
@Geminid:
As always, it’ll depend on who has the most sway at the moment and speaks last to FFOTUS.
Right now CNN thinks Steve Witkoff has the inside edge.
kindness
I just read an article in the NY Times ( https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/world/europe/trans-women-soccer-england-ban.html?unlocked_article_code=1.D08.KziT.EwJeDbelUNcw&smid=url-share ) on the effect of the recent UK Supreme Court ruling that trans women won’t be allowed to play in women’s sports at any level now. Only XX females can now play women’s sports in the UK. It was mostly about soccer. What really struck me is that at the end of the article it said:
Soooo…. apparently only trans women are their problem? Yea….just wait till bearded trans-men start using the women’s bathrooms.
stinger
@MrPug:
Your anger seems… slightly misplaced. Pretty sure Ms. Cracker knows all that.
JPL
@Jackie: Another Putin guy.
RaflW
There was a really good thread this morning on Bsky about the NYT editorial board editorial today. Basically, the upshot is that the NYT poohbahs are nervous that the backlash against Trump is going to be so big that the pendulum will swing ‘too far’ away from supporting the elite, roll all the money uphill status quo that has been the NYT equilibrium since Reagan.
Can’t have that! I think a lot of the Times shitting on Biden was thinly disguised disgust that a) unions and even nonunion labor were gaining a lot of wage power and b) Biden proved that Reagan was wrong and Democrats were correct that strategic investment by ‘big government’ to deliver public goods does build a stronger and more equitable economy.
So. Yes I’m going to a rally this afternoon in St. Paul. My sign won’t mention the NYT, but in my heart I’ll be transmitting a hearty fuck you to the neoliberal shills there.
stinger
@frosty: Oh, doo dah day!
catclub
@schrodingers_cat:
It is still dumb, it is just his ‘plan’, which is dumb.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Geminid: Bill Kristol opined the Waltz and the other one fired were the lest incompetent of the group.
Fair Economist
The amazing thing about the tariff tantrum is that it will be followed up 4th quarter with Medicaid cuts, tax increases for all but the wealthy, and a massively increased deficit. And probably much more awful stuff. Like a toxic waste chaser for the sewage cocktail of tariffs we’re downing now.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@schrodingers_cat: Meh. I grew up with stoner knuckle heads like Trump and supporters this back in the ’70; the only thing they see is “tariffs means no income tax” and that’s it.
catclub
I think this appears under the definition of:
Things that cannot be made worse.
scav
And no, you can’t have fries with that either. McDonald’s posts biggest US sales drop since Covid
Matt McIrvin
@kindness:
They usually won’t, of course, except possibly as a protest where stirring up trouble is the point–because we all know that the panty-sniffing gender police, self-appointed and otherwise, will go after anyone who doesn’t look super femme, regardless of what the law says. The goal is to push trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people out of public life entirely, using a false identification of them with sexual predators.
They Call Me Noni
@ArchTeryx: They just have not evolved. And they’re stingy assholes.
Belafon
@Sure Lurkalot: “Black woman or fascism, black woman or fascism. So hard to choose.”
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: My interest in transit and in cats doing silly things occasionally gets me served videos about model railroads on YouTube. The model railroad hobby community is basically expecting the apocalypse from these tariffs.
Professor Bigfoot
@eclare: As I am fond of pointing out, everyone knows it’s not all white people.
But alas, it’s SO GODDAMN MANY OF YOU— when nearly 2/3 of white men voted directly for Trump and the other third spend their time bitching about and backstabbing the Black and Jewish and female led Democrats that, well… “tis not so deep as a well nor so wide as a church door, but ‘tis enough, ‘twill serve…”
catclub
@Fair Economist: Trump’s MO: Do something that fucks up something that was working just fine.
Wait out the microscopic attention span of the media.
Quietly reverse course. Get credit for things getting better than the terrible situation you just caused.
Jackie
Great news! (For now)
The link is to the actual court document signed by Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr, SD Texas.
eta I believe this is the second federal judge to say basically the same thing under the same circumstances: We are not at war or being invaded by a foreign adversary.
catclub
@Belafon:
yes, and it is actually ‘something not quite, but possibly approaching, equality for’ black women
Geminid
@catclub: These negotiations with Iran definitely could get worse. I’ve been a little worried about how smoothly they’ve gone so far. It’s almost like it’s been too smooth.
I think the fourth meeting is supposed to be in Rome this Saturday. I guess we’ll see if Witkoff brings a monkey wrench to throw into the works. Plenty of people want him to.
Syria policy is another area where the U.S. hasn’t done much damage but still could.
Citizen Dave
@scav:
Calling McDonalds’ customers ‘diners’ is like how The Masters calls their fans ‘patrons’.
Professor Bigfoot
@ArchTeryx: That’s the core of the Bigfoot Dictum: the majority of white people are just plain uncomfortable with ANY power being held in Black hands.
Witness the attitudes towards Archie Manning and his sons as compared to that towards Deion Sanders and his boys.
Or how LeBron got told to “shut up and dribble.”
Or should I even mention the Obama years? Or how white people are SO quick to blast the Jewish Democratic leader of the Senate and the Black Democratic leader of the House? How some of the white darlings like David Hogg wanted to primary Hakeem Jeffries and are working on primary challenges?
(Of course, this is all coincidence.)
cmorenc
@Jackie:
How MAGAs missed the opportunity to preemptively bring a case involving application of the Alien Enemies Act in Amarillo before notorious RW MAGA hack Matthew Kacsmaryk so he could get out ahead of this with a nationwide injunction against non-enforcement of the Act is…fortunately a mystery of missed opportunity. How exactly would Kacsmaryk have pretzel-twisted a situation permitting a decision upholding the Act and into a nationwide injunction against failing to follow the Act wrt the undocumenteds would be a truly formidable challenge, but no doubt Judge K would have been up to the challenge.
Josie
@Professor Bigfoot: I knew Hogg was getting out over his skis a bit, but I had no idea he wanted to primary Hakeem Jeffries. Good luck on that. Jeffries will show him the ropes.
ETA: If he continues with his project, I hope they force him to resign his position with the DNC.
Jackie
@cmorenc: True!
But, butbut Judge Fernando Jr was appointed by FFOTUS!
sentient ai from the future
Captain Brainworms issued a report to justify being shitty to trans kids today.
https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/gender-dysphoria-report-release.html
this is in my wheelhouse for a number of reasons (trans kid, research-bioscience background, graduate coursework in reproductive biology, etc etc) so i’d like to pitch, either as a solo or a group effort, a fisking of this ENTIRE FUCKING REPORT which doesn’t have a conveniently searchable name like “Cass Report” as yet (so we should also brainstorm some search-sticky monikers for it)
thoughts?
Professor Bigfoot
@Josie: It was AOC who tried that and found out.
Young Master Hogg is, on the other hand, preparing primary challenges as we speak. Whether he’ll be foolish enough to go after Hakeem remains to be seen.
schrodingers_cat
@eclare: I don’t understand your hostility. Why are you mad at me? Point out the lie in what I said.
Jackie
@Josie:
Wasn’t Hogg already given that ultimatum just a few weeks ago by DNC Chair Ken Martin?
Chetan Murthy
@Josie: Two thoughts:
(1) I remember when people were angry with Pelosi for being so centrist. Not realizing she had to represent her entire caucus.
(2) I support Hogg going after backbenchers in safe districts. But leadership? They’re gonna be centrist (see #1) and nothing will change that. Wanna change the leaders? Change the backbenchers.
Peale
@Jackie: So the judge didn’t find it convincing that Mexico and China are invading us and therefore we’re entitled to round up all their people?
Next up – a judge might note that 50 years of free trade can’t just be undone with tariffs because some toddler screams “invasion! War! Drugs!” over and over again.
Jackie
Move along folks! Nothing nefarious happening here!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Belafon
@Chetan Murthy: I see far too many quick “Primary Congressperson X” announcements before people find out if the reporting that X said something wishy-washy is even true. While I want to get Democrats to be more aggressive, I’m wary that “Challenge everyone” is going to be a viable solution.
zhena gogolia
@Dorothy A. Winsor: lol
Geminid
@Professor Bigfoot: It was Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff and press secretary who made some big talk about primarying Hakeem Jeffries. This was in mid-November of 2018, right after Jeffries was elected Democratic Caucus Chair. After they made their brag to Politico’s Laura Barron Lopez, Jeffries was asked about it. He responded, “Democracy is a beautiful thing….Spread Love, it’s the Brooklyn Way.”
The last was a lyric from rapper Biggie Smalls, and lot of people took it as a threat. It probably was. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez cut her mouthy chief of staff and press secretary loose the following August, and no one ever primaried Jeffries.
I’m waiting to see who ends up on Hogg’s hit list. He says his outfit will go after older Democrats in safe seats, and I’m interested in who they’ll come with.
Trollhattan
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Heh, well played, governor.
E.
I just came here to say I looked up the location of my city’s May Day protest and it said the “location is private.” You have to sign up. How is it even possible to be this bad at organizing a protest.
ExPatExDem
@Geminid: Sadly, Chuck Schumer isn’t up until 2028.
Geminid
@Jackie: I think there is a DNC rule proposed but not yet enacted that would force Hogg to give up either his DNC post or his PAC.
Professor Bigfoot
As am I. And I look forward to seeing just who they put forward for these “safe” seats. I expect them to be more like the “influencer,” Kat A (not gonna take the time right now to look up the proper spelling of her name)?
frosty
@E.: My city decided to have a May Day protest on May 3rd… OK, not with the times yet again.
Barbara
My husband’s response to this story was that, if these things are immaterial and won’t be missed why is he so eager for us to manufacture them? I assume he hasn’t figured out yet that many people find their life to be more bearable because so many material goods are cheap. Trump is making those things expensive without lightening the load by even a penny in the area of housing or health care or education.
ExPatExDem
@Geminid: I wish the DNC had shown this much vigor when AIPAC was spending $100 million to target incumbent Dems in 2024.
Steve in the ATL
@artem1s: put on a Brooks Brothers tennis sweater?
@laura: I hope Toys R Us survives!
@Spanky: typo. Should read “Mike on Oxy”
Barbara
@Professor Bigfoot: Yeah, David Hogg sends me text messages a lot and I am not all that impressed. Just because you are yourself young doesn’t mean you have your finger on the pulse of every young person.
Jackie
Interesting, just heard something about Laura Loomer behind Waltz’s firing? She apparently pulls a lot of sway with FFOTUS.
I wonder what Susie Wiles thinks about this – if she cares at all. Wiles seems to be a very under the radar COS!
West of the Rockies
@Geminid:
First they came for the model railroaders, and I did nothing…
Elizabelle
@Jackie: “Ethical conflicts.”
Don’t make me laugh, FTF Vichy NY Times.
frosty
Hahahahaha!!!
Josie
@ExPatExDem:
AIPAC does not have an official position in the DNC. The point about Hogg is that, as an officer in the DNC, he should not be supporting any particular person in the Democratic primary. It’s comparing apples to oranges.
Professor Bigfoot
@Barbara: I know I’ll be pilloried for this, but to me he’s just another jumped up white dude who hates how much power Black people and Jews and women have in the Democratic Party.
When nearly 2/3 of white men voted directly for Trump and SO MANY of that other third spend ALL their time and energy bashing Democrats and telling us how we should do things the way THEY say… I’m not inclined to buy anything they have to offer, until actual allyship is demonstrated.
Like the guy I put down as “Mayo Pete” five years ago— THAT dude has demonstrated his allyship. As have Joe Biden and Tim Walz.
Elizabelle
@Citizen Dave: I think it’s weird how Delta and United call people who pay to sit on their airplanes “customers.”
It’s “passengers.” Which is a way more descriptive phrase.
West of the Rockies
@ArchTeryx:
I ponder the question of why some people are terrible. Upbringing, environment, psychological disorders (narcissism)…
Ultimately, it feels like a simple cosmic edict: 27% of all humans will be vile.
Chetan Murthy
that horse left the barn, and has been spotted in a nearby state. The DNC has been putting its thumb on the scales in primaries for years and years. Probably decades. It’s just that they did it for long-time incumbents, and hence for the more conservative members. Here’s an example I found with a quick google search (“dnc support cuellar in primary”): https://www.commondreams.org/news/democratic-leaders-back-cuellar
ExPatExDem
Why? Because that’s the way it’s always been done?
The way it’s always been done has lost us 2 of the last 3 Presidential elections to Donald Trump.
schrodingers_cat
@Professor Bigfoot: And pointing that out in a forum friendly to Ds such as this one gets you outright hostility and an implied threat.
Matt McIrvin
@Barbara:
Strange, he knew that last fall, according to his own campaign slogans. KAMALA = HIGH PRICES, TRUMP = LOW PRICES.
Hoodie
@kindness: This is really just another flavor of misogyny. They think women are weak and can’t protect themselves, or want to reinforce the idea that women are weak and need men’s “protection” (i.e., government-enforced dominance). They don’t worry about trans men playing men’s sports because they assume male superiority. This means it’s irrelevant that there are vanishingly few trans women athletes and that most of them are not very competitive with cis female athletes.
Professor Bigfoot
@schrodingers_cat: Let ‘em. If someone wants to be the poster child for exactly what I’m talking about, let ‘em.
JCJ
@Geminid: Suuure. Everyone “reads” Trains Magazine for the articles and never ever looks at those centerfolds!
sentient ai from the future
@Hoodie:
@kindness:
it’s a lot simpler than all that. transmasculine erasure is common among this bigotry for a lot of reasons, but AMABs “becoming” women is the more direct threat to the central importance of masculinity in their worldview. something like “of course a woman would aspire to become a man, but a man rejecting manhood is an affront”
Josie
@Chetan Murthy: Those are leaders, true. However, they are not officials in the DNC. The DNC is in charge of running the primaries and organizing stuff. They should not be backing candidates. If Hogg wants to do so, he has a perfect right to do so, but he should do it as a private citizen and give up his position in the DNC.
Josie
@ExPatExDem:
And you really think what Hogg is doing is going to make the Democrats win more races? I think we have bigger problems to solve than that.
Chetan Murthy
@Josie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_National_Committee#Membership_and_organization
Chetan Murthy
@Josie: Unless what Hogg -does- is different from what he -says- he will do, it isn’t about winning more races. Do you think AOC unseating Crowley helped us win more races? I don’t think so. What it did, was to move the Democratic party leftward, by replacing a centrist voice (Crowley) with a progressive one.
Josie
@Chetan Murthy:
They are on the committee. Not one of them is an officer (chairman, vice chairman, secretary, etc.)
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Professor Bigfoot: I’m wondering what wisdom and knowledge is going to be lost in the pursuit of putting younger people in, because if there’s one thing life excels at, it’s reminding younger people constantly and mercilessly that they don’t know shit.
Belafon
@E.: Probably to keep right-wing disrupters out.
Geminid
@Professor Bigfoot: David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve PAC supported several candidates in state legislative races last cycle. All I nknow is that they were young
Rep. Jan Schakowski (IL09) was one of the Democrats Hogg said his PAC would not primary. That’s the district Kat Abughazaleh is running in. Schakowski is expected to announce her retirement May 5th, at her annual Women’s Power Lunch, That would free Hogg from his promise. Abughazaleh might decline Hogg’s support though. She doesn’t need his money, and people are already mad at him.
Timill
@JCJ: Better stay away from Railroad Model Craftsman and similar hardcore…
sab
@Professor Bigfoot: My white lapsed Catholic husband agrees with you. He’s embarrassed to be a white male.
Baud
@Geminid:
When you told me he was happy Petola lost, I soured on him.
schrodingers_cat
@Chetan Murthy: To what end? Primarying black and Jewish Democrats so that we look more like the fringy nutty but lefty version of MAGA
How many such Democrats can be elected? This is a move so that the Ds will be in the minority forever because there is no way that a DSA type would be elected in at least half +1 of the Congressional seats
I have seen zero evidence that DH is popular among his own cohort.
Baud
@Chetan Murthy:
Your conflating three separate things.
1. Whether party organizations should support incumbents. The DCCC does this. Hard issue IMHO.
2. Whether individual elected officials can endose candidates in primaries. Always ok IMHO.
3. Whether an individual DNC official should be weighing in on primaries. No. IMHO.
RaflW
@Citizen Dave: Decades ago I would occasionally go to the now-defunct chain Old Country Buffet over in St. Paul. The host who would seat you would ask “Have you dined with us before?” and I did manage to not offer a snarky retort.
(I should also be mindful that being a food snob isn’t always such a great look on me, a) because I too was eating there, and b) Old Country was, for example, the first choice of birthday spots to celebrate for a friend of mine up in Duluth.)
Jeffro
@Geminid:
@Citizen Dave:
@Matt McIrvin:
My father-in-law’s in hospice and has a number of trains he wants me to sell off after he passes. I know most model railroad folks are very specific about the stuff they are looking to buy…any suggestions as to where to get the most value when I go to sell these things? Facebook Marketplace?
(also – let me know if you or your friends might be interested! I’ll get a list together of everything my FIL is selling)
Josie
@Baud:
Thanks. You explained it so much better than I did.
wenchacha
@JPL: Right? What about trucks and race tracks and robot dogs?
Timill
@Jeffro: Do you know what they are? For example, there are specific marketplaces on FB for some types of models, including a whole bunch of Lionel Trains groups.
Lily
Outrage quote of the yesterday for me was boy RFK: “the MMR vaccine contains a lot of aborted fetus debris and DNA particles.” Gov’t officials should be liable for lies that they don’t retract.
He swore his opposition to vaccines is only due to lack of good science (untrue btw), but refuses to make easily researched science-based statements. “Do your own research,” he has advised parents, then suggests every anti-abortion parent will be violating their strong beliefs if they allow MMR vaccines. My god the immense harm and injustice his lies are causing.
Geminid
@Jeffro: I was sorry to hear about your father-in-law.
As for the model trains, they could be in demand now that these tariffs will make it harder to buy new. If you find some internet platform where you can put out the word, there might be people who’ll travel.a couple hours to purchase them just on spec.
Salty Sam
Indeed. Growing up in the South in the 50’s-60’s, I clearly remember segregated restrooms and water fountains. When I asked my mom “Why?”, her answer was unsatisfactory— “That’s just the way it is…”. I got “shushed” for saying “That’s not fair!”
lou
A reminder: David Hogg’s first foray into getting a young person elected was Maxwell Frost of Orlando, the first Gen Z representative. Not exactly a white dude.
I’m going to admit that I like David. I’ve followed him since Parkland. He spoke at a event I helped organize on gun violence years ago and insisted that the other youth speakers be people of color and that it included young people from communities suffering endemic gun violence, not just the suburban white one-offs.
From what I read, the group isn’t going after D leaders or competitive seats. I, as a 65 yo, think we need more young blood in Congress. Though I wish he’d focus on getting more Ds into state legislatures, what the group originally focused on.
Lily
@Lily:
I mean, crime-like potential effects on children’s lives for a Sec to state this https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lo34uvdm6u2l
Matt
@Professor Bigfoot:
Admit it, you like Trump more than Hogg. You’d rather see the country run by white supremacists than ever, ever admit that the centrist lickspittles of the Democratic leadership have been cheerleading for fascism and punching left for a decade+
The only thing more pathetic than the fascist bootlickers are the corporate-Dem bootlickers who’ll shiv anybody who dares question the seniority pecking order.
BlueGuitarist
Going to one at 6 and Saturday
Like lowtechcyclist hoping for demonstration May 8
celebrating
US Armed Forces great Antifa victory
Betty Cracker
@lou: I agree. Haven’t really followed Hogg’s most recent activities, but I was impressed as hell with how he and fellow MSDHS survivors handled building a diverse and inclusive movement to address gun violence. I mean, these were traumatized high school kids, and they handled that better than some national organizations I could name.
And they got results! They shamed a hard-right Repub gov (Rick Scott) and wingnut majority legislature to enact new restrictions on gun ownership and red flag laws over the threats of the NRA’s unhinged Marion Hammer. Those laws saved lives.
Archon
@Geminid: Why would literally anyone in Iran think a deal with the United States is worth more than the paper its printed on?
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: I still have a L. L. Bean Norwegian sweater.*
*Obviously.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Matt: …That is certainly a very Progressive take.
Marc
Yes, I have more than a passing familiarity with Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman, started by a grandfather who decided he needed to splurge on a train set for himself when his first grandson was a toddler.
As for “extinction event”, I disagree. Model trains are just one of several product categories (model cars, airplanes, anime figurines, …) based heavily on the “value added” of highly detailed injection molded plastic and cast metal parts. The current production model, based on heavy machinery and expensive lifetime limited tooling, is already obsolete. All of the highly detailed plastic parts needed can now be printed (at the same or even finer level of detail) using a $300 desktop 3D SLA resin printer. The remaining parts are mechanical (gears, wheels, weights, rails) and electrical/electronic (motors, circuitry, LEDs), all of which are inexpensive and therefore don’t add much in terms of tariffs.
People already buy 3D printers, parts, and build their own models from scratch. New and existing domestic manufacturers will buy 3D printers and assemble models for their customers. Which is pretty much the way it’s always been, just different technology.
The real question will become, how do you charge tariffs on the “value added” of intellectual property, like detailed 3D models of particular train or ship?
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt: You’re a bit doolally, aren’t you?
sab
@Omnes Omnibus: You will have it forever. Those things do not wear out.
sab
@Steve in the ATL: Our local Toys R Us is now a Tesla dealership, heavily picketed.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: as do I! Obviously. And probably another one in my childhood armoire back home.
Steve in the ATL
@sab: hopefully it will go the way of its real estate predecessor!
Bill Arnold
@Jackie:
Also, even the US government does not think Tren de Aragua is a terrorist group, at least not dni.gov
Which is reasonable. Wikipedia: “Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims.”
I think the government’s “theory” is that Venezuela is using a criminal organization as a means of conducting state terrorism to some undefined political ends. Right. Consider the Russian Mafia.
Geminid
@Archon: The Iranians seem to be taking these talks seriously, and they have some pretty sharp people involved. They know what you know and maybe even more.*
This is an interesting story that is worth following because there is a real possibility of a war if the negotiations break down. The next round is set for Saturday in Rome, with the Iranians meeting with representatives of the UK, France an Germany before the US/Iran talks.
*Ed. Among others, New York Times reporter Farnaz Fasihi has some good articles on the Iranian leaderships posture on these talks. I expect Agence France Presse does too, plus Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. They’ve been pretty closely watched.
Jeffro
@Timill: I don’t know what they are yet, but he’s going to give me a list with the specs for each, so that’ll help. Thanks!
@Geminid: good point – thanks!
Warren Senders
Me & the missus just got back from a 90-minute stand-out on a bridge over the 93 expressway, facing South (for all the Northbound rush-hour drivers coming from Boston). Good turnout, lots of supportive honks, a few MAGA choads giving us the finger…
People enjoyed it so much they’re gonna do it again next week!
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: Threats, even implied threats are unacceptable on Balloon Juice. Balloon Juice needs to be a safe space for everyone.
That doesn’t mean, however, that people can’t disagree with one another and push back on things they disagree with.
I have not seen anything on this thread that looks like a threat or an implied threat. Can you identify the threat or implied threat so if it is a threat, it can be addressed?
Lily
@Warren Senders: Thanks! And it feels good to know that.
Ramona
@Sure Lurkalot: Holy cow! The entire FTNYT Editorial board signed onto this disingenuous dreck?!
schrodingers_cat
@WaterGirl: I was told to do this on this very thread.
We know what happens to non-white people knocking on the doors of white people they don’t know in this country
All because I said this
I didn’t say all, I said a majority. Which is factually correct.
Ramona
@Professor Bigfoot: THANK-YOU! I would have pied eclare but I never learned how.
The Lodger
@mrmoshpotato: How do we know he only wants to bone one of his daughters?
Geminid
@Geminid: Correction: there won’t be another round of negotiations between the US and Iran this weekend. Not sure why.