Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

White supremacy is terrorism.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

In my day, never was longer.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

He really is that stupid.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

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

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

So many bastards, so little time.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

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

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

You are here: Home / Open Threads / USA! USA! USA!

USA! USA! USA!

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No need to connect the dots here — it’s pretty obvious.

Interview with Harvard's 2025 valedictorian, a Chinese national, while two American men fight over nothing in the background

[image or embed]

— Bernie Goldsmith 𓅃 (@falconryfinance.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 12:18 PM

Good lord, what a stupid time to be alive.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

79Comments

  2. 2.

    Steve LaBonne

    We’re going to get all the bad Chinese stuff like social credit scores (administered by Palantir) and political prisoners, but accompanied by economic and technological de-development and social disintegration while China continues to advance. America, fuck yeah!

  4. 4.

    NaijaGal

    Amazing how the guys crashed to the ground as she said “falls” – “humanity rises and falls as one.” Good lord.

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    You hate to see it.

    Fox News’ Mark Levin slammed his former colleague Tucker Carlson as a “loathsome ass who is increasingly unhinged and pathetic,” Mediaite reports.

    Levin’s declaration of war came after Carlson claimed that Levin “was at the White House today, lobbying for war with Iran.”

    He added: “To be clear, Levin has no plans to fight in this or any other war. He’s demanding that American troops do it.”

  6. 6.

    brantl

    @trollhattan: I’d root for mutual brain injury for both of them, but you can’t hurt either of them in the head.
    Two of the people that a lobotomy would improve.

  7. 7.

    J. Arthur Crank

    I could not get the video to play on the laptop, but it played on the phone.  I blame Musk.

    Regarding the actual video, how do we know the fight was over nothing?  Manhood is not nothing you know!

  9. 9.

    prostratedragon

    That could not have been staged any better. Congratulations and thank you to Ms. Jiang.

  10. 10.

    Old School

    I see CNN is broadcasting a live performance of “Good Night, and Good Luck” on Saturday night.

    For those who haven’t made it or Broadway and/or don’t want to be in the same room as George Clooney.

  11. 11.

    Suzanne

    @Old School: Man, are all the worst people in the world fighting one another?! Rooting for injuries, today and always.

    Throw in Dreher, Thiel, Yarvin, Vance, Deneen, Vermeule…..

  13. 13.

    twbrandt

    My alma mater paid over $800K to a Keystone Kop outfit to spy on student protesters. Assholes.

    The University of Michigan is using private, undercover investigators to surveil pro-Palestinian campus groups, including trailing them on and off campus, furtively recording them and eavesdropping on their conversations, the Guardian has learned.
    The surveillance appears to largely be an intimidation tactic, five students who have been followed, recorded or eavesdropped on said. The undercover investigators have cursed at students, threatened them and in one case drove a car at a student who had to jump out of the way, according to student accounts and video footage shared with the Guardian.

  14. 14.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Carlson might actually be right about beating on somebody lobbying for war against Iran as maybe not being such a great thing.

    If anything, it makes him ever-so-slightly less a “loathsome ass who is increasingly unhinged and pathetic,” than he normally is 24/7/365.

    I’m sure this is just a glitch in his programming.

  15. 15.

    Bill Arnold

    Re the image of the Jack Posobiec tweet in the bsky thread:
    As Suzanne said yesterday, paraphrased, a dick size contest between “Toad from Mario Kart vs. Botched Implant”.

  17. 17.

    Chetan Murthy

    @trollhattan: [insert meme of worst person in the world made a good point]

    wait, Carlson thinks that a war against Iran is a bad idea?  Knock me over with a feather.

  18. 18.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I’ve said this previously, but CNN is vastly different across delivery methods.

    It’s cable stuff is, well, how we all generally beat on it for being.

    But their online news service is actually really good.  Punchy, none of the shit you see on their cable service.

    I have no idea how the two coexist from a top management perspective but they do.

  21. 21.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Suzanne: ​
     

    @Old School: Man, are all the worst people in the world fighting one another?! Rooting for injuries, today and always.

    Throw in Dreher, Thiel, Yarvin, Vance, Deneen, Vermeule…..

    It’s shame that dueling hasn’t made a comeback with these people. You’d think it would be one of those traditions from the past that today’s manhood-obsessed conservatives would idolize and love to emulate.

  22. 22.

    jonas

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Iran is a major arms supplier to Russia right now. If they end up getting drawn into a shooting war with the US and Israel and have to start diverting their assets to that, Russia’s in trouble. Comrade Carlson wouldn’t like that.

    Though the inevitable spike in oil prices that would follow would probably make the Kremlin happy.

  25. 25.

    LeftCoastYankee

    Meanwhile Cambridge pedestrians go about their day.

    I didn’t have the sound on but wonder if the third guy worked for the cafe or adjacent business.  What a pain.

  26. 26.

    Old Man Shadow

    I clicked the link to watch the video. The post below that one (on my timeline) showed a picture of Earth from Saturn.

    How very small we are. How very insignificant in a nearly infinite universe. And we fight over trivial things.

    People lack vision. People lack perspective.

    My god, we are here for such a brief time before we return to slumber and the Earth and we’re so easily distracted by things that do not matter.

    We are, most likely, all alone. We pieces of matter that are conscious for a moment and then fade forever are all we have.

  27. 27.

    jimmiraybob

    We are probably past the point where Idiocracy 2.0 through 200.0 can be made in America ….. may be Canada.  Hint.  Hint.

  28. 28.

    Steve LaBonne

    @twbrandt: You can write things in Ha’aretz or the Times of Israel that you can’t say on an American college campus. That’s completely fucking insane.

  29. 29.

    Melancholy Jaques

    It appears the post disappeared. Can someone provide a summary?

    ETA – Never mind. It’s back.

  31. 31.

    prostratedragon

    @Steve LaBonne:  There are those to whom the campus suppression is just a prelude, attacking the pipeline of future dissenting articles. To them, it’s very sensible.

  33. 33.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @jonas:

    Heh heh, the really odd and rare example of interests coinciding. I can’t see Hair Furor ever wanting to get into a shooting war with anybody because if there’s one thing that’ll bring out Donny TACO in him, it’ll be that…even if it’s with others blood being shed.

    For those wanting an overview of the Iranian-Russian arms connection:

    https://www.stimson.org/2024/iran-and-russia-enter-a-new-level-of-military-cooperation/

  35. 35.

    Suzanne

    @lowtechcyclist: Agreed. I’d love for these patriarchal fascists to really commit to the bit. Take up proper manly activities, like seppuku and hunger strikes.

  36. 36.

    Jeffro

    is there any way we could lure trump & Musk & Levin & Carlson to the edge of a volcano or something?

    maybe send them all fake invitations to something they can’t resist?

    trump: a free round of golf, followed by a McDonald’s buffet

    Musk: another dozen baby mamas

    Levin: the prospect of having a soul for a day

    Carlson: a chance to step out of his human suit and roam freely

    or maybe just have the next CPAC next to Mount Etna?

  37. 37.

    XeckyGilchrist

    The Age of the Manbaby is really getting rolling. Congratulations to Ms. Jiang. and apologies for having to share a shot with those throwbacks.

  38. 38.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chetan Murthy: There’s been this on and off struggle between neocon and paleocon factions in conservatism for many decades. A lot of the neocons became never Trumpers but they had the biggest war boners 20 years ago. So the paleocons are always using this as leverage against them. But the paleos are much more likely to be egregiously fascist.

    It’s odd that often they all seem to be trying to shave off a bit of support from liberals with their arguments, given how much they claim to hate liberals.

  40. 40.

    Scout211

    Did anyone mention Jack Posobeic’s post just below?

    Some of y’all can’t handle 2 high agency males going at it and it really shows

    This is direct communication (phallocentric) vs indirect communication (gynocentric)

    I understand y’all are used to it

    Hmmm.  I have my doubts that Poso is sane.

  41. 41.

    twbrandt

    @trollhattan: It is funny to me that former umich president Santa Ono was rejected by the Florida board of Education when he applied for the same job at the University of Florida because he was too woke.

  42. 42.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Scout211: Oh, I think I understand. It’s like when Godzilla (phallocentric, atomic breath) and King Ghidorah (tri-phallocentric, gravity beams) are rassling and you really want those two tiny psychic elf ladies to get Mothra (gynocentric, hurricane wings) in there for some balance…

  43. 43.

    Scout211

    This sucks. I hope the California AG has a team ready for this.

    CNN — The Trump administration is preparing to cancel a large swath of federal funding for California, an effort which could begin as soon as Friday, according to multiple sources.

    Agencies are being told to start identifying grants the administration can withhold from California. On Capitol Hill, at least one committee was told recently by a whistleblower that all research grants to the state were going to be cancelled, according to one of the sources familiar with the matter.

    Added:

    Higher education in the state could be hit hard by Trump’s move. GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who said he was unaware of the imminent grant cancellations

    Sure, Darrell.  We totally believe you.

  45. 45.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Scout211: Killing the economy that accounts for 14% of the US economy is an interesting way to Make America Great Again.

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    @Scout211:

    BBC overnight interviewed an HIV vaccine researcher at Scripps who detailed how very close we are to one, and that Trump has already cancelled further funding so when their current grant runs out (’26/7?) they’ll have to shut down.

    They also are trying to claw back $5B in high-speed rail grants.

    But two of a million cuts.

  47. 47.

    prostratedragon

    Always be closing:

    There’s clearly a lot of deep symbolism to the closure of Dupont Circle ahead of the WorldPride Parade, and it speaks to a much broader fight that is playing out: D.C.’s role as a local place with longtime residents versus its status of the nation’s capital, a city for everyone.

     

    Background:

    It’s happening: the National Park Service is closing off Dupont Circle for the weekend, which is also when the WorldPride Parade will be taking place.

  49. 49.

    BritinChicago

    “Good lord, what a stupid time to be alive.”

    Borges says of one of his characters (or maybe it’s a real person, don’t remember): “Like all men, he was given bad times in which to live.”

  51. 51.

    lowtechcyclist

    @twbrandt: ​

    From your quote box:

    The undercover investigators have cursed at students, threatened them and in one case drove a car at a student who had to jump out of the way, according to student accounts and video footage shared with the Guardian.

    That’s a new definition of ‘undercover investigators’ that I’ve not previously been familiar with. Sounds more like hired vigilantes.

  52. 52.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Jeffro: Tag team! Three falls, fifteen minute time limit,in the steel cage!

    Then you pump a few thousand volts through that steel cage…..

  53. 53.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: Levin and Carlson have been on opposite sides for a while when it comes to foreign policy issues, especially Middle East issues. They show divisions within the Republican Party: Reaganite Internationalists versus “America First” Isolationists, Ukraine Hawks versus appeasement proponents, Israel supporters versus Israel sceptics like Carlson.

    Here it’s Iran Hawks versus Iran Doves. Levin and his crowd have been itching for years to have Iran’s nuclear facilities destroyed in a US/Israeli bombing campaign. They think it’s now or never, and they are appalled at the prospect of a deal.

    But Trump clearly wants a deal. So do the Gulf States, which is one way the situation has changed from seven years ago when Trump withdrew from JCPOA.

    Plus, the US just bombed the Houthis from two aircraft carriers for 50 days, and they’re still shooting missiles at Israel several times a week. Trump got to see how well a bombing campaign works against a group with much less firepower than Iran.

    So it looks like Witkoff will come away with a “diplomatic resolution” to the problem That will be a bitter pill for Levin to swallow and if there is a deal, I intend to check out Levin’s radio show just to hear him yapping about it like a deranged terrier.

  56. 56.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I haven’t read all the comments yet, so maybe this has already been posted, but the WH has announced (anonymous source, of course) that TACO is selling that red Swastikar he purchased a couple of months ago.

    Why yes, that braying sound you hear is me laughing. Why do you ask?

  57. 57.

    trollhattan

    My surprised face is at the dry cleaners.

    A new YouGov poll of Republicans finds that 71% said they would side with President Trump over Elon Musk, while 12% said they would side with neither.

    For what it’s worth, 80% of Democrats said they would side with neither.

  60. 60.

    WhatsMyNym

    Good news for the Joann customers here.

    The Michaels Companies announced on Thursday that it had completed its purchase of Joann’s intellectual property and private label brands…
    as part of its overall expansion into fabrics, Michaels said on Thursday that its adding more than 600 new products from new and existing brands — including quilting supplies and fabrics, specialty threads, sewing machines and more.

  61. 61.

    Old School

    A Russian official said that the nation could offer American billionaire Elon Musk political asylum over his fierce dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump.

    …

    Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, made the comments to Russian state news outlet TASS.

    “I think that Musk has a completely different game, [so] he will not need any political asylum, although if he did, Russia, of course, could provide it,” Novikov said, in remarks translated from Russian.

  62. 62.

    Eyeroller

    @trollhattan: I am assuming Musk will capitulate since Trump is threatening to cancel his lucrative contracts.

    I was particularly appalled and enraged at how Musk summarily canceled Verizon’s contract for fiber (not cell) upgrades to ATC and maybe other FAA facilities and awarded it to Starlink, a far inferior “solution.”  I heard it’s in litigation so we’ll have to see how that goes.

  64. 64.

    Eyeroller

    @WhatsMyNym: ​Sadly, the Joann’s was closer to me, and I don’t drive far due to vision issues, but Michael’s isn’t too much more distant. And I haven’t done any sewing fora while, but it’s nice to know that maybe I can now find matching thread if I decide to do something with the close-out fabric I bought.

  65. 65.

    TONYG

    @trollhattan: Mark Levin versus Tucker Carlson.  Can they both lose?  One thing about horrible people is that sooner or later they turn against each other.  No honor among fascists.

  66. 66.

    am

    To be fair, that’s close to where the chess tables were. Those matches could get pretty intense. But those look suspiciously like garden variety idiots.

  71. 71.

    laura

    Quick! Somebody throw $20 million dollars on those guys. FFS, I despair for what could have been.

  74. 74.

    Shalimar

    @Scout211: Surprised phallocentric is a real word.  It sounds an awful lot like they communicate by sticking their dicks in each other.

  75. 75.

    KrackenJack

    @BritinChicago: Felt obliged to look it up. It was written by Borges in the prologue for his A New Refutation of Time. He dedicated the work to an Argentinian poet and teacher. “He died in exile: as with all men, it was his lot to live in bad times.”​

  76. 76.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Steve LaBonne: You know what’s really ironic? There is no social credit score in the PRC.

    There is a social credit system, which allows the government to blacklist firms for violating government regulations, failing to comply w/ court orders, etc., from public tenders & government subsidies. Occasionally it is use to blacklist relatively well to do individuals that fail to repay loans, or pay fines or court ordered damages, so that such persons could not enjoy certain luxuries such as taking flights or high speed rail, or obtaining new loans. It provides the government with/ another set of tools, beyond the judicial/law enforcement system, to deter & punish bad behavior.

    Since the PRC lacks a system for personal bankruptcy, the system still contains scope for abuse or injustice. Small business people can be punished when their ventures fail & they cannot repay loans. However, among the CPC regime’s extensive set of instruments for oppression/repression/control, the social credit system is not intended for that purpose.

  77. 77.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Incidentally, the Chinese Harvard valedictorian is getting killed on the Chinese social media for several reasons:

    Her educational experience is typical of the transnational elite everywhere – exclusive boarding school in the UK, expensive tertiary education at Duke, expensive graduate education at Harvard Kennedy School, surely cost millions of USD, while attended a middling junior middle school at the city of 2nd tier city of Qingdao, there is strong suspicion that it was not academic prowess that propelled her journey; that kind of CV is now reviled by the masses in the PRC, as elsewhere
    When the news broke, her junior middle in Qingdao celebrated the achievement of its alumni, but her commencement speech painted a very negative picture of her alma mater, where she claimed she was bullied & forced to have social “riff raff” (such as children of workers & peasants) as her classmates; Chinese netizens interpreted as her being an ungrateful elitist
    Her father is a upper-middle management at a Chinese non-profit, so there is strong skepticism at how her family could afford her expensive overseas education on his modest salary
    Her CV claims that she was working at a Western bank at the same time as when she was supposedly enrolled as an undergrad at Duke, which she should not have been able to do on a student visa, making people question whether she is even still a PRC national
    Her speech was filled w/ self-congratulation & self-promotion, & the kind of elitist liberal kumbaya blah blah virtue signaling that is completely divorced from the struggles of average people & the challenges faced by modern societies, while also containing a reference to Xi Jinping’s “Human Community of Common Destiny” (which Chinese citizens saw as she trying to “red wash” herself to boost her career prospects back in the PRC)
    The views & values espoused by her were interpreted as being wholly Westernized, & specifically the “White Liberal” kind (elitist transnational liberal), & thus alien to a lot of people in the PRC, detached from the socio-economic, sociopolitical & economic realities of the PRC
    Her response to the fierce criticism (much is online bullying) has been more self-promotion & self-congratulation, virtue signaling, which only intensified the criticism

    The entire episode shows both how tough it is now to be a bridge across countries/cultures, the bankruptcy of a certain kind of “liberal internationalist” elitism, & the huge inequality in opportunities in the education systems of both the PRC & the West (especially the US).

  78. 78.

    Scout211

    @NaijaGal: If only there was a way to automatically withhold the tax dollars California sends to the federal government.

    Newsom is actually floating that idea now.

    SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday suggested California consider withholding tens of billions in annual federal tax dollars amid reports Donald Trump is preparing funding cuts targeting the state.

    . . .

    “Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back,” the Democratic governor said in an X post Friday afternoon, referencing a recent analysis from the Rockefeller Institute that California contributed about $83 billion more in federal taxes in 2022 than it received back from Washington.

    “Maybe it’s time to cut that off,” he added.

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