• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

This really is a full service blog.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

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

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

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

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

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

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

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Saturday Night Fights Open Thread: Something Unpredictable, But in the End, It’s Right

Saturday Night Fights Open Thread: Something Unpredictable, But in the End, It’s Right

by Anne Laurie|  June 7, 20256:23 pm| 145 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Trumpery, Elon Musk, Schadenfreude

FacebookTweetEmail

anntelnaes.substack.com/p/the-mark-o…

[image or embed]

— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) June 7, 2025 at 11:59 AM

Albert Burneko, at Defector — “Donald Trump And Elon Musk Throw Day-Long Tantrums At Each Other”:

Other than every interaction either of them has had with another living being in their entire lives, as well as every single thing that is true about either of their personalities, and everything that either of them believes about themselves and each other and all others and life and the world, and their being the absolute two worst people presently alive, there was no reason to think, or even to fear, that Donald Trump and Elon Musk would not remain loyal allies and strategic partners forever. Alas, the dream of lifelong friendship died on Thursday, in a cascade of insults and threats posted to their respective embarrassing social media platforms. I don’t know about you, but I’ll never trust again…

Listen. Recounting the, like, political or financial reasons why Donald Trump and Elon Musk fell out is among the more absurd things I can imagine doing; for one thing it grants a conceivable alternative reality in which they were not always going to become enemies at some point. The ultimate and most salient reason Donald Trump and Elon Musk fell out is that they are, respectively, Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Sure, yes: There may be proximate triggers for their having fallen out on Thursday, June 5, 2025, as opposed to some other time; there inevitably would be specific triggers whenever they eventually turned on each other. But they never were not going to turn on each other, because they are Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Anyway they did! At a Thursday Oval Office press availability pegged to his meeting with German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump sniped when a reporter asked him about Musk’s criticism of the bill. First he referred to their “great relationship” in the past tense, then blithely suggested Musk is upset about the loss of EV subsidies his company depends on. Then he did the classic Trump thing where he insults someone by listing the favors they did for him—in Trump’s view, you are by definition a sucker from the very moment you do anything for him that he didn’t pay for in advance, and he is 100-percent right about that—while simultaneously dismissing those favors as worthless…

That set off Musk. Soon after, on Twitter, he derided the bill as containing a “MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK” and made a classic Elon Musk Fake-Smart History Gibberish claim that “in the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that [is] both big and beautiful. Everyone knows this!”

Typically, if someone said That’s hitting him where it hurts about remarks as dumb and toothless as these, that would be an example of sarcasm. Not in this case! Calling his bill ugly and disgusting is exactly the kind of thing that actually would bother Donald Trump, much more than some sober analysis of its probably disastrous effects on American society, about which he does not and will never give a frig…

Shortly thereafter, Musk posted on Twitter that Trump “is in the [Jeffrey] Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.” This would register as a blockbuster revelation if Gawker had not reported on it in 2015, and if Trump had not been photographed with the infamous financier roughly eleventy zillion times. Still! It’s really quite something for the world’s richest man to be calling the president of the U.S. a sex criminal like 90 hours or whatever after the two of them were chilling together in the Oval Office. Like just as a How We Live Now moment.

You might wonder, at this point, about Musk’s decision to spend (according to him) hundreds of millions of dollars securing the election to the presidency of a guy he’s now, by implication, calling a child rapist. The explanation is that Musk simply does not care about that at all. He just figures it might damage Trump, or at least make him very angry….

By the end of the day, or by the time I moved on with my life, onetime Trump Svengali moron Steve Bannon had leapt into the fray, calling for an investigation into Musk’s immigration status and suggesting he should be deported. Also, Tesla’s stock had dropped around 14 percent of its value; according to the New York Times, this “wiped out about $150 billion from Tesla’s market valuation.” That last bit, I think, put the kibosh on silly speculation that this whole thing was some kind of planned stunt by what people still, even now, like to imagine are two Masters of the Distracting Arts.

Enough! I will recap this feud no further. This is what happens when butter-soft inheritance babies with fragile egos get mad at each other. Neither can conceive of taking the L; neither has or can conceive of any move other than clumsy conflict escalation, imprinted into them from a life of throwing tantrums until mommy gave them a lolly. Either would vaporize the entire planet before conceding defeat or seeking conciliation. The big chickens couldn’t even bear to insult each other face-to-face, or even on the same social media platform…

Next to Trump and Musk, Shatner and I look like adoring newlyweds.

— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 5:38 PM

A wise woman once said "A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you should trust with nuclear weapons."
America should've listened to her.

[image or embed]

— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha1.bsky.social) June 6, 2025 at 8:46 AM


===

@joshmankiewicz.bsky.social

[image or embed]

— Peggy Brava (@peggybrava.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 10:42 PM


===

New: Elon Musk has deleted some of his harshest recent posts against Donalr Trump, including the one about Jeffrey Epstein and the one endorsing Trump's impeachment
time.com/7291898/elon…

[image or embed]

— Aman Batheja (@amanbatheja.bsky.social) June 7, 2025 at 11:01 AM


===

May the worse man win! #both Please share #laloalcaraz cartoons and visit GoComics.com/laloalcaraz for more, not to. mention all the Lalo cartoons over at www.calonews.com/multimedia/l…

[image or embed]

— Lalo Alcaraz (@laloalcaraz.bsky.social) June 6, 2025 at 11:41 AM

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Open Thread: Trump’s Military Parade
Next Post: War for Ukraine Day 1,199: Putin & Russia Continue to Unload on Kharkiv spy v. spy flyouts»

Reader Interactions

145Comments

  1. 1.

    Chetan Murthy

    June 7, 2025 at 6:32 pm

    I forget where I read it (maybe it was here?) but some wag noted that this, -this- is what FTFNYT lives for.  Not for reporting on, y’know, threats to our Republic but instead for this sort of hair-pulling fistfights.

    Our Press Corpse.

  2. 2.

    frosty

    June 7, 2025 at 6:36 pm

    Thank FSM Anne Telnaes has them both wearing long suit jackets, otherwise EEWWWWWW!!!!

  3. 3.

    Geminid

    June 7, 2025 at 6:44 pm

    Not that he was the only one to see this break-up coming, but Turkish journalist Ragip Soylu called it last February 13:

       At one point, the gigantic egos of Trump and Musk will clash. And I am here to see it, sooner or later. 🍿

    Soylu had been commenting on the signs of stress he’d already picked up on.

    Ragip Soylu’s beat for Middle East Eye is Turkiye, but he spent two years as Washington correspondent for a Turkish newspaper and follows U.S. politics fairly closely.

  4. 4.

    Bupalos

    June 7, 2025 at 6:49 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: OK yeah, but this is the kind of thing that should put paid to the idea that NYT (and “the media” generally) just “likes Republicans” or “wants them to win” or whatever. They want spectacle, they want entertainment, they want eyeballs. One party happens to be a lot better at providing that now that it’s been taken over by Trump, who himself is a kind of genius at understanding the degree to which this is the media dynamic.

    But it has pretty much nothing to do with ideology, and pretty much everything to do with the way “reporting on politics” an politics itself now exists in a different realm.

  5. 5.

    Scout211

    June 7, 2025 at 6:49 pm

    There are some high value words in that opinion piece.  Thanks, Anne Laurie!

    classic Elon Musk Fake-Smart History Gibberish

    onetime Trump Svengali moron Steve Bannon

    butter-soft inheritance babies with fragile egos

    neither has or can conceive of any move other than clumsy conflict escalation, imprinted into them from a life of throwing tantrums until mommy gave them a lolly

    Ahhhh, that was satisfying.  Very Betty Cracker-esque!

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2025 at 6:50 pm

    Jesus, I am sick of Trump and Elon.  I really am.  At least our finest journalists can cover this story well, because they are all stuck in high school.

  7. 7.

    jimmiraybob

    June 7, 2025 at 6:51 pm

    Meanwhile, troops are being moved into LA.

  8. 8.

    trollhattan

    June 7, 2025 at 6:51 pm

    Attended a uni graduation celebration for one of the kiddo’s childhood BFFs last night. They are both HS class of 2020 so had nuttin’ back then. We’re still catching up.

    She earned a musical performance degree from an Ivy and is aiming for New York in fall and give it a shot breaking in on Broadway. Meanwhile learning such phrases as “Is that a skinny double macchiato?”

    Treated us to an impromptu set of five songs, one a composition from the musical she wrote for her thesis. Her high school voice was lovely and her trained voice now has added that clarity and power that can reach across the orchestra and into the second balcony. Gobsmacked, even today I tear up a little thinking about it.

    Their long planned trip to Japan is next week. I have zero doubt it will be well worth the wait. The kiddo will be two continents ahead of me after this one.

    These kids are powerfully motivated to take hold of their lives and and also to make the world a better place. I say we let them.

  9. 9.

    Shalimar

    June 7, 2025 at 6:52 pm

    Shortly thereafter, Musk posted on Twitter that Trump “is in the [Jeffrey] Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.” This would register as a blockbuster revelation if Gawker had not reported on it in 2015, and if Trump had not been photographed with the infamous financier roughly eleventy zillion times. Still! It’s really quite something for the world’s richest man to be calling the president of the U.S. a sex criminal like 90 hours or whatever after the two of them were chilling together in the Oval Office. Like just as a How We Live Now moment.

    You might wonder, at this point, about Musk’s decision to spend (according to him) hundreds of millions of dollars securing the election to the presidency of a guy he’s now, by implication, calling a child rapist. The explanation is that Musk simply does not care about that at all. He just figures it might damage Trump, or at least make him very angry….

    Reminder that a much younger Elon Musk was photographed at a party with Ghislaine Maxwell.  Not only does he not care that Trump raped children, there is a pretty good likelihood that Musk is in the Epstein files too.

  10. 10.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 7, 2025 at 6:54 pm

    Clash of the nepo babies.

    ::Yawn::

    Wordle Times got what it wanted.

  11. 11.

    Geminid

    June 7, 2025 at 6:57 pm

    @Geminid: While he has been gleefully reporting the latest developments in the Trump/Musk feudthe Soylu is also thinking about a more important matter:

    Whenever I feel depressed and hopeless I suddenly remember that Assad is gone and I immediately feel better.

    This event alone proves that we should never be hopeless about the future and persevere as Syrians have done.

    Soylu began work as a professional journalist in 2010. The Syrian Revolution broke out in the Spring of 2011, so he witnessed that drawn out, terrible event from the country next door, for most of his adult life.

  12. 12.

    RevRick

    June 7, 2025 at 6:59 pm

    The ouroboros of horror bros.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2025 at 7:00 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Wordle Times got what it wanted.

    Very true.  And fuck them very much.

    FWIW, today is also the Belmont Stakes.   Will it be Sovereignty or Journalism or some faster horse?

  14. 14.

    lowtechcyclist

    June 7, 2025 at 7:00 pm

    @Bupalos:

    It’s hardly either/or, you know. They can be getting off on this cat fight, and still be programmed for Republican rule.

    Seen anything in their reporting that suggests that Trump might be less than fit as President, given his behavior here?

    Me either.

  15. 15.

    Scout211

    June 7, 2025 at 7:01 pm

    White House security staff warned Musk’s Starlink is a security risk

    Elon Musk’s team at the U.S. DOGE Service and allies in the Trump administration ignored White House communications experts worried about potential security breaches when DOGE personnel installed Musk’s Starlink internet service in the complex this year, three people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

    The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, said those who were managing White House communications systems were not informed in advance when DOGE representatives went to the roof of the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building in February to install a terminal connecting users in the complex to Starlink satellites, which are owned by Musk’s private SpaceX rocket company.

    The people said those managing the systems weren’t able to monitor such connections to stop sensitive information from leaving the complex or hackers from breaking in.

    Huh.  “I am so shocked,” said no one.

    (Link goes to WaPost article via web archive)

  16. 16.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 7, 2025 at 7:02 pm

    @Elizabelle: Same here. Not interesting.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:05 pm

    @trollhattan:

    These kids are powerfully motivated to take hold of their lives and and also to make the world a better place. I say we let them.

     

    No one here is stopping them.

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2025 at 7:08 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:  It is an occupation.

    And we appreciate your beautiful and colorful art.  We need art to get through this.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2025 at 7:09 pm

    CNN presentation of George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck is live.  It is well staged.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:10 pm

    This is the real Trump-Musk scandal, via Reddit.

  21. 21.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    June 7, 2025 at 7:10 pm

    @Bupalos: I agree ….

    Yet, if the fourth estate views its duty as entertainment, how are we, the people, supposed to figure out what our government is actually doing?

    What the gop is doing right now is horrific and a real show of poo-poo. It takes effort to report those stories, too.

  22. 22.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    June 7, 2025 at 7:13 pm

    @jimmiraybob: Pardon me?

  23. 23.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    June 7, 2025 at 7:14 pm

    I hope (everybody) had the time of your life.

  24. 24.

    Melancholy Jaques

    June 7, 2025 at 7:15 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I’m not a wag, but I’ve been saying this more or less since the FTFNYT decided that whether the Clintons did anything wrong in Whitewater, they’d run articles claiming they did anyway.

  25. 25.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2025 at 7:17 pm

    News is infotainment.

  26. 26.

    MagdaInBlack

    June 7, 2025 at 7:17 pm

    @Baud: Yup.

  27. 27.

    Librettist

    June 7, 2025 at 7:18 pm

    The Supersonic EO was Trump showing off his new hawt techbro girlfriend. Blake Scholl is another bullshit artist (re)selling the world of the future circa 1962.

  28. 28.

    Melancholy Jaques

    June 7, 2025 at 7:18 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I thought they were just going to show the movie.

  29. 29.

    Scout211

    June 7, 2025 at 7:19 pm

    @Elizabelle: I am sick of Trump and Elon

    We may be sick of hearing about these two idiots but the coverage that the mainstream media gives them right now could make a difference in how normies view them. Anything that penetrates the bubble of fake competence that they have created for themselves can’t hurt.

    I may be sick of them but I am not sick of the mocking of them.  I am here for that

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2025 at 7:20 pm

    @Melancholy Jaques:  No.  It’s a live Broadway play.  Which closes tomorrow.

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2025 at 7:21 pm

    @Scout211:  Oh, I realize that.  But I begrudge giving them MY attention.  Enough.

  32. 32.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    June 7, 2025 at 7:22 pm

    @Scout211: there already is at least one whistleblower from the NLRB who says 20 minutes after a DOGE staffer logged into their systems, someone from Russia attempted to log-in to the same NLRB dataset using those same DOGE credentials.

    https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5355896/doge-nlrb-elon-musk-spacex-security

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2025 at 7:24 pm

    I hope this play holds people’s interest.  They loved Breaking Bad and Saul and a lot of other sort of cerebral entertainment.

  34. 34.

    Bupalos

    June 7, 2025 at 7:28 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: It’s hardly either/or, you know.

    Sure, but

    They can be getting off on this cat fight, and still be programmed for Republican rule.

    I don’t think so. I mean, they could be… but I don’t think they are, and I think these kind of formulations are stopping us from thinking about what we need to be doing.

    I think the reason that “the media” (which includes everything down to Ricky2851’s Facebook page)  is programmed for Republican rule is because Republicans adapted to the media. Trump took them over and forced this adaptation and made Republicans the party that can actively manipulate the media. And Democrats simply haven’t figured this out yet.

    Because Trump is more experienced, more educated, and more intelligent in this particular regard. He knows better than we do how the media works and how to manipulate attention demand. We’re left bitching about how the media should be forcing people to eat their vegetables.

    If you didn’t notice Trump has been about as reserved as he’s ever been in his life with regard to anything. He’s basically said in a few different ways that Elon is just having an episode and that he wishes him well, and making a kind of “I hope he doesn’t force me to smack him down, because I like him” statement. Stop and think about what you would expect Trump to do to someone that backstabbed him as loudly and publicly as Musk has done. The compare and contrast with what has happened.

    As for Trump’s fitness as a news story related to this…Trump is actually deescalating, a kind of move I don’t think most people understand he is capable of. Because he wants this off stage, and because he actually gets narcissistic supply from Musk, and his emotion right now honestly is just a kind of “disappointment” that he wants to be temporary. Also because he is not the simple dumb raving animal that a lot of folks here want to believe in. He’s a complex, intelligent, and mentally ill person.

    But honestly, in the whole of Trump’s miserable life, his reaction here is one of the easier ones to fit into a kind of reasonable, responsible frame. So no, I don’t expect even an idealized NYT to tsk tsk when Musk basically calls Trump a pedophile and Trump’s reaction is a version of “boy is THAT disappointing! Something must have gone wrong with him.”

  35. 35.

    Marc

    June 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm

    It almost looks like war has broken out in Paramount, CA. Protestors blockaded streets and managed to surround an ICE van, they started with pepper gas and then firing live rounds to break up the crowd and escape.  Still ongoing.

    ETA: Trump is now trying to deploy the CA National Guard to secure order, which he can’t do.  Obviously, he needs to bring in the Texas NG.

  36. 36.

    Librettist

    June 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    You and everyone else that hasn’t been brain wiped:

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/yougov-poll-shows-most-americans-taking-the-same-side-in-musk-vs-trump-feud/

  37. 37.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    Liberace!

  38. 38.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:31 pm

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Agree. There’s nothing interesting about email server management. It’s only interesting because the media is wired to provide Republican content.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:34 pm

    @Marc:

    We were never going to get through four years without martyrs.

    All this could have been avoided multiple times over the last two decades.

  40. 40.

    mrmoshpotato

    June 7, 2025 at 7:34 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I hope this play holds people’s interest. They loved Breaking Bad and Saul and a lot of other sort of cerebral entertainment. 

    Is it different from the movie?

  41. 41.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:35 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    In this version, CBS pays oodles of money to Joe McCarthy so that it can get approval for a merger.

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    June 7, 2025 at 7:40 pm

    @Baud:

    We were never going to get through four years without martyrs.

    All this could have been avoided multiple times over the last two decades.

    So W not re-elected, but W, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, and Rice (at least) in the dock at the Hague on January 21, 2005?

  43. 43.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:41 pm

    Via Reddit, good chart.

  44. 44.

    Bupalos

    June 7, 2025 at 7:41 pm

    @Baud: It was interesting because it allowed a paranoid degraded populace to believe the reason government wasn’t functioning for them was that it was actually being conducted in code on secret private computers hidden away in basements for the benefit of dynastic elites.

    It provided a spectacular and satisfying explanation for everything from increasing inequality to the opioid epidemic and everything in between. One that couldn’t be falsified because it had no actual substance.

    It had very little to do with “how the media is wired”… which, I don’t even know what people mean by that other than some kind of counter-conspiracy-conspiracy.

  45. 45.

    Marc

    June 7, 2025 at 7:42 pm

    @Baud: I’m not worried about martyrs, I’m worried that he will try to make an example by attempting occupy portions of LA county with Federal troops.  That wouldn’t be a few martyrs, that could be hundreds.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:42 pm

    @Bupalos:

    This proving my point.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:43 pm

    @Marc:

    I’m not going to guess about how many there will be.

  48. 48.

    Marc

    June 7, 2025 at 7:43 pm

    @Baud:  You just watch and say I told you so?

  49. 49.

    Bupalos

    June 7, 2025 at 7:45 pm

    @Baud: OK. If you mean “the media is wired to serve the interests of the public….”

    which… not to crib a great line delivered by Danny Devito, but, yeah. That’s why they call it “the media.”

  50. 50.

    mrmoshpotato

    June 7, 2025 at 7:46 pm

    OT – Why is FOX showing NYY@BOS instead of SD@MIL in Chicago’s market?

    Fuck the Yankees, but Go Padres! even more!

  51. 51.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:46 pm

    @Marc:

    I told you so

     

    Good protest sign.

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    June 7, 2025 at 7:47 pm

    @Melancholy Jaques: Yeah, FTFNYT has a long history when it comes to harping on national Democrats…

    Grr…

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:47 pm

    @Bupalos:

    Where public = Republicans.

  54. 54.

    Scout211

    June 7, 2025 at 7:48 pm

    @Marc: And Stephen Miller is telling the media that it is an “insurrection.”

  55. 55.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:48 pm

    @Scout211:

    I only see tourists.

  56. 56.

    Marc

    June 7, 2025 at 7:49 pm

    @Baud:  OK, I’ve been trying to tell everyone, too, they just think I’m crazy ;)

  57. 57.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:50 pm

    @Marc:

    There’s only one way people will learn, and it won’t be by listening to us.

  58. 58.

    Geminid

    June 7, 2025 at 7:51 pm

    @trollhattan: I’m curious, how would you appraise the general morale of these young people? Better than here I hope.

  59. 59.

    Bupalos

    June 7, 2025 at 7:53 pm

    @Baud: Might as well just give up then.
    This isn’t reality. The media landscape has changed radically. That change has worked out for (the new) Republicans because they have adapted to reality.

    We could play this game too, and we will have to learn to play this game too. Or else we’ll continue to have our highest points be standing by, getting our jollies watching people like Musk and Trump hurt each other during the timeouts.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 7:54 pm

    @Bupalos:

    Why do you think we can play this game when we haven’t played this game?

    Either we have sucked for the last 40 years or the media sucks. I think it’s the media. But I understand how it’s fashionable for us to blame ourselves.

  61. 61.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 8:00 pm

    Via Reddit

    Inhumane:’ Latinas for Trump founder condemns White House immigration crackdown

  62. 62.

    mrmoshpotato

    June 7, 2025 at 8:00 pm

    @Baud: They got what they voted for!

  63. 63.

    MazeDancer

    June 7, 2025 at 8:04 pm

    Stephen Miller does not care how he makes it happen, but he is going to get Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act in LA and NYC.

    Doesn’t matter how peaceful the protests, they’re going to start a war.

    Twitter, alas, has better coverage of this than BLuesky.

  64. 64.

    BarcaChicago

    June 7, 2025 at 8:06 pm

    https://bsky.app/profile/jeremotographs.bsky.social/post/3lr2duyta5k2y

  65. 65.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 7, 2025 at 8:09 pm

    @Scout211: cd be a serious problem? Starlink as government server?

    why didn’t they leave the secure previous internet service on?

  66. 66.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 7, 2025 at 8:10 pm

    @Marc: gratitude to the brave protesters in California.

  67. 67.

    Suzanne

    June 7, 2025 at 8:13 pm

    @Baud: The media absolutely sucks, but it’s also something that we would be wise to figure out how to use it to our advantage.

    Anyway, the FFOTUS/Elmo fight has been deeply amusing. We deserve some good hearty laughs around here.

  68. 68.

    Marc

    June 7, 2025 at 8:13 pm

    @Gloria DryGarden: gratitude to the brave protesters in California.

    Indeed, but they will not be the last.

  69. 69.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 7, 2025 at 8:15 pm

    @HopefullyNotcassandra: this is more serious than the protesters against ice, and the wasteful parade.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    June 7, 2025 at 8:16 pm

    @Suzanne:

    but it’s also something that we would be wise to figure out how to use it to our advantage.

     
    Sure, it’s a nice goal. But it’s not easy to achieve given the headwinds. I’m just tired of people pretending that it’s easy and engaging in self blame for not doing it.

  71. 71.

    japa21

    June 7, 2025 at 8:17 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:  I’m PISSED.  Go Crew

  72. 72.

    Suzanne

    June 7, 2025 at 8:21 pm

    @Baud: That is true. But the media landscape is also always shifting. So I think it’s unwise to give up. I hope the national party and the future campaigns have/will have some observant and creative people watching.

  73. 73.

    MagdaInBlack

    June 7, 2025 at 8:21 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Not being a sports-minded person (sorry) I’m pretty impressed I was able to decide that =-)

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    June 7, 2025 at 8:26 pm

    @Gloria DryGarden: I wonder if you caught my reply to you in the morning thread. It’s at #39, just after your last comment.

    I linked to this interview of Syrian President al-Sharaa by Jonathan Bass, in the Los Angeles-based Jewish journal

    I think you would like it. Ahmad al-Sharaa is a fascinating figure, and possibly a transformative actor for his nation and region.

    Ed. my first link was flawed and I will try again on my next edit

    https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/opinion/381746/a-convrsation-with-ahmed-al-sharaa-syrias-journey-beyond-the-ruins

    That one works.

  75. 75.

    Melancholy Jaques

    June 7, 2025 at 8:28 pm

    @Marc:

    I’m watching it on local news. I am wondering if the protests will grow. There are an estimated 2.6 million undocumented in California. Add in their families and friends. Should be able to get a crowd to show up somewhere.

  76. 76.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    June 7, 2025 at 8:31 pm

    The CA news is scary. National  Guard being federalized. I saw a clip of someone throwing stones at ICE. That’s what protestors at Kent State were doing when the National Guard opened fire.

  77. 77.

    lowtechcyclist

    June 7, 2025 at 8:36 pm

    @Bupalos: ​
     

    I think the reason that “the media” (which includes everything down to Ricky2851’s Facebook page) is programmed for Republican rule is because Republicans adapted to the media.

    It’s been this way long before anyone had a Facebook page. It’s not like anyone needed to ‘adapt’ to the world of TV, radio, and newspapers, but it was like that when that was the media landscape in its entirety.

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    June 7, 2025 at 8:50 pm

    As has been the case for the past 5+ months, unless you’re in L.A., there’s only a few things to do:

    1. call your Congressman, push impeachment
    2. call your local tv station, tell them the same
    3. use whatever social media platforms you have to push your friends and followers to do #1 and #2
    4. start making a plan for when this shit comes to your town
  79. 79.

    lowtechcyclist

    June 7, 2025 at 8:51 pm

    @Baud: ​

    Sure, it’s a nice goal. But it’s not easy to achieve given the headwinds. I’m just tired of people pretending that it’s easy and engaging in self blame for not doing it.

    Well said.

  80. 80.

    West of the Rockies

    June 7, 2025 at 8:52 pm

    @trollhattan:

    So great watching the kiddos live their best lives, no?

  81. 81.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 7, 2025 at 8:52 pm

    @Shalimar:

    This would register as a blockbuster revelation if Gawker had not reported on it in 2015,

    So I’m not insane

  82. 82.

    Richard Fox

    June 7, 2025 at 8:52 pm

    Repeated from earlier parade post: …pathetic.

  83. 83.

    Professor Bigfoot

    June 7, 2025 at 9:00 pm

    @Baud: That guy is not one of “us.”

    “We” don’t spend all our time bitching about the fecklessness and uselessness of the Democratic Party.

    THEY do.

  84. 84.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 7, 2025 at 9:03 pm

    @Baud: FWIW I think he is either a Republican or a tankie who doesn’t see race, like the Colbert character on his old show.

  85. 85.

    mapanghimagsik

    June 7, 2025 at 9:08 pm

    I don’t care about Trump and Musk. It feels like clickbait. Not from y’all but the lack of this is what they hated on Biden for. He was booorreing. I can’t, i just can’t.

    When the government hates you, they can say anything. They are the government they hate and fear – or at least the one they warn you about –  the surveillance state. Weaponizing lies.

  86. 86.

    Jackie

    June 7, 2025 at 9:18 pm

    @Melancholy Jaques: Border Patrol Czar Tom Homan (spit!) is gleefully announcing he’s deploying the National Guard into LA.😡

    Homan missed being a human being by one important letter.

  87. 87.

    different-church-lady

    June 7, 2025 at 9:27 pm

    Okay, you know that one wasn’t gonna get published in the WaPo…

  88. 88.

    Spanky

    June 7, 2025 at 9:27 pm

    @Jackie: Border Patrol deploying the NG? That’s a new one.

  89. 89.

    TS

    June 7, 2025 at 9:29 pm

    @Baud: Yet she is still a proud republican & trump supporter – just wants this one thing changed

    (I didn’t think they would arrest my immigrant friends – just those bad ones over there)

  90. 90.

    different-church-lady

    June 7, 2025 at 9:30 pm

    Goddamn, if the NYTs didn’t already have so much to be ashamed about I’d say that front page was the most shameful thing they’ve ever done. Paper of record my ass…

  91. 91.

    Jay

    June 7, 2025 at 9:30 pm

    Joshua Erlich
    ‪@joshuaerlich.bsky.social‬
    DHS is always at the bottom of employee satisfaction surveys across the federal government.

    which is to say: if you work for ICE, you’re in it for the love of the game. working there sucks but you’ll never work a day in your life if you’re doing what you love (kidnapping)

    ‪Kelsey Atherton‬
    ‪@atherton.bsky.social‬
    · 6h
    not sure there’s a more embarrassing profession than ICE agent. Oh, you dress like a soldier to abduct sous chefs and throw flashbangs at protesters? Get a real job you loser
    June 7, 2025 at 1:08 PM

    Some people can reply

    https://bsky.app/profile/joshuaerlich.bsky.social/post/3lr25ox47wk2h

  92. 92.

    different-church-lady

    June 7, 2025 at 9:30 pm

    @Baud: Christ, that is one dumb bitch.

  93. 93.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 7, 2025 at 9:31 pm

    @Baud: ai, senorita, votaste por él.

  94. 94.

    Jackie

    June 7, 2025 at 9:32 pm

    @Spanky: Quoting Homan on MSNBC. I’m not sure if he actually has the clout to do so. But he seems to think he does. <shrug>

    eta: Homan’s official title is White House Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, but unofficially called FFOTUS’s border czar.

  95. 95.

    Scout211

    June 7, 2025 at 9:32 pm

    California’s Gov. Gavin Newsomon Saturday denounced President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy thousands of National Guard troops to quell pro-immigrant demonstrators in the Los Angeles area, calling the action “purposefully inflammatory.”

    The Democrat’s remarks came after Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told Fox News that the administration planned to send National Guard troops to the area.

    In a statement, Newsom said Trump was moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers, which the governor said would “only escalate tensions” after protestors confronted immigration agents making raids on local businesses. Trump’s move came without Newsom’s signature, presumably by invoking Title 10, the legal basis for activating and mobilizing the Guard.

    . . .

    We’re already ahead of the game. We’re already mobilizing. We’re going to bring in the National Guard tonight,” he said. “We’re going to continue doing our job. We’re going to push back on these people and we’re going to enforce the law.”
    Newsom, in his statement, said such federal intervention was unnecessary.

    “LA authorities are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice. We are in close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need,” Newsom said. “The Guard has been admirably serving LA throughout recovery. This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.”

    Bold added

  96. 96.

    Suzanne

    June 7, 2025 at 9:34 pm

    So. On an unrelated note, I have some very exciting news for the Ohioans. Y’ALL GOT YOURSELVES A -BERTO’S RESTAURANT. Frediberto’s.

    One of my AZ friends who grew up in the same neighborhood as me, went to the same university — so she deeply knows -berto’s — went there this evening and said it is fantastic. I might have to drive to Cleveland soon.

  97. 97.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 7, 2025 at 9:35 pm

    @Geminid: thank you. I glanced in, but I was just finally going to bed after being awake all night. I’ll give it a look.

  98. 98.

    Sister Golden Bear

    June 7, 2025 at 10:09 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    Stephen Miller does not care how he makes it happen, but he is going to get Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act in LA and NYC.

    He likely will—but that doesn’t mean they can actually pull it off. The ICE stand-off in Paramount only involved 400 or so protesters.

    The city of LA has a population of 4 million, LA County is almost 10 million and covers hundreds of square miles. Even if you exclude the mountains and desert areas, it’s still a huge area. And then there’s the greater LA area, including Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, with roughly 20 million people. Including lots of immigrants, some of whom actually came from war zones.

    There’s simply not enough feds and military personnel to successfully occupy it—plus there’s huge logistical supply issues, where are tens/hundreds of thousands of troops gonna eat, sleep and shit? Not to mention that if they’re all tied down in LA what happens when residents of other cities join the long, hot summer.

    The feds can’t count on local LEOs to enforce martial law either. DHS asked LAPD for back up and LAPD’s response was: LOL, no. Not that LAPD, and especially LASD aren’t awful themselves, but they’re not entirely evil and stupid.

  99. 99.

    Spanky

    June 7, 2025 at 10:12 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    but they’re not entirely evil and stupid.

    This,  I’m afraid, is going to be tested, and not just in CA.

  100. 100.

    prostratedragon

    June 7, 2025 at 10:16 pm

    They are also not the sharpest tacks in the box.

    ICE agents briefly detained a U.S. marshal in Arizona

    “The deputy marshal was detained because he “fit the general description of a subject being sought by ICE,”

    ICE is out of control https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna211599

  101. 101.

    Scout211

    June 7, 2025 at 10:22 pm

    This release  from ICE Barbie’s DHS reads like a dystopian nightmare.  ICE officers are the innocent victims and the protesters and Democrats are the devil.

    The title of the bullshit press release:

    DHS Releases Statement on Violent Rioters Assaulting ICE Officers in Los Angeles, CA and Calls on Democrat Politicians to Tone Down Dangerous Rhetoric About ICE

  102. 102.

    Kirk

    June 7, 2025 at 10:25 pm

    @prostratedragon: you quoted in part

    “The deputy marshal was detained because he “fit the general description of a subject being sought by ICE,”

    “General description” meaning his tan was a bit dark and possibly even permanent.

  103. 103.

    Jackie

    June 7, 2025 at 10:25 pm

    @prostratedragon:

    “The deputy marshal was detained because he “fit the general description of a subject being sought by ICE,”

    Can’t imagine what that could possibly mean.😡

  104. 104.

    Another Scott

    June 7, 2025 at 10:26 pm

    So, I think I’ve picked my candidates for the Virginia Primary:

    Gov – Spanberger (unopposed in the primary)
    Lt. Gov – former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney
    AG – Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor.

    Why them?

    For Lt. Gov:

    Aaron Rouse seems to be in a huge hurry with relatively little political experience, and has seemingly taken a lot of casino donations.

    Ghazala Hashmi seems fine, but has not demonstrated to me the kind of executive experience that I would normally want to see in a lieutenant governor. (In Virginia, Lt governor is usually the presumed next in line to be governor.)

    I could vote for either of them if Stoney is not the nominee, of course.

    On the AG side:

    Jay Jones got at least $400,000 from the “Clean Virginia Fund” which wants to get Dominion out of state politics, and that’s fine and dandy (Dominion does have too much power and donates too much to too many candidates on both sides), but that’s a huge amount of money and almost 1/3 of his total fundraising this cycle (and he’s received $925,000 from them since 2020). No person or group, not Dominion, not a PAC, should have that big an impact on a political campaign.

    I think Taylor has a much better record, but could vote for him as well.

    You?

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  105. 105.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 7, 2025 at 10:39 pm

    @Scout211: yikes. Let’s write some better headlines.

  106. 106.

    prostratedragon

    June 7, 2025 at 10:47 pm

    The Brennan Center: “The President’s Power to Call Out the National Guard Is Not a Blank Check”

  107. 107.

    prostratedragon

    June 7, 2025 at 10:50 pm

    Joyce Vance 🧵:

    4/At least for now the administration seems to be walking a narrow line, not invoking the Insurrection Act and using the Guard only to protect federal personnel and property. But this is a powder keg.

  108. 108.

    MazeDancer

    June 7, 2025 at 10:59 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear: Excellent points about size.  But Trump is sending in the Guard.

  109. 109.

    JoyceH

    June 7, 2025 at 11:00 pm

    All the ructions in CA are dramatic, but you know what ICE is NOT doing? They’re not making their quotas as mandated by Steven Miller. They’re staring at firings if they don’t change their game. I would suggest they go hunting where the hunting is easier – in the red states, that overwhelmingly voted for Trump and happily waved the Mass Deportation Now signs at the convention. In the red states, they’d be welcomed! And they’d find it easy to meet their quotas, because the Illegals will be easy to find. Look on the farms and construction sites. Look in the kitchen and custodial staffs of the hospitals and nursing homes. Hotel housekeeping, restaurant servers. And the people there would welcome ICE, would line the streets to cheer them and strew flowers in their path…… wouldn’t they?

  110. 110.

    Jackie

    June 7, 2025 at 11:08 pm

    @JoyceH: 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

  111. 111.

    Timill

    June 7, 2025 at 11:13 pm

    @Jackie: Four pineapples? What’s that mean?

  112. 112.

    Jackie

    June 7, 2025 at 11:16 pm

    @Timill: 4 hands clapping. Not pineapples.

  113. 113.

    Timill

    June 7, 2025 at 11:19 pm

    @JoyceH: Maybe Missouri didn’t seem so welcoming when they tried it there. But Trump wants to provoke Blue states so he can send in the military (of whatever form).

  114. 114.

    BlueGuitarist

    June 7, 2025 at 11:31 pm

    Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones elected next mayor of San Antonio.
    background:
    https://www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-digest-why-democrats-worry?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=1cozyc&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

  115. 115.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 7, 2025 at 11:32 pm

    @Timill: cool. The week before his military show off parade.  Such timing.

    If he’s hunting for an excuse to unleash military take over / insurrection act, we’d better be careful.

    what’s with quotas?  Police in nyc used to do that, too, I had heard. It’s not best practices, is it?

  116. 116.

    JoyceH

    June 7, 2025 at 11:36 pm

    @Gloria DryGarden: The quotas are Miller’s bright idea. He’s pissed that not enough people are being deported and apparently had a screaming fit at DHS, promising to fire the section leaders with the lowest numbers.

  117. 117.

    Another Scott

    June 7, 2025 at 11:39 pm

    Meanwhile, …

    Jeremy Lindenfeld
    ‪@jeremotographs.bsky.social‬

    At the ICE raid and subsequent community resistance in Paramount, California this morning, this skater kid ate dozens of munitions from Border Patrol agents, walked away slowly and flipped them off.

    0:12 video

    June 7, 2025 at 5:59 PM

    There are more clips in the comments.

    (via Ken White on bsky)

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  118. 118.

    JoyceH

    June 7, 2025 at 11:40 pm

    BTW, the Post has an article with the delicious headline “NASA, Pentagon push for SpaceX alternatives”.  They’ve always been concerned about over-reliance on a single vendor but Musk’s recent antics have them genuinely alarmed.

  119. 119.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    June 7, 2025 at 11:50 pm

    Is there a chance that the CA National Guard troops being federalized could disregard orders and refuse to do what Miller, Trump, etc want them to do?

  120. 120.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    June 7, 2025 at 11:59 pm

    @prostratedragon:

    It looks like Trump also authorized Hegseth to use active duty troops from Camp Pendleton.

    Pretty sure that violates Posse Comitatus

  121. 121.

    Jackie

    June 8, 2025 at 12:01 am

    Not good:

    President Donald Trump signed a memorandum “deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness” in California as demonstrations opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations continue in the state, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Saturday.
    “In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens,” Leavitt said. “That is why President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” Leavitt said.

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X that the Defense Department is “mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles. And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized – they are on high alert.”

    https://abc7chicago.com/post/protests-erupt-immigration-customs-enforcement-raids-los-angeles-california/16690197/

  122. 122.

    Marcopolo

    June 8, 2025 at 12:05 am

    I think the thing that astounds me the most with what is happening in LA (the Trump regime response) is this is all in reaction to an operation at a Home Depot where apparently ICE picked up 6 (yes only 6) undocumented immigrants.

    As a result, the federal ICE agents (and there were quite a few) were pinned in place by maybe 400-500 peaceful protesters and resorted to massive use of tear gas & flashbangs.  What I read said they required the assistance of the LA County Sheriffs Dept to leave.  This was a nothing burger in terms of protesters/protesting and it seems to have totally shaken them.

    And, yes, I understand it’s a planned provocation but how is that supposed to work going forward, exactly?  The LA police dept (not known for their gentleness) has put out a statement saying they were pleased at the PEACEFUL nature of the protests.

    Anyway, I understand this could turn very ugly but I’ll take the bet that at the end of all this the trumpers wind up losing face & looking like feckless idiots.  Fingers crossed.

    Edited to add: I don’t see National Guardsmen being a force (they are like teachers & accountants) that will be particularly inclined to use force on their fellow Californians.

  123. 123.

    glc

    June 8, 2025 at 12:11 am

    @prostratedragon:

    Vladeck comments, with links back to his and other commentary on the legal background.

  124. 124.

    prostratedragon

    June 8, 2025 at 12:13 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):  Not a lawyer, but I’ll bet it does. Also, just flipped through CNN for a moment, and there’s no hint of anything to justify even extra local police.

  125. 125.

    Marcopolo

    June 8, 2025 at 12:14 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): From what I’ve read, the NG is restricted to providing “support” to the other folks (ICE et al) so like doing logistics & stuff.  If given orders that are unlawfully excessive then yes they can refuse—though we’ll have to see how it plays out.  Hell, I think the statute the Trump regime is using to federalize these folks says the request to federalize must go thru the Gov and it sure seems Newsom isn’t agreeing to their mobilization.  So yeah chaos rules.

  126. 126.

    prostratedragon

    June 8, 2025 at 12:22 am

    @glc:  Thanks. Nice, simple presentation.

  127. 127.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 8, 2025 at 12:26 am

    @JoyceH: dear mr miller. Scream until your tantrum gives you apoplexy.

    i don’t even know what that is, but it sounds good. I’ve seen 3 year olds tantrum to the point of vomiting, or almost choking up. Talked one down from it once. But my services are not free.

  128. 128.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 8, 2025 at 12:30 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): swear words!!

    comitatus was on the blue sky most used words update a bit ago. Guess I’ll look it up, wasn’t covered in my Civics class.

    Taking it so seriously. Deadly serious now.

  129. 129.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 8, 2025 at 12:39 am

    @Marcopolo: good.

     

    @Marcopolo: I don’t see National Guardsmen being a force (they are like teachers & accountants) that will be particularly inclined to use force on their fellow Californians.

    I see a need for national guard folks getting a review training in their rights and how to refuse orders that violate the constitution, or how to deal with conflicting orders from your state governor and the fed.

    talking w Pollyanna just now, he said, maybe we’ll need a national strike. Meanwhile I’m wondering, of the majority of the national gdp comes from 17 blue states, there must be some power we can wield. The government and whatever federal funding is left comes mostly from blue states, that put in more than we take out. And yet the other folks get to make all these oppressive rules against human and civil rights..

    it bothers me. One of you can express this better.

    ton of info and discussion on blue sky.

  130. 130.

    Marc

    June 8, 2025 at 12:40 am

    @Marcopolo:  This was a nothing burger in terms of protesters/protesting and it seems to have totally shaken them.

    Not exactly a nothing burger, they made a major tactical fuckup, got caught, and had to run over at least one protestor to get away.  Next time, the protestors will be better prepared, all ICE has is more violence.

  131. 131.

    Soprano2

    June 8, 2025 at 12:41 am

    @lowtechcyclist: In yet another episode of “Imagine if any Democratic politician acted the way FFOTUS does”…… it’s so embarassing that this is what passes for news these days. The press is thrilled to be able to cover crap like this because it requires zero research or knowledge.

  132. 132.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 8, 2025 at 12:42 am

    @prostratedragon: the recomemndation is to watch local on the ground videos from paramount California, because the msm is offering lies, the real deal is in the local videos.
    maybe sort of much ado about nothing? Miller and trump looking for ways to stir the pot and get an excuse …

  133. 133.

    Marc

    June 8, 2025 at 12:45 am

    @Gloria DryGarden: The only ones who watch MSM are old folks, the younger ones watch YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.  There are no doubt lots of local videos on all three by now.

  134. 134.

    Soprano2

    June 8, 2025 at 12:47 am

    @Baud: Yes, it is. It’s sad, really, that they’re all worried about the mental functioning of a president who is out of office, but don’t seem at all concerned about the mental state of the current president.

  135. 135.

    prostratedragon

    June 8, 2025 at 12:58 am

    @Gloria DryGarden:  True — I’ve seen some, and a couple of comparisons to MSM presentations that hyped the “rioting” beyond recognition. The locals make it much clearer that the disturbance was mainly due to ICE freaking out. But even msm footage from an hour or so ago makes the maga response look idiotic.

  136. 136.

    prostratedragon

    June 8, 2025 at 1:02 am

    A little history:

    The last time National Guard troops were federalized against a governors will was…to ensure desegregation. Guardsmen have been called out to quell large scale civic unrest, the last being 1992 LA Riots, but nothing that happened today comes at all close. https://www.nationalguard.mil/Portals/31/Resources/Fact%20Sheets/Civil%20Disturbance%20Operations%20Fact%20Sheet%20(Nov%202020).pdf

    That is, the call-ups most of us remember (I am old enough to remember Little Rock) were at the governors’ request.

  137. 137.

    Soprano2

    June 8, 2025 at 1:26 am

    @mrmoshpotato: Which is funny, because she says that’s not what “they” voted for, even thought he said a million times he was going to do this!

  138. 138.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 8, 2025 at 1:50 am

    @Geminid: good article. Thank you. A little puzzled when he says trump is the only man who can set things to rights, that he’s a man of peace. Is he affirming, diplomatically, what he hopes for from USA leadership?

    but the article does lead one to a sense of calm, and hope.

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    June 8, 2025 at 2:24 am

    @Elizabelle:

    When did they make it to high school?

    I thought they were stranded in jr high.

    Now I may be mistaken because I really didn’t think that they’d actually gotten that far……

  140. 140.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    June 8, 2025 at 2:28 am

    @Shalimar: Late to the thread as usual, but I guess “every accusation is a confession” works both ways with those two power-drunk nepo babies.

  141. 141.

    JWR

    June 8, 2025 at 3:38 am

    Pretty good 11 minute telephone interview from earlier tonight with Mayor Bass:

    LA Mayor Bass worried National Guard deployment could escalate tensions

    And after running and then rerunning the juicy bits of their interview with ultra MAGA U.S. Attorney Essayli, her voice is a welcome one.

  142. 142.

    Scout211

    June 8, 2025 at 3:54 am

    President Trumpthanked the National Guard for a “job well done” on social media, but there’s still no sign of troops in Los Angeles as protests died down for the night after a day of chaos.

    Police maintained a skirmish line and maintained patrols past midnight, and small groups of protesters were still walking the streets and waving flags.

    Organizers have already called for a third day of protests in the city for Sunday.

    Has someone checked on Grandpa TACO’s mental status? He seems confused.

  143. 143.

    JWR

    June 8, 2025 at 4:17 am

    @Scout211: Not only confused, but demented, too. Here’s a news blurb from CNN:

    • National Guard deployed: President Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles in response to protests over immigration enforcement there. Claiming local officials had failed to deal with the unrest, Trump said the federal government would “solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

  144. 144.

    Gloria DryGarden

    June 8, 2025 at 4:34 am

    @JWR: confused, or purposely lying, to fan flames and create a situation that lets him call for military takeover?

  145. 145.

    MagdaInBlack

    June 8, 2025 at 6:06 am

    @Gloria DryGarden: Plan, but he still has no fkn clue

    “They” are propping up this sick, sad, demented old fool, to further their goals. When he is no longer needed, we get Vance.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - way2blue - SINALEI, SAMOA—RESPITE EDITION—FEBRUARY 2025.  (second of five) 8
Image by way2blue (7/16/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • azlib on Flailing & Failing (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 7:35pm)
  • Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq) on Flailing & Failing (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 7:32pm)
  • mrmoshpotato on Flailing & Failing (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 7:32pm)
  • Betty on Excellent Read: The Past Isn’t Dead… (Jul 16, 2025 @ 7:30pm)
  • Kayla Rudbek on Open Thread: How Has Trump Failed Us, Today? (Jul 16, 2025 @ 7:29pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!