Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

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

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

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

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

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

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

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Reader Interactions

166Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Senate Dems are doing what they can to stop it or mitigate the worst parts. That’s about it.

  2. 2.

    Butch

    From the bill, from tariffs, from all the other nonsense caused by Trump and his Nazgul.

  3. 3.

    Josie

    Pretty sure the answer is yes.​
     ETA: Although it is also a wonderful excuse to pull in the military.

  7. 7.

    RevRick

    @Betty Cracker: I agree, also. As Oliver Willis argues, we are fighting a multi-front war against MAGA, and we need to push back — hard— on all fronts. We distract ourselves when we claim that Trump outrage X is really a distraction from Trump outrage Y.

  8. 8.

    Jackie

    I had to double check the timestamp on this post. It is indeed A.M.!

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t think it’s a distraction. All the bad shit is happening at once.

    I think it’s planned. FFOTUS loves chaos. It’s been chaotic since Jan 20, with no signs of it stopping.

  9. 9.

    Ohio Mom

    The espresso machine died this morning so Ohio Dad valiantly went off to Target caffeine-less to buy a new a new one.

    He came back announcing we have been hit by Trumps tariffs. The last few espresso machines (at the rate we use them, they have a lifespan of only about two years) were about $100 each, or just slightly above that. They are made in China for supposedly an Italian brand.

    The new one was $150. A milestone of sorts, I guess, that’s at least $30 we lost to tariffs.

    I was just thinking yesterday how much like a Good German I feel. I know terrible things are happening, my country is morphing into something beyond belief, yet my everyday life just keeps rolling along, same as always. The contrast between my suburban life and the news is discombobulating.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    YouTube relaxes moderation rules to allow more controversial content

    Videos are allowed if “freedom of expression value may outweigh harm risk”

  11. 11.

    WereBear

    This

    was

    INEVITABLE.

    Because

    they

    are

    IDIOTS.

    There is no thinking and no plan. Only destruction. They would smash a plate glass window even if it was covered in large red letters saying DANGER DEADLY NERVE GAS which can be seen ominously swirling, just like in the film The Rock.

    They would break it. To demonstrate the rules don’t apply to them. And blame us because reading is too much to expect of them.

  14. 14.

    terraformer

    I was chastised pretty heavily for posting on Bsky that activating the NG in LA was helping to distract from the Big Fcking Shitty Bill. I think it’s more what Betty wrote above: it’s all bad, and per MAGA’s preferred approach of “flooding the zone” – and horrors they’re doing are distracting *from each other*.

  15. 15.

    Soprano2

    I don’t think it’s a distraction, just because I don’t think the FFOTUS administration had anything to do with the timing of a protest. FFOTUS has been itching to call out the military and the National Guard against U.S. citizens since his first term, so the fact that he did this isn’t at all surprising.

  16. 16.

    BritinChicago

    It is a distraction.

    Is it a planned distraction? I go back and forth on whether the ‘Administration’ has its evil act together enough for something like that.

    Is it just a distraction? No. It also raises extremely important questions of its own about the attempt to put us into a permanent state of emergency in order to justify all sorts of terrible things, which would completely undermine democracy and the rule of law.

  17. 17.

    Eunicecycle

    @Soprano2: and his first Sec of Defense was an actual Sec of Defense and wouldn’t let him do it. He didn’t make the same mistake again!

  18. 18.

    Splitting Image

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t think it’s a distraction. All the bad shit is happening at once.

    I agree. This is a multi-front war, as said above.

    The tax cut giveaways, the cuts to Medicare, the rollback of civil rights, the militarization of the police, the gutting of science research. None of these are distractions from any of the others. They are all part of the same goal.

  19. 19.

    MobiusKlein

    Do note that the only tax increase in the new budget is a 3.5% tax on remittances.   Isn’t that double taxation?

  20. 20.

    lowtechcyclist

    @RevRick: ​
     

    I agree, also. As Oliver Willis argues, we are fighting a multi-front war against MAGA, and we need to push back — hard— on all fronts. We distract ourselves when we claim that Trump outrage X is really a distraction from Trump outrage Y.

    There’s probably some low-level stuff we can safely ignore. I’ll take a pass on the Rose Garden; he’s tearing up much more consequential things than that.

    But when Horrible Thing B is just as bad as Horrible Thing A, whether or not B is a distraction from A is a pretty silly question.

    Somebody needs to keep a Top 10 or Top 20 list of the worst things Trump has done/is doing so far. With lots of room for dishonorable mentions.

  21. 21.

    BritinChicago

    @NotMax: Yes. I find that to be pretty consistently the case. His is almost the only news or commentary on TV that I watch the whole of regularly. (But since I listen to the audio version the next day. the whole show available on You-Tube with minimal ads, I guess I’m not really watching it.)

  22. 22.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @RevRick: Willis?  The guy who gets distracted by every attempt to shift focus to how Dems suck?  Assholes like him, with his constant BothSides But Dems Are Worse bullshit helped get us here. Fuck that guy forever.

  23. 23.

    RaflW

    @Betty Cracker: Definitely flooding the zone.

    My tiny little act yesterday was to email Ron Johnson (again!) saying that the Big Deficitbusting Bill is bad and he should vote no.

    I’ve seen him listed as a waverer. His reasons and mine are diametrically opposed, but if he’s a possible no, he needs to hear from people.

    I did throw in that cutting Medicare and Medicaid would direct hurt people I care about in my neighborhood so he should oppose that too.

  25. 25.

    Betty Cracker

    Here’s an excerpt of a speech Trump gave to U.S. soldiers yesterday, which revealed his delusional views about what’s going on in Los Angeles: [Roll Call]

    These are animals, but they proudly carry the flags of other countries, but they don’t carry the American flag… The agitators are throwing firebombs, Molotov cocktails, lighting vehicles ablaze.

    You saw all the cars that were burning, mobbing police officers and ICE officers who are the toughest people you’ll ever meet. And they love our country and they’re getting really — tried to — they want to stomp on them, but they’re too tough. They don’t allow it. And attempting to infiltrate and occupy federal buildings, wearing armor and face shields.

    The best money can buy, somebody is financing it and we’re going to find out through Pam Bondi and Department of Justice, who it is. They’re already on it, who’s financing all this equipment, very professional. Under the Trump administration, this anarchy will not stand. We will not allow federal agents to be attacked and we will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy and that’s what they are…

    I want to applaud the courage and the strength of the incredible troops who are right now standing guard to protect federal property and personnel and uphold the supremacy of federal law…

    Not only are these service members defending the honest citizens of California, they’re also defending our republic itself. And they are heroes, they’re in there, they’re heroes. They’re fighting for us. They’re stopping an invasion, just like you’d stop an invasion. The big difference is most of the time when you stop an invasion, they’re wearing a uniform.

    Basically, Trump is declaring war on anyone who opposes him and informing U.S. troops that it is their heroic duty to destroy his enemies. I heard the speech got an enthusiastic response.

  26. 26.

    Redshift

    @Betty Cracker: I agree. Everything is a distraction in the sense that they’re trying to do many horrible things at once so we (and the media) can’t all focus on just one, but not because they’re all “distractions” from the One Thing they’re “really” trying to do.

    Also, when I see someone making the “distraction” argument, a lot of times it’s “you’re wrong for focusing on this and not what I think is really important!” (Not you, JRC.)

  28. 28.

    LeftCoastYankee

    If you mean breaking shit and running away to break the next thing like rabid squirrels on cocaine, then yes this is definitely a distraction from yesterday’s distraction.

  30. 30.

    zhena gogolia

    @RevRick: Yes, I’m really tired of the “distraction” thing. It’s all bad, and we have to try to pay attention to all of it. But I’m reaching my limit.

  31. 31.

    Redshift

    @RaflW:

    I did throw in that cutting Medicare and Medicaid would direct hurt people I care about in my neighborhood so he should oppose that too.

    That’s good! From what I’ve been told, stories about how it will directly affect you and people you know are more effective than just telling them about how you oppose their horrible actions because you think they’re horrible, no matter how heartfelt.

  32. 32.

    eclare

    @Ohio Mom:

    That sucks.  I have all of my fingers and toes crossed that none of my appliances, e.g. washing machine, fridge, break down in the next few years.

    Also Ohio Dad is a good man.

  33. 33.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Redshift: Exactly.  The point of this bullshit is multi-faceted: 1.) stifle/criminalize free speech/protest, 2.) whip up racist xenophobia, 3.) punish CA, 4.) justify martial law but also 5.) distract from the big stupid bill (and everything else).  It’s all of the above.  But I hate the “distraction” framing as well for all the reasons you noted.

  34. 34.

    Jackie

    Joe Walsh, former Tea Party republican, former independent, and now a registered Democrat says this on his Substack:

    This is what autocrats do. They invent crises to justify a power grab. They claim chaos where there is order. They manufacture fear where there is peace. They weaponize lies and dress them in the uniform of patriotism.

    Trump wants you to believe we are under siege. That’s Step One. Then comes Step Two: send in the military. Invoke the Insurrection Act. Declare martial law. And ultimately? Cancel elections.

    Sound extreme? It’s not hypothetical. In his first term, Trump ordered his Defense Secretary to authorize soldiers to open fire on American civilians protesting in Washington, D.C. Mark Esper refused. That’s the only reason it didn’t happen.

    Read the full post here.

    More and more people, including me, truly believe FFOTUS is going to do everything and anything he can to disrupt and prevent the 2026 elections. He said so himself, speaking to evangelicals at one of his rallies last year: “Vote for me one last time, and you’ll never have to vote again.”

    I took him at his word. I also believed him when he promised retribution and revenge.

  37. 37.

    Redshift

    @zhena gogolia: We don’t have to pay attention to all if it. Part of the strategy is to exhaust and paralyzed us by overwhelming us. It’s perfectly okay to focus on one thing or a few things you have the energy to respond to, and trust that other people will be focusing on the others.

    (I’m sure you know that, but a reminder never hurts.)

  40. 40.

    japa21

    Yes and no. Yes, this distracts from that. And is somewhat of a planned distraction.
    No, because everything is intended to be a distraction. They know Americans have short attention spans, so they just keep pouring it on.
    Trump is following his approach to everything. Overwhelm to the point people get tired of going against him and settle for 10 cents on the dollar, or in this case, something that normally would be unacceptable, but compared to the other atrocities is less bad.

  42. 42.

    lamh47

    Good morning BJ.

    Sorry to be off topic so early,  but my mom is going in today for routine knee replacement surgery…asking for healing thoughts and prayers, or whatever you believe in for a safe surgery and recovery.  As you can imagine it’s stressful being all the way here on the West coast while she’s in NOLA🙏🏾🙏🏾

  43. 43.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: I don’t think these immigration raids were neccesarily intended go be a distraction. They have been in effect though, and Trump’s team understands this.

    I posted this analysis yesterday:

        The chaos in southern California could have been designed in a lab to exploit Democratic weak spots, combining the issues of illegal immigration, crime and civil unrest.

    Some people rejected this summarily because of the source,* and some for the content, but I personally thought it contained some relative truth. But regardless, Trump’s team has for a long time shown they believe these issues are weak spots; I expect them to lean into them and not just for distraction purposes.

    * Political scientist Ruy Texeira, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Texeira wrote this in an article for the “Patriotic Liberal” Substack.

  45. 45.

    Ohio Mom

    @Baud: While I’m all set for Saturday’s protest, with my hand made No Kings tee shirt and my two sided sign (“Kill the Bill Not Disabled People” on one side, “Don’t Trump on Me” on the other), if you followed me around this week, my behavior is indistinguishable from that of a Good German.

    Am I hiding an undocumented immigrant, forging papers, or whatever else the resistance did? Nope.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    Wiki

    @Ohio Mom:

    Good Germans is an ironic term — usually placed between single quotes such as ‘Good Germans’ — referring to German citizens during and after World War II who claimed not to have supported the Nazi regime, but remained silent and did not resist in a meaningful way.[1][2] The term is further used to describe those who claimed ignorance of the Holocaust and German war crimes.[2]

     

    You’re not remaining silent and not claiming ignorancw of Trump’s actions.

  48. 48.

    cmorenc

    @Ohio Mom:

    I was just thinking yesterday how much like a Good German I feel. I know terrible things are happening, my country is morphing into something beyond belief, yet my everyday life just keeps rolling along, same as always. The contrast between my suburban life and the news is discombobulating.

    Exactly.  Wife and I, and also our now-adult children are so far prosperously floating above and apart from any direct impact (so far) from the chaotic cruelty and stupidity being inflicted by Trump and his band of toxic, evil clowns – with exception of the passage during March and April when we were nervously watching our once-secure retirement savings melting down in the face of tariff chaos.  Our leafy suburban neighborhood is safe, and in our part of north Raleigh, and neither any positive effects (such as a MAGA-cult mind might allege) nor any substantially palpable negative effects personally affected anyone around us – yet, beyond a few price increases here and there.  And yet, we know all is not well outside our local bubble.  And this is why IMO the public resistance to Trump isn’t more visibly and tangibly provoked into protest than it is at this point.

  50. 50.

    RevRick

    @UncleEbeneezer: Even a stopped clock is right twice. I follow him mainly because I want to hear opinions I might find annoying and also because of his mini dachshund.
    What the whole x is a distraction from y argument really stems from is the feeling of exhaustion. We can’t fight every battle, but we can fight our own most important battle in the confidence that others will fight theirs. The guys fighting in the jungles of Guadalcanal from August ‘42 to February’43 were counting on Russians fighting along their front and the Brits and GIs fighting in North Africa.

  51. 51.

    JML

    @Betty Cracker: every accusation is a confession with these people. Of course this “must” be funded by “someone”…because that’s exactly what these rich scum would do. they can’t conceive of people protesting on principle, because they have none.

  53. 53.

    H.E.Wolf

    @lamh47: Will be keeping your mom, and you, in my thoughts. May her surgery be successful and the outcome be a good one!

  54. 54.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I’m yawping online, complaining to elected reps, donating to causes and going to protests, but I’m not doing anything that will obviously get me shot or arrested, so it all feels kind of wimpy. At some point, maybe we *can’t* “stay safe”. But at the same time, I suppose martyrdom is of limited utility.

  56. 56.

    Ohio Mom

    @lamh47: Sending good energy Mom’s way. Even if it’s a routine surgery, it’s still a nail biter when it’s one of your people. Be sure to let us know when she comes to and it’s clear all went well.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Self flagellation is dumb. Do more or don’t, but it’s a waste of everyone’s time to make everything about oue own feelings of unworthiness. You’re on the side of good in real time. The Good Germans were not.

  60. 60.

    JML

    @lamh47: hope everything goes easy on the surgery. any surgery is nerve-wracking, but they’re getting really good at this one. I know a number of people who have had it done now, and their quality of life improved rapidly and significantly.

  62. 62.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: it got an enthusiastic response because troops who didn’t want to attend were excused; they didn’t want the optics of a stone faced bunch in uniform maintaining silence at all his rahrah lines. Reported in the WSJ I think, but no link, read it yesterday.

  63. 63.

    Doug R

    @Soprano2: The LA raids were particularly public AND egregious AND provocative in heavily latino Los Angeles. This was deliberately done NOW.

  64. 64.

    piratedan

    Hope John Roberts is pleased with what he wrought….

    Citizens United enabled all of this shit, the buying of political offices, all you got to do is gloss over with a wafer thin patina of where the money is coming from, which is how Putin did what he did.

  65. 65.

    WereBear

    @JML: they can’t conceive of people protesting on principle, because they have none.

    Yes, thank you! And this is very useful to remember.

    Spoiler for a 50+ year old TV show:

    One of my favorite detective shows, Columbo, was launched with the pilot episode, starring Lee Grant. A favorite because a) I adore her and her work, and b) she plays a sociopath, who has no empathy.

    This is key to catching her, in a trap that a normal, functioning, adult would never fall for. While she is smart and accomplished, she doesn’t understand empathy except to fake it. Faced with a unique situation, she has no fall-back.

    All WE can do is peacefully protest. But there are other people who are supposed to arrest lawbreakers, and that’s a confrontation coming up as hurdles get cleared in appeal courts.

    I follow Glenn Kirschner, on Youtube, because, to quote Mr WereBear:

    “The founding fathers wanted our courts to be the new cathedrals. Our laws the ones to follow. Our freedoms in the Constitution. Church and state are separate things for each other’s protection.”

  66. 66.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @WereBear: They would break it. To demonstrate the rules don’t apply to them. And blame us because reading is too much to expect of them.

    That’s how this feels to me too.

  67. 67.

    RevRick

    @WereBear: I would argue that the Trump administration is making War on the 20th Century, but I don’t want to get into a hair-splitting debate.
    You clearly want to focus on the legal aspects of this war. Good! Invest yourself in that.

    I’m invested in the issue of climate change, because that’s where my UCC church is invested. You might find my investment in that a distraction, but that’s where I will put my most energy.
    What we need to do is pick an issue we care about most and fight that battle.

  71. 71.

    Doug R

    @Ohio Mom: Target did fold on DEI and Costco did not.

    But even as a good Canadian, I still buy the occasional thing made in the USA-like duct tape-even Canadian companies have their duct tape made in the USA.

  73. 73.

    RevRick

    @Matt McIrvin: Nobody should ever engage in a struggle deliberately seeking martyrdom, because that carries a shitload of fanaticism.
    The original Greek meaning of the word martyria was simply to testify or bear witness in a legal trial. The aim was to bear witness, not get killed.

  74. 74.

    oldgold

    This lyric from the Polish Prince, Bobby Vinton, captures what is going on.

    “Blue on Blue, heart ache on heart ache.”

    Trump is attacking Blue Law Firms, Blue Universities and Blue States. He is trying to weaken all blue power centers. All the while, he is voraciously aggregating power for himself. And, the end result for this nation will be heart ache on heart ache.

    The Big Beautiful  Bill is just more of the same. Its purpose, writ large, is to weaken blue and strengthen MAGA.

  75. 75.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Why can’t all this be both a distraction (it is) and somewhat planned?  Per #14:

    I was chastised pretty heavily for posting on Bsky that activating the NG in LA was helping to distract from the Big Fcking Shitty Bill. I think it’s more what Betty wrote above: it’s all bad, and per MAGA’s preferred approach of “flooding the zone” – and horrors they’re doing are distracting from each other.

  79. 79.

    RevRick

    @Baud: ‘Good Germans’ were willfully blind. Either that, or they were engaged in what Robert Jay Lifton described as doubling. They lived an ordinary life part of the time, and then they participated in the machinery of death by creating a separate self.
    The antidote to that is to avoid moral backsliding by knowing what your moral values are and refusing to bend them.

  80. 80.

    eclare

    @satby:

    I read that too.  IIRC, the audience numbered around 1k troops.  Around 50k are stationed at Fort Bragg, I wouldn’t assume that crowd was representative.

  85. 85.

    Baud

    @RevRick:

    The antidote to that is to avoid moral backsliding by knowing what your moral values are and refusing to bend them.

     
    While I don’t disagree, some of our Good Germans use hypermorality as an excuse for refusing to work with allies and walking away. So some degree of judgment is necessary to fully avoid being a Good German.

  86. 86.

    RevRick

    @Matt McIrvin: No, they don’t know what is right but they are filled with certitude that theirs is the one true way and if they meet any resistance then it’s bulldozers and bullets.

    Doubt and uncertainty and humility keep us human. And that is the real thing.

  87. 87.

    schrodingers_cat

    Extremely stupid and malicious people are in charge of our country right now. We need to do all we can to get a Democratic Congress elected in 2026. Rest is noise.

  88. 88.

    WereBear

    @lamh47: Wishing the best for your mom!

    Flying is now perilous, too… so safety first. That is what will mean the most to mom.

    Of course, I’m from the Midwest. My grandmother could be on fire, but she wouldn’t tell anyone and if I offered her a glass of water she would reflexively say, “If you’re getting up.” :)

  90. 90.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Melancholy Jaques: The current rules on You Tube drive the history channels nuts because doing a video on the Holocaust or using  the word “suicide” when talking about Hitler suicide  can get them banned.

  91. 91.

    TONYG

    Yes, I think that you’re correct that “Call out the Marines to kill the Illegals” is largely a distraction from stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.  I’m reminded of the scene where Anton Chigurh blows up a car so that he can rob a pharmacy.  Chigurh, of course, gets away with his crimes at the end.

  92. 92.

    The Other Bob

    The ICE raids and protests are a distraction for Chuck Schumer, but not for the people being unjustly arrested.

  93. 93.

    WereBear

    @Ohio Mom: I’m be wearing my Cat Ladies for Kamala shirt. My town is having two gatherings, and it makes me feel a little better.

    Not surrounded by the enemy at all, despite the redness of the NY district I’m in.

  94. 94.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I’ve also been thinking a lot of Adam’s dark insinuations (if I am reading them correctly) that the rest of us here are wasting our time and living on copium, and this is a theater of World War III that only really ends in civil war or total loss. He’s been right about a lot of things so far.

  95. 95.

    TONYG

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Factual information about the Holocaust is banned now on Youtube?  Well, that’s certainly interesting.  The “tech” corporations are certainly eager to comply with the contemporary Nazis, aren’t they.

  96. 96.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @RevRick: ‘Good Germans’ were willfully blind. Either that, or they were engaged in what Robert Jay Lifton described as doubling. They lived an ordinary life part of the time, and then they participated in the machinery of death by creating a separate self.

    Yes,  the German civilians were working side by side with slave laborers who were being slowly starved to death. The only reason they suddenly forgot how much they loved the NAZIs was the fear the Americans would turn them over to French or Soviet occupation.

  97. 97.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Self-flagellation about not doing enough does nothing except make you feel bad. If you are tend toward it, just take a look at your life. If you can do more, then do more. If your capabilities, responsibilities, etc., limit what you can do, don’t worry about it. Everyone doesn’t need to be a frontline leader or a hero. Do what you can when you can. If things get worse, rethink.

  99. 99.

    TONYG

    @TONYG: To be clear … not a distraction for the victims of this Nazi bullshit.  But maybe a distraction in the larger scheme of things.

  103. 103.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @TONYG: It’s not so much pro-NAZI, more the advertiser don’t like unpleasant things. And being You Tube they won’t monetize the videos for the content creator, but sell advertainment time on it anyway,

  104. 104.

    Kirk

    @Ohio Mom:

    Am I hiding an undocumented immigrant, forging papers, or whatever else the resistance did?

    Something to keep in mind – if someone should be doing these things they should not admit it on any public medium.

    If you’re going to admit of going to or being at a protest, do so with full knowledge of the potential consequences in these days of information data leakage – you have been tagged. Not might be. Have been.

    Don’t stop, please. Don’t let them win because you failed to do anything. Just be aware of the risks, and have at least an idea if not a plan for if /they/ decide you need to be part of an example.

  105. 105.

    Kristine

    @Ohio Mom: IIRC I first learned of this from one of Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s columns:

    The “3.5% rule” refers to the claim that no government has withstood a challenge of 3.5% of their population mobilized against it during a peak event.

    Yes, there are exceptions, and it’s more a guideline than a rule. But it’s also not as many people as you’d think.

    What am I trying to say…every little bit, building towards a bigger bit.

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Also said “Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.”

    Also too, “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”

  110. 110.

    Kristine

    @lamh47: All the best wishes!

    Friends who’ve had this surgery say the way to insure the best possible outcome is to do the PT. But they often wish they’d had the surgery sooner because their lives are so much better with mobility and w/o pain.

  112. 112.

    Betty Cracker

    @lamh47: Thinking of your mom.

    @Geminid:

    Some people rejected this summarily because of the source,* and some for the content, but I personally thought it contained some relative truth.

    I agree — California wasn’t randomly chosen, nor was the issue for the current fascism performance art in LA. But I don’t think “distraction” is the right framing. It’s all of a piece. Working on a post highlighting a feature Anne Applebaum* wrote that elaborates on that a bit.

    *Will probably be summarily dismissed due to the source! ;-)

  114. 114.

    Randal Sexton

    At some point Trump will drop a nuke on Toronto, to distract us from the discovery of his death-camps  or something.   Yes it will distract us, because it is even more crazy/evil than the formerly most crazy/evil thing he has done.

  115. 115.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Matt McIrvin: He was wrong about the Warrior Monk, he bought into the hagiography. He is not infallible. His expertise is military matters and foreign policy. He is certainly worth reading but his word is not the word of an all knowing and all seeing God

    He (or anyone else for that matter) can’t predict something like a once in a century global pandemic.

  116. 116.

    TONYG

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I guess that some of the “Good Germans” enthusiastically supported the Nazis while others just followed the path of least resistance.  The same has been true during all of the atrocities of American history, and during the atrocities committed by other countries.  One of my uncles participated, as a twenty-year-old army private, in the liberation of Buchenwald in April of 1945.  Buchenwald was only about 8 miles from the city of Weimar.  Supposedly, “None of the civilians in Weimar knew anything about what was happening in Buchenwald.”.  They “didn’t know’ because the didn’t want to know.

  118. 118.

    NutmegAgain

    I think they’ve been itching to shoot a bunch of American for quite a while. Despite being a bunch of bumbling idiots they had some kind of plan–no, concepts of a plan, to go after a major city. LA provided the best excuse soonest. Of course, the Big Steal Everything bill has also been cooking for a while. They’ll smash, grab, and break as much and as often as they can.

    Related: here’s a link to a Guardian story/video of a random woman walking hom to her apt, last night in LA, and she gets shot virtually point blank. WTF.

  119. 119.

    jlowe

     

     

    @schrodingers_cat: I think the Democrats will spend the next few decades in the minority. However, that might work out for the best as they won’t be in power when the big climate migration wave occurring around 2050 turns the continent into a giant conflict zone. Dem politicians need to spend the next generation making sure everyone knows that all of the resulting pain and chaos is the fault of Republican politicians and voters.

  121. 121.

    HinTN

    @Ohio Mom: Order a Capresso directly from their web store. They cost more but last far longer so the total cost of ownership is far less.

  122. 122.

    Matt McIrvin

    @jlowe: the sad thing about those climate migrations is that any country in the global North willing to welcome them and take all the associated social disruptions will probably win big in the long run… but nobody will take that bet.

  123. 123.

    Redshift

    @Kristine: Also good to remember that an important part of resistance is non-compliance with regime demands. Not everything is big public actions, throwing sand in the gears where you can is part of what brings down authoritarians.

  124. 124.

    schrodingers_cat

    @jlowe: Ds can take back Congress in 2026. Rs don’t have a huge margin in the House. In the long run we are all dead so I am not interested in speculating about the distant future. YMMV.

  125. 125.

    Mudlark

    Delurking to say something I think is important. “It’s a distraction” doesn’t mean “my issue is more important than yours.” It means “I’m sitting this one out.” It means “I’m not obligated to stand up and fight this.” It means “I’m ignoring the fear I should feel in order to pretend the status quo is sustainable for one more day.” It means “my apathy is not only justifiable, but a moral or intellectual responsibility for everyone else.” It’s shameful bullshit, in other words. Cowardice masking itself as superior discernment.

    Over the last year or so, I’ve learned that when people use the words like “kabuki,” “kayfabe” or distraction,” you can safely discount their opinion on that issue and — often — on others.

  127. 127.

    WereBear

    @RevRick: Absolutely.

    No quarter on every front by different people picking a strength.

    Wasn’t trying to recruit. And I donate to the Quakers, who are covering what they do best.

  128. 128.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Indulging  in dystopian fantasies is a luxury we don’t have, we need to keep our eye on the ball for 2026.

    Also, giving into doom is giving up our power. T 2.0 wants us to be cowed down and afraid

    ETA: I was channeling Keynes.

  129. 129.

    Citizen Alan

    @piratedan:

    I hope bernie sanders, jill stein, and all of their ilk are happy, too. Because nearly every bad thing happening today could have been averted if president hillary clinton had appointed the replacement for antonin scalia.

  131. 131.

    WereBear

    @TONYG: Trump will qualify for an oxygen tank soon. But even then cultists would not have seen the movie.

    But in this Bizzaro (Superman reference) world the image evokes, I sense many meme possibilities.

  133. 133.

    Matt McIrvin

    @schrodingers_cat: I do remember people saying during the GWBush administration that the Republican Party had “solved politics” and there was simply no way to beat them any more, even though their majority was pretty narrow.

    I suppose they did, to some degree– the Congressional obstruction machine was effective at limiting liberal gains even when they lost, and set the stage for later victories.

    But there was a long period after Reagan when conservatives would call out this or that as “that’s why your side always loses elections” and liberals didn’t even push back, just accepted that they are the ones who always lose elections… even when it wasn’t true. Even after Clinton and Obama.

    I haven’t heard it in a while, though.

  135. 135.

    Ken B

    @satby: That would explain why the troops behind him were much whiter than the army as a whole.

    I wondered about that.

  141. 141.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Geminid: for me the distraction has been than I’m so pissed about him using LA, and lying to exaggerate the protests, as an excuse to throw military at it and trample on states rights,

    that I stopped paying attention to the horrible bill and what I might say when I call my senators,

    it’s hard to keep all the details about both , and be so upset, and then plan productive calls to congress. The split attention is the distraction, one big thing, competing against another for attention. I imagine the “ leadership” wants our eyes on the protest and military mess, and not on this stupid bill.

  143. 143.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WereBear: There was a fad a little while ago in the right-wing gun-enthusiast community for posting a photo of yourself pointing a gun at your dick with your finger on the trigger, to mock the killjoy nerds in the community who insisted on gun safety rules.

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    @LeftCoastYankee:

    I don’t know if his goal is to break everything but then that does sound like something he’d do. Like a 3 yr old – if he can’t have all the toys then a tantrum.

    Am I saying that he’s acting like a 3 yr old? That’s mighty harsh.

    Against actual 3 yr olds.

  146. 146.

    Geminid

    @Belafon: Well, the rest of the sentence reads:

    …Democratic weak spots, combining the issues of ilegal immigration, crime and civil unrest.

    Why should the Democratic Party show empathy for crime? Or civil unrest if it takes the form of arson, hurling chunks of concrete at cops, or looting? There is a concept called “suicidal empathy” that I think applies in this case.

  148. 148.

    Ruckus

    @JML:

    BINGO!!!

    I’ve made this comment before about shitforbrains – (which I now see is a distraction from reality, he’s far worse than that)

    In shitforbrains world everything rotates around him. Which is why it’s always, at the very least – not good, at the worst horrible. Does he want power or does he want the entire world to rotate around the stick stuck somewhere in his body? I’m going C, both of the above.

  149. 149.

    Ruckus

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I suppose martyrdom is of limited utility.

    It is but it is also a normal human concept in this type of situation. We in theory have a pretty large concept of survival. It can change as we age into old fartitus and shitforbrains is up there on the ladder to old fartitus. Well up that ladder. I have to strain my neck to look that far up the ladder. And use binoculars. It’s not a lot of age that separates us on that ladder, it’s how crappy we make that ladder as we climb, and on a scale of how crappy, he’s at about 99%. Most humans only get to about 5% because they have retained their humanity. Guess why he’s at 99%……

  150. 150.

    Ruckus

    @lamh47:

    JML at #60 said it very well. So many parts of healthcare these days are far better than in the lifetimes of many of us. The knowledge and experience of making life better in medicine is far, far better than it was early in the lifetimes of us old farts. Things that were not even imagined 50-60 years ago are now routine, in every side of healthcare.

  151. 151.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Geminid: subject, verb, object. Cops throwing tear gas at cars. Provocateurs throwing rocks and bricks. ( not sure who). Ice or cops or NG  shooting rubber bullets at journalists on purpose, causing injuries to nonviolent people.

    i suspect the violence is coming not from protesters, but mr liar and his teams are blaming us, to get that excuse for using military. Inciting, making it worse.

  154. 154.

    TONYG

    @Ken B: Interesting point.  Both the Army and the Marines — the “boots on the ground” — have a very high percentage of             non-“white” personnel.  But I won’t be surprised if the grunts that are being selected to occupy Los Angeles have been “coincidentally” selected to be almost all “white”.

  155. 155.

    Ruckus

    @RevRick:

    There is a lot going on in this world, and some of it may just be the number of us breathing and walking, which of course is a much bigger number than ever before. That we are all human (some better at human than others…..) is good and can be not so good, if we let our need to survive outweigh others need to survive. We have to work together for the common good. In shitforbrains world we are supposed to work together and tirelessly for his good. But that’s not how it works. Which is of course at least one good reason why he shouldn’t be where he is. But that is where we are. I also believe that is the two sides to our politics – one side is for the common good and one side is more for the singular/selfish good. Which is which should be obvious.

  156. 156.

    TONYG

    @eclare: Yes.  Of course when Keynes said “in the long run we’re all dead”, he was mocking the right-wing economists who were telling each other that the Great Depression would solve itself in the long run.  He was advocating or immediate government action to alleviate the suffering of ordinary people.

  157. 157.

    TONYG

    @Baud: What pisses me the most about Joni Ernst’s non-apology in the graveyard was her little sermon about how she has achieved eternal life through her faith in Jesus Christ.  Fuck her.  I would pay good money to see Jesus come back and beat the shit out of “religious” assholes like her.

  159. 159.

    Ruckus

    @japa21:

    Most humans have short(ish) attention spans. Most humans also have the ability to remember at least one grave assault or distraction. I know, have heard this as “this sticks out in my mind,” a few times when I was a mental health counselor.

    Often that distraction is replaced by another, at least eventually. The thought isn’t lost, mainly just pushed farther back in memory, possibly losing some status in the memory vault. Some have more of these memories – which can be a clue to the lives they’ve led. Which can be important in a mental health situation.

  160. 160.

    Ruckus

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    Think it would help?

    For some, absolutely it would.

    For some, it absolutely would not.

    It is after all – humanity, all its sides, levels and yes, humanity.

  161. 161.

    Geminid

    @Gloria DryGarden: The Los Angeles Times published a good article yesterday titled, “Protesters or agitators: who is driving chaos at L.A. immigration protests?” It’s not an op-ed but rather a fairly detailed piece of reporting.

    I will try to link it:

    https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-10/protesters-or-agitators-who-are-drivers-of-chaos-at-immigrations-protests

    The LA Times had another article where they interviewed some business owners whose stores were looted. They didn’t seem to blame the protesters as a group, but instead held a smaller set of opportunistic criminals responsible.

  163. 163.

    Wilson Heath

    This isn’t a distraction but an expression of policy priorities.  Presuming that deploying troops isn’t about wanting to start a race war in the 2nd largest city in the country that is predominantly Latino (and very blue) is like missing water falling out of a boat.

  164. 164.

    Ruckus

    @TONYG:

    You are missing the point of Christianity. Of most religions.

    You have heaven. And hell. Or the equivalent of them. A good or bad place to end up, which is entirely your own decision in how you live your life.

    The concept takes more than just faith in that it exists. The book is full of stories and concepts that it exists. It is the belief that they exist and are opposites that is the entire book. Every religion I’ve seen has the same concept – but with different examples and concepts of why and how. This is humanity explaining why it is better to be good than a piece of crap. And giving it a concept that can never be proven that it exists or doesn’t. And it often actually works. It’s stated differently in different religions but the message is the same – don’t be a pompous arrogant jackass because not being one is better. Religion is real – or not, is not the point. Being a better human being, making better decisions about others is the point. Giving you an individual reason and path is the process. You don’t need a religion to give you this, but those religions give you a positive path if you can’t figure this out or give yourself one. This is a reason why so many see religion as a path. I was sent to an all boys technical high school run by a religion and not the one I was raised in. Catholic. Next door to a seminary. One of the priests was a damn good human and one was the exact opposite. All the others in the middle. The good one didn’t care that I wasn’t Catholic. He cared that I was a good human. He got respect. Still does decades later. His opposite was a pompous arrogant ass who at least presented himself as the next in line to be – no not god, but a dictator. I feel no different about him decades later than I did then. At least it was a good place to see the possible differences in being an adult human. That year in HS was actually good for me, what I wrote above has stood up my entire life. We aren’t the same. Some of us are good, some are pure shit. I was lucky to see both at the same time, to see that difference, to be able to see it so obviously that there was no question as to which direction is better.

  165. 165.

    Ruckus

    @Wilson Heath:

    is like missing water falling out of a boat

    You can miss the water if that boat is on a trailer going down the road at 60 mph. Which is one of the possible concepts of shitforbrains. Seemingly very little of whatever it is that rattles around in that brain makes a lot of sense, if for no other reason than it is always about him. ALWAYS.

    I believe that it is important that we see this – his belief that the world rotates around him. That he is the leader of all, not just the president. That his throne is higher than anyone else’s and especially higher than all of us that have no throne. And no I don’t believe that anything in that whatever it is on top his shoulders is rational and reasonable. Cause if it’s a brain – it needs, and has needed for a very long time now, not a tune up but a complete overhaul. And unfortunately that is unavailable.

  166. 166.

    Matt McIrvin

    @jlowe:

    I think the Democrats will spend the next few decades in the minority.

    oh, and by the way, there is no possible world in which the Democrats “spend the next few decades in the minority” and then are allowed to come back. The options are (1) we start winning sooner than that or (2) we get rounded up and shot.

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