So this happened yesterday:
I mean this is what it would sound like if you asked a fourth grader to imagine what a ceasefire would be like. and yet our entire political class is committed to never mentioning that the man is an imbecile
— Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) June 23, 2025 at 11:58 PM
And then this madness a few hours later:
And then this tweet-scream moments ago:
Maybe while I was putting pig stickers on my screenshots to spare y’all the sight of his hideous visage, Trump emitted even more crazypants stuff. I don’t know. I’m not going to look.
This is, of course, insane.
Open thread!
On The Road – beckya57 – Copper Canyon, Mexico, April 2025
Baud
Did Israel and Iran come to him with tears in their eyes?
Baud
I hope there’s a hell where everyone who didn’t vote for Hillary or Kamala is forced to hear them laugh in stereo for eternity.
Suzanne
About sums up the way I feel about the last ten years.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I played trivia last night and then didn’t look at the news until I got up a short while ago. Somebody help me. Is there still a cease fire or not?
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Yep, that one tweet had almost all the hallmarks of a Sir story.
Baud
BREAKING NEWS FROM CNN: DESPITE CONTROVERSY, BIDEN CONTINUES TO AGE!
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Stop asking trick questions.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The latest in the AP feed:
Might as well ask a Magic 8 Ball.
satby
So, to brighten our day for at least as long as reading the story takes, here’s some good news snippets from the saint of Thailand’s street dogs, Niall Harbison. He’s really done heroic work. And he does it while battling clinical depression.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: @Betty Cracker: Okay. Thanks.
The terrible thing is, obviously I want the war to stop, but there’s also a tiny part of me that doesn’t want Trump to have a win
Shalimar
@Betty Cracker: That story seems pretty clear. Trump gave them a deadline to ceasefire so there was a ceasefire but no one else actually agreed to it so he sent them both to bed without supper and put their cellphones in a safe until they learn to behave.
Baud
Nobel keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future.
lowtechcyclist
Too bad Trump doesn’t coerce the FTFNYT and the FTFWaPo into publishing at least one of his tweets from the previous day on their respective front pages. It would make it a LOT harder for them to keep pretending he bears any remote resemblance to a rational human being.
Shalimar
@Baud: Donald Trump Nobel Peace Prize nomination withdrawn
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
Thank you. The lift was much needed. Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision gutted me. So cruel and lawless.
Betty
I want to put love emojis on Comments #8 and 12. Thank you.
rikyrah
Jackal mayim has a GoFundMe me up.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mayim-after-job-loss-and-surgeries
Albatrossity
Sadly, the cult members will believe that he has single-handedly wrought peace to the Middle East…
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Force them to Wear a shirt everyday with:
THEY WERE RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!!
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: Yeah, that’s why I bookmarked his stupid feed on his stupid social media site — so I can read it for myself. Even mainstream outlets that aren’t wholly owned subsidiaries of the GOP sane-wash Trump’s ravings.
Baud
The funny thing is, Trump’s best shot at a Nobel would require him to stand up to Putin over Ukraine. But he can’t do it.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
Someone must re-publish them somewhere that would enable us to read them without having to go to his own antisocial medium. After all, since it’s been ruled that his tweets are official government documents or some such, copyright law shouldn’t apply.
Bupalos
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I really don’t think there’s any way Trump can “win” or “lose” here. He and the U.S. have had little to do with this war outside our traditional inertia. If you’re hoping for a “quagmire” that affects public opinion in meaningful ways, I think that is incredibly unlikely. I also don’t think Trump can derive much of any political benefit from realistic outcomes.
All of the politics here are more complicated than we’re used to thinking.
RevRick
@Baud: Yes! And they both called him Sir. Though they both curiously misspelled it Cur.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I still remember that photo from some international conference where Putin’s looking all smug, and Trump’s looking like a whipped dog.
Given everything that’s already known about Trump, the notion that Putin has some deadly kompromat on him seems all but impossible. And yet.
satby
@lowtechcyclist: political commentators screen capture and publish them all the time on Substack. I’m finding Substack to be a valuable news source. I just block the obvious RW crap, same as on any other site.
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: I am unclear on the extortion claims, but the explanation for all the sucking up could be down to simple admiration — Trump wants a Putin-style murderous kleptocracy for himself.
Scout211
. . .
Am I the only one who feels like we are trapped in a bad reality TV series?
Baud
We need a Democratic Trump.
Librettist
@Betty Cracker:
I guess Fox didn’t get the memo.
Is the battle of L.A. over?
Baud
Central Planning
@Baud: Thank you for your attention to this matter!
zhena gogolia
Not only can’t I look at still pictures of him or watch video of him, I find I CANNOT read these tweets. I’m going to call them tweets because I refuse to call them truths.
Another Scott
Good morning.
Melon apparently is starting his low-key robotaxi stuff in Austin soon. I’m a huge skeptic that he’s going to quickly be successful and use it to turn Tesla into a world-conquering juggernaut.
DW.com has a story about VW’s efforts, with a lot of background on what’s going on in China. There’s a lot of work being done, so maybe there are players that are making real progress – at least on limited routes. It still seems to me like the economics doesn’t make sense and a lot of money is being set on fire. I also remember that the pioneers often don’t win – it’s the “fast followers” who learn from the pioneers’ mistakes…
Worth a click.
Best wishes,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
Everyone who voted for this should burn in hell.
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
I’ve been leery of Substack ever since I typed in my email to subscribe to Krugman’s substack, and the site filled in my credit card number.
Fortunately it was a credit card number that was no longer valid, but that’s never happened to me at any other site, before or since. And since I was on a relatively new laptop that I’d bought a couple years after that credit card had expired, it’s hard to imagine that Substack could have pulled that number off my laptop. So I have as little to do with Substack as I can manage.
Anyway, I figure there should be a site, on Substack or wherever, that republishes all of his ‘truths’ and doesn’t do a whole lot else to wade through. Rather than if I read enough different substacks, I’ll see most of them.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Bupalos: I’m not hoping for a quagmire. I’m happy (and relieved) to find I’m not that big a hater yet. I just want Trump humiliated. Which it sounds like maybe I’m getting.
satby
@Scout211: well, his own words have got to be scaring even Iran and Israel, because it’s obvious that he’s bugfuck nuts and could decide to nuke them if he gets peeved enough. That may be the only hope, that he starts to scare the other crazies.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
You can say it. You’re happy your not Baud. It’s ok. I can take it.
TS
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
The only ceasefire was celebrated by trump and the
trustingidiotic media who believed him. Numerous world leaders pretended it was all wonderful.satby
@lowtechcyclist: it was probably either Apple or Google wallet, not Substack. Depending on your platform of choice.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud: Plane wave!
Professor Bigfoot
@satby: A thousand thanks; I needed that this morning.
p.a.
Which Louisiana pol (Huey Long?) once said (paraphrase) “the only way I can lose is to be caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy”?
NOTHING will phase MAGA. I think the “we thought you weren’t interventionist” by some is performance art. Nothing will phase the “Supreme” fucking Court either.
jimmiraybob
@Baud: ”’The two countries ‘don’t know what the fuck they’re doing’, …” And so sayeth the Lord’s Chosen Savior.
I salt many a sentence with derivations of “fuck.” Especially in the Trum/MAGA era. A very Christian friend of mine chastised me once when I let one slip in her presence. I told her that “fuck” was just adding an exclamation point to a discussion. It is no longer spoken of between us.
Matt McIrvin
Trump could have just made some Churchillian bluster about how we need to pay any price, bear every burden etc. and the papers would have been slobbering on him and pumping it up as The Day Trump Became President for at least another year. Instead he’s gotten to a Strangeloveian comedy fail condition within the week.
I guess he actually thought he could genuinely end this war just by dropping some bombs and saying it was over.
princess leia
@lowtechcyclist:
I just deactivated my whole substack as you can’t remove a card (only give a new one) once you use one to get a paid subscription. It stays in your profile. So bye.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
The papers will still slobber.
different-church-lady
HEY DUMBFUCK: PRESIDENTING IS HARDER THAN “EVERYONE DO WHAT I SAY OR I’M GOING TO BE ANGRY!”
satby
@O. Felix Culpa: @Professor Bigfoot: you’re both very welcome! My bank account is LITERALLY zero right now, so I can’t donate to anything, but Niall’s work, WCK, and United 24 are my regular donations when I get some scratch. No better use of my money than them!
And mayim too, this weekend I hope.
jimmiraybob
@p.a.: “Which Louisiana pol (Huey Long?) once said (paraphrase) ‘the only way I can lose is to be caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy’?”
Wasn’t he stopped by a bullet? Disclaimer: I am not advocating violence.
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
Never used either of the above, or anything similar. I’m perfectly happy to type in my credit card number, expiration date, and security code for every online purchase.
different-church-lady
@Baud: I’m glad you are who you are.
Because that means I don’t have to be.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Is your browser logged into a Microsoft, Google, or Apple account? Your browser probably automatically saved your credit card info and transferred it to your new computer.
Librettist
His left eye has gone all woggly.
Guy is shambolic, and Susie Wiles is starting to look rough around the gills.
Watching endless Fox News and living on McD’s is bad for your health.
rikyrah
@zhena gogolia:
Yes
Betty Cracker
@Scout211: We are trapped in a terrible reality show. Also, “plane wave”?!? WTF?
lowtechcyclist
@princess leia:
I wasn’t even planning to buy a paid subscription – I figured Krugman is doing well enough that he doesn’t need my money. I was just going to do the free subscription, but even before the point of choosing free v. paid, my (old) credit card number was already there.
I don’t have any sort of Substack account AFAIK, this was the first time I was going to subscribe to anyone’s Substack. I don’t even know what it would mean to deactivate my Substack; other than just following links to various people’s Substacks, I’d never done anything there that would have resembled an activation.
satby
@Baud: surrender. I’m not up for a repeat of yesterday.
princess leia
@lowtechcyclist: Oh, that is so interesting! I need to check this out as well. Hmmmm
New Deal democrat
@O. Felix Culpa:
In that case, you probably should avoid the news for the next 10 days, until the Court’s term is over, so you can get the bad news over with all at once.
Not only, as Steve Vladeck pointed out, was yesterday’s “shadow docket” ruling issued without any reasoning at all, but *all* of the centuries’ old yardsticks for deciding on injunctive relief strongly militated against the Administration’s position.
And if this is what they are doing now, imagine what the even more consequential rulings before they end their term are going to be like.
And the birthright citizenship case is still pending before them.
Scout211
This BBC live feed is better than the US news live feeds:
This from one of their reporters:
Left out, but implied: “Because everything is always about Trump’s ego.”
princess leia
@lowtechcyclist: Me, either, but there was a page that had all the subscriptions I did have even though I didn’t choose to have an account.
RandomMonster
That one got me, too.
Deputinize America
“I completely trashed a rules based global economic and order and compliance by consensus, and it all blew up in my face like all the shifting alliances among the Great Men prior to the Great War. How was I to know that this would happen?”
Bupalos
@Betty Cracker: I think this is right and maybe doesn’t even extend to the second phrase there. Trump wants to live in the same world with Putin and be a member of that club that understands that all talk of “justice” or “mutual benefit” is just a trick and that force should prevail, that might is right.
I don’t think Trump can’t actually “share values” with another human being, but some humans are probably less bewildering to him than others.
O. Felix Culpa
@New Deal democrat: Yeah, I read Vladeck’s analysis too. The Roberts court has left Taney in the dust. With malice aforethought.
frosty
Can I come sit by you?
Soprano2
@Betty Cracker: It’s almost as if he doesn’t pay attention to anything except himself, or he would have known this would be violated almost immediately.
We have a president who communicates like a child, and yet the press seems to believe it’s verboten to ever mention that.
Layer8Problem
I’m sorry, but a sitting United States President using the word “Fuck” in a sentence? We’ve gone considerably past the hard and fast Beige Suit Red Line and are hurtling toward outright general disagreeableness. I expect firm brow-mopping editorials from the Times, the Post, and the Wall Street Journal expressing concern with this administration’s tone.
In the meantime the juggling with lit sticks of dynamite continues. And people are dying and being rounded up and tossed into who knows where.
Soprano2
@lowtechcyclist: I have to wonder how many people even know he communicates like this. If you aren’t online a lot and following politics, you might never see it. He doesn’t seem nearly as unhinged if you just see short clips of him talking to the press or giving a speech. We assume “everyone” knows about it, but I suspect many don’t.
Jeffro
I’m sorry – I can’t help but laugh at this insanity. He just gets dumber by the day and his cultists are like, “SOOPER JENIUS!!1!”
ai-yi-yi
Jeffro
LOLOL
Maybe we should come up with a new honor for His Orange Eminence: the IgNobel ? The UnNobel? The NeverBeenNobel?
Bupalos
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I guess I’d just say the real stakes in this sense are extremely low. I don’t think he is going to end up particularly humiliated or triumphant, and it won’t be over durable realities.
The Iranian regime has been massively downgraded and destabilized by Israel, though to unpredictable end. Trump has jumped on to this at the last second because of his narcissistic envy and FOMO. The main real outcome from the point of the US is going to be further degradation of the international system that is the actual basis of our power. The domestic political outcome no matter the twists and turns is likely to be just more inconclusive drama that plays to ever harder polarization, the slow march to loss of democratic capacity.
BlueGuitarist
@p.a.:
Louisiana governor Edwin Edward, for the “in bed with” quote;
also the campaign slogan “vote for the lizard not the wizard” when he beat David Duke.
Soprano2
No, you are not. FFOTUS treats everything like it’s a bad reality show.
charon
@lowtechcyclist:
It isn’t substack that associates your email with a credit card number, it’s your browser identity. (Google if you use gmail).
Jeffro
which is all well and good, but trump is trump, which makes any scenario where he does something smart or good a category error
and that’s because…#ETTD
Ramalama
@satby: wow, lovely! Thanks for the link.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I would not know what it would mean for my browser (Firefox, in this case) to be logged into a MS or Google account. (I have no Apple computers.) If it is, it’s something that’s happening in the background and I haven’t had to deal with since I set up this laptop. I know each of my computers has its own MS account; seems that if you’re on a non-Apple PC, you have to have one just to exist. But other than importing bookmarks, I don’t think there’s any connection between Firefox on my previous (now defunct) laptop and Firefox on this one.
Also, let’s put it like this: suppose the credit card number that showed up on Substack ended in 1234. (All numbers fake, of course.) It got canceled in 2021, and was replaced by a credit card number ending in 3456. I got this laptop in 2023, purchasing it with the 3456 credit card. And in 2024, that number got canceled, and my current number ends in 5678. If any credit card number had been moved over to my current laptop by some background process, one would expect it to be the one ending in 3456. But it was 1234 that showed up in Substack.
None of this makes sense.
Jeffro
Is trump aware that Israeli pilots in the middle of an attack run probably aren’t checking in on his tweets every 30 seconds?
He literally thinks that tweeting/shouting into the void is the fastest and best way to get something done. No, Donnie – it’s just the most satisfying way for you to vent your spleen.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: Well… we DO have an “Independent” Trump– that will have to do.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Don’t know. My credit card number is saved in my browser so it auto fills on payment screens. Once saved, it stays there until removed. I’m also logged in, so the credit card syncs with other devices.
The only other way I can think of that could save a credit card number is cookies.
Baud
LOL
Another Scott
@Scout211: I’m reminded of a certain story:
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jeffro
I already know what my sign’s gonna say at the next “No Kings” event:
OBAMA STILL HAS *HIS* NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jeffro: LOL. Good one!
evodevo
@RandomMonster: I’m presuming at some point in the last decade he’s seen AF fighters wobble their wings up and down in what’s known as a “wing wave”.
YY_Sima Qian
@Another Scott: Wuhan is one of 20 Chinese cities designated for large scale trials of autonomous taxis. Baidu’s Apollo Go has a fleet of 1K vehicles in Wuhan alone. Several of the newer districts (w/ more modern urban planning & wider roads) are open for the autonomous taxis, but not the old urban core.
We live in one of the districts open to autonomous taxis, & the Apollo Go vehicles are a ubiquitous sight. I have taken a few rides myself, pretty impressive, especially the 2nd gen cars (the trial service was only introduced in late 2023). There is seamless integration w/ the hailing APP (you can preset the temp. control of different zones, or turn on the seat heating/cooling, before the car arrives, for example). The UI to the vehicle integrates Baidu’s ErnieBot AI LLM (probably the least impressive among the plethora of Chinese AI models), & most control functions can be commanded by voice using natural language. I find the driving to be rather cautious, much more so than the “autonomous” driving features available in Chinese NEVs, especially Huawei & XPeng, which do a convincing job of impersonating “experienced drivers” (“老司机”, as Chinese call it).
catclub
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
my answer to ‘or’ questions: Yes.
Layer8Problem
At least with regard to Israel making them stop doing stuff is as simple as picking up a phone or a stroke of a pen or something, which Biden somehow never managed to do with regard to Gaza because of bad debate performance or poor messaging. I can’t imagine why President I’m A Dealmaker I Make the Best Deals can’t use the powerful tools presidents have at their disposal to make Netanyahu stop what he’s doing and cease the firing.
As for Iran, he should try that steely Mussonliniesque glare he uses in his official photographs in Federal buildings. That can’t fail.
brendancalling
Weird. The Bezos Post —always an honest broker—says it’s a “shaky ceasefire.” Surely they’re not playing things down. [eye roll emoji here]
Scout211
Trump actually has a whole national security team to handle the negotiations. You know, like Secretary of State Little Marco. But he loves to stroke his own ego and craft a version of his power and competency through his social account to the public and to the press. He and his social minions who post for him are dedicated to making him look like a world leader destined for that Nobel Peace Prize.
I think NBC Entertainment division has a hell of a lot to answer for.
BlueGuitarist
In addition to the NYC mayoral primary today, Bolts has background re other mayoral primaries: Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, plus NYC Council primaries:
https://boltsmag.org/whats-on-the-ballot/guide-to-elections-in-june-2025/
@taniel will have updates on BlueSky
Bupalos
@Jeffro: Trump isn’t stupid or getting stupider. He does not have the interests of the United States in mind, nor the interests of Israel, Iran, Russia, what have you. He isn’t capable of that.
He’s made a move that he had to make to attach himself to ‘successful’ Israeli action, mostly because something was happening that was not about him. He didn’t really have a choice. The outcomes (outside of further erosion of domestic democracy and a manageable international system) are unpredictable.
I think a lot of the “this was such a stupid decision because X, Y, Z” are pretty fraught when X, Y, Z are just polarized contentions about kinetic outcomes versus counterfactuals, and they encourage us to look past what we do know. Did it avert a nuclear detonation or make one more likely… will it bring greater freedom to Iran or further entrench the regime or bring a collapse and violent chaotic void… Really we don’t know. I think the most important point that should be made politically is that this was an action that was clearly not supported by domestic consensus. It was really more of a violation in that sense than the Iraq war.
TS
@ Betty Cracker
TY for this post – at a time when I shouldn’t, it did make me laugh – it is impossible to believe that this person really is the president of the United States, it is also impossible to believe that the US media diligently reports all he says as gospel truth and diligence in action. I can see no sanity in anything he says & does but the laughter stops me collapsing into tears.
Baud
@BlueGuitarist:
If polls are accurate, it’ll take several rounds of counting to declare the winner, so we won’t know for a few days, right?
glc
@brendancalling: Your sarcasm makes my teeth ache.
Not a complaint, but a curious observation.
I guess it was a clenched jaw, it passed immediately.
different-church-lady
Emperor’s New Clothes.
catclub
@Bupalos:
Yep, in the old days the first thing a President would say about some action is: “All of our allies on this think it is great and they are backing us 10,000%” Even the Iraq invasion. Did not have to be true, but it was still said.
and that was not by accident.
Another Scott
@YY_Sima Qian: Thanks for the local flavor!
I’m of two minds on this stuff.
500 years from now, this stuff will be routine. Until then, it’s anyone’s guess. The folks wanting to make a fortune investing in Mongolfier Balloons probably would have done better investing in farm land…
Thanks again.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Layer8Problem
@Jeffro: Cease fires involve at least a phone call or two between relevant or interested diplomats and take a few minutes minimum to set up. Bomber pilots usually are in direct contact with those folks back home who sign their paychecks on the off-chance someone there changes their mind and wants them to come back.
catclub
ye of little faith. It is not so hard.
Think about how stupid the ‘average American’ is.
Now realize that half the population is even stupider.
cmorenc
@Baud:
We thought we finally had the killer D app when Obama won in 2008.
Chief Oshkosh
@Dorothy A. Winsor: As Trump SHOULD be learning (but never will), the Israelis are going to do whatever the fuck they want to do — just like us on any given day.
Bupalos
@Layer8Problem: “This is a big fucking deal” is a complete sentence. And a good one.
OK, not a sitting president.
different-church-lady
@catclub: Until you open the box the answer is simultaneously yes and no.
different-church-lady
@Baud: So… a Super Bernie?
lowtechcyclist
@Soprano2:
Since I only see his tweets when a front-pager pastes one in here, or when someone else quotes one and links to it, I figure most people have no idea what he sounds like in his tweets. But the ones I’ve read, he almost always sounds like an eight year old having a tantrum.
I wish there was a way to expose the wider public to his tweets, since the mass media, which should be doing so, has no interest in publishing them.
different-church-lady
@Soprano2:
He doesn’t?
prostratedragon
@lowtechcyclist:
Chilling about substack.
Possible data sources for 🤡 on his site:
Factbase archive at RollCall;
Python script at github that automatically scrapes the site for regular updates.
different-church-lady
HE’S ONLY INTERESTED IN THE PHOTO OP, YOU DOPES!
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I read that it might take up to a week to sort the NYC primary vote, but who knows? (Weird race when you’ve got the “Libs of TikTok” domestic terrorism enthusiast endorsing the same candidate as Bill Clinton and James Clyburn.)
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Libs of TT is obviously trolling. I don’t care who one supports, anyone who bases their vote on LOTT is part of the problem.
hueyplong
@p.a.: I’ll guess it was Edwin Edwards
ETA: I see this has already been clarified. Sorry.
Lyrebird
@Baud: BLESS YOU with all the noodles you want!
Bupalos
@Scout211: With the proviso that I’m not saying Trump does this strategically….
His just shouting shit out on the internet is of a piece with the political success he’s had. Its easy to understand (even if it’s basically more understandable the less you know) and is essentially conducting politics out in the open. It also is probably somewhat… effective??…. in international diplomacy terms because taking a public position like that has a certain game-theory “I’m not bluffing” value to it. Trump is continually handcuffing himself to the building with this stuff.
lowtechcyclist
@catclub:
Actually, Iraq was the exception. We had the “coalition of the willing,” remember that? And the French were “cheese-eating surrender monkeys.”
YY_Sima Qian
@Another Scott: Atrios is wrong. Road conditions can get crazy in the PRC, & lane markings not always present, even in the newer districts. Whether Tesla can get to truly autonomous driving w/ vision only, I am skeptical.
Apollo Go & Pony.ai has not had many accidents at all during these trials. As for the “autonomous driving” features of Chinese passenger vehicles, I would trust Huawei & XPeng, more than Li Auto or Xiaomi. As highly capable assisted driving features under close supervision of the drivers, however, all of them are fine, including BYD’s God’s Eye.
There is a reason the PRC government implemented regulations limiting advertising of these highly capable assisted driving features in passenger vehicles, banning the use of such language as “autonomous driving”, “self driving”, “hands free”, etc., so that consumers do not use them as such. This happened after a bad crash of a Xiaomi SU7 while on “self driving” mode, killing 3 university students. The accident & the regulations came out weeks before the Shanghai Auto Show 2025, so all of the Chinese brands that one upped another on “smart driving” features during Beijing Auto Show 2024 were much more circumspect this year.
Bupalos
I feel like this is naive, but in a very noble way.
Trump’s mode of communication works very well for him politically. He pays some price for the crudeness, but I think nothing like the price that we pay for our triangulations and opacity.
catclub
@lowtechcyclist: I agree we had much less support from our allies for Iraq than usual, but ‘the coalition of the willing’ was still an important part of the messaging – our allies on this from around the world.
In contrast to Trump never mentioning any allies or their opinions.
different-church-lady
@catclub: Well, that’s because we don’t have any allies anymore.
O. Felix Culpa
@different-church-lady: That made me LOL. Through the tears.
Bupalos
I’d go further, I think it’s a kind of ridiculous proposition. At this point, the only reason Tesla is sticking to the idea that this is possible is because of their stock price. That is largely based on the idea that paying a regular price for a regular tesla, as you might have done anyway, will make money for you– as your car sneaks out at night to go work. They can’t build a car actually geared to this kind of autonomous driving, which of course is more expensive and requires particular features, because of the financial model they have in mind- robotaxi as a free bonus.
It’s silly.
Central Planning
@catclub:
Only if at least one of the possibilities is true :D
ewrunning
The Trump Administration — Where diplomacy becomes dip-lunacy!
lowtechcyclist
@catclub:
True, but I was distinguishing that from:
For Iraq, that was not the case, and the whole point of the “coalition of the willing” was that many of our allies didn’t think it was great, and were backing us negative 100%, so we were having to go with a smaller group of supportive allies than usual.
Soprano2
@Layer8Problem: I have to wonder why Medhi Hassan isn’t hollering about how FFOTUS could just pick up the phone and stop everything that’s happening in Gaza. He said that about Biden, and seemed to actually believe it.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Next you’ll tell me George Santos’ endorsement of Cuomo was trolling too!
Harrison Wesley
“And I would have gotten that Nobel if it weren’t for those two pesky countries… and that stupid dog!”
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I hadn’t heard about that one.
Soprano2
@different-church-lady: Those tweets are a lot more unhinged than when he says a couple of sentences to the press. Not saying those are great, they just don’t sound as crazy.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
From the always witty Frank Conniff:
Scout211
Hey, there are always DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! to be made. They will all come back once Trump finishes dealing all those deals with them. Dealing deals is an art, some people say, and HE ALONE will deal all those big beautiful deals. I heard there’s a book about it. And maybe even a TV show. Oh no, that show was about firing people. I hope he doesn’t get those two mixed up.
BlueGuitarist
@Baud:
Probably so for NYC mayor, might have results for some of the others tonight.
Daoud bin Daoud
@Betty Cracker: a Magic 8 ball would be more reliable.
Bill Arnold
@Librettist:
Source for this? (I track such things.)
Baud
Today is the third anniversary of Dobbs.
A bunch of House reps on my Blue sky feed remember.
chemiclord
@Baud: No we absolutely do not.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I saw it on Bluesky but have no idea if it’s true or not. Same with the TikTok Terror lady.
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: The only thing I’d rank that corrupt sex pest for would be placement in history’s dung heap. But I don’t get a say from the swamp.
Layer8Problem
@Soprano2: Kay might have a theory.
Layer8Problem
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Just voted. Didn’t.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: Remember “You forgot Poland!” ?
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Maybe it’s all parody.
hueyplong
@Daoud bin Daoud: Say what you will about the Magic 8 Ball, but it doesn’t act in bad faith.
Matt McIrvin
@cmorenc: A charismatic leader’s support often doesn’t generalize beyond the charismatic leader. We have a hard time thinking of Trump as being in the “charismatic leader” category but he is.
Obama was definitely one of them as well. Ronald Reagan. Bill Clinton, he could manage “it” sometimes but was not an Obama-level phenomenon.
Not charismatic leaders: Jimmy Carter, either Bush, Joe Biden, all the candidates who lost. The Bushes used war as an artificial charisma booster and that only works for a little while.
Geminid
Especially if you have the Captain Queeg Special Edition Magic 8 Ball.
Sandia Blanca
@Bupalos: Ooh, that would make a great plot device for a murder mystery! Car sneaks out at night, and the hapless owner is shocked to discover a body in the back seat the next morning.
PatD
@Soprano2: I think the logical answer is that Mehdi Hassan thinks the left has more influence over Joe Biden than Trump. And it’s true that Biden gave Israel everything it wanted on Gaza from arms to diplomatic and PR support.
Layer8Problem
@PatD: Ok, not worth protesting then I guess.
WTFGhost
Man. It’s almost like Bibi and Iran have no respect for Trump.
Like, Bibi launched his surprise attack, without warning Trump, knowing he’d try to soak up some glory for himself. And then Iran learned you can never trust Trump, saying they had time to negotiate before he attacked.
Matt McIrvin
@Librettist:
My permanently woggly left eye is one of the reasons I’ll never run for public office.
KrackenJack
@jimmiraybob: Well, that sent me down the Wikipedia rabbit hole…
George
@p.a.:
What you note about nothing phasing MAGA is so very true, and that is the challenge that sane Americans face. There is no way to debate the GOP rationally at this point. It is bent on destroying America, full stop.
How does one fight a cult? Especially one that has a complacent media and a complicit Supreme Court on its side?
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
A magic 8 Ball is smarter than shitforbrains. First of all it doesn’t have shit for a brain. Second of all it doesn’t have his personality or his asinine view of himself or the world that he believes rotates around the stick up his butt. Third, it’s far smarter and correct far more often. Fourth it doesn’t have the personality of a full 30 gallon garbage can. That’s been sitting out in the sun for a week. Fifth, if I have to write about shitforbrains any more today I may throw up…..
WTFGhost
@different-church-lady: And he wants to leave before people are on camera, laughing at/about him.
WTFGhost
Fourth, it doesn’t have the personality of 30 full megadumpsters full of pet waste, set on fire.
Not a “fix,” just a suggestion :-)
Ruckus
@George:
Well it’s actually trying to remake the US and the world into the picture of humanity it has stuffed somewhere/anywhere besides the minimal brain functionality that each one of them seem to actually have. Which is a view of the world that has never actually existed but which they think should replace the view that they believe Adam and Eve had of the world. Which is that they are the only true humans, who think their solid exhaust doesn’t stink, that everyone else must be wrong, and that we must all bow down to their “greatness,” which is that they can take pure bullshit and turn it into, well, a lot more pure bullshit. They think they are the top of humanity but that is because their view is as if they are at the bottom of a full 40 gallon garbage can of animal waste trying to look out and imagine that the are the smartest, bestest, most human of humans – because they must be smart to be able to imagine a world made up of all their garbage and waste. And which they can’t imagine why everyone else can’t see that their world is the supreme world that everyone else should embrace while enjoying all their imagined superiority of a strict, garbage (and solid human waste) filled life.
This is a rather limited view of what the world actually is but then it seems it would be difficult to actually have a rational view of anything, the above considered. And where they’ve parked their heads….
Ruckus
@WTFGhost:
Read my comment below yours, I believe we are on the same page, we just describe it in different manners. Plus 30 mega dumpsters would make a very, very smelly world, and while I believe they stink, I think the world, as a whole, does not. And I’ve traveled to a lot of the world in my lifetime and met more than a few humans, and while absolutely there is a not insignificant percentage of humans that seem to have their heads located in their exit ports (the most common explanation of what comes out of their minds and mouths) most of us do not. A too large portion for sure, but not most of us. Now that may be my experience but I’ve traveled and seen a lot of this country and planet and met a lot of people from several continents and many countries and while every place has it’s minimally human humans, it ain’t close to all of us.
dnfree
@jimmiraybob: I will say “fuck this” or “fuck that” or “fuck him and the horse he rode in on”, but it would take a lot for me to say “fuck you” directly to anyone.
brantl
@Baud: democratic Trump isn’t possible it seems like we test for a minimum IQ on the minimum IQ that required for Trump as the same as the maximum IQ.
brantl
@Librettist: We can hope McD’s are bad for your health.
artem1s
@satby:
Cheney had the nads to scare the crazies into submission. Orange Dumbfuck only makes everything worse. He’s a catalyst for chaos. He’s the dad perpetually screaming ‘dont’ make me come back there’ while everyone laughs at him. He drops nukes on dumpster fires hoping for the crowd to cheer.
Basically he’s in the ‘please clap’ phase of his presidency.
Bill Arnold
@Bupalos:
Are you seriously normalizing Mr. Trump’s Truth Social postings?
They are not the output of a competent mind. In the corporate world, if he were a CEO he would be promptly fired for many of them.
(Excepting those (which appear to be) written by the more intelligent of his henchmen, mimicking his style.)
Emily B.
I should know better, but am still flabbergasted by this weaselly response from the WaPo’s media critic, Erik Wemple, to a question from a reader: “When do you think we will begin seeing reporting on Trump’s physical and/or mental decline?” Gift Link.
Wemple’s response: “There’s no way I’m ducking this question, in part because you are eloquently articulating a concern that appears to be shared pretty widely out there, Winnie. A few thoughts: 1) It’s early. Trump’s second term hasn’t reached the six-month mark, so media organizations have plenty of time to dig into the trend that you’re citing; 2) Think about how you came to know about the things that you mention in this question: There were quite a bit of mentions of his tripping on the steps to Air Force One, even if it didn’t make the front page of every daily in the country; the “trophy wives” digression at his West Point speech garnered its share of links as well; perhaps the EU-UK confusion didn’t trigger as many items, but then again, that’s more of a misdemeanor slip-up. As I suggested in my story on Biden’s age , the tall order for media orgs is to figure out whether any decline is affecting the president’s ability to engage with his colleagues behind the scenes and participate in deliberations on policy decisions big and small. And remember: Trump has had more interactions with reporters in the early months of his second term than his six immediate predecessors. So there’s more on display for the public to evaluate.”
So….Trump is more on display than his predecessors but the media hasn’t had time to investigate (they’ll get around to it one of these days!). And no one is leaking to the press about Trump being addled behind the scenes. So no story there, I guess.
When someone says, “There’s no way I’m ducking this question,” they are about to duck the question.
Bill Arnold
@Emily B.:
It looks like a ducking.
PatD
@Layer8Problem: who said that? I’m very sure you can check his feed and his publication and find plenty of criticism of Trump on Gaza.
Ruckus
@satby:
I was a mental health counselor – in a prior life…
I met quite a few people that did not have the tools to deal with various parts of life. Because we aren’t born with those tools, we have to learn them, some fully and some only need an introduction. We are humans, and a lot is very often expected of us, and while it’s all humanity, there have been changes in the mental side of living over time, in many ways, shapes and forms. What we do to live today in all the basics is the same, breathe in/out, eat food, exhaust, sleep, grow, decline. It’s the how we do some of those things that changes. Like what we are doing now. Most of us have never met and likely never will, but we can discuss most everything, get and see different points of view, and learn that while most of us are human, some are minimally so and some are far more so. We grow, we are, we decline. Some have long and rewarding long lives and some live like a cousin, for only six months. Some grow in all aspects of life and some learn little. Most of us get what we get and have a life. But I think that life isn’t what we get but how we live that life. Especially with others. How some demand everything and some give it all. We all are a part of life. It’s not just each of us but all the life around us. The animals, the plants, the planet. It’s not that it’s a great design it’s an opportunity. Do it even reasonably well and it is its own reward. Do it unreasonably and often earn the negative reward(s). But not always.
O. Felix Culpa
@Bill Arnold: And quacks like a ducking.
jimmiraybob
@dnfree: I was once walking to a mailbox at night when a pickup with two white guys pulls up yelling shit like, “hey faggot …. we ought to beat the shit out of you faggot.” My simple reply was, “fuck you.” Not very diplomatic but there was a 50-50 chance they’d just move on. Violence ensued. I’ll just say that it did not go well for them. Those were certainly the days.
dnfree
@jimmiraybob: Glad that went well for you! I don’t appear very intimidating so it probably wouldn’t have worked for me.
Layer8Problem
@PatD: “And it’s true that Biden gave Israel everything it wanted on Gaza from arms to diplomatic and PR support.”
And you got the opportunity to put the boot into Genocide Joe again knowing precisely how it went down then, unlike the rest of us in a less distinct world. Take the win love, spike the ball and dance in the end zone if you’d like, because the Trump Administration gives us so few opportunities for cheap thrills and substancive takes.
Always remember, no matter how bad it is now it could only, only have been worse if the other guys had won. And the dead of Gaza are just a helpful debating prop.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
I think it’s even simpler. shitforbrains wants to be Putin. But he is limited by his personality, his brain, his simplicity and his age. He is aging out. We all do it, some better than others, some sooner than others, some far later than others, some far worse than others. He’s in the sooner and far worse club. Add in the not all that smart club and he’s got the trifecta.
RaflW
Trump is seeing how little other countries regard his many LOUD pronouncements on False Social. I think he’s deeply humiliated, which is why he F-bombed before heading to Marine 1 this morning (also, the idea of Trump going to the Hague and then being able to fly home again just … rankles, y’know?).
RaflW
@Baud: Are you saying that’s not Andrew Cuomo?
satby
@Layer8Problem: damn, son; I need a cigarette now. And I don’t smoke.
PatD
@Layer8Problem: Not sure why you insist on putting words in people’s mouth to make arguments that haven’t been made. I have never used the words “Genocide Joe” in my life so that’s now a first.
I think Biden’s handling of Gaza was terrible and he handed Harris a shit sandwich on the issue but in no world is Trump better. So, maybe let’s not treat everyone that happens to disagree with you like they are 3rd party tankies. It’s not right.
Marc
I believe you said you were using Firefox. Go to the right side menu (the 3 stacked lines) click on Settings, followed by Privacy & Security, then look for Cookies and Site Data and click Manage Data. Look for substack.com, select it, then click Remove Selected. That deletes all of the encrypted cookies (stored in a local file on your computer) from substack.com, which may include your old credit card number. You’ll have to login there again.
Layer8Problem
@PatD: On that we can agree: you never said Genocide Joe. I never said that you had.
PatD
@Layer8Problem: don’t be mealy mouthed now. You know what you’re doing when you use that.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@O. Felix Culpa: and utterly lacking in reason.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
trump’s ravings
Is there anything else that comes out of his mouth? For him ravings are normal speech. And that word normal is doing a hell of a lot of heavy lifting. Because nothing about shitforbrains is normal human behavior. N-0-T-H-I-N-G. Not one word out of his mouth, not one “thoughts” in that tiny, minuscule even, almost lifeless lump that is supposed to be a brain. That thing is more like a tumor than any concept of brain.
NaijaGal
@rikyrah: My belated condolences on your loss…
Another Scott
@YY_Sima Qian:
TheRegister on Melon’s Austin dog and pony show:
Sounds like Melon is having trouble getting to even the 95% level…
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.