Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Come on, man.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

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

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

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

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

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

You are here: Home / Politics / Media / Open Thread: Working As… Intended?

Open Thread: Working As… Intended?

by | 135 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

[image or embed]

— Mike Luckovich (@mluckovich.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:40 PM

===

very pleased to see trump collapsing with the public but i have to take issue with the assertion made that trump has accomplished what he said he would do. he distinctly hasn't! news.gallup.com/poll/692879/…

[image or embed]

— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) July 24, 2025 at 5:09 PM

trump promised to lower prices — hasn’t happened.

trump promised that his tariffs would cause an explosion of manufacturing — hasn’t happened.

trump promised to remove criminal illegal immigrants — hasn’t happened.

and the things trump has done — mainly the administrative agenda for Project 2025 — are things he denied he had anything to do with!

if anything, the reason trump is so unpopular is that he had a specific mandate — roll the country back to 2019 — and ignored it in favor of his and his allies autocratic dreams.

Well he said he’d burn the country down to get revenge on his enemies and it seems like he’s done that pretty damn well.

— M in MN (@minnesota-mike.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 5:27 PM

===

wondering how long it takes for the mainstream press to cover these numbers before they abandon the "he's the tribune of the people and the spirit of ordinary, hard-working American taxpayers" pre-framing they all do in their minds before reporting on him

[image or embed]

— Sean T. Collins (@seantcollins.com) July 25, 2025 at 9:34 AM

===

Gallup's been at least a bit GOP friendly (don't mean in the sense of ideological bias just house effects) since 2012. So Trump clocking in with 37% approval seems suboptimal. (For Trump that is …)

[image or embed]

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM


===

===
Well, maybe *this* would change a few minds…

Okely dokely

[image or embed]

— Greg Pinelo (@gregpinelo.bsky.social) July 25, 2025 at 1:49 PM

===

you should do it Mr. President I bet that would show all those liberals and make this go away.

[image or embed]

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 25, 2025 at 12:07 PM

Reader Interactions

135Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Breaking: The Department of Education has reversed course and is releasing all frozen funds – $6.8b nationally, $165m for North Carolina – after we filed suit last week.
    This ends weeks of uncertainty. Our schools can now plan and hire for a strong year ahead.

    — Jeff Jackson (@jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social) Jul 25, 2025 at 3:03 PM

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    REPORTER: Do you maintain that you did not write a letter for Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday? TRUMP: Somebody could’ve written a letter and used my name

    Signed with an autopen, so it doesn’t count?

    Do I have that particular “made up shiny object thing” correct?

  5. 5.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @dmsilev: TRUMP: Somebody could’ve written a letter and used my name

    Like your staff.

    I did have the impression that Trump dictated that letter to one of his minions to make all nice.

  6. 6.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Baud:

    TX Dems have done this kind of thing before over the years, the most recent being in 2021 over voter suppression legislation.

    In 2003, they left in order to thwart a redistricting plan.

  7. 7.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So this is the claim so far on Bill Clinton

    Clinton had handwritten a single paragraph in the album, which read, “It’s reassuring isn’t it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing, adventures and [illegible word], and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friends.”

    That reads to me like “Hey dude, your’ fooling no one”

  9. 9.

    waspuppet

    Has any reporter, anywhere, said “Hey, for someone who didn’t know or support Project 2025 your administration so far is sure looking like they’re following it and you seem pretty happy about it”?

  10. 10.

    mappy!

    Odd. Mainstream media plays fluff-ball with Taco’s antics and edicts and yet somehow people notice. Whatever they aren’t doing, it’s working…

    (Greg Sargent – Gallup) Overall approval:

    On immigration: 38%
    On economy: 37%
    On trade: 36:
    Federal budget: 29%

    Groceries. Obit: He was taken by a loaf of bread…

  11. 11.

    Geminid

    @dmsilev: My personal opinion is that someone other than Trump wrote that letter, that someone being Ghislaine Maxwell.

    But I don’t think this matters. Trump signed the letter, and now he owns it and its contents.

    And Maxwell knew of what she wrote, too. At the time, Trump probably saw her words as flattering, not incriminating.

  12. 12.

    H-Bob

    @Chetan Murthy: Does Trump know either of those words?

     

    The polling drops mean nothing; unless the leopards eat a lot of faces, the voters will forget these temporary dissatisfactions with Trump.  Unclear how many faces need to be eaten, as the distaste for Republicans due to the 2008 recession only lasted 2 years (W is the only one still hated).

  13. 13.

    Captain C

    If FFOTUS pardons Ghislaine Maxwell, doesn’t that mean she can’t plead the 5th if she’s being questioned under oath?

  14. 14.

    MattF

    If Maxwell could, somehow, inculpate Obama, then I think Trump would jump at it. Otherwise not so much, IMO.

  15. 15.

    bbleh

    @H-Bob: as opined elsewhere, I think a lotta leopards are going to be nibbling slowly at bits of a lot of faces, nothing dramatic just continued slow erosion, as prices don’t drop noticeably, hiring keeps softening, services are curtailed (Medicaid, FEMA, construction subsidies), and the kidz get cranky again.  And I don’t think some splashy concentration camps are gonna make up for it.

    Not with a bang but a whimper.

  17. 17.

    Hoodie

    @Geminid: Trump may have done the drawing and Maxwell filled in the dialog.  It’s quite likely she wrote the card’s dialog for him and gave it to him to sign, with him adding the suggestive female profile and the cutesy signature/pubic hair.   Its very personal.  Suggests he was intimately friendly with both of them and in on her little joke.  I can see why he would want to suppress that, particularly because he knows how close they were and would be very sensitive to anything that was evidence of that.

    In contrast, the message from Clinton seems pretty anodyne, the kind of thing you expect from someone who is an acquaintance but not really close.  Epstein liked to cultivate an image of being interested in science, so Clinton went with that.

  18. 18.

    bbleh

    @Captain C: I think that’s immunity not pardon. Pardon is for past crimes.  (Although it might apply to those crimes only, as long as it wouldn’t implicate her in others.)

  19. 19.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I guess I’m weird because I very much prefer Ghislaine Maxwell stay in prison for her crimes.

  20. 20.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Captain C: She cannot on anything for which she was pardoned.  She still could for any other potential criminal issues.  Perjury also can be a problem that she needs to look out for.

  21. 21.

    Suzanne

    Y’all know that I am not the most optimistic person ever, but I just might be feeling some glimmers of hope here. We might think that many people can separate their opinions of FFOTUS’s job performance from the Epstein stuff, and some certainly can. But some others are just going to start feeling icky about it, and they’ll be more likely to disapprove of the economy. I know this is irrational, but opinion is a soft and squishy thing.

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    what would we call this if a Democratic president’s henchman installed a commissar at Fox News?

    FCC to appoint a babysitter to CBS

    “One of the things they’re going to have to do is put in an ombudsman in place for two years,” Carr said. “So basically a bias monitor that will report directly to the President. So that’s something that’s significant that we’re going to see happening as well.”

     

    Before the second Trump era, it would’ve been seen as a ridiculous violation of the First Amendment to have some kind of monitor making sure the media was being nice to the president. And to have that monitor reporting directly to the most powerful person in the country makes the entire situation that much worse.

  23. 23.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I’ve said this elsewhere but maybe she might prefer to stay in prison?

    It’s safer in there.  It’s probably not a stretch that one of her victims (or families of victims) owns one or more of the 400-500 firearms in ‘Murka.  Furthermore, if she walks, it might not be much of a stretch that somebody who fits that profile might just be a tad bit upset that “justice wasn’t served” and take it upon themselves to provide a 2nd Amendment solution.

    She’s in a minimum, security prison in Tallahassee but that’s still a lot of concertina wire and guards between her and a pissed off victim with no fucks left to give.

    Also too, and this is an easy bet, I don’t think “Ghislaine” will make it into the Top 10 girl baby names anytime soon.  Or top 100.  If one does see one, look very closely at the family.

  24. 24.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: weak president can’t afford any more unpopularity, is my take

    it’s not like they’re lacking in commitment to destroying education in this country, it’s just that the TIMING is bad right now.  the blessed OPTICS…

  25. 25.

    trollhattan

    Let it be noted today is when Trump stopped pretending and told Bibi to just fucking kill them all.

    “Only a few weeks ago, President Donald Trump seemed confident a deal was days away that would end the fighting in Gaza, secure the release of hostages and allow aid to flow into an enclave where people are starving to death,” CNN reports.

    “Now, Trump’s optimism seems to have vanished. The president pulled back his negotiators from ceasefire talks this week after the US deemed Hamas neither ‘coordinated’ nor ‘acting in good faith.’ And Trump, rather than urging an immediate return to the negotiating table, signaled Friday it was time for Israel to escalate its military campaign, even as images of starving children in Gaza lead to mounting global outrage.”

    Said Trump: “I think they want to die, and it’s very, very bad. It got to be to a point where you’re gonna have to finish the job.”

    Somebody wants them dead, that’s for sure.

  26. 26.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @H-Bob:

    The polling drops mean nothing;

    Try a thought exercise: Imagine that the polling showed 70% support for Trump across all questions – that overall the American people agree with and like what he’s doing on immigration, on tariffs, on inflation/”the economy,” etc. That would be awful on many levels.

    The polling drops are important.

  27. 27.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @trollhattan: I had not heard about this. “I think they want to die…” ?

    Man, that is bad. Yet somehow I doubt we will hear about Shitbird saying this on the 6 o’clock news.

    The Israeli government is doing a bang-up job of making sure everyone else really, really hates them.

  28. 28.

    Suzanne

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    The Israeli government is doing a bang-up job of making sure everyone else really, really hates them. 

    War crimes can have that effect.

  30. 30.

    Phylllis

    @Baud: This is good news. The bad news is, there is a plan for a second rescission package by August 15th to include education funds. Gonna be a fun school year.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    In a diplomatic cable sent July 8, embassy Charge d’Affairs David Greene asked whether the embassy could process claims from other minority groups claiming race-based discrimination such as “coloured” South Africans who speak Afrikaans. In South Africa the term coloured refers to mixed-raced people, a classification created by the apartheid regime still in use today.

    The answer came back days later in an email from Spencer Chretien, the highest-ranking official in the State Department’s refugee and migration bureau, saying the program is intended for white people.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @Phylllis:

    If Congress does it, then that’s the right way to should be done. We can’t protect people from their chosen legislators.

  33. 33.

    Phylllis

    @Baud: You’re right, and from what I’ve read, there’s a group eager to do it. I hold out some hope, as most of these programs are popular with both parties.

  34. 34.

    NeenerNeener

    Anybody got any clues as to why our Coast Guard is trespassing in Canadian waters and grabbing Canadian fisherman? Is TACO trying to start a war with Canada?

  37. 37.

    Shalimar

    @Jeffro: That is not what an ombudsman does.  It’s what the political officer assigned to a Soviet military unit did.

  38. 38.

    Big Fly

    @Jeffro:

    CBS is no Shakespeare, but Thomas Bowdler rises! Like there aren’t enough ghouls and vampires loosed upon us.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    Once the merger goes through, CBS could challenge the condition if they felt comfortable taking on Trump.

  41. 41.

    danielx

    I’m having a difficult time distinguishing between what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza today and what the Germans did to the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. Maybe somebody could explain it to me, like I’m ten years old.

  42. 42.

    New Deal democrat

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @Captain C:

    She cannot on anything for which she was pardoned.  She still could for any other potential criminal issues.  Perjury also can be a problem that she needs to look out for.

    Seconded.

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    @danielx:

    Based on the message discipline I hear from Bibi & Co. it’s basically, “It’s a mystery to us why Hamas is doing the bad things to their own people and forcing us to do all this. Sad.”

    Every. Single. Interview. Also:

    “Why do the nations saying bad things about us never mention October 7?”

    They’re particularly miffed at France ATM and of course, Li’l Marco pretends to be also, too. Literal quote from an Israeli official re. France recognizing a Palestinian state: “They want us all dead.”

  46. 46.

    prostratedragon

    @Baud:  Notice someone else in the thread posted the Fox take on the encounter with Powell. Bizarro.

  47. 47.

    trollhattan

    The hits (to the groin) keep coming.

    A federal appeals court this week struck down California’s landmark law requiring background checks and in-person transactions for ammunition purchases, the latest in a string of judicial wins that have gun rights advocates celebrating. For now, until further legal steps play out, Californians looking for ammo still face the same requirements as before.

    But the opinion by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals follows closely on a separate panel’s ruling against a California law aimed at regulating the marketing of firearms to minors earlier this month, and on a federal court ruling Wednesday allowing gun rights advocates to continue a lawsuit against concealed carry rules in Los Angeles County.

    “We’re on a roll,” said Southern California attorney and gun rights advocate Chuck Michel, who was involved in all three cases. In its 2-1 ruling against the ammunition background checks, the appellate panel said Thursday that by limiting purchases, California’s law effectively limited the rights of gun owners to have functioning firearms.

    But the judges’ divisions, along with a mix of rulings at the lower court and appellate level in the other cases, highlight the ways in which laws involving gun rights are evolving in the wake of two powerful Supreme Court decisions, along with a greater presence of conservative judges in the federal courts at all levels, said Leslie Gielow Jacobs, a constitutional law expert at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Oak Park.

    Fuck me.

  48. 48.

    trollhattan

    Welp, missed this one entirely.

    Lori Vallow Daybell, the doomsday cult follower who killed her two children, has been sentenced to two additional life sentences for plotting to kill her estranged husband and her niece’s ex-husband.
    At her sentencing hearing in Arizona on Friday, Daybell’s family members described in court how she victimised them and their disgust.
    “You are a manipulator, a parasite and a coward,” she was told by Kay Woodcock, the grandmother of her murdered son.
    Daybell had already been sentenced to life in a separate trial for killing her son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and daughter Tylee Ryan, 16. The latest sentences are for plotting to kill ex-husband Charles Vallow, and ex-nephew Brandon Boudreaux.

    Her only-surviving son Colby Ryan was among those in court on Friday. He memorialised his father Charles Vallow, who “took care of our family, and he made sure we had a good life”.
    Speaking to her mother, he said it “must be a very sad life to smile your way through all the pain you’ve caused”.
    “Rather than being able to acknowledge the pain that she has caused, she would rather say that Charles, Tylee and JJ’s deaths were a family tragedy and not her evil doing,” he said.
    “Quite frankly, I believe that Lori Vallow herself is the family tragedy.”
    Larry Woodcock, the grandfather of JJ, also lashed out, at times yelling at her.
    “You murdered Charles, the best thing that’s ever happened in your life, for your delusional, narcissistic ways,” he said.
    “I will never speak your name again, murderess. You are nothing.”
    Daybell was found to have conspired with her brother, who died of natural causes in 2019, to murder her ex-husband and cash in on his life insurance.
    Officials say she also conspired to kill Brandon Boudreaux, who narrowly avoided being shot in the head outside his home.
    During trial, she argued that her late brother killed her former husband in self-defense.
    The so-called “Doomsday Mom” represented herself during trial, despite having no legal experience.
    Chad Daybell, her current husband, is awaiting a death sentence in Idaho for the deaths of the two children, and his wife from the time when his affair began with Lori Daybell.
    Chad Daybell is an author who has written several apocalyptic novels loosely based on Mormon religious teachings.
    The murders were committed as part of the couple’s bizarre belief that people in their lives had come to be possessed by evil spirits.
    The sentencing on Friday comes at the end of her third and final trial.
    BBC

    Doomsday Mom? Worst sitcom ever.

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    @Chief Oshkosh: I know nobody wants to hear about the Hunter Biden interview, but when the interviewer says to him that a lot of younger people like him were “Palestine-pilled” and just didn’t vote, Biden says, “Where are they now?” The interviewer says, “Who?” H. Biden says, “The protestors.” The interviewer says weakly, “Well, I think it’s just that the war’s been going on for a while now.” Yeah, right. Where are they now?

  53. 53.

    Princess

    @zhena gogolia: What I notice about the protestors I know is that they never never say a single bad word about Trump. They’re super self righteous but neither they nor Trump gets blamed for anything.

  54. 54.

    Dan B

    In better news Kitara Ravach, aka George Santos, has relocated to South Jersey for a seven year stint.

  57. 57.

    ruckus

    @H-Bob:

    They might.

    But.

    We’ve seen more and more and none of it in any way positive. If nothing else he’s aging out, at least mentally but physically as well. He’s not been the picture of health for a very, very long time and getting older and farther into senioritis has not made that easier picture to paint. As it almost never does. His public speaking is getting worse, and it rarely gets better.

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., reported to federal prison on Friday to begin serving an 87-month sentence after pleading guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, related in part to his campaign finances. Source

  60. 60.

    Geminid

    @NotMax: The prison that can hold George Santos has yet to be built!

    Just ask his former French Foreign Legion comrades. They know Santos as, “The Fox.”

  63. 63.

    Scout211

    Maxwell was given “limited immunity.”

    Ghislaine Maxwell, who sources told ABC News initiated the meetings with the Department of Justice, answered questions for about nine hours over two days after being granted a limited form of immunity, the sources said.

    The immunity allowed Maxwell to freely answer Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s questions without fear that her responses could later be used against her, the sources said.

    The so-called proffer immunity is commonly granted to individuals prosecutors are seeking to make cooperators in a criminal case. Maxwell has already been tried, convicted and sentenced for sex trafficking underage girls.

    Cooperators in a criminal case?  Hmmm.  They must be looking to charge Bill Clinton because Trump is totally innocent.  He didn’t even know that woman, she’s not his type, no way it’s Trump.  Why are we even talking about this?

    ETA: I guess there are about a hundred possibilities, none of them named Donald J Trump, of course.

      CBS     Washington — Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer said the former partner of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein answered “every single question” during the two days she met with Todd Blanche, a top Justice Department official.

    “She was asked maybe about 100 different people. She answered questions about everybody, and she didn’t hold anything back,” Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus said Friday.

  66. 66.

    WTFGhost

    @schrodingers_cat: And if that hadn’t dumped him, Jan6, 2021 should *really* have slammed down the lid and flushed twice, just to be sure!

    (I’m sorry – how often do *you* get a straight line like that?)

  67. 67.

    Hoodie

    @Scout211: It’s a smokescreen.  No prosecutor would give her immunity because she’s a completely unreliable witness and could never support a prosecution.  She might have even tried to spill before and the prosecutors knew she was worthless as a witness because she already had perjured herself.  The only purpose of this is to blow more smoke and yet again try to shift focus away from what info the FBI already has, i.e., to not actually release the fucking files.  It will be interesting to see if anyone falls for this.  One thing to remember is that Todd Blanche lost the trial in which he represented Trump – badly.

  68. 68.

    WTFGhost

    @Captain C: Assuming no other jurisdiction can find her guilty of crimes, yes. The Fifth Amendment is protection against self incrimination, and that means, if you can’t be incriminated, you can’t stand on the right to remain silent.

    So if she had been charged, federally, for crimes in Florida, and given a  plenary Federal pardon, she could still plead the Fifth unless given State level immunity.  (IANAL)

  69. 69.

    Fair Economist

    @danielx:

    having a difficult time distinguishing between what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza today and what the Germans did to the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. Maybe somebody could explain it to me, like I’m ten years old.

    Very simple. One was seventy years ago. The other is today.

  70. 70.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Chief Oshkosh: Try a thought exercise: Imagine that the polling showed 70% support for Trump across all questions – that overall the American people agree

    …

    That would be awful on many levels.

    I think I’d be able to handle it better if we were dealing with an irredeemably evil populace as opposed to idiots.

    Evil can be fought, but no chance with idiocy.

    Also, just as a rule, I think all this public polling is a terrible practice and creates its own results to an extent.

  72. 72.

    Miki

    @Hoodie: Of course “they” gave her immunity. That doesn’t mean she’s not going to lie. All of this is PR, another reality show.

    She’s got something to sell. Fucking Trump has something to buy it with.

    I used to think the US was “better” because we were less corrupt.

    This administration has permanently disabused me of that fantasy.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    @zhena gogolia:The interviewer says weakly, “Well, I think it’s just that the war’s been going on for a while now.” Yeah, right. Where are they now?

    You know where they aren’t (and never were?)

    At the offices of their Reps and Senators

    Or in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave

    Which is strange, because in America, if you want to pressure folks to stop a war…you’d think you’d start with the folks who could actually DO that.  Stop a war, that is.

    Hmmm….

  75. 75.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Jeffro: You know where they aren’t (and never were?)

    At the offices of their Reps and Senators

    I called. A few times over the last couple decades, usually around the times things flared up. Strongly doubt it changed any votes in Congress or did much more than prompt my Congresscritter to send a form letter answering little to nothing of what I had to say.

    Maybe if I had a well-funded PAC…

    These murderous policies have been going on a loooooong time. The reason we don’t stop feeding into them is that the people who show up to vote in primaries in both parties either don’t care, except maybe to the extent the violence causes an image problem for their chosen party, or affirmatively want the murder to continue.

  77. 77.

    Hoodie

    @Miki: I do have some hope that these latest gambits won’t be successful.  Blanche is a shitty lawyer, mostly because he’s a shameless lackey who lets his stupid client dictate his strategy.  That killed Trump’s defense in the NY criminal case.  I don’t see how they sell “hey, look what the convicted pedophile says and don’t look at those stupid Epstein files!”  The whole thing looks pretty desperate.  It’s weird that they send Trump’s personal lawyer to do this crap, I bet no one else wanted to do it.

  78. 78.

    lowtechcyclist

    @LAC: ​
    I’d have loved to see that exhibit, but Sherald did the right thing. The fault lies with the puppets now running the National Portrait Gallery on Trump’s behalf. She would have had to accept straight-up government censorship in order to show her works there.

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    @danielx: Well, one difference is that with the Warsaw Ghetto in 1944, the Germans shot everyone they wanted to and shipped the rest to extermination camps.

    In Gaza in 2025, the Israelis are shooting a lot of people and bombing more, and starving most of them. But unless there is a drastic change in plans, most of Gaza’s 2.2 million people will still be there when this war ends.

    Besides some escapees, Warsaw’s Jewish population was virtually extinguished and that will likely not be the case with Gaza, not nearly.

    Probably the biggest difference is that the Gaza war is the best covered humanitarian catastrophe of this century bar none, although it’s by no means the worst. By contrast, the fate of Warsaw’s Jews was a minor story until after the war.

  80. 80.

    Martin

    @Jeffro: Well, unpopularity only matters if you are running for re-election or your party is afraid that unpopularity is going to rub off on them. So far no real signs of the latter. GOP ain’t breaking ranks.

  82. 82.

    Citizen Alan

    @Geminid:Probably the biggest difference is that the Gaza war is the best covered humanitarian catastrophe of this century bar none, although it’s by no means the worst. By contrast, the fate of Warsaw’s Jews was a minor story until after the war.

    I have often thought about the fact that the eyes of the world are on Bibi Netanyahu and the Likud Party in a way they were never affixed on Hitler and the Nazis until it was too late. And that fact, alone and nothing else, is why Israel hasn’t crossed over the line into true genocide (as opposed to the half-assed, slow motion ethnic cleansing they’ve been doing for as long as I can remember).

  83. 83.

    Almost Retired

    @trollhattan:   Ugh, I went to law school with legal gun nut Chuck Michel, although I didn’t really know him.  Seemed more libertarian than conservative.  I don’t know how or when he fell into fanatic gun-nuttery, but when he did it surprised me that he stayed to practice in Los Angeles.  Seems like there would be better grifting elsewhere.   This is why I don’t attend my law school reunions.

  84. 84.

    Martin

    @Scout211: They’re going to selectively ask her about people they are willing to burn, never get close to asking about Trump or anyone else in the administration, put that out as ‘the list’ and hope it works.

  85. 85.

    Bokonon

    @Martin: Well, unpopularity only matters if you are running for re-election or your party is afraid that unpopularity is going to rub off on them. So far no real signs of the latter. GOP ain’t breaking ranks.

    The only popularity poll that the GOP cares about is how people inside the GOP feels about Trump.  Because they feel that the base is the only people that matter.  Until that changes … Trump won’t change course.

    It’s the same approach I’ve seen with other GOP politicians – they won’t talk to their own constituents unless they are loyal party members.  Everyone else in their districts is just there to be alternately screwed over and ignored and sneered at.  Essentially informed that they are excluded from having political representation.  It is politics as a dominance flex.  Politics as a form of hostile occupation.

    I really, really hope this comes back to bite the GOP in the long term.  Bite them hard.  This sort of thing backfired badly for them here in Colorado, except in crimson-red conservative districts.

  86. 86.

    Geminid

    @Bokonon: Virginia Republicans managed to take Virginia from a red state to a fairly blue one in this century because of this nonsense. Part of the success Democrats now enjoy is due to demographic change, but another part is due to the Republocans jumping off the Tea Party board in the last decade.

    One result: Virginia’s Republican party doesn’t attract talent now. They put up a weak candidate for governor this year, but they did not have much choice. They ended up with a weak bench, while we have a strong one.

  87. 87.

    tobie

    @Geminid: Honest question: would there be a way to distribute food in Gaza that would bypass Hamas and UNRWA? I’ve often thought that the most effective strategy would be to flood Gaza with so much food daily or even round the clock that any number of NGOs and civic groups would have supplies to distribute. But I have no experience with aid in a war zone so have no idea how this would work.

  88. 88.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT Travel related question

    I am planning my India trip, to make it easy on myself thinking booking a hotel the night before the flight, parking my car there and taking the hotel shuttle. How much do hotels charge for long term parking?

    I have a fairly long drive to Logan and have almost missed my flight just getting there in time.

    Also planning to stay the night when I arrive when I am jet lagged and in no condition to drive back.

  91. 91.

    prostratedragon

    July 18: If we have a smart president, you’re never going to let the dollar slide. If you have a dummy, that could happen.

    July 25: A weak dollar makes you a hell of a lot more money. It doesn’t sound good, but you make a hell of a lot more money with a weaker dollar than with a strong dollar.

  92. 92.

    Bokonon

    @Geminid: Virginia Republicans managed to take Virginia from a red state to a fairly blue one in this century because of this nonsense. Part of the success Democrats now enjoy is due to demographic change, but another part is due to the Republocans jumping off the Tea Party board in the last decade.

    How well I remember!  I lived in Virginia for part of this, and used to be active in the commonwealth’s Democratic party.  It took a LOT of hard work to turn the state purple.

    But that was with a strong assist from the Virginia GOP going gradually rabid, and then rabid all at once.  Gone are the old masks of moderation …

  94. 94.

    David Collier-Brown

    @mappy!:

    Odd. Mainstream media plays fluff-ball with Taco’s antics and edicts and yet somehow people notice. Whatever they aren’t doing, it’s working…

    If you train your followers to be stalwart in their beliefs, you’d better be careful about what they believe.

  101. 101.

    Jeffro

    @Martin:unpopularity only matters if you are running for re-election or your party is afraid that unpopularity is going to rub off on them. So far no real signs of the latter. GOP ain’t breaking ranks.

    I think we’re seeing GOP pols retiring, and of course with the Epstein Files, outright breaking ranks.  ymmv.

    Equally important: the GOP’s cratering with our blessed independents, and the Dems are at least as unified in opposition to trump as the MAGAts are in support.

  102. 102.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid:Virginia’s Republican party doesn’t attract talent now. They put up a weak candidate for governor this year, but they did not have much choice. They ended up with a weak bench, while we have a strong one.

    they really should have had an open primary

    too bad, so sad!

  104. 104.

    Martin

    @schrodingers_cat: It’s funny how you reliably attack Bernie for Tulsi but not the Democrats in Hawaii who voted for her. Maybe we should kick them out of the party. Hey, remember when she was unanimously elected Vice Chair of the DNC? Fuck every Democratic delegate too, am I right?

  105. 105.

    Martin

    @Jeffro: They conveniently retire after they vote for his bullshit though. No sign yet that they’re going to start failing votes.

  106. 106.

    suzanne

    @David Collier-Brown: I don’t believe in holding civilians responsible for the actions of their government, even when it’s duly elected.

    But this is concerning:

    An overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews support the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza, according to a poll by Pennsylvania State University.

    The survey, conducted in March and published by Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, found that 82 percent of Israeli Jews support the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

    Meanwhile, 47 percent of Israeli Jews answered yes to the question: “Do you support the claim that the [Israeli army] in conquering an enemy city, should act in a manner similar to the way the Israelites did when they conquered Jericho under the leadership of Joshua, ie to kill all its inhabitants?” The reference is to the biblical account of the conquest of Jericho.

     
    There’s a direct link to the poll in that article. I had to use a translation app to read it, so I didn’t link directly.

    “Transfer” being, of course, better described as ethnic cleansing.

  107. 107.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Martin:

    Well, unpopularity only matters if you are running for re-election or your party is afraid that unpopularity is going to rub off on them. So far no real signs of the latter. GOP ain’t breaking ranks.

    This assumes it won’t rub off on the GOP. They’re not breaking ranks because they’re craven cowards/arrogant. The way things are going, they’re going to at least get swept out of the House

  108. 108.

    ruckus

    @Bokonon:

    You don’t really think that shitforbrains is going to change course do you?

    I’d say maybe with a large enough bribe he might, but then he’d piss off his supporters and I’m not sure he has the mental wherewithal to change course because that would mean he’d been on the wrong course to began with and he ain’t going there.

  110. 110.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Martin:

    These things do matter. We are not doomed. His job approval is cratering among broad swaths of the public

  111. 111.

    Iron city

    @schrodingers_cat: I’ve never done that at BOS but have at BWI.  A nice hotel near he airport runs a night and parking, an additional night if you like and hotel shuttle to the departures curb.  They call it Park Sleep Fly.  Not too original but it is an adequate description.  Cost is about the rack rate for the room with a nominal cost for each days parking.  The shuttle is not separately priced so it is essentially free and you get what you pay for.    OI believe I found this one a few years ago by checking out various hotels around the airport.

  113. 113.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):  That’s it, kid.  Keep your chin up and keep slogging away.  We didn’t get here all of a sudden.  We won’t fix it in a blink of an eye either.  But we won’t fix it at all if we give up.

  114. 114.

    Iron city

    @David Collier-Brown:   FedEx:  “When they absolutely positively have to be fed overnight”        That is a la Fred Smith, the Marine fighter pilot that started FedEx and a poster I saw a long time ago at Cherry Point of an A-6E with the text “When they absolutely positively have to be killed overnight.”

  116. 116.

    Martin

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I’m not saying we’re doomed – but I do think we’re in an environment where a low approval rating can’t be relied on to predict future outcomes. Historical political predictions don’t reliably apply in this environment. Trump just tried to take over the courts, Roberts rebuffed, but even the fact that it was attempted and did not meet opposition by Congress or outcry by the public kind of tells us the degree to which we may be sleepwalking into disaster. We have gotten astonishingly complacent.

    I’m just noting that we have never seen a newly elected president crater in approval this quickly. And Nixon resigned at 24% approval but only 22% of voters thought he should be impeached. A majority thought he should serve out his term. Yes, a decline in approval is welcome, but I’m not convinced it’s going to change anything.

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: I don’t think anyone wanted to run against Spanberger. AG Miyares seemed well content to run for reelection instead. Fifteen or 20 years ago, Rep. Rob Wittman might have given it a shot but he didn’t make one peep about running for governor this time. Neither did Reps. Ben Cline or Morgan Griffith.

    This is not surprising. I wouldn’t want to get in Crabby Abby’s way either.

  119. 119.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Martin:

    Fair enough, I suppose. It greatly disturbs me that so many people and institutions are caving to this man. It pisses me off because they should be afraid of backlash from us, the public, not Donald fucking Trump

    And I’m also disappointed with the response or rather lack of response from our allies and other liberal democracies that supposedly care about democracy and human rights not officially condemning the Trump administration and it’s actions against it’s own citizens. The American people have become too complacent and so have the citizens and governments of the rest of the world

    I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked, these are the same people who have stood idly by while Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinians for the last year. I suppose criticism of human rights records is only for geopolitical enemies; IOW only when it’s politically convenient

    I’ve said this before, but I think Europe, for example, is currently throwing away any opportunity to assert itself as an independent global power that could do a much better job at defending global democracy and human rights

  120. 120.

    Geminid

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I just don’t look for other nations to join an anti-Trump resistance. They will try to further their particular interests and mitigate damage to them. My impression is they see Trump as a Yankee problem, and they’re leaving it up to us Yankees to solve it.

  121. 121.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Geminid:

    I just don’t look for other nations to join an anti-Trump resistance. They will try to further their particular interests and mitigate damage to them. My impression is they see Trump as a Yankee problem, and they’re leaving it up to us Yankees to solve it.

    I’m sure many nations thought the same during the 1930s with Nazi Germany. Who cares what the Nazis are doing to German Jews and other minorities. Why die for Danzig?

    I think it’s a profoundly selfish, self-serving, and cowardly way of looking at the world. Either you care about human rights and democracy for all or you don’t. I guess I just expected better from them. I know the US sucks and has had a terrible track record on that front, I don’t shy away from that. I know we have a history of picking and choosing who we criticize and who we look the other way on. I figured, naively, that Europe, Canada, etc for example could’ve stepped up, condemned the human rights violations that Trump is doing to his own citizens, like they have for say Iran or North Korea. I guess their response on the I/P conflict should’ve been a clue.

    I also haven’t seen any evidence that any of them are willing to grant asylum to any LGBTQ+ Americans (moving to a blue state isn’t going to cut it, I’m sorry. Ask Abrego Garcia how living in a blue state protected him from the reach of the federal government). They’d prefer to bury their heads in the sand, pretend as if everything is fine, let it be somebody else’s problem and let innocent people die/be oppressed

    ETA: If it were the other way around and our allies were falling to authoritarianism, I would expect the US government to condemn the actions of these governments and do everything in it’s power to help their citizens who were being harmed and oppressed by them

  122. 122.

    different-church-lady

    Now listen, just hear me out… what if we re-hire the guy we fired the the first time because he fucked everything up?

  124. 124.

    Geminid

    @suzanne: That was a strange poll, and I have not seen others replicate its findings. To the contrary, other polls consistently show a majority of Israelis favor ending the war under current circumstances. This would in fact leave Gaza’s population in place. This is not exactly the same question, but there is an implicit conflict in the answers.

    When this poll came up a couple months ago, I found it to be a strange poll because of how it used Biblical framing in its questions; referring to “Amalek” for instance. That seemed like an odd way for social scientists to gather information from a Jewish population that has a large secular component.

    So I’d like know more about the people who conducted the poll, including their track record. It wasn’t Haaretz; they just reported on it.

  125. 125.

    Suzanne

    @Geminid: Skepticism is reasonable. But concern is also merited. Forced displacement of the people of Gaza should be considered absolutely unacceptable. Israel is dancing far too close to it. With our financial support, too.

  126. 126.

    gene108

    @Jeffro:

    A Democratic president should appoint an ombudsman at Fox News, and make sure they’re honest or else pull their license.

  127. 127.

    Sandia Blanca

    @schrodingers_cat: When we traveled to Boston, we spent the last night at an airport hotel that was within easy walking distance of the terminal. It definitely gave us peace of mind that we wouldn’t miss our early-morning departure.

    We had rented a car and returned it the evening before we left, so I don’t know about parking. If you’re going to be gone for a long time, you might consider renting a car for one-way trips at the beginning and ending of your travels.

  128. 128.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I’ve said this before, but I think Europe, for example, is currently throwing away any opportunity to assert itself as an independent global power that could do a much better job at defending global democracy and human rights.

    True but, the way the EU is constructed and the wide variance of it’s peoples and politics, the fact it’s not doing this isn’t unexpected.

    As an entity, they are more disparate than we are currently.

  129. 129.

    Geminid

    Believe me, I’m also concerned about large scale populution transfers. That’s one of the reasons I spend an hour a day on this war and its intersection with Israeli politics.

    I have also noticed the consistent posture of the Gulf Arabs on the question of population transfers, which is adamantly against. And I’ve yet to see a credible action plan for moving two million people including a place to move them to.

    So while I regard population transfer as a potential danger, I don’t consider it a clear and present one like the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza.

    That looks like it will go on for a week more at least, because Steve Witkoff just pulled his negotiators from Qatar. Witkoff said Hamas’s latest counter-proposal was not serious, while a Hamas spokesman said that “Witkoff’s negative statements contradict the context of the recent negotiating round.”

    An Egyptian official said he expects talks to resume next week, but even if they do and an agreement is reached it will take a few days to implement it.

  131. 131.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: I meant to include the Europeans along with Gulf Arabs as being adamantly opposed to population transfers. Both these groups matter in different ways. The Gulf Arabs matter to Trump, and Trump can pretty much make or break Netanyahu.

    Trump knows how shaky Netanyahu’s domestic position is. He’d never hear it from Mike Huckabee but I doubt if Trump  even listens to Huckabee if he can avoid it.

    Trump listens to Steve Witkoff though, and Witkoff pays attention to Israeli politics. I expect he’s told his boss that Netanyahu is afraid to call an early election because he knows he’d lose. I think that’s a mark against him because Trump respects strength, not weakness.

    I doubt if Witkoff likes Netanyahu either. Most people who have to deal with that lying tinhorn end up either disliking him or hating his guts outright.

  133. 133.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I also haven’t seen any evidence that any of them are willing to grant asylum to any LGBTQ+ Americans (moving to a blue state isn’t going to cut it, I’m sorry.

    Has anyone asked for asylum?

Comments are closed.