Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Kristi Noem.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker.illinois.gov) March 5, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Kristi Noem is gone. Pam Bondi is next.
Keep the pressure on these extremists.— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 2:04 PM
BREAKING: More than 20 states sue over new global tariffs President Trump imposed after the Supreme Court loss.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) March 5, 2026 at 1:15 PM
If you can’t call your war a war, it’s a major tell. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/u…
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Remember this when Donald Trump tells you we can’t afford health care.
— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) March 5, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Maybe Hegseth should actually win his war before bashing everyone who came before him.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 5:40 PM
"I hope you are impressed," he said to me. "How do you like the performance? I mean, Venezuela is obvious. This might be even better. How do you like the performance?"
"How do you like the performance?"
An illegal war for the sake of spectacle and the amusement of POTUS.— Brian Finucane (@bcfinucane.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 4:08 PM
I voted in favor of the War Powers Resolution to push back against Trump’s reckless & illegal war. The Iranian regime is evil, just as Saddam Hussein was—but that doesn’t make war smart or responsible. Congress must assert its authority & protect American troops & taxpayers from another forever war.
— Congresswoman Sarah McBride (@mcbride.house.gov) March 5, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales ends his reelection bid after admitting to having an affair with a former staff member who later died by suicide.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) March 5, 2026 at 11:58 PM
"I asked God to forgive me, which he has."
Honestly this is the biggest perk of serving in Congress. Most people have to ask forgiveness and wonder. If you're in Congress you get a same day answer from the big guy.— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) March 4, 2026 at 7:37 PM
every time he posts things about this huge empty space the more sure I am he plans to be pickled like one of the Kims and put on display in here when he dies
Baud
God: The hell I did!
oldster
“…he plans to be pickled like one of the Kims and put on display….”
The worst Korean pickle ever: Kimcheesy — greasy, orange, and inedible.
Shalimar
@Baud: youtu.be/uC_92CsTsy0?si=hs4OboRqUjhm4XK
Lyle Lovett-God Will
edit: and for Jazz lovers, the Holly Cole version.
youtu.be/P9I6_GM4djE?si=0ywW7laaW6diZcy
Suzanne
Thank you, Congresswoman McBride!
She is such an impressive person.
ETA: Feckful.
MagdaInBlack
My Great Khan Pritzker truly does speak for me.
Lapassionara
I don’t see how we survive this maladministration. A billion a day? And evidently to entertain our president.
lowtechcyclist
Whether God forgave me or not, if I had treated someone in such a manner that they felt compelled to end their lives in such a way, I would carry that guilt to the end of my days. How could it be otherwise?
schrodingers_cat
Temu Versailles for the CapriSun King.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Ned F.
I think we need new “I did this” stickers for the gas pumps.
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
We’ve got some kick-ass women in Congress.
YY_Sima Qian
Xi is going to struggle to suppress his laughter when Trump & Bessent brings this up in Beijing (gift link to WSJ article below):
Oh the incoherence:
Can’t anybody here play this game?!
lowtechcyclist
@Ned F.:
How about “Thank you, iDJiT” ?
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Call it DEI, but I’ve developed a strong preference from women leaders and candidates. Men culture is in a really crappy place. The only problem is the majority of other voters, especially when it comes to the presidency.
Baud
@YY_Sima Qian:
The only game they know how to play is Owning The Libs.
narya
Okay, for a bit of good things: the windows (and door) are done, and, oh my, they look fabulous. And getting this work done has spurred me toward getting other stuff done, too, which means I will have to go through my books (and other stuff) and cull the herd. (What do you call a herd of books?)
Jackie
It must be a Friday – aka Epstein Files Dump Day:
Rusty
@YY_Sima Qian: If they really want to get China to buy US oil, the simple answer is give Ukraine long range missiles. Ukraine has been doing a decent job destroying Russian oil facilities, more and better long range missiles and there won’t be any Russian oil to buy.
Jackie
@narya:
A library ;-)
lowtechcyclist
@YY_Sima Qian:
I’m sure Xi has a great deal of self-control (though it may be barely enough in this instance), and he’ll be meeting with someone who has none. Quite the contrast!
I’ve been meaning to say for a while now just how much I appreciate your comments here. The understanding of China that you bring that most of us Westerners lack is invaluable.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
I wish we had someone here who had a similar mastery of America. I can’t figure it out!
YY_Sima Qian
@Rusty: If the Gulf oil remains clocked, & the PRC (the world’s largest oil importer) stops buying Russian oil, then oil prices will go through the roof for everyone. But, that is great for Big Oil in the US.
Of course, what will actually happen is that the PRC will buy more discounted oil from Russia to make up for the short fall from Iran, the KSA & Iraq. However, as global oil prices soar, the discounted price of Russian oil to the PRC (& India) will soar, too, so Putin gains immensely out of the chaos in the ME.
lowtechcyclist
@narya:
A library?
ETA: Beaten to the punch by Jackie!
narya
@Jackie: hah! yeah. And it’s time to reduce the size of the library and send some stuff to places where others can appreciate them. I have no problem holding on to things for sentimental reasons, but there are definitely other things that are just taking up space.
YY_Sima Qian
@lowtechcyclist: You are too kind!
Note that the vast majority of articles, papers & commentary I share here originate from Western sources (though many based in or have extensive current exposure to the PRC), the majority of them American.
So, quality China expertise is abundantly available. Unfortunately, such expertise are & have been wasted on the politicians, policymakers & most think tankers/journalists across the West.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Maybe we can get Gemini or Claude or ChatGPT to explain it to us.
p.a.
@YY_Sima Qian: When bad at policy meets bad policy… a singularity of stupid.
Ohio Mom
Between the current level of debt, tax cuts and a billion a day on war, I don’t see how this country of ours doesn’t end up buried under interest on the debt.
I hasten to add that I am far from a balanced budget type of gal. I know the debt doesn’t need to be paid back but the interest does require regular payments and at this rate, we will need to dedicate an enormous amount of money to keeping current on those payments.
We already live under austerity, an objective look at our measley social safety net is proof of that.
I admit it was an art major and that large numbers make my eyes glaze over, I d be happy to be wrong. Or maybe I’ll be more optimistic after breakfast.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
I’d ask, but I’d be worried about blowing up a school.
Dave
@YY_Sima Qian: I’ve generally assumed that the Chinese Halls of Power had a lot of significant glances and stifled giggles the first goddamned time we decided to take this collective ride of the malignant and stupid.
Figured the second time it was just straight belly laughs and bafflement at their good fortune.
YY_Sima Qian
@p.a.: We live in a political satire simulation that would not pass the script reviews of Hollywood studios because it is too batsh*t insane.
The experience would be hilarious if not for the real lives lost/ruined. Gallows humor is the last straw we can grasp at to hold on to sanity.
Salty Sam
A “library”
ETA- Jackie’s had more coffee than me!
lowtechcyclist
@Ohio Mom:
The obvious way to at least somewhat close the gap is to massively raise taxes on the rich (and closes a bunch of loopholes that they use to circumvent them). IF we can gain control of both houses of Congress in November, maybe the Dems will send a budget to Trump that includes such increases. And if he vetoes it, send him the same bill back, but with even higher tax rates on his rich buddies.
YY_Sima Qian
@Dave: That’s definitely the pervasive sentiment on Chinese social media.
Like in America & around the world, many people in the PRC try to sane wash Trumpian escapades through all kinds of contortions & CT-mongering, because Trump & MAGA can’t be that dumb & crazy…
MattF
Jeffries is right— Bondi should go. But she won’t, because she knows too much. Bondi, Patel, probably Miller all know about the really bad thing, whatever it is. My guess is a photo of Don with dead girl.
Dave
@YY_Sima Qian: It’s a weakness of the brighter that they underestimate the power of stupidity unchained.
It can’t build but it can actually be very difficult to account for because it will do the unthinkable,bit’s not going to waste time thinking, and therefore can be incredibly unpredictable.
When I reflect on this it’s not actually surprising that stupid can be so damned difficult to manage and mitigate.
Which maybe enough people in the Chinese government are aware of that might put a bit of a damper on any glee they may be inclined to feel.
Rusty
@YY_Sima Qian: The Washington Post just reported that Russia is providing targeting information to Iran to strike US assets. You would like to think this would move the dial on this administration, but likely not.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Prof. BF and rikyrah have figured it out, listen to them. Ask any minority, they have a better sense of what America is than the average person.
The problem is, it is hard to listen to what they have to say for many.
lowtechcyclist
@YY_Sima Qian:
As Columbia from Rocky Horror Picture Show said, “stay sane inside insanity.” I need to have a t-shirt made with those words.
Suzanne
@lowtechcyclist:
If everything was up to me, our government would be stacked from top to bottom with Girl Nerds of varying flavor. All knowledge, no bullshit.
ETA: McBride, Underwood, AOC, Lee, Warren, Klobuchar, Murray…… Girl Nerds all.
narya
@Jackie: @lowtechcyclist: @Salty Sam: I would say the big difference between a library and my herd is that my stuff is organized in only the vaguest sense of that word. It’s a bit like that scene in “High Fidelity,” where he organizes his albums by his personal life when he bought the album.
Dave
@Suzanne: Ah perhaps you are willing to consider my policy proposal that either men or maybe just white men take say a thirty year break in the right to vote while we collectively work through some things.
Not a loss of a right just a temporary pause in it.
Gin & Tonic
@YY_Sima Qian: Why a particular flavor of humor was so prevalent in the USSR.
YY_Sima Qian
@Rusty: I’ve also seen speculation that Chinese commercial satellite imaging companies (w/ close ties to the state) have been selling information to Iran before & during the war, much as they have been accused of selling such data to Russia for its war in Ukraine, & western companies such as Ventor (formerly known as Maxar) & Planet have been to Ukraine.
The Chinese commercial satellite imaging companies have been publishing satellite photos of US bases in the ME showing the build up of US assets leading up to war, as well as images US bases & assets that have been hit by Iran (which Iran will find helpful for battle damage assessment).
Satellite based intelligence commodified, part of the brave new world we live in.
lowtechcyclist
@Rusty:
To paraphrase Hosea, we’ve sown the wind, and we’re reaping the whirlwind.
Per Dave above, it’s the power of stupidity in action.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
White America knows how to be racist without being dysfunctional or self- immulating. So while that’s central to our current situation, it doesn’t explain everything.
Jeffro
everyone had their Wheaties this morning, I see – LOLZ
YY_Sima Qian
@Gin & Tonic: & in the PRC, & any authoritarian regime, but also in most liberal democracies (late stage capitalism & all that), & most polities these days, period.
YY_Sima Qian
@Dave: Unfortunately, all too true.
Eolirin
@Baud: I’m not sure that’s actually true though. White (Male) America, (and I mean culturally, not individually) has never been particularly functional, but that lack of function has often been covered up by a lack of legitimate competition. The second it has to deal with having to work to get ahead it breaks down really hard and tends to get very violent.
We’re at the stage of Tulsa but everywhere. And they can’t bully and burn their way to a solution this time because the rest of the world gets a vote.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: It knew how to be racist without self sabotage but may be that’s no longer true.
I also think that we are in an era of rapid change and people tend to cling to what they know best during such times. That explains why RW revanchists have made a comeback in many countries including this one.
Ohio Mom
@lowtechcyclist: Well yeah, but I’m having trouble imagining that could happen.
Even baby steps, like Biden beefing up the IRS audit division so we could collect taxes due under the current laws didn’t last long.
I get your point, there are fixes and solutions, I’m just not convinced this country has it in us. Maybe another Great Depression is needed and I certainly don’t want to spend the last years of my life under those conditions.
Baud
@Eolirin:
Functionality is relative, but white males were functional enough to be dominant on the world. Today, white males are causing national decline.
Spanky
@MattF:
The Pee Tape is a
sniffSNUFF film.Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I agree.
NotMax
Are we heading toward “Kristi Noem? I barely know her. She may have brought me coffee once” territory?
//
New Deal democrat
Just going to leave this here, because it is almost sure to have important political ramifications:
The price of oil, as I type this, has risen to over $85 a barrel. The last time it was this high was two years ago. The price of refining gas (RBOB) has risen by over $1 since Christmas, from $1.68 to $2.71.
This implies gas prices rising in very short order (like over the next week or two) to about $3.65/gallon. As of this morning, only part of this is reflected in GasBuddy’s average nationwide price, but that is already up to $3.31.
I had a little exchange with a fellow forecaster earlier this week, about how much of an increase would be enough of a “shock” to put the US consumer economy into recession. My marker was $4/gallon gas. His was $100 to fill up the tank of an SUV. Unfortunately, I think we are going to test both of those hypotheses shortly.
Spanky
@Spanky: That’s “snuff”, dammit.
satby
@schrodingers_cat: and you as well.
Deputinize America
@New Deal democrat:
*groan*
My Passat really likes to sip premium – I’m at about 40 mpg on premium but efficiency really drops on the downgrade. I’m guessing I’ll be paying $4.50 by May.
NotMax
@New Deal democrat
$4 mainland translates to somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 Hawaii.
Just sayin’.
Spanky
@New Deal democrat:
Those numbers aren’t all that far apart, and both seem reasonable markers.
Here in Southern MD our gas has gone from $2.99 Last week to $3.39 yesterday. I expect near daily increases from here on out.
Spanky
My musing on getting an e-bike has taken a serious turn.
Baud
Via reddit
Soprano2
@Lapassionara: Republicans have never cared about how much money we spend on wars. Somehow that doesn’t add to the debt or the deficit. /s/s/s/s/s/
geg6
@Eolirin:
I think about the Adamses (Abigail and John, to be clear) all the time these days. She tried to warn him to keep the ladies in mind. He ignored her and neglected her for decades while he swanned around being a Founding Father and a stubborn, vindictive ass as President. She was smarter and more clever than he was in every way. And history neglects and downplays her, just as it does all women and people of color. Imagine if Abigail had been President instead. If I could write, I’d write a counter factual novel about my thoughts on that.
WereBear
@lowtechcyclist: Exactly the psychology. But he’s a dirty sock of a human being, apparently.
Republican. Or do I repeat myself?
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: They’re right.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
😂😂😂😂😂
Hilarious
YY_Sima Qian
@New Deal democrat: Qatar Energy is claiming price of oil could go to $150 / barrel.
Of course, that could also be intentional hyperbole, signaling to Trump to wrap the war up & unblock the Strait of Hormuz.
Baud
Maybe RFK Jr will find a way to turn people into oil.
geg6
@Baud:
Just harvesting the oil in Kid Rock’s hair might do the trick.
Gin & Tonic
I’ve been idly searching for an example of an Evangelical (or other loudly public) “Christian” who has said “I asked God to forgive me, but unfortunately He declined.”
Betty Cracker
Does anyone know what group this psychopath was addressing here?
They Call Me Noni
The side bar pic puts me in mind of the Hotel California album cover and I am here for it.
Suzanne
@Dave: I am specifically in search of nerds to be in the government. Every one of those women I listed above has impressed me, at one point or another, with some deep knowledge on a subject that isn’t directly related to their lawmaking/representational role. Our governance needs more of that. (This is why I love when teachers, healthcare workers, engineers, etc. get into public service, not just people who went to law school.)
The biggest threat to good government is anti-knowledge.
geg6
@They Call Me Noni:
Same.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Lapassionara: To be fair, it’s not so much that a billion dollars a day are draining out of the national coffers due to this war (the siphons into the pockets of the Trump Crime Cartel are another matter). A lot of that is probably calculated on the value of munitions currently being expended at absurd rates.
There’s a reason for the saying “amateurs talk tactics, but professionals study logistics”, which dates back at least as far as Sun Tzu.
Replenishing empty munitions magazines could easily cost a billion dollars a day … if the US had the manufacturing capacity to construct the munitions for it, which I get the impression is not the case any more.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: Is Hegseth one of those right-wingers who blah blah blah about “our Judeo-Christian heritage”? I can’t keep the bigots straight anymore. Which ones are Islamophobes, which ones are anti-Semites, which ones still think Teh Gayz are the biggest threat to civilization….. etc etc etc.
They’re all so boring.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Americas Counter Cartel Conference
Jackie
Will Texas MAGA stay home this Nov?
Talarico is enjoying the moment!
Soprano2
Boy this is true. That’s why the attacks on transgender people have been relatively effective. Ten years ago few people even thought about transgender people; now it’s a major issue on the right because they managed to make some progress in gaining more rights. It didn’t even happen that fast, but the truth is that a lot of “normies” are still weirded out by the idea of transgender people, so they were an easy group to create a panic about. These panics are always about a small fraction of the population, because it’s hard for them to fight back.
Baud
@Soprano2:
LGB people went through the same thing when they started getting more visible.
Anything even tangentially related to genitals is ripe for demonization.
geg6
@Suzanne:
He’s the poster boy for them. Did you see the reports of officers telling their troops and sailors that this war is meant to start Armageddon and that this is their calling from God, a Christian only God? Huge number of complaints to MRFF about it.
YY_Sima Qian
@Betty Cracker: I posted about the rise of “civilizational discourse” across the world yesterday:
Long & somewhat meandering essay from Kaiser Kuo well worth reading:
& how India under Modi relates to the discourse:
Soprano2
@New Deal democrat: Glad to see you here, you seemed to be gone for awhile.
Considering that just six months ago I was teasing some of my MAGA co-workers about how gas wasn’t yet under $2/gal (but it was close, just $2.19/gal here two weeks ago), it’s going to be a huge shock to people. Everyone except the MAGA’s will know what the reason for it is. I’d better put gas in the Blazer this weekend; it’s down to 1/4 a tank.
Another Scott
@Baud: (repost) – Obligatory Petition the Lord with Prayer (0:39).
Have a good Friday, everyone.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Kathleen
@Baud: The kind of toxic oil one can find in sewage? Oh, wait. That would be reserved for cooking and swim parties with his grandkids. He def could turn water into whine along with the entire regime at Putin USA Division.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: Yes, he is. I think he belongs to some white nationalist Christian church.
Suzanne
@geg6: Good Lord.
Some of the insane right-wingers really like Jewish people and the Netanyahu government, and others don’t. That scene of Pam Bondi (R-Injectables) accusing Becca Balint (D-Feckful) of being an antisemite, and Balint (who is Jewish) responded that her grandfather was killed in the Holocaust.
Scout211
When will the media and Trump’s MAGA fans learn that Trump’s loyalty is only to himself and what will help him personally. He doesn’t care about any of his fans now that he used them to get re-elected and they don’t seem to get it.
Also, Paxton said he would be willing to step down if the Senate eliminates filibuster and passes SAVE Act.
So, not happening.
ETA: Trump praised Cornyn this morning and had a few things to say about Talarico.
Soprano2
Whoa, I just got an alert that the economy LOST 92,000 jobs last month!
Baud
@YY_Sima Qian:
The problem with “Western Civilization” is that conservatives are nostalgic for a bygone era when their demographic was dominant while liberals view the Western experience in terms of liberal progress, which means things should improve with time. The two visions are inherently in conflict.
Fair Economist
@Baud: I’ve long found women bosses better than men bosses, on average. Not a huge sample size, but there it is.
cmorenc
@New Deal democrat:
The cult of people who insist on their God-given right to drive behemoth SUVs and vanity low mpg pickup trucks will whine mightily about the cost of gas. Such as the dad I saw yesterday chauffering his son to soccer practice in a gargantuan Hummer.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Thank you. It would be funny that everyone now has to pretend the “Department of WARRRR” name change is real if blood-gargling sociopaths weren’t running the show.
@Suzanne: Near as I can tell, Hegseth embodies just about every bespoke form of bigotry.
@YY_Sima Qian: Thanks! I also want to thank you more generally for sharing links to long-form FP critiques. Geminid too. There’s a lot of stuff I’d miss if you guys didn’t do that.
Bupalos
@schrodingers_cat: That’s just flat brilliant (No pun intended.) The toddler juice-box vibe is what puts it over the top.
NotMax
@Soprano2
1/4 tank is the new E, or so I’ve heard, since the bonehead decision to put the fuel pump inside the gas tank.
Eolirin
@Baud: The rest of the world was less competitive. That’s part of the change. It illuminates the inherent weakenesses and turns them pathological.
It’s just like the Confederacy’s inability to keep up with the North’s rapid industrialization, or the bloody battles the industrial barons waged to try to suppress labor having a say (despite those reforms being better for those businesses). There’s a cultural fragility. It can’t cope with change of this magnitude and it has no idea how to deal with being out of power other than to violently lash out. It must dominate, and if it can’t it must destroy. And it’s always been thus.
It turns to self-immolation because under these conditions it can’t dominate, and it can’t successfully destroy, not enough to get it back into domination. So it’s stuck flailing violently at everything around it, and the things it needs to survive are part of what it’s driven to destroy.
Fair Economist
As we face possibly vastly higher gas prices and ongoing climate disaster, I will throw in one of my occasional reminders that if you’re still driving a fart car for whatever reason you will save a enormous amount of gas by driving 5 or 10 mph slower. Especially if it’s an SUV ( high profile, lots of air resistance). On my mother’s car, I about double my mileage driving 55 rather than 70 on the highway, and 5 mph under the posted limit on local roads, down to 35 (roughly the most efficient speed for a typical car).
It makes surprisingly little difference for travel times,
RevRick
@Baud: God: I was gonna, because that’s who I am. But when he opened his arrogant yap, I changed my mind.
Soprano2
@NotMax: This is a 1999 Blazer. It seems to be pretty accurate.
catclub
Unfortunately the massively rich have _assets_ not income. And taxing assets is hard under our constitution.
WereBear
@narya: I went through it last year. Any library sales to take donations?
RevRick
@Betty Cracker: The guy who has Crusades symbols tattooed over his chest wants to start another one. He is talking to the so-called Christians who believe in the rapture crapture.
catclub
But like Satchel Paige said, don’t look back. In your case, very angry impatient drivers behind you.
Baud
@RevRick:
I think even the right wing evangelicals say that repentance has to be sincere for God to forgive, and these people don’t have a sincere bone in their body.
Suzanne
@RevRick: So many white guys with Nazi tattoos! Two years ago, I had never heard of either of these clowns. I liked it better that way.
WereBear
@lowtechcyclist: I can say that one thing easily kindled in the country is the desire for a rip-roaring rampage of revenge.
And this time they are starting to understand where the target is. All that ire is being whipped into a froth, but significant fractions of the whole are grabbing the goods and getting out. You know, while the getting is good.
I think there’s a blues song about that. In any case, that is my cinema fantasy lately, but many of these people suffer from malnutrition and never being allowed to think for themselves.
They need someone like Frank Capra, whose films were about fairness, and sold it as a concept, in a way they could get excited about.
Baud
@Eolirin:
Agree. It’s difficult for people to accept that their status must decline vis-a-vis others for society to thrive.
NotMax
@Fair Economist
On Maui, the speed limit on the precious few miles of highway is 55.
I’ll admit to sometimes inching up to 58 when going downhill.
People blowing by me at 65 or more on multi-lane stretches? efgoldman ’em. I”ll pull up behind them at the next traffic light.
;)
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
The funny thing was, it made a sort of sense the way you wrote it. :D
They Call Me Noni
@geg6: I read that yesterday and my mind immediately went to Charles Manson telling his cult members he wanted to start a race war so let’s go murder Sharon Tate.
catclub
@Baud: What did I say the day after the last election?
“Our fellow citizens” so.. yes.
catclub
Like the professor says: “good news everyone!”
Retail sales fell more than expected in January, biggest drop in eight months
The US economy lost 92,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
It’s really handy for those short errands where you’re not carrying a lot of bulky stuff. Great for runs to the bank, pharmacy, post office, and even the grocery store if I’m not doing a major load. If I’m filling up no more than maybe 3 of those plastic grocery bags, I can generally handle it on the e-bike.
ETA: Seriously, if you want to come over and try mine out sometime, I’m sure we could trade email addresses or phone numbers through WaterGirl.
NotMax
@Soprano2
It’s not the volume in the tank, it’s risking overheating and killing the fuel pump, which runs into beaucoup bucks.
Scout211
I’m beginning to think that Trump has an overinflated ego.
Trump calls for Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’
And as he believes he can become a powerful international leader, he always, always, says the quiet parts out loud.
Matt McIrvin
“No PC rules of engagement” basically mean that we’re going to proudly commit atrocities on the people of Iran, which is hard to reconcile with some claim that we are liberating them.
Elizabelle
This time yesterday we had no idea Noem was about to be unceremoniously booted. Taken to the gravel pit, on The Felon’s social media. Have we learned yet precisely when she learned of her fate?
I wake up amazed that Markwayne would even think of giving up a secure US Senate seat to take over a huge failing agency, with a crazed failing POTUS.
Dumb gonna dumb, apparently.
p.a
@catclub: Sorry/not sorry. The only thing that seems to spark Dem majorities is bad economy, even above bad wars.
The same demographics always pay the piper.
Soprano2
@Baud: To people who have always been on top, equality seems like oppression. To them, having to compete with those they feel are lesser feels wrong, especially when they lose. Thus the idea of “you cheated” whenever someone from the group that’s perceived as lower succeeds.
On kind of the same topic, here’s an interesting Planet Money podcast about why economists got free trade with China so wrong. I don’t agree with everything he says, but it was a thoughtful conversation that brought up things we don’t talk about much. For example, how trade with China helped some places and hurt others, but we mostly talk about how it helped and made things cheaper.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Soylent Crude.
NotMax
@Scout211
Shah Jared?
//
bbleh
@New Deal democrat: @YY_Sima Qian: also, too, our Secretary of Internal Terrorism has just been fired and will be replaced by possibly THE dumbest man in the Senate (although there is stiff competition for that), and the jobs and retail reports released this morning are even worse than anticipated. Stock futures are tanking as I type. (And the AI bubble has yet to deflate.)
Perhaps an early Happy Hour today …?
Soprano2
@NotMax: Yeah, I found myself driving 55 or lower in most places, because there’s precious little four-lane highway there. It surprised me, I hadn’t realized Maui would be so rural.
Chief Oshkosh
@Rusty:
You would think that this would be THE story of the morning, but this is the first I’ve heard of it…
Kayla Rudbek
@Baud: I’d say that white Americans ignore the cost of racism (the opportunity losses, the inventions and copyrights stolen or not made, the lack of health care shortening lives, environmental pollution shunted to minority communities, the school to jail pipeline, etc.)
Sis
And again I say, we gotta crowdfund tearing down this monstrosity the second he’s out of office.
Another Scott
@Fair Economist: It’s less stressful, also too (unless, as mentioned above, someone is riding your bumper).
Commuting time can be dominated by traffic conditions, lights, stop signs, merging, etc. If you’ve got 10 minutes of delays from those (compared to an ideal case), going 10 MPH over the limit is probably going to make a minimal difference in the total commuting time compared to the downsides.
E.g. 15 mile distance, 30 min driving time (average 30 MPH) with 10 min delays added gives 22.5 average MPH (40 min trip time). 15 mile distance, 22.5 min driving time (average 40 MPH) with 10 minute delays gives 27.7 MPH overall average (32.5 min trip time) – saving all of 7.5 minutes.
It makes more sense to try to find a better route if trip time matters.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
Yes.
Hegseth invited pastor who calls for Christian theocracy to lead Pentagon prayer service | CNN Politics
Hegseth’s all buddy-buddy with Doug Wilson, the pastor in question. ‘Nuff said, if you know anything about Wilson.
Bupalos
@Fair Economist: Any time one of these casual ICE-car issues comes up I have to strap my thumbs down.
Lots of people who were opposed to slavery nonetheless failed to personally do or feel or basically even say anything inconvenient about it. It was “ungentlemanly” to publicly notice its existence at all in the midst of the everyday. And so all through the primary sources you just get these howler common life sentences from people who, when treating the issue theoretically, could be quite eloquent in lament.
A kind of casual real-life acceptance larded up with excuses of convenience that belies the commitment.
Kayla Rudbek
@Spanky: if I had a better route to ride to work, I’d probably get an e-trike myself, or one of those quads that the Dutch are making for elderly people who want to keep on riding despite balance issues.
However, finding an e-bike that fits a petite woman in terms of size and weight is a challenge as well…
Suzanne
@Soprano2:
Slight nuance: the people who are most resentful and fearful have never been “on top”. Nor “on the bottom”. They’ve always been on one of the precarious middle rungs of the social ladder, and they feel most threatened by those just below and most resentful toward those just above.
But the people who are genuinely “on top” are aspirational abstractions in their minds. Like, these are the people who think billionaires are awesome job creators but loathe their high school valedictorian who left their shitty town.
lowtechcyclist
@Jackie:
I can’t say if they will or won’t, but it just goes to show you can’t alienate the GOP base by being too far right, but you can piss them off by not being far right enough.
NotMax
@Soprano2
Rural is encoded in Maui DNA. We have exactly one overpass, that because the state overrode local objection.
;)
Dave
@Fair Economist: Agreed on average I’ve found them to be more conscientious and engaged.
On average of course does a lot of work there are plenty of terrible ones (Noem/Bondi and so forth) but they generally have been raised to not coast as much.
schrodingers_cat
@YY_Sima Qian: The narrow RSS view of India has little chance of succeeding because of India’s inherent diversity. Hindi, Hindu and Hindutva is dead on arrival in the south and the in the northeast.
They can try but they will fail as others have before them. The essay says nothing new and it uses tired old clichés like midnight’s children. Fuck no.
The idea of unity in diversity didn’t come about because of Nehru. It is in the Indian soil, saint poets from the 11th and 12th century have written about it.
What is new is the RSS vision for India which is nothing but fascism dressed in saffron garb.
Dave
@Betty Cracker: Hegseth is absolutely “that fucking guy” especially one that you encounter in the military.
Tops out at Major or maybe SFC not because they aren’t interested in climbing the ranks but because they suck.
These guys are invariably convinced everyone else is an idiot, they are the only ones that actually do work (even though they are usually lazy/inept), and they deserve everything.
That they are almost always broad spectrum bigots and totally lacking self awareness is basically overdetermined.
narya
I saw a female basketball player (maybe pro? or very high college level) say that the guys who treated her the worst were NOT the best players (e.g., in pickup games). The GOOD players were happy to pass to her, etc.; it was the mediocrities who wouldn’t pass, treated her like crap, etc.
Jackie
There’s that pesky 27% again…
WereBear
@geg6: Oh, try it! Just start by writing down your thoughts. BE Abigail.
She’d like it.
lowtechcyclist
@cmorenc:
I will enjoy some Gouda cheese to accompany their whine.
Dave
@narya: I’ve seen some reports this is true even for video games basically the worst misogyny on the chats comes from mediocre players who are insecure.
It makes sense. Take Hegseth total mediocrity at best and the narratives he embraces are in many ways about shielding himself from that reality.
Chief Oshkosh
@lowtechcyclist: Yep to all that. Using my ebike has cut my car use by over half. If I set aside use of the car for out-of-town excursions, bike riding has cut my car use by over 80%. Admittedly, I live in an urban/suburban environment with stores and employment all less than 5 miles away. And generally good weather…
New Deal democrat
@YY_Sima Qian:
That brings to mind a saying I read in the past week or two: “It only takes 1 side to start a war, but 2 to end it.”
Even if T—-P wants to TACO, somehow I suspect that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, who just witnessed more or less his entire immediate family be wiped out by US and/or Israeli bombs, might not agree.
One thing about T—-p: once he finds a lever that “works,” he keeps pulling it over and over again like a demented lab rat. Venezuela “worked” as a tap-and-go. He thought Iran would be the same.
Not gonna happen. Oh, and now he’s openly talking about Cuba being next.
Dave
@lowtechcyclist: My patience for those people is non-existent especially when it’s a $100,000 truck.
You are stuck with a gas guzzler because you can’t afford a more efficient vehicle then yeah you have my sympathy.
You bought a $100,000 gas guzzler and are whining that gas is expensive get the hell out of here.
WereBear
@Eolirin: From observing Fundamentalist cultures, the dominant group gets to be spoiled children their whole lives, because the oppressed are doing all the work, anyway.
They best contribute by getting out of the way, but they are narcissists, and cannot. Problem with monarchy.
We should seal them in their own Truman Shows. It would be cheaper.
Suzanne
@narya: Not surprising.
Working-class white people used to have solidarity w/r/t class consciousness….. and TBH, they would be well-served to develop that again. They need a reminder that Republicans just piss on their legs and tell them it’s wealth trickling down.
But at this point, that means they would have to enter a coalition with Teh Gayz and women who make more money and middle-class Black people, etc etc etc….. and we can’t have that!
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
True on both counts. There ain’t no bullshitting God, but they’re bullshit to the core.
WereBear
@Baud: It’s only people who cannot be egalitarian. They never earned it in the first place. It breeds monsters of Ego.
Shakti
@Kayla Rudbek: @Baud:
Relative status and wealth mean more to these people than absolute wealth, status, health, prosperity. For them environmental pollution and school to jail is a bonus because it hurts minorities more than it does them.
This is why historical romances where the main lady is a landowner, or a noblelady are so very attractive. Sure, your half your kids might die before the age of 15 and you only live to be 30 and die in childbirth of sepsis during an plague epidemic, and not be able to vote or have say in your life, but you have a lot of status and so many servants! Or even a white pioneer lady!
If people valued personal freedom, autonomy and health over relative status people wouldn’t like Gone With the Wind, or Outlander or even Like Water for Chocolate so much.
catclub
@p.a:
 
2018 and 2006 would say the only thing is GOP voters disinclined to vote. {The economy was only on the verge of being bad in 2006. GOP voters disillusioned by…GOP corruption! how quaint!, is taken as the reason they did not turn out that year.
Geminid
@Scout211: Turkish analyst Levent Kemal responded to the report that Trump wants to select Iran’s next Supreme leader with a candidate list:
@NotMax:
NotMax
@owtechcyclist
With a chaser of goldschlager?
;)
NotMax
Bad linky. Fix.
@lowtechcyclist
With a chaser of goldschlager?
;)
Dave
@New Deal democrat: Also he’s opened the Pandora’s Box of it’s ok to try to wipe out a nations leadership.
He of course doesn’t think this will happen to him and doesn’t care if it happens to anyone who isn’t him in the future.
I can almost understand their approach once I recognize the zero-sum dominance/submission is about the only way they understand the world.
With a healthy dose of “I wanna, I wanna, I wanna”.
different-church-lady
Trump take jorbs.
catclub
In contrast to our other foreign adventures, it is possible that a large fraction of Iranians approve – those who were protesting to dump the Ayatollahs and the IRGC in January. Usually the US weighing in on a revolution in Iran favors the Ayatollahs.
So I have very mixed feelings.
1. very stupid, no plan or goal
2. no constitutional authority.
3. some good might come if the next revolution boots the mullahs.
Suzanne
@Dave: Sen. Murphy xheeted:
This is monstrous.
RevRick
Harbinger?
In 2024, Trump won almost 58% of the votes in overwhelmingly Hispanic Starr County, Texas.
In Tuesday’s primary, 96%! of the votes cast were in the Democratic primary. D total votes: 6,698. R total votes: 249.
Geminid
@Elizabelle: Mullin’s decision reminds me of Mark Meadows giving up his safe House seat to become Trump’s chief of staff. Meadows ended up in all kinds of legal hot water, and his political career effectively ended. If he had stayed in Congress and out of trouble, Meadows would likely have won the North Carolina Senate now held by Ted Budd.
Miki
@Shalimar: Thanks for the Holly Cole link – I love that album. Saw her at a club in St Paul in the 90s – wonderful show.
jonas
@Ohio Mom: No, you’re not wrong. The deficit under Trump is a very serious problem. We’re setting money on fire we simply don’t have to fight a threat we could have contained a million other ways that don’t cost a billion dollars a day.
Miss Bianca
@MagdaInBlack: When I was back in Chicago, I found myself thinking for at least a hot minute about moving back to Illinois, just so I could truly say I was Ridin’ with the Khan!
I’m so disgusted with my own Governor (Polis), I could spit.
Geminid
@catclub: Iranian approval of this war likely dropped substantially after that girls school was bombed the first day.
Suzanne
@catclub: I shared a link to an interview with Ben Rhodes yesterday. He talked about how, while he was in the Obama Admin, they thought that a better outcome would follow from the Iranian people leading the change of their government rather than American-led regime change.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: I guess my thinking is that their perception is that in their social group they’re “on top”. Like my grandpa, who got frustrated late in life when he developed dementia and people didn’t just do what he said anymore.
Soprano2
@NotMax: To me the road to Hana wasn’t that scary; it’s like the drive to Eureka Springs used to be, except side to side rather than up and down. (I did buy one of those “Survivor” T-shirts though.)
jonas
@Geminid: I suspect support will also ebb as Iranians discover that Trump is utterly uninterested in democratic regime change. He just wants whatever ayatollah he can “do business with”, i.e. will sign Iran’s oil and mineral resources over to US companies.
RevRick
@Baud: White Evangelicals rely heavily upon an emotional personal conversion experience. But they also have a four sentence formulation of how you get there. So, while they may “feel” like they have repented and sincerely “believe “ it to be so, their repentance is like the Platte River in the summertime: a mile wide at the mouth, but only six inches deep.
The problem with Evangelical “repentance” is that it begins with a false assumption— that repentance has to do with behavior. The Greek version of the word Jesus uses in the gospel is metanoia , which literally translates “turning of mind.” Repentance has to do with mindset, and in the context of when and where he was preaching, it had to do with the assumptions of imperialism, because he immediately contrasted it with the kingdom of God, which has to do with justice, peace and abundant love.
jonas
White Christian Nationalists
kalakal
@narya:
A neccessity
Suzanne
@Soprano2: Yeah, I get what you mean. But status is constantly shifting. Like, part of the inherent social promise to working-class white men was that they would get a wife to dominate in exchange for taking shit from their bosses.
Joan Williams’ book White Working Class goes into the way class intersects with misogyny, and how educated women deeply annoy working-class men.
NotMax
@Soprano 2
When I moved her in 1983 there wasn’t an inch of guardrail, just a straight drop down to whatever was below.
The dozens of one lane bridges remain.
;)
Miss Bianca
@Fair Economist: I drive an ancient Passport, and I try to stick very close to the speed limits, partly out of an abundance of caution on windy, winding mountain roads, partly out of concern to coddle a 30-year-old chassis, and partly for the fuel savings you mention.
rusty
@Kayla Rudbek: It must be at least 8 years ago, but the USPTO did a very good study on inventorship related to gender, looking at engineers and scientists and the rate of patent filings. It wasn’t that woman were less innovative, it was that their inventions were much less likely to get filed on by their employers. The argument was that as a country we were losing out on protecting innovation because of misogyny. Of course with our anti-DEI administration I don’t think anyone could even try to address the problem without the government coming down on them. It is all so self-defeating as a country.
RSA
A lot of Republicans don’t seem to understand that no one cares about your relationship with God or your wife or your family. We care that you lied to the public, in your professional capacity as a public servant. Where’s the apology for that? Why should anyone trust you in the future, if you’re not even willing to acknowledge your dishonesty?
WaterGirl
@RevRick: I wonder if any of those votes were votes FOR and how many were from Republicans who had a preference as to which Dem they most wanted to keep out of office.
kalakal
@schrodingers_cat:
I’m afraid you lost me with the Capri bit ( I get the rest ). To me Capri is a very beautiful and very upmarket island, so there’s obviously a hole in my knowledge*
* One of many I’m afraid
Suzanne
@rusty: Yeah. The real reason diversity in teams and leadership is a social good isn’t because it rights a social wrong. (That might be an effect, but isn’t the core.) It’s because more perspectives means that we’re more likely to have the best ideas, the strongest people, and a deeper bench of talent.
Of course, it inherently creates more competition.
catclub
Books ( free libraries) will allow us to survive through times of no money better that money will allow us to last through times of no books.
NotMax
@kalakal
Not to mention (with apologies to Baud) the inspiration for the pants.
;)
Jackie
Too funny! (For those who don’t follow soccer, NLS Inter Miami‘s colors are bright pink)
schrodingers_cat
@kalakal: CapriSun is a sugary drink marketed to children
lowtechcyclist
@kalakal:
CapriSun is a popular brand of fruit punch, mostly marketed toward children.
ETA: Ya beat me to it by seconds, s_c!
wenchacha
@Spanky: My husband loves his e-bike.
You probably have been doing your research, but he said many of the e-bikes for sale on Amazon, for instance, are not street legal. So it’s something to check.
Good luck!
wenchacha
@Spanky: My husband loves his e-bike.
You probably have been doing your research, but he said many of the e-bikes for sale on Amazon, for instance, are not street legal. So it’s something to check.
Good luck!
Mr. Bemused Senior
@schrodingers_cat: did you intend this reference? It’s very apt.
Another Scott
FYI – C-Span.org – Jesse Jackson memorial service in Chicago starts at noon ET. Obama, Clinton, and Biden to attend.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@Dave: You may be able to answer a question I have been wondering about. In my day, pretty much every combat arms officer had an opportunity to attend a short course after their career course. Most (including me) chose jump school. If they already had that they generally went for air assault or, in rare cases where it made sense, pathfinder. Did this end with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? I wonder about this because Princeton ROTC grad and SOF fan Hegseth was a leg 11A. That would have generated some side-eye in the late Cold War/Persian Gulf era army.
lowtechcyclist
@wenchacha:
I expect that as long as one rides an e-bike at speeds that wouldn’t be outlandish on a regular bicycle, no LEO is going to bother to stop you and check.
Bupalos
@Dave: These conversations are a bit like “look at this asshole with 60 slaves! I only have 20. And I don’t like having them, I wish I didn’t even have to have 20 and hopefully someday it will be more convenient to have less and I’ll even get rid of those.”
schrodingers_cat
@Mr. Bemused Senior: That was inadvertent, I didn’t know it. I was going for the children’s drink, to capture the petulance of our Toddler-in-Chief.
Jeffro
well…we know half of all Americans are right about the other half being bad…
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: If our side wins the next presidential election (or ANY future one), we are going to be stuck with this war and anything we do to wind it down will play out as a disaster and be judged as such. And that’s how the Republicans will get back into power again.
This is one of the Republicans’ key strategies: break everything so badly that it reflects poorly on the other side when they’re brought in to clean it up.
Dave
@Omnes Omnibus: Not so much that I’ve seen most combat arms officer have at least one or the other.
I myself was a five jump chump, thankfully no more since my knees are actually fairly intact, it’s weird that he doesn’t have at least one of the tabs but reserves can be a bit weird and I think he was a reservist though I could be wrong should really look that up guys just enough of a tool that I don’t really care.
Still almost always they have at least one of those and most are still tabbed.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@schrodingers_cat: I thought immediately of Tiberius and lo and behold, it fits perfectly. Maybe it’s too erudite but “Capri Sun King” works on many levels.
Geminid
From Ankara-based Clash Report:
Also from Clash Report:
West of the Rockies
@lowtechcyclist:
May I sign on in appreciation of YY Sima Quin’s excellent contributions and insights?
schrodingers_cat
@Mr. Bemused Senior: Thanks.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Omnes Omnibus: please explain “leg 11A”. First Google try didn’t help.
Omnes Omnibus
@Dave:
Thanks. I am a five jump chump too. Whatever I had to prove to myself was satisfied by that.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Omnes Omnibus: one jump (civilian) was enough for me. My knees are definitely not up to it any longer.
Another Scott
In the “things that annoy me but probably shouldn’t” file…
That Mercedes-Benz picture reminded me of the new font that 47’s White House has been using this time around.
MB “Corporate A BQ Light” vs WH “Instrument Serif”
So classy.
[ groucho-roll-eyes.gif ]
Grr…
Best wishes,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
I just when I thought I couldn’t be prouder of Governor Pritzker!
Captain C
@Baud: Gonzalez strikes me as one of those people who would be easily fooled by Satan disguised as God.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: I’ve experienced this over a lifetime, and I trace it all the way back to 1970s talk radio, specifically Paul Harvey. I never listened to him until I started spending time at my girlfriend’s house on summer days. I remember thinking “Hm. He sounds sort of dumb and seems to always, if somewhat subtly, blame every bad thing on people who are not exactly like him.”
Turns out, I wasn’t the only one noticing…
Captain C
@oldster:
Tastes like recycled Big Mac.
kalakal
@schrodingers_cat: Ahh, thank you.
Ok now I’m really laughing. Brilliant
Chief Oshkosh
@Ohio Mom: We’ll have serious tax reform when poor-to-middle-class white people turn on the elites. It has occasionally happened across history.
Captain C
@Jackie: Distraction from the ill-planned and likely soon to be disastrous war on Iran?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mr. Bemused Senior: 11A = infantry officer. Leg = no jump wings. It was, and apparently still is uncommon. The army tends to want combat arms (especially infantry) officers to go through “tough guy” courses.*
*How tough some of them are is a matter of debate.
Paul in KY
@Rusty: That’s too logical.
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack: Same!
Paul in KY
@YY_Sima Qian: Very true. We surely live in the Interesting Times.
Captain C
@Rusty:
I would not be surprised to find out Tulsi was sending them (possibly real-time) information, and FFOTUS was being placated with quiet (empty) promises of yet another Moscow Trump Tower for a bajillion Trumpcoins.
Eolirin
@narya: Yeah the people who can actually compete don’t need to be acting out of fear. Their skill is enough to keep even, and if they want to succeed, they recognize the necessity of working together for the edge it gives them.
It’s all the people who are made to look bad by the comparison and who aren’t able or willing to view that as a sign they need to put in more work.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Omnes Omnibus: thanks
Paul in KY
@YY_Sima Qian: Narrator voice “They are.”
Fair Economist
@Spanky: I’ve had an e-bike for 2 1/2 years and I’m pretty happy with it. I can run pretty much all my standard errands (groceries, drugstore, doctor, coffeeshop), although that will vary with where you live.
That said, it hasn’t cut all that much from my driving. I’ve only managed 2100 miles on it so far, and that’s with using it for most routine errands. The issue is that longer trips – like driving to social functions 20 miles away – just swamp the mileage for short-distance errands.
But, it does do something (and as we all know everything counts), and I get easy exercise, and I’m not contributing to congestion and car brain. So definitely a win.
schrodingers_cat
Russia and Iran are old allies. Just like Iran and India are. You don’t take everything at face value is the first rule of foreign policy.
Compared to countries like India and Iran we are a toddler state, unfortunately for us run by toddlers right now.
Captain C
@MattF:
Or possibly:
I would not be surprised if there are more than one in his past.
Soprano2
@Geminid: ETTD is always true.
Scout211
Because of course.
Now what, Judge?
ETA: original news story at Reuters but still behind the pay wall.
ETA2: CNBC
Mr. Bemused Senior
@YY_Sima Qian:
Bessent has shown himself to be without dignity but he wasn’t supposed to be this stupid. Lutnick and Navarro, OK but Bessent supposedly had a brain.
ETA yet more ETTD
Paul in KY
@Spanky: When I make it up to Chicago permanently, I’m getting one.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: I wish I could listen to that, but it wants me to sign up for a subscription.
Baud
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
It’s not really stupidity. It’s pick-up artist mentality. They don’t care if China says no or laughs in their faces.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Trump and his cronies think that countries like China, India and Iran has seen the likes of them first time
They should read what happened to Robert Clive.
topclimber
@lowtechcyclist: Might there be a problem getting insurance and/or registration if states deem a bike unsafe?
Of course, you could just not get those things and manage to avoid an accident that wipes you out financially or cancels your license.
Soprano2
@NotMax: Have you driven up Haleakalā? To me that was much scarier than driving to Hana, both up and down. Don’t they believe in guardrails on Maui?
SFAW
@schrodingers_cat:
Excellent, subtle-but-not-too-subtle assessment. [Confession: I read “backwards” from your subsequent explanation/conversation with kalakal.]
Baud
Get a load of that subtitle.
Also, too, you go
girlwhite witch!schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Good for her. I am a fan.
Baud
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
The Internet has taught me that you’re not really a fan unless you constantly harp on how other Dems don’t measure up.
Melancholy Jaques
@Suzanne:
What I find off-putting about analysis like Williams’ is that it is characterized as “why Democrats lost the white working class” and not “why the white working class choose to be cruel & stupid bigots.” It’s them that’s doing wrong, after all
And we aren’t going to get them to vote for the party that they hate by using different words.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I am not going to do that. Because even with all their flaws they are better than the party that wants me dead.
satby
Currently torn between stickers of the felon saying “I did that” or “You voted for this” to purchase on Etsy. Which to get, which to get?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
To be clear, that was a generic “you”, not you specifically.
satby
@Melancholy Jaques: exactly. Fuck ’em.
Baud
cain
@Lapassionara:
Please, OpenAI is spending about the same amount!
ArchTeryx
@Baud: It’s even extended into the sci-fi novel I’m planning out. The primary race is one of giant whale-otters that, like actual cetaceans, are matriarchal. And the Matriarch running their version of NASA is smart, competent and visionary, pretty much everything our current “leadership” is not. mar-Tykoni is not a creature to be trifled with. If only I could bring her into the real world.
cain
@Ohio Mom: It’s a feature not a bug. The GOP get into these things and then try to destroy social security and what not saying we can’t afford it.
But once they do, they’ll keep spending – like a lot of capitalists they only worry about that in another quarter.
Paul in KY
@Miss Bianca: Hopefully late this year or early next year, we’ll become liegemen of the Great Khan. Just have 2 houses to sell, etc. etc.
ironcity
@Omnes Omnibus: In the early 1970’s the Army ROTC people who were not very committed and doing airborne school instead of summer camp were looking at branches with the longest officer basic courses and least exposure to combat. Chemical Corps or Veterinary were good, except you needed some specialized education, obviously. Most of the rest of us just didn’t sign our contracts and both we and the Army were better off.
Paul in KY
@kalakal: Many years ago was a junky Mercury car. It did look OK though.
cain
@YY_Sima Qian:
He’ll just send hegseth there and threaten them.
WTFGhost
@Lapassionara: Just remember, Congress could take our Make-A-Wish President out of office quickly, and refuse to do so. So this is for the entertainment of Congress, who doesn’t give a damn about the well-being of the US, only of their political party.
Some would call them traitors, I’m sure, but for me, I’ll just call them the filthiest word that comes to my mind today: Republicans. Or “RPUSA” if you want to be sufficiently specific.
We can’t even sell them soybeans without Trump kissing Chinese booty, what bribes is Trump going to offer this time?
@lowtechcyclist: I kid you not, since they’re scraping from the web, AI agents might be able to give you insights you wouldn’t get elsewhere. Someday, they may be an important adjunct to polling. (At least there, hallucinations won’t matter as much… it stikes me as the same issue, where, sometimes, asking the right question, the wrong way, yields bad information.)
The biggest problem right now would be how to prompt to make sure you get complete information.
@Ohio Mom: Your analysis is spot-on; what’s worse, is, if we were spending on universal health care, we’d be giving money to people who’d spend it. Same for childcare, and elder care, and a better disability safety net. (When it costs me roughly $30k to prove I’m disabled, something is morally hideous in this country.)
Instead, we’re giving the money to people who don’t need it, and aren’t going to spend it. When they do spend it, it’s to impoverish others, sucking money from them, to the superwealthy.
cain
@Jackie: Paxton is going to lose his shit and go scorched earth in a way that will be epic. That man pulls no punches.
frosty
I have yet to hear one of them include “Judeo” in any of their blather about the US being founded as a Christian nation.
Paul in KY
@Dave: Back when I was in ROTC, the most gung-ho/jerky Army ones called the Air Assault badge “Airborne Wings with Sissy Bar”. I was in USAF ROTC and we were all ‘why do you want to jump out of a perfectly good flying machine??’.
frosty
Pants.
Paul in KY
@Chief Oshkosh: I hated his fucking pauses also! Just get to the point, jerk!
Baud
@frosty:
That was big in the 90s. They don’t see any reason for it now.
Paul in KY
@Omnes Omnibus: Wasn’t he the public relations dude for his outfit?
cain
@Baud: Funny though that black people are still demonized.
Now you can add Indians too. We’ve been relatively invisible but lately right wingers have noticed we seem to all have become CEOs. Of course, for all that crap, we apparently still don’t have any kind of presence in video games, movies, and other popular culture.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I got that. But just wanted to differentiate myself from the stans who do this.
different-church-lady
@Melancholy Jaques:
Because Zuckerberg figured out a way to get rich off of encouraging them to be proud of that. It’s not that difficult to understand.
Paul in KY
@satby: I would go with “I did that”, as long as it has a pic of him smirking.
cain
@bbleh: I made changes to our stock portfolio where we are moving to more international stocks.
With gas prices going up, AI bubble looking to collapse, and basically costs are going up in everything – I see a crash coming.
Baud
@cain:
I didn’t mean to imply that genitals were uniquely vilifyable.
Paul in KY
@ArchTeryx: Sounds cool! Best of luck.
Suzanne
@frosty: Rod Dreher is big on the “Judeo-” part. There’s a bunch of the religious right-wingers who are. Others are antisemites, most of them hate Muslims. I literally can’t keep up with the insanity.
Why ‘Judeo‑Christian values’ are a dog‑whistle myth peddled by the far right
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Soprano2:
That is definitely part of it, but the pushback goes deeper than that. If this was just about whether trans people should be able to live their lives without fear, these attacks wouldn’t be AS successful. However, the trans rights movement hasn’t just advocated for that. They’ve advocated for changing the meaning of gender: no longer binary, no longer based on physical characteristics, etc. What gender means and how members of each gender are supposed to navigate the world has been defined culturally and religiously forever. There are differences between faiths and cultures, but in all cases, that is how its been defined. By rejecting the traditional definitions of gender and attempting to push the new definition through schools and other venues, people who do not agree with the new definition feel attacked and are lashing back. So, not only is it a battle over what gender means, but it is also a battle over who gets to define it.
frosty
@Kayla Rudbek: Ms F has a trike (Catrike) and electrified it with a Bafang motor and battery. We found a bike shop in Philly that specializes in that work. Maybe there’s someone near you.
Giant of Bridgeport – Village Velo
RevRick
@different-church-lady: Zuckerberg wasn’t even born yet. It was the white working class that clamored for the Chinese Exclusion Act. It was the white working class that screamed loudest in Boston about “forced busing.” And when JFK first proposed the Civil Rights Act, his support among the white working class dropped from 80% to 40% during the summer of 1963.
There was more than adequate evidence for Jay Gould’s boast in the mid nineteenth century that he could hire half the working class to kill the other half.
RevRick
@WaterGirl: Since Tallarico romped to victory in Starr County, one can only conclude that the vote totals represent an utter rejection of Trump’s policies.
different-church-lady
@RevRick: You’re right that it was always there. Zuckerberg turbocharged it.
cain
@Baud:
Nah, it was just an opportunity to pontificate for me. ;)
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@WTFGhost: On selling more oil to China like it’s not going to happen but if it did what do you think that’s going to do to the price of gasoline here? Like they don’t even know enough to game that out? What a buncha morons.
no body no name
@Baud:
There are two different views of democracy as well. To conservatives the core culture must never change. Democracy serves to elect a prudent leader who will maintain that order. To liberals democracy is a tool for change. We elect a leader to enact the change we want.
Conservatives live in a world that is constantly under assault and being actively destroyed by liberals. Each assault requires more drastic measures to hold the line and restore what was destroyed. To consent to this state is a suicide for them. It’s not an option and we cannot expect them to do it. Much less demand they do it.
We cannot live in a free and democratic society together. Eventually one side must win and dominate and the other must be subjugated. And the nature of a free and democratic society means that the first side willing to throw the rules out the window will be the dominator and the side still wants free and democratic will be the subjugated.
Politics won’t end this. If we get into power and implement all the social stuff we care about, and let’s be honest our upper income base either doesn’t care about or is hostile to giving the working class more of anything, it will only make things worse. It will justify an even bigger backlash and even more things thrown out. Prosecuting them won’t matter either. If we are serious about this we will have to criminalize conservative thought, speech, and activity.
RevRick
@Suzanne: Judeo-Christian values has come to mean that white Evangelicals want to hijack parts of the Hebrew Scripture to use as a club to beat into a pulp those they reject. Because if they were really sincere, they would look to that Jesus fellow for guidance and inspiration.
WTFGhost
@MattF: Dude, he’s credibly accused of trying to force a 13-year-old to go down on him, and then punching her in the head when she bit him. You don’t need a dead girl after that.
That said, if he participated in killing a girl, it would be fascinating to watch MAGA try to defend it.
@Rusty: It might remind Russ-er-Republicans what kind of snake they clutched to their bosom. Trump is mob-adjacent, so I bet he thinks of it like, “yeah, we whack one of their guys, they whack one of ours, it’s just business.”
@lowtechcyclist:
“I’m out of my hed
“Oh, hurry, or I may be ded!
“They mustn’t carry out their evil schemes!”
— the USA
(Not sure if I’m quoting the lyrics, or the spellings, correctly, but it’s close.)
@Baud: Yeah, and it’s embarrassing that its the absolute worst kind of WhiteMaleficness that’s doing it. He was so sure if he got rid of all the soi disant DEI hires, white men would spring up, fully trained, from nowhere. He thought if he deported people who do jobs Americans won’t, Americans would sudden want to do those jobs.
It’s like, he was bound and determined to attack the question of whether or not White Supremacists were superior, and answer it conclusively, and by golly, he did.
Suzanne
@RevRick: Agree. They love them some Leviticus!
Geminid
@Baud: Trump is wrong two ways here. The first is, Netanyahu’s court case is in recess and will stay that way for the duration of this war.
The second is, under the Israeli system, the Prime Minister and the rest of the “political echelon” don’t run the war. They made the the decision to go to war and laid out the war aims. But now it’s up to the IDF to execute its plans. They’ll keep Israel Katz, the Defense Minister, informed but he doesn’t tell them what to do or how to do it. Which is a good thing because Katz is a dunderhead
frosty
@lowtechcyclist: I’ve never heard of “street legal” for any bike or eBike. No license plate required, no registration, nothing. AFAIK you can ride any bike on any road.
The only limitations I know of are for eBikes on rail trails where there may be a limit on maximum speed or nothing other than Class 1 (no throttle).
kalakal
@Paul in KY: Yeah, they had those in the UK as well. But they didn’t use the ‘Mercury’ brand – just plain Ford Capri
different-church-lady
It’s fine everyone: we’re bombing Cuba next.
WTFGhost
@Baud: Yes, I agree; I don’t think transfolk were getting “more rights,” but they were visible, and people rejected attempts to harm them, like the NC bathroom bill. (It was NC, right?)
In real life, no one has to worry about public bathrooms. In real life, if some horndog teen wanted to get into the girl’s locker room, he’d find out that girls with field hockey sticks are really dangerous when they catch you leering, to say nothing of the hideous mockery he’d receive from his male former friends.
So in real life, there is no problem. Except, yeah, it’s a bit weird to deal with someone who is non-binary, it hurts my brain a bit, but, sometimes, breakfast hurts my brain, so, just hurting my brain isn’t a bad thing.
I wonder if that’s why I find tolerance easier than some seem to find it.
different-church-lady
@WTFGhost:
Try defrosting it first.
Anyway
From your lips … can’t wait to see this
Anyway
??? I thought they wanted fewer immigrants coming here but dead – for real?
WTFGhost
or dancing…
It’s not quite that he encouraged them to be proud of it. It’s that he encouraged “engagement” with it – which was a natural multiplier of anger and aggression. If we were living in a loving land, it could multiply love just as easily, but people are rarely thinking “how can I love more?” and are more often thinking about what they want to grouse about.
trollhattan
Kristy fires back.
Matt McIrvin
@catclub:
Even if they approve now, I can’t imagine they’ll keep approving after we kill a few hundred thousand of them. Hegseth is very clear that the bombing is just beginning and that there will be no “PC rules of engagement”, which means he plans mass slaughter of civilians from the air. This isn’t the kind of thing that motivates people to rebel on your behalf.
Captain C
@Baud: If Bibi wants the court case to end, he can always plead guilty.
Tom Fitz
@Bupalos: I work part time in a bike store. Almost all the Amazon ebikes are junk. They are so bad that most shops’ insurance wont let them do service work on them. buy a bike shop brand e bike. Yes, it will cost more, but…
NotMax
@Paul in KY
Junky? Not hardly.
First new car I bought was a ’71 Capri. (the model with a V-6). Fun, zippy ride. Consistent 33 mpg.
Marc
I was in middle/high school in a city neighboring Boston at the time, plus my mother was coordinator (in addition to teaching) for that cities participation in a voluntary busing program that “welcomed” 30 or so inner city kids to our system.
The “white working class” screamed the loudest as the “white wealthy” were, by design, never directly impacted. Initial discussions of forced inner suburban school integration were quietly strangled, in much the same way as all of the “superhighways” heading into Boston simply stopped at the circumferential highway back then, as there were too many rich white people in the way. Even the voluntary suburban program met with opposition, including parents/students yelling with signs outside my own school. The wealthy in Boston sent their kids to private schools anyway (which remained 99% white), so guess who got to be the proxy for “white”.
Marc
@NotMax: My first new car was a ’76 Capri II V6 manual (black/gold), now that was a fine automobile. Fast, comfortable, good highway mileage, hatchback with folding rear seats, so I could stuff friends and/or furniture back there. The interior was a bit cheap and wore easily, and it was not a suitable car for winter weather.
WTFGhost
(deep put-upon sigh)Defrosting it first is the problem! Sometimes, it revives!
Paul in KY
@NotMax: It was a nice looking car. At least I got that right.
Gravenstone
@RevRick: Those vote totals represent < 10% of the county populace according to current census information. You shouldn’t really brag on high turnout for a primary and still have such a low absolute level in voter involvement.
Citizen Alan
@cain: I am within weeks of closing on my house. I am paralyzed with fear that after the Trump Depression hits, my new house will collapse in value and I’ll be locked into a 5.99% interest rate while the Prime Rate drops like a stone.
Citizen Alan
@Suzanne: Wasn’t there a song with a line about the two religions who hated each other until the third one showed up?
satby
@trollhattan: it’s adorable that her defenders think anyone believes anything that the WH says. Nope, all of them are liars. They’re all Republican, it’s the default setting in their brain.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I am dissapoint… quick thread search and nobody noted Kegsbreath’s use of “objections” instead of what he meant, which was “objectives”.
C’mon peeps… jackals are better than this! We see an opening and we lunge, jaws agape, ready to rend. It’s what we do best!
WTFGhost
Random thought:
“Then there was Noem, who was removed from her job, for disciplinary purposes. It wasn’t because of the revelation that she shot a pup because she couldn’t be bothered to train it; it wasn’t because she lied about cannibalism in the USA by migrants; it wasn’t that she lied about both victims of unprovoked shootings by federal agents; no, it was that she told the truth: that her boss had wanted her to do a 200 million dollar ad buy, featuring her.”
Craig
@Baud: that guy is a lunatic. ‘I guess I’ll insult my 15 yr old son now and tell you all how he can’t look after anything.’. What a piece of shit Whiskey Pete is.
Geminid
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Lauren Boebert was debating her Republican primary opponent in 2022, and criticized a vote he’d taken in the Colorado legislsture. Boebert tried to accuse him of having “ulterior motives,” but she said “alternate motors” instead.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Geminid:
That’s hilarious! I’m probably more sensitive to catching stuff like this because I don’t watch much media, I prefer to read than listen to people. So I read a LOT. Hobbies, politics, manuals, specs, whatever it is I like to read about it.
So when I come across something like this my brain has a fingernails on chalkboard moment that brings me to a halt.
Kayla Rudbek
@rusty: yep, I have Invent Together permanently pinned in my web browser. My prayer for all my inventors is simple: Lord, give them all the self-confidence of a mediocre white man.
Another Scott
@lowtechcyclist: @frosty:
Dead thread, but I just came across this:
Be careful out there…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Paul in KY
@Another Scott: Thank you for sharing that.
The Lodger
@Baud: