Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Bark louder, little dog.

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Psycho Killer (Qu’est-ce que c’est)

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RFK Jr.’s cousin warned us. Caroline Kennedy said her cousin Bobby is unfit to lead HHS because he’s a “predator” who’s “addicted to power.” In her letter to U.S. Senate leaders, she cited the thousands of needless deaths her cousin had already caused with his deeply cynical anti-vax activism and begged them not to put him in charge of public health for hundreds of millions of Americans.

The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate didn’t listen, and now a lot more people will die needlessly. Here’s just one example of how RFK Jr. is using his power as HHS secretary to kill people: (WAMU.org)

The National Cancer Institute, the Bethesda-based research center that has helped drive a more than 30% decline in U.S. cancer deaths since 1991, is being targeted by Trump administration’s downsizing. The NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health, has long been supported by bipartisan funding and plays a critical role in cancer research globally. The U.S. contributes significantly more money to cancer research than any other country around the world.

Current and former employees report that morale has “tanked” as the administration hollows out the agency, with many scientists leaving in frustration. The cuts are already impacting basic operations at the institute, according to KFF Health News correspondent Rachana Pradhan. Scientists say they are having trouble obtaining basic supplies for their research, while websites containing crucial cancer treatment and diagnostic information that both patients and doctors rely on are not being updated…

In response to the cuts, hundreds of current and former NIH employees, including Chou, have signed the Bethesda Declaration, which openly protests the Trump administration’s actions. The declaration argues that the administration is undermining NIH’s mission, wasting public resources, and harming Americans’ health by slashing research projects.

The situation may worsen significantly if the White House gets its way with Congress. The administration is seeking to slash the Cancer Institute’s budget by nearly 40% next year. If approved, scientists warn that NCI would be forced to suspend new research grants or make severe cuts to existing ones, leading to lab closures and bringing clinical research at the institute to a halt.

Predators who are “addicted to power” tend to commit truly heinous crimes. Ted Bundy was such a man, but no one ever put him in charge of the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people.

At this rate, RFK Jr. might become the most prolific serial killer who ever lived. He has lots of accomplices, including NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, every Republican senator (except McConnell), and Donald Trump.

I’m not a lawyer, but I think the 77,303,568 Americans who voted for Trump are what might be called “accessories before the fact.” Actuarial tables tell us lots of them will become RFK Jr. victims too, whether they believe this is what they voted for or not.

Open thread.

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The Perv They Deserve

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As John mentioned in an update to the evening thread, the radical left Wall Street Journal published an exclusive story about Trump perving out with pal Jeffrey Epstein on the occasion of the late pedophile’s 50th birthday. Here’s a gift link to the Journal article and an excerpt:

It was Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday, and Ghislaine Maxwell was preparing a special gift to mark the occasion. She turned to Epstein’s family and friends. One of them was Donald Trump.

Maxwell collected letters from Trump and dozens of Epstein’s other associates for a 2003 birthday album, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Pages from the leather-bound album—assembled before Epstein was first arrested in 2006—are among the documents examined by Justice Department officials who investigated Epstein and Maxwell years ago, according to people who have reviewed the pages. It’s unclear if any of the pages are part of the Trump administration’s recent review.

The president’s past relationship with Epstein is at a sensitive moment. The Justice Department documents, the so-called Epstein files, and who or what is in them are at the center of a storm consuming the Trump administration. On Wednesday, after angry comments about how the files are a hoax created by Democrats, President Trump lashed out at his own supporters for refusing to let the matter go.

The letter bearing Trump’s name, which was reviewed by the Journal, is bawdy—like others in the album. It contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly “Donald” below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.

Gross! Trump also allegedly wrote this weird vignette for the birthday book, according the WSJ report:

Inside the outline of the naked woman was a typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person.

“Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything,” the note began.

Donald: Yes, there is, but I won’t tell you what it is.

Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I also know what it is. 

Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey. 

Jeffrey: Yes, we do, come to think of it. 

Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that? 

Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you. 

Donald: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.

Trump is losing his shit over this bombshell. He called the WSJ editor and Rupert Murdoch, claimed the drawing and text were fakes and threatened to sue if they printed the story. They printed it anyway.

In an interview with the Journal on Tuesday evening, Trump denied writing the letter or drawing the picture. “This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story,” he said.

“I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”

He told the Journal he was preparing to file a lawsuit if it published an article. “I’m gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else,” he said.

Trump was lying when he claimed he’d “never wrote a picture in my life” — he’s auctioned off multiple shitty doodles at charity events (likely for a hefty cut of the take), as media reports immediately noted. The “heavy marker” allegedly used in the drawing is on brand too.

And the pervy vignette reprinted above is exactly his childish, status-obsessed and self-aggrandizing “language.” It would make an appropriate voiceover to accompany the infamous video of Trump and Epstein leering at gyrating NFL cheerleaders.

Trump and Bondi are all over social media performatively vowing to release grand jury transcripts. It’s a sign of weakness, and I think it has absolutely zero chance of quieting the howling mob that they ginned up themselves.

I’m a Democrat in the United States of America in the year of some people’s lord 2025, so I am constitutionally incapable of believing any scandal, no matter how lurid, could bring this genital wart of an administration down. But this ain’t going away, folks.

Open thread.

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Standing Up For Science

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I’m not a scientist, but I’m glad lots of smarter people are because, otherwise, I’d be dead. Millions of us would be. I think most normal people know this and regard activities like finding new cures for diseases and discovering better ways to stay healthy as uncontroversial.

In addition to alleviating suffering, it turns out that funding health-related scientific research also generates prosperity more broadly! Check this out from the Harvard Gazette:

A new report from the nonprofit United for Medical Research (UMR) shows that every dollar of research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) delivers $2.56 in economic activity, a multiplier effect that extends the agency’s impact as the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world.

But since sociopathic grifters and conspiracy kooks are currently running the country, science is under attack. Trump and lackeys like National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya and the ambulatory catcher’s mitt/disgrace to his family’s legacy whom Trump put in charge of Health & Human Services (HHS) are waging war on science.

Well, science is fighting back. Check out the Bethesda Declaration, which dropped this morning at the Stand Up for Science site.

Scores of NIH scientists go public to declare their dissent from Trump’s deep program cuts and upheaval at their agency.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) June 9, 2025 at 9:30 AM

Here’s an excerpt of the press release accompanying the declaration:

Washington, D.C. — Federal employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have stood up for the health and safety of the American people and faithful stewardship of public resources, demanding HHS and NIH leadership uphold the mission of the NIH “to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.” The Bethesda Declaration, addressed to Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Secretary Kennedy, and members of Congress who oversee the NIH, raises concern over pressure to implement measures that harm the public. The document outlines how recently enacted policies interrupt ongoing clinical trials and patient care, public health monitoring, critical research, and early career scientist training programs.

NIH Staff say that because of termination of essential employees, politicization of research, and funding cuts they are unable to uphold their commitment to the NIH mission, the American people, and their ethical charge as scientists. Despite fears of retaliation, the Bethesda Declaration has been signed by over 300 NIH Staff including 93 staff who signed their full name.

“Standing up in this way is a risk, but I am much more worried about the risks of not speaking up. If we don’t speak up, we allow continued harm to research participants and public health in America and across the globe. If we don’t speak up, we allow our government to curtail free speech, a fundamental American value.” says Jenna Norton, PhD, MPH, NIDDK Program officer and one of the lead organizers of the Declaration.

Experts say the abrupt changes to the NIH threaten the ecosystem of the biomedical advancement. “The partnership between NIH and the academic community has made huge contributions to the almost every aspect of health of people across the US. Since January, the NIH staff have been forced to focus on issues other than the noble NIH mission. A large group of public servants have found the courage to speak out and say ‘Enough. Let us get back to our important work.’”, says Jeremy M. Berg, PhD, Former Director, National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

“It has been soul destroying to witness the politicization of research resulting in mass termination of grants that are in progress and doing well. It violated my Hippocratic oath,” says one NIH employee who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.

Stand Up for Science is hosting the Bethesda Declaration and a letter of support. They are asking the public to join with them in supporting these federal employees by signing their open letter. Current supporters include Nobel Laureates, prominent scientists, politicians, activists, patients, and more.

According to Colette Delawalla, MA, MS, founder and executive director of Stand Up for Science, “These NIH employees have devoted their lives to civil service—they care deeply about the public. This is why they are courageously holding NIH and HHS leadership accountable. We are honored they have trusted us with this act of resistance and welcome any such future collaborations with other groups.”

At this historic moment, Stand Up for Science calls on the members of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee who will be soliciting testimony from NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya Tuesday at 10am to seek his commitment of support for NIH staff members signing the Bethesda Declaration.

Bhattacharya will meet with the Senate Appropriations subcommittee tomorrow. If any of your senators are on that committee, this would be a good day to call them and urge them to explain how duly appropriated funding is supposed to work to the NIH director.

No matter who your senators are, now would also be a good time to express your opposition to the budget proposal Trump and Republicans are trying to ram through Congress. It includes a 40% cut to NIH’s discretionary budget and other measures that would further devastate biomedical research in the U.S. and undermine scientific leadership worldwide.

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Just Asking Questions – Open Thread

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To help WaterGirl keep the troubleshooting thread to just that, here’s something I’ve been thinking about.

We see statements not unlike TFG’s tweets occasionally emanate from a certain Florida resort. We see quotes in the news about grand political thinking from TFG – endorse this, fundraise that, remove Liz Cheney.

But we hardly ever see TFG. There was one video a couple of weeks ago that looked like one of those folks you see ranting on street corners about the unfairness of life, chemtrails, and the aliens that are hiding in the bank building. A small audience applauded. I wondered if that was a deepfake. It was perfectly believable.

And now the questions.

Is TFG having a hard time adjusting to his Twitterless existence? Is he ranting incoherently, so that his handlers don’t want the world to see him directly? Or is he just nursing his butthurt and thinks that he is damaging the media by denying them his essence? (Oh wait) Is he being manipulated by any number of manipulators?

You may have questions too. You may deposit them here or any other profound thinking you have to offer this Sunday morning.

Open thread!

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Acceptance Level: Unlocked

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Well, here it is:

Acceptance Level Unlocked

I edited out all the whiny lies. (You’re welcome.) But this is progress of a sort — the only concession this repulsive crybaby is ever likely to make. For the next 65 days, this egomaniacal wretch will do everything in his power to foment division and delegitimize the incoming administration.

There’s no way Trump sticks around the White House on January 20th to greet his successor and attend the inauguration as honor compels real presidents to do, no matter how hard fought the race. He’ll probably demand that all the toadies boycott the inauguration too.

In a way, good riddance — who wants those puling babies around stinking up the event with their loaded diapers? But Trump is playing a dangerous game with the country, and for no other reason than malice and spite. Fuck that guy.

Now, I’m off to continue binge-watching the latest season of The Crown.

Open thread!

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The Measure Of An Epidemic: New Coronavirus Units

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Let’s review:

The first confirmed COVID-19 death on US soil occurred on March 1, 2020.   four p.m. EDT on April 2, 2020,  the United States’ cumulative coronavirus death toll hit 5,808.  Four days later, that number crossed the 10,000 line. There’s a long history behind the saying that while any one death is a tragedy many deaths —a thousand, a hundred thousand, a million— become statistics, but it certainly applies now:  the American pandemic has entered its statistical phase.

The Measure Of An Epidemic: New Coronavirus Units

This much is known about the tragic start to America’s  epidemic.  The first person to die  was a man in his fifties, who had been hosptialized in King County, Washington.  His name was not been released at the time, but it’s possible to reconstruct a part of his story: he was someone in the middle of a life who, only a week or two before its end, had no reason to think he faced his last days on earth. That’s a story we can tell ourselves; a loss we can recognize; a human being, however anonymous, we can mourn.

That one death is a marker in more than just timing.  Health officials noted one key fact about that particular case.  The dead man had no connection to the original coronavirus outbreak in China. He caught his disease here, from someone else in the United States who was already infected, in what is called “community transmission.” President Trump reacted to the news of his death within hours—by imposing travel restrictions on Iran.  That gesture was preceded by reckless inattention, to be followed by a disastrous series of performative decisions by the Trump administration that has produced the current best-case scenario of 100,000 to 240,000 Americans dead by summer.

It’s virtually impossible to grasp the losses implicit in such large numbers. When quantities break the bounds of ordinary experience they begin to disappear from view.  That’s the challenge: to see into what’s happening now, to extract from mere numbers both memory and meaning.

Here’s one way to do so: on September 11, 2001 2,996 people were killed in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC.  As I write this on April 3, the US has already suffered almost two 9/11s.

Another: between 1956, when the first American died in the conflict, and 2006, when the last American fatality attributed to the war was recorded—half a century–58,220 members of the US armed services died in the Vietnam War. COVID-19 has climbed to ten percent of that casualty count in a single month.

Looking forward, if the most optimistic current projections hold, coronavirus will bring between thirty and seventy 9/11s to the United States, or two to six Vietnams.  At those heights, the sheer scale of the misery again turns particular memories (where I was when the towers fell, what it felt like to run my fingers along the wall) into abstractions.

And beyond such numbers, should the best case scenarios fail to pan out, we’ll find ourselves in territory at the limits of national mourning. It took 405,000 American lives to defeat Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.  And should the US epidemic wholly overwhelms the still-patchwork effort to contain it, the only remaining national memory to measure our tragedy against will be America’s bloodiest conflict, the Civil War, in which an estimated 750,000 Americans lost their lives.

Back on the first of March, just one man lay dying of this awkwardly named new disease. Those who knew him could mourn him in his human singularity. Glimpsed now, through the lens of almost six thousand more dead, he is the unknown soldier in this viral campaign.

More than three 9/11s.

And counting.

Image: Pieter Breughel the Elder, The Triumph of Death, c. 1562

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Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: PopCult Celebrity

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ETA, per TPM (h/t multiple commentors):

… But for QAnon followers, the second half of the caption speaks to a central narrative in the conspiracy theory, which is based on years of cryptic online posts from an anonymous self-purported insider whose legion of fans pore over the posts like Talmudic scholars.

Trump, the theory posits, is engaged in a behind-the-scenes war against evil forces intent on his destruction. The unknown “Q” has used the phrase in several unsigned, largely inscrutable missives.
The phrase is meant to convey that mass arrests and a “great awakening” are inevitable no matter what the “deep state” or mainstream media do, said Travis View, co-host of the “QAnon Anonymous” podcast.

“It’s very fatalist,” View said…

So I guess the rest of us are left hoping for Heaven’s Gate, as opposed to Jonestown, climax for the cultists.
 

You have been warned…

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