;)
May 13, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Friday, writing for The Atlantic, Canadian author Margaret Atwood -- author of the patriarchal dystopia 'The Handmaid's Tale' -- said that the Supreme Court's impending decision to strike down Roe v. Wade creates the nightmarish world she was depicting.... Atwood ... [wrote] that she actually stopped writing the novel multiple times because she considered its premise to be too extreme to be taken seriously. 'Silly me,' she commented.... You can read more here. (Firewalled.) MB: The Handmaid's Tale was published in 1985. That, of course, was before any of the imbeciles who intend to vote to overturn Roe were on the Court.
John Henley & Ruth Michaelson of the Guardian: "The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has cast doubt on Finnish and Swedish membership of Nato, saying he does not have a positive opinion of the two Nordic nations joining the military alliance after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.... Membership of Nato would require ratification by all existing members.... The comments appeared directed at the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey regards as a terrorist organisation, although they appeared to encompass the communities of Kurdish origin in Scandinavia as a whole.... Sweden has a large Kurdish diaspora, and prominent Swedish citizens of Kurdish origin currently include six members of parliament."
AP: "WNBA star Brittney Griner had her pre-trial detention in Russia extended by one month Friday, her lawyer said. Alexander Boykov told The Associated Press he thinks the relatively short extension indicated that Griner's case would go to trial soon. The 31-year-old American basketball player has been in custody for nearly three months."
Kelvin Chan & Tom Krisher of the AP: "Elon Musk said Friday that his plan to buy Twitter is 'temporarily on hold,' raising fresh doubts about whether he'll proceed with the $44 billion acquisition. Musk tweeted that he wanted to pinpoint the number of spam and fake accounts on the social media platform. Musk has been vocal about his desire to clean up Twitter's problem with 'spam bots' that mimic real people and appeared to question whether the company was underreporting them. But Twitter has disclosed in regulatory filings that its bot estimates might be low for at least two years, leading some analysts to believe that Musk could be raising the issue as a reason to back out of the deal." ~~~
~~~ Adam Satariano & Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: “First, in a pre-dawn tweet, Mr. Musk said the deal was on hold. He said he wanted more details about the volume of spam and fake accounts on the platform. Then, about two hours later, Mr. Musk tweeted again. He was 'still committed' to the acquisition, he said, without providing any more details." MB: The richest man in the world thinks it's ever so much fun to mess with people. Especially when it puts him back on the front page.
Adam Cancryn of Politico: "A painful and foreboding reality is setting in for the White House as it enters a potentially dangerous stretch of the Covid fight: It may soon need to run its sprawling pandemic response on a shoestring budget. Just two months after the administration unveiled a nearly 100-page roadmap out of the crisis, doubts are growing about Congress' willingness to fund the nation's fight. It has forced Biden officials to debate deep cuts to their Covid operation and game out ways to keep the federal effort afloat on a month-by-month basis. Among the sacrifices being weighed are limiting access to its next generation of vaccines to only the highest-risk Americans...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I was trying to decide when to get my second booster: now, or in the fall, when the risk of contracting the virus is supposed to rise sharply. I guess I'll get it now.
Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "The Texas Supreme Court ruled on Friday that investigations of parents with transgender children for possible child abuse could continue, after an emergency appeal by state officials including Gov. Greg Abbott. The ruling reversed an appeals court decision that had temporarily halted the inquiries statewide. But the court said that officials could not resume the investigation into the plaintiffs that had brought the lawsuit, a family and a doctor, acknowledging that the inquiry would cause 'irreparable harm' and leaving in place the injunction as their case proceeds to trial. In its 12-page opinion, the court found that the appeals court had 'abused its discretion' in issuing a statewide order at this point in the legal process."
Israel/Palestine. New York Times: "Israeli police officers on Friday assaulted mourners at the funeral procession of a prominent Palestinian American journalist killed this week in the occupied West Bank, forcing pallbearers to nearly drop the coffin. Video showed police officers in Jerusalem beating and kicking pallbearers carrying the coffin that contained the body of the journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, striking other mourners with batons, and forcing one man to the ground. During the commotion, the pallbearers were pushed backward, causing them to briefly lose control of one end of the coffin.... The incident at the funeral procession lasted for roughly a minute, and followed a tense standoff between paramilitary police and mourners in which at least one empty plastic bottle was thrown in the direction of the police." The article is part of a liveblog. The AP's report is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
John Hudson of the Washington Post: “President Biden juggled the competing demands of his foreign policy agenda on Thursday as he hosted a summit with Southeast Asian leaders at the White House while managing the United States’ response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The two-day summit in Washington is aimed at showing Biden’s commitment to Asia, where the United States is in a 'competition with China to win the 21st century,' as the president often says.... U.S. officials hope the gathering of Asian leaders can strengthen the region’s commitment to a rules-based order in the face of China’s growing military and economic clout.”
Anatoly Kurmanaev & Less than three weeks before the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, there are fears that rather than highlighting the Biden administration’s vision for a part of the world that ... Donald J. Trump largely ignored, the event could expose America’s weakening ability to advance its agenda in the region. A growing number of Latin American and Caribbean heads of state, including the presidents of Mexico and Brazil — the region’s two largest nations — are considering not even showing up, threatening to deliver a humiliating blow to the White House."
I’ll tell ya, there’s never been a better time for the supreme court to force women to have more kids than right now. -- Jimmy Kimmel, on the baby formula shortage ~~~
~~~ Marianna Sotomayor & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Biden and lawmakers from both parties are scrambling to address a growing lack of baby formula in many stores that has made it difficult for some parents to feed their young children. On Thursday, Biden received an update from retailers and manufacturers, including Wal-Mart, Target, Reckitt and Gerber. Then administration officials announced they would cut bureaucratic red tape in hopes of getting more formula to stores more quickly, call on the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to crack down on formula price-gouging, and increase imports of formula to boost the domestic supply.... Some House Republicans ... accused the Biden administration of prioritizing providing formula to migrant mothers arriving at the southern border after images of stocked shelves and pallets of baby formula were taken by border agents at processing centers." An AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ While mothers and fathers stare at empty grocery store shelves in a panic, the Biden administration is happy to provide baby formula to illegal immigrants coming across our southern border. This is yet another one in a long line of reckless, out-of-touch priorities from the Biden administration when it comes to securing our border and protecting Americans. — Joint statement by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) President Brandon Judd, May 12 ~~~
This is a ridiculous faux outrage. The shortage of baby formula is a serious issue that the administration is seeking to address. But at the same time, the administration cannot be faulted for following the law and providing baby formula to undocumented immigrants. Anyone who suggests this is the result of specific Biden policies, i.e., his 'reckless, out-of-touch priorities,' earns Four Pinocchios. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
Jeanna Smialek & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, was confirmed to a second four-year term at the head of the central bank on Thursday — keeping him in one of the most consequential jobs in the United States and world economy at a moment of rapid inflation and deep uncertainty. Mr. Powell, who was first chosen as a Fed governor by former President Barack Obama and then elevated to chair by ... Donald J. Trump, was renominated by President Biden late last year. The Senate approved Mr. Powell by a 80-19 vote. Several Republicans and Democrats voted against the nomination." An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Moscow is withdrawing forces from around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, where it has been losing ground, Ukrainian and Western officials say, in one of Russia’s biggest setbacks since its retreat from Kyiv last month. Officials say the Kremlin will probably redirect troops to the southeast, where it is said to be bolstering its forces in Izium, a city it captured last month. Izium, about two hours southeast of Kharkiv, has become a crucial operations center for Russia, which is said to be making gains in the eastern Donbas region, where fighting has been relentless." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: “A 21-year-old Russian soldier will stand before a Kyiv court on Friday in the first war crimes trial of the conflict, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office. In the hearing set to start at noon local time, Vadim Shishimarin is accused of killing an unarmed 62-year-old civilian in northeast Ukraine in late February.... In the coming days, Sweden is set to hold a parliamentary debate over joining NATO, after Finland’s leaders said their country must apply to enter the defense alliance 'without delay.'” ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here.
The New York Times' summary of Thursday's developments in the war are here.
What a Dick! Alyssa Lukpat & Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky on Thursday single-handedly delayed a bipartisan effort to quickly send $40 billion in aid to Ukraine, which Congress had tried to fast-track amid the escalating brutality of Russia’s war. The Senate needed unanimous consent to waive procedural hurdles and approve the humanitarian and military aid package, which the House passed 368-to-57 on Tuesday. Mr. Paul, a Republican and a libertarian who generally opposes U.S. spending on foreign aid, objected, halting what had been an extraordinary effort to rapidly shepherd the largest foreign aid package through Congress in at least two decades. Mr. Paul had sought to alter the bill to include a provision requiring that an inspector general monitor the spending, and was not satisfied with a counteroffer from party leaders to have a separate vote on that proposal.... The Senate is still expected to approve the aid package, but Mr. Paul’s objection will delay a vote until at least next week." The AP's report is here. See Akhilleus' commentary below.
U.K. Boris & Natasha Sergei. Jane Bradley of the New York Times: "One of the biggest donors to Britain’s Conservative Party is suspected of secretly funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the party from a Russian account, according to a bank alert filed to Britain’s national law enforcement agency. The donation, of $630,225, was made in February 2018 in the name of Ehud Sheleg, a wealthy London art dealer who was most recently the Conservative Party’s treasurer. The money was part of a fund-raising blitz that helped propel Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his party to a landslide victory in the 2019 general election.... The money originated in a Russian account of Mr. Sheleg’s father-in-law, Sergei Kopytov, who was once a senior politician in the previous pro-Kremlin government of Ukraine. He now owns real estate and hotel businesses in Crimea and Russia.... [Barklays] bank, which maintained some of the accounts used in the transaction, flagged the donation as both suspected money laundering and a potentially illegal campaign donation."
Daniel Boffey of the Guardian: Igor Pedin, a 61-year-old man, & his dog walked 225 km [140 miles], from his home in war-ravaged Mariupol to find relative safety in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. The story of their journey is interesting.
** Luke Broadwater & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued subpoenas on Thursday to five Republican members of Congress, including Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, who had refused to meet with the panel voluntarily. The committee’s leaders had been reluctant to issue subpoenas to their fellow lawmakers. That is an extraordinarily rare step for most congressional panels to take, though the House Ethics Committee, which is responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by members, is known to do so. ~~~
~~~ "The panel said it was demanding testimony from Mr. McCarthy, of California, who engaged in a heated phone call with ... Donald J. Trump during the Capitol violence; Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who coordinated a plan to try to replace the acting attorney general after he resisted Mr. Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud; Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, who was deeply involved in the effort to fight the election results; Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, the former leader of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus; and Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama, who has said Mr. Trump has continued to seek an unlawful reinstatement to office for more than a year. All five have refused requests for voluntary interviews about the roles they played in the buildup to the attack...." An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors have begun a grand jury investigation into whether classified White House documents that ended up at ... Donald J. Trump’s Florida home were mishandled, according to two people briefed on the matter. The intensifying inquiry suggests that the Justice Department is examining the role of Mr. Trump and other officials in his White House in their handling of sensitive materials during the final stages of his administration. In recent days, the Justice Department has taken a series of steps showing that its investigation has progressed beyond the preliminary stages. Prosecutors issued a subpoena to the National Archives and Records Administration to obtain the boxes of classified documents, according to the two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.... ~~~
~~~ "Despite Mr. Trump’s role in helping incite the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and his other efforts to disrupt the counting and certification of the election, there has been no indication to date that the Justice Department has begun examining any criminal culpability he might have in those matters." (Also linked yesterday.) The Raw Story has a summary report here.
Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: “A House committee has opened an investigation into the U.S. Postal Service’s $11.3 billion plan to purchase mostly gas-powered mail-delivery trucks, ordering the mail agency to turn over confidential records on their environmental impact and costs. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), who chairs the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee, told Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in a letter sent Wednesday night that his agency may have 'relied on flawed assumptions' to justify buying a fleet in which only 1 in 10 of the new vehicles would run on cleaner electric power.”
Dominick Mastrangelo of the Hill: “Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) this week blasted Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for his stance on a number of issues facing the court, including abortion rights.... [Thomas commented last week,] 'We are becoming addicted to wanting particular outcomes, not living with the outcomes we don’t like.'... Earlier this year, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot revealed text messages between Ginni Thomas and former President Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows that showed Thomas urging Meadows to fight to keep Trump in power after the 2020 presidential election.” Emphasis added. Jeffries' response to Thomas' complaint is spot-on: ~~~
Virtual Book Burning. David Ingram of NBC News: “E-reader apps that became lifelines for students during the pandemic are now in the crossfire of a culture war raging over books in schools and public libraries. In several states, apps and the companies that run them have been targeted by conservative parents who have pushed schools and public libraries to shut down their digital programs, which let users download and read books on their smartphones, tablets and laptops. Some parents want the apps to be banned for their children or even for all students. And they’re getting results.... 'The terrifying thing is that they can be censored with the flip of a switch, without due process, without evaluating the substance of the claims,' said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association.”
Seth Masket in a Politico Magazine opinion piece: "t’s not clear where historians will ultimately draw the line, but one could make a good case that the looming Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision marks the end of a Democratic century. The moral arc of the universe may have seemed like it was bending toward a liberal vision of the social world, but in fact much of that vision — including the New Deal and the Warren Court — was something of an historical anomaly, created by chance. The judicial branch is a lagging indicator of party power, with lifetime-appointed jurists remaining powerful long after the president who nominated them has left office. Much of what’s happened within the judiciary over the past century has been an echo of a period of electoral dominance by the Democrats."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: “The coronavirus has been spreading across North Korea 'explosively' since late last month, killing six people and leaving 187,800 people in quarantine, the country’s state media reported on Friday. Health officials made the rare admission of an emerging public health crisis after the country reported its first outbreak of the virus — after long insisting it had no infections and refusing outside humanitarian aid to fight any spread.”
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “President Biden, anticipating the milestone of one million American lives lost to Covid-19, said in a formal statement on Thursday that the United States must stay committed to fighting a virus that has 'forever changed' the country.... The statement came hours before Mr. Biden convened his second Covid-19 summit, aimed at injecting new urgency into the global coronavirus response. At the summit, both Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who was representing the United States in the opening session with world leaders, used the gathering to mark the coming milestone. Mr. Biden also issued a proclamation on Thursday ordering flags at the White House and all federal buildings to be flown at half-staff until next Monday to mark the one million deaths.” An ABC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Linda Qiu of the New York Times: “The country’s largest meatpackers successfully lobbied the Trump administration in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic to keep processing plants open despite knowing the health risks to their workers, according to a congressional report released on Thursday. The report, prepared by a select House committee, describes the extent of the meat industry’s influence on the administration’s response to the pandemic: Companies stoked 'baseless' fears of an imminent meat shortage in an effort to prevent plant closures. The legal department of Tyson Foods drafted the initial version of an executive order ... Donald J. Trump issued in April 2020 declaring processing plants as 'critical infrastructure.' And industry concerns prompted the government to adjust its federal recommendations on worker safety at a meatpacking plant.... About 59,000 workers at meatpacking plants contracted the virus from March 1, 2020, to Feb. 1, 2021, and 269 eventually died, the committee said in October.” CNN's report is here.
Beyond the Beltway
America would not exist without the heroism of the young adults who fought and died in our revolutionary army. -- Judge Ryan Nelson, Ninth Circuit Trump appointee
Thank the Lord those young revolutionary soldiers had semiautomatic weapons instead of those pesky single-shot muskets. -- Marie ~~~
~~~ California. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “An appeals court panel ruled on Wednesday that California’s ban on the sale of semiautomatic weapons to adults under the age of 21 violated the right to bear arms found in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Judge Ryan Nelson, writing for a two-to-one majority in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, struck down a ruling by a federal judge in San Diego that upheld what Judge Nelson called an 'almost total ban on semiautomatic' rifles for young adults.” MB: Meant to link this earlier. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the reminder. (Also linked yesterday.)
Share Article
Reader Comments (10)
Stunt Man (little edition: little thought, less action)
And here we go again.
The Littlest stunt man, Yard Waste Dumper and self-certified eye poker, Li’l Randy, aka Sen. What About Me? is up to his old tricks, emphasis on “old” (as in “This shit is getting really old”) and “tricks” (as in “Nothing up my sleeve, nothing in my head…”).
As Fat Donald’s paramour, the murderous dictator Putin, is going at Ukraine hammer and tong, bombing baby hospitals and train stations full of civilians desperately trying to stay alive, and sending out rape squads to up the terror quotient, a bipartisan bill (yes! Bipartisan!) was passed in congress to get much needed aid to that war torn nation…BUT! From waaay down in some smelly rat hole comes a squeaky rodent voice croaking “What about me?!?!?”
And so, employing his typical pretend-a-rama bullshit about how economical-like he is, Li’l Randy pulls another in a sad career full of stunts, and nothin’ but. He halts the bill. I’m wondering how many babies, grandmas, moms and dads, soldiers, will be killed, how many women raped, while the Littlest Stunt Man preens in the spotlight.
Stunts are all he’s got. He got nothin’ else. No actual ideas. No worthwhile legislation. No evidence of concern for anything other than his own publicity.
Stunts. That’s it. Setting the tax code on fire to “prove” he’s a serious guy. Pushing a copy machine around the Capitol, looking for the updated Obamacare bill. The Mr. Smith Goes to Washington filibuster (for which he was ripped by John McCain who suggested Aqua Buddha, at some point “know what he’s talking about”.).
How about this? You don’t like the tax code? Fine. Roll up your sleeves and work to fix it. You don’t like Obamacare? You want to make fun of people? How about educating yourself about healthcare and get to work?
Nope. Stunts are more fun and waaaaay easier.
But stunts is all they got.
Butt boy Abbott in Texas blows $4 billion dollars searching trucks at the border. Stunt.
Benito DeSantollini sticks it to Disney. Imposes an Evil Commie curriculum. Creates his own Election Police.
Stunt, stunt, and stunt.
Breathless tales of coke fueled sex parties.
Stunt.
Donald Trump. Stunts incarnate.
It’s all they got. They don’t do any actual work. Stunts. That’s it.
So I thought I’d look up the etymology of stunt. It’s one of those pretty common words we hear all the time, especially with little stunt men like Randy around. I figured it was one of the many great, punchy single syllable old English words. That wasn’t far off. But check out how well the origin of the word that best describes Li’l Randy’s only achievements in the Senate suits this little shit:
From dialectal stunt (“stubborn, dwarfed”), from Middle English stont, stunt (“short, brief”), from Old English stunt (“stupid, foolish, simple”), from Proto-Germanic *stuntaz (“short, compact, stupid, dull”). Cognate with Middle High German stunz (“short”), Old Norse stuttr (“short in stature, dwarfed”).
Stupid dwarf.
Sounds about right.
Meanwhile the bodies pile up in Ukraine.
https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-technology-social-media-64b8534f53aa0213fbfd2245bacd6109
Did someone sell Twitter short?
Or am I just too suspicious and untrusting?
WAR CRIMES:
When I read this morning about the 21 yr. old Russian soldier who will be brought before the Kyiv court on a war crime, I wondered why one man would be on the chopping block.
The way I understand the handling of war crimes is through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and one hopes they will eventually bring Putin and his subordinates to justice.
Did some reading on this and Fintan OToole wrote that there have been two ways of thinking about about the prosection of war crimes.
One: It is a universal duty. Since human beings hqave equal rights violations of those rights must be prosecuted regardless of the nationality or political persuasion of the perpetrators.
Two: The right to identify individuals as war criminals and punish them for their deeds is really one of the spoils of victory. It is the winner's preogative ––a political choice rather than a moral imperative.
Further reading brought out this–-again from the O'Toole piece:
"In principle this hostility [ by the Biden Administration] to the ICC is rooted in the objection that the court is engaged in an intolerable effort to bind the US to a treaty it has not ratified–-in effect to subject the US to laws to which it has not consented. If this were true, it would indeed be an unacceptable and arbitary state of affairs. But the alleged concern is groundless. One ICC does not claim any jurisdiction over states––it seeks to prosecute individuals."
And here's the zigger: turns out the US abandoned its commitment to the ICC not for reasons of legal principle but from the same motive that animated Putin. "It was engaged in aggressive wars and did not want to risk the possibility that any of its military or political leaders would be prosecuted for war crimes ....That expediency rather than principle was guiding US attitudes became clear in 2005.The US decided not to block a Security Council resolution referring atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan to the ICC prosecutor.
So perhaps when it comes to the question of war crimes, we need to give up the idea of the US as being of clean hands. Or as O'Toole puts it:
"[the US] can not differentiate itself sufficiently from Putin's tyranny until it accepts without reservation that the standards it applies to him also apply to itself. The way to do that is to join the ICC."
@Ken Winkes: About a week ago, I linked to a story that said some Muskologists didn't believe he really would buy Twitter. I'm not sure what you mean by "sell short." Do you mean that people have underestimated Twitters execs or do you mean Musk and/or Twitter was manipulating the market value of the stock in order to clean up on some short-selling scheme?
Either way, I think we still may find Elon saying, "Hello, ladies & gents. I'm Elon, the richest man in the whole wide world. Sadly, I was not getting enough press, so I thought I'd cause another stir by pretending to buy Twitter with some of my billions & some of other people's billions. But, you know, just kidding."
@Marie,
Was suggesting Musk might have been playing with Twitter stock price as he has with Tesla's....Don't know why I don't trust the guy...
@Akhilleus
It’s not just stunts.
I once wrote (and might have told the story here) a piece about local politics in which I thought I'd coined the term "government by gossip.” Someone (here?) said the coinage might not have been original with me, just to me, but the point remained. People seek out and believe what they want to, often something which sorts the world into good and bad guys and, accounting them of course among those wearing the white hats. Add a dollop of secret, even salacious, knowledge and we get the stories that most often attract our interest—and because they do, they often drive our politics.
People say they want good news, but I have my doubts.
Newspapers, broadcast and cable media must have long known that. If they did not, social media has given them a broad hint. On social media, it's not good news or carefully reasoned argument that draws the clicks. The more outrageous, the angrier the post, the better. When it comes to what people want to hear, the good and the true are no where near the top of the list.
One of our political parties understands that, relies on it in fact. Instead devoting itself to problem-solving, to governing, it devotes almost exclusively to generating and consuming gossipy stories that have no value beyond the entertainment they provide to their receptive audience.
Abbott’s latest claim that Biden is supplying baby formula to illegals at the expense of real American babies is a perfect example of the Republican political formula. Not only was Abbot's claim not the whole story, not only is it not true, but it does nothing to deal with the problem.
And there are plenty of problems to sidestep. We have more than 100 gun deaths/per day, a million dead from from a pandemic that is again resurging, rampant inflation, wild fires all year long, rivers drying up, record low snowpack in the Sierra, unlivable wages for a large swath of American workers, a major proxy war with our geopolitical rivals (Russia and China) that is displacing millions of Ukrainians, a democracy on its last legs, a Supreme Court legislating for the thirty percent…and what do we get from Republicans who duck them all?
We get conspiracy theories, stunts, as you say, outright lies and unsubstantiated gossip. We got a recent presidential campaign with no platform that ended in an insurrection and whose investigation Republican leaders call “illegitimate.” It’s as if “The National Inquirer” were the Republican paper of record.
Some get entertainment, perhaps; all get chao. What we do not get is any serious attempt to govern.
@P.D. Pepe: O'Toole, IMO, is right. The U.S., which is almost perpetually involved in one hostility or the other, is bound to engage in war crimes. When the crimes are not the result of human nature, they may be the offshoot of the methods of war. Look at drone strikes, for instance: "Oops! Hit some innocent civilians! Oh, well." Besides, with a volunteer military, how are you going to recruit troops?
"Uncle Sam Wants You!"*
(Small print:) * You may wind up in jail for life. Or worse!
Ken,
Effectively, relying on stunts, as opposed to actually doing something constructive is in line with your point.
Things like all this Kabuki at the border, scams about how CRT is being taught now to toddlers, and invented outrages to whip up further resentment (and further dull critical thinking) are what passes on the right for “doing something”.
And perhaps I was a bit too glib in my estimation of confederate action, or lack thereof.
They actually DO do some things, they just happen to all be horrible. Taking away rights and imposing (even more) roadblocks to voting booths are all of a piece with the party’s standard mantra for years, which has been “No!” I used to call it the Party of No, until they said yes to treason.
But in terms of some form of action, it’s minimal. It takes nothing to kick something over, as Trump did almost every day of that debacle, it’s a much different thing to build something, to accomplish something useful, which is why the ACA was put together with a lot hard work by Democrats and the best Trump and the traitors, who promised something better and cheaper, could do was say “Yup. Any day now. But until then, let’s take away that healthcare”.
So yeah, they sort of “do”something. All bad.
Greg Abbott literally wants to take food out of the mouths of babes. Very Republican and very pro-life.
Musk's Twitter and public statements have caused large swings in stock prices in the past. He has already settled fines with the SEC for doing it. Right now the Twitter stock is lower than when he initially offered to buy back all the stocks and take it private. Renegotiating now could save him billions. Also the stock price of Tesla is also down so Musk would need to put up more of it for collateral. Or maybe he is getting cold feet or is just bored and doesn't think that putting Trump back on Twitter is worth $44 billion dollars.
Traitor Stunts, continued…
Texas Gubernator, Greg Abbottabad (protector of anti-American terrorists), in order to demonstrate his Trumpy-Republican Hatred and Fear of Immigrants ™ enmity, is considering a challenge to a decades’ old Supreme Court ruling that says states must provide public education for children of immigrants.
What to make of this moronic idea?
Children left to run wild, especially immigrant kids, without the leavening and assimilatory influence of public education, guarantees—fucking absolutely guarantees—a population of individuals with zero connection to American culture and society and no reason to want to assimilate. Their only choice would be a life outside the law.
But truthfully, this is what confederates dearly hope for. By forcing immigrant kids into a life of illegality, asshole motherfuckers like Abbott “prove” that Trump was right. Browns and blacks are evil!
It’s like telling someone you can’t get an education, you can’t get a job, but if you stub your toe, we’ll put you in jail for years and use you as an example of why brown, Spanish speaking immigrants, are all criminals, drug dealers, and rapists.
This is how things work in the Party of Traitors and Lying Bigots.