From Chris Kinney:
- So sad to note the loss of Kevin Drum, whose extraordinary internet presence pulled many of us through the Bush, and later Trump, years.
There are no adequate words. - I am occasionally reminded of the sinister portrayal by actor Marton Csokas of an erudite and thoroughly evil Russian villain (19 second clip) in the 2014 film The Equalizer.
Nicolai Itchenko:
You strike me as a sentimental man, Mr. McCall. That’s surprising. I… I don’t possess that chip. I never could understand what comes from feeling that way, except weakness.Which leads me to a real life incarnation:
Elon Musk:
The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.In fairness, Musk does try to mitigate this a little, with “I think you should care about other people”, but goes on to say that empathy should primarily be reserved for the collective civilization itself.
- Scotties Playtime looks at the ongoing political argument on whether the US should feed hungry kids.
- Brian Beutler is my kind of chucklehead:
I don’t get the choice between niceness and schadenfreude. These are adults who made a mistake when they should have known better. In an offline scenario where we wanted someone to learn, we wouldn’t exclusively infantilize OR mock them. We’d respectfully and charitably use it as a teaching moment.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 8:27 AM
I’m just a chucklehead, so I feel the schadenfreude deeply, but it would be genuinely good if local Democrats or indivisible chapters found these people and helped them change their understanding.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 8:29 AM
- North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz has a message for Trump voters. We kept telling you about Trump, Musk, and what could happen after the election, but we did not want to be right.
Key Pain:
The reason we are not celebrating or rubbing it in or taking some kind of moral victory lap in these moments but are actually fully grieving—is because we love this country as much as you do and we are in this along with you. This isn’t a win for any of us. - Infidel753 reviews the dilemma faced by Senate Democrats in deciding whether to avoid a shutdown by passing a horrible budget contrived by the House at the direction of Trump.
Key proponents:
Elon Musk wants a shutdown. The Republican vandals who support his wrecking of the federal government want a shutdown. It would provide cover to do a lot more damage.Key consideration:
In all the online exhortations urging Senate Democrats to block the continuing resolution, I’ve seen little or no sign of any interest in all the people who would be hurt by a shutdown. - So Trump’s Cabinet likes Mr. Musk’s motives, but not his methods?
A social media participant (who prefers anonymity) is incredulous:
Julian Sanchez more than shares the skepticism:
It is jawdropping to me that there are still people swallowing the idea that “reducing waste, fraud and abuse” is what they set out to do. But I would like to play poker with those people.
— Julian Sanchez (@normative.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 10:55 AM
- Legal expert Imani Gandy examines the role Chief Justice John Roberts, and his weird logic on voting rights, has played in the shambles our legal system has become.
A major role of courts, since Marbury vs Madison in 1803, has been to determine whether a law violates the Constitution.
In 2013, that changed. In Shelby County vs Holder John Roberts took on an additional role, one previously assigned to Congress: Is a given law needed?
That seemed to be one key question for the Chief Justice in declaring sections of the 1964 Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. The law was overturned because it was based on outdated facts. That is how, to our surprise, we discovered that racial discrimination in voting no longer could exist.
Key reasoning (quoting Justice Roberts):
Nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically.Two problems with the ruling:
- It turns out that racism still exists and is a key motive in denying voting rights.
- Whether the law was needed had already been determined by Congress.
- Bruce Gerencser relays Representative Jack Larson who is mad as hell about the Elon Musk order to privatize Social Security and Republican refusal to require Musk to testify about it.
- Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger has the numbers. An impressive majority of Americans oppose Trump/Musk cuts to Medicaid.
- The fantasy claims of savings posted by Elon Musk’s extra-legal group have been thoroughly debunked and disproven. Some have been comically wrong.
News Corpse watches as Fox Network personalities continue to gloat over the fictional findings of waste and fraud.
- El Jefe in Juanita Jean’s Dangerous Salon recounts the Musk/Trump dumb vs dumber chaos beginning with…
1990s culture wars: We’re cancelling the Enola Gay exhibit bc veterans and historians can’t agree whether we should celebrate its role in ending WWII or critically assess the decision to use nuclear weapons
2020s culture wars: We’re cancelling the Enola Gay bc “gay” is a no-no word
— Nicole Hemmer (@pastpunditry.bsky.social) March 6, 2025 at 9:32 PM
…and going on to Trump’s endless search for a disagreement (any disagreement will do) with Canada. With Canada?
El Jefe finds a discernable pattern:
Key source:
Trump’s ever shifting and contradictions are not just him being a lunatic. His thugs are way smarter than him, and they are roiling local and international markets and diplomatic relationship. The chaos is by design, and the same strategy followed by Putin, making truth unknowable and keeping everyone off balance and under stress. - The buying public seems not to be buying Elon Musk or his products.
M. Bouffant at Web of Evil says it’s not just Tesla stock. He sees the car going down in multiple ways.
- Trump is trying to help out his benefactor with a White House sale.
In Nan’s Notebook, Peter Doocy of the Fox Network confronts Trump about his boastful purchase of a brand spanking new Tesla, while ordinary Americans face depleted retirement accounts.
Key comment by brucedesertrat:
When you’ve lost Peter Doocy… - Ant Farmer’s Almanac has the prospective ad: Come on Down to White House Tesla, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Where Interest Meets Conflict!
- Why stop there?
Great news from The Borowitz Report: Always seeking new money opportunities, Donald Trump is now selling Trump Eggs at only $60 per.
- At The Beaverton, planes have been crashing partly because Trump has been slashing the ability of the FAA to prevent airline safety hazards.
So Trump has addressed that problem by shifting his focus from the FAA to the stock market.
Key caveat:
Trump insisted that his stock market crash not be named “Black Tuesday” on account of sounding “too much like woke DEI.” - Trump’s madcap world is not noted for impulse control. Investors react to the chaos, and stock values fall off a cliff.
Tommy Christopher brings us Jim Cramer of CNBC predicting that, if Trump doesn’t change course [me: Trump has a course?] stocks could go a helluva lot lower.
- In Letters from an American, historian Heather Cox Richardson provides more context for Trump’s oscillating tariffs.
Key plea:
More than 100 top business leaders met with Trump today to urge him to stop destabilizing what had been a booming economy with his on-again-off-again tariffs.Key result:
Unable to admit that he might be wrong, President Donald Trump is doubling down on the policies that are crashing the economy.Key reassurance:
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt advised, “If people are looking for certainty, they should look at the record of this president.”
Not everyone will find that suggestion comforting.
The same analysis is now available in audio format, as Richardson narrates in podcast. - Disaffected and it Feels So Good asks why Trump continues to threaten Canada, Panama, and Greenland, and comes up with two reasons, both personal.
- Iron Knee at Political Irony brings us Senator Jeff Merkey, listing for Trump officials actions a theoretical Russian asset would take in Mr Trump’s place.
Not finding a discernable difference, he asks them the obvious question:
- By now, most of us have heard of the tumultuous White House meeting.
As a survivor of domestic abuse, SilverAppleQueen recognizes similarities in the Trump/Vance ambush of Zelenskyy.
- Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson explains how an unstable, unreliable United States President pretty much ensures nuclear proliferation and a greater chance of accidental nuclear war.
Key problem for Poland (shared by other countries):
Because Trump is unstable and America cannot be relied upon to meet our NATO obligations, Poland, on Russia’s frontier, sees a day when they may be standing alone against Vladimir Putin’s imperialist fantasies.
The non-nuclear powers in the world are now seeing how much those security promises are worth when a nuclear power decides to be an aggressor towards its neighbors. - The Propaganda Professor is unimpressed by the timid headlines from mainstream media that distort coverage toward balance and away from truth.
Key distortion:
This is bothsidesism at its absolute worst. “Angry spat”. “Blowup”. “Fiery Meeting”. “Heated Meeting”. “Clash”. “Disagreement”. “Disaster”. “Undiplomatic Exchange”. The wording of these headlines gives the distinct impression that Zelenskyy was equally to blame, or even more so. And these were the more mainstream and (allegedly) neutral news sources. - Jason Linkins applies simple rules of English clarity to The New York Times.
the sound of all my English professors crying out at once
— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 1:05 PM
and provides a serious critique:
also really have to wonder about the whole pairing of "warm relationships" and "implicit threat of ruin" in the subhead
that said, what they are describing is the mafia
— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 2:28 PM
annotated using the Eat The Press telestrator
— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 4:11 PM
- Hackwhackers reminds us of a time when journalism could be less concerned with balance than with truth. Edward R Murrow is remembered for the blunt, truthful ending to one of his broadcasts.
Key principle (quoting Murrow):
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. - Juliet at Decoding Fox News notes that, as the rest of us saw draconian cuts in needed foreign aid, trade wars looming on the horizon and an empowered Russia as well as Trump’s falling approval ratings, the Fox Network covered the unspeakable rudeness of Democrats who refused to join Republicans giving Trump’s speech a standing ovation
Juliet also provides her Fox coverage in podcast form for those for whom it is more convenient to listen.
- Dave Columbo in Round-the-Clock coverage, goes back in time to review the beginning of Trump administration lies
- @whiskeywhistle98 listens to Presidential wisdom on abolishing Daylight savings
- Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit finds a Republican lawmaker, Congressional Representative Bill Huizenga (R-MI) who, right out loud in front of God and everybody, says he would like his annoying constituents to stop bothering him.
Such pests! - Vice President Vance has a heartbreaking story about pro‑Ukraine protestors chasing his very frightened 3‑year‑old daughter until he takes a chance and leaves her alone to ask them to leave her alone. Ruthless bastards!
Vixen Strangely asks whether that was even possible, given the duty of Secret Service agents to keep any protestors at a safe distance, then produces video of the non-incident showing agents did just that, keeping protestors away. In fact, Vance’s entire block was closed off to traffic and protestors.
Key benefit of doubt:
See–it’s a hard thing to think this actually happened, but if it did, it only could have if some father put his kid RIGHT THERE, but I charitably don’t think he did that.Key condemnation (quoting Vance):
…but if you’re chasing a 3‑year‑old as part of a political protest, you’re a shit person.No word on what sort of person uses his own 3‑year‑old for a ficticious story of pursuit to make a political point.
- PZ Myers finds himself in a Stand Up for Science protest rally, and looks forward to finding the next one
- Popular author John Scalzi faces, as do we all, a conundrum on boycotts:
Some, not all, are effective.
Some, not all, are easy to participate in.
Some, not all, are formal.
Some turn out to be a simple long term market preference.Enough buyers will participate or they won’t. People will get hurt either way.
- tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors speculates on why the latest desperate ploy by crypto-fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried to get a Trump pardon did not work and, in fact, backfired. Fortunately, crypto-bros more generally receive a public offer of another chance.
- James Wigderson adds to his weekly submission an eloquent personal, painful, insight into the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa
- Right Wing Watch brings us Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon to explain to whom God gave America.
Key ownership:
This nation is for us and our posterity. It’s not for Hindus. Its not for Muslims. And it’s not for Jews. It belongs to Christians.- CalicoJack in The Psy of Life links to research suggesting how neuroscience can help us resist fake news.
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- Richard Feynman is justifiably remembered as a theoretical physicist for his astonishing contributions to our knowledge of the universe. It was a notable loss when he left that universe in 1988.
Vincent at A Wayfarer’s Notes reminds us that Feynman was also a gifted writer, reprinting the hilarious story of his introduction to afternoon tea at Princeton University.
Key Feynman:
I hadn’t ‘been there an hour when I was met by a man: “I’m the Mahstah of Residences heah, and I should like to tell you that the Dean is having a Tea this ahftanoon, and he should like to have all of you come. Perhaps you would be so kind as to inform your roommate, Mr. Serette.” That was my introduction to the graduate “College” at Princeton, where all the students lived. It was like an imitation Oxford or Cambridge—complete with accents (the master of residences was a professor of “French littrachaw”).- Sarah Cooper has a dating question that takes a sinister turn
- At The Onion, a prospective car buyer takes an SUV out for a test hit and run.
- Clickbait satirist Reductress provides helpful advice on how to wake up earlier even though it will make your day longer.
- In Georgia baseball, The Savanna Bananas demonstrate how stepdance can bring sports success:
- In Happiness Between Tails da-AL has done her research on the icky public aspects of ancient Roman health habits.
I now know the meaning of tersorium, something I will devote the rest of the day to not thinking about.
- CalicoJack in The Psy of Life links to research suggesting how neuroscience can help us resist fake news.
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