U.S. Politics, July 2023: The SCOTUS Shelves Its Instruments of Torture for Some R&R

At least they can't do much more damage for a while.

Not DeSantis' social media team, tho. This is just straight-up no-nuance gay-bashing. Honestly never seen anything like it from a major candidate.

To wrap up “Pride Month,” let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it…

pic.twitter.com/FT7LdW4vls

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 30, 2023

not the best day ever for accessing tweets

If you tweet absolute bullshit and no one can read it did u tweet it at all

TS: Homoerotic imagery in Trump stan vids vs. Homoerotic imagery in DeSantis stan vids

Am I wrong that there’s a Patrick Bateman glimpse in the DeSantis one?

It's a personal statement about his brand

Lotta Giga Chad.

As a non-American viewing things from the outside I find that De Santis ad incredible. Not sure I can imagine any other Western country where you could have a contender from a mainstream party put out an ad like that. And yeah, all that fascist homoerotic imagery in an anti-LGBTQ+ ad is just plain weird.

I can imagine Bolsonaro doing it.

Yep, I guess so!

It's not actually an approved ad, it's a fan/stan vid using official footage (amongst other things) shared by a fan/stan account. However, Trump is fond of sharing similar ones about himself on Truth Social and at events, validating them if not officially stamping them as "Approved".

It feels so...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNMi8fXi5Os

^^The. Indoctrination film from The Parallax View

DeSantis War Room actually is an official DeSantis account, it’s his “rapid response” team. Paid trolls, basically, but they’re part of his campaign.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/us/politics/desantis-video-lgbtq-trump.html

Oh wow. I stand corrected. Yikes.

That DeSantis is frantically going all-in on being worse than Trump is, at this point in the campaign, hardly a surprise

Good morning!

This is even grosser:

Opposing the federal recognition of "Pride Month" isn't "homophobic." We wouldn't support a month to celebrate straight people for sexual orientation, either... It's unnecessary, divisive, pandering.

In a country as vast and diverse as the USA, identity politics is poison. pic.twitter.com/yGI8Z3frpZ

— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) July 1, 2023

christina pushaw is a mega gross homophobe

She's fucking garbage.

pshaw

Pustule

Hunter Biden filmed himself smoking crack behind the wheel, driving at 172mph on way to Vegas: photos https://t.co/ExS2SqdTIJ pic.twitter.com/Gf3Ptkpg8i

— New York Post (@nypost) July 2, 2023

Hunter obviously dropped this to compete with the RFK Jr shirtless pics

To solve his Hunter problem, Joe should go back in time and kill baby Hitler.

The time honored “making the object of your hatred look awesome” tactic

can I party with Hunter

the Hunter Becomes the Hunted

"Hunter Biden filmed himself smoking crack behind the wheel, driving at 172mph on way to Vegas"

the comma means that those are two different photos btw, not happening simultaneously. /tabloidtricks

David Crosby wrecked his car while freebasing on a California freeway, so I guess Hunter's a better crack-smoking driver than him.

You need one hand to hold the crack pipe, one for the lighter, one to hold the steering wheel and a fourth to make devil horns

and a fifth to deposit the checks from Ukrainians.

Tipsy: teach your children well

Suite: Hunter Red Eyes

173 on a desert highway is a bit extreme but lots of people drive well over 120 on lonely stretches of road out there.

I never did it on crack, but on acid yes.

The drugs begin to take hold somewhere around Barstow iirc

Heh

Warm smell of colitas

Hotel Burisma

pretty wild that many of the people yelling about joe being “proud of his son” despite all the fuck-ups have adult children who won’t talk to them at all

I blame the groomers

Again, Trump understands who the Republican base are: people who hate their kids and are forbidden from contact with their grandkids.

Not related to Hunter: Does anyone see a connection between SCOTUS decisions on intellectual property and gay rights where there is a contest between the rights of creator and audience? Or producer and consumer (in capitalist or consumerist terms)? Can shopkeepers try to make their livelihood more meaningful? Is everyone calculating a profit and trying to make the most of their leverage?

(or worse ... instruments of litigants)

I pretty much agree with this: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/07/03/biden-needs-a-heavyweight-primary-challenge-00104441

I think letting the whole party be defined by Biden throughout 2024 is not good for either next year or future elections.

The difference, though, is that GOP voters by nature are supine, slavish power worshipers, so they will eventually vote for their nominee. Should Biden get a serious primary challenge and win, voters may say fuck this and stay home.

It wasn't good for HW Bush, Carter, or Ford

Sure, risks all around. And also it's pretty clear there won't be any serious primary challenge. But I think there's already plenty of risk of people who did bother to vote last time because Trump was so repellent just sitting out because they think Biden is also useless. A theoretical strong primary challenger could do a much better job of articulating the actual differences between D and R in '24 than Biden himself is ever going to do — "C'mon man, get serious" is not going to animate many people. Biden actually really needs someone to define the stakes.

My son will cast his first presidential ballot next year, and while I'm sure he'll end up voting for Biden, to call him unenthusiastic about the prospect would be a huge understatement. Not that any election hinges on 20-year-olds, but I think there's plenty of 30- and 40-year-olds who feel the same.

Anyway, if Biden ends up losing then I think between him and RBG the Dem gerontocracy is going to have a LOT to answer for.

It's July and political news slows down to a crawl, but Politico has to find content somehow. Other than Newsom, none of the names mentioned in that article made any sense at all. Neither did the comparison to a fight manager signing his title-holding boxer to a tune-up match; those tune-up palookas were paid to absorb those punches and take the loss. We're stuck with Biden and there's no easy answer for making that less dire.

with kids in that age group, I've been surprised by the enthusiasm some of their peers have expressed for Biden. may be a low bar, but he has outperformed their expectations.

Should Biden get a serious primary challenge and win, voters may say fuck this and stay home.

― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, July 3, 2023 12:31 PM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

people said this was gonna happen in 2016 and 2020 but ultimately it really didn't

I agree none of the prospective challengers are that exciting. (Counterpoint: When are they ever?) I just think it's a mistake to let Biden define the party. I mean, I think that would have been a mistake 20 years ago, I think it's a crippling one now. Which doesn't mean he'll lose, just that it'll have to be a lot of other stuff dragging him across the finish line — which was pretty much the case in '20 as well, but he wasn't dragging the weight of a problematic incumbency, he was still if anything riding off of Obama vibes.

I hated that he ran in '20, I hate that he's running again, I hate everything about it.

I've been surprised by the enthusiasm some of their peers have expressed for Biden.

Biden's spotty record of hits and misses is bound to look pretty good in their eyes, if their primary point of comparison is Trump.

Biden may still have enough political instincts left to drop something exciting to motivate the base in ‘24 like College Loan forgiveness in ‘22.

Well in the absence of a primary challenge, the D's need some serious hype men and women. A lot of voices out there pushing consistent messaging. Viral ads. Memes. Whatever. There's a lot to make up for in the candidate.

I hated that he ran in '20, I hate that he's running again, I hate everything about it.

I thought he was a joke candidate in '20, because I am old enough to remember his first candidacy and the one after that. I discounted the power of his tenure as Obama's VP, and was wrong to do so. I think a lot of political commentators, "journalists," etc. are doing the same, and quite deliberately, at least in part because there's been a strong if unacknowledged effort to memory-hole Obama over the last few years, the better to avoid dealing with the fact that Trump's appeal and eventual victory were in very large part a reaction to Obama's two terms. If you (a political journalist) can pretend Obama never happened, you can also pretend Trump came out of nowhere, and preserve the version of America that Mommy and Daddy implanted in you long before you went to the elite journalism school that finished the process of turning you into the pudding-brained imbecile with the memory of a goldfish that you are today.

Biden has been a good president. Much better than I thought he would be. However, he is governing a country that is falling apart, because a significant percentage of its people have gone insane.

I don't really dispute any of that, but also the answer to a country that is falling apart with a significant percentage of insane people is not an 80-year-old man who has been locked inside an establishment bubble for so long that I don't think he's capable of even understanding that that "establishment" barely even exists anymore.

He's a bad candidate. He could still win, sure, I don't know, who knows. He's still a bad candidate. It wouldn't be bad for somebody more serious than R you Fkn Kiddin Jr. and Woo-Woo Williamson to lay out some kind of sense of what a progressive country not governed by 80-year-old white men could look like. He ain't the guy.

I don't really dispute any of that, but also the answer to a country that is falling apart with a significant percentage of insane people is not an 80-year-old man who has been locked inside an establishment bubble for so long that I don't think he's capable of even understanding that that "establishment" barely even exists anymore.

There was a time when I would have agreed with this, but I don't think I do anymore, and I think there's more evidence for my position than yours. Yes, Biden still murmurs about getting good Republicans on his side, as though there are such people. But his actual actions belie that worldview. A truly establishment Biden would never have tried to cancel people's student loans at all, and would certainly never have called the Supreme Court's actions unconstitutional. A truly establishment Biden would not openly ridicule his opponents' hypocrisy into a hot mike. I know the reflex is always to say too little, too late, not enough, helps the wrong people, blah blah blah, but the fact is when you actually look at what he's done in concrete terms, we're talking about Great Depression-level state intervention in the economy. Look at the rural broadband initiative that just passed. Look at the infrastructure funding that's been rolled out. Look at the unemployment rate. These are real things that will really help real people. Lots of them. But so many people in this country — left and right — have their fingers in their ears and are screaming LA LA LA CAN'T HEAR YOU that it becomes impossible to dispassionately measure his achievements, because three-quarters of the country (all of the right, and half of the left) has already absorbed the legend of Joe Biden, Failed President.

It would be nice if something like this would have an impact, but I doubt it will.

This summer, we're back on the road to invest in America. pic.twitter.com/mddhf0O2ET

— President Biden (@POTUS) July 3, 2023

Touting infrastructure projects is retail politics trying to look like national politics.

We are a country of 50 squabbling states. There is no true "national politics" until aliens invade. (Or until there's a pandemic. Remind me, how'd that go?)

re: age, this seems to be a drawn out problem though - after Clinton lost in 2016 and discussion turned to "who can beat/should run against Trump in 2020?" the immediate analysis was that everyone that came to mind was OLD. Biden, Warren, Sanders, even Clinton if she chose to run again. The implication was that unless someone young emerged in the interim (like Obama did in 2004), Democrats were likely stuck with someone old.

Biden has been a good president. Much better than I thought he would be. However, he is governing a country that is falling apart, because a significant percentage of its people have gone insane.

I think I agree with this. He's not going to be FDR but with the GOP controlling the house, the most conservative Supreme Court in anyone's lifetime, the challenges of COVID then Russia invading Ukraine (both of which wrecked havoc on the economy), he's actually done a fine job given the difficult circumstances. We still need a miracle if we want to turn things around, but until someone who can win and deliver materializes, he's at least kept things from going straight to hell.

Yeah my comment about his establishmentarianism is not so much about policy as engagement. His policies are variable, some have been better than I would have expected. I'm honestly mostly talking about vibes, which I think matter a lot — probably more than any specific policy proposals or accomplishments or failings. Obama was good at vibes. That doesn't mean he was good on policy, but he was good at getting elected.

Biden feels like a man from another time, another country even — in a way that Trump doesn't, because even though they're about the same age, as a politician Trump is a creature and creation of the present, the Fox/Twitter era, not of the past. He's delusional and has a whole raft of his own problems — he's also a bad candidate, for different reasons. But Biden and the D operation at the national level overall just seems so detached, not part of the world they're trying to govern.

My concern isn't what he will or won't do policy-wise in a second term. It's that he's not in a good position to get a second term. Because he's too old, too unable to convey any sense to people that he understands them and is there for them in some concrete way. He doesn't feel very concrete at all. That's all. I won't belabor it anymore, it's a useless hypothetical to talk about whether a primary challenge would help or hurt, because it's not going to happen. We are where we are. I just don't like it.

Like unperson wrote, I think Biden's been a much better president than I anticipated, and it's not sexy to admit it. The ACA and Lily Ledbetter Act are immense achievements, but the CHIPS Act, the infrastructure bills, getting the fuck out of Afghanistan (for which the press has never forgiven him), etc. are in toto at their level.

Sure, it's been a not bad term, all things considered. And the economy is also in fact better than people think it is. If only those were the things that mattered most.

If Biden doesn't wheeze his replies next year and can coherently explain achievements, PLUS, you know, remind people that a fascist windbag will cause more terrifying changes than anything we've seen in our lifetimes -- yeah, he'll win, and I don't have to be excited about it.

I'm gonna be on the frontlines in Florida, so I'll post dispatches.

There's a good chance Clarence Thomas has a cardiac arrest in the next six years too. So.

But Biden and the D operation at the national level overall just seems so detached, not part of the world they're trying to govern.

My concern isn't what he will or won't do policy-wise in a second term. It's that he's not in a good position to get a second term. Because he's too old, too unable to convey any sense to people that he understands them and is there for them in some concrete way.

I wonder if your parents hang out with mine.

they probably would!

I wonder if your parents hang out with mine.

I'm lucky in that my mother's only thoughts on the Fourth of July are that she's going to have to see her sister, whom she hates, at my uncle-by-marriage's barbecue. Mom's an old Catholic lady who loves art (when I met Patti Smith, she reminded me so much of my mother that I almost got dizzy) and who devotes like half her life to charity work — she's a Meals on Wheels driver, she does people's taxes for free, she's a reader at her church — and spends the rest of her time going on river cruises in Europe or heading down to her condo in Mexico (where I joke she's hiding a secret second family). Solid D voter, and subject to enough bigotry in her childhood — last name was Guevara, got called a "dirty Mexican" in school in Union, NJ — that she never imparted any suspicion, fear or resentment of anyone to me or my brother growing up.

My concern isn't what he will or won't do policy-wise in a second term. It's that he's not in a good position to get a second term. Because he's too old, too unable to convey any sense to people that he understands them and is there for them in some concrete way. He doesn't feel very concrete at all. That's all.

true but I don't think this really mattered much in 2020 and it probably won't in 2024 either. the prospect of being stuck with Trump again after seeing what happened the first time, not to mention the fact that he wants to essentially end democracy as we know it in this country, is I think a very concrete thing that will get people to Pokemon Go to the polls.

not saying he can sleepwalk into it but if he's at least as lucid as he was in 2020 I think it'll work out okay. my impression was that Republicans went all-in on the "he's got dementia and can barely speak a coherent sentence" angle leading to the debates and then had to watch as Biden not only spoke better than expected but also told Trump to shut up on live TV

That moment was so startling that friends and I texted each other about it. "Did he tell Trump to shut up?!"

That was awesome, and deeply relatable- we’ve all wanted to do (at least) that.

^^That's when Biden won.

I'm honestly mostly talking about vibes, which I think matter a lot

The word "vibes" makes me shudder. I followed the 2008 election closely when I was in school, and one thing I had to do was talk to voters who weren't already committed Democrats. One guy said "I actually don't know any of his policies, but I love the vibe he gives off." I have no doubt that was key to his landslide, but it just amplified my skepticism for the long run - too many people I talked to were philosophically at polar ends on key issues, and I just got the impression that Obama was a perfect candidate for them to project their vague but grandiose illusions of a messiah. I had to laugh when I later saw that Obama wrote in his memoir "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." I think that happens a lot with candidates who initially seemed like outsiders or a "fresh" (or populist) voice, whether it's Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton or Obama, but once they were elected and had to deliver on policy and make concrete actions, they all suffered massive backlash. (Carter lost his support within a year, Reagan's first midterm was so bad there were rumors he wouldn't seek re-election, Clinton achieved record lows in his approval rating which led to the biggest flip ever in a midterm election, and that was surpassed by the Congressional losses in 2010 when the Tea Party swept to power.) This was especially easy with Obama because he purposely left a lot of blank spaces by avoiding controversial issues (i.e. avoiding a lot of votes as well). It was a shrewd strategy and to be clear, I think Obama's presidency was by far the best of the last 50 years. But I was always extremely wary of the love fest, though tbh I never liked the idea of investing so much emotionally in any presidential candidate because it seems misguided in terms of understanding how policy is ultimately made. Trump was sadly a perfect example of this - Obama couldn't do much in his last two years in office due to GOP control of Congress and the Senate. One horrible bill after another was nearly passed with only Obama's veto getting in the way, and it was no surprise a lot of those bills got through once Trump was in office.

Oh yeah, I didn't say it was good that vibes matter so much. Just that they do. Policy matters way less than all of us who care about it wish it did. And even ideology matters less than people think — one of Trump's great strengths is not giving any kind of shit about being a consistent conservative or consistent anything except the embodiment of free-floating resentment. Obama and Clinton both embodied a vaporous "hope" that, sure, didn't really add up to much, but it made people feel good. In the same way Trump's rage feels good to at least some people.

Post-Obama tho I don't feel like the D's embody much of anything to your average not-very-ideologically-committed person. I guess they're the "not crazy" people, which may be enough to win — let's hope — but it's just pretty weak tea.

Not sure it's possible to have anything but a vibes-based political culture given the lack of agency regular people have over public policy and the economy. We get a bubble and bust at least once a generation, there's nothing you and I can do about it and the majority of us live paycheck to paycheck - so why wouldn't you constantly be working on the assumption that the bust is right around the corner whatever 'economic indicators' say?

I totally get the "please not Biden again" sentiment. But I also think the "please not Biden again" contingent needs to eventually start suggesting some actual names, as opposed to repeating the "please not Biden again" message.

the "please not Biden again" contingent needs to eventually start suggesting some actual names

Yup. I'm not hearing about any groundswells of support for Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigeig, or Beto O'Rourke to replace Biden.

There’s also the whole “the economy is doing fine!” while everyone I know is fucking scrambling, even the more successful ones.

_the "please not Biden again" contingent needs to eventually start suggesting some actual names_

Yup. I'm not hearing about any groundswells of support for Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigeig, or Beto O'Rourke to replace Biden.

Right, so then who?

As is often the case, those who would be best at the job would never want to do it.

Like, I think of Helen Gym, one of the politicians I most respect in Philly, but I think she’s more interested in working on local change.

If your concern is with engaging in Serious Punditry, then yeah you don't give up the incumbent advantage, look weak by replacing a sitting President, etc..

If you're an ILXor or twitter poster who doesn't have a substack newsletter or NY Times column pretending to be a Serious Pundit is unnecessary, in which case go off with your vision of an even marginally better world where Joe's replaced by anyone less decrepit.

lmao jfc https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/03/politics/elliott-abrams-public-diplomacy-nomination/index.html

i seem to recall that when morbs was asked a similar question some years back his answer was that no one should be president of the USA, which he knew was impossible to attain, but for him it was a perfectly serious answer in spite of that because it was the truest

Biden loves his scumbags. I mean, this asshole is why you’re stuck with Clarence Thomas.

Shafer’s point in the Politico piece wasn’t actually to replace Biden, it’s that he thinks a serious primary would sharpen up him and his message. I don’t know if that’s true but I do think it would give the party the opportunity to do that and also present itself as something more than an Oldsmobile to shuttle old men to the country club for lunch. Even that is mostly a fantasy, maybe it would be a disaster, who knows. The main thing I agree with Shafer about is that it all feels kind of somnolent if not senescent given the stakes of everything else going on. It’s maddening to be living out the Yeats dictum (tho I wouldn’t go so far as to call the Boomer Dems “the best” of anything, whatever conviction they may lack).

But I think the questions about “if not him, who?” are missing the point, because that’s not how politics works. You can’t really know until people get in. Think how many marquee candidates have totally flamed out and how many long shots have turned out to be strong players. If Biden hadn’t run in ‘20, or hadn’t run for re-election, somebody else would have been the nominee. I don’t know who! Whoever was good enough at politics to win. Would they be better than Biden? Also unknowable. But there is a problem across the board of people past their e prime time not getting out of the way, not nurturing and building the next generations, not letting that process of discovery play out. And the net effect is that the whole party looks increasingly zombified.

Also Morbs otm of course.

The joy of being an American leftist is never having to be practical about anything.

I got the gist of the Shafer piece (that a challenge could sharpen Biden). It is a reasonable opinion but we are still waiting for the correct boxer to complete the analogy.

Fun fact, I worked for Shafer many years ago. Lovely man, rather gentle in his aspect. His successor was the late David Carr. Crankier but unforgettable.

Biden loves his scumbags. I mean, this asshole is why you’re stuck with Clarence Thomas.

― beamish13,

good mourning

_the "please not Biden again" contingent needs to eventually start suggesting some actual names_

Yup. I'm not hearing about any groundswells of support for Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigeig, or Beto O'Rourke to replace Biden.

I would think someone like Pritzker or Whitmer would keep the good things about Biden's policies while presenting a massive improvement on the PR aspects of the job. And they probably wouldn't be appointing fucking Elliott Abrams to anything either

xp!

The Dems on a federal level have no bench. The 2020 primary cycle showed that, in that the only person the party heads felt was comfortable in clearing the the field against Bernie was fucking Biden. All the state parties were allowed to rot and be filled with consultancy grifters from the Obama era on.

Hell, Harris quit the race before she could lose the primary in her home state, and hasn’t really been allowed or able to establish her own support base. Part of this is her…uh, particular personal characteristics, part of it was the same party leaders deliberately keeping her from being able to mount a credible challenge to Biden in 2024.

At this point, arguing about presidential candidates is an unproductive waste of time. The forces picking these things operate on a level none of us wouldn’t be allowed to approach. The only thing worth focusing on is shit at a more local/regional/state level, where some shit is still in play, ain’t it?

The Dems on a federal level have no bench. The 2020 primary cycle showed that, in that the only person the party heads felt was comfortable in clearing the the field against Bernie was fucking Biden. All the state parties were allowed to rot and be filled with consultancy grifters from the Obama era on.

Hell, Harris quit the race before she could lose the primary in her home state, and hasn’t really been allowed or able to establish her own support base. Part of this is her…uh, particular personal characteristics, part of it was the same party leaders deliberately keeping her from being able to mount a credible challenge to Biden in 2024.

At this point, arguing about presidential candidates is an unproductive waste of time. The forces picking these things operate on a level none of us wouldn’t be allowed to approach. The only thing worth focusing on is shit at a more local/regional/state level, where some shit is still in play, ain’t it?

Dammit, double post

I think the idea of the Presidential-level bench is mostly a myth - the primary campaign makes the aura. Democrats who have been groomed for the job long-term have not done well in our lifetimes - Jimmy Carter, (Bill) Clinton and Obama had short national presences and came into the primaries as outsiders, where (Hillary) Clinton and Walter Mondale ate shit and COVID played a major role in saving Biden in 2020.

Harris's inability to get anywhere in 2020 is one of the main reasons I think the only way she becomes President is Joe keeling over, she's not going to win on her own.

The only thing worth focusing on is shit at a more local/regional/state level, where some shit is still in play, ain’t it?

This is always true regardless. Someone tell Cornel West.

Dems have no bench, GOP has no standards, which is the deepest bench of them all.

the deepest bench of them all

The fact that Marge Greene has risen so rapidly to prominence and now wields measurable power in the GOP is an indicator of that truth.

well that DeSantis 'approved' video shows that no matter how far they've sunk, there's plenty of room to go lower

I think the idea of the Presidential-level bench is mostly a myth - the primary campaign makes the aura

Totally agree. That’s my point about the dangers of the old guard clogging up the pipeline. You get local/state party leaders and honchos who are beholden to established names for various reasons — even if they might not be great national candidates— and that can end up stifling the field. Of course, really good campaigners can still break through, as Clinton and Obama did. But I mean, I would have liked to see who rose to the occasion in ‘20 without Biden or Bernie in the field. (Sorry Berners.)

I do understand the essence of what this article is getting at, but am frankly going to say that I wish there would be more public and vociferous advocacy for LGBTQ rights from Biden. While the lack of specifics and sidestepping serves to shield him from some cultural war bullshit, it would be quite refreshing for him to call out the culture war bullshit while being public about his support. Article here.

And while Mr. Biden’s age has become one of his chief political weaknesses, both his allies and adversaries say it also helps insulate him from cultural attacks by Republicans.

sad lol. Basically "He can't be woke he doesn't even know what it means. Literally."

I think there's a very strong anti-anti-woke line that I wish more Dems would take, just straight-up calling it all out as bigotry and ignorance. There needs to be a lot more reminding people that this is all the same old bigoted bullshit, recycled. And nonstop making fun of the book-banners and nanny-state conservatives. There's a strong American tradition of fending off this shit, and while I see a lot of lefties on Twitter making those connections there's not enough of it from the political leadership. "Americans don't need busybodies telling them what to read or how to raise their kids," etc etc. I feel like there are a lot of open lines of attack left mostly unused.

Exactly.

Yeah, a lot of Dems are uncomfortable wading into the culture war and so have managed to convince themselves that everyday Americans don't care about that stuff, they're mostly interested in kitchen table issues. But even if people say that their top issue is the economy, it doesn't always follow that they will rationally vote for the candidate who has a coherent plan to improve it. The culture war is where so much political identity formation takes place, and ignoring it cedes a lot of ground to Republicans.

I include Dems in "everyday Americans" and the battle to overrule Obergefell and to strip legal protections from every other queer person, not to mention the gutting of abortion access, are all everyday Americans talk about whether the economy functions or not.

I think it’s true that a lot of everyday Americans however defined DON’T care a lot about either trans rights or what’s in the school library, which is why on the one hand the evangelical creeps have been able to score points by making it seem like “something sinister has been going on while you haven’t been paying attention” but also on the other hand why it shouldn’t be that hard to beat back. Most people aren’t particularly invested one way or the other, so if you give them a familiar trope to help frame it — basically Harper Valley PTA Bible-thumping bigots and hypocrites— I think there’s a lot of juice there. Most of this country is not white evangelicals and is pretty skeptical of them — especially with all of those church abuse scandals just lying around as easy ammo.

One thing that might help would be highlighting the widening maw of anti-wokeness. Some of the objections to works mentioned in this article are straight out of the 1950s if not the 1650s: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/theater/school-plays-politics.html

(here's a quick "good luck fascists" to the dipshits trying to erase queerness from musical theatre)

per jaymc's good point, I wonder to what extent the problem is that Dem politicians don't yet realize that they are part of the woke, that the right's vision of wokeness now encompasses the mildest gestures of support for LGBTQ+ people, for anti-racism, anti-sexism

the 1650s

otm

lol I wonder if they have any suspects for who left cocaine in the White House ...

Apparently it was found in some heavily-trafficked corridor so it could've been anyone, even a tourist or visitor

demands a 4 year congressional investigation

I have to imagine every inch of that place is under security cameras, right? You'd think they could spot that.

it's currently in the lost & found, please describe in detail to reclaim your cocaine

there's one person I can think of who likes cocaine AND leaving stuff behind

George W Bush steps forward: you got me! That was my secret stash, forgot all about it!

Was it found above the ceiling tiles? That's totally where I would put it.

lol, of course

Issa: He continues to have somebody with a history of drug addiction in the White House. It is not a small problem that we find cocaine after Hunter Biden has been in The White House pic.twitter.com/DSnxaRKvgp

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 5, 2023

We'd know if it was Hunter, because he would post pictures of himself leaving it.

if that coke was found in the White House, it belongs to all of us.. that's The People's Powder

and I want my bump

https://prospect.org/education/2023-07-05-biden-administration-begins-student-debt-relief-plan-b/

Student debt relief plan b relies on regulatory rule making and could take to sometime in 2024. Article also mentions a plan C if plan b gets attacked in court

lol https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/07/05/tony-evers-extends-increases-for-public-schools-in-perpetuity/70381898007/

https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/presto/2023/07/05/PMJS/bb7f4151-0ffc-4c66-afff-582b7ee6a60c-2023_Wisconsin_Act_19_158_1.jpg?width=660&height=141&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp

2023-24 changed to 2023-2425 by "partial veto", that's praxis.

Definitely the funniest edit of the year.

Caveat: David French, I know. But this is pretty otm:

It’s no coincidence that one of the most enduring cultural symbols of Trump’s 2020 campaign was the boat parade. To form battle lines behind Trump, the one man they believe can save America from total destruction, thousands of supporters in several states got in their MasterCrafts and had giant open-air water parties.

Or take the Trump rally, the signature event of this political era. If you follow the rallies via Twitter or mainstream newscasts, you see the anger, but you miss the fun.

... Indeed, while countless gallons of ink have been spilled analyzing the MAGA movement’s rage, far too little has been spilled discussing its joy.

Once you understand both dynamics, however, so much about the present moment makes clearer sense, including the dynamics of the Republican primary. Ron DeSantis, for example, channels all the rage of Trumpism and none of the joy. With relentless, grim determination he fights the left with every tool of government at his disposal. But can he lead stadiums full of people in an awkward dance to “Y.MC.A.” by the Village People?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/opinion/maga-america-trump.html

Freude durch Kringe

Yes, I live in Florida, and, yes, the Southwest Florida coast love that shit -- so what?

Be sure to always center your health and well-being as we fight to save democracy and humanity.

3 reps of 405 and I'm ready to go! 💪🏿 pic.twitter.com/RSebNiXGDV

— Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (@JamaalBowmanNY) July 6, 2023

Yes, I live in Florida, and, yes, the Southwest Florida coast love that shit -- so what?

There's something there about the preening swagger of it. Like that's the real essence of white supremacy — you know you can do it and nobody can stop you. The whole grab-them-by-the-pussy shoot-someone-on-5th-Avenue bit, that's the draw even more than the anger and contempt. It's why none of the scandals hurt him, because his real promise is that he and they can do whatever they want to whoever they want. It's all a fantasy, because most people can't really live like that, but it's so much more appealing than the rote rage DeSantis puts out. Like, what was it actually to be a white man in America, what was the real promise of it? Not just to be angry and feel persecuted, but to just fuck or fuck over any and everyone you felt like. I've wondered a bit about Trump's long record of refusing to pay his bills, which is Elon's shtick too, like how can that be appealing? It's so counter to received morality. But of course that's the whole point. The vicarious thrill of just waving your dick in everybody's face.

lol well that little riff set me off on a 2,000-word Facebook post musing about Trump and James Henry Hammond (South Carolina slave owner, governor, senator, and child molester). I won't repost it here, but here's the link: https://shorturl.at/efLO0

But also, I think it's important to note that his appeal is not ONLY to white men. Yes he embodies and glories in a particular version of white supremacy, but you don't have to be white to imagine yourself similarly liberated, free to take anything you want from anyone you want, set loose from social conventions, norms, even laws. That IS what it meant to be a white man in America for a long time, but there's no reason for it to be a fantasy only for white men. The goody-goody, y'all-means-all, Coexist bumper sticker, modern progressive vision is for nobody to have that kind of power, that lack of accountability, that ability to abuse others at will

otm -- this concept of whiteness as an earned reward.

cool cool

There are a lot of social conservatives who believe in populist economic policies and it would be a good idea to have those people a part of a Democratic/left coalition and accept a bit more intra-movement friction on culture issues as a consequence.

— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 6, 2023

It won't work. You can't Own the Libs if there's no private property.

I like Murphy but, no.

Maybe the Dems should offer more compelling economic populism.

Racists have students loans too

I like Murphy but, no.

― Crabber B. Munson (Boring, Maryland)

srsly -- didn't expect this crap from him

President Keyes otm.

There is pretty much no substantive issue on which MAGAnauts and progressive Democrats can agree. "Owning the libs" is a non-negotiable tenet in MAGAland.

The Red Hat Brigade isn't interested in anything that doesn't offend its enemies.

That Murphy tweet is actually a poll, so it's unclear as to whether he actually believes it or not.

beware of anyone "just asking questions"

State of the US labor market

1. The unemployment rate is a whisker off its 60-year low

2. The employment rate for women 25-54 set a new record high

3. Since 2020, real wages have surged for the low-income, wiping out a quarter of the 40-year increase in inequality pic.twitter.com/6zsCUYkjQu

— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) July 7, 2023

The NYT front page is disappointed we're not in recession.

The Fed is too, from the sound of it. They'll see if another rate hike can get us there.

https://s17596.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Biden-I-did-that-gas-pump.jpeg

🐦[State of the US labor market

1. The unemployment rate is a whisker off its 60-year low

2. The employment rate for women 25-54 set a new record high

3. Since 2020, real wages have surged for the low-income, wiping out a quarter of the 40-year increase in inequality pic.twitter.com/6zsCUYkjQu🕸
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) July 7, 2023🕸]🐦

Let them eat fake!

this is funny because me and everyone i know is fucking scrambling

Well, maybe you and your friends are just untermenschen. I mean, have you even considered that possibility?

oh, it’s occurred to me

New beltway scandal:

The president's admonitions include: "God dammit, how the f**k don't you know this?!," "Don't f**king bullsh*t me!" and "Get the f**k out of here!" — according to current and former Biden aides who have witnessed and been on the receiving end of such outbursts.

save it for the debates old man

Some administration officials, many of whom went to elite schools, struggle with Biden's demand to ditch wonky, acronym-filled language and brief him as if they were talking to a close family member who isn't in the D.C. bubble.

my god what an asshole

without acronyms, we'd be SOL

"During the 2008 presidential campaign ... a 23-year-old fundraising staffer got into the car with Biden. "Okay, senator, time to do some fundraising calls," the aide said. Biden responded by looking at him and snapping: "Get the fuck out of the car." https://t.co/tCRDbXHqyj

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) July 10, 2023

I'm liking the old man more and more.

Maybe he should lean into the Cranky Grandpa mode.

"alright, thank you Former President Trump. President Biden, your response?"

"bitch please ,you must have a mental disease. assume the position and get back down on your knees"

I fondly remember this moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXPKci5nFXw

Dank Brandon

Biden looks like James Caan did when screaming "son of a BITCH!" into the phone in Godfather, only whispered instead of yelling

It is seriously relatable. Yes, I know he’s not what we want or need at this moment in history in a President but thank god he’s not a Clinton/Obama technocrat “nudge” wonk.

when Obama got mad, he just went and made a playlist

remember the Tea Party controversy that Obama liked/hosted Common and how they painted the latter as a degenerate thug because "lol we're racist and proud"

yeah, but have you seen him in Silo? Kinda scary.

I was afraid it was only a matter of time after that recent ruling. Despicable.

Michigan Salon Owner Refuses to Serve LGBTQ+ Community Because of ‘Pedophiles’

CW: some truly vile shit spouted by the salon owner is quoted in the linked article.

ordering people out of cars profanely, so relatable

The optimistic part of me thinks that any business that outs themselves on this scale is automatically going to trade in their cred and business and, naturally, see a drop in business. Especially places like this; you can't fall back on online sales if you're a salon.

i get my hair cut online

The Amazon Basics haircut works for me, nothing fancy but it looks nice

this is funny because me and everyone i know is fucking scrambling.

― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Saturday, July 8, 2023 3:18 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

qft. that tweet is so misleading. the giveaway is "real wages have surged since 2020, wiping out a quarter of the 40-year increase in inequality". a whole quarter!!!! like, any less than that would just mean we'd all be homeless right now. except for the landlords of course ;)

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/07/student-debt-cancellation-biden-reid-hoffman-megadonor-centrists.html

Good news, I suppose:

Inflation data released on Wednesday showed a pronounced cooling and offered some of the most hopeful news since the Federal Reserve began trying to tame rapid price increases 16 months ago.

The Consumer Price Index climbed 3 percent in the year through June, less than the 4 percent increase in the year through May and just a third of its roughly 9 percent peak last summer.

That overall metric catches big declines in gas prices and a few other products that could prove ephemeral, which is why policymakers closely watch a different measure: The change in prices after stripping out food and fuel costs. That measure offered news that was even better than what economists had expected, sending stocks higher as investors bet that the news would allow the Fed to be less aggressive.

The core index climbed 4.8 percent compared with the previous year, down from 5.3 percent in the year through May. Economists had forecast a 5 percent increase. And on a monthly basis, the “core” index climbed at the slowest pace since August 2021.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/12/clarence-thomas-aide-venmo-payments-lawyers-supreme-court

wish July was cooling...

is there a thread where we're discussing the noise surrounding this batshit jim caviezel kid trafficking movie which seems like the right's attempt to make pizzagate happen again?

Pizzagate never stopped. Once right-wing knuckle-walkers believe something, they believe it forever.

is there a thread where we're discussing the noise surrounding this batshit jim caviezel kid trafficking movie which seems like the right's attempt to make pizzagate happen again?

QanonAnonymous covered the movie in todays episode, with Dave Anthony from the Dollop as a guest.

Anna Merlan and Tim Marchman are also on to talk the real life conspiracy theorist shit

https://m.soundcloud.com/qanonanonymous/episode-238-sound-of-freedom-feat-dave-anthony-anna-merlan-and-tim-marchman

I've been annoying about it on FB for several weeks so none of my more gullible friends get duped into it.

the QAnon angle is bad enough, but I really feel like people need to name more directly the names of the problematic organizations that inspired this film (i.e. Operation Underground Railroad, Tim Ballard) so that they're common knowledge. I have well-meaning friends who support/donated to either or both of these groups, not realizing they're lunatics who actually impede more than they help and embellish their role.

Ballard doesn't draw a distinction between "voluntary sex worker" and victim of trafficking, and has a few times liberated people who didn't want or need to be freed, or in a few cases, has actually freed actual victims only to turn them over to far worse people than they freed them from because they legitimately don't give a shit about what happens next, just the headlines they procure for themselves.

I'm legit worried about how much more this is going to mainstream the misunderstanding of trafficking and get innocent people hurt or killed, a la Pizzagate. We already had that one lady a few years ago who got into the wrong Uber, driven by someone who didn't speak English well, and then publicly accused them of being a sex trafficker when they were just a legit Uber driver (which fortunately, didn't fool the cops). We had an actual housing complex in Michigan burned down because rumors spread that there were "sex traffickers in there", which turned out to be false, and resulted in many innocent families being displaced from the destroyed home.

the QAnon nutburgers, whatever. they're gonna do what they do and I'm not losing sleep over them. I am worried about relatively well-meaning people getting sold a bill of goods and funding and/or aiding really bad actors in the process, or actual internet rumormongering a la the Wayfair thing actually targeting a few innocent people and getting them and their families harmed.

I hope everybody involved with making the movie is run over by a truck

Thanks Kingfish. It's grim as fuck, neanderthal.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8dtLE8g/
jfc

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/07/13/birth-control-pill-over-the-counter-fda-approval/?fbclid=IwAR2HPar07cvGodLQQy0qdKgQOyYk_kuKxYqKBbQidM5n9plYPl5ma_ihYNU

Sound of Freedom is very much going to sail past the $100M mark, fwiw

(LOL, it was released on the Fourth of July)

The sound of freedom is ch-ching

Ballard apparently just quietly left OUR.

test

OK, weird; I was apparently being blocked from posting a link to a CNBC story, so here it is:

Biden administration forgives $39 billion in student debt for more than 800,000 borrowers

The Biden administration announced Friday it would automatically forgive $39 billion in student debt for 804,000 borrowers.

The relief is a result of fixes to the student loan system’s income-driven repayment plans. Under those repayment plans, borrowers get any remaining debt canceled by the government after they have made payments for 20 years or 25 years, depending on when they borrowed, and their loan and plan type.

In the past, payments that should have moved a borrower closer to being debt-free were not accounted for, according to the Biden administration.

“For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

To bring people over the line for forgiveness, the Biden administration counted payments for borrowers who’d paused their payments in certain deferments and forbearances and those who’d made partial or late payments.

Although the forgiveness is a huge victory for borrowers, it is relief to which they were entitled, said Persis Yu, deputy executive director at the Student Borrower Protection Center.

″Make no mistake — over 804,000 people are receiving relief with this action because of 804,000 failures — and this is only the tip of the iceberg,” Yu said in a statement. “Working people have been made collateral damage by a dysfunctional student loan system.”

The announcement comes weeks after the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan, which would have delivered relief to about 37 million people.

The Education Department will notify eligible borrowers in the coming days.

Apparently there's some sort of pay it forward hinkiness going on with that Qanon movie, where people are buying extra tickets in blocks and giving them away, apparently boosting the box office.

Yeah, it's the same old scam like when right-wing organizations buy books in bulk so they'll place on the NY Times bestseller list. Except now it's not the Heritage Foundation or whoever doing it — it's the rubes themselves. The only thing missing is the pyramid scheme angle — "If you get 20 people from your church group to buy blocks of 50 tickets, you'll get a cut of the action!"

Reading the Will Sommer QAnon book right now, and boy is there and has there been a lot of that, going back decades.

Mentioned this over on the WTF thread, but the recent United States of Conspiracy ep (Maron talking to Conspiracy Historian Robert Guffey) is a terrific primer.

A funny thing about that Sound of Freedom thing is it was shot in 2018 and was shelved until this summer, so it really is a Pizzagate-era relic predating the craziest Peak-Q shit..

the Sound of Freedom is a fart

We already had that one lady a few years ago who got into the wrong Uber, driven by someone who didn't speak English well, and then publicly accused them of being a sex trafficker when they were just a legit Uber driver (which fortunately, didn't fool the cops)

this just happened AGAIN the other week and the lady killed the driver because she thought she was being trafficked to mexico

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/us/uber-shooting-texas-mexico.html?unlocked_article_code=QjLEIoiELVm4ylkJEefpkWlgWZfvOzdGaX0wl5ud0rTeQc4hQBLGu7u6_CplPPo_2CH7U-5L4XM9BNjfF_lJHCNVdaRmOaJ0xUP88V5WTUwnqCLniUaMOrYZ0i9IxwlIOsE28VrWpH-dX2vJOcTT4JHhtoF0uchTzZwZUv4bv6MIP0qHLoA6gRW6LkpJlGpPAflIKJNkzC5E2mzg3uDkcwclpO_en8cNHISMyzrBovbdp700O-HOwxCDTiT-U-XJJw7p-7jGpCGDPx3LFYBtaaJm5NJRtkY-_6fn0UCuTgAcFI-xfSkeIqzj5DOaTPSmS-8AEO8RWYBLmLVwXsGr&smid=url-share

My wife got an email this morning from the government saying her loan will or may or could be forgiven, we weren't sure what that was about; caught that other news later this evening. She only owes like $1200 so it's not a huge deal but curiously this doesn't seem to be big news. i guess it's less than a million people though.

xpost "just booked a trip to El Paso, which is 9 miles from Juarez. OMFG THAT SIGN SAID JUAREZ I'M BEING KIDNAPPED"

like you're mega racist and you somehow don't know that the city you willfully booked an Uber to is on the US-Mexico border. impressive.

she was black but I suppose that doesn't mean she wasn't also racist; she is from Kentucky

News: Rail safety bill responding to East Palestine crash is in trouble. Bill is short of 60 votes, no GOP leaders support it and Dems don't want it on the floor without more R support

Without changes it could fail on the Senate floor, per multiple senshttps://t.co/QuEJMPIYKW

— Burgess Everett (asapburgessev on 🧵) (@burgessev) July 14, 2023

After the Parkland shooting, a college friend of mine wrote a viral Twitter thread (and then an Atlantic essay) about how a tragedy had struck her high school, too -- but it had led to meaningful reforms because it was a train accident that killed her classmates instead of gun violence, and transportation safety isn't considered a partisan issue. I guess maybe it wasn't back then.

floored pic.twitter.com/6xMuWaSgCe

— ettingermentum (@ettingermentum) July 15, 2023

x-post - Repubs consider rail safety bill to be too much regulation and too pro-union ...

Not all news is bad:

Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has reduced campaign staff as his campaign has struggled to meet fundraising goals.

Fight Woke Go Broke

ahahahahahaahaha

FUCK YOU RONNIE

Also his paid canvassers (can't get volunteers) are causing trouble: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/14/desantis-never-back-down-canvassers/

Ron Destitute

his fundraising was actually pretty decent for the quarter ending 6/30, but I think big donors are starting to realize how utterly unlikable he is

I wrote about the gap between the media’s putative willingness to accept dispassionate scientific claims about the threat of climate change versus their increasingly conspicuous unwillingness to connect this fact to extreme weather. https://t.co/b9GYZn1863

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonCHI) July 15, 2023

What the fuck is up with GOP candidates (DeSantis, Ramaswamy) coming to Philly to do poverty/crime/drug tours? It's like they want to run against Krasner.

This is total BS. Lots of Republican politicians (anyone remember Mehmet Oz?) use the misery and despair of Kensington's addiction struggles to score points with their suburban bro dudes, knowing the GOP won't do a damn thing to help cities or fight addiction https://t.co/w3IZP6tyZp

— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) July 17, 2023

🐦[I wrote about the gap between the media’s putative willingness to accept dispassionate scientific claims about the threat of climate change versus their increasingly conspicuous unwillingness to connect this fact to extreme weather. https://t.co/b9GYZn1863🕸
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonCHI) July 15, 2023🕸]🐦

so has The Miami Herald and even the New York Goddamn Times.

Yeah, the article is behind a paywall but I don't agree with the thesis at all

Adam Johnson being hyperbolic? No way.

profoundly upsetting report: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/border-trooper-migrants-wire-18205076.php

"Texas troopers told to push children into Rio Grande, deny water to migrants, records say"

Yeah there seems to be this bad faith "no one is talking about this only I have the courage to" some journalists do and it sucks.

I know Anne Applebaum isn't popular around here, but she's pretty otm in this.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/tennessee-republican-partisanship-one-party-state/674732/

The conclusion very much captures the current dynamic in my state.

The language itself wouldn’t be unusual, if this were a radical minority fighting for its very existence. But this is the Republican Party, the party that controls pretty much everything in Tennessee. They are going to win the next election, and probably the one after that. Yet they sound as if winning isn’t enough: They also want their opponents to fall silent, and they are doing what they can to make that happen.

Meanwhile, in local Mpls. politics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCp6AmBGebI

What the fuck is up with GOP candidates (DeSantis, Ramaswamy) coming to Philly to do poverty/crime/drug tours? It's like they want to run against Krasner

These candidates get a lot of publicity and funding by boosting any perceived crime rates in cities run by Democrats and ranting on “progressive DAs” as being soft-on-crime(which is a bi-partisan attack every place there is a progressive DA in office). Desantis always travelled to Chicago to buddy up with their shitty cop union head.

It's a stunt reminiscent of the Repubs' trips to the border a year or two (?) ago.

They always look ridiculous on these outings.

Yeah, DeSantis made like a four minute stop in San Francisco's Tenderloin, and saw drugs, he saw feces, he saw despair! Which is on brand for the TL since about 1868

Those things are what brings the tourists in!

It's a stunt reminiscent of the Repubs' trips to the border a year or two (?) ago.

They're always going down there! What can I say, Ted Cruz loves those border town brothels.

and saw drugs, he saw feces, he saw despair!

so he looked in the mirror then

Down at the peep show watchin' all the creeps
So he can tell his stories to the donors back home

nothing but respect for my backup nominee

NEW: Governor Pritzker signed HB-17584 into law today, increasing consequences for vehicles parking in bike lanes.

Cars parked in bike lanes will:

- Have higher fines (up by 17%)
- Be subject to a boot or towing after 15 mins
- Have all damage and vandalism claims voided pic.twitter.com/NRZiZPkjIN

— Sam (@samwightt) July 18, 2023

I'll add this profile of Gretchen Whitmer, whose leadership in Michigan has served as a terrific redress to the events of 2016. And her people seem to Get It:

The Democratic Party has had to adapt in Trump’s wake. In subtle ways, its most prominent figures seem steelier than their counterparts a decade ago, with a clearer sense of the political center and a sharper eye for an advantageous political fight. They are also less adept at evoking a transformative sense of the future, and more politically dependent on conservatives alienating swing voters, a pattern that isn’t sure to last. “The way I’ve always looked at it, man, is—it’s all about power,” Mark Burton told me. “How do you get more of it, how do you save it, how do you use it in the best way possible?” Whitmer, Burton went on, had developed a deep appreciation of this: “She understands power.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/24/how-gretchen-whitmer-made-michigan-a-democratic-stronghold

nothing but respect for my backup nominee 🐦[NEW: Governor Pritzker signed HB-17584 into law today, increasing consequences for vehicles parking in bike lanes.

Cars parked in bike lanes will:

- Have higher fines (up by 17%)
- Be subject to a boot or towing after 15 mins
- Have all damage and vandalism claims voided pic.twitter.com/NRZiZPkjIN🕸
— Sam (@samwightt) July 18, 2023🕸]🐦

When Michigan/Minnesota/Illinois secede, what are they going to name their breakaway state?

> Cars parked in bike lanes will:
> - Be subject to a boot

so punishing parking in a bike lane by making it impossible to move out of the bike lane?

xp Gansotanois

Milligan (xxpost)

Wichigan.

Lakeland

New Canada

The Great States

More Ontario would be my vote

Youperland

so punishing parking in a bike lane by making it impossible to move out of the bike lane?

lol, I said literally the same thing when I read that part

Ontario Oops All Berries

Michigan's AG just announced felony charges against 16 fake electors from 2020.

fuck yes

Can you prosecute fake people?

When Michigan/Minnesota/Illinois secede, what are they going to name their breakaway state?

JelloSaladStan

Garrison Kiellorina

more deets on the Michigan charges:
https://apnews.com/article/fake-elector-michigan-republican-df7803fca3862be713d9d6d29fb77e81

Who is this Pritzker cat and how do i vote for him (from NY)

he keeps redefining it, but we may never get it... this is what happens when you base your entire campaign on a single ambiguous word

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) released a new plan on Tuesday to “rip wokeness from the military” to juice enlistment. But when confronted with data suggesting that wokeness isn’t a major factor keeping Americans from joining the armed forces, the presidential candidate claimed that most opponents of “wokeness” can’t actually define the term.

“Not everyone really knows what wokeness is,” DeSantis told CNN host Jake Tapper after Tapper told him that “wokeness” placed well below the most common reasons people have for not enlisting, which include the fear of dying or suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. “I mean, I’ve defined it, but a lot of people who rail against wokeness can’t even define it.”

Welp, looks like election fraud happened after all

if you're so against being woke just sleep forever Ronnie

The terrible thing is I don't even know which Ronnie you refer to.

the Pritzker thing is fake btw

To be clear this is not real lmao

— Sam (@samwightt) July 18, 2023

DeSantis later defined “woke” to an NBC journalist as “a form of cultural Marxism” that’s about “putting merit and achievement behind identity politics, and it’s basically a war on the truth.”

1938 - Blues musician Huddie Ledbetter, known as Lead Belly, uses the phrase "stay woke" in his song "Scottsboro Boys"

Huh, which to believe?

I approve this message. pic.twitter.com/f1q5giNM8j

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 18, 2023

LOL

LOL

2024 democratic political ads should be a lot of stuff like this

that's amazing

1/ The Michigan AG’s charges against fake electors are more important than you might realize.

Our electoral system is run at the state level, and as we saw in the last election, there is room for bad actors to get to subvert the process.

These charges will be a real deterrent.

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) July 19, 2023

Crimes against migrants at the Texas border? Fear not! Ted Cruz is bitching about Barbie being a commie...

https://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-barbie-movie-chinese-communist-propaganda-2023-7?

Barbie will be here long after Ted Cruz is dust.

I mean she’s made of plastic

And he’s a small wonder

He's ten pounds of shit in a five-pound bag.

the Pritzker thing is fake btw

rip

"Ma'am, this isn't an Arby's."

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/marjorie-taylor-greene-hunter-biden-nudes-sex-tape-photos-capitol-hill-1234792034/?

DURING A HOUSE Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) whipped out several barely-censored display boards featuring images of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, having sex with various women. It’s been clear for some time that Republicans are obsessed with Hunter’s nudes, but the stunt was especially bizarre given the hearing was about a criminal case brought by the Justice Department related to Hunter Biden’s taxes.

More in the "Hunter Biden's laptop" saga.

I heard a bit of RFK Jr. and the guy sounds like he's been gargling glass.

He has a medical condition that explains it (the same thing that Susan Collins has), though it does seem like a hindrance to his campaign.

Not enough of one.

He doesn't need help, he needs hindrances.

Actor Jim Caviezel on Trump: “I’m still Jesus, but he’s the new Moses.”

If this is not a cult, I don’t know what is. pic.twitter.com/neAGm1VE9N

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) July 20, 2023

And to think I once thought him beautiful.

idiot savior

this guy is going to start thinking he really saved a bunch of trafficked kids

There is apparently a conspiracy theory swirling around this film that theaters are intentionally blocking people from seeing it. Yeah, that sounds about right.

I've already seen one independent theater owner in my mutuals report that people have accused him of not showing the film ... even though he's actually showing the film!

It's not the theaters, it's obviously the devil.

As for the reports of theaters sabotaging screenings with things like failing to dim the lights, it's painfully clear this audience hasn't set foot inside a multiplex to get the full "experience" since 2004

how fun would it be to like just show in the back of the theatre out of view and just fuck with these idiots at showings

just using a Sonos speaker and piping in stuff to make them paranoid

There is apparently a conspiracy theory swirling around this film that theaters are intentionally blocking people from seeing it. Yeah, that sounds about right

Which is a funny if not unexpected development of the bulk-ticket buying being down to boost the profile of the movie. If you buy out entire screenings, you ain’t exactly going to enable people to see the movie

Ah, now it is starting to make sense--at least, in the nonsensical QAnon sense of that word.

Also so much American(western?) conspiracism is entirely based on reactionaries being denied their treats.

All other aspects of life being stripped away except for consumerism, and deny them the thing they want right when they want it, and it must be some malefactor plotting against them.

Someone should put clothes on the empty seats and start shouting that their friends have all been raptured.

LOL

have to leave guns on the seats too though to really sell it

wait, do guns get raptured too

If we can't take our guns, I ain't going.

lol just imagine these clowns getting wanded at the pearly gates

nah, this is Terminator IV: Jesus Rises in 2004 again: church groups block-reserving showings for days.

I heard a bit of RFK Jr. and the guy sounds like he's been gargling glass.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, July 20, 2023 9:07 AM (one hour ago)

might come off as crass but sounds like decades of class-a substance abuse (or what the wealthy might deem a "neurological disorder")

it's the vaccines

linoleum gallagher (Neanderthal) at 11:58 20 Jul 23

just using a Sonos speaker and piping in stuff to make them paranoid

he has blamed a flu vaccine, with no actual reason

apparently long respiratory illnesses can also cause spasmodic dysphonia and there was a rumor flying around that he had a prolonged illness during the time he had substance abuse issues, which chronologically lines up

re: RFK Jr.

S
O
SOROS
O
S

that didn't work

Try rereading the acrostic in that Nabokov story again.

JESUS fuck

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-schools-will-teach-how-slavery-brought-personal-benefit-to-black-people/ar-AA1e7vGF?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=250004890df94befafc720f8bc64f071&ei=12

"a state that has required teaching African American history since 1994”

Welp, it's been almost 30 years, we've had enough of that stuff...

Saw from an FB chud that Trump has screened/possibly slept through Sound of Freedom.

That Florida thing about teaching the 'personal benefits' of slavery is absolutely appalling, even by today's subhuman standards

I saw that the Veep is flying out there to speak out specifically against this ... even odds DeSantis attempts to take her into custody, at this point

Gen Z voters are much more likely to cite gender fluidity as a value, and they list racism among their greatest concerns. Further, they are the least religious generation in our history. No wonder there’s discussion in some parts of the GOP about raising the voting age to 25, and among some Democrats about lowering it to 16!

It's sort of a wonder the GOP platform isn't attempting to raise the voting age to 60

Ope, sorry. That was meant for the Trump thread

Here’s a thought, maybe they could just limit it to white male property owners. If you’re gonna go originalist, you might as well go all the way.

It's official; Supreme Court rulings are now suggestions, to be ignored at will. Democrats will, of course, utterly fail to act accordingly.

NEW: 85 people in Arizona suffered severe burns from contact with pavements heated up to 180F (82C). 7 of them died. In total, 257 people had underlying cause of death listed as "exposure to excessive natural heat".

This is not a forecast for 50 years time, it’s happening today. pic.twitter.com/A3lmWXyj2o

— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) July 21, 2023

I have a hard time incorporating/digesting this stat. It’s truly horrifying to me.

And what does that mean I actually have done? Or will do? Or can do?

https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2023/07/21/benefited-slavery-critics-say-some-states-examples-were-never-even-slaves/

can't imagine Kate Bush would be very happy about this (though I think this is some cover). Also I can't believe this is a ... pro-Desantis ad????

The @desantiscams account just deleted this video after at least one campaign staffer RT'd it. I wonder if this was also made in-house. pic.twitter.com/JA1D9qqONF

— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) July 23, 2023

Just watched that. And here's the punch line:

Really special ending to the video here. Yep. That’s a sonnenrad. pic.twitter.com/ZJzfI3HeS0

— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) July 23, 2023

I don’t understand what is going on in that video. It’s supposed to be pro-DeSantis??

yes apparently, I had the same reaction.

Actual US fascists (Claremont Institute and libertarian-to-fash pipeline types) are disappointed that Trump isn’t fascist enough for their taste, so De Santis is their man.

Basically a civil war between the jock and creep factions of fascism.

I had to shazam that version of the song because it sounded so off and it turns out it's a Meg Meyers cover, which, musically, sounds almost note-for-note like the original.

Remember that creepy video the DeSantis campaign RT’d celebrating him as the scourge of trans people?

“A DeSantis campaign aide had originally produced the video internally, passing it off to an outside supporter to post it first and making it appear as if it was generated… pic.twitter.com/Ej3KJDSkGe

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) July 23, 2023

It’s coming from inside the house

And the campaign shared it anyway, does it really matter if it was made in house (other than it confirms that DeSantis’ campaign is staffed by Groypers and wannabe school shooters).

otm

How many Groypers do these people think there are? They're cultivating them like they're an important swing demographic or something. (And alienating a bunch of other people in the process.) It all feels so weird.

I think they wildly overestimate their numbers and influence, sure, ‘cause that’s all they see around them in their bubble.

still fascinates me being old enough to do vote tallying during the Bush/Gore vote when Florida was being considered a swing state that there's enough of the population there to be perfectly fine with DeSantis and Co looking at Alabama and going "hold my beer"

The Trump Train is unstoppable! Get out of the way, DeSanctimonious

Many Never Trump hopes were pinned on DeSantis but the governor is already cutting staff and experiencing fundraising setbacks. Donors ignored the warnings of longtime political operatives who said DeSantis was “undercooked”, had a glass jaw and lacked the personal warmth and charisma required for retail politics. These appear to be have been borne out by a stagnant campaign in which the more exposure he receives, the less popular he becomes.

Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman.... who challenged Trump in the 2020 Republican primary, said: “They all bet on DeSantis without knowing who the fuck he was, without understanding that he’s really bad and weird with people and also mean and cruel, even more so than Trump. They put all their chips on DeSantis before they knew who he was. That was a mistake because they don’t have an alternative."

I could have told them he was bad and weird.

bad and weird and mean and cruel

LOL, wait, they are looking for someone who is NOT that?

They want someone who is those things but people like him

Life's been good to Joe Walsh so far

Gotta bring back this beauty

https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/il47u4/picture266923026/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1140/AP22278716941078.jpg

Dobbs is another major event for young voters. According to data provided to me by Public Religion Research Institute, 54 percent of young voters believed in 2010 that abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

In 2023 that’s up to *69 percent.*https://t.co/jZluIDQgDh pic.twitter.com/hCrn1C2Th8

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 25, 2023

Nice!

things are turning the right way

love it... the DeSantis slow motion implosion appears to be speeding up, sinking like a carbon fiber submarine

On a day on which he emerged uninjured from an actual car crash in Tennessee, Ron DeSantis was reported to have made his most drastic attempt yet to turn round a presidential campaign seen as in danger of coming off the road itself, announcing a deep slashing of staff numbers

Politico said advisers to the Florida governor confirmed that more than a third of campaign staff were being cut, “a total of 38 jobs shed across an array of departments”, two senior advisers among them.

DeSantis deserves slow death, but this will do until something better comes along.

Will he even make it to the primaries?

He's either Scott Walker or McCain

The fact that he was #2 after Trump is just nuts.. that means there's no one else even close, though there's like 13 who've announced

McCain courted Beltway reporters. This guy can't even court a disease.

I hope he kept on the advisor that told him to ramble on about 'woke' at every opportunity, that's been a winning formula

Is that the same one that advised him to say "Uhh, hungwy"? Keep that one, if so.

He's like a Smurf who says "woke" instead of "smurf."

Basically, he smurfed up by saying "woke" too much, because the average Smurf really doesn't give a smurf about "woke" except as a smurf to smurf the libs.

Fear & Woking on the Campaign Trail

yeah, too bad Hunter S. is no longer around to share his thoughts on these cretins

I hear there's this new HST who works for the Falun Gong

why couldn't the car crash have been his motorcade speeding headfirst into a concrete wall at 130 mph

Because Trump didn't build the Wall!

It is almost like something out of Arrested Development that DeSatanis' campaign is literally a wreck on the highway.

I was kind of hoping he would stick around long enough to do some damage to Trump, create some division within the party, etc., but he’s so bad at doing politics outside of his safe home state, all he’s done so far is make Trump look good in comparison. I guess what I can hope for now is that he’ll continue to embarrass himself and damage his own image to the point where even Florida rejects him. I think nobody in FL ever really had to hear him talk, they just read the headlines and said “yeah, this is my kind of guy!” But now it’s plain as day that he’s nobody’s kind of person. If he’s a person at all.

I don't think he ever had a shot at doing real damage to Trump - that's just the Never Trumper copium

He seems kinda terrified of Trump, tbh

I mean...do you want someone other than Trump as nominee?

there is no such thing as Doing More Damage to Trump. It doesn't matter. He can't be damaged.

why couldn't the car crash have been his motorcade speeding headfirst into a concrete wall at 130 mph

― linoleum gallagher (Neanderthal), Tuesday, July 25, 2023 4:52 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Because Trump didn't build the Wall!

― hardcore technician gimmicks are also another popular choice f (President Keyes), Tuesday, July 25, 2023 4:56 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

just wanna note that this is absolutely top shelf schtick and you can't find this kinda content elsewhere on the internet. glory to our posters! glory to ilx!

Lol

just wanna note that this is absolutely top shelf schtick and you can't find this kinda content elsewhere on the internet. glory to our posters! glory to ilx!


This is the kind of energy and enthusiasm America needs right now. Well done all around!

I mean...do you want someone other than Trump as nominee?

I have a hard time incorporating/digesting this stat. It’s truly horrifying to me.

And what does that mean I actually have done? Or will do? Or can do?

― toenail fungus (Hunt3r), Sunday, 23 July 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I mean - a lot of bad things have already been set in motion :-(

A board member of the centrist group @NoLabelsOrg, which is eyeing a presidential run against Joe Biden, told The Intercept that Martin Luther King Jr. was a centrist and would have been a member of No Labels.https://t.co/ka8GgXiK7V

— The Intercept (@theintercept) July 26, 2023

I see getting nicknamed 'President' went to someone's head.

If MLK were alive today, he would totally think Ralph excels at sleep.

When Obama's personal chef was found drowned a day or two ago, I was about to post something like "how long until this becomes a right wing conspiracy theory?" I thought it was kind of tacky and obvious so didn't. But yeah, now it's a right wing conspiracy theory.

I thought it was kind of tacky and obvious

Exactly

hey, you gotta watch out for those chefs.

xp Consider the audience

On the other hand, based on the obit picture I can see why some on the right might be so suspicious:

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13558a3f-8e35-4f85-9a53-faf6e564bfe8_1000x799.jpeg

In a nutshell, what's the emerging theory? He knew too much about Michelle's dietary habits?

I can only assume the theory is that he was killed because He Knew Too Much.

I think it's less pinpoint than that. The theory, I'm guessing, is that he was killed because all Democrats are psycho killer pedos

He got tired of making adrenochrome smoothies every morning

https://www.newsweek.com/tafari-campbells-death-has-eerie-parallels-clinton-chef-walter-scheib-1815122?amp=1

Presidential chefs—always with the drowning

Did Newsweek's transformation into Newsmax happen overnight or was it more gradual?

More like a week

A week, max.

lol, thread continues to deliver

DeSantis aide fired after sharing video featuring symbol used by Nazis

An aide to Ron DeSantis who created and shared a video featuring a symbol used by Nazis and white supremacists was fired from the Florida governor’s Republican presidential campaign.

my interpretation: 'As long as we're laying off a third of the campaign staff, let's fire the overt nazi guy and then issue a press release about it'

Some % fewer Nazis in our camapaign!

Actually, the concentration is likely up after the firings

Fascinating strategy for DeSantis, his only lane was being the Respectable Reactionary who could make Never Trumpers happy but instead he just doubled down on Internet poisoned Pepe memesters, building a coalition of groups physically repellent to normal people.

A coalition of the red pilling.

His advisors told him "You'll never get anywhere unless you can carve away Trump's core."

Here is footage of when McConnell seemed to just stop mid-sentence pic.twitter.com/4o8xKdWiwc

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 26, 2023

Yeah, was just reading about that.. a stroke or something?

Time to put the turtle back in the shoebox.

what is visible in the tape isn't enough to diagnose, but he just stood there, his expression blank and his body swaying slightly, as if in a light breeze. not a man in good health by any stretch.

And "forget" to poke holes in the lid. xp

Apparently he came back and answered a couple question, but yeah - even when he was speaking, his voice sounded a bit off

Please don't mistake any of this as intended sympathy for that ghoul, but maybe just maybe this is a fundamental flaw with a system that incentivizes politicians to never stop working until they literally die.

Government by Elder Abuse

9 hours after posting this important call to action, the second place candidate in the Republican primary is about to hit 100 likes on a tweet from his 2.1 million follower account pic.twitter.com/QNcirTp7GG

— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) July 25, 2023

Only a hundred people liked a tweet from DeSantis, but everyone who liked it became a Nazi.

Please don't mistake any of this as intended sympathy for that ghoul, but maybe just maybe this is a fundamental flaw with a system that incentivizes politicians to never stop working until they literally die.

Yeah my first thought was less about McConnell specifically than "fucking gerontocracy."

is DeSantis waving in that pic, or doing the lazy seig heil that only hitler was allowed to use?

I believe he's hailing the waiter and saying, "yumm chicky nugnugs".

"Garson, there's a woke in my soup!"

"My alphabet soup is spelling out 'Voting Rights Act.'"

genuine lol Grisso/McCain

His skin has the same texture as his shirt

both are AI

My first thought was that the devil appeared to McConnell mid speech and began giving him orders. Or a stroke really who knows

could have been as simple as a sudden drop in blood pressure and a bad dizzy spell. but men just standing at a podium after walking around don't normally have a sudden drop in blood pressure, so... he's not a well man.

maybe he could die horribly

He looks like a man gazing into the existential void, as well he should

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/sound-of-freedom-qanon-culture-war/674832/

As I left the theater, I approached another group of friends to hear what they thought. They all declined to share their last names, but were happy to tell me how powerful they’d found the movie. “Men want to protect people,” a dark-haired middle-aged man named George said, “so it’s embarrassing that there’s anyone out there that would ever do that to a child.” He brought up the new Jason Aldean song, “Try That in a Small Town,” in which the country artist promises vigilante justice. “I like that song that no one wants to talk about,” George said. Real men would beat up a child abuser.

“You realize you’re talking to some of the few conservatives in the area?” George’s bearded friend Steven asked me, with a wink. “You know what surprises me,” he went on, “is why the left hates this movie. I don’t get it.” He looked at me as though he expected an answer.

If people on the left are repelled by this movie, it’s for the same reasons people on the right feel so obligated to see it. Our political leaders, our social circles, and our chosen media have signaled in our echo chambers exactly how we should feel about it—and so much else, besides. Bud Light. Gas stoves. School libraries. The Target Pride section. Elon Musk’s Twitter. Luke Combs’s “Fast Car.” The entire Walt Disney Company. Lizzo playing James Madison’s flute.

It’s exhausting. All I wanted to do was put on a pink dress and enjoy a movie about a plastic doll.

Is there a controversy about Luke Combs' cover of "Fast Car"? It's a workmanlike, if uninspired, rendition. If it makes Tracy Chapman a few dollars, that's all to the good.

None other than the racial politics of country music brought up a couple weeks ago.

This article set off some debate: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/07/13/tracy-chapman-luke-combs-fast-car-cover/

In comparing the controversy over "Fast Car" against the controversy over literally everything in the third paragraph I quoted above ... the American left is just plain worse at performative outrage on frivolous pop culture stuff. That's meant as a compliment, fwiw

If people on the left are repelled by this movie, it’s for the same reasons people on the right feel so obligated to see it. Our political leaders, our social circles, and our chosen media have signaled in our echo chambers exactly how we should feel about it—and so much else, besides. Bud Light. Gas stoves. School libraries. The Target Pride section. Elon Musk’s Twitter. Luke Combs’s “Fast Car.” The entire Walt Disney Company. Lizzo playing James Madison’s flute.

man, fuck outta here with this, Atlantic. I've been actively speaking against Ballard/OUR for years, before this movie existed, and so have many people regardless of affiliation who work to fight trafficking. this is really patronizing nonsense. not even remotely comparable to a media and social campaign to highlight why this 'movie' is 'important'

there IS a definite point to be made about how echo chambers also exist on the left and that having opinions on simple entertainment has become political - i.e. being socially ostracized or criticized for issuing a 'non-canon' opinion on art like Barbie or not 'hating' the right things. because that shit is real and extremely fucking aggravating.

but they sure af didn't make the point well.

OK, I stand corrected

almost regardless of the subject matter of the film, I would steer clear of it because it has the stink of a Kirk Cameron xtian joint.

I thought that Todd in the Shadows dude (who I only know from his discussion/dissection of Morgan Wallen) had some interesting takes on the "Fast Car" phenom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8X4TwZ5oiA

I've been actively speaking against Ballard/OUR for years, before this movie existed, and so have many people regardless of affiliation who work to fight trafficking. this is really patronizing nonsense.

Yes, but none of those people know anyone who writes for The Atlantic (or The New York Times or The New Yorker), so they don't count, since writers for the big mags and papers only know and talk to each other (while typing endlessly about how *everyone else* is living in an echo chamber).

Wrt this “movie”, I think it’s pretty clear what the far right is doing. They are setting up their own alternative to any and all institutions that they consider liberal or “woke”. Anything they see as a threat- cities, the news media, higher education, movies, popular music, celebrities, etc.- everything they see as leaning too liberal or even just not leaning far enough to the new conservative ideals. It’s not enough for them to just attack and discredit these institutions and try to legislate against them- they need their own version, otherwise they aren’t offering any alternatives to their followers. This is the lens through which I see Trump’s plan for new “freedom cities” or whatever, DeSantis’ attempt to mold New College of Florida into a conservative institution, all the attempts to generate controversy/buzz around musicians like Jason Aldean/Kid Rock and elevate their profiles as conservative beacons, and now this movie and its “stars”. They want their own alternative cities, higher education, musicians and celebrities, movies, and so on. All in the name of not allowing “indoctrination”- when in fact their own goal is indoctrination. Look at the success they have already had with setting up their own alternative “news” media! Now they are looking to replicate that success in opposition to every other institution that doesn’t fit their mold. It’s all part of their long term strategy to counteract the changing demographics in this country that threaten their very existence.

A FB acquaintance that I liked well enough posted about how amazing this was. Had to click remove friend.

Asked to vote on the defense appropriations bill, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) begins giving a speech: “I would like to support a ‘yes’ vote on this. It provides …”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA): “Just say aye.” pic.twitter.com/Gw2eZ9rEMv

— The Recount (@therecount) July 27, 2023

not a good week for ancient politicians

https://media.tenor.com/WfIRZzdwitsAAAAM/dark-crystal.gif

Between news of the relative strength of the economy and Trump maybe getting indicted again, Biden should really just resign. Shameful, really.

Feinstein and ancient politicians:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umU8vKRNnRw

would be a good week to have OJ Da Juiceman as Senator

Awareness dawns...

BlazeTV host Steve Deace: "When you like being treated like a schmuck, and ask for more, that is a cult ... I went to the mattresses on COVID and the election fraud issue, only to have Rudy Giuliani say, 'Yeah. I was lying.' And Jason Miller say, 'Oh, we knew it was all BS.'" pic.twitter.com/Vw07ufYdkJ

— Brendan Karet (@bad_takes) July 27, 2023

No, I've never heard of this guy before today.

Spotify promotes him in commercials.

Inject that last five seconds straight into my eyes.

The phrase you're looking for is going to the mat, not the mattress, you dolt.

Unless you are a 60s Mafioso.

https://i1.wp.com/badbooksgoodtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/youve-got-mail-go-to-the-mattresses.gif?ssl=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-sIQpQ2drY

oh come on "I went to the mattress for you" is just an objectively better phrase

I went to the lady version of a mat for you!

That guy's distress fills me with an inappropriate glee.

McCarthy says he wants to watch "Sound of Freedom" with Biden pic.twitter.com/8wjHUG3KmN

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 27, 2023

What in the actual fuck bruh?!?!

Guess he knows Biden's already seen Barbenheimer

Bidenheimer

these people are so fucking weird and broken

The QAnonification is pretty much complete at this point.

fuck this fuckchop

Republican Sen. J.D. Vance has sent questionnaires designed to figure out whether some nominees for top State Department jobs are, in his estimation, too “woke.”

The Ohio lawmaker confirmed the questionnaires and that his office has sent them to some nominees on which he has placed a hold.

“Why do we have a liberal white woman going to Africa and telling them they’re not civilized enough when it comes to transgender ideology,” Vance said in an April 19 Senate floor speech, likening it to “cultural imperialism.”

Speaking of going to the mattresses

People on the Right are upset about Nancy Mace’s public admission to engaging in premarital sex. Sounds like her fiancé is upset that she skipped it for a prayer breakfast. pic.twitter.com/29EkfvPCcJ

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 27, 2023

Blair Erskine's version

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace gives remarks at prayer breakfast pic.twitter.com/Enkf3MyfNd

— blaire erskine (@blaireerskine) July 27, 2023

she is Judy Gemstone

Has DeSantis tried to eat corn on the cob in public in Iowa yet?

Can only imagine how he'd manhandle a corn dog.

He probably puts ketchup on corn.

Must truly suck to know that the world (or at least the morons tuning in) is hanging onto every gesture you make when you are eating something. A normal person would be so self-conscious as to be incapacitated.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/you-are-a-pssy-mccarthy-and-swalwell-get-in-house-floor-feud

"Call me a pussy again, and I'll kick your ass," McCarthy allegedly said.

Swalwell was undeterred. "You. Are. A. Pussy," Swalwell reportedly replied, emphasizing each word of his insult.

they should put some monkey bars on the House floor

y'know, just FULLY completion the transition

Didn't someone here make a circular GIF of, like, Michelle Bachmann and Ted Cruz eating corn dogs? It was simultaneously revolting and weirdly compelling.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HN5lEr7vx-9p5yP-qGvnQ4nuoTg=/0x0:2500x2500/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:2500x2500):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/18972142/BERNIE_REACTION.jpg

O wait maybe it was Rick Perry. I can't find the image though

lol remember NRO's boner when Rick Perry wore glasses

DeSantis: oh, what is that?
Girl: an icee
DeSantis: An icee? Yeah that's probably a lot of sugar huh? https://t.co/1rXdHShU3s

— Drew Savicki (@DrewSav) July 27, 2023

he's right!

she is Judy Gemstone

yes!

See, this is where I think I would really shine as a politician. Like, I would totally murder that country fair junk food. And I wouldn't have to ask what an Icee is.

I want to hear him talk about Grimace shakes

wouldn't that be self-promotion

Kinda literally and figuratively in this case, given that dude's mug.

she is Judy Gemstone

lmao exactly

"The Prayer Breakfast Can Wait" for August thread title

Prayer Breakfast Interruptus

how did this guy get elected to anything, his incompetence is breathtaking

the best incompetence.

Pretty hilarious little thing from Politico:

No Labels national director Joe Cunningham tried Thursday to defend his centrist group’s third-party presidential aspirations. He got a chilly response from at least one Senate office.

Top Hill aides were briefed Thursday by speakers from the center-left group Third Way and the progressive organization MoveOn about what they see as the electoral perils of a third-party White House candidate. Cunningham, a former one-term Democrat from South Carolina, decided to email those aides with his retort.

In that message to House and Senate chiefs of staff, Cunningham said that attempts to block No Labels from getting onto presidential ballots were “undemocratic attacks on voting rights and our Constitution” and that the group would “remain resolute in our mission.”

How it played: Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) chief of staff Adam Jentleson replied back: “If you go through with this profoundly misguided vanity project you will go down as one of history’s most venal rubes, but hey man you do you.”

So was there any real juice to that UFO hearing the other day or was it just a handful of bonkers military officials wilding?

Seemed like some people that believe what they believe, and others that had no reason to disbelieve what those people believe, but also, no firm reason to believe it one way or the other, either. Most importantly I think the hearing set in motion changes to better support those that want to report encounters.

Saw in passing a guy that claimed not only that the government had recovered "non-humans biologics" (or something) from wreckage, but that iirc people may have been killed protecting these secrets, which is maybe a little too rich for my blood.

Real subtle bro pic.twitter.com/iEvtwdB7cb

— eve6 (@Eve6) July 28, 2023

jfc

A real throw-back Friday:

Alien coverups
Kennedy assassinations
No Labels

How is this guy supposed to “damage” Biden in the primaries? So his backers really think there is a silent majority of registered Democrats who vote in primaries who are anti-vax, anti trans Nazis?

you really think RFK Jr is signalling to Nazis?

How is this guy supposed to “damage” Biden in the primaries?

RFK Jr won't get within 1000 miles of the nomination, but the reality is that any factor that might spark media chatter about "Biden's weaker than expected margin of victory" in the primaries makes the people running Biden's campaign uneasy. All recent presidential elections have hinged on very slender margins in a handful of swing states so that they feel like they must walk a tightrope to win. It's not like enthusiasm for Biden among dem and independent voters is going to sweep him to an easy victory.

He managed to get both the 14 and the 88. I'm sure that was accidental. They're set apart by a hyphen and two words.

— PangeaMan@moe_is_god (@moe_is_god) July 28, 2023

Ope sorry, I see we already sniffed that out

you really think RFK Jr is signalling to Nazis?

How has he earned the benefit of the doubt?

I dunno, maybe because before everyone got mad at him he spent years doing environmental legislation on behalf of Native Tribes whose lands were being used as waste dumping grounds. But it's a quick pipeline from there to Nazi.

before everyone got mad at him

Maybe the guy made a mistake (probably), maybe it was a staffer, or maybe the guy that keeps getting snagged saying anti-semitic stuff is not on the up and up (...). Either way, it's an easy mistake not to make. He could pose making the OK sign and mean nothing more than he's OK, but it's something someone serious should catch and stanch.

no way that's a mistake, come on

how did this guy get elected to anything, his incompetence is breathtaking

That was the thing when the media was pumping him up (whether as wishful thinking or just to create a horse race), he barely beat a guy whose hobbies include smoking meth in hourly motels. There was never any evidence that he was a good politician.

I'll tell you: because he faced no strong opposition in Florida and b/c his COVID policies attracted even wishy-washy Dems, he managed an easy victory.

i.e. he's never been tested as a politician

Also, having legislative majorities allows him to pass any laws he wants & gives him the aura of a governor "who gets things done." Of course is nothing like what a President faces from Congress.

RFK seems like a very online dude I ain't giving him the benefit of the doubt here

His campaign has also largely focused on his own (and his relatives') physical fitness, Triumph of the Will style

I dunno, maybe because before everyone got mad at him he spent years doing environmental legislation on behalf of Native Tribes whose lands were being used as waste dumping grounds. But it's a quick pipeline from there to Nazi.

before everyone got mad at him

You mean "before he lost his fucking mind," which was about 20 years ago now. (His big anti-vax article on Salon/Rolling Stone, later retracted, was in 2005, I believe.)

RFK Jr.'s next fundraiser: a mini-golf tournament in a brewery.

They'll call it "Beer Hall Putts." Any resemblance to anything else is pure coincidence.

Then maybe he'll write a memoir about the formative summer he spent in coal country, called "Mine Camps."

‘He used 14 and 88 in the same post’ is a bit too Always Sunny conspiracy jpg. What was he signaling there? Did he ask for Secret Service protection so that he could post with two s words?

To be fair (a little bit) I was recently trying to say something about how the land I am sitting on has absorbed a lot of blood for various terrible reasons. My next thought was, "oh shit, did I really just accidentally say blood and soil?"

You mean "before he lost his fucking mind," which was about 20 years ago now. (His big anti-vax article on Salon/Rolling Stone, later retracted, was in 2005, I believe.)

Exactly. He's been saying crazy stuff for a long time. Remember the 2004 Ohio voting machines? But he was not really hated by Dems until he started running for President.

Dude actually said just two weeks ago Covid was engineered not to affect “ashkenazi Jews” of course he’s an anti-Semite.

‘He used 14 and 88 in the same post’ is a bit too Always Sunny conspiracy jpg. What was he signaling there? Did he ask for Secret Service protection so that he could post with two s words?

― papal hotwife (milo z), Friday, July 28, 2023 2:00 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's some dipshit staffer who is tweeting and it's likely one of the too-online guys who pulls this junk all the time

yeah, he might not have written the post, whoever did write it put the reference in on purpose, and they have at least RFK jr's tacit approval

Some weird-ass takes coming from the Keyes Administration lately.

I'm not the one jumping on the DO YOU SEE wagon

why are we defending this POS who literally said COVID was a jewish conspiracy?

xp don't you have a mineral supplement to shill

I'm in camp this was more likely a dumb staffer than RFK JR himself but good lord at people twisting themselves into any sort of knot to pretend it wasn't intentional. The guy is a proven, verifiable anti-Semite.

The guy is a proven, verifiable anti-Semite.

And that's only one of about a dozen ways he's a piece of shit. But hey, if it gives milo an opening to call everyone else on ILX dupes...

No one's defending him lol.

Tucker Carlson and Sarah Palin 'accidentally' echoing the 14 words while talking about immigration, yes totally, "the WUHAN VIRUS didn't affect JEWS" yeah obviously. Two numbers in a post that doesn't really have anything to do with politics or ideology? Just a bit much.

you are a fucking idiot

What the fuck are we arguing about -- whether RFK Jr. is more or less anti-Semitic than a member of his staff?

Hi Shakey!

The thing is, 1488 is more often than not deployed in a way that allows for plausible deniability. It's a fun little game so they can laugh at how easily people are "triggered".

exactly

I mean, it's possible that it's a coincidence . . .

Like I said, even if, someone should still have known better and intervened. Like the OK sign. Better to just avoid it if there is any chance of a misunderstanding.

Especially for a guy already dogged by accusations of anti-semitism.

If I were tweeting those stats I might have said 'typical turnaround is two weeks but I've been waiting almost three months.' 88 is a weird number to just be a coincidence.

you are a fucking idiot

― Οὖτις, Friday, July 28, 2023 4:34 PM bookmarkflaglink

OMG SHAKEY

(NARRATOR) It's obviously not a coincidence.

I mean my god the timing of that post was incredible, holy Kool Aid man

yeah wow.

how could anyone who has been even a little online think a 14 88 in a post from a politician who has advanced anti-semitic conspiracy theories is a lil coinkydinky ~especially given that the claimed function of the number in the post doesn't even check out~? need some of whatever it is such a person is smoking

otm

The eagerness to get on stage in front of cameras and talk about The Jews and Chinese Menace is pretty much exactly why I don't see it as a good use of mental energy to find hidden messages in tweets. (Or a good use of mental energy to devote any thought to the chucklehead at all.)

is pretty much exactly why I don't see it as a good use of mental energy to find hidden messages in tweets engage with milo

FTFY

Wow I literally JUST made a stupid Shakey joek and now here's Shakey

Post a controversial music opinion

did you make it four more times as well

to find hidden messages in tweets

like playing records backwards to hear hidden satanic messages, when you can be playing Black Sabbath forwards to hear "My name is Lucifer, please take my hand"

well but that's an explicitly Xian song Andy let's not drag Ozzy into this

This made me laugh.

Outside the obvious hilarious thing about this, why does he even want the Secret Service protecting him? Those bums are 0-2. https://t.co/pTO6u3Bqwb

— Will 🦥 Menaker (@willmenaker) July 28, 2023

"you guys are paranoid seeing anti-semitic winking from an open anti-Semite"

there's no strategy to this, it's just larfs to the anti-Semite, pace Sartre.

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT'S A FUCKING INTERN it's a official communique from the campaign.

LOL

“Marjorie needs to remember she showed us a d‑‑‑ pic last week,” Garcia tweeted Thursday after Greene interrupted his remarks at a hearing on COVID-19 vaccine mandates to call for decorum.

And the tweet is still up. If they somehow were honestly not aware of its significance, obviously they are now. So it’s up on purpose either from the start (most likely) or from when the blowback started. Every minute it’s up is a deliberate choice.

Keyes, using 14 and 88 is super online, yes, but there is really no fucking way someone does that by mistake.

I can’t read this (no free articles), but, lol

https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-lieberman-no-labels-third-party-2024-bill-galston-a7d597b5

Here: https://archive.li/vHwOS

New: A Trump appointed judge in Lubbock, Texas, has rejected the Biden administration's "judge shopping" arguments and bid to transfer a lawsuit by the state's AG claiming that last year's $1.7 trillion federal government funding law was unlawful. https://t.co/tvZuu2TsRt

— Nate Raymond (@nateraymond) July 28, 2023

“James Wesley Hendrix” lol

so has milo apologized

judge has three names, musta tried to assassinate a President once

“Age is in fact a superpower,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, 72, the Hollywood mogul whom Mr. Biden named as a co-chairman of his campaign. “You can’t run from it because you’re 80 years old, right? There’s no denying it. I’ve been of the camp that believes strongly this is one of his greatest assets.”

Surveys indicate that voters disagree, with many Democratic voters worrying about Mr. Biden’s age amid Republican attacks. In polling conducted by YouGov last year, a majority of Americans supported age limits for elected officials but were split over the precise cutoff. A cap at age 60 would bar 71 percent of the Senate from holding office, while a limit of 70 would render 30 percent ineligible, an analysis by the firm found.

From this article

hey Shakey!

"<such & such> is a superpower" as buzzwords can fuck off & die

Surveys indicate that voters disagree

voters are familiar with old people

Superpower is preferable to spirit animal

otm

Was this cartoonishly evil GOP "Project 2025" bullshit already posted?

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/28/far-right-climate-plans-00107498

Some specifics: Blocking the expansion of the electrical grid to accommodate clean energy sources like wind and solar. Eliminating three offices within the Department of Energy promoting the renewable power transition. Wiping out funding for environmental justice work in the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection. Massive growth of the natural gas infrastructure such as pipelines. Ensuring that no other states win approval for the kind of strict electric car guidelines being implemented in California. The EPA and other key agencies would be radically downsized and placed under the care of right-wing pro-fossil fuel zealots. It even includes restrictions on new scientific research.

btw if anyone still has doubts about the RFK thing, apparently there's no "typical" turnaround time and the request was made 57 days prior, not 88

also the Secret Service's own website, which I just went onto, says they can't provide protection greater than one year prior to the General Election. so he applied for something he knew he couldn't get anyway.

it was a dog whistle

Former President Donald J. Trump is dominating his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, leading his nearest challenger, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, by a landslide 37 percentage points nationally among the likely Republican primary electorate, according to the first New York Times/Siena College poll of the 2024 campaign.

Mr. Trump held decisive advantages across almost every demographic group and region and in every ideological wing of the party, the survey found, as Republican voters waved away concerns about his escalating legal jeopardy. He led by wide margins among men and women, younger and older voters, moderates and conservatives, those who went to college and those who didn’t, and in cities, suburbs and rural areas.

trump: 54
desantis: 17
pence, scott, haley: 3 each
ramaswamy: 2
christie: 2 (wtf?)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/us/politics/2024-poll-nyt-siena-trump-republicans.html

among the likely Republican primary electorate

iow he'll be the Republican nominee unless he dies or has a stroke, but we all knew his base is totally in thrall and can never become disaffected with or alienated from him.

Stroke not a deal breaker imo, he'd still claim he's the healthiest man to ever run for office. Death might slow him down a bit.

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/11119/111195960/4557287-8005166748-13381.gif

hmm the party of candidate health concern-trolling doesn't care when it happens to them, shocked

Nearly 4 million in U.S. cut from Medicaid, most for paperwork reasons https://t.co/453gGiQVzz

— Joan Alker (@JoanAlker1) July 28, 2023

Texas and Florida have cut the most for failing to fill out paperwork as required

health care, a basic human* right

(*humans defined as those adept at filling out impenetrable bureaucratic forms)

meanwhile I can't even get DCF to process my father's application CORRECTLY and I've escalated it thrice.

before i could submit a thing to have my public loans reassessed by dept of education to see if i should have gotten 2 additional years of qualifying payments toward my 10-yr PSLF forgiveness, i had to send another form (paper only, for some reason) to another agency in dc to get them to verify that i was indeed an employee during a certain stretch of time. it's been 7 or 8 months since i submitted that request to verify my employment, and i have no idea if they received it or not

lol just this morning I went through a rigamarole of printing out old tax forms, which had been filed electronically, so that I can sign them and submit to my kid's college admissions office because the electronic signature might be good enough for the IRS but not for them. So I had to extract the two pages from the PDF, convert them to jpegs (because my printer has decided to print PDFs only at 1/4 quarter size but will print JPGs fine), print them, sign them, take pictures of them, save them as PDFs and submit them. All this to unlock state aid that's basically guaranteed to kids who meet some basic requirements (GPA, community service). But given what a pain in the ass this all is, I can't help thinking there are kids and parents who don't figure it out — and then they're facing tuition payments or loans.

xpost
A little late sorry but some folks here spending days defending 1488 has to be some kind of collective low point, all it needs is for map to chime in and show some love for Elon Musk’s latest troll move or whatever.

Even 88 alone when posted in any context by any political figure associated in any way with the Republican Party or Russia is an OBVIOUS dogwhistle. Idk I guess I just see too much of this crap cause I’m terminally online but there’s zero question this is a dogwhistle. And the point of these dogwhistles is that they are hidden, asking for relevant context is completely missing the point.

there's no strategy to this, it's just larfs to the anti-Semite, pace Sartre.

― Moritz von Oswald von Wolkenstein (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 28 July 2023 22:31

Absolutely nailed it — “They delight in acting
in bad faith, since they seek not to
persuade by sound argument but to
intimidate and disconcert.”

But since I’m here, should probably provide some grist for the doom-scrolling mill. Let’s check in on how discussion of racial politics is going with some other notable figures…

1. @RonDeSantis just sent a letter to @KamalaHarris requesting a meeting to discuss Florida's new Black history curriculum

DeSantis said he would bring along William Allen, who helped write the curriculum

Who is William Allen?

We took a deep dive

And it's a WILD ride

🧵 pic.twitter.com/GWMKPF7JMX

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 1, 2023

This is a fucking doozy.

5. Allen was also charged with kidnapping a 14-year-old girl from a reservation. There was a custody battle between her birth mother and a white couple that wanted to adopt her

“Allen contends that the girl wants to leave the reservation, though the mother has formal custody”

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 1, 2023

It's August 1st. Time to close up shop on this thread. Ny takers on starting a new thread?

A little late sorry but some folks here spending days defending 1488 has to be some kind of collective low point, all it needs is for map to chime in and show some love for Elon Musk’s latest troll move or whatever.

you know what's a personal low point for you viborg? projecting your own fantasy posts onto map

Christ, I don't think anyone was defending it, just questioning whether it was intentional.

it's nazi sugar, man!

you know what's a personal low point for you viborg? projecting your own fantasy posts onto map

― rob, Tuesday, August 1, 2023 7:53 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

nothing to add other than i wish viborg the best with his recovery

Because RFK Jr is openly wallowing in garbage politics of multiple kinds, it really doesn't matter much to me if he is covertly wallowing in them, too. What practical difference would it make if the 1488 trope in a single tweet was inadvertent or intentional? He's a fuckwad. He proves it daily.

Now, about that new August US politics thread...

Our next home:

US Politics, August 2023: "Dear Kamala, I wrote you, but you still ain't callin'..."