"They did sign up for it, actually...": US POLITICS, MAY 2025

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

Take it over to the Handmaid's Tale thread.

health and human services department published a report today suggesting gender affirming care for youth is harmful and that it should be replaced with conversion therapy

just actively killing us at this point

Pelosi primary challenger is a rich guy but seems alright

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/tech-millionaire-saikat-chakrabarti-faces-pelosi-20298729.php

reposting this amazing quote here:

"We are working with other countries to say ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries.”

- marco rubio, yesterday

i personally did not get the reference, but i will also preserve the lol response :)

- Emma Lazarus

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:12 AM (forty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:14 AM (forty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

health and human services department published a report today suggesting gender affirming care for youth is harmful and that it should be replaced with conversion therapy

just actively killing us at this point

― ivy., Thursday, May 1, 2025 10:35 AM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

gotta love them suggesting behavioral therapy as an option like it's a new idea. at least in our state, therapy is required and a therapist has to sign off before a minor can receive gender-affirming care.

One of the major failings of media coverage of trans issues has been not making it clear to everyone what gender-affirming care actually is and how it works. I've talked to people who aren't necessarily anti-trans but are just not well informed and they have no idea how long and rigorous the whole process is. The idea that it's something people are doing on a drive-by basis has been effectively planted and not seriously challenged in the mainstream media.

i personally did not get the reference, but i will also preserve the lol response :)

ha! Emma Lazarus wrote the poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.

ok lol

https://i.imgur.com/XZos42P.png

i think tipsy very otm about informing the world what gender affirming care is.

the thing is also it should be available to everyone on a drive-by basis

like anyone who wants hormone replacement therapy should get to do it. it changed/saved my life. barriers to it kill ppl. further barriers to it will kill more ppl

I am at the rule of law protest on the sidewalk in front of the US Supreme Court in DC right now

Thank you curmudgeon <3

Thanks curmudgeon!

i think what ppl need to understand is that 1) they, you, everyone you know can or will be taking medications that affect your hormones through your whole life, e.g. my testosterone blocker is identical to the acne meds i took in high school 2) whether they know it or not, there is probably a trans person in everyone’s life, and access to this care is literally the difference between life or death. there should be vending machines full of estrogen and testosterone on the fucking street, jk, i’m kidding, i actually enjoy that my transition is monitored by my doctor who is also trans, but beyond him showing me a powerpoint presentation on the side effects and prescribing me the actual medication, there were no barriers to entry, and if there were, i might not have done it

I mean, what the standard of care should be is obviously an open question. I'm just saying that there IS a standard of care, and that is almost never spelled out in coverage of the issues. My own mom had no idea that, like, medical associations the world over had been considering and setting standards and practices for gender affirming care for years, way before it became this right-wing punching bag. She gets all her news from NPR and the NYT and somehow that had never come through to her.

do these ppl really believe liberals are dumping hormones into the water supply. i just want ppl to recognize that gender affirming care is GOOD and NECESSARY along with the fact that it’s excessively aggressively regulated so that maybe in the future, beyond the present moment, it can be less excessively aggressively regulated. idk i would like to do both

I am at the rule of law protest on the sidewalk in front of the US Supreme Court in DC right now

― curmudgeon, Thursday, May 1, 2025 11:18 AM (forty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Thank you!

CAN YOU MAKE ME FIRED?

https://i.ibb.co/HDR79KXD/Messenger-creation-F43-C61-F6-FBD8-4-F4-D-B44-A-A3-D2-DF54-EF91.jpg

One of the things about gender affirming care and what it is or isn’t is - ITS STILL NONE OF YOUR (OR MY) BUSINESS! Leave people the fuck alone! If you’re going thru cancer or aids or getting a buttlift don’t care what your treatment is! If you want a treatment (or if you choose to not have treatment) i hope you can get it but otherwise it’s none of my fucking business! AND I DONT CARE! FUCK!!!!

i'm sure someone smart has written about this but something i think about a lot is the rise of the internet eradicating the concept of minding your own business

I can barely keep track of my own family and friends let alone some kid in nebraska who needs HRT

the dominant narrative now is that gender care is ONLY men becoming women so they can compete and dominate in womens sports and it's just not fair

I feel like there was a time when conservatives kinda understood that, maybe they never meant it but there was that "whatever you do on your property is your business" mentality for a while, the difference now is that right wing media has convinced their viewers **its coming for them**, or their kids, like they really believe the public school system is pulling kids aside and telling them to be transgender

(xp) ... and use female toilets.

the furrification of out children is underway

My congressman wrote a very concerned letter to the University of Tennessee because some right-wing outlet noted that there was a campus furry club. He strenuously objected to any public money being used to support the club, which of course there is no public money going to it. I looked up the club's social media account, it's just a bunch of happy dorky kids hanging out together (mostly not in fursuits, at least in their photos).

Like, the shit these people decide is something to worry about, it's just boggling.

xp People don’t need to know what gender affirming care anyone may or may not be getting, it’s absolutely not their business at all, it is between you and your doctor and whomever absolutely needs to know for provision of benefits and then in confidence.

But people should know what gender affirming care is, and why it is necessary and helpful. Because if you leave people ignorant they will assume stupid shit, ban you, hunt you, jail you, burn you, or kill you. Crazy people will wanna do that anyway. Nobody should help them by allowing ignorance on the matter to survive.

When I say crazy people i apologize for that word, i mean criminal and evil people, tbc.

ty and agreed

in a broader sense a big problem right now is that the right has been very strongly conditioned over the last decade to believe that empathy is a weakness, that other people's lifestyles *should* be your business, either because they're unfairly getting something you're not or because they want to eliminate *your* way of life. like all this shit about the "gay agenda" or the "trans agenda", as though their life's mission is to make more queer people.

these two things go together, like maybe they're not convinced their kids are really being talked into taking hormones by their 5th grade teacher but they can't say it's *not* happening because they people they trust say it *is*, but it still gives them reason to be suspicious of people who they already think are weird, and they're being told that it's actually good to be a judgmental prick

I feel like other people's lifestyles have pretty much always been an obsession of the cultural right, it's not any new thing. A great desire to police other people's "morality" and impose conservative mores on them. cf "Harper Valley PTA"

for sure but it feels like the *only* thing they have now

the culture war dovetails with the 'make america pray again' evangelical bullshit

sadlol, Rubio named "interim" nastional security advisor and waltz nominated to be UN ambassador

Meanwhile … the grift goes on.

Sitting in front of a packed auditorium in Dubai, a founder of the Trump family cryptocurrency business made a brief but monumental announcement on Thursday. A fund backed by Abu Dhabi, he said, would be making a $2 billion business deal using the Trump firm’s digital coins.

That transaction would be a major contribution by a foreign government to President Trump’s private venture — one that stands to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trump family. And it is a public and vivid illustration of the ethical conflicts swirling around Mr. Trump’s crypto firm, which has blurred the boundary between business and government.

Zach Witkoff, a founder of the Trump family crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, revealed that a so-called stablecoin developed by the firm, would be used to complete the transaction between the state-backed Emirati investment firm MGX and Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world.

Virtually every detail of Mr. Witkoff’s announcement, made during a conference panel with Mr. Trump’s second-eldest son, contained a conflict of interest.

Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/us/politics/trump-cryptocurrency-usd1-dubai-conference-announcement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.D08.gwIF.qNS01bh4CeAC&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

This is a dorky Dylan reference, but the corruption in this administration reminds me of "the drilling in the wall" throughout "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" — this constant background hum that kind of gets ignored because of all the drama in the foreground, but it's where the real action is.

That Waltz dude is the first malfeasant douchebag to leave this admin?! BBC just said this I cannot believe this.

he is gonna be the u.n. ambassador, apparently

yes. he has a much easier job now (all he has to do is say "yes" to anything israel wants and vote against the rest of the world). meanwhile, marco rubio has plenty of free time and is doing a great job, so he's going to add national security advisor to his portfolio

Re

"We are working with other countries to say ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries.”

We're not sending our best

Of all the heinous shit he says on a daily basis I don’t know why his “two dolls instead of thirty” remark rankles me so much. It’s so incredibly tone deaf and stupid. I wish it would turn out to be his “let them eat cake” moment, and end similarly.

Meanwhile … the grift goes on.

_ Sitting in front of a packed auditorium in Dubai, a founder of the Trump family cryptocurrency business made a brief but monumental announcement on Thursday. A fund backed by Abu Dhabi, he said, would be making a $2 billion business deal using the Trump firm’s digital coins.

That transaction would be a major contribution by a foreign government to President Trump’s private venture — one that stands to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trump family. And it is a public and vivid illustration of the ethical conflicts swirling around Mr. Trump’s crypto firm, which has blurred the boundary between business and government.

Yo

absolutely naked corruption that would've sank any other president, but hey what can you do? Nothing, there's nothing that can be done

yeah but we're posting on ILX

I don’t know why his “two dolls instead of thirty” remark rankles me so much. It’s so incredibly tone deaf and stupid. I wish it would turn out to be his “let them eat cake” moment, and end similarly.

The inherent misogyny of it all. Not only are they insuring girls today will have no rights in the future, they want to deny them a happy childhood as well.

And Barbies and Barbie-like dolls aren't really that expensive, particularly in comparison to video games and the like. Even then, kids themselves frequently save allowance and chore money to buy them, so it's like "Hey, let's tax the shit out of these dumb prole children!".

yeP... tariffs = VAT, no other way to describe it

as though their life's mission is to make more queer people.

Otm

Seconded

I remember seeing my first Lesbian Avengers "We Recruit" T-shirt in New Orleans in the '90s, I thought it was amazing.

everyone’s already queer just repressed to different degrees

Honey, don't I know

You luv 2 be lectured on thrift and humility by the guy with seventeen gold toilets

Classic NY Post

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MAY01.P1_LCF.jpg

Oops sorry so LARGE

Table OTM. I want a world with radical acceptance for my son, where people can just be, not be normal but just be; but there’s a fuck of a lot getting people just to tolerate and then accept before we can get there.

This was a real revelation taking my toddler to the pride street party this year - normal, normalized, it’s just such bullshit it suggests there’s a not normal and an ‘other’. Like I say I just want people to be who they are whatever that is with no qualifiers.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/john-fetterman-struggle-mental-health-clinical-depression.html

yet reporters knew this but kept their secrets for the sake of a book

extremely alarming article; if you can't read nymag here's a link: https://archive.ph/7fGvy

He’s not the only one who is uneasy. Former and current staffers paint a picture of an erratic senator who has become almost impossible to work for and whose mental-health situation is more serious and complicated than previously reported. No one is saying every controversial position (for example, his respectful relationship with Trump) stems from his mental health — but it’s become harder for them to tell which ones do. When I spoke with Fetterman in April and shared those concerns, he denied anything was amiss. He told me that he felt like the “best version” of himself and later texted that the staff turnover at his office was typical of Washington. “Why is this a story?” he asked.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/US-China-tensions/CIA-s-Mandarin-language-spy-recruiting-ads-mocked-in-China

https://archive.ph/oXKmF

Time to euthanize the deep state

funny with rfk and fetterman we have two guys with traumatic brain injuries who "evolve" from very liberal to "radical centrist" in the blink of an eye.

kind of makes you wonder about those who hold those views who haven't had any brain trauma. their brains came pre-damaged.

there's a lot going on in that article (I found the brief aside about his right-wing insurance executive father notable in an armchair psychoanalyst way), but it shouldn't be overlooked what a despicable racist he is.

re radical centrism: fetterman is also a super useful way of showing what a pathetically vain political position this is, based entirely on a bone-headed insistence on being the only one who can think clearly. it's particularly bleak in fetterman's case where clear thinking is so clearly and profoundly not happening

Serious question did fetterman play football in HS/college

He said he "sleepwalked" as a young adult while playing four years of football in college, intending eventually to take over ownership of his father's business.

yeah I'll admit I hadn't ever really looked into his biography and am a little surprised at how phony his salt of the earth public image is

He said he "sleepwalked" as a young adult while playing four years of football in college, intending eventually to take over ownership of his father's business.

what a weirdly phrased sentence

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/US-China-tensions/CIA-s-Mandarin-language-spy-recruiting-ads-mocked-in-China🕸

https://archive.ph/oXKmF🕸

Time to euthanize the deep state

He said he "sleepwalked" as a young adult while playing four years of football in college

man his coach musta been pissed, terrible pass rushing technique

Trump goes after PBS & NPR.. but they're currently funded through the end of 2027, after the midterms

(Does anyone know why there appears to be an Eastern Orthodox priest in the crowd of onlookers?)

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/02/media/trump-cpb-pbs-npr-funding-cut-hnk-intl

that one affects me. :( i just got a full-time position with _self-censored_, like 2 weeks ago. i think i should be ok but this month they're already making budget decisions on staff for the next FY and, even though funding is already secured for next year, they're likely to be thinking forward to the next stage of our glorious country when making decisions about the coming year

the nice thing is i know i can rely on the legal system and the checks and balances of the constitution to ensure that the blatantly illegal EO isn't followd

do you need a sternly worded letter

this nugget in the article means that this 'proclamation' is scrawling on a cocktail napkin and little else

In Trump’s first term, his annual budget proposals zeroed out the funding for the corporation, but Congress always allocated the funds anyway — a reflection of the fact that national Republican opposition to NPR and PBS is countered by local support

do you need a sternly worded letter

send it straight to marjorie taylor greene, the leader of the house investigation into the chilling corruption of public media

Garrison Keillor should give her a very quiet talking-to

Wait Wait...Don't Defund Me!

Garrison Keillor should give her a very quiet talking-to

As expected, but still demoralizing… major cuts to Affordable Housing funding programs…

have to say that as someone with a very low opinion of fetterman that I didn’t find that NYmag article to be much of a bombshell…the guy is clearly a wreck, but there didn’t seem to be much new there, or even particularly alarming

I mean, as Feinstein used to demonstrate and Tommy Tuberville still does, the cognitive bar in the Senate is pretty low.

and there's Ron Johnson walking around like an open-mouthed glazed donut.

Maybe I haven't been paying enough attention, but the turnover of staff to that extent was a surprise to me.

i heard something about that in the past few months elsewhere. IMO the guy is dead in the water as far as re-electibility, but he still has quite a few years left in his term.

Fetterman will live till 100.

the one thing I was shocked to learn was that he has a father who is still alive!

haha so much for taking over his business

I guess I thought him buying a gun and wandering into traffic was kind of alarming. it's striking in cases like this that there's really no mechanism for getting this guy out of office for his and our sake

Fetterman is not even in the top 10 of guys that should be gotten out of office for our sake

Tied with Susan Collins imo

who said anything about top 10?

Sorry … I just think there are many many more dangerous people in power

well sure, me too, but I don't see a problem with taking a few minutes to think about this one particular exampled of how terrible the US system of govt is

There aren't many more dangerous Democrats in power.

There are however many more senescent Dems in power.

Take as many minutes as you see fit, rob

apparently his dream budget contains the word 'woke' several times (as well as 'DEI & gender')... is there an appendix that defines this word? Would love to know what they think it means

they think it means votes

The volk don't want no woke

Wokeswagon

i have been given photographic evidence that RFK jr wears jeans at the gym and hearsay that it is his 'thing'

https://i.gifer.com/origin/e0/e0ae4e32dec48d18fee054a845de951c_w200.gif

During his campaign he was showing off lifting weights and serious weightlifters were making fun of the light weights and his shitty technique

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/02/temu-halts-shipments-direct-from-china-as-de-minimis-tariff-rule-ends-.html

I have a hard time caring about RFK Jr's poor lifting technique. It seems kinda beside the point.

Because he got those “muscles” through steroids. Anyway this was during the campaign; now we have a bigger problem.

Trump says "I don't know" when asked whether he needs to uphold the Constitution: https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lodz6fabi22e

Part of his new commitment to honesty; he really doesn't know.

Can't blame him. After all, he fomented a coup against the constitution, was impeached by the House, and the Senate told him "hey! not a problem. we're good with it."

he is not smart. but he totally knows. he will ultimately defy scotus and congress and use the insurrection act and dare congress to impeach him. he knows all the things, he does not care much because he believes he will overcome all obstructions— and having removed many of them. the obstructions are people willing to risk security and say “no” to him.

read _Strongmen_ by Ben-Ghiat.

Even his first 100 days are merely a carbon copy of what bannon and miller had primed for djt1 wrt EOs. it was basically called off. this is all the plan, and he is not alone. he is not smart, but he knows his enemies, who are confused and v weak.

My understanding from his recent posts is that he is advocating:

Re-opening Alcatraz, a designated National Historic Landmark and a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I can attest that it is a really great tourist destination, reachable by boat in the SF bay. But, come on

Putting tariffs on foreign films to protect our film industry, but how would that even happen? Another a bad idea

Tariffs on foreign films sounds like he's aiming up to push back on CanCon in Canada/USA trade negotiations

whatever

Why is the press and congress coddling him? He has no understanding about the economy, knows nothing about commerce or philanthropy or about trade deficits or tariffs or about small businesses or big businesses. He knows nothing at all, and we are letting him fly our plane into the side of a mountain. Why?

does he think movies are shipped through the ports on cargo ships?
wtf at this man’s brainworms

I'd slap a boredom tariff on The Shrouds, otherwise very opposed to that idea.

How do you even put a tariff on movies? Physical media is already tariffed, where is the digital file’s port of entry?

this is like a fucking w the economy version of Mr Burns “get rid of those sideburns”

whoever on his team first told Trump about tarriffs is now deeply regretting having ever mentioned them

Imagine getting lectured by a man who has only seen film -to-back in his life, and it was the Ryan O'Neal assless pants movie in 1981.

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/trump-tariff-foreign-film-national-security-1236386566/

"one film front-to-back"

trump has held his belief on traiffs for a long time,so nobody on his current team is responsible, mebbe roy cohn in one more thing to hate him for

definition of foreign films seems to include any production shot abroad even if made by an american company,

think i'd mentioned somewhere on ilx about an encounter i had in a bookstore in arlington VA in 99 or 2000 - a woman was asking the clerk at checkout for a recommendation of a mystery series, as he was stumped i suggested the donna leon guido brunentti novels, all going well till i mentioned they were set in venice and she said "i don't read anything set outside the US" leaving me dumbfounded as well - forget reading translations, you've just eliminated shakespeare, chaucer, austen, dickens, entire genres such as sci-fi (well mabe if american colony/outpost - wonder if trump annexes greenland she'd read scndi-noir set there)

but there is no logic or thinking, just mindless jingoism

honestly its so hard to believe we're actually in this situation right now, Donald Trump has always been profoundly dumb but his grip on reality is just completely gone now, you could definitely sense it during the campaign after he got shot at but it's worse now and is only gonna go downhill from here. I mean imagine what you'd say if a relative thought "MS-13" was literally tattooed on Abrego Garcia's knuckles. it would be one thing if it was a Reagan situation where it's a bunch of people pulling the strings and doing the real work but Trump is singlehandedly dictating policy and hiring only people willing to follow him off the mountain, he's crashing our economy and torching our trade relationships and threatening war with Greenland and letting the world's richest man cut any spending he wants, all of which is causing real, lasting damage, and....no ones gonna stop him

and what really sucks about it is Trump is so clearly just a symptom of the problem, I mean there's a story now about a woman who was filmed calling a little boy the N-word who just raised $500,000 on GoFundMe, many of the donations had incredibly racist messages scrawled on them, it just seems so fucked over here right now

definition of foreign films seems to include any production shot abroad even if made by an american company,

They're trying to recruit/coerce our sic into acting as a tax collector, aren't they?

Lol at re-opening Alcatraz …. As someone pointed out in the local paper, it would require having to deal with CEQA … though maybe he would try to abolish CEQA … which would be interesting.

apparently Escape From Alcatraz was on TV and that was all it took

apparent from what

I'm not an English speaker and I probably use "apparently" incorrectly.

someone on bsky said:

"I may have context for this! Last night WPBT in Palm Beach broadcast the 1979 Clint Eastwood film "Escape from Alcatraz.""
https://bsky.app/profile/robertandrewp.bsky.social/post/3loey3fzhhc2n

he then posted this screenshot:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ow7rlhjmxsdcksj6t6zqqtsf/bafkreibpc5nc6rpxxs4l42e3putzaop2x7hzj744ywu6vxatzx2ctgus5m@jpeg

however, I don't see the movie on the WPBT schedule for Saturday night: https://www.wpbt2.org/schedule/#page=schedule&day=20250503&provider=Broadcast

Saturday Night Cinema is produced by a PBS member station in Spokane, Washington: https://www.ksps.org/programs/saturday-night-cinema/

And I do see it on the schedule for that station:
https://www.ksps.org/schedule/

Note that the screenshot shows South Florida PBS as the station, but when I go to what seems to be the same page, it shows WTTW as the member station -- because that's the station where I live and PBS knows my location.

So my guess is that the Bsky poster lives in Florida and googled "Escape from Alcatraz TV Saturday night" or something similar and found that page, and then assumed that it was being played on the South Florida station (because that's what was visible for him) even though it wasn't.

OK, wait, never mind, I was too quick to debunk. I went to the guy's feed and he said it *was* aired on a different local PBS station, WLRN. And I was able to confirm that. (I actually did check WXEL, because it's also part of "South Florida PBS," but WLRN is not.)

so it is "apparent" from this page: https://www.wlrn.org/television-schedule

it aired Saturday, 5/3, at 9 PM

Somehow I suspect Oliver Stone will not be making a three hour movie about this presidential conspiracy.

sic was just being a dic about 'apparently'

well, we're both doing our things

florida man getting escape from alcatraz/eastwood on its fucking PBS affiliate seems yo you know yr audience eh, i mean fuck that highbrow stuff. that is the antiques roadshow that florida craves

WLRN is Miami-Dade and Broward's NPR affiliate, so.

Why would Trump be inspired to rebuild it by a reminder that people ESCAPED from it?

I loved that film when I was 10

Next he's going to demand the reopening of Witch Mountain.

was gonna say, don't let him see Escape from New York

Why did Dems close Witch Mountain?? One of our GREATEST MOUNTAINS! I will put Good Marco and other heroes on this and we will RETURN TO WITCH MOUNTAIN!!

Under Lying Joe Biden MILLIONS of dangerous criminals escaped from the Planet of the Apes. Why???? Not anymore!!

So many of our bright Americans want to Escape from the Bronx! With my great real estate deals, THEY CAN! My great company built a BEAUTIFUL golf course there (GREEN!) and we can do it again!! Valuable land, should be hotels!

ok we're piecing together this conspiracy... can't imagine he would ever actually choose to watch pbs, so my theory is he had just been talking about the EO to stop funding pbs/npr, turned it on to see what objectionable non-trump-fellating garbage they show on this public television thing anyway, found escape from alcatraz about to start, the rest is history. also

Why would Trump be inspired to rebuild it by a reminder that people ESCAPED from it?

is giving this guy's sense of logic WAY too much credit. shiny object; famous, recognizable name, want to promote! the mystique of "alcatraz" is right up his alley

He wants to turn it into a luxury prison in case he gets sent there.

nah i think he like the rest of us has become fully convinced he is never going to prison

Yeah I think it's just he likes things that resonate as "tough" to him. Alcatraz is a name he knows for being tough. Plus of course being in San Francisco Bay easily conjures associated ideas like San Francisco/California being "soft on crime" etc. Round up all those homeless people and put them in Alcatraz!

totally. it was the woke left that closed alcatraz because they preferred to put prisoners in luxury hotels

...and turn prisons into museums (which he also wants to defund/eliminate)

Meanwhile ... My 2nd podcast episode is up! This one the featured interview is an organizer in Richmond, Va., whom I connected with via the good offices of Roxymuzak. He has a lot of interesting thoughts about organizing on the left (like, it helps to have a structure and designated leadership) and the problems with corporate Democrats. Plus other stuff.

https://theprogressivesouth.org/ep-2-a-richmond-road-trip/

Next he's going to demand the reopening of Witch Mountain. barely suppressed irlol during Monday morning Teams mtg damn you

https://i.imgur.com/7VwThjt.jpg

"These goddamn tariffs will be the ruin of me!"

note the date of the earlier post

https://i.imgur.com/10ossnh.jpeg

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/may/05/donald-trump-tariffs-film-industry-alcatraz-russia-israel-us-politcs-live-updates

Maga politicians shut down the vote to criminalize Israel boycott

It’s sort of insane that they did the right thing but mostly because they want the right to actually be anti-semitic, not because they give a fuck about Palestinians or the current genocide

Appalling that we need MTG to make the obvious point that you can't penalize Americans for criticizing other countries.

the "we support trump so we can say slurs" camp feels very strongly about that particular aspect of free speech

It’s sort of insane that they did the right thing but mostly because they want the right to actually be anti-semitic, not because they give a fuck about Palestinians or the current genocide

― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Monday, May 5, 2025 11:16 AM bookmarkflaglink

sad lol but that was my initial reaction as well

does criminalizing a boycott of Israel mean you go to jail if you don't buy Sodastream?

jan 6 memory hole update

Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, said he personally thanked President Trump on Saturday night for issuing a pardon that cut short the 22-year prison term he was serving in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Mr. Tarrio’s expression of gratitude came during a brief but extraordinary encounter with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla. Mr. Tarrio and his mother, Zuny Duarte, were invited to have dinner at the property by one of its members.

According to a senior administration official who was not authorized to discuss the episode publicly, the club member introduced Mr. Tarrio and his mother to Mr. Trump as the president was walking through the main room at Mar-a-Lago on his way toward a table on the patio.

Mr. Tarrio and Ms. Duarte said in interviews that they spoke with Mr. Trump for about 10 minutes, recalling that he told them he believed that his supporters who faced charges arising from the Capitol attack had been mistreated.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/us/politics/trump-tarrio-proud-boys-pardon.html
https://archive.ph/a5TSn

sic was just

I was genuinely asking and was subsequently delighted by jaymc’s ferreting

do think there’s essentially zero chance he watched any narrative fiction in full this weekend or any day this year, but Lavator’s speculation is too good to dismiss

Trump’s brain works like Plinko on The Price Is Right. You drop in a Big Mac and eight hours later he remembers being mad that Bloodsport wasn’t filmed in Atlantic City or that it took James Bond to escape from the Rock.

thanks for the image of a Bic Mac sliding down the Plinko pegs, smearing pickles and mustard and sauce.

^^^ soon to replace the checks-and-balances system as the metaphor for US government taught in Social Studies across the land

stop soiling my fond memory of the best Price is Right game

Has Trump gotten around to watching Pootie Tang yet

sign your executive orders on the runny kine

can we get him to watch Bulworth?

otoh maybe that's a bad idea

the alcatraz thing is gonna be a big stupid boondoggle that will never come to anything, but they're gonna jaw about for awhile until he moves on to the next non-problem

COVFEFE

Georgia governor Brian Kemp has announced he won't run for the Senate next year, increasing the odds Ossoff will retain his seat.

MTG has been rumored as wanting to run against Ossoff.

she's in a real safe district, but not sure how she'd do statewide

in running against Ossoff she'd have to remove herself from the House

Jan Schakowsky has officially announced she won't be running for reelection, making it an open primary for that seat.

xp A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll had Ossoff trailing Kemp 46/49 while leading MTG 54/37. There will be a scramble for the GOP nomination and it's not a given she'll be the candidate, but I think Ossoff would like to run against her.

MTG couldn't run for the House and Senate in the same election, so it wouldn't matter if she lost in the Republican primary. she'd still be out of the House... unless she won as a write in in the general election.

MTG could stay in that seat for literally decades, she'd be a dumbass to do a senate run

so a senate run is a definite then

she'd be a dumbass to do a senate run

And if there's anything we know about Greene, it's that she's a tactical genius, a truly canny political operator, not at all a knuckle-walking dipshit who rode a bunch of Facebook-HOA-page level grievances to the safest possible political gig.

MTG is remarkably unpopular, exactly the sort of candidate who could not win anywhere outside of a deep deep red district. i hope she does run for Senate.

Not really shocked, but just learned that Alcatraz had no sewage treatment plant... everything just went right into the bay

that's why you could flush yourself down the toilet to escape

RE Alcatraz, it seems to me he has stumbled upon the truth that mentioning these ridiculous ideas keeps ppl talking about him. So it satisfies one of his highest priorities, the other being people giving him money. I suspect he at least has the self-awareness to know it’s a ridiculous idea but that it’s a winning political strategy. Exasperate the reasonable, entertain the cult, meanwhile let the even ghoulier ghouls trash everything outside of the limelight. He is a horrible person.

I mostly agree with that characterization, but then he'll start going off about invading Greenland and I'm beyond exasperated

...or Canada as the 51st state thing, which is such bugfuck old man thinking.

GlobalX, an airline used by the Trump administration as part of its massive deportation campaign, has reportedly been hacked.

On Monday, 404 Media first reported news of the breach, based on a defacement message on the airline’s official website and stolen data that the hackers shared with the news website.

“Anonymous has decided to enforce the Judge's order since you and your sycophant staff ignore lawful orders that go against your fascist plans,” wrote the hackers, who claimed to be affiliated with the amorphous hacktivist group Anonymous.

The hackers were referring to rulings by several judges ordering the Trump administration to return people who were wrongfully deported to El Salvador.

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/globalx-airline-used-trump-deportations-184519422.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFSvzIM6fx3gYLhH1pvNRvnmrqnWSqdLHNqfWZdtOBCXlpbB6Jsy7QZf0Zo8sY5PPA7-UsQO9XjADxvlr8EAq4X-P1Jt6LTLHZj8-6FCFtL-5GztBfSuxPuC2yvFvKdE2Ucrc3DUyPjj9oW0lfqdTHmZKspLOD4RuLgAFOjHBI9s

I would be genuinely surprised if Elon isn’t involved with GlobalX

X marks the snot

more legal news re lawsuits and Trump Admin--

Attorney Mark Zaid has filed a lawsuit against the White House, saying the suspension of his security clearance, which has disrupted his clients' legal representation, is unconstitutional retaliation by Trump.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the CIA from firing Dr. Terry Adirim, who claims the agency targeted her for termination after criticism by Laura Loomer and Ivan Raiklin.

Another judge has sounded the alarm on the Trump administration's alleged violations of due process in immigration proceedings. Judge Larence Valardo said the administration view of due process was "downright frightening."

Another notable lawsuit filed today comes from Eric Iverson, a US citizen and prosecutor at the ICC who says Trump's executive order threatening sanctions against the ICC has effectively stopped his investigation of war crimes in Darfur.

from legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney on Bluesky

https://www.yahoo.com/news/supposed-moviemaker-trumps-decision-reopen-230134637.html

Please show him Logan’s Run this week.

Soylent Green jokes are suddenly less funny now

what the hell is this shit Gavin. "Make America Film Again"?? how are leading Dem politicians misreading the moment so badly?!?

https://bsky.app/profile/governor.ca.gov/post/3lohxbi7xgs2o

how are leading Dem politicians misreading the moment so badly?!?

i think it's money. people with tons of money perceive the moment behind a gigantic barrier of their own construction, supported by an entire class of people who want to maintain that gigantic barrier

you think of him as a Democrat who got corrupted by money, he thinks of himself as money trying not to get corrupted by Democracy

I think all the times we praised his hair got to his brain.

Honestly he is probably trying to represent California… there have been multiple articles recently about how LA workers in film/tv are struggling as productions are moved elsewhere, including offshore.

It would be great if he also publicly challenged the cuts to the NEA, NEH and museums and libraries which will also result in a lot of job losses in media/arts/culture in California

Or pointed out that Trump's vague, stupid, nonsensical "idea" has Jack shit to do with helping out struggling film and tv workers.

lol, sorry, total non-sequitor, but i was just reminded that fucking DR OZ runs the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

The threat to national security is a bit

Honestly he is probably trying to represent California… there have been multiple articles recently about how LA workers in film/tv are struggling as productions are moved elsewhere, including offshore.

― sarahell, Tuesday, May 6, 2025 10:17 AM (forty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, my sense that he and Whitmer see Trump as an opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons, to get whatever they can for their constituents by taking advantage of Trump's transactional approach to everything. The problem is that this is a devil's bargain because Trump will screw them without thinking twice, and while they may be able to extract certain things from Trump that may satisfy a small portion of their constituents, the majority of Democrats in their states are turned off by any type of collaboration with Trump.

Are any strategies being thrown around beside the usual 'throw tax credits at rich people' strategies for encouraging domestic film production?

Wonder if Melania's movie is using American crews.

Well we still have no idea if he meant US films with foreign crews, or actual foreign films, and what the actual limitations would be, right? Afaict it's still firmly in the territory of "Trump just said some shit" but no specifics aside from "100% tariffs", which can't actually happen because films are not categorized as goods.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to end Energy Star, a popular program whose iconic blue labels have certified the energy efficiency of home appliances for more than three decades, according to two people briefed on the matter.

During an all-hands meeting Monday of the EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Protection, Trump administration officials announced that the office would be dissolved and that Energy Star would be eliminated, the two people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/us/politics/2026-senate-map-democrats-schumer.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FE8.DMvu.eNZ3GM4oKzgL&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Oh great, Schumer is in charge of getting Dem candidates to run in next Senate elections. He seems to just make a few calls to predictable candidates

BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court allows Trump's anti-transgender military ban to go into effect while litigation proceeds.

The stay of the district court's injunction was issued with no reasoning and over the objections of Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson

From lawyer/ law reporter Chris Geidner on Bluesky

so fucked up

thank you for your service!

not that I trust Tillis as far as I could throw him, but it would be funny if after all of his bootlicking, dude couldn't even get the post: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/06/trump-prosecutor-martin-tillis-senate-gop.html

of course, that just means Trump will slow walk his replacement nominee like he did in first term, so that his 'acting' can be in place a bit longer.

“Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining the one area that I think he’s probably right, that there were some people that were over-prosecuted, but there were some 200 to 300 of them that should have never gotten a pardon,” Tillis said.

very 'ok so the Holocaust was bad but the death toll was over-exaggerated' energy there.

and if the attorney nominee hadn't been in Tillis' state he would've voted for him, see

this is diplomacy in action

Foreign embassies have been disinvited from an annual Washington event commemorating the end of World War II in Europe this week, after a group of European embassies protested the organizers’ decision to include ambassadors from Russia and its close ally Belarus.

I think all the times we praised his hair got to his brain.

https://foxyguilfoyle.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/ba_leah.jpg

It's not that he's an opportunist, they all are, but he seems like an opportunist with bad judgment.

The stay of the district court's injunction was issued with no reasoning

This phrasing seems apt. No reasoning could have been employed in issuing this stay. Cowardice, sure thing, and prejudice, but not reasoning.

"We haven't had time to come up with reasons yet, but we know what the conclusion is."

Awful photos from Nashville yesterday outside a detention center after ICE did a sweep in a heavily Latino neighborhood, with help from the state Highway Patrol. State troopers conducted the stops — which ICE can't do — and then pulled aside anyone without valid ID. Then ICE took them. Anyway, the pictures are of friends and family members outside the center trying to find out anything at all about the people who were taken.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AWd5zKrZ4/

but they only detained the dangerous criminals, right?

Fuck this shit