"Is He Dead Yet?": US POLITICS, SEPTEMBER 2025

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/bafkreihrgvf4i2f4vsh57ylz7qbzy46rphrxfezmjbuawhmii42hrira4u@jpeg

Labor Day, Labored Breathing...

For posterity: I would prefer if we avoided direct quotes from that moron, but..AUGUST US POLITICS thread

He's just reflecting how we all feel at this point.

the most poetic thing would be him dying of covid, imo

I vote for decomposing on the toilet

lumbering slack jawed and gape mouthed- america right now

Old Soviet joke for today:
A man walks into a newsstand every day, looks around, and leaves. After a long time of this, the owner says “Can I help you find something?”
“I’m looking for the obituaries.”
“The obituaries are in the back of the newspaper, comrade.”
“Not the one I’m looking for.”

Happy Labor Day fed workers from Trump:

More than 445,000 federal employees saw their union protections disappear in August, as agencies moved to comply with an executive order President Trump signed earlier this year that called for ignoring collective bargaining contracts with nearly one million workers.

The termination of protections followed an Aug. 1 appeals court ruling on legal challenges to Mr. Trump’s directive. The order, signed in late March, directed 22 agencies to ignore contracts for employees in specific unions. Last Thursday, Mr. Trump signed a second executive order stripping union rights from thousands of other employees at six additional agencies…“This is literally the largest act of union busting in American history,” said Mike Podhorzer, a former political director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. “There’s not another time when that many people lost their union.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/us/politics/trumps-unions-federal-workers.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ik8.l4FZ.5nbPv75odep-&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/opinion/trump-unions-labor.html

curmudgeon's link is a working gift link

what

minty tear gas
Somebody is throwing things out of a window of the White House

wtaf

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

Discussion in the Trump thread.

Old Soviet joke for today

'In Soviet Union, television watches you!'

the most poetic thing would be him dying of covid, imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFqFLo_bYq0

X-post Alfred posted an Eric Loomis opinion piece about why Loomis thinks unions are so quiet about Trump destroying unions from the NY Times; I posted a gift link to a reported article describing how Trump is crushing federal worker unions and going for private ones.

From the Loomis opinion piece —

Organized labor, for all its talk about solidarity, remains deeply divided on how best to approach organizing, politics and Mr. Trump. Certain labor leaders, particularly Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, have embraced Mr. Trump and his brand of Republicans, particularly around immigration restrictions. Other unions with memberships that are heavily white and male also lean toward Republicans. But they still represent a minority of union members.

In 2024, union workers were among the only demographic groups where Democrats improved their standing compared with 2020. Perhaps that reflects efforts by Joe Biden to be, as he put it, “the most pro-union president in American history.”

Unions have the internal support, structure and organizing capacity to support the fight against Mr. Trump. Yet no one in the labor movement has taken the public role of countering Mr. O’Brien and making it clear to the American public that most unions are strongly opposed to Mr. Trump.

Loomis then expresses his hope regarding specific things he wishes unions would do.

A+ title and timing, no notes

The Trump administration’s crackdown on crime in Washington has been propelled, in part, by an aggressive clampdown on guns, with city and federal officials confiscating around 150 weapons since the president declared a crime emergency in the capital nearly three weeks ago.

“I’m pleased to report another 105 arrests have been made and 12 illegal guns taken off the streets of Washington, DC,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media on Thursday. It was part of her near-daily tally of gun seizures, an effort spearheaded by Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Under almost any other president, heralding a gun sweep would not be notable. But the shift toward gun enforcement — and publicizing the aggressive street sweeps — marks an abrupt departure for an administration that has courted Second Amendment maximalists and sharply downgraded federal firearms enforcement.

President Trump’s political appointees rolled back Biden-era regulations and diverted officials assigned to weapons cases to immigration raids. The White House has also proposed steep cuts to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and installed disengaged, inexperienced leaders to oversee its increasingly marginalized work force.

While these moves have not exposed major political divisions, they have caused some uneasiness among gun-rights supporters who are concerned that law-and-order officials like Ms. Pirro, who once supported restrictions on assault rifles, will create a chilling effect on legal gun owners in the district and in the surrounding area.

https://media1.tenor.com/m/_w4qfEzQzFoAAAAC/indecisive-i-dont-know.gif

dammit

https://bsky.app/profile/frogandtoadbot.bsky.social/post/3lxrfud3s3v26

https://bsky.app/profile/darlinghamburger.bsky.social/post/3lxsny44n6c2w

I mean he's probably just getting Wendys but I wanna believe

Maybe Trump can die every day this month

still not enough

guess he'll die
another day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtWoQ2uH8Xk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsQLlk-T0s

It's nice not hearing from him! I'm focusing on the beginning of the NFL season (and the 49ers) and the Booker longlist/shortlist. It's the season for both!

What is that Walter Reed map showing?

It was showing streets around Walter Reed closed, suggesting Trump (or somebody important) was there. Map doesn't currently show that fwiw.

Unspecified Oval Office announcement from Trump tomorrow afternoon pic.twitter.com/nnzrU7tEpc

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 2, 2025

Unspecified Oval Office announcement from Trump tomorrow afternoon

probably just pulling all Harriet Tubman coins out of circulation

they're transferring him to his new body

paparazzi are lying in wait for a glimpse of Trump like he's bigfoot

https://bsky.app/profile/kyledcheney.bsky.social/post/3lxu7jftdjw2r

BREAKING: Judge Breyer rules that President Trump's deployment of the military to Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, says Trump is using military as a "national police force with the president as its chief."

Injunction granted.

Feels like it shouldn't take months to get an injunction on a military occupation of a city

I guess now that Trump is dead we're going to all kinds of crazy rulings

the announcement: they're moving space force hq to alabama. thus "air & space forces magazine" being listed in the media pool in that release. the question now is can he actually deliver this news himself.

(that kyle cheney X post above cut off the bottom of that media release from yesterday)

huh, I wonder if it'll be Huntsville, where that space center already is.

reuters and ap saying huntsville, yeah. big whoop, really.

wow, that is an aggressively dull announcement given the breathless pre-announcement

(Paul Stanley voice)

WHAT'S UP HUNTSVIIIIIILLLLEEE?!?

Oval Office Space Force bore/ I can't take it anymore

There's still a chance he slumps over during the announcement

I wonder if the announcement will be actually live or prerecorded and painstakingly edited to make sense.

he might die after he sees china's big impressive military proud, very angry troops, very fierce, much heart attack

military *parade*

the question now is can he actually deliver this news himself.

He will take maximum advantage of all the cosmetic and medicinal assistance available to him, including but not limited to painkillers, amphetamines, IV fluids, or a blood transfusion. they only need to prop him up enough to convince the public he's in good shape. the only definitive answer that could be extracted from his appearance would be if he looks pretty bad. looking passably good would mean nothing unless it is backed up by his resuming his normal schedule, including frequent exposure to public view. If he disappears again, we can infer a lot from that.

convince the public he's in good shape.

I mean.... they haven't convinced many people that he's in "good" shape since 2016.

"i'm not quite dead"

when everyone is saying you are dead or dying, it lowers the bar considerably for what is "in good shape"

Piss on this guy:

Hakeem Jeffries: "Donald Trump promised that he would lower housing costs on day one. Here's a suggestion for the Trump administration: try to legislate, and maybe we can find common ground in order to get something done for the American people."

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lxursldhhb2g

There was a time when that kind of rhetoric might have made sense. At this point, it just comes off as naive and helpless.

I am surprised Jeffries can talk with all that AIPAC dick in his mouth

cynical and hopeless

Looks like we're about to find out if the US can simultaneously fight a domestic civil war and war in Venezuela.

That’s exactly what he’s trying to do, start a foreign war so he can suspend midterms. He’s been blatantly telegraphing it for months.

The USA held elections during the Civil War and WWII fer godssake. There's no way a freaky little war with Venezuela would justify that to the public.

Very little has been justified to the public so far. Whether or not they are successful, one way or another they will try to pull some bullshit like that or something different with similar aims.

Seem like they are rapidly shifting from the telegraphing phase to the illegally blowing shit up phase.

Jeffries is a fucking loser

His only play is to negotiate with his enemies.

despite not being good at poker, i played online poker for irl $ several years ago. i would always fold a bunch, and then do one big bluff. hell yeah

like was it that nyhawn guy said hakeem is gonna be going “but what about housing costs and the price of eggs!?” as his train car to a deathcamp rolls away?

drug dealers are terrorists and can be killed extrajudicially by the US: https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-strike-rubio-trump-0f901b2a30ee20e314bcab1385ffb0c0

I mourn for the ILXers who might've had drugs on that boat.

The USA held elections during the Civil War and WWII fer godssake. There's no way a freaky little war with Venezuela would justify that to the public.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Wednesday, 3 September 2025 bookmarkflaglink

There's surely Iran (via Israel), and maybe some action in Mexico to come.

Exciting times.

Yeah this is where drone-strike executions have always been headed. If you can do them "over there," why not closer to home? The U.S. government has been murdering people and saying "Trust us, they were terrorists" for decades. Why go to all the trouble of intercepting a boat and arresting people when you can just vaporize them from the sky?

thanks Obama, you could say

Yeah. It's grim how many bad things Trump does have direct antecedents in Obama.

destroying that boat and murdering everyone on it is pretty fucked even for Trump

It's pretty fucked, but only the hemisphere is new. From 2019:

There have been 2,243 drone strikes in the first two years of the Trump presidency, compared with 1,878 in Mr Obama's eight years in office, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a UK-based think tank.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47480207

Are there precedents for the targets being drug traffickers (allegedly) rather than "enemy combatants" (however worthless that term is)?

I mean I'm sure this isn't the first time the US govt has killed drug traffickers, but in terms of the president deploying the military without justification and then posting the video on the social media platform he owns

Well, the State Department designated Tren de Aragua and several other Latin American gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations back in February. So they can argue that this isn't any different than killing "terrorists" in Afghanistan or Yemen or wherever else. So, this is a new step, but they can point to plenty of precedent.

https://www.state.gov/designation-of-international-cartels

As has been the case for years, the very "drug traffickers" they are targeting are supplied with US arms and, in some cases, drugs that originate in the US. I mean, I know you know this, but as is usually the case, the US government aid and abets the creation of a huge problem, then decided the best way to deal with the problem is to kill as many people as possible.

The invasion of Panama had drug trafficking as a pretext iirc

For sure, everything about it is deeply cynical and vicious. And this one was at sea, but Trump's already signaled intent to strike within Mexico and other countries. I think he'll do it, for the simple reason that nobody will stop him. And when it does happen, what's Mexico or Colombia or Venezuela actually going to do about it? Lodge a protest with the Security Council?

This is how Trump gets to be a war president while maintaining the facade of not "going to war."

Still can't get over the feds buying crack from a DC dealer and arresting him just so Poppy Bush could have his moment on TV holding the bag o' crack.

The invasion of Panama had drug trafficking as a pretext iirc

― Wounded Insulter (President Keyes), Wednesday, September 3, 2025 10:08 AM (twenty-one minutes ago)

ah yeah thanks, that is a useful precedent but with numerous major differences, the most salient being that Noriega was captured alive, arrested, and tried before being jailed

another part of what is most creepy about a certain strain of contemporary conservatism is the obsession with “purity,” with the extrajudicial murder of alleged drug dealers being an example of getting rid of what are seen as “impure” elements

obv all tied into white supremacy

on that note, did any you read Eric Schmitt's (senator from MO) speech at the National Conservatism conference?

saw it noted on Bsky

I gave it a scan, it's basically the same speech JD Vance keeps giving, the idea that America isn't a set of ideas but a specific chunk of real estate created by and for a particular group of people (white Christians). And full of laments about the left "erasing history," when of course what's really being erased is the whitewashed mythologies built up to obscure history.

admittedly I haven't read or heard any speeches from JDV, but I was a tiny bit surprised at how brazenly racist it was

yeah they are basically all saying the quiet parts out loud now

FactPost‬
✧@factpostn✧✧✧.b✧✧✧.soc✧✧✧‬
· 1h
Host: There are new calls this morning for RFK Jr.'s resignation, and those calls coming from inside HHS itself. More than 1,000 current and former HHS workers are making this demand in a letter released this morning. They say his leadership has "put the health of all Americans at risk"

GTFO dude

xp rob

do you happen to have a transcript handy?

excerpt here:
https://bsky.app/profile/sharonk.bsky.social/post/3lxvc7cicjc2r

Here’s Schmitt’s speech:

https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/09/02/schmitt-what-is-an-american/

And here’s ol JD hitting the same notes at the Claremont Institute:

https://singjupost.com/transcript-jd-vances-speech-at-the-claremont-institutes-statesmanship-award-event/#

ugh, just remembered the 2022 MO democratic primary, when we got to choose between someone with Busch in their name (who got the most DNC support and got their ass kicked by Schmitt) and another democrat who was a marine and featured his ability to hold a gun as one of his main strengths

A bit from the Vance speech:

Every Western society, as I stand here today, has significant demographic and cultural problems. There is something about Western liberalism that seems almost suicidal, or at least socially parasitic, that tends to feed off of a healthy host until there’s nothing left. That’s why the demographic trends across the West are so bad, why so many young people, historically high numbers in all European countries, say that they would not die for their own country, because something about the liberal project in 2025 is just broken. ….

Now, part of the solution, I think the most important part of the solution, is you first got to stop the bleeding. And that’s why President Trump’s immigration policies are, I believe, the most important part of the successful first six months in the Oval Office. Social bonds form among people who have something in common. They share the same neighborhood. They share the same church. They send their kids to the same school. And what we’re doing is recognizing that if you stop importing millions of foreigners into the country, you allow that social cohesion to form naturally. It’s hard to become neighbors with your fellow citizens when your own government keeps on importing new neighbors every single year at a record number. …

If you think about it, identifying America just with agreeing with the principles, let’s say, of the Declaration of Independence, that’s a definition that is way over-inclusive and under-inclusive at the same time. What do I mean by that? Well, first of all, it would include hundreds of millions, maybe billions of foreign citizens who agree with the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Must we admit all of them tomorrow? If you follow that logic of America as a purely creedal nation, America purely as an idea, that is where it would lead you. But at the same time, that answer would also reject a lot of people that the ADL would label as domestic extremists. Even those very Americans had their ancestors fight in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. And I happen to think that it’s absurd, and the modern left seems dedicated to doing this, to saying, you don’t belong in America unless you agree with progressive liberalism in 2025. I think the people whose ancestors fought in the Civil War have a hell of a lot more claim over America than the people who say they don’t belong.

that last part is making my eyeballs boggle

First of all, he means white supremacists, right? And second, is there a movement on the left to deport racists or something?

he wants you to think there is

thanks tipsy, yeah Schmitt essentially palgiarized a bunch of that, though his speech is much more effective and direct than Vance's pompous rambling imo

but tbc I don't think Schmitt is unique or novel; "blood and soil" racism obviously isn't new

Jamelle Bouie points out Schmitt hired this degenerate: https://www.liberalcurrents.com/missouri-senator-eric-schmitts-nazi-staffer/

xpost to PK: classic right-wing elision between "people on the left don't like this thing i think" and "people on the left want to ban/censor/jail/deport anyone who thinks this, the way i want to do to them."

omifuckinggod:

Florida is set to end all state vaccine mandates, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced at a news conference Wednesday.

For decades, the state has required numerous vaccines for kids attending school, including shots that protect against Measles-mumps-rubella, polio, chickenpox and Hepatitis B.

But Ladapo on Wednesday compared these mandates to “slavery,” and promised that they all will soon end. He did not immediately provide specifics.

Ladapo is such a nutjob.

I covered anti-vaxxers on the march across the South, if anyone wants to hear more: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-8-watering-the-roots/id1809558592?i=1000713099515

compared these mandates to “slavery,”

jesus tapdancing christ i just cannot

comparing good things (vaccines, welfare, taxes) to slavery is a longrunning trope of lost cause racists. it lets them feel like they're reclaiming the moral high ground on...slavery... by making themselves abolitionists of things that help people today.

jesus tapdancing christ i just cannot

speaking of jesus, tapdancing, AND christ, i dare you to listen to a slavery = welfare/taxes coming from a pastor while a full congregation shouts amen and then speaks in tongues. it turns out, you CAN endure it, it just fucks up you and everyone else in the room for life

stop making sense!

When you’re in a death cult, initiatives to support health are slavery

it helps if you keep your eyes open and spin around in a circle hundreds of times as quickly as you can before speaking

Some reports flying around Chicago that ICE is posted up at the specific court that houses the Domestic Violence Court, so people seeking orders of protection have to choose between going for the order or risking deportation. Just the face of pure, unmitigated evil.

I know the cruelty is the point, but I think it's fair to stay angry at all the millions of ways it shows its evil face.

Wil Wheaton‬
✧@wilwhea✧✧✧.n✧✧‬
· 40m
Nothing says "I have no reason to silence these women or fear what they will say" quite like ordering military aircraft to fly over and disrupt their press conference.

^^^

Probably just on the way to bomb some drug smugglers

yeah, that attack on the boat is really fucking shocking... like maybe the ICC should be looking into that

and as you'd expect, nearly zero meaningful coverage on both nytimes and washington post.

the nytimes angle is "Hegseth Says Boat Strike Is Start of Campaign Against Venezuelan Cartels"

REPORTER: Why were the 11 men on the boat killed instead of taken into custody?

TRUMP: On the boat you have massive amounts of drugs. Everybody fully understands that.

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lxwyrz7vbh2j

no proof given, nor any justification attempted beyond "there were lots of drugs"

no big deal, just normalizing extrajudicial murder without evidence

Didn't he say he liked how Duterte just killed drug dealers?

yes, he congratulated duterte on his "unbelievable job on the drug problem" in 2017

"I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem" Mr. Trump said. "Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that."

Thanking Mr. Trump, Duterte said it was what he had to do "to preserve the Filipino nation." Mr. Trump then said, "I understand that and fully understand that, and I think we had a previous president who did not understand that, but I understand that we have spoken about this before."

After the phone call that day, the White House released a readout of the conversation, calling it a "very friendly conversation." The readout also noted that the two leaders discussed the fact that "the Philippine government is fighting very hard to rid is country of drugs, a scourge that affects many countries throughout the world."

I mean the Russians did the same to a boat full of Somali pirates, but they were actual pirates, like maybe there's some law of the sea that allows that

These were suspected drug traffickers, and they don't seem to have any evidence they were gang members or terrorists, beyond 'probably'

Just wait til they decide they can do drone strikes on "domestic terrorists."

Any chance Trump will dump RFKJ in the near future? Lotta GOP senators seem to have buyer's remorse over his confirmation

Rooting for the pharma corporate ghouls over the insane anti vax crew, feels good man

Yeah. It's grim how many bad things Trump does have direct antecedents in Obama.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 3 September 2025 bookmarkflaglink

All a matter of degrees, in the end.

it's was all about that celebrity roast

the roast that broke the world

people say it was the LHC but it was the roast

Any chance Trump will dump RFKJ in the near future? Lotta GOP senators seem to have buyer's remorse over his confirmation

I actually thought Trump was going to shiv him and not give him HHS after he co-opted RFK for his own campaign. After all, the guy never keeps a promise and he already got what he wanted from Bobby dropping campaign.

not only did he drop his campaign, he transferred funds to the trump campaign, and that's what really counts. You gotta pay to play in this administration

There was probably also some element of "sticking it to the libs" in nominating him

you can't win

“Operation Warp Speed people say is one of the greatest achievements ever in politics or in the military — because it was almost a military procedure,” Trump said last week during a Cabinet meeting, claiming even Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the effort.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump last month told donors during a private event that he wished he could brag more about Operation Warp Speed.

Meanwhile, some of Trump’s staunchest supporters have been publicly critical of Kennedy and his staffers, questioning their credentials and motivations.

This has easily got to be the most fucked up Presidential administration of all time

It really feels like a death drive

yep

They certainly would like to see us all dead.

hell yeah.

Florida Democrats have increased the party's share of the vote in two state special election victories.

On Tuesday night, RaShon Young and LaVon Bracy Davis won their elections for Florida's House of Representatives and Senate, respectively. The proportion of the vote they both received was more than what former vice president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris won in those seats in the November 2024 election.

Political experts who spoke to Newsweek were divided about what these results might mean for the Democratic Party's chances in the midterms next year, amid a broader pattern of electorally exceeding expectations so far this year.

"Although I wouldn't pop the champagne corks just yet if I were the Democrats, I would feel a bracing electoral wind at my back," said Thomas Whalen, an associate professor who teaches U.S. politics at Boston University, about the two Florida elections.

Local races matter.

Local races DO matter for a variety of reasons, but especially as a nursery for future leaders to get their sea legs

There's a John Cornyn PAC running strongly-worded hit ads on primary challenger/TX AG/Living Shitstain Ken Paxton on Texas TV right now. It's genuinely wild to see them go off so hard on one of their own.

So CBS news is about to be handed over to Bari fucking Weiss. What a country.

I think there's a chance RFK Jr will get fired, yes, because Trump's last statement on the covid vaccines indicated he was still proud of that initiative and was throwing a bone to anti-vaxxers by asking pfizer and moderna to prove their efficacy (which they already did multiple times). Trump can't take credit for these if he has to turn around and ban them.

It really feels like a death drive

Yeah, there are bits of Lacan that have be made quite relevant in the past 10 years.

Also a great line I’ve read years ago is that so many of these folks exhibit “the drive to Annihilate that Annihilates even itself”

^^^

Advisers to President Trump have discussed the possibility of giving Mayor Eric Adams of New York City a position in the administration as a way to clear the field in November’s mayoral election and damage the chances of the Democratic front-runner, Zohran Mamdani, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.

The talks have also involved finding a possible place in the administration for the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.

The goal, the people said, would be to give former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo a better chance of defeating Mr. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, in November’s general election.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/nyregion/trump-adams-sliwa-quit-nyc-mayor.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jU8.03e7.97-r-9K8cLdD&smid=url-share

kinda my wheelhouse as i work for gov dot uk but have you americans seen this horrible propaganda landgrab?

https://americabydesign.gov/

many of the things said on there are blowing my mind, also funny grammar errors in the same sentence as they're trying to say 'let's make american government interactions like apple'

The same way a hotelier anticipates the needs of their guests.
This is the hospitality design for our nation.
This is President Trump going bigger than President Nixon.
This is America by Design.

and a nice riposte: https://americabydesign.fail/

This is correct and yet

Former Philippine President Duterte is in custody in The Hague, having been charged by the International Criminal Court for ordering the summary execution of alleged drug traffickers. Trump just ordered the summary execution of 11 alleged drug traffickers. https://t.co/T4tjhVNNeh

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) September 3, 2025

I don't know if its death drive but its interesting how global south political 'mannners' are coming into global north politics. Its just accelerating.

Obama might have ordered that strike but he wouldn't be bragging about it. His name would be nowehre near that stuff.

otm

good mourning!

We retired mourning in November 2020. Now it's an eternal morning. Listen, the birds are chirping.

Picturing Alfred, bluebird perched on one finger a La Snow White, Negroni in other hand

my oh my what a wonderful day!

Have we already had a conversation about how Sen. Ron Wyden looks and sounds just like Super Dave Osborne?

I know he has some physical ailment, but listening to RFKJ speak is really.. difficult

his physical ailment is brain worm

‪Tim Onion‬
✧@bencoll✧✧✧.b✧✧✧.soc✧✧✧‬
· 4h
Leaving a YouTube playlist called "RFK Sounds" on in my backyard at medium volume. It scares away all known predators, bugs to bears. I am working with European scientists to discover if this may ultimately eliminate malaria.

school lunches: less artificial colors, more roadkill

NYT on all the ways killing alleged drug dealers is not legal.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/us/politics/trump-drug-smugglers-military.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jU8.gJUE.ZXL4ByWvR35Y&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Maybe they could replace all the "Mr. Trump" instances in that article with "likely war criminal".

did the editors vet this article? it seems very off-brand

The libertarians at Reason are also not super happy:

https://reason.com/2025/09/04/trumps-drug-boat-drone-strike-shows-how-terrorism-makes-everyone-killable/

What is a terrorist? According to U.S. law, it's any "subnational groups" or "clandestine agents" who use "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets." Of course, that can describe almost any rebel group, including ones that the U.S. backs, or almost any intelligence agency, including ones in the U.S. government. In practice, that means that a "terrorist" is whoever the executive branch decides to label one.

We need the power to kill the terrorists. Who are the terrorists? The people we need the power to kill. This circular logic is the basis for forever war. It can justify almost anything the government wants to do to anyone, far beyond the threats that first justified the counterterrorist measures. Legal authorities that were born out of the Oklahoma City bombing and matured during the long war against Al Qaeda are now being used to blow up suspicious boats in the Caribbean.

"A terrorist act is violence carried out by a terrorist. Conversely, if someone is killed, it is because they are a terrorist, because to be a terrorist means to be killable. This circularity of the definition allows the designation to justify violence against entire populations both ex-ante and ex-post," wrote journalist Jake Romm in an essay aptly titled, "Your Death Will Serve as Its Own Justification."

Oh.

The world during Donald Trump’s second presidency has entered a period of danger with “certain similarities to the 30s”, according to Mitch McConnell, the veteran Republican former Senate leader.

McConnell made the comments primarily in reference to tariffs and foreign affairs, in a wide-ranging interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader published on Wednesday as he prepares to enter his final year in office.

Just saw some one call Hakeem Jeffries AIPAC Shakur

I did that a few days ago

I did that a few months ago.

I haven't done it yet, and now it seems passé.

(would they say that about a white politician?)

Charlamagne tha God coined the term, so perhaps the concern trolling isn’t necessary

(fair enough)

Jeffries also has a history of cornball rhyming in his speeches.

Why no challenges to Jeffries or Schumer from House and Senate Dems?

It makes no sense to me that Schumer is still the leader of the Democrats in the Senate. The party lost the upper chamber on his watch, under his leadership, but Schumer chose to stay on and his colleagues let him. But when you lead your party to defeat in an election, shouldn’t you … lose your job?

As for Jeffries, the Democrats may win back the House of Representatives next November on the back of an anti-Trump wave, but what then? What vision will a Speaker Jeffries offer? What resistance will he provide to the wannabe dictator in the White House? What actual plan does he have to preserve and protect democracy in 2028?

Since Trump was inaugurated for a second time in January, Jeffries and Schumer have demonstrated time and again that they are not built for this particular moment. While Trump seeds the ground for an American dictatorship, these two top Dems pine for bipartisanship. While millions of rank-and-file Democrats across the country say they want leaders who will fight, Jeffries and Schumer fold. While younger Democrats like Mamdani and AOC offer energy and charisma, these two lackluster leaders in the House and Senate offer cringe chants and even cringier photo ops.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/03/democrats-chuck-schumer-hakeem-jeffries

Not exactly surprising, but its a hell of a read anyway

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/us/navy-seal-north-korea-trump-2019.html

The Trump administration did not notify key members of Congress who oversee intelligence operations, before or after the mission. The lack of notification may have violated the law.

Not these days!

Pay article.

Non paywalled:
How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart

I wonder how many dozens or hundreds of similar stories will eventually emerge from either term

Make the Orphan Master's Son fiction again

Seal Team 6 sent to plant sloppy wet kiss on Kim Jong Un

winning

Kennedy Center ticket sales take a nosedive after Trump takeover

Ticket sales at the Kennedy Center have continued to plummet following Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington DC’s premier performing arts venue, with the prestigious Stuttgart Ballet expected to dance next month to houses less than 20% full.

Well of course all the MAGA's are into Bolshoi

I guess the the prestigious Stuttgart Ballet are not super stoked about doing the Lee Greenwood Suite in Blue, but are going along to be cool & diplomatic

Lol

Richard Grenell, Trump’s longtime foreign policy adviser who was appointed to lead the Kennedy Center in February after a clear-out of trustees, last week fired its dance programming team and hired in its place a former company member of the Washington Ballet who calls himself a “Maga former dancer”[...]

Stephen Nakagawa, the Daily Beast reported, is a critic of what he calls “radical leftist ideologies” in ballet, and is a good fit for Trump’s efforts “to reshape the center into a ‘non-woke’ entertainment destination”.

to reshape the center into a ‘non-woke’ 'non-attended' entertainment destination

Maybe they'll take ballet back to what it was in the 19th Century--something you put on between the acts of your opera so the men in the audience could see some bare legs.

So today’s jobs report is bad and reconfirms last month’s report, with some normal adjustments. Last month, Trump fired the head of the agency for cooking the numbers. So what do they say now? “Just wait, the Trump boom is coming.” Without at all acknowledging that the president had a huge tantrum about the same numbers a month ago. It’s all so crazy.

hold me closer
MAGA dancer

xp was talking about this to my boss yesterday - what about all the workers who are not formally 'employed' on the books? the agricultural and packing plant employees who are not even counted anyway, and are afraid to show up in the vineyard or orchard? It has to be much worse than the numbers show

Maga former dancer, he's a soul's companion,
you can feel it everywhere

Pretty sure this month's miss was the fault of democrats demanding the Epstein report.

xp

he's already on the spin

He got in front of the Friday report, which showed a similarly lackluster performance, on Thursday evening, saying “real numbers” will come next year.

“They come out tomorrow, but the real numbers that I’m talking about are going to be whatever it is, but will be in a year from now on,” Trump told reporters during a Thursday dinner.

got it

let's hear that again, for clarity

but the real numbers that I’m talking about are going to be whatever it is

the real numbers will come after the economy completely craters and starts to slowly rebuild

The real numbers are the felons we've met along the way.

It’s ok this giggling turd is not worried

https://bsky.app/profile/samueldg.bsky.social/post/3ly4dfqdae222

k braw, let's get back to the good old days, happier times:

Economy lost jobs for the first time since 2020

When asked about the hiring slump, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Friday that “you are seeing that people are being hired”.

“Members of my family have been hired,” he said. “Both of them started their new jobs about a week ago.”

That SEAL failure story reminds me of the OBL assassination where one of the two $50M blackhawk helicopters piloted by the SEALS immediately crashed into a wall outside OBL's compound rendering any element of surprise moot.

They had to plant spare C4 all over the wrecked blackhawk and try to blow it up because the advanced tech was so compromising... but even that failed.

...or when our state-of-the-art air defense with trillion dollar budget building that is supposedly "war proof" got hit by a passenger plane on 9/11...

it never ceases to amaze me how much of our tax dollars are wasted on this crap.

of course

In a separate interview on Friday, the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, told CNBC that the jobs reports will be better once the administration makes changes to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“You’ll take out the people who are just trying to create noise against the president,” Lutnick said.

“Both of them started their new jobs about a week ago.”

yeah, why didn't the Deep State BLS count Kevin Hassett's kin in their quote-unquote 'report'

But what about like you literally fired the respected head of an agency a month ago and accused her of fraud? It’s all so insane. Every week there are like 12 things that would have been weeks-long major scandals in any prior administration. If Biden had fired the head of the BLS after a bad jobs report, everybody in the country would know her name because Republicans and the right wing media would have been hammering on it nonstop ever since. As it is, I can’t even remember her name without googling.

if they do indeed purge the BLS further, it'll be up to ADP and other private payroll companies to provide meaningful numbers... also the state-run unemployment agencies. But unemployment numbers don't include new hires, so they're only part of the picture

MAGA assholes might realize quickly that despite their protestations to be the guardians of Western culture, they have zero knowledge or appreciation of it. It's up to Bolsheviks like me to attend the opera or symphony concerts (never got into dance as a form).

I will say that to be fair, arts origanizations everywhere are seeing drops in attendance but particularly a steep drop in season subscriptions. Arts orgs I belong to are finding that people will by tickets for individual concerts very close or on the day of a concert or play. Season subscriptions help with upfront expeneses and the planning of future seasons and provide a more stedy stream of income.

I guess the the prestigious Stuttgart Ballet are not super stoked about doing the Lee Greenwood Suite in Blue

I heard Trump wanted to bring the Warsaw Ballet to the Kennedy Center, but then someone told him that's not what "Pole Dancers" meant.

But what about like you literally fired the respected head of an agency a month ago and accused her of fraud?

Clearly the swamp is deeper than was previously thought and the firings need to continue until you get to the answer he wants

Another insane stupidity.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-immigration-agents-arrest-hundreds-raid-georgia-hyundai-plant-2025-09-05/

yeah... that's the kinda thing where I could see Hyundai being like 'well fuck this, let's go back to Seoul' and just shut down the plant

makes sense, raise tariffs to bring back manufacturing from overseas so you can then arrest and deport the foreign-born workers, it's a win-win-win

Charles Kuck, an immigration lawyer in Atlanta

are MAGA just feeding fake names to the press

Field Marshal Bonespurs explains it

“Really it has to do with winning. We should have won every war. We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct or wokey, and we just fight forever,” Trump said, flanked by Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine.

“We had it, and we won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything before, and as I said, we won everything in between,” Trump added. “And we were very strong. But we never fought to win. We just didn’t fight to win. We would have won every one of those wars quickly, but they went a route that I think was probably politically correct, but not correct for our nation. So I think the Department of War sends a signal.”

we do the hokey-wokey and we turn ourselves around, that's what it's all about

wait til someone tells Trump they're going to VAR on WWII

“We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct,” the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, said in the Oval Office. “We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders. So this war department, Mr President, just like America is back.”

seems like a fun guy

Really looking forward to our new politically incorrect anti-wokey wars, now with extra lethality!

Forest Lake called, but it isn’t recalling its idiot.

Maximum lethality, not tepid legality
Violent effect, not politically correct

excerpts from his high school notebook where he wrote metal lyrics and doodled

These people are all so embarrassing

And yet seemingly incapable of embarrassment.

'Maximum lethality'... wonder if this is all leading to some wag-the-dog moment with Venezuela

I keep hearing him say those words in Herm Edwards' measured voice: "You play to win the game. Hello?!!"

How drunk was Whiskey Pete when he came up with that

He surely came up with that when he was at his soberest (which is still pretty drunk, I would think)

And as if on cue the admin has pulled the FDA report about the dangers of drinking, and now says it's healthy again to drink "in moderation."

Boy, lot of policy wins for Hesgeth this week.

And as if on cue the admin has pulled the FDA report about the dangers of drinking, and now says it's healthy again to drink "in moderation."

― henry s, Friday, September 5, 2025 6:29 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Good news at last!

Apparently the new report has industry fingerprints all over it. How flush is Big Negroni?

the Canadians ain't buying our bourbon anymore, they need all the help they can get

'Maximum lethality'... wonder if this is all leading to some wag-the-dog moment with Venezuela

― Andy the Grasshopper

That's clearly the plan, though it remains to be seen whether they make it happen.

the Canadians ain't buying our bourbon anymore, they need all the help they can get

And Pete’s doing what he can, he’s got government scientists trying to figure out if you can keep drinking after you pass out.

Speaking of embarrassment here's Trump's DOJ

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5488642-okeefe-video-epstein-doj-response/

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:v63y3emmbz5dlvzkejca2mcc/bafkreiegpamtyjtgpelpgjtravual2csnfmpx67fgh3sce4n44b2ptknvq@jpeg

Like those hands could grip a machine gun...or he could stand up in a moving vehicle.

ICE ... doesn't do drug interdiction. Or uh they didn't. I guess now they can do anything they want.

I assume the idea is that all immigrants are just assumed to be drug dealers.

Lots of assuming...

Immigrants are known to possess hopium

ICE ... doesn't do drug interdiction. Or uh they didn't. I guess now they can do anything they want.

For they types of choads they want to attract I guess they want to show it’s more exciting than just kidnapping toddlers.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/bafkreiars4ea7gcxw6nljdy7rdte6xpam5dkabw7peybrlkgdwxbgd4gxe@jpeg

Again invoking a movie he's never actually seen.

It’s a pretty stark reminder of how far he’s shifted the window with his batshit that effectively declaring war on an American city via social media post is met with nothing more than, “of course he did” shrugs. We live in absolutely insane times.

The Couchfucker, everyone...

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:feobw43ezgemam6r6zvfzp42/bafkreigsghjhyijdquzwvpqxdoiq7plitsay6lu5azfi5fvsf5jjzbhla4@jpeg

See you in The Hague (I can dream)

What a man

There are multiple things happening at once in the US and none of them are good. And I feel like Trump himself is only directly responsible for some of them.

The "Department of War" thing: this is showbiz stupidity, an old man's fixations turned into government policy no matter the cost. By that I mean the actual cost of changing everything from signs to letterhead; this will cost literally millions upon millions of dollars, never mind that it's supposed to require an act of Congress. And if it happens without an act of Congress, that itself is a symbol/symptom of the fact that the US political system has completely broken down.

Meanwhile, the military is committing war crimes — destroying what now appears to have been not drug smugglers but a boat full of migrants.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:oqr5mp25r7z3vfr3igeerxbw/bafkreie7yiktkfld5krq6rvs54tr6fhzyg2hkyocu3cg5ytul35lxjvd5m@jpeg

The paving over of the Rose Garden and turning it into something called "the Rose Garden Club": This is Trump treating the White House as just another one of his homes, like Trump Tower or Mar-a-Lago. And this is symptomatic of something that doesn't get discussed enough, that Trump does not view himself as "the president" in the sense of a coequal branch of government with the legislature, he believes he is "the president" of America in the same sense that he is (let's not bother to pretend "was") the president of the Trump Organization. His election was in effect a merger between the country and his company, and he is at the top of the org chart, and what he says goes. The White House no longer belongs to the people of the US; it is the property of Donald Trump.

The fascist iconography being put out by various government agencies:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:vgoqwcb5lcn4z227mfntg5eb/bafkreiae6l4xt2n2cmnhclrx3yoal7n6shjznqxskoplnbo3bnr35k4piu@jpeg

I don't think this is directly from Trump. It doesn't look like the kind of thing that would appeal to him, aesthetically. (There's no gold.) But this looks like an example of "working toward the Führer" - people at one government agency or another doing things they think Trump will approve of (and/or working toward their own fascistic goals in a way that they think he'll let them get away with/give the thumbs-up to after the fact).

I really don't see how the path this country is currently on ends anywhere other than bodies in ditches. There is no meaningful political opposition — Schumer and Jeffries are more likely to slap JB Pritzker down than to stand with him when federal troops are sent into Chicago. At some point, an ICE agent (or just someone cosplaying as one, because who the fuck knows these days?) is going to get shot, and then what?

He definitely is acting like he’s going to be in the White House for the long haul.

I missed today’s protest in dc that was larger than the one I attended last weekend. At the metro train stations I saw National Guard standing around; also a bunch of them on the wharf as I was walking to Anthem to see Pulp. Thankfully no ICE and other Feds around. They are busy arresting working immigrants elsewhere

dems need to shut down the government when the spending bill comes up in three weeks. this was out of control from the beginning but it is becoming more and more ominous and people are numb to it like frogs in a pot of boiling water.

masked men in unmarked cars grabbing students off the street.

troops on the ground in dc.

fudging employment numbers like stalin.

the department of war.

"chipocalypse now."

like, schumer and jeffries can't fund this government. come on, guys.

If anyone can find a way to justify agreeing to a spending agreement ( that Trump will later ignore if he feels like withholding spending) it’s Schumer and Jeffries

"alligator alcatraz"

I'd be curious to know if Los Angeles ilxors agree with this take. This person outlines how tgey believe LA prevailed against ICE, and they have words of encouragement for Chicago.

https://bsky.app/profile/ajaxsinger.bsky.social/post/3ly7o2fjkgc2t

this isn't even funny anymore:

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lyarrtwgqp2m

“Are we Dead Yet?” for title of US Politics July 2028 thread

(only three posts and they’re all from outside the US because we all are indeed dead)

ladapo is a genuinely evil buffoon. we did not overlap, but I work in his former department and he is not fondly remembered by colleagues

X-post re LA vs ICE and what Chicago has to do—dc has won some skirmishes against ICE, but it is hard to prevent them from grabbing food delivery drivers and others when in DC ICE can work with other federal agencies, dc cops, US park police, US capitol police, etc. Immigrants are scared and ICE is determined to just reach quotas for arrests.

A lot of what I've read and been told by friends about ICE in L.A. suggests that protests and filming them on the streets actually worked.

It’s been about six months since Schumer decided that it wasn’t the time for a fight, that neither he nor the country was ready. Democratic leaders have had six months to come up with a plan. If there’s a better plan than a shutdown, great. But if the plan is still nothing, then Democrats need new leaders.

From a surprisingly strong Ezra Klein ny Times column

i'm gonna switch things up today and pretend like all of this is real, and do what we're being asked to do.

hi ilx! i'm asking 10 of you to pray with me this week. let's pray for this country, the United Sates of America - "one nation under God". judeo-christian God only please!

thank you.

President Donald Trump will announce the launch of America Prays at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. today while tying the faith-driven initiative to the nation’s 250th birthday.

The inspiring program calls on Americans to dedicate time every week to pray for the country and to underscore faith as central to the nation’s founding and future.

"President Trump has revived one of America’s most prominent and powerful founding principles — we are one nation under God," White House Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. "As we approach the 250th anniversary of the greatest country in the world, President Trump invites Americans to pray for our nation and for our people. America is stronger with the power of prayer."

The initiative also suggests people join with at least 10 others each week to pray.

not linking to christian fascism but it's from fox

aaaaaa I can't take it

the ignorance, it hurts

*pummeling bass drums*

bow down before the one you serve
you're gonna get what you deserve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj71ktW9HEw

"President Trump has revived one of America’s most prominent and powerful founding principles — we are one nation under God...

annoying pedantic reminder that the "under God" was added in 1954 by Eisenhower as a tool to assist in Red Scare brainwashing.

also, that the pledge itself was far from a founding principle, it was instituted as a Columbus Day celebration in 1892 to promote patriotism in elementary schools.

^^^^

Half Mast https://share.google/SIW4GlJvHudiJOiYM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iqiJWC2rbg

yes it is making me IA

xxp

xxpost Nothing more American than ahistorical bullshit

ok, good group discussion!

so, can i get 10 people to pray with me for our country this week with me?

we're all entitled to our own opinions...and facts. ok? let's pray

We've got to pray just to make it today.

I'm praying that the founder of the Muesum of the Bible (hobby Lobby "UPC codes are the mark of the beast") goes to jail for dealing in looted antiquities

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_Lobby_smuggling_scandal

"President Trump has revived one of America’s most prominent and powerful founding principles — we are one nation under God," White House Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. "As we approach the 250th anniversary of the greatest country in the world, President Trump invites Americans to pray for our nation and for our people. America is stronger with the power of prayer."

so i read this and was reminded that some people really see trump as a spiritual leader, a source of wisdom and moral guidance. i thought about humble folk who think of their loyalty to and belief in the president as something moral, a sign of their innocence and integrity. i thought of all this and then i had a stroke and died.

annoying pedantic reminder

neither pedantic nor annoying ... say it again and again!

xp i'm sorry that you're currently going to burn eternally in hell, treeship. there's still time for you to join my prayer team so that after the rapture we can stand together to observe all of our old friends being tortured

that joke isn't funny anymore

Religion is a joke that never stops being funny.

nah i get it, on the face of it, it's disturbing. sorry!

sad footnote to West Point's snub of woke Tom Hanks (??)

Trump, who has dabbled in acting including a cameo in Home Alone 2, has regularly complained about never winning an Emmy for his reality television show The Apprentice, lamenting that he “should have gotten it”, that he “got screwed out of an Emmy” and that “the Emmys are all politics”.

2 more bad Supreme Court emergency shadow docket decisions today (mentioned on Supreme Court thread) plus Trump admin has now asked the Supreme Court to let them freeze billions in foreign aid that had already been approved by Congress.

Really bleak!

bet the federalist society are pretty pleased with how well things have worked out

they should close up shop and put up a Mission Accomplished sign

WSJ published the birthday letter Trump gave to Epstein (the one he is suing them over claiming it didn’t exist)

so much for reaching across the aisle

Vance added: “Democrats: let’s send your kids to die in Russia. Republicans: actually let’s protect our people from the scum of the earth.”

so is he calling in a Seal Team 6 strike on himself?

birthday letter should be on every front page

it's on the NYT front page

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/09/08/scott-bessent-bill-pulte-blowup-00549956

A private dinner attended by dozens of administration officials and close advisers to President Donald Trump was temporarily marred by a dramatic clash between two of Trump’s top economic officials, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at one point threatening to punch top housing finance official Bill Pulte “in the fucking face.”

...

But amid the cocktail-hour din, Bessent lashed out at Pulte in an expletive-laden diatribe. The Treasury secretary had heard from several people that the Federal Housing Finance Agency director had been badmouthing him to Trump, a person close to him said. He wasn’t about to engage in chit-chat as if nothing was amiss.

“Why the fuck are you talking to the president about me? Fuck you,” Bessent told Pulte. “I’m gonna punch you in your fucking face.”

...

Pulte appeared stunned, and the tense encounter prompted club co-owner and financier Omeed Malik to intervene, according to the three people. But Bessent wasn’t having it — he sought to get him kicked out, the eyewitness said.

“It’s either me or him,” Bessent said to Malik. “You tell me who’s getting the fuck out of here.”[

“Or,” he added, “we could go outside.”

“To do what?” asked Pulte. “To talk?”

“No,” Bessent replied. “I’m going to fucking beat your ass.”

weird... Bessent seems so calm & collected when he explains how a dismal jobs report is actually a good thing

fair to infer that the white house pill dispensary is working overtime

If i was gonna attack AK from yakutsk and irkutsk i’d do it now tbh

california repubs are not at all happy about this shit

Even Republicans here, while chiding Newsom, were critical of Trump’s redistricting effort. And as rank-and-file members of the GOP gathered in Orange County for their annual convention, the festivities were overshadowed by angst over the consequences of redistricting in a deep-blue state.

“I’m certainly frustrated that our party’s leadership has not been more proactive in trying to stop a redistricting war,” said Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley, whose seat in the Sacramento suburbs is at risk of being drawn out of existence. “We shouldn’t be having mid-decade redistricting in any state.”

Remember, TX is actually a majority democrat state, as is California - this is going to destroy the CA GOP in a more long-lasting way

Say what now?

From wiki, the Texas 2024 presidential election results:
Trump Harris
56.14% 42.46%

just talking about voter registrations... it's already gerrymandered to hell

Party Registration Statistics
Total Registered Voters: 17,485,702
Democrats: 8,133,683 (46.52%)
Republicans: 6,601,189 (37.75%)
Unaffiliated: 2,750,830 (15.73%)

Also lots of voter disillusionment and the Texas Dem Party is pretty disorganized and underfunded.

If you can't get your ass off the couch to vote against Trump, are you really a Democrat?

they haven't voted since LBJ

but you can't gerrymander statewide elections, i.e. the Senate & Gov

maybe Beto can stage a comeback

I saw some post-election commentary from TX dems in 2020 expressing disappointment over how if Beto had gotten the same # of votes in the '18 Senate race that Biden got here in the presidential he would have easily beat Cruz (not taking into account that in this model Cruz could have some 2020 Trump-level numbers too).

Something that gets overlooked in regards to Trump in Texas is that going back to the '16 primary, he would come and throw rallies in smaller metropolitan cities like Beaumont even though that race was a lock for Cruz. That stuck with a lot of people, and he kept coming back while Hilary etc. generally only hit the big Blue Cities if they came down at all.

If you can't get your ass off the couch to vote against Trump, are you really a Democrat?

All you need to do to be a registered Dem here is check a little box once whenever you registered to vote, be it it five minutes or fifty years ago. After that you can do whatever the hell you want, including vote in Republican primaries, which the Abbott Gang are trying desperately to change rn.

I think a lot of people, especially in Texas, who registered as Democrats years ago are now uber Trump Republicans. No Democrat has won a statewide race in Texas since 1994

Maybe there is a reason Hillary didn't campaign there. Texas is comprised mostly of reactionary voters who only vote Republican, regardless of the statistics Andy posted above. We already knew that.

you're cheating with the "statewide" thing, did you not follow the recent news about Democratic legislature members leaving the state briefly?

The current US House roster consists of 38 members, with 25 Republicans, 12 Democrats and 1 vacancy.

yes they left briefly, but what did that get them?

People like Beto (RIP), Jasmine Crockett and now James Talarico have been trying to convince people that they are voting against their own interests.

I think James Talarico has a chance to go really far

Kentucky had more registered Dems than Repubs as recently as 2020. They do have a Dem governor but haven't elected a Dem senator since the 90s.

This just seems like a quirk of the Southern Strategy

I find it strange that in the US you apparently (have to?) register your preferred party when you sign up for voting. We dont do that here. Isn't voting meant to be secret?

Dan s, FPed you yet again for your usual shitlib takes. Millions of Texans despise Abbott with far more passion and skin in the game than you'll ever have and Bay Area technofascism is more responsible for the rise of Trump than Texas is so please spare us your lazy anti-southern slander.

millions of Texans despise Abbott but not enough millions with a need to get their asses to the polls

@trayce:

1. not all states have party registration. (mine does not.)
2. even in states that have it, you are not required to register with a party. you can say you are independent. it does not commit you to vote any particular way in a general election.
3. however, some states do require it for primary elections. in those states, you can only vote in the primary election for the party you are registered with.

Thanks for clarifying!

Texas has the same divisions as everywhere else, cities are lib, not-cities are reactionary. Texas just has enough not-cities to decide raw vote totals (Senate, Governor) and a 30-year campaign to entrench the GOP when they can’t count on Llampasas going 90-10 for Ted Cruz.

Every time Democrats manage to find a candidate people will rally behind (Wendy Davis, Beto) they immediately tack to the center and take some incredibly stupid stands that waste all the goodwill. When they can’t find one of those unicorns they run out car dealers and ex-cops no one cares about.

Texas has the same divisions as everywhere else, cities are lib, not-cities are reactionary. Texas just has enough not-cities to decide raw vote totals (Senate, Governor) and a 30-year campaign to entrench the GOP when they can’t count on Llampasas going 90-10 for Ted Cruz.

Every time Democrats manage to find a candidate people will rally behind (Wendy Davis, Beto) they immediately tack to the center and take some incredibly stupid stands that waste all the goodwill. When they can’t find one of those unicorns they run out car dealers and ex-cops no one cares about.

If you can't get your ass off the couch to vote against Trump, are you really a Democrat?

this seems like a productive argument, try making it every day for the next nine years and see who gets elected

Jasmine Crockett and now James Talarico have been trying to convince people that they are voting against their own interests.

When has this ever worked?

In other news - from NY Times

The Trump administration is quietly dismantling efforts by the Internal Revenue Service to shut down a slew of aggressive tax shelters used by America’s biggest multinational companies and wealthiest people.

The administration, bowing to pressure from industry groups, right-wing activists and congressional Republicans, is quickly rolling back several I.R.S. law enforcement efforts, including one aimed at a lucrative tax shelter used by companies like Occidental Petroleum and AT&T.

The I.R.S. crackdown was projected to raise more than $100 billion over 10 years.

That one, while abhorrent, is boilerplate GOP policy that Romney and Jeb Bush might've pushed.

recently, with this epstein letter thing, i find myself feeling psychotic.

for years, i was disturbed by the credulousness --- even the frothing desire to believe --- that many on the right seemed to feel when faced with allegations that their political opponents were involved in the most depraved behavior imaginable. there is a dark history to this kind of thing. conspiracy theories like q anon have their origin in the blood libel rumors that were once used to mobilize pogroms. the fact that satanic pedophilic cabal type rumors became a central part of american politics seemed like an ominous development and i suspected antisemitism and xenophobia of all kinds was really at the root of this stuff.

however, now the shoe is on the other foot. it seems obvious to me that trump is a sexual abuser and that the letter to epstein was sort of creepily teasing this idea. but epstein was also the central character in all the right wing conspiracies. to them, it wasn't that he was himself a pedophile (this is established) it is that he was the center of a "cabal" run by "mossad." and you know --- maybe! but like

it seems too ironic that the alex jones faction of america elevated epstein's "best friend" to the presidency. they were paranoid about a pedophile president and now they have one. i don't think it's just a coincidence --- there is some kind of meaning behind this, something to be learned.

Something’s gotta give. It’s not just the sheer evil (and I don’t use that word lightly!) of this administration and of the AI cultists and the genocide boosters and the Mamdani antagonists and the deluded billionaires. It’s the truly bizarre character of it all, the pure insanity of MAGA, MAHA, of America in 2025. There oughta be a Yeats poem about this

the centrists cannot hold

What rough brainworm
Slouching towards Mar-a-Lago

It really does feel like a good portion of the populace is no longer tethered to an objective reality. Or is objective reality rockist?

It's been a long decoupling, first enabled by Limbaugh/FOX/etc and then greatly accelerated by social media.

I know the NY Times is a lost cause, but I get free access through work so I haven't detached myself from it completely and scan the headlines. But jfc:

"Latest Revelations Complicate Trump’s Sweeping Denials About Epstein"

No, no. It doesn't "complicate" jack shit. It makes the already obvious even more blindingly obvious.

This morning's good news:

The VA-11 special election will be at ~150,000+ votes when all are counted, solid turnout — and James Walkinshaw will win by 50 points in a district Harris won by 34.

Dems have now overperformed 2024 results by 15+ points in all three House special elections this year

https://bsky.app/profile/fritschner.bsky.social/post/3lyi7kyahls2e

just to get this straight the official story from the White House and RW media is that somebody forged this letter in 2003, before the Celebrity Apprentice, before Epstein was even under investigation, with the intent of creating a scandal for him 8 months into his 2nd term

as dumb as we think Trump voters it's nothing compared to how Trump himself treats them

it's fake news frogbs that's all you need to know

Right. They don't really have a coherent theory of it. They're not really saying it's fake, they're saying it's FAKE NEWS. A few reporters in Leavitt's briefing yesterday tried to get her to say what she meant by calling it a hoax, and when she got cornered she said something like, "The hoax is that the Democrats care about children and care about crime ..."

It's dumb as fuck, even for this administration and yet... the media is (mostly) following the lead, or at least saying Trump's story might just complicate things.

I hate throwing the term around because it's so misused, but it really does feel more than half the nation is being constantly gaslit.

It really is wild how the outrageous, depraved, immoral and illegal shit they do are exactly the things they turn around and use as their biggest weapons against their political opponents

- pedophilia
- leaving classified documents unsecured
- creating fake news stories for social media to fool the public
- using race as a criterion for government action
- etc etc etc

they do all these things at an industrial scale yet their media accomplices assist them in writing a narrative that actually it is the democrats who do these things

Every right wing accusation is a confession. They don't have the imagination to come up with anything else.

Right. They don't really have a coherent theory of it. They're not really saying it's fake, they're saying it's FAKE NEWS. A few reporters in Leavitt's briefing yesterday tried to get her to say what she meant by calling it a hoax, and when she got cornered she said something like, "The hoax is that the Democrats care about children and care about crime ..."

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, September 10, 2025 9:12 AM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

that's what makes the media's treatment of this so insane, the idea that this "complicates" Trump's story implies that there's even a story there at all, he's so guilty there's not even a coherent lie to tell

Yeah. Even within the confines of Standard Journalistic Practice, it would be totally possible to write something like this (putting on my Standard Journalistic Practice hat):

In the face of further revelations detailing a close decade-long relationship between President Donald Trump and convicted pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the White House and Republican congressional leaders on Tuesday offered an inconsistent series of statements that appeared designed to create doubt about the material without offering any evidence that it's not real.

Instead, this is the NYT lede:

Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has proved himself adept at evading the controversies that have dogged him on a near-daily basis. With the vast powers of the presidency at his disposal, he often succeeds in pivoting the national conversation to focus on political terrain he finds more favorable, like immigration or crime.

But for weeks now, there has been one controversy the president has been unable to evade: the public clamor over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased sex offender.

the White House and Republican congressional leaders on Tuesday offered an inconsistent series of statements that appeared designed to create doubt about the material without offering any evidence that it's not real.

the nyt should replace their headlines and ledes with a looping fog animation where question marks and names appear and disappear in different places

tonight, on mystery news, one framing of the alleged top story seems to be changing based on who or what may own this publication. the truth could be out there at some point.

live updates:

oof sorry tipsy, i was goofing but didn't realize it was on your suggested lede!

*inserts foot directly into mouth*

should not be posting while doing a million other things.

the actual nyt lede makes trump sound like a hero we're rooting for

Yeah, the one you're highlighting is my version of how to write something that foregrounds the actual story (as a opposed to the NYT story, which buries it under a lede that evokes Trump's "adeptness"). In a journalistic news story you're just not going to lead with "The White House is lying again about Jeffrey Epstein." That's not how news writing works. You can't purport to put yourself inside the mind of any given player in the story. All you can do is describe their actions.

You can debate the wisdom and utility of that practice, and journalists do that pretty much nonstop. But also, there's the entire world of commentary and punditry out there to take sharper and more opinionated angles. My point is that even within those confines, the mainstream media often soft-pedals things that they could say much more directly.

And editing myself, I think you could safely take out the "that appeared" because it's fair to say that their efforts are designed to create doubt, it's what they're clearly doing.

My question for myself about these things is always, "Is there any part of how I'm framing this that someone could challenge on a factual basis?" i.e. Am I in any way asserting things that I believe but can't provide backing evidence for?

Even if you take "adeptness" to mean "it keeps working," the story is merely a repeat of "how's he going to wriggle out of this" / ~wriggle~ / "well anyway...."

Trump gets away with shit, again, because MAGA's a fucking cult. Film at eleven.

The media also lets him get away with anything because of that very narrative!

In other news - from NY Times

The Trump administration is quietly dismantling efforts by the Internal Revenue Service to shut down a slew of aggressive tax shelters used by America’s biggest multinational companies and wealthiest people.

The administration, bowing to pressure from industry groups, right-wing activists and congressional Republicans, is quickly rolling back several I.R.S. law enforcement efforts, including one aimed at a lucrative tax shelter used by companies like Occidental Petroleum and AT&T.

The I.R.S. crackdown was projected to raise more than $100 billion over 10 years.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, September 9, 2025 6:32 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

That one, while abhorrent, is boilerplate GOP policy that Romney and Jeb Bush might've pushed.

― hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, September 9, 2025 6:56 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Not really. It’s part of breaking the government… the details are:

For many years it was challenging for the IRS to detect fraud in pass through entities (e.g. partnerships) used mainly by the rich. In the last couple years, the IRS took steps to fix this by implementing new forms that would make it easier to detect this fraud via automated data analysis and they hired like 3700 new staff that specialized in examining pass through entities. Trump basically fired these people. So even if the new forms and automated systems flag stuff as fraud (tax shelters), there is going to be little follow through on recouping because the people got fired.

It’s super demoralizing because the Biden era IRS “let’s actually do better at going after rich people and corporations evading tax” made me feel good about my profession. Now it’s this bullshit cited above plus increased bureaucracy and scrutiny of poor people claiming credits for their kids.

All you can do is describe their actions.

and if the action is telling lies? the fact that so many people are willing to twist themselves into knots to avoid telling the truth because it might be perceived as "biased" -- this is the reason we're in this mess to begin with. it's not a question of journalistic "best practices," it's a question of utter cowardice

Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has proved himself adept at evading the controversies that have dogged him on a near-daily basis.

weird. I wonder if the New York Times can get to the bottom of why this keeps happening

xp Yeah, you can describe the action of telling lies, which is asserting things without evidence despite evidence to the contrary. Then you describe the evidence to the contrary.

It’s considered uncouth to directly call a member of whatever elite a liar in print, even if they lie with every breath.

and if the action is telling lies? the fact that so many people are willing to twist themselves into knots to avoid telling the truth because it might be perceived as "biased" -- this is the reason we're in this mess to begin with. it's not a question of journalistic "best practices," it's a question of utter cowardice

― budo jeru

If you have integrity as a reporter, describing the administrations actions means showing how they lie in clear un-weasel English. But we don't get that reporting.

germane to this discussion, I’m recalling how struck I was by this phrasing from the NYT this morning. no “some experts say”:

The Kremlin and its allies delivered mixed messages about the drones. The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, accused the “leadership of the E.U. and NATO” of leveling accusations against Russia “on a daily basis” without providing evidence, though he did not deny Russian involvement. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had “not planned” to hit any targets in Poland and suggested that Poland was out of range of Russian drones, which is not true.

Well, it's easy to say something's not true if it's just a matter of looking at a map and the technical specs of military drones.

It does get a little trickier with something like "I didn't write that letter." We have the letter. We have all sorts of reasons to believe the letter is genuine and was provided by Trump for the purposes of Epstein's birthday book. We do not have (in the public purview, anyway) rock-solid evidence of him personally crafting it. Probably he did, and almost certainly he was aware of and approved of it even if some portion of it was put together by an underling. But if you write, "Trump says he didn't write it, which is not true," you have to be able to point to something concrete to make that statement.

And like, in this case, of course he wrote it, we all know it. But I've had plenty of experiences where I was told a very compelling version of events by somebody credible and subsequently discovered somewhat different information that (ahem) "complicated the story." Usually whatever the first person told me wasn't a lie or a fabrication, but it also wasn't the entire picture. So I mean, I understand the guardrails and why they're there. Just saying that even within those guardrails, there are very pointed ways to present information, and if you're not doing that, that's a choice.

tipsy those two ledes are super interesting, thanks for doing that. The NYT one is notable to me for being about themselves while completely eliding their own role. They give the agency to Trump: he evades controversies and shifts national conversations. But it's ludicrous to act like the NYT aren't part of that!

Writing about "the national conversation" like they're describing the path of a hurricane, like it's a real thing rather than a figurative abstraction invented by media actors to disavow their role in politics. Extremely annoying and bad

Honestly surprised he hasn't owned up to it but under the disclaimer that it was when he was an evil radical communist Democrat.

His base would eat that up.

Writing about "the national conversation" like they're describing the path of a hurricane, like it's a real thing rather than a figurative abstraction invented by media actors to disavow their role in politics. Extremely annoying and bad

^^^ biggest peeve

for real

Yup. There's this extremely bad tendency in political reporting to do sports-style color commentary — "He's trying this, they're trying that, will he get away with it?" — which treats any given event solely in terms of its potential political impact. And that framing itself then becomes part of what determines that impact.

or abstracting politics into points on a board

Amazing how close those DC protestors got to him in that restaurant unobstructed.

Trump was joined by JD Vance, the vice-president; Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary; Marco Rubio, the secretary of state; Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff; Leavitt; and others

my god... one well-placed hand grenade could have brought the world a whole lot of good

Charlie Kirk apparently shot during event at Utah university

Turning Point USA executive director can be seen in video getting struck as UVU spokesperson confirms shots fired

?!?

Extremely high chance it hit him in the head and missed his face.

"I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights" - Charlie Kirk, 2023

shot "near the neck"

By a sniper from nearby rooftop

is the gun ok?

price of freedom iirc

Extremely high chance it hit him in the head and missed his face.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Wednesday, September 10, 2025 1:56 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao

Thread title doing double duty this month,

Seems like he was shot in the neck by a 60+ white guy.

Trump was joined by JD Vance, the vice-president; Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary; Marco Rubio, the secretary of state; Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff; Leavitt; and others

my god... one well-placed hand grenade could have brought the world a whole lot of good

― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, September 10, 2025 1:33 PM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Charlie Kirk apparently shot during event at Utah university

Turning Point USA executive director can be seen in video getting struck as UVU spokesperson confirms shots fired

― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, September 10, 2025 1:53 PM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

HOLY MANIFESTATION BATMAN!

I cant believe it fucking worked

https://www.jezebel.com/we-paid-some-etsy-witches-to-curse-charlie-kirk

Based on what I’m reading on Reddit, this is not at all like when Trump got “shot”

A lot of blood gushing out in the video. I'll be surprised if he makes it.

i mean...

https://i.imgur.com/urijU4K.png

“The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X.

oh god I just saw the vid. you do not want to see it

thread title sheesh

Yeah, I read a bunch of comments and that’s all I need to know

oh god I just saw the vid. you do not want to see it

Bluesky has a setting that allows you to disable gifs and videos from autoplaying, suggest you all use it

settings > content & media > autoplay video & gifs = off

oh god I just saw the vid. you do not want to see it

Bluesky has a setting that allows you to disable gifs and videos from autoplaying, suggest you all use it

settings > content & media > autoplay video & gifs = off

this comment in that Jezebel piece! lol

Two day turn around is some rare customer service.

so is the national guard gonna get deployed to Utah?

It appears Charlie Kirk has indeed reached a turning point.

Extremely high chance it hit him in the head and missed his face.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Wednesday, September 10, 2025 11:56 AM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

LOL

so is the national guard gonna get deployed to Utah?

― frogbs, Wednesday, September 10, 2025 2:18 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

gotta watch yourself in those unsafe blue cities like...orem, utah

this seems like a pretty big deal but given the way things have been going it's probably out of the news in like 2 days. people forgot about those MN lawmakers getting shot by people impersonating cops in like, 5 hours

That depends on how right wing the person is who's shot surely?

So he dead?

the only media that matters (right wing misinfosphere) is not gonna let this one go quietly

full quote:

“You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won’t have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It’s drivel. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”

Charlie Kirk, 2023 TPUSA event

they didn't let the Cracker Barrel logo change go quietly either

Saw the video, looks pretty fatal, straight through the chest.

hopefully the shooter is as charismatic as Luigi

Oh god, the martyrdom we're going to have shoved down our throats. Barf.

Chairman of the College Republicans is saying that people in the hospital told him Kirk is dead.

Saw the video, looks pretty fatal, straight through the chest.

I would settle for permanent damage to his vocal cords so he talks like Miles Davis for the rest of his life.

His wiki says he is dead.

"I regret I have but one life to give for my guns" Charlie Kirk

was this some dude who was right by him or was it long distance?

Wiki doesn't say that now, but it does say an "elderly man was taken into custody".

200 yards away read one report I saw.

who wants to chip in on some Etsy witches?

IDF style sniper apparently

The elderly man apparently not the shooter. He was in the crowd.

Chairman of the College Republicans is saying that people in the hospital told him Kirk is dead.

watched one of the vids circulating and honestly yeah, there’s very little chance he survived.

Here's an amusing distraction: Rep. Sara Jacobs gave a speech on the House floor about gender affirming care that caused Rep. Nancy Mace to flip the fuck out.

Jacobs: "Filler is gender affirming care. Boob jobs is gender affirming care. Botox is gender affirming care. Lots of my colleagues have received gender affirming care and let me be clear, I think everyone should have access to the gender affirming care they need."

Mace: inarticulate bellowing from off-camera

Video:

https://bsky.app/profile/christianrincon.com/post/3lyite73ork2l

“A kid came up and he asked a question about how many transgender shooters there were, and Charlie gave him another comment. And then he asked one more question, and so the question was about shooters. And before Charlie Kirk could pick up the mic again, that’s when the shot happened,” Terry recounted for CNN.

Mace: inarticulate bellowing from off-camera

It's funny that no names were mentioned, but Mace took it personally.

He’s gonna get full military honors at Arlington Cenetery, isn’t he?

Mitt Romney is probably already sick and tired of being asked for comment.

for everyone saying "watch what you say, don't give the right a reason to go even more insane" let me point out that Chaffetz is already on FOX blaming this on trans people

Right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk said he hopes that Taylor Swift’s engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce will make her “more conservative” and urged her to “submit to her husband.”

remember that video where he pretended to throw a football really far lol

Right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk said he hopes that Taylor Swift’s engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce will make her “more conservative” and urged her to “submit to her husband.”

― Wounded Insulter (President Keyes), Wednesday, September 10, 2025 3:58 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

He believes this of course but it's also his job to ragebait for engagement using top headlines in pop culture

the university says a suspect is in custody

this thread title is producing results

wow so this is about 30 minutes from me lol. i'm in a zoom class. i'm glad charlie kirk is dead tbh *shrug*.

"Give Evan Millions Of Dollars": US POLITICS, OCTOBER 2025

We have but one life to live and to pursue a life that monetizes the targeting of vulnerable populations and profits off the suffering of others just means that when you’re gonna go, I feel nothing.

Why couldn’t this person have been in Pennsylvania last year…

FAFO Man FA's & FO's

xp lol was thinking the same thing

https://bsky.app/profile/parkermolloy.com/post/3lyizkb7rws2n

FAFO Man FA's & FO's

At the time of the shooting, Kirk was sitting at what he calls a “Prove Me Wrong Table”

this cracker got the barrel alright

A Turning Point USA official says Charlie Kirk is at the hospital but "it doesn’t look good.” Confirmed Kirk was shot in the neck. @CBSNews

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) September 10, 2025

It'd be wild if the shooter was a deranged Swifty.

tomorrow is September 11th, wonder what we have to look forward to

the university says a suspect is in custody

That's not what they're saying now.

NEW: A spokesman at Utah Valley University says a person taken into custody after the Charlie Kirk shooting was not actually the shooter. pic.twitter.com/veO7AhHfTW

— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) September 10, 2025

Yeah they had an old guy in custody before

Dreading that his clone on Clonus is will “donate” a replacement neck

Video of cops dragging him (the old guy) with his pants around his ankles

must've been a powerful jet

Great, they mistakenly nabbed the notorious Charlie Kirk Masturbator

Profiling guys who look like they go to farmers' markets

thinking of that poor schmo they busted at the Atlantic olympic bombing

Atlanta

Thought and prayer

https://i.imgur.com/C3Wrbux.png

fun fact #1: that campus is open carry
fun fact #2: there was only one single shot fired today

yeah he's dead

Mr Kirk's Nightmare on the IJ.

🚨 | EXCLUSIVE: Charlie Kirk has been visited in hospital by close friend, the former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who told reporters that the American political activist is recovering well and looking forward to getting back to work as soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/eMyzuYLv9e

— BAZAKE (@BazakeMedia) September 10, 2025

fuck that's messed up

The network that broadcasts his show is saying that he’s dead. May want to wait for a more trustworthy source tho.

that dude is cooked man rip

bet this was a intra right beef the left doesnt know how to snipe and it happened in a conservative area

I cant believe it fucking worked

https://www.jezebel.com/we-paid-some-etsy-witches-to-curse-charlie-kirk

― frogbs, Wednesday, 10 September 2025 20:08 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

this article has now had an editor's note added clarifying that Jezebel does not support the shooting of Charlie Kirk

xp I was wondering the same thing

he was too lib

Gotta admit this is great news for the freelance witch industry

Sir, that's what happens when you really get caught in the neck with a bullet

Several right wing media sources are reporting him dead. They may actually have better sources on this.

he was too lib

― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, September 10, 2025 4:38 PM (nineteen seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

prob just some guy he fired

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."
—Mao Zedong, Chinese communist leader

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 28, 2022

the left doesnt know how to snipe

you underestimate the amount of 360 no-scope training undergone by Americans under the age of 40

There’s always a tweet.

Charlie Kirk what's on your spectral iPod

you underestimate the amount of 360 no-scope training undergone by Americans under the age of 40

― Lady Sovereign (Citizen) (milo z), Wednesday, September 10, 2025 4:41 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

i estimated it perfectly actually

"Longneck Bottle"

He up and died.

well, Trump just confirmed Kirk's death.

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump
·
3m

The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!

this is some utah conservative type for sure.

I think I'm just gonna start FPing the 2-3 dumb motherfuckers in this thread who keep posting Trump quotes

none of us want to read that shit, you stupid fucks

fuck off

guys, guys

not that i really want to read his shit either, but really weird to call people posting the quotes of the sitting US president in the US politics thread, "dumb motherfuckers"

He was loved and admired by ALL

weird I've been getting a different vibe just browsing the internet here

Dont ruin the moment

It was also the first official confirmation of Kirk's death. But it was also beautifully written and thoughtful so I wanted to share it with all of you for inspiration.

especially me

dyin'

Yeah NYT has "Killed" in its headline now.

Well. What a very American way to go.

We’re all upset abt the death of the great and even Legendary charlie kirk, lets not start lashing out at each other

already seen my first scolding "this is not who we are" social media post

from an ex-Mormon real estate agent

he was literally being asked a question about gun violence when it happened? god the writers of this season are lazy

i didn't even know he was sick

— defleppardfan94 (@lemonade_grrrl) September 10, 2025

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_Lead_(Italy)

Not the first person I would have chosen, but it’s a start and I’ll take it.

why does it make me excited that this pos got shot dead, what is wrong with me.

from an ex-Mormon real estate agent

― Lady Sovereign (Citizen) (milo z), Wednesday, September 10, 2025 9:53 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha ewwww

We are not a cool enough country to have a real Years of Lead, we failed to draft replacements for our far-left terrorists when the government killed the best of them and the others became media studies professors.

The last time I heard of Charlie Kirk was a month ago or so when he was at that conference for young conservative women telling them they all needed to drop out of college and get married and pregnant immediately. So I guess you could say he died doing what he loved, spreading toxic ideas to young white Americans.

Also missing an eastern bloc to provide economic and material support

"We are not a cool enough country to have a real Years of Lead"

Come on, don't be so down when a great thing like this happens. The possibilities are infinite!

xp maybe they're just waiting to be asked

I mean Luigi is more popular than Justin Bieber now so who knows?

no one in custody for this yet.

Endless struggle sessions about screening the cadre for six packs will choke the movement before it flowers.

Damn even in Orem, UT (suburban Provo) this event was not an easy sell:

“The event at UVU had been met with divided opinions on campus. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

“a man that is loved by many, mainly me.”

utah county is solidly red but a softer red than trump. kind of a mormon thing. uvu and byu aren't dumb fascist camps by any means, though there is certainly that contingent.

I mean, I get why she's being careful in her messaging right now considering she's running, but Kat Abughazaleh is getting pretty roasted in the comments for her scolding Bluesky post.

even Mamdani had a milquetoast post about this

Pritzker response is the lead they should all be following.

Who would have thought that Charlie Kirk's ipod was full of The Necks and Small Faces?

It always happens, scrolling and thinking I should go outside, none of this is good for me, and then

Craziest editor’s note ever? https://t.co/Gf1uU4HtUa pic.twitter.com/ItDmoMCdkY

— Ben Kesslen (@benkesslen) September 10, 2025

people running for office should just say nothing, it's 2025 how have they not realized there's no benefit to scolding. If pushed by a reporter don't mention Kirk's name and talk about gun violence. Let your supporters believe you're secretly joining them in the lulz and don't give anyone else ammo

unless they're camping out near Laura Loomer's hotel

even Mamdani had a milquetoast post about this

I'm not sure the point of posting anything at all

what milo said

I'm not sure the point of posting anything at all

Because cable news parasites are gonna be scouring the socials of every elected official for posts they can slap onscreen, so you gotta have something.

You don't "gotta", milo is otm.

The moments leading up to Charlie Kirk's shooting, in the NYT liveblog:https://t.co/4v6g8DSy7n pic.twitter.com/pI45a9aGLc

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 10, 2025

I mean…

he wasn't an elected official, and homicides happen every day in the U.S... no one expects you to chime in on every gun crime

tbh, given that we don’t know the shooter’s motive, it probably also makes sense for high-profile politicians who could potentially in line for retaliatory violence to make it clear they’re not secretly joining in the lulz.

He died like he lived, ignorant of a wave of gun violence.

I imagine Trump was personally delighted at getting to announce his death.

Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. posted on X that he and his wife, Jill, were “praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones.” He added: “There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now.”

still laughing at 'especially me'

the flags at half-staff thing is infuriating to me. kids are shot by the dozens and the right says “oh well.” fucking hypocritical assholes all deserves the same fate as Kirk afaic

Someone willing to kill Mamdani would take him off the list for issuing a “I am not actively celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk” press release? Come on now.

saw somewhere else that since it's 9/11 tomorrow, flags are gonna be half mast anyway

xp to table

especially me

dyin'

― nashwan, Wednesday, September 10, 2025 4:51 PM (forty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol yeah never misses a chance to make it about himself

Joe Biden thinks Charlie Kirk was a tight end for the Eagles.

An hour ago I didn’t know what ‘crab rave’ was. Now I do.

is it like that scene from Blade but the sprinklers are dumping garlic butter on the crowd?

Pritzker response is the lead they should all be following.

― einstürzende louboutin (suzy), Wednesday, September 10, 2025 5:19 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

agreed make it political is the way to go, dems shd be blaming trump calling for gun control etc, not that it matters too much but i would enjoy it https://bsky.app/profile/heartlandsignal.bsky.social/post/3lyiy4mor6e2i

Donald is ordering the flags at half mast lmao

not the only things at half mast

"The world has a shining new martyr to free speech"

The murder of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy, and a sign of the utter desperation and cowardice of those who could not defeat him in argument. Charlie Kirk has been killed not for espousing extremist views - because he didn’t. He has been killed for saying things that used to be…

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 10, 2025

... I mean, Boris Johnson ffs!

Yeah guns are the things everyone should talk about with every shooting, from both moral and political standpoints.

nothing much to say here really except I really hate the term "political violence"

yeah, we have no idea the motive.. maybe he had gambling debts

Great so now epstein isn’t in the news anymore and conservatives are the victims of “radical” democrats. July 2024 all over again.

vaxxed?

Ironic that Kirk turned out to be a Red Shirt

this seems like a pretty big deal but given the way things have been going it's probably out of the news in like 2 days. people forgot about those MN lawmakers getting shot by people impersonating cops in like, 5 hours

― frogbs, Wednesday, 10 September 2025 19:34 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sorry, frogbs but two hours later this is looking like one of the most spectacularly wrong posts of the year.

these fucking clowns

Shouting broke out on the House floor after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) held a moment of prayer for conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot on Wednesday afternoon.

After the moment of silence, Johnson recognized Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

“I believe that silent prayers get silent results,” Boebert said. “Is there someone who could lead us in a moment of prayer out loud for Charlie and his family —”

Groans and a shout of “no” broke out as Boebert continued, “— and the victims in Colorado,” in an apparent reference to a Wednesday shooting at a high school in Colorado.

A lawmaker who appeared to be protesting Boebert’s request shouted something about children.

“Wait a minute. Wait a minute,” Johnson said. “The House will be in order.”

https://thehardtimes.net/culture/anti-vaxxer-finally-gets-shot/

audience member: "Do you know how many trans people have carried out mass shootings over the past 10 years?"

Kirk: "Too many..."

audience member: "the number is 5. Do you know how many mass shootings in the last 10 years there have been in America?"

Kirk: “Counting or not counting gang violence?”

(shot)

(unclear if Moderna or Pfizer)

nothing much to say here really except I really hate the term "political violence"

― rob, Wednesday, September 10, 2025 5:47 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, we have no idea the motive.. maybe he had gambling debts

― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, September 10, 2025 5:52 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah I mean even if it was exclusively applied to assassinations of government officials or politicians, it would still be meaningless -- and I don't recall it coming up yesterday when Israel tried to assassinate Hamas leaders -- but this dead loser wasn't elected to anything. it's "political violence" because he was a sociopathic right-winger? oh ok

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:s6j27rxb3ic2rxw73ixgqv2p/bafkreids42l4ifvb7ingyg5aw5uihlll6z5oldwe47px3alo7taoayvcqy@jpeg

yeah it really seems like these people have no idea that theyre making a judgement about who is allowed to do political violence which is wild considering many of them are professional political pundits

I agree that you can't categorize it unless/until you know the motive. But if Kirk was shot by somebody who disagreed with him or opposed his work, which was explicitly political, I think that's political violence. If Rachel Maddow was murdered by a right-winger who killed her for her opinions, I'd call that political violence. Or to use a real example, when a crazy right-winger shot up a Unitarian church here in town and killed two people because he said he wanted to "kill some liberals," that felt like political violence.

the term is meaningless because its only ever applied to a conveniently tiny sliver of violent political actors

no one in custody for this yet.

Now there is.

Now there isn't.

Slippery fella, huh?

Schrodinger’s assassin

it was me but it was an accident i thought it was video games

Writing up a Poker Face S3 pitch right now

"if Kirk was shot by somebody who disagreed with him or opposed his work, which was explicitly political, I think..."

Jeff Foxworthy sweats all over his keyboard

Damn that transcript is really something huh

At least Kirk died doing what he loved: advocating for the forgotten victims of Black-on-Black crime

On another, surprising, note: The Supreme Court says a transgender boy can use the boys’ bathroom in his South Carolina high school, for now.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09/10/us/trump-news#supreme-court-transgender-bathroom

pretty wild that the pro gun violence guy got killed with a gun while trivializing mass shootings under a sign that said prove me wrong

lol

he apprently was wearing a shirt that said freedom too, its a bit much

it was me but it was an accident i thought it was video games

it's you, it's you, it's all for you

That transcript posted above is real?

On another, surprising, note: The Supreme Court says a transgender boy can use the boys’ bathroom in his South Carolina high school, for now.

they're only interested in banning transfemmes from bathrooms it seems.

"The murder of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy, and a sign of the utter desperation and cowardice of those who could not defeat him in argument."

yeah nah, from what ihave seen defeating him in argument was a piece of piss

it's you, it's you, it's all for you

I shouted out, "who killed the Charliekirks?"

don't worry, guys

https://i.imgur.com/Eyu307a.jpeg

Over on x, obama posted a statement that he and michelle were praying for kirk’s family and violence like this has no place in politics. Standard statement.

Underneath him are hundreds of comments saying “you did this.”

Literally how? The right’s memory of obama is deranged.

"The murder of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy, and a sign of the utter desperation and cowardice of those who could not defeat him in argument."

yeah nah, from what ihave seen defeating him in argument was a piece of piss

― unknown or illegal user (doo rag), Wednesday, 10 September 2025 18:51 (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

If the shooter had waiting a few more seconds he was about to finish losing another

Sorry, frogbs but two hours later this is looking like one of the most spectacularly wrong posts of the year.

― AI Jardine (Tom D.), Wednesday, September 10, 2025 4:58 PM (fifty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

give it a few days, maybe McDonalds will reveal that Grimace was a woman all along or something

9/10 & 9/11 The Never Forget Twins

xxxp Maybe a bunch of gun nuts think Obama was responsible for gun -free zones?

Those began with the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.

“I can’t stand the word empathy. I think empathy is a made up New Age term that does a lot of damage“ ~ Charles Kirk

I would be really impressed if a politician took this lolpportunity to mourn the increasing death toll in Gaza.

^^^

The gun-free school acts was another piece of the carceral state boom as a way to imprison black people … just in case there was any doubt

Unlike Kissinger and Thatcher, this fucker had decades left to be a piece of shit that we are now spared from.

Literally how?

Well, he did make fun of Trump and create this entire timeline...

But they mean that he created all political division in this country. It didn't exist before 2009.

Yes it’s standard knowledge on the right that America was so unracist it even elected a Black guy, who then proceeded to divide the country by insisting on staying Black the whole time he was in office. Occasionally he would even mention it!

birds of a feather

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ccrabc6xdnjx4l7btvynnng4/bafkreihk5njdymqtl5die3ipfw5tqkbbnbemp4e7iqlbafrcahwyf4xhvq@jpeg

Oh god Charlie is going to be a statue in “The National Garden of Heroes” isn’t he?

I don't really blame Mamdani, Piker, Kat Abughazaleh, or any other public figure for their statements on this. Public figures in the US already run the risk of this kind of thing, and given the relative likelihood of a retaliatory assassination attempt I'd also want to try swerve that one. Piker was going to debate Kirk in public, in a few weeks time. That potentially propels him up any kind of list. A lot of energised people with guns out there

Also these are all figures, with the possible exception of Piker, that want to reduce violence and aren't in favor of violence on their opponents. The conservatives who didn't say anything about the Minnesota assassinations don't share this view about their opponents

kinda with frogs here itll all blow over no one really gives a shit its just charlie kirk all the rw politicos are incapable of feeling decent human emotion and hate each other anyway

its not like hes the cracker barrel logo or something

i think this will be a big moment for a lot of people - i’d say “narrowly” but it’s like tens of millions of people - the white nationalist evangelicals. evangelical’s defining point, or way the fuck up there, is leaning on a charismatic bullshitter to tell everyone why it’s ok to hate everyone else, why in fact, they need to be paranoid and angry and hate everyone else that isn’t straight, white, and christian. (the straight and christian part is explicit - the “white” part gets implied in so many indirect ways). charlie kirk was taking the torch from hateful televangelists and bringing it into this century. billy graham’s thing was so hokey, but there was a time when he was young and charismatic (to fucked up people) too.

anyway, it’s a tough L for everyone trying to make money and gain personal power through promoting hatred of others. rush limbaugh was a giant motherfucker but at least he became old (was limbaugh actually a believer? i don’t know, but one of my last conversations with my dad was with him and a church pastor in SE missouri, who told us that “Rush” had been been giving huge donations to his church and many others in the regions for 20+ years, so he sure knew how to make allies with them). charlie kirk was supposed to be growing the evangelical hate movement for the next 50 years, and he was a specialist in manipulating children and young adults, too.

are they even capable of having a big moment theyre already at 10 all the time total agitation 24/7 no attention span moving from one outrage to the next

btw when i say ‘big moment’, i mean like for that lady in forest gump who’s like “i remember where i was when wallace was shot"

sad thing is there will be another charlie kirk next week etc. hopefully someone a little less ugly but then that's part of the job description.

I assure you the vast majority of young people think Charlie Kirk is “wack”, as the kids say today I’m told.

Yeah my kids both hate Charlie Kirk and aren’t exactly torn up about this, they are just kind of amazed.

The news broke during my kid’s math class, and everyone was basically like well that guy sucked. He was familiar with his work from YouTube videos where he was getting owned.

god i hope the shooter is mormon-connected somehow and the lds church gets a little *ahem* rifled. though with 300 bil in the bank that shit don't matter.

Sad thing? … oh, you aren’t talking about the execution of another rw shithead… yeah ….

are they even capable of having a big moment theyre already at 10 all the time total agitation 24/7 no attention span moving from one outrage to the next

Yeah changing a corporate logo was the death of the republic just a couple weeks ago

who is the other super right wing young annoying guy, the short dude. my partner's nephews were once under his sway. not charlie kirk's though.

ben shapiro?

Ben Shapiro. Probably nobody cares about him enough to shoot him.

He was familiar with his work from YouTube videos where he was getting owned.

― omar little, Wednesday, September 10, 2025 7:29 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol rough

Ben Shapiro. Probably nobody cares about him enough to shoot him.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Thursday, September 11, 2025 12:32 AM (thirty-seven seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha

my cousin is currently trying to create an argument with facebook about how if you’re not heartbroken by kirk’s death you should leave america

(reminded me to renew my passport before it’s too late)

Ben Shapiro’s audience has got to be 65+ on average. Kirk actually seemed to be pretty good at gathering together all the Zoomer/Late Millennial psychos.

i'm not exactly cheerful about it, an atmosphere of random violence is shitty no matter who it is, the campus is shut down until sunday etc. i am kinda craving a 'headshot' meme but i know i'll feel bad if i see it, like i just ate some frozen cheesecake or something.

My cousin's 19-year-old kid was a Scott Peterson fan...several years ago. Pretty sure he likes Shapiro.

I'm with map, a bunch of people just witnessed a murder in broad daylight and I don't really think that's something to cheer about honestly

better if his car had exploded on some remote turnpike

learning a lot about the Italian "Years Of Lead" today

its a great turn of phrase

Even just pragmatically, nothing good will come of this death. He is going to be a martyr for the right wing — a group that becomes more explicitly white nationalist with each passing year. I dip into X sometimes out of morbid curiosity and the prevalence of white nationalism is always shocking. Right now many accounts are using this murder along with the murder of the ukranian woman in charlotte as evidence that “something has to be done” — that all this is connected to white replacement. I hope they are mostly bots.

Four people got shot near my home over the weekend… at least one was not an intended target … just a dude getting late night tacos or something… and the news made a thing about the shooting because it was in a zip code that mattered vs the two where there’s the weekly shooting death that merits 3 sentences. So to find out that a nationally loathsome piece of shit gets shot as opposed to a dude getting tacos at the wrong time … yes that does make me cheery.

It’s not mentioned enough how elon obviously is boosting this extremist content — not just neglecting to moderate it. It’s not “conservative” content I see over there, it’s nazism.

we know

Oh god Charlie is going to be a statue in “The National Garden of Heroes” isn’t he?

There's never going to be a "National Garden of Heroes". If you ask the mad king about it he'll give you a blank stare and then say he'll have something to say about that in about two weeks.

I think Charlie Kirk will be pretty much totally forgotten by this time next year. Did you know Glenn Beck is still alive? No you didn't.

this is what happens when you fire all the competent people

‪Yashar Ali 🐘‬
✧@yashar✧✧✧.b✧✧✧.soc✧✧✧‬
· 1m
BREAKING

The killer of Charlie Kirk remains at large.

FBI Director Kash Patel just now:

“The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement. Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency.”

Silksong fans love it when a Ben Shapiro