WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.
Friday, January 31, 2025
Happy Hour
Seems bad.
Team Pritzker
A useful corrective to all the officials who are handing over their lunch money. Well, your lunch money.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is blocking those who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol from working in state jobs, ignoring President Donald Trump's attempt to offer them a clean slate last week in a sweeping set of pardons and commutations.
Late Thursday, Pritzker directed the state’s Department of Central Management Services, the state’s primary hiring authority, to restrict hiring of those who took part in the attack on the Capitol by declaring they had taken part in “infamous and disgraceful conduct that is antithetical to the mission of the State.”
On Message
You (we) can do this without actually lying.
The blog era is behind us, but there was a brief period when leadership offices (Pelosi, Reid) took the benefits of having an alternative somewhat (even if not always!) supportive media seriously. Then... they all just forgot.
Bust Out
The new vision of government is "Elon and Donad get to take it all."
Nothing DOJ can do!!
Nothing DOJ can do!!
The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department is departing after a clash with allies of billionaire Elon Musk over access to sensitive payment systems, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks.
Remember When Bill Clinton Met Loretta Lynch On The Tarmac
And now no one thinks anyone in the Trump administration could be prosecuted for anything. Anyone he likes, anyway.
Our news outlets are not all powerful, but despite their lying protestations, they do pick their battles. Lately their battles have been things like "trying to ruin the lives of trans people" and "making sure that uppity Harvard president gets fired."
They get so mad whe you point out what they're doing, and then lie about the criticisms!
Journalism!
Our news outlets are not all powerful, but despite their lying protestations, they do pick their battles. Lately their battles have been things like "trying to ruin the lives of trans people" and "making sure that uppity Harvard president gets fired."
They get so mad whe you point out what they're doing, and then lie about the criticisms!
Journalism!
Highly Paid Advanced Politics Knowers
That they believed this shows they do not understand anything about politics.
People tout polls saying even dem-leaning people thought immigration was an important issue, but this is mostly because their leaders (Democrats) went on TV and agreed it was.
Generally you don't beat conservatives on their home field, and Dems have been insisting they can my whole life.
People might have "legitimate concerns" about immigration. It is a genuine policy question and reasonable non-racist people can argue about the details (love or hate immigration, our system is a fucking mess!). But once it becomes a live cable news issue all of that is out the window.
You don't satisfy anti-immigrant sentiment by touting your very sensible bipartisan plan to be very tough on immigrants indeed. You satisfy it by going on TV and being a big racist, though that doesn't even satisfy it, it just feeds it.I was on an MSNBC panel last year when Republicans rejected Biden's bipartisan immigration compromise, and the liberal guests were genuinely convinced it was going to seal Trump's defeat in November. Never made any sense to me
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) January 31, 2025
People tout polls saying even dem-leaning people thought immigration was an important issue, but this is mostly because their leaders (Democrats) went on TV and agreed it was.
Generally you don't beat conservatives on their home field, and Dems have been insisting they can my whole life.
People might have "legitimate concerns" about immigration. It is a genuine policy question and reasonable non-racist people can argue about the details (love or hate immigration, our system is a fucking mess!). But once it becomes a live cable news issue all of that is out the window.
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Trade Wars
The press will probably pay the most attention to the big ticket (steel, aluminium) items that Canada is likely to retaliate with, but the "fun" stuff is "let's piss off an individual member of Congress." Last time they had a fight with Trump they went after a bunch of Kentucky products to tickle Mitch McConnell. Such things don't necessarily involve a lot of money, but they can gut an important, or at least well-connected, local company.
Is This DEI
What we know for sure is the people responsible will not be blamed, because lol that's not how America works.
Staffing was ‘not normal’ at airport tower, according to a preliminary F.A.A. report.
Staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” according to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report about the collision that was reviewed by The New York Times.
This Ain't It, Champ
In the first week, Trump removed 7,300 people. On average, Biden was removing 15,000 a week.
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 30, 2025
Under Biden 72% of ICE arrests were criminals. Under Trump it's dropped to around 50%.
Trump is removing less people and less criminals. These guys are terrible at everything. https://t.co/rytt6ONTTm
Today Is The Day Donald Trump Became President
Trump went on TV and blamed a bunch of people (Obama, Biden, DEI, Buttigieg, intellectually inferior people [wink], etc.) so I guess it's ok to "politicize" things.
First He Came For Inspector General for the US Department of Agriculture
I think Trump should get rid of Powell, both because he's right that Powell should have cut (or at least, should have previously, who knows in the glorious new Turmp era), and because fake Fed Independence is part of the ridiculous religion of econobollocks (independent from whom, motherfuckers, independent FROM WHOM?)
US President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on the US central bank, hours after officials left interest rates unchanged despite his public calls for them to cut.Powell is a Person Who Matters, you see.
Now Is Not The Time To Determine Who Is Responsible For What
A big difference betweeen Democrats and Republicans is that no matter what happens, the Republicans go on TV and [in this iteration] blame it on Woke or whatever. It doesn't always work, but throw enough spaghetti against the wall and something sticks.
You can say that's intrinsically dishonest and "we" shouldn't emulate that, and I agree to some extent, but there's something inbetween that and "carefully choose an issue, do one cable news hit, fail to hear the applause, and move on."
It's not a stretch to blame almost everything bad that happens on Trump and has goons shutting down the federal government, though that does require defending the government. Asking people who are part of the government to defend it shouldn't be so much of an ask!
You can say that's intrinsically dishonest and "we" shouldn't emulate that, and I agree to some extent, but there's something inbetween that and "carefully choose an issue, do one cable news hit, fail to hear the applause, and move on."
It's not a stretch to blame almost everything bad that happens on Trump and has goons shutting down the federal government, though that does require defending the government. Asking people who are part of the government to defend it shouldn't be so much of an ask!
Morning Briefing
I get that maybe no one understands what's going on, but do you think this, from the New York Times emailed "morning briefing," even comes close to explaining it?
Trump reversed an order to freeze federal fundsAre people getting their grants and loans or not? NOBODY KNOWS!
The White House yesterday walked back President Trump’s order to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans. A federal judge had on Tuesday temporarily blocked the order after it caused mass confusion across the country.
The Trump administration had struggled to explain the funding freeze, a decision that interrupted the Medicaid system, which provides health care to millions of low-income Americans.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, wrote on social media that “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze.” She said the president’s executive orders on federal funding “remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
The decision by the Trump administration to pull the directive was a significant reversal. Democratic leaders celebrated the announcement.
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
The Beat Sweetener
They all (except Axios!) write their love letters to the new press secretary so they can get the press releases 5 seconds before the other guys. Journalism!
And once you start, you can't stop. Are you going to point out that your new favorite source is a liar? No! So what are you doing?
And once you start, you can't stop. Are you going to point out that your new favorite source is a liar? No! So what are you doing?
Clarity
Calvinball continues.
... I don't speak fluent conservative gibberish, but I think this means they think they can make the court case moot by rescinding the memo, while still having the substance of the memo be in effect. Card says moops level lawyerbrain.
Confusion among Senate Republicans about where things stand on Trump’s funding freeze and OMB.
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 29, 2025
“My understanding is that they rescinded the memo but they didn't rescind the intention,” Kennedy says
Q: How does that work?
“I don't understand.”
Choose Your Fighters
Some intel: I've talked to journalists and folks on the Hill about this. Last night after OMB's action, some Senate Dems tried to unify the caucus to vote against Duffy. Schumer, among others, opposed it, and it flopped. The current Dem leadership strategy is to use strong language but not do shit.
— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 9:33 PM
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Well that was fun
Marisa broke the story of the first memo.
🚨 BREAKING: OMB has just issued a memo *rescinding* the previous memo freezing all federal financial assistance programs. Full text, per government source:
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 5:48 PM
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Well What Are You Going To Do About
No I don't think The Klob or any of them have have a magic wand, but even a failing plan is better than no plan.The reckless funding freeze by the Trump administration jeopardizes everything from community health centers to cancer research to child care to critical infrastructure projects. It is an unconstitutional power grab that puts lives and livelihoods at risk.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar.com) January 28, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Axios, Welcome To The Resistance
The NYT and WaPo have puff pieces about Karoline Leavitt and Style-sectionish coverage of her press briefing including this from the Wapo:
“I commit to telling the truth from this podium every single day,” Leavitt said.
White House Press Secretary Makes Steely and Unflinching DebutOnly Axios says, AKSHUALLY, she's a fucking liar.
The big picture: Asked by a reporter how many of the 3,500 immigrants arrested since Trump took office have criminal records, Leavitt said, "all of them because they illegally broke our nation's laws."
- "I know the last administration didn't see it that way, so it's a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal, but that's exactly what they are."
- Leavitt declined to say if all the undocumented immigrants had criminal records.
Reality check: There is no law making it a crime to live in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant. Instead, the law treats it as a civil violation.
Back to the WaPo, which concludes with the decoder ring for their coverage:
Observers, including White House correspondents, were eager to see what approach Leavitt, 27, would take to engaging with the media. Leavitt, who served as an intern during Trump’s first administration, was a public-facing spokesperson for the Trump campaign last year, making her a logical choice to serve as press secretary as someone who was already familiar to the journalists who have covered the president.
The title is a joke, but every time you make criticisms of the NYT and WaPo, they respond with, "OUR JOB IS NOT TO BE THE RESISTANCE."
New White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did her first press briefing today and told a number of demonstrable lies (about condoms for Gaza, the criminal records of undocumented migrants, and more). This is how the New York Times covered it.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 4:24 AM
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Break Everything
I admit I don't know where I am on the "they are trying to break everything" versus "they are trying to break some things but are too stupid to know what is what" question.
I know, a bit of both, as always.
I know, a bit of both, as always.
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
A Bit Too Neat, Writers
They were going to have him die of Covid until they decided at the last minute to renew it for a second season. Having Elon Musk fuck up his plane for season 2 is probably a bit too obvious.
Boeing is working with Trump advisor Elon Musk on ways to deliver delayed, overbudget Air Force One replacements sooner, CEO Kelly Ortberg said Tuesday.The pair of Boeing 747s that will serve as the next Air Force One aircraft are more than $2 billion over budget and years late, which the company has attributed to design changes, labor constraints and supply chain problems. President Donald Trump struck a deal for the aircraft during his first term, after threatening to “cancel order!” before he took office in 2017, complaining about high costs.
The AI Race
Even if Spicy Clippy is revolutionary, it is hard to see how one even wins the "race" or benefits from it.
Throw More Money Down The Well
Priorities.
The DeepSeek announcement from China has been called by some AI’s “Sputnik moment” for America.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 27, 2025
It’s precisely why I made AI a top priority in the last Congress and will keep at it.
Our competitors are going to use every single opportunity they get to overtake the US’s lead on…
Type The Press Release
Embarrassing how newspapers just ran with White House spin, but get used to it!
A deportation arrangement with Colombia that the White House on Sunday night presented as a total victory for Donald Trump is looking less clear in the light of day.
The Colombians the US tried to deport by military flights on Sunday will start traveling back to Colombia on Monday on the nation’s own planes, according to the South American country’s ambassador to the US.
Who presented it that way motherfuckers? WHO PRESENTED IT THAT WAY???
The latest NYT story fronts Trump's victory lap even though if you read carefully it is clear Petra "won."Only Got One Hammer
We are going to talk about how we like to talk about kitchen table issues, while sitting at the kitchen table, and consider "immigrants and trans people being herded into camps" as just noise, and also probably good.
The new administration was going to “flood the zone,” and Democrats couldn’t afford to chase every single outrage — or nothing was going to sink in for the American people, Jeffries told them, according to a person in the room who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
Jeffries, D-N.Y., urged members to focus their message on the cost of living, along with border security and community safety.
Crime is out of control and there are too many immigrants, Mr. President! WHERE IS THAT WALL YOU PROMISED!!!
Who is part of the community, Hakeem, WHO IS PART OF THE FUCKING COMMUNITY?
Monday, January 27, 2025
That Fucking Newspaper
The generous, benevolent, helping Mr. Smotrich.
Mr. Smotrich has long advocated for helping Gazans who want to leave to depart, and for the Israeli military to remain in the enclave to help pave the way for eventual Jewish settlement there."helping Gazans who want to leave [after we turned their world into a hellscape]."
I Guess, As Usual, You Didn't Think About This One For Five Seconds
Kids generally have two physical parents, but not all of them bother to appear for the birth certificate.
How can I prove my father was a US citizen? How can I do this years later?
Practial issues aren't the only ones, but at least fucking think through those before you decide to end birthright citizenship, as a little compromise with fascists.
Once something ceases to be a right - an extremely clear constitutional one in this case - it becomes an always adjustable, contestable, and removable bureaucratic grant.
Today is an appropriate day to consider what happens when citizenship is negotiable!
Begun The Trade Wars Have
These headlines don't contradict each other, but the difference does show the importance of headlines, and neither story makes clear what, exactly, was agreed to after this.
NYT
Petro had said earlier that his government would not accept flights carrying migrants deported from the U.S. until the Trump administration creates a protocol that treats them with "dignity." Petro made the announcement in two X posts, one of which included a news video of migrants reportedly deported to Brazil walking on a tarmac with restraints on their hands and feet."A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves," Petro said. "That is why I returned the U.S. military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants... In civilian planes, without being treated like criminals, we will receive our fellow citizens."
Sunday, January 26, 2025
These Fucking People
Don't deport *my* immigrants!!!
A South Florida Republican is urging President Donald Trump to spare hundreds of thousands of people from Latin America and the Caribbean from his immigration crackdown.
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar called on the Department of Homeland Security in a letter Friday not to remove people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who were allowed to enter the U.S. by President Joe Biden’s administration under a humanitarian parole program.
Sure Why Not
I expect a lot more "not giving a shit" about this than DC conventional wisdom believes.
WASHINGTON/BOGOTA Jan 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would impose retaliatory measures on Colombia including tariffs, sanctions and travel bans after the South American country turned away two U.S. military aircraft with migrants being deported as part of Trump's immigration crackdown.Trump's using military planes for no reason other than to pretend it's a military issue.
If You're A Star
Musk deliberately gave a Nazi salute twice and then gave a speech to neo-Nazis and our glorious truth-telling journalists and pundits are still doing the equivalent of this.
There are a lot of reasons Peters wrote that - including that he is a racist piece of shit himself, one of those reporters who transmutes "racism" (perpetrator) into "racial anxieties" (victims) - but one is simply that for years reporters who know nothing about Musk (the highly paid ones whose names you know) refused to listen to the reporters who did (the low paid ones who actually work for a living).
There are a lot of reasons Peters wrote that - including that he is a racist piece of shit himself, one of those reporters who transmutes "racism" (perpetrator) into "racial anxieties" (victims) - but one is simply that for years reporters who know nothing about Musk (the highly paid ones whose names you know) refused to listen to the reporters who did (the low paid ones who actually work for a living).
The Best Ideas
The tech brain geniuses trying to explain to us how the Spicy Clippy is going to change the world.
So imagine a world in which an A.I. knows your stress levels tend to drop more after playing World of Warcraft than after a walk in nature. Imagine a world in which an A.I. can analyze your reading patterns and alert you that you’re about to buy a book where there’s only a 10 percent chance you’ll get past Page 6.A not very good personal assistant who is capable of doing dumb stuff, often incorrectly.
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Sure Why Not
"Fascinating"
I didn't read it and maybe it's extremely interesting, insightful, and relevant, but it is also completely fair to criticize how the newspaper of record markets The Politics Show.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Just handing over their lunch money daily.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a negotiator of past immigration deals, said the GOP isn't going to rely on Democrats for a deal to beef up immigration enforcement.
“On border security, no,” Graham told NBC News, making it clear that the GOP will instead use the Senate's arcane budget process to bypass a filibuster and effectively cut out Democrats.
The push came in a letter Wednesday to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., which was led by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and signed by 12 other Democrats, most of them from politically competitive states.
Seems Bad
What's happening here, Washington Post.
...wait, hold on, paragraph 3!
The White House late Friday fired the independent inspectors general of at least 12 major federal agencies in a purge that could clear the way for President Donald Trump to install loyalists in the crucial role of identifying fraud, waste and abuse in the government.Well I've read the top of the story, no needing to keep reading.
...wait, hold on, paragraph 3!
The dismissals appeared to violate federal law, which requires Congress to receive 30 days’ notice of any intent to fire a Senate-confirmed inspector general."Appeared."
Friday, January 24, 2025
You Know What Happened Next? Joe Biden Won
They probably should've continued listening to The Groups, instead of moving right on immigration, lending credence to Trump's biggest issue, and pushing public opinion against immigrants. Everything The Left always says will happen when you try to out-Republican Republicans.
They also wanted anti-war people to shut the fuck up 2004. Maybe they're right that it would've helped if they did, but "telling people to shut the fuck up" only seems to apply to The Left, when for others it's "listening to their legitimate concerns."
Their line is, basically, "Democrats can't win unless everybody is an unpaid campaign volunteer, on message all the time just like we are, from our boats." And, I dunno guys, that's not a viable campaign plan!Yup! Dems had a very popular message and policy on immigration. But thanks to a small group of activists who never represented most Latinos or immigrants, this is what happened when Biden used the same exact language in 2020: https://t.co/mI3Y6uvpvw https://t.co/6dyjnLpUVj
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) January 24, 2025
They also wanted anti-war people to shut the fuck up 2004. Maybe they're right that it would've helped if they did, but "telling people to shut the fuck up" only seems to apply to The Left, when for others it's "listening to their legitimate concerns."
Mommy and Daddy Parties
Forget the substance of being "tough on immigration" for a moment, or anything having to do with reality. Is there a single voter in the county who would believe that Harris would be "tougher" on immigration than Donald Trump?
Even if being tougher on immigration is popular, even if it is one area where Donald Trump is beating her, how insane do campaign advisers have to be to tell her to go out there and claim she's going to be a bigger bastard than Donald Trump?
The people who were responsible for the campaign blamed The Left for this shit.
Now they are paralyzed because too many of them still want to prove they're the Big Balled Beat The Immigrants party.
Even if being tougher on immigration is popular, even if it is one area where Donald Trump is beating her, how insane do campaign advisers have to be to tell her to go out there and claim she's going to be a bigger bastard than Donald Trump?
The people who were responsible for the campaign blamed The Left for this shit.
Now they are paralyzed because too many of them still want to prove they're the Big Balled Beat The Immigrants party.
Echoes of the Kerry campaign, which was basically "George Bush isn't killing enough of the right brown people." It was dumb then, but it was more understandable dumb in the post-9/11 era.
This Won't Bring Down Price Of Eggs, Mr. President!!!
Seems bad.
Kennedy, then chairman of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit, later recounted online that Samoan “government officials, including the Prime Minister were curious to measure health outcomes following the ‘natural experiment’ created by the respite from vaccines.” Wherever the idea originated, Kennedy was quick to offer them a way to do it.
It’s a milder version of an idea he has long championed at home — that the safety of vaccines, well established by scientific consensus, needs to be studied further in the kind of trials that would depend on a large group of children going without them. With a renowned health informatics expert in tow, Kennedy visited Samoa in 2019, to pitch the prime minister and ministry of health on an information system that would track the impact of medical interventions, including vaccines, on the nation’s 200,000 citizens.
Way To The Right
I know we're supposed to pretend the last year didn't happen, beginning with the Dems desperately trying to pass a Bipartisan (Republican) Immigration Bill, which the Republicans, predictably, LucyFootballed, and ending with this:
"I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers that came into our country illegally. I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won," Harris said. "Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk," she said.People can argue it was Smart Politics if they want, but don't fucking tell me it didn't happen. What happened is after Harris lost, the people who argued that was smart and necessary and good pretended it didn't happen, and went on to make their next boat payment.
Send Up The Jake Tapper Signal
Have the Dems said anything about our precious troops being harassed?
[the answer to the question is no one in leadership has]
“Today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided a local establishment in the City of Newark, detaining undocumented residents as well as citizens, without producing a warrant. One of the detainees is a U.S. military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned. This egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures….’They went way to the right on immigration, ran right into a blind alley, and don't know how to get themselves out of it.
[the answer to the question is no one in leadership has]
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Step 1
Reagan appointee.
A federal judge in Seattle blocked, temporarily, President Donald Trump’s attempt to rescind birthright citizenship — the idea spelled out in the Constitution that every person born in the United States is an American citizen.
Senior U.S. District Judge John Coughenour on Thursday was blistering in his criticism of Trump’s action as he granted a temporary restraining order that blocks Trump’s executive order from taking effect nationwide.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” Coughenour, an appointee of Ronald Reagan, said from the bench. “There are other times in world history where we look back and people of goodwill can say where were the judges, where were the lawyers?”
Sure Why Not
I bet this story went through many editors.
An aide to House Speaker Mike Johnson advised Republican colleagues against subpoenaing former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson as part of their investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack to prevent the release of sexually explicit texts that lawmakers sent her, according to written correspondence reviewed by The Post and a person familiar with the effort.Computer, enhance and accentuate:
Knowing Your Product's Value
CNN:
They have also been prototyping a new video news service that allows users to swipe through vertical videos as they do on apps like TikTok and Instagram. Mr. Thompson said it’s not clear yet whether that will exist as a stand-alone product or as a section of CNN’s mobile app.The Democrats
“You can use your thumb to flick from a CNN news story to a CNN anchor to a reporter,” Mr. Thompson said. “That’s a really interesting experiment.”
In a private Senate Democratic luncheon last week, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey led colleagues through the shifting dynamics of a media echo chamber that conservatives are thriving in. Democrats scoured examples of how conspiracy theories like one about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, spread rapidly in the conservative media sphere and how Democrats needed to try to harness their own tools to get their messages out better.I know it's the senate so they need it to be about them otherwise half will fall asleep, but if you want to know how to Do Internet you should talk to people who are actually good at it, not relive the glory days of Mark Warner's disgsuting 2020 tuna melt.
...
One of the bright spots Democrats highlighted, according to a source familiar, was a viral video from the pandemic of Warner making a tuna melt in his kitchen that led to the lawmaker being cheered and jeered by people who questioned his culinary leanings.
Winter Fundraiser Day 3
It is quickly becoming like the bad old days of the first Bush term, though for very different reasons. This little blog had a bit of impact back then, maybe it will again!
Venmo!
Venmo!
or
Well What Are You Going To Do About It
I keep coming back this story, told by an ex-Obama person (I forget which) about how journalists treated Republicans refusing to replace Scalia.
Basically the Obama guy thought "this is outrageous" was the obvious spin, but the reporter kept coming back to the question in the title.
I know journalists deserve some scorn for their asymmetrical admiration of Republicans shenanigans, and it is correct to see that they are always eager to transmit outrage about any Dem norms violations.
Still it was the right question. Dems too much think the strategy is to get the press to call foul and administer a penalty. It isn't actually their job even if they do it frequently.
Dems who don't have any answers to that question should move aside for those who do.
What Could Go Wrong
Trump can just keep pardoning him, everyone, himself. Although, given the DOJ is now just is personal force, it doesn't matter!
Unlimited crimes!
Unlimited crimes!
Morning
"We" tried to warn them that even the trolling versions of "we want to work with you on cutting costs, Mr. Trump" were fucking stupid.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Wanker of the Day
SPECIAL RETRO FUNDRAISING EDITION.
I don't remember if it was McArdle that time, but once some white knighting journalist (I forget who) took umbrage to the fact that I made a woman the Wanker of the Day because women can't be wankers. Okay buddy.
Don't be a wanker!
Our Safe Space
Voters just want to hear us talking about how all we want to do is talk about kitchen table issues.
During a weekly meeting with House Democratic chiefs of staff on Tuesday, an aide for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries played a recent clip of the New York Democrat being asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether he’d support funding Trump’s mass deportation plans.He was proud of that!
Jeffries responded by saying Democrats want to focus on bringing down the cost of living and hit Republicans for their lack of an agenda on that issue. In a follow-up question about Trump’s deportation plans, Jeffries said, “The administration needs to focus on the removal of violent felons.”
US Attorney Scandal
One reason we're here is that everybody mostly pretended not to notice the extreme corruption of the Bush administration - they were good, heroic, chaps, just trying to keep us safe - and then of course we had to look forward, not backward.
The US Attorney Scandal under Bush was Watergate level shit, the complete corruption of the Justice Department, as we are seeing once again. Its revelation made most of the press corps very uncomfortable, for reasons they make obvious regularly.
Access Journalism
Do we think these people are there to get scoops? That there is any point to beat sweeteners other than the next beat sweetener? That they prioritize anything other than their fun and careers? That they would try to print anything that would make their experience in the briefing room less enjoyable for them, personally?
"Access journalism" is nothing more than proving you will do free PR for the people you are supposed to cover, so that you are the first one to get the press release. SCOOP EXCLUSIVE!
I have spent 23 years writing about how they are vapid, gossip-obsessed, preening idiots who would burn the country down for a photo op with The Preznit and they just tweeted it out!
Winter Fundraiser Day 2
I'm sure someone made a bet that they'd give me a MILLION DOLLARS for every inch of snow in Florida!
I Am Uncomfortable When We Are Not About Me
Amazing people.
“I think it’s important for people to understand the context, that we’re coming out of four years of Biden and things haven’t been great,” one White House print reporter told CJR. “There’ve been fewer eyeballs on the press briefings and less attention than under Trump, so people just don’t understand some of the very frustrating things that we’ve dealt with and that we hope are going to be rolled back.”Among those frustrations: the Biden press office largely kept reporters at a remove from the president, who—as Cameron Joseph noted here last year—had agreed to far fewer formal interviews than any president before him. Instead, White House reporters say, the Biden team preferred to offer background quotes from in-house experts whose job it was to speak to the press; when the president did meet with a large number of outlets, like during his pre-election rounds of interviews on Black radio stations, it was through highly orchestrated conversations, sometimes including preapproved lists of questions. Inside the briefing room, reporters who didn’t hold coveted front-row seats felt they got much less opportunity to ask questions.“For a lot of people, what was the point in even going?” said a veteran White House reporter.Trump, on the other hand, adores the attention of the media, even as he frequently maligns the reporters themselves. During his first term, he regularly chatted with White House reporters during strolls to Marine One, and held a number of high-profile, if occasionally ill-conceived, televised sit-downs, with everyone from Axios’s Jonathan Swan to Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy. (On his first night back, Trump spent forty-five minutes casually answering media questions in the Oval Office, while he signed executive orders.)“Despite his sometimes strident and sometimes even violent rhetoric about the press, he loves talking to us,” the print reporter said. “And his team—they like talking to us, and they know that they’re going to have a huge audience.”
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Marks
Hamilton Nolan:
The problem with this impulse is that inherent in the hope of working with this guy is the accompanying understanding that you must not try as hard as you can to smash the guy at the same time. You can’t say “Donald Trump is a loathsome fascist” and then say in the next breath “We look forward to crafting a worker-friendly trade policy with you, sir.” Yet, hey, guess who the people are who, collectively, are nurturing all of these disparate hopes of winning on their pet issues? They are the opposition. We are entering an age of gangster style fascism. We are going to need all of the opposition that we can get. If most of the opposition is busy flattering itself that they can soften Trump on this or that, they are not doing their most important work: Trying to destroy his entire political project. That political project is, I remind you, one of destroying the rest of us. An opposition that can’t dedicate itself to being the opposition is a weak opposition, indeed. And Trump has always enjoyed a weak opposition.
If you think that you are a savvy politician because you got Trump on your side regarding congestion pricing and meanwhile he is stripping thousands of your citizens of their birthright citizenship, you are wrong. If you think that you are a savvy union leader because you got Trump to a little better place on trade and meanwhile he is stripping every woman in your union of her right to abortion, you are wrong. If you think that you are a savvy liberal writer because you cajoled Trump into a little better place on foreign policy and meanwhile he is telling your trans friends that the government will no longer legally recognize their identity, you are wrong. You have made a miscalculation. You have not taken in the full picture of what you are dealing with here. You have been sold a worthless little bauble in exchange for something real. You have not done the math. You are the Greater Fool.
The bad guys are in charge right now. You can’t triangulate your way out of this. All you can do is fight.
What's It For
I think I met Faiz a couple of times a million years ago.
The problem, Shakir quickly found out, is that DNC members are pretty much given nothing to do.No one can really explain what the DNC does, other than being a conduit for a lot of money, or how as an entity decisions are made. It's both all powerful and powerless. It's kind of odd.
“The way I was asked to participate, they said, ‘Pick two councils to be on,’” Shakir said. “I think I checked rural and labor. You get added to this roster, you go the DNC meeting. I said, ‘Where’s the discourse about the strategy to win? Are there polling presentations? Do we discuss in group settings?’” But as Shakir described it, the councils were mainly social gatherings, a place to hear speeches and rally and chat.
I had a distinct recollection of the one time I got involved as a delegate to the California Democratic Party many years ago. I rapidly learned that the state conventions, the only formal role for delegates, were just sandboxes for relatively meaningless resolutions and late-night parties. It was not just that outside consultants made all the important decisions, though they did. It was that they didn’t think there were really any decisions to make. Taking positions on policy was rare, but more than that, there was no strategic insight into how the party should introduce itself to voters, how it should organize, how it should make use of its resources.
This Is The Way
Not the Schumer way.
CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker launched an attack on President Donald Trump's planned executive order attempting to revoke birthright citizenship.“That’s unconstitutional. We will not follow an unconstitutional order,” Pritzker told reporters at an unrelated event on Monday.
Chuck Schumer, Naderite
People understandably get mad at the "Naderite Left" [dated but you know what I mean] for arguing there is no difference between the two parties, but does anything contribute to that view more than going on about bipartisanship constantly? In Mitch McConnell's Senate!
WINTER FUNDRAISER DAY 1
Apparently we're doing this again.
Thans to all! That people continue to support this very fine blog means a lot!
After all of these years I find it a bit hard to do a fundraising pitch - the blog is what it is. I think I do deserve a little credit for trying to keep the old internet alive, even as Google and Zuck and Elon ate the rest of it. More people should join me!
or
Paypal!
or
or
Thans to all! That people continue to support this very fine blog means a lot!
Your Liberal Media
True at many affiliates, from what I can gather.Wild. Top is the NBC upload, bottom is the one aired as the live feed
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog.lol) January 21, 2025 at 5:45 AM
[image or embed]
There's no point with arguing with right wingers about stuff like this. They love trolling and lying about it. There is some point in yelling at media outlets. Washington Post:
Monday, January 20, 2025
My Many Failures
8 years ago, after propelling Donald Trump into office, the New York Times marketed itself to angry liberals as a defender of democracy... and it worked.
This time, don't forget what a piece of shit that newspaper, worse now, is.
This time, don't forget what a piece of shit that newspaper, worse now, is.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Dems will be debating which battles to pick, carefully, as they plan their Valentine's Day dinner date plans, but counterflooding the zone with "shit" is the way.
A lawsuit claiming billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” violates federal transparency rules will be filed within minutes of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday, kicking off a legal battle over a key aspect of the incoming administration’s agenda.
In a 30-page complaint obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its filing, the public interest law firm National Security Counselors says that the nongovernmental DOGE panel is breaking a 1972 law that requires advisory committees to the executive branch to follow certain rules on disclosure, hiring and other practices.
Choose Your Fighters
I wish otherwise, but the truth is this little blog doesn't have mighty influence. I certainly don't have any influence over the Republican party.
To the extent that what I post here is anything other than a place for me to vent, and you to read my venting and discuss that and other things, it's that I might occasionally influence the influencers. Small domino hitting larger domino.
The people who do have influence are the elected Democrats and the people with much larger platforms than I do. Almost all of those people are self-identified centrists. They all like to imagine they are smol beans overwhelmed by the horde of Woke Leftists who actually run the country, but this just means they are liars or people whose brains have been broken by people who annoy them on the internet.
The Ron Klain era of the Biden administration - and therefore The Democrats - was notable for its openness to The Left, and that was an "error" these people were desperate to correct.
They won! They were eager for the midterm to be a bloodbath for Democrats, and when it wasn't they went on pretending it was.
There's an SBF/crypto money side plot here, but I'll skip that for now. I'll just say that people started saying a lot of weird shit that didn't make any sense until that blew up.
The Jeff Zients era was everything they wanted. Harris's campaign started off well, but you could spot the moment that the centrist ghouls took over and, again, it was everything they wanted. They went ahead and blamed The Left anyway, of course, because nothing is ever their fault.
To the extent that what I post here is anything other than a place for me to vent, and you to read my venting and discuss that and other things, it's that I might occasionally influence the influencers. Small domino hitting larger domino.
The people who do have influence are the elected Democrats and the people with much larger platforms than I do. Almost all of those people are self-identified centrists. They all like to imagine they are smol beans overwhelmed by the horde of Woke Leftists who actually run the country, but this just means they are liars or people whose brains have been broken by people who annoy them on the internet.
The Ron Klain era of the Biden administration - and therefore The Democrats - was notable for its openness to The Left, and that was an "error" these people were desperate to correct.
They won! They were eager for the midterm to be a bloodbath for Democrats, and when it wasn't they went on pretending it was.
There's an SBF/crypto money side plot here, but I'll skip that for now. I'll just say that people started saying a lot of weird shit that didn't make any sense until that blew up.
The Jeff Zients era was everything they wanted. Harris's campaign started off well, but you could spot the moment that the centrist ghouls took over and, again, it was everything they wanted. They went ahead and blamed The Left anyway, of course, because nothing is ever their fault.
Remember these people covered up for a sundowning president for years.
The pitch of the centrists is that they can win. Fair enough when they do. When they don't...
The pitch of the centrists is that they can win. Fair enough when they do. When they don't...
The Resistance won't "fail" because I write mean things about the people who are doing the failing.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Also Is This Clever
❄️❄️❄️ @realdonaldtrump pic.twitter.com/Nvm5hBOkPp
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) January 18, 2025
Is This Clever
There are many things people need to confront about the current Democratic party, and one is that the brain trust involved in crafting and delivering the messages are not very smart.White House Press Secretary
They key theme our chosen fighters is "nothing is every our fault, even the things we endorse, sign, and implement."
...and TikTok says it is back.
(I have never used TikTok as I hate the whole "short video" thing but that is me!)
Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s threat to “go dark” on Sunday, January 19th, a “stunt” and said there is no reason for TikTok to shut itself down before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on the 20th.Remember that this was a vital national security issue and now suddenly it's... whatever the fuck this is.
“It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday,” MSNBC quotes Jean-Pierre as saying. “We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”
They key theme our chosen fighters is "nothing is every our fault, even the things we endorse, sign, and implement."
...and TikTok says it is back.
(I have never used TikTok as I hate the whole "short video" thing but that is me!)
SCOOP!!! MUST CREDIT AXIOS!!!
I honestly hope media outlets get paid for all the PR work they do for these guys.
🚨🚨Scoop: We've learned OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — has scheduled a closed-door briefing for U.S. government officials on Jan. 30 - with people inside and out of gov’t telling us AI insiders believe a big breakthrough on PHD level SuperAgents is coming. https://t.co/0EsHMT2shi
— Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) January 19, 2025
TikTok You Don't Stop
I would like a reporter to ask Democrats why they pretended to believe that they had to ban TikTok for national security concerns which apparently no longer concern them.
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Our Great Journalistic Institutions
Always funny to remember that brief period when journalists were absolutely obsessed with possible conflicts of interests for bloggers (along with trying to impose ethical codes that didn't even apply to themselves).
Minor Humiliations
During Trump I, I could get some chuckles out of minor humiliations like his inauguration party being driven indoors because of cold.
Not so much now, in part because our chosen fighters... aren't.
If You're A Star
I remember when Mel Gibson did his holocaust denial and Nooners among others just let it slide.
Friday, January 17, 2025
Fake Contrarianism
Pamela Paul is out at the NYT.
The amazing thing is this supposed hegemonic lefty CW never even appears in the NYT itself.
Paul is admired by some of her colleagues for her willingness to buck liberal-left conventional wisdom. She has written a defense of J.K. Rowling and scrutinized the MeToo movement for overreach, while a recent column criticized the American Historical Society’s vote to condemn the ongoing “scholasticide” in Gaza.She is admired by her colleagues who all agree with her!
Have any of them written against Joanne? Has there been a defense of MeToo written in years there? Did anyone write to support the AHS?
The Norms Defender
Jan 16 (Reuters) - Tom Goldstein, a top U.S. Supreme Court attorney and publisher of the SCOTUSblog news website, was indicted on Thursday in Maryland federal court for allegedly failing to report millions of dollars he won in poker matches and using his former law firm's accounts to pay his gambling debts. Goldstein, who was part of the team that represented former Vice President Al Gore in Supreme Court litigation over the 2000 U.S. presidential election, is facing 22 different charges, including tax evasion, preparing false and fraudulent tax returns, and failing to pay his taxes, according to the indictmentThat 2nd one was a pardon audition, most likely.
THE LAW IS FAKE
Yesterday:
“We are not considering deferring enforcement,” the official said. “Statutorily, we don’t believe we have the authority to do that.”Today:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden won’t enforce a ban on the social media app TikTok that is set to take effect a day before he leaves office on Monday, a U.S. official said Thursday, leaving its fate in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump.This is what they spent time on last year because their granddaughters were watching people say mean things about Netanyahu.
Thursday, January 16, 2025
RIP David Lynch
There are plenty of talented people, but not very many manage to have such a distinctive and unique take.
Also, Too
I need to start grifting rich guys.
The slide deck that Ms. Watford presented describes artificial intelligence as a key enabler of The Post’s success, the people said. It describes The Post as “an A.I.-fueled platform for news” that delivers “vital news, ideas and insights for all Americans where, how and when they want it.” It also lays out three pillars of The Post’s overall plan: “great journalism,” “happy customers” and “make money.” The Post lost roughly $77 million in 2023.
Innumeracy
This is about 60% of the US population. 75% of the adult population.
Ms. Watford, who joined The Post in April, also laid out big-picture goals for the company. Among them: reach 200 million paying users, which the slide deck described as a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal,” or “B.H.A.G.”
Continued Humiliations
Even after Biden announced a ceasefire, Netanyahu is backtracking. I suppose Biden has a couple more days to send him more weapons.
Clown Show
I don't know why people get mad when I point out they did this because people were angry because their granddaughters were having wrongthink about Israel, even though several members said precisely that.
President Joe Biden’s administration is considering ways to keep TikTok available in the United States if a ban that’s scheduled to go into effect Sunday proceeds, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
“Americans shouldn’t expect to see TikTok suddenly banned on Sunday,” an administration official said, adding that officials are “exploring options” for how to implement the law so TikTok does not go dark Sunday.
“We are not considering deferring enforcement,” the official said. “Statutorily, we don’t believe we have the authority to do that.”You didn't have authority to send arms to Israel either, due to the Leahy Law, but you did that anyway.
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Ah, Well, Nevertheless
NEWS: More than 400 WashPost journalists - including some of its most distinguished reporters & editors - have sent plea to owner Jeff Bezos to intervene. This petition was sent last night and disclosed by NPR. While not citing CEO Will Lewis by name, it casts a harsh light on his leadership/more
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik.bsky.social) January 15, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Trip is a longtime NYTer.I like how the limit of his concept of bad leadership is whether he "censored" something.
Why
I get hoping, but what in Jeff Bezos's prior existence would make you think he was an especially altruistic type?
Maybe they aren't all completely evil, but you generally don't become a billionaire by being nice and generous. Given Amazon's well-documented labor record, for example, this is another manifestation of "well he's mean to other people but I thought he'd be nice to me."The Washington Post was a great, historic newspaper. I thought being bought by a billionaire would protect its solvency and integrity. But billionaires needing to ass-kiss Trump to protect their interests has put an end to that. One of many things to mourn.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) January 13, 2025
Brain Geniuses
I suspect these kinds of decisions have longer term consequences. You don't want to push people into the habit of online shopping for anything, as it might stick, and turning all pharmacy stores - once generally great collections of 'home and other stuff' to buy - into impenentrable bank vaults likely did that.
The company plans to close approximately 450 additional stores in 2025, noting that the stores that remain open outperform the ones designated for closure by approximately 250 basis points. Wentworth also acknowledged the ongoing struggle with shrink as a “hand-to-hand combat battle.” After reporting a 52% increase in shrink, or lost inventory, in 2020 and 2021, Walgreens invested in increased security that proved to be “largely ineffective.” And while many drug stores have taken to locking up commonly looted goods, Wentworth admitted, “When you lock things up…you don’t sell as many of them. We’ve kind of proven that pretty conclusively.”It shouldn't take 15 minutes to buy deodorant.
Individual Responsbility
Apparently the advice that pedestrians need to dress covered in reflective garb or be responsible for their own deaths is not helpful.
Pedestrians are often advised to wear reflective strips on their clothing so that car drivers can see them, but a new report says that such safety precautions are useless in the eyes of some automatic braking systems.Sure humans will be more likely to see you, but a problem with all automatic safety systems is that drivers get in the habit of relying on them.
The worst systems were on two popular models made by Honda and Mazda.
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
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