The unwelcome return of Bill Barr. Continue reading Brain Worms Are A Hell Of A Drug

It wasn’t all that significant in the bigger picture, but a few years ago, at the onset of DJT/TFG’s first impeachment, then-Chief of Staff and finalist for doppelganger of face-melting-bad-guy-in-Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark Mick Mulvaney epically face-planted (pun intentional) at a press conference, admitting to Jonathan Karl that, sure, the administration tried to extort Ukraine, threatening to withhold military aid unless the newly elected Zelenskyy (that’s how Google spells his name) administration did DJT/TFG’s bidding (i.e., Hunter Biden, and/or laptop, etc. etc.). He told Karl to “get over it” (shades of Scalia re: Bush v. Gore), and thus began his personal career downgrade … Continue reading Hack Gap

It’s been a while since I’ve paid much attention to Florida’s Junior Senator, Lex Luthor to some; my eyes see the Weekly World News’s Bat Boy. Maybe the worst of both, with a generous helping of boilerplate GOP Wingnut, occasionally lurching from surprising-obscurity-for-a-Senator-from-a-large-State to spew Grapefruit League Kevin McCarthy-ish sound bites… Sound, fury, signifying nothing, though with the assumption (sadly, correct) that his bigoted rhetoric will automatically be given serious consideration. If nothing else, Politico will deem it savvy enough to offer a direct link, even if reality forces them to admit it’s, um, Bat (Boy) Shit Insane Paul Waldman When … Continue reading So, What’s Rick Scott Been up To?

They’re not unruly passengers, they’re self-entitled assholes who should be grounded — literally. A group of Republican senators is pushing back against efforts to create a federal “no-fly” list for unruly passengers, arguing that doing so would essentially draw an equivalence between terrorists and opponents of mask mandates. To be fair, Tailgunner Ted wasn’t the only Repug signing off on this garbage (repugnant?) letter, but he deserves the spotlight both for lifetime achievement and general principles. Also (also, too) for his equally ugly performance art stunt at a judicial nomination hearing for Nina Morrison, where he equated the Innocence Project’s … Continue reading King Cruz

Nice when a wingnut makes it this easy…soup’s on. The extremist Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene triggered a wave of viral jokes on Wednesday after ranting about the “gazpacho police” patrolling the Capitol building in Washington DC. Greene was apparently mixing up the famously cold Spanish soup gazpacho with the Gestapo – the brutal Nazi-era secret police in Germany. But it still points to an ongoing and long term condition with our elite media. Sure, MTG stepped on a rake, but at this point winger nonsense is de facto accepted by both the Noise Machine and the allegedly librul, mainstream press. Taylor-Greene, … Continue reading Genuine Daft

The WaPo gives Greg Abbot a shiny participation trophy Although Abbott said in November that he “can guarantee the lights will stay on” in the state the next time severe winter weather rolled through, the governor cautioned Tuesday that he could not promise that “load shed” events would not unfold this week. A load shed occurs when electricity demand above available supply results in rolling blackouts to keep the state power grid from collapsing. Load-shedding happened on a large scale in the state last year. Buried several paragraphs later While this week’s storm is not expected to be a repeat … Continue reading The Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations

What was wrong with The Dark Ages? Limited government, low taxes, religion played a big role in daily life… Also, average life spans were 40-50 years, depending… That said, I doubt Moloch, um, I mean Murdoch, and his Employee-of-the-Month-for-Many-Consecutive-Months Tucker want to revert to the simple life for themselves or their dining, working, and/or travelling companions. But they sure don’t mind pushing a pray-the-Covid-away-or-at-least-make-the-libs-cry-for-fun-and-profit…and if people die, or public health services are overwhelmed, I doubt either loses sleep. It’s been a while, but I’ll repeat something I’ve mentioned off and on from my little soapbox here: The issue is as … Continue reading Shorter Fox Noise

Yeah, groan, a bad pun, but welcome to the 21st century, where a Russian-loving, Trump-enabling, reptilian-tortoise chimera is apparently some kind of parliamentary genius for keeping his caucus slightly more disciplined that Chuck Schumer, while he spews small “d” anti-democratic bullshit…and gets pretty much zero pushback. “This party-line push has never been about securing citizens’ rights,” said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader. “It’s about expanding politicians’ power.” No, it’s about ensuring basic voting rights for all eligible voters, which shouldn’t be an issue. Forget about Sinemanchin for the moment, though, goddamn, if either really thinks … Continue reading Lyin’ Of The Senate

Fuck him McConnell characterized Biden’s speech — in which the president called for the Senate to change its rules by “whichever way they need to be changed” in order to pass Democrats’ voting bills — as “profoundly, profoundly un-presidential,” deeming the remarks a “rant” that “was incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office.” The Kentucky Republican repeatedly took issue with Biden linking Republicans to Jim Crow-era legislation to standing in the way of election reform now, as at least 19 GOP-led states have passed laws in the last year that experts at the Brennan Center for Justice say restrict voting access. … Continue reading Let’s Go Brandon Moscow Mitch

Have to agree with Lawrence Tribe (video link), here’s a Twitter summary: Garland’s focus on the Jan 6 attack conspicuously omits any hint of concern with the seditious conspiracy that was designed in Nov & Dec 2020 to pull off a bloodless coup. I want to root for Merrick Garland. He seems like a genuinely decent person, and by all rights should be a Supreme Court Justice. I’m not a lawyer or even particularly versed in the intricacies of the legal system, but again, as Tribe said, the clock is ticking. There’s also plenty of evidence that the riot was … Continue reading AG Garland Assures A Thorough Investigation Of Whether This Really Is Fine

Dana Milbank [T]he United States is experiencing the worst economy we never had. The economy is going gangbusters — historically so. Yet Americans, particularly Republicans, express a gloom not matched by economic reality — or by their own spending behaviors. Polls and consumer-confidence indices show an economic pessimism as grim as when millions lost jobs in the pandemic shutdown. This is, in large part, because disinformation has prevailed. Partisanship long colored economic views, but now Republicans, in addition to occupying a parallel political reality, are expanding an alternate economic universe. “America’s economy improved more in Joe Biden’s first 12 months than any … Continue reading Mythbusting: Harder Than You Think

More proof we’re the ones stuck in the dystopian Spock-with-a-goatee universe (requires registration, but you can read the main points from the Twitter thread). Basically, another fine example of Cokie’s Law, adding that, for all the carping from the wingers about the media, their own version has an echo chamber large/broad enough to flood the zone, which creates its own reality, at least with the political press. To the extent where, sure, irony here — and here — but not long ago record low unemployment in a deep red state (if I remember, Nebraska) was straight up reported as a … Continue reading The Echo Chamber

About as good an example as you can get; also too, this slag from Politico. It couldn’t be worse if it was hard-coded in their DNA. I’m not asking for or expecting mash notes to the Democratic Party. I’ve noted before: my votes for Team D are strategic/lesser-of-evil; but goddamn, the vapid, insider political press praising ugly bigotry as brilliant strategy or posting smug, insider tropes about “what the Left doesn’t get…” is as toxic as anything the MAGAts or QAnon push. Side note: the Democratic Party is pointing out the worst excesses, and there are even a few (by … Continue reading How Big Lies Get Traction

Not specifically spotlighting T. Carlson, but he’s one of the higher profile cheerleaders; also too, will go meta to cite Paul Campos, who says it better than I can This Thomas Edsall piece, in which he interviews a bunch of fancy academics about their estimates regarding how far down the road toward ethno-nationalist authoritarianism the Republican party has gone, and what the Democratic party should do about it, has a lot of interesting stuff in it. Here’s a quote from Jennifer Hochschild, a professor government at Harvard: The Democratic Party over the past few decades has gotten into the position of … Continue reading It Can Happen Here…And We’re Watching It Happen

Is anyone really surprised? That said, I’ll defer to our benevolent blogmaster Adrastos for the real heart of the matter: As awful as the eventual and inevitable decision is re: the SCOTUS review of Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization — and it will be awful, and not just for Mississippi — it’s also a Trumpeting (pun intentional) of a raw power dynamic from the GOP. And the elite political media’s been more than asleep at the wheel — they’ve enabled or, more often, magnified — an asymmetry between the two major political parties that ensures the radical right has … Continue reading Worst Cover Of Embryonic Journey Ever

Small thanks, but a year ago that guy was president, and now this guy is (not my first or even second choice, but a considerable improvement). And Biden’s dealing with an opposition party that’s not opposing, but committed, all-in, to sabotage — or worse — as well as calls coming from inside the house (OK, the Senate, i.e., Man of La Manchin and Sinemarama). Then there’s the corporate media, which just can’t quit their abject fealty to whatever GOP talking point wins their day Politico, the Drudge Report for this era. Sigh, I’m too old to hold out much hope, … Continue reading Giving Thanks…

Chris Christie slithered out from whatever rock he’s been living under to argue that a book spine is, I dunno, good enough, until he reverts to full lickspittle (full disclosure: he will). Meanwhile, the serious people insist on burying the Biden Administration. The rise of inflation, supply chain shortages, a surge in illegal border crossings, the persistence of Covid, mayhem in Afghanistan and the uproar over “critical race theory” — all of these developments, individually and collectively, have taken their toll on President Biden and Democratic candidates, so much so that Democrats are now the underdogs going into 2022 and possibly 2024 Obviously he’s failed. Despite … Continue reading This Week In Recycled Garbage

…because, after all, the wingnut meltdown into evangelical fascism really belongs below-the-fold (ok, the virtual fold in the digital age), or buried in the back pages, right? Nothing to see here, move on please…that’s an order In Arizona, a stay-at-home dad and part-time Lyft driver told the state’s chief election officer she would hang for treason. In Utah, a youth treatment center staffer warned Colorado’s election chief that he knew where she lived and watched her as she slept. In Vermont, a man who says he works in construction told workers at the state election office and at Dominion Voting … Continue reading Ah, Yes, Let’s Worry About Inflation…

Adding my .0000002 cents worth to Cassandra‘s and Adrastos‘s posts re: Tuesday/Election Day, both worth a close read and one or more re-reads. Checking, I remembered/confirmed I titled a post as C-R-T-I-T-N-B just a few months ago, and not much’s changed, other than, yeah, a few elections that would’ve been good-news-for-John-McCain regardless of the outcome. Plus ça change… Charles Blow Youngkin homed in on critical race theory, even though critical race theory, as Youngkin imagines it, isn’t being taught in his state’s schools. But that didn’t matter. There are people who want to believe the fabrication because it justifies their … Continue reading CRT Is The New Black, Redux

…how about sack of shit? On Monday, the right-wing youth organization Turning Point USA had an event during which founder Charlie Kirk took questions from members of the audience. At one point, a bearded man asked one, as seen in video obtained by Media Matters. “At this point, we’re living under corporate and medical fascism. This is tyranny,” he said. “When do we get to use the guns?” Members of the audience applauded. “No, and I’m not — that’s not a joke,” he continued. “I’m not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where’s the line? How many elections are they going … Continue reading If Basket of Deplorables Is Unacceptable…

And it went pretty much as you might expect Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday struggled to answer questions about his communications with then-President Donald Trump during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, telling a House panel that he doesn’t recall the number of times he spoke with Trump that day. The statement from Jordan, a staunch Trump ally and a potential witness in the House’s investigation of the attack, came during a Rules Committee meeting on whether to hold former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon in contempt for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena. “Of course … Continue reading Matt Gaetz And Jim Jordan Appear Before The Rules Committee

It’d be one thing if we had a relatively solid or at least functional democracy, but watching the posturing and preening during an existential crisis… Smh, as the texters say… Source. More frustrating is the same elite media that can’t or won’t step up and instead acts like the devolution of the GOP to an authoritarian death cult is, I dunno, worth mentioning but nothing to be alarmed about, and likewise can’t or won’t press these two Vanities of the Bonfire to open up on why they’re willing to let it all burn down… Over what? Budget numbers (sigh) ? … Continue reading With Friends Like These

Call him a rank opportunist, or a proto/Ur MAGAstani, who can count to 41, while realizing there’s zero downside to being an asshole, both with the GOP base, and the elite media. But genius? Bullshit. OK, he blinked (maybe) on the debt ceiling, kicking the can down the road for a couple of months. Probably hopes the elite media will have his back or, with some luck, fawn over Sinemanchin long enough to crater Biden’s agenda…setting the stage for a midterm shellacking and…christ, I don’t even want to think about 2024… But he, like his evil twin, are the tip … Continue reading Moscow Mitch Is No Parliamentary Genius

Not a comment on the physical appearance of Senators Sinema or Manchin (and lord knows, I’m not one to judge), but even if a deal is ironed out, there’s the pandemic, the ongoing economic fallout, the fiscal cliff/debt limit (possibly kicked down the road for a couple of months, but still), etc., etc. Given the circumstances, the soap opera posturing and political games are in themselves worth condemning. Meanwhile, the GOP’s embraced, in addition to its own ugly nihilism, white supremacy if not outright fascism. Scalise isn’t the only ‘David Duke without the baggage’ — the entire party is mainstreaming … Continue reading Show Business For Ugly People

*Of course, The WaPo edited the headline, but only after the message was delivered.   Also, it’s not hardball, it’s not savvy, it’s not winning the day, it’s political psychopathy or, fuck it, political/economic terrorism. And this has gone on to the extent it’s fully embedded to the extent that I think corporate media is so afraid of contracting the heartbreak of psoriasis, sorry, librul cooties, they’ll accept pretty much any GOP position that isn’t explicitly endorsed by David Duke (or hell, maybe a few that are), while clinging to their both-sides blankie. Even allegedly liberal MSNBC featured Peter Baker … Continue reading No, It’s Not A Stalemate*

Moscow Mitch reverts to hostage taking mode The current position held by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and most Republican senators is that this fall they will vote in favor of the United States defaulting on its debts, leading to economic Armageddon. You don’t hear their position described this way in many press accounts, to be sure. But that is functionally their position: They are threatening to withhold all GOP support when Congress votes to suspend the debt limit, probably sometime in October. If the debt limit is not suspended or raised, the United States will default, with horrible … Continue reading They’re All Insane

So, in the not-too-distant past the New York Times made space for long-read profiles of Joe Rogan and Curtis Sliwa, the latter someone whose existence I became aware of decades ago, in the pre-history of life-before-the-internet. My LSU/Pentagon dorm room lacked air conditioning, but had cable TV (I provided the 12-inch diagonal B&W CRT). Can only guess now, but think it was a CNN segment about Bernhard Goetz. Anyway, Sliwa appeared opposite William Kunstler, and got the ball rolling by immediately calling Kunstler “mutant scum” and “slime” (my roommate and I used either/both for laughs for several weeks, though we … Continue reading Clickbait And Switch

To begin on a positive note, the levees and flood control system held. Things might be bad, but New Orleans isn’t drowning. There’s flooding south and west of the city, and I don’t want to ignore or minimize that, but this isn’t the nightmare of 2005. Given the circumstances, that’s not good news, but better than the horror of sixteen years ago. Also, my personal circumstances are lucky, like-winning-the-lottery-lucky. My power didn’t go out (note: I’m in Baton Rouge, not NOLA, but something like 80 percent of the grid went down here). And this was quite the storm. As bad … Continue reading Swelter In Place

Projection is a hell of a drug. After four years of daily WTF-WT-Ever Living-F?, Politico accuses…the Biden Administration…of gaslighting. Goddamn, black holes don’t distort/contort any more than the Cult of the Savvy (and at least with black holes, it’s what they do…the Cult is only in it for the clicks). They’ll cite any/every GOP source, no matter how much they’ve managed to FUBAR it, because, I dunno. You tell me. My best guess is that it’s a (distorted in its own way) feedback loop that, um, clings to a narrative regardless of facts because…it beats the hell out of having … Continue reading When The Narrative Becomes Legend, Print The Narrative