#uspoli
NYT Pitchbot (now on Bluesky not Twitter so yay) has been on a roll today! Plus one actual NYT headline which shows it's hard to out satirize the totally shiteous and useless NYT. #msm #uspoli #nyt #NYTPitchBot
This whole post is worth a read! A chain of excerpts that gives you the through line (but read the whole damn thing!): "It is intermission in the Trump Show. Full-time programming will resume in January. The Trump Show is the only show Americans watch together, but we can never change the channel...I am writing about intermission because I am still getting my bearings. The second Trump administration will proceed much like the first, in the sense that superficial changes will happen very fast while the broader crisis of corruption — a transnational crisis — will quietly deepen and become more dangerous...The American psyche is worn from paying so much attention and learning so little truth in return...One option is to stop watching. I recommend that when it comes to the minutiae of the Trump administration, but not when it comes to the big picture. Because the big picture is you — not him, but you. Not the officials and oligarchs, but you — your family, your community, your country. This is not a show, this is not a game. This is your goddamn country...You don’t have to love it, and you don’t have to leave it — but do not ever forget it is yours." #uspoli sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/i…
Biden pardoning Hunter is not a good look but is hardly unprecedented, even compared to not-Trump POTUS pardons of recent history. Unlike Trump he didn't interfere in any way in the DOJ prosecutions, even of Hunter when it went out of normal bounds for what he was accused of doing. Neither the MSM nor Republicans ever gave him any credit for that, in some cases saying it was a head fake for supposed political prosecution of Trump (stupidity I know). It was certainly true that the only reason why Hunter got that focus was because he was Joe's son. I don't exactly feel sorry for him because he also got lots of lucrative positions over his life solely for that reason too. So it sort of balanced that out. So summary: not a good look, not unprecedented or even out of bounds of POTUS pardons of the last several decades to say nothing for Trump's pardons, and we have way bigger fish to fry on the autocracy/kakistocracy which MSM will use this to now ignore because they suck. #uspoli #rant
Even the most generous interpretation of the tariff saber rattling is really bad. "He's just doing that to get a better negotiating position." Umm, we have treaties in place delineating these things. The current one being tweaks to NAFTA called USMCA which *Trump 1.0* negotiated. Blowing up treaties willy nilly just makes them not even worth the effort/paper they are printed on which everyone takes note of. That is *the best case scenario* about what Trump is doing with this 25-50% across the board tariff announcement today. It's all down hill from there, into the depths of pocket lining for him and Musk. I bring up Musk specifically because the auto manufacture least affected by this is if it is implemented, you guessed it, Tesla. It is a 100% probability that is intentional. #uspoli #trump #ElonMusk #rant
I have a lot of very small running/hiking/fitness podcasts in my queue. I have one less now. One of them, which I won't Streisand Effect, is by a guy who claims to be apolitical generally that had a supposedly apolitical guest on. When asked about the election he started going off on "both sides are crap" (ugh) so "didn't vote for either" (ugh). Then went into examples of crappiness like "Democrats (didn't use that word) calling people names and looking down on them" (umm...okay) and "prejudices against people based on sexual orientation, race, gender" (okay maybe looking up), such as "You are discriminated against nowadays if you are a straight white guy and told to feel bad about yourself..." (vomit). Host just "mhmmm along". So that's a giant unsubscribe to me. I'm had almost started mentioning it to others since the guy seems nice enough. Indulging in that sort of bullshit though is a deal breaker for me. Just a reminder to me how we don't live in a shared reality any longer and things are irrevocably broken in this country. Maybe the guest just has economic anxiety or something, he did mention the price of groceries...(sarcasm). #uspoli #rant
Once the enshittification really takes off we have to make sure everyone knows they are to blame and to direct their scorn accordingly. All these billionaires controlling pretty much all of media will make that harder but to break through but we can do it. #uspoli #BillionairesShouldNotExist 
Being born in the mid-70s I grew up when society was way more homophobic than now. I am familiar with all the scaremongering about gays in locker rooms/bathrooms if we were accepted as normal members of society instead of pariahs back then. Even though they saber rattled about gays needing separate bathrooms/locker rooms they never actually did it. The speed with which Republicans have pushed these anti-trans bathroom bills and the equivocation of everyone, including Democratic law makers, is deeply disappointing and disturbing. Bishop Niemöller's poem has never been more poignant than it is now. Gay people throwing trans people under the bus should already see the warning signs that we are going to be the next people put through the wringer. We can't let these bigoted assholes steamroll us on this stuff. #lgbt #uspoli #rant
I had the 2nd conversation in a week with a politically disinterested person who does the "both parties are just as bad" but thankfully didn't vote for Trump saying, "What is going on with Trump right now is crazy! I can't believe he's doing this." The MSM and social media networks failed us. It doesn't help that voters apparently have the memory spans of goldfish. People were calling this they were told they were being dramatic if they weren't totally ignored. Now we all will be paying the price for decades to come. I'll remember who the enablers were, the people who actively helped push all the BS as they got rich. I wish I could say they will be held to account, but historically that almost never happens. It'd be great if it does this time though :). #uspoli #BrokenMSM
I say this as someone who is considered more centrist and considers himself left of center. The current Democratic Party leadership is too feckless, milquetoast, and too focused on faux bipartisanship/centrism for the moment. The party and country needs much bolder people for the moment. #uspoli
RFK Jr's vaccine conspiracy crap lead to the the death of 70 people in Samoa from measles. He is a full blown anti-science anti-vax nut job. One can only imagine how many thousands or more that will be injured, fall sick, or die because of his policies as HHS director. So another hearty “fuck you” to MAGA people and Trump voters. #uspoli
Trump picks RFK Jr. to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services
I've said to many people over the last year that if Matt Gaetz became the next governor of Florida that I'd have to move. DeSantis was horrifying enough but a bomb throwing brain dead political nepobaby accused sexual predator like Gaetz with all the same culture war baggage as DeSantis but half the charm and intellect was a bridge way too far. Good news, that's not going to happen now. Bad news, it's because he's going to be the next US Attorney General. You want to know why I'm writing MAGA people out of my life permanently and don't want to be around even Trump voters right now? Shit like this (or the Fox News personality that is lined up for Secretary of Defense, etc.) Fuck you all. #uspoli npr.org/2024/11/13/g-s1-34072/…
It's not enough that Trump's stuff has a rubber stamp GOP Senate, which he will have. He's insisting there is no actual Senate Confirmation process for any of his appointees. Imagine what house of horrors they are about to do. What Trump wants Trump gets, so he will have a Senate leader who not only okay this but will probably fine nuking the filibuster for everything. SMH #uspoli