"I think what you're reacting to is that, at the moment, Biden is an unpopular president seeking a second term while Trump is a popular figure inside his party who is winning primary races. I wouldn't necessarily compare the two."...
The problem as I see it is not that they have been critical of Biden, but that they are not ringing the alarm bells loudly enough over some of the batshit garbage Trump has been spewing recently. “Dictator on day one”, cutting off funding for schools that require vaccinations, etc.
It is reminiscent of the “both sides” criticism moderates get — in an effort to provide even coverage, they are functionally giving the crazy and the corrupt a free pass.
I’ve got one of those big red 20-gallon parts washers. You know the one. I mostly clean bicyle parts, and most bicycle lubricants are not petroleum-based. They’re usually plant or wax-based. The idea is that a water-based degreaser, like Simple Green, should have no problem cleaning the stuff. My experience is that Simple...
Have not read the separate opinion, which argues that the per curiam went too far in barring Federal courts from ruling on Section 3. Seems like that could become relevant down the road a bit.
This inevitably happens in states and in industries with low or no union participation. Reason number 1,000 why workers have to stick together. Unionize … and strike.
I voted for Biden in 2020. This was despite the fact that he is one of the main architects of modern American slavery through his crime bill which made the US the nation with the highest proportion of its own citizens imprisoned by far, who are quite literally slaves according to our constitution. This was despite him...
There is room for a lot of good faith debate here, but FWIW I reckon It is a mistake for the left to prematurely roll over and telegraph an inevitable Biden vote (whether on this or any other issue) just because Trump would be worse. The time for that utilitarian calculus is much closer to November. Right now, if you want policy change — you have to raise hell.
As much as you love to hate ‘em, this is what the Tea Party and their ideological successors got right about wielding power within their own party. When the time comes, by all means circle the wagons and vote pragmatically, but during primary season you have to come across as a credible threat to the party power structure.
I’ll personally be willing to (attempt!) to shame my progressive friends into voting blue, say, around October. In the meantime, I am proud of folks for speaking their mind and standing up for human rights.
Vaccines don’t work. Global warming is a lie. The United States is not a democracy. Babies are too small to be seen with the naked eye and can be frozen and thawed out. Biden is corrupt because Vladimir Putin said so. Am I missing anything?
We finished the last piece of the cat path I posted about earlier! This one goes from the laundry room, to the stairwell, and then into the guest bedroom on the upper floor (yes, I know the carpet needs replaced in that closet). They are already using them and seem to love the new path already....
This one was always going to be a long shot. The real story here (or one real story, I guess) is why nobody had the guts to ask Thomas to recuse himself.
Yes, judging by the tenor or the questions it probably won’t even be close. They may end up ruling that Section 5 requires enabling legislatIon to be passed before state enforcement of Section 3 can proceed, but who knows. I think the fix is in on this one, regardless of the actual merits of the legal theories.
I’ll also go out on a limb and say that even though I am viscerally with Colorado here, a victory could easily turn into chaos once GOP-controlled courts in battleground states start engaging in a tit-for-tat. I can already hear the MTG-caliber arguments about humane border policy equating to insurrection.
The upcoming immunity case is going to be way more problematic for Trump, I think.
Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his...
This is frightening stuff. I feel like it should be at the top of every newscast, every conversation, but somehow we seem to be sleepwalking into the end of democracy. A “nah, can’t happen here” attitude, coupled with Trump fatigue, social media distractions, struggling to make ends meet, and good old fashioned apathy, are going to get people killed.
Former President Donald Trump’s final chief of staff in the White House, Mark Meadows, has spoken with special counsel Jack Smith’s team at least three times this year, including once before a federal grand jury, which came only after Smith granted Meadows immunity to testify under oath, according to sources familiar with...
Too early to tell for sure, but Georgia is starting to look grim for Trump, Inc. The state RICO statute by its nature lends itself to rolling up these “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” type conspiracies that are hard to prove individually but taken together show a coordinated pattern of conduct. With every co-conspirator who rolls over and takes a plea deal in return for testimony, it gets easier to prove, and more worrisome for those left.
Open question is whether the Fulton County DA can prove the requisite RICO predicate acts. I think they are trying to pin them on false statements and an unlawful attempt to influence an official, as well as the county election office interference, but it would be interesting to see a dispassionate analysis that evaluates the likelihood of success with those allegations.
Also unclear is what impact Meadows’ testimony in the Federal case will have, if any, on the Georgia proceedings.
Since the indictment, four of the 19 co-defendants have taken plea deals with prosecutors. Scott Hall, a former bail bondsman, was the first to do so last month....
It is one thing to hop on the internet and complain about the system (like we are doing now), but another to actually do something about it.
Unionizing - and then actually striking for better pay and conditions - are the most immediate ways to move the ball. As he says, workers have not historically improved their conditions by working harder, but by refusing to work en masse.
As pointed out time and time again, the MAGA caucus is interested in maximum chaos for social media clout, not governing. It will be interesting to see how much of the ‘mainstream’ GOP goes along with this idiocy.
I get the sense they are pretty spineless, because after all, who wants to anger the base and have to give up the fancy Washington restaurants to return to the sticks and live among the rubes once the inevitable MAGA primary challenger takes you out?
The truth is, the biggest pharmaceutical companies aren’t really drug development companies at all: they’re marketing, lobbying, and litigation firms with patent portfolios. While Big Pharma holds vast portfolios of existing patents for prescription drugs, the innovation pipeline for new drugs actually has very little to do with Big Pharma. In reality, public sources — especially the NIH — fund the basic research that makes scientific breakthroughs. Then small, boutique biotech and pharmaceutical firms take that publicly generated knowledge and do the final stages of research, like running clinical trials, that get the drugs to market. The share of small companies in the supply of new drugs is huge, and it’s still growing. Fully two-thirds of new drugs now come from these small companies, up from one-third twenty years ago. It is not the research labs of Pfizer that are developing new drugs.
This is completely true. The majority of research, at least for life saving drugs and not baldness cures, takes place at universities and small research firms, much of it funded by the NIH. If the investigators are successful, they spin off a company or license the IP.
Big drug companies then step in, long after the initial “drug discovery” is done. They have captured the regulatory system and, yes, can fund and run Phase 3 trials with their deep pockets and armies of bureaucrats, but at that point they are acting more like record labels, extracting rent (loosely defined) from a convoluted regulatory and distribution system that they themselves had a hand in creating.
Trump has been unable to post bond for $464 million judgment, his lawyers say (www.nbcnews.com)
I’m sure we all hate to see it.
A New York Times reporter was asked why they consistently frame things as bad for Biden but never bad for Trump. (old.reddit.com)
"I think what you're reacting to is that, at the moment, Biden is an unpopular president seeking a second term while Trump is a popular figure inside his party who is winning primary races. I wouldn't necessarily compare the two."...
Inside A Secret Society Of Prominent Right-Wing Christian Men Prepping For A ‘National Divorce’ (talkingpointsmemo.com)
Alternative title: “A very bad take on The Handmaid’s Tale”....
The Deep Weird: Consequences of the Rabbit Hole (jaredyatessexton.substack.com)
We're incredibly fortunate that the GOP is so weird. We need to take advantage of that before that weird becomes normal.
Republicans complain Joe Biden had too much energy at SOTU (www.newsweek.com)
I am avoiding linking to the Fox article so as to not send them traffic. Can’t make this stuff up.
There is something wrong at the New York Times (www.salon.com)
Parts Washer: What solvent are you using?
I’ve got one of those big red 20-gallon parts washers. You know the one. I mostly clean bicyle parts, and most bicycle lubricants are not petroleum-based. They’re usually plant or wax-based. The idea is that a water-based degreaser, like Simple Green, should have no problem cleaning the stuff. My experience is that Simple...
States can’t remove Trump from ballot, Supreme Court says (www.politico.com)
Have not read the separate opinion, which argues that the per curiam went too far in barring Federal courts from ruling on Section 3. Seems like that could become relevant down the road a bit.
House Bill 500 Takes Away Kentucky Workers’ Lunch and Rest Breaks and Cuts Their Pay - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (kypolicy.org)
Supreme Court stalls Trump’s federal election trial while weighing his immunity bid (www.politico.com)
politico archive: ghostarchive.org/archive/PS7WH...
The Lesser of Two Genocides
I voted for Biden in 2020. This was despite the fact that he is one of the main architects of modern American slavery through his crime bill which made the US the nation with the highest proportion of its own citizens imprisoned by far, who are quite literally slaves according to our constitution. This was despite him...
Ex U.S. spies warned the Hunter Biden scandal had Russian fingerprints. They feel vindicated now. (www.nbcnews.com)
Finished the cat paths!
We finished the last piece of the cat path I posted about earlier! This one goes from the laundry room, to the stairwell, and then into the guest bedroom on the upper floor (yes, I know the carpet needs replaced in that closet). They are already using them and seem to love the new path already....
Donald Trump fraud verdict: $364 million penalty in New York civil case (apnews.com)
He will never be able to pay this off…LMFAO!
Livestream audio of Supreme Court arguments over Trump's removal from Colorado ballot (www.msnbc.com)
George Santos expelled from Congress (www.npr.org)
Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term (archive.ph)
Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his...
Ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows granted immunity, tells special counsel he warned Trump about 2020 claims: Sources (abcnews.go.com)
Former President Donald Trump’s final chief of staff in the White House, Mark Meadows, has spoken with special counsel Jack Smith’s team at least three times this year, including once before a federal grand jury, which came only after Smith granted Meadows immunity to testify under oath, according to sources familiar with...
Jenna Ellis pleads guilty in Georgia election interference case (thehill.com)
Since the indictment, four of the 19 co-defendants have taken plea deals with prosecutors. Scott Hall, a former bail bondsman, was the first to do so last month....
How Unions CRUSH Capitalists (www.youtube.com)
A deputy, an insider or Trump? The race for US House Speaker (www.bbc.com)
Video on subject, The Hill:...
No, Sky-High Drug Prices Aren’t Funding Crucial New Medical Research (jacobin.com)