They are evil but not very smart, and they’re disunified. At least some of us are smart, and good really does play better than evil, even with the rubes when it comes down to personally affecting them, so yeah, there’s hope. The only way they ultimately win is if we give up hope, which of course is what they’re trying to make us do. Don’t.
About "not very smart", you know that thing you and I and all normal humans do when we're in a group of other humans, before you open your mouth to say something you imagine how others might perceive what you say? Perhaps it's transactional, will saying THIS thing rather than THAT thing get me closer to agreement, to approval, to whatever my goal is?
Yeah, their brains don't do that. Breaks down right at step 1, " imagine how others might perceive" and never gets any farther than that.
I've always been fascinated by how right-wingers, especially Tea Party and now MAGA types, think about this. "You mean I have to THINK ABOUT and CONSIDER other people and their FEELINGS and NEEDS before I say or do something? Fuck that!"
Really rich people don't have to, of course. Maybe they were born with some measure of empathy and emotional intelligence and it just atrophied through disuse, or they were never born with it in the first place, like Trump.
And because this lack of some basic neural pathways is a disability possessed by the rich, that automatically makes it admirable, and if rich --> no empathy then maybe it works the other way 'round? No empathy --> rich? Let's give it a try and find out!
BTW, over on the "Christian" Right, there's now a thing they're calling "The Sin of Empathy." You and I are sinners, we take this empathy stuff TOO FAR just by taking it anywhere at all.
They've been at versions of this for years, sneering about "social justice warriors," "virtue signaling," and whatever other language has been used for marketing this. I think the main differences now are twofold. The reach of their social media, including manosphere influencers. And their having built a religious cult, with Jesus replaced by a figure embodying absence of empathy.
This is why I've regularly said that one big reason so many people love Trump is that "he actually *says* what I'm thinking!" Trump is a permission slip for them.
Yes, you have hit on the aspect of chaoticism in human events. We must never be too sure we can see outcomes from any starting position. That is the failure of punditry and the desire to scoop a story, to be first to see the next big things.
I am still hoping for a miraculous turn. But all I see is a continuing creep. The whistle-blower at the NLRB is the stuff of historical guidance. Stand up in the open.
If a judge orders the bailiff to take Chump lawyers into custody and hold them for contempt, if licensing agencies start disbarring DOJ zealots, and if Stephen Miller gets hit by a rhinoceros, then I'll feel less uneasy.
Even if the courts do turn against him, I expect it to happen in some boring, technical and unsatisfying way because we don't live in a Scott Turow novel.
I think a hippo would be better suited for this task, plus if you look at the records, you'll see that a hippo would be far more likely to do it. Unless you think that would be a Hippo violation.
Well, to paraphrase Harry Nilsson, seeing every possible outcome is the same as seeing no outcome at all. But the larger picture remains clear. An irrational system based on resentment, revenge and fear has to collapse, why and when is a roll of the dice. The other factor is of course Events, dear boy, events. And Miller hit by a rhino would be an Event, along with a national holiday.
One of my problems is that I see no well thought through, realistic plans of how to end Republican domination as well as what we are when we come through this, assuming we do. What we do get is members of our leadership class opening their eyes a little and… not much.
The first casualty of war is the battle plan, as Yogi Berra once said. "Ending Republican domination" is a major overhaul of our system of government to unwind all their gaming, and that's the easy option which is still highly unlikely. Right now the Battle is stop Trump, which means either a collapse of Republican support for him in Congress, to enable removal, Trump's death, or a military coup. All are long shots, though the 1st is the most likely, which is still remotely at this point. The most likely outcome right now is living through an election for a 3rd Trump term, which would be stupid, violent and ugly.
My guess is ending Republican domination will require at least a 2nd Great Depression or whatever a modern equivalent would look like. This is more likely than the Democratic party becoming the equivalent of the Republican abolotionist party willing to re-write the Constitution and establish Reconstruction 2.0, with teeth this time. That's the kind of "overhaul" needed.
Thanks to mainstream reporting, the overlap between what Donny's doing and party goals is huge. The GOP base loves the insanity so Republican pols getting significantly better post-Trump is wishful, maybe delusional.
We're pretty much already back in the 1890s. I have no idea what *can* get us back to the 1930s. Lack of an opposition party that's better than an alt-Republican party doesn't help.
Meanwhile, the core problem is of course money in politics -- campaign bucks and the attendant corruption. Which hasn't been a concern to no one in power for decades with too few exceptions to matter.
Maybe we do have a well-thought-out realistic plan, but we're not sharing it with you because we're afraid you'll crab the works? (to quote the late, great Roscoe Karnes)
Great analysis, you know there are a few nerd-fascists getting anxious. The whole point of speed was to avoid the kind of scrutiny and pushback they are starting to get.
I think about Vance a lot. I wonder if on some level he's shitting himself. Unlike Rubio, who'd have to study to win a participation trophy, and Hegseth, who probably can't spell "participation" and maybe not "trophy," Vance is smart. Opportunistic, ambitious, and without a moral compass, but intelligent. He knows he's in for a penny, in for a pound at this point. This is the closest to the Presidency he'll ever get. If Trump et. al. go down, even if he escapes prosecution himself, he's tarred with the brush. And even given Americans' short memories, he's so charisma-free he'll never make the grade in an open primary. So I wonder, how afraid is he? I hope he's fucking terrified.
Fat Boy and Farm Boy. Oh, and speaking of Farm Boy: there's a small, Japanese-American-run grocery store by that name in Sherman Oaks. Its specialties? What else: sushi and frozen yogurt.
Goddamn, do clever people piss me off sometimes. "Heh, we're smart lawyers, we read the whole thing through and it doesn't really require us to do anything! Where do I sign?"
But of course Tubby mostly lives in the world of perceptions, of show, not reality. He wants a perception of unstoppable momentum, a perception of power as much as real power. A perception of power as the means to real power. And you just handed it to him, you clever, clever boys.
Just like the geniuses at Columbia, so sure they could outwit this moron, agree to some silly symbolic concessions, have a good laugh about it later in the faculty lounge.
Elite Law Brain is something else. Snappy Supreme Court dissents prompt high-fiving and “oh no, she didn’t!” when in reality, of course, it did nothing. Meanwhile, Marcy Wheeler continues berating people for failing to see the genius of Merrick Garland.
Thiel et all just got a taste of what Lenin and Trotsky must have felt at this juncture in 1915:
"Holy shit, they're really blowing it all up! We're going to have to move fast and seize the opportunity. And when we move, there's no turning back because we'll be dead men walking."
The actual business types I know are rattled by the uncertainty in the effects of the tariffs: and seem to be seeing it's still coming: maybe by summer. The ones dependent on foreign goods (and in a tourist-y area , that means China) are spooked.
Speaking of which, one of the local GOPer players started talking about Donnie's "strong stand against Red China": a characterization I've not seen in years..they are dragging out the golden oldies.
And DEI may just win in the courts: especially when, say, COSTCO explains it's good for business: and a First Amendment right...
The "land grab" zone flooded firehose of shit/outrages has had me depressed: but it's spring, i can get tomatoes in the ground, and Majorie Taylor Green is tazing constituents who show up to disagree... Vance busting the Ohio Trophy seems emblematic: these awful people aren't our best by definition. Normies are noticing and they hate that.
Maybe the SAVE act won't disenfranchise a third of the electorate.
Look for some awful distraction, probably a foreign feint: Hegeseth was saying "he could smell the Communism" in the Panama Canal. I expect Donnie to seize it, if the polls go as I expect by fall.(I think Our Friends in the Middle East are warning him off bombing Iran...)
Teddy Roosevelt said of the original US run creation of Panama to build a canal from the territory of Columbia "we shouldn't let such a great achievement, be tainted by the slightest legality"(from memory, doubtless wrong).
Actually, that was TR’s Attorney General, Philander Knox, responding to a directive from his boss after the fact to contrive a legal basis on which his smash&grab operation might be justified.
It’s so weird seeing the stock markets mostly continuing like nothing is wrong, even after the tariff chaos has completely upended global trade, long-term investment, and strategic alliances. I guess the tariff fiasco is like radiation poisoning: the victim looks fine for a while, but he’s already started dying.
There's a shit-gigaton of money out there, it's all gotta be parked somewhere and it sure ain't goin' to T-bills. That can sustain a market for a while.
Shows where we are when the venture capitalists can summon billions of dollars from the vasty deeps for their latest AI or blockchain or whatever which will never actually come into existence, tank the entire thing then move on with full pockets to the next grift, but we can't afford public infrastructure because INNOVATION.
Clarification: "THERE'S NO MONEY" is the plan, and the point. Once the cash money of the treasury and alla the banks done gone, the only thing left will be crypto. No need to read between the lines - they are doin' it right out in the open.
Sorry, I never got past "money" being ones and zeros in a database in a bank in Zurich or the Caymans. The lives of millions are destroyed, vast natural paradises are despoiled to change one arrangement of ones and zeros into a different arrangement of ones and zeros.
"Red China" sweet screaming Jesus, they really want to revive the 1960s, don't they? Even though even China has jumped aboard the global trade wagon and is doing everything they can to promote the development of capital, possibly because they have a lot more experience with revolutions than we do and they would rather their economy not collapse due to ideological bullshit.
There was a news story about how farmers are now getting nervous and say they'll need another bailout like the one they got the last time Tubby fucked up sales to their biggest export market. LOL, no. You've been used, now quietly take your place in the wastebasket with the other tissues.
The is the best ‘we are going to get a Mussolini-style fascism’ analysis of our current American Experiment, thus far.
‘Moving fast and breaking things’ tends to leave an inoperative mechanism and the culprits will get caught up in the disarray, they can’t get away quick enough to avoid the blowback- especially if they demand a ‘victory lap’ around the debris.
I am, however, hedging my bets- passport is in order, and a landing spot is already waiting.
I have no idea how any of this will play out in the real world. But Trump, specifically, is in a permanent hell, partly of his father's making, partly of his own. His pathological need to be a BIG MAN can never ever be satisfied. He is and will always be scared of anything he can't use to his advantage. But I'm afraid I can't take much consolation in that.
Agree. During Trump 1 I kept saying, "No, I don't want him to suddenly die of a heart attack. Death is too good for him. I want him to suffer." Now I say, "Just get rid of him. I'm so sick of all of them, just let him expire, and you'll hear the universe itself sigh with relief."
My opinion of the average American voter being what it is, I imagine the turning point isn't some great moral awakening, but simply that people tire of him like they tired of hearing Rob Schneider say "Makin' the copies!"
Every Senate Dem voted to confirm that little shitweasel Rubio, including St. Bernie. If that’s not a pretty good indicator of just how completely fucked we are, I don’t know what is.
Problems don’t get fixed by ignoring them. Time to start holding some feet to the fire and demanding actual competence instead of performative bullshit.
Anecdote: My wife owns and operates a business doing commercial interior design, mostly for hotels. Hotels, even big, nice ones like Mariott... even the kinds that are pretty swanky and cool looking, are franchises of a sort. They're privately owned but need to conform to certain brand standards. So the owner has leeway in what kinds of stuff they can put in it, but (for instance) bright orange shag carpeting isn't going to fly with Hyatt Corporation. So there's cost, quality, durability, design and style as factors.
Of course cost is paramount. Just a couple days ago she got a call. The ~$35,000 carpet order (which is a low, budget-level price when compared to the quantity and the prices of other, similar carpet styles) that her client agreed to (total cost) just went up to $90,000 due to Tubby's tariffs. Stuff like carpeting often comes from China. The manufacturer/dealer was supposed to notify the purchaser (this is on my wife's client's side... she doesn't do the purchasing) of this price increase prior to putting the material packed up tight on a cargo ship.
But guess what? Oops, it's already in a cargo container nestled deep with hundreds of other cargo containers and it's already on a ship headed to the USA. So now what happens? It's unclear still. Thing is, the hotel needs carpet of some kind. A big brand hotel cannot let carpet wear out badly and still fly the flag of Mariott! The owner can get in trouble with the corporation.
I'm at a loss to guess how this pans out. And this is a small example. A tiny example. A rich guy scrapes together ~$35,000 for carpeting (the carpeting is one small part of the entire, much larger project) and now it's going to cost him $90,000.
This cannot be pinned on my wife's business. My wife's business helped figure out the quantity and offered several selections that match the design scheme with general pricing to the owner, who then authorized the buyer to purchase this.
I just cannot see how this can go on for much longer without the Real Money Boys stepping in. But WTF do I know?
(I do not know the exact detail of how this $90,000 was arrived at, and some details are changed here for semi-anonymity... but the story is very close to exactly true and ongoing. Something might even explode today)
Clearly you are wrong, because we know that all men who voted for Tubby are manual-laborin' Men Of The Working Class, their hands calloused from long hours operating a jackhammer or chain saw or wrenchin' on a tractor. Hotel-owner probably even went to college, he can't possibly be a Republican.
C'mon, man – he was gonna install that rug himself. Got them kneepad rug-scoocher things, them nail-infested edger strips, and a whole fleet of rugcutters all set to go!
Been thinking lately about how the Reich wants a kind of weird reverse-Khmer Rouge, where we empty out the cubicles to send the population into the factories with the robots. Beats the shit out of me who's going to design the robots, though. That sounds like it's sitting behind a screen work, and all the women are going to need to go home and homeschool and nuture and Mama Bear.
The odds say that these owners will be Trumpers, but that point about them being franchisees may lead to a (dare I say?) diversity of outlooks.
Totally a digression and going back 15 years, but when my father was alive and we were making trips to Maryland to check on him, we stayed at one of these places multiple times. It became our base, as it was a surprisingly pleasant place that was very well managed. The cheerful cleaning staff gave us the impression of being treated decently.
It happened that the day after Dad's funeral, Hurricane Sandy was moving in, and we had to drop everything to drive back to Michigan ahead of the storm. As we were checking out, FEMA staff were moving in, to use conference space for the local operations center (yeah, like I said: the old days). Next trip to town, we heard the management had put up any staff that needed to shelter.
Poor Clippy looks on, sadly, a prophet before his time. "Looks like you're trying to destroy the world economy?" he asks, helpfully, but no one is listening.
Dare I hope?
Dare you not?
Doesn't cost you a thing!
They are evil but not very smart, and they’re disunified. At least some of us are smart, and good really does play better than evil, even with the rubes when it comes down to personally affecting them, so yeah, there’s hope. The only way they ultimately win is if we give up hope, which of course is what they’re trying to make us do. Don’t.
About "not very smart", you know that thing you and I and all normal humans do when we're in a group of other humans, before you open your mouth to say something you imagine how others might perceive what you say? Perhaps it's transactional, will saying THIS thing rather than THAT thing get me closer to agreement, to approval, to whatever my goal is?
Yeah, their brains don't do that. Breaks down right at step 1, " imagine how others might perceive" and never gets any farther than that.
I've always been fascinated by how right-wingers, especially Tea Party and now MAGA types, think about this. "You mean I have to THINK ABOUT and CONSIDER other people and their FEELINGS and NEEDS before I say or do something? Fuck that!"
Really rich people don't have to, of course. Maybe they were born with some measure of empathy and emotional intelligence and it just atrophied through disuse, or they were never born with it in the first place, like Trump.
And because this lack of some basic neural pathways is a disability possessed by the rich, that automatically makes it admirable, and if rich --> no empathy then maybe it works the other way 'round? No empathy --> rich? Let's give it a try and find out!
It's like hemophilia, a deadly disease that's taken as a mark of royalty.
BTW, over on the "Christian" Right, there's now a thing they're calling "The Sin of Empathy." You and I are sinners, we take this empathy stuff TOO FAR just by taking it anywhere at all.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/08/empathy-sin-christian-right-musk-trump
They've been at versions of this for years, sneering about "social justice warriors," "virtue signaling," and whatever other language has been used for marketing this. I think the main differences now are twofold. The reach of their social media, including manosphere influencers. And their having built a religious cult, with Jesus replaced by a figure embodying absence of empathy.
"Virtue signaling" because why else would someone be virtuous? I can't think of a single reason.
This is why I've regularly said that one big reason so many people love Trump is that "he actually *says* what I'm thinking!" Trump is a permission slip for them.
There's so much here with which I disagree but lucky for everyone too many short nights are taking their toll and I just can't...
So I'll leave it at this: clear vision and focus is essential. One shouldn't assume one knows, one should confirm and verify.
Yes, you have hit on the aspect of chaoticism in human events. We must never be too sure we can see outcomes from any starting position. That is the failure of punditry and the desire to scoop a story, to be first to see the next big things.
I am still hoping for a miraculous turn. But all I see is a continuing creep. The whistle-blower at the NLRB is the stuff of historical guidance. Stand up in the open.
If a judge orders the bailiff to take Chump lawyers into custody and hold them for contempt, if licensing agencies start disbarring DOJ zealots, and if Stephen Miller gets hit by a rhinoceros, then I'll feel less uneasy.
Even if the courts do turn against him, I expect it to happen in some boring, technical and unsatisfying way because we don't live in a Scott Turow novel.
"Stephen Miller gets hit by a rhinoceros."
You mean like stomped-on repeatedly and gored and dragged through the dust until the body is an unrecognizable wad of blood and meat?
Like that?
Clearly, you've given the matter some thought.
Trying to visit my happy place often.
(Python cockney voice) At first.
Your rhino, is it a goer? Does it, go? You know, go? KnowhatImean, knowhatImean?
Say no more.
Nice Senior Policy Adviser to the President you got here...be a shame if somefin' were to, you know, 'appen to 'im..."
I'm reading Atlas Slugged Again and enjoying it. Also reading Drunk Stoned.
You've made my day, and it's only 7:40 am here in L.A. Thank you!
I think a hippo would be better suited for this task, plus if you look at the records, you'll see that a hippo would be far more likely to do it. Unless you think that would be a Hippo violation.
Well, to paraphrase Harry Nilsson, seeing every possible outcome is the same as seeing no outcome at all. But the larger picture remains clear. An irrational system based on resentment, revenge and fear has to collapse, why and when is a roll of the dice. The other factor is of course Events, dear boy, events. And Miller hit by a rhino would be an Event, along with a national holiday.
Vote Rhino!
Rhino Has A Point!
This Gore Is The Real Deal!
Headstrong, Hoofed and Horny!*
*There's precedent.
Or perhaps RINO?
"How's the rhino doing?" I ask, my voice filled with concern.
One of my problems is that I see no well thought through, realistic plans of how to end Republican domination as well as what we are when we come through this, assuming we do. What we do get is members of our leadership class opening their eyes a little and… not much.
The first casualty of war is the battle plan, as Yogi Berra once said. "Ending Republican domination" is a major overhaul of our system of government to unwind all their gaming, and that's the easy option which is still highly unlikely. Right now the Battle is stop Trump, which means either a collapse of Republican support for him in Congress, to enable removal, Trump's death, or a military coup. All are long shots, though the 1st is the most likely, which is still remotely at this point. The most likely outcome right now is living through an election for a 3rd Trump term, which would be stupid, violent and ugly.
My guess is ending Republican domination will require at least a 2nd Great Depression or whatever a modern equivalent would look like. This is more likely than the Democratic party becoming the equivalent of the Republican abolotionist party willing to re-write the Constitution and establish Reconstruction 2.0, with teeth this time. That's the kind of "overhaul" needed.
Thanks to mainstream reporting, the overlap between what Donny's doing and party goals is huge. The GOP base loves the insanity so Republican pols getting significantly better post-Trump is wishful, maybe delusional.
We're pretty much already back in the 1890s. I have no idea what *can* get us back to the 1930s. Lack of an opposition party that's better than an alt-Republican party doesn't help.
Meanwhile, the core problem is of course money in politics -- campaign bucks and the attendant corruption. Which hasn't been a concern to no one in power for decades with too few exceptions to matter.
Maybe we do have a well-thought-out realistic plan, but we're not sharing it with you because we're afraid you'll crab the works? (to quote the late, great Roscoe Karnes)
Look what I made for demo wear (before Trump declares peaceful demonstrations that manifest *any* dissent illegal as planned for 4/20):
https://www.zazzle.com/t_shirt-256727885425949274
I hear Joe Mantegna explaining the world of con to Lyndsey Crouse in “House of Games.”
Pat Hingle, Larger Than Life: “there are only two kinds of people in this world, carnies and rubes. Don’t be a rube.”
Well that's what a carnie WOULD say....
Great analysis, you know there are a few nerd-fascists getting anxious. The whole point of speed was to avoid the kind of scrutiny and pushback they are starting to get.
I think about Vance a lot. I wonder if on some level he's shitting himself. Unlike Rubio, who'd have to study to win a participation trophy, and Hegseth, who probably can't spell "participation" and maybe not "trophy," Vance is smart. Opportunistic, ambitious, and without a moral compass, but intelligent. He knows he's in for a penny, in for a pound at this point. This is the closest to the Presidency he'll ever get. If Trump et. al. go down, even if he escapes prosecution himself, he's tarred with the brush. And even given Americans' short memories, he's so charisma-free he'll never make the grade in an open primary. So I wonder, how afraid is he? I hope he's fucking terrified.
The fiasco with the football trophy was hilarious, you gotta admit.
Loved it. The guy is smart, but like so many in the Trump crew it's like he walks around looking for rakes to step on, lol.
"Have another rake, JayDee!"
Did you happen to see the Defector piece on that? It's a thing of beauty, the first graf of the David Roth section in particular.
https://defector.com/point-counterpoint-jd-vance-drops-the-national-championship-trophy
Fat Boy and Farm Boy. Oh, and speaking of Farm Boy: there's a small, Japanese-American-run grocery store by that name in Sherman Oaks. Its specialties? What else: sushi and frozen yogurt.
Just a quick note on the big law firms. Josh Marshall has been digging into that and so far it appears all their “agreements” are just BS. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/whats-really-in-the-white-house-law-firm-agreements/sharetoken/a109ff3e-d016-43c5-96e7-cf6c4502a141
My assumption is they say ‘yeah whatever’ and snicker. Like, no one with two brains cells to rub together would sign anything that dude handed them.
Goddamn, do clever people piss me off sometimes. "Heh, we're smart lawyers, we read the whole thing through and it doesn't really require us to do anything! Where do I sign?"
But of course Tubby mostly lives in the world of perceptions, of show, not reality. He wants a perception of unstoppable momentum, a perception of power as much as real power. A perception of power as the means to real power. And you just handed it to him, you clever, clever boys.
Just like the geniuses at Columbia, so sure they could outwit this moron, agree to some silly symbolic concessions, have a good laugh about it later in the faculty lounge.
Like the Nationalists in the Reichstag.
This little corporal and his beer-hall putch, what a LOSER, amirite?
Elite Law Brain is something else. Snappy Supreme Court dissents prompt high-fiving and “oh no, she didn’t!” when in reality, of course, it did nothing. Meanwhile, Marcy Wheeler continues berating people for failing to see the genius of Merrick Garland.
This is one of the best things you've ever written. I hope it's a free column so I can share it.
Thanks! It is sharable!
Thiel et all just got a taste of what Lenin and Trotsky must have felt at this juncture in 1915:
"Holy shit, they're really blowing it all up! We're going to have to move fast and seize the opportunity. And when we move, there's no turning back because we'll be dead men walking."
(Unlike Thiel, Lenin and Trotsky didn't hate women for existing.)
"I'm sorry Mr. Thiel, but the new polling says 89% of people would rather have a beer with Leon Trotsky than with you."
The actual business types I know are rattled by the uncertainty in the effects of the tariffs: and seem to be seeing it's still coming: maybe by summer. The ones dependent on foreign goods (and in a tourist-y area , that means China) are spooked.
Speaking of which, one of the local GOPer players started talking about Donnie's "strong stand against Red China": a characterization I've not seen in years..they are dragging out the golden oldies.
And DEI may just win in the courts: especially when, say, COSTCO explains it's good for business: and a First Amendment right...
The "land grab" zone flooded firehose of shit/outrages has had me depressed: but it's spring, i can get tomatoes in the ground, and Majorie Taylor Green is tazing constituents who show up to disagree... Vance busting the Ohio Trophy seems emblematic: these awful people aren't our best by definition. Normies are noticing and they hate that.
Maybe the SAVE act won't disenfranchise a third of the electorate.
Look for some awful distraction, probably a foreign feint: Hegeseth was saying "he could smell the Communism" in the Panama Canal. I expect Donnie to seize it, if the polls go as I expect by fall.(I think Our Friends in the Middle East are warning him off bombing Iran...)
Teddy Roosevelt said of the original US run creation of Panama to build a canal from the territory of Columbia "we shouldn't let such a great achievement, be tainted by the slightest legality"(from memory, doubtless wrong).
I hope no one tells this to Himself...
Actually, that was TR’s Attorney General, Philander Knox, responding to a directive from his boss after the fact to contrive a legal basis on which his smash&grab operation might be justified.
2 marks for Mr & Mrs Knox, parents of Philander, for their naming skillz.
Not a friend of man.
I knew i was misremembering something…
Since Macy's is still around (for now), I wonder will someone send out for fabric to design the new Panamanian flag like they did the first one (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Bunau-Varilla)?
The hitch will be that the new ones will be made in China.
That flag...
It’s so weird seeing the stock markets mostly continuing like nothing is wrong, even after the tariff chaos has completely upended global trade, long-term investment, and strategic alliances. I guess the tariff fiasco is like radiation poisoning: the victim looks fine for a while, but he’s already started dying.
There's a shit-gigaton of money out there, it's all gotta be parked somewhere and it sure ain't goin' to T-bills. That can sustain a market for a while.
We def wouldn’t put that money to good use on infrastructure or public goods!
Oh, I'm sorry, are we now talking about public investment or public benefits? THERE'S NO MONEY.
hOw WilL yOu paY FoR iT?!
Shows where we are when the venture capitalists can summon billions of dollars from the vasty deeps for their latest AI or blockchain or whatever which will never actually come into existence, tank the entire thing then move on with full pockets to the next grift, but we can't afford public infrastructure because INNOVATION.
Clarification: "THERE'S NO MONEY" is the plan, and the point. Once the cash money of the treasury and alla the banks done gone, the only thing left will be crypto. No need to read between the lines - they are doin' it right out in the open.
Let the pyramid scheme embiggen!
Sorry, I never got past "money" being ones and zeros in a database in a bank in Zurich or the Caymans. The lives of millions are destroyed, vast natural paradises are despoiled to change one arrangement of ones and zeros into a different arrangement of ones and zeros.
Thanks Rand...
Isn't that where the phrase, "We stole it fair and square!" came from?
"Red China" sweet screaming Jesus, they really want to revive the 1960s, don't they? Even though even China has jumped aboard the global trade wagon and is doing everything they can to promote the development of capital, possibly because they have a lot more experience with revolutions than we do and they would rather their economy not collapse due to ideological bullshit.
There was a news story about how farmers are now getting nervous and say they'll need another bailout like the one they got the last time Tubby fucked up sales to their biggest export market. LOL, no. You've been used, now quietly take your place in the wastebasket with the other tissues.
And after they gits the cash, they'll vote fer him a FOURTH time!
You see things pretty clearly. Good thing you're not on Team Evil !
When Roy was given his Powers of the Drama by Dionysus, he was directed to only use these powers for good, and never for evil.
Tragicomedy covers a lotta ground.
Checks off BOTH the masks.
THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!
Like a certain Sesame Street character, I am a compulsive counter.
This is extra well-done, the way T* would order it.
The is the best ‘we are going to get a Mussolini-style fascism’ analysis of our current American Experiment, thus far.
‘Moving fast and breaking things’ tends to leave an inoperative mechanism and the culprits will get caught up in the disarray, they can’t get away quick enough to avoid the blowback- especially if they demand a ‘victory lap’ around the debris.
I am, however, hedging my bets- passport is in order, and a landing spot is already waiting.
Good for you!
My fried has dual USA and Italian citizenship. His plan was to retire in Italy, but even Italy has a fascist government. Again.
He should check the train schedules, then, before he emigrates.
The bright side: by the time you finally switch trains in Rome Termini, the fascist government has fallen.
I have no idea how any of this will play out in the real world. But Trump, specifically, is in a permanent hell, partly of his father's making, partly of his own. His pathological need to be a BIG MAN can never ever be satisfied. He is and will always be scared of anything he can't use to his advantage. But I'm afraid I can't take much consolation in that.
Agree. During Trump 1 I kept saying, "No, I don't want him to suddenly die of a heart attack. Death is too good for him. I want him to suffer." Now I say, "Just get rid of him. I'm so sick of all of them, just let him expire, and you'll hear the universe itself sigh with relief."
My opinion of the average American voter being what it is, I imagine the turning point isn't some great moral awakening, but simply that people tire of him like they tired of hearing Rob Schneider say "Makin' the copies!"
I'd kind of enjoy watching a pay per view live exorcism of El Cheatolini.
Whatever comes spewing out sure won't be pea soup.
Every Senate Dem voted to confirm that little shitweasel Rubio, including St. Bernie. If that’s not a pretty good indicator of just how completely fucked we are, I don’t know what is.
Problems don’t get fixed by ignoring them. Time to start holding some feet to the fire and demanding actual competence instead of performative bullshit.
I remember that! He was supposed to be one of the normal ones! One of the Adults in the Room! (ha ha, to anyone who saw Rubio and thought "adult")
They were searching for a Tyrant Flysnatcher but had to settle for an Orange-crested Kinglet.
The Feathered Resistance Cometh!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlik9QF08qM
Anecdote: My wife owns and operates a business doing commercial interior design, mostly for hotels. Hotels, even big, nice ones like Mariott... even the kinds that are pretty swanky and cool looking, are franchises of a sort. They're privately owned but need to conform to certain brand standards. So the owner has leeway in what kinds of stuff they can put in it, but (for instance) bright orange shag carpeting isn't going to fly with Hyatt Corporation. So there's cost, quality, durability, design and style as factors.
Of course cost is paramount. Just a couple days ago she got a call. The ~$35,000 carpet order (which is a low, budget-level price when compared to the quantity and the prices of other, similar carpet styles) that her client agreed to (total cost) just went up to $90,000 due to Tubby's tariffs. Stuff like carpeting often comes from China. The manufacturer/dealer was supposed to notify the purchaser (this is on my wife's client's side... she doesn't do the purchasing) of this price increase prior to putting the material packed up tight on a cargo ship.
But guess what? Oops, it's already in a cargo container nestled deep with hundreds of other cargo containers and it's already on a ship headed to the USA. So now what happens? It's unclear still. Thing is, the hotel needs carpet of some kind. A big brand hotel cannot let carpet wear out badly and still fly the flag of Mariott! The owner can get in trouble with the corporation.
I'm at a loss to guess how this pans out. And this is a small example. A tiny example. A rich guy scrapes together ~$35,000 for carpeting (the carpeting is one small part of the entire, much larger project) and now it's going to cost him $90,000.
This cannot be pinned on my wife's business. My wife's business helped figure out the quantity and offered several selections that match the design scheme with general pricing to the owner, who then authorized the buyer to purchase this.
I just cannot see how this can go on for much longer without the Real Money Boys stepping in. But WTF do I know?
(I do not know the exact detail of how this $90,000 was arrived at, and some details are changed here for semi-anonymity... but the story is very close to exactly true and ongoing. Something might even explode today)
And multiply this by any transaction throughout the economy.
Oofsville!
Ah, poor hotel owner. On the plus side, his daughter's swim meets are now free of The Hated Trans.
Ha! I was just telling my wife that Joe Hotel Owner likely voted for Tubby!
(She thinks it's a good possibility, but she doesn't have a solid, personal read on the owner or the other people in that Org)
Clearly you are wrong, because we know that all men who voted for Tubby are manual-laborin' Men Of The Working Class, their hands calloused from long hours operating a jackhammer or chain saw or wrenchin' on a tractor. Hotel-owner probably even went to college, he can't possibly be a Republican.
C'mon, man – he was gonna install that rug himself. Got them kneepad rug-scoocher things, them nail-infested edger strips, and a whole fleet of rugcutters all set to go!
"them kneepad rug-scoocher things, them nail-infested edger strips"
Please, I am overwhelmed with your technical jargon.
"Hey, pass me them scoochers" said one rug-installer to the other.
A *Real Man ®* don't need no knee pads, that's fer weaklings.
Been thinking lately about how the Reich wants a kind of weird reverse-Khmer Rouge, where we empty out the cubicles to send the population into the factories with the robots. Beats the shit out of me who's going to design the robots, though. That sounds like it's sitting behind a screen work, and all the women are going to need to go home and homeschool and nuture and Mama Bear.
The odds say that these owners will be Trumpers, but that point about them being franchisees may lead to a (dare I say?) diversity of outlooks.
Totally a digression and going back 15 years, but when my father was alive and we were making trips to Maryland to check on him, we stayed at one of these places multiple times. It became our base, as it was a surprisingly pleasant place that was very well managed. The cheerful cleaning staff gave us the impression of being treated decently.
It happened that the day after Dad's funeral, Hurricane Sandy was moving in, and we had to drop everything to drive back to Michigan ahead of the storm. As we were checking out, FEMA staff were moving in, to use conference space for the local operations center (yeah, like I said: the old days). Next trip to town, we heard the management had put up any staff that needed to shelter.
Probably arrived at through ChatGPT, much like Schitzenführer's own tariff amounts.
Poor Clippy looks on, sadly, a prophet before his time. "Looks like you're trying to destroy the world economy?" he asks, helpfully, but no one is listening.