There's not much light between the criminally deliberately destructive antics of Vlad Putin and those of Don Trump. Peas in a Pod, with apologies to peas. And nobody to stop them. Not any of the so-called "good people" in politics or government. So.... "the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for "good" people to do nothing." People who do nothing in the face of evil and evidence are NOT "good people." They are collaborators, appeasers, spineless and self-interested. Many in the US are called Democrats. They join 99% of Republicans. What kind of courage does it take to do the right thing??? Clearly more than politicians have!!! It is beyond disgusting. It is deadly to democratic principle.
Oh, Amanda. I love ya, but what our oligarchs have wrought is the bifurcated reality we all live in. Rupert Murdoch has long had the ability to sculpt the conservative metaverse, and it's now more insular than it's ever been. Amazon can reach inside the books you buy and "correct" parts deemed "problematic". Mark Zuckerberg and his shareholder-pleasing engagement algorithms and "news" feeds - combined with his shallow, pollyannish "free speech" ideology - turned a simple social networking site into a global hegemon destroying the fabric of every society it touches.
Oh, and speaking of naive conceptions of free speech - guess who thinks enabling a state propaganda machine from a country who murders and jails journalists and dissidents constitutes "free speech absolutism"? That's right, your boy Elon. Free speech apparently means defending the rights of tyrants to rob their people of both practicing and absorbing free speech while broadcasting whatever lies they find convenient. This is where our rote free-speech maxims fail us; bad speech can't be countered with more speech if more speech can't reach people's ears. And now he wants to own the de facto digital "town square".
I'm not sure what they mean by "level of disease", but it shouldn't include cases any more what with so many people testing at home. Hospitalizations and deaths should be the metric to determine when mitigation strategies are needed.
Airplanes have some of the best indoor air quality around, but busses and trains generally do not. To the extent that busses and trains cross state lines, the Feds are the only ones who can regulate them. I would hope municipalities with high spread would keep mask mandates in place for public transport even if the Federal mask mandate is lifted.
"I would love to be wrong about Trump and the Republican party. It would be good for America if the GOP would move on. But when you look at the numbers and listen to the voters, the idea that the party is growing to be independent of Trump seems less like analysis and more like wishcasting." - Sarah
Of course it is wish casting. Why would the GOP want to move on? The sad reality is that the GOP has been, for over a decade at least, covertly supportive of things that the TFG openly supports. He simply brought that out into the open and made it mainstream. In fact there is too much focus on the TFG when the real problem is the GOP. He is their "useful idiot", not the other way around. His loud actions have been used by the GOP to obfuscate their own conduct. Their silence is much more than acceptance. It is encouragement. At some point he will become too toxic for their brand and they will dump him (of course after he helps them set things up to have a perpetual majority). Or they will find somebody like the Florida guv who will do everything he does but minus all the crazy. This longing for a past that hasn't existed in many years now (at the least) is baffling.
Sorry I wear a mask on planes even if there is no worry over Covid. Do you not know how contaminated the recycled air on planes is? It's disgusting. And while most of the passengers are probably disease free, you can't guarantee that there isn't a passenger with the flu, a cold, TB or Covid, etc. Word to the wise; wear a mask when flying.
I agree with you on charging Trump and would you believe it, so do the Pod Save America guys. I listened to you on Monday's Bulwark with Will Saletan and then PSA's Tuesday (4/12) episode. Virtually identical points made by you all. Amazing. Hopefully the Jan. 6 committee & the DOJ are listening.
If 2015 GOP candidates had to swear fealty to [what I'll optimistically refer to as] GOP values/policy, we wouldn't have Trump, Paul, and a host of haphazard vermin who rode in under GOP colors before burning it all down.
The Russian warship is a useful metaphor as well as a reality check. Let's say it this way: the Ukrainians collectively are badasses. And I mean that in the very best of ways. Mess with them, I say with admiration, at your own risk.
Forget for a moment that holding trump and his cronies accountable is the right thing to do, especially because we are a nation of laws, not men, but today's GOP has used every means at their disposal to dismantle our democracy. It seems to me that the Democratic party should be willing to do the same to save it...
I'm not sure which is worse in terms of PR: Admitting that the warship was bombed and trashed and began to sink because of Ukrainians, or saying that through incompetence, the ship was poorly handled, and shells exploded in the hold. No promotions forthcoming.
That flagship will at the least need major repairs, and they won't get done in Mariupol for sure. Where else in the sea of Azul is a boy going to get his bathtub toy fixed? I hope the Ukrainians sink the thing in the harbor. Apparently, they could. I'd cheer.
I can choose whether to eat at a restaurant, go to a bar, or attend a sporting event. If I choose to go, I can choose how long to stay. I may have little-to-no choice on whether I take a flight (or ride public transit). That's the difference.
As a side note, I have to strongly disagree with Charlie's guest, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, on yesterday's Bulwark podcast who suggested Trump is brilliant strategist when it comes to his fascist approach to politics. I know that's consistent with the "reptilian cunning" Charlie always suggests Trump has, but I never bought into that either.
The fact is, time after time, Trump had a chance to make decisions that would have increased his base and given himself more power. Instead, at almost every turn, Trump made decisions that undercut his authority. One of the things I'm most grateful for is that Trump wasn't smarter when it comes to seizing authoritarian power. This country would have been so screwed if he was. Fortunately, Trump also doesn't appear capable of learning from his mistakes. That's another thing I'm grateful for.
There's not much light between the criminally deliberately destructive antics of Vlad Putin and those of Don Trump. Peas in a Pod, with apologies to peas. And nobody to stop them. Not any of the so-called "good people" in politics or government. So.... "the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for "good" people to do nothing." People who do nothing in the face of evil and evidence are NOT "good people." They are collaborators, appeasers, spineless and self-interested. Many in the US are called Democrats. They join 99% of Republicans. What kind of courage does it take to do the right thing??? Clearly more than politicians have!!! It is beyond disgusting. It is deadly to democratic principle.
Illinois has a long, bipartisan history of sending elected executives to prison. It's time we kicked it up a notch and went federal.
Oh, Amanda. I love ya, but what our oligarchs have wrought is the bifurcated reality we all live in. Rupert Murdoch has long had the ability to sculpt the conservative metaverse, and it's now more insular than it's ever been. Amazon can reach inside the books you buy and "correct" parts deemed "problematic". Mark Zuckerberg and his shareholder-pleasing engagement algorithms and "news" feeds - combined with his shallow, pollyannish "free speech" ideology - turned a simple social networking site into a global hegemon destroying the fabric of every society it touches.
Oh, and speaking of naive conceptions of free speech - guess who thinks enabling a state propaganda machine from a country who murders and jails journalists and dissidents constitutes "free speech absolutism"? That's right, your boy Elon. Free speech apparently means defending the rights of tyrants to rob their people of both practicing and absorbing free speech while broadcasting whatever lies they find convenient. This is where our rote free-speech maxims fail us; bad speech can't be countered with more speech if more speech can't reach people's ears. And now he wants to own the de facto digital "town square".
I'm not sure what they mean by "level of disease", but it shouldn't include cases any more what with so many people testing at home. Hospitalizations and deaths should be the metric to determine when mitigation strategies are needed.
"Voters, he said, “are seeing images of Seattle and crime and disorder … They’re hearing that nobody’s being prosecuted anymore.”
So they want to elect the most corrupt, thumbs-his-nose-at-the-law person to be president.....again??
Airplanes have some of the best indoor air quality around, but busses and trains generally do not. To the extent that busses and trains cross state lines, the Feds are the only ones who can regulate them. I would hope municipalities with high spread would keep mask mandates in place for public transport even if the Federal mask mandate is lifted.
"I would love to be wrong about Trump and the Republican party. It would be good for America if the GOP would move on. But when you look at the numbers and listen to the voters, the idea that the party is growing to be independent of Trump seems less like analysis and more like wishcasting." - Sarah
Of course it is wish casting. Why would the GOP want to move on? The sad reality is that the GOP has been, for over a decade at least, covertly supportive of things that the TFG openly supports. He simply brought that out into the open and made it mainstream. In fact there is too much focus on the TFG when the real problem is the GOP. He is their "useful idiot", not the other way around. His loud actions have been used by the GOP to obfuscate their own conduct. Their silence is much more than acceptance. It is encouragement. At some point he will become too toxic for their brand and they will dump him (of course after he helps them set things up to have a perpetual majority). Or they will find somebody like the Florida guv who will do everything he does but minus all the crazy. This longing for a past that hasn't existed in many years now (at the least) is baffling.
And it sank.. Doing a little dance here.
Sorry I wear a mask on planes even if there is no worry over Covid. Do you not know how contaminated the recycled air on planes is? It's disgusting. And while most of the passengers are probably disease free, you can't guarantee that there isn't a passenger with the flu, a cold, TB or Covid, etc. Word to the wise; wear a mask when flying.
I agree with you on charging Trump and would you believe it, so do the Pod Save America guys. I listened to you on Monday's Bulwark with Will Saletan and then PSA's Tuesday (4/12) episode. Virtually identical points made by you all. Amazing. Hopefully the Jan. 6 committee & the DOJ are listening.
If 2015 GOP candidates had to swear fealty to [what I'll optimistically refer to as] GOP values/policy, we wouldn't have Trump, Paul, and a host of haphazard vermin who rode in under GOP colors before burning it all down.
The Russian warship is a useful metaphor as well as a reality check. Let's say it this way: the Ukrainians collectively are badasses. And I mean that in the very best of ways. Mess with them, I say with admiration, at your own risk.
Forget for a moment that holding trump and his cronies accountable is the right thing to do, especially because we are a nation of laws, not men, but today's GOP has used every means at their disposal to dismantle our democracy. It seems to me that the Democratic party should be willing to do the same to save it...
I'm not sure which is worse in terms of PR: Admitting that the warship was bombed and trashed and began to sink because of Ukrainians, or saying that through incompetence, the ship was poorly handled, and shells exploded in the hold. No promotions forthcoming.
That flagship will at the least need major repairs, and they won't get done in Mariupol for sure. Where else in the sea of Azul is a boy going to get his bathtub toy fixed? I hope the Ukrainians sink the thing in the harbor. Apparently, they could. I'd cheer.
I can choose whether to eat at a restaurant, go to a bar, or attend a sporting event. If I choose to go, I can choose how long to stay. I may have little-to-no choice on whether I take a flight (or ride public transit). That's the difference.
As a side note, I have to strongly disagree with Charlie's guest, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, on yesterday's Bulwark podcast who suggested Trump is brilliant strategist when it comes to his fascist approach to politics. I know that's consistent with the "reptilian cunning" Charlie always suggests Trump has, but I never bought into that either.
The fact is, time after time, Trump had a chance to make decisions that would have increased his base and given himself more power. Instead, at almost every turn, Trump made decisions that undercut his authority. One of the things I'm most grateful for is that Trump wasn't smarter when it comes to seizing authoritarian power. This country would have been so screwed if he was. Fortunately, Trump also doesn't appear capable of learning from his mistakes. That's another thing I'm grateful for.