Man, these last few days at work stink, stank, stunk! Thank god tax season is over for the moment.
Well that’s also no fun.
Fox News and Dominion agree to settle defamation lawsuit
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/04/18/dominion-fox-trial/
https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/fox-news-dominion-trial-04-18-23/index.html
This poor family!
‘Buckets of tears’: mother of Black teen shot after going to wrong address speaks
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/18/ralph-yarl-mother-interview-kansas-city-shooting
How was this shitty photograph even in the running is my question
Photographer admits prize-winning image was AI-generated
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/17/photographer-admits-prize-winning-image-was-ai-generated
They already have all your data anyway, might as well get the cheddar. (PS – only good for those of you in the USA)
Judge tentatively OKs $725M Facebook settlement: How to apply for a payout
https://wgntv.com/news/trending/judge-tentatively-oks-725m-facebook-settlement-how-to-apply-for-a-payout/
Here’s the link: https://www.facebookuserprivacysettlement.com/#home
Or if you fall in a hot pool, all that’s left of you is your flippy floppy!
Today in Turtles:
Have a great day!
Submitted my claim. I do not engage with FB (or other social media) anymore since watching the doc, but also because I can’t handle it, I end up yelling at all the shitbags on FB and of course the “centrists” call me out, not the person doing or typing the horrible shit.
So suddenly now people start to give a shit about photos that aren’t really photos? For over 30 years I’ve railed against people using photoshop not just to touch up images but to make completely bullshit images that are obvious to everyone aren’t photography. Yet those images continue to be granted awards and publications. As a hardcore photographic Luddite I refused to succumb to the temptation to cheat like these people did and eventually just gave it up altogether. Now the gatekeepers and the apologists are about to reap the whirlwind. Fuck them.
A+ to the Houston Zoo on their tortoise-naming.
In addition to sinking in the polls, donors are shunning DeSantis. It’s funny — I knew abortion was a hot-button issue, but I really didn’t expect the backlash against book banning. I mean, it’s gratifying, but I really didn’t expect it.
As the wheels come off for DeSantis, Republicans take aim at Trump at major donor retreat
You know that the next step for Trump is going to be claiming that he is somehow a “moderate” on abortion while winking and nodding to his rightwing supporters, and there will be a rush of commentators to consider how that might be true, how that might be a valid point if you take a certain perspective, how Biden and the Democrats have their own lack of real bona fides on abortion….
He’s already pushing this line on how he was a dove in office, and getting traction despite coming within an hour of bombing Iran and launching more drone kills in just two years in just Yemen than Obama had in all eight years in office everywhere. He’s following Nixon’s path in Vietnam by claiming he has a secret solution for peace in Ukraine.
This Politico piece is an example of how it works, saying only this is “occasionally contradicted by his record.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/06/trumps-2024-game-plan-dove-hawks-00081180
He’s not a genius, but he learned a long time ago if he simply states a ridiculous position, a ton of supposedly sensible people will jump by default to “how might it be true” instead of “how many ways is it wrong.”
He knows how to use contrarians who fluff themselves by looking for the nugget of truth in the middle of his lies, and the single falsehood in the lake of truth of his enemies.
Trump’s 2020 problem and his 2024 problem are the same: He has a record now. The media can wishcast about his beliefs, but everyone already knows the deal. (I’d also note that is from 2 months ago and is woefully out of date given that Pompeo has already found his brand of “NUKE EM ALL BUT RUSSIA” didn’t sell worth a damn.)
I think you’re right that Trump’s positions are well known now.
I’d add that he has a parallel problem — his supporters are well known now. Many people don’t so much vote for the candidate as the group of people backing the candidate. And the majority of people really dislike his supporters.
In 2016 it was possible to see a lot of casual Trump voters who vaguely knew the guy from The Apprentice, didn’t like the people they saw as Clinton supporters, so they took a chance on Trump. The Ohio Diner narrative in the following years was designed to reinforce the idea of normalizing Trump’s base. But the more people see them in real life, the harder that kind of normalization gets.
The “woke” and crime storylines were designed to drive up the negatives of the GOP’s opposition and hold on to as many moderate voters as possible. The challenge is that the harder the GOP rallies loyalists for these campaigns, the nuttier their own base seems.
The ongoing 1/6 prosecutions, people screaming that Trump’s legal problems are purely partisan, the nuttier and nuttier state and local crackdowns — these things add to the problem. It gets harder and harder for the majority outside of Trump’s orbit to think his supporters are remotely OK.
…that sounds about right…but I still find myself going back & forth on some things that I don’t feel quite let me feel better
…he (& as you point out the true-believer side of the party, its candidates & their supporters) are a known quantity…& it probably ought not to be surprising to any of us that the majority of people don’t want crazy in charge
…but…if the stats about states &/or districts that have the potential to be other than known quantities in electoral college terms are to be believed it doesn’t altogether seem like that outcome tracks reliably…& the blocks of declared-independent voters in a number of places add up to bigger numbers than the margin that took the last election…which if nothing else puts the bell-weathers & such in something close enough to king-maker territory to get them courted by campaigns…which most likely guarantees campaign season will be more about the bullshit than the solid concerns most people are dealing with
…I want to be free to point & laugh at the absolute insanity of de santis & trump in the comfort of knowing they couldn’t get elected & can only harm each other…but…it ain’t so?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/19/judge-denied-abortion-school-grades-florida-supreme-court
Most of those “independents” are just Republicans who are too embarrassed to admit it to a pollster, much less publicly.
Republicans would rather set themselves on fire than vote for even the most Joe Manchin of Democrats. 2024 will still be a slugfest and too close to call.
I think it’s absolutely nuts to think there are any guarantees of a big blue wave. So many things could go wrong. But I think at this point the party professionals in the GOP are hoping to dampen Democratic turnout even at the cost of their own short term gains, in order to bank on a long term organizing advantage over the following decade.
Asa Hutchinson is saying it’s time to move away from abortion (whatever that means). Nikki Haley is trying to signal a retreat from anti-Ukraine rhetoric, which the party knows is a huge liability. Tim Scott is desperately trying to avoid saying anything. If DeSantis decides to hide from 2024, they’re all that remains.
The problem they have is that Trump won’t play along. He can’t and hope to avoid accountability. So he will be undercutting them in the hopes that the rest of the party surrenders to his brinksmanship (again) and signs on to another high intensity, high risk campaign.
The Rethugs are going to tank the economy to try to win. We already have their insider in the Fed saying that a recession is most likely coming right before the election. If that happens they may just pull off the next election.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s going to be a walkover. (Indeed, given the electoral college and current nature of partisanship, I don’t think a walkover is possible given almost any matchup. Biden won by 7+ million votes and it was still tight enough in a few places to be sphincter-clenching the whole way.)
But the tenor of 2020 was that lots of people were sick of Trump’s shit and very ready to let it be over… and given that he hasn’t gone away, stopped talking about it or shown any propensity to shut up unless being before a grand jury, I don’t think he’s going to magically show up with brilliant new ideas to bring people into the fold. And he’s not running against Hillary Clinton again, either, which was really and truly his biggest innovation in 2016.
The thing that gives me the most hope is that Republicans are scared. Their pollsters are sniveling incessantly about fucked they are, and their “candidates” are too terrified to take a position on literally anything. Even that sociopath DeSantis tried to hide his abortion ban by signing it in the middle of the night, and I wouldn’t have thought he’d have the self-awareness to realize that he’s tanking his chances.
Now I’m seeing stories that Republicans are basically throwing in the towel for 2024 and trying to reposition themselves for 2028. Even DeSantis is holding off on “declaring” his candidacy because he’s going to run into the MAGA thresher. The thing is, IF Democrats take back over and IF they’re smart enough to pass meaningful legislation, like voter reform and bodily autonomy for women, they could put a stake in the Republican corpse once and for all. Lotta ifs there and it’s highly dependent on a party that has only started to show any degree of political competence. But Republican fear suggests it’s at least possible.
Trump has already come out criticizing the Republicans on their abortion bans, like he wasn’t 100% responsible for those assholes on the Supreme Court. He knows abortion is going to sink his already dismal chances.
Right, and this is exactly it: He can complain all he wants but 3 of those votes are his judges and “I didn’t really give a shit about who it was I was putting on the court” is true but I’m guessing a thing they would prefer he didn’t say out loud on the regular.
What’s to stop the commies and atheists from taking the bible away from libraries if you can ban whatever you want? There’s certainly sexualization of minors and plenty of violence in the bible.
Some people have been trying this to varying degrees of success.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2023/03/22/utah-parent-says-bible-contains/
People are also trying to have DeSantis’ book banned in Florida. Symbolic, since no school libraries carry this “bestseller” (bestseller in quotes because that system is easily gameable).
https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-book-banned-florida-public-schools-1792498
Because the only options are “have a fun figurehead who doesn’t give a shit about your movement and will destroy it in a heartbeat” or “have a complete lunatic who loves your movement but makes voters throw up in their mouth a little” and they’re like the meme guy totally unsure about which button to press.
People hate their agenda! Hate it! Without the Trump sideshow, they’re seeing in real time just how much people hate it!
Snowflakes.
Tennessee GOP bill tells students to report learning anything that makes them sad
This Disney thing really isn’t working out for DeSantis.
Trump takes DeSantis fight to Florida
All the spineless Florida legislators who lick DeSantis’ boots are endorsing Trump. No honor among Republicans, I guess. Plus Disney has stopped cutting campaign checks. Ouch.
Scott Maxwell: DeSantis threatens Disney with prison. The wheels have come off
Quote:
No Relish?
JUST PICKLES! 🙂
Top Michigan GOP leaders get into a slapfight.
https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/michigan-gop-infighting-leads-actual-fight-between-karamo-deperno-backers
There’s a reason the Democrats are back on top in Michigan — they’ve figured out how to take advantage of this kind of thing.
Another day, another needless shooting…
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-cheerleaders-shot-wrong-car-practice-rcna80366
Who would have thought they Rethugs would be assholes?
https://apnews.com/article/feinstein-mcconnell-judiciary-temporary-replacement-66d8a1614e962ccfb7c9252c0ccf2a96
This guy ALSO needs to go!
https://www.commondreams.org/news/durbin-blue-slip-norm
KC students march in support of classmate Ralph Yarl
https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/ralph-yarl/hundreds-of-staley-high-school-students-staff-walk-in-support-of-ralph-yarl
Somebody is NOT a fan of Iphones!