The best news I have heard all this last week is that the national Wrong-Wing really doesn’t mean—well, anything it says. The public fear, rage, and hate are all just performances. Kayfabe, in pro wrestling jargon. Even boguser moral panics than we thought.
Now, even though they can’t pass anything through Congress, their debt limit shenanigans still will have actual consequences. And even more unfortunately, the Base and many in state government really do believe it all, and really do pass such laws. And SCOTUS believes an assortment of such hooey.
But either way, that’s just normal karma. Denying karma, pooh-poohing empathy, dumping on wokeness, that’s all part of the shtick. Unfortunately for them, denying that they are subject to the law of karma is the worst kind of karma, the kind that makes life an unending nightmare that you can’t wake up from.
Our authority on Congressional kayfabe is freshman Congressperson Jeff Jackson, whose take went viral last week on TikTok.
We will also consult with another authority on such matters.
The key to success is sincerity. If you can fake that you've got it made.
George Burns
Thus:
The Muppet Show: Dressing Room Moment with George Burns part 1
Some say
Fake it till you make it.
That’s not what we’re talking about here. This is fake it until the next election, and the one after that...Win or lose, keep faking it as long as the grift rolls in.
That gives us another opening to call out this dishonesty in all directions. Many are leaping on that opportunity to activate our side and peel off a few from theirs.
Also, Wrong-Wingers lie constantly about what they are afraid of. It isn’t the Dog Whistle of crime in the streets, which has been decreasing, and is lower in Blue areas than Red ones. It isn’t anything that they accuse Democrats of. No, the Base is in desperate fear of being a new minority, as they actually are now, and of losing their inherited privilege. Their leaders, the ones not totally mired in denial, are in what we call existential fear of losing, well, everything that matters to them.
Breathes There a Man
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour’d, and unsung.
Sir Walter Scott
(pelf=money, especially when gained in a dishonest or dishonorable way.)
'The Anti-MTG'
How Rep. Jeff Jackson became TikTok’s most popular lawmaker
A discussion between Joy Reid and Eric Swallwell, who called the Republican performances “angertainment” and “pro wrestling culture”, starts at 3:43 in this clip.
The IDJT, of course, has been an actual pro wrestling Heel, but pretended he was the ultimate Face.
Regular Good News
Biden for President!
He announced on Tuesday.
You might prefer some other Democrat, but the other side is trying to be insaner than ever, and succeeding.
Joe says
Let’s finish the job.
Works for me.
Population
Earth's Population Could Soon Start Falling. Here's Why
In the more hopeful scenario, called the "Giant Leap," the global population peaks at 8.5 billion by around 2040 and declines to just six billion by the end of the century. The authors indicate that one of the deciding factors in this optimistic outcome is that economic inequality around the world is recognized as a source of division and a threat to democracy and human progress.
In this hypothetical future, extreme poverty would be eliminated by the year 2060, which would have a profound impact on global population growth.
This turnaround requires massive poverty reduction investments and revolutionary food and energy security, inequality, and gender equality policies.
Yes, the Kids are Alright
Lumina Foundation and Gallup poll
72% of college students regard attending a “College in State with Reproductive Health Services” to be “at least somewhat important”. Adults not enrolled in college do so at 60%.
Weed laws evoke similar concerns, according to the company.
Mission: Democracy will aggressively defend American idealism, freedom, civility, and truth. We will ensure that Americans fully understand the dangers of MAGA Republicans.
Bipartisan PAC
- Marcus Flowers, who ran against MTG
- Olivia Troye, former Pence aide
- Denver Riggleman, former Freedom Caucus member
Interviewed together on The Reidout.
Ukraine
Yahoo! News: Exclusive: Putin’s plans to keep the Baltics in check
The Russian Presidential Administration’s strategy documents for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania show a Kremlin “out of touch” with realities in the NATO and EU member states at its doorstep.
Yahoo News has obtained confidential strategy documents drawn up by the Kremlin that reveal Russia’s ambitious plans to exert its influence in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Among other things, the documents show Moscow’s intention to thwart the construction of NATO military bases, weaken the local democratic governments, expand Russian cultural and linguistic influence and bolster pro-Kremlin political organizations. But in a running theme throughout the documents, which were drafted in 2021, Russia’s subsequent invasion of Ukraine has undermined almost every aspect of the plans.
The Prime Ministers of all three Baltic states reportedly laughed when informed of these delusional plans.
Ukraine Now Has Direct Access to NATO Stores
About 250 Ukrainian soldiers will start 10 weeks of training on US Abrams tanks in Germany in May. 31 of the tanks, a full brigade worth, will be delivered by the end of summer.
Maintenance and repair facilities for Leopard tanks given to Ukraine are nearing completion in Poland.
NATO has reaffirmed that Ukraine will be welcomed into NATO after the war. Russia reacted with predictable bluster and conspiracy theories.
Russia has been trying to hack the Eurocontrol air traffic control system.
DK Lightning Roundup
Worth a click, maybe more.
Kos: It is finally dawning on conservatives that abortion is dooming their party
AZ-Sen: PPP Poll Has Ruben Gallego (D) At 42%, Kari Lake (R) At 35% & Kyrsten Sinema At 14%
Greenpeace USA Defeats $100 Million Lawsuit
Vetoing the ESG ban is the most capitalist thing Joe Biden has done as president
Jimmy Carter is a blessing. Here’s a collection of stories worth remembering
House Republicans, Manhattan DA end fight over Trump inquiry
After 10 days, DeSantis today finally responded to Fort Lauderdale Flood Disaster
Trump's Truth Social CEO Whines that Shareholders in His Alt-Twitter Scam Are Being Wiped Out
Ukraine Update: Nine mechanized brigades are 'trained, manned, and equipped' for counteroffensive
People of Faith March on Tennessee State Capitol
Hate v Love
Two new state bills that Gov. Tate Reeves signed on Friday are discriminatory because they focus only on Jackson, a majority-Black city, the NAACP said.
The NAACP sued Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves after he signed legislation that allows state authorities to exert more control over law enforcement in Jackson, including by expanding the Capitol Police, which shot four people last year without much public explanation.
The lawsuit, which was e-filed Friday evening in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, accuses Reeves and other state officials of unfairly singling out Jackson, a predominantly Black city struggling with violent crime and an overburdened court system.
The bills Reeves signed Friday create a temporary court system outside city control to be run by appointed judges and prosecutors who will handle cases brought to them by the Capitol Police, a once-obscure agency that has been given power to patrol the capital.
Those moves strip Jackson residents of their voting power and muffle their voice in how justice is administered in the city by sidestepping Mississippi’s existing system in which voters elected their judges and their mayors, who appointed their police chiefs, NAACP officials said.
Reeves pushed back against portrayals of the state taking power away from the people of Jackson. The Capitol Police will help city police fight crime, he said.
Then he used the old Law and Order Dog Whistle.
Extremism
Washington Monthly: Right-Wing Extremism Is Even More Common Than You Think
A scholar who studies white nationalism shares his data and insights on America in the age of January 6 and the Trump indictment.
Our research at the Marcon Institute is looking at various dimensions of right-wing extremism. These include
- susceptibility to the men’s rights movement and its heteronormative values [a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation]
- white nationalism
- Christian nationalism
- authoritarianism
We look at heteronormative ideology as support for violence and the belief that “real” men use violence to get respect. Our research examines how people idealize the belief in the United States as a white nation. By authoritarianism, we mean support for violence to achieve political goals and a preference for leaders who suppress dissent and indulge in violent rhetoric and actions. With Christian nationalism, we’re looking at people who explicitly want the state to support and adopt a Christian identity and policies.
A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration in the 21st Century, by Jason DeParle
When Jason DeParle moved into the Manila slums with Tita Comodas and her family three decades ago, he never imagined his reporting on them would span three generations and turn into the defining chronicle of a new age--the age of global migration. In a monumental book that gives new meaning to "immersion journalism," DeParle paints an intimate portrait of an unforgettable family as they endure years of sacrifice and separation, willing themselves out of shantytown poverty into a new global middle class. At the heart of the story is Tita's daughter, Rosalie. Beating the odds, she struggles through nursing school and works her way across the Middle East until a Texas hospital fulfills her dreams with a job offer in the States.
Migration is changing the world--reordering politics, economics, and cultures across the globe. With nearly 45 million immigrants in the United States, few issues are as polarizing. But if the politics of immigration is broken, immigration itself—tens of millions of people gathered from every corner of the globe—remains an underappreciated American success. Expertly combining the personal and panoramic, DeParle presents a family saga and a global phenomenon. Restarting her life in Galveston, Rosalie brings her reluctant husband and three young children with whom she has rarely lived. They must learn to become a family, even as they learn a new country. Ordinary and extraordinary at once, their journey is a twenty-first-century classic, rendered in gripping detail.
The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, by Jeff Sharlet.
He is being interviewed everywhere, on his book tour. The cover of the book shows Ashli Babbitt’s knife, that she was trying to carry into the Capitol chamber when she was warned and then shot. Her Mythology of Innocence now claims that she was unarmed.
Sharlet recommends White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America, by Anthea Butler.
Shared by Andrew F Cockburn
There’s a Psychological ‘Vaccine’ against Misinformation
Misinformation can feel inescapable. Last summer a survey from the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies found that 62 percent of people regularly notice false or misleading information online. And in a 2019 poll, almost nine in 10 people admitted to having fallen for fake news. Social psychologist Sander van der Linden of the University of Cambridge studies how and why people share such information and how it can be stopped. He spoke with Mind Matters editor Daisy Yuhas to discuss this work and his new book, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity, which offers research-backed solutions to stem this spread.
Finland Prepares Students to Identify Propaganda and Misinformation
Starve the Beast Continues, but Not For Much Longer
Taxes, Death, and Trouble: How Starve the Beast Tax Cuts Created the Black Lives Matter Movement, by Andre L. Smith. For example, he cites
Starving the Beast: Using Tax Policy and Governmental Budgeting to Drive Social Policy, going back to Leo Strauss's version of Plato's oligarchic tyranny, and to Irving Kristol, the founder of Neoconservatism.
Drag
The Muppet Show: George Burns & Rowlf - "Train Back Home"
Legal News
Carlson and Lemon, Media Employment Lawyer Freedman
This should be interesting.
Disney v DeSantis
Voters v FL SoS
Smartmatic
Abortion
Fox
NYT (paywalled): On Eve of Trial, Discovery of Carlso Texts Set off Crisis Atop Fox
Private messages sent by Tucker Carlson that had been redacted in legal filings showed him making highly offensive remarks that went beyond the comments of his prime-time show.
This is going to become public evidence of privilige, misogyny, and more towards guests and colleagues, in several other trials.
Epshteyn
Jack Smith interview of Boris Epshteyn follows questioning of Evan Corcoran, Alina Habba, and Christina Bobb. We don’t have room for their shenanigans and their legal troubles today. Follow the links.
Carroll
Lewis Kaplan condemns ex-president for calling civil rape trial ‘a made-up scam’ and Carroll’s lawyer a ‘political operative’
The I-DJT tried to get excused from attending the Carroll rape/defamation trial.
FAIL
He doesn’t have to attend unless called to testify, but the Judge will make no excuses to the jury for him.
The trial is well under way, with the usual dueling opening statements, and Carroll’s first appearance as a witness. We will hear a great deal more from her tomorrow, and this is expected to go on for weeks.
Willis
Fani Willis has convened a regular Grand Jury in Atlanta to consider indictments on the evidence collected by her Special Grand Jury. Maybe they will come out in June. Watch for it, and cue screams off.
Bragg
In the Bragg/Jordan kerfuffle, the first Judge to rule said that the subpoena of Pomerantz was valid, only to be overruled immediately on appeal.
Since then, Jordan has agreed that Pomerantz can have a member of Bragg’s legal staff present during testimony, and Bragg has agreed to allow Pomerantz to appear, but with strict instructions not to reveal Grand Jury secrets.
Regular Wrong-Wing Rush to Ruin
Fox used to be able to pretend that they didn’t mean any of the nasty lies their people said on air, so they can’t be sued or prosecuted for any of it. That dog don’t hunt no more, since it caught the porcupines. (Decades back, øur løvely but føølish døg ønce bit a pørcupine. The vet put him under when extracting the barbed quills.)
Rep. Jeff Jackson Again
War in Sudan
We just got Yemen settled down, and now the fragile peace in Sudan has come completely undone. Multiple cease-fires each broke down immediately. There are mass shortages of food, water, and medicine. Embassies have been evacuated. Plans for the extinction of Guinea worm are on hold.
Elon Musk Ends Verified Twitter Identities, Free API
What could go wrong?
An instant explosion of fraudulent accounts with purchased blue check marks, of course, pretending to be, for example, New York City.
Musk plans to charge $42,000/mo for Twitter’s formerly free API.
Twitter announces new API with only free, basic and enterprise levels
Many services are announcing that they will no longer use it. I found out from Unfollowspy when I went to manage users I follow who don’t follow me back.
Twitter has recently announced its decision to terminate free API access for developers by the 29th of April 2023.
What a nasty birthday surprise for me.
Won’t pay: Unfollowspy, Microsoft, National Weather Service, NYC MTA, SF BART, VidTranslator, researchers on limited budgets, Project Bot Spotter,
Will pay: Sony, Nintendo,
Voter Suppression
Debt Ceiling
WaPo, paywalled: House GOP unveils bill to cut spending, lift debt ceiling. Here’s how.
Smoke and mirrors, that’s how. There is no actual budget here, no specific cuts. They claim to think that somehow it will force Biden to negotiate, but we know better.
MTG Busted by Committee Republicans
NBC News: Marjorie Taylor Greene prohibited from speaking at hearing after calling DHS secretary ‘a liar’
for denying that DHS is failing to prevent the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.
Too many negatives? Yeah, MTG accuses DHS of being in on the fentanyl traffic.
Greene also accused Democrat Eric Swallwell of having an affair with a Chinese spy.
The Republican-led committee formally reprimanded Greene, R-Ga., after she lashed out at Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a hearing.
The formal reprimand, “taking down” her accusation of lying against Mayorkas, but not the others, ended her ability to speak further during that hearing.
DeSantis Flees from Flooding, Gas Lines
On national book tour and pre-Presidential Campaign campaign.
Some Floridians have filed to get this DeSantis book, The Courage to Be Free Fascist, banned. It makes them feel bad, you know. And their children, too.
I will not quote DeSatan trying to be Churchill, fighting wokeness in the schools, etc.
He did finally turn up in Ft. Lauderdale.
Mike “Pillow” Loss in Arbitration
WaPo, paywalled: Mike Lindell’s firm told to pay $5 million in ‘Prove Mike Wrong’ election-fraud challenge
The winner, forensic scientist Bob Zeidman, appeared on All In with Chris Hayes last week. Zeidman is writing a book about this meshugas.
Lindell vows not to pay, to take the case to court, but he signed a contract saying he can’t go to court over the arbitration. There is a joke post here on DK about Lindell paying Zeidman in pillows.
Mike Lindell Pulls Fast One On 5 Million Dollar Winner
Reprint from moronmajority.com*
🤪…
*moronmajority.com is a political satire blog
Yes, They Would Rather Die...
Poll: GOP voters say fighting "woke" ideology more important than stopping Social Security cuts
Q30. Which of the following is most important to you personally?
[REPUBLICAN PRIMARY VOTERS ONLY]
Protecting Social Security and Medicare
benefits from cuts
|
27% |
Fighting woke ideology in our schools
and businesses
|
55% |
Both equally |
16% |
Neither |
1% |
Don't Know |
2% |
Anti-Vaxx, Anti-Biden
CNN: Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launches 2024 presidential bid against Biden
He has become even more deluded than I thought, poor fellow. But sincere. He really believes this guff. I took part in the Facebook campaign that got not only his personal account shut down, but also his bogus charity, where he posted the most vicious lunacy about Dr. Fauci and everyone else trying to save lives from covid.
Speaking of Sincerity—
Jack Benny and George Burns with Smothers Brothers 02 19 67
Benny and Burns started out by doing the brothers’ act, complete with guitar and bass.
Animals! Science! Weirdness!
Astronomers Spot a Giant Alien World With Two Suns And a Raging Sandstorm
It clocks in at 20 Jupiter masses, has temperatures that could quickly melt aluminum, and has a 10,000-year orbit around not one but two stars. And, oh yeah: It's ravaged by a constant, tempestuous storm of sand.
Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to obtain the most high-fidelity observations yet of the planetary-mass object, revealing roiling clouds of silicate grains circulating in the atmosphere of the world named VHS 1256 b.
In addition, the team identified many of the components of VHS 1256 b's atmosphere. Those include unambiguous detections of methane, carbon monoxide, and water, with additional evidence of carbon dioxide.
Astronomers May Have Detected a Hypothetical 'Strange Star' in Space
That lower mass limit for a neutron star is thought to be just over one solar mass. The lightest detected so far is just 1.17 times the mass of the Sun.
At 77 percent of a solar mass, XMMU J173203.3-344518 isn't merely record-breaking; it's downright confusing. Neutron stars have no business being so petite.
Which implies it might not be a neutron star at all. Speculating it was instead an object called a strange star – consisting mainly of particles known as strange quarks –
This turns out not to be the case. It has been proposed that strange stars have cores or nuggets that are about 1/3 strange quarks, with hadrons containing combirations of up, down, and strange quarks—uds, uus, dds.
the researchers left their conclusions for other researchers to kick around.
Picking up where that last study left off, this new investigation returned to the unusually small compact object within HESS J1731-347 and double-checked its mass, radius, and surface temperature.
Wikipedia: Strange Star
Every Glorious Image From the James Webb Space Telescope (So Far)
JWST Observer is managed by STScI and provides astronomers with the most up-to-date information, news, and events related to observing with JWST.
Reading about the Science of Delusion and Its Cures
This is a story of lies, damned lies, and statistics used to misinform and oppress.
- Prophets of Deceit: A Study of the Techniques of the American Agitator (Studies in Prejudice Series), by Leo and Norbert Guterman
- People of the Lie : Hope for Healing Human Evil, by Morgan Scott Peck
- The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, by Peter Beinart
- Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future, by Will Bunch
- Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back, by Frank Schaeffer
- Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts, by Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson
- You Can’t Say You Can’t Play, by Vivian Gussin Paley
- White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Dr. Robin DiAngelo
- The Cult of Trump, by Steven Hassan
and one documentary.
Daryl Davis likes to meet and befriend members of the KKK, many of whom have never met a black person. When some of these same people decide to leave the Klan, Daryl keeps their robes and hoods — building his collection piece by piece, story by story, person by person.
Funny or Cry
Support your local cartoonists.
Yes, don’t you believe it.
Bud Light is too controversial for Twitter. Of course.
Yup. Bok is usually terrible, but this time he’s right on the grift. “Buddhism” means “Wokeism”, you see.
All right, then, um, whatever you are, play us out with some more of that old-fashioned sincerity, and we’ll pretend that you aren’t just dolls being wiggled.
George Burns - The Muppet Show - It All Depends on You/You Made Me Love You (1977)