Frustrating times for me. I'm just starting to recover enough energy to read the news, but not really deeply. On the surface, though, everything seems to be going bonkers.
In New York we have this dude Daniel Penny who killed an annoying subway rider—and the entire right wing is backing him up. This comes a week after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott promised to pardon a convicted murderer because the guy had only killed a BLM protester, after all.
The Durham Report is out, and it appears to be the usual Durham farrago of innuendo and speculation but without any real evidence of any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, Tommy Tuberville says people need to go to jail or we might as well cancel elections in this country. What?
Joe Biden has given up on his "no negotiations" position on the debt ceiling, producing a growing mountain of crackpot demands from Republicans.
Elon Musk's latest is to compare George Soros to X-Men supervillain Magneto.
And AI might wreck everything, but Congress appears to have no idea how or if to regulate it—which seems close to impossible anyway.
Oh, and I almost forgot about Rudy. He's being sued for what? Sexual assault and selling off pardons? Do I have that right?
This seems like just the tip of the iceberg. Are things really crazier than usual, or is it just that I'm only reading headlines so far but not really diving much deeper? Help me out.
I recommend you relax and watch baseball. Your team is pretty good
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Seriously man, take a break. Your readers will understand, and some of us have been around since Calpundit... it's not like we're going to wander off. 😛
Maybe doing a bit of blogging is relaxing and enjoyable for Kevin? I mean, he's been doing it for more than two decades.
As you yourself have chronicled for some time now, yes, the world is going bonkers. The most common reaction to anything is now overreaction. But you should relax for now. We will all still be crazy when you're ready to read the goofiness beyond the headlines. You can deal with it then.
I'm glad you're getting better. I didn't expect this treatment to hit so hard. Best wishes, Mr. Drum.
Hope you’re feeling better! Ignore it, it will all be there when you return. I try and ignore it anyway.
Here a good one for a laugh..
https://apple.news/Ac2WMnfr9QHCyF-y-bZv_zA
Giuliani is being sued for "Battery", which is a civil law term, and for sexual assault, and for theft of wages...he didn't pay her what he promised her.
The more I think about this, the nastier my imagination gets, but the lesson is: pay up.
The bullet point about selling pardons is incidental.
Seems pretty normal.
I will say, I never thought Social Media was a problem, and I still kind of don't, but, having the instant feedback, and the way it rewards visible behavior, not good or competent behavior, well, that has kind of become a problem.
It's kind of a recipe for insanity.
i believe your brief time away made you forget that this is what it's been like for years and we have collectively become inured and normalized rightwing evil and insanity. remember, we had a full blow violent insurrection invading the capitol to install the loser as president just 2 years ago. giuliani selling pardons just just run of the mill shit i assumed was happening that finally leaked publicly.
Kevin's "superficial" reading of the news sets a high bar for the casual and older readers. Must be feeling better despite the evil dex. Good.
I agree there is a current clusterf*ck of nonsense. But I think most of these items have been there lurking in the background for sometime. It's just that coincidentally a lot of cray cray is ripening all at once. Of course, we still have further Trump litigation stuff yet to blossom into full flower, but it's coming.
Black guy killed for no good reason. Prominent Republican cheers death of libs. Republican investigation is mostly made up nonsense. Trump associate in legal peril.
That is a normal week in America. The only weird thing is the lack of a mass shooting taking over the news cycle.
There was a mass shooting, but for whatever reason it didn’t take over the news cycle:
“At least three people were killed and six others, including two police officers, were wounded on Monday when a gunman "randomly" opened fire at cars and homes in Farmington, New Mexico.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/3-civilians-dead-2-cops-injured-new-mexico/story?id=99338934
Speaking of mass shootings, does anyone else wonder why there is so little information about the Texas mall shooting? The police seem like they are being awfully cagey about it. For instance, the haven’t released any information about the confrontation between the gunman and the officer who killed him. Normally in a situation like this they would tell the whole story of how the heroic cop shot the gunman, risking his own life, etc. As far as I can tell they haven’t even mentioned the officers name. Weird. I smell a rat but I can’t imagine what would be the reason for this.
Cop probably shot him in the leg then walked over and gave him the coup de grâce.
Many years ago I saw a news story in which a Texas cop did just that. With no repercussions.
Sometimes, it seems, things have to get crazier before they get better. The Republicans have certainly reached a new level of peak craziness not seen since the lead up to the Civil War.
Well, welcome back. Sorta. This is funny because I was just commenting to my wife today after finishing my morning doom scroll that the global insanity seems to be ratcheting up recently. And you didn’t cover half of it. Add to that some local municipal issues and I might not get out of bed tomorrow. But my advice to you is the same that my wife gave to me: “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative”. Really, focus on yourself for now. Not much you can do about the rest of it…
"...crazier than usual..." only on the surface. All of this was latent in 1980.
I gotta agree, we've always had this tension between the confederates/copperheads and the rest of us.
It seems to me that things are getting crazier. Maybe that’s just because I read this:
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/cat-dog-torture-videos-litter-twitter-adding-concerns-moderation-rcna84190
If you haven’t seen it I warn you that after I read it I wished I hadn’t. Also, I despise Elon Musk.
Biden will either end up getting Republicans to the table to a 2023 Budget Control Act with across the board 2% sequestrations on all discretionary spending and for good measure, add in an across the board 1 percentage point increase in everyone's income tax rates, or he will simply announce that he's directed Treasury to ignore the debt limit and force Republicans to sue to find out if (a) they can establish standing and (b) they have the guts to force a debt default.
Or at least, that would be my strategy.
Why increase anyone’s taxes? Neither party is asking for that, so it seems gratuitous to do so, since it would definitely mean going into 2024 elections with more voters pissed off at your party than already are.
Democrats most definitely want to repeal the Trump tax cuts, but spare the middle-class portion.
If GOP can't agree to raise taxes, they're not serious about reducing the deficit. This would further reflect the true nature of GOP priorities: removing liberal policies and programs without having to take responsibility for the ill effects of doing so.
Yes but that’s not what you said. You said raise everyone’s taxes, which AFAIK no political party is advocating for, probably because they would instantly be toast in the next election, especially if the stated reason for raising taxes is to fix the deficit (as opposed to, say, building infrastructure or whatever). Literally nobody in America is willing to pay a dime more in taxes to fix the deficit, something they only “care” about when the media bleats about it, which is only when Dems are in the WH.
Yeah, and I think everyone's taxes needs to go up. We can't keep up this fantasy of low taxes. We know what the marginal value of a dollar is. We know the fiscal multiplier of a tax cut is.
If we raise taxes on everyone by just 1 percentage point, we wouldn't even come close to Laffer's Curve, but we would dramatically cut our deficit.
And therefore, if we really want to be serious about cutting the deficit, we need to raise taxes on everyone. If not, then anyone talking about cutting the deficit is full of bullshit.
Zero chance Republicans agree to income tax increases. And frankly, neither party should agree to the plan you suggest, which would render income distribution in the US more regressive.
Yes, the 27% crowd on the right is working themselves up to violence. '24 is going to be lit, as they say.
I think I'm going to spend next November in another country. Safer, and I'll already be positioned to petition for asylum.
The Christian Nationalists did not get the memo that we should be less like the Taliban. They are fully committed to creating The Handmaid's Tale for real.
But if you really want to worry:
https://hartmannreport.com/p/neil-gorsuch-is-preparing-his-revenge
This is just what happens when you dam up the unfortunately normal drip-drip of crazy for a while and then take it all in at once.
Without getting wonky, Republicans ought to be forced to explain how the economy can get to 0% unemployment without triggering inflation, in order to defend work requirements for social programs.
Until then, no Democrat should ever support work requirements for Medicaid, SNAP, or any other form of assistance.
But if Sinema and Manchin dare support such rules, they should be confronted endlessly so that the legacy of their white Lutheran roots are exposed for all to see.
Here's how this works: The addict hits rock bottom. That leaves them open to enrolling in the 12-step program. Just because the addict is the world, and not a person, doesn't mean it gets a pass.
I wouldn't worry about Biden's "negotiation" with Kevin M. Biden's not going to sign the bill the House passed; he won't even get a chance to veto it, since it will never get through the Senate. And I doubt Kevin M can get anything else through the House without D votes.
So, all this is just posturing, and apparently Biden's even convinced you that he's negotiating in good faith.
He's going to do the coin or consol bonds. Really, if it's D Day and Biden shows up Chez Yellin with a platinum coin, is she really going to tell him to go away?
He's going to do the coin or consol bonds
I seriously doubt this, though I half hope you're right. But if you read between the lines, it appears that Biden's position has softened. My guess it's a combination of: A) not wanting to precipitate a recession* and B) the White House thinks it can get a biggish deliverable—permitting reform—via these talks.
*I absolutely despise the notion of negotiating with financial terrorists, and if it were up to me and I knew it would work flawlessly, Biden would utilize a constitutional work around. But if we're being honest, there's no guarantee it'll work (or that courts won't stop it). And, even if it does work, it's hard to say exactly how much financial turbulence might be caused until things settle down. IOW, maybe we see horrendous market gyrations for some days or weeks. And then a recession. All of which would certainly decrease the odds that Biden secures another term.
I'm reminded of Walter White's warning to his brother-in-law to "tread lightly." Hank ignored that advice, of course, and ends up dead. Perhaps "treading lightly" —if this translates into whittling down GOP demands into largely symbolic gestures while you get permitting reform and a debt ceiling increase taking us to 2025—is the path most consistent with winning the election next year. Relatedly, although Kevin's predictions of recession may come to pass, it appears that the labor market continues to enjoy extraordinary strength and (critically) inflation is coming down. So, maybe we can manage a soft landing and avoid recession. Thus I'm a bit more optimistic than I was a few weeks ago that next year's election is pretty winnable for Biden. Why snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?
Yes, I agree. Politically, Biden must be seen as being willing to "negotiate". But as been observed by others, McC is completely hamstrung by the hard right base of his Party, even if McC was smart enough to negotiate.
There is zero chance of an agreement. As Lawrence Tribe explains, if Biden doesn't invoke the 14th amendment, then he would be liable for violating funding provisions that he is duty-bound to abide by.
Of course, this will be the pretext for impeaching Biden. Bring it on.
It's because you haven't been keeping up right along so you're getting a concentrated blast of crazy.
Also, for a while now the right wing has been supporting the murder of anyone they disagree with.
You were hoping it was just some "mental fog" due to your treatment?
Sorry....
Yes, western civilization is going nuts. Many people think men can be women and women can be men. Many people believe it is a good idea to take children to sexualized drag shows.
That is by no means new. The Kinks had a hit with "Lola" in 1970.
"Girls will be boys
and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world."
Where have you been for the last 53 years.
Fck off troll.
Right wingers think it’s a good idea to show children animal torture videos to groom them to be the psychopathic murderers that they love so much. Many people think there is no problem that an AR 15 can’t solve.
I figure that the two most likely solutions to the debt ceiling issue are:
a) a few Republicans reps figure out that crashing the world economy is not good for their political futures and vote for a clean increase, which will skate through the Senate with a fat majority because Republican senators aren't nearly as crazy as their House counterparts or
b) Biden announces that the 14th amendment REQUIRES him to keep paying the bills
This is a much more intriguing option than the coin or the bonds. It pits the constitution against a legislation that isn't that old, and promises a permanent elimination of the superfluous obstruction to all progress. Don't fear losing in the courts.
Trump posted 47 times in 24 hours about Durham. Many are reposts by the usual suspects: Hawley, Cruz, Shapiro - plus 4 that link to justthenews, federalist, nypost.
Get this, no comments in Trump's voice!
Why?
The Durham report is obscurantist & *has no quotable lines*. So all MAGA has to say is generalized "Scandal!" "Corrupt corporate media!" "Lies!" without specifics.
Durham report is about internal bureaucratic procedures and standards.
Booooring!
There were some things that need improvement and Durham mentions them, but that's pretty much all there is.
The debt ceiling hostage-taking is a consequence of the US being in permanent campaign mode. "If it hurts Biden, it's worth burning everything down". All Biden has to do is go on tv and say "Despite the Republicans in Congress refusing to pay for the spending that Congress itself mandated, I will continue to send out Social Security and Medicare payments and I dare them to sue me."
Rudy is being Rudy. Sasha Baron Cohen already exposed what a creep he is.
And the cheering of murders is a what happens when GOP politicians in safe states and counties don't worry about general elections anymore, only about pleasing "well regulated militias" in primaries.
Crazy, yeah. On the bright side, the Turkish elections seem to have gone smoothly despite some really nasty use of deepfakes.
Not to mention how everyone's seemed to just forget about the supreme court judge who's been on the payroll of a nazi enthusiast for decades.
It's the lobster in the boiling water scenario. We're all used to the steady drip drip of news, but because you've been out of the arena for a few days, you're drinking from the firehose. Apologies for the mixed metaphors.
You are correct Kevin, the volume has gone up on the crazies. Almost like a competition to see who can be the most outlandish. Yes, crazy times. Forget the news. Just get well.
This is how it usually is. You just aren't up to convincing yourself things are fine.