1. Clamp down on illegal immigration, 2. Create more pathways to legal immigration, 3. Give the Dreamers Citizenship, 4. We need more immigrants and don't want to become Japan which can't maintain a workforce
Speaker: Now if there was only a party who had this immigration plan? Oh wait, there is one! What is it called? I think they start with a D...Oh yeah!!! The Democratic Party.
Interloper: I heard the Democratic Party is major cringe.
Speaker: Oh, that's too bad. I guess we have to close the borders and set up the camps with squalid conditions.
Now to its credit the Times did endorse Harris strongly and called her the only patriotic choice for President but I find these editorial exercises in "the discourse" (TM). Trump is a hardcore xenophobe and his staff is filled with hardcore xenophobes. There will be mass deportations or at least attempts at them. They are also talking about trying to end birthright citizenship via executive action. Yesterday, the Times had an article about how Trump and Co. are looking very hard for some kind of disease that allows them to declare a health emergency, invoke Title 42, and close the border with Mexico.
So why the hell do people release these op-eds like they matter and actually have influence?
He is a wanna be wise guy who thinks this is how you get the “best” deals and he is gonna do incalculable damage that people will regret even if they are adamant black pillers.
This is almost too kind even if you note correctly JB dislikes people who dislike Trump. I think it is more that he cannot or will not take anything seriously
The Bulwark looks at the curious case of Lindy Li, a woman who spent 2024 being a very big Democratic cheerleader in PA but turned to a proud Fox News apostate right after the election.
On the one hand, a lot of the "fact checking" that the media engages in is very flawed and almost comically absurd. During the Democratic convention, Harris had an attack line against tariffs and how they will raise the average American's taxes/spending. The media had a "fact check" on how this requires context because even though tariffs are not a direct tax on people, companies often respond to tariffs by raising prices so the consumer pays.
If the media feels pathologically compelled to do this kind of fact-checking perhaps it should go. You also can't fact check your way out of fascism/authoritarianism.
On the other hand, at least it was a nominal effort to keep right-wing propaganda and Trump's never ending flows of lies and falsehoods in check and it is gone. Dana White, a MAGA MMA type is also on their board of directors and corporate overlords seem to be very quickly moving into trying to get rid of anything progressive or a pesky regulation that kept employment places decent.
"[M]embers of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers—themselves desperately afraid of being downsized—are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.
At that point, something will crack. The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking for a strongman to vote for — someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots. A scenario like that of Sinclair Lewis' novel It Can't Happen Here may then be played out. For once such a strongman takes office, nobody can predict what will happen. In 1932, most of the predictions made about what would happen if Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor were wildly overoptimistic.
One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past 40 years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. The words 'n****(' and 'k***' will once again be heard in the workplace. All the sadism which the academic left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet. "-Achieving Our Country, Richard Rorty, published 26 years too early perhaps.
On a certain emotional level, I get the idea of tuning out. Like a lot of Democrats, I am deeply upset about the 2024 results and a lot of my fellow Democrats seem to think "Okay, we tried to warn you. You didn't listen. I guess you need to learn the hard way." It has a certain aspect of self-care to it. Things look like they could be dark for a while and I have mixed opinions on whether it is wise or not for the Democratic Party to become a total opposition party. I generally think the only way to win with Trump is not to play but Democratic Party politicians are pathologically incapable of just sitting back even if there is a part of me that thinks "Okay, you say you can work with Trump on kitchen sink issues but how is that going to help when he puts Congress in permanent recess like a would be Charles I." But on the other hand, Trump is not President yet and doing that now just looks chicken little and again, Democrats are pathological towards trying to wrassle something out anything
But checking out is still obeying in advance in some or many ways.
"To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle. One thing that helps toward it is to keep a diary, or, at any rate, to keep some kind of record of one’s opinions about important events. Otherwise, when some particularly absurd belief is exploded by events, one may simply forget that one ever held it. Political predictions are usually wrong. But even when one makes a correct one, to discover why one was right can be very illuminating."-George Orwell
There seem to be a lot of Democrats and anti-Trump types who are looking at 2024 as an "okay, you need to learn the hard way situation." But part of getting people to tune out is the authoritarian playbook.
Vivek seems to have lectured white people like white people lecturer black people and they did not like it. His examples were very old outdated cliches though
Trump is apparently going on again about reclaiming the Panama Canal and Greenland for the United States. This is how CNN decided to "cover" it: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eba4a05a631486aa030e5905a4964f79e63a24d794350612f1fff67f92c54f34.jpg
"The president-elect has suggested a territorial extension into Panama, Greenland and Canada. If he's serious, it would rival the Louisiana Purchase"
One of the things taken out of the Continuing Resolution was money for Pediatric Cancer research.
Today, in the rare unanimous consent vote, the Senate Passed the Gabriella Miller Act which provides 12.6 million a year for 5 years for Pediatric Cancer research. The Senate passed a bill identical to one passed in the House. It now goes to Biden for signature.
On “From NY Times: Popular Populations Potpourri”
1. Clamp down on illegal immigration, 2. Create more pathways to legal immigration, 3. Give the Dreamers Citizenship, 4. We need more immigrants and don't want to become Japan which can't maintain a workforce
"
Speaker: Now if there was only a party who had this immigration plan? Oh wait, there is one! What is it called? I think they start with a D...Oh yeah!!! The Democratic Party.
Interloper: I heard the Democratic Party is major cringe.
Speaker: Oh, that's too bad. I guess we have to close the borders and set up the camps with squalid conditions.
Now to its credit the Times did endorse Harris strongly and called her the only patriotic choice for President but I find these editorial exercises in "the discourse" (TM). Trump is a hardcore xenophobe and his staff is filled with hardcore xenophobes. There will be mass deportations or at least attempts at them. They are also talking about trying to end birthright citizenship via executive action. Yesterday, the Times had an article about how Trump and Co. are looking very hard for some kind of disease that allows them to declare a health emergency, invoke Title 42, and close the border with Mexico.
So why the hell do people release these op-eds like they matter and actually have influence?
On “Multiple Wildfires Rip Through Los Angeles Amid Historic Winds”
So Cal resident Kevin Drum calls this misinformation:
https://jabberwocking.com/elon-musk-is-the-new-emperor-of-misinformation/
What is your source?
"
Unfortunately no one has convinced you that your trolling is not quite as clever or convincing as you think it is
"
Trump has decided in infinite predictability to use the fires to launch against Newsom
"
Are you telling me JB is trolling?
No….
On “Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago Press Conference: Watch It For Yourself”
He is a wanna be wise guy who thinks this is how you get the “best” deals and he is gonna do incalculable damage that people will regret even if they are adamant black pillers.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/6/2025”
What economic forces will Trump use to get Canada to bend the knee?
On “Meta Ends Fact-checking Program”
Trump is apparently boasting that this happened because he threatened Zucks but somewhere a winemom was cringe and that is the real sin
"
This is almost too kind even if you note correctly JB dislikes people who dislike Trump. I think it is more that he cannot or will not take anything seriously
"
Yep.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/6/2025”
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-curious-case-of-lindy-li
The Bulwark looks at the curious case of Lindy Li, a woman who spent 2024 being a very big Democratic cheerleader in PA but turned to a proud Fox News apostate right after the election.
On “Meta Ends Fact-checking Program”
You are a miscreant troll who is too cowardly to admit he likes Trump so you continue your silly dance
"
On the one hand, a lot of the "fact checking" that the media engages in is very flawed and almost comically absurd. During the Democratic convention, Harris had an attack line against tariffs and how they will raise the average American's taxes/spending. The media had a "fact check" on how this requires context because even though tariffs are not a direct tax on people, companies often respond to tariffs by raising prices so the consumer pays.
If the media feels pathologically compelled to do this kind of fact-checking perhaps it should go. You also can't fact check your way out of fascism/authoritarianism.
On the other hand, at least it was a nominal effort to keep right-wing propaganda and Trump's never ending flows of lies and falsehoods in check and it is gone. Dana White, a MAGA MMA type is also on their board of directors and corporate overlords seem to be very quickly moving into trying to get rid of anything progressive or a pesky regulation that kept employment places decent.
"[M]embers of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers—themselves desperately afraid of being downsized—are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.
At that point, something will crack. The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking for a strongman to vote for — someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots. A scenario like that of Sinclair Lewis' novel It Can't Happen Here may then be played out. For once such a strongman takes office, nobody can predict what will happen. In 1932, most of the predictions made about what would happen if Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor were wildly overoptimistic.
One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past 40 years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. The words 'n****(' and 'k***' will once again be heard in the workplace. All the sadism which the academic left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet. "-Achieving Our Country, Richard Rorty, published 26 years too early perhaps.
On “The Virtue of Tuning Out”
On a certain emotional level, I get the idea of tuning out. Like a lot of Democrats, I am deeply upset about the 2024 results and a lot of my fellow Democrats seem to think "Okay, we tried to warn you. You didn't listen. I guess you need to learn the hard way." It has a certain aspect of self-care to it. Things look like they could be dark for a while and I have mixed opinions on whether it is wise or not for the Democratic Party to become a total opposition party. I generally think the only way to win with Trump is not to play but Democratic Party politicians are pathologically incapable of just sitting back even if there is a part of me that thinks "Okay, you say you can work with Trump on kitchen sink issues but how is that going to help when he puts Congress in permanent recess like a would be Charles I." But on the other hand, Trump is not President yet and doing that now just looks chicken little and again, Democrats are pathological towards trying to wrassle something out anything
But checking out is still obeying in advance in some or many ways.
"
"To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle. One thing that helps toward it is to keep a diary, or, at any rate, to keep some kind of record of one’s opinions about important events. Otherwise, when some particularly absurd belief is exploded by events, one may simply forget that one ever held it. Political predictions are usually wrong. But even when one makes a correct one, to discover why one was right can be very illuminating."-George Orwell
There seem to be a lot of Democrats and anti-Trump types who are looking at 2024 as an "okay, you need to learn the hard way situation." But part of getting people to tune out is the authoritarian playbook.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/6/2025”
Though it comes with plenty of quid pro quo corruption
"
Looks like we might not have super high tariffs after all: https://jabberwocking.com/trump-preparing-to-abandon-yet-another-promise/
On “Open Mic for the week of 12/30/2024”
The devil is in the details.
On “Open Mic for the week of 12/23/2024”
Vivek seems to have lectured white people like white people lecturer black people and they did not like it. His examples were very old outdated cliches though
"
You have a monomania about this conspiracy boy.
"
Trump is apparently going on again about reclaiming the Panama Canal and Greenland for the United States. This is how CNN decided to "cover" it: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eba4a05a631486aa030e5905a4964f79e63a24d794350612f1fff67f92c54f34.jpg
"The president-elect has suggested a territorial extension into Panama, Greenland and Canada. If he's serious, it would rival the Louisiana Purchase"
Our media is not made of serious people.
On “Open Mic for the week of 12/16/2024”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
"
One of the things taken out of the Continuing Resolution was money for Pediatric Cancer research.
Today, in the rare unanimous consent vote, the Senate Passed the Gabriella Miller Act which provides 12.6 million a year for 5 years for Pediatric Cancer research. The Senate passed a bill identical to one passed in the House. It now goes to Biden for signature.
"
President Musk, mastermind of the upcoming shutdown, has just announced his support for Alternative for Germany, the far-right would be N##i Party
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.