https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/jewish-protesters-flood-trump-tower-to-demand-activist-mahmoud-khalils-release

URL says it all!!

“This revisionist history that says, `We could have done without the lockdowns,’ is dangerous,” said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, founding director of Boston University’s Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases. “You would have faced even more deaths and even more hospitalizations in a shorter period of time, which would have debilitated our health care system.”
But while the impact of lockdown policies is still being studied, new research paints a troubling picture of the immense collateral damage inflicted by them.
The measures increased poverty and wealth disparities, spurred a dramatic rise in adolescent anxiety and depression, contributed to a surge in fatal drug overdoses, and led to devastating learning losses in schoolchildren, who have yet to recover, according to scientific studies. As of last spring, the average American student remained half a grade behind pre-pandemic levels in both math and reading, according to a recent report card on pandemic learning loss.

This article doesn't seem to say what you think it says: "While the scientific community is still divided over how effective lockdowns were, those who publicly criticized the measures during the pandemic have gained the political upper hand. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University, who co-authored a manifesto against lockdowns, is President Trump’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s largest funder of biomedical research with a $48 billion budget. And Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has described lockdowns as an attack on the poor and middle class.

“We are long overdue for a reckoning on the lockdowns,” said Stephen Macedo, a political scientist at Princeton University in New Jersey, who co-authored a book due out later this month that calls for a national inquiry into the lockdown measures. “What’s become increasingly clear is that a lot of what we did was irrational and based on fear, and we didn’t think through the profound costs.”

The article is basically cranks with pet theories have an advocate in the WH now.

As far as I can tell, Democrats are putting a lot of pressure on their Senators

The House CR passed on nearly party line votes with Massie and Golden switching sides

Zelenskyy agreed to a 30-day ceasefire deal brokered by Saudi Arabia (!!!!). Russia responds by firing rockets into Ukraine

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/mar/11/ukraine-russia-us-peace-talks-moscow-war-latest-live-news-europe

DOE guts itself with illegal terminations of 1300 employees: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/us/politics/trump-education-department-firings.html

The new "welcome" banners at the Kennedy Center: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5edd3bce3018801024d27100ccaa594662e094734c9eb5b1633ecfd5430b93cb.jpg

To be slightly fair, I have seen people no position is not a yes or a no and I think most of them will vote no for cloture but we are still rudderless.

https://www.westernstandard.news/watch/watch-trump-refers-to-canada-us-border-as-artificial-line-in-latest-call-for-annexation/62988

We might try very stupid things with Canada is an increasing possibility.

A big problem here is that the Democratic Party does not really have a base and every constituent group of the Democratic Party considers itself the true base. To the extent the Democratic Party has a based, it is probably black women of a certain age and/or the dreaded In This House winemom.

Ever since I was a college student, the most liberal parts of the Democratic Party insisted they were the real base and they seem to light their hair on fire every time a Democratic politician does something they dislike. Now this part is the terminally online.

You can see this on bsky every time a Democratic politician announces "we can't just be the party of no, we have to be for something."* Will Stancil** and others will run around in circles screaming and refuse to realize that Slotkin probably has half her voters telling her that she needs to be for something.***

*This does seem to be pathological and my guess is that it is because they don't want to be Republicans who just say no.

**To his credit, he did attempt to run for office so he puts his ideas into practice.

***Though my understanding is that 2/3rds of Democrats at least now want a total wall of no from their electeds. Democrats have gotten better on this but not completely. There are too many Senators being wishy-washy about the CR which allows Musk and Co to proceed with their rapid and rabid cuts because they are demoralized and think any concessions will just be ignored.

Multiple Myleoma does not really go into remission and generally people can beat it for 10-15 years before it gets you.

Kevin Drum died on Friday after a long battle with cancer

ICE arrested a pro-Palestinian protestor with a Green Card and his precise whereabouts are not known currently: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/nyregion/ice-arrests-palestinian-activist-columbia-protests.html

This is bad.

University of Michigan Professor Don Moynihan has a good run down of the chilling effects going on against dissent currently: https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/real-chilling-effects

"Normally I record the classes I teach. It gives students who miss class a chance to catch up. I also make space in my classes to talk about what is happening in government right now. A couple of weeks ago, students asked we keep the discussions, but stop recording the class. They worried about any record of their words that might be viewed as criticism of the current administration, and somehow weaponized against them."

https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/investigation-advances-into-gene-hackman-s-20207912.php

"Actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from hantavirus in their New Mexico hillside home, and he may not have been aware she was dead because he showed severe signs of Alzheimer’s disease, authorities revealed Friday."

As a Jewish person, I think this is extremely bone-headed and more likely to increase anti-Semitism than anything else.

Today's euphemism for recession/depression is "economic detox" https://thehill.com/homenews/5182666-us-economy-government-spending-detox/

And here comes the CDC planning a study on the link between vaccines and autism again. Bye bye childhood vaccine schedule: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-cdc-plans-study-into-vaccines-autism-sources-say-2025-03-07/

You should have stayed at home yesterday
Ah-ha, words can't describe
The feeling and the way you lied
These games you play
They're gonna end in more than tears some day
Ah-ha, Enola Gay
It shouldn't ever have to end this way

Authoritarianism continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-perkins-coie.html

With the order, Perkins Coie becomes the second such firm to be targeted by the president. Late last month, he signed a similar memorandum attacking Covington & Burling, which has done pro bono legal work for Jack Smith, who as special counsel pursued two separate indictments of Mr. Trump.

While the Covington memorandum sought to strip clearances and contracts from that firm, the Perkins Coie order goes much further, seeking to also limit its lawyers’ access to federal buildings, officials and jobs in a way that could cast a chilling effect over the entire legal profession.

The president’s animosity toward Perkins Coie dates back eight years, to when two lawyers at the firm, Marc Elias and Michael Sussmann, played roles in what eventually became an F.B.I. investigation to determine if anyone on the 2016 Trump presidential campaign conspired with Russian agents to influence the outcome of that election. Both lawyers left that firm years ago.

https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/national-park-record-visitor-numbers-downplayed-20206558.php

National Parks staff told to downplay record number of visitors in 2024. They want to destroy our greatest treasures

I generally think Newsom is a good governor and gets way more heat than he deserves but his new podcast and comments on transathletes are perplexing and boneheaded

Trump revokes legal status for 240K Ukrainians because he is a cruel and malignant king: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-plans-revoke-legal-status-ukrainians-who-fled-us-sources-say-2025-03-06/

Maybe on this one but Trump and Co are still basically dismantling the Federal Government in ways which could take decades to unwind, if it could be unwound at all.

I agree with Bouie’s take that Trump wants revenge against the entire American population for rejecting him. He is going to destroy our standing, our reputation, and our national parks, one of our great collective treasures. I am not in a mood to be blase about anything he does.

And Jaybird, your panda bear contrarian can’t give a straight yes or no answer on whether I have to deal with a Leo Frank denier or other anti-Semites in good faith or if I can just dismiss them.

I am not sure why I should be required to find this kind of willful contrarianism cute, endearing, or acceptable.

Wishy-washy defenses of anti-Semites have the same issue as ironic goat fornication.

Oppositional Defiance Disorder is not a carte blanche excuse against human dignity or decency.

I’m sorry but this is not the time for indulgence in such antics

https://www.mediamatters.org/manosphere/youtube-andrew-tate-claims-america-doesnt-have-free-speech-because-you-cant-speak-out

Andrew Tate claims the United States doesn’t have free speech because you can’t speak out against Jews.

Am I supposed to argue with him
in good faith, Jaybird?

Yes or no?