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… is bad news for Biden, of course Cable news was on in the background Thursday night when, responding to a right-leaning critic of some Democratic policy or other, an on-air pundit doubted the critic could name three examples to support the claim. “Oh yeah? Name three,” we said in unison. (“Oh, yeah? Name five,” is a running joke around here.) It’s standard fare for politicians to complain about adversaries’ “failed policies” without naming a single one. It lets the public fill in the blanks with sins real or imagined. The behavior is so rote that reporters never challenge speakers to provide examples. In the Politico article cited in my post below, a Trump spokesperson, on cue, slammed Joe Biden for his “failed policies.” Ya mean, like this one? (CNBC): Job growth posted a surprise increase in January, demonstrating again that the U.S. labor market is solid and poised to support broader economic growth. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 353,000 for the month, much better than the Dow Jones estimate for 185,000, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The decision to axe thousands of jobs at Port Talbot steelworks is nothing short of industrial vandalism. It is a further hammer blow to an area already devastated by deindustrialisation.  Sadly, Cymru has suffered this faith before. The former coal mining valleys continue to suffer higher than average levels of unemployment and lower real incomes, […]

Joe’s from Scranton, remember? If anything, President Joe Biden has been too polite with Donald “91 Counts” Trump, indicted private citizen. . Gossip from Politico: President JOE BIDEN has a reputation for salty language behind closed doors. But it nearly slipped out in public during his speech at Valley Forge last month to mark the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Animated and angry, he derided DONALD TRUMP and his followers for drawing glee from political violence. “At his rally, he jokes about an intruder, whipped up by the Big Trump Lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi’s skull,” Biden said. “And he thinks that’s funny,” the president continued. “He laughed about it. What a sick …” Biden let his voice trail off as the crowd cheered and chuckled. In private, he doesn’t stop short. The president has described Trump to longtime friends and close aides as a “sick fuck” who delights in others’ misfortunes, according to three people who have heard the president use the profane description.

A 2023 Column Contest grand-prize winner, Laurence Pevsner’s Sorry Not Sorry investigates why we’re sick of everyone apologizing all the time—and how the collapse of the public apology leaves little room for forgiveness and grace in our politics and culture.

Imagine, for a moment, a world where President Trump apologized for defaming E. Jean Carroll.

No, really, try to visualize him on Fox or Newsmax or in a grainy vertical video on Truth Social. See, in your mind’s eye, his sly grin transformed into sincere sorrow, while he says, “I am truly sorry to E. Jean Carroll, whom I raped many years ago and have defamed many times since then. I did something horrible back then and have only made it worse ever since. I know you may never forgive me, but I will regret what I have done to my dying day.”

The exercise I just asked of you is, of course, impossible. Trying to imagine Donald Trump apologizing sincerely is like asking you to picture the edge of the universe. You can describe it in theory, but it’s impossible for our puny minds to process.

Dear Mr. Driving Examiner in the Blue Ford Fiesta,

I’m Lily Brubaker’s dad. If you don’t remember, you failed her on her driving test yesterday, and I got really angry.

I’m sorry for jabbing my finger in your face like that. I shouldn’t have yelled at you or called your hat “dumb.” But I had no choice. Please let me explain.

When my daughter told me that you flunked her for “lurching” the car forward too quickly, I was so overwhelmed with relief, that I ran over to you to give you a big hug. But then I remembered that Lily was watching me, so I had to act like I was furious. Admittedly, I may have gone too far when I tossed your cowboy hat on the ground and stomped on it. (Sorry, didn’t realize it was made of straw and would crunch like that.)

You can’t imagine the stress I’ve been going through. It’s a well-known fact that a person’s brain isn’t fully developed until the age of twenty-five. I’ve been worried sick that Lily’s going to text or drive impaired and get in a crash. Teens have no impulse control, and that’s why I had to totally lose my shit on you.

Rishi Sunak's Government has been accused of trying to "gerrymander" the next general election by making it harder for certain groups to vote

Romantic attachment turns surreal when two young lovers’ bodies grow (quite literally) entangled in one another

- by Psyche Film

Watch at Psyche

Open immigration policies represent a strategic approach to addressing the migration crisis.

The post The Case for Open Borders appeared first on The Intercept.

Water is a great healer. Can New York’s public pools and ‘blue spaces’ be engineered for collective hydrotherapy?

- by Rebecca Hayes Jacobs

Read at Aeon

The state’s far-right government is escalating its fight against environmental protection with a rare use of public records law.

The post “Certainly Intimidation”: Louisiana Sues EPA for Emails With Journalists and Cancer Alley Residents appeared first on The Intercept.

A recent column by the former Editor of the Daily Mirror on the superstar footballer revealed more about himself than the 26-year-old England player, writes Mic Wright

One source of the Global Academic Gap is that many universities and academic resources in the Global South are underresourced (sometimes massively so). If there is no money to pay for a generator to deal with electricity blackouts, or in case there is no money to hire scholars, then it’s hard to even start doing […]

The party’s decision signals continuing, if low-key, commitment to press reform, writes Brian Cathcart