That goes beyond flattery. It’s rhetorical fluffing. It’s hard to believe he isn’t joking. But he isn’t. I don’t know if Levin has been gargling lead infused water all his life or if this is sheer opportunism. But even Tucker Carlson doesn’t go this far. It’s frightening. And, by the way, Trump hears this too. And he believes it as much as his followers do.
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A large majority of Americans want stricter gun laws. They are tired of seeing their kids mowed down on a weekly basis: A majority of Americans in a new poll released on Friday said they would support stricter gun control laws. Sixty-four percent said they were in favor of stricter laws, while 36 percent said they were opposed, the CNN-SSRS poll found. A slightly smaller portion — 54 percent — said that such gun control laws would reduce gun-related deaths in the country, and 58 percent said they believe the government is able take effective action to prevent mass shootings. Some 59 percent in the survey said they were in favor of banning semi-automatic rifles, while 94 percent said they would support taking measures to prevent convicted felons and those with mental health issues from owning guns. Eight in 10 also said people under the age of 21 should be barred from purchasing any type of gun, the poll found.
Republicans are wringing their hands about Teflon Don Oh heck. Maybe failing to push for the 2nd impeachment which would have barred him from office was a mistake. Oops. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ technology-challenged but donor-rich entry into the GOP presidential primary cemented his place in the early primary as the chief alternative to Trump. But it will hardly clear the field. And with a growing cast of characters still waiting in the wings to announce their own campaigns, warning signs of a 2016 replay are once again flashing in the GOP. According to interviews with nearly a dozen GOP strategists, former candidates and party insiders, the intraparty dynamics now at play — and Trump’s own alchemical grip on the base — suggest a primary where a constellation of Republicans once again risk splitting the non-Trump vote in early nominating states.
“Texas AGs have often been scoundrels” Seems the blush is off the Texas rose (Texas Tribune): For Angela Paxton, June 1 will always be “I love you day,” the anniversary of the first time a baby-faced Baylor undergrad named Ken told her he loved her. This year, “I love you day” will have a dark cloud looming over it, as that young man, now the attorney general of Texas, faces removal from office by the state Senate — of which Angela Paxton is a member. On Saturday, the Texas House voted 121-23 to impeach Ken Paxton on a range of charges, at least one of which involved his wife, and at least one of which related to an alleged extramarital affair. Ken Paxton is suspended while the Senate decides whether he should be removed from office. Paxton’s reputation as a scoundrel did not stop him in Texas from becoming attorney general. He has been under indictment for felony securities fraud for nearly eight years. His lawyers have managed to redirect the case to friendly turf his home county and delay, delay, delay. If it wasn’t beneath him, presidential candidate Donald Trump might tap Paxton for pointers.
Nothing is real AI tools are the hot new toys every kid wants for Christmas. Just like crypto was the hot, new, get-rich investment? We gave a sidelong glance at using AI in political campaigns just last week. The Atlantic‘s Russell Berman offers another take beginning with the CEO of the company behind ChatGPT, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, practically begging Congress (in Berman’s telling) to regulate his industry. Firms hyping the new tools name-drop candidates such as former Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman whose campaigns have used them already. But? “I don’t remember anyone using AI for anything on that campaign,” Kenneth Pennington, a digital consultant and one of the Fetterman campaign’s earliest hires, told me. Promoters pitch generative-AI as a way for small-time candidates to campaigns like the big kids, using it “to create digital ads, proofread, and even write press releases and fundraising pitches.” And to increase the number of targeted ads and emails you spend time blocking and deleting.
A debt ceiling fight ending with a whimper not a bang It’s not over yet, because Kevin McCarthy still has to round up enough votes to get past the Hastert Rule (GOP can’t bring a bill to floor with a majority of Democratic votes) and he might still face a motion to vacate the chair when all is said and done (which is his problem, not ours) it appears that creaky old Joe got the best deal we could have expected, most importantly an agreement to extend the debt limit until after the next election. Donald Trump hasn’t said a word yet. Whether he whips against voting for it is unknown. But you can bet he is not happy about it. Here’s Dave Dayen at the American Prospect with the view from the progressives: With one potentially major exception, the relative harm and help was kept to a minimum in the final agreement. It will only be a little bit easier to commit wage theft, or to sell defective or poisoned products. It’ll only be a little harder to get rental assistance or tuition support. Only a few people will be freer to pollute the environment; only a few will find it more difficult to get food. The Internal Revenue Service will only be a little worse.
Here’s an interesting view on some dynamics underlying the debt ceiling negotiations I’ve never seen before from Talking Points Memo. I can’t vouch for whether all these details are correct, but if they are it makes you wonder why nobody has been discussing it. Anyway, just throwing it out there as food for thought: You were wondering how Biden was able to get such a good deal; in the end all this drama just amounted to getting the budget-negotiation process started early, with the GOP’s main takeaway being something (spending freeze) that their control of the House already guaranteed them via the tool of passing continuing resolutions.
Trump Jr is actually more juvenile than his father. He’s also an idiot: On his online show “Triggered With Don Jr.” earlier this week, Trump’s son had a slip of the tongue during an extensive takedown of DeSantis, who he also referred to as a “failure to launch” with “the policies of a DC swamp rat” and a “nasal and effeminate voice.” “Trump has the charisma of a mortician, and the energy that makes Jeb Bush look an Olympian,” Trump Jr. said in the gaffe.
sto·chas·tic (stə-ˈka-stik) stō- “[T]he actual threat to American freedom is coming from the states,” begins Jamelle Bouie’s NYT op-ed: It is states that have stripped tens of millions of American women of their right to bodily autonomy, with disastrous consequences for their lives and health. It is states that have limited the right to travel freely if it means trying to obtain an abortion. It is states that have begun a crusade against the right to express one’s gender and sexuality, under the pretext of “protecting children.” It is states that are threatening to seize the children of parents who believe their kids need gender-affirming care. And it is states that have begun to renege on the promise of free and fair elections. That it is states, and specifically state legislatures, that are the vanguard of a repressive turn in American life shouldn’t be a surprise.
(But not without struggle, it seems) Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, addressed the 2023 graduates of Johns Hopkins University: The time is of the essence, and it is that essence that I would like to talk about today. One of the most common truisms on Earth is the advice to value or at least not waste time. Why has it become so widespread? Every person eventually realizes that time is the most valuable resource on the planet, not oil or uranium, not lithium or anything else, but time. Time. The very flow of time convinces us of this. Some people realize this sooner, and these are the lucky ones. Others realize it too late when they lose someone or something. People cannot avoid it. This is just a matter of time. Now, you can look back at the time you have spent here at the university studying—did you get everything you needed from it? You have even more time ahead of you, a whole lifetime. These are the careers you will build. This is your parents’ pride, which they have every right to, if they raised the children who graduate from Johns Hopkins. These are your families who, I wish you this, will bring you love.