Rough clay or day clay? Trump could shoot them in the middle of Fifth Avenue and they’d vote for him with their dying breaths. “My kids need you! You’re a Christian! You’re honest! Look at his family! All good kids!” David Neiwert nails it: Susie too: Okay, neither of these eligible voters are salvageable. They’re too far gone. But there are others “on the fence” surely embarrassed by these displays of lunacy. Paul Rosenberg interviewed Rachel Bitecofer about her new book, “Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game.” Bitecofer seems to be covering ground seeded in the past by George Lakoff, Drew Westen, and Anat Shenker-Osorio about appealing more to emotion than intellect. Republicans now campaign on negative partisanship, she says, while many Democrats cannot let go of their “old strategy” of campaigning on policy: “find things people like, tell them you’re going to give them that — and then appeal on your character, your biography, your qualifications for office.” Republicans dumped that approach long ago.
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The weather hasn’t been great, but the other day the sun came out for a bit so I could get the long lens out. These characters came out to feed. Long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus):
“They” say that your taste in music is imprinted in your high school years. Why do you suppose this is? Is it biological? Is it hormonal? Or Is it purely nostalgia? According to a 2021 study, it may have something to do with “arousal, valence, and depth”. Say what? Have you wondered why you love a particular song or genre of music? The answer may lie in your personality, although other factors also play a role, researchers say. Many people tend to form their musical identity in adolescence, around the same time that they explore their social identity. Preferences may change over time, but research shows that people tend to be especially fond of music from their adolescent years and recall music from a specific age period — 10 to 30 years with a peak at 14 — more easily. Musical taste is often identified by preferred genres, but a more accurate way of understanding preferences is by musical attributes, researchers say. One model outlines three dimensions of musical attributes: arousal, valence and depth. “Arousal is linked to the amount of energy and intensity in the music,” says David M.
Just let Stephen Colbert sum it all up for you:
People need to understand why Trump’s massive fraud matters to them. Dan Pfeiffer has some ideas about how to talk about this in his substack today: Yesterday’s trial verdict was civil, not criminal. So technically, Trump has not been convicted of a crime, but that’s a distinction without a difference for most voters. He has been declared a fraud by the state of New York and can no longer conduct business there. We should also assume most voters won’t hear a single word about the fine, unless we tell them. Judge Engoron rendered his verdict the Friday before a holiday weekend. Back when I worked in political communications, this was the sort of timing I would suggest to dump bad news so the fewest people would notice. Therefore, the onus to spread the word is on us. I view this verdict as a way to do three things: Be Clear About What Trump Did: Ultimately, Trump was found guilty of lying to banks and insurance companies to line his own pockets with hundreds of millions of dollars.
That was Wednesday. Friday he posted this: I have a sneaking suspicion those flattering photos aren’t exactly on the up and up. Considering the grotesque comments he makes about other people, he deserves to be criticized for his looks. Personally, I don’t think his weight is a big deal. But the near-blackface and the full Flock of Seagulls hairdo is worth mentioning. Doesn’t anyone notice how fucking weird that is?
Trump is going to restrict abortion even more if he becomes president. We’ve heard he is thinking about endorsing a 16 week abortion ban to keep his evangelicals happy. (He likes the 16 week as opposed to the 15 week ban because it’s an even number. I kid you not…) Anyway the following isn’t really news since it’s been out there for a while. I’ve written about it as have others. But the NY Times publishing it can make it real for a lot of people: Behind the scenes, specific anti-abortion plans being proposed by Mr. Trump’s allies are sweeping and legally sophisticated. Some of their proposals would rely on enforcing the Comstock Act, a long-dormant law from 1873, to criminalize the shipping of any materials used in an abortion — including abortion pills, which account for the majority of abortions in America. “We don’t need a federal ban when we have Comstock on the books,” said Jonathan F. Mitchell, the legal force behind a 2021 Texas law that found a way to effectively ban abortion in the state before Roe v. Wade was overturned. “There’s a smorgasbord of options.” Mr.
Tucker Carlson apparently thinks so too: He did say, “sorry” afterwards. Now he’s backtracking: Tucker Carlson has turned on Vladimir Putin in the wake of the shocking death of Alexei Navalny, just days after releasing a softball interview with the Russian president and a series of ‘tourism board style’ videos about the country’s clean train stations and cheap groceries. In an exclusive statement to DailyMail.com, Carlson said: ‘It’s horrifying what happened to Navalny. The whole thing is barbaric and awful.
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USA plans to maintain high levels of oil and gas production until at least 2050 – so it can export freedom. Healthy ecosystems require integrity, not just biodiversity. Endangered slug runs circles around arty rivals. US oil and gas production has peaked and is staying high The USA is the world’s leading producer of oil Continue reading »
In July last year I went on a study tour to Palestine with the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN). I witnessed apartheid but also resilience and resistance. I met with Palestinian and Israeli women and men dedicated to a just outcome for Palestinians. Unlike our Western politicians they were ‘walking the talk’. Hebron a sad Continue reading »
The Australian Citizens Party (ACP) have written to the National Anti- Corruption Commission (NACC), asking them to investigate former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision to join private companies who will profit from the massive defence expenditure resulting from Morrison’s decision to establish AUKUS — a decision the ACP characterised as “extraordinary, unilateral and secretive”. Dr Continue reading »
The Labour Party in Opposition in New Zealand describes the new National Party government as the coalition of chaos. Others call it the three headed monster. It appears that at least one of the monster’s minor heads is doing more talking than its leader. The election produced a win for National under Prime Minister Christopher Continue reading »
Since 1948, Zionists have invoked the Holocaust to justify the forced expulsion of Arabs from Palestine to create a Jewish state, but the blueprint for ethnic cleansing was being drawn up years earlier by a Zionist zealot named Yosef Weitz. In November 1940 (eight years before the forced Palestinian exodos) Weitz wrote in his diary: Continue reading »
Agathe Demarais is a senior policy fellow on geoeconomics at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a Foreign Policy columnist. She recently argued in that journal (with a clear anti-Trump tilt)-that “China is Rooting for Trump” Although her arguments are framed within the standard Global Western casting of China as a revisionist threat to Continue reading »
The power of money to distort humanity’s view of our situation only works because human beings prostitute themselves to corporations, billionaires and foundations. If you know anyone who works for the biggest companies of the world in media, finance, and technology, then ask them why aren’t they rebelling inside those companies, to make it less Continue reading »
The irony of Trump using those words is just too much. This is from 2016, no one cared, and it’s been memory holed. The man is a chiseler and always has been: During the Atlantic City casino boom in the 1980s, Philadelphia cabinet-builder Edward Friel Jr. landed a $400,000 contract to build the bases for slot machines, registration desks, bars and other cabinets at Harrah’s at Trump Plaza. The family cabinetry business, founded in the 1940s by Edward’s father, finished its work in 1984 and submitted its final bill to the general contractor for the Trump Organization, the resort’s builder. Edward’s son, Paul, who was the firm’s accountant, still remembers the amount of that bill more than 30 years later: $83,600. The reason: the money never came. “That began the demise of the Edward J. Friel Company… which has been around since my grandfather,” he said.
MAGA says ‘break’ Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) visited Ukraine this month and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, who she describes as “clear-eyed and clear-voiced.” But he’s faced with a “make or break moment” in his country’s fight to remain a free country. Donald Trump wanted (and failed) to build a wall on our southern border. Vladimir Putin wants to rebuild the Iron Curtain. Spanberger shared her thoughts with Jennifer Rubin (Washington Post): Spanberger is candid about the Biden administration refusing the initial request from Ukraine for critical equipment, waiting for Europeans to act and then, finally, acceding. “Initially, I was willing to concede they were being careful,” she said. The risk of elevating the war to a major-power war is not zero. However, “we have demonstrated that Ukraine is abiding by the parameters” we set, she argued. The rigmarole leaves us consistently at least “a few months behind” Ukraine’s urgent requests. Intelligence Committee Chairman Michael R.
Plus, funding arrives for cleaner energy technologies, insurers’ care-denial bots are put on notice, and regulators tackle an airborne killer.
Just thank you @pete.dominick Here are my comments at our last school board meeting where a few bad faith actors have tried to create a controversy in our schools with no regard to the students safety or best interest. We have a generally welcoming student body when it comes to LGBT issues. I would dare to say the kids are all right – it’s the parents who are the problem. John Lewis asked us to make good trouble. And Dr. King told us not to be silent. #LGBT #transgender #trans #BOE #humanrights #schoolboardmeetings #transrights #boardofeducation #turningpointusa #momsforliberty ♬ original sound – Pete Dominick @pete.dominick Here are my comments at our last school board meeting where a few bad faith actors have tried to create a controversy in our schools with no regard to the students safety or best interest. We have a generally welcoming student body when it comes to LGBT issues. I would dare to say the kids are all right – it’s the parents who are the problem. John Lewis asked us to make good trouble. And Dr. King told us not to be silent.