Turning On The Giant Faucet Of Bullshit - US Politics February 2025

He said that his group had identified them by looking at political donations to Democrats, and by looking at social media posts. He said he had not reached out to the workers to verify the information he published, or even to determine if they still worked for the government.

“I’m busy; I’ve got a lot of stuff to do,” Mr. Jones said.

If you ever wondered what it was like to live through McCarthyism ...

This whole "experiencing in real time the worst episodes of history" is not a good feeling.

100%

it's not quite the same when you already know though

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said President Trump’s idea to take over the Gaza Strip is “provocative” but it’s “part of the conversation.”

Fetterman, who has been a staunch ally of Israel in its war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, appeared to be open to considering the plan when speaking with Jewish Insider.

“It’s a provocative part of the conversation, but it’s part of the conversation, and that’s where we are,” Fetterman said. “The Palestinians have refused, or they’ve been unwilling to deliver a government that provided security and economic development for themselves.”

“They allowed 10/7 to occur, and now Gaza has to be rebuilt,” he continued,

"What's in it for me?" — a provocative and cool part of our national conversation about aiding and abetting genocide.

The tone and approach of that NYT article is reprehensible.

Seriously, I just woke up and am now fully fucking awake.

It’s like “hey, they’re targeting these people, but, whatever”

Seems like the first woman to lead the U.S. will be a brutal Thatcherite, not a brat person of color from Oakland

We've had three women Prime Ministers in the UK, all of them right wing, and the current leader of the Tories, a woman of colour, is more right wing than any of them.

And the last one did more damage to the economy in the shortest period than any other PM I can remember

the next to last one dug her political grave by misreading the moment with Grenfell Tower, makes u think

Back when the UK had an opposition that actually opposed Tory nonsense.

it’s not like the Dems are any better at this point.

it turns out, according to the new york times, trump is a GENIUS.

"As outlandish and unworkable as Mr. Trump’s proposal on Tuesday may seem, it is “no less than an historic resetting of decades of received diplomatic wisdom,” said Chuck Freilich, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser. However unrealistic, he said, “it may force the sides to reconsider long-held positions, stir things up dramatically and lead to new openings.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/world/europe/trump-gaza-hamas-palestinians.html

Polite Kahanism, how lovely!

"As outlandish and unworkable as Mr. Trump’s proposal on Tuesday may seem, it is “no less than an historic resetting of decades of received diplomatic wisdom,” said Chuck Freilich, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser. However unrealistic, he said, “it may force the sides to reconsider long-held positions, stir things up dramatically and lead to new openings.”

My provocative assertion that the collected works of Shakespeare were actually written by me may force literary critics to reconsider long-held opinions, stir things up dramatically and lead to new openings.

This is such a joke

I read that NYT article first thing this morning and my head literally exploded. Picking up all the pieces has been a pain, need to remember to put on my craven-apologetics helmet.

Meanwhile, if your company ignores a union vote, fortunately you can appeal to the... oh wait.

https://wapo.st/4jMdrk3

I read that NYT article first thing this morning and my head literally exploded. Picking up all the pieces has been a pain, need to remember to put on my craven-apologetics helmet.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra),

Trump Wants to Turn Trump Into Rivera, Only Hamas Stands In Its Way

The party that finds all sorts of excuses to cling to their “tradition” is now the party of “stirring things up dramatically.”

Trump just called chuck schumer a “palestinian.” I think I am having a stroke

The nicest thing he could have said

I realize we're holding our umbrellas under this storm of shit falling on us, but let's avoid, please, the DO YOU KNOW WHAT TRUMP SAID NOW affliction of 2017-2018. Let's confine it to more cataclysmic news.

but let's avoid, please, the DO YOU KNOW WHAT TRUMP SAID NOW affliction of 2017-2018

otm

Xp Dan

There are no conservatives anymore because the world has changed to an extent where these types don’t want to conserve anything. They want to tear down the institutions they see as corrupt.

Marc Andreesen recently talked about how all the woke college grads were trying to “destroy” silicon valley companies from within. This is an absurd exaggeration. But not just that — it also is a projection of what they want to do, which is destroy civil society.

They as in these so called conservatives. Trump’s coalition.

Musk destroyed Twitter from within because it was full of intellectuals who made fun of him and now he’s teaming up with Trump to do the same thing to the Federal government, and for the same reasons

There are no conservatives anymore because the world has changed to an extent where these types don’t want to conserve anything. They want to tear down the institutions they see as corrupt.

I have opted for "right-wing radicals" since the W administration.

They want to conserve a poisoned realm for white men.

They’re not that radical. They absolutely want to preserve their wealth and the future wealth of their friends and they’re willing to wreck anything to do it but it’s in the service of consolidating power in the hands of those who already have it

xpost what he said

otm x 2, they are conservatives in the sense of conserving (and expanding) existing wealth and power. Which imo is always the most important meaning of "conservative," beyond and underneath any trappings of civility and custom.

This is good, from yet another outraged historian: https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-of-destruction

This bit in particular struck me, because this is essentially describing the private equity/vulture capitalism mindset, now applied to government:

The oligarchs have no plan to govern. They will take what they can, and disable the rest. The destruction is the point. They don’t want to control the existing order. They want disorder in which their relative power will grow.

Snyder's been on a helluva run the last few years.

I think they are idiots because wealth cannot be created in conditions of anarchy and chaos.

There are warlords and cartel leaders who would disagree.

Yeah treeship I don't think that's true

Sure. I guess the idea of being an “elite” in a broken world holds no appeal for me. I do not understand why people who have benefitted from our country, our workforce, our infrastructure, want to wreck it. It makes me livid.

Marc Andreesen recently talked about how all the woke college grads were trying to “destroy” silicon valley companies from within. This is an absurd exaggeration.

Andreesen sucks but he’s not entirely wrong about the “Shanley Kane era.” I suppose it depends on what you mean by “woke” and by “Silicon Valley company” but there was a period of years where politics was omnipresent at technology companies, even companies that exist outside of social media or otherwise lack a direct connection to politics. I believe that period was terrible for both my personal politics and technology generally.

Q: Why does DJT want to cripple the US?
A: A crippled country is easier to loot.

SOMEBODY's naivete is getting really tired.

The U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C., ruled Thursday morning that Elon Musk and his team of coders have been blocked from further accessing government databases.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly approved the temporary restraining order outlining the conditions.

Kollar-Kotelly previously served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) and was appointed by the late conservative Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist.

Let’s see if they follow the order

Yeah I was going to ask what this really means in practical terms. Until some kind of enforcement entity physically removes the DOGE gang from the premises, I'm not sure what this does.

How many infantry divisions etc.

it would not surprise me at all if they stopped right now, and then somewhere down the line everyone's bank accounts get siphoned

memo from bondi to DOJ: the president is your client. zealously defend him.

https://prod-i.a.dj.com/public/resources/documents/DOJzealousadvocacymemo02052025.pdf

https://i.imgur.com/ZvctgNe.png

(note: the doj is was independent of the president's personal desires)

Also it's particularly wild to me that, all the details of the fuckery aside, that there are rightwingers crowing that this is "just an audit". Like, you genuinely believe that this guy with billions tied up in defense contracts is going to perform an objective audit of the gov'ts finances? The level of disingenuity and/or self-deception is off the charts

They will defend dear leader to the bitter end. They are literally “this is fine” dogs.

I think the "this is fine" dogs are more the equivocating establishmentarians. The rightwingers who are crowing are the guys setting the house on fire.