Thursday Evening

Get your evening on.

Pope Bob And Cardinal Pizzaballa

At least the Catholic Church is evolving into a better version of itself.*

“The abuse and manipulation of God’s name to justify this and any other war is the gravest sin we can commit at this time” said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa at a webinar on the conflict ravaging the Middle East.

“War”, he continued, “is first and foremost political and has very material interests, like most wars. We must do everything we can to leave no room for this pseudo-religious language, which speaks not of God, but of ourselves”.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was commenting on the words of the U.S. Secretary of War who, during a briefing, quoted Psalm 144 to invoke a divine blessing on the ongoing U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran.

*I'm not religious or Catholic, so many things are not my business, but the Church is also a political actor, so it's bit like me praising the government of Spain despite not being Spanish.

Despair

One difficulty I face every day is that there are very few "professional Democrats" (broadly defined, I don't just mean electeds) I have any respect for after the past few years. There are too many people who failed to meet the moment - many simply because they are cowards worried about their career status, some because they are just shitty people more broadly - and therefore very few whose leadership I have any faith in going forward.

I find it very difficult to be in active coalition with people who would push "me" under a bus for a fancier title, with people who consider their personal success and even feelings to be much more important than the causes they espouse.

Oh, but Atrios, don't you suck, too? Sure, but I am a bit less important than most of these people.

Seems Bad

What's the statute of limitations on that, Corey? Are you still under the presumptive pardon umbrella?

Some DHS contractors told White House officials they were asked to pay Corey Lewandowski

Some companies complained to the Trump administration that Lewandowski has stood to personally profit from the DHS contracting process. Lewandowski denies the allegations.

Our Allies

 (Google translated)

When Danish soldiers were flown to Greenland in January of this year, they brought explosives with them so that they could destroy, among other things, the runways in Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq.

This would prevent US military aircraft from landing soldiers on the island if President Donald Trump ultimately chose to take Greenland by force.

Sure Why Not

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. may soon remove sanctions from Iranian oil that is stranded on tankers to help lift global supplies and reduce prices, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday.

— Tala Ramadan (@TalaRamadan) March 19, 2026

Who Can Say

But How Will We Pay For That

Weird how that question is important when it is "spend $2 billion to build a light rail" and not this...

The Pentagon has asked the White House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran, according to a senior administration official, in an enormous new ask that is almost certain to run into resistance from lawmakers opposed to the conflict.

I know this is cliché snark at this point, but "we have infinite money for the military-cop-industrial-complex and no money for anything else" should never be left unchallenged, especially if it comes from "objective" journalists who will rediscover the deficit just in time to criticize any Democratic campaign proposals.

It is unclear who "the Pentagon" is here, whether Whiskey Pete specifically or others.

Related:

Hegseth: "Iran should be an energy-rich country. Instead, like so many other places driven by a radical ideology, they've spend that money, instead of investing in their people. That's why you had millions of Iranians protesting."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 19, 2026 at 12:32 PM

Wednesday Evening

enjoy

Sure Why Not

Um, what? Mullin is claiming that as a congressman, he was selected for some sort of mission that required training that was "hell," and was then sent somewhere where he "smelled war." But it's all classified. And only four people know about it. And he can't share any more details.

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— Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) March 18, 2026 at 5:22 PM

They dressed him up and ran him through some sort of military "haunted house" with some firecrackers going off. Why? Who knows.

It. Was. A. Tie.

While I think that declaring victory and going home is a better strategy than anything Trump is likely to do, I also worry it won't be that simple.

BURGER KING PIVOTS AWAY FROM BURGERS

Same vibe.

Making Messes That Other People Are Supposed To Fix

Donald doesn't just do this because he's a bungler. He enjoys the whole dynamic! The mess puts him at the center of attention, other people helping him prove how important he is, and ultimately he is the hero of the story (in his mind), fixing the problem that he created.

Chat Is This Good

I suspect not.

PONTIAC, Michigan, March 18 (Reuters) - Vaccination rates among young children in Michigan dropped sharply during the first year of the Trump administration, a Reuters analysis of state data shows, providing an early indication of how vaccine-skeptic Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is influencing immunization practices in the United States.

To state a couple of obvious things: 

1) when parents are making choices for their children, it is only an issue of "personal" choice if you think children have no independent agency or rights.  

2) The choice not to vaccinate affects everybody.

Americans were so convinced of their own wisdom that they killed their own children and called it "doing their own research."

---- From The Hilarious Fall of The Great Satan, America (2089)

 

Are They Done With His Bullshit Yet

The parade of European figures, especially, who imagined they could charm that stupid American president and get something out of  him was quite pathetic to watch.  I don't want to get too deep into clinical diagnosis territory, but if you think you can charm a man like Trump, then you have never known a man like Trump.  Or not taken any lessons when you have.

There are some people Trump is genuinely charmed by, at least temporarily.  But he eventually turns on them, too. Everyone else is just sucker he's playing a dominance game with. 

One secret to the success of President Deals is he has never felt bound by any of those deals. His word means shit.

Give him an inch and he knows you're an easy mark.

Morning

 Woeful Wednesday.

Happy Hour

Get happy.

Lindsey Is Mad Mad

Implications

I am quite sure Marc doesn't really believe this about himself, but he does believe it about *you* and everyone who isn't in his Tech Overlord Group Chat.

We were wrong, years ago. We should've rooted for The Jocks to win, to stuff those nerds in the locker for all eternity.

Sure Why Not

Massive waste of money and potential just to cater to Trump's weird fixations.

The Trump administration is considering a new strategy for throttling the country’s offshore wind industry, after federal judges blocked its five previous attempts to stop wind farms under construction off the East Coast.

Senior administration officials are drafting settlement agreements that would pay nearly $1 billion to TotalEnergies, the French energy company behind two wind farms off New York State and North Carolina, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times, including copies of the agreements.

Under the terms of the proposed settlements, the Interior Department would cancel the leases in federal waters for the two projects, known as Attentive Energy and Carolina Long Bay, the documents show. The Justice Department would then pay more than $928 million to TotalEnergies, reimbursing the company for its winning bids in lease sales during the Biden administration.

In exchange, TotalEnergies would abandon its plans to begin building the wind farms. It would also commit to investing in natural gas infrastructure in Texas, as the Trump administration prioritizes the production of fossil fuels over renewables like wind and solar power.

I suppose the future black comedy about the fall of The Great Satan, America, written in the 7th decade of the New Spanish Empire, will be quite funny.