Morning

Taco Tuesday

Happy Hour

Get happy 

A Nice Retirement In Botany Bay

Would be fitting for a botanist.

Call Me, MacKenzie

 The only good extremely rich person.

America's Worst Humans

Greg Gutfeld.

Some Dems think going on Fox is a very smart way to reach that audience, the people least likely to vote for Democrats. I don't think that's true, obviously, but the only way to do it with integrity is if you intend to say things that ensure you won't be invited back.

Fake Grievances

Both The Right and the dipshit center regularly both imagine they're courageously standing up to power to fight fake battles.

It is hard to find a product in the supermarket that doesn't have labels boasting about its protein content. They add protein to everything these days.

I even lean in the direction of  "the increased emphasis on protein is probably good"* but we have been living in that world for awhile!

*Not interested in a big argument about this, but my reason is that while the standard claim of "the average American gets plenty of protein" was perfectly true, it was pretty easy to not be in that category and not understand that it was  a problem given the long lack of focus on protein (not the case, recently!). Sure people typically get plenty of protein, but also you really need protein!  The humble protein-and-fiber-filled bean is our savior.

Fed Independence

Sure this is bad, but also I will not be surprised if we discover that The Markets and The Titans of Industry care much less about supposed Fed independence than we have been led to believe.

I WILL NEVER STOP FIGHTING FOR YOOOOOUUUUUUU

This ain't it, chief.

Senator Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be "reformed, not abolished" and plays a "role" in the country following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in her home state.

It is very easy to say that of course we need immigration enforcement, but Trump has corrupted the existing institutions  so much that we need to begin again.

That should be the "moderate" position.

Morning

Get it started 

Sunday Night

Rock on.

Sunday Evening

Monday's coming

Denmark, You Can Bring Down This Government

Just ban export of Wegovy to the US.

Protests

Dems hate protests for both understandable and bad reasons, but if people don't see much leadership from the people they elected, then they are going to find their own way.

There is no magic wand, nobody thinks there is, but good politicians could at least convincingly fake that they were on the side of people being gunned down by the government agency they keep supporting, and few of these guys can do that.

Awkward

The Labour government came right out of the gate centering NATO, mostly as a way to shore up their credentials as Tough Guys Unlike Those Hippies.

This government will have a ‘NATO first’ defence strategy: article by the Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary

Just an example, from right after they came to power in July, 2024. They've repeatedly invoked NATO allegiance as a kind of tough guy/patriot/"foreign policy realist" test, melding it to chestbeating support for Ukraine as a kind of battle cry (supporting Ukraine is fine, the usual belligerence backed by little is not).

A bit tough now that Starmer is doing everything Donnie tells him, even as Donnie can't even remember his name.

If You Mean Your NYT Colleagues You Should Say That

He doesn't, of course, he just means he hasn't been paying attention to or doesn't approve of any actual protests, but instead wants a nice story of protests.

Morning

Sunday funday.

Saturday Night

Rock on.

Promises, Promises

I did see this one very briefly on the front of nytimes.com, but I bet this is one all the news outlets instantly forget for some reason (it is already gone from nytimes.com).

Our Friends In The North

You know what this is in reference to.  Passifiume is the Toronto Sun's Ottawa Bureau Chief.

Voted Most Likely To Be Arrested After A Hard Drive Check 8 years in a row by his colleagues (maybe).

Depraved Murderous Liars

I know I can be too pithy sometimes,  but I don’t think I need 1200 words to state: any journalism which obfuscates this about the Trumpers, which they themselves gleefully boast about regularly, consistently, does not prioritize informing readers.  Instead, it is merely a kind of ritual peformance in which everyone acts  their roles as scripted for some theater production of The President And His Journalists, with little interest in portraying actual reality.

Of course there are good journalists and good journalism, but almost all news gets filtered through politics these days.

There was no golden age, but that news is rarely just news, but is instead contested in the politics arena, with quotes from Both Sides, is, if not new, worse than it used to be.