Choose Your Fighters

You see a lot about how The Left is to blame for undermining the Democrats, but the guys who hold office and get to write pieces in the New York Times certainly share some blame for the inconsistency of their message.

By Tom Suozzi

Mr. Suozzi, a Democrat, represents New York’s Third Congressional District. He is a former Nassau County executive and mayor of Glen Cove on Long Island.

President-elect Donald Trump and the Republicans have managed to sell themselves as the party of change. It worked: They will soon control the presidency, Congress and, in essence, the Supreme Court. But to change and fix America requires both parties to work together. As a Democratic member of Congress, I know my party will be tempted to hold fast against Mr. Trump at every turn: uniting against his bills, blocking his nominees and grinding the machinery of the House and the Senate to a halt.

That would be a mistake. Only by working together to find compromise on parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda can we make progress for Americans who are clearly demanding change in the economy, immigration, crime and other top issues.

Punditry

Someone brought this one to my attention.  It's UK politics but you do have to marvel at this:

Other PMs who had shaky starts went on to make the cut. So can Starmer. He must make it. But if he has not significantly improved by mid 2025, his own party and the country may conclude that his uncertain start was not an aberration but an indication of chronic unsuitability. Were Britain then to have a seventh prime minister in under 10 years, foreign investors and governments, on whom British prosperity depends, will draw the same conclusion as increasing numbers at home: a new leader is needed.

If the UK replaces its PM, then foreign investors and foreign governments will demand that such instability requires yet another PM.

There is a lot packed into that!!!

Seldon (the author) is one of those guys who imagines he really understands what goes on in the Room Where It Happens, whether or not he does.   Apparently some interesting things happen there!

The Blob

We shouldn't forget that the ex-president of Korea was our man in Seoul. "We" loved him because he was belligerent towards North Korea, conciliatory towards Japan, and anti-China.

That he was an authoritarian right wing nutcase who was cooking his brains on Youtube conspiracy videos somehow escaped the notice of the panopticon.

Perhaps our meddling there is minor,  but it does show clearly how "our" concerns are selfish, narrow, shortsighted, and fundamentally ignorant.  This is true when the bombs are dropping as well.

A career at State is for you if you fundamentally do not believe most other people are people.

Morning

It begins again.

Happy Hour

Enjoy

Sure Why Not

It is all above my pay grade, but I do not suspect that Syria being bombed by several countries is a preface to a glorious future of self-determination.

Yes, I know, as always.

Who Wants This

There are a million ways facebook is shit and almost everyone of them has at its root the platform's resistance to letting people share stuff so their friends can see it, which is what one imagines the product is for.

Maybe try returning to that instead of whatever this is?

Connor Hayes, Meta’s vice president of product for generative AI, told the Financial Times last week that the company expects AI bots will “exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do.”

I am pretty sure the world is ready for a "facebook, except not shit" and I am surprised no one is doing it. 

RIP Aaron Brown

I remember him trying a bit harder than most of his colleagues in the post-9/11 era.  Both a low bar and high praise.

Morning

Another horrible year (for the world, not so bad for me) ending.

Monday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

Get happy

Trump And Elon Are Woke Now

 It's the holidays and I can't be bothered with trying to figure out what any of it means, if anything.

(this is Trump posting a screenshot of an Elon tweet).

Almost Done With 2024

Not much time left for Irish unification. Stupid Star Trek.

He'll Get Right On That

Pick which side of the "will he pay" bet you are on.

President-elect Donald Trump is not entitled to a new trial in the case in which a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation of the writer E. Jean Carroll, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

Lunch

eat

Where's JD

I know it's the holidays - and maybe I am just not paying enough attention - but did the dude just disappear?

Seeming

I don't think that was "seeming."

Mr. Carter’s freelance diplomacy, which at times included outspoken criticism of U.S. policies, could provoke outrage. He angered Clinton in 1994 by thrusting himself into a dispute over U.N. inspections of North Korea’s nuclear facilities. In his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” (2006), Mr. Carter set off a storm of criticism by seeming to equate Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories with the former apartheid regime in South Africa.

It is ommon (and maybe even somewhat appropriate) to downplay the negative actions of prominent public figure in their obituaries, but we can be a bit amused that this is the bad thing they are choosing to downplay.

Morning

And it is Monday.

Sunday Evening

Enjoy

RIP Jimmy Carter

I met him once. Tom Tomorrow snuck me into his skybox at the 2004 DNC. True story.