Morning

Begin again.

Thursday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

Get happy

The Greatest Car Ever Produced

I rented a car recently - honestly I can't even remember what brand it was because I can't remember anything anymore - but it was small (2 door, a 4 seater for fitting children in the back), and it had nothing but knobs and buttons, glorious knobs and buttons. No touch screen controls at all!

RETVRN

"Those Sluts Just Need To Keep Their Legs Closed"

Pretty sure if John Fetterman was running around saying that, the Dem party and their Thought Leaders would understand that it would make it more difficult for them to appeal to voters who "should" be voting for them because the orange man is bad for reproductive rights. This isn't hard to understand unless you're choosing not to.

I'm Sure They'll Give Him Another Few Weeks

Always more chances.

On Wednesday, the New York Supreme Court clerk's office returned to Trump's attorneys the bond filing "for correction." There was no reason publicly specified in the request for correction.

Adam Pollock, a former assistant attorney general in New York, said, "This bond is deficient for a number of reasons."

...new development:

Another 10 days for our special sweaty boy, if granted...
 

Lunch

eat

America's Worst Journalist

Kara Swisher.

Twitter User Tankie420 Is Going To Lose The Election

You had better go tell that Brooklyn podcaster that Democracy depends on his vote.

"Unpopular actions can depress turnout" is usually not something that Professional Democratic Strategists pretend to be confused about.

Earning The Big Bucks

It didn't take being an Elon-hater like me to know why this was the dumbest fucking idea on the planet.

If Hertz went all-in on EVs, it could gain a yearslong advantage over Enterprise Holdings and Avis by positioning itself for exclusive deals with ride-hailing services and automakers. It’d be more profitable, too, because EVs were so much cheaper to operate, easier to maintain and safer, they figured. Meanwhile, O’Hara was touting the synergies with Certares’ network of travel agencies and its expertise in technology. He boasted of being able to solve the chronic software issues, and he even forecast the company would make an additional $150 million a year in profit, thanks to the rental business it’d get from his Amex GBT.

If Hertz could get the software engineering right, renting might actually be a pleasure rather than a necessary evil. When booking a Tesla, you’d get an app notification with a handy map showing where exactly to find it. The car would automatically unlock as you approached, recognize you by name, adjust the seats, mirrors and temperature to your preferred settings, upload your favorite playlist on, say, Spotify and display your destination as well as the expected battery consumption and charging options along the way. Returning the vehicle would be a similarly painless experience.

It's true that EVs can *in theory* be cheaper to maintian, but rental cars get beat up a lot and body work on Teslas is notoriously absurdly expensive. As for the rest of it, these rich tech guys have such weird ideas about what people want.

Morning

Let me take this opportunity to condemn the bad orange man for being bad.

Wednesday Night

Rock on.

Sounds Bad

Going to be really awkward at Jaleo now.

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - Celebrity chef Jose Andres told Reuters in an emotional interview on Wednesday that an Israeli attack that killed seven of his food aid workers in Gaza had targeted them "systematically, car by car."

Speaking via video, Andres said the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity group he founded had clear communication with the Israeli military, which he said knew his aid workers' movements.

"This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place," Andres said.

"This was over a 1.5, 1.8 kilometers, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo that we are obviously very proud of," he said. It's “very clear who we are and what we do.”

They were all Hamas.

Amazing Stuff

There are good people in Dem politics, but not enough of their colleagues call out the shit ones.

The lead spokesperson and organizer for Fairshake PAC, the umbrella group orchestrating crypto spending this year, is Josh Vlasto, a former aide to current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Vlasto built a reputation in Albany for his uniquely combative approach to the press corps.

Vlasto previously served as communications chair on the board of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) as of 2020. Though usually known for being more liberal, the JDCA has recently moved toward firmly aligning with AIPAC and its allies. This year, for example, JDCA is joining AIPAC and DMFI in opposing progressive incumbent Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO).

At the same time as he’s running Fairshake, Vlasto is also coordinating the billionaire-backed Facts for Peace, a pro-Israel operation set up after October 7th to shape the information environment around the war in Gaza. Facts for Peace was one of the top ad buyers across the web in the early months of the war, spending nearly $500,000 on targeted ads to combat online criticism of Israel.

Views Change

SCOOP: @chefjoseandres tells me @Reuters in interview that @WCKitchen was deliberately targeted while delivering aid to Gaza and says Israel and three United States must do more to get humanitarian aid in. He questioned how the US could supply aid and military support to Israel

— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) April 3, 2024

Wonder if he's apologized to Ione Belarra.

The Last Honest Man Of Washington

Rick Perlstein on Holy Joe.

You may also have been hearing of Lieberman’s responsibility for tipping the scales that made George W. Bush president of the United States. Is that judgment fair? It’s more than fair. Is it worth dwelling on? It’s more than worth dwelling on. Few incidents better describe the way the least partisan political party on Earth has failed to protect us from the depredations we face now.

Lunch

eat

No Red Lines

Watch this clip.

“I spoke to an Israeli reserve officer, who was in the same unit as those soldiers who shot those hostages. I remember him telling me that the orders are basically, from the commanders on the ground, just shoot every man of fighting age” https://t.co/Y6zhxAS1Fu

— Henry Mance (@henrymance) April 3, 2024

Well Okay Then

The odds aren't great, so not our fault!

“No matter what, I don’t think people are going to blame Julie like people blame Robby Mook for Hillary. Because Hillary was supposed to win this,” said Morgan, the fretful donor, referring to the last candidate and campaign manager to lose the presidency to Trump.

“We all know this is a jump ball,” he continued. “In 2016, we were reading Nate Silver, and we weren’t worried at all. When we woke up, we realized we’ve never been to Wisconsin and we’ve never been to Michigan and then all the Monday-morning quarterbacks are out. That won’t be the case for Julie,” he said. “Because we all are prepared to lose.”

As long as no one blames the campaign manager!

Heart of Hearts

Of course all Israelis are not responsible for the actions of the state of Israel (a selectively applied concept, recently), but this piece from José Andrés is what happens when someone refuses to let reality intrude on their idealistic visions (including about themselves).

We know Israelis. Israelis, in their heart of hearts, know that food is not a weapon of war.

Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces.

The Israeli government needs to open more land routes for food and medicine today. It needs to stop killing civilians and aid workers today. It needs to start the long journey to peace today.

In the worst conditions, after the worst terrorist attack in its history, it’s time for the best of Israel to show up. You cannot save the hostages by bombing every building in Gaza. You cannot win this war by starving an entire population.

...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said of the Israeli killings of our team, “It happens in war.” It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by the Israel Defense Forces.

We are here because large numbers of people in power - some cynically, many very genuinely - started from the position that Israel is Good, and does not do Bad.  

Here is where Andrés was back in October, doing the full Fetterman/Torres act:

In response to this:

This started with everyone playing the game that you couldn't criticize Israel for cutting off the power and water unless you condemned Hamas this way, then that way, then while hopping on one foot, then right NOW even though you did it 2 days ago, and none of that had anything to do with whether cutting off the power and water was a war crime that was happening right at that moment.  Say the magic words!!! Say them again, louder!!! Say them at the beginning of the paragraph!!! Say them at the end!!!

If, 3 days after 9/11, the US had launched a bunch of nukes (this comparison is exaggerated of course) at Afghanistan, all the people responding to criticism with "BUT DO YOU CONDEMN BIN LADEN" would have been ridiculous.  We did have a bunch of that kind of thing at the time, too. And then again with Hussein. 

My point is not to say that Andrés is a bad guy, it's that Israel's intention to enact collective punishment - and probably worse -  on the entire population of Gaza was obvious almost from day one, and it wasn't the people who noticed that who are partially responsible for the current state of affairs.