US Politics, December 2022: "They're now the working class party, man."

I am speechless

https://i.imgur.com/uRrtH7i.png

His best line btw was "Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at 7, it's marginal, right?"

I don't know which is more humiliating, buying these or selling them

Gone, I believe, very quickly

I wish he was.

josh marshall has an interesting take on this morning's NFT debacle. the more trump fucks up, the more challengers he'll attract in the primary, which is to his advantage:

Trump still has plenty of potential advantages. The more beatable he looks in the polls the more challengers he’ll draw. Many party leaders hope for something like a bloodless coup in which DeSantis eliminates Trump and painlessly stand in for him. But there are plenty of ambitious Republicans who want a shot at the big prize as well. If Trump looks beatable, as he currently does, there’s next to no chance DeSantis gets a clear shot at him. That helps Trump a lot since his 30%-40% support among Republicans in a hypothetical primary battle is certainly far more durable than anyone else’s. On his own, DeSantis gets everyone who’s tired of Trump. With others the anti-Trump vote gets divided.

DeSantis 2024: Free Covid, only $99!pic.twitter.com/T4f7qxDM7H

— Lynda Straffin 🇺🇦 (@lyndastraffin) December 15, 2022

Challenge accepted.

lmao @ the Dilbert guy always getting this shit so wrong, dude has spent 7 years now making his entire persona "I'm the guy who really understands Trump" and he's consistently less accurate than any random shitposter like myself

I can't imagine the intestinal fortitude it takes to be a Josh Marshall and write about Trump, day after day.

waiting for someone to dunk on me for being the one posting about either trump and/or josh marshall in 3...2....1....

but yeah, i don't understand how marshall or any other full-time pundit manages their daily lives without collapsing. in some ways they are the ultimate posters in terms of physical exertion. carpal tunnel rates must be off the charts for the punditry

I wasn't casting shade, Karl. I realized Marshall's been a speed demon since he got that scoop last week and it's like, okay?

no worries, alfred, i didn't think you were!

His best line btw was "Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at 7, it's marginal, right?"

Yeah, I will always treasure this line.

sorry I know he’s not funny but I did enjoy:

'I think the chances of them winning was one one-hundredth of one per cent, and nobody would take the bet.”

the NFT trading card ad is funnier than any parody could attempt

and it goes on for short infomercial length

they really fucked it up if there aren’t paper things to send people, because saying “digital” a bunch of times isn’t going to explain it. there will be people waiting at their mailboxes

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/3226342/photo/a-boy-smiles-as-he-lifts-a-young-girl-up-to-a-mailbox-she-smiles-with-her-head-next-to-the.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=0hhAy3L7ks4uV3ZECANRQVlBcCHk3vcPm4bxkMUG3UY=

they really fucked it up if there aren’t paper things to send people, because saying “digital” a bunch of times isn’t going to explain it. there will be people waiting at their mailboxes

I foresee a lot of millennials/zoomers enlisted by their families to log into their emails and print out paper copies

Imagine when Grandma 'n' Grandpa come over for Christmas dinner.

My mom might buy a postcard from Trump's hanging.

Every student should have access to an education that aligns with industry demands and evolves to meet the demands of tomorrow’s global workforce.

— Secretary Miguel Cardona (@SecCardona) December 16, 2022

what

desk jobs for some, trashpicking for many, each to their way, now peel me a grape

so few understand that

fucking depressing as fuck

This kind of talk isn’t new obviously but it is rampant these days in the education establishment. I was at a thing last week where the state university president talked about how important it is for universities to follow up with employers to see if “the product” the university is sending them (i.e. graduates) meets their needs.

!

Seconding. This babble has been a part of my life since Jeb! was governor.

I mean, we've been told since at least 2006 that because Tallahassee's gonna be stingy about monies we better ensure our students (a) graduate early or on time (b) graduate with a useful degree (c) we're gonna track how much time they "waste" taking electives or getting minors and certificates.

...three hours later

Every student should have a pathway to a brighter future.

Every student should have access to an education that builds their confidence & every student should have a pathway to a successful career. pic.twitter.com/2Q4nxWUHck

— Secretary Miguel Cardona (@SecCardona) December 16, 2022

give him a couple days he might come up with something good

my man

the idea that education should consist of training students to feed the demands of employers has been rapidly gaining ground since the the mid-70s. it was a natural extension of the post-Sputnik anxiety that universities weren't churning out enough physicists and engineers. it's the usual pro-capitalist propaganda.

I know, politicians are professional liars, but this story is just wild

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/nyregion/george-santos-ny-republicans.html

This guy seems like just another failson, drifting on ill-conceived grift, until somebody somewhere decided to shove a couple of million dollars in his pocket at the exact moment he runs for office. Who was it?

the Angola-Brazil background feels like rich loam for a story like this. Post-colonial Portuguese corruption just rolling on and on to the sea

He seems like a Le Carré character, some bit player enmeshed in intrigues.

Santos will be my rep come January. Good times.

He seems like a Le Carré character, some bit player enmeshed in intrigues.

i always mix up Le Carré (who i haven't read) with Emmanuel Carrère. Santos seems like a deadringer for the subject of The Adversary (the true crime account of a french "doctor" in the early 90s)

Santos will be my rep come January. Good times.

there was a time when a politician would be forced to step down if it was revealed that they were lying about absolutely everything they had ever done in their entire lives. but alas, the house margins are tight

Happy holidays

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/19/us/jan-6-committee-trump

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol accused former President Donald J. Trump on Monday of inciting insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an act of Congress and one more federal crime as it referred him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution.

The action, the first time in American history that Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution, is the coda to the committee’s intense 18-month investigation into Mr. Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in a violent mob of the former president’s supporters laying siege to the Capitol.

Unanimous vote? Sounds suspicious.

Gee, wasn't he already exonerated by the Senate?

have they got him this time?

Not a chance.

It's good for this to be in the public record, but nothing is going to come of it.

Well...not yet at any event.

Maybe a new trading card

I understand the cynicism, but this is the first time any such referral had been made against a former President in history. Also, the reason Trump largely got off scot-free before was because it was his Justice Department and his Senate.

Garland and his team are obviously going to want to ensure there's an airtight case for that reason, and that's why it's feasible that they may be unwilling to take on any meaningful criminal charges, but they're already intensely investigating him with the special counsel.

I get not wanting to get hopes up, but everything he wriggled out of before were things he had some ability to control, directly or indirectly.

Garland and his team are obviously going to want to ensure there's an airtight case for that reason

Herein lies part of my skepticism though, it's really not hard to imagine the DOJ coming back months from now saying they don't consider it "airtight".

it'll be interesting to see how much, if any, the house gop breaks against him. in the senate, there are at least some who would like to see trump buried. in the house, the stop the steal people are now pretty much running the show now.

Neanderthal otm.