November 16, 2024
"It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House."
He added that Ukraine “must do everything so that this war ends next year, ends through diplomatic means.”
"Of course, Harris might make a third bid for the White House, though her loss to Trump after raising over $1 billion will weigh heavily on many Democrats’ minds."
From "Democratic jockeying for the 2028 presidential election is already underway/Nearly two dozen Democrats are seen as possible contenders ahead of an invisible primary that will be shaped partly by Trump and his second term" (NBC News).
"The rise of Bhattacharya — from being scorned by the nation’s NIH director to possibly occupying his office four years later..."
"A mom in Georgia is speaking out about being arrested for reckless conduct after her then-10-year-old son was found walking alone."
During the arrest, [Brittany] Patterson...said to one of the deputies, "Last time I checked, it wasn't illegal for a kid to walk to the store."
But the deputy replied, "It is when they're 10 years old."...
Authorities said they would drop the charge against Patterson if she signs a safety plan that involves the use of a GPS tracker on her son's phone but... "I just felt like I couldn't sign that and that in doing so, would be agreeing that there was something unsafe about my home or something unsafe about my parental decisions and I just don't believe that," Patterson said.
"The words 'chronic illness,' as far as I know, never came out of the Harris campaign's mouth. And I think that was a real misstep..."
That's Dr. Casey Means on Bill Maher's show last night.Dr. Casey Means Wows Liberal Audience and Gets Them to CHEER for RFK Jr.'s HHS Nomination
pic.twitter.com/160GKOHQMh— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) November 16, 2024
“If we were crushing it [at health], we would not be spending 2x every other country in the entire world and have the lowest life expectancy of any developed country in the entire world.”
"The boys in our liberal school are different now that Trump has won."
When we walked into school on the morning of 6 November, we exchanged quick glances with the other girls in our social circle – looks filled with uncertainty and dread about the future.... [A]s we walked to our first period classes... we noticed a very different attitude among our male peers. Subtle high-fives were exchanged and remarks about the impending success of the next four years were whispered around. It didn’t make much sense....
November 15, 2024
"So what happened in this campaign is Donald Trump said to the American people, you are angry. You're really pissed off."
Rocky says Trump is George Washington.
BREAKING: Sylvester Stallone just made a surprise appearance with President Donald Trump here at Mar-a-Lago! @A1Policy
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 15, 2024
“No one could have done what this man has done. He’s the 2nd George Washington” pic.twitter.com/j8F53EVhvL
"The Onion’s Decision to Buy Infowars Started As a Joke/It’s their most expensive gag yet."
Headline at New York Magazine.
Does anyone find this funny?
Last June, the satirical website’s new CEO, Ben Collins, saw that a federal bankruptcy judge had ordered Alex Jones to liquidate his assets at auction to pay off the millions he owes to Sandy Hook families he defamed. “That’d be one of the funniest jokes of all time if we pulled this off, if the Onion bought Infowars,” Collins said on Thursday afternoon. “Then I was like, ‘What if we actually did it?’”
There's nothing funny in the vicinity of the Sandy Hook massacre. It's not a playground for anyone. To the extent that the pain the victims' families have experienced through Alex Jones can be converted into a dollar amount, he's obligated to come up with the money, but I guess this is more about disabling him from continuing to speak to the world. What good is the website to anyone else? The Onion thinks it's funny if the URL goes to a page that isn't him but people who hate him?
"That is something that I have not heard before — someone say that," said the little girl to Mike Tyson.
"When we're dead, we're dust. Absolutely nothing.... You're dead!... I want somebody to think about me when I'm gone? Who the fuck cares about me when I'm gone!"Mike Tyson definitely forgot he was talking to a kid while answering that question ðŸ˜pic.twitter.com/WDHvtoVnnj
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) November 14, 2024
"John Thune Says Recess Appointments 'On the Table' To Get Trump Picks Through."
"I think that all options are on the table, including recess appointments. Hopefully, it doesn't get to that but we'll find out fairly quickly whether the Democrats want to play ball or not," [Thune] said on Thursday during an interview....
If Trump were to use recess appointments at the start of his term, those appointees could remain in their positions until the end of the next Senate session, or until 2026.
Per the Congressional Research Service, former President Barack Obama made 32 recess appointments, ex-President George W. Bush made 171 and former President Bill Clinton made 139 while the Senate was on recess....
"Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner," Trump posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.
"Democrats lost because everyone except for whites moved in the direction of Donald Trump this cycle."
November 14, 2024
Trump picks RFK Jr. to head Health and Human Services.
"Kamala Harris’s campaign was predicated on the dominance and continuance of the alleged monoculture..."
"I said to my class, ‘Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?’ Nobody had an answer."
Sweeney's response: "It’s very disheartening to see women tear other women down.... This entire industry, all people say is 'Women empowering other women.' None of it’s happening.... All of it is fake and a front for all the other shit that they say behind everyone’s back.... I’ve read that our entire lives, we were raised — and it’s a generational problem — to believe only one woman can be at the top. There’s one woman who can get the man. There’s one woman who can be, I don’t know, anything. So then all the others feel like they have to fight each other or take that one woman down instead of being like, Let’s all lift each other up."
"The potential for a high-profile confrontation between the Pentagon’s two most senior leaders — one a telegenic political appointee, the other a circumspect career soldier..."
"I mean, I would describe it as god-tier level trolling, that has triggered a full-on China Syndrome to own the libs in perpetuity."
Amazing 😂
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2024
pic.twitter.com/CmDmUFXptP
"Trump’s Win Leaves Democrats Asking: Where Are Our Bro Whisperers?"
Celebrity appearances and paid endorsements from influencers come across as transactional and inauthentic, [some younger Democrats] said.
“It’s last-second, ‘Let’s get Beyoncé onstage to say we support women,’ but that doesn’t move anyone who wasn’t already going to vote Democrat,” said Ayem Kpenkaan, a liberal content creator.... He suggested that Democrats needed liberal versions of media platforms that are culturally right-leaning but not inherently political — like Barstool Sports....
“We have to make entertaining, engaging content that men want to watch and care about,” Mr. Kpenkaan said. “Then, over time, you pepper in more progressive views.”
So... make something authentic, then pepper in the political propaganda. How distasteful.
Re "Let’s get Beyoncé onstage to say we support women":
November 13, 2024
"Senate Republicans reacted with alarm and dismay to President-elect Donald J. Trump’s decision to nominate Representative Matt Gaetz... for attorney general..."
"Among the criticisms of the book was that its descriptions of the girl’s powers appeared to liken the First Nations’ complex spiritual beliefs to 'magic'..."
The depiction of child abduction in Mr. Oliver’s book, the group said, 'dangerously trivializes the ongoing trauma associated with Australia’s violent history of child removal.' 'I am devastated to have caused offense and apologize wholeheartedly,' Mr. Oliver said in a statement...."
From "Jamie Oliver Pulls Children’s Book Amid Criticism of Insensitivity/The celebrity chef’s second children’s book, 'Billy and the Epic Escape,' faced accusations that it stereotyped First Nations people in Australia" (NYT).
"You've got to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and obviously, to bring in a new Secretary of Defense, but any General that was involved, General, Admiral, whatever that was involved in any of the DEI woke sh*t has got to go."
That's Pete Hegseth, Trump's choice for Secretary of Defense.🚨NEW: Newly appointed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on reforming US military leadership:
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) November 13, 2024
Anyone "involved in the woke sh*t has got to go...you have to reestablish that trust by putting in no-nonsense warfighters in those positions who aren't going to cater to the socially… pic.twitter.com/9181gOVp2q
Mr. Hegseth’s book, the New York Times best-seller “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” was published in June. “Our ‘elites’ are like the feckless drug-addled businessmen at Nakatomi Plaza, looking down on Bruce Willis’s John McClane in ‘Die Hard,’” Mr. Hegseth wrote in the book. “But there will come a day when they realize they need John McClane — that in fact their ability to live in peace and prosperity has always depended on guys like him being honorable, powerful and deadly.”
"[I]n 2020, Mr. Trump refused to concede the election and never invited Mr. Biden for the traditional meeting in the White House."
"Women are actually adult human beings with agency and freedom of choice. They could choose, like men..."
Writes someone in Tribeca named Macaulay, commenting over at the NYT article "Even Exercise Has a Gender Gap/Women have less time to work out than men. And their health pays the price."
"One of the things that incredibly frustrates [Elon Musk] is when he encounters paperwork requirements and regulatory slowdowns."
From "Elon Musk Launches Into American Politics," the new episode of the NYT podcast, The Daily.
November 12, 2024
"There are grates in one of the rooms of 4 North. They have little holes. If you lay down, you can look through the holes and talk to the women one floor down and see them."
"She ain’t going. Jill Biden’s husband authorized the FBI snooping through her underwear drawer."
Jon Stewart gives Democrats the chewing out they deserve.
Can you pay celebrities millions to appear at your rally and report it as an "event production" expense to the FEC?
I'm reading "Did Kamala Harris Pay Celebrities to Endorse Her? Oprah Winfrey Speaks Out" (Newsweek)(examining various claims, e.g. Beyoncé got $10 million just to walk up to the podium and say a few pro-Kamala words):
Nonprofit fact-checking website FactCheck.org said that a Harris campaign official told them the claim "is not true." PolitiFact also said that it had found "no evidence" for the claim and that Beyoncé's publicist told them it was "beyond ridiculous."
Newsweek reached out to the Harris campaign for comment via email outside of regular working hours. Newsweek also reached out to representatives for other celebrities who endorsed Harris and have been accused of being paid for it, including Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Eminem, via email.
Some social media users pointed out that two payments to Winfrey's production company, Harpo Productions Inc, can be found under the Harris campaign's disbursements on the Federal Election Committee website. The payments, of $500,000 each, were made on October 15 and are marked as "event production."
"Marked as 'event production'"? I hope they didn't mismark anything! What was the "production" that cost a million dollars? Causing Oprah to appear onstage? The social media users are trying to help, but it looks as though they are calling attention to what might be a false statement to the FEC.
Wouldn't that be much worse than mislabeling the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels in private business records?
"I’m afraid of politics, you understand? I do not like it. … It’s because when you do get involved in it, no matter how you feel, somebody passionately disagrees with you."
Said 50 Cent to Charlamagne Tha God, quoted in "50 Cent Reacts to Donald Trump’s Presidential Election Victory: 'Leaving With the Winner'/Last week Curtis said he proudly turned down an alleged seven-figure payday offer to appear with the once and future prez at MSG" (Billboard)("Curtis" = Curtis Jackson, AKA 50 Cent).
At Real Clear Politics, the GOP has won control of the House.
Link. The GOP takes control at 218, and they're up to 219.
November 11, 2024
"Lemurs are strange in the way that the reclusive and wealthy are strange; having had the island of Madagascar to themselves evolve in..."
Writes Katherine Rundell, in "Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures" (commission earned) quoted in "A Pretty Girl, a Novel with Voices, and Ring-Tailed Lemurs" (Paris Review).
"New York Rep. Elise Stefanik has accepted President-elect Donald Trump’s offerto be his enforcer as United Nations ambassador...."
The 40-year-old upstate Republican, who helped force out two Ivy League presidents with her sharp questioning on campus antisemitism, will the lead Trump’s “America first” and pro-Israel message in Turtle Bay... Stefanik, the No. 4 House Republican, has been a close Trump ally, including serving on his ceremonial defense team in 2020 during his first impeachment trial for pressuring Ukraine to investigate alleged Biden family corruption.
"She doesn’t believe in labels for her own sexual orientation and has little interest in dating other women, but she does believe in political lesbianism..."
From "A World Without Men/The women of South Korea’s 4B movement aren’t fighting the patriarchy — they’re leaving it behind entirely" (New York Magazine).
"Democratic campaign strategists condescended to women, which is what both parties have been doing for a century now."
Writes Jill Lepore, in "Democrats Tried to Counter Donald Trump’s Viciousness Toward Women with Condescension/The Harris campaign felt the need to remind women voters that they can vote for whomever they want. Women understood this. The campaign failed to" (The New Yorker).
"Imagine you are about to have a political argument with a close friend or family member. You are on opposing sides of the left-right rift...."
Writes George Saunders, in "Five Thought Experiments Concerning the Underlying Disease/Our civic wells are poisoned. Why?" (The New Yorker).
November 10, 2024
"Right-leaning social media influencers... and their merry bands of wine moms and girl bosses have long waited for this moment: Validation..."
From "When MAGA Won, So Did MAHA, the 'Healthy'Arm of the Trump Apparatus/With RFK Jr. as a figurehead, American public medicine is set to enter its 'MAHA' era, no ha-has about it" (Vanity Fair).
"Trump’s initial calls with world leaders are not being conducted with the support of the State Department and U.S. government interpreters."
"In the months he is not on the road, that bandwidth is preserved at what is believed to be his primary residence, a rocky estate..."
From "At 83, what drives Bob Dylan? We ask the people who know him best/The most enigmatic man in music is on a gruelling tour — and even sharing restaurant tips on social media" (London Times).
"Guns, God and gays — that’s the way they say it. Guns, that’s an issue; gays, that’s an issue, and now..."
Said Nancy Pelosi, answering the question "why did voters who earned less than $100,000 go for Trump in such large numbers," in "The Interview/Nancy Pelosi Insists the Election Was Not a Rebuke of the Democrats" (NYT).
"[T]he 2008 Barack Obama Democratic Party intersectional coalition has died. It is not that the coalition is wounded or endangered..."
Writes Josh Hammer, in "The Death of Obamaism, and the Historic MAGA Opportunity" (Real Clear Politics).
"No dating men, no sex with men, no heterosexual marriage and no childbirth. These are the four principles of South Korea’s 4B movement..."
Writes Kami Rieck, in "A Sex Strike Is a Losing Strategy for American Women" (NYT).
"I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration..."
Writes Donald Trump, politely, on Truth Social.
"Am I the only one in the city being lectured on dates about Burning Man?..."
Writes Cate Twining-Ward, in "Men, Please Stop Talking About Burning Man/Am I the only woman meeting Burning Mansplainers on dates?" (NYT)(free-access link).
"If you’ve heard about delaying your morning coffee, the cognitive benefits of creatine supplements, the popularity of cold plunges..."
Writes Ashwin Rodrigues, in "Bro Science Is No Longer Just for the Bros" (NYT).