The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
Ambrosini says:
I vote for the bottom, where is gas that high? That is just insane.
Ed says:
That was in one of the storm-damaged but not destroyed parts of Mississippi.
J. Dryden says:
Well, to be fair, this is probably the only way this individual can offer the product and still stay in business. Ideally, of course, he'd just give the stuff away at cost, and the Disaster Relief fund would reimburse him for any losses. But given what it must cost to get the gasoline to his place these days, the prices might not be so unreasonable. I see it as another example of the government's failure to make it possible for local life to exist in any kind of functional way, rather than a greedy bastard out to soak a miserable situation and its desperate victims. Then again, I don't know the context of the photo, so it's entirely possible that that's EXACTLY what he's doing, in which case, he's going to Hell, most likely.
Michael says:
The BP station was in MidTown Atlanta. And was one of about 10 stations in town to more than double prices after the storm. All are being investigated and will pay in the end for their gouging.
I wonder what's in the bag? if it's water, diapers, or food I would say he's surviving. If it's Nike's and X-box I would say he's looting.
-Michael