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 ...
SeaTea says:
Yes. I dazzle people with this little bit of trivia from time to time. They always react with irritation.
Uri says:
I learned that RFNPR from Stephen King's "Hearts in Atlantis," an enjoyable book. I'm told it really captures the spirit of the 60's, which I doubt, but I wasn't there.
ladiesbane says:
If it's Semaphore Day, are you flying the Gin Pennant?
http://www.salute.co.in/july_3rd_week/lifestyle_custom.html
Pan Sapiens says:
You youngsters are so cute when you discover something everyone of the prior two generations generally already knows.
Ed, make sure you skim 95% of your 10% and send it to everyone over 60 first.
Eee hee hee! (That's me imitating a grisly toothless old fart doing the nugget o' gold jig).
Joanna says:
When I was 12 and they came back into style, a friend's dad told me that my peace sign earrings were anti-Christian symbols: broken crosses with circles around them. Subtext: your parents are dirty atheist Democrats. Sub-subtext: but secretly I want to fuck your dad.
Robert says:
But . . but I read that Bertrand Russell created the Satanic Chickenfoot as homage to his Hellish master! Are you telling me the fine folks at Liberty Lobby were _lying_ to me?
Marla says:
Ed, I don't see an email contact for you, so I am going to pose my question inappropriately here in the comments of an unrelated post and hope you will see it.
Lately I've been wondering, what ever happened to the money that so many countries pledged to help the U.S./New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina? I remember hearing of millions – billions – of dollars promised from dozens of different countries. It was such a turnabout from the usual situation.
Has any country actually delivered on their promises of aid money to the U.S.? I can't think of anyone else who is likely to know the answer to this question.
Aslan Maskhadov says:
Nice new feature.
thearticlesbox says:
Good, But i suggest that it needs some moderation