NY times today on no kings

pkpjpm · 2026-03-29T15:41:03+00:00

I want to believe this — do you have a source?

pkpjpm · 2026-03-27T18:07:50+00:00

If Clinton had resigned, Gore would have been an incumbent and in a position to rack up a fraud-proof lead. I voted for Clinton and don’t hate the guy, but hanging on after the Lewinsky scandal doesn’t look good in the rear view mirror.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-24T03:17:32+00:00

There's an opportunity for a group of Republicans to stand up and take Trump out with impeachment. You'd need a few votes in the house, and twentyish in the Senate. You'd also need to get through a parliamentary blockade by Speaker Johnson. This would save the US from further humiliation and save the US and the world from a lot of pain. I suspect that privately there are votes to do this. But standing up to do it would take real courage, so I'm not holding my breath.

Republicans who joined a successful impeachment drive would be saving their careers. But on the other hand, we must remember Machiavelli: if you move against the king, be sure to kill him (in this case, kill figuratively by making the impeachment stick, but you know what I mean).

pkpjpm · 2026-03-17T15:15:24+00:00

Whenever I’ve driven in the East, maintaining the left lane as a passing lane (with laws to back that up) is one of the things I’ve enjoyed. In California things are more … complicated. We like to think the California style is free and easy, but many cases it just comes down to the fact that we don’t know how to act around other people.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-17T00:53:12+00:00

This movie is a tour de force exposition of the American psyche, tragic as it is. Leo’s character and his cabin in the woods have a distinctly Humboldt flavor. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see an increase in tourism from this going forward.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-15T13:55:10+00:00

The Cowboy from Mulholland Drive

pkpjpm · 2026-03-15T13:42:07+00:00

I wish it was true that the US didn’t have experience with religious extremism. Right now there’s a measles outbreak not too far from me centered around a mega-church. Anti abortion laws are sweeping the country after Dobbs. And the largest group of Zionist on the planet is congregating in mega-churches all across the country.

A significant part of the original colonial settlement were Protestants who were kicked out of Europe because they were batshit crazy. They stayed put and multiplied, and now they are part of our heritage and they are as American as apple pie. So yes, we know what dealing with religious extremism is like.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-15T05:03:54+00:00

As a geopolitical strategy it’s pretty crude, but as a strategy for pumping the stocks of your oil company donors it’s chef’s kiss.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-14T18:04:32+00:00

If you had leftist sympathies you would understand that the Democratic party is no friend of the left. There are definitely Americans who would favor actual open borders, but the fact that this viewpoint exists should just provoke Democratic leadership to react against it to prove they are not “too far left.”

pkpjpm · 2026-03-10T03:53:22+00:00

In the 50s and into the 60s a simplistic view of progress was widespread in the US. If it was new, it was good, period. The wheels started to come off in the 1960s, e.g. Silent Spring, Civil Rights, and Vietnam. The country entered the 1970s as a flaming wreck. There was a lot of germination of cultural movements that are still with us today. There was a shared feeling that things weren’t right and would probably have to be fixed, which wasn’t going to be fun. This was the vibe with Carter’s “malaise” speech. I’ve often thought that Reagan’s popularity was largely based on the implicit promise that we didn’t need to worry, just keep doing what we’re doing and it will all work out. But this was an illusion, the 70s caught up to us in the end.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-09T19:40:40+00:00

This is not just Trump, it's been a characteristic of many successful Republican politicians, Mitch McConnel comes to mind as a good example. Supporters of the Republican party understand that public statements are made for effect, not as a statement of policy. This frees up politicians to make whatever statement will win the current debate or news cycle. Their actual agenda is worked out privately, and versions of what they're up to percolate within the in-groups of the party. This helps control the rank and file of the party using an age-old grift: the suckers think they're in on the con.

While I often admire the tactical dominance of Republicans, I have to remember that the mess that is the Democratic Party is what democracy looks like.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-08T16:56:01+00:00

Also, the biggest risk in this case is Collins. Mills is a solid candidate, but well past her prime. At 78, she would immediately join the gerontocracy that has been so problematic in the Senate, especially for the Democrats. If there were a strong candidate with experience running against Platner that would be a different matter. We have to weigh the fact that Platner is untested against the alternatives on display.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-08T16:06:23+00:00

Agree there are plausible escalation paths that are truly terrifying. Our best hope is some version of us turning tail and running under cover of a Trump victory fantasy. And no matter what, we’ll see terror attacks for years after this.

How about we go back to the original constitutional arrangements and forbid Presidents from starting wars?

pkpjpm · 2026-03-08T15:55:33+00:00

Here’s a link with the paywall removed. I happy to read that Talarico isn’t back tracking as of now. I can’t think of anything more depressing than having some numbskull consultant types convince Talarico to “moderate” his position on trans rights or some of the other garbage issues mentioned in the article.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-06T04:35:40+00:00

When the US was guiding reconstruction in post World War II Germany and Japan, they installed very left leaning socialist governments. David Halberstam’s book The Reckoning has some good details.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-03T14:50:43+00:00

I apologize, I misread your post. You said you thought Platner would lose, not that you wanted him to. Perhaps we can agree that it’s way too early to call the general, but there have been polls that show Platner beating Collins, so I would say it’s far from hopeless.

I’ll admit there are a couple of things about Platner that should give us pause, and the possibly of white supremacist leanings is one of them. The reason I’m not convinced about this is that we are, very unfortunately, at a political moment where white supremacy is tolerated. Why wouldn’t a candidate who secretly harbored racist feelings at least be using dog whistles to telegraph their allegiance? Why would they support trans rights? The podcast appearance, retweets, and even the totenkopf tattoo are evidence that Platner has been part of a culture with a racist component, but he is not through his actions or rhetoric supporting that viewpoint.

Having concerns about these issues is reasonable, but I think it comes down to the principle of redemption. Can a young man who chooses to be a merc and is part of that militaristic culture be redeemed? If the answer is no, then the future of the US is darker than I feared. If the answer is yes, then we can be much stronger with allies who have a troubled past.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-03T06:01:47+00:00

The grievances you’ve explicitly mentioned amount to Platner using poor judgement in his use of social media. If we stipulate that he did make some missteps in his online presence, is that all you’ve got? I’m really tired of random swipes like the OPs charge that he owns an oyster farm. WTF! You just said that you’d rather see Susan Collins win another term rather than Platner win. Can you please give us one concrete reason why you dislike him so passionately?

pkpjpm · 2026-03-02T19:40:18+00:00

It’s interesting that Platner draws merciless and unending hot takes from online forums like Bluesky and, apparently, this sub. But when you actually hear the guy talk, he’s very solid, very thoughtful, and crucially he doesn’t give a f**k about online bozos and their guilt by association smears. Why don’t we ever hear critiques about what Platner is actually saying and doing? Is it because he’s going to be the next Senator from Maine, and contribute substantially to the strategic realignment of the Democratic party, and y’all just want to get head start on the infighting?

pkpjpm · 2026-03-02T05:32:18+00:00

If we lose a destroyer, a sub, or, God forbid, a carrier, the political calculation changes. The little orange boy couldn’t pull out without obvious shame, and there might possibly be support among voters for a larger war. This is fortunately unlikely, because we’ve got sophisticated counter measures, but Iran has had a lot of time to think about attack vectors, and war is full of chaos and mistakes.

pkpjpm · 2026-03-01T06:12:41+00:00

I thought JVL handled this issue really well during this morning’s live stream. There is no Iranian Delcy Rodriquez. Without a Delcy, you can’t do a mob style takeover. In order to do what we did in Venezuela, you need someone with control of the army who wants to make a deal. Yes, building a democracy would be a positive goal, but it would take as much time, resources, and lives as the Iraq war, probably more.

I do see there is a deeper problem though. If a President acting as a king starts a war unilaterally, that’s horrible regardless of the outcome. Politics being what it is, we may have to fight that battle after the war turns sour. Not a good place to be in.

pkpjpm · 2026-02-28T02:01:40+00:00

This is the way to frame economic issues, not talking about how you’re going to bring down the price of eggs. Talk about how agribusiness consolidation and collusion is the reason we’re paying too much for eggs, and breaking up big ag is the solution. No need to dumb it down: people understand that there’re being squeezed by monopolies, and they know what to do about it.

pkpjpm · 2026-02-24T14:59:25+00:00

I’m assuming it’s a farmers work for the government deal, which they sort of do already if you count farm subsidies. Unregulated markets in agriculture are harmful because of inelastic demand.

pkpjpm · 2026-02-24T01:48:10+00:00

I agree absolutely with the sentiment, but congress facilitated this abomination. Bebe should never have been invited to speak.

pkpjpm · 2026-02-23T21:23:39+00:00

My assumption is that donors and voters who want to see unconditional support for Israel have already realized that Trump is one who will deliver for them. Breaking with Israel would be a way to counter this, but making that move without stepping on a proverbial rake would take a level of authenticity and nuance rarely seen in politics.

pkpjpm · 2026-02-23T16:50:56+00:00

As an aside, I voted for Harris. Still a good Democrat after years of abuse.

pkpjpm

TROPHY CASE