tell you what. i've been making calls all fucking week (mostly to R's thru kinzinger's org) and it's just an amazing relief. this has been an existential dread for the past 6 months.
". . . but which the House sat on forever because of very serious reasons that no Republicans could quite articulate, at least not without using the Cyrillic alphabet."
I heard a YT vid about someone whining about being told (of infrastructure) that "You didn't build it," hurt his fee-fees, and he took the risk of starting a business, so he should get all the moneys from it.
I think there's a clause in there where the Ukraine aid is worded as a "loan" which can be forgiven by Executive Order. Not sure, but I think that's how they got it around The Orange One.
An iron clad law of the universe stipulates that "NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED"
I now look forward to Mike Johnson having to grovel before the House Democratic caucus and beg their aid as he struggles to fend off the vengeance wing of his own party who have promised to punish him.
I dunno. If Hakeem uses his leverage to do POLITICS!!!1!1!!1, the MAGAts might get upset, and no one knows how they'll react when they get that upset, so we probably shouldn't push it.
I just got an odd text message from one of my Trumpy friends. She is of course a huge Mike Johnson fan, simply because he's 'christian.' She sent me a clip of her pastor speaking about this--he started off saying everybody needed to pray that Mike Johnson was going to get the aid bills passed. I had no problem with that, until he continued--that Nancy Pelosi was "demonic" and was going to prevent the bills from passing.
This is pure nonsense and I told her so. How can anybody even talk like that???
I'll be interested in her response. Or maybe I won't. I don't know how she justifies listening to this bullshit.
My favorite part is how Mike Johnson kept insisting that he wouldn't stand for being "rushed" as he sat on the bill 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴. Apparently it took that long for him to learn the lesson that McCarthy, Ryan and Boehner could have told him: It is impossible to satisfy people like Marjorie Taylor Idiot.
Putin has been smart enough to do what previous Russian leaders didn't see in order to gain acceptance, even support, among American "Conservatives". He stopped openly objecting to religion and in 2018 declared that Christianity was instrumental in the founding of "Mother Russia" All that was needed for wingers to decide that he's an "OK" guy, and actually better than evil American liberals who accurately point out that the USA was not founded as as "Christian Nation"
"... what previous SOVIET leaders didn't see...? I don't know if Putin himself is a believer (I've read some biographies that say his mother was extremely devout) or not, but it seems that historically the Orthodox churches have been much more agents of the state (or the state agents of the Church) going back to the Byzantines.
It would think he's much more interested in appealing to RUSSIAN "traditional values" types than those in the United States.
Yeah, he decided that after the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church turned into a bunch of disgusting pro-Putin lapdogs. The Metropolitan or whatever the fuck he is regularly issues simpering pronouncements in favor of the war in Ukraine. Never mind that a great many Ukrainians are also Orthodox Christians. It got so bad that Ukraine stopped officially celebrating Christmas in January, as the ROC does, and went to Dec. 25.
As a former Orthodox Christian, I think the many hours I spent as a child standing through those interminable services gives me some (ahem) standing to say: ROC, you sicken me.
The Russian Orthodox Church seems to not have learned from history. Their dance with Putin is reminiscent of Pius XI and Cardinal Pacelli waltzing with Hitler. After they were no longer useful, Hitler kicked them to the curb
the ROC need to understand that they are useful to pootie they also represent a threat to him, being an organized popular movement … if they cross him they’ll be leading services in the gulag for folks in dire need of redemption …
It's a fairly well established fact that the Russians bailed Trump out of his financial difficulties in the late 1990s Yet, somehow we allowed a man so beholden to the Russians become POTUS and drag most of the GOP along with him. Somehow, a large portion of the American population doesn't see the problem with this.
However ridiculous Cold War paranoia was, at least they managed to have national security as an excuse. The right doesn't even pretend to bother with that anymore. It's all, openly, overtly, about the hatreds.
Are Republicans in Congress so blind that they can't see what Putin is up to, or are they just so mesmerized by Trump that they've lost touch with reality, and are now living in Fat Donnie's fantasy land.
They're not blind to what Putin is up to...they LIKE it.
He's created the kind of ethno-theocrat-kleptocrat state they all aspire to; a place where the Godly Oligarchs get to beat down on the 'vermin' they consider their lessres, and strip mine the country of value, so long as the Boss on top gets to wet his beak.
Why? Because the IMF took over the place in 1992. First thing? Show the world that socialism doesn't work by applying the.... and I am not making it up.... 'Washington Consensus'.
-massive cutback of social security programs and pensions
-no sick leave
-no maternity benefits
-individual work 'contracts'
-drop labour unions in negotiating
-restructuring heavy industries - coal especially - to be profitable
-wiping out in-kind benefits - either payments or services to low-income like reduced energy payments, free transport, home repairs, health vouchers - provided to about a quarter of Russians
One thing overlooked that accounts for Putin's political success and popularity was bringing back those social benefits.
In my old Mexico City neighborhood, which had a history of being one for emigres going back to the Spanish Republicans and German Jews back in the 1930s started seeing a lot more Russians just after the imposition of the Washington Consensus... and dropped once Putin got the worst abuses under control (tossing a few oligarchs out of windows seems to have been an inducement to the others to clean up their acts).
I still go back there now and again to eat at the popular Russian restaurant that I remember starting out selling "Empanadas Rusos" with a bunch of very big waiters who all looked like they were the KGB.
Putin seems to be (and I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert, or even all that knowledgeable of Russian history) modeling himself more on the "great" Czars than on the Soviets. From what little I know, Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Catherine, were remembered from bringing the oligarchy of their time (the boyars and nobles) under control... eliminated to make Russia Great (for once?). I suppose getting tossed out a window was less fearsome than Ivan's method of having them torn apart by his dogs.
I don't "like" Putin, but I don't think he's any more irrational or sociopathic than any other strong world leader.
Us software engineers like to point out that if a bug that happens over and over again never gets fixed, it *could* be that some folks consider it a feature.
Its such good news I can't even make with the jokes.
Whew!
tell you what. i've been making calls all fucking week (mostly to R's thru kinzinger's org) and it's just an amazing relief. this has been an existential dread for the past 6 months.
now and also, i'm hungover.
"Rightwing media have vociferously denied this new evidence of connections between Trump and Pootin’."
:D :D :D
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're farting in your sleep.
https://youtu.be/JmGMzyajA2U?feature=shared
When you close your eyes and you fall asleep (sleep sleep sleep).
Poppy’s telling the State secrets that he just can’t keep.
For all the pussy that he’s dreaming about (bout bout bout).
He opens up his butt and the truth sneaks out.
You tell me that you smell me.
You tell me you don’t trust me.
You tell me that you hate me.
But I know they are lies, cuz I read it in the Ti-e-imes.
I hear the secrets Poppy keeps.
When he’s farting in his sleep.
“At the news of the bill passing, the entire MAGA wing of congress died. And the world was saved. The End.”
I love that story.
Dare to dream, my friends....~sigh~
Well, that double-posted, I know not how. Jeez, Substack, don't do this to me....:(
". . . but which the House sat on forever because of very serious reasons that no Republicans could quite articulate, at least not without using the Cyrillic alphabet."
That was just beautiful!
> Trump and Pootin'
You magnificent twelve-year-old bastard
OT: from Public Citizen
Some astounding facts about the very wealthiest Americans:
There are approximately 806 billionaires in the United States.*
That’s roughly 1 billionaire for every 417,265 non-billionaires.
The average net worth of an American billionaire today is over $7 billion.
The combined fortunes of all of this country’s billionaires add up to a staggering 5.8 trillion dollars.
Here’s what that looks like numerically: $5,800,000,000,000.00.
As our friends at Americans for Tax Fairness report, that is double what it was at the end of 2017, not even seven years ago.
For comparison, the combined wealth of the entire bottom half of our society — some 65 million households — is $3.7 trillion.
I’ll say that again.
America’s 806 billionaires collectively have $2.1 trillion more than the entire bottom half of the country.
And — because our tax “system” is so biased in their favor — these billionaires have numerous ways to avoid paying anything close to their fair share.
A bill in Congress — the Ultra Millionaire Tax Act of 2024 — would start to bring some sanity to our nation’s disgraceful and unequal tax regime.
Tell the R's it's a tax cut for the rich, and it'll sail through Congress.
If they don't pay their fair share, the treatment they receive from the rest of us shouldn't be fair either.
I heard a YT vid about someone whining about being told (of infrastructure) that "You didn't build it," hurt his fee-fees, and he took the risk of starting a business, so he should get all the moneys from it.
Sensitive much?
recipe for disaster much?
I don't understand?
Didn't Johnson just return from Maralardo?
Surely assmouth didn't approve of this!
Super tenth dimensional checkers
Is Wassname in Mar-a-Largo? He's been spending a lot of time in NYC lately.
I think there's a clause in there where the Ukraine aid is worded as a "loan" which can be forgiven by Executive Order. Not sure, but I think that's how they got it around The Orange One.
That would work. He does think other people repay their loans.
An iron clad law of the universe stipulates that "NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED"
I now look forward to Mike Johnson having to grovel before the House Democratic caucus and beg their aid as he struggles to fend off the vengeance wing of his own party who have promised to punish him.
Yo Hakeem! Make. Him. SQUIRM!
It is a DOUBLE DUTCH punishment!
actually hope we keep in power until the election. we have one more funding bill before november.
I dunno. If Hakeem uses his leverage to do POLITICS!!!1!1!!1, the MAGAts might get upset, and no one knows how they'll react when they get that upset, so we probably shouldn't push it.
Ta, Dok. It passed.
Do you have the lottery numbers, oh Stranger From the Future?
I just got an odd text message from one of my Trumpy friends. She is of course a huge Mike Johnson fan, simply because he's 'christian.' She sent me a clip of her pastor speaking about this--he started off saying everybody needed to pray that Mike Johnson was going to get the aid bills passed. I had no problem with that, until he continued--that Nancy Pelosi was "demonic" and was going to prevent the bills from passing.
This is pure nonsense and I told her so. How can anybody even talk like that???
I'll be interested in her response. Or maybe I won't. I don't know how she justifies listening to this bullshit.
The preacher should lose his tax exempt status
Demons have the power to make you think 'this is pure nonsense'. that's how they get you
My favorite part is how Mike Johnson kept insisting that he wouldn't stand for being "rushed" as he sat on the bill 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴. Apparently it took that long for him to learn the lesson that McCarthy, Ryan and Boehner could have told him: It is impossible to satisfy people like Marjorie Taylor Idiot.
And Matt "Butt-Head" Goetz. the resemblance is uncanny
Putin has been smart enough to do what previous Russian leaders didn't see in order to gain acceptance, even support, among American "Conservatives". He stopped openly objecting to religion and in 2018 declared that Christianity was instrumental in the founding of "Mother Russia" All that was needed for wingers to decide that he's an "OK" guy, and actually better than evil American liberals who accurately point out that the USA was not founded as as "Christian Nation"
"... what previous SOVIET leaders didn't see...? I don't know if Putin himself is a believer (I've read some biographies that say his mother was extremely devout) or not, but it seems that historically the Orthodox churches have been much more agents of the state (or the state agents of the Church) going back to the Byzantines.
It would think he's much more interested in appealing to RUSSIAN "traditional values" types than those in the United States.
Yeah, he decided that after the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church turned into a bunch of disgusting pro-Putin lapdogs. The Metropolitan or whatever the fuck he is regularly issues simpering pronouncements in favor of the war in Ukraine. Never mind that a great many Ukrainians are also Orthodox Christians. It got so bad that Ukraine stopped officially celebrating Christmas in January, as the ROC does, and went to Dec. 25.
As a former Orthodox Christian, I think the many hours I spent as a child standing through those interminable services gives me some (ahem) standing to say: ROC, you sicken me.
The Russian Orthodox Church seems to not have learned from history. Their dance with Putin is reminiscent of Pius XI and Cardinal Pacelli waltzing with Hitler. After they were no longer useful, Hitler kicked them to the curb
the ROC need to understand that they are useful to pootie they also represent a threat to him, being an organized popular movement … if they cross him they’ll be leading services in the gulag for folks in dire need of redemption …
It's a fairly well established fact that the Russians bailed Trump out of his financial difficulties in the late 1990s Yet, somehow we allowed a man so beholden to the Russians become POTUS and drag most of the GOP along with him. Somehow, a large portion of the American population doesn't see the problem with this.
They hate gays
Putin hates gays
They love Putin
They hate Jews.
Putin hates Jews.
They love Putin.
Doubtless we could go on like this all day.
However ridiculous Cold War paranoia was, at least they managed to have national security as an excuse. The right doesn't even pretend to bother with that anymore. It's all, openly, overtly, about the hatreds.
Are Republicans in Congress so blind that they can't see what Putin is up to, or are they just so mesmerized by Trump that they've lost touch with reality, and are now living in Fat Donnie's fantasy land.
Russia hacked both the DNC and RNC emails but never released the RNC's.
Can you imagine the shit that's in there?
They're not blind to what Putin is up to...they LIKE it.
He's created the kind of ethno-theocrat-kleptocrat state they all aspire to; a place where the Godly Oligarchs get to beat down on the 'vermin' they consider their lessres, and strip mine the country of value, so long as the Boss on top gets to wet his beak.
Why? Because the IMF took over the place in 1992. First thing? Show the world that socialism doesn't work by applying the.... and I am not making it up.... 'Washington Consensus'.
-massive cutback of social security programs and pensions
-no sick leave
-no maternity benefits
-individual work 'contracts'
-drop labour unions in negotiating
-restructuring heavy industries - coal especially - to be profitable
-wiping out in-kind benefits - either payments or services to low-income like reduced energy payments, free transport, home repairs, health vouchers - provided to about a quarter of Russians
Sounds very 'Washingtonian', right?
One thing overlooked that accounts for Putin's political success and popularity was bringing back those social benefits.
In my old Mexico City neighborhood, which had a history of being one for emigres going back to the Spanish Republicans and German Jews back in the 1930s started seeing a lot more Russians just after the imposition of the Washington Consensus... and dropped once Putin got the worst abuses under control (tossing a few oligarchs out of windows seems to have been an inducement to the others to clean up their acts).
I still go back there now and again to eat at the popular Russian restaurant that I remember starting out selling "Empanadas Rusos" with a bunch of very big waiters who all looked like they were the KGB.
'You want window seat Komrade?'
'Can I sit outside on the street?'
'Not good idea either'
Putin seems to be (and I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert, or even all that knowledgeable of Russian history) modeling himself more on the "great" Czars than on the Soviets. From what little I know, Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Catherine, were remembered from bringing the oligarchy of their time (the boyars and nobles) under control... eliminated to make Russia Great (for once?). I suppose getting tossed out a window was less fearsome than Ivan's method of having them torn apart by his dogs.
I don't "like" Putin, but I don't think he's any more irrational or sociopathic than any other strong world leader.
I think he wants to recreate that 19th century Russian Empire.
Rumors are he has health problems, serious ones, which means the time for nuance and subtlety to achieve his goals are coming to an end.
you nailed it, they’re envious (like donald) …
Us software engineers like to point out that if a bug that happens over and over again never gets fixed, it *could* be that some folks consider it a feature.
Puti Yeah, he hates all the same people they do...
Yes.
well. That was something. Was that Stefanik who had the little hissy fit over the flags?
Anna Paulina Luna, apparently.
My second guess was going to be Nancy Mace, but yeah, Luna. So many assholes to keep track of. Way to go, GOP.