Today's News: Trump makes cowards of them all.

The more I see of the Congressional Republicans, the more they remind me of The Sopranos.

And anyone who doesn't fall into line gets sent to the Gulag.

The cowardice is appalling.

George Carlin put it best in 1988: "These are the people who are against street crime. They want to put street criminals in jail to make life safer for the business criminals!" https://t.co/OibIWkwofR

— Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) May 15, 2024

Why isn't all of America pointing and laughing at these guys?

Another authoritarian marker- identical dress. I remember when Ba'th Party officials used to groom their mustaches so they would match Saddam's.@RadioFreeTom @ruthbenghiat @Timodc https://t.co/4GtSd6gYnR

— Bryan Fichter (@BFichter) May 14, 2024

People are losing respect for our system of justice because a Speaker of the House stands outside a courthouse to falsely denigrate it.

If you have no respect for the rule of law, Mr. Speaker,

At least have some self-respect. https://t.co/GOqjZ8Bj8w

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 14, 2024

Because the speaker of the house serves at the pleasure of Donald Trump criminal defendant https://t.co/hRBrzGrkYg

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) May 14, 2024

This is the guy they're supporting:

They were literally yelling “hang Mike Pence”. Trump is reported to have said, “Well, maybe he should be hung.”
His apologists will say that never would have happened, but if they’d found him, it very well may have. He was happy to let others do his dirty work, as always.

— CoPag (@CDub1974NC) May 14, 2024

And by the way, the New York Times also owes America an apology for acting as Trump's steno:

NYT gonna run 6 dozen articles on Biden's age to try and cover for the fact that Cohen directly described Maggie Haberman as a stenographer for Trump https://t.co/2ayuqSiAXm

— James Drippens (@ShamebyJames) May 14, 2024

More writings about the Israel-Hamas War: Biden's dream, IDF goals, casualty statistics, Israel divestment

I have seen several recent useful posts and comments about the Israel-Hamas War so I wanted to share them.

First, an interesting analysis from Dan Rather about Biden's Big Dream For The Middle East:

...why did Hamas attack [on Oct 7] seemingly out of the blue after years of, if not peace, then detente, in the Middle East? Perhaps because of a “grand diplomatic bargain” or “mega-deal” being negotiated among the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel — a deal that would include normalization of relations between Tel Aviv and Riyadh. Yes, the Biden administration had been quietly working on this deal for months, and Iran-backed Hamas reportedly wanted to blow it up. The ambitious agreement has far-reaching and game-changing implications.

... “Five leaders in the Arab community were prepared to help rebuild Gaza, prepared to help transition to a two-state solution,” Biden told CNN.

If Biden can hammer out an agreement with Saudi Arabia and Israel, it could be a diplomatic masterstroke that has many upsides: forging a pathway for Israel and the Palestinians to live as neighbors, improving Arab-Jewish relations in the region, reducing Iran’s power, perhaps appeasing voters at home, and finally bringing peace. The president is dreaming big. And in the Middle East, dreams die hard. Will this dream have a different ending?

Happy Mother's Day and other comedy bits

I liked this New Yorker cartoon -- says it all. 

I also saw this thread on X and yes, I could appreciate this sentiment:

Anyone who has ever worked in food service knows Mother’s Day brunch is the worst shift of the year. People are such assholes about everything which is so funny because - my guy, your mom can wait 10 more minutes, she’s used to disappointment - she had you.

— sheologian (@sheologian) May 11, 2024

Another constituency heard from:

The Monday after Mother’s Day used to be the busiest day at Family Court for temporary protective orders ..glad I’m retired.

— 🌻Debra Montanaro🌻 (@montanaro_debra) May 11, 2024

Today's news: the stupid, it burns!

What a crazy week it has been -- we've all been sick with what I am calling the Black Death Cold, plus a family member fell and now has a broken pelvis. I'm afraid to leave the house.

You spend your 40s thinking "hey, maybe aging isn't so bad, I'm enjoying my kids & my family, I'm still pretty fit & limber, I've got this" & then you hit 50 & your kids leave & your body falls apart & any illusion of control is crushed into dust.

How's your day going?

— David Roberts (@drvolts) April 18, 2024

It's been a crazy week politically too -- just when everyone was starting to pile on Pierre Poilievre for that meandering babbling stop at a Freedumb Convoy camp, he started to talk about how "his laws" were going to be passed with the Notwithstanding clause -- which means that he plans to chop our Supreme Court off at the knees before they find all "his laws" unconstitutional. 

So what horrors is he planning to inflict on Canada anyway?

Poilievre promises if elected, climate change will be the least of our worrieshttps://t.co/pY9T7CJzES

— The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton) April 27, 2024