The Frankish Reich

It is at a minimum amusing, no? Trump somehow acquired Epstein's old plane, thought nobody would notice ...

I think Tug of War was once an Olympic sport. I'd watch that. A lot more than I'd ever watch break dancing (exception made for that Australian Kangaroo Dance)

All conventions are just for show. The last time we had either party select a candidate at a convention, other than simply ratifying a pre-ordained conclusion? Maybe more than half a century ago (Chicago Dems 1968).

Every single DOD employee, military or civilian, is essential? Serious question: I respect JD Vance's active duty service and Tim Walz's reservist service. From a purely business perspective: did either one's service add net value to the defense of the United States?

1. Stay the course. Allow the Fed's monetary policy to continue to stabilize the money supply and inflation. Trump: change the law to allow the President to have a say on interest rates. In other words, allow me to inject more money into the economy for political purposes, thereby risking yet more inflation. 2. Pass the bipartisan plan, and enforce it. Trump: mass deportations. No indication of how this will be done with new entrants/asylum claimants. 3. Make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again. Trump: leave it up to the states. But I won't even tell you what I'm voting for my state of Florida to do. So leave it to the states as long as those states don't ask Citizen Donald what he wants. Appoint FDA chief who promises to ban Mifepristone, or maybe not, depending on the polls. 4. Continue with the tax/budget plans set forth by Biden. - Legitimate big questions here: would she let the sunset on the Trump tax cuts (including estate tax) happen? Would she keep Trump's tariffs in place? Trump: more tariffs. No tax on tips (but how to define who is a worker who ought to be considered a "tipped" employee?). Unclear how revenue gap would be made up. 5. Continue to support Ukraine/Israel/Taiwan. Urge a cease fire in Gaza. Continue to support a strengthened NATO. Continue to treat Russia as a geopolitical foe. Continue to support global free trade, including protection of maritime trade routes in the Pacific/Indian oceans against Chinese threats. Appropriate enforcement of money transfers that facilitate illegal/terrorist activity, including through use of cryptocurrency. Trump: weaken NATO. Allow Israel to do whatever it wants to do. Try to get China to cry uncle through aggressive use of tariffs.

Right on cue. That critical debate is happening right now. You tell me: Satire? Serious sex-positive feminist opinion? Because I can't tell. https://www.vox.com/culture/366257/pole-dancing-olympics-sport-sex-work-gymnastics-paris

Panic setting in.

Do they? This knee-jerk "the military knows best" thing is completely unsupported by the historical record. It is a huge bureaucracy, and anyone who criticizes the federal bureaucracy in general (and yes, there's a lot to criticize) shouldn't exempt the military.

Ol' Tarheel on quite the rampage this morning. More crappy polling for Trump? Bingo!

Notice the Politico article is, umm, accurate. That's what she promises. We could, of course, read the article, which tells us quite accurately that: Earlier this year, when Biden still led the ticket, Democrats tried to move to the center on the issue — leaning heavily on the failed bipartisan border security effort in the Senate. But it was not obvious that Harris — who adopted much more progressive stances on immigration as a senator and a presidential candidate in 2019 — would follow suit. Notably, Harris joined other 2020 Democratic hopefuls in suggesting that entering the country without authorization should not be a criminal offense. But so much more fun to read only what's pushed to you on your Twitter feed!

Coward? Perhaps. Layer? As in on a couch, in a compromising position? That's the other guy.

Works for me. I cannot believe they allowed this "athlete" to mock the time-honored Olympic tradition of Breaking/Break Dancing, which we have treated with the dignity and respect it warrants since three days ago.

James Lindsay must be a helluva lot of fun at parties. She is in the great tradition of the Jamaican Bobsled Team or Eddie the Eagle Edwards, or that oiled-up shirtless guy from Tonga. They make movies about these oddball "athletes" who see an opening and grab it. It was a lot more fun than watching the serious competitors, none of whom will be remembered.

The military would do well to eliminate a few of these layers for enlisted men and women.

WTF is that??

This is why I posted the video of The Clash playing White Riot. It wasn't a joke. It gets at the truth of the matter. The "I want to feel like I belong to a great movement," that I'm standing up to the man just like the black Notting Hill riots of 1976: White riot - I want a riot White riot - a riot of my own White riot - I want a riot White riot - a riot of my own Black people got a lot a problems But they don't mind throwing a brick White people go to school Where they teach you how to be thick And everybody's doing Just what they're told to And nobody wants To go to jail! All the power's in the hands Of people rich enough to buy it While we walk the street Too chicken to even try it

Maybe take a few days (or even a few hours) away from this place and actually read Orwell. Start with this quite manageable short work: The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius It is a call for a peculiarly English form of socialism, a socialism reached not through revolution but through gradualism of the type advocated for (wait for it) The Fabian Society. If anything, Orwell thought the Fabians a bit timid in their approach; he advocated a faster path toward a socialist society that did not dispense with the possibility of violence. In other words, James Lindsay is an idiot. And people who cut-and-paste his stupid tweets are idiots on stilts.

Yes, that's what the article is getting at.

Of course it would be Trumpist Man Crush James Lindsay to post perhaps the dumbest take on Orwell yet. Maybe we should ask George himself: "The Spanish War and other events in 1936–37, turned the scale. Thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism as I understand it."

Yes, if you are on the Trump/Vance side, that's what you do. Particularly since Vance was actually deployed to a war zone. This is where message discipline is lacking. The more they talk about Eyes Glaze Over stuff like what his final rank was, the more people tune out. That seems to really matter to some career military people, but it means nothing to the rest of us. Just a little unsolicited advice.

Stuck in the Policy Queue right behind his Health Care Plan.

This is why Glenn supports the party that introduces their presidential candidate with this fine person.

Wow, there's a shocker. A political party invites its prior presidents and presidential candidates to speak. Would never happen with that other party, the one that was created in 2016 with the nomination of a former Democrat/Reform Party charlatan. No time for that when a face-tattooed soft porn star gets a prime time slot!

True. I find no excuse for his comments suggesting, or even downright saying, that he was deployed to a war zone. That's a fair criticism. As far as his exact rank: I think that's more like a government official claiming he was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General when he was really the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General. It's so far into the weeds that it is incomprehensible to someone who isn't in that particular business. There's a particularly idiotic title in the civilian federal sector: "Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director." It seems that Walz's explanation is that's basically what he was, performing the duties of "Command Sergeant Major." Whatever. That doesn't strike me as a valid criticism (it's just puffing up one's resume), unlike the "I was in Iraq/Afghanistan."

Yes, for the third time by your accounting.