Novelist and short-story writer; Alaskan Brit who still says "Blimey!" and drinks tea though left Blighty over 30 years ago. Currently having a very hard time with Trump 2.0--my 2023 novel Turnback Ridge was supposed to be speculative fiction!
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It wasn't "first come, first served. The player was clearly handing it to the boy, and this man snatched it away. He's now apologised, but honestly, what sort of person does something like this? A bully. He's rich, and perhaps that made him think he had a right to grab what he wanted--from a child.
Less awful salary than I'd have otherwise (I work at a state university in a Republican-dominated state).
Speaking on Novara Media, Scottish historian William Dalrymple explained that the name Palestine is rooted deep in history Source: Middle East Eye
Trump's tariffs are blatantly illegal, but the court is delaying implementation of its order to lift them so he can appeal to the supreme court. Why? If the tariffs are illegal, stop them, for crying out loud!
It was clear Trump was lying when he said he knew nothing about the investigations into Adam Schiff, Letitia James and Lisa Cook. Now reporting confirms it: he's in daily contact with Ed Martin, the "special attorney" leading the charge.
Trump is a weenie dictator who can't commit: "Authoritarians usually say 'I'm in charge, I speak for the nation. I'm the mighty and powerful Oz.' You know, the wizard doesn't come out and say, 'Some people say that I am a powerful wizard.'" @radiofreetom.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social
With vaccine skeptic RFK Jr. leading HHS, COVID vaccines are now expected to be more costly and difficult to obtain for tens of millions of Americans.
Wait, he's serious? Also, who wears a beige tie?
Word is, Trump is going down and Vance is working hard to take over. With Vance would things be even worse? Or just a different kind of awful?
Throwing shade! Sounds like JD is starting to get restless as VP.
"I reject your reality and substitute my own"--Adam Savage
Ernst telling her constituents that healthcare didn't matter as everyone dies, then her "apology" video, showed the people she represents exactly how much she cares about them.
The VP is allegedly “moving fast” behind the scenes to seize power as an aging Trump continues to brush off rumors that his health is slipping.
"The mainstream press is still in self-flagellation mode over how they purportedly 'ignored' Biden’s decline. (In reality, they never stopped talking about.) But this soul-searching is apparently only backward looking and exclusive to Democratic presidents." — @playtyperguy.com
Homeowner shoots, kills 2 men in ski masks, bulletproof vests claiming to be police, HPD says
in Britain, things are getting hairy. Palestine Action has been labelled a terrorist organisation, and anyone supporting them--even by sharing a Facebook post--now risks being snatched from their home and arrested. Don't the police have actual criminals to go after?
Every episode has been fascinating. And you are such a cool proud dad, letting Sam shine. He's amazing! You both are!
Scammers scamming scammers.
Wooohooooo!!!!! Congratulations!
Right, Huntingdon Park--I saw your post!
The problem with ICE officers and those working with them refusing to show badges or other ID is that fake officers look no different from them. Imagine that--armed people who you might be frightened to resist, and who are not officers.
Oh, I think that ship has long sailed for Trump. Putting kids in cages, snatching away aid from foreign countries and putting people in danger of starvation, enriching himself--seems more like he's going down, not up.
He talked to Putin for 40 minutes. Jeez.
This is how nuts things have become in Britain: it is illegal to protest for Palestine Action, as it has been deemed a terrorist organisation. This bloke wore a Plasticine Action T-shirt to a protest--and still got arrested. In the end the cops had to "un-arrest" him. But still--can't they read?????
An executive order coming to end mail-in voting (not even sure that's legal)? Because Putin told him to???? Jeez.
According to CNN, Trump paused the summit with the leaders of Ukraine and other European countries today to take a call from Putin.
So much for free speech.
It's the twenty-first century, and medical doctors' training is still based on the male body as the norm. Women's bodies are therefore somehow oddities, and when women are sick, doctors are more likely to dismiss symptoms of serious disease than they are for men. As in this egregious case.
Oh my God
No punishment for his criminality, a huge payday, pimping out the White House on our dime--Trump's having a blast while the regular people of this country suffer.
Small paperwork mistakes shouldn't land you and your child in a detention facility for weeks. Not only is it senseless and cruel, it's expensive (how much money is being spent on needlessly imprisoning immigrants?). It does bump up ICE detainment numbers, which I suppose is the point behind it.
Trump is protecting us from delivery workers? This is fascism.
This is what a police state looks like—with masked secret police serving a political agenda not legitimate law enforcement needs.
These dipshits left schedules and protocol details on a printer in Alaska. Nothing earthshaking - menu for a lunch that didn't happen, seating chart for the bilat, revelation that Trump gave Putin a present - but it's yet another embarrassing opsec fail for a guy who ran on protecting secret info.
As a friend of mine pointed out, most of the Trumpies simply wave merch with his name or image on it. No policies, no ideas, nothing except homage to the leader of their cult.
Any pretence that these goons' job is to remove criminals is blown out of the water by this sort of behaviour--they're Trump's henchmen sicced on anyone who challenges him.
Wow, the hypocrisy is staggering.
Great newsletter today. It is appalling the US isn't part of the International Criminal Court. For too long the US has seen itself as exceptional. I'm from Europe. The rest of the world doesn't think the US is exceptional, except in how it accords itself rights & privileges other countries don't.
Holy crap. These racists are utterly shameless.
Right. Like Churchill at some meetings during WWII.
On what basis? Because women aren't people? Well, that fits in with a lot of the other thinking from these nuts. Perhaps we should consider whether those who trample on the rights of others deserve to vote . . . .
"Sex offenders are not eligible to serve their sentences in minimum security prisons, but [Maxwell's] file shows that someone waived that status to permit her transfer. [ . . . and] permit her 'to leave the minimum security campus for work assignments'" --Heather Cox Richardson:
Wow, damning with deserved weak praise.
This administration, jeez--caught off-guard that it's tourist season up here in Alaska, and calling around for a venue for You-Know-Who to meet He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Plus, there's the fact that Y-K-W seemed to think he was off to Russia . . .
Wow, she's got such contempt for the question that she barely tried to hide Trump's slips. "Perhaps there are plans in the future"? Wow, a first-grader could do better.
So my family and I had "a very good time" and screw you to everyone else? Lovely.
Must be worried about all his imported "gold" decorations from China going up in price.
How very wonderful to see my flash fiction "Carried Away" in The Phare.
So this is the strategy they came up with in the secret meeting we all know about? Really, this?
It’s going to happen after Infrastructure Week.
Hard to take his "faith" seriously, given that he hasn't taken it seriously. All those affairs, for instance.
They've paved paradise and put up a parking lot . . .
Just as in the US, Britain has its share of nuts who jump at any chance to perform outrage and rile up others. In this case, an ex-MP who mistook rowers raising money for charity for migrants and wanted the Royal Navy called out. One of the rowers is an ex Royal Marine (i.e. ex Royal Navy). Sigh.
Seventeen White House staffers reported holding between $820,036 and $2,250,000 in Big Oil stocks. And the industry keeps getting win after win from the administration. www.citizensforethics.org/reports-inve...
Stuff like this makes me think they need to invoke article 25--the president has little grip on reality.
Trump is broken. He can't think, let alone explain himself in anything other than offensive nonsense. And the Republicans can't stand up to him?
That offensive nonsense should be enough to wheel out article 25.
The name George comes from the Greek for earth (geo) and work (ergon) and means farmer.
Incredible irony www.texastribune.org/2022/09/26/t...
True, money is not unlimited--so why give massive tax cuts to the wealthy?
He's a dolt. He's using this term to do whatever the hell he likes as though he's a king in 18th C France. It didn't end well for the French royals. There's only so far you can push people.
I worked in a theatre bar. The worse times were when the opera was on, and the monied sorts were snotty and demanding to us. The best times were when heavy metal bands played, as their fans were polite, tried to make less work for us and helped clear up--probably, they'd worked service jobs too.
Plus that move is simple-minded. He seems to think that the head of the BLS puts the numbers together all by themselves. I suppose that's the way you think when your entire work experience is running your own (not very big) family real estate business.
Is this dementia kicking in, or has he always been utterly ignorant of even basic mathematics?
He's an idiot. An absolute moron. How can this man be the president when he doesn't even understand basic percentages? No wonder the economy is getting shaky.
That weird little smile on his face as he comes out with absolute whoppers. He must know that he sounds ridiculous, right?
Vile, attention-seeking behaviour. What does he even mean? That he's going to send people (Jewish people? Democrats? Immigrants?) to camps for extermination so unemployment will magically fall to 0% because--what?--he's killed so many people? Employers won't like that--wages would rise!
Ha! On Friday we saw a couple of seagulls dive-bombing a bald eagle! Then a third joined in. The eagle looked very unimpressed.
He's already making moves to rig the next election, getting Texas to jerrymander and produce 5 more house seats. Are we going to have an election that reflects the will of the people of this country?
Oh wow, he answered that question by saying that drug companies will raise prices, but tried to make it sound as though it's OK because everyone will pay more.
Hurray!!!! Despite Dunleavy telling Republicans to stay away from the first days of a special session he called (so any override of his vetoes would fail), in the end *he* failed and the children of Alaska have won. Dunleavy is a disgrace--not least because once worked in education.
Destruction with the help of the US government under Biden and Trump. Utterly shameful.
eeew
Wow. Confirming what Allison Gill (@muellershewrote.com) posted early this afternoon at bsky.app/profile/muel...
An ICE detainee who is a double amputee objected to being put in a flooded cell--so he was put in solitary. The cruelty is the point.
No child molester left behind.
"He stole her"? That young woman didn't belong to Trump, and she certainly didn't belong to Epstein, but that isn't the way Trump thinks about her. That's deeply disturbing. In the end, Virginia Giuffre took her own life. Does he have no words for her, or her family and friends?
To go to a country and insult its officials is beyond crass.
Before the Trump era, I'd never worried about my future in the US as an immigrant. Now I can't see staying here longer than I have to, despite being a naturalized citizen.
I made the same move. Although I liked my doctor at TVC, it seemed I was getting minimal attention, and poor care as a result--so much pressure on providers to see us quickly! And TVC bills aggressively, and sometimes erroneously. They were a nightmare to deal with.
Woot woot! So well deserved!
Rick just nails it here. And his book on Trump’s cheating at golf is a fabulous and hilarious—but also bracing—read. In fact it’s one of the best books about Trump out there. a.co/d/3f83a3F
Do you think SCOTUS will take up Maxwell's case, despite the term being over? If they do (wouldn't that be outrageous?), any ideas about what they'd do with this case?
A school superintendent was detained by CBP. Wilmer Chavarria, a naturalized citizen, was held 4-5 hours and "interrogated by numerous people in plain clothes, some of whom never displayed badges or identification" and "told he had no constitutional rights as a citizen at a port of entry." Awful.
This is what happens when the federal officers involved in arresting protestors lie, and prosecutors realise that the "evidence" doesn't support charges. But it's not just that--there is incompetence and maliciousness on a grand scale among both the federal officers and the Dept of Justice.
NEW -- Donald Trump is on his way to Scotland to promote a new course at one of his golf resorts. American taxpayers are footing the $9.7 million -- at least -- travel and security bill so that he can make more money at his family business. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
What a dangerous mixture: immigration agents who have quotas to fill, have been promised bonuses, and feel that they have free rein to use violence and lie.
In other news, this guy--remember him?--started a seven-year sentence for fraud today. Just in case we thought justice in the US was over and done with . . .
Due diligence? Jeez, it's not like it's their job.
If there is any doubt about the lunacy and dishonesty of the MAGA Republicans, watch this footage of sub comte chair Rep Clay Higgins trying to prevent a vote, then lying about the results until a roll call. What was this about? Issuing a subpoena to the DOJ to release Epstein-related files.
The United Nations’ highest court issued a legal opinion stating that nations are obligated to take action against climate change, warning that neglecting this responsibility could breach international law.
Well, someone's got to let him know what he's signing . . . 😀
How does she not burst into flames, lying so very hard?
He looks old and tired, and what he's saying is old and tired.
Makes sense--an administration that has no respect for education, science or culture can't see the value of UNESCO.
There are some glaring typos that Jerome Powell would surely not have missed. Mike Lee is credulous beyond belief, and an awful person with it.
The Republicans aren't even trying to make sense.
Goodness, Nancy, can you not recognise a huge political opportunity when you see one? It does seem important to know which men abused and raped young women and hold them to account. So far, only one person has gone to prison: a woman.