Let's just go back to the good old days, before Sinclair's The Jungle, when food producers were left to regulate themselves. I think that's what Americans want, while they are blasting off of their toilets, because they keep voting for cuts to the government, to taxes, and for deregulation. It shows how well we've had it, that we just assume we can decimate the infrastructure that makes our lives work and everything will still proceed just fine.
I feel so badly for Canada. They have been a great neighbor. They have supported us and fought by our side. They cause us no trouble whatsoever. We've been good friends. Now we have Trump as president, and the US has become a total psychopath slapping outrageous tariffs on them based on totally unsupportable justifications and threatening to annex them as the 51st state. Canada is just good people, and we're behaving like monsters to them, totally unprovoked, because Canadians are not the sort of people who would provoke such behavior. We should be helping them with these fires to whatever extent we can, not antagonizing them. I hate it so much.
As others have pointed out, when the wildfires in California broke, Canadian firefighters raced to the state to help. In return Canadians get Trump tariffs and Moreno madness.
A big part of my early career was training people about why we have the food and drug regulations we do. People do not realize that those regulations are written in blood and death. Lots of people.
We're talking about giving children "milk" derived from cows fed a grain alcohol mash (left overs from producing liquor) which produced something awful. To make it look like milk, the producers would then mix in plaster of paris, eggs, and other fun stuff to get the consistency right. Maybe we should talk about what percentage of your ground protein is not of the animal you are purchasing? This starts with foods, but cascades into drug production too. People really have no idea how bad this can really get and how quickly.
Well stated, Don, as always. We owe much to Canada and the Canadian people for being such good neighbors, and for so long. As many other places on Earth have shown us, it is not something that can or should be taken for granted.
People literally have no idea how dangerous existence is because they have largely been insulated from the various things that kept human populations in check for much of human existence. Disease. Starvation. Violence. Accidents.
When the government does things right, no one notices. Stopping things before they happen gets you little or no credit. It does get you a lot of bitching and complaining from the ignorant and selfish, though.
On the occasions where things go wrong, there is more than enough blame and anger to go around, despite whatever limitations exist. Despite the fact that you cannot foresee everything. Despite the fact that there are some things that you cannot stop (like the weather).
Most of the people in the First World (and a good many in the Second) are protected against a lot of the worst things. They have forgotten a lot about how things actually work outside the bounds of civilization... and they continually complain about the cost of that protection.
Starvation and mass disease and mass death are things you see on a screen, not something you experience in personal life.
So, you elect a bunch of functional idiots and grifters and ideological cranks and ass-kissers who promise to save you those costs... and then shit starts to go south. Slowly at first, too slow for the people at fault to often get the blame they deserve... and then faster.
Civilization is complex and incredibly fragile... and you often do not see it collapsing until it is too late to do anything about it.
Here in Mn., we have some fires in the BWCA. I wonder if Trumpster will put tariff on us? I'm sure he views us as southern Canada; perhaps southwest Ontario or southeast Manitoba.
The Acme Pool Sealing Company didn't do so great with their no-bid contract at the reflecting pool. Not expecting the Acme Parasite Control to do much better.
But it doesn't matter because they got paid once and will get paid again. By the taxpayers. As long as they pay their tributes to Trump that's all that matters. To them.
Au contraire, they will do great, financially, in their no-bid contract with the Felon and his endless pot of federal contracts from which to reward them for finding out that it is a Democrat plot.
Yesterday in this space some of us, including me, took to task our President for his buffoonery in hogging the stage at the World Cup and making the victory celebration too much about himself. It was scorn well earned on his part. But I also would like to offer words of praise to the many people, both paid workers and unpaid volunteers, in so many locations and in so many capacities, and in three nations, who worked well and tirelessly over the course of weeks and months, even years, to ensure that the games went off so smoothly and successfully. It is good, relatively speaking, that we are talking about the boorish behavior of our President instead of security nightmares, disaffected tourists, and (perish the thought) terrorism, and that worldwide the event was seen as a major success. They gave America a good name around the globe when we need it, and it should not go unseen and unspoken.
A tip of the cap to these fine folks who helped to make us proud of the United States and to put our collective best foot forward. I regret not mentioning them yesterday when thanks was in order, especially when our President took attention away from them that they rightfully deserve instead.
Everyone is arguing over the politics of this, but they are missing the actual structural failure.
When you run an institution, cutting things down to the absolute bare minimum isn't "efficiency." It's just making the machine fragile. A system with zero backups looks great on paper when everything is running smoothly, but it breaks completely the second a real-world crisis hits it.
Going from eleven specialized workers down to three isn't a political win. It’s a bad design. The people who made these cuts treated human beings like unnecessary line items, forgetting that those workers were the firewall keeping a minor parasite problem from turning into a nationwide supply chain mess.
When you break the dashboard gauges just to save a dollar, you don't fix the car. You just ensure you won't see the crash coming until it's too late.
I posted this on yesterday's Morning Shots but its worth posting here to give some perspective to the idiotic anger at smoke from Canada:
Just as a practical note, from a forester, the fires burning in Canada have very little to do with poor forest management despite the narrative. That is largely a western US thing (different ecosystems, different management interventions and history). The Canadian boreal forest is huge - over 2 million square miles, that's roughly 1.4 billion acres - much of it roadless and inaccessible, or accessible only with great difficulty, and the vast majority has never been managed in any way. Rather it typically burns every 100-200 years depending on the ecosystem. As climate change makes things hotter and drier, that fire return interval has dropped and will continue to drop. The idea that a nation of 40 million people can or ever has "managed" 1.4 billion acres is crazy. Only about 20% has ever had any kind of management. These are largely natural cycles we're talking about.
It should be noted that roughly 7.2 million acres has burned this year. With a historical return interval of 100-200 years, we should expect approximately 0.5%-1% to burn every year (this is rough and doesn't account for areal extents of different forest types). Well, 0.5%-1% of 1.4 billion acres is roughly 7 million to 14 million acres. The fire season isn't over, and it may end up being worse than average, but this is not crazy bad on a historical scale.
I think as we see an increase in the severity and size of fires (everywhere, not just in Canada), we'll see a vicious cycle of increased fire severity, increased CO2 emissions from fires, and decreased carbon sinks. I thought this site had interesting data:
Sure thing! I don't quite fully know the dynamics of carbon sink efficiency for recently burned acreage that is regrowing vs that of established forests, but it seems to me that there is a tipping point where the source/sink ratio is tilted towards source, and we just see more sources and fewer, less efficient sinks, especially if we see longer dry periods in those areas.
Agreed. From what I understand, huge amounts of carbon are stored in peatlands and soils in boreal systems (and permafrost). As things dry out and tilt hotter, suddenly that's a huge store of carbon that's vulnerable.
Martyn: "Americans need to stop treating as unserious Trump’s insane threats towards our northern neighbor—a faithful ally for a century, whose loyalty the president has decided is worth less than nothing—and Democratic lawmakers need to loudly condemn Trump’s actions."
I understand and appreciate the sentiment behind this, but the American people will do no such thing. The American people are unserious, and the reason why people like Bernie Moreno are in a position to write deranged bills is because enough people like what Moreno does.
Since we're talking about Canada, you should read what they think of us:
Kash Patel is going to Russia to get a special brand of vodka with his name and FBI on the label. Putin will convince him to trade the names of all the Amerian spies and location of everything in Ukraine, and Patel will declare himself brillaint.
I was told that the purpose of the Federal Government is to do things that individuals or states cannot do for themselves. HHS was one of the greatest achievers of that goal.
Trump and his band of greedy, racists, incompetents are increasing their focus on destroying everything America did well before the midterm electiions. They are alrady focused on destroying those too.
There is no reason someone else can’t be marketing this and other products.
Russian Asset #5 Vodka with Kash’s picture, sure.
Trump adult diapers; Hegseth bourbon; MarkWayne auto emergency kits with police tape, a flashlight that shines bright light in both directions; Todd Blanche highliter pens (only available in black); Lutnick book of economics (a pre-school math primer); Rubio Principles of Government (blank notebook)…..
I don't understand how Darline Graham can be just appointed to a position where the previous occupant had 30 some odd years of experience, whereas she has none. Now she is going to run because she "feels" like she can do the job. What are we doing here?! Sigh.
You're looking at this wrong, Jacquelyn. You think the job of a senator is to represent the people of her state by writing or cowriting legislation and either make the lives of her constituents better or protect them from bad legislation. And that's not the case. The job is to rubber stamp what Trump does. The job is to be an unthinking drone. And she's certainly qualified for that.
Darline Graham used to be a social worker of sorts. I wonder if she’s going to run against helping people, because the blind and severely disabled are now all moochers.
I saw her on TV the other day while I was at the gym and she said something along the lines of "God selects us to do great things." I nearly fell off the treadmill laughing my ass off. The hubris and unmitigated gall of these people will never cease to amaze me.
No, Darline, God hasn't chosen you. You were selected to replace your brother because you'd be a reliable vote in a party that's evolved into a cult of personality.
Hey! This is Red (neck) South Crackerlina! She only needs to say trump chose her. We'll see if she crushes her primary opponents, then hope enough magarhoids stay hope that Annie Andrews wins the general. (My autumn dream!)
It is a completely insane way to run a government. But, this is the party that brought us such candidates for Senate as Tommy Tuberville and Hershel Walker. And that one guy for president.
I think this is great she is running. It gets MAGA's hackles up because they were not the biggest Lindsey fans and this is nepotism and overtly blind loyalty that they actually do kind of detest (Trump excluded). Beyond that, it shows clearly that Trump doesn't care about qualifications, only loyalty and more broadly it shows the Republicans feel the same. She is a walking, talking billboard for the type and age of politics that people detest.
Eh, it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened. There are examples going back to the 19th Century of relatives being appointed to a suddenly empty seat.
Not something I’d expect to post, but FWIW lettuce is extremely easy to grow at home and is much better tasting than store bought. You need a 12” deep pot, good soil and about 6 hours of sunlight. There are dozens if not hundreds of varieties (but don’t start with iceberg). Speckled butter head, little gem, butter crunch or a Latvia variety are good. If you choose a loose leaf variety you could have lettuce in 30 days. I have about 10 lettuce plants on my front deck now and eat a salad almost every day without a thought about cyclosporiasis. Will farmsteading and Transition Towns become necessary to survive this Trump administration ??
And when you grow it like that, you don't have to harvest the whole head! We'll pick a few leaves off for a salad and keep coming back for more in future days. Note: We grow indoors, but in pots outside on a deck should allow you to do the same thing.
Also: just a shout out to whoever writes those little mid-newsletter join-the-Bulwark blurbs. I am always surprised at how they manage to stay fresh and appealing day after day.
Can cyclospora get into the brain and cause verbal diarrhea? When Teddy Roosevelt read The Jungle in 1906 although he disliked the socialist political positions of the author he was horrified by the revelations about the conditions prevalent in the food industry. Investigations and food safety legislation followed. Of course republicans may just call this nanny state interference.
Trump's right. The US needs to takeover Canada. That way, the US can have a mature, intelligent, knowledgeable adult sitting in the Oval Office, not a little boy with an inability to focus. Mark Carney for President 2028.
True. But at heart the "man" is an immature, spoiled little brat who really demonstrates no maturity or empathy for others. As evidence by his transgressions that you listed.
"Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, had never served in elected office before she was appointed to serve out her late brother’s term."
Fits perfectly into the Felon's template for underlings: No experience, no demonstrated talent, but willing to start at the top (just like he has). Lindsey is singing in his grave because he adopted his sister so she could eat at the federal food trough, getting his military pension and who knows what other perks.
There have been spouses of elected officials who have served. I would assume they were involved in their spouses careers and perhaps served as advisors to their spouses. They aren't living in a separate space with no idea of what the spouse is dealing with at any given time. Electeds aren't doing rocket science or rocket surgery so an engaged curious and mostly intelligent spouse could easily learn the ropes of an office. I don't know if Lindsey Graham's sister had such an interest in or role in her brother's career. Maybe she does.
One of the common complaints up here in Canada is that Americans seem to find Trump insulting us funny or that they don’t get why we are mad about it. I admit this might just be Canadians being so mad we are looking for any insult but I think it’s a real long term issue for US-Canada relations if no one stands up for us in the US.
A 1/3 of our country might find it funny...the rest of us don't. I am literally and truly sorry for our leader's unhinged and ridiculous behavior. Hopefully...a whole lot of us will be standing up in November for what is right.
On a side note...there are a lot of us who simply couldn't believe that so many of us Americans voted for Trump 2.0. It's sickening and a really bad sign for the future of our country if we can't figure this out.
This last decade plus has really revealed to me who my fellow countrymen are. Trump winning two elections, bookending the absolutely horrific selfishness of the pandemic by his voters, really unmasked many Americans as monstrous people. I was fairly cynical even before Trump came down that cursed escalator, but I doubt I'll ever have any pride in being an American ever again. Nowadays more than anything I feel stained by unrelenting shame for being a part of this country.
I don’t, and many people I know don’t, but this country is being run into the ground by the hardcore 35% who think our former allies are weenies. Frankly, MAGA could use a Shawinigan Handshake.
Let's just go back to the good old days, before Sinclair's The Jungle, when food producers were left to regulate themselves. I think that's what Americans want, while they are blasting off of their toilets, because they keep voting for cuts to the government, to taxes, and for deregulation. It shows how well we've had it, that we just assume we can decimate the infrastructure that makes our lives work and everything will still proceed just fine.
I feel so badly for Canada. They have been a great neighbor. They have supported us and fought by our side. They cause us no trouble whatsoever. We've been good friends. Now we have Trump as president, and the US has become a total psychopath slapping outrageous tariffs on them based on totally unsupportable justifications and threatening to annex them as the 51st state. Canada is just good people, and we're behaving like monsters to them, totally unprovoked, because Canadians are not the sort of people who would provoke such behavior. We should be helping them with these fires to whatever extent we can, not antagonizing them. I hate it so much.
As others have pointed out, when the wildfires in California broke, Canadian firefighters raced to the state to help. In return Canadians get Trump tariffs and Moreno madness.
It's not "madness" from Moreno. It was a calculated decision on his part to curry favor with Trump.
It didn't take long for Trumpster to notice Moreno did it?
For now, Dave. But before long, it'll be like that old Janet Jackson song: What have you done for me lately.
You are correct but I couldn't work that into an alliteration. 😀
It's horrible. We are the absolute worst.
Bernie Moreno is a fool and a tool.
Pass it on.
They won't be doing that again.
A big part of my early career was training people about why we have the food and drug regulations we do. People do not realize that those regulations are written in blood and death. Lots of people.
We're talking about giving children "milk" derived from cows fed a grain alcohol mash (left overs from producing liquor) which produced something awful. To make it look like milk, the producers would then mix in plaster of paris, eggs, and other fun stuff to get the consistency right. Maybe we should talk about what percentage of your ground protein is not of the animal you are purchasing? This starts with foods, but cascades into drug production too. People really have no idea how bad this can really get and how quickly.
Well stated, Don, as always. We owe much to Canada and the Canadian people for being such good neighbors, and for so long. As many other places on Earth have shown us, it is not something that can or should be taken for granted.
People literally have no idea how dangerous existence is because they have largely been insulated from the various things that kept human populations in check for much of human existence. Disease. Starvation. Violence. Accidents.
When the government does things right, no one notices. Stopping things before they happen gets you little or no credit. It does get you a lot of bitching and complaining from the ignorant and selfish, though.
On the occasions where things go wrong, there is more than enough blame and anger to go around, despite whatever limitations exist. Despite the fact that you cannot foresee everything. Despite the fact that there are some things that you cannot stop (like the weather).
Most of the people in the First World (and a good many in the Second) are protected against a lot of the worst things. They have forgotten a lot about how things actually work outside the bounds of civilization... and they continually complain about the cost of that protection.
Starvation and mass disease and mass death are things you see on a screen, not something you experience in personal life.
So, you elect a bunch of functional idiots and grifters and ideological cranks and ass-kissers who promise to save you those costs... and then shit starts to go south. Slowly at first, too slow for the people at fault to often get the blame they deserve... and then faster.
Civilization is complex and incredibly fragile... and you often do not see it collapsing until it is too late to do anything about it.
There is an old poem:
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail
Here in Mn., we have some fires in the BWCA. I wonder if Trumpster will put tariff on us? I'm sure he views us as southern Canada; perhaps southwest Ontario or southeast Manitoba.
It depends on whether he thinks Minnesota is a state or a country.
' he ' idiot in chief calls MN , that damn place
If Trump thinks that Minnesota is part of Canada.
Take him up on it.
I feel the same way about Canada. They have always been good neighbors. And Trump is 💩ing all over them as his way of saying, "Thank you".
I did get a chuckle from Andy Borowitz this morning: https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/canadian-prime-minister-tells-trump
Thanks for sharing. Good stuff.
"like a cartoon character going over a cliff."
The Acme Pool Sealing Company didn't do so great with their no-bid contract at the reflecting pool. Not expecting the Acme Parasite Control to do much better.
But it doesn't matter because they got paid once and will get paid again. By the taxpayers. As long as they pay their tributes to Trump that's all that matters. To them.
Au contraire, they will do great, financially, in their no-bid contract with the Felon and his endless pot of federal contracts from which to reward them for finding out that it is a Democrat plot.
Yesterday in this space some of us, including me, took to task our President for his buffoonery in hogging the stage at the World Cup and making the victory celebration too much about himself. It was scorn well earned on his part. But I also would like to offer words of praise to the many people, both paid workers and unpaid volunteers, in so many locations and in so many capacities, and in three nations, who worked well and tirelessly over the course of weeks and months, even years, to ensure that the games went off so smoothly and successfully. It is good, relatively speaking, that we are talking about the boorish behavior of our President instead of security nightmares, disaffected tourists, and (perish the thought) terrorism, and that worldwide the event was seen as a major success. They gave America a good name around the globe when we need it, and it should not go unseen and unspoken.
A tip of the cap to these fine folks who helped to make us proud of the United States and to put our collective best foot forward. I regret not mentioning them yesterday when thanks was in order, especially when our President took attention away from them that they rightfully deserve instead.
Everyone is arguing over the politics of this, but they are missing the actual structural failure.
When you run an institution, cutting things down to the absolute bare minimum isn't "efficiency." It's just making the machine fragile. A system with zero backups looks great on paper when everything is running smoothly, but it breaks completely the second a real-world crisis hits it.
Going from eleven specialized workers down to three isn't a political win. It’s a bad design. The people who made these cuts treated human beings like unnecessary line items, forgetting that those workers were the firewall keeping a minor parasite problem from turning into a nationwide supply chain mess.
When you break the dashboard gauges just to save a dollar, you don't fix the car. You just ensure you won't see the crash coming until it's too late.
Remember, these guys are led by Trump, whose solutions to the COVID epidemic range from curtailing the tracking of infections to bleach injections.
If we stop testing, our numbers will get better!
I posted this on yesterday's Morning Shots but its worth posting here to give some perspective to the idiotic anger at smoke from Canada:
Just as a practical note, from a forester, the fires burning in Canada have very little to do with poor forest management despite the narrative. That is largely a western US thing (different ecosystems, different management interventions and history). The Canadian boreal forest is huge - over 2 million square miles, that's roughly 1.4 billion acres - much of it roadless and inaccessible, or accessible only with great difficulty, and the vast majority has never been managed in any way. Rather it typically burns every 100-200 years depending on the ecosystem. As climate change makes things hotter and drier, that fire return interval has dropped and will continue to drop. The idea that a nation of 40 million people can or ever has "managed" 1.4 billion acres is crazy. Only about 20% has ever had any kind of management. These are largely natural cycles we're talking about.
It should be noted that roughly 7.2 million acres has burned this year. With a historical return interval of 100-200 years, we should expect approximately 0.5%-1% to burn every year (this is rough and doesn't account for areal extents of different forest types). Well, 0.5%-1% of 1.4 billion acres is roughly 7 million to 14 million acres. The fire season isn't over, and it may end up being worse than average, but this is not crazy bad on a historical scale.
Comments like this one are one reason I love The Bulwark. People here are smart and thoughtful. I just learned something, again.
I think as we see an increase in the severity and size of fires (everywhere, not just in Canada), we'll see a vicious cycle of increased fire severity, increased CO2 emissions from fires, and decreased carbon sinks. I thought this site had interesting data:
https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/en/fire-history
2023 was the most acreage burned (by a significant margin) in the last 30 years.
Viscous as well as vicious, I imagine.
Damn spell check.
Great data series - thanks for the link.
Sure thing! I don't quite fully know the dynamics of carbon sink efficiency for recently burned acreage that is regrowing vs that of established forests, but it seems to me that there is a tipping point where the source/sink ratio is tilted towards source, and we just see more sources and fewer, less efficient sinks, especially if we see longer dry periods in those areas.
Agreed. From what I understand, huge amounts of carbon are stored in peatlands and soils in boreal systems (and permafrost). As things dry out and tilt hotter, suddenly that's a huge store of carbon that's vulnerable.
It will be released, primarily, as a combination of methane and CO2.
Martyn: "Americans need to stop treating as unserious Trump’s insane threats towards our northern neighbor—a faithful ally for a century, whose loyalty the president has decided is worth less than nothing—and Democratic lawmakers need to loudly condemn Trump’s actions."
I understand and appreciate the sentiment behind this, but the American people will do no such thing. The American people are unserious, and the reason why people like Bernie Moreno are in a position to write deranged bills is because enough people like what Moreno does.
Since we're talking about Canada, you should read what they think of us:
https://theplanetdemocracy.substack.com/p/carneys-respect-trumps-rejection
I'll hazard a wild guess; not much.
Kash Patel is going to Russia to get a special brand of vodka with his name and FBI on the label. Putin will convince him to trade the names of all the Amerian spies and location of everything in Ukraine, and Patel will declare himself brillaint.
I was told that the purpose of the Federal Government is to do things that individuals or states cannot do for themselves. HHS was one of the greatest achievers of that goal.
Trump and his band of greedy, racists, incompetents are increasing their focus on destroying everything America did well before the midterm electiions. They are alrady focused on destroying those too.
Some leaked reporting this morning says one of the Vodka labels Patel is contemplating is:
"Russian Asset #5"
Catchy isn't it?
There is no reason someone else can’t be marketing this and other products.
Russian Asset #5 Vodka with Kash’s picture, sure.
Trump adult diapers; Hegseth bourbon; MarkWayne auto emergency kits with police tape, a flashlight that shines bright light in both directions; Todd Blanche highliter pens (only available in black); Lutnick book of economics (a pre-school math primer); Rubio Principles of Government (blank notebook)…..
I don't understand how Darline Graham can be just appointed to a position where the previous occupant had 30 some odd years of experience, whereas she has none. Now she is going to run because she "feels" like she can do the job. What are we doing here?! Sigh.
You're looking at this wrong, Jacquelyn. You think the job of a senator is to represent the people of her state by writing or cowriting legislation and either make the lives of her constituents better or protect them from bad legislation. And that's not the case. The job is to rubber stamp what Trump does. The job is to be an unthinking drone. And she's certainly qualified for that.
And to be a solid "no" when the Senate votes to convict Trump on the articles of impeachment.
Darline Graham used to be a social worker of sorts. I wonder if she’s going to run against helping people, because the blind and severely disabled are now all moochers.
I saw her on TV the other day while I was at the gym and she said something along the lines of "God selects us to do great things." I nearly fell off the treadmill laughing my ass off. The hubris and unmitigated gall of these people will never cease to amaze me.
No, Darline, God hasn't chosen you. You were selected to replace your brother because you'd be a reliable vote in a party that's evolved into a cult of personality.
The Republican party has devolved, not evolved.
Fully agree, Sumi. You're correct.
Hey! This is Red (neck) South Crackerlina! She only needs to say trump chose her. We'll see if she crushes her primary opponents, then hope enough magarhoids stay hope that Annie Andrews wins the general. (My autumn dream!)
Ah yes. Silly me.
:)
I feel like we have truly developed an aristocratic class who thinks government positions are heritable.
Except the aristocracy in this case are a bunch of idiotic, moral degenerates.
Worked for the Bourbons.
The voters insist on it. RFK jr is a sociopath but he’s a Kennedy so who cares. President Kylie Jenner better fix this.
It is a completely insane way to run a government. But, this is the party that brought us such candidates for Senate as Tommy Tuberville and Hershel Walker. And that one guy for president.
I think this is great she is running. It gets MAGA's hackles up because they were not the biggest Lindsey fans and this is nepotism and overtly blind loyalty that they actually do kind of detest (Trump excluded). Beyond that, it shows clearly that Trump doesn't care about qualifications, only loyalty and more broadly it shows the Republicans feel the same. She is a walking, talking billboard for the type and age of politics that people detest.
Revealed preferences. Republicans absolutely love political dynasties and nepotism.
Got to know more about Darlene’s health. It seems to be a family prone to early death.
Eh, it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened. There are examples going back to the 19th Century of relatives being appointed to a suddenly empty seat.
Not something I’d expect to post, but FWIW lettuce is extremely easy to grow at home and is much better tasting than store bought. You need a 12” deep pot, good soil and about 6 hours of sunlight. There are dozens if not hundreds of varieties (but don’t start with iceberg). Speckled butter head, little gem, butter crunch or a Latvia variety are good. If you choose a loose leaf variety you could have lettuce in 30 days. I have about 10 lettuce plants on my front deck now and eat a salad almost every day without a thought about cyclosporiasis. Will farmsteading and Transition Towns become necessary to survive this Trump administration ??
And when you grow it like that, you don't have to harvest the whole head! We'll pick a few leaves off for a salad and keep coming back for more in future days. Note: We grow indoors, but in pots outside on a deck should allow you to do the same thing.
Smoothbrained hacker lads! lol. Welcome back, Andrew.
Also: just a shout out to whoever writes those little mid-newsletter join-the-Bulwark blurbs. I am always surprised at how they manage to stay fresh and appealing day after day.
Usually Ben, to my eternal gratitude.
Re: "Smoothbrained hacker lads! lol."
I still like "20-something computer science dipshits."
Can cyclospora get into the brain and cause verbal diarrhea? When Teddy Roosevelt read The Jungle in 1906 although he disliked the socialist political positions of the author he was horrified by the revelations about the conditions prevalent in the food industry. Investigations and food safety legislation followed. Of course republicans may just call this nanny state interference.
I'm so glad Egger is back. I've said it before/again: He's the Bulwark's sleeper powerhouse.
I wonder if we will ever know how many people were harmed, killed even, by DOGE?
Trump's right. The US needs to takeover Canada. That way, the US can have a mature, intelligent, knowledgeable adult sitting in the Oval Office, not a little boy with an inability to focus. Mark Carney for President 2028.
Little boy? Trump’s a monster. He preyed on children, raped women, stole taxpayer money.
True. But at heart the "man" is an immature, spoiled little brat who really demonstrates no maturity or empathy for others. As evidence by his transgressions that you listed.
"Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, had never served in elected office before she was appointed to serve out her late brother’s term."
Fits perfectly into the Felon's template for underlings: No experience, no demonstrated talent, but willing to start at the top (just like he has). Lindsey is singing in his grave because he adopted his sister so she could eat at the federal food trough, getting his military pension and who knows what other perks.
Talent not required, but maybe she's got a heart?
Given who raised her, I would not take bets.
There have been spouses of elected officials who have served. I would assume they were involved in their spouses careers and perhaps served as advisors to their spouses. They aren't living in a separate space with no idea of what the spouse is dealing with at any given time. Electeds aren't doing rocket science or rocket surgery so an engaged curious and mostly intelligent spouse could easily learn the ropes of an office. I don't know if Lindsey Graham's sister had such an interest in or role in her brother's career. Maybe she does.
choosing a sibling is just as ' off ' as choosing a personal attorney for atty gen.
One of the common complaints up here in Canada is that Americans seem to find Trump insulting us funny or that they don’t get why we are mad about it. I admit this might just be Canadians being so mad we are looking for any insult but I think it’s a real long term issue for US-Canada relations if no one stands up for us in the US.
A 1/3 of our country might find it funny...the rest of us don't. I am literally and truly sorry for our leader's unhinged and ridiculous behavior. Hopefully...a whole lot of us will be standing up in November for what is right.
On a side note...there are a lot of us who simply couldn't believe that so many of us Americans voted for Trump 2.0. It's sickening and a really bad sign for the future of our country if we can't figure this out.
Thanks Jeff, I hope you are right.
I’ll second Jeff’s post. The majority of Americans love our Northern neighbors and find Trumps actions terrible.
This last decade plus has really revealed to me who my fellow countrymen are. Trump winning two elections, bookending the absolutely horrific selfishness of the pandemic by his voters, really unmasked many Americans as monstrous people. I was fairly cynical even before Trump came down that cursed escalator, but I doubt I'll ever have any pride in being an American ever again. Nowadays more than anything I feel stained by unrelenting shame for being a part of this country.
I don’t, and many people I know don’t, but this country is being run into the ground by the hardcore 35% who think our former allies are weenies. Frankly, MAGA could use a Shawinigan Handshake.