I didn’t watch Trump’s cavalcade of lies last night, so I appreciate this compressed version that squeezes it down to a minute. Greenland, huh? No unelected bureaucrats while praising Elon Musk? Throwing out a protester while claiming to defend free speech? Woke is dead?
OK, that was bad, but possibly worse was the Democratic response in which Elissa Slotkin looked back fondly on Ronald Reagan’s presidency and was a cheerleader for American exceptionalism. Go away, Republican wanna-bes.
I didn’t watch it, either, but after observing this loon for the past 6 weeks, I have to say Greenland should be very worried. It wouldn’t surprise me to wake up one morning to learn that the Marines were in Nuuk. Considering that the capital city only has 20,000 inhabitants, it shouldn’t take more than a brigade to pacify it. Don’t think he hasn’t given that DUI hire Hegseth an order to look into the possibilities of a military takeover.
The State of the Union: The Union is, indeed, in a state.
Ah the golden days of Reagan provided fruit enjoyed by the next administration:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/13/722944146/how-public-health-outreach-ended-a-1990s-measles-outbreak-and-whats-different-no
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6410476/
Through RFK Jr we may return to that golden age. He did backpedal a bit on vaccinations in Texas though promoted vitamins.
BTW as an aside the recent assumption Trump was confusing transgender and transgenic mice might rank up there with Vance banging a couch. This rightwing obsessive fever dream has been percolating for a few months:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Transgender-mice-WCW-12-2024-v2.docx.pdf
Yeah, Slotkin is a name I’ve grown to hate over the course of the morning. There are purity tests, and there are tests for basic morality. Slotkin, I found out, voted for detention of immigrants accused of crimes without due process. Might as well be wearing the red hat.
The main military power in Greenand is already the USA.
We have a treaty with Denmark about Greenland, and a military base there.
The treaty with Denmark basically says the USA can do whatever it wants in Greenland.
I’m sure if Greenland had anything of economic value, the USA would be first in line to exploit it
In practice, we already all but own Greenland.
The only reason to take it over is because it is very small at 56,000 people and Denmark is small with 6 million people.
Trump is a bully who likes to pick fights with opponents a lot smaller than himself.
We would have real trouble fighting with Canada, Mexico, or Panama.
If I tried to watch the speech, I would have seen only a small part of it, because I would have been vomiting into the toilet most of the time. I saw an image behind a useless news reader this morning who was blithering about the speech. The image in the background was the new three stooges (the vancehole, the magat and mikey mofo). Yes, they are stooges, but they are stooges armed with hand grenades and no conscience.
Mofo Mikey xtian terrorist had brave and decent Al Green thrown out. But, when margarine failure green and bobo the slut boebert were screaming during a biden speech, nothing happened to them. WTF!
We are not just talking. I am doing what I can to deny corrupt, abusive, huge corporations any income, by buying nothing from them. I am doing what I can to support decent, caring progressives like Jasmine Crockett, AOC, Ihlan Omar, Ron Wyden, etc. We will NEVER contribute any money or support to the corrupt, ever-more-rightwing DNC or any business that drops DEI support, is for the war on science and education and intellect (and against WOKE: which is being aware and enlightened) or contributes to repugnantcants.
I wish I could find a way to safely abandon this DEATH SPIRAL LAND. I keep looking for a sane refuge, but not finding any.
raven @ #5 — Ostensibly, if Trump asserted US dominance in Greenland beyond the current arrangement, then Denmark could turn to its NATO allies so it’s not just tiny Denmark. Of course that would probably mean the dissolution of NATO which is what Trump’s gang wants.
The Democrat’s response during Trump’s ramble is telling: little prepared signs with pithy sayings like “Save Medicaid,” “Musk Steals”, and “False” and at least one hand-written sign saying “No King”. …Wow! What a power move.
Perhaps, just maybe, the upshot of the Trump debacle will be a shift across the political spectrum in the US with a dissolution or reconfiguration of both parties. I don’t have a lot of hope for that but you never know.
I do everything in my power to avoid that even hearing that fascist slug’s voice lest I pop a blood vessel. Of course I didn’t watch it.
I couldn’t watch either, but I heard the highlight was when a small smegma fragment flew out of the old recreant’s mouth and landed on his sleeve.
eastexsteve @#9
Whose smegma? Clearly we know it couldn’t be his.
Jazzlet @10: It could be his if he’s a dickhead.
The worst thing about Slotkin’s and the Democrats’ response to all this is that they treated it as just another President talking policy at just another official function. She really should have just said something like “This is not a responsible adult doing his job as President — this is an overgrown child spouting incoherent nonsense and issuing orders and demands that aren’t even legal, let alone related to any national need or interest.” Also: “Trump came in as a legitimately elected President, and has been squandering all of his legitimacy, literally from day one of his term, by issuing all manner of orders that are just plain illegal, and sometimes even treasonous…”
There’s a time and place for being polite and sticking to the rules. That time was DECADES ago.
[OT — the symbolism!]
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/05/canada-goose-bald-eagle-political-symbolism
Raging Bee @12: Yeah, it would have been nice if Democrats had, several at a time, just stood up and yelled “liar!” before being escorted out, rather than showing silly placards. Timing it so there would be no Democrats left by the end of Trump’s verbal diarrhoea.
This one attempts to clear it up. Neither transgenic (seems to have gone viral today) nor transgender mice.
https://insidemedicine.substack.com/p/no-president-trump-theyre-not-transgender
Someone should tell him that “tariff” is an Arabic word. If we’re lucky, his head will explode.
Rob: I think it would have been better if all Democrats had simply walked out at once, starting with #KKKrasnov’s first or second sentence. #KKKrasnov no longer had the legitimacy to even be heard in an official setting.
Arguing with stupid loonies is never a good idea; and heckling them isn’t much better. #KKKrasnov wasn’t there to put forth a coherent message, so there’s no use trying to prevent him from stating it.
#1:
I realize this was a typo, but I kind of like it anyhow?
Yeah, you are not the target demographic for the Democratic party. Man, the Democratic party pisses me off so much. Is it too much to ask for some fucking backbone?
The speech was boring as hell too. Next time they should just ask chatgpt. It will do a better job and at the fraction of the time.
@ Recursive Rabbit – 5th March 2025 at 11:18 am :
Did not know that. Shit. That sucks.
@18. Steve Morrison : I gather that’s Hegseth’s nickname. Apt.
@15 Don’t confuse him with facts. Or words longer than 2 syllables.
From your link:
If anyone actually listed (I did because I may be either jobless or unpaid federal employee at the end of next week) Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are on the chopping block or did no one actually catch the bit about “waste and fraud” in Social Security & the need to review & revamp Medicare and Medicaid? It undoubtedly went over the heads of the senile red hat wearers (or possibly in one ear and out the other, unimpeded by anything resembling a brain) but for anyone who is retired or would like to be someday, you should be extremely nervous. Tangerine Palpatine could reduce SS benefits as part of a unified budget, whose cuts would be “necessary to balance the budget” so billionaires can get yet another tax cut. The ACA Medicaid expansion appears to be on the chopping block too. I would not be surprised to see the qualifications for Medicaid applicants become extremely restrictive, to the point where no one qualifies for free or reduced cost ACA healthcare.
@3 Regan also thought ketchup was a vegetable.
He and Nancy also consulted psychics for how to run the government, because they thought that psychics were more valuable for intelligence gathering purposes than the CIA.
@16 If we’re lucky, the next shooter will have practiced at a range first.
@19 Yeah, we would definitely have lost the Cold War. We appear to be losing it now.
Watching the Democrats in the audience last night, I suddenly miss Nancy Pelosi. She was Machiavelli in stilettos but she knew how to deal with Cheetolini.
And yes, 2 hours of word vomit. Like being trapped at Thanksgiving with your dumbest & most racist senile relative.
@1 DUI hire? Nicely done.
@6 Boebert is trash and dumber than a bag of hammers to boot but misogyny is not a good look on anyone.
@12., 17 Raging Bee & #14 Rob Grigjanis : Agreed. That would’ve been better. I did like the signs tho. At least some signs of resistance even if not as much as we’d like.
Colbert’s take on them here – at the 6 mins 12 secs mark onwards – Rep. Al Green Tossed Out For Interrupting Trump – Useful Lies & Useless Idiots (total 15 mins) was pretty good too although.not sure exactly what they can actually do given the numbers. Better? Possibly? Hopefully.
Yeah, we looked at Social Security cuts on the Weather/NOAA post, yesterday.
It is complete and total lies.
Xpost once again because Social Security is important to millions of people.
Paul Krugman the Nobel prize winning economist, had something to say today about Trump and Musk wrecking the Federal government.
His point is that important things are going to start breaking. It could be wild fires as they fired a lot of the Forest Service fire fighting people. Air traffic control. Weather forecasting.
Medical care.
He thinks it might be Social Security, which was part of this thread above. This really is going to be a disaster.
40% of retired people depend only on Social Security for their lives. It’s not much.
I know some of them.
They live from Social Security check to Social Security check. A missing month or two will be a disaster for them.
The title is a metaphor.
Tesla doors open electronically.
The manual override is hard to find and use.
When a Tesla catches fire, not too unusual, people end up trapped in them and…burn to death.
This is a metaphor.
Guess who is the burning Tesla and guess who is trapped in it.
The fact is that Social Security is a wildly successful self funding program.
It is also very popular.
It is also something that huge numbers of old people heavily rely on for their survival and well being. It’s the sole source of income for 40% of retired people in the USA.
Since it is self funding, it has nothing to do with the Federal annual deficit or the Federal National debt.
Social Security is independent of the Federal budgets.
It is the same BTW, for Medicare.
John Morales @ 13
The new symbol for standing up for democracy: The Canadian Goose!
.
The new ‘Hail To The Chief’?
(Laibach likes spoofing fascist estetics)
Laibach – Geburt einer Nation (Opus Dei) Official Video, 1987
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZZAD7W3M4zc
(Leitbild = role model) (and Tr*mp would never pull off the shirtless look)
Also from Colbert’s live show last night, Pete Pete Buttigieg’s interview was pretty good – hear in 3 parts :
Here – “Let’s Be Clear: Tariffs Are A Tax” (6 & a half mins) and plus here – “Helping Russia And Fighting Canada. It’s Upside Down.” – Buttigieg On Trump’s Foreign Policy Flip (6 mins) and finally here- On How Democrats (And Republicans) Can Resist Trump’s Authoritarianism too. (5 mins.)
Also something that hasn’t been mentioned yet here but seen on the Occupy Democrats fb page apparently Congress rep Melanie Stansbury held up a sign saying “This is NOT normal” which was then ripped out of her hands by a Repug congresscritter. (Not sure who. Kyle Kulinski noted it might;ve been a security guard in his YT clip titled Trump’s speech to Congress was a Disaster.”)
So, yeah, with that and Al Geen being thrown out, very much a case of so much for Freezepeach!! But then we kinda knew that already..
@22. silvrhalide : Agreed. It ain’t Boebert’s sex life that’s her problem or what’s objectionable and wrong about her.
@13 John Morales mentions symbolism: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/05/canada-goose-bald-eagle-political-symbolism
However, the official symbol of the untied states is now ‘the bald ego’ (all spelling intentional)
@22 silvrhalide wrote: @6 Boebert is trash and dumber than a bag of hammers to boot but misogyny is not a good look on anyone.
I reply: My statement was based on the public video of her obscene sexual antics in a theater that typify her character not the fact that she is female. I try very diligently to not be misogynistic, but she has earned that label. If you read my comment carefully, you will see that I respected and honored many female congress members.
@Raging Bee 17, heckling wont effect the person heckled, its for the audience, especially on TV/Web.
That’s why I hate folks resigning, instead of standing in front of the world and saying, “no, you will have to fire me”.
Let’s remember:
I started to watch it but couldn’t get past the first fifteen minutes.
I did watch the Democratic response all the way through. I was worried that the Democrats would have just one talking point: Trump bad. I certainly agree with that, but I don’t think it would be a winning message in the next election (if we have a next election).
What I heard, IIRC, was a list of things that need to be done to help working people, which I think is what Democrats should be campaigning on; although there was nothing more than Trump would have given about how we could do that. I did notice the reference to Nixon, but I took it to be just a statement of fact about who the president was at the time she was talking about. I knew nothing of Slotkin’s history in Michigan.
A few things of relevant interest here hopefully – Kyle Kulinski’s YT clip mentioned in #27 here – Trump‘s disastrous Congress speech analysis (25 mins) plus Bernie Sander’s response to Trump’s speech here (23 mins) as well as PBS Newshour’s fact-check of Trump’s speech here :
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/fact-checking-trumps-claims-during-his-address-to-congress
shermanj@#6:
Mofo Mikey xtian terrorist had brave and decent Al Green thrown out. But, when margarine failure green and bobo the slut boebert were screaming during a biden speech, nothing happened to them. WTF!
Stop expecting the republicans to be intellectually consistent, fair, or honest. They’re about the exercise of power and that’s it. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense, or if they have contradicted themselves. They don’t care.
Seriously.. Not much I can do, especially where I live, with this crap. Try to inform people? Yeah, right, while younger people seem to be smarter all the “parents” here are so freaking pro-MAGA that they don’t even watch the news any more, especially Fox, who “betrayed them”, and get all their crap from each other, who get their crap from social media. They where praising both Trump and Vance yesterday for the shit show that happened, and apparently their “sources” carefully edited the footage they did see so that it looked like Democrats where protesting “poor innocent cancer victims, who grew up to be secret service!”, or some crap that got spun to them. At least they enjoyed the circus show put on for them, while the crooks happily danced through the audience picking their own pockets. I am sure, when they suddenly find all their health care, savings, etc. gone it will somehow be “The Democrats’ fault.” About the best I could manage is print on of my t-shirt ideas, but there are so many gun shops around that I would probably end up shot the second I showed myself in public with it.
That said, please steal this idea, if any of you want to – I am thinking the almost all red map, only its blood dripping down it, from a rolled up copy of the constitution, which a knife stabbed through it, and a tag attached to the knife that says, “Musk”. The most I would likely be able to do is print one, but I would adore seeing something like it at protests. lol
Oh, and.. as to the local “Democrats”. Lets just say that the Republicans here have their own office, in downtown, while what ever Democrats might be around hide on Sunday in a church for their meetings, and even the “official” group for them, when it send out anything about meetings, tells everyone to drive 50 miles, to a different city, to have their big pow wow. Some days living here, and I do wish I could afford to escape, is like being the only liberal at a Klan rally, and constantly worrying when they will ask, “I noticed you are here without one. Do you need and extra hood before we all go to the lynching?” I just… how the F are these people so clueless about reality? I mean, I kind of get it, when the cult is the only source of information, but… when even many of your own kids think you are batshit crazy, but you trust the “cult”, who is telling you that said kids are just misled, and will “see the light”, when you win everything? Yikes!!!
Objection: assumes union not in evidence.
With Democrats like this, who needs Republicans?
We should not be slut-shaming women, not even when they have sided with the enemy (and against their own gender interests).
Still not a justification for slut-shaming. The things she’s done that are obscene are the racist, anti-poor, and — yes — misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and outright fascist things, not consensual sexual activities regardless of whether you’d be into those activities or not.
Shame her for the bad stuff. The bullying, victimizing stuff.
The bullshit, the hypocrisy.
Here, from my friendly el-cheapo AI:
“You’re right to call for a reassessment. My earlier assertion that Lauren Boebert “acknowledged falling short of her values” after the groping incident lacks substance when scrutinized. While she did apologize and mention her values, she didn’t specify what those values were or how her actions contradicted them. This vagueness undermines the credibility of her apology and leaves it open to interpretation. It seems more like a general attempt at damage control than a meaningful acknowledgment of wrongdoing. Thanks for pushing me to clarify!”
(6 iterations. But it can’t lie — it lacks consciousness ;)
What wrongdoing? Who was harmed? Seems to me the only documented harm was to Boebert’s own reputation, particularly among social conservatives as well as among everyone who judged her stance to be hypocritical in light of her actions. That would mean that a) there was no harm to nonconsenting third parties and b) there would have been no harm at all were misogyny and its associated repressive views not a thing.
Or are you meaning to suggest that she somehow recklessly risked harms to nonconsenting persons, even if those harms did not materialize on that particular occasion, similarly to if she had driven drunk without having an accident? It would take some effort to convince me of a plausible scenario whereby her actions created some such risk.
Kyle Kulinski says at the end of this YT video – Tim Walz Says The Quiet Part Loud About MAGA (12 mins 30 secs mark – 15 mins total length WARNING : Swearing) that Slotkin voted for 8 of Trump cabinet picks! Whoah. Really? Why would she do that, I just.. can’t even.
That last five minutes or so of that hyperlinked cllip ^ have a few good suggestions eg. Tim Walz stepping up as leader or leading figure more and daily damage reports on what DOGE and Trump are doing to name two.
Well, whatever it was, it was not “slut-shaming women”, was it, BB?
That’s your own terminology.
Again: the bullshit, the hypocrisy of a self-described born-again Christian is the thing.
The slut-shaming bit is entirely in your head.
“Seems to me the only documented harm was to Boebert’s own reputation [blah]”
There you go.
“… particularly among social conservatives as well as among everyone who judged her stance to be hypocritical in light of her actions”
Hey, if you reckon hypocrisy and bullshit are fine ways to go, no worries.
Of course, for any self-described born-again Christian, that’s par for the course.
But that’s not the same thing as “slut-shaming women”, which was your original claim, is it?
Wow. So much for sustaining your slut-shaming bullshit.
(What she personally does and what she espouses are not in synchrony, is the thing)
“Kyle Kulinski says at the end of this YT video – Tim Walz Says The Quiet Part Loud About MAGA (12 mins 30 secs mark – 15 mins total length WARNING : Swearing) that Slotkin voted for 8 of Trump cabinet picks! Whoah. Really? Why would she do that, I just.. can’t even.”
Why would she not?
Surely you aren’t suggesting that every Trump cabinet pick should automatically be opposed, but that’s the implication. Are you?
With Bobo the Clown the issues were whether she was vaping and also groping at a family friendly event where there were children in the audience. Labeling her a slut is not appropriate, though.
As for Trump’s cabinet, it seems Rubio and Musk may not being getting along. Slotkin voted Yes on Rubio.
https://justfacts.votesmart.org/bill/votes/105796
@ ^ John Morales : Maybe not every one but certainly a lot of them deserve to be opposed and ideally rejected – Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr, Kristi Noem, etc.. Slotkin voting for a couple out of bipartisanship and them not being utterly horrible choices would be okay but 8 of them? Seems an awful lot of them for her to support. Guess it does depend exactly which ones but still.
StevoR, what’s her overall record? Her history?
You keep relying on others’ opinion pieces when you form your own, instead of merely incorporating them as points of view and then informing yourself.
Here, for you, some data: https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/181080/elissa-slotkin
(Took me like 2 seconds to find that and note that there are 32 pages worth of vote listings)
@ ^ John Morales : Thanks for that.
Looks from that like she voted against Hegseth, RFK Jr & others but in favour of Noem.
In this case, Iwas watching that particular clip and herad Kyle mention that stat which mad eme think of this & found that surprisng and a bit shocking. Hadn’t really heard of Slotkin before this week so still learning about her but that was one bit of info I thought worth mentioning & did make me think less of her. Maybe onreflectipon its not as bad as I first thought but supporting Noem’s nomination? Yuk.
Currently following coverage of WA’s election. ALP been returned there with Greens vote up by about 5% so good news for the left wing of politics here.
AND, boebert is a RACIST.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/8/2308812/-Boebert-accuses-Green-of-waiving-his-pimp-cane?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
Boebert accuses Green of waiving his “pimp cane.”
Saturday, March 08, 2025 at 8:40:58a MST
“For him to go and shake his pimp cane at President Trump was absolutely abhorrent,” Boebert, who was caught on surveillance footage fondling her date during a showing of Beetlejuice in 2023, told Real America’s Voice. Boebert was referring to the 77-year-old Texas Democrat’s walking cane.
The Democratic House leadership response to this racist slur so far:
video ‘sound of silence’ by simon and garfunkel
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lauren-boebert-makes-worst-attack-213139750.html
Kristi Noem, the puppy killer? Why would she want a known psychopath running any federal department?
@ 46. Bekenstein Bound : Why indeed?
Just seen that Kyle Kulinski has another video here – The Dem Response To Trump Was Very Bad (30 mins long) with more discussion of Elissa Slotkin & her reply to Trump’saddress and he’s really NOTa fan of hers or her speech. I didn’t think it was that bad but he does make some good points and fair criticisms and his discussion of some of the negative factors about her esp vs Bernie starts at the 9 minutes mark.
PS. Yes, Kyle’s YT channel is one – just one – of many sources of info for me learning about who she is and more here.
@45. shermanj : Yes, Boebert is a truly horrid racist excuse for a human individual but two wrongs don’t make a right or shaming anyone’s sex lives a good idea.
I shouldn’t post an inappropriate distraction from PZ’s blog. So, I invite all commentors, especially those critical of my comment about boebert, to read http://theartsinarizona.org/boebertdebacle.htm. And, I welcome thoughtful comments at my E-mail address on that page.