Aug 1, 2017
Today's GIF
There's always a dark and sinister side to populism, but as long as we have people who can stand off and make fun of it all, we'll have the best of checks-n-balances.
And when it comes to the issues of Net Neutrality, that's kinda the whole fuckin' point. Fight for it.
Because "Checks and Balances" is a metaphor, not a mechanism. It doesn't work if we don't work it.
Today's Tweet
Almost exactly 9 hours apart. pic.twitter.com/O2MyQSSvwA— Conrad Close (@conradclose) July 31, 2017
Jul 31, 2017
Res Ipsa Loquitor
"The occurrence of an accident implies neglect"
When something shitty happens - terrorists or a hurricane or whatever - remember that Cult45 has been awfully slow about getting people in place who oughta be working hard so we'll be ready for the shit when the shit happens.
It's not at all certain that we're being set up to accept Daddy State rule, but how do we dismiss the probability given our current "leadership"?
hat tip = Foreign Policy (pay wall)
Today's Deep Thoughts
Facts:
- Liberals love them because they make you smarter.
- Conservatives hate them because they make you liberal.
Today's Tweet
BREAKING: Scaramucci deserts wife & new born baby for the love of another man- @realDonaldTrump Don't tell @MikePenceVP pic.twitter.com/PDkGsOY5PS— RichardNixonZombie (@RNixonZombie) July 30, 2017
Jul 30, 2017
Today's Mind Fuck
New Scientist - Joshua Sokol
Please welcome to the stage a master illusionist. An energy beam that stabs out of galaxy M87 like a toothpick in a cocktail olive is pulling off the ultimate magic trick: seeming to move faster than the speed of light.
Almost five times faster, in fact, as measured by the Hubble Space Telescope. This feat was first observed in 1995 in galaxy M87, and has been seen in many other galaxies since. It might have you questioning your entire reality. Nothing can break the cosmic speed limit, right? You can’t just flaunt the laws of physics… can you?
If you want to just enjoy the illusion from your seat in the audience, stop reading. Otherwise, I welcome you backstage for a look at how the trick works – and how it’s helping astronomers to understand the fate of entire galaxies.
If you want to just enjoy the illusion from your seat in the audience, stop reading. Otherwise, I welcome you backstage for a look at how the trick works – and how it’s helping astronomers to understand the fate of entire galaxies.
Blobs faster than light?
We’ve known about the jet of plasma shooting from the core of M87 since 1918, when astronomer Heber Curtis saw a ray of light connected to the galaxy. To be visible from so far away, it had to be huge – about 6000 light years long.
As modern astronomers now know, pretty much all galaxies have a central black hole that periodically draws in stars and gas clouds. When gas begins to swirl down the drain, it heats up and magnetic fields focus some of it into jets of hot plasma. These jets shoot out at velocities near to – but not faster than – the speed of light.
The GOP Steps Up?
Hard to imagine lately, but Repubs may be getting their chops back in shape, just in time to put 45* in the dumpster as another failed experiment of political evolution.
WaPo Editorial Board:
President Trump’s rise tests the American system because he was elected on the strength of radical protest against it — the claim that it’s all “rigged” — and because his party dominated Congress as well as the White House. The erratic disrupter-in-chief came to power with a political escort of enablers. And so any hope that checks and balances would work to constrain Mr. Trump’s worst impulses hinged, in part, on the willingness of Republicans in Congress to act in defense of values higher than short-term political advantage, or at least to interpret their short-term political interest as requiring them to counter Mr. Trump.
What GOP lawmakers’ first serious steps toward checking and balancing Mr. Trump showed this week, however, is that there is a middle ground, which members of his own party are no longer afraid to explore.
All together now - well it's about fuckin' time, you guys.
WaPo Editorial Board:
President Trump’s rise tests the American system because he was elected on the strength of radical protest against it — the claim that it’s all “rigged” — and because his party dominated Congress as well as the White House. The erratic disrupter-in-chief came to power with a political escort of enablers. And so any hope that checks and balances would work to constrain Mr. Trump’s worst impulses hinged, in part, on the willingness of Republicans in Congress to act in defense of values higher than short-term political advantage, or at least to interpret their short-term political interest as requiring them to counter Mr. Trump.
-and-
What GOP lawmakers’ first serious steps toward checking and balancing Mr. Trump showed this week, however, is that there is a middle ground, which members of his own party are no longer afraid to explore.
All together now - well it's about fuckin' time, you guys.
Today's Tweet
That one might leave a mark.
"No Mr @POTUS, you cannot have the Mango!" - Anthony Scara-Mango pic.twitter.com/oWeeurOdKH— Pin Head (@PiercedSkull) July 24, 2017
Jul 29, 2017
Let's Review
Trump: Grab em by the pussy.
Scaramucci: Steve Bannon sucks his own cock.
Bannon: Paul Ryan is a limp dick.
But we should stay good and pissed off at Hillary for calling these assholes Deplorables.
Today's Bonus Tweet
I get it - imminent demise tends to focus the mind. So it's like McCain suddenly noticed he'd been lost and wandering for a while, and he really really really needed a shot at redemption.
And what're "them gals" so very good at, John? Yeah - forgiving; and being gracious and good-natured; or whatever it is that moves them so often to put the needs of others before their own.
Murkowski and Collins did the same job as McCain, facing twice the hostility for half the credit— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) July 28, 2017
And while I don't presume to speak for anyone but myself - and fake lord knows Collins and Murkowski don't need my help - here's a great big You're Welcome. Asshole
When Will It Be Enough?
Another OpEd in another major paper, pointing out just how craven political power can make some folks.
Jennifer Rubin, WaPo, 7-28-17:
What about Trump, exactly, reflects their values? (Taking Medicaid away from millions and separating families to deport law-abiding immigrants?) The Trump administration is a clown show — but it’s the evangelicals who supplied the tent, the red noses and the floppy shoes. Each day presents a new insult to the office of the presidency and a repudiation of civilized behavior.
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