"This is the Voice of Moderation. I wouldn't go so far as to say we've actually SEIZED the radio station . . . "
by liberal japonicus I found this Graniaud piece by Sydney Blumenthal very interesting. As a senior advisor to Bill Clinton, he is familiar to the rhythms of how a presidential staff operates, but the paper is more a forensic examination of the Vanity Fair piece on Susan Wiles. Here are the final two paragraphs Wiles … Read more
by liberal japonicus Part 1 and Part 2. Unfortunately, part 2 is behind a paywall, so if anyone has a gift link, send it on. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, … Read more
by liberal japonicus Earlier, I wrote about Alex Karp here. This NYT Daily talks with a reporter who has interviewed Karp multiple times over the past decade. In the thread about Truss going for the MAGA gravy train, we were talking about her Oxford degree qualification and hearing the reporter talk about Karp and his … Read more
by liberal japonicus It’s a small drop in the ocean of crap, but the deranged post about Rob Reiner’s death on Trump’s account on Truth Social has me wonder. This Axios piece will get you up to speed if you were blissfully unaware of this. I would observe that seeing pieces like this makes me … Read more
by liberal japonicus The New Statesman podcast listens so we don’t have to!
by liberal japonicus Chaplin once said “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” So watching UK politics is a bit like that for me. Which is an introduction to this New Statesman podcast about the Your Party conference. Here it is I do want to be careful, we’ve seen … Read more
by liberal japonicus Tossing this interview with Zack Polanski, leader of the Greens, on the rest of politics, there’s lots of things to talk about, but for me, I was spent most of the time wondering about the word ‘uncomfortability’. (at 11:11) It is apparently a neologism that is being used more and more.
by liberal japonicus Rachel Reeves, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, just delivered her budget to parliament and the leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch gave her reply and I’ve cued it up (I think) below. If you don’t want to wade thru the whole thing, at least check out from 1:57. Some other background, … Read more
by liberal japonicus An open thread was requested to talk about the Witkoff deal. Some prescient comment from March on Witkoff, the man called ‘the dumbest of Trump’s advisors’ by one of Woodward’s background sources. Witkoff is also good at giving away negotiating positions, when he chooses to do so. This includes a certainty that … Read more
by liberal japonicus A searchable database of the Epstein emails is here. Comment on any interesting ones you find.