Well, he just executed the arrest warrant from the Southern District of NY for among other things illegal possession of firearms and intent to acquire such. Where in the constitution does it say that one needs a congressional approval for that?
Let's see how much pocket change Maduro has to buy a pardon.
Of course, if is state charges, that would require a transfer to the feds first.
Meanwhile, His Orangeness has declared that the official government of Mexico is not actually in charge of the country but the cartels and that will have consequences soon. Hm, a few days ago he declared that Columbia would be next. Such inconsistency. Not to forget similar threats towards Iran. As usual the open support of the US and Israel for the protestors in Iran gives the radicals on both sides* the licence/license/pretense to use indiscriminate violence.
Btw, Israel is currently facing some headwind with a plan to introduce a capital crime that can only be committed by Palestinians.
China and Russia are delighted, I presume, about the current events. It's exactly what they need for their own propaganda.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said
Consider the level of ineptitude he has demonstrated running this country. Figure that he will likely to send the worst of the worst (albeit pretty on camera) to supposedly run a country where, inevitably, none of them speak the language.
People with appropriate linguistic expertise are requested to find a word we can use when "fiasco" is just way too mild.
International law and strategic consequences aside, they never learn:
U.S. officials ran a war game ...
The results showed that chaos and violence were likely to erupt ... “The thing that really worries us is that they don’t appear to have any serious plan for what happens afterward,” said Phil Gunson, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group ... Mr. Maduro’s overthrow — whether by military coup, popular uprising or U.S. military action — would shatter Venezuela’s brittle authoritarian government and produce “chaos for a sustained period of time with no possibility of ending it,”
I note that, not only has there been no Declaration of War. There hasn't even been any sign of a Congressional resolution, such has provided a fig leaf for our various wars since World War II.
How long before Trump emulates his hero and calls it a Special Military Operation? Or will he go all in, and call it a spetsoperatsiya? (No chance he can manage спецопера́ция.)
Will His Orangeness compare his dict-napping in Venezuela to Israel's capture of Eichmann given that he in essence accuses Maduro constantly of murdering millions of US citizens (per year or per month?)?
Since I dislike listening to political speeches regardless of the speaker's politics, I had Grok do a recap of the speech.
"The approximately 20-minute video shows Zohran Mamdani being sworn in as mayor on the steps of City Hall, repeating the oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, New York State Constitution, and City Charter. He addresses a crowd in chilly January weather, expressing humility and solidarity with New Yorkers from diverse backgrounds, including immigrants, workers, and those in neglected areas. Mamdani thanks supporters, family, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, progressive figures like Bernie Sanders (who officiated the oath), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Nydia Velázquez, and commits to serving all residents regardless of political differences..."
I haven't been able to get that wonderful version of Auld Lang Syne out of my mind. And since the line in the original Burns poem is actually:
"For auld lang syne my jo" (i.e. not "my dear"), where jo means dear or darling, I've been obsessively remembering my favourite Burns poem John Anderson my jo, John, and how I read it to my beloved father (who adored Burns) when he was appallingly felled by a stroke, and how I could hardly get through it without my voice badly breaking. Much as I could hardly get through Danny Boy when I sang it to him during that time.
John Anderson my jo, John, When we were first acquent; Your locks were like the raven, Your bony brow was brent; But now your brow is beld, John, Your locks are like the snaw; But blessings on your frosty pow, John Anderson my Jo.
John Anderson my jo, John, We clamb the hill the gither; And mony a canty day, John, We’ve had wi’ ane anither: Now we maun totter down, John, And hand in hand we’ll go; And sleep the gither at the foot, John Anderson my Jo.
There is a version of Eddie Reader singing this on Youtube, but I don't think it is nearly as good as some of her other versions of Burns's poems, and certainly not as moving as russell's posted Auld Lang Syne.
I like to think that there's an approaching epiphany with respect to electricity, as they realize the administration doesn't care at all about higher residential power rates, they only care about forcing the use of fossil fuels, denying the use of renewables, and making the generic ratepayer foot the bill for all the (risky) new generating capacity that will have to be built for the AI data centers.
Michael, now is the time to let you know that I continue to find State of the Discussion extremely useful, especially if a lot has happened since I last looked. Thank you!
Style.min.css is a WordPress core file. There are two disadvantages to changing it: (1) changing core files occasionally has unpleasant side effects, and (2) the change will be overwritten every time a WordPress update is applied. There are better places to put additional CSS.
I think I've found the source of the "comment links are not changing color if you've previously clicked on them"
style.min.css
needs to have an addition:
a:visited{color:red}
(or some other color). It seems that otherwise links, whether visited or not, get whatever color is inherited. Just tried with a local copy of the OW main page, and it works.
That's absolutely beautiful, russell. I don't know if you've posted it before, but IMO you could post it every new year's day. By the end, I was truly emotional.
Is there a cadre of old school (R)’s ready and able to turn the GOP around in 2008? I don’t see it. I don’t know how they would do it.
Is there a cadre of old school Republicans? I'm sure there is. Willing to turn the GOP around? That, too. Able? I beg leave to doubt it. Like russell, I don't see how anyone could.
The closest I can picture is explicitly splitting the party (with the old school guys willing to abandon the name, which I expect them to hate). But that would leave them with too small a base to compete effectively. They would do better to wait for the Democrats to fission, and join one of the pieces. But that's not a turn-around.
Trump’s increasingly-insane inanity will make any Bush-style Republican very attractive in 2028
Attractive, but likely not to the current base of the (R) party.
Is there a cadre of old school (R)'s ready and able to turn the GOP around in 2008? I don't see it. I don't know how they would do it.
I'm also not sure the (D)'s will go for someone who leads with "we're gonna go after all of the Trump era malefactors". Too divisive!! Can't have that!!
My epiphany of the last year (or 10 years) is how durable the paranoid style continues to be. Drive a stake through it's heart, it just keeps coming back for more.
I don't watch TV news so I don't know how far the regression has gone, but CBS, aka Pravda West, has had the opposite of an epiphany.
The msm let themselves get used by Republicans to promote slanders, lies, fake investigations, all kinds of bullshit until part way through Trump's first term when they finally figures out that they needed to be more than a megaphone. An epiphany! They needed to actually do their jobs.
CBS is collaborating by spreading Republican lies. The coverage consists of extensive repetitions of Republican false allegations, followed by a brief partial rebuttal, followed by horse race coverage of how the false allegations might affect Walz. At no point to they explain that the Biden admin already did a massive investigation and achieved around 50 indictments. A viewer would come away with the impression that Minn had done nothing about the fraud, that DHS deserved all the credit and that opps! a Republican blogger was mistaken about the Somali day care centers. Not one word said about the devastating flood of hate now directed at those centers.
And, of course, not one word about the organized hate campaign now underway by Republicans against all Somalis.
"through an Overton lens, Trump’s increasingly-insane inanity will make any Bush-style Republican very attractive in 2028. a white man who isn’t a psychotic narcissist will be soberly declared, by once-again-endorsement-friendly editorials everywhere, to be the kind of stable genius we all need. the press will wet themselves in bliss at the idea of the GOP returning to a normal balance."
This is my fear. And I don't think the Republicans under that hypothetical person will be different in substance than they are not. In degree, yes. Substance, no. And the substance will be gerrymandering, election rigging, tax cuts for the rich and screw everyone else, pro-corporate power and anti-public interest legislation, and more Federalist SOciety ideologues in judgeships as they go full steam ahead on the plant to turn the US into a one-party oligarchy and only looks like a representative democracy.
One thing I've noticed in myself is that I'm far less bothered by the dwindling number of vocal tRump supporters I see, be they IRL or on social media. They aren't the threat they used to be, at least as I perceive them. I almost pity them now, like they're clinging to a dying mythology. My meaner impulse is to laugh at them.
I know that's not the most enlightening thing to write on the subject, but it's my own subjective synthesis of everything I'm seeing. It feels different than it used to.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “2026, as f**ked up as 2025”
Well, he just executed the arrest warrant from the Southern District of NY for among other things illegal possession of firearms and intent to acquire such. Where in the constitution does it say that one needs a congressional approval for that?
Let's see how much pocket change Maduro has to buy a pardon.
Of course, if is state charges, that would require a transfer to the feds first.
Meanwhile, His Orangeness has declared that the official government of Mexico is not actually in charge of the country but the cartels and that will have consequences soon. Hm, a few days ago he declared that Columbia would be next. Such inconsistency. Not to forget similar threats towards Iran. As usual the open support of the US and Israel for the protestors in Iran gives the radicals on both sides* the licence/license/pretense to use indiscriminate violence.
Btw, Israel is currently facing some headwind with a plan to introduce a capital crime that can only be committed by Palestinians.
China and Russia are delighted, I presume, about the current events. It's exactly what they need for their own propaganda.
*I do not include the civilian protestors.
"
Consider the level of ineptitude he has demonstrated running this country. Figure that he will likely to send the worst of the worst (albeit pretty on camera) to supposedly run a country where, inevitably, none of them speak the language.
People with appropriate linguistic expertise are requested to find a word we can use when "fiasco" is just way too mild.
"
International law and strategic consequences aside, they never learn:
U.S. officials ran a war game ...
The results showed that chaos and violence were likely to erupt ... “The thing that really worries us is that they don’t appear to have any serious plan for what happens afterward,” said Phil Gunson, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group ... Mr. Maduro’s overthrow — whether by military coup, popular uprising or U.S. military action — would shatter Venezuela’s brittle authoritarian government and produce “chaos for a sustained period of time with no possibility of ending it,”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/us/politics/venezuela-maduro-fallout-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BlA.jrlx.gJPz0yuSJoGR&smid=url-share
"
I saw this in a comment on Blue Sky: Wag the Dog meets Grand Theft Oil.
"
No, no! 2026, far more f*cked up than 2025!
I note that, not only has there been no Declaration of War. There hasn't even been any sign of a Congressional resolution, such has provided a fig leaf for our various wars since World War II.
How long before Trump emulates his hero and calls it a Special Military Operation? Or will he go all in, and call it a spetsoperatsiya? (No chance he can manage спецопера́ция.)
On “Moving towards Epiphany”
I guess now we have the answer to the 2025 Question of the Year:
Which will Trump invade first, Canada or Greenland?
"
Will His Orangeness compare his dict-napping in Venezuela to Israel's capture of Eichmann given that he in essence accuses Maduro constantly of murdering millions of US citizens (per year or per month?)?
On “Dayyyyum”
Since I dislike listening to political speeches regardless of the speaker's politics, I had Grok do a recap of the speech.
"The approximately 20-minute video shows Zohran Mamdani being sworn in as mayor on the steps of City Hall, repeating the oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, New York State Constitution, and City Charter. He addresses a crowd in chilly January weather, expressing humility and solidarity with New Yorkers from diverse backgrounds, including immigrants, workers, and those in neglected areas. Mamdani thanks supporters, family, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, progressive figures like Bernie Sanders (who officiated the oath), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Nydia Velázquez, and commits to serving all residents regardless of political differences..."
Mamdani's 2026 NYC Inauguration Analysis
On “Moving towards Epiphany”
I haven't been able to get that wonderful version of Auld Lang Syne out of my mind. And since the line in the original Burns poem is actually:
"For auld lang syne my jo" (i.e. not "my dear"), where jo means dear or darling, I've been obsessively remembering my favourite Burns poem John Anderson my jo, John, and how I read it to my beloved father (who adored Burns) when he was appallingly felled by a stroke, and how I could hardly get through it without my voice badly breaking. Much as I could hardly get through Danny Boy when I sang it to him during that time.
John Anderson my jo, John,
When we were first acquent;
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bony brow was brent;
But now your brow is beld, John,
Your locks are like the snaw;
But blessings on your frosty pow,
John Anderson my Jo.
John Anderson my jo, John,
We clamb the hill the gither;
And mony a canty day, John,
We’ve had wi’ ane anither:
Now we maun totter down, John,
And hand in hand we’ll go;
And sleep the gither at the foot,
John Anderson my Jo.
There is a version of Eddie Reader singing this on Youtube, but I don't think it is nearly as good as some of her other versions of Burns's poems, and certainly not as moving as russell's posted Auld Lang Syne.
"
I like to think that there's an approaching epiphany with respect to electricity, as they realize the administration doesn't care at all about higher residential power rates, they only care about forcing the use of fossil fuels, denying the use of renewables, and making the generic ratepayer foot the bill for all the (risky) new generating capacity that will have to be built for the AI data centers.
"
Than you, Russell. That was lovely. You all might find this comforting: Turning Toward the Morning
"If I had one thing to give you, I would tell you one more time that the world is always turning toward the morning."
"
Michael, now is the time to let you know that I continue to find State of the Discussion extremely useful, especially if a lot has happened since I last looked. Thank you!
"
style.min.css
needs to have an addition:
a:visited{color:red}
Style.min.css is a WordPress core file. There are two disadvantages to changing it: (1) changing core files occasionally has unpleasant side effects, and (2) the change will be overwritten every time a WordPress update is applied. There are better places to put additional CSS.
On “An inscrutable Merry Christmas”
What's really wonderful in Japan is "Christmas fireworks".
Because it can't be a real holiday without fireworks!
On “Moving towards Epiphany”
BTW, you can treat my comment as an evidence for "one bugfix/person/year".
Happy New Year one and all!
"
I think I've found the source of the "comment links are not changing color if you've previously clicked on them"
style.min.css
needs to have an addition:
a:visited{color:red}
(or some other color). It seems that otherwise links, whether visited or not, get whatever color is inherited. Just tried with a local copy of the OW main page, and it works.
"
That's absolutely beautiful, russell. I don't know if you've posted it before, but IMO you could post it every new year's day. By the end, I was truly emotional.
"
In the spirit of moving toward whatever epiphanies await us, good or ill, I wish all here a happy, peaceful, healthy New Year.
Here's a lovely old chestnut. I probably post this every year, but it's a personal favorite, so I hope you will forgive me.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xQXU2PIgreM
"
Is there a cadre of old school Republicans? I'm sure there is. Willing to turn the GOP around? That, too. Able? I beg leave to doubt it. Like russell, I don't see how anyone could.
The closest I can picture is explicitly splitting the party (with the old school guys willing to abandon the name, which I expect them to hate). But that would leave them with too small a base to compete effectively. They would do better to wait for the Democrats to fission, and join one of the pieces. But that's not a turn-around.
"
A happy and healthy new year to everybody here! Please God let it get better......
"
Attractive, but likely not to the current base of the (R) party.
Is there a cadre of old school (R)'s ready and able to turn the GOP around in 2008? I don't see it. I don't know how they would do it.
I'm also not sure the (D)'s will go for someone who leads with "we're gonna go after all of the Trump era malefactors". Too divisive!! Can't have that!!
My epiphany of the last year (or 10 years) is how durable the paranoid style continues to be. Drive a stake through it's heart, it just keeps coming back for more.
"
I don't watch TV news so I don't know how far the regression has gone, but CBS, aka Pravda West, has had the opposite of an epiphany.
The msm let themselves get used by Republicans to promote slanders, lies, fake investigations, all kinds of bullshit until part way through Trump's first term when they finally figures out that they needed to be more than a megaphone. An epiphany! They needed to actually do their jobs.
But CBS seems to have regressed: DHS conducting massive investigation after viral video alleges fraud at Minnesota day care centers | Watch
CBS is collaborating by spreading Republican lies. The coverage consists of extensive repetitions of Republican false allegations, followed by a brief partial rebuttal, followed by horse race coverage of how the false allegations might affect Walz. At no point to they explain that the Biden admin already did a massive investigation and achieved around 50 indictments. A viewer would come away with the impression that Minn had done nothing about the fraud, that DHS deserved all the credit and that opps! a Republican blogger was mistaken about the Somali day care centers. Not one word said about the devastating flood of hate now directed at those centers.
And, of course, not one word about the organized hate campaign now underway by Republicans against all Somalis.
Fuck you, CBS.
"
"through an Overton lens, Trump’s increasingly-insane inanity will make any Bush-style Republican very attractive in 2028. a white man who isn’t a psychotic narcissist will be soberly declared, by once-again-endorsement-friendly editorials everywhere, to be the kind of stable genius we all need. the press will wet themselves in bliss at the idea of the GOP returning to a normal balance."
This is my fear. And I don't think the Republicans under that hypothetical person will be different in substance than they are not. In degree, yes. Substance, no. And the substance will be gerrymandering, election rigging, tax cuts for the rich and screw everyone else, pro-corporate power and anti-public interest legislation, and more Federalist SOciety ideologues in judgeships as they go full steam ahead on the plant to turn the US into a one-party oligarchy and only looks like a representative democracy.
"
>Well, that and the Democratic base picked a candidate they should have known was unelectable.
did Obama promise to go after the sins the Dem base was sure Bush committed Bush's?
will a Democrat get through the primaries who says he won't spend every second chasing Trump's crimes?
"
One thing I've noticed in myself is that I'm far less bothered by the dwindling number of vocal tRump supporters I see, be they IRL or on social media. They aren't the threat they used to be, at least as I perceive them. I almost pity them now, like they're clinging to a dying mythology. My meaner impulse is to laugh at them.
I know that's not the most enlightening thing to write on the subject, but it's my own subjective synthesis of everything I'm seeing. It feels different than it used to.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.