Steven Axelrod

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The Supreme Court’s conservatives continue their lawless reign Over the last year, we’ve seen the United States Supreme Court go to war with the lower federal courts, stripping them of the ability to grant nationwide injunctions and ...

Party Supreme.

www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...

"No clear exit strategy"

Shouldn't we be worried about that? It sounds like another quagmire with an ever-increasing body count.

AP - Senate Republicans (plus Fetterman and minus Paul) demonstrating early support for a conflict that has rapidly spread with no clear U.S. exit strategy.

Sometimes a Democrat will say something reflective of scholarly discourse in the social sciences or the humanities, and this drives the anti-intellectuals at Third Way insane.

They would be a good nucleus for a reformed conservative party, not for our party, because they don't really want change.

Pete Hegseth, the most incompetent, corrupt, and viciously stupid Secretary of Defense in American history:

"We didn't start the war we started; we're going to end the war we have no plan to end."

This is all going swimmingly so far.

Hegseth admits Trump will take whatever latitude he wants to wage war and for as long as he chooses. He says Trump will decide the objective and "we" will carry it out. There is no clear timeline, meaning the war could continue indefinitely. Trump has still not addressed the nation.

Do the so-called moderates at Third Way realize how deeply annoying they are? They sound like Republicans who want to get rid of the overtly crazy Stephen Miller types but keep the basic injustices and cant intact.

Dem Senators are taking it seriously.

bsky.app/profile/stev...

An example of the phenomenon of Freudian negation is when we start a sentence by saying, "I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but..."

According to Freud's essay "Negation," when we say "not," it is sometimes a cancellation of our original thought that it "is." If Hegseth's statement is an example, he means the war "is endless."

AP - Hegseth insists the Iran conflict is ‘not endless’ while warning more casualties are likely

War, I despise
'Cause it means destruction of innocent lives
War means tears to thousands of mother's eyes
When their sons go off to fight
And lose their lives

I said, war, huh (good God, y'all)
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, just say it again

--Edwin Starr, Whitfield & Strong, 1969

The Iran War is already turning sour, and it's only the second day.

NYT - U.S. Reports Casualties as Missile Fire Pounds Mideast

NYT - Trump Stays Out of Public View After U.S. Launches Military Assault on Iran

Reuters - Just one in four Americans supports US strikes on Iran, poll finds

AP still an independent voice:

As ICE expands, a review of crimes committed by agents shows how their powers can be abused

At least two dozen ICE agents have been charged with crimes since 2020 and their wrongdoing includes patterns of physical and sexual abuse, corruption and other abuses.

Authoritarians wage wars to deflect public attention from their own scandals. Donald Trump is no different.

How to register to vote and check your registration status For the 2026 primary elections, NPR has collected deadlines and information on how to register to vote — online, in person or by mail — in every U.S. state and territory.

For the 2026 primary elections, NPR has collected deadlines and information on how to register to vote — online, in person or by mail — in every U.S. state and territory.

Trump has caused Paramount's success. It's part of our onward march to a post-democratic, Russia-like future. Rule by media-centric oligarchs.

CNN - "With Trump’s apparent blessing, the Ellisons are amassing a media empire"

CNN, tellingly, is itself being bought up by the Ellisons.

Exclusive: Read the draft executive emergency order for Trump to take control of elections Lawyers and legal experts explicitly said that such an order is blatantly unconstitutional.

EXCLUSIVE: A draft executive order that would allow Trump to take unprecedented control over federal elections is reportedly being circulated with the White House.

Democracy Docket obtained a copy.

Read the full, 17-page order below👇

He started a War with Iran so he could hang on to POWER.

In Trump's mind, he's just glad that you didn't see the Epstein Files.

Opinion | How Israel Lost Americans

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/o...

Dr. Robert Shpiner, LA Times:

So, when I see Robert Kennedy drinking whole milk in a pool with Kid Rock, I see a man who bears direct responsibility for the resurgence of vaccine-preventable disease, performing a grotesque pantomime of wellness while children get sick.

David Gardner, Daily Beast:

But Trump has already lost the trust of many Americans, and he is using falsehoods to justify a war on a foreign power.

And that may lose the trust of his core support.

We may be not just be seeing the end of Iran’s regime.

We may be seeing the end of MAGA.

David Frum: “You don’t go bankrupt as often as Trump has gone bankrupt if you’re good at assessing risk... If an actual shooting war goes amiss—takes too long, fails to yield the cheap and easy success Trump craves—what follows at home may exceed all past abuses of power.”
(Political Wire, Atlantic)

Presidents have authority to respond to imminent threats as commander in chief.

But the practical case for unilateral strikes is narrow: swift, short, reactive, driven by immediate danger or tactical surprise.

The attacks on Iran earlier today don’t come close to that standard. (Political Wire)

The Rubio deal with Bukele isn't a bigger scandal because there aren't many independent media sources left and even those few must be terrified of Trump's lust for vengeance.

Elon can't make an AI as good as Claude. So instead of actually trying to win over users in a free marketplace, he's trying to have the pentagon stop using Claude AND ban all their contractors (incl. Amazon, NVIDIA, etc) from even working with Anthropic. tinpot dictatorship stuff

In response to his horrible polling…..

Congratulations. You harassed a married staffer until she submitted to your perversions leading to her suicide and still kept your job because the Republican Party stands for nothing except the acquisition of power. Congrats, Tony. bsky.app/profile/atru...