Shawn "Smith" Peirce

Grab a drink & join us at The Politics Bar, on great stations like @americaone.bsky.social & Progressive Voices Radio.

Collage of The Politics Bar Logo, News on tap, Guest name, date and photo of Brooklyn Dad Defiant

As Texas Repubs fire the first shot in the Redistricting Wars, Democrats need to be willing to use "Chicago rules" to fight back. @mmpadellen.bsky.social will join us to talk about that in his latest Substack column. Join us!https://www.thepoliticsbar.com

Collage of Gov. Abbott, Donald Trump, Ghilaine Maxwell, Gov. Pritzker, Jeanine Pirro, Beto O'Roarke at a rally, Loni Anderson, the Politics Bar and News on Tap Logos

Your "News On Tap" today is full of fight - and for once, Democrats are landing a few punches. Plus, the latest on the Trump/Epstein scandal, Trump's fascist push, the many wars of the Right, & more. Read up & get informed! www.thepoliticsbar.com/p/news-on-ta...

If Texas is such a stronghold for Republicans, then why do they wanna gerrymander it some more?

🙄

We should have been able to do this. Sigh.

"SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the house arrest for former President Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for allegedly leading a coup attempt after losing the 2022 election."

So the President of the United States will let Americans starve, suffer, and die because he doesn’t like where their city or state stands on Israel? I’m super pro-Israel, but this is ugly, cruel, inhumane, & un-American. Donald Trump is a horrible human being.

Scene is a gun store, with a clearly crazed MAGAt in front of the glass-enclosed counter, wearing a wife-beater t-shirt, shorts, a holstered handgun, and a red MAGA hat backwards. The gun seller is holding up a semi-automatic rifle and showing the MAGA buyer the gun, as he says "Now, this baby is our biggest seller! You can kill & maim up to 50 people per minute and folks will forget all about it in 72 hours…"

Despite Trump & MAGA's fascist & insane actions, the regular problems of Americans keep rolling on, from inflation going up, to climate change, to the seemingly never-ending parade of gun violence mayhem…
paulfell.substack.com/p/problems-d...

The Biggest US LNG Exporter Is Claiming a Massive Tax Credit for Using Its Cargo as an ‘Alternative’ Fuel - Inside Climate News Critics say the claim relies on a dubious interpretation of a law intended to promote natural gas and other fuels. An Inside Climate News analysis put the potential windfall at more than $140 million.

Meanwhile, Republicans are interpreting the "alternative fuels" tax credit such that it is funneling millions of dollars to ... a methane gas exporter.

Trump reshaped a climate program to extract more oil. This company stands to profit. Occidental Petroleum could benefit from bigger subsidies for using carbon dioxide to squeeze more crude from sputtering wells.

Republicans reshaped the carbon-capture tax credit such that it almost solely benefits companies that are ... drilling for oil.

Catch the latest @thepoliticsbar.bsky.social 🍸 with
@jodyhamilton.bsky.social & @silversmith1.bsky.social #MSWMedia

Listen: redcircle.com/shows/9bce8c...

As I've said for years, the modern Republican motto explains most of what they now do & say. That motto?

"I've got mine; F*** you."

That's who they've chosen to be
.
Thankfully, most Dems are choosing to be better.
Now we have to show & tell to prove it.

Good luck & keep going.
Nice win in Omaha.

The way he paves over the truth.

@jaredb-econ.bsky.social Good to see/hear you on @msnbc.com on the BLS issue.

Please check your email & get back to me when you can.
Thanks.

Trump’s Tariffs Are Kleptocracy in Action Very little of what you’ve heard about presidential ‘deals’ is true. It’s really a shakedown on behalf of Trump’s desires and corporate whims.

I wrote back in April that the best way to think about Trump's tariffs were as sanctions to shake down other countries. The final result reinforces this: Trump is using trade as a bargaining chip to win other policies, or even just the illusion of wins.
Here's my post-Liberation Day update:

Tesla awards CEO Musk millions of shares valued at about $29 billion Tesla is awarding CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares of restricted stock valued at approximately $29 billion, just six months after a judge ordered the company to revoke his massive pay package.

Tesla is awarding CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares of restricted stock valued at approximately $29 billion, just six months after a judge ordered the company to revoke his massive pay package.

Trump set to name replacements at the Fed and Bureau of Labor Statistics in coming days Both spots opened up Friday through the resignation of Fed Governor Adriana Kugler and the firing of Erika McEntarfer at the BLS.

President Donald Trump plans over the next several days to name replacements for two key vacancies, one to fill a spot on the Federal Reserve and other to replace the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This isn't justice. This is one monster helping out another.

This $50 billion band-aid won’t save rural health care It is just a fraction of the money these facilities will lose thanks to massive Medicaid cuts.

When the nearest major hospital is 80+ miles away, rural hospitals (with as few as 2 ER beds) play a critical role in stabilizing trauma patients. The OBBA's $50B rural health fund won't nearly make up for the losses hospitals like these face from Medicaid cuts.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Nah, I rolled right by that one, like I didn't care. 😜

F*** Trump.
F*** Abbott.
And f*** any MAGAt Repub who stands with them on these redistricting wars - or really anything else.

Lots of news to talk about! Plus we have The Rude Pundit and Thom Hartmann today! Hear us 9a to Noon ET on outlets like:

Radio: SiriusXM Progress 127
TV: Free Speech TV on Roku / #AppleTV / #AmazonFireTV / #SlingTV
Streaming: @WCPT820 (Chicago) on TuneIn
Video Stream: www.politicalvoicesnetwork.com

Which, to some degree, is a good thing.

Because if Republicans go forward with this redistricting war, they'll be forced to take seats from clearly safe margins to margins where some Dems could win - from R+15 seats to R+8 seats.

In short, Repubs are shooting themselves in the face.

'Felons!' Governor comes after Texas Dems who fled state to block vote "Gov. Greg Abbott threatens Texas House Democrats with removal from office for fleeing state" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans ...

Underreported about this story is how the GOP has already gone through every state, with a scaple, and figured out a way to gerrymander each one in bizarre and outrageous ways, so they can pick up multiple seats for the Republicans in each one. www.rawstory.com/gov-greg-abb...

Except infinity-times worse

The New York Times Has a Serious Headline Problem The New York Times wrote a sharp editorial last week ripping “right-wing extremists” for blocking renewed funding of a U.S.

Here's that newsletter of mine from 2023. You'll notice the references are old, but the point is still fresh. Please consider subscribing to Stop the Presses. It's free. Cancel anytime if you think I'm an idiot.

'I fixed that for you': Why mainstream headlines keep failing Plus: one journalist's brave plunge into independence; and my rant about a supposedly positive article about Buffalo

Margaret Sullivan writes today about news headlines "that deliver a soft-focus, missing-the-point, safe-as-milk version of national politics." She cites a 2023 piece I wrote when I was just starting my Stop the Presses newsletter, headlined: "The New York Times Has a Serious Headline Problem."

CNBC: Do you think we are starting to see a real slowdown in the jobs market?

HASSETT: Yeah, I think the jobs numbers were slower than we expected

171. Partisan Gerrymandering After Rucho The Supreme Court isn't responsible for partisan gerrymandering. But current events in Texas underscore how much its 2019 ruling in Rucho has left (some) states free to radically abuse the practice.

#SCOTUS may not be directly responsible for what's happening right now in Texas.

But the Court's 5-4 2019 ruling in Rucho necessarily cleared the way for legislatures in at least some states to race to the bottom when it comes to maximizing partisan political advantage.

Me, in today's "One First":

How stupid were you if you thought Trump was going to pay for--or gives a shit about--IVF?

Bonus aspect of Trump firing labor statistics chief is that he's elevated the story of crashing jobs numbers.

Friday story that could be buried is now going for several cycles, complete with the damning fact of the revisions.

Few beyond hardcore cult will actually believe numbers are faked.

🧵NEW: This is an unprecedented intervention.

Almost every single living, former head of the IDF, Mossad (Israeli foreign intelligence), Shin Bet (domestic intelligence) & Police Commissioner urges an end to Israel’s war in Gaza.

“This is an extremist government. It has taken us all hostage.”

1/