in the trump administration, “merit” is pronounced “white” like how strom thrumond said it.

Once upon a time, these were actions by a private company. Now they are actions being undertaken by a high-ranking government official, in connection with his public activities. This raises 1A issues that didn’t exist before.

Counterintuitive but for me it’s been Veep.

That New Orleans press conference -- specifically the conduct of the Republican Senator & Governor -- should send a chill down the spine of every American regarding any emergency or disaster going forward.

Attacking the press for doing its job & Kennedy hinting the Feds hiding something, scary AF.

A real photo and perfect metaphor heading into 2025.

The FBI found the largest stockpile of "finished explosive devices" in the bureau's history from Virginia man Brad Spafford.

Investigators found "a stockpile of more than 150 homemade improvised explosive devices" and he was using pictures of President Biden as target practice.

MAGA is silent.

AI Needs So Much Power, It’s Making Yours Worse There’s a strong link between proximity to AI data centers and higher levels of distorted power in residential areas

AI data centers are multiplying across the U.S. and sucking up huge amounts of power.

New evidence shows they may also be distorting the normal flow of electricity for millions of Americans

One way you know "RFK Jr. is a good dude who just wants people to exercise and eat nutritious food" is bullshit is that Michelle Obama quite famously encouraged people to exercise and eat nutritious food and was quite famously relentlessly attacked for it by many of the same people who love RFK Jr.

No he didn't. The actual figure was more than $44 billion: prospect.org/power/2024-1...

Can't a member of the House simply read it into the record? Say, a member who's not returning next session and has zero fucks to give?

Avatar Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I am proud to announce that Massad Boulos will serve as Senior Advisor to the President on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. Massad is an accomplished lawyer and a highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the International scene. He has been a longtime proponent of Republican and Conservative values, an asset to my Campaign, and was instrumental in building tremendous new coalitions with the Arab American Community. Massad is a dealmaker, and an unwavering supporter of PEACE in the Middle East. He will be a strong advocate for the United States, and its interests, and I am pleased to have him on our team

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I am pleased to nominate Charles Kushner, of New Jersey, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to France. He is a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our Country & its interests. Charlie is the Founder & Chairman of Kushner Companies, one of the largest & most successful privately held Real Estate firms in the Nation. He was recognized as New Jersey Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, appointed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, & served as a Commissioner, & Chairman, of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, as well as on the Boards of our top institutions, including NYU. Congratulations to Charlie, his wonderful wife Seryl, their 4 children, & 14 grandchildren. His son, Jared, worked closely with me in the White House, in particular on Operation Warp Speed, Criminal Justice Reform, & the Abraham Accords. Together, we will strengthen America’s partnership with France, our oldest Ally, & one of our greatest!

In a 24-hour span, Trump announces jobs for the fathers-in-law of both of his daughters

TV Writers Found 139,000 of Their Scripts Trained AI. Hell Broke Loose It's 'organized crime,' says one, as scribes from Shonda Rhimes to Robert King face a system where studio policy and law remain murky

As I’ve been saying for over a year:

If your business model doesn’t work without violating the law, you’re not in business — you’re in organized crime.

Great reporting by @elainelow.bsky.social. theankler.com/p/tv-writers...

"Elon Musk, whose companies have received nearly $8 billion in government funding through an assortment of federal grants, tax breaks, government subsidies and contracts, proposed today that senior citizens need to 'tighten their belt' to help balance the national budget."

See? It's not hard.

Florida health official advises communities to stop adding fluoride to drinking water Florida's surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, cited developmental concerns from higher levels of fluoride than are found in most U.S. water supplies.

Fluoridated water
1)Reduces tooth decay by ~25% in kids and adults.
2) For every $1 spent, communities save up to $38 in dental costs.
3) Benefits everyone, regardless of income or access to dental care.
4) Over 75 years of research shows it’s effective and harmless.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Shot Chaser

Behold the face of government censorship in Trump’s America

100% but imho the difference now is that you're watching a sports podcast, but, independent of whatever the hosts are doing, you start being fed other videos that are increasingly radical. Tuning into Limbaugh is an active choice, an algorithmic feed that gets you to Nick Fuentes can be less so.

Inside the Republican false-flag effort to turn off Kamala Harris voters A multi-pronged dark money effort by advisers to Elon Musk targeted liberals, Jews, Muslims and Black voters with ads that were not quite what they seemed.

Russia did exactly this to HRC in 2016, aiming to suppress her vote, and probably did. Musk no doubt did suppress Harris voting as well with these demotivation techniques. This should be illegal.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Trump is now < 50%, and leads Harris < 2%. This election was extremely close.

That margin will have enormous consequences. But it’s small enough that instead of debating which vulnerable groups and standards of decency Dems should abandon, they could just focus on how to better defend both.

The same people who’ve spent the last several years decrying “unqualified DEI hires” are now shoehorning through Cabinet nominations who can’t even pass a basic background test.

Please, if you are able, support Independent bookshops.

They are the literary & social hubs of our high streets and communities.

Without their continued support, we simply wouldn't be around to publish .

Thank you.

The reason we know about RFK Jr’s brain worm is that he mentioned it during a divorce deposition, to argue that he was cognitively impaired and therefore had limited earning potential.
Now he’s up for a cabinet post
www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/u...

Trump cabinet picks Rubio and Stefanik once confirmed Putin attacked the 2016 election to help Trump So much for the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.

NEW: Trump has tapped for his cabinet, two GOP legislators—Rubio & Stefanik—who have each confirmed that Putin attacked the 2016 election to help Trump. In 2020, Rubio even produced a 966-page report detailing this. So there's no hoax, and they know Trump's lying.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Well I'm fucked.