More to ignore, Book 60........
- Thread starter Ten Thousan Marbles
- Start date
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 5:59:15 PM EDT · annieli
The only reason to watch the Trump speech is to see what meme he’ll try to amplify, given the circumstances.
TFG comes out to “God Bless the USA” and mocks the people “who didn’t show up”.
Acknowledges prior speakers Noem, Cruz, etc.
A moment of silence as he calls out names of Uvalde victims each accompanied by a loud chime.
“Literally not comprehensible” violence.
Christian-style invocation.
Trump now comments on “extreme political agenda” of those who would cynically exploit the events. Cites Biden’s “attack on the gun lobby”
.......
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:06:19 PM EDT · annieli
Psychopath commenting on mental health. Because it’s apparently the fault of school discipline systems and we need to put people in mental institutions.
“Not a matter of money, but a matter of will” as he cites the $40 billion sent to Ukraine. Blames misallocation of COVID funds. Urges taking COVID money back from states for school security.
Blames Dems for not voting on funds for school security.
........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:10:09 PM EDT · annieli
Urges concealed carry for teachers. Attacks “gun-free zone” signs used for schools, now oddly mentions “torture”.
On to NRA pimpery and the usual gun confiscation hoo-doo. [School violence increased during the Trump administration]
.......
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:17:10 PM EDT · annieli
Trump calls up a “good guy with a gun” ostensibly to both claim “I took out evil” and “President Trump is still my President”. [How could he not, the town was White Settlement, Texas.]
The usual claims of Dem “soft on crime”. Trump oddly again delights in the description of women being killed and tortured.
........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:25:54 PM EDT · annieli
Trump does a shout-out of Rudy Giuliani’s mayoral administration, does the usual boiler-plate about his administration and the attacks on “the left” and the blather about defending monument defacement with the usual lies.
Apparently he “saved” many US cities and if he returns to the White House promises more authoritarianism. The usual GOP talking points occur, Darn those radical left democrats and their defunding police, etc.
Promotes stronger qualified immunity for police.
Trump talks up CBP officers.
“ When we take back Congress in the Fall, we can stop socialism and communism, wouldn’t that be nice?”
........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:35:40 PM EDT · annieli
Trump pimps the border wall. “We gave them the best border ever”.
Apparently Biden will put “UN bureaucrats in charge of your Second Amendment rights”.
Now wanders into a stupid riff on green ammunition [an actual new profit center for manufacturers, environmentally friendly ammunition].
The veers into America First blather. cites “ultra-MAGA”.
Trump now refers to himself in the 3rd person comparing the loss of Crimea in 2014 to his loss in the US state of Georgia in 2020. Claims “rigged election”. Compares gas prices. More lies about US military and the departure from Afghanistan. Does China bashing and pimps Space Force.
Attacks Jen Psaki.
Lies about job numbers, starts pimping the usual speech points as he reminds the audience of 2016 election.
.........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:42:02 PM EDT · annieli
More inferences to “winning” the 2020 election and pimps his SCOTUS choices. Pimps gun dealers and companies as “critical industries” during COVID.
Regurgitates the usual NRA points like Teddy Roosevelt and the deregulation of land and hunting etc.
Now attacks “fake news”. Defends speaking to the Taliban. Blames Biden for Ukraine war.
The Trump version of the Constitution somehow ignores due process among other things. Close to the peroration such as it is in any Trump speech.
........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:44:48 PM EDT · annieli
Invokes Charlton Heston. 2022 voting, taking back Congress, taking back White House in 2024, etc.
ends 544pmCT
The only reason to watch the Trump speech is to see what meme he’ll try to amplify, given the circumstances.
TFG comes out to “God Bless the USA” and mocks the people “who didn’t show up”.
Acknowledges prior speakers Noem, Cruz, etc.
A moment of silence as he calls out names of Uvalde victims each accompanied by a loud chime.
“Literally not comprehensible” violence.
Christian-style invocation.
Trump now comments on “extreme political agenda” of those who would cynically exploit the events. Cites Biden’s “attack on the gun lobby”
.......
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:06:19 PM EDT · annieli
Psychopath commenting on mental health. Because it’s apparently the fault of school discipline systems and we need to put people in mental institutions.
“Not a matter of money, but a matter of will” as he cites the $40 billion sent to Ukraine. Blames misallocation of COVID funds. Urges taking COVID money back from states for school security.
Blames Dems for not voting on funds for school security.
........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:10:09 PM EDT · annieli
Urges concealed carry for teachers. Attacks “gun-free zone” signs used for schools, now oddly mentions “torture”.
On to NRA pimpery and the usual gun confiscation hoo-doo. [School violence increased during the Trump administration]
.......
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:17:10 PM EDT · annieli
Trump calls up a “good guy with a gun” ostensibly to both claim “I took out evil” and “President Trump is still my President”. [How could he not, the town was White Settlement, Texas.]
The usual claims of Dem “soft on crime”. Trump oddly again delights in the description of women being killed and tortured.
........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:25:54 PM EDT · annieli
Trump does a shout-out of Rudy Giuliani’s mayoral administration, does the usual boiler-plate about his administration and the attacks on “the left” and the blather about defending monument defacement with the usual lies.
Apparently he “saved” many US cities and if he returns to the White House promises more authoritarianism. The usual GOP talking points occur, Darn those radical left democrats and their defunding police, etc.
Promotes stronger qualified immunity for police.
Trump talks up CBP officers.
“ When we take back Congress in the Fall, we can stop socialism and communism, wouldn’t that be nice?”
........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:35:40 PM EDT · annieli
Trump pimps the border wall. “We gave them the best border ever”.
Apparently Biden will put “UN bureaucrats in charge of your Second Amendment rights”.
Now wanders into a stupid riff on green ammunition [an actual new profit center for manufacturers, environmentally friendly ammunition].
The veers into America First blather. cites “ultra-MAGA”.
Trump now refers to himself in the 3rd person comparing the loss of Crimea in 2014 to his loss in the US state of Georgia in 2020. Claims “rigged election”. Compares gas prices. More lies about US military and the departure from Afghanistan. Does China bashing and pimps Space Force.
Attacks Jen Psaki.
Lies about job numbers, starts pimping the usual speech points as he reminds the audience of 2016 election.
.........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:42:02 PM EDT · annieli
More inferences to “winning” the 2020 election and pimps his SCOTUS choices. Pimps gun dealers and companies as “critical industries” during COVID.
Regurgitates the usual NRA points like Teddy Roosevelt and the deregulation of land and hunting etc.
Now attacks “fake news”. Defends speaking to the Taliban. Blames Biden for Ukraine war.
The Trump version of the Constitution somehow ignores due process among other things. Close to the peroration such as it is in any Trump speech.
........
Friday, May 27, 2022 · 6:44:48 PM EDT · annieli
Invokes Charlton Heston. 2022 voting, taking back Congress, taking back White House in 2024, etc.
ends 544pmCT
Nicolle Wallace Brutally Fact Checks TX Gov. Abbott: We Are Not Gonna Let Him Gaslight Anybody Today
News Corpse
The parade of the protectors of assault weapons and their manufacturers continued in Texas on Friday as their Republican governor, Greg Abbott, held another press conference to run cover for corporations that profit from death. It was just more of the same stubborn defense of lethal firearms, and deflection of blame to inadequate mental health services, for which Abbott and his ilk are also responsible.
On Thursday Abbott's pro-gun presser was interrupted by the Democratic candidate for governor, Beto O'Rourke, who chastised Abbott for doing nothing to stop the "totally predictable" slaughters that recur way too often in America. Equally predictable is the coverage by Fox News and other right-wing outlets that are intent on shutting down the sort of dialogue that O'Rourke was attempting to encourage.
On Friday Abbott's affair was interrupted again. This time by Roland Gutierrez, the Texas State Senator whose district includes Uvalde, TX. Gutierrez pleaded with Abbott to take some proactive measures to prevent future bloodshed (video below):
Abbott smugly ignored Gutierrez and asked if there were any other questions. But just at that moment, MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace cut into the telecast to deliver some pertinent background information about what was taking place. Saying that "We'll listen, but we are not gonna let [Abbott] gaslight anybody today," Wallace continued...
That's precisely how these sort of self-serving "news" conferences should be covered. The dishonesty of bought-and-paid-for politicians like Abbott needs to be revealed at every opportunity, and right when it occurs. The cretins who keep trying to lay the blame on mental health know that it's a phony excuse designed to shield the gun lobby from responsibility. Many other countries also have people with mental problems who are not butchering their fellow citizens.
However, even if you were to take their excuses seriously, the people clinging to them are the same ones who oppose providing adequate health care for their constituents. It's the same story in Washington as it is in Texas. Republicans have obstructed every common sense gun reform measure for decades. Usually making utter fools of themselves as they struggle to articulate a coherent argument against reforms that the vast majority of Americans support. And, sadly, this will continue until voters manage to expel every one of these unrepresentative slimeballs from office.
News Corpse
The parade of the protectors of assault weapons and their manufacturers continued in Texas on Friday as their Republican governor, Greg Abbott, held another press conference to run cover for corporations that profit from death. It was just more of the same stubborn defense of lethal firearms, and deflection of blame to inadequate mental health services, for which Abbott and his ilk are also responsible.
On Thursday Abbott's pro-gun presser was interrupted by the Democratic candidate for governor, Beto O'Rourke, who chastised Abbott for doing nothing to stop the "totally predictable" slaughters that recur way too often in America. Equally predictable is the coverage by Fox News and other right-wing outlets that are intent on shutting down the sort of dialogue that O'Rourke was attempting to encourage.
On Friday Abbott's affair was interrupted again. This time by Roland Gutierrez, the Texas State Senator whose district includes Uvalde, TX. Gutierrez pleaded with Abbott to take some proactive measures to prevent future bloodshed (video below):
Abbott smugly ignored Gutierrez and asked if there were any other questions. But just at that moment, MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace cut into the telecast to deliver some pertinent background information about what was taking place. Saying that "We'll listen, but we are not gonna let [Abbott] gaslight anybody today," Wallace continued...
That's precisely how these sort of self-serving "news" conferences should be covered. The dishonesty of bought-and-paid-for politicians like Abbott needs to be revealed at every opportunity, and right when it occurs. The cretins who keep trying to lay the blame on mental health know that it's a phony excuse designed to shield the gun lobby from responsibility. Many other countries also have people with mental problems who are not butchering their fellow citizens.
However, even if you were to take their excuses seriously, the people clinging to them are the same ones who oppose providing adequate health care for their constituents. It's the same story in Washington as it is in Texas. Republicans have obstructed every common sense gun reform measure for decades. Usually making utter fools of themselves as they struggle to articulate a coherent argument against reforms that the vast majority of Americans support. And, sadly, this will continue until voters manage to expel every one of these unrepresentative slimeballs from office.
Well, If Your Kink Is Getting Lectured By Malevolent Cowards, This Week Was Great
ShowerCap
So, Republicans’ meticulously maintained system of intentionally insane gun laws once again extracted its toll. And since they remain ideologically opposed to (checks notes) protecting children from gun violence, we may as well start the countdown to the next one. I understand folks come to this page for jokes, and I’ll do my best, but no ****ing promises tonight.......
.........
As you are no doubt aware, an unthinkable tragedy occurred in Texas this week, when Beto O’Rourke disrupted a sacred Republican gaslighting ritual, the traditional post-mass-shooting Wingnut Victimhood Pageant, and just when they were getting to the thoughts n’ prayers, too.
Yeah, that’s really how these slugs’re playing it this time ‘round. Because shame is for cucks.
Truly, nothing reveals the pus-encrusted heart of modern conservatism more than a classroom full of butchered children. And they know this. Used to be, when a shitbag with an assault rifle slaughtered enough grade school kids, the bloodbath’s legislative enablers would at least slink into the shadows for a few days, to allow the sane, decent folk of the nation to howl in grief and rage over this price they force us to pay and pay and pay.
Even that small grace is too much to ask of these rat bastards nowadays, and yes, we’ve long understood that the cruelty is the point with these people, but their defiant, profane insistence that it is their position, atop a mass child grave, that constitutes the moral high ground…I know I say “**** these evil scumbags” a lot, but **** these evil scumbags.
They fully understand their position is indefensible, of course. Look at Ted Cruz, who, for all his cowardice, trained in argumentation at the finest schools in the country; he can neither navigate nor endure a simple, reasonable, entirely foreseeable discussion of current events with a journalist. He can do nothing but scamper away, whinging about how unfairly he’s been treated.
Listening to the howling rageweasels of the right wing media bubble, you could be forgiven for assuming the Uvalde massacre was something that happened to them; all roads lead back to the persecution of the poor, trod upon Real Murican, you see. To lift a finger to halt this senseless, preventable carnage would be an intolerable assault on their way of life.
Shit, they might just have to start a whole dang civil war over it. Don’t say they didn’t warn you. (That Tucker Carlson communicates like a textbook domestic abuser is another of those zany coincidences, I’m sure.)
But y’know what, creeps? Your way of life is trash. Outside of the immeasurable suffering you inflict on the world with your firearm fetish, y’all just responded to a global pandemic by throwing suicidal tantrums on a culture-wide scale. You’re not being oppressed, you losers, you’re just idiots who make terrible decisions.
This particular elementary school slaughterhouse is proving especially inconvenient for the gun manufacturers and their legislative puppets, since it so perfectly exposes the cynical sham of the deliberately useless “policies” they’ve implemented in their long, vile crusade to avoid doing the one thing that actually works.
The “good guys with guns” could not possibly have ****ed things up any more, which is pretty impressive when you remember the last GGwG from a major school shooting. The district did all the things Republicans have haughtily insisted would keep kids safe. They did not keep kids safe.
And to suggest, as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did while the bodies were still warm, that somehow the answer here is even more deadly weapons in our schools, is not just madness, but politically incorrect, 60’s-exploitation-film-set-in-an-asylum-level madness.
What sane person would invent an imaginary epidemic of feral pig attacks to justify inaction in the face of the mass murder of children? Who ****ing behaves that way? What, at long last, Senator Cassidy, is ****ing wrong with you?
My own take on the divisive feral pigs issue, incidentally, is that we should stop electing them to the ****ing Senate.
Oh, by the way, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats’ domestic terrorism prevention bill, to get the crowd warmed up for the main event, when they’ll block any meaningful gun control legislation, because these kids’ graves aren’t gonna piss on themselves.
Of course, no mass shooting is complete without the ceremonial Furious Republican Blaming of Random Shit. An extremely incomplete list:
Doors. “Wokeness.” The 1994 Los Angeles Dodgers’ bullpen. Critical race theory. The homeless. Bob. Carol. Ted. Alice. I guess none of it needs to make sense anymore, if it ever did; Cult45 is only too happy to blindly regurgitate whatever the yapping heads happen to screech.
US Congressman/open white nationalist Paul Gosar leaped aboard a disinformation campaign designed to pin the shooting on a transgender woman, because that’s just the sort of thing you do when your first impulse in any given situation is “spread more hate.” I’m starting to doubt there’s any bottom to this depravity, but if there is, Paul’s my pick to get there first.
And I imagine scientists could only speculate on the long-term effects of the parasitic relationship between Jason Whitlock and the psychic tapeworm devouring the remaining six ounces his brain.
Then there’s Herschel Walker. Headlines are like, What the Actual **** is This Idiot Saying It’s Literally Gibberish Holy Balls They’re Trying to Make Him a ****ing Senator We Are All Going to Die. At this point, I feel like, given what we know about Walker, any rational human would find the idea of making him a federal lawmaker absurd. 800,000 Georgia Republicans are really into Ionesco, I guess..........
................
Since we’re here, yeah, I guess we may as well stumble over to the outhouse of horrors that is the 2022 Republican primary calendar.
Now, I enjoy a good Donald Trump is a Loser Who Loses So Very Hard story as much as the next guy, and, given his extensively documented shortcomings as an evaluator of fitness for office, I certainly support the idea of breaking his power as GOP kingmaker, but let us not forget that Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger are experienced, professional vote suppressors, who pursue all the same anti-democracy goals, with a fraction of the fuss.
Still, Chris Christie smells blood, and sure, it’s probably just leftover ketchup from a McDonald’s run during his errand boy days, but I say, dogpile away, campers, though I’ve seen enough horror films to know this ****er’s nowhere near done yet.
Wee Michael Pence busted out his best Ric Flair strut, too, as though we wouldn’t notice he couldn’t quite find the courage to oppose the guy who tried to have him lynched until the Perdue campaign was pronounced medically deceased. Whatever..........;
...........
I suppose this is the appropriate spot to mention the new revelation, that Off-Brand Orbán was such a big fan of the “Hang Mike Pence” chants on January 6th that he couldn’t keep his enthusiasm to himself. Which gives all those gossipy, “Pence breaks with Trump” headlines a lil’ edge, don’tcha think?
…but they’re still never gonna vote for ya, Mikey. The faithful don’t elect Judas, that’s not how that story goes. You ate shit for four years, scorched your immortal soul beyond redemption, and all you have to show for it is history’s soggiest cracker. Them’s the breaks, you enabling taintfungus. You deserve it, by the way. You deserve it sooooooooooo much........
........
What a goddamn shitshow. At least somebody finally flushed the last lingering floater of the Bush clan. Bye.
...........
Seems kinda stalemate-y in Ukraine this week, or maybe domestic atrocities simply drained me of the capacity to pay attention, who knows?
Vlad the Miscalculator may have finally shrunk his goals to a size his moron army can manage by pressing the Make Bomb Go button, but the whole world still caught him frantically rifling through his closet for Cold War tanks to replace the toys he’s so petulantly smashed.
However, now that the Shart of War has banned Morgan Freeman and John McCain from entering his shithole police state, expect Ukrainian military strategy to collapse, reliant as it is on dead legislators’ vacation plans.......
.........
So, turns out Donald Trump Jr. pays people to bait bears so he can shoot them, which is pretty much the least surprising thing I’ve ever read. The level of self-delusion it must take to look at these embarrassing people, and see strength…well, it helps explain the ivermectin thing, I suppose.......
.........
I know you’ve all worn through several fainting couches since first we met, but apparently Jared Kushner and Steve Mnuchin abused their government posts to engage in cartoonishly corrupt dealings with the journalist-dismembering House of Saud. I’m thinking of selling Shower Cap-branded smelling salts to help readers through paragraphs like this one........
.........
Yikes. I bet everybody could use a couple of those Donald Trump is a Loser Who Loses So Very Hard stories I mentioned a little while back, right? Fear not, the week saw not one, but two massive legal setbacks for the Deposed Dotard and his criminal spawn. Death, taxes, Donald Trump losing in court......
.............
It appears Elise Stefanik’s revolting history of spouting the white nationalist great replacement theory* landed her on Gameshow Göring’s 2024 running mate shortlist, in the event you’re still in denial about living in Hell. Nobody ever got fired from The Apprentice for Nazi shit, y’know........
.........
Meanwhile, in Michigan, five separate Republican candidates for Governor have been disqualified for submitting fraudulent petition signatures. Also, looks like we can add “incinerating documents in the West Wing” to the list of Mark Meadows’ crimes against American democracy........
.........
Oh, and monkeypox, too. Because **** you, that’s why.
...........
Yeah, this week sure did lob a steady stream of paving stones right at our collective groin, but don’t you dare give up. Because Australia just booted their own cheap Trump knockoff, and Brazil looks ready to follow suit. And hey, check out the crowd that showed up at the NRA’s unseemly propaganda festival today. Times are hot rhino shit on melba toast lately, I grant you, but this fever will break, and we will be the ones to help break it.
There’s certainly no shortage of bastards in the grinding-you-down business these days, but **** them. All that horse dewormer is gonna catch up to ‘em someday real soon, you’ll see.
Ok, I need to go drink beer and watch professional wrestling for a couple days. Stay safe, my loves, and take care of yourselves, there’s plenty of work ahead of us.
.........
* Which, it turns out, was about Mike Pence all along.
ShowerCap
So, Republicans’ meticulously maintained system of intentionally insane gun laws once again extracted its toll. And since they remain ideologically opposed to (checks notes) protecting children from gun violence, we may as well start the countdown to the next one. I understand folks come to this page for jokes, and I’ll do my best, but no ****ing promises tonight.......
.........
As you are no doubt aware, an unthinkable tragedy occurred in Texas this week, when Beto O’Rourke disrupted a sacred Republican gaslighting ritual, the traditional post-mass-shooting Wingnut Victimhood Pageant, and just when they were getting to the thoughts n’ prayers, too.
Yeah, that’s really how these slugs’re playing it this time ‘round. Because shame is for cucks.
Truly, nothing reveals the pus-encrusted heart of modern conservatism more than a classroom full of butchered children. And they know this. Used to be, when a shitbag with an assault rifle slaughtered enough grade school kids, the bloodbath’s legislative enablers would at least slink into the shadows for a few days, to allow the sane, decent folk of the nation to howl in grief and rage over this price they force us to pay and pay and pay.
Even that small grace is too much to ask of these rat bastards nowadays, and yes, we’ve long understood that the cruelty is the point with these people, but their defiant, profane insistence that it is their position, atop a mass child grave, that constitutes the moral high ground…I know I say “**** these evil scumbags” a lot, but **** these evil scumbags.
They fully understand their position is indefensible, of course. Look at Ted Cruz, who, for all his cowardice, trained in argumentation at the finest schools in the country; he can neither navigate nor endure a simple, reasonable, entirely foreseeable discussion of current events with a journalist. He can do nothing but scamper away, whinging about how unfairly he’s been treated.
Listening to the howling rageweasels of the right wing media bubble, you could be forgiven for assuming the Uvalde massacre was something that happened to them; all roads lead back to the persecution of the poor, trod upon Real Murican, you see. To lift a finger to halt this senseless, preventable carnage would be an intolerable assault on their way of life.
Shit, they might just have to start a whole dang civil war over it. Don’t say they didn’t warn you. (That Tucker Carlson communicates like a textbook domestic abuser is another of those zany coincidences, I’m sure.)
But y’know what, creeps? Your way of life is trash. Outside of the immeasurable suffering you inflict on the world with your firearm fetish, y’all just responded to a global pandemic by throwing suicidal tantrums on a culture-wide scale. You’re not being oppressed, you losers, you’re just idiots who make terrible decisions.
This particular elementary school slaughterhouse is proving especially inconvenient for the gun manufacturers and their legislative puppets, since it so perfectly exposes the cynical sham of the deliberately useless “policies” they’ve implemented in their long, vile crusade to avoid doing the one thing that actually works.
The “good guys with guns” could not possibly have ****ed things up any more, which is pretty impressive when you remember the last GGwG from a major school shooting. The district did all the things Republicans have haughtily insisted would keep kids safe. They did not keep kids safe.
And to suggest, as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did while the bodies were still warm, that somehow the answer here is even more deadly weapons in our schools, is not just madness, but politically incorrect, 60’s-exploitation-film-set-in-an-asylum-level madness.
What sane person would invent an imaginary epidemic of feral pig attacks to justify inaction in the face of the mass murder of children? Who ****ing behaves that way? What, at long last, Senator Cassidy, is ****ing wrong with you?
My own take on the divisive feral pigs issue, incidentally, is that we should stop electing them to the ****ing Senate.
Oh, by the way, Senate Republicans blocked Democrats’ domestic terrorism prevention bill, to get the crowd warmed up for the main event, when they’ll block any meaningful gun control legislation, because these kids’ graves aren’t gonna piss on themselves.
Of course, no mass shooting is complete without the ceremonial Furious Republican Blaming of Random Shit. An extremely incomplete list:
Doors. “Wokeness.” The 1994 Los Angeles Dodgers’ bullpen. Critical race theory. The homeless. Bob. Carol. Ted. Alice. I guess none of it needs to make sense anymore, if it ever did; Cult45 is only too happy to blindly regurgitate whatever the yapping heads happen to screech.
US Congressman/open white nationalist Paul Gosar leaped aboard a disinformation campaign designed to pin the shooting on a transgender woman, because that’s just the sort of thing you do when your first impulse in any given situation is “spread more hate.” I’m starting to doubt there’s any bottom to this depravity, but if there is, Paul’s my pick to get there first.
And I imagine scientists could only speculate on the long-term effects of the parasitic relationship between Jason Whitlock and the psychic tapeworm devouring the remaining six ounces his brain.
Then there’s Herschel Walker. Headlines are like, What the Actual **** is This Idiot Saying It’s Literally Gibberish Holy Balls They’re Trying to Make Him a ****ing Senator We Are All Going to Die. At this point, I feel like, given what we know about Walker, any rational human would find the idea of making him a federal lawmaker absurd. 800,000 Georgia Republicans are really into Ionesco, I guess..........
................
Since we’re here, yeah, I guess we may as well stumble over to the outhouse of horrors that is the 2022 Republican primary calendar.
Now, I enjoy a good Donald Trump is a Loser Who Loses So Very Hard story as much as the next guy, and, given his extensively documented shortcomings as an evaluator of fitness for office, I certainly support the idea of breaking his power as GOP kingmaker, but let us not forget that Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger are experienced, professional vote suppressors, who pursue all the same anti-democracy goals, with a fraction of the fuss.
Still, Chris Christie smells blood, and sure, it’s probably just leftover ketchup from a McDonald’s run during his errand boy days, but I say, dogpile away, campers, though I’ve seen enough horror films to know this ****er’s nowhere near done yet.
Wee Michael Pence busted out his best Ric Flair strut, too, as though we wouldn’t notice he couldn’t quite find the courage to oppose the guy who tried to have him lynched until the Perdue campaign was pronounced medically deceased. Whatever..........;
...........
I suppose this is the appropriate spot to mention the new revelation, that Off-Brand Orbán was such a big fan of the “Hang Mike Pence” chants on January 6th that he couldn’t keep his enthusiasm to himself. Which gives all those gossipy, “Pence breaks with Trump” headlines a lil’ edge, don’tcha think?
…but they’re still never gonna vote for ya, Mikey. The faithful don’t elect Judas, that’s not how that story goes. You ate shit for four years, scorched your immortal soul beyond redemption, and all you have to show for it is history’s soggiest cracker. Them’s the breaks, you enabling taintfungus. You deserve it, by the way. You deserve it sooooooooooo much........
........
What a goddamn shitshow. At least somebody finally flushed the last lingering floater of the Bush clan. Bye.
...........
Seems kinda stalemate-y in Ukraine this week, or maybe domestic atrocities simply drained me of the capacity to pay attention, who knows?
Vlad the Miscalculator may have finally shrunk his goals to a size his moron army can manage by pressing the Make Bomb Go button, but the whole world still caught him frantically rifling through his closet for Cold War tanks to replace the toys he’s so petulantly smashed.
However, now that the Shart of War has banned Morgan Freeman and John McCain from entering his shithole police state, expect Ukrainian military strategy to collapse, reliant as it is on dead legislators’ vacation plans.......
.........
So, turns out Donald Trump Jr. pays people to bait bears so he can shoot them, which is pretty much the least surprising thing I’ve ever read. The level of self-delusion it must take to look at these embarrassing people, and see strength…well, it helps explain the ivermectin thing, I suppose.......
.........
I know you’ve all worn through several fainting couches since first we met, but apparently Jared Kushner and Steve Mnuchin abused their government posts to engage in cartoonishly corrupt dealings with the journalist-dismembering House of Saud. I’m thinking of selling Shower Cap-branded smelling salts to help readers through paragraphs like this one........
.........
Yikes. I bet everybody could use a couple of those Donald Trump is a Loser Who Loses So Very Hard stories I mentioned a little while back, right? Fear not, the week saw not one, but two massive legal setbacks for the Deposed Dotard and his criminal spawn. Death, taxes, Donald Trump losing in court......
.............
It appears Elise Stefanik’s revolting history of spouting the white nationalist great replacement theory* landed her on Gameshow Göring’s 2024 running mate shortlist, in the event you’re still in denial about living in Hell. Nobody ever got fired from The Apprentice for Nazi shit, y’know........
.........
Meanwhile, in Michigan, five separate Republican candidates for Governor have been disqualified for submitting fraudulent petition signatures. Also, looks like we can add “incinerating documents in the West Wing” to the list of Mark Meadows’ crimes against American democracy........
.........
Oh, and monkeypox, too. Because **** you, that’s why.
...........
Yeah, this week sure did lob a steady stream of paving stones right at our collective groin, but don’t you dare give up. Because Australia just booted their own cheap Trump knockoff, and Brazil looks ready to follow suit. And hey, check out the crowd that showed up at the NRA’s unseemly propaganda festival today. Times are hot rhino shit on melba toast lately, I grant you, but this fever will break, and we will be the ones to help break it.
There’s certainly no shortage of bastards in the grinding-you-down business these days, but **** them. All that horse dewormer is gonna catch up to ‘em someday real soon, you’ll see.
Ok, I need to go drink beer and watch professional wrestling for a couple days. Stay safe, my loves, and take care of yourselves, there’s plenty of work ahead of us.
.........
* Which, it turns out, was about Mike Pence all along.
Ukraine Update: Ukraine makes a move in Kherson, while things remain desperate in the east
kos
Ukrainian reservists training with Polish tanks earlier this month. This unit has now been activated and in action.
Yesterday I wondered why Ukraine was so hell-bent on defending Severodonetsk, isolated on a deep salient surrounded on three sides and no natural barriers, when those forces could simply cross the river and hold out in a much more defensible Lysychansk. Retired Australian general Mick Ryan pondered the same today, noting that “the tactical and political necessity to hold out in Severodonetsk is questionable.”
Russia’s recent successes on the eastern Donbas front are, in large part, attributed to their short supply lines. Russia runs into problems when those lines are stretched. That wall of artillery they’ve rained on Ukrainian defensive positions? That gets a lot tougher when you have to truck ammunition to those thirsty artillery batteries kilometers from the railheads that feed the Russian army. Same with fuel.
Losing Popasna to the Russians wasn’t great, obviously, but their push from that new salient has already slowed to a crawl. And while Russia is gaining about a kilometer a day from the Popasna direction (not an exaggeration), a tactical local Ukrainian counterattack recaptured some ground—the town of Komyshuvakha directly north of Popasna:
This doesn’t mean Russia isn’t advancing, it doesn’t mean they might not retake Komyshuvakha tomorrow, it just means that advancing is hard, the fighting is fierce, and Russia still struggles to extend from its main supply depots. That’s why Ukraine’s insistence on defending Severodonetsk is so perplexing, regardless of how well they think they can defend it. As I keep pointing out, even if Russia takes the city and its neighbor Lysychansk, Ukraine has the twin stronghold cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the way of any further Russian advances, both far more defensible by Ukrainian artillery.
Russia’s strategy is to take the entire Donbas region, Ukraine’s is to bide time for western weapons (like MLRS/HIMARS) to arrive and its reserves to spin up. Like that new Ukrainian tank brigade recently activated near Kryvyi Rih, cobbled together from reservists, Polish tanks, and Dutch armored personnel carriers.
Ukraine just declared the brigade fully activated this week, and we’ve been wondering where it might show up. We know Ukraine has been reinforcing the Donbas front, so this was a logical destination. But this bit of surprising news suggests that they might have their sights set on Kherson in the south.
Igor Girkin was in charge of Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas during the 2014 war, and is a rabid Russian nationalist (Mark wrote more about him here). He remains well connected to Russian and separatist military sources. And what he’s saying in that tweet is that there was a tank breakthrough near the village of Davydiv Brid. (Ukrainian presidential advisor Aleksey Arestovych separately confirmed a counter-offensive in the area.) If Girkin is right, we’re talking here, where the red marker is:
This town is directly in the center of the most direct supply lines from Nova Kahkovka further south to Russian troops that have been reaching toward Kryvyi Rih (though observing them over time, they seem more interested in merely reaching the administrative borders of Kherson Oblast, which Russia is trying to annex).
Russian telegram accounts claim 10-15 Ukrainian tanks made a river crossing into Davydiv Brid, then pushed south down that highway to the village of Bruskynske, where fighting is ongoing.
If those accounts are accurate, it’s not a particularly large attack—about the size of a Russian BTG (and we’ve spent all war mocking Russia’s under-resourced BTG-sized piecemeal attacks). Ukraine’s brand new tank brigade has 100 tanks, plus another 70 or so armored personnel carriers, so there’s a lot more combat power somewhere. This might be a small blocking action, designed to merely cut off supply lines to Russian forces to the north. But, if we can dream, Nova Kahkovka would be an even juicer target than Kherson itself.
Nova Kahkovka is the source of water for all of Crimea, posing a major problem for Russia if it were cut off again (like it was pre-war). Just threatening the town should require that Russia reinforce it, “fixing” Russian troops desperately needed for Kherson’s defense and the offensives out east. Ukraine’s control of Crimea’s water supply would be a massive bargaining chip in any future negotiations. And depending on whether bridges survived any action, Ukraine would have a western approach to Melitopol—the logistical hub for supplies coming from Crimea to Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine. It would be bye-bye “land bridge,” connecting Crimea to mainland Russia.
This effort is analogous to Ukrainian counter-offensives around Kharkiv in the north, which have put pressure on Russia’s supply lines to the Izyum salient. As a result, Russia has been forced to peel away forces from Izyum to reinforce their logistical hubs and arrest further Ukrainian gains toward the Russian border.
By all indications, the southern axis is Russia’s least-resourced. If Ukraine gets traction, Russia will need to divert critically needed units from the Donbas fight, and that, by itself, would be a major win.
kos
Ukrainian reservists training with Polish tanks earlier this month. This unit has now been activated and in action.
Yesterday I wondered why Ukraine was so hell-bent on defending Severodonetsk, isolated on a deep salient surrounded on three sides and no natural barriers, when those forces could simply cross the river and hold out in a much more defensible Lysychansk. Retired Australian general Mick Ryan pondered the same today, noting that “the tactical and political necessity to hold out in Severodonetsk is questionable.”
Russia’s recent successes on the eastern Donbas front are, in large part, attributed to their short supply lines. Russia runs into problems when those lines are stretched. That wall of artillery they’ve rained on Ukrainian defensive positions? That gets a lot tougher when you have to truck ammunition to those thirsty artillery batteries kilometers from the railheads that feed the Russian army. Same with fuel.
Losing Popasna to the Russians wasn’t great, obviously, but their push from that new salient has already slowed to a crawl. And while Russia is gaining about a kilometer a day from the Popasna direction (not an exaggeration), a tactical local Ukrainian counterattack recaptured some ground—the town of Komyshuvakha directly north of Popasna:
This doesn’t mean Russia isn’t advancing, it doesn’t mean they might not retake Komyshuvakha tomorrow, it just means that advancing is hard, the fighting is fierce, and Russia still struggles to extend from its main supply depots. That’s why Ukraine’s insistence on defending Severodonetsk is so perplexing, regardless of how well they think they can defend it. As I keep pointing out, even if Russia takes the city and its neighbor Lysychansk, Ukraine has the twin stronghold cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the way of any further Russian advances, both far more defensible by Ukrainian artillery.
Russia’s strategy is to take the entire Donbas region, Ukraine’s is to bide time for western weapons (like MLRS/HIMARS) to arrive and its reserves to spin up. Like that new Ukrainian tank brigade recently activated near Kryvyi Rih, cobbled together from reservists, Polish tanks, and Dutch armored personnel carriers.
Ukraine just declared the brigade fully activated this week, and we’ve been wondering where it might show up. We know Ukraine has been reinforcing the Donbas front, so this was a logical destination. But this bit of surprising news suggests that they might have their sights set on Kherson in the south.
Igor Girkin was in charge of Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas during the 2014 war, and is a rabid Russian nationalist (Mark wrote more about him here). He remains well connected to Russian and separatist military sources. And what he’s saying in that tweet is that there was a tank breakthrough near the village of Davydiv Brid. (Ukrainian presidential advisor Aleksey Arestovych separately confirmed a counter-offensive in the area.) If Girkin is right, we’re talking here, where the red marker is:
This town is directly in the center of the most direct supply lines from Nova Kahkovka further south to Russian troops that have been reaching toward Kryvyi Rih (though observing them over time, they seem more interested in merely reaching the administrative borders of Kherson Oblast, which Russia is trying to annex).
Russian telegram accounts claim 10-15 Ukrainian tanks made a river crossing into Davydiv Brid, then pushed south down that highway to the village of Bruskynske, where fighting is ongoing.
If those accounts are accurate, it’s not a particularly large attack—about the size of a Russian BTG (and we’ve spent all war mocking Russia’s under-resourced BTG-sized piecemeal attacks). Ukraine’s brand new tank brigade has 100 tanks, plus another 70 or so armored personnel carriers, so there’s a lot more combat power somewhere. This might be a small blocking action, designed to merely cut off supply lines to Russian forces to the north. But, if we can dream, Nova Kahkovka would be an even juicer target than Kherson itself.
Nova Kahkovka is the source of water for all of Crimea, posing a major problem for Russia if it were cut off again (like it was pre-war). Just threatening the town should require that Russia reinforce it, “fixing” Russian troops desperately needed for Kherson’s defense and the offensives out east. Ukraine’s control of Crimea’s water supply would be a massive bargaining chip in any future negotiations. And depending on whether bridges survived any action, Ukraine would have a western approach to Melitopol—the logistical hub for supplies coming from Crimea to Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine. It would be bye-bye “land bridge,” connecting Crimea to mainland Russia.
This effort is analogous to Ukrainian counter-offensives around Kharkiv in the north, which have put pressure on Russia’s supply lines to the Izyum salient. As a result, Russia has been forced to peel away forces from Izyum to reinforce their logistical hubs and arrest further Ukrainian gains toward the Russian border.
By all indications, the southern axis is Russia’s least-resourced. If Ukraine gets traction, Russia will need to divert critically needed units from the Donbas fight, and that, by itself, would be a major win.
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