ostrakon.bsky.social

Dear Dems, Sure what happened early this morning is certainly illegal under international law and probably under US law, but showing support for Maduro is not a winning proposition. Far better to investigate the grift that’s going to be part of our “running” of Venezuela.

I doubt there will be too many tears shed for Maduro. I hope there will be many tears shed over our disregard for international law and the US Constitution.

Rest in peace, Mr. Lehrer. Hope you can spend your forever having a pleasant spring afternoon poisoning pigeons in the park.

The neighborhood gang. Good deer gone bad.

If the “Big, Beautiful Bill” were really that beautiful, why is it necessary for the GOP to be begging, buying and brandishing threats to get it passed? They know it’s immoral and will harm many of their constituents, but they’re afraid to lose their place on grifter gravy train.

Dear Dems, It’s nice to see you staying focused and on message fighting the “Big Beautiful Bill.” It’s important to remember that if we have any hope of saving our democracy, we must look at this struggle as a marathon and not a sprint. You might lose this battle, but you cannot lose the war.

The Supremes side stepped the issues of birthright citizenship and gerrymandering this term because they are afraid to confront Trump directly. Theydecided to not decide. They did expand their power because now they are the only court with national jurisdiction. Justice is indeed blind.

Do we finally have proof of reincarnation?

Las Angeles has been in the news quite a bit lately. Interesting fact, with a population of around 3.8 million, the nation’s second largest city has more people than something like 22 of the states. If it were a state, it would have 7 members of Congress.

History shows time and time again that getting into a war is a whole lot easier than getting out. Getting out is easier than securing a lasting peace. Once you unleash the dogs of war, no one can predict how it will end or whom they will destroy.

Seems if ICE were to raid all the hotels, farms, packing houses and construction sites, those businesses would have to close. The owners of these companies are livid that their livelihoods are being taken and have let their ire be known. Guess immigrants are essential workers after all, Steve

Dear Senators, One of your own was just forcibly removed from a press conference for exercising his right to free speech. Don’t you realize that even those of you who support the president could face this kind of treatment when he turns on you? Will you at least stand up for your institution?

Could someone explain to me why it’s alright for states to take responsibility for potentially tens of billions in damage from a natural catastrophe but the federal government has to step in when a few cars go up in flames?

Not sure why this is so difficult. Any leader who infringes on our constitutionally protected right to free expression commits a crime against our laws and our people. They do so at their own peril.

Taking the kids to the lake on a hot, muggy day.

It seems only some crimes are crimes. Grifting is fine, seeking a better life is not. Stay peaceful because they would love to have a protest get out of hand. That would give them all the pretense they need to use force- and America would feel it was justified. They win.

Eighty years ago today, 160,000 men -many boys really- landed on the French coast in history’s largest amphibious assault. A few thousand of them died that day. It opened an another major front against the horrors that were the Third Reich. Would we make those sacrifices to fight fascism today?

Killing people for who they are, where they come from, or what they believe is wrong. Always has been and always will be. Not sure why this is so difficult.

Seems “blue America” has been designated as “sanctuary” jurisdictions. Next the feds will launch a policy of open discrimination- cutting funding, opening investigations and interfering in local affairs. Fascist Handbook: Create an emergency, use it as an excuse to go after enemies of state.

Can someone explain to me why “judicial overreach” is so much worse than executive overreach? The Founders never intended for presidents to rule by decree. Even King George III couldn’t do that.

America, time to face the truth. We have a huge debt problem. Ignoring it will raise interest rates, slow growth, and possibly cause an economic collapse. Or we can cut spending, causing millions to go without basic necessities. Or we can raise taxes. Anyone who tells you differently is a liar.

When the weak walk into the lair of an ogre, they must be the smarter one. If they are not, they should stay away because they’ll be eaten to amuse the audience.

Dictating to private companies where they should build their products and what to tell consumers about pricing seems to smell of government control of the economy- that’s communism folks. The message is, If you don’t follow the script, bad things might happen to your big, beautiful business.

A couple dozen or so dead and lots of damage from vicious weather, and crickets from the White House- not even trite expressions like “thoughts and prayers.” Why? Probably because of the war against FEMA and because weather events might imply climate change and that phrase has been banned.

“To understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty.” - Napoleon For our current president, that was 1966 and that explains a lot.

We are transitioning from an imperfect democratic republic to an authoritarian, kleptocratic oligarchy - with the oligarchs, the authoritarians and the kleptocrats using each other to consolidate their power. At some point they will turn on each other, but by that time democracy will be dead.

Dear Dems, IMHO, what we are seeing is not politics as usual. Once you strip away the culture wars smoke screen, it’s an assault on democracy. The Constitution created a republic where power was held by white, male property holders. We became more democratic and that’s what they want to change.

Glad we’re going to cut our tariff on Chinese goods for 90 days. That means basic consumer goods from China will only be 30% more expensive rather than completely unavailable. Good news, the shelves won’t be empty — that’s a bad look. Bad news, you’ll be able to afford 30% less.

“Liberal”Justice Souter was nominated by GHW Bush, whose father, Prescott, had been GOP senator from CT. While no saint, he supported Planned Parenthood, the United Negro College Fund, the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, opposed poll taxes and condemned McCarthy. The GOP has changed.

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Constitutionally prescribed presidential oath.

Driving back from the grocery store, I watched an obviously homeless, elderly woman on crutches struggling to push her world in a shopping cart over to a bench to sit in the shade. Those of us who claim to be Christians and vote to shred the remaining tatters of our safety net, are hypocrites.

It’s not about whether your daughter has 2 dollies or 30. It’s about whether we can afford cars, clothes, shoes and socks. Good jobs would be great, but if manufacturing returns, it will be highly mechanized with little employment and no unions. Lose-lose for us, win- win for them.

Mom guarding her hangry fuzz balls

The GOP wants 2 trillion in spending cuts. They’re looking at having states cover more of the cost of Medicaid and food stamps. States will have to raise their taxes or have a lot more sick and hungry citizens. But the GOP wants to keep the limits on state and local tax deductions.

Glad to see that going forward the DNC is to be a “neutral arbiter” in primary elections. Since they’ve been doing everything possible to support the status quo, that seems to be a significant change.

The war on higher education- and education in general is part of the plan. The only way for a tiny minority of plutocrats to control a much larger majority is to keep them ignorant and feed them lies. They will not seize power, we will give it to them.

Seems 4 Russian journalists are being sentenced to gulags for the crime of being journalists. Don’t you just know there’s some Putin envy in DC.

Dear CBS, Just a quick reminder. Edward R. Murrow is up on his cloud in broadcaster heaven watching to see if you uphold the standards he set all those years ago.

I was a college kid in the early ‘70’s. I remember Nixon and Watergate. Nixon’s crimes were a schoolyard prank compared to what’s going on now. But in those days, some Republicans were willing to put the interests of the nation above party loyalty. Not seeing that today. Me has replaced us.

Dear NC, Our Supremes have shown themselves to the utterly shameless. The idea that only certain types of voters, in certain counties, in one certain race have to prove they’re who they are seems to violate not only basic fairness, but the 14th amendment as well as Bush v Gore. Power corrupts.

Dear Dems, Please do not let the GOP spin the SAVE act as just making elections fair. It’s much more than that. It would make voting more difficult for married women who changed their name, anyone without a certified birth certificate and a passport. Biggest disenfranchisement since Jim Crow.

Facing the storm. Anyone else feel that way?

According to the CBO, families in the top 10% of the income distribution now own 69% of the nation’s wealth. The families in the lower 50% control only 6%. No wonder feeling pissed off seems the default setting. The GOP feeds on that anger, but their policies caused it. Most Dems ignore it.

Hot air is expelled from an orifice and the Dow jumps 2,500 points. Something is seriously amiss when billions ride on the daily pronouncements of one person.

Can’t wait until we gut the Food and Drug act, completely discount sciences and return to the 19th century.

Dear NC, 10% of our public school teachers quit last year-because of low salaries and lack of respect. Our legislators plan to put warm bodies in classrooms by no longer requiring teachers to hold credentials and increasing class size. Tax cuts, not the education of our children is the priority.

I find it amazing that when you look at the daily graph of the Dow-Jones, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ, they look the same. I’m no expert but when three different indexes all show exactly the same pattern over three days, that seems to me that it’s all program trading or manipulation. What gives?

Dear Bluesky, Been seeing lots of finger pointing posts lately. Ok, there’s some blame to be apportioned, but sowing division is no way to fix the immediate problem. The first rule in the authoritarian handbook is keep people divided until you consolidate your power.

“Every breath you take, every move you make, I’ll be watching you.”

The GOP warning about the deficit crisis was a charade. They’re adding 5 trillion to the debt ceiling while cutting income tax rates but increasing spending on the military and the border. Debt obviously only matters when Dems spend on poor people, not when the GOP cuts taxes on the rich.