local run of kubrick movies means I finally got to see barry lyndon and I was just blown away

We have an unhealthy unspoken media agreement in this country that you can’t point out that someone harbors objectively insane, delusional beliefs that should disqualify them from being anywhere near a position of power if said beliefs are colorably linkable to a mainstream religious worldview.

Burchett is right: the most DC thing ever *is* a member of Congress blaming the city for something he and his colleagues did themselves.

The Beck-now-Carlson "sorry for all that" profiles are running, Cabinet members are resigning, and Trump's approval rating will likely never be above 40% again. Perfect time to keep pretending like what happened yesterday in Virginia is worse than ICE murders, worse than losing a war in Iran, etc.

Republicans have to pretend like the VA gerrymander is the worst thing ever in politics because when they're done shedding crocodile tears for the Trump era they want to be able to pick up working the refs right where they left off.

The Virginia Gerrymander Disenfranchises Republicans Republicans seem to have expected that Democrats would continue to follow rules they had long since enthusiastically abandoned.

Republicans loved gerrymandering as long as their opponents were committed to fair maps. Now that Dems are responding in kind, conservatives aren’t having as much fun. But the only thing worse than constitutional hardball is unilateral constitutional hardball. (🎁) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Death rates at ICE detention facilities raise concerns about health standards: Study Death rates in immigration detention are nearing record highs, raising concerns among physicians regarding the health service standards at federal facilities.

At least 17 people have already died in ICE custody this year—outpacing every other past Administration.

ICE has a shameful & egregious record of violating people's rights, traumatizing children, & killing our neighbors.

i think it is cool that the president of the united states routinely slurs black people as biological inferior

You can’t do that to rural voters! What are they, black people? bsky.app/profile/coll...

Another war Trump started and lost

the conservative reaction to the virginia results remind me quite a bit of their reaction to the 2012 presidential election, where they were offended that democrats ran to win

Any Dem who runs on a platform of ending every single government contract with Palantir, then hiring a team of experts to undo the damage these fascist dorks have done to our infrastructure, communications and personnel, not only has my vote, but has my donation checks and volunteer hours as well.

Happy birthday Chuck. Love you. I am also hoping about that ice cream trick.

This is quite a comment from someone who served on the FOMC for nearly four years with Kevin Warsh. He says Warsh failed to project independence at his hearing.

It is actually fascinating to watch the Washington Post try out this combination of USA Today editorial content and a WSJ opinion page. It's "laundry tips!" plus "We must slash capital gains taxes." Unfortunately for Jeff Bezos, the number of living human readers seeking this combination is zero.

republicans will yowl and piss and moan and that to my mind is all the reason to do it

Democrats did not step back. We fought back. When they go low, we hit back hard. We won Prop 50 in California, reclaimed a seat in Utah, pushed back extremists in Ohio and halted toxic GOP efforts in Indiana, New Hampshire, Nebraska and Kansas. Tonight, thanks to the relentless work of Virginia Democrats, led by Governor Abigail Spanberger, Speaker Don Scott, State Majority Leader Scott Surovell and President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas, “YES” won and Donald Trump lost. Virginians spoke with a crystal-clear voice, voting to stop the MAGA power grab and protect the integrity of free and fair elections. This war is not over. Next week, Ron DeSantis is hauling the Florida legislature back into a special session to redraw maps because Republicans know they are on the verge of an epic defeat in November. DeSantis is clearly more interested in illegal gerrymandering than lowering the high cost of living or fixing our broken healthcare system. Right now, nearly 5 million Floridians are facing higher premiums because Republicans failed to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats, just as they did with Trump’s dummymander in Texas. We will aggressively target for defeat Mario Díaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Cory Mills and Brian Mast. We are prepared to take them all on, and we are prepared to win. Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”

Hakeem Jeffries puts out a FAFO:

"We will aggressively target for defeat Mario Díaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Cory Mills and Brian Mast....

Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time"

The number of Republicans crashing out about getting nakedly gerrymandered is, unironically, a sign that we need to do more of it. You guys are correct! This shit sucks! Welcome to the party, pals! We can all stop doing it any time you like!

Screenshot of an online opinion article by the Editorial Board. The headline reads, "The Texas gerrymander freakout," with the subheadline, "What's happening in the Lone Star State is not a threat to democracy." The publication date is August 20, 2025.

​Screenshot of an online opinion article from The Washington Post by the Editorial Board. The headline reads, "Virginia plunges America deeper into the gerrymandering abyss," with the subheadline, "The redistricting scheme was always a power grab by Democrats. Voters went along with it."

The WaPo editorial board when Republicans gerrymander in Texas versus when Democrats gerrymander in Virginia.

it is very funny how these people are so accustomed to essentially bullying democratic politicians that they meltdown when met with appropriate pushback.

in any case, the process to amend the virginia constitution has multiple stages where, at any point, an amendment can be defeated.

This Is Just To Say

I have turned off
the AI features
that were in
the update

and which
you were probably
hoping
to monetize

Fuck you
they were stupid
so unnecessary
and so annoying

my initials are JAR so I can't possibly accuse Eric of having another name, even a cool star war one

never have never will

one of the ways the mid to late 20th century political world has distorted the historical memories of even sophisticated observers is in the idea that you can achieve major transformations of american political life through something like bipartisan consensus

WaPo says that Warsh “promised independence” and “demonstrated seriousness” during his hearing. When asked who won the 2020 election, he basically hid under the table. Promises of independence from someone so cowed and cowardly are less than meaningless.

as @dorwright.bsky.social already mentioned, it's obviously Charlton Heston

WINK

we all know I have no life, so:

[guy who asked the computer to create the most racist electoral maps in history]

gerrymandering is not good.

Nothing has killed more soldiers in the history of humanity than disease. While worst is a more complicated question Hegseth is absolutely the dumbest secretary of defense the United States has ever had. bsky.app/profile/ones...

2025 Politico headline: Trump on Texas redistricting: ‘We are entitled to 5 more seats’

John Gramlich skeet quoting Trump in NYT today: Trump: “I don’t know if you know what gerrymandering is, but it’s not good.”

A sowing/reaping for the ages