Jake B

[Erick Erickson @EWErickson]

For the better part of a decade, Republicans built a movement on two promises. The first was to “drain the swamp” — Donald Trump’s 2016 vow, hashtagged 79 times in the campaign’s final three weeks, to end the culture of self-dealing in Washington. The second was to expose the “Biden Crime Family,” the label House Republicans attached to their multi-year investigation of Hunter and James Biden’s foreign business. That probe established that Biden relatives received more than $10 million from foreign sources — but never produced evidence tying the payments to an official act by Joe Biden.

Set that standard next to the conduct now documented in the administration’s own financial disclosures and in the pages of major global media outlets, and a troubling pattern emerges. The people who promised to drain the swamp are cashing in.

https://t.co/jjdZ7uKbfw

[Jeremiah Johnson 🌐 @JeremiahDJohns]

This is fascinating to me, because beyond the surface level it illuminates why conservatives are often so full of shit.

The baseline here is that there's a heatwave, and Mamdani asked New Yorkers to adjust their thermostats to help the grid. This is regular practice in red and blue areas of the country. Daniel posts a defiant "I'm not gonna do what mommy tells me!" style post. He surely thinks he's a very clever boy here.

Now if the message is "This is a free country, and I love my AC, and by god it's my house and no government bureaucrat can force me to change", then fine. Sure. But there is no law being proposed here. No police are bursting down your door demanding to check your thermostat. It's a request from a community leader, a polite ask that you engage in a very small pro-social sacrifice.

You would think conservatives would understand the idea that local communities should pull together in times of need. For the 'common good', perhaps. You'd think. And that they'd be happy if no government force was involved, if they could act merely because they had strong moral character and believed in private charitable action.

"Nobody should ever ask anyone to sacrifice for the common good, even if it's just a polite request" is just dipshit nihilism.

But I suspect Daniel doesn't actually believe in those conservative ideas. Or if he does, they're a distant second to the true guiding star of conservative thought: owning the libs. Given the chance to help people or own the libs, conservatives will always own the libs. Given the chance to demonstrate strong principles or own the libs, they'll always abandon the principle to own the libs. The actual philosophy of the right is merely "We hate the left". And it's sad.

[Chad Brown @chadbrown94]

There are SO many perfect ways to sum up the current administration and the people who support it but this Reflecting Pool saga has to be top 5.

It has all the hallmarks -
Seeing a problem where there isn’t one.
Using that fake problem to provide cover for ACTUAL problems.
Massive lack of knowledge/understanding.
Insisting that the solution is easy/simple/cheap.
Turning to lies and spin when their easy/simple/cheap promises fall apart.
Blame others for the problems, making up enemies along the way.
Getting their people to repeat the lies and the spin and to blame the made up enemies for the problems that follow.

We are in a sad place when the people telling these lies and spin really think everyone is as dumb (with a b!) as their most hardcore supporters. Too many lies have been told. The playbook is so obvious at this point. I can only be hopeful that their time as leaders will be short and we all can return to dealing with real issues with real solutions.

[WayneTronics @Tronicssystem]

Right wing propaganda is some of the coldest shit I’ve ever seen.

[David Burge @iowahawkblog]

This is Noah Shannon, model citizen, slated to be Hawkeye senior defensive captain 2023. He had guilt pangs for having bet $10 on the Iowa Women's Basketball team in the 2023 NCAA tournament. The only bet he ever made. He turned himself in to coaches for the transgression who forwarded it to the NCAA.

They ruled him inelligible for the entire season, effectively ending his career. If the NCAA allows someone else to play after making thousands of bets, including many on his own team, I am going to fucking riot

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

This New York Times piece is worth your time. Here’s what is happening, as simply as I can put it.

Back in January, Trump sued the IRS, an agency he controls, demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns a number of years ago.

IRS lawyers did their jobs. They wrote a memo laying out the defenses that could beat the suit, including the fact that Trump filed too late. His own lawyer was in court when the leaker pleaded guilty in October 2023, more than two years before Trump sued.

The Justice Department never showed up to court. Never argued back. Never used the defenses sitting on their desk.

The judge got suspicious and ordered both sides to explain whether they were actually opposing each other or just colluding. The day before that brief was due, Trump dropped the suit.

Same day, his Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization fund.” 

Trump gets a formal apology. The IRS agrees to drop any audits of him and his family, even though a 2024 Times report found a loss in an ongoing audit could cost him over $100 million.

The acting Attorney General, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, picks the five commissioners who decide who gets paid. Trump can fire any of them. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not ruled out.

This is the most corrupt thing I’ve ever seen from an American president.

Where in the hell are my Republican colleagues?

https://t.co/La0nlLuz1r

[Spurs Culture @SpursCulture]

Dirtiest team in the NBA

[Jamie Bonkiewicz @JamieBonkiewicz]

Donald Trump has pardoned more than 70 people convicted of fraud

[Sonny Bunch @SonnyBunch]

Look, on the one hand, “The Boys” has really leaned into the “Homelander is Trump” thing, sometimes to the detriment of the show. But then you remember they shot this probably a year ago and, well, haha, joke’s on us!

[NASA @NASA]

We see our home planet as a whole, lit up in spectacular blues and browns. A green aurora even lights up the atmosphere. That's us, together, watching as our astronauts make their journey to the Moon.

[Jeremiah Johnson 🌐 @JeremiahDJohns]

I know it's boring and repetitive to talk about how grossly evil Trump is, but the fact remains: Trump is grossly evil, in a way that's pretty much unprecedented in this country.

[HawkeyeReport.com @HawkeyeReport]

Alvaro for three!!

[Bad Fox Graphics @BadFoxGraphics]

Calling news organizations “dumb cunts” for reporting facts is lucrative

[Cato Institute @CatoInstitute]

Trump’s second-term pardons are historic in their enormity—billions in fines erased, allies protected, donors rewarded, DOJ undermined, and election norms threatened. Corruption looks less like an exception and more like the rule, says Cato’s Dan Greenberg.
https://t.co/rR2YH0O7py

[Annie Wu (all socials: @annie_wu_22) @Annie_Wu_22]

“wHaT RaDiCaLiZeD yOu?”

idk, im not a piece of shit