Chicken Scratch

A real human (not a bot), but without coffee, my husband may disagree. Expert lurker. Retweets mostly my personal bookmarks.

[ChrisO_wiki @ChrisO_wiki]

1/ Russian sources expect that as well as purchasing Russian oil and diesel, Donald Trump will provide Russia with spare parts to repair the refineries damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes. They anticipate that Trump's fuel deal will lead to a Russian victory. ⬇️

[Andrea Mitchell @mitchellreports]

National Park Service about to chop down up to 529 trees from municipal golf course Trump trying to take over telling federal judge they don’t contribute to the “historic landscape” - no arborist could possibly have said that. Or anyone who’s visited that park along the Potomac

[Tex-Mex Patriot @rojawi]

USPS has hired security company Prosegur to station 1,000 armed guards at post offices primarily in blue states. Prosegur has a history of human rights violations in Brazil.
https://t.co/N78FsE67a9

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Daughter of Trump's Chief of Staff is being paid $35k/month working for the Russians in the Balkans.

The new @gop 100% belongs to Putin.

[Gregory Travis @greg_travis]

I am an affluent white male who was born 62 years ago in Boston, Massachusetts. Both of my parents were born in the USA (Cleveland and Boston)

I have lived at the same address for the past 30 years in a medium-sized Midwestern city. I have voted in every national election since 1984 when I was 20

The first time I voted, I showed up at my polling place, gave them my name and was issued a ballot

No ID, no verification other than the poll worker looked up my name in the list of registered voters

Yesterday I voted. But not before the poll worker expressed concern that my signature that I just made did not match what the machine (an iPad) said was my signature

This was >after< I presented my Real ID compliant Indiana driver's license

Another poll worker, who I know personally, intervened and I was allowed to vote

If MAGA can attempt to disenfranchise me, they will attempt to disenfranchise everyone

And with armed federal goons at the polls in 2028, that is exactly what will happen

[Bill Madden @maddenifico]

How many young people in the South are having the exact same experience as this gentleman?

[Jimmy Everest @jimmyeverest]

He cheated in 2016 and they buried the Mueller report.

He cheated in 2020 and miscalculated but got away with it... despite trying to overthrow the results.

WHAT DO YOU THINK HE DID IN 2024...   NOTHING??? ⬇️

[Liam Nissan™ @theliamnissan]

A plague that can kill you in 24 hours is rapidly spreading in Russia right now but don't worry folks, Donald Trump eliminated the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, and Elon Musk defunded the CDC

[Peter Baker @peterbakernyt]

In 2019, Trump was forced to cancel plans to hold the G7 at his own golf club amid GOP objections to self dealing. In 2026, he will hold the G20 at his own golf club and the critics have gone silent. How Trump has moved the ethical line in his second term. https://t.co/OVU9xhF3jA

[Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinger]

The whole world needs to ban ALL flights to and from Russia

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

🚨BREAKING: Georgia’s Republican-controlled election board invited the Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday to declare the state’s voting system unlawful before the upcoming midterm elections. https://t.co/niNhjdJan6

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Netanyahu picked up the 60 Minutes reporter's phone mid-interview and said "I can paint you as a monster." Say it often enough, he went on, and enough people will believe it.

He described, on camera, the exact mechanism psychologists call the illusory truth effect.

Back in 1977, psychologists had people rate dozens of trivia statements across sessions spread over weeks. Repeated statements got rated more true, whether they were true or not. Your brain reads easy-to-process as accurate, and nothing processes easier than something you've already heard. A 2015 Vanderbilt study made it worse. Repetition raises believability even when you already know the correct answer.

Phones turned this from a lab finding into statecraft. An algorithm optimizing for engagement serves you the same claim dozens of times from dozens of accounts, and every pass makes it feel a little more true.

I pulled the full transcript. He wasn't bragging about doing this to anyone. He was complaining it's being done to Israel, calling social media an eighth front of the war and blaming the collapse in American support, now 60% unfavorable per Pew and up nearly 20 points in four years, almost entirely on manipulated feeds.

So the man complaining that repetition turned the world against his country explained the technique so precisely that a clip of him explaining it now spreads as proof he uses it.

The mechanism doesn't care who's holding the phone.

[Bad Fox Graphics @BadFoxGraphics]

Ethan Harper, the aide holding up the poster falsely accusing Jack Smith of colluding with Fani Willis, graduated from Harvard Law School

https://t.co/qERx9snxCg

[kyama @kyamawebb23]

Just saw a commercial on CBS praising Trump, I thought it was a political ad paid for by some super PAC. Instead, at the end, it said ‘Paid for by the US Government’, translation, paid for with your tax dollars. I don’t recall corruption this blatant ever…

[Don Winslow @donwinslow]

If confirmed, it means ICE has been breaking the law for almost 2 years &amp; ruined the lives of countless innocent people, including women and children.

It means America went to war against innocent people.

It means America violated basic human rights egregiously again &amp; again.

[The Tennessee Holler @TheTNHoller]

WATCH — @MarshaBlackburn gives new meaning to running for office 🏃🏻‍♀️ 🐔

No debates with in the GOP primary.
No debates with @Jerri_M_Green.
No town halls since 2017.

Why reward her with your vote?

[Liam Nissan™ @theliamnissan]

Remember Texas Longhorns fans, James Talarico attended the University of Texas at Austin as an undergrad whereas Ken Paxton was born in North Dakota, and he's a Notre Dame fan

[Joe Scarborough @ScarboroughNow]

Same as it ever was.

MAGA lies about widespread voting fraud. Never once stands up in light of day.

Always lies, conspiracy theories, and plans to wipe voters rolls of Americans who might vote against them.

Enough already. You’re boring us.

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

On the last day of his presidency, Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich. An enormous number of progressive pundits and politicians furiously condemned the pardon as shocking and beyond the pale.

Many longstanding Clinton critics were like "Oh come on. You have discovered something to criticize with seconds left on the clock of his presidency?"
In other words, the lefty condemnations of Clinton seemed more like an opportunity for some of Clinton's most indefatigable apologists to suddenly "prove" their non-partisan objectivity.

I'm getting the same vibe from a lot of longstanding Trump water carriers suddenly "shocked" by Trump's corruption, self-absorption, crudeness etc. The interesting thing is that Trump has 2 years left. I know Trump won't change. But I do wonder if the new complainers can sustain this for two more years.