Republicans scoff at the idea that Trump wants to be some kind of king or dictator. Meanwhile, his administration is investigating the "No Kings" movement without probable cause. Also, boo to Newsweek for obligingly referring to the "far-left Antifa movement" exactly as if that were a thing.

I work with processing potatoes for a living. The ugliest ones do not become French fries. They become compost. Thankfully, you are not a potato, and your beauty is revealed in other ways than slicing you into sticks and deep-frying you in oil.

We just watched this. I'm hoping the sequel ties up some of the loose ends.

I agree not to hold the school district responsible for damage caused by "Insurrection, Revolution, Civil War, or rebellion" or "Air piracy" while his English class visits the public library across the street. If that stuff happens at any other time, though, they'll hear from my attorney.

Here, Trump biographer Michael Wolff relates a story in which he asked "Trump whisperer" Sam Nunn to help him understand how Trump thinks. Nunn replied, "you just don't get it, do you? He's an idiot." Wolff expands on that: "he knows nothing about anything . . . and he's always an 'expert.'"

When I saw the CBS headline, "Bill O'Reilly claims Putin and Trump are driving global rise of evil," I was intrigued. Do Bill O'Reilly and I actually agree on something? No, apparently it's the negative reaction to Trump that's evil, not anything Trump's doing. Well, we agree on Putin, anyway.

Sounds like Tyler Robinson is a radical leftist after all. It was bound to happen eventually. There's no way so much hate could go both ways yet all the violence only go one way.

I have been trying to find compelling evidence that Tyler Robinson is a Nick Fuentes fanboy, since that seems to be common knowledge around here. I have found none. Until I do, I will make no assumption about his motive except that it was political.

For those in the back….. IT’S NOT BOTH SIDES!!

Not sure if there's been a rash of threats made to schools across the country in the last 24 hours or if there's a constant deluge of that that finally caught my attention because two of them today were my son's school and the university where I work, but a lot of schools have been getting threats.

Florida's decision to remove vaccine mandates will trigger major outbreaks in Florida, as well as the many pockets of susceptible people across the nation that are currently protected by low nationwide infection rates. Prediction: the American people will learn nothing from this.

I just filled out a rating form for a new mouse pad. After I submitted my response, the rating software asked me to rate my rating experience. No, I will not. That is absurd. You are being absurd, rating software.

In an interview on Fox News, Vice President JD Vance accused Governor Gavin Newsom of being inauthentic. In other news, there are no mirrors at Number One Observatory Circle, the official residence of the vice president of the United States.

I would have expected the Star Wars prequel trilogy to help people recognize rising authoritarianism when they see it, but no. Maybe they're watching for one giant manufactured crisis followed by one giant power grab, instead of lots of little manufactured crises and power grabs.

They say if you ever develop time travel, you have to go back and kill baby Hitler. But once you start down that road, aren't you pretty much dooming yourself to killing a long, long line of wretched, evil babies?

It's telling that 2 of the 3 most widespread false claims circulating in June are clearly right-wing in origin, and the other was originally posted by an X user whose profile pic is a guy in tactical armor posing in front of an American flag. We can thank Musk for boosting that one.

I just read that the White House's chief economist, Stephen Miran, projects that Trump's policies will reduce the fiscal deficit by $8.5 - 11 trillion over the next decade. His calculation hinges on the tax cuts and deregulation stimulating the economy SO MUCH. Because that's always worked before.

I almost wish I hadn't caught my typo just now. I would have liked to have reported that we evaluated our new potato variety in a grower's field in "North Dagoba."

Vance Boelter has been captured not far from his Minnesota home. www.cnn.com/us/live-news...

The most sober, clear-headed, succinct assessment of Elon Musk's character I've heard. youtube.com/shorts/w2rmB...

Who knew that masked, unidentified ICE agents kidnapping people across the country could lead to this kind of hostility and suspicion toward federal agents in general? Huh. www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...

It sounds like some in the MAGA cult have spotted the little man behind the curtain. Some think Trump turned on them. Some even think he was fooling them all along. Turns out, they don't like the idea of a national citizen database any more than we do. www.newsweek.com/donald-trump...

I love the new Minnesota flag. The sucky old version suddenly became very popular with conservatives here once they knew it was being replaced partly for its racist imagery, which shows how much of conservatism is just blindly opposing any position the Democrats take.

This is for anyone who, like me, would like to spend just a few minutes imagining the current situation in American politics ends well. Don't take it too seriously. We don't know how things will go, and any prognostication is a fantasy. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

If you don't like being called a duck, don't quack like a duck. www.msn.com/en-us/news/p...

I saw a video today that explained why Trump's tariff policies won't boost U.S. manufacturing much. Basically, it takes at least a year to get a new factory up and running well enough to be profitable, and nobody knows what the tariffs will be in a year. It's too risky.

The narrator shouts the whole way through.

Just saw an article about how younger generations are no longer interested in finding a "starter home." I thought of my neighbors, whose parents thought their house was a good starter home, and who have never planned to move out of it. Any house you can afford these days is your forever home.

A new pope has been elected. Cardinal Robert Prevost is now Pope Leo XIV. While it looks like I disagree with him on the things I always disagree with popes on, Laura Loomer thinks he's "another Marxist," so that's a good sign.

Trump on rising costs caused by his tariffs: "Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls." He wanted to give a generic example of what the average American kid gets for Christmas each year, and he came up with "30 dolls." Fascinating.

Someone made a comment about how we Americans would end our trade wars once we realized we'd have to eat our own cheese. For me, this has been an education in how being ridiculed can make you double down on your position. You dare insult our cheese??! DOUBLE THE TARIFFS! TRIPLE THEM!!!!

I went looking for resources on how to defeat a demagogue. I found this. It's a lot of sound advice that not many people are following when it comes to Trump. Mostly, treat him seriously. Don't call him an orange clown or mock his supporters. Talk issues and solutions. otiswhite.com/how-to-deal-...

The simplest message is the one that gets through. I think Moukawsher tries to characterize the left's response to George Floyd's murder in good faith, but he's missing all the nuance, probably because nuance is harder to remember than "all cops are bastards." tinyurl.com/55zbrt6u

@siciliansapien1.bsky.social @sophiemom.bsky.social @froggleggs.bsky.social @molly-bee.bsky.social @norariversbskysoc.bsky.social @mikethegoatguy.bsky.social @sherrydrauniam.bsky.social WELL, IT'S "FORTUNATE SON" FRIDAY NIGHT ACROSS MAGASTANLANDIA #NoKings #NoDictators #2028Bitches

thinking of one of abraham lincoln's great quotes this morning: "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy."

There's an article in Runner's World about running a faster 5k. It recommends 4-6 aerobic runs per week, plus 1-2 speed workouts, plus 2-3 weightlifting workouts. A total of 7 to 11 workouts per week. Yeah, no. Not in this universe.

So some conservatives are now buying Teslas to counter the left's backlash against Musk and Tesla. It figures conservatives would only do something to reduce their carbon footprint if they could own the libs by doing it.

In the past week, I've gotten "we miss you!" messages from an electrician and a bike shop. I guess they don't realize they're in lines of business that customers don't use regularly. "Ope! Time for spring outlet installation!" "Is it the 13th already? I gotta figure out a bike part to buy!"

What a different world we could have.

As a child of the 80s, even as a Democratic child of the 80s, I struggle to understand how it turned out to be the *Republicans* selling us out to the Ruskies. I mean, I follow the timeline and everything, but they had SUCH an anti-Russian brand back in the day.

If you're as stressed about everything and all as I am, maybe seeing this Photoshopped depiction of a young girl being SO HAPPY to receive a rectangular Pyrex bowl with a bamboo lid for Christmas will take the edge off for a few minutes!

This scene was described as "An introvert's dream home" in a meme. I don't always relate to memes about introverts, but this time, I really feel seen.

Fascinating cognitive dissonance. The man saw Obama's character with his own eyes. He acknowledged it. Yet he still believed Obama was corrupt. No notion that maybe he'd been misled by people with much less character than Barack Obama. youtube.com/shorts/s5m0-...

I don't know if people have seen this, but it's a rare example of character in action. She made a big mistake on January 6, but she insists on facing the consequences because it's the right thing to do. I've got to respect that. www.bbc.com/news/article...

TIL that Steve Bannon and I agree on taxing the wealthy (and not the middle class or working class) to rein in the deficit. I'm not sure how "tax the rich a LOT more" fits in with Bannon's political worldview, but it apparently does.

I'm not sure I'm built for social media. I can't resist commenting, but every time I open Bluesky and see that I've got notifications, my immediate thought is, "uh-oh. What did I do now?"

On the one hand, I'm honored that Reese Withersppon spontaneously decided to follow me. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that isn't Reese Witherspoon, posting nothing but pictures of Reese Witherspoon with hearts for text. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

The inflation rate stands at 2.1%. Unemployment is at 4.1%. GDP growth is 2.8%. We are holding Russia at bay in Ukraine, and we have the respect of the free world. Americans just voted to change all that. Because we have a moderate influx of illegal immigrants committing crimes at low rates.