The SpaceX term used when one of their rockets blows up in their face is “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly“. (Yes, really, here is their twitter account using that term). We got that “explanation” for the test flights on Jan 16th and more recently on Mar 6th. It is a term that fools absolutely nobody, we all know that what they planned and what actually happened parted ways a few minutes into the flight.
In a similar manner …
Yes, you can see where this is going, so let’s get into it. They might indeed have planned for specific things to happen, but when they act then the inevitable catastrophic and quite devastating failure is the outcome due to complete and utter incompetence. It is also an outcome that hits us all, and so here are a few notable examples from this past week.
- He created this bullshit. The national emergency is Donald Trump. It all hits the brick wall of financial reality and so the stock market rendered judgement.
Apparently not buying a Tesla is now “Illegal” according to the idiot-in-chief …
- This is how you know the boycott is effective
- Seeing them all buy Teslas is going to be hilarious … especially after their campaign to have charging stations eliminated and whining about the existence of EVs.
Oh, and also this gem of a claim happened – apparently it is all Biden’s fault …
- The same ATL Fed projected LAST MONTH that the economy was going to GROW over 2% in Q1. They just CHANGED THEIR PROJECTION last week because of how Trump is handling the economy. Hassett knows this better than most, so he’s intentionally lying.
Apparently Science is fast becoming a memory and not something we don’t actually do anymore …
- Once we lose our medical researchers as they migrate abroad to promising projects, they won’t come back.
No UMass biomedical graduates , all offers for that withdrawn …
- This is all a consequence of voting for the idiot – it was a vote to fire veterans, kick the elderly off social security, kick the poor off Medicaid, and also (as reported above) starve children.
- To those surprised by this then here is a quick link to remind you of his well-established track record of stealing money from charities. (Past behaviour is an indicator of future behaviour).
Seth Gruber can’t understand why “there have been more serious airplane ‘accidents’ and ‘incidents’ with domestic passenger planes in the last 3 months than in the last decade.”
- It is of course all just a coincidence that DOGE have laid off lots of FAA people
… and for this next one, yes Whiskey (Canadian), Tango, Actual, Foxtrot …
- It is totally illegal, and what will happen is that paying for legal fees to fight this absurdity will drain these nonprofits of funds.
Has any other crazy stuff happened during the past week?
As we all now know, “utter lunacy blended with raw stupidity” is the well-established new BAU.
Consequences
Even now some still struggle to accept the stark reality of what they have enabled, and so we get the inevitable retreat into conspiracy thinking. Apparently something “fishy as hell” must be going on: “Is this the deep state fighting back?” quips Bill Mitchell …
- No Bill, this is on you, this is what you voted for.
Meanwhile a consequence of the utterly incompetent DOGE slash and burn is that it will increase the deficit …
Ukraine
Ron has an excellent question …
The Continuing Resolution Senate Vote
This is the optics of the vote …
This was the counter-argument …
- The deep flaw in the stance taken by those Dems that voted for it is that they already are shutting down everything.
- There is literally no scope to compromise with fascists in any way for any reason … period.
- New leadership is needed.
Actions really do have consequences …
- For those who voted for it, it alienated Democratic voters – political suicide.
- AOC gets the politics of the moment. Schumer doesn’t, so he needs to be replaced if he won’t do his damn job.
As Chris Britt points out the the following cartoon, this is the message the vote sends …
House Dems trusted Senate Dems to do the right thing – that relationship of trust is now broken …
Politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and some of the older more established Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
What else can one say except perhaps to welcome you to the ides of March, a time when we celebrate a Senator stabbing you in the back.
But what about all the Fraud they are finding?
Let’s be wholly clear about this, the claim is pure BS and is nothing but propaganda.
There is a huge gulf between lots of data on millions of people and those that actually get payments. Millions of dead people are not getting checks – What Trump and Musk have said is a lie – here is Trump’s very own Trump’s social security commissioner Leland Dudek confirming this …
- Low-income elderly people and people with physical disabilities are at very high-risk of being cut lose and discarded. Right now many of these people that are utterly dependent on SS are terrified.
- It all reminds me of this quote …”the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life-the sick, the needy and the handicapped“. Does anybody know if that is an actual Hubert Humphrey quote or if he was quoting somebody else?
The Fanatical God squad
White House faith adviser Paula White says there is a narrow “prophetic season” for God to bless you, but only if you give her $133, so act now.
- Such blatant grifting … no wonder Trump loves her.
- Surely not even those stupefyingly idiotic Trump cult members will fall for this? (No sorry, silly question, of course they will).
Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau says Trump has been raised up by God to dispatch “statesmen evangelists” to spread Christianity around the world in preparation for “the great End Time harvest.“
- Religion today: Lance’s beloved Lord and Saviour, the pussy grabbing, thrice married, serial adulterer, lying con man, and convicted felon, Agolf Shitler, is currently busy crashing the economy.
- When Lance discusses the “harvest“, one can only wonder if he means the Soylent Green kind of harvest, or the Children of the Corn kind of harvest.
- People like Lance are reason why so many wish that there really would be a Rapture just to get rid of all these insufferable grifters. (Side note: I should add that most Christians are not stupid enough to embrace the Rapture mythology. The claim is more or less exclusive to the right-wing evangelicals and was a whacky idea that was invented in the 1830s).
Ben Quine of Christians Engaged warns that by teaching evolution in school, students are “being taught that the Bible is not reliable.” Such a teaching, Quine says, “brings death.“
- Ah yes, you can indeed, as many do, lean upon the “reliable” bible, a book that tells us that planet earth is 6,000 years old, that the earth was created before the sun, that snakes and donkeys talk, and contains clear instructions on how to correctly beat your slave, etc… or … you could simply use reason, evidence, and empathy to navigate your way through life.
- In other words, a literal interpretation of a metaphorical text really does have consequences.
- Yes indeed, a guy who claims to follow Jesus said that people who care about those who will die without USAID programs and the special needs children who will suffer without the DoE funds for special education are (checks notes) under demonic spells?
- Side note: “dark spiritual spells” would be a fantastic band name.
George Barna says that conservative Christians must focus on indoctrinating children into their “biblical worldview” because it’s very difficult to change the worldview of adults.
- The term for what he proposes is “grooming”.
Weirdest of the Weird
This week’s offering from Christian Nationalist pastor Joel Webbon, the guy with the tiny doll-house sized church is : “This nation is for us and our posterity. It’s not for Hindus. Its not for Muslims. And it’s not for Jews. It belongs to Christians.“
- “The purpose of separation of Church and State is to keep forever FROM THESE SHORES, the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for Centuries” – John Adams
Jail all protestors …
- Except for the Jan 6 mob, they got a “Get-out-of-Jail Free” card.
- Meanwhile that whooshing sound was the First Amendment being tossed out the window.
Political Cartoons from the past week
As always, there are many excellent cartoons. Here are a few samples. Each comes with a link to the cartoonist putting the cartoon out via BlueSky. If you are on Bluesky then you can use the link to follow them.
Media Sanewashing of Tyranny
They pandered to him and now the leopard is dining on their faces …
- “The Trump administration’s war on political speech flies in the face of the protections of the First Amendment and is intended to terrify activists into remaining quiet. There’s honestly nothing more un-American than this.” —@snipy.bsky.social
- If you treat this is just Trump bluster, then you have not been paying attention.
- What has always been clear is that the media pointlessly spent too much time on Biden’s age and should instead have focused on the unprecedented threat posed by a second Trump term.
This … seriously now, we need lots more of this …
She is right, when you having nothing to lose, then just go for it …
Social Media
Meta has flagged up a book that they really really do not want you to read …
- Sarah Wynn-Williams last week released “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism,” a book that describes a series of incendiary allegations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior by senior executives during her tenure at the company.
- They just love free speech … until it is free speech that exposes their dirty little secrets.
- Streisand Effect, do your thing: You can find it here on Amazon … and yes, the irony of getting it via Amazon is not lost on me. If getting it via Amazon is a bridge too far, then here it is via Bookshop.org. (No those are not affiliate links, nor am I being paid to promote it – Meta picked up that tab via their lawsuit)
Tim Walz is back on the road
He is heading for the districts where Republicans refuse to hold town halls …
- He gets it, but he always did, especially when his message was “They are weird“. It is tragic that Dem leadership refused to keep running with that even though he kept saying it.
- As for him being back on the road in Red Districts, here is a quote from him on that – “There was just a primal scream of folks … and what they viewed was a lack of a proper response from their representatives. These folks need to be heard. They need to be heard and be candid with you, Democratic leadership needs to hear them.”
- As in … “hey, I guess your guy didn’t show up… Have you considered voting for someone who does?” … is a winning strategy IMO
- So yes, this is a shout-out to midwestern dems who actually sort of behave like sane human beings sometimes
He was also speaking out on MSNBC as well this past week, telling it as it really is …
Finally
Regarding Elon’s claim that Ukraine attacked Twitter …
- … he also needs to wear a suit when he says thank you, resign from Tesla and SpaceX boards, and also let’s make sure that Meta negotiates the deal without his input, because he has no cards.
We also saw a few item go up for sale …
The consequences of bending-the knee to the felon …
Apparently Canada has a Trade-war Nuclear weapon …
- Now that would deeply impact MAGA, especially the Christian Nationalist pastors.
As usual, the Onion nails it …
Bonus Item – Even more reasons for very modest optimism
What is fast becoming a welcomed bonus items is Robert Reich’s weekly list of — 10 reasons for modest optimism — This week’s list includes these items …
- The Trump slump is worsening.
- Trump’s support continues to tank.
- Musk’s claimed savings don’t exist, and his businesses are going down the toilet.
- The FBI is moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration.
- Trump’s “beautiful bill” is stranded.
- Bernie is rallying the Democrats
- A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general has sued Trump, and the federal courts are becoming even more active in stopping him.
- Oligarchs are revealing themselves for who they really are.
- Other nations are uniting against Trump, and the global right is losing ground.
- Americans will soon feel the effects of the Trump-Musk chainsaw.
Here is his full substack posting that covers each of the above in more detail and explains why there really is now some optimism in play.