Boise doesn't have to "fly" the Pride flag

Two weeks ago Lisa Needham of Daily Kos reported that Mark Zuckerberg, well, the social media industry, lost two lawsuits. This was in the news a lot so likely this is old news to you. The general complaint of one suits is the design of social media platforms – not the content on the platforms – is what is addictive to preteens. In addition, the platform designers knew that the design is addictive and that is why they chose that design. Both cases prove the companies want maximum profit even if what they do is dangerous to children. In the first suit the woman who brought it was awarded $6 million. In the second, the state of New Mexico was awarded $375 million. A large number of other suits around the country have been waiting for the results of this one. Also two weeks ago Shawn510 of the Kos community discussed an article by Paul Krugman. Krugman’s basic point is that immigration to the US has collapsed and it’s not because of policy, but because of fear. It may be spun as political success, but is actually economic sabotage. The US service industry – hotels, ride shares, landscaping, etc. runs on immigrant labor. In hospitality 31% of workers are immigrants. In agriculture it’s over half. In construction it’s over 30%. This is the backbone of daily life. These workers also pay taxes and support Social Security. When the workforce shrinks, economies shrink. Immigration is about the only thing working against that. We’re sending the message the US isn’t a place of opportunity, but of risk. Workers, students – talent – goes elsewhere. That shift doesn’t reverse easily. We’re not protecting the country, we’re hollowing it out. This is not something the public is asking for. A couple days ago Lisa Needham of Kos reported that the Justice Department is on its way to becoming a ghost town. Because the nasty guy wants it as a tool of vengeance only true believers and new, inexperienced attorneys are still around. The usual stacks of applications aren’t coming in. A lot of Judge Advocate Generals are being called in as replacements. Yes, JAGs are military lawyers who don’t know so much about civilian law. Yes, this is legal, though has never been done on this scale. Having JAGs work on Justice Department cases has an advantage. Because they’re military, they can’t quit. They also can’t refuse to do the nasty guy’s building. But shortages and inexperience means cases get dropped, such as when a defendant demands a speedy trial, which comes with a deadline.

Turns out that when you fire tons of people and demand that the remainder act unethically, you end up short-staffed. Who knew?

Down in the comments of today’s pundit roundup for Kos are a couple cartoons worth mentioning. The first is by Stephen Lillie. It shows a scene similar to the end of the movie Planet of the Apes, though this time those encountering the scene are the Artemis II astronauts and the statue looks like the nasty guy. The astronauts say, “Oh my God, we’re back!” The other cartoon is by Daniel Boris. He shows Putin saying to his smiling generals, “Now we just sit back and let Trump be Trump.” Haadiya Tariq of the Idaho Press reported the Idaho state legislature wrapped up its session last week and included several anti-LGBTQ bills. One demanded that the Pride flag could not be flown on city or county property. Another would require health care providers and schools report children that express interest in gender transition. The Boise City Hall at first kept their Pride flags flying because the bill didn’t include any enforcement mechanism. The legislature quickly changed that. But the city wanted to tell its gay citizens are still welcome. So instead of “flying” the Pride flag they wrapped the flag around the flagpoles. Pictures at the link. There is also a rainbow that clings to windows with the words, “Creating a city for everyone,” that appeared en many city hall windows. And a heart shaped rainbow sticker has appeared in many storefronts. Boise? Cool!

Federal agencies can simply be replaced by banks of computers

The nasty guy, the vice nasty, and the war nasty have been claiming they are doing their war-mongering with the encouragement and blessings of Jesus. Pope Leo has been doing a pretty good job saying those statements definitely do not align with what Jesus taught. Denver11 of the Daily Kos community wrote:

From the story at Alternet:

“In January, behind closed doors at the Pentagon, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre — Pope Leo XIV’s then-ambassador to the United States — and delivered a lecture,” said Hale. “America has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world,” Colby and his associates informed the cardinal. “The Catholic Church had better take its side.”

It even got to the point where Colby

“reached for a fourteenth-century weapon and invoked the Avignon Papacy, the period when the French Crown used military force to bend the bishop of Rome to its will.” Apparently Colby and his team were flummoxed that the Pope didn’t particularly like the [nasty guy]’s “might makes right” approach to diplomacy.

Don’t expect the pope to attend the American 250th birthday party. At 12:30 pm yesterday Oliver Willis of Kos posted an article about the Iran cease fire deal.

After the U.S. and Iran announced a ceasefire on Tuesday night, many of the details appeared to favor Iran’s cause, giving that nation more power in the Middle East than it had before President Donald Trump’s decision to engage in a bombing campaign. Despite this, the Trump administration took a victory lap that seems detached from the reality of the situation.

In the comments of a pundit roundup for Kos are a couple good articles and a couple good tweets. A comment by kurious discussed an article titled Dark Enlightenment Rising: The Billionaire Experiment to Kill Democracy, from the Hartmann Report of 3/21/25, a year ago. I don’t know why kurious is discussing it now. A couple excerpts of what kurious quoted:

A radical ideology known as the Dark Enlightenment is fueling a billionaire-led movement to gut our government, erase democratic norms, and install a technocratic elite in their place. Trump and Musk aren’t just tearing down institutions—they’re laying the groundwork for an experimental new kind of authoritarian rule. ... The audacious experiment Musk has embarked on — which Trump probably doesn’t even understand — involves the fundamental transformation of America from a nation ruled by its own people into one where decisions are made by a very specific elite group of self-selected “genius” white male technocrats… ...And once AI reaches the ability to think with the intelligence of a genius-level human...some of these guys believe that most of the decision-makers and agencies of the federal government can simply be replaced by banks of computers, deciding who gets what, when, and why.

In a later comment stream RandomNonviolence wrote:

Yep — first question: What is the purpose of an economy? 1. Facilitate the buying and selling of useful products for people 2. Provide jobs to workers 3. Ensure high profits for investors Second question: What is the purpose of AI? 1.Help produce more useful products and services for people 2.Reduce the number of workers 3. Ensure high profits for investors Right now, the third answer seems to dominate in each case. Maybe listening to what the humanities have to say might give us another answer.

A ways further down is a tweet by Richard Farr:

So we went to war with a country but during that period never once stopped their ability to pump nor ship oil. We allowed that to continue despite them blowing up our regional bases and their repeated attacks on their neighbors. They then shut down an international waterway, held the whole world hostage by it, and we just agreed they can control and charge fees for that waterway going forward. Meanwhile the regime didn’t change. They still have nuke materials and missiles. Americans are dead. We’ve spent and lost billions. But our leader claims we won the war.

And a tweet by Robert Pape:

The Iran ceasefire is being called a “pause.” It is not. It’s a revelation: The U.S. used overwhelming force – and still could not control the outcome. That’s a structural shift in power.

Emily Singer of Kos reported that the nasty guy has threatened to commit war crimes in Iran, yet that has “left the public screaming at Democrats to do something.” Like what? They don’t have control of levers of government. They don’t have power to actually stop the nasty guy. Many Democrats are saying how much they oppose what the nasty guy is doing. They are even calling on the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and forced multiple war powers resolutions to the floor that would call for Congressional approval of any more military action. They don’t have enough votes in the House for impeachment or in the Senate for conviction.

Just look at the responses to Democratic lawmakers’ criticism of Trump’s latest disturbing threats; they’re filled with leftists demanding action from Democrats and slamming their statements as weak and ineffective. But, sit down while I tell you this, that anger is severely misdirected and wildly unhelpful to actually stopping Trump. Rather than blame Democrats for “not doing something”—as many on social media accounts have been doing since Trump issued his threat—the public's anger should be directed at Republican lawmakers, who have both the House and Senate majorities and thus the actual power to stop this insanity. ... Anyone screaming at Democrats to do something needs to explain what, exactly, they think that Democrats can do at this point. And without a convincing answer to that question, they need to stop with the Democrat-blaming nonsense.

Audrey Carleton, in an article for Capital & Main posted on Kos reported that climate organizations have added another cause to their mission – fighting authoritarianism. For that they are starting to join up with organizations who protest ICE and the nasty guy’s administration in general.

The shift in strategy comes amid mounting environmental deregulation — there is an abundance of climate policy rollbacks on which these groups might normally focus — and a growing threat from the federal government to quash left-wing activism. ... The moves are also strategic — leaders say addressing what they see as fascism is a necessary precondition to climate action.

Helping in other movements is also a good way to recruit for your own. A tweet by Paul Rudnick from a couple weeks ago:

Trump can't read so he gets his briefings on video. Hegseth won't read because it's not manly. Rubio denies being able to read, to fit in. Pam Bondi fears reading because it's usually a subpoena.

A decision maker seduced by previous military successes

My Sunday movie was A Nice Indian Boy. The story centers on Naveen, a young gay man who is a doctor. He’s rather timid. He’s also annoyed that at his sister’s wedding everyone tells him, “You’re next.” A few years later Naveen meets Jay (played by Jonathan Groff). He’s white though adopted by Indian parents so knows the culture – somewhat. They seem to fall in love quickly. This is a romance story and follows the formula. The difficulty here is when Naveen finally gets the courage to take Jay to meet his sister and parents things don’t go well, more from misunderstanding than homophobia. The second difficulty was how to fit a gay couple into a traditional Indian wedding. I enjoyed it. Nearly all of the threads of the story conclude in the way one would want. The movie has a bunch of award nominations and a few wins. Zarna Garg plays Naveen’s mother. She is an Indian American comedian. Back in mid February she was interviewed for Pridesource by Chris Azzopardi. She talked about being an ally and working to tell other parents they need to support their queer kids, well, queer people in general. As part of the interview Garg said that her friends who are gay have the highest EQ of the people she knows. I had to verify what that means – Emotional Quotient or Emotional Intelligence, the ability to recognize the emotions in themselves and others to guide thinking and behavior. Garg says she’s used to the “brown guys” who avoid emotional friction and was startled when the gays around her are so empathetic. She also tells the story of her sister, who became an ally because of the movie. The family lived in Ohio after they came from India. The sister booked theaters across Ohio, telling Indians they have an obligation to see the movie. There is no excuse, it’s all paid for. I finished the book My Government Means to Kill Me, a novel by Rasheed Newson. The story isn’t as dire as the title might sound. The phrase comes from something many LGBTQ people, especially black gay men, figure out about their interactions with the government. The story is about Trey, called that because his full name includes “III” and he’s trying to distance himself from his family. He’s black and gay. He grew up in Indianapolis in a house big enough his parents named it. In 1986 at 17 he flees to New York City, rejecting the family wealth. At first, this reads like a biography instead of a novel. But then one notices the little differences between the story and history. Trey is mentored by Bayard Rustin, the gay assistant to Martin Luther King who did a lot of work to organize the 1963 March on Washington. They meet and do most of their talking at a gay bath house and a footnote tells us there is no evidence that Rustin ever visited a bath house. That bath house is where Trey finds his community (and a whole lot of sex). Through the rest of the book there are another 80 footnotes explaining the gay cultural significance of historical people, places, and songs that Trey and others meet or mention. This is Trey’s coming of age story, including how he becomes an activist. He becomes a volunteer for Gay Men’s Health Crisis (this is the AIDS era) an early member of ACT UP, founded by Larry Kramer. One of his early actions is to tangle with Fred Trump (yes, that Fred Trump), the racist slumlord who hid behind interlocking corporations. Each chapter’s title is a lesson he as an activist needs to learn, such as: “Devils Have a Weakness.” “Allies Don’t Always Harmonize.” “The Best Spontaneous Moments are Planned,” which is about the work that was done before Larry Kramer’s famous “last minute” speech that prompted the creation of ACT UP. I enjoyed the story and recommend it as a look into the history of gay activism in the AIDS era in NYC. Though there was a lot of the story I already knew there were a few things I didn’t. Reading about a participant in this era, even if a fictional one, leads to a greater understanding of what they went through. Yes, Trey spends a lot of time in a bath house engaging in sex during the AIDS era. He speculates the reason why it was allowed to stay open is because the clientele was mostly black. The news this morning was that there is a two week ceasefire between US/Israel and Iran and that the Strait of Hormuz is open. The news this evening was the Strait was closed again and Israel is still firing on Lebanon, because Israel claimed that Hezbollah wasn’t part of the deal. Check news again in the morning. Ilan Goldenberg tweeted:

I am thankful that we have a ceasefire. It happened much faster than I expected and it was the right move. But let’s be clear that this war ends (if the ceasefire holds) as a total strategic disaster. The scorecard: Nukes: Iran still has the HEU [Highly Enriched Uranium] Proxies: no change or impact Missile and drones: Iran demonstrated its arsenal is sustainable and survivable under massive US and Israeli pressure. Strait of Hormuz: Iran’s leverage to use it as a bargaining chip has dramatically increased.

There is more, some of which I’ll summarize: + The son of the Supreme Leader has the job and is likely stronger. + US Gulf allies screwed, relations with Europe strained. + Israel is more isolated and no more secure. + Global economy: major damage. In a previous post I mentioned that the nasty guy fired Pam Bondi as Attorney General. If you still need a news article or two about it here’s one by Oliver Willis of Daily Kos and one by Lisa Needham of Kos. The second one adds that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will take the top job until a replacement can be confirmed so Needham reviews why the nasty guy likes him and why we won’t. I had also previously mentioned that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had fired – asked to take early retirement – Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, a very strange thing to do in the middle of a war. An Associated Press article posted on Kos explains who George is. Jeremy Lindenfeld, in an article for Capital & Main posted on Kos, discussed the Imperial Valley, the region in California between the Salton Sea and the Mexican border. This is a fertile area for both white and Native farmers, but only because of water from the Colorado River. Because of global warming (I hear March set a record in heat) and a drought in the West the water level in the Colorado River has dropped. A lot of farmers have adopted methods to use less water, but they may need to reduce more. Now also snooping around the valley are companies that want to mine lithium from the enormous underground reservoir of geothermal brine and to set up data centers. Both need lots of water with the Colorado River being the only source. That loss of water could drive a lot of farmers out of business. In Monday’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Heath Mayo commenting on the search and rescue effort for the downed Air Force pilot.

One emerging theme of the war effort is that (1) our military is extremely competent and extremely good at war fighting and doing its job even as (2) our political leadership that sets the strategic ends and objectives for military action has absolutely no clue what it’s doing.

David Baer of The Bulwark discussed the election in Hungary, which is this weekend. Baer’s title (from a week ago) says it well, “Orbán Will Lose Hungary’s Election in Two Weeks—If It’s Clean.” Baer then lists all the levers of power that dictator Orbán has seized or crafted for himself, enough for observers to think he can’t be removed. Then Baer describes Orbán’s opponent, Péter Magyar. So, back to that bit in the title, “If It’s Clean.” Idrees Kahloon of The Atlantic:

The Hormuz crisis has some beneficiaries: America’s adversaries. To prevent even higher oil prices, the Trump administration has lifted sanctions on Russian exports and even some of Iran’s. “Things that Iran and Russia had sought to achieve through negotiations with the United States, they’ve managed to achieve without having to negotiate,” Michael Froman, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told me. “This is bailing out the Russian economy, which had been on the ropes, and, at least temporarily, it is giving a windfall to Iran.” Russia could recoup an additional $40 billion or more in oil exports this year, which it can plow into its war effort against Ukraine. Iranian oil production may be as high as before the war.

A tweet by Gandalv, which includes a video (which I did not listen to):

Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling is not mincing words. The former Commanding General of US Army Europe says these generals were purged because they stood up against Pete Hegseth’s push to turn the US military into a Christian nationalist crusade. Retired Army Maj. Gen. Randy Manner says dozens of chaplains who don’t share Hegseth’s views are being marginalized and excluded from staff meetings. The chaplain corps exists to serve all service members regardless of faith. That apparently made Green’s position untenable. The Pope has now weighed in. Hegseth’s prayer for battlefield violence prompted a response from Rome: God does not listen to those who wage war in his name. Hertling has seen enough. So have the troops.

On Tuesday Willis reported the nasty guy had tweeted Iran should concede and do so quickly or “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Yeah, that’s a vile thing for an Oval Office Occupant to say. Experts said the particulars would likely be war crimes. Willis reminds us that back in November Democrats warned us of such things. That’s when several members of Congress released a video saying military personnel have a duty to not follow illegal orders. Of course, the nasty guy and his minions tried to make life hard for the creators of the video, especially Sen. Mark Kelly. But prosecutors weren’t able to find an actual crime that had been committed. In Tuesday’s roundup Chitown Kev quoted Shane Harris of The Atlantic:

If a...panel of experts scrutinized the run-up to the current war in Iran, their assessment might go something like this: The intelligence community was accurate and consistent in its prewar judgments about Iran’s capabilities and intentions to attack the United States and its allies. Contrary to what President Trump has said to justify his decision, the intelligence showed that the Iranian regime was not preparing to use a nuclear weapon; it did not have ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States; and in response to a U.S. military attack, Iran was likely to strike at neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf and try to close the Strait of Hormuz, precipitating a global economic crisis. All of this was known before the war and presented to President Trump. This was an intelligence success. […] The failures of the intelligence community on Iraq’s WMDs produced systemic changes meant to keep botched calls like that one from recurring. In many respects, those reforms have worked. But they couldn’t account for a decision maker who had been seduced by previous military successes into thinking that the U.S. armed forces, under his inspired and perhaps divinely endowed command, could never stumble.

In Wednesday’s roundup Dworkin included a tweet by Aaron Blake discussing the firing of AG Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche as her interim replacement.

Even in her confirmation hearing, Bondi assured cases would be judged on their merits -- "No one will be prosecuted, investigated because they are a political opponent." Here, Blanche conveys a more relaxed standard where the president just gets to order stuff.

That “here” is a tweet from Acyn:

Blanche: We have thousands of ongoing investigations going on and it is true that some of them involve men, women, and entities that the president believes should be investigated. That is his right and it is his duty to do that—meaning to lead this country.

In the comments is a tweet by David Shiffman. The image is a reworking of a meme I’ve seen before in which a rich man with a plate mounded with cookies sits between a white worker with a plate with one cookie and an immigrant worker with nothing in front of him. The rich man says to the white worker, “Careful mate... that immigrant wants your cookie!” Shiffman reworked the meme in response to the nasty guy issuing a proposed 2027 budget that increased the military budget by 40% to $1.4 trillion and saying the budget had no room for the social safety net. Over the rich guy’s face he put “ICE, War in Iran.” Over the white worker’s face he put, “Medicaid, Medicare, and daycare.” Over the immigrant he put the emblems of NASA, NOAA, EPA, NSF, NIH, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. The rich guy says, “Careful mate... that science wants your cookie!” Shiffman added:

Science is not why you and your family are struggling, friends. President Trump and Congressional Republicans are the reason why you and your family are struggling.

Tweets by Max Burns:

You guys don’t get Trump’s 4D chess. He had to attack Iran in order to open the Strait of Hormuz which was open before he attacked Iran. So Donald Trump fought this disastrous war with Iran and the end result is a deal in which Iran gets: – Control of the Strait of Hormuz – Unlimited uranium enrichment – All U.S. sanctions lifted – All U.N. resolutions against it lifted – Cash compensation from the US Who won again?

And just for fun, Fergi Jo Lisa posted a 15 second video of a bird (I think a parrot) and six dogs.

The responsible actor in contrast to the infantilized giant

This week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the nasty guy’s attempt to rewrite the 14th Amendment to make birthright citizenship unavailable to children of immigrants. Part of the attempt is to eliminate birth tourism, in which a mother comes to the US primarily to give birth here so the child will be a citizen. Part of the attempt is he just doesn’t like people of color. On Tuesday Lisa Needham of Daily Kos reviewed how this case came about. Part of her focus is the white supremacists who developed the argument the nasty guy is using. On Wednesday Needham summarized how the oral arguments went. Before she got into that she noted the nasty guy attended the arguments, the first Oval Office occupant to sit in the Supreme Court chamber while arguments were heard. Perhaps he was trying to glare his appointees into submission. He left after his side of the case was presented so didn’t hear much of the other side, which was much better prepared. The nasty guy’s side was presented by Solicitor General John Sauer. He had a hard time answering questions from the Justices. Jackson: Do parents need to have citizen documents in the birthing room? Gorsuch: Do Native American children get automatic citizenship? Barrett: What if you don’t know who the parents are? Kavanaugh: Why consider whether other countries have birthright citizenship? – Sauer had claimed there weren’t any others when there are 32. While the final decision may not match the questions asked in oral arguments, this does not look good for the nasty guy’s position, which is good for the country. Given the rage tweeting afterward the nasty guy has the same opinion. Two weeks ago Mark Kreidler, in an article for Capital & Main posted on Kos, reported that Washington state passed a millionaire tax. It will go into effect in 2028 and will tax income above $1 million at a 9.9% rate. The tax will affect about 20,000 households or less than 0.5% of them. One reason for doing it is Washington relies on sales and business taxes, rather than income taxes, making it one of the most regressive in the country – the tax hits hardest on those least able to pay it. That system may have been great when the economy was based on timber and apples. But it is now based on defense contractors and tech giants. The advocates for the bill include Patriotic Millionaires, based in DC. Chuck Collins is one of their founders. They advocate for tax reform because the wealthy pay so little. The group is concentrating on the states because there is no action at the federal level. Massachusetts passed a wealth tax in 2023. New Jersey has had one since 2020 and Minnesota since 2024. California may vote on one this fall. Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Michigan, New York and Rhode Island are all debating a wealth tax. Data from Massachusetts shows a wealth tax does not drive the rich to move to other states, as is frequently claimed. In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Paul Waldman, writing for his Substack.

Last weekend, Yonatan Touval wrote an essay in the New York Times with an explanation for the American and Israeli governments’ apparent failure to consider that if they attacked Iran, the Iranians might, you know, do things in response, making choices colored by their history, their beliefs, their culture, and their politics. “Our leaders preside over an extraordinary machinery of destruction, but they remain strikingly obtuse about human beings — about their pride, shame, convictions and historical memory,” Touval wrote. Donald Trump in particular is incapable of empathy, the capacity to see the world from the perspective of someone else, even only for a moment. Some responded to Touval’s essay by saying Trump has no theory of mind, no capacity to imagine how someone else thinks and makes decisions. But that’s not quite true. He has a theory, it’s just that it’s one in which all other minds exist only to regard him with awe. Everyone is a member of the his audience, watching him and reading about him and shaking our heads in wonder at him. You can see it in Trump’s obsession with the gaze of the crowd, which has gripped him all his life. The true measure of a person, an action, or an event, he believes, is that it is seen, and by how many. And the highest compliment one can pay, the greatest superlative imaginable, is that the crowd will say “We’ve never seen anything like it before.”

I note the emphasis on seen. Both the nasty guy and Pete Hegseth (and I’m sure many others) put their emphasis on being seen as smart, handsome, manly, and in power. They really don’t care whether they actually are any of those. The title of David Mastio’s article in the Kansas City Star is enough: “Pam Bondi was the best attorney general we’re going to get from Trump.” A tweet from PaulleyTicks plays on the old Star Trek idea that in a bad situation the characters wearing the red shirts are the one who will get injured or killed. This meme shows the nasty guy talking to Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth, who are both wearing Star Trek style red shirts – and, goodness, the sweat stains. In the comments exlrrp posted a cartoon by Winters showing men in a military aircraft:

Soldier: Where are we heading, Sarge? Sarge: Not sure. But @DonnieJunior just made a $150M Polymarket bet on Kharg Island beachfront futures.

A cartoon posted by paulpro and created by Daniel Medina shows Jesus talking for today’s world: “Blessed are the meek... Care for the poor... House the homeless... Feed the hungry... Love the immigrant and refugee for I was one, too.” A MAGA man: “Crucify him!” In the roundup for Tuesday, March 24, Chitown Kev quoted Andrea Rizzi of El País in English discussing American geopilitical suicide.

The first fundamental aspect of the self-inflicted blow to U.S. primacy is the destruction of the formidable network of alliances that Washington built, with bipartisan consensus, across the globe over eight decades. No ally trusts the White House anymore. Many are putting on a brave face for fear of suddenly being left without support—but all are organizing themselves to never again be so dependent on the U.S. In public, many leaders are opting for restraint, but in private, this writer has heard significant remarks that attest to an extraordinary level of distrust toward Washington from nominally pro-American sectors. The underlying logic is that the risks of dependence on Washington must be reduced, just as they must be with China, in a striking political equation. [...] The second crucial aspect is the devastation of the globalized economic system that has underpinned U.S. hegemony. It is true that, in recent decades, this foundation has allowed China to achieve astonishing growth by exploiting weaknesses in the system. But Washington’s furious assault shows no sign of correcting this situation. Instead, it produces damaging side effects for Washington, fostering distrust and disaffection that extend across the entire spectrum of the economic sphere. While some have caved in with unfavorable agreements and promises of investment, the reality is that everyone is now distrustful. And this is bad news. Because while Trump is obsessed with the manufacturing deficit, the U.S. was able to consolidate an impressive dominance in the services sector within that system. [...] The third aspect of this self-inflicted damage is the abandonment of an international order that the U.S. helped build more than any other nation. It is no coincidence that Republican and Democratic administrations, despite their differing sensibilities, agreed on the construction and maintenance of this project. It wasn’t due to a lack of vision, nor to the misguided concept of benign hegemony; it was because it benefited the U.S. Kennedy and Nixon, Reagan and Obama understood this. There must have been a reason. Now, its withdrawal from the system is causing a dangerous atrophy of many institutions. Some are becoming completely irrelevant. But the U.S. retreat also opens the door for others to build other things, for others to influence the development of initiatives while the White House is on its way out. China is seizing every opportunity to position itself as the responsible actor in contrast to the infantilized giant.

Krugman reminds us that the Strait of Hormuz is not the only important choke point in the world economy. Here are more: China could attack Taiwan, where 60% of all computer chips and 90% of advanced chips are created. North Korea could attack the South, a major exporter of memory chips. A dispute between the Netherlands government and Chinese chip company Nexperia could damage auto production around the world. India is a major exporter of vaccines. China is the largest source of rare earth elements needed in electronics. Over 40 years that global interdependence worked (though not perfectly) because the US supported it. And now the guy in charge is erratic.

It’s about grappling with something that hurts

Cesar Chavez is considered a civil rights icon. He is a hero to the labor movement, particularly farm worker’s rights. There are a large number of streets, schools, and other things named for him and in 2024 Obama designated March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day in honor of his birthday. But about three weeks ago the New York Times published a yearslong investigation that revealed Chavez abused women and underage girls. Lisa Needham of Daily Kos discussed the report and the fallout. The allegations by the NYT is more than rumors and unsourced accusations, so can’t simply be dismissed. Since the publication Dolores Huerta, cofounder of the United Farm Workers, revealed she had two pregnancies because Chavez raped her. The children were adopted. The left then had to grapple with what to do. Many issued statements condemning Chavez while expressing grief at the downfall of an important man. Efforts began to rename streets and schools, pull down statues, and cover over murals. March 31 was renamed as Farm Workers Day.

Overall, Democrats accepted the revelations and moved to cancel all gestures honoring Chavez while wrestling with heartbreak. Contrast that with how Republicans deal with sexual abuse allegations on their side of the aisle.

When Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court, women came forward with allegations of abuse. Republicans worked to discredit the victims and gave Kavanaugh a lifetime seat on the Court. The nasty guy was found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll and there was no Republican condemnation.

But Democrats aren’t distancing themselves. They are taking accountability—a thing that the GOP simply doesn’t believe in. It’s about grappling with something that hurts, but realizing that Chavez hurt people far more. ... Denouncing a man who was a hero to many is hard, and it’s sad, and it’s what has to be done.

Last week an Associated Press article posted on Kos reported:

Transgender women athletes are now excluded from women's events at the Olympics after the IOC agreed to a new eligibility policy on Thursday which aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order on sports ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. ... In the U.S., President Trump signed the executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” in February last year, and pledged to deny visas to some athletes attempting to compete at the L.A Olympics. The order also threatened to “rescind all funds” from organizations that allowed transgender athletes to take part in women’s sports. Within months the U.S. Olympic body updated its guidance to national sports bodies citing an obligation to comply with the White House.

Transgender World tweeted the reaction of Sophie Labelle to the IOC’s announcement. That was in the form of a bit of history. Gender policing of Olympic women began in the 1936 Nazi Olympics.

Naked parades in front of a jury, gynecological inspections, chromosomal testing, certifications that only richer countries could issue... These were all attempts at gender policing by the Olympic Committee between 1936 and 1996. One after another, these practices were outlawed. They were all found to be flawed, misleading, humiliating, discriminatory, racist, misogynistic. Since 2003, strict guidelines have allowed intersex and trans women to participate. Despite 20 years of inclusion, there has only been one trans women who competed. She did not win any medal. However the I.O.C. has decided to go ahead and bring back gender policing to ban intersex and trans athletes in time for the Nazi Germany Olympics of 2028. Oops, I mean the United States.

Earlier this week Needham reported on a Supreme Court ruling that went against us. It is especially annoying because the decision was 8-1. In 2019 Colorado adopted a law banning conversion therapy for minors. Kaley Chiles, an evangelical Christian therapist, sued in 2022, saying her free speech rights were being violated.

Here’s the logic behind the decision, such as it is: Talk therapy is simply speech, and telling evangelical Christian therapists that they can’t traumatize children into denying their sexual orientation or gender identity therefore restricts those therapists’ speech.

The idea that a law restricting what she can say in therapy restricts her viewpoint brought Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan on board.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the lone dissenter, called out why that’s bulls---, writing, “Chiles is not speaking in the ether; she is providing therapy to minors as a licensed healthcare professional.” Exactly. Colorado isn’t stopping Chiles from speaking out in non-therapy settings about how groovy it is to force kids to be straight. Colorado isn’t stopping Chiles from doing conversion talk therapy with adults who can consent to such a thing. Colorado isn’t even fully banning conversion therapy for minors, because the law applies only to licensed therapists and carves out an exemption for those “engaged in the practice of religious ministry.” All Colorado sought to do was stop licensed therapists from using an inherent position of power to force an objectively harmful treatment on a minor child.

Part of why the majority opinion is so bad is it frames the issue as helping the minor person with their own desires to not be queer or trans. And they have those desires because their religious community beats into them that being queer or trans will send them to hell. Robert Ito, in an article for Capital & Main posted on Kos, discussed the increasing difficulties in teaching LGBTQ history. In California some high school history teachers do quite well in integrating our history into their national history courses and other classrooms. It’s a topic important and relevant, especially since more people died of AIDS than died in Vietnam. The effort has been helped by California’s FAIR Education Act, passed 15 years ago. But the law has no penalties for non-compliance and a lot of districts never heard of it so only 37% of self-reporting districts are using FAIR-approved materials across all grade levels. Add to that the nasty guy’s forceful attacks against DEI coupled with people (who may not be parents) who complain to school boards. Then there is the Supreme Court ruling of last June that says parents can opt their children out of LGBTQ instruction. Many teachers become wary of the topic or afraid of the pushback they might get if they start teaching it. So they don’t. Of course, the people hurt most are the LGBTQ students who feel more isolated. In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included a tweet by Shanaka Anslem Perera:

JUST IN: You do not fire your Army Chief of Staff in the middle of a war for no reason. You fire him because of what comes next. Pete Hegseth called General Randy George on April 2 and told him to retire immediately. The Pentagon confirmed it within hours. No reason was given.

Randa Slim responded, quoting @fordrs58:

“The question is not why George was fired. Every general in the building knows why. The question is what order is coming in the next fourteen days that required removing the one man in the chain of command who might have said no.”

Pam Bondi has been fired as Attorney General. Glad to see her go, though I doubt her replacement will be any better. That prompted Aaron Blake of CNN to comment:

Attorney general may be the most impossible job in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. Trump demands things that are not only ethically problematic, but also that reside somewhere in the space between highly difficult and impossible. Nobody has gotten the balance right.

Bondi served “the shortest tenure for a confirmed attorney general in 60 years.” Dan Pfeiffer, tweeting a discussion of the nasty guy’s recent TV speech to the nation.

The most damning revelation is that the public and the markets have tuned out Trump. Oil prices spiked, and stock markets sank as Trump was speaking. When the public tunes out a 2nd term president, they rarely tune back in.

Another Dan Pfeiffer tweet:

The thing to understand about Pam Bondi’s firing is that she was ousted for incompetently executing on Trump’s corrupt wishes, not resisting them.

In the comments is a cartoon by Mike Luckovich showing Musk telling the world’s poorest “No more free lunch!” while behind him is a huge mound of bags of money marked as “Fed. funds Musk gets.” Dr. Art Garfunky added commentary:

Elon Musk had DOGE defund USAID, the largest humanitarian organization in the world, causing HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of deaths from starvation and disease - and Trump GLEEFULLY approved it. It’s the single most evil act in US history.

A tweet by Mehdi Hasan shows a video of Bondi at a Congressional hearing. Hasan added:

Watch shameless sycophant Pam Bondi, who Trump just fired as AG, heap endless and ridiculous praise on Trump. And he still fired her. Amazing. So, so humiliating

. Lady Haha posted a cartoon by Jeff Danzinger. It shows what appears to be a blind man labeled The Draft tapping forward while carrying manacles. Young men, throwing away their red hats, are trying to step out of his way. The caption says, “Young Trumpers Realize They May Face the Draft for Trump’s War.” Just below the cartoons is a comment by learn:

Bondi was fired for not being vindictive enough. From the Republican’s approval they knew she was a bad manager, unqualified for such a large operation and was chosen for putting Trump way before justice. The criticisms about “mishandling” Epstein files meant she wasn’t able to redact and hide fast enough. And her main “failure” was in not effectively persecuting [sic] Trump’s enemies much less forcing indictments. She was fired for not being good at bad.

A problem so consequential that his usual tricks don’t work

In the January/February 2026 edition of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine Richard Lovett contributed an Alternate View column to explore an aspect of scientific research not usually reported in the news. This article is titled “AIs Unexpected Ability to Get You Out of the Rabbit Hole.” It is not online. It is based on an article in Science by Thomas Costello, Gordon Pennycock, and David Rand. What that means is for that annoying relative or friend stuck in MAGA world AI offers a way out. Yes, AI can do some good. The way it works is the annoying relative accesses this AI, then is prompted to start discussing favorite conspiracy theories. The AI, in a polite manner, is able to supply evidence to refute each claim. An example Lovett included is the claim that the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in the 9/11 attack must have been an inside job because steel melts at 1500C and jet fuel burns at 1000C. The AI responds by saying steel loses half its strength at 500C. These counter arguments are effective where humans are not because the AI has access to a lot more factual information than any concerned family member can hold in their head and the AI can use that info in a much more appropriate time than most humans could. Because it can respond to specific conspiracy claims it can prompt the wayward person to reconsider their beliefs, or at least reduce their certainty in them. The research shows those changed beliefs don’t revert when the AI is turned off or during the next week or month. Those changed views seem to be permanent. The Sunday, March 29 edition of the Detroit Free Press featured an interview with Ted Tremper in the Entertainment section. The interview is behind their paywall. He is a producer of the new documentary The AI DOC, or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. A reason for the film is that one group of people says AI is wonderful and will lead to humanity’s utopia and another group says AI is horrible and will lead to the extinction of humanity. Both sides attempt to drown out the other. But the film says both are right. AI can create great benefits for us and AI can be deadly for us. We have to give both voices a chance to be heard, then we have to take steps to encourage the good stuff and discourage or prevent that bad stuff. If we don’t we’ll be left with the AI leaders trumpeting the benefits of AI as they use it to cement their position at the top to the detriment of the rest of us. Artemis II has blasted off from Florida and has boosted its rockets to head to the moon! Alas, it will only loop around the moon before heading home. Even so, as in Apollo 8, this is a necessary step. An Associated Press article posted on Daily Kos has details of the mission. As a lad who watched the Apollo moon missions half a century ago I’m pleased we’re going back. We’ve been away too long. I’ve got some articles about the war against Iran that have been in my browser tabs for a wile. I don’t think they’re out of date, even though the nasty guy seems to change his pronouncements every fifteen minutes. On Saturday, March 21, three weeks into the war (we’re almost five weeks in), Kos of Kos wrote:

You’ve gotta be f’n kidding me. President Donald Trump has roiled the world economy, driven gas prices and inflation higher, killed over 1,000 Iranians, lost 13 Americans, and could cost taxpayers $200 billion. And his administration’s big solution to end the war? A literal cut and paste of the deal that President Barack Obama made with Iran. “Any deal to end the war would need to include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, address Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and also establish a long-term agreement on Iran's nuclear program, ballistic missiles and support for proxies in the region,” reported Axios. If only Trump hadn’t torn up the original deal, he wouldn’t have blundered into this idiotic war of choice.

I have no idea of the state of that deal two weeks later. On Friday, March 20, Emily Singer of Kos reported the results of the Qatari royal family’s gift of a $400 million jet to the nasty guy.

In exchange, Qatar got a pledge from Trump that the United States would come to the Arab nation's defense should it find itself under attack. But instead of being protected from attacks, Qatar is instead being attacked as a consequence of the ill-planned war Trump launched against Iran.

Because of the Qataris aligning themselves to the nasty guy the Iranians struck their largest liquefied natural gas facility, knocking out 17% of the facility’s export capacity, costing Qatar up to $20 billion in lost revenue. That may cause the Qatari economy to shrink by 9% this year. Yeah, the Qataris are pissed that the nasty guy ignored their warnings and bribe. They learned that aligning with a corrupt leader may not protect them from his cruelty and destruction. Again on March 21 Kos wrote:

But with Iran, he’s finally created a problem so big, so consequential, that his usual tricks don’t work. He can’t bluff his way out of it. He can’t tweet it away. He can’t bully reality into submission. He can’t bury it in lawsuits. This is a real crisis with real consequences, and he’s stuck with it. Trump is isolated, harming the global economy, without allies, all while undermining the rules-based order that delivered decades of prosperity and operating without even the pretense of an endgame in Iran. That Iran-fueled fracture isn’t theoretical—it’s happening in real time.

Kos then offers more than a half dozen examples, with the top of the list being Marjorie Taylor Greene’s criticism of him. Nicholas Kusnetz and Georgina Gustin, in an article for Inside Climate News posted on Kos, discussed how China has been developing its wind and solar energy and stockpiling crude oil so that it is shielded from some of damage of the oil blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. It is more vulnerable to natural gas as it doesn’t have a stockpile. This shows how deliberately China is preparing for a time when energy security and geopolitics are intertwined. And because China has worked to be self-sufficient it’s companies are now global leaders in green technologies. As other countries are hit by high oil prices they are turning to China’s expertise. Oliver Willis of Kos reported:

Billionaire Republican megadonor Peter Thiel is receiving international criticism, including from members of the Catholic clergy, for promoting his belief that the arrival of the Antichrist is near. The Antichrist is a figure in Christianity who has traditionally been seen as a herald of the end of the world and who operates in direct opposition to Jesus Christ.

Though not stated in this article this ties into comments by Pete Hegseth and some of the military generals who believe this war in Iran is part of the chain of events that will bring about those end times. On March 20 Danny (Dennis) Citrinowicz tweeted comments on the talk the nasty guy might take Kharg Island, through which 90% of Iran’s oil is transported, to force the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. But the attempt is a misunderstanding of Iran’s strategic doctrine.

Under pressure, Iran is more likely to escalate than concede. Reopening the Strait would likely require one of two extreme options: either regime change, or a large-scale military campaign to seize and secure the waterway. Such an operation would take months and still wouldn’t prevent Iran from disrupting traffic through asymmetric means. There is no silver bullet to the Iran problem. The regime will hold onto Hormuz the same way it defends every pillar of its survival—with persistence and escalation. If reopening the Strait is the strategic objective, policymakers should recognize the cost: a prolonged, high-intensity conflict, and likely retaliation against Gulf energy infrastructure.

On Monday, March 23 Singer wonders if the nasty guy is tweeting about various aspects of the war to manipulate the stock market. Over the previous weekend he tweeted that his conversations with Iran are productive and he presented an ultimatum that Iran would concede to his demands or he will hit their infrastructure.

It sure is curious how all of Trump's comments making it seem like the war is coming to a close happen when the markets are opening, and escalations of the war on Iran tend to happen when markets are closed. Despite having been made fools of by Trump chickening out in the past, traders ate up his comments. The post caused the price of oil to fall over 10% and led the stock market to rise 2% when it opened Monday morning. Of course, almost immediately after, Iranian state media said there were no talks with Trump. And an Israeli security official—which is the U.S.’s primary ally in the war—told Sky News that they believed Trump's comments were an effort to manipulate the markets. Not mincing words!

In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Nicholas Grossman of MSNOW discussing the war.

Iran might not want to end the war yet. It can’t trust Trump to honor any agreement, since in his first term he broke the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the “Iran nuclear deal”) without cause, and he started this war while U.S. and Iranian representatives were negotiating. Iran’s rulers can’t be confident that the U.S. and Israel won’t pocket any gains and attack again later. That gives Iran an incentive to impose sustained economic pain, establishing a deterrent the U.S. can’t shrug off.

Ruchi Kumar of WIRED discussed a problem in the global shipping system. Because of the closure of the Strait some shipping companies are abandoning their ships. And, it seems, abandoning their crews. In the first comment The Geogre discussed the hearing before the Supreme Court yesterday about the nasty guy’s reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment’s granting of birthright citizenship. It’s a long comment, so I’ll let you read it. I mention it partly because a few other things are related. Michael Dorf tweeted:

Don't get me wrong: I'm relieved that this case is shaping up as either 8-1 or 7-2 against the Trump executive order. But the case is a gift to the Supreme Court. By rejecting an outlandish position, it will earn credibility as apolitical, even as the Overton window moves far to the right.

Stephen Wolf responded:

This. The court may even pair the release of the ruling in favor of birthright citizenship with the one gutting the Voting Rights Act, and the usual suspects will proclaim it’s a sign of moderation.

Every so often Brother will comment to something I write or say by asking whether I’ve heard about the Mud Sill theory. In a comment further down The Geogre says arguments by the nasty guy’s lawyer are similar to the Mud Sill Speech, which he quoted. Here’s part of it.

In all social systems there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life. That is, a class requiring but a low order of intellect and but little skill. Its requisites are vigor, docility, fidelity. Such a class you must have, or you would not have that other class which leads progress, civilization, and refinement. It constitutes the very mud-sill of society and of political government; and you might as well attempt to build a house in the air, as to build either the one or the other, except on this mud-sill.

Both Brother and I see this as an attempt by rich people to declare their oppression of poor people – including the necessity of keeping them poor – is vital for (their version of) society to work. A tweet by The United States versus Elon R. Musk also commented on the case:

The Trump administration is literally arguing the winning argument in Dred Scott. I hate it here.

They want 1939 Germany. Let’s give them 1789 France.

My Sunday viewing was Heated Rivalry, episodes 4-6. This is the story of hockey players Shane and Ilya, who sneak off to each other’s hotel when their teams are in the same town. Yeah, we’ve known from the start where this is going and it follows the formula for romance stories. And part of the formula is the couple establishes their relationship, which they do in episodes 1 and 2 (episode 3 was mostly about Scott and Kip), then the couple goes through difficulties, which is episode 4, to understand how much they love each other, leading to the expected conclusion by episode 6. What, you thought the story wasn’t going to end there? A couple things in these three episodes: That Ilya is Russian becomes a factor because he knows being openly gay in Russia is a crime. It’s not just the reaction of his teammates he’s worried about. The whole timespan is nine years. Scott and Kip make a dramatic appearance. And Shane invites Ilya to his “cottage.” A lot of people in Michigan have a “cottage” or “cabin” Up North (considered north of Mt. Pleasant). I’ve been to a few cottages owned by other people though never owned one myself. The cottages I’ve seen do not have this much glass. The ending definitely leaves room for more story. Season 2 is in production and might be available in a year. I quite enjoyed it and add my recommendation to the large stack of praise already out there. Krotor is a part of the Daily Kos community and is a writer of the Boys Love column on Kos. Many of the stories he reviews are made in Asia where men loving men are seen quite differently than in the West. He did a series of three posts on Heated Rivalry. In summary, he loves the show. In the first he compares HR to three other filmed stories of gay love. The first is Brokeback Mountain. I had previously mentioned Krotor’s opinion that this movie is quite awful. The sex scene was “laughably bad” and the story is so homophobic one guy is murdered and the other is shut out from family, friends, and job. Krotor’s rant is here. The second movie is Call Me By Your Name. This is better, but not much. Krotor thinks Oliver preyed on Elio’s emotions for a summer fling. And why didn’t Elio’s parents see this? The series Heartstopper is pretty good, though toned down for the teen viewer. The show also highlights a dynamic in many Japanese gay romances. One partner is the seme, the protector and guide (Nick) while the other is the uke, the more fragile (Charlie). In the Western view of things the seme is more the “real man.” HR doesn’t have the depth of homophobia of Brokeback, nor the power and age imbalance of Call Me, not even the protector/protected role of Heartstoppers. Shane and Ilya are about the same age and both are fierce competitors. They are their own agents. And their sex scenes are a lot steamier. But the homophobia is enough so that as Shane and Ilya become more intimate they take a long time to come to terms with their growing love, hopes, and fears. Of course, perceptive female friends are involved. In the second post Krotor looks at research on the BL genre (yes, there is such a thing) and his own observations and conversations to explain how HR is such a big hit, and not just with gay men. The show is a hit with straight men because of hockey. In this manly sport Shane and Ilya are competitive and fierce, not at all the stereotype of gay men. Krotor also discusses male bonding – a lot of straight male emotional connection is with the men they hang out with. That bonding includes competitiveness. And Shane and Ilya are that. Jumping from masculine rivalry to masculine passion to relieve physical needs, isn’t that big of a jump. What might be jarring to the straight man is the lack of domination. This isn’t just shy of sexual assault. There is reciprocity, equality, and consent. Maybe the gay guys can teach the straight guys a few things. The show is a hit with straight women because they can watch a love story without worrying whether the female character (and themselves) face male chauvinism. This is why the “overwhelming majority” of gay romance stories are written by straight women for straight women. This includes Heated Rivalry. Notice the “written” – when converted to other media the work is done by men, often gay men. Krotor noted that the new Prime Minister of the Netherlands is Rob Jetten, whose fiancé is Nicholas Keenen, a prominent player in field hockey. After the wedding Keenen becomes “first gentleman.” In the third part Krotor discussed a few minor problems with the otherwise excellent HR story. First, a couple things done right: Their sex included consent. Rose showed up in episode 4 as Shane’s friend and was pivotal in helping him realize he’s gay and still remained a friend. On to the problems: Nine years? These guys took that long to acknowledge there was an emotional component to their trysts? That long is way too long for two adult men to have no personal growth. Elena was Kip’s friend who recognized Scott had fallen for Kip. In a public space she had a talk with Scott, urging him to public acknowledge his lover. Krotor called foul. Scott had very good reasons why he needed to remain closeted. If Kip needed something different than Kip should do something about it, not her. Also, though Kip is out he knows how the closet works. Kip took Scott to an art gallery and Scott fled in panic, which probably drew more attention than trying to play it cool. Krotor then discussed the problem of guys playing gay characters. The audience wants to know if the actor is straight or gay, something they don’t do when gay plays straight, That implies the straight guy will need to reestablish his straight credentials. In the Western stories of men loving men show the characters having to deal with societal issues, with homophobia at the top of the list. In Eastern stories, the men are not tokens to represent an entire class of people. They are individuals dealing with individual problems. Krotor ends his series with an alternate script for the story. In this version they don’t start with sex, but with mutual respect. They come together to promote charities (which happens only in episode 6). But they keep the romance a secret because teammates might think they’re sacrificing victory for love. Both men get encouragement from female friends, Shane from Rose and Ilya from childhood friend Svetlana. After a time in the cabin, in which they recognize and declare their love, and after their next rival game, they kiss on ice. They assure fans they will continue to fight hard for every win. Fans cheer. Talk shows make them frequent guests. I think it’s a nice version to the story, but too tame. It also very much follows Eastern Boys Love scripts. What did appear on the screen is groundbreaking by Western standards, but by Eastern standards it is already typical. Those stories already show those kinds of relationships. Gay men are already portrayed as able to reach love and happiness. The Daily Kos staff created an open thread to allow community members to post about their No Kings experience. Some of what was said: Bristlecone77 in rural Colorado, a town of 5K residents, had almost 30 at the rally. A man, age 102 and WWII veteran, sat in his wheelchair. His family draped his military jacket over him and placed his No Kings sign against he legs. Sign: “Teens shouldn’t have to protest the actions of adults.” Sign: “War crimes don’t hide sex crimes.” From Elon’s Own Hellsite:

They want 1939 Germany Let’s give them 1789 France

Sign: “I survived Auschwitz for this [poop]?” Sign: “I’m a better Christian than any Trump supporter and I’m an atheist.” Sign: Trump: “See you later, alligator.” Alligator, “At your trial, pedophile.” Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos used Monday’s column to post photos of the rally in his hometown. In Sunday’s pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Susan Page of USA Today discussing the No King’s protests.

The organizers' crowd count, not yet verified by independent analysts, put the total at 8 million people, topping the 7 million estimated at the last "No Kings" day, in October 2025. This time, there were more events scheduled − 3,300 versus 2,700 − and larger crowds reported in some places, boosted in part by opposition to the war in Iran. [...] Organizers said two-thirds of the participants who signed up lived outside big cities, with a 40% increase over last time in those from suburban, small town and rural addresses.

I followed a link to the Political Dictionary for the definition of the word dummymander. It is a gerrymander that backfires. It is an attempt to claim so many seats for one party that each seat doesn’t have enough of a party lead when the mood shifts to the other party. A reminder of how gerrymandering works. If party A is drawing the maps it will draw a few districts with huge margins that favor party B. This is called packing. Then the rest of the districts are drawn so that party A has a clear, but not great, advantage. Put another way, the rest of the party B voters are spread harmlessly through the other districts. This is called cracking. Dummymander results when party A tries to claim too many seats, such that the “clear” advantage is less than the shift in public opinion from A to B and party A loses what they expected to be safe seats. That might be what happens in Texas or other states that did mid decade redistricting. Kos of Kos discussed the SAVE Act, the bill that would demand greater citizenship verification when registering to vote. It is to prevent non citizens from voting (already quite rare), but would also prevent a lot of citizens from voting, its actual objective. The nasty guy is demanding the Senate pass it. Kos explained why Republican senators are resisting. One provision is that the birth certificate must match the voter’s current name. The intent is to keep trans people from voting, but it would more directly harm married women. Marriage certificates usually aren’t readily available. In 2024, 52% of married women voted for the nasty guy. A 2023 Pew study showed that 86% of conservative women took their husband’s last name, compared to 70% of liberal women. More educated women are less likely to take their husband’s name and they increasingly vote Democratic. Passports are an accepted form of proof of citizenship, but 52% of nasty guy voters don’t have one, compared to 45% of Biden voters. And only 38% of evangelicals have passports. Getting or replacing them costs money and time, and that can be seen as a poll tax. Republicans have good reasons to not approve the SAVE Act. Back in 1981, when I was still a young programmer (in the day “coders” were looked down on because they were seen as not doing the analysis work a “programmer” did) in the auto industry I and my colleagues were entranced by the book The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder. It told the story of a team near Boston that designed and built a new computer (a time before computers were put on desktops). He did it by showing up and observing the team at work. Kidder discussed some of the personalities and explained some of the terms I and my colleagues used in our work. Some of those explanations prompted a few, “So that’s what that means!” I remember one of the people, who had been dealing with the milliseconds and microseconds of computer work, quit to work on a farm where the shortest time interval he had to deal with was a season. This one won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982. That prompted me to look for Kidder’s books. I read House, in which he describes what goes into designing and building a new house. Again, he was on site as it happened. Then came Among Schoolchildren, where he sat in on a fifth grade class for a schoolyear. I’ve also read Home Town, about a small town, Mountains Beyond Mountains, about health care in Haiti (I think), and A Truck Full of Money. I’ve got Rough Sleepers, about homeless people, on my to-read shelf. Maybe around 2005 I saw Kidder at a live event in which he talked about Mountains Beyond Mountains. He included a few dramatic before and after photos of people treated at the health clinic. Each of the books was an enjoyable and educational read. He explained his topic well and with a kind heart for his subjects. I recommend them all. I mention all that because on March 24 Kidder died at the age of 80. Alas, there won’t be any more books.

If America wanted a King we would dig up Elvis

I finished the book The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. This is nominally a mystery – in the beginning of the story, set in 1972, a skeleton is found in a well, but before it can be identified Hurricane Agnes floods the area and the skeleton is washed out to sea. That’s about 1% of the book. Towards the end we find out whose skeleton it is. That’s another 1%. It’s also a strange mystery in that while the reader learns who died none of the characters do (that’s in spite of the teaser on the back cover). So I’ll talk about the other 98% of the story. It takes place leading up to and in 1936. Most of the action is in the Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Normally, a hill is claimed by the richer families of a city – because of the view and all – but here the hill is the home of Eastern European Jews and Negroes (and in 1936 that is what they were called). Moshe runs a theater and books both Jewish and black entertainers. He does quite well. His wife is Chona, an independent spirit. She runs the grocery store of the title. It loses money because a lot of her customers can’t pay and accumulate a bill for which she never demands payment. Moshe’s assistant is Nate, a black man who has secrets in his past. Nate is married to Addie. They have become caretaker’s of their nephew. He was recently orphaned and a few years before his hearing was damaged when a stove blew up. Because the boy can’t hear, though can lip read just fine, he doesn’t go to school and people call him Dodo. The community knows how smart, helpful, and kind the boy is. But the authorities want to send him to a “special school,” better known as the insane asylum where he would be easily tagged as “imbecile.” To keep him safe Nate and Addie ask Chona to take him in, which she is delighted to do. Much of the story is about these people getting along and trying to deal with the white people who live down in town. The worst of these is Doc Roberts, who marches in the Klan parade every year. He was smitten by Chona’s beauty and she quite thoroughly spurned his advances. I enjoyed the story and recommend it, though don’t read it for the mystery. It portrays a community that does its best to take care of everyone, in spite of being marginalized by white people. This is a book that has sold well and deserves its popularity. Today was the third No Kings rally day across America and around the world. Organizers say there were 3,000 events. I attended one in Livonia, MI and later heard attendance was about 3,000. The weather was sunny yet cold – the temperature probably didn’t get above 45F. I didn’t see much of it because I was at a table collecting signatures to put a proposal on the ballot to limit how much corporations can donate to political campaigns, yeah, the same thing I was doing at the October No Kings rally. So I didn’t get any photos and only saw the signs that passed in front of me. I remember only a couple of them and probably not accurately.

For the Epsteinth time... Why are more people afraid of diversity than dictatorship?

A lot of signs had an anti-war theme. AKALib of the Daily Kos community posted videos of a few rallies, added links to various other Kos community posts, and invited commenters to post photos of other events. At the top of the post is a video of what was declared the Flagship Rally at the Minnesota State Capitol. This one had ten major speakers, including Gov. Tim Walz, Jane Fonda, Bernie Sanders, Bruce Springsteen, and Joan Baez. More than a dozen other speakers and entertainers were listed. My little suburban protest didn’t have any speakers at all. The contributions in the comments include: A photo of Atlanta that shows a huge crowd. A video of Ocean Beach in San Francisco in which the crowd of thousands of people forms the letters, “Trump Must Go Now.” A sign in Medford, OR, “We are the granddaughters of the witches you weren’t able to burn.” From Anaconda, MT, “If America wanted a King we would dig up Elvis.” From Austin, TX, “Are we great yet? ‘Cause I just feel embarrassed.” “I think therefore I resist.” A guy handed out what looked like checks made out to “Paid Protester” and signed by “Antifa CEO Eve Ryone.” Community member Samdiener started a post to allow the community to share their favorite signs. My favorites: A sign that calls on Barron Trump to join the military to do his part in his father’s war. I had seen one that also called on Eric and Don Jr. to join up. “Cholesterol: Do your job.” “The only war Trump had an exit plan for was Vietnam.” LilBoyBlu of the Kos community reminds us that we know the nasty guy and his minions are going to try something. The No Kings rallies prove we know how to fill streets, coordinate nationally, and protest without violence. So let’s be ready when they do that something. And when they do we’re not surprised and still processing, we’re executing our plan. Today was a dress rehearsal. The likely day for their something is election day. So have a plan. Some of the ideas: Request time off. Have babysitter and dog sitter confirmed. Have a list of people you will notify to protest with you. Plan where to meet with a backup spot. Have a lawyer’s number in your pocket – not on your phone, which might be taken from you. There is a National Lawyers Guild. Know your rights. Go with a buddy, even to your voting place. Have your apps ready – Kos is working on a phone tool so you can document and share what you see. Have cash. If the internet goes down there are no card readers, ATMs, or online maps. Have phone numbers written on paper. Have press contacts that will accept drone footage, phone video, and eyewitness accounts. To be useful documentation must get out. Long poll lines are a suppression tactic so take water and snacks. Write contact phone numbers on your body in case you are knocked out. The author then discussed the General Motors sit down strike in Flint in 1936. It was successful because it was well planned – including family members passing food through the windows. And we have advantages they didn’t in 1936. From the comments: Don’t take your dog. They can be freaked out by noisy crowds and what happens to the dog if you’re arrested? If you can vote before election day, do so. Take your ballot to a dropbox instead of relying on the mail (unless you know the dropboxes are not secure). NPR host A Martínez talked to Paul Krugman, an economist at the City University of New York, on the insider trading by the nasty guy administration. Just 15 minutes before the nasty guy announced he’s not going to bomb Iranian power plants there is a spike of $580 million worth of transactions in the crude oil market. There really isn’t evidence to support the assertion (at least not without an FBI investigation and this FBI wouldn’t do such a thing). But there is nothing else that would prompt such large transactions at that specific time. Second, another investor making that big of an investment at that particular time is highly unlikely. Third, while the nasty guy’s security is way too lax (the Situation Room at Mar-a-Lago is a curtained off corner of the ballroom) someone overhearing a conversation and saying something to someone else wouldn’t act 15 minutes before. Krugman wrote about this in his Substack and called it treason. He explained the reason for the term. Using sensitive national security info for personal gain is treason. Foreign adversaries are tracking our markets, so sudden large transactions mean insider knowledge is being acted on is like foreign espionage. Acting on insider knowledge is way too similar to being bribed to reveal national security decisions. This should be a massive national scandal. AKALib discussed another of Krugman’s Substack articles. This one is about why the nasty guy and Republicans are so hostile to clean energy. Krugman included one reason I had already figured out – a great deal of support of Republicans and the nasty guy comes from oil barons. At the top of that bunch are the Koch brothers, who have promoted their hostility to clean energy for decades. Republicans are supporting the hand that feeds them. Krugman proposed a second reason. He wrote:

Bear in mind that on the political right, wind and solar power are routinely condemned as “woke.” Real men burn stuff. What this reflects, I believe, is a common factor underlying many right-wing obsessions. Why cling to fossil fuels in the face of a technological revolution in energy? Why valorize “warrior ethos” and bulging biceps in an age of drone warfare? Why build economic policy around a doomed attempt to bring back “manly” jobs? At a deep level, I’d argue, it’s about nostalgia for an imagined past in which brawn mattered more than brains, combined with, yes, a hefty dose of insecure masculinity.

But the world isn’t cooperating with those macho dreams. Tarrifs are blunting blue-collar jobs. The war with Iran isn’t going well. And the rest of the world is rapidly developing clean energy sources, leaving the US behind – China is way ahead in installing solar and wind power.

How pervasively patriarchy distorts and messes up life

I finished the book My Three Dads, Patriarchy on the Great Plains by Jessa Crispin. This isn’t about three men who nurtured her as a child and guided her as an adult. These are three men who represent aspects of patriarchy. The book is about Crispin coming to terms with the extensive impact of patriarchy on her and the society around her (primarily in Kansas). It is a scathing indictment. The first of the three men was a respected member of the community who one day killed his wife, children, and then himself. Cripsin was amazed how thoroughly fascinated the people in Kansas were of the deaths and how they tried to excuse the killer. The second was John Brown, famous for his actions leading up to the Civil War. He and his sons also were involved in the abolitionist movement in Kansas and are commemorated in a big mural in the state capitol in Topeka. I found a photo of it here. Crispin wonders why violent men are praised so highly. The third was Martin Luther, the guy who prompted the Protestant Reformation. Crispin thinks he said some great things for life without patriarchy, but then instituted things to do the opposite. And those actions prompted the Protestant work ethic, which prompted capitalism to be rapacious. We are suffering from that now. I kept this book in the car, so read it while I had to wait for something. When I came across an interesting passage I wrote down the page number. So here are some of the interesting bits, a few of them I read several months ago. From the first section: Why do we organize our societies around the nuclear family? It seems to be killing us. Why haven’t we come up with a better structure? Why should this unit be considered fully functional and productive? Why do we consider any other arrangement to be temporary, waiting for marriage to come along? “Marriage is an instant structure to lock yourself into.” You announce your role to the community when you declare you’re a wife, husband, mother, or father and society won’t let you deviate from it. Beguinages existed in Europe before the Reformation. They were an area, perhaps an independent city, made up of only women. There were two options for women at the time. One was be a part of a family, in which she cycled through pregnancy, childbirth, and post birth with a very high chance of dying young because of one of the three. Or she gave herself to the church and was removed from the world. A beguinage offered a third choice in which women lived in community. The women were interdependent, but could determine their own role in the community. The beguinages were shut down after the Reformation because Protestants didn’t want a place for women outside of the family. Crispin discusses utopias, then asks what do we do with the assholes? Mass incarceration hasn’t prevented the creation of new criminals. Part of the problem is the designers of utopias want a homogeneous place built around a political idealism. But Crispin says that’s boring. She wants a place that includes everyone – those on the margins, the screwups, the unlovable, the misfits, and losers. Think of how care needs to be reorganized to bring them all in so they could live with dignity, but also so that one part of the community is not burdened with the caretaking. Before we think about what is owed us we must think about what we owe each other. That runs against those who have been in long fights for equality. Those struggles prompt a victim mentality and that we need protection. But we think the best form of protection is control and the oppressed become oppressors. We need a definition of community that is more than people who I should care for and who is not worth my care. It can’t be groups that share a common trait or income status. It can’t be defined by like minded people who shut out dissent. From the second section:

Kansas does live in the lineage of John Brown, but for a different reasons that what is claimed. His influence is felt in this state in the persistent belief that if you are certain about an issue and you believe yourself to be righteous, you are permitted to attempt to reshape the world with violence and bloodshed. All you need to live out god’s plan is a gun. ... One of the reasons these issues become intractable is that people have so little awareness as to the roots of their political beliefs. Unable to separate out politics from self-interest ... they obfuscate and dodge and self-deceive. Tracing a political stance all the way to its source, whether that is religion or values or experience, is an act of self-interrogation few people are willing to undertake.

The purpose of the counterculture is to give a person a place to land when they realize our society is sick, poisoned by corporate culture, and made empty by shopping and social media. But we’ve abandoned that. The left criticizes culture – they theorize and speculate, but don’t engage and build. But the right understands that everyone needs personal recognition, especially when community breaks down. Each person needs to be seen and understood as something more than identity markers and the stereotypes that come from that. The right amps up that need, saying you are not only seen, but superior. You get an instant community and an instant story of how the world works. “White nationalists are extremely good at showing up for one another and providing support.” That story blames Jews and liberals. “For a very long time, a small segment of our population avoided self-knowledge by asserting dominance. ... The dominant segment kept this system in place by basically refusing to allow anyone else to insist on their own reality.” The silence has been broken and one can read accounts of the lives of minorities. Crispin turns to mass killings. She wrote, “Violence can be a tool of the oppressed, but only if it is surgical. To take a life does too much to the human spirit, if humanity remains within the killer.” As one who believes the only purpose of violence is to cause oppression that’s a radical statement. But it does make some sense. Killing a person who is about to cause harm to a great number of people does lessen oppression. But there are problems. First, most of the killers, mass or not, don’t target a person who is about to cause harm. They just point the gun and shoot. The oppression they intend to lessen remains. Second, when police subdue a person they believe is about to cause harm, they are frequently wrong in that belief and kill an innocent person. Third, as Crispin says, taking another person’s life harms the spirit and humanity of the killer, even to the point of destroying both. Crispin then discussed Janet Reno and the attack she ordered on the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas. Crispin mentions that there may have been distasteful practices inside the compound (I can’t get into details), but the actions did not warrant the government’s attack on the complex, especially since it killed the children Reno claimed to want to protect. One observer of the debacle was Timothy McVeigh, the guy who bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City two years later. Crispin draws a direct connection on how the government’s action prompted McVeigh’s response. Crispin’s cousin was a missionary and appealed to her for funding. The whole concept seemed bizarre and stupid to her. Why do we insist unity and equality means we must all think alike?

So much harder to treat the world as a garden. To weed rather than raze. To nurture rather than handle. To compost rather than pave over. To encourage rather that twist. To suggest rather than insist. To tend rather than master. To encourage variety rather than monoculture. To allow frivolity instead of utility. To observe and delight rather than intervene. To be humble and questioning rather than certain.

All people who promote their way of life as the only correct way and all other ways are dangerous and must be eliminated – Crispin considers them to be missionaries. These people are afraid of how they will be treated, so want to control it. Instead of being kind they want to enforce behavior that looks like kindness. From the third section: Crispin discussed the thousand Protestant denominations. Each one believes they read the Bible and discerned the original intention. Each one says they are right and all the others are wrong. In this case, I have a small issue with Crispin. When John Wesley founded Methodism, it wasn’t to start a new denomination, it was to reform the Anglican Church, which really had strayed from the original intention of the Bible. Alas, over the centuries Methodism has also strayed from the Bible’s original intention – see the recent split of the United Methodist Church over how LGBTQ people are to be treated. I can’t yet say that after the more conservative congregations split away the UMC is back on track. Crispin noted that these thousand Protestant denominations is not proof of Christianity’s creativity, durability, or universality. It only means people are very good at turning “God into a gimmick.” That the Bible can be used to both embrace poverty and declare God blesses us through riches only means that “all churches have corrupted and twisted and misinterpreted some aspect of Christ’s thoughts.” So start your own church! Correct all the errors of the past! But your followers or descendants will just mess it up. Crispin rather likes Wesley – but sees little of him in the churches that follow his tradition. In a few pages I can’t reproduce how pervasively patriarchy influences, distorts, and messes up life in America and across the world. Patriarchy needs to be rooted out, but Crispin shows how close to impossible that effort would be. A big reason is, of course, dealing with all the men who feel they benefit from patriarchy and will work long and hard to preserve it. Our culture, and the cultures of the world, are so corrupted by patriarchy that we all suffer great mental health problems and most of us don’t recognize the problems. This book isn’t all that enjoyable, though I found it fascinating. However, it is an important book and I highly recommend everyone read it.

Rivalry on the ice, hot passion off

My Sunday movie was the first three episodes of Heated Rivalry. This is a Canadian production and was such a hit there that HBO brought it to the States. That a gay love story is a big hit was a surprise to many. I heard about the show in LGBTQ news stories and I was surprised when a woman from my church praised how wonderful it is. The story is mostly about two hockey players. Ilya is from Russia and ended up on the professional Boston team (team names have been changed). Shane is from Canada and ended up on the Montreal team. They are on-ice rivals and both are strong contenders for Rookie of the Year. When Ilya noticed that Shane didn’t seem annoyed with Ilya’s flirting in the shower one invited the other to their hotel room for some intimate fun. They repeated this adventure whenever both were in the same town. They knew it had to stay a secret. Episode 3 shifts to Scott, an American player on the New York team, who falls for Kip, the guy who makes his smoothies. Scott is even more determined to keep their relationship a secret. He has more than teammates who would be harmed with his coming out. But the secrecy is wearing on Kip, who is out, especially after his smoothie shop colleague sees the relationship as obvious and he has to start lying to people. I’ll watch the last three episodes on Sunday. Then it’s a long wait until season 2 comes out about a year from now. What I saw so far is a good and enjoyable story, so that long of a wait will be hard. Season 1 is mostly based on the first two books of a seven book series by Rachel Reid. Shane and Ilya are from the second, sixth, and seventh books. Scott and Kip are from the first. So there are a lot more stories of other couples that could go into the series. For a story about hockey players there is actually not much hockey on the screen. There are key moments, to be sure, but just those. I was amused that for the nude scenes we frequently saw backsides, but legs were always positioned so we never see the front. IMDb, in its trivia section for the show, reported that Connor Storrie, who plays Ilya is from Texas. He had to learn to speak in a Russian accent, and for scenes filmed in Russia (where he goes for the off season and where his father berates him for losses) Storrie learned his Russian lines phonetically. He said them well enough that the Russian crew thought he knew the language and tried to talk to him. I started writing about another topic for this post but that’s taking too long to finish in one evening. I hope to post it tomorrow.

Despised like nobody has ever been despised before

I have an out of town handbell event this weekend. I probably won’t post again until Wednesday. Lisa Needham of Daily Kos reported that while the US Agency for International Development, USAID, was shuttered, some of its aid to other countries was transferred to the State Department as a method of extortion. This was revealed in a State memorandum prepared for Secretary Marco Rubio. Here are some of the ideas proposed or some of the agreements already forced on African countries. Zambia was told to give the US better access to their copper, lithium, and cobalt or the US will withhold funds for HIV treatment for 1.3 million people. Several countries were forced to give patient data in exchange for health care funding. That is so Americans can detect disease outbreaks sooner and to give US companies first chance to develop vaccines. Nigeria was told they must address the alleged persecution of Christians.

These “deals” are not really deals, as none of the countries that are being pressed into this can effectively negotiate when their health care funding needs are so dire.

Kos of Kos wrote about why opening the Strait of Hormuz will be so difficult. While the Strait is 21 miles wide at its narrowest, the actual shipping channel is only 4 miles wide. Ships must go single file with no room to maneuver. Ships, and any escorts, are easy targets – they move at a predictable pace and can be reached by missiles from shore in seconds. Iran has put mines in the Strait, but minesweepers are slow and easy targets. Planes to protect shipping would also be easy targets. The US could have some great anti-drone equipment and tactics. Ukraine has been developing it over the last four years. But the nasty guy has refused Ukrainian offers.

What’s his problem? Acknowledging Ukrainian expertise would require acknowledging that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy actually does hold some cards—a fact Trump has spent over a year denying out of sheer personal pettiness and bizarre fealty to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

In Tuesday’s pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Paul Krugman writing for his Substack:

A stunning poll from Politico — just released, but taken last month — confirms what I and other observers strongly suspected: America is now widely despised, despised like nobody has ever been despised before. ... Why has America’s global reputation fallen so far, so fast? It’s not a mystery. After all, why would anyone consider America a trustworthy ally when Trump keeps insulting our neighbor and former closest ally, Canada, by insisting that it must become the 51st state and repeatedly calling its Prime Minister “governor”? Why trust us when Trump tried to bully NATO member Denmark into handing over Greenland? Beyond that, Trump’s tariffs aren’t just economically damaging. They aren’t just, as the Supreme Court finally ruled, illegal under our own laws. They are also in clear, overwhelming violation of international trade agreements solemnly signed by previous presidents. Given the way the current administration has casually ignored those agreements, why would anyone expect America to honor any future deals?

Beth Mole of Ars Technica reported on a ruling from a US District Court that blocked a lot of harm Robert Kennedy Jr. has been doing. The ruling says Kennedy illegally fired the vaccine advisors board. The replacement board, all of whom hold anti-vax views, did not go through standard vetting. So all of their changes to the vaccine guidance must be undone. In the comments exlrrp posted a meme of the nasty guy speaking, showing why we’re despised.

Then: NATO sucks! Canada sucks! UK leadership is stupid! Denmark sucks! Zelensky sucks! Now: I DEMAND these countries help us secure the Straits! They SHOULD BE HELPING! A voice in the corner: Guess he never heard, “What goes around...!

Globe Observer tweeted: “Trump calls on U.S. media to stop reporting on damage and losses caused by Iran, saying it harms the United States.” Proud Socialist responded: “This is how you know the U.S. isn’t winning the war.” Clay Bennett posted a cartoon of Uncle Sam in a War Room gazing up at the Exit door in the ceiling. Naked Pastor posted a cartoon of Jesus talking to a group of people holding Bibles:

The difference between you and me is you use scripture to determine what love means and I use love to determine what scripture means.

In Wednesday’s roundup Greg Dworkin quoted Jonathan Last of The Bulwark, appropriate with the comment above about minesweepers.

Mining the Strait of Hormuz is the single biggest danger America faced heading into any conflict with Iran. How did our commander-in-chief plan to deal with it? Six months ago the Navy decommissioned its four Avenger-class minesweepers that had been stationed in Bahrain precisely to deal with Iranian mines. It gets dumber: Those four final American minesweepers left the theater in mid-January—while war planning for the current operation must already have been underway. But wait, it gets even dumberer! Our minesweeping capability in the Gulf now relies on Littoral Combat Ships, whose abilities have never been tested in combat. Will the LCS be a suitable replacement for the Avenger-class ships? According to the Navy, um, no?

From NOTUS:

Six months before the Trump administration started bombing Iran, the Department of State fired its oil and gas experts. As the war in Iran stretches into its third week, and the Strait of Hormuz — through which 20% of the world’s oil supply usually flows — remains effectively closed, the U.S. government is without the resources it once had to handle such crises, former State Department employees tell NOTUS.

In the comments Jesse Duquette created a cartoon of Washington crossing the Delaware while an airport signalman guides it ashore. The caption is something the nasty guy apparently said. “Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports.” Duquette added:

Whenever I screw up, I think of the time Trump opined about Revolutionary War airports and the brave patriots who gave their lives at the Battle of Baggage Claim and I’m like “sure I’m dumb but at least I’m not, like, Trump dumb”

Steven Camley posted a cartoon of the nasty guy sitting in a rowboat in the Strait of Hormuz. A sign labels the water, “Shi-ite Creek” and a paddle labeled “NATO” is out of reach. A meme posted by exlrrp shows a way of getting ships in and out of the Persian Gulf without going through the Strait – let godzilla carry the ships across the United Arab Emirates peninsula. In today’s roundup Kev quoted Adam Serwer of The Atlantic discussing the nasty guy’s comment, after being rebuffed by NATO, that America doesn’t need anybody.

This fantasy of complete independence is a long-standing part of American culture. Thomas Jefferson, himself a relatively soft-handed gentleman farmer who left the hard labor to the people he had enslaved, extolled the virtues of the yeoman farmer. The political scientist Richard Hofstadter described this mythic figure as “the incarnation of the simple, honest, independent, healthy, happy human being.” The irony, Hofstadter noted, was that it was really rich, educated men such as Jefferson who romanticized this extremely difficult lifestyle. The typical yeoman farmer wanted to be integrated into the market so that he could sell his crops at a profit and escape his hardscrabble circumstances. That romantic “self-sufficiency” was in fact “usually forced upon him by a lack of transportation or markets, or by the necessity to save cash.” [...] Too many Americans believed that Trump’s mass deportation could occur without forcing families into hiding, cutting into businesses’ profits, or shooting people dead in the street. They believed that tariffs could replace global trade and revive the manufacturing industry, making the U.S. self-sufficient, when instead the burden has fallen on American farms and firms. They couldn’t see that when people lose their jobs, or go sick or hungry, it becomes everyone’s problem eventually. This desire to be severed from others culminates in the trad fantasy of a wife who keeps the homestead clean while her husband runs a self-sufficient ranch, the whole family secure with their MREs, AR-15, and safe full of gold collectibles when the apocalypse comes.

In the comments is another cartoon by Naked Pastor. Jesus tells a crowd:

I was never recorded and never wrote a book. So when someone says, “Jesus said this!” they should mean “Someone said Jesus said this!”

BioGeneticsGirl of the Kos community asked the community to come up with slogans for the third No Kings protest, which is in a bit more than a week (I’m sure there’s one near you). Some of what they came up with: knowdaboom: “Top 0.1%’s wealth has doubled in the last 5 years. How’s your family doing?” karmsysback: “Can’t we fast-forward to where he takes cyanide in his bunker?” Sally DeLurks: “Whatever happened to ‘No more wars?’” slowthought: “Regime Change Begins At Home” Albion1 posted a few from a local Indivisible Facebook page. One of them: “Hey, Trump, nobody paid us, we all hate you for free!” Progressive Muse suggests we borrow from Bad Bunny’s Superbowl Halftime Show, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”