Week of Election Projection
Election Protection, Inflation Motivation, Arrogance, Dumb (with a B) Ads, Press Sec Sacked, Ukraine Betrayed

We can tell who to vote against by which opponents look the most evil in helpful election mailers sent by the campaigns themselves!

Helpful mailers sent in huge massive bulk volume.

Headline:

Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit backs you up, charting costs for groceries with tariffs, and what prices were projected to be prior to tariffs.

He’s right, of course. But that ain’t all, folks!

Ordinary people, those not obsessed with policy and politics, can still see that an impulsive military attack based on vibes, and a dumb (with a ‘b’) set of tariffs based on whimsy are the cause of suffering.

So yeah, combine that with Let them eat ballrooms high living and in‑your‑face corruption, and you’ll get Ceaușescu levels of voter anger.

US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra

He adds that, if Republicans lose, they had better accept the blame.

Doesn’t seem to be working:

Republicans seem to know it’s not working:

Headline:

Linking comment to Annie from Infidel753:

Infidel’s research is intense and careful. His analysis is frequently the best among us.

It’s a good idea to pay attention to his words.

Guess which one thought she was just wonderful!

Update:
Now guess which one let loose of her.

Trump’s new very temporary Press Secretary, now departed, also had an otherwise extraordinary history.

M. Bouffant at Web of Evil brings us links, a baker’s dozen, on the weird outer space conspiracy theories of Katie Zacharia.

Now the part directly over Ukraine, the part of Starlink controlled by the US (which is to say Hegseth and Trump) suddenly blacks out during a deadly missile attack by Putin. People in Ukraine die because Ukraine can’t track the incoming missiles.

Accurate Headline:

Necessity:

Musk has a history of interfering with Ukraine’s connection with the satellite complex, but this time he points out that the section that blanked out follows orders from the US. He blames Trump.

The White House denies interfering and blames it on Musk.

Meanwhile, Ukraine was unable to accurately locate 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones Putin had aimed at population centers.

The same analysis is now available in audio format, as journalist Michael Moss fills in for Heather Cox Richardson, narrating in podcast.

Headline:

Research in The Atlantic from a staff writer specializing in national security and the DOJ:

Using false information in attempting to frame someone is a crime:

Marcy Wheeler explains:

Dave resorts to dictionary definition, historical usage, and current data.

With all that in hand, Dave is compelled to ask: Is Trump a closet commie?.

He is angry at the raid on her home for information that could easily be attained from filed documents.

He compares it to a 2015 raid on the home of former Republican operative RJ Johnson
He quotes Johnson.

James and Johnson’s characterization of that decade old raid may be correct, but my own superficial search doesn’t support it. Johnson was supposedly at the crux of a secret scheme to illegally collude between a private campaign organization and then Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s reelection campaign. Presumably that alleged secret collusion would not be part of the public record.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court did later rule that the law itself was invalid.

The larger point seems about right.

Quoting RJ Johnson:

Maybe they can get her for arranging seashells on a beach.

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant AG for civil rights, DOJ

Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The problem:

The necessity:

One person:

There is a lesson for each of us:

But, as we criticize these activities, we are in turn severely monitored and criticized for our tone.

tengrain brings in three minutes of hysterical commentary from Brent Terhune.

He sees the similarities.

Of particular interest to me, he found support from a true believer:

Here is why:

I suspect that, like me, readers will find this reveals as much about the willingness of Bruce to accept wisdom, wherever it appears, as it does about Dan’s willingness to share.

Perhaps we in the faith could find value and growth in following the good example provided by Bruce.

I’m thinking about words from six decades ago that many fans of Paul Simon will find familiar:

Libertarian Socialism:

The key is the word voluntary. Michael is talking about what we would recognize as everything from early Christian communities, the now defunct Oneida Community of 150 years ago, and hippie communes from when I was a college student. People entered and left at their own discretion.

Authoritarian Socialism:

This would include compulsory taxation, pretty much anything that flows from taxation, and laws that are imposed.

Which means prohibiting fire departments, public sidewalks, roads that are not privately owned and maintained, police departments, food quality regulations, worker protection, and so on.

Michael has a hard time distinguishing between those activities and Stalinist dictatorship.

To be fair, some versions of libertarianism do permit a light sort of mandatory mutual protection of minimal rights, presumably by police, to maintain the voluntary nature of an ideal society.

You may prefer a complete transcript (PDF).