I’m wondering whether people are aware that Benjamin Netanyahu is currently on trial for three separate corruption indictments for bribery, fraud, and breach of public trust. The trial has been going on for years, slowed by COVID, appeals, and the Gaza war.

I want elections to come down to policy and ability and they rarely do.

I’m fine if elections come down to the zeitgeist and larger trends, which they often do.

It pains me when elections come down to personalities, but they do more often than I like.

If this one comes down to crass vs. sass, though, I AM HERE FOR IT.

It made objective sense to pick the primary’s VP choice over any other candidate, for fiscal and logistical reasons, but it was never a given. Biden could have had suspicions, or spite, or just been too battered to do the sensible thing. And even then having one or more party luminaries pull the reins could have thrown everything into chaos. Chaos was staring us in the face. It’s the narrative the GOP and press wanted, and it was a high probability.

Which is why what’s happened is astonishing.

And I expected that a floor fight in Chicago is what the GOP wanted (because the Ds wouldn’t recover) and what the press wanted (feel-good coronations don’t draw eyeballs or win Pulitzers).

I felt we had a chance with Biden, though it was risky, and that there was still plenty of room for a blow-up on the R side. I didn’t trust the Democratic leadership and the Democrat party regulars to not screw up a replacement. It’s not that I didn’t trust Kamala—I didn’t think she’d be given a chance.

The press focus on Biden’s poor debate performance, and the extrapolation that a gravely voice and tripping over words indicated declining competence, pissed me off. Because true incompetence—gish-gallop lies and non-sequitirs—was right there, five feet away.

I wasn’t blind to Joe’s age, but would take him in whatever state over a) the other candidate or b) the Democratic party’s penchant for petty self-destruction.

A floor fight in Chicago would have been a freaking disaster.

The humility and decency it took for Biden to step off the ticket, after repeatedly saying he wouldn’t, was a surprise. Not unexpected but not guaranteed. To endorse Harris was also sensible but not foregone.

The surprising thing was how effective Harris was in the next ten hours.
She leveraged Biden’s endorsement into top-tier concurrences.
She wiped the field clear of competition.
She got big-donor pledges to calm down the finance team.
She got a huge grassroots boost on the 40K-person Zoom.

Peter Thiel was CEO of PayPal when they acquired fincom startup X.com and with it Elon Musk.

Peter Thiel was the first outside investor in Facebook and was on the Board when Cambridge Analytica exploited that platform to spread targeted disinformation in the 2016 election.

Peter Thiel was a member of the transition team in 2016-2017 for the incoming administration.

Peter Thiel invested in and co-founded Narya Capital with J. D. Vance, who two years later won a Senate seat.

High-Powered Rifle Used By Suspected Neofascist in Assassination Attempt Heightens Focus On Biden’s Age

One problem we’re going to have is that any identification of the shooter’s identity, affiliation, and motive are going to come from the FBI and the press, and a lot of people are going to be predisposed to disbelieve what they hear from either of those sources

Bannon got busted on a contempt rap
Beat the rap by rattin’ on some rioters
He said, “I know it’s dangerous,
But it sure beats Riker’s”
The next day he was altered
By those very same rioters

Ha ha, no, he didn’t rat, so he’s going to Riker’s

https://apple.news/AO6IifE3vQaeydc_lURr3XQ

@thomasfuchs

@thomasfuchs

@thomasfuchs https://printerval.com/lock-him-up-lock-him-up-t-shirt-p2260344?campaign_id=698134631&msclkid=d99c08b106f111ab79146ee9ea67fd9e&utm_campaign=Printerval.com_US_BingAds_Pmax_All+products_06%2F08&utm_content=US+All+Products+New&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=bing&utm_term=2330140017529135

@inthehands https://apple.news/A0eikREgFTcaQpzL_9N726w

You know, if a private citizen directs government employees to seize private property at a private event on bogus grounds of a potential security threat, I think “delegates to the Libertarian convention” are the worst choice of people to do this to

dr. pepper was the scientist who invented the strangely-flavored beverage, the beverage itself was pepper’s monster

Conservative Texas school board member actually reads curriculum and realizes that kindness, selflessness, and fairness are actually the Christian calues she should be supporting.

Then she runs up against the hardliners who want to resegregate, privatize, and monetize K-12 education.

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/15/texas-granbury-isd-school-board-courtney-gore/

Do you understand what it takes to get MIT students out of the library two weeks before finals?

You’ve politically activated the nerds. That’s extremely difficult.
https://mastodon.social/@ifnotnowboston/112396319501725629

@pixel that’s… fake. Both of them.

Police are warning that they will use chemical and kinetic agents (bean bag, rubber rounds, and gas) to break up the nonviolent resistance.