DL Open Thread: Friday, March 17, 2023

“What do ye call a wee Irish person who’s always complainin’ of their aches and pains?”

“A leprechaundriac.”

Santos Plans Reelection Bid!  The exclamation point is meant to be ironic. Here’s why he has filed:

The filing with the Federal Election Commission does not necessarily mean that Santos will run for a second term, but it allows his campaign committees to continue raising money, some of which could be used to pay future legal bills. Money he raises could also be used to repay more than $700,000 that he claimed to have loaned his campaign.

Yep. Something the Rethugs have learned from Trump:  Get the rubes to pay your legal bills.

“What do ye call an Irish gent who has been left out on the parch all winter long?”

“Paddy O’Furniture.”

Yep, Trump Directly Contributed To Recent Bank Failures.  How?:  Can you say, “Fox, meet henhouse”?:

Part of the answer is a legacy of the Trump administration’s penchant for installing regulators who are opposed to regulation. Donald Trump appointed Randal Quarles as the first-ever vice chair of banking supervision at the Federal Reserve. (The Fed did not respond to questions for this story.) Quarles saw it as his mission to relax the post-financial-crisis regime. He sent unambiguous signals about how he felt about aggressive regulators — “Changing the tenor of supervision will probably actually be the biggest part of what it is that I do,” he declared in 2017. Translation: Any sign of showing teeth and he’ll get out the pliers. And when Jerome Powell was nominated to be the chair of the Fed, in 2017, he told Congress that Quarles was a “close friend,” adding, “I think we are very well aligned on our approach to the issues that he will face as vice chair for supervision.” Naturally, Quarles supported the 2018 law to roll back stress tests — something that Becker himself had called for. Quarles also did not respond to my request for comment.

“Why are there only 239 beans in Irish Bean Soup?”

“Because one mar–would make it–too farty.”

Has The US Completely Forgotten The Iraq War?  Read and discuss:

Did the Iraq war even happen?

While Washington forgets, much more of the world remembers. The flagrant illegality of bypassing the United Nations: this happened. The attempt to legitimize “pre-emption” (really prevention, a warrant to invade countries that have no plans to attack anyone): this mattered, including by handing the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, a pretext he has used. Worst of all was the destruction of the Iraqi state, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 4,600 US service members, and radiating instability and terrorism across the region.

The Iraq war wasn’t the only law- or country-breaking military intervention launched by the US and its allies in recent decades. Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya form a tragic pattern. But the Iraq war was the largest, loudest and proudest of America’s violent debacles, the most unwarranted, and the least possible to ignore. Or so it would seem. Biden’s statement is only the latest in a string of attempts by US leaders to forget the war and move on.

Ukrainians are now paying part of the price for western misdeeds. Russia’s invasion was an act of blatant aggression. Moscow violated the UN charter and seeks to annex territory as part of an explicitly imperial project (in this respect unlike America’s war in Iraq). Few people outside Russia have genuine enthusiasm for Putin’s effort. Yet, much of the world sees the conflict as a proxy war between Russia and the west rather than a fight for sovereignty and freedom.

I get that there are differences between that conflict and the current one between Russia and Ukraine.  However, to quote Yogi Berra: “Their differences are similar.”

“Her neighbor ran in and cried, “Mrs. O’Leary, Mrs. O’Leary, it’s just terrible.”

“What’s the matter, child? Why are ye fussin’ so?”

“It’s Mr. McGillicudy. He fell into the vat down at the Guinness Plant and drowned.”

“Oh, that’s terrible.  Did he go quickly now, though?

“No, he got out three or far times to take a pee.”

What d’ye want to talk about?