DL Open Thread Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Americans love scary stories, so it’s no surprise that American media dispenses countless articles about Trump. You rarely see his name in European newspapers, but their political leaders are frightened all the same. And, as in the United States, the constant drumbeat has a deleterious effect: As is true here, most are convinced Trump will win again. The lesson is clear: Propaganda works, and it’s apparently so easy to employ that Republicans can manage it.

Speaking of which, if you need a new horror to fuel your nightmares, the Chinese military has released video of a functional machine gun robot dog. You don’t need much imagination to write the horror movie about that.

Liberals tend to dismiss the contention of many so-called independent voters who like to say both parties are the same. They’d say that less if Democrats didn’t keep demonstrating that in some regards they are. Democrats and Republicans might back different policies, but too many exhibit a common root of greed. Bob Menendez is a good example. The corrupt senator from New Jersey is as unpopular as Chris Christie, so Democrats have nominated Rep. Andy Kim to replace him in November’s election. But Menendez not only won’t resign, he filed for the race as an independent, despite being in the midst of his corruption trial. Let’s hope prosecutors put Gold Bar Bob behind some iron bars.

Why do people like Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene routinely make asses of themselves in their MAGA devotion? For the money, of course. This article on plunging small-dollar political donations points out that Jordan and Greene have bucked the trend thanks to their constant presence on cable news. This helps explain why Congress is full of street performers.

Researchers have come up with a theory for what’s causing the strange weather much of the globe has experienced in the past two years: The undersea volcanic eruption in Tonga in January 2022. Most volcanoes spew ash high into the atmosphere, but being under the water, this one created vast amounts of steam and shot it to heights water vapor otherwise wouldn’t reach. The effects have been far-reaching, and they could continue for the rest of the decade.

Soda shakeup on Aisle 6: Dr Pepper has surpassed Pepsi at the No. 2 selling soda in the United States. Somewhere, Allan Loudell is smiling – he drank more of the stuff than anyone I’ve ever known.

The floor’s yours.