As I see it, the situation (in France) is the same as it is here — 38 to 44 percent of the voters are right-wing, and they’ve abandoned the moderate right because it wasn’t getting them what they want, which is to toss out all the immigrants, with special concentration on the Muslims. It is very much parallel to the attitude toward Latin Americans from our 38-44%, which has undergone the same radicalization. It is a mark of desperation. They perceive this as an existential confrontation.

What you have to understand about the media is that it doesn’t report on what everybody already knows. As you noted, there are lots of leftists in France, but they’re scattered among various parties. The story being slighted is the collapse of the Socialist Party; it’s not as dire as the collapse of Labour in England or the Democrats here because there are other leftist alternatives they can, and did, switch to. The top vote-getter in the presidential election was Mélenchon, who is neither Socialist nor Communist nor Green but supported policies that would appeal to members of all three.

Democracy and late-stage capitalism do not fit together all that well. A world in which capital chases a 25% return rate while the ever-richer dismantle government is one in which, by necessity, the majority of the people get squeezed.

So as existing parties fail to deliver relief, people look for new ones that might get the job done. Fascism always ends up on the menu because when justice is gone, there’s always force. And in my reading of history there is no way to defeat fascists without resorting to force.

When the shake up comes, fascism always has a bit of a running start because a longing for violence is baked into the fascist worldview.

Senator Ron Johnson should be in jail. He wanted to hand-deliver fake electors votes to Mike Pence. That’s something I didn’t know. Good job Jan 6th hearings.

Senate negotiators reached a bipartisan gun safety bill to take firearms away from dangerous people and provide billions of dollars in new mental health and ER/Trauma units in schools.

The bill does not ban assault-style rifles or high-capacity magazines or significantly expand background-check requirements for gun purchases. Oh well. All hail glorious bipartisanship.  Here is Coons on twitter:

Progress. After years working to address the scourge of gun violence in America, we now have a bipartisan bill that I believe will save help lives. I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for and swiftly enacting this important step forward into law.

It still needs to pass.  We’ll see.   In the meantime let’s cheer this as the thin edge of the wedge and a first step to taking away all guns from everybody.  If this bill does nothing and goes nowhere, at least that will annoy the fuck out of the right people.

Lucy endlessly pulling the football away from the poor dingus, Charlie Brown, is a trite metaphor. It is also
exceedingly accurate.

But there’s serious déjà vu at work here (re the boyfriend loophole). In 2010, Democrats granted Chuck Grassley endless latitude to negotiate a bipartisan agreement on health care reform, wasting an entire summer when Democrats had 60 votes, and preventing them from taking up other bills—and then he voted against it anyway.

Delaware chef is a finalist on Food Network competition show

Meet chef Reuben Dhanawade, a Delaware native who is a finalist on the Food Network’s “Chopped: Desperately Seeking Sous Chef.”

“It’s a brand new style tournament so the judges at the end of the whole tournament will extend an offer to the winner of the whole show.”

Reuben credits his love for cooking to his mom and grandmother. He currently works for the University of Delaware’s Pencader Dining Hall and hosts a local access cooking show, Reuben’s Indian Kitchen.

“I really enjoyed it. It was a high and I had a lot of fun on the show. Met some awesome chefs on that show too not just the judges so I made some friends for life which is kind of incredible.”

The finale airs on Tuesday, June 28th. You can follow Reuben here.

Coons was in rare form on TV today. Opening with the news that he “can hardly stand serving” in the wholly disgusting US Senate anymore. (Aside – Well, fucking quit then. Give someone else a chance.) Then pivoting to being “hopeful” that “at least” billions will be invested in fully kitted out ER/trauma units and mental health facilities for all schools, because school shootings cannot (and should not #freedom!) be stopped.

Listen for yourself if you don’t believe me.

After a week of being on trial, Park City must be feeling pretty good. The prosecution doesn’t seem to be getting much traction.

Happy belated Juneteenth. I had a wonderful weekend full of not paying attention to any news and hope you did as well. This Monday we wake to Chris Coons looking like a smacked ass, the Texas GOP officially goes full MAGA calling Joe Biden the “Acting President”. A vote that should be easy for Dems (“The GOP is defunding School lunch”) but will be bungled, and the anti-centrist results of the parliamentary vote in France.

The new Texas Republican party platform calls homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice,” says President Biden “was not legitimately elected,” and says Texas students should “learn about the Humanity of the Preborn Child.”

A free school lunches program that helped feed millions of children during the pandemic is set to end on June 30. It could create a “perfect storm” for families already grappling with high inflation, experts say.

Emmanuel Macron’s centrist grouping has lost its absolute majority in parliament, amid gains by a new left alliance and a historic surge by the far right in legislative elections.

After five years of undisputed control of parliament, the recently re-elected Macron, known for his top-down approach to power, now enters his second term facing uncertainty over how he will deliver domestic policies such as raising the retirement age and overhauling state benefits. His centrists will need to strike compromises and expand alliances in parliament to be able to push forward his proposals to cut taxes and shake up the welfare system.

Woods’ defense of the indefensible seems to be that being a fucking asshole isn’t a crime. Listen all about it at the Highlands Bunker – then throw them $5.00 a month.

I’ve been reading his tweets, and listening to Coons talk about guns and the headline above is my official summary of his position.

You know, it is funny. It’s ha ha funny. And yet, Kathy being SO transparently corrupt, having committed crimes so casually and publicly, if she skates because the AG screws up, or because she is mobbed up with our corrupt piece of shit Speaker of the House, it really says some dire things about our state government.

For me, the odd thing about the Jan 6th investigation are all of the “OMG!” revelations of stuff we all saw happen with our own eyes.  Trump loudly and publicly said that he wasn’t going to honor the results if he lost and loudly and publicly didn’t.

It’s as if we all watched a toddler climb onto the countertop, take a cookie our of the cookie jar, look at us square in the eye, smash the jar, hold up the cookie, eat it, and then say, “What cookie?”

In its second hearing this month, the committee showed how the former president ignored aides and advisers in declaring victory prematurely and relentlessly pressing claims of fraud he was told were wrong.

 

Trump clearly and irrefutably tried to seize power through a coup.  We can have our political differences, but if you don’t regard that as a problem – you are not an American.

What’s gotten into Republicans?  The periodic peaceful transfer of power has been the keystone of the Republic since George Washington.  All of us mutually agreeing on its importance is the thing that holds everything together.

The attempted coup through election nullification is unprecedented.  Even Nixon, as horrible as he was never came close to this.  And yet, it is part of a larger conservative hysteria that rejects  any and all legal authority that does not flow from conservative straight white male superiority.

Doctors: “Wear a mask, you’ll live longer.”

GOP: “I have a better idea. Fuck you!”

Kevin Hensley, for example,  may not all be white supremacist technically speaking but conservative straight white male supremacy is at the heart of his politics.  I think we can all (conservatives and liberals alike) agree on that much.   Moving on from that bit of common ground, we can all also agree that Modern Republicanism is really no different than a defendant in a trial deciding that the jury made a mistake, and therefor he would not be bound by the verdict.

All of this to say that I don’t know how a civil society continues when 30-40% of the members refuse to be bound by any commonly understood rules rules or even any norms of behavior.  I guess we’ll see.