Still image from The Running Man (1987) in which convicts in a dystopian American future compete in a deadly game show for a chance at (phony) pardons. Richard Dawson (left) and future California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Did I miss something? I was too busy thinking about “percolating” fascism on Friday to notice recordings of Joe Biden having trouble remembering things. Why it matters, says Axios. But at this point, does it? Really?
The big picture, in Axios-speak, is the current occupant of the Oval Office, says Katie Phang:
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Seashells were Thursday’s distraction from the expanding Trump kleptocracy. He’s having his own mental acuity issues and has custody of the launch codes.
Have CNN's Smerconish as background noise while I do some work at home and, incredibly, he may make it through the entire hour without mentioning the word "Trump" a single timeCovered: Biden (at length), Diddy, lifestyle crapNot covered: $400M POTUS bribe, budget collapse, "mass deportation"
The Trump Admin is considering doing a game show where immigrants compete for citizenship—because in their America, basic human rights are entertainment. This isn’t a game. It’s people’s lives. It’s cruelty as spectacle. It’s vile. The Apprentice: Fascism Edition.
The US Department of Homeland Security is reportedly considering an “out-of-the-box” pitch to participate in a television gameshow that would have immigrants compete to obtain US citizenship.
Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin described the pitch to the New York Times as a “celebration of being an American” and said the show would include challenges based on American traditions.
In a statement, McLaughlin said: “We need to revive patriotism and civic duty in this country, and we’re happy to review out-of-the-box pitches. This pitch has not received approval or rejection by staff.”
What a shame Richard Dawson isn’t around to host it.
Republicans swarmed FKA Twitter on Thursday to advertise that they’d never performed work so working-class as serving customers in a restaurant. That’s not how they saw it, mind you.
Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered.
Dozens of faux-outraged Republicans reposted the “8647” seashell photo that former FBI director James Comey posted to Twitter and quickly took down. They needed a distraction from, among other failures, grocery prices that their liege lord failed to bring down as promised on Day One of his second term.
Is there any other reasonable explanation for this post other than that…
…the former head of the FBI is publicly calling for the murder of the President of the United States? pic.twitter.com/o0Cz5JokdI
Voters have noticed, Consumer confidence has dropped for four consecutive months (The Hill):
“Tariffs were spontaneously mentioned by nearly three-quarters of consumers, up from almost 60 percent in April,” Surveys of Consumers director Joanne Hsu said in her analysis of the findings. “Uncertainty over trade policy continues to dominate consumers’ thinking about the economy.”
Because two assassination attempts were apparently not enough for these people … pic.twitter.com/89GbQgVQmg
Comey, who’s always presented as Dudley Do-Right, naively failed to anticipate the firestorm he’d ignite when he posted the beach photo with the caption “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” For Trump’s MAGA defenders, it was a gift.
Consider if Trump’s FBI director had posted the same thing about a leading Democrat & ask yourself what the mainstream media would be saying about it. Yes, he deleted the post – but the double-standard is the most glaring aspect. https://t.co/cVI4Ua7S4l
Prominent Republicans immediately called for Comey’s arrest, insisting that 8647 was an obvious threat either to kill Donald Trump and/or to incite his assassination. The number “86,” they insisted meant to kill someone. Comey must be investigated for issuing a threat against El Presidente’s life!
BREAKING 🚨 Peter Doocy just EXPOSED James Comey for his “8647” post “After 30 seconds of Googling you see that 86 means to k*ll someone”
Listen, I worked in a restaurant for six or seven years. It’s restaurant code for “we’re all out of” a menu item or “toss out” that lettuce, it’s going brown. Not that the above everymen and women among the GOP Ivy League elite would know that. Nor even the party of billionaires’ lesser lights.
WOW!
Former FBI Director James Comey @Comey just posted this on his Instagram 2 hours ago, with the caption “cool shell formation on my beach walk”. It’s a pic of shells in the form of “86 47”.
This is a call for the assassination of President Trump by the former FBI Director! pic.twitter.com/Q4qIBbvvmt
It was a convenient distraction from Trump’s jumbo-jet sized corruption, from his administration’s immigrant policies suffering a string of losses in court, and from the unfavorable reception U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer got at the Supreme Court on Thursday morning.
This is a direct THREAT against President Trump, who has already survived two assassination attempts.
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) May 15, 2025
Patented rightwing hissy fit. But you know, if The Morality Players seriously thought the photo would inspire people to violence against Trump, and if they chewed through their lips fretting over his safety, they wouldn’t keep reposting the damned photo now, would they?
Comey isn’t just stating a threat to a sitting president, he’s threatening voters who determined the outcome of a free and fair election. Tell me again why these agencies should be the only ones allowed to own guns. https://t.co/7rDDWt0A7m
What the episode reminded me of was the old pass-it-on spam emails my dad and his friends (yours too?) passed around before social media:
Pass-it-on spams don’t ask people to write their congressman or senator. They don’t ask people to get involved in or contribute to a political campaign. Or even to make a simple phone call. No. Once you’ve had your daily dose of in-box outrage, conservative reader, all these propaganda pieces ask is that you “pass it on” to everyone you know. So now that you’re good and angry — and if you’re a Real American™ — you’ll share it with all your friends so they’ll get and stay angry too.
James Comey is vile!
He put out a message to his Deep State buddies that essentially says: “Hey, Deep State, we are ALL effed unless some “offs” Trump.”
Seems like an order for a HIT on the President of the United States.
The GOP tweet-swarm on Thursday was just a MAGA-era version of those old emails. Not meant to defuse anger but to inflame it. Be sure you don’t bottle that faux outrage and sell it to school kids.
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a lion cub in the wild? Lions are magnificent creatures, and their cubs are just as fascinating.
Delve into the life of lion cubs, from their birth to their journey into adulthood. Let’s embark on this wild adventure together and get up close and personal with these future kings and queens of the jungle.
The Birth of a Lion Cub
Lion cubs are born after a gestation period of about 110 days. They typically come into the world in litters ranging from one to four cubs. The birth itself takes place in a secluded den, hidden away from the rest of the pride to ensure the safety of the newborns.
Unlike their adult counterparts, lion cubs are born blind and remain incredibly vulnerable in their first few weeks.
Early Days: Blind and Helpless
In the initial days of their lives, lion cubs are utterly dependent on their mother. They are born blind and only begin to open their eyes about a week after birth. During this critical period, the mother lioness is solely responsible for their care.
She will venture out to hunt and return to nurse her cubs, all while ensuring they remain hidden from potential predators. This is a time of vulnerability but also a crucial phase in the development of the cubs.
The Role of the Lioness
The lioness assumes the role of a solitary guard and provider early on. She moves her cubs to different locations every few days to avoid detection by predators. Typically, these hiding spots are well-secluded, often dense thickets or rocky outcrops where the cubs can remain hidden from sight.
The lioness’s bond with her cubs during this period is intensely strong, laying the foundation for their future survival and development.
Introduction to the Pride
Around eight weeks of age, lion cubs are introduced to the pride. This significant milestone in their lives marks their first social interactions with other members, including their father and older siblings.
The introduction to the pride isn’t just a playdate; it’s a crucial step for socialization and acceptance. The cubs start to learn how to behave within the pride structure, which will eventually determine their roles as adults.
Social Dynamics
When lion cubs are introduced to the pride, they begin to understand the hierarchy and social norms. They learn through observation and play, interacting with other cubs, juveniles, and adults.
Play-fighting, chasing, and mock stalking are just a few of the activities they engage in. These playful interactions are not only fun but essential for honing their hunting skills and building social bonds.
Growing Up: Play and Skills Development
Playtime for lion cubs is not just about having fun; it’s fundamental for their development. During these sessions, cubs practice their hunting techniques, improve their coordination, and strengthen their muscles.
You might see them pouncing on each other, wrestling, and stalking imaginary prey. This play behaviour is crucial for their survival skills, which they will rely on when they eventually start hunting on their own.
There’s more at the link but if you’ve ever been around everyday domestic kittens it all seems very, very familiar.
Donald Trump “aggressively pursued” Princess Diana following her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996 and claimed, after her death, he could have “nailed her if I wanted to,” according to a new biography.
In an advance copy of The King: The Life of Charles III by Christopher Andersen seen by Newsweek, the author recounts that during the 1990s Diana “rebuffed” romantic advances that Trump made after the breakdown of her marriage to Charles.
“It didn’t help that Trump…had aggressively pursued Princess Diana after her divorce—overtures that were rebuffed—and claimed later on a radio program that he could have ‘nailed her if I wanted to,’ but only if she passed an HIV test,” Andersen wrote of Trump’s relationship with Charles.
“I could have nailed her if I wanted to but only if she passed an HIV test.” He said that about Princess Diana.
In the past four months, the Pentagon has sent thousands of active-duty combat troops and armored Stryker combat vehicles to the southwestern border to confront what President Trump declared on his first day in office was an “invasion” of migrants, drug cartels and smugglers.
That’s not all. The military has also dispatched U-2 spy planes, surveillance drones, helicopters and even two Navy warships to surveil the borders and coasts round the clock.
The buildup of forces underscores how Mr. Trump is breaking with his predecessors’ practice of mostly limiting deployments along the U.S.-Mexico border to small numbers of active-duty soldiers and reservists. About 2,500 active-duty troops were on the border at the end of the Biden administration. Now there are about 8,600.
In a recent visit with troops in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the border was fairly calm. Crossings, which decreased sharply in the waning months of the Biden administration, have plummeted even further since the Trump administration declared its goal to obtain “100 percent” operational control of the boundary with Mexico. In April, about 8,000 people were arrested after crossing the border illegally, down from about 128,000 people a year earlier, according to U.S. government statistics.
Even so, there is no end in sight for the military mission on the border, which the Pentagon says has cost $525 million so far.
The deployments continue to grow in size, scope and sophistication even as the debate over the benefits and drawbacks rages on, and the military expands its territorial authorities to help interdict migrants.
I just heard Times Pentagon Reporter Helene Cooper, one of the authors of that piece, say on MSNBC that she’d spoken to a General who called this operation the “generational conflict of our time” comparing it to WWII. That’s the mindset. It was likely this guy:
“This is their mission for their generation, and they’re embracing it,” said Maj. Gen. Scott M. Naumann, the head of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, who moved his headquarters staff to Fort Huachuca, Ariz., in February to oversee what the military calls Joint Task Force-Southern Border.
Trump just ordered 20,000 more troops to the border. Don’t be surprised if they invade. They’ve been talking about it for some time.
On the other hand, it may only be a matter of time before they turn those troops around to patrol the streets of America. The “generational conflict of our time” may very well be waged against Americans.
House Republican spending hawks are demanding changes to the party’s tax-and-spending bill, freezing progress on the legislation over disagreements on Medicaid, clean-energy tax breaks and budget deficits.
The holdouts Friday, including Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, blocked the Budget Committee from advancing the legislation. The panel blocked the bill on a 16-21 vote, with those four Republicans and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R., Pa.) joining all Democrats in opposition. Smucker, who backs the bill, said he voted no for procedural reasons, so he can call for a revote later.
Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R., Texas) said lawmakers could go home for the weekend and that the panel hoped to resume Monday morning.
“This bill falls profoundly short,” Roy said, adding that discussions were continuing and possible through the weekend. “I am a no on this bill unless serious reforms are made.”
Roy and others want Medicaid work requirements to start sooner than 2029, as the current bill does. They want faster removal of clean-energy tax credits, which the current bill phases out over several years. They warn that the bill, as written, front-loads tax cuts in the next few years and delays spending cuts. That combination, they argue, means that budget deficits could be significantly higher in the short run.
Republican leaders are negotiating with them and simultaneously with lawmakers from New York, New Jersey and California, who want a higher cap on the state and local tax deduction. The current bill would raise the $10,000 cap to $30,000 and start phasing that down once income reaches $400,000, but Reps. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) and Nick LaLota (R., N.Y.) say that isn’t enough in their high-tax, high-income districts.
Other lawmakers, including Rep. Jen Kiggans (R., Va.) have warned that the clean-energy tax-credit changes were too harsh, creating a push-and-pull within the party where changes that satisfy the hard-line conservatives could potentially cost votes on the other side of the party.
How shocking. They only do this every single time.
Somebody’s unhappy:
These guys have different incentives. The Freedom Caucus guys are afraid they’re going to lose their chance to decimate the government before 2026 when they very well may lose the House (and possibly the Senate.) The ones who are in danger of losing their seats would like to hang on to them so they don’t want this. And as I wrote earlier, it’s been reported that Trump is very worried about the Democrats taking the House and investigating him and impeaching him a third time for all of his ongoing crimes. (Why he might even face criminal prosecution if they get him for some of the crimes that are clearly not part of his “official duties” like all the bribes and graft from his crypto schemes.)
So let the games begin. I still think there’s a very good chance they pass nothing and simply extend the existing tax cuts and do another CR through 2026.
This is so stupid I may have to walk into the ocean and keep going. My God:
The Department of Homeland Security and Secret Service are investigating a social media post by former FBI Director James Comey that several U.S. officials interpreted as calling for the assassination of President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday.
In a now-deleted post on Instagram, Comey shared a photo of what he described as a “shell formation” on a beach that formed the numbers “8647.” The post was swiftly condemned by administration officials, Republican lawmakers and Trump allies who said it blatantly targeted Trump, the 47th president of the United States.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “eighty-six” can informally mean “to get rid of.”
“Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump,” Noem wrote on X. “DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.”
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., called for Comey to be arrested, while Chris LaCivita, Trump’s former campaign manager, said he would have had Comey’s home raided over the post.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau is prepared to “provide all necessary support” to the Secret Service, which holds primary jurisdiction over the investigation.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., called for an “immediate” joint investigation into Comey’s post in a letter Thursday night to Patel and Secret Service Director Sean Curran.
I’ve seen hissy fits before but this one takes the cake. And the media has lost its mind. Look at this:
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier.
“Now, he wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant. And he did it for a reason, and he was hit so hard because people like me, they like what’s happening with our country,” he told the “Special Report” host. “Our country’s become respected again and all this. And he’s calling for the assassination of the president.”
Spare me. The man who thinks a photo shopped tattoo is real says this silly picture of some shells that form “8647” is a national crisis. Ok.
But I guess this means there are no important things happening which must be a good thing right? No real news? Great.
There was a time not too long ago that it was conventional wisdom that if you wanted to be the president of the United States, you’d better be someone the regular folks would like to have a beer with. It’s not that Americans never voted for upper class people. After all, wealthy, privileged presidents like Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and George Bush Sr. had won the office. But there was always a certain resonance to the idea that someone who came up from nothing could rise to the very top in America.
Think of Jimmy Carter who was raised on a peanut farm or Harry S. Truman who had been a (failed) haberdasher in his civilian life. Richard Nixon grew up very poor. After all, we had explicitly rejected the idea of an aristocracy and built our entire national mythology around the idea that you could make something of yourself no matter what the circumstances of your birth so we naturally admired those who exemplified that ideal. At least until they disappointed us.
Ronald Reagan had tremendous success as someone who originally came from Midwestern, middle class roots who then went on to become a very famous, wealthy actor, successfully modeling the character of an average man who achieved an almost royal status in celebrity mad America. But even though he brought Hollywood glamor to the White House no one perceived him to be an actual aristocrat.
But it was in 2000 when Texas Governor George W. Bush, who had developed a sort of bumbling everyman persona that the media and half the country found to be incredibly charming, made the “guy you’d like to have a beer with” the standard description of what Americans look for in a president. This was despite the fact that Bush didn’t drink and his very patrician Connecticut lineage went all the way back to President Franklin Pierce. It became an article of faith that unless a president was able to present himself as a down home, regular guy he didn’t have a chance.
Both Vice President Al Gore and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry were tortured in the media for not being “Real Americans” with a bond with the common man. Gore was portrayed as some kind of bizarre robot and Kerry was treated like a conceited aristocrat when he ordered what they thought was the wrong sandwich or drank the wrong drink. These “gaffes” were considered deal breakers and no matter how hard they tried to show off their skills at mingling with ordinary voters, they were given no quarter. If you didn’t have that beer buddy magic, you were out.
In 2008, John McCain’s running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin who entranced the GOP elites with her good looks and her plain spoken, rural folksiness seemed to be their dream come true. She had five kids, one of whom was an infant, was a born again Evangelical, had a sketchy education (and it showed) and was a fully formed product of the right wing talk radio style of politics that had been building for a couple of decades. Her whole schtick was about being the voice of Real America — the men in the steel-toed boots and the women who loved them. They lost the race but something had been unleashed.
Palin was the personification of the Republican ideal and for quite a while after that race she was considered the front-runner to win the nomination in 2012. She quit her job as Governor to start her own Super PAC and appear before adoring crowds where she slammed the “lame stream media” and took up all the right wing grievances big and small (“I want my straws! I want ’em bent!”) She starred in her own reality show called “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” and started living the high life. She eventually flamed out but her moment in the spotlight had a major influence on the Republican Party. She had opened the door to Donald Trump.
Trump was very much the heir to the style that Palin had created. He knew very little about the issues and wasn’t interested in learning about them. But he articulated all the grievances and bored right into the right wing id that had been primed for years by the likes of Rush Limbaugh. He was much better at it than she was.
But Trump never had any pretensions about being a common man. In 2016 he made that clear:
“Jimmy Carter used to get off Air Force One carrying his luggage,” Mr. Trump said, smirking. “I don’t want a president carrying his luggage.” It sends the wrong message, Mr. Trump believed, for a president to act like some kind of humble servant, an everyday slob. A commander in chief should be imperial and, yes, superior. “I don’t want someone who is going to come off carrying a large bag of underwear,” Mr. Trump said.
The base actually loves Trump for his out-of-touch, imperial ways which he’s making more and more obvious in this second term. For instance, he clearly has no idea what every single person in the country calls the store where they buy food and household supplies.
Trump to UAE president: "We have a term 'groceries.' It's an old term but it means basically what you're buying, food, it's a pretty accurate term but it's an old fashioned sound but groceries are down." pic.twitter.com/TGe83GQyot
He’s decked out the Oval Office to look like the Las Vegas version of the palace of Versailles and is running around the Middle East right now gushing over his favorite fellow world leaders — oil rich Sheiks and potentates — as if they are his long lost relatives. He’s whining that they have bigger planes than him so is planning to accept a “gift” of a $400 million dollar flying palace from his good friends the Qataris. A few MAGA influencers and GOP Politicians have objected but Trump doesn’t care. He is running his presidency as if he is a monarch who answers to no one. At this point it’s unclear if he does.
So, no. Republican voters do not want a president they can have a beer with. They never did. They yearn to be subjects. Donald Trump understood that instinctively and he’s giving them exactly what they always wanted.
The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell on Thursday insisted that Democrats hammer Donald Trump every day on his failure to reduce costs as he promised “on day one.” It’s where Democrats drop the ball. They “need to be on offense all day long.”
Trump “is giving tax breaks to his rich friends while you pay more at Walmart,” is what Democrats should be telling voters. Every day. All day. The corruption, his $400 million gift of an airplane and more, doesn’t penetrate with his base. Their direct experience will, Longwell argues. Trump can’t “beast mode” his way past what they experience at the grocery store he’s never been in.
Oh, you want data?
A new report from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) tracks costs associated with a “basket of American dream essentials.”
“We analyze these components not just in terms of financial figures but as crucial elements that shape a family’s capability to achieve a desirable standard of living,” the group explains in a paper describing its approach.
The findings? For the bottom 60% of U.S. households, a “minimal quality of life” is out of reach, according to the group, a research organization focused on improving lower earners’ economic well-being.
Some Democrats don't want Berine Sanders calling it an oligarchy. It's an oligarchy.
