The purity test

Watching another Ezra Klein podcast and wow is it depressing. It's about the Democratic party's future foreign policy (saying we ever win again).

Ezra and his guest, Matt Duss, basically believe that the Dem party must ... 1) turn its back on everything Biden did (God, he is a convenient scapegoat, isn't he?) ... 2) make its purer-than-the-driven-snow moral stand on the high ground of hating Israel.

The guest, a former advisor to Bernie, seemed especially and fervidly anti-Israel. He spoke as if there is no factual doubt that Israel has been committing genocide as well as every other bad thing possible, when that is just not true. But truth isn't important in politics, the perception of truth is.

One thing that really bothered me ... the podcast starts with the impuning of Congressman Dan Goldman of New York. His crime? He's a Democrat but he hasn't said anything bad about Israel (he's Jewish, you know).

For years I have seen Dan Goldman appear on MSNBC as he has done so many good things, both now as a politician, as the lead counsel on Trump's first impeachment, as a legal advisor at MSNBC, and earlier as a US attorney in the Southern District of New York. But all that doesn't matter since he hasn't called Israel genocidal.

This is a bad purity test. We didn't lose the last election because Biden helped Israel. We didn't lose the election because some Democratic politicians are unapologetically Jewish. We lost it because the Democratic party's bigwigs were wealthy, educated, famous, and lucky people who forgot about those less fortunate. Now we can add to the Democratic party's mistakes an apparebt embrace of antisemitism. What could go wrong?

Divergence

The aims of Israel and of the Trump administration in the Iran war are diverging. I feel for Israel because they actually believed Trump's lies, and now they are being left in the lurch.

D Day

It's the anniversary of D Day. And there's a new movie out about that day ... Pressure.

Pressure is a 2026 war drama film directed and edited by Anthony Maras and written by Maras and David Haig, based on Haig's 2014 stage play. It stars Andrew Scott as meteorologist James Stagg and Brendan Fraser as Dwight D. Eisenhower as the pair work to plan the Normandy landings during World War II; Kerry Condon, Chris Messina, and Damian Lewis also star.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but today I saw a discussion about it from the Bulwark with retired General Mark Hertling ...



PS - happy to see Brendan Fraser. Will always love him in The Mummy :)

One more song

I love this song, sing it to the cats :) From one of my most favorite tv series, Once Upon a Time ...

James Taylor

"In Concert" at the BBC, November, 1970

The interview

Trump storms out of interview after being challenged about election fraud claims, DOJ fund

Meet the Press host Kristen Welker interviewed Trump ... you can see the whole interview here ... about his slush fund for Jan 6 rioters. When she challenged him on the facts, he flipped his wig and left ...



During the interview he said he "lovedd the idea" of paying off the rioters if only it could be done. Well, of course it could be done. He could pay them off himself ... isn't he richer than God? But he wants us to do it. The rioters probably will be paid eventually, as there are apparently other ways the Justice Department can pay them without needing any oversight from Congress.

And I just have to say ... the lies. Gobsmacking.

Narta Lagoon

A family of parasites. Creating nothing of worth, they prey on what belongs to others, damage it beyond recognition, and sell the remains to wealthy idiots.

The Right's sexism

I know I've been posting Ezra Kleine a lot lately, but the topic in this video really touched me .... the extreme sexism of the political Right and their continuing project of returning society to a time when men were men (think Quest for Fire) and women were just their f*ckable child-bearing slaves.

I was young in the 60s/70s, when the advent of birth control pills gave women the power to decide for themselves when and if they wanted to have children. That was perhaps the most important step towards women's equality.

Here's a past video from the Gates Foundation that advocates for helping women in other countries get birth contol. But the message is just as relevant to our own society, especially now: contraception gives women a chance for education, employment, health, and a better life for the children they do have ...



It will come as no surprise, then, that the Right has done everything possible to destroy women's freedom to choose birth control and also abortion. The Right will dress this up with laughably tortured religion/philosophy, but this is truly about one thing - keeping women powerless. It is abominable.

More on Platner

Report details allegations of unsettling behavior toward women by Graham Platner

More bad stuff coming out about Graham Platner. Some Democrats don't care as long as he can win against Susan Collins. Others see this support of Platner in the same way they saw Republicans supporting Trump after the release of the Access Hollywood tape.

Platner's campaign staff includes those who helped get Mamdani and Fetterman elected. Apparently they are trying to find Democratic candidates who will appeal to all the young working-class men that voted for Trump. I don't like this approach. Don't find Platner trustworthy. Democrats can't win by copying Republicans.

The daily briefing

The Times of Israel's daily briefing with editor David Horovitz. They talk about the phone call between Trump and Nretanyahu as well as the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It's good to get Israel's perspective on what's happening in the war with Iran. The US press, both conservative and liberal, seems to have a lot of bias when it comes to reporting on Israel.

Josh Turek

Democrat Josh Turek, who was born with spina bifida, won his primary race in Iowa. I thought his victory speech was really good. This is what the Democratic party should be.

Foreign policy

Over the past month, there have been two dominant stories in American foreign policy. One, of course, is the war with Iran. The other is the much-anticipated summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping of China. And I think if you look closely at both of these stories, you see that our foreign policy has entered into a period of absolute incoherence ...

Ezra talks to Ian Bremmer about the US's present foreign policy. Ezra thinks it is, under Trump, incoherent, but I don't think so.

There's no great overacrhing political agenda - for Trump it's personal. He wants to dominate and control everything and everyone.

As President, sometimes it works like in Venezuela. But sometimes he meets others he can't bully, like Iran. In those cases he is at a loss.

As for Xi (and Putin and Kim Jong Un), Trump is confronted with a sucessfull version of what he himself wants to be. And in those cases, he defers, irrespective of policy differences.

Vore!

Today is the primary election for California governor. The top three contenders in this jungle primary are two Democrats - Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer - and one Trump-supported Republican, Steve Hilton.

I already voted by mail and I've chosen Tom Steyer. I think the DNC wants everyone to vote for Becerra, but for once in my life I'm voting for who I like best, not the person who has the best chance to win. Hopefully the two Democrats will win and end up running against each other.

Graham Platner

UPDATE: OK, there's this now ... Graham Platner And His Wife Dismiss Reports Of His Alleged Sexting As ‘Gossip’



I don't live in Maine so I've only been somewhat aware of the Democrat who wants to challenge Susan Collins to become senator there - Graham Platner.

But I would not want to be friends with a person who had a Nazi tattoo and who sent sexual messages to dozens of women while he was married. So why would I vote for such a person to make important political decisions in my name?

I don't like the wife telling us that we are bad people because we care about such trivial matters when important issues are at stake. These trivial things show his character. I mean - haven't we Democrats been criticizing Hegseth for his tattoos, criticizing Paxton for his lack of morals?

Disappointed in Bernie for supporting this guy.

The midterms

I would agree with Ezra that it appears that Trump has given up on the idea of Republicans winning the midterms via participation in "free and fair" elections.

But I don't agree that he's ok with losing the midterms. I think he just plans to stay in control using other methods than winning the hearts and minds of voters.

So what might he do? He's already trying to reduce the Democratic vote by making voting harder. And I wouldn't be surprised if he staffed all polling places with military/ICE or even declared martial law in order to suspend the elections.

Ezra doesn't understand why Trump doesn't do the obvious things he could to regain the support of voters. I think what Ezra's misses is that when you are a despot, you don't have to care about being popular. In fact, part of what proves how powerful you are is that you can force people to bend to your will whether they like it or not.

Ezra Klein

Ezra Klein speaks with Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari.

They mention the Roman Empire as an example of the "might makes right" scenario that they believe both the US and Israeli administrations are presently embracing, but Rome was so much more than that.

Thomas Massie

Thomas Massie on Meet the Press today. Though he's a Republican, he's an interesting guy and principled - I like him. Seems a shame he was driven out.

The Democratic autopsy

- Rembrandt - The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp

‘A huge omission’: Everyone is baffled by the exclusion of Gaza in DNC autopsy

[...] Multiple progressive activists said they had spoken with the report’s author about how the Biden administration’s approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict hurt former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, especially with younger and more progressive voters ...

Sigh :( I guess it is inevitable that the Democratic party would try to pin the blame for losing the last presidential election on Biden. They don't want to face the truth behind their failure.

Biden was right to go to Israel's aid after the terrible attack from Hamas. The fact that Muslim voters and young male voter chose Trump doesn't prove Biden was wrong, it proves how dumb those voters were.

The reason most voters turned away from the Democratic party was not because of Israel, it was because the Democratic party forgot what its constituency traditionally was - the poor, the struggling, the disenfranchised. Kamala Harris ran a campaign that was about entitlement, wealth, and imagined moral superiority. She was a bad candidate, and the party she led abandoned the lower and working classes.

That's why we lost. And if we keep lying to ourselves, we'll lose again.

Super pollutants

Trump administration says new EPA rules will save you money at the supermarket. It’s not clear they will

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday a delay to two Biden-era EPA refrigerant rules, arguing the move will cut costs for companies and save consumers money at the grocery store ....

But it was unclear Thursday whether or how companies like grocers would use those savings to make it more affordable for shoppers to fill their carts. The changes would not require grocers to take any steps to cut prices at a time when many households see their budgets stretched by soaring gas prices and years of elevated inflation.

The rules target hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems that are widely accepted as contributors to global warming. Under the Biden administration, the EPA in 2023 finalized regulations aimed at cutting leaks and emissions from those systems, affecting industries ranging from grocery stores and food distribution to semiconductor manufacturing. Now, the EPA is delaying compliance by revising the 2023 rule and another regulation from 2024 ...

Read more about super pollutants at Wikipedia

More air pollution, brought to you by the worst Presient for the environment in the history of our country.

Balboa Park

Spotted: four little cheetahbros making a paws-itively adorable debut 🐆✨ pic.twitter.com/ZgYyoA5RWW

— San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo) May 19, 2026

For a while I lived in San Diego with my sister. Almost every day I would go jogging on the trails at Balboa Park, where the San Diego Zoo lives. Afterwards I would buy one of those Chipwich ice cream sandwiches from a vender there.

Balboa Park is one of the great urban parks in the United States. At twice the size of New York’s Central Park, Balboa Park is also the sight of the San Diego Zoo, the Globe Theater, and several museums. There are 65 miles of trails and paths, and a lovely variety of lush terrain through gardens and groves ... - Great Runs

Two songs

Share your favorite The Police song! 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/2fqW2v1nDE

— 🎸 Rock History 🎸 (@historyrock_) May 18, 2026

This ...



And this one ...

The pay off

DOJ sets up $1.8B ‘anti-weaponization’ fund after Trump drops IRS lawsuit

[...] The massive fund would give Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump a mechanism to seek taxpayer payouts for their claims of government overreach. The fund could even issue “formal apologies” to people who made claims against the government, the announcement said. The fund will stop processing claims by Dec. 15, 2028, about a month before Trump’s second term is set to end ...

You know, so Trump can use our taxpayer dollars to reward his police-beating followers ...