alledged human

JUST IN: FAA launches recruitment campaign targeting gamers for air traffic controller jobs.

Making it appear a ‘madman’ is in charge is meant to frighten Iran to surrender — but it may only see uncontrolled escalation. “The ‘madman theory’ is a foreign policy strategy where a leader pretends irrationality and unpredictability — to make adversaries believe they might take extreme, even catastrophic, actions. “It aims to make threats more credible by appearing unrestrained.”

It’s incredible how absent Democratic Party leadership is in the face of Trump blowing up the entire fucking world.

Axios: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been telling audiences and reporters that Democrats need to be more "culturally normal." Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wrote in his recent book that Democrats "got the masking and vaccine mandates wrong" during the COVID-19 pandemic and that he would have "handled the state's response differently" if he'd been governor then. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last year that when Democrats talk about diversity it can seem like they're "making people sit through a training that looks like something out of 'Portlandia.'"

When this is over, the western part of NATO will never be the same. Spain, England, France and Italy have sold us out, as they too often have a history of doing. Eastern European nations are the heart of NATO. They spend money on defense, know how to fight and love the US. France particularly deserves fault and blame. From supporting China and Russia at the UN to denying Americans overflight rights, they’re doing what they’ve always done - showing weakness, while cutting deals with terrorists. (The reason the US has a Marine Corps and Navy is unlike France, we refused to pay a ransom to the Barbary Pirates. France is always happy to cut a deal.) Wars have unintended consequences as nations show their true colors. NATO will never be the same, and Western European weakness and acquiescence is the cause.

Some notes on AOC’s change on military aid to Israel — and why I think it’s more about the center than the left. AOC spent years with an awkward position on military aid to Israel: she opposed aid for offensive capabilities, but supported aid for its missile defense. Now she opposes *all aid*. AOC’s original position made no sense substantively. She defended it as about protecting civilians rather than a war effort. But a true human rights / civilian-centered position would involve total abstention or providing aid to defensive capabilities for *both* Israelis and Palestinian civilians. And it is of course Palestinian civilians — the population that is stateless, lives under apartheid, and has been subject to genocide — that requires defensive protection with more urgency. In fact providing defensive aid asymmetrically to the dominant state has the opposite effect of protecting civilian life. Giving Israel billions and billions in aid for its ultra-sophisticated missile defense emboldens it to act with impunity in the region. This isn’t a theoretical concern; Israel has been committing genocide and bombing and assassinating political leaders across the region. It operates as a regional hegemon and rogue state. If it is better protected from blowback, it will act even more aggressively. I think AOC knows this. IMO her position only made sense as a political signaling mechanism -- a desire to seem appealing both to the left and the Dem establishment and to compromise on the matter. Now AOC has finally developed a consistent position on the matter by opposing all aid. It is reasonable to look at this through a 2028 lens. What does it tell us? Some on the left say that this means pressure works. I do think pressure works, but I’m not so sure it was what did it in this case. AOC has been pressured for years by DSA and pro-Palestinian activists for years on this, but held her position. Now, as 2028 signaling is opening up, she’s changing. Note that *Rahm Emanuel*, a conservative Dem, now opposes giving funds for Israel’s Iron Dome. Lots of non-progressive Dems now refuse to take money from AIPAC. Democratic voters, according to polls, are now overwhelmingly more sympathetic to Palestinians than Israelis compared to a few years ago. The old consensus is broken, and it’s safer to be more critical of Israel even with mainstream ambitions. AOC likely saw it doesn’t make sense for her to hold her awkward position, and potentially be out-flanked on the left by someone like Rahm Emanuel. She now has a more straightforward position, and one that she isn’t as concerned about potentially alienating people over. AOC is operating as many politicians do. But on one of the defining political questions of our era, she decided to be a follower rather than a leader — and in a policy space that she definitely should’ve been leading on. Make of that what you will.

This glorious Garland bashing from a normie Dem, Pritzker’s Project 2029 and the rise of Newsomism makes the prospect of a post-norms Democratic Party feel exhilaratingly likely. It’s a huge deal—even a moderate president could be far better than Biden if they ditch the norms.

what people mean by the rise of the Epstein class in a graphic

Jennings: "It would be fine with me if we continue to bomb them. These are the worst people in the world" He is dehumanizing Iranians-preparing the public for more destruction. The worst people are the ones who dehumanize victims to make slaughter acceptable