My faerie princess.

If you're catching up on yur podcast listening (THREAD)--->
Franklin Foer: Donald Trump Will Be Indicted open.substack.com/pub/bulwarkpod… Robert Draper: Weapons of Mass Delusion
bulwarkpodcast.thebulwark.com/p/robert-drape…

Thread:
Ruy Teixeira has been making the case that Democrats need to move to the center, because it is the “center of gravity of American public opinion.”

A Wisconsin poll tested his thesis:
morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/a-concierge-… ON PATRIOTISM: “America is not perfect, but it is good to be patriotic and proud of the country.”

71% of Democrats and 93% of Republicans agreed.

A bit of personal nostalgia for me tonight. I’m about to do the final show on Milwaukee’s 620 WTMJ broadcast from legendary Radio City… With my old producer, Scott Warras…Lots of memories. My first memory of Radio City?

The murals in the lobby.

Imagine a short history of the near future: in 2023/24 a GOP Congress held hostage by its president-in-waiting, who would bully, threaten, and goad it into overreach and paralysis.
morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/the-one-thin… Trump would have Kevin McCarthy’s testicles in a lock box, next to Lindsey’s — and even Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene would be loath to vote for anything that Trump would shadow veto.

Two years ago today (when Pete was 15 1/2 yrs old):
Every morning he would lead the German Shepherds on a ramble through the woods. He was the Alpha and an adventurer 1/6 But as he got older he knew his limits.

This was our ritual every morning:

He’d wake me up but wait at the top of the steps; he wanted to snuggle.

Then I would put my hand on him and walk him down the stairs…

Every time.

2/7

Thread--> Republicans never argued that we ought to “accept” attacks from Islamic terrorists as the price of freedom. They certainly do not think that urban violence or street crime is the acceptable price of living in an open, tolerant society. (1/4)
msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-… But the polarities of our politics are reversed when it comes to mass murder by domestic gunmen....(2/4)

Thread:

Post Roe: The schism between red and blue America will become wider and starker. While red states impose criminal penalties, blue states will expand taxpayer funding.

American women will be living in two very different countries.

morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/the-end-of-r… There will be protests, boycotts, and calls for sweeping federal legislation. The extremes will define themselves by their hostility to compromises of any sort.

THREAD:

The walkback from Biden’s “gaffe” was worse than it looked.

Let’s consider the decision tree that the White House faced after Biden blurted out the nine controversial words: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
(1/4)

morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/warning-to-t… Option One: Even though it was unplanned and unscripted, let it stand, because you cannot un-ring a bell. Biden’s remark had the added advantage of being (1) true, (2) strong, and (3) something that Putin might worry about.

Option Two: Scramble to walk it back. (2/4)

Putin is supposed to be the Strong Man, the savvy genius who bestrides the world, the master of all he surveys — the new Peter the Great.

But this is not a sign of confidence, is it?

morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/what-is-puti… So what is Putin afraid of?

What stories does Putin not want his fellow Russians to read? Is he afraid that they will hear stories of Ukrainian resolve and courage? And that Ukrainians did not greet the invaders as liberators?

------> Remember When Trump World Wanted to Prosecute Nancy Pelosi for Destruction of Official Documents?

thebulwark.com/remember-when-… via @BulwarkOnline ICYMI:

A THREAD on the Doom Loop Of "Relevance"

Lowry thinks that Cheney is making a mistake because she may lose her ability to influence the future of the Republican party. (1)

morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/the-doom-loo… This is, of course a familiar argument: it’s the age-old rationalization of courtiers, time servers, and trimmers of all sorts, who convince themselves that the Greater Good is served by staying in the room.

But it's a circular argument. (2)

Thread:
In tweet after tweet after tweet after tweet, Elias ignores the other 200+ GOP members of Congress, while dragging the handful of Republicans who have been the most outspoken about the attacks on January 6. /1
morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/the-strange-… Since the end of July, I can find only two Elias tweets that mention Kevin McCarthy (one of them is actually an attack on Kinzinger). He’s mentioned Mitch McConnell in his own tweets a grand total of two times during 2021. /2

Admittedly, I haven't flown much in last year and a half. But couple behind me on this flight to Denver/LA are loudly fighting about visiting the other's families. Wife really hates husband's dad.

It's escalating.

I consider this a fringe benefit. So, I just learned that wife behind me went to bed "super pissed" last night.. and he didn't know, because, she says, "he's desensitized" to the awfulness of his father.
Ok, I'm done, she says...
But I have to stow my computer and bring my seat back up and stow my tray table.

What does “Christian charity” actually mean? especially when it comes to migrants, refugees, and other strangers.
morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/the-christia… “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Lev. 19:33-34).

"What we’re seeing right now from the CDC about COVID, about masks, and about vaccinations is a narrative that no one understands." @SonnyBunch
thebulwark.com/covid-the-cdc-… via @BulwarkOnline 2. "Here is a simple narrative that makes great intuitive sense: 'If you get vaccinated you have a small chance of catching COVID and virtually a nil chance of being hospitalized and dying, meaning life can go back to normal and you can stop wearing masks.'

After taping today’s podcast w @Timodc, we headed out to McDonald’s for a snack … Everybody got a burger.

THREAD: (1/4)

Andrew's dishonesty here is kind of breath-taking.

This is what I wrote:

"But what’s the reality in actual classrooms?

"There are, in fact, real instances of intolerance, illiberalism, and indoctrination."

Followed by several examples of CRT-like illiberalism:

https://twitter.com/sullydish/status/1408096304136343556

I wrote: (2/4)

"These are more than scattered anecdotes, and *do seem to indicate a trend* — at least in a certain strata of schools."
But then I asked a question (which Andrew has not answered):
"But how widespread is this sort of thing in less elite, posh, rarefied precincts?"

Gaslighting Alert.

Cruz: "Nobody is banning it."
Florida: Hold our beer -- > abc7chicago.com/florida-bans-c…

Bonus --> washingtonpost.com/local/educatio…

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1406990028589481990

Contra Cruz: I'm not defending CRT; I've been writing about critical theory for more than 30 years. (Read the piece).

The problem is using the blunt force of legislation to deal with a "theory."

FYI: Flashback. Me in 1990 -->

Thread:
If we are banning this sort of thing, why stop there? If CRT derives from Marxism, why not ban Marxism too? (Or would that smack too obviously of censorship, cancel culture, and the attack on free speech?)

morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/why-ban-only… 2. If critical race theory is beyond the pale, where are the bills banning or restricting all of the other criticals, like critical social theory, critical legal theory, (or anything developed by the Frankfurt School.)

What was your first reaction when you heard this story?

“Biden administration to buy 500 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses to donate to the world.”

morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/a-political-… Did you think:

*This is what makes America both good and great…

or

*Why should we care about the rest of world, because America First?

or...