Michael Tracey Profile picture
Roving journalist, friend to all dogs mtracey@protonmail.com
Deplorable Skymom Profile picture Area Man Profile picture Nicole Renee Profile picture ❌BigMamaTEA❌ Profile picture CatsFive - MAGA / WWG1WGA Profile picture 161 subscribed
Feb 1 8 tweets 2 min read
Trump finally elaborates on his Ukraine position. He says he'll get the European countries to match what the US is sending to Ukraine. That's not a call for cutting off arms to Ukraine -- it's a call for increasing arms. He also once again brags that he increased funding to NATO John Bolton and other war pundits are going around warning that Trump will abandon Ukraine and withdraw from NATO. They did the exact same thing in 2016 -- then Trump did the opposite when in power. They perpetually need a fantasy version of Trump to fuel their angsty obsession
Jan 10 4 tweets 2 min read
When a strange event occurs, the media's real job is to chastise random people on social media for reacting strangely to the event -- and to spin it as yet another instance of "dangerous" speech being allowed to proliferate online -- instead of figuring out what actually happened Image It's so boringly formulaic: sit on Twitter collecting the wackiest reactions to aggregate into a Very Important News Article about unapproved speech putting unknown persons in "Danger." Then throw in an obligatory quote from the ADL, and there's your edgy Rolling Stone web item
Image
Image
Dec 29, 2023 9 tweets 4 min read
It's really wild that the Maine Secretary of State just seized the power to unilaterally block presidential candidates from the ballot, based on a brand new non-judicial administrative procedure she literally just made up herself, supposedly to enforce the federal 14th Amendment Image Shenna Bellows, who was never popularly elected statewide, says the usual rules of evidence don't apply to her newly-invented procedure, which is governed by Maine administrative law, therefore authorizing her to accept the Jan 6 Committee Report as admissible probative evidence Image
Nov 30, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
According to Bob Woodward, Trump began "wondering aloud" in 2017 whether Netanyahu was "the obstacle to peace," rather than the Palestinians

Bibi then showed Trump a video of Mahmoud Abbas saying crazy stuff. Rex Tillerson said the video was a fabrication by Bibi to trick Trump Image Tillerson said in 2019 that dealing with Netanyahu required "a healthy amount of skepticism," as Israel repeatedly gave "misinformation" to Trump. "You've been played," Tillerson recounted telling Trump. "It bothers me," he said, that such a close ally "would do that to us" Image
Nov 27, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
By what authority does the State of Florida have the ability to forge an "alliance" with a foreign country? Image This resolution in the Florida State Senate was introduced by a Democrat representing Boca Raton. A version of it was then unanimously passed by the entire state legislature in a special session earlier this month called for by DeSantis
Image
Image
Nov 16, 2023 6 tweets 2 min read
It's true, the Guardian really did remove the text of a Bin Laden letter from 2002 because it was going viral on TikTok. Apparently censorship is preferable to letting the youngsters read notable historical texts (as if they're too dumb to find it elsewhere on the internet) Image Bin Laden's "Letter to America" is worth re-reading. It's comforting to assume that all the great historical villains are just pure, unadulterated evil and have no comprehensible logic for their actions. Newsflash: You can (and should!) read stuff without endorsing it
Image
Image
Nov 7, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
Dropping a 2,000-pound bomb on a dense urban area and then insisting you didn't "intend" to kill any non-combatants highlights the futility of relying on claimed "intention" for evaluating this kind of warfare Let's say the dropper of the bomb genuinely did not intend, in their conscious mind, to kill any non-combatants

...So?

I can place a grenade in a mailbox, and genuinely not intend to kill anyone -- but would my "intent" really be the relevant factor in assessing what I'd done?
Oct 27, 2023 9 tweets 3 min read
Mike Johnson, the new GOP Speaker of the House, tells Sean Hannity:

- "We can't allow Putin to prevail in Ukraine"
- US "boots on the ground" may be required to "stand with Israel"
- Supports Israel directly attacking Iran
- Russia, China, and Iran are "the new Axis of Evil" For well over a year there's been this recurring delusion that the House GOP is intent on defunding Ukraine

It's always been a total joke: wish-casting from people who want to believe the GOP is something it's simply not

Johnson served dutifully alongside McCarthy in leadership Image
Oct 22, 2023 14 tweets 6 min read
Megachurch pastor John Hagee appears on Fox News to provide his expert biblical analysis of the situation in Israel: "This land belongs to the seed of Abraham"

Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence and others attended Hagee's annual "Christians United for Israel" summit in July Hagee is a certifiable lunatic who preaches that "the final battle of Jerusalem is about to begin." As prophesied in the Book of Ezekiel, Hagee argues, **Russia** will join with Persia and China to wage an "unholy war to destroy the nation of Israel and exterminate the Jews"
Image
Image
Oct 21, 2023 8 tweets 3 min read
At pro-Palestine march in Birmingham, England. When asked to explain the sign, she explicitly said she agreed with Hamas massacring Israelis, because those killed in the attack were “colonial settlers.” No, I’m not exaggerating; that’s what she said. She wouldn’t give her name Image Others I’ve spoken to take a different view on the permissibility of killing Israeli civilians but it would be inaccurate to say her view is any kind of extreme outlier
Oct 18, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
Heads of Churches in Jerusalem give press conference on hospital bombing: "We are people of the cross, we are not military experts. But I want to tell you something. There are many buildings, many houses, many places that have been bombed by Israel. And these are facts" Image The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem hosted the press conference. It was said that yesterday was a day of fasting and prayer. There were children singing and playing in the hospital courtyard, many of whom were later bombed. The hospital received three evacuation orders from Israel
Oct 16, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
Israeli ambassador to the UK cites the firebombing of Dresden in 1945 (deliberate aerial incineration of civilian population centers by US and UK) as precedent for what Israel is about to do in Gaza Ah, the eternally brilliant value of WWII analogies:

"Chamberlain and Churchill were the two paths that Britain had... sometimes you need just to fight evil. This is the moment we are fighting pure evil. And the Americans know -- this is why they're projecting so much support"
Sep 14, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
She's referring to remarks in which Putin says the following:

"I believe there will be no fundamental change in US foreign policy towards Russia, regardless of who becomes President"

"As for the persecution of Trump, well, in today's conditions, in my view, that’s a good thing" Putin: "Despite the accusations of him having special ties with Russia, which is complete nonsense and absurdity, he imposed the greatest number of sanctions on Russia during his presidency"

@Liz_Cheney wants people to believe this is the language of an "official endorsement"
Sep 12, 2023 6 tweets 5 min read
Introducing @CornelWest's new campaign manager, @peterdaou


Image
Image
Image
Image
You know there's more where that came from...


Image
Image
Image
Image
Sep 12, 2023 8 tweets 6 min read
Always a hoot when members of Congress decide to plaster their own personal brand onto 9/11-themed commemorative material



Image
Image
Image
Image
Special credit to Congressman Nick LaLota (R-NY) who went all the way and used an image of the World Trade Center on fire Image
Sep 10, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
George W. Bush, speaking to an audience in Kyiv, says NATO had nothing to do with Putin's decision to invade Ukraine; Bush claims to know this because he has "looked in Putin's eyes and seen his soul." And also because one time Putin told him his dog was bigger than Bush's dog Please note, left/liberals who at one time wouldn't be caught dead agreeing with George W. Bush's foreign policy prescriptions are today in perfect 100% harmony with him. Same goes for the Germans/French who Bush chastises for standing in the way of NATO expansion back in 2008
Sep 10, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis were bludgeoned into apologizing for the "pain" they supposedly caused by writing letters on behalf of their longtime friend and colleague Danny Masterson -- who was nonetheless sentenced last week to 30 years in prison on charges of sexual misconduct from 20 years ago (well past the statute of limitations in most contexts)

Masterson had nearly been acquitted in his 2022 mistrial, because most of the jury found the accusers not to be credible

And regardless of the specifics of this case, the writing of character letters is an extremely common practice. If you had a friend or family member who was facing decades in prison, and you were given the chance to mitigate their sentence simply by telling the judge truthful information about your past experiences with that person, you'd basically have to be a sociopath to refuse to write such a letter

But unfortunately for Kutcher and Kunis, as well as anyone else who may not be the biggest fan of the American prison state -- the most brutal of which could be California's, by the way -- if you dare to anything in this situation other than join the chorus of demands for maximum punitive vengeance, you're accused of "harming victims"
For just a small snapshot of relevant info about the prosecution of Masterson, see this thread
Sep 9, 2023 9 tweets 4 min read
"X" just sued the CA Attorney General over a new regulatory requirement "X" says would unconstitutionally compel protected political speech. The bill's sponsor was originally inspired by a "study of Twitter posts" that tied a "greater proportion of tweets" to "more hate crimes" Image It's a little hard to believe how dumb this is. California has enacted a first-of-its-kind regulatory scheme for social media platforms, and the original impetus was in part a "study of Twitter posts," important findings of which are presented via such remarkable diagrams as this Image
Sep 8, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
Seems odd that she made the time to pose for a bloodied selfie after suffering a brutal beatdown with her traumatized kids present, sustained a serious headwound, and then decided to take pics instead of cleaning/treating it. Need further verification before assuming this is real Image I'm no forensics expert, but my first thought upon seeing this photo was "the blood splatter doesn't look right." She also either emerged from the brutal beating with her hair perfectly intact, or went out of her way to do her hair again before taking a bloodied victim selfie?
Sep 8, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
Here's testimony of a "Jane Doe" on the basis of whose credibility the actor Danny Masterson just got sentenced to 30 years in prison. Initially told police her 2002 encounter with Masterson was consensual. Then in 2018, concluded it was actually rape. Still seems a tad confused Image The above Jane Doe received $400,000 from Masterson in 2004. She then went on to collaborate with two other Jane Does, including one who was in a relationship with Masterson from 1997 to 2002, and who concluded in around 2011 that an encounter from 2001 had actually been rape
Sep 3, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
Naturally, these pro-Ukraine displays at Burning Man were a straight up state-run PR operation. The head of the "charity" that organized it is a Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine; the "charity" specializes in funneling grenade launchers, mortars, drones, etc. into the war zone
Image
Image
CNN covered the Burning Man/Ukraine collab, and of course neglected to mention it was an operation of the Ukraine Ministry of Defense -- in furtherance of US foreign policy objectives. Instead they make it seem like just a plucky little grassroots art project. Cool #journalism Image