[Andy McDandy]

Some comments by people awarded Musk's big cheques (jury's out on whether they can be cashed or not) suggest a bit of malicious compliance/Chaotic Lawful happened. They took the cheques, told everyone who had given it to them, and told everyone to vote.

Never said whom to vote for.

[Tubby Isaacs]

About the same margin as the last Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, in 2023. Democrats don't seem to have too many problems in special elections with low turnouts. There may remain a problem with people who only show up for the Presidential Election. Maybe I'm being pessimistic but I'd have expected more of a reaction to the current circumstances. I suspect that the deportations is keeping a lot of the Republican vote onside.

[Tubby Isaacs]

These results on the other hand do show a much bigger swing. Remember that American special elections tend to have lower swing than ours, because there are only 2 options. So there''s no "Lib Dem local champion" option. You have to swing straight to the "other" party or sit it out and let the other lot win.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I really don't think it could be any clearer. There in his own words. Tariffs on fentanyl.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Anything in this? Trump won't hesitate to chuck Musk over the side if he wants. Not impossible he winds up in court.

[Boiler]

I do find myself asking "if America's so fucking great, why do so many of its citizens feel the need to carry guns, blow school children away or spend their time off their heads on fentanyl?"

And I saw mention of Mush stepping back on some YT channel yesterday - one of those where the presenter has a Reassuringly Large Microphone...

[mattomac]

Two things on Winconsin.

A lot of money was spent on it with Musk 20m alone.

Secondary if the Dems can get back to 2023 levels they will take the house more likely and there is no particular guarantee the Maga has a future without its figurehead.

[Andy McDandy]

I do find myself asking "if America's so fucking great, why do so many of its citizens feel the need to carry guns, blow school children away or spend their time off their heads on fentanyl?"

And I saw mention of Mush stepping back on some YT channel yesterday - one of those where the presenter has a Reassuringly Large Microphone...

There's no welfare state. If things don't look good, you can bankrupt yourself via medical bills, or you can get off your nut and take a few people with you.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And where there is (in theory) some welfare infrastructure, the money can end up in funny places. From America's poorest state:

In February 2020, the office of the Mississippi State Auditor arrested six people it accused of mishandling federal funds disbursed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services, including the department's former director. In May, the auditor's office released a report identifying $94 million in questionable spending by the department, much of it being funneled through two nonprofits, the Mississippi Community Education Center and Family Resource Center of North Mississippi.

The auditing investigations have found that the money was made available to several high profile figures for various purposes, including three retired athletes: former professional football star Brett Favre and former wrestlers Brett DiBiase and Ted DiBiase Jr. The revelation of the state investigation also triggered a federal investigation.

[davidjay]

I'm reminded of a Tennessee taxi driver talking about Mississipi, in a diatribe which ended, "And every time they vote the same people in again."

[Tubby Isaacs]

The scandal came out at a fortunate time for Republicans- the implicated Governor had left office, and the new one one (who is awful in other ways) could say he'd helped get some of the money back. He probably took a small hit from the scandal but got re-elected.

Sadly Tennessee has become pretty much as bad as Mississippi since you met that taxi driver.

[Boiler]

There's no welfare state. If things don't look good, you can bankrupt yourself via medical bills, or you can get off your nut and take a few people with you.

"Make America Great Again". Was it ever 'great' in the first place?

[Andy McDandy]

The 1950s were pretty good if you were a reasonably well off white man with not much of a social conscience. American industry was miles ahead of the rest of the world, the country was broadly respected by others, and the standard of living was great. Great for you, anyway.

The 1990s weren't too bad either. They won the cold war, exorcised the ghost of Vietnam in Gulf 1, and were culturally in a nice creative phase. Then Clinton fucked around, others found out, and the OJ trial saw rule of law replaced by a popularity contest, and set the ball rolling to where we are now.

[Tubby Isaacs]

More from the "Hilary's emails" party. This article is fairly cautious, doesn't say that any classified information was shared on it. But it would be funny if that weren't true. These are people inside the administration. If they're discussing stuff the same we are on here, then there's not really much point in them.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Kentucky bourbon will get flattened by Canada's tariffs, so perhaps not a big surprise from McConnell. But I'll take this as a positive, whatever else he did to bring America to this point. The bad news is that he'll most likely be replaced by someone worse in 2026. If he makes it that long, which he may not, he's not looked good for while.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I see the other Kentucky Senator, Rand Paul, is against the Canada tariffs too. Must be a bourbon thing.

I don't know how that works, can they and the House veto the tariffs? If so, then I'm even less surprised that Starmer didn't follow Ed Davey's advice and call a meeting of the Commonwealth in solidarity.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Tariffs are even madder than expected. 20% on the EU, 10% on the UK. So maybe Starmer's approach worked.

God know what happens next.

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Tubby Isaacs]

What can you do with this stuff? Ignore and try and improve trade with other countries, I suppose.

[Bones McCoy]