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Kevin Drum 🕸

Putin wants “full control” of Ukraine

2 years 8 months ago
Vladimir Putin dialed up the president of France earlier today to let him know about Russia's plans for Ukraine: Vladimir Putin has told Emmanuel Macron that Kyiv’s “refusal to accept Russia’s conditions” means “the worst is still to come” in Ukraine, saying Moscow was aiming to take “full control” by diplomatic or military means, according ...continue reading "Putin wants “full control” of Ukraine"
Kevin Drum

January 6 committee says Trump “might” have committed fraud and obstruction of justice

2 years 8 months ago
In a court filing seeking access to emails between President Trump and attorney John Eastman about the 2020 election, the January 6 Committee tipped its hand: The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol said on Wednesday that there was enough evidence to conclude that former President Donald J. Trump and some ...continue reading "January 6 committee says Trump “might” have committed fraud and obstruction of justice"
Kevin Drum

Lunchtime Photo

2 years 8 months ago
Here's an exceptionally nice photo of our local squirrel. He spends all his time chittering madly at both people and cats even though I keep telling him that nobody is even interested in his stupid pine cones. But he doesn't believe us. He probably never will.
Kevin Drum

Fact checking the president

2 years 8 months ago
The New York Times is getting dragged all over lefty Twitter for this fact check: We fact-checked President Biden's claim during the #SOTU about strong U.S. job growth. Follow our live analysis: https://t.co/wmEgwIYSOi pic.twitter.com/HwXEcia7IL — The New York Times (@nytimes) March 2, 2022 The Times deserves whatever they get for this. Given the lower US ...continue reading "Fact checking the president"
Kevin Drum

Biden’s SOTU wasn’t great, but it was pretty good

2 years 8 months ago
For the first time in a long while I watched the State of the Union Address like a normal person: only barely paying attention. Overall, I thought it was fine. President Joe was very much on his bipartisan schtick, starting off with lots of crowd-pleasing Ukraine stuff and then emphasizing things he thought everyone could ...continue reading "Biden’s SOTU wasn’t great, but it was pretty good"
Kevin Drum

Rick Scott wants to raise taxes by thousands of dollars on poor families

2 years 8 months ago
Sen. Rick Scott got himself into the soup a few days ago by releasing a plan for the Republican Party that included, among other things, a tax proposal: All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax. ...continue reading "Rick Scott wants to raise taxes by thousands of dollars on poor families"
Kevin Drum

Lunchtime Photo

2 years 8 months ago
This is the Cathedra Petri in St. Peter's Basilica, directly behind Bernini's baldachin. It was built to house St. Peter's wooden throne, which Bernini enclosed in a typically massive bronze sculpture. The photo is (surprise!) a panorama stitched together to provide a good view of both the floor and ceiling.
Kevin Drum

Our sanctions against Russia are tough but still probably won’t work

2 years 8 months ago
I don't know a lot about sanctions, but I've learned two things over the past couple of decades: In general, unilateral sanctions don't work. They only work if they're backed by lots of countries. They take a while to work. Sanctions are sort of like a grinding medieval siege, something that's effective only if you ...continue reading "Our sanctions against Russia are tough but still probably won’t work"
Kevin Drum

Let us review the Republican record

2 years 8 months ago
What have Republicans done recently? They tried to extort Ukraine in return for military aid. They precipitated anti-mask/vaccine fervor, resulting in tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. They defend the 1/6 insurrection as just an ordinary protest¹ and continue to support Trump's big lie about Democrats stealing the vote. They support efforts to allow red ...continue reading "Let us review the Republican record"
Kevin Drum

Good news today!

2 years 8 months ago
Well, good news for me, anyway. As many of you know, there's been an explosion in recent years of what are called CAR-T treatments for blood cancers in general and for multiple myeloma in particular. Unlike ordinary chemo treatments, CAR-T involves taking T cells from a patient (e.g., me) and shipping them off to a ...continue reading "Good news today!"
Kevin Drum

Lunchtime Photo

2 years 8 months ago
Showing support for Ukraine is the order of the day, but none of the pictures in my photo queue could be made to fit a Ukrainian theme of any kind. So instead I made my own. This is a Spanish needles daisy with the background converted to blue and then run through a Photoshop filter.
Kevin Drum

Patrisse Cullors: Defund the police means just what it sounds like

2 years 8 months ago
Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter, wants us to take "Defund the Police" very, very seriously: Her new book, An Abolitionist’s Handbook, offers 12 steps in the form of a guidebook that everyday activists can use to fight for an abolitionist present and future—and her bold, humanistic approach can be previewed ...continue reading "Patrisse Cullors: Defund the police means just what it sounds like"
Kevin Drum

Democrats need to back Biden more loudly on Ukraine

2 years 8 months ago
Why oh why? For the life of me I don’t understand why Dems aren’t falling over themselves to praise how Biden has handled things and express immense relief that he, rather than a fully compromised Trump, is leading the global response, but this delusional nonsense is what’s filling the void. https://t.co/0qBkAF2tRK — Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) ...continue reading "Democrats need to back Biden more loudly on Ukraine"
Kevin Drum

New studies confirm that COVID-19 virus occurred naturally

2 years 8 months ago
The New York Times reports today on a pair of studies that conclude with high certainty that the COVID-19 virus originated at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, not at the nearby Wuhan virology lab. Here's an annotated map that provides a simple look at how the virus initially spread: I think it's possible that ...continue reading "New studies confirm that COVID-19 virus occurred naturally"
Kevin Drum

Why Putin wins: Obvious answers to obvious questions edition

2 years 8 months ago
In the New York Times, Chris Miller says there's a reason that Vladimir Putin keeps winning wars: For the past decade, Americans have come to believe that Russia’s strength lies in hybrid tactics — cyberwarfare, misinformation campaigns, covert operations — and its ability to meddle in other countries’ domestic politics. Yet as we have searched ...continue reading "Why Putin wins: Obvious answers to obvious questions edition"
Kevin Drum