From the Horsey’s Mouth

53 thoughts on “From the Horsey’s Mouth”

1. Mr. Horsey writes:

   In national polls, President Joe Biden is cratering, sinking as low as a 33% favorability rating in one survey. The problem in the eyes of many pundits is the old bugaboo that President Bill Clinton’s political guru, James Carville, cited as the number one issue in every election: “It’s the economy, stupid!”
   If that is so, it is because most voters are stupid when it comes to the economy. Right now, inflation is on the upswing and gas prices, in particular, have shot up at an alarming rate. Presidents get blamed for that kind of thing, and Biden is no different. But does that make any rational sense?
   A big driver of inflation was the global supply chain breakdown that still has not been entirely resolved. Manufacturing and shipping disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were the cause. The rising price of gas has been accelerated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Could Biden have prevented either the pandemic or Putin’s war? Of course not. And neither could any president.
   What Biden did do on the economic front was provide very substantial economic aid to individuals and businesses that were hit hard by the pandemic shutdowns. That action allowed the economy to recover quickly to the point where, today, unemployment is at a historic low level. If it’s the economy, stupid, why does he not get credit for that? Or for passage of the massive infrastructure bill that will create thousands of new jobs and undergird the economy for years to come? Or for restoring competence to the departments of government that oversee economic programs?
   Why? Because most people do not vote with their brains, they vote with their emotions.
   Right now, many progressive Democrats are having a hissy fit because Biden has not done everything he promised. Have they not noticed that the U.S. Senate is divided 50-50? It is a political miracle Biden has been able to do as much as he has. If Democratic voters want more from their president, they would be stupid to sulk and stay at home on Election Day in November and let the Republican Party sweep the field.
   Republican voters, of course, are so lost in QAnon stupidity and the culture wars that they are incapable of a rational assessment of Biden’s economic record. 
   And the swing voters who determine most elections are, as always, likely to be moved in whatever direction the prevailing political winds blow them. People capable of voting for President Barack Obama in one election and President Donald Trump in the next are not moored to logic, they are just easily distracted by the newest shiny object. And, sadly, however competent Biden may be, he does not shine. (Maybe it’s the celebrity, stupid.)
   There used to be a myth about “the wisdom of the American people.” I think there has been more than enough evidence of widespread voter ignorance in recent years to explode that shibboleth. Democracy is still the best form of government, but that does not mean it isn’t a crap shoot with high stakes and no guarantees of a rational outcome.

2. on another part of the electorate from another ‘toonist, Bruce Plante:

   

3. one of our fav parodists on kimmel show tuesday

   Randy talks about Rainbow being his real last name, getting into musical theater, his first viral video about dating Mel Gibson, getting a call from his hero Carol Burnett, being haunted by the first time he ever met Jimmy, and they recreate their meeting the way Randy wishes it had gone. Listen to Randy’s new podcast here:

4. horsing around of a different sort, click here for way too much info on a different race and the choices from which to choose:

    Derby Horses | 2022 Kentucky Derby & Oaks | May 6 and May 7, 2022

5. tRUMPsky’s buddy, Putin, is killing off the population of Ukraine, thereby, making economies across the globe even worse.  Blame Republicans. 

6. I listen to a few podcasts and might add Randy’s to the mix, but I wish Craig had a podcast…or at least guested on them. Conversations are always more interesting with Craig in the mix. 

7. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/28/texas-migrants-bus-washington-dc/

   “…Abbott asked Texans to personally contribute their own money to pay for the trips.”

   “The decision to crowdfund the free bus trips for migrants is a new development from when he initially announced on April 6 that it would be paid for by Texas taxpayers.”

   “…the shift to ask private donors to pay for the charter buses comes as his plan has been increasingly praised as an act of generosity by Democrats, immigration rights groups and even the migrants who rode the buses, while those further to Abbott’s right politically have panned it as a misuse of taxpayer dollars that incentivizes migrants to cross into Texas.”

   “Abbott’s office did not respond to multiple questions about the policy, including why the governor is now asking for private donations, if the plan will be partially or solely funded by private donations and how much has been raised to date.”

   “The New York Times also reported this week that Abbott’s buses are now dropping migrants off in Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina.”

   “Last year, Abbott started a crowdsourcing effort for his multibillion-dollar plan to build a wall on the Texas-Mexico border. As of this month, the effort has raised only about $55 million, nearly all of which was from one Wyoming-based billionaire.”

   Ha! Molly Ivins would’ve had a great time covering Abbott’s political shenanigans.

8. The central tenet of the current Republican party is cruelty.  It’s an entire party of grade-school bullies in adult bodies

9. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/27/trevor-reed-texas-russia-prison-swap/

   “Trevor Reed, a former Marine from Texas who has been detained in Russia for more than two years, was freed in a prisoner swap…”

   “Reed traveled to Russia in the summer of 2019 with his Russian girlfriend to learn the language. That August, Russian police arrested him for intoxication and took him to a jail to sober up. He faced a nine-year sentence in prison.”

   “In exchange for Reed’s freedom, Americans released Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving a lengthy sentence in the United States on cocaine-trafficking charges, according to The New York Times.”

   Don’t fall for Russian sparrows.

   “Biden made no mention Wednesday of another recently arrested Texan, WNBA star Brittney Griner, who is still detained in Russia on charges of possession of hashish oil in her luggage. He did mention in his statement another American detained in Russia.”

10. https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/politics/trump-club-for-growth-ohio/index.html

    “McIntosh’s swift exile from Trump World has now left some Republican candidates reeling. Meanwhile, four people familiar with the situation said the Club for Growth is grappling with frustrated board members and donors, who worry its influence will plunge if it doesn’t quickly patch things up with Trump.”

    “Another person close to Trump, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said the group’s firm resistance to protectionist trade and industrial policies doesn’t align with the MAGA platform. “Trump has been fooled by McIntosh, and I think he’s realizing that,” this person said.”

    “Though the former President has refrained from chastising McIntosh in public so far, his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has made every effort to turn his father’s supporters against the Club for Growth and is now actively campaigning against Mandel in the final days before Ohio’s primary next week.
    Trump has done nothing to stop his son’s public crusade against either the Club or Mandel…”

    The fact that anyone thinks they need the orange idiot and his mob family for anything is quite sad.

11. about time mainstream news takes a look at what may be the tip of a rather big berg, the putin/bank/trump triangulation

    Reputed federal informant, whistleblower found dead in L.A. after he’s reported missing (nbcnews.com)

12. yup…
     
     

13. wapo

    Russia is using gas and all forms of trade “as a weapon” to instigate an international price crisis, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned during his evening address Wednesday — a move he said was “energy blackmail.”
    “Russia is trying to provoke a global price crisis. To start chaos in all basic markets and especially in the food market,” Zelensky said, adding that Moscow would be waiting to use “one or another trade area” against Europeans to bolster its military machine.
    Zelensky argued that Russia possesses “destructive ambitions” and interprets “a united Europe as a target,” and said that it is time for the continent to stop relying on Russia as a trade partner. Ukrainian exports, Zelensky said, would “help stabilize markets.”
    Citing Putin’s recent decision to cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria, Zelensky said the move served to highlight that “no one in Europe can hope to maintain any normal economic cooperation with Russia.”

14. mark gives advice to GOPers

    How to Beat Trump in 2024 – The Atlantic

    Just Call Trump a Loser
    His record is clear. Some nervy Republican challenger should say so.
    by Mark Leibovich
    […]
    Trump’s bizarre and enduring hold over his party has made it verboten for many Republicans to even utter publicly the unpleasant fact of his defeat—something they will readily acknowledge in private. I caught up recently with several Trump-opposing Republican strategists and former associates of the president who argued this restraint should end. The best way for a Republican to depose Trump in 2024, they said, will be to call Trump a loser, as early and as brutally as possible—and keep pointing out the absurdity of treating a one-term, twice-impeached, 75-year-old former president like a kingmaker and heir apparent. In other words, don’t worry about hurting Special Boy’s feelings.
    “Why on earth would we hitch our wagons again to a crybaby sore loser who lost the popular vote twice, lost the House, lost the Senate, and lost the White House, and so on?” said Barbara Comstock, a longtime political consultant and former Republican congresswoman from Virginia. “For Republicans, whether they embrace the Big Lie or not, Trump is vulnerable to having the stench of disaster on him.”
    Trump’s wasn’t an ordinary election defeat, either. Some nervy Republican challenger needs to remind everyone how rare it is for an incumbent president to lose reelection, and also that Trump was perhaps the most graceless loser and insufferable whiner in presidential history—the first outgoing commander in chief in 152 years to skip his successor’s swearing-in. And that he dragged a lot of Republicans down with him. As Comstock hinted, Trump was the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over his party’s loss of the House, Senate, and White House in a single term. Said nervy Republican challenger could even (just for fun) remind the former president that he once called the person he lost to “the worst presidential candidate in the history of presidential politics.”
    “So what does that make you, sir? At least Jimmy Carter lost to, you know, Ronald Reagan.”
    This is a devastating point of attack against Trump. He knows it, too, which is why he has taken such pains to loser-proof himself and scrub his MAGA universe of any doubt that he was in fact reelected “in a landslide.” Don’t let him get away with that, the cabinet of critics urged. Abandon all deference, and don’t forget to troll the troller.
    [continues]

15. imagine being that old and the only thing he wants to do is run around the country being an asshole. 
    Total zero.  

16. sturge, au contraire mon frère

    “the only thing he wants to do” imo is to scam more money from his magaT cult (and putin).

17. Patd

    I forgot that the Derby was upcoming so soon.  I can’t quite decide between Epicenter or Un Ojo.  

    BiD

    I echo the need for Craig to do a podcast or regularly guest on one.  

     

18. That cruelty business goes all the way back.  (Book of the Day: LORD OF THE FLIES)
    But anyway,  some of us when we was little goobers, would go in the woods and build camps…..they could get elaborate.   Meanwhile, there were other kids who didn’t build camps but found great delight  in totally wrecking camps they found in the woods.
    Proto-Republicans.

19. Pat……by running around the country being an asshole.  

    Quod erat demonstrandum. 

    lol

    He chooses that over hanging out with the kids…..I guess probably because he destroyed all that years ago…….just another tree house.

20. jamie, didn’t craig try a podcast type thingy with the trail a few years ago? 

     

     

    on the horses, i’m teetering toward White Abarrio and Smile Happy — no good reason at the moment other than the color of the one and the name of the other —  haven’t consulted the “tea” leaves at the bottom of the julep cup yet for a clearer picture.

21. Wow! Biden now asking Congress for another $33 billion in Ukraine war funds. This is like FDRs Lend-Lease to Britain, the Marshall Plan and Berlin airlift all rolled into one. Truly historic. 

22. Like Biden’s response to Russia’s nuke threat: “We are prepared for whatever they do” 

23. https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/economy/us-economy-first-quarter-gdp/index.html

    “Consumer spending, which is vital to the economy, increased as prices kept rising. Americans spent more on services, led by health care.”

    I think they’re missing something. Rent increased, as did the price of everything else. Folks are just keeping a roof over their head and buying the bare minimum, even if the bare minimum costs more.

24. Big deal: German parliament overwhelming approves petition to deliver heavy arms to Ukraine

    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-parliament-approves-petition-deliver-heavy-arms-ukraine-2022-04-28/

25. BiD, at the same time ordinary folk are just hanging on “buying the bare minimum” corporate profits are going thru the roof, stockholders are getting richer and fat cats fatter.   price gauging at its finest passing costs to consumers and the suits meanwhile are blaming those high prices on biden, the pandemic, putin’s war, supply chain and everything else except their own greedy selves. 

26. Time to start moving our warships into Black Sea. It’s not Russia’s lake.

    Sail to Mariupol for evacuations and dare Putin to stop us.

    His Navy totally sucks. Fire one shot and we can sink them all.

    Simple message: interfere with our humanitarian mission and your navy is gone

27. wonder if our trained seals (not the humankind) could be used to befriend and recruit their dolphins. 

     Trained Russian Navy Dolphins are Protecting Black Sea Naval Base, Satellite Photos Show – USNI News

    […]
    This is part of the Russian military’s wider reinvestment in marine mammal programs in the past 10 years. This has included the Black Sea Fleet’s unit and a separate operation in the Arctic.
    In the Arctic north, Russia’s Northern Fleet uses different types of marine mammals. Beluga whales and seals, both with heavy layers of fat to keep warm, are better protected against the cold than the bottlenose dolphins used in the Black Sea.
    The Arctic unit has also become more active in recent years. Beluga whale pens have now also been established at Olenya Guba, the secretive naval base of GUGI (Main Directorate Of Deep Sea Research). The intelligence organization is believed to be responsible for key undersea espionage assets of the Russian military.
    On April 23, 2019, a trained beluga whale turned up in northern Norway. Nicknamed ‘Hvaldimir’ by the locals, it is believed that this whale escaped from the Russian Navy program, according to the BBC.
    It’s not just the Arctic that has shown signs of increased use of Russian marine mammals. In 2018 the Black Sea Fleet’s dolphins were deployed for several months to Russia’s Mediterranean Sea naval base in Tartus, Syria, according to satellite photos. The mobile pens used for that deployment were very similar to the ones currently positioned in Sevastopol harbor.
    It is unclear whether Ukraine has planned any combat-swimmer operations against Sevastopol. But dolphins are widely considered by naval analysts a considered an effective defense against divers.

28. yeah… I’ve looked at the Derby horses too.
    Trying to decide between Epicenter and White Abarrio.
     
    Craig… I really like that idea of sailing to Mariupol and daring the Russkies to stop us.

29. Climate watch: India unprecedented heat wave

30. The “Jack-In-The-Box” tank.

    Russia’s tanks in Ukraine have a ‘jack-in-the-box’ design flaw. And the West has known about it since the Gulf war

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/europe/russia-tanks-blown-turrets-intl-hnk-ml/index.html
     
    They store their ammo in the turret. 
     

     

     

31. The extreme heat has swept across large areas of IndiaandPakistanthis week and follows thehottestMarch since the India Meteorological Department (IMD) began keeping records 122 years ago.

    India is getting too hot too early, raising the risk of fires, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned on Wednesday, as a heatwave gripped much of the country and a landfill site burned on the capital’s outskirts.
     
    https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20220428-record-breaking-early-heatwave-hits-india-pakistan-temperatures-keep-rising
    They’re  forecasting 50 C ,  that’s 122F with rolling blackouts. 
    Their wheat harvest is at rusk as well. 
    They will also be testing the “Wet Bulb” numbers.  And that is really scary.
    It’s so hot and so humid sweating no longer works to cool your body. 
     
     

32. Gotta luv Russian bullshit, they just said their bridges destroyed by Ukraine forces were actually “self-liquidated”

    Meanwhile, Ukraine has destroyed 100 Russian tanks in last 4 days 

    And Ukraine just now getting our Howitzers. Yeah buddy

33. The old Vegas intake pipe  has appeared at Lake Meade,  their water woman pushed them to install a deeper straw , otherwise this would be Day Zero for them. 
     
    “Party on Garth”

34. Bob
    That tank flaw is actually a feature, it allows them to shoot more shells faster. It also means they don’t give a f**k about the survival of the crew.
    Where as the US designed survivability of the crew into their tanks.
    Jack

35. Manchin said he’d caucus with GOP if Thune were Senate leader: book
     
    https://thehill.com/news/3469975-manchin-said-hed-caucus-with-gop-if-thune-were-senate-leader-book/

36. Manchin knew that was a nonstarter, that must have been the meeting Susan Collins organized to try to convince him to switch.
     
    Jack

37. Reading me some Oscar Wilde today, among his best lines: “There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about”. 

38. Life is good.  I got my second booster yesterday expecting to be in hell for the next week.  Surprise for me.  Yeah, I don’t feel good.  Kind of a step of normal with a sore arm and headache. A few hours in bed today and I expect similar tomorrow.  But compared to how hard the first three shots blasted me, I am very happy.

    Edit: I feel like I have a flu-like thing, so it is rough, but, compared to the first three – just fine.

39. Jack –
    True , it takes 12 months to train a crew of 3 .
    This is why I think the stories of abandoned tanks are true . When you see your led tank’s turret  blow 25 feet in the air.  What do you do ? 
    It’s like WWII  in a way , The Sherman was no match , but we made 35,000 of them. 
    Except  the Russians are not up against Tiger tanks , it’s two guys with a back pack with a smart warhead  hitting the top of your tank. 
    This is not the Battle of Kursk , it’s not about how many rounds you can shoot it’s about where they go. 
    The largest tank battle in history began 75 years ago today — here’s how it changed WWII
     
    7-5-2018
    https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2018/07/05/the-largest-tank-battle-in-history-began-75-years-ago-today-heres-how-it-changed-wwii/
     

     

     
     
     
     

40. Blue –
    At this point ,  let the fucking  thing kill me. 

41. The  Krianes  are taking the fight over the border.  Into Russia. 
    These smart small weapons can really kill ammo dumps , and diesel tanks. 
    I await the news of the “Ghost Drone”,

42. Of course  this is all bad news , it means one can kill anyone , at any time, anywhere. 

43. At the time this was funny –
    

44. But for now it’s and other worm in the  Russians heads. 

45. Craig –
    I feel the same way about your Black Sea post,  but there are  Russian  attack submarines there , and no body of water in the world  has more layers in it than the Black Sea. The most perfect place to hide a submarine. 
    They would shoot our ass to pieces. 

46. If Putin kills everyone in the steel mill tunnels , then he get’s this , does anyone think he has ever heard of Travis? 
     

    Victory or Death™

    On February 24, 1836, with the garrison surrounded and the Texan Army at the Alamo outnumbered, one of the most famous letters in American history was written by William B. Travis.  It was addressed, “To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World.”  This letter was a passionate plea for aid for the Alamo garrison.  He ended the letter “Victory or Death” – the only outcome this battle could have. 

    Commandancy of the The Alamo
    Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836
    To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World-
    Fellow Citizens & compatriots-
    I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna – I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man – The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken – I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls – I shall never surrender or retreat.  Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch – The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days.  If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country – Victory or Death.
    William Barret Travis.
    Lt. Col.comdt.
    P. S.  The Lord is on our side – When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn – We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.
    Travis

     
     

47. Note that Travis’s letter , and the invasion of Ukraine are on the same day. 
     
    These guys always think that  killing everyone , will win the day.  It may do that , but it don’t win wars. 

48. This Russian plan  to cut off Ukraine from the sea is really stupid.  It’s a very long snake . 

49. When planes crash it’s always a chain of events,  the same thing is underway with the supply of wheat. 
     
     

50. Fascinating to watch our strategy in Eastern Ukraine, draw Russian forces into the battlefield until we can crush them. Ironically, it’s what Stalin did to the Germans. 

    Let enemy advance until they’re exposed. Military 101

    Sec Def Austin clearly running this war. Nobody better. 

51. Fascinating to watch our strategy

    Yeah, but, Ukrainian civilians are being slaughtered, abused, and forcibly transported to Russia and tortured, in the meantime.  We gotta get them EU states off the Russo-petrol teat 

    …was rather uninspiring to hear Liz Truss accuse Russia of blackmail for withholding petrol, as if that was completely unexpected. i’m surprised it didn’t happen a month, ago

52. Biden admin efforts to resolve the Port of Los Angeles shipping logjam (remember that?😜) seemed to have worked almost immediately, credit where due

53. NEW THREAD

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