Stirring Up Ant(i)s

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The New MAGA aka Making Angry/Anti Group Angrier

Attribution: Disappointed Trump Voters by Pat Bagley, PoliticalCartoons.com

[Pat Bagley is the staff cartoonist for The Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City, Utah, and an author and illustrator of several books. His cartoons are syndicated nationally by Cagle Cartoons.]

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79 thoughts on “Stirring Up Ant(i)s”

  1. along the lines of stirring up ants, here’s an observation from https://towerlandscapedesign.com/

    The Curious Case of Black and Red Ants in a Jar
    July 8, 2025

    The Viral Meme
    The core story that has gone viral online goes something like this
    If you put 100 black ants and 100 red ants in a glass jar, nothing will happen The two groups will coexist peacefully. But if you take the jar and shake it violently, then place it back on the table, the ants will start killing each other The red ants will see the black ants as the enemy, and vice versa. When in reality, the true enemy is the person who shook the jar
    Variations on this theme then go on to draw comparisons to society – how various groups are pitted against each other, when the real enemy is some outside force “shaking the jar” and creating divisions.
    This simple tale has spread far and wide on social media in recent years. Posts featuring glossy graphics and photos of red and black ants in a jar have racked up tens of thousands of shares and reactions on Facebook. The meme is frequently falsely attributed to famous naturalist David Attenborough.
    Origins and Authorship
    The viral story of warring ants does not actually originate from David Attenborough. The beloved British broadcaster has never been found making such a claim.
    The earliest known iteration of this tale comes from an anonymous Facebook post in October 2020. Attenborough’s name wasn’t attached to the story until several months later in early 2021. Fact-checking website Snopes has debunked the attribution to Attenborough as false.
    So where did the ant parable truly come from? Many internet researchers believe it was likely inspired by a passage in Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 novel Cat’s Cradle:
    “I can’t remember what all Frank had fighting in the jar that day, but I can remember other bug fights we staged later on: one stag beetle against a hundred red ants, one centipede against three spiders, red ants against black ants. They won’t fight unless you keep shaking the jar. And that’s what Frank was doing, shaking, shaking the jar.”
    This segment features the key elements of the meme – red ants, black ants, and shaking a jar to incite war. But it stops short of explicitly drawing any societal metaphors.
    The viral ant story may have literary origins, but does it hold up scientifically? Are red and black ants essentially peaceful until external forces intervene?
    The general consensus from entomologists seems to be not exactly. Ant behavior is quite complex and dependent on numerous factors. Different species have distinct levels of aggression. Some types will fight to the death over territory, while others can coexist in closer quarters. Shaking up colonies could potentially make them more aggressive temporarily, but outcomes will vary greatly.
    In other words, the universal application of this parable to all ants everywhere is an over-simplification. The world of ants is far more nuanced than a cut-and-dry morality tale. But the story still works effectively as a metaphor, even if literal ant wars may not play out in such black-and-white terms.
    Why Does the Story Resonate?
    Metaphors aside, why has this basic tale struck such a collective chord and spread so rapidly online in recent years? A few factors help explain its viral success:
    Simplicity – The concise story is easy to comprehend and remember. Short parables tend to hold more social media appeal.
    Adaptability – The ant analogy can be molded to reference many types of societal divides. Any “us vs. them” group conflict fits the shaking jar narrative.
    Current events – The meme gained traction during a period of heightened political and cultural clashes. The metaphor resonates with those feeling bombarded by outrage and division.
    Mystery authorship – The lack of a known original source adds intrigue and allows diverse groups to appropriate the tale for their own purposes.
    While its scientific accuracy may be questionable, this pithy parable offers easily digestible food for thought. The curious case of black and red ants in a jar will likely continue sparking discussion about societal friction for years to come.
    What Is The Jar?
    The bottom line is that there is an innate tendency for cooperation in all sentient beings. But when two allegedly different groups (red or black ants, black or white people, pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine people) are violently shaken, they rush in finding the responsible for their problems in the closest group they can see.
    In the midst of the storm, they lack the patience and clarity to look beyond their collective life, and see if there’s something else beyond that. They might not even be equipped to understand the beings who are shaking the jar.
    Or they may think no one is shaking the jar, that’s how life is, conflictual and aggressive. If they were born after the shaking began, then they literally don’t have any other understanding of life. For someone born during war, peace is stressful.
    So the real challenge is not thinking outside of the box, but thinking outside of the jar.
    Because there will always be a jar that encompasses us, that groups us on various levels. It may be an invisible jar separating us by the color of our skin, by the amount of wealth we possess, by historical belonging to a cast system, by a million and one other causes.
    And yet, the natural tendency, the one that can be observed in any sentient beings when context is not stressful, is the one of peaceful cooperation.
    The Message Should Not Be Obfuscated By The Messenger
    So, what do we do now? We have a quote which rings true, but after some significant digging, we find out that the quote was misattributed. The closest thing to the quote comes from a Sci-Fi novel, a work of fiction.
    Is it then fundamentally untrue?
    I’m sure there are anecdotal experiments about that. I even remember I was catching bees as a kid myself and put them in a jar. I don’t remember any of them fighting with each other. But I do remember them getting nervous if their surrounding was getting stressful (if they ran out of air, for instance).
    So, the source of the quote is hazy. Does this makes it less credible? If we go that route, then we should probably start with the Bible. It went through so many modifications, adjustments, translations and I know everybody knows that. And still, the moral value of the Bible is still one of its most important attributes, shaping behaviors, lives, communities, for thousands of years.

  2. daily show’s take last night on the angry maga ants


    Mar 17, 2026 #JordanKlepper #DailyShow #Comedy
    Jordan Klepper dives into the confidence boost from a former U.S. president that supposedly inspired Trump to consider “taking Cuba,” counterterrorism official Joe Kent resigning over the war in Iran, and MAGA turning on each other with “micropenis” allegations. Plus, Troy Iwata runs his gaydar on Iran’s new supreme leader to find out if he’s queerbaiting Americans. #JordanKlepper #DailyShow #Comedy


  5. Senior National Politics Reporter Jon Allen speaks to Pennsylvania voters as they react to the war in Iran and rising gas prices.

  6. Yep, that cartoon really does nail it. I think they’re also angry Trump’s backing down on ICE, fired Noem and its gestapo leader, plus dramatically fewer ICE sightings by monitoring groups.

  7. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Our daily Digital Diner podcast airs 11-Noon ET on YouTube. JOIN chatroom here. WATCH yesterday’s replay here.

    What America is Actually Clicking: March 18, 2026

    1. Geopolitics: Top Trump counterterrorism official Joe Kent resigns in protest over the ongoing war in Iran, stating the nation “posed no imminent threat” – CBS News
    2. Diplomacy: President Trump postpones his planned trip to China to focus on the escalating military conflict in Iran – AP News
    3. Sports: Venezuela stuns a star-studded United States roster 3-2 in Miami to win their first World Baseball Classic title – CBS News
    4. Judiciary: A federal judge strikes down a controversial Arkansas law that required the Ten Commandments to be prominently displayed in public school classrooms – CBS News
    5. Washington: The House Oversight Committee officially subpoenas Attorney General Pam Bondi over the DOJ’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation – CNN
    6. Military: A U.S. Navy warship believed to be carrying thousands of Marines and sailors is tracked sailing off the coast of Singapore toward the Middle East – CNN
    7. World: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urge continuing support for Ukraine as the Iran war steals global focus – AP News
    8. Markets: [Ongoing] Oil prices resume their rise amid the escalating war with Iran, though U.S. stocks held steadier this time around – AP News
    9. Judiciary: Chief Justice John Roberts laments “dangerous” court criticisms just hours after President Trump’s remarks – Fox News
    10. Offbeat: Fox News’ “The Five” unveils a brand new studio, offering a rare moment of cable news levity amidst a historically heavy global news cycle – Fox News

    These are the stories driving the most traffic across U.S. outlets right now—not necessarily the stories we think you should read, and not always the most recent.

    A roundup by our AI partner Silas (Gemini).

  8. Another DOTUS lie laid bare. NYT

    President Trump and top federal health officials have repeatedly claimed that their new website, TrumpRx, offers Americans the world’s lowest prices on prescription drugs.

    “I took prescription drugs, a very big part of health care, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest,” Mr. Trump said during his State of the Union address last month.

    That is not true, according to a review by The New York Times and the German news organizations Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR.

    The drugs listed on TrumpRx can cost American patients up to hundreds or thousands of dollars, while a patient walking into a German pharmacy pays next to nothing. The German health system foots the bill, and records show that, more often than not, it pays less than what the Trump administration negotiated for Americans.

    The TrumpRx website shows the prices that the administration negotiated for a few dozen of the several thousand prescription medications in the United States. The list includes almost none of the most widely used drugs, like statins, or ultraexpensive drugs like cancer therapies.

    Some well-known drugs on the list are Xeljanz, for autoimmune conditions, and Farxiga, for diabetes and heart and kidney problems. Both are cheaper in Germany, a rare example of a country that makes its negotiated drug prices public.

    The biggest names on TrumpRx are two blockbuster weight-loss drugs — Wegovy and Zepbound. Both are available for lower out-of-pocket prices at pharmacies in wealthy countries around the world. In some cases, Americans pay about twice as much as patients overseas.

    The review by The Times and its German partners is an assessment of one of Mr. Trump’s signature domestic issues. With gas prices rising because of the unpopular war in Iran, the president is counting on his drug policy to resonate with voters who are concerned about affordability. Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed that this policy alone should be enough to carry Republicans to victory in November’s midterm elections.

    Our analysis shows that with some drugs, Mr. Trump appears to have modestly narrowed the gap between European and U.S. prices. But the gap persists, and the reality does not match his hyperbole. That is particularly true for patent-protected drugs, which consistently were cheaper in Germany.

    White House officials and pharmaceutical companies contested our findings. They argued that the gap disappears after adjusting for the economic conditions in every country. That means that TrumpRx prices can count as cheaper, even when the price is higher.

    The administration did not provide enough detail about how it ran those numbers for that claim to be checked. We examined raw numbers, comparing prices in U.S. dollars.
    […]

    Up is down; dark is light; less is more. Oreell would be proud, and appalled.

  9. from offbeat news: “ highly agile wild macaques that was expertly mimicking police hand signals and directing traffic, much to the confusion of …”

    hmmmm sounds familiar to what’s happening here nationally

    more on those macaques:

    In this thrilling video, we take you deep into the misty mountains of China, where a troop of wild Tibetan Macaques face off with police and drivers on a winding mountain road in Anhui Province. The story unfolds as these unexpected visitors block the road, causing traffic chaos, and escalate matters when they attack the police trying to restore order.

    The video dives into how human interaction has drastically changed the behavior of these typically shy macaques, turning them bold and even aggressive. But there’s more to this story—we’ll also transport you to a serene nature reserve in Sichuan to explore the natural, peaceful side of these beautiful creatures in their untouched habitat, free from human interference.

    We explore the dynamic relationship between humans and wildlife, asking the question: Can we coexist with nature without causing harm? Through dramatic events and stunning footage of the wild, this video highlights how our actions shape the world around us, especially the behavior of the animals we share it with.

  11. I find the word “elderly” to be quite offensive. A few words, an example is “old”, are descriptive but carry fewer connotations of weakness, or frailness. Being old is a fact of surviving many years floating around the big bright rock.

    Being old can combine with “retired”, although they do not need to rely on each other to describe someone. However, I will accept “old” and “retired” as my main descriptors. I think they are accurate this morning as I am celebrating my newest and most needed kitchen and dining device. I have a new pepper grinder!

    A pepper grinder designed just for pepper corns, particularly black pepper corns. Do not use the pepper that is colored in this highly engineered device. Those gum up the works. This pepper mill was first designed in 1840 and refined a couple of times since. It is wonderful.

    The Puegot moulin à poivre is a French work of art as well as the perfect method of grinding my pepper to the correct pepper output on my food. No more will I have chunks of pepper offending my eggs. The pepper dust will not be on my steak. The best grind for everything is in hand now.

    I am old and retired, I can enjoy little things in life and expound upon who wonderful they are.

  12. pretty creepy infographic from Gemini, did it make a composite from all the “dead Iranian males” it analyzed?

  13. you know the trumpers will burn the whole country down to get rid of immigrants that are “ taking their jobs” but when billionaires deploy tech that implode the entire industries, everyone just adopts it

    Don’t make a whole lot of sense

  15. MAGAts want white cruelty, fake Christianity, and low prices. They thought they could have it all.

    I just love this clip toward the end of the article.

    https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/former-trump-supporter-denounces-amid-gas-prices-iran-conflict-1786319

    ‘You’re a worthless piece of s**t,’ the woman said.

    Allen asked whether she had voted for Trump and how many times. ‘Three times,’ the woman replied, before adding, ‘That was my bad. Apparently, I’m an idiot.’

  17. Kind of fitting; the Playhouse is like the Whitehouse. The magician comes in and brings the promise of nice things to the impoverished, then he takes those things away and leaves them destitute, the Playhouse in ruins.

  21. Yes, please pick a couple of Republican Senators and tell them to vote NO on the SAVE Act. Republicans wanted to take away a woman’s right to vote, and this will do it for some women.

    Call, please: 202-224-3121

    Oh, and remind them that anyone not being allowed to vote will work that much harder to campaign against the party that took away their right to vote. It won’t silence folks, it will make them care more and find ways to get back their vote.

    https://www.marketdash.com/stock-market-news/64847/the-save-america-acts-voter-id-fight-why-democrats-say-its-not-about-security

    https://factually.co/fact-checks/politics/heritage-foundation-77-undocumented-voters-claim-true-or-false-e33e6f

    Independent empirical work puts the phenomenon at minuscule levels: the Brennan Center’s study of 23.5 million votes in 42 jurisdictions found noncitizens were referred for investigation in only 30 cases — about 0.0001% of votes — and other audits of state voter rolls turned up only single-digit confirmed cases in large electorates [3] [5]. Even when Heritage-linked counts are taken at face value (for example, the 77-instance figure), analysts and news organizations treat those counts as a tiny fraction relative to total voters and insufficient to substantiate claims of widespread, outcome-changing illegal noncitizen voting [2] [1].

  24. Ex-Trump Ally and Beauty Queen Says ‘MAGA Is Dead’ Amid Growing Rift

    Carrie Prejean Boller, a former Miss California USA and longtime MAGA supporter of Donald Trump, stated this week that she no longer recognizes the President.

    “I’ve been a loyal supporter of the president for almost 20 years,” she said. She continued, “I do not recognize our President.” Moments later, she added, “And MAGA, let me tell you, MAGA is dead. It is deader than dead and Americans are furious. We do not recognize President Donald J Trump anymore.”

    *Translation: She is now awake and seeing Orange Adolf for what he is, and who may have known this all along and perhaps even warned her. Video near bottom of link.

  25. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5789478-rand-paul-markwayne-mullin-dhs/

    Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) confronted Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) Wednesday about his past comments calling him a snake, saying “tell it to my face.”

    Paul said Mullin made the comments when confronted by constituents rather than defend a vote.
    “Instead of explaining your vote to continue these welfare programs for refugees, you decide to transfer the blame. You told the media that I was a ‘freaking snake’ and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted. I was shocked it would justify and celebrate this violent assault that caused me so much pain and my family so much pain,” Paul said in his opening remarks at Mullin’s confirmation hearing.

    “I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force.”

    “You chose to lash out at me. You went on to brag that you’d already told me to my face that you completely understood and approved of the assault. Well, that’s a lie. You got a chance today. You can either continue to lie or you can correct the record,” Paul said.

    “You have never had the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified, so today you’ll have your chance. Today I’ll give you that chance to clear the record. Tell it to my face, if that’s what you believe. Tell it to me today. Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind. Have six ribs broken and a damaged lung. Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it,” he added.

    “And while you’re at it,” Paul added, “explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents,” he said, referencing U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
    “Explain to the American public how a man who has no regrets about brawling in a Senate committee can set a proper example for over 250,000 men and women who work at Department of Homeland Security.”

    *Ah, so Mar’Kwayne said it behind Rand Paul’s back, and Rand brought it up today.

  26. Iran Ground War Rumors & Senate Fistfights

    Iran ground war rumors and Senate fistfights. We unpack the latest DC dumpster fire and White House policy splits.

    So, we’re casually floating the idea of a ground war in Iran while our elected officials try to solve differences with literal fistfights. Rand Paul and Markwayne Mullin are turning Capitol Hill into a WWE pre-show, complete with callbacks to the 1856 caning of Charles Sumner. Because nothing says “protecting the homeland” like threatening to beat up a Teamster boss during a Senate committee hearing.

    Meanwhile, the White House is reportedly fracturing into two camps over Iran. On one side, you have the escalators like Lindsey Graham begging to take Kharg Island. On the other side? Tech bros and JD Vance trying to hit the brakes because bad foreign policy is bad for business. Toss in Newt Gingrich wanting to build a canal with nukes and a sudden realization that tariffs are ruining the price of good tea, and you’ve got a perfectly normal week in the simulation.

    https://trailmix.cc/chat
    https://trailmix.cc
    https://trailmix.cc/alerts

    00:00 Intro
    01:25 Senate Brawl: Markwayne Mullin
    10:09 Iran Ground War Rumors
    13:48 Tea Tariffs Impact
    21:27 Newt Gingrich Nuclear Canal
    31:10 High School Debate Memories
    45:55 White House Iran Split

  30. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-signal-no-retreat-save-act-marathon-senate-debate-kicks-off

    Republicans signal no retreat on SAVE Act as marathon Senate debate kicks off

    Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, the bill’s sponsor in the upper chamber and the lawmaker who led lobbying efforts with Senate Republican leadership to get the bill on the floor, argued late Tuesday night that Senate Republicans would be remiss to waste the opportunity ahead of them.

    “This is our moment,” Lee said. “Stand for a simple principle; let the American people see who is willing to defend their sacred right to vote and who is not.”

    The floor debate is expected to continue for the next several days. In the meantime, some Republicans believe they can wear down Senate Democrats enough to pass the legislation, despite the challenge of the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

    Lee and a cohort of like-minded Republicans pushed for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to turn to the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, which, after possibly several weeks of debate, would lower the threshold to pass the bill to a simple majority.

    *Well, he’s my next call. Take away women’s right to vote and we will campaign against the people and party who took it away. We will not be silent and we will not forget. 202-224-3121
    And, if there’s a filibuster, Democrats should definitely read from the Epstein files.

  31. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/17/uk-security-adviser-attended-us-iran-talks-and-judged-deal-was-within-reach

    Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal.

    Powell thought progress had been made in Geneva in late February and that the deal proposed by Iran was “surprising”, according to sources.

    Two days after the talks ended, and after a date had been agreed for a further round of technical talks in Vienna, the US and Israel launched the attack on Iran.

    In practice, Iran had no means to enrich domestically because of the bombing of its enrichment plants in 2025.

    Accounts differ on whether Kushner left the talks giving the impression Trump would welcome what had been agreed, or that the US negotiators knew it would take something massive to persuade Trump that war was not the best option.

    One Gulf diplomat with knowledge of the talks said: “We regarded Witkoff and Kushner as Israeli assets that dragged a president into a war he wants to get out of.”

  34. List of High School Policy Debate Resolutions, 1927-today

    This is fun; a list of debate topics going back to the 1920s.

    This was my topic.

    Resolved: That the federal government should establish a comprehensive program to significantly increase the energy independence of the United States.

    *Eleven calls today; the last one was the Schumer. Fetterman said he will vote to confirm Mar’Kwayne, and I still wonder if they threatened to deport his wife.

  35. Katie,

    I was wandering around the internet chasing one of my curiosity caused white rabbits and stumbled across a blog by someone who might be your kindred spirit. I don’t see a way to comment on her site, but I’ve subscribed to see what turns up. Anyway, Mel loves and writes about mystery and murder on My Crazy Simple Lyfe. You might want to check it out.

  36. https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-promise-not-deport-us-citizens-raises-eyebrows-11696194

    The Trump administration has included a promise to not deport U.S. citizens in its latest proposal to end the monthlong partial government shutdown.

    On March 17, White House border czar Tom Homan and James Braid, the director of legislative affairs, sent a letter to Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Katie Britt of Alabama that detailed the administration’s proposals amid an ongoing standoff with congressional Democrats over Department of Homeland Security funding and immigration enforcement practices.

    “The Administration will adhere to existing law and practice of not deporting any U.S. citizen and will codify current practice of not knowingly detaining a U.S. citizen, except when the person violates a state or federal law that makes the citizen subject to arrest,” the letter said.

    The statement raised eyebrows among some commentators. Igor Bobic, a senior politics reporter at HuffPost, wrote on X, “Trump admin offer on DHS includes the promise not to deport any U.S. citizens, implying that they have been deporting U.S. citizens.“

  37. The group behind Project 2025 has a chilling new plan for America’s women

    Mar. 17, 2026, 3:25 PM EDT
    By
    Ali Velshi
    and
    Amel Ahmed
    This is an adapted excerpt from the March 15 episode of “Velshi.”

    If you thought The Heritage Foundation, the group behind the radical governing blueprint known as Project 2025, was finished dismantling American democracy, think again. Now the organization is turning its sights even more keenly on America’s women.

    The same movement that drafted a plan to remake and undo much of the federal government has unveiled a chilling new manifesto, one aimed at making it harder for women to work and live independently, and easier to push them back into financial dependence on husbands or fathers.

    No, this is not hyperbole, in the same way that Project 2025 wasn’t hyperbole, though plenty of cynics dismissed it as such, especially as President Donald Trump disingenuously disavowed it.

    One year into the president’s second term, groups tracking this administration have said roughly half of Project 2025 has already been implemented.

    If there’s one lesson to take from Project 2025, it is this: Do not underestimate the determination of this movement, or its hostility toward liberal values and the expansion of democratic rights for groups they see as outsiders, including women.

    The Heritage Foundation’s latest document, “Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years,” was published in January, and its purported goal is to reverse the country’s declining birthrate.

    See, if you can’t physically force women to have more babies, which is what abortion restrictions aim to do, you design government policies that pressure women into having more babies.

    You cut off opportunities outside the home, you make the public sphere hostile to women’s independence and you create a system where the only viable path left for a woman is dependence on a man for survival. In other words, you drag the country back to a time when women had fewer choices.

    If Project 2025 laid out how a conservative administration could reshape the machinery of government, this new blueprint lays out the social vision behind it, a plan for what “American family life” should look like. When you strip away the soft language about “family values,” what its proposals would actually accomplish, if carried out, is the rollback of decades of women’s freedom.

    According to its authors, the reason women are having fewer children is simple: feminism. The Heritage Foundation blames the feminist movement for encouraging women to rethink “their relationship to men, marriage, children, and family.”

    “These two forces — big-government liberalism and second-wave feminism — combined to radically change how men and women thought about their roles in the home,” the document reads.

    From the perspective of the new right, the freedoms fought and won by America’s women aren’t progress; they are the problem:

    More at link

  39. This is patriarchal extinction burst. The aggression, the hierarchy where few men actually lead/control and the rest of the men follow their orders…they need to put down women and kick dogs to feel like they are achievers. Despite what this much shorter document from the White Heritage Foundation outlines as our future, we’re never going back. Women will light this place up before we let that happen. They are kicking a hornets’ nest.

  40. The White House fractures over Iran. Tech bros want to de-escalate while Lindsey Graham demands more war. Guess who’s winning?
    Watch the moment on today’s Digital Diner:

  42. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Urho

    Enjoyed your St.Pat/Urho stories, Katie. The “Ode To St. Urho” reminds me of Lena and Olie, even though actual Finnish is far removed. Never knew mashed potato pancakes had another name. We had those when we were out of everything else. I don’t think I had sour cream until I was in my 20s.

    Oh, and if you ever go to the St.Patrick’s Day parade in NYC, you can get free passes to dig on the bleachers at the end of the parade route. Just don’t show up in Irish funland gear. No hats or plastic beads if things that light up. They take their parade dead serious.

  43. Texas cities, state government cancel Cesar Chavez Day in wake of report on activist

    Texas cities, state government cancel Cesar Chavez Day in wake of report on activist

    The New York Times on Wednesday published allegations that the labor rights leader had sexually abused women and girls.

    The announcement came after a New York Times investigation revealed allegations that the late Mexican-American labor and civil rights leader had sexually assaulted and abused women and girls.

    The Mexican American Legislative Caucus, which called the allegations “deeply disturbing,” said it is ready to lead efforts to remove the Cesar Chavez holiday.

    “When a leader puts himself ahead of the people and the movement he was meant to serve, that is a profound betrayal of the very values that movement was built on,” the statement said. “We stand with survivors and support a full and transparent reckoning.”

    At the same time, MALC called for the holiday to be replaced with one that honors labor leaders like Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Chavez. Others have also rallied around uplifting Huerta.

    Huerta told the Times and subsequently in a public statement that Chavez, who died in 1993, had sexually assaulted her in two incidents that led to pregnancies. The labor and women’s rights icon said she had kept them a secret for 60 years for fear of hurting the farmworker movement that she has devoted her life to.

    “The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual,” Huerta added in her statement. “Cesar’s actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people. We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever.”

    *Now, do tRUMPsky.

  45. Venezuela lately! I wonder what this magic is all about? STATEHOOD, #51, ANYONE?,”

    i’m sure the racist MAGAs love that proposal

    trump’s gonna give your house to Venezuelans, suckers!

  47. Behind the Scenes in the newsroom:

    “hey you wanna drive to Pennsylvania and get some dumb yokels on camera?”

    “let’s go! They are always entertaining and we can get a cheesesteak on the way home”

  48. i knew we were doomed when ABC or one of them had a panel of aged mouth-breathing idiots representing the “average voter” to review a debate, last cycle

    i was like “holy shit these people can vote?”. they had the most simplistic perspectives

    big fat dumb white people

    God’s chosen obv 😆

  49. hooker hoops and a sweatshirt, such a classy people

    “where’s my good baseball hat, the one i wear with gold jewelry?”

    😂

  52. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5790065-house-democrats-fund-dhs/

    Behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Democrats unveiled a discharge petition designed to force a vote on legislation to fund TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard and other DHS sub-agencies — but not U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection, which are at the center of the fight over President Trump’s deportation tactics.

    “It’s time to pay TSA, rein in ICE, end this reckless Trump-Republican shutdown, and sign the discharge petition,” Jeffries told reporters on the steps of the Capitol.

    *Why did they wait so long?

  53. https://gizmodo.com/trump-advisors-warn-of-nuclear-spiral-in-iran-push-to-nuke-a-new-canal-for-shipping-2000734127

    David Sacks, Trump’s AI and crypto czar, made some startling predictions on his All-In podcast on March 13 about the dangers of this war continuing. He warned that escalation in the war could lead to retaliation by Iran against Gulf states that could target not just oil infrastructure but water desalination plants, something that’s already happened.

    Noting that Riyadh gets something like 70% of its water from desalination, Sacks warned that destruction of the water infrastructure in the region would “literally render the Gulf almost uninhabitable.”

    “I mean, you’re just not going to have enough water for 100 million people, and human beings just cannot survive very long without water,” said Sacks.

    “There’s a social media blackout, but what you’re starting to hear trickle out is that Israel is getting hit harder than they’ve ever been hit before in their history,” said Sacks. “And we’re only two weeks into this. If this war continues for weeks or months, then Israel could just be destroyed and are very large parts of it.”

    Sacks said Israel could risk “escalating the war by contemplating using a nuclear weapon, which would truly be catastrophic.”

    It’s a startling idea from a man who has been nothing but loyal to Trump. Sacks never said anything negative about the president during the podcast episode, but even acknowledging that there could be very bad consequences from this war is something most folks in MAGA-land won’t do.

  54. I heard an interview with Priyanka Chopra one time and she said when she was a child she moved to the United States from India and was instantly the top performing student in her class because American education standards are so low

    Then she moved back to India from the United States and had to take remedial education because she was so far behind her Indian classmates, the American education system dumbed her down

    if that doesn’t say it all…

  58. https://finbold.com/the-top-2026-stock-trades-of-markwayne-mullin/

    Senator Markwayne Mullin is a prolific and notorious Congressional trader who drew attention to potential insider activity as recently as March 2.

    Specifically, among the sea of significant stock sales and purchases, a February 4 investment – valued at up to $50,000 – in a company called Carpenter Technology (NYSE: CRS) proved particularly suspect.

    Carpenter produces high-performance alloys that have their most important use with the military in equipment such as helicopters, aircraft, missiles, and armored vehicles.

    Some of the key reasons why the investment of interest are that the purchase came less than a month before President Donald Trump, in cooperation with Israel, launched a new war – or large-scale military operation, as the White House describes it – with Iran.

    Furthermore, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mullin likely had access to information regarding the assault weeks in advance and, also interestingly, chose to file the disclosure only after military operations started.

    It is notable that, despite some attempts to paint the bombing campaign as an emergency response to alleged Iranian plans to attack, figures within the Trump Administration and their counterparts in Tel Aviv have also claimed the operation has been planned for months and approved weeks ago.

    …it is noteworthy that Senator Mullin’s trading volume is of a scale seldom seen in Congress.

    Between purchases and sales, the politician moved up to about $3 million in equity across some 50 trades. A significant portion of the sales was in various municipal securities, as well as several banking and technology stocks…

  60. https://www.benzinga.com/news/politics/26/03/51056217/trump-ally-mullin-goes-stock-shopping-again-heres-his-latest-buys-including-potential-conflict-of-interest

    Mullin serves on the Senate Committee on Armed Services. The recent purchases of Carpenter Technology have been flagged by prominent social media account Pelosi Tracker.

    “He’s back making shady trades again… Sen. Markwayne Mullin bought Carpenter Technology. $CRS makes alloys used by defense contractors like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Mullin sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He originally bought on Feb. 4th, is already up 22%, & just hit an all-time yesterday,” the Pelosi Tracker account tweeted.

    Benzinga has previously flagged the senator for questionable disclosures. In 2025, Mullin violated the STOCK Act by reporting transactions he made in 2023 two years later.

  62. what’s that mechanic? can the PotUS just fire the VP or does the VP have to “resign”?

    the VP is ON the general ballot, right? ergo an elected official and not an appointee?

    lemme guess, grey area! 🥳 😭

  64. well, he could’ve focused the MAGA hate-ray on JD, but he might’ve lost that power with his war

    You people with MAGA acquaintances would know better than me (if he still has that power or not)

    Thiel didn’t spend all that time and money on JD to let a good opportunity pass by

  65. *chants*

    “pow-er strugg-le! pow-er strugg-le! POW-er Strugg-le! “

    ✊✊

    sorry i feel like them eating each other is our last hope

  66. Fudge-O can’t fire JDouchée. He’s stuck wid ’im. And yeah, let them eat each other. And may they both prevail.

  67. yeah i guess the move is giving the VP nothing to do so they fall out of the public consciousness

    so if you don’t hear from him for a while…

  68. Democrats Storm Out of Pam Bondi Meeting: ‘We All Just F*cking Had It’

    Democrats Storm Out of Pam Bondi Meeting: ‘We All Just F*cking Had It’

    A group of House Democrats walked out of a meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday night after they said she made it clear she does not intend to comply with the law

    Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche went to Capitol Hill to answer questions from members of the committee, but behind closed doors and not under oath.

    Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said afterward that Bondi “refused on multiple occasions to commit to following the subpoena.” Bondi, meanwhile, told reporters after the meeting that she “made it crystal clear I will follow the law.”

    Democrats said they walked out of the meeting after Comer told Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) she was “bitching”

  71. Oil prices continued their upward spiral Wednesday, as Israel and Iran threatened more attacks on petroleum facilities, jolting markets and sending the cost of a barrel of crude to nearly $110. -WaPo

    lol, once again, things “spiral” down, not up

    is WaPo using ai to write now?

  72. WTF is an “upward spiral”, my people?

    things can “spiral out of control”, but nobody has ever used that in an “upward” sense

  74. it would be fascinating if AI didn’t understand relative direction because it doesn’t exist within a “place”

    That’s no excuse to use it to write though lol

  76. Spiral notebook.
    Throwing a spiral with a football.
    This might take some looking into.

    But my first thought was that spiraling “up” was somehow unsettling.

  78. it wouldn’t be surprising if Washington Post was using AI to write considering Amazon went down because they were using AI to code

    👁️

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