Yastreblyansky

@yastreblyansky

There is no peace without justice. Old Democratic blogger at yastreblyansky.blogspot.com and yastreblyansky.substack.com. He/him. Is this where the party is?

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Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· 25d

Orange bolete

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· 28d

That would depend on your income. And that's not mentioning the tariffs, which fell a lot heavier on those of us who spend most of our income than those who put most of it away or invest it and are a major component of disastrous inflation.

Income tax changes of 2025-26 by income group. If you made between $27,000 and $153,000 a year, they cost you from $860 to $980. If you made about $1 million (top 1%) you got a $8,850 cut https://itep.org/trump-obbba-taxes-lower-for-the-rich-tariffs/

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· 28d

The Mondale curse: that's why the gaffe press still thinks he lost (wrongly; he lost, as G. Elliott Morris will tell you, because of the facts that had Reagan's presidential approval at around 56% all year and the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment an amazing 97.5 by mid-1984)

Responding in a 1984 debate to Reagan's claim that he would not raise taxes, though he had already done so in 1983 and1984, Mondale stated, "Let's tell the truth. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did".

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· 29d

Viz.: " Senior officials acknowledged that the pool of non-Orthodox Jewish backers is dwindling and that Jewish support will no longer be enough to carry the pro-Israel political message" (14 years ago) "

It didn’t take much to notice the changing face of the pro-Israel activist community. A walk through the packed ballroom at the recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference revealed a crowd more diverse than the stereotypic image of the Jewish lobby.

AIPAC is still the prime location for pro-Israel Jewish activism, but an aggressive outreach effort has made it home for many non-Jewish supporters of Israel, as well: Christian evangelicals, African Americans, Latinos and student leaders from many top colleges.

There are sound political reasons for the pro-Israel lobby’s decision to turn outward. Senior officials acknowledged that the pool of non-Orthodox Jewish backers is dwindling and that Jewish support will no longer be enough to carry the pro-Israel political message.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· 29d

Except, fortunately, it's not "Jewish money", at least not to the extent it used to be when it was a more benign organization; too many Jews are against it and too many Evangelicals for. It's right-wing money.

Nute
‪@nutedawn.bsky.social‬

surely nothing bad could come of deciding that every time your faction loses, it's all because of the evil Jewish money

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jul 14

Note the first thing it says: "The analytic judgments outlined here are *identical* to those in the classified version". Whatever new stuff there may be, it doesn't support any different conclusions.

Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Elections

This document is a declassified version of a classified report. *The analytic judgments outlined here are identical to those in the
classified version*, but this declassified document does not include the full supporting information and does not discuss specific
intelligence reports, sources, or methods

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jul 14

Let's just note US intelligence community under DNI Tulsi Gabbard in January 2026 was categorically certain such documents didn't exist, except those implicating Putin support of Trump. www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...

The Intelligence Community’s Assessment (ICA) found no factual basis for any allegation of technical interference with the 2020 U.S. election: “We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to interfere in the 2020 US elections by altering any technical aspect of the voting process, including voter registration, ballot casting, vote tabulation, or reporting results.” 5 Put simply, allegations that foreign powers rigged voting machines and swapped ballots were false and unsupported.

Although there is no evidence of foreign technical interference in the 2020 election, there is evidence of foreign influence. Specifically, the Intelligence Community’s Assessment concluded that “Russian President Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US.” 6 The two Intelligence Community analytic conclusions about the 2020 U.S. Presidential election—that there was evidence of foreign influence, but not foreign interference—are completely consistent.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jul 5

Turned the audio loop back on. "A little rain will never diminish our pride, our patriotism, or our celebration... We ask you to move, slowly and cautiously, into the National Mall."

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jul 5

The only ICE here is the good kind, in the rental truck.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jul 5

Camera set up next to a water vendor attracting some traffic. The crowd really is gathering a bit. There's some Warholian majesty in it.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jul 5

cnbc live feed from Washington showing the Arc de Trumphe and the ferris wheel, with a message on loop inviting everybody to make their way "slowly" to the National Mall. "At Donald Trump's direction, the Mall will open again at 9:45," but it's 9:58.

Ferris wheel lit up, arch in shadow, not much happening.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jul 3

And then there's JD Vance: "I'm pretty happy with my new religion as long as it doesn't make me go to church all the time but isn't that Pope kinda uppity?"

Every lifelong Catholic I've ever met is like "I think we're supposed to give this food to poor people" and every adult convert is like "the Archon of Constantinople's epistle on the Pentacostine rites of the eucharist clearly states women shouldn't have driver's licenses."

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jul 2

I always knew it would end up there

Doctored image by Debbie Millman/NYTimes of the rounded White House rear façade with "Trump" spelled out in white letters two stories high.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/opinion/trump-ballroom-rebrand.html

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jul 1

www.govtrack.us/congress/mem...

Missed Votes
From Jan 2021 to Jun 2026, Nehls missed 186 of 2,828 roll call votes, which is 6.6%. This is much worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absences, major life events, and running for higher office.

Followed by a graph showing the frequency of his missed votes, worst in Jan '24 to Mar '26 and again Jan '26 to present

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 27

Voted unanimously in SC with Russia and China abstaining. Looks to me like it absolutely stinks of corruption

he Quaker United Nations Office praised some parts of the resolution but expressed concern with the resolution’s "disregard for the consent or agency of Palestinians within the mechanisms proposed by the resolution" and said that the resolution "falls far short of what this moment in history requires."[32]
The Palestinian NGOs Network and the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council jointly condemned the resolution, stating that it normalizes the "colonial occupation of Palestinian territory", which violates the "inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination," in turn, making the U.N. "complicit in Israel's international crimes." They asserted that it threatens the "integrity of the whole international legal system."[33]

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 27

Oh, that (Board members include Kushner and Witkoff, plus Trump himself, who is to remain permanent chair after his presidency ends). It's the land theft.

The UN-sanctioned Board of Peace announced by Donald Trump earlier this year to rule Gaza is planning a sweeping grant of legal immunity for itself, according to a draft of the resolution obtained by the Guardian. *The draft language would also let the organization obtain public property in Gaza “free of charge”.*

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 27

Such a cheap-ass low-quality police state, though. Fat Grampa Is Watching You (from between two Corinthians at the Department of Agriculture HQ--I think he's saying, "Did I hear somebody laughing? I didn't tell a joke. You're in big trouble if you're laughing when I wasn't telling a joke.")

Donald Grump glowering from between Corinthian columns in the façade of the Department of Agriculture building.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 25

I know what he's been up to!

A spokesman for Mr. Kean, Harrison Neely, said last week that the congressman was expected to return to Washington on June 30. He declined to say how long Mr. Kean had been home or to offer any additional details about the congressman’s long absence.

“He will be fully transparent on the 30th,” Mr. Neely wrote in a text message.

Cover illustration from an edition of H.G. Wells's The Invisible Man, with picture of the protagonist in robe and slippers, with a drink, and no hands, ankles, or head.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 23

But even the crudest realistic left-right analysis has two bell curves and two centers, not one, like this: so that there is no true median at all at the "center" but a sweet spot decidedly (moderate) left or (moderate) right, and moving "center" will never get you there

Image of the two-hump left-right spectrum with two bell curves, and two significant medians, one located in the "moderate" left and one in the "moderate" right. In this picture of the 2020 campaign, there's a median Democratic voter well to the left of Democratic candidates Biden and Harris, and a median Republican voter a bit to the left of Republican candidates Trump and Pence. The actual overall median can't be defined because the bulk of the voters aren't in the middle, the majority are relatively partisan on one side or the other.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 22

Of course. In accordance with the MoU he signed at Versailles. Point 10:

0. The United States of America undertakes that immediately upon the signing of this MoU, and until the termination of sanctions, the U.S. Department of Treasury will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and derivatives, and all associated services including banking transactions, insurances, transportation, etc.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 19

"My pool guy," Trump said.

Trump then recounted how he'd told Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that he'd asked his "pool guy" to look at the Reflecting Pool project and had been told the renovation could be done in a matter of weeks for far less than what had been bid previously.

"I said, I have an idea. I'm going to send my contractor over and take a look. He looked at it ... he said it's really decaying and it's a terrible condition, but if you would, I'd like to work two weeks on cleaning it up ... and he said 'it'd take me two weeks,'" he said.

"Our job will take one week. It will cost about a million and a half dollars."

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 18

Don't forget The Invisible Man (1933)

Invisible Claude Rains wrapped up to give himself a visible presence, with Gloria Stuart

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 17

They swamped the drain

Closeup of algae bloom in the Reflecting Pool, with ripply reflections of visitors at the edges and the Washington Monument behind them.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 17

I've been claiming for years this was exactly what Patel himself was doing in his mystery jobs (NSC, DNI, DOD) in 2019-20 and it's clearly what Trump hired him for in 2025 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

he main beneficiaries, according to Raskin, were agents serving on Patel’s “director’s advisory team”. The unit was created in 2025 and tasked with examining internal documents and government materials to expose and discredit federal law enforcement officials who had investigated Trump and his allies.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 16

Which they deny they're doing, of course, as they've been doing since the 2016 election, in every David Brooks column etc.: If the Right is wrong about something, it's because the Left made them do it.

Our goal was not to persuade or judge, but to figure out why public trust in national institutions has plummeted to historic lows and what might be done to build it back up.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 16

So democracy is nice as long as it behaves properly, but "illegitimate" when a voting majority rejects a precept of this "faith community". That's not "revering" the founding principles, that's fetishizing them; treating them not as ideas but so many golden calves.

We learned that the central question for the conservatives we met is not “Should America be a democracy?” Instead it is: “Has American democracy remained faithful to what makes it legitimate?” Democratic institutions are legitimate, in the view of conservatives, when they honor and protect the faith, freedom, families, and communities of their constituents. When institutions and the politicians who inhabit them fail to appreciate the centrality of these core values, they become illegitimate.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 16

If you're complaining that Appelbaum doesn't know Vancouver neighborhoods as well as you do, fine. But that's not what the article is about; it's about how tribal sovereignty freed developers from regulations. Excuse the LLM text, but it's this:

Squamish sovereign land is geographically located within the city limits of Vancouver, but it is not legally part of the City of Vancouver. These territories are Squamish Nation reserves which function as sovereign land.Because these properties are sovereign, they operate under distinct jurisdictional rules compared to the surrounding municipality:Location: The main urban reserve, known as Sen̓áḵw, sits on a 10.5-acre prime parcel in the Kitsilano neighbourhood, right next to Vanier Park.Zoning Exemption: Squamish land is exempt from Vancouver's city bylaws and zoning regulations. This allowed the Squamish Nation to build high-density housing—including towers up to 58 stories tall—that would typically not be permitted under standard Vancouver city planning rules.Broader Territory: While Sen̓áḵw is a prominent parcel within Vancouver proper, the traditional territory stretches across 6,732 square kilometers. The Squamish hold 23 village sites and reserves located throughout the region, including areas in North Vancouver, West Vancouver, and the District of Squamish.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 15

It was actually written by Jack White, who first discovered that white stripes have a separate importance from red ones.

Jack and Mea White in a glam shot in very stripy outfits.

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 14

249 years ago today, the Continental Congress adopted the 13-star, 13-stripe flag as the emblem of the United States. The holiday was first proposed by Charles Dudley Warner (later Mark Twain's collaborator on the novel "The Gilded Age") after Union troops rescued the flag at Fort Sumter...

tattered US flag with weird diamond-shaped arrangement of the 34 stars

Yastreblyansky@yastreblyansky· Jun 13

And yet you claim to know about them. I guess maybe the Devil tell you about it?