Frenchfold

@frenchfold

Art director, graphic designer, bibliophile, and the buddy of a great dog.

1988 Siguiendo811 Seguidores847 Publicaciones

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Frenchfold@frenchfold· 18d

In addition to opportunities for corruption, this is also about Trump doing an end run around Congress. If he can get an average of $500 out of the 135M households in the US that comes to a little more than $6B. This is money he can, because he doesn’t care about the rules, spend as he pleases.

From ‘War and Tariffs Threaten a Resilient U.S. Economy Again,’ NYT July 24, 2026

For consumers, the changes in tariffs could also translate to real losses. Households could face an average of $1,100 in additional annual costs under the full slate of Mr.
Trump's recent policies, compared with about $550 under current law, the nonpartisan think tank found.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· 25d

Krugman today:

Paul Krugman from his Substack, 07/17: It's safe to say that at this point nobody who wasn't already completely in the Trump tank is being persuaded by all this strutting, or indeed by anything Trump said in last night's low-energy, boring rant. But remember: At this point, none of what Trump says is really about persuasion. It's all about laying the groundwork for his attempt to destroy democracy.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· 25d

It’s just so crazy that, no matter how he fails, or transparently he steals there’s still 37–39% support for him. And now he’s doing the spadework for stealing the midterms, because the right’s political vision is for something that resembles North Korea. Though TBH his pitch was kinda crap.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Jul 9

Ah yes, no one could have predicted this in 2024: back then he sounded like a philosopher king.

Sometimes, the president seems to be waging war not only on Iran but also on reality.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Jul 4

The grey lady would rather run this as a jokey local color piece than report his admission that the only purpose for the SAVE act is to give America perpetual 1-party rule. “Can you believe what a goofy fool he is? Last time he was here he said the far left were fascists, and now it’s communists”

NYTimes
At Mt Rushmore, Trump veers from patriotism to ‘Communism’
By Shawn McCreesh
Reporting from Mount Rushmore
Published July 3, 2026 Updated July 4, 2026, 12:26 a.m. ET

Four months before tough midterm elections, President Trump used the backdrop of Mount Rushmore one night before the nation's 250th birthday to characterize his political opponents as
"godless," "evil" communists.

"We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms, if we are foolish stupid and unwise," he said on Friday, demanding that Congress pass his so-called SAVE America Act, which would impose stricter voter ID rules that would make it harder to vote. He called for terminating the filibuster.

The larger purpose of the speech wasn't hard to miss. He was sharpening a line of attack that the White House has started to use to head off a newly insurgent progressive wing of the Democratic Party that appears to be resonating with liberal voters.

Mr. Trump read from an apocalyptic script as the stony faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln looked on. He said the word "communism" so many times, you might've tholemn
was still on.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Jul 3

The great Kerry James Marshall:

Kerry James Marshall, SOB, SOB, 2003, acrylic on fiberglass, 108 x 72 in. (274.3 x 182.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2010.29, © 2003, Kerry James Marshall

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Jun 29

Oh come on, even the Guardian is doing the NYT-style hedging. We all know what’s going on here, and it’s not about crappy wording in the MOU.

Headline from the June 30th Guardian: Analysis
Fresh hostilities in Gulf suggest US-Iran memorandum was too broadly worded

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Jun 13

This is what three generations of nationalizing costs and privatizing profits has done. You see this most beautifully with the World Cup, and, well, Musk.

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the surge in energy prices had wiped out a year and a half of wage gains for the average American worker. On Friday, the public-markets debut of SpaceX made Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire.

That stark juxtaposition helps explain why many Americans, in survey after survey, say they no longer believe the U.S. economy is working for them. A few people are getting fabulously, unimaginably wealthy at the same time that entire generations of families worry they will never be able to afford to buy a house, raise children or enjoy a comfortable retirement.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Jun 6

Excellent to bring this part of the information ecosystem into the conversation!

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Jun 4

Or…?

HOW TO THINK IMPOSSIBLY
About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else
JEFFREY J. KRIPAL

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Jun 4

It’s definitely one of those rainy days. But have we tried…?

JASON ANANDA JOSEPHSON STORM
METAMODERNISM
THE FUTURE of THEORY

Frenchfold@frenchfold· May 26

This is really just aristocratic grift: they don’t deny cooperation in practice, they just use it to benefit themselves. A world governed by “strength…force…power,” is actually a world where the little people pay for the things we share and the powerful crowd-surf for free.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· May 25

Totally true, totally disturbing. And for God’s sakes where is the outrage? And I don’t mean tut-tuts, but a march on Washington. This is an extremely important point: disenfranchising black citizens is just the start, just like before.

"It needs to be emphasized again and again: What is happening is an assault on democracy, and they're using the easiest vector, which is anti-Black racism, because it's the easiest thing you could do, the laziest thing you can do," Nelson said.
"They are cementing absolute minority control because they do not represent a majority of this country. And when they — if they — get away with the heist, we will be locked out of multiracial democracy for at least a generation."

Frenchfold@frenchfold· May 18

How could the Republicans not but be on the side of Christ and his angels? For did not the savior, as attested in Matthew, not curse and drive away the children? Over 100,000 Family Separations in Deportation Push, Report Estimates www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/u...

Elsewhere in the First Gospel, Jesus has manifested his concern for the young. He heals children (9:18–26; 15:21–28; 17:14–18); he feeds children (14:13–21; 15:29–39); he holds them up as a model for disciples (18:3); he prays for them (19:13–15); he receives their praise with appreciation (21:15). So now here he admonishes, Let the children come to me (19:14). (Talbert, 2010)

Frenchfold@frenchfold· May 14

But the actual ones got a little wild.

Forks altered by the Italian designer Bruno Munari, c.1954.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· May 14

It’s a Bruno Munari tribute act.

A small section of forks by the Italian designer Bruno Munari

Frenchfold@frenchfold· May 14

An excellent explanation for why Johnson would blow all of his political capital on this. Quite apart from its obvious justice, if the VRA short-circuited a decent into corrosive strife and civil war, and expanded democracy at the same time, it would definitely be worth all that and more.

The bargain was simple: your participation produces results, so stay in the game.

That deal wasn't made for the benefit of Black Americans alone, though it was Black blood that paid for it. It was made for the benefit of a country that needed a working, peaceful way for people with every reason in the world to burn the whole thing down to instead choose to work within it. The VRA wasn't just the nice move — it was the smart one. Its purpose was to keep legitimate grievance inside the system rather than outside it.

Now they've put it back outside.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· May 7

I read and hear what he says and I get a little teary. And I’m Anglican!

On Wednesday, Leo responded: "If anyone wants to criticise me for proclaiming the gospel, let them do so with the truth: the church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, there is no doubt about that. I simply hope to be listened to because of the value of God's word."

From this morning’s Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/marco-rubio-to-meet-pope-at-the-vatican-after-trump-attacks-on-pontiff?

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Apr 29

A naive question for progressives: is there not a way of making the case that rural America has only suffered under GOP representation and rule? www.liberalcurrents.com/can-we-win-b...

Rural voters have long enjoyed disproportionate power, but cross-cutting regional and cultural issues, interests and identities prevented them from acting as a national political bloc until quite recently. Yet, that consolidation of power has benefited the GOP, rather than the voters who vote for it. Rural job growth-which began lagging behind in 1980-has only lagged further behind as GOP power has consolidated, most dramatically since the 2010 Tea Party wave. And rural population has even declined since then.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Apr 25

A good point about the GOP: in spite of the (irrational) wish of the commentariat that “this time Trump has gone too far,”they have so seldom broken with Trump it must be assumed that they will in fact “crash into the mountain” together. Hopefully they don’t take us with them.

However, the Air Force concluded that the crash was due to a jammed stabilizer on the lead jet. The other pilots, in accordance with their training, did not break formation.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Apr 15

Nice juxtaposition here, as in “why is the Pope your enemy?”

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Apr 13

He’s either extremely stupid, thinks we’re all even stupider, or…why not both?

"I thought it was me as a doctor," Mr.
Trump said of the social media post, which he deleted after an outcry. "Only the fake news could come up with that."

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Apr 13

You gotta feel for the poor Pope Leo. Being an empathetic Christian is frustrating at the moment.

"Enough of the idolatry of self and money!" Leo said during an evening
prayer service, according to The Associated Press. "Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!"

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Mar 31

Great essay, and great art, too. Is It 1914 in America? www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/o...

Tolstoy traced the same pattern from the other side. In "War and Peace," he depicted Napoleon - nourished on Plutarch's
"Lives" and its portraits of greatness — who marched through Borodino to Moscow and still could not fathom a people who would let their city burn rather than submit. His error was not tactical. It was imaginative: He could not credit the Russians with a logic that was not his own. That is the mistake the architects of this campaign are repeating. A leadership that has spent decades framing resistance to American and Israeli power as a religious obligation will experience military pressure not as a reason to capitulate but more probably as a reason to endure.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Mar 30

An American president has to scowl a lot, right? That’s what makes that person a president.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Mar 26

Owning the libs feels so good!

NYT:

Republicans in Congress Fret Over Iran War as Pentagon Offers Few Answers
G.O.P. lawmakers who have given the Trump administration wide latitude to wage war with no congressional input are growing frustrated as officials offer little detail about ground troops, cost or timeline.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Mar 23

Streetlights through a the fogged up glass of a door.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Mar 22

Said this before: this regime is slowly retreating into a Baghdad Green Zone. Maybe it’s really needed, or maybe it’s just a message that they’re sending, but either way it’s bad news. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/u...

Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard who studies threats to democracies, said that while increased security is necessary for officials who live in a "big, complicated" country like the United States and face security threats, sending them to military housing delivers a chilling message to the public.
"It is something you never see in a democracy," he said. "Government officials live on military bases or other sort of fortified zones in authoritarian regimes."

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Mar 21

This is clearly making some very small people feel very tough and serious.

Guardian:
The Home Office was approached for comment. It has consistently declined to comment on individual cases. It has said on multiple occasions that it notified the public of the new rules with postings on its gov.uk website page in October 2024.

Last week, in a U-turn, it said EU citizens with settled status in the UK could travel on their second passport. This does not apply to their children, however.

The Home Office has also refused all calls to introduce a grace period to allow those who did not read gov.uk, and who have now learned of the rules in the media, to get passports.

Frenchfold@frenchfold· Mar 21

How does this jackass just get away with everything?