Digby's Hullabaloo — News Tracking and Analysis

Boomers On The Warpath

There’s an old saw, attributed to everyone from Winston Churchill to John Adams, that says, “If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.” Americans love to say this as a way of dismissing younger people’s idealism while attributing wisdom and experience to conservatism. We love to break politics down into age cohorts, but I’m not sure that was so much the case before the massive post-war baby boom introduced a youth culture that basically took over American society, for both good and ill. Ever since, we’ve been obsessed with what various age demographics are thinking and doing as if it’s the key to understanding America. I’ve always been a bit skeptical of “generation theory” simply because it seems like a pretty crude measure, and it rarely takes into account the large differences within the specific cohorts, which often blows up many of the stereotypes. But there have to be some ways to politically target groups of people, so age is as useful a gauge as anything. And that old saw has always been a fairly decent shorthand, if only because older people tend to be the most reliable voters. If they are more conservative, the Republican Party benefits — and that has indeed been the case for decades. That’s why it’s always been a mystery to me why Republicans have always been so bent on destroying the safety net that brought the elderly out of

What’ll It Take? A Fluoridation Rant?

“A cartoonishly corrupt doofus” Team Zeteo wonders what it will take for top Republicans to acknowledge that their emperor who has no clothes has no mind either: The president of the United States is trying to unilaterally impose new taxes on the American people because he’s mad at Canada for being on fire. He is angrily threatening war crimes and re-escalating his war in Iran at the worst possible time for the global economy – even though he knows the war is politically destroying him, his party, and his administration. Except I’m not sure it’s true that he knows how bad things are for him. Trump pledged to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico (and then built little). The real wall Trump erected is in his head. It keeps out any uncomfortable reality that threatens his tenuous self-image. Zeteo continues: He is now ranting on social media about how voters should be grateful that his disastrous war has only gotten 18 Americans killed. He’s still suggesting he wants to run for an unconstitutional third term, and claiming now that “communists” want to “blow up” Mount Rushmore. Next thing, Trump will warn us that commies are plotting to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids. And if he should, his party will smile and nod, at least in public. What’s more infuriating is that it’s not just MAGA cultists in Congress aiding and abetting the madman, but a handful of Democrats as well: Yesterday, six House Democrats voted to give Trump another 1.15 trillion for defense, including 73 billion meant to help cover the rising costs of his failing,

Be Preemptive, FFS

Democrats game out responses to Trumpish election fuckery Democrats don’t need lawyers and political consultants to prepare for what Donald Trump might do to interfere with fall elections. Because to plan for what MAGA Republicans might do takes more than reacting to what they’ve said publicly. They need a retired FBI profiler, someone who understands the criminal mind. But it’s too much to ask for Democrats to think “a couple of steps ahead.” So what are they doing? They’re gaming out how to react. For two hours on Wednesday, a group of Senate Democrats sat around a table walking through three hypothetical scenarios voters might face on or before Election Day. The administration has refused to rule out placing ICE agents or other federal officers outside polling places, for example, to intimidate voters. That’s illegal, of course, but we’re talking about the Trump administration. They’ve floated the idea of seizing ballot boxes. That’s illegal too. But. MS Now reports: “We have to prepare for it,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told MS NOW exclusively Wednesday evening after the simulated scenarios. “What these so-called tabletop exercises teach us is when you’re prepared in advance, you can stop a lot of bad, bad things from happening. A lot of the stealing that [President Donald Trump] will do, but if you just wait for them to do it and then try to react that day? Not good.” Take the prospect of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents being sent into red states such as

The Gew Gaws

Liberace would be embarrassed at the lack of taste.

Grocery Prices Are No Joke

Is it just a matter of perception? A pedestrian Sign Guy encounters regularly shared the following joke on Tuesday: My girlfriend asked me to take her someplace expensive for dinner. I took her to the grocery store. David Frum examines why groceries are so high with Vincent Smith, director of agricultural policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Smith suggests that while food prices have climbed, they haven’t climbed much more than the rate of inflation. But since people go to the grocery store every week, they notice the increases more immediately and more acutely than when prices increase at, say, a home improvement store. Plus, food is essential, Smith notes, “And so you’re aware that the share of your fixed income that goes to food is going up, especially when you’re low income.” So the perception is more acute. There’s a long, wonky discussion of why beef prices are up because of reduced herd sizes, global consumption patterns, drought, etc. Then come the Trump tariffs, with which, Smith insists, the Trump administration proves it flunked Econ 101. And tariffs that impact the price of fertilizers impact the cost of groceries. But even the impact there is mitigated by farmers’ planting and buying schedules. Then there’s Trump’s war on immigration and its impact on farm labor. If you’re looking for simple answers, you won’t find them here. But Frum finally asks about prices at the grocery store. Are they charging more or do we just think/feel that they’re charging more?

What???

A Big Clue

This is a serious data point: Thirty percent of Americans say they’ve shoplifted this year, up from 24 in 2024, with many citing financial strain tied to inflation, according to new research from financial site LendingTree. About 90 of those who admitted to shoplifting cited affordability concerns and the broader economy as among the drivers of their thefts, according to the LendingTree study, which surveyed 2,000 people in early June. [] Americans are shoplifting everyday essentials, with food and nonalcoholic drinks ranking as the most popular items to steal, the study found. Clothing and personal hygiene products were the second- and third-most popular items chosen by shoplifters, according to LendingTree. If you’re shoplifting food and deodorant, it means you don’t have enough money. It’s a rare person who does that for fun.

The Hypocrisy Is The Point

Yes, they tortured the Bidens for very minor optic misdeeds, but Biden was old, so it’s fine. The Trumps aren’t corrupt because they’re committing their crimes right out in the open. Donald Trump Jr. and his business partner Omeed Malik invested in a company whose fortunes would be affected by President Trump’s policies — a scenario that has played out repeatedly as their investment firm, 1789 Capital, has grown. In the case of Polymarket, the government had banned it from taking monetary wagers from U.S. residents, but last year a federal regulator granted it an operating license in the United States. Worth 300 million when 1789 invested, the platform is now valued at 15 billion. “He just took sort of the approach that we did, which is like, ‘Fuck all you guys,’ ’’ Donald Trump Jr. said of [Polymarket’s] Mr. Coplan and of his own critics in an interview with The New York Times about investments he’s worked on during his father’s second term. Dating back to the first Trump administration, members of the Trump family have faced criticism for mixing business with politics. But what sets apart the latest moves by Donald Trump Jr. is how he and Mr. Malik, through 1789 Capital, are cashing in on the policies of the current administration openly and without apology. Many of the companies 1789 has invested in have large government contracts while others, like Polymarket, have benefited directly from new Trump policies or rollbacks of existing laws. The firm bought shares in

The Sleeper Issue

Data Centers. And it’s bipartisan: If there’s one thing most Americans across the country agree on, it’s that they hate data centers. A June Reuters poll found that just a third of Americans approve of the pace of data-center construction, and only 14 are comfortable with a data center being built nearby. On July 18, a national day of protest against data centers saw 142 protests across 42 states. According to one count by The Information, more than 300 cities, towns, and counties—including Monterey Park, Calif., Dekalb County, Ga., and Jefferson County, Pa.—have placed bans or moratoriums on the construction of hyperscale data centers. In the first three months of 2026, 75 major projects worth more than 130 billion were delayed or canceled in part due to organized local opposition. And on July 14, New York governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order to create the nation’s first moratorium on new hyperscale data centers, while several other states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, and South Carolina are considering similar pauses. Well Right. China and other countries are getting all the green energy so we should get all the pollution and noise. It’s only fair.

You’ve Been There, Right?

SMH Great gag, indeed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jeremy McCarthy (@jeremyrmccarthy) Asheville Sign Guy signs archived at avl_sign_guy.