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Evening Shade-- Resistance Rising-- Wednesday May 21 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-21
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Clyburn denies Biden's decline...Never saw anything unusual
“The fact of the matter is, I saw Biden often,” Clyburn told CNN’s Jake Tapper in a “State of the Union” interview. “I talked to him on the telephone very often, and I never saw anything that I thought was outside of the ordinary.”
Enough said. Journalists will wrap themselves in knots to hammer Biden to a pulp while letting the felon get away with open corruption and deceit. They should all be held to account for enabling the attempted overthrow of our democracy.
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There should be a law against being this stupid.
Exhibit B
This is extraordinary. The Secretary of Homeland Security doesn’t know what the right of habeas corpus is (the ancient right to go to court to challenge government detention) and offers an incoherent definition which suggests she thinks it’s a presidential power to deport people? [image or embed]
I know this has been covered extensively here in the shade, but see, here’s the deal: If the dog killer really thought habeas corpus was power given to the felon, why does steven goebbels miller want to suspend it? The only people dumber than the felon and the people surrounding the felon are the people supporting and voting for the felon. (Exhibits C — infinity)
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This is alarming. Once the lands are sold and gone, that’s it. Keep calling your MOCs, Shadesters!!! Include support of our public lands on protest signs!!!
We have to stop this.
Our National Parks aren't just gorgeous, they protect against catastrophes like the dust bowl & generate more than $55bn in revenue.
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What the forking shirt???
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I know I sound like a broken record, but it really is hard to know who to hate more: the felon and his minions for doing all of this or the Rs in Congress who are letting them. This all could be stopped in a heartbeat if Rs would retake the power that the Constitution gives them!!
Definitely a “Why not both?” situation.
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Artists, influencers, CEOs, athletes--anyone who anyone pays attention to ought to be speaking up and speaking out right now. Create a national discourse of dissent. [image or embed]
From the article (and because he is the Mandalorian for heavens’ sake!!! 😍... 🤣 “This is the way.”)
“I’m an immigrant”, said Pascal, whose parents fled Pinochet-led Chile when he was nine months old. “We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the US, after asylum in Denmark, and if it weren’t for that, I don’t know what would have happened to us. And so I stand by those needing protection, always.” ✂️
“Obviously, it’s very scary for an actor participating in a movie to sort of speak to issues like this,” Pascal said when asked whether he feared that the US could completely close down to all forms of migration. “I want people to be safe and to be protected, and I want very much to live on the right [side] of history.”
The comments came shortly after the US president used his Truth Social platform to call singer Bruce Springsteen a “pushy, obnoxious JERK” for criticizing his leadership, and claim that Taylor Swift’s popularity had decreased since he announced his “hatred” for her.
✂️ He urged creatives to “keep telling the stories, keep expressing yourself and keep fighting for it”.
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They Have Cast You As the Villain, but You Don't Have to Play the Part
Twenty years ago, a former colleague of mine related a story to me about an interaction that he had with none other than Sean Hannity. While the haze of two decades and the private nature of the conversation prevent me from recounting the story in any detail, what I do remember is that my colleague had asked Hannity something along the lines of “what do you see as your primary purpose as a media figure?” In response, Hannity apparently said something to the effect of “annoying liberals like you.” Making liberals feel annoyed, sad, frightened, angry, and generally sticking it to liberals and punishing them is, unfortunately, one of the primary purposes of the modern conservative movement. That movement was always less about actual policies and ideas than it was about opposing Blue America and the broader world to which Blue America wishes to connect, which is why Trump was eventually able to take over that movement and replace it with MAGA. Ultimately, Trump was and is way better than any other Republican at aggravating and disturbing liberals, thus giving him a clear mandate to lead the party. It can be difficult to come to terms with the idea that annoying and defeating you—and yes, I really mean you, the Democratic and/or progressive activist reading this article—is actually the primary purpose of both the current President of the United States and the largest political media operation in the United Sates. You have been cast as the villain, while they are the heroes who are saving America from the likes of you. Their success is measured by how annoyed and disturbed you are by them. However, once you come to terms with being cast as the villain in their story, it is actually pretty easy to stop them from winning. While you have been cast as the bad guy, you can simply refuse to play that role. You can do this without compromising your values. You can do while continuing to dissent—in fact, continuing to dissent is absolutely necessary. ✂️
This is what we’re dealing with. The author goes on to explain 3 steps we need to take to be effective in our activism.
I’m really proud of us. I’m proud of the peaceful demonstrations. I’m proud that we have compassion and intelligence and determination. Keep it up, Shady people! Keep calling, protesting, emailing, signing petitions, writing postcards and all the other protest actions at which we are proving to be very good!!! 💙
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I love Scott Dworkin’s daily emails. It’s like a 2nd dose of the GNR every day.
✂️ The group Indivisible is putting billboards up in 9 swing districts, pushing constituents to call their Reps. and speak out against the GOP’s “disastrous cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.” Indivisible also announced that there are already more than 700 protests planned for June 14th—Trump’s birthday. More to come. Former President Joe Biden sent out his first message since announcing his cancer diagnosis: “Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.” My heart goes out to Biden and his family. Some folks used the moment to attack Biden and make up conspiracy theories. I won’t quote them here, because the world deserves better than spreading their garbage. The Trump regime indicted Dem Rep. LaMonica McIver, alleging assault outside of an ICE facility. The charges are baseless—Trump is clearly abusing his power. Democrats are rallying behind McIver, showing more unity than I’ve seen in a while. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a bill to ban any foreign plane from becoming Air Force One—which applies to Trump’s “gift” from Qatar. I’d love to see this get a vote. Let’s hope they force one. As Dem Rep. Ted Lieu put it: “No American president should be flying around on a foreign, 15-year-old used Qatari jet.” I think that’s fair. President and CEO of CBS News Wendy McMahon announced her resignation yesterday, saying: “It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It’s time for me to move on.” Reportedly, McMahon had to actually fight leadership to keep 60 Minutes on the air. This is why there’s a revolution happening in journalism—people are tired of these enormous corporations obeying in advance, and kissing Trump’s ring. ✂️ === 🎩Special thanks to kraigo for finding this next bit!! Jimmy Kimmel Canceled His Whole Show Last Night to Avoid Promoting Jake Tapper’s Biden Book No Kimmel, no cry. Jimmy Kimmel canceled his whole show last night. ABC used a rerun instead. The reason: CNN’s Jake Tapper was scheduled as a guest to promote his book, “Original Sin.” The book paints Joe Biden as feeble, and a liar about his mental and physical condition during the 2024 campaign. But Biden just announced that he has “aggressive prostate cancer.” Kimmel, an avowed liberal and fan of Biden, obviously wasn’t going to go through with the interview. Tapper has yet to even offer Biden sympathy or best wishes. Online, Twitter is aflame with anger toward him and CNN for shilling for the book. Kimmel’s other major guest last night was supposed to be Seth Rogen, plugging his show, “The Studio,” for the Emmy Awards. I’m sure he’ll turn up soon. Tonight’s show is set to proceed as planned.✂️ (It did...) We need so much more of this from late-nighters and anyone else in a position to do this. DO NOT PROMOTE THEIR CRAP! We all have to push back any way we can. Big acts, little acts, it all adds up. Eventually it will break them and we will bask in being on the right side of history. === We are going to have to go after the faux noise in order to restore a functioning democracy. x The FTC should have regulated Fox News decades ago. I work in marketing, and you cannot call your milk ‘homogenized’ if it’s raw. Fox News is false advertising, full stop. At the very least, Congress should require opinion shows to be labelled as such so people know they’re not getting facts. — Mike Burdick (@birdydownunder.bsky.social) May 20, 2025 at 2:08 AM x Trump officials' showings at hearings today were disasters, but it doesn't make headlines bc the media's default assumption is that Rs are clownish rascals. But if Dems didn't know what was happening at their agencies or what habeas corpus is, it'd be front page news. This is a key media asymmetry. — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 20, 2025 at 11:32 PM Omg, this! Look! A squirrel! ✂️ When reality gets inconvenient, Trump doesn’t retreat. He performs. He’s spent nearly a decade perfecting the art of narrative warfare. In media theory, it’s called strategic distraction. Trump’s version is simpler: flood the system, hijack the signal, say the most outrageous thing in the room. Doesn’t have to be true. Just has to trend. “Trump doesn’t care about the downside effects of negative attention. He views all attention as valuable.” That line from MSNBC’s Chris Hayes isn’t commentary—it’s playbook. In the attention economy, visibility is power. Shame, scandal, even absurdity—it all converts. Psychologists call it narcissistic personality disorder. In behavioral terms, it’s a self-referential orientation: the self must be seen, defended, applauded. “Trump can’t be wrong, can’t be blamed, can’t be ignored,” said one clinical psychologist who’s tracked his behavior for over a decade. “When accountability is a threat, distraction becomes a survival reflex.” It works because it’s compulsive. His short attention span and lack of impulse control aren’t flaws here—they’re assets. He lurches from one controversy to the next, erasing each in real time. Tweets, tantrums, now TikToks. In early 2025, as journalists finally dug into the quiet restructuring of the federal government—Trump and Musk’s stealth consolidation of data, finance, and intelligence—Trump fired off a single, unstable line about Gaza. Wild, unverified, designed to provoke. It did. Within 48 hours, the entire media apparatus pivoted. Gaza took over. The story of America’s dismantled agencies vanished. ✂️ The whole article is definitely worth a read. === The latest issue of The Blue Print is available: ✈️ $400M foreign jets or your access to affordable health care? Republicans made their choice. They are trying to break through the irresponsible and complicit media machine and get the necessary information to the woefully ignorant electorate. I applaud their efforts. They are fighting an uphill battle. === x McGovern: "This is not a governing philosophy. It is a scam. I wasn't sent here to vote for trash. I can't understand why you'd choose a career of public service to do this -- to rip away the healthcare & food assistance of working & middle class Americans. Is that really what you came here to do?"
[image or embed] — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 21, 2025 at 1:36 AM === The felon is such an embarrassment. I can’t imagine why any decent leader anywhere would meet with him. x Don't look away, don't normalize: this is the virtually unconstrained leader of the world's most powerful country ambushing the president of South Africa with conspiracy-fueled racist propaganda promoted by his unelected billionaire maybe-appointee who has caused the deaths of children through DOGE.
[image or embed] — Elizabeth N. Saunders (@profsaunders.bsky.social) May 21, 2025 at 12:58 PM There’s so much more of this. The Rs cannot be shamed. What kind of sick twisted upbringings must they all have had to not be bothered by the evil they are spreading? === From an email I received from Democracy Docket: When former Mesa County clerk-turned-MAGA-hero Tina Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison by Colorado District Judge Matthew Barrett last October, he had some harsh words for her. “Your lies are well documented and these convictions are serious,” Barrett said. “I’m convinced you’d do it all over again if you could. You are a privileged person. You are as privileged as they come. You used that for power and fame.” Barrett was right. Back in 2021, Peters — an avowed election denier and right-wing conspiracy theorist — allowed a Stop the Steal activist unauthorized access to the Mesa County election office and used the stolen identity of a software engineer to copy sensitive election data to post online to right-wing blogs. She was convicted of three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one felony count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and a slew of misdemeanors. But since then, Peters hasn’t backed down. She recently left a voicemail from prison for MAGA podcaster and self-proclaimed “election integrity” advocate Steve Stern, which he played on his Stern American podcast. In the voicemail, Peters painted herself as a political victim and reiterated false 2020 election conspiracy theories involving Dominion voting machines. “Most of you know all this but Colorado being the headquarters of Dominion… And if you don’t know the background of how Dominion was started, please go to my website, TinaPeters.us, and listen to the 17-minute video of Gary Berntsen on there talking about — he was a 31-year CIA whistleblower — about the origins of these voting machines,” she said. “It’s very informative, pass it along to your friends.” Peters also railed against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D), repeating more 2020 election conspiracies and falsely claiming that Griswold deleted 29,000 election files. Both state and local election officials have explained that all the election files were properly backed up and the evidence Peters presented were log files that did not relate to elections. After playing Peters’ voicemail, Stern spent the rest of his nearly three-hour broadcast interviewing friends and supporters of Peters. All of whom repeated election conspiracy theories and painted a false portrait of Peters not as a criminal but the victim of political persecution for uncovering a mass conspiracy. At one point Marty Waldman — a friend and supporter of Peters — joined the podcast from Dallas, Texas, across the street from the grassy knoll where President John F. Kennedy was killed. "The assassination of JFK is really no different than the silencing of Tina Peters because she exposed the new assasination of the will of the people,” Waldman said. Peters and her supporters normally would fall under the category of extremely fringe activists who can be safely ignored. But Peters caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who recently directed the U.S. Department of Justice to “take all necessary action” to secure her release from prison. It’s a good example of how the right-wing conspiracy theorists who were once at the fringe of the GOP are now being fully embraced as folk heroes — with Trump working tirelessly to reward them for their efforts to thwart democracy. Which means the conspiracy theories will keep coming, more deranged and more widely embraced than ever before. “There's so many things which I can’t tell you right now that are going on because these calls are recorded,” Peters said at the end of her voicemail. “Keep praying for me, keep reaching out to our great President.” Listen to Tina Peters’ full voicemail from prison here. It will take years to sweep this fringe group back under wherever it is they came from. === The Transatlantic Bridge: Igor Blaževič on the countries that will fill the democracy gap This is eye-opening and attempts to answer the question Joe Biden posed many times. “If America doesn’t lead the world, who will?” We must defend our democracy and get to the other side of this dark time. I believe with all my heart that we will. I am excited to see who rises to the top to be our next Joe Biden. It has to be someone as good and honest and intelligent as he is. That someone has to have extensive political experience. ✂️ Norman Eisen: What’s your assessment of how transatlantic democracy is doing right now? Igor Blaževič: It’s not in good shape, as we know. We don’t know how much more damage will be done. The Trump administration has changed and disrupted profoundly the transatlantic alliance. I don’t know how things will develop in the United States, which remains to be seen and decided there. But I think that what we will see is the European Union continuing to have open doors for the revival of productive alliance relations with the U.S. across Europe. I don’t think the EU will give up on that. There will be constant effort to keep it. On the other side, Europe will need to shrink into its own effort to increase its own capacity to defend itself and to help Ukraine survive. Both of these things will have a very negative global impact, because the European approach was always second to the United States’ approach in standing by democrats around the world. Europe was never the leader, but it was the second backer. Now, with the Trump administration withdrawing from that, Europe will not be capable to pick up the global support for democracy but will try to focus more on defending itself and defending as much as is possible in a close neighborhood. ✂️ Norman Eisen:
And who will the partners be? Will it be Australia? Will it be Canada? Who else besides Europe will fill the democracy gap? Igor Blaževič:
Nobody. Canada will do a little bit, but nobody can replace the U.S. ✂️ Norman Eisen: We focused on the first sector, the public sector, and I made the point that there is much more to that sector than just the federal executive. What about the NGO sector (where there are profound shared commitments to democracy), where American NGOs, European NGOs, and the press can fill the gap? What do you expect from the NGO world to maintain these transatlantic commitments? Igor Blaževič: I think there will be natural solidarity and understanding of the democratic forces in the United States trying to defend democracy. We here see that as our own struggle. We follow it very carefully, but in a certain way there is a hidden part of the tradition here that we believe that the democracy in the United States is strong enough to defend itself. That the democracy in some other countries is not strong enough to defend itself. Our mission here has always been not so much in the fragile countries but really in the dictatorships, because again our profound history is being small and powerless dissidents against a strong opponent. There’s more at the link. === There is so much happening, dear Shadesters. I finally had to just stop looking. Most of it is maddening since we did not have to be here and we should not be here. We come to the shade for respite from the scary things being done in our name. Thanks to everyone who contributes to (or just lurks in) this wonderful community. 🥰 ===
There are several observances today.
Clarissa Harlowe Barton, known as Clara, is one of the most honored women in American history. Barton risked her life to bring supplies and support to soldiers in the field during the Civil War. She founded the American Red Cross in 1881, at age 59, and led it for the next 23 years.
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Each year, we celebrate those delightful little notes you receive from your boss or the “honey-do” lists left by your significant other with National Memo Day. Short for “memorandum,” this day encourages people to write a note to someone to inform them about something. So, put your pens to paper and let someone know something!
Heck, I write memos to myself! If it weren’t for notes, I’d forget what I needed at the grocery (that’s an old word...) store, or that I need to clean the furnace filter or hundreds of other things. I love pencil and paper.
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The origins of this holiday are unknown, but it is thought to have originated in the United States, where strawberries and cream have been a popular treat since the early 19th century. Today, people all over the world celebrate this holiday by enjoying a variety of strawberry and cream-based desserts, drinks, and dishes. Nanny posted this a while back and I think it’s the sweetest thing. No cream but look at this precious pup! x x YouTube Video ===
World Metrology Day is an annual celebration of the signature of the Metre Convention on 20 May 1875 by representatives of seventeen nations. The Convention set the framework for global collaboration in the science of measurement and in its industrial, commercial and societal applications. The original aim of the Metre Convention - the world-wide uniformity of measurement - remains as important today as it was in 1875. x x YouTube Video ===
The purpose of the annual EMS for Children Day is to highlight the distinctive aspects of caring for children and to raise awareness about the need to improve and expand specialized care for children in prehospital and acute care settings. ===
In 2001, UNESCO adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and in December 2002, the UN General Assembly, in its resolution 57/249, declared May 21 to be the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
We all know how important it is to learn about and appreciate different cultures around the world!
One more reason to fight the felon and his corrupt cronies so we can finally join the rest of the civilized world. A resistance action is to continue to embrace all cultures and celebrate our differences while understanding we are more alike than we are different.
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