Pun Salad

News from NHJournal about another candidate who wants to be my CongressCritter: Stefany Shaheen Steps Into NH01 Dem Primary.

Stefany's campaign website is here. Her Facebook page has the video:

Her key campaign planks seem to be:

• Outrage!
• Fighting!
• Medical research!
• Because her daughter has diabetes!

I find the exploitation of her daughter's illness (including heart-tugging pics of her in a hospital bed) to be more than a little creepy, but that's me.

My previous take on Stefany was a couple years ago, when she was Chair of the Portsmouth Police Commission. Back then, her thing was gun control, and I fisked the op-ed that appeared in our local newspaper, where (among other things) she advocated a "mandatory assault weapon buyback program."

Didn't work as an issue for Beto O'Rourke, and I wouldn't be surprised if Stefany's decided to emphasize less controversial positions?

Also of note:

• It's kind of amazing that they thought otherwise. At the Free Press, Jed Rubenfeld points out: NPR and PBS Aren’t Entitled to Your Tax Dollars.

  National Public Radio is suing the Trump administration for cutting off its federal funds, which, according to NPR’s complaint, is a “blatant,” “textbook” First Amendment violation.

  But NPR seems to have forgotten some free speech basics. As the District of Columbia District Court—the court where NPR filed suit on Tuesday—stated just a few weeks ago, “the government does not abridge the right to free speech by choosing not to subsidize it.”

  Amusingly, PBS's twitter self-description touts its "editorial independence" and "unbiased reporting".

  Not to be outdone, NPR claims to be "an independent news organization".

  So they're both big on "independence"… except when it comes to funding.

• Gee, ya think? Jim Geraghty wonders if the blinders are coming off" Trump Starts to Suspect that Vladimir Putin Isn’t Such a Swell Guy. To go along with his classless Memorial Day post…

  […] this weekend, President Trump jumped onto Truth Social to announce to the world, “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!”

  Trump has given this topic some thought; earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump asked advisers if they thought Putin “has changed since Trump’s last time in office, and expressed surprise at some of Putin’s military moves, including bombing areas with children.”

  While speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One Sunday, Trump reiterated how surprised he was by the way Putin and the Russian forces are fighting the war:

  Trump: I’m not happy with what Putin’s doing. He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin. I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all. Okay? We’re in the middle of talking and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don’t like it at all.

  Q: Mr. President, what do you want to do about that?

  Trump: I’m surprised. I’m very surprised. We’ll see what we’re gonna do.

  Got that? Trump is “very surprised” by Putin’s actions.

  What will Trump be surprised at next? That tariffs don't work? The First Amendment? Measles outbreak?

• A sensible recommendation. You might think Megan McArdle's advice would be uncontroversial: If Trump’s health declines, the GOP should take its own medicine (WaPo gifted link).

  When I decided to write a column on Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and the many people who covered for him, I anticipated pushback from my more liberal readers. As you can see from comments on that column, they delivered, in the thousands.

  Wasn’t Biden a great president? Didn’t I know he’d just been diagnosed with metastatic cancer? Why kick a man when he’s down? More important, why pick on Biden? Wasn’t Ronald Reagan suffering from Alzheimer’s during his time in office? Isn’t the current occupant of the Oval Office — in addition to his many offenses against our democratic norms — acting a little addled?

  This deflection is not good for the country or for the Democratic Party, which remains less popular than the Republican Party despite Trump’s erratic, cruel and occasionally unconstitutional policies. Democrats must rebuild trust with the public, and it’s not enough to shout “But what about Trump?” and hope the current president will do the job for them.

  Nor is it true that Biden is just one of many presidents who were similarly diminished. Watch Reagan’s final news conference from December 1988 and you’ll see him give sharp answers to questions for a good half hour, something the Biden of 2024 couldn’t seem to manage for five minutes. As for Trump, a good deal of what he says is nonsense. But it’s mostly the same kind of nonsense he’s been spewing for years.

  I especially like that last bit: Trump's not demented, he's the same.

• It's crazy, but it just might work… Oh, wait, no it won't. Jeff Maurer wonders Could a Wickedly Ribald Zinger Take Down Trump? But Betteridge's Law of Headlines applies:

  How does a man attract a woman? That’s simple: Acquire. Goats. Acquire goats to signal that your farm is prosperous, and that a woman will not want for fig wine or turquoise-encrusted finery should she come to be under your roof. If you acquire the goats through battle, all the better, and be sure to place your enemies’ heads on spikes outside your hut so that all may know your prowess as a warrior. Chicks dig that.

  You might be thinking: “Jeff, that advice seems pretty specific to ancient Mesopotamia — I’m not sure it applies today.” To which I say: Your racism against ancient Mesopotamians has gotten out of control — I have reported you to BlueSky, and their agents will be knocking on your door soon.

  But I suppose I’ll allow that — in theory — something that works in one time and place might not work in another. And I’m willing to concede that point because I recently read a column by Nicholas Kristoff about how humor (and other actions) can undermine authoritarian governments. Kristoff cites the work of a political scientist named Gene Sharp, who recommended 198 nonviolent actions that activists can take against authoritarian rulers. Sharp’s work helped take down dictators in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and Kristoff believes that the same “tool kit” could work against Trump.

  Jeff illustrates why it won't with the (heh!) "Laugher Curve":

  

And I think he has a point.