Worker's Rights, Animals, Nature

One of my favourite ever Puffin photos to finish off The Daily Puffin for this year. 😊😍

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Noah Berlatsky at Public Notice:

Last week, White House Deputy Chief of Staff and xenophobic racist Stephen Miller attacked Democratic Texas US Senate candidate James Talarico with the level of class and dignity typical of MAGA. Responding to a boilerplate Talarico campaign announcement posted by the Democrats’ account on X, Miller responded, “The Democrats made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender senate candidate.” Miller later doubled down on Fox News, claiming that Talarico was “transitioning into a female.” Miller is lying; Talarico is cis, not trans. It’s also grotesquely bigoted; Miller is attempting to smear Talarico by suggesting that being trans should be disqualifying from participating in public life.

But this ugly attack is very much in line with the GOP strategy in Texas which has centered obsessively, and repulsively, on attempting to feminize and misgender Talarico. Rather than talk about issues, records, or even personalities, Republicans have simply started bellowing “WE ARE MEN! THEY NOT MEN! MEN GOOD! NOT MEN BAD!” over and over again in a toxic masculine fugue of bile and sweat. It’s a repulsive spectacle. But it’s also a clarifying one. Republicans could not make it much clearer that their party is entirely given over to bigotry, rage, and bullying. There are no issues to compromise on, no middle ground to occupy. The only question is whether women, queer people, non-white people, and indeed Democrats as a whole are human beings with a stake in democracy, or if non-Republicans are all simply vermin to be subjugated. Faced with that stark choice, the Talarico campaign, and Democrats in general, have responded by standing firm rather than folding. That’s a welcome change from early in Trump’s term — and it’s also a hopeful sign that Democrats are starting belatedly to realize that the only way forward is fighting back.

Everything is gender

Last week, Republicans held their run-off primary election. Incumbent John Cornyn lost; the GOP’s candidate is instead the disgustingly corrupt state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is so obviously unfit his own party tried to impeach him. Talarico, a member of the Texas House, is, by contrast, a talented communicator who has made his progressive Christian faith a center of his campaign.

[...] Paxton and the entire GOP have responded to this tough electoral situation by turning hard right and spiraling into semi-incomprehensible smears and conspiracy theories centered on the fantasy that Talarico is not a man or is doing manhood wrong. The big Republicans scandal moment of the campaign so far came a couple weeks ago when Talarico ordered a potato, egg, and cheese taco. An innocuous moment, you say? Well, yes. But every Republican with access to a keyboard rushed over to X to declaim that ordering an egg taco meant that Talarico was a vegetarian (he is not) and/or a vegan (vegans don’t eat eggs!). Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that Talarico “was not beating the vegetarian allegations” (why are they allegations?!). Donald Trump said, “You can’t get elected as a vegan in Texas.” Ken Paxton called his opponent “Tofu Talerico.” And on and on.

Other similar nonsense followed. Dan Weldon, a Florida congressional candidate, popped up to say that Talarico didn’t look like he could name “a single obscure wide receiver from the early 2000s.” And in his first general election add, Paxton claimed that Talarico was “low-T.” This is a common insult on the manosphere right, where testosterone is conflated with strength, resolve, and virtue. Not coincidentally, Democratic representatives, and Democratic voters, are often not straight men. LGBT voters and women both disproportionately support Democrats, which of course is the party that broadly supports abortion rights and LGBT rights. In contrast, Republicans are viciously opposed to both — and are even flirting with the idea of trying to disenfranchise women altogether. The attacks on Talarico are not, then, simply attacks on one politician. They are an attack on the Democratic coalition, and on the idea that women, queer people, or anyone who supports women and queer people should have any role in government or public life. Paxton’s campaign is saying that Democrats are illegitimate because they are not manly men, and that women and LGBT people are illegitimate because they are Democrats. Only manly Republican bullies are fit to rule. [...]

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Democrats have belatedly but thankfully concluded that the way to deal with bullies is to hit back harder. They’ve decided that the way to deal with vaunting toxic masculinity is to point out that it is ridiculous and repulsive, and to connect it to abuse and corruption. This is all to the good. In addition, though, Democrats could take the Talarico campaign as a moment to recognize that there’s little point in trying to meet Republicans halfway, either on policy or on candidate selection.

A Foreign Agents Registration Act filing from October 2025 says Trump’s former national security adviser is working for the Republic of Srpska, the Bosnia and Herzegovina entity run by Milorad Dodik, a Putin ally. That was enough to set off parts of MAGA, including Catturd asking, “$100,000 per month?”

Sebastian Gorka piled on too, saying he had to promise never to work for another government when he joined the first Trump administration and assumed Flynn signed something similar. Flynn, of course, is the same guy who pleaded guilty twice to lying to federal agents during the Russia investigation before Trump pardoned him.

So now MAGA is mad that one of its own is getting paid by a Putin-aligned government, which is almost adorable considering how long they’ve spent pretending the Putin thing was invented by Rachel Maddow in a candlelit basement.

Is this where America First gets a currency conversion chart?

The US House just voted 215 to 208 to end hostilities with Iran. ☮️

A bipartisan majority in the Republican-led House voted on Wednesday to end the war with Iran, the clearest rebuke yet of President Trump's handling of the conflict and the subsequent economic fallout. The war powers resolution passed by a vote of 215 to 208, with four Republicans joining Democrats in support. The resolution had originally been set for a vote two weeks ago, but Republican leaders sent House members home early for a May recess when it appeared the largely Democratic-backed measure had enough Republican votes for passage. However, the extended break didn't shift GOP support to kill the measure.

A caveat about its effect...

The vote is mostly symbolic. Democrats, despite multiple attempts, have been unable to pass a war powers resolution through the Republican-led Senate. Even if the measure passed in Congress, it would almost certainly be vetoed by President Trump, whose administration has questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act. Still, Senate Democrats have been inching closer. Last month, they won support on a procedural measure to set up a war powers vote after a handful of Republicans broke ranks to join them. A final vote has yet to be scheduled.

The NY Times reports...

Republican Representatives Tom Barrett of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky crossed party lines to vote with Democrats in favor of the resolution. Representative Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, who had previously opposed similar measures, switched his position to support it. Though the few defections were notable, almost every Republican voted against the resolution. Most of them have accepted the Trump administration’s claim that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, the legal threshold under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 for the president to order attacks on a foreign adversary without the permission of Congress.

If Trump were smart (SPOILER: he's not), he'd not fight this resolution. He has essentially lost the war. This would give him a relatively face-saving excuse to cut his losses. Instead he will double down and again make squealing toddlers seem reasonable and mature.

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GOP lawmakers refusing to return for votes until Mike Johnson cleans up his mess: report

Republicans can’t govern. They are incompetent and useless for anything that isn’t protecting pedophiles and other abusers.