Poetic Justice
Buck Banks | Apr. 29, 2026
The current state of our national political debate is pathetic,
And politicians’ performative stunts make us crave an emetic.
But when the bullets start flying,
Both sides start denying:
Saying MY violent rhetoric is less violent than YOUR violent rhetoric.
Verbatim
“They assume my ambition is a title or a seat. My ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country. Presidents come and go, elected officials come and go, single payer healthcare is forever.”
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), speaking at the University of Chicago.
“I want to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar… He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth… The man cannot tell the truth, but he combines it with being a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country has ever seen.”
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), 10 years ago today.
“We’re moving from one fire drill to the next every single week, and then half the time it feels like, why are we even here?”
— A House Republican, quoted by MS NOW, on the chaos this week in the House Republican caucus.
Numerati
3.8%
Wall Street Journal: “Consumer prices rose 3.8% in April from a year earlier, a clear impact of higher gas prices since the start of the war with Iran. … The figures, reported Tuesday by the Labor Department, surpassed the previous month’s reported increase of 3.3%. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected inflation of 3.7%.”
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56%
A survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by YouGov on behalf of NewsGuard found that 24 percent believe the foiled attack by a gunman on April 25 was not a real attempt to kill Trump, the Daily Beast Reports. When expanded to include those who believe the assassination attempt was staged or are “unsure,” the figure rises significantly to 56 percent. Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) also believe that at least one of the assassination attempts against the president—the WHCD dinner incident, the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, or the foiled attack at one of Trump’s Florida golf courses in September 2024—was staged.
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352,000
\
“About 352,000 Russian soldiers had died in the war against Ukraine through the end of 2025, according to a new estimate, underscoring the high cost that President Vladimir V. Putin is willing to bear to pursue his battlefield aims,” the New York Times reports.
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115,000
America’s employers delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs last month despite an economic shock from the Iran war, reported the AP. Hiring beat the 65,000 jobs forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday.
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228
Washington Post: “Iranian airstrikes have damaged or destroyed at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites across the Middle East since the war began, hitting hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defense equipment. The amount of destruction is far larger than what has been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government or previously reported.”
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And #3: Obama has backed the Dream Act from the get-go; he’s not weighing in just before the election. But, as at least one observer noted, Obama can’t even pick out a tie between now and November without being accused of making a political move.
So, I suppose that fact that he circumvented any attempt to properly bring this issue through Congress and in essence pronounced an edict through executive order, in no way points to this halting deportation of “Illegal” immigrants (Those people who have chosen to enter this country in violation of law)as an attempt to bolster his support from the Hispanic populace? Anyone who does not believe this is purely a political move is truly ignorant. regardless of whether he supported the Dream Act in the past, the timing and method points to scoring points to save his election.
Jay, first, these folks didn’t chose to enter this country in violation of the law. They chose, instead, to not run away from their parents when their parents brought them here as children. Second, there is no legal line for these people to get in. Our country’s immigration laws are so outdated that there is a grand total of 5,000 work visas available nationwide. Seriously. And third, properly bringing any issue through Congress is a fantasy at this point in America. The Dream Act has come through Congress, and while it made it through with support in both houses, it doesn’t have the votes to survive a Republican filibuster in the Senate. So it’s all very nice to say that everyone should just keep on waiting for Congress to act but in the meantime, real people are moving ahead with real lives. Including the president. Go Obama!
Jon Ponder is an obvious idiot. Obama could have done this years ago. Not the Dream Act, but this. Instead he waits until he needs to buy more votes. The incompetent clown has no integrity or morals.
bam – Even if what you said here weren’t completely irrelevant to what Romney actually said, it wouldn’t make Romney any less a liar or an asshole. Obama and the Democrats did vote on the issue when they had a “Democrat” majority in both chambers — Mitt was just lying about that.
You guys can only go so far making this election about Obama. Past experience shows that as people get to know Mitt Romney, they quickly grow to loathe him. You’re best hope is that regular folks do not wake up to the fact that the guy you are pushing to replace the president is a soulless, lying corporate stooge who has no core beliefs and no alternative vision — just a return to the same failed Bush/GOP “thimking” that created the multiple crises we’re still digging out of.