It's not JUST that he's a billionaire and has more power than most.

It's that these billionaires never take the steps. Why not run for a house seat, and spend a few years showing your priorities?

Why do they always hemorrhage money for the highest office they think they can reach?

Being a billionaire- even "one of the good ones," doesn't mean you deserve the job and get to skip the line. There's arrogance and privilege to that.

Also: We have one of those guys. He's in office right now. And he sucks.

If Steyer ran in my district, I'd vote for him. If he ran for Senator, I'd consider it.

But President?

Governor?

Earn my trust. Earn the office. Do the work.

I don't think he's a bad guy. I just know he won't be a bad politician.

Thoughts?

We can still save this place.

#Springsteen #ArtAgainstAuthoritarianism

He just can’t hide behind John McCain anymore.

I fly to Colorado often. And the worst part of flying to Colorado is having to connect through Denver airport. That means landing in and taking off in a sky that is bumpier than an anti-vaxxer’s skin after a “measles party.”

I’d love to say the above was a dramatic re-enactment but it’s actually footage of a flight above Denver.

And yeah, Southwest connects through Denver.

But they also connect through Phoenix, sometimes with a super convinient 45 minute layover that I have yet to miss or Las Vegas, where there’s a little more time but slot machines so you can lose your money instead of losing your lunch.

Seating wasn’t fun but it wasn’t any different than boarding in groups and there were airports where you could exit through the mouth or the butt of the plane. The pre-flight announcements could get a little “Jungle Book Adventure,” sometimes the shorts were a little tough on the eyes… but the worst would be if somebody brought some ghastly full meal from the airport Chili’s.

But I’ll take employees that liked their jobs, 60 calorie bags of pretzels and the occasional $8 tiny bottle of coping over a long layover and a 95% chance of turbulence.

I like the small bottles. They make me feel like a giant.

So I had made my peace with the good and the bad of this airline. So of course, that’s when the same group of people who ruin everything saddled up to ruin this.

In June 2024, the activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management announced it had purchased about a $1.9 billion stake in Southwest Airlines, equating to roughly 10 – 11 % of the company’s shares. That position allowed the fund to push for changes in leadership and corporate strategy.

Changes like assigned seating you get to pay for. Free bags you get to pay for. Being told you have to sit in the seat you were assigned even if the whole plane was empty except for you — no more lounging like some tart on three seats when some billionaire thinks you’re getting something for free.

…And no, I’m not going to link to some other billionaire’s website.

I am watching Southwest Airlines turn into Frontier in real time. The minute a hedge fund bought into them and got on the board, everything that made them the Amtrak of the sky (that’s a dig and a compliment) has turned them into Temu Greyhound (that’s an insult).

Maybe the red line is going up but the experience is going down.

As “Brad On Message” said… “fix this nonsense.”

And perhaps they can. Perhaps the other 90% of the people who own Southwest can tell the 10% to kick rocks and find a middle-ground. Maybe not.

But it’s one more thing that was “not so serious” in this very serious time we all live in. A public airline getting smudged by people who fly private… no different than a social media site getting ruined by an asocial near-trillionaire.

It’s exhausting.

And unfortunate, it’s “Not Going Anywhere,” is it?

To say the main stream media has been a disappointment in their coverage of our collapsing Jenga-pile speed fall into authoritarianism is both an understatement and wrong. We don’t have a mainstream media anymore, we have various degrees of state media run. Still, it’s always a treat - by the way that’s sarcasm - when a company you assume would run like a Miami Herald ends up putting Bari Weiss’ CBS News to shame.

Trump lost a Supreme Court ruling on his favorite issue: Taxing Americans to create a slush fund for himself. Hey, those giant posters hanging around Washington with a 50 foot Trump eying you like a teen beauty pageant contestant don’t pay for themselves.

He responded like he always does: Like an abusive father. This backhand was a quite a unilateral 10% tax on everything everywhere, which became 15% as of me writing this, but it’s like a fucking roulette wheel with this guy. By tomorrow it could be eleventy-five.

But every Trump “breaks norms” is a chance for some journalist to get on Trump’s radar for access, cookies and maybe not being thrown in a Gulag one day. Enter CNN:

“True to his philosophy of never accepting a defeat, he’s already battling back after the Supreme Court declared his exercise of emergency trade war powers unlawful,” writes CNN’s Stephen Collinson“

The full article is here and at least to me, it sane washes his behavior. Casting this as something Trump did because of some deep seated intellectual belief that he pondered as opposed to reacting like a drunk Dad is something else.

You expect it from Fox News and News Max. You expect it from the Washington Post, and the “new” CBS. Seeing it happen to CNN before they end up controlled by an Technogarch… it’s not that it’s unexpected it’s just glaring and disappointing.

And I think we’re all tired of things that are glaringly disappointing from the few places that don’t HAVE to be. It’s worse, because they CHOOSE to be.

Cartoon by the brilliant Ann Telnaes who left the Washington Post when Bezos killed this cartoon and now shares her art on the absolutely fantastic “Open Windows” Substack. It was one of my first paid subs.

So, we’re off to the races on our very first “Trump Suckling of the Week” and it’s a strong contender.

Feel free it drop yours in the comments.

On Fox News.

Where he has been on regularly for the last three months.

This hoodied goon talking about showing respect if f**king hilarious.

Also, does he sleep in a cot at Fox News? What else does he do besides undermine democrats and make you sort of miss than not Joe Manchin.

Sorry: I’m starting to believe Trump has pictures of this guy in a compromising position with a goat.

Yes, I made the photo. It's not real. But he’s not a real Democrat.

I saw this on Threads, which muzzles my feed like it’s a dog labeled “Bites” visiting the vet.

You know who else doesn’t own stocks?

Speaker Mike Johnson.

I don’t live in Texas, I liked what Talarico had to say on the censored Colbert episode… and I don’t have a beef with the OP.

But as litmus tests go, this one ain’t it.

Also, she was a lawyer for ten years before she entered Congress. Why WOULDN’T she put her money the same place more than half of Americans do when they have savings?

Where should she put it? A mattress? A low interest bank account?

And before the Litmus Testerati cry “Lawyer,” this was the career path:

I would say: Source each of these decent candidates based on opinions, not THIS ridiculously framed litmus test.

Here’s Talarico on Colbert, which again - I thought was great.

Two good people can compete and win on issues.

Now somebody go win Texas, cool?

…and this is why, from Don Winslow.

The walkout is a start. We need sustained and impactful protests that are also voter registration drives.

We need to primary the spineless, remove the soulless and get our country back to the way it was before Donald Trump ruined it.

This should run during the Super bowl.

This is happening. It’s gathering steam. You a register your support at NationalShutdown.Org and pledge to pull your contributions to this national under siege for the day.

There’s a ton of organizations behind it - and it’s gathering steam. But what I do not see? Large fundraising groups. Democratic organizations and fundraisers. Huge unions.

Maybe that’s okay. Maybe we need those groups for a larger and more sustained #NationalStrike. We know it works. Minnesota has showed us the way.

Back when an SEIU leader was arrested and detained for exercising his first amendment rights, I thought “This is when the big strike begins.” It did not.

But THAT’S what needs to happen to get the right people to pressure the evil people to cease, desist, step back and step down. And it it’s gotta get companies, politicians to demand it. If the money dries up, so does power and incentive.

I remember the first Muslim ban. People showed up at the airports. It gummed up the works for a few days and Trump folded like a deck chair. Protests need to be peaceful, sustained and targeted - like Minneapolis. And it needs to happen NOW, while these fascists are on their back foot trying to figure out what lies, distractions or actions can put them back into terrifying control.

But this week, we do this. It is what I hope to be a powerful dry run for something that will create the kind of economic statement that forces lasting change.

Be loud. Be unified. Be massive.

And be safe.

• Steve

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