Bitter rivals. Beloved friends. Survivors

[Daily Kos Morning Roundup]( A morning roundup of worthy pundit and news reads, brought to you by Daily Kos. [Click here to read the full web version.]( - [Bitter rivals. Beloved friends. Survivors.]( Bitter rivals. Beloved friends. Survivors., Sally Jenkins, The Washington Post After 50 years, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova understand each other like no one else can. When cancer came, they knew where to turn. They dressed side by side. They waited together, sometimes ate together and entered the arena together. Then they would play a match that seemed like a personal cross-examination, running each other headlong into emotional confessions, concessions. And afterward they would return to that small room of two, where they showered and changed, observing with sidelong glances the other’s triumphalism or tears, states beyond mere bare skin. No one else could possibly understand it. Except for the other. “She knew me better than I knew me,” Navratilova says. - [It’s brutal around here: Daily Kos revenue is down. Thank goodness for small donors like you, who have never let us down. Please chip in $5 today to keep us fighting Republicans.]( - [The Rogue Court vs Modern Democracy]( The Rogue Court vs Modern Democracy, Thomas Zimmer, Democracy Americana” via Substack America can accept this Supreme Court as legitimate and its rulings as the final word - or it can have true democracy and a functioning state. But not both. So stark, so crass, so bizarre was the discrepancy between the pretensions of democracy and the reality of minority dominance, between the norms of the political process and a reality in which Republicans displayed zero interest in forbearance, between the ideal of nonpartisanship the Court always claims for itself and the reality of a brutal rightwing power grab, that for a while, even the Democratic establishment seemed to agree that something had to change. Court reform, expanding the Court, restricting judicial review… the contours of what, exactly, should be done remained fuzzy. But it was enough to put some pressure on the Court’s conservative majority: A credible threat – and a big part of why the 2021 term ended in restraint. The Right had decided it was better to keep a low profile, avoid attracting more criticism, let the storm pass. And it totally worked. - [RFK Jr.’s Inside Job How a conspiracy-spewing literal Kennedy posing as a populist outsider jolted the Democratic Party.]( RFK Jr.’s Inside Job How a conspiracy-spewing literal Kennedy posing as a populist outsider jolted the Democratic Party. Rebecca Traister, New York Magazine How a conspiracy-spewing literal Kennedy posing as a populist outsider jolted the Democratic Party. That’s not to say Kennedy’s campaign is a joke. He is both an addled conspiracy theorist and an undeniable manifestation of our post-pandemic politics. He is an aging but handsome scion of America’s most storied political family, facing off against an incumbent who many in his own party worry is too old and too unpopular to win a second term. Far from an exile, he is an extremely well-connected person with unparalleled access to the centers of influence in New York, Hollywood, and Washington, D.C., who either has no idea what kind of fire he’s playing with, or does and is therefore an arsonist. He is running a surprisingly potent campaign that, thanks to the lurid dynamics of social media and the boosts he is receiving from some of the wealthiest, most listened-to people in America, stands to grow even more disruptive, his deep thoughts on Rogan’s podcast translating into overflow crowds at his rallies. Lesser threats than Kennedy have played spoilers in elections before, and if he succeeds in helping burn us all to the ground, it will not be because he is an outsider, as he claims, but because of a political and media culture that has protected and encouraged and fawned over him his whole life — handing a perpetual problem child, now 69 and desperate for attention, accelerant and matches. - [Sip your favorite beverage from your very own Daily Kos mug. Click here to get one now!]( - [On the Affirmative Action ruling]( On the Affirmative Action ruling, Jonathan Weiler, Jonathan’s Quality Kvetching Newsletter” on Substack What it did, who it affected, what its end means Let's start with what will certainly be one effect of the ruling. Fewer Black students will be admitted to and attend many of the affected schools. Whether, over time, admissions offices find different means than explicit consideration of race to construct the kinds of diversity they want in their incoming classes, in the short term, there will be fewer Black students at places like UNC. That's really not debatable. When the University of California system was compelled to stop using AA in the late 1990s, the impact was clear. In 1997, the last incoming class for which Cal-Berkeley's admissions office used AA, about 7.5% of the incoming class was African-American. In 1998, after a statewide ban went into effect, it was about half that, and has remained so ever since. Michigan had a similar experience after a 2006 ban. The same will almost certainly be true at UNC. - in the above comment, I used the word "diversity." What does that mean? - [The counteroffensive: Its not slow, its not fast, it is what it is;]( The counteroffensive: Its not slow, its not fast, it is what it is;, Phillips O'Brien, ”Phillips’s Newsletter” on Substack This phase seems to show the dominance of Artillery/MLRS and UAVs; Always remember domestic politics Sometimes stating the obvious makes people get upset. This was the week when it did become obvious to many that the Ukrainian counteroffensive really would not result in a quick breakthrough (though it was obvious that this was the case after the first week). Some concern over this has masked the fact that the Ukrainians have made steady progress and, crucially, changed their way of fighting to adjust to the reality. That reality, for the time being, is that this seems to be an artillery/MLRS and UAV battle while each side seeks out the other to attack, whereas vehicles are being sent sparingly forward by the Ukrainians for now. Battles reveal, they dont cause. This is a maxim I’ve tried to get across a few times in this war, and in my earlier research. We like to think of the event of battle as causing the outcomes of wars—thus the constant attempt to frame wars it terms of their supposedly decisive battles. This actually normally adds a falsifying (though attractive in terms of book sales) element of drama into a war. To try and combat this notion head on, I started How the War was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II (Cambridge 2015) with the line: ‘There were no decisive battles in World War II.” ICYMI: Popular stories from the past week you won't want to miss: - [Florida cops punish their 3-year-old for potty training mishaps—by jailing him]( - [A big Supreme Court decision has implications for special counsel Jack Smith]( - [Another Russian falls out of a window]( Want even more Daily Kos? 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