Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

“But what about the lurkers?”

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

How stupid are these people?

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Monday Night Open Thread

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I wonder how many scaramucci’s Hegseth’s term will be, or if it will even reach a Friedman Unit:

The White House has begun the process of looking for a new leader at the Pentagon to replace Pete Hegseth, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. This comes as Hegseth is again mired in controversy over sharing military operational details in a group chat.

The defense secretary is under fire after revelations that he shared classified information in a group chat with his wife, brother and lawyer, according to the official.

It’s hard to imagine they will find someone worse, but they can and probably will. Maybe Eddie Gallagher.

I should note that reliable sources have informed me Hegseth is going nowhere this is just a purge of staffers who do not agree with Pete, hence the smearing and return leaking about leaks.

***

Meanwhile, Mississippi is leaning into the new confederacy with… a celebration of the old confederacy:

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has declared April 2025 as Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi, keeping alive a 32-year-old tradition that began in 1993.

A member of the Rankin Greys, a Sons of Confederate Veterans camp based in Florence, Mississippi, announced the proclamation in a post in the organization’s Facebook group on April 18.

A reminder that the confederacy lasted only five years or so. May the new one last four or under.

***

This made me laugh out loud:

Monday Night Open Thread 22

Solid.

***

There was something else I was going to talk about but in the background Joelle is watching American Idol while on the phone with her friend Buzz (who is basically her Tammy, if that makes sense- they’ve been thick as thieves for thirty years.) and this woman belted out the most excellent rendition of I’m Every Woman” and I kinda forgot what I was thinking about. Which is pretty clearly a solid sign it was not going to cure cancer or end world hunger. At any rate, she just got home at six, we had dinner, and now she is just relaxing and since she hasn’t had a moment to herself all day, I have fucked off in here to give her some space to get right in the head and chat you all up.

At any rate, tomorrow is another day. Soldier on.

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War for Ukraine Day 1,152: Russia Unloads on Civilian Targets in Odesa

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A painting by NEIVANMADE> In the center of the painting is a green swing set. It is over a targeting reticle with the red dot dirctly under the swing. Behind it on both the left and right are residential apartment buildings and trees. Above the swing set is an incoming Russian missile. It is red with a yellow "Z" symbol on it. To it's left if the caption "Russian "Ceasefire" in red. Below the reticle, in black, is Stop Child Killers!

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

It’s been a long, but good day, so I’m just going to run through the basics tonight.

Before we start, I do want to briefly touch on the death of Pope Francis. I checked the current make up of the College of Cardinals this AM, Pope Francis was able to create clear majority of left to progressive Cardinals during his tenure. Hopefully they’ll be able to fend off what we know will be an attempt to go full scale revanchist reactionary by the usual suspects. I don’t really have anything in this fight other than I am Catholic educated and don’t want to see the revanchist reactionaries get their way, but I think that Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Archbishop of Jerusalem, would be a good choice. There’s video at this link of an interview that Noga Tarnopolsky did with him over the weekend.

Russia unloaded on civilian targets in Odesa earlier today:

Russia attacked Odesa with drones, injuring at least three people. Civilian infrastructure, houses, and an educational facility were damaged.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 21, 2025 at 8:27 PM

Odesa is on fire as russia is massively attacking the city with drones.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) April 21, 2025 at 4:56 PM

🇺🇦🔥 Such disgusting sounds are heard now by Odesians from Shaheds flying over the city.
About 30 drones attacked our Odesa!

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— Vitalis Viva (@vitalisviva.bsky.social) April 21, 2025 at 4:03 PM

Russia, of course, is assessing their own genocidal campaign of bombing, droning, and civilian bombing campaign:

Putin says Russia will “analyze” moratorium on bombing civilians. Translation: stall, lie, kill more. Russia isn’t seeking peace—it’s buying time to keep slaughtering.

— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) April 21, 2025 at 11:32 AM

Here’s President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

show full post on front page

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Monday Afternoon Odds & Ends

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Lately the USA resembles a flaming dumpster rolling swiftly downhill toward a chlorine trifluoride tank farm. It’s hard to keep up! Here are a couple of random items for your consideration this afternoon.

Sounds like Pete Hegseth should update his CV so he can shoot for a stretch assignment, like celebrity bingo caller at the VFW post in Radishbreth, Idaho. NPR:

The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

This comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to find himself mired in controversy. NPR has also confirmed with the same official that Hegseth shared details ahead of last month’s Yemen strikes with his wife and brother in a Signal chat on his personal phone, minutes after being updated by a senior U.S. military official.

We discussed Hegseth’s disastrous tenure this morning, and one of y’all sent chills down my spine by speculating that if Hegseth does go down, Trump might appoint someone even worse, like Q-anon loon Gen. Mike Flynn. That’s entirely plausible, and yikes!

***

The DOW is down 1200-ish as I write this, more than 3%, as are S&P 500 and NASDAQ. Trump is pouring fuel on the fire by SCREAMING IN ALL CAPS at Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump appointed in his first term because Janet Yellen is short (and lacks a penis).

Disappointingly, T$LA’s share price hasn’t dropped below $220. It was hovering around $223 last I looked, having lost more than 7% of value in today’s trading. Burn, baby burn! (The stock price, I mean, in case any of Bondi’s DOJ goons are monitoring this obscure blog.)

Political and financial analysts seem to think Musk will leave the government soon. Here’s a sample of the thinking from a recent WaPo story:

The billionaire is ready to exit because he is tired of fielding what he views as a slew of nasty and unethical attacks from the political left, according to a person familiar with his thinking. He believes his departure will not diminish the power or work of DOGE, his brainchild, the person said, noting that DOGE team members are already established across scores of federal agencies.

Boo-fucking-hoo, but he’s probably right about the “power” and “work” of DOGE since his kinderchuds have exfiltrated our personal data, installed choke-points in the Treasury payment system and Musk has corruptly funneled billions in new government contracts to himself.

Some market commentators seem to believe Musk needs to head back to Tesla to fix what ails the company. In my view, Musk is the problem, not the solution. I don’t know markets, but I do know marketing, and I think the brand joined the choir invisible thanks to its owner’s deeply unpopular antics. They just don’t fully realize that yet.

***

A culinary question as a cleanser following the dumpster-fire discussion: After eating loads of traditional Easter fare yesterday, we decided we’ll have homemade pizza for dinner tonight. Specifically, a grandma-style pie.

I’ve made it a time or two but haven’t settled on a particular recipe. My dough is already prepared. Any tips on toppings, specifically, the order?

Last time I made it, I blind-baked the crust a little, paved it with slices of provolone, added sauce, basil and Pecorino-Romano on top of that and drizzled it with minced garlic-infused olive oil. Suggestions welcome!

Aside from that, open thread!

Monday Afternoon Odds & EndsPost + Comments (204)

Medicaid Expansion and GOP deservingness language

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Jonathan Cohn in the Bulwark lays out the Republican moral deservingness language that will justify large cuts to Medicaid Expansion:

THE LIKELIHOOD OF DONALD TRUMP and his allies in Congress taking Medicaid away from millions of low-income Americans—and, in the process, rolling back a huge piece of the Affordable Care Act—has increased significantly in the last two weeks…

But the interest in ending expansion funding is still there—in no small part because the money is still there—and in recent years especially Republicans have spun their efforts more as an attempt to preserve Medicaid for what they say are the truly vulnerable groups that need it.

One source for this argument is the Paragon Health Institute, one of several think tanks launched by alumni of the first Trump administration, whose researchers have argued that adding all of these working-age, childless adults to Medicaid has put extra financial strains on the program, while overwhelming the doctors and other providers who see Medicaid patients. As a result, these researchers say, the children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities who had previously depended on the program now have a harder time getting care.

Medicaid Expansion has the federal government pay 90% of the costs while Legacy Medicaid has the Feds cover between 50% and 77% of costs as a function of a state’s per capita income. The argument is that the extra federal funds push states to focus on the Expansion population and away from the Legacy population. There is a big component of deservingness thinking. American social welfare policy mostly comes out of the Victorian work paradigm where public help is only available to the “deserving” identities including the disabled, the widowed, the blind, the pregnant and perhaps some kids. Anyone else would be expected to go to the work house or the colonies. Legacy Medicaid is mostly about the “deserving poor”. Medicaid Expansion helps the working poor, who mostly don’t have one of these deserving identities.

That is the pitch that Johnson is making right now.

It is also a pitch to wreck rural hospitals, but that is a discussion for another week.

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Exciting New Effort, With An Eye Toward the PA Supreme Court Retention Election In November

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Although we haven’t had a Balloon Juice fundraiser for a few weeks, that doesn’t mean we’ve been standing by or standing down (so to speak).  We’ve been in regular contact with most of our partner organizations for updates on their activities and to identify opportunities to assist them in efforts that match our goals.

We have a fantastic new opportunity with The Civics Center.   The Civics Center, you will recall, is on a mission to register (or pre-register) High School students on the cusp of reaching voting age.  We helped them expand their Fall 2024 registration drive to several metropolitan area high schools in swing states.   Right now, the Civics Center is in the midst of their “Cap, Gown and Ballot” Spring voter registration drive.  For more on the organization watch the two really 1-minute YouTube videos below, or click here.

The Civics Center is implementing a pilot plan in Pittsburgh (city) High Schools (plural) to inspire and empower youth voters and encourage greater participation in the political process.

We want to help fund this registration and engagement drive in Pittsburgh for this cycle.

This is an investment in the future – both in youth registration in general but in particular with an eye sharply-trained on the November 2025 Pennsylvania Supreme Court judicial retention election.  Not to mention the 2026 midterms and 2028 general elections!

Like Wisconsin, PA is a critical swing state, and this PA Supreme Court judicial retention election is every bit as important as the Wisconsin Supreme Court election on April 1.

What does this entail?

Part 1.

With the help of The Civics Center and its partners, the students are holding candidate forums in their schools for the Pittsburgh mayoral race.  These have been wildly successful, and have received local news coverage.  The students feel heard and engaged.

Candidate forum at Pittsburgh’s Obama Academy High School

Part 2.

This involves voter registration drives in those same schools, starting now and continuing into June (up to and including graduation week).  The timing is especially important.  Why?

There will be a retention election for THREE DEMOCRATIC justices on the seven-member Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

All of this sets the state for Part 3.

What The Civics Center is doing in this Pittsburgh and Allegheny County is a pilot program.  Then they’ll be “taking it on the road.”

In summary, they are:

  • Working in and helping to build a coalition of state and local groups
  • Training students and educators in how to hold voter registration drives
  • Providing data to illustrate the discrepancy, motivate stakeholders and track progress
  • Creating an internship program for high school student leaders
  • Deploying multiple opportunities for educators to get trained and involved in shaping their students’ civic futures.

Founder Laura Brill has already found $15,000 in external matches, and is hot on the trail of an additional donor to match our $25,000 goal.

The Civics Center is a 401 (c) 3  organization for those of you with potential employer matches. 

For more on The Civics Center and the Pittsburgh push, you can check out Laura’s substack.

Can we do this? Are you guys up for this?

.

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The Singularity of Stupid (Open Thread)

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Trump’s cabinet picks are uniformly terrible. We’ve got the “A1” rasslin’ lady in charge of dismantling the Department of Education and Lil’ Marco (and Musk) on track to rack up a Pol Pot-scale body count with abrupt cuts to lifesaving international aid.

There are the financial geniuses tanking the economy with Trump’s dumb tariff war and RFK Jr. (who may be an actual serial killer — I can’t shake that suspicion) decimating public health resources while presiding over a huge measles outbreak, etc. The list of horribles goes on much longer than the fortitude required to comprehensively list The Horrors.

But for sheer incompetence, can any cabinet member beat Pete Hegseth, the black-out drunk sex pest who used to provide weekend couch ballast at Fox & Friends before he got the Pentagon gig? In case you missed it, SecDef Hairgel is embroiled in a freshly reported Signalgate scandal as he (or probably his handlers) undertakes a purge that is ostensibly about ousting “leakers.”

WSJ: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created a Signal chat with his wife, his personal lawyer and others, and posted sensitive military information into it, people familiar with the matter said Sunday, a revelation that has added to the increasing scrutiny of the novice leader.

Hegseth was already facing questions for writing flight plans and other details about a military operation ahead of U.S. strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen into a Signal chat with senior Trump administration officials. Hegseth posted nearly the same information into another chat featuring his wife and other aides that don’t require real-time knowledge of the mission, a person familiar with the chat said.

The disclosure of the Signal chat comes after an unusual number of top political appointees have either been removed from the Pentagon or resigned just in the past few weeks, some with little explanation.

The “leaker” is almost certainly Hegseth himself. He may not even know it!

A Politico report published yesterday notes that one of the ousted officials, John Ullyot, says that the Pentagon is in “total chaos” and that Hegseth likely won’t remain in his role.

“The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership.”

Ullyot served as spokesman for the NSC and VA during Trump’s previous term. He’s dead wrong above — this is exactly the “leadership” Trump deserves since Trump was the one who hired the alcoholic serial abuser whose only previous “leadership” experience was running two right-wing charities into the ground.

If Ullyot was delusional enough to believe it would help his standing in MAGAworld to pretend Trump is ill-served by the incompetent creep he personally insisted on for the post, the chinless disappointment dashed that hope this morning:

The Singularity of Stupid (Open Thread)

 

“Officially exiled,” LMAO.

Anyhoo, every single Democrat (and Dem-caucusing independent) in the Senate voted against Hegseth, and I think the wisdom of that decision will reverberate through the ages. For what it’s worth, Repubs Murkowski, Collins and McConnell also found Hegseth a bridge too far.

But for my money, the best comment on the latest l’affaire Hegseth belongs to Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), quoted in the NYT:

The Singularity of Stupid (Open Thread) 1

What she said.

This morning, Trump’s serial liar press secretary (whose name I can’t be arsed to remember) said Trump “absolutely has confidence” in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.” He’s going down, y’all.

Open thread.

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