Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
In conjunction with the halftime show at the Super Bowl, it was stated in multiple articles that the only numbers that really mattered were the people watching it LIVE.
Does that hold true for something like the State of the Union?
In any case, Robert Reich suggests that we should all boycott the State of the Union.
Opinions on that?
For anyone who is uncertain about the state of the union – it’s totally fucked up.
Open thread.
Boycott the State of the Union Address?Post + Comments (202)
Recently we have talked a bit about critical thinking and about evaluating information that is right in front of us.
The folks at The Downballot do good work in general, but I thought maybe we could look at this one together and talk about what jumps out at each of us as we read this. I am willing to bet that a few things will jump out at all of us and that there will be things that others catch that we do not.
We talk about how some people vote on “vibes”. I don’t think I am one of those people, but now I’m not sure because anything i know about this race comes from this article, and if I had to vote in this race, I think my further research might be influenced by a few things in this article.
Morning Digest: The first high-profile primary test for House Democrats looms next week
NC-04
Rep. Valerie Foushee will square off next week against Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam in a closely-watched rematch that will be one of the first high-profile tests of the resiliency of House Democratic incumbents facing energetic primary challengers.
When they first met in 2022, Foushee won a previous incarnation of North Carolina’s safely blue 4th Congressional District after defeating Allam 46-37 for the Democratic nod.
Foushee, the first Black woman to represent the rival college towns of Chapel Hill and Durham in Congress, seemed to be in for a long career after easily securing a second term without primary opposition in 2024.
But Allam, who would be the first Muslim person to serve North Carolina in the House, announced a rematch in December, arguing that Foushee had done little to help her constituents.
Much has changed since their initial matchup, not least the intense anger many Democratic voters now feel toward Democrats in Congress. But the specific contours of this year’s race are also very different.
Four years ago, Foushee enjoyed a huge financial advantage over Allam thanks to heavier outlays from third parties. Much of the pro-Foushee spending came from groups aligned with the hawkish pro-Israel group AIPAC and the crypto sector.
This time, though, voters are seeing far more messaging on behalf of Allam than they are for the congresswoman. The local alt-weekly INDY Week notes that Allam has benefited from over $1 million in outside expenditures, which is roughly three times larger than the amount spent to aid Foushee as of Sunday evening.
About half of the pro-Allam spending has come from American Priorities, a new group that formed earlier this month. While the outfit hasn’t said what its specific policy goals are, NBC writes that it intends to “counter AIPAC spending in Democratic primaries.”
American Priorities’ opening ad names AIPAC as one of “the big guys” that has “bought and paid for” Congress, though it’s not the only group it highlights. The narrator also says that Foushee has received support from “big banks, big pharma, big tech, crypto,” and “even corporations working with ICE.”
The spot goes on to praise Allam for having “fought for healthcare” and for earning an endorsement from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Other pro-Allam organizations like Leaders We Deserve, the group founded by activist David Hogg, have used a similar message to argue that “Valerie Foushee only works for the big guys” while Allam “works for the people.”
The incumbent, by contrast, has gotten almost $300,000 in assistance from Jobs and Democracy PAC, which is linked to an organization funded by the AI company Anthropic. Anthropic, CNBC recently noted, has been one of the rare major players in the industry to call for more regulation. Foushee has also gotten $100,000 in help from an organization allied with the Congressional Black Caucus.
The entities that spent heavily for her in 2022, however, have remained on the sidelines.
Foushee, though, is arguing that voters should now be asking who is pouring in money to oust her on March 3.
“An out-of-state PAC is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to unseat me,” she said in a video responding to Leaders We Deserve’s offensive. “And why is this PAC running ads against me funded by billionaires?”
Foushee singled out one billionaire in particular: venture capitalist Ron Conway, who contributed $500,000 to Hogg’s group during the last election cycle. The American Prospect says that Conway has not yet donated to the organization for the 2026 elections.
Foushee has also sought to distance herself from AIPAC. Her team told INDY Week last summer that she would not accept contributions from the organization going forward.
The congresswoman has, however, struggled to raise money from donors to get her message out.
And despite waiting to announce her second campaign in December, Allam ended 2025 with more cash on hand than the two-term incumbent. Updated campaign finance reports released Thursday show that Allam has continued to outraise Fousheeduring the new year.
Foushee, though, believes she can prevail thanks to her support from prominent North Carolina Democrats.
In her recent video, she highlighted endorsements from Gov. Josh Stein; former Gov. Roy Cooper, who is running for the U.S. Senate this year; and former Rep. David Price, whose decision not to seek reelection in 2022 paved the way for Foushee’s own election to Congress.
Foushee also argues that Allam and her allies have it wrong when they try to portray her as insufficiently liberal.
“I was a progressive before she was born,” Foushee, 69, told the News & Observer of her 32-year-old opponent.
The second Foushee-Allam primary will also be different than their first bout because the 4th District itself is different.
Republicans passed a new gerrymander ahead of the 2024 elections that moved more than a third of Foushee’s constituents to other constituencies and replaced them with other North Carolinians. (The GOP’s latest gerrymander did not impact the 4th.)
One of the new communities that’s now part of the district is the town of Apex, which is near the proposed location for a 190-acre data center dubbed the New Hill Digital Campus. The growth of data centers and the ensuing backlash against them has become a major election issue in races across the country, and the primary for the 4th District is one such contest.
Foushee has not spoken out either in support of or against the New Hill project. She instead told attendees at a recent candidate forum, “While we’re talking about how we set up guardrails, what we make by way of framework for AI has to be where data centers can or should be located. What I don’t want Congress to do is to preempt what a local government decides for itself.”
Allam, by contrast, has made her opposition to the plan a centerpiece of her campaign.
“I’ve been hearing from hundreds of residents across this district with concerns about AI data centers,” she told Prospect. “I am proud to have rejected donations from the AI lobby and the tech industry. People will know that I’m working for them.”
No one has released any polling of the race, but observers across the country—including some of Foushee’s colleagues—will be closely watching the result next week for early clues about what’s in store for Democrats as the 2026 primary season starts.
I originally thought that I would start by mentioning things that jumped out at me, but upon further reflection, I think it’s probably better if we start with a blank slate.
The full article is up top. I hope you’ll read it and then share your thoughts. Who knows, this might be illuminating when it comes to our own biases.
My fear after reading this article is that people’s opinions can be easily manipulated by the framing offered in an article, without any preference being stated out loud – because it seems to me that there’s a lot of signaling in this article that comes across without ostensibly having offered any opinion either way.
Since we’re all tired of talking about the snow emergency here in the Northeast…
El Nino warps weather worldwide. Meteorologists say the natural El Nino cycle is both adding to and feeling the heat of a warming world.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) February 20, 2026 at 9:30 PM
"Donald Trump is honest and trustworthy"
Disagree: 70%
Agree: 29%
Ipsos / Feb 17, 2026— Polling USA (@usapolling.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 3:12 PM
When does it hit John Rogers' 27% Crazification Factor?
— Anne Laurie (@annelaurie.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 8:09 PM
A growing majority of Americans have soured on President Trump’s handling of immigration, with 58 percent saying he has gone too far deporting undocumented immigrants.
One in 3 people say they worry that a family member or friend could be detained by ICE. https://wapo.st/4c76N6K— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) February 21, 2026 at 11:00 AM
I love that Dems appear to be digging in on masks. It’s the most important thing they could do; I suspect masks are wildly unpopular, & if Dems can ban masks ICE will have a significantly harder time recruiting & retaining agents.
— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) February 23, 2026 at 2:27 AM
Happy Black History Month!
Workers began restoring an exhibit on the lives of the nine people once enslaved by George Washington at the former President's House in Philadelphia amid a contentious legal fight between the city and the Trump administration.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) February 19, 2026 at 12:59 PM
Save the rocks in your pockets for Republicans…
It’s Albatrossity Monday!
Though, apparently,Albatrossity didn’t get the message – No Kings!
Oh, hold on, I guess Kingfishers are different from kings. Should have read the post first, good to know!
If you’re thinking of putting together an OTR post, this would be a great time. Only one post scheduled so far for next week.
Here’s my version of the famous “weave”, a rhetorical meander made famous by the Fat Felon of the United States.
Fat Tuesday has come and gone, along with lots of King Cake, everyone is saying. Then Ash Wednesday moved us into Lent, and fish might be on the menu for a while. In my raised-as-a-Catholic early years, I tried to convince my parents that I should give up some summertime treat, like watermelon, for the Lenten season. They didn’t go along with that. Sad. But for the first full week of Lent, at least we don’t have to give up Kingfishers! Here are some from the USA and from around the world.
There are roughly 120 species of kingfishers (family Alcedinidae) recognized by taxonomists today, and most of these are found in tropical Africa or Asia, along with many other species found only on some island in the Pacific. Click here for an eBird link that will allow you fo scroll through all of these beauties, starting with Blyth’s Kingfisher. Here in the good ol’ USA we have three, although there is only one, the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) that is familiar to most American birders. So we will start off with this female (identified by the rusty band on the belly) in typical kingfisher posture, scanning the marsh below for a fishy meal. Interestingly the larger band across the upper chest, which is typically blue-gray, also looks rusty. That is because the bird has recently molted, and those brand-new feathers have a brownish tone for a while. Click here for larger image.
On The Road – Albatrossity – KingfishersPost + Comments (19)
A remarkably disheartening thing is you get the sense there are a handful of genuine historic fork in the road moments of what kind of country we want in our lifetime, and I still can’t shake how much during the height of Covid we had a decision of what lessons we’d all take from it and what…
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 2:26 PM
…policies and actions we’d start preferring, and it was not just the commanding heights and elite who faced with the opportunity to try to achieve a more caring, just society in the long run replied “nah, no, thanks” (which they were always gonna do), it was so so many average working class and…
…middle class people who made the call
You can get into all kinds of reasons why and why the normal, hard working american is so often beaten down and been shown for decades why they (allegedly) can’t have a less bloodthirsty society, to the point we may actually believe it. But it’s still disheartening
We had the chance. We — and do I mean practically All of us — simply refused it
My personal opinion is that ‘lockdowns’ (such as they were) and masking deprived America’s aspiring oligarchs of their chance to harass workers lower down on the economic scale (waiters, clerks, cleaners) and women (why aren’t you smiling, lady?). Most prominent and vocal among the complainers, of course, were the petty bourgeois small business owners & their media minions…
I remember a politician saying, “I’ve heard masking only protects other people”, as a reason to not mask. And I knew we were in trouble.
— seosamh.bsky.social (@seosamh.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 3:09 PM
They were stacking bodies up in refrigerated trucks and now people are just either pretending it never happened or blaming vaccines.
— Lil Flonase (@lilflonase.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 2:28 PM
I was thinking about that today because I remember when the hospital ship was docked in the Hudson River because NYC hospitals were overflowing. Morgue trucks were stacked up behind every hospital. Everyone seemed to know someone who died of COVID.
We seem to have memory-holed ALL OF IT.— NOW WHAT? (@mraulston.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 2:34 PM
I hear that from a lot of folks – mostly from the right who still believe they were mandated by libs to wear masks outside, stay inside, forced to get vaccinated! None of which happened. And on the middle and left, who magine that it was just a cold and we overreacted. A million people died. wtf?
We didn’t learn anything from covid. I was in Singapore when the pandemic started, and they immediately applied lessons from the early oughts SARS epidemic.
It was so disheartening to then turn around and listen to Trump suggesting drinking bleach. And we said yeah more of that.— TiredTeacher (@txteacher.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 2:42 PM
3,000 Americans died on 9/11 and we invaded two countries and created vast new government agencies to protect the country and surveil the citizens
At the height of COVID, 3,000 Americans were dying EVERY DAY & we were told wearing masks in Home Depot & online classes were crimes against humanity— * There Are Bot (@diogeneslamp.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 3:12 PM
COVID was conservatives announcing that they will never sacrifice anything for anyone else, not even to save the life of their own grandmas
Sandy Hook/Uvalde was conservatives announcing we must sacrifice everything, even our children, for them and for their right to a large personal arsenal— * There Are Bot (@diogeneslamp.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 3:24 PM
There’s a very widespread assumption that any action undertaken for the common good is a scam designed to help African Americans at the expense of whites. This underlying prejudice is then wrapped up in verbiage about freedom and socialism.
— Welsh rarebit (@welshrarebit.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 3:17 PM
The right-wing version is that it didn't happen because "things like that don't happen to people like US" and the left (which you see too much on here) is that "if only Biden FELT HARDER about Covid it would have gone away"
— Anti-Drug Talking Urinal Cake (@disgolfelysium.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 4:46 PM
After everything we saw, every Republican senator except Mitch McConnell voted to confirm the deranged sadist RFK Jr.
That’s not just failing to learn. That’s an agenda. That’s actively seeking the deaths of other Americans.
Don’t underestimate the role of eugenics in the thinking of the GOP.
He is now on the couch adjacent to Joelle.
I will keep you posted with more riveting details.
Quick Rosie update: She had another really good day. We went for a real walk, though only .86 of a mile. She did great. At one point she was jogging along, which I think is partially because the temperature has been dropping from the leading edge of the cold front coming through. Thank you all again for the good thoughts, well wishes, and prayers.
Here are the details of last night’s Russian missile attack on Ukraine.
‼️Consequences of Russia’s massive overnight strike on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure: the attack involved drones, ballistic missiles, “Zircon” missiles, and cruise missiles.
— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 8:27 AM
▪️ Kyiv: Fires broke out in the capital and surrounding areas, private houses were destroyed. Preliminary reports indicate another strike on the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant.
— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 8:27 AM
▪️ Kyiv region: Five districts were attacked. One person was killed and one injured. Numerous private homes, garage cooperatives, utility buildings, and warehouses were damaged.
— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 8:27 AM
▫️ Mykolaiv: Energy and transport infrastructure facilities were damaged – 16,000 consumers are without electricity. A private house and power line were destroyed. No casualties reported.
▫️ Odesa region: Russia struck energy infrastructure facilities with drones, causing large-scale fires.
— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 8:27 AM
🔹 Dnipropetrovsk region: Around 20 artillery and drone attacks targeted two districts – two people were reported injured.
🔹 Sumy region: A civilian production facility of the company Mondelez in Trostianets was attacked.
— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 8:27 AM
🔸 Powerful explosions were also reported in Kropyvnytskyi, Kremenchuk, Poltava, Chernihiv region, and Cherkasy region.
🔸 Hits were recorded at 14 locations. Ukrainian air defense intercepted 33 out of 50 missiles and 274 out of 297 drones.
— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 8:27 AM
Here’s the Ukrainian air defense tally:
Another “missile-heavy” Blitz air raid by fascist Russia, with fewer drones used than was common in 2025.
345 aerial threats detected, 307 intercepted or suppressed.
Missiles fired: 48
Missiles downed: 69% (33/48)
Drones downed: 92% (274/297)
Total targets neutralized: 307.— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 4:10 AM
The main directions of the strike were Kyiv region, Odesa region, Kirovohrad region, and Poltava region.
Unfortunately, 14 missiles and 23 attack drones hit 14 locations across the country. Drone debris also fell in 5 additional locations.
— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 8:05 AM
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
