Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

“But what about the lurkers?”

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Come on, man.

Fight them, without becoming them!

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

People are complicated. Love is not.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Consistently wrong since 2002

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

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Archives for 2020

Friday Night Horrorshow Open Thread: Pray for the LSU Team Members

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Even the three big dumb white dudes bro’ing each other are gonna end up with nightmares, remembering this.


I am reminded of a friend who referred to ‘That childhood moment in the car when you realize Daddy cares more about his booze than he does about your safety… ‘

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Rule of Law: In Hospice, Not Dead Yet

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Chris Collins, former Congressman from NY-27, first Member of Congress to endorse Trump, and former resident of Buffalo, NY, will soon be a residing in a prison in Pensacola, FL for 26 months. Collins was sentenced this afternoon for insider trading.

I followed Collins’ sentencing via a reporter in the courtroom on Twitter. The excuse making by his lawyer was pathetic. For example, he complained that the government revealed the address of Collins’ wife, but a few minutes later, a weeping Collins revealed all the names of his grandchildren. The judge later ruled that their names be struck from the record.

In the pre-sentencing letters, one attorney from Buffalo pointed out that when Collins was Erie County Executive, he decreed that worker’s compensation recipients would have to pick up their checks in person at the county courthouse, instead of having them mailed or deposited electronically. At the courthouse, these recipients would be interrogated to see why they couldn’t do light work. The lawyer represented a man from Batavia – 30 miles from Buffalo – who had seven surgeries and obviously couldn’t come to Buffalo to get his check. The state worker’s comp board reversed Collins’ policy in a 12-0 vote, but the whole incident gives you an inkling of the quality of mercy that Collins was willing to provide to others: none and fuck them.

So, in a little bit of justice, Collins had to stand in front of a judge today, sobbing, begging for sympathy, and regretting that he ruined his son’s life by giving him insider information the son used. (His son is going to be sentenced for that next week). Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for the rest of us, in this case, the judge wasn’t sympathetic.

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Consent of the governed or a Political GIGO loop

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This paragraph by Amy Walters is not crazy and therefore it is extremely problematic in what it says about our society’s political feedback mechanisms:

 

The other important reality of this era is the degree to which national polls have become less helpful in assessing Trump’s electoral college strength. A president sitting at 42 percent approval, with “strong disapproval” outweighing “strong approval” by 10-12 points is not going to win the national popular vote. But, that doesn’t mean he can’t win the Electoral College.

Open thread for depressing thoughts this afternoon….

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Afternoon Open Thread

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I just wanted to say that there are few things as satisfying as deciding you want spaghetti for dinner, going to the freezer in the basement and getting some of the ground beef you bought in bulk from your neighbor’s farm, picking up a jar of sauce you canned yourself, hitting the root container and picking up some garlic and onions you put up, and pulling the basil you grew and packed in olive oil out of the fridge and starting to cook a sauce. It’s pretty awesome.

Going to have some of my canned green beans with it, and for dessert some of the pears I canned with ginger.

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Breaking: Big Dumb Baby Big, Dumb, A Baby

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As some of you may have noticed, the President has taken to displaying a map of his unspeakably huge electoral victory.

What I didn’t know until yesterday is, it’s not even a map of his election!

Obviously a county map is stupid anyway–land doesn’t vote!–but good lord.

Open thread! Anybody got exciting plans for the long weekend? I’m seeing Weathering With You tomorrow, which I’m looking forward to. Aside from that, I’ll probably be binging The Expanse, and playing the Metal Gear Solid 2 remaster I just bought.

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McFaul On Disinformation

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Started, they have, the disinformation wars.

Michael McFaul, the US Ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration, warns us that the disinformation will be flowing thick and fast during the impeachment trial. He points out three tactics:

  1. Deny facts
  2. Deflect attention, also known as “whataboutism”
  3. Disseminate lies

The net of all this is to make us feel that nothing matters, that there is no such thing as truth. Watch for Republicans to do this and for it to be amplified by bots and trolls (my collective term for automated and other troublemakers) on social media, the unthinking media, and your friends and relatives.

Don’t let the argument degenerate to “Well, that’s your opinion.” There are facts, and we need to keep pounding them.

Also, read the whole thing.

Cross-posted at Nuclear Diner

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Let me tell you ’bout Pete, didn’t want no fame

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As many of you know, I am fueled creatively by my massive hatred of David Brooks.  And that’s why I’ve grown to dislike Pete Buttigieg so much.  The fucker’s running to be the president of David Brooks.  I’d like to say I wonder why totebaggers love him so much but I don’t: the seven languages, the rhetoric about unity, the praise from David Brooks…it hits all the NPR erogenous zones.

Ok, now that that’s off my chest, let’s raise some money for the Senate.  I think that’s the place where it makes the most sense to raise money right now.  The Balloon Juice Senate fund is split between the eventual Dem nominees in CO, NC, GA, IA, and ME.  (Update: Also AZ.) You can divvy it up however you like.

Goal Thermometer

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