Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

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

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

So many bastards, so little time.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

We will not go back.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

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

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Open Thread (and AZ Fundraising)

Saturday Open Thread (and AZ Fundraising)

by | 153 Comments

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Goal:  40,000 for Worker Power

Why:  to fund a boots-on-the ground voter registration team for three weeks.

Why District 2 and District 4?  In a word: micro-targeting!

  • 11 electoral votes to keep Biden as president
  • replace Sinema with Ruben Gallego to hold the Senate seat
  • flip one seat in the U.S. House to beat the vulnerable Republican who barely beat Jevin Hodge
  • pick up two AZ House seats  (Republicans hold the AZ House by 2 seats)
  • pick up one AZ Senate seat  (Republicans hold the AZ Senate by 2 seats)
  • get rid of the charter-school-loving election denier who chose Clarence Thomas as her son’s godfather
  • as a bonus, creepy crazy Kari Lake loses again!

As you can see above, this time it’s personal!

Click below for full details in the post from earlier this week.

Boots on the Ground in Maricopa County!

Big thanks to frosty & Balloon Juice Angel #1 for their matches!  Another Scott finished off frosty’s match overnight, and another BJ Angel has stepped up.

He will match up to $50 per person.  To count toward the match, tell us about your match in the comments.  Or you can let me know by email.

Oh, and I like the sound of this!

40 out of 44 is awesome!  Does anyone know who the other 4 are?  Let’s name names!

Open thread.

Update: First angel match from today has been met!  New angel match from eponymous just started – $1,000 of matching funds for donations up to $50 per person.

Reader Interactions

153Comments

  1. 1.

    VFX Lurker

    In for $50. Thank you for doing this.

    ETA — and a BIG thank you to the Angels for their matches!

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    So, the background.

    Yesterday, a Black engineer with locs posted his official staff picture from NASA.

    Other Black staff at NASA started posting their official staff pictures from NASA.

    This is a reply from a parent of a young Black boy who wants to be an astronaut and has locs.

    Representation matters.

     

    Boy Mom (@BWyele__) posted at 5:17 PM on Fri, Mar 15, 2024:
    I love when my son can see representation of him!! He dressed up as Victor Glover for his black history program, BUT THIS????? He can literally see himself https://t.co/JGlObGAQ2s
    (https://x.com/BWyele__/status/1768763549784940857?t=9wOWkoa0Vo8dGY4YxV9m3g&s=03)

     

    and, the engineer replied!

    Tyrone (@tyisicecold06) posted at 8:25 PM on Fri, Mar 15, 2024:
    I need to FaceTime your son!! This is so amazing!! I love this!!
    (https://x.com/tyisicecold06/status/1768810816134943023?t=wzvc6rCKeqUjunIOjoSn2w&s=03)

  8. 8.

    Almost Retired

    This is awesome.  Flipping the Arizona Legsislature is critical if we’re going to hold on to these 11 electoral votes.  Aggressive voter suppression is all they’ve got.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY (@AfricanArchives) posted at 9:35 AM on Fri, Mar 15, 2024:
    Mexico abolished slavery in 1829. Enslaved people were escaping to Mexico. The U.S. tried to get Mexico to sign a fugitive slave treaty to return escapees but Mexico refused to sign such a treaty, insisting that enslaved people were free once they set foot on Mexican soil.

    —Did you know that Juneteenth is also celebrated in a part of Mexico?
    Nacimiento Mexico was once home to thousands who escaped slavery in the US. As many as 10,000 slaves followed a clandestine Southern Underground Railroad to Mexico.

    —To date, many Black Mexicans from the Texas area retrace a portion of the same route their African American ancestors followed in 1850 when they escaped slavery.

    —Descendants of slaves who escaped across the southern border observe Texas’s emancipation holiday with their own unique traditions in the village of Nacimiento.

    —Slave hunters would patrol the southern border for escapees, led by the Texas Rangers but the Mexican army would be there waiting for them (the slave hunters) to turn them away.
    https://t.co/668TrrKccl
    (https://x.com/AfricanArchives/status/1768647235258954161?t=EXGhDOTlDokWhMUWC5UAZg&s=03)

  16. 16.

    Almost Retired

    Ok according to Business Insider the four cabinet members endorsing Trump are Matthew Whitaker ( who was AG for about 15 minutes), Mark Meadows (either a true believer or a victim of blackmail or both), Richard Grenell – crazy ass former ambassador to Germany and later an “intelligence “ advisor – and never-heard-of-him Russell Vought in the budget office.  Those are some powerful endorsements!!

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    I must have Einstein on my mind, because someone Cole works with has published a book on Einstein, and I think we’re going to have a zoom (or more than one) so he can tell us some of his Einstein stories.

  22. 22.

    Shalimar

    @Almost Retired: Vought is a true believer.  I’m surprised Mnuchin and Ross, along with some of those who left in disgrace like Zinke or Perry or Pruitt, haven’t at least endorsed him now that he has the nomination sewn up.  Michael Flynn has shown that no amount of embarrassment is too much to keep you from getting another shot at kissing Trump’s ass.

  28. 28.

    H.E.Wolf

    These boots are made for walking all over AZ Republican candidates. Hooray for Worker Power and the BJ contributors!

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    Trivia:

    Albert Einstein (the scientist) eschewed wearing socks.

    As did/does Will Eisner’s comics character The Spirit. (A peccadillo all movie/TV attempts got wrong.)
    ;)

  41. 41.

    TBone

    @WaterGirl: that makes me happy.  Mom gave an Einstein biography years back, but it’s currently still boxed from our move (new home is minimalist so shelf space is at a premium and vintage Mark Twain collection occupies a lot of space).  He’s fascinating and I look forward to that post.

  49. 49.

    Anoniminous

    @rikyrah: ​
     
    More of this, please.

    When I look at how much work needs to be done I get discouraged.

    Then I remember the ‘Separate but Equal water fountains’ I saw growing and know we have made progress.

  54. 54.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: His being Jewish and kind of left-leaning was bad enough. There’s a whole relativity denialist subculture in right politics already.

  55. 55.

    Karen H

    In for $50 for the match. Thanks to the BJ Angels!

    Also thanks to PatrickG who used his Apple Friends and Family rate to help me get a 15% discount on a new MacBook. I’m using the “free” money that I saved for some Balloon Juice donations. I highly recommend it if you’re in need of any Apple products. Just email WaterGirl and she’ll put you in touch with Patrick

  59. 59.

    Jackie

    This is fundraising related, so…

    TIFG is so broke he’s cutting back on his beloved rallies – plus I do believe his crowd sizes have dwindled significantly…

    As the Times’ Maggie Haberman and Shane Goldmacher wrote, Trump has been holding donor meetings at Mar-a-Lago imploring begging supporters to increase their contributions.

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-money-woes/

    More TIFG sadness at the link, but the above blurb (edited to be more truthful) made my day!

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: I refuse to sully these threads with T’s gold shoes.  But I might have to go find those black heels with the red bottoms that was in the Fani Willis will make you pay for this bullshit  in GA tweet.

    Maybe that would be a good one for when we hit $10k!

  62. 62.

    RaflW

    @Luther Siler: And Elaine “pillow talk conduit to McConnell” Chao stayed in the whole 4 years. So 43/14!

    eta: I can’t get over the fact that TFG insulted Mitch’s wife horribly, and he still bends the knee. Just a wretched man.

  64. 64.

    BlueGuitarist

    $50 for the match – thank you WaterGirl & The Angels
    This is totally awesome!

    Turning out the vote in these super swing districts
    matters a lot because each voter will cast multiple votes in many swing elections up and down the ballot, most importantly, as WaterGirl emphasized, President, US Senate, US House, AZ State Senate, AZ State House.
    Winning the state legislature will help in many ways including limiting some election denying/overthrowing bs.

    Also each voter in these districts also will be able to cast vote in 10 or more other swing elections on the same ballot:
    3 seats on the AZ Corporation Commission, the 5-member body elected state-wide that sets energy/climate policies
    6 Maricopa Countywide offices, including Sheriff
    and further down-ballot: Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Justice of the Peace, and Constable.

  67. 67.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: I like what Albert Einstein said when asked about the existence of God:

       I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.

    Einstein refers to Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), a Dutch philosopher from a Portuguese-Jewish family. Wikipedia tells me that Spinoza was “one of the most important and radical philosophers of the early modern era.” He was a lens grinder by trade.

  69. 69.

    WaterGirl

    @BlueGuitarist: Since we can’t fundraise for all the down-ballot races we might like to help, maybe we can have some posts with recommendations for down-ballot races in key states.

    And ask BJ peeps to share them on social media?

    Just a thought, I would welcome feedback on whether that’s a good thought or not.

  70. 70.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid:  I like that!

    I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.

  76. 76.

    Anoniminous

    @Matt McIrvin:

    That started back in the 1920s with the promoting of Aryan Physics defending the White Race from degenerate Jewish Physics.  The philosopher Martin Heidegger actually pushed for a Aryan Physics Nobel Prize.  Much to the chagrin of his Jewish bit-on-the-side student Hannah Arendt

  78. 78.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: Part of it seems to be a (deliberate?) confusion between relativity, which is a pretty specific physical principle, and moral or ontological relativism. But it also ties heavily into young Earth creationist attempts to reconcile astronomy with Biblical Genesis.

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: That’s kind of how Benjamin Franklin looked at the world. Franklin may not have read Spinoza’s Ethics, but he was likely influenced by people who had.

  80. 80.

    Zelma

    Just donate $50.  Also made a continuing  contribution.  This seems to me to be a way to help the most Democrats in Arizona.

  82. 82.

    Anoniminous

    @Geminid:

    Spinoza is one of my heroes.  The Great Uniter he managed to make everybody mad.  His book Theological-Political Treatise was called “full of abominations” and “a book forged in hell . . . by the devil himself.”

  83. 83.

    Matt McIrvin

    … and of course, if you believe the Earth is flat under a domed firmament and outer space is a hoax concocted by NASA with CGI, you’re probably not going to be big on the theory of relativity. Though a few of those types do invoke the Principle of Equivalence to explain gravity by claiming the entire world is eternally accelerating upward at 9.8 meters per second squared.

  84. 84.

    Paul W.

    Dropping in 50! I’m so curious about the q1 fundraising numbers, money isn’t everything but republicans were already struggling before they folded the national fundraising and election operation into the Trump crime family.

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    @Paul W.: It will be interesting!

    My take is that right-wing millionaires and billionaires will stop up and give to important races in battleground states.

    I think the money people will make up for the Trump RNC hovering up all the central dollars.

    We’ll see.  I kind of hope I’m wrong.

  86. 86.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anoniminous: There was a story not too long ago about a Spinoza scholar who tried to get access to some library with some of his writings and got a response like “you are not welcome to promote the blasphemous heresies of that epikoros” (reversed soon after, I think)…

  87. 87.

    BlueGuitarist

    Speaking of Arizona Legislative District 4:

    In 2022 Balloon-Juice helped fund Laura Terech’s successful campaign for one of the 2 state house seats for District 4.
    Terech is one of the nominees for Emily’s List’s Gabrielle Gifford Rising Star Awards.
    Online voting started March 15 and continues through Tuesday, March 19.
    She is the only nominee from a swing district.

    Terech’s says: “early in my teaching career when part of my classroom ceiling collapsed over a rug full of kindergarteners I jumped up to shield the children. Luckily, I was the only one hurt.” That incident, in the context of the state’s woefully underfunded schools, led her to run for the state house.
    She’s a great advocate for reproductive freedom, fair elections, funding public education, and confronting the climate crisis and gun violence.
    You can vote for her – or, of course any of the other excellent nominees – at
    https://win.emilyslist.org/a/20240308_events_risingstarvoting2024

    Voting requires providing an email address to Emily’s List. I’m guessing many of you have a separate email address you use for political activity; also guessing you’ll appreciate the emails you get from Emily’s List more if they aren’t competing with personal messages in you inbox.
    Emily’s List says that the “winner will be chosen with community input.”
    Previous Rising Star Award recipients include Stacey Abrams, Ayanna Pressley and Emilia Sykes (before their elections to US House), Harris County, Texas Judge Lina Hidalgo Georgia State Rep. Bee Nguyen, Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell in 2023.

  89. 89.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: I saw a picture posted recently on Turkish Twitter that showed a baker with a tray full of small cakes that he was giving out for free. He had a picture of Spinoza displayed next to them. It wasn’t Spinoza’s birthday but rather the anniversary of his death, so I’m not sure what was going on there.

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid: There’s, naturally, a web page about that:

    Benjamin Franklin.

    Spinoza, by Richard H. Popkin A copy of the Tractatus in English was in the library of Benjamin Franklin, and was used as a resource by those taking part in the constitutional debates of 1776. I have personally examined the copy from Frankin’s library and unfortunately there are no markings and no indication as to who might have read it.

    I had a big boss named “Baruch”. Dunno if he was named after him.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Matt McIrvin: There’s a whole relativity denialist subculture in right politics already.

    Already??? Gott’n’s himmel, it’s been around practically since 1905. When the Third Reich disparaged “Jewish science,” it was Einstein they were mainly talking about (as most of their scientists couldn’t wrap their brains around special relativity, let along general…).

    Einstein liked inventing phrases such as “God does not play dice,” “The Lord is subtle but not malicious.” On one occasion [Niels] Bohr answered, “Einstein, stop telling God what to do.”

  94. 94.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Though a few of those types do invoke the Principle of Equivalence to explain gravity by claiming the entire world is eternally accelerating upward at 9.8 meters per second squared.

     
    Just saw a science video that used this to explain the equivalence principle.

  95. 95.

    eclare

    @WaterGirl:

    Didn’t some big money people, the Kochs maybe?, already state that they are going to focus on Senate races, not presidential?

  97. 97.

    Geminid

    @Another Scott: Interesting that Frankilin had a Spinoza’s Ethics in his library. Franklin encountered these ideas when he was a young printer and pamphleteer. A pious Philadelphian had commissioned a pamplet refuting the pernicious doctrines of Deism, so Franklin read up on the trendy philosophy in order to prove it wrong. Franklin wrote in his Autobiography that his research for the pamplet convinced him of Deism’s philosophical merits.

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    @eclare: If I was a wealthy and ruthless conservative I’d concentrate on taking the Senate and salvaging close House races. No point in betting much money on a lame horse like Trump.

  109. 109.

    WaterGirl

    Okay, we have just met this morning’s anonymous Angel match for $1,000!

    About an hour ago I received email from another Balloon Juice Angel – so we have another $1,000 match, this time from commenter eponymous.

    You guys are amazing!

    So we have a brand-new angel match, matching up to $50 per person.

    And, as always, everything resets with a new angel, so even if you were matched earlier, you can be matched again if you are so inclined.

  110. 110.

    Eyeroller

    @Baud: The equivalence principle just says that acceleration is equivalent to gravity (hence the name).  Acceleration acts on “inertial mass” (F=ma) and gravity acts on “gravitational mass” and the EP says that these are the same and indistinguishable.  Gravity doesn’t mean you are accelerating upward at 9.8m/s^2 but the EP says you cannot distinguish those two circumstances.  This doesn’t “explain” gravity but it is an essential component of both special and general relativity.

  113. 113.

    H.E.Wolf

    @WaterGirl:Okay, we have just met this morning’s anonymous Angel match for $1,000!

    About an hour ago I received email from another Balloon Juice Angel – so we have another $1,000 match, this time from commenter eponymous. ​

     Thank you to both anonymous and eponymous!

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    @WaterGirl:

    But, a lot of the Republican structure doesn’t exist in battleground states. The state parties are fractured and broke.

    Who will they give money to?

    But, yes, they will try to give the money directly to the states.

     

    Me? I still believe that they will buckle and give him the funds. After all, he has promised them more tax cuts, and since it’s the only tangible thing he did.legislativelyn in his term, they want more. They would sell their mother for more tax cuts.😒😒

  116. 116.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: I totally agree that rich Republicans will still give money to the RNC.

    I just think that Trump will suck that up for his legal bills, or to get himself elected.  And he and his minions will line their person pockets, as well.

    I think that any money donated centrally won’t make it to the states.  Which suits me just fine!

  119. 119.

    JeanneT

    I put my $50+ in – thanks to the matching angel eponymous for making my donation dollars go farther!

  121. 121.

    Almost Retired

    @Almost Retired: I should add that the signature initiative worker power is doing is a separate effort from the one we’re funding to my understanding.

  122. 122.

    rikyrah

    @WaterGirl:

    It is obvious that any donations to the RNC are going for the legal bills. There will not be any money going for down ballot races from the RNC. They have to find another way for them to get $$$

  124. 124.

    BR

    Does anyone have suggestions for campaigns to donate to that are:

    1. In presidential swing states.
    2. Underfunded and are likely to yield the most new voter turnout per dollar (like new voter registration, youth turnout, etc.)
    3. Are not just dumping the money into TV ads.

  127. 127.

    WaterGirl

    @BR: So you’re interested in donating directly to candidates rather than voter registration and get out the vote?

    Curious because it’s typically candidates who spend on ads, etc.

  128. 128.

    WaterGirl

    We’re $200 into the newest $1,000 match!  Thanks, everybody!

    I am having company in about 15 minutes, so you won’t see me in the comments for awhile, but I will definitely keep track of the match donations later today.

  129. 129.

    rikyrah

    @BR:

    I don’t know about how well they are funded, but,

    Congressional -wise:

    Look at the 18-20 districts that Biden won who have a GOP Congresscritter. We can get a few of those.

     

    Get you a couple of Senate races that seem like longshots.

    Me – the one in Florida and Allred vs Cruz , and Johnson vs Blackburn. I don’t really care, I just can’t stand those three and the candidates are good Democratic Candidates.

    I think that we should find out which states have abortion rights referenda on the ballot in November, and support those Senate candidates.

  132. 132.

    Almost Retired

    @BR:   My understanding of the strategy is that we’re doing registration and outreach efforts now, because it’s a little hard to tell at this point where the candidate money can do the most good.  Especially since the primaries aren’t over.

    Last cycle Balloon Juice started funding candidates in the Fall, after we identified candidates who were overlooked by the party and major donors.

  134. 134.

    randy khan

    It is worth noting that 44 Cabinet members in a 4 year term is incredibly bad.  There were 23 Cabinet-level positions in the Trump Administration.  12 of them had two people during the 4 years, 1 had 3 (Chief of Staff, unless you count the guy who was acting for a short time, in which case it had 4), 5 were vacant at the end of his term, and only 5 had the original person in them.

    For comparison, 3 positions turned over in Obama’s first term, and one of them was a holdover from Bush II (SecDef), and Biden has had two people leave (with Marcia Fudge’s recent announcement), which would be a modern record for stability.

  138. 138.

    WaterGirl

    This set is in honor of Fani Willis, who has to be DA doing everything backwards and in high heels.  And more because she is a black woman.

  142. 142.

    WaterGirl

    Really pleased with how this is going!  We’ll be good for matching through tomorrow, so no need to worry about whether there is still a match.

Comments are closed.