Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In after Baud. Damn.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

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

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

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

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

“woke” is the new caravan.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

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

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

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

You are here: Home / Politics / Proud to Be A Democrat / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Looking on the Bright Side

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Looking on the Bright Side

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The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe who cautioned that it’s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals.

“The birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning. We must do more,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle.

The birth of the sacred calf comes as after a severe winter in 2023 drove thousands of Yellowstone buffalo, also known as bison, to lower elevations. More than 1,500 were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to reclaim stewardship over an animal their ancestors lived alongside for millennia.

Erin Braaten of Kalispell took several photos of the calf shortly after it was born on June 4 in the Lamar Valley in the northeastern corner of the park.

Her family was visiting the park when she spotted “something really white” among a herd of bison across the Lamar River.

Traffic ended up stopping while bison crossed the road, so Braaten stuck her camera out the window to take a closer look with her telephoto lens…

Lakota legend says about 2,000 years ago — when nothing was good, food was running out and bison were disappearing — White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared, presented a bowl pipe and a bundle to a tribal member, taught them how to pray and said that the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food. As she left, she turned into a white buffalo calf.

“And some day when the times are hard again,” Looking Horse said in relating the legend, “I shall return and stand upon the earth as a white buffalo calf, black nose, black eyes, black hooves.”…

A naming ceremony has been held for the Yellowstone calf, Looking Horse said, though he declined to reveal the name. A ceremony celebrating the calf’s birth is set for June 26 at the Buffalo Field Campaign headquarters in West Yellowstone…

Heinert sees the calf’s birth as a reminder “that we need to live in a good way and treat others with respect.”

“I hope that calf is safe and gonna live its best life in Yellowstone National Park, exactly where it was designed to be,” Heinert said.

In the Philippines — where Spanish and later U.S. colonial rule persisted for nearly four centuries — June 12 is the real Independence Day. That date in 1898 was the pivotal moment when the island nation first made a bold move for autonomy.

Ahead of this year’s holiday in Manila, the nation’s capital, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called on Filipinos in a video message to display the country’s flag everywhere “as we continue to fight for independence. Independence in different aspects of our being Filipinos, but more than this independence in our territory, our sovereignty.” …

The revelry surrounding Philippine Independence Day stretches far beyond the Southeast Asia archipelago, from the United Kingdom to the United Arab Emirates. Millions of Filipinos across cities in the U.S., Europe and Australia will be able to find parades, street fairs, galas and other gatherings close to home. Some are even flying in well-known talent from the Philippines. The occasion’s growing reach and inclusive ethos demonstrate how much the Filipino diaspora continues to assert cultural pride and flourish around the globe.

The fight for independence dates back to 1565 when Spain colonized the Philippines, naming it for King Philip II. It wasn’t until 1896 though that talk of revolution catalyzed action. Andrés Bonifacio, a leader of the Katipunan, a brotherhood of anti-Spain revolutionaries, and others tore up their “cedulas,” residential tax certificates for people considered Spanish subjects.

Emilio Aguinaldo, also a member of the Katipunan, saw an opportunity for liberation when the U.S. declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898, over its treatment of Cuba. On June 12, he proclaimed independence and a year later, even became the first president of the Philippine Republic. But, the U.S. refused to recognize the country as a stand-alone territory, igniting the Philippine-American War, which lasted until April 1902.

The Philippines finally became independent on July 4, 1946. So, the Fourth of July was the traditional holiday until President Diosdado Macapagal changed it in 1964 to June 12…

Reader Interactions

179Comments

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    Of course the NYT gave as much space on the front page to Hunter’s conviction as it did to Trump’s.

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    DJT stock had a small uptick in May and has been bouncing around the lower 40s.

    Since the verdict and the new audit report, it’s dropped pretty much every day. Down 6.6% on yesterday’s closing. once more below $40. Beginning to smell like a short sellers smorgasbord.

  9. 9.

    Scout211

    Reposting from last night for this good news thread:

    June 11 (Reuters)A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that parts of Florida’s ban of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender children and restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare for adults are unconstitutional and ordered that it not be enforced.

    Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the restrictions into law in 2023, banning people under the age of 18 from receiving puberty blockers or hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria, though the law allowed children who had begun receiving gender-affirming care before May 17, 2023, to continue to do so with new restrictions.

    . . .
    U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee ruled that all those elements violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law, noting that some Florida legislators “plainly acted from old-fashioned discriminatory animus.”

    “Gender identity is real,” he wrote in his order, ruling that it was unconstitutional to discriminate against transgender people. “In time, discrimination against transgender individuals will diminish, just as racism and misogyny have diminished.”

  10. 10.

    Kay

    Is that clip supposed to be bad? He takes a drink, looks around, and takes another drink.

    I’m putting this in the “so far up their own ass they can no longer communicate with normal people” category. It must be in a secret code.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    My sister in law has Filipino in-laws who moved to a town near me from New York, and during family gatherings, I’ve had the opportunity to sample some of the cuisine. It’s really good! The family’s matriarch makes spring rolls that are highly addictive. Thank dog the food is delicious because the cooks tend to perch next to diners to make sure they are enjoying the food and eat a lot!

  13. 13.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    I’d say it’s in the same crazified ballpark as their new theory that the Hunter Biden trial was a deliberate distraction from the Biden Crime Family’s more serious crimes.

  16. 16.

    Scout211

    And in California, the 9th Circuit upheld a law barring the selling of guns on State property.  Finally a gun control ruling that upholds a gun control law.  Cal matters

    You can talk about guns at California state fairgrounds. You can advertise guns there, too. You can even, in the words of a gun rights group, host “a celebration of America’s gun culture.”

    What you cannot do, according to a ruling today by a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is buy or sell a firearm on property owned by the state. 

    The ruling upholds California’s ban on gun sales on state property, dismissing a challenge from gun show operator Crossroads of the West. The judges distinguished between the free speech rights of gun enthusiasts on public property and the sales that often take place at gun shows.

    California gun laws “prohibit accepting an offer to sell firearms or ammunition on state property,” the panel ruled.

  18. 18.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    In a new, secret recording, [Alito] suggests partisan funding is to blame for coverage of justices’ undisclosed luxury gifts

    ‘Partisan funding is to blame,’ huh? He must be mad at himself for voting as he did on Citizens United.  /s

  21. 21.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @zhena gogolia:

    That’s what I thought, until drinking it on a particularly long, hot day outdoors. Then it was a godsend. But I wouldn’t touch the stuff under normal circumstances.

  22. 22.

    schrodingers_cat

    Now that the dust has settled with respect to India’s general election. What would BJers like to know about the most. Modi being cut down to size has been a godsend to editorial cartoonists.

    BJP vs INC
    NDA vs INDIA
    Modi vs. Gandhi
    Hindutva vs. The idea of India
    Why these elections feel like the spell has been broken?
    The  feel good stories
    The role of the media. (Indian MSM, Godi media is far more craven and depraved than our MSM)
    Anything else?

  29. 29.

    O. Felix Culpa

    It seems like that more Alito wins, the more vindictive he gets. What a sad, sour man.

  30. 30.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: The floor test and speaker tests are still in the future. They get some time, usually a week or two, I will find out and tell you.

    Right now I am assuming that BJP will prevail but no one really knows. Just yesterday, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat gave a speech that was very critical of Modi and his conduct during the elections and his overall policies.

  31. 31.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @sab: Adjust your snark meter.

    ETA: Apologies. Apparently my snark meter is what needs adjusting.

  38. 38.

    Kay

    Someone on social media said the worst thing about the Alito(s) scandal is how petty they are – they’re just ordinary, angry suburban wingnuts obsessing over pride flags and yearning to own the libs. Ultimately I think this will be good for the SCOTUS though – we need to know who and what they really are.

  40. 40.

    Miss Bianca

    @OzarkHillbilly: In London? Isn’t there some rule against foreign contributions to US election campaigns?

    Not getting out of the boat to check, tho. (But it is time to start re-upping my contributions to President Joe’s campaign.)

  42. 42.

    Miss Bianca

    @Chris: I guess no one remembers the birth of the white buffalo calf in Janesville, WI back in the 1990s. (I was living in Chicago at the time, I actually travelled to see it!)

  45. 45.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat: Like Baud said, all of the above. I’m particularly interested in what caused the spell to be broken.

    The EU elections seem to be, in a sense, inconclusive. The right has gained power in some countries, but lost power in countries that had turned rightwards previously. Maybe the promise of quick fixes through authoritarian rule doesn’t quite work out as imagined.

  46. 46.

    sab

    Question for the jackalariat: If I were to fly a “don’t tread on me” flag upside down, what would that signify?

  48. 48.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    They’ll be spiteful as long as we don’t respect their right to rule without question they’re on this side of the grave.

    Fixed.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Miss Bianca: Isn’t there some rule against foreign contributions to US election campaigns?

    I thought so too, but felt no need to read the article. Maybe it’s a PAC fundraiser. The rules are different for them.

  50. 50.

    MomSense

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’m not a fan of all things gator/power ade or monster Celsius etc but I honestly don’t understand what the problem is with that clip.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    We also are now 100% sure who leaked the Dobbs opinion. The incredibly indiscreet Justice Alito. They never shut up, these people.

  52. 52.

    lowtechcyclist

    @sab:

    Question for the jackalariat: If I were to fly a “don’t tread on me” flag upside down, what would that signify?

    Someone trod on you, perhaps?

  54. 54.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    They’ll I’ll be spiteful as long as we don’t respect their right to rule without question they’re on this side of the grave.

    Fixed.

     
    Doubly fixed.

  55. 55.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @MomSense:  There’s nothing at all wrong with that clip. Maybe the loonies are getting desperate. We know that they make shit up out of whole cloth, and still they’re running out of anti-Biden material.

  58. 58.

    Ken

    @Kay: Someone on social media said the worst thing about the Alito(s) scandal is how petty they are

    I have the same reaction to most bribery scandals, especially at the local level. Politicians and bureaucrats willing to sell out for a few hundred bucks! Say what you will about Sen. Menendez and his gold bars, at least he understands the value he brings to the table.

  60. 60.

    BlueGuitarist

    Good morning everybody!

    I mentioned last night Nancy Mace had won the R primary before noticing the price tag:
    Rs spent $10 million on that primary!
    Anti-Mace side spent more.

    NV R US house primaries $4 million, for 3 contested primaries, and the self-funders in districts 1 and 3 lost.
    further down ballot, primary defeat for Sharron Angle, NVs 2010 R US senate candidate, back when their candidate quality problem was “I am not a witch”

  65. 65.

    Jackie

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    It seems like that more Alito wins, the more vindictive he gets. What a sad, sour man.

    Mention Harriet Miers’ name to his face if you really want to see a sour face!

  66. 66.

    Eyeroller

    @Miss Bianca:Most are not albinos, which are genuinely rare. They are said to be leucistic, like a white dog or cat. They have normally pigmented eyes, nose, etc.

  67. 67.

    lowtechcyclist

    @BlueGuitarist:

    further down ballot, primary defeat for Sharron Angle, NVs 2010 R US senate candidate, back when their candidate quality problem was “I am not a witch”

    But did she weigh the same as a duck?

  69. 69.

    jonas

    @zhena gogolia: ​
      I always associate orange Gatorade with being sick with the flu when I was a kid. If I was vomiting a lot, my mom always ran out to get OG to rehydrate me. I thought it was a treat because we usually didn’t get stuff like that, but I still can’t shake the association. Blech.

  70. 70.

    Anne Laurie

    @Miss Bianca: I guess no one remembers the birth of the white buffalo calf in Janesville, WI back in the 1990s.

    “Miracle” was born in 1994 (she’s actually mentioned in the AP article).  But she was born on a farm, not in the wild…

  72. 72.

    jonas

    @BlueGuitarist:  further down ballot, primary defeat for Sharron Angle, NVs 2010 R US senate candidate,

    Ah, that takes you back, doesn’t it? I think she was the one who mused that Americans could cut medical costs by bartering with physicians, like, literally offering a chicken or something for a checkup. She didn’t specify how much livestock it would take to treat your cancer, but I’m sure you could work something out.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Millions of US voters lack access to documents to prove citizenship

    My wife misplaced her naturalization papers a while ago. I had been on her to get new ones and she finally did about a year ago. It wasn’t certified, it was just a copy.

    “Honey, this won’t work.”

    So I’ve been on her to get a certified copy ever since, and she still hasn’t done it. So right now the closest thing she has to proof of citizenship is an expired US passport. I’m worried some busybody will show up at our small rural polls, take one look at her name, and challenge her right to vote. Even tho we’ve been voting there for almost 15 years.

    Hope I don’t end up in jail

  76. 76.

    Miss Bianca

    @Anne Laurie: Miracle! That was her name, I had forgotten.

    Farm, wild…does it matter where the white buffalo gets born? Although I do remember some grousing about the notion that she couldn’t be *the* white buffalo calf, because farm, white people, etc.

    The tribes didn’t seem to have a problem with it,as I recall.

    Now Janesville is probably the heart of the MAGA heartland, alas…

  78. 78.

    BlueGuitarist

    @jonas:

    Yep, Extra R Sharron was the chicken barter candidate, also opposed fluoridation; Christine O’Donnell in Delaware was “not a witch.”
    had almost forgotten them when McConnell started talking about the R “candidate quality” problem as if it were something new. 

  81. 81.

    sab

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was born in North Carolina but I live in Ohio. It took me many months to get a birth certificate out of North Carolina.

    This isn’t an immigrant only issue.

    Settling issues in my father’s estate would have taken months longer or a long car trip if I hadn’t already had a birth certificate from North Carolina

    ETA: Note to jackals who move away from birthplace. Spend a few bucks and get multiple copies of your birth certificate.

    You never know when you might need them, and they are a pain in the ass and slow to get when you need them urgently.

  82. 82.

    kindness

    @jonas: When we were stomach sick as kids my mom gave us saltines & ginger ale.  It was easy to keep down I guess.

  83. 83.

    3Sice

    Please ignore the +20 D swing in OH-6. Instead, enjoy another round of stories about replacing Joe Biden as the Democratic party nominee.

  85. 85.

    UncleEbeneezer

    This is why I refuse to engage or support people who are extremely mad at Biden and Bibi, but have absolutely nothing to say about Hamas. Maximizing Palestinian civilian casualties has always been their goal. They WANT dead Palestinians. They admit it, themselves!!  You can’t be serious about Palestinian Lives while ignoring the evil of Hamas and their role in purposefully sacrificing those lives for the sake of political power.

    The WSJ reviewed a batch of Yahya Sinwar’s text messages. If nothing else, they underscore Hamas’s long-known strategy of intentionally maximizing Palestinian civilian casualties.

    Excerpts: For months, Yahya Sinwar has resisted pressure to cut a ceasefire-and-hostages deal with Israel. Behind his decision, messages the Hamas military leader in Gaza has sent to mediators show, is a calculation that more fighting—and more Palestinian civilian deaths—work to his advantage.

    In dozens of messages—reviewed by The Wall Street Journal—that Sinwar has transmitted to cease-fire negotiators, Hamas compatriots outside Gaza and others, he’s shown a cold disregard for human life and made clear he believes Israel has more to lose from the war than Hamas.

    In one message to Hamas leaders in Doha, Sinwar cited civilian losses in national-liberation conflicts in places such as Algeria, where hundreds of thousands of people died fighting for independence from France, saying, “these are necessary sacrifices.”

    In an April 11 letter to Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh after three of Haniyeh’s adult sons were killed by an Israeli airstrike, Sinwar wrote that their deaths and those of other Palestinians would “infuse life into the veins of this nation, prompting it to rise to its glory and honor.”

  87. 87.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sab: I had a surprisingly easy time getting a certified birth certificate out of Texas (Texas city, Texas, July 1958) and both of my sons’ were as easy as walking into the STL city hall and going to the appropriate office.

  89. 89.

    Harrison Wesley

    @sab: When I moved to Florida I needed my birth certificate as well as my Pennsylvania ID to get my Florida ID. I was impressed by how quickly New Jersey responded, since I hadn’t lived there since I was three years old.

  90. 90.

    Ken

    @3Sice: Indeed. As Michael Tae Sweeney said,

    every poll is like “Biden falls behind Trump by 3 points in new poll of Rhode Island” and every special election is like “Dem who raised $13,000 comes within 2 points of winning district that was drawn specifically to elect a member of the Klan.”

  92. 92.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I agree these SCOTUS scandals coming to light are a good and necessary thing. SCOTUS reform is a huge lift, so we have to build demand for it.

  94. 94.

    Dangerman

    @sab: Question for the jackalariat: If I were to fly a “don’t tread on me” flag upside down, what would that signify?

    em no daert t’nod?

  95. 95.

    snoey

    @sab: Sort all this stuff out in advance, just in case. Finally got my mom into a nursing home, and when I was going through her paperwork I found my late father’s birth certificate. Surname was misspelled.

  97. 97.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @sab:

    Note to jackals who move away from birthplace. Spend a few bucks and get multiple copies of your birth certificate.

    Seconded! I treat our birth and citizenship documents like gold. They can be hard to replace and you never know when you might need them.

  104. 104.

    smith

    @NotMax: Core of Paul Ryan country.

    Coincidentally, it was just yesterday that Ryan had an interview on Fox in which he said the Felon is unfit to be president.

    Ryan: You swear an oath to the Constitution and if you’re willing to suborn it to yourself, I think that makes you unfit for office

  109. 109.

    sab

     

     

    @Dangerman: @snoey: Sort all of this stuff in advance. Yes. But you may not know the issues.

    Get birth certificates for all the parties. You don’t need to have them, but you need quick access. So heirs need to get them.

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    Republicans Claim Harassing Abortion Patients is ‘Free Speech’
    6.11.24
    JESSICA VALENTI
    JUN 11

    Anti-Abortion Language Watch
    Let’s talk about ‘fear-mongering.’ We’ve been hearing that word a lot lately from anti-abortion lawmakers and activists, eager to play down just how bad the post-Roe nightmare really is.

    At last week’s Senate committee hearing, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy chastised doctors and Democrats for “fear-mongering” about the consequences of abortion bans. (Here was my response.) Sens. Katie Britt and Ted Cruz used the same term in a Wall Street Journal op-ed after introducing legislation they claimed would protect IVF. (It wouldn’t.) Their pair wrote that national outrage over the Alabama Supreme Court decision was based on “misconceptions and fear-mongering.”

    And anti-abortion lobbyists at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America have been hammering on ‘fear-mongering’ for months. In April, group president Marjorie Dannenfelser said Democrats “will spend millions to fear-monger and lie.” This week, state public affairs director for the organization, Kelsey Pritchard, told the Catholic Courier that ‘pro-life’ activists have to respond to “fear-mongering” about the danger of abortion bans by pointing out that “there is a life of the mother exception in every single state.”

    Fun fact: What Pritchard doesn’t mention is that it wasn’t so long ago that Tennessee didn’t have an exception for women’s lives, and that her group spent months lobbying legislators to keep it that way. So maybe, just maybe, we’re afraid for good reason.

    And that’s the thing: Something can’t be ‘fear-mongering’ if you’re right to be scared. What’s that saying? It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you! We need to hammer that truth home again and again. All anti-abortion groups and lawmakers have right now is rhetoric; we have reality.

  112. 112.

    BlueGuitarist

    @3Sice:

    Thanks for bringing this up; I mentioned it in the Hunter thread last night.
    Saw this morning that AP quoted the Republican winner absurd bragging:
    “this is a blue-collar district…. They don’t trust the Democrats and Republicans, and they look at the individual. And I’m really good at retail politics.”

    Dude should know about retail politics – for 100 years his family has a chain of grocery stores in the area – but apparently no consideration of how being “really good at retail politics” got him a 10-point victory in an area where Republicans have won many races in recent years by 30-points.

  113. 113.

    RaflW

    Gotta say, it was a bit of a shock to see the Marcos name in association with the presidency of the Philippines. It really wasn’t that long ago that his mom Imelda’s obsession with collecting shoes was a common joke on late night tv.

    But I guess “Bongbong” inherited some of the political cunning of the parents (and per an accompanying photo, Imelda is not getting milkshaked by locals, which amazes me).

    And yes, that’s his nickname, and yes, I can’t help but think of Bunga Bunga Berlusconi. Politics is f’ing weird, man.

  114. 114.

    lee

    I’ve been getting some good mileage from pointing out to 2A folks that Hunter’s conviction now opens up the DoJ to going after every person that has used pot and filled out that form. All of a sudden they think his conviction should be overturned (there is already a case determining the constitutionality of that question working its way up to SCOTUS).

     

    Also white bison are estimated at 1 in every 10 million. So it makes sense that as more bison are born, more white bison appear.

    Apparently there have been 8 in as many years.

    “The calf born on April 16 is the eighth white bison to be born on the First Nation in as many years. ”

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/bison-white-buffalo-sioux-valley-dakota-1.6440271

  117. 117.

    lowtechcyclist

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    This is why I refuse to engage or support people who are extremely mad at Biden and Bibi, but have absolutely nothing to say about Hamas. Maximizing Palestinian civilian casualties has always been their goal. They WANT dead Palestinians. They admit it, themselves!!  You can’t be serious about Palestinian Lives while ignoring the evil of Hamas and their role in purposefully sacrificing those lives for the sake of political power.

    Yeah, they’re evil. But the Israelis are still doing the killing.

    You know how the Israelis can keep Hamas from maximizing Palestinian deaths? BY NOT FUCKING KILLING THEM, that’s how.

    The fact remains that Hamas relies on Israel to have all but a small shred of their agency.  Israel can take away 99% of Hamas’ power by not playing along.

    I don’t care how evil someone is if they can’t do anyone any harm.  Hamas is very, very evil. They can still do harm without Israel’s help, but not enough that they should matter to us, an ocean away from them.

    Israel has the agency to kill tens of thousands of Palestinians without Hamas having to help them in the least.  You see the power divergence here? And it’s Israel that we aid to the tune of billions of dollars a year, which gives us a very real element of responsibility for what they do.  We do not similarly aid Hamas.

    This isn’t rocket science.

  118. 118.

    sab

    @sab: One of my stepkids was adopted out of foster care, so access to her birth certificate is not easy or quick.

    So we need to to do this now!  Her adoptive father and I are old.

  119. 119.

    RaflW

    @3Sice: Holy cow, turnout was ~60,000 vs a third of a million in a presidential cycle. It would have been a chunk of work, but Dems only needed to turn out about 5,000 more voters and they coulda shocked everyone. Alas.

  120. 120.

    Kay

    @UncleEbeneezer:

     You can’t be serious about Palestinian Lives while ignoring the evil of Hamas and their role in purposefully sacrificing those lives for the sake of political power.

    When the United States is arming and backing Hamas in killing civilians I will absolutely note that.
    Do you really want to equate Hamas with the IDF? I mean, we can if you insist, but that isn’t really a positive for Israel.
    The entire assumption on which US support of the IDF rests is that the IDF are NOT Hamas, are NOT deliberately killing/starving civilians, are NOT committing war crimes. Why are you equating the two? It deosn’t even advance your advocacy.

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    So I’ve been on her to get a certified copy ever since, and she still hasn’t done it. So right now the closest thing she has to proof of citizenship is an expired US passport. I’m worried some busybody will show up at our small rural polls, take one look at her name, and challenge her right to vote. Even tho we’ve been voting there for almost 15 years.

     

    Maybe you are going to have to take charge of it. I mean it. Seriously.

     

    GET.IT.DONE.BEFORE.NOVEMBER.

    We are all pushing for Biden.

    But, I don’t want your wife to be in a trickbag if the Orange Menace gets back in.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    At least make up your mind! The United States objected to the ICC complaint against Hamas and Israel for war crimes because our position is the two can’t be compared. Now you want to compare them? So we compare if that benefits the “blank check for Israel” position but we must not compare if it goes against that position?

  125. 125.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Is that clip supposed to be bad? He takes a drink, looks around, and takes another drink.

    It’s a mystery. After all, who amongst us have drunk from a bottle?

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Someone on social media said the worst thing about the Alito(s) scandal is how petty they are – they’re just ordinary, angry suburban wingnuts obsessing over pride flags and yearning to own the libs. Ultimately I think this will be good for the SCOTUS though – we need to know who and what they really are.

    He’s always been that. But, he’s a leave payment by the nightstand HO like Clarence. Just not as many payments.

  129. 129.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    We also are now 100% sure who leaked the Dobbs opinion. The incredibly indiscreet Justice Alito. They never shut up, these people.

     

    Was there any doubt?

    The minute they couldn’t pin it on a Liberal Justice’s clerk…you knew it was one of the right wingers, which is why the investigation was ‘ dropped’.

  131. 131.

    sab

    @sab: Any change of life thing you need to have documents to prove. Birth, marriage, death. Just get the documents and have them where they can be accessed.

  133. 133.

    delphinium

    @BlueGuitarist: ​
    I wrote some postcards for that race and was disappointed the Dem candidate didn’t win, although not unexpected as it is a very red district. But was still very glad to see that at least a Democrat was running.

  134. 134.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I love that they’re all fancy lawyers and they STILL can’t shut up. Who would ever trust these people with confidences? They’re overly emotional and erratic.

  136. 136.

    Baud

    @delphinium:

    I read that the Dem raised something like $10,000 and still got that close.

    Can’t recall the exact amount, but it was definitely below six figures.

  138. 138.

    Manyakitty

    @Kay: yes, Hamas is responsible for starving Palestinian children and intentionally causing them harm. Until you can accept that reality, everything else you say is hollow, antisemitic bullshit.

  139. 139.

    Kay

    I’m following this trial, MA v Karen Read – briefly, state says she hit her police officer bf and left him to die in the snow, defense says his fellow officers killed him and framed her.

    The lead investigator is with the MA state police and the defense got his text messages. Jesus Christ. What a goldmine. The lead investigator discusses every aspect of the case with his high school friends and family. He’s also an absolute pig – he refers to Read’s physical appearance constantly, insults her, they all discuss whether they would have sex with her, etc.

    The state police are supposed to be a cut above local police – they’re often better educated, always better trained.I guess not in Massachusetts! “Unprofessional” isn’t really strong enough to decsribe this guy.

  140. 140.

    Kay

    @Manyakitty:

    But everyone accepts that reality. This demand starts with the assumption that I’m defending Hamas. I’m not. I denounce Hamas. Absolutely. Is the United States still funding and backing the killing of and staving of civilians? Yes. Because we’re funding the IDF. I think the United States should be allowed to get aid in to Palestinians. I think the IDF, who were are funding, should ensure that. I don’t know why we have to beg Netanyhahu to get US aid in. It’s STILL not getting in – 7 months after we were assured it would be. The United States is a sovereign country too – we have our own objectives and killing and starving Palestinian civilians is not one of them. That is not in the best interest of this country.

  141. 141.

    Kay

    @Manyakitty:

    I denounced Hamas for killing/starving civilians. Again. Have you or Ebenezer denounced the IDF for killing/starving civilians, or does this just work one way?

  142. 142.

    Captain C

    @Kay: Reminds me of graffiti I read in one of my college’s bathrooms:

    “Here I sit, on the pooper

    Trying to make a Mass State Trooper”

  144. 144.

    wjca

     

    @O. Felix Culpa: That’s what I thought, until drinking it on a particularly long, hot day outdoors. Then it was a godsend. But I wouldn’t touch the stuff under normal circumstances.

    That’s true of the green Gatorade.  When you need the electrolytes, it tastes great.  When you don’t, it’s awful.  Orange Gatorade, in contrast, is always awful.

  145. 145.

    Kay

    @Manyakitty:

    The United States has laws that forbid weapons transfers to states or state entities who violate laws on wars. Those laws would cover Israel – they wouldn’t cover Hamas for the very simple reason that we don’t give Hamas weapons. Israel has to comply with laws that Hamas does not – that’s true. In return Israel gets billions of dollars in military transfers. We can put them in the Hamas category if you insist, but I assure you they don’t want to be there.

  146. 146.

    Kay

    @Captain C:

    Defense makes him read his own texts and then he has to say “very unprofessional” as he’s like, discussing the defendant’s ass and that she’s a c-word. Troopers are well compensated! How did this clown get in?

    I keep thinking of the defense getting the texts  – “Holy shit! Eureka!”

  148. 148.

    Sid

    @Kay: You’re wasting your time- for people like Manyakitty, any criticism of Israel is ‘antiSemitic!’ unless it’s prefaced by itemizing every horrific atrocity committed by every criminal regime over the span of human history. Even the ones that aren’t gifted billions of dollars/yr of weaponry from the United States.

  149. 149.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I read some comments and I had to stop – people HATE female defendants. The commenters are just brutal to her because she doesn’t smile or cry or appear upset. I think it’s fucking ridiculous to expect a woman on trial for 2nd degree to smile or appear “pleasant” or whatever these sexists want. She looks like she’s listening intently – as she should be – this is her life. I also think she may actually have been framed.

  150. 150.

    tam1MI

    @Sid: Are there really that many “people who are extremely mad at Biden and Bibi, but have absolutely nothing to say about Hamas”?

    IIRC, there were news reports saying that many of the demonstrators were chanting pro-Hamas slogans, that pro-Hamas graffiti found in Hamilton Hall, that Leftists were posting statements supporting Hamas on social media, etc. etc. I think that it is possible some of the demonstrators were embracing Hamas, you can’t keep stupid people out of things like this, but otherwise I would take such allegations with a grain of salt.

  152. 152.

    tam1MI

    @rikyrah:

    found out about this case on TikTok.

    It’s insane!

    When I visited my sister a few weeks ago, she was following the trial on YouTube daily. I came away with the impression that the police department in question was either massively corrupt, massively incompetent, or both.

  153. 153.

    Layer8Problem

    @Dangerman: “It all began innocently enough on Tuesday. I was sitting in my office on that drizzly afternoon listening to the monotonous staccato of rain on my desktop, and reading my name on the glass of my office door–‘regnaD kciN.'”

  154. 154.

    Sid

    @tam1MI: I confess my question was semi-rhetorical. I know that there’s people on the fringe who are (apparently) embracing Hamas, but their numbers are few both relatively (to the number of protestors) as well as absolutely. Of course, they’re also the people receiving the focus of media and the disingenuous already hyped to scream ‘antiSemite!’ at anyone daring to object to the war crimes being committed by the #1 recipient of US military aid.

  155. 155.

    tam1MI

    @Sid: It would probably behoove the leaders of the protests to make some statements distancing themselves from the pro-Hamas folks. Don’t let them become the face of the movement.

  158. 158.

    TerryC

    Looking on the brighter side of things for me, personally, I have just been named to the worldwide disc golf hall of fame. It’s a BFD for me!

  160. 160.

    sab

    @Kay: I read somewhere that men who are handsome do better with juries than men who are unattractive. Exact opposite with womwn. Beautiful women are screwed. Everyone hates them.

  163. 163.

    sab

    @tam1MI: Media rarely talks at all to anyone leading these protests. They ( MSM) just get fed talking points from bad actors. Hamas isn’t leading the protests. Palestinian Americans are. And they were given refuge in America when nobody else wanted them. And they know that and are grateful. And thus are shocked that Biden apparently doesn’t care about their cousins in Gaza. Also a lot of younger Jews are also protesting. Mass murder and starving women and children is so 18th century. Nowadays it is a war crime, whoever does it.

  164. 164.

    wjca

     

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Millions of US voters lack access to documents to prove citizenship

    I’ve got documentation (specifically a US passport).  But I don’t routinely carry it on me.  (Like when going to vote.)  Does anyone?

    So it occurs to me, if challenged, say when voting, to prove one’s citizenship, the appropriate response is to demand that the challenger prove his first.  Odds are, he won’t be able to.

  165. 165.

    satby

    It is incorrect that aid from the US isn’t getting into Gaza. It’s probably not nearly enough for the crisis though. And World Central Kitchen is back working in Gaza too. The latest cease fire is on the table, but neither side has fully agreed. Because the war suits both Bibi and Hamas, and neither cares what happens to the non-combatants. Not acknowledging those realities seems pointless. Until Bibi is removed from office and the leaders of Hamas are neutralized, that war will drag on. It’s a miracle it hasn’t expanded to other states, both Israel and Iran’s proxies keep trying. Biden gets credit for that.

  166. 166.

    sab

    @satby: Biden should get credit for that but doesn’t. Lebanon could have blown up and didn’t.

    Israel is militarily way over-extended now.

    Northern Israel is getting rockets lobbed in from Lebanon. That is Bibi’s fault for letting 10/7 happen. He knew it was coming and let it happen because he underestimated the scope of it.

  167. 167.

    sab

    @wjca: Passports don’t help for voting. They want to know you are a USA citizen, but they also want to know that you are voting in the correct precinct.

  168. 168.

    Anyway

    @TerryC:

    Looking on the brighter side of things for me, personally, I have just been named to the worldwide disc golf hall of fame. It’s a BFD for me!

    Yay! that’s awesome, huge. Impressive – had no idea there was disc golf HOF.

    former ultimate player here – back when I could sprint :D

  169. 169.

    Geminid

    @sab: That is a common opinion, that Netanyahu knew the attack was coming and let it happen. But I follow Israeli opposition figures on social media and in the press, and while they accuse Netanyahu of all kinds of misdeeds and negligence, they don’t accuse him of prior knowledge. They know that situation better than anyone over here, and they also hate “Bibi” more than anyone here.

  170. 170.

    gvg

    @OzarkHillbilly: Apparently late 1800’s-early 1900’s we were doing buffalo/cattle crosses and most of the many “white buffalo’s” are actually hybrids that will be blond not white later on. There are 3 types of white. Albino with pink eyes, Leucism with blue eyes and the hybrids with SILV gene. the gene is from the hybrid.

  171. 171.

    rikyrah

    @wjca:

    I’ve got documentation (specifically a US passport).  But I don’t routinely carry it on me.  (Like when going to vote.)  Does anyone?

     

     

    Passport proved citizenship. But, in terms of voting, you still need a local address

  172. 172.

    gvg

    @sab: You should have been issued a “new” birth certificate when she was adopted, and a new social security number. My nephew was here in Florida. When someone is adopted, the adoptive parents are now legally the real parents.

    It helped cut off some fraudsters that had got hold of his old SS# while he was in fostercare.  It also mattered a lot for tax returns.

  173. 173.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: What’s funniest about it is that she did the same kind of thing that stupid Project Veritas does, except that she used her real name. They think it’s great when their side does it.

  174. 174.

    Soprano2

    @sab: I guess if I were ever on trial I would deliberately make myself more unattractive – not wear much or any makeup, dress a little scruffy, and so on. Might as well use that to your advantage.

  176. 176.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Sid:

    Are there really that many “people who are extremely mad at Biden and Bibi, but have absolutely nothing to say about Hamas”?

    In a way, I’m such a person.  It’s not that I have literally nothing to say about Hamas, it’s that I (and many others, AFAICT) want to place demands on Israel and the U.S. without placing demands on Hamas.

    But that comes back to the huge power imbalance between the two that I mentioned. Does Hamas want lots of dead Palestinian martyrs? It relies on Israel to create them.  Israel can act unilaterally to drastically reduce the quantity of death and suffering in Gaza; all it has to do is pull way back or withdraw entirely.  Hamas is in no such position.  So I don’t have much to say about what demands we should place on Hamas.

    Not to mention that we’re not arming Hamas, so we can’t threaten to put a pause on our arms shipments to them.  We have a lever over Israel but not Hamas, but that works out because Israel has massively greater agency with respect to Gaza.

  177. 177.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TerryC:

    Looking on the brighter side of things for me, personally, I have just been named to the worldwide disc golf hall of fame. It’s a BFD for me!

    Congrats! And if I’m looking for a friendly round of disc golf, I’ll be sure not to ring you up!

  178. 178.

    Fake Irishman

    @jonas:

    Ok people; let’s get our 2010 wacko loser GOP Senate candidates right.

    WITCH = Christine O’Donnell who beat forever GOP representative Mike Castle in the Delaware primary and gift wrapped a surefire GOP flip into an easy Dem win for Chris Coons.

    CHECK-UPs FOR CHICKENS = Sue Lowden, who was actually the saner one in the GOP primary in Nevada, so naturally she lost (with a bit of help from Harry Reid’s dark arts) to

    Sharon Angle, nutball charter school maven who appeared to be ahead in the polls but ended up losing to Harry Reid by six points because he had an outstanding campaign operation and her campaign was… well… um, yikes.

    Alas, Rand Paul is still in the Senate.

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