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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

In my day, never was longer.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

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

… gradually, and then suddenly.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

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

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

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You are here: Home / Archives for 2024

Archives for 2024

Barack Obama Just Made My Day in 5 minutes or less

by WaterGirl|  October 19, 20242:05 pm| 145 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

When he’s not campaigning, we don’t get to see Barack Obama at his absolute best.

I see him giving these speeches and remember all over again just how much I love this man, just how charming and funny he is, and how lucky we were to have had him as president for 8 years.

We have to win this!

We don’t need four more years of arrogance and bumbling and bluster and division under Donald Trump.

America is ready for a better story – we’re ready for a President @KamalaHarris. pic.twitter.com/Urn2kyl7qq

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 19, 2024

Open thread.

Barack Obama Just Made My Day in 5 minutes or lessPost + Comments (145)

Fun Read: Code Red: Watching the Tim Walz Magic Trick Up Close

by Anne Laurie|  October 19, 202411:50 am| 99 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, Excellent Links, Kamala Harris for President, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture

Well when you put it like that…🤔 pic.twitter.com/WkUOYtStWr

— Kaylan_TX (@Kaylan_TX_) August 19, 2024

I think projecting onto politicians is bad and many of the memes are getting silly…but the right's freakout is plainly centered on how they've adopted a definition of manhood so narrow, violent and insular that it shatters upon seeing one stable, folksy guy who tells Dad jokes.

— zeddy (@Zeddary) August 19, 2024

There is a joke among those of us with ADHD that sometimes people will follow after us even when we have no idea where we’re going. We look confident! — or at least, like we might do something interesting, at any moment, that a curious bystander wouldn’t want to miss. (I personally believe this has been the secret behind a lot of political successes, including both Bill Clinton and Dubya Bush.)

Kerry Howley, at NYMag, has obviously been instructed to bothside be rigidly neutral in her report, and yet:

… There is no obvious connection between an ability to commune with strangers and an ability to govern; one might even be inclined to posit the opposite, in that an easy fluidity masks false intention. The fact remains that Walz is so natural with people that every encounter comes across, through no fault of his own, as trolling his opponent, a man who cannot so much as order a doughnut or answer a question (“What makes you smile?”) without expressing a mysteriously motivated sense of resentment (“I smile at a lot of things, including bogus questions from the media”)…

Tim Walz, as anyone who has tried to quote him in print well knows, does not speak in “sentences” nor adhere to a common “grammar.” This is a dream sequence, scenes conjured out of thin air and only later explained. “They always do, Oh, the guy sitting in Racine, Wisconsin, in the bar, what’s really concerning him? I damn sure guarantee you it’s not banning Animal Farm.” You do not know where you are going until you’ve arrived. “You come home from work. You throw the Frisbee to your pup, he gets it, you give your good boy a belly rub,” he said in February, inexplicably. And only then: “Picture that guy” — Trump — “doing anything normal like that.” On August 5, no one outside Minnesota with a healthy relationship to current events knew the name Tim Walz. A few weeks later, he was the best-liked candidate on either ticket in the most high-stakes presidential race anyone could remember…

The ability to be fully present in the selection of banana bread suggests an unusual distribution of attention; indeed, Walz once told a classroom of high-school students that he had ADHD.

“Undiagnosed,” his wife, Gwen, gently added.

“No, I’m not diagnosed,” he said, “but it’s pretty obvious.”…

His political origin story, like all such stories, feels overpolished, a touch too narratively useful, but the facts are there. In 2004, two teenagers, Matt Klaber and Sierra Burkhart, had been denied entry to a pro-Bush event on suspicion of Democratic tendencies. They attempted to get into a second rally with the most inoffensive adult imaginable, universally beloved teacher Tim Walz. They were again denied, and though Walz managed to argue his way in (“I’m in the National Guard, and I’m here to see my commander-in-chief”), he was indignant. The field organizer of the local Kerry campaign was Leah Solo, a former student of Gwen’s. Tim and Gwen folded right in…

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Fun Read: <em>Code Red: Watching the Tim Walz Magic Trick Up Close</em>Post + Comments (99)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Dems *NOT* in Disarray

by Anne Laurie|  October 19, 20248:35 am| 226 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, Kamala Harris for President, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality

President Biden shakes my hand and the only thing I found myself saying was, “I just want to say I love you.”

He looks at my husband standing behind me and quickly responds, “Well, that guy is too big for me to take down.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/F4f258fdBk

— Celia (@CeliaBedelia) October 18, 2024

Mark and I were excited to join President @BarackObama in Tucson to rally Arizonans behind @KamalaHarris and @Tim_Walz!

With only 18 days to go, we need everyone knocking on doors and making calls. When we all do our part, a better world is possible: https://t.co/rH7zfTFVVr pic.twitter.com/GaE5KdekE6

— Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) October 19, 2024

I’m a 62-year-old white guy from WV and I am beyond tired of white guys whining that their (or those of other hypothetical white dudes, which is worse) concerns aren’t being addressed without actually mentioning what those concerns are.

— Steve Carrow (@SACarrow) October 19, 2024

“To do that, they've opened offices in places where Democrats have usually not campaigned. The goal is to churn out as many votes as possible in the least likely places – even if it means venturing deep into politically unfriendly territory.” #ncpol https://t.co/9yYTOBVD3W

— Anderson Clayton☀️ (@abreezeclayton) October 19, 2024

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Dems *NOT* in DisarrayPost + Comments (226)

Late Night Open Thread: Retreat of the Gun Groups?

by Anne Laurie|  October 19, 20245:02 am| 109 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Gun Issues, Open Threads

The entirety of GOA’s electoral strategy is this tweet. No one has stepped up to backfill the campaign funds lost in the NRA’s implosion and orgs to the NRA’s right spend much of their time telling their followers elections don’t matter. https://t.co/wGq9ZkXc59

— Max Steele (@maxasteele) October 16, 2024

Will Trump whine to the audience that gun owners don't vote?

(yes, yes he will, because he says that every time he talks to 2A audiences these days because they aren't putting up any serious money for him so he's just checking the box) https://t.co/Omztxj9Nqc

— Max Steele (@maxasteele) October 16, 2024

I, for one, am just as happy that the professional gun humpers have decided Trump is a sunk cost — it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they retreated from politics entirely (fat chance). In my wildest dreams, maybe they’ve actually been spooked, not only by the implosion of the NRA, but by the increasing willingness of survivors and municipalities to hold gun sellers and ‘innocent’ parents / families / law enforcement agencies liable for mass shooting events…

Here is the problem, @guntruth: there aren't any!

Folks can roll the dice giving money to the @NRA but they're spending a small fraction of what they used to.@NSSF just does donor service stunt buys (Times Square lol)@GunOwners @gunpolicy et al reject electoral politics. pic.twitter.com/MvhX9F8QRN

— Max Steele (@maxasteele) October 16, 2024

No one has moved into the electoral work vacuum created by the @NRA's collapse and no one is showing any interest in fixing it.

— Max Steele (@maxasteele) October 16, 2024

Late Night Open Thread: Retreat of the Gun Groups?Post + Comments (109)

War for Ukraine Day 968: The Cost & the Reason

by Adam L Silverman|  October 18, 20249:30 pm| 33 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

A painting by Ukrainian artis NEIVANMADE. The background is white. In the center, which is black with blood red bordering, is an hourglass. Inside the hourglass is a Ukrainian Azovstal POW painted in blood red. He is shirtless. His arms are upward along the outer edges of the upper half of the hourglass forming a saltire cross. He is chained with steel gray chains shackled to his wrists. Above his head, in grey, is written "Ruzzian Captivity." below his torso in the lower half of the hourglass, written in gray, is "Kills." To the left of the hourglass "He Saved Others" is painted in gray. To the right of the hourglass "But He Can't Save Himself" is painted in gray.

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie, as well as Ruby, seem to be doing fine and settling back into their routines. Right now they’re both racked out on the bed with me as I sit here typing up the update.

Second, I’m still recovering from the fun and games of the past two weeks. I’m just going to run through the basics again tonight so I can rack out.

The Cost & the Reason:

95 more Ukrainian POWs have been returned!

Leaving no one behind. pic.twitter.com/MxVKDBkzEW

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) October 18, 2024

We now have visual confirmation of North Korean troops preparing to deploy to Ukraine:

North Korea has just effectively declared war on Ukraine, a European nation already fighting for its survival against a fascist empire.
This is ALREADY a world war. Europe and the US must finally acknowledge this fact and act accordingly. https://t.co/0oQtE7Ofro

— Slava Malamud 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@SlavaMalamud) October 18, 2024

10 escalation management points out of 10 possible 👌👌👌👌

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) October 18, 2024

Holy shit, why wasn’t everyone saying that giving Vladimir Putin two years to recover, adapt to a total war, unfold his wartime economy and military production, and find allies among dictatorial regimes was a bad idea?!

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) October 18, 2024

From Politico Europe:

South Korea’s president warned Friday that North Korea’s involvement in the war in Ukraine poses a “grave security threat” to the world.

President Yoon Suk Yeol held a security meeting Friday with key intelligence, military and national security officials to discuss Pyongyang’s participation in Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s offensive against Ukraine.

According to the presidential office, the participants “shared the view that the current situation, in which the close military ties between Russia and North Korea have expanded beyond the movement of military supplies to the actual deployment of troops, poses a grave security threat” to South Korea and the international community.

South Korea’s spy agency said Friday it believes North Korea has already begun deploying four brigades totaling 12,000 troops, including special forces, to the war in Ukraine.

Separately, the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate also shared the agency’s assessment that there are now nearly 11,000 North Korean infantry troops training in Russia to fight in Ukraine. “They will be ready on Nov. 1,” Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov told The War Zone.

The North Korean troops will use Russian equipment and ammunition, Budanov said. The first cadre of 2,600 troops will go to Kursk inside Russia where Ukraine began a surprise incursion in the late summer, but it is unclear where the remaining North Korean troops will be posted, he added.

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

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War for Ukraine Day 968: The Cost & the ReasonPost + Comments (33)

Friday Evening Open Thread: Exhausting

by Anne Laurie|  October 18, 20248:23 pm| 184 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, Kamala Harris for President, Republicans in Disarray!, Trumpery

👀 Politico reports that Trump’s team pulled Trump out of an interview on The Shade Room this week because he was “exhausted and refusing interviews”

This comes 3 weeks after Axios reported that Trump is doing far fewer rallies because “he’s older,” per his aides pic.twitter.com/yaxzZ5tNUR

— Ian Sams (@IanSams) October 18, 2024

I didn’t think President Biden should be forced into dropping his reelection campaign — being Irish-American myself, I assumed that the harder he was pushed, the more stubbornly he’d hang on. But I gotta admit it’s been a blessing, over the last few months, that he’s been able to focus on the job of being President while VP Harris has so capably stepped into the role of running for President.

And given the percentage of voters who subconsciously assume ‘the health of the king is the health of the land’, having a vigorous younger woman competing against the rapidly deteriorating sack of vile humors that is TFG has, if nothing else, encouraged Our Very Serious Media to focus on the real worn-out old sadsack in this election… Per Politico, “An ‘exhausted’ Trump says no to another interview”:

Recently, it’s become something of a pattern: Donald Trump is scheduled for an interview with a neutral media outlet, the date nears and then … things fall apart.

It happened just this week to planned Trump sit-downs with NBC in Philadelphia and CNBC’s “Squawk Box” — and that’s on the heels of him backing out of a “60 Minutes” episode earlier this month.

Why does this keep happening? Another outlet was recently given an explanation by Trump’s team for why their own interview wasn’t coming to fruition: exhaustion.

The Trump campaign had spent weeks in conversations with The Shade Room, a site that draws a largely young and Black audience — a demographic where Trump has been making inroads. It hosted an interview with Kamala Harris just last week…

Axios piles on — “Trump cancels a streak of events with only days until election”:

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Friday Evening Open Thread: ExhaustingPost + Comments (184)

One Last Reminder about the Steve Benen Zoom on Saturday (Open Thread)

by WaterGirl|  October 18, 20243:44 pm| 99 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Steve Benen discusses his new book (and anything else Balloon Juice readers want to talk about)

Zooming with Steve Benen about His New Book

Saturday, October 19

3:30 – 5 pm Eastern

Be there or be square. :-)

RSVP with email to WaterGirl

Totally open thread.

One Last Reminder about the Steve Benen Zoom on Saturday (Open Thread)Post + Comments (99)

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