Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Second rate reporter says what?

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

“woke” is the new caravan.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

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

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

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Finding joy where we can, and muddling through where we can’t.

When we show up, we win.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

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

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

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Archives for 2024

Thursday Morning Open Thread: #PutinOwnsTrump

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Philip Bump, at the Washington Post — “Eleven years later, Trump may finally have the best friend he wanted”: [gift link]

In 2013, Donald Trump was just New York Businessman Donald Trump, his presidential ambitions apparently obliterated by President Barack Obama’s scornful dismantling at the 2011 White House Correspondent’s Association dinner. Trump had been flirting with running in 2012, settling instead for a demure endorsement of the eventual nominee, Mitt Romney.

So instead of focusing heavily on politics, Trump was focused on promoting the Trump Organization. His private company still owned the Miss Universe Organization, for example, and he was looking forward to that year’s pageant, hosted at Crocus City Hall in Moscow. (In March of this year, terrorists aligned with the Islamic State attacked a concert at the venue, killing more than 140 people.)

There was one part of the upcoming pageant that seemed to hold particular appeal for Trump. While in town, he might finally get to meet someone who, we’ve since learned, he held in high esteem: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow,” he mused on Twitter, the social media platform now called X. And “if so, will he become my new best friend?”…

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Policy Reminder

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Just a quick reminder when we think about insurance over the long term:

Premiums are (roughly) EQUAL TO the sum of claims costs PLUS admin/overhead PLUS profits PLUS reserves and variance management costs.

If you want to reduce premiums, there is some space to squeeze on profits if there are exceptional profits that fund hookers and blow.

There might be some space to squeeze on admin and overhead.  Single payer advocatates will correctly note that Medicare pays 4% to 5% of total costs in admin while private insurance companies have 10% to 15% administrative loads AND substantial clinical administrative burden too.  But there is only so much to squeeze here.

The big factor in premiums is claims.  Reducing premiums means reducing the cost of claims by either not covering as much because deductibles have expanded or certain categories of losses are not covered or payments are reduced.

There is nothing magical about reducing premiums.  Those are the basic options.

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On The Road – frosty – Key West Part 1

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frosty

These pictures were from our 9th Annual Snowbird Road Trip in 2023. It wasn’t the same as our others since this one wasn’t a road trip but a Snowbird Rail Trip. We had made all our Florida camping reservations the year before, then sort of looked at each other and decided that after three cross-country road trips we weren’t quite ready for another trailer trip. Instead, we rented an Air B’n’B in Key West for two weeks. The next question was how to get there.

I was skeptical of airlines, they hadn’t been very reliable that year, so we decided to drive. I figured it would take us about four days of driving at our rate. With motels, and meals, it added up. Then I looked into the AutoTrain and it turned out that a comparison of a) airfare and car rental, or b) motels, gas, and food on the road and c) Autotrain, all three options cost about the same. So we loaded up my little Mazda 3 hatchback, drove to Lorton VA, got to our stateroom (we sprung for the fancy one with a private bath) and settled in for an overnight trip.

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On The Road - frosty - Key West Part 1 8

The Autotrain was started as a private company in 1971. It was profitable and ran until 1981 when it was overextended trying to start a second route and ended service. Amtrak revived the route in 1983 and eventually upgraded it to the bi-level Superliners that we rode in. It has the highest revenue of any long-distance Amtrak route.

Late Night Creeping Authoritarianism Open Thread: Der KKKlassics!

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Living the dream, per NBC — “Trump plans rallies in solidly Democratic states in an unorthodox strategy for the election’s final weeks”:

… With less than four weeks until Election Day, Trump is scheduled to hold rallies in staunchly Democratic states he has virtually no chance of winning. It’s an unorthodox strategy campaign advisers say is designed to focus on areas where Democratic policies have failed, but it will also keep him away from the small handful of swing states almost certain to determine the election.

Over the next month, the former president has events scheduled in Colorado, California, Illinois and New York. President Joe Biden won those states by an average of 20 points in 2020, with his 13-point Colorado win the closest margin. Colorado is the only one of those states to vote for a Republican nominee for president this millennium, backing George W. Bush in 2004.

While each event will be held in slightly different venues, the most notable will be later this month in Madison Square Garden, a place where Trump has long said he wanted to hold [a] political rally…

The decision to deviate from a traditional campaign playbook comes at a time when the race is almost certain to be decided in places like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan, places that are within the margin of error in most public polling and considered winnable for both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“This does not seem like a campaign putting their candidate in critical vote rich or swing vote locations — it seems more like a candidate who wants his campaign to put on rallies for optics and vibes,” longtime Republican operative Matthew Bartlett said…

Sure, it’s a(nother) big waste of RNC money, but Donny will get to enact his long-held fantasy, snarling New York City traffic once again, with his grinning mug & throngs of adoring cultists plastered all over the Very Serious Media! (Every seat in the Garden will be filled if they have to bus in TP-USA interns and/or paid extras from the entire tri-state area.)

And meanwhile it will keep TFG from interfering with — or at least prematurely announcing — the machinations of swing-state Repubs as they implement their plans to steal key electoral votes. Win-win!

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War for Ukraine Day 959: A Brief Wednesday Night Update

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A social media post by Waffle House on their own social media page showing all the Waffle Houses in the greater Tampa Bay area as closed due to Hurricane Milton.

(Current Status)

A quick housekeeping update. We’re all good here at the hotel. Rosie, Ruby, and the Mominator are all doing fine. Tomorrow, we’re moving to a hotel in Tallahassee, which is about two hours closer to home.

I’m going to just run through the basics tonight.

Russia committed another war crime in Odesa today.

6 people have been killed and 8 injured in a russian attack on a port infrastructure facility in Odesa. A civilian container ship flying the Panamanian flag was struck.

Four of the injured are in critical condition. All the victims are Ukrainian citizens.

This marks the third attack on a civilian vessel in just four days. russia resorts to open terrorism and not only against Ukraine.

These strikes, which are on non-Ukrainian ships, are being launched from parts of Russia that Ukraine currently is unable to strike because of the limitations being imposed by the President Biden and his natsec team. These Russian strikes are intended to shut down the shipping corridor, deter commercial carriers from making port anywhere in Ukraine, destroy Ukraine’s ability to export grain and other agricultural products, and starve Ukraine of necessary funding. It is also intended to cause a spike in global food prices and increase food insecurity in the global south. The former is intended to help Trump and the other politicians and parties that Putin supports. The latter is intended to exacerbate migration into Europe and the US so that Trump and the other politicians and parties that Putin support have additional support for the wedge issues they’re working.

Because of the President’s and his senior natsec appointees’ risk aversion, Putin has manipulated the Biden administration into protecting the air space over Russia while not protecting the air space over Ukraine.

The Russian hunting of Kherson citizens by drone, which is also a war crime, also continues unabated.

President Zelenskyy’s addressed the South-East Europe Summit earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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Milton Peeps, Here’s a Post So You Can Check In

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Like the threads we had for the wildfires, maybe all the Milton peeps can check in here and let everyone know how it’s going, or we can keep you company while you wait!

I tried to find a good Milton photo, but none of them are calming, so here’s Henry.

We have classic Henry.

If You Love Ducks, Dogs and Cats, Garden Pics and Political Spats

I’m  not stressed at all pandemic Henry.

I want something please give it to me now Henry.

Hodgepodge, Mishmash or Smorgasbord?

I just had a haircut and I’m hiding the kitty Henry.

And Henry with all his babies.

Wednesday Evening Open Thread 7

I’m adding a link to this at the top in the sidebar to make it easier for everyone to find, regardless of what else is on the front page.

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