Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Everybody saw this coming.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

This really is a full service blog.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

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

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

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

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

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

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

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

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

Let me file that under fuck it.

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

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Notes from the Heartland: Osborn and Vargas In Nebraska

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I just got off the phone with my brother, we were catching up on making sure our FL family is safe and evacuated from Tampa/FT Myers/Cape Coral. Of course then we had to hit the politics. Osborn is the talk of the town – it’s small town of about 35K a couple of hours outside of Omaha. Osborn has been there several times, stood with my brother’s family during the big parade, he’s back this week and  hitting a couple of local, and somewhat famous, watering holes. He has challenged Fischer to a debate at one of the bars – such a NE thing to do. She probably doesn’t even know where that little town is, LOL. No one expects her to show. But I’m sure the beer will flow.

My brother also said that Don Bacon is in trouble in District 2, which I suspected but good to hear from an actual Nebraskan. My brother (along with my dad,  my SIL and my niece who gets to vote this year for the first time)  is clearly a blue dot in a sea of red. He argues with the guys he works with, but he also listens to them, so I was interested to hear that they like that Osborn guy. He also pitches hard for anyone but Trump – and I know his guys listen to him to a degree because he’s a Vet who was in that famous (in NE) firefight in Iraq.  So I’m sure he’s swayed a few to Osborn.

Nebraska 2 House polls, Bacon vs. Vargas

Vargas has a 5.1% lead based on 8 polls.

Notes from the Heartland: Osborn and Vargas

 

I know the best we’ll do in the presidential race in NE is picking up the District 2 electoral vote for Harris, but it would be a nice surprise if we flipped the Senate seat and a Congressional seat.

Thanks to WaterGirl for putting up fundraising for NE and thanks to everyone who has contributed.

 

This is an open thread.

Also, I’d like you all to meet me here on Saturday, I have some news.  xo

 

 

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Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Category Three Is Quite Bad Enough

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Mood reset!

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Foreign Office Briefing: Tyre Rims and Anthrax

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Or more like, “tyre rims OR anthrax.” Those are the options the Conservative Party has plumped for as it begins the final round of its leadership contest.

yes, the British really spell it "tyre"

To the left of your screen, Kemi Badenoch, the 44-year-old MP for North West Essex. She’s the UK-born daughter of Nigerian immigrants (one parent a doctor, the other one a professor). She thinks that maternity pay is too generous, that gender-affirming care for trans people is “conversion therapy”, and that “not all cultures are equally valid.” There have been credible accusations of bullying and harassment laid against her, and she actually admitted to hacking a Labour MP’s website back in 2018.

She, of course, is the moderate one.

show full post on front page

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I Hear There’s An Election Coming Up Open Thread

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Love this from Colbert.  The orange guy will not be happy.

Full Harris interview with Howard Stern

Larry O is as appalled as I am about Trump palling around with dictators.

As a palate cleanser you can watch Tim Walz this evening in Arizona.

Open thread.

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Milton Playlist (Open Thread)

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My sister (located just north of Tampa in a sturdy house in a non-evacuation zone) and I (further north on the Nature Coast) are collaborating on a Hurricane Milton playlist. Here’s what we have so far:

Songs on a playlist

Suggestions welcome!

For us, the worst effect so far is hearing Ron DeSantis’s droning, adenoidal voice during his frequent appearances on the local news.

Gods, I despise that ambulatory pile of armadillo dung! I hate him so much I am compelled to flip him off every time I pass a TV with his mug on it.

One of the many things I hate about DeSantis is how he snaps out weather and response updates in a pained, exasperated tone, as if resentful of the obligation.

Just now, answering a reporter question, DeSantis declined to push back on the widespread Trump-operative lies about FEMA activities in North Carolina, saying he “wasn’t there” but assuring Floridians wouldn’t be victims of graft under his watch. As fucking if!

DeSantis is a small man in search of a balcony and one of the most prolific Republican crooks to ever fleece the citizenry in a state so corrupt it makes Louisiana blush. Fuck that guy!

Anyhoo, I expect we’ll endure worse than Puddin’ Boots as conditions deteriorate later today but am confident we’ll be okay. My thoughts are with those nearer to the projected center.

I am doing laundry and baking cookies because having clean clothes is good and why the hell not? I am making these sticky toffee pudding cookies because my sister-in-law loves that dessert above all others. She’s a hard-working healthcare provider who deserves something sweet.

Y’all stay safe, and please update us here when you can. Open thread!

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News from Four Directions Montana and Nevada, and AZ Candidates

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Just 4 weeks out, and the fight goes on!

In Montana, two particular counties are refusing Native voters equal access to the ballot box, and they are being taken to court.  Clicks can help give the story legs, so please take a minute to watch this short clip from Montana local media to find out more.  The speaker is one of our Four Directions peeps.

We have met our Montana fundraising goal!

Based on the needs on the ground we are moving back to Four Directions Nevada, where there is unique opportunity for us  to make a difference, funding organizing on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in Elko County, NV.  It’s a small tribe, but in Nevada, a few hundred additional votes could mean the difference between a win and a loss in Nevada.  I’d like to try to get them $20k, but until we clear a couple more of the existing thermometers off the board, we are setting the goal at $15,000.

OH MY GOSH, YOU GUYS DID IT!

YOU FINISHED OFF BLUE ARIZONA CANDIDATES IN JUST 45 MINUTES!

Our Blue Arizona Candidates thermometer is up to $32,000, and we are trying to get to $35,000 – to give each of our 7 key candidates $5,000.  An Angel has come forward to say that if you guys get the thermometer to $33,500 with donations of any amount, they will pop in the final $1,500.  Hoping we can get this done today!  Reminder about what’s a stake in AZ.
Whats at Stake in Arizona  (besides everything!)

  • 11 electoral votes for Harris
  • 2 flipped US House seats
  • Ruben Gallego’s Senate seat, which would help Dems keep the Senate.
  • Democratic majority in the AZ House instead of Republican control
  • Democratic majority in the AZ Senate instead of Republican control
  • a possible AZ democratic trifecta (governor, state House and state Senate)

 

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20% of Trillions is a lot

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The combined team at Petersen-KFF have a new data brief that looks at past, current and projected future national healthcare spending. There is one graph that leaps out at me. It is actual spending versus two different Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services projections from 2010 and 2015.

20% of Trillions is a lot -- difference in actual US national health expenditures vs projections
This is stunning!

The 2032 projection using current data is 2 trillion dollars or just over 20% less than what the 2010 projections updated with current growth rates would have projected. This is a massive positive fiscal wedge for the federal budget even as the uninsurance rate has been reduced by over 50%.

Now how that is happening is the source of numerous long monographs and energetic conference panels but pragmatically, it is a lot of deficit reduction pressure and budget cuts that Congress won’t feel like they need to make.

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