Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

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

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

“But what about the lurkers?”

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Everybody saw this coming.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Everything All At Once (Again)

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread 10

(Ann Telnaes via GoComics.com)

A problem with the election being during hurricane season is that Republicans still remember how in 2012, Obama & Chris Christie collaborated to recover from Hurricane Sandy, which then helped Obama win reelection, & the lesson Republicans took from that is that they could never let it happen again

— Rep. Eric Gallager (no "h"!) (@egall.bsky.social) October 7, 2024 at 6:41 PM

Something for everybody… to criticize. As with Liz Cheney, I don’t have to consider the Bulwark’s Jill Lawrence as ‘one of us’ to accept her as an ally this year. “What the Right Gets Wrong About Kamala Harris”:

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COVID-19 Coronavirus & H5N1 Updates: October 9, 2024

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On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Deep Space in Glendale CA

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While this is called “On the Road” these shots were taken about 15 feet from my front door, but they depict objects far away from Glendale California.

Last year I attempted to shoot the Rosette Nebula with my then “new to me” Sony A7r and my old star tracker.  There are not many star visible in the sky here in Glendale, due to light pollution, so hopping from star to star to get to the target is not a viable option.  It took me over an hour to actually find the Rosette and my shot was less that impressive.

This experience made getting a mount with goto a priority for the coming year.  I got the Star Adventurer GTI in December of last year, but that only would be able to help me find targets in the sky, I still needed to cut though the light pollution.  In the Spring of this year, I got a clip-in filter for the A7r that only lets in several frequencies of light which helps to better see some objects in the sky, even in a light polluted area like Glendale.

A month and a half ago I got a small telescope which gave me greater reach as well as a small astro camera for even a narrower field of view.  All of these shots are about an hour if capture time, except where noted.

If you like my work, please consider joining my Patreon, it really helps alot.

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On The Road - 🐾BillinGlendaleCA - Deep Space in Glendale CA 7
Glendale, CAAugust 1, 2024

This is the Crescent Nebula(NGC6888), it looks like oblong ball sitting out in space.  This was one of the first targets I wanted to shoot once I had the greater reach with the telescope.  It was shot with the Sony A7r using a dual narrowband filter and processed to give a faux Hubble pallet look.

War for Ukraine Day 958: A Lot to Cover Tonight

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Two quick housekeeping notes. First, we’re still all doing okay here at the hotel. Rosie is lying on the bed next to her sister while I do this update. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, I’m going to keep this to the basics again tonight. I will hit the reporting from yesterday on Russian executions of Ukrainian POWs, which is a war crime. And I’m going to touch on some of the newly reported excerpts from Woodward’s new book.

I bet you cannot guess what Russia did in Kharkiv today?

Or in Kherson:

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

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Trump is Missing His Evita

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Trump is Missing His Evita

Trump is Missing His Evita 1

While we’re waiting for Milton to obliterate Florida, here’s a distraction.

I just finished listening to the Eva Perón five-part series on the podcast The Rest is History, and what a wild ride it is.  The Peronist flavor of authoritarianism has a lot in common with the Trumpist flavor, though of course the circumstances in mid-1940s Argentian were different than the circumstances in the mid-2010s.  Still, Perón was a vain person who was the subject of a cult of personality, his speeches were mostly bluster, and his ideology seemed “populist” but infinitely malleable.  No matter how nonsensical and contradictory he was, his supporters clung to him, just like Trump.  (I’m going to stop here because I’m no expert in Argentinian history.)

The really crazy part was Eva’s role in the Perón administration (especially after her death, where she was the subject of attention akin to a God).  A radio soap opera star, she didn’t know anything about politics.  Her role was to be the softer side of Peronism via her charitable works, and to feed and support the cult of personality around her husband.  She may have worked behind the scenes to support suffrage (granted in 1947), but that’s not clear.  But the massive cult of personality that surrounded her clearly helped Perón win re-election, and if she hadn’t died of cancer, who knows what would have happened to Perón’s administration.  (He was overthown in a coup shortly after her death.)

The kind of adulation surrounding Evita certainly has no parallel in Melania Trump.  She’s kind of a sour presence behind the scenes, who’s trotted out every so often in pointless attempts to soften up Trump’s image and/or grift (someone paid her $237,500 to address the Log Cabin Republicans, for example).  Case in point is her recently released biography, which has a full-throated defense of abortion rights.  Perhaps I’m living in a bubble, but there seems to be little or no interest in the book, and everyone realizes that her views on abortion don’t mean shit, since she and Donald clearly would have divorced a long time ago if he hadn’t run for President.

I mean, lucky for us, but still interesting that Republicans just can’t seem to even put forward a token effort to appeal to women.

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Successful Cat Rehoming Thread: Ms. Bunny Is Settling Down in Seattle

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Successful Cat Rehoming Thread: Ms. Bunny Is Settling Down in Seattle

An update from CCKids:

Satby asked that I send pics of Ms. Bunny to you when she had settled in from her scary plane/car experience on Tuesday. So here goes!

Ms. Bunny spent the first 36-48 hours straight-up hiding. She was back in a corner behind a desk and tower computer; I could lay on the floor on one hip, with an arm fully extended and stroke her a bit, and she’d even lean her head into my hand for scritches, but there is a short limit to my spine’s tolerance for that position.

By Thursday, though, she had moved to a more accessible hiding spot, under a dresser that’s missing its bottom drawer. If I sat by it and talked to her, she’d peek out but didn’t emerge until I tried a suggestion from Laurel, her former person’s daughter, and asked if she wanted to be brushed. And that brought her out. This makes her unique in my pet experience!

Successful Cat Rehoming Thread: Ms. Bunny Is Settling Down in Seattle 1

Friday was much the same, a gradual growth of trust, which sadly was violated when my landlord showed up to change my CO2 detector. Ms. Buns did not approve, and wedged herself behind a tall, heavy, FULL bookcase. After a few hours, it seemed that she was stuck, so I emptied it & shifted it enough so she could get out. Back to full-on under the bed hiding.

BUT, it seems that all my effort spent in furniture moving paid off, because Saturday when I called her name, she immediately came out, asking for pets & generally being super lovey. To my great surprise, when I fell asleep with a book Sat. night, I woke up to find her snuggled at my side. She’s a darling girl, and I’m so happy to have her here!

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Thank you Satby, for all your care and efforts. You’re fantastic!

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I think we can all agree that Satby — and CCKids — are fantastic!

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