Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

People are weird.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Fight them, without becoming them!

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The willow is too close to the house.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

American History and Black History can not be separated.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

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Archives for 2024

Fool Them Thrice…

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It’s a good thing for House Republicans that they lack the capacity for shame. Otherwise, the revelation that Russian operatives have been leading them around by their dicks would cause them to die of it:

CNN — The former FBI informant charged with lying about the Bidens’ dealings in Ukraine told investigators after his arrest that Russian intelligence officials were involved in passing information to him about Hunter Biden, prosecutors said Tuesday in a new court filing, noting that the information was false.

Prosecutors also said Alexander Smirnov has been “actively peddling new lies that could impact US elections” after meeting with Russian spies late last year and that the fallout from his previous false bribery accusations about the Bidens “continue[s] to be felt to this day.”

Smirnov claims to have “extensive and extremely recent” contacts with foreign intelligence officials, prosecutors said in the filing. They said he previously told the FBI that he has longstanding and extensive contacts with Russian spies, including individuals he said were high-level intelligence officers or command Russian assassins abroad.

The GOP House committees have been a shit-show since they won their narrow majority and set off on multiple idiotic quests to make crackpot online conspiracy theories a thing in real life. They’ve been pantsed repeatedly, but they aren’t the only ones wearing egg masks.

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Go Ahead, Make My Day

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Watching this made my day.  I can barely stand to watch this sanctimonious prick, but he’s only on for 15 seconds, and then he takes a serious beating from none other than President Bartlet.

This was fun, too.

Another great Jasmine Crockett clip. Kamala Harris inspires her; she inspires me.

h/t TBone

Full 30-minute interview with Jasmine Crockett.

h/t NotMax

Anything you’ve seen recently that inspired you, that you might want to share?

Or not.  Totally open thread.

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Proud Democrat Open Thread: Madam Vice-President

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Victoria Brownsworth, at Philadelphia Gay News — “Black History Month: White Democrats Have a Kamala Harris Problem”:

… Replacement theory — the concept that Western elites, sometimes manipulated by Jews, want to “replace” and disempower white Americans — is a prominent conspiracy among white conservatives, particularly MAGAs.

It is this panoply of racist theories and their historical foundational legacy that underpins so much political discourse in the U.S. It’s also, arguably, behind the ongoing demand among white male pundits and some Democratic strategists to get President Biden to step out of the 2024 campaign or at the very least, change vice presidents to a white man, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, or even a white woman, like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Headlines like “Democrats have a Kamala Harris problem” and “Democrats’ weird answers on Kamala Harris” and “The Kamala Harris Problem” and “The Case for Biden to Drop Kamala Harris” abound — unprecedented in recent American politics.

The anti-Kamala caucusing has only escalated since 2020 when Biden was vetting vice presidential candidates. White male Democrats — the smallest voting bloc in the Democratic “Big Tent” — have not voted majority Democratic in any national election since LBJ passed that legislation, which was widely perceived as making him a “race traitor.” Yet, they still feel entitled to speak over and through Black women, who are the largest Democratic voting bloc.

The last all-white, all-male ticket in the Democratic party was in 2004 with John Kerry and John Edwards. That is also the first time Democrats have lost the popular vote since 1988…

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A place for everyone, and everyone in their place

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The Republican Party is more diverse than it once was, especially in places like Florida and Texas. But during a “thank you” call with supporters yesterday, failed presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said that while the party welcomes votes from racial and ethnic groups that fall outside the party’s solid vanilla core, those voters should be prepared stay in the back of the bus: (NBC)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told backers of his unsuccessful presidential bid Wednesday that former President Donald Trump should not play “identity politics” when picking a 2024 running mate.

“Now we have a diverse Republican Party. I want everybody in the fold, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t want people representing 10, 15% of the party being in the driver’s seat,” DeSantis said on a call with supporters, including those who had committed to serving as delegates for him at this year’s Republican National Convention, according to audio obtained by NBC News.

“So I would want somebody that, if something happened, the people that voted us in would have been pleased to know that they’re going to continue the mission,” DeSantis added. “I’m not sure that those are going to necessarily be the criteria that Donald Trump uses. … I have heard that they’re looking more in identity politics. I think that’s a mistake. I think you should just focus on who the best person for the job would be, and then do that accordingly.”

Wow. Okay, thanks for clarifying that.

NBC talked to one Republican who was on the call and who noted that invitees were people who had been recruited as DeSantis delegates for the 2024 convention. Given the timing, that person suspects DeSantis is keeping in touch in case the Trump campaign implodes before the GOP gathering in Milwaukee.

Could be! The Trump campaign wasn’t amused at the speculation:

“Ron DeSantis failed miserably in his presidential campaign and does not have a voice in selecting the next vice president of the United States,” Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in response.

On point for once. Open thread!

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On The Road – frosty – 3rd Annual National Park/COVID Challenge Part 2 – Lassen Volcanic National Park

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frosty

Here’s another visit where our travel schedule didn’t fit the National Park schedule. The scenic park road goes from 6,700 ft to 8,500 ft elevation and the park gets up to 30 ft of snow, so the road usually doesn’t open for traffic until June. There’s a loophole, though. Anything that’s plowed and passable is open to hikers and bikes. So we unloaded our eBikes and headed up (1,800 ft climb) for about eight miles.

Once we got past the first mile from the Visitor Center we only saw half a dozen hikers and five other bikes. And to be honest, even if we’d been there in summer we might not have done the visit much differently. Other than one nature trail there weren’t any hikes that we were prepared to tackle. So a traffic-free ride at our own pace was just as good or better.

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On The Road - frosty - 3rd Annual National Park/COVID Challenge Part 2 - Lassen Volcanic National Park 9
Lassen Volcanic NP, CA

Sulphur Works. Fumaroles, mudpots, and boiling springs, driven by groundwater heated by magma. This picture is one of the mudpots.

Late Night Open Thread: The Haley 2028 Campaign

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This is, IMO, an acceptably anodyne GOP response to the Alabama ruling. Whatever the retrograde revanchists might choose to believe, for every LGBT+ couple or unacceptable older woman trying for a family they ‘don’t deserve’, there are at least a dozen anxious normie couples who’ve cleaned out their 401ks, mortgaged their homes, and GoFundMe’d their families. The original petition was brought by three couples who wanted compensation for the accidental loss of their stored embryos. The ruling is already screwing up the plans & the lives of Alabama residents and their doctors, but insisting that frozen embryos are not just tissue is not a stance that will harm Haley’s chances, especially among Republican voters.

This remains the real problem for Haley, during this particular electoral cycle:

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War for Ukraine Day 728: President Zelenskyy Issues a Call for Unity

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A screen shot of NEIVANMADE's painting commemorating the Holodomor. The painting is of a loaf of brown bread with a candle in its center on a table or ledge in fromt of a window. Outside the window it is dark, but the shapes of people can be seen through the glass. "1932 - 1933" is above the top of the window. Below the table is the word "GENOCIDE".

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Just two quick housekeeping notes. First, today was a very long day, so tonight’s update will be brief(er). Second, almost every night for the past week someone in comments has asked if I’ve covered something or linked to it with an excerpt after asking if I’ve covered it. Every one of these was dealt with in a preceding update. I realize there’s a lot of material crammed into each of these updates and it is easy to lose something in the deluge, but please check before doing this. Also, if I’ve not covered something, it’s because I’m either saving it for another night or waiting to see further confirmation.

Splash one more Russian bandit:

There was a question last night about what weapons system Ukraine is using to bring down these Russian fighters and fighter bombers. The most likely answer are the Patriot batteries, which I think is what Jay suggested in a reply comment last night. If you all remember back to 2003 and 2004 in Iraq the US led Coalition Patriot batteries took out about a dozen F-16s in the space of a year and a half. I don’t remember the exact number. The reason for this was a flaw in the targeting software that made it impossible for the system to distinguish between an incoming enemy missile and a F-16. They eventually got a software patch and that solved the problem. But the system is certainly capable of being used as an anti-aircraft platform.

In his daily address today President Zelenskyy issued a call for unity to the leadership of Poland and Europe. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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