Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

“Alexa, change the president.”

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

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

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Second rate reporter says what?

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

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

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

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

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

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

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

We still have time to mess this up!

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

The willow is too close to the house.

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Saturday Mid-Day Open Thread

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Felt strong enough to go for a boat ride this week for the first time in ages!

Sky, trees, river

That felt good! Being out there beats watching the river from the porch, though the latter is a favorite activity for sure.

When it comes to health, I believe in science, not woo-woo bullshit. But I do swear by the healing power of nature.

We saw a Black-Crowned Night Heron along the way:

Heron lurking in a swamp

It was the biggest we’d ever seen by a considerable margin. The Victor Wembanyama of BCNHs!

Today we’re having some friends over and watching college football. Georgia vs. Clemson up first (Go Dawgs, I guess), then the main event: Florida vs. Miami.

White Birds, Dark Swamp (Open Thread)

Go Gators!

Open thread!

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Balloon Juice Peeps are Invited to a Sept 5 Four Directions Event in NYC

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Zoom With Four Directions Set for Thursday at 7 pm ET

*****

This is the second year in a row that they have offered to fly me to NYC to talk about Balloon Juice at their big event.  It’s so kind of them to offer to do that, and that’s a good indication, I think, of how much Four Directions values us here at Balloon Juice.  So take a bow, everybody.  No, I’m not going; I would have to buy new shoes!  :-)

Also, we have a new Angel match for $1,000!  Matching up to $100 per person, until we hit $1,000.  To count toward the match, tell us about your donation in the comments or send email to WaterGirl.

Because Four Directions found an external match for us, and we have a Balloon Juice Angel, these donations are 4x.

Open thread!

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Readership Capture

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A little wishcasting, as a holiday weekend treat:

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Late Night Open Thread: Just Another Trump Desecration

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Late Night Open Thread: Just Another Trump Desecration

(Nick Anderson via GoComics.com)

From the reporter who broke the story originally:

And, of course, TFG’s loyal GOP “legislators” were in on the grift all along. Mr. Pierce, at Esquire:

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Open Thread (Hey Night Shift, Want to Get in on the Donation Action?)

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This morning we announced the official start of our Four Directions Montana fundraising!  As we all know, Montana is about keeping Jon Tester’s senate seat, as well as helping Native people have more of a voice in elections.  Besides being “boots on the ground for the Native vote”, Four Directions also litigates – and often wins – on their behalf.

I got word late yesterday that Four Directions has fund a match for the full $30,000 we are trying to raise!  

Two Angel matches – Marleedog and anonymous – plus donations from the day shift – have gotten us to $7,500 in the donation thermometer!  We have a new Angel match this evening – and friend of the blog, Andrew will match up to $2,000 overnight.

Matching up to $100 per person, to count toward the match, tell us about your donation in the comments or via email to me.   With the external match and the Angel match, these are 4x donations!

THIS LINK IS FOR MONTANA DONATIONS – NOT FOR THE RAFFLE

 

Also: raffle tickets for the quilt will be available until Sunday evening, 9/8.

The quilt was made by Linda Szabo, who is a member of Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

Raffle tickets are $25 each.

Here’s the link to buy raffle tickets and see the full quilt raffle announcement and details.

Open Thread & New $1,250 Angel Match for The Civics Center

Open thread!

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War for Ukraine Day 919: Kharkiv Burns

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Painting by NEIVANMADE. It has a white background an in the center are Soldiers in green doing air defense by firing at incoming Russian missiles in the upper right. The missiles are red and yellow. In the upper left, written in green, is the text: "SAVE THE BRAVEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!" Below the Soldiers, also written in green, is "SUPPORT FOR KHARKIV"

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is doing great. She’s a little bummed because it keeps monsooning and when not deluging, it is hot and humid. Her next treatment is Tuesday. It is the first of her final round of chemo. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, despite sleeping much of the day, I’m still fried. Part of that is I spent most of the week dealing not just with bureaucracy, but also the petty bureaucrats. I never had much patience for that to start with. I have almost none now. As a result, the bill has come do and I have to pay for the amount of energy that I had to expend to get through the week. We’ll be sticking to the basics tonight so I can go back to sleep as soon as I hit publish.

All of eastern and central Ukraine, with the exception of Mykolaiv Oblast, are under air raid alert as of 8:10 PM EDT/3:10 AM local time in Ukraine. The alert maps are not indicating that Russian bombers are in the air, so this is likely another drone swarm attack.

Russia unloaded on Kharkiv again today.

The Russian strike on Kharkiv directly on people, on ordinary house. All services are currently engaged in the rescue operation. I thank everyone who is helping to save lives at this moment.

This strike was carried out using a Russian guided aerial bomb—a strike that could have been prevented if our Defense Forces had the capability to destroy Russian military aircraft at their bases. We need strong decisions from our partners to stop this terror.

This is an absolutely legitimate need. There is no rational reason to limit Ukraine’s defense. We need long-range capabilities and the full implementation of air defense agreements for Ukraine. These are life-saving measures.

Russian airstrike on Kharkiv on August 30th killed at least 7 people and injured 77, including 18 children, according to the State Emergency Service. Search and rescue operation continues.

Among the killed was a 14-year-old girl whose father went missing on the Donetsk front.

A fire covering an area of over 1500 square meters in a 12-story residential building, caused by the Russian strike, was localized at 7:20 PM. The State Emergency Service continues to extinguish it

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

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Friday Evening Open Thread: A Genuine Shock To Some Pundits’ Systems

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A woman with over 20 years of elected experience is being portrayed by the right as unprepared or unqualified.

A woman with a book (mostly about policy), a mountain of legal and legislative writings, and decades of policy positions that became law—yet they’re hinting she’s “light on policy” while her opponent, who’s never faced a follow-up question, gets a free pass.

This is all code speak. ” You don’t fit our model of leadership. You don’t belong.

It’s actually worth watching the whole six-minute video, though, if you want (it seems to me like) a good explanation of how pollsters are doing their mysterious jobs. (If you disagree, by all means let me know!)

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