Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

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

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

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

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

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

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Petty moves from a petty man.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

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

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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

You are here: Home / Archives for 2024

Archives for 2024

Palate Cleanser, Anyone?

by | 119 Comments

This post is in: 

I thought we might need a palate cleanser after that obnoxious interview – it’s not good to go to bed mad.  Is it over yet?

Anyway, this seems like a good time to share a few more ditties and poems from the Aug 7 post.

SiubhanDuinne

To the tune of THE BLUE DANUBE WALZ

The melody calls
(Tim Walz, Tim Walz)
Resounds in the halls
(Tim Walz, Tim Walz)
The Orange One palls
(Tim Walz, Tim Walz)
His running mate galls
(Tim Walz, Tim Walz).

So Youse, Yinz, and Y’alls
(Tim Walz, Tim Walz)
Rejoice in the halls
(Tim Walz, Tim Walz)
Bring giggles and LOLs
Bring your balls
As we celebrate Tim Walz!

.

Math Guy

There once was a con man named trump,
Who the people decided to dump,
And replace with a man named Biden.
Soon Smith will come riden,
And trump will be hiden,
‘Cause there ain’t no mercy for that chump.

.

What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

There once was a mensch named Joe Biden
Who sent Donald Trump’s prospects slidin’
He swallowed his pride and then stepped aside
Now Harris and Walz high are ridin’
That’s all I got. More a limerick than an ode.

.

FastEdD

There once was a man with a couch
All viral media would vouch
He loved without measure
The cushions he’d pleasure
And even preferred to his spouse

.

K-Mo

All across this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing Taylor Swift, and people’s hearts are light;
Women and men are laughing, while  children shout again,
Mighty Casey moved the runner over; and Harris knocked him in.

Open thread!

Also, in case it gets pushed off the front page, here’s the link to the quilt raffle post from earlier today.
Raffle winners will be announced on Sunday, Sept 8.  Tickets available until then.

Palate Cleanser, Anyone?Post + Comments (119)

Thursday Night Open Thread

by | 251 Comments

This post is in: 

I have a cold so I did not do much today- I went to the gym, realized I wasn’t lethargic, I was sick, came home, and slept from 3 pm until just a little bit ago. Will test for covid in the morning.

As for young Rosie, I have no pictures of much of an update for you. She is sequestered in the purple room and sorting through some things. I went in and checked on her this morning, and then again at noon, and then just a few minutes ago to scoop litter and give fresh water and food. She’s hiding under the bed, and didn’t want to come out, so I just told her she is a good girl and left. She’s been through a lot so I am just not going to fuck with her and respect her boundaries. I will take her to the vet on Monday or Tuesday after she has had some time to adjust.

After I get her cleared at the vets I will put up a cathouse in there for her to use as a safe zone and then just leave the door open for her to explore if she wants and for the other cats to come in and get accustomed to her scent and her. And by other cats I mean Maxwell, because Steve does not give a fuck. After all these years with Steve I am convinced if he could talk the only thing he would say is “whatever” as he just cruises through life completely and totally unbothered by everything.

Y’all take care.

Thursday Night Open ThreadPost + Comments (251)

War for Ukraine Day 918: Today is the Ukrainian Day of Remembrance

by | 16 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

Screen shot of a mural of an eye shedding a tear/crying. The upper eyelid is painted in the blue of Ukraine's flag. The lower eyelid is painted in the yellow of Ukraine's flag. The mural was painted by the artist MyDogSighs.

(Image by My Dog Sighs)

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is still doing great. She has her next treatment on Tuesday. Thank you for all the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, still fried. So, I’m just going to cover the basics tonight so I can rack out.

Here’s the rundown on Ukrainian air defense from last night.

Overnight, Ukrainian air defenders repelled another massive russian air attack. The terrorists attacked peaceful cities with more than 70 aerial targets, including Shahed drones and Kh-59/69 missiles.

🇺🇦 air defense shot down 62 aerial targets:
◾️60 Shahed drones
◾️2 Kh-59/69 missiles

Thank you for the job done!

📷: Black Forest Brigade (Illustrative photo)

Today is the Ukrainian Day of Remembrance.

Today, Ukraine honors the memory of all its defenders—those who fought for our country, for Ukrainian independence, and gave the most precious thing—their lives.

On August 14, during these very days, the Russian occupier committed one of the most vilest crimes of this war—killing hundreds of our warriors near Ilovaisk. It was a planed, cynical Russian war crime that Ukraine will never forget and will never allow to go unpunished.

We will always remember those whose lives were taken by this war. And we will never forgive Russia for any Ukrainian life it has destroyed.

May the memory of all our heroes be eternal. I thank everyone who remembers, who honors their sacrifice, and who supports the families of our fallen warriors.

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

show full post on front page

War for Ukraine Day 918: Today is the Ukrainian Day of RemembrancePost + Comments (16)

Guest Post – Tony Jay: UK Election 2024 Catch-Up, Part III

by | 18 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Wrapping up the trilogy.

… Looking over the vote tallies in constituency after constituency, a pattern emerges that will be causing major shrinkage in the corridors of Government – apart for those parts of it who see in it an opportunity for more Drang Nach Rechts energy – because of how thin and ephemeral it makes newnewlabourinc’s victory look. Time and again newnewlabourinc picked up seats because the Tory vote halved and split, but despite all the Lefty-punching and the sucking up to Tory-friendly media by dropping every progressive policy in the manifesto like they were sand-ballast from a soaring hot-air balloon captained by a man who’d just bet his house, his family and his beloved horse Monty on reaching the Moon ahead of the French, those ‘hero voters’ Der Starmerpartei had been pursuing relentlessly since 2020 didn’t necessarily swing their way.

In most cases it looks like a few might have, but not many, while the furthest Right Tories jumped ship to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, splitting the righty vote and letting scores of centrally selected newnewlabourinc candidate-drones squeak in on a plurality with majorities thinner than a Trump intern’s resumé. Back in 2019 the opposite happened, when Farage and Flobalob reached an accommodation that saw the Froggy Fascist’s Brexit Party stand down in Tory held seats while running well-funded candidates in seats where Labour held the minority in the hope they could pick off ‘culturally conservative’ (read fucking racist) Labour voters who they thought would never vote Tory. There’s still disagreement over which side that strategy helped more, but this time around Farage definitely fucked the Right, not the Left, and absolutely crippled the Tories nationwide.

It’s also undeniable that the Labour vote went waaaay down, even though voting against Tories is pretty much the meat and potatoes of being a Labour voter. I guess all those sneering attacks from the Party’s Right painting left-wing, ‘urban’ voters (the Party’s most reliable) as childish emo-brats who didn’t understand politics and should fuck off to found their own loser Parties if they didn’t like the taste of the Plastic Peer’s netherglobes seems to have had the oh-so-unforeseeable effect of causing many left-wing, ‘urban’ voters to either fuck off to found their own Parties or just not vote at all. When the leadership of the Party you usually vote for repeatedly tells you that your priorities (more social spending, fixing the brutal welfare system, repairing the local government funding streams that the Tories broke, cutting off support for Israel and other rogue states, rebalancing inequality in education, etc) are too expensive and anathema to the voters it really wants (economically anxious about immigration, turgid for a strong military, flag-shaggingly pro-Monarchy) their demand that you shut your whining mouth and hand over that vote you don’t deserve but they let you have is… not conducive to enthusiastic turnout. Across the nation turnout was historically low, in Labour areas it was a full 5% lower.

show full post on front page

Guest Post – Tony Jay: UK Election 2024 Catch-Up, Part IIIPost + Comments (18)

The US Army Wants A Word With Cadet Bone Spurs

by | 151 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

Never mind…

Mistermix has this covered.

I’m just going to leave this image up, because I like it:


The US Army Wants A Word With Cadet Bone Spurs

A rare image of Donald J. Trump’s only known military decoration

OK– I’ll leave this too:

In related news, Trump lies. All the time. About everything. In the TikTok he posted of his Arlington visit–again in direct violation of laws and norms–he claimed that in the last 18 months of his term no US servicemen died in Afghanistan, and then under Biden, 13 got killed.

Bullshit top to bottom: 34 US service members died in-theater in 2019 and 2020. But you knew that?

Words cannot express how much I loathe Trump and all who stand with him. And I haven’t even got to Vance’s pathetic tough-guy stylings on this one.

Because I’ve got nuthin else…Open thread.

Image: Joao Estevao Andrade de Freitas, A Single White Feather Close-up, 2004

The US Army Wants A Word With Cadet Bone SpursPost + Comments (151)

Arlington Update

by | 124 Comments

This post is in: 

The Army released a statement:

The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery.

“Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the Army spokesperson said in the statement on Thursday. Section 60 is an area in the cemetery largely reserved for the graves of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve,” the statement said.

The Army spokesperson said while the incident was reported to the police department at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, the employee in question “decided not to press charges” so the Army “considers this matter closed.”

Of course the employee (apparently a woman) decided not to press charges:  she didn’t want to be doxxed and harassed by Trump’s Proud Boy / Q conspiracist tribe of feral assholes.

Anyway, I realize this is the third post about this story in 24 hours, but it encapsulates so much of the shit that we’ve endured since Trump’s escalator ride:  Rules don’t apply to him.  His minions immediately resort to violence when challenged.  Anyone who challenges them gets smeared, and they’re in mortal danger from his supporters.  He and his team lie and gaslight about the incident.  Unless it is obviously a big deal (like this incident) the press basically chalks it up to “Trump being Trump”.

The poor person who was shoved by one of Trump’s goons is by no mean the only person harmed here:

However, it wasn’t just the graves of those killed at Abbey Gate that were featured in photo and video from Trump’s visit. In at least one photo posted online, the grave of an Army Special Forces soldier who died by suicide is also featured; his family has since said they did not give the campaign permission to do so. The grave of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano, a Silver Star recipient, sits next to that of Marine Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover.

A statement from Marckesano’s sister on behalf of their family said that while they supported families of the 13 fallen “in their quest for answers and accountability regarding the Afghanistan withdrawal and the tragedy at Abbey Gate,” the Trump campaign “did not adhere to the rules” of Section 60.

“[A]ccording to our conversation with Arlington National Cemetery, the Trump Campaign staffers did not adhere to the rules that were set in place for this visit to SSGT Hoover’s grave site in Section 60, which lays directly next to my brother’s grave,” the statement from Michele Marckesano said. “We hope that those visiting this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom and that they are honored and respected accordingly.”

Even though the press is covering this more-or-less as well as they can, I’ll be surprised to find any account that contextualizes what Trump was trying to do here.  His multiple repeated comments about the Medal of Honor somehow being less than the Medal of Freedom prompted the press to write stories about his longstanding disrespect and disdain for the Military, calling them “suckers” and “losers”, as well as being unwilling to visit military cemeteries.  The campaign clearly thought this was a problem, so they staged a photo op on top of a soldiers’ grave, never mind that it’s illegal to do that, and the families of the other soldiers upon whose graves this group was standing didn’t consent to have them there.  It’s so fucking despicable at so many levels, but the key point is the one Harris made in her speech:  he is not a serious man and this event was an event staged by a non-serious man and his clown car of idiot minions.

Edit:  Chet Murthy linked a story in the comments that has one detail I forgot to mention:  Mike Johnson pressured Arlington to let Trump film there.

Arlington UpdatePost + Comments (124)

Speaking of the Native Vote

by | 85 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

via Four Directions, we have a QUEEN SIZE star quilt to raffle off!

The quilt was made by Linda Szabo, who is a member of Rosebud Sioux Tribe.  Linda Szabo also owns Soldier Woman Art Gallery.

Everything we raise will go to Four Directions to aid in their Montana efforts – we need Jon Tester to keep his seat!

Tickets are $25 each, and we hope to “sell” at least 200 tickets.

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

To “buy” a ticket, make your donation in the thermometer and send email to WaterGirl with your donation so you can be e entered into the raffle.    WaterGirl at balloon-juice.com

This is just for the raffle – we’ll be starting a fundraising effort for $30,000 for Four Directions as soon as they can line up an external match for us.  :-)

Note to all of us from OJ Seamans, who, along with his wife Barb, founder Four Directions.  They are co-directors, and their daughter Donna also plays a key role in Four Directions.

Pila maya pelo (Thank you)
Mitakuye Oyasin (We are all related)

OJ Semans Sr.

QUILT RAFFLE TICKETS ONLY

 

THIS THERMOMETER IS FOR DONATIONS – We have an external match for the first $15,000!  

We now have an external match for the whole $30,000!!

If Democrats win the White House in November, Peggy Flanagan is poised to become the country’s first female Native American governor.  Politico has an article about her.

Q: You mentioned Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids, two other Native American women who have had massive political accomplishments. You also have a background as a political activist. What are the biggest challenges in building Native American political power that you see?

A: There’s a lot of distrust of government systems for incredibly good reasons. That’s something that is absolutely a challenge, but it also provides an incredible opportunity. Native people — and I would say Native women — have been leaders since time immemorial. It is just modern society that is catching up.

Thankfully, we are beginning to see more Native people in elected office. But if we want to reach parity, we have to elect 17,000 Native people at all levels of government. I’m the co-founder of an organization called Advance Native Political Leadership, and it grew out of Wellstone Action and the Native American leadership program that we had there. This is an organization that is training Native people to run for office and to work on campaigns all across the country.

The Native vote makes a huge difference. We are strategically located in swing states all across the country. I think President [Joe] Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris were elected because of the Native community in Arizona. Ignore us at your peril. We are a really important voting block.

Oh, and speaking of Politico, I am giving them the middle finger for this headline, and article, currently on their front page: The 5 warning signs for Harris after the DNC.  (These are warning signs???)  They need to get some perspective.

Here are five obstacles the Harris campaign will need to address as the race kicks off in earnest.

  1. Tight polling.  (I’m sure all these new voters and young people are totally covered in the polling.)
  2. Harris still hasn’t sat for an interview.  (over-inflated sense of their own importance!)
  3. The debate debates. (As if it’s her fault because Trump is waffling?
  4. Where’s the policy?  (They want details they can pick at to derail the current upward trajectory.)
  5. Trump’s support from white men.  (Well, if white men support Trump, then she shouldn’t even run, right?)

Open thread.

Speaking of the Native VotePost + Comments (85)