Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

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

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

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

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

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

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Be a wild strawberry.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

We will not go back.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

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

The willow is too close to the house.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

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

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

You are here: Home / Archives for 2024

Archives for 2024

Paging IvanX – No, Make That Front-Paging Ivan X

by | 167 Comments

This post is in: 

IvanX, I have always liked you!  And now even more so.

IvanX

Ok, like, I know I’m being stupid and naïve, but can we not make it so hot and personal in these threads?

Can we not call each other names and insults? We’re all readers of this blog. We might be getting on each others’ nerves, but can we not flay each other?

A) there are a lot of people here who are relieved and/or happy it’s Harris and not Biden. I’m in this camp.

B) there are a lot of people here who are angry it’s Harris not Biden, and feel they, and Biden, were cheated because of how things went down. I’m certainly sympathetic to people in this camp.

The B) camp has had barely a day to process their feelings about a shocking change of situation. I think they’re entitled to some rage and hurt for a period of time. When TaMara tried to give them a space for it, which I see nothing wrong with, I think it’s true that the a) camp came in and told them why they should feel differently. But at the same time, the B) camp has been telling the a) camp why *they* should feel differently, and should instead feel shitty about accepting an undemocratic process that trivializes their participation thus far.

We are not gonna get very far by telling each other how to feel. It’s just not gonna work. We’re definitely not going to get very far with outright hostilities. Let people mourn and grieve, and let people express their relief or happiness. Just keep on scrollng! It doesn’t cost you anything. We are not all gonna feel understood by each other, right now, and we don’t all need to.

WE ARE ALL IN THIS AGAINST TRUMP.

Please, can we let everyone feel the way they feel, and give the wounded some space, so that we move the fuck on and elect Democrats around this country?

 

Paging IvanX – No, Make That Front-Paging Ivan XPost + Comments (167)

War for Ukraine Day 880: Russia Attacks A Nikopol School with Flechette Rounds!

by | 18 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

A quick housekeeping note. Rosie had her second treatment of round three today. So far she’s doing great. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

The Russians shot flechette rounds into a school in Nikopol today.

Euromaidan Press has the details:

On Saturday, 20 July 2024, Russian forces targeted a school in Ukraine’s Nikopol district, Dnipropetrovsk oblast, using artillery shells containing flechettes – thousands of sharp steel darts designed to inflict maximum damage on human targets.

Yevhen Yevtushenko, head of the Nikopol District Military Administration, reported the attack on Telegram on Sunday. He stated, “Yesterday, the Russians shelled a settlement of the Marhanets community with tube artillery. Many shells hit an educational institution.”

The school suffered significant damage, but fortunately, no casualties were reported. Yevtushenko emphasized that this was not an isolated incident, noting that the villages of Illinka and Dobra Nadiia “suffer from armed aggression almost daily.”

The use of flechette rounds in this attack is particularly concerning. These artillery shells can contain up to 9,000 small, sharp darts capable of causing severe injuries and fatalities. Yevtushenko highlighted the indiscriminate nature of these weapons, stating, “By shelling a settlement where civilians live, the occupiers used ammunition designed for maximum damage to people.”

This incident is not the first time flechettes have been used in the area. Yevtushenko revealed that over two years of shelling, residents of coastal settlements have frequently found these darts on streets, fences, roofs, and vehicles, underscoring the ongoing danger to civilians even after attacks have ceased.

The attack on the school in Marhanets community serves as a stark reminder of the continued threat faced by Ukrainian civilians in areas near the front lines, as the war in Ukraine enters its third year since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

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 880: Russia Attacks A Nikopol School with Flechette Rounds!Post + Comments (18)

Monday Evening Open Thread: A Dish Best Served *Cold*

by | 238 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

I want to post a President Biden appreciation thread, but I figure I’d get this out of the way first.

We’ve all got genuine, reasonable doubts about the average American voters’ misogyny / racism, but here’s the thing: People who survive smallpox are immune for life — to *all* the various poxes. Back in 2016, even though Hillary got millions more votes, TFG was able to eke out an electoral-college victory because of a combination of basic sexism, years of GOP anti-Clinton propaganda, boatloads of foreign money, and the weight of James Comey’s thumb on the scales. Every bad thing that’s happened over the last eight years has spotlighted *just* how dishonest and destructive the GOP was, is, and wants to continue to be. They’ve gone mask off, and the sight is uglier than late-period Darth Vader.

***********

I endorse this as the wisest of the *many* hundreds of comments I’ve read here in the past several days. Thank you, (original & significant) commentor Martin:

The last 9 years have been a real shitshow – things happening that don’t make sense, lack of leadership, lack of control…

When this happens, we try and anchor ourselves on things that are known and stable and predictable. Reject public outings, embrace knitting. Joe was one of those known and stable and predictable things in 2020. And now that’s (sorta) gone. This place, even more than Joe, is many people’s anchor thanks to our FPers, the familiarity we’ve built among the commentators, etc. Don’t throw that away – we’re all going to need it.

show full post on front page

Monday Evening Open Thread: A Dish Best Served *Cold*Post + Comments (238)

RIP Steeplejack

by | 76 Comments

This post is in: , ,

God damnit. I missed the news yesterday that longtime commenter and valuable member of the blog passed. My only excuse (other than that I am a clod) is I didn’t check the blog until after I had been to the gym and it was 2 o’clock and some other stuff had happened that you may have heard about.

Regardless, this is terrible news and I feel horribly for his family. It’s kind of awful being in this phase of life and having to watch so many good people you know die. In your twenties you watch everyone get married and then in the late 20’s they have their kids, early 30’s is the first round of divorces, late 30’s the second marriages, the 40’s you watch peers die freakishly young and the adults you grew up loving and respecting start dropping like flies, and then in your fifties it feels like death is lurking around the corner for someone you love. And it stays like that until either you drop dead or get so old that there is no one left your age. Cruel.

Steeplejack was a good friend of the blog, always present, always participating, always decent. I’d like to have everyone take a moment to share their favorite comments and memories, and maybe when the grief has died down a bit we can have a remembrance and those who knew him best can share their thoughts.

RIP, man.

RIP SteeplejackPost + Comments (76)

Trumpers are Shitting Themselves

by | 457 Comments

This post is in: 

Josh Kovensky at TPM:

Within hours of President Joe Biden withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsing Kamala Harris to run in his stead, Donald Trump had a response: It was all very unfair.

It’s his classic MO, leaning wantonly into personal grievance when nothing else will do. Biden, Trump suggested, was lying about having COVID. The Republican Party, he said, should “be reimbursed for fraud” because it had been so grossly misled.

And, Trump added, he would no longer agree to the terms of the next debate. He’d rather it be held on friendly turf – Fox News – effectively signaling that he’s dropping out of the next debate as currently scheduled.

It was a cacophony of a reaction from one man, but it’s reflective of the broader response on the far right to Harris becoming the likely Democratic nominee. In the hours after Biden announced that he would withdraw, Republicans from Trump on down flailed for a response. Some Republicans expressed anger, while others were visibly baffled by how to react to the shift. Many reacted by suggesting that the shift from Biden to Harris itself was illegitimate, calling the President’s withdrawal from the race a “coup” and proclaiming that they’re actually running against a system, not a candidate.

Trump’s campaign was sitting around huffing each others’ farts while looking at the polls and high-fiving.  Now things have changed and they’ll have to work.  Unfortunately, they’re not very good, especially when trying to twist their instinctual response to a black woman into something that doesn’t sound like 1950’s Jim Crow racism.  Once they lock in on the exact way that Republicans should hate Harris, it’s going to get ugly, but right now it’s pretty damn entertaining to see them struggle.

Edit:  I forgot to mention how JD stepped into it, as mentioned by numerous commenters:

“We’re effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via the corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too. It’s just a basic fact. You have Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. How does that make any sense when we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t have a direct stake in it.”

It really takes some jumbo-brained political talent to shit on adoptive parents (Buttigieg) and step parents (Harris) by calling them “childless”.   Masterful.

Trumpers are Shitting ThemselvesPost + Comments (457)

Take a Breath and Take Care

by | 183 Comments

This post is in: 

I hate bullies.

Which is one of the reasons I hate what they did to Biden so much.

I see we’ve moved into the get over and get to work phase of the fucking over of Democracy.  Look, I love Kamala Harris, she was my choice in the 2020 primaries until she dropped out. Then I was all in for Biden.  AND I will be fighting for her like I would fight for Biden in 2024. I have a lot of anger to channel into this fight.

BUT, don’t kid yourself, this is a body blow for Democracy – and the outcome in November will determine if she survives the back-to-back blows of an attempted coup, the takeover of the courts, and the nulling of 14 million primary voters.

Every. Word. Of. This.

Two weeks ago I said that the Anti-Biden Brigade has it really easy. If he drops out and we win they can say ‘I told you so.’ If he drops out and we lose they can say ‘He should have done it sooner.’ If he stays in and loses they can say ‘I told you so.’ If he stays in and wins they can say ‘Our pressure made him work harder.’ Over and over. Every angle makes them heroes. Now here we are and all of us who opposed them, and the absolute chaos they cheered on, are busting our asses to pull together a coalition to win. Everyone to a person on this side has said “it’s time to pull back together and get to work. Recriminations can come later.” But…nope. Many have spent the last 24 hours saying “we were right! Look at how it’s working. We told you!” It’s working because millions of us are pissed off that we have wasted a month and want to get back to defeating Trump. So, sincerely. Shut the F up and get back to work. You got your wish. You fucked Joe Biden. A decent man. You aren’t the victims here. Now you are just a bunch of petty dicks. Im sorry some people were mean to you because you decided your full time job, for money, was to brigade a good man out of his job. Don’t fucking compare us to MAGA. We aren’t the ones that shit on our own side.
7:02 AM • Jul 22, 2024

So, if folks are telling you to get over it and get on board, I’m here to tell you, feel what you feel, grieve, be angry, walk away until you are where you need to be emotionally. Don’t let anyone bully you into thinking or feeling you have to rush this or you are somehow less-than if you need more than a minute to process the betrayal. I know you’ll come out fighting for VP Harris. I also understand the need for a breather before you do.

Take a breath and take care of you, please. We will need you in the fight.

That’s what I’m going to do. Step away from here for a while and focus on other things that are important to me and that bring me joy. But I didn’t want to disappear without leaving you with resources for respite. ‘Cause you know, I’m respite girl.

show full post on front page

Take a Breath and Take CarePost + Comments (183)

The Real Danger is Still Out There

by | 282 Comments

This post is in: 

My Take

I was traveling from Friday to last night, and the only political media I saw was AOC’s post to Instagram, which was nearly an hour of her take on the whole Biden issue, which I think she posted late on Thursday.  I think that post is still relevant, because she made some points about what might happen if Biden dropped out that are important:

  1. Early voting in some states starts as early as sometime in September.  That’s 2 months away.
  2. No serious Democrat who hopes to be President someday will want to be the nominee of an open convention.  It’s political suicide because they’d be starting from zero 2 months from the start of early voting.  So an open convention will yield a mediocre candidate, at best.
  3. The Ohio issue means that Democratic delegates will be voting in a virtual convention the week after next, and there’s no way in hell we should trust a Republican official in Ohio to be fair to Democrats.
  4. Even if we believe that we can delay the delegate vote until the non-virtual convention, Michigan’s deadline to have a name for the ballot is the day after the convention, which means an open convention is a real risk since it could drag on past that date.
  5. The pundits, donors and Democrats influenced by them who are advocating for an open convention are not advocating for Kamala Harris — they want someone else.
  6.  Delegates are pledged to support Biden and are generally very loyal to him — and having them vote is inherently risky because they might be pissed.  (I don’t think this is happening.)
  7. Trump is beatable and the Democrats whispering that they’re prepared for a Trump win should STFU and resign.

So a big risk of Biden dropping out wasn’t Kamala Harris per se — it was the chaos that the chaos agents were generating in hopes of replacing Harris on the ticket.  I think the donors who gave her ~$90 million in the last 24 hours sent a hell of a message to anyone who thinks an open convention is still a possibility.  Still, there are senior Democrats who aren’t listening.

Among them are Obama, who did not endorse Harris and said “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges” in his written statement.  Media is interpreting that as a call for an open convention.  I’m not so sure, but I see little wisdom in dragging out his endorsement of the obvious nominee.  Schumer, Jeffries and Pelosi have not endorsed Harris, that I’ve seen.  Perhaps we can chalk that up to them checking in with the caucus.  Still, we don’t have the luxury of infinite time to dream up some Aaron Sorkin horseshit process.  We need to get all of our wood behind the Harris arrow.

To me, this is the real danger that is still lurking — the people and pundits who want to replace the person who was Biden’s clear choice for VP, someone whom every primary voter knew was his potential replacement, with an unknown and probably mediocre candidate.  If any of your Democratic members of Congress are waffling or silent on a Harris endorsement, I’d give them a call and give them a piece of your mind.

One final lesson from AOC’s video. She made a sharp distinction between pundits and whisperers who were advocating that Biden drop out, versus concerned Democratic voters who wanted Biden replaced.  She thought we should reserve our anger for the former, not the latter.  This is how I feel, too.  There are a number of fair-minded, long-time commenters who thought Biden should be replaced with Harris.  Those people took a lot of shit in the comments.  Well, here we are, and we need to get along, because we all want to win in November.  I’m pissed about the way the pundits and whisperers acted, and I’m keeping my list.  But we don’t have time to have a fight about this, or withdraw from working on the campaign.  There’s too little time and too much at stake to continue fighting about it.  Harris is our candidate now, and we need to support her full stop, especially since her candidacy is still in danger.

Update:  Pelosi just endorsed Harris.

The Real Danger is Still Out TherePost + Comments (282)