Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

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

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

“Alexa, change the president.”

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Books are my comfort food!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

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

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

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

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

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Archives for 2024

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: President Biden, Hard At Work

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COVID-19 Coronavirus (& H5N1) Updates: July 17, 2024

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The complication here, as I understand it (every story I’ve read is too diffuse for an aggregation like this): The workers in this outbreak seem to have been infected by chickens carrying the specifically bovine strain of H5N1, not the ‘pandemic’ version that’s been killing birds and mammals all over the globe. If (big ‘if’) the strain that affects mammals is ‘mixing’ with its parent strain in poultry, the chances of a more virulent strain capable of human-to-human transmission increases greatly…

In coordination with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, the State Emergency Operations Center, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is now reporting a total of five human cases of avian influenza in workers responding to the avian flu outbreak at a commercial egg layer operation. CDC has confirmed four of the cases, and one additional case is presumptive positive and pending confirmation at CDC.

Three of these five cases confirmed by CDC are from the samples that CDPHE’s State Public Health Laboratory sent CDC on Friday, July 12 for confirmatory testing. The fourth case was an additional presumptive detected by the State Lab late Friday evening and has been confirmed by CDC. Samples for a fifth worker were presumptive positive at the State Lab on Saturday, July 13 and will be sent to CDC for confirmation. No additional test results are pending at this time.

The workers were culling poultry at a farm in northeast Colorado and exhibited mild symptoms, including conjunctivitis (pink eye) and common respiratory infection symptoms. None were hospitalized. State epidemiologists suspect the poultry workers’ cases are a result of working directly with infected poultry. The investigation is ongoing with support from CDC.

It is safe to eat properly handled and cooked poultry products. The proper handling and cooking of poultry, meat, and eggs kills bacteria and viruses, including avian flu viruses.

If you work with dairy cows or poultry that may have avian flu and you start to feel sick, seek medical care or call CDPHE at 303-692-2700 (after normal business hours: 303-370-9395). The Department can help you get a flu test and medicine if needed. More information about avian flu in humans is available at cdphe.colorado.gov/animal-related-diseases/hpai-h5n1.

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On The Road – Winter Wren – Falaise and Nearby Normandy Countryside

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Winter Wren

Starting the last week of May in 2015, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to take a six week family trip to Europe. We spent the first week vacationing in the Loire valley visiting the many chateaux and a final week vacationing in Rome. In between, we stayed for a month at a gite near the hamlet of Neuvy-au-Houlme outside of Falaise in Normandy. The gite was an apartment above a barn on an estate that raised show jumping horses.

We took day trips over long weekends to various nearby sights such as the Normandy Beaches, Mont St Michel, Bayeux, Etretat, Giverny, St. Malo and Paris. During the weekdays, we spent the morning closer to the gite and the afternoon and evening working remotely. We rented bikes and I spent many mornings biking through the countryside before lunch and work. Other mornings we would drive into Falaise to visit the market, shops, cathedral or castle. Following are some scenes from the local countryside and Falaise.

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On The Road - Winter Wren - Falaise and Nearby Normandy Countryside 8
Neuvy-au-HoulmeJune 9, 2015

The countryside was dominated by large cultivated fields of grains, legumes and hay along with apple orchards and pastures. Small hamlets like Neuvy-au-Houlme are interspersed throughout. Here is a field of some sort of grain on a bright day of sunshine – perfect for a bike ride.

Foreign (Grifter) Affairs Open Thread: Guo ‘Miles Kwok’ Wengwui Found Guilty of Fraud

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Back in 2017, the first time I posted about Guo Wengwui, then better known as Miles Kwok, the NYTimes article was headlined “As Trump Meets Xi at Mar-a-Lago, There’s a ‘Wild Card’”. (I thought it read like “a Trollope novel, as written by John le Carre.”) Guo Wengwui came to my attention again in July 2019, in March 2023 (when he was arrested alongside his crony Steve Bannon), and in April 2023 (when he was denied bail, and accused of ‘subsidizing Bannon & Giuliani’). Today, the Associated Press reports, “Self-exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui convicted of defrauding followers after fleeing to US”:

Guo Wengui, a self-exiled Chinese business tycoon whose criticism of the Communist Party won him legions of online followers and powerful friends in the American conservative movement, was convicted by a U.S. jury Tuesday of engaging in a massive multiyear fraud that ripped off some of his most devoted fans.

Once believed to be among the richest people in China, Guo was arrested in New York in March of 2023 and accused of operating a racketeering enterprise that stretched from 2018 through 2023.

Over a seven-week trial, he was accused of deceiving thousands of people who put money into bogus investments and using the money to preserve a luxurious lifestyle. He was convicted of nine of 12 criminal counts, including racketeering conspiracy.

Guo’s lawyers said prosecutors hadn’t proven he’d cheated anyone…

“It’s not a crime to be wealthy,” [Guo lawyer] Kamaraju said. “It is not a crime to live in luxury or to spend money on nice things. It’s not a crime to have a yacht or a jet or to wear nice suits. It may not be our lifestyle. It may be odd. It may even be off-putting to some, but it’s not a crime.”

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War for Ukraine Day 874: Ukraine Falls Back from Krynky

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A painting by Ukrainian artist NEIVANMADE. The words "NEVER AGAIN" are repeated over and over, from left to right and top to bottom, in a faded, washed out black against a white background. Red, the color of blood, runs and drips down across 2/3rds of the painting. "WHILE YOU TOLERATE TYRANTS" is written/painted in the bottom white corner below the three rows of "NEVER AGAIN".

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Quick housekeeping note: Rosie is still doing very well in her week off between treatments. Thank you all, again, for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Last night commenter strange visitor (from another planet) asked:

 have two questions:

1) how come the tank in the Spanish tweet isn’t a leopard 2 A4?
2) is the YouTuber Anders Puck Nielsen a reliable source?

Sorry I didn’t answer last night, I had racked out by the time you posted your questions. I think the answer to question 1 is that they used a stock photo in the tweet. As to Nielsen, he is a captain in the Royal Danish Navy who is assigned to the Royal Danish Defense College. I’ve used some of his posts before and I have no reason to believe he is not reliable. That said, I only use YouTube to watch music videos, so I can’t speak to anything in his or anyone else’s videos there. Also, I don’t listen to podcasts, nor do I do audiobooks.

Krynky, Russian occupied Kherson Oblast:

Ukrainska Pravda has the details:

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the village of Krynky on the left (eastern) bank of Kherson Oblast.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources in Ukraine’s Marine Corps; Suspilne, Ukraine’s public broadcaster, with reference to a source in the defence forces

Details: The military reports that this happened several weeks ago.

Earlier, DeepState analysts reported that the Russians had occupied the village of Urozhaine in Donetsk Oblast.

Background: 

Ukrainian troops gained a foothold in Krynky in October 2023. Since then, the Russian forces have tried to drive the Ukrainian forces out of Krynky almost every day, as regularly mentioned in the daily reports of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

First, it is amazing that Ukraine managed to maintain OPSEC on this. Second, the Ukrainian Marines held Krynky for a long time and bled the Russians heavily before they performed this reported retrograde to their fallback position across the Dnipro.

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

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Tuesday Night Open Thread

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Busy one today. Some work, then some quality tractor time, then I hit the gym for a couple hours and swam, walked, and did resistance training in the pool. Got a nice dry sauna afterwards, then a cold shower, and I felt like at least a hundred bucks. Afterward hit the farmers market and got some more tomatoes and cukes and candy onions, and headed on home.

And now, a couple hours later, I am here to tell you that this fat motherfucker is stiff. I think I used muscles I have not used in years, and swimming laps I felt like I was dragging an anchor or something. That extra ballast I picked up over the years is not helping.

But I feel good, and I know that tomorrow it will be a bit easier, and the next day easier still.

Wish everything in life worked that way.

And no I have not watched one second of RNC coverage because fuck those deplorables.

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Open Thread: Biden Remarks Today

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Because no way am I listening to anything coming out of Milwaukee today. Not to stomp all over Anne Laurie, just offering an alternative.

This was from earlier today. I’m listening now because I heard it was a good speech (I tried to cue it up at the 1:10 mark when the speakers begin)

HAPPENING NOW: Join me and Congressman Horsford as we speak in Las Vegas

This is supposed to start shortly…

Open thread

ETA: OMG

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