Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

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

In my day, never was longer.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

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Non-Political Open Thread: Also in Atlanta, the Copa América (Soccer)

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Will Leitch, at NYMag — “The U.S. Men’s Soccer Team Is Excellent. Does Anyone Care?”:

Last Thursday, my soccer-obsessed 10-year-old son and I sat in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and witnessed 70,000 people humming the Argentine national anthem together. This was just before the first game of the Copa América, the South American soccer tournament hosted this year by the United States, and almost everyone in the stands wore the national jersey of reigning World Cup champions Argentina. The true attraction, of course, was Lionel Messi, the most famous athlete in the world. That a crowd this massive could gather in Georgia to cheer him on may have once been surprising, but certainly isn’t any longer. Last year, SSRS, a research firm that’s been surveying Americans for three decades, found that the most popular athlete in this country was not LeBron James, Tom Brady, or Stephen Curry, but Messi. Some portion of the crowd was surely singing along to the anthem in what must have been a profoundly moving moment for any Argentinian in attendance. But most of us were just humming along. We didn’t know the words. We didn’t speak the language. We were just there to see Messi.

This week, the United States men’s national team (USMNT) will play its second Copa América match, also in Atlanta. I’ll be attending that as well, and let me tell you: Tickets are a lot cheaper. This is partly understandable: The U.S. is playing Panama, not Messi and Argentina, after all. But as someone who attended the last game the USMNT played in Atlanta, a miserable Gold Cup loss in 2015 to Jamaica at the since-demolished Georgia Dome, the lack of anticipation for the U.S. men’s national team playing in Atlanta — a city that has, in the years since that Gold Cup loss, launched a highly successful, championship-winning MLS team that regularly plays some of the most well-attended soccer games on earth — is palpable. Eight years ago, the Georgia Dome was packed with maniacs dressed up like Benjamin Franklin and wearing T-shirts with bald eagles on them; this week, I can’t find anyone around here who even knows the team is playing…

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Post-Debate Thread

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Post-Debate Thread

Well, unfortunately, my wife, a normie, wanted to watch the debate.  We watched it together.  Here’s my frank take:

  • Biden looked terrible.  Bronzer!
  • The moderation was awful.  An 8th grader could have done as well by watching the clock and reeling off questions.  This is especially true when you have a liar like Trump involved.
  • Biden perked up towards the end but overall I think he missed the mark.  He tried to pack too much into every question and that worked against him.
  • Trump did his best to lose by circling back on things that pricked his ego.  He also spouted a bunch of nonsense that might turn off people who have a clue.
  • Biden’s closing statement didn’t mention the word “abortion”.  That was a miss.

Overall, I think debates don’t matter that much, and this one matters less since we’re a long way from the election.  But, we all should steel ourselves for a negative turn in the polls and bad media reactions.  This was not a good debate for Joe Biden.  He stumbled at the start and recovered pretty well.  This was not a good debate for CNN.  They allowed Trump to platform lies with basically zero pushback.  If it wasn’t a good debate for Biden, and it wasn’t a good debate for CNN, we have to recognize that it was a good debate for the other person on the stage. I don’t think debates matter that much, but here we are.

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Presidential Debate Open Thread — Part II

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Presidential Debate Open Thread -- Part II

(Clay Jones via GoComics.com)

 
Starting this during the first commercial break. President Biden, I have to agree, did *not* get off to a good start — his voice is very raspy, and he looks less than well-rested. And if Trump had actually had an ankle monitor that went off every time he lied, it would’ve been the Clay Jones cartoon personified.

I take heart in knowing most ‘viewers’ will see only clips and recaps, and Biden’s actual responses are sound. (He could’ve supported abortion rights more whole-heartedly, but he’s an elderly Irish Catholic.) Trump’s base will love his Gish gallop, but The Base would’ve applauded if Trump had staggered on stage naked but for a diaper and proceeded to throw its contents…

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War for Ukraine Day 855: The Aftermath of Last Night’s Bombardments

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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)

Quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is still doing excellent. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, because of the debate this evening, I’m going to keep this short.

Here’s the accounting from last night’s bombardments.

Tallyho!

A Ukrainian Mikoyan MiG-29 launches two AASM-250 bombs against Russian positions in Russia’s Belgorod region….

…and color me surprised, there’s no “MAJOR NUCLEAR ESCALATION” or “WORLD WAR III”.

What happens in reality is Ukraine fighting back and making Russia sustain losses and become less capable of continuing and escalating its war on Ukraine.

That’s the way a war of defense works, as opposite to the brain-dead “SURRENDER NOW, ALL KNEEL TO PUTIN” cult on X.

Last night in comments David The Establishment Koch asked:

Any thoughts on Assange.   Was this part of a below the surface exchange?

Second question first: Not that I’m aware of. He’s an Australian national and since they’re not holding any Americans, I have no idea who we’d be exchanging him for.

Overall, while I’m not a fan of the Espionage Act, but Assange was never a journalist and never an honest broker. He did significant damage to the US and our allies. I don’t know if five years in a British prison sufficient punishment. I do know that Assange is incorrigible and I fully expect he’ll get himself in trouble again in short order.

Well this happened:

Who could have possibly imagined?

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

show full post on front page

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Presidential Debate Open Thread: At Last, the Showdown

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Presidential Debate Open Thread: At Last, the Showdown

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)

CNN is (more than) ready to rumble.

The Washington Post‘s liveblog is here.

The Guardian‘s is here. (They report that TFG showed up in Atlanta, so that’s one hurdle down.)

Politico ran down every ‘expert’ they could winkle a ‘contrasting viewpoint’ from, and I found this one mildly interesting:

Philippe Reines, longtime Hillary Clinton adviser who played Trump in her 2016 debate preparations: I’ll be watching the introduction and their walking on stage. These two haven’t seen each other in 1,343 days. They’re not fond of each other. Plus, Trump will be triggered in ways he might not even realize. When’s the last time he wasn’t the biggest big shot in the room? He’ll be introduced as a “former” — which probably doesn’t happen at Mar-a-Lago weddings or UFC MMA events. His plane will have had to idle in deference to Air Force One. His motorcade is smaller. The animosity will be seismic and immediate. As Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the face. Don’t discount the impact of such emotionality on a candidate’s performance. It would manifest itself differently in each. Such a dynamic would redound to President Biden’s favor. Not so much for the former.

One concern is in an area I can’t believe I’m saying with a straight face: Policy. Unless Trump is muted for all 90 minutes, the lies will fly. So it might seem to viewers like a blow landed when in fact he threw a punch below the belt that Biden and the moderators couldn’t process fast enough to call bullshit. This is the type of attack Trump relishes and relied on during the 2015 Republican primary season.

Presidential Debate Open Thread: At Last, the Showdown 1

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

 
CNN reports that Trump has ensured a fierce post-debate defense of his performance by enticing all his potential running mates into the fray:

The jockeying to be Donald Trump’s vice president will be on full display tonight, as his surrogates take to the spin room following the debate.

All of Trump’s potential vice presidential picks are planning to flood the airwaves in defense of the former president.

Sens. Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance as well as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — who CNN recently reported has emerged at the top of Trump’s list — will be in attendance.

Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Tim Scott, and Reps. Elisa Stefanik and Byron Donalds, all of whom have done some version of vetting for the job will also be in the room.

Trump has said that he has chosen his vice president, but has not shared this with anyone close to him. Sources said he was likely to announce his choice before the convention next month.

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Thursday Night Open Thread

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I have been in a foul mood and lethargic and unmotivated, but I guess as the owner of an almost top 10,000 blog, I have to watch this fucking debate whether I want to or not, and I am here to tell you that I do not want to watch this fucking debate. I find everything about Trump to be repellent and vile, the sound of his voice gives me angina, looking at his orange malformed visage makes my stomach churn, and reading and watching the sick cultists makes me want to punch this Baron Harkonnen motherfucker in the dick and blast them all back to Giedi Prime. So here we fucking are, and because I have no fucking self control and ruined drinking for myself with my gluttonous excess, I’ll be watching sober with nothing to dull my pain.

God damnit.

***

I’ve been vacillating between “I can’t believe this fucking guy is going to get elected again” and doubting the accuracy of the polling for the better part of the last week, and that’s been fucking great for my mental health, let me tell you. I find the entire thing to be terrifying- he’s such a bad person and he is surrounded by other equally awful but in different ways people and cheered on by the worst people and it’s just disgusting. If he wins the Supreme Court is done for several more decades and I just don’t think people understand how bad they will make life for so many people. It’s too horrifying to contemplate.

On the other hand, I still do not feel the Trump energy the way I did in 2016. Maybe they’ve all learned to take off their hats and big signs so people don’t know they are garbage human beings. I don’t know.

***

The worst part about this debate is that the scripts are already written by the media, who love themselves a horse race and chaos in general, so what actually happens at the debate really doesn’t matter. Barring Trump’s pants falling down and showing his diaper or him dropping dead, I doubt any minds will change. The worse he is will probably increase his support among the base. God, they are so awful. Life today is like wearing the glasses in They Live, but it’s half the fucking country.

As you can see, I am not doing well with this election cycle. I’ll just stop here.

*** Update ***

I just re-read this and holy shit I am a cranky old fucker.

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