Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Everybody saw this coming.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Petty moves from a petty man.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

People are complicated. Love is not.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

Republicans do not trust women.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

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

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

No one could have predicted…

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Afternoon Beat Down Open Thread: Buttigieg On Fire

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I can’t wait to post this in a climate post, I needed you to see it now

Here’s the full testimony (ongoing, I believe)

Kick them harder, Pete, kick them harder.

Open thread

ETA: Since this is technically about climate – and I follow David Roberts pretty closely, he just posted this about their new pup. As the mom of Great Danes, I can sympathize, but will say, at least he didn’t EAT the couch (I’ve had two couches eaten by Danes, and a half wall and a porch railing).

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Worker Power Leadership School Angel Match (and Open Thread)

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In case you missed last night’s thread, we are in the process of raising $15,000 to send one young person to Leadership School to learn about organizing and how to lead a political team.  We don’t know if the person who will be funded by our $15,000 will be the actual leader for OUR TEAM in the Fall – the 10-person team we will fund again for 3 weeks, as we did in 2022 – but our team leader will be one of the people who attended Leadership School.

It’s Up to Us, Next Up: Quick Stop In Arizona for Summer School (and returning again in September)

We completed the first Angel match overnight, and that Angel match is already in the thermometer.  Friend of the blog Andrew wrote last night to offer a match, so we are starring a brand-new $1,000 Angel match this morning.  The usual terms – matching up to $100 per person.  No external match for the Leadership School, so these will be 2x donations.

As I said last night, I am so tired of waiting on this corrupt Supreme Court.  I am tried of waiting for Cannon to be held accountable and for the DC trial to resume.  I am fucking tired of the assaults on the basic rights of women.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  But this we can do now, and we don’t have to wait on anyone else.

Worker Power Leadership School

We are raising funds to send one person to Leadership School. Our $15,000 will cover housing + training for a campaign leader who will lead a canvass team of 10 to knock on over 25,000 doors during this election year!

We all know that the 2024 election on November 5th will decide whether our Democracy as we know it survives, and the swing state of Arizona is a major path to victory for the Presidential, House, and Senate races.

In the coming weeks, Worker Power will run once again the largest field operation in Arizona and knock on over 1.1 million doors! They will hire over 500 canvassers to deliver the White House, secure our Democratic U.S. Senate seat, and flip Congressional Districts 1 and 6, giving us a path to control of the House!

To keep Arizona blue, they created the Worker Power Leadership School, a free, month-long, in-residence training program educating the next generation of organizers to run strong field campaigns.

Building on the successes of 2022, when they secured the Governorship, Secretary of State, and Attorney General’s office in Arizona and the U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, the Worker Power Leadership School will offer 150 hours of campaign training to 24 organizers, guided by some of the nation’s top strategists.

Following their graduation in August, these 24 organizers will lead a team of 10 canvassers who will help knock on over 1.1 million doors!

Is this effort something you guys can get behind?  I am so fucking tired of waiting for the corrupt Supreme Court.  I am so fucking tired of waiting for Cannon to  make a move that will allow the 11th Circuit to slap her down.  We are not without agency, even when it feels like we are in limbo.   Let’s do this!

Open thread.

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Debating a Chaos Agent Leads to Chaos

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Debating a Chaos Agent Leads to Chaos

Josh Marshall often makes the point that understanding pro wrestling is a key to understanding Trump.  This is especially true for events like tonight’s debate.  I stopped watching pro wresting as a kid, so I’m not planning to watch the debate to see just which rules Trump breaks and what new batshit ideas he trots out.  I’ll be more interested in the takes and vibes, since those will fan out into social media and influence the undecided / sometimes voters who will decide this election mainly by their choice of whether to stay home or come out and vote.

The Biden campaign’s decision to push Trump into an early debate was probably driven by a combination of wanting to put Trump’s decline on stage, to show that Biden is still sharp, and to get people focused on the contrast between the actual two candidates rather than whatever bullshit is circulating on Grandma’s Facebook page.  I mean, it’s worth a try.   They were smart in ignoring the debate commission, thereby getting rid of some of the stupid stuff the commission insists on, like having a live audience.  The ability to mute mics is also a good thing.  Jake Tapper and Dana Bash have the ability to be decent moderators, but I’ll bet a shiny quarter that the ref working efforts of Trump’s army of ass lickers will keep the moderators from turning in a Kyle Clark debate performance.

Anyway, my expectations are some Trump “norm busting” (read:  rude asshole behavior), a decent performance by Biden where any mis-step he makes will be amplified on right-wing media, and an event that will be quickly forgotten by most unengaged voters, if they even pay attention in the first place.  Biden has always been a just OK debater, which is fine — Obama wasn’t that great either.    As Steve M pointed out, it would be great if Democrats started talking about the 140 officers injured during Jan 6, and maybe there will be a couple of Jan 6 questions that at least make Trump struggle a bit.  Otherwise, he’ll shit talk his way through the thing, as he always does.

We know what Trump’s like as President.  We know what Biden’s like as President.  The notion that 90 minutes (minus commercials, bleagh) will change any minds is pretty far fetched when you think about it.

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Supreme Court Decisions Again Today at 10 am ET (June 27 Edition)

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Supreme Court Decisions Again Today at 10 am ET (June 26 Edition) & Open Thread

If you want to follow along on SCOTUSblog.

I’ll copy the short summaries as each one shows up on their website.

Here we go!

The court grants a group of states’ request to put the EPA’s “good neighbor plan” on hold in Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency. The rule was issued to reduce air pollution from power plants and other industrial facilities based on the EPA’s interpretation of a provision of the Clean Air Act, which requires “upwind” states to reduce emissions that affect the air quality in “downwind” states.

Opinion:  5-4  (ugh)

 

The court rules in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. that the bankruptcy code does not authorize a multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma, the maker of the highly addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin, that would release members of the Sackler family, which owned the company but did not declare bankruptcy, from any future liability for claims against them.

Opinion:  5-4  (ugh)

 

In SEC v. Jarkesy, the court rules that when the SEC seeks civil penalties against a defendant for securities fraud, the Seventh Amendment entitles the defendant to a jury trial.

Opinion:  5-4  (Perdue loses?)

 

The court dismisses Moyle v. United States, allowing doctors in Idaho to continue providing abortions in emergency medical situations.

Opinion:    (sane)

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Addressing the Topic of the Day

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Thursday Morning Open Thread 21

(Joel Pett via GoComics.com)


Just in case anyone missed it:

What time is the debate?
The debate will start at 9 p.m. ET Thursday. It’s being moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

What channel is the debate on?
CNN is carrying the debate live on its broadcast network, as well as on CNN International, CNN en Español and CNN Max. Viewers can also stream it without a log in on CNN’s website. Several networks have also agreed to carry the event live.

Where is the debate?
The setting for the first general election debate is CNN’s studios in Atlanta. Unlike the Republican primary debates, no audience will be present…

No big, just reporting on what advisers say the expectations for each candidate should be, which of course we will take as gospel and repeat.

[image or embed]

— The Fig Economy (@figgityfigs.bsky.social) Jun 24, 2024 at 2:55 PM

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On The Road – TKH – My Backcountry Garden Part 1: In the desert

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TKH

During my long distance hikes through mostly desert country, with a few routes through more temperate country thrown in here and there, one of the highlights for me is the local flora. This bug was planted in me by my mother when I was a young boy while we were hiking in the mountains during summer vacations.

She, sadly, lacked any formal education owing to the time, place and family she was born into. By the time she had accomplished the Münchhausen feat of pulling herself by her hair out of that morass, it was too late since the educational system was not accommodating for late bloomers in general, and late-blooming women in particular. She would have made a fine botanist. As it was, she became an avid gardener, a keen and sharp observer of plant life who could tell you at the drop of a hat how what you were looking at was related to other plants or to what she had in her garden, including the Latin names. Quite remarkable!

She never cared much for my hiking adventures, being afraid that I was taking too many risks, but when the pictures of plants came out, she was all eyes and ears. So this submission is in memory of my mother who passed away eight months ago at the ripe old age of 101.

It is also in honor of those of you who get up early on a Sunday morning to decide of which plants to order too many varieties of seeds of or run out to save a precious flower from an impending summer thunder storm. That’s apart from all the weeding, pruning, watering, mulching. I am very familiar with these travails, even if I do not partake as an apartment dweller who spends six months of the year out in the backcountry, for now at least.

I will split this up into two parts, one dealing with desert plants, or, more precisely, plants that I encountered in the deserts of Utah and Arizona, and one with pictures from temperate zones, California, Wyoming and the Pyrenees.

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On The Road - TKH - My Backcountry Garden Part 1: In the desert 9
Mogollon Rim Arizona

The tufted evening primrose (Oenothera caespitosa) often found on talus slopes, but here on the forest floor

Sweaty Grey Debate-Prep Open Thread: Druuuuuugs!…

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Sweaty Grey Debate-Prep Open Thread: <em>Druuuuuugs!... </em>

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

Truly, when it comes to the GOP, Every accusation is a confession. I can personally attest that Mountain Dew Orange Mango Energy can get an aging brain through a burst of tedious late-night covid posting. But if there existed a formulation that could arrest senile decline even for ninety minutes at a time, hundreds of thousands of Boomers and their loved ones would trade anything up to a spare kidney or their least attractive grandchild for a dose of it. This is the saddest outburst of GOP copium since… well, since the last time TFG had to appear in public without a phalanx of party defenders and groupies as a human shield.

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