Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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

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

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

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

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

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

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

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

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Crack of Dawn Open Thread: Reaching Young Voters

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Former President Obama dropped by a gathering of about 80 digital content creators — including stars of TikTok and Instagram Reels — during the campaign fundraiser for President Biden in L.A. on Saturday, and told them:

= “We live in a cynical time. Let’s face it: I think a lot of the people who watch you, listen to you, who are fans of you — a lot of times they feel turned off by the political discourse.”…

Why it matters: Obama, 19 years younger than Biden, acknowledged that many of the young, progressive creators were skeptical of Biden — but argued that “he believes in the basic things that you believe in.”

“Joe Biden, you may not agree with everything he does,” Obama said. “By the way, you didn’t agree with everything I did. And that’s OK. Because in a big, messy, complicated country like this, there are going to be disagreements.

= “But Joe Biden’s basic trajectory — what he believes in his core … nine times out of 10, he’s going to make decisions that accord with your core beliefs.”

“I need you guys to use your influence, and it doesn’t have to be boring. I don’t expect you to have a bunch of charts and graphs,” Obama added.

“I understand folks are swiping or scrolling, and you’ve got to use humor and you’ve got to use other things that are engaging people.”…

 

Per the Washington Post, “Meet the 24-year-old trying to solve Biden’s problems with young voters”: [gift link]

… Levenson has what might be one of the hardest jobs on Biden’s reelection campaign, charged with persuading young Americans, many of whom are deeply skeptical of Biden, to vote for him in November. A political activist since high school, when she first met now-Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Levenson has a job that requires helping equip students to counter criticism of the president and training volunteer leaders and organizers to talk to voters not yet sold on voting for him…

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Monday Night Open Thread

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It was hot today- mid 90’s with like 65% humidity. So hot that I quit mowing at 2 o’clock because well I am old and fat and even though I was on a riding mower I need to be careful in that kind of heat. I’m not sure how animals react to this kind of heat, but I have made sure to keep lots of food and water out for the birds. On the drive to the city, the sows and their piglets were all in their little huts and all the cows were clumped around the trees lying down. And I realize that I may have failed to mention that there is a small farm a couple miles from me that always have a couple sows and their piglets running around this time of year and I always slow down and check on them so those are the pigs I am referring to above.

I’ve decided that I need a pool and from here on out, my focus will be on getting one. I have no plan for how, but it is going to happen. I am going to have a pool to soak in. The end.

What is everyone else up to this evening? Is it hot there?

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War for Ukraine Day 845: A Brief Monday Night Update

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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 notes. First, Rosie is doing fine after today’s chemotherapy session. We’ll see how she does as the week progresses. Thank you all, again, for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, I’m fried. Not sure what it is, but just feeling run down. It’s not COVID, at least not according to test #1. Just feeling bleh. So I’m going to try to keep this as short as possible tonight. As I drafted the post, an air raid alert went up for Mykholaiv Oblast and then was taken down.

As I start this at 7:15 PM EDT the only air raid alerts are for Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts and the latter just went up. I’ll keep an eye on it while I’m drafting tonight’s update.

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

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The Not-So Supreme Court

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1

SCOTUS covers itself with, well, something that is closer to excrement than to glory.

Laura posted this about the Supreme Court in a comment last week – it’s quite the indictment!  (Not literally, unfortunately!)

The breathtaking speed that:

  • they are repealing the protections Reconstruction Amendments,
  • encouraging cases that claim racial bias against white people,
  • the desire to return to Lochner,
  • the steady accommodation of a certain type of religion into the government sphere- and for profit as they divert our tax dollars,
  • the made up theorie,s
  • and limited protections from the law,
  • the velvet roped off area reserved for the very wealthy and their desires,
  • the shadow docket,
  • the disdain for precedent,
  • acting as a finder of fact and ignoring their role as an appellate court,
  • the rejection of the Right to Privacy,
  • refusing to acknowledge the barbarity of the death penalty as it currently operates,
  • the stonewalling on presidential immunity and it’s active interference of the upcoming presidential election in favor of a convicted felon.

It’s really kind of shocking to see it all laid out like that. Nothing we don’t already know, but to see it spelled out like that is something else.

Open thread.

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It’s Up To Us Now, Next Stop, North Carolina!

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Are you guys up for helping to flip North Carolina!

I am super excited about the group we’ll be supporting in North Carolina, but before we tell you about them, let’s talk about North Carolina!

Why North Carolina?  Key points:

  1.  NC is not a red state.
  2.  NC is a voter suppressed state.
  3.  NC now has 16 electoral votes, similar to GA (16)and MI (15)..
  4.  Trump won NC by ~ 75k votes, just 1.5% of the 5,500,000 votes cast.

Let’s talk demographics:

  1. NC is changing fast, and Republicans know it – which is why they’re cheating!
  2. NC is growing rapidly in ways that are similar to AZ, NV and GA!
  3. NC has an influx of out-of-state younger people relocating for tech and finance careers.
  4. Northerners are retiring in cities like Asheville, where beth, our BJ calendar girl, moved to.

In a recent press release, The North Carolina Black Alliance sets the stage:

For the past 14 years, through race-baiting, fear-mongering, and political theater, the NC GOP, after a hiatus from leadership…returned to play for keeps.  What was once a state in revival during the early 2000s is now a state of upheaval as Republicans use their last grasp of power to enforce more strict and exclusive provisions beyond the constitutional mandate for voting.

What does that look like, exactly?

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Monday Morning Open Thread: Looking to Be Another Long Week

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There will be endless reasons to be cranky, so let’s be aware that we’re all in this together.

(Nota bene: Yglesias sarcasm alert)

Also of note:

Because we no longer have the concept of ‘summer vacation’, some reminders that the first 2024 presidential debate is just ten days away. Per CNN, “Biden and Trump campaigns agreed to mic muting, podiums among rules for upcoming CNN debate”:

… The debate, which will be hosted by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash in Atlanta on June 27, will mark the first in-person showdown of the 2024 campaign between President Joe Biden and his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. Both candidates have accepted the network’s invitation and agreed to accept the rules and format of the debate, as outlined in letters sent to the campaigns by the network in May.

The 90-minute debate will include two commercial breaks, according to the network, and campaign staff may not interact with their candidate during that time.

Both candidates agreed to appear at a uniform podium, and their podium positions will be determined by a coin flip.

Microphones will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. While no props or pre-written notes will be allowed on the stage, candidates will be given a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.

Some aspects of the debate – including the absence of a studio audience – will be a departure from previous debates. But, as in the past, the moderators “will use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure a civilized discussion,” according to the network…

(No mention of a shock collar for TFG, but who knows what his handlers are thinking?)

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