Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Books are my comfort food!

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

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

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

Bark louder, little dog.

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica — Week 3, Flowers and Butterflies

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It’s Albatrossity Monday!  No birbs, but we do get flowers!  Then we have the last of frosty’s 2022 national park trips from 2022 – pssst, frost, is it time to move into 2023?  Anyway, it’s the end of the frosty series for 2022, and the beginning of a series from PaulB.  Endings and beginnings this week.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 3, Flowers and Butterflies 10

Albatrossity

We’ll mostly take a break from birds this week; there are a couple of pretty birds (both * lifers) in this batch, but it’s mostly flowers and butterflies. It won’t replace the Sunday Morning Garden Chat, but it should provide a colorful start to your Monday!

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On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 3, Flowers and Butterflies 9
Osa Peninsula, Costa RicaMay 20, 2024

The Pacific coast of southwestern Costa Rica, home to the Corcovade National Park, is a hot and humid lowland forest. As expected for a tropical forest, it is very biodiverse, with lots of hummingbirds, tanagers, and quite a few endemic species found only there or in the neighboring similar habitats of Panama. Insect diversity was amazing, with leafcutter ants, large dragonflies, wasps, and butterflies in abundance. I found three species of longtailed skippers on one small shrub just by watching it for part of a day. Here’s one of those, the Zilpa Longtail (Chioides zilpa). This species does sporadically stray into the US, As for the plant that it is  getting nectar from, I think it is Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, aka Blue Porterweed. But if more experienced botanical minds tell me that ID is wrong, I would appreciate it! Click here for larger image.

New Dawn Open Thread: The Hajj / Eid al-Adha

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If my information is correct, Eid al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice) began at sunset on Sunday.

Jill and I wish American Muslims – and Muslims around the world – a very blessed Eid al-Adha.

This holiday is a time of prayer, reflection, and sacrifice, with Muslims spending time with family and friends, joining in festive meals, sharing food with those in need, and honoring the performance of the annual Hajj rituals. This year, nearly 2 million Muslims from every corner of the world are participating in Hajj, a sacred journey that brings Muslims from all walks of life together in fellowship and faith. We wish them Hajj Mabroor.

The Hajj and Eid al-Adha remind us of our equality before God and the importance of community and charity – values that speak directly to the American character. The United States is blessed to be home to millions of American Muslims who enrich our nation in countless ways, from medicine to technology, education, public service, the arts, and beyond. Many American Muslims serve in my Administration – more than in all previous Administrations combined – and I’m the first president to nominate American Muslims to the federal judiciary. I’m grateful every day for their hard work on behalf of the American people. American Muslims are our neighbors, family, friends, and fellow citizens. They make our nation stronger.

This year, Eid al-Adha comes at a difficult time for many Muslims around the world. In Gaza, innocent civilians are suffering the horrors of the war between Hamas and Israel. Too many innocent people have been killed, including thousands of children. Families have fled their homes and seen their communities destroyed. Their pain is immense. My Administration is doing everything we can to bring an end to the war, free all hostages, deliver humanitarian relief, and work toward a future two-state solution, which I continue to believe is the only way to achieve a lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis. And I strongly believe that the three-phase ceasefire proposal Israel has made to Hamas and that the U.N. Security Council has endorsed is the best way to end the violence in Gaza and ultimately end the war.

We’re also working to bring a peaceful resolution to the horrific conflict in Sudan. And we continue to advocate for the rights of other Muslim communities – including the Rohingya in Burma and the Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China – facing persecution around the world. They, like all people, deserve to live free from violence and fear.

That’s why I’m committed to addressing the scourge of Islamophobia in the United States. Hate has no place in America, whether it is targeted at American Muslims, Arab Americans including Palestinians, or anyone else. My Administration is creating a national strategy to counter Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination, which affect not only Muslims, but also Arab, Sikh, and South Asian Americans. At our best, the United States is a place where everyone is treated with respect, everyone’s equal humanity is cherished, and our differences are seen as the source of strength that they are.

In the spirit of Eid al-Adha, let us all renew our commitment to values that unite us – compassion, empathy, and mutual respect – which are both American and Islamic. We look forward to welcoming home our American Muslim pilgrims who have earned the title “Al-Hajj.” To them and all Muslims across the globe, we wish you a blessed and meaningful holiday. Eid Mubarak!

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Sunday Evening Wind-Down Open Thread: Rep. Clyburn Does Not Have Time for This… Nonsense

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Figured I’d share this, since the twitter MAGAts are triggered by it. The Politico podcaster does his best, but Jim Clyburn does not take bait from fools — “The Man Who Saved Biden’s 2020 Campaign Lets Loose”:

Rep. Jim Clyburn doesn’t believe the polls.

Despite a growing list of surveys that show Donald Trump gaining with Black voters, the longtime South Carolina Democrat and co-chair of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, dismissed suggestions Democrats should be concerned.

“Something is amiss with the polling,” he said in an interview with the Playbook Deep Dive podcast. “Anybody who believes that Donald Trump will get 30 percent of the Black male vote or 12 percent of the Black female vote — I got a bridge down there on Johns Island I’ll sell you.”…

Let’s start with Donald Trump’s return to the Hill for the first time since Jan. 6. How did that feel?

Well, his being here prevented me from getting into my garage on time this morning. So that’s the story of my life — being disrupted by Donald Trump. But, other than that, I don’t feel anything…

Let’s talk about the South Carolina presidential primary. One of the great disappointments of there not being an open race on the Democratic side is we didn’t get a Clyburn fish fry this year. But the South Carolina primary was first. Remind us how that came about.

It came about because Joe Biden wanted South Carolina to be first.

But the fact of the matter is, I never asked for South Carolina to be first in the nation. I’ve always asked for South Carolina to be first in the South, and we were first in the South for years. And I jokingly said — I’m half-joking when I say this — I was a baseball player growing up, a pretty good baseball player, and I knew that the most important batter in the lineup is the fourth-place batter. The fourth-place batter is called the cleanup hitter. South Carolina was in fourth place. And I wanted to stay in fourth place…

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War for Ukraine Day 844: The Second Day of the Global Peace Summit

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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)

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is doing fine. Her next chemo treatment is tomorrow, which will be treatment three of round two. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donation.

Second, from now on I will only comment in my own update posts. This way we can avoid a repeat of last night and this morning. Everyone is, of course, welcome to comment here regarding the war in Ukraine or related matters or anything else as I do make them open threads.

The Russians have gone back to the aerial glide bombing of Kharkiv:

And it is the only region of Ukraine that is currently under air raid alert.

President Zelenskyy addressed the second plenary session of the Global Peace Summit today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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Medium Cool – Tony Award Predictions (and Culture Open Thread)

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Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in.  We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.

Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered.  We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.

Tonight let’s talk about the Tony Awards.

If this topic interests you, you will already know that the award show starts at 8 pm.  But even if the Tony Awards don’t interest you, maybe some idle speculation in advance will?

I’ll go first.  i think Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton will walk away with most of the awards tonight.  Oh wait, wrong year!  I take it there’s no runaway favorite this year?

Maybe the culture folks at Vulture will have a better take on the awards?

Vulture’s 100%Accurate Tonys Predictions

It’s the Friday before the Tony Awards. Voting closed at noon today. Time to predict some winners. In a very unsettled season, there are a number of close races, including some big ones, which means there could be plenty of surprises during the night itself. And below, we’ve correctly predicted them all. (Post-ceremony fact check not necessary.) We’ll see you all Sunday.

Best Musical
Hell’s Kitchen
Illinoise
The Outsiders
Suffs
Water for Elephants

The closest race of the night. You could make an argument for each show here, though some productions have edged ahead of others over the course of campaigning: Hell’s Kitchen and The Outsiders are proving themselves as commercial hits; Suffs has become the critical fave; Illinoise is the edgier pick; and Water for Elephants is clinging to that New York Times critics’ pick (also, it has acrobats). Personally, I’d lean Suffs as the most well-made original thing of this crop, but the electric belting and star power of Alicia Keys campaigning hard feels like it’s pushing things in another direction.

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Brody Grant — The Outsiders
Jonathan Groff — Merrily We Roll Along
Dorian Harewood — The Notebook
Brian d’Arcy James — Days of Wine and Roses
Eddie Redmayne — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

My guess is that Lea Michele has already drafted her congratulatory Instagram post for Groff, who’s beloved but hasn’t yet won a Tony and whose essential likability keeps Merrily from curdling. There are possible spoilers in Redmayne (a star keeping Cabaret’s sales up, but way too divisive of a performance) and maybe, more likely, d’Arcy James (also beloved, though Days of Wine and Roses is probably too challenging for Tony tastes).

Will win: Jonathan Groff

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Eden Espinosa — Lempicka
Maleah Joi Moon — Hell’s Kitchen
Kelli O’Hara — Days of Wine and Roses
Maryann Plunkett — The Notebook
Gayle Rankin — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Another close race that has everyone speculating. It boils down to a beloved veteran in O’Hara (who also propelled Days of Wine and Roses into existence) and a dazzling newcomer in Moon. Despite not loving Hell’s Kitchen, my feeling is that being new and in a show that’s running (and selling) pushes Moon farther, but it’s a tough call.

Will win: Maleah Joi Moon

Best Choreography
Camille A. Brown — Hell’s Kitchen
Annie-B Parson — Here Lies Love
Rick and Jeff Kuperman — The Outsiders
Justin Peck — Illinoise
Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll — Water for Elephants

Illinoise is a dance musical. Kind of locks it down.

I cherry picked a few of the awards for inclusion here, click the link above if you want to see all of them.

P.S. I miss Lin-Manuel Miranda.  What’s he up to these days?

Update:  Doesn’t seem like there’s much Buzz about the Tonys, consider this an all-things-culture open thread.

 

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