Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Thank you, commentor JeffG166:
Top pic: This rose never disappoints. I bought it under the name of Fourth of July.
The elderberry in all its glory.
A rose whose name I have completely forgotten. (The iPad camera isn’t getting the color quite right.)
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A Cicadageddon! update from our own Ozark Hillbilly:
Still figuring out this new camera. We have the 13 year brood here.
A couple of quick housekeeping notes. First, sorry for the delay. I had to run a quick errand between 7:30 and 8:00 and I just got home. Which should tell you how well that went. As a result, tonight’s update will be on the shorter side.
Second, Rosie is still doing great. No real side effects from last Monday’s chemo treatment. Thank you all for the good thoughts, the well wishes, the prayers, and the donations.
Air raid alerts are starting to go up over southern Ukraine as start tonight’s update – 10:10 PM EDT. Everything from Donetsk in the east to Odesa are now under air raid alert.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
War for Ukraine Day 836: A Short Saturday Night UpdatePost + Comments (8)
It’s interesting that a generic speech about the value of defending democracy would be seen as an attack on Trump. pic.twitter.com/srU1xRC4mr
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) June 8, 2024
No, really — Erick ‘Voice of the GOP Gated Community’ Erickson said that. And he wasn’t the only one, per Jon Chait, at NYMag:
President Biden commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day with a traditional American speech about the civic values this country has taken from that event: Democracy is good, fascism is bad, allies are necessary, etc.
Conservatives had two plausible options in response. The highbrow rejoinder would be to praise the speech and note that of course they, too, were rooting for Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. The lowbrow response would be to circulate misleading clips of Biden to make him look older than he actually is. (Many of them did this.)
But some elite conservatives chose a third option: Angrily denounce the platitudes about democracy as an attack on their own values…
Biden noted, “Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant bent on domination.” He warned, “To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable.” He denounced “isolationism.” He praised democracy and warned about authoritarianism:
Now, we have to ask ourselves: Will we stand against tyranny, against evil, against crushing brutality of the iron fist?
Will we stand for freedom? Will we defend democracy?What part of that do conservatives object to? Trump doesn’t claim to be an isolationist, a lover of dictators, or an opponent of democracy. They insist he doesn’t want to break up NATO and only wants to toughen up the allies. His supporters only take attacks on these things as an attack on Trump because they understand he actually loves dictators, believes in isolationism, and hates democracy…
Breaking!!!
Real head scratcher ?? pic.twitter.com/Gh8XwmsZpg
— scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) June 8, 2024
And then there was Trump’s Phoenix rally on Thursday, sponsored by low-rent scam-front Turning Point (TP-USA)…
Several people were hospitalized at the Trump rally in AZ today after standing in 110 degree heat for hours. Trump held the event during the hottest part of the day because he’s having a $300K/person fundraiser in SF tonight hosted by David Sacks. Story. https://t.co/bofMne6mkY
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 6, 2024
Saturday Night Dim Bulbs Open Thread: The Ongoing Ensh*ttification of the GOPPost + Comments (71)
I have been super busy and have basically seen no news for the past 4 days. The shit-poster thing has bubbled up to the surface, but has there been any reporting about anything critical?
Open thread.
The World Doesn’t Stop Just Because I’m BusyPost + Comments (100)
Looks like we could use a new thread!
This is a Henry photo that I could never get – Henry standing still!
Supervising the Amazon delivery, apparently.
What’s everybody up to?
Rest in peace, Bill Anders of Apollo 8.
Anders was one of the first three humans to travel to the Moon and captured one of the most iconic, inspirational, and influential photos of all time, titled Earthrise.
Legendary astronaut and photographer. A hero for me and many. pic.twitter.com/EF7ddTImze
— John Kraus (@johnkrausphotos) June 7, 2024
Per CNN, “Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders, who took iconic ‘Earthrise’ photo, dies in plane crash”:
… The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release an aircraft went down off the coast of Jones Island.
The dispatch center got an initial report around 11:40 a.m. PT, which said an “older model plane was flying from north to south then went into the water near the north end of Jones Island and sunk,” the sheriff’s office said.
The United States Coast Guard later announced the pilot’s body was recovered by a dive team after an hourslong search that involved multiple agencies and covered 215 nautical miles. The San Juan Islands are located about 90 miles north of Seattle.
William Anders, born on October 17, 1933, in Hong Kong, graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1955 and after being commissioned in the US Air Force, he earned his pilot’s wings the following year, according to the US Naval Academy’s website…
He was selected in 1964 as an astronaut by NASA and served as backup pilot for the Gemini 11 mission in 1966 and the Apollo 11 flight in 1969. Anders logged more than 6,000 hours of flying time, according to NASA.
Anders and fellow astronauts Jim Lovell and mission commander Frank Borman, who died in November 2023, flew aboard the first lunar orbit mission in December 1968 on Apollo 8. Anders served as the lunar module pilot for the historic flight.
From the spacecraft, Anders captured an iconic image of Earth showing the moon’s surface in the foreground during the Apollo 8 flight on Christmas Eve 1968, titled “Earthrise.”
“We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth,” Anders famously said. …
In 1968, during Apollo 8, Bill Anders offered to humanity among the deepest of gifts an astronaut can give. He traveled to the threshold of the Moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves. He embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration. We will miss him. pic.twitter.com/wuCmfHpu3g
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) June 8, 2024
Saturday Morning Open Thread: ‘Earthrise’ Astronaut Bill Anders, Flying FreePost + Comments (204)
I didn’t know how much I needed this Pitbull and Dolly Parton remix of 9 to 5 right now to start the day ??
pic.twitter.com/9q0W9o6Iqu— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) May 30, 2024
… Who reminds us on the regular that Living Well Is the Best Revenge.
Oh, Dolly, you are a treasure ?? pic.twitter.com/91UlpSHh3V
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) June 6, 2024
We don't deserve dogs or Dolly Parton. pic.twitter.com/BEG7wX7bws
— ?? Derrick ??? ?? ??#BLM ???? ?????? (@Spawn_03) May 30, 2024
Late Night Open Thread: Dolly Parton Remains A National TreasurePost + Comments (131)
