Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The lights are all blinking red.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

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

He really is that stupid.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

The words do not have to be perfect.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

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

Finding joy where we can, and muddling through where we can’t.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Wait, what?

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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

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

You are here: Home / Archives for 2024

Archives for 2024

War for Ukraine Day 832: The Russian Caused Power Outages Have Begun

by | 32 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

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 note: Rosie is doing well 24 plus hours her last chemotherapy session. She’s eating, active, and behaving normally. Thank you all, again, for the well wishes, good thoughts, prayers, and donations!

As I start tonight’s update, at 5:35 PM EDT, air raid alerts are up over all over southern and eastern Ukraine except for Sumy, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.

The power outages that are the result of Russia’s targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, in this case power generation and transmission systems, have begun.

The scale of these attacks have been massive. Here is just the tally of the Russian strikes on Kharkiv in May of 2024:

This went largely unremarked last week, but I think it needs to be recognized, especially as I’ve seen references to the video clip being faked.

From The Kyiv Independent: (emphasis mine)

Ukraine recognizes both Israel and Palestine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Singapore on June 2, calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza.

Kyiv voiced support for Israel after it came under a deadly attack by the Hamas militant organization in October 2023. Tel Aviv’s subsequent shelling and ground invasion of Gaza attracted harsh criticism from much of the international community, with the U.N. estimating the Gaza death toll at over 35,000.

When asked by a journalist about Kyiv’s support for Israel, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine also offered to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and said that the two periods should “not be mixed together.”

“Ukraine said that if Hamas terrorists attacked civilians on the first day of their attack on Israel, then Israel has the right to defend itself,” Zelensky said during the Shangri-La Dialogue conference.

“And after that, when Israel was in Gaza and there was a humanitarian crisis, Ukraine said: Firstly, we are ready to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Secondly, we must respect international law. Thirdly, Ukraine recognizes two states, both Israel and Palestine, and will do everything it can to convince Israel to stop, to end this conflict and prevent the suffering of civilians.”

The president also said that Ukraine is  a “just country that recognizes international laws and the U.N. charter.”

Ukraine invited both Israel and Palestine to the upcoming global peace summit in Switzerland as Kyiv is “ready to hear every opinion” of other countries, except for Russia, Zelensky noted.

The peace summit will be held on June 15-16 in the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland.

Ukraine hopes the summit will address several key areas, such as energy security, the exchange of captives, the return of deported children, global food security, and other topics.

President Zelenskyy is back at home. Here is his address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

show full post on front page

War for Ukraine Day 832: The Russian Caused Power Outages Have BegunPost + Comments (32)

Another Tiananmen Square Anniversary

by | 138 Comments

This post is in: , ,

“After Tiananmen, a Past That Didn’t Pass and a Future That Didn’t Come”:

Today, June 4, marks the 35th year since China’s leaders sent in troops to crush the student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing. The Chinese surveillance state made sure it was uneventful—just like any other day.

Underneath the tranquility, however, is a poignant shift in the mood among the youth: The hope of the June 4th generation has given way to the despair of many young Chinese today.

show full post on front page

Another Tiananmen Square AnniversaryPost + Comments (138)

Open Thread: Boebert Shutdown, National Media Should Take Notes

by | 117 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

I really wasn’t going to post about the CO4 Republican debate, because it’s so inside Colorado baseball. But it has gone viral so I did what I didn’t want to do, I listened to Boebert lie and lie and lie again.

I passed on the debate the first time because the district she’s carpetbagging – I mean running in – is no longer my district by just a few blocks. The legislators came to their senses and redrew the lines so I’m now in Joe Neguse’s district, thank the stars.

If you’ve tuned into a few of my posts, the moderator will look familiar. I’m usually posting his good news stories.

Kyle Clark doesn’t just hold Boebert’s feet to the fire…enjoy.

 

If you feel the need to torture yourself, the entire debate is here (youtube link).

=====

Besides his funky jackets and his nightly good news, he also reads feedback in the last minutes of the broadcast. And he often chooses some of the most brutal. And has some snappy comebacks. But this was brilliant.

 

Since the debate has gone viral, lots of big names are calling for him to go national. My reply, he’s ours, hands-off. I may not agree with him all the time, but he’s as brutal with the Dems as he is with the rethugs and his journalism makes (some) of the other local news stations up their game, too.

Open thread

Open Thread: Boebert Shutdown, National Media Should Take NotesPost + Comments (117)

Lock Him Up?

by | 129 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

I was bored earlier and needed mindless entertainment, so I browsed free old movies on my streaming channels. I settled on “Two Weeks Notice,” starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. It’s the fluffy rom-com I expected, but guess who makes a cameo? Convicted felon Donald Fucking Trump!

Goddamn. I knew the sumbitch was in one of the “Home Alone” films. I guess I need to print out a list of every movie he’s defiled with his vile presence so I can avoid them in the future.

***

The Hill published an article about Republican senators warning Judge Merchan not to sentence Trump to jail or house arrest. The list includes the batshit usual suspects (Baby Doc Paul, Cancun Cruz, etc.) as well as what passes for a “moderate” Republican these days, including Cornyn and Tillis.

All of the lackeys dutifully mouthed the “weaponized judiciary” lies. The idiotic Sen. Budd from NC provides a representative sample of the genre:

“But when you see the conviction and the rules that he instructed the jury with, it’s completely unfair, it’s unconstitutional, and I would put nothing past him at this point,” he said of Merchan.

Budd said a tough sentence “would only strengthen the resolve of the Americans to support President Trump.”

As if.

My completely uneducated guess is Merchan will not sentence Trump to jail or house arrest. Locking him up does raise legit issues since the convicted felon is (absurdly) one of two viable candidates for president.

I think the best we can hope for is that Merchan will craft a poetically just community service stint, such as making Trump spend 100 hours as a do-boy for election workers, who have a busy summer ahead of them. Not a public-facing role for Trump, obviously — make him schlep boxes and roll equipment around to support election logistics. Something like that.

Anyhoo, Jen Rubin, the most righteous of the Never Trumpers, says the situation demands jail time: (WaPo gift link)

Merchan should take into account that Trump has hurled threats and smears at witnesses, jurors and the judge (including his family). He also should consider the racist attacks and implicit threat of violence directed at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The felon who will stand before him has tried to intimidate witnesses and delegitimize the New York courts as corrupt. In continuing to incite his mob (that now threatens the safety of the anonymous jurors) and demean the courts as “rigged,” Trump does far more damage to the people of New York (not to mention the country) than he did with any single criminal act. The potential that New Yorkers will be less willing to serve as jurors after watching the vitriol unleashed on these 12 people could be among Trump’s most enduring injuries to the court system…

With other criminal cases against Trump delayed, Merchan alone has the responsibility for the foreseeable future to mete out punishment that is appropriate for Trump’s crimes and sufficient to protect the justice system. The voters ultimately will have to reject fascism at the ballot box, but at present Merchan must exercise his discretion in sentencing Trump to actual incarceration for at least a year to shelter the independent judiciary — judges, jurors and witnesses — threatened by this felon and his rhetoric. If he does not, he puts New Yorkers and the Constitution at risk.

She’s not wrong, but it ain’t gonna happen. The nation had its chance to shitcan the orange fart cloud forever in Impeachment II, but Senate Republicans chickened out. So here we are, and it’s up to wee the pipple.

Open thread.

Lock Him Up?Post + Comments (129)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Another Day, Same Ol’ Republicans

by | 345 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

A snarky little treat to start the morning — “Another Committee to Confirm Our Conspiracy Theories comes up short”: [gift link]

… Last fall, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, made an incendiary public accusation that, “according to information gathered by the select subcommittee,” Anthony Fauci “was escorted into Central Intelligence Agency Headquarters — without a record of entry — and participated in the analysis to ‘influence’ the agency’s review” to say that covid-19 did not originate from a lab leak. “Wenstrup reveals new allegations,” his news release boasted…

Fox News, the New York Post and the rest of the right-wing conspiracy machine ran with it. And then — nothing. The subcommittee came up with no evidence to support the claim, supposedly made by a whistleblower, and nothing to challenge Fauci’s testimony that he hadn’t been to the CIA in 20 years. Appearing before the panel in a public hearing on Monday, Fauci, now retired after decades leading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, ridiculed the idea that “I was parachuted into the CIA like Jason Bourne and told the CIA that they should really not be talking about a lab leak.”

So what did committee Republicans do after their Fauci-to-CIA conspiracy theory collapsed? They pretended it never happened. The Republican staff director, Mitch Benzine, during his time to question Fauci at the hearing, announced: “That was not an allegation made by the committee.”…

This follows a pattern. The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, after holding several hearings that failed to produce anything other than warmed-over allegations about the so-called deep state, was panned even by right-wing media. The Oversight Committee investigation of Joe Biden’s “corruption” failed so thoroughly to find even a trace of wrongdoing by the president that Republicans have had to quietly shelve their impeachment ambitions.

show full post on front page

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Another Day, Same Ol’ RepublicansPost + Comments (345)

On The Road – PAM Dirac – California Coast – 2024

by | 20 Comments

This post is in: ,

PAM Dirac

One of my brothers was getting married the first week in May near San Diego so that was a definite trip. We decided to combine it with a trip up to the Silicon Valley area to see old friends. Instead of flying up from San Diego we took the train.

On The Road – PAM Dirac – California Coast – 2024Post + Comments (20)

On The Road - PAM Dirac - California Coast - 2024 8
Julian, CAMay 2, 2024

My brother decided to get married at Lake Cuyamaca, a low key vacation place about an hour drive from San Diego. We rented a house that had my wife and I, two other brothers and two adult nieces. It was very comfortable and very fun. This is a view from the deck of the house. The wedding itself was very relaxed and fun and came off beautifully. It was especially fun to have most of our California cousins there. My mother had six boys and her sister had 2 girls and 3 boys. My aunt’s family moved to California from Rochester, NY in the early 1960s, so the cousins grew up pretty far apart. Probably a good thing for society. If we had all grown up together, although unlikely, we might have taken over the world. More likely we would have all gone to jail. Pictures of the mayhem omitted to protect the guilty.

Monday Night I Need More Time In the Day Open Thread

by | 172 Comments

This post is in: 

All I can say is that I need more time in the day!

I am not a good photographer, so it takes me 2 separate photos to catch a good shot of my ferns and my clematis.  This one catches the ferns.

And this is a better shot of my clematis.

The clematis always blooms for my birthday, but it came early this year!

Oh, and this apparently happened today.  I laughed out loud.  I’m  not sure that it’s a comfort to know that the outbreak of stupidity isn’t confined to US domestic politics.

This was in response to Marge making a pubic PUBLIC spectacle of herself, otherwise known as a day ending in Y, as she badgered Dr. Fauci in a hearing.

Met with a new group today to talk with them about what they are up to and whether they might be a good fundraising fit.  Nothing is definite, but I am super excited after talking with them.  We talk again a week from today.  If all goes well, we’ll be telling you about them next week.

I have a post started, with the title: The Former President and Convicted Felon Is a Whiny Little Bitch.  But it’s so hard to decide what to include in the post.  The possibilities are endless!

What’s everybody else up to?

Monday Night I Need More Time In the Day Open ThreadPost + Comments (172)