Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Books are my comfort food!

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

So very ready.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

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War for Ukraine Day 831: Kharkiv Is Without Power Generation Capability

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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)

Quick housekeeping updated: Rosie had the first chemotherapy of the second round today. She did great. The oncology vet and her team think she looks great, there were no issues with her bloodwork, and she’s scheduled for he next treatment next Monday. Right now she’s lying just below my feet on the bed watching it pour down rain. Usually the way this works is she’s fine until Wednesday or Thursday and then the systemic effect kicks in. We’ll see if that happens this time. If it does, we’re all set with appetite stimulants. Ruby is also doing well. Thank you all for all the good thoughts, prayers, well wishes, and donations. They are all greatly appreciated.

It has been a long day though, so I’m going to try to keep tonight’s update on the shorter side.

I’m aware of The Kyiv Post‘s reporting regarding Syria. I’m not including it because I’d like to see additional corroboration.

As I begin tonight’s update at 6:10 PM EDT, air raid alerts are up for Sumy and Kharkiv Oblasts.

Russia has completely degraded Kharkiv’s ability to generate power:

Sumy Oblast, or, more accurately, just over the border in Russia:

Here is the machine translation of Sternenko’s tweet:

The breakdown of the Russian convoy in the Kursk region 💥

Recently, a very strange situation happened near our state border on the border of Sumy Oblast – a Russian convoy of freight transport rolled into a field.
Without a goal, because Russian kamikaze soldiers have only one way. The road to death.

Soldiers of the 53rd mechanized brigade of the Malibu unit and the Wing to Hell of the 103rd OBrTRO defeated this column.
Some of the equipment escaped, some was destroyed.
Including your drones.

We are currently actively providing FPV units for the border, so your 2 hryvnias will be very appropriate 👇

President Zelenskyy is still traveling. There are no new videos posted at the President of Ukraine’s YouTube channel.

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Monday Evening Open Thread: ‘Trump Stumped’

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Excellent argument from Juliette Kayyem, in the Atlantic:
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The first post-trial press conference of the once and potentially future president, and now convicted felon, was bizarre, even by his standards. The word unhinged tends to be overused in this context, but Donald Trump lacked focus as he spoke after the conclusion of his trial in a New York state court on 34 felony counts relating to his payoff of the porn star Stormy Daniels. The presumptive Republican nominee ranted about this and that, including off-topic riffs on “Little League games” being canceled, “propane stoves,” the rainy weather, and immigrants living in “luxury hotels.” It wasn’t really a press conference—he took no questions—but nor was it what some feared it would be: a call to action…

Trump could already have started using his sentencing date, July 11, as a cause for his supporters and the GOP elites to rally around, much as he did with January 6, 2021. Then, the last time he lost big, he was still president and had all of the tools of the presidency to try to stop his loss from taking effect and prevent the transfer of power. But he doesn’t have that this time. He is not in office; this is not 2021. He may yet attempt to orchestrate disruption, protest, even violence, but unless he is elected again, he cannot promise his supporters that they will be pardoned. And he could actually face jail time. The calculations are different.

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Rigged! (Open Thread)

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The toady who briefly rebelled crawls back to lick the tiny wingtips (Politico):

DeSantis says Trump can still vote in Florida despite felony conviction

The governor disputes the assessment of some experts who say Trump’s conviction would make him ineligible to vote in the state.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’ll make sure Donald Trump can vote in his home state this November despite his felony convictions.

DeSantis said Friday that he disputes the assessment of some experts who say that Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts would make him ineligible to cast a ballot in the state.

But, in any case, the Florida governor said he would ensure the state clemency board cleared the way for his former rival for the Republican presidential nomination to vote back home.

“Given the absurd nature of the New York prosecution of Trump, this would be an easy case to qualify for restoration of rights per the Florida Clemency Board, which I chair,” he said on X.

According to what I’ve read, convicted felon Donald J. Trump would be able to vote in Florida anyway, even if he were random convicted felon Ronald K. Dump. Florida law bases felon disenfranchisement for crimes committed in other states on whether the state where the crime was committed bars the convicted felon from voting. New York doesn’t unless they are incarcerated, which Trump is unlikely to be.

So the DeSantis statement expressing casual contempt for the rule of law is just a loyalty stunt meant to curry favor with the convicted felon and his cult. Just as the state’s Senators Rubio and Scott’s refusal to do their damn jobs is a stunt.

I think we’ll see similar stunts from now to November — Repubs falling all over themselves to publicly pucker up and kiss the orange ass. I also don’t think it will redound to that party’s credit with voters.

Open thread!

PS: Jury selection in Hunter Biden’s trial is underway. I know a previous plea deal involving the gun charges and the tax case blew up, but is there any chance for striking a plea deal before this trial begins? If so, and if the terms aren’t ridiculously onerous, maybe the defense should take it.

The Delaware case isn’t in the same universe as convicted felon Trump’s since the younger Biden isn’t seeking office. But it’s got to be a huge distraction for the administration.

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Monday Morning Open Thread: And Still, We Dance

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica, week 1 — Hummingbirds!

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It’s Albatrossity Monday, and we get hummingbirds!  We must have been very good to deserve this.

Costa Rica to California, California to Illinois, then Illinois to Arizona.  I am not good with geography, but even I know that whoever planned the itinerary for this week did not plan the most efficient routes!

(click the image below for a bigger, non-blurry version of this week’s schedule)

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica, week 1 — Hummingbirds! 10

Albatrossity

As WaterGirl mentioned, I recently spent 12 days in Costa Rica, and she gave me last Monday off. But I’m back, and it was a great trip, so I’m ready to share pictures.

I should mention that even though lots of people go to Costa Rica specifically to see the birds and other wildlife, I went with a group of undergraduate students from KSU as part of a Study Abroad excursion. There were 15 students and three instructors, including Elizabeth. The students were enrolled in either one or two of the three courses covered during this trip (English, Geography, or Biology). So the focus was not on birds and padding a life list; we visited places that would allow education to be the main focus. Nevertheless, in such a diverse and scenic country, you will always see some birds, and many of them will be new! Birds which were new to my life-list are tagged with an asterisk (*) in the captions below.

The first installment will be some hummingbirds. Costa Rica hosts around 50 species of hummingbirds, including a few which are endemic to Costa Rica, or found only in that country and neighboring Panama. There will be more hummingbirds in subsequent posts, but here’s a starter.

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On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica, week 1 — Hummingbirds! 8
Uvita, Costa RicaMay 19, 2024

One of the most common is the *Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl), found in much of the country and well-adapted to gardens and other human alterations of the landscape. Unlike many hummingbirds, the sexes have similar plumages. As you can see, it is very aptly named. Click here for larger image.

Late Night Open Thread: Convention Planning Updates

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This kinda got overlooked in the recent spate of GOP-related criminal news (and I’m probably jinxing the idea by putting it up now). Democrats plan to nominate Biden by virtual roll call to meet Ohio ballot deadline:

President Joe Biden will be formally nominated as the Democratic presidential nominee through a virtual roll call ahead of the party’s official convention in Chicago in August — a maneuver that will allow Biden to appear on the November ballot in Ohio.

The Democratic National Convention, where the president would otherwise be formally nominated, comes after Ohio’s ballot deadline of Aug. 7. The party’s convention is scheduled for Aug. 19-22.

Ohio lawmakers have moved the deadline in the past for candidates of both parties, although they had not done so yet for Biden this year and were called to a rare special session by Gov. Mike DeWine to address the issue.

The virtual proceedings will allow Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to get the party’s formal nod and will be very similar to the process used in 2020, when the convention went virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Chicago, Democrats will still hold a state-by-state roll call that is a fixture of nominating conventions, according to a Democratic National Committee official, although it would largely be ceremonial and it’s unclear how that in-person roll call would commence.

The DNC on Tuesday did not say when the virtual roll call will take place, but it is expected in the weeks after the committee’s rules and bylaws committee votes to propose changes to the roll call process. That committee vote is scheduled for June 4.

“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree. But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own,” Jaime Harrison, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said in a statement. “Through a virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice.”…

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War for Ukraine Day 830: A Brief Sunday Night Update

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A couple of quick housekeeping notes. The girls are fine. Rosie starts here second round of chemo tomorrow. Tonight is her last night of her two weeks off for recovery after the first round. She’s currently chilling in the bottom left quarter of the bed.

Like many of you all, I had a long list of things to do this weekend. And while getting some rest was one of them, and I got the rest of the ones requiring exertion done, I’m wiped, so I’m going to keep tonight’s update short.

Right now the only air raid alert that is up, aside from Russian occupied Luhansk and Crimea as air raid alerts are always up for those two, is Kharkiv. I’ll keep an eye on the alert map as I do the update.

Total disregard for human life and constant terror is what Russia is trying to spread.

Just this week alone, Russian troops have carried out nearly 1,000 strikes using various types of missiles, guided aerial bombs, and combat drones.

Protecting life in Ukraine with a sufficient number of air defense systems, providing our soldiers with the necessary weapons of the required range, and exerting pressure on the terrorist state so that Russia does not have time to adapt is the way to bring peace closer.

Russian terror must lose. The world is capable of ensuring this.

President Zelenskyy is still traveling. Today he attended the Shangri-La Dialogue 2024 in Singapore. The video of his address is below, followed by the English transcript after the jump.

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