Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The lights are all blinking red.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

We will not go back.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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There Be Dragons (Open Thread)

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We saw this medium-sized gator sunning in a muddy spot yesterday. From a distance and through the screen, I couldn’t tell what the spherical object next to it was. But upon application of a long-distance lens, I identified the object tentatively as an apple snail shell, extra large:

Gator sunning with snail shell

There were other snail shells strewn about, with the gator in the center like a dragon guarding its treasure. The muddy spot is a favorite of wading birds like herons, egrets, Limpkins, spoonies, etc., but not when the gator is holding court.

***

Having caught up with “Franklin” on Apple TV, I’m in a show hole. Can anyone recommend some compelling programs to stream? I’ve heard “Deadloch” (Amazon) is pretty good if you like a spoof of atmospheric British police procedurals. I am a fan of that genre so intend to check it out. Also, HBO’s “Hacks” will be back this week. Yay!

Other than that, we’ve been mostly watching baseball, and it’s not going well for our team. It’s still early yet. I am not panicking.

Open thread!

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Monday Morning Open Thread

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Food for thought.

Here’s the entire contents of the tweet.  (just below)

I found it interesting and approachable, but not overwhelming, and I thought it might generate some good discussion.

Angry Staffer
11:47 AM · Apr 26, 2024

Let’s talk Ukraine.

There’s a lot of analysis out there that I believe is driven by a fundamental misunderstanding of the way Russia fights wars.

Bottom line up front: Russia’s current goals in Ukraine aren’t necessarily victory, at least not in the traditional military sense.

We’ve seen evidence of this since even before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. More on that later.

Would Putin like to “get the gang back together” and continue rebuilding his sphere of influence in the former Soviet states? Absolutely. Is that his primary goal? Not even close.

Putin’s stated goal for decades has been preventing NATO expansion, which he views as an existential threat to the Russian Federation’s survival. His “special military operation” obviously failed spectacularly in this regard.

Putin was furious when Estonia and Latvia joined NATO; he’s clearly not happy about Finland and Sweden joining either, but Ukraine? Ukraine would be the ultimate insult.

So what’s the best way to keep Ukraine from joining NATO?

– You could corrupt their electoral process and install a puppet. They tried that and failed.

– You could conquer the whole country. They tried that and failed.

– You could keep them in a perpetual state of warfare—a stalemate and a war of attrition—knowing that NATO won’t allow them in while they’re tied up in a hot war. That’s where we’re at now.

Back to how we’ve seen these signs since at least Crimea:

To put these datapoints together, it’s important to understand how invested Russia is in their nonlinear war strategy.

In 2014, after Yanukovych was ousted, sentiment was that Ukraine would gravitate more towards NATO. Putin immediately moved to annex Crimea.

In April 2014, the Crimea occupation evolved into fighting in Donbas, and thus began the perpetual conflict strategy.

In 2015-2016, Russia was working on two additional fronts: devastating Ukrainian critical infrastructure with a barrage of cyber attacks, and interfering in our Presidential election.

For context here: remember some of Russia’s goals with their 2016 influence operation:

– hurt US support for Ukraine (they did that when Trump and Manafort forced a massive change in RNC Ukraine policy)

– denigrate Hillary Clinton with the goal of hurting her Presidency, or electing Donald Trump

– They had a clear preference for Trump, and after watching Trump get impeached for trying to extort Zelenskyy, it’s clear why:

Electing Trump furthered their goal of keeping Ukraine in conflict indefinitely.

To be clear, in February 2022, Russia seems to have shifted their goals temporarily; hey legitimately thought they could take Kyiv in a 3-Day operation, in what has to be one of the biggest intelligence failures in history.

Now they’re back to plan stalemate. Some of this is because they know if Trump gets elected in 2024, US support for Ukraine (and probably NATO) will end.

With this understanding of Russia’s goals, the way forward is pretty clear in my eyes:

We give Ukraine what they need to win. Immediately. Simply giving them enough to defend themselves only acts to further Russia’s goals of a tactical stalemate.

A tactical stalemate will never put enough pressure on Putin to force an end to this war. We have to stop being risk averse and let Ukraine go on offense.

This last aid package — combined with EU support — goes a long way towards advancing this capability, but we still have work to do.

Totally open thread.

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Where WERE you, sweet meteor?

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Two of the most gargantuan, gaping assholes in Florida collided yesterday, and all I could think of when reading about it was the sad absence of a meteor. Gift link from the Post:

Former president Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis met privately Sunday morning in Miami, according to people familiar with the matter, breaking a years-long chill between the presumptive Republican nominee and his onetime chief primary rival…

The meeting was orchestrated by Steve Witkoff, a Florida real estate investor and developer both men know, and he attended. Witkoff called the former president’s team and asked for him to meet with DeSantis, a person familiar with the matter said.

Trump and DeSantis had not spoken since the end of a bruising primary season, where DeSantis dropped out after a disappointing finish in Iowa, following months of attacks from Trump and his supporters.

Trump, DeSantis and a mindbogglingly corrupt developer/GOP donor together in the same location? In Miami? And no (highly localized) destruction raining down from the sky? Thanks for nothing, Oort Cloud!

The newsiest bit of the article is toward the end, where reporter Josh Dawsey describes a scene reminiscent of a mob boss in straightened circumstances leaning on a discredited goon in his hour of need:

In recent weeks, DeSantis held an event for donors at a resort in Florida, and people close to him said he is potentially interested in running for president again in 2028. During the Republican primary, Trump told advisers he wanted to hurt DeSantis for 2028, too. But he has moved his focus on to Biden and his criminal trial in recent weeks, and Trump allies say he would favorably view DeSantis raising money for him.

Trump would welcome donations from Old Scratch himself, so that hardly needed to be said. For me, the amusing subtext is that DeSantis is caught in yet another ambition trap. His life has become a hellscape of ambition traps, where he’s forced to suck up to odious people and adopt unnatural mannerisms and wear strange articles of clothing in a fruitless quest for the White House.

I think the frustration of being caught in these traps accounts for the undercurrent of fury that’s always just below the surface with DeSantis, whether he’s awkwardly navigating a stage wearing wedge heels in cowboy-boot wrappers or raring back like an aggressive baboon to boom fake laughter at startled Iowans.

DeSantis laughing awkwardly at Iowa event

On a related note, there was speculation in the morning thread about Trump doing time. I still think that’s extremely unlikely, even if he loses the election (which I think he will) and is convicted on at least some counts. But he’s a miserable sumbitch right now too, and so is DeSantis. That’s real, so I will savor it.

Open thread.

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Monday Morning Open Thread: Here We Go, Again

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Pass it along!

Gift link – “Biden administration reinstates LGBTQ+ protections in health care”:

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Spring in the Heartland – 1

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Happy Monday!

(click for a larger, non-blurry schedule for the week)

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring in the Heartland - 1 10

Albatrossity

The quickening of migration in March hints at the flood of migrants to come, and this time of year is eagerly anticipated by birders and other nature lovers. So let’s spend some time on migrants, both those who are arriving and those who are emigrating further north for the summer.

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On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring in the Heartland - 1 9
Near Manhattan KSMarch 15, 2024

Ducks are a great way to get into birding, since they are large, easily found in the right habitats, and gorgeous in their spring finery. This male American Wigeon (Mareca americana) is a great example. Those rusty sides, white belly, and flashy white underwing patches make this species easy to identify from a distance, and easy to appreciate up close. Click here for larger image.

Late Night Open Thread: Companion Animals

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Hat tip to commentor AM in NC:

Worth clicking just for the pictures! From the Washington Post, “Soldiers reunite with their pets from overseas: ‘It meant everything to me’” [gift link]:

Soldier Nick Kingsley was about to have lunch at a mess hall in Kosovo where he was stationed when he came across a hungry stray puppy sitting outside.

Kingsley, assigned to Eastern Europe with the Massachusetts National Guard, took a closer look at the small pup that frigid day in November and saw that she was injured.

“I noticed she had a puncture wound on her head,” said Kingsley, 29, who then scooped up the dog. “When I picked her up and held her, I could see she wasn’t doing well.”

Kingsley said he snuggled the little black pup and fed her some of his chicken lunch, then tracked down the only veterinarian in the area…

Kingsley liked the dog so much he told his mom and sister in the United States that he wished he could bring Puma home when his year of service ended in March. He said they did some research and learned the organization Paws of War might be able to help.

The Long Island nonprofit is among a handful of agencies in the United States that help reunite military members with stray dogs and cats they bonded with while deployed overseas.

Kingsley said a volunteer near the military base offered to foster Puma for the remainder of Kingsley’s service in Kosovo because dogs were not allowed in the barracks. Paws of War then paid to have the pup flown to Kingsley in the United States after she’d had all of her vaccinations.

“It meant everything to me,” Kingsley said…

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Medium Cool – Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

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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.

Let’s talk music!  Always evolving, it seems.

🎶

I loved Buckingham Nicks.  So many favorite songs from that album.

And then they joined Fleetwood Mac.

I don’t recall all the details, but I think they were playing musical chairs, and when the music stopped they all changed partners.  That made for one great album!

A whole gaggle of musicians got together to honor Bob Dylan.

I was so happy to see George Harrison and all the others playing again on that stage, and I realized George had surely been playing for all these years since The Beatles and I had somehow missed it.   You can just feel how much fun it was for all of them to be playing together.  I dare you to watch Neil Young and Tom Petty sharing a mic and not feel your heart sing.

I hear Different Drum and I immediately think of Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet, but you may think of Linda Ronstadt or The Stone Ponies, and some of them moved on to become The Eagles.

Neil Young has had all sorts of musical lives, and I think now he’s back on tour with Crazy Horse.  

And the son of someone I worked with asked him one day, “Dad, did you know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?”

If that’s not enough, we can talk about backup bands and who they first opened for, or backup bands who ultimately became more famous or just as famous as the artist they opened for.

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