Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

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

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

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

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

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War for Ukraine Day 790: Russia Intends to Destroy All of Ukraine’s Power Grid Before New Military Aid Arrives

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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)

Just a quick note: a Hag Pesach Sameach/Happy Passover to all celebrating this evening.

Russia hit Kharkiv again today.

Putin and Russia aren’t just trying to blow up all of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, they’re also trying to take it down through cyberwarfare. The Computer Emergency Response Team Ukraine (CERT-UA) has the details:

General information

The government team of responding to computer emergencies of Ukraine CERT-UA in March 2024 revealed a malicious plan of the Sandworm group, aimed at disrupting the sustainable functioning of information and communication systems (ICS) of about twenty enterprises in the energy sector, water and heat supply (OKI) in ten regions of Ukraine.

During the urgent measures to respond to incidents, in addition to the well-known from 2022, the QUEUESEED backing (KNUCKLETOUCH, ICYWELL, WRONGSENS, KAPEKA), a new toolkit of attackers was discovered, namely, malware LOADGRIP and BIASBOAT (Linux variant QUEUESEED), which were installed on the EOM (Linux OS), designed to automate process management processes (ASUTP) using specialized software (SDR) of domestic production. It should be noted that BIASBOAT was presented as an encrypted file server, for which the attackers used a pre-received value of “machine-id”.

CERT-UA experts have confirmed the fact of compromising at least three “supply chains”, in connection with the circumstances of the initial unauthorized access or correlating with the establishment of SDRs, which contained software bookmarks and vulnerabilities, or caused by the full-time technical ability of the supplier’s employees to access the ICS organizations for support and technical support.

Due to the functioning of the EOM with SDRs within the ICS OCI, the attackers used them to move horizontally and develop cyberattacks in relation to corporate networks of enterprises. For example, on such EOMs in catalogs from SDRs was found pre-created PHP-webschell WEEVELY, PHP tunnel REGEORG.NEO or PIVOTNACCI.

In the period from 07.03.2024 to 15.03.2024, CERT-UA specialists took measures to inform all identified enterprises and research and counteract cyber threats in the relevant ICS, as part of which the circumstances of the initial compromise are established, malware was removed and analyzed, a chronology of incident events was built, server and active network equipment was assisted, and security technology was installed (at some LOADGRIP/ businesses)/BIASBOAT was established in 2023).

It should be emphasized that the EOM running Windows attackers used malware QUEUESEED and GOSSIPFLOW, which has been monitored since 2022 in the context of destructive cyberattacks of the group UAC-0133 on water supply facilities, in particular, using SDELETE. Thus, with a high level of confidence, UAC-0133 is a subcluster of UAC-0002 (Sandworm/APT44).

Note that the implementation of cyberattacks was facilitated by the following factors:

  • incorrect segmentation (no isolation) of servers from SDRs of suppliers used as an element of ASUTP, in the context of both restrictions on access from / to the Internet network and ICs of the organizations themselves, within which they operate
  • negligent attitude of suppliers to the security of software provided to consumers; in particular, the surface analysis of the source code will reveal banal vulnerabilities that allow remote code execution (RCE).

CERT-UA assumes that unauthorized access to ICS of a significant number of heat, water and energy supply facilities was to be used to enhance the effect of missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure in the spring of 2024.

More at the link.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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A Couple of Congressional Updates

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A Couple of Congressional Updates 1

First, MTG is too chickenshit to pull the trigger on getting rid of Pastor Johnson.  I think Josh Marshall has it right:

Majorie Greene was on social media all weekend going completely berserk on Johnson, threatening him, denouncing him, everything. And yet she still hasn’t pulled the plug on his Speakership, which she could do at any moment. Maybe this will all change tomorrow or the next day. But at the moment Johnson has totally stood her and her crew down. It was all talk basically.

One possible rejoinder is that she isn’t doing it because Johnson has a deal with Democrats to backstop his Speakership. So what’s the point of her calling the vote?

Maybe. But in her position making him retain the Speakership with Democratic votes is like making him drink from a poisoned chalice. So why not do it? The best answer is that Republicans are already facing a very challenging election in the House. A month of chaos looking for yet another Speaker only makes that worse. And none of her colleagues really want that. She probably doesn’t even want it. I think we underestimate the degree to which last October’s spectacle was driven by the personal and impetuous actions of a single man: Matt Gaetz. Others joined once he did it. But it’s not clear to me that the others were ever going to pull to do it themselves.

On last week’s Josh Marshall podcast, he also made the point that Marge isn’t a suicide machine like Gaetz:  she wants to wield power, and being a spoiler at this particular moment is going to hurt her future in the House.

Let’s turn to Ronald Reagan’s party of the big tent in Colorado, specifically CO-4 where Boebert is trying to parachute in.  Dave Williams, the chair of the party, has filed a subpoena of one of Boebert’s opponents in CO-4 as part of a lawsuit to stop unaffiliated voters from voting in the primary, even though a 2016 ballot proposition allows them to.  Unaffiliated voters are 40% of voter registration statewide.   Williams is also a candidate for the now open seat in CO-5, which is basically Colorado Springs.  He is accused of using state party money to finance his congressional campaign.  Need I say he’s the MAGat in that race?

Polls show Boebert in a lead in the primary contest, but I would put little or no stock in them, since it is a safe Republican district that was never worth polling.  When I posted about Boebert’s endorsement from the state party, some Coloradans in the comments thought that the endorsement meant nothing, and the voters of CO-4 would reject Boebert.  What’s for sure is that the Republicans in CO-4 are in deep disarray and showing their natural desire to disenfranchise voters.

(Democrats are also fighting over the CO-4 seat, with the eligibility of the Democrat chosen to run in the special election being challenged by a voter who won’t say who’s backing him. )

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President Zelenskyy Speaks to U.S. Congressional Delegation

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I found this very moving.

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Not-So-Supreme Court Argument – Spitting Rage

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The (Not-so) Supremes will be talking about the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) this week, so let’s have a go ourselves, shall we?

The title of the piece is mine, the rest is Argiope.

Not-So-Supreme Court Argument  – Spitting Rage

by Argiope:

EMTALA passed in 1986 to prevent hospitals from turning away people who couldn’t pay during things like heart attacks or giving birth. It also requires hospitals to stabilize people with pregnancy emergencies, like ectopics and inevitable miscarriages with a high risk of sepsis, both of which are best treated by ending the pregnancy.

Along came post-Dobbs Idaho, where an extreme abortion ban was ready to go into effect the minute Roe fell.

Common-clay-of-the-new-West Idaho authoritahs decided not to honor EMTALA, and to direct their state’s physicians NOT to perform abortions that could save the health of the mother when doing so would go against Idaho’s bans.

The Biden administration then sued Idaho for non-compliance with EMTALA.

Meanwhile, Texas said, “Hold my beer, Idaho,” and sued the Biden administration back. They wanted to tie their own doctors’ hands similarly to Idaho, and conveniently forgot that Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution means that federal law overrides state law when these are in conflict.

That all leads us to April 24, when SCOTUS will hear the federal case against the state of Idaho and Solicitor General Preloger will try to legally prevent Idaho’s women from suffering unnecessarily.

Justices Alito and Thomas, who are not doctors but stayed in a Holiday Inn last night, will:

  • Holler “State’s Rights” very loudly and insist that Idaho has a perfect right to cause infertility, hysterectomy, sepsis, and near death for its pregnant citizens.
  • They’ll say Idaho has a right to prevent its physicians from doing what their Hippocratic oaths, medical judgment and common sense say they should.

Justice Fundy Baby Voice will of course:

  • Acknowledge that ladies do have parts and be very concerned
  • yet resolute in her conviction that fetal people have even MORE parts that count than grown-ass women do.

This is your regular reminder that safe, effective abortion pills are available by mail in all 50 states, and Idaho and Texas need them.

These pills are not gonna solve the issues EMTALA is meant to address, but they speak to why the Comstock Act, passed in 1873, needs to stay unenforced. Better yet, Dems should overturn the Comstock Act as soon as we have a trifecta again in January.

I am so sick of this Supreme Court.  How did it even get this far?

Federal Law > State Law.  End of story.

Update at 2:20 pm: I pulled this earlier as soon as I realized it was Day 1 of the NY Election Interference trial.  Posting again now.  First comment after repost is #14.

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Trump’s NY Criminal Trial, Day 5

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Election Interference trial Day 1.  Day 5 if you include jury selection.

Where are BJ peeps following along on the NY Election Interference case?

Josh Kovensky at TPM – Live Blogging

Mark Sumner at Daily Kos – Live Blogging

AP – Live Blogging

Washington Post – Live Blogging

All I can find on C-SPAN is a 3-minute video of Trump whining and making excuses. Seems like they should either not have that up on their site or include more of the trial.

I see ABC and NBC “live” coverage, but it’s mostly talking heads blah-blah-blahing, so I won’t include the links here.

If you have good sources, I will add them up top.

Because I love you guys, I will not add a photo of the orange guy to the post.

Update: Link to transcript of the NY trial (24-hour delay)  h/t LAO

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Monday Morning Open Thread: Another Long Week Begins

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Passover begins at sunset this evening; Chag Pesach Sameach (Happy holiday) to those who observe.
 
Hold tight to the happy thoughts:

A little treat, to start your morning. At the Washington Post, Jen Rubin, genuinely apostate Repub, on “A rotten week for MAGA Republicans’ feeble stunts“: [gift link]

MAGA House Republicans would rather do anything but their jobs. They would rather indulge right-wing media consumers with baseless impeachments, motions to vacate the speaker’s chair (again!), fruitless hearings and parroting Russian propaganda. None of these activities serves the interests of the voters; none improves U.S. national security. For these minions of Donald Trump, chaos and paralysis appear to be the goal. Fortunately for the country, Democrats have figured out how to short-circuit the antics and humiliate Republicans…

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