Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

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

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

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

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Bark louder, little dog.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

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

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

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Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Some Good News, If We Can Keep It

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Not soon enough, not nearly as many as required… but still good news.

Per the Associated Press, “Senators warn more visas are urgently needed for Afghans who aided the US in the war”:

… In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, more than a dozen Republican and Democratic senators said Congress needs to raise the limit on the number of special immigrant visas the U.S. can process for Afghans. They said an additional 20,000 are needed before the end of the fiscal year in September.

“This critical program has already saved the lives of thousands of Afghans who served with bravery and honor alongside United States troops and diplomats in support of the mission in Afghanistan,” the lawmakers, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, wrote in the letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “We must now uphold our commitment to these individuals and ensure that those qualified applicants are able to find safety in the United States.”

The Biden administration has also called on Congress to act swiftly. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters [last] Thursday that “even though our war in Afghanistan ended, our commitment to Afghans and our commitment to those who helped us in that war has not ended.” …

The special immigrant visa, or SIV, program allows eligible Afghans who helped Americans despite great personal risk to themselves and their loved ones to apply for entry into America with their families. Eligible Afghans include interpreters for the U.S. military as well as individuals integral to the American embassy in Kabul.

While the program has existed since 2009, the number of applicants skyrocketed after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. With the Taliban now back in power, advocates say Afghans who helped the U.S. are often living in hiding and facing torture and death if they’re found.

Shaheen and her fellow Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware have been focused on this issue since the withdrawal, working closely with advocates — so far with no success — to tailor legislation to the varying needs of allies. In a statement to the AP, Coons pointed to the urgency of the issue, saying that “every day that passes without Congress taking action, we risk the lives of Afghan partners who deserve our thanks.”…

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Some Good News, If We Can Keep It

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The Lawless Right Wing Junta on the Supreme Court

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We’ve been enduring a slow-rolling judicial coup since 2000, at least.

We’ve just entered a new phase, in which the Supreme Treason caucus just decided that states do have what we fought the Civil War to deny: the right to ignore federal rule at will:

A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a stay on a Texas law that gives police broad powers to arrest migrants suspected of crossing the border illegally, while a legal battle over immigration authority plays out.

The Lawless Right Wing Junta on the Supreme Clerk

 

Actual lawyers should weigh in, but there is little or no other area of law in which the issue is as clear and as settled as who gets to run immigration policy in the US. Spoiler: it ain’t the individual states.

The Supreme Junta taking it on themselves to gut the federal gov’t is not surprising; it is, however, a direct attack on the idea of rights and powers that apply across the entire nation. The legal regime the Supreme radicals are imposing on us is, in essence and in my not-a-lawyer humble opinion, a direct attack on the entire idea and edifice of Constitutional gov’t.

I don’t know what can be done about this, but ISTM that this is the moment for apologize-later federal action. Two possible paths: nationalize the TX National Guard and send them to Alaska to protect the border with Canada. And assert federal authority over the border and arrest and indict any TX official or LEO that tries to act under SB 4.

I’m sure there are very good reasons why both of those are a bad idea. But what this lawless court is doing is worse.

I’m out of fucks and out of ideas.

Over to y’all.

This thread is as open as our border is not.

Image: Howard Brodie, European refugees in Germany during World War II,  1945

The Lawless Right Wing Junta on the Supreme CourtPost + Comments (105)

Ukraine is England in 1940

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Ukraine is England 1940.  I have seen rikyrah post that in the comments.   Multiple times.  So I asked if rikyrah would be wiling to expound on that a bit, and she graciously agreed.  If you think it’s helpful information in a fairly bite-sized form, please share!

Image created by SC.

Ukraine is England in 1940

by rikyrah

Hello.

WaterGirl asked me to write on this, so here I am.

When I think about supporting Ukraine, it is this simple for me.

I believe Ukraine is England 1940.

England, in 1940, was the last man standing in Europe. That island, was all that stood between the world and a Evil Madman known as Adolf Hitler. He had already conquered Poland (attacked in September 1939), Denmark (April 1940), Norway (April 1940), Belgium (May 1940), the Netherlands (May 1940), Luxembourg (May 1940),  and France (May 1940).

Adolph Hitler had overrun nearly all the rest of the Europe by 1940.

England was alone at the end of all of that.

The only thing now, in 2024, instead of Ukraine being at the end of a Mad Man’s intentions, they are at the beginning.

Because, if Ukraine falls, then Putin will not stop with Ukraine. There is nothing about Putin that should make anyone believe that he will stop. If victorious in Ukraine, he will continue his march in Europe.

Like FDR with Lend-Lease, the United States needs to fully fund Ukraine through January 2025. This war will continue until November 5, 2024. Putin’s Stooge- Trump, has already told him that not only would he not defend Ukraine, but, would have no interest in defending NATO. Music to Putin’s ears. It also doesn’t help that he has a sizeable chunk of the Republican Party doing his bidding, in the form of the Preacher Speaker. The way these folks betray the interest of the United States in servitude to the dictator of Russia will never not bother me.

Biden, on the other hand, has shown that he fully supports Ukraine and our allies in NATO.

Supplies and funds for Ukraine makes more sense than almost any funds we give to foreign countries. The Ukrainians are only asking for supplies to enable THEM to fight. We have weapons, and don’t have to supply American troops? Win-win.

Putin is not one to admit that he was wrong. And, he was definitely wrong about Ukraine. But, he won’t even think about a resolution to his folly until after the November election. He’s going to dig in, and do whatever he has to do in order to make it to November 2024, and hope for a Trump victory, which, of course, he is aiding through misinformation campaigns.

Nobody will convince me that Putin thought that Ukraine would fight as they have done. I believe that he thought they would fold the way Afghanistan folded once the US left. That they have not has stunned him. And, the losses that Russia has incurred, trying to pull off Putin’s Folly..have been enormous. But, his megalomania makes him unable to admit his mistake in invading Ukraine. A Biden win, accompanied by continued NATO solidarity, is the foundation in pushing Putin towards acknowledgement of defeat.

We must stop Putin. I don’t want WWIII. Cut him off at the path HERE – in Ukraine – and, hopefully, we won’t have an expansion of fighting across Europe. We need to deliver that blow to him.

Ukraine is England in 1940Post + Comments (180)

Empty Promises, Empty Threats (Open Thread)

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It has nothing to do with the post, but I’ve been obsessed with this song lately.

It’s a haunting cover of an atmospheric ballad by Jason Molina, whose tragically brief oeuvre should be discovered and savored on its own terms.

Okay, now on to the post proper: Ready to see a candidate with a bloated, flabby orange head topped with a mess of piss-colored cotton candy run straight into a buzz saw?

Former President Trump said Sunday that he will decide “pretty soon” whether to back a national abortion ban…

“We’re going to find out,” Trump told Fox News host Howard Kurtz on whether he would back the policy. “Pretty soon, I’m gonna be making a decision. I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.”

The Trump campaign pushed back on reports of the policy last month but did not deny that Trump was considering it, instead offering a vague statement saying Trump would “sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with.”

So apparently the idea is the scammy fraud can “negotiate” a settlement to put to rest an issue that’s roiled American politics for 50-plus years. Fran Lebowitz was right: “You do not know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump. You just don’t.”

Trump can seem immune to the laws of political gravity thanks to his lone talent for conning and bamboozling the gullible. But the rest of us don’t have to buy into that framing, even if the NYT does.

Josh Marshall shared semi-related thoughts on the occasion of Trump’s latest threat of violence (Après moi, le bloodbath), but the same principle applies to delusions of grandeur as well as threats. There’s no point in analyzing any of it because it’s all bullshit. We already know everything we need to know:

Trump is a lawless bully who will toss out the constitution, refuse to accept the results of an election and work with enemy foreign powers all for his own personal power.

I mean, we literally know all of this. It’s not speculation. He’s done all of that.

If a mob boss says someone is going to go sleep with the fishes I’m not going to get into an argument about whether that person has a big aquarium in his bedroom. Because he’s a mob boss and I’m not a chump and murdering people is what he does.

It can be difficult because civic minded people find it a challenge to grapple with lawless degenerates. But it can be done.

I believe it can, it must, and it will be done.

Open thread.

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Laughter and Tears Open Thread

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A few laughs at the former guy’s expense.

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And one WTF??!

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I was guessing that mishegoss was a synonym for clusterfuck, but it doesn’t appear to be exactly that.

craziness; senseless behavior
Definitions of mishegoss. (Yiddish) craziness; senseless behavior or activity. synonyms: meshugaas, mishegaas. type of: craziness, folly, foolery, indulgence, lunacy, tomfoolery.

Also, when I heard what Cannon had ruled – let’s let the jurors without clearance see all the national security and classified documents so they can decide for themselves whether they are personal documents! – my first thought was maybe this is just crazy enough that Jack Smith  can get Cannon thrown into whichever circle of hell she belongs in  take it to the 11th Circuit, and some legal peeps seem to be having a similar thought.

A (writ of) mandamus is an order from a court to an inferior government official ordering the government official to properly fulfill their official duties or correct an abuse of discretion.

Open thread.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Spring Is Coming — Gradually, Then All At Once

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An update on Romeo, from cat rescuer & BJ bleg beneficiary Rob:

I wanted to send you an update on our cat shenanigans. Your post really helped!

We bought a LOT of food. I’m am currently working on improving the cat environment. We are converting the guest room in to a cat room with shelves and fun things.

For the moment, it is the private quarantined room of Mr. Romeo. We have still not caught the matrix twin who beat him up. So, we’re bringing Romeo in evenings.

The BIG plan is to catch his outdoor friend Miss Professor Longhair, get her vaccinated and then bring both in for quarantine and eventual release inside to gen pop. I’m expanding the cat patio so there is more outdoor space.– Cheers,Rob

A comment from wise commentor Kay, yesterday morning:

… I think a lot of the malevolent MAGA energy has dissipated, at least where I live (75% Trump). Several other commenters in Trump areas say the same. 2020 really felt like there was a heightened risk – I had an actual sort of road rage encounter with one of them in the days before the election and they did these “rolling rallies” where they essentially shut down a highway by going 20 miles an hour in a caravan and no one in local law enforcement would do anything because they were all Trump cultists too. It was really aggressive behavior and meant to intimidate and frightening because it was clear they had co opted law enforcement.

It’s like the air went out of a balloon now though. I genuinely think the high Covid casualties they took disheartened a lot of them. It’s all fun and games and owning the libs until half your friends die.

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Spring Is Coming — Gradually, Then All At OncePost + Comments (143)

On The Road – Winter Wren – April 2022 in Arizona – Part 1 (of 2)

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Winter Wren

The first trip that involved air travel that my wife and I took after “peak” Covid (or at least so we hope!) was to visit Arizona for a week. It was pretty much our first real vacation in over two years, although we had done some commuting by car to FL to break up the dreary New England winters. Maybe the blogfather will be inspired by these for some local travel before the Arizona heat gets oppressive.

On The Road – Winter Wren – April 2022 in Arizona – Part 1 (of 2)Post + Comments (14)

On The Road - Winter Wren - April 2022 in Arizona - Part 1 (of 2) 9
Piestawa Peak, ArizonaApril 16, 2022

We spent part of our first day in Phoenix before heading to Peoria. I took the opportunity to hike a trail to Piestawa Peak, which has great views of downtown Phoenix (pictured here). The trail was very crowded mid-morning on Saturday and it was getting hot, so I didn’t feel too bad turning around right before the top (where it also got a little too steep for my taste). In the foreground is a Palo Verde tree, which were blooming prolifically at this time and to which we soon found ourselves to be extremely allergic (after initially suspecting that somehow we got Covid on the plane ride from MA).