Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Stay strong, because they are weak.

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

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

You cannot shame the shameless.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

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

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

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Monday Morning Open Thread: Be The Light You Want to See in the World…

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It's the final holiday stretch at the Biden White House. The theme is 'A Season of Peace and Light'

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— Associated Press 🤖 (@asssociatedpress.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 5:20 AM

… The first lady is set to unveil the decorations and deliver a holiday message at a White House event on Monday.

Several hundred volunteers spent the past week decorating the White House’s public spaces with nearly 10,000 feet of ribbon, more than 28,000 ornaments, over 2,200 doves and some 165,000 lights on wreaths, garlands and other displays.

There are also 83 Christmas trees in the mansion, including the official tree in the Blue Room: a towering Fraser fir from North Carolina that was anchored to the ceiling after the chandelier was removed.

“As we celebrate our final holiday season here in the White House, we are guided by the values we hold sacred: faith, family, service to our country, kindness towards our neighbors, and the power of community and connection,” the Bidens wrote in a commemorative holiday guidebook that will be given to all visitors.

The White House expects about 100,000 people to visit this month…

As part of Joining Forces, Jill Biden’s White House initiative to support military families, the first lady invited National Guard families to be the first members of the public to experience the holiday decor. The Bidens’ late son, Beau, served in the Delaware Army National Guard.

 

Biden has AIDS Memorial Quilt at White House to observe World AIDS Day

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— Associated Press 🤖 (@asssociatedpress.bsky.social) December 1, 2024 at 4:26 PM

Maybe not the best post to share this, but… How many of us could’ve imagined this back when Reagan’s GOP was pretending AIDS was ‘God’s punishment’?

A twice-yearly shot could help end AIDS. But will it get to everyone who needs it?

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— Associated Press 🤖 (@asssociatedpress.bsky.social) December 1, 2024 at 1:13 AM

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Day 2 in Paso Robles and Los Osos

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On The Road - Albatrossity - Day 2 in Paso Robles and Los Osos 8

Albatrossity

The Sweet Springs Sanctuary was a birdy spot, so here are some more cheery coastal California critters for your enjoyment. And now that the holiday shopping season has started, if you need a bird calendar to go with your Pets of Balloon Juice calendar, I have prepared three this year, including the jackal favorite, Bird Butts. Check them out here!

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On The Road - Albatrossity - Day 2 in Paso Robles and Los Osos 7
Sweet Springs SanctuarySeptember 27, 2024

Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) are year-round residents in this part of the country, so there were a lot of them for me to photograph. Here’s one showing off those distinctive white outer tail feathers. Click here for larger image.

Late Night Open Thread: Subpar Genes & Bad Upbringing

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so, this is just graft, because a large-scale advertising campaign is expensive and probably someone pointed out that Trump can use emergency authorities for the fentanyl crisis to tap money he wouldn’t otherwise be able to tap

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— post malone ergo propter malone (@proptermalone.bsky.social) November 28, 2024 at 12:19 AM

Tribune of the working person

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— Clean Observer (@hammbear2024.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 10:58 PM

Late Night Open Thread: Subpar Genes & Bad Upbringing

Behind the Scenes at a Secretive Gathering of Rising MAGA Donors – the Rockbridge Network co-founded by JD Vance and Chris Buskirk held a recent event with the Winklevoss twins, Rebekah Mercer, Elon Musk allies Ken Howery & Luke Nosek, Donald Trump Jr, right-wing donors and top Trump campaign aides

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— Wendy Siegelman (@wendysiegelman.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 6:57 PM

Teddy ‘Wow, The Amazing Aura of Money’ Schleifer, for the NYTimes — “Behind the Scenes at a Secretive Gathering of Rising MAGA Donors”: [gift link]

Just four days after being named the next White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles was waiting patiently for an espresso drink at a five-star hotel in Las Vegas.

Overnight, she had become one of the most powerful people in America. The value of a minute of her time could not be higher during the presidential transition: Republican strivers are hounding her for desirable gigs, and back at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald J. Trump has kept courting controversy with his picks.

Yet here she was thousands of miles away, flanked only by a security guard, alone in line at a Four Seasons coffee shop. She had just peeled off from lunch with other top Trump campaign officials, including her fellow campaign manager, Chris LaCivita; the pollster Tony Fabrizio; and the campaign’s fund-raising chief, Meredith O’Rourke. “We’re all just chilling,” one member of the startled Trump entourage joked aloud when alerted that they had been spotted by a nearby New York Times reporter as they walked through the hotel.

What demanded the dayslong presence of all these Trumpworld figures during some of the most important weeks of their careers? The fall gathering of a secretive group of wealthy tech executives and their allies who have ascended swiftly within the Republican Party’s donor class: the Rockbridge Network.

The group, which was co-founded five years ago by JD Vance, sprouted from an informal set of dinners into a powerful coalition of Republican donors who have given more than $100 million to Rockbridge projects since 2019, according to a person close to the group, helping lead Silicon Valley’s march to the right. For Rockbridge, Mr. Vance’s election as vice president was a crowning achievement — and a tantalizing opportunity to wield new national influence.

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War for Ukraine Day 1,012: The Butcher’s Bill for November 2024

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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)

Here is the butchers’ bill for Russia’s genocidal attacks on Ukraine in November 2024.

⚡️Russian attacks across Ukraine kill 11, injure 51 over past day.

Russia launched 78 drones against Ukraine overnight on Dec. 1 from the Russian cities of Kursk, Orel, and Bryansk, according to a report from Ukraine’s Air Force.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) December 1, 2024 at 3:42 AM

From The Kyiv Independent:

Russian strikes against Ukraine killed at least 11 civilians and injured at least 51 over the past day, regional authorities reported on Dec. 1.

Russia launched 78 drones against Ukraine overnight on Dec. 1 from the Russian cities of Kursk, Orel, and Bryansk, according to a report from Ukraine’s Air Force.

Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare units, and mobile firing groups shot down 32 drones in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Sumy, Poltava, and Zhytomyr oblasts. Forty-five drones were lost allegedly due to electronic warfare countermeasures.

Russia attacked the Dniprovskyi district of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on the evening of Nov. 30, killing four people and injuring at least 24 others. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia targeted the village of Tsarychanka with a missile strike.

Eighteen people are in hospital, seven of which are in a serious condition, Governor Serhii Lysak reported at 7:30 a.m. local time on Dec.1. The injured victims include an 11-year-old boy.

In Kherson Oblast, Russia targeted 14 settlements, including the regional center of Kherson, overnight on Dec. 1. As a result of the attacks, two people were killed, and another 15 were injured, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.

In Kherson, the Russian military attacked a public transport vehicle with a drone at around 8 a.m. local time on Dec. 1, killing at least three people and injuring at least seven. All the injured were hospitalized.

In Donetsk Oblast, Russian strikes killed two people in the town of Myrnohrad. Four people were also injured due to attacks across the front-line region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said.

In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a 50-year-old man suffered injuries as Russian forces attacked the village of Mala Tokmachka with an FPV (first-person-view) drone. The man was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, according to the local military administration.

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

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President Biden Pardons Hunter (You Go, Joe!)

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President Biden Pardons Hunter (You Go, Joe!)

Statement below.

I Like the Policy but not the Framing (What Else Is New?)

On The Road - patrick II - 4th of July, Small Indiana Lake 2

Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.

The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.

No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.

For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.
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Executive Grant of Clemency
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States of America

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-11/

h/t Jackie

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Medium Cool – Actors You Would Watch In Anything

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Medium Cool is here once a week on Sundays at 7pm Eastern to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.

We wanted to call the series Culture as a Hedge Against This Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In, but decided that was a bit too long, so we settled on Medium Cool.

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.

Remember: Medium Cool is on Sundays at 7 pm.

My “treadmill shows” this month have been Season 2 of The Lincoln Lawyer and then Season 2 of The Diplomat.  I was browsing on Netflix and Prime the other night and spotted Cross.  I always liked the books, so when I finished The Diplomat a couple of minutes ago (the ending, wow!) I started Cross for my remaining 10 minutes on the treadmill.

In the opening scene, I thought “is that Hardison from Leverage?”  I started to be even more sure in the opening interrogation scene, and as soon as I hopped off the treadmill I googled.  Sure enough!  I love the actor who played Hardison – and if he’s playing the lead in Cross, I must not be the only one!

I am super excited about Cross.

Aldis Hodge probably didn’t jump right from Leverage to Cross.  What has he been in that I missed?  No, I’m not asking anyone to Google for me, but I figure you guys will know.

Who would you watch in anything?  Even if the premise seemed really lame or was a genre isn’t usually your thing?  Cross looks like it might be too creepy and violent for me, but I am going to give it a try because it’s Aldis Hodge.

Note, one day later.  I laughed out loud in the first episode of Cross (which does indeed have a creepy bad guy) when his female boss says “F me in the A” in a restaurant when she doesn’t like the answer Cross gives to her question.  I immediately knew what she was saying, but is that common shorthand for that phrase?  Or is that just her?

What actors would you watch in just about anything?   Any up-and-comers in the acting profession that we might all like to know about?

Please don’t just list names – or just list films or shows.  Tell us about the actor, what you like about them, what you like about the shows they have been in.

*I miss Steeplejack so much.  I think he would have liked this show.  And this Medium Cool post.  Steep loved knowing all the stars who were guest-starring in the various hit shows over the years, and he always knew the names of all the actors, even the character actors who weren’t big stars.  I’m more like, “you know – the guy who played Hardison on Leverage.”

Note: for those new to Medium Cool, these are not open threads.

 

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Random Thoughts, and a Note from Tony Jay

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I exchanged emails with Tony Jay this week.

He will be back at some point, but not soon.  He said he just can’t engage with the political world right now, he doesn’t have it in him.  I get that, because that’s a bit of where I’ve been.

I know we can’t just disengage and tend our own gardens, and I know we need to be politically active to fight against all the awfulness and protect the people who most need protecting.  I know we have work to do, but I just don’t have a feel for where we should put our efforts.  At the same time, I know that we need to get started soon.

So I’ve been mostly keeping my mouth shut until I can offer something constructive.  Seeing Ben Wikler throw his hat in the ring for DNC Chair gives me hope.

In the meantime, I am tired of the blame game, and I’m tired of all the people who pretend they know what the outcome would have been if we had done this instead of that.  Or the folks whose hot takes just happen to coincide with what they want anyway. That, plus some people being shitty as they try to pick themselves back up after the election, is chasing some good folks away from Balloon Juice.  I hope we can at least get past that part pretty soon, because we have a pretty great community here, and we can’t take that for granted.

Anyway, back to the message from Tony Jay.

Tony Jay asked me to give everyone his best wishes and to tell you guys to stay strong. And, where applicable, to “put some bloody pants on.”

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