Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The willow is too close to the house.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

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

Stay strong, because they are weak.

He really is that stupid.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

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

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

I don’t recall signing up for living in a dystopian sci-fi novel.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

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

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: State of the Union Address Tonight

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Official WH livestreaming website here.

(I’m not liable to use the ‘Click or hold an emoji [choice of thumbs-up, heart, or party hat] to share your reaction to any part of the address as it happens live’ feature… but I trust President Biden’s excellent media team to know that other younger people will.)

Alabama Senator Katie Britt, formerly Shakedown Shelby’s press secretary, has been awarded the offical GOP rebuttal, hopefully to follow in the blighted footsteps of Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio. TFG announced he’ll be live-Truth-Social-ing through it, assuming he doesn’t get distracted / glitch out. And Tucker Carlson will do his own rebuttal, no doubt further trumpeting the virtues of ‘benevolent’ dictatorship, straight from Putin’s dispatches.

The State of the Union isn’t just a speech – it’s my report to you, the American people.

You hired me to get the job done, build an economy that works for working people, and make life better for families.

Tomorrow, I’ll update you on our progress and lay out the path ahead.

My Administration has accomplished more over three years than most presidents have in eight –

From investing in infrastructure and lowering health care costs to abolishing junk fees, making the wealthy pay their fair share, and fighting for women’s reproductive health care.

But there is still so much to do before the job’s done.

That includes lowering prescription drug prices for every American, getting student debt relief to hardworking borrowers, restoring a woman’s right to choose, and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Tune in at 9 PM ET tomorrow evening for my plan on how we get it done. http://WH.gov/SOTU.

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On The Road – way2blue – Rarotonga, Cook Islands [1 of 2]

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way2blue

So.  Cook Islands.  I’d been wanting to visit another island nation in the South Pacific that retained traditional culture, not completely dependent on tourism.  The Cook Islands had been recommended by a friend who’d visited 10 years ago.  The 15 islands of the Cook archipelago stretch across ~1400 kms of the South Pacific.  They were first settled around 1000 AD by Polynesians thought to have migrated from Tahiti, ~1100 km to the ENE.  Rarotonga is the largest & most populated of archipelago, and the island we visited first.

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On The Road - way2blue - Rarotonga, Cook Islands [1 of 2] 9
Titikaveka Tapere

After much Google sleuthing I booked a bungalow at a small resort which focuses on sustainability (e.g., eliminating single-use plastic), supporting Maori art, and giving back to the community (profits are folded back into island education, healthcare…  )  This view is from our bungalow porch.  The black slab in the foreground is beautifully carved and polished basalt.

Late Night Open Thread: Elon Chooses to Withhold His Campaign Largesse

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The NYTimes, as expressed by Maggie Haberman, got themselves very excited about a possible Musk donation to TFG [gift link, if you’re that curious]. What could be more intriguing, to the political horse-race touts and their employers, than the collaboration of two such click-worth Giants of Our Media Age?

On the other hand, Teddy Schleifer’s job at Puck is to stand in proximity to people with large sums of money, agape at their every insight, occasionally murmuring ‘such riches‘. (This can backfire on his subjects — his multiple tales of pitiable friendless nerd Sam Bankman Fried under house arrest did SBF no favors — but I’ve never seen reason to suspect Schleifer of irony.)

If Teddy looks at the Musk / Trump encounter and is not dazzled by the dollars, I suspect there are, indeed, no donations immediately forthcoming:

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War for Ukraine Day 742: Odesa Attacked!

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Screen shot of new artwork by NEIVANMADE. The background is black. In the bottom foreground are grey Ukrainian homes and apartment buildings being bombarded by red Russian missiles with the Special Military Operation "Z" symbol on them. Above the missiles, written in red is the word "Ruzzians". Below the buildings being attacked is the statement "Turns Homes Into Graves".

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Today was exceedingly long, so tonight’s update is going to be brief.

Last night Devore posted this comment:

Thanks.   Nice to have a decent news day

First, you’re most welcome. Second, how about we not tempt fate and/or jinx things again? 😱

Russia attacked Odesa today. There was initial reporting that President Zelenskyy and Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis were the targets as they were in Odesa at the time of the strike. This is not correct. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Mark Krutov has the accurate details:

More on the strike after the jump.

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

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Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Sinema-tically Terrible Reviews

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Even the professional ‘bold contrarians’ (like Politico‘s Burgess Everett) are having a hard time scrounging up an argument in favor of soon-to-be-ex Senator Kyrsten Sinema. The Haterz, however, are having a field day — and I am here for it!

Actual Arizona voter:

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Help Me Out Here, Which One Is the Piece of Shit?

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Trick question.  They both are!

I really don’t get it. Have the Russians bought bought the Republcan party, lock stock and barrel? Or nearly so?

If you’re on social media, think about how we can help spread the word, using McConnell’s own words against him.

Open thread.

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Dean Goes Out With Some Class

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Once in a while someone surprises you, and I’m certainly surprised by this, from Dean Phillips:

In 2011, I hosted then VP Biden at my home. Most notable was his empathy and kindness to my daughters and the catering staff, with whom he sat and had ice cream (surprise-surprise). His decency and wisdom were rarities in politics then, and even more so today.

Over a decade later, the only thing that has changed is time – which slows all of us down a bit, including presidents.

I ran for Congress in 2018 to resist Donald Trump, I was trapped in the Capitol in 2021 because of Donald Trump, and I ran for President in 2024 to resist Donald Trump again – because Americans were demanding an alternative, and democracy demands options.

But it is clear that alternative is not me. And it is clear that Joe Biden is OUR candidate and OUR opportunity to demonstrate what type of country America is and intends to be.

To all who supported my effort, thank you. We will continue the important work to ensure a more responsive, democratic, and generationally diverse political system. But today, in light of the stark reality we face, I ask you join me in mobilizing, energizing, and doing everything you can to help keep a man of decency and integrity in the White House. That’s Joe Biden.

Let’s lead with invitation, not confrontation, to welcome Haley supporters, Trump supporters, and Uncommitted supporters to get this done. It’s our calling, it’s our legacy, and it’s our time. Onward with joy and patriotism!

Pour One Out for That Asshole Dean

Yeah, there’s a little bit of “Biden’s old” subtext in the thing, but overall it’s about as good an endorsement statement as a loser can make, not that his endorsement means shit.

Speaking of shit, the guy Trump called a “piece of shit,” Mitch McConnell, has endorsed Trump.

There’s been a lot of discussion about the 30-40ish percent of the Republican primary electorate that voted for Haley, and how Trump underperformed the polls.  Putting aside crossover voters in open primaries, another factor is that turnout was apparently really low for most of the primaries yesterday, even by primary standards.   Most of the effort in polling a low-turnout election is figuring out who is actually going to vote, and that’s particularly hard in the current environment, when everyone’s cell phone is going to send a pollster’s call directly to spam anyway.

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