Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

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

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

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

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Come on, man.

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

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

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

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

Hot air and ill-informed banter

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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Sci-fi/Fantasy Book Club, Anyone? (Open Thread)

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Hey all! Some friends and I have been organizing a book club over on Bluesky, and I thought it would be fun to invite the folks here who want to join, and maybe do a parallel one here, if there’s enough interest. Our previous selections were Neuromancer and A Wizard of Earthsea; this time we’re going for something more modern. We’re picking the book with a bracket, and the voting is happening over there, so if you want a say, please participate! The brackets are vaguely based on subgenre/vibe. Here are the selections:

The polls to vote in are linked below that post, starting here. There are a lot of good options, and a lot that I haven’t read, so I’m hoping one of those wins. Or at least that Foundryside loses because I do not want to read that again. I think that you should be able to vote once without a Bluesky account, but I’m not 100% on that.

And with that out of the way, this can be an open thread. One possible topic: read any good books lately? I’m reading Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, the sequel to Annihilation, which was incredible. It’s… fine so far. Much more normal. I think I’d be enjoying it more if not for the comparison. Next I’ll be rereading Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination, in the original American serialization–my dad got me the 1956-57 back issues of Galaxy for Christmas.

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Everyone Is Doing What They Can

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Okay, not everyone is doing what they can, but a whole lot of people are, and I want to spotlight some of them.

While Harry Litman are saying that the Supreme Court isn’t going to rule in favor of Colorado and the 14th amendment – for reasons that have nothing to do with the rule of law, and you know, doing the job they were put there to do – Judge Luttig is fighting the good fight.

Judge Luttig

Judge Luttig is, of course, a conservative Republican, and in fact he may be one of the only ones left.  If I recall the story correctly, one of his friends called him on Jan 6 and asked him what he was going to do about what was happening at the insurrection.  His first reaction was that there was nothing he could do.  But his friend’s words stuck with him, and he realized he could tweet something to try to help calm things down.  And so his journey to defend our democracy began.

And now he’s fighting hard, making his case in every way he can – he testified before the Jan 6 committee, on TV, as a guest on podcasts, in amicus briefs, on twitter.  Trying to make it uncomfortable for the Supreme Court to do what Harry Litman believes they will do – he is trying to get them to respect the constitution.  Luttig is not going down without a fight, and he’s not going to let democracy go down without a fight.

He may be the only Republican I respect right now.  I halfway respect Liz Cheney, but it’s halfway because I think she has ulterior motives.  But at least she’s fighting to keep Trump out of office.  And she’s a Republican so she can get on the talk shows, even if she has been cast out of the party.

Michael Fanone

Today I learned that Michael Fanone is on a mission to raise awareness about Jan 6 and about MAGA extremism.  He fought for this country and sacrificed on jan 6, he testified publicly and told the truth about what happened,  He wrote a book.  And now he’s going on the road to try to reach people where they are.

Harry Dunn

We all know what Harry Dunn did on Jan 6, and now he’s running for office.

Mark Hamill

Who are some other people who are doing what they can?  I bet we can name a few.

What they have choosen to do is different for each of them.  How each of us on Balloon Juice choose to make our own contribution in this fight will be as unique to each of us as they are for the people featured in this post.

Open thread.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Campaign Trail

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It’s Michigan’s turn in the primary barrel:

… The Michigan contest is the final major race before the election calendar broadens dramatically on Super Tuesday, March 5. That’s when more than a dozen states will hold elections with thousands of delegates at stake.

The results this Tuesday will be closely watched for any clues about where Michigan is trending before the November election. With a narrow win in 2016, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state since 1988, securing his path to the White House. Biden reclaimed the state for Democrats in 2020, contributing to his defeat of Trump…

Biden is facing minimal opposition from Democrats and his grip on the nomination is not in doubt. But primary voters in Michigan can pick “uncommitted,” which could give some in his party the option of casting what is essentially a protest vote.

That could prove especially enticing in a state with the highest number and concentration of Arab Americans. Biden is facing intense pressure to press for a permanent cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, to the point that a core group of elected officials have joined a campaign to promote backing “uncommitted” instead of the president on Tuesday.

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On The Road – frosty – 3rd Annual National Park/COVID Challenge Part 2 – Redwoods National and State Parks – Redwood Groves

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frosty

All the National Parks we’ve seen have been unique. This one, of course, because of the redwood groves that have been preserved. Also because it is a combination of the National Park and three California State Parks, all contiguous and all preserving old growth forest. This also means that it’s a park with no entrance fees because the roads cross all the parks and it would be unmanageable.

This post has pictures from two groves and scenic drives adjacent to them: Stout Grove (Howland Hill Road) and Lady Bird Johnson Grove (Bald Hills Road).

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On The Road - frosty - 3rd Annual National Park/COVID Challenge Part 2 - Redwoods National and State Parks - Redwood Groves 9
Redwoods National Park, CA

Howland Hill Road. This is a 10-mile unpaved road through old growth redwood forests.

Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: CPAC Did Nazi A Problem

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Fringe leftist media outlet NBC sent a ‘cub reporter’ to pass judgement at CPAC. Gotta watch out for those young, hungry dudes, Mr. Schlapp:

… Throughout the conference, racist extremists, some of whom had secured official CPAC badges, openly mingled with conference attendees and espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The presence of these individuals has been a persistent issue at CPAC. In previous years, conference organizers have ejected well-known Nazis and white supremacists such as Nick Fuentes.

But this year, racist conspiracy theorists didn’t meet any perceptible resistance at the conference where Donald Trump has been the keynote speaker since 2017.

At the Young Republican mixer Friday evening, a group of Nazis who openly identified as national socialists mingled with mainstream conservative personalities, including some from Turning Point USA, and discussed “race science” and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

One member of the group, Greg Conte, who attended the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, said that his group showed up to talk to the media. He said that the group was prepared to be ejected if CPAC organizers were tipped off, but that never happened.

Another, Ryan Sanchez, who was previously part of the Nazi “Rise Above Movement,” took photos and videos of himself at the conference with an official badge and touted associations with Fuentes…

For several years, CPAC and its supporters have attempted to temper the most extreme fringes of the conservative movement, and have welcomed the continued debate between Trump and more moderate conservatives.

This year, however, some attendees and former attendees have expressed frustration with the conference’s stronger association with Trump and his wing of the party.

In one of the most viral moments from this year’s conference, conservative personality Jack Posobiec called for the end of democracy and a more explicitly Christian-focused government. While Posobiec later said his statements were partly satire, many CPAC attendees embraced his and others’ invocations of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection…

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Monday Night Open Thread

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Overcast day today with what can be charitably called a slight drizzle periodically, so not much going on outside the house for me other than a couple walks with Jack, the goodest boy:

Monday Night Open Thread 3

Have I told you the story of Jack? Remember back to the background on Joelle’s friend Buzz aka her Tammy? Well Buzz lives up in Anthem, palling around with all the Scottsdale types, and he has two dogs of his own (a husky and a german sheperd, Floyd and Jackson respectively), and does long walks with them through the hills. At any rate, he had a neighbor or something who owned Jack but has Parkinsons. She was declining so she was going to have to go to assisted living, and no one knew what to do with Jack. Buzz could keep walking him, but who would take him permanently because 14 year old dogs are hard to home.

At any rate, Buzz had been stressing about it a lot on their phone calls, so Joelle told me and I just said without pause “oh you should take him” and she replied “I already said I would.” This was, for the record, after a long conversation in which I was repeatedly told that even though Thurston was coming to live in Arizona permanently I was not to under any circumstance adopt another cat. So at least we are on the same page.

At any rate he is just the perfect model of a very good boy, and he loves our walks as much as I do. He also loves riding in the car, and unlike a certain mongrel who will not be named, he is not a complete spastic asshole. Really just a perfect gentleman. He’s basically the dog version of an older southern gentleman. Although he doesn’t hate black people. In every other way, though.

***

Dinner was leftovers from last night. Had to boil two potatoes for some new mashed, but otherwise it was just last night’s meal again. It’s Monday and neither one of us were into anything super complicated, so leftovers were perfect. I did bake an apple pie, but I used store bought crust because working with pie crusts in Arizona is a pain in the ass. Even in the winter. I also made this week’s run of pico de gallo, which I’ve just kinda got in the habbit of keeping in the fridge. It’s so useful in so many things and it’s a super easy and quick snack. Cut up some corn tortillas, give them a quick fry, and voila, perfect snack.

On serious news, does anyone know anything about how the meeting with the four leaders of congress and Biden re: Ukraine aid went?

That’s about it for me. Gonna go clean the dishes and mop the kitchen and watch some idiot box. If I think of anything I will post it.

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