Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

We will not go back.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

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

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

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

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Giving up is unforgivable.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

This fight is for everything.

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

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

We still have time to mess this up!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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Open Thread: Hopefully This Hail Mary Pass Undercuts Trump’s Case

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It appears that Trump and his attorneys have outdone themselves with their latest submission to the Supreme Court.

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Will the 6 radical justices on the Supreme Court humiliate themselves?  Whatever happened to states rights?  Seems like just yesterday (it was!) that state’s rights were so very important.  Only time will tell.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Paddling As Fast As We Can

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Blogfather bait:


Per the Associated Press:

A day after Taylor Swift made music history at the Grammy Awards, a band formed long before she was born made their own history: The Grateful Dead have broken the record for the most Top 40 albums to chart on the Billboard 200.

The Grateful Dead pulled out ahead of Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra with 59 total Top 40 entries on the chart Monday following the No. 25 debut of their archival release “Dave’s Picks, Volume 49: Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford U., Palo Alto, CA (4/27/85 & 4/28/85).” Elvis and Sinatra are stuck at 58 albums apiece.

It’s a remarkable run, made even more special since the group disbanded following the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995. Forty-one of the band’s 59 entries in the Top 40 have happened since 2012, thanks to the popularity of the series of archival albums compiled by David Lemieux…

 
Hold a good thought for Los Angeles area jackals & loved ones:

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On The Road – swiftfox – 2019 Southeast Arizona Birding Festival

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swiftfox

These are from the 2019 Southeast Arizona Birding Festival. Albatrossity highlighted the hummingbirds on his last trip to the festival.  I had one pic of a female broad-tailed hummingbird but I’m going to feature the non-hummers. Two of the trips were to a wildlife videographer’s property 20 miles south of Tucson. He maintained a small pond for wildlife viewing. I doubt it was more than eight-feet around but in the desert it can be lifesaving. And good for wildlife photographers.

One trip was for a night setup for bats; the other was a morning birds and anything else that shows up trip.

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On The Road - swiftfox - 2019 Southeast Arizona Birding Festival 6
Green Valley, AZAugust 11, 2019

Gambel’s quail

These birds were the first to show.  Considered locally common in Arizona, urbanization, heat stress and lack of precipitation may be decreasing their populations.

Chef Jose Is An Inspiration (Open Thread)

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The WCK food pallets were delivered to a Jordanian field hospital in hard-to-reach northern Gaza. The shipment included rice, dates, tomato paste, oil, fava beans, a variety of spices, and other desperately needed food for families on the brink of famine. At the same time, our teams are sending convoys of trucks to northern Gaza to support hospitals and displaced families. In Rafah, we are implementing more innovative techniques like specially designed baking steels and non-electric slow cookers to prepare tens of thousands of meals for Palestinians seeking safety. Read the latest from Gaza here.

If you click on the thermometer below, you can choose to donate to World Central Kitchen and/or Razom for Ukraine.

 

We wondered why they couldn’t airdrop food in Gaza, and now we know.  They can.  It’s dusty in here.

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Monday Night Open Thread

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The combination of all of the posts today about the Republican bullshit has me just so sick of it all. It’s always the same. On fucking everything. The only thing that changes are the items under consideration and the faces. It’s the same over and over and over again, the only thing mildly interesting about it this time is that it occurred in relative proximity to the actual Groundhog Day. Live long enough you get to see the issues recycle. Fuck, we done a go around with prayer in school this year?

And Mistermix is right it’s a terrible fucking bill. Meanwhile, Israel doesn’t need any money they’re pretty much bouncing rubble at this point, Ukraine desperately needs fucking money and weapons and not only that the display that we’re with them for real. Although anyone who has ever read anything about the Kurds would know better than to trust the United States- we’ll fuck you over in a heartbeat and then spend the rest of eternity telling you it was your fault. That’s just who we are.

***

Another cold front and some rain are moving in, so I wanted to spend some time cleaning up the back patio and did, and then we had dinner. Joelle has some show she has to watch with her friend Buzz, so I am sequestered in what Joelle calls the “Den of Iniquity,” aka the small bedroom that has my desktop and new antique chair (THAT I FUCKING LOVE).

I don’t remember if I have mentioned Buzz before but the easiest way to do it is to describe him as Joelle’s Tammy. They have been best friends since the 90’s when they were on the road with bands in the Pittsburgh area. At any rate, he lives up in Anthem, and his parents live nearby having recently moved here (last six months) from Mt. Lebanon in the Burgh. Their names are Tony and Pat aka Topat. So if I ever mention Buzz or Topat that is who I am talking about. Didn’t want to throw in new characters without a proper introduction.

I’ve made a command decision that I am not doing shit with the yard. I’ll do that when I come back in the fall. There’s just too much other pressing things to do that can be done for free. The most expensive thing I intend to do is paint, and I think I can keep that under a hundred. Joelle has repeatedly stated she can not believe how different the house looks and feels, and I don’t think I am even a 1/4 of the way done. The outside can wait another year.

***

I need to do a major product endorsement right now. I also need to do a disclaimer- I have no idea what is in this stuff, I have not looked at the label, and I will not because I do not want to know. But I swear to everything that is holy, Chef Merito’s Red Fajita seasoning is fucking amazing.

For those of you on the east coast, you know how obnoxious everyone from Maryland is about Old Bay seasoning? I feel comfortable saying everyone who has ever known anyone from Maryland has had a jarring encounter with them when they profess their love for the shit and you find out they put it on everything. It may be a regional thing, but it is true and also beyond parody. Honestly shocked there has never been an SNL skit about it.

At any rate, my point was that if Old Bay seasoning tasted like Chef Merito’s Red Fajita seasoning, then their love for it would totally fucking make sense. Because Chef Merito’s is amazing. When I make fajita’s I walk by the kitchen at least ten times picking slices of pepper and onion out of the skillet and eating them.

I’m gonna try it on a sear pork loin and see how it goes. How about that?

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War for Ukraine Day 712: The “Bipartisan” Senate Compromise Supplemental for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, & the Border Is DOA Before It Gets To the House

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This will never make it to a cloture vote. Other than McConnell, Murkowski, Lankford, Graham, and Romney no GOP senator is going to support this.

Mitch McConnell, in the face of growing GOP opposition, pushes for action on national security package, which includes the bipartisan border deal.

“This is a humanitarian and security crisis of historic proportions,” he said. “And Senate Republicans have insisted — not just for months but for years — that this urgent crisis demanded action.”

“It is now time for Congress to take action on supplemental national security legislation that finally meets those challenges head on,” he said, adding; “Make no mistake, the gauntlet has been thrown and America needs to pick it up.”

And despite McConnell’s statement, he will not force them too. McConnell’s surrender will be out of sheer cowardice so they don’t have to take a tough vote that plays against Trump, the GOP base, and the conservative movement in an election year. We’ll have to see if Lankford actually support his own bill when it comes up for a vote in the Senate or if he pulls a Little Marco.

The House GOP Freedom Caucus is going to even kill the standalone Israel aid bill, which is amazing considering most of those folks are dispensational millennialists.

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

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Counterpoint Open Thread: The Repubs Just Shot Themselves in Their Clown Shoes

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We complain that every GOP legislator is an angry moron, but at least some of them have been functional enough to put together bills sufficient to be treated as legislation… or to hire staffers that will handle those details for them. But the Repub (Very) Base, and the Angry Toddler Caucus that speaks for them, is doing its best to undermine those last remaining props, like Langford. Cynic that I am, I agree with Josh Marshall — “Make No Mistake. The House GOP is On the Ropes Here.”:

I wouldn’t be so quick to assume Democrats got taken by working with Senate Republicans to put together this bipartisan border deal. There are a number of provisions in this deal which many Democrats won’t like at all just on the merits. That is an important question. But here I’m talking about the politics. It’s House Republicans who are in an awkward position now.

House Republicans are now clearly refusing to support provisions they’ve been demanding for years. Now they claim that they are refusing to support or even allow a vote on the deal because it doesn’t go far enough. But it’s a bit late for that since they were already pretty open about simply refusing to vote for anything until Trump becomes President again.

They certainly aren’t the only political party to opt for politics in an election year over the policies they purportedly want. But if they’re going to do that, it’s elementary that the other party will and should hit them over the head with it. Trump told them to kill the bill and the House leadership is doing everything it can to accomplish that. Trump owns them. They follow his commands…

Over the last 48 hours every House Republican has been putting out statements that the bill is absolutely, positively dead on arrival. DEAD, they tell you! They’re protesting a bit too much. They really, really want this bill to die in the Senate. If it doesn’t get a vote in the Senate, there’s not a lot of pressure. Schedule a vote on what? House Republicans can reasonably ask. It hasn’t even passed the Senate. If and when it does pass the Senate it gets harder to refuse it a vote.

You and I both know that “NO!” is the Republican superpower. You have something so popular, so un-no-able and yet they say “NO!” and it works. But here the protestations give away the game. Can they prevent it from getting a vote in the House even if it passes the Senate? Probably? If I were betting I would say they can and will. But their actions tell us that they know refusing the bill a vote in the House after it’s passed on a bipartisan basis in the Senate will do them a lot of harm on their signature issue during an election year.

Democrats should force them to accept that damage. It won’t do itself. They have to force it. And the key is getting it passed in the Senate.

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