Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

“Alexa, change the president.”

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

“But what about the lurkers?”

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Let there be snark.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

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

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

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Cloud Shouting (Open Thread)

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[Optional soundtrack for the post]

So 2024 has completely changed my relationship with the weather. I used to believe I would make a good Seattle resident because I love rain so much. Gray, cloudy days don’t depress me at all. As long as I can loll around indoors, they make me feel snug and cozy.

Now, after the biblical deluge that temporarily flooded us out of our home, I look askance at clouds. We’ve had mostly bright, sunny days during our displacement, but today was cloudy, and it rained a little bit.

I was pissed at the rain! Fuck off, clouds!

Open thread!

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If you don’t want to re-litigate July or play the blame game, this post is for you

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I have two big reminders on my refrigerator.

THINK before you speak

Yeah, I know, this is a blog, we don’t need to be helpful or inspiring or kind.  Or even constructive.

But we are in crisis, and everyone I know (except for Trumpers) is standing on very shaky ground, and I don’t think we can go wrong thinking about those things right now.

The second reminder is a hand-written note:

The past is the past, it’s what you do now that matters.

We are experiencing catastrophic loss, like the death of a parent, a child, a loved one.

At the same time, we are facing an existential threat.

Not a good combination, and we need our friends and allies now more than ever.

They say that depression is anger turned inward.  Is that true?  I don’t know.  But I do know that this blog is something that many of rely on as part of our support system, so maybe instead of pointing fingers and arguing about who was right and who was wrong and how we got here and whose fault it is, we need to figure out what the fuck we are going to do.

We need to be fighting mad, not feuding and pointing fingers.

I do know that the Democratic Party taking aim at itself is not going to get us anywhere good.  As David Anderson might say, figuring out what happened is not a today problem.  Today’s problem is what the hell are we going to do to protect ourselves and others as much as we can and get through this apocalypse in the strongest possible position for the next election.

We can say “oh my god, there might not be any more elections”, but we have to prepare ourselves to be in the strongest possible position if there are.  Because we will need to win those.  And for that we need friends and allies,  not former friends and former allies who were driven away by the fitting squads and infighting.

If you’ve lost a parent or a child or a partner or anyone you love, it’s not helpful to dwell on “we should’t have gone to that park” or “I shouldn’t have taken that job that took up too much of my time” or “I shouldn’t have walked down that street”.  Or a thousand other things  We did fucking go to that park.  We did take the fucking job.  We did walk down that fucking street.

It’s what we do now that matters.

So what do we do now?  Besides putting one foot in front of the other.  Besides getting out of bed and feeding our dogs and our kids.  Besides doing what we need to survive.  Because we have a whole shitload of pain and problems ahead of us, and I don’t see how we get through it if we’re just planting our own gardens or buying a gun and personally preparing to survive the apocalypse.

I have no idea yet what it’s going to look like, but we are going to need each other for collective action.

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Sycophant Central

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Sycophant Central

Trump’s latest appointments, Elise “Tracy Flick” Stefanik for UN Ambassador, Little Marco Rubio as SoS, Lee Zeldin at EPA, Rep. Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor and Kristi Noem as head dog killer and Homeland Security Secretary, all show that supine sycophancy is a great strategy for being part of Trump’s second term.

That said, all I really care about is the wake of special elections that Trump’s flotilla is leaving behind.  The only one that could possibly be close is probably Stefanik’s, who is in R+9 NY-21.  We have flipped red districts in specials in New York as recently as Kathy Hochul’s short-lived tenure in NY-26 starting after a special election in 2011.  But 2011 is not 2024 — lines have hardened, and Stefanik’s north country district has gone hard for Trump in the last two cycles.

I don’t know anything about Waltz. Noem is term limited out as SD Governor, so she’s making the best political move that she can.  Lee Zeldin is a perennial losing candidate in NY, so it’s a good move for him.  It’s Stefanik and, especially, Rubio, who are making a career-ending move here.  Rubio is 53, and Stefanik is 40. I’ll guess that her shelf life as UN Ambassador is probably the whole of Trump’s term, because he doesn’t really give a shit about the UN.  But I’d be surprised if Rubio lasts more than a year or two, because he’ll piss Trump off and get fired.   Then, he’s off to some kind of wingnut welfare, a well-deserved end to a completely lackluster career.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Bright Spots, Where We Can Find Them

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Per the Washington Post:

… Gallego’s win reflects the steady rise of Democrats in a state that was reliably Republican until 2016. Although Trump is projected to have carried the swing state this election, Arizonans have rejected Trump-backed candidates in every statewide election since 2016…

Gallego, a Marine who saw combat in the Iraq War, joins Sen. Mark Kelly (D), another military veteran, as Arizona’s representatives in the Senate.

The Phoenix area congressman focused much of his campaign on his background as the son of a single immigrant mom, who grew up working class, attended Harvard, then served in the military. He will become the state’s first Latino senator.

Throughout the campaign, he positioned himself as a moderate in a state where longtime Republican Sen. John McCain was beloved for his reputation as a “maverick.” He has at times admonished the left for failing to connect with working class families and challenged them on issues such as military spending. He also called out Democrats for not doing enough to court Latino voters across the country.

Gallego all but declared victory on the night of the election as votes were still being counted, but he had a sizable lead. “While we’re still waiting for results to come in, I believe that when all those ballots are counted … a poor Latino boy who grew up sleeping on the floor, will be headed to the floor of the United States Senate,” he said.

Gallego’s win marks the end of a heated campaign against Lake, a polarizing hard-right candidate. Lake relentlessly attacked Gallego, baselessly speculating about the circumstances around his divorce and spotlighting the criminal past of Gallego’s long-estranged father. Republicans also sought to portray Gallego as a left-wing extremist, because he is a past member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has championed some more left-leaning policies.

Gallego attacked Lake for her previous support for a Civil War-era abortion law and emphasized that her position on abortion and on other issues was out of step with Arizonans. Arizona last week passed a proposition that will enshrine abortion access in the state…

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Speed of Legislation vs Executive Action

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In comments yesterday, Ohio Mom raised a good question:

We were really looking forward to that $2,000 cap on drug purchases for people on Medicare. And idea David how that might shake out?

We had vague plans to replace the washer and dryer. Well, we know they have to be replaced, we were putting off thinking about the sequence of basement renovations. But with the threat of tariffs, time to get started comparison shopping.

She brings up a really important distinction.

Some things that could change need legislation. The $2000 Medicare Part D out of pocket limit is a creature of legislation. That could change if there are 218 votes in the House, 51 in the Senate and 1 signature in the White House. That will take time. It is not a January 21st problem.

There are many things in the health space that are legislative problems. A lot of them (most particularly Medicaid) will likely be sacrificed at the altar of upper income tax cuts but all of that needs legislation Nand that will give pressure points in a House with a 4 to 6 seat majority where the functional majority will be less as Trump raids safe GOP seats for staffing.

Tariffs are an executive action problem. These are things that can change on the stroke of a sharpie. The price structure of the US economy could be radically different on the morning of January 21st relative to the morning of January 20th.

Keep this distinction in mind — what needs Congress? What needs a Sharpie?

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On The Road – swiftfox – Tanzania Safari Part 3 Ngorogoro Crater

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swiftfox

We left Tarangire in the morning and arrived at the rim of the crater in late afternoon. Our photo guide claimed to see a pair of black rhino about a mile away down in the crater. The safari guides confirmed this but we never did see them once we got there the next morning. They were the only species of the “big five” (cape buffalo, rhino, lion, elephant, and leopard) we didn’t photograph.

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On The Road - swiftfox - Tanzania Safari Part 3 Ngorogoro Crater 8
Ngorogoro CraterSeptember 11, 2024

Our first volunteers in the crater were grey-crowned cranes.

Monday Night Open Thread

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Made it to Albuquerque and decided to stop because I was having panic attacks. This election has me off kilter.

Will finish the drive tomorrow. Excited to see Joelle and Jack and Thurston.

Be nice to each other and use this as an open thread I don’t need a fucking pity party with 500 people telling me to take care of myself blah blah.

Also I am apparently still angry about last Tuesday.

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