Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

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

Optimism opens the door to great things.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

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    95Comments

    1. 1.

      WaterGirl

      I love that image from Albatrossity – in the sidebar – so much that I have a print of it up on my living room wall.  Along with two other animal friends from Serengeti, I think.

      Reply
    4. 4.

      WaterGirl

      @NaijaGal: Actually, I believe the bigger print I have next to that IS A LEOPARD! :-)

      And the one next to that is a really cool fox. All three are printed on metal.

      Reply
    5. 5.

      eclare

      @WaterGirl:

      Cheetahs are so majestic and engineered for speed.

      Were you the one wondering if the oranges packed in CA were also grown in CA?  I found some at Kroger today labeled Seedless California Mandarins.  Here’s hoping I haven’t wasted more money on oranges.

      Reply
    7. 7.

      bbleh

      It is forecast to be in the MID-70s tomorrow and the MID-80s on Saturday OH MY GAWD!

      We have had a miserably delayed spring.  I am looking forward to this.

      Reply
    11. 11.

      NotMax

      FYI.

      A ballsy move? Fixed finds a home.

      Netflix now shares first-look images and confirmed that Fixed will come to the streaming platform on August 13. The 2-D animated movie from five-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Genndy Tartakovsky stars Adam Devine (Pitch Perfect), Idris Elba (Sonic the Hedgehog 3), and Kathryn Hahn (Agatha All Along) in a story about a quick-witted dog who discovers that he’s about to be neutered and decides to go on one last adventure before the procedure. Source

      ;)

      Reply
    12. 12.

      NaijaGal

      Do you all know of any initiatives to help voters in the 36 states that have voter ID laws get US passport cards? They’re much cheaper than actual passports (almost $100 cheaper at $65 instead of $165 for a first time passport). Also, are you aware of Democratic state initiatives to help voters who might not be otherwise able to afford it get Real ID?

      Just wondering about volunteer options to help with this, since more states seem to be embracing voter ID laws, not fewer.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @NotMax:

      That sounds funny, might give it a watch. Mostly familiar with Genndy’s work like Samurai Jack. David Zaslav has been a menace over at WB Discovery, canceling all sorts of animation projects the past few years

      Reply
    16. 16.

      TheOtherHank

      @NaijaGal: I didn’t know what a Passport card was used for until I got my passport a month or so ago. I got both, the card can be used to travel to/from the US and Canada, Mexico and Caribbean nations by land or boat, but not air. I’m pretty sure it also counts as proof when you need to present proof of citizenship when starting a new job.

      Reply
    17. 17.

      WaterGirl

      Off to do the treadmill.  Getting toward the end of Reacher Season 2, which is good enough but not as compelling as Season 2.  Hoping Season 3 is awesome again.  I especially liked the chemistry in Season 1 as all the characters were new and were interacting with one another for the first time.

      Reply
    18. 18.

      Scout211

      @WaterGirl: I tend not to but tangerines, for some reason.

      Tangerines are mandarins, as are clementines. But mandarins and clementines are not tangerines.

      But here’s a quick guide  to figure out which is which.

      Mandarin – Mandarins are generally smaller than oranges and taste sweeter. Their skin is thinner and a little looser, which makes the fruit easier to peel.

      Tangerine – Tangerines have a bright orange color. Their flavor is less sweet and a bit more tart than most mandarins. Their skin is slightly tougher and harder to peel, which makes them a hardier fruit that’s less likely to bruise.

      Clementine – Clementines are super sweet, seedless, and have smooth and shiny skin. They are one of the easiest mandarins to peel, only coming in behind Satsumas.

      We have three mandarin trees and they are much sweeter than oranges.

      Reply
    20. 20.

      WaterGirl

      @TheOtherHank: I would definitely get both.

      If the new gestapo asks for your proof of citizenship and you only have a passport, once you hand it over, you are SOL.  If you don’t hand it over, you are SOL.

      Good to have the other version as backup.

      These are certainly interesting times when you can’t trust your own government.

      Reply
    21. 21.

      Doug R

      David Zaslav has been a menace over at WB Discovery, canceling all sorts of animation projects the past few years

      In rare good news, they sold off Coyote Vs Acme to the same outfit that release The Day The Earth Blew Up.

      Reply
    22. 22.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @WaterGirl:

      I beg your pardon, but 80s is not Spring!

      There’s no real spring or fall anymore it seems where I live. At most there’s a few weeks of each. And then the summers are usually in the 90s every day. I miss when the highs were in the 70s and 80s not even that long ago, like 10-15 years ago

      Reply
    27. 27.

      WaterGirl

      @Scout211: Okay, if tangerines and clementines are specific kinds of mandarins, then what are you referring to when you say you have 3 mandarin trees?

      Reply
    28. 28.

      Trollhattan

      @Scout211:

      When a kid I was at Christmastime we got satsumas from Japan in the stores. Came in little wooden crates.

      Today they’re grown in California. The best are from the Sierra foothills and the season is an eyeblink.

      Reply
    31. 31.

      Scout211

      @WaterGirl: what are you referring to when you say you have 3 mandarin trees?

      I guess our trees are just mandarins and the tangerines and clementines are a “specific type of mandarin.”

      But now I’m confused. LOL

      Reply
    33. 33.

      MagdaInBlack

      @bbleh: We (Chicago) get 80’s tomorrow, thunderstorms, then 50’s Saturday and thru the next week. Spring in Illinois, I guess.

      Reply
    34. 34.

      Another Scott

      @NaijaGal: VoteRiders.org helps people get IDs so they can register to vote.

      I don’t know if they have a specific effort for passport cards.

      I agree with you that helping people get IDs (and passports / passport cards make a lot of sense, especially these days) is a really, really important task that more need to financially support.

      Thanks.

      Best wishes,
      Scott.

      Reply
    35. 35.

      Elizabelle

      @PaulWartenberg:  And the wrinkle on this one is it’s a young white male (surprise!) who used his law enforcement mother’s handgun.  She is a county sheriff’s deputy.  Great!

      Also, have been thinking of you.  Believe your dad passed recently?  All the best.

      Reply
    38. 38.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @WaterGirl:

      @TheOtherHank:

      @NaijaGal:

      I agree with Watergirl that it’s a good idea to get both. For the reasons she mentioned as well as a card is easier to carry on one’s person. I’d also recommend getting your DL/state ID updated to Real ID if you haven’t already.

      I’ll probably at least get the passport card. I already have a Real ID-compliant DL

      I find it very interesting that every president since 2005 (Dubya and Obama), when the Real ID Act was passed, delayed implementation until Trump in like 2020. Conservatives used to hate the concept of a national ID

      Reply
    42. 42.

      YY_Sima Qian

      Since this is an open thread, here is a description of the pending small/medium business apocalypse in the US, should the cold turkey Sino-US trade decoupling proceed:

      Ryan Petersen@typesfast

      Thousands, and then millions, of American small businesses, including many iconic brands, will go bankrupt this year if the tariff policies on China don’t change.

      These small businesses are largely unable to move their manufacturing out of China. They are last in line when they try to go to a new country as those other countries can’t even keep up with the demand from mega corporations.

      The manufacturers in Vietnam and elsewhere can’t be bothered with small batch production jobs typical of a small business’s supply chain.

      When the brands fail, they will be purchased out of bankruptcy by their Chinese factories who thus far have built everything except a customer facing brand, which is where most of the value capture happens already.

      Consumer goods companies typically mark up the goods 3x or more to support their fixed costs (including millions of American employees).

      Now the factories will get to vertically integrate and capture the one part of the chain they haven’t yet dominated.

      American businesses import $600B worth of goods from China every year. Assuming typical retail markups we see in @flexport data, those goods create almost $2T worth of sales each year.
      In the week since the tariffs hit, ocean freight bookings from China are down 50% across the industry. Flexport bookings from China down more like 35%, but sources at carriers and forwarders indicate 50% is the industry wide stat.

      That’s around $1T of economic activity wiped out. And these companies tend to run very lean, financing inventory and reinvesting excess cash in more marketing and growth initiatives. If the goods stop, many will die.

      And when they die, it may actually be the final victory for the Chinese manufacturer as they scoop up brands that took decades to build through the blood, sweat and tears of some of the most creative and entrepreneurial people in the world. American brand builders are second to none worldwide.

      The fact is, America will have to back off these tariffs, it’s just a question of when. Even if it’s not this administration, a future one will realize they’ve got to get us out of the recession. and free trade is one of the most proven strategies to do it.

      The above dynamic has not been truly reported, I certainly did not appreciate it. However, it is already starting to happen. Most SMBs do not have the financial ballast to last months, did not have the volume to diversity their supply chain & do not have the wherewithal to quickly identify/build/shift alternative supply chains to other countries, & do not have the wherewithal to bribe the Trump Administration for exemptions. The large corporations are much better positioned across all of these fronts. If they do not go under, or sell their brands to their Chinese suppliers, the more valuable ones will be scooped up by the large corporations. Perhaps that is the idea.

      Reply
    47. 47.

      MagdaInBlack

      Listening to Hal Sparks listen to Pam Bondy and Tom Homan lie their asses off about the whole El Salvador horror show.  Hal berating them and tearing their bs apart is good for my aching soul.

      (and the reheated green curry left over from lunch is good too, altho their idea of medium hot and mine are quite different.)

      Reply
    49. 49.

      JoyceH

      Hey, has anyone else noticed how many members of the Trump administration are adopting Stephen Miller’s speaking style? You know what I mean, that fast, angry half-shout? Leavitt does it now and so does Bondi. Vance and Rubio are trying but they haven’t got it down yet.

      Reply
    50. 50.

      bbleh

      @YY_Sima Qian: there’s been a lot of discussion about why some of the Usual Suspects aren’t upset with the Big, Beautiful Tariffs causing both a recession and significant restructuring of various markets, and insofar as some of them actually have influence within the administration, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re encouraging those things to happen.

      But I DON’T think they’re part of any master plan or vision, least of all the Orange Guy’s, because I don’t credit him with anywhere near the intelligence to understand them nor do I credit the administration with anywhere the organization to execute and control such a plan.

      This is a dumb idea by a dumb guy for dumb reasons, and it’s being so poorly executed that it’s going to have all sorts of unintended consequences, some of which will almost certainly hurt said Usual Suspects.

      “The truth is these are not very bright guys…and things got out of hand.

      @JoyceH: just wait ’til they get to the peaked caps and shiny boots and sidearms.

      Reply
    51. 51.

      Marc

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I find it very interesting that every president since 2005 (Dubya and Obama), when the Real ID Act was passed, delayed implementation until Trump in like 2020. Conservatives used to hate the concept of a national ID

      One wonders what percentage of people will actually have Real ID compliant identification by the deadline, along with the resulting impact on airline revenue in the months after.  My guess is Real ID won’t last long.

      As for ICE protection, I wouldn’t count on them caring what you may have in your pocket, they’re making up rules as they go.​
      ​
      ​

      Reply
    52. 52.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      I see that the Trump administration is trying to smear Abrego Garcia by dredging up a 2021 Maryland petition for protection order by Garcia’s wife

      In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin posted a document—purportedly from The District Court of Maryland For Prince George’s County Upper Marlboro—in which Vasquez Sura accused Abrego Garcia of domestic violence.

      “I was scared of the way he was driving; and b/c our 1 year old was in the back sit [sic],” the document reads. Vasquez Sura also wrote that “he pulled out like crazy,” prompting her to start “recording.”

      Another reference to a child reads in part, “I told him I wasn’t sleepy, he got angry, reached over shut and threw my laptop at the floor, and the baby started to cry because he was putting pressure on him, my idmiete [sic] reaction was to push him off of us, and he then punched, scratched me on my left eye, leaving me bleeding.”

      The document also shows Vasquez Sura writing: “At this point I am afraid to be close to him.”

      However, Vasquez Sura now stands by him 100%:

      In an exclusive to Newsweek, Vasquez Sura defended her husband, saying she ultimately decided not to “follow through with the civil court process.”

      “After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order in case things escalated,” she said. “Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling.

      “Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect. That is not a justification for ICE’s action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from deportation. Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.”

      In any case, true or not, it doesn’t justify shipping him to a gulag (something else that should not have happened), especially without due process or defying a Supreme Court decision ordering he be returned to the US.

      For the lawyers, if Garcia is returned to the US, will he be allowed to stay or will he be forced into deportation proceedings? Would the prior immigration ruling allowing him to stay protect him from that?

      Reply
    53. 53.

      TheOtherHank

      @MagdaInBlack:

      (and the reheated green curry left over from lunch is good too, altho their idea of medium hot and mine are quite different.)

      When I lived in Minnesota, back in the 90s, an Indian restaurant opened up near us. We went there and according to the menu you could specify the spice level of most of the items. When we were ordering I asked the server about this (I should add that according to ancestry.com I am the whitest person to ever live), “When you say ‘spicy’, is that Minnesota spicy or ‘will kill a white person’ spicy?” She looked at me and said, “You should get the medium.”

      Reply
    55. 55.

      MagdaInBlack

      @JoyceH: Yup, along with the “you’re a fool if you don’t understand this and agree” tone

      Eta: condescending was the word that escaped me.

      Reply
    58. 58.

      BretH

      The RealID deadline is screwing with us. Just moved and want to get drivers licenses (we have RealID licenses in the old state) but the DMV is backed up because everyone else is just trying to update to RealID. Kids need RealId for air travel in June but there’s no way that’s going to happen because they require 2 proof of address and one’s in college and one living with us between jobs. So we’re trying to get them passports, which is equally backed up. Grrrrr.

      Reply
    59. 59.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @zhena gogolia:

      Their ugliness definitely shines through. It’s the constant stream of lies in service of cruelty and their own self-interests that turns me off the most. That and the smug condescension, like Magda says

      Reply
    64. 64.

      frosty

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Anecdata: We renewed our passports (online) after the Inauguration, and my son did his application on March 29. Ours were within the 4 to 6 week window they advertise. My son’s came last week, so just over two weeks to get it.​​

      Reply
    65. 65.

      bbleh

      @MagdaInBlack: concur 100%!  As many have predicted, when their victims are shown to be human — rather than the subjects of abstruse legal or economic arguments — then the inhumanity of their actions and policies becomes much more accessible and real to the vast majority of people.  Abrego Garcia is a Maryland dad and legal resident who is married to an American citizen, has no criminal record, and was snatched off the streets and hustled off to a foreign gulag against the orders of a Federal judge.  That’s a story people can understand in all its injustice and lawlessness.  (Look at the clips of the Grassley town hall, for example.)

      And the Trump people are having absolute FITS about it.  This is their political “strong suit,” and they’re losing in it.

      Reply
    68. 68.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @frosty:

      Thanks. I’m not in a hurry or anything. I need to get a copy of my birth certificate first to send in to State and don’t trust Rubio’s crew with the copy I already have

      Reply
    69. 69.

      MagdaInBlack

      @bbleh: Which is why Bondi and Homan and all the others in the club, are out there smearing the man. It’s the standard playbook in that regard.

      Reply
    73. 73.

      Scout211

      @BretH: If you don’t have a REAL ID, you can use your passports.

      ETA: Oops, missed your point about passports.

      You can apply for passports at most post offices now.

      Reply
    74. 74.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @MagdaInBlack:

      @bbleh:

      Absolutely. They’re trying to go all “He wasn’t a perfect angel”, just liked they’d do with black shooting victims shot by police. They tried to do it to George Floyd too.

      Reply
    75. 75.

      Suzanne

      Sen. Van Hollen met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is alive and appears to be in good health. Thank the FSM.

      There are times I wish that I believed in Hell, so I could rest assured that Trump, Stephen Miller, and the rest of his goons would go there.

      Reply
    76. 76.

      NotMax

      FYI.

      Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr has accused Comcast of “news distortion” over its networks’ coverage of Kilmar Armando Abrego [Garcia], a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador due to what the government said was an “administrative error.” Source

      Reply
    77. 77.

      Scout211

      @Suzanne: Thanks for the update. And sixthdoctor

      Here’s the AP story.

      SAN SALVADOR (AP) — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen met Thursday in El Salvador with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent there by the Trump administrationin March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

      Van Hollen posted a photo of the meeting on X, saying he also called Abrego Garcia’s wife “to pass along his message of love.” The lawmaker did not provide an update on the status of Abrego Garcia, whose attorneys are fighting to force the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the U.S.

      El Salvador’s Presidnet Nayib Bukele posted images of the meeting minutes before Van Hollen shared his post, saying “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!”

      The meeting came hours after Van Hollen said he was denied entry into an high-security El Salvador prison Thursday while he was trying to check on Abrego Garcia’s well-being and push for his release.

      The Democratic senator said at a news conference in San Salvador that his car was stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint about 3 kilometers (about 2 miles) from the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, even as they let other cars go on.

      More at the link. Also his press conference video at the link

      President Bukele is sure something else, isn’t he?

      Reply
    78. 78.

      lowtechcyclist

      @sixthdoctor:

      That is wonderful news, just to know for sure that he is alive and well.

      Thank you, Senator, for making the trip. It’s a shame you can’t bring him home with you, but this should at least add to the pressure to bring him back.

      Reply
    81. 81.

      NaijaGal

      @sixthdoctor: ​
       

      Oh my God that is amazing. I thought… I thought they were stalling because he was dead. I have never been so happy to be wrong in my life. Senator Van Hollen is amazing.

      Reply
    82. 82.

      Gin & Tonic

      I may be wrong, but I don’t believe “Real ID” driver’s licenses are proof of citizenship. They may be required to get on an airplane or into a Federal building, but say nothing about citizenship.

      NB: if you have a Global Entry card, that works well as an ID – I’ve used it many, many times at the TSA desk with never a question.

      Reply
    83. 83.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @Scout211:

      President Bukele is sure something else, isn’t he?

      He’s a total ass and monster. I hope he gets to visit the Hague like Duerte has real soon

      Reply
    88. 88.

      NaijaGal

      @Gin & Tonic: ​
       
      There are at least ten states that accept REAL ID for voting – many states that require voter ID don’t actually request a passport to vote.

      Reply
    89. 89.

      NotMax

      @NaijaGal

      So old can remember when Central and South America were referred to as “the long playing countries.”

      33⅓ revolutions per minute.
      ;)

      Reply
    90. 90.

      Another Scott

      @Gin & Tonic: Correct.

      RealID FAQs:

      Q. What classifications of noncitizens are eligible for full-term compliant driver’s licenses?

      Noncitizens lawfully admitted for permanent or temporary residence, noncitizens with conditional permanent resident status, noncitizens with an approved application for asylum, and noncitizens who have entered the United States as refugees are eligible for a full-term REAL ID license or identification card.

      Of course, 47 may decide that that’s all a bunch of nonsense or something…. :-/

      Best wishes,
      Scott.

      Reply
    95. 95.

      Uncle Cosmo

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There’s no real spring or fall anymore it seems where I live. At most there’s a few weeks of each. And then the summers are usually in the 90s every day. I miss when the highs were in the 70s and 80s not even that long ago, like 10-15 years ago.

      Here in Churn City in the Land of Peasant Living, what I miss from my childhood are the sweet summer nights. We’d have 7-10 days total with nighttime lows above 75 when you’d need more than a draft-through fan to sleep. Now we’re lucky to get that many with lows under 75,, and the A/C runs from mid-May through late September.

      If you run into a global-warming “skeptic” who tells you the days aren’t any hotter than 60 years ago, ask him about the nighttime lows. and maybe, just maybe, comprehension will dawn…

      Reply

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