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You are here: Home / Immigration / Sunday Morning Open Thread

Sunday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  August 10, 20257:12 am| 120 Comments

This post is in: Immigration, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Space

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Summer’s most dazzling meteor shower peaks soon.
This year, a bright moon will dampen viewing at the time of peak early Wednesday morning.

[image or embed]

— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) August 8, 2025 at 12:00 PM

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Faith leaders in Southern California have been supporting immigrant communities during increased arrests and raids.

[image or embed]

— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) August 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he loves farmers. His actions, though, are rippling across the agriculture industry as tariffs raise the cost of everything from tractors to fertilizers and squeeze profits for US growers already contending with low crop prices.

[image or embed]

— Bloomberg News (@bloomberg.com) August 9, 2025 at 12:30 AM

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Mexican entrepreneurship knows no limits…
Behold the ICE officer piñata ??

[image or embed]

— Laura Martínez ?? (@miblogestublog.bsky.social) August 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM


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@campaignlegal.org is urging the FEC and congressional ethics czars to investigate House Speaker Mike Johnson, claiming he used campaign funds to foot the bill for a Washington residence he rents from Rep. Darrell Issa. @benjaminweiss.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/watchdog-say…

[image or embed]

— Courthouse News (@courthousenews.bsky.social) August 8, 2025 at 3:36 PM

===

You sure about this, Google?

[image or embed]

— Al Yankovic (@alyankovic.bsky.social) August 8, 2025 at 9:55 PM

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    120Comments

    1. 1.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 7:26 am

      Weird Al is the best.

      Reply
    2. 2.

      Tony Jay

      August 10, 2025 at 7:27 am

      Apparently I jumped the gun last night when I said how disgusting it was that the London Met spent yesterday afternoon mass-arresting 150 peaceful protesters under the UK’s anti-terror laws while arresting zero British nationals who have signed up to commit war-crimes with the IDF and while racist thugs were happily bulling around in Nuneaton wearing pro-Nazi gear and threatening asylum-seekers.

      Turns out, the Met actually arrested 474 peaceful protestors. Pulling police away from other forces to make sure they had the manpower to overwhelm lots of pensioners and human rights activists all gathered together to commit the crime of opposing genocide and authoritarian crackdowns on dissent.

      Der Starmerpartei have really dropped themselves in the shit on this one, but that’s who they are and this is how they roll. Repeatedly doing the wrong thing, badly, and doubling down when it all goes tits up.

      Reply
    3. 3.

      Princess

      August 10, 2025 at 7:28 am

      I know in Trump’s last term he bailed out the farmers but now his trade war is raising prices for all of them; not just a few. I don’t think he can do it.

      Reply
    4. 4.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 7:29 am

      One more time.

      For any wondering about a possible NYC area meet-up, yours truly will be arriving there August 15 and departing September 1 and would like to arrange one or attend one arranged by another jackal. If at all interested, perhaps it’s time to chime in on days, times and locations best for you within that period.

      Reply
    5. 5.

      satby

      August 10, 2025 at 7:29 am

      @Baud: Took me a minute only because I don’t really know what Chappell Roan looks like 😂.

      Reply
    6. 6.

      Professor Bigfoot

      August 10, 2025 at 7:30 am

      Did I ever tell you about the time I almost won a Weird Al lookalike contest? 😂😂

      Reply
    7. 7.

      Dangerman

      August 10, 2025 at 7:31 am

      ICE Pinata? Begin your whacking!

      /simpsons reference, though that was only whacking day; we have nearly 4 more years of whacking

      Reply
    8. 8.

      satby

      August 10, 2025 at 7:35 am

      @NotMax: No one has heard from JFD, have they? He was always interested in helping set up meet-ups. A lot of Juicers are on Blue Sky but not so much here anymore, I’ll share this there.

      Reply
    9. 9.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 7:37 am

      @satby

      Thank’ee.

      Reply
    10. 10.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 7:38 am

      @Princess:

      US farmers were one of the big winners in NAFTA. But Trump knows white farmers are loyal to Republicans.

      Reply
    11. 11.

      Professor Bigfoot

      August 10, 2025 at 7:39 am

      @Baud: Whether in North America or South Africa.

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 7:43 am

      @Professor Bigfoot:

      Trump’s a globalist when it comes to white people.

      Reply
    13. 13.

      satby

      August 10, 2025 at 7:44 am

      @NotMax: Good luck! I’m not travelling anywhere for a while, blew the budget on the Ireland trip.

      Reply
    14. 14.

      lowtechcyclist

      August 10, 2025 at 7:44 am

      Chappell Roan, Al Yankovic – whichever one of them is having a ‘pop-up’ tour, I’m interested!

      The ICE piñata is a bit ‘off’ though – there’s no mask over the face.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      Betty Cracker

      August 10, 2025 at 7:45 am

      @Tony Jay: Ugh, that sucks.

      Did you see this op-ed by Nesrine Malik in The Guardian? “The real danger in this permacrisis is not the political drama: it’s the risk that nothing changes.”

      Reply
    16. 16.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 7:46 am

      @Baud

      People of the land.
      ;)

      Reply
    17. 17.

      Scout211

      August 10, 2025 at 7:47 am

      A federal appeals courtpanel shot down a Trump administration bid to make secret a public database of federal spending that researchers say is crucial to ensure the administration is not flouting Congress’ power of the purse.

      In an order issued Saturday evening, the three-judge D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted unanimously to give the administration until Friday to put the data back online.

      Two of the three appeals judges assigned to the matter also signed onto a forceful opinion declaring that the administration’s bid to conceal the data was an affront to Congress’ authority over government spending, one that threatened the separation of powers and defied centuries of evidence that public disclosure is necessary for the public good.

      “No court would allow a losing party to defy its judgment. No President would allow a usurper to command our armed forces,” Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee, wrote in support of the decision to deny the Trump administration’s request to keep the data under wraps while litigation over the issue goes forward. “And no Congress should be made to wait while the Executive intrudes on its plenary power over appropriations.”

      Will the SCOTUS six uphold the ruling that protects congress’s “power of the purse” or will they let Trump keep federal spending a secret?

      Reply
    18. 18.

      zhena gogolia

      August 10, 2025 at 7:50 am

      @Betty Cracker: if Harris had won, something would have changed

      Reply
    19. 19.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 7:51 am

      @Scout211

      Methinks there is yet some salted dick four of the six won’t swallow.

      Reply
    20. 20.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 7:52 am

      @zhena gogolia:

      Things are always changing. The problem is that it’s never changing in exactly the way people want, so they check out and leave the playing field to the largest, most organized cult

      ETA: I’m speaking about the US. I’m not going to presume to understand the politics of other countries.

      Reply
    21. 21.

      Tony Jay

      August 10, 2025 at 7:53 am

      @Betty Cracker:

      That’s always the aim. Performative non-action. Mass Squirrel-Awareness programmes. Heavy-duty blinker fittings and whole shipping tankers full to the gunnels of lies, distractions and legalistic hair splitting. Anything to make it look like ‘something is being done’ while, in reality, the status-quo is preserved.

      That’s what ‘Hard Labour’ seized control of the Party to enforce. The only question is, can they keep a lid on the pushback long enough for the Palestinian Problem to ‘go away’?

      Reply
    22. 22.

      Princess

      August 10, 2025 at 7:56 am

      @Tony Jay: I have to confess I have no comprehension of what’s going on in the UK right now — the protestors thing, the anti-trans panic. I’m afraid I thought you were exaggerating about Starmer back in days of old but I see you were not. My god, all he needed to do was find a way to fund the NHS properly and he’d have been a hero. What’s all this in aid of?

      Reply
    23. 23.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 8:02 am

      @Tony jay

      Putting the blight back into Old Blighty.
      //

      Reply
    24. 24.

      Old School

      August 10, 2025 at 8:02 am

      Google is just trying to get that “Pink Bologna Club” song out of Al.

      Reply
    25. 25.

      catclub

      August 10, 2025 at 8:08 am

      @Princess: but now his trade war is raising prices for all of them; not just a few. I don’t think he can do it.

       

      I disagree. He will find some way to bail them out.

      Reply
    26. 26.

      lowtechcyclist

      August 10, 2025 at 8:08 am

      @Old School: ​

      Or maybe ‘Hot Togo.’

      Reply
    27. 27.

      Tony Jay

      August 10, 2025 at 8:10 am

      @Princess:

      I’ve got a typically terse post just about ready to go that gives my entirely unbiased impression of the what and the how and the why of Hard Labour’s first year in office. I’ll be dropping it into A-L’s in-tray tonight if I ever get around to translating it from incoherent screaming into legible Americanese.

      It may not make it any clearer, but it should make me feel a bit better.

      Reply
    28. 28.

      Betty Cracker

      August 10, 2025 at 8:11 am

      @zhena gogolia: A fucking Redis error ate my reply! Gah!

      I so wish we’d been able to test your theory.

      Malik mostly addresses the UK situation, but I think there’s a danger of getting caught in an untenable and yet unfixable status quo here too. A country that elected a dumb authoritarian goon like Trump twice is not in a healthy place.

      If a Dem is elected in 2028 in part due to a backlash to the current disaster, there’s a real possibility he or she won’t have enough political power to make serious reforms, thanks in part to the constitution’s structural disadvantages. That would make the government vulnerable to demagoguery from the next authoritarian goon. I hope this isn’t our fate.

      Reply
    29. 29.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 8:12 am

      @Tony Jay:

      If the email bounces back, it’s because AL didn’t have enough storage on her email server.

      Reply
    30. 30.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 8:14 am

      Yay!

      Hadn’t used the Kindle since last year’s NY trip so the battery made the proverbial doornail look lively.

      When dusted off in anticipation of this year’s journey it wouldn’t accept a charge, but this video tip worked like a charm to resolve that.

      Reply
    31. 31.

      catclub

      August 10, 2025 at 8:15 am

      @Scout211: Will the SCOTUS six uphold the ruling that protects congress’s “power of the purse” or will they let Trump keep federal spending a secret?

       

      I can imagine that they can argue ‘state secrets’ combined with ‘Congress gets this information from the Executive branch, no reason the public needs to have it.’   I assume there is obviously no law that the exec has to publish it- just a norm and tradition.

      Reply
    32. 32.

      Lapassionara

      August 10, 2025 at 8:16 am

      @Scout211: it is interesting that Judge Karen Henderson wrote this opinion. Her opinions had been trending toward the conservative side in recent years, so to see this strong language from her is very welcoming.

      Reply
    33. 33.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 8:17 am

      @Betty Cracker:

      I’d wager that if we had a trifecta in 2029, they’d pass the mega voting rights bill.

      But I don’t see us gaining the political power we’d need to enact the massive economic reforms people are demanding

      ETA: Maybe also abortion rights. We’re pretty unified there, even though people seem to have lost interest in the issue.

      Reply
    34. 34.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 8:18 am

      @Lapassionara:

      No, there’s a law.

      If the SCOTUS 6 reverses, it’ll be some based on a made up standing theory.

      Reply
    35. 35.

      lowtechcyclist

      August 10, 2025 at 8:19 am

      @Betty Cracker: ​

      If a Dem is elected in 2028 in part due to a backlash to the current disaster, there’s a real possibility he or she won’t have enough political power to make serious reforms, thanks in part to the constitution’s structural disadvantages. That would make the government vulnerable to demagoguery from the next authoritarian goon. I hope this isn’t our fate.

      Since us older folks will likely continue to vote the way we always have, and the best we can hope for there is that the right ones show up and the wrong ones stay home, our best hope is for younger voters to break sharply Dem and show up.

      And I think that for that to happen, younger Congresspersons like AOC, Jasmine Crockett, and Maxwell Frost need to be visibly in positions of leadership, so that those younger voters feel represented by us. Forget this nitpickery over whether they’re really the right people to be the ranking member on a committee, it’s all about the voters.

      Reply
    36. 36.

      mrmoshpotato

      August 10, 2025 at 8:20 am

      @lowtechcyclist: Makes it easier to bash in the face.

      Reply
    37. 37.

      Tony Jay

      August 10, 2025 at 8:20 am

      @NotMax:

      And they say the old ways don’t work anymore. Pfft. Blight is our one growth industry.

      @Baud:

      She has a special server-farm in Redis, Oklahoma set aside just for me. It replaced the Texas facility that burnt down last year.

      Reply
    38. 38.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 8:21 am

      @lowtechcyclist:

      Then they’re not going to show up. There’s very unlikely to be more leadership changes any time soon.

      Reply
    39. 39.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 8:21 am

      @catclub

      But- but- Chatty Cathy Karoline goes on and on about “the most transparent administration in history.”

      Reply
    40. 40.

      Ksmiami

      August 10, 2025 at 8:23 am

      @Betty Cracker: this is why I think the us is going to fall apart under the weight of its own creaky sclerotic systems. Adapt or die isnt just for evolutionary biology

      Reply
    41. 41.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 8:26 am

      Sunday morning pick me up

      Wow! JD Vance is brutally booed at Indiana Statehouse as his presence was announced

      Reply
    42. 42.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 8:26 am

      @Baud

      Trifecta vs. Liefecta.

      Reply
    43. 43.

      rikyrah

      August 10, 2025 at 8:29 am

      Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊

      Reply
    44. 44.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 8:30 am

      @rikyrah:

      Good morning.

      Reply
    45. 45.

      Betty Cracker

      August 10, 2025 at 8:32 am

      @Baud: The signs! “Couch Fucker!” “JD Vance ate my cat!” LOL!

      Reply
    46. 46.

      lowtechcyclist

      August 10, 2025 at 8:32 am

      @Baud: ​

      Then they’re not going to show up. There’s very unlikely to be more leadership changes any time soon.

      Yeah, Congressional leadership is Far Too Important to be involved in grubby details like salesmanship. //

      Seriously, in the absence of a shadow government (which doesn’t really work under our system), Congressional leadership is the only visible leadership we’ve got. The Democratic Party needs to make the best possible use of it.

      Reply
    47. 47.

      prostratedragon

      August 10, 2025 at 8:34 am

      FYI:

      PROTEST ALERT

      PUBLIC HEALTH STAFF AND THE PUBLIC speak out after Friday’s shooting that targeted the CDC due to vaccine/COVID disinformation.

      They call on RFK Jr. to resign!

      TODAY at 11am at Piedmont Park in ATL!

      Reply
    48. 48.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 8:35 am

      @lowtechcyclist:

      I don’t recall anyone ever caring about committee leadership in past years when we were out of power.

      Regardless, unless someone else dies or resigns, I don’t see the Dems making leadership changes in their committees.

      Reply
    49. 49.

      Suzanne

      August 10, 2025 at 8:35 am

      @Ksmiami: I am increasingly worried that you are correct. Voting the right way is necessary, but not sufficient, to make the changes we need.

      Reply
    50. 50.

      cmorenc

      August 10, 2025 at 8:36 am

      Alas, not just the moon phase but the persistently cloudy weather forecast in eastern NC (particuarly the coast) are not at all condusive this week to observing a meteor shower.

      Reply
    51. 51.

      Geminid

      August 10, 2025 at 8:36 am

      @Tony Jay: Besides showing the pig-headedness of Starmer’s government on the Israel/Palestine question, these also demonstrate an important difference between European nations and the US, that being our 1st Amendment.

      My understanding is that these arrests are legal, under a statute criminalizing support for a proscribed organization. In Germany, police arrest protesters for carrying the Palestinian flag, and they can be pretty rough about it.

      I think Americans tend to see Western European nations as liberal democracies with freedom of speech and assembly similar to ours, but when push comes to shove they can be very illiberal.

      Most other European nations have laws against “incitement” that can be used to suppress dissent. In Sweden, it’s a crime to burn a Koran and people have been charged for that. In Austria, you can arrested for making the Gray Wolf Sign, a Turkish ultra-nationalist symbol.*

      I remember seeing people here speculate about modifying 1st Amendment protections in order to curb right-wing propaganda. That was when a lot people thought Democrats would win the presidential election, and I haven’t heard so much of this talk since. But by then I had come to understand the difference in free speech protections between here and Europe, and my thoughts were, “Y’all really need to think twice about this.”

      * The Gray Wolf Sign is made by holding up the index and pinkie fingers so they look like ears. Then you form the wolf’s muzzle with the thumb and middle fingers. It’s easy to do, but don’t do it in Vienna!

      Actually, I don’t think the ban would be enforced today. It’s a relic of streetfights between ultra-nationalist Turks and Kurdish activists that were fought hard all over Europe in the 1990s.

      Reply
    52. 52.

      Anyway

      August 10, 2025 at 8:49 am

      @Baud: that was excellent viewing. I watched all of it …

      the doomed in me can’t help adding that they’ve found ways to get their way despite great public opposition :-(

      Reply
    53. 53.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 8:53 am

      @Anyway:

      They control all three branches of government, and they don’t have very many internal divisions that would provide a basis for opposing Trump. It’s not hard to get your way in that situation.

      Everything is grounded in the marriage between the white majority and the Republican Party. Until that cracks, public sentiment is going to mean a lot less.

      Reply
    54. 54.

      Suzanne

      August 10, 2025 at 8:58 am

      @Baud:

      Everything is grounded in the marriage between the white majority and the Republican Party. Until that cracks, public sentiment is going to mean a lot less. 

      I would be all excited about this due to demographic change — white people are, on average, considerably older, and a decreasing percentage of the younger generations. But, as we have seen, the GOP is starting to work on them, too. We should not expect racial demographics to do our work for us.

      Reply
    55. 55.

      Geminid

      August 10, 2025 at 9:00 am

      @Geminid: In a recent European football championship tournament, a Turkish player was given a two game suspension for making the Gray Wolf Sign after scoring a critical goal. A lot of Turks complained that the sign was not the property of a particular political movement but was rather a symbol from Turkic culture going back millenia.

      They showed pictures ranging from brightly dressed Kazakh kids making the sign to a stone carving in a Japanese museum (archeologists found it in Mongolia). It showed a guy in a funny looking hat, riding a horse and flashing what looked like a Gray Wolf Sign.

      But the suspension stood, and Turkiye was knocked out in the quarterfinals.

      Reply
    56. 56.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 9:01 am

      @Suzanne:

      I agree that we can expect younger non-white people to be liberal Democrats. Younger non-white people might be more willing to actually stand up to Republicans when they go off the rails instead acting like cult members.

      Reply
    57. 57.

      rikyrah

      August 10, 2025 at 9:06 am

      @Tony Jay:

      Disgusting😠😠😠😠

      Reply
    58. 58.

      rikyrah

      August 10, 2025 at 9:07 am

      @Suzanne:

      When you have those chasing YT Adjacency….

      Sigh

      Oh well😒😒

      Reply
    59. 59.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 9:09 am

      Weekend (very) long watch/listen. Oddest rules at home!

      Reply
    60. 60.

      comrade scotts agenda of rage

      August 10, 2025 at 9:11 am

      The moon and the perseids: the moons needs to get the hell off the air.

      Reply
    61. 61.

      eclare

      August 10, 2025 at 9:12 am

      @Baud:

      Wow!  Indeed.

      Reply
    62. 62.

      Suzanne

      August 10, 2025 at 9:12 am

      @Baud:

      I agree that we can expect younger non-white people to be liberal Democrats.

      I don’t think that’s a safe assumption. The GOP and its weird subcultures like the manosphere are finding new ways to appeal to parts of this cohort and they are not following the same patterns of behavior as the Boomers and Gen X.

      The gender divide is the biggest in this age group — misogyny has cross-racial appeal! — and the education divide is also large and growing.

      The youngest voters were the most Dem-voting age cohort in 2024, and they are the least-approving of FFOTUS right now, but it would be exceedingly unwise to assume that will continue. We need to chase these voters.

      Reply
    63. 63.

      Professor Bigfoot

      August 10, 2025 at 9:12 am

      @Baud:Everything is grounded in the marriage between the white majority and the Republican Party.

      Brother, you said a mouthful right there.

      Reply
    64. 64.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 9:13 am

      @Suzanne:

      Can = can’t. Sorry.

      Reply
    65. 65.

      Professor Bigfoot

      August 10, 2025 at 9:15 am

      @Suzanne:We should not expect racial demographics to do our work for us

      We DARE NOT expect racial demographic changes to make societal change.

      Whiteness is infinitely malleable and can be revoked (or invoked) at any time.

      If high caste Indians consider themselves white (because white is the highest caste in America); then they might find themselves considered “white,” if they go along with American conservatives.

      Vivek isn’t doing what he’s doing for himself— Vivek believes his grandchildren will be “white.”

      ETA: I don’t mean to pick on South Asians; because that offer of “whiteness” is always there. The entire “model minority” trope was whiteness offering whiteness to East Asian ethnicities; but unfortunately for whiteness Uncle George will not let Manzanar fade from memory.

      Reply
    66. 66.

      Suzanne

      August 10, 2025 at 9:17 am

      @rikyrah: I said a few months ago that I think racism is probably the primary social force at work on older voters (roughly age 45 and up in 2024) and sexism is probably the strongest social force on younger voters. The GOP made significant inroads on men of every color, and the education divide is now as big as the Grand Canyon.

      Reply
    67. 67.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 9:22 am

      @comrade scotts agenda of rage

      But doesn’t it belong to everyone?
      ;)

      Reply
    68. 68.

      Suzanne

      August 10, 2025 at 9:25 am

      @Professor Bigfoot: You never lied, friend. And I will note that I descend, in part, from New York Italian-Americans….. and then moved to Arizona, which has a huge Latino (mostly Mexican-American) population, and the dynamics are incredibly similar. The various Latino groups are behaving just the same as “ethnic whites” behaved 80 years ago, and we should not expect that those groups would remain in the Democratic tent, either.

      I often wonder why so many Americans of Italian descent forget how much WASPs hated them. But they do.

      Reply
    69. 69.

      Betty Cracker

      August 10, 2025 at 9:26 am

      This thread needs birds.

      Five Roseate Spoonbills doing their Sunday Morning breakfast buffet thing. #birds

      [image or embed]

      — Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) August 10, 2025 at 9:25 AM

      Reply
    70. 70.

      Anyway

      August 10, 2025 at 9:27 am

      @Suzanne: But, as we have seen, the GOP is starting to work on them, too. We should not expect racial demographics to do our work for us.

      yep, Ruy Texeria’s “Emerging Democratic Majority” backfired spectacularly — got the reactionaries all fired up and determined to subvert it but led to some complacency on the D side imo. Not talking about our electeds but the strategists — we say Ds are so smart, so much more educated etc but not seeing the strategic vision to take on the Rs.

      Reply
    71. 71.

      Betty Cracker

      August 10, 2025 at 9:27 am

      Now the spoonies have been joined by a pair of Sandhill Cranes, one of whom is HOLLERING!

      Reply
    72. 72.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 9:32 am

      @Batty Cracker

      Florida, home to the early bird special.

      BTW, how’s the video birdhouse working out?

      Reply
    73. 73.

      Shalimar

      August 10, 2025 at 9:34 am

      ‘It Will Be the Biggest Product Ever’: Elon Musk Says Tesla’s Optimus Robots Will Be Bigger Than Even Robotaxi

      If I had to make one bet today with my life at stake on the results, it would be that a Chinese company will have a better and cheaper version of Optimus on the market within a year of launch.

      Reply
    74. 74.

      zhena gogolia

      August 10, 2025 at 9:34 am

      @Betty Cracker: Wow!

      Reply
    75. 75.

      Suzanne

      August 10, 2025 at 9:35 am

      @Anyway:

      we say Ds are so smart, so much more educated etc but not seeing the strategic vision to take on the Rs. 

      Yeah no kidding. Like, we donate all this money, and get shitty strategy for it. Things are shifting. The tactics that worked in the 80s and 90s are not effective now. It reminds me of when my grandparents would try to buy me gifts.

      The ugliest truth about people, and we forget it all the time….. for a chunk of people of every race, gender, nationality, religion, immigration status, etc….. their problem with a hierarchy isn’t that it exists, their complaint is only that they aren’t on the top of it. Being a victim of bigotry doesn’t, in and of itself, doesn’t mean that person wouldn’t be a bigot if they could. The abused becomes the abuser often enough that it is observable.

      Reply
    76. 76.

      RevRick

      August 10, 2025 at 9:37 am

      Shout out of thanks to my brothers and sisters of faith for taking stands against the Trump administration’s policies of ethnic cleansing. And that some news organization even bothered to notice and report it.

      Reply
    77. 77.

      eclare

      August 10, 2025 at 9:38 am

      @Betty Cracker:

      Love it!

      Reply
    78. 78.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 9:40 am

      @Shalimar

      it’ll be like a tech bro automat. A dozen people behind the scenes manipulating things in order for the robot to put a slice of lemon meringue pie in the little window.

      Reply
    79. 79.

      Betty Cracker

      August 10, 2025 at 9:42 am

      @NotMax: Awesome! We had a bumper crop of cardinals, and the feeder cam captures their comings and goings at the seed dispenser. I attached a nectar bowl to it as well, and we get multiple hummingbird visits daily too. Best present I bought for myself in ages! ;-)

      Reply
    80. 80.

      NotMax

      August 10, 2025 at 9:45 am

      @Suzanne

      Tribalism is a potent and powerful trigger.

      Reply
    81. 81.

      Another Scott

      August 10, 2025 at 9:46 am

      @Betty Cracker: Neato.

      Can you remind us of what camera you got?  The capabilities of these things seem to advance pretty quickly.  (I got a “trail cam” a few years ago and was quite disappointed with the B&W video and it ate batteries like mad.)

      Thanks muchly!

      Best wishes,
      Scott.

      Reply
    82. 82.

      stinger

      August 10, 2025 at 9:50 am

      @lowtechcyclist: ​
       Do you think young people can define “ranking member”? Or name any, for any committee? Or describe what that committee does, by its title?
      Somehow I doubt the internal power structures of Congress are what young people are attuned to and influenced by. Get AOC, Crockett, Frost, etc. out on podcasts and talk shows and TikTok, send out news releases under their names, free them up from committee leadership positions so they can hold rallies and town halls everywhere, not just their own districts.

      Reply
    83. 83.

      Chief Oshkosh

      August 10, 2025 at 9:52 am

      @Baud: I agree with lowtechcyclist in the younger and more dynamic electeds are who younger voters are likely to align with. I don’t agree that this requires that those elected must be in formal leadership positions. They do, however, need to be shown as being respected by senior leadership — frequently and very publicly.

      Reply
    84. 84.

      BellyCat

      August 10, 2025 at 9:52 am

      @Suzanne: Like, we donate all this money, and get shitty strategy for it. Things are shifting. The tactics that worked in the 80s and 90s are not effective now. It reminds me of when my grandparents would try to buy me gifts.

      Exactly. And grandparents KNOW more than the younger set, doncha know. Political strategy from Ye Olde Tyme Democratic Strategy Class ™ demands another pair of itchy wool socks to address blazing hot conditions.

      Some problems can only be fixed with tombstones.

      Reply
    85. 85.

      Kayla Rudbek

      August 10, 2025 at 9:55 am

      @Shalimar: I would certainly bet all my crafting budget for the year on that as well.

      Reply
    86. 86.

      Chief Oshkosh

      August 10, 2025 at 9:55 am

      @Suzanne:

      The tactics that worked in the 80s and 90s are not effective now.

      I don’t remember them being especially effective then.

      Reply
    87. 87.

      Kayla Rudbek

      August 10, 2025 at 9:56 am

      @BellyCat: science advances one funeral at a time, as Max Planck said. I think that if someone did invent immortality, the GenXers would suppress it as our last chance of revenge against the Boomers.

      Reply
    88. 88.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 9:57 am

      @Chief Oshkosh:

      I don’t pretend to know what a good strategy would be. I feel safe predicting that the Dems aren’t going to upend their committee leadership, so if that’s what’s essential, I don’t think young people will come out.

      Reply
    89. 89.

      Another Scott

      August 10, 2025 at 9:58 am

      @Tony Jay: Made me look.

      BBC News – Picture of the “7M” pounds in damage

      The Guardian – They may have done more damage, nobody knows!

      385:26 vote in the lower house of Parliament.

      It’s infuriating how quickly and easily elected officials can be willingly stampeded to enable the monsters.

      Grr…

      Thanks.

      Best wishes,
      Scott.

      Reply
    90. 90.

      prostratedragon

      August 10, 2025 at 9:58 am

      @Scout211:  Judge Karen Henderson was on the panel that was overruled by SCOTUS on Presidential immunity.

      Reply
    91. 91.

      Chief Oshkosh

      August 10, 2025 at 10:00 am

      @RevRick: Here here!

      Reply
    92. 92.

      lowtechcyclist

      August 10, 2025 at 10:03 am

      @stinger: ​

      Do you think young people can define “ranking member”? Or name any, for any committee? Or describe what that committee does, by its title?

      Hell no! But what it gives them is a visible role in that committee as the effective spokesperson for the Democratic Party. Maybe the kids can’t say exactly what that means, but it says they have a meaningful role in the party, and the shots of their using that role to advantage can circulate on YouTube, Instagram, etc.

      Get AOC, Crockett, Frost, etc. out on podcasts and talk shows and TikTok, send out news releases under their names, free them up from committee leadership positions so they can hold rallies and town halls everywhere, not just their own districts.

      Then they’re still outsiders. I don’t want kids saying that what’s really needed is for AOC and Crockett to start a third party, because why not, they could hold those rallies just as easily to form a new party that really spoke to them. They need to have the proverbial seat at the table.

      Reply
    93. 93.

      BellyCat

      August 10, 2025 at 10:05 am

      @Kayla Rudbek: That would be a smart move.

      Reply
    94. 94.

      Betty Cracker

      August 10, 2025 at 10:07 am

      @Another Scott: Sure, here’s an Amazon link — just under $60. It’s solar powered!

      Reply
    95. 95.

      Geminid

      August 10, 2025 at 10:10 am

      On Thursday, Israel’s security cabinet decided on a plan to expand military operations in Gaza. Yesterday CNN published an analysis of the decision by Israeli journalist Tal Shalev:

      Netanyahu’s Gaza Takeover plan satisfies no one but himself

      Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, the Israeli cabinet voted for yet another military expansion: the takeover of Gaza City. The plan, which was initiated and pushed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arguably reveals more about his domestic political maneuvering than evidence of a well-thought-out military strategy.

      The plan was adopted despite Israel’s military leadership’s fierce objection and grave warning that it could both deepen the humanitarian crisis and endanger the remaining 50 hostages [20 living, 30 dead]. The major expansion of the war also comes against a background of substantial erosion of support for Israel around the world [Link], and a decline in internal public backing for continuation of the war….

      During a marathon 10-hour cabinet meeting, Israel’s military Chief of Staff Eyal Hayom presented the Army’s stark opposition to the government’s occupation plans. Israel’s top general warned that a renewed military incursion will endanger both the hostages and soldiers, cautioning that Gaza [City] could become a trap that would further exhaust IDF soldiers already worn down by almost two years of continuous fighting, and deepen the Palestinian humanitarian crisis….

      This plan was approved Thursday night but has yet to be implemented. There is a last-ditch effort by the US, Egypt and Qatar to achieve a negotiated end to the war

      The Israeli PM’s office has scheduled two news conferences today, at 3 pm and 6 pm local time. Netanyahu will lie his ass off to foreign journalists at the first one, and then lie his ass off to Israeli journalists at the second.

      Reply
    96. 96.

      princess leia

      August 10, 2025 at 10:14 am

      @RevRick: ​

      @RevRick: ​
        We have been doing a weekly vigil outside of one of the courts mentioned in the article. There has been at least one news org a week coming in- albeit this week’s was from Japan.
      Accompanying people inside those courts has been eyeopening and very challenging. I am glad as well that there are some folks reporting on it.

      Reply
    97. 97.

      Tony Jay

      August 10, 2025 at 10:18 am

      @Geminid:

      Aye, and that’s the problem. Starmer and Co thought they were sooooo clever by tossing PALESTINE ACTION on the terrorist list (for the bloodcurdling crime of vandalism) so they could use the terror laws to clamp down on all anti-genocide protest. But all they’ve really done is open themselves up to a barrage of abuse from every credible human rights and international law group on the planet for being authoritarian goons and handed any future Faragist Regime licence to declare any protest group a terrorist threat and arrest anyone who dissents.

      It’s not just wrong on the merits, it’s stupid and dangerous and won’t even work anyway. People aren’t going to stop protesting against genocide just because Yvette Cooper says it’s very naughty.   

      Reply
    98. 98.

      HinTN

      August 10, 2025 at 10:25 am

      @Betty Cracker: A little washed out so not so roseate, but mos’ def spoonbilling. Thanks, I needed that.

      We saw one with full wings catch the light just right on our Everglades tour of the 10,000 Islands. Wow!!!

      Reply
    99. 99.

      lowtechcyclist

      August 10, 2025 at 10:32 am

      @Baud:

      I don’t pretend to know what a good strategy would be. I feel safe predicting that the Dems aren’t going to upend their committee leadership, so if that’s what’s essential, I don’t think young people will come out.

      I don’t know if it’s essential, but I do think the Dems should try anything that might be helpful.  And raising the status of people like AOC, Crockett, and Frost is certainly one thing worth trying.

      Reply
    100. 100.

      Another Scott

      August 10, 2025 at 10:34 am

      @Betty Cracker: Thanks again.  Looks pretty good!

      Of course, I had to go down a rabbit hole of seeing what else is out there.  It looks like Cornell Ornithology uses AXIS cameras.  A newer model of what they use (at least in some places) is around $1000-$1150.  Gotta be careful before I let myself be bitten by this hobby!

      Enjoy your Sunday!

      Best wishes,
      Scott.

      Reply
    101. 101.

      Baud

      August 10, 2025 at 10:42 am

      @lowtechcyclist:

      All of those people are pretty well known. So aside from giving them a formal position, I’m not sure what specific steps you think should be taken.

      Reply
    102. 102.

      trnc

      August 10, 2025 at 11:32 am

      Re: Google/Roan/YankovicI like having an In Real Time opportunity to see how AI pulls stuff from the internet, jams them together and calls it a day. Especially notable that Google itself (youtube) is the source of their own fuckup.

      At this point, I pretty much expect to see Gemini pull random comments from youtube videos and create news stories. If it hasn’t already happened.

      Reply
    103. 103.

      schrodingers_cat

      August 10, 2025 at 11:49 am

      @Professor Bigfoot: The Indian Americans you describe makeup about 25% of the Indian American votes. These Republican Indian Americans may be on TV  a lot but they are not representative of the entire diaspora Indian Americans.

      Reply
    104. 104.

      kalakal

      August 10, 2025 at 11:50 am

      @Betty Cracker:

      Love those spoonbills?

      i’d love one of those feeder cams. how is it vs squirrels?

      I’m reluctant to use bird feeders around here as it’s hawk city.

      Reply
    105. 105.

      kalakal

      August 10, 2025 at 11:54 am

      @Tony Jay: I am so disgusted by Starmer and co. They had a real chance to do a much needed major course correction for the UK and instead they’re a bunch of useless tossers

      Reply
    106. 106.

      kalakal

      August 10, 2025 at 11:58 am

      @Shalimar: “bigger than even robotaxi”

      So bigger than a not very big thing

      Reply
    107. 107.

      Madeleine

      August 10, 2025 at 11:59 am

      @Betty Cracker: now I understand why rhe bills have spoons!

      Reply
    108. 108.

      Betty

      August 10, 2025 at 11:59 am

      @Tony Jay: Wishing you and your fellow progressives (sorry if that is the wrong label) in the UK success in putting together an opposition party that can bring some relief to the people who suffered under the Tories and now the New Labour Party.

      Reply
    109. 109.

      Professor Bigfoot

      August 10, 2025 at 12:02 pm

      @schrodingers_cat: Believe me, I know. I honestly didn’t mean to single out folk from South Asia; but, well, they were handy for an example of how whiteness operates in this country. 🙏🏾

      Reply
    110. 110.

      Tony Jay

      August 10, 2025 at 12:13 pm

      @kalakal:

      @Betty:

      This is always who they were and this was exactly what they were always going to do. The Labour Right hates the Labour Left so much there’s literally no depths they won’t plumb in order to drink sweet Lefty tears.

      When the new Party gets off the ground they’ll be howling like they dipped their dobbers in a cup of acid, but they’ve no one to blame but themselves. They don’t want Lefty votes. They said so. People have listened.

      Reply
    111. 111.

      Suzanne

      August 10, 2025 at 12:17 pm

      @Tony Jay:

      This is always who they were and this was exactly what they were always going to do. The Labour Right hates the Labour Left so much there’s literally no depths they won’t plumb in order to drink sweet Lefty tears. 

      Glad to know intra-party loathing isn’t just limited to the Democrats. It’s somehow comforting to be equally dysfunctional!

      Reply
    112. 112.

      Another Scott

      August 10, 2025 at 12:24 pm

      @Tony Jay: But, but, NewNuNeuLabour won a huge overwhelming mandate in the House – 411/650 seats! – with [checks notes] a landslide proportion of 33.7% of the popular vote!

      Clearly, Starmerism is what the people of the UK want!!

      :-/

      Sorry, man.  Hang in there.

      Best wishes,
      Scott

      Reply
    113. 113.

      kalakal

      August 10, 2025 at 12:46 pm

      @Tony Jay: TBF the Labour Left and the Labour Right have always hated each other. This bunch are just… cardboard. In the past the right wing and the left actually stood for something –  sometimes different things I’ll grant you – but you got the impression they actually wanted to inprove the lot of the UK and its citizens. I cannot fathom what goals  Starmer and co actually want to achieve. They’re a perpetual immobility machine

      Reply
    114. 114.

      WTFGhost

      August 10, 2025 at 2:12 pm

      @Betty Cracker: That’s why crane operators should belong to a union.

      Reply
    115. 115.

      Tony Jay

      August 10, 2025 at 2:20 pm

      @Another Scott:

      I think it’s more accurate to say they got about 1/3 of the less than 60% who voted. So actually about 1/5 of the electorate pulled the lever for Der Starmerpartei and it’s warmed over late-period Blairism.

      But we’re all getting it. Not good and hard, but sort of bad and doughy.

      Reply
    116. 116.

      Tony Jay

      August 10, 2025 at 2:21 pm

      @kalakal:

      Well, yeah, but that’s because the Labour Right are terrible wankers. 8-)

      These fuckers are something worse, but they identify and represent the Labour Right, so it’s on those terms that I do curse them.

      Reply
    117. 117.

      kalakal

      August 10, 2025 at 2:39 pm

      @Tony Jay:

      Well, yeah, but that’s because the Labour Right are terrible wankers. 8-)

      lol! No argument there!

      Reply
    118. 118.

      A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

      August 10, 2025 at 2:39 pm

      @Betty Cracker: very cool video. Thank you. It’s almost enough to make me take a birding visit to FL (except for my ban on visiting FL, TX, etc).

      Reply
    119. 119.

      schrodingers_cat

      August 10, 2025 at 3:33 pm

      @Professor Bigfoot: Indians are never going to be considered white. Even if a few can pass for white in some cases. Not going to happen. Vivek R and other  delusional Indian Americans need to educate themselves about the history of British India

      The Indian diaspora of the 19th century was the indentured labor that replaced the enslaved labor in British colonies after Britain abolished slavery in the 1830s

      Reply
    120. 120.

      WaterGirl

      August 10, 2025 at 5:25 pm

      @satby: I believe you are talking about JAFD.

      Reply

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