Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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

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

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

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

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

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

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Consistently wrong since 2002

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

War for Ukraine Day 1,062: Russian Drone Storms Over Ukraine

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Painting by NEIVANMADE. It has a white background an in the center are Soldiers in green doing air defense by firing at incoming Russian missiles in the upper right. The missiles are red and yellow. In the upper left, written in green, is the text: "SAVE THE BRAVEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!" Below the Soldiers, also written in green, is "SUPPORT FOR KHARKIV"

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, I am going to keep tonight’s update very brief for obvious reasons.

Second, before anyone asks, yes, I saw the clips of what Musk did. Those gestures are definitely NAZI salutes. They are not a symptom of Asperbergers or being on the spectrum or whatever other bullshit is being promoted to try to gaslight everyone. That’s all I have to say about that.

History has had extremely dark times when humankind had all reasons to be ashamed and terrified of itself… but I’m trying really hard to recall a time when so many things around were such a grave insult to basic human intellectual capabilities.

— Illia Ponomarenko (@ioponomarenko.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 5:41 PM

I mean, the world’s richest man doing the Nazi salute at the U.S. presidential inauguration ceremony… there’s something fundamentally wrong about this world right now.

— Illia Ponomarenko (@ioponomarenko.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 5:41 PM

Right now, 9:22 PM EST/4:22 AM local time in Ukraine, all of eastern and central Ukraine, from north to south, is under air raid alert with the exception of Chernihiv Oblast. The alert maps are showing drones, but it is important to remember that the drone swarms are often used to try to overwhelm Ukrainian air defense so that the missiles and bombs can get through.

This was last night’s Ukrainian air defense tally:

On the eve of Trump’s inauguration, fascist Russia makes huge drone attack against democratic Ukraine: of 141 drones, 93 Iranian/Russian Shahed attack drones shot down, 47 decoy drones’ location lost (two flew back to Russia). Shostka in Sumy Oblast came under Russian ballistic missile attack.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 3:51 AM

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

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Monday Night Open Thread

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Monday Night Open Thread 19

This is Jack, aka the farting bandit. Last night, as I was going to bed, he came in, came over, made me scratch his ears, then turned around, passed gas, and left the room. Other than that, he is a very, very good boy, and he loves car rides and dinner and never once has given a nazi salute.

Trump has already done a number of unconscionable things. I intend to discuss none of them. It’s not going away, and there is no point spiraling on day one.

Off to watch some fantasy tv- the West Wing.

And I really can not say this enough, this is the first inning and we have not even been up to bat. Nothing is served if you spiral or self-harm or burn out. We need healthy soldiers, so take care of yourself.

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Monday Evening Open Thread: Pardonable

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President Biden on the pardons: "These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing."
"Even when individuals have done nothing wrong … and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances."

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— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 7:20 AM

I may be overlapping on an earlier MisterMix post here, but for the record…

President Biden: "My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end."

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— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 11:45 AM

Why this was necessary:


Eight hours later…

The portrait of retired General Mark Milley, who served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2023 was removed from the Pentagon today, shortly after Trump took office.

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— Molly Ploofkins™ (@mollyploofkins.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 4:36 PM

Dr. Fauci: "I have committed no crime … The fact is, however, that the mere articulation of baseless threats, and the potential that they will be acted upon, create immeasurable and intolerable distress for me and my family … I acknowledge and appreciate the action that Pres. Biden has taken."

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 9:20 AM

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A Real Fucking Mystery

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A Real Fucking Mystery

Elon did this twice* at a rally.  Let’s see how our news media responded.

AP:  “Elon Musk pumped his fists as he spoke at the Inauguration Day viewing party at Capital One arena. He celebrated Trump’s victory, calling it “really important” and highlighting the new president’s promise to plant the U.S. flag on Mars — a longtime goal of Musk’s.”

NYT:  “Elon Musk ignites online speculation over the meaning of a hand gesture.”

Washington Post:  Nada, no mention at all.

Guardian: Elon Musk appears to make back-to-back fascist salutes at inauguration rally

The Guardian wins this round — wish they didn’t have so many TERFs working there.

Also, Amy Klobuchar is on BlueSky bragging about how great it is that we had a peaceful transition of power.  She also had some kind of a role at the Inaguration (I saw it on the gym TV so I’m not sure what it was).  The absolute inability to read the moment should be shocking, but after the last few years, it isn’t.

Edit: * Josh Marshall saw this and said Elon did it three times.

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Purr Therapy Respite Thread

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I moved into my current house during COVID lockdown #1. My cats came with the house. I started sending friends videos of Monty purring on particularly awful news days—the big shiny himbo has quite the motor. (His late colleague, Lola, just sort of silently vibrated.) I am embedding one of his bangers here:

Sound up to hear the Monty Motor, obvs. This was taken this past June.

Not much to say about today. It’s a sad day. I spent slightly too much time checking the USD to GBP exchange rate and scrolling on Bluesky, but it’s time to really rein that in. I intend to do what I did starting in 2017 and never let the president’s voice be heard in my house. The Child didn’t hear him speak until 2019, when we were visiting family in Pennsylvania, and she laughed out loud in disbelief.

Today she asked me why I was looking annoyed and I reminded her that Trump’s new term of office starts today.

“Ugh,” she said. “What a maroon.”

I’m not sure if I’m raising her right or if Bugs Bunny did, but that made me smile.

I now return to writing marketing article #14 of 2025. They’re keeping me busy, the clients, thank God. Talk about whatever—I’m sure there’s no avoiding discussing about the inauguration here, but this is a good space for light topics, recipes, etc.

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Just a Reminder

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If you have ptsd, anxiety, depression, you are not required to watch the events of today. You just aren’t. Do something else. Go swimming. Clean the house. Read. Immerse yourself in a tv series or fantasy game. You do not need to sit there paralyzed with fear doom scrolling the internet while watching the shitshow. You just don’t.

And if you have a drinking or substance abuse problem, these motherfuckers are not worth your sobriety or mental health. Reach out to someone for help if you need it. Talk to someone here. Email me.

Take care of yourselves.

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‘Shock and Awe’ Only Works if You’re Shocked and Awed

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'Shock and Awe' Only Works if You're Shocked and Awed
Ben’s got it right, as does Josh Marshall:

I’m not one to tell people how they should react to or experience things. But for me I’m taking all of this in with a serene impassivity. They won. They’re entitled to their day. The Trump people have been signaling for days that they’re going to hit the ground running with what they describe as an executive ‘shock and awe’. I don’t see any reason to be shocked or awed. I don’t say this in any grand metaphysical sense. I mean that I’ve seen headstrong winners of close elections high on their own supply before. As I wrote a couple weeks ago, all of this is meant to hit you with so much sensory stimulus that you become overwhelmed. But the images you see wrapped around you in an iMax theater aren’t real. It’s still a movie.

I saw a bit of the inauguration on TV at the gym, and it seemed small and cramped. Two soldiers (Marines?) marching down the aisle as tightly as they could ended up physically pushing through the packed crowd. Then Trump got up and I stopped looking, because whatever he yaps is bullshit, and I’ll be focusing my energy on the fights against the certainly unconstitutional executive orders that he’ll be shitting out today.

Another good attitude about the inauguration was AOCs, who said on TikTok and Insta that she’s not attending the inauguration: “Let me make myself clear. I don’t celebrate rapists. So, no, I’m not going to the inauguration tomorrow.”

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