Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Republicans in disarray!

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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

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

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

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

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

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

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

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

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

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Anne Laurie has been a Balloon Juice writer since 2009.

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Fight Night, the Undercard

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Truth to tell, I’m having trouble ginning up any enthusiasm for tonight’s event. Tim Walz will be charmingly avuncular, JD Vance will spew an angry stream of lies & bullsh*t, and the betting will be on whether Walz uses his Teacher Voice and what bodily function(s) Vance loses control over if (when) he does.

Per Politico:

… When is the debate?
The debate will kick off on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 9 p.m. ET. and run for 90 minutes with two four-minute commercial breaks.

Where is the debate?
CBS is holding the debate at their CBS Broadcast Center in New York City…

How can I watch the debate?
CBS will broadcast and livestream the debate on all platforms where CBS News 24/7 and Paramount+ are available. It will also be made available to simulcast, according to the network.

A livestream of the debate will be available at POLITICO.com.

What are the debate rules?
Vance and Walz will have two minutes to answer a question, two minutes to respond to the other’s answer, and then one minute for a rebuttal.

Their microphones will be hot for the duration of the debate — unlike Trump’s debates with Harris and President Joe Biden this year, when a candidate was muted during their opponent’s turn to speak — but CBS reserves the right to mute them, the network said Friday.

Each candidate will have two minutes for their closing statement. Vance won the Thursday coin toss to determine the order for closing statements, CBS said, and opted to go last to get the final word. There will be no opening statements…

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Dank Grey Dawn Open Thread: Storm Damage

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I was just briefed by @FEMA_Deanne Criswell on the latest developments about the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene. We also discussed our Administration’s continued actions to support emergency response and recovery.

I also spoke with @NC_Governor Cooper about the ongoing rescue and recovery efforts in North Carolina.

Our Administration will continue to stay in constant contact with state and local officials to ensure communities have the support and resources they need.

Doug and my thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones and those whose homes, businesses, and communities were damaged or destroyed during this disaster.

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Monday Evening Open Thread: Colin Allred for Texas

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The Democrats’ current funding advantage gives us the opportunity to boost ‘marginal’ candidates like Colin Allred. Even if he doesn’t win — and Ted Cruz is a pissant who performs worse the harder he’s pressed — the GOP will have had to spend money in Texas that they could’ve used in swing states instead.

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Monday Morning Open Thread: Choose Hope

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Meanwhile…
Monday Morning Open Thread: Choose Hope

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

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Unexpected Respite Open Thread: To Save the Birds…

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Because even a DC journo is capable of growth and grace… Dana Milbank, at the Washington Post — “To save the birds, I’m killing my farm” [gift link]:

Not long after I bought a dilapidated farm in the Virginia Piedmont, I was surprised to learn that it came with its own farmer.

For years, a cattle farmer from up the road, a salt-of-the-earth guy named Travis, rode his big John Deere over and cut the hayfields in late spring and then again in early fall. The arrangement, common out here, works for both parties: The farmers get hay for their cows, and the landowners get their fields mowed for free.

But this summer, I delivered bad news to Travis. I asked him not to cut most of my fields and paid him so he could buy his hay elsewhere. For decades — perhaps a couple of centuries — this has been pastureland and hayfields. But no longer.

Now, this place is for the birds.

I’ve begun turning the hayfields into pollinator meadows of wildflowers and native grasses, with the goal of providing food and cover for grassland and shrubland birds, as well as for all the other critters who need these biomes to live.

These birds desperately need a break. A landmark study for Science in 2019 found that bird populations in the United States are down by nearly one-third over the last 50 years, the equivalent of removing 3 billion birds from our skies, because they’ve lost their habitat to development and their food sources to the overuse of pesticides. Birds are an indicator species — it’s much easier to see and hear them than, say, amphibians and small mammals — so it’s likely that other critters are declining similarly as our planet hurtles into a crisis of shrinking biodiversity and accelerating extinction…

Before humans began their meddling, grasslands and shrublands were created by natural disturbances such as fires, windstorms, landslides, insect infestations, beavers and bison that turned portions of forest into meadows and the like. These areas, technically known as early successional habitats, would gradually revert to forest, but for a decade or two would provide temporary havens for the creatures that thrive in grasslands and shrublands. Now, however, people have disrupted that process of natural disturbance, mostly by suppressing forest fires. Forests remain forests, and cleared areas for homes, industry, farms and manicured lawns offer little food or shelter for birds.

“Nobody actually creates this shrubland on purpose,” Rosenberg observes. Yet that is what I am about to do…

It’s not easy to convert hayfields into bird-friendly meadows. You have to kill off the fescue and other non-native grasses, fight off the invasive weeds that will try to spread into the fields, and drill in the seeds of native grasses and forbs. Then, every couple of years, you have to level the meadow with prescribed burning or mechanical means to prevent it from growing into forest, thereby mimicking what happened in nature for thousands of years before humans messed everything up.

Creating these shrublands isn’t cheap, and there are all kinds of ways in which it can go wrong. But, for the sake of the birds and the other creatures of the fields, I’ve begun the process — on a wing and a prayer.

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Sunday Evening Open Thread: What Happened to Elon Musk

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it's not a novel observation, but musk's lived for a long time at a level of wealth that i have to imagine resembles having some kind of delusional disorder. every single person who interacts with him in nearly every encounter has a vested interest in lying to him about whatever he wants.

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) September 28, 2024 at 3:08 PM

My personal opinion, Musk has always been a Sales Guy, and Sales Guys need to lie to themselves before they can successfully lie to their potential customers. But there’s no denying he’s gotten worse at distinguishing lies from fact over the last decade or so… At the Atlantic, Lora Kelley interviews Charlie Warzel:

Lora Kelley: Elon Musk has been crossing into the worlds of conspiracism and disinformation for a while—but he seems to be taking things even further lately. Why might he be going this far? What’s in it for him?

Charlie Warzel: It’s complicated, but it’s also deceptively simple. We can’t be inside this guy’s head, but he does seem to truly feed off of and love attention. Musk has been moving in a right-wing direction for a long time. But his purchase of Twitter and how he mishandled it—with advertisers, and de-verifying users—really alienated people and accelerated his turn. Many people used to think of him as the Thomas Edison of the 21st century. He was branded as this innovator and savvy businessman. When he walked into Twitter and made a mess of it, he lost cachet among this group of people who saw him as a genius. Now he’s trying very hard to appeal to the only people who really care about him anymore—including those who reside in the far right corners of the internet.

Lora: Why is Musk getting so involved in this presidential election, and with Trump (who apparently said he would give Musk a role leading a government-efficiency commission if he wins)? Is he making some kind of play to be a great man of history, or is he after power in a potential Trump administration?

Charlie: Elon Musk basically bought Donald Trump at the top. He endorsed him moments after the first assassination attempt, when Trump was riding a wave of positive attention, when Joe Biden was still in the race and it looked like Trump was probably going to dominate him. So much has changed since Musk endorsed Trump in July. If he were truly a savvy political operator, he would be hedging his bets right now, saying I can’t fully alienate myself from one political party, because I have all these government contracts and so many other interests that I need to be able to at least sit in a room with with Democrats.

I think the fact that he has effectively just become the in-house social-media team for Donald Trump speaks to the fact that he’s not just making a political calculation. He’s not playing a game of 3-D chess. It seems to me that he’s truly radicalized.

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Sunday Morning Open Thread: Dreaming of A Lost (Purple) World

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Feeling lucky, music lovers — or creative? Per the Associated Press, “Prince fans can party overnight like it’s 1999 with Airbnb rental of ‘Purple Rain’ house”:

For a short time, up to 100 Prince fans visiting the music superstar’s hometown will have a place to stay when the party’s over that will let them go crazy over his cultural legacy, a home featured in the film “Purple Rain.”

Although the white, two-story home with brown trim in Minneapolis looks unassuming from the outside, there’s plenty inside to make the late icon’s devotees delirious over this new, limited-time Airbnb rental. Upstairs, a big closet with paisley wallpaper and leopard-spotted floor displays iconic outfits worn by Prince behind glass and has other outfits available to make renters the beautiful ones.

“And then what guests will be able to do themselves is actually play around with a selection of really iconic ‘80s outfits and looks and styles that they can kind of engage their inner rock star themselves,” said Ali Killam, an Airbnb spokesperson.

The rentals are within reach for fans who don’t own diamonds and pearls — just $7 a night per person for up to four guests. The price is based on Prince’s favorite number and there will be a total of 25 nightly stays available over seven weeks from Oct. 26 to Dec. 14.

The Airbnb rentals are a sign o’ the times — the 40th anniversary of the movie. It starred Prince as The Kid, a musician and band leader with a rocky life in the home featured on screen.

The film, along with the hit album of the same name, made Prince a superstar through songs like the title track, “Let’s Go Crazy,” and “When Doves Cry.” Those followed other hits, such as “1999” and “Little Red Corvette,” and he sold more than 100 million records with a gender- and genre-defying blend of rock, funk and soul. He died April 21, 2016, of an accidental fentanyl overdose at age 57 at his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota…

If U would die 4 Prince, you can request a booking online, starting at 6 a.m. Pacific time on Oct. 2 and through 11:59 p.m. Pacific on Oct. 6. Airbnb says a pool of potential guests will be chosen at random, and the final invitations to rent will be based on fans’ answers for why they want to stay there.

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