Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

When we show up, we win.

This fight is for everything.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Everybody saw this coming.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Innocent people do not delay justice.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads

War for Ukraine Day 1,184: Stage 1 of the Thousand for a Thousand Exchange

by | 3 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

A painting by Ukrainian artis NEIVANMADE. The background is white. In the center, which is black with blood red bordering, is an hourglass. Inside the hourglass is a Ukrainian Azovstal POW painted in blood red. He is shirtless. His arms are upward along the outer edges of the upper half of the hourglass forming a saltire cross. He is chained with steel gray chains shackled to his wrists. Above his head, in grey, is written "Ruzzian Captivity." below his torso in the lower half of the hourglass, written in gray, is "Kills." To the left of the hourglass "He Saved Others" is painted in gray. To the right of the hourglass "But He Can't Save Himself" is painted in gray.

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

The first 390 Ukrainian POWs of the thousand for a thousand prisoners to be exchanged between Ukraine and Russia.

At last — the news we’ve all waited for!
First stage of the 1000-for-1000 exchange: 390 Ukrainians are home — 270 defenders and 120 civilians, many simply abducted by Russia.

They tried to erase them.
Ukraine brings them back.

May every waiting family get their moment too.

[image or embed]

— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 10:33 AM

390 of our people are home! They are back! 390 families are having the best day ❤️‍🩹

[image or embed]

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 10:17 AM

Zelensky has confirmed today’s big POW swap with Russia, and that it’ll continue Saturday and Sunday. As reported, 390 Ukrainians returned home, in exchange for 390 Russians. Photos via Zelensky’s Telegram channel. www.ft.com/content/efd4…

[image or embed]

— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.ft.com) May 23, 2025 at 10:09 AM

I honestly still cannot believe that the leaders of the Azovstal defense are all alive and free.

I suppose it’s one of the miracles of Ukrainian diplomacy.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 5:34 PM

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

show full post on front page

War for Ukraine Day 1,184: Stage 1 of the Thousand for a Thousand ExchangePost + Comments (3)

How about some springtime respite?

by | 93 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Hello Juicers! Reporting in from fatherhood. Camille is four months this week…
…and doing great! She’s ahead on most of her benchmarks, starting teething, and still super chill, at least by baby standards. No complaints, 10/10.

Boy it sure is a disaster out there, though, isn’t it? Fortunately I’ve got a lot to keep me busy right here. Camille isn’t even the only baby in the neighborhood…

But they grow up so fast, don’t they? Ten days later…

They weren’t even there the last time I walked by. Flown the coop! I’m an empty-nester now. Oh, and the yard is coming along really well, too. Thanks to a big assist from TaMara a couple years ago, we now have these lovely and prolific irises, which gave us quite a show this year!

show full post on front page

How about some springtime respite?Post + Comments (93)

Why Raw Story (and other outlets) Make Me Crazy

by | 360 Comments

This post is in: ,

One of our commenters sent me a link to an article on Raw Story, which I appreciated because I never go to Raw Story.  They won’t even let me see an article with my ad blocker on, and their style with all the ads and flashing, etc is an assault on my eyes, and my brain!

Still, I can see that they raise an excellent point, even as I am appalled by parts of the article.  h/t Jackie

Here’s the excellent point.

Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-TX), 70, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), 77, and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), 75, all died since March, the latest being Connolly, who died Wednesday and was the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. Eight Democrats have died since November 2022, according to Axios.

This is also noteworthy.

Young House Democrats demanded what Axios called an “age reckoning” on Thursday after a third Democrat died while in office, with some remarking that President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” passed through the chamber this week, and the “difference is the number of members who passed away.”

Here’s where it starts to make me crazy.

  • “Young House Democrats” is capitalized.  Is that an organization?  Who are the members? Is that a Dem caucus?
  • “according to the report”.  What report, no report was referenced before that.  Just a vague mention of Axios.
  •  This feels like pure gossip and shit-stirring.  No one goes on the record.
  • Is this article a reference to David Hogg?

Young Democrats demanded their older counterparts take note — and make moves, according to the report. The party’s age was “keenly felt” on Thursday as House Republicans passed their controversial tax bill by just one vote, the report said.

Several Democrats pointed to the vacancies created by the deaths as a factor.

“You see where we are, we can’t afford to lose anymore members. … We’re down three people because they passed away,” one lawmaker told Axios as the House voted on the bill.

Another told the outlet: “The tragic reality is, when … this vote passes and the difference is the number of members who passed away this Congress, I think it’s going to really infuriate many of our supporters.”

“Some folks have given their life to this place, and we’re so grateful and commend them for it — you don’t have to die in this place,” the first House Democrat said.

Another Democrat told the outlet, “we just look so f—ing out of touch,” with yet another saying they think they can “force a conversation.”

So yes, it’s absolutely noteworthy if this bill wouldn’t have passed if the Democratic members hadn’t passed.

As a party, why can’t we have a constructive conversation about this?  Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater!

Can we have a constructive conversation about this aging issue (in the House and the Senate) on Balloon Juice?

Why Raw Story (and other outlets) Make Me CrazyPost + Comments (360)

PA Supreme Court Election Angel Match & Action Opportunities

by | 25 Comments

This post is in: 

We have $250 left on our Angel Match from Wapiti.   Wapiti’s Angel Match is complete!  (yay!)  We are back to 4x matching.

With the double-match for the next $6,500 or so, plus the Angel Match for the first $250, donations up to $100 per person are 6x matching.

With the double-match for the next $6,500 or so, all donations are 4x  3x  matching.

Even more critically, once that angel match is met, we will still have about *$11,000  to go in order to meet our goal for The Civics Center.

*We are at $11.6k as I type this.  Let’s say we get to $12k with the remaining Angel Match.  Our Balloon Juice Angel adds their $1k to the thermometer, that’s $13k.  And our previous BJ Angel is a “check” person, so that takes us to $14k, even though it will only show $13k in the thermometer.  That leaves $11k to go!  Can we do this?

Josie signed up with Postcards to Swing States, where you can choose your campaign or select “wherever it’s most needed“, and they sent her postcards for the Supreme Court race in Pennsylvania.

I think that’s telling – it’s outside confirmation that we are on the right track in our focus on this race.

Sign-ups for our postcard programs for this November’s elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are off to a great start — click here to order those now. So far, volunteers have signed up to write 4 million postcards with us this year.

In Virginia and New Jersey, our efforts will help make sure both states elect Democratic governors and majorities in their state legislatures. In Pennsylvania, our focus is to make sure three Democratic Supreme Court justices are retained, which is critical to preserving a liberal majority on the court in one of the most important swing states.

We still need your help to write 7 million additional postcards by October. This includes our upcoming and innovative News Boosting postcard program, sign-ups for which will begin on Tuesday, June 3.

Here’s everything you need to know about this new program — or watch the section of our recent webinar that talks about it in more detail.

Read more about news boosting below.  I love this idea.

What is News Boosting?

We’ll send postcards with useful news headlines to Democratic-leaning voters in Virginia to combat disinformation and to make sure they learn about how harmful the Trump/GOP agenda is for most Americans.

What is the goal?

We’ll measure how well the postcards work to persuade voters to support Democrats, as well as the impact on overall turnout — it’s a large statistical study that will inform Democratic strategy in the post-2024 era.

How does it work?

After you sign up — starting June 3 — you’ll receive postcards with a news headline (like the one below), and instructions for exactly what to write on the back. You’ll either receive Message 1 (see below), which reinforces our credibility as the messengers; or your instructions will specify a message specific to that headline that connects to our values and models the emotion we want to elicit in those receiving the postcards (see Message 2 in the example below)

When will you mail the cards to voters?

We’re sending each voter 10 total postcards between July and October — you will receive just one headline and mailing date, and you’ll have roughly 3-5 weeks to write your cards before the instructed mailing date

Who is Informed Voters of VA?

The messenger really matters. We’re calling this new initiative Informed Voters of VA, because that reflects exactly what our goal is — to provide factual and useful news headlines to voters who might otherwise only hear disinformation.

I really like this news boosting idea and I hope this method is picked up by organizations in other states.

What do you think?

PA Supreme Court Election Angel Match & Action OpportunitiesPost + Comments (25)

Friday Dawn Open Thread

by | 121 Comments

This post is in: 

I didn’t sleep worth a damn, so it’s going to be an extra long day. Spent the long hours of dark reading, mostly. First news, and when that got too depressing, short stories from one of Bill’s sci-fi anthologies.

Now that the sun is up, I spotted my first flamingo of the day — the plastic one that lives on a windowsill.

Plastic flamingo on a windowsill

Bill got it for me at Rural King, which is a kind of a redneck Walmart. It commemorates my mostly unsuccessful stint as a flamingo chaser a couple of falls ago, when I drove all over the western coast of Florida looking for flamingos that had been blown off course by hurricanes.

Here’s another type of pink bird that I see often around here for real:

A pink Roseate Spoonbill flying against a blue sky

I’ve always admired the way they use their feet for rudders in flight. When I was a kid, we almost never saw Roseate Spoonbills this far north, but now we do.

Someday, I firmly believe a flamingo will land in our lagoon, but today is probably not that day.

Open thread!

Friday Dawn Open ThreadPost + Comments (121)

War for Ukraine Day 1,183: A Quick Thursday Night Update

by | 16 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , ,

I am still fried, which has been exacerbated by assembling something for my mom this evening. So I’m just going to run through the basics tonight as quickly as I can.

All of eastern and most of north and central Ukraine is currently – 10:40 PM EDT/5:40 AM local time in Ukraine – under air raid alert for drone swarms.

Another day, another Russian war crime:

Russian occupiers are receiving orders to kill Ukrainian soldiers who are taken prisoner, according to CNN.

Radio intercepts of conversations between Russian troops indicate that they are being instructed to execute captured Ukrainian servicemen.
t.me/c/1377735387…

[image or embed]

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 10:46 AM

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

show full post on front page

War for Ukraine Day 1,183: A Quick Thursday Night UpdatePost + Comments (16)

Proof of Live – Ohio Meetup

by | 82 Comments

This post is in: ,

Proof of Life!

This was apparently so much fun that columbusqueen is already planning for next year’s meet-up, and I am told that you’ll all be invited.

Pics from Ohio Mom

Left to right: Ohio Mom, Ohio Dad and Manyakitty

 

From back wall to front: columbusqueen, Ohio Dad, Manyakitty, Mrs. Professor Bigfoot and Professor Bigfoot

 

Left to right: Goku, Ohio Farmer and Shaun/Temp Decloaked Lurker (all the way from Michigan!)

 

Left to right: Sab, two lurkers whose names I didn’t catch (it was noisy at Planks) so they will have to come out of hiding and identify themselves, and columbusqueen with a big wave

Camera shy: Suzanne (all the way from Pittsburgh!) and Mr. Sab

 

Starting with the red Indycar P1 hat: Ohio Farmer, lurker Shawn, lurker, Suzanne, sab, I think i see hair by the chalkboard next to sab – is that Josie? -, then columbusqueen, Ohio Mom, Ohio Dad, Manyakitty, Mrs. Professor, Professor Bigfoot, and then Goku at the head of the table.

Pic from manyakitty (taken by Mr. Sab?)

If someone wants to supply names for the bottom pic, in order, starting with the (surely not MAGA hat) red Indycar P1 hat I can add to the caption list!

Clues on names:

Take 1: Goku is at the head of the table. Ohio Farmer is wearing the red hat, Prof. Bigfoot is on the other side of Goku, Ohio Mom is next to Ohio Dad, I can’t remember nym for the woman next to Ohio Mom, or the man to her right. I think Josie is next to the man, Suzanne is next to her, then sab. The man next to Ohio Farmer is a lurker but I can’t remember his exact nym.

Take 2: Nice lurker 1 and 2, Suzanne, sab, temporarily decloaked lurker S., Ohio Farmer, Goku, Prof. B. and his lovely bride, Manyakitty, Ohio Dad, Ohio Mom, and columbusqueen!

Is this our biggest meetup ever?

Proof of Live – Ohio MeetupPost + Comments (82)