Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

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

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

When we show up, we win.

Stand up, dammit!

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

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

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

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War for Ukraine Day 1,251: Cascading Effects

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It has been a very long, very hot, very weird day. Again. So I’m just going to run through the basics, get cleaned up, and rack out.

The cost:

23yo Diana was 7m pregnant. She stayed in the maternity ward for pregnancy monitoring.
russians attacked that hospital last night — ending Diana’s life and murdering her unborn child.
“She did everything to protect our baby… russians took it all away,” said her husband Oleksandr.
Unforgivable.

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— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 3:18 PM

I don’t know how to wrap up the day and fall asleep. So many people died today. Again.

A humanitarian aid line was attacked and five people killed. They needed that aid because of Russia’s war, and Russia killed them for trying to get it.

1/3

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 4:56 PM

A maternity hospital was hit. A pregnant woman was killed. She was on the phone with her husband, telling him she was heading to the shelter when he heard the blast. He jumped in the car and drove to the hospital. He saw her slippers on the street…

2/3

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 4:56 PM

It’s so awful. So tragic. So unnecessary. It changes nothing in any military sense. It’s just killing for the sake of killing.

And I don’t know how to process it, even after all these years. I just don’t know…

3/3

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 4:56 PM

We are still seeing cascading negative effects from last week’s efforts to neuter Ukraine’s anti-corruption organizations.

EU threatens to cut aid to Ukraine unless independence restored to anti-corruption bodies.
Parliament to vote on issue on July 31.
www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/202…

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 4:02 AM

From Ukrainska Pravda:

The European Union has delivered a warning to Kyiv via diplomatic channels, stating that if the Ukrainian parliament fails to fully revoke the provisions of law No. 12414, financial support will be suspended.

Source: Ekonomichna Pravda sources within the Ukrainian government and parliament; European Pravda citing sources in EU institutions

Details: EU officials are preparing for a scenario in which, on Thursday 31 July, during a vote in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament), MPs either fail to pass any legislation restoring the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), or adopt amendments that result in only partial restoration.

As reported by Ekonomichna Pravda, “on 24 July, EU representatives informed PM Svyrydenko’s government via diplomatic channels that they are suspending all financial aid to Ukraine.” “Everything is on pause until the situation is rectified,” one source stated.

An EU official involved in this communication confirmed to European Pravda that Brussels has indeed issued a warning to Kyiv but clarified the scope of the freeze: “Yes, the EU has warned Kyiv. If the law is not passed, loans financed through revenues from frozen Russian assets under the ERA programme will stop – we will simply stop disbursing them. Funding from the EBRD and EIB will also be suspended,” the official stated on condition of anonymity.

At the same time, European Pravda’s sources say the Ukraine Facility programme, which provides macro-financial aid linked to reforms, is not expected to be frozen. The EU recently approved the fourth tranche under this programme, although in a reduced amount. In August, Ukraine is expected to receive €3.05 billion instead of the expected €4.5 billion due to reform delays. This tranche is reportedly not subject to further freezes, but since it is already reduced, any further reform delays as defined by the Ukraine Facility conditions may result in future cuts.

The EU has also begun raising concerns about other reform-related matters, including the appointment of the head of the Bureau of Economic Security based on the results of a completed competitive process, several sources told European Pravda.

Brussels believes Ukraine must understand the consequences if Kyiv fails to reverse last week’s rollback of anti-corruption reforms.

Background: In July, despite expectations of positive decisions from the EU, Kyiv initiated what some view as a retreat from anti-corruption measures.

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

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Tuesday Night Open Thread

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It is overcast and rainy and everything hurts and on top of that it is like 80% humidity, the kind where there is no breeze and it feels like you are wearing a skin skin made of vapor. I am not loving things and am unmotivated to write at length about anything.

And then there is this fucking guy:

nobody wants this
nobody asked for this
nobody needs this

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— Cake or Death (@johngcole.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 2:32 PM

Just go away.

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Proud Democrats Open Thread: Jasmine Crockett Is Getting Noticed

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Shoutout to Anna Wintour for simultaneously recognizing Jasmine Crockett and also driving Donald Trump insane.

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— 𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖 𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝 (@sundaedivine.bsky.social) July 26, 2025 at 6:41 AM

===

Jasmine Crockett gets the @elainegodfrey.bsky.social treatment: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc…

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— Ashley Parker (@ashleyrparker.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 11:14 AM

Elaine Godfrey, to phrase it politely, is wired for Republicans. (That’s why she has a prime spot at the Atlantic!) And yet… “A Democrat for the Trump Era” [gift link]:

…In poll after poll since Donald Trump’s reelection, Democratic voters have said they want a fighter, and Crockett, a former attorney who represents the Dallas area, has spent two and a half years in Congress trying to be one. Through her hearing-room quips and social-media insults, she’s become known, at least in MSNBC-watching households, as a leading general in the battle against Trump. The president is aware of this. He has repeatedly called Crockett a “low-IQ” individual; she has dubbed him a “buffoon” and “Putin’s hoe.” Perhaps the best-known Crockett clapback came last year during a hearing, after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia made fun of Crockett’s fake eyelashes. Crockett, seeming to relish the moment, leaned into the mic and blasted Greene’s “bleach-blond, bad-built, butch body.” Crockett trademarked the phrase—which she now refers to as “B6”—and started selling T-shirts.

At the time, I wrote that the episode was embarrassing for everyone involved. But clearly it resonated. Crockett has become a national figure. Last year, she gave a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention and was a national co-chair of Kamala Harris’s campaign. This year, she has been a fixture on cable news and talk shows as well as a top party fundraiser; she was in Atlanta, in part, for a meet and greet with local donors. At an anti-Trump protest on the National Mall in April, I saw several demonstrators wearing B6 shirts. Others carried signs with Crockett’s face on them.

Crockett is testing out the coarser, insult-comedy-style attacks that the GOP has embraced under Trump, the general idea being that when the Republicans go low, the Democrats should meet them there. That approach, her supporters say, appeals to people who drifted away from the Democrats in 2024, including many young and Black voters. “What establishment Democrats see as undignified,” Max Burns, a progressive political strategist, told me, “disillusioned Democrats see that as a small victory.” Republicans understand this, Crockett said: “Marjorie is not liked by her caucus, but they get her value, and so they gave her a committee chairmanship.”…

None of this appears to be giving Crockett any pause. The first time I met her, a month before our conversation in Atlanta, she was accepting a Webby Award, in part for a viral exchange in which she’d referred to Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina as “child” and Mace suggested they “take it outside.” Backstage, in a downtown-Manhattan ballroom, I asked Crockett whether she ever had regrets about her public comments. She raised her eyebrows and replied, “I don’t second-guess shit.”

This spring, I watched Crockett test her theory of politics in a series of public appearances. At the Webbys, most of her fellow award winners were celebrities and influencers, but only Crockett received a standing ovation. A week later, Crockett flamed Republicans and the Trump administration during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing about Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A 15-minute clip of her upbraiding ICE agents—“These people are out of control!”—has racked up more than 797,000 views on YouTube; I know this because she told me. On TikTok and Instagram, Crockett has one of the highest follower counts of any House member, and she monitors social-media engagement like a day trader checks her portfolio. She is highly conscious, too, of her self-presentation. During many of our conversations, Crockett wore acrylic nails painted with the word RESIST, and a set of heavy lashes over her brown eyes. The lock screen on her phone is a headshot of herself…

Still, Crockett is often more thoughtful in person than she might appear in clips. Once, after a hearing, I watched as she responded to a request for comment with a tight 90-second answer about faith and service. Another time, a reporter who was filming her tried to provoke her by asking what she would say to people who think she is “mentally ill.” “They can think whatever they want to, because as of now, we live in a democracy,” Crockett answered calmly, before taking another question. “I don’t want people to lose sight of the fact that this is someone with a very fine, legally trained mind,” Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, a mentor of Crockett’s, told me…

Jasmine Crockett speaks facts…

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— Coko (@coko.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 9:13 PM

===

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Tuesday Odds & Ends

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In the overnight thread, on the topic of whether Trump will ever face accountability for anything, ever, commenter Princess mentioned Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușesc, who learned the limits of his power on Christmas Day in 1989. Sent me for a stroll down memory lane, it did.

A few days before his overthrow and execution, as the country was unraveling, Ceaușesc staged a massive rally in Bucharest to tamp down dissent. The look on his face at about the 1:20 mark when it begins to dawn on him that the event is undergoing a rapid unscheduled disassembly — wow.

Ceaușesc’s fall is etched in my mind because I watched coverage of it on live TV at a rental car counter in Logan Airport, and the rental agent was a Romanian American who was feeling all the feels. She watched with a trembling hand over her mouth, in shock, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

All I could do was watch with her as we waited for a much-delayed vehicle to arrive. The agent and I were around the same age — babies, I now realize! She was scared and hopeful and furious all at once. I think of her from time to time and hope she is well and that her family back home made it.

The people of Romania suffered in unimaginable ways before they brought their tyrant down. I hope we can rid ourselves of our would-be dictator in a more quotidian way.

***

I had an epiphany while observing wildlife from the porch a while ago.

Three hummingbirds are currently fighting over one of the three hummingbird feeders in my yard. Hummingbirds are Democrats. 🤔

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— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 9:06 AM

Change my mind!

Open thread.

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Late Night Open Thread: The One-Man Lifeboat

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This is not an answer you give if you're innocent.

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— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 10:19 AM

===

Well at least we have confirmation that the files contain something that is really bad — bad enough to make him worried that he can’t spin it or that it would turn his base against him (and considering that they will pretty much forgive him for anything, it means it’s REALLY bad)

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— Asha Rangappa (@asharangappa.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 11:44 AM

===

Everyone: Release the Epstein files
Trump: I’m going to release Epstein’s accomplice

— Max Berger (@maxberger.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 11:04 AM

Mr. Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire — “In His Latest Turn Toward the Insane, Trump Said Obama “Owes” Him Big for Presidential Immunity”:

… The other day, during one of his interminable voyages through the stalactite-thick canyons of what’s left of his mind, the president paused for a moment to contemplate one of his latest obsessions—namely, that Barack Obama committed treason in investigating Russian ratfcking in the 2016 election. (No joke. I think he’s actually going to try this one.)

During this particular “episode,” however, he was asked about whether the former president would avail himself of the gift of presidential immunity that the carefully manufactured conservative majority on the Supreme Court gave to the current president. This seemed to spark some random neuron into brief life:

It probably helps him a lot. Probably helps him a lot. The immunity ruling. But it doesn’t help the people around him at all. … He’s done criminal acts, there’s no question about it. But he has immunity. And it probably helps him a lot. He owes me big. Obama owes me big.

Leave aside the fact that the president pretty much just explained that Chief Justice John Roberts is dancing on his string. It’s that line he dropped in the middle there, about how the ruling “doesn’t help the people around him at all.” I remember making that same point in this here shebeen at the time that misbegotten ruling was handed down: that, as nearly as I could tell from the court’s decision, the immunity only covered the president himself. Which meant that folks like Tom Homan, Stephen Miller, and all the rest of the vicious elves might be on their own if and when Beggar’s Day finally comes for this crowd.

Now, I realize that there are any number of ways the president and his allies could short-circuit consequences the way they always do. He could pardon them all preemptively. The court could find a way to make their bad ruling even worse. But, for the moment, were I an underling in the court of the Mad King, I might wonder exactly how much room there is in a one-man lifeboat.

The Epstein stuff is also different because it’s finally giving journalists a Woodward and Bernstein moment, one where they’ve got a chance to take someone down. I’m more optimistic about this because Trump’s spent his second term alienating every civil servant. That makes a lot of Deepthroats.

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— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund.online) July 27, 2025 at 11:01 AM

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War for Ukraine Day 1,250: The Cost

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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)

I’m almost feeling human, but it’s been a long, weird day, so I’m just going to run through the basics.

The cost:

Today is the Day of Mourning and Remembrance for defenders who were tortured, executed, or died in captivity.

OTD in 2022, russia committed a horrific war crime — blowing up “Barrack 200” in Olenivka, where it held captive Mariupol defenders. 54 Azov servicemen were killed. At least 130 wounded.

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— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 3:45 AM

For the survivors, the horror didn’t stop. They were sent to torture chambers in Donetsk, Taganrog, even beyond the Arctic Circle. Some were later freed in swaps. Most still remain in russia’s hell.

POWs must be protected under intl law that guarantees humane treatment, medical care, safety.

— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 3:45 AM

But reality is that intl law means nothing if only one side respects it.

3yrs on & no justice, no investigation, no accountability. russia still tortures POWs. Still executes them. Still denies them care.

Impunity breeds more war crimes. This must end.

Eternal memory to those killed in Olenivka.

— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 3:45 AM

From the Office of the President of Ukraine:

President: Starting Today, July 28, We Will Observe an Important Day of Remembrance for Ukrainians Tortured by Russia

28 July 2025 – 17:18

Today, July 28, Ukraine marks for the first time the Day of Remembrance for the Defenders of Ukraine, members of volunteer formations, and civilians who were executed, tortured, or died in captivity.

On this day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the team working to secure the release of prisoners and provide them with support, as well as with servicemembers and civilians who had been freed from captivity, including Azov fighters and defenders of Mariupol, and those who survived the Russian terrorist act in Olenivka on the night of July 29, 2022.

Attending the meeting were: Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov; Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko; Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Maliuk; Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets; Secretary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War Dmytro Usov; the team of the President’s Office; servicemembers Viacheslav Danilets, Viktor Kuzmin, Andrii Kuzmin, Kyrylo Masalitin, and Oleksandr Verenhotov; Heroes of Ukraine Serhii Volynskyi and Denys Prokopenko; Mykola Hrytseniak, Kostiantyn Myrhorodskyi, Artem Dyblenko; border guards Maksym Shapovalov and Mykola Korol; military medics Halyna Hrytseniak and Dmytro Seliutin; paramedic Yuliia Paievska; and Crimean Tatar civilian Leniie Umerova, who was captured by the occupiers in Crimea.

“It is very important that our children, our present generation, and our future – that no one forgets this day. Starting today, July 28, we will observe a day of great significance for the history of the struggle for Ukraine. It will be dedicated to all our warriors and civilians who were tortured behind bars in Russia, in camps, and on our homeland’s territory – in those areas that are occupied by the enemy for now,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The President called for the meeting to begin with a moment of silence in memory of all tortured Ukrainians.

The Head of State thanked the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the negotiation team, partners, and everyone helping secure the release of Ukrainians from Russian captivity. He expressed special gratitude to the warriors who replenish the exchange fund.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 66 exchanges have already taken place, resulting in the return of 5,857 people. An additional 555 Ukrainians were released outside the exchange process.

“Unfortunately, not all have returned home yet – but we will keep fighting. I want to thank you for your work and your struggle, for standing up for each and every one of those still in captivity. In Olenivka alone, according to our data, around 80 of our warriors remain imprisoned. We will definitely bring everyone back,” the President emphasized.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the necessary efforts to secure the release of all Ukrainians from Russian captivity, the progress of the criminal investigation into the Olenivka terrorist act, engagement with the families of prisoners, support for those released from Russian camps, the repatriation of bodies, and measures to accelerate the identification of the deceased.

Those freed from captivity thanked the entire Ukrainian team involved in the exchanges for bringing them home and for their ongoing efforts to free all Ukrainians from Russian captivity.

“I’m also very grateful that July 28 has now been designated at the national level as a day of remembrance for all those who were tortured, killed, or died in captivity. This matters, because it lays bare the true face of the enemy… I believe this is the right step – above all, for our cultural memory, so that we remember every single one of them,” said Denys Prokopenko.

Those released from captivity also stressed the need to improve the medical examination and treatment system, enhance the process of compiling exchange lists, and update the register of Ukrainian civilians detained by the Russian Federation.

The President tasked the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and the Minister of Defense with reviewing these matters and preparing proposals to resolve them.

Yesterday’s/this morning’s air defense tally:

Last night, Putin’s terrorists attacked with “Kinzhal” missiles and more. Ukrainian air defense shot down 311 aerial targets: 309 attack UAVs and 2 Kh-101 missiles. Hits and debris were reported in several areas. The main strike targeted Starokostiantyniv; Kh-47M2 missiles missed.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 4:53 AM

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

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