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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

“But what about the lurkers?”

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

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Come on, man.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

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

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

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Open Thread:  Hey Lurkers!  (Holiday Post)

Open Threads

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads

The Respect They Deserve (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  July 25, 20258:43 am| 243 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, General Stupidity

Man, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s exasperated body language speaks volumes in this clip. To set the scene, Trump and his simpering toady Tim Scott are at the Fed to “tour” a construction site, but the nature of the call is more like mob boss visits bookie who came up short.

Holy shit, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell corrected the orange felon’s lies on live television without hesitation. This is how you do it.

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— Ricky Davila (@therickydavila.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 11:45 PM

Trump is eager to shit-can Powell (his own appointee from term one, even though Trump seems not to know that) because Powell won’t lower interest rates with inflation on the rise, which Trump lies about daily. For this offense, Trump bestowed upon Powell possibly his most childish and lame derogatory nickname ever: “Too Late.”

Trump has floated illegally firing Powell numerous times but always chickens out when Wall Street reacts. He has threatened to fire Powell for cause due to cost overruns on the construction project, but as Powell’s fact check indicates, that’s horse shit too.

Anyway, I like how Powell treats the clowns with the absolute contempt they deserve.

And here’s Senator Tim Kaine presenting the receipts to a morally bankrupt Trump toady who’d rather starve children than distribute food we’ve already fucking paid for:


If you watch the clip, you’ll see that Michael Rigas, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, tries to squirm out of answering Kaine’s question by saying he’ll “have to look into it.” They all do that. But Kaine was prepared and pointed out that he’d contacted Rigas in advance to let him know this question would be covered in the hearing. Kudos to Kaine for not letting Rigas get away with that tired old dodge — and for exposing him as an amoral, unserious hack.

We’re all stuck with Orange Pedo Pal and his scumbag enablers for the next three years, but we don’t have to treat him or anyone associated with him with the respect to which they think they’re entitled due to the offices they disgrace daily. Fuck politeness, is what I’m saying.

Open thread.

The Respect They Deserve (Open Thread)Post + Comments (243)

Epic Bacon Open Thread: Blowing Up SpaceX

by Anne Laurie|  July 25, 202512:56 am| 116 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Elon Musk

i am coming around to the idea that we need a federally sponsored jingling keys app that employs subliminal messaging to subversively encourage people to swap to flip phones and leave the social internet forever
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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 23, 2025 at 10:47 AM

From Wired, “Searching for Humanity’s Last Hope—and a Taste of the Future—at the Tesla Diner”:

Renuka Veerasingam believes Elon Musk is humanity’s last hope. “I want to go to Mars, and he is going to take us,” she says. “Space is the final frontier. It’s in our DNA to find the final frontier—to keep going until we get to the edge.”

Though Veerasingam is 140 million miles from Mars, she is currently on the edge of Santa Monica Boulevard and North Orange Drive, in the heart of Hollywood, for the opening of the new Tesla Diner, modeled in the likeness of the same kind of retro-futuristic space station she one day dreams of inhabiting on the Red Planet.

An actress who lives in Toluca Lake, Veerasingam wanted to see Musk’s latest window into the future up close. Every one of the 200-plus people assembled have their reason for coming, many seemingly curious to find out what the seeming Midas touch of Musk has to offer on a Tuesday afternoon in July…

That vision came to life at exactly 4:20 pm Monday, a cherished stoner reference of Musk’s and one that probably peaked when he was still in college. WIRED’s photographer, Ethan Noah Roy, was there when the doors opened, meeting a man who had dedicated the last 13 years of his life to work at Tesla with the sole purpose of meeting Musk. “That has yet to happen,” he said.

I arrive in the middle of the lunch rush, around 1 pm the following day, with some 80 other people waiting to get in. In the parking lot, there are 80 v4 Supercharger stalls— “the largest urban Supercharger in the world,” according to Tesla—and two 45-foot movie screens that showed a selection of movies, TV clips, and Tesla ads. Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation play as servers on roller skates hand out free ice cream to people waiting in line. For now, parking only accommodates Teslas and other EVs. Customers with gas-powered cars were instructed by security to park on the street…

Despite being advised to get the burger and apple pie, I opt for a hotdog, fries, a salad, and the creamsicle “charged soda” instead, totaling $40.61—and am directed to the pickup counter, where even more people are waiting for their number to be called.

The aesthetic inside the diner is “very modern, very Jetsons,” says local Joseph Macken, referring to the 1962 cartoon about a family living in a futuristic utopia with flying cars and a robot maid. (Veerasingam loves the bathrooms “because it’s really like you are in a capsule,” on a spaceship, “looking at earth looking down at you.”) But much of it is very typical of an American diner: curved white booths and a long countertop that peers into the kitchen. From behind the countertop, chef Eric Greenspan woofs orders to staff, calling out numbers and making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible. If you’ve ever watched an episode of The Bear you know the clattering from the belly of the kitchen well. There’s a brute choreography to everything happening—loud, constant, unblinking. Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” blares from the speakers…

… Fusing the nostalgia of a McDonald’s Happy Meal with the gloss of Tesla branding, food is served in Cybertruck boxes with Cybertruck-shaped wooden forks. Every part of the experience is a reminder of—and an opportunity to sell—the Tesla ethos.

“I think this might be the new spot,” says Xavier Hardy, a realtor and DJ, who orders the chicken and waffles, and raves about the black pepper mayo sauce it came with. “I saw that the diner is 24 hours. I feel everyone is going to come here after events, clubs. All the celebs will probably be here. I’m surprised no other car companies have thought of this before. And the food isn’t too expensive either.”

I mention to Hardy that the hot dog—which has a rubbery texture and taste—costs $17 dollars (if you opt to add the cheese and Wagyu chili).

“For some people, that’s nothing though,” he says…

It’s important that elected Democrats be committed to obliterating SpaceX, which serves as a vehicle for funding Nazis and their confederates as they destroy democracy in America. SpaceX’s debatable benefits to science are far outweighed by its concrete harms.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article…

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— Max Kennerly (@maxkennerly.bsky.social) July 22, 2025 at 7:17 PM

Bloomberg — “SpaceX Warns Investors Elon Musk Could Return to US Politics” [no paywall]:

show full post on front page

There’s a new warning tucked into the tender offer for Elon Musk’s SpaceX: The billionaire may not be done with politics just yet.

Musk previously served as senior adviser to President Donald Trump “in connection with the Department of Government Efficiency and may in the future serve in similar roles and devote significant time and energy to such roles,” according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg and people familiar with the content who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The company added the language laying out such “risk factors” in paperwork sent to investors discussing the transaction. It was the first time this language is believed to have appeared in these tender offers, some of these people said.

SpaceX’s most recent offer values the rocket and satellite maker at about $400 billion, which would make it the most valuable private company in the world…

SpaceX is a key government contractor with both NASA and the US military. Besides launching its Falcon rockets and work developing Starship, which is designed to take humans to Mars, SpaceX oversees a network of roughly 8,000 space-based satellites known as Starlink.

As part of SpaceX’s recent tender offer, certain shareholders will be allowed to sell stakes in the company — an increasingly popular option for startups that are staying private longer, but want to give early employees and investors a chance to cash out.

SpaceX will buy back as much as $1.25 billion worth of shares from staff and other holders, Bloomberg reported.

this man has never built a sustainably profitable business, and is currently destroying the fundamentals and public image of his other companies at an absurd rate… why would anyone ever give him billions more?
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— e.w. niedermeyer (@niedermeyer.online) July 22, 2025 at 7:59 PM

Of course, there’s the argument that SpaceX is going to blow itself up: Per NYMag, “Is Elon Musk’s Starship Doomed? The future of SpaceX keeps blowing up, and no one knows if he can fix it.”

And that’s despite all the illicit assistance Musk’s fellow grifter can provide… ProPublica, “Trump Administration Looking to Slash Environmental Protection Rules for Rocket Launches “…

this kind of behavior should force the government to seize your wealth and commit you to a reeducation camp where you learn how to throw a football and bake a cake and talk to someone about the weather
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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 23, 2025 at 10:24 PM

(For the uninitiated, the cartoon character that looks vaguely like young Charlie Sheen is Musk’s hand-chosen avatar. The blonde waifu was crowd-sourced for maximum appeal to Twitter’s remaining hardcore Elon fanbois. The background is, yes, the Tesla Diner. And the red pandas are some kind of DOGE reference, which I can’t be arsed to investigate further.)

Epic Bacon Open Thread: Blowing Up SpaceXPost + Comments (116)

War for Ukraine Day 1,246: The Reversal

by Adam L Silverman|  July 24, 20259:48 pm| 11 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

It has been a long week, I’m fried, so I’m just going to run through the basics tonight.

I noted in yesterday’s update that President Zelenskky had gone into crisis response mode from the fallout for the law he, his party, and other parliamentary allies pushed through on Tuesday that neutered Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption agencies. Today, he reversed course.

Thousands took to the streets — during wartime — to defend Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions,thus defending the country’s aspirations to join the EU. Now, a new draft law is on the table.But the first one was signed. That choice was made.And the silence expected from a nation at war never came.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 5:56 PM

Everything you need to know of how Ukrainians value and treat our democratic reforms. It’s the third day of protests against the law that weakened Ukraine’s anticorruption bodies. The president submitted a bill to fix the mistake. People demand to have it adopted now!

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— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 2:01 PM

Ukrainian poet Franko, author of the poem “Eternal Revolutionary”, watching over this as a monument just kind of makes me extremely sentimental

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— Mira of Kyiv 🇺🇦 (@reshetz.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 5:22 PM

From The Kyiv Independent:

President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted on July 24 a new draft law aimed at restoring the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions.

The move follows Zelensky’s decision on July 22 to sign a different bill that effectively destroyed the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

The controversial bill, which also undermined Ukraine’s aspirations to join the European Union, triggered large-scale protests all over Ukraine, forcing the authorities to roll back.

In a statement following its review of the new draft law, NABU said the legislation would “restore all procedural powers and guarantees of independence” for both NABU and SAPO.

Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), a watchdog, also supported the initiative, saying it would “restore the principles previously dismantled by the Verkhovna Rada.”

“This is the result of exceptionally incredible Ukrainians who have shown the authorities in recent days that they will not allow their European future to be destroyed,” the statement reads.

“However, even one week of delay can be enough to destroy a bunch of NABU and SAPO proceedings against top corrupt officials.”

Parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said the draft will be reviewed at the next plenary session, though the Verkhovna Rada is officially in recess until the end of August.

Stefanchuk said that the law could be considered “much earlier than in a month.”

The July 22 controversial law was passed and signed under the pretext of ridding anti-corruption agencies of Russian influence.

Zelensky claimed on July 24 that his new bill is intended to safeguard the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions and protect the legal system from Russian influence or interference. He described the draft as “balanced,” but did not provide further details.

“The most important thing is real tools, no Russian connections, and the independence of NABU and SAPO. The bill will be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine today,” Zelensky said.

In a Telegram post, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak noted that under the proposed bill, all employees of six law enforcement agencies, including NABU and SAPO, with access to state secrets would be required to undergo a polygraph test every two years.

The tests would be conducted by internal control units using a methodology approved by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Earlier in the day, a cross-party group of 48 lawmakers submitted another bill to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, aimed at restoring the independence of the NABU and SAPO.

“Tomorrow (the bill) can be voted on,” Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, head of the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech, wrote on Facebook. “Your move, Mr. President.”

On July 22, the Ukrainian parliament approved amendments that grant the prosecutor general new powers over cases led by the NABU and SAPO.

Zelensky later that day signed the bill into law, effectively destroying the independence of Ukraine’s two key anti-corruption institutions, opposition lawmakers and watchdogs say.

The new law signed by Zelensky allows the prosecutor general to issue binding instructions to NABU, reassign cases outside the agency, and delegate SAPO’s authority to other prosecutors. Critics say the changes dismantle safeguards that protect both bodies from political interference.

Among other new powers, the prosecutor general could also close NABU’s investigations at the legal defense’s request.

On July 23-24, protestors gathered in major cities across the country, including Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Odesa, with growing calls urging the government to amend current laws.

Ukrainians who spoke to the Kyiv Independent sounded a code red for the country’s democracy, saying the move marked the “point of no return.”

Zelensky claimed that the purpose of the law dismantling Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure was to curtail Russian influence.

However, the law passed and signed on July 22 does not have anything to do with Russian influence. Its clauses deprive anti-corruption agencies of their independence, and there is nothing in the law that targets Russian agents in or outside the agencies.

“The clause that the prosecutor general can take cases away from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) is unlikely to have an impact on (Russian agents),” Kateryna Butko, head of the anti-corruption watchdog AutoMaidan, told the Kyiv Independent.

More at the link.

Many of us, myself included, support the President, regardless of his name, because we’re at war, and chaos risks our independence, as in the early 20th century. But when large parts of Ukrainian society oppose certain laws, don’t lecture Ukrainians, if you care about Ukraine, not just President

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— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 11:18 PM

As an asterisk note — if you see calls to overthrow the government or claims that people are opposing the resistance against Moscow, feel free to lecture. You’re likely looking at a Russian provocateur

— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 11:24 PM

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today, which, of course, was about the reversal regarding the independence of the anti-corruption agencies. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

show full post on front page

I Instructed Government Officials to Present the Bill to Our Partners and to Engage All Necessary Expert Capabilities – Address by the President

24 July 2025 – 21:24

I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!

I have just approved the new appointments of Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Ministers. The Ministry of Defense team has launched a phase of very active changes – in just one week, additional contracts have already been signed for drones. This is very important. An audit of existing agreements with our partners is also underway – we have hundreds of agreements, which all must be implemented and all must be fulfilled. Together with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and the Office team, we discussed the issue of funding our defense, our warriors – we are ensuring resilience. Also today, the Minister of Defense delivered a report together with the Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. The details are not public, but we will take some steps – strong steps. I spoke with the Commander-in-Chief this morning, and again just now. Updates on the frontline, on our positions, on our activity. Pokrovsk remains under our close daily attention. I want to thank every unit defending this direction – the most difficult one at the moment.

There was also a report from Ukraine’s negotiation team following their return from Türkiye. I am very grateful to our guys for this work. Agreements have been reached regarding future exchanges – I truly hope we will succeed in bringing more of our warriors home from captivity. The agreement is that 1,200 warriors will return. We also remember about civilians – all those who must be brought back home to Ukraine. I thank everyone who is helping us. Our representatives who were in Türkiye at a meeting with the Russians once again proposed a real ceasefire to the Russian side: immediate and complete. They proposed a meeting of leaders to truly reach decisions for peace. Ukraine is ready to work as swiftly and productively as possible. And we are seeing Russia’s responses – again, the same ones. Kharkiv: more than 40 people were injured in a strike on the city. Odesa: Russian drones damaged the Pryvoz market, residential buildings, and streets. Nikopol and other cities and villages in the Dnipro region – FPV drones strike our civilians. Kherson region – air-dropped bombs. Mykolaiv region, Zaporizhzhia – strikes throughout the day. Of course, we will respond to Russia for all of this.

We also continue working with our partners on sanctions against Russia. Today I spoke with European leaders – UK Prime Minister Starmer and German Chancellor Merz. I want to thank them for their support. I am grateful for their willingness to continue assisting with diplomatic efforts – we discussed engagements with the United States and our other partners. I also greatly value Germany’s support on the European track.

Today, my bill is already in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – fulfilling my promise – for justice, for law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies. Full-fledged guarantees of the independence of anti-corruption agencies. Real opportunities to verify, so that any Russian interference is kept out. Everyone who has access to state secrets – and this includes not only the NABU and SAPO, but also the SBI, our National Police – must undergo lie detector tests. And these must be regular checks. The bill also contains provisions to prevent various abuses. The text of the bill was discussed with partners, law enforcement agencies, and representatives of the NABU and SAPO. There were many proposals from our partners to involve European experts – from the UK, Germany, and the EU. I instructed our Government officials to present the bill to all our partners and to engage all necessary expert capabilities. And of course, it is important that Ukrainians are responding with such dignity to everything that’s happening. Ukraine is a country of people who don’t look away. I thank everyone who is fighting for our state, who is working for Ukraine. Thank you! Thank you!

Glory to Ukraine!

First Lady Zelenska participated in the European Child Guarantee. Preparing for Action in Ukraine forum.

Olena Zelenska: We Must Give Children a Decent Childhood Despite Russian Aggression

24 July 2025 – 19:30

The First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, took part in the forum “European Child Guarantee. Preparing for Action in Ukraine.” The event also brought together representatives of the Government, local communities, international partners, and civil society.

The European Child Guarantee (ECG) is an EU initiative aimed at combating child poverty and social exclusion. As a candidate country for EU accession, Ukraine has expressed its intention to join the initiative.

“When people in Europe say ‘a child’s life,’ they mean well-being, opportunities, growth. In Ukraine today, we mean physical survival. When they say ‘the future’ in Europe, it means a perspective for years. We sometimes narrow the meaning of this phrase to ‘surviving until tomorrow.’ This is the reality that Russia’s invasion has created. And children are its most vulnerable hostages.,” the First Lady noted.

Olena Zelenska stressed that currently 44% of Ukrainian children show signs of potential PTSD, according to the Future Index research. In addition, UNICEF reports that nearly 70% of young Ukrainians lack access to adequate nutrition and housing.

“Yet even under these conditions, all parents, all responsible adults, and entire countries have made a principled decision – to give children a proper childhood. And importantly, the state has made this decision as well. I am truly glad that all the areas of the European Child Guarantee are reflected both in my work as First Lady and in the work of my Foundation,” she added.

The First Lady spoke in particular about the School Nutrition Reform, the Olena Zelenska Foundation’s efforts to equip shelters in schools and preschools, the launch of Schools of Superheroes, the construction of housing for large families, and the planned opening this year of 12–21, youth mental health centers.

“I am grateful to the EU and our partners, and at the same time, I appeal to all Ukrainians who will be implementing these guarantees at the local level. I ask for maximum responsibility and engagement. Because success depends on each of us,” the President’s wife concluded.

Georgia:

IDPs are internally displaced people. These are Georgians who have been forced to flee from their homes to where they were living in Tbilisi. It is unclear from the reporting where in Georgia they are displaced from.

17 people arrested today. A few IDPs left without a home, and activists who went there to comfort the families. They face hefty fines or even up to 60 days in prison.

📷 Publika

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 3:40 PM

Here, a female activist is telling an officer not to hit her. She gets arrested. Police shout ‘arrest anyone who comes near you’.
📷 Levan Zazadze

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 1:46 PM

🎥 Mariam Nikuradze

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 1:52 PM

Earlier in the day, an IDP arrested.

🎥 Levan Janjghava (I think)

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 1:59 PM

A four-year-old made sure to call his father: “Dad, please don’t let them take my toy.”

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 2:05 PM

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 2:12 PM

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) forced out of their homes at Tvalchrelidze Street in Tbilisi.

The Special Task Department (crackdown) police are there (look at the multitude of their buses). Several have been detained, including a mother of 5. Residents claim they are hit by the police. 1/

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:47 AM

Various reports indicate from 120 to up to 200 families are affected.
They are offered ridiculous compensation for the period of resettling and overall claim that they do not trust the authorities to deliver on their promises. They have all been through endless rounds of broken promises. 2/

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:47 AM

In the video, the narrator states that the lady rushedly going home is worried for her son – he’s been through a car crash, has broken bones, is bedridden and now she’s afraid that the police will harm him. 3/

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:47 AM

What do you call a regime that’s completely lacking trust and is widely regarded as a force that could harm a bedridden man or a mother of five?

I also like the young boy seeing through the well-polished barbie lady representing the (illegitimate) authorities. 4/4.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:47 AM

The residents lashed out at the regime propaganda media representatives.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:48 AM

Many families haven’t even been offered those ridiculous pennies either, and some don’t have a place to stay.

People are once again self-organizing to accommodate them.

These are families who were first evicted by occupiers and now the Georgian Dream – upgraded occupiers.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 2:56 PM

After 17 detainees and the whole day of confrontation by the crackdown police, we now see thugs armed with batons deployed at the site where they evict around 200 families of Internally Displaced Persons…

The end of this Russian regime will most likely be very ugly.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 4:39 PM

In something approaching a normal time, the USAID Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) officer for the region would be mobilizing local NGO partners to provide essential services and coordinating with Embassy Tbilisi to help these folks. Unfortunately, we no longer have USAID, nor PRM officers.

Germany:

HENSOLDT has been contracted to deliver an undisclosed number of TRML-4D air surveillance radars and SPEXER 2000 3D MkIII short-range radars worth more than €340 million to #Ukraine. Although not officially confirmed, it’s very likely that Germany is paying the bills.

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— German Aid to Ukraine (@deaidua.org) July 24, 2025 at 8:44 AM

The US:

The United States has approved the sale of equipment to Ukraine for the repair of Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, as well as HAWK Phase III air defense systems, totaling $322 million.

apnews.com/article/ukra…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 1:01 PM

From the AP:

The State Department said Wednesday that it has approved $322 million in proposed weapons sales to Ukraine to enhance its air defense capabilities and provide armored combat vehicles, coming as the country works to fend off escalating Russian attacks.

The potential sales, which the department said were notified to Congress, include $150 million for the supply, maintenance, repair and overhaul of U.S. armored vehicles, and $172 million for surface-to-air missile systems.

The approvals come weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed a pause on other weapons shipments to Ukraine to allow the Pentagon to assess its weapons stockpiles, in a move that caught the White House by surprise. President Donald Trump then made an abrupt change in posture, pledging publicly earlier this month to continue to send weapons to Ukraine.

“We have to,” Trump said. “They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to send some more weapons — defensive weapons primarily.”

Trump recently endorsed a plan to have European allies buy U.S. military equipment that can then be transferred to Ukraine. It was not immediately clear how the latest proposed sales related to that arrangement.

More at the link.

Back to Ukraine.

As public outcry over of Zelenskyy’s power grab grows, @christopherjm.ft.com profiles the man behind Ukraine’s wartime president: “Yermak has come to personify ..whether centralised powers imposed by the wartime administration might cripple Ukraine’s democratic future once the war ends”

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— Paola Tamma (@paolatamma.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 2:43 AM

From The Financial Times:

On the biting morning of December 1 2023, just beyond the eastern edge of Kyiv, Boryspil International Airport stirred from a long wartime slumber. Terminal D, once a hub for holidaymakers and business travellers, had been silent since the first Russian missiles attacked Ukraine in the opening hours of the full-scale invasion nearly two years earlier. But as snow blanketed the empty tarmac and frosted the rusting tank traps guarding its perimeter, a convoy of blacked-out SUVs carrying some 80 foreign ambassadors, government ministers and heads of international aid organisations slipped through the barricades.

Inside the terminal, espresso machines hissed and kiosks brimmed with fresh pastries. Departure boards blinked back to life with the names of places Ukraine aspired to connect with once again: Berlin, London, New York, Tel Aviv. Uniformed flight attendants issued guests glossy fake boarding passes for a hopeful destination: Ukraine’s Peace Formula.

The message was clear. This wasn’t merely a summit, it was a statement that the bloodiest armed conflict on European soil since the second world war would not end in the trenches of the Donbas region or at negotiating tables where foreign leaders carved up the country. Ukraine’s future would be plotted from Kyiv. Staged weeks after a much-hyped battlefield campaign failed to break through Russian defences this was a counteroffensive by other means.

The attendees settled at a giant roundtable assembled in the centre of the terminal. Among them was the Ukrainian Nobel laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk, several government ministers and deputy heads of the presidential office. There were ambassadors to the US, France and Italy. Richard Branson appeared via video link from his Australian vacation suite, his voice nearly drowned out by the sound of a waterfall.

After opening greetings, there followed a long wait. Twenty minutes. Thirty. Almost 40 minutes had passed when all eyes turned to the main entrance. Many expected Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to strut in with the wartime swagger for which he has become famous. Instead, in came a heavier-footed figure, who had orchestrated the day’s proceedings. Andriy Yermak, a former film producer and now Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, was not merely the host of the ambitious event. Every scene, symbol and line of the peace formula bore his imprint. From this frozen outpost, Yermak was attempting to direct the country’s path forward again.

The world knows Zelenskyy as the comedian-turned-wartime-president who has become one of the most recognised political figures of the 21st century, drawing comparisons to Winston Churchill. He’s the leader who stood his ground in Kyiv as Russian troops stormed over the border and assassins hunted him down. Two words from his famous video message on the first night of the invasion, filmed defiantly in the dark outside the presidential compound, have become a national rallying cry: “My tut” (“We’re here”).

The burly man standing at Zelenskyy’s left shoulder in that video is not a household name, although he appears in countless images, almost always within arm’s length of the president. In a photo taken at a peace summit in Switzerland in June 2024, he stands front and centre, towering over the dozens of world leaders in attendance, and all but obscuring US vice-president Kamala Harris, who cranes her head to be seen. (“I don’t know how the fuck he did that and how we let that happen,” one US official said of the photo.) But among Ukrainians, foreign leaders and diplomats, he is a person of immense and polarising influence.

Andriy Yermak is not Ukraine’s president. But he often acts like one. As the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine — his official title — Yermak, 53, drafts peace plans, directs back-channel diplomacy and handpicks government officials. The prime minister and top military brass frequently defer to him. When it comes to high-stakes negotiations — prisoner swaps with Moscow; the return of abducted Ukrainian children; deals to keep grain flowing through the Black Sea — Yermak runs the show. European governments co-ordinate with him on military and financial aid. He’s on first-name terms with global power brokers and Hollywood stars.

Inside the gilded halls of Kyiv’s presidential compound, Yermak oversees a tight-knit team of around two dozen personally selected, devout advisers who enjoy access to national security briefings and meetings with visiting heads of state, an arrangement considered highly unorthodox by most western governments’ standards. Together, this group manages the country. Yermak’s own role has been described in myriad ways by those who’ve observed him — from Zelenskyy’s right-hand man to Ukraine’s de facto vice-president. But, his allies and critics agree, almost nothing happens in Ukraine without his knowledge and approval. Nobody gets to the president without going through him.

To staunch supporters such as Andriy Sybiha, Yermak’s former deputy who has served as Ukraine’s foreign minister since September, Yermak is “a great manager. Especially in crisis situations.” Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former prime minister of Denmark and Nato secretary-general, who wrote the supporting text for Yermak’s entry in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2024, said he had witnessed Yermak’s ability to keep “government running . . . first-hand during our work on security guarantees for Ukraine” leading to “a web of bilateral agreements with allies”.

But his judgment has been called into question by many observers, including those close to him. It was Yermak who, against the advice of US and Ukrainian officials, pushed for an Oval Office meeting with Donald Trump in February, as Kyiv sought American backing and a minerals deal. The fiasco that followed nearly upended relations between the two countries, and was seen as evidence of Yermak’s overconfidence. “His problem is micromanagement. He tries to be everywhere and to do everything,” said Alexander Rodnyansky, a Ukrainian TV executive and old friend of Yermak’s.

Yermak has come to personify a debate roiling the country, over whether centralised powers imposed by the wartime administration might cripple Ukraine’s democratic future once the war ends. For many Ukrainians, he is a symbol of an old order they are desperate to leave behind. This week, Zelenskyy faced the most serious domestic challenge of his presidency, after a sweeping move to sideline Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption bodies sparked the first major mass protests since the start of the war. There were chants of “Yermak out” and “Fuck Yermak” among the crowds of thousands gathered in Kyiv.

In interviews with more than 40 people, including current and former Ukrainian officials, western diplomats in Kyiv and officials from European governments and Washington who have dealt directly with Yermak, I was frequently told that he wields as much influence as Zelenskyy, perhaps more. To detractors, Yermak is an unelected tsar amassing boundless power — eroding the democratic checks and balances that Kyiv has implemented since its Euromaidan revolution in 2014. He draws up lists of domestic political enemies for Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council to sanction. He has been accused of manipulating judicial investigations to discredit his rivals and stalling anti-corruption inquiries. He is said to orchestrate black ops, spreading leaks and rumours via anonymous channels on Telegram. “His aim is to centralise everything in a post-Soviet style of rule that resembles something not so different from autocracy,” said one person who worked closely with Yermak in the president’s office.

Last week, one of Yermak’s close allies, Yulia Svyrydenko, was appointed Ukraine’s new prime minister — a move widely reported as evidence of his growing hold over Zelenskyy. A western ambassador described Yermak’s role bluntly: “He’s the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister . . . all the ministers put together.” One Ukrainian minister warned me that few inside the government would dare talk about Yermak on the record — a prediction that turned out to be true.

“Everyone’s future and fortunes,” he said, “are determined by Andriy Yermak.”

Much more at the link.

Starlink is reportedly down globally. That means on Ukrainian frontline too…

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 3:41 PM

This past night, Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine, deploying 103 drones and 4 missiles. 3 people were killed in the Kharkiv region, according to President Zelenskyy.

The attacks hit several regions, with Odesa suffering significant damage to a market and residential buildings.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:00 AM

The Kharkiv region experienced fatalities,
while a child was injured in Cherkasy.Other areas were also affected.

Zelenskyy emphasized that Russia has no interest in peace and is actively blocking diplomatic efforts.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:00 AM

Russia attacked multiple Ukrainian cities in response to the Istanbul ceasefire proposal, using over 100 drones and 4 missiles. Strikes hit homes and the Pryvoz market in Odesa, apartment blocks in Cherkasy, energy sites in Kharkiv region, a university gym in Zaporizhzhia, and other regions.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 10:58 AM

Kharkiv:

❗️The number of injured in russian aerial attack on Kharkiv has risen to 42, among them six children and two pregnant women.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 1:25 PM

Kharkiv, after today’s russian attack by Reuters

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 3:01 PM

Watch this. Talk about it. Don’t let it vanish into the scroll. A russian bomb struck near homes in Kharkiv this morning. 22 injured. This is happening in Europe. Right now.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 5:35 AM

Drone footage of the aftermath of Russian glide bomb attack on Kharkiv. The number of injured has risen to 41 including 6 children. Medical workers asked citizens to donate blood.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 10:27 AM

Kharkiv protests the law 12414 again. Our city was bombed earlier today, and russian drones are in our airspace right now too! I’m proud of me fearless people.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 11:40 AM

The Pokrovsk front, Donetsk Oblast:

Just now in Donetsk Oblast: Authorities have announced the mandatory evacuation of families with children from Dobropillia and 9 other settlements near Pokrovsk, according to the regional military administration.

— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 10:56 AM

Kostiantynivka, Kharkiv Oblast:

Two people died and 14 were injured in a russian shelling of Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 10:09 AM

WARNING!! WARNING!! GRAPHIC IMAGERY!! WARNING!! WARNING!!

Kostiantynivka today. Two women, aged 48 and 59, lie dead on the street. Russuan guided aerial bomb killed them.

No military reason, just pure, simple terrorism.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 9:12 AM

ALL CLEAR!!!!

Izium, Kharkiv Oblast:

Russian airstrike on a village in the Izium district of Kharkiv Oblast killed an entire family — a couple and their 36-year-old son. They were displaced from another village. This is all that remains of the house they tried to call home.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 2:48 AM

Odesa:

At least one person died in russian attack on Odesa last night. At least 5 others were injured. Resquers continue their work.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 12:50 PM

Russia attacked Odesa last night, damaging not just buildings, but the city’s memory and heritage. The UNESCO-protected historic center was hit. Pryvoz Market, a symbol of Odesa’s soul, was set ablaze.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 2:32 AM

Odesa after russian drone attack ‼️

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 10:52 PM

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 10:52 PM

Cherkasy Oblast:

Russians struck a cemetery in Cherkasy region last night. 🤬

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:34 AM

Pidlyman, Kharkiv Oblast:

Last night, a Russian airstrike on Pidlyman village in Kharkiv region tragically killed an entire family.

The bodies of a 57-year-old woman, her 58-year-old husband, and their 36-year-old son were found under the rubble of their destroyed home.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:27 AM

They had been internally displaced persons from Bohuslavka village, also located in Kharkiv region.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:27 AM

Kyiv:

For the second night in a row, Ukrainian drones heading to SW Russia. Last night, drones hit the oil depot at Adler airport near Sochi, among other targets.

Right now: Air raid sirens sounding in Kyiv – threat of ballistic missile launches from fascist Russia’s Voronezh Oblast.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 4:09 PM

The Zaporizhzhia front:

💥118th Brigade destroys Russian AFV column on the Zaporizhzhia front. 23.07.2025

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 3:49 PM

Sochi, Russia:

As a result, after drones paid a visit to Sochi, all flights were either delayed or canceled.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 8:21 AM

“Why are they bombing Sochi? I don’t get it. They should be bombing Russia.” — a Russian, seemingly a bit confused during the attack on Sochi.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 7:16 AM

Bryansk Oblast, Russia:

AASM Hammer air strike on the Russian FSB base in the Bryansk region.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 10:32 AM

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

A new Patron video!

https://www.tiktok.com/@patron__dsns/video/7530727991450832184?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7530092610654045727

Here’s the machine translation of the caption:

Here it is and no bad news, please 🥲#песпатрон

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 1,246: The ReversalPost + Comments (11)

Anything Still Wonky Open Thread

by WaterGirl|  July 24, 20258:28 pm| 58 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I am making onion, zucchini, jalapeño stirfry for dinner, with a side of chocolate cherry tomatoes.  All from the garden, of course, except for the onions.

My mom would give me an A+ on color, but would definitely ding me for the lack of protein.

Just checking in to see if anything is still wonky?

Open thread.

Anything Still Wonky Open ThreadPost + Comments (58)

Ozzy Osbourne Is Deeply Mourned

by Anne Laurie|  July 24, 20256:28 pm| 75 Comments

This post is in: Absent Friends, Excellent Links, Music

Hard-rock royalty and some 40,000 fans gathered for an ear-splitting tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at what the heavy metal icon says was his last-ever live performance.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) July 6, 2025 at 1:00 PM

Barry Petchesky, at Defector — “Ozzy Osbourne Was The Frontman Of The Future”:

Imagine it is December 1970. “I Think I Love You” by the Partridge Family was just atop the charts. Billboard would soon name “Bridge Over Troubled Water” the most popular song of the year. If you listen to music, that’s mostly what you are hearing: flowery pop or earnest folk. Then, you go to a show, and you see this:

How do you even react to this? Do you just kill yourself then and there? It’s like nothing you’ve heard. It’s like nothing anyone’s ever heard. It’s primordial. It’s not so obviously grounded in the blues, like Zeppelin, or as blissfully coked-out prog as Deep Purple. There are no obvious antecedents—it is out of nowhere, or rather Birmingham, which may as well be nowhere. This was the invention of heavy metal, and heavy metal would never get better than this. Sabbath were from the future. Ozzy was their face.

Ozzy Osbourne died Tuesday morning at age 76, and he went out a king. Just 17 days earlier, he had sat on a throne and performed nine songs, after being feted at a daylong tribute show by just about every major metal figure of note from the last 50 years. He closed with “Paranoid,” because it fucking rules, but also because of its closing couplet, “I tell you to enjoy life/I wish I could but it’s too late.” It could have been grotesque, these septuagenarians chasing faded glory, but it wasn’t. It might have been a victory lap, these inventors of an entire genre of music reveling in their legacy: not a single one of the performers that day could have existed if Sabbath never had. It was, though, before anything else, a damn good rock bill. Ozzy knew how to put on a show…

It is fun to watch early clips of the band, like the one at the top of this post, before they settled on the imagery: Ozzy is a babyfaced 20-something in jeans, grinning and gesticulating because he’s feeling the music. A laborer from the burned-over industrial heartland of England, performing the type of music he’d have enjoyed listening to, if anyone had been making it. I hope that at his last show earlier this month, even for a moment, he lost himself in the music and felt like that kid again.

www.rollingstone.com/music/music-…
OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK SABBATH SINGER AND HEAVY METAL PIONEER, DEAD AT 76
He was a rock & roll survivor who lived long enough to make it through to the other side.
Rock on Ozzy

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— LunaLuvgood2020 (@lunaluvgood2020.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 12:13 AM

show full post on front page

Spencer Kornhaber, at the Atlantic, on “The Human Side of Music’s Prince of Darkness”: [gift link]

When I was growing up in the early 2000s, few cultural figures confused me more than Ozzy Osbourne. He was, I understood, the “Prince of Darkness,” a legendary influence upon Tool, Linkin Park, and various other fearsome and dour bands I worshipped. But Osbourne was also the bumbling, profanity-dribbling star of The Osbournes, the smash reality show about his life of Hollywood domesticity with his wife and kids. On TV, Osbourne wasn’t a demon; he was just some dude.

Years later it’s clear that this cognitive dissonance is precisely why he was regarded as a titan. The Black Sabbath front man, who died yesterday at age 76, helped invent heavy metal—a sound and a countercultural identity with terrifying connotations. But he showed how that identity was rooted in the very thing that it superficially seemed to obscure: the warm, soft human core inside each of us. Osbourne knew that metal is not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide.

His own survival story began early in life. Raised in a working-class family of eight in the industrial English town of Birmingham, Osbourne had parents who put in long hours at factories. His father was “one of those guys who’d go to work if he’d been in a car accident, if his house had been blown up,” Osbourne later said. Dyslexia caused Osbourne to struggle with academics, and his headmaster once humiliated him by sending him home for looking, as Osbourne remembered it, “not clean enough.” Two classmates routinely sexually abused him—an experience whose effects festered in his psyche for years. “I was afraid to tell my father or mother and it completely fucked me up,” Osbourne said.

Like many kids of the ’60s, Osbourne had his mind blown by the Beatles and felt called to form a band. It was first called the Polka Tulk Blues Band, then called Earth, and then called Black Sabbath. Bloody serendipity helped create Sabbath’s signature sound: When guitarist Tony Iommi sliced the ends of his fingers on the job at a sheet-metal factory, he was forced to create false fingertips out of soap bottles, which in turn caused him to play in an eerie, leaden-sounding fashion. But the nightmarish vibe of the band’s self-titled 1970 debut was also the result of strategic thinking—inspired, in part, by the knowledge of how popular horror movies were at the time.

Osbourne sang in the high howl of a man being burned at the stake, and his melodies unfolded in a slow, hypnotic smolder. The lyrics—chiefly written by other bandmates, with input from Osbourne—were about devils and wizards and men made of iron, but they were also about reality. “Wicked World,” a B-side from the debut, delivered peacenik thoughts with a snarl: “People got to work just to earn their bread / While people just across the sea are counting their dead.” The protest epic “War Pigs,” from 1970’s Paranoid, portrayed military generals as evil occultists. Despite what Christian activists during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s would claim, much of Osbourne’s music was doing the opposite of sympathizing with the devil…

To celebrate Ozzy Osbourne’s life and legacy, we’ve selected just a few songs that made the man, from timeless tunes to a few left-of-center selections.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) July 23, 2025 at 8:00 AM

Dave McKenna, also at Defector — “I’ll Never Stop Bragging About Seeing Ozzy On The Most Metal Tour Of All Time”:

No record ever spoke to me more than Southern Rock Opera by the Drive-By Truckers. It’s a concept album released in 2001 that has lots of songs about growing up in the South in the late ’70s and not having much going on, besides power drinking and rock and roll. That record could be my life. And of all the period-piece vignettes, none hit me where I live more than a verse in “Let There Be Rock” where frontman Patterson Hood bragged about a concert the rock gods blessed upon him back in the day: “I sure saw Ozzy Osbourne,” Hood warbled, “with Randy Rhoads in ‘82 right before that plane crash.”

Well, me too: On Feb. 24, 1982, I caught Ozzy’s Diary of a Madman tour when it stopped in Lubbock, Texas. Ozzy wielded an oversized crucifix while doddering around a stage that had been tarted up to look like a medieval castle. Headbangers heaven.

Memories of that show and all its quaint heavy metalness, and just how much rock and roll meant to me back then, came to mind when news came yesterday that Ozzy had died in England. He was 76 years old.

No cause of death has yet been released. But does anybody need to wait for a coroner? Ozzy died of rock and roll. Finally! An eminent rock bromide holds that “it’s better to burn out than it is to rust.” Ozzy managed to do both. As has been catalogued, no rocker lived harder than the Prince of Darkness. Every breath he took in the 1980s and beyond made a mockery of Nancy Reagan’s D.A.R.E. campaign and its “Just Say No!” mandate…

Beginning in the late 1990s, Ozzy also assumed the same role Kirshner once played as an introducer of deserving bands to new, bigger audiences by founding Ozzfest, an annual barnstorming festival that featured a mix of young and veteran hard-rock acts. I owe my love of System of a Down to seeing them kill at the 2002 Ozzfest in Bristow, Va. As was usually the case with Ozzfests, Ozzy’s band closed that show. His set from ’02 saw Ozzy play all the vintage nuggets from Black Sabbath and his solo career, with Wylde playing the licks Iommi and Rhoads made legendary.

Ozzy closed another festival on July 5. He and all his original mates from Sabbath tossed aside long-simmering feuds that had kept them apart for 20 years, and reunited for a concert in Birmingham that was billed as his final show. Ozzy’s been holding last tours since 1992’s “No More Tours” Tour. Alas, this time the billing will hold true. I watched a live stream of the show that night, and for all the bombast I still found the performance quite touching. Because of the effects of Parkinson’s and his lifestyle over the last half-century, Ozzy stayed seated on a big throne adorned with creepy gargoyles. Iommi, 77, in customary all-black outfit to match his dyed coif and facial hair, looked to be laboring over every note. The set ended, just as I would have requested, with “Paranoid.” It was a hard watch. But when I closed my eyes…

Ozzy Osbourne Is Deeply MournedPost + Comments (75)

Open Thread: Maybe It Was About the Money, All Along

by Anne Laurie|  July 24, 20254:54 pm| 160 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Trump Crime Cartel

You know that scene in an action movie when the bad guy runs through the kitchen of a restaurant and pulls down all the pots and pans behind him to slow down his pursuers? We're in that part of the Trump presidency.

— Jason Kander (@jasonkander.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 5:45 PM

I’ll repeat myself: Trump doesn’t mind being exposed as a sexual predator. On the other hand, he’s very sensitive to any details about his finances. We know he was hanging around with ‘financial advisor’ Jeffrey Epstein, who seems to have been accepting Russian wire transfers for large sums while providing a range of services to a cadre of rich, powerful men…

(Trump himself probably no longer remembers exactly *what* Epstein may have done for him, financially, but he’d be paranoid about the possibilities regardless.)

"Trump and I bonded for years over our mutual love for underage girls but I had to cut him loose when I discovered he was a crook." ~ paraphrasing Jeffrey Epstein
www.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey…

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— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha1.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 1:42 PM

Business Insider, in 2023:

Jeffrey Epstein said in an unaired interview that he distanced himself from former President Donald Trump after realizing Trump was “a crook,” according to his brother, Mark Epstein.
Mark Epstein told Insider he viewed a clip of the interview, conducted by Trump’s former White House advisor Steve Bannon, after his brother forwarded it to him in the spring of 2019.

At the time, Bannon was conducting filmed interviews with the now-dead pedophile financier. Bannon sent Jeffrey Epstein a Dropbox link to a clip, which he forwarded to his brother. The link is no longer active, according to Mark…

For the documentary project, Bannon recorded more than 16 hours of footage, Mark Epstein said. In November of 2018, the Miami Herald ran a series detailing how Jeffrey Epstein secured a secret, lenient plea deal with federal prosecutors in Floria 2007, even after law enforcement concluded at the time that he had sexually abused more than 30 girls.

“Steve Bannon was working with Jeffrey to try to help Jeffrey rehabilitate his reputation,” Mark Epstein told Insider.…

The administration appears not to have been truthful about Trump in the Epstein files, and not to have investigated financial leads.

— Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (@whitehouse.senate.gov) July 24, 2025 at 11:29 AM


===

Senate Finance RM @wyden.senate.gov has found $1.5 billion in Epstein-related ‘Suspicious Activity Reports’ at Treasury and demanded FBI investigation.

— Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (@whitehouse.senate.gov) July 24, 2025 at 11:29 AM

===

show full post on front page

Would be hilarious if Musk is the one leaking info about the Epstein Files.

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— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha1.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 11:46 AM

Murdoch is drip-drip-dripping Epstein info to torture donald. It's working. The more it happens, the more donald lashes out and behaves like a rabid caged animal. The more he freaks out, the more Fox will report on it. In a matter of weeks, Fox viewers can be primed for the Vance transition.

— Kimberley Johnson (@kimberleyjohnson.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 3:42 PM

====
Coda:

senate republicans, i strongly encourage you all to follow dwaynebark’s example and have six glasses of bourbon before taking to the floor, you’re doing a great job

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM

Open Thread: Maybe It Was About the Money, All AlongPost + Comments (160)

Open Thread: MYOB, Repubs

by Anne Laurie|  July 24, 20252:42 pm| 115 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality

one of the biggest sea changes amongst republicans in the last 5-10 years or so has been their aggressive refusal to let business owners run their businesses, and that really *is* a huge sea change

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM

I think Tim Walz had the right idea on this: Today’s GOP are weirdos who want to tell you how to run your business, and also want to hang around bathrooms checking out other peoples’ genitals. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, YOU WEIRDOS!

“government should stay the hell out of my business” was about a rock solid a principle and law amongst republicans as you could find for as long as i can remember, this is legitimately really new

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 23, 2025 at 12:51 PM

===

mostly, but you could find extremely racist republicans through the 80s, 90s and 00s who still believed that minorities had the right to own and run their businesses, that was a big part of their argument against any kind of social welfare

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM

===

It’s honestly one of the most bizarre things about this admin, and the thing that makes me think that there’s truly not anyone steering the boat who’s not a crank to the nth degree.

— Adam Weird (@needlephilic.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 12:58 PM

—
ETA:

I spent some years working on corporate DEI efforts and I can tell you that the administration is not just waging war on diversity, they're waging war on uniqueness and individuality. One reason businesses value diversity is that people of diverse backgrounds bring diverse skills and experiences.

— Dave von Ebers (@dave-von-ebers.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 9:52 AM


===

It's the same reason that a lot of companies have moved away from rigid hierarchies based solely on age and seniority. You have to have new voices and perspectives to thrive. And that's not ageism, it's a rational business practice that values everyone.

— Dave von Ebers (@dave-von-ebers.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 9:52 AM


===

The same is true with DEI efforts. It's not "discrimination" against white people or men. It's a simple matter of broadening the pool of qualified candidates to ensure you get the benefit of a wide variety of experiences and skills.

— Dave von Ebers (@dave-von-ebers.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 9:52 AM

Open Thread: MYOB, RepubsPost + Comments (115)

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