Balloon Juice - Open Threads Archives

Open Thread: PEPFAR No Longer on the GOP Chopping Block

by Anne Laurie| July 16, 20251:09 pm| 72 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Healthcare, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)

Some really great news: funding for PEPFAR–about $400M for the global fight against HIV and AIDS–has been restored. Millions of lives will be saved.
www.politico.com/live-updates…

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— Charlotte Clymer (@charlotteclymer.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 5:06 PM

Good news, if we can keep it, per Politico, last night:

Senate Republicans will scale back the White House’s $9.4 billion spending clawback request as they look to shore up their vote count.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), who is leading the rescissions effort in concert with the White House, said Republicans will remove a $400 million cut to the global AIDS program known as PEPFAR, bringing the total amount of cuts in the package down to $9 billion.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said there was a “lot of interest” among Senate Republicans to address the cut to the program created under President George W. Bush and credited with saving tens of millions of lives…

In addition to preserving the PEPFAR funding, the revisions will include language to “protect” programs related to maternal health, malaria, tuberculosis and nutrition. The substitute negotiated by Schmitt and others will also explicitly state food aid will not be touched as part of the package. Those provisions will not change the new $9 billion topline, a person granted anonymity to disclose the private talks said…

A number of GOP senators, including Appropriations Chair Susan Collins of Maine, had raised concerns about the AIDS funding cuts. It’s not clear whether the $400 million rollback will be enough to secure her vote but it might placate enough Republicans to eke the package through the Senate…

The Senate is scheduled to start voting on the rescissions package Tuesday afternoon. Schmitt said he expected the changes to be reflected in a final “wraparound” amendment offered during a marathon series of votes expected Wednesday.

Any changes to the Senate product will necessitate another House vote ahead of a Friday deadline for action on the request.

Ed Kilgore, at Nymag:

show full post on front page

… Shorn of the false accusation, PEPFAR, a legacy initiative of George W. Bush, stands as a testament to the compassionate conservatism the 43rd president always claimed to champion. Aside from Vought’s smear, the main problem with PEPFAR in MAGA eyes is apparently that it represents “foreign aid,” albeit an especially successful and universally admired form of foreign aid that notably helped African nations cope with the deadly AIDS epidemic. And to be clear, other foreign-aid cuts (including those first imposed by DOGE in its assault on the U.S. Agency for International Development) remain in the rescission package, along with the speedy termination of subsidies for public broadcasting. But PEPFAR will survive for now.

Assuming the rescission package does make it out of the Senate, the House will have to approve the amended version. Perhaps some fiscal hard-liners will object to the slightly reduced size of the cuts, and possibly some anti-abortion ultras still believe Vought’s apparent whopper about PEPFAR and Russian abortions. But House Republicans will probably go along and leave the job of driving final nails into the coffin of the United States’s proud foreign-aid tradition for another occasion.

Comes as the NYT caught him cold in a lie about PEPFAR — www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/h…

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— City Nolan (@ndhapple.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 2:29 PM

When they’re not lying, they have nothing at all…

It was a startling, almost unbelievable, allegation. It turned out to be untrue.

On June 25, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told a Senate committee that the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, had spent $9.3 million “to advise Russian doctors on how to perform abortions and gender analysis.”…

PEPFAR has not operated in Russia since 2012, when President Vladimir Putin kicked the United States Agency for International Development out of the country. U.S. law prohibits the use of any federal funds to pay for abortions. Funding abortions through PEPFAR would imply not just waste, but serious crimes or negligence, or both…

A talking points memo to the Senate committee named a particular organization, JSI Research & Training Institute, that supposedly oversaw the work on abortions in Russia. In an email exchange with The New York Times, Rachel Cauley, the communications director for the O.M.B., said that a subcontractor for JSI, called MSI Reproductive Choices, used the funds for online booking services for abortions and for a hotline that taught Russians to perform their own abortions.

Both MSI and JSI said that was false.

Multiple government databases confirm that the grant was funded by other programs within U.S.A.I.D. — not PEPFAR — and that it was used for work to strengthen health care in Ethiopia, not for abortions in Russia. The grant was terminated in April…

Ms. Cauley, the spokeswoman for the O.M.B., insisted that PEPFAR had administered the grant, and did not respond to repeated requests to provide evidence of her assertions about the program or about the two organizations…

Open Thread: PEPFAR No Longer on the GOP Chopping BlockPost + Comments (72)

Unraveling (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker| July 16, 20257:47 am| 351 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

I remember feeling helpless and furious in 2003 when George W. Bush and his posse of arrogant clowns were dragging the U.S. and allies into a pointless and lethal war of choice in the Middle East. It was like watching a horde of drunk bubbas invade a fireworks factory with Zippos, tiki torches and flame-throwers — bound to be tragic and bloody, but they wouldn’t listen to reason even though you shouted warnings until you were hoarse. All you could do was hope YOU didn’t get blown up in the inevitable conflagration.

A sampling of today’s stupid and destructive as distilled in headlines:

WSJ: Trump Effect Starts to Show Up in Economy
New data reflect that president’s tariff and immigration policies are boosting inflation and weighing on jobs

A chaotic rollout of tariffs is starting to filter through to price tags on store shelves. An immigration crackdown is beginning to weigh on jobs growth, measured by federal surveys. Taken together, the impact of President Trump’s whirlwind six months back in office is showing up in the economy.

Interesting word choice there: whirlwind. As in, that thing you eventually REAP. Speaking of reaping:

Politico: Johnson breaks with Trump, calls for DOJ to release Epstein files

Speaker Mike Johnson is calling for the Department of Justice to release all of its information on Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in jail after being charged with sex trafficking, and wants Attorney General Pam Bondi to explain previous statements on the matter.

That lying weasel isn’t “breaking with Trump.” He’s trying to surf the tsunami. Like Trump, he desperately wants this Epstein shit to go away. It’s not going away:

Q: Why do you think your supporters have been so interested in the Epstein story?

TRUMP: I don’t understand it. He’s dead for a long time. He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don’t understand what the fascination is. The credible information has been given. It’s pretty boring stuff.

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 15, 2025 at 6:52 PM

Charlie Kirk is one of the second-tier podcast twits who vowed to shut up about Epstein after talking to Trump. That lasted a day.

“When I said for the time being, I was talking yesterday.”

LOL, someone got an earful from his viewers for taking marching orders and shutting up on Epstein.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a…

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 4:46 PM

It’s not personal. It’s business. Meanwhile, someone needs to issue a Silver Alert:

Imagine. If. Biden. Had. Done. This.

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— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 8:37 PM

I’m taking break from the circus in a little while. Going on a short road trip and will report back from the hinterlands later. Y’all be sweet to each other, okay?

Open thread.

Unraveling (Open Thread)Post + Comments (351)

For the Night Shift – Four Directions Native Vote in Virginia (Raffle!)

by WaterGirl| July 15, 202510:11 pm| 4 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Posting about the raffle for the night shift!

But this is also an Open Thread

How there raffle works

Each raffle ticket is $25 – and raffle tickets are now on “sale”.

To “buy” a raffle ticket, make a donation to this thermometer.
Send EMAIL to WaterGirl letting her know how many tickets you “bought”.
Include your nym in your email to WaterGirl

Donate

One ticket is $25, two tickets $50, and so on.

First prize winner gets their pick of Prizes! Second prize winner picks between the remaining two.

Prizes are numbered in order of dollar value if you were able to purchase these.

1st Prize

This quilt is 78″ x 84″.

2nd Prize – Star Earring with Jade

3rd Prize –hammered copper earrings

For the Night Shift – Four Directions Native Vote in Virginia (Raffle!)Post + Comments (4)

War for Ukraine Day 1,237: TACO Tuesday!!!!

by Adam L Silverman| July 15, 20259:25 pm| 19 Comments

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

Well that didn’t take long:

I guess it’s a Taco Tuesday?

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— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 3:57 PM

REPORTER: On you on Ukraine’s side now?

TRUMP: No. I’m on nobody’s side. You know the side I’m on? Humanity’s side.

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 15, 2025 at 1:42 PM

The shift in tactics and approach from the White House comes as Trump says he is losing patience with Putin and looks for more ways to pressure the Kremlin into peace talks

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— Henry Foy (@henryjfoy.ft.com) July 15, 2025 at 5:13 AM

Trump’s stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has veered repeatedly. Praising Putin & criticizing Zelensky one day, then voicing support for Ukraine & issuing warnings to Russia the next. And then reversing course again. This is why few in Kyiv believe his pivot in their slight favor will last.

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— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.ft.com) July 15, 2025 at 5:04 PM

Clear as mud.

Trump on the Russia-Ukraine war: “I think that whole thing is gonna go away eventually.”

(Reminds me of Trump’s comments during the early days of the pandemic … )

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 15, 2025 at 6:55 PM

🇺🇦 Today is Statehood Day. Ukrainians have not been gifted with statehood today!
The war has taught us the most important lesson: anything that is not protected by weapons will be taken away or destroyed.
Today, statehood means the soldiers who are holding the line. Happy holiday, Ukrainians!

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— Vitalis Viva (@vitalisviva.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 12:30 PM

Today is the Day of Ukrainian statehood, which is the focus of President Zelenskyy’s address today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

show full post on front page

Address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the Occasion of the Day of Ukrainian Statehood

15 July 2025 – 09:01

Dear Ukrainians!

On July 15, we mark an important day. The Day of our Statehood.

The Day of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus–Ukraine. This day is about connection. About every stage of our statehood and about the bond that unites dozens of generations: those who lived in this land a thousand years ago and those who live here today.

A bridge through time, standing on three unshakable pillars: Ukrainians were here, Ukrainians are here, Ukrainians will be here.

And on this land, life always triumphs. Values and our character prevail – the best in our people, who, despite war, tears, and pain, have preserved their humanity, and who protect one another, which means they protect their state.

And this is proven by thousands of our fates, thousands of our stories of what we have lived through, of what each heart carries, whoever you are: a warrior, a teacher, a musician, a drone engineer, or the President.

These are stories of our days, nights, and mornings. Of the night on the contact line, described by a serviceman: “They’re pressing. Swarming from all directions. We’re holding. And you – hold on too. We are reading the news about the shelling of peaceful cities. What can I say… This is a war that affects every one of us. And may God grant peace to us all.”

And this post, late at night in the subway, is being read by a young mother holding her little daughter. And the little girl looks around so attentively, as if trying to remember it all, to one day tell her children about these nights in the subway, about this peak of the human spirit.

When a grandfather inflates a mattress for his three grandchildren, gently tucks them in with a blanket, and hears: “Grandpa, and a cartoon?” And as he pulls out the tablet, he says: “Of course, Cossacks, how could we skip the cartoon?”

And not far away, people are settling close together in sleeping bags on a hard floor, but with just as hard a resolve within: the resolve to overcome this night. And on nights like this – on platforms, in parking lots, shelters, corridors, and bathrooms – phone screens flicker with dozens of alerts: “Incoming.” “Air defense is at work.” “Stay in shelters.”

And we stay – so that we can remain Ukrainians, in our own state, on our own land. So that we can see the sun rise and, despite everything, say to each other: “Good morning!”

And we always have faith that this moment will come. Just as it always has – through the centuries, in Rus, at the Sich, in every era. No matter who the enemy was or where they came from, no hostile force has ever survived on this land or taken root here. And Ukraine endures. It remains itself.

And the morning always comes.

And though you might want to sleep a little longer, you find the strength to rise. You text your loved ones, and you are happy to know everything’s fine. You read another post from that same warrior: “Attack repelled! Got a couple of hours to catch our breath.” And someone else writes: “We urgently need a few things…” You chip in for the fundraiser and step outside.

And on that morning, walking through the city, your city, you see your people all around. You see faces and eyes that, despite everything, still hold life.

You see cafés opening despite everything, transport running despite everything.

And you understand: the state is its people – their strength, resilience, sincerity, their light.

At bus stops, in traffic jams, in the morning coffee queue, when everyone is slowing down a bit because they had only a few hours of sleep. But everyone knows this and treats those around them with such understanding and warmth. Their fellow Ukrainians, who have held on for 1,238 days.

And each of those days, we overcome together. United – through action, through help, through support, by lifting each other up – and, of course, by sharing a laugh. Sometimes, because we can’t do without it.

And when the ladies from municipal services are planting flowers in the park, you hear them say: “Let that ‘rusnia’ choke — it’s summer here, and everything’s got to be beautiful!”

And every such night is the night of resilience, every such morning is the morning of unity, when life triumphs nonetheless; they reveal who we truly are.

We often hear from partners, “How do your people pull it off? Such fortitude, such endurance, such inner steel…” They say, “It’s a phenomenon of the Ukrainian people.”

Yes, those are kind words to hear. However, today, Ukrainians are holding on not for that, not for the loud accolades directed at us. We are simply people defending our home. And we cannot do otherwise – because we do not want otherwise. We do not want Russia here. That is the whole truth.

And everything Ukraine lives through each day is not routine. It is a great cause, carried by you. The heroes at the front. Those holding the line. Those intercepting missiles and “shaheds” every night. Those extinguishing fires, those clearing rubble. And every citizen who has endured throughout this difficult time.

I thank you. Millions of Ukrainians. Millions of characters, who together form our state. Our nation, our history, and our path from the Baptism of Rus–Ukraine to this very day. To the Day of our Statehood – and to the wisdom of every generation that helps us hold on, believe in ourselves, believe in Ukraine, and believe that we will succeed.

Because Ukrainians were here, Ukrainians are here, Ukrainians will be here.

Happy Statehood Day, fellow citizens!

Happy Day of the Baptism of Rus–Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

Georgia:

Day 230 of uninterrupted #GeorgiaProtests

New, free and fair Parliamentary elections are the only peaceful solution to this ever-deepening crisis.

📷 MOSE

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 4:20 PM

For the 230th consecutive day, Rustaveli avenue is blocked in Tbilisi. Protests continue in 8+ cities across Georgia. 🇬🇪

Our goal: the dissolution of the corrupt, illegitimate, pro-Russian, repressive Georgian Dream government.

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 2:02 PM

1/ On July 15, the EU Foreign Affairs Council will be held. Ahead of the meeting, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas spoke to the media and stated that Georgia is also on the agenda.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 5:10 AM

2/ According to the High Representative, she will present to the foreign ministers a sanctions list of Georgian officials, which includes two judges.

— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 5:10 AM

3/ “We see some serious backsliding in Georgia, and we will discuss what we can do. All options are on the table, including suspension of the visa-free regime and other elements that can make the Georgian government change its calculus”.

— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 5:10 AM

4/ “We have proposed a list, and because we see these sentences, also of young protesters, as really out of proportion, it is clear the judiciary system is also part of the apparatus. There are two judges on the sanctions list”.

— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 5:10 AM

5/ “We will have today a letter sent to Georgia also regarding the visa-free regime. They have certain conditions that they have to comply with, and if these conditions are not met within that deadline, we will have to suspend the visa-free regime” said EU high representative.

— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 5:10 AM

I’m sure that once we get rid of this chokehold that is the Georgian Dream regime, we’ll again be exemplary reformers and democratizers, just like we were in the 2000s.

The Russian regime does not reflect the Georgian public, they are a most successful Trojan horse operation.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 9:18 AM

In today’s episode of the Georgian Dream rushedly extracting money from everyone, including their own:

The financial police has just raided regime-enabler businessman Lasha Papashvili’s business.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 9:23 AM

📢Following the July 14 hearing of jailed journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, international press freedom organizations –
@pressfreedom.bsky.social, @globalfreemedia.bsky.social , and ‪‪ @rsf-interfr.bsky.social – issued a joint statement calling for her release.

🧷 cpj.org/2025/07/pres…

#FreeMzia

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) July 15, 2025 at 7:32 AM

🚨 You can donate and support Mzia Amaglobeli’s fight for #PressFreedom here:

www.gofundme.com/f/help-free-…

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) July 15, 2025 at 7:32 AM

Back to Ukraine.

Russian/Iranian Shahed attack drones expected to reach targets in Ukraine in the next few hours.

Western air defense systems expected to reach Ukraine in the next few months.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 3:58 PM

🔴 Russia has used chemical weapons 9,000 times in Ukraine and is escalating attacks, EU’s Kaja Kallas confirmed, citing Dutch and German intelligence.

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— UNITED24 Media (@united24media.com) July 15, 2025 at 2:08 PM

Birds of Magyar say “Hello there” to Russian invaders👋

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 3:51 AM

Operators of the 8th Special Operations Forces Regiment used strike drones to destroy a modern and rare Russian remote mine-laying engineering system known as “Zemledelie,” which is designed to create minefields in especially critical areas.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 1:29 PM

Ukraine’s HUR reportedly hacked Gaskar Integration, a top drone supplier to Russia, accessing 47TB of drone production data and deleting 10TB of backups in the cyberattack.
www.rbc.ua/rus/news/gur…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM

Kharkiv:

At least 17 explosions were heard in Kharkiv in 20 minutes.

49 days left until… yet another nothing.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 5:21 PM

Putin sends Trump 16 “Fuck You”s from Kharkiv.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 4:37 PM

Kharkiv just now ‼️

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 4:56 PM

Kupyansk, Kharkiv Oblast:

Russian attacks killed two and injured two more in the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv Oblast today.

A russian FPV drone hit homes in Prykolotne, killing a 67-year-old man; two others suffered acute shock.
Later, a 69-year-old man was killed in a separate strike on Kupiansk.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 3:41 PM

Donetsk Oblast:

Over the past 24 hours, russian forces hit eight towns in Donetsk Oblast, killing two and injuring ten civilians. A KAB-250 bomb struck Myrnohrad, and three more hit Kostiantynivka, where drones and artillery were also used. 24 civilian sites damaged — 19 of them homes.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 4:46 AM

Prykolotne, Kharkiv Oblast:

Prykolotne village in the Kharkiv region. Russian drone attack destroyed homes and injured a 68-years old woman.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 12:37 PM

Kyiv:

Air raid sirens sound in Kyiv – Russian-Iranian Shahed attack drones approaching. View from the balcony. Trump pronouncements have changed nothing so far, and I don’t expect they will in future.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 4:16 PM

Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast:

Here’s what Bakhmut in the Donetsk region looks like now. A Russian soldier drives through the destroyed city, showing what the occupying army has done to it.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 12:56 PM

Russia:

Russian media say unidentified drones hit Lipetsk, Rostov, and Voronezh. Yelets saw major activity, reportedly targeting the “Energia” facility, which produces batteries and accumulators, including for missiles.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 12:48 PM

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

🇺🇦 Serving together in the Armed Forces of Ukraine!

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— Vitalis Viva (@vitalisviva.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 7:06 AM

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 1,237: TACO Tuesday!!!!Post + Comments (19)

Excellent Read: Unbridled Joylessness

by Anne Laurie| July 15, 20256:01 pm| 60 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

The expressions of unbridled joylessness I've seen from the usual sectors over the #MetGala are illustrative.
I will keep repeating this: Seize the things which make you joyful. It will work out better for you in the end. Nobody's going to keep you company in your misery. I certainly won't.

— Liberal Librarian, Emotional Support Cuban 📚 🥃 (@liberallibrarian.bsky.social) May 7, 2025 at 2:55 PM

I keep forgetting to find a place to post this. @LiberalLibrarian for the win…

… The theme for this year’s [Met] gala was “Black Dandyism”. The co-chairs, besides the ever-present Anna Wintour, were Sir Lewis Hamilton, Colman Domingo, A$asp Rocky, and Pharrell Williams. The gala celebrated Black fashion and culture, and how Black people persevere in a racist society. And, of course, the Met Gala is also a yearly fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, the only part of the Met which must raise its own yearly budget. Far from a “Bonfire of the Vanities,” the yearly event is what philanthropy is made for. And the gala raises $4 for every $1 spent. Not a bad return on money.

However, on social media one could be forgiven if one were to think from the general reaction that the attendees were fiddling while Rome burned. That they were out of touch elites who should be put to the sword. That the entire event was worthless, pointless, and everyone involved should be marched off to the guillotine. I could imagine mobs of the proletariat storming the venue and violently ripping the attendees’ clothing from their bodies before delivering the coup de grâce.

Did race have something to do with it? Of course it did. When does it not? But I think there is something deeper at work…

The reaction to the Met Gala—and would the reaction have been the same had the theme not centered the Black experience?—led me to this realization: Unbridled joylessness.

Unbridled joylessness is the dark counterpart to unbridled joy. Someone who lives in unbridled joy does not ignore the world and its state. She doesn’t dismiss the suffering which afflicts so much of humanity. But in her joy, in living her best life, she can effect change, because she is not paralyzed in anger and fear. She meets the darkness with light. She meets the sorrow with happiness. She shows that there is a better path the fear and animus. That love is always greater than hate, if you just reach for it and choose it. She comes from a position of hope and agency, where nothing is beyond her powers.

Those who dwell in unbridled joylessness have no hope. The world is black, and so are they. They live in an inky darkness of despair, unable to see any light, unable to see any way out. They are the people in Plato’s Cave, seeing only the flickering, faint shadows of what they perceive to be existence, unaware—and unwilling to become aware—of the light and color outside of the cave…

Unbridled joylessness is more than misery loves company. It’s a position that you don’t root yourself in the darkness, you can’t fix the darkness. But that has it the wrong way. When you are stuck in a problem, subsumed in it, you can see no way out. You can see no way out because your view is myopic. You take the problem as the entirety of reality. When, in fact, any problem is just a minor part of the world’s greater reality. It is only when you step back and look at things in a holistic manner that you can tackle the issue. Unbridled joylessness demands purity of sorrow. But you can’t conquer hatred with hatred, and you can’t assuage sorrow with more sorrow.

The answer to sorrow is joy, not joylessness. Joylessness embeds the sorrow in the soil, letting it take deep root. Joylessness strengthens those roots. But the roots are imaginary. Refuse to give into that joylessness, and they are as loose string.

Our enemies on all fronts want us to feel despairing and despondent. They want us to feel hopeless. They want us to feel joyless. When we give them that, they win. Refuse them. As I say, seize your joy. It is what will get us through these troubled times.

Excellent Read: <em>Unbridled Joylessness</em>Post + Comments (60)

GOP Stupidity Open Thread: He’s Not My Daddy, You Weirdos

by Anne Laurie| July 15, 20254:13 pm| 94 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Politics

I bet most adult children of these guys either got jobs from their family connections or they vote Democratic.

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 1:02 PM

I had a deeply dysfunctional family of origin, and the literal scars to prove it. But the older I get, the more firmly I believe: Anyone over the age of 25 needs to restrict discussion of their ‘daddy issues’ to their bedroom, therapist’s office, or memoirs. Ditto ‘mommy issues’. Talking like this in public is deeply weird, and frankly embarrassing to the rest of us.

And this goes double for the GOP’s Christianist pap — although anyone willing to vote for an obvious, self-satisfied little freak like ‘Paster’ Johnson is probably a lost cause.

Mike Johnson: "God miraculously saved the president's life — I think it's undeniable — and he did it for an obvious purpose. His presidency and his life are the fruits of divine providence. He points that out all the time and he's right to do so."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 15, 2025 at 10:43 AM

===

idk how you’d frame it, that’s for the pros, but i think there’s probably an avenue for “you’re not my fucking father” messaging for dems next year, because this is incredibly weird and unpleasant and inappropriate

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 15, 2025 at 12:38 PM

===

fwiw, i think this also indicates that there’s no actual messaging strategy behind defending the tariffs or the medicaid cuts or anything else, they are all just trying to freelance it, which is *extremely* unwise with midterms coming

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 15, 2025 at 12:49 PM

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this is going to matter because this shit is all corrosively unpopular and the effects are just starting to be felt, it only gets worse from here and they’ve got nothing in the tank for anyone to feel good about

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 15, 2025 at 12:51 PM

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— Garrett (@fluidmotiondesigns.bsky.social) July 15, 2025 at 11:45 AM

GOP Stupidity Open Thread: He’s Not *My* Daddy, You WeirdosPost + Comments (94)

Space Tech Open Thread: No Theft Too Large or Small

by Anne Laurie| July 15, 202512:50 pm| 71 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Space, Trumpery

Leave it where it is.

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— Clean Observer (@hammbear2024.bsky.social) July 14, 2025 at 1:12 PM

The “Big Beautiful Bill” Is Trying To Steal A Space Shuttle [gift link]

The Space Shuttle drips romance. Representing nearly a half-century of human spaceflight—from its conception in 1968, even before the Moon landing, until its retirement in 2011—its design and even its name capture a hope that space travel would one day be commonplace. That before long, the first step to heading to the Moon or Mars would be as workaday as boarding a shuttle for a quick jaunt to low Earth orbit. It proved a beautiful, flawed achievement: Two traumatic catastrophes showed early safety analyses were overgenerous, but the Shuttle did provide the freight and manpower for the first tentative steps toward a permanent spacefaring presence, and all the science that came with it. The craft themselves are retrofuturist works of art: gleaming white above, reverse countershaded beneath, all swooping curves and aerodynamic lines. A stately relic of space-age optimism.

It’s no wonder, upon the program’s retirement, that everyone wanted a Shuttle. Twenty-one museums and institutions vied for the right to house one of the four surviving craft. NASA made its selections based on applicants’ historical significance and plans to preserve and display the Shuttles, and in 2011 the winners were announced. The Intrepid Museum in New York received Enterprise; Kennedy Space Center in Florida got Atlantis; the California Science Center obtained Endeavour; and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Fairfax County, Va., received Discovery.

Many of the cities not selected cried foul, none louder than Houston, home of the Johnson Space Center, which has been “Mission Control” for every single NASA human spaceflight since the Gemini Program. They surely had a beef—I remember being shocked and feeling like New York had somehow gotten away with something when it was picked over Houston—but their efforts to be selected were reportedly kind of half-assed. Still, Texas has never forgotten the snub, and bided its time until the political power to redress it landed in the hands of someone venal and petty enough to exercise it.

Someone like Donald Trump. The “One Big Beautiful Bill,” signed into law on July 4, addresses the old grudge deep, deep within its 900-odd pages. The bill authorizes $85 million to be spent on moving Discovery from Virginia to Texas. It is pork barrel legislation adopted directly from and functionally enacting the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act” introduced earlier this year by Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.

Rather than settling the vehicle’s fate, however, this is just kicking off a nasty battle between the states, and between the Smithsonian and the federal government. The relocation is far from assured, for a number of reasons…

Space Tech Open Thread: No Theft Too Large or SmallPost + Comments (71)

Glidwrith on Tuesday Night Open Thread (Nov 12, 2025 @ 12:53am)

Seonachan on Tuesday Morning Open Thread: One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy (Nov 12, 2025 @ 12:50am)

HopefullyNotCassandra on Tuesday Night Open Thread (Nov 12, 2025 @ 12:47am)

Glidwrith on Tuesday Night Open Thread (Nov 12, 2025 @ 12:42am)

Glidwrith on Tuesday Night Open Thread (Nov 12, 2025 @ 12:38am)

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

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

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

I really should read my own blog.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Second rate reporter says what?

This chaos was totally avoidable.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!