Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The National Guard is not Batman.

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

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Be a wild strawberry.

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

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

The revolution will be supervised.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

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

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Giving up is unforgivable.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

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War for Ukraine Day 1,185: Russia Continues It’s Combo Drone & Missile Attacks

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A painting by NEIVANMADE> In the center of the painting is a green swing set. It is over a targeting reticle with the red dot dirctly under the swing. Behind it on both the left and right are residential apartment buildings and trees. Above the swing set is an incoming Russian missile. It is red with a yellow "Z" symbol on it. To it's left if the caption "Russian "Ceasefire" in red. Below the reticle, in black, is Stop Child Killers!

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Last night Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom asked:

According to Anders Puck Nielsen the whole of the War In Ukraine is devoted to the almost ” mystical ” idea of Russia as a Great Power. I can’t remember correctly, but I think you said something like that. You have on multiple occasions, said that, the Murder Goblin is NOT insane, that he has constructed a reality  within which all his actions make perfect sense. I hope I have that right. I would really like to know your thoughts on this.

Yes, I have written about this here before. Russian history, as taught within Russia is heavily mythologized. But that’s nothing new. Catherine the Great commissioned a history of Russian that was basically an attempt to present a duchy with delusions of grandeur as a prosperous and powerful empire. Putin has added to this body of work himself. At some point between 2010 and 2022 he seems to have stopped being able to discriminate between the actual history of Russia and the heavily mythologized version. As a result he became high on his own supply. Putin’s decisions make sense within this heavily mythologized and historically inaccurate context. It is a type of the bounded rationality that Max Weber wrote about a hundred years or so ago.

Yesterday, Trump wrote:

👀

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 6:20 AM

The something big was not a truce, ceasefire, armistice or anything else because Putin doesn’t want any of those, unless he can use them to his advantage on the battlefield. Rather, it led to more Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian civilian targets.

Air raid alerts are up for all of north central, northeast, and eastern Ukraine at 10:40 PM EDT/5:40 AM local time in Ukraine. Two hours ago it was even worse:

Our weekend goes like this:

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 8:12 PM

More on this after the jump.

The second part of the thousand for a thousand POW swap did occur today. 307 more Ukrainian POWs were returned home.

307 more Ukrainian defenders are back home. This is the second day of the “1000 for 1000” exchange operation❤️‍🩹🇺🇦

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 7:29 AM

🇺🇦 307 Ukrainian defenders have returned home. Today is the second day of the 1,000-for-1,000 exchange. Over these two days, 697 Ukrainians, military and civilians, have already been returned.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 6:58 AM

This was the whole point of the Russians choosing the eye-catching “1,000 for 1,000” narrative.

In truth, the Russians are short of troops, and need these ones back so they can throw them back in the meatgrinder.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 12:45 PM

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

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Open Thread: Concerning Senator Fetterman

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Shame works: "Fetterman, Often Absent From Senate, Says He Has Been Shamed Into Returning"

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— Lindsay Beyerstein (@beyerstein.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 8:18 AM

I was a Fetterman supporter in 2022, which I can’t honestly say I regret, because he’s not wrong about his illness being weaponized. Not least by the FTFNYTimes [gift link]:

… [U]nder intense scrutiny about his mental health and his ability to function in his job, Mr. Fetterman has been in damage control mode, attending hearings and votes that he had been routinely skipping over the past year. His colleagues, some of whom have privately described him as absent from the Senate and troubled when he is there, are trying to be supportive…

Mr. Fetterman does not enjoy participating in these hearings that he has sat through in recent weeks as he seeks to prove that he is capable of performing the job he was elected to do until 2028. In fact, at a critical moment for the country, he appears to have little interest in the day-to-day work of serving in the United States Senate.

In an interview, Mr. Fetterman, who represents 13 million people, said he felt he had been unfairly shamed into fulfilling senatorial duties, such as participating in committee work and casting procedural votes on the floor, dismissing them as a “performative” waste of time.

Instead, he said he was “showing up because people in the media have weaponized” his absenteeism on Capitol Hill to portray him as mentally unfit, when in fact it is a product of a decision to spend more time at home and less on the mundane tasks of being a senator.

“My doctor warned years ago: After it’s public that you are getting help for depression, people will weaponize that,” Mr. Fetterman said in his office this week. “Simple things are turned. That’s exactly what happened.”…

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Open Thread: Concerning Senator FettermanPost + Comments (71)

Guerilla Politicking (Open Thread)

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An item for the “what we can do now” file — I think direct actions in public by ordinary citizens are good for morale and potentially effective as an opposition tool:

HE GETS BRIBES
WE GET SCREWED

Yesterday on the 94

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— LOLGOP (@thefarce.org) May 24, 2025 at 7:35 AM

Bonus points for the simple language.

Looking forward to the June 14th “No Kings” protests. (You can find one near you here.)

We talked about what could be called “guerilla politicking” a little the other day. I’m currently putting together a flyer on the impact of Trump regime cuts to the NIH and will include specific data about funding yanked from the research university whose personnel are treating me and thousands of others at a facility I visit every few weeks. Will post flyers in parking garage stairwells and elevators, restroom stalls and anywhere else I can find that seems reasonable.

Saw an article the other day related to this topic. Can’t remember where I read it or who wrote it, but the gist was that several factors combined to disconnect people from meat space social affiliations that used to influence how they perceive politics. Factors the writer cited include decreasing union membership, decline in church attendance, more time spent on devices, enforced isolation of the peak COVID era, etc.

The author suggested that county-level party organizations and other groups that are aligned politically with Democrats should do more not-overtly-political outreach, like hold potlucks and sponsor food banks, etc., to create/strengthen social bonds. Have block parties even. I’ve heard worse ideas.

***

It’s a hot day (mid-90s) here, and a while ago, a caravan of kayaks passed by. The river is super shallow right now because we had a drought after the flood, and adults and children were jumping out of their vessels to cool off in the water.

This morning, I saw an 11-foot alligator in about that same spot. I thought about yelling from the porch: “There’s huge gators in there, bro!” But they were far off and noisy and would have probably dismissed me as a nutty old swamp witch if they did hear me. So I said nothing.

Hmm. Maybe I should post a “There’s huge gators in there, bro!” flyer on the mile marker in the river and at the nearby boat launches. The dangers are not dissimilar.

Open thread!

Guerilla Politicking (Open Thread)Post + Comments (65)

A Lot of Good People Out There, Here’s One of Them

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Stepping into TaMara’s lane for a moment – while she’s hard at work editing her book – here’s a feel good story shared by hitchhiker.

South Whidbey man runs old-age home for dogs

Story by Kate Poss

There’s a whole lotta four-legged good juju at Ron Kerrigan’s home, which is a former Langley parson’s dwelling that was moved to Clinton years ago.

He shares his home with old dogs whose owners can no longer care for them, boards them for Dogs on Deployment and houses them for friends who can’t keep dogs where they live.

During an interview on Kerrigan’s porch, Qehua, Loki, Qoqo and Fenrir warmed themselves in the sun and occasionally asked for ear scratches. Kerrigan currently has five dogs staying with him — he’s had up to 10 at times; one of the newest is Qehua.

Kerrigan has kept a book, called the “No More Dogs” chronicle, which details the 69 dogs he’s adopted, fostered, boarded through Dogs On Deployment and had as guests “when friends go to Hawaii and don’t think to take me along,” he wrote in an email. Dogs on Deployment is a nonprofit providing a network of volunteers who care for the dogs while their owners are away serving the country. The numbered dogs do not include all the fosters and guest dogs, who are indicated by alphabet letters – all 26 – and now he uses the Greek alphabet to document additional dogs.

Kerrigan’s long-time friend Ela winters in Maui and volunteers at the Maui Humane Society walking dogs. Late last year, Ela stopped by to walk a blind dog, only to discover the dog was being walked by a friend. But another dog waited for a walk. Ela took one look and felt it was the reincarnated spirit of her beloved dog Stella who was killed 30 years ago when she lived in Alaska.

Click the link above to read the whole thing.

So many good people out there.  I try to remember that, especially now with so much ugliness on display right now.

A Lot of Good People Out There, Here’s One of ThemPost + Comments (17)

Saturday Morning Open Thread

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Saturday Morning Open Thread 43

(Jack Ohman via Gocomic.com)

I'm giving you a mission for this Memorial Day holiday weekend. I want you to talk to two people—friends, neighbors, cookout attendees—about why Trump's proposed budget would be a disaster for American kids.
We owe the next generation every chance, and this isn't it.

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— Hillary Rodham Clinton (@hillaryclinton.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 10:50 AM


 

All while he is promising, explicitly most of the time, to harm them.

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— Clean Observer (@hammbear2024.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 10:19 PM

If I have a problem with the current democratic establishment discourse vis-a-vis Trump and the issues right now, it's the complete whitewashing of history before Nixon, and really probably Raegan.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 10:36 AM

You are welcome to disagree with me here, but I fundamentally don't view Trumpism as attempting to bring about an autocratic fascist state. I view it as a reactionary movement designed to move us back to the Gilded Age.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 10:36 AM

But regardless of what you think about Trump, Trumpism, whether it's fascist or not, you really need to be aware that the movement itself is -incredibly- American, and grows out of all the messy history of the United States.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 10:36 AM

Make that the last 150.
Just as we remember the burning of the White House and the British don't, the Mexicans remember Pershing coming for Pancho Villa and we don't

— rebeccalynn2025.bsky.social (@rebeccalynn2025.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 11:05 AM

Saturday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (103)

Late Night Open Thread

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Seems appropriate. She is covering the Biggest Loser.

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— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM


 

i continue to think that one of the lasting images that will dog this administration for the next four years is likely to come from this parade

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) May 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM


====

we talked about this on a recent NORMAL MEN episode, but keep in mind that planning for the inauguration takes several months, all of this has been extremely rushed and will have predictable consequences

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) May 23, 2025 at 3:50 PM


====

like, i'm sure city planners, the parks department, and the corps of engineers are doing everything they can to avoid disaster, but large-scale event planning like this is very complicated and rushing things means missing things

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) May 23, 2025 at 3:53 PM


=

I really, really don't think they've thought this one through.
A parade in D.C.? Where literally 90% of the city hates your fucking guts?

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 3:30 PM


====

This has never happened before. MAGA never shows up. Why do you think they had a private swearing in? It's because the crowd was going to be tiny.
There were all the D.C. area "MAGA" parties after Trump got into office and they were tiny and humiliating.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM

=====

they're talking about something like 6K-7K military personnel vs. what could potentially be a quarter million or more protestors

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) May 23, 2025 at 3:33 PM


=====

The protestors will be everywhere but DC. Deliberately not having any there as part of No Kings.

— Sarah Birnbaum (@sarahvb.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 3:43 PM

Late Night Open ThreadPost + Comments (105)

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

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

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

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

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

They tried to erase them.
Ukraine brings them back.

May every waiting family get their moment too.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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