Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

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

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Bark louder, little dog.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

He really is that stupid.

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

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

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

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

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

All hail the time of the bunny!

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

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Palate Cleanser: Oh, Shut the F*ck Up

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I believe Drew Magary, at Defector, speaks for all of us:

Hmm, it appears that the nation’s economy is collapsing at Timberwolves-like speed. That big fat trade war that the U.S. launched a few days ago has quickly proven to have the opposite of its intended(?) effect, with every market plunging and every American’s last dollar being fed into a paper shredder. Let’s see what the man responsible for starting that tariff-off has to say about the crisis at hand:

“These countries are calling us up, kissing my ass… They are dying to make a deal.” The president went on to mock the tariff-deal supplicants, pretending to be them as he pitifully pleaded in a simpering voice: “Please, Sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, Sir.”

Oh, shut the fuck up. Just shut the fuck up. Is that so hard? Why can’t you shut up for just two seconds? What, will you break your fucking arm somehow if you accidentally encounter silence? What kind of old man talks this much? When I’m your age, I’ll say a grand total of eight words a year, and those eight words will be the most profound shit you’ve ever heard. Meanwhile, we got President Dumptruck here getting blasted with the makeup cannon and then taking the stage to spew jabberwocky like this:

Then in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government. Then in 1929, it all came to a very abrupt end with the Great Depression, and it would have never happened if they had stayed with the tariff policy; it would have been a much different story.

None of that is true. But what do you care, Chatty Cathy? All that matters to you is that you keep flapping your big meaty lips until even folks on the West Coast can smell the day-old quarter pounder with cheese on your breath. Every time you open your mouth, you make everything worse. You order toast for breakfast and the hotel’s kitchen suddenly bursts into flames. Donald Sterling is in sheer awe of your anti-powers. Your voice is its own tax…

And the worst part is that all of the meatbags working for you won’t stop talking, either! That means you, Karoline Leavitt. What do you have to say now that even Elon Musk is unhappy with this tariff shit?

These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs. Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue. And you guys should all be very grateful that we have the most transparent administration in history.

Oh, shut the fuck up. The two boys you’re talking about here have a combined age of 131. I’m a boy compared to these zombies, and I got hair in my ears longer than the hair on your head. Just because we have freedom of speech doesn’t mean you need to use it every. Waking. Second. Know what I mean? Of course you don’t. You’re too busy talking on speakerphone while you’re taking a shit…

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This Seems Bad (Open Thread)

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But the TV told me he’s a successful self-made businessman!

New consumer sentiment data just out for April:

Americans’ expectations for how the economy will fare over the next year are now at their worst in 45 years.

Consumer confidence is down 40% since Trump’s inauguration, including a 20% drop among Republicans.

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— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch.ft.com) April 11, 2025 at 10:41 AM

I like how the x-axis label is “Recessions” and “Trump.” We’re all in the blast radius, and it sucks that those of us who didn’t vote for the slurring yam have to suffer damage because of other people’s idiotic choices. But maybe low-info swing voters will take their civic responsibility more seriously next time. (Ha, ha, nope!)

***

This is ominous:

NEW: The Trump admin tells Judge Xinis that her order last night demanding a status report on Abrego Garcia by 9:30 a.m. and a hearing at 1 p.m. is unreasonable.

“Due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch” requires a delay till next Tue/Wed storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us…

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— Joshua J. Friedman (@joshuajfriedman.com) April 11, 2025 at 9:27 AM

Remember, the Trump idiots admitted they shipped Kilmar Abrego Garcia off to a gulag due to an “administrative error,” and he has no criminal history in the U.S. or Venezuela. So here’s the “deference owed to the Executive Branch:” Fuck you, bring him back TODAY.

I’m starting to wonder if Abrego Garcia is still alive.  What a Kafkaesque nightmare.

Open thread.

This Seems Bad (Open Thread)Post + Comments (189)

The Suits (Open Thread)

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My mom was a hardworking cardiac care nurse who wore scrubs and sneakers to work. She had a great deal of contempt for hospital administrators who invented hoops for the staff to jump through that weren’t directly related to improving patient care. She derisively referred to such people as “the suits” and would passive-aggressively undermine and ridicule their initiatives.

For example, once the suits required clinical staff to come up with procedures to support some initiative that Mom thought was stupid and pointless. She complied, but she named the processes she came up with in such a way that the acronyms were near obscenities, such as TERD.

I thought of the suits today when I read about a dumb thing CNN’s designated Trump-suck up Scott Jennings said in a “lighthearted” panel discussion about things they wish they could bring back from “extinction.” From HuffPo:

Jennings, for his part, opted to target American workers who have office jobs.

“America, I’m going to hold your hand while I say this,” he said as he looked directly at the camera. “We’re going back to the office five days a week, and we’re going to wear business attire. We’re no longer dressing like hobos, and we’re no longer going to act like every job is a part-time job.”

“Go back to work, put on a tie, stop whining, let’s get back to business,” he added.

Jennings is an ass, of course, but I think he speaks for a lot of the suits who lost their minds when the pandemic forced a mass experiment in remote office work, which diminished the suits’ power over cubicle kingdoms. Then near-full employment levels gave workers the upper hand, forcing concessions from the suits that rankle to this day.

I suspect this is an underrated factor in CEO-class support for Trump. And if he crashes the economy and causes mass unemployment and plummeting profits, that’ll be a small price to pay for the suits to lord it over a diminished herd of compliant office workers again.

On a somewhat related note, here’s the greatest video ever made about office zooms.

@nikkifoxx A heads up would be nice, Janice. 👏🏼 #zoom #workfromhome #corporate #homeoffice #foryou #fyp #unprepared ♬ original sound – 🦊 Nikki Foxx

Open thread!

The Suits (Open Thread)Post + Comments (373)

Overnight Open Thread: A Simple Kindness

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Hello! I’m your cruise director, Julie McCoy*…

It looks like we could use someone to do a few overnight fill-in posts while Anne Laurie continues to be on the mend. So, I volunteered to add a post before I sign off for the night. Being in the Mountain time zone, it should help the overnight folks have a place to chat.

Mine will be squishable and lighthearted.

 

If you’re good, I might share some pet pics in subsequent posts.

This is a wide-open thread…

 

*and if you get that reference, you are officially old

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War for Ukraine Day 1,141: A Brief Thursday Night Update

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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)

Russia unloaded on Dnipro this morning with a missile strike:

Russia just hit Dnipro with a ballistic missile!

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 9:37 AM

Dnipro right now ‼️

Russia struck the city with a missile

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 10:20 AM

The moment a Russian Iskandar -M quasi-ballistic missile hit the city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine on April 10. According to local information, the Russian missile hit a factory producing household and hygiene products. A 42-year-old man was killed, and three people were injured.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 10:48 AM

Russia has once again struck a civilian target – this time, a factory in Dnipro that produces hygiene products. Essentially, they targeted toilet paper, napkins, and diapers. This is what constitutes a “military target” for Russia. Not tanks, not weapons – napkins.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM

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

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I Hope They Don’t Dawdle in Returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia Open Thread

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Evening Open Thread 2

Including the entire article so I can try to parse the details.  Sharing my thoughts as I read.

So they kinda have to try to bring this man home, but there’s no hard deadline?

Wow, that’s a lot of weasel words in that ruling!

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the Trump administration is required to “facilitate” the release of a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to an El Salvador prison.

The court partly granted and partly rejected an emergency request filed by the Justice Department contesting a judge’s order that Kilmar Abrego Garcia be retrieved from a prison in El Salvador where he was sent on March 15 along with alleged Venezuelan gang members.

“The rule of law won today. Time to bring him home,” Andrew Rossman, one of Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, said in an email.

The decision means the administration does not immediately have to try to return Abrego Garcia to the United States because a judge-imposed deadline has already expired but “should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps,” the unsigned decision said. ⬅️  That’s a lot of weasel words.

The district court judge may have exceeded her authority in saying the government had to not just “facilitate” but also “effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return, the court added. The judge has to “clarify its directive, with due regard to the deference owed to the executive branch in the conduct of foreign affairs,” the court order said.  ⬅️ WTF?

There were no dissenting votes, but the court’s three liberal justices signed onto a separate statement authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying they agreed that “the proper remedy is to provide Abrego Garcia with all the process to which he would have been entitled had he not been unlawfully removed to El Salvador.” ⬅️ Good for her!

But Sotomayor added that she believed Chief Justice John Roberts should not have issued a temporary stay on Monday that meant the deadline for the government to act was missed. ⬅️ Ditto.

Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison on March 15 as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive and heavily contested plan to send alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua there.

Immigration officials allege Abrego Garcia, who entered the United States illegally, is a member of the MS-13 gang but have conceded he should not have been sent to El Salvador, his country of birth, calling it an “administrative error.”  ⬅️  WTF? Administrative error SHRUG??!?!

Abrego Garcia lived in Beltsville, Maryland, with his wife and three children, all of whom have special needs. He came to the United States to escape gang violence, his lawyers say.

In 2019, the government began an effort to deport him, alleging that he was an MS-13 gang member. An immigration judge ruled Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador because there was “a clear probability of future persecution.”

Until he was detained in March, he worked as a sheet metal worker in Maryland and checked in with immigration officials when required, his lawyers said.

Last week, Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered that the government “facilitate and effectuate the return” of Abrego Garcia by 11:59 p.m. on Monday.

After failing to overturn the finding at an appeals court, the Trump administration turned to the Supreme Court.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court papers that judges do not have the power to “seize control over foreign relations” by forcing officials to negotiate with El Salvador. He said the Trump administration has guaranteed that no one deported to the prison in El Salvador will be tortured.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers described his removal to El Salvador as a “Kafka-esque mistake,” saying the Salvadoran government was not actively seeking his extradition and that he had never been charged with a crime.

His case is the latest high-profile legal battle arising from President Donald Trump’s attempt to exert broad presidential power to deport immigrants, often leading to claims that their rights have been violated.

A Justice Department lawyer in the case was placed on administrative leave because of comments he made in court when he told the judge he was “frustrated” that he could not answer some of her questions.  ⬅️ What is this about?

In another case, the Supreme Court on Monday blocked a ruling by a federal judge that prevented Venezuelans being deported under a rarely invoked law called the Alien Enemies Act.  ⬅️ Ugh.

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