Balloon Juice - Open Threads Archives

No Kings – BarcaChicago – Chicago!

by WaterGirl| October 19, 20255:45 pm| 17 Comments

This post is in: No Kings Oct 18, 2025, Open Threads

Hi there from Chicago! I go by ChicagoBarca on BJ and I was at the protest today – because I was in the midst of it I can’t say how big a crowd it was but it must have been huge because it took us a couple hours to get out of the park where the speakers were and walk around our marching route.

A fantastic day of solidarity and defiance in Chicago, and some kickass speakers culminating with JB Pritzker himself – I think he is one of the strongest Democratic leaders we have and really fired us up with his moral clarity.

Also plenty of Dem elected on all levels, from Senator Durbin to Alders. Here are some pics and short videos, not sure if they convey the huge size of the crowd but I did catch some funny and/or powerful signs. As we like to say around here: Chinga La Migra!

It was HUGE and took hours to march through our route downtown because of the size of the crowd.

No Kings – BarcaChicago – Chicago!Post + Comments (17)

Sunday Open Thread: Neutering Opus Dei

by Anne Laurie| October 19, 20254:40 pm| 103 Comments

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

BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV is set to effectively disband Opus Dei in the coming weeks.
This would be the most sweeping internal reform of his pontificate — and a dramatic continuation of Pope Francis’s legacy.

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— Christopher Hale (@christopherjhale.bsky.social) October 16, 2025 at 5:15 PM

*If* Pope Leo can carry this through — there’s an immense institutional weight, not just within the Roman Catholic Church, that will resist — he’ll be the most impactful pope since John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council. Christopher Hale describes himself as “Proud Tennessean. ‘20 Democratic Nominee for US Congress. DNC Delegate. Obama-Biden White House & campaign alum. Former nonprofit exec. Pope Leo tweeted about me once.” “Pope Leo Set To Break Up Opus Dei”:

A report from InfoVaticana — a Spanish outlet with close Opus Dei ties — claims that Pope Leo XIV is on the verge of approving new statutes that would effectively dismantle Opus Dei as it exists today.

In Rome and at Opus Dei’s headquarters, no one denies that the Holy See’s intervention is imminent.

Two independent sources tell Letters from Leo that the text of the reforms is finalized and its promulgation is only weeks away.

According to the leaks, the changes would “mean the definitive break of the original structure” that St. Josemaría Escrivá envisioned for the organization.

Three Entities Under the New Statutes
The draft statutes would split Opus Dei into three distinct parts:

Clerical Prelature: a significantly reduced personal prelature comprising only Opus Dei’s own incardinated priests, in line with new canon law norms.

Priestly Society of the Holy Cross: a retooled association to integrate diocesan clergy who wish to share in Opus Dei’s spiritual charism (formerly these priests were loosely affiliated with the prelature)

Lay Faithful Association: an independent public association for all lay members — numeraries, associates, supernumeraries, and cooperators — who until now were under the prelature’s umbrella…

show full post on front page

This is very hopeful. Opus Dei is the crazy right wing of the Catholic Church that is only 100 years old and includes all of our nutty Supreme Court Catholics.

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— JCBlue88 (@jcblue88.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM

and JD Vance.

— "Do Not Obey In Advance" and "Don't give into the Lies" (@pamdess.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 6:13 PM

… The leaked information given to InfoVaticana suggests this would amount to a definitive end of the “unity of spirit and government” central to St José María’s vision. Quoting unnamed Vatican and Opus Dei sources, InfoVaticana claims that the changes reflect a desire to “restore order” after decades in which Opus Dei had allegedly acted like “a Church within the Church.”

Within Rome, the Holy See is said to frame the reform as a technical adjustment to the 2022 motu proprio Ad charisma tuendum and the revised Code of Canon Law. But observers close to the Vatican reportedly see the move as a decisive shift, bringing Opus Dei into line with new canonical norms and curbing its influence in the Curia and beyond.

Inside Opus Dei itself, InfoVaticana describes an atmosphere of silence and unease. Members are said to have been instructed not to comment until the decree is officially published, though some are allegedly expressing private concern that the reform changes “the very essence” of the institution. Others, according to InfoVaticana, interpret the development as a test of fidelity and maturity, while admitting that “Opus Dei as we knew it will disappear.”

In response, the Opus Dei Communications Office issued a brief unsigned statement on 11 October, describing InfoVaticana’s article as “an opinion piece based on anonymous sources and signed with a pseudonym.” The statement confirmed that a proposal to reform the statutes was submitted to the Holy See in June but insisted there were “no new developments.” It also expressed regret that “unverified rumours” had caused concern among members.

If confirmed, the alleged reform would mark the most significant transformation in Opus Dei’s history since it became a personal prelature in 1982.

heartbroken to learn the pope sympathizes with the poor. how can i continue to believe in god

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— derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 1:43 PM

Sunday Open Thread: Neutering Opus DeiPost + Comments (103)

No Kings – Compilation – PA, TX, VA, TN, SC, FL

by WaterGirl| October 19, 202512:48 pm| 32 Comments

This post is in: No Kings Oct 18, 2025, Open Threads

from Subcommandante Yakbreath

Here are three images from this morning’s No Kings Rally in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

There was a large turnout, especially for around here; almost a dozen inflatable folks; and really good speakers.

from Diceros bicornis

Our photo for the No Kings on October 18 collection. BJ mostly-lurker Diceros bicornis shows as Miss Liberty in the center of the group

from Belafon

Here’s my sign for the rally in Rockwall, TX this morning:

from Another Scott

Market Square in Alexandria, Virginia

I just got back from No Kings #2 at Market Square in Alexandria, Virginia. Another great turnout, everyone was fired up!

My favorite sign was probably the MTGA one – Make Trump Go Away.

from HinTN

We had a good turnout on Winchester, TN, the county seat for Franklin County. I arrived late with a box of 24 little American flags. I took the first picture from across the street and then walked down the line handing them out. It was a lovely Autumn day and everyone was having a good time. Lots of honking cars!

The first picture was of the crowd listening to the Democratic candidate running to represent our 4th district in Congress.

Mrscoachb

Solavita, Fl

Nelson

DeLand Florida

Downtown DeLand – kind of difficult to get a panoramic view. No counter protestors and the only police presence was a patrol car that keep circling and asking the protestors to stay on the sidewalks.

Steve the ultimate lurker

Myrtle Beach

Got out of Denver, baby for a visit to Myrtle Beach, SC. Dropped in to their rally. Seemed the typical demographics as previous (Denver) rallies. Lots of horn honking/thumbs up(s). A few with other points of view.

Encouraging!

In the park. Speakers haven’t started yet. 1:30 local

CHAPLIN MEMORIAL PARKOCTOBER 18, 2025

Two block stretch of Kings(ironic) Highway, 14th to 16th ave

No Kings – Compilation – PA, TX, VA, TN, SC, FLPost + Comments (32)

Sunday Morning Open Thread

by Betty Cracker| October 19, 20258:30 am| 294 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

Baud alerted us to a fascinating story in the overnight thread: Thieves broke into the Louvre and stole nine items of “incalculable value,” allegedly what remains of the French crown jewels. BBC live feed here.

We are now getting more details about how the robbery unfolded.

The French Interior Ministry says that at around 09:30 local time (08:30 BST) a number of individuals got into the Apollo Gallery via a window, which they broke.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez says three or four thieves involved used a goods lift on a truck outside the building.

Once inside, the thieves stole jewels that were in display cases and then left on motorbikes. Nunez says the robbery took seven minutes.

A precise list of what was stolen is being drawn up.

Beyond their commercial value, the ministry says the items have an incalculable historical and cultural value.

Damn! It sucks that it happened at all, but personally, I’m glad the thieves decided to take valuable rocks rather than masterpieces painted by humans like da Vinci, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, etc.

***

The president posted an AI slop video that depicts him wearing a crown and flying a fighter jet that dumps runny shit all over American cities. No, really, that happened.

Trump posts AI video showing him literally dumping shit on America

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 18, 2025 at 10:36 PM

Probably no reporters will ask Mike Johnson and John Thune about that because it’s just normal now, government by toxic 4chan weirdos. Millions of Americans inflicted a narcissistic injury on Trump by taking to the streets, so it’s our fault, really.

***

Republicans say we’re too broke to subsidize healthcare for Americans, but somehow they found enough change in the sofa cushions to give Kristi Noem and her psycho boyfriend a pair of Gulfstreams:

When government service becomes a path to luxury and riches it ceases to be “service.” Noem, like all Trump’s top officials is looting Treasury and stealing from taxpayers. Trump and his minions are amassing staggering wealth and living like royalty at taxpayer expense. Gift Article.

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— Predictive Stupidity (@onemoney.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 1:15 PM

I believe Noem and the abusive side-piece are also living in a palatial house at government expense too. Y’all, we can’t go on this way.

Open thread!

Sunday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (294)

War for Ukraine Day 1,332: A Brief Saturday Night Update

by Adam L Silverman| October 18, 20259:15 pm| 34 Comments

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

A quick housekeeping note: Apparently whenever there is a protest, someone asks if my posts about safety while protesting can get reposted. I have no idea if that happened for today’s protests. I know it happened for the last one several months ago because someone emailed me to thank me for reposting it. Unfortunately, I HAD NOT REPOSTED IT!!!!! If you want something I’ve previously posted reposted, please email me and ask. DO NOT ASK OTHER FRONT PAGERS!!! IT IS NOT THEIR’S TO REPOST!!!! I don’t repost other front pagers’s posts, I don’t even read them or comment on them, please DO NOT ASK THEM TO REPOST MY POSTS!!!!

I know a lot of you are either still at protests or at post protest events or are resting post protest, so I’m just going to run through the basics tonight.

There is no daily address from President Zelenskyy posted today. I expect this is because he’s traveling back to Ukraine.

Russian forces launched a record 268 guided aerial bombs against Ukrainian positions and adjacent areas on October 17.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 5:05 AM

The plot, in DC, thins:

The most interesting part of the article is here:

“In the call between Trump and Putin, the Russian leader suggested he would be willing surrender parts of two other regions of Ukraine he has partly conquered, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, in exchange for full control of Donetsk, the officials said”

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 4:48 PM

This, folks, is how badly informed public gets played. Parts of the occupied parts? Which parts exactly? All of them? Of course not. He’d never give up the land corridor to Crimea.

So he’s offering fragments of fragments likely areas he can’t hold or doesn’t care about, small and insignificant.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 4:48 PM

It’s also highly likely that Trump’s team has once again misinterpreted everything, and what Putin means by ‘territorial concessions’ in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is simply that he won’t attempt to occupy the rest of them. In doing so, he implies he would take the remainder of Donetsk

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 7:03 PM

region while conceding nothing.
It is his usual suggestion.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 7:03 PM

Russia’s Direct Investment Fund head Kirill Dmitriev said a project to build a tunnel connecting Russia and the US was launched six months ago.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 4:43 AM

Did anyone notify the US prior to Friday?

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Georgia:

Police asked the protesters to unblock the avenue, and they did. Now they greet oncoming traffic with Georgian and EU flags, flashlights, chants, and whistles.

Day 325 of uninterrupted, nationwide protests in Georgia.

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 1:06 PM

🚨Demonstrators on Rustaveli Ave briefly blocked the road but reopened it after a warning from the MIA.
The MIA said the road was “artificially blocked”. Under new restrictive laws, blocking roads can now lead to 15 days of arrest.

#GeorgiaProtests
Day 325

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 1:27 PM

“Til the end!”

Protesters haven’t tried to block the avenue again. Passersby honk in support — including buses and even Yandex Taxi drivers.

Day 325 of uninterrupted protests in 8+ cities across Georgia. 🇬🇪

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 1:33 PM

With more and more protesters arriving, Rustaveli Avenue is blocked again for the night.

Day 325 of uninterrupted, nationwide #GeorgiaProtests.

📷 Lika Zakashvili

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 2:10 PM

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 5:41 PM

We might not be graced with capable social or financial elites, but at least we endure. Someday, it will pay off. Day 325 of #GeorgiaProtests, despite threats to imprison everyone.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 12:50 PM

GD has found a new way to terrorize peaceful protesters in Georgia.

Covering your face at a protest = 15 days in jail, 2 years for repeat “offenses.” Police now wait on nearby streets, searching and confiscating masks and scarves.

At least 3 people stopped tonight. Day 325 of protests.

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 3:20 PM

Up to 30 policemen successfully confiscated a face mask from a peaceful protester girl at #GeorgiaProtests

What an effective state, we need some sort of a Guinness world record in effective stratecraft.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 3:14 PM

Mariam Mekantsishvili will be released on bail.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 4:48 AM

Mariam is out on bail. Here, she’s hugging her daughter. 🥺

📷 Mo Se

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 5:19 PM

The video of their reunion just killed me. 😭

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 5:28 PM

A combined USD 7 million in cash have been confiscated from ex-PM Garibashvili, ex-State Security Head Liluashvili, ex-Prosecutor General Partskhaladze; in addition to jewelry, paintings, etc.

There are lots of emergency briefings this evening, so maybe they’ll be jailed too.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 9:47 AM

🚨Georgia’s State Security Service reports seizing over $7M in cash, jewelry, and luxury items from the homes of ex–PM Irakli Gharibashvili, the brother of former SSG head Grigol Liluashvili, and six others.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 9:39 AM

The regime jailed Davit Giunashvili, a 70-year-old internally displaced person (IDP) from the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region. He still works on construction, because neither retirement, nor an IDP status are sufficient to survive in Georgia.

Look at his “crime” on October 4👇🏻

#TerrorinGeorgia

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 11:38 AM

‪Classic Soros-funded, paid foreign agent and a CIA plotter, isn’t he? ‬

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 11:40 AM

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 11:56 AM

One of the most recent political prisoners in Georgia — Iuri Lomidze.

“I’ve served my country all my life. I put on a uniform at 16. I took it off to help raise children… At the protest, I even helped a policeman — pulled him out and handed him to special forces,” he said in court today.

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 12:16 PM

Austria and the EU:

Austria changed its position and will support the EU’s 19th sanctions package against Russia on Monday, removing key obstacle to approval, Reuters reports.
www.reuters.com/world/europe…

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 1:35 PM

Back to Ukraine.

I hope it is clear that no one is more tired of this war than Ukrainians are, and no one wants it to end more.

Being attacked, especially by a country that razes our cities, abducts our children, and leaves torture chambers and mass graves everywhere it occupies, even briefly,

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 6:00 AM

leaves us no choice but to defend ourselves. For us, this is a matter of survival.

That is why pressure must be on Russia, the aggressor who can stop attacking us at any moment of any day. Not on Ukraine, the victim who cannot stop defending, because that means death.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 6:00 AM

Ukraine must create a grand strategy and be ready to repel aggression at any moment, HUR chief Kyrylo Budanov said, stressing the country needs to transition from a resource-based economy to high value-added sectors and develop a modern defense industry.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 8:54 AM

Chunky grenade dropped on Russian positions. t.me/brigada92_wa…

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 6:35 PM

An inside look at the work of the Mi-8 crew hunting Russian drones.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 5:23 AM

Ukraine building fortifications around energy facilities that withstand strikes from 15 Shaheds with 90kg warheads hitting the same spot, says Deputy PM Kuleba. Government created Coordination Headquarters to speed up construction.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 12:25 PM

Russia lost at least 100,000 troops killed since January 2025 while capturing only 0.4 percent of Ukrainian territory, with total losses reaching 984,000 to 1.4 million troops including 190,000 to 480,000 killed, The Economist reports.
www.economist.com/interactive/…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 12:10 PM

From The Economist:

WAS IT THE Tomahawks? The deadly cruise missiles are probably one reason Vladimir Putin spoke to Donald Trump on October 16th and agreed to meet him in Budapest in the coming weeks to talk about a ceasefire in Ukraine. Mr Trump claims to have told the Russian leader during their call: “Would you mind if I gave a couple of thousand Tomahawks to your opposition?” But the next day, meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, he seemed to backpedal.

Regardless of whether and when America decides to supply Ukraine with the powerful missiles, Mr Putin has deeper reasons to worry. According to an analysis by The Economist, it is paying a huge cost in return for minimal gains on the battlefield.

Russia’s summer offensive is winding down. Many in the West focus on the grinding progress its troops have made, and the shortage of Ukrainian manpower it has exposed. But that is to look down the telescope from the wrong end. More striking is how little territory Russia has taken in its third and largest offensive; and the terrible cost it has paid in men and materiel. Unless something dramatic changes, Vladimir Putin will be unable to win the war on the battlefield. The fact that he nevertheless continues to try regardless suggests that he is out of ideas.

Exactly how poorly Russian forces have fared is impossible to tell. But data from satellites and shifts in areas of control suggest when the fighting is intensifying, and that permits a rough guess. This lines up well with more than 200 credible estimates of casualties from Western governments and independent researchers. Combining these data allows The Economist to estimate Russian losses and track them over time.

Our meta-estimate suggests that, from the beginning of the full-scale invasion to January of this year, Russian casualties amounted to 640,000–877,000 soldiers, of whom 137,000–228,000 have died. By October 13th, those totals had risen by almost 60%, to 984,000–1,438,000 casualties, including 190,000–480,000 dead.

Russia’s losses have not won a commensurate gain in territory. Since the battle lines stabilised after Ukraine’s first counteroffensive ended in October 2022, they have barely moved. No large city has changed hands. At the pace of the past 30 days, seizing what remains of the four regions Mr Putin already claims—Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia—would take until June 2030. (For Russia to occupy all of Ukraine would require a further 103 years.)

Moreover, a sudden collapse in Ukraine’s defensive lines is unlikely given how the two armies are fighting the war. Constant drone surveillance, coupled with long-range precision weaponry, has made massing forces near the front suicidal. Incremental gains remain possible—though only at enormous cost—by sending small groups of men into the “kill zone” to stake out forward positions. It is hard to breach Ukrainian lines. Should a breach happen, the advance of massed forces and equipment needed to exploit it is extremely difficult.

Perhaps that is why this summer’s fighting appears to have been much less deadly for Ukraine than for Russia. There is too little data for us to generate a meta-estimate of the cost to Ukraine. However, UALosses, a website, has catalogued 77,403 deaths among Ukrainian soldiers since the full-scale invasion began (it reckons a further 77,842 are missing in action). By date of death, there has been a marked downward trend since last autumn, with 8,668 fatalities recorded this year. Crucially, that is a lower bound, and although independent investigations have confirmed the fate of soldiers in the list, no one knows how many are missing from that count. Moreover, recent deaths are less likely to be in the database, as recording them takes time (some will never be included). But even if the true number is twice the tally, the figures would imply a ratio this year of roughly five Russian soldiers killed for every Ukrainian.

At such rates, manpower may soon become a more serious constraint for Russia than for Ukraine. When the offensive began, Russians were lured with generous sign-on bonuses, and Mr Putin’s recruitment drive outpaced Ukraine’s by 10,000-15,000 per month. But Russia’s heavy casualties this summer probably nullified that advantage.

Absolutely Open Thread (Bonus Travellin’ Cat Tale)

by Anne Laurie| October 18, 20255:53 pm| 56 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads

For all your not-#NoKings related weekend comments…

Bonus:

100 miles into road trip, family realizes their cat is on top of their van. The Denardo family had already driven for 2 hours when they stopped for gas, and saw that Ray Ray the cat had come with them.
That’s a badass cat.
🎁 article 👇🏼

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— 🇺🇸 Pithy Packy 🇳🇱 (@pithypacky.bsky.social) October 15, 2025 at 12:40 PM

The photos at the link are worth the click — Ray Ray seems rather more perturbed about his new harness, at first, than he does about enjoying Times Square. Gift link:

Tony Denardo plans to run a marathon in every state — which is why his family set out on a road trip to Keene, New Hampshire, late last month. The Denardos brought their youngest child and three of her friends with them, and decided to continue on to New York City after the race.

They left their home in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, early in the morning on Sept. 26, and drove east, stopping for gas and a bathroom break after about 100 miles.

Tony got out of the van, and when he looked up, he saw the family’s 8-year-old cat, Ray Ray, perched atop the roof. Laughing and completely floored, Tony called to his wife, Margaret, to come see for herself.

“All these things are going through my head. The roads that we’ve traveled on, the semitrucks that we’ve passed, the hills, the stop signs, everything. How did this cat stay on there?” Margaret said. “And he was completely unfazed. He’s stretching like he just got up from a nap.”…

The family found a Petco and stocked up on the supplies Ray Ray would need for a week away, including a harness, leash and a cat backpack so they could easily take him along while sightseeing.

Ray Ray seemed to adjust quickly to being a traveling cat, hopping in and out of the backpack and walking on a leash around tourist attractions in New England and New York.

He even crossed the finish line of the marathon in Tony’s arms. The story was first reported by a local Pennsylvania publication, the Leader Times…

This isn’t Ray Ray’s first daring escapade — though it is his longest. He has always loved cars, and the Denardo family first found him as a stray kitten under the same van he would one day ride on top of for more than 100 miles. Once he secretly stowed away with Margaret’s parents for a trip to the car wash — thankfully inside the car that time…

“He’s always been extremely friendly,” Margaret said, explaining he was happy to accept pets and belly rubs from strangers on the trip. “He just wants love.”

And, apparently, a little adventure.

Absolutely Open Thread (Bonus Travellin’ Cat Tale)Post + Comments (56)

No Kings – JR Orlando lurker – Orlando!

by WaterGirl| October 18, 20254:00 pm| 50 Comments

This post is in: No Kings Oct 18, 2025, Open Threads

JR from Orlando here. I am a lurker on the site.

Our report on the Orlando protest:

My wife and I attended the protest at City Hall with some friends. This was by far the largest protest of the year with really large crowd. The protest was in the morning because we also have the Orlando Pride Parade scheduled on the same day. We march in the parade every year so today is going to be a long day but so worth it.

Very well organized protest with multiple speakers and enthusiastic crowd. Some really clever, touching, entertaining signs. As many have pointed out, the crowd was vocal but peaceful. Lots of young people including some kids. One young girl led the crowd in pro-democracy chants for a while and received very enthusiastic and vocal response.

Lots of passing cars honked in support. Unlike the last protest, I did not see any MAGA counter protesters or trolls trying to invade the crowd. We left after 1.5 hours to get ready for the Pride parade. We saw a large group protesters holding up signs with loud chanting in an impromptu march from City Hall to Lake Eola. People with signs were all over downtown. Signs are not allowed in the parade area but plenty of people were walking around wearing protest t-shirts.

Thanks and Regards

(Note from WG: love the lobster that is boiling mad about the gaslighting!)