Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

No one could have predicted…

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

The words do not have to be perfect.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

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

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

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Sad News to Share about commenter evap

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Medium Cool – Equilibrium!

I am sad to say that we have lost another member of our Balloon Juice community.

Her husband, Colm, wrote to let me know that we have lost evap.  She died in February, one year after being diagnosed.  My hat is off to her.  She was so brave as she faced what she called “this fucking disease”.

Like all the beloved BJ peeps we have lost, evap was smart and interesting and kind.   She was also quite accomplished, beloved, and successful in her life out in the world, as you’ll see if you click any of the links below.

evap had written to us in August to let us know that she had been diagnosed with ALS.

This is Vicki, evap on balloon juice.   I have been contributing monthly for quite a while and I just canceled that and will be making a larger one time donation to the blog.  In February, I was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).  It’s a horrible disease with no treatment or cure and my disease is progressing quite rapidly. I’m hoping to stay alive Long enough to vote for Harris.   Luckily, I have a wonderful family who are taking good care of me.

I just wanted to say how much balloon juice has meant to me over the years.  I think I started reading in 2004 and I check in every day although I don’t post much. I would not have survived the 2016 election without you guys.

I don’t want to out myself on the blog, but I would be curious to know if anyone reading it has any experience with ALS. If you could think of way to ask that question I would be curious to see what people say. But no big deal if you don’t want to do that.

Thanks for everything you do to keep people sane, for targeted fundraising,  and for the animals.

So I put up this post, and many of you responded with helpful information, which she very much appreciated.

Balloon Juice Hive Mind Needed

Meet evap, aka Vicki Powers.

evap was clearly a light in the world, not just here with us.

The Loss of a Dear Friend and Colleague, Vicki Powers

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Obituary

Comments for the family may be left here.

*****

If you like, you can make a donation in evap’s name, to these charities of her choice:

Doctors Without Borders

World Central Kitchen

With love to evap,  WaterGirl

Sad News to Share about commenter evapPost + Comments (80)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Howard Lutnick Is Socially Secure

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That rich coming from Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, a billionaire. ??

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— AnnieForTruth (@anniefortruth1.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 10:38 PM

Perpetually, proudly grifter-adjacent Cantor Fitzgerald macher Howard Lutnick will never need to worry about a missed earned-benefits check. And I guess he figures that if his security detail was good enough to protect him when he used the last paychecks of his employees slaughtered on 9/11 as a ‘safety net’ for the Cantor Fitzgerald corner offices, they’re good enough to keep the mobs of angry Olds and crips from showing up next time he goes on Fox News to shill for Shadow President Musk’s Wankpanzer…

Imagine what will happen if 25-30% of SS recipients don’t get their monthly payment: They wouldn’t have that money, people who receive payments in following weeks would cut way down on spending, there’d be greater than usual withdrawals from 401(k)’s, etc
It’s one out of five Americans!

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 2:58 PM

Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explains that elderly people who would complain about not receiving their Social Security checks are fraudsters.

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— MaddowBlog (@maddowblog.msnbc.com) March 21, 2025 at 10:51 PM

Gonna invest everything I have into pitchfork and torch futures

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— Phillip Anderson (@phillipanderson.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 5:06 PM

Not so fact, Bunky, says Judge Hollander — per the Washington Post, “Federal judge pushes back on acting Social Security head over threat to close agency”:

Acting Social Security commissioner Leland Dudek threatened Thursday evening to bar Social Security Administration employees from accessing its computer systems in response to a judge’s order blocking the U.S. DOGE Service from accessing sensitive taxpayer data.

Less than 24 hours later — after the judge rejected his argument and the White House intervened — Dudek is saying he was “out of line.”

Dudek initially told news outlets, including in a Friday interview with The Washington Post, that the judge’s decision to bar sensitive data access to “DOGE affiliates” was overly broad and that to comply, he might have to block virtually all SSA employees from accessing the agency’s computer systems. But Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, who issued the order, said in a letter that Dudek’s assertions “were inaccurate.”

“Employees of SSA who are not involved with the DOGE Team or in the work of the DOGE Team are not subject to the Order,” Hollander wrote in the letter on Friday sent to lawyers involved in the case. “ … Moreover, any suggestion that the Order may require the delay or suspension of benefit payments is incorrect.”…

Dudek, in a follow-up interview Friday afternoon with The Post, thanked Hollander for the clarification, adding, “The president is committed to keeping the Social Security offices open to serve the public.” He then acknowledged that this was an about-face from his stance in an interview with The Post earlier in the day.

“[The White House] called me and let me know it’s important to reaffirm to the public that we’re open for business,” he said. “The White House did remind me that I was out of line and so did the judge. And I appreciate that.”

Hollander issued a two-week temporary restraining order Thursday that prohibits Social Security officials from sharing personally identifiable information with Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, which has been empowered to carry out cost-cutting across the government.

Hollander, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, wrote that DOGE “essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion” and “never identified or articulated even a single reason for which the DOGE Team needs unlimited access to SSA’s entire record systems.”…

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War for Ukraine Day 1,121: Drone Swarms Over Zaporizhzhia

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

It’s been a long week and I’m approaching fried, so I’m just going to run through the basics tonight. I will include the new Tatarigami and Michael Kofman assessments respectively, as well as the Surkov interview over the next couple of days.

After hammering Odesa and Zaporizhzhia last night, Russia has been pounding on Zaporizhzhia again tonight.

At least seven explosions have been reported in Zaporizhzhia as russia continues its attacks on civilians with waves of drones.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 3:44 PM

Russia is attacking Zaporizhzhia right now. At least one of the apartment buildings in the city is on fire

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 3:48 PM

At least 1 person was killed, and 5 others were injured in russian attack on Zaporizhzhia just now!

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 4:39 PM

Tragically, among those killed in russian attack on Zaporizhzhia were a 14-year-old girl and her father.

A 9-month-old baby was also injured, according to the head of the Regional Military Administration, Fedorov.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 6:26 PM

Russia murdered 3 people in Zaporizhzhia tonight. A 14-year-old girl and her father are gone. A normal family, just like yours.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 8:01 PM

President Zelenskyy addressed the Hope, Struggle, Return – Three Years conference today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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Nominations for Alternative Information Sources (Last Call)

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Pairing this with the protest post because neither one will probably get a lot of conversation.

Okay, this is the list as it stands right now.  This is kind of “last call” for input at this point.  Once it’s done there will be a link in the sidebar.

I am still ambivalent about Podcasts and YouTube.

  • Please weigh in with your thoughts on whether those should be included.
  • If so if you could supply URLs in the comments that would be great.
  • Anything on here you think shouldn’t be?
  • Anything missing that should be here?
  • Also, if you think something is in the wrong group, please chime in.

IF YOU CAN LIST THE CATEGORY IT SHOULD GO UNDER, THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL!

PLEASE INCLUDE RAW URLs SO I CAN EASILY MAKE THE LINKS IN THE ACTUAL LIST.

Other random input?  Go for it!

Independent News 

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TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: When Everything Is Said & Done…

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TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: When Everything Is Said & Done...

… *Much* more will have been said, than done — it’s a Trump trademark! Took that graph from this story:

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from Social Security systems that hold personal data on millions of Americans, calling their work there a “fishing expedition.”

The order also requires the team to delete any personally identifiable data in their possession.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland found that the team got broad access to sensitive information at the Social Security Administration to search for fraud with little justification…

The order does allow DOGE staffers to access to data that’s been redacted or stripped of anything personally identifiable, if they undergo training and background checks.

“To be sure, rooting out possible fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the SSA is in the public interest. But, that does not mean that the government can flout the law to do so,” Hollander wrote.

The Trump administration says DOGE is targeting waste in the federal government. Musk has been focused on Social Security as an alleged hotbed of fraud, describing it as a “ ponzi scheme ” and insisting that reducing waste in the program is an important way to cut government spending.

The ruling, which could be challenged on appeal, comes in a lawsuit filed by labor unions, retirees and the advocacy group Democracy Forward. They argued that DOGE access violates privacy laws and presents serious information security risks. The lawsuit included a declaration from a recently departed Social Security official who saw the DOGE team sweep into the agency said she is deeply worried about sensitive information being exposed…

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Friday Wee Hours

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I almost never wake up in the night like this, tired, but unable to sleep.  So I’ve got nothing, really, except a desire for a post that isn’t about the current awfulness.

So here’s a pretty picture that GB in the HC sent me.

3 Sidebar Photos – March 2025 1
Image by GB in the HC

And here are a couple of photos of my new sort-of-lasagna creation from earlier today.

In the morning – if anyone is interested – I  can share the recipe I made up – can’t share it now because I haven’t written it down yet. :-)  But it’s so much simpler than lasagna, and I love that it’s portion sized and everything doesn’t ooze all together like regular lasagna does once you cut into it.

Open thread, but maybe just for non political stuff?

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