Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

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

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

The willow is too close to the house.

The National Guard is not Batman.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

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

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

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

He really is that stupid.

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Late Saturday Night Open Thread: Like Caligula’s Rome, But As Farce

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Michael Wolff (remember him?) has a new book to sell, which the Guardian just reviewed under the headline “Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner refused to sign memo saying Trump was not antisemitic, book says”. Also included:

… Describing a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in October, where Trump survived an assassination attempt in July, Wolff writes: “And Elon is here, waiting when [Trump’s team] arrive[s], which is cause for a moment of consternation … Elon! Next only to Trump, there is Elon.”

Saying aides viewed Musk as “a new, overwhelming, and discordant presence in the campaign”, generating “an ever-rising tide of bewildering, if not opaque, requests, orders, and recommendations”, Wolff said aides thought Musk had “elevated the Trump campaign in his own mind to a personal mission and religious cause”, while “the Trump circle” was “already anticipating the earth shaking when he and Trump invariably f[e]ll out.

“When they arrive, Elon – wandering about by himself, with only a thin layer of assistants or security – is hungry. This causes a kerfuffle and results in uncertainty over how to attend to him. Someone produces a bag of pretzel sticks.

[What, no juice box?!?]

“The suggestion is made that JD is here and would love to speak to him. Musk, sitting down and eating his pretzel sticks, politely declines: ‘I’ve really no interest in speaking to a vice-president.’

“Later, called onstage, with no one having any idea what he might say, Musk bounds up and, suddenly – in Mick Jagger style, prancing and jumping – becomes the headline, his T-shirt rising far above his midriff.

“What the fuck is wrong with this guy?” says a bewildered Trump. “And why doesn’t his shirt fit?”…

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War for Ukraine Day 1,094: Debts & Responsibilities

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Before we get going, as of 7:40 PM EST/2;40 AM local time in Ukraine, all of eastern and central Ukraine, minus Odesa Oblast, are under air raid alert due to drone swarms.

One additional note: I know there’s a lot of buzz bouncing around that a retired KGB official is claiming that he was in the 6th Directorate in Moscow when Trump was recruited as an actual formal asset of the Soviet Union. This has been bouncing around for years, especially as trying to provide some logic to Trump suddenly paying $100,000 for full page ads in US newspapers establishing his only long held policy position: that the US (under Reagan) was being ripped off by its allies and partners. There is no way to know, unless the former KGB official actually provides documentation, whether this newest reporting is accurate. The question, of course, is the same as it was before the most recent allegations: what would Trump be doing differently if he actually was? Two final points. First, this excerpt from Luke Harding’s 2017 book dealing with this topic is a good history of what can actually be verified. Second, the alleged codename given to Trump is the family name of a long line of white Cossacks who were imperial Russian generals. The last of them who served in World War I and let anti-Bolshevik forces during the revolution, was a NAZI collaborator during World War II.

Last night in comments, one of the trolls that have not yet been banned (that I am not yet allowed to ban) asked the following:

I haven’t been paying too much attention to these posts lately.

Is everything still Joe Biden’s fault? Dumbasses.

The answer yes. Joe Biden is a good man who mean well, but he failed to meet the moment. As a result we got feckless leadership, and absolutely terrible senior appointments. As a result of his and his team’s inability to meet the moment, we got a failure of a four year interregnum that established the conditions for the return of Trump. At every stage, every single one, Biden stated that Trump, his trusted agents and surrogates, and the Trump movement were an existential threat to the Republic and also the global system. And at ever stage, every single one he, his senior appointees, and almost every other Democrat in federal elected positions never matched their actions to their rhetoric. In regard to domestic, US politics, it is why Biden, at the advice of his execrable politics advisors – Anita Dunn and her husband – left Chris Wray in place at the FBI and appointed Garland, another FedSoc member in good standing, as the Attorney General. He followed their advice to establish a bullshit committee on federal judiciary reform that was designed to produce no actual reforms. In regard to Ukraine, the failure to put the defense industrial enterprise on a war footing and ship everything possible because his senior natsec advisors, especially Sullivan, decided that Putin should get a veto over US policy made it impossible for Ukraine to consolidate gains when they made them. The inability to actually articulate a clear US policy and strategy in regard to Ukraine and Russia was strategic malpractice. The lack of any actual legislative strategy, meant that Ukraine went for over half of 2024 without any actual US support.

Everything that Trump, his trusted aides and surrogates, his actual owner Musk, and the Trump movement are now doing is only possible because of the failure of Biden and his senior people to match action to rhetoric. Musk, via Trump, is only able to do what he is doing because of Biden’s failures.

If you, and you know who you are, ever show up in comments and call anyone here – me, another front pager, another commenter – a dumbass again and I will ban you on the spot.

I want to also make a point about the news that the US is threatening to cut off Ukraine’s Starlink access if Ukraine doesn’t just sign whatever deal the US gives it. These are not contracts between the US government and Starlink, rather they are contracts between Ukraine and Starlink. The US stepped up and provided funding/paid for some of these contracts when Musk quickly changed his mind about supporting Ukraine and providing the service either for free or at a deep discount. What we have here is a further fusion of Musk’s interests/desires and those of the US government. Which makes sense given he didn’t spend a third of a billion dollars to not see some return on his investment.

Starlink in Ukraine operates based on paid contracts. If it’s being used as an extortion tool, then other countries should consider it a potential security risk – just like Russian gas used for blackmailing. If Ukraine is cut off, it would be wise for Europe to reconsider its use

— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 7:59 AM

In Ukraine, Trump is trying to strong-arm a guy who, back in the day, strong-armed none other than Ihor Kolomoisky, of all people.

Just saying.

if you know, you know.

— Illia Ponomarenko (@ioponomarenko.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 3:58 PM

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

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Foreign Affairs Open Thread: America Has Been Disgraced

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STOCKPILE - America Has Been Disgraced

(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)

 
Major media rules would require a headline like ‘We Americans have disgraced our standards’, but f*ck that — I take no responsibility for the criminial choices of a Putin figurehead elected by a bare plurality, as enabled by some of the least useful GOP ‘legislators’ assembled since Incitatus was a Roman Senator.

Slava Malamud, born in Moldavia, emigrated to America as a teenage Jewish refugee. “Rage. Grief. Shame.
On the horrific feeling of being implicated in a crime against humanity”:

My only hope right now is that Ukraine survives these four years. That, in spite of everything, in spite of being despicably and blithely betrayed by the country that still has the temerity of calling itself the “leader of the free world”, it can endure and remain free…

My hope is that I can visit a free Kyiv someday. Walk its streets, talk to its people, see an FC Dynamo football match (even though I always hated them as a kid, mostly because everyone in my school rooted for them), marvel at its history and culture. But I will never be able to feel pride there for being an American. I will feel compelled to apologize, to beg forgiveness for my compatriots whose hate, or resentments, or stupidity, or ignorance have put Ukraine on the brink of destruction…

… America hasn’t just betraying its friend today. It has betrayed every single American ideal it’s been breathlessly advertising for over 200 years. It has betrayed all the beautiful myths we have told ourselves about who we are. To be sure, these were ideals we have never really approached. Captain America was never anything more than a silly fantasy and an exercise of white self-adoration. But to actually join the ranks of evil? To actually fight against freedom and democracy? Give our ancestors some credit. They were never this shamelessly open about it…

STOCKPILE - America Has Been Disgraced 1

(Walt Handelsman via GoComics.com)

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Sampling the Local Media

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This isn’t local media, but here’s the whole AOC speech that I posted a snippet from yesterday.  As usual, she has a lot of good points expressed in simple, straightforward language. “America is not for sale.” “The key here is make them – don’t agree in advance…put it in an email.” “We can overwhelm them.” “We outnumber them.” “Every small action matters.”

Now let’s turn to local media. Fan favorite Bernie Sanders is out stumping blue parts of red states, trying to get on the local news to cover what he’s saying. He started in Omaha and now he’s in Iowa City.

Ron Wyden had a tough series of town halls, according to this paywalled column in the Oregonian (I’m breaking my personal rule about using archive links with this one.). An oncology nurse named Beth Champion stood up and said this:

“This is not ‘political quackery.’ It is a coup,” she said. “The purse strings have been taken from Congress. ‘Betrayal’ doesn’t begin to encompass my feelings.”
[…] “I need to know that Oregon has a plan on how to remain solvent when federal money is withheld, when we have forest fires, when ICE, or whatever goon squad is formed, enters our cities,” Champion continued. “It is not alarmist to plan for worst-case scenarios. We are dealing with people who do not care about decorum, do not care about judges’ orders, and do not care about the law.”

The applause was resounding, part recognition, part relief. Many in the audience rose to thank her. Finally. Someone understands why we’re here.

Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal also had a tough town hall with Democrats saying “not enough”. Jared Huffman, D-CA-2, told his audience that the US is “speed walking toward authoritarianism” and took a question from a 16 year-old who noted the parallel between our current situation and Hitler’s rise in Germany. Maxwell Frost took questions that included a veteran concerned about them being used as “bargaining chips”.

Trumpers protested outside some of these town halls, such as the one near Napa for Rep Mike Thompson, D-CA-4.

The Republicans who have been having town halls are also not having a very good time. Here’s a rundown from Axios via Tom Sullivan at Digby’s Blog:

Driving the news: Angry constituents flocked to House Republicans’ town hall events and district offices this week to protest DOGE’s efforts to slash spending and lay off huge chunks of the federal workforce.

What we’re hearing: One swing-district House Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share candid thoughts, told Axios they have “zero concerns” about a protest they’re expecting outside their office.

  • “It’s 2017 all over. They’ve hated Trump since 2016. Same folks largely,” the lawmaker said, although they added, “Most hate [Elon] Musk based on the calls.”

  • “That’s all manufactured bulls**t for likes and clickbait,” said another House Republican, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly about the upswell in protests.

LOL at the cope there.

Nick LaLota (R-NY-1) has been getting hounded by constituents to have a town hall.  He’s one of the vulnerable recently-elected Republicans (NY-1 is R+3 PVI), so he’s bravely running away from this town halls.

Here’s TPM’s report on Cliff Benz’ (R-OR-2) not-so-great town halls. Not local media, but they didn’t go well.

Checking in with leadership, Chuck Schumer is appearing in Schenectady, Syracuse and Rochester.  For the Rochesterians in the audience, he went to Jines to talk about the price of eggs.  Hakeem Jeffries is on a book tour to promote his children’s book.  I wish I was kidding about that last one.

I’m out for a while so I’ll make this an open thread.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Democrats Speaking Up

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And not just the Democrats, either:

Actually think this is kind of meaningful. Fox, Newsmax, etc. pushing back in anyway (signing the "bring back to the AP letter," having less fawning coverage… whatever the fuck this is) is going to break through Trump's little bubble because he's addicted to cable news.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) February 21, 2025 at 11:54 AM

THR: “.. Paramount now signaling that it’s prepared to go on the offensive .. leveraging the threat of uncovering information about Trump’s financials, including with respect to his social media company .. and the cryptocurrency he launched, in discovery.”
www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus…

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) February 20, 2025 at 7:28 PM

Josh Marshall, at TPM — “INFLECTION: The Backlash Begins As Elon Goes Wild”:

Against the backdrop of a month of chaos and destruction, something began to shift more or less in the middle of this week. I don’t want to overstate what it portends in the short term. Elon Musk remains firmly in the saddle. And even as many of Trump’s advisors grow concerned about the impact of Musk’s rampage, Donald Trump himself appears to be maintaining his support…

But there’s something else going on — not so much the tide turning as a certain battle being joined. Beginning this week, local TV stations around the country have begun running human interest stories about veterans, members of military families or Trump supporters getting fired as part of Elon’s purge. Meanwhile, we can see a growing cleavage between what congressional Republicans are saying in Washington and what they’re saying back in their districts.

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War for Ukraine Day 1,093: Russian Irregulars

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Now we have a problem! From the 17 DEC 1994 edition of The Washington Post:

MOSCOW, DEC. 16 — For years, Natalya Martynova could not bear to browse through the photographs depicting her contented family life in Alexandria, Va. They reminded her too painfully of her husband, who had led a spy’s double and perhaps triple life while working in the Soviet Embassy in Washington — and who had been executed after their return to Moscow in 1985.

“Those were the best years of my life,” Martynova recalled in an interview today. “I could not look at that happy face and wonder who was that happy woman.”

But when veteran counterintelligence officer Aldrich H. Ames was arrested last February and was revealed as a KGB mole who had betrayed many American agents, Martynova decided to confront her past. For among the 10 or more Russians whose deaths Ames allegedly caused with his secret revelations was her husband, Valery Martynov, who was 41 years old when a firing squad gunned him down on May 28, 1987.

“My daughter is a grown-up girl now, but she is still crying for him,” Martynova said in softly accented English. “If there is a second life, I think he is very satisfied, because she still loves him very much.”

Martynova herself has not remarried — she is “a woman of single love,” she said — and still carries with her the shock and bewilderment she felt when she was lured out of Washington nine years ago to Moscow and Lefortovo prison.

“I still have much fear,” she said, “and I will go to the grave with this feeling.”

But last summer, after Ames’s arrest had brought her husband’s name into the public arena, Martynova summoned up her courage and telephoned the U.S. Embassy here to inquire whether her children might be entitled to U.S. government assistance. The American with whom she talked promised to call back that day, but Martynova so far has heard nothing.

“If he was really working for them, I think some kind of help would be fair,” she said today. “Of course, maybe it was all concocted here, and he was not working for the Americans. I am sure I will never know the truth… . The main thing is that I want my children to be somehow protected.”

Martynova’s husband was part of the rezidentura (official cover) at the Russian embassy in DC. And it is unclear whether he was swept up correctly or incorrectly in the Ames’ fallout. The lack of official US response, however, is telling.

But wait, there’s more:

Sometime later, Martynova moved with her two children to the United States, where she started a new life. Her son became a Virginia police officer who sometimes posts comments on blogs about his historically famous father. Her daughter became a financial professional who married Charles Coristine, the proprietor of LesserEvil, a snack company. Among their children is a 19-year-old young man named Edward Coristine, who currently wields an unknown amount of power and authority over the inner-workings of our federal government.

Problem!

This is ungood:

Trump is nominating a retired Air National Guard 3-star to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Highest major command was Deputy Commander, CENTSOC

www.af.mil/About-Us/Bio…

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— David Burbach (@dburbach.bsky.social) February 21, 2025 at 7:39 PM

Firing all of the JAGs (Judge Advocates General)—the top lawyers in each service branch—is just as bad as, if not worse than, firing (most of) the Joint Chiefs.

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— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) February 21, 2025 at 8:23 PM

As is this:

What a disgrace.

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— Adil Haque (@adhaque.bsky.social) February 21, 2025 at 8:25 PM

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

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Some Good Clips

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TRUMP: The NCAA has complied immediately. That's good. But I understand Maine — is the governor of Maine here?

JANET MILLS: Yeah I'm here

TRUMP: Are you not gonna comply?

JM: I'm going to comply with state and federal law

T: You better do it bc you're not gonna get any federal funding at all

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 21, 2025 at 12:01 PM

Mills, who is 77 and term-limited, told Trump “See you in court”. Thanks to reader T for sending this in.

The leader of the opposition is still leading. By the way, she’s someone who gets a shit ton of death threats and is still speaking out:

Medicaid is not for sale.
NASA is not for sale.
The Post Office is not for sale.
America is not for sale.

We have an obligation to resist kings. We outnumber them. And they can be overwhelmed.

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— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) February 21, 2025 at 12:19 PM

I think this constituent at Rep Paul Tonko’s (D-NY-20) town hall speaks for many of us:

Teachers teach. We need a leaderful movement, and there are leaders all around us.

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— Anil Dash (@anildash.com) February 21, 2025 at 7:02 AM

Here’s Chris Kluwe, former Minnesota Viking punter.

Post whatever else you’ve seen that’s good in the comments.

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