Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

How stupid are these people?

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

White supremacy is terrorism.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

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

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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If This Doesn’t Make You Feel Better, Then Nothing Will

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Stella and Skye

Stella and Skye stayed with me for about 10 days in 2018 when they were crazy 4-month-old pups.  We bonded when they were babies, so I love them like my own.

Here’s the photo I got from my niece today.  At first I thought those were towels and thought they might have just had a bath.  But no, they are tucked in some throws to get warm after being out in the cold.

I am worn out from the firehose of shit today.  Let’s make this a no politics, no bad news thread.

It’s getting close to Cole-nightly-post-time, so if Cole stomps on this post, I’ll just pull it and put it back up later.

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War for Ukraine Day 1,071: Another Long Night of Drone Swarms

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Painting by NEIVANMADE. It has a white background an in the center are Soldiers in green doing air defense by firing at incoming Russian missiles in the upper right. The missiles are red and yellow. In the upper left, written in green, is the text: "SAVE THE BRAVEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!" Below the Soldiers, also written in green, is "SUPPORT FOR KHARKIV"

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

At 7:25 PM EST/2:25 AM local time in Ukraine, air raid alerts are up over all of eastern and central Ukraine, as well as part of western Ukraine for drone swarms.

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

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Trump Backs Down, Partially

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Marisa Kabas has the news that the Office of Management and Budget rescinded their memo that froze federal funding for grants, etc.  (That “etc.” is doing a lot of work because I don’t think anyone knows exactly everything that was frozen.)

However, as Georgetown Law Professor Vladeck notes on BlueSky, this does not mean that the Executive Order that was the basis for the OMB memo has been rescinded:

1. The executive orders did *not* freeze federal funding.

2. The Monday OMB memo *did* freeze federal funding.

3. OMB rescinded Monday’s memo, thereby rescinding the funding freeze.

4. The EOs (which did not freeze federal funding) are still in effect—and, for these purposes, irrelevant.

Sigh.

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— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 12:51 PM

From what I can tell, this means that OMB touched a hot stove, and recoiled. They’re going to back to the drawing board and craft a much more limited and targeted memo, which is why this is a partial back-down. This was the way it worked in Trump I and there’s no reason to think it’s going to change in Trump II: overreach, outcry, partial back down, lather, rinse repeat.

Yesterday I re-tweeted a bunch of good messaging from Democrats on BlueSky, but there was also plenty of plain old outrage from all corners of the Internet. Certainly the LeopardsAteMyFace subreddit had a field day with all of the Trump voters who were affected by this memo. “I didn’t vote for that! I only wanted the bad people to get hurt!” was the general tone of the examples posted there.

The lesson I’m taking home from this is that loud, noisy opposition which points out consequences works.

If you’re feeling like calling a Senator or Representative, then calling to say “keep up the good work” would be another call you could make if your Sen / Rep made some good noise.

A little story about the history of this blog: During the fight for the ACA, Tim F, who was a front-pager and doesn’t post here anymore, would regularly suggest specific actions to call your reps about when certain bills / amendments / whatever came up for a vote. In addition to being a longstanding tradition of the blog, I can verify from personal experience that Sens / Reps keep track of calls, sentiment and volume, and that informs the actions of the Sen / Rep. Does it always change their vote? Of course not, but I’m not about to abandon a worthwhile and useful tradition.

Update:  That tweet (above) from his new press liar was cited by the judge who granted a restraining order even though the memo was supposedly withdrawn.  Toe, stubbed.

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Teenage Wasteland

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When President Musk took over Twitter, he sent out an all-hands memo asking people to commit to Twitter or quit. (A lot of them quit.) Now he’s taken over the Office of Personnel Management, and a similar memo went out last night. The memo begins with four pillars, the first of which is Return to Office, and concludes with this regal phrasing:

If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce. At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.

If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program. This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6. If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason). The details of this separation plan can be found below.

Needless to say, this whole thing is a pile of shit that will probably never get anyone any severance. Last night some federal agencies sent out alerts telling employees not to respond to the email until the agency has clarification from the DoJ.

WIRED broke the story about Musk’s takeover yesterday, and it declined to print the names of a couple of staffers because they could be underage. (The WIRED story is behind a paywall.) In addition to the possible underage staffers, there are some other gems at OPM:

The new general counsel for OPM—the office issuing all those deranged memos—is Andrew Kloster, a self-described “raging misogynist” with a public history of racist comments and a temporary restraining order for domestic violence who most recently worked for Matt Gaetz.

www.pogo.org/investigatio…

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— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 9:23 PM

I had some relatives who were federal employees, and the one thing they knew thoroughly was their rights as federal employees. I’m sure some a few employees will be conned by this, but as some people on BlueSky pointed out last night, some of them are posting on a subreddit for federal employees that this action from Musk has made them more resolved to keep their jobs.

Steve M had a good post yesterday about this whole strategy by the Trumpists: basically, what they want is to make this year a “Year Zero” for the government, a kind of a start over. Musk apparently believes in zero-base budgeting, where every department has to justify its existence every year. He’s so used to doing whatever he feels like doing without consequences that he’s going to do the same with the federal government. The next step is not following the inevitable injunctions from federal courts. That’s where the real crisis will begin.

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DeFiance in DeCapitol (Open Thread)

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There’s a Repub-on-Repub slap-fight playing out in Tallahassee this week that you might have missed due to the galloping catastrophe in DC. But maybe it’s worth a look as a potential preview of coming attractions.

The GOP’s moves in DC this week to stand up a durable right-wing kleptocracy were road-tested in Florida, where a deeply corrupt and unaccountable authoritarian state government is already a reality.

For one thing, the drama in Tallahassee may yield clues about how Repubs will react when Trump exits the political scene. The short answer? Like feral children with an unshakable hold on power, so not good!

Republicans hold a supermajority in the FL statehouse. After ceding their power to Ron DeSantis and functioning as a tool to further his presidential ambitions for several years (sound familiar?), Repub lawmakers have decided Florida’s Angriest Kumquat isn’t DeFuture after all.

NY post cover of Ron DeSantis and family after 2022 election victory with headline: DeFuture

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Welcome, Year of the Snake

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NBC, chasing the dream — “The Year of the Snake is all about shedding that bad energy”:

… Though the snake may get a bad rap across many Western cultures, the animal is actually a celebrated and revered sign across the Eastern hemisphere. And its year is expected to be one of positive transformation as people slither into new beginnings — if they’re willing to move on.

It’s all about “shedding toxicity in personality, in character traits,” said Jonathan H. X. Lee, an Asian and Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University whose research focuses in part on Chinese folklore.

“It’s shedding the ego, letting go of the past, letting go of anger, letting go of love lost,” Lee said. “This is the year where that kind of growth — personal and macro, internal and external — is very much possible.”

Lee said that the snake is an auspicious sign for inner work, whether it’s releasing unrealistic expectations of loved ones or getting rid of bad habits…

Year of the snake🐍🌿✨

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— Valentino Lasso🌿 (@valentinolasso.bsky.social) January 1, 2025 at 10:04 PM

@davidjroth.bsky.social AMERICA'S BACK: Guy walked into Home Goods and demanded the Lunar New Year decorations table be removed immediately because the cartoon snakes were culturally offensive to Americans. He then railed against foreigners and said the snakes made his son cry (the boy never cried)

— Joe Flynn (@chinajoeflyn

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Tuesday Night Open Thread: Pastor Mike Johnson Is A Smarmy Little Prick

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REPORTER: Will you insist on voter ID as a condition for disaster aid for California?
MIKE JOHNSON: We have been lamenting the lack of voter security there for some time. We were deeply concerned in this last election cycle and we saw 3 of our seats frankly slip away from us in California.

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 27, 2025 at 3:29 PM

“Our seats”? They weren’t yours, they’re California’s and California voters get to decide without your whining.

— Anita Creamer (@anitacreamer.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 10:18 PM

And he’s got a lot of competition, when it comes to the worst possible excuse for a legislator. They’re throwing themselves a party because it rained this morning, solely due to the benevolence of Their Guy in the White House. One week of f*ck-ups and foul play, and we’re in Louis XIV territory.

It rained. California always had water. It was never “off.”

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— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) January 28, 2025 at 2:02 PM

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