Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

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

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

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

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

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Is trump is trying to break black America over his knee? signs point to ‘yes’.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

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War for Ukraine Day 1,070: The Butcher’s Bill from Last Night’s Drone Attacks

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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)

Russia’s drone swarm attacks last night did massive damage on civilian structures and caused civilian casualties across Ukraine last night. We’ll get to all of that after the jump.

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

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Profiles in Courage: Paul Krugman

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The New York Times is truly an embarrassment.

Paper of record?  Nope.  Toilet paper?   Closer!

Krugman: Speaking Truth to Power 1

More  detail from  Paul Krugman.

Krugman: Speaking Truth to Power

Nothing we didn’t already know, or suspect, but I’m glad to have him state it so damn clearly.

Link to the whole thing.

Everyone who speaks out is a role model for the rest of us.   Before pressing PUBLISH on this post, I checked to make sure I wouldn’t be stepping on anyone.  And there was the story from mistermix about Caroline Kennedy.

Profiles in courage, indeed.

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No Punches Pulled, No Lies Told

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Caroline Kennedy’s letter about her cousin is worth a read.  Video at this link.

Dear Senators Crapo, Wyden, Cassidy and Sanders:

Throughout the past year, people have asked for my thoughts about my cousin, Robert Kennedy, Jr. and his presidential campaign.

I did not comment, not only because I was serving in a government position as United States Ambassador to Australia, but because I have never wanted to speak publicly about my family members and their challenges. We are a close generation of 28 cousins who have been through a lot together. We know how hard it has been, and we are always there for each other.

But now that bobby has been nominated by President Trump to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, a position that would put him in charge of the health of the American people, I feel an obligation to speak out.

Overseeing the FDA, the NIH, the CDC, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — agencies that are charged with protecting the most vulnerable among us — is an enormous responsibility, and one that Bobby is unqualified to fill. He lacks any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience. His views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed. These facts alone should be disqualifying. But he has personal qualities related to this position which, for me, post even greater concern.

I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together. It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator. He has always been charismatic — able to attract others through the strength of his personality, willingness to take risks and break the rules. I watched his younger brothers and cousins follow him down the path of drug addiction. His basement, his garage, and his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.

Of course, people can grow and change. Through his own strength — and the many second chances he was given by people who felt sorry for the boy who had lost his father — Bobby was able to pull himself out of illness and disease. I admire the discipline that took and the continuing commitment it requires.

But siblings and cousins who Bobby encouraged down the path of substance abused suffered addiction, illness, and death while Bobby has gone to to misrepresent, lie, and cheat his way through life. Today, while he may encourage a younger generation to attend AA meetings, Bobby is addicted to attention and power. Bobby preys on the desperation of parents and sick children — vaccinating his own children while building a following by hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs. Even before he fills this job, his constant denigration of our health care system and the conspiratorial half-truths he has told about vaccines, including in connection with Samoa’s deadly 2019 measles outbreak, have cost lives.

And now we know that Bobby’s crusade against vaccination has benefited him in other ways, too. His ethics report makes clear that he will keep his financial stake in a lawsuit against an HPV vaccine. In other words, he is willing to enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer and which has been safely administered to millions of boys and girls. During my time in Australia working on the QUAD Cancer Moonshot, I learned that cervical cancer is among the top three forms of cancer among women in a majority of countries. Tragically every year, more than 200,000 children lose their mothers, orphaned due to a lack of vaccines and screening. These are the real-world consequences of Bobby’s irresponsible beliefs.

We are a close family and none of this is easy to say. It also wasn’t easy to remain silent last year when Bobby expropriated my father’s image and distorted President Kennedy’s legacy to advance his own failed presidential campaign — and then groveled to Donald Trump for a job. Bobby continues to grandstand off my father’s assassination, and that of his own father. It is incomprehensible that someone who is willing to exploit their own painful family tragedies for publicity would be in charge of American life-and-death situations.

Unlike Bobby, I try not to speak for my father — but I am certain that he and my Uncle Bobby, who gave their lives in public service, and my Uncle Teddy, who devoted his Senate career to improving health care, would be disgusted.

The American health care system, for all its flaws, is the envy of the world. Its doctors and nurses, researchers, scientists, and caregivers are the most dedicated people I know. Every day, they give their lives to heal and save others. They deserve a knowledgable leader who is committed to evidence and excellence. They deserve a Secretary committed to advancing cutting-edge medicine to save lives, not rejecting the advances we have already made. They deserve a stable, moral, and ethical person at the helm of this crucial agency. They deserve better than Bobby Kennedy — and so do the rest of us. I urge the Senate to reject this nomination.

Sincerely,

Caroline Kennedy

Open thread.

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Jim Acosta’s Exit (Open Thread)

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This happened today, and it may be as close as we get to a “mad as hell” moment on the plutocrat-captured networks (which is damn near all of them at this point):

Acosta pointedly says his proudest moment at CNN was not covering the first Trump White House but rather when he got to question Cuban dictator Raúl Castro during an Obama press conference. He notes that, as the son of Cuban refugees, his takeaway was that “it is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.”

That message was for the ring-kissing CNN brass. Acosta signed off by addressing viewers directly. He implored us not to give in to the lies and fear. He asks us to hold on to the truth — and hope.

I think Acosta’s departure is a pretty disturbing development. Legacy media’s influence is waning, but most of the outfits and individuals who are filling the void don’t do original reporting and instead riff off what’s published by news outlets. (Kinda like we do here.) So legacy media’s capture matters.

By the way, after reading about Acosta’s exit on Bluesky, it some effort for me to find a clip that contained his whole sign-off message. The top search results were from Murdoch outlets and rank-and-file MAGA content creators crowing about Acosta being “fired” for defying Trump.

They conveniently edited out the part where Acosta talks about not bowing down to tyrants and not giving in to lies and fear. That’s because the Trump-aligned outfits are in the business of doing all of that — and brainwashing us into complying too.

So Acosta’s advice is sound. Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold onto the truth.

Open thread.

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Promise Made, Promise Kept

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I promised an open thread and here it is.

I’m glad to hear from people calling their Senators and Representatives.   I think it’s worthwhile action, even if it is just to complain.  As people have been mentioning in the comments, calling the Republicans is worthwhile, too.  Just turning off the Medicaid disbursement system (which is apparently what’s happened) is something that affects their constituents and can make them mad, even if their district is as red as a baboon’s ass.  The more heat they feel, the better.  Trump never said he’d turn off Medicaid, WIC or any of the programs he just stopped funding with a stroke of the pen, so if you want to act like an aggrieved Trump voter, I’m not going to complain.

Baud posted this link to Krugman explaining his exit from the Times, and it’s an interesting hate read for me (since I hate the Times a hell of a lot).

 

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Discourse(s)

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Elect a Republican, Hell Florida freezes over!

The story of this first week is corruption. Billionaires seated on the inaugural stage in front of the cabinet, crypto pump and dump, and the illegal firing of IGs. The media is acting like this is too chaotic and bewildering to interpret, but they are just afraid of sounding shrill. It’s corrupt.

— Brian Schatz (@schatz.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 10:15 PM

WIC. They are pausing WIC.
That's the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. Last time I checked (a while ago), every dollar spent on WIC produced over a dollar in savings *in the same fiscal year.* For most people, though, feeding infants and mothers is enough.

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— hilzoy (@hilzoy.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 11:30 PM

WIC & SNAP are also key for sustaining grocery businesses, especially in smaller towns.
The reason they boosted SNAP during COVID was as much to support retailers as to support hungry people.

— eleanorcamino.bsky.social (@eleanorcamino.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 12:25 AM

THE PRESS NEEDS TO STOP DESCRIBING IT AS A “PAUSE!”
Pause implies an eventual resumption. In most of these cases where money has been cut off there’s no indication the funding will resume. Trump may be trying to shut down NIH, PEPFAR, foreign aid etc _FOREVER_

— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 4:59 PM

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War for Ukraine Day 1,069: President Zelensky Commemorates the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

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A painting by Ukrainian artist NEIVANMADE. The words "NEVER AGAIN" are repeated over and over, from left to right and top to bottom, in a faded, washed out black against a white background. Red, the color of blood, runs and drips down across 2/3rds of the painting. "WHILE YOU TOLERATE TYRANTS" is written/painted in the bottom white corner below the three rows of "NEVER AGAIN".

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Just a quick update tonight running through the basics. I’ve got two very busy weeks ahead of me and then things should ease up.

As we start tonight, at 8:20 PM EST/3:20 AM local time in Ukraine, all of central and eastern Ukraine, with the exception of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk Oblasts, are under air raid alert. The alert maps indicate drone swarms.

President Zelenskyy travelled to Poland today for meetings and for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Berkinau.

🕯️ Zelenskyy on Holocaust Remembrance Day: Such a crime must never happen again

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— Ukrainska Pravda 🇺🇦 (@pravda.ua) January 27, 2025 at 4:26 AM

From Ukrainska Pravda:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commemorated the victims of the Holocaust on 27 January, remembering the tragedy that led to the mass extermination of the Jewish people.

Source: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Telegram

Quote: “It was a calculated effort by the Nazis to annihilate an entire people – to murder every individual and erase all traces of Jewish existence. Six million lives were lost.”

Details: The president highlighted in his post that “unfortunately, the memory of the Holocaust is gradually fading. Yet, the evil that seeks to destroy entire nations still lingers in the world”.

Zelenskyy called on people to remember war crimes and not to be indifferent towards them.

🕯 “We know a lot about the executioners, but very little about the victims.” – Head of the Babi Yar Memorial.

On January 27, the world commemorates the victims of the Holocaust. In 1945, the 1st Ukrainian Front liberated Auschwitz. WWII saw 6 million Jews killed, including 1.5 million Ukrainians.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 6:16 AM

94-year-old Holocaust survivor Jona Laks shared her story to ensure the world never forgets and never allows such horrors to happen again.

Yet Russia, which claims victory over Nazism while ignoring nations like Ukraine that lost millions in WWII, has become its successor.

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— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 11:19 AM

Today, thousands of Ukrainian prisoners and innocent civilians suffer in Russian death camps, as Russia continues its daily obsession with occupying and killing.

— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 11:19 AM

He did not give an address today, but he did sit for an interview with Cecilia Sali for Il Foglio.

Zelensky, in an interview with the Italian publication Il Foglio, stated that nuclear weapons should not have been given up.
t.me/c/1377735387…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 2:34 PM

Here’s the whole interview:

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