Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

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

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

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

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I don’t recall signing up for living in a dystopian sci-fi novel.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

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

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

People are complicated. Love is not.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

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

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War for Ukraine Day 1,067: The Russian Drone Swarms Continue & the Drone Safaris Expand to Kharkiv

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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)

A quick housekeeping note and an update on something from last night. First, I’m still fired, so I’m just going to run through the basics again.

Second, we now have more clarification on the freeze on all US aid that I included in last night’s post. It does not apply to food aid, but just about everything else. Including aid to Ukraine. Embassy Kyiv has sent a query back to State for clarification, but for now things are on hold. The only other items that the order didn’t freeze is aid to Israel and Egypt, as well as the transfer of the 2,000 lbs bombs that the Biden folks slow walked and Bibi has been bitching about.

If anyone wins here it is the PRC because this creates a huge opportunity for them to move into the space the US has just abandoned, make up the difference, and get some easy soft power wins. I don’t know if they will or not, but that’s what this order freezing aid and assistance does. This is the Trump administration shooting the US’s soft power in the knees. At least.

The Russians spent much of the day attacking Kharkiv with drones. This included some of the Russian human safari by drone.

This is russian drone falling (literally) on the residential area of Kharkiv today

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 9:46 AM

Russia attacked Kharkiv with three Molniya drones, striking an infrastructure facility, an administrative building, and a site near a supermarket. Three people were injured. In broad daylight, drones continue to freely fly over and terrorize Ukraine’s second-largest city!

— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 9:07 AM

Kharkiv prosecutors reveal russia’s Molniya drones are packed with deadly metal balls designed to kill and injure anyone on the streets.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 4:58 PM

One of the Russian drones in Kharkiv struck near a parking lot and a public transportation stop, damaging 7 cars.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 8:09 AM

Something just exploded very loudly somewhere in the city, completely out of nowhere. The alert has been on for almost 5 hours, so of course, everyone has been forced to disregard it by now. This is what ‘normal’ nights in Kharkiv look like.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 6:02 PM

President Zelenskyy’s did not make an address today. He did hold a joint press availability with the Moldovan President Maia Sandu. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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Serious, Constructive Open Thread: Concerning Birthright Citizenship

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— 2025 is 1984 and loyalty over competence ?? (@jrfree.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 10:49 AM

If you're born in America, you're an American. Period.

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— Rep. Lauren Underwood (@underwood.house.gov) January 24, 2025 at 10:48 AM

Since it’s the weekend, here’s some reading from an actual expert on birthright citizenship:

I've been writing about birthright citizenship for 20 years. This thread strings together my opinion pieces (not law review tomes, which I will post separately). I wrote a book about the Fourteenth Amendment and I debated John Eastman 20 years ago about his vile plan to end birthright citizenship./1

— Garrett Epps (@garrettepps.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 9:08 AM

Fifteen years ago, the right agreed that the Constitution would need to be changed to do away with birthright citizenship. But that began to seem just too hard./2

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— Garrett Epps (@garrettepps.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 9:11 AM

Where text is clear, a Da Vinci "originalist" suggests secret meanings. Where history is clear, they change the subject to Machiavelli, or Blackstone. Where the evidence thin, well, they raise a pinky and suggest that those who disagree are simply too stupid to understand the lost symbol./3

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— Garrett Epps (@garrettepps.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 9:14 AM

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Cloture is a Decent Predictor and We Can Use It

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From my earlier post, these are the Democrats who voted for cloture (ending debate) on the Noem nomination:

John Fetterman (D-PA) Maggie Hassan (D-NH) Tim Kaine (D-VA) Andy Kim (D-NJ) Gary Peters (D-MI) Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) Raphael Warnock (D-GA)

Here are the ones who voted for the nomination:

Six Democrats voted with Republicans to confirm Noem: Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Andy Kim (N.J.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Elissa Slotkin (Mich.).

So, 6/8 who voted for cloture voted for the nomination of Cricket’s killer.  I don’t understand Andy Kim or Tim Kaine.  The rest are swing staters who’ve apparently bought into some fantabulous theory of how their vote will insulate them from Republicans hating them. If anyone has insight into why their Senator voted that way, I’d be interested in hearing it.  These votes are corrosive to morale as well as to the future of the Democratic Party, as far as I’m concerned.

Given that a good number of Senators who vote for cloture also vote for the nomination, but some don’t, calling your Senator after they make that (bad) vote is probably an excellent use of your time, if you’re so inclined.  The Senate has a pretty good system for showing which nominations are next.  This link goes to the executive calendar.  Next to each date is a link showing all actions taken on the nomination.  Clicking on the link shows all the actions taken so far.  If you look at Noem’s, you can see the votes (except for the last one) and actions taken, which are atypical — her nomination was bum rushed through the Senate, and the cloture vote greased the skids.

Anyway, someone, I’m sorry I don’t remember who (please tell us in the comments) posted a link to a story about the vice-chair of the Missouri Democratic Party, Yvonne Reeves-Chong.  It had this graphic:

Cloture is a Decent Predictor, Apparently

She needs to run a seminar for a few Senators, I think.

Finally, unrelated but helpful, is Cheryl Rofer’s roundup of all the Trump action (and pushback) this week.  Glad she’s doing it, because it’s a lot of work.

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Our Media Is Not Up to the Task

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Checking the headlines this morning, I saw this fucking gem:

Our Media Is Not Up to the Task
Politico headline stating: ” McConnell sends a message

That’s not the message that McConnell was sending- the message was “I am impotent as fuck and my 40 years in office meant not a god damned thing when it came to persuading my peers.” The media, as a collective, still is not up to the challenge and has not shifted their approach one iota. It’s just business as usual.

In science, there are these things called “paradigm shifts”- a great book I read many many moons ago as a much younger man called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. I don’t have the book here as it is at home on the bookshelf, but basically his premise was that most of the time, normal science operates within an accepted paradigm, but there are things called paradigm shifts that upend the normal way of doing things, and over time the new paradigm becomes the new normal. I’m not going to go into all the old readings of the received view and the philosophy of science and Wittgenstein and all the other stuff- there is a fellow named Tom Levenson who writes here who is much smarter and versed on the topic and I know he can explain things to us without the anxiety and drug and alcohol induced haze that clouds my memory.

Basically, what I am saying, is that things have changed so profoundly in the last few decades that the media’s old approach not only does not accurately cover or represent what is actually happening, and applying their paradigm of politics and news coverage structurally no longer works. They no longer know or understand what they are seeing and are, because of their refusal to shift their approach, and as such can no longer accurately provide information to the public.

Basically, what is happening is if a doctor walked into a normal operating room and started talking about bleeding and leeches and ill humours while everyone else is practicing modern medicine. Or a physicist still talking about phlogiston.

So not only is this going on, with the practitioners in the media completely oblivious to the fact they are doing damage and not accurately reflecting the world anymore, but they are also consumed by an obscene arrogance, and react violently to anyone who points out the error of their ways. Add to it that many of the members of the media are not subject matter experts or, to be brutally honest, the smartest people in the room (those j school students bouncing across campus are not Rhodes Scholars or future Nobel winners), and you have a bunch of people who have no idea what is going on, no recognition of reality or their role in it, with a heightened arrogance that pushes them to not only look down on anyone who questions them and their status, but also a petulance to punish anyone who refuses to not act in accordance to the old media landscape that no longer exists but in their own fucking heads.

It’s depressing as fuck to watch.

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Checking In With Opposition Leader AOC

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AOC was on Jon Stewart’s podcast the other day.  I’m no fan of the guy but it was a good interview, mainly because he let her talk.  Anyway, I found a transcript and wanted to share a few quotes that I found interesting.  The excerpt is pretty long so it’s after the jump.  Also, for those of you who tend to run to the fainting couch and clutch your pearls while inhaling smelling salts when the sacred Democratic Party is criticized, you may want to preserve your health by not reading further.

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I Could Lie and Say to You That This Would Soon Be Over

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Hmm, where to start.

Trump fired 17 inspector generals overnight, which is illegal, if you still believe in laws.  (Guardian link, couldn’t find the AP story on it.)

Hegseth squeaked through the Senate yesterday after President Musk instructed VP Vance to cast the tie breaking vote.  Murkowski, Collins and Yertle RINOed out and voted against Fox’s golden boy.

75% of the farm workers harvesting oranges in Kern County, CA didn’t show up for work yesterday after ICE raids in the area. Here’s a graphic from opposition leader AOC on your rights if you’re ICE tries to arrest you. And here’s an article from Teen Vogue (yes) about neighborhood ICE watch.

These 8 Democrats just voted last night to advance the nomination of Kristi Noem for DHS Secretary:

John Fetterman (D-PA)
Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Andy Kim (D-NJ)
Gary Peters (D-MI)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)
Raphael Warnock (D-GA)

— Jonathan Cohn (@jonathancohn.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 5:59 AM

I don’t get Warnock or Kaine. There’s going to be a weekend vote on her nomination. These guys are moving fast. For comparison, no Democrat voted to end debate on Hegseth. Moscow Mitch voted for cloture then voted against the nomination. (Edit: As John pointed out in the comments, Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote for the Senate to go into executive session to consider Hegseth’s nomination.)

That’s not all, but it’s probably enough.

Update: Noem nomination passed 59-34, but the roll call hasn’t been posted yet.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Never Give Up, Never Surrender

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For all the blather these days about the dispirited opposition, we've seen two examples already this week — the Episcopalian bishop and the Reagan-appointed judge — who are willing to stand up to Trump's overreach and sociopathy.

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— Bill Grueskin (@bgrueskin.bsky.social) January 23, 2025 at 2:48 PM

Bloomberg and (to my surprise) Axios launched Project 2025 trackers this week, connecting Trump's moves to the wildly unpopular manifesto. This is a really good opportunity for Democrats to run riot over this already plowed and seeded terrain and keep their grip on the Project 2025 narrative.

— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM

It's really rare for these kinds of media organs to evince something of a civic impulse (or an impulse that can be shaped into a civic impulse); it's a good sign that the political media wants to have this partisan conflict to write about and the terms here are highly favorable to Democrats

— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM

For your consideration, as Rod Serling used to say:

This is an excellent piece. Democrats have actually done OK. But close doesn’t matter as much as the reality that 53 is greater than 47, 220 greater than 215. They can’t do much to stop Trump right now; Repubs have to step up to block nominations
What Dems have to do is oppose. They’ve done…/1

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 10:22 AM

…it before. In 2003 new minority leader Nancy Pelosi, in a unified front with organized labor, planted their flag & refused to give an inch on privatizing Social Security. Some Dem wanted to know when Dems would offer their own plan. Pelosi’s response:
“Never. Is never good enough for you?” /2

Another galvanizing moment in Dem opposition to Dubya—probably not one of Mr Kristol’s favorite moments—was the Murtha resolution. Dem John Murtha was the first Vietnam War vet elected to Congress & one of the party’s biggest hawks. But in Nov 2005 Murtha—who had supported the invasion of Iraq— /3

…introduced a resolution calling for the redeployment of all US troops out of Iraq. It had no chance of passing. But it was an earthquake; after being split in 2002-2003, Murtha’s resolution started bringing Dems together in opposition to the war. Repubs flipped out so much that they offered…/4

…their own bullshit resolution they knew everyone would reject. But in the debate new Rep Jean Schmidt said she was asked by a constituent to tell the 37 year Marine Murtha “that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.” Democrats erupted. It was everyone. Some of the Massachusetts liberals…/5

…were shouting at the Repubs, & future DLC chair & current Fox pundit Harold Ford Jr lost his shit & ran across the floor to point & scream at the Republicans for attacking Murtha.

Democrats picked a fight, Republicans took a cheap shot, & it emboldened & unified Democrats. It was…/6

…a turning point & put the Dems on the path to winning the House in 2006 largely on opposition to the war, & the nomination of Barack Obama

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