Balloon Juice - Open Threads Archives

Postcard Patriots – Write Postcards for House Campaigns (Open Thread)

by WaterGirl| October 2, 20222:30 pm| 34 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Political Action, Politics, This Fight Is For Everything

Postcard Patriots has a new postcard campaign.

Postcard designs by MazeDancer!

Download designs, print and write postcards.

PostCardPatriots.com is back with their Hold the House! Postcard Campaign

Postcard Patriots Postcard Writing Campaign

Write postcards for these house races:

Yadiro Caraveo, Susan Wild, and Emilia Sykes, and more.

Sign up here.

Writing postcards can make a difference!

MazeDancer:

The GOP only has to flip 6 seats to take control of the House. Democracy is more than in peril, it is teetering on the edge.

That’s why, this year, PostCard Patriots is determined to help “Hold the House!”

Born in 2018, at Balloon-Juice, PostCard Patriots has helped Dems every two years since. We even have addresses for sending PostCards to 3 of the BJ Purple District Candidates: Yadiro Caraveo, Susan Wild, and Emilia Sykes.

If you have any questions, let us know in the comments.

I will also put up a post for Postcards to Voters later this week. Sooner if one of the postcard writers (hint-hint) wants to write something up for me.

Postcard Patriots – Write Postcards for House Campaigns (Open Thread)Post + Comments (34)

Ready for Submissions: Have You Selected Your Pics for the 2023 Pet Calendar?

by WaterGirl| October 2, 202212:30 pm| 43 Comments

This post is in: Balloon Juice, Open Threads, Pet Calendar

Have you selected your pics for the 2023 BJ Pet Calendar?

We are ready for calendar submissions!

The parts in this color below contain the information you really need to focus on for now.

🐇

Please let us know ASAP that you plan to send photos in, and the name of each pet. Even without all the pictures, knowing how many entries there will be allows us to get started!

🐇

We are using the same system as last year.

It’s a 4-step process, start to finish. (for you)

Start the process by sending me an email message
Use the link we supply to upload your files
Check for your nym and names of your pets in the spreadsheet we’ll post later on BJ
Notify us if anything is incorrect

🐇

To start the process, simply send email to watergirl. If you need more info about the exact email addresses, check out Contact Us in the white bar up top, for details.

Your message should include:

your name
your nym
the names of all each pet that is going to be in the calendar
if you would like a small heart with the photo of a beloved pet that you have lost

🐇

Details and the link for uploading your files will be sent to you by email once you send the email with your name, nym, and pet names.

🐇

With the election coming up, we want to get an early start (and early finish) because we will only get more distracted as Nov 8 approaches!

Calendars will be available to order by December 1.

The we-really-mean-it-last-date for submitting your pictures is Nov 1. For real.

Oh, and all calendar posts are Open Threads.

Ready for Submissions: Have You Selected Your Pics for the 2023 Pet Calendar?Post + Comments (43)

Culture Warring Among the Ruins

by Betty Cracker| October 2, 202210:57 am| 157 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Venality

I haven’t heard a Beltway hack call DeSantis “presidential” for his handling of the hurricane recovery efforts so far, but if they haven’t already, they will eventually. If you followed the press conferences in the immediate aftermath, DeSantis’s remarks were uncontroversial, which means he passed the Trump test by not saying anything overtly crazy, stupid or racist right away.

But the culture war bullshit resurfaced quickly. First, DeSantis warned that Florida is a “Second Amendment state” and said that people who visit the devastated coastal islands by boat for purposes of looting would get a nasty surprise. Anyone who ransacks wrecked homes to steal things (as opposed to trying to survive by scavenging for food and water, etc.), should be punished. No one seriously disagrees with that.

However, I’m skeptical that hordes of boat-borne thieves are descending on the affected areas to steal stuff, and I highly doubt it’s such an urgent problem the governor needed to address it on camera. I’m not saying boat-borne looting could never happen — this is Florida, after all, where someone once carved “TRUMP” on a manatee’s back, so depraved assholes definitely have access to boats (see also: boat parades!). But nautical wreckage looting isn’t really a thing.

You know what else isn’t a thing? The government making white people go to the back of the line while handing out federal hurricane relief. Definitely not happening, but that didn’t stop DeSantis’s former press secretary/Twitter troll and current campaign “rapid response” director/Twitter troll Christina Pushaw from lying about what Vice President Harris said in a recent DNC organization interview:

Culture War in the Ruins 1

This is a barefaced lie — Harris was asked a complex question about global warming and gave a multi-part response that touched on the Florida recovery efforts only briefly. She definitely did not say FEMA relief should be a reparations program like these troglodytes are claiming. Here’s a clip of the interview; the relevant discussions starts at the 4:23 mark.

LIVE NOW: Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a conversation with actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas at the Democratic National Committee Women's Leadership Forum https://t.co/1BrclRDRJv

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) September 30, 2022

Fox News and other con-media outlets and influencers jumped all over the bogus “controversy,” and DeSantis’s odious wife amplified one of the worst of them while shilling for relief donations. So did Florida’s attorney general, who allows corporate looters to ravage the state unabated.

These really are despicable people. I believed them the first time they told me that, and no amount of disaster-porn flexing will change their spots.

Open thread.

Culture Warring Among the RuinsPost + Comments (157)

Late Saturday Night Open Thread: New Right-Wing ‘Dating’ Grift Dropped

by Anne Laurie| October 2, 20223:07 am| 47 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity

cannot wait to see the catfish show this becomes https://t.co/c132TAqgs8

— kilgore trout, death to putiner (@KT_So_It_Goes) September 30, 2022

Since CPAC comes but once a y… well, these days, approximately once every six weeks — but who wants to apply for a passport and risk “THEM” coming after you, when the tech makes it so easy to get your wages garnished for back child support and small court claims?

hey babe u up pic.twitter.com/RFIsohF2WF

— kilgore trout, death to putiner (@KT_So_It_Goes) September 30, 2022

show full post on front page

A new dating app called The Right Stuff — co-founded by a former Trump body man — promises conservative romantics refuge in the dating world. One of the app’s co-founders, Dan Huff, spoke to us about his vision. 👇

🎥: https://t.co/lPHEG9rFuQ pic.twitter.com/wLajPkHRHU

— POLITICO (@politico) September 30, 2022

As we already knew, Peter Thiel has a low opinion of… breeders. “Founder & CEO” Johnny McEntee, per the NYPost in 2021:

President Trump’s 29-year-old body man took control of personnel in the final days of the administration — hiring beautiful young women and geeky guys that were called the “Rockettes and the Dungeons and Dragons,” a new book says.

With the White House in disarray in Trump‘s final year in office, Johnny McEntee, 29, emerged seemingly out of nowhere to become head of the ultra-powerful Presidential Personnel Office, according to “The Final Act of the Trump Show” by ABC’s chief DC correspondent, Jonathan Karl.

The MAGA fanatic — whose former job was carrying Trump’s luggage on trips — was “a f–king idiot,” a high-level cabinet secretary told Karl in an excerpt published by The Atlantic on Tuesday.

But McEntee convinced the commander in chief that he was the man to ferret out “secret Never Trumpers” who had infiltrated the White House — and soon became what a senior administration official described as “deputy president,” the bombshell book claims…

https://t.co/Wbhw5SRbMH pic.twitter.com/TvmPjBCweI

— zeddy (@Zeddary) September 30, 2022

How many of the first crop of users are LEOs trolling for domestic terrorists?

One of the prompts on the conservative-only dating app the Right Stuff: “January 6th was…” pic.twitter.com/RwBhRCU8MF

— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) September 30, 2022

One Right Stuff app ambassador that @Noah_Kirsch and I spoke with hopes the app will ban right-wing males on the platform looking for “hookups.”https://t.co/8N3dh9RjPl

— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) September 30, 2022

… [D]espite the aim of enlisting female Capitol Hill staffers and right-wing politicos, the startup is already facing some problems.

For one, there’s an emerging legal dispute with another dating service, also called The Right Stuff.

That “The Right Stuff” has existed for more than two decades, but it has nothing to do with conservative politics.

The company is planning to send a cease-and-desist letter to the Thiel-backed operation, according to Michael Feigin, an attorney working on the case. The existing “dating service is for people that have higher levels of education, and many of them are left-wing, so they don’t like the confusion,” he said…

Still, another issue is actually getting users. Instead of drawing singles, the app has thus far largely drawn mockery, according to female Republican operatives who spoke to The Daily Beast.

Two Republican staffers in Washington, D.C., said many young conservative women have ignored McEnany’s outreach and have instead jeeringly passed around screenshots of her messages to group chats.

Other Republican staffers in D.C.—the sort who boast about downing drinks at the Navy Yard watering hole Mission and claim their pronouns are “Yee” and “Haw” on their Instagram profiles—told The Daily Beast the app has an array of possible problems, like liberals masquerading as right-wingers and the awkward potential of matching them with conservative staffers they already know.

“It’s all of Mitch McConnell’s staffers,” a female Republican operative said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she still works in pro-Trump politics…

Late Saturday Night Open Thread: New Right-Wing ‘Dating’ Grift DroppedPost + Comments (47)

War for Ukraine Day 219: The Annexation Is Off To a Rousing Start… Lyman Has Been Liberated!

by Adam L Silverman| October 1, 202210:18 pm| 98 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

The annexation is off to such a rousing start that less than twenty-four hours after it was announced, Lyman has been liberated by the Ukrainian army.

We’ll get into more of the news from Lyman after the jump.

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

show full post on front page

Dear Ukrainians!

Dear all our defenders!

Another week of our war for our independence comes to an end.

The week that the enemy really wanted to make especially hard for us, but he made it really hard, but for himself. For Russia itself.

Today, even more voices in the world have joined in condemning the pseudo-referendums and Russia’s attempt to annex our territory – the territory of Ukraine.

I am grateful for every such voice.

As a result, we already have dozens of statements that clearly support Ukraine and international law and condemn Russia for this new aggressive step.

I would like to especially note the statement of UN Secretary General António Guterres.

He bluntly said that Russia violates the goals and principles of the UN, the UN Charter and that the pseudo-referendums and attempted annexation will have no legal force.

When such words are heard at the highest level in the UN, everyone in the world understands everything.

And Russia has no such veto right that can stop or cancel this understanding of the world.

Russia is losing the fight for the international community. The world will not allow a return to the times of colonial conquests, criminal annexations and total arbitrariness instead of international law.

And the main thing… The main thing is our resistance with you, our protection with you, our movement with you towards the liberation of the entire Ukrainian territory.

It is our movement that puts everything in its place.

Russia has staged a farce in Donbas. An absolute farce, which it wanted to present as an alleged referendum.

They depicted something there, drove machine gunners around the houses, carried pieces of paper, the propagandists filmed all this in the part of Donbas they controlled.

And now a Ukrainian flag is there.

During this week, there were more Ukrainian flags in Donbas. It will be even more in a week.

What then is a pseudo-referendum? Are there two Donetsk regions? Two villages of Yampil, Donetsk region? Are there two villages of Torske?

The Ukrainian movement will continue.

The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman, Donetsk region. Fighting is still going on there. But there is no trace of any pseudo-referendum there.

It is logical for Ukraine. And for the enemy, there will be more and more such “mismatches.”

By the way, they have already started biting each other there: they are looking for the culprits, accusing some generals of failures…

This is the first bell that should be heard at all levels of the Russian government.

Until you all solve the problem with the one who started it all, who started this senseless for Russia war against Ukraine, you will be killed one by one, making scapegoats, so as not to admit that this war is a historical mistake for Russia.

Ukraine will return its own. Both in the east and in the south. And what they tried to annex now, and Crimea, which has been called annexed since 2014.

Our flag will be everywhere.

There will be punishment for those who committed this crime of aggression against our independent state.

On October 1, 76 years ago, the Nuremberg Tribunal ended its work.

In many ways, it was this process that laid the foundations of the modern world – the legal foundations of justice. Everything that ruscism is trying to destroy.

Therefore, another tribunal will inevitably take place, which will put an end to the careers of all those responsible for this Russian “special operation” against the international system, which began in 2014 and became full-scale on February 24, and will end thanks to the heroism of our people.

Today, we still do not know on which day it will happen. But we know that the day of our victory will come. It will definitely be. And after it the day of judgment for the ruscists will be. It will definitely be.

I thank everyone who brings this time closer. Who is approaching it daily.

Thanks to everyone who fights and works for our victory! Thanks to everyone who helps!

Thank you to President Biden and the US Congress for providing more than $12 billion in supplemental support. It will definitely strengthen our common freedom.

Glory to the invincible people of Ukraine!

Glory to our soldiers!

Glory to Ukraine!

Here’s the British MOD’s assessment for today. They appear to have given the mappers the weekend off.

Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessments of the situations in Zaporizhzhia and Lyman:

ZAPORIZHZHIA NUCLEAR PLANT /01 OCT/ RU troops have kidnapped the director of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ihor Murashov was forcibly removed from his car in the town of Enerhodar at 16:00 local time on Friday. https://t.co/tcFXT4vlyP pic.twitter.com/oDdgXMkYtS

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) October 1, 2022

The BBC has the details on the abduction of Ihor Murashov:

Russian troops have detained the director of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator Enerhoatom says.

It says Ihor Murashov was held as his car was on its way from the facility to the nearby town of Enerhodar at about 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Friday.

He was then blindfolded and is believed to have been taken to a prison facility in Enerhodar, Enerhoatom’s president told the BBC.

Russia has not commented.

In a statement published on Saturday, Enerhoatom president Petro Kotin said that Mr Murashov “bears main and exclusive responsibility for the nuclear and radiation safety” of the nuclear plant.

He said Friday’s detention “jeopardises the safety of operation of Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant”.

In addition, he told the BBC the detention happened as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, including Zaporizhzhia.

Mr Kontin said representatives of Russia’s nuclear state company Rosatom had visited the plant “just two days ago”. They said the power plant would be transferred from Ukrainian control to Rosatom’s control in line with the annexation of the region.

Mr Kontin said he believed the move to kidnap Mr Musharov was an attempt to try and get him to accept the transfer of the power plant from Ukraine to Russia.

“They are trying to make him accept the move of [the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant] from Ukraine to Rosatom. But I am sure he is against it. Many times before he refused to accept the Russian world and so on,” Mr Kontin said.

The plant’s president appealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency to demand the immediate release of the plant’s chief, accusing Russia of “nuclear terrorism”.

LYMAN /1200 UTC 01 OCT/ RU forces at Lyman are now SURROUNDED. UKR units are in control of the O-0528 HWY and have established a blocking force E of Torske. It is estimated that from 2 to 5 thousand RU troops, plus their armor, artillery & vehicles, are now encircled. pic.twitter.com/mFyW2ZVGnp

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) October 1, 2022

Ukrainian soldiers at the Lyman City Council

Soldiers of Ukraine's 81st separate airmobile brigade and the National Guard's battalion named after Kulchytskyi shared a video in which they announced the liberation of Lyman.
📹https://t.co/wYhg9LrRnG pic.twitter.com/qzYOCfB45H

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) October 1, 2022

Last night in the comments several of you were asking about the importance of Lyman and what the Ukrainians had been doing to set this part of the theater, this is an excellent thread that answers some of your questions:

Last week the 🇺🇦 forces started an unpresedented #HIMARS campaign on the 🇷🇺 supply hub Svatove. In 2 days at least 5 seperate targets where hit in & around Svatove. This town was a supply hub for the Lyman & Kupiansk front.1 strike took out the command of the 144th regiment. pic.twitter.com/VXCCOTTYtd

— NLwartracker (@NLwartracker) October 1, 2022

One was located on the East side of town at what seems to be a farm complex of some kind.Geolocation of the complex is [49.418245, 38.177272]. As is visible a single hit struck the roof area collapsing it.@GeoConfirmed pic.twitter.com/m6nDQx9aNP

— NLwartracker (@NLwartracker) October 1, 2022

For the next location we have to move south to the town of Miluvatka. Just on the outskirts of town next to the road toward Kremina, a warehouse complex Geolocation [49.340111, 38.186981] was struck by a full volley of HIMARS missiles wich destroyed every building.@GeoConfirmed pic.twitter.com/qSLYuZJqdY

— NLwartracker (@NLwartracker) October 1, 2022

All in all a very succesfull campaign, destroying not only supply capability of the 🇷🇺 forces, & also effectivly destroying C&C capabilities of the enemy before launching the offensive in Lyman & Kupiansk area's.#SlavaUkraïni @DefMon3 @bradyafr @ArtisanalAPT @AndrewPerpetua

— NLwartracker (@NLwartracker) October 1, 2022

Cole asked me earlier today how many Russian soldiers got trapped in Lyman. I have seen estimates ranging from 1,000 to 5,000. One of the major problems for the Russians in attempting to retreat from Lyman is that one of the retreating Russian units blew up the bridge they’d been using to escape before all the other Russian military units had crossed over. As a result the Russian military trapped the Russian military in Lyman.

It's 1 a.m. in Ukraine and there's a battle underway on the outskirts of Kreminna, Luhansk region.

Advancing Ukrainian troops are turning the Russian retreat from Lyman, Donetsk region, into a rout. pic.twitter.com/03xJr8VyM1

— Michael MacKay (@mhmck) September 30, 2022

Context for the previous video – the Russians retreating from Lyman had no time to disembark/unload before they were engaged in battle near Kreminna.

Note that Ukrainian special operations forces have night vision devices. Rashist militants mostly do not.https://t.co/eiUlffkFcY

— Michael MacKay (@mhmck) September 30, 2022

There is a large fire reportedly coming from the Belbek airfield in Crimea home to Russia’s 27th Composite Aviation Division. https://t.co/b5taLaor7W pic.twitter.com/uZWvaMTAeT

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) October 1, 2022

Video of the incident at Belbek airfield. Apparently, while landing, an aircraft ran past the runway and some of it’s ammunition detonated. The pilot reportedly survived. https://t.co/sftolFMW6U pic.twitter.com/TifLSaxlJv

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) October 1, 2022

I think that’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

As long as I'm livin'
I'll be waitin'
As long as I'm breathin'
I'll be there

All the devotion of dogs in one photo. Russian terrorists killed his human.
A dog cannot leave the one who loves more than everything. pic.twitter.com/EhKrelkMlc

— Patron (@PatronDsns) October 1, 2022

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok:

@patron__dsns

Як ви і просили – друга частина!👅 #песпатрон #патрондснс #славаукраїні

♬ original sound – Jonathan Martinez

The caption translates as:

As you asked – the second part! 👅 #Patronthedog #PatronDSNS #SlavaUkraini

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 219: The Annexation Is Off To a Rousing Start… Lyman Has Been Liberated!Post + Comments (98)

Winnable House Races in Purple Districts (AK-01?) Match Is Active

by WaterGirl| October 1, 20225:05 pm| 40 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Targeted Political Fundraising Fall 2022

Update at 7:45 pm – We have a $1,000 match!

An angel will match Marie Gluesenkamp Perez ($750) and Susan Wild ($250). That will put both of them over the top for the $4,500 we are trying to raise for each person. I am making note of the donation amounts for each person right now, and as soon as Marie and as soon as each one increases by the amounts above, they will have hit at least $4,500 and will join Marcy, Sharice, Gabe and Elaine on “pause” while we get the rest to at least $3.500.

In a late comment on the last post, Mary Peltola (AK-01) was suggested for inclusion in this list. My first thought was “yes!” But yesterday was Sept 30, so I think we should wait for the quarterly fundraising figures, which we should be seeing really soon. Let’s see what Mary Peltola’s race looks like funding-wise. My gut feeling is that she will be getting national money from a whole bunch of sources, but we will know soon enough. If our money can make a difference, I would love to see us add her. If it turns out that she is swimming in money, we’ll let others support her and we’ll donate where our money isn’t salt in the ocean.

Matching: We met the $1,000 for Mercedes Krause (NV-02)! So she has gained a lot of ground in the thermometer! I really hadn’t thought of matching for these thermometers, but if anyone else is really invested in a particular candidate on the list, and you want to put up a match for your candidate, we can do that.

Candidate Notes: We added Emilia Sykes (OH-13) yesterday, too. Susan Wild (PA-07) was the 5th person added to the thermometer, and she is at just over $4,000. When she hits $4,500, she will join Marcy, Sharice, Gabe and Elaine in “pause” mode while we try to get everyone on the list to at least $3,500.

Unless you customize the amounts, donations to this thermometer will be split 8 ways.

These 4 have reached at least $4,500 each, so they are currently paused on the list.

*Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
*Sharice Davids (KS-03)
*Gabe Vasquez (NM-02)
*Elaine Luria (VA-02)
*Susan Wild (PA-07)

Current Recipients

Josh Riley (NY-19)
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) – $750 match right now
Eric Sorenson (IL-17)
Tony Vargas (NE-02)
Yadira Caraveo (CO-08)
Susie Lee (NV-03)
Mercedes Krause (NV-02)
Emilia Sykes (OH-13)

Winnable House Races Purple Districts

If you want to learn more about the folks on the list, click on the Targeted Political Fundraising Fall 2022 tag up top and check out some of the other posts in this series.

Here’s where we’re at right now:

Reminder: our next thermometer will be Election Protection in Key States, which will be a series like this one. Only we’ll be rolling out key races that have a huge impact on election protections, like Secretary of State, Attorney General, Governor, and possibly pivotal judges on state Supreme Courts.

All of the targeted fundraising thermometers for this fall (so far) are in the sidebar, and also at the link below. I have a link to each one in the sidebar now. The link doesn’t show the thermometer itself, but it takes you to it. I thought it might be easier to remember what all the options are if they are listed.

All Targeted Fundraising Thermometers

Totally open thread!

Winnable House Races in Purple Districts (AK-01?) Match Is ActivePost + Comments (40)

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread: Crystal Flute Flaunt, Doubling Down On the ‘Disrespect’

by Anne Laurie| October 1, 20221:10 pm| 126 Comments

This post is in: Kiss My Black Ass, Music, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity

One of my favorite memories was singing with 2016 Gershwin Prize Honoree @smokeyrobinson and Berry Gordy by the Gershwin piano. (2/2) pic.twitter.com/EaRoDiDzCZ

— Carla Hayden (@LibnOfCongress) September 30, 2022

Somewhere, a Very Serious Cultural Guardian started bleeding from every orifice, and they didn’t know why.

As a proud Irish-American, I have been accused of not knowing when to let go, but there are levels here.

She’s an incredible musician, she just choose not to flautist.

— Bryn says everyone go and watch RRR. (@dgtia958) September 29, 2022

show full post on front page

there is a thing happening i’m not articulating very well where the Typical White Person’s Idea Of A Classical Music Person is colliding with the Typical White Person’s Perception Of Who Lizzo Is so the misogynoir has a class marker aftertaste, if you know what i mean

— Claire Willett (@clairewillett) September 29, 2022

From a (very good!) longer thread:

it reminds me of when I used to work at the ballet and there were always kind of veiled things said about how doing cheap or free tickets for young people and students meant “audiences who don’t know how to dress or behave appropriately” that always felt . . . coded

anyway i would bet all the money in my checking account that if everyone freaking out today about Lizzo playing James Madison’s flute were polled in two weeks and asked to name, without googling, which president’s flute it actually was, not one of them would remember

how DARE anyone interfere with the legacy of our most cherished founding father *checks notes* the dude from “hamilton” who didn’t have a solo

i will never forget the year the ballet i worked at did a production of “carmen” and we weren’t allowed to market it with concepts like “sexy, exciting, femme fatale, romance,” we were only allowed to talk about the historic significance of the scorehttps://t.co/GDrzwANtDH

— Claire Willett (@clairewillett) September 29, 2022

they also did “giselle” that year and i was in charge of social media so i put together a playable march madness style bracket of iconic ingenues vs femme fatales from pop culture and it was the most engagement they ever got on social but the artistic director was LIVID about it

i still stand behind “the carmen vs giselle tragic heroine throwdown” as my single greatest professional accomplishment (3500% increase in facebook traffic at a time when that meant something and like $10k in ticket sales) but we were told “throwdown” was a “tacky” word

and like clockwork, here come the white men in my replies saying “um actually not all white men are like this so stop stereotyping”

shan’t, but thank you

*whispers quietly into the void* i actually do know a lot of white men who aren’t shitty, and none of them feel the need to scream in my face about how not shitty they are

they just go about their day not being shitty and that’s how i know

life hack worth considering…

If Andrew Jackson has a crystal clarinet I’m willing to dust off my ancient marching band skills and take one for the team.

— Kendra “Gloom is My Beat” Pierre-Louis (@KendraWrites) September 29, 2022

Lizzo plays a flute and one day later everyone’s an expert on flutes. They should keep handing her instruments until we accidentally bring back music education

— Kenny Keil (@kennykeil) September 30, 2022

The Lizzo-flute controversy, Ben, is a perfect example of right-wing nimrods getting triggered by Black people casually existing.

(See also, e.g.: tan suits, Halle Bailey as the Little Mermaid, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson breathing) pic.twitter.com/1MlqtkwODw

— Greg Greene (@ggreeneva) September 29, 2022

This time last week, the people currently apoplectic with rage didn’t know:

— Warren Terra (@warren__terra) September 29, 2022

Quality DougJ content:

More Google searches today for “crystal flute“ than for “abortion”. Democrats are screwed.

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) September 30, 2022

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread: Crystal Flute Flaunt, Doubling Down On the ‘Disrespect’Post + Comments (126)

YY_Sima Qian on The War of the Trains, Part 1 (Oct 4, 2022 @ 11:08pm)

Emma on Rescued Kittens & Cats Need Homes! (Oct 4, 2022 @ 11:06pm)

Gin & Tonic on The War of the Trains, Part 1 (Oct 4, 2022 @ 10:59pm)

Carlo Graziani on The War of the Trains, Part 1 (Oct 4, 2022 @ 10:58pm)

Timill on The War of the Trains, Part 1 (Oct 4, 2022 @ 10:57pm)

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Everybody saw this coming.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

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

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Let there be snark.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

We still have time to mess this up!

Postcard Patriots – Write Postcards for House Campaigns (Open Thread)

Postcard Patriots has a new postcard campaign.

Postcard designs by MazeDancer!

Download designs, print and write postcards.

Write postcards for these house races:

Yadiro Caraveo, Susan Wild, and Emilia Sykes, and more.

Sign up here.

Writing postcards can make a difference!

Ready for Submissions: Have You Selected Your Pics for the 2023 Pet Calendar?

Please let us know ASAP that you plan to send photos in, and the name of each pet. Even without all the pictures, knowing how many entries there will be allows us to get started!

Culture Warring Among the Ruins

Late Saturday Night Open Thread: New Right-Wing ‘Dating’ Grift Dropped

War for Ukraine Day 219: The Annexation Is Off To a Rousing Start… Lyman Has Been Liberated!

Winnable House Races in Purple Districts (AK-01?) Match Is Active

Winnable House Races Purple Districts

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread: Crystal Flute Flaunt, Doubling Down On the ‘Disrespect’