Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

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

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

How stupid are these people?

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

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

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

“They all knew.”

Everybody saw this coming.

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

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Blame It All On the GOP

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This GOP move does several things:
+ No votes in the House until at least October 14
+ No swearing-in for Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva D-AZ
+ No 218th signature from Grijalva on the Epstein Files discharge petition
+ Continues the House 'jam' of the Senate on the CR

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— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 3:44 PM

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I guess “district work period” is now a euphemism for “putting off releasing the Epstein files”

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 4:07 PM

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Harry Enten: "Who do Americans blame more for the shutdown? They blame Republicans. The New York Times — by 7 points they blame Republicans. Marist — blame Trump and Republicans by 12 points. How about Washington Post? By a 17 point margin."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 3, 2025 at 12:04 PM

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An acknowledgement that the all stick no carrot presidency is potentially not working.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 11:52 AM

This is stuff that a president desperate for good press thinks about.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 11:52 AM

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Politico is headquartered in Northern Virginia and a lot of national reporters live there.
I would suggest every journalist who is a resident of Virginia do exactly this: enter your information and find out how much your insurance will increase thanks to Republicans.

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— Laura Chapin (@laurachapin.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 10:43 PM

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Blame It All On the GOPPost + Comments (195)

Late Night Open Thread: New Potential Shutdown ‘Mastermind’ – Russ Vought

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lol they're already getting spooked

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) October 2, 2025 at 11:05 AM

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Posted by the President of the United States.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 7:27 AM

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I wonder if they're going to try to do an end around the agency heads again. Because most of the agencies have been trying to bring back at least a fair portion of people cut by DOGE/Vought.
My best bet is this just leads to another attempt to kill CFPB

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) October 2, 2025 at 10:21 AM

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I'm squinting at this and I'm wondering if they're setting up Ross to be the fall guy. The explicit mention of P2025 here is interesting.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) October 2, 2025 at 11:15 AM

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MIKE LEE: Russ Vought has been dreaming about this moment since puberty
MIKE JOHNSON: Russ Vought does not enjoy this responsibility

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 2, 2025 at 11:07 AM

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Defenestration could not happen to a more deserving little wen!

When you recall that political reporters ran interference for Trump over his "opposition" to Project 2025, remember that even AT THAT TIME there was a hidden camera interview with Vought where he said that was bullshit and he didn't mean it. www.mediamatters.org/russ-vought/…

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— Adam Serwer (@adamserwer.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 10:54 AM

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Last year, CNN ran a “fact check” of Kamala HQ that claimed we were lying for saying Trump’s plan is Project 2025.
Now Trump is outright admitting it’s his plan.
Legacy media failed the country.

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— Parker Butler (@parkerbutler.bsky.social) October 2, 2025 at 6:39 PM

Late Night Open Thread: New Potential Shutdown ‘Mastermind’ – Russ VoughtPost + Comments (43)

War for Ukraine Day 1,317: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

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Shot:

I genuinely wonder how much longer Europe intends to tolerate this and what further aggression it’s willing to let Russia get away with. You can be sure Russia is going to check this.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 2, 2025 at 9:46 PM

Chaser:

Europe’s slumber feels less like sleep, more like a coma.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 9:39 AM

From Politico EU:

The European Commission’s drone wall idea is showing cracks before intercepting its first Russian intruder.

With Russian drones crossing into Poland and Romania and unidentified (but suspected Russian) ones being tracked over Denmark, Norway and Germany, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is pitching a shiny new shield of radars and interceptors to help defend the bloc’s eastern flank.

She called it a “drone wall” in her State of the Union address last month.

Both the name and the concept are drawing flak.

For the Baltics and Poland it sounds like a sensible response to a growing emergency. But countries further from Russia are poking holes in the idea, worrying about its feasibility and cost, how it fits into EU and NATO military plans, and whether it’s a power grab by Brussels over national defense policy.

“Drones and anti-drones are the priority,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Thursday. “But we have to be clear: There is no perfect wall for Europe, we’re speaking about a 3,000-kilometer border, do you think it’s totally feasible? The answer is ‘no.’”

Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, a former Lithuanian prime minister, sprang to its defense. He said the original plan for countering drones covering Poland and the Baltics would cost about €1 billion, and getting detection capabilities in place could be done in less than a year.

However, he conceded that calling it a “wall” might give the wrong idea. It “wouldn’t be a new Maginot Line,” he said, referring to the French defensive fortifications that Germany successfully bypassed in World War II.

There are also worries that the Commission may be over-promising.

“I hope no one sees the drone wall as an easy fix to our defense problems,” said Hannah Neumann, a German Greens MEP and a member of the European Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee. “A drone wall won’t protect us from cyberattacks, nor will it help with air defense, ammunition production, or the deeper issues around decision-making structures and rules of engagement.”

The divergences are especially problematic because Brussels together with frontline states  want to use EU money to help fund the drone wall; for that to happen, all EU capitals have to agree.

The reluctance of Southern countries — Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis both said during this week’s Copenhagen meeting of EU leaders that European defense projects should benefit the whole bloc, not only its Eastern flank — prompted calls for “solidarity” from exposed nations.

“We have shown solidarity for the last two decades, for example, in Covid, in economy, in migration. Now is the time to show solidarity in security,” Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told POLITICO.

That disagreement was on full display in Copenhagen, both publicly and behind closed doors. Inside the room, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz slammed the plan in what one diplomat familiar with the discussion described as “very harsh” terms.

Despite quibbling over the size — as well as the name — of the drone wall, there is little debate that Europe needs to improve its ability to fend off Russian drones. The bloc lacks detection tech to easily pick up UAVs, and when NATO jets downed three Russian drones over Poland last month, they used multi-million-dollar missiles to knock down Russian Gerberas costing about $10,000 each.

Although there were objections in Copenhagen, in the end EU leaders accepted the Commission’s defense proposals, including the drone wall — which means it’s expected to go ahead in some form. However, details on timing, cost and capabilities still need to be spelled out.

And the branding is likely to change.

On Wednesday, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen talked about a “European network of anti-drone measures.” When she was asked by a journalist why she hadn’t used the term “drone wall,” she replied: “I don’t really care about the name as long as it works.”

More at the link.

The EU is going to debate this to the EU’s own, as well as the citizens of its member states deaths.

What had previously been a world war that was largely non-lethally waged by Russia against the US, the EU, NATO, and a number of other states, and lethally against Georgia, Ukraine, in Syria, in the Sahel, has now become explicit in Europe. It is no longer a not normally distributed war where the brunt of the kinetic and lethal operations were against Ukraine or conducted by Russian mercenaries in Syria and the Sahel. The EU has very little time to get its collective dupas in gear. Winter is coming and this will not end well.

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

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Open Thread: Pointless Resource Diversion

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In Trump 1, this would lead to Noem getting fired. Not because of some idealogical reason, but Trump when his brain wasn't vanilla pudding absolutely hated the vision that anyone but him was the boss.
Now? Eh, not clear he cares.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 2:26 PM

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The unitary executive theory puts all the power of the executive branch in the hands of one person. That is a problem when he is unaware of some pretty big decisions being made by his underlings.

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— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 12:32 PM


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Also, critically missing here is that a Judge ordered this, not Trump.

— robertswartz.bsky.social (@robertswartz.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 1:13 PM

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NEW: A 20-year federal prosecutor, fired abruptly this week even as he lead case against Abbey Gate bomber, warns his colleagues: the Trump administration is sacrificing national security to purge Trump's perceived adversaries.
w/ @dnlbrns
www.politico.com/news/2025/10…

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— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 2:28 PM

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I bet we find out in 10-15 years that serial killers flourished again during this time because the feds put most of the Mindhunter-type agents in unmarked vans to wait for hairdressers to get home. bsky.app/profile/bart…

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— Zeddy (@zeddary.bsky.social) September 29, 2025 at 11:41 AM

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And Now for Something Completely Different: A Bit of Old-School Sexism

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There are so many things to be alarmed about in either of the countries I pay tax to, and it can be hard to get one’s arms around any one topic when the outrages and anxieties come so thick and so fast. Here, however, is a juicy little rage-nugget for you all to chew on this Friday. The Archbishopric of Canterbury has been vacant for about a year, and today it was announced that Sarah Mullally, current Bishop of London, will take up the seat in January.

She is, obviously, the first woman to serve in the role, and her appointment is especially momentous when you consider that women have only been ordained as bishops in the Anglican Church for 10 years. Mullally, who appears to be about as liberal as it’s possible for someone high up in the Church of England to be, will become the spiritual leader of the Church (Charles is, of course, in charge). Aside from her sex and gender, she also brings some interesting past experience to the position: she is a former cancer nurse, and from 1999-2004, she was the NHS’s chief nursing officer in England. She steps into the archbishopric at a time when religious and ethnic tensions are high. Her first public remarks as archbishop-designate included messages of condolence for the victims of yesterday’s horrific synagogue attack in Manchester.

And how did Sky News break this story? By discussing who her husband is, obvs:

screen grab of a story on the Sky News website describing the new Archbishop of Canterbury as some guy's wife, FFS

“Woman” may have been named to a position of authority, but Sky News will be damned if it actually names her, too. I can imagine the headlines when the Archbishop inevitably says something that pisses the right-wing press off: “Will no-one rid us of this meddlesome Eamonn Mullally’s wife?”

Open thread.

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Playing to Win No, Fighting to Win

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Good video below – less than 3 minutes long.  Can you spare 3 minuter?  Watch it.  Share it.  Spread the word.

I think it’s fair to say that I’m hoping for more constructive ideas and less discussion of how anyone might feel about Bernie or AOC.

Health care out of pocket costs are about to double.  Let’s talk about what we can do to get the message out.

This is a winning issue for us.

As Congress debates federal health care spending as part of spending bill negotiations, including extending the enhanced premium tax credits, the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds three-quarters (78%) of adults say Congress should extend the enhanced tax credits for people who buy their own insurance through the ACA Marketplace. This is more than three times the share of the public (22%) who say Congress should let the credits expire. Notably, majorities across political party want Congress to extend the tax credits including nine in ten (92%) Democrats, eight in ten (82%) independents, and six in ten (59%) Republicans. A majority of Republicans who align with the MAGA movement (57%) also say Congress should extend these subsidies.

Both parties could face political fallout if the enhanced tax credits are not extended, though the public says they will place most of the blame on those currently in charge. About four in ten (39%) adults who want to see the tax credits extended say that if Congress does not extend these enhanced tax credits, President Trump deserves most of the blame, while another four in ten (37%) say the same about Republicans in Congress. About two in ten (22%) say that Democrats in Congress deserve most of the blame.

Democrats are most likely to place blame on President Trump (56%) followed by Republicans in Congress (42%), while six in ten Republicans (61%) say they would place the blame on Democrats in Congress. Among those who buy their own coverage (nearly half of whom identify as Republican or Republican-leaning), Republicans in Congress and President Trump receive the majority of the blame (42% and 37%, respectively).

Seven in ten adults who buy their own health insurance say that if the amount they paid for health insurance each month nearly doubled, they could not pay the higher premiums without significantly disrupting their household finances. In addition, four in ten (42%) say they would go without health insurance coverage if the amount they had to pay for health insurance each month nearly doubled. About a third (37%) say they would continue to pay for their current health insurance, while two in ten (22%) would get insurance from another source, like an employer or a spouse’s employer.

Majorities across partisanship also report that they would be concerned if they heard about something of the outcomes for both letting the tax credits expire, as well as if Congress extended the tax cuts – granted to a lesser degree. Majorities say they would be concerned if they heard that health insurance would be unaffordable for many people who buy their own coverage (86%), that 4 million people would lose their health insurance coverage (86%), or if they heard that people who work at small businesses or are self-employed would be directly impacted (85%). On the other side, if Congress does extend these enhanced tax credits, two-thirds of the public (63%) say they would be concerned if they heard that it would require significant federal spending that would be largely paid for by taxpayers.

Three months after the passing of the tax and budget legislation, the bill still remains largely unfavorable among the public overall – lagging far behind both the Affordable Care Act and the ACA Marketplaces in overall popularity. Many are still unsure of how the legislation will impact them personally but four in ten (43%) think it’s most likely to hurt them and their families.

SPREAD THE WORD

<s>Playing to Win</s> No, Fighting to Win

HOW CAN WE GET THE MESSAGE OUT?

If you don’t think the message in this video will be effective, what  do you think would be more effective to help get the word out?

The media sure isn’t going to do it for us, so who is left, but us, right?

DON’T MOURN, ORGANIZE!

T.and his henchmen are playing mob boss – in plain sight!  Certain that they will get away with everything.

Do not let them convince you that T. is unbeatable.  That belief is their best weapon against us; don’t be complicit.

(Okay, there’s a lot to mourn, but there’s time enough in the day to mourn and organize.)

<s>Playing to Win</s> No, Fighting to WinPost + Comments (59)

Enjoying Poor Health (Open Thread)

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Personal health news: I’m coming up on the 21-month mark of post-diagnosis survival. The metric is meaningful to me because that was the median survival time for folks with this diagnosis when I received it in 2024. But I’m doing fine!

Scans are all negative so far, and I’m feeling strong. My hair is unrecognizable from its former state but has grown into a thick, curly mass that I’m starting to accept as appropriate for the slightly scary old swamp witch I was destined to become.

So, thanks healthcare team, heroic NIH researchers and others who contributed to effective new treatment protocols! (All of whom are now under assault by dumb quacks who should go step on rusty nails and perish of tetanus.)

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The post title is from my grandmother, who used that phrase to describe her older brother’s mental state during a visit with him in the 1990s. She reported back while nursing him through a nasty cold, accusing him of enjoying being “waited on hand and foot,” as she put it.

Both my grandmother and her brother lived to be quite ancient. He was an engineer and WWII vet who lived in Columbia, South Carolina. He had an eccentric wife who adored a series of Pekinese lapdogs that traveled everywhere with them.

We looked forward to their visits to Florida to see Great Grandma, who disapproved of her son’s wife on general principles. She also treated her son-in-law, my grandfather, with casual contempt. That imperious and terrifying old lady lived well into her 90s.

Gran and Great Uncle long outlived their parents and spouses, cantankerously looking after one another as they aged. (She nearly made it to 100; we converted her century birthday party plans into a funeral when she came up just short.)

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I was thinking of them this morning for no particular reason. I also thought about my now-elderly dad, whose birthday dinner I attended yesterday. He’s as old as Donald Trump and voted for that prick too, even though Dad is smarter and more hardworking and more kind and infinitely more “manly” than the cosseted Orange Pustule. (You’ll just have to trust me on that.)

Anyhoo, I was sitting on the porch this morning thinking of my olds, living and dead, and watching a feisty Belted Kingfisher wheel and chatter and dive-bomb fish in the mist. I felt this weird warmth in my chest and realized it was… happiness. And gratitude. Just thought I’d share.

Open thread!

Enjoying Poor Health (Open Thread)Post + Comments (140)