Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

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

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

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

The National Guard is not Batman.

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

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

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

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

T R E 4 5 O N

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

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Their freedom requires your slavery.

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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

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Violent and Disgusting Show of Force In the Middle of the Night – the Equivalent of Shoot First and Ask Questions Later

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Apartment building in Chicago raided in the middle of the night.

They all got in on the deal:   ICE   FBI    ATF

I’m so angry I doubt I could write complete sentences, so here are the highlights:

  • Armed federal agents in military fatigue
  • Residents woken up in the middle of the night
  • Naked adults pulled out of their apartments and into the street
  • Naked children in the street
  • Kids separated from their parents
  • Hauled out of their home and shoved into U-Haul vans
  • Even U.S. citizens dragged out and left in the street in zip ties for hours

Here’s an article that is not paywalled.  (Sun Times)

They are violent marauders. Thugs.

How can they look at themselves in the mirror?

How do they go home to their families at night?

Everyone needs to stand up and say this is unacceptable.

It’s just so wrong.  Most of our institutions are failing us.  Thank god for the ones that are not.

Violent and Disgusting Show of Force In the Middle of the Night – the Equivalent of Shoot First and Ask Questions LaterPost + Comments (139)

Thursday Morning Open Thread

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Canceling energy funding? Sounds like a great way for our electric bills to go up even more. Congratulations to this Administration!

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— Senator Ed Markey (@markey.senate.gov) October 1, 2025 at 3:01 PM

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I was sent this by a Georgian this morning. 2025 premiums vs 2026 premiums for someone making $65k a year.
Republicans in Washington did this.
This is what I'm fighting to stop. This is what’s at stake in this shutdown fight.

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— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@warnock.senate.gov) October 1, 2025 at 2:33 PM

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If they claim they haven't heard the quote, play it for them and ask for a response.
If they claim it's being taken out of context, play a longer version and ask for a response.
If they try to sidestep the issue, play it over again and ask for a response.

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— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 10:41 AM

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Jane Fonda relaunches the Committee for the First Amendment, a free speech initiative originally spearheaded by her father, Hollywood icon Henry Fonda, in response to the rise of “McCarthyism” during the 1940s.

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— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) October 1, 2025 at 2:20 PM

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Trump has decided that no jobs report will issue on Friday due to the government shutdown. But it turns out there is a different reason: that report will, when issued, be catastrophically bad.

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— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 10:17 AM

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* Food inflation: 3.2%
* Meat: 5.4%
* Ground beef: 12.8%
* Beef roasts: 13.6%
* Steak: 16.6%
@nypost.com
www.foxbusiness.com/economy/beef…

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 6:50 PM

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"A lot of folks on your side are too" is both a deflection and, more critically, an admission. Plus "I did't see it" stops being an excuse when it's your JOB to be politically informed.

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— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 11:25 PM

Thursday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (232)

War for Ukraine Day 1,315: A Brief Wednesday Night Update

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A black and white cartoon with Popeye the Sailor Man facing forward and to the left. His word bubble says "I Yam Disgustipated"

Tonight is the beginning of Yom Kippur, so just a brief update running down the basics. If there’s no update tomorrow night, it means I was not inscribed in the Book of Life for another year.

You Must Not Read From The Book No GIFfrom You Must Not Read From The Book GIFs

The cost:

The russian attack on Dnipro claimed the life of 27yo Yaroslav Buzko, his wife Bohdana said. They got married only a week and a half ago. She says she didn’t even have time to change her documents to the new surname — and now she’s a widow. This is horror.
Via Hromadske.

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— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 12:49 PM

On October 1, Ukraine marks the Day of Defenders of Ukraine. Zelenskyy honored the memory of fallen soldiers on Maidan.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 5:08 AM

Play fascist Russian oil refinery bingo with this handy chart from @KHoholenko on X! Yaroslavl refinery on top left. Includes dates of previous attacks on facilities.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 1:23 AM

🔥🚫 The Moscow Times:

About 70% of the downtime at oil refineries, according to the statistics agency Siala, was the result of attacks by Ukrainian armed forces drones: by the end of September, they had disabled about a quarter of Russian oil refining, or about 236,000 tons per day.

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— Savchenko Volodymyr (@savchenkoua.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 5:28 AM

In September, four more Russian refineries stopped production after UAV attacks.

As a result, gasoline production in September decreased by 1 million tons, and its deficit in the domestic market reached 20% of consumption.

— Savchenko Volodymyr (@savchenkoua.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 5:28 AM

🔥 In September, 14 SBS regiment hit 19 Russian refineries or energy targets, – Magyar’s report

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— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 11:42 AM

💥 Thanks to Ukrainian drone strikes, 38% of Russian oil refineries are out of action. In just August and September, we’ve taken down over 20 refineries across that massive federation. 🚀
#StandWithUkraine #MakeRussiaSmallAgain #RussianEconomyCollapsing #RussiaGasolineCrisis

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— Anna from Ukraine (@annafromukraine.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 3:53 PM

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address to the European Council meeting today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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War for Ukraine Day 1,315: A Brief Wednesday Night UpdatePost + Comments (16)

Open Thread: The Supreme Court Follows *Their* Money

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BREAKING: In a two-sentence, unsigned order on Wednesday, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, saying she can stay in her job at least until the high court hears oral arguments in the case in January.

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 12:59 PM

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SCOTUS set up arguments on whether Trump can remove Lisa Cook from the Fed for January, and she stay in her post at least until then. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/u…

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— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 2:05 PM

Much could happen, in that time. I might die, or the king might die — or the horse might talk!

Good for the Supreme Court, but let’s not pretend the Sinister Six considered anything beyond the strong possibility that their personal profits — and their donors’ profits — would take a hit if Trump were allowed to interfere with the Federal Reserve. [Gift link]:

… Top former Fed and Treasury officials and Ms. Cook’s legal team had warned the Supreme Court that permitting Mr. Trump to fire her while litigation over her status was underway would spur economic turmoil and undermine public confidence in the Fed.

While the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has repeatedly cleared the way for the president to fire leaders of other independent agencies, the justices have recently signaled that the central bank is uniquely independent…

The legal battle over Ms. Cook’s firing has major implications for the central bank and its ability to set interest rates free from political interference. Every living former Fed chair — Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet L. Yellen — joined former Treasury secretaries nominated by presidents of both parties to tell the justices in a court filing that Ms. Cook should be allowed to stay on the job while her case was being reviewed to ensure “stability of the system that governs monetary policy in this country.”

In the months since he returned to the White House, Mr. Trump has put public pressure on the Fed far exceeding that of his predecessors, with repeated demands that it lower borrowing costs. The president has also taken steps to add a political loyalist to the central bank’s Board of Governors…

The court’s decision to allow Ms. Cook to stay on as a governor was welcomed by former officials, economists and investors, who have been very concerned about the president’s efforts to erode the central bank’s longstanding independence from political interference.

That separation is seen as crucial to ensure that the Fed is setting interest rates based on what is best for the economy rather than whoever is in the White House. Past instances in countries where central banks have acted at the behest of a president have typically ended in soaring inflation, lower growth and financial volatility…

Mr. Trump is the first president to try to remove a governor in the Fed’s 111-year history…

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Open Thread: Maybe ‘Tricky Dick’ Nixon Is *Not* A Great Role Model

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Nixon’s Nuclear Madman Theory — but for ‘internal enemies’:

“We can do terrible things nobody wants if you don’t prevent us. We shall wreak a terrible vengeance” is maybe not the most persuasive message to get out there

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— First Wordle Problems (@fwordleproblems.bsky.social) September 30, 2025 at 1:59 PM

“That Vought guy, he’s crazy, a loose cannon. You should give me what I want; you’d rather not deal with HIM, believe me.”

— First Wordle Problems (@fwordleproblems.bsky.social) September 30, 2025 at 2:00 PM

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they’re calling him the shutdown king, folks, no president in american history has been more incapable of leading his party to do one of the most basic duties the president is responsible for

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— GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) September 30, 2025 at 7:33 PM

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Who else remembers Nixon redesigning the Secret Service uniforms with extra bling?

Trump: “Some of the highest quality 24 Karat Gold used in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room of the White House. Foreign Leaders, and everyone else, “freak out” when they see the quality and beauty. Best Oval Office ever, in terms of success and look!!! President DJT”

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 28, 2025 at 4:34 PM

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… Not to mention, what happened to the Ceaușescus (pictured on the balcony)?

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— Zeddy (@zeddary.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM

Open Thread: Maybe ‘Tricky Dick’ Nixon Is *Not* A Great Role ModelPost + Comments (68)

Debunking the GOP’s Bullshit “Illegal Aliens on Medicaid” Talking Point

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I hesitate to post anything about Medicaid or in-the-weeds federal budget matters because I am not an expert, and we do have real experts here. But with the government shutdown, regular folks (“everyday Americans” in pol-speak) may encounter MAGA marks who are defending the indefensible proposal to slash Medicaid by nearly a trillion dollars so Elon Musk can buy a fourth yacht.

If you do run into one of the marks in the wild, they’ll almost certainly parrot the line Mike Johnson is peddling all over TV, which is that Democrats want to fund Medicaid for “illegal aliens.” It’s a lie because by law, undocumented people aren’t eligible for Medicaid benefits.

But Republicans are attempting to bamboozle voters into thinking hordes of undocumented people receive care on our dime via emergency funding for hospitals under Medicaid. Here’s JD Vance working that angle:

“A lot of emergency health care at hospitals that are provided to illegal aliens, that was funded by the federal government,” Vance said. “We turned off that funding because, of course, we want American citizens to benefit from those hospital services, not to be taxed, and then to have those hospital services go to illegal aliens.”

I’m not familiar with the underlying policy, but common sense tells me the emergency care funding provision is there to support hospitals, which are obligated to treat patients in an emergency, rather than a back-door mechanism to cover undocumented people. The funding amounts to between 1% and 2% of the Medicaid budget (depending on the time period), according to the linked article.

Also, we don’t know what portion of that tiny percentage of the total Medicaid budget went to pay for care received by undocumented people as opposed to folks who are here legally but not eligible for Medicaid. So, that’s the thin reed upon which Trump, Vance, Johnson, et al., are hanging their “Dems want to enroll illegal aliens in Medicaid” lie.

To put the sum in question in perspective, the GOP cut to Medicaid emergency care funds is projected to “save” $28 billion over a decade. That’s a bit more than half of the amount of taxpayer money ONE PERSON — Elon Musk — has hoovered up in federal loans, contracts, subsidies and tax credits.

But here’s the thing: hospitals aren’t going to let people bleed out in the ER or deliver their babies on the sidewalk if they can’t pay. So under the Republican Medicaid cuts, hospitals will get screwed along with working folks who receive ACA subsidies, disabled people, etc. It’s all a big fucking con, as is pretty much every Republican policy under the current set of ghouls.

I think elected Dems like Rep. Jeffries are right to just call Republican talking points on this a lie because it is. No reason to get down into the weeds on TV because no one is listening. But I thought I’d share what I learned here because it could come in handy in real life conversations. If I’ve fucked up on the facts anywhere, please feel free to set the record straight in comments.

Open thread!

Debunking the GOP’s Bullshit “Illegal Aliens on Medicaid” Talking PointPost + Comments (119)