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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

This fight is for everything.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

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

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

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

Optimism opens the door to great things.

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

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

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

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

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Republicans do not trust women.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

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Open Thread:  Hey Lurkers!  (Holiday Post)

Open Threads

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North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT)

by WaterGirl|  September 7, 202412:12 pm| 96 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Political Action, Political Fundraising, Targeted Political Fundraising 2023-24

North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT)

So excited about this new group!

North Carolina Asian Americans Together is a mouthful, so I will refer to them as NCAAT.  What we will be funding though, is technically NCAAT In Action – the partisan side of the organization.  You will see that there are separate websites for NCAAT and NCAAT In Action, but for simplicity I will refer to them as NCAAT.  (More on that below)

Here’s what’s so exciting about this organization!

BJ Strategic Fundraising Trifecta:  NC is a critical state + Youth Vote + the AAPI Community

Our goal is to raise $25,000 for NCAAT in Action.  They are working hard to find an external match for us!  Their charismatic young director (and founder of the organization) is confident she’ll find one  But time is short and we don’t want to hold off on starting until we know re.for sure.

The NCAAT peeps have secured the $25,000 match for us!  All donations with Angel matches will now be 4x!

We will be helping NCAA expand its outreach to AAPI and BIPOC youth aged 18-25 in 10 target counties on 53 campuses and high schools with the most racially diverse populations.


Donate

Fun Facts:

  • North Carolina and its 16 electoral votes are up for grabs.
  • One of the key ways to win in NC is turning out the youth and BIPOC vote
  • All the trends in NC are moving in our direction: the polls, voter enthusiasm.
  • Trump and Mark Robinson (black candidate for governor) are displaying unfitness for office.
  • The NCAAT leadership is young and enthusiastic and full of innovative strategies.
  • Since the inception of NCAAT and NCAAT in Action, the Asian youth turnout has been at record highs and consistently higher than turnout for youth in other racial groups of color.
  • NCAAT is not duplicating the efforts of the North Carolina Black Alliance, the other youth-related North Caroline group we are supporting. Both organizations are part of a coalition that is coordinating member efforts!

NCAAT will use its proven youth tactics to expand our efforts for 2024 to boost all BIPOC youth engagement, civic participation, and voting!!

  • They become a visible presence on campus to educate students on voting rights and the importance of youth voting.
  • Increase engagement by facilitating discussion on AAPI and BIPOC youth issues.
  • Collect Voter Registration cards and developing leads for their youth leadership pipeline.
  • They have on-site “campus ambassadors,” who facilitate discussions on election-related challenges
  • They promote information on candidate accountability.
  • They develop and distribute political education materials.
  • The are focused on Democratic turnout.

We typically try to provide groups with what they need in order to expand their efforts or do things they have wanted to do but don’t have the resources.

In this case, it’s too late in the game for us to underwrite an expansion to other campuses or other unique efforts.

But it’s not too late to help them:

  • put more ambassadors in the field
  • expand their hours
  • focus more on key issues – reproductive rights, climate change, protecting immigrants’ rights, prioritizing a ceasefire in Gaza
  • create more targeted educational materials
  • do more follow up with students

They have a sophisticated strategy of emphasizing three main focus areas:

  1. Supporting and Endorsing Kamala Harris
  2. Downballot Races
  3. Defeat an Anti-Immmigrant Ballot Measure

 

 

North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT)Post + Comments (96)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Madam Vice President Is Not Wasting Time

by Anne Laurie|  September 7, 20247:39 am| 307 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, Kamala Harris for President, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

Madam Vice President ?? My Valuable Pretzels https://t.co/6mXBUKQsGD

— Doug Emhoff (@DouglasEmhoff) September 6, 2024

(I almost hate to let y’all in on this, but Port City‘s Tasty Ranch Dill pretzels are every bit as good as they’re advertised.)

Harris Senior Advisor Ian Sams to Fox: Just this morning, 88 business leaders from companies like Ford, Starbucks, Pepsi, and Lyft endorsed Vice President Harris. You know, Donald Trump is a former CEO himself. I'm not sure why the CEOs don't like him so much, but they're coming… pic.twitter.com/hcpeGQ3nTS

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 7, 2024

??VP Harris joins @UniNoticias Arizona’s AMOR 106.3 FM Host “Angel Baby” to talk directly to Latinos about key issues like lowering costs, supporting small biz, and how Trump would hurt our communities and economy.?? https://t.co/OZvI2ddsS2

— Sergio Gonzales (@SergGonzales) September 6, 2024

But then again, per Our Very Serious Media…

It’s become so normalized for politicians to be empty vessels for their staffers that a principal being less than effortlessly pliable is interpreted as active hostility https://t.co/whOAtwjoHO

— The Great El Wokismo (@canderaid) September 6, 2024

Long-ish — and basically ‘fair’ — article, but that’s one reason I saved it for Saturday. Per the Washington Post, “Kamala Harris ran her office like a prosecutor. Not everyone liked that” [gift link]:

On the day after President Joe Biden decided to end his reelection bid in July, more than 300 former staffers for Vice President Kamala Harris publicly endorsed her candidacy — a flurry of alumni support with little precedent in this already unusual campaign.

“We were able to witness her leadership firsthand,” the former staffers wrote in a letter, attesting to Harris’s behavior on and off camera. “She is an extraordinary leader of great character.”

The rapidly assembled letter was a spontaneous outpouring of affection for Harris, said Rachel Palermo, who worked for Harris for three years in the vice president’s office and coordinated the effort.

But in interviews, former staff who signed the letter acknowledged it also addressed one of Harris’s perceived weaknesses as a candidate and elected official: her demanding management style. People who have worked for Harris say her interactions with staff can resemble a prosecutor prying details from a witness, asking pointed questions about everything from her schedule to policy briefings. And her cautious approach to big decisions has frustrated deputies rather than inspire them.

Harris’s record as a boss has been the focus of news stories throughout her career and amplified by high-profile staff departures…

show full post on front page

The staff churn has spawned accusations of mismanagement by the vice president, but many Harris allies say that critique is overblown, sometimes rooted in her gender and race. By the same measure, for instance, her predecessor Mike Pence saw 83 percent turnover in his vice-presidential office. And former president Donald Trump’s White House staff was infamous for its turnover; one of his communications directors, Anthony Scaramucci, lasted just 11 days before his firing…

But interviews with 33 current and former staffers and allies show that Harris herself — and the team around her — have undergone important changes since the most difficult days of her first year as vice president. These people close to Harris, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of assessing the Democratic nominee’s leadership, say she grew into the role, found policy issues that more closely aligned with her comfort areas and replaced key aides with staffers who responded better to her management style.

Now her approach faces its biggest test yet, a supercharged national political campaign to win the White House in 60 days. Harris suddenly took over a vast and growing operation whose leadership includes operatives installed long ago by Biden as well as her own recruits, a balancing act of egos and ambitions. If elected, Harris will inherit a far larger management challenge: the vast federal bureaucracy.

People close to Harris say her widely praised presidential rollout, in which she quickly locked down the Democratic nomination following Biden’s withdrawal and moved to capitalize on her party’s enthusiasm and energy, are testaments to her management. They also point to the growing pool of alumni who have rejoined her team, particularly this summer. At least 20 staffers who previously worked for Harris are now working on her campaign, such as policy experts Rohini Kosoglu and Ike Irby, veterans of both her Senate and vice president’s office.

Those allies and staffers say that Harris’s management style hasn’t changed — but the circumstances have. Rather than trying to find her voice as a first-time presidential candidate or brand-new vice president, she has suddenly become the party’s standard-bearer. Office disputes during the height of the pandemic are now viewed as minor frustrations as Harris fights to keep Trump out of the White House…

“The VP has been policed in ways that other politicians I worked for weren’t policed,” said one former Harris staffer, who’s worked for other top Democrats. “People from outside our office came to me, wanting to change how she laughed. I can’t remember anyone ever trying to change how Mike Pence or Joe Biden laughed.”

Some of Harris’s staffers-turned-critics are quietly rethinking their views, declining questions about their prior complaints.

Duran — the former aide in Harris’s California attorney general’s office who was once dubbed “the go-to anti-Harris quote” by Politico — said he’s swallowing his criticism too.

“There’s no question in my mind that whatever Harris’s flaws are, Donald Trump is much, much worse,” Duran said.

I’m sure there are staffers who’ve been frustrated because they’ve put in all the work and they want their boss to just say yes so they can move onto the next fire, but if you’ve done the work you should relatively easily be able to answer a why.

— Jason Karsh (@jkarsh) September 6, 2024

As a staffer I’d get annoyed when I was asked to explain something I thought I’d explained clearly. But this pols who asked me tough questions? I fucking loved working for them*

*As long as they listened & recognized & trusted what I said I knew & acknowledged what I didn’t https://t.co/YOf6x9wWIy

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) September 7, 2024

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Madam Vice President Is Not Wasting TimePost + Comments (307)

Friday Night Fights Open Thread: Repubs in Disarray!

by Anne Laurie|  September 7, 20243:04 am| 145 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Trumpery

Tim Miller destroy Piers Morgan on his own show. pic.twitter.com/dvgzeOWjjc

— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) September 6, 2024

How's that for a fuckin realignment https://t.co/ZGceCglwbJ

— cai (@AnneNotation) September 6, 2024

the reason why Pim Tool and no one else at TENET media realized they're taking Russian cash to make propaganda is that a mysterious sack of money to talk shit is how ALL right-wing media works

— Rev. Poppy Haze (ITAR compliant) (@poppyhaze.bsky.social) Sep 5, 2024 at 9:18 AM

America First! ???? (unless Russia pays us more) ????#GOPutin

— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) September 5, 2024

And Groyper spokesphibian Nick Fuentes feels cheated!!! by (former) God-Emperor Trump:

White nationalist Nick Fuentes blasts Trump for admitting that he lost the 2020 election: "So, why did we do Stop the Steal? … It would have been good to know that before 1,600 people got charged." www.rightwingwatch.org/post/a-big-r…

[image or embed]

— Right Wing Watch (@rightwingwatch.bsky.social) Sep 4, 2024 at 3:22 PM

“I would have never FA’d had I known I’d eventually FO!”

— Not great, Bob! (@sometoast.bsky.social) Sep 4, 2024 at 4:01 PM

Friday Night Fights Open Thread: <em>Repubs in Disarray!</em>Post + Comments (145)

Late Night Open Thread

by WaterGirl|  September 7, 20241:16 am| 32 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I am headed to bed, but it looks like we can use a new post.

Open thread!

Late Night Open ThreadPost + Comments (32)

War for Ukraine Day 926: A Walk Through the Influence Campaign

by Adam L Silverman|  September 6, 20248:59 pm| 27 Comments

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

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is doing fine. She’s had a bit of the usual post treatment response involving her appetite last night and this morning, but she’s had her appetite enhancing medication. Thank you for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, once we get past the jump I’m going to walk you all through part of the influence operation that’s been revealed through the DOJ indictments this week.

Air raid alerts are either up or going up over most of Ukraine. There have been recent explosions – 7:23 PM EDT/2:23 AM local Ukraine time – on the air raid alert maps in Kyiv and Vinnytsia Oblasts.

Earlier today the Russians hammered Pavlohrad:

Russia struck Pavlohrad with several missiles, killing at least one and injuring at least 50 people, including children pic.twitter.com/3EWloRpNzQ

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) September 6, 2024

Russian forces launched five Iskander missiles at Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, striking civilian infrastructure. One civilian is confirmed dead, and 55 are injured. As rescue operations continue, the number of victims may yet increase. pic.twitter.com/pTQe6CL5zS

— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) September 6, 2024

The cost:

4 труни. 4 хрести. Одна сім’я
Це найстрашніше, що я бачив в житті
Вічна Памʼять🕯️ pic.twitter.com/BOxWZKyKO9

— Андрій Садовий (@AndriySadovyi) September 6, 2024

4 coffins. 4 crosses. One family
This is the scariest thing I’ve seen in my life
Eternal Memory 🕯️

President Zelenskyy was traveling today. In addition to going to meet with Chancellor Scholtz, he also attended and addressed the 50th Ambrosetti International Forum in Italy. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

show full post on front page

Ukraine Is Not Asking for Anything More Than What Your Country or Any Other Country Already Has – Speech by the President at the 50th Ambrosetti International Forum

6 September 2024 – 22:15

Good evening, Italy! And thank you for supporting our country and our people.

We appreciate every step in support of Ukraine – every action and every expression of solidarity from our partners around the world that helps us restore security and bring peace closer.

Ukrainians want this war to end more than anyone else in the world. But definitely not through the destruction of their nation, their culture, their cities.

Russian aggression leaves us with no choice but to fight and defend our lives. And our people are under constant threat of Russian missile and drone strikes every, every night and every day.

Fortunately, we have air defense systems – also thanks to Italy. But it is not enough to secure our entire territory and repel every Russian attack.

Only since the beginning of this September…

September 1st, Kharkiv – a massive missile attack. A sports palace and a shopping center were destroyed, four multi-story residential buildings and dozens, dozens of shops were damaged. Fifty people were wounded.

September 2nd, again, the same city Kharkiv – Russian bombs. This is an almost daily threat, because we still do not have permission from our partners to destroy military airfields of Russia – the ones from which Russian aircraft carrying these bombs take off. Four bombs were dropped on Kharkiv on September 2nd, wounding 14 people.

September 3rd, Poltava – another missile attack. It hit the territory of the Institute of Communications, destroyed it totally, and a nearby hospital. Forty residential buildings in this area were also damaged. In total, Russia killed these days 55 people, civilians, in this strike, and 328 were wounded or injured, including severe injuries – amputations and internal organ damage.

September 4th, the city of Lviv – the western part of our country – a missile strike directly on the city, targeting ordinary civilian infrastructure. More than a hundred residential buildings were damaged in the attack, as well as a school, three lyceums, kindergarten, two hospitals. Sixty-five people were injured in the strike, and tragically, seven of them died. Among the victims, Russia claimed the lives of four members of one family – a man survived, but his wife and three daughters were killed in their own home by a Russian missile, directly to the house.

Yesterday and today were also days when Russian missiles, attack drones, and heavy aircraft bombs were launched against our Ukrainian cities, against our villages, big, small – doesn’t matter for them. What does Putin want to achieve with all this? Ukrainians did not want his land. We did not want to take anything from Russia. But it was Putin who wanted to take our land – and he occupied our territory. Putin tries to destroy our state and has consistently done everything to deprive Ukraine of its sovereignty, ruin our economy, and force Ukrainians out of Ukraine… Russia has been openly targeting the destruction of our entire energy system, aiming to plunge Ukraine into darkness. Can this evil be accepted?

No, of course not, and that is why Ukrainians continue to fight for their lives, for their children – for their right to live on their land, with their, just with our families, our children, and in safety. Safety in our homes. This is all we want. Is that too much to ask for any nation?

Dear friends, thank you for the invitation. Dear Italy!

Putin is seeking out the world’s worst regimes to find more missiles so he can continue killing Ukrainian children. We are searching for where to get air defense systems to defend ourselves.

Russia is using ballistic missiles from Pyongyang, attack drones from Tehran, and vast amounts of money from Siberian oil to drag out this war as much as possible and deprive our country of life. But we are building, building each day, shelters for schools and even underground schools so that Ukrainian children can study in safety despite everything. And we are relocating Ukrainian enterprises so the economy can keep functioning. And we are setting up underground weapons production facilities so Ukrainian soldiers can defend themselves even when supplies from our partners are delayed. We have developed our own new drones and missiles – and we are gradually bringing this war back to Russia, so that Putin will eventually feel the pressure. The pressure to seek only one thing – peace.

And I truly appreciate that Italy is doing everything with us to implement the Peace Formula – all its points that are essential for peace in Ukraine to be the same kind of peace enjoyed by all those countries that already have it. Ukraine is not asking for anything more than what your country or any other country already has. We just want no father in our country to have to bury his wife and daughters because they were killed by Russian missiles… We just, we just want Ukrainian boys and girls to never again suffer because they cannot help their parents who are in Russian-occupied territories… We just want the heritage of generations of Ukrainians not to be destroyed under Russian bombs. Ukraine deserves to be safe. And we will definitely gain security for our independence and for all our people, all our lovely children.

Here, on the sidelines of the Forum, I will meet with the Head of the Italian Government, Giorgia Meloni. And I’m also preparing to meet with representatives of Italian business. And I’m confident that together we will be able to achieve important, very important things to protect life in Ukraine, to strengthen both of our countries – Ukraine and Italy – and to rebuild Ukraine after the war. We are preparing for a conference in Italy next year focused on Ukraine’s reconstruction, and I really want your companies, your business and best ideas to work with us – together, together with Ukrainian companies and Ukrainian ideas. We can give more strength, economic and social growth to our nations. And I’m confident that together we will achieve this.

I thank everyone who helps us, who helps and supports Ukraine! And I am proud of our people. Ukraine will stand. And I invite all of you to stand with us, with Ukraine and to protect what makes people human.

Thank you for invitation again. Thank you for your attention!

Thank you very much!

Слава Україні!

The reason:

Aslan and Marharyta are both athletes. Now, she competes for two while Aslan defends Ukraine. They were married by Aslan’s commander, surrounded by his brothers-in-arms.

“I said: marry me!”
“She said: okay, when?” – Aslan remembers.

He says Marharyta is his number one fan and… pic.twitter.com/lT4bvnAYqV

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 6, 2024

Aslan and Marharyta are both athletes. Now, she competes for two while Aslan defends Ukraine. They were married by Aslan’s commander, surrounded by his brothers-in-arms.

“I said: marry me!”
“She said: okay, when?” – Aslan remembers.

He says Marharyta is his number one fan and volunteer.

Wishing them a lifetime of peaceful years together!

📹: 5th Separate Kyiv Assault Brigade

I want to walk you all through how two influence operations lines of effort ultimately overlap, converge, and merge. I’m going to copy and paste the Bluesky thread I did on this earlier from the Skyview Reader, which is the Bluesky equivalent of the Thread Reader App.

Quick(ish) 🧵. I’ve written about the insider threat of ultra-high net worth individuals a number of times over the past couple of months. How the power created by that wealth to subvert the US state & society. Let’s take a quick walk through one example. 1/
Thiel invests in Polymarket in 2024. 2/
Peter Thiel Invests In Polymarket Political Betting Platform—But The Future Of Gambling On Elections Remains UnclearRegulators proposed new rules Friday that would explicitly ban gambling on political contests.www.forbes.com
Silver goes to work for Polymarket a short time later in 2024. 3/
Nate Silver joins prediction market startup PolymarketMore Americans are flocking to prediction markets to interpret crazy news cycles.www.axios.com
Silver has now flipped the modeling results in Trump’s favor. 4/
Thread by @tbonier on Thread Reader App@tbonier: So over the past couple of days, Nate Silver has been tweeting multiple times a day insisting that things are looking worse and worse for the Harris campaign. One state he claims has moved 1…threadreaderapp.com

So over the past couple of days, Nate Silver has been tweeting multiple times a day insisting that things are looking worse and worse for the Harris campaign.

One state he claims has moved 1.2 pts to Trump since the convention is WI. Let’s take a look at the recent polls there.Image

6 of 10 post convention polls show Harris leading, by an average margin of 7 points. But the two GOP highschool kids’ poll has the race even, Trafalgar (leaders of the red wave polls of ’22) have Trump up 1, and then one Dem pollster I’m not familiar with had the race even. 

Silver showed the most movement towards Trump in NC. So let’s look at the post convention polls there…

It’s the highschool kids again! And InsiderAdvantage, one of the four horseman of the red wave polling of ’22 apocalypse. And a new red-waver.. SoCal strategies, a GOP firm!Image

Let’s remember, the takeaway from 2022 was that the polls were actually pretty accurate, once you filtered out the partisan pollsters. Yet Nate Silver is using these partisan pollsters to drive a narrative that is being echoed by the Trump campaign as an act of desperation. 
Remember, Silver’s model is proprietary, so there’s no way to replicate (stress test for accuracy) his results. Without being able to replicate them, the model cannot be verified. This is the opposite of social, behavioral, or any other type of science or application of scientific methodology. 5/
Which forms a legitimate part of Rachel Bitecofer’s complaint in this tweet. 6/
(Sorry for linking to the hellsite)
x.comx.com
Here’s the screengrab of @rachelbitecofer.bsky.social‘s tweet as she doesn’t seem to post here much. 7/

What @NateSilver538 is up to is unethical in terms of research standards. We’re supposed to believe that between this week and last the overall probability of Trump winning has swung by double digits??!! It’s anti-theoretical.

ALT
Look who is blasting it out: Benny Johnson. 8/
pbs.twimg.com/media/GWqEXe…

Screen grab of a Benny Johnson quote tweet. Johnson's tweet reads "Kamala Collapse Confirmed." The quote tweet, from Polymarket, reads "Trump's lead in the odds just hit 5%."

ALT
Is Thiel or Silver taking RU funding? Thiel probably has unsanctioned RU money in his investment fund. But not like Benny was being paid. Here we have the two different revenue & influence to establish reflexive control streams move in the same direction until they overlap, merge, and become one. 9/
The purpose of all of this is demoralization of Democratic turnout; exhaustion of Democrats, Democratic leaning voters in having to deal with this bouncing around the information domain; normalization of Polymarket as a legit political forecaster; amplification of Trump as the likely winner. 10/
Drive positive sentiment for Harris down in the info domain & up for Trump. All of this is exactly how Prigozhin’s network operated in the Sahel & Madagascar under contract to the GRU prior to Putin extrajudicially executing him. It’s also the first part of the subversion process they used. 11/
The indictments over the past couple of days have been nice to see. They are neither necessary nor sufficient to actually make a dent in the subversion efforts of ultra-high net worth Americans, Putin & Russia, Bibi, Xi & the PRC, Iran, the DPRK, the UAE, and the KSA. 12/
These are all major counterintelligence problems that combine witting/willing & unwitting insider threats with hostile foreign actors, both state & non-state based. 13/
This includes erstwhile allies – Israel, UAE, Saudi – that are using their information power as if they were adversaries to achieve their own strategic objectives. 14/
It would be nice if this was taken seriously enough that it wasn’t left to one seriously burned out natsec professional & a bunch of others like @brooklynmarie.bsky.social, @swordsjew.bsky.social, @charlotteclymer.bsky.social, @protecttruth.bsky.social, @brainnotonyet.bsky.social 15/
@mtsw.bsky.social, @katestarbird.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social & far too many more to mention here – both professional journalists, scholars, researchers, & informed & concerned semi-pros like in the non-exhaustive list above – to try to keep everyone informed of what is happening. 16 & end/
Addendum: I’m sure I missed some folks that I shouldn’t have in that non-exhaustive list. I’m sure I could add at least a 1/2 dozen more skeets of people you should read or follow who are all working parts of this from different directions & disciplines.
Addendum (cont): If I missed you, it was not intentional, no disrespect was intended. Everyone who is bringing their tools, time, & effort to this is important & what you’re doing is appreciated even if no one tells you that & you feel like you’re screaming into the void. end addendum/

One additional item from the Forbes reporting about Thiel investing in Polymarket:

Controversial billionaire political donor Peter Thiel and ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin raised about $70 million in funding for Polymarket, one of the major cryptocurrency startups offering “event contracts” for users to bet on things like political elections—despite the threat of impending federal regulation for election gambling.

We now return to the regularly scheduled main portion of the Ukraine war update.

Work with partners to strength Ukraine continues. I have arrived at the Ramstein Air Base to participate in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.

We need our partners’ determination and the means to stop Russia’s aerial terror. It is crucial that all the weapons from the…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 6, 2024

Work with partners to strength Ukraine continues. I have arrived at the Ramstein Air Base to participate in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.

We need our partners’ determination and the means to stop Russia’s aerial terror. It is crucial that all the weapons from the already announced support packages finally reach the combat brigades. We also need strong long-range decisions from our partners to bring closer the just peace we are striving for.

I will take part in the Group’s meeting and meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. I will also hold separate talks with
@Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz.

Following that, I will head to Italy for the Ambrosetti International Economic Forum, with meetings planned with Italian business representatives. Negotiations will also take place with the President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, @GiorgiaMeloni.

We are coordinating positions with all G7 allies.

At Ramstein today, Zelensky pushes US to allow long-range strikes in Russia

“We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about what they need, peace or Putin, and it is realistic to push them to choose peace.”
w/ @felschwartz @HenryJFoy https://t.co/5NAIOu7Lgz

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 6, 2024

From The Financial Times:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Washington to permit his forces to use US weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory as he looks to increase pressure on Moscow to end the 31-month war.

Zelenskyy made the plea on Friday in a meeting with western defence ministers in Germany, underscoring his determination to shift policies in many countries that have barred Kyiv from using their weapons to strike Russia. His visit to Ramstein marked his first time joining the meeting at the air base in person.

“We need to have this long-range capability not only on the occupied territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russian territory, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace,” he said at the start of the meeting. The Ukraine contact group is a regular forum to co-ordinate lethal aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy’s request to about 50 allies comes as Kyiv has seized more than 1,000 sq km in the Russian region of Kursk but now faces the challenge of holding on to that territory as Moscow sends reinforcements.

Ukraine is also facing setbacks in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. Zelenskyy on Friday said Russia’s “most capable units . . . are involved in expanding the zone of occupation” and have made steady gains towards Pokrovsk, a strategic military supply and logistics hub. If Pokrovsk was captured, Russian forces could push towards Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, extending their control deeper into the country.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for the lifting of restrictions on the use of western-supplied, long-range weapons so that Ukraine’s military can strike Russian airfields and missile launchers, as well as ammunition depots, fuel storage and command and control centres that are key to Moscow’s war.

The US in recent months has allowed Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory for defensive strikes, shifting away from a blanket ban. But Zelenskyy is pressing Washington and other western countries to allow Kyiv to use long-range weaponry to strike deeper inside Russia as part of an overall strategy to raise the cost of the invasion for President Vladimir Putin.

While Ukraine won support for striking deeper into Russia from some defence ministers at Ramstein, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said the US does not plan to change its policy.

“I don’t believe that one specific capability is going to be decisive,” Austin said, adding that the US is focused on making sure Ukrainian forces can integrate the weapons they have received, have the correct skills to use them and can tie their use to specific objectives.

“Many countries [are] in favour,” said Lithuania’s defence minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas, responding to Zelenskyy’s pleas. “But the question is not the number of countries, but countries who give [those] missiles.”

Instead of changing policy on deeper strikes inside Russia, US officials have said Ukraine should prioritise using western weapons to defend its eastern and northern regions, retaining access to the Black Sea and holding Crimea — the peninsula annexed by Putin in 2014 — at risk.

Austin on Friday announced the US would deliver additional lethal aid worth $250mn, including urgently needed air defence.

On a visit to Washington last week, Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov provided Washington a list specifying the targets that Kyiv would like to strike using US Army Tactical Missile Systems (Atacms), British Storm Shadow and French Scalp long-range missiles.

Russia has launched deadly air strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure and military and civilian targets. An attack on a military institute in central Poltava on Tuesday killed 54 people and injured 297 others, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service.

Zelenskyy on Friday said: “We need to force Russia to seek peace. We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers, think about what they need, peace or Putin, and it is realistic to push them to choose peace.”

More at the link.

Luxembourg:

Luxembourg donated equipment worth €73.5 million to Ukraine in 2024. This includes ammunition, UAVs and night vision googles.
We are grateful to our partners for this support.
Together, we will win!
🇺🇦🤝🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/EzzNHYVkkE

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 6, 2024

The US:

The US announced a new military aid package for Ukraine valued at $250 million to meet Ukraine’s critical defense needs.

The capabilities in this package include:
◾️Bradley IFVs
◾️M113 APCs
◾️MRAP Vehicles
◾️RIM-7 missiles and support for air defense
◾️Stinger missiles… pic.twitter.com/Neh6tq9xY8

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 6, 2024

The US announced a new military aid package for Ukraine valued at $250 million to meet Ukraine’s critical defense needs.

The capabilities in this package include:
◾️Bradley IFVs
◾️M113 APCs
◾️MRAP Vehicles
◾️RIM-7 missiles and support for air defense
◾️Stinger missiles
◾️Ammunition for HIMARS
◾️155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition
◾️TOW missiles
◾️Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems
◾️Small arms ammunition and grenades
◾️Patrol boats
◾️Maritime training equipment
◾️Demolitions equipment and munitions
◾️Spare parts

We are grateful to the US for their strong support and unwavering solidarity. Together, we will win!
@DeptofDefense

As we’ve noted and/or discussed previously in the update and the comments, the issue is not the US announcing it is sending Ukraine a new/another tranche of material. The issue is if/when is it actually going to get to Ukraine.

Spain:

Today, during the meeting of #UDCG, Spain’s Minister of Defense Margarita #Robles announced the immediate dispatch of a complete HAWK battery, which includes 6 missile launchers.
More air defense capabilities for Ukraine means more innocent lives saved.
Thank you, Spain!
🇺🇦🤝🇪🇸… pic.twitter.com/TM8ae18Y5n

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 6, 2024

Today, during the meeting of #UDCG, Spain’s Minister of Defense Margarita #Robles announced the immediate dispatch of a complete HAWK battery, which includes 6 missile launchers.
More air defense capabilities for Ukraine means more innocent lives saved.
Thank you, Spain!
🇺🇦🤝🇪🇸
@Defensagob

This is excellent. Now we need the Biden administration to tell Bibi in no uncertain terms that we’re pulling the Hawk batteries and munitions sitting in our storage depot in Israel and transferring them to Ukraine and we don’t want to hear one peep out of him or the extremists in the coalition about it.

I would also like the winning lottery numbers and a pony.

Holland:

The Netherlands is supplying €80 million worth of support materials for F-16s. In addition, our Dutch partners are providing air-to-air missiles.

Strengthening Ukraine’s air defense capabilities is our top priority, and we highly appreciate the support from the Netherlands.… pic.twitter.com/5Ivpwksl3J

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 6, 2024

The Netherlands is supplying €80 million worth of support materials for F-16s. In addition, our Dutch partners are providing air-to-air missiles.

Strengthening Ukraine’s air defense capabilities is our top priority, and we highly appreciate the support from the Netherlands.

The power of unity brings Victory closer!
🇺🇦🤝🇳🇱
@Defensie @DefensieMin

Canada:

Canada announced a new military aid package for Ukraine!
🇺🇦🤝🇨🇦
The package includes:
◾️80,840 additional CRV-7 rocket motors
◾️1,300 CRV-7 warheads
◾️970 C6 machine guns
◾️10,500 9mm pistols
◾️29 M113s decommissioned chassis
◾️64 Coyote LAVs decommissioned chassis
◾️50… pic.twitter.com/4ILpSRUMul

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 6, 2024

Canada announced a new military aid package for Ukraine!
🇺🇦🤝🇨🇦
The package includes:
◾️80,840 additional CRV-7 rocket motors
◾️1,300 CRV-7 warheads
◾️970 C6 machine guns
◾️10,500 9mm pistols
◾️29 M113s decommissioned chassis
◾️64 Coyote LAVs decommissioned chassis
◾️50 ambulances

Minister of @NationalDefence of Canada, @BillBlair, announced that this week, AFU pilots arrived in Canada to begin fighter-lead-in-training (FLIT). Canada has taken over leadership of the FLIT element of the UDCG Air Force Capability Coalition, backed by an investment of $389 million over five years in F-16 pilot training for Ukrainian personnel.

We are grateful to our Canadian friends for their unwavering support.
Together, we are stronger!

The United Kingdom:

The UK will supply 650 Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) systems to Ukraine worth £162 million. The delivery will start this year.

We are grateful to our British partners for their ironclad support and strengthening Ukraine’s air defense. Thanks for making us stronger.… pic.twitter.com/SgV1DulppU

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 6, 2024

The UK will supply 650 Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) systems to Ukraine worth £162 million. The delivery will start this year.

We are grateful to our British partners for their ironclad support and strengthening Ukraine’s air defense. Thanks for making us stronger.
🇺🇦🤝🇬🇧
@DefenceHQ

Venice:

I would like to emphasize that this load of horseshit has no place in our world, especially now when these said soldiers are butchering civilians in Ukraine, unleash missiles, drones, and bombs upon us, rape children, and turn our land into a mined, scorched desert.

It feels… pic.twitter.com/TUDgX3mWTf

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) September 6, 2024

I would like to emphasize that this load of horseshit has no place in our world, especially now when these said soldiers are butchering civilians in Ukraine, unleash missiles, drones, and bombs upon us, rape children, and turn our land into a mined, scorched desert.

It feels like a failure to me on the personal level too. No matter what I, what we Ukrainians, say or do for the reasons I can’t comprehend, the world prefers to talk to killers.

your daily reminder that self-victimizing is part of the russian imperial crime. pic.twitter.com/pjlAfJJNKM

— вареничок.eristavi 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 (@maksymeristavi) September 6, 2024

If you guessed that the documentarian works for Russian propaganda and influence outlets, you would be correct.

> independent film director at Venice talking about the “human side of russian soldiers”

> looks inside

> RT correspondent pic.twitter.com/RAS2ewcHMa

— Mira of Kyiv 🇺🇦 (@reshetz) September 6, 2024

Anastasia Trofimova is a war criminal known at least since 2019 and a Russian state propagandist employed by the RT https://t.co/lHWpkyOiQD pic.twitter.com/knu0nAgvOx

— Mykhaïlo Golub (@golub) September 6, 2024

Remember, it was RT that was handling the pay for the Russian government in the Tenet Media influence operation line of effort.

Iran:

Even from the standpoint of escalation management, this might be the best opportunity for the US to consider allowing Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory with ATACMS. The US didn’t initiate the escalation. If action isn’t taken, Russia will continue to escalate https://t.co/3AMWRoq8ko

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) September 6, 2024

Test flight of the Ukrainian Su-24 with a new, previously unseen, Ukrainian guided air bomb in pair with Su-27https://t.co/at9rqFJiwe pic.twitter.com/dvDlOhqEQR

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) September 6, 2024

Kyiv:

Anti-aircraft gunners of the Rubizh Brigade shot down the enemy Shahed drone over the Kyiv region. pic.twitter.com/qsdKPcyIFA

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 6, 2024

Vovchansk:

Another 🇺🇦 city, recently liberated from life pic.twitter.com/0rF0Jhgp5n

— Kate Levchuk 🇺🇦🇵🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (@KateGoesTech) September 6, 2024

The Pokrovsk front:

Hell awaits.https://t.co/V9zZiL2e05

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) September 6, 2024

CNN has the details:

The troops emerge and stagger into the middle of the dusty track, then onto their knees, their hands placed on their heads. Seconds later, the Ukrainian drone footage shows, they lie face down, motionless, dust trailing nearby.

Video obtained exclusively by CNN, filmed during fighting late August near the embattled city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, shows an apparent execution by Russian troops of three surrendering Ukrainians, after their trench was overrun.

The incident, described by a Ukrainian official who asked for some details to be withheld to protect the identity of the unit, is part of a pattern of apparent executions, seemingly increasing in pace this year.

Ukrainian defense intelligence sources have given CNN a list of 15 cases since November, most supported by drone video or audio intercepts, in which they say surrendering Ukrainian troops were killed by the Russians on the front lines, rather than being taken prisoner.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, told CNN on Wednesday his office was investigating at least 28 such incidents since the start of the war.

Following the publication of CNN’s report, Kostin posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that prosecutors had also launched an investigation into the footage obtained by CNN from near Pokrovsk, as well as video of another suspected killing of a captured Ukrainian soldier that was distributed Friday on Telegram.

Ukrainian prosecutors said Friday they were now investigating “the possible execution of 73 Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian military.”

The footage from Pokrovsk region appears to reflect the relentlessly brutal tactics of the Russian military as they continue to advance in Ukraine’s east.

More at the link.

Once again, I’ve seen the video. You DO NOT need to see the video.

Not so long ago, there was public discourse suggesting that the deployment of additional brigades to the Pokrovsk direction wouldn’t make much difference. Yet, here we are, seeing that it does make a difference.

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) September 6, 2024

Kherson Oblast:

Destruction of the Russian 2S19 Msta-S self propelled howitzer somewhere in Kherson region.https://t.co/9aC790xasV pic.twitter.com/d16XAnKpCi

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) September 6, 2024

The Luhansk front, Russian occupied Luhansk Oblast:

Somewhere on the Luhansk front a location with four Russian T-80BVM obr.2022 and one MAZ fuel truck was found. Аll equipment was destroyed. Video filmed by Russian military.
3rd of September 2024https://t.co/4K5YM03Uaf pic.twitter.com/0aoIQEq7Ya

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) September 5, 2024

For you counter-drone enthusiasts:

/2. Geolocations of interceptions of Russian drones by “Signum” unit
https://t.co/JbUfuWilmO pic.twitter.com/RoNHlaJKLE

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) September 6, 2024

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

A new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

У мене було б точно: «спить на уроці»🤭 Ідею відео взяв у @Юля і кіт Сімба 👀

♬ pocket full of sunshine – alice

Here’s the machine translation of the caption:

I would have been for sure: “sleeping in class” 🤭 I got the idea for the video from

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 926: A Walk Through the Influence CampaignPost + Comments (27)

President Biden Live: Investing In America

by TaMara|  September 6, 20243:30 pm| 81 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, Politics, President Biden

Live at 3:15, 2:15, 1:15 and 12:15 – hopefully. I won’t be around if it gets pushed, so fingers crossed.

Also, since we can’t take our foot off the gas, here are some quiet races I’m watching for House and Senate:

In Colorado, we really need to keep Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo, and she’s in a tough race, especially since the Libertarian dropped out. That helped swing things her way last election.  I’m doing what I can for her district, since mine is safe.

I don’t think throwing money at Boebert’s opponent will matter – that district is going to do one of two things – vote red and elect her or stay home (possibly vote “other”) I doubt they’ll actually vote blue. The Dem only has a chance with low Republican turnout. Which is a possibility considering how disfunctional the COGOP is right now.

And for the Senate, in Nebraska, this surprise (to me, former BJ commenter BGinCHI flagged him) Senate candidate is polling about even with the incumbent. I’m not sure if it’s fundraiser-worthy – but even though he’s an independent*, it could help our Senate chances. Looking at his platform, I’m assuming he’ll vote with the Dems. About Dan Osborn – platform   Here’s his intro video. Since CO senate seats are safe, I’ve been throwing some cash his way.

NE has an abortion amendment on the ballot (for pro-choice) and there is large support for that, which is why I think Osborn has a more than good chance to flip that seat. Also, his last name is Osborn and in NE that’s name recognition, even if it’s spelled differently.

It also looks like Tony Vargas in Nebraska could push Bacon from his congressional seat. For reasons I don’t quite understand, Bacon did not get the Republican nod. Not MAGA enough? I’m decades away from paying attention to NE politics, so that’s just a guess.

*Jay C says that Osborn may be an independent because the Dems never qualified a candidate. I also think running as an Independent could work in his favor.

Otherwise, open thread

President Biden Live: Investing In AmericaPost + Comments (81)

Justice Merchan Decision – My Cake Eating Will Definitely Be of the Consoling Myself Variety

by WaterGirl|  September 6, 20243:07 pm| 118 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Trump Indictments

Cake or No Cake, that was the question!

Either way, I am pretty sure that Madame VP would approve of cake.

Justice Merchan Decision:

https://twitter.com/KatiePhang/status/1832111152676979092

Justice Merchan Decision – My Cake Eating Will Definitely be

Justice Merchan Decision – My Cake Eating Will Definitely be 1

Justice Merchan Decision – My Cake Eating Will Definitely be 2

Justice Merchan Decision – My Cake Eating Will Definitely Be of the Consoling Myself VarietyPost + Comments (118)

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