Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This really is a full service blog.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

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

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

The lights are all blinking red.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

How stupid are these people?

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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War for Ukraine Day 904: Ukraine Continues Its Cross Border Offensive Capturing 100 More Russian POWs

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Three quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is still doing great. Nothing much more to report until her next treatment on Monday. Thanks for all the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, I’m still fried, so I’m going to try to keep tonight’s update as short as possible.

Third, I’m aware of the new reporting that an investigation has concluded that the Ukrainians blew up the Nordstream pipeline back in 2023, that the US asked President Zelenskyy to stop the operation, which he did, but GEN Zaluzhnyi went ahead with it anyway. I’m not going to cover it in depth yet because while it wouldn’t necessarily surprise me if the Ukrainians did this, the chain of events described, including that GEN Zaluzhnyi would disregard a direct order, as well as the logistics of pulling this off, need clarifying.  I just don’t want anyone asking what I think. What I think is that I have questions.

The Russians have continued their aerial bombardment of Kharkiv.

Russian forces targeted the village of Zolochiv in the Bohodukhiv district of Kharkiv Oblast with four aerial bombs. The attack caused extensive damage to at least 26 houses, civilian infrastructure, a music school, and a kindergarten. A 12-year-old boy was injured, and five other civilians experienced acute stress reactions.

Here are the details from Ukrainska Pravda:

A Russian airstrike on the village of Prykolotne in the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv Oblast has killed two people and injured six others.

Source: Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office

Quote: “The investigation says that on 15 August at around 15:20, the Russian Armed Forces carried out airstrikes on the village of Prykolotne in the Kupiansk district. A strike was recorded on the territory of a civilian enterprise. A fire broke out in a warehouse building with a total area of 800 square metres. Two men aged 44 and 57 were killed. Five other people – two women and three men – were injured. Those who were killed and injured were employees of the company.”

Details: Later, the prosecutor’s office reported that the number of injured had increased to six. A 47-year-old man, also an employee of the company that came under Russian airstrike, asked for medical assistance.

Sumy Oblast:

From Ukrainska Pravda:

Russian troops dropped two bombs, likely guided aerial bombs, on the civilian infrastructure in the Sumy district on the evening of 15 August. As a result, a man was killed and two more people were injured.

Source: Sumy Oblast Prosecutor’s Office

Quote: “The investigation says that on 15 August 2024 at about 17:30, the enemy dropped two guided aerial bombs on the civilian infrastructure in Krasnopillia hromada of the Sumy district, using methods of warfare prohibited by international law [a hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories – ed.].

And Kyiv:

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

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The Point Is To Win

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The Point Is To WinThe Point Is To Win 1

Is there a word of this that’s false?   Is it even a tenth as harsh as the average “Troof” that Trump shits out on his failing social media platform?  No and No.  It’s just how politics ought to be played when your opponent is Trump, or a Trumper.

This is good, too:

The Point Is To Win 2

So far, Harris/Walz is the best comms operation of any Democratic campaign, ever.

 

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Let’s Go! Kamala and Tim Table Talk

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This has been so much fun so far. But as Tim Walz says, hope alone will not win this. Neither will joy. But they will surely keep us motivated to get over the finish line.

I believe this is a pre-taped convo and they are premiering the video at 2 pm. Fingers crossed no hitches as I have to run out shortly. I’m here for the recipes, LOL.

  Aug 15, 2024 • #KamalaHarris #Harris2024

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, sit down for a conversation about their historic campaign. They talk taco recipes, hot peppers, their childhoods, careers, and the rights and freedoms they want to protect.

Here’s the video:

 

My current swag (all on the way)

ETA: Here is the Live rally with Biden and Harris (h/t SiubhanDuinne):

Enjoy the show!  Open thread

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Gena Rowlands RIP

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Gena Rowlands RIP to a Post-Menopausal Woman

One of the greats, dead at 94.

This still is from one of her later films, Unhook the Stars, directed by her son Nick Cassavetes.  Rowland plays Mildred, who has just gotten rid of her pain in the ass grown daughter (Moira Kelly), and then comes to the aid of her neighbor (Marisa Tomei), who is kicking out her abusive husband.  The story is all over the place, but Rowlands turns in a great performance as her relationship with Tomei’s son grows.  This still from the point in the film where Mildred learns that Tomei’s character is reuniting with the husband, so her relationship with the boy is ending.  If there’s a more expressive face in cinema than Rowlands’, I don’t know whose it would be.

One of the turning points in the movie is when her douchebag son tries to get her to move to his place in San Francisco to help raise his soon-to-be-born child.  Mildred refuses, even though as we’ve all learned from JD Vance, the whole purpose of the post-menopausal female is to raise grandchildren.  Instead, Mildred decides to live her life on her terms.

Anyway, a movie worth watching if you want to see a more than one-dimensional portrayal of a post-menopausal female.

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Fighting for Everything We Believe In, and Celebrating Victories

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Does it seem strange to talk about the accomplishments of one of the boots on the ground organizations we partner with, as we raise money for a different group?  Not to me!

We try to fund groups when they can put our funds to best use, and then we get reports later, often when we are funding someone else.

This is the kind of difference we make with our fundraising efforts on Balloon Juice.

(We still have the double matches that The Civics Center found us, and we still have a BJ Angel, matching up to $250 per person, which gives us a 6x match for as long as this Balloon Juice Angel match lasts.)

It's Up to Us Now, Next Up, Youth Again (but younger!) 1

Now, the update from Worker Power!

We want to share the recent victories you have helped us achieve in Arizona, the swing state that will decide the outcome of one of the most contentious elections in our nation’s history.

First, we are proud to announce that earlier this month, we submitted sufficient signatures to place a Hotel Workers Protection Act on the November ballot in the City of Glendale, Arizona. This initiative aims to create a minimum $20 wage for hospitality workers, limit the number of square feet a room attendant can be required to clean in a single shift, and ensure that service charges levied by hotels are actually given to the hotel staff. This historic measure would represent a significant intervention for workers in one of Arizona’s fastest-growing hospitality markets. Rather than accepting these signatures and placing the measure on the ballot, the City of Glendale officials have refused to accept the signatures on the basis that our initiative breaks the single-subject rule for citizens’ initiatives in Arizona. Fortunately, we won the first round of litigation, and pending a successful appeal by the city in the next two weeks, we are headed to the ballot in November!

Second, we delivered a victory (by fewer than 50 votes) for Lupe Conchas to the City Council in Glendale’s Cactus district. Lupe took out a conservative white incumbent who has represented this majority-democrat, majority-Latino district for over 20 years. Lupe is the first LGBTQ council member in Glendale’s history.

Third, Worker Power finished a partisan voter registration drive where we successfully collected 6,552 voter registration applications among young people and communities of color in Arizona’s Congressional Districts 1 and 6, which Democrats lost by a combined 8,000 votes in 2022. This work necessitated an early start in the field in some of the North Phoenix suburbs, where we have flipped state legislative seats in recent elections (namely in Legislative Districts 2 and 4). But it also necessitated the expansion of our field efforts to southern Arizona and to the suburbs north and east of Tucson, which will be critical to any successful effort to flip CD1 and the state legislature in Arizona.

We also collected 10,000 ballot initiative signatures for a statewide minimum-wage initiative that is in the process of qualifying for the November ballot.

Additionally, we conducted an advocacy canvass with 19,774 knocks and 4,197 contacts, educating and engaging voters about the need for U.S. Supreme Court reform (an issue Biden and Harris have since endorsed). Moreover, this July, we conducted a survey among 8,459 voters—largely low—and mid-propensity Latino voters—asking their opinions about the Presidential and U.S. Senate elections and getting their commitments to vote in the fall.

Finally, this week marks an important milestone as our 70 canvassers have hit 150,000 doors and counting. We have already spoken to over 21,000 voters—more than any other organization conducting field operations in swing states in the U.S. at this stage of the electoral cycle. We have engaged voters in minimum-wage initiative signature drives, municipal primary elections, and a survey to educate voters on the upcoming Presidential elections.

Starting today, we will be doubling the size of our canvass team. We will be knocking on more than 10,000 doors a day, advocating for democratic candidates at the Federal, State, and City levels and the Abortion Access Act ballot initiative.

Of course, small victories like these lead to bigger ones, which in turn lead to movements that transform our communities. Our victories are only possible because of your support. Thank you for being part of the Worker Power family. We will send more good news in the coming weeks and months.

Open thread!

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Space Cadets Assemble!

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Speaking of space cadets…
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Space Cadets Assemble!

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)

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New Dawn Open Thread: Tim Walz Is A Good Man

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And choosing him as her Vice-Presidential candidate is another sign of Kamala Harris’ good instincts.

not gonna harp on this too much but walz is useful in that he allows guys to say yes you can watch college football and hit each other in the nuts as a joke and be stupid guys but also you can want free lunch for kids and free feminine hygiene products in bathrooms and sensible gun laws.

— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) Aug 9, 2024 at 12:21 AM

giving guys permission to be liberals is the next great wall to break down and i think it’s actually pretty doable.

— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) Aug 9, 2024 at 12:24 AM

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