Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

“But what about the lurkers?”

This chaos was totally avoidable.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

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

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

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Celebrate the fucking wins.

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

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

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

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

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

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

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This Is Now A Walz-stan Account

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Here is the first ad:

VP Harris is speaking 5:30/4:30/3:30 and whatever time it is for those slackers on the West Coast have (I kid, 2:30)

If I’m around I’ll put up a link, but her YouTube channel is…wait for it….Kamala Harris  and it will be streamed there.  And yes, I’m a little spicy today – very little sleep and hopped up on Walz excitement vibes.

This entire thread is worth the read.  I started it last night, but there is more now.

Okay, I’ll stop now.

Open thread

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Walz!

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Well, it turns out we can have two nice things in the span of less than a month.

I wrote a piece on Walz the other day from the perspective of someone who had a lot of the same similar life experiences.  Rather than repeating that, I want to tell a story about common decency and thoughtfulness.

The other day we were in Grand Forks, ND, which is right across the river from Minnesota.  It’s about an hour six hours north of Mankato, where Walz and his wife taught, and it’s very near MN-01, the district he represented.  Walking into a Walmart there, I saw this:

Walz!

It’s just a bit of kindness that doesn’t cost anyone anything.  So why not?   I posted this on Bluesky the other day and someone told me that this is something that’s at the manager’s discretion.

I am so not surprised that a Walmart in Grand Forks would do this.  Yeah, there are some Trump signs and other asshole signifiers, but overall this group of people likes to think of themselves as good people who are kind and helpful to their neighbors.  Only weirdos would oppose turning off the music, TVs and cleaning machines in the morning at Walmart so people who are sensitive to noise can shop in peace.

Being kind, and, frankly, shaming those who are unkind, is Tim Walz’ superpower.  He’s a guy that does all the things that people in the upper midwest do (hunt, fish, shoot skeet, eat corn dogs, etc.), but he’s also someone who isn’t embarrassed to promote an agenda of kindness on a one-vote margin in the Minnesota legislature.

This is a winning pick and it’s a pick that’s going to make the Republicans shit themselves.  He looks the stereotype, and he’s anything but.    He’s a national guard veteran: everyone from where Walz is from knows that the multiple guard deployments in the middle east were brutal. He’s a football coach and social studies teacher, which is a hilarious cliche, but he also agreed to be the advisor for the gay/straight student alliance at his school in 1999.

Finally, and this is incredible:  Walz is the first Democratic VP pick since 1964 who didn’t go to law school.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: *Never* Stop Believing

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Moved up to the top of page again, because I thought y’all would want to know: Megan McArglebargle is very disappointed in Kamala Harris!
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Never Stop Believing

We’re (okay, I’m) still allowed a favorite for a few more hours, though…

ETA: Psych!

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Hopeful Dawn Open Thread: Magdi Jacobs on Social Media Tactics

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Hopeful Dawn Open Thread: Magdi Jacobs on Social Media Tactics 1

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)

I’m really bad at social media (twitter & BlueSky) myself — I’m not a fast reader, and tend to treat them as ‘places I mine for blog aggregation’ — but per Ms. Jacobs’ suggestions, I’m gonna work on at least reposting more often:

1. It’s fine to disagree w/ Dems from now until #EDay; That said, plz do so respectfully & kindly. The media thrives on Democratic discord. Every time Democrats/Leftists/etc engage in ferocious debate online, editors contact people like me to write Op-Eds. This drives coverage.

2. Put winning the election above social media clout. This involves not trying to be cool by dragging other Democrats (or possible Dem voters). It also involves not overly curating your twitter feed. RT Cringe. RT Democrats saying good things. This matters…

3. While you commit to *not* arguing, at least in a hostile way w/ Dems, commit to trying to argue w/ conservatives. Don’t just drag them (tho dragging is good), try to argue with them. Make a debate with conservatives blow up online so much that editors contact writers to do an OpEd

4. If it’s too hard to try to argue w/ a conservative, & I agree this may be the case, commit to not just dragging them, but also to finding joy in doing so *w/ others,* a la “Weird.” We’ve never done something like “weird” before. It was great. Gave us joy/strength; put them on defensive.

5. Just as you commit to RTing great things–including cringe things–about Democrats, commit to RTing every single negative thing you see about Trump. Trump has *massively* benefited from an almost 9 month media blackout. As well as normalization. Pierce through this.

That’s about it, for now. The goals are these: Deprive media of Dem Discord. Give them other debates to cover. Spread joy. Create the perception of *strength* in numbers by liking & RTing every Good Democratic tweet. Reject over-curating your account. RT @KamalaHQ in particular.

One last thing, though. I’m not trying to reignite Biden-Drop-Out debates, b/c I am delighted by how things have turned out. But I do want to note something for explanatory purposes: Post-June-Debate, many Black Democrats tried, valorously, to make “Black Jobs” trend.

This worked, to some extent, but “Black Jobs” seemed to get drowned out by Dem discord over everything else. Imagine if things had gone differently. Either Biden performed better or our social media focus had just been different. “Black Jobs” would have hurt Trump quite a bit.

Now, look at this Simone Biles Tweet. So many likes + RTs. I saw it & immediately looked at the “numbers” for the tweet. The “numbers” made me so happy, but also made me think, “I don’t have to RT that, b/c everyone has seen it.” WRONG, Magdi. I should have RT’d it!

Hopeful Dawn Open Thread: Magdi Jacobs on Social Media Tactics

Why? Again, b/c numbers matter. 1.3 million likes? Amazing. What if it got to 2 million likes. Or 200K RTs? That’s strength. Strength in our joyful coalition. Strength in our patriotism. And strength in mocking the bad ideas of the other side.

From now until EDay, focus all your negativity on our opponents. Put Trump under the spotlight. All while finding joy in our coalition. Practice respect in our disagreements. Reject clout. Reject anti-cringe. Reject over-curation. Give Kamala Harris GREAT social media numbers…

All negativity towards other Dems, all motivation to be the “most right,” the “knowiest of all,” etc, throw that all out the window. If someone does it to you, don’t respond. They are injecting necessary negativity into the discourse. Which is why Russian trolls imitate them!

Let’s just say we’re done with all that. It’s not the right way to behave in a coalition. Mute it out. Joyfully.

P.S. I’m also going to try to QT things more often that I love w/ simple messages, like, for example, “I love this!” Typically I might feel a bit embarrassed, like why do my followers need to know what I love? Shouldn’t I think of something smart to say? We should reject this.

Just. . . be open to tweeting your love. To sharing it with your followers so that they can share their love back. We can be excited and happy and hopeful together. I truly believe that this is how we win this election.

Or, at the very least, it will keep us all saner over the coming hectic months.

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Words for me to keep in mind for tomorrow

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I thought I’d check in with (fake) jack Smith before I head to bed this evening.  Not sorry I did!

Jack E. Smith ⚖️

@7Veritas4

Whoever her pick is, here are some things to keep in mind:

– You all have your favorites. She has been meticulous (and discreet) in the selection process for a reason. She’ll need all of them to campaign and win in November.

– Some of you will be disappointed when your favorite isn’t selected. That’s ok. Don’t have a tantrum about it.

– Remember the assignment. We’re in this to preserve democracy, not convince each other why we’re right about who Kamala Harris should’ve picked as her running mate.

Okay, so the first two were kinda preachy, but I found the third one to be an excellent reminder.

Republicans don’t need our help trashing the VP choice.  If I were Kamala, I would be choosing someone I connected with rather than someone who could bring in this constituency or that one.  Barack chose well, and Joe chose well, so I suspect Kamala will likewise choose the person she wants to be the last person in the room with her.  Who am I to judge who that person is for her?

When I used to interview folks for positions in the IT group I managed, one of the interview questions went something like “Can you tell us about a time where you complied with a policy with which you didn’t agree?”  It was never a good sign when the person couldn’t come up with something, or did come up with a situation, but spent the whole time telling us why he was right.

Cole has a category called stream of consciousness, I guess that’s the one I should have used for this rambling post.

Open thread.

 

 

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War for Ukraine Day 894! We’re Back!!!

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A couple of quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie had her chemo treatment today. She’s still in full remission and is doing excellently. Thank you for all the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, I want to thank TaMara for doing emergency back up duty last night. My power went out around 7 PM last night. Which is unusual as it almost never goes out. Occasionally during a thunderstorm if we get a strike near the house it’ll flicker for a few seconds and come right back on. Last night it was out till after midnight. The power company’s outage map was ambiguous as to the reason, but the fancy weather app I have listed it as tree on power line or lines. Even if that was the case, I have no idea where in the area that would’ve been. Regardless of the reason, we’ve been back up and running.

We have reports of recent – within one to four hours – attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv:

And just as I finished drafting tonight’s update at 8:50 PM EDT/3:50 AM local time in Ukraine, an air raid alert went up for all of Kharkiv Oblast.

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

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