Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Is trump is trying to break black America over his knee? signs point to ‘yes’.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

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

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

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Books are my comfort food!

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

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

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

So very ready.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

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

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

Republicans do not pay their debts.

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads

NYC Proof of Life (and Open Thread)

by | 67 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Auto Draft 107

RedDirtGirl sent in a NYC proof of life photo!

We had a nice gathering this evening. Shown here is Emily B., JAFD, RedDirtGirl, Mr. Bemused Senior and strange visitor. We were also joined by a “complete lurker” who left before we remembered to take the picture. Maybe he will comment someday soon!

Maybe we should ask Betty Cracker to draw a lurker in the photo.  Lurkers represent!

Open thread.

NYC Proof of Life (and Open Thread)Post + Comments (67)

War for Ukraine Day 866: The Butcher’s Bill from Last Night’s Attack Includes Another Russian War Crime

by | 29 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

Painting by NEIVANMADE. The background is black. There is a white cross in a broken window frame. In front of it is a hispital bed with an IV stand falling across it. Wires from a broken monitor on the right are strewn on the floor with a yellow basketball on the right and teddy bear on the left. In the foreground are fragments of a Russian cruise missile, which are red, and have the "Z" war symbol. In the top of the painting in grey is written "Children's Hospital." Below that in red "Is Just Another Target for Russia" is written.

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Quick housekeeping note: Rosie is doing fine after her chemo today. Thank you all again for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations to help cover the costs of Rosie’s chemo.

Also, my Internet is out because of a lightning strike in my front yard. I’m using my phone as a hotspot, so we’re just covering the basics.

We now have the butcher’s bill from Russia’s cruise missile attack on Ukraine in the early morning hours.

This morning, Ukrainian air defenders shot down 30 missiles, including:
◾️1 Kh-47 Kinzhal missile
◾️11 Kh-101 cruise missiles
◾️12 Kalibr cruise missiles
◾️3 Iskander-M ballistic missiles
◾️3 Kh-59/Kh-69 guided air missiles

The aggressor attacked Ukraine with 38 missiles, targeting children’s hospital and apartment buildings.

Ukraine still needs more air defense systems to protect civilians and stop russian terror.

For want of a nail!

Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv. One of the most important CHILDREN’S hospitals not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe. Okhmatdyt has been saving and restoring the health of thousands of children.

Now that the hospital has been damaged by a Russian strike, there are people under the rubble, and the exact number of casualties is still unknown. Right now, everyone is helping to clear the rubble – doctors and ordinary people.

Russia cannot claim ignorance of where its missiles are flying and must be held fully accountable for all its crimes. Against people, against children, against humanity in general. It is very important that the world does not remain silent about this now, and that everyone sees what Russia is and what it is doing.

The Guardian has the details:

The children sat in stunned silence, their fragile bodies still tethered to medical drips outside the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in central Kyiv, where an impromptu field clinic had sprung up.

They had not long emerged from the hospital’s dark, dusty bomb shelter, and their eyes were still adjusting to the light.

A woman rushed past, cradling an infant covered with blood.

Just an hour earlier, Okhmatdyt, Ukraine’s largest paediatric clinic, renowned for its cancer treatment and a place many of the children had called home for months, had been targeted by a powerful Russian missile attack that killed at least four people and left many injured. At least 32 more died in strikes across countries.

The hospital’s toxicology ward lay in ruins, wrecked by the explosion that sent shrapnel tearing through the main hospital building, shattering its windows. One of the surgical rooms, where doctors had been operating on a child, was reduced to rubble.

Russia’s deadly strike on Monday was not the first of its kind – more than 1,700 medical facilities have been hit since the start of the full-scale invasion, according to the International Rescue Committee.

Still, the sheer brutality of the attack is certain to send shock waves across the west and prompt furious calls in Ukraine for enhanced air defences.

Hundreds of rescuers on Monday afternoon were still combing through the wreckage of the hospital’s toxicology ward, searching for those living or dead still trapped under the rubble, as the first accounts of shock and horror emerged. Outside the hospital entrance, civilians formed a human chain to help clear the rubble brick by brick.

Maria Soloshenko, a 21-year-old nurse who was in the toxicology ward during the strike, described how children – some as young as 18 months old and suffering from kidney problems – had to be hurriedly taken off dialysis and evacuated through the building’s windows.

Soloshenko recounted how she treated another nurse with an open head wound, initially failing to recognise her amid the dust, rubble and blood that covered her face.

The strike appeared to have caused most damage to the top floor of the ward, where she believed a female colleague had probably perished.

Okhmatdyt has long been a critical lifeline for Ukraine’s most severely ill children with complex diseases. Throughout the war, its doctors have faced the challenging task of saving children injured in Russian shelling while also caring for those with pre-existing conditions.

Monday’s daytime strike came when the hospital was at its busiest, said Tanya Lapshina, a nurse at the neighbouring trauma department where the facade was ripped off by the blast. She feared for a child who was undergoing open-heart surgery when the strike hit the building.

Lapshina said her ward managed to bring the children to the shelter just minutes before the strike.

“It was absolute chaos. The children were panicked, crying in the bunker. There are no words for this. It’s awful. I’m still shaking.”

Images from inside the hospital, which treats 20,000 children annually, showed bloodied children, collapsed ceilings and destroyed operating rooms.

More at the link and more on this after the jump.

Here is the video of President Zelenskyy’s joint press conference with Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland:

show full post on front page

War for Ukraine Day 866: The Butcher’s Bill from Last Night’s Attack Includes Another Russian War CrimePost + Comments (29)

Afternoon Open Thread: News Vacation

by | 92 Comments

This post is in: 

I’m heading out of town…and neglected to tell the kitten. He is not amused.

Afternoon Open Thread: News Vaca

Sorry for the blurry photo – he does not stay still but for a millisecond. He has bonded well with the petsitter, but I do suspect he’ll get into his fair share of trouble while I’m away.

Afternoon Open Thread: News Vaca 1

I had to move some flowers over the weekend, but am keeping them in pots until I’m back and can water them daily. Been a very dry summer here so far and this week looks no different. Hoping we have a good monsoon season starting the end of July. Pictured are red echinacea. I have several colors that I’m turning into a big grouping. They were scattered around before.

I am on a news blackout and have been since the debate. The few times I’ve checked in, I get stabby, so I’ll continue to ignore our failed media until I return home. How is everyone else handling this shitshow?

This is an open thread

ETA: And congratulations to Dr. David!!!

Afternoon Open Thread: News VacationPost + Comments (92)

Leadership is a Funny Thing

by | 302 Comments

This post is in: 

I’ll lead with the important stuff:

President Biden, in a surprise phone interview on MSNBC on Monday morning, said he’s frustrated by the discussion about his fitness and the calls for him to step aside. “Any of these guys that don’t think I should run, run against me. Announce for president, challenge me at the convention,” he said. Biden also sent a letter to his party’s lawmakers in Congress on Monday, insisting that he would stay in the race and calling for an end to the drama within the Democratic Party. The letter comes amid rising calls from within his party for him to step aside after his poor debate performance.

Here’s the letter [pdf].

Also, I was surprised/not-surprised to see that the Member of Congress from Rochester, Joe Morelle (NY-25) is on the list of “senior” House Democrats who supposedly want Biden to step down.  Louise Slaughter, the absolute stalwart that he replaced, is rotating in her grave.  (The others are Adam Smith, WA-9, Mark Takano, CA-39 and Jerry Nadler, NY-12).  This is based on a Zoom call with Hakeem Jeffries last night.

The last time I wrote to Morelle was when he was dragging his feet over the first Trump impeachment.  He finally signed on once it was clear the way the wind is blowing.  Seeing him in the vanguard of those recommending that Biden step aside is a bitter laugh moment.  He leads when he should shut up, and he shuts up when he should lead.

That’s all I have on this topic, as if enough hasn’t been said yet.

Leadership is a Funny ThingPost + Comments (302)

The Not-So-Subtle Art of Supreme Court Beat Sweetening

by | 94 Comments

This post is in: 

The Not-So-Subtle Art of Supreme Court Beat Sweetening

This is an interesting glimpse into the way that the Post cultivates the youngest Supreme Court justice.  Ann Marimow, the Post’s Supreme Court correspondent, has this gem in yesterday’s edition, which was pushed as an “Editor’s Choice” on their mobile version.  The “Sotomayor not pictured” is chef’s kiss.

Of course, Ms. Marimow is not alone.  The “liberal” Ruth Marcus was at it a few weeks ago with an opinion piece headlined “Amy Coney Barrett is no handmaid to the Supreme Court’s conservative majority” [ed note: vomit]. I realize that writers aren’t responsible for headlines but it’s consistent with the piece:

Barrett’s long-standing ties to a conservative Catholic group, People of Praise, raised warnings that she would be an eager handmaid to the conservative male majority; in reality, Barrett has been no submissive pushover.

Marcus starts by acknowledging that, well, yeah, ACB did vote with the majority to overturn Dobbs.  And of course Marcus didn’t mention that People of Praise has been accused of covering up sexual (and other) abuse.  Still, ACB is “no handmaid.”  She gets a little feisty when she writes those opinions, but ultimately she calms down and votes with the rest of the conservatives who want to relegate women back to the stone age, or give Republican Presidents the rights of kings.

This is what Democrats are up against:  a voluntary bullshit machine that is set up to maybe, someday, get a “scoop” from these horrible people, whose followers would happily burn the Post building to the ground on the orders of their god king.

The Not-So-Subtle Art of Supreme Court Beat SweeteningPost + Comments (94)

NYC Meetup Today (Monday) at 5:30 pm (and Open Thread)

by | 46 Comments

This post is in: , ,

From the organizers of today’s NYC meetup:

We have planned to meet tomorrow at 5:30 at Peter McManus Cafe/Bar at 7th Ave at 19th St. So far there are just 3 of us, but a post might rustle up a few more bodies.

Attendees at this point:

RedDirtGirl
Mr. Bemused Senior
JAFD
possibly strange visitor
possibly NYCMT

Anybody else interested in joining?  Chime in below!

Open thread!

NYC Meetup Today (Monday) at 5:30 pm (and Open Thread)Post + Comments (46)

Monday Morning Open Thread: There Will Be NOISE

by | 339 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

*Bursts into applause*

show full post on front page

Monday Morning Open Thread: There Will Be NOISEPost + Comments (339)