Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

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

Stand up, dammit!

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

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

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

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Giving up is unforgivable.

In after Baud. Damn.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Optimism opens the door to great things.

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

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

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

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

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War for Ukraine Day 1,303: The Small Hours of the Night Are the Deadly Hours

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Russian strategic aviation is aloft as of 1:50 PM local time in Ukraine/6:50 PM EDT:

Russian strategic bombers have taken off and likely heading to bomb Ukraine.

We’re in for yet another hellish night. Once more. Keep us in your thoughts.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 6:49 PM

It is 2:25 AM local time in Ukraine/7:25 PM EDT and all of eastern and central Ukraine is currently under air raid alert as drone swarms move from east to west across Ukraine.

This follows Putin and Russia probing NATO member states earlier today to see if they would find mush or steel.

Three russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonian airspace today and stayed there for 12 minutes.

“But russia wants peace.”

— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 12:07 PM

Poland’s border service reported that two Russian fighter jets flew over oil platforms in the Baltic Sea.

“Two Russian fighter jets conducted a low-altitude flyover of the ‘Petrobaltic’ platform in the Baltic Sea. The platform’s safety zone was breached.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 3:10 PM

Poland’s armed forces and other relevant agencies have been notified of the incident,” the statement said.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 3:10 PM

We’re reaching levels of deep concern previously unseen before

— Mira of Kyiv 🇺🇦 (@reshetz.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 2:26 PM

Estonian PM says government will seek Article 4 consultations following incursion by Russian warplanes into Estonian airspace.

Putin continues to probe NATO eastern flank air defenses. Incidents like these will continue, and escalate, unless NATO governments impose consequences.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 3:21 PM

If NATO had responded decisively to the many Russian drone incursions into NATO airspace, we would not now be facing incursions by Russian warplanes, and having to consider shooting down Russian fighters.

Inaction in the face of provocation encourages more dangerous escalations.

— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 4:32 PM

A reminder that it took Turkey 17 seconds to shoot down a Russian Su-24 in 2015.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) September 19, 2025 at 10:55 AM

I do not expect any other NATO member state to learn the accurate lesson from Turkey.

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

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Tune in on Thursday to Find Out 🤵🏻👰🏻

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Cole and Joelle’s big day is on Thursday – 6 days from today!

I can’t decide whether we’ll see what I like to call “deer in the headlights” Cole, “calm cool and collected” Cole, or the panicked energy of Bill O’Reilly in that famous clip.

Tune in next Thursday – just 6 days from now – for the Cole / Joelle nuptials.

🤵🏻👰🏻

Thursday, September 25, 2025
5 PM EST

It’s a Zoom, and if you want to attend, please send email to WaterGirl.  I’ll send out the link the day before the zoom.

Please include your Balloon Juice nym!   No zoom link without a nym.

Pro tip:  It’s best wishes to the bride, congratulations to the groom.  No congratulations to the bride for landing her man.

🤵🏻👰🏻

Zoom Details

The zoom will be set up to see the ceremony.  All of us will be muted.

Then we’ll see the picture taking (short), cutting of the cake, and refreshments.  Assuming that room setup will be conducive to that.

They are not providing cake and refreshments to the zoom attendees, which I think sucks, so everybody bake your own cake and have your favorite beverage at hand.

🤵🏻👰🏻

Zoom Etiquette

The zoom will be hosted by a formal institution, so we are expected to be on good behavior in the zoom chat.

Chat suggestions:  The bride looks beautiful!  Cole looks pretty good, too!   The cake is gorgeous!  Oh, there’s Mom Cole!

🤵🏻👰🏻

Balloon Juice Post at the same time as the Zoom

I will put up a BJ post where we can point and laugh and mock and make jokes about not wearing pants and wonder how Cole ever landed a beautiful bride like this.

Questions?

 

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Open Thread: No More Profiteering

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NYT INVESTIGATION:
Anatomy of Two Giant Deals: The U.A.E. Got Chips. The Trump Team Got Crypto Riches.
NYT digs into links between a lucrative transaction involving the Trump family’s cryptocurrency firm and an agreement giving the Emiratis access to A.I. chips.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u…

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— Eric Lipton NYT (@ericlipton.nytimes.com) September 15, 2025 at 2:09 PM

[Gift link]  

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Sen. Andy Kim is introducing a bill to end profiteering by Trump, lawmakers, and the Supreme Court, so we don’t have “an egotistical, narcissistic, and corrupt government."
EXCLUSIVE: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol…

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— Rolling Stone (@rollingstone.com) September 18, 2025 at 9:30 AM

Per Rolling Stone, “Dem Senator Introduces Bill to End Profiteering by Trump and Lawmakers”:

… Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) is introducing legislation to try and combat the culture of political profiteering that has become endemic to virtually every corner of the federal government — and supercharged under the second Trump administration. “If you have egotistical, narcissistic, corrupt people in government, you will have an egotistical, narcissistic, and corrupt government,” Kim says. “But if you have people who are dedicated to public service, people who are honest, you can have an altogether different kind of government. I want the American people to see the choice.”

On Thursday, Kim unveiled “The Restoring Trust in Public Servants Act,” which would prevent America’s most powerful elected and appointed officials across all three branches of government from enriching themselves off their offices. The bill would prevent members of Congress (as well as their families and employees), the president, vice president, Senate-confirmed political appointees, and judicial officers — including members of the Supreme Court — from trading stocks and participating in a host of financial activities that could present conflicts of interest.

During the second Trump administration, profiteering off one’s elected office is no longer viewed as an impropriety, but the standard of conduct set by the president himself. Sources close to Trump told Rolling Stone in May that the president has privately complained that it was “stupid” not to cash in harder during his first term, and is making up for lost time. Already this term we’ve seen the Trump family build out a blossoming crypto empire, launch all manner of licensing deals, and announce new international real estate investments.

The new bill is similar to anti-corruption legislation Kim introduced during his time in the House, but the new measure expands the category of covered assets to include crypto and other “digital assets,” as well as the scope of public officials subject to the ban.

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As If ICE Couldn’t Get Any Worse, But Here We Are

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Welcome to Friday.

Wait, How Exactly Did ICE Manage to “Lose” More Than 1,000 Alligator Alcatraz Detainees?

from the inestimable Charlie Pierce at Esquire   (paywalled)

It appears that the agency is just as incompetent as it is cruel.

Well, mercy me. The well-oiled machinery of the Stephen Miller Roundup seems to have slipped another gear. From the Miami Herald:

As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald. The Herald had obtained the names from two detainee rosters. Around 800 detainees showed no record on ICE’s online database. More than 450 listed no location and only instructed the user to “Call ICE for details”—a vague notation that attorneys said could mean that a detainee is still being processed, in the middle of a transfer between two sites or about to be deported.

Excuse me?

They had these people isolated in a prison camp in the middle of the damn Everglades and, somehow, they managed to lose them in transit to God knows where? These people simply don’t care enough to run a policy that isn’t cruel and stupid. Being cruel and competent is beyond them. Being benign and stupid is beyond them. Their only talent is being cruel and stupid.

Some Alligator Alcatraz detainees who couldn’t be located in the ICE database might have been deported—even though the internal data obtained by the Herald show the vast majority of detainees didn’t have final orders of removal from a judge before entering the facility. Some of those deportations occurred as a result of detainees deciding to abandon their ongoing immigration cases to put an end to their detention at the facility and its harsh conditions, which included being held in chain-link cages in tents with little protection from the elements. “It became a game of chicken to see who’s going to blink first, to see if the client’s going to say ‘I don’t want to be detained in these conditions just send me back,’ ” said Miami immigration attorney Alex Solomiany.

Heads they win, tails they’re lost.

I honestly don’t know what’s worse to think about.  1,000 human beings lost?  1,000 human beings disappeared?  1,000 shipped off to a black site somewhere?

This is why we organize, donate, and speak up.  Right?

As If ICE Couldn’t Get Any Worse, But Here We ArePost + Comments (94)

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! National Zoom Postcard Parties for Virginia!

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National Postcard Party on Sunday, organized by Postcards4VA!

Featured Candidates

HD34 -Andrew Payton
HD40 – Donna Littlepage
HD62 – Sara Ratcliffe
HD66 – Nicole Cole
HD82 – Kimberly Pope Adams
HD83 – Mary Person

Note that our very own Kimberly Pope Adams is one of the 6 featured candidates.  Let’s write postcards for Good Kim!

BJ Peeps – who’s up for writing some postcards at this event?

Zoom Registration Link

To participate in these National Postcard Parties, you need to get your postcards and addresses before the event.

ADDRESSES

You can get addresses for the candidates of your choice through either Postcards4VA or Markers for Democracy.

To write for candidates through Postcards4VA, you need to be registered with Postcards4VA.

To write for candidates through the Markers for Democracy portal called Postcards For Democracy (PFD), you need to set up an account with Markers.

SCRIPTS

Scripts will be provided with the addresses.  There are 3 main objectives to the messaging for these postcards.

  1. Candidate Name Recognition.
  2. Early Voting Information. Virginia has 45 days of early voting that begins on September 19, 2025. We are going to use our cards to make sure these people know they can vote early and where to find out where they vote early.
  3. Give the potential voter a warm and friendly feeling about voting (and you & our postcard writing community).  We come together to write postcards because these voters are important, and we know we are all in this together. Writing to them makes them part of a community who cares. Our postcards show there are real people out there volunteering their time and money to fight for democracy. Think of your postcard as an encouraging smile you are sending another person.

POSTCARDS

You can use the postcard of your choice. If you need to purchase postcards, you can visit our Proshops.

 

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! National Zoom Postcard Parties for Virginia!Post + Comments (20)

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: What A Year This Week Has Been…

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… And it ain’t over yet!
 

The Third Reich didn't last 1,000 years.
Pinochet was ousted with a referendum.
And the US isn't exactly dealing with the smartest, most competent fascists.
Those of you insisting that 2025 is forever need to read a book, touch grass, go to therapy, anything other than trying to make others quit.

— Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 11:02 AM

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trump is at his second-lowest approval rating across both terms and we're not even through the first year of this term, and, just to emphasize it again, *they have no plan to turn any of it around*. everything's getting worse pretty quickly and they're sephiroth posting to each other

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) September 18, 2025 at 4:38 PM

these guys are not popular, they are getting much more unpopular very quickly, and they have absolutely no plan to turn any of it around. i'm not even sure they are aware that they need to, which is not a mistake a more competent regime would make.

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) September 18, 2025 at 4:36 PM

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there is no fever to break. i’m sure absolute monarchs of europe thought the “fever would break” over the ideals of religious tolerance and government by consent of the governed but not withstanding fits and starts it’s around.
trumpism is here to stay. may not kill it but keep trying.

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— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 9:25 PM

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This is the biggest attack on free speech since the McCarthy era but it also has significantly less popular consensus behind it than the second Red Scare. It's being done on behalf of a minority faction led by the most unpopular president in modern history. Organizing against this can win.

— Jeet Heer (@jeetheer.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 10:21 AM

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Reminder: before you go full-on defeatist about the rule of law, keep in mind it remains often effective on a micro-level. It’s on the macro- that the FedSoc types have killed it. Hard work and good lawyering can make a difference for regular people — though not always, and not all of them.

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— Disney Surrenders Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 1:24 PM

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Note sender:

IS EPSTEIN THE REAL REASON TRUMP HAD KIMMEL CANCELED?!

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— Chuck Schumer (@schumer.senate.gov) September 18, 2025 at 4:38 PM

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: What A Year This Week Has Been…Post + Comments (297)