Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Giving up is unforgivable.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

“woke” is the new caravan.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

“They all knew.”

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

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

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Be a wild strawberry.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

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

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

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Monday Afternoon Open Thread

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I am playing catch-up today.

No lie told, as rikyrah would say.

I laughed out loud, literally.

Now this is what I call an indictment:

And this sounds like an old-fashioned ass whipping!

Open thread.

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Trump’s NY Criminal Trial, Day 19 (Michael Cohen Cross)

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It’s Day 19 of the trial.

Michael Cohen cross continues today!

Michael Cohen must be exhausted after all these days of testimony and cross.   More cross examination today, and surely redirect, because Justice Merchan expects closing arguments and jury instructions on Tuesday.

Stormy Daniels had her Wednesday off a couple of weeks ago, and she was able to come back and be even better as she handled the cross from the defense.  Hoping Cohen does the same.

Very much hoping the defense didn’t use their 3-day weekend to improve their performance – it feels like the defense picked up steam on Thursday and I don’t want to see that repeated.

Best sources of live blogging that I have found.

Josh Kovensky (TPM)   live blogging

Mark Sumner (Daily Kos)  live blogging

Tyler McBrien (Lawfare) on twitter

Anna Bower (Lawfare) on twitter

Adam Klasfeld on twitter

Lisa Rubin on twitter

AP Live blogging

Still loving this awesome image.

But I may need to find a new one for tomorrow, with closing arguments and jury instructions.  If anyone has a great image for that, please send it my way.

Update:

(NBC) Upon taking the stand, Merchan said it has “become apparent that we are not going to sum up tomorrow.”

Closing arguments will instead happen the Tuesday after Memorial Day, or May 28, Merchan said, to ensure there are not multiple days between summations

h/t Scout211

Update 2:  Whoa, Trump still thinks he wants to testify?  His attorneys must be stroking out.

Open thread.

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Late Night Monsters Open Thread: Governor Greg Abbott, Not A Good Man

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Per the Associated Press, “Texas governor pardons ex-Army sergeant convicted of killing Black Lives Matter protester”:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a full pardon Thursday for a former U.S. Army sergeant convicted of murder for fatally shooting an armed demonstrator in 2020 during nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice.

Abbott announced the pardon shortly after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles announced a unanimous recommendation that Daniel Perry be pardoned and have his firearms rights restored.

Perry had been in state prison on a 25-year sentence since his 2023 conviction in the killing of Garrett Foster, and was released shortly after the pardon, a prison spokeswoman said.

Perry, who is white, was working as a ride-share driver when his car approached a demonstration in Austin. Prosecutors said he could have driven away from the confrontation with Foster, a white Air Force veteran who witnesses said never raised his gun…

A Republican in his third term, Abbott has typically issued pardons only for minor offenses, and he notably avoided a posthumous pardon recommendation for George Floyd for a 2004 drug arrest in Houston. It was Floyd’s killing by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020 that set off national demonstrations…

Abbott’s demand for a review of Perry’s case followed pressure from former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who on national television had urged the governor to intervene after the sergeant was convicted at trial in April 2023. Perry was sentenced after prosecutors used his social media history and text messages to portray him as a racist who may commit violence again…

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War for Ukraine Day 816: Singular Points of Failure Will Fail at Inopportune Times

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Painting by NEIVANMADE. It has a white background an in the center are Soldiers in green doing air defense by firing at incoming Russian missiles in the upper right. The missiles are red and yellow. In the upper left, written in green, is the text: "SAVE THE BRAVEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!" Below the Soldiers, also written in green, is "SUPPORT FOR KHARKIV"

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Quick housekeeping note: Ruby is back to her normal self. Rosie is still doing well. She goes for her next chemo treatment tomorrow, so I’ll have more to info on her condition tomorrow evening. Thank you to everyone for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations. They are all most welcome.

Iranian President Raisi, as well as Iran’s Foreign Minister and several other Iranian officials, are all still missing as a result of an emergency hard landing by Raisi’s helicopter earlier today. The weather was bad when it went down and has gotten worse ever since. Rescue crews from Iran are on site and Turkey, and Russia are assisting in various ways. From all credible reports the helicopter made a hard landing, but people on board, such as the prayer leader from Tabriz, had been in contact with Iranian authorities. The biggest concerns at this point are because of the weather and the terrain. It is cold, damp, the rain has turned to snow, and those on the downed helicopter are in forested mountains.

Your daily Baykraktar:

 

https://tenor.com/bF5X9.gif

One of the reasons that Russia was able to make some initial quick gains in Kharkiv Oblast is because they had worked out a way to jam the Ukrainian’s Starlinks!

https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1791764421309542539

The Washington Post has the details: (emphasis mine)

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Russia’s new offensive across Ukraine’s northeastern border had been expected for months — yet it still surprised the Ukrainian soldiers stationed there to defend against it.

Ukraine’s 125th Territorial Defense Brigade — stretched thin along a roughly 27-mile stretch of the Kharkiv region’s border with Russia — used reconnaissance drones to monitor, daily, how Moscow was steadily building up forces for a possible attack. But the morning it happened, May 10, the brigade lost all its video feeds due to Russian electronic jamming.

Its Starlink devices — satellite internet the Ukrainian military relies on for basic communication — failed, the first time it was knocked out completely for them since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

“We were left at a certain point completely blind,” said a drone unit commander in the brigade. The Post agreed to identify him by his call sign, Artist, in keeping with Ukrainian military protocol.

“This was the biggest problem, we didn’t see how they were moving, we only worked through radio or through phones where they still worked,” Artist, a 53-year-old sergeant, said. The drone feeds, he said, “simply disappeared.”

But Russia’s battlefield gains in recent days were not only a result of Ukrainian shortfalls.

Begrudgingly, Ukrainian troops admit that their enemy has gotten smarter and adapted, especially with technological advancements such as electronic warfare — a sharp contrast with the first year of the invasion, when Russia’s own blunders and overconfidence allowed the Ukrainians to hold key cities and later liberate large swaths of territory in successful counteroffensives.

The new Russian advances, in Kharkiv and in the neighboring Donetsk region, have prompted questions about the viability of Ukraine’s defense — not only if Kyiv can fulfill its promise of expelling all invaders, but also if Russia will soon overpower Ukraine’s forces and seize more territory.

The latest assault on the Kharkiv border has forced Ukraine to redirect some reserves north, potentially imperiling other positions.

Even as they watched the Russians building up forces, Artist, the drone commander in the 125th Brigade, said the Ukrainians were largely unable to construct the kind of fortified defense lines now being emphasized by the government and by military commanders.

The Russians’ own layered web of “dragon’s teeth” antitank pyramid blocks, mines and concrete-reinforced trenches proved effective against Ukraine’s disappointing southeastern counteroffensive last summer.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky even visited the Kharkiv border in April to inspect the newly reinforced defenses. But Artist and other soldiers said that every time the units stationed here tried to build fortified lines, the Russians — using their own reconnaissance drones — would monitor their activity and fire on them.

Excavators and other engineering equipment were needed but not brought in because it would have been easily destroyed by the Russians.

Especially with the U.S. aid lagging, Ukrainian soldiers said they lacked the means to fire back and give themselves the time to build stronger defenses. The Ukrainians were also prohibited by the White House from using U.S.-provided weapons to strike Russia despite the Russians firing at them from across the border.

Artist said that soldiers in his unit would dig with shovels at night. “We tried to do what we could, but it’s not the same,” he said.

“Because the soil is very heavy here, it’s machines that can dig through that and machinery that can install concrete fortifications,” he added. “We weren’t able to do that. Ammunition, artillery could have protected us. … People would’ve been able to work in those moments. But sadly, we have wasted a lot. More than half a year has been wasted because we weren’t able to do this.”

More at the link!

There are two issues here. The first is that the Ukrainians rely on Starlink and if Starlink goes down, is jammed, or Musk decides to screw the Ukrainians, they are immediately at a disadvantage. The reliance on Starlink, which is facilitated by a very large DOD contract, has created a single point of failure. Right now it has led to Russian gains in Kharkiv. Over time it could lead to Russian gains elsewhere. It also demonstrates a strategic failure on the part of the DOD. Shoveling more money at Musk and his companies while treating him like a head of state isn’t going to solve enduring US defense problems. All it is going to do is create more singular points of failure.

The second issue is that we are continuing to see the effects of the congressional GOP’s intransigence and hostility towards Ukraine combined with the Biden administration’s strategic confusion regarding Ukraine ripple through time and space. We are back in for want of a nail territory. People are complaining of the failure of the Ukrainian MOD and general staff to ensure the layered defenses were emplaced. It is, of course, almost impossible to do that when you cannot defend your personnel trying to emplace them.

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

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Gun Humpers Open Thread: The NRA’s Annual Meeting in Dallas

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Per the Texas Tribune, “Trump, Abbott paint gun rights as imperiled at NRA convention”:

At the National Rifle Association’s annual convention on Saturday, Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott encouraged the thousands gathered to vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election as a way to ensure their Second Amendment rights…

Trump and Abbott spoke to a room packed with NRA members, some of which sported supportive attire from the standard-fare red caps to a dress covered with photos of the former president.

During the convention, the NRA released its endorsement for the 45th president, and the Trump political campaign announced the launch for the “Gun Owners for Trump” coalition.

Abbott touted his track record on gun rights by pointing to Texas laws passed last year, such as House Bill 3137 which prohibits local governments from requiring firearm owners to buy liability insurance. To energetic applause, he said the law ensured people would not be forced to pay to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Almost to the day, the NRA convention takes place two years after the Uvalde school shooting, where an 18-year-old gunned down an elementary school with a legally purchased assault rifle. The shooter killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers with an AR-15 style rifle…

“Donald Trump and Texas Republicans made the gun violence epidemic worse, especially in our state, where we have seen nine mass shootings just in the last 15 years,” said a statement by Gilberto Hinojosa, the Texas Democratic Party Chair, on Friday. “Even after Uvalde parents pleaded with Greg Abbott and Ted Cruz for commonsense gun safety laws, they decided, like Trump, that the NRA and gun lobby was more important.”

Instead the legislature approved a school safety bill that established preventative measures toward school shootings. The law included a mandate that every school must hire an armed security officer and the creation of a department within the Texas Education Agency that can compel districts to adhere to active-shooter protocols…

Per Politico, “Trump at NRA convention floats a three-term presidency”:

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Special, so Fucking Special

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This was in Denver yesterday.  Right after I took this picture, the guy at the right asked me “Do you want to help get Bobby on the Colorado ballot?”  My answer, “Absolutely not.”  I’m usually polite to petition gatherers, but come on — Brain Worms Bobby, one of the few anti-vaxxers who actually might have needed Ivermectin?  Hard pass.  Not that it justifies rudeness towards them, but I’d bet a fair amount that these were paid petition-gathers because Junior’s new running mate has a big bank account and is paying for his ballot access effort.

Also, “Declare Your Independence” is a chef’s kiss effort to attract the glibertarian moths to this particular flame.  The target audience for this campaign is folks who have the same perspective as a house cat:  they’re the most independent and fierce individualists who’ve ever pooped in a box, never mind that their whole existence is dependent on the largesse of their owners.

 

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