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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Not all heroes wear capes.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Find someone who loves you the way trump and maga love traitors.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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

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

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

How stupid are these people?

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

We still have time to mess this up!

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

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

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

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Open Thread:  Hey Lurkers!  (Holiday Post)

Open Threads

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads

35 or 40 More Like This, Please!

by WaterGirl|  April 16, 20245:15 pm| 89 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics

More ike this, please.

Wow!

Senator My Boo went all the way in on DeJoy

When he started off with his, “Did you get my letter?,” line of questioning I knew, and DeJoy knew, it was going to be fire and flames 🔥 pic.twitter.com/BZ3KX7XYAK

— Qondi (@QondiNtini) April 16, 2024

Nominations for the other sitting senators who don’t need to be upgraded to this level of senator?

Every single person here who contributed to the $700,000 we raised for Georgia in 2020 should understand that we helped the two great senators from GA get elected to the Senate.

Open thread.

35 or 40 More Like This, Please!Post + Comments (89)

Serpentine Rick Scott Slithers Back on Previous Support for Florida’s Abortion Ban

by Betty Cracker|  April 16, 20242:35 pm| 160 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, The War On Women, Women's Rights Are Human Rights

Invasive Midwestern Python Rick Scott, former Florida governor and current U.S. senator, has an A+ rating from the forced-birth extremists at SBA Pro-Life America. But he’s the latest craven GOP worm to trample pwecious “unborn babies” in a walk-back to protect his political career. Let’s review the tape:

Here’s what Scott said in a June 2022 press release when news of the Dobbs decision broke:

“I firmly believe that life begins at conception and that every child deserves to be welcomed into this world with open and loving arms. Abortion ends a life. It is abhorrent and has no place in our society. While we celebrate the Court’s latest ruling, the fight to protect the sanctity of life is not over.”

And here’s what Scott said in an April 2023 tweet when a statehouse Dem suggested “even conservative Senator Rick Scott” was against the bill* that would ban abortion at six weeks in Florida:

Not true. I am 100% pro-life and if I was still governor, I would sign this bill.

But he changed his tune yesterday:

“[I]n Florida there’s way more consensus around 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. So if I was writing a bill, I’d think that 15 weeks with the limitations (for rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother) is where the state’s at,” he told The Hill in an interview. “I think it’s important we do what there’s consensus” for.

Scott was my governor for eight interminable years and has been my senator for yet another five and change, so trust me when I say he gives not one tiny shit about building consensus. No one is clamoring to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare, for example.

Navy Hat Nosferatu is just the latest “pro-life” absolutist Republican who, upon further reflection, has decided that life begins at whatever stage of fetal development is compatible with his own political viability. I honestly have more respect for the extremists who are sticking to their principles in post-Roe America. And to be clear, I have nothing but contempt for those fanatical pricks.

Open thread.

*The bill will become law in about two weeks, meaning every woman living in the former Confederacy (with the exception of Virginia) will be robbed of bodily autonomy, reproductive freedom and access to standard medical care for miscarriages. Something like 1 in 3 American women are living without reproductive freedom now, and that will rise when the third-most populous state joins Team “Control Them Bitches.”

Serpentine Rick Scott Slithers Back on Previous Support for Florida’s Abortion BanPost + Comments (160)

Be Careful What You Wish For

by WaterGirl|  April 16, 202412:33 pm| 97 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Corruption

The Nation is witnessing the determined delegitimization of both its Federal and State judiciaries and the systematic dismantling of its system of justice and Rule of Law by a single man – the former President of the United States.

— @judgeluttig (@judgeluttig) March 29, 2024

.

Ultimately, however, it is the responsibility of the entire nation to protect its courts and judges, its Constitution, its Rule of Law, and America’s Democracy from vicious attack, threat, undermine, and deliberate delegitimization at the hands of anyone so determined.

— @judgeluttig (@judgeluttig) March 29, 2024

This article is written by a conservative, and I vehemently disagree with a bit of it, but I think it’s an important article.

The Conservative Legal Movement Got Everything It Wanted. It Could Lose It All.

The conservative legal movement took shape in the wreckage of the Nixon administration. As America faces the prospect of a second Trump administration, it faces an existential test.

Richard Nixon—neither a conservative nor a constitutionalist—had the opportunity to reshape the judiciary, with four Supreme Court vacancies occurring during his term. Yet a shambolic process and limited judicial vision yielded multiple failed nominations. And one of the justices he did appoint—Harry Blackmun—wrote the opinion in Roe v. Wade, which established a national abortion policy with little legal justification.

The case demonstrated, conservatives argued, that the court had begun to act like a legislature, subverting the careful constitutional design of separation of powers. The drift of the judiciary into policymaking threatened the rule of law and frustrated America’s promise of self-government.

Against the backdrop of Roe v. Wade and the Watergate scandal, which drove Nixon from office and Republicans to a historic minority in Congress—allowing Jimmy Carter to push the courts even further left—the conservative legal movement began to take shape. Students at leading law schools founded the Federalist Society in 1982. It would become the flagship of legal conservatism, standing for the proposition that “it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.” A constellation of other libertarian and conservative legal organizations, centers, and advocacy groups followed. And Reagan-era Attorney General Edwin Meese helped popularize the understanding of “originalism” and the related idea of “textualism,” doctrines holding that laws, including the Constitution, have knowable meaning and should be interpreted according to the ordinary public understanding at the time of enactment.

By 2016, the conservative legal movement could congratulate itself on remarkable success. Its ideas now influenced the law, the academy, and even popular discourse. Republican candidates increasingly self-identified as “constitutional conservatives.” Constitutionalism animated Tea Party rhetoric and the priorities of the Republican majority during the Obama administration.

Then Justice Antonin Scalia, the intellectual champion of the conservative legal movement for decades, died unexpectedly in February of that year. He left a divided Supreme Court with a historic vacancy in an election year and decades of advances for the legal conservatives in jeopardy of washing away.

Into this moment descended Donald Trump—neither a conservative nor a constitutionalist. A former Democrat and Bill Clinton supporter, with a curious history of praising authoritarians and an unsteady relationship with both truth and the law, seemed ill-fit to the moment. Pressed on his conservative bona fides, Trump replied acidly: “Don’t forget, this is called the Republican Party, it’s not called the Conservative Party.” His rallies featured increasingly illiberal rhetoric and signature chants calling for the imprisonment of Hillary Clinton.

show full post on front page

Another excerpt:

Contrary to the fears of liberals and the misplaced hopes of Trump, conservative judicial appointees upheld the principle of judicial independence. They refused to serve as reliable partisans and handed Trump and his administration important legal defeats. Crucially, Trump’s nominees rejected his baseless claims of a stolen election.

But these advances in jurisprudence came at a deep civic cost. The president with whom legal conservatives allied themselves used his office to denigrate the rule of law, mock the integrity of the justice system, attack American institutions, and undermine public faith in democracy. Beyond the rhetoric, he abused emergency powers, manipulated appropriated funds for personal political ends, and played fast and loose with the appointments clause, all at the cost of core congressional powers.

Republicans in Congress barely resisted these actions and increasingly behaved more like courtiers than members of a co-equal branch of government. They failed to treat either of his impeachments with appropriate constitutional gravity. House Republicans dismissed his first impeachment process. Leading senators not only ignored centuries of precedent by refusing to conduct a meaningful trial, but they debased themselves by traipsing to the White House to guffaw and applaud while the president celebrated his acquittal.

Perhaps encouraged by legislative acquiescence, Trump’s behavior grew more brazen. His term drew to an end with a physical assault on Congress as part of a soft coup. Republican enablers scrambled to dismiss his second impeachment. Later they would oppose both an independent commission and congressional investigations to hold the former president accountable. Ultimately, en masse, they would endorse him for reelection, even as he promises pardons for January 6 rioters and “retribution” on his political opponents.

Through the chaos and lawlessness, too many in the conservative legal movement remained silent—or worse. Now, as the former president faces long-delayed legal consequences for a variety of misdeeds, they stand by his self-serving slanders of our independent judiciary and obscene self-description as a “dissident.” Corners of the right even echo the former president’s strange affinity for foreign strongmen, favorably contrasting the illusion of order provided by the jackboot to the sometimes messy ordered liberty of our civic tradition.

And another.

Ominously, there are signs that the illiberalism of the Trump era has begun to infect how some legal conservatives think about their core commitments to the role of the courts. Partisans promise that Trump in a second term would nominate judges more loyal to the president while Trump-friendly, post-liberal thinkers develop theories like “common-good constitutionalism” in which conservative judges would abandon originalism in favor of promoting certain ends. Adrian Vermeule, the leading academic proponent of the latter view, has argued that “originalism has now outlived its utility, and has become an obstacle to the development of a robust, substantively conservative approach to constitutional law and interpretation.” It would be deeply ironic, and the ultimate failure of the movement, if the “but judges” bargain were to end with purportedly “conservative” judges legislating from the bench.

The Founders knew that the best judges could not guarantee American liberty and preserve self-government. They considered the judiciary the least powerful, and least dangerous, branch. They put their faith, instead, in the checks and balances of the structural Constitution; they believed a self-respecting Congress would resist an overreaching executive and ambition would “counteract ambition.” Ultimately, they rested their hopes in the American people to demand this of their leaders. Washington, in his farewell address, wrote: “It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another.”

The experience of the Trump years has badly damaged these bulwarks of American liberty. Congress stands disarmed, by choice, before an ever-overreaching executive. The American people, poorly grounded in civics and frustrated by politics, do not expect a commitment to constitutionalism from their leaders. Many demand the opposite. Voters now have less faith in their government institutions and neutral proceedings, more animosity toward the opposing party, and a deepening desire that elected representatives “fight,” not legislate.

I believe that some of the opinions in this article are dead wrong, but it’s still work reading for important issues outlined here.

To be sure, many alarming trends predate Trump, and culpability for them lies across the ideological spectrum. Congress has long enabled abuses by presidents of both parties. Democrats responded to Trump with norm-breaking of their own. They now recklessly delegitimize the Supreme Court and paint all Republicans, even Trump skeptics, as existential threats. Some of the legal proceedings against Trump are flawed.

But saying “he didn’t start it” and “Democrats do it too” can only accelerate the civic rot that threatens the ongoing viability of the American experiment. Many otherwise sound-thinking conservative lawyers have comforted themselves with faith in the resiliency of American institutions and values. But conservatives should know that traditions and institutions can degrade over time, that liberty under law is not the natural state of man, and that defending our patrimony requires a new commitment from each generation.

One more.

The next generation of legal conservatives must put as much emphasis on the political branches performing their proper constitutional roles as the previous generations did on the judiciary. A new emphasis on a limited federal government, a properly constrained executive, and narrowed agency powers could lower the stakes of presidential elections. Promoting federalism and local control would allow for diverse policy choices properly suited to a diverse country. A renewed commitment to the First Amendment and a broader culture of free speech affirm the ongoing process of democracy and the indispensability of mutual toleration. These values can move us away from a quadrennial battle for lasting supremacy which justifies alliance with the worst actors on our political scene, in favor of the sustainable self-government vision of our Founders.

Conservatives should also study and confront the roots of congressional dysfunction and take seriously public frustration with the electoral system. Congressional capacity and incentives, a functional budgeting process, carefully calibrated filibuster reform, overhauls to the primary system, and experiments with innovations such as ranked choice voting deserve more attention from the political right.

Above all, legal conservatives must be willing to oppose constitutional malfeasance or abdication, regardless of which political party perpetrates it. We can no longer stay silent, or “but judges” ourselves into complacency through moments of profound assaults on our common values that make self-government possible. We must engage with non-lawyers to make the case for the Constitution, the rule of law, and democracy itself. We can and must find common ground with our fellow citizens in the center and on the left.

Open thread.

Be Careful What You Wish ForPost + Comments (97)

Let the Mockery Begin

by WaterGirl|  April 16, 20249:15 am| 63 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Good.

If Trump is too old and weak to stay awake at his own criminal trial, what do you think will happen in the Situation Room? pic.twitter.com/5sM8ghcD9b

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) April 15, 2024

Better.

Hillary testified for 11 hours during a Benghazi hearing.

Biden had a five-hour interview with Robert Hur.

Trump fell asleep after an hour in court.

— Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) April 15, 2024

Best.

Don Snoreleone.

I made this really small for the peeps who don’t want to look at him.

Let the Mockery Begin

h/t  Leto

But for the rest of you, click on the image to see it full size.

Open thread.

P.S. I put this together last night, and I see that Anne Laurie was thinking along similar lines this morning.

Let the Mockery BeginPost + Comments (63)

Cold, Cruel Grey Dawn Open Thread: #DonSnoreleone

by Anne Laurie|  April 16, 20244:16 am| 113 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Trumpery

True to his word, he ain’t woke.#DonSnoreleone pic.twitter.com/Bs861a2DQ2

— Scottacular (@Scottcrates) April 16, 2024

And Maggie was his favorite journo, too!

LOL! Donald Trump is apparently SLEEPING during his trial. Low energy Donald! pic.twitter.com/unbZhKwsIS

— Luke Beasley (@lukepbeasley) April 15, 2024

In the four weeks after the Hur report, the New York Times wrote 30 stories on Biden’s age.

Interested to see how many they write on this. https://t.co/DgEr0HFWlT

— Eric Schultz (@EricSchultz) April 15, 2024

show full post on front page

If you're a courtroom artist you have one mission this month and it could save democracy itself https://t.co/MqrAEEnIyp

— zeddy (@Zeddary) April 15, 2024

but when maga needed him the most he vanished pic.twitter.com/cNAo5A1hMm

— Jean-Michel Connard 좆됐어 (@torriangray) April 15, 2024

.@PreetBharara: “You have an actual criminal case that’s proceeding — the peaceful transition to accountability, which is not a small thing. You have literally a defendant with Secret Service agents to protect him in tow… facing the music… That's a big deal." pic.twitter.com/NtsSuc9jv6

— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) April 16, 2024

Cold, Cruel Grey Dawn Open Thread: #DonSnoreleonePost + Comments (113)

War for Ukraine Day 782: If the Opposite of Pro Is Con, Then the Opposite of Progress is a GOP Majority in Congress

by Adam L Silverman|  April 15, 20248:55 pm| 44 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Iran, Israel, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

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)

Speaker Johnson appears to have come up with a plan regarding the foreign military aid supplemental. It isn’t a good plan. It isn’t even a fully baked plan. But it is his plan.

https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1779991549750698231

https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/status/1779993789001568265

https://twitter.com/HouseInSession/status/1779989790105956701

https://twitter.com/maxpcohen/status/1779993620424094049

https://twitter.com/heatherscope/status/1779995872324989138

Good luck with that.

The Israelis have figured out this game and they are now reading the US for feckless filth:

https://twitter.com/Nadav_Eyal/status/1779933640580895042

Here’s a machine translation of the Hebrew: (emphasis mine)

There are reports that the political echelon has decided on a response in a quick timeframe. A response that they say will not lead to a regional war. But be “determined” and “resolute”. And that they understand that Iran will respond. for a response. which came in response to the Iranian attack. Maybe all this is psychological warfare on the way to a very smart move (let’s say a smart tactical move in Gaza actually). One can only hope. If not, here are my comments:
1. How will the system know what a determined military response is that will not cause war? As I have been posting for a few days now, the AMN and the Mossad in general have told the political level that their main assessment is that Tehran will absorb the elimination of Mahdoi. They also assessed that Hamas is deterred. Israel works with an intelligence community that is very good at tactical information and bad at understanding enemy intentions. And shows arrogance. This is not Just instills confidence.
2. If the response will be symbolic, no appropriate equation has been created for Iran’s (unbearable) attack. If the reaction is too harsh, it may lead to war. In such a situation, isn’t it better to adopt a policy of “we will choose the place and the time”? Giora Eiland, Gideon Sa’ar, Ron Ben Yishai, Amos Harel and many others think so.
3. The whole framing of “to respond or not to respond” is a lie. Of course you need to respond. The question is whether now. and public. I keep hearing this threatening talk of “need to respond” and it’s all false. There was no immediate response that night, and Israel can respond two months from now. in high or low signature. We have the ball. And all the talk of the equation of sorts: what will determine if an equation has been created that discourages us is our future behavior in relation to a situation similar to the one in Damascus.
4. An Israeli response is, of course, turning our backs on the West’s requests, which we have only recently improved our alliance with. It’s not bad in itself; The West proves in Ukraine that it knows how to stand by your side, but not completely and to the end. On the other hand, without him completely – Israel (or Ukraine) has no chance of really winning.
That’s why you need wisdom. And yes – the response may be measured and smart and wise. One that does not give the Iranians a reason to continue (can you imagine, an Iranian asset outside of Iran?). But wouldn’t it be more worthwhile to leverage the current situation for another, diplomatic event? Maybe it will happen again. There was talk last night. By and large, the Israeli system is Pavlovian conditioned to disdain for diplomacy. This is a mistake in such a war.
5. The most disturbing. Israel is led by a rather uniform security and political leadership, most of which carries a terrible failure, ego burn and a legacy that will accompany it into history. October 7. Alternatively: former chiefs of staff.
The parties compete who is more aggressive and leak that one or the other offered to respond that night. Because they are not a “girl with cuckoos”, to quote one common phrase in these circles.
I wonder if anyone in the discussions – I write someone because women unfortunately do not participate in them – raised the so civil issue of a holiday. Passover. of an entire people who are in post-trauma. Because if we respond, and then wait for Iran, we have arrived at Seder Pesach.
And yes – this is a consideration in war. It is also necessary to manage the spirit of the public. Churchill dealt with such things extensively. as well as in diplomacy. When necessary, he knew how to beg the Americans. But Churchill, unlike the leaders here, was not addicted to a military concept in the style of a rookie general.
6. I have every hope that there is some brilliant move made here by the Israeli system, and that things are not as transparent and dangerous as they seem from the outside. The goal of preventing a regional war is at the core of Israel’s goals in the war. Iran must pay a price, and Israel must continue to harm the Iranians who target terrorism on its territory. I’m not convinced that a transparent, quick, and public response will serve all of these goals. Many good people think like me.

This is why the Israelis have decided to hit Iran back as soon as possible, which Eyal also talks about in his tweet. When you look weak, because you are weak, your clients will ignore you, your allies will not be assured, and your adversaries will not be deterred. As for Bibi and his war cabinet: ayn strategik, raq taktik. No strategy, only tactics. I’ll have a bit more on this at the bottom of tonight’s update.

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

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“Shaheds” in the Skies Above Ukraine Sound Identical to Those Over the Middle East – Address by the President

15 April 2024 – 20:41

Dear Ukrainians!

A few summaries of the day.

I held a meeting of the Staff. Two key topics now are the frontline and the energy sector.

Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi delivered a report on the areas where the situation is the most severe.

Special attention was paid to the battles for Chasiv Yar, the battles in the Pokrovsk and Kupyansk directions.

I am grateful to every soldier and commander, to all our units who are defending our positions and doing everything to stabilize the situation.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Umerov reported on the implementation of contracts for the supply of shells and drones, as well as electronic warfare.

Today, the Staff had a separate and detailed discussion about the use of electronic warfare and the protection of critical infrastructure. This applies, in particular, to the energy sector – what is protected and what was, unfortunately, not sufficiently protected. Appropriate conclusions will be drawn.

We analyzed the necessary actions to restore generation and key power facilities.

There was also a report on the state of protection of critical infrastructure in the areas near the frontline and in the border area.

There were two important intelligence reports – by Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Ivashchenko and Chief of the Defence Intelligence Budanov – on Russian actions in the spring and summer. On what we must be prepared for – in all formats of possible hostile actions. Obviously, the madness in the Kremlin is still rampant, and the occupier will try to intensify assault and offensive actions. We will retaliate.

Today I also held meetings on our work with partners in the coming weeks. As before, the top priority will be air defense and weapons for our warriors on the frontline. Also, the consolidation of partners and the unity of the world will remain a priority.

The entire world witnessed allied action in the skies above Israel and neighboring countries. It demonstrated how truly effective unity in defending against terror can be when it is based on sufficient political will. Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Jordan acted together and with maximum efficiency.

Together, they prevented terror from prevailing. And they are working together, and in coordination with others, to prevent further escalation.

Israel is not a NATO member, so no action, such as triggering Article 5, was required.

And no one was dragged into the war. They simply contributed to the protection of human life.

“Shaheds” in the skies above Ukraine sound identical to those over the Middle East. The impact of ballistic missiles, if they are not intercepted, is the same everywhere.

European skies could have received the same level of protection long ago if Ukraine had received similar full support from its partners in intercepting drones and missiles.

Terror must be defeated completely and everywhere, not more in some places and less in others.

I thank everyone in the world, every leader and state, who truly assists us with air defense and missiles necessary to protect our skies, as well as training our pilots on F-16s. All of this already works and will continue to work to save lives. However, we can now see how unity can work truly a hundred percent, and how almost a hundred percent of “Shaheds” and missiles can be intercepted. We will discuss it with our partners.

One more thing. Today the Norwegian Foreign Minister is on a visit to Ukraine. I had a meeting with him. I expressed gratitude for the truly significant and principled support for Ukraine. Our teams have finalized negotiations with Norway on a bilateral security agreement, and we are preparing to sign it with the Norwegian leader. We are also working on expanding defense cooperation, in particular to bolster our air defense. We also appreciate that Norway provides Ukraine with long-term financial support – all forms of resilience are important in times of war.

I am grateful to everyone in the world who stands with Ukraine! I am grateful to everyone who has the determination to truly defeat terror!

I thank everyone in Ukraine who fights and works for our victory.

Glory to Ukraine!

LTG Budanov, the Director of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR), sat for an interview with ICTV. It starts at the 4;37 mark of the reporting.

Here’s a machine translation into English of what was covered during the entire broadcast:

00:00:00 – The beginning
00:00:11 – Air alert in the regions – launch of the Shaheds
00:01:21 – How the intelligence of the Rubizh brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine works in the defense of Chasovyi Yar
00:04:37 – Budanov: In May-June, Russian troops plan to intensify fighting on the front line
00:05:16 – Shelling of Dnipropetrovs’k region on 15.04.24 – consequences
00:05:40 – Ukraine and Bulgaria hold Black Sea security conference
00:07:16 – Floods in the Russian Federation reached another region – Tomsk region
00:08:00 – A storm passed through Ukraine – consequences
00:08:37 – Ukraine to sign memorandum with Italy on restoration of historic center of Odesa
00:09:32 – In Odesa, a combat medic opened an Unbreakable coffee shop with the help of a microgrant
00:12:51 – Photo exhibition in memory of fallen soldiers opened in Vinnytsia

The cost, the price, and the reason:

https://twitter.com/United24media/status/1779795387672318154

https://twitter.com/OlehNikolenko_/status/1779513008265310557

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1779749030177722400

More stupidity from members of the House GOP majority caucus:

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1780008892556063148

And some stupidity from the Biden administration:

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1779821829223309321

Washington Post adds a new wrinkle to our @FT scoop last month that the US warned Ukraine not to attack Russian oil refineries with long-range drones. Our original report: https://ft.com/content/98f15b60-bc4d-4d3c-9e57-cbdde122ac0c

WaPo, confirming FT reporting below, reports that VP Kamala Harris asked Zelensky personally to not strike Russian refineries.

https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/1779811520504889477

New: When Kamala Harris met privately with Volodymyr Zelensky in February, she told him something he didn’t want to hear: Refrain from attacking Russian oil refineries, a tactic U.S. officials believed would raise global energy prices and invite more aggressive Russian retaliation inside Ukraine.

The request irritated Zelensky and his top aides, who view Kyiv’s string of drone strikes on Russian energy facilities as a rare bright spot in a grinding war of attrition. Zelensky brushed off the recommendation, but in subsequent weeks, Washington reinforced the warning in multiple conversations with Kyiv, including by Jake Sullivan, who traveled to Ukraine’s capital in March.

Instead of acquiescing to the U.S. requests, Ukraine doubled down on the strategy, striking a range of Russian facilities, including an April 2 attack on Russia’s third-largest refinery 800 miles from the font.

The incidents have exacerbated tensions in an already-strained relationship and come as Biden ramps up his reelection campaign amid a six-month high in oil prices.

Defenders of Ukraine’s strategy accuse the White House of prioritizing domestic politics over Kyiv’s military goals. U.S. officials say the rationale behind their warnings is more nuanced than critics suggest, noting that Moscow’s counterattack has hurt Ukraine more than the refinery attacks hurt Russia.

More details here:
https://washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/15/ukraine-russia-oil-refinery-attacks/

Dudette’s gotta go!

Harris’s strategic malpractice likely explains this statement from Ukraine’s Foreign Minister:

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1779982676587385007

“If partners tell us: “We’re giving you seven Patriot batteries tomorrow, but we have a request to you – can you not do this and that?”, then there’s something to talk about.

But if we don’t have the batteries, don’t have air packages, and we’re being asked not to do something… then what do we have to talk about? Then everyone does whatever it takes to survive…

I cannot believe and I think no one in Ukraine would believe a power as large as the United States military does not have a single Patriot battery to save infrastructure worth billions of dollars, as well as priceless Ukrainian lives.”

– Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister @DmytroKuleba

https://twitter.com/OzKaterji/status/1779899163288756549

By the way, it’s been 4 months since the last authorised US military aid package for Ukraine, and lots of very ridiculous “foreign policy realists” insisted that Ukraine and Russia would broker a peace treaty if Ukraine was finally cut off.

All that has happened is that more Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have been killed because Ukraine now lacks the ammunition to sufficiently defend itself, while Russia continues to rearm through its allies. The war is not only still ongoing, but Russia is gaining the upper hand.

Helping Ukraine or abandoning Ukraine. Those have always been the only two options on the table. There is no magic third approach which leads to peace, no matter how many times you’ve been fed that lie by charlatans.

https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1779974158073364608

Not only is Tatarigami correct here, but I expect that the Baltic states, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Poland are all working very quietly on how to remedy this deficit. I also expect Ukraine is doing the same. If the leaders of these states have not ordered the appropriate folks to work this problem set, then they are fools.

The Czech Republic:

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1779970066290749928

From The Financial Times:

The writer is prime minister of the Czech Republic

The Czech ammunition initiative has attracted considerable international attention. This is a positive thing. At the moment, European nations buying additional artillery ammunition from other countries is the only way to quickly provide Ukraine with urgently needed rounds.

The situation in Ukraine is critical. As the war enters its third year, the country’s armed forces are under unprecedented pressure. They are running out of ammunition, meaning they are forced to make difficult decisions every day. This makes it extremely hard to hold their lines — the very lines that will decide the security and future of the whole of Europe.

Russia, on the other hand, has plenty of military assets. How many more rounds is the aggressor firing at this moment? One estimate gives the Russians a fivefold advantage.

Fortunately, western democracies recognise that it is impossible to be impartial in this conflict. In addition to financial, humanitarian and refugee assistance, we have not hesitated to deliver much-needed arms and ammunition from the beginning.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to move as quickly as Ukraine needs, and our defence industries have not yet been able to meet such high demand.

We are therefore looking for new ways to overcome these challenges. The Czech Republic’s answer to this question is the ammunition initiative. Its purpose is to find hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds as quickly as possible on world markets (where they are still available in abundance), to finance their purchase with co-operating western states and to get them to the front without delay.

The scheme is deceptively simple, which is why it has achieved significant success so soon after its launch. We are working to secure a further 300,000 rounds and have already contracted the first 180,000. These will be delivered to the Ukrainian front in the coming months. We could never have achieved such promising figures without the strong initial support of Denmark and the Netherlands — and some 20 other countries who later joined us in pledging their help.

The Czech Republic has been supporting the defenders of Ukraine for a long time. Over the past two years, we have supplied them with more than 1mn large-calibre ammunition rounds. This shows that our current initiative is not a one-off stunt. We are striving to create a robust ammunition supply mechanism that will directly help turn the tide on the frontline. To do so, we are leveraging our unique expertise, grounded in long-standing support for Ukraine, the strength of our defence industry and our historically established contacts in third countries.

This initiative also has another, equally important, aim: to give the west more time to adapt. War is changing our world; the days of complacency are over. This means we can no longer avoid fundamental changes at home, such as strengthening societal resilience and rebuilding sufficient defence capacity. We need to get used to the fact that a responsible security policy must include much greater investment in defence to deter attackers. Otherwise, we will not fare well in an era of resumed competition with Russia and other aggressive actors.

Luckily, all these changes are taking place: we are investing much more in security and modernising our defence forces. Nato is expanding. And even those actors in individual countries who until recently believed it was possible to negotiate sensibly with Russia are now fully aware of their share of responsibility.

The Czech initiative is part of these efforts. Its aim is to fill the ammunition gap, especially until Europe can produce enough ammunition on its own. We will not shrug off this responsibility.

There were air raid alerts across Ukraine again this morning.

https://twitter.com/K_Loukerenko/status/1779865763857256804

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1779970173224558605

Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast and Dnipro:

https://twitter.com/IrynaVoichuk/status/1779662349370077644

Kharkiv:

https://twitter.com/IrynaVoichuk/status/1779877876541653159

Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1779791748408942720

Serebryansky Forest, Luhansk Oblast:

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1779998751848837196

 

Moscow:

https://twitter.com/victoriaslog/status/1779820213984174129

https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/1779982654177194106

https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/1779984772921426143

Here’s the full video:

Last night Subsole asked:

So if Israel decides to go War of the Cities, what sort of defenses does the Iranian theocracy have (besides some impressively hardened facilities and a scaldingly comprehensive disregard for their citizens’ lives)? I have read they have pretty solid air defenses, but I don’t know if that refers specifically to aircraft, or includes everything else.

Because if one side has defenses, however imperfect, and the other does not…that is a fire Iran may regret playing wwith. Along with a great many others.

Here’s something some guy named Silverman wrote about this back in 2018. That guy’s making me look bad!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

First some adjacent material from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1779918860449382541

Little dusty in here.

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok:

@patron__dsns

🤝🏻 #дснс #патрондснс

♬ original sound – A2 – A2

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 782: If the Opposite of Pro Is Con, Then the Opposite of Progress is a GOP Majority in CongressPost + Comments (44)

Monday Evening Open Thread: Another ‘Rich’ Narcissist, Having A Bad Start to His Week

by Anne Laurie|  April 15, 20247:19 pm| 152 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Tech News & Issues, Schadenfreude

This just keeps getting funnier. Tesla operates like a startup, and it’s clear that comes from the lack of focus and seriousness at the very top of the organization. Build quality and reliability keeps getting worse, not better. https://t.co/dyrI9o33zR

— Jean-Michel Connard ??? (@torriangray) April 15, 2024

Cybertruck deliveries halted due to car being a big piece of shit that doesn't work: https://t.co/qUPo6eZthW

— Defector (@DefectorMedia) April 15, 2024

Patrick Redford, at Defector:

Tesla, a future case study for securities law classes across America, had to stop delivering Cybertrucks this past weekend. No, not because the hundred-thousand–dollar medium-duty pickup, which is only any of those things in the loosest interpretive sense, tends to brick when it gets rained on; nor because its stainless steel panels get all rusty and nasty-looking after weeks exposed to the rare, harsh condition of “being outside.” Perhaps you think it has something to do with the shorter-than-advertised driving range and longer-than-advertised charging time, but no: Rather, the cause of this snag is that the trucks struggle with the basics of stopping and going, by which I mean that the accelerator pedal cover slides off and gets stuck under a panel and locks the accelerator pressed down and keeps the Cybertruck stuck at maximum velocity…

Suckers who ordered Cybertrucks a few months or years ago and expected deliveries this weekend did not get their cars, nor a precise explanation for why they did not get their cars, but instead were simply told, “Hi, we have just been informed of an unexpected delay regarding the preparation of your vehicle. We need to cancel your delivery appointment for tomorrow and we will reach out again when we’re able to get you back on the schedule.” Maybe someone with a hot glue gun will get on this one…

As the Bay Area is both a nexus for world-class goobers and the region where Tesla used to be and kinda-sorta still is headquartered, I have seen a lot of Cybertrucks out in the wild over the past few months. They are remarkably fake- and shitty-looking in any context (Is that a big toaster with wi-fi next to me at the exit? Who’s driving the scrap metal assemblage with Bryan Colangelo-esque proportions? Why does every Cybertruck driver I glance at appear to be simultaneously peacocking for attention but also totally embarrassed, haunted by the unexamined knowledge that as a maneuver in a culture war they paid $100,000 for a car that doesn’t work?), though I saw one in the Santa Cruz mountains this past weekend. It looked even more jarringly synthetic and stupid in a truck-style environment, as if 10 seconds on a semi-paved road would undo the whole rickety car. I felt, amid standard-issue disgust and mockery, personal embarrassment to be paying through the nose to live in a place where the coolest thing you can do is cosplay as a 6-year-old’s idea of the coolest guy in the world.

 

Tesla to cut 14,000 jobs as Elon Musk bids to make it ‘lean, innovative and hungry’ https://t.co/5kXQNhJyO3

— Guardian Tech (@guardiantech) April 15, 2024


The BBC, via Yahoo Finance (British publications have a five-hour head start):

Tesla will lay off more than 10% of its global electric vehicle workforce.

In a memo, first reported by news website Electrek, billionaire owner Elon Musk told staff there was nothing he hated more, “but it must be done”.

The world’s largest vehicle-maker by market value had 140,473 employees globally as of December, according to its latest annual report…

The electric vehicle (EV) maker has been slow to refresh its aging models as high interest rates have sapped consumer appetite for big-ticket items.

show full post on front page

There is also the ongoing pressure from China as the rise of their inexpensive EVs have begun to flood the market with affordable models.

The company is set to report its quarterly earnings later this month but has already reported a decline in vehicle deliveries in the first quarter, its first in nearly four years and also below market expectations. Some analysts described the results as “tumultuous.”…

Elon Musk has recently denied reports that the company has scrapped plans to produce an inexpensive car, which has been one of his longstanding goals to make affordable EVs for the masses.

Tesla shares were down 0.8% in premarket trading on Monday.

Sadly fitting that this comes right as they abandon the 'for the masses' goal mentioned right out of the gate. https://t.co/Usj4Ahmjv7

— Clean Observer (@Hammbear2024) April 15, 2024

Lol. Lmao. https://t.co/q40WNe4quL

— Mike Stuchbery ???? (@MikeStuchbery_) April 3, 2024

Possible US Tesla customers are now reconsidering buying the electric vehicle’s products, according to Caliber, a market intelligence company. This is mostly due to owner Elon Musk’s increasingly worsening reputation, fuelled by highly controversial statements, tweets and right-wing politics.

Caliber’s Tesla “consideration score”, obtained exclusively by Reuters, dropped to 31% in February 2024. This was a fall of 8% on January’s score, as well as a steep plunge from November 2021’s record high of 70%.

Conversely, the consideration scores for other high-end car makers, with both electric and gas options, such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi for February 2024 were all between 44% and 47%…

Tesla has been doggedly slashing prices in China, one of its key markets, for the past few months, in order to compete better with Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers such as BYD. This helped the company to see robust sales last year.

However, Tesla is still expected to report declining first quarter 2024 sales in the coming few days, most likely due to a combination of clients’ cutting back on spending, as well as lagging deliveries…

Tesla’s deliveries, which touched about 422,875 in Q1 2023, are expected to be considerably less in Q1 2024. The company’s share price also took a nosedive of about 30% in the first three months of this year, eroding about $40 billion (€37 billion) of Elon Musk’s wealth…

Recently, Musk’s $55.8 billion Tesla pay package was also declared void by a Delaware judge, who called it excessive and “unfathomable”. This came after a shareholder sued Tesla, claiming that Musk was overcompensated. The ruling led to Musk losing his crown as the world’s richest man and sliding down to second place, following Bernard Arnault, the CEO of luxury goods company LVMH.

He spent $44 billion to renew his Babylon Bee subscription https://t.co/lWAcgOX8cU

— zeddy (@Zeddary) April 15, 2024

Monday Evening Open Thread: Another ‘Rich’ Narcissist, Having A Bad Start to His WeekPost + Comments (152)

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