Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

When we show up, we win.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

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

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

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

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

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War for Ukraine Day 763: Kharkiv Once Again in the Crosshairs!

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Screen shot of new artwork by NEIVANMADE. The background is black. In the bottom foreground are grey Ukrainian homes and apartment buildings being bombarded by red Russian missiles with the Special Military Operation "Z" symbol on them. Above the missiles, written in red is the word "Ruzzians". Below the buildings being attacked is the statement "Turns Homes Into Graves".

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Four quick housekeeping notes. First, this is going to be as brief as I can make it tonight as it was a long day. Second, could we possibly not argue with the Jewish commenters about when a swastika is or is not a Nazi or neo-Nazi symbol? As far as I know most Jews know that the Nazis took a symbol used by dozens of religions around the world and perverted it. At the same time we know when it is being used by neo-Nazis or their fellow travelers. Third, nock the eliminationism in the comments off. Even if, in regard to say a religious belief/faith tradition, you think you’re suggesting that it wither away because people just give up on it, there’s no way to make your point that doesn’t sound like you’re calling for mass violence. I really don’t have to bother Cole right now with an explanation of why I’m handing out warnings to stop or you’re going to be banned. Either dial it way back or just don’t post that stuff.

Finally, @darthbluesky.bsky.social has emerged from hibernation and is now back at BlueSky posting. This is not a drill!

After spending most of last night attacking with Shahed drones, Russia spent much of the day bombarding Kharkiv with a new type of kitbashed guided bombs!

More on Kharkiv after the jump.

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

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Open Thread: The Blissfully Boring Biden Administration

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Joememtum is over

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From CNN:

Former Democratic vice presidential nominee and Sen. Joe Lieberman has died at 82, according to a statement from his family.

The 2 game fees I donated to Ned Lamont in July 2006 was some of the most satisfying political money I’ve spent in my life.

 

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Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

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Great news for Montana!

(Democracy Docket)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today in a sweeping 4-3 decision ahead of the 2024 elections, the Montana Supreme Court struck down four major voter suppression laws.

The laws — House Bill 176, House Bill 530, House Bill 506 and Senate Bill 169 — which eliminated Election Day registration, banned paid ballot collection and curtailed other forms of ballot return assistance, prohibit the mailing of ballots to new voters who will be eligible to vote on Election Day but are not yet 18 and made it more difficult to vote with a student ID, respectively, were struck down for violating the state’s constitution.

The opinion issued earlier today held that the Montana Constitution “affords greater protection of the right to vote than the United States Constitution” and struck down the laws which stood to disproportionately impact young voters, Native American voters and voters with disabilities.

Originally filed in 2021 in response to the Republican-controlled Legislature passing these voter suppression laws, the Montana Democratic Party, Western Native Voice and Montana Youth Action each brought lawsuits challenging the suppressive measures. These lawsuits were consolidated and eventually a trial court struck down the laws in September 2022.

Today, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s decision holding that the law that curtailed ballot assistance discriminates against Native American voters writing “HB 530 takes away the only option to vote for a significant number of Native Americans living on reservations. Thus, it impermissibly interferes with the right to vote.”

The court similarly found that the restrictions on student voting do not pass constitutional muster writing that excluding student IDs from the list of acceptable photo IDs “imposes a burden on student voting and the Secretary has not established that it is necessary for any legitimate government purpose, much less that it is more important than the right to vote. Nor is it a reasonable restriction of voter’s rights.”

Regarding the law eliminating election day registration, the court held that the law “impermissibly interferes with the right to vote.” The court further explained: “The record shows that more than 70,000 Montanans have utilized election day registration to vote since 2005 and that many electors would be disenfranchised without the availability of election day registration.”

This decision is a major victory for Montana voters, specifically Native American, young voters and voters with disabilities who would have been adversely impacted by these laws. Thanks to the court’s decision, as voters head to the polls in 2024, they will not be subject to these restrictive voting laws.

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This is gross.  I hadn’t seen the bible that Trump was selling.  I presume this is it.  Ugh.

Whatever happened to separation of church and state?

 

Open thread.

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Open Thread: This Seems Like a BFD

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Marilyn Lands, Democrat who ran on reproductive rights, flips Alabama House seat

Democratic candidate Marilyn Lands, who campaigned on ending Alabama’s near-total abortion ban and protecting access to contraception and in vitro fertilization, won a special election Tuesday for a Huntsville-area state House seat.

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As of 9:22 p.m. Tuesday, Lands had 3,715 votes (62.3%) in unofficial returns. Madison City Councilman Teddy Powell, the Republican nominee, had 2,236 votes (37.5%). The district covers south Huntsville, southern Madison County and parts of the city of Madison.

Lands will succeed former Rep. David Cole, R-Madison, who resigned in August after pleading guilty to voter fraud charges.

Read more here

To recap: In a special election, running on women’s healthcare rights, a Democrat in FREAKIN’ Alabama, flipped a house seat from Republican to Democrat.

Seems like an ominous sign for Republicans…hopefully for a LONG time. But I’ll take November for now.

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This Reminds Me Of the Bobblehead Translations

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Years ago, when I already couldn’t stand the Sunday shows, I would read the Bobblehead Translations so I at least knew what stupid things had been said, and what had been discussed.

Today, I didn’t have it in me to listen to the Supreme Court arguments, but today it was Elie Mystal came through in the same way.  This, I could read!  (Post written on Tuesday evening.)

Here’s the ThreadReader version.  ThreadReader link is at the bottom of the post.

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Has Trump Finally Met a Judge Who Can Control Him?

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Has Trump finally met a judge who can control him?  I think YES.  I guess we’ll find out soon.   Trial begins April 15, slightly less than 3 weeks away.

Judge Merchan has had the benefit of seeing the judges who are clearly inexperienced and who let bullshit rule the day (I’m looking at you Cannon and more recently McAfee) and the side shows Trump and his attorneys put on in Judge Engoron’s courtroom.

It’s so interesting to me that the female attorney, Susan Necheles, is not signing some of the bullshit paperwork that is being filed by Todd Blanche.  It looks to me like that’s a mighty fine line she is trying to navigate, but I’ll let our Balloon Juice attorneys weigh in and correct me if I’m wrong on that.

Excerpts:

The Court’s Order of March 8 was issued at approximately 4:10pm. At 7:57pm that evening, Defendant filed what he characterized as a “pre-motion letter” seeking discovery sanctions. However, the “pre-motion letter” was accompanied by a notice of motion, a motion consisting of 51 pages and 214 pages in exhibits. In the cover e-mail, Defendant stated that they would “communicate with the People regarding redactions prior to filing.” In essence, Defendant disregarded this Court’s Order regarding the filing of motions. In response, this Court circulated an e mail at 9:17pm reminding the parties of its earlier Order. This Court was well within its authority and demonstrated restraint in doing so. See Dalessio n. Kressler, 6 AD3d 57 [2d Dept 2004] (“A court of record has the power to punish a party for disobedience of a lawful mandate of the court . . . the ‘lawful mandate of the court’ constitutes an order of a court of competent jurisdiction which is not void on its face.” Notably, the Court later accepted the proposed motion and directed the People to file a response, if they wished. As of the date of this Order, no party has been denied the ability to file a motion.

Despite the Court’s e-mail of March 8, two days later, on Sunday, March 10, 2024, between approximately 5:17pm and 5:22pm, Defendant filed three additional “pre motion letters, including the one that is the subject of this Decision and Order. In what appears to be an attempt to circumvent this Court’s Order and e-mail of March 8, Defendant this time did not “attach” a notice of motion, motion or exhibits. Instead, the motion and accompanying submissions were appended to the pre¬ motion letter as “exhibits.”

This Court advises counsel that it expects and welcome zealous advocacy and creative lawyering. See Application of Giampa, 147 Mise.2d 397 [Sup Ct, Bronx Cnty April 16, 1990], However, the Court also expects those advocates to demonstrate the proper respect and decorum that is owed to the courts and its judicial officers and to never forget that they are officers of the court. As such, counsel is expected to follow this Court’s orders. Even “[a] good faith belief that a court order is improper or unlawful will not render the order unlawful nor will it excuse willful disobedience.” Matter of Rankin, 78 Misc3d 337 [Sup Ct, Kings Cnty Jan 3, 2023]. As such, “a court of record has power to punish for a criminal contempt, a person guilty7 of . . . [w]illful disobedience to its lawful mandate.” Id. citing to Judiciary Law §750(3). This Court emphasizes that it hopes for and fully expects zealous advocacy from counsel as well as spirited contribution from witnesses and parties alike. Nonetheless, the Court expects that the line between zealous advocacy and willful disregard of its orders will not be crossed.

The above constitutes the Decision and Order of the Court.

I believe that Do Not Fuck With Me Or This Court Again, while communicated very clearly, was not actually part of this written ruling.

Call me crazy, but I think this is the Judge Merchan’s last warning to Trump.

If Trump or his attorneys cross the line, I think they are going to be taught the meaning of power to punish for a criminal contempt.

I surely hope so.  Consequences are long overdue.

Open thread.

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