Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Books are my comfort food!

šŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockinā€™ šŸŽµ

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassmentā€¦

Hey Washington Post, ā€œDemocracy Dies in Darknessā€ was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Wow, I canā€™t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Museums are not Americaā€™s attic for its racist shit.

ā€œThey all knew.ā€

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

We will not go back.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

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

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say youā€™re doing it wrong.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white manā€™s imagination.

Be a wild strawberry.

How stupid are these people?

In after Baud. Damn.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You canā€™t explain that.

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Thursday Afternoon Open Thread

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I’m not sure what products I viewed online to make the algorithm think I’m interested in human dog beds, but I’m seeing this ad a lot lately:

Giant dog bed with person in it

At first I scoffed and had cloud-shouty thoughts about what the world is coming to when people lie down in human-sized dog beds. What’s next, I wondered, lapping up beverages with our tongues and sticking our faces into dinnerware sets of metal bowls containing quinoa?

But you know, that human-sized dog bed looks pretty comfy, assuming that the pad underneath is thick enough. Not saying I’d ever buy one, but I will not judge those who do.

Open thread!

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Supreme Court 14th Amendment Arguments 10 am Eastern (LIVE)

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Oral arguments at the Supreme Court begin at 10 am ET.

Link to the Supreme Court audioĀ on the Supreme Court website.

C-SPAN link

If you’re on the go and want to listen on the radio:

Airing Details

Feb 08, 2024 | 10:00am EST | C-SPAN RADIO
Feb 08, 2024 | 10:00am EST | C-SPAN 1
Feb 08, 2024 | 8:30pm EST | C-SPAN 1
Feb 09, 2024 | 5:00am EST | C-SPAN 1

This should be interesting. Ā At least we don’t have to see their faces. Ā Josh Marshall described Boof (h/t Almost Retired) on his podcast last night as “hale and well-met”, a guy that wants to be a buddy and be well-liked, and I thought I might vomit. Ā I was shocked that Josh would describe him like that. Ā I suspect that only a man could think of Boof without thinking “angry, entitled, liar and rapist” ā€“ not in that order!

*I should say that I generally like Josh Marshall. Ā This is the second time he had made a comment, on an issue related to women, that I thought was utterly clueless, and it has surprised me both times. Ā If it happens a third time, I will no longer be surprised.

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Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Mitch McConnell, the Lyin’ in Winter

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To highlight a powerful statement from Adam’s Ukraine update, last Sunday:

McConnell broke the Senate in order to accumulate the power to achieve a very specific set of political objectives: 1) to cut taxes for the wealthy, 2) to remove as many regulations on the wealthy and on businesses as possible, 3) to remove as many campaign finance regulations as possible to ensure it was legal for the wealthy to shovel obscene amounts of money at him and his caucus members making them wealthy beyond their dreams, and 4) to pack the courts with Federalist Society apparatchiks who would both do through the judicial process what he could not accomplish legislatively and, perhaps more importantly, ensure that none of this could ever be reversed by Democratic presidents working with Democratic majority Congresses.

What McConnell did not foresee that in doing so he was hollowing out the Republican Party and the conservative movement ā€“ including the white traditionalist Catholic and white evangelical churches ā€“ that sustain it. The result of McConnellā€™s labors is that instead of one Republican Party and one conservative movement, we now have dozens. The one the Kochs fund, the one the Mercers fund, the one the Uhliens fund, the one Art Pope funds in NC, the one the DeVos/Prince clan funds, etc, etc, etc. In some cases these ultra-high net worth individuals just buy their own Republican officials. Peter Thiel owns JD Vance. A multi-millionaire in Miami created the political career of Marco Rubio. And it was into this hollow shell of a party and a movement that Donald Trump, ever looking for his next set of marks and preternaturally capable of identifying them, recognized that he could just waddle right in and execute a hostile takeover for pennies on the dollar. And, in fact, get others to provide the pennies for him to do so.

Now that McConnell wants something else from his caucus, as well as their counterparts in the House for his ā€œlegacyā€… heā€™s not going to get it.

But never forget who the architect of the current moment is. Sure he had accomplices like Leonard Leo and Don McGahn and a host of others youā€™ve never heard of, but we are where we are because McConnell had four objectives and he was willing to and did break every rule, norm, and tradition to achieve them.

Could not happen to a more deserving elderly villain.

From the Politico story — “Behind the border mess: Open GOP rebellion against McConnell”:

… McConnell, now nearing his 82nd birthday, is determined to fund the Ukrainian war effort, a push his allies have depicted as legacy-defining. But now that his party is set on Wednesday to reject a bipartisan trade of tougher border policies for war funding, his far-right critics are speaking out more loudly: Several held a press conference Tuesday where they denounced his handling of the border talks, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) calling on McConnell to step down.

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War for Ukraine Day 714: Russia Unloads on Ukraine Today

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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)

Quick housekeeping notes. It was a very long day, not bad, just long, so this is going to be as brief as possible. Second, I’m tracking on hrprogressive’s question from last night. I’m not going to be able to get to it tonight, but I will make an effort to get to it tomorrow night or Friday.

This morning, russia launched another massive air attack on Ukraine, using 20 Shaheds and 44 missiles of different types.

The Ukrainian air defense shot down 44 air targets:
– 26 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 cruise missiles;
– 3 Kalibr cruise missiles;
– 15 Shahed UAVs.

We are grateful to our brave air defenders and our international partners who help us strengthening air defense capabilities.

Much more on this after the jump.

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

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Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The NYTimes & the GOP, Hand in Glove

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But it’s fantastic *content*!…

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Let’s Check In on Kristi’s Bed Shitting Ways

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Kristi Noem, Governor of the Sunshine State, girlfriend to Corey Lewandowski, and Trump sycophant vying for the VP spot, has been leaving some pretty big skid marks in the sheets recently.

First, the citizens of South Dakota had to pay $300k, and the South Dakota Health Secretary had to issue an apology, to the Transformation Project, a state contractor that was going to hire a community health worker for the transgender community.Ā  Kristi engineered dropping the Transformation Project as soon as the whole MAGA world decided that trans people were the designated object of hate.

Second, she’s admitted that her stunt sending the South Dakota National Guard to the Texas border was a $1.3 million “gift” to Texas.

Finally, she’s been banned from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation because she claimed that drug cartels are murdering people on the reservation, and specifically that a gang called the “Ghost Dancers” is responsible for some of the violence.Ā  There’s no evidence that they are, plus invoking the name of the Ghost Dancers is a major insult to the Ogalala Sioux Tribe because it’s a reference to a ceremony that was one of the pretexts for the Wounded Knee massacre on the Pine Ridge reservation.

On the bright side, she’s got a new book, the title of which is probably a reference to her political future in South Dakota after all the stunts she’s pulled.Ā  The new book comes out in May, and her last book was published in June, 2022, so she’s really working that angle, too.Ā  She’s pretty much an unthreatening lightweight, so I think she has a pretty good chance of being Trump’s VP pick.

Let's Check In on Kristi's Bed Shitting Ways

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Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

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Cup of CREAMED coffee

In the morning thread, I complained a lot about having to drink black coffee because I ran out of half-and-half and milk, and many agreed it was a tragic situation. I ransacked my well-stocked hurricane-country pantry in a fruitless search for canned milk, sweetened condensed milk or any plausible dairy-like product.

I even checked the freezer for ice cream. The only dairy I could find in the house was cheese, and that obviously wouldn’t do. So I choked down two cups of vile black coffee.

It delivered caffeine adequately, I guess. But I still didn’t feel right. So a while ago, I went downstairs to our enclosed game room (it’s a stilt house) to see if there was an RC cola in the downstairs fridge, aka, the beer fridge. There was. And there was also half a pint of heavy whipping cream!

Fuuuuck! I’d forgotten all about that!

I’d stashed it there more than a week ago when my sister and I returned from our aunt’s birthday party with a cooler containing several craft beers (our rural relations won’t touch the stuff), plus the leftover heavy whipping cream I’d brought along to make a pie topping at the party.

I flew back upstairs lickety split, brewed some coffee and am now enjoying a properly creamed (overly, even) hot beverage. And all is right with the world.

Open thread!

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