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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Bark louder, little dog.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

The willow is too close to the house.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

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

Books are my comfort food!

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

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

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Fight them, without becoming them!

I really should read my own blog.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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Open Thread:  Hey Lurkers!  (Holiday Post)

Open Threads

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads

Great Week for Ohio!

by WaterGirl|  August 12, 202310:50 am| 207 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I didn’t even know the GOP was trying to block a ballot initiative.  I thought the whole point of ballot initiatives is for the people to have a say.

Hazarding a guess that the OH Supreme Court is majority Republican?

And still, the GOP lost.

Still not tired of winning!

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1690096495440056320?s=20

I put that together last night. Since it appears that Anne Laurie and I are thinking along the same lines, I guess I’ll post this one right after hers.

Something else to celebrate!

He gets indicted, once the leader of the free world.

He gets arrested, read his rights.

He gets arraigned, now a criminal defendant.

There is a protective order put in place.

Literal mountains of evidence are being sent his way.

It is becoming very real for him.

— Just Jack (@7Veritas4) August 12, 2023

Open thread.

Great Week for Ohio!Post + Comments (207)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Enjoy Our Wins

by Anne Laurie|  August 12, 20237:36 am| 191 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Women's Rights Are Human Rights

Conservatives are trying to convince Americans that just *being educated* is a bad thing.

And the kicker? Most of the pundits saying this have a college degree: pic.twitter.com/nWsm7MtKdb

— Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) August 9, 2023

New: Republicans are freaking out and sounding the alarm over Ohio’s landslide election this week for abortion rights:

“[This] needs to be a five-alarm fire for the pro-life movement.”

“[This is] going to provide rocket fuel [for Biden’s campaign].”

🔗https://t.co/zgSDorrIsB pic.twitter.com/uUy0mf51ij

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 10, 2023

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) on Ohio rejecting Issue 1:

"This was four times the turnout that the Secretary of State had predicted. And the race was overwhelming — it was clearly a rejection of the power grab that politicians in Columbus were making." pic.twitter.com/MDIbEJZMkY

— The Recount (@therecount) August 9, 2023

And no one is beating police officers with the American flag. Imagine that. https://t.co/wu3sm1dGNu

— I am Jack’s smirking revenge (@KylieInCali84) August 9, 2023

Saturday Morning Open Thread 21

(Clay Jones via GoComics.com)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Enjoy Our WinsPost + Comments (191)

Friday Night Miscreants Open Thread: From the FAFO Files

by Anne Laurie|  August 12, 20232:45 am| 91 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., domestic terrorists, Open Threads, Republican Venality

Seems like my first impression was correct:

Robertson joked he would die in a suicide-by-cop situation, a neighbor said, but he “never thought it would actually happen,” he told the Tribune. https://t.co/FsqsT6w1iA

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 11, 2023

======

Sleep it off, Ronny:

Merrick Garland needs to be IMPEACHED! Once again he’s perverting our justice system to protect this CORRUPT regime. Garland has to GO!

— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) August 11, 2023

Scoop by @toddgillman:

Texas Congressman @RonnyJacksonTX threatened to beat a state trooper and “bury” a West Texas sheriff in the next election after deputies pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him at a rodeo last month, per the incident report.https://t.co/s5FCM5vw74

— Aarón Torres (@AaronTorres_) August 11, 2023

show full post on front page

U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson threatened to beat up a state trooper and take down the Carson County sheriff in the next election after deputies detained him at a rodeo outside of Amarillo in July, according to a sheriff’s incident report released Friday. https://t.co/QK1c8nXgZT

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) August 12, 2023

Unpaywalled version:

U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, threatened to beat up a state trooper and take down the Carson County sheriff in the next election after deputies detained the congressmen at a rodeo outside of Amarillo in July, according to a sheriff’s incident report released Friday night.

The report said that Jackson screamed profanities at deputies who were trying to clear the area for emergency medical workers to attend to a teenager who was having a seizure. Deputies asked the former White House physician to step back four times before they put Jackson in handcuffs, according to their reports.

After the congressman was released, he demanded Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry call him and investigate the incident. During that call, Terry, a Republican, said that Jackson warned him that he would “bury me in the next election.”

The events described in the report starkly contrasted with the congressman’s public statement just days after the July 29 incident. A spokesperson for Jackson said at the time that he was detained amid a “very loud and chaotic environment” and was released as soon as law enforcement realized he was trying to help. Notably the statement said Jackson was sitting “in the stands during the entire rodeo, in full view of the assembled crowd, and was not drinking.”

But according to an account from Chief Deputy JC Blackburn, the GOP congressman was seen drinking backstage of the rodeo event. A Jackson aide disputed that in a statement Friday…

The sheriff’s report, released to The Texas Tribune in response to a public information request, includes several accounts from deputies detailing what happened at the White Deer rodeo. After a teenager collapsed at the event, onlookers began to gather around her and EMS asked Department of Public Safety Trooper Young to clear the crowd, which included Jackson who said he was helping assist the patient. The report did not include the first name of many law enforcement officials present at the scene.

Young ordered Jackson to step back and moved him back. According to Deputy Alexander, Jackson pointed to Young and said, “I’m going to beat that mother fuckers’ ass!” …

Due to Jackson’s extremely agitated state, in which he continued to yell profanities, deputies brought him to the ground and placed the congressman in handcuffs, according to the report. Officers then escorted Jackson out of the rodeo grounds and removed the handcuffs, while he continued to scream profanities at Trooper Young. After the congressman was released, his wife, Jane Jackson, approached the deputies and demanded their information before their group got into a Black SUV and left the scene…

Law enforcement officials have not yet released footage of the incident, but Terry’s report said that he has reviewed tapes and agreed that the deputies actions were justified.

Jackson was first elected in 2020 to represent the 13th Congressional District, a deeply conservative district in the Panhandle. He is one of Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress and a vocal booster of his 2024 comeback campaign.

He served as White House physician for both Barack Obama and Donald Trump before becoming a congressman. In 2018, he was nominated by Trump to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. But Jackson withdrew from consideration amid allegations of professional misconduct, including drinking on the job and overprescribing medication…

Yes, this will probably make him *more* popular with his voters. I’m just glad President Obama never needed his services for anything more serious than a head cold.

======

Another misunderstood genius goes one step too far:

BREAKING: Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail revoked after witness tampering allegationshttps://t.co/MA6X6tp0Io

— Semafor (@semafor) August 11, 2023

Turns out peddling your ex-girlfriend’s diary to the gutter press, because the beyotch turned on you, is classified as ‘witness tampering’ by a justice system that doesn’t understand Effective Altruism. SAD!

A judge ordered Bankman-Fried, founder of the now-defunct FTX, to be jailed until his upcoming criminal trial.https://t.co/MA6X6tp0Io

— Semafor (@semafor) August 11, 2023

hey, just curious if the tech press has engaged in any interospection whatsoever regarding their multi-year role in hyping a bunch of pyramid schemes operated by the shittiest human beings imaginablehttps://t.co/gTxm8EjJAj

— Karl Bode (@KarlBode) August 11, 2023

The Very Online Right Wing can’t decide whether this is a bad thing — because Deep State attempting to muzzle innocent billionaire who probably cracked Hunter Biden’s laptop — or a good thing —
sending a Demoncrat (((donor))) to be murdered in his jail cell. I’m sure they’ll have the talking points straightened out in time for the Sunday talk shows, of course.

Friday Night Miscreants Open Thread: From the FAFO FilesPost + Comments (91)

War for Ukraine Day 534: In Some Grieving Heart You’re Forever Eight…

by Adam L Silverman|  August 11, 20237:34 pm| 45 Comments

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

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Today Russia attacked with 4 deadly Kinzhal missiles targeting Starokostiantyniv air base. One was shot down over Kyiv. Three others reached Ivano-Frankivsk. As Air Force Command reported, Russia wanted to eliminate the pilots gearing up to train on the F-16. pic.twitter.com/E7uvqo53cr

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) August 11, 2023

Today, russia attacked Ukraine with four Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles. One missile was shot down in the sky over Kyiv. Unfortunately, the rest of the missiles hit objects of civil infrastructure and residential buildings in Ivano-Frankivsk region. An 8-year-old boy… pic.twitter.com/vENDDrmCZ3

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 11, 2023

Today, russia attacked Ukraine with four Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles. One missile was shot down in the sky over Kyiv. Unfortunately, the rest of the missiles hit objects of civil infrastructure and residential buildings in Ivano-Frankivsk region. An 8-year-old boy was killed.

 

This is the boy who was killed today by the russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile.
Volodymyr will forever remain 8 years old. pic.twitter.com/OeNZne3iK5

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 11, 2023

If it is all we can do, because we are not elected and appointed officials and decision makers who could do something, we can, at least, bear witness.

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

show full post on front page

We are doing everything to ensure that Ukraine remains a guarantor of food security and has access to global markets – address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

11 August 2023 – 17:10

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

A report on this day.

In the morning, we had a conference call. Military, intelligence, government officials. The conversation was accompanied by the sounds of air defense in Kyiv region.

There were reports by commanders and ministers.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on the situation in the regions, the liquidation of the consequences of Russian strikes, and the work of the State Emergency Service. I am grateful to all Ukrainian rescuers!

The Ministry of Strategic Industries reported on the production of munitions and equipment in Ukraine. We are increasing the volume. Constantly increasing.

The Security Service of Ukraine is doing a good job against collaborators. Thank you, guys!

In the afternoon, I held a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on “military commissars”. There will be another meeting on the military medical commissions.

We are constantly working with our partners at all levels. Today, Head of the Office Yermak, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kuleba, and the Office’s specialized deputies, Andriy Sybiha and Ihor Zhovkva, worked with the ambassadors of partner countries on the Peace Formula, on getting countries to join.

And I spoke with the President of Zambia. Bilateral relations, the Peace Formula. Another country in the Global South supports our initiatives. This is very important.

We had a separate meeting with Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate Budanov, Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny, Navy Commander Neizhpapa, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Malyuk, and the Ministry of Infrastructure to discuss alternatives to exporting grain through the transit corridor. We are doing everything possible to ensure that Ukraine remains a guarantor of food security and that our people have access to global markets.

And, of course, the frontline. Every direction, every key effort. Daily attention. Daily support. Daily reinforcement.

I am grateful to everyone who is fighting for Ukraine! To all those who are now in trenches, on combat missions, at combat posts!

I thank everyone who works for the state!

Glory to Ukraine!

More on yesterday’s strike in Zaporizhzhia:

Video of the terrifying moment a second Russian cruise missile strikes the #Reikartz Hotel in #Zaporizhzhya (often used by UN staff when they're in the city). This was a deliberate double attack on a hotel used by foreigners, with high-precision cruise missiles. A #warcrime. pic.twitter.com/m3kAnu5X0x

— Euan MacDonald (@Euan_MacDonald) August 11, 2023

russia continues to systematically destroy Orthodox churches in Ukraine.
The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Zaporizhzhia.

📷Albert Koshelev pic.twitter.com/jJn61IKPIH

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 11, 2023

These photos of @DubchakA from Zaporizhzhia hit the heart. Valentyna, 66-year-old teacher, was taking a walk, when a piece of shrapnel hit her in the back. Injuries were incompatible with life🕯️ pic.twitter.com/yudgpWpdKm

— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) August 11, 2023

Robotyne (there is some offensive language, or, at least, in the American context):

Outskirts of Robotyne, brothers' morale high. pic.twitter.com/RtthUo03hp

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) August 11, 2023

Urozhaine, Donetsk:

As said, tanks of the 35th brigade of Ukraine firing at Russian positions in the settlement of Urozhaine, Donetsk region.
47.75156, 36.81769https://t.co/iAT1BKUshL pic.twitter.com/izOFLrP3GN

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) August 11, 2023

Claimed double JDAM strike on Urozhaine, Donetsk region
(47.7471179, 36.8182510) pic.twitter.com/949yJ134Jv

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) August 11, 2023

Kharkiv Oblast:

Destruction of the Russian tank by the 103 territorial defence and 25th brigades of Ukraine. Kharkiv region
P.S: I have a theory that Russian tanks which start to give off intense white smoke after being hit are almost always T-90M. Let’s see if it is relevant. https://t.co/wH5a5LvukF

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) August 11, 2023

Moscow:

Residents of Moscow can't contain their emotions after an unidentified drone landed/crashed close to their home in the western part of the city. pic.twitter.com/YD8danVfmo

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) August 11, 2023

President Zelenskyy’s administration is continuing to crack down on public corruption:

Zelensky cleans house, firing all Ukrainian military recruitment heads. Some in recent months have come under scrutiny or investigation in connection with corruption and embezzlement. The president says he’ll appoint wounded soldiers to take over. https://t.co/GvP2I5H1fw

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 11, 2023

Someone wanted a Russian tank going kaboom:

The russians are burning their own T-72.
The probability of getting burned inside such tank is so high, they feel it’s much better to destroy it themselves and run away.
The #UAarmy welcomes these moves. pic.twitter.com/mIBDzVT2fL

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 10, 2023

For Omnes:

A short report about "Bohdana" 155mm self-propelled howitzer on the Tatra chassis.https://t.co/A3cC9bRzzy pic.twitter.com/RhR87kBsBz

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) August 11, 2023

The Ukrainian officer who tweets as Tatarigami has an interesting assessment of minefields:

Given the current focus on minefields and mines due to the ongoing counter-offensive, I decided to illustrate a representative minefield layout. While I am unable to share the actual document, I made a comparable graphical representation to convey the specifics.
🧵Thread: pic.twitter.com/8ncm0tBg6v

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) August 11, 2023

3/ Minefields commonly consist of an array of distinct mines, namely the OZM-72 Bounding fragmentation anti-personnel mine, the PMN anti-personnel pressure mine, the MON Directional Anti-personnel Mine, the TM-62 Anti-tank blast mine, and the YaRM anti-landing mine. pic.twitter.com/jr9TWOpjPK

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) August 11, 2023

5/ In areas where our recon teams could potentially land after crossing water bodies, YaRM anti-landing mines are placed. Pathways to treelines and probable landing zones are secured with OZM and MON mines. The remaining areas typically covered with PMN anti-personnel mines. pic.twitter.com/V8rqLcW9jn

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) August 11, 2023

7/ If you found this thread valuable, please support by liking and retweeting the first message of the thread. Your engagement enables me to provide better materials more frequently.

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) August 11, 2023

The Financial Times took a deep dive into the policy issues that the EU is grappling with in regard to Ukraine’s potentially joining:

Over breakfast in late June at the five-star Hotel Amigo in Brussels, the most powerful leaders of the EU began in earnest their discussions on how to bring Ukraine into the club.

The heads of governments of the EU’s 10 largest states by population, including France, Germany, Poland and Romania, chewed over the myriad ways such a significant step would dramatically reshape the bloc.

According to people briefed on the gathering, the informal talks made clear how many different issues were at stake — and how radically the union would need to adapt to take on such a historic expansion.

Wheels were set in motion. The leaders present agreed to create a “workflow process” for future talks and, after the confab, national government officials began the tough task of coordinating positions. “We wanted to see if we could create sufficient political support to go forward,” says one of the people briefed. “It’s such a big challenge . . . The goal was to see the different views.”

The meeting made one thing clear: it confirmed that an idea that might have seemed preposterous even 18 months ago is now being taken seriously.

War in Ukraine radically altered the calculus. By brutally underscoring the danger of leaving states in a geopolitical ‘grey zone’, outside both Russia and western spheres, Moscow’s invasion sparked a profound shift in the EU’s enlargement policy from passivity to proactive strategising.

While EU leaders talk of Ukraine being on “a path” to membership, many member state officials and diplomats privately question whether it will really happen.

Not only is Ukraine a country at war, but it would be the bloc’s fifth largest member by pre-conflict population and its poorest by far, which has implications for how its budgets would be divided up. Yet it is also Kyiv’s bid, more than any other, that has raised profound questions about the future of the entire European project.

“We have had to make a huge shift in our mindset since the start of the war in Ukraine. Now we see enlargement as something that has become inevitable, as something that is required to stabilise our continent,” says the person briefed on the breakfast meeting. “So, having understood that, we need to urgently work out how we go about all this, and the monumental consequences for our union in terms of finance and decision-making.”

The war may have changed the political winds, but it has not altered the immutable challenges around the EU’s capacity for expansion. In Brussels, and across the union’s capitals, officials are not only asking if Ukraine can carry out the long list of reforms required to join the EU when the war is over, but whether the bloc can reform itself sufficiently to absorb Ukraine as well as a host of potential new members.

With Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushing hard for an agreement to open accession talks by December, there is a rising sense of urgency that the EU’s capacity to accommodate new member states cannot simply be ignored by keeping the entry door shut.

The debate on how expansion might change the EU has largely been conducted privately, as politicians seek to avoid stoking public debate over something potentially divisive that also remains a distant possibility.

Many member states, for example, are at pains to find solutions that avoid reworking the EU’s overarching treaties, a lengthy and politically fraught process that would require referendums in many states, offering domestic flashpoints for Eurosceptic campaigns.

But the decision to put “absorption capacity” on the agenda for discussions among the EU’s 27 leaders in Granada this October reflects the recognition that the topic can no longer be kept under wraps.

“It’s about identifying the problems we need to solve before countries join,” says one EU diplomat. “We have to think through what it means . . . how do we ensure we keep the union functioning?”

At this stage, discussions are more about identifying the questions enlargement would raise for the EU, not attempting to reach any policy decisions. That is understandable given how uncertain the outlook for enlargement actually is.

A second question is: what institutional reforms would be necessary to ensure the EU could ensure smooth decision-making processes if the union comprises as many as 35 capitals, up from the current 27. A failure to overhaul its procedures could hobble the EU, particularly in policy areas that require unanimity.

Ukraine’s membership would weigh most heavily on the EU’s finances. As an internal Council of the EU note seen by the FT highlights, the two biggest areas of the EU budget are the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and cohesion, or regional spending, which together account for around 62 per cent of the EU’s seven-year budget or around €370bn each.

Admitting Ukraine, with farmland that exceeds the size of Italy and an agricultural sector that employs 14 per cent of its population, would be a game-changer. It follows that Ukraine would become the biggest recipient of CAP funding, the majority of which comprises direct payments to farmers or income support.

The consequences would be severe: other farmers in the union would have to accept much lower payments or the EU would need to agree a massive boost in its agricultural budget.

In France, where the farming sector has huge clout, the political consequences would be daunting. The same applies to countries that have been prominent cheerleaders for Ukrainian accession. Poland, for example, whose president Andrzej Duda in 2022 called for Ukraine to benefit from a fast-track membership process, went on to ban some Ukrainian agricultural imports a year later. Warsaw took action after a glut of cheap grain provoked vociferous protests by its farmers, and demanded the commission expand those curbs into other products this summer.

“Ukraine has not even entered the EU yet, and already it has damaged the single market,” notes a second EU diplomat.

When it comes to regional funding, a note prepared by the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics think-tank for the pre-summit breakfast meeting laid out the high stakes. The majority of the current accession candidates, including Ukraine, have a GDP per capita, measured by purchasing power parity, that is below Bulgaria, the EU member with the lowest income.

“The logic of cohesion policy is that funds would need to be retargeted at the union’s new members, to the disadvantage of current beneficiaries, unless more EU revenues were to be raised,” the policy paper notes. In other words: “Either the pie grows, or each gets a smaller slice.”

Amazingly, much, much more at the link.

There’s two things going on here. The first is that EU leaders are taking this seriously and doing the hard, slow, tedious work to try to think through what will need to be done to bring Ukraine into the EU. The second is something else. Specifically, as is the case with NATO, when Ukraine emerges from the war with Russia, the EU needs Ukraine as much, if not more, than Ukraine needs the EU. Right now the only thing standing between and stopping Putin’s plans to also move against the Baltic states in the EU and NATO is Ukraine, its amazing resilience and cohesion, and its stalwart defense against Russia’s genocidal re-invasion. This dynamic is the same for both NATO and the EU. Either admit Ukraine or shame yourself by leaving the state, society, and people who have been protecting your eastern borders and flank against Russian aggression to make their own way. The former may be a hard bureaucratic lift. The latter is embarrassingly dishonorable.

For those of you into models and HIMARs and good causes:

These Ukrainians at @Wooden_Army are making really nice wooden models of HIMARS systems that can launch missiles, models consist of 580 parts. Their Kickstarter campaign ends in 10 days and they will be donating to a charity.

Check them out, their Kickstarter page has TONS of… pic.twitter.com/IOusF6v756

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) August 10, 2023

 

These Ukrainians at @Wooden_Army
are making really nice wooden models of HIMARS systems that can launch missiles, models consist of 580 parts. Their Kickstarter campaign ends in 10 days and they will be donating to a charity.

Check them out, their Kickstarter page has TONS of info. Go ahead and claim yours! https://kickstarter.com/projects/woodenarmy/m142-himars-interactive-wooden-kit-of-legendary-weapon?ref=bxlwsw

We be of one blood, you and I. pic.twitter.com/zP3wEXoI0d

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 11, 2023

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

A new video from Patron’s official TikTok:

@patron__dsns

Доведено, що це фото швидко покращує настрій. Відправляй друзям! :))

♬ Vibes – ZHRMusic

Here is the machine translation of the caption:

This photo has been proven to quickly improve your mood. Send it to your friends :))

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 534: In Some Grieving Heart You’re Forever Eight…Post + Comments (45)

Friday Evening Open Thread: Let’s F**king Go

by Anne Laurie|  August 11, 20235:57 pm| 172 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Elections 2024, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

It’s the third anniversary of Biden choosing @KamalaHarris as his running mate. The campaign is out with a detailed memo on how they believe she’ll be a difference-maker in 2024.

“Picking Kamala as my eventual vice president was one of the best decisions I made as a… pic.twitter.com/Se23Sa7ote

— Akayla Gardner (@gardnerakayla) August 11, 2023

But the GOP doesn’t like her! We Dems can live with that:

… Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez and senior adviser Becca Siegel called Harris a “fearless and effective messenger” and an “essential partner in the ticket’s electoral success and the historic record of accomplishments in the first two years of the Biden-Harris Administration,” in a memo released Friday.

“As we enter the heart of the 2024 cycle, Vice President Harris is positioned once again to be a strong political force and invaluable asset to the Biden-Harris reelection effort,” they added, and laid out Harris’s popularity with key parts of Biden’s electoral coalition, in particular young voters, people of color and women.

The pair also highlight the vice president’s new visibility on the trail, where she has become a vocal advocate on issues the campaign sees as critical for bringing supporters to the polls in 2024, such as voting rights, gun safety, and in particular abortion, on which Harris has been the White House’s most prominent voice.

The pair also highlight the vice president’s new visibility on the trail, where she has become a vocal advocate on issues the campaign sees as critical for bringing supporters to the polls in 2024, such as voting rights, gun safety, and in particular abortion, on which Harris has been the White House’s most prominent voice…

“Picking Kamala as my eventual vice president was one of the best decisions I made as a presidential nominee,” Biden said in a fundraising appeal Friday, crediting her with helping pass gun-safety legislation and energizing voters to hit the polls to protect abortion rights…

Friday Evening Open Thread: Let’s F**king GoPost + Comments (172)

Can of Worms + Can Opener

by Betty Cracker|  August 11, 20233:46 pm| 106 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Venality

Just over a month ago, the Repub U.S. attorney that Repub President Trump’s admin had originally appointed to investigate Hunter Biden in 2020 had to issue a statement denying that he requested special counselor status: (Source: ABC News)

In a letter sent Monday to the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Weiss confirmed for the first time that he did not request a special counsel designation in the probe, contrary to one of the main assertions from the whistleblower, which Republicans on Capitol Hill have seized on to claim improper interference from Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Today, AG Garland said Weiss had requested special counselor status and been granted it, and Repubs are pissed off about that: (Source: The Hill — and special thanks to valued commenter Dorothy A. Winsor for flagging it in the previous thread)

“This action by Biden’s DOJ cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden family corruption,” McCarthy said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “If Weiss negotiated the sweetheart deal that couldn’t get approved, how can he be trusted as a Special Counsel? House Republicans will continue to pursue the facts for the American people.”

IIRC, every special counselor appointed by both Repub and Democratic administrations — ever since Nixon fired Archibald Cox — has been a Repub until Jack Smith, who is registered as an independent. No FBI director has ever been a Democrat either.

Democrats are barred from both roles. I don’t make the rules, but I recognize them when I see them.

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As I said in the thread below, since Trump appointed Weiss, I will assume Weiss is a partisan hack until he proves otherwise. Repubs are probably yapping about him in the press to create pressure. I am not a lawyer, but from what I understand, the so-called “sweetheart deal” was far from it. If anything, Hunter Biden got harsher treatment than most taxpayers in his position would have received.

This is worrisome though. If Weiss is indeed a partisan hack, there’s a possibility this could get ugly fast because he now has the power to open many cans of worms and showboat about findings in the press.

I’m confident Joe Biden didn’t do anything wrong, but Hunter Biden was a drug-addicted sleazebag until pretty recently, and no one on earth has had his digital privacy more thoroughly violated, by whatever means. (Russian hacking is my guess — the story about the MAGA repair shop guy who took the “abandoned” laptop to Rudy Giuliani always sounded fishy, but who knows?)

My sense is most people think Joe Biden is a decent guy who loves his son, and they don’t hold the fact that the son was a major fuck-up against the father, nor should they. All but the most heartless sympathize with the tragedies the family have endured, and even if you don’t think that excuses the son’s behavior, it explains it in a way that doesn’t reflect poorly on Joe Biden, IMO.

But if Weiss intends to abuse the special counselor role as his Repub predecessors have done, we could be in for a long, tawdry year. Here’s hoping Weiss has a sense of integrity not yet evident in anyone ever tangentially associated with Donald Trump.

Open thread.

Can of Worms + Can OpenerPost + Comments (106)

Just Comply (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  August 11, 202312:02 pm| 229 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

Trump’s not the only coup plotter who’s crabby about Operation Find Out. Last month, Michigan statehouse Rep. Matt Maddock (R) held a “Free The 16 Electors Poolside Party!” fundraiser at his home. It was to benefit the 16 fake Trump electors who were criminally charged in July by MI AG Dana Nessel. Maddock’s wife, former MI GOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock, is one of them.

Michigan Pool/Pity Party
Meshawn Maddock pictured above, surrounded by white folding chairs. Just saying.

The pool party turned into a pity party when Matt Maddock spoke to the crowd, according to audio obtained exclusively by The Messenger:

“If the government continues to weaponize these departments against conservatives and the citizens that are then the taxpayers, you know what’s going to happen to this country,” Matt Maddock asks… After attendees at the event shout possibilities, Maddock answers his own question: “Someone’s going to get so pissed off, they’re going to shoot someone. That’s what’s going to happen. Or we’re going have a civil war or some sort of revolution. That’s where this is, where this is going.”

(An aside — why do these shitheads assume they’re the only ones who pay taxes? The only people who actually don’t pay taxes are Repub megadonors!)

Anyhoo, Maddock’s whiny meeping was followed by a brief moment of clarity:

If that happens, it’s conservatives – like the people at the pool party – who are “going to get squashed,” he added.

Well, it’s good he realizes that. What the dingus doesn’t say is that there’s already a Trumpenproletariat body count, i.e., people inspired to act out violently on Trump’s behalf who are now dead.

There was the deluded MAGA rioter who was gunned down by a cop while trying to breach a barricade in the Capitol Building. The armed fool in the Midwest who attacked a local FBI office after the agency searched Trump’s Florida dump last year, who subsequently died in a hail of police bullets.

Just this week, an online loud-mouth in Provo who repeatedly made graphic threats and publicly shared preparations to assassinate the president during a local visit died in a police raid, and his neighbors were all like OMG, how could you send a SWAT team after this elderly ward brother?

There’s a simple solution to this crisis. The Trump cultists can just stop making violent threats, taking violent actions and trying to illegally overthrow the government in a fit of pique when they lose elections.

All free speech rights remain in effect — float around on your pool noodles complaining about Biden, Whitmer, Nessel, the DOJ, etc., until the goddamn pool freezes over — we don’t give a shit! Just don’t try to invalidate legal votes or violently overthrow the government.

I dunno guys, seems pretty simple to me. Open thread.

Just Comply (Open Thread)Post + Comments (229)

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