Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

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

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Stand up, dammit!

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

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

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

I don’t recall signing up for living in a dystopian sci-fi novel.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

When we show up, we win.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

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Late Night Open Thread: JD Vance & the ‘Bucket of Warm Spit’

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genuinely brings me pleasure that no one respects this guy (least of all himself)

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— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) August 14, 2025 at 7:27 PM

It was FDR’s vice president John ‘Cactus Jack’ Nance Garner who is supposed to have characterized the office as ‘not worth a pitcher of warm spit’ [or some other bodily fluid]. JDivan Vance is learning the hard way that it’s not the office, it’s the individual, per the Daily Beast:

… The vice president had reportedly attempted to dine at The Bull in Charlbury, Oxfordshire, an early 16th-century countryside pub with a Michelin Bib Gourmand, a prestigious award from the Michelin Guide that highlights restaurants offering excellent food at moderate prices.

However, the staff reportedly staged a mutiny, telling management that they wouldn’t show up to work if the venue accepted Vance’s dinner booking, according to a Popb—- newsletter from Thursday.

The rejection is all the more embarrassing considering that former vice president turned presidential hopeful, Kamala Harris, dined there just weeks before, as part of the pre-wedding dinner for Steve Jobs’ daughter, Eve…

Residents in Charlbury and the tiny hamlet of Dean, where the manor house is situated, quickly grew weary of Vance and his entourage of vehicles and Secret Service agents. Even the deputy mayor of Chipping Norton, not far from Dean, spoke out against his vacation.

“We’ve had a curtailment of our freedoms here, just by his mere presence, in terms of where we can walk and where we can be,” said Steve Akers. “And the American Secret Service knocking on people’s doors and asking about their Facebook profiles.”…

this has almost certainly literally happened

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— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) August 14, 2025 at 8:41 PM

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War for Ukraine Day 1,270: Some of You Have Questions, I (May) Have Answers

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A black and white cartoon with Popeye the Sailor Man facing forward and to the left. His word bubble says "I Yam Disgustipated"

I’m going to keep tonight’s post as brief as possible and just run through the basics as it is far too likely that tomorrow is going to be a mess.

Last night way2blue asked:

Adam.  I know I’ve asked this before.  And I’m pretty sure you answered.  But.  The minerals ‘deal’ that Trump pressured Ukraine to agree to—in exchange for a steady flow of weapons support (?!).  With the pitch that if Americans were harvesting Ukrainian mineral wealth in the east—Putin wouldn’t dare attack…  Has that disappeared in a puff of smoke?

There really wasn’t a deal. Yes, there’s paper in English and in Ukrainian specifying that Ukraine will do or allow certain things in regard to both the US and US companies that would either mine, refine, and/or purchase rare earth elements and other minerals and subsurface resources in Ukraine. And that the US would have certainly requirements and responsibilities as a result. But that’s all it ever was: words on paper. It was meaningless the minute it was signed by Trump, let alone when it was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada. The reason is that almost all of this Ukrainian mineral wealth is underneath the parts of Ukraine that are either being occupied by Russia or where the Ukrainians are actively fighting to prevent Russia from occupying. The only way to get to it is for Ukraine to win. Because if Russia is allowed to continue occupying these areas there is no way that Putin is going to sell them to the US.

As I kept writing at the time, no matter what anyone tells you, no matter what is reported, there is no deal. There never was a deal. And there never will be a deal as long Trump is president.

In the last 1010 days, Russia occupied less than 1% of Ukrainian territory.

To pretend that Russia gracefully agreed not to occupy entire Ukraine as a concession is downright stupid.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) August 17, 2025 at 1:54 PM

Ukrainians didn’t surrender in 2014, when the world refused even to recognize russian aggression.

Ukrainians didn’t surrender in 2022, when the world expected us to fall in 72h.

Ukrainians won’t surrender in 2025, either.

For us, freedom and sovereignty are not empty words.

— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) August 17, 2025 at 3:45 AM

The following European leaders are confirmed to visit the White House alongside the President of Ukraine:

🇺🇦 Volodymyr Zelenskyy — President of Ukraine
🇪🇺 Mark Rutte — NATO Secretary General
🇪🇺 Ursula von der Leyen — President of the European Commission
🇩🇪 Friedrich Merz — Federal Chancellor of Germany

— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) August 17, 2025 at 7:00 AM

/2. 🇮🇹 Giorgia Meloni — Prime Minister of Italy
🇫🇷 Emmanuel Macron — President of France
🇬🇧 Keir Starmer — Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
🇫🇮 Alexander Stubb — President of Finland

— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) August 17, 2025 at 7:00 AM

The reporting is that they will not be in the meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy, rather they’ll attend a working dinner.

BILD reports, citing government sources, that Trump will first meet only with the Ukrainian president. Later, senior EU officials accompanying Zelensky will join for a working dinner and several hours of extended talks.

www.bild.de/politik/merz…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) August 17, 2025 at 11:12 AM

I guarantee Trump won’t meet them on the tarmac when they arrive and there won’t be a red carpet.

Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if the working dinner is cancelled.

President Zelenskyy met with the 2025 version of the Coalition of the Willing – leaders of the EU members, the UK, and the EU – today. He held a joint press availability with Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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Democratic Open Thread: Sherrod Brown for Ohio

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contrarian.substack.com/p/undaunted-… Throughout his career, Brown has championed blue-collar workers, supported unions, expanded access to healthcare, and bolstered Social Security—all in support of what he calls “the dignity of work.”

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— Jen Rubin (@jenrubin.bsky.social) August 15, 2025 at 7:52 AM

Jen Rubin is smitten:

Opponents of authoritarianism will need to battle for every seat in 2026 to dislodge MAGA majorities. Fortunately, the cause of democracy got a boost this week when former Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown decided to launch a comeback bid after his narrow defeat in 2024. His victory over a MAGA incumbent would bring Democrats one step closer to eliminating the MAGA Senate majority.

Just as Roy Cooper was Democrats’ dream candidate for the North Carolina seat, “Brown was a top recruit for Senate Democratic leaders in their uphill battle to reclaim the majority in the upper chamber in 2026,” Politico reports. “He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 and survived two hard-fought reelection campaigns, even as Ohio’s status as a Republican state only crystallized. In 2018, he bested Republican Jim Renacci by a nearly 7-point margin, even though President Donald Trump won the state two years prior.”

He lost in a Republican wave in 2024 by a miniscule margin (MAGA Republican Bernie Moreno won 50 percent, Brown won 46.5) in a state Donald Trump won by over 11 points. Trump won’t be on the ballot in 2026, and many Republicans fear that his dismal approval ratings (below 40% in many polls) will drag down other Republicans, who are already burdened by having ditched their spines to defend Trump’s big, ugly bill.

Brown will start his race with near-national respect and name recognition against JD Vance’s sorry replacement, Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), who did not win the seat and has never run for federal office. Husted has been a devout rubber-stamp for Trump, hence will be compelled to continue defending the president’s hugely unpopular policies…

Certainly, Democrats such as Brown can advance a robust pro-worker agenda: Reverse SNAP and Medicaid cuts, expand the Child Tax Credit, return the collective bargaining rights that Trump stripped away from government workers, increase taxes on big corporations and the super-rich (adding a wealth tax and expanding the estate tax, which Republicans virtually eliminated), and fund green energy (thereby reviving and expanding jobs for workers without college degrees). This version of the “affordability” agenda can include maintaining subsidies for Affordable Care Act medical coverage and cancelling the consumer taxes (tariffs) that push up the cost of living.

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Some History That I Was Not Aware Of

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I just learned some history that I did not know.

Actually, I didn’t just learn it; I learned it on Friday, when someone posted a link to this video. If you have 5 minutes, I hope you’ll watch it, too.

My sister got the history gene; I did not.   My favorite way to learn history as a child was through the “We Were There” books.  We were there at the Alamo.  We were there with Lewis & Clark, and so on.

Well, this video really touched me as I learned some things – a whole bunch of history, really – that I had not known.

If you enjoy watching Chatterton filleted out of Thomas Williams, you’ll love this from @michaelharriot.bsky.social

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— LOLGOP (@thefarce.org) August 15, 2025 at 12:04 PM

I hope you make 5 minutes to watch the video and then spare us some more time than that to talk about it.

Oh, and fuck TikTok.  Every time I try to embed a TikTok, it plays some other video by the person, but not the one I selected. If there’s a secret that I don’t know, I hope someone will share it with me.

Open thread.

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Guerilla Political Communication (Open Thread)

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In the recent past, we’ve discussed ways to bypass our dysfunctional and/or actively pro-fascist political press to smuggle facts about our current political predicament to people who don’t pay much attention. I’ve taken action in a couple of small ways, including participating in protests.

I’ve also created flyers about Trump admin cuts to medical research and science (with citations that can be checked online) and posted them at a couple of places where I receive treatment — in elevators, stairwells, restroom stall doors, etc. I figure cutting cancer research is unpopular, maybe especially among people currently receiving care developed via NIH research and their loved ones.

It’s impossible to know what impact this sort of guerilla political communication has, but I think it’s not zero.

Here’s another idea along those lines from Marcy Wheeler. It targets members of the Ohio National Guard who’ve been called up to staff Trump’s dictatorial fantasy life.

Flyer informing National Guard members that their lives have been disrupted because a DOGE douchebag named "Big Balls" got beat up by unarmed teens.

This strikes me as effective messaging. National Guard personnel aren’t typically drawn from the elite strata that produces people like “Big Balls,” Musk and the Trumps. It’s entirely possible troops would resent having their lives turned upside down to avenge a beatdown of a pipsqueak aide to oligarchs. Here’s side two of Wheeler’s flyer:

Guerilla Political Communication (Open Thread)

Nice detail there about the D.C. crime rate relative to that in Ohio cities. It inspires me to come up with a (one-sided as I would print it) version for Florida National Guard troops who’ve been dragooned into staffing the DeSantis 2028 primary campaign and are now miserably guarding nannies and landscapers at the hellhole the governor created in the Everglades.

Not sure where I’d post it — maybe interstate rest areas? Bar restrooms closest to the internment camps? Ideas welcome!

Understandably, people who aren’t MAGA shitheads are scared and disgusted and overwhelmed. I know for me, the temptation to withdraw from the larger world, block out all this upsetting fascist bullshit and focus on home and family is ever present.

But while Trump is destroying government and civic institutions and wielding dictatorial power, he’s unpopular, and his regime is more brittle than it appears. In fact, I think all these power moves are designed in part to keep us from noticing that.

If we keep pushing back in whatever ways we can, the whole rotten edifice will collapse. I believe that.

Open thread.

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Late Night Open Thread: Those Kennedy Center ‘Honors’

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This is mean and tacky. In other words, totally Trump.
Kennedy Center drops family that made Honors medallions for 47 years
The arts center has contacted the jeweler Tiffany & Company to redesign the award.
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen…

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— Michael Markowitz (@markowitz.bsky.social) August 16, 2025 at 12:38 PM

Don TACO and his minions, putting the ‘pissy’ in ‘pismires’… Gift link:

… James Baturin, an 86-year-old retired marking device manufacturer, said he, his wife, Mila, and their two kids assembled more than 255 awards — mostly from the kitchen countertop of their home in Bethesda, Maryland — since the Kennedy Center Honors began in 1978.

That relationship abruptly ended earlier this month, just days before President Donald Trump announced the first class of Kennedy Center honorees under his leadership of the arts complex, which will go to glam metal band Kiss, Broadway and West End star Michael Crawford, country music legend George Strait, actor Sylvester Stallone and singer Gloria Gaynor.

In a letter reviewed by The Washington Post, the Kennedy Center thanked the Baturins for their partnership and craftsmanship and said that the center would move in a different direction. “As the Kennedy Center looks toward the future and embarks on a new chapter, we will be transitioning to a new partnership for the creation of the Honors medallions,” according to the letter, which was dated Aug. 6 and signed by Matthew Winer, then-senior director of Broadcast Media & Special Programs.

The letter did not elaborate on a new vision or vendor for the awards. As The Post reported Tuesday, the center has contacted the jeweler Tiffany & Company to redesign the medallion, which hasn’t changed since it was designed for the first honors by New York artist Ivan Chermayeff. It is unclear what changes the center hopes to make to the medallions; Tiffany & Company and the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a statement to The Post, Winer — who has since left the Kennedy Center — acknowledged the contributions of the Baturins and said preserving the medallion design was essential to the legacy of the honors. “Jimmie and Mila’s artistry became a cherished part of that legacy, and I am deeply grateful for their care, dedication, and partnership,” Winer said. “Honorees value these medallions not only for their beauty, but because they are rare, one-of-a-kind symbols of a singular contribution to the arts. Changing that design would be disappointing, as it would diminish the history, tradition, and legacy these medallions have represented for generations of artists.”

The news didn’t come as a surprise, Baturin said. “We suspected something would happen as soon as the president decided he was going to take over the Kennedy Center…

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How Is This Possible Open Thread

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How is it possible that the same screen on Weather Underground that predicts 0.02 inches of rain also has a link to a severe thunderstorm warning?

  • With 60 mph wind gusts and nickel size hail.
  • With damage to roofs, siding, and trees.
  • With torrential rainfall and flash flooding.

Does not compute.

Unfortunately, the sky has that creepy yellow tint to it that never means anything good.

What kinds of things seem impossible to you guys?

Totally open thread.

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