Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

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

In my day, never was longer.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

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

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

This fight is for everything.

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

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Chaos Everywhere

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#Hurricane #Melissa leaves trail of destruction across #Cuba, #Haiti and #Jamaica. www.npr.org/2025/10/29/n…

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— ZenArchie (@zenarchie.bsky.social) October 30, 2025 at 2:47 AM

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Higher prices, less help and a government shutdown hang over health insurance markets as shoppers start looking for coverage this week.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) October 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM

I am not sure what they hope t achieve by lying about this. People are already learning what their new premiums and out of pocket expenses are going to be and it is not 13 dollars.

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— Stephen Nuñez (@socio-steve.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 4:14 PM

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These people have civilian jobs. It's one thing to mobilize them for an emergency or a legitimate war, another thing to send them to American cities to stand around and mill about. You're messing with people's careers to further a hostile and idiotic agenda.

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— Brandon Friedman (@brandonfriedman.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 9:11 PM

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interesting to see that the supermarket publications have had significantly more courage to speak plainly than the prestige press this time around

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— GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) October 29, 2025 at 1:03 PM


(Rex Huppke, author of that op-ed, has been consistently good at dinging the Trump maladministration.)

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And there are still people working to make the world better!

Alabama State University President Dr. Quinton T. Ross Jr. said the donation is "the largest single donation in its 158-year history."

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— USA TODAY (@usatoday.com) October 29, 2025 at 11:11 AM

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has made a monumental donation to another historically Black college or university (HBCU), which the school is touting as a “defining moment.”

In a social media post on Monday, Oct. 27, Alabama State University President Dr. Quinton T. Ross Jr. confirmed that Scott, the former wife of billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos, gifted the school $38 million.

Scott’s donation is the latest in her philanthropic efforts to Black institutions and programs. This month, she donated $63 million to Morgan State University in Baltimore and $38 million to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne.

Another one of Scott’s recent donations includes $40 million to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, part of the Washington-based National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Action Fund said in a press release on Oct. 15 that Scott’s $40 million donation comes after another $20 million investment made just four years ago.

The Action Fund’s efforts include the preservation of historically Black sites such as churches and hotels, as well as raising money for HBCUs…

Scott, who has an estimated net worth of $33.9 billion, also made Forbes’ 2025 list of the 400 richest people in the United States, ranking No. 28.

In 2020 alone, she donated millions to several other HBCUs, including Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Tuskegee University, and Xavier University of Louisiana.

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Chaos EverywherePost + Comments (343)

Excellent Links: The Dignity of Work

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In an exclusive excerpt from his upcoming book "The Man of Many Fathers," comedian @roywoodjr.bsky.social reveals the lessons he learned while working at one of America's leading suppliers of low-vibrational plates.

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— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot.bsky.social) October 27, 2025 at 1:13 PM

I’m not sure where on BlueSky I ran across this, but the extract charmed me enough to go looking for the book. Woods obviously has the skill & the experience to write a readable memoir, but this particular stint pleased me because it concerns the dignity of work: Doing the job you’ve taken, not because others will envy you, but because you owe that much to yourself and to the people around you.

I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life, but serving at Golden Corral was the most important job I’ve ever had.

In the wake of my legal troubles, I desperately needed a lifeline. It showed up in the form of Golden Corral, a large family buffet–style restaurant with a big staff, decent hours, and a need for young workers. I started working there in 1998, about a month after my Thanksgiving-week arrest. I figured Golden Corral would just be a quick cash grab to pay rent and keep my life afloat while I traveled around doing open-mic comedy in the South. It ended up being so much more.

From the start, I loved the range of people I met there. Our educations and backgrounds were as diverse as our ages. Some of us were college educated, and some of us were dropouts. Some of us were there because we wanted a career in hospitality, and some of us were just transient…

There wasn’t a single person in that Golden Corral who did not take their job seriously. It’s also the only job I’ve worked where no one was nervous when the owner came, because we all knew we had our shit together. You weren’t going to come in there and slack, because if you didn’t pull your weight it would reflect on other people…

Marlon and Shod ran the back of the house. Shod had the most jokes and was also the resident DJ for the store after the customers left. Shod would crank the rap music so loud you felt like you were working in the dining room of a strip club in Miami. We cracked jokes and talked about life and love, but, most important, everybody fucking worked.

There was Eugene. He was a new father. He operated with a different sense of responsibility than all of us. He definitely loved his kid, and his girlfriend would bring his son by often to see Daddy at work. Between tables, Eugene would sit and talk with his son. There’s something great about a child seeing their father make an honest day’s living. I think it’s an underrated part of child rearing.

Dads, retirees, playboys, angry immigrants, war vets, and me. Of course, droves of women worked there and made sure the store was a well-run machine, but socially I tended to gravitate toward the men. They provided me something I had not had up until that point in my life: a sense of morality and values.

Everywhere I turned at Golden Corral, there was a man offering me wisdom…

(The excerpt at Amazon is also excellent, by the way.)

Excellent Links: The Dignity of WorkPost + Comments (31)

War for Ukraine Day 1,343: The Long and Deadly Small Hours of the Ukrainian Night

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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)

I’m fried from six exceedingly long days in a row, so I’m just going to run through the basics again tonight. We should be back to normal(ish) tomorrow evening.

Air raid alerts for 2/3rds of Ukraine are up as of 3:20 AM local time/9:20 PM EDT and I expect they’ll be going up for the rest of Ukraine shortly. Drone swarms are moving east to west and Russian fixed wing aviation is up over western Russia, meaning missiles are inbound.

Russian planes have taken off and are heading to bomb Ukraine yet again. A Russian drone attack has been ongoing for hours.

It’s going to be another hard night for us in Ukraine. Please keep us in your thoughts.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 8:27 PM

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

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Open Thread: Trolled By South Korea

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President Trump has sometimes likened himself to a king. Now he has been given a crown.
Trump received a replica of an ancient golden crown on Wednesday from President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea. He called it “very special.”

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— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) October 29, 2025 at 8:30 AM

I like the South Korea sense of humor. But then, I come from a people who used ‘a gift-wrapped box of sh*t’ — usually metaphorically — to indict someone considered a pretentious fool…

… Or at least a replica of one that researchers believe was worn by an ancient Korean ruler. Mr. Trump received the crown from President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea when they met on Wednesday in the city of Gyeongju.

During the ceremony at the Gyeongju National Museum, Mr. Trump shook hands with Mr. Lee and thanked him for the gift, saying it was “very special.”

Mr. Lee also gave Mr. Trump the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, South Korea’s highest decoration, in the form of a shiny, ornate necklace.

“I’d like to wear it right now,” Mr. Trump said.

Earlier this month, demonstrators turned out in droves in cities and towns across the United States for “No Kings” rallies, where protesters condemned Mr. Trump for acting, in their view, like a monarch. Though the president has previously embraced regal themes, he said in response to the protests that he was “not a king.”…

Further indication that the old man is losing what filters he had, as he succumbs to senile dementia.

I will bet anyone $100 he tries to keep it personally, rather than treat it as US government property.

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— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 2:05 PM

The Washington Post looks for the money:

… In an elaborately arranged ceremony at the Gyeongju National Museum, Trump stared at the golden crown as a South Korean official explained that it “symbolizes the divine connection between the authority of the heavens and the sovereignty on Earth, as well as the strong leadership and authority of a leader.”…

Seated next to Lee several hours later at a dinner held in Trump’s honor, the president raved about the gifts. “Giving me the honor of that magnificent piece of art — because it really was a piece of art that you presented to me today,” he said. “To be the first president of the United States that got that was really something. Very special.”

South Korea is the latest country to shower Trump with gifts, as global leaders use a combination of flattery and pageantry to cater to a president who has displayed a willingness to torpedo long-standing alliances. Trump arrived to a 21-gun salute in South Korea as the countries remain locked in complicated trade negotiations triggered by Trump’s tariffs…

On Wednesday, the two sides agreed on details of the trade agreement, including a cash investment of $200 billion, capped at $20 billion per year, as a part of the total $350 billion investment plan, said Kim Yong-beom, Lee’s policy chief. The rest will consist of shipbuilding cooperation, he said. Auto tariffs would also be reduced to 15 percent from 25 percent. South Korea faces blanket 15 percent tariffs on exports as a part of the deal reached in July.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump arrived in South Korea to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, receiving a red-carpet welcome as a band played “YMCA,” the song that typically closes out his political rallies.

“You really rolled out a red carpet. That was a very good red carpet, a beautiful red carpet,” Trump said…

Last year, Republicans argued "we have a republic, not a democracy." Now they're arguing "we have a monarch, not a republic".

— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 1:41 PM

A relevant quote from the Old Testament, the one favored by MAGA voters:

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— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 1:43 PM

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Late Night Open Thread: Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, Aspirational Nazi

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This is a real thing that a judge had to say to the Chief of US Customs and Border Protection.

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— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 11:20 AM

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I assumed this had to be AI.
It is not AI.
It's like concept design for Neil Patrick Harris at the end of Starship Troopers that Verhoeven rejected for being too on-the-nose.

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— Zeddy (@zeddary.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 12:12 PM

"Dress for the job you want, not the job you have"

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— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 1:48 PM

Here's the CNN interview he showed up dressed like that for. Photo Credit: Mustafa Hussain (Pulitzer-pending I hope) www.cnn.com/2025/10/08/p…

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— Zeddy (@zeddary.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 12:18 PM

… Nearly three decades into his career with the US Border Patrol, Gregory Bovino has become the on-the-ground face of Trump’s effort to surge federal law enforcement into blue states and cities regardless of whether local officials want them there — first in Los Angeles, now in Chicago, with other possible cities on deck.

But if he and his officers are an unwelcome presence or face interference from protesters, Bovino said he is not dissuaded.

“We’re going to carry out that mission,” Bovino said in an interview with CNN in Chicago on Tuesday. “And that’s paramount, or else we shouldn’t be here. We’re going to carry that mission out.”

He added that if “someone steps in the way, then … that may not work out well for them, and if we need to effect an arrest of a US citizen or anyone else, then we’ll do that.”

Local officials have described Bovino as leading a branch of law enforcement which deploys tactics that are frighteningly authoritarian and which has been styled into Trump’s own personal police force, used by the president as a cudgel against Democrat-led localities and the people — citizens and noncitizens alike — who live in them…

Bovino, 55, holds the title of chief patrol agent of the El Centro sector and has been the lead on the administration’s crackdown in cities — now, 2,000 miles away from the California sector he helms. His newfound resurgence in the agency under Trump finds him in a position of power unique among his peers in Border Patrol.

His heavy-handed tactics, including immigration sweeps in parking lots and smashing car windows, have fueled consternation among some in the Trump administration while also garnering praise from senior Homeland Security officials…

Greetings from the Dirksen federal courthouse, where Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino is set to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis.
What you need to know, for @wttw.bsky.social:

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— Heather Cherone (@heathercherone.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 9:48 AM

From Ms. Cherone’s (long, worth reading!) thread:

… We are underway.
Ellis calls Bovino to the stand. He is wearing his uniform.
He is sworn in.
He has no visible head injury, even though federal officials said he was struck Friday in the head by protestors before he deployed tear gas in Little Village.

Ellis is reminding Bovino of the oath he took when he became a Border Patrol officer — the same oath she took when she became a federal judge.

“We both agreed to support and defend the Constitution,” Ellis said.
Bovino is listening impassively.

Ellis says her job is to ensure that Bovino and the federal agents under his command are acting in accordance with the law and court orders.

Ellis “It may be that what I am seeing is the result if one of three things:”
1. Perhaps the order is unclear
2. No one read the order
3. “Folks actively chose to ignore it”

Ellis said it could not be No. 3, because that would violate Bovino’s oath…

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War for Ukraine Day 1,342: The Cost

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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 yam actually exhaustipated, but close enough for non-government work. One more long day tomorrow, then things go back to what passes for normal on Thursday. I’m just going to run through the basics again tonight so I can get cleaned up and rack out.

The cost:

Sound on📢

While the world takes for granted the peace of a quiet morning coffee, this child — like thousands of Ukrainian children — has known only the sound of explosions since birth.

Just look into the eyes of this little boy in Kharkiv.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 3:22 AM

During World War I this was called shell shock. Now we call it post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or post-traumatic stress (PTS). This is a toddler with shell shock from drone, bomb, and missile attacks.

This is still the best description of how we got from shell shock to PTS:

Right now, at 3:15 AM local time in Ukraine/9:15 PM EDT, almost all of northeastern, eastern, and southern Ukraine – Chernihiv Oblast around to Odesa Oblast – is under air raid alert. The alert maps aren’t showing anything specific, so the Ukrainians will have another long sleepless late night/early morning.

Also, lots of facilities appear to be on fire in Russia.

Monitoring channels report that Ukrainian drones, including jet-powered ones, are currently flying to attack Russia.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 5:00 PM

What did Carlo Graziani know and when did he know it?

Zelensky made a statement about the creation of a special tribunal for Russia.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 1:10 PM

President Zelenskyy’s met with David van Weel, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs earlier today. Video below, English write up after the jump.

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War for Ukraine Day 1,342: The CostPost + Comments (19)