Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

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

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

When we show up, we win.

He really is that stupid.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

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

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Republican Venality

Open Thread: Potentially Good News (for Democrats) Out of Texas

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The wife of Texas AG Ken Paxton has filed for divorce, saying:
“I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation. But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.”

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) July 10, 2025 at 3:11 PM

Cynic that I am, I’d have guessed either Angela’s legislative pension had finally vested, or some unusually ugly business misdealings had been uncovered. But the Texas Tribune says it’s (officially) adultery:

… “I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation,” Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, said in a post on X. “But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.”

In his own statement, Attorney General Paxton cited the “pressures of countless political attacks and public scrutiny” as the reason the couple had “decided to start a new chapter.”

Attorney General Paxton is currently running against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in next year’s Republican primary, after close to a decade as attorney general. Senator Paxton was elected in 2019 to represent the North Texas Senate district that her husband represented before his elevation to statewide office. She was reelected to another four-year term in November.

Paxton’s record of aggressively suing the Biden administration is matched only by his penchant for scandal, culminating in his impeachment by the Texas House of Representatives in 2023. The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted him after a nearly two-week trial.

Angela Paxton attended her husband’s trial but was not allowed to vote on any issues or participate on deliberations over whether to convict or acquit.

The impeachment claims focused on benefits Paxton provided to Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, as well as an alleged extramarital affair the attorney general had with a former Senate aide. According to investigators, the affair ended briefly in 2019 after Angela Paxton learned of it, then resumed in 2020. The woman he allegedly had an affair with was called to testify before the Senate and came to the chamber, but left without speaking.

BREAKING: Texas' hottest political couple is no more – State Sen. Angela Paxton is filing for divorce from her husband, Attorney General Ken Paxton, citing adultery and "recent discoveries." Here's my report on "Keeping Up With the Paxtons" in @chron.com www.chron.com/politics/art…

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— gwen howerton (@kissphoria.bsky.social) July 10, 2025 at 3:04 PM

The couple has been professionally (as well as Biblically) joined at the hip for decades, so this must’ve been something very unpleasant…

… The news of the divorce could complicate Ken Paxton’s run for U.S. Senate, where he is seeking to topple longtime incumbent John Cornyn in what is expected to be a gruelling Republican primary next year.

The Paxtons first met at Baylor University in Waco, where Ken was student body president. Angela and Ken married in 1986, and have four children and three grandchildren. After receiving a master’s degree from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, Angela taught math in Collin County public schools before becoming a counselor at a private Christian school in Frisco, Texas. She would eventually be elected to the Texas Senate in 2018, where she became one of the most conservative lawmakers in the state, regularly pushing for hard-right priorities on education and anti-LGBTQ+ issues.

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The Texas Flood Tragedies Continue

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Hope of finding survivors of the catastrophic flooding in Texas is dimming a day after the death toll surpassed 100.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) July 8, 2025 at 1:00 PM

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As heartbreaking news continues to emerge from central Texas, @chastenbuttigieg.bsky.social and I are thinking of everyone affected and grateful for the extraordinary work of first responders.
Here are some ways all of us can help:

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— Pete Buttigieg (@petebuttigieg.bsky.social) July 7, 2025 at 10:11 AM

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Sometimes calls for prayer are sincere and sometimes they are an argument: a claim that this is God’s fault and our choices and policies have nothing to do with it.

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— Popehat’s Interests First (@kenwhite.bsky.social) July 6, 2025 at 10:37 AM

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*Taking* blame, NYT. Taking.

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— Jacob T. Levy (@jacobtlevy.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 9:48 AM

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well, you do if there's a fucking wolf

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— Philip Bump (@pbump.com) July 7, 2025 at 11:30 AM

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The Texas Flood Tragedies ContinuePost + Comments (100)

Open Thread: The Dignity of Honest Work

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ah yes. a great leap, in a forward direction

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— Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li (@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com) July 8, 2025 at 11:38 AM


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So all my patients who are working three jobs and currently on Medicaid need to get another job. 🙄

— Salty Doc (@silver-denoument.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 10:47 AM


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47% of people in the United States. are not working per Paul Krugman. So I looked it up. 18% are seniors over 65. 22% are children under 18. 13.9% are on Social Security disability totaling 53%. Unemployment is at 4% which economists consider full employment. Who is not working?

— J'Net (@jannetteb.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 11:10 AM

The GOP doesn’t actually want ‘honest work at an honest price’, they want indentured servants, at least until they’re able to achieve their ultimate fantasy of a return to chattel slavery. Yes, it would theoretically be possible to return to a (mostly) ‘all-American’ farm/factory workforce (even without the simplest & most honest solution, citizenship for the immigrants currently doing those jobs)… but it comes with a cost, and not just that of steeply climbing grocery prices…

This shows a profound misunderstanding of how these jobs work! You are often hired for set periods of time, most of the time, you won't qualify for health insurance or are on something like a 1099.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 10:29 AM

For instance: farms in the mountain west tend to hire for a period of around 5-6 months, and most people who work the fields and the harvest move to processing in the winter months.

The other thing to note is the pay doesn’t suck! The idea that “pay a little more and Americans will take it”

IS actually kind of dumb. Most entry level farm laborer positions I see start at around $20-24 an hour with guaranteed weekly overtime (typically 8 hours) in low cost of living areas.

If you have a CDL, make it more like $35+. And there’s bonuses and more OT during harvest.

Basically: you can increase the pay of farm laborer positions and you may get a couple more people if you go to $30 an hour or something, but in reality, these positions are already paying comparatively quite well for the skill suite required.

Not to over glamorize the work, obviously. Moving pipe is murderous on your body.

I know American citizens who harvest chase because they have in-demand skill sets. They live basically for free (because the farms bring them in for harvest and pay for hotels, etc.) make 100k-esh a year, and honestly do well for themselves.

Their bodies are also toast by their late 50’s.

(Yes, I still miss Ozark Hillbilly, too.)

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I mean, nationalizing industry, arbitrary personalist rule, forcing the urban city dwellers to the farms.
🤔

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 10:46 AM


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Malthus-ass government.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM

Open Thread: The Dignity of Honest WorkPost + Comments (146)

Open Thread: The Cruelty Stupidity Is the Point

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You can't make it up
MAGA Congressman Derrick Van Orden-a huge supporter of the Big Ugly Bill
Who published this repugnant post cheering the fact that the law would gut Medicaid and SNAP
Is now BEGGING the Democratic governor of his state
To save the very hospitals that he just voted to close

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— Adam Cohen (My Personal Views Only) (@axidentaliberal.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 10:23 AM


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Not the Onion, as the youngs say…

If Republicans were completely confident in their #BigUglyBill, they wouldn't already be begging Democrats to save Republicans' asses/bail them out.
Republicans' strategy is/always has been to blame Democrats for negative impacts of Republicans' actions.
www.msnbc.com/top-stories/… #Medicaid #WI03

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— donnayoungdc (@donnayoungdc.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM


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Open Thread: The <del>Cruelty</del> Stupidity Is the PointPost + Comments (58)

Fireworks Friday Morning Open Thread

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Who are you gonna believe — me, or your lying eyes paystub?

NEWSNATION: It's estimated that more than 32k of your constituents will lose access to healthcare, nearly 19k will lose food stamps. If that's true, how is this bill good for your constituents?
MIKE LAWLER: Those numbers aren't true … Dems are putting out numbers they're making up out of thin air

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 3, 2025 at 7:41 PM


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A. People will experience the effects
B. Even without this bill Repubs were screwed; remember, they were slaughtered in 2018, & 2022 they had the worst midterm of a party not in the White House since 1934
C. It’s easier to convince ppl they’re being screwed than that they’re being helped…/1

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 2:13 AM


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D. Midterms are generally more about turnout than persuasion. People whose local hospital or grandma’s nursing home are closing may not vote Dem but they may not come out to vote Repub either
E. There’s actually paid media; by spending $ on ads Dems can circumvent the press

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 2:18 AM


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Fireworks Friday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (154)

Open Thread: Let the Record Show…

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Jeffries: "Every single one of the signatories voted for a House bill that undermined the clean energy economy, noted that it would hurt their own constituents, voted for the bill anyway, and the begged the Senate to make it different. That's not how we should be legislating in the US House."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 3, 2025 at 9:59 AM


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Jeffries says he "still has a lot to say" (it's pretty clear he's going for the record for longest Magic Minute speech)

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 3, 2025 at 10:09 AM

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But the NYTimes genuinely admires the Felon-in-Office’s savvy…

As Shawn McCreesh and Tyler Pager report, House Republican holdouts were apparently swayed to support President Trump’s tax and spending bill by signed merch and photographs with the president.

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— David Gura (@davidgura.bsky.social) July 3, 2025 at 8:03 AM


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It's a sacrifice I'm sure they'd make again.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 3, 2025 at 9:56 AM


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More seriously: I'd guess they actually didn't have the votes and it was pretty unsure, but the entire thing became necessary as various reps realized there wasn't an alternative.
Long term, this probably breaks the current caucus. It's already forced multiple retirements.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 3, 2025 at 10:02 AM


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Trump can't even remember what's in the bill these maroons think he's gonna remember what they want him to impound

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 3, 2025 at 10:45 AM

Open Thread: Let the Record Show…Post + Comments (263)

Open Thread: GOP Drama Llamas Every One

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12? That seems significant, and I'd bet on Fox News actually having the whip count right.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 2, 2025 at 10:37 AM


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Also, notable that Harris got on Newsmax or similar today and said "yeah 4th of July isn't probably happening"
I guess I'll currently believe it when I see it – I expect Johnson to jam his caucus and them to fold.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 2, 2025 at 10:39 AM


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HOUSE UPDATE: The procedural vote to advance the Senate-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act is stuck at 204-212 and is being kept open.
16 Republicans haven't voted.
Democrats have full attendance (something they've struggled with all year) and are unanimously voting no.

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— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) July 2, 2025 at 1:54 PM


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A bunch of House Republican holdouts just voted yes. They have the votes to move forward. Again, this is just the procedural vote, not on passage of the bill.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) July 2, 2025 at 2:09 PM


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MEANWHILE: House Freedom Caucus leaders are circulating this document torching the Senate-passed "big beautiful bill." They say it increases deficits and contains insufficient clean energy cuts, inadequate Medicaid rules, "excessive port for Alaska and Hawaii," among other grievances.

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— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) July 2, 2025 at 1:00 PM


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Thanks to Senate Republicans, 17 million people will lose their health care.
Thanks to Senate Republicans, three million Americans, including veterans and seniors, will lose food assistance.
Thanks to Senate Republicans, families will see their energy bills go up by $400 a year.

— Kamala Harris (@kamalaharris.com) July 1, 2025 at 2:16 PM


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Open Thread: GOP Drama Llamas Every OnePost + Comments (237)