Republican Venality

Thursday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie| April 9, 20268:07 am| 126 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality, War

Classics friends may enjoy this. Some of the Latin pronunciation is a bit weird, but the essence is spot on! ??

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— Dr Penny Goodman (@pjgoodman.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 6:21 AM

DNC Chair Ken Martin on the 2026 midterms: People in my home city of Minneapolis were executed in cold blood. If you're worried about chaos, if you're worried about rising costs, then you've got to get out and engage right now

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— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) April 8, 2026 at 4:38 PM

Mike Johnson needs to bring the House back for an immediate vote on a War Powers Resolution.
We can end Trump’s reckless war and stop the chaos.
If Republicans choose the American people over their wannabe king.

— Katherine Clark (@whipkclark.bsky.social) April 8, 2026 at 2:45 PM

Tells you exactly what’s wrong with this world. Trump threatens a genocide, and media conglomerates want to know if it will be good or bad for the stock market.

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— Rep. Jim McGovern (@repmcgovern.bsky.social) April 8, 2026 at 3:08 PM

Trump is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief. I support his removal from office, whether it be through the 25th Amendment or impeachment in Congress.

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— Senator Andy Kim (@kim.senate.gov) April 8, 2026 at 10:37 PM

Republicans in Congress are complicit.
It’s okay to say that out loud

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— Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal.bsky.social) April 8, 2026 at 9:15 AM

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Thursday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (126)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie| April 8, 20268:37 am| 154 Comments

This post is in: Iran, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality

Love that Corgi 🤣🐶

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— MyPet Health (@vetcation.com) April 7, 2026 at 1:05 AM

25th amendment. Impeachment. I will support any avenue to remove Donald Trump from office. We cannot leave this man in charge of America’s nuclear weapons as he threatens to end an entire civilization. And Congress must not fund this reckless administration.

— Ed Markey (@edmarkey.bsky.social) April 7, 2026 at 1:01 PM

Trump may have backed down for now, but he’s shown how unhinged he is by threatening the death of a “whole civilization.”
I’m heading back to DC to try and get answers for the American people. Congress needs to return to the Capitol immediately and vote to end this war.

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— Senator Andy Kim (@kim.senate.gov) April 7, 2026 at 8:50 PM

Diplomacy has always been the answer, which is why the President shouldn’t have gotten us into this war of choice. It’s been reckless, cost U.S. soldiers their lives, and is raising prices on families. A ceasefire is a start, but Congress needs to do our jobs and end this war.

— Senator Tammy Baldwin (@baldwin.senate.gov) April 7, 2026 at 11:21 PM

Speaker Johnson must bring the House back immediately and pass a bipartisan War Powers Resolution.
Trump’s reckless war needs to end.

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— Katherine Clark (@whipkclark.bsky.social) April 7, 2026 at 6:47 PM

NEW: Donald Trump is underwater with registered voters in **135** GOP-held House and Senate seats. His approval is <45% in 44, including 10 senators. Should be a warning for Republicans in Congress weighing electoral cost of Trump's war and crazy tweets.
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-07…

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— G Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris.com) April 7, 2026 at 4:27 PM

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Wednesday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (154)

Open Thread: No Cash for GOP Trash

by Anne Laurie| April 4, 20268:39 pm| 37 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality

the republican party distilled to its essence, thank you donald trump for saying what every liberal has said about republicans and been chastised about
thank you so much for saying the quiet part loud.

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— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) April 4, 2026 at 7:02 PM

Donald Trump might be happy to spend more money on bombs in the Middle East than on families here in America—but I am not.
The only responsible thing to do with a budget this morally bankrupt is to toss it in the trash.

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— Senator Patty Murray (@murray.senate.gov) April 3, 2026 at 11:37 AM

I certainly hope we can make Russell Vought the face of this demented budget… and watch the GOP choke on it. Politico, “The White House has a war-funding sales pitch the GOP might not buy”:

… After teasing an ambitious increase to military spending for months, the president made it official Friday by releasing a budget blueprint that would boost the Pentagon by more than 40 percent in the fiscal year beginning in October.

Yet among the congressional Republicans who will need to pass the funding, many are concerned about supersizing defense spending ahead of the coming midterm elections, especially as voters begin to feel the economic consequences of the Iran war and Democrats look to campaign on that issue…

The president’s budget asks Republicans to pass a large chunk of his defense proposal — some $350 billion — using the party-line reconciliation process to skirt the Senate filibuster and forgo bipartisan negotiations. Congressional GOP leaders have already started to embrace the concept of sidelining Democrats to boost Pentagon dollars and immigration enforcement accounts that are currently unfunded amid the broader Department of Homeland Security shutdown…

But reconciliation will require nearly every GOP lawmaker in both chambers to vote in support of a 12-figure boost for Pentagon coffers in order to bring Trump’s wish list to fruition. That will require an aggressive persuasion campaign targeting fiscal hawks who don’t want to spend on overseas wars and more moderate Republicans who don’t want to increase military spending while slashing priorities at home.

Even before Trump sent his budget request to Congress Friday, Democratic political groups had begun airing attack ads to hit incumbent Republicans for supporting military funding increases amid the U.S.-Israel onslaught in Iran, while backing cuts to health care and other domestic programs…

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When asked how the administration planned to build support for a $1.5 trillion defense budget on Capitol Hill, the White House budget office pointed Friday to statements from GOP lawmakers cheering the blueprint.

Friday’s request “shift[s] a paradigm by moving more and more discretionary spending into reconciliation,” said an Office of Management and Budget official granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy.

That statement mirrored White House budget director Russ Vought’s introduction accompanying the fiscal 2027 budget document. He nodded to his effort to undercut the tradition of bipartisan funding negotiations by skirting the filibuster to enact funding Democrats oppose, then using rescissions packages to claw back federal cash enacted in cross-party compromises…

Democrats quickly made clear Friday they have no plans to cooperate to make the president’s vision a reality. They are balking especially at the White House request for a 10 percent cut to nondefense spending — and a reduction of $73 billion from federal programs outside the military — alongside such a massive increase for the Pentagon.

Major targets of the administration’s proposed spending reductions are environmental programs across many federal agencies, including nixing $15 billion in grants for efforts such as renewable energy technology and $4 billion in transportation funds for programs supporting infrastructure to charge electric vehicles…

Mike Murphy, a former Republican consultant and frequent Trump critic, also predicted things would end badly if the GOP-led Congress allows the president to get his way.

“This thing is sucking significant financial cost,” he said in an interview Friday of the overseas military conflict. “We’ve already probably burned through $25 billion without a clear path of what we’re trying to accomplish or what victory looks like. When you stumble into war, they can be very expensive in blood and treasure. And this is the treasure part.”

lmao, i love this for all of them. try to jam a party-line reconciliation budget that slashes medicare, medicaid and all other kinds of services while ramping up giant military funding for a deeply unpopular war in an election year where both your party and president are deep underwater

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) April 3, 2026 at 5:53 PM

because of their extremely slim majorities in both chambers, this budget request asks damned near every single congressional republican to step directly in front of the firing squad while wearing a clown nose for a target

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) April 3, 2026 at 5:58 PM

the white house being utterly out of touch even with republicans in congress is one of the underexamined stories of the second trump administration; the main reason to pick a senator as your VP is to send him to congress to horse trade, but vance is an unlikable prick and they don't have anyone else

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) April 3, 2026 at 6:01 PM

I’m not doomposting, because I can look on the bright side…

knowing he will die sooner rather than later is dope becuase it’s like knowing you have a christmas present tucked in the attic and eventually you get to open it

— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) April 4, 2026 at 6:55 PM

Open Thread: No Cash for GOP TrashPost + Comments (37)

Saturday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie| April 4, 20267:32 am| 175 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Iran, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Religion, Republican Venality, Space

While Artemis II astronauts make their way around the moon and back, take a look at some Apollo items that have touched the lunar surface.
#NASA #space #Apollo

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) April 3, 2026 at 1:26 PM

Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. Mike Johnson sets the schedule. He chose to leave Washington without a vote on the Senate compromise to pay the TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard.
He should do his damn job, call us back to Washington, and reopen the government now.

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— Rep. Jim McGovern (@repmcgovern.bsky.social) April 3, 2026 at 3:08 PM

Pope Leo's Good Friday service offers prayer for deported children reut.rs/47Hznc1

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— Reuters (@reuters.com) April 3, 2026 at 4:15 PM

This might be the largest party lead I've ever seen among the double haters
www.cnn.com/2026/04/03/p…

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— G Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris.com) April 3, 2026 at 10:18 AM

Winning double haters by 10% is usually enough to swing most elections. Winning them by 30% and things are going to get wild.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) April 3, 2026 at 11:07 AM

The political calculations that result in cutting NASA funding the day after the Artemis II launch must be fascinating

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— Tina Smith (@smith.senate.gov) April 3, 2026 at 6:10 PM

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After passing the largest cuts to health care in American history—all to fund billionaire tax breaks & give ICE more money than most militaries—Trump now wants Congress to defund dozens of programs that help families so that he can send other people’s kids to fight a foreign war.

— Senator Patty Murray (@murray.senate.gov) April 3, 2026 at 7:22 PM

We must be prepared for disasters BEFORE they happen. That’s why I fought to reinstate funding for the BRIC program.
Let's continue to make sure states can take proactive steps to protect our communities from fires, floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters.

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— Senator Andy Kim (@kim.senate.gov) April 3, 2026 at 11:14 AM

As someone shot down behind enemy lines, my heart goes out to the crew members and their loved ones who are waiting for answers. It's a relief one servicemember has been found and rescued, and I'm grateful for those risking their lives to look for the one who remains missing.

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— Tammy Duckworth (@duckworth.senate.gov) April 3, 2026 at 1:29 PM

my father told me once, in vietnam, the NVA had a rule of thumb (literally) – if holding out your thumb at arms length didn't cover the chopper, you could take it down with small arms fire.

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— Sky Marchini (@sky.skymarchini.net) April 3, 2026 at 8:53 PM

you were never going to get an anti-war president from a chauvinistic, jingoistic political party full of people who fantasize about being in a holy war. and yet, despite the US Army raising the enlistment age to 42, not a single one of these pro-war podcasters and pundits have signed up to fight.

— derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) April 3, 2026 at 3:44 PM

Trump starting to fire people is a big deal. The whole point of his administration has been "What are you gonna do about it lib? Lmao owned." And keeping people in the face of massive scandal was perceived as showing strength.
That he's SO unpopular that it's broken is a big deal.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) April 3, 2026 at 10:56 AM

Also, one would note, Trump pretty clearly does not think midterms are not going to happen and is freaking out about them.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) April 3, 2026 at 10:56 AM

It turns out that a massive reactionary administration based on "we should break everything and make everything worse for reasons we can't articulate" is turning out to be very unpopular and probably is heading for historic losses.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) April 3, 2026 at 10:55 AM

I think they literally thought they could just flip the switch from "democracy" to "dictatorship" and just do whatever they want because they had no intention of ever leaving, and are now realizing that other people get a say in things too.

— rdmacq.bsky.social (@rdmacq.bsky.social) April 3, 2026 at 12:38 PM

Saturday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (175)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie| March 31, 20267:48 am| 113 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality

Cherry Blossoms ?? Sakura Season ??at night in Japan ????

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— ContempraInn ?? (@contemprainn.bsky.social) March 30, 2026 at 7:01 AM

BREAKING: TSA says most of its workers got paid Monday for at least two paychecks that were missed as the ongoing shutdown affects airports.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) March 30, 2026 at 1:33 PM

It wasn’t enough to make you pay for billionaires’ tax cuts.
Now, the GOP wants to fund Trump’s reckless war by taking away your health care.
You deserve better.

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— Katherine Clark (@whipkclark.bsky.social) March 30, 2026 at 11:57 AM

It is never ok for the Defense Secretary to be making stock investments in military contractors, ever. Even under normal circumstances, much less planned combat operations.

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— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) March 30, 2026 at 9:13 PM

New levels of corruption every day while Americans struggle to pay bills.
We need an investigation into Hegseth’s actions. 1/2

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— Senator Andy Kim (@kim.senate.gov) March 30, 2026 at 8:56 PM

I also wrote a bill that bans not only Members of Congress from owning/trading stocks, bt also Presidents and high level officials including their Cabinet.
Let’s stop this corruption now. 2/2

— Senator Andy Kim (@kim.senate.gov) March 30, 2026 at 8:56 PM

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Tuesday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (113)

Sunday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie| March 29, 20267:12 am| 278 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!, Space

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) March 28, 2026 at 7:30 PM

The four astronauts making NASA's next lunar leap bear little resemblance to the Apollo era.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) March 28, 2026 at 2:00 PM

If the estimates were right, there were about 9 million people at No Kings rallies today.
That would mean this protest was THIRTY TIMES AS LARGE AS THE TEA PARTY PROTEST which we were told, over and over again, was a massively important sign that US politics had shifted dramatically to the right

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— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 6:33 PM

we focus a lot on how these are galvanizing events for the good guys but don’t sleep on how demoralizing they are for the bad guys, too

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— post malone ergo propter malone (@proptermalone.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 11:54 AM

Seeing a million people turn out and snake through a large city is very cool, I won’t deny that

but my favorite genre of post during these protests is “small town in a red state with the biggest crowd anyone has ever seen”

you can ignore a march in Washington. it's a lot harder to ignore a march on Main Street.

— post malone ergo propter malone (@proptermalone.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 11:56 AM

there’s a reason they call it demonstrating

— post malone ergo propter malone (@proptermalone.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 12:07 PM

The Trump War Tax is being slapped on plane tickets, mail, fertilizer, and gas. It’s entirely preventable—but Trump doesn’t give a damn that his reckless, illegal war is making life even less affordable here at home.

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— Rep. Jim McGovern (@repmcgovern.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 2:02 PM

He says he wants to bring meritocracy back to our military. He says he has our warfighters' backs.
But here he is, the most unqualified SecDef in history, denying troops a promotion that their fellow warfighters decided they've earned.
Hegseth is a disgrace to our heroes.

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— Tammy Duckworth (@duckworth.senate.gov) March 27, 2026 at 2:08 PM

I will hold Mullin to every single one of his promises, including revoking Noem's senseless FEMA policy that delayed aid to families in need.

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— Senator Andy Kim (@kim.senate.gov) March 28, 2026 at 3:39 PM

Andrew Belcher, president of the Ohio College Republicans said Trump is doing “relatively poorly” with hyper online young men who are influenced heavily by media figures like Tucker Carlson and other isolationists in the GOP.
www.politico.com/news/2026/03…

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— Eric Michael Garcia (@ericmgarcia.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 12:19 PM

Sunday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (278)

Friday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie| March 27, 20267:49 am| 512 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel

No Kings. Find your event for this Saturday, March 28th.
www.nokings.org
#NoKings

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— Timothy Snyder (@timothysnyder.bsky.social) March 26, 2026 at 2:45 PM

If anyone would like to use this image for your sign (I drew it), please feel free to download/share/print it out. Or take the idea and run with it as you see fit!

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— anselmyew.bsky.social (@anselmyew.bsky.social) March 26, 2026 at 3:19 PM

#NoKingsInAmerica

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— Scott (@thegopisfubar2024.bsky.social) March 26, 2026 at 3:29 PM

www.cnn.com/2026/03/26/p…

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— Anne Laurie (@annelaurie.bsky.social) March 27, 2026 at 7:37 AM

…[F]irst, she’ll appear at fundraisers for the North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia state parties the week of April 13, then follow that with a keynote address at the Arkansas Democrats’ annual Fisher Shackelford Dinner in Little Rock on April 25. That’s in addition to her appearance last Friday at the National Women’s Law Center annual gala in Washington and another scheduled speech at the end of April.

Invitations to many of these events will start going out in the coming days and come as even other prospective 2028 Democratic candidates are beginning to ask around for intel on her plans. Though she has not made any decision on a repeat run, her geographic choices for this swing are reminiscent of what her 2020 campaign team used to call its “SEC strategy,” hoping to win lots of delegates among the heavily Black primary electorates to counter what they expected would be weaker showings in other early voting states…

The former vice president and 2024 replacement Democratic nominee is coming to the end of a six-month national tour to promote her memoir of the campaign, which has put her in front of dozens of friendly audiences. As the book was published last September — shortly after Harris passed on entering the California governor’s race — she said she wanted to take a break from being in government, while hoping to boost Democrats in this year’s midterms.

Harris has already recorded ads for the Democratic National Committee and for Virginia Democrats’ ballot proposition, scheduled for April 21. And though she endorsed Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the final days of the Texas Senate Democratic race, she has been in touch with the winner of that primary, James Talarico, as well as other recent primary winners Juliana Stratton in Illinois and Scott Colom in Mississippi…

n late February, appearing in Cleveland at a fundraiser for Rep. Emilia Sykes, the congresswoman asked, “What have you been doing lately?”

“Listening,” Harris replied.

How a Juliana Stratton win in Illinois could make history: The US Senate could soon set a historic first, 3 Black women serving at the same time www.cnn.com/2026/03/21/p…

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— Black Intellect Media (@blackintellect.bsky.social) March 22, 2026 at 2:37 PM

Jeffries after the Florida Results is now targeting 5 seats in the state

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— #1 Nate Blouin for Congress Stan (@purrtah.bsky.social) March 26, 2026 at 10:30 AM

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Friday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (512)

Baud on Tax (the Rich) Day: Open Thread (Apr 15, 2026 @ 4:42pm)

Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq) on Tax (the Rich) Day: Open Thread (Apr 15, 2026 @ 4:37pm)

Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq) on Tax (the Rich) Day: Open Thread (Apr 15, 2026 @ 4:32pm)

debit on Tax (the Rich) Day: Open Thread (Apr 15, 2026 @ 4:22pm)

Baud on Tax (the Rich) Day: Open Thread (Apr 15, 2026 @ 4:20pm)

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

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

The revolution will be supervised.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

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

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

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

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Open Thread: No Cash for GOP Trash

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Sunday Morning Open Thread

Friday Morning Open Thread