Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We still have time to mess this up!

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

This fight is for everything.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

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

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

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

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

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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Late Night Open Thread: Once You Really Get to Know Him, Though…

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Late Night After Dark Open Thread: When Horseshoe Poles Touch

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“When the President does it, it is not a crime”:

Elsewhere…

And finally…

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Late Night Open Thread: Mystery Meal

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Pretty sure it’s a glazed scone — the kind of dessert offered to a ‘picky eater’ if they finish alllll their vegetables… or at least the tomatoes, and most of the stuffed pepper…

Another view:

I think that’s a fried egg, atop the disemboweled pepper? In which case, presumably the stuffing is vegetarian?

Chances Trump ate this, I’d bet, are somewhere between ‘nope’ and ‘now *I’ll* tell one’. To be fair, I wouldn’t be enticed by those wrinkly old cherry tomatoes & hardened egg, myself…

Also meal-related (but much more laudable!):


Those of you who grew up eating in school cafeterias, insert your own jokes below.

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Late Night Open Thread: Au Revoir, Little Red Sparrow

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One day you’re the NRA’s top pin-up girl, the next you’re (allegedly) fighting for food in an American prison:

… Eagerly anticipating Butina’s impending liberation, Russian state media outlets expected to live-stream her release, but U.S. authorities had other plans. Having traveled to the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution from Atlanta, Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida, Russian state TV stringers were stranded for hours filming traffic, building exits and geese on the lawn. Meanwhile, Butina was quietly whisked out of the facility and transferred to the custody of ICE for a speedy deportation back to Russia…

Appearing on 60 Minutes—the most popular news talk show in Russia—the correspondent of Russia’s state-TV channel Rossiya-24 Valentin Bogdanov pointed out that the Western media no longer dares to call Butina a spy. “They’re being careful,” Bogdanov said, speculating that media outlets are afraid of being sued for using the wrong language. In the Kremlin-controlled Russian media, Butina is being described mainly in glowing terms…

Working at the direction of a Russian government official, Alexander Torshin, Butina infiltrated Republican political circles and the National Rifle Association around the time of the 2016 election in order to promote Russian interests. In September of 2019, an investigation by Senate Democrats determined that the NRA has acted as a “foreign asset” in providing Russian officials access to US political organizations.

In court documents, prosecutors argued that Butina’s efforts had the hallmarks of a Russian espionage operation, suggesting that she was acting as a “spotter” by identifying people who have the ability to influence policy in Russia’s favor, as a set of targets Russian spies could potentially cultivate. Investigators from special counsel Robert Mueller’s team questioned Butina on only one occasion for approximately an hour. Her name was left out of the final version of the Special Counsel’s redacted report. Many questions about the full scope of Maria Butina’s activities in the United States remain unanswered…

There is little doubt that Maria Butina will be actively used by Russian state media for anti-American propaganda. Butina also has other plans. In April, she told CNN that she might start tutoring Russian students who want to study in America.

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“Bring Me the Head of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi”: Early Reviews, Not Promising

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Publicity-grab sequels seldom match the success of the originals. Title of this post from a Christopher Dickey article in the Daily Beast, “Trump Turns Baghdadi’s Killing Into a Reality Show”:

PARIS—President Donald J. Trump wants you to see his new movie: “Bring Me the Head of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”

At a special Sunday morning press conference in Washington D.C., Trump described the way U.S. Special Operations Forces attacked Baghdadi’s compound and killed him in such graphic and explicit detail that some intelligence professionals worried he may have revealed, again, too much about sources and methods.

But Trump knows great television when he sees it, and he was enthusiastic about the images he was watching from the White House situation room Saturday night. “It was absolutely perfect, as though you were watching a movie,” he said…

The reasons such a video of the 2011 Osama operation was not released are the same ones that the intelligence community will use to argue against dissemination of the Baghdadi death: because such images could compromise so much about the operation.

But quite apart from Trump’s worthy desire to undermine the messaging of the still virulent ISIS organization, there is also his unworthy inclination to gloat. Remember when Trump tweeted a highly classified high-resolution image of a failed Iranian missile launch earlier this year for little more reason, it would seem, that smug self-satisfaction?

Trump hates it when the fast-turning news cycle that he uses effectively to obscure his failings also works to push his accomplishments into oblivion…

He’ll be tweeting obscenities — not dirty words, but actual graphic images & descriptions — no later than tomorrow morning. And that’s only if the Fox News prime-time lineup lathers sufficient Kim-Jong-un – style propaganda all this evening.

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Open Thread: Oval Office Occupant Finds Some African-Americans to Speak Over

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Per the NYTimes, “In Criminal Justice Speech, Trump Belittles Obama’s Efforts for Black People”:

… Opening a three-day forum on criminal justice that will later feature his Democratic rivals, Mr. Trump promoted the bipartisan criminal justice overhaul he signed last year and invited to the stage several people who were released from prison as a result of the new law or his own commutation decisions.

Last year’s overhaul, the First Step Act, was an example of the power of bipartisanship, he said, praising the Republicans and Democrats who worked on it for their efforts “to restore hope and optimism where they’re really needed the most and where there was very little.”

But as his hourlong speech went on, his message of harmony gave way to his trademark partisan attacks on Democrats…

He recalled the 2016 speech in which he urged black voters to support him because “what the hell do you have to lose,” repeating the line multiple times and saying his administration had kept its promise to those voters.

And he described how his administration had helped historically black colleges and universities and suggested that voters “check out the last administration and see what they did for you.”

“Not too much,” he said…

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Friday Morning Open Thread: Scorpion Season

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New Scorpio moon Sunday, Selket protect us. Pluto and Mars will be in opposition, which means all the nastiest skeletons are due to fall out of closets, but since it’s a new moon it will take up to six months to resolve the ensuing crises. Then Mercury goes retrograde between Halloween and November 20th, which portends mechanical failures, missed opportunities, and gremlin activity on all fronts…

(In my defense, sports fans are notoriously superstitious.)

Per the Washington Post:

President Trump said Thursday that he plans to attend Game 5 of the World Series at Nationals Park on Sunday if the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros are still playing, though he will not throw the ceremonial first pitch.

“They’ve got to dress me up in a lot of heavy armor — I’ll look too heavy,” he responded when a reporter asked him about whether he would take the mound. Trump appeared to be making a reference to a bulletproof vest that presidents sometimes are required to wear by Secret Service when they are amid large crowds. A team official confirmed later that he will not take part in that on-field tradition.

Trump’s attendance at the 41,000-seat stadium in Southeast would mark a rare time he has ventured into the District’s entertainment and nightlife scene, other than his occasional visits to the Trump hotel a few blocks from the White House. It could also mean increased security restrictions at the ballpark for what is expected to be a capacity crowd.

The Nationals lead the Astros 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, with Game 3 scheduled for Friday night and Game 4 on Saturday, both in Washington. The Nationals would have to lose at least one of those games for there to be a Game 5 on Sunday…


 
Elsewhere:

Good news for Kai Kahele, at least: Gabbard just announced that she’s dropping her Senate House reelection campaign. So, once her new third-party grift fails to install her in the Oval Office, she and Nikki Haley will be able to devote all their attention to competing for gigs on the Wingnut Welfare circuit.

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