Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

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

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

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

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

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

“They all knew.”

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

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

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

This fight is for everything.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

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Domestic Politics

Saturday Odds & Ends (Open Thread)

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Since Alex Pretti’s murder, there have been two anti-ICE protests in my deep-red town. Anecdotally, I’ve seen bipartisan disgust with this administration’s authoritarian overreach.

One of the protesters in my town carried a large Gadsden flag. At first I thought he was a counter-protester, but he had anti-ICE signage too.

This Jersey man gets emotional about what’s happening in his neighborhood at a protest this week:

Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social

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— Cooper River Indivisible (@crindivisible.bsky.social) February 13, 2026 at 9:37 PM

Sounds like he’s fed up with Trump’s child-snatching squads, so he’s carrying a sign for the first time in his life. Republicans cannot afford to alienate white guys in Callaway golf hats, so you love to see it!

***

Speaking of love…

Give her what she really wants for Valentine’s Day: A bookshelf with a rolling ladder, a vintage bottle of Château Margaux, a basket of fresh pastries, and a candlelight meal where she can dine on the hearts of all who’ve wronged her.

— The Whimsical Muse (@whimsicalmuse.bsky.social) February 14, 2026 at 6:23 AM

Yes! That’s not what I’m getting, but Bill is making his famous cinnamon roast chicken, a recipe handed down from his Polish American grandma. It has far more olive oil, butter and garlic than cinnamon — all the good things!

***

Speaking further of love, our Painted Bunting continues to visit. If you listen with the sound on, you’ll hear the cries of Limpkins looking for love in the background.

#PaintedBunting is back! Didn’t see him yesterday, so I thought he’d moved on. 🪶

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— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) February 14, 2026 at 7:19 AM

I’m quite fond of the Limpkins, but they scream incessantly from late January until March or so — day and night. I’ve been up since 4 AM thanks to those horny feathered screamers, and it will get worse when it warms up enough to leave the windows open overnight.

Limpkin screeching so annoyed The Yearling and Cross Creek author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings that she developed recipes featuring the birds and was said (by herself) to make an excellent roast Limpkin. I wonder if she used cinnamon?

Open thread!

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Fighting Global Authoritarianism, Inc.

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In comments the other day, we were laughing about John’s recent misinterpretation of a BREAKING NEWS ALERT during the Olympics and musing about the personal joy we will individually experience and the spontaneous street parties, etc., that will eventually occur When It Happens.

That sort of daydreaming is harmless enough. But as we all know, the rancid orange fart cloud is merely an avatar for a much larger constellation of problems, and those problems won’t dissipate when their current mascot joins the Choir Invisible.

Josh Marshall at TPM published a piece yesterday about the global authoritarian movement that Trump is arguably leading right now but that will persist when Piggy hoofs it to hell. It includes Gulf princelings like Jared Kushner’s bone saw pal, European revanchist governments, post-Soviet autocracies and U.S.-based far-right tech and media oligarchs who control major communication channels.

The whole thing is worth reading, so here’s a gift link. Below is an excerpt:

I’ve discussed this concept in the past. So I don’t want to belabor the point of its existence. I want to point out how its forces are arrayed against civic democracy in the U.S. — quite apart from Donald Trump. This wasn’t always the case. There didn’t use to be so many U.S. billionaires. And they characteristically had economic views which aimed to preserve their wealth. But they were not clearly on the right in the way they are now. They have moved an increasingly anti-civic democratic direction as the scale of their wealth and their identity as a class has exploded. They also weren’t so increasingly allied with primitive economy petro-states of the Gulf.

The point is that they will exist no matter what happens to Trump. They command vast economic resources; they run the governments in many countries where the government never changes; they have deep tentacles into the U.S. political system and many of its key players are from the U.S. Trump didn’t create this movement precisely. But his role in global politics over the last decade solidified it as a self-conscious group and congealed it together. Any movement of civic democratic revival in the U.S. will be menaced by its continued existence. Now is the time to think about how a revived and revitalized civic democratic movement in the U.S. could combat it and avoid being destroyed by it.

Emphasis mine.

Piggy is flailing politically and deteriorating physically. He’s grasping at a “legacy” by gilding White House surfaces, slapping his accursed name on edifices and overseeing the construction of a garish ballroom.

But his real legacy is a more consolidated global authoritarian movement that assembled under his banner. Marshall asks how a revitalized civic democratic movement might combat it, but I think the answer is implied in the bolded sentence above, which is to end its existence as a threat.

Figuring out how to do that is above my paygrade, but taxing billionaires out of existence seems like an essential component, along with reestablishing a global democratic movement, hopefully with less cynicism and a more sincere commitment to human rights. I have no idea if that’s possible, but defining the opponent and understanding their weak points is a good start.

Whether deliberately or not Trump strengthened that alliance, but it’s possible his buffoonish flailing might provide opportunities to undermine it. I think Senator Ossoff is onto something here:

Ossoff: We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It’s the wealthiest Cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class. They are the elites they pretend to hate.

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) February 7, 2026 at 2:57 PM

What Ossoff says has the advantage of being true, but I have no idea if the message will break through. We’ll learn more as we live through these interesting times.

Open thread.

Fighting Global Authoritarianism, Inc.Post + Comments (171)

Ready for His Close-Up (Or, We’re All Joe Gillis Now)

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Movie poster. A predominantly red illustration of an older woman's wrathful, enraged face looming large over a frightened younger couple; the title 'Sunset Boulevard' is displayed over a strip of celluloid film tied in a knot.

I remember being surprised when Trump named “Sunset Boulevard” one of his favorite films. Piggy’s taste in, well — everything! — is famously bad. So how could the vulgarian appreciate the noir classic?

Probably the same way apes read philosophy, according to the human namesake to the titular Wanda in “A Fish Called Wanda” —  “they just don’t understand it.” Maybe Piggy thinks Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond is the hero.

Not sure if a spoiler alert is necessary for a film released three quarters of a century ago, but here’s one anyway: SPOILER ALERT!

In “Sunset Boulevard,” faded silent film star Norma Desmond lives in a fantasy world. She watches herself in old films all day in her decaying mansion. She thinks she’s still a famous celebrity who receives daily fan mail, and she believes she is on the cusp of a big comeback.

Her ex-husband/former director/current butler Max sustains Norma’s delusions by writing fan letters in his downtime. Norma writes a script for her career revival.

While attempting to elude a repo man, hack screenwriter Joe Gillis turns into Norma’s driveway and gets sucked into her orbit. Norma persuades him to edit her awful script. Later, Joe becomes her boy toy.

Self-loathing ensues. When things fall apart and Joe tries to leave, Norma shoots him, and he falls into her pool, lifeless.

When the cops arrive to arrest Norma for the murder, faithful Max gently lures her toward the po-po and paparazzi by pretending to direct her in a film. As she descends the stairs to her fate, Norma’s closing line is, “I’m ready for my close-up.”

***

Like Norma Desmond, Donald Trump lives in a fantasy world. He’s bolstered in his delusions by obsequious cabinet members and staffers who puff him up by constantly singing his praises.

Trump lies absurdly about ending multiple wars, bringing the price of gas below $2 a gallon, improving America’s standing in the world and reducing grocery prices. This is all unadulterated crap that everyone outside the delusional MAGA cult knows isn’t true.

But because Trump is the president of a nuclear-armed superpower instead of a silent film diva, his fever dreams are published in The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets instead of whispered to a faithful retainer and ambitious hack:

Donald J. Trump: My Tariffs Have Brought America Back
The ‘experts’ predicted market crashes, massive inflation and recession. They were all wrong.

It was the tariff that made America strong and powerful in generations past, and it is tariffs that are making our country stronger, safer and richer than ever before. Given the results of the past year, and the spectacular economic numbers coming out every single day, perhaps it is time for the tariff skeptics at the Journal to consider putting on one of my favorite red hats—the one that reads, “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!”

Mr. Trump is president of the United States.

The WSJ column showcases the demented ravings of a memory care unit escapee as interpreted by ChatGPT. It is not a serious argument made by a competent person with even a toehold in reality.

The WSJ’s standard author ID insert, “Mr. Trump is president of the United States,” lends a surreal note because, holy fuck, can this raving lunatic really be the president of the United States? Unfortunately, yes, he is. And we’re Joe Gillis, caught up in a lunatic’s fantasy world.

That lunatic is ready for his close-up, and — SPOILER ALERT! — America will be lucky if we don’t end up facedown in a swimming pool.

Open thread.

PS: A gorgeous Painted Bunting has been carbo-loading at our feeder cam all day! I am thrilled!

Probably the same Painted Bunting I saw earlier. He’s loading up for the cold night to come! 🥶🪶

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— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) February 1, 2026 at 2:40 PM

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Another ICE murder in Minneapolis

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Violent, heavily armed goons shot and killed an unarmed* man in Minneapolis today. Here’s the breaking news from the Star-Tribune:

A man was shot and killed by federal agents in south Minneapolis this morning, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.

Video shows several agents wrestling the man to the ground and shooting him multiple times.

The Minnesota Star Tribune is on the scene.

Tim Walz posted the following at the Nazi bar:

I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening.

The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.

Despite its well-documented faults, the New York Times still produces excellent journalism, and here’s a gift link to an article that is an example of what they are capable of doing when political reporters aren’t trying to build personal brands. An excerpt:

Federal immigration agents have broken windows and dragged occupants out of their vehicles. They have forcefully tackled people to the ground. They have pushed and shoved protesters, and deployed pepper spray directly in their faces.

For weeks, residents have documented the scenes unfolding as federal agents pursue President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. The videos have circulated widely and intensified outrage and fear among many Minnesotans.

Click through for the video, which viscerally conveys the violence and lawlessness of the Trump thugs.

We’re going to need Nuremberg trials when this shit is over.

I know how unlikely that sounds, but it’s necessary. Trump is flailing at home and abroad, and as his political power wanes, his impulse to ramp up violence and abuse the fearsome power of the office he holds will increase.

Trump is the incarnate conniption fit Republicans threw because they were offended by advances in civil rights and women’s rights and LGBTQ rights. Well, if the pendulum can swing in one direction, by God, it can swing in the other just as fucking hard, and it must.

Open thread.

*ETA: The updated Strib article says Homeland Security says the man who was shot multiple times was armed. I’ll assume that’s a lie until a credible source confirms it. 

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Tariff Torpedo (Open Thread)

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Senile Satan just dropped a new rant:

We have subsidized Denmark, and all of the Countries of the European Union, and others, for many years by not charging them Tariffs, or any other forms of remuneration. Now, after Centuries, it is time for Denmark to give back — World Peace is at stake! China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it. They currently have two dogsleds as protection, one added recently. Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that! Nobody will touch this sacred piece of Land, especially since the National Security of the United States, and the World at large, is at stake. On top of everything else, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown. This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet. These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable. Therefore, it is imperative that, in order to protect Global Peace and Security, strong measures be taken so that this potentially perilous situation end quickly, and without question. Starting on February 1st, 2026, all of the above mentioned Countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland), will be charged a 10% Tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America. On June 1st, 2026, the Tariff will be increased to 25%. This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland. The United States has been trying to do this transaction for over 150 years. Many Presidents have tried, and for good reason, but Denmark has always refused. Now, because of The Golden Dome, and Modern Day Weapons Systems, both Offensive and Defensive, the need to ACQUIRE is especially important. Hundreds of Billions of Dollars are currently being spent on Security Programs having to do with “The Dome,” including for the possible protection of Canada, and this very brilliant, but highly complex system can only work at its maximum potential and efficiency, because of angles, metes, and bounds, if this Land is included in it. The United States of America is immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these Countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Surely this will revive the sputtering economy and strengthen our crumbling alliances! But seriously, he won’t stop ruining shit until someone stops him, and right now, only Republicans (in Congress and on the Supreme Court) have the power to stop him. They won’t.

Maybe the EU and other targeted countries dump U.S. Treasury bonds? I have no idea what will happen. But someone needs to punch the bully in the snot locker.

Open thread.

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Your Lying Eyes (Open Thread)

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This NYT article on the murder in Minneapolis yesterday is good journalism. It breaks down video clips frame-by-frame from multiple angles and provides indisputable evidence that Trump, Noem, Fox News, et al., lied about what happened. Here’s how Trump lied about the incident:

The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.

As the clips show, not only is the murderous ICE thug alive and not in the hospital, he was never in danger. He’s strutting around unscathed before, during and after the murder.

Will we ever know who this killer is? Maybe online sleuths will figure it out. The murderer was filming Ms. Good with his phone before he killed her, which makes me wonder if he’s an embedded right-wing “influencer.” Anything is possible with this depraved and predatory crew.

Minnesota AG Keith Ellison said he’d do all he can to hold lawbreakers accountable. But state officials’ options to check ICE lawlessness are limited by design, thanks in part to the corrupt U.S. Supreme Court.

For more on that, check out this prescient New Republic article by Radley Balko that published on Christmas Eve. An excerpt:

“People ask me questions like ‘Is it constitutional for them to wear masks?’ or ‘Can they really detain U.S. citizens incommunicado?’ or ‘Is it really legal for them to scare children like that?’” [said the Institute for Justice’s Anya Bidwell.] “The answer is that it doesn’t matter if what they do is legal. Because they know that fundamentally they can’t be sued, either as the government itself or individually.”

So while the administration sets arrest and deportation quotas, attacks immigrants with dehumanizing rhetoric, and tells immigration officers that they’ve been “unleashed,” Bidwell said, there’s nothing pushing back to keep deportation forces in line. “There’s no incentive for these officers to act in a cautious manner that’s compliant with the Constitution.”

Balko notes that the corrupt Trump DOJ certainly isn’t going to rein them in either. So the murderous fascist wilding will continue.

***

Turning from domestic fascist wilding to fascist wilding abroad, here’s something that’s goddamn infuriating on multiple levels: (Politico)

As senators woke up Saturday with questions on President Donald Trump’s audacious decision to order the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, one of their old colleagues was ready with answers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio worked the phones in the wee hours of the morning and, in the days since, has played an outsize role in not only formulating the administration’s strategy in Venezuela but explaining it to skeptical lawmakers wary of a protracted military commitment.

That outreach has been to his former Republican colleagues as well as Democrats, including those who see him as a rare Trump official with whom they can maintain a trusted and respectful relationship amid profound policy disputes.

“Although I may disagree with him on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis … he has shown extraordinary competence,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democratic leader, said in an interview. “I voted for him in this position; I still have confidence in his abilities.”

Senator Durbin is retiring at the end of the term. Good!

Others said they respected his particular expertise on issues in Latin America while also raising doubts about the strategy for Venezuela he is laying out in public and in private briefings — which for now involves propping up interim president Delcy Rodriguez as a de facto U.S. puppet.

“You can talk to Marco about — ‘Tell us about Delcy.’ … He knows all of that, and he can give you a sense of who they are and what they’re up to,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a former colleague on the Foreign Relations Committee…

Fucking hell, Senator Kaine!

“Marco has been evangelical on Latin America for a long time, for a long time — I mean, he’s, you know, a pretty classic neocon who believes that America will generally be greeted as liberators,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), another former Foreign Relations colleague. “I didn’t vote for him because I thought he was going to suddenly agree with me on the importance of military restraint overseas.”

Added Kaine, “At the end of the day, he’s going to do what Trump tells him to do.”

Every single senator voted to confirm Rubio, including my personal favorites. That was and is a disgrace, but as a wise man once said, it’s a club, and we’re not in it.

Can the lingering vestiges of “Senate brain” endure three more years of this fascist shit-show? Signs point to yes, but we’ll see.

Open thread!

Your Lying Eyes (Open Thread)Post + Comments (219)

Such a lovely dream…

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Optional musical accompaniment for the post below. The song is about Venezuela only in that the songwriter had a dream set in that country, which she’d never visited. I like it, and the lyrics are relevant in the sense that a (fictional) Venezuelan’s cherished hopes come to naught.

Dashed hopes are relevant here because we’re seeing cope in real time among South Florida U.S. House Republicans who represent the region’s Venezuelan diaspora. Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar, Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Gimenez held a press conference in Doral on January 3rd to crow about the Trump administration’s strike on Venezuela and capture of Maduro: (Miami Herald)

“There will be a new world order,” Giménez told reporters gathered outside Díaz-Balart’s office in Doral, the heart of the U.S. Venezuelan community. “It will be a world order that is bounded by and guided by the principles of liberty and democracy, not tyranny, communism and socialism.”

On that day, the three expressed confidence that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado would replace Maduro. Just 48 hours later, they were defending the Trump administration’s decision to work with Maduro’s socialist VP instead: (gift link)

After months of calling Edmundo González — backed by opposition leader María Corina Machado — the legitimate winner of the 2024 Venezuelan elections, South Florida’s congressional Republicans are now defending Trump’s comments that Machado doesn’t have the “respect” to lead Venezuela, and Trump’s plans to collaborate with Nicolás Maduro’s allies after his dramatic capture by the U.S. military…

The timeline for any new elections is still up in the air. Trump did not mention democracy once during a press conference Saturday focused largely on his plans for oil extraction in Maduro’s absence. Speaking to reporters on Air Force 1 Sunday night, he said Venezuela would hold new elections “at the right time.” In an interview with the Miami Herald Sunday, Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar defended the president’s comments disparaging Machado as lacking the respect to lead Venezuela.

Nothing about these Republican politicians’ pivot is surprising. Falling in line is what Republican politicians and trolls (but I repeat myself) do. We are governed by right-wing trolls on X, and elected content creators and unelected influencers alike executed the same pivot.

amazing how the entire machine can pivot within 24 hours. no need to slowly upsell the argument; just issue new marching orders

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— derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 1:50 AM

The question in my mind is how Florida voters will react. As a lifelong observer, it’s hard not to be cynical about it and bitterly expect them to fall into line too.

There’s a push-pull issue here in the sense that Maduro’s overthrow is already giving Republicans who are primarily focused on deporting brown people a new opening. Here’s Ron DeSantis on that:

Even as he invoked the plight of Venezuelan exiles, DeSantis appeared to support the Trump administration’s announcement that Venezuelans previously in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) can “go home to a country that they love,” as opposed to seeking asylum. The governor claimed that “90-something percent” of asylum seekers entering the country were “bogus,” adding that Congress should “really clean that up.” Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans nationwide lost TPS last year — leaving many of the roughly 230,000 Venezuelans with TPS living in Florida as of March 2025 vulnerable to deportation to a home country still mired in political and economic upheaval.

If there’s a schism among Florida voters, maybe that’s where it will emerge. In addition to DeSantis’s continuing to slander asylum seekers, Stephen Miller still runs the deportation regime, and those 230K Venezuelans will be an attractive target to meet his quotas.

For Miller (and Floridians who hate hearing languages other than English spoken in cities), the rationale will be, “Hey, we overthrew your dictator, so go home and rebuild your shithole country. Next up: Cuba!”

Of course, Trump doesn’t give a rat’s ass about democracy in the U.S., let alone Venezuela. To the extent there is a strategy in Venezuela at all, it seems like a neo-imperialist project to benefit Trump and Trump-aligned oligarchs, like Putin’s setup.

But Trump is hardly the first Republican who harnessed an exile community’s sincere yearning for freedom in their country of origin for personal political gain. The question now is how much of a pretense is the Trump administration is willing to maintain to keep the diaspora community on side.

Judging by Trump’s deranged remarks last weekend, not much. Your guess at how that might affect Florida voter behavior in future elections is as good as mine.

Open thread.

Such a lovely dream…Post + Comments (181)