Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

No one could have predicted…

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Giving up is unforgivable.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

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

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

“woke” is the new caravan.

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

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

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

75% of people clapping liked the show!

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Open Thread

Friday Open Thread

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I’m eating dinner, and I just heard Wolf Blitzer state that a group is under investigation for their role in assisting up to 200 suicides by “extreme methods.” As opposed to the milder methods of suicide, which only leave you dead.

At any rate, here is a shiny new Friday night thread. Is BSG still running?

*** Update ***

By request, I am upping the fur quotient of this post:

Claim your pets.

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  2. 2.

    Zifnab

    I’m eating dinner, and I just heard Wolf Blitzer state that a group is under investigation for their role in assisting up to 200 suicides by “extreme methods.” As opposed to the milder methods of suicide, which only leave you dead.

    What, like this?

  4. 4.

    Comrade Stuck

    Is BSG still running?

    Just received BSG season 2.5 in the mail. So yes, it’s still running albeit behind in my case. I think the up to date version is also still running, though I don’t get sci fi channel./

  6. 6.

    HumboldtBlue

    Extreme suicide is doing it the way my oldest sister did it — drug overdose with plastic bag tied tightly over head.

    Hell, even that is pretty tame when you think about it.

    I’ve never understood why suicide carries such shame in our society. We are a murderous, war-making, killing machine and yet, the thought of someone deliberately ending their life horrifies us, stuns us into disbelief and shame.

    Odd nation, this.

  8. 8.

    Wile E. Quixote

    Every time I hear the word "extreme" I think of the extreme sports punks from Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. I can just see somebody watching one of these suicides and saying.

    Dude, on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being not so extreme and 10 being extremely extreme, I give this a 9.5!

  9. 9.

    Lev

    Comrade Stuck, I envy you. Season 2 is the show’s best. I wish I could watch it for the first time again.

    I’m hoping tonight’s ep is better than last week’s. I mean, they’re ending the show in three weeks. What’s the finale going to be, another hour of boxing that makes Manos: The Hands of Fate seem exciting by comparison?

    I just wonder if the show is going to have a happy or sad ending. At this point, they can’t have a happy ending since the show has totally embraced hopelessness and nihilism. It would be really out of context. On the other hand, a sad ending would just confirm that embrace and would mean the show was an elaborate bait and switch, and that the occasional moment of hope has just been to string us along. It’ll be interesting to see how it gets wrapped up.

  10. 10.

    gnomedad

    Apparently the repugs now need over-exuberant 13 year olds explain their ideology to them.

    Joe the Plumber is askeered that his place is being taken at the big table.

    I’m thinking that the rate at which the Repugs are producing celebrities du jour is a measure of their current bankruptcy.

  11. 11.

    media browski

    Admission: I wrote the dkos diary about the cpac "tea bagging" protest.

    I even sent john cole pics of malkin and joe the plumber but does he care what I risk for him? NNNOOO!

  12. 12.

    BarneyG2000

    Only a few BSG episodes left. The episode two weeks ago was the best of the show. The ending is clear, makes sense and ties-up the been there/done that theme. The only open question is: what/who is Starbuck?

  13. 13.

    Pete Butler

    When I was in college during the ’90’s, a buddy of mine subscribed to a newsgroup devoted to brainstorming creative ways of killing yourself. He shared some of his favorites with me — the two that stand out in my memory both involved jumping off of skyscrapers.

    The first was to secure varying lengths of reeeeeally long piano wire to the roof somewhere, and then tie them to your limbs. This way, your arms and legs would pop-off at varying heights as you plummeted.

    The second was to make a big to-do over will you or won’t you as you stand on the ledge. Then, once a big crowd has gathered, aim for them. And when you’re about a hundred feet from impact, the crowd discovers 1) you thought to bring an altimeter and 2) you hooked it up to a detonator attached to several gallons of napalm, because 3) you intend to take as many of those gawking sons of bitches with you as possible.

    So, yeah. I have no problem with the phrase "extreme suicide." Though I suspect if I’d seen the report in question, I’d be disappointed with how it was used.

  15. 15.

    Joshua Norton

    I’m thinking that the rate at which the Repugs are producing celebrities du jour is a measure of their current bankruptcy.

    I’m thinking that they’re just walking out on the street and grabbing people at random to be their spokesmodels.

  16. 16.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Pete Butler: If I checked out, I’d do it with a hammer. Imagine the dedication it would take to beat yourself to death. After several hours, you’d be weakly trying to work the claw-end in.

  17. 17.

    That Anonymous Guy

    I still want to know how the BSG Earth relates to this one. That’s a big, honking loose thread they need to tie up.

    Did the BSG Cylon tribe arrive on our Earth, annihilate the existing residents and take over? Did they interbreed with the natives until only Cylons remained?

    Or did the Earth Cylons get memory-wiped, so that they thought they were humans who had lived on Earth for thousands of years, instead of Cylons who had arrived just recently? (Which would make us all Cylons who just don’t realize it.)

    Did humanity migrate from Earth, populate the 12 Colonies, then send the original Cylons back to their home world? (In which case, what the hell was Kobol? A way station, perhaps?)

    Or (please God, no), do they just call it Earth in the BSG universe, and it actually has nothing to do with us?

    Gotta love shows that encourage full-blown geeking out.

  21. 21.

    Dennis-SGMM

    @Napoleon:
    The article stated that the military is making plans to stay in Iraq for another fifteen to twenty years. The military also has a battle plan for the invasion of Canada and one for Mexico. The military likes to have plans on hand for any contingency. This isn’t a mutiny as the article breathlessly implies.

  22. 22.

    John Cole

    @Napoleon: I would bet those plans are fundamentally no different from the contingency planning the military does regarding everything. I would not freak out about it.

    *** Update ***

    What Dennis said. I actually almost wrote the same thing about invading Canada.

  27. 27.

    Laura W

    Hullo Cute Furs! The thread was just way too shiny for a Friday night.

    I’ve been over on youtube looking for some of my Very Favoritest Happy Songs…the ones that make me smile, make my heart speed up, make me wanna dance…no matter my mood before I hear them. ‘Cuz it’s good to have them handy right now.
    This is a version of one I’d never seen before.

    Check it out. Clinton’s Inaugural Ball, 1993! I don’t think Miss Natalie has ever looked more radiant and exuberant in her life.

  28. 28.

    gnomedad

    @John Cole:

    What Dennis said. I actually almost wrote the same thing about invading Canada.

    Someone has the rights to "Extreme Democracy: Canada Invasion"?

    Oh, you mean the other thing Dennis said.

  29. 29.

    KRK

    I just finished BSG season 2.5, and for me the answer to this question

    The only open question is: what/who is Starbuck?

    remains: annoying as all get out.

  30. 30.

    Comrade Stuck

    @Dennis-SGMM:

    The military also has a battle plan for the invasion of Canada and one for Mexico.

    A wingnut’s wet dream. Add in Vermont and it’s Palin Starburst material/

  31. 31.

    HumboldtBlue

    Hey! That’s Macy-bear guarding the old neighbors junk yard, well, back yard at least. What a cutie she is. I wonder what she’s so worried about.

    Concerned cat is concerned.

  34. 34.

    Napoleon

    @Dennis-SGMM: @John Cole:

    That I understand and with what we pay for the military I hope they have contingency plans to invade Mars, but what they report from the NBC people is less "hey, this is just in case" and more "this is what we want to happen".

  36. 36.

    Phil

    John,

    Remember when you told us Baracky was really a "moderate" and conservatives who claimed that was bullshit were nuts?

    Well, FUCK YOU JOHN.

    We have our very own legitimate socialist in the White House now, Saul Alinsky’s dream realized.

    I don’t blame the liberals because they knew what they were getting and they got it. "They won" and they’re happy. Nevermind that America lost, that is of no concern to them.

    But the willing dupes like you should have known better. I look forward to your defenses of continuous TRILLION dollar deficits John. (I guess trillion is the new billion.) I also look forward to your defenses of Baracky’s taxes on charitable giving (look at his budget, you can’t make this stuff up). Apparently, government is the new and only charity John.

    I really don’t give a shit about your lame retorts John. Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to your future kids when you have to tell them what America used to be like when it was a free country. I know you’re too proud to admit you were duped, so lying to me shouldn’t be too hard. Lying to your future kids will be another matter.

    And to the liberals, congratulations on your big win. Unfortunately, America lost. I suppose this doesn’t bother you.

    The parasites and the deatbeats may be able to outvote the workers, the responsible and the producers now, but you will NEVER control us.

    My leisure time just became a whole lot more valuable to me and to millions of others like me to. Even Baracky’s own assumptions assume trillion dollars deficits as far as the eye can see. Well let’s just say those are generous assumptions when the producers go on a little strike of their own.

    Better start working harder comrades, Baracky is counting on you.

    Atlas Shrugs.

  37. 37.

    The Other Steve

    Apparently the repugs now need over-exuberant 13 year olds explain their ideology to them.

    I like how he learned how to think on his own by listening to Bill Bennett and repeating what he said.

  40. 40.

    Incertus

    @gnomedad: Come on–you can’t expect people to not talk about a tv show just because someone else might be a couple of seasons behind. I might say "spoiler alert" for last week’s episode, or for the next few days after tonight’s airs, but to call talking about what’s happened in the last two years a spoiler is asking a bit much.

  42. 42.

    BarneyG2000

    TAG

    Spoiler alert

    According the BSG methodology Kobal was the birth place of humans. They developed Cylons in their image (humans). Both groups left Kobel. Twelve groups populated the star system including Caprica. The 13th populated Earth. This happened about 1,000 years ago.

    Something happened on Earth that lead to a nucular holocaust (unanswered).

  43. 43.

    Comrade Stuck

    @gnomedad:

    Also, FWIW, Comrade Stuck grabbed my comment before I edited it.

    You can have it back for a small fee:) Tough times.

    I haven’t watched Lou Dobbs for a long time, but teevee was stuck there for some reason/ And just now. Kitty Pilgrim read off tonight’s program that sounds like a litany of whacky wingnut conspiracy theories and concern troll drivel on how Obama is reneging on his promises about Iraq and other things. Plus, an upcoming segment on how Obama is secretly plotting to take away our guns. I used the like Dobb’s show, am now embarrassed I did.

  45. 45.

    Josh Hueco

    Well let’s just say those are generous assumptions when the producers go on a little strike of their own.

    And there will always be someone to take their place. Greed is like that you know. Just be sure you’ve built your army of slave robots first before you run off into the woods.

  48. 48.

    gil mann

    but you will NEVER control us.

    (fiddles with small handheld device, throws it across room)

    Universal remote MY ASS.

  49. 49.

    JL

    Don’t feed the Phil. He has to be trying out for a comedy routine.
    Has anyone ventured over to Red State. There are multiple articles about how bad Josh is for pointing out Jindal lied.
    Of course in the world of Red State, Josh still is wrong because he did not phrase it properly or something.

  50. 50.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Glenn Beck is openly challenging Bill O’Reilly for the FOX Alpha position, and this is making for some good TV. Glenn is winning, in my opinion. Glenn noted on his show, in preparation for his appearance in 31 minutes, that he is boning up to get ready to define the word that he anticipates he will be challenged to define by Bill.

    My contribution will be to live-blog the interaction between these two men. Question in my mind at this point: Will Glenn be allowed to sit across from Bill at a table or will he be put in a separate room with just a single front-on camera, hindering Glenn’s ability to mock Bill?

  55. 55.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    President Obama is sitting courtside at the Bulls/Wizards game. It looks like he’s by himself, and a bunch of Secret Service agents. It looks like Reggie Love has the night off.

    It was a surreal day for the Bulls organization yesterday. It started with excitement as Obama invited the Bulls over the the White House for a photo-op. Then news broke that Bulls legend and studio host Norm "The Storm" Van Lier had died. And then a few hours later we were informed that basketball great, Johnny "Red" Kerr, had died of cancer.

    I have two Opening Day tickets for the White Sox this year hoping that Obama is in town to throw out the first pitch. It’s great having a White Sox/Bulls fan in the White House.

  56. 56.

    Laura W

    @KRK: And you were 100% correct about the sous chef being the deciding factor!
    Spooky.
    Damn that Casey, messin’ with Carla’s mojo.
    I could hardly believe the result. I actually need to watch it again because I was distracted online during the final half hour anyway.

  57. 57.

    Conservatively Liberal

    I have a feeling that Phil needs a rubber room, a straitjacket and a strong animal tranquilizer. Stat. I just hope Phil is all bark and no bite, we have enough wingnutz going off out there right now without another one popping.

    Nothing is worse than a cornered animal. They feel like they have nothing to lose.

  58. 58.

    Wile E. Quixote

    @Phil

    My leisure time just became a whole lot more valuable to me and to millions of others like me to. Even Baracky’s own assumptions assume trillion dollars deficits as far as the eye can see. Well let’s just say those are generous assumptions when the producers go on a little strike of their own.

    Phil, according to you you’re a PhD graduate student in economics, which, means that you’re not producing anything of value now, and are unlikely to produce anything of value in the future. Well no, strike that, I’m sure that as soon as you learn to say "paper or plastic" and "would you like fries with that" you’ll be able to put your PhD in economics to good use. Of course you could have gone into a low paying service job without spending thousands of dollars to get a useless PhD in a subject that has about as much rigor as underwater basketweaving, but then you wouldn’t be able to have "Dr. Phil, PhD" stencilled onto your plastic nametag.

    I also have to say that it can’t be too difficult to get a PhD in economics given the amount of time you spend posting crap on this blog, and presumably on others. Looking at you I thank God that even though I got a liberal arts degree (political science) I had some actual job skills in working on computers and a willingness to work my ass off when I got out of college. Otherwise I might have ended up a bitter, pathetic hack of a perpetual grad student like you.

  59. 59.

    Wile E. Quixote

    @Brick Oven Bill

    Glenn Beck is openly challenging Bill O’Reilly for the FOX Alpha position, and this is making for some good TV. Glenn is winning, in my opinion. Glenn noted on his show, in preparation for his appearance in 31 minutes, that he is boning up to get ready to define the word that he anticipates he will be challenged to define by Bill.
    My contribution will be to live-blog the interaction between these two men. Question in my mind at this point: Will Glenn be allowed to sit across from Bill at a table or will he be put in a separate room with just a single front-on camera, hindering Glenn’s ability to mock Bill?

    Aren’t you going to tell us that you would pay 80 dollars to see a cat fight between the two of them where you think that Glenn Beck would win because your psyche was traumatized by seeing a fight in a Chinese restaurant where you were supplementing your income by working as a transvestite dancer in the lounge act between a very large woman who ended up getting her shirt and bra ripped off and a lesbian with no front teeth.

  60. 60.

    racrecir

    Ben Domenech lead a Strike Force charge into Talking Points Memo territory and found himself encircled. If only people like Phil, Ben Domenech and Greg Mankiw realized that pursuing more leisure time not only saves themselves needless embarrassment, it’s good for the country. Go John Galt, already! There are thirteen year-olds ready to take your place (and do a better job).

  62. 62.

    TenguPhule

    Glenn noted on his show, in preparation for his appearance in 31 minutes, that he is boning up to get ready to define the word that he anticipates he will be challenged to define by Bill.

    Too many hard boners there.

  63. 63.

    phil

    yuck it up lobs, doesn’t bother me.

    Carter had a higher approval rating at this point in his presidency. How’d that work out for America again john?

    Enjoy defending trillion dollars deficits john. Perhaps you can explain to your kids why they’re paying them off later.

  66. 66.

    Incertus

    @phil:

    Carter had a higher approval rating at this point in his presidency. How’d that work out for America again john?

    In the long run? Better than someone like you would ever admit. He started the country back down the road to fiscal responsibility–a road which LBJ and Nixon had veered off from and which Reagan would also desert in short order. Carter also got some real movement toward peace in the Middle East, and even though it’s still ugly there, it’s not ugly between Israel and Egypt anymore. And if we’d followed his advice on CAFE standards and energy efficiency, we’d be a lot closer to energy independence now than we are.

    Oh wait–you probably didn’t actually want an answer to that question. My bad.

  67. 67.

    TenguPhule

    Carter had a higher approval rating at this point in his presidency.

    30% of polled Americans weren’t completely insane back then.

  68. 68.

    Laura W

    @AhabTRuler: She is so gorgeous. I love the Dahlink photo. My 17-yr-old Willie does that same thing with his front paws. Always reminds me of an old man (my grandfather), but it’s sweet to see a young girl kitty do it too.

    (I am eating steam-in-a-bag Brussels Sprouts as I type this. With chicken thighs baked in tons of fresh ginger, garlic and soy sauce, so it’s the lazy woman’s way of getting the ginger and garlic into her Momo Sprouts!)

  69. 69.

    phil

    Face it john. You got duped. You’re defending trillion dollar deficits now.

    And for the record to the other douchebag, I work full time and pay lots and lots of taxes so douchebags like you can vote yourself helpings of them and then call me greedy.

    Well atlas shrugs buddy. You want socialism, you can go work for it. My happiness isn’t derived from government programs.

    You keep on defeding those deficits john

  70. 70.

    gnomedad

    Glenn Beck is openly challenging Bill O’Reilly for the FOX Alpha position, and this is making for some good TV.

    I do not think this means what you think it means.

  71. 71.

    scruncher

    @scruncher: Now he’s sitting with that other friend of his Whitaker (his first name escapes me). And on closer look I’d say that kid more like three years old.

  72. 72.

    Brick Oven Bill

    I apologize but the phone line was busy. Here is a transcript.

    8:01-Glenn referred to be ‘outfitting caves in the mountains’;

    8:37-Glenn is at a table, this suprises me;

    8:37-Bill: Glenn perhaps smokes pot on his show; introduces him as Alan Colmes;

    8:38-Glenn: Brings his mock definition book;

    8:39 Bill mocks The Christmas Sweater title;

    8:40-Bill ‘This is the big show, this is not the afternoon’;

    8:41-Glenn “They could be leftist Marxists”;

    8:41-Bill says no; Glenn mocks him, executes the camera move poorly;

    8:42-Bill “The politicians have to answer to us”; Glenn mocks;

    8:43-Glenn properly predicted nationalization last week following direct challenge and asks O’Reilly the definition of nationalism;

    8:44-Glenn does a good stoner imitition on the way out; addresses the audience instead of O’Reilly;

    End

    Analysis: O’Reilly throws five punches, and does not land one, cheapening himself. Beck missed twice (8:41; 8:42). Nice set-up at 8:38 for the solid hit at 8:43 and sounded credible at 8:44.

    Biggest miss: O’Reilly using the power of his office to make at attempt at 8:40. People do not like seeing men use the power of their office in debates. This is why Obama made a strategic error engaging Limbaugh.

    Beck is the Alpha. At 8:59 O’Reilly states that mail on Beck segments is always ‘the best’. O’Reilly is threatened.

  73. 73.

    TenguPhule

    My happiness isn’t derived from government programs.

    Good, I presume you will cease any and all use of anything related to government programs.

    This includes eating, drinking and breathing btw.

  75. 75.

    Betsy

    @Wile E. Quixote:

    Phil, according to you you’re a PhD graduate student in economics

    I wouldn’t take him at his word on that. Though I’m not in econ, I know a lot of grad students who are, and they all know what the word "socialist" means, and don’t feel the need to leave spittle-flecked rants on blogs. I mean, a lot of them have a slightly unreasonable faith in the power of the free market, but they at least know what words mean when they use them.

  76. 76.

    Wile E. Quixote

    Phil the PseudoPhuD said:

    And for the record to the other douchebag, I work full time and pay lots and lots of taxes so douchebags like you can vote yourself helpings of them and then call me greedy.

    Well let’s see, you’re supposedly a graduate student in economics and you work full time and pay lots and lots of taxes. This just reinforces my belief that it can’t be all that hard to get a PhD in economics if you can do so and hold down a job where you make enough money to pay "lots and lots of taxes". Or you’re just another pathetic, self-aggrandizing pathological liar who likes to go on the internet and make shit up about the life he wishes he had while he’s living with mommy and daddy.

    Oh, and Phil, do a little economic research. If you do you’ll find that the growth of the GDP under Jimmy Carter was higher than it was under Ford, Reagan, Bush I or Bush II.

  77. 77.

    AhabTRuler

    @Laura W: She has her first vets appointment on the 11th, and she has adapted well. She does have the annoying habit of over-licking the wet food I have been giving her. She’ll eventually eat most of it, but as much by accident as intent.
    I did not know that the Siamese coloration is actually a form of partial albinism, and that the blue eyes don’t see as well in the dark. She definitely isn’t purebred, but there’s no doubt that she has a Siamese ancestor.
    Edit: and she is talker, too! Her meow hasn’t dropped down to the Siamese pitch, but I won’t be surprised if it does eventually.

  79. 79.

    Wile E. Quixote

    I have to wonder, after reading this article if that’s the line of work that Phil is in that allows him to work full time and pay lots and lots of taxes and still go to graduate school and work on his PhD in economics. It would explain a lot.

  82. 82.

    Ella in NM

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Extreme suicide is doing it the way my oldest sister did it—drug overdose with plastic bag tied tightly over head.

    God bless you, and your family. You now hold the prestigous honor of "People who get things in life no one should have to get. ".

    Take care.

  83. 83.

    Nicole

    BSG was teh awesome tonight. I feel like the past two weeks were just a bad dream.

    Though- wasn’t Starbuck’s dad supposed to be military?

  84. 84.

    milhous451

    yo, phil …

    any idea how much deficit the Party of Traitors & Looters (aka the GOP)

    ran up? 8 trillion plus. 8 trillion

    reagan 2 2/3 trillion

    bush sr 1 1/3

    w 4 trillion … which makes him the most successful traitor
    in american history

    put ’em together and whaddya got? 8 terabux plus. (probably closer to nine.

    where were you when these bastartds were passiong

    the supply side tax cut (totally unpaid for)
    the iraq war (totally unpaid for)
    assorted capital gains tax cuts (totally unpaid for)
    the Welfare for the Wealty tax cut (the resincion of the estate tax)
    (totally unpaid for)
    etc (totally unpaid for)

    T

  88. 88.

    Steeplejack

    Jeez, I have got to get off this late-shift working gig. I just refreshed this page and realized that the last three comments (four, now) are by me, commenting on previous comments long after everyone has moved on to a newer thread. Pathetic.

  89. 89.

    Laura W Darling

    @Steeplejack: In case you ever return to this thread…
    I love "Trouble Me" and had looked for it but could not find a live version with decent sound, as I recall. If you find one, I’d love it.
    Of course you may use "Thread Lacks Fur" for a modest fee. I may have a lucrative career in song/album titling in front of me. (See: "Iota of Taint" by Brick Oven Bill and His Band of Renown.)

  90. 90.

    Steeplejack

    @Laura W Darling:

    In case you ever return to this thread . . .

    I almost always return to the thread, if only to get some closure. Hope springs eternal . . .

    What I don’t get is why I don’t seem to catch any West Coast action. I’m on the East Coast, so late for me should be prime time for somebody.

    I thought it was Brick Oven Bill and the Electric Train Set. I think I dated one of the backup singers for a while.

  91. 91.

    bcwbcw

    The weird mix of cute kitties and extreme suicide has convinced me this post is really about being smothered in your sleep by cute kittens.

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