Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

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

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

We will not go back.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

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

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

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107Comments

  4. 4.

    Lennox

    Laptop Owners!

    Stop Jerking!

    I continue to love the ads almost as much as the content…

  7. 7.

    General Winfield Stuck

    And the malware thing is back

    Not for me on FF. It likely isn’t google, but a malware in the BJ platform. Maybe undetectable like a cloaked worm. Romulan.

  13. 13.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    Okay, while the site is working for me, I just wanted to pop in and say thanks to everyone for such a fun time last night. I hope if you try the recipe, you’ll let me know how it worked for you. BHF

  14. 14.

    Mary G

    I’ve been getting a message about some kind of parse error in the home page at line 187, pretty much all day until now.

  17. 17.

    drillfork

    Every time I go into comments I get a message saying my AV software blocked an attack on my computer. I guess this is what you call malware?

    Perhaps those who hacked into the Democratic congresscritters system a couple years back have turned their attention to Balloon Juice?…

  19. 19.

    Alan

    @me:

    Thanks, I blocked that URL via my router. Hopefully I won’t see that malware screen anymore.

  22. 22.

    DaBomb

    I haven’t seen any malware.. other than the ads about hot monkey lovin’ on the page.

    But I was able to actually get on the site after the 400th try.

    The internets were failing me.

  23. 23.

    Gordon, The Big Express Engine

    In the For What It’s Worth department. The malware messages appeared yesterday and are gone tonight.

    Any update on arguingwithsignposts? The group hug the other night was pretty awesome.

    On that note, any Houston people here? I saw the SN! folks were having a throw down in SF and got jealous…

  25. 25.

    Laura W

    Why do the Chinese hate John Cole?

    Awesome 2001 “Curb Your Enthusiasm” marathon on HBO 503 right now. Till 1:00AM EST.

    (Second MikeJ on independent contractor consultant basis status. For wine, if not coding.)

  26. 26.

    Crashman06

    Just found out that the high school teacher who helped me really start thinking about learning, philosophy, and politics, has retired. Makes me sad that no one else at my alma mater will be able to take a class with him again.

  29. 29.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Netski? does some strange shit whenever the puppeteer pulls the string.

  30. 30.

    Nethead Jay

    @Mary G: That’s the same line I was getting, sent our host an email about it and apparently it’s solved now, yaaay :)

    Good news though, the security warnings are gone. for me at least. Running Firefox 3.5 on WinXP and security prefs are set high since that’s part of the day job.

  32. 32.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Yes, RIP Walter, still remember him signing off with the number of days hostages were held in Iran. And that’s the way it is. Say HI to Morrow for me Walt. You doods was giants and all we have now are Lilliputian’s reporting the news.

  33. 33.

    Demo Woman

    John, Thanks for doing what you do.
    When Walter Cronkite announced the death of JFK, I can remember being crushed. He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes and at that point I hated him. It was as though had he not said it, it would not have been true.
    Today we have masturbating O’Reilly and Buchanen who wants only white men to rule, and all I can do is sit here and shed a few tears for what our msm has become.

  35. 35.

    freelancer

    I’m curious how vilified, distorted, or ret-conned he will be through the prism of Greater Wingnuttia…

    “Conservative Journalist Hero Walter Cronkite dies tonight at the age of 92. Truly a great American,” says Hannity.

  36. 36.

    West Virginia Rebel

    I thought John had gone to the bathroom : )

    It does seem to be back now. And R.I.P. Uncle Water; whatever you might have thought about his politics he set a very high standard for broadcast journalism that today’s talking heads can’t even begin to match.

  37. 37.

    donovong

    “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone…”

    I was jonesin’ for my shot of balloon juice for a while there!

  39. 39.

    The next-to-last samurai

    Mary G, me three on the message. What might the Chinese have against John, Tunch, Lily, or all 3? Also, Dancing With Signposts, if you’re able to get on please let us know how you are. (i hope the long time juicers don’t think that ‘we’ is pushy of me.)

  40. 40.

    Betsy

    Hi all! I was in withdrawal from not being able to load BJ for a day or so.
    I just got done with a weeklong seminar for history teachers. If I’d had teachers like that in high school…well, I would have liked high school more. They were so awesome.

  43. 43.

    Demo Woman

    @freelancer: Conservative journalist… Hannity must not have been on Cronkite’s mailing list. Actually Cronkite was a conservative/Liberal journalist in the true sense of the word. Hannity is no Cronkite and never will be. Cronkite loved our country, Hannity not so much.. He only loves his paycheck.

  47. 47.

    Beeb

    You’re back! Where were you? Are you all right? How could you just wander off like that? Do you have any idea how worried your father and I were? Are you sure you’re all right? Let me tell you, young man, the minute I finish hugging you, you’re going straight to your room. :>)

  49. 49.

    passerby

    I grew up watching the news anchored by Chet Huntley & David Brinkley and, of course, Walter Cronkite. Even tho the nightly news turned to shit a couple of decades ago, WC’s passing feels like the official mark of the end of an era.

    Well done Walter. RIP.

  52. 52.

    Demo Woman

    @Linkmeister: I’ll have to watch it just to see if it’s the same as my memory. That day is imbeded in my mind. I hated the comment that Hannity had..” “Conservative Journalist Hero Walter Cronkite dies tonight at the age of 92. Truly a great American,” says Hannity”
    Our MSM is dead and I’m shedding a few tears.

  53. 53.

    panicbean

    I read you every day, John, and love your site. Honestly, can you quit with the tinfoil hat shit? Yesterday I logged on, and you were under advisement as an attack site. Oh my.

    Today, I tried to log on, and you were a one liner of why I should not blog. Only because I didn’t understand the shit that the one liner advised me of…..

    Really?

    This is what I live for?

    Get your shit together, bud, or I am outta s here!

    Srly, I love this place. I never comment, and now that is a lie. But I love this place, John.

    What’s up?

  55. 55.

    Joey Maloney a/k/a The Bard Of Balloon Juice

    Love the new blog! It’s not formatted as slickly as the old WordPress > Error, but it shares the same clean basic design and excellent content.

    Keep up the good work!

  56. 56.

    panicbean

    I read you every day, John, and love your site. Honestly, can you quit with the tinfoil hat shit? Yesterday I logged on, and you were under advisement as an attack site. Oh my.

    Today, I tried to log on, and you were a one liner of why I should not blog. Only because I didn’t understand the shit that the one liner advised me of…..

    Really?

    This is what I live for?

    Get your shit together, bud, or I am outta s here!

    Srsly, I love this place. I never comment, and now that is a lie. But I love this place, John.

    What’s up?

  57. 57.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Demo Woman:

    “Conservative Journalist Hero Walter Cronkite dies tonight at the age of 92. Truly a great American,” says Hannity”

    Hannity is insane. And an asshole.

  62. 62.

    panicbean

    I never knew that comments were moderated, :(

    Not a fan of that, but hey, you do rock! I guess I will live with it.

    I may never comment again, but know that I do love this site, and reference it often in my blog comments at the “GOS”.

    Keep up the good work. We need your voice, John.

    pb

  64. 64.

    Cathaireverywhere

    So glad the site is back! It was down most of today for me. (syntax error on my MacOSX? No idea what that means) I was sure you were all having fun snarking without me.

  65. 65.

    cleek

    syntax error on my MacOSX?

    nah, the syntax error was actually on the BJ web site.

    also … “Cathaireverywhere” ? love the handle.

  67. 67.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @panicbean:

    Comments aren’t moderated, except BoB sometimes. They get caught in the spam filter is all. Certain words like Sh oes
    Ca sino etc….

  68. 68.

    Demo Woman

    @panicbean: You tend to go in moderation if you say such obscene words as s h o e
    or words that enlarge your penis such as c i a l i s.. so if you say so c i a l i s m, you could end up in the mod stage .. It’s really not that big of a deal, just puts stars or spaces between the forbidden word. You can still say fuck though.
    Oh crap,, I should have used the stars between the letters..

  69. 69.

    Linkmeister

    @Demo Woman: What I remember of that weekend bears no relation to what the MSM does now when a public figure dies. With Reagan, Nixon, Princess Diana and Michael Jackson we got days of hagiography. I don’t remember that for JFK.

  71. 71.

    Demo Woman

    @Linkmeister: I lived in MA so there was quite a lot of coverage but nothing like the Jackson crap that we see now.
    Cronkite had a long productive life and I think my tears are more for the way the news used to be presented.

  72. 72.

    panicbean

    General Winfield Stuck

    @panicbean:

    What’s up?

    I say Tunch is fucking with the dials

    Tunch is a reckon to be dealt with. John needs to seek out a common ground with his most determined enemy, and go from there.

    OTOH, I love Lucy! And John is my hero for rescuing her and making her into Tunch’s mench. Which she surely is. Christ, aren’t we all? I would do anything for Tunch and Lucy, whatever they bid me to do.

  73. 73.

    West Coast libertarian

    I don’t comment much but I’m here everyday and was very concerned when I couldn’t get through earlier.

    My most vivid memory of Walter is sitting in the Long Bar in Tijuana drinking tequila at 25 cents per shot and paying the mariachi band to shut up so that we could watch and listen to the Cronk broadcast Armstrong’s moon landing

  74. 74.

    freelancer

    “Conservative Journalist Hero Walter Cronkite dies tonight at the age of 92. Truly a great American,” says Hannity”

    Hannity hasn’t said that yet, I’m just anticipating the Wingnut Spin via a hypothetical.

  75. 75.

    Fulcanelli

    Hannity should be waterboarded with with liquid helium. If he lives to be a thousand years old he will never comprehend what Walter Cronkite meant to America and what a consummate pro he was. If there is a just God Sean Hannity will plummet to his death taking the elevator to the street when leaving the FOX studio just for uttering Walter Cronkite’s name on the air with his fetid pie hole. And that’s the way it is. RIP Uncle Walter.

    Boy, I can’t believe how disorienting it was not being able to come here this afternoon. Don’t let that shit happen again Cole or there will be hell to pay. Also.

    Edit: Well, just in case Hannity says his name…

  76. 76.

    Cathaireverywhere

    @ Cleek “also … “Cathaireverywhere” ? love the handle.”

    when I was trying to think of a nickname, I looked around and voila! We have 4 cats and they don’t sit still very still for furminating, (understatement) even though it does work really well.

  77. 77.

    freelancer

    Again, the Hannity quote was a Hypothetical.

    The Wingnuts are either going to vilify him for being the Grandfather of the Liberal Media, or more likely, they’re going to be revisionist historians, yet again, and claim him as their own. Walter liked Apollo, Chuckie Krauthammer liked Apollo, THEREFORE, Walter = Conservative Hero.

  79. 79.

    Fulcanelli

    AsiangrrMN, what’s the name of your blog or is it still classified? I asked a while ago, but you were so shy and demure then and wouldn’t give it up…

  80. 80.

    RedKitten

    Hee. I was reading about your … um… lubricity on your blog. Heavens.

    Indeed…I don’t think I’ll ever look at grocery shopping the same way again. ;) You’re one hell of a writer, asiangrrl!

  81. 81.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Fulcanelli: Click on my name. I liberated my blog. Warning. Content is not always safe for work. Oh, and I’m not so shy IN my blog, as you shall see.

    @Tattoosydney: Did you see my h/t to you today? For the Kylie video. Or rather, yesterday. I needed it after watching “Uncle Pat”. You can laugh. You have it on hand.

    @RedKitten: Thanks, Krista. I try. Vegetables are your friend. Vegetable suppliers, even more so.

  82. 82.

    RedKitten

    @RedKitten: Thanks, Krista. I try. Vegetables are your friend. Vegetable suppliers, even more so.

    Well, when you think about it, anybody who doesn’t see the inherent sensuality in a sun-warmed, ripe tomato is definitely missing something.

    And now, to bed — would love to chat, especially as the blog was down today. But we’ve got a long day planned tomorrow: a 2-hour drive to go see my dad for lunch (why he can’t get off his arse to come see me is a mystery for the ages), followed by some last-item baby shopping.

  84. 84.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Fulcanelli: Thanks! If I go long enough, I may have to take you up on that offer. Where do you live again?

    @RedKitten: This is true, Krista. Very sensuous. Night! Yes, your dad should definitely be driving to meet you, but have fun, anyway.

  87. 87.

    Robertdsc-iphone

    I say Tunch is fucking with the dials.

    My theory is Tunch tried to order a pizza online because he was hungry. Instead, he nuked the site.

  89. 89.

    freelancer

    Also, RE: Cronkite

    The MSM is going to be hard-pressed paying more tribute to Walter over the embarrassing, fellating postmortem suckfest of Tim Russert. Anyone taking bets on who the TV media will have spent more time eulogizing?

    and

    My theory is Tunch tried to order a pizza online because he was hungry. Instead, he nuked the site.

    You may not be far off as Cole has alluded to Tunch’s acclimation with modern technology in the title of his most recent Lily pic:
    “justwaituntiltunchshowsmehowtousethecamera.jpg”

  90. 90.

    Anne Laurie

    @Lennox: Well, now I think we can guess what killed poor Walter Cronkite!

    I ain’t no doctor, but from my years of experience hanging out with the non-neurotypical, my honest estimate is that Glenn Beck is bipolar. And, like not a few cyclothymics before him, he thinks his mood swings are the source of his “creativity”, the wellsprings that have brought him to his current pinnacle of notoriety, such as it is…

    As for the Great BJ Disappearance of Aught-Nine, I vote we blame it on USNews getting the Great Orange Satan-wrangler to praise John Cole’s little poli-blog in public.

  92. 92.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Fulcanelli: Ok, I thought you were being snarky because they want to secede. I don’t know which state wants to change names. I haven’t heard of any.

    Oh, I thought you meant a complete change. You’re in State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, otherwise known as Rhode Island. I don’t know anything about your governor.

  93. 93.

    Elie

    Thank Goodness!

    I was in the middle of a disagreement with El Cid and the lights went out…had to do some other things for a while before I could come back on…

    Yike — that was a long time ago!

  94. 94.

    Tattoosydney

    @asiangrrlMN:

    “Did you see my h/t to you today? For the Kylie video. Or rather, yesterday.”

    That clip never gets old. She’s having so much fun.

    On another topic – books… Did you ever read the “House of Leaves” book that was recommended on here?

    Also, have you read “Gormenghast”?

  95. 95.

    freelancer

    On another topic – books… Did you ever read the “House of Leaves” book that was recommended on here?

    House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is an amazing, challenging read. I have often dropped it as my favorite book, but it’s been some years since I’ve picked it up. It is a goal to one day finish the book for the second time.

    Sometimes, as an author, it also helps being the brother of a pop-alt singer.

    Sometime in January, book talk was centered around worthwhile SF, and I’d like to at least mention, y’all are the reason I picked up Neil Stephenson’s Snow Crash last week. I haven’t started it yet, as I’m still plowing through Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven (pathologically jaw-dropping). But thanks all the same.

  96. 96.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Tattoosydney: I have tried so many times to read that book. I am ashamed to say I never made it through. I really thought it would be my kind of thing. It was not. I will have to dig it up and try again.

    I’ve never even heard of Gormenghast. Hm. Looks intriguing. How highly do you recommend it?

  97. 97.

    Tattoosydney

    @freelancer:

    “House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is an amazing, challenging read. I have often dropped it as my favorite book, but it’s been some years since I’ve picked it up. “

    It’s quite wonderful, and very nasty. I found the framing narrator a little hard to deal with at first – too much stream of consciousness, but once he stopped annoying me, it was gripping.

  98. 98.

    Tattoosydney

    @asiangrrlMN:

    “How highly do you recommend it?”

    “Titus Groan” and “Gormenghast” are very good – extremely odd. Don’t bother about the third book, but I suspect you would enjoy the first two very much.

    ETA: Lord Sepulchrave, Countess Gertrude, Nannie Slagg, Swelter and Flay… owls, cleaver fights, drowning, death, ambition, stultifying tradition and a castle seemingly made of thousands of parts of other castles… I am off to find my copy of Titus Groan and re-read it..

  99. 99.

    freelancer

    @Tattoosydney:

    I found the framing narrator a little hard to deal with

    LOL, for a moment, it took me a moment to remember who you were referring to. It’s the voice of Johnny (who MZD is reading aloud during that version of “Hey Pretty”), who befriends the old man, who after his death, finds The Navidson Record, which otherwise would be a cheap, stupid horror story a la The Grudge or The Ring, but through Danielewski’s use of Semiotics and prose, it is as subversive and haunting as any modern tragedy or nightmare narrative.

    Some of the most profound experiences in the reading of that book come as completely peripheral or seemingly irrelevant to the overall story. The parts that come to mind in this respect…
    The acknowledgment for the book, in stark Courier font, “This is not for you.”

    The sequence where Navidson’s brother is fending off his fear by telling jokes.

    The section on the subject of Navidson’s prize winning photography, and the subtle, subjective feeling of exploitation that goes along with it.

    and then, the last page of the book: Scandinavian mythology, a tree. Life. The End.

    “Y
    g
    g
    d
    r
    a
    s
    i
    l

    “What miracle is this? This giant tree.
    It stands ten thousand feet high
    But doesn’t reach the ground. Still it stands.
    Its roots must hold the sky.
    O”

  101. 101.

    freelancer

    @TIM

    Oh. My. Shit.

    did you find this via io9’s article on lost? I read the “daybreak review” by brad tonight for the first time!

    I have a friend that I borrowed the whole show to, and he’s power-cycling through the series over the last few weeks, and I was kind of ‘meh’ about the finale, but that article cemented my feelings about it.

    You have to beware because it has major

    SPOILER ALERTS

    As far as I know, Cole is somewhere between the 2nd half the the 3rd season and the 1st half of the 4th season.

    In other random TV news, I have tried to get into the TNT show Leverage, which seems like a cute, episodic version of the movie Sneakers that I’ll probably come back to, but the show Burn Notice has become a completely entertaining guilty pleasure for me. (Still haven’t finished 1st season, so no spoilers, please)

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    FWIW: Like Mary G/14, auntieeminaz/27, Nethead Jay/30 and others, I too had the parse error message all yesterday afternoon and last night, but I was even getting it this morning until about half an hour ago. I’m on the road so I assumed it was a problem with BlackBerry. Glad you’re back; I was having serious withdrawal symptoms.

  104. 104.

    Tim in SF

    @freelancer:

    “You have to beware” the article Tim posted: major BSG “SPOILER ALERTS”

    Oooo, right. Sorry.

    JOHN COLE! (and other new BSG watchers):

    The review is a critique of the ending and talks about the whole show, the plot lines, etc. Major league spoilers. Don’t read it until you’ve seen the whole series. And if you haven’t seen the whole series, please understand it’s a great show and I’m not trying to dissuade you from watching it to the end, I’m just trying to warn you that the ending is a little bit sucky (actually, it has what very well may be the worst ending of any Science Fiction show, EVAH! but I’m still glad I watched it).

  106. 106.

    Maxwel

    @Tim in SF:

    That’s an awesome review. I’ll wager that if there was any inkling of the finale’s nonsense, BSG would not have lasted as long as it did. Those who haven’t seen yet might pass on the last hour, or whenever the characters start their “I vant to be alone” shtick.

  107. 107.

    freelancer

    I rewatched some of it last night, and they should have faded to black 30 seconds after the last FTL jump we see. Problem solved.

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