Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

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

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

It’s a doggy dog world.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

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Open Thread

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

Two pics today by reader woolie. I can’t get over the use of light in these photos.

The Machines Rest At Night

the-machines-rest-at-night

Construction Worker

construction-worker

Email me a link to your one or two favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put up favorites in open threads. Send a short caption if you want one.

Reader Interactions

69Comments

  1. 1.

    Violet

    I love these photos! Especially the first one. Fantastic use of light.

    Just saw this article – “Going Muslim”. Yay, a new way to slander Muslims and make them even more into dangerous “others.” I’m shocked Forbes let this article go to print. Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I am.

  4. 4.

    smiley

    Great photos.

    I recently found out that AMC is going to be showing a remake of of the ’60s show The Prisoner starting this weekend. Given the quality of some of their other series, I look forward to seeing it (DVR is set).

  5. 5.

    RedKitten

    I’m in awe — those are absolutely amazing.

    I’ve learned a lesson today. Never, ever trumpet one’s own attention to detail on a cover letter. There is no better way to ensure that one then has a typo on this same letter.

    Sigh.

  7. 7.

    R-Jud

    There’s just winner after winner on woolie’s flickr stream. Like this one. I hope y’all clicked through to check it out. Also: kitty!

    Oh, awesome. The baby signed “cat!” when she saw the picture just now.

  8. 8.

    jeffreyw

    Yay! Great stuff again. I find myself of two minds about the process underway in the 2d pic. Cutting a bevel on a pipe end with a gas powered saw? Field expedient I suppose, but the old fart pipefitter in me is disturbed.

  11. 11.

    Lee from NC

    Love, love the first pic. The graceful arches on the power lines are especially appealing to me as they march off to the horizon over the arch of the parking? deck or whatever that is. And the colors are beautiful. Who knew power lines could be so cool, eh? :)

  14. 14.

    elisathon

    (delurking)
    So beautiful, and woolie’s photostream is gorgeous.
    Photo blogging is an excellent addition to b-j.

  15. 15.

    Common Sense

    Is that first pic reconstructing Highway 59 in Houston? If so those arches are side street overpasses that light up neon at night.

  21. 21.

    General Winfield Stuck

    It is all about the light, and how it’s used. And these two photos demonstrate that with delight.

  23. 23.

    LT

    Hey TimF

    Could you leave your email address in the comments? Thanks.

    Is that first photo altered? If not, really something.

  24. 24.

    asiangrrlMN

    Hol-ee crap. Those are really really good. I am loving our talented photogs on this site. And, again, thank you Tim F. for showcasing the talent.

    @R-Jud: Bean can sign? Cool!

    @RedKitten: I agree with your lesson. It never fails.

  26. 26.

    Brick Oven Bill

    The bottom photo appears to contain 12” PVC C-900, Class-150 water pipe. The light confused me at first, as the pipe appears brown in the foreground. But if you look below the construction-worker’s crotch, you can see that the pipe is indeed blue.

    I miss working and wish that the nation had made the decision to electrify the railroads instead of funneling money to failing school districts to perpetuate the Education System – Idiot Complex (E-Sick) for a few more months.

    Nice pictures though.

  27. 27.

    Anne Laurie

    @Violet:

    I’m shocked Forbes let this article go to print. Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I am. “A short time after the shootings at Fort Hood, President Obama asked us not to jump to conclusions. To many Americans, this was a grating request, of a piece with the political correctness that was responsible–it has emerged–for the hands-off treatment by the Army of Maj. Hasan. How else could he have been left in the position of treating U.S. troops, given the stories we’ve now heard about his incendiary statements and apparent incompetence?”

    Well, to be fair to the people Steve Forbes pays to make him look smarter, they did give the assignment to the swarthy guy with the funny name. Because some of their best friends are, y’know…

  28. 28.

    LT

    @Comrade Mary:

    Arg. I know, but, as I’ve said before, it doesn’t work for me. It goes to my auto Mac email account – which is not set up, and which is a real pain in the ass to set up. And it doesn’t display the address either.

    Thanks for responding.

  29. 29.

    handy

    I miss working and wish that the nation had made the decision to electrify the railroads instead of funneling money to failing school districts to perpetuate the Education System disastrous wars on behalf of Big Oil.

    Fixt.

  31. 31.

    Cris

    I wish our road construction crews would work at night. We have about a 100-day window where road work is feasible in Montana, and 14 hours of daylight during the summer, yet we nobody ever sees fit to run double shifts and put out the big floodlights.

  32. 32.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Let Balloon Juice consider the number 1118.

    1118 was yesterday’s gold close in dollars, heralding the continuing fall of the dollar, which must continue as this government continues its operations. The national debt is going up by around $2 trillion this year, nothing is being done to return the industrial base to America, and the entitlements are rapidly expanding. At this point I really believe that this is being done on purpose.

    The President deeply resents those who demonstrate the ability to create wealth, while at the same time acting as the tool of those who would take it all for themselves. The 118 IQ estimate is probably high. I cannot think of a function that correlates 118 and 1118, but their might be one.

    1118 is also the number of labioplasties performed by the National Health Service in Britain last year.

    There are three lessons to be learned from the number 1118:

    1. It would be wise to learn to be self-sufficient for the better part of a year, and develop skill sets to protect your self-sufficiency.
    2. If you are a lottery-player, 1118 might be a good number to try.
    3. Ladies, do not get a labioplasty. The perfect woman knows she isn’t.

  36. 36.

    Fern

    I’ve really been enjoying the photos – Thanks for doing this! These two today are exceptional, especially the first one.

  37. 37.

    The Populist

    I have had it with the time Fox gives idiots like Chuck Norris:

    Norris: I really think he’s going over there to try to create a one world order. And I think —

    Sure Chuck, you want to create a one nation order here with a theological government and one party rule, right?

    Cavuto: Well, what’s your big worry?
    Norris: My big worry is the fact is that we, as a nation, if we start having to be, ah, obligated to other countries. Like — in this conference, they’re going to try to take our money and send it to third-world countries, because we spend so much oil, and so other countries have suffered, and they want to give our money to these, uh, third world countries.

    Obligated? You mean like the “obligation” the right claims we owe Iraq? You mean like the obligation we “owe” to Afghanistan? Pakistan? Israel? Man these idiots are dumb. And my next question is why don’t we send money to needy people? Isn’t that the “christian” thing to do? Your true face is showing Chucky.

    Neil, we have people here who are starving in our own country. I — you know, my foundation, I have families who are making nine thousand dollars a year — the kids that I’m teaching. Why aren’t we trying to help the poverty in our own country?

    I see, so what does this say about America then? When New Orleans flooded, many countries offered support in terms of manpower, cash aid and food donations yet Bush wanted none of it.

    Poverty Chuck? Guess you prove that charity from the rich isn’t working or else why do we have poverty? Families are making nothing, kids are starving yet these idiots on the right, the party THIS MAN SUPPORTS, want to cut social programs that HELP poor people.

    What an ass.

  38. 38.

    licensed to kill time

    BJ is taking eleventy billions years to load for me this morning. The photos are, as always, fantasmic.

  41. 41.

    The Populist

    Oh and to righties who say the school system is failing? Well, how come other countries do not have these problems? Oh yes, they spend a considerable amount on the education of their populations. We just like to pretend that the paltry sums we spend here are significant.

    We are almost dead last in per capita school spending. The right HATE public schools because they can’t use them for indoctrinating people into their one-world religion.

  42. 42.

    R-Jud

    @RedKitten: No, not really. Once she started responding consistently to her name (early September), we picked three signs to use (“drink”, “eat”, “cat”). We try to use them whenever we say the word to her.

    “Eat” was the first one she used, about two weeks ago, and today “cat”. She also waves “bye-bye”. When she’s using all of those confidently, we’ll add some more (probably “hurt”, “nappy”, “outside”). My cousin did this with her two youngest boys, and it saved them all some frustration.

  43. 43.

    The Populist

    One last rant to the likes of right wingers:

    If we can’t educate our children because the right hate paying for decent public education, nobody adopts the children so we all have to pay for a substandard foster home network why are the right so against abortion?

    They sure do hate the kids that have to grow up in this society. They can whine about teaching morals and preaching from the “good book” yet none of them seem to understand that children need nurturing, encouragement and attention so they can grow up as functioning, useful members of society.

    Not teaching them, not feeding them, not caring about them is a worse fate than aborting a fetus any day in my book.

  44. 44.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Detroit, Michigan is run by Democrats The Populist. Detroit has bad schools.

    Escanaba, Michigan is run by Republicans The Populist. Escanaba has good schools.

    Chicago, Illinois is run by Democrats The Populist. Chicago has bad schools, except for the one that Barack sent his kids to, to protect them from the Democratic schools.

    Naperville, Illinois is run by Republicans The Populist. Naperville has good schools.

    Thus Democrats hate children, and Republicans cherish children.

    Hater.

  48. 48.

    IndyLib

    Holy shit! Via TPM

    Among the juiciest is another Plouffe confession that Obama researchers planted the Edwards $400 haircut story with Politico. (Also read Time’s Michael Scherer, who notes the silliness of the game.)

  51. 51.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Violet:
    Wouldn’t it be hilarious, if after reading this article Mr Vardarajan was mistaken for a muslim by a wingnut? Greek priest, some one of Indian origin, they all look the same right?

  53. 53.

    BDeevDad

    @Brick Oven Bill: Escanaba is not even in the top ten % of school districts in the state of Michigan and has to deal with only one school and 2000 total students vs 100k for Detroit. The best HS in the Detroit school district is ranked 22nd vs 356th out of 817 total schools in the state. so STFU.

  54. 54.

    The Populist

    Detroit, Michigan is run by Democrats The Populist. Detroit has bad schools.

    And the area has no money to pay for schools, BOB.

    Escanaba, Michigan is run by Republicans The Populist. Escanaba has good schools.

    Show proof of this. I can name a million more GOP areas that have bad schools too. If what you are saying is true, why this hatred of public schools, goon?

    Chicago, Illinois is run by Democrats The Populist. Chicago has bad schools, except for the one that Barack sent his kids to, to protect them from the Democratic schools.

    Uhhh, dummy….this is typical and part of the problem. Take Long Beach, CA for example. Most areas have a GOP rep in the state congress as well as the US Congress. The schools are hit and miss depending on the neighborhood. Know why? Because there just isn’t enough FUCKING money to do what is needed to be done.

    Using your craptastic examples, areas with strong housing tend to get more local dollars…gee how shocking! Areas that are poor do not.

    Take the red states of Mississippi and Arkansas. Worst public school systems imaginable. Why? They can’t pay for good teachers. They pay NOTHING because they have no budgets.

    Take Clark County Nevada. Majority GOP reps. The school system sucks no matter what neighborhood you live in. The state cuts schools down to the nub whenever the budget is blown.

    You want to argue with me using arcane examples? Fine, feel free but you are wrong and I have explained why. The system is “failing” because you idiots use the poorest schools to make your case why public education is failing. Maybe it fails because the GOP does everything in it’s fucking power to destroy the schools to make a point.

    My point remains…the GOP hate living children. They hate them because they cost money to raise and educate. Prove me wrong with a little better research, okay?

    Property value dictates funding in many municipalities. Big cities tend to be underfunded because of sheer numbers…population and poverty. Rubes like Chuck Norris pull out the tissue of pity to whine and opine on why people are poor and need help yet they don’t get that THEIR policies make people that way.

    I can start a business, but if the system is rigged to allow my bigger competitors a leg up, I will never make it regardless of the superior service/product I have to sell. Same with schools. The rich and poor divide is glaring here.

    Argue like the troll you are, but you lose this argument okay?

  55. 55.

    RedKitten

    @R-Jud: Neat! I think I’m going to try it with SamKitten too. We’ll probably start off with the basics — “eat” and “drink”. Eventually, I would like him to know more ASL, as my brother is deaf (he has a cochlear implant, but still sometimes relies on signing in really noisy situations, like concerts and parties), and it would be really cool for Sam to be able to communicate with his uncle that way.

  56. 56.

    The Populist

    Escanaba is not even in the top ten % of school districts in the state of Michigan and has to deal with only one school and 2000 total students vs 100k for Detroit. The best HS in the Detroit school district is ranked 22nd vs 356th out of 817 total schools in the state. so STFU.

    Thank you for that bit of research. Confirms my initial viewing of the stats. Michigan schools are suffering because of economic conditions.

    If morons like BOB would STFU about things they know nothing about, maybe the country would wake up an reprioritize itself starting with education funding.

    Tax me an extra $100 a year if you like if it helps fix school budget issues. As it remains our schools in California are dying because of bad governance. When Ahnuld and his GOP goons in the state Congress need to trim the budget, who gets the axe? Public schools and colleges. Yep….self fulfilling ain’t it???

  58. 58.

    The Populist

    Who could have predicted that wingnuts would cry like little bitches because they lost?

    They can rip Al Gore all they like but at least he had honor and conceded in an orderly fashion. These fucks never concede anything. They hate democracy.

  59. 59.

    The Populist

    The South has the poorest educational achievement in the country. The South is run by Republicans. The South is majority Republican.

    Thank you. Exactly! Not only the south but Alaska too.

  60. 60.

    The Populist

    If I am not wrong isn’t Vermont one of the top states for educational achievement as well as having one of the higher per capita expenditures for public education?

    Hmmmm….blue state.

  61. 61.

    woolie

    Hi everyone! Thanks to Tim for posting my pics, I am very grateful for the opportunity. BJ has been in my reader for a couple years now, even though I am not much of a commenter, such are the constraints of a busy life.

    I took both of these photos in 2004, back when I was still an undergrad and could spend all night wandering around the city taking long exposure photos :) The camera used in both was a Nikon D70. The first picture was taken with a generic manual focus 80-200 f/4 zoom that I found in a closet. The D70 doesn’t record focal length or aperture for non-CPU lenses, but I believe it was f/8 at about 100mm, 2.5s at ISO 320. The photo is unaltered, except for of course curves and white balance. I believe I set the WB slightly warmer because I liked the orange colors it produced. The second shot was with a 50mm f/1.4 at 1.4, . Again, the photo is unaltered except for curves.

    Thankyou for your kind comments.

  62. 62.

    IndyLib

    @RedKitten:
    We inadvertently teach our kids a lot of sign language, so upping the vocabulary on purpose is pretty easy. My kids know how to finger spell, they know yes and no, signs for their names, stop, go, and a bunch of other simple stuff. They got interested in signing when my oldest son found my old ASL book from a class I took with my mom 20 years ago when she was integrating hearing impaired students into her 2nd grade class. They love it, for them it’s like knowing a secret language.

  63. 63.

    rreay

    There seems to be an unnaturally large number of Rochester people here so I’m going to take a moment and pimp my pass-time.

    Rochester’s Women’s roller derby league is having their last bout of the season this Saturday. It’s actually two games, one Rochester team vs Ithaca, and the other Rochester team vs Charm City Maryland. Door’s at 5, first whistle at 6:00.

    And because it’s a photo thread.

  64. 64.

    binzinerator

    Apparently the teabaggers are now teabagging each other, according to this at the Puffington Host.

    In October, Amy Kremer, a founder and top staffer for the Tea Party Patriots (whose activists swarmed health care town halls last summer), was forced out of the group for joining a second, more “moderate” Tea Party organization — the Tea Party Express. Now, the Tea Party Patriots have filed a lawsuit against Kremer and issued a temporary restraining order because she tried to lock down TPP resources on her way out.

    And I thought these stupid fucks were against all that elitist lawsuit and lawyerin’ stuff.

    and LMFAO on this part:

    The Tea Party Patriots describe the conflict with Kremer as an “intellectual property” dispute.

    Intellectual property. Gawd, I’m still giggling over that.

    Obviously there’s just two kinds of teabaggers: The stupid, and the damn stupid.

  67. 67.

    The Populist

    And I thought these stupid fucks were against all that elitist lawsuit and lawyerin’ stuff.

    You mean tort reform where if I visit a craptastic doctor and he operates on me and accidentally removes a kidney or creates a situation where my life will never be the same I have no right to sue for compensation?

    Yep, it’s okay for them to spend millions of dollars and waste court resources (both private and tax payer costs) on trying Clinton for getting blowjobs, suing Terri Schiavo’s husband, making the case that there was a Whitewater coverup and wasting time on whether Obama is an American citizen. Noooo, not these people.

    I mean we aren’t allowed to sue when a faulty product takes out an eye or breaks a limb..no. That is greed y’know. These idiots will sue over stupid nonsense like this. Clowns.

  68. 68.

    rreay

    @LT: I know.

    Our photographer, pixel8, has a ton of great photos now but I still come back to this one when I’m talking up the league.

  69. 69.

    YellowJournalism

    @RedKitten: Make sure that you and your husband are both consistant with the sign language. I started it with my older son, but hubby and I got really busy getting our small business going and weren’t using it all the time like we should have been. I gave up too soon, I regret. I think it would have really helped during that time when oldest son was just learning to speak. I want to try again with our new little guy. My oldest is still young enough where it will probably rub off on him, too.

    I know a lot of people think Baby Einstein is teh evil, but their First Signs video with Marlee Matlin is excellent. My son loved it, and that’s where I learned many signs many of the basic signs, although I think they’re more the baby sign language rather than ASL. Plus, the visuals are super cute.

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