Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

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

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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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

getsmartin, GG Bridge.

gg-bridge1

G.M., Toronto Skyline.

toronto-skyline-color

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.

Click on the photos for a link to the photographer’s website. To see all photo threads, click on ‘photo blogging’ at the bottom of the post.

If your computer cannot read our email links at top right, my email is (remove the zeroes): portus0jackson0ii at yahoo dot com.

Reader Interactions

28Comments

  2. 2.

    mantis

    Some of you may have seen the latest news in birther-land, the <a href=”http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_1_0_t&usg=AFQjCNFUUQNqbtPylOx0MwZqdL-9ULIpnA&cid=1475556396&ei=Fc4KS4j3D4iwNvv4zoIB&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2009%2Fnov%2F22%2Fbarack-obama-british-conspiracistprofiling of Orly Taitz’s super former Scotland Yard investigator, Neil Sankey!

    Unable to resist, I have sent Mr. Sankey an email, hoping to retain his services as an investigator. I do hope he responds:

    Dear Mr. Sankey,

    I would like to inquire about retaining your services as an
    investigator. I have reason to believe that a man in my city is not
    who he claims to be. While he tends to shy away from public
    statements, this man has led the people of my city to believe that he
    is a public servant, possibly a part of, or in cooperation with, law
    enforcement. However, his use of multiple identities and his habit of
    avoiding the press leads me to believe he is not who he says he is.

    I have reason to believe this man, who goes by the name Batman, is
    actually millionaire tycoon Bruce Wayne, and is not a bat, or
    bat-human hybrid, at all. If I am correct and he is Bruce Wayne, he
    is just another human being, and does not have the required
    bat-related super powers necessary for vigilante superhero justice.
    We cannot allow this deception to continue, for it threatens the very
    foundation of our fine city of Gotham. I can provide evidence to
    support my claim.

    I have read of your excellent efforts in revealing the evil
    Muslim/Communist/Kenyan/Fascist/Hitler usurper person Barack Obama,
    who claims to be President of the United States, and I would like for
    you to direct your talents toward revealing the fraud currently being
    perpetrated on the good people of Gotham.

    Please advise me as to what steps I may take to retain your services.

    Sincerely,

    Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot
    Gotham, USA

  3. 3.

    mantis

    Oops.

    Some of you may have seen the latest news in birther-land, the profiling of Orly Taitz’s super former Scotland Yard investigator, Neil Sankey!

    Unable to resist, I have sent Mr. Sankey an email, hoping to retain his services as an investigator. I do hope he responds:

    Dear Mr. Sankey,

    I would like to inquire about retaining your services as an
    investigator. I have reason to believe that a man in my city is not
    who he claims to be. While he tends to shy away from public
    statements, this man has led the people of my city to believe that he
    is a public servant, possibly a part of, or in cooperation with, law
    enforcement. However, his use of multiple identities and his habit of
    avoiding the press leads me to believe he is not who he says he is.

    I have reason to believe this man, who goes by the name Batman, is
    actually millionaire tycoon Bruce Wayne, and is not a bat, or
    bat-human hybrid, at all. If I am correct and he is Bruce Wayne, he
    is just another human being, and does not have the required
    bat-related super powers necessary for vigilante superhero justice.
    We cannot allow this deception to continue, for it threatens the very
    foundation of our fine city of Gotham. I can provide evidence to
    support my claim.

    I have read of your excellent efforts in revealing the evil
    Muslim/Communist/Kenyan/Fascist/Hitler usurper person Barack Obama,
    who claims to be President of the United States, and I would like for
    you to direct your talents toward revealing the fraud currently being
    perpetrated on the good people of Gotham.

    Please advise me as to what steps I may take to retain your services.

    Sincerely,

    Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot
    Gotham, USA

  4. 4.

    toujoursdan

    My sister lives in Toronto. Fun to visit but I find it a big bland to live in. Give me Montréal or Vancouver any day.

    Toronto does have a great skyline though.

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Lovely photos. Fog is beautiful (as long as I don’t have to drive in it). Very picturesque to see the bridge emerging from the mists.

    And I love both Toronto and city skylines in general, so the combination — complete with reflection — gives me a big happy.

  6. 6.

    Kevin

    How can anyone say Toronto is bland to live in? All kinds of night life to suit any taste. Can’t speak for the “high culture” (ballet, art, etc), but the city is quite vibrant with lots to do.

  7. 7.

    Levom Jevub

    The Balloon Juice Open Threads have quickly become my favorite posts on any blog I read because of photos like these. These are phenomenal.

  11. 11.

    Comrade Mary

    (Gah! Note to self: don’t capitalize links here because they don’t look like links. Also, upgrade to FF 3.5 or just switch to Safari. Not having an edit button really sucks.)

  14. 14.

    Paul (Jvstin)

    Toronto is a great city. Awesome science museum, and a mixture of historical and modern architecture that makes it feel like a modern European city on the wrong continent.

    (I am particularly thinking of Casa Loma)

    And, after all, isn’t it one of the Ur-inspirations for Superman’s home, Metropolis?

  15. 15.

    Sly

    Looks like the GOP is having its first Purity Ball.

    The gift bag will include a stack of rescinded health insurance policies, leftover parts from an F-22’s avionics system, one cockring made in a non-union shop in Bangalore, one dead polar bear cub, and zero votes from Hispanics in 2010 and 2012.

  17. 17.

    Comrade Mary

    @toujoursdan: It deserves a higher ranking than 8th. SRSLY.

    My ex and I were members of the ROM when that design was chosen, and I remember receiving mailings showing the design and thinking it looked really quite cool.

    Well, it turned out that the final product looked more like a broken frat house window someone patched up with duct tape. Lesson: nothing ever looks as good as it did on a paper napkin.

  18. 18.

    schooner

    As a resident of Toronto for my first 36 years (Ottawa now),I may be biased, but I think it’s more vibrant than Montreal, a city I visit at least a couple of times a year.

    The old part of Montreal is beautiful and the bar and restaurant strip is great but it’s a city badly in need of redevelopment. A good chunk of it is an utter dump with crappy infrastructure.

  19. 19.

    Tom Hilton

    Is the bridge pic from Battery Spencer? Looks like it to me, anyway. Very nice.

    Toronto skyline is also lovely–great colors.

    And since this is a (photo-related) open thread, I’ll indulge in a bit of shameless blogwhoring: Pixels at an Exhibition, the photoblog I post on, had its one year blogiversary on Saturday. Lots of amazing stuff there from Ahab and Generik, who are much better photographers than I am.

  20. 20.

    Kevin

    I’m still shocked at how much better the CN Tower looks at night with the new lights. It was so dull in the past. Great job whoever decided to change it.

  21. 21.

    Brian J

    Check this out. Something tells me that today’s Republican party won’t feel so open minded when it comes to tax increases. They aren’t the solution to everything, of course, but there’s only so much spending that can be cut. And while I am certainly not on board with most of the arguments coming from the right, we do need to be mindful of the incentives when it comes to taxation. Fortunately for us, it looks like rates are low enough and the system is messed up enough that some small increases and some reform can raise a lot of dough. Or so that’s the impression I get from reading people like Joseph Stiglitz.

  22. 22.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Alright, I’m officially tired of beautiful photos. How about some commenter photos? Isn’t it time we found out who we’re having late-night thread sex with and otherwise loathing?

  24. 24.

    getsmartin

    @Tom Hilton:
    re: the GG pic – That shot was taken from a pull out on Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands. I was actually done shooting and driving out when that image appeared, so I grabbed the gear, snapped on the big lens and shot a few frames. The bridge was fully obscured moments later.

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @toujoursdan

    My assistant was born and grew up in Aylmer Gatineau and goes back a couple of times a year to visit her mum. I love Ottawa, get up there every few months. I think it’s among the loveliest capital cities anywhere.

  28. 28.

    schooner

    @toujoursdan

    The Gatineau hills are beautiful in the fall

    Still miss TO though. It will always be my hometown.

Comments are closed.