Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

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

As long as McCarthy is Speaker, the House will never be in order.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

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

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

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74Comments

  3. 3.

    SenyorDave

    I saw Kurtz’s show “Reliable Sources” while at the gym a few weeks ago (captive audience). I went home and took a massive dump. Coincidence? Ha!

  4. 4.

    Butch

    Tim, here in the mountains the seasons are almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.

  7. 7.

    Snowblinded

    Your homepage, at “https://balloon-juice.com” has a very detailed, full-screen, hi-res depiction of the white out.
    Those, like I, who get here some other way can see it by clicking “consistently wrong…” above.

  8. 8.

    beltane

    Nice to see snow somewhere. This has been by far the mildest winter in the ten years I’ve been living here, not that I’m complaining.

    And for your afternoon LOLZ, Sully has posted his long-form birth certificate. Has anyone ever demanded to see it?

  9. 9.

    beltane

    Is anyone following the situation in Greece? I’m wondering how severe the rioting will be when they implement the austerity measures demanded by the Germans. Will the whole country burn, or just parts of it?

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    WInter photos, huh? I’m fond of this one. It’s from a few years ago, taken at the concert pavilion in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago (This is what it looks like when it’s in use, during less frigid seasons).

    -dms

  11. 11.

    Punchy

    That bus driver needs to be fired. Who the fuck drives a bus with that much snow in the windshield?

    Dumbass.

  12. 12.

    Dork

    Is anyone following the situation in Greece?

    I’ll give you a recap: Travolta runs around dancing a lot, Olivia Newton John looks old-school hot, and there’s lots of hair products in everyone’s coiffure.

    Forgot how it all ends.

  14. 14.

    Sentient Puddle

    Next winter, when I hear that a blizzard is going to hit some part of the country, I’m going to book a flight there. Snow is just so beautiful, and I just don’t get enough of it (although saying “none” might be more accurate).

  20. 20.

    mr. whipple

    Happy Newz to feed the Bots:

    “International cooperation depends on mutual respect, and today’s Gallup poll shows international respect for the US has blossomed in the first year of Obama’s administration.

    Perceptions of U.S. leadership worldwide improved significantly from 2008 to 2009. The U.S.-Global Leadership Project, a partnership between the Meridian International Center and Gallup, finds that a median of 51% of the world approves of the job performance of the current leadership of the U.S., up from a median of 34% in 2008.”

    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/2/9/835488/-Gallup:-World-Regains-Confidence-in-US-Leadership

  22. 22.

    Derek

    Again. Four and Half FEET. In Arizona. Why wasn’t that a big deal and this light dandruff a “pocalypse” . Then again there are like six people in Flagstaff.

  23. 23.

    tesslibrarian

    @Derek: Because the networks don’t have offices in Flagstaff. This storm impacted *their* lives, so it’s Major News.

    The Dems should have passed HCR while the media was busy composing their competitive stories about who had the harder time clearing their driveways.

  24. 24.

    Mark S.

    @beltane:

    Krugman here talks mostly about Spain but it seems the main problem is that the smaller Euro countries don’t have control of their monetary systems:

    If Spain had had its own currency, that currency might have appreciated during the real estate boom, then depreciated when the boom was over. Since it didn’t and doesn’t, however, Spain now seems doomed to suffer years of grinding deflation and high unemployment.

    This is about the edge of my understanding of economics, so I’ll take his word on it.

    If there are any economists in the house, what do Keynesians think that smaller, poorer countries should do during a recession? It would seem to me that these countries do not have the option to run huge deficits and spend themselves out of the recession. Does anyone know?

  26. 26.

    Martin

    @Mark S.:

    If there are any economists in the house, what do Keynesians think that smaller, poorer countries states should do during a recession? It would seem to me that these countries states do not have the option to run huge deficits and spend themselves out of the recession. Does anyone in the GOP know?

    Adjusted for relevancy.

  27. 27.

    twiffer

    so, half to maybe a foot tomorrow in CT. finally, some snow. naturally, it’s 40° right now, to make sure the last remaining traces of the prior snowfall are gone.

  28. 28.

    mr. whipple

    “That was another crack at Palin, who asked Obama supporters, “How’s that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?””

    Wow, didn’t know Palin said that. She’s getting her material from the pout-o-sphere.

  30. 30.

    daverave

    Ah yes, ’twas the Blizzard of ’78 in Boston that drove daverave to NorCal in search of sunnier climes. Those piles of snow get way ugly in any city after a few weeks. Eventually they turn black from road grit, etc.

    I don’t suppose these storms will have a similar “go west young man” effect given how EVERYONE knows what a mess CA is these days. For that silver lining, I am grateful.

  32. 32.

    Libby

    @Martin: (at #25) It’s hilarious but ill-advised I think. Shiny object for the media. Now the WH gaggle will obsess about that instead of reporting what POTUS said.

  33. 33.

    licensed to kill time

    @Martin:

    Funny! I like Gibbs’ dry humor. I’ll take it any day over Sarah!’s snide, mean schtick. I hope it gets her panties in a twist and she spews all over her Facebook, neener neener.

    (Ok, I realize that was not very mature of me. snicker.)

  36. 36.

    different church-lady

    Watching you guys freak out about snow is so much fun.

    Signed,
    Northern New England.

  37. 37.

    LLeo

    Re: why snopacolyse on the east coast and not flagstaff

    No disrespect to flagstaff but this snow imacted millions of people; DC to Philly alone has to be like 15million people. The I-95 corridor is a massive trucking and Rail route. It’s like what happens to the west coast when an earthquake hits SF.

  38. 38.

    Catsy

    It’s funny you should use the term “snowpocalypse”. One of the Lego groups on Flickr in which I participate is called “ApocaLego”, which somewhat self-evidently is intended for pictures of post-apocalypse-themed Lego creations. Since there’s always a glut of new builds whenever people are stuck inside from the snow, one of the admins spun up a new contest called “Blood in the Snow”, where the object was to build something depicting life after a “snowpocalypse”, when the world has ended in an ice age or some such.

    This was my entry: http://www.flickr.com/photos/catsy/4336903278/

  40. 40.

    Napoleon

    @Mark S.:

    The bigger ones do not either. Think of it in terms of the US, in that every state in the US has to use the US dollar, except now imagine instead of having the Federal Government we now have all you have is basically an entity that can print money and not a whole lot more. No running deficits to keep the economy running, no road building projects in the various states, no payments to states to cover extending jobless benefits, etc. etc. Plus you don’t have a country like the US where if you loose your job in Dallas its real easy to move to Denver.

  43. 43.

    Martin

    @Catsy: Very cool. My son got a shiny webcam and software for Christmas and is now learning to make Lego stop-motion. He’s eagerly awaiting the boy across the street to get his college admissions letter so he can inherit his fuckton of Legos – there’s no hope of ever satisfying the addiction…

  44. 44.

    geg6

    Well, it’s started again. They are now saying look for another 6-10 by tomorrow evening and winds over 35mph, leading to what they are calling “ground blizzards.” Apparently, that is snow that has already fallen but will be blown around so much that it will seem to be a blizzard white out. Fuckfuckityfuckfuckfuck.

    I hate winter. Especially February.

    Edited to add: Hey, Tim! Is that Squirrel Hill or is that Highland Park? It looks awfully like an area of Highland Park that I know, but with the snow and all, it’s hard to tell.

  49. 49.

    asiangrrlMN

    @GReynoldsCT00: Where are they? The south got hit hard. We in the cities, not so much.

    By the way, I would like to lodge a meaningless protest against Yahoo! Yesterday, their headline was, “The five worst cities for snow.” Meaning, the five cities that get the most snow. Hello? For some of us, those are the five BEST cities (and yes, Minneapolis made the list).

  50. 50.

    burnspbesq

    Greetings from row 8 on what may be the last plane to get into JFK for a couple of days. Love NY when it snows, just wish I had packed more appropriately when I left home on Saturday.

  51. 51.

    John PM

    We are in the middle of what is being referred to in Chicago as the “Snowmageddon,” with up to 14 inches expected by tomorrow morning. However, I don’t think we are going to get that much. If school is cancelled tomorrow, my boys will definitely want to go sledding.

  52. 52.

    PeakVT

    @Mark S.: Theoretically a poor country can borrow as much relative to its GDP as a rich country. But poor countries usually have governance problems, which limits their borrowing. For instance, would you trust bonds issued by the government of Nigeria more than ones from much smaller Botswana?

    PS: Sunny and cloudless today where I am. The remaining snow here is mostly grungy curbside piles.

  54. 54.

    Catsy

    @Martin: Tell me about it. I’m 36 years old and my Lego collection is probably bigger than my son’s by a factor of twenty. But he gets to play with all my unsorted parts and I give him pieces I have in excess bulk, so it’s all good. :)

    And for what it’s worth, I am deeply envious of all you east-coasters right now, even with all the disorder a snow like this brings. I was living in Maryland during the big blizzard of ’80, and I’ve wanted another one ever since. We got seriously cheated out of a real winter this year in Seattle.

  58. 58.

    geg6

    @Tim F.:

    Damn, I should have known that considering the misspent four years I lived there. If I can’t recognize Panther Hollow, I must be getting old.

  61. 61.

    gypsy howell

    I like how the national weather service is calling it “AN EXPLOSIVELY DEVELOPING NOR/EASTER” in my local forecast.

    I swear I hear “Ride of the Valkyries” blasting from the helicopters circling overhead.

  62. 62.

    chopper

    wait, i thought snowpocalypse was the one in december, this last one was ‘snowmageddon’.

    and apparently this next one is the second coming of snowman jesus.

  63. 63.

    chopper

    @John PM:

    i’ve had the last two days off, and likely tomorrow as well. hell, maybe even the week. federal employment has its benefits…

  65. 65.

    Ash Can

    @Catsy: What fun! I have a 10-year-old son, and Lego basically owns our household. And I’m fine with that; it’s great to see him enamored with such a great building toy. (Oh, and BTW, I was in grad school in DC for the big-ass blizzard of ’83. One of the funniest damned things I’ve ever seen.)

    @Martin: Oh my. I hear you. In our case, I deserve much of the blame, since I’m a garage-sale junkie and every so often come across a whole metric shit-ton of the things. Naturally, I can’t resist a bargain, which is why Bottle Rocket is pretty much in Lego heaven now and I don’t know where to store them all.

    @jeffreyw: Those look like grackles. Are they always around where you are, or are they headed back north?

  70. 70.

    Platonicspoof

    Clear, 53 degrees, no wind, perfect for biking – Portland, OR.

    “Progressives are made of Marxist stew.”
    G. Beck, 02/09/10.

  72. 72.

    Gus

    @Sentient Puddle: Yes, snow is beautiful for as long as two weeks. In Minnesota we’ve had snow on the ground since November, and I am really fucking sick of it. Goin’ to FL for some spring training in a few weeks.

  73. 73.

    Ash Can

    @Catsy: Woo-hoo! Good thing chances are basically nil that my son will ever be in your work space. He’d trash the joint.

  74. 74.

    Catsy

    @Ash Can: Hah! You should see it now. It /is/ trashed. I really need to sort the last few boxes; I’m running out of certain parts and we’re running out of floor space in our den.

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