Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

When I was faster i was always behind.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

In my day, never was longer.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Let there be snark.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

“Alexa, change the president.”

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

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

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Open Thread

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Just looked at the front page, and cripes I have been emo today. I think it might be because I think I am getting a cold.

Boise State v. Va Tech is on. As much as it pains me, I’m rooting for the Hokies, because I can’t take any school that has a blue football field seriously.

Reader Interactions

119Comments

  1. 1.

    jwb

    That’s ok. The comments have been filled with crankiness too. Unfortunately, I don’t think the commentariat can claim we are collectively coming down with colds.

  2. 2.

    Steeplejack

    __

    [. . .] I can’t take any school that has a blue football field seriously.

    Amen to that. Plus I think it gives me petit mal seizures, so I can watch only in short stretches. That and self-medicate with rum and tonic. Not an issue tonight, thankfully, but I am still self-medicating to be on the safe side.

  4. 4.

    inkadu

    The blue field must be a hyperlink to a pyramid game on Geminon.

    Or maybe they just made it blue to be able to blue-screen green grass onto it.

  9. 9.

    Steeplejack

    Oh, fuck, is that Musburger’s voice I hear coming from the TV?! Hell to the no. Cato, bring me a rum and tonic every 15 minutes until I pass out, and then one every 20 minutes after that.

    And I don’t think those Hokie uniforms are any better for my nervous system than the blue field would be.

  10. 10.

    Brian S (formerly Incertus)

    @Mark S.: There has been nothing so damaging to my productivity as Netflix Streaming, especially now that I have it on my phone too. I watched the Ken Burns Civil War series in 3 days with it, and have rewatched 2 1/2 seasons of Babylon 5 (I don’t recommend it) in the last month or so.

  14. 14.

    jharp

    What do you have against Va. Tech.?

    Ohio State is tops for me, then the Big Ten, then the WVU, Pittsburgh, Va Tech. part of the NCAA.

    Va Tech has been tough for years.

  17. 17.

    Strandedvandal

    Goddamit VT, beat those bastards! I cannot stand it if I have to listen to those arrogant Smurf pricks for another year tell us how they should be national champions.

  22. 22.

    Dee Loralei

    I’m rooting for Boise State, underdogs and all that. And yea, even though they kicked the collective asses of my beloved Sooners that was still one of the best football games I’ve ever seen. So, I have this really weird and odd respect and liking for the Broncs.

    ETA: And as the 17-0 score shows, so far I picked the right team to root for.

    But yea, you have been emo today.

    I’m not going to worry about polls for another few weeks until I see what Obama and Plouffe have in store for election season. Today’s speech was a heck of a good start. Though I may have to pie filter a couple of the gloom and doom brothers who comment here.

    And as an aside, google the “Chill the fuck out, I’ve got this” ,pic of Obama from 2008 and use it as your wallpaper til Nov 3, okay John?

  23. 23.

    Strandedvandal

    The Donkey fans here are by far, the most arrogant, self righteous dirtbags I have ever experienced. I loathe BSU, I loathe their Smurf blue/Prison Jumpsuit orange colors, I loathe their Smurf turf, I hate their fans, I hate their announcers, I hate their stadium, it’s unhealthy. Of course, I am a Vandal Alum, so that probably contributes to the hatred a tad.

  26. 26.

    Yutsano

    Word Press ate my comment. FYWP. Not gonna retype, just gonna say I’m still alive and GO BRONCS!!

    @Steeplejack: The coolest thing about the University of Idaho is the town it’s in, which is eight miles from where I finished university and a really neat place. The second coolest is their Jazz Festival. But then you come across their most famous alum and I can’t help but giggle.

    And BTW I started college at Boise State. Would have stuck around but folks ran out of money.

  38. 38.

    4tehlulz

    They field may be pathetic, but their ability to troll the BCS is second to none.

    Go Boise State.

  39. 39.

    Yutsano

    @stuckinred: It attracts a few international students for sports. EXCELLENT baseball program. My cousin got a scholarship there but gave it up fo a girl. I still give him grief for that. He could be in the minors now, instead he’s a nurse.

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack

    @stuckinred:

    Somehow I should have known that would be coming.

    Wouldn’t it have been cool if U.C. Berkeley had changed their team name to the Weathermen back in the day?

  44. 44.

    Svensker

    Revis signed, so some things are good. Other good things are a really good restaurant in Toronto with reasonably priced pub food. Delish liver with hand cured bacon that was to die for. Sigh.

    Not thinking about bad stuff tonight. Sufficient unto the day…

  45. 45.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    It is very grating for the fans in the Pacific Northwest, that the best football team is not located in Oregon and Washington, but Boise, Id. Hell even the She-hawks will probably suck.
    Then again it grates the snobs in Seattle and Portland that the best basketball team in the Pacific Northwest is located in Spokane. Go Zags(Well the Seattle Storm is Good)

  49. 49.

    Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther

    @stuckinred: SEE?! I’m a stranger in a strange land!

    Actually, just before I hit “submit” I thought: Wait. February? February. I think it’s February! And then I thought: “Ah fuck it. You hate football. If it’s not January, you’ll just be proving your point.”

  52. 52.

    Steeplejack

    Peeking kitteh icon test: &#094..&#094

    ETA: Underscore no work. Oh, well. This not too bad. Whisker fail on previous.

  60. 60.

    Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther

    @Omnes Omnibus: And yet…. One is somehow allowed to duck AI conversations without anyone acting like there’s something wrong with you. People just seem genuinely flabbergasted by my distaste for football.

    Now, if it were futbol, I could take it much better! But alas, that’s over for now.

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yutsano:

    He could be in the minors now, instead he’s a nurse.

    Ironically, he’s probably making more as a nurse than he would in the minor leagues. I’m a frickin’ secretary and I make more than most minor leaguers.

    Less glamorous, though.

  62. 62.

    stuckinred

    @Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Hell I live in Athens Georgia and most of the people I hang with hate football. They are all artsy and shit and way above such dalliances. I don’t care if people like it or not but the whining about it is what I dislike. If you don’t like it don’t watch it I sez.

  63. 63.

    Yutsano

    @Mnemosyne: Oh yeah, I know mino leaguers don’t make jack. But he was good. Really really good. Awesome pitch control and a really sneaky slider. He made his choices though and I think he’s happy with them.

  64. 64.

    Alice Blue

    OT a bit, but President Obama was quoted as saying “They talk about me like a dog” in his speech today. Wonder if he knows that’s also a lyric from the Jimi Hendrix song “Stone Free”?

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: You could try learning one or two things that happened over a weekend of football and then saying “Did you see that pass interference call against Atlanta? Buncha BS.” People think you took part in the ritual and leave you alone.

    My wife is European and had no interest in sports when I met her. She is now an avid Packer fan. This is not just something she does to humor me; it began that way, but it caught her interest. She still has no interest in other sports.

  66. 66.

    stuckinred

    @Yutsano: Andrew is a trainer for the Washington Bullets now. His old man and I were in school together at UGA and he was a trip. The dude knew more about 50’s American Rock and Roll than anyone I have ever met. He fixed up a junk car and drove from Georgia to Idaho to see his son and go to Graceland. A real Digger.

  71. 71.

    mr. whipple

    Just looked at the front page, and cripes I have been emo today.

    Today? Dood, you’ve been emo for weeks.

    Time for people to start punching goopers in the neck.

  77. 77.

    Dee Loralei

    @Bill H: was hoping no one would call me on it after I realized my mistake and it was too late to edit. Oh well, I’ll hang my head sheepishly.

  79. 79.

    Mark S.

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yikes! I didn’t know they made that little.

    A lot of MLS guys make about minimum wage. I’m sure they all loved seeing Beckham cruise into practice in his Ferrari.

  84. 84.

    befuggled

    To be honest, I’m a big football fan but if I know someone doesn’t care I just try to remember not to bring it up around them. I hope they show me the same courtesy with American Idol or whatever the hell that Jersey show is.

  95. 95.

    Yutsano

    And that will start the fourth quarter.

    And I’m debating how much my parents will kill me if I download FireFox on their laptop. This running over the margins shit is just annoying me to no end.

  97. 97.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Yutsano: Jack up the security level to high or turn off active scripts. It is supposed to work. I understand it might kill the reply button though.

  98. 98.

    stuckinred

    @MattR: Yea, like when I was in high school and drank all the beer in the fridge. I just put the cans back upside down (this was pre-poptop) until I could replace them! They never knew.

  99. 99.

    Yutsano

    And just like that the officials decide who the winner will be before the fourth quarter is even over. Lovely.

  102. 102.

    LiberalTarian

    The season is changing, John Cole is getting a cold … or allergies. I am probably not the first to mention it to you, but maybe you should try going cold turkey on dairy for a while, see if it helps. I’m telling you, when I cut dairy out of my life I also got rid of a lot of the allergy meds–it was that influential.

    It just isn’t a sign of good health to get this many colds and have so many problems with allergies. Yeah, yeah, I know, shut up. I learned when I was 40 that dairy and gluten were not my friends–it’s made a huge difference in my health to give them up. Just think about it.

    You might check with an allergist about dander, too … there are shots for that you know, you don’t have to give up your animals.

  108. 108.

    MattR

    @Mister Papercut: Given the way Boise moved the ball, that penalty probably helped VT in the long run by giving them more time to respond to the Boise TD. Even with that last sack, this game feels like OT. (EDIT: Or not)

  111. 111.

    Mister Papercut

    @MattR: Of course, there was no excuse for VT not to convert the first down on their possession up 30-26 (bearing in mind, though, that we have quite possibly the world’s worst OC).

  112. 112.

    Yutsano

    @Mister Papercut: Heh. You are welcome to find my lack of faith disturbing. Incidentally the Boise State QB lives only 20 miles from the town my parents live in.

    Oh and GO BRONCS!! I could handle this as a rematch for the title game. :)

  113. 113.

    Mister Papercut

    @Yutsano: Well, see, we would have to make it through the ACC unscathed. Based on what I saw tonight, I am not optimistic about those prospects on the whole (silly Hokie fans, clock management is for kids!).

    I am nothing if not a realist. I’d love to be proved wrong, though.

  114. 114.

    Honus

    @jharp: “Virginia Tech has been tough for years” VPI is 1-22 against top 5 teams, and has only ever won one BCS game (against Cincinnati) They have been grossly overrated for years.

  119. 119.

    gene108

    The more I talk to people, the more I realize there’s high-stakes pissing contest going on between business and the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress.

    Business has decided every paranoid thought they could have about Obama raising taxes or passing more regulations, i.e. changing the way businesses have to operate (changing regulations may not always make things more efficient, but they will always require time for businesses to figure out what they need to do to be compliant with new laws, which causes a certain level of uncertainty), will come to pass, so businesses have decided to horde cash and wait till 2012 and hope Obama loses, before they start investing again.

    The voters have decided they’ve had enough of job insecurity, declining wages and deteriorating long term job prospects, so the Obama Administration responds to them by “getting tough” with business.

    Any attempt by the Obama Administration and the Democrats to work with business, will be seen by liberals, who already view the Obama Administration and Democrats as corporate whores, as further proof of their corporate whoredom and gives liberals a sad, which may make more liberals stay home in November, thereby hurting the Democrats election prospects and egging the Democrats to “get tougher” on business.

    Any attempt buy business to realize what they have been doing for the past 30 years, which has led to more economic stress on the average American, isn’t going to happen because the Obama Administration hurt their fee-fees by talking about greedy Wall Street bankers and insurance companies.

    At some point, somebody has to realize they aren’t helping matters by pissing on each other, but that’d take a level of maturity, I think neither group possesses.

    Businesses have to acknowledge greed isn’t good, while politicians have to acknowledge every pet idea they have floating around in their heads doesn’t need to become a law – think of the crap Ben Nelson or Joe Lieberman pulls out at the last minute, when they hold legislation hostage – or that passing temporary stimulus bills to appease voters doesn’t address the problems of uncertainty faced by American workers.

    I just don’t see anyone stepping up and even identifying the problem of why so many people are on edge and working on a mutual solution to solve the problem. In the end, those of us hoping for an economic recovery are just left out in the cold, while the rich and powerful piss on each other.

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