Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

After roe, women are no longer free.

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

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

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

T R E 4 5 O N

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

The revolution will be supervised.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

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Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    In New England we already have a Patriot Day which commemorates the Revolutionary War. I fail to see anything similarly inspiring about the tragic (and preventable) events of 9/11. Has disaster porn become a new form of patriotism? The refuge of scoundrels indeed.

  2. 2.

    Breezeblock

    If I get a paid day off work, I don’t care what it’s called. Gives me an excuse to get loaded (not that I need one).

  3. 3.

    TR

    Patriot Day is doubleplusgood! Toast our victory over the Eurasian hordes with a refreshing glass of Victory gin!

  5. 5.

    Joe

    I’ve wanted to get rid of Patriot Day since the first time I saw it on the calendar. If you are going to name it, how about Victim Day? I don’t think the people who went to work that day thought they would die in some sacrificial way for their love of country. What a creepy designation of Patriot Day, for the great feelings of patriotism generated in the hearts of survivors.

  12. 12.

    Michael

    Again, if anybody missed it – here’s the Koran burning preacher’s highly offensive ni99er rant from earlier in the year.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOR09X1h_mE&feature=player_embedded

    As a propaganda piece, it is as subtle as a sledgehammer – the cult is promoting a message that’s running the negative trope at about a 4 to 1 ratio. To run under the radar, it needs to be down under 3 to 2.

    Another interesting factor is that Jones is from Cape Girardeau, same as Lord Harkonnen and his less talented brother, and is about the same age.

  13. 13.

    low-tech cyclist

    As a Federal employee, I get emails about “Patriot Day” every freakin’ year.

    And every year I think, “what’s so patriotic about 3000 Americans getting blown up?”

    Did an earlier generation need to give some idiotic name to December 7? Fuck, no.

    But the Bushies decided that 9/11 should ever after be known as “Patriot Day,” and nobody’s had the guts to strip that goddamn name from it yet.

  15. 15.

    Mike in NC

    Google calendar tells me that the 9/11 commemoration is called Patriot Day. How many shitty, Orwellian names can one awful event spawn?

    Well, there’s the PATRIOT Act and the Department of Homeland Security and the Global War on Terror (GWOT). All pretty damn good Orwellian names. I always thought Dick Cheney made an excellent sneering Big Brother.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Michael: Yeah, I noticed that Cape Girardeau connection a few weeks ago and wondered out loud (well, on BJ) if there’s something skeery in the water supply there. More likely the schools, though — or might there be a church connection? Truly, if someone felt like doing the research (not me!) it would be interesting to see whether there’s a genuine link of bigotry or if it’s sheer dumb coincidence.

  19. 19.

    EdTheRed

    She sees the angle – which is you – and she plays it. She’s a grifter, just like her brother. They probably had grifter parents and grifter grandparents and someday they’ll each spawn little grifter kids.

  22. 22.

    El Cid

    @EdTheRed: I don’t think Palin’s quite clever enough to be the grifter strategist — she fell into it by accident, and now there are enough right wingers to keep setting her up for it. And she happily goes along for the dough while they happily use her proto-fascist appeal for political purposes.

  25. 25.

    Winston Smith

    @beltane:

    In New England we already have a Patriot Day which commemorates the Revolutionary War.

    I was really bummed when I moved to the south and discovered that they didn’t celebrate that. Maybe if it was on Jefferson Davis’ birthday…

  27. 27.

    The Dangerman

    So, people are coughing up the Benjamin’s so they can share what should be a solemn remembrance with Palin/Beck? WTF? These fuckers are going to overreach someday and they will be yesterdays news.

  28. 28.

    Joshua

    GF and I were watching TV and we saw an ad for the 9/11 coin, which is a gold coin with these little pop-outs of the World Trade Center and the boat they built from the WTC’s steel.

    Why would anyone buy this? Will they take it out at a dinner party to start talking about 9/11? Why do people feel the need to treat 9/11 like some rotting open sore that needs constant attention?

  29. 29.

    WereBear

    @Joshua: Why do people feel the need to treat 9/11 like some rotting open sore that needs constant attention?

    It’s emotions they don’t know how to process.

    So it becomes a rotting open sore.

    That’s sorta them in a nutshell.

  30. 30.

    NonyNony

    @low-tech cyclist:

    Did an earlier generation need to give some idiotic name to December 7? Fuck, no.

    Actually, December 7th is officially “Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day”, though that was only made official in 1994, so I guess depending on who you are it wasn’t an earlier generation. And honestly, calling September 11th “Remembrance Day” wouldn’t be a terrible thing in my mind.

    But we already have a “Patriot Day” – it’s the fucking Fourth of July. The day we told King George to shut the fuck up and get out of our country. Shoving the name “Patriot Day” onto the September 11th attacks is just kind of sick in my mind.

  31. 31.

    cleek

    @Joshua:

    Why do people feel the need to treat 9/11 like some rotting open sore that needs constant attention?

    1. it pisses-off the liberals.
    2. some people love a good national conflict, and masturbating to 9/11 imagery gets their venom flowing.

  32. 32.

    jlw

    I live in Brooklyn and burning debris — mostly lifted out of filing cabinets — fell all over my neighborhood. But I hate how, simply hate, how some people have taken that horrible and dastardly and personal attack and twisted it to suit their own purposes.

    It’s not as common now, but in the years after 2001, “God Bless America” pretty much replaced “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” as the seventh inning stretch song. And boy, do I find GBA to be a grating song. But I discovered that with a little work, you can shoehorn the “Take Me Out” lyrics into the tune of GBA, and that’s what I’ve done ever since.

  33. 33.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    @Michael:

    Another interesting factor is that Jones is from Cape Girardeau, same as Lord Harkonnen and his less talented brother, and is about the same age.

    You would think getting kicked out of a group of Germans for being too extreme might be an early warning sign of some sort, huh?

  34. 34.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    The Beck/Palin 9/11 celebration costs $225 for a VIP ticket, and $66 to $115 for a regular ticket. The venue holds 5,000 people. You do the math.

    What math… that if the event sells out, we’ll have a pretty accurate list of 5,000 of the most gullible people in America?

    Hmmm… come to think of it… I’d pay pretty good money for a copy of that list…

  35. 35.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @cleek:
    Perhaps we should be grateful for the Orwellian character of the term “Patriot Day”. If they were really honest about what they feel, it would be called “Hating all Muslims – Kill! Kill! Kill the Other Day”.

    Maybe honesty isn’t the best policy, when it comes to some things.

  37. 37.

    Violet

    @cleek:

    2. some people love a good national conflict, and masturbating to 9/11 imagery gets their venom flowing.

    Yep. It’s really kind of sick how much they get off to the stupid Patriot Show crap that surrounds 9/11. It really is Patriot P0rn.

  39. 39.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    You do the math.

    I did, and the total doesn’t sound like it’s anywhere near Palin’s speaking fee, let alone Palin and Beck together.

    Clearly, somebody’s subsidizing all this!

  40. 40.

    Pooh

    Interesting tidbit: there is no “media access” to this event, at least for locals – the two reporters from my fiance’s place who are going to cover it had to pony up. One wonders if FNC is getting the same treatment.

  43. 43.

    Batocchio

    I remember when I first heard “Patriot Day” – from Laura Bush in an ad. It’s horrible. “Remembrance Day” has always been much better (although the same name applies to 11/11 and WWI in some other countries).

  45. 45.

    cmorenc

    DOING THE MATH:
    Assuming that: 1) the event sells out all 5000 (paid) spaces, and 2) the overall average ticket price across all the $65 – $115 tickets and the VIP $250 tickets averages out to $115, that’s $575,000 gross for the event. Rounding down a bit to allow for a handful of unsold tickets + a bit more weighting toward lower-price tickets still yields in the ballpark of $450,000 to $500,000 gross intake.

    Query how much Snow Queen’s travel/hotel expenses will eat into the net margin, and ditto Beck (you betcha he isn’t staying at Motel 6 or traveling by Greyhound Bus).

  46. 46.

    Anne Laurie

    @Darkrose:

    I thought Patriot Day was the day they run the Boston Marathon?

    Yes, and there’s Revolutionary-era LARPing in towns like Lexington, Concord & Arlington, since the day was intended to commemorate the beginning of the American Experiment.

    Given the preferences of slobgobbling grifters, perhaps September 11 should be called “Un-Patriot Day”, as the subliterate defense of xenophobia and blind vengeance & its exploitation by grifters can commemorate the end of that American Experiment.

  47. 47.

    dj spellchecka

    from caribou stacy’s facebook page [edited for clarity]:

    I can think of no better way to commemorate 9/11 than to gather with patriots READY TO PART WITH THEIR COLD CASH who will “never forget.” Hope to see you there!

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