Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Second rate reporter says what?

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

The revolution will be supervised.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

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Reader Interactions

102Comments

  1. 1.

    Nellcote

    CNN will broadcast Bachmann’s response to Paul Ryan’s response. I guess they just can’t get enough teabagging over there.

  4. 4.

    Alex S.

    Can’t wait to see Kucinich’s response to Bachmann’s version of Paul Ryan’s response to Obama.

  5. 5.

    freelancer

    Christopher Nolan got snubbed for an Oscar Nom for Best Director. He’s currently trending on Twitter.

    Also, there are a lot of nominations for “The Kids are Alright”. I haven’t seen it yet, but the critical consensus was that it was a dysfunctional family dramedy a la “Life as a House” or “Dan in Real Life” but with two lesbian characters as the head of the household. Anyone here see it?

    Was it any good, or is this just Hollywood patting themselves on the back for making such “brave” and “edgy” choices?

  6. 6.

    PaulW

    Classic rules of debate is if you have two rebuttals against an opening speech there ought to be a concurrence defending the speech to balance things out. Shame, CNN, shame.

  7. 7.

    jibeaux

    How long has “we can agree to disagree, but I’m right” been rotating up there? I like it. Kind of a corollary to a tenet of mine: I only argue with people who are wrong.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Nellcote: and according to TPM, they’re the only network doing so. Not even Fox? Seriously, who is driving that clown car these days, and what’s his/her connection to The Aspen Institute? I’m only surprised they haven’t given Dennis Miller Glenn Beck’s old slot.

    That said, apparently Anderson Cooper called Bachmann a nitwit, so credit where due.

  9. 9.

    MonkeyBoy

    For anybody that doesn’t like the Share/Save boxes sprinkeled on the front page (because mouse over makes them big), here are two solutions in Firefox:

    If you have the Greasemonkey extension installed, this userscript will hide them:

    var elts = document.getElementsByClassName('addtoany_share_save_container');
    for (var i=0; i < elts.length; i++)
    elts[i].setAttribute('style', 'display: none;')

    If you have the Stylish extension installed, this style definition will hide them:
    @-moz-document url("https://balloon-juice.com/"){
    div.addtoany_share_save_container {display: none;}
    }

    [of course I could have used Greasemonkey to just change the CSS like Stylish does]

  11. 11.

    stuckinred

    @freelancer: I didn’t think it was all that good, the Who movie is better. Go into it with the clear knowledge that all men are pigs no matter what the women do.

  12. 12.

    Dee Loralei

    @freelancer: I saw it, it was alright. I think the rewards are more for being brave and edgy as you presumed. Acting’s fine, writing’s fine, story kinda meh. I wondered when it would be over several times whilst watching it. It was ok. I didn’t much care for Dan in Real Life either, though, never saw Life as a House. Minor gripe, the netflix dvd didn’t have any of the extras, said you only got those if you purchased the thing.

    Not just Michelle Bachman giving the other nother SOTU response, so is Marco Rubio, unless he’s changed his mind in the last few days. He was just going to post his on his gov web page and send it to supporters, so they could know what he thought of it. ( Maybe he’s miffed that he wasn’t their (the Repubs) obvious first or second choice to give it. I mean come on, he just beat two guys for a senatorial seat and he’s from an important state in the upcoming election and he’s a minority. You woulda thunk he had the chance easily.

  14. 14.

    freelancer

    @AliceBlue:

    Yeah, I need to see that, and I desperately want to see Charles Ferguson’s “Inside Job”.

    Here’s my top 10 movies of 2010 (so far), and they’re not in any particular order:

    Inception
    Four Lions
    The Social Network/Catfish (should preferably be watched as a double feature)
    The Town
    Toy Story 3
    True Grit
    The Fighter
    Exit Through the Gift Shop
    Countdown to Zero
    Restrepo

  22. 22.

    Poopyman

    When is the Balloon Juice 2012 calendar coming out? I’m about ready to write 2011 off. Then again, at this point it looks like 2012 will be even worse.

  23. 23.

    Alex S.

    @freelancer:

    It was ok. Last year, “The Blind Side” was “the conservative movie”, and in a sane world “The Kids are Alright” would be this year’s conservative movie because it’s a conservative movie about family values, a little more drama than comedy, and it made me want to check out Joni Mitchell.

  25. 25.

    Punchy

    Best film I saw might have been “Despicable Me.”

    Absolfuckinglutely. Best movie I’ve seen in many years.

  26. 26.

    stuckinred

    @Alex S.: Family values? Fuck the sperm donor behind your partner’s back? Oh yea, he asks for forgiveness, nooooo. She asks, hell yes!

  30. 30.

    AliceBlue

    @freelancer:

    I’ve heard of “Exit Through the Gift Shop”. I think it’s a documentary, although I don’t know what it’s about. I also read somewhere that the filmmaker is a somewhat odd/controversial figure.

  31. 31.

    Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther

    @stuckinred: Oh lord, I can imagine! Wow. You just brought back the entirely buried memory of cutting those wires open! Man oh man, I’d forgotten that! Isn’t it crazy the stuff we have buried in our heads…!

    I actually wouldn’t want my own 11 year old riding around delivering papers — I think there’s something to be said for not expecting someone that young and inexperienced in the world to do that kind of job well and always come home in one piece — but whenever I wonder if I’m asking too much of him on something, or thinking maybe I should hand deliver him someplace (rather than let him walk), memories of my paper routes serves as a powerful corrective. The kid can walk 15 minutes from school to his drumming teacher. He’ll be fine.

  34. 34.

    stuckinred

    @Alex S.: They should have played Coyote

    And the next thing I know
    That Coyote’s at my door
    He pins me in a corner and he won’t take “No!”
    He drags me out on the dance floor
    And we’re dancing close and slow
    Now he’s got a woman at home
    He’s got another woman down the hall
    He seems to want me anyway
    Why’d you have to get so drunk
    And lead me on that way
    You just picked up a hitcher
    A prisoner of the white lines of the freeway

  36. 36.

    Joel

    @freelancer: I thought “The Kids are All Right” was mediocre, boring, tedious. I also think Nolan deserves a snub if we’re talking “Inception”. That movie was a nice popcorn action flick but it went about “two layers” too long.

  37. 37.

    stuckinred

    @Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Yea, I caddied at Medinah too, same as my old man. He’d drop me off in the early morning dew and I’d hitch home. Incredible experience, the “pro jocks (caddies)” followed the sun and spent the summers up north. They were tough and nasty but not as nasty as the rich fuckers you looped for. On the caddy card it said “Treat Your Caddy Like You Would Treat Your Son”. right

  38. 38.

    BGinCHI

    @Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: When we visit our nieces (in Seattle) we have a huge filmfest of animated stuff. I love them and the girls have seen them a million times, but they indulge me.

    In the past 5-10 years, there have been as many good animated/pixar films as regular ones (discounting foreign films).

    The first 30 minutes of “Up” is cinema genius.

  39. 39.

    freelancer

    @AliceBlue:

    It’s a pseudo-documentary about worldwide street art. Directed by street artist Banksy, because the film starts out about Banksy and Shepard Fairy (The guy who created the Obama “Hope” poster and the Andre the Giant “OBEY” image. Come to think of it, this site might owe Fairy a debt of gratitude.) and ends up taking a few turns into absolutely fascinating territory. If you have a Netflix account, it’s currently streaming instantly.

    Kind of the same impression I got while watching “Catfish”, is that even it the film was a hoax, it just makes it more interesting as a film.

  40. 40.

    geg6

    @freelancer:

    It was okay. Annette Benning, I thought, was fantastic. I’m am not such a fan of Juliette Moore. For some reason, she irritates me. Perhaps it’s because I always see her soap opera actress younger self leaking through. And if there is anyone more overrated, both as an actor and as someone that anyone on earth would be attracted to, it is Mark Ruffalo. So, Annette Benning is awesome in it. The story and the other actors? Not so much.

  44. 44.

    stuckinred

    @Alex S.: Spoiler Alert, after a couple of shots o’ weenie she goes back home “where her family awaits her with open arms”. (groucho)

  46. 46.

    stuckinred

    @BGinCHI: She was awful in that but flying down that zipline naked was primo! She was really good in Boogie Nights too. And Vanya on 42nd street.

  50. 50.

    numbskull

    @jibeaux:

    How long has “we can agree to disagree, but I’m right” been rotating up there? I like it. Kind of a corollary to a tenet of mine: I only argue with people who are wrong.

    Somehow recalls to me a bumpersticker I saw once:

    “Jesus love you,…
    but I’m his favorite.”

  52. 52.

    stuckinred

    @Alex S.: When the daughter walks in and the dude’s on the vid are sucking each other off and “Juliette” drops the vibe, now THAT was conservative!

  53. 53.

    freelancer

    @geg6:

    I think she was brilliant in Boogie Nights, The Hours, and A Single Man, even Blindness, but was horribly miscast in Children of Men, Hannibal and The Lost World (not that the last two are great cinematic gems anyways).

  57. 57.

    NeenerNeener

    @BGinCHI: “Despicable Me” was waaayyy better than “How To Train Your Dragon”, yet HTTYD got the Oscar nod. Go figure.

  61. 61.

    Alex S.

    @stuckinred:

    Yeah, but again, this is just plot, the message behind it is: A married couple wants to make love. And: gay couples have the same problems that straight couples have.

  62. 62.

    ChrisS

    @Joel:

    All those layers were worth it for the massive wake up at the end. But the movie was too long and not particularly thrilling. I was pretty sure I was going to see an ambiguous ending once the film reveals that they’re dreaming within dreams.

    Sadly I didn’t see enough films in 2010 to populate a top-ten list. I liked True Grit except for the midnight ride at the end. I’m not sure if I saw anything else this year.

  63. 63.

    Jager

    At my granddaughter’s 18th birthday party this past weekend, I was cornered by one of my daughter’s DFH friends, he is a single Dad raising his 16 year old son. I’ve known the guy for a few years and he wanted some advice about how to handle his teenage boy. He went through the list of BS he was getting from his kid and he ended with “we almost came to blows,last Sunday”, I asked, “what happened”? He and his kid have been going around and around about the kid’s massive pot smoking. (I thought how ironic, he is upset by his kid smoking dope when he has been smoking dope since he was probably 14.) They started yelling at each other and the kid got pushy with his Dad and the DFH grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pushed him up against the wall and lifted him off the floor. The kid yelled, “you can’t do this to me, I’ll call 911 and have you arrested”. The Dad said “Go ahead, I’ll spend a night in jail and you’ll spend the next two years with a foster family, sounds fair to me”! I asked what happened next, the DFH said, “He thought it over and decided he’d rather stay home with his old man”! I asked if the pot smoking had slowed, the DFH said, “it has at home”! I told him he did the right thing.

  65. 65.

    Ash Can

    @geg6: There was a commenter in the recent Tunisia thread who was saying that he lived in the area and that the view from the ground was that what happened in Tunisia was huge and had a good chance of spreading to other countries due to its success. It makes me wonder whether this could be the Middle East/Arab world’s version of the Iron Curtain collapsing.

  68. 68.

    kdaug

    @ChrisS:

    I liked True Grit…

    I did, too. Less hero-story than the original, more wages of vengeance and all that.

    Seemed appropriate for the times.

  71. 71.

    Poopyman

    @geg6: By the same token, Lebanon seems to have dropped out of the news. Anybody seen updates on the Lebanese govt?

  73. 73.

    Calouste

    @Ash Can:

    Doubt it. The PTB have far more of an interest in keeping the status quo in the Middle East than they had in Eastern Europe. There’s a lot of business interests to protect in the ME and there were none behind the Iron Curtain. And if the ME turns into somewhat well functioning democracies, how is the GOP going to scare the American voters and where does the MIC gets to sell its goods?

  74. 74.

    GregB

    Last I heard Sadd Hariri was calling the parliamentary move by Hezbollah a coup d’etat. He’s going to end up on the wrong side of the history that is sweeping that region.

    Hezbollah has enough votes to form a new coalition.

    Clearly this type of democratic move will not stand with the US or Israel.

    Meanwhile our stooges in Egypt are in deep shit.

    Should we take bets on which regimes will fold relatively peacefully and which ones will go the way of Romania at the end of the Velvet Revolution

  75. 75.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    @geg6: Been following that. Three dead already in the riots, including one policeman. The Beeb report says this:

    Reports said protesters had earlier gathered outside the Supreme Court holding large signs that read: “Tunisia is the solution.”
    …
    Some chants referred to Mr Mubarak’s son Gamal, who some analysts believe is being groomed as his father’s successor. “Gamal, tell your father Egyptians hate you,” they shouted.
    …
    The organisers rallied support saying the protest would focus on torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment, calling it “the beginning of the end”.

  76. 76.

    Poopyman

    @GregB: You mean Cheney and Rumsfeld are scouting real estate for Mubarak over on the Eastern Shore?

    ETA: From Felanius Kootea @ 75: Apparently, they should be.

  78. 78.

    JPL

    It’s my understanding that Tunesia is secular and the odds of religious extremists taking over are slim. When the Shah was overthrown there was hope that Iran would become more democratic even though they placed their hope with the Ayatollah. I’m not sure what would happen in Egypt but Saudi Arabia concerns me.
    Egypt used to be a big player in the Middle East and their significance in the area is not that strong anymore.

  83. 83.

    Calouste

    @FormerSwingVoter:

    The Guardian does good live updates.

    As midnight approaches in Cairo thousands of protesters are still occupying the Tahrir Square, vowing to remain in place until the government falls. News has reached Egyptians here of deaths in Suez and the capital, as well as unconfirmed reports that Gamal Mubarak – the president’s wildly unpopular son and presumed heir apparent – has fled to London, and they appear more determined than ever to hold their ground.
    “We will stay here all night, all week if necessary,” said Youssef Hisham, a 25 year old filmmaker. “There are too many people on the streets for the police to charge – if they did, it would be a massacre. I came here today not as the representative of any political party, but simply in the name of Egypt. We have liberated the heart of the country, and Mubarak now knows that his people want him gone.”
    As fresh waves of protesters broke through police cordons to join the throng in Tahrir, a festival atmosphere took hold – groups were cheered as they arrived carrying blankets and food, and demonstrators pooled money together to buy water and other supplies. “The atmosphere is simply amazing – everyone is so friendly, there’s no anger, no harassment, just solidarity and remarkable energy,” added Hisham.

  84. 84.

    BD of MN

    Funny you should mention “Exit Through the Gift Shop”, I just watched it today on the netflix instant stream. Also watched “King of Kong” and “It Might Get Loud”… Nice day of documentaries to distract me from my aching back…

  85. 85.

    R-Jud

    @Dee Loralei:

    I think the rewards are more for being brave and edgy as you presumed.

    I think it’s one of those “We’ve passed you over quite a bit, and your stuff’s not terrible, so here’s a nomination for the latest thing you’ve done” situations, at least w/r/t the writer/director.

    I am pleased that Dogtooth got nominated for best foreign film. It was weeeeeird.

  86. 86.

    J.W. Hamner

    Tonight I eat beef cheeks for the first time. Slightly weirded out by getting into the face region, but I’m a proponent of people having a more realistic understanding of where meat comes from other than “the Supermarket; wrapped in cellophane”… so I suppose I should practice what I preach.

  87. 87.

    fasteddie9318

    @freelancer: The Kids Are Alright was, well, alright. I don’t want to sound like Rush, but it would have been an entirely forgettable film if not for the lesbian couple angle, and even that gets treated awkwardly as Moore’s character is a lesbian who really, deep down, wants some cock, just like I guess (as far as the film is concerned) most lesbians secretly want. Benning and Moore are usually good to great in everything, so the acting is good at least.

    @Joel:

    I also think Nolan deserves a snub if we’re talking “Inception”. That movie was a nice popcorn action flick but it went about “two layers” too long.

    But it’s so complex and trippy and cool!

    dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunDUNNNNN

  88. 88.

    Calouste

    Interesting article in der Spiegel (in English) about the Arab situation. Slightly over 50% of the Arab population is under 25, and about 75% of them are unemployed. Many of them would be 35 or 40 before they could afford to marry.

    It’s the kind of situation where people start a revolution or set themselves on fire because it is the only thing they have left in life.

  90. 90.

    JPL

    @fasteddie9318: I recently saw The Kids Are Alright on video. A friend asked for my opinion and I said it was better than a made for TV movie because of the acting.
    I’d love for Jennifer Lawrence to win the oscar her role in Winter’s Bones. She was so convincing that I wanted to give her a big motherly hug.

  91. 91.

    fasteddie9318

    @JPL: Tunisia is secular to a degree that sets it apart from most Muslim nations, so it is an outlier. That said, I think there’s a fair chance that the final outcome in Egypt will not favor the fundamentalists. The most significant opposition leader is El-Baradei, who is secular, and Egypt isn’t Saudi Arabia (Wahhabist) or Iran (Imami Shi’i). Even in Iran, Khomeini’s political writings prior to the Revolution stressed constitutional governance with the jurists acting as a check against unIslamic activity; it wasn’t until the mid-80s that he declared the vilayet-e motlaqeh-i faqih, the right of the jurists to rule absolutely and with no reference to the elected government. Initially, at least to the average Iranian, it’s unlikely that they realized that the 1979 Revolution was going to bring them an absolutist theocracy in place of the absolutist monarchy.

  92. 92.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    @BD of MN: I totally thought “Exit through the gift shop” was a hoax – a good Banksy hoax. The friend I saw it with disagrees and thinks Thierry is for real (claims she met him once). Is Thierry Guetta (Mr. Brainwash) related to David Guetta? I wonder.

  94. 94.

    de stijl

    My last batch of chili turned out to be quite hot, so I’m going to try it as Cincy style tonight (4 way w/ onions & thin egg noodles instead of spaghetti).

  95. 95.

    Mike in NC

    Gamal Mubarak – the president’s wildly unpopular son and presumed heir apparent – has fled to London, and they appear more determined than ever to hold their ground.

    Maybe we could work out a trade: Mubarak for Michelle Bachmann and a teabagger to be named later.

  96. 96.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    @Calouste: This bit caught my attention:

    In the wealthy oil emirate Kuwait, which has systematically discriminated against its Bedouin population for decades, the government sent every citizen $3,500 (€2,600) to nip any possible protests in the bud.

    When all else fails, bribe your citizens into submission. Looks like it’s working there too. The North African countries don’t have the oil wealth that the ones on the Asian continent do, so I suspect the outcomes in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Algeria will be different from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait et al. Algeria has a further “problem” of Berbers (who predate the Arabs) having a cultural resurgence. I learned this the hard way from an Algerian roommate over a decade ago. He got so mad at me for mistaking him for an Arab and gave me a lecture on Berbers versus Arabs, pointing out that many in his family speak no Arabic. It’s going to be interesting to say the least.

  97. 97.

    J.W. Hamner

    @Poopyman:

    Honestly, they look just like any other piece of cow flesh and seem pretty tender after the braise (done last night). I’m not sure I’ll ever make it to any other part of the cow’s face though…. tongue or brains is something I still have to work up to.

    @minachica:

    I grew up an extraordinarily picky eater, and offal is still not something I’ve come to terms with. I feel like I should give it a go, but I’m not quite there.

  98. 98.

    JPL

    @fasteddie9318: Thank you for the information about Egypt. My limited knowledge about Egypt pointed towards a stronger middle class which helps keep extremists at bay but my knowledge is limited. Saudi Arabia would be scary.

  99. 99.

    Calouste

    @Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people):

    When all else fails, bribe your citizens into submission.

    There’s a slight snag there and that is that in a lot of the Arab states, specially the Gulf states, there are large group of expats from Palestine, Egypt, Pakistan and India who often don’t live in great conditions. And I doubt that they will get the $3,500 as well. In some states citizens are a minority.

  100. 100.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    Day 12
    On day 12 of my visionary quest to honor President Obama’s heartfelt and inspiring call to action – “to live up to the example that young Christina Green expected in how our democracy should function” – I am making a State of the Union speech wherein I will announce my plan to reduce the terrible, terrible deficit by cutting defense spending by 50-75 percent, raising taxes on the obscenely wealthy top 2 percent of patriotic fat cat Americans in a progressive manner according to their ability to help, pledging $200 billion for home-grown solar and wind power research and generation, and introducing my new signature Single Payer Commission to find the best ways of implementing health care for all in a timely, moral, and cost-effective way.

    Also, for my “Oh, there’s one more thing…” closer, I will be giving Mitch McConnell a little tittie-twister, in the spirit of bipartisan shared sacrifice.
    .
    .

  101. 101.

    J.W. Hamner

    I screwed it all up! I read 3/4 of an ounce of bittersweet chocolate as 3/4 of a pound… and let me say conclusively that a 16 fold increase in chocolate isn’t necessarily good.

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