Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Let there be snark.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

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

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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

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

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

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

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Republicans in disarray!

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

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Reader Interactions

96Comments

  5. 5.

    Svensker

    @lllphd:

    Yeah, where are the nigrahs? You know, those folks who caused the housing crisis and thus the financial crisis by forcing those delicate yet feckless (white) bankers to loan them money for houses which said cunning nigrahs really spent on Caddies and T-bones while selling their food stamps to single mothers who then used them to buy drugs! ! ! (This is pretty much what my wingnut brother AND my broker told me, anyway.)

    Otherwise, excellent cartoon.

  6. 6.

    Dennis SGMM

    @trollhattan:
    Hey, they only exempted 187,000 small (Whatever “small” means) incinerators and boilers from meaningful regulation. What’s wrong with that?

  7. 7.

    trollhattan

    Who the hell is Wilkinson and why is Sully quoting this tripe?

    There’s something about the union demonstrations in Madison, and the excitement it has caused on the left, that reminds me of the Tea Party. I think I’ve figured it out what it is. The advent of the labor movement is at the heart of the left’s sacred creation myth. The sense on the left that unions are under siege gives the them something to fight for with a bracing sense of historically-rooted identity and moral authority. Similarly, the sense on the right that America’s foundational values are under siege gave the Tea Party something to fight for with a bracing sense of historically-rooted identity and moral authority.

    Yeah, other than one being funded and scripted to the smallest detail and the other being a shocked reaction to a surprise govenmmental overreach, they’re exactly alike.

  10. 10.

    satby

    Hey, since it’s an open thread, can I put in a bleg for my former foster son? He’s doing a St. Baldrick fundraiser and could use a few donations. I’m really proud of him, he’s unemployed and selling plasma to make ends met to support his family, and still managing to do something to try to help others. His goal is really modest, and I’d love to surprise him with donations from folks he doesn’t know. Thanks!

  13. 13.

    CaseyL

    OMG, I love that! A uterus (more specifically, a Fallopian tube) flipping people off.

    Not sure how I’ll watch the hearings, or even when. Two of my streaming services are NBC and CBS, and I think I can watch the hearings on those.

    But I agreed to go out to dinner with a friend, without thinking about the time difference (I’m on the West Coast). I may ask her if we can reschedule.

  14. 14.

    cope

    It suggest an important bit of female anatomy to me. And it’s expressing a rude comment.

  16. 16.

    mrmoshpotato

    Made me laugh.  Bravo! to whomever had that stroke of genius.

    Not sure I even want to watch the hearings tomorrow.  To Hell with the GOP!

  17. 17.

    Frederick Stibbert

    haha, my friend Pam has this as her FB avatar, only hers is throwing a double bird.

  18. 18.

    Wag

    it looks like a flipping fallopian to me.

     

    Really excited to watch the hearings tomorrow.  I’ll have to figure out how to watch it on my Apple TV.  I suspect the CBC News app will have full coverage

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    I would credit the person who sent this to me, except that I only have a name and not a nym, and I don’t want to out anyone.

  24. 24.

    Another Scott

    Well done image. I haven’t seen that around here (yet). Here’s hoping it gets more visibility.

    In other news, a catchy tune:

    Bayraktar is a word that every Ukrainian knows and loves pic.twitter.com/BaxIoB24I9

    — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 8, 2022

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  27. 27.

    CaseyL

    Hah! My friend also wants to watch the hearings.  We came up with a perfect plan: Pizza at her place, where she has an actual TV.

    I really do like that uterus graphic.  I may want to get it as a tattoo.

    ETA: @mrmoshpotato: We FaceTime, of course!  … I used to know someone whose first year’s relationship with her boyfriend – they lived in different countries –  was done almost entirely by FaceTime.  One of them would go out, with the other one on the phone, tucked into a shirt pocket, looking out.

  28. 28.

    Tony Jay

    It’s either the pictoral representation of the slogan “Keep your laws out of my ladyparts” or it’s part of the construction plans for Doctor Evil’s Base of Doom.

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    I’m not sure whether Balloon Juice will be as quiet as a mouse or whether it will be a nonstop flurry of posts and comments.

  33. 33.

    Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    In Milwaukee for work, flying home tomorrow. I’ll try to catch up when I get home, but I don’t know if my blood pressure will want to cooperate.

  38. 38.

    moops

    I am sad that every news aggregator I might use has no mention, at all, of the Jan 6 hearings.  Not a good sign.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    I had this great idea for a Bingo game for the first Jan 6 hearing, but then thought holy fuck this is going to be a somber event where we are going to learn horrifying information so I don’t think we can play until a few days afterwards.  Then I guess we can “win” if we correctly predicted any 5 items in a line.

  41. 41.

    bbleh

    @Baud: Oooh, good point.  WHICH drugs?  Prescription?  Recreational?  The one as the other?  And in what combination and/or sequence?

    Hey WaterGirl, can we do a poll?  “I am watching the hearings on (click all that apply) …”  (ok never mind, lawyers will probably object)

  45. 45.

    Cameron

    So the mission is to develop a drinking game to play while watching “Insurrection – The Series.”  Hmm.  Maybe I’ll get the liquor first and figure out the game later.

  50. 50.

    kalakal

    Is it one of the symbols Jimmy Page tried out before settling on Zoso to embroider on his stage suit?

    I’ll be at work. Daren’t watch in case I get too angry

  52. 52.

    Scout211

    I have the DVR set to record CNN. It is listed as four hours.  

    I’m not sure can handle the whole thing live, but I will definitely make an attempt. Mr. Scout requested the DVR and I thought that was a good idea.

    I haven’t noticed any commenters having open edit boxes today. I guess that got fixed?

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    @Alison Rose : Funny, I had no idea what they were saying but I almost came back here after watching to to say my take away from the video is that it was along way of “fuck you!’

    Sounds like I wasn’t wrong.

    I will go watch with subtitles now.

  54. 54.

    Ohio Mom

    I was just assuming my full-service blog was showing the hearings but I am guessing, based on this post, that is not possible. Oh dear, I’ll have to see what my laptop can get.

    There are very few moments I miss having a TV, this is one of them.

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: Four hours starting at 8pm?  Until midnight?  Holy cow.

    That’s 7-11 pm here, and 5-9 on the west cost.

    I wonder if they went with “8-5 people will be off work no matter where they live”.

    edit: okay, that’s 4 hours, including their blah-blah-blah pre and post commentary. 2 hours is more like it.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: Nothing in particular got “fixed” but I think whatever was wonky yesterday is no longer wonky.  There were obviously network issues and I am guessing that the weird edit window  was one way that was playing out.

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    @Ohio Mom:  try streaming with C-Span.  That’s what I’m going to do. No TV here either. Although might miss the first hour, because it’s dogs at the botanical garden night.  Priorities.

  61. 61.

    Hilbertsubspace

    That is a stubby armed, hammer head, space alien using it’s psychokinetic aura to hold up a cigarette lighter it just unearthed from an archeological dig.

    Obviously.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    I was trying to figure out if we could find someone with a huge TV who could point their zoom camera to the TV and some of us could watch together on zoom.

  66. 66.

    CaseyL

    @cain:

    On the one hand, I can kind of see why you saw that.

    On the other hand: This is an excellent example of “How to say you’re not a woman without saying you’re not a woman.”

  67. 67.

    JaySinWA

    I was looking for who would cover this, and the two articles I found listed ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN and a few web variants of these. For some reason PBS doesn’t show up, but the local schedule has a two hour block at 5 and the same on the WORLD PBS subchannel.
    PBS isn’t great at this stuff but they tend to have less annoying chatter.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    @cain:

    Weirdly, I thought it was a picture of an elephant bison with its tail flipping us off.

     

    #PriorThreadReference

  69. 69.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl:

    I just saw that NBC, CBS and ABC  have a 2 hour block for their coverage. I think I will switch my DVR to one of those. CNN must be adding in their reaction coverage into their block.

    So the hearings are scheduled for two hours not four. That’s a relief. Most viewers couldn’t handle four hours. I sure couldn’t.

  70. 70.

    bbleh

    @Scout211:  At least Thompson et al. had the sense to work with professional videographers. This is entertainment, first and foremost, because that, alas, is the current state of our politics.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    C-Span has a section of their website devoted to January 6. I’ll probably watch/listen to the hearings there.

    In related news, AlJazeera:

    Russian economy to shrink by 15 percent: Trade group

    Hard hit by sanctions, Russia’s economy will shrink by 15 percent this year and another 3 percent in 2023, wiping out 10 years of economic gains, the Institute of International Finance, a global banking trade group, said in an analysis.

    President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that unemployment and inflation are decreasing, backing up his frequent claims that Russia is succeeding despite Western sanctions.

    Still, the finance institute argued the sanctions, partly by encouraging foreign companies to abandon Russia, “are unraveling its economy, wiping out more than a decade of economic growth, and some of the most meaningful consequences have yet to be felt”.

    [ womp, womp ]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  76. 76.

    Delk

    May 25, 2022 was the last day of the warranty on my dishwasher that broke this afternoon.
    Fuckers.

  78. 78.

    WaterGirl

    @Delk: Fuck.  That’s just not fair.  You might call them anyway, first thing in the morning.

    I have had places honor the warranty if it’s just a few days out.  Though 2 weeks might be pushing it.

  79. 79.

    geg6

    C-Span is good for the hearings themselves but any breaks in the action means they go to the phones. I value the neurons I have left, so I will probably end up watching on MSNBC. Hopefully, Nicolle Wallace and Ari Melber will be a part of the coverage because they are the two most entertaining on the channel.

  84. 84.

    bbleh

    @Delk:  How do THEY know it didn’t break the day before? I mean, spirit of the law and all ..

    ETA: oh, but May 25, hmm, that would kinda be stretching it.

  85. 85.

    J R in WV

    Our power dipped off for a few moments, and then the laptops wanted us to sign into Starlink, which is our new sat-based internet service. After we rebooted everything, good to go now. Starlink, while sadly affects astronomy, is a great connection, the best we’ve ever had from our rural outpost.

    We will watch the hearing on MSNBC, depending upon the sats and the moon and the stars. And watch comments here, I hope. You all behave, now!!!

  86. 86.

    indycat32

    @geg6: This afternoon they said Nicolle, Rachel, Joy, Ari, and Lawrence. My reaction was yay, no Chuck Todd!

  87. 87.

    Ken

    @bbleh: How do THEY know it didn’t break the day before?

    Because the dishwasher has been using its wifi to upload diagnostic reports every twelve hours since it was installed.

  93. 93.

    lowtechcyclist

    I’ll give you a hint. It is not a neon sign of a ram.

    Reminds me, I’d been thinking for awhile that the Dodge Ram logo looks exceedingly gynecological.  Mentioned this to my wife not too long ago, and she said, “oh yeah, definitely.”

  94. 94.

    Another Scott

    i love hustle culture grifters. "wake up at 4 a.m. work/life balance is for suckers. fast. buy my book CRUSHING IT: HOW I BUILT A REAL ESTATE EMPIRE AT AGE 7 (after being crushed by construction equipment). never piss. the key to being happy is being miserable." exactly, sweetie.

    — ᴀ.ᴀ. ᴅᴇ ʟᴇᴠɪɴᴇ (@soalexgoes) June 9, 2022

    So that’s why I’m not rich yet. Huh.

    (via darth)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  95. 95.

    JCJ

    @WaterGirl: 
    Gahh! I forgot to “sign” the email with my name and nym! Oh well. I am glad you liked it!

    (I wouldn’t care if “outed”)

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