Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

T R E 4 5 O N

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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

An almost top 10,000 blog!

… gradually, and then suddenly.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

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

The lights are all blinking red.

People are weird.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

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104Comments

  3. 3.

    mai naem

    That isn’t cheddar. That’s swiss cheese with lots of holes in it something the ship better not have.

  6. 6.

    Yutsano

    @PurpleGirl: I’ll bet you a $20:

    A) that’s a Dawg dressed like that

    B) he got a few extra duty shifts for it. But if you ask him it was worth it.

  10. 10.

    MAJeff

    Expressing solidarity with cheeseheads the last couple weeks has been soooooooo fucking trying for this Minnesota boy, but I’ve been down with the labor effort. This, though, just makes me smile.

    But, still, fuck the Packers.

  11. 11.

    Comrade Mary

    @Yutsano: Looks like the photo was taken by a military person and it’s on the official web site, so I would guess the cheesehead is in no trouble at all, given that the pic could have been easily disappeared.

    Wow, dreadfully incomplete report on Wisconsin on the CBC. Shame.

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    @burnspbesq: @Comrade Mary: You’re both probably right, especially since they are in fleet formation. And that is almost never messed around with. It does make me giggle that the Marines are all smirking and the sailors look so damn serious. So that suggests it may have been their conspiracy.

  16. 16.

    ppcli

    @jwb: Sorry to hear that – the CBC normally gives more substantive, informative, and, well, just better reports on U.S. politics than the U.S. networks do. Where did they go off the rails on this one?

  17. 17.

    BGinCHI

    They all look the same to me. I prefer to judge cheeseheads and jarheads by the content of their character and not the color of their dairy products.

  18. 18.

    pointer

    O… K. I’m from outside the U.S. Can someone please tell me why that man has a piece of cheese on his head?

  19. 19.

    Comrade Mary

    @jwb: Sorry, it was just a brief report at the top of the news hour on the radio. Labour protesting, Walker saying he’s doing it to save money, lots of marches in various cities, assembly passed the bill the other days, people still marching.

    No mention that the Senate hasn’t passed it and that the Senators are out of state, so it looks like futile protests for a done deed to most Canadians, as provinces here usually have a single assembly or legislature as government, versus your assembly/senate setup.

  20. 20.

    Yutsano

    @ppcli: I can’t find anything on Wisconsin on the website, which is disappointing.

    @stuckinred: A girl I work with says I have really sharp eyes too. Thank my optometrist. Although I can’t quite tell what he’s got over his left shoulder.

  23. 23.

    Yutsano

    @Comrade Mary: Only one state down here has a unicameral legislative body: Nebraska. Otherwise the rest are modeled after the set-up of our national government. It would be a bit strange to have provincial Senators that act like your Senate does in each province. And I say that as a distant relative of one.

  24. 24.

    Comrade Mary

    @Comrade Mary: FYWP.

    Anyway, Q with Jian Ghomeshi yesterday FINALLY had a segment on the poor coverage of Wisconsin up here, featuring his usual leftist, rightist, and squishy centrist. It was pretty dissatisfying in itself, especially as Judy Rebick spoke first (and cogently) but barely came back after Margaret Wente’s #spit# bullshit, and the centrist played the role of Canuck Bobo. The segment barely limped to an end. I only listen on Friday’s for Elvira Kurt, anyway.

  26. 26.

    Comrade Mary

    @Yutsano: Heh. First, they’d have to be near-dead or a broadcast “journalism” washup, or both.

    Care to namedrop who your famous relative is?

    (And to my main point: I think the Canadian setup makes sense to us, which is why the reporting for even a brief newscast was weak, because most Canadians are ignorant of state-level government in the U.S.)

  28. 28.

    Sly

    In further uplifting news, Fianna Fail, the center-right party in Ireland, just suffered an electoral implosion today. It looks like around two thirds of their members are being tossed out, which might be the biggest single defeat of any political party in the history of representative democracy.

  30. 30.

    Yutsano

    @Comrade Mary: We share a common Quebecois surname, and he is from that province and was just appointed to the Senate. I’m trying to name drop without actually name dropping because I can be rather easily traced by surname in the US. I will name drop that the Dionne quintuplets are distant cousins of mine. And my great-grandfather was an illegal immigrant from Canada.

  31. 31.

    Yutsano

    @burnspbesq: I’ll break out the popcorn. This could indeed get delicious. And I bet there will be some major banker fee-fees hurt when all is said and done.

  32. 32.

    Bnut

    Why the fuck are piss cutters still regulation covers? They look so fucking stupid, esp with some BCG’s on. Ug.

  33. 33.

    burnspbesq

    @Sly:

    fianna Fail wrote the instruction manual for corruption and crony capitalism. Shinawatra, Berlusconi, and Jack Abramoff pale by comparison.

  35. 35.

    Sly

    @burnspbesq:

    As Irish voters headed for the polling booths on Friday, the European Commission bluntly declared that the terms of the EU-IMF bailout “must be applied” whatever the will of Ireland’s people or regardless of any change of government.
    …
    “It is not even take it or leave it. It’s done. Ireland’s only role in this now is to implement the programme agreed with the EU, IMF and European Central Bank. Irish voters are not a party in this process, whatever they have been told,” said the diplomat.

    Jesus Christ, but the EU has some set of fucking balls.

  37. 37.

    Comrade Mary

    @Yutsano: Ahh. I will very, very discreetly Google, figure it out, and quietly clutch the knowledge to myself. Shhh ….

    Sly and burnspbesq, may I please introduce you to Tories, Party of Two? Which, in retrospect, was actually a fucking disaster, because the limp remnants of the
    Progressive Conservatives (not such an oxymoron, really, in the Canadian context) done got et by Reform, which gave us today’s Conservative party and Harper, clinging to minority status out of Canadian caution and a dearth of remotely appealing and competent Liberal leaders.

    Bonus point: the Tory PM who lost big was Kim Campbell, who acquitted herself honourably on Maher’s show recently. I really do miss our Red Tories.

  39. 39.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Sly:

    “It is not even take it or leave it. It’s done. Ireland’s only role in this now is to implement the programme agreed with the EU, IMF and European Central Bank. Irish voters are not a party in this process, whatever they have been told,” said the diplomat.

    Wow. Just wow.

  40. 40.

    ppcli

    @Comrade Mary: Ah, yes, the 1993 election. After which, everyone I know was joking “Who would have thought that it would be the Conservatives who would first attain gender parity in the House.”

    @Yutsano: Oh, oh, I think I’ve figured it out! But don’t worry – if I’m right, I’ll never let the name come from the woods.

  41. 41.

    Yutsano

    @ppcli: Hehehehe. I sent all the Canuckistani BJers on an Easter Egg hunt! I could drop more hints but that would make it too easy.

  42. 42.

    burnspbesq

    Sinn Fein is having its best election ever. Gerry Adams won a first-ballot rout in Louth. FG should include SF in the coalition just so it can send Gerry to Brussels to knock heads.

  43. 43.

    Napoleon

    I hope Ireland tears that agreement up and tell the EU, IMF and ECB to go fuck themselves.

    Please, oh please do it!

  51. 51.

    suzanne

    LMMFAO.

    So my job interview on Thursday afternoon went so well that I have a second interview on Monday morning with the principal of the office. I am hopeful. Pleeeeeeez think good thoughts for me.

  61. 61.

    suzanne

    Thanks, y’all. I have already picked out my outfit. Made easier by the fact that I have lost all my baby weight and fit in all but my slimmest-cut clothes. I am hoping that my Tina Fey-good looks will compensate for my horrible personality. ;)

  63. 63.

    Yutsano

    @suzanne: When it comes to gaining employment, I say use whatever trick and wile you can. And as long as you look and sound like Tina Fey and not her doppleganger (who shall remain nameless) you’ll be awesome.

  64. 64.

    MikeJ

    I toured this ship last year at SeaFair. They were still on shakedown, but it was pretty neat. Very into the whole Green Bay thing. They have Packers logos everywhere, which I thought odd for a navy vessel, and the main passageways that run fore and aft are named stuff like “Lomabardy way” (or something like that, I don’t remember exactly what).

  70. 70.

    Poopyman

    @Napoleon: As do I, although this is a fight the Irish could well lose. Of course, that’s never NEVER stopped an Irishman from fighting. So sez this 7/8ths Conaughtman.

    I really wonder if telling the EU to piss off would really be that big a blow, given the problems in the other member countries.

  74. 74.

    Yutsano

    @MikeJ: That is really kinda cool. And that is a pretty boat. I also have a neat view of the main Seattle port from my work. It’s fun to watch the lights at night when they unload a ship.

  78. 78.

    MikeJ

    @stuckinred: Unless they’re submarines, which are massive these days, but still called boats.

    And my dad still talks about “flying out to the boat”, but I think that was more an air crew/ship’s company thing.

  81. 81.

    Poopyman

    Filed under “Well, DUH!”:

    1:25am
    __
    Henry Schuler, former US diplomat, tells Al Jazeera that the Obama administration “inherited a terrible situation created by the Bush administration in letting Gaddafi off the hook in 2004”.
    __
    “Time will tell whether that was accomplished based on a clear assessment of US interests, or to get the oil companies back into Libya, or to promote the re-election campaign of George W Bush.
    __
    “It’s a fool’s errand if anyone thinks sanctions will persuade Gaddafi to back off. He said he will shed his last drop of blood on Libyan soil. What the US should be doing is ensuring that as little as possible other Libyan blood is shed.”

  85. 85.

    Nellcote

    @Sly:

    Irish voters are not a party in this process, whatever they have been told,” said the diplomat.

    Well, that certainly doesn’t sound very diplomatic to me.

  88. 88.

    Calouste

    @Sly:

    The EU has fucking big balls on that because every single fucking major Irish party, up to and including the Greens, has refused to commit to increasing their low tax rates on companies. The rest of the EU is willing to help the Irish people, they’re just not willing to help American companies using tax breaks in the RoI. Even Angela Merkel said that the Irish should raise their taxes.

  90. 90.

    Davis X. Machina

    @burnspbesq: Better than the post-Mulroney Conservative implosion? I think they shrank to like two seats.

    (Shoulda read the whole thread…)

  93. 93.

    IndyLib

    Way the hell late to the thread, and someone else may have pointed these details out already, but the Cheesehead is wearing grey digital cammo pants, so he’s Navy. And there’s a very good chance he had permission to dress like that. Believe it or not a lot of Navy commands aren’t as uptight as you might think. My husband has attended command events in a Darth Vader costume more times than I would like to admit.

  94. 94.

    Yutsano

    @IndyLib: So you had a special affection for the Darth Vader VW commercial then? :) The things my father wore in the Navy at times were, uhh, interesting. He still tells tales about the hazing he went through the first time he went through the Panama Canal. Not to mention when he made Master Chief.

  95. 95.

    IndyLib

    @Yutsano: I did like the Darth Vader VW commercial, but he’s not allowed into the bedroom in that outfit.
    The Vader costume is nothing compared to the outfit they made him wear when during his lobsterback “ceremony”, bikinis and coconuts were involved.
    They didn’t do anything too scary to him when he made Master Chief – as least as far as clothing. He did get drunker than I’ve ever seen him.

  96. 96.

    Yutsano

    @IndyLib: My favorite hazing story of my father’s involves him dressing up like Tinkerbell. What’s really remarkable is that he got my mom to actually make it for him. I think that little piece of marital love is how she got her ninth horse.

  97. 97.

    IndyLib

    I think that little piece of marital love is how she got her ninth horse.

    That’s too funny. Most of the really crazy dress-up stories come from times that my husband was deployed, so I haven’t gotten to witness most of them, but there’s usually someone willing to to furnish pics for bribes of homecooked food.

    The hazing stories from his Chief’s initiation are pretty nasty. They got locked in wooden boxes of ice, force fed Filipino fish sauce and chili peppers until they puked, got their butts beat with wooden paddles. He made Chief in 2003 which was the last year they permitted an actual hazing-ish initiation. Somebody (not at my husband’s command) whined big time and it’s much more mellow now. Bet he/she was not a popular person in the Chief’s Mess at his/her command.

  98. 98.

    Yutsano

    @IndyLib: It happened when we were in Groton, so I remember my mom fitting him out for the splendid day. And yeah they both got trashed that night, which is unusual for them since they have an unspoken arrangement that one will stay sober enough to drive home.

    And the Marine in the foreground with the smirk just tears me. I might have to modify my earlier prediction and speculate the guy dressed up is a Navy Corpsman.

  99. 99.

    IndyLib

    He’s definitely Navy, unless he stole the pants and most Jar Heads wouldn’t be caught dead in Navy digis.

  100. 100.

    Yutsano

    @IndyLib: Then I’m going with Corpsman just because they seem like the type to pull a stunt like this. And honestly it is pretty damn funny.

  102. 102.

    Carol

    @arguingwithsignposts: The EU might be next-I wonder how a vote to leave and start something else might go now, with this kind of arrogance. Latin America has already figured it out, Cuba (despite it’s poverty, is at least food self-sufficient), has figured out some elements.

  103. 103.

    Barry

    ““It is not even take it or leave it. It’s done. Ireland’s only role in this now is to implement the programme agreed with the EU, IMF and European Central Bank. Irish voters are not a party in this process, whatever they have been told,” said the diplomat.”

    Invite him by for negotiations, and then hang the negotiators in the Dublin square.

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