Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

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

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

T R E 4 5 O N

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

He really is that stupid.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

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73Comments

  8. 8.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @stuckinred: Oh, yeah. it says that in the video. but you should hear all these wise, light-skinned folks babbling on about “local control” and all that other glibertarian bullshit while Nick Gillespie narrates like he’s watching Rand pr0n. (I think that’s the Fonzie of Freedom)

  9. 9.

    lamh34

    CNN is rebroadcasting Piers Morgan’s interview with Carol Burnett. I loved the “Carol Burnett Show”. I’m actualy shocked that it’s not being shown in syndication anywhere. you can only buy it from Time Life or something!

  12. 12.

    Comrade Mary

    So this is the official Open Thread #1000. So what do we win? I vote for a Tunch picture!

  14. 14.

    Southern Beale

    Well I TOLD you God wanted my sports franchise to win! Nashville Predators ousted Anaheim Ducks from the playoffs tonight in an AMAZING win! On to Round 2!

  20. 20.

    Anne Laurie

    @lamh34:

    I loved the “Carol Burnett Show”. I’m actualy shocked that it’s not being shown in syndication anywhere.

    Yeah, I would like to see those shows again, too. (My avatar on this blog would be the little cartoon CB charlady from the end credits, if we had avatars, which I’m just as glad we don’t. Or Carla from Cheers, but it would be harder to find the right .gif.)

    The blanket excuse for non-syndication is ‘can’t get everyone to sign off on the rights.’ I dimly remember Harvey Korman being not-happy after the show went off the air, so perhaps that’s the issue? Lawyers being what they are, selling DVDs is handled as an entirely different artform from re-broadcasting the same material, IIRC…

  23. 23.

    Allan

    Who says Twitter is a useless waste of time?

    After sending a couple of impertinent tweets to Andrew Breitbart, he dutifully RTed them to his followers so that they could swarm me en masse like Elphaba’s flying monkeys.

    Literally tens of them turned up, including two actual contributors to various BigPenis sites.

    I engaged with them all for hours, and one especially persistent minion kept me responding for hours, until I said something that motivated the rumpled, odiferous one himself to tweet me.

    Ah, good times.

  24. 24.

    Comrade Mary

    Clicks first link — aww!

    Clicks second link — awww–OOWWW! HIS FACE IS MELTING!

  25. 25.

    Anya

    Game of Thrones is one reason I regret not having a teevee. I am waiting for it to be available in iTunes.

  26. 26.

    piratedan

    in celebration of the Holiday, we did stir fry marshmallow chicks, sans the marshmallow, thank gawd for garlic/chili sauce, burns in my mouth just like the rarely spoken passion I have for my much better half

  29. 29.

    lamh34

    @stuckinred:
    that was all kinds of awesome.

    Whelp…I’m off to watch Treme, then of to bed, gotta work tomorrow.

    Laissez les bons temps rouler!!!!

  31. 31.

    burnspbesq

    The Mets have won four in a row, but there’s still no reason to believe they are anything but a 90-loss team.

  32. 32.

    JPL

    @arguingwithsignposts: I haven’t watched the video by Reason but the Fox video is bullshit. It’s a fairly new city that used the city manager concept to get started. Although the community has a segment of extremely wealthy folks, it also has apartments, condos and smaller houses. My son lives in Sandy Springs in a two bedroom house and I live in the community north of there. They don’t have a lot of parks or green space and do not offer trash pickup. My son has to contract his own trash pickup which doesn’t offer curbside recycling. The major roads through Sandy Springs are actually county roads so the city doesn’t have to pay for those. As far as the light timing ..it’s bullshit. The major road is maintained by Fulton County.
    The libraries are county, the major thoroughfares are county, even where my son plays tennis is county. The public schools are also county run.

  36. 36.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Southern Beale:

    We actually play well against Detroit…

    What, one playoff series win against the Wings in two or three tries?

    If I’m you, I’m hoping for Vancouver or L.A.. The Wings are firing on all cylinders right now.

    As a Wings fan, I’d like to see a Preds match-up against the Wings, just for the travel break- but I’m secretly hoping to get a west coast team so I can listen to a few games after work.

    ETA: Roberto Luongo.

  38. 38.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Based upon the first round, I wouldn’t try to draw too many conclusions about how you might play against the Wings in the playoffs based upon how you played them in the regular season. They looked like a different team. I suspect that their hearts really weren’t into the last third of the season and played on cruise control.

    And Hank is going to be back, and the Mule should be ready, too.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    @arguingwithsignposts: I need to check with my son, but I know that his city property taxes were hire than mine when he purchased the house but I’m not sure that is still true. His millage rate might be a tad lower but the property is appraised higher.
    He pays the same for trash pickup from a private company but I have trash, recycling and yard waste while he just has trash. I even have my street cleaned every two months..lol which is comical imo.
    The biggest fallacy about the video is that the schools are county schools, not city. That makes a big difference. If a city just has to maintain roads, and provide fire and police for protection, it is easier to balance the budget.
    Sandy Springs doesn’t provide the water, it’s the city of Atlanta.

  40. 40.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @JPL: Well, from my listen to the video, the shorter is: “It’s easy to pretend to be a ‘city’ when we don’t have to worry about all that ‘city’ shit like everyone else has to.”

  41. 41.

    Yutsano

    Thai curry and Spam musubi left over from lunch for dinner, then a store run (out of Galtian overlord kitteh fud) then probably a whole lotta nada for the rest of the night.

    Lunch was here and if you live in Seattle or Portland and have never been GO!! The place is amazing.

  42. 42.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    Blackhawks force a Game 7. Hopefully the Kings do the same tomorrow night.

  44. 44.

    MikeJ

    @Yutsano: Mmm. The one in Seattle has a good noodle bar. Of course there’s like five different places to eat in one yummy grocery store. Never been to the others.

    Where did you guys go for dinner last night?

  46. 46.

    burnspbesq

    @JCT:

    True, but you gotta love Ike and DWright. Real baseball players.

    Wright is the real deal, but if Ike Davis is the answer, then I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know what the question is.

    The fundamental problem with the Mets is that they don’t have enough good players. Look at their eight everyday players, and ask yourself how many of them are in the top half of the National League at their position. I come up with two (Wright and Reyes), plus one maybe (Pagan) and one who might be in a couple of years if he continues to develop (Thole).

  48. 48.

    burnspbesq

    Wow. If you’re a Gershwin fan, you owe it to yourself to check out the new recording of Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F, featuring Italian jazz pianist Stefano Bollani and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Chailly.

  50. 50.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @burnspbesq: I’m not sure why you’re so down on Ike Davis. Based upon both major and minor league numbers, he should be a solid first baseman. Not a perennial All-Star, but solid. And, while the offense has been questionable, it’s that rotation that’s killing you.

    It’s when R.A. Dickey is supposed to be your #1 starter, you have issues.

  51. 51.

    Yutsano

    @MikeJ: The Crab Pot. No cornbread, but it’s practically family tradition to go there now, plus mussels + andouille = serious nom. I actually ate at the noodle shop today in fact. Udon with salmon, needed a more assertive sauce though. Still pretty good. And the tempura portion at the noodle place is mind-blowing for the price. Plus I got agave syrup while I was there because, well, I was there. :)

  53. 53.

    BobS

    @lamh34: Thanks for mentioning that-I didn’t realize the new season of Treme started today. I DVRed it the second I read your comment.
    I’ve been distracted from the rest of my life by the great hockey this weekend, including Montreal-Boston 2OT yesterday, and Buffalo-Philly OT (anyone else think Richards should sit for a game for his hit on Connolly?) and Chicago-Vancouver OT today. There’s nothing in all of sports like overtime playoff hockey.
    I don’t worry about who the Wings play in the second round. I’ve just been rooting for everyone to pound the shit out of each other while Zetteberg and Franzen get healthy.

  54. 54.

    Brandon

    Surprised you are not watching The Killing John. It’s a brilliant show. I’m not so hot on The Borgias anymore. Decent, but The Name of the Rose it is not.

  56. 56.

    Bob Loblaw

    @Bob Loblaw:

    By the way, you guys should read this latest Wikileaks shit about Guantanamo. You wouldn’t believe it even if it was sold as fiction. It’s Soviet Union level dysfunction.

  57. 57.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Southern Beale:

    If you come to Nashville for a ‘Wings/Preds game I will buy you a beer. :-)

    Heehee…

    Two things:

    1). I meant travel for the Wings, not for poor me. Being a fan of one of two Western Conference team located in this here Eastern Time Zone is a pain in the ass when the team plays games out west.

    2). If I do ever make it down there, it would be a root beer. Alcohol-free for the last 6 years and 12 days.

    ETA: Past playoff series, not the season series.

  58. 58.

    Crza

    @cleek: Portal 2 is AMAZING. Granted, it’s not quite the brilliant surprise that was the original, but how could it be? You can only surprise people like that once – now we know what we’re getting into.

    Luckily, what we’re getting into is vintage Portal awesomeness, now with Stephen Merchant and incendiary lemons.

    Video game of the year so far, easily.

  60. 60.

    Dave C

    Game of Thrones tonight was awesome. I definitely enjoyed it more than the pilot, which I also liked.

  61. 61.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Yutsano:

    And there ain’t nothing wrong with a good stiff ginger ale either.

    Well, other than the fact that I don’t like it. And I don’t feel the need to hide the fact that I’m not drinking alcohol by drinking something that looks like something with alcohol. Some people feel the need to blend in in order to avoid being stigmatized, but I could care less if people know I don’t drink any more…

    Hell, I think it’s a good thing to talk about it publicly. I went for the last two years I was drinking fearing that I’d lose all of my friends from the bar if I quit. I can still stop in for an hour and a half (which, invariably, is when the conversation starts repeating when in the company of drinkers). I finally came to the realization that my relationship to alcohol was like my relationship with professional sports: As much as I’d like to be a successful participant, I’m not going to be. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

    ETA: My other friend in Seattle has become a big Canucks fan over the last few years, too. She’s a bit worried about their chances now.

  62. 62.

    BobS

    @Yutsano: I don’t envy you your first round draw- I knew Chicago would be dangerous and was surprised Vancouver swept the first three. The Blackhawks backed into the playoffs, too- if Dallas had won the final Sunday against Minnesota, the Canucks would be playing them instead and would probably have won four straight instead of just three.
    I’m guessing things are a little tense in BC right now.

  64. 64.

    Yutsano

    @BobS: Yeah but if they bring home Lord Stanley’s prize that party will rival the closing days of the Olympics. And you better believe I’m going north to go pub crawling if that happens. I only wish my Communist friend would be back from Germany in enough time to go with me.

  66. 66.

    Comrade Mary

    @catperson: It was cool!

    Hey, there’s another Medicare ad coming out that’s a little more hard hitting than the geriatric stripper one we saw a few days ago. Maybe the Democrats are actually ramping up.

    Edit: Oh, wait, it’s Americans United for Change. Never mind.

  67. 67.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @BobS: I want to know who Vigneault is going to put in net the next time he decides to pull Luongo.

  69. 69.

    Anoniminous

    Atlas Shrugged is estimated to have pulled a whacking $879,000 this weekend and a grand total of $3,094,490 in the first nine days of release.

    Alas for Atlas. The movie theater going public has gone Galt. They have shrugged.

    ETA: this weekend’s business dropped 48% from last weekend despite showing at 55% more theaters.

  70. 70.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: I apparently saved that for a thread over. Although for me it is a rather mild statement. I think I’m getting soft in my old age.

  72. 72.

    Anoniminous

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):

    The film is reported to have had a $10-$15 million budget.

    When a film is released the distributor negotiates a deal with a theater. The theater gets a set fee per week and a percentage of the box office. The majority of the box office (usually in the 90% range) goes to the distributor.

    So figure the distributor got around $2.9 million. Now subtract the $900,000 cost to make and ship 450 prints of the film. And we’re down to $2 million. The only ones who know how much the production company got of that is the distributor and production company but it’s a sure bet they didn’t get more than $1,500,000, more likely they got around $1 million, and maybe less than that.

    This is why the Rule of Thumb is: a movie has to gross three times the budget before the production company starts making money.

    Another way to look at it is: to make money Atlas has to sell around 4 million tickets and they’ve sold (around) 410,000.

  73. 73.

    ComcastMark

    @LGRooney – I work for Comcast. We can check for other pricing options for you. You can reach out to me, provide your info and a link to this page if you’re interested in my help.

    ComcastMark
    Comcast Corp.
    National Customer Operations
    [email protected]

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