• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

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

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Open Thread

Open Thread

by Tim F|  May 14, 20118:52 am| 27 Comments

This post is in: Dog Blogging, Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

How I’m feeling right now.

lay down your arms

Chat.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « “The Professor” is on the move…
Next Post: The Shocking Conspiracy Against FranziaPundit »

Reader Interactions

27Comments

  1. 1.

    Josie

    May 14, 2011 at 8:58 am

    You two are just the best combination of photographer and subject. I have always been a little leery of dobermans, but you and Max are changing my attitude.

  2. 2.

    RossInDetroit

    May 14, 2011 at 9:06 am

    I feel like I’ve been hammered flat, rolled up and baked to a crisp. And today is going to be even worse.

  3. 3.

    R-Jud

    May 14, 2011 at 9:12 am

    I’m feeling well, but there’s a 43-year-old man and a two-year-old with Xs over their eyes on my sofa. They both have tonsillitis. It’s no fun for Bean, but it will suuuuuuuuck for Mr. Jud if he has to have them removed.

    I’ve made them plenty of ice cream, though, so there’s that.

  4. 4.

    PurpleGirl

    May 14, 2011 at 9:13 am

    Awwww. What a cute picture of Max. A little tired is he? Was he running around, chasing something.

    He is beautiful dog. (I’m partial to Dobermans, but he is beautiful.)

  5. 5.

    Gina

    May 14, 2011 at 9:14 am

    I love the Max pics, never fails to lighten my mood.

    Sleep was fragmented, so I’m pretty pissy but am looking forward to getting out and away from la famille and taking our foster Rottie, Gemma, to her first adoption clinic. I’m fit company for dogs today, but not so much the people. Luckily, I’ll blend right in.

  6. 6.

    PurpleGirl

    May 14, 2011 at 9:16 am

    @R-Jud: I feel for your man. In my mid-30s, I was experiencing strep throat every 6 weeks or so and since I still have my tonsils, my doctor was talking about taking them out. (Strep hides in the tonsils’ folds.) Luckily I changed jobs and my stress level went way down and the strep stopped.

  7. 7.

    R-Jud

    May 14, 2011 at 9:23 am

    @PurpleGirl: I had mine out when I was 19, after repeat strep infections that resulted in an abscess in one of the tonsils which nearly closed off my airway.

    It was not fun at all. The only upside was the fact that I was at college and had access to Purity ice cream during my recovery.

  8. 8.

    Carrie

    May 14, 2011 at 9:26 am

    Open thread question and advice seeking time.
    Let’s say you clean houses for a living and at one of your ‘houses” lives a 13 year old boy. Let’s say that a month ago, you found a zippo lighter in his bookshelves and after checking that it didn’t have any fuel in it, you put it back where you found it, behind a Harry Potter book and let’s say that yesterday, back in that same room, behind the same book, you also found a disposable lighter with the zippo… and under the bed, while sweeping, you found something that looks remarkably like part of a hashpipe but aren’t quite sure so you leave it on the nightstand.
    What do you do?
    Oh and by the way, this 13 year old boy is your nephew?

  9. 9.

    Carrie

    May 14, 2011 at 9:29 am

    I should also add that i was considering taking the stuff and leaving a note that read “Confiscated until we have a little chat”.

  10. 10.

    Gina

    May 14, 2011 at 9:53 am

    @Carrie: Oh hell yes. Although, as a parent, I’d prefer to hear about it before the kid.

  11. 11.

    debit

    May 14, 2011 at 9:59 am

    @Carrie: It’s a tough call. You could talk to him and keep it confidential, but what happens when his parents find out, and they will, and it comes out you knew and didn’t tell them.

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    May 14, 2011 at 10:10 am

    @Carrie:
    I think it depends on his parents. If they’re the kind of people who won’t freak out but will handle it well, you should probably let them know about it and deal with it themselves. They can even pretend to have discovered themselves to conceal your role and help with the aura of parental BS resistance. It’s possible they know something already and this will help them make up their minds.

  13. 13.

    Amir_Khalid

    May 14, 2011 at 10:18 am

    Second the opinions above. If it were your 13yo son, you’d certainly want to know about this. It’s not a good idea to usurp someone’s parental authority unless you know them to be incompetent parents. So tell his parents, stressing that you did not find conclusive evidence he is using drugs, and let them handle it. If your suspicions were wrong, that should be the end of that.

    You might be thinking of something like a note left beside the paraphernalia: “If I see this stuff here again, I’m telling your mom.” But then he might decide to carry on using, and just do a better job of hiding the evidence. You would not want that on your conscience.

  14. 14.

    Mnemosyne

    May 14, 2011 at 10:26 am

    Max’s posture says “relaxed,” but that one bright eye says, “Play?”

    (I have no children, so no advice to give on the nephew.)

  15. 15.

    Carrie

    May 14, 2011 at 10:34 am

    Thanks all, and you’re right i should tell his parents. I sort of thought i could deal with it as we are very close but… If it was my kid i would be upset if my sister didn’t inform me.

  16. 16.

    debit

    May 14, 2011 at 10:42 am

    You could tell you sister, and then suggest that you have a talk with him. Let you be the good cop, without putting your sister in the automatic role of bad cop. Plus, you give her a chance to monitor him without him being aware she’s been tipped off, as it were.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    May 14, 2011 at 10:43 am

    @Carrie: I don’t know… If you guys are close, then I think you could insist that he chat with you about this today, and during that chat you can tell him that he has 3 choices. The two of you can talk to his parents together, he can talk to his parents alone today, or you will talk to his parents yourself today.

    I think that might do more to preserve your relationship with the boy, which is probably really good as he enters the teen years. And I think the ‘today’ aspect would help preserve the right of the parents to know right away, which also helps preserve your relationship with them.

  18. 18.

    kjazz

    May 14, 2011 at 11:05 am

    Heh, Stephen Colbert speaks outside FEC after filing a request to promote his SuperPAC on his show:

  19. 19.

    Shadow's Mom

    May 14, 2011 at 11:05 am

    @Carrie: @WaterGirl: I think you are right. This option may not only help to preserve your relationship with sister and nephew, but also provides him with an exercise in making choices about exercising integrity. Rather than having the consequences of his decisions imposed upon him, he becomes a part of taking action responsibly.

    In other news, I am experiencing the power of teh Google. Back in April, I accepted a new position that starts on May 31. For the last two days, the banner ad at many blogs I go to is for the new company. If I page through B-J, every ad at the top is for this new company. If I go to RumpRoast, there is the new company. TPM, same thing. I’ve been exchanging some emails about benefits, email addresses, and the new laptop (I’ve opted for the MacBook that appears to be company standard), but these are a trickles in the overall volume of ads. Also, too, it’s kind of cool to have a new company forward all of the benefits and payroll paperwork in advance, so that I’m set up and ready to work on day one. I start 5/31, benefits start 6/1.

    One last thing, today is the USPS food drive. If your mail has not come yet, please leave your letter carrier a little something in the mailbox today; food donation4 the hungry http://tinyurl.com/5muyxm #p2 #StampOutHunger

  20. 20.

    Tom Levenson

    May 14, 2011 at 11:20 am

    Yo Tim,

    Just followed your brilliant example two years late, and picked up an Olympus m43 camera. I feel like one of those hominids in 2001 after the monolith appears. This thing can do what?

    I will resist the desire to post my learning curve images, not just here, but anywhere.

  21. 21.

    gogol's wife

    May 14, 2011 at 11:51 am

    Max is so beautiful and tranquil. A great break from grading papers.

  22. 22.

    kindness

    May 14, 2011 at 11:58 am

    Happy dog. Give him a beef backrib bone for us. Doggie nirvana.

  23. 23.

    El Tiburon

    May 14, 2011 at 12:06 pm

    Court: No right to resist unlawful police entry

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-police-unlawfulen,0,6950521.story

    Yo, Fuck tha PO-leece. Like Arizona, it may really be time to divide this country up into two halves. The crazy keeps getting crazier

  24. 24.

    gelfling545

    May 14, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    @Carrie: The nephew part decides it – talk to his parents. This is a family matter.

  25. 25.

    dopealope

    May 14, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    My Mom & Dad lost their Doberman, Gretchen, to cancer last year. Man, did I love that dog. Dobermans are just awesome. I sent my Mom your picture of Max in his tee-shirt on his love seat, as that was a position Gretchen was very fond of. You can never post enough Max pictures for me.

  26. 26.

    Yutsano

    May 14, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    Obligatory MAXPUPPEH!! Every time I see him it makes me want to call my friend the Dobie breeder and steal buy his next male pup. Of course contract will say I’ll have to breed him a certain number of times before the big snip, but I could live with that.

    @Josie:

    I have always been a little leery of dobermans

    It’s understandable. They have a HUGE family protection instinct, but inside their unit they’re big lovers. I went to visit the friend mentioned above and found myself facing eight barking snarling Dobies. My friend said just keep walking and don’t hesitate. Once I was in the house, the competition for nose scritches started furiously. They really are sweet dogs.

  27. 27.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    May 14, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    Max!! Handsome dog. I’m tired too, for no good reason.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - twbrandt - Belle Isle, Detroit, Michigan 7
Image by twbrandt (7/18/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • BigJimSlade on Friday Night Open Thread – How About a Little Music? (Jul 19, 2025 @ 12:54am)
  • BigJimSlade on Friday Night Open Thread – How About a Little Music? (Jul 19, 2025 @ 12:51am)
  • Gloria DryGarden on Friday Night Open Thread (Jul 19, 2025 @ 12:49am)
  • Gloria DryGarden on Friday Night Open Thread (Jul 19, 2025 @ 12:48am)
  • BigJimSlade on Friday Night Open Thread – How About a Little Music? (Jul 19, 2025 @ 12:48am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!