Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

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

No one could have predicted…

Bark louder, little dog.

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24Comments

  2. 2.

    wrb

    Bizarre. I did figure that they were competently-run businesses, but this sounds just loony.

    Disguises, bullying, lies dropped into copy — all were part of the pressure-cooker atmosphere that prevailed, according to former journalists who spoke to The Associated Press.
    Michael Taggart, who worked at The Sun in 2003, said the paper under Brooks was marked by “ruthlessness and misogyny.”
    “The reporters who were prepared to subject themselves and others to the most ridicule were the ones earmarked for success,” said Taggart, who now works as a consultant for London-based MRM.
    Insiders say the whatever-it-takes mantra was common across the tabloid world. But the pressure at News International — publisher of the Sun and the News of the World, the now defunct paper at the center of the phone hacking scandal — was particularly intense.
    Taggart described routinely participating in overnight stakeouts while at the Sun, something he said was rare at other papers he had worked for.
    He said other tabloids were just as hungry for scandal and celebrity, but they tended to rely on “great contacts, rather than covert operations.”
    At Rupert Murdoch’s tabloids, refusing to play ball meant being pushed to the sidelines. One reporter who said he went through that was Charles Begley, News of the World’s Harry Potter correspondent in 2001 when Brooks was its editor.
    The then 29-year-old reporter said he wore a Harry Potter costume to work and officially changed his name to that of the fictional boy wizard, all part of the paper’s attempt to tap into the Pottermania sweeping both sides of the Atlantic.
    On Sept. 11, hours after the fall of the Twin Towers, Begley was stunned to be chewed out by News of the World management for not wearing his costume. He said he was then ordered to attend the next news meeting in full Potter regalia.

    google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hcrTrBb4iIH_3hHaSkGSsMaz952w?docId=e245328a86b449679cc314cbc7…

  3. 3.

    jl

    No chat from me either. But the pic reveals a fatal flaw in debt ceiling backup plan K. We are doomed.

    @2. OK, a little chat. If the scandal does get across the pond, imagine what will come out about Ailes, who is a truly and honestly mad as a rabid bat, crazy rich vindictive old loon.

  5. 5.

    Jules

    Why do I love Netflix instant?

    Because I am watching at this moment the most redonklously geeky & hilarious movie I have never seen before with my geeky teenager. The Last Lovecraft, perfect for bonding with your 19 year old son.

  6. 6.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    It’s only about $110 less per month, Grandmama. President Obama wouldn’t take that away from you if you really needed it.
    .
    .

  7. 7.

    Pangloss

    Guests of Balloon Juice stay at the fabulous Irving Hotel. The Irving… your home away from home, featuring Free TV and coffee in your room.

  8. 8.

    Violet

    @jl:
    I really hope the scandal hops the Atlantic. I saw a headline saying that Rupert was going to be called to testify in front of some governmental committee in Australia. That could be interesting, if it happens.

  9. 9.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    One more front page post and that troublesome anti-war rant by John Neville Chamberlain Cole will be in the dustbin of history.

  10. 10.

    jl

    @8 If there are really hearings in Australia, I will definitely look for a video of them, since they will be funner than others. I think you can say stuff like “Listen ‘ere you stingy lying old bugger” in hearings there.

  11. 11.

    Phyllis

    I’ve been glued to ‘Parking Wars’ on A&E all afternoon. It’s quite the hoot. Although I remember when A&E used to present actual Arts with their entertainment. Sigh.

  12. 12.

    Amir_Khalid

    The one about the Harry Potter correspondent still baffles me. They made a grown man legally change his name to Harry Potter’s? And come to work in a Hogwarts robe? (I’m not even going to ask why any newspaper aimed at adults would need to assign a person to cover nothing but Harry Potter.)

    The other stuff in the AP story — anywhere else, if a journalist did that kind of thing, it would be unprofessional conduct and grounds for sacking. The Sun went and made it company policy … Wow. Words fail me.

  13. 13.

    freelancer

    @Phyllis

    It’s easier to stalk a meter-maid with an HD handheld than to dress distinguished actors in a deerstalkers and tweed. Plus, the cable viewing audience relates more to their own parking lot drama than to Poirot or Agatha Christie. We are the stupid we’ve been waiting for.

  15. 15.

    djork

    I not only remember when A&E was an arts channel, but when Bravo was also a fine arts channel, and USA played early-round Stanley Cup hockey games, and also European art house films, uncensored.

    Regarding Bravo, my girlfriend is hooked on that channel. I watched it for a little while with her one night and came to the realization that I am apparently dating a gay man. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  17. 17.

    Brachiator

    With all the Murdoch stuff, the battle over the debt ceiling and the opening of the new Harry Potter movie, has there been much discussion over another story of the collusion of a powerful institution and authorities, the sad, inevitable report of foot dragging and evasion by the Catholic Church over child abuse by priests?

    Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has launched an unprecedented attack on the Catholic Church in parliament.
    __
    He said the recent Cloyne Report into how allegations of sex abuse by priests in Cork had been covered up showed change was urgently needed.
    __
    Mr Kenny said the historic relationship between church and state in Ireland could not be the same again.
    __
    He said the report exposed the elitism, dysfunction, disconnection, and narcissism that dominated the Vatican.
    __
    “The rape and torture of children were downplayed or ‘managed’ to uphold instead the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and ‘reputation’,” the taoiseach said.

  18. 18.

    Elisabeth

    @ 11 Phyllis – July 20, 2011 | 4:09 pm ·

    I have been watching the Horatio Hornblower series for weeks now. I love it for some reason.

    Also have Tess of the d’Urbervilles on my Netflix queue.

  19. 19.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Cain:

    You will chat.. and you will like it. CHAT NOW, FREEDOM NOW! CHAT NOW, FREEDOM NOW!

    Did I ever tell you how much I like Indian people? (With the exception of the cuisine and that weird hangup with the wiping hand.)

  20. 20.

    Suffern ACE

    @Karen: Huh. I’m sure my civics teacher is now revising that lesson plan where we were informed that that was one speech act that would certainly get us in a heap of trouble with the authorities.

  21. 21.

    Suffern ACE

    @wrb:

    Begley was stunned to be chewed out by News of the World management for not wearing his costume. He said he was then ordered to attend the next news meeting in full Potter regalia.

    It’s like the Office.

  22. 22.

    Phyllis

    @efgoldman #15: Dude, I’m so old I remember when MTV actually played music videos. Ba dum dum.

    A&E used to have a program on Sunday mornings that featured movies, Broadway, music. The host was quite nice on the eyes as I recall. I still believe Newton Minow was misquoted. What I think he actually said was “Television will be a vast wasteland. In forty years.”

  24. 24.

    Jado

    HEY!!

    That $2 trillion coin is legal tender, for all debts public and private. If you DON’T break it, I’ma call the cops on you for fraud. Or treason. Or something.

    Damn commies.

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