Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We still have time to mess this up!

Bark louder, little dog.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

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

Everybody saw this coming.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

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

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

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

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Let there be snark.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

I really should read my own blog.

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Reader Interactions

113Comments

  5. 5.

    geg6

    Still sick today with what seems like the worst cold I’ve ever had in my entire 52 years. But, of course, I had to drag my feverish, sniffing, coughing self to work to run the campus job fair. Can I whine a bit about being the only student aid officer at the University’s 24 campuses who does not have a fucking assistant? We’re not even the smallest campus, but I’m the only one with no backup. And people recoil with horror at the idea of cross-training so I can be sick or take a vacation day when needed. Fuck, that pisses me off. I guess that gives me job security, but days like today, that’s no comfort.

  6. 6.

    JC

    I don’t want to start a big food fight, but, what is up with a couple of things?:

    a. What is up with the Obama administration attempting to boot the NY Attorney General from the task force?
    b. What is up with proposed military retirement changes?

    In the case of A above, it’s pretty clear, for the 100th time, that the financial services and banking industry is one that the Obama administration is not only not taking on, but actively protecting.

    Of course, this can also be said of 90% of all Congress, in both the House and the Senate.

    But still, it sucks.

    In the case of B above, SHOULDN’T THIS COME OUT OF WEAPONS BOONDOGGLES, or sub-contracting, rather than military pay??

    I really really hate that ‘small changes to SS’ or ‘changes to military retirements’ end up being suggested by Democratic administrations. It lessens the (appearance at least) of separation between Rethug policies and Democratic policies.

  7. 7.

    JPL

    @Danny: If you read them so we don’t have to, why provide links to them so we have to read them. Paraphrasing is okay…

  13. 13.

    Brachiator

    Mother of mercy!

    Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

  14. 14.

    RandyH

    Steve Jobs resigns as CEO but will remain as Chairman. He’s dying, people. He’s been very ill for a while and he’s trying to set up a succession plan without killing the company. That’s all.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Funny how the fuckwits at NRO supported a deserting sack of shit over a decorated combat veteran in 2004, now isn’t it?

  19. 19.

    trollhattan

    Jobs’ resignation letter. It’s brief:

    To the Apple (AAPL) Board of Directors and the Apple Community:
    __
    I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
    __
    I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
    __
    As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
    __
    I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
    __
    I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
    __
    Steve

    http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18749572

    [oops, linked above]

  21. 21.

    Brachiator

    Perry ups the ante in bid to woo the GOP crazies

    Rick Perry signs anti-abortion pledge
    __
    Last night, Perry signed a pledge calling for sweeping federal action to stop abortion and appoint anti-abortion advocates to top federal positions, including judgeships. The pledge, written and sponsored by the Susan B. Anthony Fund, has been signed by seven other presidential candidates with the exception of Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Herman Cain.

  22. 22.

    Keith G

    Twitter says Steve Jobs resigned from Apple.

    So Steve is joining Mitt among the unemployed.

  23. 23.

    harokin

    With the turmoil erupting from Jobs’ resignation, now more than ever we need Obama to abandon his golf game and at least pretend to be doing something.

  25. 25.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Dunno what Apple will do without Jobs. It was very much his outfit. Don’t know anything about Tim Cook, but unless he’s as forceful a personality as Jobs, well, the future is uncertain. Cook certainly has big shoes to fill.

  26. 26.

    andrewsomething

    So the Fed is going to be holding its annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Can anyone explain to me why our overlords seeming love to have meetings there? A doubt that they’re head off to Yellowstone.

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    That letter sure sounds like health is forcing the issue.

    Thank you, Mr. Jobs, as I type this from my MacBook.

  29. 29.

    Nutella

    @geg6:

    I hope you sneezed on your boss many, many times today and put in for reimbursement for multiple deliveries of cold remedies and kleenex to you at your post at the job fair. You should not be the only one who suffers consequences from the poor planning of the boss.

  30. 30.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @andrewsomething:

    Can anyone explain to me why our overlords seeming love to have meetings there?

    Have you ever been there? It’s gorgeous. Fantastic resorts. My guess is that the golf is great. I doubt they will be climb in the Tetons, but still. Also too, the skiing awesome, but often quite difficult.

  31. 31.

    JC

    @Baud: That is a well-reasoned argument, at least.

    I can’t vouch for the truth/falsehood, and would have to do more research.

  34. 34.

    Mike G

    Jobs never would have resigned if Obama had cut tax rates for millionaires like the teatards wanted.

  35. 35.

    Kyle

    There are gonna be heads exploding all over Washington.

    What, did Cheney get drunk and pick up a shotgun again?

  40. 40.

    Libby's Person

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    I visited the Tetons once – incredibly beautiful. While I was in the Visitors Center at Grand Teton National Park, a woman went up to the ranger on duty and asked where the road to the top of the mountain was. He explained that it wasn’t possible to drive there, and offered a map of the hiking trails. She was highly offended that a feature in a publicly-funded national park wasn’t accessible to all (i.e., by car), and stalked out in a huff. Ah, the peace of the wilderness…

  41. 41.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Baud:
    The banks were already forbidden by law and fiduciary duty from committing many of those acts that led to the mortgage meltdown. What makes anyone think that they’re going to hold to the letter of this deal?

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    I suspect that Apple is much more prepared for this day than we are — after all, how many serious health problems has Jobs suffered through in the past 5 years? I think I stopped counting after the liver transplant.

    It’s sad, and the end of an era, but I think they’ve had more than enough time to prepare. I hope.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    @Mnemosyne:

    I suspect that Apple is much more prepared for this day than we are…

    I suspect you are right. I think the company will do just fine. Still, what a loss. Steve Jobs is one of the good guys.

  49. 49.

    jheartney

    A lot of what we take for granted about personal computing is there because of Jobs. In a whole list of product categories (PC’s, music players, phones, tablets) he showed how to do it, and the rest of the industry tried to follow. If you look at MP3 players before the iPod, they were a mess. Smart phone interfaces before the iPhone were a horror. And tablets were a backwater category until Jobs made them red hot.

    Lots of people complain about Apple fanbois, but the fact is that it’s a hugely successful company because it made products people want, not because it played douchebag games to make money. In a time when much of the economy is dominated by liars, thieves and crony capitalists, Apple actually adds value to people’s lives, because Steve Jobs is a fanatical genius.

    Lastly, I’ll just mention that Jobs performed his alchemy over and over; he was no one-trick pony. While many tech companies create one great thing and then rest on their laurels, or spend years trying to recreate magic, Jobs came out with one astonishing success after another.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    @Dennis SGMM: Don’t know the details of enforceability, but if the banks violate the agreement, any waiver of liability they benefit from will be void.

  52. 52.

    Danny

    @JPL:

    They are links to individual posts; I meant you don’t have to follow RedState or the National Review.

    The first is Erick Erikson selling out a Teaparty candidate (Jamie Radtke) from virginia basically saying that she was drunk stupid while giving her speech at his RedState Gathering, while acknowledging that his “bosses” works with George Allen. IOW, wingnut soap opera.

    The second one is David Foster entertaining his confederate readers with a race baiting picture that contrasts Rick Perry @22yrs with the President at the same age. I think the implication is that Foster thinks Perry was a mmurican fighter pilot and the Prez was a pimp…

  53. 53.

    Keith G

    @Danny: From the AM thread.

    I understand that locally spawned activism is a great thing, but that is not where we are at right now.

    ..wouldn’t it be preferable if our protest movements were genuine grassroots movements, rather than astroturf?

    What’s preferable is that a process is undertaken that can focus the attention of the mosaic of interests which make up the voters on whom the Democratic party relies.

    In 2009, a small group of conservatives “caught a wave” (if you will) and provided communication, transportation, templates for action and, yes, money in an effort to grow some activity which would redirect the conversation. They were successful despite our teasing and our complaints.

    The Democracts do not have to copy that en toto, but nothing grows without seeds being planted.

  54. 54.

    Emma

    @Seebach: That’s a vicious little snit you have going there. (for the record, do not own ANY Apple product, so it’s not an Apple-head speaking).

  55. 55.

    Seebach

    @Emma: He skipped ahead in the donor line to steal someone’s liver that has now gone to waste. Must be nice to be rich.

  56. 56.

    BruinKid

    So you guys going to do a post about how a right-wing recent college grad impersonated Paul Krugman on Google+, and fooled idiots on both the right and the left into thinking Krugman actually advocated death and destruction to get us out of the recession?

  57. 57.

    chopper

    hope he stays healthy. i aint a fanboy, but you got to appreciate dogg’s accomplishments. he took a company about to be swept into the dustbin and made it bigger than exxon. that shit is insane.

  59. 59.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Jeffro:

    That’s gonna make the teatards and birfers heads asplode seeing as they have already ruled him ineligible cause of that “two citizen parent” thing they pulled out of their asses to say that POTUS is ineligible.

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    @Seebach:

    It’s vile to take to the internets to slam someone like you are doing.

    It’s your free speech right to do so, but I would not think Jobs’ family, friends, or company thinks his liver transplant was a waste.

    For all the good the internet has done with connecting us to each other (and I first learned of Jobs’ resignation while scanning Balloon Juice), our eyeballs get delivered to a lot of ugliness and dysfunction too.

  61. 61.

    General Stuck

    @Baud:

    but if the banks violate the agreement, any waiver of liability they benefit from will be void.

    From my limited knowledge of this issue, it seems to me this is the motivation for them acting in better faith to rework loans, rather than defend against lawsuits from every direction for the next ten years of so. That impetus should more than make up the difference of cost between writing loses off on foreclosures and making the effort to rework loans to keep people in their houses.

  62. 62.

    PeakVT

    @Mustang Bobby: I probably won’t get more than nibble up here. It’s a small market, and the unit works but is pretty fugly at this point. They sell fairly often at that big auction site, so I may put it up there if nobody takes it locally.

  64. 64.

    Danny

    @Keith G:

    Sure, and I fully agree that democrats should do it, just saying I don’t see why we necessarily have to wait for Reid, Obama and Pelosi to give the word. Why couldn’t e.g. people at Gos or even HuffPo get the ball rolling?

  65. 65.

    freelancer (iPhone)

    Denver to Gallup, NM en route to flagstaff for the night. Oy. Some beautiful country out here with some dumbass truck drivers and some serious pockets of humanity.

  66. 66.

    Martin

    @Seebach:

    He skipped ahead in the donor line to steal someone’s liver that has now gone to waste.

    He didn’t game the system. In fact, he pointed out a serious problem with the system. Why does Tennessee have a different transplant list than California? If you think he skipped ahead, then every single recipient in Tennessee did as well, because California’s list is 5x longer than Tennessees.

    And he’s not dead, the liver is still being used. 25% of transplant patients don’t even make it as long as Steve has had his. 40% don’t make it 10 years. If he was critically ill, I don’t think he would have requested to be appointed Chairman.

  67. 67.

    Seebach

    @Elizabelle: What about the family and friends of the person next on the donor list, who wasn’t famous? Or do non-famous people not matter to you?

  70. 70.

    Larkspur

    @Seebach:

    He skipped ahead in the donor line to steal someone’s liver that has now gone to waste. Must be nice to be rich.

    Well, you’re a vicious little churl, ain’t ya?

  71. 71.

    Martin

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Don’t know anything about Tim Cook, but unless he’s as forceful a personality as Jobs, well, the future is uncertain. Cook certainly has big shoes to fill.

    Cook has been their operations guy since Steve returned. He’s really very good. He’s every bit as disciplined as Steve is, and has run the company through some critical periods. I think he’s an excellent choice to take over.

  72. 72.

    Seebach

    @Larkspur: Do Apple fans need to be put on suicide watch now? Please fill me in on all of the charity work Jobs did. Or did he just make toys for hipsters?

  74. 74.

    Jax6655

    @Seebach:

    I’m not getting you at all. Are you, or a loved one, waiting for a liver? And Steve Jobs got it instead?

    Looks like your spleen is acting up too.

  75. 75.

    scav

    Well, there are some people from Xerox Parc that no doubt would like to discuss the canonization of Jobs, Jobs and the Holy Jobs and I say that as someone that saw an Alto on the same night I was first introduced to Adventure as a computer game a.k.a. a fucking long time ago. Also saw Dad assemble one of the first Apples, the one with the external user supplied cassette tape as its “disk” drive, so I’ve got some personal evidence on which to judge the complexity of who innovated what.

  76. 76.

    Samara Morgan

    @Seebach: he was a visionary.
    and he made dreams flesh.
    the world will be poorer.

    i saw the raindirty valley….he saw Brigadoon.

  77. 77.

    ppcli

    @geg6:

    Can I whine a bit about being the only student aid officer at the University’s 24 campuses who does not have a fucking assistant?

    Count your blessings. In our university system every one of the student aid officers has to do their fucking with no help at all!

    (OK, snark off – my sympathies, especially at what must be an insane time of year.)

  79. 79.

    Keith G

    @Danny: That gets to the meat of it, doesn’t it? What should happen vs what needs to happen vs what is happening.

    Two groups of upper level operatives: One group saw an opportunity, stepped up, and made things happen. The other?

  80. 80.

    Martin

    @Seebach: You do understand that he didn’t skip ahead on the list, right? He simply went onto a shorter list.

    No, you don’t understand.

    There are 11 general waiting lists, broken down by region. The shortest at the time (Pacific NW) had 341 people on it, the longest (Southwest) had 4,040 people on it. But he didn’t get moved on the list – that was investigated and confirmed.

    It’s simply a bad system.

  81. 81.

    JC

    @Martin:

    If he was critically ill, I don’t think he would have requested to be appointed Chairman.

    As much as I hope to be wrong, I think the only thing that would make him step down from CEO, is if he was critically ill.

    When I saw his last keynote, I shuddered, because he looked extremely ill.

  82. 82.

    Nutella

    Some happy news: Illinois woman acquitted in felony trial for recording police.

    IL has one of those terrible laws that say recording the police, even when they’re on a public street, is illegal.

  83. 83.

    Keith G

    @Seebach: We love and feel for the rich and the celebs. We are an aspirational tribe.

    The poor who are dying in the gutters of America?

    Fuck ’em

  84. 84.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Seebach: My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Jobs pass out at 31 Flavors last night. So there. It’s like I know him too.

  85. 85.

    JC

    By all accounts, Jobs was an asshole, an asshole genius, and a visionary.

    Unfortunately, one’s personal qualities of ‘nice guy/asshole’, have very little to do with the qualities of bringing great art, theories, or products, into existence.

    So yes, I do celebrate the 5 revolutions he brought to the consumer electronics industry, and to how people get and interact with technology.

  86. 86.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    ah well, apple will have one if its patented half decade dry spells, then they will become the greatest company ever again, for ever and ever, until the next dry spell.

    no one is irreplacable and i am sure there are enough hyperfans who can get inside the ole what would jobs have done? question.

    on a personal level its sad, he was the jerry garcia of a generation.

  87. 87.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    ah well, apple will have one if its patented half decade dry spells, then they will become the greatest company ever again, for ever and ever, until the next dry spell.

    no one is irreplacable and i am sure there are enough hyperfans who can get inside the ole what would jobs have done? question.

    on a personal level its sad, he was the jerry garcia of a generation.

  88. 88.

    Danny

    @Keith G:

    Well yeah agreed to a point. But let’s remember that Movement conservatism is not the same thing as the Republican party, and isnt it more accurate to say that Movement conservatism – rather than the Republican party – made the Teaparties happen. Movement conservatism, understood as many independent entities that are very good at achieving synergy by working together. There’s an asymmetry between left and right, but I’m not sure if it only boils down to how good key players are at ceasing the moment.

    E.g. we wont see Msnbc promoting progressive tea parties every day for a year on account of there being an asymmetry between how Msnbc fits in with progressivism compared to FoxNews and conservatism….

  89. 89.

    Martin

    @JC:

    By all accounts, Jobs was an asshole

    Indeed he was. But he also got results. In my experience, the venn diagram of assholes and people that get results puts almost all of the entire small circle of people that get results inside the gigantic circle of people that are assholes.

  90. 90.

    scav

    @Martin: Ah, but you’re forgetting the sneaky ones that get results. If you want, think of them as the steel asshole in a velvet glove ones.

  91. 91.

    Gin & Tonic

    @JC:

    because he looked extremely ill.

    I watched a loved one die of pancreatic cancer. It’s not good. And still, despite all the progress with other cancers, the 5-year survival rate is pretty darn close to zero.

  99. 99.

    Jeffro

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Won’t make a bit of difference. IOKIYAR. And bootstraps, American Dream, also too. If it causes even one of them two seconds’ pause that’s three seconds more than I would expect.

  100. 100.

    Cap'n Magic

    This is beginning to look like what happened when Harmon Killebrew annouced he had stopped his esopogheal cancer treatment and went into hospice-he passed away shortly thereafter.

  103. 103.

    The Other Chuck

    Actually what happened is that Steve texted “I reign as CEO of Apple”, and his iPhone autocorrected it.

  104. 104.

    Karen

    @Seebach:

    You know Steve Jobs?

    PROVE IT.

    If you don’t know him personally, have him as your boss or if getting his liver didn’t interfere with YOU getting one or a loved one getting one then you have NOTHING TO SAY!

    Part of why Apple is so successful is that they still have some of the best customer service out there when customer service is rare these days.

    And Seebach there have been other celebrities and rich people who have gotten organs ahead of other peons so why the all the hostility for Jobs?

    Are you really Steve Ballmer?

  108. 108.

    Jon H

    And now the CEO of one of the highest market-cap companies in the country, if not *the* highest, is a gay guy.

  109. 109.

    Jon H

    @scav: “Well, there are some people from Xerox Parc that no doubt would like to discuss the canonization of Jobs, Jobs and the Holy Jobs”

    I suspect they’re happy the ideas didn’t die on the fucking vine at Xerox, that fucking incompetent company.

    Xerox got paid for their tech. Business is business. What do you expect, they were a stupid office copier company.

  110. 110.

    Jon H

    @Keith G: “We love and feel for the rich and the celebs. We are an aspirational tribe.”

    Jobs has done a bit more for the world than Donny Osmond or Kim Kardashian. There are lots of rich people and celebs who don’t actually change peoples’ lives much, apart from entertaining them, if that.

    Hell, the technology from his company NeXT gave me a pretty decent career in the 90s.

    I really wish Jobs would be around for another 20 years, as an active CEO. I’m generally scathing in my skepticism for cryonics, but if any person alive today is an argument for being frozen in hopes of being thawed and “cured” in the future, it’s Steve Jobs.

    I rather like the idea of Steve being thawed out in 100 years, brought back to life without his illnesses, and seeing how shitty technology is then, and rapidly grasping how awesome it could be.

    I hope the plans for the new Apple headquarters have room for a big liquid nitrogen thermos.

  111. 111.

    Jon H

    Ad on the left: “Say No To Shopping Bag Taxes”

    Man, how much must it suck to be a businessman in the position of having to run shitty ads to influence voters to preserve your business, when that business is making goddamn plastic shopping bags?

    Apparently the same organizations recently pressured California to have its textbooks talk about the advantages of plastic bags. And they also recently paid off those hack “scientists” in Arizona to put out a paper talking about the treat of bacteria on reusable grocery bags.

    How pathetic. Really stands in contrast to Steve Jobs.

  112. 112.

    CaseyL

    Apple. NeXt. Pixar. Apple.

    I don’t care how assholish Jobs was or is as a boss. He’s been one of my heroes since the first Mac. There are too damn many amazing things he has said and done, too much he’s accomplished, too many times he was written off and came back better than before.

    He’s not like anyone else in big business. He’s not like anyone else, period.

    For him, I wish a miracle, so he can continue to astound and confound us all for another 20 years.

  113. 113.

    iLarynx

    @Seebach: Looks like someone got their Apple Store job application rejected at the local mall and had to work at the Orange Julius instead. If I were you, I’d be pissed at life too. You have my pity.

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