Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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

Joe Biden can go out like FDR, not by dying in office, but by crushing the fascists.

I was promised a recession.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

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

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

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

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Reader Interactions

28Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    Tempting as all hell (the LX5 has a reputation as one of the best pocket-sized cameras), but I bought a D7000 last winter and that used up my “photographic toys” budget for the next year or two.

  2. 2.

    donnah

    I purchased a small Panasonic Lumix last year and it has been a fantastic little camera. I love it and would immediately buy the LX5 on sale, but I have no dollars right now.

  3. 3.

    Yutsano

    We could just turn Max into a massive attention hoor, so that your hands never touch the actual keyboard. Problem solved!

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    Tim, I have asked this of Cole many times, but I have not received an answer.

    Does BJ get some small set amount each time we click on the amazon.com link? Or does it actually get a percentage of our purchase amount?

  5. 5.

    nodakfarmboy

    @dmsilev: When it comes to pocket cameras, I’ll put in a good word for the Canon S95. Bought one last year before a trip to Africa, and haven’t regretted it at all. The thing takes lovely pictures, even given my limited skills. A photographer friend of mine told me it’s a bit like having a pocket DSLR, which was enough to convince me to give it a try. I think Canon came out with it’s successor, the S100 now, so the 95 is probably available on sale. Only drawback- the 3.8x optical zoom can feel a bit limiting. But, otherwise, it’s a stellar pocket camera.

  6. 6.

    Dead Earnest

    Tim (and/or anyone else who knows),
    I’d like to maximize the $ benefit to BJ when purchasing at Amazon.
    Can you say if BJ gets a fixed amount each time a purchase is made logging in to Amazon through the blog, or if BJ gets a percentage the dollar amount of the total purchase?
    Thx.

    [edit: or as Watergirl asks, is it for each click to Amazon regardless of a purchase being made?]

  9. 9.

    Tim F.

    I believe that we get a cut of each purchase. If we got a cut per link I am sure that would go up if the links occasionally led to significant purchases.

    Raven, the LX5 is miles ahead of most other digicams. It is in a league with a tiny number of contenders: the Canon G12 and S95, the Olympus XZ-1 and the Fuji X10 are its only real competition. Even among those the LX5 is the gold standard.

    I am not trying to sell it to you, but explaining why I am having such a goddamned hard time keeping my hand off the wallet. If I was not saving up for a Panasonic GX1 interchangeable lens camera I would have already bought one.

  10. 10.

    Yutsano

    I am not trying to sell it to you, but explaining why I am having such a goddamned hard time keeping my hand off the wallet.

    Go play ball. You know you’re already getting that look. You know the one. :)

  11. 11.

    Moonbatting Average

    If I already have a Canon G11, I don’t need an LX5, do I? Do I? Somebody either talk me back from the ledge or over it…

  12. 12.

    Joel

    I got the Lumix FZ-35 and it has been awesome for me in the past year. Unfortunately, I suck as a photographer so the pictures haven’t worked out so well.

  14. 14.

    Tom Levenson

    I’ve been lusting after the Fuji X10 myself, though the LX5 is an amazing camera. One of my best photog friends has one to go along with his Panasonic m4/3 kit and his old Leica film gear. Does great work with it.

    It’s just that it really benefits from the external view finder, which makes it a bit more unwieldy, and the X10 is in some ways an update to my beloved Leica Digilux 2 — one of the tastiest digital cameras ever made, and still a great performer.

    But I’ll admit — this is a hell of deal. And the Fuji is still commanding $599 a pop…

    Stop me before I spend again.

  15. 15.

    S. cerevisiae

    I have an older Lumix FZ-20 that takes spectacular pictures but is pretty big. It would be nice to have a more compact alternative but I don’t have the cash right now.

  16. 16.

    Origuy

    I bought the Lumix DMC-ZS7 last year. I’m quite happy with the camera, but I bought it from Panasonic’s website because they gave a discount to employees of my company. The customer service sucked; they screwed around and didn’t ship it until just before I left home for Christmas. So I didn’t get it until I got back. Never had problems like that with Amazon.

  17. 17.

    barkleyg

    Tim

    Are you trying to TEACH us about a good camera, or are you LOBBYING for us to Buy the camera?

    After Newt, I constantly confuse TEACHING and LOBBYING!

  19. 19.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    Great deal, but not enough to get me to part with my Canon G12. Not that the G12 is top of Canon’s PowerShot line any more – the S100 has upended that in terms of upgraded processor and sensor. But I can’t walk away from the fold-out screen of the G12, and besides, Canon is hinting that the successor to the G12 (presumably the G13) is going to be a head-turner.

    The sensor of a 3/4 would be nice, but a) I just can’t afford to have to buy the various lenses likely to cost as much (or more) as the camera itself, and b) the convenience of a fixed-lens system is dear to my heart.

  20. 20.

    JCT

    @Tom Levenson: FWIW, my main secondary system (besides the big iron D700 and 25 years of glass) is all Panasonic Lumix series. GH1/G3 pair + TS3 for water sports and an old ZS3 for knock around.

    My only complaint about the Panny’s are the OOC jpgs, I really want at least 1 good camera that I can stick with the jpg mode most of the time, not EXACTLY as a P&S, but one that can shine without too much intervention.

    For me that has turned out to be the Fuji X10 — took me a long time to get this far.

  21. 21.

    Nicole

    All right. My husband just got his year-end bonus, so we splurged (we were looking for a good point-and-shoot digital camera). I made sure to click through b-j. Thank you for the tip!

  22. 22.

    englishmajor

    Bezos gave big money to defeat a 2010 income tax initiative in Washington state – the state with the most regressive tax system in the country (), a whole shitload of millionaires, and one that’s 44th in the nation in funding it’s public schools. Since then I’ve tried not to buy from him. It’s like trying not to buy stuff that’s made in China – a full-time job. I fall off the wagon. But, seriously, what a dick. I hate giving him my money. Can’t stand his smiley mug.
    Not that you all shouldn’t buy your cameras, but I wanted you to know.

  23. 23.

    Martin

    @Catsy: Ooh! You’re (hopefully still) here!

    My son wants a new camera for his Lego stop motion work for xmas. Something that iStopMotion will capture from. The D40 is a bit more than we wanted to pay (closer to the $300 range), but Nikon looks like the route to go. Any recommendations?

    Manual focus cameras in the $300 range seem to be rare enough.

  24. 24.

    Tim F.

    @Martin: Buy an Olympus E-P2 body for $300 or an E-P1 body for $200, buy an old manual focus 50mm standard lens for $30 and put it on the camera with a $18 eBay adapter. As far as I know that is the best deal anywhere in fully manual photography.

  27. 27.

    Martin

    @Tim F.: It needs to be modern enough for his computer software to capture what’s on the viewfinder without him taking a photo. It’s stop motion, so the computer helps him set up the shot relative to the last shot he took, and doing that by repeatedly taking photos is, well, impossibly laborious. There’s only a certain subset of cameras that will send the shot preview down the USB cable. Olympus doesn’t do that. Neither does this Panasonic, unfortunately, or else I’d snatch it up in a second.

    The Nikon’s do it almost universally, but well, they don’t have a nice cheap micro four thirds camera.

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