Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Let’s finish the job.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Let there be snark.

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

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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

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

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

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

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

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102Comments

  2. 2.

    Brian S

    Some days I think I’ve adjusted to winter, and then others I can’t get warm no matter how many space heaters I hang next to my face.

  3. 3.

    PeakVT

    The Lord Jesus Christ is the way to life and sealed. Mr. Riena.

    That translation doesn’t seem quite right.

    ETA: The Praça do Comércio looks nice in photos but it wasn’t all that nice to actually be in when I was there.

  7. 7.

    Sarah Proud and Tall

    @PeakVT:

    I rather think it is “Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. He reigns.”

    But I do like your version better.

    ETA: The Praça has recently been renovated, so it’s all nice and sparkly now. (Although I still got offered a baggie of dried parsley, so some things haven’t changed.)

  8. 8.

    Maude

    Has anyone been following the French failed breast implant story? Now they have found out that a Dutch firm was sold about 1,000 of these because the company changed it’s name. The company owner is being looked for by the law.

  11. 11.

    wobblybits

    @PeakVT: LOL, it reminds me of how inevitably one of my students will use a translator and how they are puzzled that I, the native speaker, can tell it was from a translator.

  13. 13.

    Benjamin Franklin

    The article is from 12/19…..I am perplexed as to why this is not being discussed more on the internet. Nothing about Kagan and Thomas, and their potential recusal. I find it odd, anyway.

    http://www.natlawreview.com/article/supreme-court-announces-dates-oral-argument-aca-challenge

    “The Supreme Court announced today the oral argument calendar for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) challenge. The entire week of March 26 has been scheduled for the 5 ½ hours of ACA oral arguments.

    On Monday, March 26, the Supreme Court will focus on whether the challenges to the individual mandate are barred by the federal Anti-Injunction Act. On Tuesday, March 27, oral arguments will center on the constitutionality of the insurance mandate in the ACA. Finally, on Wednesday, March 28, the oral arguments will address both whether the ACA can survive if the individual mandate is found unconstitutional as well as the constitutionality of the ACA Medicaid expansion.”

  17. 17.

    Raven

    @BGinCHI: If this shoulder doesn’t get better my swim spot may be tenuous. Did you know that Jack Bauerle, the UGA Swim Coach, was the US Women’s Swim Team coach in Bejing?

  20. 20.

    BGinCHI

    @Raven: I didn’t, but I bet he hates it when he gets confused with the guy from 24.

    How’s UGA basketball looking this year?

  21. 21.

    Raven

    @BGinCHI: They are OK, 7-5 right now, really young. I like Mark Fox, seems to be a level-headed dude. I used to play the hoop with Jack at Stegman back in the day. Had a wicked Philly fall away J.

  22. 22.

    BGinCHI

    @Raven: I can see you pulling your Mo Cheeks on the guys there.

    I played intramural bball at Stegman for a couple winters. If memory serves our grad school team got smoked every time. And that’s even with my mad Hoosier skills.

  23. 23.

    Raven

    @BGinCHI: I ran that program in 84-86. Four courts for the entire university. It sucked.

    eta I was also a high-school ref in those days and you haven’t lived until you work a boys and girls “b” team game at Nathanial Greene Academy in Silom, GA.

  25. 25.

    Svensker

    We had planned to stay home and watch football tonight in a post-Christmas torpor but some friends called to say that she just found out that two of her siblings have terminal cancer (she was told Christmas Eve) and they really really want to go out for dinner with us to talk and be with friends.

    Life really does stink sometimes.

  29. 29.

    BGinCHI

    OK, since this is an open thread and I’ve got a little time, let’s hear your Best Novel of 2011.

    That’s the best novel you read, not that you heard was good.

    I’ll start: tie between The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt and The Instructions, by Adam Levin.

    How bout you?

  32. 32.

    BGinCHI

    @Maude: Friend of mine is a climber (of mtns, not social networks) and he’ll love that. Will recommend. Thanks.

    See, I learned something already.

  33. 33.

    BGinCHI

    @Phylllis: Not much of a Wharton fan or of novels of manners generally, but she can sure write. And her books tend to be way better than the films of them. Low bar for me, though.

  37. 37.

    BGinCHI

    @wrb: Not a novel.

    Please spin the wheel again.

    /I love Whitman, and highly recommend Ted Genoways’ book Walt Whitman and the Civil War. Great read.

  43. 43.

    Sebastian Dangerfield

    Sarah,
    Hope you had a meal and some wine at Cafe Martinho (great food, former hangout of Fernando Pessoa) while you were in the neighborhood.

  44. 44.

    burnspbesq

    @Benjamin Franklin:

    Fine. Write a letter to the Convening Authority and ask that what you perceive as Manning’s service to his country be given appropriate consideration at sentencing. None of that changes the fact that he committed a serious crime.

  45. 45.

    Tony J

    @Svensker:

    Life really does stink sometimes.

    Doesn’t it just? Found out a few days ago that my much beloved ‘common-law-step-mother-in-law’ has cancer of the throat. The consultants are both in “Don’t worry, this is something we can actually fix pretty easily” mode, but she’s still going to have to go through a month or two of really unpleasant treatment to irridate it away, and at the end she’s going to feel thirsty all of the time for the rest of her life, because it’s right next to her saliva glands and the treatment will wreck them even if it works.

    OTOH, on the same day we learn that, my significant other gets a letter from the tax people saying they’ve calculated how much she’s been over-taxed since 2004 and here’s a check for over £3000.

    Yeah, life stinks sometimes. It’s something of a testament, though, that people hit with the kind of low punch your friends have been dealt would turn to you to help them right now.

  46. 46.

    burnspbesq

    @Benjamin Franklin:

    I find it odd, anyway.

    People who have a clue about how this stuff works don’t find it odd. There are no grounds for Kagan to recuse herself, and Thomas isn’t going to, even though he probably should.

  48. 48.

    burnspbesq

    @Raven:

    I reffed intramurals at USC while I was in law school. One night I got assigned a game between two teams full of football players. Scary how good some of those guys were. And jeez louise, that was one physical ballgame.

  49. 49.

    burnspbesq

    @BGinCHI:

    OK, since this is an open thread and I’ve got a little time, let’s hear your Best Novel of 2011.

    When the Thrill Is Gone, by Walter Mosely. I’m not sure I’ll ever like Leonid McGill as much as I liked Easy Rawlins, but Mosely can write.

  50. 50.

    YellowJournalism

    A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

    I reread it once a year, at least. Excellent parts about Christmastime, too. Anyone ever read Joy in the Morning? I keep meaning to find it, but I’m worried I’ll be disappointed.

  51. 51.

    Mark S.

    No one could have predicted

    A typical year in this country features three or four weather disasters whose costs exceed $1 billion each. But this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has tallied a dozen such events, including wildfires in the Southwest, floods in multiple regions of the country and a deadly spring tornado season. And the agency has not finished counting. The final costs are certain to exceed $50 billion.

    We should eliminate the capital gains tax, just to be on the safe side.

  52. 52.

    burnspbesq

    @Mark S.:

    We should eliminate the capital gains tax, just to be on the safe side.

    That’s not even good snark. Ever heard of reinsurance?

  53. 53.

    Benjamin Franklin

    @burnspbesq:

    Listen, Marlmalard; It would be greatly appreciated if you would tender your
    comments to those who give a shit about USC lawyers.

    That institution is where ‘rat-fucking’ was conceived, and I’m not sure how far you are from Segretti’s ideology and temperament, but I would wager there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between you.

  56. 56.

    BGinCHI

    @burnspbesq: To make a stupid pun, he really does make it look easy. Haven’t read him in a while.

    I got all the boxing day matches on the dvr. You watch anything? Don’t spoil with results, as I haven’t watched anything yet. Love Boxing Day footie.

  63. 63.

    Benjamin Franklin

    Online courage is like courage from a bottle of booze.

    Don’t fuck with me again……….

  64. 64.

    Mark S.

    Are NFL tiebreakers complicated? Here’s the Titans:

    Lead the Jets for the No. 8 seed due to a better record in common games (4-1 vs. 3-2). Hold the same tiebreaker edge vs. the Raiders but lose a head-to-head tie with the Bengals. Would clinch the No. 6 seed with a win and a Bengals loss and either a Jets win or both a Broncos win and Raiders win (but not all three).

    Clear as day.

  69. 69.

    Johnny's Mom

    A service dog named Snickers was taken away from his owner, Jim Sak, a retired police officer and disabled Vietnam vet, because 36 residents of Aurelia, Iowa signed a petition. Snickers is a pitbull-type service dog.

  85. 85.

    burnspbesq

    @Raven:

    This has nothing to do with sports. Someone got his ignorance shoved in his face and reacted badly. See comments 6, 44, 13, and 46.

  89. 89.

    YellowJournalism

    Hillary:

    Seen it many times. The father may not fit the physical description from the book (sounds young Jude Law-like to me), but the performance is perfect. In fact, the entire cast is perfect, especially the mother and daughter. The girl who played the daughter did an excellent job in another favorite adaptation of another favorite novel, Jane Eyre (Welles version, want to see the newest one).

    I would sincerely love to see a very gritty, super faithful adaptation of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn if cast right.

    And House of Mirth is the best Wharton book, hands down.

  93. 93.

    Anne Laurie

    @BGinCHI: Off the top of my head, not looking at my diary? Best new discovery, for me, was Deborah Crombie’s Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James mystery series. I like “cozies”, and police procedurals, and the sort of series arc where it feels like the characters are dictating to the author where their lives should go. Crombie’s quite good, by those parameters.

    Apart from that, Sir Terry Prachett’s latest, SNUFF, is as good as anything he’s ever written, which is a high standard indeed.

  94. 94.

    YellowJournalism

    Bex: Your suggestion is welcome all the same. Love getting recommendations, although I need to start writing them down. A long time ago I got a ton for books on film history and cinema, but I kick myself for not writing it somewhere. (I would welcome those kinds of recommendations, again, though!)

    Right now I have Water for Elephants and The Memory Keepers Daughter sitting, waiting to be cracked open.

  95. 95.

    BGinCHI

    @Anne Laurie: Will check Crombie out. Always game for a well-written mystery series.

    There’s nothing cozy about Jean-Claude Izzo’s Marseilles Trilogy, but if you haven’t read them I highly recommend.

  96. 96.

    Svensker

    @Tony J:

    Hope all goes well with your mom-in-law and that the doctors are right. Scary stuff but a good prognosis is a plus.

    And yay for the extra money! Couldn’t hurt!

  97. 97.

    Svensker

    Also, too, got home in time to watch Drew Brees break the record. That was very nice. Coolio to see it.

  101. 101.

    Benjamin Franklin

    @burnspbesq:

    carry out your threat of criminal violence.

    There’s no criminal violence in an adhom duel; except perhaps the violence it does to your hubris and personal pride after I’ve handed you your ass.

  102. 102.

    wrb

    @BGinCHI:

    Please spin the wheel again.

    Ok

    Alice Hoffman’s The Red Garden
    and John Burdett’s wild Sonchai Jitpleecheep detective series.

    ttp://www.amazon.com/Godfather-Kathmandu-Vintage-Crime-Lizard/dp/140009707X/ref=pd_sim_b_2

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