Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

After roe, women are no longer free.

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

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Come on, man.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

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

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Reader Interactions

176Comments

  2. 2.

    RinaX

    Having endured Tebow-mania since he was in high school, I’ve pretty much just been lol-ing at all the Tebow developments. I appreciated his efforts as a Gator, but none of what’s happening surprises me at all, from the WTF victories to his horrific losses. Of course his team still wins the AFC West at 8-8 and after three straight losses.

  4. 4.

    lamh35

    Hmmm what’s not to love about Ron Paul…oh wait!

    Ron Paul: Civil Rights Act of 1964 ‘Destroyed’ Privacy

    Please follow Ta-Nehisi’s twitte feed:
    https://twitter.com/#!/tanehisi

    “Ron Paul slams the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It’s OK because he’s against the drug war”

    “For the record “I’m against the drug war” has officially replaced “I have a black friend.”

    “”I think lynching is just swell–but too be clear I oppose crack/cocaine disparities.”

    But ya’ll know how much of an O-bot TaNehisi is!

    BTW, this is from this morning, NOT old news. But hey that why some libs like Paul right, he sticks to his guns…amirite?

  5. 5.

    Baud

    Saints had to go to 7-9 Seattle last year and lost. I luv me some Saints, but they’ll throw up a stinker every now and then. Steelers should romp, even if Ben is playing in a stretcher.

  7. 7.

    JPL

    @lamh35: ron paul ron paul..I am so tired of hearing about him..if sharia law were named libertarianism he would be for it..

  8. 8.

    Keith G

    I am sure he was, but an example would be appreciated so I do not have to experience it first hand.

  9. 9.

    jl

    “Speaking of wretched, how about the AFC West?”

    Thanks for cheering me up, Cole.

    Against anyone of our regional AFC slobs, I will actually cheer for the ******* steelers.

    Gooooooooooooooooooooo niners!

    Edit: tried to type out a big cheer for the Steelers, but something funny happened there. Who woulda thunk.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    @JPL:

    if sharia law were named libertarianism he would be for it.

    Only if it’s imposed by the states and not the feds.

  16. 16.

    Punchy

    I won my fantasy pick ’em league week AND season with Zona’s OT victory over Suckattle. I may send John Skelton a Groupon for free hookers and blow as a thank you.

  17. 17.

    Raven

    @JPL:

    AFC
    No. 6 Cincinnati Bengals (9-7) at No. 3 Houston Texans (10-6)
    No. 5 Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) at No. 4 Denver Broncos (8-8)

    NFC
    No. 6 Detroit Lions (10-6) at No. 3 New Orleans Saints (13-3)
    No. 5 Atlanta Falcons (10-6) at Cowboys-Giants winner

  18. 18.

    The Dangerman

    As an LA boy, I have no dog in the hunt (OK, fuck the Niners, just on general principles)…

    …but one has to feel good for Cincy. After some dark days, they get 2 1’s for Palmer (a flat out robbery; I assume this was approved by Davis while he was fucking high) and then they get in on the last day while Oakland drops a turd on the same day.

  20. 20.

    jl

    Because I am fickle, I just checked forecast to see maybe another windstorm will hit and blow Tebow around and about and into the end zone often enough to win. But looks like no dice. Too bad.

  21. 21.

    SoINeedAName48

    Whether he wrote them or not, Ron Paul bottom line:

    If you can’t manage your own damn newsletters, you sure as HELL can’t manage our country!

  22. 22.

    lamh35

    @JPL:

    but my progressives betters love him so.

    BTW, did you realize that “Democrats are more racist than Ron Paul

    “@David Sorita Question Ron Paul raises: Is gross newsletter racism MORE deplorably racist than Dems’ Drug War/Patriot Act/indefinite detention/wars?”

    well duh….of course the newsletters are racist, but Dem policies are more racist…so there…

    WTF!

  23. 23.

    Baud

    WaPo:

    Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) announced Sunday that he has reconsidered his decision from Saturday and will not seek to get several GOP presidential candidates added to the state’s primary ballot.

  25. 25.

    jayboat

    On the best day of his smarmy little existence Cantor was/is a wretched human being.

    No way am I gonna subject myself to a second more of his slime.
    But, hat tip to JC for watching so we didn’t hafta.

  26. 26.

    khead

    a flat out robbery; I assume this was approved by Davis while he was fucking high

    Davis was dead at the time, actually. But hey – close enough.

  29. 29.

    Dracula

    Is somebody going to wake up the Cowboys and let them know that their game started about 30 minutes ago?

  30. 30.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    @lamh35: Is gross newsletter racism MORE deplorably racist than Dems’ Drug War/Patriot Act/indefinite detention/wars?

    wait, what?

  31. 31.

    The Dangerman

    @khead:

    Davis was dead, actually.

    In which case, he was spinning someplace (I would have sworn he passed after the trade and I was too damn lazy to look it up).

  32. 32.

    JPL

    @lamh35: If you forget about the fact that he said the Jews in Germany were not our problem or that businesses should be able to refuse who ever and that females are not in charge of their own body, he’s a great guy cuz we won’t bomb Iran.

  33. 33.

    Linnaeus

    Glad that my Lions are finally in the playoffs, but I’m not encouraged by the fact that Green Bay’s second-string QB torched them. Now they gotta play the Saints (again). Progress really does come slowly sometimes.

  34. 34.

    Schlemizel

    Yup, if is middle name is not ‘smarmy’ it ought to be. Every time he smirked his little smirk the wife just wanted to punch him in the face. I don’t think he won any new friends.

  36. 36.

    Nerull

    Personally, I’m not sure intentionally crashing the world economy counts as “anti-war”. More like helping to start another world war.

  37. 37.

    lamh35

    @Raven: ooh, the crawfish lassagna at Cheescake Bistro in NOLA is soooo good. It’ ravioli stuffed w/cheese and crawfish tail meat, breaded and soaked in this romalaude sauce that is.to.die.for!

  41. 41.

    BruceFromOhio

    Could turn into one of the ugliest games in NFL history.

    If they play as shitty as they did against the Browns, Gaia help me, yes it could. Another defense-heavy, low scoring game, now with playoff hype. Yay!

    I look forward to the Bronco’s getting crushed like bugs.

  42. 42.

    Roger Moore

    @lamh35:
    If you really want to talk about Ron Paul, you should duck into the troll catcher thread a couple of posts down. I have to say, throwing out such obvious bait seems like a fairly effective way of keeping the trolls concentrated in a few threads.

  45. 45.

    Dr. Squid

    SFW? Beat Raven once and you don’t have this problem. You don’t want a road trip? Play better.

  46. 46.

    The Dangerman

    I don’t think cell phones are allowed on sidelines or some Cowboys would be calling in for their Caribbean vacations right about now.

  47. 47.

    JPL

    @lamh35: Decades ago I lived in Lake Charles and would wander over to a restaurant called Pat’s (I think) in Henderson and eat crawfish. It was almost heaven.

  50. 50.

    Mark S.

    Steelers at 12-4 have to fly to Denver to take on the 8-8 Tebows in a wild card match.

    Why doesn’t the NFL just get rid of these stupid divisions or just have two of them in each conference? The 4 seed is always some shit 8-8 team that gets a home game against a good team that had the misfortune of being in a better division.

    And anyone who disagrees with me likes dead Muslim children.

  56. 56.

    Southern Beale

    We put Christmas away yesterday which is so freaking awesome you have no idea. I cannot stand all the mess from Christmas. So glad it’s boxed up for another year. Tree hauled off to the recycling drop-off. Vacuuming pine needles for days, they should be gone by Valentine’s Day.

    Now I’m ready to plan next year’s garden WHO’S WITH ME?!

  62. 62.

    Lynn Dee

    @khead:

    Davis was dead at the time, actually. But hey – close enough.

    So how’s he doing now? Better, I hope? :D

  63. 63.

    lamh35

    Bwhahaha.

    Cantor quoting exactly from the Frank Luntz playbook. Bet he didn’t expect Leslie Stahl to sorta call him up short on it.

    Fearing #OWS Frank Luntz Does New Messaging for Rich Capitalists

    6. Don’t ever say you’re willing to ‘compromise.’”If you talk about ‘compromise,’ they’ll say you’re selling out. Your side doesn’t want you to ‘compromise.’ What you use in that to replace it with is ‘cooperation.’ It means the same thing. But cooperation means you stick to your principles but still get the job done. Compromise says that you’re selling out those principles.”

  64. 64.

    Roger Moore

    @bnmng:

    I hadn’t yet recognized the obvious relationship between the civil rights act and the patriot act.

    I especially despise somebody complaining about the government coming into our bedrooms when they oppose LGBT rights. And I guess that telling people what they can do with their businesses is a no-no, but telling women what they can do with their uteruses is just dandy.

  65. 65.

    leinie

    And I live in hope that Harrison will get another fine next week for the massive hit he lays on Timmeh welcoming him to the playoffs. Since the Raiders dropped that turd today to let Teblow into the playoffs, I’d like his welcome to be brutal and harsh.

    I freaking hate Denver.

  66. 66.

    Dr. Squid

    I’ll be impressed with Tebow when he can put crunchy tacos on a stick without damaging them.

  67. 67.

    Dr. Squid

    I’ll be impressed with Tebow when he can put crunchy tacos on a stick without damaging them.

  71. 71.

    The Dangerman

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    …a cash machine for big college athletics to avoid a playoff.

    Has there been a bowl game yet this season that anyone gave a shit about (maybe Baylor/UW, but that would be it)?

  73. 73.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Southern Beale:

    Me! DH was out post christmas shopping and bought me a new greenhouse, 6′ x 6′ now I just have to build it and get my seeds started. I can’t wait.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    @Origuy:

    FTA:

    She is married to a fellow park ranger and has two daughters, who are approximately 2 and 4.

    What a horrific crime for such a beautiful area.

  79. 79.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Oh and Cantor so reminds me of a weasle, you know the weasles in the Eddie Murphy Dr. Doolittle Part 2 movie. He is such a fucking nasty douche I really wish he would just get caught in a gay page scandal, which I KNOW he is involved in.

  80. 80.

    Roger Moore

    @The Dangerman:

    Has there been a bowl game yet this season that anyone gave a shit about (maybe Baylor/UW, but that would be it)?

    In fairness, the big bowls haven’t been played yet, so it’s a bit unfair to complain that the rest of them haven’t been noteworthy. That said, do we really need 35 bowl games for Div 1A? That’s enough that they’re inviting teams with losing records to play, which seems like a sure sign there are too many. How can anyone get excited about the “Military Bowl — Presented By Northrop Grumman”? Or, if you’re more of a liberal, the “Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl”?

  81. 81.

    Svensker

    @Southern Beale:

    Now I’m ready to plan next year’s garden WHO’S WITH ME?!

    No, no, yer doing it rong. The idea is to leave the tree up until Greek Epiphany and the tree is dry as a nun’s gusset. Then when you take it down it virtually explodes and shoots crispy brown needles everywhere.

    You can’t start planning the garden until February, when it might be too late to get the indoor veggies started on time.

    Don’t you know ANYTHING about procrastinating?

  83. 83.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    The Steelers best beat the Broncos so they have the chance to beat the Ravens once again in a huge playoff game. Whoever wins that is on to New England. Go Steelers!

  84. 84.

    Anoniminous

    @jl:

    Beats the heck outta me.

    I find that sort of thing funny as all get-out, having
    a decided bent towards the Absurd.

    Thanks for the link! I love those traditionally sentimental Irish folk songs.

    (Peace & Love. :-)

  87. 87.

    Svensker

    @Raven:

    We trucked in a load of compost last week and it was the death knell for the differential in my truck.

    Ooops. So much for saving money with the home garden. :(

  88. 88.

    Raven

    @Svensker: The city sells a truckload for $20. Some people are freaked out because it’s sludge from the treatment plant mixed with chips and cooked.

  89. 89.

    Roger Moore

    @Raven:

    I get sick of the annual bitching and moaning about bowls. No one makes anybody watch them.

    Except for the networks making their camera people and commentators watch them, and at least they’re getting paid. I don’t so much hate the number of bowls as I find the whole situation absurd. We’re supposed to believe that Div 1A can’t hold a playoff even though all the other sports, and the other divisions of football do. I’m sure the real objection is that the teams that get to play in three bowls will make a triple payday and not want to share with their poorer brethren. It’s all about the Benjamins.

  90. 90.

    Southern Beale

    @Svensker:

    Don’t you know ANYTHING about procrastinating?

    As I writer, I’d say I have a PhD in procrastination. Taking the tree down instead of writing. Planning the garden instead of writing. You know what the say: the writer has the cleanest house in the neighborhood.

  94. 94.

    CaseyL

    @Origuy: This is heartbreaking. Park Rangers are among the best people on Earth; and Mt Rainier is one of my favorite places on Earth.

    The walking vomit who shot her is apparently a militia freak.

  96. 96.

    Maxwel

    Why are the Eagles being ignored? They’re 8-8. NYG and the Boys can still tie to go to 8-7-1.

  97. 97.

    burnspbesq

    Don’t know who those impostors in the Giants’ unis are, but that looks like a team that could win a couple of playoff games.

  99. 99.

    Neil

    Getting within one game of clinching the NFC east: 15 weeks
    Shutting out the damn cowboys in the first half: at least a week of prep work
    Knowing Rob Ryan flew his family to jersey to watch? PRICELESS

  101. 101.

    DanielX

    There will be TeBlood…Juicebox Jesus versus Big Ben the spawn of Satan.

    And yes, that mendacious little shit Eric Cantor is the guy who got picked on in the locker room after freshman PhysEd. He’s been seeking revenge ever since…

  102. 102.

    Southern Beale

    @Roger Moore:

    You haven’t heard of the Bowl Championship Series?

    Oh yeah I just didn’t know people abbreviated it like that.

    Well, I’m a hockey fan so I don’t really pay much attention to the bowls. Vanderbilt played in the Liberty Bowl, but I could really give a shit. Don’t even know who played in the Music City Bowl here in town but I don’t think it’s a big deal.

  105. 105.

    4jkb4ia

    And you notice, Steelers–Tebows is the marquee game, late on Sunday afternoon. All NFL fans are expected to gather around the TV for a game that may have a single scoring play by either team’s offense.

  106. 106.

    Raven

    @4jkb4ia: Every NFL Playoff game is a marquee game.
    eta And if there really is a single marquee game on wild card weekend it’s the NBC Saturday night game.

  107. 107.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Could turn into one of the ugliest games in NFL history.

    Ranking right up there with the atrocity against God, Man, the Klingon Empire, Mom, Apple Pie, true patriotism, the family, good cuisine, and western civilizations in general that was Super Bowl XL.

  109. 109.

    4jkb4ia

    @Raven:

    The Lions and the Saints should be a much better game, that is true. It is just that so few people are watching TV on Saturday night as it is.

  111. 111.

    cokane

    Pretty well done segment by Leslie Stahl interviewing Eric Cantor. Great moment right at the end where she notes that Reagan raised taxes (during a recession too) and exposes Cantor and his staff as total liars.

  112. 112.

    Raven

    From last year:

    Saturday night’s New York Jets-Indianapolis Colts game on NBC drew 33.4 million viewers setting records as the most-watched primetime Wild Card game and the most-watched Wild Card Saturday game. NBC’s two games on Saturday averaged 30.6 million viewers making it the most-watched Wild Card Saturday in history.

  114. 114.

    Yutsano

    @CaseyL: I am literally sick over this now. Especially since I’ll be traveling near there tomorrow. Rainier is such a place of peace. I hate that it’s been stained by blood.

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Ranking right up there with the atrocity against God, Man, the Klingon Empire, Mom, Apple Pie, true patriotism, the family, good cuisine, and western civilizations in general that was Super Bowl XL.

    I thought we agreed to never speak of that again.

  115. 115.

    Baud

    Cowboys making it interesting.

    This tweet just crossed my feed:

    PublicPolicyPolling @ppppolls
    Paul, Romney, Santorum all within 2 points of each other

  116. 116.

    Allen

    @Origuy: Yes, read about it. Know the area well and can’t quite figure out exactly where it happened other than somewhere between Longmire and Paradise. Hope they get the shooter soon.

  117. 117.

    befuggled

    @Roger Moore: The best part is that a lot of schools lose money on bowls. Schools in conferences usually have to share their revenue with the other teams in the conference, and they’re required to buy a certain number of tickets. If they can’t sell all the tickets they’ll lose money.

    Who makes money on the bowl games? The people who run the bowl games.

  118. 118.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    PublicPolicyPolling @ppppolls
    Paul, Romney, Santorum all within 2 points of each other

    Which I assume means Paul is going to come out on top, since he has the best ground game and that’s especially important in caucuses. This should be interesting.

  119. 119.

    Roger Moore

    @befuggled:

    Who makes money on the bowl games? The people who run the bowl games.

    And the handful of really elite teams that go to big name bowls regularly and can reliably sell their allotment of tickets. I assume that the ability to draw fans reliably, as opposed to actually fielding a good team reliably, is the main reason for the Notre Dame rule.

  120. 120.

    Raven

    @befuggled: yawn. Nobody likes the bowls. The bowls are a ripoff. The bowls are going NOWHERE.

    eta “ong term, any school playing in a BCS bowl is likely to at least break even. Its conference shares the proceeds from a bowl with all conference schools, so even if a school loses money playing in a bowl, it will get payout money in subsequent years even if it does not go to a bowl.”

  123. 123.

    Villago Delenda Est

    There are just too many bowls…the market is saturated, and, really, who gives a rat’s ass about the Carquest Bowl or the Broken Tostitos At The Bottom Of The Bag Bowl?

  124. 124.

    Suffern ACE

    @befuggled: Well, and a lot of people who get comped trips, so these bowls can continue.

    For people who are supposed to be edumatcated, college presidents and trustees sure seem unimcapabile sometimes.

  125. 125.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Baud:

    OMG, we’ve got ourselves a horse race down to the wire! Thrills a minute on CNN and Faux! Who will finally win once the dust settles?!? And what does this mean for America?

  127. 127.

    butler

    @Roger Moore:

    I’m sure the real objection is that the teams that get to play in three bowls will make a triple payday and not want to share with their poorer brethren.

    Teams already have to share their bowl paydays. The 6 BCS conferences are guaranteed gobs of money by the current system, which they divvy up among all their members. Under a playoff system they would probably lose their guranteed payday and potentially have to *gasp* share a lot more of that sweet sweet tv money with all the non-BCS conference schools (which actually make up more than half of all D-1A teams).

    Oldest story in the book: the powerful minority doesn’t want reforms which might share the wealth with the majority, even if those reforms might theoretically make them more money in the long run.

  129. 129.

    Raven

    @Villago Delenda Est: No one cares about anything but “WE”RE NUMBER ONE”. That’s why the NCAA will announce next Monday after the National Championship Game that football is being eliminated. This will make snarky bloggers who don’t like bowls very happy.

  132. 132.

    butler

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    There are just too many bowls…the market is saturated, and, really, who gives a rat’s ass about the Carquest Bowl or the Broken Tostitos At The Bottom Of The Bag Bowl?

    The check writing alumni boosters, and the head coaches who get bonuses, pay raises and better jobs for taking their teams to “bowl appearances”.

    Also, the players tend to get some swag from the bowl committee, in the form of gift bags. I’ve heard some of the better ones include XBOXes.

  133. 133.

    Suffern ACE

    @butler: Thankfully, for the BCS conferences, that money has been well spent ensuring that college tuition at state schools increases at lower rates than those of non-BCS schools…a benefit for the residents of those states in these troubled times.

    Or not.

  134. 134.

    butler

    @Raven: Wrong. There has definitely been an impact: the BCS now has a twitter feed to defend itself from criticism in real time.

  135. 135.

    Roger Moore

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    Well, somebody apparently likes them enough that they can dredge up sponsorship money and TV time for 35 of them. It seems bizarre that anyone would want to watch a bowl game between two 6-6 teams, but the proliferation of games seems to prove me wrong. Who am I to tell football fans not to watch a bowl that happens to be convenient for them or that features their favorite team? If there’s really no market, I think we’ll see the number of bowl games fall off soon enough.

  136. 136.

    burnspbesq

    Giants went off the boil for about 20 minutes, but when they needed a big play they got it, and then Eli sealed the deal.

  138. 138.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Roger Moore:

    That’s the thing…if even the least popular bowls are resulting in SOMEONE making some money…the broadcasters or the bowl committees…then they’ll continue on. Certainly the schools seem to think that playing in a post season bowl game, even the Ti-Dee-Bowl, is a mark of distinction, even with a not losing but still not a game over .500 record.

    I guess there are enough people watching to justify them.

  140. 140.

    butler

    @Suffern ACE: Without those few million bucks every year they would have to raise tuition to keep funding the football programs. Well that, or cut back on football expenses…

  141. 141.

    Tim F.

    If I understand it right the Broncos, whose quarterback cannot be touched lest you anger god and the refs, will play the NFL’s number one scapegoat for fines and BS hit penalties. Gonna start drinking early for that one.

  142. 142.

    burnspbesq

    @Svensker:

    As a Duke fan, I’d love to be able to say it’s all Coach Cutcliffe’s doing (he coached both Mannings in college), but I think it’s just a matter of maturity. Which is why Jet fans shouldn’t give up on Samchez. He can make every play that an NFL QB needs to make, but he needs more experience.

  143. 143.

    butler

    @Tim F.: I hadn’t even thought of that, but you are right.

    Fun bet for that game: more Tebow passing yards, or more Harrison penalty yards for hits on Tebow?

  144. 144.

    CaseyL

    @Tim F.: If Denver wins on penalties after having gotten into the playoffs through the good graces of San Diego beating Oakland, I might have to re-think that whole Divine Intervention thing. While drinking heavily, of course :)

  147. 147.

    DFS

    I often have to explain to folks who didn’t grow up here that western Washington is a lot more fucked up than the conventional wisdom seems to think. Once you leave Seattle and the whitebread ‘burbs in King County you can rapidly find yourself among some strange and dangerous people.

  148. 148.

    Ian

    @leinie:
    What did lil’ ol CO do to you? We had to endure how many years of post Elway seasons without going to the playoffs? Give us a break, baby jesus loves us for now.

  151. 151.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @DFS:

    Can you say “Yelm”? Surrrrre you can!

    Also, there’s a reason why Nirvanna was so, um, down all the time. Kurt Cobain grew up in Aberdeen. Which is located on Grey’s Harbor. Which is Grey. All the time.

  152. 152.

    Roger Moore

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    I don’t think it’s enough for somebody to be making money. If the bowls don’t offer enough money to make it worth the schools’ while, they’ll start turning down invitations. I understand it’s not quite that simple- the schools may have a contractual obligation to accept as a condition of being in the conference, the rest of the conference may be happy with that because of revenue sharing, etc.- but there basically has to be enough in it for the schools to want to take part. If the conference looks at the deal it’s getting and decides it isn’t worthwhile, they won’t sign the contract.

    At least assuming that the deal is purely financial. If schools decide it’s worth wasting some money for the prestige of saying they got to go to the Ty-D-Bowl, there’s really nothing to be done. We’ll just keep getting more and more bowl games until the revenue pool or list of available venues dries up.

  156. 156.

    The Other Chuck

    I updated my Balloon Juice Troll Filter (based on Cleek’s Pie Filter), and now you can block trolls with a single click on a “block troll” link next to each comment. The link appears when you move the mouse over comments.

    You can find it at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52548846/bj-tbg.user.js

    Removing entries from the filter is still done with the old interface of copying the name and clicking a button. I’ll probably add a “remove block” link when I’m not +4 (I didn’t do NYE. so I’m catching up)

  158. 158.

    FlipYrWhig

    @ruemara: There needs to be one of those “multitudes” terms, like a shrewdness of apes, to refer to a pack of libertarians who think they’re liberals. Because they appear to be proliferating.

  164. 164.

    HeartlandLiberal

    You would think after last night’s defeat of Denver by KC fans would get the message: God is NOT on Tebow’s side. Funny how they all want to claim that is the case when he wins.

    Reminds me of how angry I get when fundies piously praise the Lord for saving them from a horrible natural disaster or a massive train wreck or car pile up because they were so blessed and beloved by the Lord. You’ve all seen the videos again and again.

    I always want to ask them to their face right then, well, what the h*ll did God have against all the people he just killed? I guess they were just the unrighteous damned and got what they deserved?

    Ah. Thanks for the moment to rant. That feels better.

    And one other sports item. I was at both the Kentucky and Ohio State games when Indiana beat first the #1 and now the #2 ranked teams. First time ever in school history to get such a combo. I am dropping the tickets off with Crean’s secretary to get him to sign them for me so I can frame them.

  166. 166.

    nancydarling

    @HeartlandLiberal: This view of God as the giant puppet master in the sky is perfectly illustrated in “Steam Bath” which ran on PBS in the 70’s. God is a Puerto Rican steam bath attendant and he decides on a whim who lives and dies, where freeway pile ups occur, etc. I can’t imagine PBS running it today. It starred Bill Bixby and a winsome Valerie Perrine wearing a short towel around her waste and long hair covering her breasts.

  169. 169.

    Cermet

    Last time I checked, the Steelers lost twice to the Ravens (and they didn’t just barely manage to beat Cleveland) so that spells road trip, John … by the way, look forward to seeing you in Baltimore!

    Cinci – congrats, really glad you made it!

  170. 170.

    Samara Morgan

    @JPL:

    if sharia law were named libertarianism he would be for it..

    pardon, i responded to Baud but you, JPL, are the moron.
    you know fuckall about shariah, and so does the pentagon. Shariah is why we spent trillions of taxpayer dollars FOR NOTHING and thousands of young american soldiers either died or came home with TBI and PTSD.
    Both COIN and the “Freedom Agenda” were always doomed to fail, because shariah is the rule of law in majority muslim nations, and shariah forbids proselytization, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion.
    Islam, like ALL religions, including anglo-christianity, is only good for the in-group.
    Not so much for the out-group.
    That is one of the SCIENCES of religion.

  172. 172.

    Donald G

    My New Year may be off to a crappy start with a furnace that died overnight on New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day while putting up the Mother-in-Law and a house full of company, but, on a positive note, at least the pie-filter I installed on the 30th is working and providing some amusement.

  173. 173.

    Svensker

    @burnspbesq:

    Which is why Jet fans shouldn’t give up on Samchez. He can make every play that an NFL QB needs to make, but he needs more experience.

    He needs an OC who works with his strengths and gives him confidence. The kid looked scared shitless all year and played like he was in a panic…which he was, apparently. Maybe it should be on Ryan, but the total lack of discipline on the O, while the D and ST played OK, I gotta think it’s the O staff, starting with Schotty. Bring in a new OC and see how Taco does next year — if he’s still stinking up the field, then time to think about cutting him loose. But he deserves another shot, Schottenheimerless-wise.

  175. 175.

    Irritable Liberal

    Polemalu is going to eat Tebow alive, because Tebow is so predictable. If his primary receiver is covered he takes off running and if Troy knows whose getting the ball he’s a demon. All he has to do is rely on the D. backs to cover the receiver and he’s going straight for Tebow. He’ll lose whatever confidence he still has left.

  176. 176.

    SFAW

    Re: Jets and their O-Con problem:

    Why the #$%^ do the Jets always seem to land the zeroes. First Hackett with his stupid “West Coast offense”, suitable only for a QB with no arm (i.e. Pennington), then Little Schotty, whose innovation at O-Con is not exactly legendary.

    I often wish the Jets could get Dick Rehbein as QB coach. But then I wake from my daydream.

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