Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

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

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

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

We still have time to mess this up!

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

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

Consistently wrong since 2002

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

People are complicated. Love is not.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

I really should read my own blog.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

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

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Various Things

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I never did get to thank Tim F. for the almost decade of posting here. It came out of the blue when he hung up his keys to the joint, and I hope he reconsiders and comes back once he has more time. Even if it is to just post pictures of that beautiful dog of his. Many of you don’t know it, but Tim F. is one of the main reasons the blog is the way it is today. As I was making my slow and long overdue metamorphosis away from the GOP, I decided to give the reins over to someone from a different perspective. Tim F. was a long time commenter who was with the site from the very beginning, even at my wingnuttiest. Now, I don’t know how many of you have started your own project like this website, but I was very hesistant to turn over the keys to anyone. As it turned out, my judgment was better than normal, and Tim was a very valuable addition to this website. He worked out so well that I was happy to allow many others join the site and post their thoughts, opinions, and four letter words. Ironically, Tim has spent seven years trying to lure me to Pittsburgh to go to a Steelers game with him or have some beers, and I resisted. Now, I start to come out of my shell, and Tim bails on me. At any rate, thanks, Tim, and the door is always open if you want to come back.

One of Tim’s earlier endeavors was to bring beerblogging to the site, and to somewhat fill that void, I would recommend you all visit Stace Boschma’s website Brew Like a Girl. They have a whole bunch of things you beer drinkers might enjoy, including tips, secrets, and reviews, so go check it out.

In other news, The Ann Arbor Review of Books, a site put together for independent media criticism by another reader here, is looking for writers. If you are interested in writing, or if you are just interested in another blog, go here.

Finally, my good buddy Bill Hicks (of Jill and Bill or “the Ills” fame), notes that Nate Silver really, really blew it on some climate change posts, and urged me to have all of you read this TP piece rebutting it. One of Bill’s biggest passions (more so than even tequila) is the climate change issue, so please check it out.

That’s it for me. I’m just wiped out.

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  2. 2.

    CarolDuhart2

    Sad to see Tim F go, but I guess life calls him. In the mean time could you check out my latest Powerpoint project? It’s my bit for voter Education (and voters need all they can get). Early Voting 2012. It’s downloadable, so if you want to run it on your own computer or do your own presentation, it can be done. Please comment if there’s some mistakes or something that I missed.

  5. 5.

    Felinious Wench

    If we were good conservatives, we’d be defending Nate’s climate change analysis as bold, a game changer.

    We are not good conservatives. WTF, Nate?

  6. 6.

    Roger Moore

    Tim F. was a long time commenter who was with the site from the very beginning, even at my wingnuttiest.

    ♫♫♫
    Old John Cole was a wingnutty soul
    And a wingnutty soul was he;
    He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,
    And he called for his house pets three.
    ♫♫♫

  11. 11.

    Donut

    Silver kept me sane in 2008. Every time I worried that Obama would slip behind McCain, Nate’s model soothed worried mind.

    This election season … I dunno. It seems as though he’s made his model overly complicated. He’s TOO wonky. Sam Wang has been much more engaging for me, this time around.

    My two cents.

    Also, too – I didn’t even realize Tim F. had bowed out. I’ll miss the Max pix, too.

  12. 12.

    jayboat

    Always enjoyed Tim’s taste in artwork, and of course, Max.

    *BREAKING NEWS*
    Mitt Romney forced to play the RomneyCare card.
    Rushbo’s head explodes.

    That is all.

  13. 13.

    CarolDuhart2

    Recently I went to the archives of 538.com and read up on how McCain had to hire temps to do his canvassing and such for him. It was such an entertaining fail on so many levels of organization. I think Romney is headed almost the same way. Yes, he will mobilize some Mormons, but the self-righteousness needed to canvass weekly despite repeated failures is likely to backfire rather than help.
    So he may turn to paid help, most of which will come from the 47% who need the money.

  16. 16.

    MikeJ

    @jayboat:

    Mitt Romney forced to play the RomneyCare card.

    I’m starting to get the idea that, especially after the 47% thing, Mitt knows he’s going to lose and just doesn’t want to be remembered as that raging asshole the Republicans were dumb enough to run.

  17. 17.

    Maude

    @Violet:
    I asked yesterday if the top under the banner had changed. Phew. I thought the brain was doing a thingy.

    I miss Tim F.

    @cathyx:
    It’s more that typing. It’s the commitment etc.
    Also, it;s a dessert topping and a floor wax.

  18. 18.

    El Tiburon

    Ok shucks I’ll take his spot…

    TBogg was also thinking about hanging it up after 10 years of blogging. But his boss was able to persuade him to stick around.

    I am just saying is all.

  20. 20.

    Violet

    I will miss Tim F. and am FOREVER grateful for his hard work in getting people to call in about the health care bill, now law. He was great at encouraging us and his “Callers Guide” is an invaluable resource for future legislative pushes.

    John, take care of yourself. You’re still recovering, right?

  22. 22.

    Anne Laurie

    I’ll second Violet’s question: Did you intend to lose the rotating tag headers, or is it just the latest variant on FYWP?

    ‘Cuz I kinda miss them. Especially ‘Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!”, since I always imagined you as the kid who ends up in military school in that book…

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    John,

    (1) Big thanks to Tim. I hope he’ll come back as a commenter, if not a FPer, and of course I want him to keep posting pictures of MAXPUPPEH!!

    (2) Have asked on a couple of threads, and I believe others have too: what have you (by “you” I include FYWP if required) done with the rotating tag lines or whatever their proper name is: up by the banner with the balloon graphic, lines like “Han shot first” and “All your base are belong to Tunch” and the like. Seriously, please bring them back.

    As the kids these days like to twit: kthxbai

  25. 25.

    geg6

    Ummmm, Cole? Unless Tim F. is bagging out completely, he’ll still be here in Pittsburgh and still drinking beer. So that’s no excuse not to come to the ‘Burgh for a small meet up. And besides, if Tim can’t make it, I’ll be happy to keep you company or have you over for a meal and some drinks. We have two extra bedrooms available (we actually have three, but one is out of commission for reasons I’d rather not get into), so you wouldn’t have to drive home until morning. And doesn’t your sister live in the city somewhere?

    You need to quit making excuses. Step a bit further out of your shell. :)

  30. 30.

    chopper

    what the hell is nate silver doing writing a book about climate science?

    since when does being hot shit analyzing polls make you an expert in the climate?

  31. 31.

    hep kitty

    WHAT is wrong with the effing intertrons today?? Had trouble all day both at work and here at home.

  33. 33.

    Violet

    From Nate Silver:

    Nate Silver ‏@fivethirtyeight
    __
    Hidden positive for Romney: stock market off a bunch on renewed investor concerns about Europe. Can’t rule out October surprise.

    Wouldn’t surprise me to see the stock market take a tumble. Europe has been a mess over the last few days. Okay, years, but I mean it’s heated up again.

  34. 34.

    scav

    @MikeJ: That man may very well be staring down the inner knowledge that he’s not only probably a footnote in history, he’s a footnote in history that will be mined and studied for jokes and examples of what not to do Pratfalls and Pitfalls: A Critical Analysis of the 2012 Willard “Mitt” Romney campaign in the Early Twenty-First Century.

  35. 35.

    kdaug

    Now, I start to come out of my shell, and Tim bails on me.

    That’s the it works, little birdie.

    Now fly.

  36. 36.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @geg6:

    Cole started slowly with Imani and Heather. He’s working his way up :-)

    Give the man some time to acclimate, or acclimatize, or whatever the verb is.

    SD +2

  37. 37.

    MikeJ

    @John Cole: If it helps, they disappeared the same night all the database connection errors showed up the other day. I assumed you pulled ’em to have one less db call per page load.

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @hep kitty:

    Me too. I always blame myself but maybe I don’t need to, this once. They’ve been sucky all day, for sure. Work, home, iPad, BlackBerry, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all.

  43. 43.

    scav

    Rotating mottos still showing up in my probably antique version of chome: I can even get them to change. Currently the Tasty Mustard and Arugula and (hold on, cut and paste and reload here) and I’m now showering with Rahm.

  48. 48.

    Steeplejack

    @Maude:

    Cole says he fixed them minutes ago.

    The two new Nooks look nice. I’ll be interested to see whether they can be “rooted” and what that will mean in terms of their use as an economical Android tablet.

  52. 52.

    General Stuck

    It’s fixed now. Someone disabled the plugin.

    It was me. I did it one dark and stormy night, and loved doing it , I’d do it again, also too, given half the chance. What plugin?

  54. 54.

    MikeJ

    @Steeplejack:

    I’ll be interested to see whether they can be “rooted” and what that will mean in terms of their use as an economical Android tablet.

    About a year and a half ago there was a delay with shipments of an older model of nook and the online paranoia said it was a conspiracy to add software to block rooting. B&N issued a statement saying it didn’t bother them at all if you rooted and they actually incorporated some of the features rooters were most looking for into the next gen Nooks.

    I have a rooted first gen NC. I’d kinda like a new one just because the processor is a bit slow and video playback kinda sucks. Of course video works fine on my larger Galaxy tab so it’s not really that urgent.

  56. 56.

    TS

    @Violet:

    Wouldn’t surprise me to see the stock market take a tumble. Europe has been a mess over the last few days. Okay, years, but I mean it’s heated up again.

    This has been happening every month for 4 years. Nate works for the MSM – has to give some hope to the Romney fans (the few that remain)

  57. 57.

    Steeplejack

    @MikeJ:

    I saw only a brief, nontechnical story this morning, but a 9" color Nook for about $250 could be a very tempting alternative to an iPad, providing it could be unleashed.

  58. 58.

    dance around in your bones

    Yee-hah! Thanks Tunch, for walking over JG’s keyboard and fixing the sub-header’s.

    Only a cat could do dat.

  64. 64.

    tBone

    Many of you don’t know it, but Tim F. is one of the main reasons the blog is the way it is today.

    I know you’re sad he left, but there’s no reason for a cheap shot like that.

  65. 65.

    Ron Beasley

    John
    I do understand the handing over the keys thing. In 2008 I put Middle Earth Journal to sleep when I accepted a gig at Newshoggers. As site administrator at Newshoggers it was my blog so no problem. By the time Newshoggers died I had the keys to The Moderate Voice but it was not my place so I reincarnated Middle Earth Journal. A lot less traffic than TMV but it’s still my place although I share it with a couple of my partners from Newhoggers. I still cross post at TMV but I concentrate on Middle Earth Journal because it’s my place.

  66. 66.

    Tim F.

    Thanks, John. It has nothing to do with anything going on around here, but just a need on my part to slim my time commitments way down and get some focus for a little while. Even when I’m not blogging the feeling that I could, or should, keeps me reading much more blogs and news than I really should right now.

    You can play humble if you want, but you were one of the best bloggers even when you were still a Republican. There is one major reason why this site is as big and successful as it is.

    I promise to blow some dust off my account if and when things settle down, but for now I want to focus on just science. Of course I read this, so the magic eight ball suggests that my chances of ever achieving that are somewhere below 100%.

  67. 67.

    cokane

    sucks to learn that silver did that in his book. just like it sucked to read back in the day that levitt did the same thing. economics trained folks often don’t know the extent of their own knowledge, unfortunately.

    Dunno why these assholes think they can reinvent the wheel from real scientists… o well. Still a good guy overall.

  69. 69.

    Chuck Butcher

    Cole may be a bit more fun to read than Tim, but in my early BJ (mostly lurking) days Tim kept me coming back because I could be pretty sure something smart was going to get written.

    :-)

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