Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

We still have time to mess this up!

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

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

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

This chaos was totally avoidable.

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

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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Reader Interactions

84Comments

  9. 9.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @me:

    I was expecting that kind of pic, and I still chuckled. Kryptik, weak to cheap laughs.

  10. 10.

    khead

    Sports. Pick one.

    It doesn’t matter which one – the reporting/reading will still be better than politics.

  11. 11.

    Big Wayne

    Yeah. I hear ya, Doug. It’s depressing. And it’s going to get much, much worse — for decades — if Romney wins and starts replacing the few remaining Supreme Court “liberals” with conservatives.

  12. 12.

    Crashman

    Check in on Longform.org and Longreads.com. They post links to full, long form, mostly non-fiction articles from various magazines and alt-weeklies. There’s a lot of interesting stuff on there, focused on all sorts of topics.

  14. 14.

    Percysowner

    For humor Cracked. For weird entertainment if you like TV and Movies TV Tropes. Both of these become massive time sinks as you follow one link to another, hours of fairly mindless fun.

  17. 17.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @Cassidy:

    I never could get much into those, myself. Tried (not very hard, admittedly), just couldn’t click with it.

  18. 18.

    NonyNony

    @Percysowner:

    For weird entertainment if you like TV and Movies TV Tropes.

    TV Tropes was going to be my suggestion. Even if you’re not a fan of TV it’s more about tropes in general and there’s something there for everyone who is interested in narrative regardless of the medium.

    I can’t go there anymore. For me it’s like crack or something – I start to read articles and then I look up and it’s 4am.

  21. 21.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ: You are welcome! Fun fact: There seems to be a high incidence of Mormon women in fashion/style and life style blogging world.

    If you read the comments, you will notice that the cat ladies on GOMI make the vicious snarling jackals of BJ seem like puppy dogs.

  25. 25.

    Jay in Oregon

    @NonyNony:

    I can’t go there anymore. For me it’s like crack or something – I start to read articles and then I look up and it’s 4am.

    You and most everyone else on the internet.

    As for recommendations, people have suggested many of my favorites. I have Cute Overload and Dog Shaming bookmarked as pick-me-ups; there’s also People Don’t Always Suck.

    Fred Clark over at Slacktivist is always a good read, such as his recent post on Chick-Fil-A’s Biblical Family of the Day.

  26. 26.

    Cris (without an H)

    @Hypatia’s Momma: the Hyperbole-and-a-Half archives. (ALL THE THINGS!)

    Allie Brosh’s account of her struggle with depression — the entry that is still, a year later, the front page post — is one of the most harrowing and inspiring descriptions of what it really feels like.

  28. 28.

    Comrade Mary

    Letters of Note. Long, gorgeous, sometimes surprising letters and other communiqués from cultural figures and plain old humans from across the centuries. There’s lots of smart stuff, lots of funny stuff, and some downright odd stuff (“This is my son. He speaks Greek.“) but this is sad in a way that shows you that while politics is an important force for human happiness and health, the day to day vagaries of the political horse race means fuck-all in comparison.

  29. 29.

    MattF

    jwz.org
    various linguistics/language blogs:
    language log
    languagehat
    University Diaries
    Comics Curmudgeon
    In The Pipeline (an organic chemist, try the ‘won’t work with’ tag for descriptions of various explosive or smelly or toxic substances)

  31. 31.

    PopeRatzy

    It is October, what happens in October? Funny you should ask, Baseball playoffs. Turn off the computer and watch you some Oakland A’s as rookies play havoc with “conventional wisdom”

  32. 32.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @PopeRatzy:

    I’m still bitter that the Fuckin’ Yankees took the AL East yet again. I was desperately hoping either the O’s or Rays could take the division with the other grabbing a wild card.

  33. 33.

    Lowkey

    MetaFilter! Whenever I am looking for internets fare more substantial than LOLs and kitties, and I’m burned out on politics, MeFi is always one of my first stops.

  34. 34.

    Suffern ACE

    Go to foreign policy and brush up on what is going on other places. Or try dawn.com and become an expert on Pakistan. Imran Khan…Populist hero or same old same old?

  35. 35.

    LGRooney

    My first turn if I want away from politics is the Guardian Football site but if I’ve perused everything there and there is no live play-by-play, I go to Myrmecos (bug photography, if you’re into that kind of thing).

  36. 36.

    Comrade Mary

    @Lowkey:

    Whenever I am looking for internets fare more substantial than LOLs and kitties, and I’m burned out on politics, MeFi is always one of my first stops.

    Oh, HAHAHAHAHA! /collapses with very sore sides

    Seriously, if you avoid the political threads, you can have fun here. The Ask Metafilter section, where people ask for advice on practically anything you can think of, is also good. Try browsing by the categories on the right.

    (There are also many, many threads on kitties, if you;re into that kind of thing.)

    In addition, you can choose from the teeny tiny Popular and Best Of links at the top of any page to get to, umm, the popular and/or the best stuff. This is the place where I found out that data guy Edward Tufte smells really, really good.

  38. 38.

    burnspbesq

    The online version of Under the Radar magazine is a good place to keep up on indie rock.

  39. 39.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Suffern ACE: I don’t know much about Imran the politician, except that he is a America bashing demagogue. I remember him from his cricketing days, he was a handsome devil back then.

  46. 46.

    Butch

    Can I just say, apropos of sadnes…I live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (the part that’s attached to Wisconsin) and as a result of a quirk in FCC guidelines we get Wisconsin rather than Michigan TV stations. So I’m not only bombarded with annoying political advertising, I’m bombarded with annoying political advertising that is entirely irrelevant to my vote.

  49. 49.

    Sad_Dem

    Picky point, but what is Balloon Juice’s style for blog post headlines? Some days it’s inconsistent Chicago Manual of Style, but today it’s tending toward having everything lowercase except the first letter.

    Oh, and “sadnes.”

  51. 51.

    Raven

    @Butch: Spent one of the longest day and night of my life trying to get from the Sault back to Champaign after taking my sis up their to be with her boyfriend who was fleeing the draft!

  53. 53.

    JenJen

    I, for one, prefer the NHL to politics when I’m looking for a big dose of Let’s Get Pissed Off.

    Fuck you, Gary Bettman. Fuck you right in your ear.

  54. 54.

    Mandalay

    Not for everyone, and not much good for reading, but there are some great programs to listen to on the (Australian) Philosopher’s Zone, here:
    http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/

    Random samples of the available broadcasts:

    – How do octopuses think?

    – Kurt Gödel and the limits of mathematics

    – Philosophy in Afghanistan

    – What do we know and how do we know we know it?

    – The puzzlement of Ludwig Wittgenstein

  56. 56.

    Origuy

    Well, there’s Boing Boing, of course. Then Science Daily for science news unfiltered by J-school graduates. I always forget about McSweeney’s until someone posts a link to it.

    From “I’m Comic Sans, Asshole”:

    Listen up. I know the shit you’ve been saying behind my back. You think I’m stupid. You think I’m immature. You think I’m a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I’m Comic Sans, and I’m the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg.

  57. 57.

    Nancy Cadet

    I recommend a trip to Paris via the blog DavidLebowitz.com “The Sweet Life in Paris.” it’s a foodie blog by an American chef ( formerly at Chez Panisse), now living , eating, drinking and cooking in Paris.

  60. 60.

    Babbington

    Reddit. I mean, obviously politics is there, but it’s easy to avoid. You can waste a day in /r/aww alone. It’s a rabbit hole. You can log off anytime you like, but you can never leave.
    TV Tropes. Also a rabbit hole. That’s probably a trope.
    Snopes. Total, TOTAL rabbit hole. Or is it? True or False?
    Tetrapod Zoology. A tetrapod hole of awesome science about things with four legs and one head and sometimes tails.

    Use caution when googline “rabbit holes,” incidentally. Some things can’t be unseen.

  65. 65.

    joel hanes

    I quite like The History Blog

    And Strange Maps.

    And though apparently extinct, the archives of Laputan Logic still amaze.

    Also, too, Tom Hilton is liveblogging the sesquicentennial of the 1861- Brewer geological survey, at Up And Down California.

    White’s Creek Journal is a calm kind of place.

    What’s the limit of links in one post to prevent moderation?

  68. 68.

    Geoduck

    Putting in another vote for TVTropes, since I contribute to the site regularly. Particularly, if you’re a fan of Dcotor Who, check out this.

    And there’s the webcomic that I draw. All will visit it now!!

  69. 69.

    Jay in Oregon

    @Funkula:
    I wasn’t going to link to the SCP Project, because it’s as timesink-worthy as TvTropes if you get into it.

    I remember spending most of day one weekend reading articles; my wife was kinda annoyed with me after hour 4 or 5…

  70. 70.

    Suezboo

    Coyote Crossing by Chris Clarke about his wanderings in the California desert. He’s also now blogging at Freethoughtblogs.I really enjoy his writing.

  71. 71.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    @Suezboo: Yes! Just discovered him via PZ. Very cool. I gotta start digging into his posts more often. Especially since I know next-to-nothing about the CA deserts despite them being just up the road.

    Doug: If you like science: The Loom, Not Exactly Rocket Science, Pharyngula, Why Evolution Is True, Cosmic Variance and Bad Astronomy can keep you busy reading almost forever with tons of cool stories that cover a shit-ton of topics. And all are pretty accessible to lay-people.

  83. 83.

    Arclite

    @Comrade Mary: Yeah, Oglaf is pretty fucking hilarious. Apparently, the artist attempted porn and ended up at humor. It’s funny that sometimes we thing our talents are A and when we try A we discover that they are actually B.

  84. 84.

    Arclite

    @Comrade Mary: Yeah, Oglaf is pretty fucking hilarious. Apparently, the artist attempted porn and ended up at humor. It’s funny that sometimes we thing our talents are A and when we try A we discover that they are actually B.

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