Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The words do not have to be perfect.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

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

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

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

“But what about the lurkers?”

Everybody saw this coming.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Second rate reporter says what?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

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

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

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

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

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36Comments

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Have a great-looking slab of London Broil in the fridge to be cooked tomorrow (barbecue) as a special holiday treat for my solo meal.

  3. 3.

    Schlemizel

    @j:

    I hope he gets the help he needs. I also wish he had done this 8 months ago so we wouldn’t have to go through a special election.

  7. 7.

    Violet

    Was just in the car. While waiting at a stoplight noticed that the SUV next to me had a “Nope” bumper sticker (with Obama logo) on it. It was driven by a young-ish, white, frat boy looking guy. Car in front of me had a “Women will remember in November” bumper sticker. Ha! Take that douchey looking guy.

    I have to make pumpkin pies. I am not in the mood.

  8. 8.

    fuddmain

    We head to the wife’s parents for Thanksgiving. My folks come too, along with other relatives. I’m responsible for baking a cheesecake. I’m going with cheesecake cupcakes this year. In the oven at this moment are a dozen nutella cheesecupcakes, a dozen chocolate chip cheesecupcakes, and a half dozen mixed with more chocolate chips on top. In the bottom of each cheesecupcake is either a chocolate Oreo or a Nilla Wafer to serve as a crust.

    A few of these may make it into mah belly before tomorrow. I need to make sure they’re okay.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    I’ve been away from the most of the media and the InterTubes for a while. Did any Balloon Juicers remark on the latest in kink going mainstream? Jillian Keenan writing in the NY Times on her spanking fetish.

    I was thunderstruck. For as long as I remember, I’ve been fairly obsessed with spanking. This obsession felt impossible to share, so I was always hungry for cues that someone could relate. David’s remark was innocent, of course, but I was so desperate for understanding that I imagined connections everywhere.

    But like a good little American Puritan, spanking really isn’t about sex, somehow, kinda.

    It’s hard to admit this. A few playful swats during sex seem fun, while serious spankings seem damaged and perverse. After years of pretending I was interested only in the occasional erotic swat, I finally had to admit it to myself: Although spankings do satisfy a strong sexual need, they satisfy an equally strong psychological one.

    Next up, while we are waiting for the movie version of 50 Shades of Grey, the inevitable crap psychology book about the finding empowerment through spanking.

    ETA: the best wry description of the Petraeus mess, from the New Yorker, “50 Shades of Khaki.”

    Meanwhile, San Francisco goes vanilla, bans most public nudity, excepting for parades with permits.

    Oh, yeah, happy Turkey Day to all. No funny business.

  10. 10.

    ? Martin

    The end is nigh…

    Rovio: Angry Birds soda is the best selling drink in Finland – “Ahead of Coke and Pepsi”

    Hard to imagine a company that has leveraged more branding power out of less actual substance than Rovio has. All of this from a cute, fun, but entirely derivative $.99 game. Rovio is expected to IPO next year with a value around $9B. That puts them in the same ballpark as Nokia, and a bit less than half the value of HP.

  12. 12.

    Suffern ACE

    @James E. Powell: I’m all in favor of free speech and free press. But could we just pass a law that people need to wait 180 days after one election before they mention out loud that they are a candidate for office? Punishments? I don’t know. Exile to the Bikini Atoll sounds about right.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    Meanwhile, San Francisco goes vanilla, bans most public nudity, excepting for parades with permits.

    6-5 vote. It barely passed.

    Possible ruling later that genitalia are speech?

  16. 16.

    gogol's wife

    @Brachiator:

    I was just thinking while brushing my teeth this morning that no one here had discussed that. The Times really is getting more jokelike by the minute.

  19. 19.

    The Red Pen

    Fifth episode of wingnut road rage in two weeks. Sorry I’m not taking the Obama stickers off, douchebags.

  20. 20.

    James E. Powell

    @burnspbesq:

    The idea that it’s possible to primary Saxby Chambliss from the right is going to take some time to assimilate.

    That’s what makes it such an attractive idea. Also too the Republicans will be forced to continue their “Kill Planned Parenthood” out in the open.

  21. 21.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    6-5 vote. It barely passed.

    San Franciso Supervisor Scott Wiener thought long and hard about the issue before pursuing the ban.

    Possible ruling later that genitalia are speech?

    Definitely the new battleground: “This legislation is really about genitals,” Wiener said. “I’m not looking to get anyone arrested because they are showing a plumber’s crack or wearing a bikini.”

    If corporations can be people with rights, why not genitals?

    Stand up, or out, for genital rights.

  22. 22.

    Brachiator

    @? Martin:

    Hard to imagine a company that has leveraged more branding power out of less actual substance than Rovio has. All of this from a cute, fun, but entirely derivative $.99 game. Rovio is expected to IPO next year with a value around $9B. That puts them in the same ballpark as Nokia, and a bit less than half the value of HP.

    The recent tie-in with Star Wars really worked for them, but it is hard to see them going much further with this. Then again, I’ve heard some geeks opine that the idea is not to have a thriving company or make profits, but to get somebody to give you a big payday on the basis of past performance and hype.

    Like Zynga, a company whose shares have been declining steadily since its IPO.

  23. 23.

    scav

    @Brachiator: Genitals have fetus fetuses in them. If fetuses outrank both actual women and actual children, wouldn’t fetus fetuses rank higher still?

  25. 25.

    Brachiator

    @gogol’s wife:

    I was just thinking while brushing my teeth this morning that no one here had discussed that. The Times really is getting more jokelike by the minute.

    The writer of the piece is making the rounds. Has a conversation on the Savage Love podcast.

    @j:

    There are two musicals based on ‘50 Shades’ opening this week in Chicago.

    I have some friends in Chicago who were going to go see it, but they got tied up.

    I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.

  26. 26.

    ? Martin

    @Brachiator: I’d agree with you, but I never would have guessed they’d get even this far, so who knows.

    It’s a smart strategy, though. Hitting the app store jackpot is a pretty low-yield effort. Even proven studios struggle to repeat success. But building a brand that turns money out in meatspace off of one of those successes – that’s much more reliable.

    I was trying to help my dad understand the video game industry (as we were walking past Blizzard HQ at the time) and mentioned that I’d expect to see movie tie-ins (happy meal toys, etc) largely replaced by game tie-ins as the games are doing a better job now of capturing the popular culture buzz, and are much better at extracting money from consumers.

    I suppose Nintendo has been the one doing this for a while, but I think it’s interesting how Rovio is going further and from a position where the branded merchandise overtook the primary property in terms of revenue very quickly.

  27. 27.

    Punchy

    @James E. Powell: From your link:

    Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), whom Roll Call reported may be vulnerable to a primary challenge from the right, given his “willingness to reach across the aisle and his comfort with the idea of compromise.”

    Reaching across the aisle (he did?) and “compromise” (he did?) now get you booted from the Republican party. Good luck with those purity purges.

  28. 28.

    fuddmain

    @gogol’s wife:

    Oh God, nutella cheesecake, that sounds so good.

    Yeah. I’ve made it before and it’s damn good. I took a cheesecake recipe that called for sour cream and replaced it with Nutella. Win!

  31. 31.

    Svensker

    @scav:

    Hmmmmm, that’s sounds really good. And Lebovitz is pretty reliable. I’m already doing straight pumpkin pie, but what about making that topping…. Nom nom.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    Looks like everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving

    I will probably try to do more catching up with some of the recent movie releases.

    I may have missed commentary here on Lincoln. Some of it is a little slow, and Spielberg could not avoid the dilemma of other writers and directors: how to avoid turning Lincoln into a secular saint.

    But damns, it’s a hell of a political drama. I knew a lot of the history, but I was surprised at a number of little things. Daniel Day Lewis is great, Tommy Lee Jones steals the show, and I noticed at the end of the film that the person responsible for the “facial hair” got a screen credit. Yeah, it was probably quite a job.

    Sadly, some hipster critics don’t get the film at all, and a number of teens who went with their parents just dismiss the film as dull and stupid.

    But a lot of the film resonates. And a New Yorker blog piece rightly sees connections with some of the current political scene.

    Got no interest in seeing the remake of Red Dawn. I didn’t realize that the movie has been on the shelf for almost 2 years, a victim of the credit crunch that kept MGM from being able to make and market films. This had an impact on Skyfall as well. So far, critics have crapped all over Red Dawn as one of the more unnecessary movies of the year.

    Wolverines.

  34. 34.

    j

    @Brachiator: Never saw the original Red Dawn, but from what I gather it was about the Russian Red Army parachuting into Nebraska in order to take over the USA, because Nebraska is the vital cog, or something; and a bunch of pimply faced kids fend them off by cheering for the University of Michigan football team. In Nebraska.

    It sounded stupid.

    The new one has Portland Oregon being invaded by the North Koreans and fail because Oregon has good weed and micro brews, and the pimply faced kids keep yelling about Ducks, or something.

    I don’t get that plot either.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    @j

    Just point the North Koreans in the direction of an all-you-can-eat buffet and BOOM – invasion extinguished.

  36. 36.

    Brachiator

    50 Shades of Sling Shot Rides

    Don’t let the fundies find out about this one

    Have you ever been on a slingshot ride? I’ve always been way too terrified of trying one of those deadly-looking reverse-bungee spring-propulsion whatchamacallits that hurls you about fifty zillion feet into the air at the approximate speed of sound, but according to several intriguing YouTube videos, I might be missing out on a seriously good thing. Because there’s something about the experience brought on by at least one of those nightmarish contraptions that’s giving women orgasms left and right.
    __
    I honestly and truly have no idea how I stumbled onto this bizarre little corner of YouTube, but there are all kinds of videos depicting various women having a special sort of fun on the Sling Shot Malta ride in St. George’s Bay, Malta. As in … the ride seemed to give them a happy ending. If you know what I mean and I think you do.
    __
    Now, okay. Maybe some of these videos just show a woman having a normal excited response to an exhilarating ride. Probably some are faked — that seems likely, given the attention the first one drew. But clearly there are at least a few women who REALLY enjoy this particular slingshot ride. Is it the adrenaline? The increased blood flow? The vibration? That strategically-placed strap?

    One more thing to do other the holidays, I guess.

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