Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

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

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

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Infrastructure week. at last.

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

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I really should read my own blog.

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Reader Interactions

93Comments

  1. 1.

    Cassidy

    DROOOOONNNNNNNEEEEEZZZZ! OBAMA SOLD US OUT! GIVE ME SOMEONE WHO LEADS! I CAN’T BE BOTHERED TO VOTE, JUST COMPLAIN ON BLOGS!

    I also only seem to have a problem with the black guy.

    /tedbeatshelen

    Figured I’d just get it out of the way so we can have a pleasant day.

  2. 2.

    JPL

    Maddow blog had this gem.. link
    My sons’s six pound dog visits and I won’t allow her to play outside by herself. Between the hawks and herons, she wouldn’t stand a chance. The other neighborhood I lived in had Great horned owls and those suckers would take Miss Moxie. She’s only 17 pounds.

  3. 3.

    Mark S.

    I haven’t been paying much attention to politics lately. Is Boehner in any trouble as regards to the Speakership? He’s been adopting a much more moderate tone lately, one that can’t sit too well with the teabaggers in the House.

  4. 4.

    Hawes

    What sort of person reads Megan McArdle columns to a helpless animal and think they can make it better with a KipperCake?

    Where is Sarah McLaughlin when you need her?

  7. 7.

    JPL

    @4tehlulz: I want to know when I’m shopping with someone who is packing heat. Those laws infringe my right to shop in gun free zones. They remove my choice. If someone wants to carry, fine. Then show me.
    In the wild, wild west, they weren’t cowards who had to hide their guns. They were real men.
    Also, too why can’t I bring a gun into Congress, if those guys think concealed weapons are the way to go.

    I’m getting ads cuz I went online this weekend to research internet sales..

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    We will all be relieved to learn that Megan McArdle *never* intended for kindergarteners to banzai-charge gunmen:

    I completely agree that small children rushing a shooter would be a terrible idea. I can see how taken out of context, if you maybe hadn’t read the whole article, “young people” could be read to refer to the Newtown school children. But I was talking about teenagers, not first graders.

    See? Teenagers. They’re obviously much more suited for reenacting Verdun. Silly liberals.

  10. 10.

    Rational Subjectivist

    @4tehlulz:

    Someone’s ad targeting needs some help.

    Enjoy it while you can. Ad targeting is in its infancy. Once they work it out, and they will because it’s where all the money is, you’ll feel like you’re being followed everywhere by spies.

  11. 11.

    bemused

    @JPL:

    That is one of the reasons our current kitties are indoor only. Our previous cats who did go outdoors lived 15, 16 and 19 years but no more going out for present or future kitties. We have a lot more predator birds around in recent years, bald eagles and owls.

  13. 13.

    DecidedFenceSitter

    @4tehlulz: Heh mine is Free to play MMOs at the moment. Probably because they have enough information to go based off my search records versus the topics of conversation.

  17. 17.

    Betty Cracker

    @dmsilev: As the mom of a teenager, I’d like to offer McArgleBargle a hearty “fuck you!” God, what a clueless ninny.

    @JPL: Isn’t their “child-friendly” mascot called Eddie the Eagle? Awkward.

  19. 19.

    cmorenc

    Megan McArdle /a> now explains:

    I completely agree that small children rushing a shooter would be a terrible idea. I can see how taken out of context, if you maybe hadn’t read the whole article, “young people” could be read to refer to the Newtown school children. But I was talking about teenagers, not first graders.

    Ohhh, why didn’t you say so in the first place Megan! We’re all so much more behind the idea of 15-year olds rushing someone spraying down everyone in a room with a clip of sub-automatic gunfire than getting 5-year olds to do it.

  25. 25.

    Sargeant Pepper's Spray

    David Lynch remakes Gallipoli staring a cast of 7 year old tots and Mel Gibson as a mad Turk with a screen play by McMegan. Brilliant!!!

  28. 28.

    Mark S.

    I almost admire the way McMegan always doubles down when she’s shown to be a complete fucking idiot. Well, maybe admiration isn’t the correct word.

  30. 30.

    Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S.

    Since this is an open thread, I was thinking about these drug ads you see on television, the ones that are two minutes long and they take one minute and fifty seconds of those two minutes to tell you how the drug can maim or kill you. It seems like that might make people less likely to buy the drug. But then, you know what they say, ask your doctor if Sexxōpril™ is right for you!

    [Scene of a man and a woman frolicking on a beach]

    Off screen announcer: You love her. But if you’re a man over the age of 7, there are days when you just can’t get it up. This is a serious medical condition called erectile dysfunction that can obliterate your manhood and make you feel like a loser.

    But Sexxōpril™ can help! In clinical trials, Sexxōpril™ helped alleviate the symptoms–and shame–of erectile dysfunction, also known as impotence. One capsule a day may be all you need to be a Real Man again.

    [Cut to doctor-looking man wearing a lab coat and sitting in an office]

    Doctor-looking dude: Sexxōpril™ is not for everyone. Sexxōpril™ has been found to cause serious side effects in rare cases. Side effects include, but are not limited to, chronic nausea; acute nausea; migraines; strokes; heart attacks; loss of teeth, hair or toenails; hives; skin rashes; halitosis; memory loss; delusions of persecution; loss of fine motor control; testicular bloating; insomnia; swelling of the face, neck, lips, tongue, eyes, legs, hands, feet, knees, spleen and rectum; arterial gas embolism; weight gain; weight loss; anal dilation; anal leakage; loss of bladder control; gingivitis; siezures; appendicitis; constipation; genital warts; tenderness of the scrotum; suicidal thoughts; homicidal thoughts; slurred or incoherent speech; increased flatulence; disturbing dreams; loss of hearing or eyesight; olfactory hallucinations; leprosy; canniballistic tendencies; obsessive-compulsive tendencies; loss of bone mass; loss of muscle mass; dementia; jaundice; enlargement of the breasts; uncontrollable fits of sneezing; difficulty breathing, swallowing or turning the head; bloody diarrhœa; and muscle tremors. 87% of patients taking Sexxōpril™ suffered one or more side effects. On average, patients suffered no more than 11 side effects at any one time. 4% of these side effects were mild and temporary. 13% of these side effects were mild but permanent. 17% of these side effects were severe but temporary.

    Tell your doctor about any medications you take, your diet and daily hygiene habits, your favorite color and your medical history. Do not drink alcohol while taking Sexxōpril™. Do not smoke while taking Sexxōpril™. Do not sleep more that nine hours or less than eight and a half hours a day while taking Sexxōpril™. Do not drive or operate machinery while taking Sexxōpril™. Do not take Sexxōpril™ if your favorite color is green, blue or purple. Do not have sexual relations more than once every three weeks while taking Sexxōpril™. Do not masturbate while taking Sexxōpril™. Walking more than 20 feet at a time while taking Sexxōpril™ has been found to cause spontaneous ejaculations in some patients. If you have an erection lasting longer than 15 minutes while taking Sexxōpril™, seek medical attention immediately, as this can lead to irreversible penile decomposition.

    Women should not handle Sexxōpril™. Women who are pregnant, may become pregnant, have ever been pregnant, have ever thought about becoming pregnant, or have ever known someone who has ever been pregnant should not handle, look at, read about, hear about or think about Sexxōpril™. If a woman is present at a conversation and someone mentions Sexxōpril™, she should leave and seek medical help immediately. In clinical studies, some women who came within 17,000 yards of an exposed capsule of Sexxōpril™ suffered necrosis of the buttocks.

    [Cut back to beach; laughter and grunting coming from behind sand dune]

    Off-screen announcer again: Erectile dysfunction no longer has to come between you and that Special Someone. Talk to you doctor and ask if Sexxōpril™ is right for you today!
    .

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    @dmsilev:
    The paragraph in question:

    My guess is that we’re going to get a law anyway, and my hope is that it will consist of small measures that might have some tiny actual effect, like restrictions on magazine capacity. I’d also like us to encourage people to gang rush shooters, rather than following their instincts to hide; if we drilled it into young people that the correct thing to do is for everyone to instantly run at the guy with the gun, these sorts of mass shootings would be less deadly, because even a guy with a very powerful weapon can be brought down by 8-12 unarmed bodies piling on him at once. Would it work? Would people do it? I have no idea; all I can say is that both these things would be more effective than banning rifles with pistol grips.

    I just don’t see this kind of scenario playing out the way McArdle imagines, even with a roomful of able-bodied grownups. Whoever was leading the charge would be looking at almost-certain death, unless they could disarm the shooter quickly enough. I can’t imagine law-enforcement agencies recommending this tactic.

  35. 35.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S.:

    That was extremely entertaining and sadly true. I remember years ago there was a medication introduced for toe nail fungus (must have been a huge problem obviously) and the damn side effects made me think that most people would rather put up with ugly toe nails than put up with all of the side effects.

  38. 38.

    dmsilev

    @Betty Cracker: The really scary thing is that she spent another couple thousand words trying to defend herself from the mockery coming in from all sides. She has no concept of “when in a hole, stop digging”.

  40. 40.

    R-Jud

    @Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S.:

    In clinical studies, some women who came within 17,000 yards of an exposed capsule of Sexxōpril™ suffered necrosis of the buttocks.

    Hee. Ads for pharma drugs seem completely absurd when you’ve been living outside the U.S. for a while.

  43. 43.

    quannlace

    The headline in my morning newspaper, “NRA vows to stop senseless gun violence.”

    I guess they’ll still keep all the ‘sensible’ ones. like after you find out your girlfriend’s cheated on you or someone’s taken your parking space.

  45. 45.

    Schlemizel

    @dmsilev:

    Well, she herself is a hole (of the rectal variety) so she probably can’t recognize the difference.

    I commented that she really needs to get some of her friends together and demonstrate how well this would work

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:

    I always LOVE hearing that ad about Low T.

    All that virility, and now you’ve got a wife with acne and a beard, and a young kid who’s the science exhibit in his 2nd grade class.

    Better living through chemistry!

  54. 54.

    chopper

    @dmsilev:

    yeah, grade school kids bum-rushing a shooter, that’s insane. why would anyone think mcmegan would be stupid enough to suggest that? now, junior-high school kids, that’s a different story. thirteen year olds are especially good at stopping mass murderers with their bare hands.

  55. 55.

    Citizen_X

    Doesn’t that walrus appreciate the presentation? Or is that embarrassingly cliche for walrus restaurants?

  57. 57.

    Rosalita

    Looks to me like he’s covering his eyes that he has to share his space with stupid humans. I feel like doing the same thing right now.

  58. 58.

    RSA

    @Schlemizel:

    I commented that she really needs to get some of her friends together and demonstrate how well this would work

    I commented on an earlier thread that she should work out how to explain to “young people” that when they rush an armed killer, some of them are likely to be killed. It’s telling that she’s still advocating this strategy for people who are by all evidence not very good at making life-and-death decisions on their own.

  60. 60.

    chopper

    @quannlace:

    i love when they broadly note ‘certain sexual side effects’. wow, way specific there. what are they? super-boners? scrotum turns to peanut brittle?

  61. 61.

    The Red Pen

    @Rational Subjectivist:

    Ad targeting is in its infancy. Once they work it out, and they will because it’s where all the money is, you’ll feel like you’re being followed everywhere by spies.

    What amuses me are the “targeted” ads for things I just bought. I just booked a room at the W on Lakeshore in Chicago. Guess — guess! — what is being pushed in every banner ad I see today?

    I mean, besides one simple secret to fight belly fat.

  65. 65.

    Elizabelle

    I couldn’t find it, but does anyone else remember a little video clip of Nancy Reagan getting slapped by a walrus or sea lion? Might have been before she was First Lady; she was touring some marine park with some guy and was posed near an animal.

    And then …

    Can anyone find it?

  66. 66.

    Citizen_X

    Now we can ask the gun nuts: why have guns when, as a noted conservative commentator points out, we have advanced gang-rush-the-shooter technology?

  67. 67.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S.:

    Doctor-looking dude: Sexxōpril™ is not for everyone. Sexxōpril™ has been found to cause serious side effects in rare cases. Side effects include, but are not limited to, chronic nausea; acute nausea; migraines; strokes; heart attacks; loss of teeth, hair or toenails; hives; skin rashes; halitosis; memory loss; delusions of persecution; loss of fine motor control; testicular bloating; insomnia; swelling of the face, neck, lips, tongue, eyes, legs, hands, feet, knees, spleen and rectum; arterial gas embolism; weight gain; weight loss; anal dilation; anal leakage; loss of bladder control; gingivitis; siezures; appendicitis; constipation; genital warts; tenderness of the scrotum; suicidal thoughts; homicidal thoughts; slurred or incoherent speech; increased flatulence; disturbing dreams; loss of hearing or eyesight; olfactory hallucinations; leprosy; canniballistic tendencies; obsessive-compulsive tendencies; loss of bone mass; loss of muscle mass; dementia; jaundice; enlargement of the breasts; uncontrollable fits of sneezing; difficulty breathing, swallowing or turning the head; bloody diarrhœa; and muscle tremors.

    I want to know who would want to have sex with someone having the above side effects.

    Oh, right… conservative women.

  69. 69.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    There’s a supposed “pain” pill that has “suicidal thoughts” as a potential side-effect.

    Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

  71. 71.

    Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S.

    I’ll also add that the evening after I posted my fake ad on my Facebook page, my wife and I saw an ad for some kind of testosterone-boosting shit that guys can rub onto their armpits. Made me sad that even my over-the-top parody couldn’t keep up with the real thing…

  84. 84.

    Brachiator

    Django Unchained and Les Miserables are set to open on December 25. Samuel L Jackson and Anne Hathaway in a funny Sad Off on the two movies.

    Because nothing says “Merry Xmas” like movies about slaves and whores.

  86. 86.

    Brachiator

    @Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S.:

    Since this is an open thread, I was thinking about these drug ads you see on television, the ones that are two minutes long and they take one minute and fifty seconds of those two minutes to tell you how the drug can maim or kill you. It seems like that might make people less likely to buy the drug.

    All drugs have side effects. Best case scenario is that they are mild, rare, or only affect a subset of people taking the drug.

    But what these ads do, along with typical human stupidity, is push some people to “natural” remedies, homeopathic bullshit,”alternative” medicine and the fantasy that there is some magical substance out there that will be super efficacious and yet also totally benign.

    This has also provided a permanent income stream for ultra-fraudmeisters like Kevin Trudeau.

  87. 87.

    Julie

    @JPL: So if you google “Montreal eagle video” you will see this CBC story: “Baby-snatching eagle video called fake after going viral”.

  90. 90.

    Ruckus

    @Elizabelle:
    The class outline tells us the class is about how to recognize someone without any humility. Or humanity, I can’t quite make it out.

    He’s may just be about perfect for the subject either way.

  92. 92.

    Darkrose

    @Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S.: MSNBC runs tons of medical product ads–I now know more about Joe Theisman’s prostate than I EVER wanted to–and the drug ones are hilarious. “May cause side effects including [massive list of horrible things] and death.”

    So, taking this drug could potentially kill me? Sounds cool–I’ll talk to my doctor today!

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