Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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

It’s the corruption, stupid.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

The new temporary speaker of the house is a spiteful little shit.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Let’s finish the job.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

The words do not have to be perfect.

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

Their freedom requires your slavery.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

We still have time to mess this up!

A consequence of cucumbers

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163Comments

  2. 2.

    gogol's wife

    I hope the black-hearted Downton spoiler-mongers who were here last week will stay away. Mrs. Peel and Jon, to be exact. What jerks.

  8. 8.

    Mustang Bobby

    I’m watching Star Trek First Contact on SyFy and TiVo’ing The Good Wife. Yeah, I’m weird.

    By the way, I recommend Hyde Park on Hudson just to see some great classic cars and a nice turn by Elizabeth Wilson as Mrs. Roosevelt. Bill Murray does a pretty good Ralph Bellamy, and Laura Linney is good, too.

  9. 9.

    Culture of Truth

    Prof. McGonagle from Downton Abbey just won. She couldn’t be there because she is on the other channel.

  13. 13.

    Quarks

    @Jon: Perhaps it will suck for her because you insist on posting potential spoilers.

    @Gogol’s Wife — Actually, Daleks arrive, but are so impressed with Carson’s diction that they spare England!

  15. 15.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    Who, for fuck’s sake, watches these goddamned Celtic Woman/Thunder specials? Who buys the CDs? Who buys tickets to the concerts- and why hasn’t some asshole shot up one of those gigs yet?

  17. 17.

    AT

    @Jon: I’m glad you feel empowered to make decisions for everyone based on what you felt about the show. People making up their own minds are overrated. You are a twat.

  18. 18.

    AT

    @Jon: I’m glad you feel empowered to make decisions for everyone based on what you felt about the show. People making up their own minds are overrated. You are a tw@t.

  20. 20.

    PurpleGirl

    @JPL: I didn’t hear the joke, but Bigelow was married to Cameron for a few years. He’s also been an investor in her films. Cameron is something of a jerk, I believe.

  21. 21.

    Keith G

    a couple of days ago I asked books here for information on the Kindle Fire HD. I want to thank those folks for the input. None-the-less, I ended up buying a Nexus 7 32gb.

    So tonight I can finally spend time playing and getting to know this thing.

  23. 23.

    MomSense

    @John Cole

    My hubby watched it on the BBC and didn’t realize that I hadn’t seen this season yet and spoiled it all for me…

    And he kept talking while I tried to cover my ears and yell “la la la la la la”

  24. 24.

    Culture of Truth

    Cameron is a demanding perfectionist I believe, like many directors. also I think the left his wife for the young woman in Titanic.

  27. 27.

    JPL

    @PurpleGirl: “When it comes to torture, I trust the woman who was married to James Cameron for three years.”

    Wonder what Amy Poehler would say about Gibson..

  30. 30.

    Funkula

    This week on Downton Abbey: a person with a British accent is mean to another person with a British accent. They are both sad, but for reasons unrelated to the meanness.

    …I haven’t seen the show.

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    @JPL: Cameron is a major prima donna and all around pain in the ass to work with in Hollywood. Everybody hates him.

  33. 33.

    quannlace

    Spoilers? For heavens sake. Downton Abbey is the ultimate soap opera (and I’m not denigrating it when I say that) so, crazy coincidence will have it’s day.
    You just know, that as soon as Matthew accepts that inheritance from Lavinia’s dad, that long-lost heir who was lost in India will be magically found.

  35. 35.

    Potomac Ripper

    Mr. Carson turns out to be a Skrull.
    Mr. Bates converted to Islam in prison
    Three words: Mister Pamuk zombie.
    Thomas Barrow has a tryst with Captain Jack Harkness who mentioned a mysterious agency called Torchwood.
    “Mr. Molesley, who is that madman with a box and why is he in my drawing room?” – Dowager Countess of Grantham
    Crossover with Upstairs Downstairs ala DS9 “Trials and Tribble-ations”
    Edith screws something up.

  36. 36.

    Taylor

    Harlan Ellison had a run-in with Cameron over Terminator, which was pretty clearly based on an episode of Outer Limits that Ellison wrote (best Outer Limits episode ever, BTW).

    Ellison thought Cameron had quite an ego.

    Think about that for a minute.

    Harlan Ellison thought Cameron had a big ego.

  37. 37.

    PurpleGirl

    @JPL: Since people are disputing what Bigelow “says” about torture in the movie, I guess the line means the speaker believes what Bigelow says (because she was married to Cameron).

  38. 38.

    Narcissus

    This week on Downton Abbey, a young Jeeves and Wooster show up and get the Dowager Countess hooked on Heroin. Kramer buys a Ford Flivver.

  39. 39.

    Gex

    Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

    She had the port removed. She’s up in the room. Vitals are starting to look less good. They’ve called the rapid response team in to get an assessment. May need to move her to ICU? May be starting to go septic? Ugh. I don’t know.

    I don’t want to be here anymore. This is really scary.

  46. 46.

    Raven

    We just finished the Forsyte Saga and were surprised to see that Soames won the Golden Globe for Homeland. We’ve never seen it.

  49. 49.

    Heliopause

    if any of you amoral pricks post any Downton Abbey spoilers in this thread

    The aristocracy finds it increasingly difficult to maintain the old estate system in the post-war era so most of them end up sub-letting as backdrops to dramatizations of Jane Austen novels or BBC/ITV Edwardian soap operas.

    Oops. Sorry.

  50. 50.

    scav

    @Gex: take care of youself. deal with what comes when it comes. I was on a freaking ICU for three months, although not always at the highest level, I don’t know why but I did benefit from the improved ratio of patients to nurses.

  53. 53.

    quannlace

    Harlan Ellison had a run-in with Cameron

    Who hasn’t he had a run in with? Didn’t he write a first draft for the Star Trek episode ‘City On The Edge of Forever” And despite it being considered one of the show’s best episodes, he’s been bitching for almost 30 years about how they changed his script.

  56. 56.

    Kathy

    Positive thoughts to you Gex. Much love as well, you don’t know me but I have read your comments and send all positive thoughts to you.

  59. 59.

    BArry

    @Keith G: “a couple of days ago I asked books here for information on the Kindle Fire HD. I want to thank those folks for the input. None-the-less, I ended up buying a Nexus 7 32gb.”

    I gave both to people for Christmas; I’d go with the Nexus. The Kindle had too much marketing sh*t (and the friend I gave it to was the least computer-savvy on my list).

  62. 62.

    handsmile

    @Gex:

    Oh Gex. You and your partner have been in the hopes and thoughts of many here today, reading your painful updates. Whatever will help you now, trust your instincts and do.

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gex:

    Oh Gex. I don’t know what to say. All I can do is think good loving positive healing thoughts for Kate and for you, and send many virtual {{{{{hugs}}}}} your way.

  68. 68.

    Mnemosyne

    @JPL:

    Cameron himself says that he has a history of marrying women who are smart enough to figure out they should leave him, so draw your own conclusion.

    It is probably true, though, that Bigelow was able to win her Oscar for The Hurt Locker because Cameron made it very publicly clear that he held no grudges from the divorce and that if the other directors in the Academy thought she deserved the award, they should vote for her. So there’s that in his favor.

  72. 72.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I haven’t seen any of hte movies K Wiig and Will Ferrell are talking about. Would this bit with be funnier if I had? I’m with Tommy Lee Jones.

  74. 74.

    ruemara

    @JPL: Cameron is known huge, raging egomaniacal asshole. So. Yes.

    Gex. Huge amount of positive thoughts to you and your GF. Please, if there’s friends or family to call and be by your side, please call them.

  78. 78.

    WaterGirl

    @Gex: Very scary stuff. I’m with Maude, do you have anybody that can come and be with you while things are so uncertain?

  82. 82.

    cathyx

    @Baud: If you need more information that that, then you are pathetic and lonely. Leave your computer right now and go meet a good woman.

  86. 86.

    PsiFighter37

    Anne Hathaway? I suppose so, as I guessed she would win, but she was basically in half a movie.

    Whatever. I drink more and don’t care about this shit

  89. 89.

    Schlemizel

    @Gex:

    Ah fuck man – its time like this that I wish I believed in prayer. I’m going to try to think positive thoughts and hope that things will turn up.

    Good luck

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    @JPL:

    I didn’t get the Bigelow/Cameron joke. Is Cameron a known jerk?

    It’s an easy joke. Hollywood, by definition, has difficult people with big egos. Cameron has been tremendously supportive of KB’s work, and I think she has a producer cred on some of his films.

    @Culture of Truth:

    Cameron is a demanding perfectionist I believe, like many directors. also I think the left his wife for the young woman in Titanic.

    Hard to keep up with Cameron’s personal life. But he was with Linda Hamilton before he married the woman from Titanic.

  106. 106.

    sylvan

    @PurpleGirl:

    Cameron is something of a jerk, I believe

    Cameron is an old school polymath and explorer.

    Hollywood only tolerates him because his movies make shitloads of dosh.

  107. 107.

    Alex

    Downton Abbey spoilers: Rich person says something a rich person would say. Poor person says something a poor person would say. Repeat.

  111. 111.

    Todd

    In Downton, I was really surprised when the Dowager grabbed Matthew and kissed him passionately.

    And what about that ending, when Sybil shot her father after catching him with Branson in a tight embrace?

  113. 113.

    seaboogie

    @Gex: Oh Gex, I have been there, and it can be so scary and disorienting. Here is something that you can do:

    When you can be beside your sweetie, take her hand. Breathe from your belly. Acknowledge your fear, and set it to the side for the moment – you can pick it up later. Continue to breathe from your belly and clear your mind and your heart, and then invite the healing, loving energy of the universe to flow into your head, through your heart, and into your beloved and rest there together, and breathe…..

    Peace and love to the two of you…

  117. 117.

    WaterGirl

    What’s going on with Jodie Foster? I didn’t understand the last part of her speech. Is she sick or something?

  118. 118.

    lee

    The sound cutout for about 5 words during Jodi acceptance speech. Shortly after she talked about being “single” and before how she came out to friendz

    Guess I’ll catch it on YouTube tomrrrow

  123. 123.

    MikeJ

    Watched ten minutes of the execrable awards show. Doesn’t anyone in Hollywood know how to run sound? The clips, the orchestra, everything except the main mic is badly eq’ed and 1/3rd the volume. Unwatchable.

  124. 124.

    Anne Laurie

    @quannlace:

    Didn’t he write a first draft for the Star Trek episode ‘City On The Edge of Forever” And despite it being considered one of the show’s best episodes, he’s been bitching for almost 30 years about how they changed his script.

    Yes. Ellison eventually published his script in a paperback anthology, and better minds than mine judged it (a) unplayable and (b) in violation of ST “canon”, as it stood at the time. The expression “hot mess” was not in wide use during the early 1970s, but that would be the shorter.

  129. 129.

    lee

    @Southern Beale: yep lost abit in the middle.

    It sounds like she had a pretty good rant about how she does not need a huge public coming out announcement since everyone she knows personnally already knows

  131. 131.

    Southern Beale

    @MikeJ:

    I didn’t think it was a big secret. But the fucking censors in FREE AMERICA PATRIOTISM FLAG WAVING MAH RIGHTS BLAH BLAH bleeped a big part of her speech out, and then she went on this rant about how she might never act again. It was all very confusing.

  132. 132.

    WaterGirl

    @lee: I thought her mom must have something like that, but I was talking about the part after that. The beginning of a new chapter, maybe small roles? Something about a different kind of stick, without the dazzle? Just a bunch of stuff I didn’t really get.

    Maybe she’s worried about getting Alzheimer’s herself since it’s hereditary?

    And Mel Gibson looked so sad as he was watching her.

    And it always seemed like the lifetime achievement awards go to people who are older, sick or dying, and she’s pretty young.

    And yes, the sound went out on my channel, too, for a bit while she was talking.

  133. 133.

    Southern Beale

    So, in America Land Of The Free Founding Fathers Tea Party Tricorn Hats you CAN buy a fucking arsenal but you CAN’T hear 10 seconds of Jodi Foster saying a cuss word. Or whatever.

    Got it.

  134. 134.

    J.D. Rhoades

    @Anne Laurie:

    Yes. Ellison eventually published his script in a paperback anthology, and better minds than mine judged it (a) unplayable and (b) in violation of ST “canon”, as it stood at the time. The expression “hot mess” was not in wide use during the early 1970s, but that would be the shorter.

    Yeah, much as I love Ellison (and some day I’ll tell y’all the story of how I narrowly avoided being the target of an Ellison rant), I’ve read that script, and he completely did not get Trek as it existed at the time. Or more likely, he did, and just didn’t give a fuck. But he took one of the show’s central concepts, threw it to the ground, and danced upon it. And then he’s surprised they didn’t like it?

  137. 137.

    Culture of Truth

    Well she’s has been around since the 1970s

    Yes she was bleeped out on my tv too. Eh, it’s the GG. People drink. It’s fun!

    On tv you can’t say fuck. Which is too fucking bad.

  140. 140.

    WaterGirl

    @Culture of Truth: I recorded the show on Tivo, so I turned on closed captioning and went back to the spot where the sound went out. I thought if the sound issue was accidental, then the words should show up on screen, right?

    Interestingly enough, there was no pause, there was no “bleep” or anything. I think whatever sound was eliminated was done on purpose.

    When I went back to check on the missing sound, I also caught Jodie thanking someone who always talks her down when she says she’s done with acting and that 47 years is a LONG time. So maybe she is quitting.

  142. 142.

    MikeJ

    @lee: Internet years and the “everybody that actually cared at all about it already knew” scale. It wasn’t a secret before 2007.

    Even so, I’d verbally abuse a republican to impress her. (I wouldn’t actually shoot anybody unless there were very exceptional circumstances.)

  144. 144.

    sylvan

    @MikeJ:

    She credited the support of her partner of 14 years during an award ceremony.

    Before that, it was none of anyone’s business.

    I wouldn’t actually shoot anybody

    What a relief.

  147. 147.

    dance around in your bones

    Gex, I just wanted to say that having been through the caregiver/hopebringer role you are going through now, I know how hard it is and how much strength and fortitude it takes. I’d like to hold your hearts and hopes in my warm hands and give you both strength to carry on.

  148. 148.

    Mnemosyne

    @lee:

    She’s already directed several films, so maybe that’s the direction she’s going.

    We watched Tivoed episodes of “Dr. Who” instead of the Golden Globes, so I really have no clue what happened at all.

  149. 149.

    cckids

    @Gex: Hi, I’m really late here, but my thoughts & best wishes are with you both. Having been there, more than once, with my son, having the infected port removed can get her on a better road; the infection can be slowly taking root & you don’t know where from, now it is gone & can be targeted & treated.

    It sounds like you have a good team who is doing all that is possible for her. Please take care of yourself & her as best you can. Lots of us here are pulling for her.

  153. 153.

    scav

    @sylvan: So you picked up “progressive community” from what others described as

    On Sunday night, Foster pivoted from a discussion about her sexuality to discuss the issue of privacy for people in the public eye and to deliver a critique about modern celebrity media culture.

    Guard

    “But now, apparently I’m told, that every celebrity is expected to honour the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a primetime reality show. You guys might be surprised, but I am not Honey Boo Boo child.”

  154. 154.

    sylvan

    @scav:

    Jodie Foster came out six years ago.

    The reasons why she was so reluctant to do so becomes more evident every time she temporarily gives up her privacy.

  157. 157.

    SFAW

    @PsiFighter37:

    So what was in the missing seconds of the Jodie Foster speech?

    Well, if my lip-reading skills are worth anything, she:
    1) Revealed what really happened to Judge Crater
    2) Divulged the key ingredient in Original Coca-Cola
    3) Explained the endings to both “Sopranos” and “Lost”

    There was something else, but she was speaking too fast.

  162. 162.

    WaterGirl

    @sylvan: I have seen contact. She’s been great in everything I’ve seen her in, but when I saw the retrospective I was surprised at how much of her stuff I hadn’t seen.

    She was in a movie 20 years ago with mark harmon that really made an impact on me, but as far as I could tell, it didn’t make the retrospective.

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