Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

The lights are all blinking red.

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

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

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

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

We still have time to mess this up!

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

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

No one could have predicted…

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

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69Comments

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    wondering that no one points this out to them before the programs are printed

    The party did, however, choose the folks who’ll appear on the panel about “successful communication with minorities and women,” and the criticism here seems far more reasonable.
    [The session will have] a female moderator (Rachel Campos-Duffy), a female consultant (Ana Navarro), a female congressman (Rep. Jaime Herrera Buetler), and three congressmen who are neither female nor minorities: Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Rep. Scott Rigell, and Rep. Frank Wolf.
    Yep, three of the five panelists on the House Republicans’ session on “successful communication with minorities and women” are white protestant men. No one on the panel is African American.

    is “protestant” even a qualifier for lack of diversity anymore? If Peter King or another white empenised Catholic were on that panel, would it really be more “diverse” by today’s standards? Not in this aggressively lapsed Catholic’s opinion.

  7. 7.

    Linnaeus

    First big project at work where I’m the lead. Two weeks to do it. Boss says, “have fun with it!” Oookay….

  9. 9.

    ranchandsyrup

    For this afternoon’s work avoidance I am tuning up my snowboard. Have a trip to Vail and a few weekends in Mammoth coming up.

    ETA: Good luck with your project Linnaeus

  11. 11.

    aimai

    Picked one kid up from gym, at 4:30, will pick another kid up from theater rehearsal at 7:00, think two out of four of us are coming down with the stomach flu, planning on holing up this weekend except that one child has MLK day chorale at a church and the other has three performances of Midsummer Night’s dream to stage manage.

  13. 13.

    Ted & Hellen

    Picked one kid up from gym, at 4:30, will pick another kid up from theater rehearsal at 7:00, think two out of four of us are coming down with the stomach flu, planning on holing up this weekend except that one child has MLK day chorale at a church and the other has three performances of Midsummer Night’s dream to stage manage.

    You seem to be trolling for expressions of interest in your alleged family’s activities.

    Would that be an accurate summary of your comment?

  19. 19.

    Suzanne

    @aimai: I feel you. Mr. Suzanne and I are both still under the weather with some nasty cold, and Spawn the Younger barfed all over her teacher this morning, so I got the “come pick your kid up! NOW!” call. Husband and I have been trying to get as much work done as possible, but this is ludicrous. We both feel like hell on wheels.

  23. 23.

    Ted & Hellen

    Now come on, kids, you misunderstand. There has been a lot of discussion here lately about the definition and origins of TROLLING on the intertrons.

    That led me to thinking about “Catfishing” as the youngs call it, and the fact that there are a number of commenters here who attempt to have interpersonal relationships with people they only know thru the intertrons as a series of pixels, and who could very likely not be who they say they are.

    For example, the person who posts as aimai claims to have a very full, busy life packed with kids, activities, church, friends, etc. Why does aimai feel it necessary to bring her personal life, which one would assume to be full of plenty of affirmation and conversation, onto a political blog? And why do other commenters assume the veracity of what she presents?

    I’m not making a value judgement, but I think the dynamics are fascinating.

    For instance: Cole recently insisted I meet him face to face for him to make one of his monthly cash payments of my exhorbitant trolling fee. Turns out Cole is a 76 year old Asian American woman who lives above a tattoo partner in East Albany, NY. She has no pets. She does appear to have a fungal infection, however. Who knew?

    And as we all know since Cole outed me after purchasing a commissioned piece of my artwork, I am a lonely, misanthropic, homosekshul, racist pedophile who paints with crayon on velvet and lives under a bridge.

    But who are YOU people? Really?

    And does any of it matter/

  24. 24.

    R-Jud

    @Maude: I walked up to the corner shop and back without collapsing/ having a gland burst, so I think I’m well and truly on the mend.

    What bugs me is that my husband seems to be getting it now, and he’s a horrendous snorer at the best of times. It will be worsened a hundredfold with his swollen tonsils flapping away.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @R-Jud: I have it on good authority that there should be no snow shoveling until 48 hours after final antibiotic is taken. Do you need a note for your husband?

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    @Suzanne: This is the last thing I saw, on Open Thead: Tis of Thee:

    Gex Says:

    It is striking to me, how much I look forward to getting back to Balloon-Juice to get to spill it all and reconnect with you.

    I made the call to extubate about five hours ago. True to form, this woman who has fought through challenges few others would survive, much less win, is hanging in there. They never know how it will go after they turn off ventilator assist, but I think everyone universally thought it wouldn’t take long. She hasn’t eaten in three weeks, the blood cultures showed a new infection, and she’s got metastisized cancer that has had free reign with a compromised immune system.

    Instead, she started breathing more regularly, BP stayed okay, and her pulse ox is consistently at or above 94%. I’ve told her I’m ready to let her go. I’ve challenged her to fight her will to fight if need be. But it’s going to be a while. I briefly went to find a place to nap but quickly realized that there may not be a level of exhaustion that would allow me to sleep.

    Did I tell you about the response we are getting from our circle? Kate is a stand up comic whose idol is Maria Bamford. The comedy club in the Mall of America hosts an one mic night on Tuesdays. Next Tuesday’s show has been turned in to a tribute show and Maria is flying in to headline it. Maria’s presence led to a write up in the St.Paul Pioneer Press, and a show that is lucky to get 25 attendees sold 160 tickets by lunch time. There is at least one more tribute show that has been announced. When I learned the paper wanted names to contact for a follow up article I posted on Facebook, “It’s normal to need to appoint a director of media relations in these situations, right?”

    I don’t know if words can describe this experience. The worst thing to ever happen to me is triggering such an outpouring of love and support (I’m including you guys) that is immeasurable. Every ‘like’, every message, every person who has taken charge to help me with something…

    I’m not one to experience or process emotion in real time all that much. It’s all tucked inside where I can’t get it yet or waiting in the shadows to pounce. If the cliche is true, this will continue to hurt like hell, but it will diminish somewhat, and I will learn to live with it. And then I realized today that all this awesome love and support? I will remember it forever and I feel that feeling will grow over time as I look back on it.

    I was able to support her in pursuing her passion for the last four years with no obstacles. I know she saw during my actions during the cancer fight how much I love her that I know there will be no regrets about things unsaid. And then this reaction to her and to us as a couple? This is the best worst thing that can happen to a person. I am grateful and I feel lucky that I will have peace because of these things. Later. Still a lot of tough stuff to go through. It’s not soon, but someday I will have to go back to the house and be there without her.

    Don’t know what else to add. Oh yeah. I highly recommend getting a lot of comic friends before you have a tragedy. I’m not sure you should laugh THIS much at times like this. But it’s great.

    January 17th, 2013 at 3:50 am

  32. 32.

    gogol's wife

    @WaterGirl:

    Thank you, I had not seen that. This was posted at 10:05 AM today on the Michelle Bachmann thread:

    “Thanks for asking about us guys.

    She was extubated last night around 9 PM. Since then she’s been pretty stable. Given all she’s been through to this point, I think most of the medical staff thought she’d go fast. But her BP is still strong, her pulse ox is good, core temp is normalizing, and breathing seems smoother if not normal.

    There’s no recovery from this. As much as my emotional mind is wondering why we don’t reinstate the antibiotics, the truth is we wouldn’t want her to awake to deal with the pain and misery of her current situation, then have to deal with a liver cancer that has been raging untreated all this time.

    It’s like we’re a living example of public policy failures. Can’t get married. Can pull the tubes, but can’t assist either. We just have to keep using up medical resources in a hospital short on beds and nurses. And at some point the hospital and medical insurance wash their hands of you and you need to pay for hospice, which runs hundreds of dollars per day. How am I supposed to afford that? And I’m solidly middle class with no kids.

    It wasn’t hard to decide to extubate. It was hard to have to pick the time and say, “Do it now.” I wish that could have been the end instead of sitting here and watching her die over hours, maybe days.

    So right now, it’s pretty much the same on day 15 at the hospital.”

  35. 35.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    @WereBear:

    Thanks for that. After the last China syndrome, we switched to cooking turkey and veggies for our heeler. He’s 14 years young, and we were just now thinking of switching back to dry.

  36. 36.

    redshirt

    I spent the afternoon stuffing insulation into my chimney. What a freaking heat loss that thing is, as I knew it would be. I was not going to have a fireplace at all – for this reason – but everyone told me I had to have one, for resell value. I grudgingly agreed, but damn! I see dollars flying up the flue.

  38. 38.

    Rosie Outlook

    On antibiotics for walking pneumonia. Been sick for over a week and wish it would walk the hell on out of here.

    I may as well confess. I am really Stephen King, here observing the trolls to gather material for my next book.

  39. 39.

    Ted & Hellen

    I am really Stephen King, here observing the trolls to gather material for my next book.

    Could well be.

    I’m Dan Brown. My next novel centers on a group of gullible blog commenters who prefer their Internet fantasy relationships to those in meat space. Overarching themes of tribalism, self righteousness, selective credulousness, and willful stupidity.

    Your nym is one of the primary characters. Aimai too. Watergirl is actually a Landboy.

  41. 41.

    YellowJournalism

    @WereBear: Dammit! That’s the only thin my picky pup will eat! She’s been eating it for years. Anyone know if those risks are associated with food sold in Canada?

  42. 42.

    Josie

    @WereBear: Thanks for the warning. My two doggies have eaten their last serving of Beneful or any Purina product, for that matter. I can’t believe they are not reacting properly to these reported problems.

  46. 46.

    Ted & Hellen

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    “Alleged” family??

    Sure.

    Do you know Aimai in the real world?

    If not, why would you assume that she is telling the truth? Or me, or anyone else on here, for that matter?

    Except that since Cole outed me when he bought the artwork from me, we know that I am a lonely, misanthropic, homosekshul, racist pedophile who lives under a bridge and paints on velvet with melted crayons to make ends meet.

    What do we know about YOU?

  47. 47.

    red dog

    All you guys are pikers compared to the Notre Dame linebacker Te’o who’s fake on line girlfriend died to inspire a football team. The media slurped it all up for three months. Virtual funeral??? Maybe he was such a jerk she died to break up with him.

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Suzanne:

    It’s funny how we can think so much about someone we’ve never met,

    By orders of magnitude, this is the best thing about this community, and why I’ve been coming back many times a day for the past, what?, five years at least.

  51. 51.

    Josie

    @Ted & Hellen: The only thing we learned from John Cole was that he commissioned some art work from you that he really liked. Everything else you told us yourself, and it is less than fascinating. You must need entertainment badly to be so willing to rain on everyone else’s parade.

  53. 53.

    Ksmiami

    @WereBear: I adopted a husky rescue and feed him homemade with some high quality canned foods and safe raw meaty bones … Just too much crap in commercial kibble

  54. 54.

    Ksmiami

    @WereBear: I adopted a husky rescue and feed him homemade with some high quality canned foods and safe raw meaty bones … Just too much crap in commercial kibble

  56. 56.

    Ted & Hellen

    @Josie:

    What parade? Maybe everyone on here is telling the complete truth about their Meat Space lives. But maybe not. More likely some are, some aren’t.

    Surely you already knew that.

    So how is saying it out loud raining on a parade?

  57. 57.

    eemom

    Speaking of the cyber/real dichotomy, I was thinking about organizing a DC area meetup Sunday or Monday, since some out of town folks as well will likely be here for the inauguration.

    As an extra added attraction, we could then report back to T&H re Whether We Are What We Seem.

  60. 60.

    Ted & Hellen

    @eemom:

    As an extra added attraction, we could then report back to T&H re Whether We Are What We Seem.

    How would I know you were telling the truth?

    Hey, I’m driving to Richmond, VA and back to boston over five or six days beginning next Wednesday. Hold up on the mtg and I’ll join you.

    Nah…haters here would probably assassinate me.

  61. 61.

    burnspbesq

    In nine minutes, I’m watching Duke pound the stuffing out of Georgia Tech.

    After that, I have to put together a presentation designed to convince somebody that it’s in their best interest to accept a settlement offer from the IRS that requires them to write a check for just north of a million bucks.

  63. 63.

    burnspbesq

    @Ted & Hellen:

    haters here would probably assassinate me

    Unlikely. Would require far more time and energy than you’re worth, Mr. & Ms. Boring and Tiresome.

  65. 65.

    Rosie Outlook

    For decades I’ve worked in an industry where I talk to people all over the world, including one fellow whose day job financed his orchid hybridizing. Lots of fascinating folks out there. Anyway, we’d eventually meet at conferences, and no one’s face ever matches their phone voice, so their typing probably doesn’t go with the face either.

  68. 68.

    notgonnahappen

    Nothing to say about the Lance Armstrong confession? Need I remind you that you were defending him saying the ‘rumors’ about doping were a smear campaign or some other bullshit.

    When was the last time you were right about something?

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