Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

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

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

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

We still have time to mess this up!

… gradually, and then suddenly.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

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

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

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

This really is a full service blog.

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

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

You are here: Home / Open Threads / What Do I Care if Icicles Form?

What Do I Care if Icicles Form?

by | 139 Comments

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I had to go out this morning so I braved the 2013 Blizzard of Death, though the tons of salt that they throw on the roads kept them almost completely clear. This evening, an army of plows will do the same. That’s how we urban and suburban elites roll. We want our high taxes to pay for snow removal, corner gay marriage and medical marijuana bodegas, and the teaching of sodomy as part of the sex ed curriculum. I wonder how much more tax I need to pay to have physically separate bike lanes installed so I can ride my bike to the state-sponsored abortionplex?

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

139Comments

  1. 1.

    Tonal Crow

    I wonder how much more tax I need to pay to have physically separate bike lanes installed….

    I’d settle for better bike-lane markings and traffic lights that detect bicyclists in the same manner as cars.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    I wonder how much more tax I need to pay

    Silly blogger. True liberals don’t tax themselves; they tax the job creators. That’s why they are moochers.

    Didn’t you hear anything Romney/Ryan were saying?

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    corner gay marriage

    {blushing}
    Is that a proposal I hear? And just a week before Valentine’s Day! Who said you weren’t a romantic at heart?

  6. 6.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    The tax debate is a fun argument. Here in Texas, when you tell people that you think taxes should be raised for things like education and that you’d be willing to pay for them, the response is “Well, donate them, then.” It’s a real pain in the butt to try to explain that you think everyone’s taxes should go up because we’d all get the benefits from it, because, for things like education, it turns into “well, I don’t have any kids” or “my kids are all grown” or “mine go to a private school” or “why should I pay for other kids.”

    ETA: And yes, I have to try to convince a majority of people, I get that. But it’s really annoying to hear “I don’t want to pay more taxes” and “kids aren’t learning anything because our schools are bad” in almost the same sentence.

  7. 7.

    David Hunt

    @Violet:

    Can we use some of that abortionplex money to fix Balloon Juice?

    With a little work, I bet we can manage to use some of those funds to double the amount of government money that’s funding the site rebuild.

  9. 9.

    David Hunt

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    As a fellow Texan and a tax accountant, I can say that I often hear those types of arguments. OTOH, I am rather proud of our clientele in that I can’t think of a single many instances of complaint about their taxes going to Those People.

  12. 12.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Like I have said before, the majority of the “Taxed Enough Already” crowd around here are all retired military and/or civil service (some of them both). The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    @Yutsano:

    Speaking of moar bombs, since I’m home sick (so am doubly aggravated by the site borkage), I watched Dr. Strangelove and Taxi Driver for the first time yesterday.

    I have to say, most of the acclaimed movies from the late 60s-early 70s I’ve seen don’t hold my interest, and those two weren’t exceptions. Maybe you had to live the time to get it. Well acted, though.

  18. 18.

    Baud

    @David Hunt:

    I was actually responding to your comment # 7. But to your point, although I don’t directly work with regular people, I agree that a lot of people do seem to driven by the suspicion that someone out there is getting something that they don’t deserve, and that that is the cause of all of our problems.

  20. 20.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @Raven:
    @David Hunt:

    I would say Texas is kind of progressive in that regard: We do class war here, not directly race war. Since funding is determined by school district, not the state, wealthy districts get more money per student than poorer districts. Something I read the other day related to the funding lawsuit said that property taxes are 10cents lower for each $100 of property in richer districts than in poorer school districts. And while in a lot of cases that is related to race, it isn’t always.

  21. 21.

    JPL

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): Decades ago Perot tried to equalize funding for Texas education. The county where we lived had no problem raising property taxes in order to keep the local schools funded at the same level. When we first moved to GA, they passed an additional school tax easily. Times have changed.

  22. 22.

    ? Martin

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    Since funding is determined by school district, not the state, wealthy districts get more money per student than poorer districts.

    CA (rightfully) lost an equal protection case with the feds over that in the early 70s. The state changed how schools were funded as a result, pulling all property tax revenue to the state level and then funding schools from it. The backlash to that was Prop 13, which effectively ensured that any existing homeowner wouldn’t be taxed to pay for growth elsewhere in the state. Pretty much all of the states tax problems originate from that equal protection case.

    40 years on, we’re finally getting through the thicket of FYIGM kneejerk backlash to that shit and starting to deliver on the original goal. Texas may find itself going through a similar exercise.

  24. 24.

    bemused

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    It’s amazing that people think we can have an educated society on the cheap.

    I like to say I hope those people who are fixing my car, giving me care if I have a hospital or nursing home stay, surgery, fixing my plumbing, roof, doing my taxes, etc got the best education from grade school to high school and on. I don’t know why some folks think “other” people’s kids getting a good education doesn’t have a positive impact on their lives.

  26. 26.

    Redshirt

    I’ll be giving Gondolin Weather updates throughout the day!

    12:51 EST: Already six inches of fluffy perfect snow on the ground, from an unrelated storm! The big one isn’t scheduled to hit up here until later this evening. Foreboding!

    If you like the look of snow on pine trees, you’d dig it.

  30. 30.

    japa21

    @Redshirt: White fluffy stuff is one thing. The northern suburbs of Chicago got hit with anywhere from 4-10″ of the super heavy stuff yesterday. I’d rather have 18″ of fluffy than 6″ of heavy, particularly when the plows throw it up onto the driveway.

    Hopefully, it stays the fluffy where you are, since you are going to get a load of it either way.

  31. 31.

    Shrillhouse

    Not sure if we have any shoegaze fans in the house, but have y’all checked out the new My Bloody Valentine record? It’s great.

    As it should be after we had to wait for 22 years…

  32. 32.

    nastybrutishntall

    @Tonal Crow: It’s like that in Berlin. Blew my mind to have my own pint-sized stoplight. Of course, without that anyone trying to make a left turn on a bike on the multi-lane & streetcar hell around Alexanderplatz would get pint-sized sehr snell.

  33. 33.

    Comrade Dread

    We want our high taxes to pay for snow removal, corner gay marriage and medical marijuana bodegas, and the teaching of sodomy as part of the sex ed curriculum.

    I’m wondering when the Agenda 21 Alaskan FEMA camps are going up and we’ll finally send all of the conservatives away to be forcibly gay married and watch “An Inconvenient Truth” all day every day.

  34. 34.

    Mike E

    @Raven: I had this conversion with a libertarian once, never again. I told him when he’s in the assisted living facility some day, and said brown person is feeding/bathing/medication/wiping his ass, he’ll get the level of care he deserves.

  37. 37.

    Yutsano

    @Baud: Dr Strangelove really is better understood from the context of the Cold War and the imminent threat of nuclear annihilation. I guess that was the director’s point: that it could be so easy to just pull the trigger and let it happen and consequences be damned.

  40. 40.

    Comrade Dread

    @Yutsano: I love Dr. Strangelove. I didn’t when I first watched it, but perhaps as I’ve grown older and more cynical about politics and recognized that the people who hold actual real power are the ones least fit to do so, I’ve grown to appreciate the dangerous absurdity of our ability to instantly exterminate the majority of life on planet Earth with the push of a button.

  43. 43.

    Mike E

    @Yutsano: The DVD extras are cool, like trivia about how JFK’s assassination changed the release date and Major Kong’s line
    “Shoot, a guy could have a pretty good time in DALLAS with all this stuff.”
    @@Baud: I don’t see anyone else in the room…

  45. 45.

    Trollhattan

    @David Hunt:

    OT but may I say “Thanks!” for sending Goodhair to California to recruit companiesserve as Jerry’s punching bag, in person?

    [WTF, this just auto-posted whilst I was still typing.]

    I have a TexasAlaska-sized bowl of popcorn ready to go.

  46. 46.

    Steeplejack "Jackie Steeps" Steeplejackson

    Since FYWP keeps dropping my info, I thought I’d see if it remembers my old Mafia name.

    ETA: Heh, it does. Trust FYWP to handle the important things.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    @Yutsano:
    @Comrade Dread:

    I was referring more to the predominant film-making style of that era, not just Dr. Strangelove in particular. I generally enjoy and can relate more older films that I can to mid-60s to mid-70s movies.

  48. 48.

    Yutsano

    @Comrade Dread: I know I’ve watched it all through but I don’t recall actually ever doing so. I must have, however, because when I see clips of the film I recognise them immediately. It really is a powerful statement about how power can distort all sense of reality to the point where blowing up the world just becomes another thing. Kinda scary that it’s almost happened a few times.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    @Mike E:

    Ok, I’m an idiot. Forgot the best line of the movie.

    @Raven:

    Yeah, I couldn’t relate. But then I’ve never lived with the daily fear of global thermonuclear war. Not since War Games, anyway.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @Cassidy:

    THE BALLOON JUICE FYWP VIRUS IS SPREADING!

    In honor of my comments on Dr. Strangelove, we shall call it the DOOMSDAY VIRUS.

  60. 60.

    Punchy

    Which parts of the Least Coast are supposed to get the 4 feet of crystallized dihydrogen oxide? That’s a coating of white stuff that would make Ron Jeremy jealous.

  62. 62.

    Or something like that.Suffern Ace

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): worse yet, did you hear that they’re just going to make more kids so education spending will never end? That’s what hear when people claim that they’re tired of throwing money at the problem. Aren’t all those kids educated yet?

  63. 63.

    Bubblegum Tate

    Great zinger from Ken Jennings:

    “They’re called libertarians because they often combine the social skills of LIBRARIANS with the rugged good looks of ET.”

    Bonus beats:

    “I can’t even walk into a Christian bookstore anymore without wondering which door leads to the sex dungeon.”

    Ken Jennings: Justifying the existence of Twitter.

  65. 65.

    Belafon

    @Baud: I still remember at tennis one day in the 8th grade, 29 years ago, all of us talking about what we would do if we saw the missile trails overhead (there was an Air Force base in my town). I still remember having to think about that.

  66. 66.

    Legalize

    Here in SW Ohio / NKY our local Teabillies are having a sad that the Brent Spence bridge isn’t going to be replaced for free. They are also sad that former Fox News Employee, Kaisich’s tax plan shifts the tax burden from the wealthy to everyone else.

    It’s almost worth it to see the dumb look of shock on their dull faces.

  68. 68.

    MikeJ

    @Shrillhouse:

    Not sure if we have any shoegaze fans in the house, but have y’all checked out the new My Bloody Valentine record? It’s great.

    got it but haven’t had a chance to give it a spin yet. Hoping to today.

  70. 70.

    Raven

    @Baud: Pick up “A Decade Under the Influence”. he 1970s was an extraordinary time of rebellion, of questioning every accepted idea: political activism, hedonism, protests, the sexual revolution, the women’s movement, the civil rights movement, the music revolution, rage and liberation. Every standard by which we set our social and cultural clocks was either turned inside out or thrown away completely and reinvented. For American cinema, the 1970s was an era during which a new generation of filmmakers created work for a new kind of audience–moviegoers who were hungry for stories that reflected their own experiences and who were turning their backs on aged old studio formulas. As a result, emerging filmmakers influenced by foreign directors such as Godard, Kurosawa and Fellini coupled with the social climate and a struggling studio system, converged to create a new kind of moviemaking. Through their choice of material, filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, William Friedkin, … Written by Sujit R. Varma

    You do realize that the two films were made 12 years apart?

  73. 73.

    cckids

    @J. Michael Neal:

    The correct answer is, “Because I don’t want to share my country with a bunch of stupid people.”

    This. To frame it in just the economics, with a dropout rate of around 25%, the idea that we can afford, as a country, to essentially write off/throw away that many people is breathtakingly stupid. Not to mention the waste of lives.

  74. 74.

    Corner Stone

    “This truck is on figh-yah!!”
    as song by Alicia Keys regarding Chris Dorner’s truck in California.

  76. 76.

    Baud

    @Raven:

    Thanks for the rec.

    I realize the time limits of the era (even if you can call it the same era) are a little fuzzy.

    It’s odd, because I really like the music from that period. Movies of that time, however, I seem to disproportionately dislike or find uninteresting.

  78. 78.

    Mike E

    @Baud: No problem. Actually, the best line from that movie is the one, gawd knows which, that propelled John Hinckley to try and impress a teenage Jodie Foster with his gun.

    Ahead of his time, that one.

  80. 80.

    hoppipolla

    @Shrillhouse: Lovin’ the holy hell out of it. got my first noise complaint in the six years i’ve lived in this apartment when i listened to it at appropriate volume for the first time. good times.

  82. 82.

    Cassidy

    Since we’re kind of all over the place here, Jack Daniels Honey whiskey and ginger ale is amazing.

  83. 83.

    catclub

    @Belafon: 29 years ago is about when the movie “The Day After” came out, right?

    I am not sure if mirved warheads would leave trails.

    Or did you mean trails from missiles launched from the nearby Air Force base?

  84. 84.

    MikeJ

    @Baud: Is it the pacing? Ever see Scorsese’s average shot length over time?
    1976 Taxi Driver 7.3 seconds
    2006 The Departed 2.7

  85. 85.

    handsmile

    It’s interesting (to me anyways) that both Dr. Strangelove and Fail-Safe were released in the same year, 1964. Both with the subject of Cold War nuclear annihilation, each presented the matter from radically different perspectives and styles. Also, each picture was distributed by a major American studio, Columbia Pictures, less than two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis.

    While Strangelove is not even my favorite Kubrick film, I can’t think of a more successful cinematic example of gallows’ humor. Sterling Hayden, George C. Scott, and Peter Sellers (probably never better) are simply brilliant. And off the top of my head, only the screenplay for The Big Lebowski has more comically quotable lines.

    ETA: and now out to shop before all the grocery shelves are bare. i’m sure the site will be un-borked by the time i return, right?

  87. 87.

    Baud

    @Mike E:

    Ahead of his time, that one.

    No thanks. Just contributed to the myth of Reagan as hero and, if he had succeeded, would have turned him into a martyr. No shortcuts around politics, IMHO.

    @MikeJ:

    I don’t think so. I don’t generally have the same reaction to older movies, which I assume have even longer average shot lengths. I think I have difficulty relating to the storylines and the way in which the characters interact with one another. I don’t have a good artistic vocabulary, but I think movies of that time asked the audience to supply the background context in which everything occurs more so than in other eras, and I don’t have that in me.

  89. 89.

    Raven

    @Baud: If there is a wide gap in film from 64-72 the one is music is 10 times so! You also might like “Visions of Light”, and “My Voyage to Italy” (Scorcese’s history of Italian film. We’re watching “The Story of Film” a sweeping history that is fun.

  91. 91.

    Legalize

    @Steeplejack:
    People try, but our local Tealiban don’t believe anything that Fox News doesn’t scream at them. They are very certain that they can’t have a nice shiny new free bridge because Obama is giving away the store to the blahs, Planned Parenthood, and NPR.

    As for the Gov.’s plan to tax the shit out of goods and services, while cutting income taxes for the wealthy, the Tealiban simply don’t believe it will be bad for them. You can show them all the numbers you want, but they just don’t believe it – numbers are something the librul media uses.

    Our Tealiban is very special.

  94. 94.

    GregB

    @Baud:

    Censors made Scorcese change the color of the blood in the film because they felt the final scenes were too gory. The blood has a strange purple-pinkish hue to it.

    The original script also had the pimp and his henchmen as Black men. That was changed by Scorcese I believe.

  97. 97.

    GregB

    P.S. 21 degrees here in NH with a fine but steady snow falling. Generator gassed and extra wood loaded and the fireplace is ready to go.

    To all those in the storm path, be safe.

  98. 98.

    ? Martin

    Man, LAPD is just lost in the weeds with Dorner. Locked down LA central jail after a supposed sighting, while they’re doing a massive manhunt up in the mountains (during a snowstorm) 40 miles away.

    We have a friend who volunteers in search and rescue for the sheriffs office, and he says 9/11 is the only other time he’s seen police this ramped up. He’s supposed to head up the mountain after work today. This guy has really gotten inside their heads.

  100. 100.

    Raven

    And while you are at it Scorcese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is a great showcase for Jodie and Ellen Burstyn.

  101. 101.

    Baud

    @GregB:

    I remarked how fake the blood looked. I figured it was cheap special effects. Didn’t realize censors were involved.

  102. 102.

    Raven

    @Baud: It is, Irish narrator which some may or may not like. He tends to jump around in time within episodes quite a bit but it is good. Also, try Cinderella Liberty with Jimmie Cann and Marsha Mason. Heartbreaker.

  105. 105.

    Raven

    @? Martin: I’ve been watching KTLA online most of the day. We had a prof here that shot his wife and two others at a community theater picnic. He was a big outdoorsy dude and people were in a panic (only time I’ve ever hauled it out and loaded it). About a week after the deed they found him. He dug a shallow grave, covered himself up an pop. I don’t think this guy is going out that way ut I bet he’s not where they are looking.

  106. 106.

    Corner Stone

    So I guess my question is…how in the fuck did someone rate Three Amigos! with a 2 Star Rating??

  108. 108.

    Closeted epistemic (formerly Lojasmo)

    Damn, I did a stupid thing at work. I made an offhand remark about “going postal” at work, and ended up with my first formal reprimand in a sixteen year career.

    Sucks. What sucks even more is the thought that I actually may have made somebody feel unsafe (though I suspect it was actually petty backstabbing shenanigans)

  109. 109.

    Trollhattan

    @? Martin:

    Sheesh, yeah. They’re now granting him magical jihadi superpowers–he’s simultaneously in two states and two countries. And don’t you love them shutting down the LA County jail because he just might be the large blah man somebody saw entering? How could it possibly not be him?

  112. 112.

    ? Martin

    @Raven: I don’t think he’s in the mountains. I suspect he’s in LA waiting to add another first degree murder charge.

    The guy killed two people on Sunday, then 4 days later was willing to initiate a shooting on police. He was in San Diego after Sunday then headed north. If Mexico was his plan, he rejected it. I think he’s in it to the end, unfortunately.

  113. 113.

    GregB

    @Baud:

    If you can find the 40th anniversay box set it has some seriously interesting documentary pieces. One is an interview with an actual cab driver who talked about New York in the late 60’s and early 70’s as being a really bleak and violent place.

    Scorcese captured that pretty well.

  116. 116.

    different-church-lady

    though the tons of salt that they throw on the roads kept them almost completely clear.

    Last threat of ice we had in Boston the city threw down so much salt there were literally (and I mean literally in the literal sense) mini salt storms for the next two days every time a bus or truck drove down the street. I think we might be taking it a hair too far.

  118. 118.

    different-church-lady

    We want our high taxes to pay for snow removal, corner gay marriage and medical marijuana bodegas, and the teaching of sodomy as part of the sex ed curriculum.

    And results of this poetic flourish? Ads for a gay singles service on the sidebar.

  120. 120.

    TOP123

    @catclub: You have simultaneously reminded me that 1) I do not own a copy of that outstanding movie and 2) Nemo is lurking between me and the library and 3) not nearly enough of Kurosawa’s stuff is available on iTunes.

  126. 126.

    Anoniminous

    @? Martin:

    Guy had a (roughly) 5 hour start from where he left his truck to the time the cops showed up which computes out – resurrecting my SAR skills – to a 300 mile possible location radius assuming he wasn’t a dumbass and had a second vehicle parked and ready for the switch. By now he could be in St. Louis, Seattle, or Tijuana.

  127. 127.

    Mary G

    It’s cold and rainy here where I live – 49 degrees, which is very low for noon in So. Cal. Sorry, couldn’t resist. The idea of the blizzard terrifies me and I admire the nonchalant ability to roll with it so many of you display. I was wondering if we would have much
    Balloon Juice today, so many of the front pagers are in the path of the super snow. Betty Cracker, I’m counting on you!

    My dad died in 1967, leaving us $9 in the bank and about $7,500 in debts. My mom insisted on buying a house in 1968; I pitched a fit because I wanted to get an apartment down the block from the library. The house was $25,900 and the mortgage was $132/month. At the time the apartment was renting for $140/month; it’s probably $2,000 to $2,500 now.

    Am I ever glad she didn’t listen to me and bought the house, through a great deal of lying and cheating to obtain a mortgage as a woman alone with a kid and no actual job or money. I’d have had to leave the state, or at least the coast.

    At less than a mile from the beach, in 1968 our neighbors were the grocery checkout lady, a plumber, a school teacher, etc. Now they are all lawyers and rugged entrepreneurs and such, mostly wingnuts, but a few who are liberal and cool. My little house looks like the garage of the McMansion next door, except mine isn’t hideous.

  129. 129.

    bemused

    @Mary G:

    I’ve always wondered why in the world anyone would want to live in a McMansion. I like watching HGTV but hate those segments.

  131. 131.

    scav

    @catclub: Goal might not be sneaky, goal might be chaos and making the news. Manifestos aren’t exactly low profile means either.

  132. 132.

    Corner Stone

    @bemused:

    I like watching HGTV but hate those segments.

    I agree. It’s like when the show is “Million Dollar Rooms”. It’s not enough you have a million dollar house, now you’re shoving one F’ng room at us that cost more than we’ll earn in a lifetime of working?

  133. 133.

    muddy

    @Closeted epistemic (formerly Lojasmo): I’m all admiration for someone who can go 16 years on the job without having gone off previous. I would never attain it. I work alone, which is best for everyone.

    Course, the first one is the easiest. You get written up. After that they’re all just waiting for the next time. Speaking of petty backstabbing etc.

  137. 137.

    Ruckus

    @scav:
    It might also be a diversion. Set it on fire, walk away, make the police waste a lot of time looking for the getaway car or the hiding place.
    The cops have already shown that they are close to panic about this. Mistaking 2 small women for a very large black man? He is in charge at the moment and it sounds like he may stay that way for a while. He could go underground for weeks and then reappear. He does not act like someone who is looking for a major confrontation, he is using hit and run tactics.

  138. 138.

    closeted epistemic (formerly lojasmo)

    @Corner Stone:

    I get angry when I have to deal with assholes like you, asshole.

    Thanks for the armchair psychological evaluation.

    Did you see where I said I went sixteen years without as much as a whisper? Not so much as a slap fight in my entire adult life.

    Fuck off.

  139. 139.

    closeted epistemic (formerly lojasmo)

    @muddy:

    Meh. Going to get back to Yoga.

    We’d been tasked with doing some “tests of change” to improve things in the lab. One particular lady, who had volunteered for the project never showed up for even ONE meeting, then actively thwarted every project we attempted.

    I’m a trifle irritated, but no biggie.

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