Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Peak wingnut was a lie.

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

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Come on, man.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

I really should read my own blog.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

White supremacy is terrorism.

In my day, never was longer.

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

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

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Reader Interactions

138Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Mary

    How about a selfie while we’re waiting? Pleeeeeease? Must judge level of healing after your self-barbering.

  5. 5.

    srv

    I had a dream about the Donner Party last night

    Let’s make it interesting. I will make the $100 donation to Austin Pets Alive promised and I will dollar match the first $100 donated by the attendees.

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    Gonna call Easy Tiger and ask the bartender to yell around to see if Amanda Huginkiss is there.

    Cole, don’t say it’s you.

  7. 7.

    Dee Loralei

    Y’all have a blast! I’m ever so slightly jealous. Luckily my son talked me into going to his weekly poker game, so I’m gonna have fun too.

    Oh and somehow my giant golden Cassidy pulled a muscle or something in his right hip, the vet didn’t find anything worrisome, so he’s on an anti-inflamatory and pain meds today.

  8. 8.

    the Conster

    @BGinCHI:

    Gonna call Easy Tiger and ask the bartender to yell around to see if Amanda Huginkiss Mike Hunt is there.

  10. 10.

    I am not a kook

    Just ask the pretty girls if they are here for the BJ meetup.

    LOL, are you sure you didn’t mix your posts to here and adultfriendfinder?

  11. 11.

    MomSense

    @the Conster:

    That was the name of the Catholic Priest when I was in college. He never even flinched when he introduced himself (he must have seen our reactions) or when people introduced him.

  14. 14.

    MomSense

    @John Cole

    “Just ask the pretty girls if they are here for the BJ meetup.”

    I’m thinking you may want to say Balloon-Juice lest those pretty girls slap you on your still healing formerly bearded face.

  16. 16.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I knew a man who went by Dick Cox. First name was Richard but he didn’t go by Richard, Rick, Ricky or by his middle name. When a man choses to look you in the eye, stick out his hand and say “I’m Dick Cox” that tells you something about him.

  17. 17.

    the Conster

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    Too bad you can’t get him to show up tonight with a Cox cam so we could watch him introduce himself to random strangers as Dick Cox here for the BJ meetup.

  21. 21.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    I can beat that — a company I worked for had a customer named Richard Head. He insisted on being called “Dick.”

    We played those voicemail messages over and over again for the whole office.

  23. 23.

    the Conster

    @Suzanne:

    Snicker. I’m glad I don’t have one of those kind of names, but I love when other people really own them. My mom went to high school in the 40s with Ima Pearl Button.

  25. 25.

    Comrade Mary

    Either John has incredibly long arms, or someone else took that photo. Nice to see y’all!

    (John in back right corner, eh? I recognize the forearms.)

  27. 27.

    Comrade Mary

    No, wait, waaaaay at the end of the table: is that Cole? I see blond hair. Maybe those are ringer forearms on the right.

    Who’s everyone else?

    EDIT: Fuck it. John is taking pictures on the only legal camera in the joint. But the night is young …

  29. 29.

    PeakVT

    Just ask the pretty girls if they are here for the BJ meetup.

    “I’m here for the BJ meetup. The reservation is in the name of Heywood Jablome.”

  38. 38.

    Eric U.

    I may troll the wingnut wing of my family on facebook by proposing that vet retirement be sequestered. Is that so wrong? How you can be so virulently anti-tax while living off of tax dollars is really beyond me, but I’m sure veteran retirees are largely republican.

    I used to think I was real. However, now that I see how original the pie filter posts are, I’m pretty sure I could be replaced by a greasemonkey script

  43. 43.

    MazeDancer

    Looks like a lovely group. Though a picture larger than a Twitter avi would be welcome.

    Easy Tiger calls itself a Bake Shop & Beer Garden. Hard to understand why there was any discussion about where to hold that Meet-Up. Sounds like perfect BJ choice. Only thing better would be if they gave 1% to pet rescue.

  44. 44.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I’m in Central Missouri, or smewhere like that, at the moment. Perfect lead-in handed to me this morning at hotel breakfast: a guy asks me out of the blue if there’s any news about that politician and the prostitutes. So I filled him in that one woman has recanted and now says she was paid to make the accusation. Nothing proved and it’s now looking like a planned smear job. Glad to be of service to my fellow citizens, especially when it’s at the expense of a right wing media libel campaign.

  45. 45.

    dance around in your bones

    I simply do not believe it until I see photos.

    Cole and actual Juicers in the same room?! I……need visual (non-Photo-shopped) evidence.

    However, I will scrutinize any picture purported to be coming out of this so-called ‘meet-up’.

  47. 47.

    Comrade Mary

    I’m the guy in the back.

    Of course you are.

    (Those of you asking for pictures: you know there are two up now, right?)

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Lookit how smug all those people look, just because they’ve met John Cole in person and we haven’t.

    Bitter? Jealous? Not me.

  53. 53.

    dance around in your bones

    @Comrade Mary: Well, there weren’t any photos when I posted. Uh, as far as I recall.

    I’m a kind of in and out BJer, depending on the circumstances. I get a bit scattered sometimes.

    Like dawdamn grandkids. They can distract you something fierce.

    ETA: Oh, and who’s the guy with the dark hair and gray goatee? I like.

  59. 59.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Okay, there are people. Where is the damned debauchery? I was promised debauchery.

  60. 60.

    raven

    We just had an adjacent neighborhood declared historic ending a year of battling neighbors and “outside” interests!

  61. 61.

    geg6

    I DEMAND A PITTSBURGH BJ MEETUP, GODDAM IT!

    This is so totally unfair…he goes 1200 miles or whatever and has meetups. He’s constantly in Pittsburgh (or within a fairly short driving distance) but can’t be bothered. Fuck you, Cole.

  62. 62.

    dance around in your bones

    It figures Cole would position himself in the far back of the room, so we couldn’t see him at all.

    Not that I don’t respect his wishes to keep his public/private life separate. I’m still struggling with that issue.

    Keep on truckin’ , Cole!

  63. 63.

    Highway Rob

    Just for the record, Cole is in the photo because I offered to give $$ to Austin Pets alive, which I have now done.

  66. 66.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @geg6: Maybe it’s you. I’ve taken the blame for the lack of Madison meetup; I figure he knows he can’t match my charm, erudition, and good looks so he claimed to be a misanthrope. You can come up with your own excuses.

  67. 67.

    La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)

    We took MUCH better pics of the last NYC meetup. But a certain FPer never posted them.

  69. 69.

    geg6

    @raven:

    Good on you! That’s what it means to fight the power and it’s true that all politics are local. Wish more liberals took a look at local politics and got more involved. Our side does not value local activism highly enough. I’m sure our president would agree, seeing as that’s how he cut his teeth.

  70. 70.

    raven

    @geg6: Oh god, I’m in the shit now. My wife went to the meeting but I couldn’t drag myself away from watching my Illini suck it up and lose at Iowa. :(

  72. 72.

    The Dangerman

    Two tables on such short notice? Impressive. Let me be the first to say it:

    John Cole in 2024!

    (after 8 years of Hillary, of course).

  73. 73.

    ranchandsyrup

    For various fucktastic reasons I am pricing flights to Hartford for tomorrow. Normally this would just suck because I’m going to Hartford but the storm will add an extra layer of woe.

  75. 75.

    geg6

    @ranchandsyrup:

    I’m starting to be skeptical about there being a storm at all. First it was supposed to start at 6pm. Then that was changed to 8pm. And it’s now 9:45pm and we got nothing. Not even a snowflake. It’s clouded up since this afternoon but I can still see stars. We’ll see what’s what when I get up in the morning.

  76. 76.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Citizen_X: Hee!

    Rachel Maddow is letting Nichole Wallace be incredibly dishonest about Obama’s stance on gay marriage, suggesting Obama changed his stance to catch up with the conservative amicus brief

  80. 80.

    eemom

    Thread needs moar positive reinforcement.

    This is a HUGE deal, y’all. This is the same Cole who used to put up a preemptive “fuck NO, I don’t want to meet you for a drink” every time he visited a place. This new Man of the People Cole is the awesomest transformation since the Grinch carved the roast beast.

    Yay Cole!

  81. 81.

    dance around in your bones

    @Comrade Mary: Gawdamnit! Comrade Mary and I both lust after you!

    Who are you, guy in the goatee? Speak up now man, or forever hold your peace!

    Ok, unintentional double entendre.

    But – a cutie! no harm in looking, right?

  84. 84.

    dance around in your bones

    @Mnemosyne:

    Knowing your luck, it’s gonna turn out to be Corner Stone.

    Why, that is just stone cold cruel.

  87. 87.

    eemom

    @dance around in your bones:
    @Comrade Mary:

    I noticed him too.

    @Mnemosyne:

    Nah. Corner Stone’s got “looks like a toad IRL” written all over him.

  89. 89.

    Steeplejack

    I did a spit-take because the least hysterical local TV weather guy just said we’re looking at 6-9" of heavy, wet snow here in NoVa tonight. I’ve got victuals and supplies to hole up for a few days, but I hope the power doesn’t go out, because this building is 60 years old and not very well insulated.

  93. 93.

    General Stuck

    @eemom:

    I’m pretty sure corner stone is in a wheelchair and is female. But it doesn’t really matter.

  102. 102.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @geg6: We just went through the so-called storm. So not a big deal. Lots of light, fluffy snow, little or no wind … just a very pleasant snowfall. And we had ten inches, according to the NOAA folk. I really found that hard to believe, but they’re the experts, I guess.

  103. 103.

    MMM

    Nice to meet real BJ followers/members – and from what I saw, Mr. Cole had a good time and MIGHT be up for future meet up in the future

  105. 105.

    General Stuck

    @Dcrefugee:

    Yea, I had to download them and enlarge with Vista photo viewer. Cole is probly drunk, and it still seems a minor miracle to me that such an absent minded person could create and maintain a popular blog. So there is always a ton of slack from moi.

  106. 106.

    The Dangerman

    @Yutsano:

    Ain’t none of you folks there liveblogging?

    Their passwords were apparently pulled so as to avoid any BUI’s (blogging under the influence).

  108. 108.

    Comrade Mary

    @MMM: Are you forearms guy on the right? If so, nice forearms! If not, I’m sure you still have nice forearms, but I just didn’t see them.

  110. 110.

    Yutsano

    @The Dangerman: Pfft. I liveblogged while drinking and on Percocet. Don’t tell me the Austin peeps are lightweights.

    @MMM: Knowing what JC does and knowing there are a shit ton of universities & colleges in the greater Seattle area, odds are Monsieur Cole will be up around these parts. Of course Dougie has been to Portland like three times and not even said so much as hi. Y’all can ask SoBe and Lojasmo, we don’t bite. Well CaseyL does but it’s all in good fun.

    (and yeah she’ll kill me for that later.)

  111. 111.

    dance around in your bones

    @John Cole: Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh?

    Why can’t you come to Californistan?

    And who’s the guy with the black hair and black and grey goatee? Enquiring minds want to know!

    Unless he is married; in which case – apologies to his wife, but ……uh, congrats!

  112. 112.

    Lokahi

    OMG. Never thought I’d live to see:

    –Cole, in person!

    –the designer of the “FEED” logo

    –and multiple donations to Austin Pets Alive!

    The kittehs (and dogs) are grateful.

    I’m old and left a bit early, so am posting from home…

    Mahalo!

  116. 116.

    Highway Rob

    Sobering up. JC & MMM, you are gentlemen and scholars, and I hope you enjoy(ed) our fair city. Sincere regards to all y’all who put in appearances. \m/

  117. 117.

    ? Martin

    @geg6: We had a storm like that back east when I was a teenager. 6 inches of snow! 9 inches of snow! 15 inches of snow! We waited and waited and nothing. About 5 hours after it was supposed to start, it started. Snowed for 24 hours straight. We got 37 inches.

  120. 120.

    Petorado

    I know the tag line is already taken, but it appears that Mr. Cole is a somewhat popular blogger. Is the “at least two people in handcuffs” rule on for tonight?

  122. 122.

    Comrade Mary

    @Omnes Omnibus: Hey, it’s the twenty-first century. We’re civilized now. I’d ask them to stay with the Bidens for a bit, then bring in some U of T engineers to put old Resolute on the roof or something. Might even go old-school and TP the place. I think the girls would get Instagram it.

  123. 123.

    Schlemizel

    @Jager:

    There was a family of Finnish extraction in my neighborhood with the last name ‘Aho’. While Grandpa pronounced it A-ho the kids insisted it was AH-hoe. They were a bunch of A-hoes!

  124. 124.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Comrade Mary: I just don’t see why Obama enters the equation at all. Aren’t the two of you fighting over some bearded Texan?

    ETA: I realize I just made it sound like something to do with ZZ Top groupies, but I refuse to apologize.

  126. 126.

    RoonieRoo

    @Comrade Mary: The guy with the dark hair and grey beard would be Grumpy Code Monkey and he is mine…all mine! Bwahahaha. Yes, he is all that and a bag of chips.

  130. 130.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    @Comrade Mary: And the cute woman with the glasses would be RoonieRoo.

    This was damned awesome. Interesting how many people are recent Austin transplants.

    And Cole is far less bitter in person than you would think. Especially after a few drinks.

    So this needs to be a regular event for the Austin Juicers, whether Cole’s in town or not. Too many cool people. And Easy Tiger is a nice little joint, and not at all hard to get to. Still a little early in the year for outdoors without long sleeves, but otherwise pretty damned pleasant. With yummy beer.

  131. 131.

    Sandia Blanca

    FYI, I posted a list of attendees on the next thread. Not in same order as in photo, however. Mix and match!

  132. 132.

    dance around in your bones

    @RoonieRoo: Oh RoonieRoo, I haz a jealous!

    I guess Comrade Mary and I will have to fight to the death over some other dude.

    Bummer.

  134. 134.

    SquareSquid

    @Lokahi

    it was So SO great to meet you! Thank you for sharing your wisdom with my goofy idealistic self. You are lovely! I hope I get to run into you again sometime soon!

  136. 136.

    SquareSquid

    @Lokahi:
    Assuming that you’re the right person, it was So SO great to meet you! Thank you for sharing your wisdom with my goofy idealistic self. You are lovely! I hope I get to run into you again sometime soon!
    -redhead Feed designer (if you couldn’t tell)

  137. 137.

    Lokahi

    @SquareSquid: Assuming I’m the right person, it was my privilege–and a much-needed dose of goofy idealism :)

    And even if I’m not the right person, I’m going to assume that I am anyway…

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