Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

He really is that stupid.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You would normally have to try pretty hard to self-incriminate this badly.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

No one could have predicted…

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

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

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

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

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133Comments

  3. 3.

    Ben Franklin

    I thought this bears repeating.

    madcowprod.com/2013…..-official/

    Ruslan Tsarni married the daughter of former top CIA official Graham Fuller, who spent 20 years as operations officer in Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. In 1982 Fuller was appointed the National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asia at the CIA, and in 1986, under Ronald Reagan, he became the Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, with overall responsibility for national level strategic forecasting

  5. 5.

    ruemara

    it’s beautiful here. I may take a dip in the pool. depends on how the body shame works out. Plus, a lot of work to finish.

  7. 7.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben Franklin:

    You know, there are medications you can take for when your paranoid delusions get out of control like that.

    Did you know that all of the music by The Police and everything released on IRS Records contains CIA PROPAGANDA! C’mon, why else would you have the sons of a CIA operative involved if not to spread CIA PROPAGANDA!

    In fact, I bet the only reason The Police even became popular was because the CIA was buying up all of their records so they could send the band on world tours where Copeland could spy for them.

    Hey, it’s just as rational as your theory. Probably more.

  9. 9.

    Smiling Mortician

    @Ben Franklin: Yes. What a valuable source of investigative journalism. Did the CIA give Hugo Chavez cancer? It’s irresponsible not to speculate.

  10. 10.

    Violet

    Hot and humid after the torrential rain yesterday. Working outside in the the sun is like working in a sauna as the saturated ground warms and the steam rises. I’m out working anyway, but taking frequent breaks.

  13. 13.

    Ben Franklin

    Aren’t you the same idiots who were declaring…’gunfire was only coming from the boat, he was trying to shoot himself and kept missing’?

  14. 14.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben Franklin:

    Which obviously proves that the Tsarnaevs were brainwashed by their uncle, who divorced a CIA operative’s daughter in 2004.

    It all fits together!

  15. 15.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    @Ben Franklin: Are you a 9/11 Truther too? You really are sullying the name of a great mind with your bullshit.

  19. 19.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    @Ben Franklin: I hear speculation, unsubstantiated CONNECT THE DOTS, SHEEPLE and bullshit, just another day of BF.

  21. 21.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):

    I’m waiting for Ben to explain to us which CIA operatives brainwashed the Columbine killers, the Tucson shooter, the Aurora shooter, and the Newtown shooter into killing people.

    Oh, wait, they were all white Christian dudes, so they were able to act alone, unlike those weak-minded Mooslim guys who needed someone else to show them what to do.

  22. 22.

    Ben Franklin

    Flailing just like the robot on Lost in Space makes you about the dumbest motherfuckers on the Planet..

  26. 26.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yutsano:

    I understand why insecure people are attracted to conspiracy theories. They can’t stand the thought that the world is random and bad things can happen to innocent people for no reason, so they cling to the idea that someone is in charge. Even if the someone in charge is evil, it at least means that there’s a reason that things happened.

    Having the Tsarnaevs be just a couple of disaffected assholes who decided to try and massacre a few people (like Tucson, like Aurora, like Newtown) is far too threatening to their orderly worldview, so they have to make up an elaborate conspiracy theory where there’s an authority figure in charge.

  28. 28.

    Esme's Mom

    Taking the tootie patoot out for a walk in the Seattle mist. Cover story in NYT currently making my day (I’m easy).

  31. 31.

    cckids

    Going to be close to 100 today. Yikes. It is not untypical for S. NV, but it always feels too hot, too soon.

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben Franklin:

    It only proves you can’t admit anything outside your bubble.

    That’s right, Benny — only you are smart enough to know the TROOF and the rest of us are just sheeple who can’t handle the TROOF!

    Because everyone knows that disaffected young men never, ever act out violently for their own reasons, so it must have been a CIA plot to make the Tsarnaevs act the way they did.

  34. 34.

    Ben Franklin

    @Gravenstone:

    Right on topic, cuz the topic was your credibility as soothsayers, and the enlightened forces for correct and honest appraisals.

    Now about the bullet holes in that boat…..

  36. 36.

    Ben Franklin

    @Mnemosyne:

    the rest of us

    Don’t besmirch the rest of the posters with your shallow perceptions. There are a lot of honest folks here. But the squeaky wheels have the loudest barks and command control of Adhom central. That doesn’t make you the equal of your peers.

  38. 38.

    Violet

    @Ben Franklin:

    I hear adhoms, but no substance….it’s just another day at BJ

    @Ben Franklin:

    Flailing just like the robot on Lost in Space makes you about the dumbest motherfuckers on the Planet..

    What is your reason for posting here? You don’t seem to think much of the people who post and comment here, so why do you continue to stick around? Do you enjoy hanging out with people who you think are not up to your standards?

    Are you perhaps attempting to change people’s minds or educate them about specific subjects? If so, your methods don’t seem to be working very well. You might want to try another method. It might provide you with better success.

  39. 39.

    Maude

    Went out and about with my little camera this morning. It’s clouding up and we may get some rain tomorrow afternoon.
    It is lovely out.

    @Mnemosyne:
    I always thought that people who believe conspiracies were bored and if things are run by a secret group, then the conspiracy believer is relieved of doing anything.

  41. 41.

    Yutsano

    @Violet: Waitaminute…you mean that self-help book where it said to be condescending and insulting was WRONG?? I want my money back dammit!

  42. 42.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben Franklin:

    Yes, it’s true — I’m not nearly as smart as you, because I think Infowars and Mad Cow are a waste of time rather than purveyors of the TROOF!

    But, hey, you enjoy your crazy conspiracy world where no one acts unless the CIA tells them to. Don’t forget that, according to Infowars, Newtown was a false flag operation (run by the CIA?) so the Obama administration could steal all of our guns. We’re through the looking glass here, people!

  43. 43.

    Ben Franklin

    @Violet:

    You don’t seem to think much of the people who post and comment here,

    Simply not true. As I said above there is a concerted minority who value themselves highly as handmaidens/deputy sheriffs of the content here. They do seem to operate with some impunity. Other posters who don’t care for the acrimony, but don’t wish to lose their status in the clique, simply move on (Kitty Genovese effect). I come here for taking the temperature of the Muddle, but hardly for breaking news other than the X-posted variety some hours late.

  45. 45.

    Mnemosyne

    @Maude:

    I think there’s something to that — if everything is being run by a big conspiracy, then we have no responsibility to try and change anything because the conspiracy will just slap any attempt at change down, so they have an excuse to do nothing and sit on the sidelines.

    But, either way, I’m bored with Ben now. I need to go grocery shopping and pick up some cupcakes for a meeting tomorrow. Our freezer door popped open while we were at work the other day and we had to throw everything in it away. :-(

  47. 47.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben Franklin:

    Other posters who don’t care for the acrimony, but don’t wish to lose their status in the clique, simply move on (Kitty Genovese effect).

    So in order to defend the honor of those other posters who don’t like things to be all conflict, all the time, you increase the level of acrimony as much as possible?

    You don’t have much grasp of cause and effect, do you?

  49. 49.

    Ben Franklin

    @Mnemosyne:

    you increase the level of acrimony as much as possible?

    Tai Chi is a defensive martial art. I don’t know what you call art, but it is totally offensive in nature.

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    @Maude:

    I think G was secretly happy about the freezer, because he’s been complaining for months that I had too much stuff in there that never got used. I was a little mad because I had some stuff I had gotten at really good sales (like a big pack of individually wrapped chicken breasts for under $10) and we lost the whole thing. The only thing in there right now is a bag of ice and some ice packs.

  53. 53.

    Maude

    @Mnemosyne:
    The problem with a lot of stuff in a freezer is gets old. You can cook the chicken breasts in a sauce and that will keep well. I would have bought the chicken.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Not doing too bad. I am VERY TIRED of allergy season, though. I want to get out and ride my bike, but I think I’m still too congested.

  60. 60.

    Ben Franklin

    @ranchandsyrup:

    The day after his inauguration, President Obama promised a new era of “openness in government.”

    “We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration,” he wrote in one of his first memos to federal agencies. “Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.”

    washingtonpost.com/opinions/wheres-the-transparency-that-obama-promised/2011/03/31/AFipwHCC_story.ht…

  62. 62.

    jebediah

    @Mnemosyne:
    But, either way, I’m bored with Ben now.

    I have held off myself, but I think it might be pie time. threads got way better after I pied T&H.

  63. 63.

    PurpleGirl

    Sunny here in NYC. A bit windy and cool but overall nice. Was sitting the terrace for a while, I should go for a walk.

  64. 64.

    Ben Franklin

    No one wants to assist Martin with the Boat? No skanksnark? No clever distractions?

  72. 72.

    Ben Franklin

    President Obama on Thursday hailed his administration for its transparency.
    “This is the most transparent administration in history,” Obama said during a Google Plus “Fireside” Hangout.

    “I can document that this is the case,” he continued. “Every visitor that comes into the White House is now part of the public record. Every law we pass and every rule we implement we put online for everyone to see.”

    Read more: thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283335-obama-this-is-the-most-transparent-administration-i…
    Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

    Oh, so this is what He meant in the campaign promise of ‘transparency’

    Yet another fulfilled campaign promise.

  75. 75.

    quannlace

    Nice day in Jersey , finally. 2 dogs here, one mine and one visiting for the weekend. It’s been in and out and in and out to the backyard all afternoon long. Don’t you guys ever sleep!

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yutsano:

    The unfortunate thing for conspiracy fans is that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev survived and talked to the FBI and police, so it’s going to be harder for them to construct their little fantasy worlds.

    Not impossible, of course. I’m sure we’ll hear all kinds of mumblings about brainwashing and torture to explain why Tsarnaev’s own words and explanations don’t match up with the conspiracies they concocted in their heads.

  80. 80.

    raven

    Damn, I bought a Bose Aucostimass 9 at a yard sale for $10 and then started looking at reviews online. Who knew how hated Bose is?

  81. 81.

    Mnemosyne

    But, either way, I’ve got grocery shopping to do on this lovely So Cal spring day, so I will bow out and see all y’all later. Tonight we watch Django Unchained and I’m trying to figure out if we can watch it during dinner. I have a fairly strong stomach, so usually violence has to be pretty extreme (like Starship Troopers or Dead Alive extreme) to disturb my dinner, but I may decide to be cautious.

  82. 82.

    Amir Khalid

    @raven:
    You got it for ten bucks. At that price, it will have to really sound like crap to disappoint you. As long as you’re not a Bose hater yourself, you’ve probably wound up with decent speakers for your desktop PC.

  83. 83.

    Todd

    Obama promised single payer healthcare, massive wealth redistribution, shutdown of the DoD, executive orders crushing DOMA, emergency arrests of Bush, Cheney and conversion therapists for crimes against humanity, executive orders turning fundamentalist churches into lesbian Gaia worship centers, forced marriages of white Christian men to San Francisco leather bears, forced concubinage of sweet white suburban girls to Black Panthers and a chain of punitive reeducation camps for white Christian conservatives.

    He failed all progressives, sold ’em straight out. Ironically, the promises he apparently made progressives are the same promises that conservatives believe he made…

  84. 84.

    Gravenstone

    @Mnemosyne:

    because I think Infowars

    Saw a rather amusing juxtaposition of bumper sticker commentary the other evening. Got behind a late model pick up truck with an “Infowars.com” sticker on one side, and an “Oligarchy” sticker (with the Obama campaign emblem as the “O” and the “R” portrayed as a stylized Soviet sickle). Adding to the overall picture, the dude’s vanity plate identified him as a member of the local FD (not volunteer), so he was the very definition of a government employee. My brain started cramping up trying to process it all.

  85. 85.

    Amir Khalid

    A random thought about football. When Luis Suarez comes back from his 10-match suspension for biting an opponent, maybe Liverpool FC could make him play wearing a muzzle.

  88. 88.

    srv

    Obama’s own appointments saying he’s got to get his war on

    But the White House must recognize that the game has already changed. U.S. credibility is on the line. For all the temptation to hide behind the decision to invade Iraq based on faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, Obama must realize the tremendous damage he will do to the United States and to his legacy if he fails to act. He should understand the deep and lasting damage done when the gap between words and deeds becomes too great to ignore, when those who wield power are exposed as not saying what they mean or meaning what they say.

    Stop saying red line if you don’t mean to bring courtesy bombs

  89. 89.

    Morzer

    @Ben Franklin:

    Funny, because the rest of us remember you as peddling crackpot conspiracy theories about how Tsarnaev Minor was going to be shot because “they” didn’t want him alive.

    And then you scurried off into hiding once it became clear that you were as cretinously incompetent as usual.

  91. 91.

    Morzer

    @Redshirt:

    Did you know that the Administration embargoed tinfoil hats, thus causing the collapse of Benny Without Friends’ business model?

  92. 92.

    Amir Khalid

    @srv:
    Any military action undertaken abroad by the US, or for that matter by any country, should be pursuant to a decision made by the UN Security Council. It should be for the UNSC to draw any red line that needs drawing.

    Demonstrating the US’ national strength of will is, by itself, not reason enough to intervene in Syria. Thinking with one’s balls is no wiser than thinking with one’s dick. That’s how George Walker Bush got you into Iraq. And it’s all too easy to paint unilateral American action as having a nefarious imperialist or pro-Israel motive, thus needlessly creating blowback.

  93. 93.

    Morzer

    @Amir Khalid:

    Admiral Roebuck: With all due respect, M, I think you don’t have the balls for this job.

    M: Perhaps. But the advantage is, I don’t have to think with them all the time.

    (Tomorrow Never Dies (1997))

  95. 95.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid: If Willard was in office we’d be invading Libya, Syria, and Iran right now, with a re-invasion of Iraq just to stick it to the dirty hippies.

  97. 97.

    Keith

    Beautiful Spring day, and I’m spending it inside since I sliced open a knuckle (and maybe damaged a ligament in the process) working on the air conditioner. Thankfully I have a stash of Norco’s from a prior surgery (surgeries, really…3 in one month).

  101. 101.

    Morzer

    @Amir Khalid:

    Indeed she was – and I think that Tomorrow Never Dies was probably the best of the Bond movies, but that’s just my opinion.

  103. 103.

    Ben Franklin

    @Amir Khalid:

    Thinking with one’s balls is no wiser than thinking with one’s dick

    Not sure I understand the distinction you’re making. Aren’t they both connected to the DickBrain?

  104. 104.

    Amir Khalid

    @Redshirt:
    I liked Skyfall a lot. It was a vast improvement over the movies of the Remington Steele period. I think the Craig era could do with a movie where Rachel Weisz is the main villain.

  106. 106.

    Ben Franklin

    @srv:

    finally, some ballz…

    TEL AVIV – According to informed Middle Eastern security officials, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a strongly worded message to Israel – do not attack Iran.

    The officials told WND that Hagel informed the Israeli government the Obama administration will not accept any unilateral Israeli attack against Iran and that Israel must not strike Tehran without coordination with the U.S.

    Hagel further told Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot decide alone whether Iran has crossed the nuclear threshold, or the so-called Red Line previously outlined by the Israeli leader.

    Read more at wnd.com/2013/04/u-s-delivers-strong-warning-to-israel/#zflRELV3IRc0C2Fv.99

  108. 108.

    Jebediah

    @Ben Franklin:

    Shields Up!

    You seriously flatter yourself. You have become a tiresome troll. You disrupt just for the sake of disrupting. Next thing I hear from you will be pie-related.

  110. 110.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ben Franklin:
    This is good news, if true. But I have doubts about any news outlet that counts Lord Monckton as a contributor. Do you have corroboration from other sources?

  111. 111.

    Jebediah

    @raven:

    Damn, I bought a Bose Aucostimass 9 at a yard sale for $10 and then started looking at reviews online. Who knew how hated Bose is?

    Well, you didn’t ask me! But they are probably a good deal at $10. If you are going to use them for real listening, you could add a subwoofer to have real bass. If they are going to be garage speakers or some such, they’re prolly fine.

  112. 112.

    Ben Franklin

    @Amir Khalid:

    It may be a ruse, or a form of the SOTU famous words since this is 5 days ago.

    The London-based Al Hayah newspaper reported from Jerusalem on April 22 that during his first statement upon arrival in Israel, US Defence Minister, Chuck Hagel, announced that his country’s arms deal with Israel was a “very clear signal” to Tehran that the military option is still open and has not been ruled out of discussions over preventing Iran from nuclear armament.

    “The military option is one option that remains on the table; must remain on the table,” Hegel said.

    The Asharq al Awsat newspaper reported from Tel Aviv that the American Defence Minister said: “Iran presents a threat in its nuclear program and Israel will make the decisions that Israel must make to protect and defend itself.”

    middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/5812-hagel-israel-does-not-need-us-approval-to-strike-iran

  113. 113.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ben Franklin:
    That is most definitely not corroboration. So my response to the first story you cited is, “The hair on your father’s upper lip.”

  115. 115.

    Ben Franklin

    @Amir Khalid:
    ‘
    I didn’t proffer it as corroboration (something you could acquire without my assistance, I assume) but as context (something that seems missing from posts in general here)

  116. 116.

    Morzer

    @raven:

    Eh, I was just kicking back after a long day and Head n’ Telling happened to be the target of opportunity. I guess I just enjoy using the cognitive cat-dancer on the poor critter.

  118. 118.

    Smiling Mortician

    Amir: Interesting. Do you have corroboration?
    Ben: Here! Read this.
    Amir: That’s not corroboration.
    Ben: I never said it was corroboration! I totally wasn’t answering your question when I answered your question by linking back to you and responding. I was doing something completely different.

  119. 119.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ben Franklin:
    We all know the context, which has been discussed in these here threads many a time. You’re the one passing on WND’s assertion that Chuck Hagel privately warned Israel not to attack Iran on its own. This runs counter to the US’ practice of always backing up Israel. Given that WND is not particularly credible around here, what makes you tend to believe this story?
    ETA: Also, too, what Smiling Mortician said.

  121. 121.

    Amir Khalid

    For some reason, FYWP is eating my replies to Yutsano, but not to anyone else.

    @Yutsano:
    Close. I was going for “Your father’s moustache.”

  122. 122.

    Jebediah

    @vheidi:
    I don’t know. I usually use firefox on my galaxy SIII but since most of my balloon juice reading is on my regular computer, I just live with being pie-less on my phone. But maybe one of the more clever folks here will notice this and tell us how to enjoy pie on our phones, too. It would be great to have the circle of pie completed!

    ETA: While I am making wishes, I wish my Superhawk would start. I shouldna’ left it in the garage so long.

  124. 124.

    gogol's wife

    @Morzer:

    It’s so funny — I’m sure a conservative looks at the picture of present-day Krohn with his scruff and thinks, what a comedown. But to me he now looks kind, intelligent, and attractive, not the little monster he once was.

  126. 126.

    Morzer

    @gogol’s wife:

    I felt rather sorry for him when he talked about trying so hard with women and having no success. I wanted to put an older, wiser arm around his shoulders and tell him to stop trying and just be himself. Enjoy the comic books, don’t be ashamed of them – and somewhere out there is a smart, comic-loving (or comic-friendly) young lady who’ll think J. Krohn Esq. is the bee’s knees and cat’s pyjamas.

  127. 127.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Morzer:

    I felt rather sorry for him when he talked about trying so hard with women and having no success

    Sounds pretty typical of most 18 year olds.

  128. 128.

    Ben Franklin

    Y’all can have your pyrrhic victory. It’s comforting in light of your losses.

  130. 130.

    Morzer

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Believe it or not, I was once an 18 year old. Not, admittedly, a specific Jonathan Krohn 18 year old, but, nonetheless, an 18 year old.

  133. 133.

    Morzer

    @gogol’s wife:

    I know, but I do enjoy watching his writhing attempts to hide the fact. I’d be somewhat disappointed if he did grasp the meaning, frankly.

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