Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

“Alexa, change the president.”

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

We will not go back.

When I was faster i was always behind.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Reader Interactions

95Comments

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: I’ve only seen snippets of Honey Boo-Boo (length of viewing confined to the time it took me to find the remote and change channels), but is it accurate to describe them as poor? I get the larger point the author is attempting to make, but I’m not sure the examples he cites support the cause.

  9. 9.

    Botsplainer

    Hopefully it’s not pregnant.

    There are many Planned Parenthood adorable baby killing centers still open that you can drive the server to in order to D&C the little bugger. You just have to get by the protestors….

  11. 11.

    The Moar You Know

    Why? Maybe it’ll give birth to a cute little Raspberry Pi server!

    @Roger Moore: I gotta get one of those. Maybe I can adopt this one.

  13. 13.

    Punchy

    Hopefully it’s not pregnant.

    And hopefully it aint located in Kansas cuz there’s no way it’s getting an abortion in this shithole.

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    While we’re talking about the works, what’s happened to the Recent Comments box?

    Oh, and thanks to everyone for the Eid wishes.

  15. 15.

    kindness

    Did you see the CNN piece from Dr. Sanjay Gupta where he says he was wrong about cannabis and thinks it should be legal now? I caught it through Wonkette of all places:
    CNN

  16. 16.

    The Moar You Know

    @ranchandsyrup: That’s how grief works, it’s a mean son of a bitch. Here’s to dad.

    Chew on this for a while.

    @raven: I chew on it every day. I can’t watch that shit as it makes me pissed enough to put a fist through a wall. The poor are fucked enough already, we gotta make fun of them on TV now as well?

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Too fucking funny:

    Good Lord, Everyone Hates McConnell
    I’m truly stunned by this. Jesse Benton, Mitch McConnell’s campaign manager, says ” I’m sorta holding my nose for two years cause what we’re doing here is gonna be a big benefit to Rand in ‘16.”
    Benton’s a Paul loyalist. McConnell hired him to defuse/curry favor on that front. So it’s not terribly surprising that he thinks that. Saying it is another thing entirely.
    Josh Marshall

    Couldn’t happen to a more unlikable turkdle-man.

  21. 21.

    Starfish

    @The Moar You Know: I thought making fun of the poor was what both Roseanne and Married with Children and possibly even Roc.

    Honey Boo Boo is just the reality television way of making fun of poor people while saving money and not creating a scripted television show.

  27. 27.

    Botsplainer

    It is like Orthodox Christmas in August – John Lewis isn’t happy with the Guardian’s characterization of his statements re Snowden.

    johnlewis.house.gov/press-release/rep-john-lewis-no-praise-snowden

    “News reports about my interview with The Guardian are misleading, and they do not reflect my complete opinion. Let me be clear. I do not agree with what Mr. Snowden did. He has damaged American international relations and compromised our national security. He leaked classified information and may have jeopardized human lives. That must be condemned.

    “ I never praised Mr. Snowden or said his actions rise to those of Mohandas Gandhi or other civil rights leaders. In fact, The Guardian itself agreed to retract the word “praise” from its headline.

    “At the end of an interview about the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, I was asked what I thought about Mr. Snowden’s actions. I said he has a right as an individual to act according to the dictates of his conscience, but he must be prepared to pay the price for taking that action. In the movement, we were arrested, we went to jail, we were prepared to pay the price, even lose our lives if necessary. I cannot say and I did not say that what Mr. Snowden did is right. Others will be the judge of that.”

  30. 30.

    schrodinger's cat

    From the dead thread below, with added links
    The more stuff I read written by Rajan, the more he sounds like an intellectual love child
    of MoU and Bobo. Centrist globalization fluff combined with conservative market dogma. He is getting extremely good press from the Indian media with no questions asked whether it is OK for a non-citizen to be installed in such an important policy position. They are treating him like the second coming of Jesus. His initial prediction of the credit crisis not withstanding he is thoroughly an apologist for the Banking Borg. You shall be assimilated, resistance is futile.

  32. 32.

    Karen in GA

    I used to work for a big corporation. I really liked the people I worked with. Trouble is, since it was a corporation, I was horribly underpaid and they cut benefits every 10 minutes. So a few months ago I found a new job with smaller group (not a corporation), paying a lot more money — the high-deductible bullshit “health insurance” still sucks, but the higher pay takes the edge off. And on this salary I might even be able to retire one day.

    Trouble is, I hate, hate, HATE it. Long hours and long commute (which I thought I would be okay with), the work’s not remotely challenging (which is surprising), and I won’t even get into the personality disorders of the person running the place.

    How do you start job hunting again when you’ve only been at a new job for five months? I’m thinking you don’t, and I’m stuck here for at least a couple of years.

    Going back to the old place isn’t an option — I left because I couldn’t afford to keep working there.

    Ugh. Don’t mind me. I’m just kicking myself and completely miserable.

    (But at least I’m not pregnant. Speaking of which, when’s Limbaugh going to go off on a three day rant about that slut of a server?)

  33. 33.

    mistermix

    @Amir Khalid: Recent comments, recent posts, etc. are gone and will probably never come back. Each of them requires a query to render and the issue we have is the db is already overloaded.

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    @Gerd Jemasz:

    OMG. And people PAY to comment on that site?

    Dreadful people.

    And Audi is advertising there. It’s assuming cruel-hearted Romney supporters have money to burn.

    Probably a triumph of ad placement, frankly.

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    There is a Glenn Beck TV ad at top of my screen.

    Did the words “vomited” or “pregnant” bring that one up?

  37. 37.

    Belafon

    @Karen in GA: I’ve know people to leave after six months. You’ll need to have a good answer for the question of why you are leaving so soon. Something along the lines of “better fit for my skills because I want to make sure I’m contributing as much as possible”.

  39. 39.

    Comrade Jake

    @Gerd Jemasz: Reminds me of the story of the fellow who didn’t leave a tip for the waitress because she voted for Obama, or some such nonsense.

    Not too surprising I suppose that there are people like these who think these stories are so clever. And who tend to vote Republican. Fucking assholes, the lot of them.

  40. 40.

    FlipYrWhig

    @piratedan: I think the same is true of Roc, which at least the way I remember it was essentially “Black Honeymooners.” It didn’t mock poor people, it depicted them with sympathy. Was Sanford and Son mocking in tone?

  41. 41.

    handsmile

    Herewith, in response to the possibly pregnant server, the currently “Most Viewed” article on the Guardian website:

    “10 Rules for Managing Your Penis”
    theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/07/10-rules-managing-penis-sexting-wine-toaster

    Helpful hints such as:

    “3) Do not stick your penis into household objects.”

    Or the regrettably necessary reminder:

    “5) Do not ever put your penis into someone who does not want this.”

    Worthwhile, um, tips, regardless of one’s chromosomal composition.

  42. 42.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @ranchandsyrup: My condolences. It will sneak up on you at odd intervals, or at least it does me.

    Perhaps Plan B for the server? Though I’m not certain of the dosing.

  46. 46.

    kindness

    So…why don’t we start a new Server Contribution page? This time buy a bigger server though.

  47. 47.

    shelly

    I’ve only seen snippets of Honey Boo-Boo

    All of those shows- Honey Boo, Toddlers Tiaras, Catfish, Alligator guys, Moonshiners. It’s like everybody’s trying to see who’s the white-trashiest.
    I guess that’s what sells.

  49. 49.

    dmsilev

    This story on TPM is absolutely hilarious:

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) campaign manager said he’s begrudgingly working in his current capacity to help the presidential prospects of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), according to an explosive phone recording that surfaced Thursday.
    […]
    “Between you an me, I’m sorta holding my nose for two years,” Benton said in the recording, “’cause what we’re doing here is gonna be a big benefit to Rand in ’16.”

    How pathetic is it that the Senate Minority Leader can’t attract a vaguely loyal campaign manager?

  51. 51.

    David in NY

    @piratedan: Were the people on Roseanne really poor? I didn’t see it much, but my recollection is right about median income, maybe better, but not upper middle class. Here in NYC though, there are lots of people who can’t believe you could live on less that $200,000 a year, when national median income is a quarter of that.

  52. 52.

    max

    Man, it smells like old shoes and stale tequila around here.

    Charmed, I’m sure:

    A statue honoring Jackie Robinson outside a ballpark in Brooklyn was defaced with racist epithets, prompting police in New York City on Wednesday to treat the matter as a hate crime. A manager at MCU Park, home of the New York Mets-affiliated Brooklyn Cyclones, discovered the vandalism on Wednesday morning, according to the Associated Press. Swastikas and the words “Heil Hitler” were written on the statue in black marker.

    Steve King says he’s totally right!:

    “If I insulted anybody, it could have only been drug smugglers, just the drug smugglers, and I probably didn’t do an adequate job of insulting drug smugglers, but the people who want to disparage what I said and what they’re really doing is defending drug smugglers,” King told KTIV.

    Of course,

    Despite near universal condemnation from both Republicans and Democrats, including a delivery of cantaloupes to his Washington office, King has repeatedly stood by his remarks. He’s also quietly planning meetings with GOP leaders and activists this month in South Carolina, an early 2016 presidential primary state.

    Oh, goody. Cantaloupe Man for Prez!

    max
    [‘Has he taken a position on blacks in the NFL, you think?’]

  53. 53.

    piratedan

    @David in NY: yes, they were really poor, Roseanne was a factory worker until the plant closed down. Goodman’s character was a construction worker. Her sister was a small town police officer. They were most assuredly paycheck to paycheck folks. About six-seven years in, the network copped out and had them win the lottery.

  56. 56.

    Soonergrunt

    @handsmile: So YOU’RE the one who introduced the penis to the server! Thereby making it either pregnant or choking!
    Pervert!

  57. 57.

    burnspbesq

    @dmsilev:

    How pathetic is it that the Senate Minority Leader can’t attract a vaguely loyal campaign manager?

    As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

  58. 58.

    piratedan

    @burnspbesq: i’m sure that it helped his cause that he lied to his own caucus on multiple occaisions to misrepresent what was actually in legislation just to further the outrage and continue the obstructionist policies.

  60. 60.

    ? Martin

    @raven: Yeah, I can’t stand those shows for exactly the reasons articulated. I fucking hate point and laugh tv, which too much of everything from American Idol to Honey Boo Boo is all about.

  61. 61.

    Ruckus

    @burnspbesq:
    From a cursory reading it looks like the only losers may be the very people causing most of the problems. ED has to pay a fair price for the properties and it looks like they intend to do that. ED has to be in the public interest and this looks like a much better public interest than a football stadium or some such.The bond holders will never be made whole given the properties but this gives them something. I think what big finance is fighting is that if this is successful, they would be finished. Sort of hoisted on their own petard.

  62. 62.

    Ruckus

    @ranchandsyrup:
    It sneaks up on us at times. Sometimes related by a date or a letter and sometimes a remark that may not have any noticeable relationship. Or it may just appear.
    The grief will subside, life will go on. But I look upon those moments of grief as a tribute to the memory of that person. It lets me step back and think about them for who they were, not their interaction with me.

  63. 63.

    ? Martin

    @PeakVT: I think we’re pretty close. But some group of national politicians needs to decide that this is an issue that they need to speak out about, and that hasn’t really happened. Someone needs to demonstrate that they won’t get destroyed politically for supporting this.

  65. 65.

    Luci

    @ranchandsyrup

    I agree… grieving is rough, and it comes and goes. I am sorry for your loss, and I hope sharing it has made it easier to bear. I console myself when I grieve with the thought that at least I loved that person/pet a great deal. Being human is not for the faint of heart it seems.

  66. 66.

    Karen in GA

    @Belafon: I was thinking, since one look at my resume would show that I’m not doing nearly as much at the new job as I did at my old one, “Great people, wonderful organization, unfortunately there’s not as much expected of me as I’d hoped there would be. The laid-back pace makes for some easy work days, but I’d like more challenge and responsibility.” Or something.

    @raven: 85 into downtown Atlanta. The Peach Pass is why I thought I could live with the commute. It actually does help, plus the fact that I don’t have to be downtown at exactly the height of rush hour, so traffic moves more than it jams. Two jobs ago I had the same commute and I was okay with it — but my last job was closer to home, and I didn’t realize how used to that I got in the years I was there.

    (If it were 316 I probably would have thrown myself under the wheels of my own car by now. They’re doing a serious re-engineering of the intersection at 124/20, which might help eventually, but I don’t want to be anywhere near it now.)

  67. 67.

    jl

    @burnspbesq: IANAL, so don’t understand that legalities of it.

    Economics-wise, the issue is the plaintiffs say (from your link)

    “The program would harm owners of mortgage bonds by paying them too little for loans,”

    It is certainly debatable what the mortgage bonds are worth, and whether or not the bond holders get whatever the banks think they should get (‘everything’ I assume) would produce the most economic benefit.

  68. 68.

    Tone In DC

    @handsmile: So YOU’RE the one who introduced the penis to the server! Thereby making it either pregnant or choking!
    Pervert!

    This is where I DON’T type “Pics or it didn’t happen.”

  69. 69.

    burnspbesq

    @Ruckus:

    That’s pretty much my first take. The big banks’ balance sheets are full of stuff that, it seems intuitively obvious, should have been written down (or off) several years ago. They’ve managed to avoid taking those writedowns because they’ve been able to claim a lack of reliable data prevented them from accurately revaluing those assets. Well, here comes a big-ass data set, and their insolvency will soon be on display for all to see.

  71. 71.

    IowaOldLady

    @Karen in GA: Karen, I used to have a 100 mile commute, and audio books saved my sanity. I got them from the library. Sometimes I was actually excited to get back in the car.

  72. 72.

    David Koch

    This year’s Medal of Freedom recipients:

    –Daniel Inouye, former senator from Hawaii, World War II veteran and the first Japanese American in Congress. Inouye will receive the award posthumously.

    –Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Washington Post who oversaw the newspaper’s coverage of Watergate.

    –Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space. Ride will receive the award posthumously.

    –Richard Lugar, former senator from Indiana who worked to reduce the global nuclear threat.

    –Gloria Steinem, writer and prominent women’s rights activist.

    –Ernie Banks, baseball player who hit more than 500 home runs and played 19 seasons with the Chicago Cubs.

    –Bayard Rustin, civil and gay rights activist and adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. Rustin will receive the award posthumously.

    –Daniel Kahneman, psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics.

    –Loretta Lynn, country music singer.

    –Maria Molina, chemist and environmental scientist who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

    –Arturo Sandoval, Grammy-winning jazz musician who was born in Cuba and defected to the U.S.

    –Dean Smith, head coach of University of North Carolina’s basketball team for 36 years.

    –Oprah Winfrey, for her philanthropic efforts on education and creating opportunities for women and girls, in the U.S. and Africa.

    –Patricia Wald, first woman appointed to U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and became the court’s chief judge.

    –C.T. Vivian, civil rights leader and minister.

    –Bill Clinton, humanitarian work through the Clinton Foundation, including relief after the Haiti earthquake and the countries hit by the 2004 tsunami.

    I can’t believe Obama picked Gloria Steinem over Yasiel Puig and Tony Kornheiser.

  74. 74.

    Karen in GA

    @ranchandsyrup: I’m so sorry.

    And yeah, grief out of nowhere sounds about right. That’s love for you. I guess it beats being indifferent, or glad that he’s gone. (And that doesn’t help one damned bit, does it.)

  77. 77.

    David Koch

    Dean Smith:

    An outspoken Democrat, he also opposed the Vietnam War and the death penalty and endorsed President Barack Obama during his first presidential run in 2008.

    Also too, his work on the nuclear freeze movement.

  79. 79.

    Southern Beale

    Wow sorry for the double post. My comment didn’t show up as posting at all! Guess the site is still catywampus.

    So tonight in Nashville we have friend-of-teh-gaiii Kathy Griffin playing at our Schmermerhorn Symphony Center and wingnut Victoria Jackson playing the considerably smaller Zanie’s Comedy Club. Guess which one I’m going to.

    I should probably go to Zanie’s and record some of the cray-cray but I just don’t have that strong of a stomach.

  80. 80.

    burnspbesq

    @David Koch:

    There was a time when the Dems tried to recruit Coach Smith to run against Jesse Helms. He might have won, but he couldn’t be convinced to do it. For a guy who earned his living in the public eye in a profession full of big egos, he was remarkably private and self-effacing.

    All in all, a good man. He’s got a bad case of dementia these days, and isn’t in good health, but I for one am hoping that he’s able to make it to the ceremony.

  82. 82.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Ran across this headline on a Canadian news-aggregator site:

    Obama annule son sommet avec Poutine
    LE NOUVELLISTE (TROIS-RIVIÈRES), 33, 2013/08/08
    The Associated Press

    For some reason, it just cracks me up that the name of the President of Russia is rendered en français as “Poutine.” LOL.

  84. 84.

    gelfling545

    @Betty Cracker: I saw that misbegotten show the first and only time when we were stuck in an ICU waiting room last summer. I cannot actually believe that there are people who watch it on purpose although I guess anything’s possible but it seemed like a horrible thing to inflict on people who were anxious & grieving. My sweet nephew who is developmentally disabled managed to get the agreement of everyone in the waiting room to switch to Sponge Bob Square Pants which seemed like a rare, intellectual treat after being exposed to Honey Boo Boo.

  85. 85.

    Mike E

    @burnspbesq: I attended (worked) the Naismith Awards in Raleigh awhile back, and he did not look in very good health. The Crimmons bashing was pretty funny though.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ranchandsyrup: It hurts hurts hurts and you never know when the grief is going to rear up and smack you silly. There is no calendar for mourning. Anniversaries can be the toughest. I’m so sorry.

  88. 88.

    gogol's wife

    I haven’t watched Honey Boo Boo or any other reality show except when forced to in gyms or waiting rooms, but based on what I know about it, it’s really unfair to compare it to Roseanne. The family on Roseanne were whip-smart and funny. It was anything but making fun of the poor (and I’d say they were lower-middle-class, not poor). They were pretty fully rounded human beings for a sitcom.
    ETA: Not to mention they were fictional characters.

  89. 89.

    Ruckus

    @gelfling545:
    Never had the displeasure of seeing HBB but I have had to sit through a couple of SpongeBob episodes with a 5 yr old. That SB is an intellectual treat in comparison tells me all I need to know. Of course that same comparison could be used with a lot of TV programs. I some times wonder if one has to be emotionally and mentally hollow to get a job in modern TV and that the few shows that are good are aberrations.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    Memory is not what it once was (and it is so annoying to be able to remember that), but didn’t the server go splat the last time Mr. Cole was in Madison? And also the time before that?

    Synchronicity or resistentialism?

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    @David Koch

    Shall refrain from expounding at length my extreme disappointment at the giving of the medal to the proudly boastful* about it, self-confessed ghoul Inouye.

    *Hearing him in person be so was enough to wipe out the respect he had garnered from me during Watergate.

  93. 93.

    lojasmo

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Mom died 1/1/10, and grandma died a few months later. I think my griever is broken from too much death in the ER where I used to work.

    Sorry for your loss.

  95. 95.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Karen in GA: I know 2 or 3 people who did exactly that. Started a new job, realized it wasn’t a good fit and left within a couple of months. There’s no magic rule that you have to stay at a job for a year or more.

Comments are closed.