Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

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

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

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Consistently wrong since 2002

In my day, never was longer.

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

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

The revolution will be supervised.

This blog will pay for itself.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

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

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Fables Of The Reconstruction / Open Thread: Pushing Back

Open Thread: Pushing Back

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(via commentor Trollhattan)

Professor Krugman is not only shrill, but uncivil, in his blog:

… What the [Greenberg] report makes clear is that the current Republican obsession with attacking programs that benefit Americans in need, ranging from food stamps to Obamacare, isn’t about some philosophical commitment to small government, still less worries about incentive effects and implicit marginal tax rates. It’s about anxiety over a changing America — the multiracial, multicultural society we’re becoming — and anger that Democrats are taking Their Money and giving it to Those People. In other words, it’s still race after all these years…

Meanwhile, a key takeaway for us wonks is that none of the ostensible debates we’re having — say, the debate over rising disability rolls — can be taken at face value. Yes, we need to crunch the numbers, but in the end the other side doesn’t care about the evidence.

***********

What’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

112Comments

  1. 1.

    bobbo

    God Noonan is horrible. Not just being wrong about everything. But her sing-songy gin-and-tears love the sound of my own voice tone – what is up with that?

  2. 2.

    PsiFighter37

    Making beet salad w/goat cheese, colcannon with kale, and ratatouille for dinner tonight. My fiancee is getting slammed at work, so going to be one hell of a cooking job that I’ve got to pull off on my lonesome.

    Have a prospective job interview tomorrow…see how that goes. I’m okay with where I’m at, but at this stage in my career, I need more runway or I’m going to get boxed out where I’m currently at.

    Also, too, the Jets were awful today. Play a phenomenal game last week, do diddly-squat this week. All the makings of an 8-8 team. I’d rather tank and full-on suck than be stuck in the middle of the draft.

    ETA: Fuck the Republicans. They want a Braveheart moment? Fine, let them be William Wallace as we string him out just before we get around to the butchering and quartering.

    Fuckers.

  3. 3.

    JordanRules

    @bobbo: When you’re parroting talking points and reacting to facts with lies it’s all about the style cause you have no substance, oh and it’s the gin too.

  4. 4.

    JGabriel

    There’s a video game called Saints Row IV, where you play as the leader of a gang of violent street thugs who’s been elected to the White House.

    I’m thinking they should have had the guy elected to the House, because that whole “violent thugs in the White House” thing is so last decade.

  7. 7.

    Hill Dweller

    First, Noonan’s example of “counter mistakes” from Obama is just made up nonsense.

    Second, the clip reminds me of the late comedian Patrice O’Neal’s bit about afternoon talk shows staging a debate about racism with an African American PhD from Harvard and an ignorant redneck from the KKK, as if they were equals.

    Krugman and Plouffe are highly competent and respected in their chosen field. Conversely, Senor is our version of Baghdad Bob and Noonan’s drunk ramblings are more suited for a Breitbart(still dead) site. But there they are on a national TV show panel as if they’re equals.

    Bring on the zombie apocalypse.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    I just posted this down below but it’s important enough to repost

    Important timeout… In preparation for the end of the US as we know, I decided to adopt a pet while I could..
    This is Mr. Finch, aka Willy, a former resident of the Mansell Branch of the Atlanta Humane Society.
    http://i1317.photobucket.com/a…..f3ed52.jpg

    He’s close to five years old and is currently being treated for heartworm. I have to bring him to the vet next week to see how much longer he has to stay on leash.

  14. 14.

    IowaOldLady

    Noonan’s eye contact is weird. She looks down all the time she talks. What is that about?

  17. 17.

    shelly

    but in the end the other side doesn’t care about the evidence.

    Reality is for wimps! Lets storm that WWII memorial again!

  18. 18.

    JPL

    @JordanRules: That’s the town crier from my garden but I wanted to show his size. He’s a little tub but once he’s off leash and can run in the back yard, he’ll lose a few pounds.

  19. 19.

    Chris

    @Hill Dweller:

    Krugman and Plouffe are highly competent and respected in their chosen field. Conversely, Senor is our version of Baghdad Bob and Noonan’s drunk ramblings are more suited for a Breitbart(still dead) site. But there they are on a national TV show panel as if they’re equals.

    More simply put, Krugman’s been right on virtually everything in the last decade (I only say that because I haven’t followed what he said before). He said the Bush administration was trying to sell us ocean front property in Oklahoma with their tax cuts and the Iraq War, and he was right. He said a bigger stimulus was needed, and he was right. He said austerity attempts in Europe would only result in disaster, and he was right. His opponents have been consistently wrong on all of these issues and everything that’s happened since then, and I’m still liberally biased enough to think that shit should matter, a little.

  20. 20.

    trollhattan

    @JPL:

    Awww, adorable scruffy li’l dude. Scruffy in that happy carefree doggie way. Built close to the ground too, so should corner very well.

    Congratulations!

  21. 21.

    shelly

    Bring on the zombie apocalypse.

    It’s back tonight, on AMC. Why-oh-why haven’t we had the pleasure of seeing a politician getting munched down on?

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    @IowaOldLady:

    When somebody says Pegs has “sapphire eyes” they mean Bombay, not the semiprecious stone. At this late date I suspect they’re independently controlled.

  24. 24.

    gogol's wife

    @efgoldman:

    No, no, no, no! Just watch the video, especially “So in Love.” John Raitt was good, but Drake is GREAT, in the serious sense.

  25. 25.

    gogol's wife

    @AdamK:

    AARGHH! I’ve known people who saw him in Oklahoma, Kiss Me Kate, and you’re the second who saw him in Kismet (Lincoln Center, not the original run, I presume?). My life has been wasted.

    Watch the video — the Kismet numbers are probably the best next to the Kiss Me Kate ones.

  27. 27.

    gogol's wife

    @efgoldman:

    You’ll never convince me. Drake is head and shoulders above everyone else, certainly including Raitt.

    “So in Love” is definitely hard. Watch his version — he makes it look easy. And he never does it the same way twice.

  29. 29.

    Hal

    @IowaOldLady:

    Noonan’s eye contact is weird. She looks down all the time she talks. What is that about?

    Asperger’s? Stolichnaya?

    It is hilarious to me how she twists herself into a pretzel trying to sell her “but Obama is also to blame” bullshit. Noonan knows better but can’t let go. Maybe the Gipper’s Ghost won’t let her.

  31. 31.

    Yatsuno

    @PsiFighter37:

    Making beet salad w/goat cheese

    Not a bad start

    colcannon with kale

    Mmm….good Irish fuds.

    and ratatouille for dinner tonight.

    Mon Dieu, are you angry with yourself? A proper ratatouille takes HOURS if not days and if you don’t slice the veggies right doesn’t cook right. I’d get a loaf of Irish soda bread and stop with the colcannon.

  32. 32.

    El Cid

    ‘Okay, we have some people with a record of knowing what they’re talking about, and we have a couple of known liars who are also extremely partisan publicists. Let’s hear what each side has to say.’

  34. 34.

    Jeremy

    @Rex Everything: Funny how emo liberals had nothing to say about her or her advocacy until she said she was concerned about drone strikes in Pakistan. They also leave out the fact that she has praised president Obama, but I guess people with ODS can’t mention that.

  35. 35.

    Mike G

    @Chris:

    More simply put, Krugman’s been right on virtually everything in the last decade …and I’m still liberally biased enough to think that shit should matter, a little.

    With Repukes, it’s all about ideological obedience, not accuracy. You “believe” something to prove your loyalty to the mendacious sack of shit saying it.

  38. 38.

    Mark S.

    @IowaOldLady:

    I’ve always assumed she’s on quaaludes or something like that. I’ve seen her do entire segments where she doesn’t open her eyes once. It’s like she’s in a trance.

    She was particularly incoherent in that clip, even for her. Why is she even on TV? Why not just get some blonde Fox bimbo who can at least keep her eyes open while she’s spouting GOP talking points?

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Hal:

    Maybe the merrily waggling highly polished brown cordovan of Gipper’s Ghost won’t let her.

    I think that’s what you meant.

  44. 44.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    Directed many, many shows at a summer camp. Our orchestra consisted of one piano.

    The extremely musically gifted long-time pianist was a wonderful fellow, one of the nicest, gentlest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and working with.

    The only time I ever heard a four-letter word escape his lips was when he first opened the score of “Li’l Abner” to the song Put ’em
    Back     and saw that the key signature had seven flats.

  45. 45.

    Gene108

    @Rex Everything:

    She is an incredibly articulate young lady, but Pakistan has been a state sponsor of terrorism for longer than she has been alive.

    As there would be more significant blowback if we started taking out the people in Pakistan’s government, who are fueling these terrorists I think we have to settle for these drone strikes.

  46. 46.

    brendancalling

    Agenda: I’m in Montreal for my kid’s first race -he did a great job by the way- and now that he’s back with his mum for the night, I’m drinking a couple of Alexander Keith’s Hallertauer ales (not so good) and heading to Barfly for their Sunday bluegrass jam.

    Good lord, I love Montreal. I gotta make this trip more often.

  48. 48.

    Yatsuno

    @Gene108: Drone strikes are part of the dual sided game the ISI is playing to ensure stability in the region is a more difficult process. The Pakistanis make a lot of public noise but we’re eliminating just enough of their enemies to make it worth their while. The ISI can then recruit from the other side and the circle goes round and round while the Pakistani elite rape the country’s wealth. Same as it ever was.

  49. 49.

    fuckwit

    @cathyx: I’m sorry, that’s wrong. Congress makes laws. Presidents do whatever is allowed or required by law. They’re the tail, not the dog. The warmaking powers of presidents in general needs to be reined in. A lot.

  51. 51.

    cathyx

    @fuckwit: I didn’t know that if it’s not illegal to do something, then it must be done. I guess that’s why we’re being spied on too.

  53. 53.

    lamh36

    Couple today’s stupid Tea Party “march” with that crap posted by Joe the Plumber the other day and the “non-racist” facade is really starting to fade from the GOP.

    Oh, and this from Robert Costas:

    @robertcostaNRO
    This is a big story; House conservatives tell me it’s a “game-changer,” gives Right new momentum ahead of this week…

    So a 300 person protest is a “game-changer”, but hundreds of thousands of furloughed employees and keeping millions from buying affordable health care wasn’t?

    GOP/Republicans/TeaParty are delusional.

  54. 54.

    becca

    A bit of leftover baked ham, greens in pot likker, brown rice hoppin John and corn bread. Passing on the pickled cabbage tonight.

    As to cabbage… I had a conversation with two women who swore eating cabbage after sunset results in certain death. Having done just that and survived, I did tell them that there were moments in the wee hours that made death preferable. So, in my case, they were half right, which satisfied everyone.

    Gotta check a pie in the oven. Apple.

  57. 57.

    Suzanne

    I realize that life is short, and I have children, and I should expend my time and energy and goodwill on things that really do truly matter in life, but….I just want my house to be clean so bad. Like, WHY WHY WHY are the crayons on the floor?! AGAIN?! Do your shoes really belong in the middle of the living room if they are not on your feet?! Can you just recycle all that friggin’ paper already?!

    I know that when I am old and they are grown and out of the house that I will somehow miss this. BUT RIGHT NOW I JUST WANT EVERYONE TO PUT THEIR FUCKING SOCKS IN THE HAMPER. I even keep a laundry hamper in the living room because everyone throws their damn socks everywhere!

  58. 58.

    brendancalling

    @polyorchnid octopunch: I used to enjoy the IPA (my baby-mama’s father introduced me to it) but it’s gotten really shitty. This Hallettauer Ale sucks.

    Last night I was at Dieu du Ciel, and it was beer heaven. I think I’m coming up in November, perhaps we should coordinate a visit?

  60. 60.

    cathyx

    Tell them that the next time you find socks on the floor, they can’t watch tv for the rest of the day.

  67. 67.

    Suzanne

    @cathyx: The real problem is that it’s Mr. Suzanne leaving his socks all over the place 4 times out of 5. I can’t make him stay in his room,

  69. 69.

    JPL

    @Suzanne: When my children were a little older than yours, Santa left them a stain stick in their stockings. My ex got one also. I declared that I was no longer for the grass stains or whatever was on their clothes. They actually were okay with that…

  72. 72.

    JPL

    OMG… So my new member of the family picked out the stuffed elephant and is killing it. I love this mutt.
    haha… Take that Boehner…

    also, you have to understand there are lots of stuffed toys for a dog to play with in my household along with balls and pulls toys.

  76. 76.

    realbtl

    @Yatsuno:
    It is if you’re playing dobro in an open G tuning- GBDGBD. The guitarist I accompany just slaps on a capo and says “This is in C# minor, OK”?

  80. 80.

    Wally Ballou

    Congrats on the win, New Englanders. It should help mitigate the hurt when your baseball team goes down 0-2 tonight.

  81. 81.

    Steeplejack

    @JPL, @efgoldman:

    Yeah. Amazing. Just came upstairs from the football thread, where there was nobody.

    I really thought the Saints had them shut down.

  84. 84.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Yatsuno:

    Completely O/T but just sent you friend request on FB. You may not recognize my real name but you can sort it out, I think.

  85. 85.

    Yatsuno

    @efgoldman: This is why there are second and third valves. WSU’s fight song is in A flat. Speaking of which, they got plastered. They literally gave up in the fourth quarter. It was awful.

    @SiubhanDuinne: Hmmsers. No haz yet. I could try finding you through JC or wifey.

  87. 87.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:

    The only thing you’ll miss is if the grandkids are too far away to see often.

    Speaking of which, how’s the new grandkid? Will we ever get to see pictures? (Apologies if you already posted pix and I managed to miss them.)

  89. 89.

    Yatsuno

    @efgoldman: The checks, AFAIK, are piling up at the warehouse. It’s even worse than that though: the computer that issues levies and liens automatically is still up and running. And there is no one to negotiate any release with. So there are lots of folks getting their paychecks and bank accounts drained who have zero recourse. The worst part is once I’m back to work all those people will want that money back, and I get to tell them no. Fun. Stuff.

  90. 90.

    Jennifer

    @Suzanne: In the course of an argument with her (now ex-) husband, a friend of mine became incensed when he started complaining about how he didn’t have any clean socks, as if it was up to her (who also worked full-time) to see to it that his socks were clean. After he left the house, she gathered up every one of his socks and threw them in the trash.

    After that, we always referred to the incident as “The Legend of the Sock Woman.”

  91. 91.

    JPL

    @efgoldman: I set up photobucket with a dummy email. Of course, I also showed pictures of my new mutt but unfortunately the link showed cars… Not quite sure how that happened but was able to fix it. (see comment 8 and 12)… Go to gmail and set up a dummy account and then go to photobucket.

  92. 92.

    PsiFighter37

    @Yatsuno: I wanted to give it a shot, mainly because of the Pixar film. I just don’t have a rat jerking my hair around to tell me what to do.

  93. 93.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:

    Awwww. I love all that, especially that Cat Pat. Yes, figure our Tumblr or something, because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one here who would like to monitor her growth.

  94. 94.

    JPL

    @Jennifer: My ex was so anal with his socks that it was enough to have the same black ..gold toe sock together.. they had to washed the same amount of time.. He would be really upset if one black gold toe sock was older than another. Finally I said you have to help me match the socks. Of course, he was lost and confused. I told him to close his eyes and just feel the texture. Of course I never did that but it was fun to watch him. Now did I say he was an ex. haha

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    @Jennifer: That’s awesome.

    Mr. Suzanne is very much an equal partner—he works fewer hours than I do, and does more kid-schlepping and yard work and (cue angel choir) cleans the cat boxes. I just want my damn living room to not look like a hurricane in a Target.

    @efgoldman: DAWWWWWW. Babies are great like that. They know when you’re losing your shit, then they turn up the charm. Crafty little assholes.

    I found a video of Spawn the Younger when she was learning how to stand, gripping onto the couch for dear life, being licked and kissed and slobbered on over and over again by the dog. It was really hard to say who was cuter.

  100. 100.

    Steeplejack

    @Jennifer:

    I have never understood this. How can any guy in the last 30 years still expect that his woman is supposed to do his laundry? I am old, but I have always done my own, no matter how deeply enmeshed in a serious relationship. And laundry is dead easy: throw your clothes in the washer, add soap, push a few buttons. Move to dryer, fold (or not) when done.

    Jesus, dude. Pick your battles. Like cooking and vacuuming.

  104. 104.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Yatsuno:

    The computer that issues levies and liens automatically is still up and running. And there is no one to negotiate any release with. So there are lots of folks getting their paychecks and bank accounts drained who have zero recourse.

    Yikes.

  106. 106.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @JPL: Your new baby has good taste.

    I wish someone would resurrect these. Alas, I no longer have mine.

  107. 107.

    Riley's enabler

    @Suzanne: Sing it, sista! I had mine + 2 friends + rainy day + stash of water balloons + freshly cut lawn.

    Wet socks, grass clippings, burst balloons and mayhem × a billion. Gah!

    But I also got a big hug right after bathtime…so all is forgiven.

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