Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

When we show up, we win.

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

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

Second rate reporter says what?

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

Motown is Joe-Town!

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

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

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

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Monday Night Open Thread

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The whole family took mom out to dinner a night early for her birthday (I stayed home of course, and checked on the dogs), and I just love the fact that my 70+ year old mother can’t stop talking about the gift she got tonight.

The gift? Box seats at the Pens game tomorrow night on her actual birthday. She’s going up, meeting my sister, watching the game, and crashing there afterwards at Devon’s house.

I just think it is kind of neat that my mom is actually cooler and more adventurous than me. Then again, so was Tunch, and he slept 18 hours a day an only ventured from the litter box to the food bowl to the couch to the deck to the food bowl to the litter box and hey, what the hell, let’s take a nap in the hallway. My level of coolness is a damned low bar.

At any rate, I’m just watching MNF and waiting for the Republicans to capitulate.

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  1. 1.

    Roger Moore

    I don’t know, John. You made it to the DNC (without pants, no less), which is a fair sight farther than Tunch ever made it.

    ETA: Though I guess Tunch did the “no pants” thing with more aplomb than you.

  6. 6.

    Josie

    I knew that there was a reason I could relate to your Mom. She and I both have October birthdays. I turned 70 this month and my co-workers deemed it the new 50. I thought that was very kind of them. Happy birthday, John’s Mom.

  7. 7.

    Elmo

    The terrier mix that I first posted about here three years ago – who sent me to hospital before realizing that I was safe, and then cuddling up to me like I was Life Itself – has died. He attacked one of our other rescues, an elderly but spry German Shepherd, for the third time in two months. He didn’t make it this time. And now my lap is empty and I have a horrible sinus headache from crying all afternoon.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elmo:

    Oh, Elmo, I am so sorry. That’s sad news.

    John, this is totally none of my fucking business, and feel free to tell me to shove it, but i really hope you and Devon talking now. I’ve been heartbroken since, well, July 13th, not only for the loss of the Magnificent Tunch, but for the terrible estrangement between you and your sister.

    As one who was estranged for three years from all of my siblings, I want to tell you, it is not worth it. Not.Worth.It. Doesn’t matter how right you are and how wrong she may be, you need to make the loving overtures and reconcile if you haven’t done so already.

  14. 14.

    raven

    Breaking news, the Washington Redskins have dropped the word “Washington” from their name because it is embarrassing!

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I’m just watching MNF and waiting for the Republicans to capitulate.

    I am pretty damn sure the Republicans can’t play football any better than they can play hardball politics.

  17. 17.

    Josie

    @srv:
    In a thread below, Richard Mayhew said this, “I made a serious error of fact so I pulled it down until I can strike through the now dumb parts of the analysis.”

  19. 19.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: What about half-sibs? It’s been almost a year since my punk ass teabagger half-brother forced me to cut communication with him and, besides sending gifts to his kids, I don’t care if I never see him again.

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven: Can’t answer for anyone else. Both my brothers are god-bothering teabaggers, and one brother falls for every single Internet hoax out there, no matter how many times I point him to Snopes. But I still love them, and I think they love me. My sister stays above the fray. We all grew up together and share a lot of memories, so there is plenty of history there. That may not be the case with you and your half-siblings, depending on ages and dates.

  26. 26.

    replicnt6

    @Origuy:

    Me too!! Yippee us!

    You know who shares our birthday?? Friedrich Nietzsche!! So you just know we’re a fun-loving bunch.

  27. 27.

    scav

    @raven: Well, you steal brilliantly. You and the Bard. Plus, there are entirely times it is worthwhile dumping relatives. We’ve an uncle that nearly everyone was relieved when he mistapeared himself. The short absences with bursts of reappearing and yanking everyone’s chains and acting like il patrone got very very old.

  28. 28.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: He’s about 17 years younger and has always been an annoying little fucker. I specifically asked him more that once to stay off of the political stuff with me and not only did he keep it up but jumped on me for “disrespecting” Allan West. I was already gone when he was born and I could have whipped his ass more than once for the way he talked to our old man. Fucking boils my blood when I think about it.

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven: Sounds like a totally different situation and dynamic than mine. I say, fuck the little fuck.

    My sibs are basically good people, however misguided, and we generally skate past controversial topics when we’re together. Steve (the brother, not John’s cat) is heavy into Jeebus crucifixion porn, judging by his Facebook “likes,” and falls for every illogical meme on the webs, judging by his misguided emails. When I, and sometimes other of his friends, point out how stupid it is, he always says, essentially, Oh, well, I don’t give a big rat’s ass about it anyhow. Classic sour grapes. But he’s still my bro.

  38. 38.

    SFAW

    I feel bad for youse guys (you included, Siubhan) with wingnut sibs and semi-sibs. I’m fortunate that almost all of my family is left wing. And SFAW-ette (i.e. daughter) hates the Rethugs as much as I do. I have one set of in-laws who voted for Romney, but my mother-in-law is almost as liberal as I am, thank FSM.

    If my family were all wingnuts, I don’t know if I could stand it.

  40. 40.

    raven

    @SFAW: This dude married a died in the wool teabagger and we were all so stunned and happy he found ANYBODY we just wanted it to work for all of our sakes. He lives in Phoenix and everyone else but me lives in LA. It don’t mean shit.

  41. 41.

    Josie

    @SFAW: All my immediate family are liberals, although maybe not as radical as I am. My middle son’s in-laws, however, are super conservative, and I am under strict orders to keep my thoughts to myself when we are together. This is not my natural inclination, so it is really difficult. I try hard, in the interest of family harmony.

  42. 42.

    Feebog

    Happy to say that all my sibs are more or less liberal. My burden is my oldest son, who has slipped into Rightwingnut paranoia, ala Alex Jones.

  43. 43.

    realbtl

    Stuff like this makes me glad to be an only child.

    My stepson and grandson are rednecks but in the “fuck ’em all” school of politics. I think I started converting my grandson when I explained why his favorite goose hunting site was closed, that it wasn’t the government it was the Repubs.

  44. 44.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Josie:

    I turned 71 in August, and last year I heard similar sentiments from my colleagues. It really is a huge difference. I have photos of my grandmother holding newborn me in 1942. She was not quite 50 at the time, but any objective observer would put her at much much older — the corseted figure, the chunky shoes, the marcelled hair. I have silver hairs and wrinkles and saggy upper arms, but I genuinely do look a lot younger than she did at 20+ years my junior. And I honestly don’t think that’s a blinkered view of my mirror, I think anyone looking at side by side photos would say the same. Just a big difference in what certain ages were supposed to look like at different times in history.

  46. 46.

    SFAW

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    and falls for every illogical meme on the webs,

    Have I got an investment opportunity for Steve (yours, not Cole’s): it’s a bridge, a little old, but extremely well constructed, pretty high safety factor. It runs between to sub-sections of a large metropolitan area, gets a ton of daily traffic, and is just screaming to have tolls installed on it. Tell Steve to think of all the money he could make!

    I’m letting it go for a song, because I just don’t have enough time to get the tolls built, but if Steve is willing to put in a little extra work … well, what a money maker! If he’s interested, I can draw up the papers immediately.

  50. 50.

    Karen in GA

    @Anoniminous: I must Google and confirm. Because there’s just no fucking way.

    …and I Googled. It’s a mascot for a refrigerator company that has nothing to do with the nuclear plant. But it’s still pretty damned funny.

  51. 51.

    SFAW

    @Anoniminous:
    Before I clicked on the link, I half-expected it to be a picture of some creature with a foot growing out of its forehead.

    I should have known not to drink a slug of tea before clicking. Fortunately, my screen is tea-proof.

    ETA: Of course, if it had been some nice single-malt I had just sipped, that would have been bad.

  52. 52.

    C. Isaac

    David Frum’s taking part of the piling on of the Tea Party and the GOP. It’s up on the CNN front page now.

    It’s probably been said before, but when you’ve lost Frum, you’re really out there.

    Maybe the right answer to the threat, “Shut down the government or we quit” is: “So sad you feel that way. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

  53. 53.

    Josie

    @SiubhanDuinne: Exactly. I think we probably have better nutrition and better products for our skin, etc. Also, those of us still working at this age are having to use our brains and get some exercise just to keep up with things. It all adds up.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SFAW:

    I’ll let him know immediately, as long as he agrees to split the profits with me!

    His gullibility is more on the order of being all breathless and wild-eyed that THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 400 YEARS that we have had a month with five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays — or whatever days — despite the fact that a quick glance at a perpetual calendar would show that this phenomenon happens frequently. Indeed, it couldn’t HELP but happen every few years, given the nature of calendars. He also, in panic mode, “shares” every single Facebook meme about how Facebook is changing their settings in order to invade your privacy, and you need to go through the following seventeen steps in order to keep your FB settings pure and unsullied. I don’t think he’s actually stupid, but I don’t think he’s the sharpest crayon in the Crayola box, either.

  56. 56.

    Pogonip

    @raven: Chortle. Where would you like your Internets delivered, sir?

    And happy birthday to Mom and others here, and many happy returns!

  59. 59.

    NotMax

    Today, a venerable name became history.

    The International Herald Tribune, its name since 1967, will appear for the last time on Monday, to be reborn the following day as the International New York Times. Source

  62. 62.

    Pogonip

    John’s not talking to Devon? I’m sorry to hear that. Has she disposed of the dog? Would that help patch things up? It would if it had happened with my brother and me. (This assumes that the offending dog is not a valuable breeding animal; I am not sure what kind of apologetic gesture I could make in that case.). In any event, I hope they patch things up soon!

  65. 65.

    raven

    Rachel has some footage of some real fucking assholes squabbling with the cops in front of the White House.

  67. 67.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @C. Isaac:

    when you’ve lost Frum, you’re really out there.

    Frum is a Canuck, and Canuckistan has “peace, order and good government” instead of “life, liberty and the pursuit of property happiness”.

    I was talking to a friend who is very much small-c conservative last week, and was completely irate at the shutdown. We agreed that we can argue about what constitutes good government, but the teabaggers are opposed to the entire concept.

  68. 68.

    Pogonip

    @Josie: Don’t let the number bother you. My father’s 87 and manages his diabetes with diet alone (no mean feat considering that high-fructose corn syrup is everywhere these days), so you can be old and healthy.

  69. 69.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Pogonip: Based on something John posted a couple of months ago, that’s my understanding. I really hope they have made it up. Maybe he posted about it and I just missed it. Estrangements from people you love are just SUCK.

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Canuckistan

    has “peace, order and good government” instead of “life, liberty and the pursuit of property happiness”.

    I have probably delivered 50+ “Canada 101” lectures over the past few years, and that is always one of the first distinctions I make between Canada and the U.S.

    Also, dollar coins and the metric system.

  71. 71.

    scav

    7.4 (ish) Earthquake in Philippines, plus solid aftershock, anyone know of some non-USgovt sites to follow on? ow.

  72. 72.

    Ash Can

    @NotMax: And speaking of Finland, when I was an au pair there many moons ago, the family I was living with was kind enough to buy me a subscription to the International Herald Tribune while I was living with them. They too wanted to read a good-quality English-language news source to practice their English, but they were persuaded mainly by my walking all the way across town to the train station every week to buy the weekend edition (which was the only edition the news seller at the train station stocked). Mind you, this was over 30 years ago, when the NYT and WaPo, which jointly owned the IHT, were both pretty good newspapers.

  73. 73.

    Pogonip

    @pseudonymous in nc: I am also a small-c conservative and you phrased our view succinctly. Thanks. I always voted for the person, not the party, but I am so disgusted with the Teabaggers that I may never vote for a Republican again.

  75. 75.

    The Sailor

    @NotMax: 1967? I knew 1967, 1967 was a friend of mine. You sir, are no 1967.
    +++++++++
    BTW, Raven FTW tonight. (I stole it too.)

  77. 77.

    Karen in GA

    @Ash Can: I don’t know much about the place. I did the genetic test thing through 23 and Me, and evidently I have some Finnish ancestry. So I decided to learn more about the place, which led me to creepy happy egg guy.

    Oh, and PERKELE!

    (I also learned that I have two copies of the CCR5 Delta 32 mutation, which makes me damn near immune to the most common strain of HIV. Not sure how I feel about that. It’s like a multimillionaire winning the lottery — others need this more than I do. Evidently they’re not specifically looking for bone marrow donors with this mutation.)

  78. 78.

    C. Isaac

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Canuckistan also has Continuum, one of me and my fiancee’s favorite shows on TV right now.

    Season 2 finale was a proper mindscrew and I enjoyed every moment of it.

  82. 82.

    PsiFighter37

    I haven’t gone to NYC’s Comic-Con in a couple years, but damn I wish I had gone this year…it looks like they had David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson on a panel about X-Files. And not be shallow, but both of them (particularly Ms. Anderson) seem to have gotten easier on the eyes with age. Hard to believe that it premiered 20 years ago…

    Also, their Reddit AMA was pretty fucking stellar.

  83. 83.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Rachel Maddow just recalled one of my “favorite” moments of Republican-friendl Beltway-media corruption: Sitting if lame-duck Senator Alan Simpson guest-hosting for Tweety. Also lame-duck Senator Fred Thompson was another guest host at that time.

    Oh christ, it was a lead in to another Tweety book promo segment.

  90. 90.

    lamh36

    Is it weird that I find Dodgeball absolutely hilarious and I watch it whenever it’s on cable (like right now)?

    Its two parts cause I genuinely find it funny, but also, I have this really big crush on Vince Vaughn for some reason. Don’t know what it is. He not very athletic, I don’t know if he’s seen the inside of anybody’s gym and to be honest, he tends closer towards the “big chubby teddy bear” in body type. IDK, I just like him…lol

    Dodgeball – Trailer

  93. 93.

    catclub

    @C. Isaac: “but when you’ve lost Frum, you’re really out there.”

    Not really. Frum has been dead to them for years. I would guess at least three, maybe four.

  95. 95.

    PsiFighter37

    @lamh36: Dodge, duck, dip, dive…and dodge!

    If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

    If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball.

    “I told you she was a lesbian!”

    There’s pretty much nothing that’s bad about that movie, although in hindsight, the Lance Armstrong cameo has lost a bit of its meaning. But that + Wedding Crashers = the peak of Vince Vaughn’s acting career (although the latter got way too sappy towards the end, but was saved by Will Ferrell).

  96. 96.

    Another Holocene Human

    #()*&@$ healthcare.gov @*()&!@ live chate *()#&$@ don’t even speak English

    I am not shitting you, the guy “David” on live chat spoke word salad not English “hipaa policy is most job ends” and other gems. I googled HIPAA Florida and found out it’s not exactly a good option DID NOT COMPUTE. One household member has compliant coverage through job, other household member does not DID NOT COMPUTE.

    Went to livechat because we got through every page until it was time to shop for coverage. There are 51 plans in our county but healthcare.gov barfed and wouldn’t display anything.

    healthcare.gov barfed A LOT, btw

    the live chat people are ignorant on the PPACA law. If somebody wants to be a real activist, start working the live chatters and their horrific ignorance.

    I was polite, but firm, stated I was confused every time they wrote something nonsensical instead of cussing them out.

  99. 99.

    PsiFighter37

    @MattF: They’re not going to seriously think he’s going to win. Plus, given how much effort Cuomo has gone through to keep the State Senate in Republican hands (despite Democrats nominally holding a 33-30 advantage), they probably want him to win.

    Cuomo’s a fucking tool who is taking centrist bullshit to a whole new level. Someone should tell him he’s never going to be president, so he should just let the liberal flag fly and stop being worried about being compared to his father. Unfortunately, the Democratic bench at the state level is surprisingly thin – so he’s probably king of NY for life, unless he gets complacent like his father did.

  102. 102.

    Botsplainer

    @PsiFighter37:

    There’s pretty much nothing that’s bad about that movie…

    “I drink my own urine because it’s sterile, and I like the taste…”

  104. 104.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Karen in GA: I googled more and they are borrowing rhetoric from the rebuilding, for example there is a Fukushima Future logo with an egg and they are using the term “sansei” which apparently indicates a side in the debate about how to rebuild and restructure the troubled prefecture.

  105. 105.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Luke Russert reporting that the Tea Baggers want to push the country into just a couple days of default, to get something against Obamacare. And Li’l Punkinhead says he has always been shocked at the lack of basic economic understanding in the House GOP caucus

  107. 107.

    Mike in NC

    @Mike E: Turning 50 was a real downer, and I was sorry for letting my family see how miserable I was. But when my younger brother hit 50 I made sure to let him know the only other option was no more birthdays.

    Now looking forward to age 60 since it means a monthly military pension…

  108. 108.

    Anoniminous

    @Karen in GA:

    (Roars up, puts car in neutral.)

    It would have been more better if it was the new mascot for TEPCO.

    But I’ll take it.

    busy, busy, busy

    (Puts car in gear and boogies.)

  109. 109.

    Mike E

    @Mike in NC: I feel more comfortable in my own skin now than I have felt in years, though I’m nowhere near a comfortable situation. If that makes any sense! Being un&underemployed since the end of the W admin has been a real kick in the pants; turning 50, not so much.

    Also, watching my daughter transition into adulthood can be a whole range of emotions, too. Pretty awesome tho.

  119. 119.

    Matt McIrvin

    @C. Isaac: Frum has always had sort of a “conservative who is willing to criticize conservatives” shtick going on, and it feels like it’s been gradually sliding into apostasy. He wrote a really great multi-part takedown of Charles Murray’s Coming Apart last year.

  121. 121.

    Paul in KY

    @Roger Moore: Luckily my complete immediate family are all proud Dems. The BIL had Republican leanings, but modern Republicanism has purged all that from his being.

  122. 122.

    Paul in KY

    @Pogonip: Personally, I would have put the dog down, valuable breeding animal or not.

    It has genes/tendencies I would not want pased on to future canine generations.

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