Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

A consequence of cucumbers

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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

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

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

The revolution will be supervised.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Mid-Afternoon Open Thread

Mid-Afternoon Open Thread

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Here’s some topics for discussion, if you wish:

Lara Logan is taking a leave of absence from “60 Minutes.”

The Pope has denounced “trickle down economics.”  And pretty much all of conservative/libertarian dogma, while he was at it.

US B-52 bombers overflew an island claimed by both China and Japan without informing the PRC yesterday, after the PRC had declared hundreds of miles of international airspace subject to to PRC air defense protocols.

Here’s hoping that Hamid Karzai continues trying to extort money and other concessions from the US and DOESN’T sign the Status of Forces Agreement.

Alec Baldwin and MSNBC mutually agree to part ways.  That was quick.

 

Reader Interactions

68Comments

  3. 3.

    rk

    It will make my day when the right wing declares the pope a communist and socialist and a threat to our freedoms.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    Also, I agree 100% about Afghanistan. Can someone explain to me why in the name of sweet baby Jeebus the US would want to extend its time there anyway?

  7. 7.

    Anoniminous

    Francis needs to lighten up. It’s not like the Right Wing has the freaking time to actually read all that stuff they spout. There’s grifting to be done and only 24 hours in a day.

  8. 8.

    beltane

    By choosing to name himself after Il Poverello Pope Francis had a pretty large pair of sandals to fill. He is exceeding my expectations in living up to the name. Antonin Scalia must be in a permanent state of seething rage.

  12. 12.

    Soonergrunt

    @Betty Cracker: Well, there is the thought that since we’ve put so much time and energy in the place, that we ought to support the people there who have taken up the sword along-side us.
    There’s some merit in that, but I don’t think its worth the life of a single US Soldier.

  13. 13.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @beltane:

    Antonin Scalia must be in a permanent state of seething rage.

    Good. Better odds that the vile fascist will stroke out.

  14. 14.

    Mike in NC

    Here’s hoping that Hamid Karzai continues trying to extort money and other concessions from the US and DOESN’T sign the Status of Forces Agreement.

    This clown is nothing but a mentally ill warlord who’s probably now one of the richest men in the world, courtesy of the US taxpayer. Hopefully all out our troops leave there forever next year.

  17. 17.

    The Dangerman

    For the Republican Cathlolic’s, if it comes between supporting Party or Church, they will support Party overwhelmingly over this Socialist Pope.

  21. 21.

    PeakVT

    The recent flare-ups over the Senkaku Islands are so obviously manufactured by China that it’s almost laughable. But people have died because of similar territorial disputes.

  22. 22.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @PeakVT:

    A diversion from all those workers jumping into the nets is needed. Classic authoritarian attempt to focus on some foreign country (especially the hated Japanese, albeit hated with pretty good reason, see Rape of Nanking, et al) as opposed to domestic incompetence.

  26. 26.

    catclub

    @The Dangerman: I am not so sure. I suspect it is almost the exact same people who thought John 23 was great. Of course that means they are now in their 70’s,
    but people can be swayed over time.

  28. 28.

    catclub

    “US B-52 bombers overflew an island claimed by both China and Japan without informing the PRC yesterday,”

    Another difference between the US military under Obama and under GWBush. Remember the P-3 captured by the Chinese, in 2001, before things got even worse?

  29. 29.

    PeakVT

    @Anoniminous – I think Villago Delenda Est’s point is more relevant at the moment. China has a similar dispute with Vietnam and the Philippines over the Spratlys, but that hasn’t flared up all the sudden, accompanied by conveniently simultaneous riots across the country.

  30. 30.

    MattR

    @Betty Cracker: I assume that it is because Afghanistan is between Iran and Pakistan and the military thinks it is a wise strategic decision to maintain a base there, just in case.

  32. 32.

    The Dangerman

    @catclub:

    Of course that means they are now in their 70′s…

    Think you are going after the wrong age group here; anyone old enough to have ever voted for Reagan is beyond reach; supply side economics have been drilled into their heads for decades. A Pope’s epistle doesn’t have a chance that epistemic closure.

  33. 33.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @The Dangerman:

    Having been college educated before the election of the shitty grade Z movie star, I never bought the premise of supply side economics. Econ 101 and 102 were more than enough to utter “WTF?” when I first heard it.

  34. 34.

    Soonergrunt

    @Anoniminous: it is for the same reason that China has laid claim to the Spratley Islands chain that lies in the triangle between Malasia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The Spratleys are much closer to any of those three than they are to China, but they have extractable resources…

    EDIT–I see that several people got there before me.

  35. 35.

    Redshift

    Alec Baldwin and MSNBC mutually agree to part ways. That was quick.

    Ms. Redshift called it the day his show was announced. A lack of impulse control and a non-acting job don’t mix well.

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    @catclub:

    You’re forgetting all of the people currently in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who were raised under Vatican II and then watched JPII slowly retreat from it. None of us have any nostalgia for the “old ways” (Latin Mass, etc.) because we were raised with the new ways. My nostalgia is for the days when we sang “Let It Be” during Mass.

    So you might be surprised by how big of a base there is for returning to the reforms of Vatican II.

  38. 38.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Soonergrunt:

    The Chinese have this attitude that EVERY SQUARE INCH of Asia is “historically” theirs, therefore they have claims to everything.

  39. 39.

    Anoniminous

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Yup. And wasn’t there a flare up a couple of years ago? (I’d look if I wasn’t laughing about “Pope Krugman.”)

    @PeakVT:

    The ChiCom leadership whips up an anti-Japanese frenzy when they want to distract people from something domestic. No idea what that would be. Another bout of killer smog?

  40. 40.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mnemosyne:

    Paul VI chickened out on sexual matters, but heck, using Beatles tunes to draw people to mass is just friggin’ brilliant. THIS is how you bring people back into the Church…well, this and fessing up to all the altar boy rape shit and not covering it up.

  41. 41.

    Ash Can

    @catclub:

    I suspect it is almost the exact same people who thought John 23 was great.

    Nope. It’s the same people who thought JXXIII was awful for kicking Latin out of the churches and allowing guitars, blue jeans, and hatless/scarfless females in.

  42. 42.

    Redshift

    @Betty Cracker: I imagine the thinking is that leaving didn’t work out so great for us the last time. Unfortunately, I think we’ve demonstrated the flaws the long-standing thinking about how terrible it was to “abandon” Afghanistan after they fought the Soviets to a standstill — the fact that doing one thing turned out badly does not in itself mean that doing the opposite will turn out better.

    I feel for the people of Afghanistan and would really like for them to have a decent life. However, I do not see a way that we can accomplish that, however much we may want to. The least bad thing would probably be if the same thing happened to the Status of Forces agreement there as happened with the one with Iraq.

  43. 43.

    kindness

    Laura Logan/CBS…man CBS is good at pulling a Dan Rather with their media folk. Well hope that bus she’s under didn’t kill Laura, just send her to Fox.

  44. 44.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Anoniminous:

    The Chinese claim all sorts of territories like the Paracels and the Spratleys based on “historic” claims on the other countries that have claims. Vietnam was a tributary of China off and on for centuries, therefore the Chinese assert a claim to areas the Vietnamese claim.

    It’s as if Italy claimed it should own Israel because the Roman Empire once ruled Palestine, Judea, and all that entire area.

  46. 46.

    Violet

    Loving this new Pope. The Catholic Church still has plenty of problems, but any step in the right direction is a good thing. Bonus if it upsets wingnuts. Bring it on, Pope Francis!

    It’s exciting to see all the stuff Jesus actually talked about being talked about by someone with that much authority in an establishment church. How the hell long has it been?

  47. 47.

    JPL

    Sorry if this has been mentioned but Dinesh D’Souza pulled his tweet. Maybe he doesn’t know how the internet works.

  48. 48.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Redshift:

    The inevitable problem with Afghanistan is that a substantial portion of the population wants to live under medieval social rules, and is willing to take up arms to get their way.

  49. 49.

    Hal

    @Southern Beale:

    The e-mail from Trooper Brent Gobbell states, in part, “You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member … you call him a racist.” It also includes a list of racist epithets.

    And that wasn’t enough to get him fired? I do love his closing. Nope, nothing improper.

    The message concludes, “There is nothing improper about this e-mail. Let’s see which of you are proud enough to send it on … BE PROUD TO BE WHITE!”

  51. 51.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The message concludes, “There is nothing improper about this e-mail. Let’s see which of you are proud enough to send it on … BE PROUD TO BE WHITE!”

    Not with assholes like you being white, jackass. You’re an embarrassment to the rest of us, racist shit.

  52. 52.

    Poopyman

    Just got another of my Tea party emails. This one was titled “Obama’s Spy Programs Cloaked in More Secrecy”. I’m thinking “Good! That’s what spy programs are supposed to be.” I never open them any more. Just some gibberish and then asking for money. So tiresome.

    @Southern Beale: Lasted way longer than I initially gave it.

  54. 54.

    Anoniminous

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    That’s the sort of thing expansionary nation-states do. Come up with a bullshit excuse and then send in the troops. “Historically” China could make a claim to chunks of India, Indonesia, Malaya, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, and West Africa.

    I will note the Chinese tried to “historically claim” Viet Nam – in 1978 – it didn’t work out so well.

  56. 56.

    JoyfulA

    @Villago Delenda Est: Speaking of nets, Governor Corbett says Foxconn will be opening a 500-employee factory in Pennsylvania.

    Somehow the gov thinks this will raise his status from least popular governor in the country and least likely to be reelected.

  59. 59.

    NotMax

    @The Dangerman

    No thanks for the generalized slur.

    Am certainly more than old enough to have been there, but wouldn’t have voted for him under any conceivable circumstance.

    Also too, the youngest voters in 1980 were born in ’62, making them all of 51 now.

  62. 62.

    The Dangerman

    @NotMax:

    No thanks for the generalized slur

    I worded it poorly; it was meant to be a continuation of a prior thought about Republican Catholics that, presumably, voted for Reagan. My subset of a larger set (hell, even I voted for Reagan the first time around) was described poorly.

  64. 64.

    kc

    Alec Baldwin: So talented, and yet such an asshole.

    Hard to believe MSNBC hired him to begin with. The man’s got no self-control.

  65. 65.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @rk:

    It will make my day when the right wing declares the pope a communist and socialist and a threat to our freedoms.

    Worse than Obama!!

  66. 66.

    Heliopause

    The Pope has denounced “trickle down economics.” And pretty much all of conservative/libertarian dogma, while he was at it.

    And pretty much all the neoliberalism of the Democratic Party, if you actually read it.

  67. 67.

    FlipYrWhig

    @kindness:

    Laura Logan/CBS…man CBS is good at pulling a Dan Rather with their media folk.

    So was the whole story just an attempt to justify the snug-fitting, cleavage-displaying dress she was wearing at the beginning of the segment, or vice-versa?

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