Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Nothing worth doing is easy.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

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

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Fight them, without becoming them!

White supremacy is terrorism.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

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

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

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

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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90Comments

  3. 3.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Halfway through the sequel to Please Don’t tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain, and gaining steam. That should put me a year ahead on the series, and I can switch back to either the story of a rag doll sidekick, or the book of love stories in the middle of a war on a world of candy.

    The publisher is insisting on keeping the ‘Please Don’t Tell’ title formula. I don’t like it, and wanted ‘At Least I Didn’t Blow Up OUR Moon’ as the title for book #2, but it’s a marketing decision and I’ll give them their way. Sigh.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    In the road of life, Holidays are potholes. They seriously mess with my head and throw off all my rhythms.

  6. 6.

    raven

    I was appalled when I ran out Tuesday and bought a 15th anniversary gift for my bride. I had the card and gift on the kitchen table and woke her yesterday with “Happy Anniversary”. She giggled and said “It’s not today, it’s Friday”! We are changing safe deposit boxes and I looked at it and saw the date we got it rather than the date of the wedding!

  7. 7.

    Baud

    @raven:

    You are now entitled to be up to two days late with a future anniversary. I’d get it in writing if I were you.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: Hahaha! Well, happy anniversary anyway. Ours is Saturday. 17 years. That doesn’t seem possible, but we’ve got a mostly grown kid running around, so I guess it’s true!

  10. 10.

    PurpleGirl

    Morning all!

    Raven — at least you remembered it was happening around this time.

    As to the day — since I “work” from home, I’m always off as to what day/date it is. All days blend into each other. (Work is in quotes because I’m not working full time.)

  11. 11.

    Pharniel

    Ugh. I had the same problem last night. We’ll see if I don’t flip a cube or conference room today.

  20. 20.

    max

    “What in the — I say, what in the fuck is this shit?”

    I’ve been saying that all week. I mean first one reads the WaPo ed page, and then one reads Obama’s speech, and then one makes the poor choice to browse Foreign Policy mag, and then one talks oneself out of stabbing oneself in the eye.

    Also, file under things I did not know: back in 2012, Obama was also elected President and Dictator-for-Life of Libya. I guess it was classified or some shit. I think it’s because he was born in Kenya or he’s a Muslim or something.

    Whatever. At any rate, the Valuable Life Lesson the ‘foreign policy hands’ wish to communicate is that Winning is Bad, and Losing is VICTORY. Because without a continuous stream of dead Americans, how would FP pundits talk about how important it was to Do Something Lest Americans Die?

    Well, it feels like a long week to me. I was appalled when the calendar informed me that it’s Thursday, not Friday.

    Because of the holiday, Sunday felt like Monday! And Monday felt like Tuesday. You’re short a Sunday in there.

    max
    [‘Well, I’m short a Sunday, anyways.’]

  23. 23.

    Suffern ACE

    @max: yep. You have to remember that foreign policy experts in America are control freaks and the furthest out in the future anyone plots strategy is two weeks. I believe they teach foreign policy experts to be that way at Georgetown.

  25. 25.

    Suffern ACE

    @Baud: your ancestors fought hard to get you that five day workweek, and yet you find something about Saturday that disappoints you. Sigh.

  26. 26.

    Johannes

    I feel you, Frankensteinbeck; I’m proofreading Phineas at Bay, my sequel to the Palliser novels; 335 out of 500 pages done. And just got the galleys of my article on the weakness of the theological arguments against same sex marriage as compared to the disregarded prohibition against usury for The Anglican Theological Review. Dorothy Parker’s line about hating writing but loving having written has never felt truer.

    And congrats, Raven!

  29. 29.

    Schlemizel

    @Betty Cracker:
    Or 40th will be in 2 weeks. We are going for along weekend to a cute little get away but I really can’t think of anything to get as a present. We have reached that stage in life where the things we want are either too expensive, we don’t want to add to our already too full inventory or we own them.

  30. 30.

    Keith G

    Here is a heads up for the always deep-thinking morning crew at B-J:

    As you may have heard, Tea Partier extraordinaire Dan Patrick (been spouting Tea Party-type invective since the late 80’s) won the GOP nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Texas. His opponent is the best female politician currently in Texas state government, Leticia Van de Putte.

    The Lieutenant Governor position in Texas is very powerful since she/he has actual control of the legislative agenda – after Reconstruction, the Texas Constitution was written in reaction to the hatred of the appointed governors that had ran the state. The Gov had the title, a bigger office, and the power to appoint many lower officials, but the real power within the state house was given to the Lt. Gov.

    This will be a very interesting race,

  31. 31.

    PurpleGirl

    @Johannes: The article for The Anglican Theological Review sounds really interesting. Will it be available on-line?

  32. 32.

    Schlemizel

    @max:

    Navin R. Johnson: I know we’ve only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days. And the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days. And the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day, and then you came back and later on the sixth day, in the evening, when we saw each other, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. I have it written down, but I can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    @Keith G: It’s time to get out the vote in Texas.

    That’s as deep as I can go, since I lost my brain valuable brain cells, streaming Morning Joe. He is one that can bloviate and say nothing except that Obama’s bad.

  34. 34.

    satby

    It’s seemed like an endless week to me too Betty. Too hot and humid earlier to finish planting, then rainy, now cool so I hope to get a lot done today. I’ve been dragging though with a low level depression, so I just started taking Sam-e to see if that helps.

  35. 35.

    Hill Dweller

    @JPL: I avoid that show like the plague. Hell, I avoid MSNBC like the plague. That channel is essentially a trojan horse for right wing bullshit.

    Even Maddow, who I really like, is starting to annoy me with her constant need to out-outrage her guests over anything having to do with the military.

  36. 36.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @JPL: I also was watching Joe bloviate. I turned it off after about 20 minutes when Julie Pace(?) came on. If I’m going to kill brain cells, I’ll start drinking again.

  38. 38.

    Schlemizel

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    It sounds pretty clever, what age group is it aimed at? Could I use the excuse I was buying it for my 8 year old grandson or do I have to admit it is for me?

  39. 39.

    Central Planning

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Please Don’t tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain

    It should arrive today for my 13 YO daughter

    Also, on your webpage the link to the book on Amazon is missing a :

  40. 40.

    JPL

    @Suffern ACE: The five minutes I listened to him, Joe, David Gregory and Nicole Wallace were talking about Obama’s wishy washy foreign policy doctrine. Nicole Wallace said his doctrine will hurt future presidents. Has she forgotten the mess the previous president got us into? Joe said lots of words but nothing of substance.

  41. 41.

    PsiFighter37

    Taking today and tomorrow off of work to go to a bachelor party in New Orleans. Should be a lot of fun, although the weather forecast for the entire time looks like thunderstorms, which I am less than excited about. Also entirely expecting United to severely delay or cancel the flight outright, given the shit I’ve gone through with them recently when flying to smaller regional airports like MSY.

  44. 44.

    Suffern ACE

    @JPL: we support truth, justice and the American Way abroad, except in certain circumstances.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    Lynching history spurs call for closure, 90 years later

    Nina Denson-Rogers, a historian for the Lee County Black History Society, becomes emotional when describing the lynchings of two black boys in Fort Myers, Fla. in May 1924.

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — For decades, Nina Denson-Rogers has tried to piece together the story of two gruesome days in 1924 when a mob of white people lynched two black teens and dragged their bullet-riddled bodies through Fort Myers.

    The historian for the Lee County Black History Society found few willing to talk. Those who did divulged details that drew tears to the historian’s eyes last week as she sat in the society’s office near the city museum it runs.

    On May 25, it will be 90 years since the ugly chapter in county history was written. R.J. Johnson and Milton Wilson are the only recorded lynching victims in Lee County, Florida. Over the years, their names have been reported differently, though a local scholar has evidence Milton’s last name was Williams.

    Denson-Rogers would like to see their lives recognized.

    One resident told her a basket was used to recover one of the bodies.

    “When I think about it, I can see why they get all upset,” Denson-Rogers said.

    She shook her head, paused and sighed. She lifted her wire-rimmed glasses to wipe her eyes.

    They were just boys, around 14 and 15.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/21/fort-myers-lynchings-1924/9397183/

  48. 48.

    raven

    @Morzer: It was dark! Ten years ago she said “happy anniversary” to me and I freaked out. Tore through the house in the middle of the night to find a n invitation. It turned out se meant “happy anniversary week”!!!!

  49. 49.

    Schlemizel

    @raven:
    I am *not* a bum. I’m a jerk.

    I was going to wait until tomorrow just to be a smart ass but chances are I will have forgotten by then congratulations ya newlywed.

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    Mitch McConnell Is Playing Voters for Fools With His Big Obamacare Lie

    Will his Democratic opponent have the courage to call him out?
    By Brian Beutler  @brianbeutler

    We’ve already established that Mitch McConnell is trying to dodge accountability for supporting Obamacare repeal by exploiting public confusion over the identity between Kentucky’s successful, popular insurance exchange—Kynect—and the law itself.

    But the real political bombshell here is that the senator feels compelled to dodge accountability for his position at all. This simple observation—perhaps subjoined by six or seven exclamation marks—shatters the conventional wisdom that Obamacare politics are simple, straightforward, and winning for this year’s Republican candidates. And the many Democrats who adhere to that wisdom will blow a huge opportunity to capitalize on the opening McConnell just created, if they fail to set it aside for now.

    I understand why these Democrats are reluctant. Conservatives spent the last eight months essentially executing a psy-op mission to convince liberals that Obamacare is much less supportable than it actually is, and intimidate Democrats out of running on it proactively. I’ve been arguing that the politics of Obamacare would undergo a marked shift in 2014 for a long time now, and more or less stuck to my guns during the rollout failures this past fall. Others did too. The whole way through, conservatives met us with gleeful mockery anytime we suggested Obamacare politics carried any risk for Republicans or were nuanced in any way. Including McConnell’s spokesman!

    http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117934/mcconnells-obamacare-lie-gives-alison-grimes-huge-opening

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    Edward Snowden Says The US Stranded Him In Russia — Here Are 4 Problems With That Claim

    Michael Kelley
    May 28, 2014, 9:05 AM

    Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden told “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams in Moscow that he “never intended to end up in Russia.”

    The 30-year-old asserts that the U.S. State Department stranded him in Moscow after he arrived from Hong Kong on June 23.

    “I had a flight booked to Cuba onwards to Latin America and I was stopped because the United States government decided to revoke my passport and trap me in Moscow Airport,” Snowden said. “So when people ask why are you in Russia, I say, ‘Please ask the State Department.'”

    There are several issues with the claim that the U.S. stranded Snowden in Russia. Here are the most glaring:

    1. Snowden couldn’t have left Russia because he had no valid travel documents when he landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. The U.S. revoked Snowden’s passport the day before he left. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange then acquired an unsigned Ecuadorian travel document — ostensibly for safe passage to Latin America — that was void when Snowden landed in Moscow.

    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/snowden-says-us-stranded-him-in-russia-2014-5#ixzz336dnFZkp

  53. 53.

    Violet

    this has been a brutal week of caregiving for me. I can’t believe it’s only Thursday. But it won’t make any difference if it’s Saturday or Sunday either. They’re all the same.

  55. 55.

    Morzer

    @raven:

    There’s something Legend of Joe Bidenesque about the vision of you rushing through the house to find a gift.

    I do like the way you connect your marriage to a safe deposit box. I wish we could get Freud’s crazy old take on that one!

    Are we to learn what gift you are giving the beloved, or is this a piece of classified information known only to you, Edward Snowden, the NSA and dear old Vladi Putin?

  58. 58.

    Keith P

    Advice time – I have 3 cats, 1 indoors and the other two rarely come in. About 3 weeks ago, inside cat stops leaving the living room couch. It even gets so bad that he starts peeing and shitting on it (yeah, the couch is being removed). Prior to that I had let the litterbox go a couple of weeks too long, but now he won’t use any litter box. I had one next to the couch with litter A, and one in the usual spot with litter B. 2 weeks later, both boxes are empty.
    Then, a couple of days ago, he quits the couch and is perpetually on my bed. Then this morning, he peed right in the middle of it. So now I’m at a crisis point, as I’m gonna be sleeping on an air mattress very soon.
    Anyone have any ideas as to what’s going on?

  59. 59.

    Ash Can

    This week is zooming by for me. Seeing as Bottle Rocket’s 8th grade graduation is Monday, though, I could say the same thing about the last 10 years since he started pre-K.

  60. 60.

    Morzer

    @rikyrah:

    Every time I hear of a Stand Your Ground case, I think of what the people who cobbled those worthless laws together would really like to achieve. It must be one hell of a fight to keep going and digging up the hideous facts of cases like the one you linked to. Much respect to Nina Denson-Rogers. Thank you for keeping us honest.

  62. 62.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So Snowden sits down with NBC and says the US goverments uses 911 to justify spying, and … ?

    Is it my imagination or is Snowden just another vapid, mile wide, inch deep celib the news media is filled with?

  63. 63.

    raven

    @Morzer: I shoot for the “traditional: so I got a silver necklace with a, I don’t know, bulby kind of thing with a crystal inside of it.

  66. 66.

    rikyrah

    In New Orleans, major school district closes traditional public schools for good

    NEW ORLEANS — The second-graders paraded to the Dumpster in the rear parking lot, where they chucked boxes of old work sheets, notebooks and other detritus into the trash, emptying their school for good.

    Benjamin Banneker Elementary closed Wednesday as New Orleans’s Recovery School District permanently shuttered its last five traditional public schools this week.

    With the start of the next school year, the Recovery School District will be the first in the country made up completely of public charter schools, a milestone for New Orleans and a grand experiment in urban education for the nation.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-new-orleans-traditional-public-schools-close-for-good/2014/05/28/ae4f5724-e5de-11e3-8f90-73e071f3d637_story.html?wpisrc=nl_hdtop

  68. 68.

    Belafon

    @Keith G: It will be interesting to see if Patrick and the others due something so stupid that it costs them the election here, but it would have to be something monumentally stupid. I don’t even think dissing the women will be enough any more.

  70. 70.

    Morzer

    @rikyrah:

    Something about the combination of the WaPo and “grand experiment” worries me. I can’t quite put my finger on it….

  71. 71.

    Morzer

    @raven:

    Actually, that’s even more Legend of Joe Bidenesque. You aren’t from Scranton, Pennsylvania, are you? Ever driven a Camaro? Hmm?

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    @Frankensteinbeck: I gave your book to my (great) niece for her birthday on Tuesday. I had Amazon ship it to their house because I don’t like to carry anything extra on the train, so I didn’t get to hold the book in my hands until I wrapped it at her house.

    I really liked the blurb on the back cover, and the first sentence of the book really drew me in. I read a few pages and then I just had to let it go so I could get the wrapping done. I wished I could have read the whole thing!

    It was a triple birthday (niece from NC, her 5-year old son from NC, great niece from Chicago). I gave the NC niece the two books by Wiley Cash. No BJ books for kids who are only 5 – come on people, quit slacking off!

  74. 74.

    ThresherK

    Well, I was back late from that party at the British Beer Co in Framingham (MA).

    I didn’t win the big prize; someone else will be going to Newcastle.

    But they gave us food and Newcastle samples for free, and a fun time was had by all. And my little prize (a gift card) will be put to good use by me & my spouse.

  75. 75.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: Extra points for being early!

    We discovered my dad’s solution to that particular problem when we were going through everything after he died. My dad’s dresser was one of the tall ones, and he had written their anniversary date in thick black marker on the wood that was the underside of the top drawer. Open the drawer a bit, bend over and look at the date. I don’t think my mom ever knew.

    I loved my dad so much. A real gentleman. He’s been gone nearly 20 years.

  76. 76.

    WaterGirl

    @Schlemizel: Does she like jewelry? It hardly takes up any space!

    I was with extended family for a week and we were reminiscing about the “coupon books” my nieces used to give me for my birthday when they were young. Sweet things like hair combing, and drawing on your back, getting to be “queen for a day” where they would wait on me hand and foot.

    I bet you could come up with with some good stuff and make a coupon book of your own.

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    @Keith P: I suggest you get your cat to the vet. Pronto!

    First thing, make sure he is he is healthy – no bladder infection, etc. I would take the cat to the vet today if I were you.

    Then you should get WereBear’s “Cat 911” ebook – full of great information about how to handle litter box problems and other issues.

  80. 80.

    D58826

    @max: After reading many of the same depressing articles, including one today that said as Obama withdrawals from Afghanistan Al Qaeda grows stronger. Now what I’ve never seen in any of these articles is the answer to a simple question – Since the presence of US troops and drones seems to create more terrorists than it kills, how will the presence of more US military power result in eliminating the terrorists?
    I’m not in favor of just crawling in a hole and hoping for the best but how do you fight an idea that seems to draws strength from your very presence, no matter how well intended?
    I’m reminded of a Civil War movie in which the Union officer asks the Confederate officer why he keeps on fighting. His answer was ‘this is our land and your on it’. I suspect that is the root of the dilemma that the US faces and none of the chicken hawks have an answer.

  82. 82.

    Paul in KY

    @Keith P: Some kind of urinary tract infection maybe? Associates the pain with the litter box.

    Time for vet appt & a new now-outside cat, it appears.

  85. 85.

    Morzer

    Dollars to donuts most of those chickenhawks are in the pocket of the arms manufacturers, just the way the NRA is in the pocket of the gun companies.

  86. 86.

    Morzer

    @Keith P:

    Might be a urinary tract infection that causes the cat’s urine to smell really bad, leading the cat to stay away from the tainted litterbox and find less malodorous areas to perform in. I don’t know whether you’ve taken measures to really blast the litterbox with some sort of cleaner, but I’d take the critter to the vet asap and consider investing in a new litterbox.

  87. 87.

    Jay C

    @Keith P:

    Yep, inappropriate-location peeing is usually a sign of trouble, most likely kidney/bladder related(?): time for a trip to the vet.
    Also: while it is usually a futile endeavor, cats being cats, you might try relocating him off your bed (at least); some times repeated relocation will give the idea that it’s not a good idea to nest (or relieve themself) in a particular place. Maybe.

  88. 88.

    Jay C

    @Baud:

    Jeez, people. Raven’s anniversary isn’t until tomorrow

    Yeah, but if we post our good wishes today, we won;t have to worry about missing it tomorrow….

    Happy Anniversary, raven!!

  89. 89.

    Morzer

    @Jay C:

    Moreover, in wishing Comrade raven and Comrade Madame raven well a day early, we are simply following the maestro’s example.

  90. 90.

    StringOnAStick

    @Keith P: Take your indoor cat to the vet, pronto. Peeing and crapping on what were previously valued spaces for snoozing is a sign it is sick, and is trying to get your attention.

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