• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

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

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

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

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

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

The words do not have to be perfect.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

The lights are all blinking red.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

We still have time to mess this up!

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Wednesday Evening Open Thread

Wednesday Evening Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  September 10, 20145:13 pm| 124 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, #notintendedtobeafactualstatement

FacebookTweetEmail

The America-hating AP dares to suggest that ISIS is not outside your window trying to kill you RIGHT NOW. http://t.co/Xedmcs1UIF

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) September 10, 2014

Greg Sargent, also — “Is the Media Putting Its Thumb on the Scale?“:

…[H]alf-baked suggestions that Americans want generic “action” risk being misleading. What actions do Americans actually support? It turns out the WSJ poll also finds that 40 percent say “action” should be “limited to air strikes only” and another 15 percent say we shouldn’t act at all — a total of 55 percent. Meanwhile, all of 34 percent support air strikes and sending in combat troops — perhaps higher than one might expect, but still only one in three Americans.

What’s more, the poll also finds that only 27 percent* say the U.S. should become “more active in world affairs.” That’s up from April, but still, it represents barely more than one in four Americans. Meanwhile, 40 percent say we should be less active and another 29 percent say we should maintain our current level of activeness — a total of 69 percent….

* (That number, again!)

@daveweigel lies! ISIS has ebola and is part of the teacher's union! I HEARD IT ON RUSH.

— Highly scatological (@RaisingOneBrow) September 10, 2014

@daveweigel They are fogging up my windows with their hot breath.

— Paula Green (@boycothumana) September 10, 2014

***********
Apart from waiting for the President’s address to the nation, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Good news everybody
Next Post: Open Thread: “Such A Bargain!” »

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  1. 1.

    Cacti

    September 10, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    As I mentioned the other day, CNN finessed the results of their own poll into a headline that read: Majority of Americans alarmed at ISIS.

    Buried in the 4th paragraph was the finding that the public opposed another ground war in Iraq 61% to 38%.

    War is good for the bottom line of the news business.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    September 10, 2014 at 5:19 pm

    Meanwhile, all of 34 percent support air strikes and sending in combat troops

    Until Obama does it.

  3. 3.

    lol

    September 10, 2014 at 5:19 pm

    Goodell just fucked up the cushiest high paying job in the world.

  4. 4.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 5:21 pm

    A lawyer-person evidently used these words to form some kind of “argument” before an appellate court.

    [It’s] as though the federal government had passed an edict that said that parents much provide a stocked unlocked liquor cabinet in their house whenever they’re away for their minor and adult daughters to use, and Mormons came in and objected to that. It is exactly the same situation.

    http://wonkette.com/559825/barack-obama-turning-missouri-republicans-daughters-into-slut-pill-popping-hooers#ixzz3CwxSQFXK

    This ironclad analogy is somehow supposed to lead to the end of Obama’s reign of birth-control terror.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    September 10, 2014 at 5:24 pm

    @Trollhattan:

    So employers are our parents now?

    ETA: Ok, I clicked the link and it’s actually dumber than the argument against having BC covered by employer-based insurance.

  6. 6.

    gene108

    September 10, 2014 at 5:26 pm

    Regarding the state Sen Millar’s comments about “educated” people being able to vote, folks need to remember something very important: Literacy Tests are illegal via the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its renewals, there is no Constitutional amendment banning literacy tests, unlike poll taxes.

    Given the Roberts Court’s striking down part of the VRA, it is kind of unnerving that a lawsuit could bring back literacy tests, if it goes before the Roberts Court.

  7. 7.

    Jay C

    September 10, 2014 at 5:28 pm

    @Baud:

    So employers are our parents now?

    For now. Until they can be legally re-classified as “masters”.

  8. 8.

    schrodinger's cat

    September 10, 2014 at 5:28 pm

    The media has more than its thumb on the scale. Most of them are advocating for war at this point.

  9. 9.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 5:28 pm

    @Baud:
    “Employers are people, my friend, while my parents are monsters!
    Guns, of course, are still Man’s Best Friend(tm)”

    Is anybody over there not on the grift? I can’t keep track.

  10. 10.

    Mnemosyne

    September 10, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    Blogwhoring time! I have a list of my Pre-Code DVR recommendations for Friday, updated with a new suggestion by NotMax. Hoping to have my piece about Night Nurse posted later tonight, but it may be after the East Coast kiddies go to bed.

  11. 11.

    skerry

    September 10, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    @Baud:

    “The employees are to Hobby Lobby what the daughters are to Paul and Teresa Wieland,” attorney Timothy Belz said

    Your boss is your new daddy.

  12. 12.

    Citizen_X

    September 10, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    What actions do Americans actually support?

    Pretty much what Obama is doing, that pu$$y loser. FAILURE TO LEAD ARGLE BARGLE!!!

  13. 13.

    Suffern ACE

    September 10, 2014 at 5:30 pm

    @Baud: And if I am reading it correctly, if your strong patriarchial reading of Christian texts leads you to believe that you possess your daughters until they are married, the government has to accept that.

  14. 14.

    Culture of Truth

    September 10, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    @lol: Yeah, but for a good reason. To cover up Ray Rice punching his girlf– wait I’ll go and come back again

  15. 15.

    Mustang Bobby

    September 10, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    Watching the twitterpation of the cable channels about tonight’s address and the subsequent war, I can’t help but think they’re all excited about the inevitable ratings boost that will come from the breathless reporting of more war.

    They’re turning William Randolph Hearst’s line on its head: “You furnish the war and we’ll provide the pictures.”

  16. 16.

    kindness

    September 10, 2014 at 5:33 pm

    I am not a Twitter fan. Don’t have the time to follow everything. But the mockery aspect…OK, I can see a use for it there. Still not going to get on it and follow anyone.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    September 10, 2014 at 5:36 pm

    @Trollhattan: What do you expect from Jefferson County? (kind of a MO joke)

  18. 18.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    Anniversaries not to miss–“Young Frankenstein” at 40. Still among my top two or three comedies.

  19. 19.

    Culture of Truth

    September 10, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    It’s part of the Military-Industrial-Beltway Pundit Complex. Of the three, the last has been pushing for war the most. The need it for ratings and prizes and weepy specials and heart-warming pieces and patriotic breaking coverage . Hell, Jake Tapper got a book out of it.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    September 10, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    @Mustang Bobby:

    WAR! What is it good for?
    Absolutely ratings.

  21. 21.

    RSR

    September 10, 2014 at 5:39 pm

    lol’ed at the teacher’s union bit

  22. 22.

    Mike in NC

    September 10, 2014 at 5:40 pm

    The corporate media needs to “catapult the propaganda” (per Dubya) for the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex.

    After 9/11, some nitwit NCIS agent in DC told us not to wear our uniforms and to remove base vehicle decals from our cars because there were terrorists lurking behind every tree.

    Also, too, since the late Hugo Chavez said something critical of the Bush Administration, mighty Venezuela suddenly became an existential threat to our lives and liberties. Even worse than the omnipotent North Korea!

  23. 23.

    SatanicPanic

    September 10, 2014 at 5:40 pm

    Another war is a dumber idea than that Apple watch

  24. 24.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    @Mustang Bobby: Hearst didn’t have all that file video. “Alright, gimme an F-15 and F-16 and-sub-and-ship-launched cruise-missile montage, on five, four, three…roll tape and cue Blitzer.”

  25. 25.

    Culture of Truth

    September 10, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    They’ve been pushing for war for months now. If not ISIS, someone, somewhere.

  26. 26.

    Anne Laurie

    September 10, 2014 at 5:42 pm

    @kindness: You don’t have to join Twitter to read it — I haven’t!

  27. 27.

    max

    September 10, 2014 at 5:43 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: The media has more than its thumb on the scale. Most of them are advocating for war at this point.

    Most of them have been pretty much advocating for war since, uh, er, ever. But in this incarnation, particularly breathlessly since BENGHAZI! (We lost four guys, people! We lose more than that in helicopter accidents in Afghanistan!) It’s like they’re more Republican than Republicans.

    max
    [‘”They wanna go to war to stop us buying Japanese…”‘]

  28. 28.

    Hill Dweller

    September 10, 2014 at 5:44 pm

    I see the Republicans are giving a ‘rebuttal’ to President Obama’s speech. Bring on the meteor.

  29. 29.

    different-church-lady

    September 10, 2014 at 5:45 pm

    Once again the president will go on the TV and say something sane. Sane people will breath a sigh of relief, and insane people will be more insane because the president did not feed their insane ideas.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    September 10, 2014 at 5:47 pm

    Well, you can now add “unarmed County Supervisor” to the list of things that will stop a bad guy with a gun. The wife and I drove thru Maquoketa last summer on our way up to MSP and stayed at Maquoketa Caves State Park for the night and walked thru the caves the next morning. Really pretty country thereabouts.

  31. 31.

    chopper

    September 10, 2014 at 5:48 pm

    @Trollhattan:

    Oh FFS. We need a constitutional amendment barring men from all elected and appointed government positions.

  32. 32.

    Dog On Porch

    September 10, 2014 at 5:49 pm

    Anyone interested in corporate hubris in action need look no further than the unfolding NFL story. The Shield is in the process of shooting its own two feet one toe at a time.

    I’ve already nominated Amy Trask as Goodell’s replacement. But according to the most recent AP story, it was a female voice that confirmed the NFL did indeed receive a copy of the Rice sucker punch. I doubt there are many female executives at NFL headquarters, and I sure hope it’s not her.

  33. 33.

    Mustang Bobby

    September 10, 2014 at 5:50 pm

    @Trollhattan:

    Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Igor, help me with the bags.

    Igor: [Imitating Groucho Marx] Soitenly. You take the blonde, I’ll take the one in the toiben.

    Still cracks me up.

  34. 34.

    elmo

    September 10, 2014 at 5:50 pm

    “Damn it, man, we *have* to invade Iraq! Our, um, uh… Our families are-are-are in there. Our, uh, mothers and-and, tiny, tiny babies!”

    /Chuck Giles

  35. 35.

    Mustang Bobby

    September 10, 2014 at 5:52 pm

    @Hill Dweller: You can’t spell “rebuttal” without “a butt.”

    Who’s the butt that the GOP are going to foist on us?

  36. 36.

    SatanicPanic

    September 10, 2014 at 5:54 pm

    @Hill Dweller: Why do they even do that anymore? They embarrass themselves every time.

  37. 37.

    mdblanche

    September 10, 2014 at 5:54 pm

    @max: This. The media has struck me as the most hawkish group in this country for years now. At this point there aren’t even many Republicans who match them except backbench Senator with no leadership role John McCain and his work-wives Ayotte and Graham. Maybe that’s why they always have one or more of them over every Sunday morning.

  38. 38.

    Berial

    September 10, 2014 at 5:54 pm

    Of course the news agencies are for war. War means more viewers. More viewers means more advertising money. More money is why they are in the business to start with!

    Capitalism; not so good at actually distributing that rarest of commodities, facts.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    September 10, 2014 at 5:59 pm

    @Hill Dweller:

    “President Roosevelt says that the United States of America was “suddenly and deliberately” attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. But aren’t the American people entitled to know how the President allowed this attack to happen.”

    Yeah, thank God the president is black, or a rebuttal in this context could be considered offensive.

  40. 40.

    Kay

    September 10, 2014 at 6:03 pm

    I’m applying for an absentee ballot as a test. I usually vote “in person absentee”, which means “early”.

    I had better get one :)

  41. 41.

    skerry

    September 10, 2014 at 6:04 pm

    @Hill Dweller: Who? Please let it be Ted Cruz.

  42. 42.

    Anoniminous

    September 10, 2014 at 6:09 pm

    Heavily armed religious nutters are a direct threat to America.

    Are we talking about Iraq or Alabama? (I’m getting confused.)

    (Edited to correct pronoun shortage.)

  43. 43.

    Iowa Old Lady

    September 10, 2014 at 6:10 pm

    @Jay C: What’s more, two of the daughters are 18 and 19, old enough that they don’t need their parents’ consent for medical treatment.

  44. 44.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    September 10, 2014 at 6:10 pm

    What a miserable day. The drive shaft in my car is loose and I doubt I’ll have the money to fix it. So it looks like I’m going to have to cancel most of my road trips to watch hockey this winter and try to baby it along.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    September 10, 2014 at 6:13 pm

    @Hill Dweller: Seriously? A rebuttal? Has that ever been done for a president’s speech announcing military action against a foreign threat?

  46. 46.

    Patricia Kayden

    September 10, 2014 at 6:15 pm

    @gene108: As much as I hate the Roberts Supreme Court, I cannot imagine that it could bring back literacy tests or poll taxes as a way to further depress the Black vote. But perhaps I’m just naive.

  47. 47.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 6:15 pm

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    Bummer. RWD? U-joints are (typically) cheap and easy. FWD? varies a lot.

  48. 48.

    Botsplainer

    September 10, 2014 at 6:17 pm

    @max:

    Industrial……DIS-ease….

    Love that song.

  49. 49.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 6:17 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:
    Just “an umpire” calling balls and strikes. Right up until the fastball to the balls. The trick, I suppose, is making bloody sure a relevant case doesn’t come before them.

  50. 50.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    September 10, 2014 at 6:18 pm

    @max: Goodness me, goodness me….

  51. 51.

    Jay C

    September 10, 2014 at 6:20 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Also, too, since the late Hugo Chavez said something critical of the Bush Administration, mighty Venezuela suddenly became an existential threat to our lives and liberties

    Riiiiiight! A country that can’t even secure its own supply of toilet paper is going to be a vital threat to US interests……

  52. 52.

    Citizen_X

    September 10, 2014 at 6:21 pm

    @skerry: I say it should be Rand Paul. He could do two: a pro-war rebuttal and an anti-war rebuttal.

  53. 53.

    feebog

    September 10, 2014 at 6:21 pm

    I’m so fking sick of this. We are playing Charlie Brown to Lucy and the football. Yes, it is outrageous that ISIL brutally murdered two journalists and then published it on social media. Saudi Arabia executes several people, many of them innocent or guilty of minor crimes by decapitation every week. No one says word one about that. ISIS is trying to lure us into a protracted ground war on their terms and we are walking right into it. If we want to help the Iraqis chase them out of their country, fine, but bombing ISIL targets in Syria is very dangerous. Assad has already said he considers it a declaration of war, so we would not only have bomb ISIL targets, but watch our backs as we do it. Syria has a pretty good air defense system (thanks Putin) and it is not inconceivable that we could lose some plane and some pilots. Let the Turks and the Saudis deal with this mess, it’s in their backyard, not ours.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    September 10, 2014 at 6:23 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    Whoever gives the rebuttal will do that. I’d almost be ok with the rebuttal if it gave a firm position either for greater war or no war. But it won’t. It’ll be some lame criticism of Obama’s leadership.

  55. 55.

    Bystander

    September 10, 2014 at 6:25 pm

    One day since Cuomo found out 1/3 of the party hates him, I just saw the first ad attacking Rob Astorino.

    Glad there was no time to waste.

  56. 56.

    srv

    September 10, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    I only trust Obama’s Secretary of State, and he’s wanting boots on the ground. They just need to do something scary.

  57. 57.

    AxelFoley

    September 10, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    @lol:

    Goodell just fucked up the cushiest high paying job in the world.

    His job is safe. He makes the owners money, hand over fist. Until that money stops rolling in, Roger ain’t going nowhere.

  58. 58.

    Botsplainer

    September 10, 2014 at 6:29 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    On ITV and BBC they talk about the curse, philosophy is useless, theology is worse…

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7rWuc5kar3Y

  59. 59.

    ellie

    September 10, 2014 at 6:29 pm

    Waiting to hear about a job my husband applied for. I must vent: I can understand not sending out rejection letters to the thousands of people who apply but don’t get invited to interview. But what about the handful of people who interview? Is it too much to ask to send out a rejection letter, even if it is an email, to the small number of people who interviewed?

    Apparently.

    A decision is being made before Friday. To muck up the waiting, we missed a call from the place but no message was left. My husband called back, but no one answered. He left a message. So our options are: the place made a mistake in calling him because no message was left OR they are so unprofessional that they didn’t leave a message telling him he got the job. Come to think of it, both options smack of unprofessionalism.

    Urge to kill rising. I am required to be professional, to return calls and emails, to leave messages. I guess I am in the minority.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    September 10, 2014 at 6:29 pm

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Chances are real good that you have a bad u-joint or C-V joint. U-joints are cheap and easy to replace (I would say any idiot could do it, but then again, looking at some of the idiots I know…) C-V joints are more expensive and more difficult to replace but still reasonable in cost.

    Find a way to fix the problem. The list of far more expensive things that can be damaged by a dropped drive shaft is not limited to “ripping the transmission (if front wheel drive) or rear end differential right out of the vehicle”.***

    *** an exaggeration, happens on the race track at 150+ mph, not on the street at 30 or 45, but you can do serious damage. I dropped one in the middle of Nebraska once at 70 mph and considered myself very lucky that I only bent my drive shaft. ‘Course, it took a day and a half to find a shop that could straighten it. That was the same trip I blew out my rear differential in Murdo SD…. Bad trip.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    September 10, 2014 at 6:31 pm

    @srv: While you are trolling, it is true that Kerry has been the designated public hawk before.

  62. 62.

    AxelFoley

    September 10, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Once again the president will go on the TV and say something sane. Sane people will breath a sigh of relief, and insane people will be more insane because the president did not feed their insane ideas.

    Sums it all up.

  63. 63.

    some guy

    September 10, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    Assist ing the Assad regime in getting rid of the Saudi militants occupying parts of Syria is a splendid idea. Destroying Wahabbi terrorists by any means necessary is a good idea. Hell, we provided air support to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in their recent battle againt ISIS at Amerli, so partnering with Assad really isn’t that big of a leap.

  64. 64.

    Valdivia

    September 10, 2014 at 6:36 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    exactly what I was going to ask. Just read it will be Rand Paul at 10 on Fox.

  65. 65.

    scav

    September 10, 2014 at 6:37 pm

    @ellie: I was interviewed by a big firm with multiple friends there in the very dept (I would have been working under an immediately prior boss) and still no one ever bothered to call back about not getting the job. You’re disposable and unimportant seems to be the new professional message from many firms.

  66. 66.

    some guy

    September 10, 2014 at 6:37 pm

    @feebog:

    The Turks and the House of Saud? You mean the people who funded, armed, and support ISIS?

    sure, that will work.

  67. 67.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    September 10, 2014 at 6:38 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: The folks at the shop (who I trust, for what it’s worth) were talking about needing to replace the drive shaft. Given that what I know about drive trains would fit on a 3×5 card I have no idea what that means or how to take it.

  68. 68.

    Liberty60

    September 10, 2014 at 6:39 pm

    @Trollhattan:
    I do find it revealing that they see “Employer” and “Parent” as “exactly the same situation”.

    Corey Robin is proven right, again- conservatism really IS about preserving private power.

  69. 69.

    Amir Khalid

    September 10, 2014 at 6:40 pm

    @SatanicPanic:
    The marketing of the Apple watch is itself amazingly dumb. By touting it as an interface device for your iPhone, Apple is as much as admitting that the iPhone fails as its own interface device. Doesn’t that give Samsung an opening to say that their phones work just fine without a smart watch”?

    As for a cool watch, it falls between two stools. The ones people wear to impress cost thousands, even tens of thousands, of dollars. A US$350 watch is low-rent crap in comparison, even if it’s an Apple and looks elegantly simple. And perfectly good digital watches, more accurate than any Rolex, can be had from Casio for, like, thirty bucks.

    As for the fitness/health tracking functions, great. But not original. And it’s in competition with dedicated devices in that space, which is not a good sign.

    I saw this Slate story, a glorified sales pitch, and came away deeply unimpressed.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    September 10, 2014 at 6:41 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    And it doesn’t even ship until next year.

  71. 71.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 10, 2014 at 6:42 pm

    Do people in the general public honestly care about beheaded journalists? Like, “I didn’t much care about ISIS before, but now they’re beheading journalists, we need to go get ’em?” That’d be like going to war in Israel/Palestine over Klinghoffer. I don’t remember anyone wanting to do that. I can’t imagine that this is really the source of War Fever 2014.

  72. 72.

    Liberty60

    September 10, 2014 at 6:42 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Has that ever been done for a COMMANDER IN CHIEF ‘S speech announcing A TIME OF WAR against AMERICAN ENEMIES?

    Fixt it.

  73. 73.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    September 10, 2014 at 6:43 pm

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Though that could also mean that I completely misunderstood the woman at the shop, too. I guess a lot hinges on what, exactly, she meant by, “Probably a lot,” when I asked her how much it would be. I’m waiting for them to get back to me with an estimate.

  74. 74.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 10, 2014 at 6:44 pm

    @Liberty60:

    I do find it revealing that they see “Employer” and “Parent” as “exactly the same situation”.

    We’ve seen this analogy before: God:man::king:subject::husband:wife::father:child. It’s called “patriarchy.”

  75. 75.

    srv

    September 10, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    But not original.

    It’s not a watch, it’s a lifestyle.

    So the iPhone wasn’t the original smartphone either. But it sells 50M more per quarter.

    I love all the ‘pro’ joggers and droidnerds ranting about having to carry an iPhone with it. In the meantime, every jogger running by me has an iPhone strap or on their waist. Every guy at the gym has a smartphone. Every single one of them rechecks it between reps. It’s hysterical.

    It’s also a great business model.

  76. 76.

    Amir Khalid

    September 10, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    @Berial:
    In other words, the logical extreme of “if it bleeds it leads” journalism.

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    September 10, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    @Valdivia: Christ on a croissant. FWIW, I think spending a nickel or an ounce of national prestige on the ISIS “threat” is stupid. But we used to have this “politics stops at the water’s edge” thing. At least in public.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    September 10, 2014 at 6:49 pm

    @ellie:

    From what I’ve been told, companies don’t notify people that they did not get the job anymore for fear of lawsuits. I doubt it’s a realistic fear, but that’s the excuse I’ve heard.

  79. 79.

    Jebediah, RBG

    September 10, 2014 at 6:50 pm

    I don’t follow boxing at all – has it been common knowledge that Floyd Mayweather is such a loathsome fuckknob?

  80. 80.

    Dog On Porch

    September 10, 2014 at 6:50 pm

    If only Americans read more- and therefore knew more- about their own military’s history, they wouldn’t be so easily stampeded. Certainly not by the likes of ‘Isis”.

  81. 81.

    Roger Moore

    September 10, 2014 at 6:51 pm

    @skerry:

    Your boss is your new daddy.

    My daddy doesn’t want to fuck me nearly as bad as my employer does.

  82. 82.

    SatanicPanic

    September 10, 2014 at 6:54 pm

    @Amir Khalid: That was my feeling- why price it at $350? If you’re going to go the Beats by Dr Dre route of basically selling a fashion accessory with some functional aspect, then price it at $1000 so people have to really want to show it off.

    Plus it looks kind of small and plain. I already see people with the phones attached their bicep, why not make the Iwatch a full phone that’s twice as big, then you can cram all kinds of neat stuff into it and have a decent battery? And then it’s more eye-catching.

  83. 83.

    Valdivia

    September 10, 2014 at 6:58 pm

    @Betty Cracker: yep. it’s all bashing opportunism now.

  84. 84.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 7:02 pm

    @Valdivia:

    Just read it will be Rand Paul at 10 on Fox.

    Rand Paul: “I’m a-gin it!”
    Rand Paul’s head-badger: “Bomb the piss oudda dem!”

    More popcorn and beer, please.

  85. 85.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    September 10, 2014 at 7:04 pm

    @Jebediah, RBG: It’s been known for more than a decade that he’s an even more loathsome fuckknob than that piece conveys.

  86. 86.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    @SatanicPanic:
    Why not go whole-hog and put it in a Power Mac Pro chassis that you wear like a Conan//WWF wristcuff?
    “Gotcher remote access device Right Here!”

    I say it goes the way of 3-D teevee.

  87. 87.

    Jebediah, RBG

    September 10, 2014 at 7:07 pm

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    Wow… that’s really saying something, because what I read there was utterly revolting. But he does make a lot of money for a lot of people, so I guess it’s ok. Not sure I even want to know what the “even more” is.

    ETA: Although eventually my curiosity will probably win out.

  88. 88.

    geg6

    September 10, 2014 at 7:10 pm

    Roger Goodell is a big fat liar, says high priestess Villager Nora O’Donnell.

    He’s toast.

  89. 89.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    September 10, 2014 at 7:10 pm

    @Jebediah, RBG: The “even more” is that I’m not even sure you can call Mayweather misogynist because he treats pretty much anyone that way, not just women. And that he’s completely untrustworthy in business matters, too.

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    September 10, 2014 at 7:11 pm

    HILARIOUS!!

    …………..

    Cell Black Django’ with Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj will leave you speechless
    by Chris Witherspoon | September 10, 2014 at 3:37 PM

    Former American Idol contestant-turned-viral web video producer, Todrick Hall, did it again.

    Yesterday, Hall published a video spoofing the song “Cell Block Tango” from the Broadway smash hit Chicago. The video has already received nearly 100k views.

    Cell Black Django features performers in character impersonating some of the pop industry’s brightest stars, including Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Mariah Carey and Solange Knowles.

    http://youtu.be/GcH2TlebV6U

    http://thegrio.com/2014/09/10/cell-black-django-beyonce-mariah-carey-nicki-minaj-rihanna/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Black+News

  91. 91.

    the Conster

    September 10, 2014 at 7:11 pm

    @geg6:

    It’s always always always the cover up that gets them. You’d think these assholes would have learned this by now.

  92. 92.

    shelley

    September 10, 2014 at 7:11 pm

    Who’s doing the Republican rebuttal of O’s speech? Or will there even be one.

  93. 93.

    Turgidson

    September 10, 2014 at 7:13 pm

    @Trollhattan:

    Seriously. There should be wagers placed on how quickly he contradicts himself. It will be well within the Charles Pierce Rule on the Paul Family, stating that within no more than five minutes he will something totally unhinged. I’ll go 3 minutes.

    ETA: I made the mistake of seeing how our favorite Tory Innumerate Clown was handling events. Not well. Not well at all. Where was all this hysterical concern in 2002-03, you nitwit?

  94. 94.

    Roger Moore

    September 10, 2014 at 7:14 pm

    @ellie:

    I can understand not sending out rejection letters to the thousands of people who apply but don’t get invited to interview. But what about the handful of people who interview? Is it too much to ask to send out a rejection letter, even if it is an email, to the small number of people who interviewed?

    Sometimes they don’t want to send rejection messages because they want to leave their options open. The last time I was involved in a hiring decision, we offered the job to our first choice, but after some hemming and hawing, they turned it down. Because we didn’t send out rejection letters to the other candidates, we were able to offer the job to one of the people lower on the list.

  95. 95.

    geg6

    September 10, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    @the Conster:

    It has been my experience that rich and powerful white men are slow learners.

  96. 96.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 7:21 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    Back when I did such things as hiring, we’d do a two-step process where finalists would be told “we’re still deliberating” and only the definite nopes would get a “thanks but no thanks” letter, for just what you’re describing, which happened a lot.

  97. 97.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 10, 2014 at 7:21 pm

    @geg6: I don’t get it. Could you repeat it for me? :P #whiteManNeitherRichNorPowerful

  98. 98.

    Trollhattan

    September 10, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    @geg6:
    I’m just one outta three and I’m still a slow-learner.

    Crap.

    ETA FlipYrWhig semi-GMTA

  99. 99.

    Jebediah, RBG

    September 10, 2014 at 7:28 pm

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    I wonder, then, what the odds are that he dies of natural causes at a ripe old age. Eventually he won’t generate the revenue he does now, but he’ll probably still be a total dick.
    Thanks for the info – I guess I’ll take Mayweather off my Christmas card list.

  100. 100.

    chopper

    September 10, 2014 at 7:29 pm

    Should I get duct tape and plastic for my windows yet?

  101. 101.

    SatanicPanic

    September 10, 2014 at 7:29 pm

    @Trollhattan: hell yeah someone suggest this to Samsung

  102. 102.

    shelley

    September 10, 2014 at 7:29 pm

    oops, just saw somebody else asked about the R rebuttal. Rand Paul, eh? Lovely. And I see somebody also invoked Charlie Pierce’s five minute rule on anything thing Paul says.

  103. 103.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    September 10, 2014 at 7:30 pm

    @geg6: What was the part in the middle?

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    September 10, 2014 at 7:30 pm

    @Jebediah, RBG:

    Odds are pretty high that he’ll end up with Parkinson’s or a related degenerative brain disease, if that’s any consolation.

  105. 105.

    The Pale Scot

    September 10, 2014 at 7:41 pm

    Gee, anyone want to bet me he’s an avid Faux watcher?

    Texas man shoots at Frisbee golfer, barricades himself in home because disc lands in his yard

    Please! I need a new car battery :D

  106. 106.

    mdblanche

    September 10, 2014 at 7:41 pm

    @skerry: As Mr. Scratch said of Benedict Arnold, Ted Cruz is engaged upon other business.

  107. 107.

    jl

    September 10, 2014 at 7:48 pm

    Whelp…. Toronto’s hearty party hardy mayor Rob Ford hospitalized for increasingly severe abdominal pains, that he has been ignoring for at least 3 months. Reports out talking about symptoms consistent with a tumor. Hope of course it is not too serious. Wonder if will shake some common sense into the guy, or will it just further convince him that YOLO is always and only way to go.

    Breaking: Rob Ford Hospitalized
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/breaking-rob-ford-hospitalized

  108. 108.

    Elie

    September 10, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    @feebog:

    My understanding is that we would bomb there only. NO ground troops.

    I totally get your concern, however. I think this whole ISIS thing is way out of proportion to the threat and I think (hope) that Obama already knows this. They 1) have no state sponsor and 2) no airforce or major military infrastructure 3) their financial supporters are knowable and therefore targetable..

    Obama missed his cue to talk trash (not his style), and so he has been asked to write “I will threaten and talk aggressive 4000 times on foolscap paper. He needs to give a good stemwinder and then do something much much slower and limited IMHO. I trust that he gets it but he let his mask slip a week ago and now has to clean that up

  109. 109.

    Julie

    September 10, 2014 at 7:51 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: My grandmother lives in that (absurdly small) town. I did a double-take at the dateline. Weird.

  110. 110.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    September 10, 2014 at 8:05 pm

    My Mum arrived for a visit this evening. She is here for a month. Unfortunately this morning my Bro in Law called and told me that the kennels had called and told him that Mum’s dog had died this morning. I was dreading telling Mum, because I knew she would blame herself for “abandoning” her. That is exactly the reaction she had, despite the fact that as usual they adopted the oldest and most unadoptable dog from the shelter a year ago. Susie was diagnosed with heart failure about two weeks ago and the vet gave her 12 weeks at most. Mum is inconsolable, I have no idea what to do to convince Mum that she gave Susie a wonderful year out of the shelter before she died. She keeps saying “I know she would have been dead in two months, but I think she died because she thought she had been put back in the shelter”. Today should have been a happy day, it turned out to be anything but.

  111. 111.

    burnspbesq

    September 10, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    @SatanicPanic:

    Another war is a dumber idea than that Apple watch

    And just like the Apple watch, millions of Americans want one.

  112. 112.

    shelley

    September 10, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    oronto’s hearty party hardy mayor Rob Ford hospitalized for increasingly severe abdominal pains

    Considering his heavy partying, could be pancreatitis.

  113. 113.

    mdblanche

    September 10, 2014 at 8:10 pm

    @Elie:

    They 1) have no state sponsor

    Serious question: are we sure about that? I’m sure nobody wants to admit it now, but wasn’t there talk of them receiving sponsorship from some of the Sunni states in the region, at least in the past? There’s so much double-dealing in the Middle East on all sides that it wouldn’t surprise me if IS is still receiving covert support from countries publicly calling for strikes against them.

  114. 114.

    Anne Laurie

    September 10, 2014 at 8:11 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    As for a cool watch, it falls between two stools. The ones people wear to impress cost thousands, even tens of thousands, of dollars. A US$350 watch is low-rent crap in comparison, even if it’s an Apple and looks elegantly simple. And perfectly good digital watches, more accurate than any Rolex, can be had from Casio for, like, thirty bucks.

    One reason I like my old-fashioned flip phone is that my pocket is a safer tech center than my wrist. I always bought cheap watches, because I would inevitably slam them in a door or dunk them in the sink one time too many. And why would a sane person want to share extremely personal health data with the entire internet?!?

  115. 115.

    burnspbesq

    September 10, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    @Trollhattan:

    I say it goes the way of 3-D teevee.

    Nope. They’re going to sell eleventy gazillion of the damn things. Because it’s the new cool thing.

  116. 116.

    Anne Laurie

    September 10, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    @Valdivia: On the positive side, this means the GOP Permanent Party has really, positively decided Rand Paul will not be their standardbearer in 2016 (see Jindal, Bobby).

  117. 117.

    WereBear

    September 10, 2014 at 8:20 pm

    @shelley: May Rand Paul succumb to the President Obama Rebuttal Flameout Curse.

  118. 118.

    Elie

    September 10, 2014 at 8:24 pm

    @mdblanche:

    They have no formal state sponsor that would declare themselves as such. All others are potentially discoverable and therefore “fuckable”. Of course, the Saudi’s and perhaps others have given some financial support, but I doubt that ISIS could use them as a full sponsor and safe haven. The Saudis are most likely to have paid them off to keep them out of their hair. I read however, that their ultimate target is the House of Saud.

  119. 119.

    Origuy

    September 10, 2014 at 8:59 pm

    @Elie: The House of Saud has thousands of members. It’s quite possible that some of the ones on the outs with the ruling faction are contributing to ISIS, hoping for greater opportunities with an overthrow of the monarchy.

  120. 120.

    Elie

    September 10, 2014 at 9:03 pm

    Also — how dumb would we be to AGAIN be drawn into stupid shit by some fringe group that likes to yank our “beards”. Seriously. They decapitated two journalists. That is not good as these guys were actually jounalists. Maybe we could send them a couple of our “homeland” assholes — I DO have a few recommendations…
    Why can’t we be cool for once! Do we have to run after every car that comes down the road? Honestly, why is our model the white legislator or news anchor with an IQ of 80 or less?

  121. 121.

    Elie

    September 10, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    @Origuy:

    Ok

    But they are knowable and turn-in-able by the heads of the current House, right. Why don’t they clean out their own crap? When your septic system is broken, nothing smells right, but its a local job. I am tired of the Saudis and their septic system problems.

  122. 122.

    Jebediah, RBG

    September 11, 2014 at 12:47 am

    @Mnemosyne:
    My prediction is gunshot wound.

  123. 123.

    Sondra

    September 11, 2014 at 7:51 am

    Well Gengis Khan could not have asked for better P.R. and he used elephants because the AP hadn’t been invented yet.

    Just sayin……….

  124. 124.

    kathleen

    September 11, 2014 at 10:10 am

    @Cacti: Judging by the photo, the Ferguson PD is as well-equipped or better than ISIS. Maybe we should send them.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - beckya57 - Copper Canyon, Mexico, April 2025
Image by beckya57 (7/31/25)

World Central Kitchen

Donate

Recent Comments

  • Harrison Wesley on Wednesday Night Open Thread (Jul 10, 2025 @ 3:00am)
  • bjacques on War for Ukraine Day 1,231: Wednesday is a Repeat of Tuesday and Thursday Will Likely Be a Repeat of Wednesday (Jul 10, 2025 @ 2:01am)
  • Msb on The Texas Flood Tragedies Continue (Jul 10, 2025 @ 2:00am)
  • Ruckus on Wednesday Night Open Thread (Jul 10, 2025 @ 1:51am)
  • cain on Wednesday Night Open Thread (Jul 10, 2025 @ 1:35am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!