Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Battle won, war still ongoing.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

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

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

In my day, never was longer.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

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

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

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Reader Interactions

41Comments

  1. 1.

    Patricia Kayden

    Looking forward to President Obama’s speech, but not to hearing the Grand Jury’s decision in Ferguson.

  3. 3.

    Timurid

    Is the timing of the Ferguson announcement just an educated guess, or is there some kind of leak/inside info to that effect?

    What would be the advantage of dropping that bomb on a Friday? You’d think they would want to use the pressure of work/school the next day to keep as many people at home as possible…

  4. 4.

    skerry

    @Timurid: I’m betting on Friday after school. Next week is a shortened school week due to Thanksgiving. If I lived there post-announcement, my kids would be kept home Monday and Tuesday. Already no school Wed, Thurs, Fri.

    (Hell, when my kids were young I regularly pulled them out those 2 days to get a full week off. Did 7 days in Disney World once. Never again.)

  5. 5.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    What would be the advantage of dropping that bomb on a Friday? You’d think they would want to use the pressure of work/school the next day to keep as many people at home as possible…

    @Timurid: You’re assuming that the Ferguson PD and DA want to avoid riots. I believe the contrary. They would like nothing better than to have a big, out-of-control, terrifying riot.

  6. 6.

    Tree With Water

    “The country’s going to go nuts, because they’re going to see it as a move outside the authority of the president, and it’s going to be a very serious situation,” Coburn said on Capital Download. “You’re going to see – hopefully not – but you could see instances of anarchy. … You could see violence.”

    First Nixon, now Coburn. Twice in a few days. Those people are aching to shed blood. They are intent to create a Reichstag fire they can call their own.

  7. 7.

    Danton

    The advantage of announcing the grand jury on Friday is the same advantage of a Friday news dump: it’s the weekend and no one wants to watch the news on a Friday night. The reputation of Missouri will remain bright and shiny.

    I am being ironic.

  8. 8.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I am unreasonably furious that none of the three legacy networks will be airing the President’s speech tonight. In my opinion, any network news outlet that fails to air the speech live and in its entirety should forfeit the opportunity to have anyone — their own reporting/anchor staff, contributing pundit panelists, or Sunday-morning guests — express an on-air opinion about the speech or the topic. At ALL. This just pisses me off.

  9. 9.

    Cacti

    The President’s immigration announcement coincides with the broadcast of the Latin Grammys this evening.

    Well played, Mr. President.

  10. 10.

    am

    Nailed it Tim F. I hate Friday news dumps, and even more so that they’re as effective as they are…

  12. 12.

    hoodie

    @Cacti: You expect anything less? Obama is sowing the seeds for a new majority, and continues to troll the right into doing the stupidest things imaginable (they had a big hand in creating the imperial presidency, so it’s only fitting they get it back good and hard). The last of the old deadwood of the old Dem coalition has been swept away. It would be my luck that my stupid white southern brethren have yet again chosen to be on the losing side.

  14. 14.

    Liberty60

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:
    I’m going to bang this drum again.
    Why shouldn’t we repeal the 2nd Amendment?
    Or at least force a debate about it?
    Lets force everyone to provide a moral justification for why there should exist a “right” to own a gun. Why can’t they be regulated like a car?

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    @SiubhanDuinne: I don’t think you’re unreasonably furious at all.

    The big 3 legacy networks should have given airtime, at least one should have done so. As it is, they’re proving how $$-driven and un-news oriented they are.

    They’re reminding us they’re irrelevant.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    May we have a PBO Immigration speech open thread (suspect that’s already in the works), and maybe a thread on the late, extraordinarily great Mike Nichols? He did so much more than I knew.

    TCM, for you untattooed viewers, will celebrate Nichols’ work on December 6 with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Graduate, and Carnal Knowledge.

    And maybe they’ll play every Nichols movie over the next few months. Quite a catalog.

    Had forgotten he directed “The Birdcage” (that and Moscow on the Hudson were my fave Robin Williams movies — oh, and Mrs. Doubtfire).

  18. 18.

    Mike E

    My local CBS teevee station will broadcast the president’s speech live and in it’s entirety, delaying tonight’s lineup of programs accordingly.

  19. 19.

    PIGL

    @SiubhanDuinne: they Should forfeit their broadcasting licensed, now exposed as the active branches of a political party.

    Srsly, were I president, armored brigades would now surround those network HQs and the Capitol. The slow motion plutocrat coup is near its dreadful end. Time to crush it or surrender.

    This of course is why I will never be president and I’m sure you’ll think that’s probably for the best….. I still think I’m pretty much right, though.

  20. 20.

    The Dangerman

    I’m guessing Mr. Wilson gets indicted and the riots are delayed (as I don’t see him getting convicted).

    Yes, as a matter of fact, my glass is currently half full right now.

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    @The Dangerman:

    I would like to see Wilson indicted. He then gets a fair trial.

    The police have behaved shabbily here.

    I wonder if the Grand Jury might do the right thing. You have the precedent of the stupes who acquitted George Zimmerman, who made obvious to all in following months what an unstable and dangerous character he was.

    The prosecutor may very well be flawed, but maybe that Grand Jury has some more forward-thinking people on it.

    Of course, they have to be given enough to hang an indictment on …

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    Tim –
    I might be wrong about this, but I think it IS Friday already, for some of us. (Lookin’ at YOU, Amir Khalid.)

    Assuming I’m right, I have a question for Amir: How was Obama’s speech? And how bad were the riots in Ferguson?

    OK, two questions.

    ETA: Of course, if I’m wrong (I know – who’d a thunk it?), then: Never Mind.

  24. 24.

    Trollhattan

    @SFAW:
    A chunk of the planet is enjoying Friday and the Beeb already has some speech details.

    Nearly five million people living illegally in the US can escape deportation under sweeping changes to the US immigration system. US President Barack Obama will unveil his plan, which he is enacting without Congress, in a televised address.

    “The president is taking an important step to fix our broken immigration system,” said a White House statement before Mr Obama’s speech, due at 2000EST (0100GMT). He will pledge to to crack down on illegal immigration at the border and require certain undocumented migrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes in order to register to stay temporarily in the US.

    More details include:

    expanding eligibility requirements for those already subject to deportation deferment because they were brought to the US as children

    ensuring undocumented parents of US citizens or legal permanent residents can temporarily escape deportation
    shifting additional resources to the US-Mexico border to increase the likelihood of apprehending illegal crossers
    streamlining the immigration court process to address the backlog of pending cases

    directing government enforcement activities to national security threats, serious criminals and recent border crossers as highest priorities for removal from the US

    Also, too, DiFi is throwing in the towel for California drought relief negotiations this session, which is probably good since she was evidently freezing out Delta interests.
    http://mavensnotebook.com/2014/11/20/this-just-in-senator-feinstein-issues-statement-on-drought-negotiations-although-we-have-made-progress-it-has-become-clear-that-we-will-be-unable-to-present-an-agreed-upon-proposal-before-co/

  26. 26.

    Tree With Water

    When did Utah start eating its Wheaties?

    Salon.com has posted the following:

    In what amounts to a pissing match on a national scale, a Utah state legislative committee will vote on a bill that could deprive a National Security Agency facility just outside Salt Lake City of its water, all in protest of the government agency’s collection of civilian data. Specifically, the bill prohibits municipalities from giving “material support or assistance in any form to any federal data collection and surveillance agency.”

  27. 27.

    dance around in your bones

    @Trollhattan: I’m listening to Eddie Vedder….but I’d love to listen to Obama if anyone has a link.

    This immigration shit makes me crazy. I think I mentioned the other night that I lived in Mexico for many years, and all the gringos I knew could freely cross back and across the border to their condos and vacation houses.

    But my Mexican girlfriend couldn’t even get one of those “I’ll only travel within 30 miles of the border visas” to go shopping at the dollar stores in San Ysidro. I told her that was just WRONG, just WRONG.

    Gawdamn I’m getting pissy tonight. Back to Eddie and his lovely face and muscles:) (Plus he’s a surfer. and I admire them greatly…..knowing many:)

    Dancing on the water……..

  28. 28.

    The Dangerman

    @Elizabelle:

    Of course, they have to be given enough to hang an indictment on …

    Well, we have that ham sandwich thing.

    Given that Black Friday is SO important, all over, and there will be riots, all over, if Wilson isn’t indicted, I just have to think we get the ham sandwich thing. As for a successful prosecution, different thing entirely.

    Now my glass is more than half empty. Time for a refill.

  29. 29.

    Tree With Water

    “First Nixon, now Coburn. Twice in a few days. Those people are aching to shed blood. They are intent to create a Reichstag fire they can call their own”.

    Make it three. This is the same swinish mentality that embraced the War in Iraq as a positive good. The chickens are coming home to roost in America (cont’d).

    “Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) on Sunday warned that President Obama’s executive actions and general “lawlessness” on immigration could lead to “ethnic cleansing.”

  30. 30.

    dance around in your bones

    Anne Laurie!! Anne Laurie!! Help us, you are our only hope!!!!

    (For the Prez linky thingy)

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @dance around in your bones:

    I’d love to listen to Obama if anyone has a link.

    The President his ownself sent me an email:

    The White House, Washington

    Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, I’ll address the nation from the East Room of the White House about the actions I’m taking to help fix our broken immigration system.

    This is an issue that every single citizen should care about. It cuts to the fabric of who we are as Americans, and what this country stands for.

    I hope you’ll tune in:

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/immigration-action

    Watch

    President Barack Obama

  33. 33.

    dance around in your bones

    @SiubhanDuinne: Okey dokey!!

    From Eddie to Obama!! I can do that :) Thank you for the linky.

    ETA: Ok, another half hour. I guess I’ll just have to suffer through Eddie and his beautiful eyes and face and arm muscles for a bit more o-O

  35. 35.

    dance around in your bones

    @SiubhanDuinne: You know it, girl!!

    I just watched a young Eddie playing with Pete Townsend and thought “Oh my Gawd, Pete, you used to be so beautiful, but now Eddie is…..”

    I almost wanted Pete to do his arm thing around the guitar and show Eddie up…

  36. 36.

    Pogonip

    @The Dangerman: That’s why I think that if they decide not to indict the guy, they will do it the day after Thanksgiving; they’ll figure all potential rioters will be busy at Walmart.

    I myself would feel safer in a riot, especially if I was one of the rioters, than in a Walmart the day after Thanksgiving. (and let’s all stand with the dwindling forces of civilization and refrain from calling that day Black Friday, with initial caps, yet.)

  37. 37.

    Timurid

    The more I think about it… if the grand jury has decided, the announcement will be pushed back all the way to the week of December 1. Because of Black Friday. It’s such an obvious, soft target, and it can be ruined without firing a shot or breaking a single pane of glass. Just flood the zone with protesters at every mall, shopping district and key intersection. If I was an activist and wanted to make somebody pay after Wilson gets no-billed, that’s exactly what I’d do…

  38. 38.

    dance around in your bones

    I just LOVE this Prez – his speeches are beautiful. As HE is. And before anyone calls me an Obot, uh…..yeah, I AM. I don’t think we’ll see his like anytime soon.

    Ok, finito – back to Eddie and his beautiful eyes :)

  40. 40.

    MoXmas

    Chris King, of the STL American, says an official source told him the GJ was going to decide this Friday. But the County and City PD’s asked for 48 hours to prepare before the official announcement, it is supposed to go public Sunday morning.

    Right or wrong in this case, King is often reasonably plugged in to decent sources.

  41. 41.

    d58826

    @SiubhanDuinne: There are a lot of difficult issues in Washington. Immigration reform isn’t one of them. The Senate has passed a bill that was the hard part), not only by filibuster proof numbers but veto proof numbers. The President has indicated he will sign it. It’s up to the House. All Boehner has to do is forget the Hastert rule and bring the bill to the floor for a vote. It will get 190 or so democratic votes and then all you need are 30 or so GOP votes. Surely you can find 30 GOP house member’s between those that are retiring and those from more moderate purple/blue safe districts to get the job done. This isn’t hard really. I’ll bet that Obama will even invite Boehner and McConnell to the signing ceremony. Oh wait that might be more of a threat to them then a bennie.

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