Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

It’s the corruption, stupid.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

We won’t go back.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

This really is a full service blog.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

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

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

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

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

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Very Early Morning Open Thread

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Well, that was an odd day.

My office is in the Sydney CBD. Like most buildings in the city, mine spent much of the day in lockdown – no one in and no one out – all because of some dickhead with a gun, a flag and a grudge.

The Lindt Cafe is a regular stopping off point for Sydney lawyers – the building which houses the Supreme, Federal and High Courts is just down the road. Like most Sydney residents, I’ve spent the day in “could have been me, could have been my friends” mode.

The hostages seem to be escaping (or are being released) in dribs and drabs. Those poor people – I can’t even imagine. I hope this is going to have a happy ending.

Gun violence is not something that happens over here very often, and Australians’ experience of terrorism (certainly Islamic terrorism) [ETA – not that it’s in any way clear that that is what this is] has almost all taken place on foreign soil. There’s going to be some serious flow-on effects for this country, whatever the outcome.

Reader Interactions

46Comments

  2. 2.

    Anne Laurie

    Glad you’re okay, hope everyone else will be too.

    Keep thinking that the response over here would have been somewhat different, and not for the better.

  3. 3.

    TheMightyTrowel

    Mr. Trowel spent most of the day on lock down too. He said other than not being allowed out for lunch and for his customary site inspection (he’s a construction project manager) it was quiet and much like any other day.

  4. 4.

    Joey Maloney

    With your current dick-headed government, how insane do you think the response will be? Are we looking at a 9/11-style power grab and gratuitous stoking of xenophobia?

  6. 6.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    @TheMightyTrowel:

    quiet and much like any other day.

    Pretty much. The city seemed deserted. Everyone just seemed to buckle down and get back to work, except for the occasional mass watercooler conferences.

    Australians don’t seem prone to panic.

  7. 7.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    I don’t think so. Everyone is being frightfully sensible so far. The right wing dickheads here are bleeding heart lefties compared to most of the Republican party. I haven’t seen anyone, even on the wingnut fringe, suggesting that this is anything but a lone nutbag (let alone some vast mooslim conspiracy).

    I think the effect will be more in terms of uncertainty. The economy is showing signs of weakness; the odd state government is being thrown out after one term (which almost never happens); the government is quite unpopular (and the PM even more so) – I suspect that this will just unsettle the waters even more.

    Of course, a lot depends on whether they get everyone out in one piece.

  8. 8.

    Origuy

    From the BBC:

    In Australia the hashtag #illridewith you is trending, as non-Muslims offer to travel with Muslims on public transport if they feel unsafe following the events in Sydney.

  9. 9.

    Joel Hanes

    some serious flow-on effects for [Australia]

    Yeah. I have a very bad feeling about this …

    As it turned out, a successful terrorist attack did not exactly bring out the best in the American character.

  10. 10.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Joel Hanes: Frankly, I’m going to echo SPT here: australians don’t panic the way americans do. They are pretty laid back and, frankly, they live in an incredibly deep state of denial (bush fires? she’ll be right! sharks? she’ll be right! climate change? she’ll be right!) so I don’t think that the emotive effect will be the same. I’m more worried about the effect in parliament – unlike most australians, australian MPs are the biggest bunch of cry baby whiners you’ve ever seen in your life. They freak out, they wrap themselves in flags, they bury their heads so deep in the sands of group think they might have evolved to eat sand. They’re already passing some of the worst legislation I’ve seen in years – I worry what they’ll push through in the throes of a collective (and totally unshared by the populace) group panic.

  14. 14.

    Schlemazel

    In defense of Americans I’d say our response would have been a lot different if we had steady, competent, leadership in 2001. Instead we had a bunch of pants wetters, the chief one who flew as far away from the coasts as possible & hid on a remote military base when things were in doubt, led by pure evil who saw in 9/11 a great opportunity to instill panic and turn it to their own ends.

    Its not that there is that much difference in the populace but in the parties.

  17. 17.

    Mustang Bobby

    Speaking of terrorists, David Carr in the NY Times has a pretty snarky profile of Charles C. Johnson, the nutjob blogger who posts the personal information of people who have slighted him or otherwise pissed in his campfire.

    “Look, a lot of people are upset with me,” he said, adding, “my batting average is very, very good. Have I got up to the plate and either hit the ball wrong or swung and missed? Yeah, absolutely, but I take risks that other people won’t take because I think the story requires it.”

    Those are very noble words arrayed over some nasty handiwork.

    He sounds like the kid in high school who vows revenge on every jock that gave him a wedgie or girl that laughed when he asked them to the prom.

    Thanks for fucking up the internet for the rest of us, you egocentric and pompous dickhead.

  18. 18.

    Schlemazel

    @OzarkHillbilly: yes I do. He could have made a statement for TV cameras that would have had a calming effect and announced that he was overseeing the response. His going silent and then popping up in the Midwest left people wondering what was going on & just how bad it was.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    I actually don’t remember that much panic in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. I recall the fear being something fomented by the administration in the months that followed.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemazel: The real world doesn’t work like it does on the set of “Independence Day”. He did what he was supposed to do: Stay Alive. As for what was going on… Like anybody knew? Anywhere? If you thought people in general were acting like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, imagine what it was like in gov’t where they had more information than they could possibly process much less ascertain the veracity of any of it and yet still had to DO SOMETHING!!! because the American People ™ DEMAND IT!!!***

    So, sorry, you and I do not agree on this in any way shape or form.

    *** My own personal reaction after watching the towers come down was to shrug my shoulders and go to work as I had a couple of side jobs to take care of that day.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Would have cost a lot less if we had just seized every SUV in the country and drained all those gas tanks the idiots just “HAD TO FILL UP” because “WE’RE UNDER ATTACK” and “WHO KNOWS IF WE WILL HAVE GAS TOMORROW”. Probably would have lasted longer too. But yes, you are right, I am a bastard. Only in the finest sense of the word tho.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: I’m just a Socialist Slovenian ni**er loving imposter who HATES! America and needs to be hung from the Old Oak in the county square.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    I don’t remember gas shortages after 9/11 but, I do remember gas shortages after a hurricane hit the Houston area. The lesson learned was fill up the tank when it reaches the half way mark.

  36. 36.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Baud: Yup. It took an hour or more for many in the Pentagon to realize what happened. The federal government didn’t send people home (causing a 20 min commute to turn into about 3 hours) until around a couple of hours after it happened.

    The trumped-up “panic” came later…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    Botsplainer

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You blame Bush for following Secret Service protocols?

    I’m with you on that one. It made sense at the time, as it was an unfolding crisis, and still makes sense.

    There’s plenty of castigation to go around for feckless acts of stupidity, hubris, cowardice and “what the fucks” (Congress singing the smarmy and pathetically weak “God Bless America” instead of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” topping the last list), but following security protocols for continuity dispersal was not the problem.

  39. 39.

    beth

    Turned on CNN for a moment. Scoldy-faced morning blond says “well the Sydney hostage crisis feels like an act of terrorism”. So that’s how we report news now? Based on what it feels like? Then they go to how will terrorism affect the 2016 election. Thank God tv’s have off buttons.

  40. 40.

    MomSense

    @Botsplainer:

    Yeah I disagreed with pretty much everything about the Bush response to 9-11 but I do think it warrants pointing out that 3 planes crashing into major buildings and 1 plane crashing into the ground because passengers commandeered it from hijackers is a bit larger in scale than a hostage taking at a cafe.

    And my thoughts for safe release are with the hostages, their families, and the people tasked with trying to secure their release.

  41. 41.

    mai naem mobile

    I was watching Mornin’ Ho and, as usual, they became your typical American media ho. First, Mika asks the Aussie reporter who the kidnapper/terrahrist is after the reporter’s told her the police have asked not to release the name and he’s not releasing it. Then Ho takes over. He apparently thought that him being a manly man was going to get the reporter to release the name, because, you know why listen to a simple request from.the police? Just embarrassing.

  42. 42.

    Betty Cracker

    CNN says cops are storming the cafe. I hope everyone makes it out alive, including the nutbag hostage taker.

  44. 44.

    billb

    Geo. Washington took the fight to the enemy. A. Jackson kicked their azz. L. Johnson flew to the hurricane disaster and went in himself. Leaders Lead! g w bush is a pussy who would not serve in the war, and could not bother to show up at his Reserve Unit. His Father was Man enough to serve, J. Kennedy served heroically. We need to arrest the torture-leaders and jail them, starting with GW and Darth cHeney. You say you love water-boarding Dick, now its your turn……

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