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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

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The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

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Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

T R E 4 5 O N

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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Bleg / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Tikkun Olam

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Tikkun Olam

by Anne Laurie|  May 6, 20154:53 am| 76 Comments

This post is in: Bleg, Open Threads, Daydream Believers

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this modern world pulitzer submission

(via Washington Post)
.

Dan Perkins, aka “Tom Tomorrow”, got nominated for a Pulitizer this year. He didn’t win, but as the Washington Post‘s Michael Cavna explains, just getting the nom is a BFD:

… Since cartooning finalists began being named in 1980, the list of non-staff and/or alternative artists has included Feiffer, Trudeau, Henry Payne (Scripps Howard News Service), “For Better or for Worse” creator Lynn Johnston (Universal Press Syndicate). Ted Rall (Chronicle Features), “Funky Winkerbean” creator Tom Batiuk (King Features) and Matt Bors (Universal Uclick).

All of which makes Perkins perhaps the Prize’s biggest outlier since Feiffer in the ’80s. Perkins, who is self-syndicated, entered cartoons that were published on the Daily Kos, which, as the cartoonist himself notes, “is a blog.” (His work also appears on The Nation.)

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years,” says Perkins, who launched “This Modern World” in the early ’90s, “and certainly for 20 of those years, I was not realistically eligible, because I was an [alternative] outlier.”

Not only did Perkins’s work appear mostly in alt-weekly papers most of those years, but his format is as a text-heavy, multi-panel feature — far from the single-image format that the Pulitzer jurors generally favor…

***********

Also should’ve mentioned this earlier, but *mumblemumble*stuff*mumble*… From longtime commentor a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

I’m still fundraising for Mental Health Awareness Month. I’ve set up the Team Bella Q page for the May 9 NAMI SW Ohio walk. It’s a good cause, and I hope people can help support it, to the extent budgets permit. Donations can be made both anonymously and without an amount displayed. The team message is:

Team Bella Q includes people from all over the internet and the 3D world, each of whom cares about someone who lives with a medical illness known as mental illness.
NAMI offers all its programs at no cost to the participants. Team Bella Q hopes you will join us to raise money for NAMI Southwest OH. Donating is easy, fast, secure, and may be done anonymously.

You may join the team without a donation, and you can do so with your nym from here! Full disclosure: NAMI will require an email address, and will send you emails, but you can unsubscribe from their list pretty easily. In addition, I will not have access to your email address, as NAMI does not disclose them to team captains, though I will thank you through the site from the form there. Thank you to all members of the Juicetariat who’ve already donated.

***********

And faithful commentor WaterGirl asked if I could front-page Al Giordano‘s Kickstarter:

The Field: Narco News as You Know it Could End in 15 Days
… If I’m going to keep being honest with you I have to tell you that I am worried about the future of Narco News and the school, especially if you, the readers, don’t get us to our $25,000 goal by May 19 to make a 2015 School of Authentic Journalism possible.

The school is the crown jewel of this project. It’s what draws and brings new talent to the work of authentic journalism, and provides for the intensive training of the next generations of those who will carry on this work.

It’s not enough for grizzled veterans of investigative journalism like Bill Conroy and I to keep reporting until we no longer can. That’s how too many good journalists and too much good journalism faded out of society in the first place. You’ve probably noticed that experienced journalists too often become more isolated and alienated as years go by until they’ve painted themselves into a dark and cynical corner, and readers stop responding to their work…

… [I]f there is no School of Authentic Journalism this year, I’m worried for the future of this project, and not just because we want and need the fresh energy and talent of the next generation of authentic journalists, although that in itself is a big thing. The consequences would include that there will have to be changes in what we can do with Narco News itself…

My highlight, because I think we can all recognize that syndrome. Kickstarter link, again, is here.
***********
Apart from the Red Queen’s race, what’s on the agenda for the day?

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Reader Interactions

76Comments

  1. 1.

    Betty Cracker

    May 6, 2015 at 5:03 am

    Just laughing at this front page NYT story about how Hillary Clinton’s polling numbers improved during ServerGate. Or rather laughing at the effect the news will have on others.

  2. 2.

    Jay C

    May 6, 2015 at 5:18 am

    Wow – 5:00am ET, and already a new thread – just when I was going to comment on the last one about being another Balloon Juice Insomniac….

    So this year, at least, a purely “internet” cartoonist was at least a Pulitzer nominee/runner-up: there may be a future in this “web” thing, after all….!

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 6, 2015 at 5:22 am

    what’s on the agenda for the day?

    Sweating… Gonna hit 83 this afternoon. Come July I will dream of 83.

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    May 6, 2015 at 5:37 am

    @Betty Cracker:
    Commenter askew will be so disappoint.

  5. 5.

    raven

    May 6, 2015 at 5:39 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: They did some prelim work, took down the rest of the stairs and laid out the footprint. My guy said they poured footings last week and the city rejected them, it was just too wet. I knew he had a reason for not showing up, his communication skills may not be the greatest but I do believe he knows what he’s doing.

  6. 6.

    satby

    May 6, 2015 at 5:54 am

    @Amir Khalid: LOL

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 6, 2015 at 5:56 am

    @raven: The man who moves a mountain starts with a single stone.

  8. 8.

    satby

    May 6, 2015 at 5:57 am

    Been up since 4 am, had most of my pot of coffee, doing laundry now and deciding how to structure the rest of my day. Another pot of coffee may be in my near future.

  9. 9.

    Schlemazel

    May 6, 2015 at 6:12 am

    Since his name is in there, anyone know what Batiuk’s story is? Funky Winkerbean in the 70s was a cute, whimsical comic with a school computer that wanted to be in Star Trek & would transport students on a whim. It disappeared from the local paper when the 2 dailies consolidated into one and when I ran into it a couple years back I found it had turned into a situation tragedy comic. Every situation had a depressing outcome and everyone/thing was a failure and in pain. I don’t think there is another comic like that in the mainstream media.

  10. 10.

    MattF

    May 6, 2015 at 6:12 am

    @Jay C: I think everyone knows that the best comix are on the web. xkcd, Basic Instructions, Dinosaur Comics are my regulars– but there are many others worth following.

  11. 11.

    ThresherK

    May 6, 2015 at 6:22 am

    I take it Mallard Fillmore is just another victim of anti-anatidaeism.

    PS As a Dem I admire Tom Tomorrow’s consistency. Change a couple of words on that top cartoon and it could be 2003 or 2005. It helps keep lefties honest to their own.

  12. 12.

    Patricia Kayden

    May 6, 2015 at 6:22 am

    @Betty Cracker: Great news for John McCain.

  13. 13.

    Mustang Bobby

    May 6, 2015 at 6:26 am

    Came in to work all ready to get stuff done and [poof] the financial system that is the source of all the necessary data for getting stuff done is off-line. Might as well read the comics.

    I seriously miss ZAP Comix.

  14. 14.

    raven

    May 6, 2015 at 6:32 am

    The Bohdi’s bad back prevents him from taking the morning trek for a while but I can pick him up and put him in the van!

  15. 15.

    Baud

    May 6, 2015 at 6:38 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Please proceed, NYT.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 6, 2015 at 6:57 am

    Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww……..

    Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine, which conducts the annual hedge fund pay survey, described the earnings as “paltry” despite their collective personal earnings being more than the gross domestic product of Nicaragua, Laos or Madagascar.

    “How bad was [2014]?,” Alpha magazine said. “The 25 hedge fund managers on our 14th annual Rich List made a paltry $11.62bn combined, barely half of the $21.15bn the top 25 gained the previous year and roughly equal to what they took home during nightmarish 2008.

    …

    Alpha said the average 2014 earnings were “just $467m” down from $846m in 2013 – which is still 18,800 times the average US salary of $44,888.

    I blame Obama.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 6, 2015 at 6:58 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oooopps… Linky.

  18. 18.

    David Koch

    May 6, 2015 at 7:15 am

    @ThresherK: other than the part where Obama ended Bush’s war on Iraq, kept us out of war with Syria, Iran, and Ukraine, is withdrawing from Afghanistan, has eliminated color coded terror alerts, has normalized relations with Cuba after 54 years, and is striking a peace arrangement with Iran, the view is totally accurate.

  19. 19.

    Iowa Old Lady

    May 6, 2015 at 7:17 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Some things are beyond the need or even possibility of comment because they reveal themselves so perfectly. Hedge fund bonus money is one of those things. Sweet cartwheeling Jesus.

  20. 20.

    MattF

    May 6, 2015 at 7:17 am

    @Betty Cracker: I expect the NYT story will be ignored. Hillary is evil, by definition. Any suggestion to the contrary is outside the winger field of view.

  21. 21.

    dmsilev

    May 6, 2015 at 7:22 am

    @Schlemazel: I’m not sure why it happened, but the strip has been incredibly bitter for a while now. Funky Winkerbean: Where dreams go to die. Usually from cancer.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    May 6, 2015 at 7:24 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: It has been mild here all week thanks to an extra-tropical swirly weather pattern off the east coast that kept things breezy. But I just returned from walking my mutts, and it’s still and already muggy. I predict a near-scorcher.

  23. 23.

    David Koch

    May 6, 2015 at 7:25 am

    @MattF: reading the article, you can tell the Times staff is really angry at their combined failure and impotence in changing public opinion. Which means they’ll double down. It’s a self destructive downward cycle for the corporate media: they attack, they fail, they get angry, they become hysterical and increase the attacks – rinse and repeat.

  24. 24.

    Just One More Canuck

    May 6, 2015 at 7:26 am

    I know Yatsuno mentioned it in a thread from last night, but Alberta going NDP (left of centre party up here) in their election last night after 44 years of conservative rule, and another 35 or so of Social Credit (an even further right wing party) is a big Biden deal – it would be like Texas voting for Bernie Sanders. We have a federal election in a few months, the next few months are going to be interesting

  25. 25.

    Iowa Old Lady

    May 6, 2015 at 7:31 am

    All the slime being served up about HRC reinforces the right wing narrative about her that the Rs would like to make everyone’s narrative. The Ds did a similar thing to Romney when they took every chance to portray him as an out-of-touch rich guy with a car elevator who didn’t care about the rest of us. The 47% remark stuck because it was consistent with that narrative.

    The narrative also happened to be true, which was another reason it stuck. We’ll see how HRC does with the “untrustworthy” narrative. It’s pretty powerful. You see it here, for instance.

  26. 26.

    danielx

    May 6, 2015 at 7:31 am

    @David Koch:

    Cue Maureen Dowd’s head spinning around on her shoulders in 3…2…1…

  27. 27.

    NorthLeft12

    May 6, 2015 at 7:31 am

    I know that Canada does not get much media time in the states but we have just had a historic election in Alberta [Canada’s Texas….in a lot of ways but not as extreme].

    The Conservatives [who have had forty-four years of uninterrupted majority governments] lost the province to the New Democratic Party [NDP – a true socialist party….with no equivalent in the states outside of Bernie Sanders] in decisive fashion. The NDP won a majority and will now run this oil rich [tar sands] province for five years….at least.

    Gives me hope that anything is possible and people can finally vote in their own interests.

  28. 28.

    Another Holocene Human

    May 6, 2015 at 7:32 am

    Reading Balloon Juice (not to mention following the links) will make you cynical and isolated.

    I’m avoiding the news so hard right now. But it intrudes even on my ‘fuck off’ blogs. And on the job. Some kid came up to me talking about how stupid it was that Baltimore residents “destroyed” their town. Unlike the kid I have been the Baltimore many times. I should have said, “Don’t believe everything you see on TV.” I guess the man was right. The revolution will NOT be televised. I’m getting radical in my old age or maybe getting transplanted several hundred miles made me a radical. Yeah, I marched in the streets to protest Bush’s wars … along with millions of other people. Now I’m leading protests of dozens. And there’s always someone more radical than me out there.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    May 6, 2015 at 7:33 am

    Hillary apparently gave a strong speech on immigration yesterday. Not much coverage in the MSM, of course, but Newsmax is on it.

    Hillary Demands ‘Full Citizenship’ for All Illegals

  30. 30.

    Another Holocene Human

    May 6, 2015 at 7:35 am

    Speaking of non-political blogs, I ran across some posts about a room that has been updated in the White House. I liked the update (that rug, yum) but someone posting as “GRITS” started slagging Michelle Obama and it was all downhill from there. No evidence, no proof, just claiming Jacqueline Kennedy had “class” and Michelle Obama doesn’t. Please find the entrance to your hole in the ground and climb back into it, internet commenter “GRITS”.

    Some poor people tried to point out that the room had been remodeled between the Kennedys and now, to no avail. (The Kennedy version was okay but far too much depressing 1960s American colonial revival in monochrome for me. And the version before Michelle was kind of loud and not in a good way.)

  31. 31.

    Baud

    May 6, 2015 at 7:36 am

    @Just One More Canuck:
    @NorthLeft12:

    Great news. I hope they have staying power.

  32. 32.

    Another Holocene Human

    May 6, 2015 at 7:37 am

    @NorthLeft12: Crossing my fingers … that is wonderful!

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 6, 2015 at 7:37 am

    @NorthLeft12:

    Alberta [Canada’s Texas….

    The majority of people in Alberta are certifiably insane? Texans actually voted these morons into office. Repeatedly.

  34. 34.

    Betty Cracker

    May 6, 2015 at 7:41 am

    @Just One More Canuck & @NorthLeft12: Any insights on how this happy reversal was achieved?

  35. 35.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 6, 2015 at 7:42 am

    @Schlemazel: Does Scott also do the comic strip “Crankshaft” that takes place in a different time frame? The “Funky Winkerbean” folks met up with Crankshaft, and he was elderly, on oxygen and in a nursing home?

    Online comics, I like the Perry Bible Fellowship, Tom the Dancing Bug and a few others.

    Lately I’ve been reading Matt Bors:

    http://www.gocomics.com/matt-bors

    There’s a few sweet comic strips still in newspaper syndication, but not many.

  36. 36.

    danielx

    May 6, 2015 at 7:42 am

    Now if only somebody had nominated Get Your War On back in the day….

  37. 37.

    Another Holocene Human

    May 6, 2015 at 7:43 am

    @Betty Cracker: Dems are afraid of getting a pol who won’t stand up to Republican attacks. They want a fighter. So Republicans became a foil for her. Besides, her strength/weakness is like a tarbaby for the GOP. She was the wife of one of the Dem’s most popular living pols. She also served very high in the admin of another of the Dem’s most popular living pols. The harder they attack her, the more it sounds like attacks on Obama, Bill Clinton, or the Democratic Party and liberals in general. So Dems rally around her.

    They call her “aloof” but the failure to immediately apologize actually played well with a lot of Dems. “The attacks are beneath contempt–Hilary hasn’t even favored them with a response.”

    Strange the GOP can’t see they can’t “Kerry” her because she’s already a big shot and royalty in Dems’ minds, not like Kerry who had some cred with boomers but needed badly to define himself (psst: outside of Massachusetts, I guess it is a bubble) and the GOP ran in there and took advantage.

    Even the GOP realizes her biggest weakness is that many Americans are uncomfortable with political dynasties but seemingly unable to help themselves they look ready to nominate JEB! which totally kills that argument. (But could depress turnout, which always helps the GOP.)

  38. 38.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 6, 2015 at 7:43 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: The man who moves a mountain gets stoned before work.

  39. 39.

    Another Holocene Human

    May 6, 2015 at 7:44 am

    @danielx: Hellz yeah

  40. 40.

    Gene108

    May 6, 2015 at 7:46 am

    @Schlemazel:

    The only thing I can grok from reading “Funky Winkerbean” now is the author has faithfully aged his characters. The teenager in the 1970’s is now a 50-something, with the expected health and other problems.

  41. 41.

    different-church-lady

    May 6, 2015 at 7:46 am

    Tom Tomorrow can be uneven, but when he’s on he’s brilliant.

  42. 42.

    different-church-lady

    May 6, 2015 at 7:50 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    NYT: “Mrs. Clinton has one primary opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont…”

    Is O’Malley not officially in the race yet?

  43. 43.

    The Thin Black Duke

    May 6, 2015 at 7:50 am

    Congratulations to our neighbors up in Canada for doing The Right Thing and voting their idiots out of office. Unlike, of course, the morans in this country who re-elected Sam Brownback. Or Rick Scott. Or Scott Walker. Or…

  44. 44.

    different-church-lady

    May 6, 2015 at 7:51 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Commenter askew will be so disappoint.

    …and is bound to take it out on us.

  45. 45.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 6, 2015 at 7:51 am

    headline:

    As investigation enters fifth month, Tamir Rice has yet to be buried and his mother has moved into a homeless shelter

    It took police officers less than two seconds to fatally shoot Tamir Rice after they sped up to the 12-year-old boy while he was playing with a toy gun in a park across the street from his home. Yet the investigation into the shooting has now dragged on into its fifth month. After the City Of Cleveland asked the Rice family to halt their wrongful death civil lawsuit until the official investigation is concluded, new details of the family’s hellish reality have emerged.

    The Rice family claim they cannot halt their lawsuit because they’re worried crucial evidence could be lost. In fact, they have yet to bury Tamir because they’re unclear if there will be a need for additional medical examinations. And Tamir’s mother Samaria moved into a homeless shelter in mid-January because she couldn’t stand living next door to the ” killing field” where her son was murdered.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    May 6, 2015 at 7:54 am

    @different-church-lady:

    He hasn’t declared yet.

  47. 47.

    different-church-lady

    May 6, 2015 at 7:55 am

    @Another Holocene Human: On the job I deal with this by smiling and saying, “I know nothing about this.” Then shithead blabs, gets no response from me, leaves frustrated.

    Off the job I just call people idiots at the drop of a hat and leave the exchange. It’s like my new favorite hobby.

  48. 48.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    May 6, 2015 at 7:55 am

    Speaking of online comics, Wondermark is my recent favorite. Tuesday’s is genius.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  49. 49.

    different-church-lady

    May 6, 2015 at 7:56 am

    @Baud: Well WHY DOESN’T HE JUST DECLARE!!! HOW DARE HE HOLD MY ANTI-HILLARY DECISION HOSTAGE!!!

    /flip

  50. 50.

    Just One More Canuck

    May 6, 2015 at 7:58 am

    @Betty Cracker: Part of it was just hubris on the part of the Conservatives – they believed their own bullshit and that one party rule would last forever. They brought in a former federal cabinet minister to be premier, but he brought in a budget that no-one liked – he became known as “Grim Jim”. The Alberta economy is heavily dependent on oil, so with oil prices down, the economy is in a slump. The NDP leader is very personable and ran basically a perfect campaign. the problem she might have is that they will have a very inexperienced cabinet (we had that problem in Ontario back in the 90s), but hopefully they will learn from those lessons

  51. 51.

    Baud

    May 6, 2015 at 7:59 am

    @different-church-lady:

    I am curious about what he’s waiting for. Jeb! And Walker haven’t declared either, but I assume that’s because they want to fundraise more before they officially get in.

  52. 52.

    ThresherK

    May 6, 2015 at 8:00 am

    @David Koch: I was not saying they’re alike. Back in the day (’99) I was screaming at any teevee idiot who solemnly told me “Bush and Gore have basically the same ideas for governance, except BushTaxCut will pay for itself!”.

    Just the general idea that lefties have to keep pushing against the total war footing even when a Dem is in the White House. At the same time we have to point and laugh at the crazy while waiting for Rand Paul to get the reassurances that the US Army isn’t trying to take over Texas.

    (If I wanted things easy, I wouldn’t be a liberal.)

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 6, 2015 at 8:02 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: Heh. Everybody must get stoned.

  54. 54.

    NorthLeft12

    May 6, 2015 at 8:18 am

    @Betty Cracker: I agree pretty much with JOMC on the basics that he outlined.

    Another factor has been the increased scrutiny that the Cons management of the economy has received lately. Their management of the oil revenues has been very unfavourably compared to Norway and Alaska. Basically Alberta has been using it to subsidize ongoing operations, refusing to raise taxes and cutting services whenever the oil price fluctuates down. They basically have very little money left in their oil trust.

    Also, viewing the electoral map, it looks like the two large cities [where most of the Alberta population resides] went totally NDP, which completely flipped the legislature. The Cons use the cities as whipping boys and pander to their rural base. Looks like people finally wised up and decided to vote in their own interest for a change.

  55. 55.

    Betty Cracker

    May 6, 2015 at 8:19 am

    @Just One More Canuck & NorthLeft12: I hope it works out for them and wish my fellow citizens would have a similar epiphany, but I have my doubts on that score. There seems to be no limit to the corruption and incompetence people will put up with from Republicans in Red America.

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 6, 2015 at 8:31 am

    Amy Schumer makes me want TV again. Pure genius.

  57. 57.

    Paul in KY

    May 6, 2015 at 8:32 am

    @Just One More Canuck: Wow! Go Alberta! Welcome comrades. ay!

  58. 58.

    Another Holocene Human

    May 6, 2015 at 8:40 am

    @different-church-lady: That works with coworkers. “Oh, I’ve been avoiding the news/Facebook” lately. It’s true, so I can say it with a straight face. Wingnuts gotta blab about their crap like Jesus freaks gotta Jesus freak on you, kinda makes me wonder how sincerely they believe their garbage deep down.

    You know for about a second. Then I remember what an idiot they are.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 6, 2015 at 8:42 am

    One of the nutjobs escaped the insane asylum: Nebraska woman claiming to represent God files federal lawsuit against all ‘homosexuals’

    As of press time, the nation’s gay population had not filed a response to the lawsuit.

  60. 60.

    Another Holocene Human

    May 6, 2015 at 8:44 am

    @Betty Cracker: There’s a limit: you just have to start two pointless wars, embroil the US in massive scandals, have people’s kids coming home in bodybags, fuck up a domestic disaster response and act like you don’t give a shit, rack up debt so large even a conservative can’t wave it away and then, and only then, Americans will flip the legislature to put a brake on your fecklessness.

  61. 61.

    Baud

    May 6, 2015 at 8:52 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Great story. Do you think she’s going to work for Santorum, Huckabee, or Cruz?

  62. 62.

    Another Holocene Human

    May 6, 2015 at 8:53 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m always wondering what drives people like that. Like NOM’s Maggie, who is angry about the reordering of society that happened in the 60s because a man can get you pregnant and just abandon you (a, that happened in traditional society, she just doesn’t realize it and b, she missed where child support laws got passed after everybody, not just Maggie, had their fill of the excesses/abuses of the free love/commune era). Gallagher was hilarious because she could never explain, just sputter, when it came to connecting her personal pain to same sex marriage. (The connection is screaming church bulletins but you’d sound pretty stupid on TV saying “BECAUSE TRADITIONAL SOCIETY BECAUSE MY BISHOP SAID SO”.)

    Or Fred Phelps, for years we wondered about him but some journalists got on it. He returned from a brief stint in the military traumatized for life. Apparently he was raped during basic training in the 1950s and there were no survivors groups for men or women back then, no way to talk about it (because everyone assumed a man who had been raped was a “faggot” and there was nothing worse than being a “faggot,” except maybe being a n*****), and certainly no response possible from civilian or military law enforcement and justice systems. It’s very sad (especially the way he tormented his own family).

  63. 63.

    NorthLeft12

    May 6, 2015 at 8:55 am

    @Betty Cracker: I have every expectation that the Cons, businesses, and most of the media will do their utmost to highlight every bit of bad news or missteps by the inexperienced NDP legislature and ministers as calamities and the onset of the apocalypse.

    I am sure the NDP will not do anything dramatic this term, but I hope they stay true to their principles and implement some of their platform. As usual, left leaning governments have to clean up for the incompetence of the right wing governments.

  64. 64.

    NorthLeft12

    May 6, 2015 at 9:02 am

    @Another Holocene Human: Sorry AHH, but the last midterm election basically sealed the deal for me. With all the good news about Dem accomplishments [ACA, economic recovery, reduced crime] and all the Republican idiocy at every level of government, the US voters [for the most part] went to the right.

    What kind of disaster will it take to open their eyes? And don’t point to the Super Recession of 2008/2009 because that is ancient history anymore which Americans don’t seem to care or understand who was responsible.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    May 6, 2015 at 9:24 am

    @NorthLeft12: I share your pessimism. If McCain hadn’t acted like a fool with his absurd campaign suspension and selected a blithering moron as his running mate, Republicans would have had a decent shot of retaining the presidency in 2008 even though their performance should have ruined them as a party for generations. We’re damn lucky McCain was/is a hotheaded nincompoop and that Obama was/is a gifted politician.

    As for 2016, I hope like hell Hillary Clinton or whomever the Dems nominate (i.e., Hillary Clinton) will win, but that’s no sure thing. I’ve said here before that Florida is a microcosm for the US in many ways — mostly Dem coastal enclaves, a growing Hispanic population, a redneck interior section. And Florida reelected known-crook, abysmally bad retail politician and serial fuck-up Rick Scott as governor. I wouldn’t put anything past us.

  66. 66.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 6, 2015 at 9:36 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I have to agree about Amy Schumer. She’s doing some of the best comedy I’ve seen in a while.

  67. 67.

    different-church-lady

    May 6, 2015 at 9:41 am

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Jesus freaks gotta Jesus freak on you, kinda makes me wonder how sincerely they believe their garbage deep down.

    The thing I’ve figured out is that most of the time the actual “stuff” they’re freaking on is secondary to the need for emotional call and response. All freaks just want either agreement or conflict, and they don’t care which they get, as long as they get one of the two. The “content” is just the raw material towards that end. Denying them the response just gets them confused and disconcerted, and they give up and go elsewhere to get their fix.

  68. 68.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 6, 2015 at 9:45 am

    @Baud:

    Hillary apparently gave a strong speech on immigration yesterday. Not much coverage in the MSM, of course, but Newsmax is on it.

    Hillary Demands ‘Full Citizenship’ for All Illegals

    And this is why I’m not confident we’ll have a democratic president in 2016. The ratf**kers are busy as little beavers, putting out stuff like this. And it gets picked up by the mainstream, and then the low-info voter (the average person who doesn’t read mediamatters or balloon-juice etc and has never HEARD OF Newsmax) absorbs the poison and thinks “jeez, she’s untrustworthy AND she wants the illegals taking my jobs and the welfare”

    And next thing you know, Jeb Bush is president. With Scott Walker as his VP.

    I remember voting for Carter in ’79, thinking “no way people are going to be stupid enough to vote for Ronald F**king Reagan” and I remember thinking “Gore will DESTROY Bush in the debates” and then four years later thinking “Kerry will make a fool of Bush in the debates”

    And so I take nothing for granted.

  69. 69.

    different-church-lady

    May 6, 2015 at 9:53 am

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    …and then four years later thinking “Kerry will make a fool of Bush in the debates”

    Well you were wrong: Bush made a fool of Bush in the debates. And then got re-elected anyway.

  70. 70.

    Ajabu

    May 6, 2015 at 9:54 am

    Well, BJ family:
    It’s apparent that my Kickstarter effort is going down in flames. It’s over on May 9th and currently I’m $14,378 short of my $15,000 goal. (Or, put another way, I’d need another 575 pledges of $25 in three days. Not very likely…)
    I want to thank the Juicers who put their money where their mouths are and assure you all that no cards will be charged because I missed the goal.
    On the upside, I still believe that producing a CD to celebrate my 50 years as a musician is a worthwhile goal and I’m going to try it again.
    I’m going to go at it considerably more modestly (about half my original goal) and I’m going to try to self promote it prior to putting it back online. Cutting the goal means I’m going to have to lean on some industry folks to give me lowball pricing to still get the same quality product but I’m going to use the 50 years of contacts to apply that pressure so keep your fingers crossed.
    A question for you all: My wife suggested that I ought to do it on GoFundMe rather than Kickstarter because with GoFundMe all proceeds are funded unlike the Kickstarter all or nothing model and I could at least get started even if it required a couple of times out to finish it. Maybe I could refuse to sell CDs to gays. That seems to be a winning strategy on GoFundMe. Any opinions?
    Once again, I really DO appreciate the support I got from this community. And the notes I got from some of you that you’ll be in again if I have to do it again. It’s obvious that I’ll have to do it again. I just don’t know enough people with discretionary money.
    The downside of being a working jazz musician for a half century is that literally most of the people you know are either equally broke jazz musicians or no longer on this earth.
    (I had a friend who died 10 years ago after a lengthy career with Nina Simone, Miles Davis & Weather Report and his mother still had to solicit funds to bury him. What a tribute to our lifestyle!)
    Anyway, thank you all and WATCH THIS SPACE for the new push!!

  71. 71.

    Bobby Thomson

    May 6, 2015 at 10:42 am

    Personally, I always thought Funky Winkerbean sucked. Not Gasoline Alley bad, but up there.

  72. 72.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 6, 2015 at 10:51 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I was astounded to see a twenty minute, lovingly recreated parody of “12 Angry Men” with the jurors arguing over “is Amy hot enough for TV”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeGWoNKmfUs

    I stand in awe.

  73. 73.

    FortGeek

    May 6, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: Wow. I hadn’t heard that part of the Phelps story.

    Puts an entirely different spin on him and his evil treatment of his family.

  74. 74.

    lol chikinburd

    May 6, 2015 at 1:54 pm

    Oh, and speaking of Alberta and web comics:

    New NDP Premier of Alberta, Rachel Notley? Her brother is Stephen Notley, the guy who does Bob the Angry Flower. Small world.

    I miss Achewood.

  75. 75.

    Aleta

    May 6, 2015 at 2:09 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: It is easier to move a stoner than a mountain.

  76. 76.

    Botsplainer

    May 6, 2015 at 4:08 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    That was amazing.

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