Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

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

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

We still have time to mess this up!

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

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

Second rate reporter says what?

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

No one could have predicted…

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

T R E 4 5 O N

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

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Reader Interactions

108Comments

  1. 1.

    srv

    What’s the dieters equivalent to Sports Bars?

    Do y’all just sit on the couch and nibble on tofu or what?

    I’m asking for a friend.

  4. 4.

    burnspbesq

    I’m a fickle, fair-weather, front-running football fan.

    F me.

    ‘Sides, basketball has started, and Duke’s women’s soccer, and field hockey teams are in the NCAAs. Limited bandwidth. Sorry, Coach Cutcliffe.

  6. 6.

    burnspbesq

    @srv:

    Baby carrots and grape tomatoes, with hummus or ranch dressing as dip.

    Sweet potato chips.

    Blue corn tortilla chips with organic salsa.

    Apple slices.

    Grapes.

    Healthy snacking is possible.

  8. 8.

    K488

    @RobertDSC (Quad Intel Mac): Har! I live less than a mile from Indiana’s football stadium. The cats and I are expecting a lot of noise. I’ve got loyalties at both schools (son at Michigan, plus 30 years on faculty; now at IU). Good thing I don’t follow this (hey, I just work here…)

  9. 9.

    gratuitous

    Go ‘Cats! Putting the finishing touches on their seventh consecutive conference championship, 60th consecutive winning season, another undefeated regular season, and positioning themselves for a top regional seed in the national playoffs.

    What were you saying about your shitty team?

  10. 10.

    dr. luba

    Don’t know if it’s just me or a common issue–when I click to go from the front page to the comments, the text becomes huge. Well, much bigger. It’s not too bad on a 13″ MBP, but humongous on my iMac. This happens using both Safari and Chrome.

    It’s a bit disconcerting.

    Otherwise, looking good for the most part (it is a work in progress, I understand).

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    @dr. luba: Hmmm. Hopefully the developers will take note. FWIW, it works okay on my iPad running Chrome and Safari. However, in Safari, it won’t let me opt out of mobile view. Also runs fine on my PC / Winders 7 running Chrome.

  17. 17.

    Felonius Monk

    @raven:

    fuck everybody

    Up on the wrong side of the bed or just your general good cheer? :)

    ETA: I almost forgot —- Go Buckeyes.

  20. 20.

    The Other Chuck

    Sidebar says “DONTATE VIA PAYPAL”. And the nonfunctional paypal widget is still in the footer.

  23. 23.

    debbie

    @efgoldman:

    And we still haven’t figured out the links putting a comment in moderation.

    I figured out a workaround, but it’s probably too clunky for most. I post my comment without the link, then click to edit, and paste in the link in the editing box. Voila!

  25. 25.

    Zinsky

    Hoping my Iowa Hawkeyes kick the shit out of the Minnesota Golden Gophers tonight and keep Floyd of Rosedale in Iowa City! Go Hawks!

  28. 28.

    debbie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Because I’m too stupid to figure out how to do it right. Either the entire post becomes a link or the link doesn’t show. I haven’t tried coding anything since the simple days of carats.

  34. 34.

    Amir Khalid

    @Amir Khalid:
    Oh, I see. Apparently, If I’m looking at my latest comment, it will for some reason have my name (or nym) in a teeny-tiny font so I can tell it apart from my earlier comments.

  35. 35.

    schrodinger's cat

    I just went to K-Lo’s Corner of Crazy. They are having a hategasm over there, and this is just the posts, I didn’t click on the comments. They want Merkel to defend the European civilization!

  36. 36.

    PaulW

    Rooting for the USF Bulls tonight.

    Gators are up 17-0 at the moment. Hope the defense pitches the shutout.

    I want Alabama to lose. Is that so wrong?

  37. 37.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    The Gophers played their best game of the season last night and beat Bemidji State 4-0. Very even game between two top five teams, except for the last ten minutes of the second period, when the Beavers came completely unglued.

    “Beavers” is an unfortunate name for a women’s sports team.

  38. 38.

    Germy

    Headline:

    Anti-Clinton Authors Dedicated Their Book To A Holocaust Denier Who Blames A “Jewish Plot” For 9/11

    Roger Stone and Robert Morrow’s book The Clintons’ War On Women is dedicated to and repeatedly cites research from Victor Thorn, who wrote The Holocaust Hoax Exposed and blames a “Jewish plot” for the 9/11 attacks. Stone and Morrow’s book has been repeatedly touted by Fox News and endorsed by Sean Hannity and Donald Trump. Stone recently promoted the book in an interview with Thorn for the American Free Press, an anti-Semitic publication founded by “one of the most influential American anti-Semitic propagandists” who used his “publishing to denigrate Jews and other minorities and galvanize the movement to deny the Holocaust.”

  39. 39.

    debbie

    @Corner Stone:

    Yes and that’s what I used. It’s got the code “http: //” highlighted. When I paste in the url, like I said, either the who post turns into a link or nothing shows up at all.

  40. 40.

    debbie

    @Corner Stone:

    Yes and that’s what I used. It’s got the code “http: //” highlighted. When I paste in the url, like I said, either the who post turns into a link or nothing shows up at all.

    (I had to add a space between the colon and the slash since without it, the post went into moderation.)

  42. 42.

    Germy

    @debbie: Select (highlight) a word or a sentence in your comment. Then select “link” and paste your link. The word or the sentence you selected will become the link.

  43. 43.

    D58826

    @schrodinger’s cat: Sen. Fienstein is ramping up the war talk. We hjave seen this movie before and it didn’t turn out well. I fail to see how bombing people in alleppo Syria will stop a terrorist cell in Paris or London.

  49. 49.

    D58826

    And Gen. MCCafery is saying to turn the air force loose to bomb any thing that moves in Syria and Iraq. The dogs of war are rapidly slipping their leases and ISIS has achieved it goal of goading the west into doing something stupid.

  54. 54.

    max

    @D58826: Sen. Fienstein is ramping up the war talk. We hjave seen this movie before and it didn’t turn out well. I fail to see how bombing people in alleppo Syria will stop a terrorist cell in Paris or London.

    She wants to bomb Aleppo? That’s (some rebels) plus al-Nusra vs. Syrian Army and the Russian AF. Don’t tell me she wants to bomb Assad!

    max
    [‘If so, I have to say, that woman is an idiot.’]

  55. 55.

    Gator90

    My 6 year old daughter just now: “Why do so many football players have brown skin?”

    I wasn’t sure how to answer, so I pretended not to hear the question.

    Meanwhile, the Gators are getting ready to blow this game. Damn!

  57. 57.

    Corner Stone

    @D58826: He also, with absolutely no backup, condemned Snowden as the root cause of the Paris attack. Jansing asked him a follow up he used as a platform to spout forth more fact free garbage.

  60. 60.

    Germy

    @MattF:

    I saw that book on the ‘New Hardcovers’ table in my local bookstore, and thought… wtf?

    It’ll be in the remainder bin soon, but it’ll appear on best seller lists because of mass orders from RW organizations.

  61. 61.

    p.a.

    @max: Many Democrats are so fucking scared of being branded soft on x that it’s become instinct; do what the thugs would do.

  63. 63.

    Germy

    @Gator90:

    My 6 year old daughter just now: “Why do so many football players have brown skin?”

    That’s an interesting question. Maybe explain more minority students pursuing athletic scholarships? I honestly don’t know, but children notice when a question isn’t answered.
    Does anyone have any ideas for an appropriate reply?

  64. 64.

    Cervantes

    @Gator90:

    My 6 year old daughter just now: “Why do so many football players have brown skin?” I wasn’t sure how to answer, so I pretended not to hear the question.

    Wait ’til she asks someone else and tells you what she learned.

  65. 65.

    max

    @efgoldman: And we still haven’t figured out the links putting a comment in moderation. Help me, Obi Wan Betty Cracker; you’re my only hope!

    1) Use one link.

    2) (This worked for me last night fine) type in <href=””></a> then plug in the text. (I never have used the buttons because it takes more effort than simply typing things inline.

    So, linking to Rawstory on vid of cops beating guy in Alameda shouldn’t throw me into moderation.

    max
    [‘We’ll see!’]

  66. 66.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @D58826:

    ISIS has achieved it goal of goading the west into doing something stupid.

    Really? What stupid thing has been done in or around Syria since last night?

  67. 67.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I went out and walked in the late fall sunshine, just to clear my head of the knowledge that so many people’s default reaction to anything is hatred and cruelty.

    I don’t follow any sport really, but when I read these threads, I wish I did. You all look like you’re having a good time, and I could use the distraction.

  69. 69.

    Germy

    @Iowa Old Lady: I don’t follow sports. I like old movies.

    Sometimes the best distraction for me is a witty film, exquisitely lit and filmed in glorious black and white, from before Dick Cheney was born.

  70. 70.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @D58826:

    Not to mention the fact that more bombing and blocking refugees from escaping from ISIS is exactly what those assholes want us to do. Why are we supposed to give in to terrorists again, Sen. Feinstein?

  73. 73.

    p.a.

    @Germy: for a 6 year old? No. Talk about the role of sports for achievement and assimilation among immigrant groups and minorities? The history of racial exclusion in the SEC? Secondary education policy and athletics?

  75. 75.

    Germy

    @p.a.: Sure, why not? Talk to them like adults; you’d be surprised what they understand. And if they get into the habit of asking more questions about the stuff they don’t understand, and begin to see the parent as someone willing to engage with them honestly and respectfully, who knows what sort of fine person they’ll grow up to be?

  76. 76.

    max

    @max: It helps if you add some extra text to stop the filter from thinking you’re a spammer. Of course, if I type the wrong word involving, say, male genitalia or perhaps a form of losing money fast in a western desert state, I will still be popped into moderation with no idea why.

    At any rate, the text of comments was previously irritating small, and now it is much larger. This is way better, if a bit… largish. (That’s the problem with Georgia – it goes from tee-tiny text at say 11pt to WAY TOO DAMN BIG at 12 or 13pt.)

    The text under ‘Leave a Reply’ (‘Want to join the discussion? Feel free to contribute!’) is juuuusssttttt rrrriiiiiggghhhhtttt.

    max
    [‘Also: so has Cole vanished into the ether?’]

  80. 80.

    JPL

    @Gator90: I’d simply say that the Gators recruit the top players.
    Does it really matter what color they are?
    When my son was five, the blue eyed, blond hair asked me what color he was. He recognized early on that no one is really white or really black. So he was curious about the hullabaloo surrounding it.

  81. 81.

    Cervantes

    @p.a.:

    for a 6 year old? No. Talk about the role of sports for achievement and assimilation among immigrant groups and minorities? The history of racial exclusion in the SEC? Secondary education policy and athletics?

    Yes. That’s what I’d recommend — minus all the jargon, of course.

  83. 83.

    Cervantes

    @JPL:

    He recognized early on that no one is really white or really black. So he was curious about the hullaboo surrounding it.

    Smart lad.

  85. 85.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @max: If you install More Better Balloon Juice on Stylish – thank you The Other Chuck – you won’t see the redundancies after Leave a Reply. Other things are much better also, too.

  86. 86.

    Steeplejack

    @Amir Khalid:

    I noticed this phenomenon. Your nym looks small only when you first enter your comment. At some later point (not mere page refresh—I think it’s when your comment is no longer the latest one) you get promoted to full size (which is how your nym looks now).

    ETA: Eek! My nym looks small! Expected but disturbing.

  88. 88.

    mtiffany

    Given that Ben Carson has intelligence sources that have informed him that ‘the Chinese are in Syria,’ then why, one might reasonably wonder, did the good Dr. Carson not warn the French government about the impending terrorist attacks? Surely, given his access to intelligence assets that not even President Obama would seem to have at his disposal, why oh why did he not warn anyone? Perhaps Carson made the political calulcation that a hundred or so dead Gauls was a small price to pay for the oppprotunity to display his defense and foreign policy chops. Is it irresponsible to speculate? It would be irresponsible not to.

    On another note:
    @p.a.:

    how can one impress a 6 yr old without jargon?

    Steal their nose?

  89. 89.

    Gator90

    @Cervantes:

    Wait ’til she asks someone else and tells you what she learned.

    That’s pretty much been my strategy with questions pertaining to reproduction, differences between boys and girls, etc. She has some confused notions, but I figure it will sort itself out eventually. (I like to think I have some strengths as a father, but handling awkward questions is obviously not one of them.)

  90. 90.

    Germy

    One thing I love about Balloon-Juice is there’s no “sponsored content” a.k.a. ads thinly disguised as posts. No Betty Cracker or Doug J saying “I’ll be drinking delicious Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer during tonight’s debate! Open thread”

  92. 92.

    Cervantes

    @debbie:

    Because I’m too stupid to figure out how to do it right.

    Don’t be ridiculous.

    Write your comment. Select the word or phrase in your comment that you want linked to some URL. While that word or phrase is selected, click the “link” button. In the box that appears, type or paste the URL. Click OK.

  95. 95.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    Sorry, but yes. That movie gives me the creeps, for some reason. Especially retroactively, after finding out what a nutcase Gibson is in real life.

  96. 96.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @raven: I see; I wasn’t not paying attention to games. Auburn does have a dynamite vet school though.

  101. 101.

    Betty Cracker

    @Gator90: My husband is a really great dad, but one annoying habit he had when our kiddo was younger was to pass off the really tough questions with, “Ask your mom!” No fair! On the other hand, I got to instill my worldview in young padawan, so there’s that…

  105. 105.

    J R in WV

    Whooot!

    WVU beat Texas, Whoootttt !!

    A couple more Big12 wins and we’ll lock ourselves out of the basement!!!

    Bowl game, and the more we win, the more better big fun the bowl game will be. Wow, that’s exciting. Maybe one day I’ll get to watch a WVU football game on plain old broadcast TV, you, remember, like CBS or NBC, or even Fox or ABC.

    Now we’re going out to eat, and to the symphony. What a great Saturday.

    I am also disturbed by the violence in France. It seems even more unhinged than most violence, as if it was a nightmare starring Dick Cheney. So sad. So many irrelevant stupid posts full of hate – not here, mostly very appropriate comments here, as usual. But many places are just so full of trash!

    Which all seems just so out-of-character for the tragedies in France, which seems so totally civilized on the surface.

    Torn. Good things on one hand, and terrible things on the other hand.

    You all take care, you hear!? Be careful, you are all (mostly) good members of society that we need to hear from again soon. Leaving out Racism to Rise, and srv, and those boys. You guys should join a full contact Ruggers team as soon as possible!

  107. 107.

    Germy

    @Satby: Even if I’m bored with the plot or the actors, I can find myself fascinated with the sets, the backgrounds, the clothes, the hairstyles. And the soft hiss and crackle of the aged soundtrack is oddly soothing to me.

    It’s like peeking into a time machine.

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