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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

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

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

This fight is for everything.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Open Thread: Only When the Tide Goes Out Do You Discover Who’s Been Swimming Naked

Open Thread: Only When the Tide Goes Out Do You Discover Who’s Been Swimming Naked

by Anne Laurie|  November 18, 20158:54 pm| 140 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Assholes, Decline and Fall, Republican Crime Syndicate - aka the Bush Admin.

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Lotsa competiton for “worst person in the world” this week…

Ben Stein https://t.co/IcXEaID9F3 pic.twitter.com/tUTeUyp68B

— Felix Salmon (@felixsalmon) November 18, 2015

Look, he's just asking questions Felix. https://t.co/gPZbroBH4h

— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) November 18, 2015

Ben's dream of being confused for Roger Ailes is fulfilled at last. pic.twitter.com/cdZaGFSXMn

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) November 18, 2015

Those showing their arses are getting some pushback, at least…

Based on the logic POTUS used yesterday re US ground troops in Syria, it's hard 2c him using ground troops to defend us if the USA gets hit.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) November 18, 2015

.@AriFleischer Also hard to see him invading the wrong country like you and Bush did right Ari? #loser #douche #tcot #RWNJs

— steveeboy (@realsteveeboy) November 18, 2015

@AriFleischer Your views would have more credibility if you were to acknowledge that your boss created this mess. I hear crickets. #shame

— Ron Dostal (@RonDostal) November 18, 2015

@AriFleischer Never trust a former press secretary who needed an immunity agreement. Thanks for your role in the Iraq debacle, Ari.

— voltairicgarden (@JBarodhede) November 18, 2015

@AriFleischer How DARE you. You gave voice to the lies that created this nightmare. pic.twitter.com/ieC7gwfKWl

— Sharon Chabot (@nhdogmom) November 18, 2015

***********

Imagine if your greatest fear was not seeming afraid enough of people fleeing a horrific war zone.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) November 17, 2015

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Previous Post: « Daesh Is Not The Biggest Threat
Next Post: In Salt Lake City, “Love Doesn’t Separate” »

Reader Interactions

140Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 8:57 pm

    Lotsa competiton for “worst person in the world” this week…

    Glad to not be in the running for once.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 8:58 pm

    We are right. Keep up the fight.

  3. 3.

    Jerzy Russian

    November 18, 2015 at 9:01 pm

    Jesus Hussein Christ, that is enough stupidity for the week. Green balloons already!

  4. 4.

    Woodrowfan

    November 18, 2015 at 9:08 pm

    the thing to remember about Ben Stein, is that in his scene in “Ferris Buehler” (sp) he didn;t think he was being boring. He thought that was how normal people talk and act.

  5. 5.

    Felonius Monk

    November 18, 2015 at 9:09 pm

    Make America Great Again: Swap 2 rightwingers and/or far right godbotherers for each Syrian refugee.

  6. 6.

    different-church-lady

    November 18, 2015 at 9:11 pm

    OK, so let’s see if I’ve got this straight: three thousand+ people were killed by terrorists in two major American cites while George W. Bush was president, and that equals keeping us safe. While four US citizens and scores of non-US citizens were killed in overseas countries, and that means Obama can’t keep us safe.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 9:14 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    You could work for the Village.

  8. 8.

    scav

    November 18, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: It’s like peak wingularity — there is no lower bound on this stupidity/cowardice/heartlessness. I’ve given up being surprised on the downside, although can still unexpectedly work up a rage. Merry American Christmas: They’re practically wetting themselves over the excitement of getting themselves another little existential war and with an excuse to immigrant/refugee bash!

  9. 9.

    Mr. Longform

    November 18, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    @Felonius Monk: we’re going to need more refugees

  10. 10.

    Mike J

    November 18, 2015 at 9:16 pm

    People bring up the 1938 polls for not allowing Jewish refugees, but why does nobody connect the dots with Cruz? When he said Christian refugees only, he wants to turn away Jewish refugees all over again.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 18, 2015 at 9:19 pm

    Well, I am simply shaking with rage at the incredibly stupid strawman post a FB friend put up just now. It’s a link to Allen Fucking West, and a picture of a crowd with the caption”Simple Question: Would Islamic countries welcome millions of Christians?”

    I don’t know what’s happened to this woman. She always seemed to be very rational, humane, compassionate. And, I thought, fairly liberal, although to be fair we didn’t discuss politics until very recently. She loves animals (that hasn’t changed). But she apparently got a hair up her ass about Justin Trudeau during the campaign (she’s Canadian) and in the few short weeks since JT was elected Prime Minister my friend has turned into a raving mass of reactionary rhetoric and knee-jerk hatred of foreigners, immigrants, refugees, and liberals with either a lower-case or capital L. I’m really distressed. Don’t want to lose her as a friend but am searching for the words to post that indicate how strongly I disagree with her (not to mention her tasteless citation of Allen Fucking West).

    EDITED to correct spelling of Allen Fucking West.

  12. 12.

    Tommy

    November 18, 2015 at 9:23 pm

    The world is so amazing. Not sure why I did this but went and looked for Rush and Tom Sawyer. Found this video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdiCJUysIT0

    Neil Peart on drums,

  13. 13.

    gogol's wife

    November 18, 2015 at 9:24 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I’ve been too busy to read the blog today, and I’ve just looked at today’s posts and think I’ll go lie down in a darkened room with a wet cloth on my head.

  14. 14.

    Cervantes

    November 18, 2015 at 9:24 pm

    @Mr. Longform:

    !

  15. 15.

    Poopyman

    November 18, 2015 at 9:25 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Friendship is a two-way street. What’s her reaction going to be when she reads your totally liberal FB post?

    OK, so maybe you’re like me, and just don’t post much of yourself, but are you worried about how she’ll react to your political views? Will that damage the friendship?

  16. 16.

    PeakVT

    November 18, 2015 at 9:25 pm

    A nation of bedwetters. Well, at least 27% of us are. They cry a lot more than the rest of us, though.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 9:26 pm

    @Felonius Monk:

    My original proposal was one for five. Glad to see the Overton Window has moved.

  18. 18.

    Nate Dawg

    November 18, 2015 at 9:26 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: could point out how petty it is. Jesus said to turn the other cheek, to give the man stealing your shirt, your cost as well, to walk 2 miles with the stranger who asks you to walk one mile….

    Or you can use ahistorical hypotheticals to relieve yourself of all moral duty. Your choice.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 9:27 pm

    @PeakVT:

    They cry vote a lot more than the rest of us, though.

    The sad fact that underlies all of this.

  20. 20.

    Nate Dawg

    November 18, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    Watching MSNBC, and man does Richard Engel know his shit.

  21. 21.

    srv

    November 18, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    Create an American Foreign Legion.

    Two birds, one stone, solved.

  22. 22.

    HinTN

    November 18, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I manage to respectfully disagree with my wingnut friends (yes, that can happen) and they can tut-tut with their like-minded brethren over my woolly pated bleeding heart liberalism. Sometimes it’s just not worth the fight but you have to day you think otherwise when they go cuckoo.

  23. 23.

    PeakVT

    November 18, 2015 at 9:30 pm

    @Baud: An excellent but depressing correction.

    Now, where’s that beer I just had…

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 18, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    @Nate Dawg:

    Or, I suppose, I could just not post a comment or response at all.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 9:32 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    knee-jerk hatred of foreigners, immigrants, refugees, and liberals with either a lower-case or capital L.

    I don’t see how you can be friends with someone who hates you. Disagreement is one thing, but hatred is another.

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

    November 18, 2015 at 9:33 pm

    @Baud: Glad to see some pushback on this, here there and everywhere. The Prez is certainly letting the bedwetters have it. I hope he keeps mocking Ted “Say It To My Face” Cruz until Cruz slips and says something he can’t walk back.

  27. 27.

    bluehill

    November 18, 2015 at 9:33 pm

    Apparently no amount of guns will protect you from cowardice.

  28. 28.

    MattF

    November 18, 2015 at 9:33 pm

    For the record, Felix Salmon has been following and debunking Ben Stein’s economic inanities for a long time– try googling ‘salmon’ and ‘ben stein watch’ for examples. However, Salmon eventually gave up on it, Stein’s economic ignorance was too vast, and Salmon apparently decided to move on.

    But with Stein venturing into the jungles of pop psychology and blameobamaology, he couldn’t resist taking note.

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    November 18, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    @srv: I can see John Oliver or Stephen Colbert offering to lead that regiment straight into the heart of ISIL territory, just as soon as they get 100 wingnut armchair commandos to sign up.

    Or just ten.

    Or maybe just Erick Erickson, Ari Fleischer, and a random FB wingnut to be selected by lottery

  30. 30.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 9:36 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Here Are 5 American Leaders Standing Against the Fear of Syrian Refugees
    Elizabeth Warren, Barack Obama, and three governors push back against the rising tide of anti-refugee sentiment.

  31. 31.

    raven

    November 18, 2015 at 9:37 pm

    @Nate Dawg: He’s really on target.

  32. 32.

    Satby

    November 18, 2015 at 9:38 pm

    @Baud: yeah. I have just let go of some friendships because in the end analysis, if they despised people like me, they really didn’t like me either. It’s just that old habits are hard to break, and friendship with me was a habit.

  33. 33.

    Mike in NC

    November 18, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    Ben Stein (AKA Ben Slime), Cheney, and Rumsfeld all are veterans of the Nixon administration. They should have been jailed years ago.

  34. 34.

    Trentrunner

    November 18, 2015 at 9:40 pm

    Watch what you say, Ari.

  35. 35.

    Another Holocene Human

    November 18, 2015 at 9:40 pm

    OT: server has just barfed on me repeatedly today. No thread for you! Fix it, Cole, dammit.

    Also, all of you who whined about white space, now Tommy went and took it away and comments are all jammed up against each other and I hate you all.

  36. 36.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 9:43 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    TOmmy has finished on his end, and now Alain and I are working on a few things. We’re getting rid of the default image and kaiboshing the most recent posts things, as well as a few other things. I’m finally feeling better and will be more hands on. I need to just knuckle down and learn how to code WP.

  37. 37.

    Schlemazel

    November 18, 2015 at 9:43 pm

    @Satby:
    Its easier to just have no friends

  38. 38.

    amk

    November 18, 2015 at 9:43 pm

    @srv: you volunteering, coward?

  39. 39.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 9:44 pm

    @Schlemazel:

    That’s my philosophy.

  40. 40.

    Schlemazel

    November 18, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    @Baud:
    We should get together some time & not be friends :)

  41. 41.

    amk

    November 18, 2015 at 9:46 pm

    @Germy:

    can they also shitcan

    Want to join the discussion?
    Feel free to contribute!

  42. 42.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 9:47 pm

    @Schlemazel:

    That was so much better when you linked to yourself.

    As far as your proposal goes, why do you think I’m here?

  43. 43.

    scav

    November 18, 2015 at 9:47 pm

    @Baud: Chicago City council also did a symbolic vote against Bruce Rauner’s pandering to the worst instincts. link. I still think if gov Pander is going to go with knee-jerk suspicion of entire populations, his next move should be the wholesale investigation and round-up of Illinois police and their families for possible mingling of private and other funds. There’s far more evidence of that as a local cultural of wrong-doing and don’t they really really need the cash in this benighted state?

  44. 44.

    PeakVT

    November 18, 2015 at 9:48 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: This can be fixed in Firefox if somebody writes a script that alters the CSS (which controls the page formatting). I’ve done it before for myself after previous “upgrades” of the site, but I have no time these days for such things.

  45. 45.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 9:48 pm

    @Schlemazel:
    FRIENDLESS, adj. Having no favors to bestow. Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense.

    FRIENDSHIP, n. A ship big enough to carry two in fair weather, but only one in foul.

    (Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary)

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    November 18, 2015 at 9:49 pm

    @Baud

    Uh-oh. A word that doesn’t test well in parts of the country.

    After all, philosophy was Greek, and we all know (wink wink, nudge nudge) about them Greeks.

    :)

  47. 47.

    Schlemazel

    November 18, 2015 at 9:49 pm

    @Baud:
    Well I am not my own best friend so it would have worked

  48. 48.

    redshirt

    November 18, 2015 at 9:50 pm

    I made the mistake of listening to the WEEI morning show and I think it was Jerry was going on an on about Obama’s comments about Republicans being scared of Syrian refugees. He called Obama a child, naive, ignorant, churlish, and a fool who has no grasp of the issue.

    For as long as I could listen, I was taken aback, because it’s pretty much the opposite of the reality, but you could tell he believed it 100%.

    The wingnut spell is powerful and can completely take over a person.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 9:51 pm

    @NotMax:

    They have big, fat weddings?

  50. 50.

    Thoughtful David

    November 18, 2015 at 9:53 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: No–you have to respond. Otherwise they think everyone agrees with them. If you respond, they have to put both brain cells together and it gets them one step closer to thinking.

  51. 51.

    MattF

    November 18, 2015 at 9:54 pm

    Somewhat OT, Charlie Pierce does a number on Kasich’s proposal for a Department of Judeo-Christianity. So much for the ‘moderate’ Kasich.

  52. 52.

    Tommy

    November 18, 2015 at 9:55 pm

    @Germy: I don’t know how that statement can be more clear. I did all the work John wanted done in spades.

  53. 53.

    Tenar Darell

    November 18, 2015 at 9:55 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Um, if her posts have degenerated to the point where you’re constantly distraught, may be time to say: “Please don’t share these things anymore if you care about our friendship.” Think of it like an intervention. Maybe your comment will be enough to get some daylight into the rabbit hole she’s gone down. Because there is another option – unfriend her. Because there’s a limit, it’s possible you’ve reached yours, and then you do have to disengage to protect yourself.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 9:57 pm

    @Tommy:

    Tommy, can you give us a status on the fix for the Android mobile webpage? I keep having to refresh the page manually (a second time) to see if there are new comments.

  55. 55.

    different-church-lady

    November 18, 2015 at 9:59 pm

    @redshirt: Pro Tip: WHRB has a great jazz program at that time of morning.

  56. 56.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 10:00 pm

    @Baud: Cole and Alain are working on it now, according to the thread below.

  57. 57.

    Satby

    November 18, 2015 at 10:00 pm

    @Schlemazel: @Baud: I now declare you both my friends. Because I love having friends.

  58. 58.

    raven

    November 18, 2015 at 10:01 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Allen West is why I may never talk to my step-brother again. It’s been three years now.

  59. 59.

    Another Holocene Human

    November 18, 2015 at 10:01 pm

    @Baud: Elizabeth Warren was on point today.

  60. 60.

    Steeplejack

    November 18, 2015 at 10:01 pm

    @Another Holocene Human, @PeakVT:

    The Other Chuck has done it with More Better Balloon Juice, a stylesheet for the Stylish add-on.

  61. 61.

    kindness

    November 18, 2015 at 10:02 pm

    It seems to me the level of venom from the right has risen significantly lately. I swear, I really do think they are purposely pushing the buttons of the lunatic base (it isn’t a fringe anymore) hoping one of them will kill Obama. I don’t put it past many of them. Take Ari up above. If that isn’t asking someone to ‘please kill this man’ I don’t know what else it could be.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 10:02 pm

    @Germy:

    Thank you. Aside from the server timeout issue, that’s my only major complaint.

  63. 63.

    Bobby Thomson

    November 18, 2015 at 10:02 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    my friend has turned into a raving mass of reactionary rhetoric and knee-jerk hatred of foreigners, immigrants, refugees, and liberals with either a lower-case or capital L. I’m really distressed. Don’t want to lose her as a friend

    Sounds like you already have. You could try writing a thoughtful post on your own page and see where that goes. Just don’t compromise yourself.

    “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

    “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

  64. 64.

    Nate Dawg

    November 18, 2015 at 10:02 pm

    Lawrence O’Donnell has a really good point: media needs to stop calling Abdelhammid Abbaaoud a “mastermind” because it glorifies a mass murdering psychopath.

  65. 65.

    Jerzy Russian

    November 18, 2015 at 10:02 pm

    I forgot to ask this earlier, but is the safe word still the same, or do we have a new one after the redesign? I would rather not hang out around here without a safe word.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 10:03 pm

    @Satby:

    I’m honored.

  67. 67.

    Another Holocene Human

    November 18, 2015 at 10:04 pm

    @PeakVT: I quit doing web do-it-yourself right when CSS came in. I am a CSS dummy.

  68. 68.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 10:04 pm

    @kindness:

    It seems to me the level of venom from the right has risen significantly lately.

    It got really venomous in 2009. Something must have happened that year.

  69. 69.

    Another Holocene Human

    November 18, 2015 at 10:04 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: Isn’t the safe word always, as ever, “Green Balloons”?

  70. 70.

    Steeplejack

    November 18, 2015 at 10:05 pm

    @Tommy:

    Has the new commenting system been installed?

  71. 71.

    Nate Dawg

    November 18, 2015 at 10:05 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: CSS is the easy part. It’s the php and JavaScript that are effing things up around here, I bet.

  72. 72.

    redshirt

    November 18, 2015 at 10:06 pm

    @different-church-lady: I have to listen to as much sports radio as possible for my Fantasy Football career (won 100$ last weekend), and I confess I sometimes enjoy D&C show as long as they’re not talking politics. They get Tom Brady interviews for example.

    I read wingnut websites so I’m well aware of this phenomena, but to hear it, to hear the passionate sincerity that was completely wrong, I was taken aback.

    Because he would not doubt say I was completely wrong, too, right?

    Is there no objective truth?

  73. 73.

    Bobby Thomson

    November 18, 2015 at 10:06 pm

    @MattF: the moderate Kasich was always a media creation. He’s at least as right wing as the rest of them. Not turning down free money doesn’t make him a moderate.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    November 18, 2015 at 10:06 pm

    @MattF:

    Kasich is only at 7 in New Hampshire. That’s his “do or die” state :)

  75. 75.

    Another Holocene Human

    November 18, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    @Germy: Distinctly not on there: fixing the manic server barfs issue.

    eta: seriously, whoever is whining about balloon man must not be dealing with the “no data from server” error multiple times a day. I don’t even see balloon man. wtf ever.

  76. 76.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    @Baud:

    Thank you. Aside from the server timeout issue, that’s my only major complaint.

    Cole is teaching himself how to code. I have covered my eyes, but I am peeking between my fingers.

    (I keed, I keed)

  77. 77.

    MattF

    November 18, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    @Germy: More, I think, a relative lack of venom 2001 to 2008. It’s Democrats in power that’s the problem.

  78. 78.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    @Kay:

    I’m going to go with die.

  79. 79.

    Satby

    November 18, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    @Baud: I have the chips, are you bringing the beer?
    @Schlemazel: what do you want to bring?

  80. 80.

    Mandalay

    November 18, 2015 at 10:08 pm

    @Baud:

    I don’t see how you can be friends with someone who hates you.

    Part of the problem is the lack of alternatives to the word “friend”, especially with respect to online relationships.

    It would be an interesting experiment to have 50 BJ posters meet for a few hours without revealing their BJ names until the end of the evening. I suspect that the correlation between those we like/dislike online and those we like/dislike in person would be very low.

  81. 81.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 18, 2015 at 10:08 pm

    @Baud:

    I don’t see how you can be friends with someone who hates you.

    I don’t think she hates me personally, but I think she’s worked herself into a frenzy of hating what I believe.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 10:08 pm

    @Germy:

    I watched War Games. I am concerned.

  83. 83.

    Nate Dawg

    November 18, 2015 at 10:08 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: I had it about 10 times today. I hear ya

  84. 84.

    Nate Dawg

    November 18, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    @Mandalay: interesting! I agree.

  85. 85.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 10:10 pm

    @MattF: True. But I’ve always suspected that people like Lush Rimbaugh and Hean Shannity (as well as the citizen wingnuts who comment on various newspapers) almost prefer a “democrap” in power. Because it’s easier and more fun to heckle the opposition from the sidelines than it is to defend your team when they’re in charge.

  86. 86.

    Satby

    November 18, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    @Mandalay: You think? Because I think personality seeps through, even when people are putting on an online persona.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    @Mandalay:

    That’s why I don’t go to meet ups. I wouldn’t be able to stand all the looks of disappointment.

  88. 88.

    Schlemazel

    November 18, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    @Satby:
    now that I have one I guess I have to figure out what to do with one

  89. 89.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 18, 2015 at 10:12 pm

    @MattF:
    I remember the Clinton clears pretty well. The venom did not even approach this level. What was fringe then is mainstream now. Mean-spirited insults then are articles of faith now. Boehner, treated as a moderate now, is vastly more obstructionist than Newt Gingrich ever was. There sure wasn’t anything like this Republican presidential primary. A black man was elected president, and as predicted, White America lost its shit. I’m part of White America, and I watched it happen around me, horrified.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    November 18, 2015 at 10:12 pm

    @Baud:

    He has to host the RNC in Cleveland after he loses.

  91. 91.

    Baud

    November 18, 2015 at 10:13 pm

    @Kay:

    Maybe he can get drunk with Boehner beforehand.

  92. 92.

    Schlemazel

    November 18, 2015 at 10:14 pm

    @redshirt: sometimes enjoy D&C show

    That is something I didn’t expect they would do before an audience. Does planned parenthood charge admission?

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    November 18, 2015 at 10:14 pm

    @Baud

    “Do you want to play a game code a blog?”

  94. 94.

    Satby

    November 18, 2015 at 10:17 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Yeah, this is the worst I can remember since the civil rights era. And I’m old enough to remember that very clearly. I once thought I’d never see that level of ugliness again.

  95. 95.

    Schlemazel

    November 18, 2015 at 10:17 pm

    @Satby:
    I’m really good at ennui.

  96. 96.

    Mandalay

    November 18, 2015 at 10:23 pm

    @Baud:

    That’s why I don’t go to meet ups. I wouldn’t be able to stand all the looks of disappointment.

    That’s just more evidence that you are presidential timber in my book.

  97. 97.

    MattF

    November 18, 2015 at 10:25 pm

    @efgoldman: There’s server barf all over my den.

  98. 98.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 10:28 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: It has something to do with the rise of Rupert’s media empire. I remember the early days. Certain co-workers would get a little smirk on their faces and repeat what they’d seen on his channel.

  99. 99.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 10:29 pm

    @efgoldman: Once Cole starts coding everything will be fixed.

  100. 100.

    MattF

    November 18, 2015 at 10:31 pm

    @Germy: Well, I had an officemate who was a dittohead, back in the day. I avoided arguing with her, but she wasn’t much fun. And back in the ’90’s I knew some media types who hated the Clintons with an intensity that matched anything you see today.

  101. 101.

    redshirt

    November 18, 2015 at 10:33 pm

    @efgoldman: WEEI is simulcast on a local station in Maine, but I happened to be driving to Boston yesterday so was listening to the mother station.

    The rest of their shows are quite good, with no politics. For sports talk, if you’re into that.

  102. 102.

    amk

    November 18, 2015 at 10:33 pm

    @Germy:

    Once Cole starts coding everything will be fixed.

    Is that a threat?

  103. 103.

    Satby

    November 18, 2015 at 10:34 pm

    @Schlemazel: you’ll fit right in!

  104. 104.

    Citizen Alan

    November 18, 2015 at 10:35 pm

    @Tenar Darell:

    Because there is another option – unfriend her.

    Actually, on Facebook, there’s a third option: Unfollow her. That way her posts won’t show up in your feed. If she continually responds in an inflammatory manner to your posts, you can customize your postings so that she doesn’t get yours. Do both and your only interaction with her will be notifications for birthdays and maybe anniversaries. Which, for about half my Friends list, is all I really want.

  105. 105.

    Ruckus

    November 18, 2015 at 10:36 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    No one can decide for you if this person is worth the effort that she seems to be putting you through. But some one once pointed out to me that if someone hates the things that you don’t and loves the things that disgust you then it’s time to decide how good of friend they are.
    I’ve unfriended a number of people on FB over the last 3-4 yrs and have gotten very wary of new people, I vet them first. Read their page, if they allow, check likes, groups, etc. I don’t need a thousand friends that really aren’t. This includes people I’ve known for decades.

  106. 106.

    Citizen Alan

    November 18, 2015 at 10:37 pm

    @kindness:

    I swear, I really do think they are purposely pushing the buttons of the lunatic base (it isn’t a fringe anymore) hoping one of them will kill Obama.

    To this day, I’m convinced that was what Caribou Barbie was doing when she told large audiences that Obama was “paling around with terrorists” because he was once in a room with Bill Ayers.

  107. 107.

    Anne Laurie

    November 18, 2015 at 10:38 pm

    @MattF: You think you’ve got problems — imagine trying to put together a post knowing that SITE FAILED TO RESPOND TIMED OUT TRY AGAIN? is going to drop by at least once during the process.

    I’m hoping that the mini-glitches are related to getting the new code installed, brick by brick, and that eventually Cole will call it finished and we can all stop flinching every time we hit reload…

  108. 108.

    redshirt

    November 18, 2015 at 10:40 pm

    @efgoldman: I can’t get the Sports Hub.

    The 10-2 and 2-6 blocks at WEEI are really good.

  109. 109.

    redshirt

    November 18, 2015 at 10:41 pm

    @Anne Laurie: LOL! Good one.

  110. 110.

    Mandalay

    November 18, 2015 at 10:43 pm

    @efgoldman:

    I’ve been to three or four meetups (we don’t have enough of them) and have found exactly the opposite to be true.

    In that case I defer to your real world experience.

    @Satby:

    I think personality seeps through, even when people are putting on an online persona.

    You may be right. My thinking was that we largely form our opinions of people on-line based on their persona (their tone, rudeness, aggression, condescension, pomposity, etc.) But when we initially meet in person those ugly internet traits would evaporate (excepting the grade-A assholes of course), and would not be much of a factor in determing whether you liked someone or not in the flesh. But maybe not.

  111. 111.

    NotMax

    November 18, 2015 at 10:44 pm

    @Anne Laurie

    John! WIll Fix It.

    ;)

  112. 112.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    November 18, 2015 at 10:45 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: MBBJ css fixes that. At least on Firefox for me. I don’t see comments jammed together, the background alternate white and light gray and bold text is in black. Also above the reply box it reads only “Leave a Reply.”

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    November 18, 2015 at 10:46 pm

    @efgoldman

    Tried going to a meet-up but kept getting a message that entry was denied.

    :)

  114. 114.

    redshirt

    November 18, 2015 at 10:50 pm

    @NotMax:

    John! WIll Fix It.

    ;)

    LOL again.

    Is anyone else seeing the twitter connections here never finalizing?

  115. 115.

    J R in WV

    November 18, 2015 at 10:50 pm

    Pretty good defence of American values, compared to Ari’s outrageous hatred. Those Bushites committed war crimes for breakfast and lunch, and then celebrated at dinner.

    To imagine that President Obama is willing to risk his life, and his wife and kids, because he hates America… how crazy is that? And to foment hatred of the president, how close to treason is that?

    What a bunch of monsters! They should all be in prison, that prison in Germany that Albert Speer was the last inmate of. Or Abu Ghraib maybe. In the basement.

  116. 116.

    Jerzy Russian

    November 18, 2015 at 10:52 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: Well, that was my question. Green Balloons is not working for me as a safe word, as the stupidity keeps on coming and coming.

  117. 117.

    Ruckus

    November 18, 2015 at 10:55 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:
    Green balloons is only a safe word on BJ. Out in the real world you are on your own.

  118. 118.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 18, 2015 at 10:59 pm

    @Ruckus: There are no safe words if the person in control decides that’s how it is. Trust can be misplaced.

  119. 119.

    satby

    November 18, 2015 at 11:01 pm

    Testing

  120. 120.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 18, 2015 at 11:02 pm

    @MattF:

    back in the ’90’s I knew some media types who hated the Clintons with an intensity that matched anything you see today.

    Yes, but the trick is, what you could find if you looked, then, is mainstream now. Hell, I knew someone who dressed in black coming to class on the day after Clinton’s election because America we would all be dead in four years. He got it listening to Rush. Rush hasn’t changed, but national GOP officials and spokesmen like Rove weren’t being forced to publicly apologize to him, like happened in a string in 2009-2010. Gingrich staged a shutdown confrontation. Those have been the norm during Obama’s presidency. The metrics on obstructionism shot up way above anything seen in Clinton’s presidency, or ever, period. The whole ‘compromise on anything whatsoever and face a primary’ phenomenon sure wasn’t there. Whitewater was the only thing that came close, and it was a farce and an insult, not an issue in presidential campaigns like Benghazi and Birtherism. You didn’t get a clown like Trump shooting into the lead in the presidential campaign by calling Mexicans rapists and murderers. The insanity has always existed, but when a black man became president, it took over.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    November 18, 2015 at 11:05 pm

    @Baud:

    “After the first of the year, that’s when the gloves will come off,” said Tom Rath, a longtime New Hampshire Republican operative who is advising the campaign of Governor John Kasich of Ohio.

  122. 122.

    Jeffro

    November 18, 2015 at 11:05 pm

    @Baud: Amen and here’s hoping that growing/showing a spine is contagious. Nothing like turning the tables on these terrified little GOP demagogues.

  123. 123.

    Jeffro

    November 18, 2015 at 11:07 pm

    @Trentrunner: omg, that had to have been my 4th-most-pissed-off W administration moment (but there were so many to choose from, it’s difficult to line ’em all up)

  124. 124.

    satby

    November 18, 2015 at 11:07 pm

    Of course I can’t edit, but the link in my nym was broken (thanks MazeDancer) and now it works and I didn’t fix it. Weird.

  125. 125.

    chopper

    November 18, 2015 at 11:07 pm

    @Germy:

    cole is gonna be the only guy in history who figured out how to break his elbow while coding.

  126. 126.

    Jeffro

    November 18, 2015 at 11:10 pm

    @kindness:

    It seems to me the level of venom from the right has risen significantly lately.

    A party in its death throes, with nothing to offer, facing a relatively unified opposition party…they’re gonna ramp up the fear factor every time. It’s all they have to offer. Not saying it’s right, but not entirely unexpected.

    I swear, I really do think they are purposely pushing the buttons of the lunatic base (it isn’t a fringe anymore) hoping one of them will kill Obama.

    You know, really, they’ve been doing this all along with their open-carry rallies outside presidential events, with the way they stoke the truly nutty base and allow the most offensive things to be said about the President. I’m not being blase’ about it, but they’ve kind of been doing it for 7 years now.

  127. 127.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 18, 2015 at 11:11 pm

    @Germy:
    It does, but there’s a chicken/egg issue with the racial tensions that made FOX popular. A whole lot of racists and evangelists have been getting increasingly nervous over the last five decades as the world becomes a weird place they don’t recognize, with a scary colored person everywhere they look. I personally think it’s a feedback loop. The racism created FOX, which fed the racism, and so on.

    @Citizen Alan:
    I don’t rule it out, but I’m thinking more a huge group of people sharing a warm ‘Man, it would be great if somebody shot Obama’ fuzzy thought. It hovers on the edge of intentional encouragement. Human thought and emotion is weird.

    @chopper:
    I cut my nose shaving, once. Not my proudest moment.

  128. 128.

    NotMax

    November 18, 2015 at 11:12 pm

    @chopper

    In a bizarre accident involving three dogs, one cat and a mouse….

  129. 129.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 18, 2015 at 11:13 pm

    @chopper: I am calling ACL tear.

  130. 130.

    Nate Dawg

    November 18, 2015 at 11:15 pm

    @chopper: more likely to throw out his back.

  131. 131.

    redshirt

    November 18, 2015 at 11:23 pm

    @chopper: Severe carpal tunnel which then cascades to a series of other injuries culminating in a masturbation injury.

  132. 132.

    Doug R

    November 18, 2015 at 11:32 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: If she preferred Harper, there’s no helping her.

  133. 133.

    Anne Laurie

    November 18, 2015 at 11:33 pm

    @NotMax:

    John! WIll Fix It.

    *sobs quietly into her clenched fists*

  134. 134.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    November 18, 2015 at 11:38 pm

    @redshirt: I hate you.

  135. 135.

    redshirt

    November 18, 2015 at 11:48 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Harsh.

  136. 136.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    November 19, 2015 at 12:25 am

    @redshirt: That cascade image. Also harsh.

  137. 137.

    redshirt

    November 19, 2015 at 12:39 am

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): John Cole, lifelong bachelor….

  138. 138.

    daverave

    November 19, 2015 at 12:44 am

    @redshirt:

    yep, moi

  139. 139.

    Splitting Image

    November 19, 2015 at 1:21 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I don’t know what’s happened to this woman. She always seemed to be very rational, humane, compassionate. And, I thought, fairly liberal, although to be fair we didn’t discuss politics until very recently. She loves animals (that hasn’t changed). But she apparently got a hair up her ass about Justin Trudeau during the campaign (she’s Canadian) and in the few short weeks since JT was elected Prime Minister my friend has turned into a raving mass of reactionary rhetoric and knee-jerk hatred of foreigners, immigrants, refugees, and liberals with either a lower-case or capital L. I’m really distressed. Don’t want to lose her as a friend but am searching for the words to post that indicate how strongly I disagree with her (not to mention her tasteless citation of Allen Fucking West).

    I’ve had a couple of friends go over to the dark side over the past few years. As suggested above, it can be helpful to unfollow them at first, rather than unfriend them, which will give both them and you some breathing space.

    If after awhile you don’t really feel much of an inclination to add add them back to your news feed, and checking their timeline shows that they’re not just going through a short-term hissy fit, then the friendship may be completely broken. This has been the case for me.

    JT the PM seems to have revealed some of the same problems in Canada that Obama did when he beat Clinton in 2008. A few Clinton supporters chose to become Republicans rather than support the “inadequate black male”. Some fair-weather “progressives” seem to be following the same route since their chosen party didn’t win last month. This included a few of my friends, although most of them shook it off after a week or two. Sadly, not all.

  140. 140.

    RSR

    November 19, 2015 at 6:55 am

    Hey, steveeboy in the tweets is a friend and neighbor.

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