Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come on, man.

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

Republicans in disarray!

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

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

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Balloon baiting

Balloon baiting

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Two recent posts are the epitome of Balloon Juice commentariat baiting:

From Lawyers, Guns and Money,  just the headline:

“Arizona GOP taps creationist chemtrail truther to lead Senate [blank] committee”

I guessed it was the Science Committee

And Kevin Drum linked to an article on vocabulary development:

“A voluminous taboo lexicon may better be considered an indicator of healthy verbal abilities rather than a cover for their deficiencies,”

“a set of 10 taboo words accounted for 55–60% of all taboo word data….”

Enjoy your goddman open thread….

Reader Interactions

50Comments

  4. 4.

    Lurker

    Sorry to use an open thread to address site maintenance issues, but I notice that when I get to the bottom of the front page and click to go to the next page (or page 2, 3, whatever) my browser (Firefox, if that matters) takes me right back to the front page. Anyone else experiencing this, or am I special?

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    goddman

    Uh …

    I went to the University of Malaya Medica Centre today. It’s all the way across town, and by the time I got there the @#%! general treatment clinic was closed. For the day (at 4pm!) and indeed for Christmas, too: I was told at the front desk that they would only open again on Monday. So I’ll have to bear with my swollen left pinky until then.

    I tell you, if the Sultan of Brunei were running things here, he’d be livid.

    ETA: By the way, what happened to the post downstairs? It’s missing a few essential features.

  6. 6.

    srv

    In a new CNN/ORC national poll released Wednesday morning, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump boasts a double-digit lead over his closest competitor, picking up 39 percent support from GOP voters.

    When will Nate Silver wake up.

  7. 7.

    Tenar Darell

    I may have missed this year’s iteration of the “War,” but I got “Merry Christmas” bullied yesterday. I’m saying “Happy Holidays” like you do when you want New Year’s and Christmas included with a wish at a big group of undifferentiated people. One of the guys I was saying this blanket statement to, practically insisted, like a tribal marker, on getting a Merry Christmas from me. So I said it, and then felt all sour. The exact opposite of what saying Merry Christmas should mean.

    Maybe what I should do with these is start saying Merry Christmas in as nasty a tone of voice as possible, that’ll teach ’em! I’ll be all pre-spirits Scrooge, and intone Humbug with every Happy Christmas uttered, and pedantically point out that this is the British version of Merry.

    Oh, and Merry Christmas to you all, without a smidge of Humbug.

  8. 8.

    low-tech cyclist

    goddman

    Now I’ve got Bowie going through my head:

    God and man – no confession
    God and man – no religion
    God and man – don’t believe in modern love

    Not a bad earworm, actually.

  12. 12.

    bystander

    I’m noticing all the media attention focused on the Las Vegas nutso driver. Can’t help but wonder if the guy who shot 4 people to death in a women’s health clinic had been named Lakeisha, we’d be hearing a lot more about that case.

  13. 13.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Paul in KY: He seems to be hitting the “a” correctly, though, without bumping the “s” or CAPS LOCK, so it’s not that badly swollen. I think he’ll live.

    /Frist

  14. 14.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Tenar Darell:

    Maybe what I should do with these is start saying Merry Christmas in as nasty a tone of voice as possible, that’ll teach ’em!

    Or just say, “It makes the baby Jesus cry when people use his birth as an excuse for being assholes.”

    Being of a more religious bent, I think I’m gonna try, “God is love. Guess you must be on the other side.”

  20. 20.

    Amir Khalid

    Another thing I saw today was a sticker in a taxi window, issued by SPAD, the agency that licenses public transportation in Malaysia. The sticker said that Uber cars don’t have the appropriate SPAD licences and passenger insurance, without which it’s illegal to operate a transport service. Per the local news, SPAD is currently deciding whether/how to legalise Uber and similar services operating in Malaysia.

  22. 22.

    srv

    Merry Christmas from the TSA:

    Just in time for the busy holiday travel season, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has changed the rules of airport protocol to allow TSA agents to force certain passengers to go through the Advanced Imaging Technologies (AIT), even if they want to opt out and would prefer a pat-down.

  27. 27.

    GregB

    @Tenar Darell:

    Only the morally corroded modern day American rightwing Christian could turn a cheerful season’s greeting into a reason to get angry and lash out at others.

    Another example of Conservative Political Correctness run amok.

  28. 28.

    CaseyL

    @Tenar Darell: I haven’t encountered that particular variety of creep yet, and if I can hold out just a few more days the season will have passed. If I do encounter that particular variety of creep, I’ll either ignore them, or tell them I wish them a stocking full of coal.

    @Amir Khalid: Possibly dislocated? How much does it hurt?

  32. 32.

    Scout211

    @Lurker:

    It has been discussed in the site maintenance thread and Alain is working on it.

    You can go to a particular day’s previous threads using the BJ url with the date you wish to read at the end, example: 2015/12/22

  34. 34.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    @Tenar Darell: I would just say Feliz Navidad and then do ha ha ha like you’re just joking around singing the Jose Feliciano song, because chances are high that he’s anti-Hispanic.

  40. 40.

    Julia Grey

    The original injury, whatever it is, didn’t hurt much if at all. It’s the swelling that concerns me.

    Spider bite while you were sleeping?

  41. 41.

    Matt McIrvin

    Hilarious article on TPM: Can Donald Trump Lead A Conservative Movement He Barely Understands?

    I think this article is completely upside down: the conservative movement doesn’t understand Trumpism. People used to the mid-20th-century political spectrum saw Reaganism as something that dropped in from Mars; it didn’t compute. Now these guys are still living in Reagan’s world. Ted Cruz says all the stuff they want to hear, and it might still be good enough. But Trump doesn’t; he’s more like some bigot-populist demagogue out of the 1930s, hitting the racist notes directly instead of couching them in small-government and religious-conservative terms. And the conservative-movement guys don’t understand how this can be working, because it’s not the formula they’re used to.

  45. 45.

    WereBear

    @Tenar Darell: I vary what I say with what I know, or can guess, of the person.

    Haven’t had a greeting sour on me yet, but we are in an area with low diversity, especially compared to NYC environs, where I used to live.

  47. 47.

    mellowjohn

    unfortunately, the chemtrail lady (who is also a “young earther”) is going to head the education committee.

  50. 50.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Today is Festivus, after all, and my grievance is Christianist scum getting bent out of shape over “Happy Holidays”.

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