Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

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

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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

A consequence of cucumbers

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Everybody saw this coming.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

In my day, never was longer.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The willow is too close to the house.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

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

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

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115Comments

  4. 4.

    Mike J

    @FlyingToaster: Networks deciding on their own not to show things their viewers don’t want is exactly the same as the government throwing people in jail for showing those things.

  5. 5.

    redshirt

    @FlyingToaster: Warner Brothers. You will no longer see a Speedy cartoon or Pepe LePeu.

    I don’t recall seeing Sam in sometime so I wonder if he exploits stereotypes about old western 49ers and such.

    Foghorn Leghorn might be gone too.

  7. 7.

    ThresherK

    @redshirt: Foghorn Leghorn? He’s less a stereotype than about athird of our rural TV reality show subjects.

    Speedy Gonzales isn’t funny, anyway. Not because of stereotypes, accents or cultural awakening. But because he is an innocent whose existence breaks the rules of cartoon belligerence escalation.

  8. 8.

    sigaba

    @redshirt: Just more evidence of the White Genocide. Yosemite Sam is anti-white stereotyping. Let’s not even get started on foghorn leghorn .

  11. 11.

    benw

    Too bad Obama didn’t say that when people are uncertain they should cling to charity, healthy diets, and exercise. America would have collectively felt much better.

  12. 12.

    Dr. Omed

    This made me chuckle, it’s much funnier than most of the Palin piñata material now sluicing through the Innertubes, but I remind myself, just as I do when I watch a Daily Show or Colbert clip, that satire is the opiate of the Liberal class.

  13. 13.

    redshirt

    @sigaba: Pepe LePeu was really the worst of them. Never minding the French stereotypes, his entire shtick was trying to rape a cat he thought was a skunk. Not so cool.

  14. 14.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    Our dog, Smedley Darlington Mingobat is scared to go out in the snow. I had to drag him out earlier, and I took him under the porch, where there’s less snow, and he still didn’t know what to do. I was about to whip my own equipment out, to show him how to take a piss in the snow when he went on his own, at last. But he’s been holding it in as much as he can, even when I go out with him. He’s peed twice inside today, and took a shit on the floor, too. I guess we can deal with that for a few days, but does anybody know how to help a dog get over his fear of snow?

  15. 15.

    ThresherK

    @redshirt: I never got the idea that Speedy was a stereotype-fighting mouse. But then, I grew up about as far as a suburban kid could in the continental USA from Mexico, and migration patterns meant most Latinos in my area were from Puerto Rico.

    My problem with Speedy is about the structure of humor. His main antagonist is Sylvester, a cat who has proved that can’t even catch a bird in a cage. What the hell chance does he have against the fastest mouse in all Mexico? How low a ceiling on funny is that?

  16. 16.

    redshirt

    @ThresherK: I’ve heard – anecdotally – that Speedy is a very popular cartoon figure with Mexicans, but it’s all the other Mexican characters that are the issue. Which I get. Like Slow Poke. Who I liked only because of the contrast with Speedy.

  19. 19.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    You can see some of those banned characters on YouTube, including a Confederate Yosemite Sam trying to whip Bugs Bunny.

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    @redshirt

    Foghorn Leghorn’s voice and verbal tics were modeled on that of Senator Claghorn on the Fred Allen show.

    Claghorn, in tun, may have emanated in part from the senatorial caricature Jack S. Phogbound (originally Fogbound) from Li’l Abner. Election campaign slogan : “There’s no Jack S. like our Jack S.!”

  21. 21.

    raven

    @NotMax: Peter Palmer, the great Illini!

    “Peter Palmer (born September 20, 1931 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American baritone and actor best known for his portrayal of Li’l Abner, both on Broadway and on film.

    He was offered scholarships to a number of universities; however, he chose the University of Illinois to study voice under Bruce Foote. He was the first music major to letter in football at the university. While at Illinois his team won the Big Ten championships in 1951 and 1953 and the Rose Bowl in 1952. Palmer sang the national anthem at every home game in 1953 before taking the field.”

  22. 22.

    NonyNony

    @redshirt:

    Warners announced last month that they’re putting a Speedy Gonzales animated movie into production. So it isn’t the character per se that is racist but rather the cartoons he appeared in (which really did have a number of offensive elements in them.)

  24. 24.

    ThresherK

    @redshirt: Hm. The first search result I got was from a book excerpted on Google called “Ask a Mexican”, from which:

    Tweety, along with Bugs Bunny and Speedy Gonzáles, always maintained a large following among Mexicans because he personifies the Trickster.

    Point made re the identifying with the “innocents” v. the “belligerents”. Nobody wants to see themselves as Elmer Fudd, because he’s got a gun and yet he never succeeds in his quest. Then again, Chuck Jones said that “We imagine ourselves as Bugs Bunny, then look in the mirror and see we’re Daffy Duck”.

  27. 27.

    Mike in NC

    I’m old enough to remember when Saturday morning TV consisted of a lot of Disney cartoons and Three Stooges shorts from WW2.

  31. 31.

    redshirt

    @NonyNony:

    Warners announced last month that they’re putting a Speedy Gonzales animated movie into production. So it isn’t the character per se that is racist but rather the cartoons he appeared in (which really did have a number of offensive elements in them.)

    Cool to hear! There’s nothing bad about Speedy at all – he’s quite heroic. But yes, all the sleepy, lazy Mexican extras that were in his old cartoons were bad caricatures. Except Slow Poke – afterall, he is the slowest mouse in all of Mexico.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    @Mike in NC

    Crusader Rabbit and ancient Farmer Al Falfa and Koko the Clown ‘toons were the staples during my formative period. A bit later Ruff ‘n’ Reddy, Popeye, and Heckle & Jeckle became the ones always shown over and over.

  37. 37.

    ThresherK

    @redshirt: I hope they don’t screw it up. There was a Rocky and Bullwinkle movie which nobody misses.

    The Looney Tunes movie which went all meta and had Brendan Fraser worked for me. Then again, Fraser was a fine live-action performer as George of the Jungle and Dudley Do Right.

  43. 43.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    That doc The History of the Eagles is on CNN right now. Started half an hour ago and goes to midnight EST. Can’t tell if it’s the highly rated one or not.

  46. 46.

    FlyingToaster

    @Mike J:
    @redshirt:

    Weird. The only one that I (then and now) thought was bad was Pepe Le Peu.

    Though mostly we lived on HannaBarbera and WarnerBrothers cartoons. I bought Rocky&Bullwinkle and Tom&Jerry collections for WarriorGirl. Plus, of course, Roadrunner & WileECoyote.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    Second caramel orange upside-down cake out of the oven. Look lights years better than the first (with which I screwed up the recipe).

    Still, taking both the tonight’s weekly gathering.

    Not looking forward to scrubbing baked-on caramel from the non-stick (ha!) springform pan. Gonna soak the bejesus out of that sucker in hot water, sour salt and vinegar.

  50. 50.

    ThresherK

    @FlyingToaster: The weirdest thing about Tom & Jerry were the ones made in Czechoslovakia by Gene Deitch. Even as a kid I knew there was something…off about them.

  51. 51.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @NotMax:
    Citric acid helps take baked on sugar off? I did not know that. I can buy it by the pound at all of the Middle Eastern groceries. Gotta add that to our kitchen arsenal. Probably good for cleaning the coffee maker too.

  52. 52.

    redshirt

    Does anyone remember a 4th of July based Tom and Jerry which had each side using munitions against the other? It was the greatest T&J ever to my young mind.

    Also got to give a shout out to The Simpson’s T&J parody, Itchy and Scratchy. “They fight, and fight, and fight and fight and fight!”

  54. 54.

    gelfling545

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): My pup, Flora has been highly resistant to going out in the snow. She mostly stands there and shakes until I take her back in. She has a sweater but hates it. I am ill equipped to demonstrate the process to her as you were considering. She a vague clue that if she pees pretty quick she’ll get to go back inside right speedily but mostly she sneaks around trying to weasel her way back in. Part of the problem is no visible grass to use.

  55. 55.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @SFAW:
    Thanks. The only thing we ever used it for was to mix with baking soda, press into balls and make fizzy bath salts bombs. Good to know it has other uses.

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    @Ultraviolet Thunder

    Sour salt aids with anything burnt on. Often have let the bottom of a pot marred with the remains of something that went too far soak overnight.

    Diluted vinegar is standard practice for Mr. Coffee-type machines. Have to run about three pots of plain water through afterwards, though. For aluminum coffee pots, use cream of tartar.

  60. 60.

    ThresherK

    @redshirt: Tom and Jerry were the role models for Itchy and Scratchy? Perhaps your childhood broadcasters never had to scrape the barrel of repetitive, violent and banal animation that was HarveyToons, and their stars Herman and Katnip.

    I do remember Jerry using a bra as a parachute once. That may be the same episode.

  61. 61.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @NotMax:
    Thanks. I just don’t like the smell of aerosolized vinegar fumes from cleaning a coffee maker so I’m looking for an alternative.
    We use highly refined acetic acid (lab grade) for cleaning laser optics. You don’t get that on you.
    We’ll try the sour salt trick. Probably soon, considering our kitchen practices.

  63. 63.

    SiubhanDuinne

    This is one of those “Whatever-happened-to?) queries.

    There was an American expat living in Britain, mother of a young daughter (Bottle Rocket?). She (the mother, cannot recall her nym) used to come back to the States occasionally to run marathons. Have totally lost track of her, and am embarrassed that so many of her details have gone wandering off.

    Also, years ago, some cookbook had a recipe with an ingredient “finely ground black people.” Of course they meant “finely ground black pepper,” but the “black people” thing became a meme, and we had a frequent BJ commenter who went by that nym for a while. Anyone know whatever happens to him/her?

    Not sure why these two people have popped into my mind after so many years.

  64. 64.

    redshirt

    @ThresherK: Maybe it was Herman and Katnip, but I doubt it. Everyone knows T&J.

    And yes, the bra parachute might be part (I’m foggy on the details). It was a fully militarized episode with planes and artillery and the like.

  72. 72.

    p.a.

    The Flintstones was a prime time show:

    The Flintstones premiered on September 30, 1960, at 8:30pm, and quickly became a hit. It was the first American animated show to depict two people of the opposite sex (Fred and Wilma; Barney and Betty) sleeping together in one bed, although Fred and Wilma are sometimes depicted as sleeping in separate beds.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    @p.a.

    Yup. Sponsored by a cigarette company. And, to quote Robert Duvall’s character in Network, “a big-titted hit.”

    (Fred lit up and smoked in some ads.)

  75. 75.

    Tracy Ratcliff

    The Tom and Jerry episode is “The Yankee Doodle Mouse” (1943) which won an oscar in ’44.

  76. 76.

    joel hanes

    Popeye and Bluto and Olive and Wimpy and Swea’ Pea, in heavy rotation with Mighty Mouse and an occasional old Fliescher full of stretchy generic mammals.

    The other station did Walter Lantz, Woody Woodpecker, Heckl and Jeckl, and collateral. Never thought that as good.

    The Flintstones was on in prime time. We liked Yogi & BooBoo for a season, Mr. Jinx and Pixie and Dixie, thought Huckleberry Hound and then Sugar Bear were cool, then Linus The Lionhearted begat George Of The Jungle.

    I love the ones in which they do the classics: Warner Bros doing Wagner, Popeye with Bluto as Sinbad, etc. — a monster with Peer Gynt.

    Rocky and Bullwinkle and the Road Runner age pretty well, I think. So does Bugs.

  77. 77.

    ThresherK

    @redshirt: Take it from me: Find any Herman and Katnip on Youtube. Watch one, you’ve seen them all.

    This is the same studio which foisted Casper the Friendly Ghost and Baby Huey on an unsuspecting public. You have been warned.

    Come to think of it, except for the Fleischer stuff (Popeye, the amazing Superman color shorts, etc), Paramount had an amazingly low standard of things they’d show before their movies.

  78. 78.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    On Twitter this evening “Pourmecoffee” posted a picture of a magazine from 1934 talking about a particular body builder of the time. The magazine was called “Physical Culture” with a sub head of “The Personal Problem Magazine” One of the stories made me drop my jaw “When a woman faces 35” with “faces” in italics. Obviously a woman facing 35 in 1934 was basically fucked. How far we have come.

  85. 85.

    ThresherK

    @NotMax: I must cede to your misspent childhood on this subject. Never heard of her. I misspent my formative years with cartoons on TV much more than with comic books.

  86. 86.

    redshirt

    @ThresherK: Once again I defer to your knowledge. I never did see a Richie Rich cartoon now that you’ve corrected me, but I felt like I remembered seeing one. But it was just comic books. I think I had a book with a collection of Richie Rich comics so I read them all.

  88. 88.

    PurpleGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: I don’t remember the name of the American expat living in Britain but I think she called her baby “Bean”. And yes, she hasn’t commented here in quite a while.

    Also not commenting for some time who I wonder about sometime is Maude. I think she lived in NJ.

  90. 90.

    p.a.

    A co-worker, slightly older than I, and not Canadian, remembers this show from its original run. I had never even heard of it until he mentioned it.

    Not a cartoon, but does anyone remember this?

    The Littlest Hobo is a Canadian television series based upon a 1958 American film of the same name directed by Charles R. Rondeau. The series first aired from 1963 to 1965 in syndication, and was revived for a popular second run on CTV, spanning six seasons, from October 11, 1979 to March 7, 1985. It starred an ownerless dog.

    All three productions revolved around a stray German Shepherd, the titular Hobo, who wanders from town to town, helping people in need. Although the concept (of a dog saving the day) was perhaps similar to that of Lassie, the Littlest Hobo’s destiny was to befriend those who apparently needed help, portrayed by well known actors in celebrity guest appearance roles… Despite the attempts of the many people whom he helped to adopt him, he appeared to prefer to be on his own, and would head off by himself at the end of each episode.

  93. 93.

    PurpleGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: We also haven’t heard from Redkitten in a long time. Can’t remember what she called her first baby. I think the last time she might have written was when she expecting no. 2. She used to post the best pictures of her little wee one.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    @p.a.

    Title is vaguely familiar, but fairly certain have never seen it. Only series set in Canada I immediately recall was Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.

    At least they had the sense not to name it The Lone Manger.

  97. 97.

    ThresherK

    @NotMax: Why I thought she’d look like Little Lulu is anyone’s guess.

    @efgoldman: “In 1954 Otto Messmer retired from the Felix daily newspaper strips, and his assistant Joe Oriolo (the co-creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost) took over. Oriolo struck a deal with Felix’s new owner to begin a new series of Felix cartoons on television.”

    There you go.

  99. 99.

    Shana

    @joel hanes: My childhood afternoons were spent watching Cap’n Ernie’s Cartoon Showboat on a station, probably Davenport, IA, in the Quad Cities. Cartoons, many of them classics, a Three Stooges short, interspersed with Cap’n Ernie and his audience of kids. You could send in a postcard with your name, etc. and be entered in a drawing for a case of soda. For the life of me I can’t remember the brand but not CocaCola or Pepsi products, something regional. I won, many years after entering, when I was about 15. Yeah!? I also remember having a birthday party with my school chums and friends in the audience. Even at the age of 8 or 9 we were distinctly disappointed by the real experience vs. watching on TV.

    this was sometime in the late 60s. Yes, I’m old. 57 next week.

  101. 101.

    Rand Careaga

    As long as we’re on the subject of cartoons, people who haven’t got round to it already should check out The Triplets of Belleville, which begins with a glorious tribute to the cartoons of eighty years ago. The rest of the movie (also animated) ain’t half-bad either.

  106. 106.

    Gravenstone

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: Glacial acetic (so called because it freezes not too far below room temperature), blech! My senior year in college I went up to do some work on my research project. Opened the door off the stairwell to the chemistry floor and damn near dropped to my knees. The “chemistry for non-science majors” class was doing something with acetic acid that involved boiling it over steam cones – no fume hoods. The entire floor just reeked of vinegar as a result. To this day I still have difficulty cooking with vinegar.

  109. 109.

    Renie

    some of my favorites at different ages: courageous cat and minute mouse, speed racer and captain scarlet!

  112. 112.

    J R in WV

    Heckl and Jeckl – the two crows – were probably born of inspiration from Norse Sagas, where Odin had two ravens who kept him informed, named Huginn and Muninn, who flew all over the world each day and returned to tell Odin (aka Wotan) everything they had seen and heard. Every time I look into Norse mythology I get bowled over all over again by how weird it is!

    And how often authors have used bits (or huge portions) of it in other work.

    Does anyone remember the origin of the music used in those cartoons? I barely remember them, but enough to know that Heckel and Jeckel raised hell with every animal that every thought to abuse them, from lions and tigers to elephants.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    @J R in WV

    Probably modeled more on the team of Wheeler & Woolsey in movies (and similar duos from vaudeville) than from anyone delving into Norse myth. IMHO.

    BTW, the New Zealand TV Series The Almighty Johnsons delves a bit into the byways of Norse mythology and does stay pretty accurate to the source material, all things considered as it takes place present day. Available on Netflix.

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