Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

T R E 4 5 O N

We are aware of all internet traditions.

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

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The revolution will be supervised.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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

This really is a full service blog.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Infrastructure week. at last.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

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Reader Interactions

97Comments

  12. 12.

    Mike J

    @Baud:

    Betty, are you unable to embed tweets like Anne Laurie does? Just curious.

    I much prefer the pic of the tweet. I can see it as it appeared without allowing twitter to execute javascript on balloon-juice, and it loads much faster.

  14. 14.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: I’m unable if on an iThang, able on PC products. I’m on an iThang now. But even on PC, I’ll usually render an image so the load time isn’t affected if displaying multiple tweets. As a user, I hate the load time.

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    @Baud:
    Isn’t “Jeb Bush” redundant in that it’s John Ellis Bush Bush? Sounds vaguely Kenyan, “Bush Bush.”

    Am not sure this is gonna get ‘er done, Jabbers.

  16. 16.

    Luther M. Siler

    I think this might be the single most fucked-up thing I’ve seen so far this election cycle, and that’s including Trump re-tweeting white supremacists half a dozen times. I just cannot WHAT THE FUCK IS HE THINKING.

    Insane. They’re all insane.

  17. 17.

    sharl

    @Baud:

    I’m a little sad that “Jeb” on the gun doesn’t have an exclamation point at the end of it.

    ~
    Adorable red panda and master photoshopper darth™ has got ya covered

    ETA: had to fix the darn link!

  18. 18.

    Hungry Joe

    “You want that gun, don’t you, Zed? — I mean, Jeb. Go ahead, pick it up. C’mon … attaboy! I WANT you to pick it up.”

    “Step aside, Butch.”

  21. 21.

    jl

    Did Jeb cook any bacon with it?
    Maybe that will be the next tweet.

    Anyway, the themes and imagery of the GOP primary grow increasingly disturbing every day.

  24. 24.

    gene108

    I doubt John Ellis knows how to use it.

    George, Jr. could pull off the country rancher, probably knows his way around a gun, motif.

    John Ellis just seems like the rich entitled douche he was born to be.

  25. 25.

    Mike J

    Imagine if Kanye had tweeted the same picture, but with his name on the gun. Now go read Cole’s post about the Black Panthers.

  27. 27.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @? Martin:
    Sig is headquartered in Germany and owned by a Swiss company but you are on the right track.

    I only bring it up in case you mention it someplace else – hat e to see you get hit with the “clip / magazine” bullshit

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Shell: @Seebach: @? Martin: Governor Bush was visiting the FN factory in South Carolina today and they presented him with the gun in the picture he tweeted out. The Internet being what it is, hilarity ensued!

    Its a FN (Fabrique Nationale [Herstal]). Its definitely a FNX because it has the external hammer, but because of the angle in the pic I can’t get a clear read of the top or side of the barrel, but I think its a FNX 40.
    https://www.fnamerica.com/products/handguns/fnx-series/

    Fabrique Nationale (FN) is the American branch of Fabrique Nationale Herstal from Belgium, which is largely responsible for bringing John Moses Browning’s semi-automatic (self loading) pistols to life.
    http://www.fnherstal.com/primary-menu/about-us.html

  29. 29.

    redshirt

    So many funny responses on twitter. That guy from the British office tweeted a pic of an umbrella with the word “Britain”.

    But yeah, funny, but also disturbing. America!

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): Its not a SIG Sauer. And if it was, all the SIG firearms in the US, because of importation controls, are manufactured in New Hampshire. It is a Fabrique Nationale/FN, which is the American subsidiary of Fabrique Nationale Herstal (FNH). FNH is Belgium’s premier firearms manufacturer. FN USA took the production contract for M4 Carbines and M16 Rifles from Colt (one of the reasons Colt went into bankruptcy) and is the primary supplier of those arms to the US military. This firearm is specifically an FNX and I think its an FNX 40, but its hard to tell because of the position in the gun in the picture – even expanding the picture I can’t get a clear read on the top or side of the barrel or the side of the slide. Governor Bush was visiting FN’s South Carolina factory and they clearly presented him with a FNX with a personalized slide.

  36. 36.

    slag

    I’m wondering if, in light of recent events, gun and suicide allusions are a bit too much of a bummer.

  37. 37.

    Sad_Dem

    Did they put his name on the top of the slide because he holds his gun like a Central Casting street punk?

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: Senator Cruz didn’t actually cook any bacon with his AR 15. As a semi-auto he can’t get the barrel hot enough even with extended magazines to adequately cook bacon. It was a stupid, and potentially gastronomically dangerous, stunt.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): The stylized FN on the grip gives it away. Also, SIG’s grips are more rounded, especially on their two polymer pistols: the P250 (Double Action Only hammer fired) and the P320 (striker fired). The frames on both the P250 and the P320 are both imprinted with SIG SAUER about 2/3 of the way up the grip.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sad_Dem: No. Because the FNX has both front and rear serrations on the slide, as well as other branding and caliber information from FN, the only place with enough room to engrave the slide with a full name is on top.

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    @The Lodger: I don’t think it would do any good. It was a tribal signaling sort of thing. Not just to demonstrate fealty to the 2nd Amendment, but to demonstrate to the heavily Islamophobic sub, sub-culture among gun owners.

  46. 46.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: That is horrible news. What are the GOPers going to do for all-American recipes? Maybe could heat up donuts with them or something? Probably could get a good baker’s dozen on a barrel.

    Edit: shoot a hot dog out of a gun and into a hot dog bun? Like the Supreme Apocalypse, this will end up a Constitutional Crisis sooner or later.

  50. 50.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: Canadian bacon is already cooked, right? Cruz would be fine heating up Canadian bacon! I guess that is unpatriotic, socialist and would end up as evidence in Trump’s lawsuit, though.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    @Baud:

    “This is my rifle,
    And this is my gun.
    This is for shootin’
    And this is for fun.”

  53. 53.

    Pogonip

    @Adam L Silverman: If we can have importation controls on well-made products why not on Chinese crap? Write your Congressthing today!

    (Never had, or even fired, a Sig myself, but current and former owners I know are unanimously pleased.)

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: His faith is either is going to be rewarded or he is going to be very let down. I hope for the former, but expect the latter. And, unfortunately, hope is not a strategy.

  57. 57.

    Pogonip

    I am contemplating a tube of Max Factor Pan-Stik, considering whether to have POGONIP engraved on it.

    (Before anyone asks, I’ve been hoarding tubes for years, it’s not back on the market in the U.S. i keep writing P & G, though.)

  64. 64.

    Heliopause

    It just occurred to me, if The Rapture occurs between now and election day Bernie Sanders will be the only candidate left.

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Pogonip: The import controls are kind of funky. I just know they exist, I’m not a specialist on them. In this case I think its actually a German rule, rather than an American one, but I may be wrong. I know that Springfield Armory has no problem importing the four Springfield branded XD lines from Croatia, that KRISS can get the Sphinx line imported from Switzerland, that GLOCK is still able to bring Austrian produced GLOCKs in, etc.

    As for SIG SAUER, they make an excellent product. Of course the market is so crowded now that unless one is going for one of the real budget firearms, the products are all competitive. You’ll see lots of people arguing over which is or is not better, but at the end of the day a lot of it is personal preference. For instance, I’m not a big fan of the Beretta M9 the Army uses and issued me for my deployment in Iraq, but that’s because the grip is very large and square and didn’t fit my hands well. The commercial line does make a compact,but that wasn’t an option with the Army issued one. Nothing wrong with the firearm itself, for what it was designed to do, just not very customizable. So I wasn’t too pleased with it as it wasn’t comfortable for me.

    This is why the Army is doing a new handgun trial and modularity of the system is a requirement. And why SIG came out with the P320 – its their striker fired modular handgun. So the serialized piece – the actual gun – is a removable fire control unit. It can be placed into 12 different grip modules (frames): Full, Carry, Compact, and Subcompact multiplied by Large, Medium, and Small. And the fire control unit is convertible from 9mm to .40 to .357 SIG with a conversion kit. The .45, for the time being, only fits the .45 grip modules. So this would allow a large amount of modular convertability. Have a Soldier with a really big pair of mitts? Issue them a large grip module. One of the “fun size” colonels I know that have hands smaller than mine? Give them a small grip module. Their other potential market is in Europe. Several countries limit the total number of firearms one can purchase and own/possess. With the P320 all you have to do is buy one firearm with the serialized fire control unit and then buy however many conversion kits you want.

    Other companies are working on similar systems. Beretta has two different modular polymer pistols: the Nano and the Pico. And the new Ruger American Pistol has a similar, removable fire control unit, but there’s no indication they’re planning on going as modular as SIG.

  66. 66.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? Martin: Beretta 92s, in this case the comparable one would be the 92FS (the civilian version of the M9), have an open slide. Also, the thumb safety goes the other way. And the Beretta logo on the grips is three arrows pointing up towards the slide in a circle.
    http://www.beretta.com/en-us/92-fs/

    As for the safety being off: yes it is.

  68. 68.

    Mandalay

    It took the Feds a really long time to get pissed, but they are now officially done with playing nice with Cliven Bundy:

    Cliven Bundy was described as a “lawless and violent man” and was ordered held without bail by US District Judge Janice Stewart for his role in a standoff with the federal government in 2014.

    The judge said Bundy, 69, is a flight risk and a danger to the community in the bail hearing Tuesday afternoon in downtown Portland.

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mandalay: I’m pretty sure they were pissed very quickly, but they decided they’d pick their spots. Its important to remember that at the Bundy Ranch standoff law enforcement, from all levels, was outnumbered four to one. And Bundy’s supporters, as we all remember from the pictures of the guys on the overpass, had the high ground.

  71. 71.

    ET

    The comments are great. I also saw a comeback tweet with a photo of America Ferrera with the word America.

  74. 74.

    The Golux

    @Sad_Dem:

    Did they put his name on the top of the slide…

    “When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
    Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
    Till I get to the bottom and I see you again
    Yeah yeah yeah”

    The Fabs – ahead of their time.

  76. 76.

    Pogonip

    @Adam L Silverman: You’ve sold me! I’d love a small grip module. I find most automatics uncomfortably squarish (is that a word?), just like you.

    Er, SEMI-automatics (just in case there’s a clip/magazine pedant lurking).

  78. 78.

    Eric U.

    If I were Jeb!, I would get someone who knows what they are doing to make sure that gun doesn’t have a round in the chamber. Especially since they handed it to him with the safety off, maybe they were trying to pull a fast one

  81. 81.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Pogonip: Try the P320. Unless you prefer DAO, then try their P250. I’ve shot the P250: it is, perhaps, the smoothest DAO trigger I’ve ever seen outside of a performance center tuned S&W revolver.

    The grip modules run about $40 as aftermarkets and come in black, flat dark earth, and olive drab/green.

  85. 85.

    JCT

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m looking forward to the new P320 competition model coming out later this year. Have a P226 SAO that has finally displaceds my BHP as my favorite 9mm.

    Love that Jeb’s firearm has the safety off. Looks like the NRAs mantra that everyone (including untrained idiots ) should own a gun is moving right along .

  86. 86.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    I also carried a 1911. Me likie not so much. But that was mostly from how loose it was. I’d bet it was an original model. Or possibly one late enough that it had seen use in WWII.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: That was often the problems with the M9s, though the 1911s for the military were intended to be lose. In the case of the M9s you never knew who had it before you and how they did or did not take care of it.

  89. 89.

    The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...

    We know you’re losing Jeb but suicide isn’t the answer…

    Now now… let’s not be so fast to rush to judgement on this one…

    Give Jeb time to think it through on his own…

  90. 90.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    This was 45 yrs ago and the navy was not in line for the latest personal weapons at the time, except for the brown water navy. We had BARs, Thompson 45 subs, 1911 and I believe M1 Garand, although not positive about that. Never saw an M16 in 4 yrs. We did have (2) 5in single barrel which would fire 30 rounds a min auto fire, torpedoes, which were never fired, ASROC which was and guided missiles, also launched. We were good at obliterating towed targets with those. So hard to say that we didn’t have modern weapons, just not hand held ones.

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: Tracking. The M9s weren’t intended to be loose, but a lot of them had been poorly handled and maintained by whoever had them previously.

    The 1911s for the military were supposed to be loose. The really high end with very tight tolerance 1911s take a lot of break in and can be finicky in adverse conditions.

  92. 92.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    It was also OK that they were loose because no one actually aimed one and the issue rounds were so weak….
    I have fired a late model civilian, tight 1911 with proper loads and that is an entirely different weapon.
    But that’s all in the distant past for me.

  93. 93.

    Applejinx

    Well, my Twitter feed had a naked Burt Reynolds on a bearskin rug with ‘America’ captioned on it ;)

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