Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The revolution will be supervised.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

When I was faster i was always behind.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The lights are all blinking red.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

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

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Events / Last Reminder: Phoenix Area Meet-Up TOMORROW, May 22

Last Reminder: Phoenix Area Meet-Up TOMORROW, May 22

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From commentor / party planner Prescott Cactus:


PHX Balloon Juice Meet Up
5/22/16
Sunday afternoon (3 to 3:30 pm arrival)
Oregano’s Pizza Bistro (the one in Tempe just off I-10 on Elliot.)
1475 W Elliot Rd, Tempe, AZ 85284
Phone: (480) 966-0401

Looking like 10 to 12 !

@ karen marie
@ Suzanne: + one
@ Bumper
@ azlib + one
@ pirate dan + one
@ Jordan Rules (trying)
@ 2liberal (cough-Cough)
@ Prescott Cactus: + one

Come on Arizona, anyone else?

Lurkers, friends & significant others obviously welcome !

Incidentally, RedDirtGirl sent me some pics from the NYC meet-up. I plan to post them tomorrow afternoon / evening, when more people will have the chance to see them.

Reader Interactions

160Comments

  2. 2.

    Prescott Cactus

    @Anne Laurie

    commentor / party planner

    Oh, that will look sweet on my resume !

  5. 5.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    The treefrogs are singing outside my house. There has got to be 500 of them. I am never going to get to sleep.

  9. 9.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: Nah, just some peasant/serfs with sacks. That’s how the French nobility handled it. Pre-Revolution, that is. Post-Revolution, I imagine they didn’t find the frogs nearly as pressing an issue.

  11. 11.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: Not everyone has the same access to peasantry. I would guess some on this site only have a peasant or two under their control.

  13. 13.

    FlyingToaster

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    some on this site only have a peasant or two under their control.

    There’s a gift I DO NOT WANT: control of peasantry.

    What a horrible concept.

  16. 16.

    John Cole

    Every time this comes up for a split second I read that as Pittsburgh and not Phoenix and have a wave of panic as I think “I need to come up with a fucking excuse.’

  24. 24.

    Prescott Cactus

    @John Cole: Organizing the sock drawer always works for me. Subtle yet snarky.

    You’ve got to admit, you’ve ridden the “I’m looking for the mustard” horse into the ground.

  28. 28.

    seaboogie

    @John Cole:

    “I need to come up with a fucking excuse.’

    I think something along the lines of “As an introvert who is trying to maintain his sobriety, meeting up with a pack of you snarling jackals in a place that serves alcohol is not a stellar idea” would work very nicely. You’d have total buy-in and complete understanding.

  34. 34.

    seaboogie

    @Miss Bianca: needs a ‘fuck’ or ‘fucking’ in there somewhere.

    Let me channel some Cole here:

    “As a fucking introvert who is trying like fuck to maintain his sobriety, meeting up with a pack of you fucking snarling jackals in a place that serves fucking alcohol is not exactly the most fucking stellar idea!”

    Much zestier and more Cole-esque, yes?

  35. 35.

    Mike J

    Wyeth Ruthven ‏@wyethwire 13 minutes ago
    Wanted to point out again that hopelessly divided Democratic party somehow managed to elect delegates in MS, MD & FL today without incident

  38. 38.

    magurakurin

    @Litlebritdifrnt: welcome to my world. The rice paddies in rural Japan are filled with frogs. And they are loud. Especially now in the Spring. Then summer it is cycada in the heat of the day. And then crickets and grasshoppers in the fall.

  40. 40.

    magurakurin

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    All quiet on the Bernie front? I miss those 600+ comment threads

    Okay, I’ll play. Here is some gasoline for a fire…let’s see if anyone has some sticks and branches to burn…

    Bernie Sanders is a child. He’s making a big deal of going after Debbie Wasserman Shultz, the DNC chair and essentially an Obama appointee. He’s thrown his support to Tim Canova, who is facing DWS in a primary for her seat in Florida. Sanders has also vowed to “fire” DWS if he becomes president. Not mentioning that the DNC chair is an elected position with a term and that DWS has already stated that she won’t continue in the position after the election….what the fuck, Bernie? Here’s an idea, why don’t you go and endorse and support Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan who is in a close fight for the Senate seat in New Hampshire? Pretty sure his endorsement would do a lot of good in New Hampshire where he won by big margins. Sanders lost DWS district in Florida by 40 points. His endorsement for Canova isn’t only childish…it’s meaningless.

  41. 41.

    seaboogie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You missed some.

    Had just read your latest comment and was going to add another before “sobriety”, but it interrupted the flow and the impact of each fucking reference. I know how fucking much you appreciate elegance in language, so that’s how I left it. I am now out of fucks to give. / ;-)

  43. 43.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Question for you: last night someone asked “what’s so speshul about Andres Sullivan besides his posh British accent?” My comment was I understood it wasn’t exactly a posh accent in England, but since so many in the US think all British accents are posh, because British, that was the common belief. Her reply was that we needed to ask you!

    Is his accent posh or common in this former country? I’ll admit I could be simply making that up, but I believe I read it somewhere.

  45. 45.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @seaboogie: But Cole’s fucking rants and such are about fucking excess. He’s fucking baroque. I posit that he would use all of them.

  49. 49.

    Miss Bianca

    o/t, perhaps, but I gotta say this Chocolove dark chocolate/ginger bar is *quite* lovely.

  51. 51.

    seaboogie

    @Omnes Omnibus: True enough. But I am a lady of refined and delicate sensibilities, so I prefer a bit of nuance and subtlety in addition to the brio WRT “fucking”.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: Brandy and ginger ale can also be quite lovely.*

    *I once had a girlfriend who questioned my use of the word “lovely” as somehow unmanly. I had a confused.

  57. 57.

    magurakurin

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    He’s fucking baroque.

    I think is more Rococo.

    Rococo artists and architects used a more jocular, florid, and graceful approach to the Baroque. Their style was ornate and used light colours, asymmetrical designs, curves, and gold. Unlike the political Baroque, the Rococo had playful and witty themes.

  58. 58.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: The word ‘lovely’ is lovely in anybody’s lexicon, regardless of sex, imho.

    Altho’ maybe if you’d said “fucking lovely” it might have preserved the relationship with the gf with the gender issues for a month or two beyond its natural death.

    Brandy and ginger ale? H’mm…I’ll go for my ginger dark chocolate with the brandy on the side, sans ginger ale. Not that I’m disputing your taste, I’m just thinking “mmm…brandy…”

  61. 61.

    magurakurin

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    No, Bernie still hasn’t figured out that the 60’s are over.

    Considering that that is 50 years ago, you’re saying that he isn’t going to figure out that the primary is over any time soon, either. sigh.

  64. 64.

    magurakurin

    It isn’t working. “Beceljuice, Beceljuice….”

    (ducks under desk to avoid spitballs, empty MD 20/20 bottles and jars of mustard)

  65. 65.

    PsiFighter37

    Sorry for missing yesterday’s in NYC. I got back late and had dinner with the wife (we’ve both been traveling a bit the past month) and thus couldn’t make it.

    If we schedule up something for July or August though, I should generally be around. Would also be interested in doing an SF meetup on June 15 if any locals are interested.

  66. 66.

    seaboogie

    @magurakurin: @Omnes Omnibus:

    He’s fucking baroque.

    I think is more Rococo.

    Rococo artists and architects used a more jocular, florid, and graceful approach to the Baroque. Their style was ornate and used light colours, asymmetrical designs, curves, and gold. Unlike the political Baroque, the Rococo had playful and witty themes.

    I had to look up Baroque to see how it applies to this instance. And so I am also going to add in my comment @ #20

    Some pedants, also too.

    I am feeling very fucking full-circle-ish right now, and its lovely, truly lovely….

  74. 74.

    Chris T.

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Sullivan is supposed to have grown up in Sussex (as I noted on that other thread). I can’t say for sure what accent he has, having not listened to it enough and not being well trained on greater-London-metropolitan-area accents in the first place. He does not have an old-timey Sussex accent for sure though. I believe his is more a standard middle-class-ish one.

  81. 81.

    Cacti

    @Gravenstone:

    Sounds a tad like our new buddy Hollandaise Bechamel, no?

    I was thinking of Boob in Putinland.

    Has he ever had anything good to say about any living Democratic officeholder?

  82. 82.

    Miss Bianca

    @Gravenstone: My God, you lot. Are you whistling past the graveyard, or are you actually trying to summon the creature? If you succeed, I shall have to exit stage right – I don’t think I can cope. My delicate fucking sensibilities being what they are.

  83. 83.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @magurakurin:The stuff at the link was worded the way the one here speaks. I believe that the one who comes here is real. Still sad and delusional, but real.

  92. 92.

    Cacti

    After the BernieBro riot in Vegas, Nevada Democratic delegation elects Harry Reid to lead them at the national convention in Philadelphia.

    Will Bernie get the message?

  97. 97.

    magurakurin

    maybe this will bring it out, mentioning the most evil of evils, Debbie Wasserman Shultz. She’s coming out against the caucus system.

    Add Democratic Party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to the growing list of people frustrated by the convoluted and often poorly-run caucus process.
    “I prefer primaries just because they’re simpler,” Wasserman Schultz said. “And because they are more democratic.”
    “I can say that because I’m not going to be chair the next time.

  101. 101.

    Miss Bianca

    “Tiptoe Thru’ the Tulips” just come on the “Vintage Voltage” radio show I listen to on Saturday nights. I’m having flashbacks to watching Tiny Tim on “Laugh-In” in 1968. Four years old, and I’ll never forget it.

    Well OK, that *obviously* means it’s time for “Star Trek”. Have fun, y’all…

  104. 104.

    Major Major Major Major

    @magurakurin: @efgoldman: No he doesn’t. At least, that link doesn’t indicate that he does. That’s like saying that somebody who had an event on my.barackobama.com in 2008 worked for the campaign.

    The fedora, though, oh man, of course he does.

    Full disclosure, I have been known to wear a fedora, but I can actually pull it off.

  109. 109.

    divF

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    I think you’ve hit on the problem with Andrew Sullivan.

    LADY BRITOMART. Charles: if you must drivel, drivel like a grown-up man and not like a schoolboy.

    LOMAX. Well, drivel is drivel, don’t you know, whatever a man’s age.

    LADY BRITOMART. In good society in England, Charles, men drivel at all ages by repeating silly formulas with an air of wisdom. Schoolboys make their own formulas out of slang, like you. When they reach your age, and get political private secretaryships and things of that sort, they drop slang and get their formulas out of The Spectator or The Times. You had better confine yourself to The Times. You will find that there is a certain amount of tosh about The Times; but at least its language is reputable.

  110. 110.

    seaboogie

    @Omnes Omnibus: Sometimes you can get a bit shirty, and I didn’t want you to think it was a dis, because it wasn’t that. More a gesture of solidarity.

  114. 114.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Watched Lucy on HBO tonight. Oh, Luc Besson, I am disappoint! And how many actors did he have to interview to find an Asian Gary Oldman clone for the villain?

    ETA: Inspired by the movie, I’ve decided to increase my brain usage to 10¼, maybe 10½, percent.

  117. 117.

    seaboogie

    @Suzanne: Hey Suzanne…just saw the note on my desk reminding me to wish you a Happy Mother’s Day (yes, I am very late with that). I wrote the note because of your struggles to support your daughter, and wanted to remind you that you are a really good mom. How is your spawn coping, and you along with her?

  119. 119.

    Prescott Cactus

    @John Cole:

    Nothing changed. Get a good nights sleep and prepare for…

    Pittsburgh Balloon Juice Meet Up
    5/22/16
    Sunday afternoon (3 to 3:30 pm arrival)
    Oregano’s Pizza Bistro (the one in Tempe just off I-10 on Elliot.)
    1475 W Elliot Rd, Tempe, AZ 85284
    Phone: (480) 966-0401

    Looking like 10 to 12 !

    @ karen marie
    @ Suzanne: + one
    @ Bumper
    @ azlib + one
    @ pirate dan + one
    @ Jordan Rules (trying)
    @ 2liberal (cough-Cough)
    @ Prescott Cactus: + one

    Come on Arizona, anyone else?

    Lurkers, friends & significant others obviously welcome !

  124. 124.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @seaboogie: Shirty is also rather common in Central KY Appalachian dialect. Which is where I learned it. I can’t recall if my British grandfather ever used it, but I know my Appalachian mother, grandmother and aunt all did/do.

  127. 127.

    Suzanne

    @seaboogie: Awww thank you. Spawn has been taking Lexapro for about three weeks, and her mood is generally improving. Still a lot of issues surrounding her dad and his fucked-up family dynamics and his serial monogamy, and she is still being bullied a bit at school because her closest friend is bisexual and they are weird and goth. But she has been funnier, more sociable, and more responsible over the last four weeks or so, so I am interpreting that as a win. I am having her tested for ADHD inattentive type at the recommendation of her psychiatrist, and I am considering suing my ex for full custody, as I think he is actively being harmful to her mental health. She went over to his house for the weekend yesterday, and I started getting texts from her that she was freaking out, so I called my ex to notify him that she needed some help. He took her phone from her and sent me a text message saying that I couldn’t communicate with her. That is VERY against the rules. Thank you for asking.

    Mr. Suzanne’s grandfather is going in for some really nasty skin cancer surgery on Tuesday. There is currently a lot of drama surrounding his farm and estate, and it looks like he trusted someone who has squandered a bunch of his money. Not what we need right now.

  132. 132.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Suzanne: I’m happy to hear she’s doing better and sad to hear that her father continues to contribute in a negative way to her sense of stability. I understand why you’re considering a custody reconsideration, and it sounds like you’d have therapeutic evidence of the benefit.

  137. 137.

    seaboogie

    @Suzanne: Oh Suzanne – sorry about the continuing drama with which you must deal. Although you are juggling a few very difficult balls in the air, make your kid the priority. Even if she hates you for it now (she probably will, she’s just angry, hormonal and dealing with some adult stuff she shouldn’t have to), she will thank you for being her champion when she is more clear. She is the future, and the grandfather stuff feels present but will eventually be past. That is just stuff, and grievance and a whole lot of bullshit, and mostly not real, except for the angst. Kid is real. Also, if you can possibly sue your ex for full custody, go for it. Not in your sitch, but if you can eliminate the adult fucked-up negatives from her life, that is surely going to help her deal with all of the rest of her stuff. Keeping you and spawn in my heart and thoughts, and will go light candles and incense and put good energy into it for you. Maybe that can be one thing to hang on to, when all else seems beyond handling.

    I have a negligently crappy mom (not her fault, but it happened and continues to do so), and in order to cope with that, I had to tell myself that it was my fault that she didn’t love me or my sibs and that I didn’t deserve to be loved. The fallout from that is lifelong, and I am still learning to come to terms with it. Off to light some candles for Suzanne and Suzanne the Younger, right now….hang in there, dearie….

  138. 138.

    Chris T.

    @divF: I immigrated to Bezerkeley (from the east coast no less!). It took me a while to get used to the “summers”, but I love them now. Although after decades of global weirding, both summers and winters are getting unusually and scarily warm…

  139. 139.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @efgoldman: My college roommate went to law school in New England, he thought it very odd that people would eat ice cream when it was cold.

  144. 144.

    Major Major Major Major

    Argh, I should have flounced sooner. (The ice cream place is still open! Don’t worry!)

    The table next to me has found itself with a nasty infestation of Rails developers. The tweakers they replaced were much less annoying.

  146. 146.

    seaboogie

    @Major Major Major Major: North Bay has real people who aren’t “achievers”…come up for some vacay when you can. We also have very delicious ice cream. I can point you to two places that aren’t pretentious, and also sweet cold deliciousness…you’ll not need to wear your flouncing pants (but you’ll need to wear pants of some sort – we have standards, but the bar is pretty low).

  148. 148.

    divF

    @seaboogie: Recently a friend of mine was telling me about an annual event at their kids’ high school, called “Skype Interview Day”. The kids come in dressed in interview clothes from the waist up, and pajama bottoms from the waist down.

  150. 150.

    divF

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Alas, I know about Rails. The association of the word “hip” with “development framework” is both descriptive and repellent.

    ETA: But that brings us back to Fedoras, Trilbys, and other ephemera of hipster life.

  152. 152.

    Prescott Cactus

    @seaboogie: Will do. Hoping for a grand time. No fedora for me. I have one, but it wouldn’t match the bright green baseball jersey I’ll be wearing. Really nothing other than blue jeans matches the jersey. (whew!)

  153. 153.

    Chris T.

    @divF: Huh, me too (well, not technically DC). Wasted my youth in the library, or anywhere else air conditioned (our house was not)…

  156. 156.

    divF

    @Chris T.: In my case, lived in the Virginia suburbs, went to high school in the District.

    One summer I got a job as a substitute letter carrier, back in the days when it involved walking with a 50 lb leather bag slung over your shoulder. Every day I would stop for lunch at a cafeteria (w / AC, thank Dog) and eat an eighth of a watermelon to try to rehydrate.

  157. 157.

    Suzanne

    @seaboogie: My ex has brought multiple women into her life only to rip them away when they break up and he is likely going to do it again with his current girlfriend. He cannot provide a stable living space for her (she currently sleeps in an upper bunk in a 20-year-old boy’s room when she is at her dad’s), and he gets angry when she tries to retreat from him and isn’t sympathetic to the bullying she is dealing with. Not to mention his DUI, lack of payment of child support, and frequent flip-outs at me.

  158. 158.

    2liberal

    sorry but not gonna make it. I get one day per month of sick leave on the spreadsheet and I gotta save that for when it is actually needed. And notice was too short to get PTO for this. Maybe next time….

  159. 159.

    Prescott Cactus

    @2liberal: Fully understand ! Next time we’ll have more notice. I’m going to suggest once every 3 months.

    South to Tempe / North to Anthem / East in Scottsdale / West to Surprise.

    We’ll see how that flies. . .

  160. 160.

    appleinaz

    Oh darn. I missed this. Collectively you veer anti-Clinton or pro-Clinton but I would’ve loved to meet some of you. Especially since I’m in Tempe (near Broadway and Hardy).

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