Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

So many bastards, so little time.

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

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

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

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Late-Night ‘Exactly What You Expected’ Open Thread: Don Trump, Yer LAWN ORDURE Candidate!

Late-Night ‘Exactly What You Expected’ Open Thread: Don Trump, Yer LAWN ORDURE Candidate!

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“They know who has has a gun, who shouldn’t be having a gun.” If they can’t pass the time-honored paper bag test, for instance. Or just if it’s obvious they’re “not from around here.” THOSE people. Does he need to spell it out any more clearly?

‘But racism didn’t exist until you outside agitators riled up our colored folk!’ – NC legislator

Reader Interactions

43Comments

  2. 2.

    gorram

    “Thought experiment: Hillary proposes police approaching ‘suspicious’ white people, patting them down and confiscating their guns”.

    To be entirely honest, I would kind of support that? But I know she can’t.

  3. 3.

    Major Major Major Major

    OK folks! Valued commenter Roger Moore was nice enough to normalize the comment data, so here’s the (last?) version of the BJ commenter sentiment index. This shows you what percent higher or lower than the average balloon-juice commenter you are on the ten sentiment measurements. It makes the previous data much more user-friendly to look at. You may notice such facts as ‘NR scores highest for disgust’ or ‘wow, Another Holocene Human sure is joyful’!

    Enjoy!

  6. 6.

    scav

    @? Martin: Does that mean I’m secretly employed? (I’ve no idea where the trust comes from — I rather thought I was a fiend for evidence. The generally angry bumps are less surprising.)

  7. 7.

    Major Major Major Major

    @? Martin: ?

    Ideally I could get the raw per-post numbers next to the normalized ones to contextualize it but these are the trade offs you make with data visualization! I’m sure you still have a high positive per post, almost everybody but the anger-trolls does.

    ETA: oh, right, and it can’t detect sarcasm.

  9. 9.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    I have a dilemma. Actually, two entirely separate dilemmas:

    1) The good news is that they finally decided that the person who is on an extended leave of absence won’t be getting her old position back, given that we’re a week away from said leave ending and no one has heard from her in eight months. So, I’ll eventually by moving to Mon-Thur nights as my regular schedule instead of Fri-Sun. That fits my needs a lot better, plus having an extra shift a week. Of course, none of that happens until we’re fully staffed again. They won’t start selecting someone new until after baseball season is over and all of the seasonal Target Field employees are looking for hours. It’ll probably take them a week or two to decide on someone, then it takes 3-4 weeks to train them in to the point they can take shifts on their own. So, we’re probably looking at the end of October before it happens. In the meantime, I’m working 6 nights a week, with Wednesday as my day off.

    BUT, one of my co-workers has said that he’s interviewing for a different job and may be leaving well before then. If he goes, that brings us down to three people trained to work the post, and likely means each of us working seven days a week, though I suspect that the second shift guy would just refuse. The possibly soon-to-be-ex-employee asked me not to tell anyone that he’s looking for another job, but that just ensures that I get screwed by having a multiweek period in which I get no days off. If I tell my supervisor, they might accelerate the process to at least get one person in.

    So, do I tell or not? I really don’t want to work 15-20 straight nights.

    2) When that hideous David Brooks column on Colin Kaepernick came out last week, I posted on Facebook that I might need to kneel for the national anthem at hockey games this season. I was serious, and I’d do it, but I’m wondering if that’s actually a good idea at a college women’s hockey game. It’s a crowd that pretty much splits into a set that doesn’t need any convincing and a set that absolutely cannot be convinced. I also really, really don’t like being the center of attention for a crowd no matter what the circumstances are, so I’m going to be horribly uncomfortable if I do; when professional athletes do it, at least it’s a group that’s preselected for being willing to perform in front of thousands of people.

  11. 11.

    Mary G

    We have Darrell Issa scared.

    <blockquoteBut Paty Newman of Fallbrook, a former member of the San Diego County Republican Party’s central committee, said Issa should be worried. Newman said that she once served as an Issa delegate to a California Republican Party convention, and that the congressman has been absent from his district for way too long — and people have noticed.

    “I think he’s petrified,” Newman said. “They’re finally sick of all of these guys who’ve never done anything except for themselves and power.”

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    What does “trust” mean, since it’s my high deviation from the norm (I guess…assuming I’m interpreting the chart accurately) Adam, Omnes, and I are also high on “fear” which means…hell, I don’t know what it means.

  16. 16.

    ? Martin

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Hmm. In my world when we’re short staffed it’s the supervisor that works the extra shifts. The reason is that you get into a labor death-spiral when you keep pushing the staff. I’d be worried about losing you by asking you to constantly pick up the slack. And I’ve always been of the view that staffing problems were a management failure. If they can’t hire quickly, they can’t staff to ensure coverage, then shit will catch on fire and they need to deal with it. It’s not up to lower level staff to manage staffing – that’s why supervisors get paid more and I hang out my managers when they fuck this up. “How was I supposed to know they were looking for a new job?” I don’t know – do you talk to them? It’s not hard to tell when someone is unhappy with their job. So I’d expect to hang the supervisor out on this one, but not every place works that way.

    As for telling the supervisor, that’s a real judgement call. I personally wouldn’t, but then I’m the designated secret-keeper. But if the supervisor can be trusted, I might find a way to hint at that possibility.

    As for kneeling, I have two bits of advice:

    1) It’s a show of solidarity, but not the only way to do that. If the players are kneeling, then I might kneel to also show solidarity with the players. If they aren’t then I wouldn’t. The athletes kneeling matters because they are the show. They carry a specific authority in that setting that employees don’t. You can find a different venue to express that solidarity.

    2) Your role as an employee is simply different. You’re also representing your employe. I work for the state – at a university. We have some difficult staffing challenges in that we take academic freedom, civil rights, freedom of speech VERY seriously. I’ve had some right wing temps come in that clearly couldn’t respect those values. I’d have a talk with them and tell them they could never express that opinion at work, etc. Usually I would have to let them go within an hour of that talk. What you project as an employee has to be consistent with your employer. Kneeling is a dangerous move, IMO. If you’re off the clock, though – have at it. You have other opportunities to protest.

  18. 18.

    srv

    Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries (7270.T) is recalling about 935,000 units of its popular Subaru Legacy worldwide to fix an issue with their front windshield wipers, the company said on Friday.

    Someone wake John up before his Subaru kills him.

    Those CNN debate commercials, looks like a WWE cage match.

  19. 19.

    ? Martin

    @Villago Delenda Est: I’m high trust, low fear. I suspect it means that I don’t use words related to fear (either positive or negative), which seems right since I tend to write a lot more around more technical issues. If you look at Adam, he’s off the fucking chart. But he’s routinely talking about how people emotionally react to various events. I wouldn’t consider him to be someone who is fearful or tries to incite fear so I don’t think it’s measuring that.

  21. 21.

    gene108

    @TheMightyTrowel:

    Maybe it’s backwards, as you live in Australia, where summer is our winter and your winter is our summer. Plus water swirls clockwise down the drain, instead of counter-clockwise as it does at Balloon-Juice central. ????

    Edit: Plus it is usually tomorrow for you, from where I sit. A land of the future Australia is.

  23. 23.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @? Martin: My direct supervisor isn’t the problem; he’s wanted to hire someone new for months now. The guy whose call it is is a guy who manages a whole bunch of accounts, and isn’t trained in to work this post, so there’s no way he can get stuck working the extra hours. It’s a post that has to be manned 24/365, and involves a lot of specialized training (hence the 3-4 week training period) that is unlike any other account the company has, so there generally isn’t anyone trained in to work there that isn’t going to be working there all the time. Right now, there are four of us covering it, and there are only two other people in the company who have been trained: the guy in charge of training and continuing education at the central office used to be the supervisor out here, and a guy who has moved on to be the very good supervisor that had been a running sore for the company for several years. One of those six people absolutely must be on site at all times, and there are real problems associated with using either of the last two. So, if one of the four of us quits, we have a situation.

    This also has nothing at all to do with the kneeling, unless it gets so out of hand that I get arrested or show up in the news. Then it would mostly be a problem because I was an affirmative action hire as the token liberal. My co-workers and supervisors loathe Black Lives Matter, as shouldn’t be terribly surprising since I work in security. Someday, I’d like to work in an environment where I’m not surrounded by conservatives, because trading options was just a different sort of right-wing loonies.

    I hadn’t thought about the kneeling in terms of the athletes at that event, just as a way of showing support for Kaepernick and others. Maybe that’s the bit about thinking the venue was inappropriate that I was having trouble articulating.

  27. 27.

    Ruckus

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
    Probably far more effective to just laugh her ass off at him. Second would be to ignore everything that comes out of his mouth and just answer the questions. He’d be sputtering either way, being that he’d be worth nothing more than a laugh or not worth listening to at all. Of course the audience would have to be some what sophisticated to get that level of response. So your idea has a stronger whiff of reality.

  28. 28.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    If you haven’t seen KO’s latest “Closer”, give it a view; it’s an interview with White House Press Secretary Josh Ernest and is pretty good(though a bit long, clocking in at 25 minutes).

  31. 31.

    SFAW

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Wow. I interpret Roger’s data analysis to indicate that I’m a combination axe-murderer (potential — haven’t done it yet), clueless asshole (well, I guess that’s not a surprise), and closet Republican (shit!)

    I hope my interpretation of the data is at least partially worng. But it was pretty neat to see the graphs. Thanks Obama Roger!

  32. 32.

    SFAW

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    and I are also high on “fear” which means…hell, I don’t know what it means.

    It means that most people are afraid of you, because you’re one scary motherfucker.

    Well, that’s how *I* interpret it, anyway. Opinions vary.

  33. 33.

    Shantanu Saha

    Nationwide stop and frisk is understandable coming from Trump. You see, you have to get the guns out of the hands of people of color, so that once the Death Squads start their work, they will take fewer casualties in doing their job of making America White Again.

  36. 36.

    JR in WV

    I’m stunned by showing up as totally and completely normal..!!

    None of my scores are far enough from the zero line to even show up!! This seems impossible. Maybe all the violent rants I have deleted either just before or just after I post them are where I went wrong..??

    And has anyone but me looked at John Bechamel Hollandaise?

    His scores are so far away from the norm line he really stands out. I guess that means he isn’t much like the B-J regulars, and I am a lot like the B-KJ regulars… OK – now I begin to see what’s going on here.

    I fit in at Balloon-Juice. This is where I belong, with people like me, people I share values with. My community !!!

    I (sob) I think I love you guys! sniff. This is amazing, I’ve found my lost family, while my real family has wandered off to Paris, and Brazil, and Texas where my brother joined the BSA cult and voted for Bush 2004. OMG, FSM has blessed me with a family.

    This is so wonderful!

    Thanks Major^4 for showing me the way. And John Cole for rescuing Walter, and working to get his tormentor punished. And Miss Bianca for being in high altitude Colorado. And Bill for his pix of LA, and, and, everyone for being who you are!!!

    Major, could you run my long form comment about police violence today and Jim Crow violence through the meme evaluator? I’m curious how it would break out in both the regular scoring you did first and then the normalized scoring Roger invented with you. Thanks. Either way.

    ;-)

    /sarcasm

  37. 37.

    SFAW

    @JR in WV:

    And has anyone but me looked at John Bechamel Hollandaise?

    I have, now.

    What’s interesting is that “shomi” is pretty average, and “srv” comes up as more positive than the average commenter.

    About the only big surprise (to me, at least), is that Mnemosyne isn’t off the charts for the Hamiltonphilia metric.

  38. 38.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Major Major Major Major: It is my unfortunate duty to inform you, M^4, that your shiny new toy is pretty much worthless in the absence of context. E.g., yerstruly’s (slightly) above-average scores for disgust & negativity & (slightly) below-average scores for positivity & joy probably reflect no more than my frequent thankless Whack-A-Troll labors in the comments threads. Inviting “blomi” or the resident stupid rethuglican vulture to FOAD or wondering out loud why they haven’t been found face down in a septic tank tends to obscure my natural witty ebullience (& the recent personal tragedy of Skyler to eclipse it entirely :( )…

  39. 39.

    SFAW

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    You seem a little disgusted and negative today.

    my natural witty ebullience

    AND having a break with reality, to boot.

    Thank FSM, nothing’s changed.

  42. 42.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SFAW: And thankew for that remote diagnosis, Dr–um, is it Frist or Fraud? (You want “disgust”, eccolo.)

    FYI, recognizing the limitations of an analytical tool, however charming in application, is not “negative” but simple prudence. When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail, & things which are not may end up somewhat the worse for the pounding.

    Play nice now.

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