• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

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

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Let there be snark.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Open Thread: Another Worthy Battle Entered…

Open Thread: Another Worthy Battle Entered…

by Anne Laurie|  September 3, 20188:47 pm| 120 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, C.R.E.A.M., Don't Agonize - Organize, I'm With Her 2016, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, All Too Normal

FacebookTweetEmail

Happy Labor Day. There's no better time to talk about why workers’ rights would suffer if Brett Kavanaugh, whose hearings for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court start tomorrow, is confirmed.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 3, 2018

The Court's ruling in Janus v. AFSCME earlier this summer overturned a 40-year-old precedent to hold that public-sector workers with union contracts don't have to pay fees for collective bargaining expenses if they're not members.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 3, 2018

The Court has also recently granted corporations the right to deny workers reproductive health care and made it harder for workers to sue businesses by allowing companies to force employees to sign mandatory arbitration clauses with their contracts.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 3, 2018

In other words, the Court has already been widening the disparity in power between corporations and workers. Kavanaugh's record from his time as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia shows he'd help further that trend for a generation.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 3, 2018

In 2014, he dissented in a case where the Occupational Safety and Health Administration held SeaWorld accountable for the death of a trainer.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 3, 2018

Unions and labor movements are why we have workplace safety precautions, collective bargaining, weekends, minimum wages, and, yes, Labor Day.

We can't afford more damage to workers' rights. Make sure your senators hear from you: Let's #StopKavanaugh.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 3, 2018

Supplementary, from the ever-excellent Mr. Charles P. Pierce:

… Labor Day is a good time to think about the courts because it was in the courts that organized labor was most effectively crushed in this country, and it was in the courts that the way was cleared for it to flourish, and, it appears that the courts are being set up to crush it again.

From 1897 until approximately 1937—the end date is a matter of some dispute—the court’s relation to labor was defined by the horrendous decision in Lochner v. New York. Citing “freedom of contract” as a constitutional right, the decision was used through the decade to strike down all manner of regulations touching on business large and small. (Lochner itself was about working conditions in bakeries.) Unions, of course, came along with the deal. In Adair v. United States, the Court struck down a law that would have made it illegal for a company to fire employees for trying to organize.

Make no mistake. There is a strong strain of modern conservatism that is openly nostalgic for the Lochner Era; Rand Paul made the case a part of his campaign for president in 2016…

In the history of this country, there has not been an expansion of the middle-class without a strong, vibrant union presence. That doesn’t change just because factories move to Mexico, or because of robots. There simply is no other way for wages to rise generally other than having the people receiving those wages bargain collectively for them. That Labor Day is still a holiday at all, I guess, is something for which we can give thanks. The attack on labor itself begins again on Tuesday.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Open Thread: For the Laborer Is Worthy of His Wages…
Next Post: Let’s take another run at this »

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  1. 1.

    germy

    September 3, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    I’m with her.

  2. 2.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    September 3, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    What if entire states and localities refused to recognize the legitimacy of this Supreme Court and ignored it’s decisions, assuming Kavanaugh is confirmed? Could this be “brazened out” so to speak? I don’t see how Kavanaugh can be stopped from being confirmed at this point.

  3. 3.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 3, 2018 at 9:09 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: I imagine any judge who saw the inevitable lawsuits would rule that you can’t just ignore the Supreme Court.

  4. 4.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 3, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: That and your comment about the military in the previous thread…did you pick the wrong week to stop sniffing glue?

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    September 3, 2018 at 9:13 pm

    Like the saying about the camel and the horse, Kavanaugh is a Justice designed by a committee.

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Now am worried about your having suffered serious cranial injury leading to positing such gross inanity.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    September 3, 2018 at 9:13 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: The first precedent to fall would be Brown.

  7. 7.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    September 3, 2018 at 9:16 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    What the fuck is that supposed to mean? “Sniffing glue”. Christ.

    No, I don’t think the military is launch a right-wing coup. I just meant that it wasn’t so unimaginably outlandish as efgoldman was suggesting considering the political demographics of the armed forces.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    September 3, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    Labor Day is a good time to think about the courts

    Actually, that was election day 2016.

  9. 9.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    September 3, 2018 at 9:18 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    By the way, I answered your question a few threads down about the novel. What did you think?

  10. 10.

    zhena gogolia

    September 3, 2018 at 9:21 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    The glue thing is a quote from the movie Airplane! When the disasters start happening, the airport manager Lloyd Bridges says, “I picked the wrong week to stop smoking,” then it’s “drinking,” then it’s “sniffing glue.” Internet traditions.

  11. 11.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    September 3, 2018 at 9:23 pm

    @NotMax:
    I’m positing such gross inanity because I don’t really know how to prevent this freakshow without resorting to the above. The GOP is a minority-party whose government is running on the fumes of inertia and observance of the rule of law, both of which they rely on to keep us in line. Our own sense of good governance is being used agianst us.

  12. 12.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 3, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Wrong Week…

  13. 13.

    Platonailedit

    September 3, 2018 at 9:25 pm

    Serena Williams. Sloane Stephens. Madison Keys. Naomi Osaka. Suarez Navarro. All in QF.

    Collective wingnuts’ heads explosions.Their fav doped up russian gal hasn’t gone past QF despite the lenient WTA.

  14. 14.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 3, 2018 at 9:26 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: yeah I just saw that, thanks. Sounds like it’s coming along. Tossing in a universe hopping Merlin may be a bit much but I’ve definitely seen stuff like that pulled off.

    One thing to consider when you’re picking a time period is that the less instant communication, the easier it is to tell a story. I forget who (Stephen King?) but I once saw an author saying that the first thing they do in stories nowadays is render the hero’s smartphone useless.

  15. 15.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 3, 2018 at 9:28 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    I’m positing such gross inanity because I don’t really know how to prevent this freakshow without resorting to the above.

    VOTE!

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    September 3, 2018 at 9:29 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Might one politely suggest putting the shovel down and stopping digging.

  17. 17.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    September 3, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    So setting it in an earlier time period before instant communications (say the 80s) would be easier. Of course I could just claim that the “magic” interferes with electronics.

  18. 18.

    Platonailedit

    September 3, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    Good reminder: It's not just Mueller. Trump faces 6 separate investigations and lawsuits. https://t.co/NujsJozAya— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 4, 2018

  19. 19.

    chris

    September 3, 2018 at 9:38 pm

    LOL. Wish I could take my dog grocery shopping.

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 3, 2018 at 9:42 pm

    @germy:

    Yup. If she can’t be President, I want her on the Supremes at the earliest possible opportunity.

  21. 21.

    B.B.A.

    September 3, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Three million more of us voted two years ago and it didn’t mean a fucking thing.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    September 3, 2018 at 9:45 pm

    @Platonailedit: J was been yelling at the TV during the Sharapova v. CSN match tonight. It’s clear that the commentators absolutely love Maria “She’s a Fighter!!” Sharapova and they think that it’s obvious the audience does as well. J has been ready to throw things at the TV because Maria has been given all the advantages (always gets a night match, her cheating is rarely mentioned, getting wild-card slots on her return, etc., etc.).

    I just shrug my shoulders and say it’s clear that all the TV networks care about are the players with the big sponsors, so that’s what we see (not the up-and-coming players who are doing well, etc.). They’ll rerun some Federer match 4 times before they show a women’s match in full. :-/ She’s slowly coming around, but it still burns her up because she loves the sport so much…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    gene108

    September 3, 2018 at 9:46 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    I’m positing such gross inanity because I don’t really know how to prevent this freakshow without resorting to the above.

    A lot depends on the continued good health of Ginsberg and Brier, but assuming they hang on until January 2021, we have shot at flipping the SCOTUS. Thomas is 70 now. Maybe his health won’t hold out? Maybe he gets into an RV accident, when he drives around the country?

    Get control of the Senate in 2019 and stop all Trump judicial appointments. Keep control of the Senate in 2021, win the Presidency and load the courts with liberal justices.

    This is a dark patch, but not hopeless, if Democrats can win and keep winning.

  24. 24.

    Another Scott

    September 3, 2018 at 9:50 pm

    @chris: Excellent. Thanks!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 3, 2018 at 9:52 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: setting it in a time period you weren’t alive for causes more problems than eliminating smartphones solves. Early 00’s works. Can even have an enterprising magician commoditizing magic for long-distance instant communication, and use that arc as commentary on/winking at smartphones.

  26. 26.

    Brachiator

    September 3, 2018 at 9:53 pm

    A series of great posts from Hillary Clinton. I saw her at McCain’s funeral. But it’s like she was holding back, waiting for the right moment to lay the heavy smack down.

  27. 27.

    Platonailedit

    September 3, 2018 at 9:55 pm

    @Another Scott: I often watch matches on mute. Golf commentators. Tennis commentators. They are the lamest bores.

  28. 28.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 3, 2018 at 9:55 pm

    @B.B.A.: Then, I guess we should just give up.

  29. 29.

    gene108

    September 3, 2018 at 9:56 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    Osaka and Suarez Navarro aren’t American. Glad for Keys and Sloan. There was a dirth of talent of Americans behind behind the Williams sisters, for a number of years.

    At some point Serena has to breakdown because of age. She’s the oldest woman to win several tournaments.

    Same goes for Federer. They are both playing at a high level, when past generations of tennis players, like Agassi and Sampras, would have retired.

  30. 30.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 3, 2018 at 9:57 pm

    @gene108: …and remember the number of justices on the Court is set by statute.

  31. 31.

    tobie

    September 3, 2018 at 10:00 pm

    I’m dreading tomorrow. The hearings will be awful. Republicans will posture, and Grassley will be a prick and probably won’t let Democrats ask questions without cutting them off or demanding that they remain civil. My dream is that the Democratic caucus will spring some damning information on Kavanaugh about his work in the Bush White House or his finances, but this is just fantasy. No one in Washington can keep secrets except Mueller and his team.

  32. 32.

    khead

    September 3, 2018 at 10:02 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    It means you should at least get familiar with some 80’s references if you are gonna be the guy at Balloon Juice who keeps wandering across the lawns of the older posters.

    Also, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines.

  33. 33.

    gene108

    September 3, 2018 at 10:02 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Of course I could just claim that the “magic” interferes with electronics.

    Jim Butcher has done this with Dresden Files, I am not sure, who else had done this. But like faster than light-speed travel in sci-fi, it just maybe so common place an idea it is just assumed as a given in urban fantasy.

  34. 34.

    Momus

    September 3, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    Lock her up, she proofreads her tweets before she sends them!

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 3, 2018 at 10:06 pm

    @Brachiator:

    But it’s like she was holding back, waiting for the right moment to lay the heavy smack down.

    That’s very infesting that you would say that. It was my own reaction too — that on the surface, HRC looks relaxed but alert; however, there is a sense that beneath that polished exterior there is a finely-coiled spring just poised to go “POP!!”

  36. 36.

    Platonailedit

    September 3, 2018 at 10:06 pm

    @gene108: Their hatred is across all the borders.

  37. 37.

    rikyrah

    September 3, 2018 at 10:07 pm

    What upsets those against the KAP deal?
    What makes them.nuts?

    1. Kap was getting PAID all along. That he was getting a check to protest America.
    2. He is about to GET PAID. There are people, like me, who would never go out of their way to get anything Nike, but I will, for Peanut or my other niece and nephew. People who support Kap, and are willing to vote with our $$$$.

    And, they can’t do shyt about what WE do with OUR money. That OUR money counts as much as theirs.

  38. 38.

    gene108

    September 3, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    @tobie:

    The electoral backlash against Republicans regarding Kavanaugh will be most fierce from conservatives for failing to nominate him.

    I doubt enough possible Democratic voters in Maine will care to hold Collins accountable for the vote.

    And unlike the AHCA, the impacts of Kavanaugh’s appointnent will not be evident until next summer, when the SCOTUS starts handing down decisions.

    And by then people will have moved onto the 2020 Presidential election.

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 3, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    infesting = interesting. FFS, I simply cannot even with this no edit function.

  40. 40.

    Bill Arnold

    September 3, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    Can even have an enterprising magician commoditizing magic for long-distance instant communication, and use that arc as commentary on/winking at smartphones.

    What, you don’t think magicians use mobile phones? :-)

  41. 41.

    Bill Arnold

    September 3, 2018 at 10:11 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    I simply cannot even with this no edit function.
    I’ve been writing raw markup in a text editor and copy/pasting. Been good proofreading practice; getting it mostly right.
    Fix please!!!!

  42. 42.

    Doug R

    September 3, 2018 at 10:12 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit…

  43. 43.

    Platonailedit

    September 3, 2018 at 10:13 pm

    Some wingnut burning his nike tweet response.

    Surprised he was smart enough to take them off first…

    — SheOpines (@OpinesSrp) September 4, 2018

  44. 44.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 3, 2018 at 10:17 pm

    @Bill Arnold: these would be magic-powered smartphones available in 2002.

  45. 45.

    Suzanne

    September 3, 2018 at 10:17 pm

    @rikyrah:

    And, they can’t do shyt about what WE do with OUR money. That OUR money counts as much as theirs.

    Our money counts more than theirs. At least we are seen as more valuable consumers, likely because we have more cultural influence.

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    September 3, 2018 at 10:19 pm

    THREAD

    April (@ReignOfApril) Tweeted:
    First, @NewYorker didn’t have to give white supremacist Steve Bannon a platform to begin with. The conversation really should have started and ended there. They really tried it.

    And then Remnick with that whole “I thought about it and…” BS. So you were NOT thinking before? https://t.co/uZb8oUiOIj https://twitter.com/ReignOfApril/status/1036752263455416320?s=17

  47. 47.

    gene108

    September 3, 2018 at 10:21 pm

    @Suzanne:

    We also represent the majority of this country on social and cultural issues

  48. 48.

    MagdaInBlack

    September 3, 2018 at 10:21 pm

    @rikyrah:
    Any bets on how long before Trump latches on to the chatter that M-13 favors Nike?

    (right after Fox informs him?)

  49. 49.

    Gin & Tonic

    September 3, 2018 at 10:26 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    long-distance instant communication

    Like the telegraph? Or more like radio?

  50. 50.

    MagdaInBlack

    September 3, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    @Bill Arnold:
    Having no edit takes me back to the (sordid) days of Yahoo Chat.
    “Ooooops I sure did’t mean to post THAT ?”
    ?

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    September 3, 2018 at 10:29 pm

    @MagdaInBlack

    They’re already unChristian (hence un’Murkin), what with being named for a pagan goddess and all.

    ;)

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 10:29 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: We’ve had that for well over a decade. Specifically Republican led states, largely the states that emerged from the Confederacy plus the old border states and places like Wisconsin, claiming they didn’t have to respect Federal laws, Federal regs, and even Federal court rulings under the misreading of the 10th Amendment that states have rights. They don’t; individuals have rights, states have powers. To a certain extent the legalization of marijuana at the state level, whether for recreational, medicinal, or both uses, is a variant of this. Nullification theory is an old strain within American politics.

    That said, there is a potential problem when the Supreme Court is perceived to be a specifically partisan institution that becomes an adjunct and auxiliary to one party’s political efforts, especially given that that party’s political control is actually minoritarian. The GOP and the three major tribes – social/religious conservatives, business/corporate conservatives, national security conservatives – that make up the conservative movement that support and enable the party have created their own problem here. They’ve managed through both constitutional and unconstitutional means to gain majority control of both the executive and legislative branches of government despite not having majority support of the electorate. While this dynamic, and the concerns for legitimacy, will not in any way, shape, and/or form given any pause to Associate Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, and presumably an Associate Justice Kavanaugh, Chief Justice Roberts is a bit different. He is, despite all of his attempts to simply rule in line with the partisan Republican and conservative views he holds, is very concerned about how the Supreme Court is perceived and how he is perceived and what his legacy will be. The pressure that confirming Kavanaugh will place on him is significant. Whether it will actually effect his judicial decision making is, however, another thing. And we won’t know that until Kavanaugh were to join the court.

    Finally, should Kavanaugh be confirmed, this doesn’t mean the court will not be changed again in the future. Associate Justice Thomas has been teasing he would like to retire for a while now. In addition to the long rumored that he doesn’t actually like being on the court, there are also rumored health issues. If a Democrat is elected president in 2020, and the remainder of the court remains the same from here on out – whether Kavanaugh or some other appointee of this President fills the current vacancy – it doesn’t mean that the 5-4 conservative majority is for ever. Yes, it’ll be a rough two or three years. But Kennedy wasn’t a reliable swing vote and he was capricious as well. I’m not trying to make light of the damage that can be done in two or three years of a 5-4 doctrinaire, movement conservative majority on the court, but that majority isn’t a permanent one.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    September 3, 2018 at 10:31 pm

    @Gin & Tonic

    Semaphore towers and smoke signals don’t get no respect.

    ;)

  54. 54.

    MagdaInBlack

    September 3, 2018 at 10:32 pm

    @NotMax:
    Whelp, they just lost the Evangelicals.

  55. 55.

    MagdaInBlack

    September 3, 2018 at 10:33 pm

    @NotMax:
    Clacks. Lets not leave out Mr. Pratchett.

  56. 56.

    catclub

    September 3, 2018 at 10:34 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: The Einstein description of radio… is like a very long cat. You pull its tail in New York and it meows in Los Angeles, except there is no cat.

  57. 57.

    Mandalay

    September 3, 2018 at 10:39 pm

    @rikyrah: I think this tweet (before Bannon’s invitation was withdrawn) nails the central issue:

    This is how we got here. The normalization and elevation of figures like Steve Bannon by respected platforms that should know better.

    What the fuck was The New Yorker thinking? Completely and inexcusably clueless is the most benign explanation I can come up with.

  58. 58.

    Platonailedit

    September 3, 2018 at 10:40 pm

    Destroying a product that you already paid for isn't a boycott. https://t.co/zRBeB3Qql7

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 4, 2018

    Fucking morons. And they fucking vote. Every fucking time.

  59. 59.

    Honus

    September 3, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    @gene108: actually, we represent the majority in just about everything. Good article by Juan Williams (via Digby) of all people on how a caucus representing fewer than one-fifth of the country runs the SCOTUS.

    https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/a-fox-news-democrat-walks-toward-light.html?m=1

  60. 60.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    @gene108: Osaka moved to the US with her family when she was 3. She grew up in Broward County, FL. It is unclear if she and her family have US citizenship, in addition to her, her mother’s, and her sister’s Japanese citizenship and her father’s Haitian citizenship. Not trying to Floridawash her out of her Japanese citizenship or her mixed Japanese-Haitian inheritance.

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    September 3, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Nicely put.

    Also, see: Justice Souter as a recent example of post-appointment temperament. Plus, the underlying assumption that Supreme Court decisions are a done deal before hearings and deliberation occur, that there is an underlying and inflexible agenda, is abhorrent and throws the entire concept of a system of jurisprudence into the ashbin.

    That said, the court has been a primarily conservative institution over many and for longer periods than it has not. And decidedly right wing leaning in modern times since the restoration of the death penalty.

  62. 62.

    Platonailedit

    September 3, 2018 at 10:43 pm

    Brenda just found out…. now she has to burn her Chuck Taylor’s #JustDoIt ???? pic.twitter.com/Hd8j1tcH2b

    — I Miss My Old Account (@LoveThePuck) September 4, 2018

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 10:44 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    there is a sense that beneath that polished exterior there is a finely-coiled spring just poised to go “POP!!

    Well she does have that lengthy list of people she’s either killed herself or had killed by her operatives that conservatives keep circulating on social media…//

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 3, 2018 at 10:46 pm

    @Mandalay: This woman summed up my thoughts

    Suzanne Nossel @ SuzanneNossel
    Seems NewYorker lost sight of key distinction between warily hearing out and scrutinizing SteveKBannon’s views, and celebrating him as a Festival headliner. Like an honorary degree or distinguished lectureship, latter implies a measure of acclaim

    even though I’m only vaguely aware of what this “festival” is, The New Yorker is an institution, and whatever filleting Remnick was promising himself he would deliver, he was elevating and giving The New Yorker‘s imprimatur to Bannon

    I haven’t seen a final list of everyone who dropped out, but just going by twitter: Jon Mulvaney, Jim Carrey, Patton Oswalt, Judd Appatow and… Jimmy Fallon.

  65. 65.

    MagdaInBlack

    September 3, 2018 at 10:46 pm

    @Platonailedit:
    Shes burning her Converse?

  66. 66.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 3, 2018 at 10:48 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:
    @NotMax:

    .-. . … .–. . -.-. –

    ⠠⠠⠗⠑⠎⠏⠑⠉⠞

  67. 67.

    Bill Arnold

    September 3, 2018 at 10:55 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Like the telegraph? Or more like radio?

    Mind to mind links, I presume. Maybe sometimes like party line telephones.
    Broadcast might be kinda rude (depending on circumstances) especially at planetary scale. (One could perhaps opt out by being drunk, or subscribe/tune into particular channels or not, perhaps.)

  68. 68.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 10:55 pm

    @NotMax: Thank you. Had to happen sooner or later.//

    Roberts has gone to great pains to make his doctrinaire rulings look reasonable and/or incremental. This will increase the pressure on him. 5-4 decisions he would have been willing to join with Thomas, Alito, Kennedy, and Gorsuch may become a bridge too far for him. And while there is no way to know, it is possible that it isn’t even clear how he will straddle this line while he’s doing it.

    Regardless, the key to everything now is to not get discouraged. To not allow the overwhelming to overwhelm you. To recognize that specific, individual political fights not only might be lost, but will be lost, but that that doesn’t mean the political war is lost. Right now the US is facing a significant, long planned political backlash from a minoritarian insurgency. This is not a good thing. And it is damaging and corrosive and dangerous and harmful. But minority based insurgents rarely win.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    September 3, 2018 at 10:57 pm

    Used to have a pair of cheap (cost all of $2) pair of knock-off tennis sneakers, which had an upside-down Nike swoosh. Lasted for well over 20 years. If people asked, told them they were Ekin brand.

  70. 70.

    Bill Arnold

    September 3, 2018 at 10:59 pm

    @MagdaInBlack:

    “Ooooops I sure did’t mean to post THAT ?”

    Related, I do not understand why most people do not turn off autocorrect.
    (For those who don’t know, there is generally a setting for this, and highlighting misspelled words (with pulldown list of possible correct spellings) but not automatically correcting them is generally an option.)

  71. 71.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 3, 2018 at 10:59 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I know, I can’t even keep up.

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 10:59 pm

    This is amazing footage considering Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Kutzetsov, is in dry dock for a refit until 2024.

    Russian #Navy , warplanes start massive #drills in #Mediterranean https://t.co/0iXP8FcQII pic.twitter.com/30YBFsnd8p

    — Sputnik (@SputnikInt) September 1, 2018

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    September 3, 2018 at 11:00 pm

    @Adam L. Silverman

    the key to everything now is to not get discouraged

    And to not go full throttle Chicken Little.

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    September 3, 2018 at 11:02 pm

    Thread

    Mark Pitcavage (@egavactip) Tweeted:
    1. Why do the @NewYorker, @MSNBC, and others persist in willingly giving extremist Steve Bannon a free platform? No good comes of this–only the legitimization and normalization of extremism. https://t.co/6GdFdhEX9I https://twitter.com/egavactip/status/1036665231513137152?s=17

  75. 75.

    Bill Arnold

    September 3, 2018 at 11:04 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The GOP and the three major tribes – social/religious conservatives, business/corporate conservatives, national security conservatives – that make up the conservative movement that support and enable the party have created their own problem here. They’ve managed through both constitutional and unconstitutional means to gain majority control of both the executive and legislative branches of government despite not having majority support of the electorate.

    The bolded sentence deserves a lot more attention in the media. (Just musing about how to spread it more broadly. Perception of unfairness could be an effective wedge.)

  76. 76.

    MagdaInBlack

    September 3, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    @Bill Arnold:
    Same folks who can’t turn off “Reply All.”

  77. 77.

    Bill Arnold

    September 3, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    @Mandalay:
    The New Yorker editor’s excuse for inviting Steve Bannon to headline its festival works for every New Yorker cartoon

  78. 78.

    opiejeanne

    September 3, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    @Platonailedit: What are QF and WTA?

  79. 79.

    James E Powell

    September 3, 2018 at 11:30 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The GOP and the three major tribes – social/religious conservatives, business/corporate conservatives, national security conservatives – that make up the conservative movement that support and enable the party have created their own problem here.

    You left out the white supremacist tribe. Or are they included in the euphemistic social/religious conservatives?

  80. 80.

    James E Powell

    September 3, 2018 at 11:31 pm

    @opiejeanne:

    QuarterFinals & Women’s Tennis Association

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 3, 2018 at 11:31 pm

    @opiejeanne: on this blog, I was gonna guess “quote fuckery” and “What The Ass?”

    but from the context I’m gonna guess quarter-finals and World Tennis Association

  82. 82.

    Bill Arnold

    September 3, 2018 at 11:34 pm

    Did other people find this Trump Tweet today exceptionally surreal? Using a SHS tweet as supporting evidence that the U.S. Is Respected Again?

    The U.S. is respected again! https://t.co/NtQ4vsoqnk— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2018

  83. 83.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 11:38 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: This may help:

    Below is the QWorld map which took years in the making. The most important document you will ever come across. Please share & spread awareness. It's time the people receive their deserved hidden truths. It's time to break free from tyranny & enslavement. #Qanon #TheGreatAwakening pic.twitter.com/1KzyY9zwBk

    — QNN: Qanon News Network (@realQNN) September 1, 2018

  84. 84.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 11:39 pm

    @NotMax: I only do big chickens. Even wings need to be proportionately large. Little chickens for me are like eating Cornish hens. If you’re going to serve me a bird that small, you’re going to have to make me at least ten of those suckers.

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 11:40 pm

    @rikyrah: I know Mark. Smart guy, but strange dude.

  86. 86.

    opiejeanne

    September 3, 2018 at 11:40 pm

    @rikyrah: They’re cutting the swooshes off of their sweat socks in protest! LOL!

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 11:41 pm

    @Bill Arnold: I did a post about it a couple of months ago. Norm Ornstein (full disclosure a friend) tweeted it out. I can do no more.

  88. 88.

    trollhattan

    September 3, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Holy crap, they install a time portal for the 2024 refit? No wonder Trump is so obsequious to Vlad.

  89. 89.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 11:43 pm

    @James E Powell: Yep.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    September 3, 2018 at 11:44 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    So similar to Gomert’s “Hillary is evil and here’s a chart proving it” display.

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 11:44 pm

    @trollhattan: They decided this was a documentary!

  92. 92.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 11:48 pm

    @trollhattan: But with more color and wavy lines.

  93. 93.

    Timurid

    September 3, 2018 at 11:50 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I see that the creator of the legendary Afghan PowerPoint is still riding the range…

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 3, 2018 at 11:50 pm

    Chuck Schumer @ SenSchumer
    ?? The Senate was just given an additional 42,000 pages of Kavanaugh documents the NIGHT BEFORE his confirmation hearing. This underscores just how absurd this process is. Not a single senator will be able to review these records before tomorrow.

    Republicans know this has been the least transparent SCOTUS process in history and the hearings should be delayed until we can fully review Judge Kavanaugh’s records.

    hare-brained thought: what kind of “documents”? are they classified or otherwise restricted? could they be posted on the internet and reviewed by crowd source?

  95. 95.

    Platonailedit

    September 3, 2018 at 11:53 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Is qanon bannon being qute?

  96. 96.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 11:53 pm

    @Timurid: And has gone full tinfoil MAGA. Never go full tinfoil MAGA.

  97. 97.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 3, 2018 at 11:54 pm

    @Platonailedit: I do not know.

  98. 98.

    Bill Arnold

    September 3, 2018 at 11:55 pm

    @trollhattan:

    So similar to Gomert’s “Hillary is evil and here’s a chart proving it” display.

    Gomert is a little baby by comparison. And he doesn’t have a legion (pretty close, technically) of followers.

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    September 3, 2018 at 11:56 pm

    @opiejeanne:

    They’re cutting the swooshes off of their sweat socks in protest!

    Now THAT’S how to own those fashionable coastal urban elitists: look like you can’t afford socks.

  100. 100.

    Bill Arnold

    September 3, 2018 at 11:57 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I did a post about it a couple of months ago. Norm Ornstein (full disclosure a friend) tweeted it out. I can do no more.

    When your writing is tight, it slides very smoothly into minds. (Being serious here.)

  101. 101.

    Aleta

    September 3, 2018 at 11:59 pm

    Also, by documents do they mean computer files. If so, there may be duplicates, fragments, old versions, etc. included in the count.

  102. 102.

    NotMax

    September 4, 2018 at 12:00 am

    No, no, a thousand times no.

    NASA may explore endorsements, naming rights deals

  103. 103.

    Bill Arnold

    September 4, 2018 at 12:04 am

    Regardless, that’s a lot of reading. 86400 seconds per day.

  104. 104.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 4, 2018 at 12:04 am

    @Bill Arnold: I actually forwarded it to him after seeing a tweet of his on the topic. He said he’d like it and blast out the link. He’s good people.

    And thanks for the kind words.

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 4, 2018 at 12:05 am

    New sort of Floriduh! Man post up. As in it is something you’d have expected to have been done by a Floriduh! Man, but it happened somewhere else.

  106. 106.

    Doug R

    September 4, 2018 at 12:06 am

    @Major Major Major Major: You easterners with your omnipresent cellphone coverage. Just have the story set out west with spotty cell phone coverage, or the hero is out of town with his cheap plan and always roaming.

  107. 107.

    Aleta

    September 4, 2018 at 12:10 am

    @rikyrah: Talk about normafucinlization. He had no trouble sleeping until headliners started quitting.

  108. 108.

    Aleta

    September 4, 2018 at 12:14 am

    @Aleta: I misspelled normafuckinlization. Where’s autocorrect when you really need it.

  109. 109.

    Doug R

    September 4, 2018 at 12:17 am

    @Adam L Silverman: Is it the frame rate, or the fact the carrier has been digitally added that looks so wrong?

  110. 110.

    opiejeanne

    September 4, 2018 at 12:18 am

    @James E Powell: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thanks, both of you. I was thinking it was in the jargon of this here blog. D’oh!

  111. 111.

    Adam L Silverman

    September 4, 2018 at 12:21 am

    @Doug R: I have no idea. All I know is that after its deployment in the Med off of Syria early last year it limped back to Russia, placed in dry dock, and it’ll be there until 2024 if everything goes according to schedule.

  112. 112.

    Aleta

    September 4, 2018 at 12:28 am

    @NotMax:

    Typically, NASA administrators are chosen from within NASA’s ranks, come up through the military, or have a background in science. Bridenstine has none of that.

    As a politician, Bridenstine has hedged on climate change, an issue NASA scientists study and track in many different ways. During his confirmation hearing in November, Bridenstine agreed that humans are the driving force behind climate change, but he would not agree with the assertion that human activity is the primary cause of it. It’s an odd position to hold as the leader of an agency that provides some of the most comprehensive data on climate change in the world.

    NASA has a staff of 17,000 and a budget of nearly $19 billion (not to mention the numerous contractors it works with). Bridenstine’s experience of managing a museum in Tulsa pales in comparison to the enormous complexity of NASA. Plus, there are new questions about whether Bridenstein used funds from the Tulsa Air and Space Museum to prop up a private venture. He reportedly ran the museum into a financial loss.

    Vox, D. Beast

    I figure “may explore” = in the works since the first day he showed up and asked for some moon rocks to put on top of the TVs in his office.

  113. 113.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 4, 2018 at 12:45 am

    @Adam L Silverman: Obviously, Trump gave Vlad one of our carriers.

  114. 114.

    Bill Arnold

    September 4, 2018 at 12:50 am

    @NotMax:

    NASA may explore endorsements, naming rights deals

    The Trump Organization could make a deal. Trump Moon-Golf Club, Tycho Crater.
    (A par 5 would be maybe 4000 meters? Or would that be like a par 8? Any golfers have an informed opinion on moon-golf? )

  115. 115.

    Mnemosyne

    September 4, 2018 at 1:15 am

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Schroedinger’s Cat keeps telling you that India has way better stuff, and apparently Russia agrees! ???

  116. 116.

    Mnemosyne

    September 4, 2018 at 1:19 am

    @Doug R:

    According to the replies, it’s actually a carrier that belongs to India. Whoops!

  117. 117.

    frosty

    September 4, 2018 at 2:06 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Nice. Ham WA3JPN from 40 odd years ago, renewed for Y2K just in case.

  118. 118.

    frosty

    September 4, 2018 at 2:08 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: PS I was OK at semaphore in BoyScouts but I don’t recognize it now. :-(

  119. 119.

    frosty

    September 4, 2018 at 2:15 am

    @Doug R: Out West! How about any state park in PA!

  120. 120.

    opiejeanne

    September 4, 2018 at 2:49 am

    @frosty: My dad was a HAM. WA6GRX. I helped him learn Morse Code when he was getting his permit, a requirement back in the 50s/60s. Aside from the SOS that almost everyone knows, I can only remember this:

    …. ..

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Deputinize America - Moorea 2024 2
Image by Deputinize America (7/14/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • Snarki, child of Loki on Repub Venality Open Thread: If You Thought the *Paxton* News Was Scummy… (Jul 14, 2025 @ 5:53pm)
  • pat on Repub Venality Open Thread: If You Thought the *Paxton* News Was Scummy… (Jul 14, 2025 @ 5:52pm)
  • trollhattan on Repub Venality Open Thread: If You Thought the *Paxton* News Was Scummy… (Jul 14, 2025 @ 5:52pm)
  • Soapdish on Repub Venality Open Thread: If You Thought the *Paxton* News Was Scummy… (Jul 14, 2025 @ 5:50pm)
  • Suzanne on Repub Venality Open Thread: If You Thought the *Paxton* News Was Scummy… (Jul 14, 2025 @ 5:50pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!