Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“But what about the lurkers?”

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

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

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

Republicans in disarray!

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

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

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

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

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Democrats are back in array!

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

You are here: Home / Be A Masshole!

Be A Masshole!

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This is without doubt my favorite ad of the cycle.

Backstory:  In 2016, Massachusetts approved a law that adds gender identity to the list of reasons people can’t be discriminated against in public spaces.

This year, bigots opponents managed to place a question on the ballot that would repeal the law. Somewhat confusingly, the question is worded so that it takes a “yes” vote to retain the law — a quirk of drafting (perhaps deliberate) that casts some doubt on the polling that shows a two to one edge here opposed to discriminating against trans people.  I’m cautiously optimistic that we’re all good, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the following is a perfect little slice of campaign art:

Open thread, y’all.

Reader Interactions

57Comments

  1. 1.

    Chetan Murthy

    Some (topical) nice time from 2000: https://www.si.com/vault/2000/05/08/279821/the-biggest-play-of-his-life

    “I was so anxious,” remembers middle linebacker Corey Johnson, a senior at
    Masconomet High in Topsfield, Mass., “I thought I was going to vomit.” … He tried not to let his voice quake. “I’m coming out as an openly gay student here.”
    […]
    And you know what happened? They laughed! But that’s not the best
    part. The best part is what happened next. Nothing.

    Corey’s teammates had no problem with his sexual orientation. His
    coach had no problem with it. His mom and dad and his sister had
    no problem with it. His teachers, his counselor–nobody–had a
    problem with it.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    @JPL: Law enforcement systematically ignoring the rise of “white nationalism” hate groups over the last couple of decades. As Ken points out, “ignoring” is being quite kind; in many cases, law enforcement is part of the problem.

  10. 10.

    oatler.

    Great ad! It would have been nice to have John Ratzenberger in his Cliff the mailman outfit but you know about John…

  11. 11.

    SFAW

    I saw that at on TV last night, just before Jeopardy.

    No, not really, but I wish I had.

    But he’s right about the Ahs. I once heard someone call to her sister, attempting to say “Donna, come here!” But it came out “Donner, come heah!”

  13. 13.

    Geeno

    Lol – this dude could be one of my cousins, but sadly, some of my cousins have been replaced by podrepublicans, it’s frightening.

  15. 15.

    FlyingToaster

    At their webside (massholesnotassholes.org) the best badge reads:

    I don’t care what toilet you use, just wash your fucking hands, kid!

  16. 16.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    OT but the coolest thing just happened. Light Up Lancaster is this weekend. A celebration where all the Christmas lights are turned on in the city and there are all sorts of other events. The Castle is illuminated, there are all sorts of light shows in the Storey’s gardens and other such things. (It also coincides with November 5 which is on Monday) The finale of sorts is a fireworks show over the Castle tonight. Last year DH and I went and viewed it in person but today the weather was awful. The remnants of Hurricane Oscar came through which meant it was cold, windy and rainy so we decided to give it a miss. However, the really neat part about living in a house about four blocks from the Castle and close to the river means you get to watch it in real time from your bedroom. As soon as the fireworks started I went upstairs to the bedroom and watched the Castle display (perfect view) and then almost immediately afterwards was (I think) the River display (to the right of the bedroom). I have never seen the like. Two professional firework displays back to back watched from the warm, wind free, cold free, safety of my bedroom window. I am so lucky!

  20. 20.

    FlyingToaster

    @debit: It doesn’t remember me. It doesn’t let me edit. Clearly, balloon-juice.com has developed a severe animosity to my input.

    (Though, honestly, it’s not just B-J; I have legacy admin access to a wp site where this is the ongoing fucking complaint/bug report. Everytime a security hole gets plugged or a ‘sploit gets blocked, something we need just fucking breaks.)

  21. 21.

    Matt McIrvin

    Wasn’t the wording on 3 a legal requirement? I think there’s a standard for what “yes” and “no” have to mean on this type of question.

  33. 33.

    hitchhiker

    FYI

    My very strange sister decided to vote for the first time. She’s 59. How do I know this? Not because she admitted it was the first time. I know it because she texted me last night to ask how come a candidate two districts away from hers wasn’t on her ballot … she assumed that because she’d seen ads for this candidate, she’d be given a chance to vote for her. So her next thought was that she was supposed to get another ballot where she could vote for her. We’re both in WA, where ballots are mailed to every registered voter a few weeks before election day. That’s why she has time to sort out her voting, and her utter ignorance about how it all works is how I know this is the first time she didn’t toss the thing in the trash.

    My sister is a professional person with a very responsible job in the healthcare world. She owns a home and drives a car. She has a degree.

    I want to think there are lots and lots of women out there like her right now … disgusted by the spectacle of Trump, eager to stick it to him in any small way they can, even if it takes — gasp! — filling out a ballot. I want to think all of them are asking their smartass politically savvy siblings how to do it. I want to think they’re going to be the reason certain polls are under-rating the candidates I favor.

    We’ll see.

  34. 34.

    J R in WV

    Great piece of theater… guy shifts from asshole to Masshole slowly about 40 seconds in. Great production!

  36. 36.

    Jager

    When I typed the Massholes website in my search bar, I dropped one s, I got the worst collection of porn sites…

  40. 40.

    dm

    Open thread, so I’m bumping a comment from the probably-dead Steve King thread:

    If you zoom into Northwest Iowa in yesterday’s XKCD you’ll find an Easter egg appropriate to the Steve King thread (California and Virginia voters get Easter eggs, too).

    https://xkcd.com/2067/

    Probably you have to look at it with a real computer, and be patient, it takes a while to load.

    The roll over text (the instructions for editing the map) is good, too

  41. 41.

    ascap_scab

    Ida-holes

    14 Middleton, Idaho teachers on paid leave after dressing as MAGA Border Wall / Mexicans for Halloween.

    Alternate category: I-duh-ho man.

  42. 42.

    Roger Moore

    @Matt McIrvin:
    I know there’s a legal requirement on that kind of thing here in California. In a referendum (i.e. a popular challenge to a law passed by the legislature) the issue is phrased as a vote to approve the law, so a “yes” keeps it and a “no” scraps it. This gives the move to scrap the law a boost, since there’s a built-in bias toward voting no. IMO, one of the mistakes made this year by the group that put our recent gas tax on the ballot was to overreach and turn the question into a constitutional amendment that also makes it harder to add to the gas tax in the future. That means that rather than the usual “yes” upholds/”no” overturns the law, it’s a “yes”, it’s yes to overturn (and make it harder to pass future taxes) and no to keep the law.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    Jeff Sessions needs to get a handle on this Right wing crime wave.

    The man who shot dead two women at a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday before killing himself was a far-right extremist and self-proclaimed misogynist who railed against women, black people, and immigrants in a series of online videos and songs.
    Scott Beierle, 40, was named by Tallahassee Police as the shooter who opened fire inside the Hot Yoga Tallahassee studio, killing two and injuring four other women and a man.

  44. 44.

    Redshift

    @dm: It’s a masterpiece of data presentation! But I didn’t play with it enough to find out there were Easter eggs; now I’ll have to look.

  48. 48.

    FlyingToaster

    @Duane: The video at the top will leave you cheering. Unless you hate everything Massachusetts, to which I can only say “*^#*&%Q()*^(^$*^%%)(*”.

  49. 49.

    schrodingers_cat

    I sometimes read the Twitter feed of a now defunct blog run by second generation South Asians, they are totally freaking out over the ending birthright citizenship bomb that T threw last week.

  50. 50.

    Redshift

    @dmsilev: I think I read that all of the charges against white supremacists in Charlottesville were there result of a quirk of Virginia law that allows any citizen to present evidence and swear out a warrant for someone’s arrest, not from law enforcement pursuing the cases. So yeah.

  51. 51.

    Redshift

    @schrodingers_cat: An Indian co-worker was pretty freaked out by it, too, wondering if her children are retroactively not going to be citizens. If course, making non-white people uncomfortable is part of the intended purpose. Asshole.

  52. 52.

    Bill Arnold

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I sometimes read the Twitter feed of a now defunct blog run by second generation South Asians, they are totally freaking out over the ending birthright citizenship bomb that T threw last week.

    I suspect (60%) that the way that DJ Trump sells it to himself is that he really really wants to revoke B. Obama’s citizenship and have him deported (or jailed), and Obama’s presidency annulled. It would be a stretch since Obama’s mom was an American (White, real PhD in anthropology as an older adult), but he’s working on it.
    And his advisors (I include Hannity (his phone buddy) and most of the Fox News celebs) surely tell him that his powers against dissent will be vastly increased if he can revoke (or threaten to revoke) the citizenship of dissidents at will. But really, it’s (probably) about Obama, and petty revenge.
    (I am [irritated], yes. Extremely so.)
    @Redshift:
    Not just non-white people. Plenty of birthright white citizens would be affected.

  53. 53.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Roger Moore: This kind of thing always reminds me of the SCTV election episode, in which there was a bottle deposit bill on the Melonville ballot but nobody could figure out whether “yes” was for or against the deposit, including the people who wrote the campaign ads.

    [menacing shot of a hoodlum wielding a broken bottle]
    “When disposable bottles are outlawed… only outlaws will have them!
    Vote no on the bottle bill. Or yes, depending on how it’s worded.”

  54. 54.

    Yutsano

    @dm: I think he has the geography of Washington a bit cocked up.Otherwise it’s pretty entertaining. And he’s pretty in for Carolyn Long.

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