Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

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

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

T R E 4 5 O N

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

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

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

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Readership Capture / A Little Tease

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    But it’s awesome and I am super excited. FAST, too!

    I bet we manage to break it within 30 minutes.

  5. 5.

    germy

    I have a fancy necktie hanging over a doorknob. When the new design debuts, I’ll wear it while I comment.

  6. 6.

    Martin

    I hate it already. I don’t know what you were thinking with that layout. And the fonts! My god. This is literally the worst thing to ever happen to this country.

  7. 7.

    TenguPhule

    @germy:

    I have a fancy necktie hanging over a doorknob. When the new design debuts, I’ll wear it while I comment.

    I trust you will remove it from the doorknob first. //

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    Having experienced a site refurbishment or two in my time as a jackal, I fully expect the new website rollout to be … interesting.

  13. 13.

    MattF

    Glad to hear that this blog isn’t going the way of the ancient classics Fafblog and Topic Drift, at least not immediately. Just wondering, btw, was the identity of Fafblog ever uncovered?

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: Got back from the NP about 9;30, slept until a little after noon. I am functional to an extent and that will do for the rest of today.

  20. 20.

    Sloane Ranger

    Just popping in to do a little crowing, England 2 – Norway 0 at half time. Yeah!!

    Hope I haven’t put the horrible curse of death on our team for the 2nd half.

  21. 21.

    A Ghost To Most

    Sure, it is fast now. Let’s see how it performs under TBOGG Unit pressure. Hopefully, the database is tuned to the load.

    Is stackpath still involved? Asking for my cell phone battery.

  24. 24.

    Quinerly

    Meanwhile…… The anticipation and excitement builds for the BJ meet up in St. Louis at John D McGurks in Soulard starting at 5:00 pm Central Time…..

  27. 27.

    TomatoQueen

    @Sloane Ranger: Nice work, England England Football Football and David Beckham approves. 3-0. Also, too, noting the conspicuous attendance of male England fans, including those guys with the drum kit. Well done.

  28. 28.

    jl

    WHAT, NO PIX! I’M OUTRAGED!
    IV’E SENT THREE ALL CAPS HIGH IMPORTANCE EMAILS TO COLE COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    In Defeat, Pelosi Agrees to Pass Senate Border Bill Without House Conditions

    FTFNYT

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed on Thursday to clear the Senate’s version of emergency humanitarian aid package for strapped federal agencies dealing with a migrant crisis, jettisoning the House’s strict controls on the $4.6 billion in a stinging defeat that was ensured by Democratic disunity.

    The change was a striking display of disarray and an unusual setback for Ms. Pelosi, who has been adept at navigating the political complexities of a caucus riven with powerful progressive and moderate factions that often work at cross purposes. On Thursday, their priorities clashed in spectacular fashion, and the speaker — who had put her reputation on the line, calling herself a “lioness” out to protect children as she held out for stronger protections in migrant facilities that house them — had to accept defeat.

    “In order to get resources to the children fastest, we will reluctantly pass the Senate bill,” Ms. Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic lawmakers. “As we pass the Senate bill, we will do so with a Battle Cry as to how we go forward to protect children in a way that truly honors their dignity and worth.”

    Her retreat came after Vice President Mike Pence gave Ms. Pelosi private assurances that the administration would voluntarily abide by some of the restrictions she had sought, including notifying lawmakers within 24 hours after the death of a migrant child in government custody, and placing a 90-day time limit on children spending time in temporary intake facilities, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

    This is shit. The Speaker just opened herself up to get fucked over like the rest of Trump’s subcontractors. She should know better.

  32. 32.

    MattF

    @TenguPhule: It would be better to require humane conditions, but that’s just not going to happen. In fact, I see an argument for passing a ‘clean’ bill without a lot of conditions. It’s safe to assume, after all, that the administration will continue to mistreat and abuse children without regard for what Congress does– consequently, the issue will remain alive and the ‘cruelty is what we do’ policy can be continue to be put up front.

  39. 39.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @TenguPhule: what do you want her to do. She got no help from the fucking senate and stabbed in the back from the fucking “moderates” She did the best she could with the cards that were dealt.

    “Behind the scenes, moderates were encouraging members of the Blue Dog and Problem Solvers caucuses to vote against a procedural vote that governed floor debate and force Pelosi to pass the bipartisan Senate bill, as the White House and Hill Republicans have been demanding.”

    ***

    “The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday passed a $4.6 billion bill to address the migrant crisis at the southern border, setting up a clash with House Democrats, who had passed a different version of similar legislation. The Senate bill passed overwhelmingly with an 84-8 vote.”

  40. 40.

    The Dangerman

    @MattF:

    ….the purpose of the clinic is to ‘cure’ diversity.

    Point taken, if they are under the impression they can bring their TiKKKi torches, they might show up.

  42. 42.

    scav

    Personally, I thnk I’m going to whinge. I just like the word a d whining hurts my ears — and it’s not as though I’m going to share any wining opportunities, they’re just tragically under-represented in my timeline (unlike the former).

    ahhh for the rollout when the entire site got poleaxed when we forgot to close tags in comments . . . . I can smell the onions from here and get all weepy.

  43. 43.

    Quinerly

    @Steve in the ATL: we have the roof top snipers in place at the “Hat Factory” across Russell Street ready for the command. Teams are positioned both at the art gallery and church across 12th and Russell. I’m miked with a carefully hidden body cam. The temperature of the Guinness has been checked and doubled checked. A double supply of Jameson, Powers, and Middleton are in a hold pattern. Ready to roll…. Don’t tell anyone. ? News travels fast with these folks who love their BJ.

  44. 44.

    GideonAB

    Pelosi messed up.
    She could have demanded no funding for the wall
    and let the Senate block it.
    The wall is not popular

  46. 46.

    JPL

    @GideonAB: She could have added protections for undocumented spouses whose spouse is serving in the military, but she did not. I’m pissed.

  48. 48.

    TenguPhule

    @piratedan: She has to make up her mind. Either she’s going to lead or she’s going to wait till her caucus makes up their mind.

    Backtracking like this after making bold statements as a defender of children earlier makes her look foolish and weak. Its feeding the “Say anything but do nothing” narrative the GOP is spinning about the Democratic House.

  53. 53.

    GideonAB

    @JPL
    softball does not work with Republicans.
    I believe this. Public opinion is the only
    card the left has.
    Why do the Democrats doubt it?
    It seems to me that
    this is where someone like Julian Castro could
    take a stand and push the party in the right
    direction.
    Trump will take this win, will throw away the
    assurances and America will move on.
    The money will be used for the wall which will
    end up paying for steel slats from a Russian
    company.
    Do Democrats not see that Russian is not a friend
    here?

  54. 54.

    Mary G

    We will need a strong site that can handle all the shit that is coming down in the next.18 months. I feel like screaming every moment rn.

  55. 55.

    Sloane Ranger

    Well that’s it. 3 – 0 and we’re through to the semi final but there were times when we were very sloppy. We can’t afford that when we play France or the USA.

    Still that’s for another day. Tonight, I will raise a celebratory glass. Thinking about the St. Louis meet up tonight. Enjoy yourself fellow jackals!

  58. 58.

    zhena gogolia

    @JPL:

    I think she’s a little more cautious and non-shoot-from-the-hip. Which I like, but not everyone does.

  60. 60.

    TenguPhule

    We have yet to answer the most important question about the new site.

    Would we want to have a beer with it?

  61. 61.

    A Ghost To Most

    @WaterGirl:
    Excellent. It is a terrible CPU and battery hog.

    Now tell me the DB is tuned to the SQL in the most-used queries. The answer to that is a good predictor of performance under load.

  62. 62.

    donnah

    I hope the redo isn’t like Booman Tribune because it sux. I quit going there, and I had gone for years.

  65. 65.

    Spanky

    @TenguPhule: Who is this “person familiar with the discussions”? Ten bucks sez it’s Pence or one of his minions.

    Nancy knows better than to listen to that little shit. My guess is that it was a way for PenceCo to rub her face in it, with a complicit reporter.

  67. 67.

    Another Scott

    @A Ghost To Most: I didn’t, no. But looking at the hover text for the link, JC seemed to be saying that it was linked to a SFChron story. Not that Instapundit was reading his stuff back then. Though he might have been!

    :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  68. 68.

    TenguPhule

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
    ✔
    @AOC
    Under no circumstances should the House vote for a McConnell-only bill w/ no negotiation with Democrats. Hell no.

    That’s an abdication of power we should refuse to accept. They will keep hurting kids if we do.

    24.4K
    9:23 AM – Jun 27, 2019

    Also, Schuemer needs to be kicked from Minority Leader in the Senate. He’s a fucking waste of space.

  71. 71.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Another Scott: He would have been. The site was full of right wingers then. I believe Harriet Miers (sp) was the turning point. I came in as it was transitioning.

  73. 73.

    J R in WV

    I just want the 5 minute clock on edits to reset when you dick up your first edit!!! That’s all I asked for, all I want new and improved. Plus Fiestaware dishes for the tea time sandwiches!!

  74. 74.

    Chetan Murthy

    @TenguPhule:

    Either she’s going to lead or she’s going to wait till her caucus makes up their mind.

    Ah, the Green Lantern theory of leadership. All she needed to do, was get out the bully pulpit and those Blue Dogs would turn into lapdogs, right? C’mon, man: even at this moment, when so many eyes are turned to the border in horror, TWELVE of her 18-vote margin had PUBLICLY rebuked her. Publicly. Do you think she doesn’t know how to count votes?

    Also, the 84-8 margin in the Senate apparently means that under Senate rules, McConnell doesn’t have to agree to a conference committee. It’s either the Senate text, or nothing.

    Yes, we can all thank Schumer. I can thank Sen. Feinstein. Shit. Just shit.

  75. 75.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Yutsano:
    Probably correct. I do remember him blowing a gasket in Oct 2005 about Miers, but Schiavo died in March.

  76. 76.

    WaterGirl

    @donnah: I would say it’s nothing like the new Booman site, but you will have to decide for yourself. If Booman’s new site had been up when we turned in the specs, I would have provided the developers with an images of his old site vs. his new site and would have said” this is what we don’t want”.

  77. 77.

    Yutsano

    @A Ghost To Most: I’m certain the incompetence of Miers didn’t help matters at all, but for sure it was the mishegas that was the Schiavo affair that started the scales falling from his eyes.

  79. 79.

    MomSense

    For the record, I have never complained about the website or any changes to the website.

    I save my fury for the really important things like placement of Willow trees and invasive vines.

    Seriously Cole WTF with the all the vines?!?!!!1!1

  80. 80.

    TenguPhule

    @Chetan Murthy: Speaker controls what gets put to a vote in the House. She should have been counting votes before putting up the House version of the spending bill. Counting votes and coming up short after talking big about “protecting the children” then conceding is…not good leadership.

  83. 83.

    Chetan Murthy

    @TenguPhule:

    Counting votes and coming up short after talking big about “protecting the children” then conceding is…not good leadership.

    Oh, I thought you were objecting to her relenting on allowing the Senate version to come up for a vote. I see that you’re objecting to her having squawked before allowing the Senate version to come up for a vote.

    So let’s game that out. McConnell sends over his bill. And it’s precisely as he wants it, remember. Pelosi let’s it go to the floor for a vote, and let’s remember, *unmodified*. Who thinks she doesn’t get pilloried for being Trump’s patsy?

    She -did- try to push back. And it turned out, she didn’t have the votes. Democracy is messy. And something else: I’m sure some are gnashing teeth about the BlueDogs. Aside from the few who actually come from solid Blue districts, the rest are the precise ones we worked so hard to elect back in 2018: Dems from swing-districts. This is part of the price we had to pay, for not having a big-enough margin. No, I don’t like it. But it doesn’t change the facts.

  85. 85.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    I almost drove off the road when I heard the reporting that he wanted to “reschedule” the census! Fucker.

  86. 86.

    Patricia Kayden

    @TenguPhule: Yeah. Whatever strategy Pelosi is pursuing is lost on me. This is not a good move. We didn’t elect Democrats to push the Trump agenda.

  87. 87.

    James E Powell

    This isn’t on Pelosi, it’s on the entire leadership of the Democratic senate and house. They look like losers because they are losers.

    There was no reason to go along with anything proposed by Trump and the Republicans. They are on the defensive. Nobody wants their wall and they are putting children in cages. The stories were right there in the public, undermining their position on anything to do with immigration. Telling the Republicans to pound salt was the right thing to do.

  88. 88.

    TenguPhule

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Pelosi let’s it go to the floor for a vote,

    Again, Speaker Controls what comes up for a vote in the House. Senate’s bill could have been given the gander sauce that McConnell is giving the House.

  89. 89.

    Chetan Murthy

    @TenguPhule:

    Again, Speaker Controls what comes up for a vote in the House.

    You’re saying “pick this hill to die on, Nancy”. Is that what you intend? Really? She was taking public flak from her own caucus, FFS. And lots of it. And OBTW the Dems in the Senate *completely* caved already. And look at the eventual vote on the rule: only 90-something Dems actually stood firm. Don’t you think she counted the votes and realized what was happening?

    And also: really, you should decide your position and kind of stick with it? First you’re angry she let the bill thru. Then that she squawked before letting it thru. Now, back to angry that she let it thru? I mean, c’mon man.

  90. 90.

    TenguPhule

    @Chetan Murthy:

    1. Don’t let the bill through for a vote.

    2. If you must let the bill through for a vote because reasons, don’t make a speech implying you have the votes to pass a different bill that will help children when you do not in fact have the votes to pass that bill.

    And yes, Children Concentration Camps should damn well be a Hill that the Speaker of the House should be ready to die on. Just like Torture. Just like opposing an illegal war based on bald faced lies. Some things are supposed to be worth fighting for.

  91. 91.

    GideonAB

    @Chetan
    What strong arguments did her caucus muster?
    Did they think that looking after children properly
    would be a vote loser?

  93. 93.

    Doug R

    Not letting a Senate bill that passed 84-6 to the House floor would have looked even weaker, FFS.

  94. 94.

    TriassicSands

    I have NOT seen the new website, but what I haven’t seen looks terrible. All is lost!

Comments are closed.