Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

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

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

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

We will not go back.

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

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

One way or another, he’s a liar.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

He really is that stupid.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

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Archives for 2019

On the Road and In Your Backyard

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Good Morning All,

On The Road and In Your Backyard is a weekday feature spotlighting reader submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, please share your part of the world, whether you’re traveling or just in your locality. Share some photos and a narrative, let us see through your pictures and words. We’re so lucky each and every day to see and appreciate the world around us!

Submissions from commenters are welcome at tools.balloon-juice.com

Enjoy the day and pictures. Today is Paul Ryan’s last as leader of the House!

 

The pictures today – what joy! I’m especially fond of Orion.

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Resolve

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Open Thread: Elizabeth Warren for President(ial Candidate)!

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I’m selfish enough that I’d love to keep Warren as my own personal Senator, yet I’d be perfectly happy to see her in the Oval Office (and not just because we’d all be happy to see any Democrat in the Oval Office, considering the current squatter). But it’s not a small thing that every minute the Cosplay Socialists and their MAGAt playmates and the Media Horse-Race Touts spend attacking Warren — Pocahontas! Schoolmarm! Fumbling! SKREEEE! — is a minute they’re not targeting Kamala Harris / Kristen Gillibrand / Amy Klobuchar / Beto O’Rourke / AnyOtherDemocraticCandidate. I wasn’t 100% convinced about her potential candidacy until I attended one of her (many) town halls last fall; she’s damned impressive in person, and I suspect a lot of the Savvy Cultists are gonna be unpleasantly surprised at how many primary voters aren’t impressed by their ‘wisdom’ regarding her.

What I see as her greatest liability, right at this moment (apart from interference by foreign nationals, of course) is that Warren seems like she could lose the nomination and happily go back to her objectively pleasant life with no regrets. There’s a bias, among the media and it *seems* among the most committed primary/caucus voters, to assume that any candidate who won’t wake up suicidal the morning after their loss is a candidate who ‘just doesn’t care enough’. Which is, IMO, no doubt a good way to pick this year’s winners for The Voice or Dancing with the Stars, but a very bad way to pick one’s leaders…

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With Apologies To Valued Commenter Raven…This Is Funny

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And yet more thread.

To start: do not bring a bulldog to a roundup:

 

Texas is up pretty convincingly as I write this, but in Raven’s honor I’m rooting for Georgia, and there’s lots of time.

In other ways to enjoy the first day of a better year (saying it often enough helps make it so!) — another video I love to show my documentry class:

 

One of the early assignments is to take a bunch of historical newsreel footage of New York and cut it to some contemporary song — I have some cuts, and the students can use those or pick a favorite tune of their own.  That exercise is all about cutting to and with picture, beginning to think in visual narrative, and getting the start of a feel for the role of rhythm in conveying meaning and feeling.

This video helps get some of those asks across — and it repeats the theme of the Umbrella Man video: technical skills are great, and expand one’s palette.  But it’s possible to achieve a great deal with simple craft, as long as you know what you’re trying to say, and take great pains to make the straightforward shots and cuts you know how to make as precise as possible.  As, I think, this video does.

And because I love pictures, here’s an old favorite to help the year begin on the right note:


I say hello to the fighting Temaraire, here on her last journey, just about every time I return to London (and will again later this month).  Turner is one of those artists who needs to be seen in person.  Reproduction gets close to what he did with light; it cannot capture the texture and play of his paint.  Anyone on or travelling to the east coast…if you come to Boston, his “The Slave Ship” at the Museum of Fine Arts is a pilgrimage destination.  Truly, if you’re in town, you owe it to yourself to see this astounding work.  And if you’re in range of New Haven, Yale’s Center for British Art is a must-visit.  It’s got a ton of remarkable art, and as good an introduction to the singular visions of Turner as I’ve seen outside of London.  (If you do make it to London, then the Tate Britain gallery, a recent find of mine (I’m slow) has a wealth of Turners. The National Gallery has the headliners, the ones that make the art books — but Tate B. has enough examples to see how his eye and sensibility matured.)

As you might have guessed, I’m a Turner fanboi. Not apologizing.

Open thread!

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Open Thread: Still Good In The World

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This was my neighborhood temps today:

My poor ducks spent most of the day in their coop. Which they hate, but better than frostbitten little-webbed feet. They’re good to about 20 degrees. Below that they have to stay indoors. We will be back in the 50s by tomorrow.

With those cold temps in mind, my local firefighters got busy:

Around 9:30 this morning, firefighters were called to assist one of our furry residents that had gotten herself in a bit of a situation. Lily the cat had been up this tree about 45 feet for 3 days and her owners were concerned with the extreme cold we’ve had. We know it’s cliche, but yes, sometimes firefighters do rescue cats from trees!

Because there are still good things. Hope Lily is getting plenty of warm snuggles and tuna tonight.

How are you spending your first day of 2019?

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New Year’s Role Model Open Thread: Dance Like You’re Sitting in the President’s Seat

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