Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

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

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

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

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Let there be snark.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

You are here: Home / z-Retired Categories / Previous Site Maintenance / It’s Time to Update the Balloon Juice Blogroll

It’s Time to Update the Balloon Juice Blogroll

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As we discovered during the site upgrade, blogrolls are not yet extinct, and their overall demise has been greatly exaggerated.  So it’s time to ask whether there are any blogs that should be on the blogroll, but aren’t.

John Cole Mr. Bear and Miss Willow will be deciding which blogs are added to the blogroll, but I haven’t seen him them nix more than one or two, ever.  So nominate away!  Please.

You can see all the sections listed below.  If you’re a reader/commenter and you are nominating your own blog, please let us know in the comments.  Those go in the top category, regardless.  For all other blogs, please include the category you think the blog belongs in.

One last thing that occurred to me – might we want to include a list of really great twitter feeds, for those of us who don’t have twitter accounts but sometimes look at them from our browsers?

Whether it’s a blog or a twitter account, please list the name of the blog and put the URL on a separate line.  That will make it easier to add to the blogroll.

Balloon Juice Blogroll

Readers and Friends of Balloon Juice

Angry Black Lady Chronicles
Carol Duhart
Cleek
Dorothy Winsor
Nuclear Diner (Cheryl Rofer)
The World According to Meh!
Tom Levenson
Way of Cats
What’s 4 Dinner
Zandar Versus The Stupid

On the Lighter Side

Astronomy Picture of the Day
Jesus and Mo
Merriam Webster’s Word of the Day
The Oatmeal
XKCD

Political Blogs

Andrea Chalupa
Avedon
Barry Eisler
Blue Virginia
Charles Pierce
just the first few…

Non-Political Blogs

Calculated Risk
The Stranger
Live Science
just the first few…

News Sites

Democracy Now
McClatchy
ProPublica
just the first few…

Reader Interactions

157Comments

  4. 4.

    John Revolta

    There’s a blogroll? Where is it?
    Funny this coming up because I was just thinking about blogrolls today. LGM is celebrating their birthday and I was remembering how I found my regular spots; although I haven’t added a new one in a long time, I found them mostly by following longago blogrolls like the one at Sadly, No. I mighta found this place that way in fact! Blogs nowdays seem to stick them under the fold if they have ’em at all….

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @John Revolta: I almost included instructions on where to find the blogroll, but I thought better of it.  Apparently I should have thought better of thinking better of it.

    The blogroll is in the FOOTER on every page.

    Along with our lists of  BJ Artists & Artisans, and BJ Published Authors.

  7. 7.

    encephalopath

    Blogroll.

    It’s like the gathering of Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm for the counting.

  12. 12.

    Haydnseek

    Speaking of Twitter, is it possible to watch videos in tweets without actually signing up with Twitter?  If so, I would really like to know how.  If not, I guess I’ll just sign up and never tweet.  Would that work?  Also, once you sign up, is it difficult to cancel your account if you want to?  I have no interest in anything other than looking at some of the videos that people post.  Just reading the tweet doesn’t do me much good.  Thanks!

  13. 13.

    cope

    3 Quarks Daily

    3quarksdaily.com/

    Self described junction of science, arts, philosophy, politics and literature.

    It’s one of three sites to which I have actually contributed money (this site and Mr. Pierce being the other two).

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: 87 is not old

    edit:  Do you know how many people cried out in anguish when we said we weren’t keeping the blogroll?  It was like Star Wars when the planet exploded.  You could feel a disturbance in the force.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I don’t have a Twitter account, but I like to follow both Daniel Dale (@ddale8) and Aaron Rupar (@atrupar).

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @John Revolta: I will refrain from saying that I announced where the blogroll was in no fewer than 5 front page posts.

    Because I’m really not grumpy about it and I don’t want anyone to feel like they are being criticized!  :-)

  24. 24.

    Emma

    Nomination for Angry Asian Man, please: blog.angryasianman.com/

    Phil Yu has been blogging since 2001, have been reading him for like 15 years now and would really love for him to be more well-known outside of the AAPI community. Should be in the political category, I guess, but he does a lot of posts on the lighter side as well.

  26. 26.

    John Revolta

    @Haydnseek: What Baud said. Lately though, when I click on a Twitter video at another site it just goes blank, so I have to click on the little blue birdie logo which takes me to their site, and then I can watch it.

  30. 30.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne: 

    I don’t have a Twitter account, but I like to follow both Daniel Dale (@ddale8) and Aaron Rupar (@atrupar).

    Political, mostly.

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    You’ve listed some of my daily stops already. Here are a few more.

    Twitter / Politics:
    twitter.com/lolgop – general overview of national politics, often with a Michigan slant.
    twitter.com/Popehat – lots of snark, from a former federal prosecutor
    twitter.com/dick_nixon – lots of baseball, very pithy take on politics
    twitter.com/nycsouthpaw – another lawyer (female?) who is excellent on Twitter.

    Science News:
    phys.org/latest-news/ – lots of up-to-the-minute science news, with pointers to original research.
    sciencemag.org/news/latest-news – news curated by AAAS, often with policy ramifications.

    Economics commentary:
    cepr.net/blog/dean-bakers-beat-the-press/ – Dean Baker writes clearly and succinctly about the way our economic system has been captured and what we can do about it to make it better.
    delong.typepad.com/ – Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality. He reads a huge amount and can talk about Greek Plays and economic theory and his family history all at once. Can almost be too much at times. ;-)

    Government news:
    govexec.com/?oref=ge-nav – A decent one-stop-shop for government news from the policy side. Often points to articles in ProPublica and The Atlantic, but they have their own staff as well.

    Voting news and policy:
    brennancenter.org/

    Politics / Commentary:
    washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/ – Nancy LeTourneau is great.
    motherjones.com/kevin-drum/ – When Kevin is good, he’s very good.
    eclectablog.com/ – They pull no punches, but aren’t wild-eyed crazies who live in Fairy Gumdrop Land. Often with a Michigan focus.
    wonkette.com/ – Of course. commiegirl1’s team is great.

    My $0.02.

    (Thanks for fishing this out of the dungeon!!)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  34. 34.

    debbie

    Twitter: Stonekettle and David Farenthold. Maybe also Richard M. Nixon, if only for the irony.

  36. 36.

    laura

    Emptywheel has a twitter and a blog site – both excellent, but watch out, bmaz bites.

    For twitter accounts I highly recommend:

    Idabaewells

    Bboyboulliabaise

    Bestofnextdoor

    PearlsFromMyrna

    and yes to whoever recommended tbogg and hilzoy

  40. 40.

    Emma

    Another AAPI-focused blog for the political category, Reappropriate: reappropriate.co/

    Jenn Fang is another looongtime blogger whose work I’ve appreciated for over a decade.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: I assume Richard M. Nixon is the same as Dick Nixon?

    edit:  URLs are super helpful so I can avoid all the googling.  Maybe I’m being lazy, but I would rather ask 100 people to find the URL than to have to google 100 times.

  50. 50.

    randy khan

    Anybody see the FDA letter on hydroxychloroquine and (just plan) chloroquine?

    At the request of HHS, the FDA is withdrawing its emergency use authorization and approval to withdraw the drugs from the national stockpile. The report accompanying the letter is a really good narrative of the initial idea and why it wasn’t crazy (which it wasn’t), the subsequent studies of various kinds, and why the FDA has concluded that there’s no evidence of clinical benefit but significant potential for harm at the dosages that likely would be required even if there were clinical benefit. Considering the topic, it’s surprisingly readable.

    Trump will still push it, though

  58. 58.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @WaterGirl:
    Oh? Didn’t know that. Is the blogroll on the website at all or was it removed when the site was updated? I can’t find it

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    OT.

    FYI.

    T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T customers are experiencing issues placing calls across the US, according to user reports on Downdetector and on social media, with reports spiking around 2:20 PM ET.

    The issue appears to be entirely on T-Mobile’s end….
    [snip]
    …It appears both Sprint, now a T-Mobile subsidiary, and US Cellular are also experiencing problems. Source

  62. 62.

    Patricia Kayden

    Please add to the blogroll

    The Obama Diary
    Joemygod

    Wonkette

    Littlegreenfootballs

    Alicublog

  63. 63.

    soapdish

    I was wondering about this not that long ago. I still find the way that political blogs are presented to be my favorite way to absorb news analysis (fewer hot takes, more contemplation, less trolling), but I haven’t added any in a long, long time.
    The biggest blog loss I feel is Booman Tribune. I went into the Google Wayback Machine to 2016 and those posts are still far superior to what Progress Pond is now.

    If I had one blog to add I’d say Granola Shotgun.
    granolashotgun.com/

  64. 64.

    TheflipPsyd

    Not sure how I’d  characterize it as a blog since it’s  a mix of politics and culture, but I think The Root  would be a good edition to the blogroll. I am not good at copying url on a tablet,but the address is http://www.theroot.com

  70. 70.

    BigJimSlade

    Twitter suggestions:

    Slava Malamud (hard to categorize – great snark, covers sports and politics and anything that might be going on):
    twitter.com/SlavaMalamud

    You already link to his block, but Charles Pierce has a twitter feed, too, of course:
    twitter.com/CharlesPPierce

    Joy Reid
    twitter.com/JoyAnnReid

    Dana Houle
    twitter.com/DanaHoule

    Kamala Harris
    twitter.com/KamalaHarris

    RSchooley
    twitter.com/Rschooley

    There’s gotta be a dozen more I’m forgetting.

  72. 72.

    Miss Bianca

    @WaterGirl: No, you just need to run, not walk, to your favorite spot for streaming or DVD acquisition and watch Cold Comfort Farm. Absolutely hysterical performances from everyone, especially Ian McKellan as a fire and brimstone preacher. It’s one of the rare, rare instances where the movie is even better than the book.

    Don’t thank me, but you’re welcome. : )

  73. 73.

    BSR

    I’ll nominate Diane Ravitch’s blog.  She is a former under-secretary of education under Bush I.  Helped craft “No Kid Left Behind”.  Realized it wasn’t working and did an about face.  She is one of the sharpest critics of the current trends of bashing teachers, promoting (even more) standardized testing, and increasing use of charter schools.  I would call it political since education has become a political thing, but if you decide not, that’s fine.

    dianeravitch.net/

  83. 83.

    Haroldo

    My memory is very bad, and I don’t know if it’s still be written (it was very sporadic in the best of times) and I don’t see it in the blog roll, but, if memory serves, its sub-title was “Life in the Imperial City.”  The writing was almost musical and the author was seemingly a student of Russia and the former Soviet Union.

    Ah – here it is: “Stop the Sirit of Zossen 2.0”.  (‘The Imperial City and the World’) The author, Dr. Leo Strauss, still tweets prolifically, it seems.

    stiftungleostrauss.com/bunker/

  93. 93.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Haydnseek:

    I don’t have a Twitter account but browse Twitter and play videos there all the time. There has been a problem lately where Twitter videos sometimes won’t play on the Balloon Juice page, but if you click the tweet and go to Twitter it always plays there (in my experience).

  96. 96.

    geg6

    I would add TPM and New York Magazine’s Intelligencer to the news sites for sure.

    And I don’t see LGM listed, though I may have missed it.  Lots of us here read it, though.

  108. 108.

    Jorge (from Miami)

    For college football fans, @edsbs and anybody else associated with @ShutdownFullcas (podcast dead for now).  Also the Vacation Bible School podcast is quite interesting.

  111. 111.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    As they are not technically blogs (and include a range of topics), guess all three could fit in News Sites, although they are more like web magazines.

  114. 114.

    Gary Ratner

    dpcreferee.com

    That’s me.  Blogroll me!

    I address something called direct primary care, a controversial health care delivery system. My main concern has been that some wildly exaggeragted claims about its effectiveness in reducing overall healthcare costs ( 85%, says one wingnut ) are used to support various forms of Medicaid parsimony. On the other hand, direct primary care doctors — when staying their own lane — have a potentially useful core idea: don’t take insurance and use the resulting overhead savings for longer visits. But, guess what?  It’s complicated!

  118. 118.

    WaterGirl

    @schrodingers_cat: When you didn’t say anything about your blog last time I posted the last “hey let us know if you want to be on the Friends of BJ blog list”, I assumed you did not want to be included.

    Because of that, I would like to make sure that you like to be included.  Yes?

  123. 123.

    J R in WV

    One of my favorites, don’t recall if it’s on the BlogRoll list, but is mentioned often here.:

    John Scalzi’s blog :  whatever.scalzi.com/  Sci-Fi, politics, off beat stuff.

    Culture and politics…

  124. 124.

    glc

    Some news sites.

    The Guardian

    theguardian.com/international

    The American Prospect

    prospect.org/

    With regard to the current blogroll, I’d definitely have filed Scalzi’s blog under non-political, but he’s certainly not shying away from politics (on the principle that politics is not shying away from us). Politics tends to take up more of his twitter feed.

    John Scalzi on Twitter

    twitter.com/scalzi

    ETA:

    @BSR: Ravitch – nice. I’d forgotten all about this one, brings back memories.

  126. 126.

    suezboo

    I don’t know if any of us geezers mentioned it, but Teen Vogue has been excellent lately. Don’t know their url. Not with the kids, ya know. Political commentary.

  130. 130.

    dimmsdale

    good heavens, TERI KANEFIELD! Twitter and blog both. To the extent that often the “OMIGOD We’re Doomed!” posts and posters raise my BP, she pulls it down out of the red zone with clear-eyed legalistically-based commentary on limits to Talking Anus’s ability to snuff us all out. (sort of how Adam Silverman does it, though he’s much more military/LEO oriented, whereas Teri has represented indigent defendants and worked election security, lately in GA, as an attorney).

    Blog (currently features her on-the-geound reporting on the GA elections)

    https://terikanefield-blog.com

    Twitter

    twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield

    For inside Capitol Hill stuff, love Angry Staffer:

    twitter.com/AngrierWHStaff

    For press and media critiques from a woman of color (Soledad O’Brien):

    twitter.com/soledadobrien

    For media and press critiques also, the indispensables: Jay Rosen and Dan Froomkin:

    twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu

    twitter.com/froomkin

    Thanks for the contributions, everybody, looking forward to reading thru the thread. (Yeah, I also follow Teen Vogue–not to over-use the term, they are woke as HELL over there).

  132. 132.

    WaterGirl

    All these suggestions are great!  I’ll keep an eye on this post for a day or two to be sure I catch all the suggestions, and when I have looked at it for the last time, I will add a comment at the end.

  134. 134.

    donnah

    @W. Hackwhacker: I’ll vouch for Hackwhackers! I love, love, love them! Also voting for their recommendations of Mock, Paper, Scissors and No More Mister Nice Blog.

    I check on all of them daily!

  135. 135.

    Geminid

    If Twitter feeds are appropriate I’d recommend Rachel Bitecoffer’s.  Good stuff, clear and concise.

  136. 136.

    Jim Bales

    If there will be a list of recommended Twitter feed, I consider that of Patrick Skinner to be mandatory!

    If there will be a list of recommended Twitter feeds, I consider that of Patrick Skinner to be mandatory!

    @SkinnerPm

     

    I could tell you about him, but that would deprive you the pleasure of discovering him for yourself.

    I could tell you about him, but that would deprive you the pleasure of discovering him for yourself.

    Best,
    Jim

  141. 141.

    JAFD

    Doug Muder’s The Weekly Sift is an every Monday commentary on the news, from a ‘New England Unitarian Minister’s’ perspective.  I like it.

    weeklysift.com

    On lighter side

    BoardGameGeek.com

    just what it says

    TheMiniaturesPage.com

    for grownups who still play with toy soldiers

  142. 142.

    JAFD

    @NotMax: You asked about New Jersey reopening, in earlier thread, is summarized in

    nj.com/coronavirus/2020/06/nj-coronavirus-reopening-stage-2-starts-today-here-are-all-details-and-re…

    Was grocery shopping this morn.  Most adults masked, store well stocked, including TP and paper towels.

    Is about half-mile walk to store, for most of it had no one within 30 feet, so pulled my mask (Very comfortable – thanks, Satby – if your friend makes one ‘baggier’ at bottom that’ll fit over my beard, please let me know.) down to get fresh air.

    Hope all is well with you.

  143. 143.

    dimmsdale

    Not exactly blogs, but there are daily/weekly email dispatches I subscribe to from people I first ran across on Twitter (I follow all these on the Twits too, worth searching out IMO): Judd Legum (“Popular Information”), Eric Boehlert’s “Press Run” (another ‘press critique do-not-miss’), John Stoehr (“The Editorial Report”), and of course Adam Silverman in the Ark Valley Voice ( https://arkvalleyvoice.com/category/thinking-security/    –he’s an infrequent poster, you’d think he had another job or something, but always worth a read.)

    These are paid subscriptions; inexpensive enough that you can support alternate voices without it hurting too much.

  151. 151.

    Emma

    Last comment, I swear. I very recently discovered this website called “Challenging Performance”: challengingperformance.com/ It’s part book-in-progress, part signposting of historical Western classical music performances and academic works on them, and part repository of innovative WCM performances. As someone who played classical piano relatively seriously through my childhood up to the end of college, it’s so refreshing to see people challenging modern notions (i.e. within the last 50 years) of what WCM should sound like, using historical documents and actual recordings that early 20th century composers and musicians made. Carl Reinecke’s version of Mozart would ensure that he never places in modern competitions or conservatories, yet I think only an utter idiot would suggest that he was technically or musically incompetent. (Link for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADxuDONsguY&ab_channel=RobertHill) This is also very personal LOL, because my teeny hands force me to roll chords all the time, like Reinecke does, so he’s now my new musical hero. And he rolls chords more often than not! Yes, I am unreasonably (nah, reasonably) excited about this in the middle of the night!!!

  156. 156.

    Sourmash

    taskandpurpose.com

    From their website:
    About Task & Purpose
    Task & Purpose is a military and veteran-focused digital media company enjoyed by millions of readers each month. Founded in 2014 by Zach Iscol, Brian Jones, and Lauren Katzenberg, Task & Purpose provides authentic reporting and perspectives on the stories that matter to military members, veterans, and the broader American public.

    Our journalists have reported on American veterans being abused in Kuwaiti prisons, the deported veterans being forced to work for Mexican cartels, the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota, and drawn national attention to a longstanding legal rule barring service members from suing the government — even in the face of gross negligence, among many noteworthy examples.

    Reporting everywhere from The Pentagon to The White House and beyond, Task & Purpose journalists have also garnered important exclusives, such as the first known insider attack in Syria, confirmation of the first Medal of Honor being awarded to an airman since Vietnam, and the practice of private housing companies forcing families into silence in order to have their problems addressed.

    Our contributing writers have included Medal of Honor recipients, President Barack Obama, Senator John McCain, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, leading influencers, noted authors, and more than 500 military service members and veterans who have shared their hard-earned knowledge and expertise with the broader community.

    The parent company of Task & Purpose is Grid North Group, which also includes HirePurpose, a job site for military service members, veterans, and spouses that has helped more than 50,000 veterans with employment and 100+ Fortune 1000 companies, and MilSpouse Festivals, an event-based network for military spouses to be able to build community.

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