Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

This really is a full service blog.

People are complicated. Love is not.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

This fight is for everything.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Good lord, these people are nuts.

You are here: Home / z-Retired Categories / Site Maintenance / Semi-Annual Site Fundraiser

Semi-Annual Site Fundraiser

by | 185 Comments

This post is in: 

Just got my billing for hosting, and we are good to December, but our rate went up slightly (a couple hundred a month), but that is good news because the rate is determined by traffic. So that means there are more of us reading and out there, and hopefully that will translate into more members of this special little shitshow community we have here.

At any rate, it’s time to rattle the cups to get us through winter and spring, so if you are able to, please hit the paypal, and if you want to mail a check, email me and I will send you the snail mail address. BTW, several of you have set up recurring paypal monthly donations for a buck or two- if you do that, PLEASE do not set it up for services because PAYPAL hates that. Just set it up for sending money to a friend or something.

PayPal


You can also give through Venmo: @john-cole-94  (as long as you see a photo of Lily, you’re in the right place, and you can click the “I don’t have the phone number” button and send anyway.)

You can also give through Zelle: jgriffincole at the google mail place.

Soon you will be able to give through Patreon, but it’s not set up yet.

You can also give through Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/balloonjuice

This is my absolute least favorite thing to do for the website, so I will just pin this post until we have met our needs and then take it down and that way I will not have to do multiple posts.

I’m off to take a nap. Just got back from four hours at the hospital for mom’s colonoscopy. Everything was fine, before you ask.

Reader Interactions

185Comments

  1. 1.

    Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix

    What’s this — no pictures?  Doesn’t your mom want to contribute to the site?

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl: I was gonna make a “You can’t take my Zergernet away from me” joke, but they’re currently showing me a picture of trump putting a fork in his open mouth, so…

    my credit card declined payment? anyone else getting that?

  18. 18.

    Mary G

    My PayPal is messed up due to a charity, so I sent you an email for a check. I think I still have some.

  21. 21.

    PenAndKey

    Speaking of making it easier to donate, have you ever considered setting up a Patreon account for the page? I don’t know why, but paypal and I just don’t get along and haven’t for years. I always find it a PITA to use as a payment channel.

  24. 24.

    patrick Il

    Done when I get home on my own network.

    Did anyone else see the article in WSJ where Charles Koch says he regrets his enabling of divisiviness? ” We really  screwed up” .

    Yes you did, Charles. And you won’t live long enough I to straighten it out even if I believed you.

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I’ve been using PayPal since the start of the Dem primaries in 2019, many many times a month — but now with the Balloon Juice account, it won’t connect me without setting up a new account. WTF

    Do you have Zelle? If so, let me know and I’ll transfer money directly to your account. Otherwise, will email you for a snaily address.

  28. 28.

    narya

    @WaterGirl:  I would love an option where I give more to not have to see ads . . . This place is home

    p.s./ETA: I would be happy to up my monthly donation, and/or throw a wad in now as a one-time donation. Which is better for you?

  29. 29.

    JanieM

    @debbie:

    Little late for that, asshole.

    No kidding. Let’s see him give up all but oh, maybe a few hundred thousand of his obscene billions to people in need, and to repair the harm he’s done to the rest of us and then maybe I’ll start to think he’s made a start on his many lifetimes of atonement. Otherwise, it’s just more breathtakingly arrogant MOTU bullshit.

  30. 30.

    Sloane Ranger

    Done. Sent $25. Which, amazingly, is still less than £20. Who knew the pound was doing that well!

    Seriously, happy to send more if needed. Checking out this site is the first thing I do every morning. Sad, I know!

  38. 38.

    patrick Il

    @debbie:

    The wording was  ambiguous but I didn’t really think you meant me. Generally only people who know me better calI me asshole.

  42. 42.

    Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix

    Hey, everyone having PayPal problems, I donated to jgriffincole at the gmail place and it worked fine.  It all goes to the same place…

  43. 43.

    PJ

    @WaterGirl: I contributed but will be glad to chip in more if Cole gets rid of the banner ads that block the “comment” and “refresh” buttons on mobile.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @narya: At Balloon Juice, there are no tiers, there is no paying to go ad-free while others still get ads.  :-)

    It’s my hope that if everyone donates what we can to this fundraiser, that maybe John will see that we can do it without ads. Just a hope, but worth trying for, in my opinion.

  48. 48.

    narya

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, i appreciate that, actually, on some level. That said, I’m happy to throw in some extra, either now or monthly–which is most useful?

  50. 50.

    2liberal

    you should do a patreon option also.  I sent $50 and want better customer service going forward, especially nicer responses to emails in all caps ///

  52. 52.

    Zelma

    Donated.  I could not have maintained my sanity without Balloon Juice.  Been here for 13 years, I think. I missed John’s conservative phase.  By the time I got here, BJ was solidly liberal.  And sometimes sane.

  53. 53.

    D Gardner

    I’m happy to donate, as I get so much information, comfort, and joy from all of you obscenely annoying jackals.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @narya:  John pays the site hosting fees for 6 months at a time, so that’s a hefty bill.  So If you have it all now, I’d say maybe now?  But monthly is fine, too.  Really, it’s whatever works for you.

  55. 55.

    Pete Downunder

    • USD $100 kicked in from the land Downunder.  Really appreciate the work you and the front pagers do.
  56. 56.

    Aleta

    @patrick Il:   He’s ready to work together … now that he has Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett on the court.

    Shaping the U.S. judiciary has been part of Mr. Koch’s strategy from the beginning. In (a) 1974 speech, he recommended a strategy of “strategically planned litigation” to test the regulatory authority of government agencies. Such lawsuits could make their way to the Supreme Court, where justices could set precedent.

    On the list of government interventions he condemned were “confiscatory taxation, wage and price controls, commodity allocations programs, trade barriers, restrictions on foreign investments, so-called equal opportunity requirements, safety and health regulations, land use controls, licensing laws, outright government ownership of businesses and industries”  “… and many more interventions.”

    In the world of corporate law, the lodestar legal case is Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council. This case, decided in 1984, created an important legal precedent called “Chevron deference.” … The current Supreme Court has signaled a willingness to reconsider this precedent, a move that could dramatically weaken federal regulatory agencies.  Mr. Koch and the Trump administration are united in their desire to undo the Chevron decision. Mark Holden, a board member of Americans for Prosperity [a Koch organization of activists] has publicly decried Chevron deference as a tool of tyranny.

    In the 1990s, (Koch)  focused on lower-level judges, funding a legal institute that paid for judges to attend junkets at a Utah ski resort and Florida beachfront properties; the judges attended seminars on the importance of market forces in society and were warned against consideration of “junk science” — like specific methods to measure the effects of pollution — that plaintiffs used to prove corporate malfeasance.

    (from NYT)

  62. 62.

    Ivan X

    So I have five Visa gift cards sitting here, and the annoying thing about them is that you can’t use them for things that cost more than their value (unless the vendor takes a split tender), but if you use them for something under their face value, then you’re left with little dribs and drabs on them that are that much harder to use. And then it struck me:

    Balloon Juice gets one! Ossoff gets one! Warnock gets one! Fair Fight gets one! Everyone gets the value of a Visa gift card! Actually that leaves one left over. Who should I give it to?

    I feel like a fucking champ.

  63. 63.

    planetjanet

    When I first hit the paypal link, it had an option for paypal or to pay by credit card.  I got most of the way through filling out the form for the credit card option.  My browser started autofilling my address and the screen blanked to a spinning circle.  I exited and started back a couple of times, and the spinning circle started as soon as I clicked to pay by credit card.  After clearing cache and restarting the browser, I don’t get the same screen, no choice at all but to sign in to paypal.  Am I imagining that there was a way to pay by credit card?

  69. 69.

    One More Red Nightmare

    Done. About time I chipped in. This site and all of you helped keep me sane the last four years.

  70. 70.

    WaterGirl

    @HinTN: Yes, John has venmo!  Just gave another $5.00 to test it.  If you give on venmo, you get a very sweet photo of Lily.

    They ask for the last 4 of the phone number the first time so you can make sure you have the right person, but you can click on something like “i don’t have the phone number” and send anyway.

    If you see the picture of lily, you are in the right place.

    @john-cole-94

  71. 71.

    Another Scott

    I’ve been donating monthly for a while. If we flip the Senate, I’ll feel better about donating more. :-)

    Make it happen, peeps!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    Citizen Alan

    Just chipped in for $10 a month. Because I wouldn’t have survived the last four years without this place to remind me that most people (if only by a narrow margin) are decent.

  75. 75.

    lowtechcyclist

    Hell, half the front-pagers here, I’d chip in a decent contribution to continue to read just them.  (The other half ain’t bad either.)  I may be the resident heretic here in a number of ways, but I can definitely spare a few bucks to keep this crazy place going.

  78. 78.

    Rob

    Another lurker here, largely concentrating on reading the curated tweets. I just chipped in an amount that’s about twice my age. I really value this site.

  80. 80.

    glc

    Bad link in the text – goes to an expired session (at least for me, Chrome/mac).

    But the donate button works normally.

  84. 84.

    JanieM

    @Aleta:

    Following up on my comment @29, on a very back of the envelope calculation based on numbers from Google, Charles Koch could give every household in the lowest-earning US quintile about $2,000. That’s how much money he has. Think how much $2,000 would help the poorest fifth of the US population, especially right now.

    So again, when he gives all of it away, keeping only enough to live like an ordinary lower middle class person for the rest of his miserable life, I don’t give a flying banana what useless self-serving hypocritical BS comes out of his mouth.

  85. 85.

    frosty

    When I click the paypal link I get this:

    Your session is invalid or expired.You’ve been inactive for a while, so we logged you out to help protect your account. Please return to the merchant and restart the payment process.

    One commenter suggested sending it to jgriffincole at the google mail place . That will work for me. Is that the correct address?

  91. 91.

    PatrickG

    Donated! With cheeky message that John may or may not read. :)

    ETA: This place may not have kept me sane, but it’s kept me not insane. Thanks for all the front pagers and community members here from a long-time lurker.

  95. 95.

    WaterGirl

    FYI, I have corrected all the comments where people wrote out John’s email address – otherwise that email addressed would be permanently trashed with spam.

  96. 96.

    Just Chuck

    @patrick Il: “You’ve got billions, Chuck.  Make some fucking amends.”

    And yeah, it irks me that the more evil one of the Koch brothers is the one still alive and sharing my name.

  97. 97.

    Spanky

    OK, pre-apology if this has been in the comments already, but …

    Cole’s been syphoning a bit off my credit card every month for some time now. Long enough that I don’t really remember how it works. So in case someone prefers giving a bit every month, could someone describe the process, please?

  101. 101.

    p.a.

    Done.  Made sure cursor at far right of cash box: last year paid $18k on a $180 dollar elec bill because I wasn’t paying attention when I typed????????.  Noticed next ATM visit on my balance?????.  Took several phone calls to rectify.

  107. 107.

    Just Chuck

    @WaterGirl: Huh, I guess it all depends on how the filters get trained.  I get maybe a couple spam a week while the spam folder accumulates literally thousands.  I worked in antispam for 13 years, and it’s still pretty hit-or-miss at the individual mailbox level.

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    @Spanky: When I click PayPal at the link in the sidebar, I am prompted to enter the dollar amount.  Right below that, there is a checkbox to make it monthly.

    Check the box to make it monthly or leave it unchecked (that’s the default) and it’s a one-time payment.

    edit: see my comment around #113 for an image of what I see.

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    @planetjanet: I’m sure that’s frustrating!  This is what I see when I click the link in the sidebar:

    Semi-Annual Site Fundraiser

    Donate with PayPal is white text on blue background. Donate with a Debit or Credit card is just below that, blue text on a white background.  Is that what you see when you click the link?

  114. 114.

    frosty

    I’m in for $100. Just want to say thanks like everyone else has. The blog, the front pagers, the pets, the garden chats, OTR pics and everything have been a lifesaver… and also the valued commenters, of course.

  116. 116.

    J R in WV

    @Aleta:

    so-called equal opportunity requirements,

    What an equal opportunity piece of excrement the Koch bastard is.

    Made the vast majority of their fortune from building an oil and gas infrastructure for Stalin — what a patriotic family~!!!~

    Despicable lovers of tyranny! Should have their assets confiscated for treason!

    Am in to contribute later this evening, dinner about to come out of the oven! By the way, PayPal told me I couldn’t do a monthly donation without “joining” PayPal, which I am not inclined to do.

  117. 117.

    WaterGirl

    @J R in WV:

    By the way, PayPal told me I couldn’t do a monthly donation without “joining” PayPal, which I am not inclined to do.

    Do you do Venmo?  I think that can be set up for recurring.  I HATE PayPal but i love Venmo, if that helps.

  118. 118.

    Anotherlurker

    In for $5.00/month.  Not much but I’m a semi-retired sports broadcast tech who has no idea if his industry will keep him semi-employed because of COVID.

    However, BJ is a treasure of insane sanity and I will kick in to keep it going.

  119. 119.

    glc

    @WaterGirl:

    Repeating since there still seems to be some confusion in the comments –

    There are two paypal links in the post; one of them is bad.

    The one embedded in the text goes to an expired session.

    The one associated with the donate graphic in the post works.

  125. 125.

    Joy in FL

    I sent a bit by Paypal. I also make a tiny monthly donation. I really appreciate everything about this place.

  128. 128.

    planetjanet

    @WaterGirl: Yes, I saw that the first couple of times. After I refreshed, it went to the main Paypal site and I never saw that again.  It’s okay for me now, I mailed John a check.  But thought you might want to know.

  129. 129.

    marcopolo

    I just donated. Where’s the damned thermometer! How can I experience the full happiness experience of giving without a damned thermometer?

    Anyways, thank you John for hosting and to everyone else who is giving for giving.

  133. 133.

    J R in WV

    @Ken:

    Call me paranoid (or maybe just over-sensitized by all the IT security training at the office), but an option to pay by credit card that only shows up some of the time could be a hack.

    I will call you paranoid. PayPal is just trying to maximize people “joining” their payment club. I’m not willing to do that, and will continue to use the credit card option to donate to Cole’s project.

    Like many commenters, I would have lost what feeble mind I have left without this site and my fellow Jackals. Have contributed before, will contribute again, for as long as it takes.

  134. 134.

    Wolvesvalley

    Done. I give a little bit every month, but just added some extra. This place has been my oasis for years. Thanks to all the people — John, front pagers, and commenters — who make it possible.

  135. 135.

    WaterGirl

    @glc: Got it.  Finally!

    I have deleted the links that John had added as text links.

    The PayPal logo in the post and in the sidebar both work.

    You can now give through:

    PayPay
    Venmo
    Zelle
    Patreon

    Links to Venmo, Zelle and Patreon have been added to the post up top.

  138. 138.

    Ivan X

    @WaterGirl: I think having unimportant places to direct one’s hatred towards (e.g. payment services you don’t like, opposing sports teams, a specific airline, etc.) is key component of a peaceful and just society. We can’t take hate out of the human heart. But we can direct it somewhere that doesn’t particularly matter.

    Oh yeah, and thank you for fixing the links.

  141. 141.

    Marcelo

    Subscribed via Patreon, happy to pay a monthly for this amazing site. I don’t comment ever but I did come out to meet John when he came to Austin once and he was an absolute mensch even though I wasn’t a comment section bigwig. Thanks for being a great meetup host and a great website host!

  142. 142.

    tom

    @WaterGirl: Thanks to you and John for setting up Patreon. I hate (and I mean hate) Paypal, so it’s great to have the alternative.

    I’ve been reading BJ from around the time the Iraq war went to all to hell. I found BJ via (of all people) Andrew Sullivan. John’s journey from conservative to flaming liberal parallels mine. This has been an island of sanity amidst the shitshow that surrounds us.

    I’m happy to set up a monthly donation.

  145. 145.

    laura

    Chucked some coins in the cup. this is a nice place to spend time. So many top commenters and scamps. So many plants and pets and places. So missing those who’ve gone – passed on or pissed off. Group {{{HUG}}}.

  146. 146.

    WhatsMyNym

    @J R in WV:

    PayPal is just trying to maximize people “joining” their payment club.

    If you mean PayPal Credit (was BillMeLater), that’s now Synchrony Financial; which is also the largest provider of private label credit cards in the U.S. Easy to pay from most banks using their Bill Pay systems.

  147. 147.

    Kristine

    @WaterGirl: I found this site very helpful over these last few years. These last few weeks. Days. Very much appreciate all the discussions. An island of sanity with occasional AHHHHHHH.

  148. 148.

    Poe Larity

    Cole needs to think bigger. Digital Media Channel, subscriptions, animal channel, recipe channel, livestream DougJ trolls CSPAN, product endorsements.

    I was thinking BJ Flavor-Bleach – the perfect gift for your holiday gatherings with Uncle Bob and his family.

  149. 149.

    randal m sexton

    Random internet padron guy here, did that via venmo.  Did not know your last 4 digits or whatnot, so who knows.

  151. 151.

    WaterGirl

    @randal m sexton:  I explained somewhere in the comments, but didn’t include that up top. Sorry.

    Assuming that what you see is a picture of Lily that’s all you need to be sure you are in the right place and sending your money to the right place.

    Click the “I don’t know the phone number button” and then click to send the money anyway.

    If you saw an adorable photo of Lily, you are good

    edit: I added that up top so the next person doesn’t have to wonder, thanks.

  156. 156.

    Trapped Lurker

    Thank you, John, for giving us this interesting, smart, often funny & occasionally hot place to hang out, learn amazing things, and keep sane in a crazy time. Been lurking since the 2000 election (I think). Love the front pagers, love the regular commenters, and grateful for the help & suggestions when I emerged from lurkdom to get courage to adopt my cat, Henry Adams, who is doing great, BTW. Chipped in $50 via Venmo, which worked fine.

  157. 157.

    Suzanne

    Done.
    Maybe I’ll make a second payment and then you can get some mustard.

    ETA: Via Venmo. Seemed to work fine.

  159. 159.

    Sandia Blanca

    @Marcelo: Are you me? I also just signed up on Patreon, and came out to visit John when he came to Austin. Great minds think alike, I guess.

  160. 160.

    J R in WV

    Ya’ll are crazy, and I lurve ya’ll.

    Hilarious some nights. I’m often browsing here at 4 am, and appreciate that people in other time zones are sometimes active then.

    Or not, there’s always something to read or look at.

  162. 162.

    smike

    I’m off to take a nap. Just got back from four hours at the hospital for mom’s colonoscopy. Everything was fine, before you ask.

    Wow, man! That’s great! Would you do that colonoscopy thing for me, too?

  165. 165.

    OR Soder

    I’m in via Patreon. I cancelled another monthly donation in favor of this one. I rarely use the other site and read this one every day so it only seems fair.

    Once GA elections are over, I’ll have more money and can increase the monthly amount if you need it.

  166. 166.

    2liberal

    I do Patreon for Lawyers Guns and Money blog and Wikipedia already. I’m planning on starting a contribution in the summer. I just contributed $50 on paypal.

    watergirl: i’ve never really sent John an email , in all caps or otherwise. It’s just a reference to one of the site’s traditions. //// at the end was intended to be a snark indicating tag

  168. 168.

    Sebastian

    @Aleta:

    Fuck those fuckers. I had an epiphany today after thinking about indicting all the assholes.

    Hear me out:

    Every law broken by this admin and anyone in their orbit gets indicted.

    Gazillion indictments overload courts. Repubs scream they are being politically persecuted, right to speedy trial, yadda yadda

    Dems agree and expand all courts (not SCOTUS). We have to triple or quadruple number of judges.

    We need more appellate and circuit courts. Double or triple them.

    And now we need more SCOTUS judges to cover all those new circuits. Like 25 or more.

  169. 169.

    Fair Economist

    Stuck on a monthly via Patreon. Thanks again to you, Cole, and all the other frontpagers and technical supporters for making such a great place!

  171. 171.

    Mousebumples

    In for some shekels. This place has been a godsend over the last 4 years.

    For the Georgia runoffs, I’m planning to post this in the am thread, but here this is now, too:

    Tony The Democrat (@DemocratWit) tweeted at 9:22 PM on Fri, Nov 13, 2020:

    Write #PostcardsToVoters for the Georgia Runoffs!

    GA Dems have a second chance to use the superpower of their vote to make a difference. Encourage them to enroll in Absentee Vote by Mail.

    Help Dems @ossoff, @ReverendWarnock, and @BlackmanDNA win!

    Text JOIN to (484) 275-2229 https://t.co/Z2HwsPujin

    (https://twitter.com/DemocratWit/status/1327451763406999552?s=03)

    I’m planning to get a bunch done this weekend. Let’s do this!

  172. 172.

    Suburban Mom

    I’m in.  Thanks for adding Venmo and the other options, and thanks to you all for being here.

  174. 174.

    zhena gogolia

    As instructed above, I sent John an e-mail asking for the address, but I haven’t heard back. Is there any way to send a check?

  177. 177.

    Elizabelle

    In for a smallish recurring donation.

    It is a pleasure to support Balloon Juice.  It is also a pleasure to remember that I am NOT sending any money to Andrew Sullivan, who has gone hysterical again — on a few too many issues, although I will always, always appreciate Sully’s highlighting some of John’s blogposts during W’s term, which brought me over here.

  178. 178.

    Hildebrand

    I’ve put in a small monthly donation. Glad to give to one of the best communities on the interwebs. If more of our media acted like Balloon-Juice our society would be in a better place. That is not hyperbole, this is (unfortunately) a pretty unique place – informative, caring, folks actually listen to one another, (even when disagreeing strenuously), the moderators don’t put up with any crap, and people around here understand that politics is a tool to try to do some good.

  183. 183.

    WaterGirl

    Are you guys all aware that if you click on the Amazon link – and then order your stuff from Amazon – John gets a tiny cut of the money you spend.

    I order from Amazon all the time and never do it through the BJ link, which is really dumb.  I plan to do better, and maybe some of you can join me in that.

  184. 184.

    Bonnie McDaniel

    I don’t comment hardly at all, but thank you for setting up a Patreon. I’m already supporting several different people there, and I was glad to add Balloon Juice.

Comments are closed.