Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

So many bastards, so little time.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

This fight is for everything.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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Reader Interactions

96Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    Sorry guys, I got my computer back from repair, and I have kind of had it in quarantine so I didn’t notice that there hasn’t been a new post since the stone age.

  4. 4.

    mvr

    Listened twice now to a (new to me – 2019) CD by the Paranoid Style – A goddamn Impossible Way of Life – and it is quite good. Woman who writes the songs writes about music and quotes what she writes on twitter and what she writes is pretty good so one thing led to another and I ordered the album.  Lots of influences as you would expect from someone who writes about music. Good influences from Neil Young to punk.

  13. 13.

    Mary G

    “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in his last role, premiered on Netflix today and I am off to watch it.

    The Black people I follow on Twitter are gaga over it, WaPo gave it a good review, and it’s number one on this list:

    Like everyone else, we were stuck inside a lot this year, and with streaming further blurring the lines between theatrical movies and television features, I’ve expanded the list to include visual storytelling that I’ve enjoyed this year, regardless of format. pic.twitter.com/a8BS8jDkSs
    — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 18, 2020

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    @WaterGirl:

    Since you’re here: what font and point size does Balloon Juice use? I have started composing my Covid-19 daily comments on LibreOffice; but when I cut&paste them over here, they show up in the default Libre Serif font at 12 point size, which clashes with everything else on the page..

  15. 15.

    Mary G

    Barack’s best books of the year:

    As 2020 comes to a close, I wanted to share my annual lists of favorites. I’ll start by sharing my favorite books this year, deliberately omitting what I think is a pretty good book – A Promised Land – by a certain 44th president. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did. pic.twitter.com/UHk4RA9dow
    — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 17, 2020

  16. 16.

    mvr

    @billcinsd:

    That sounds good. Not going to play it now because I’m listening to Keith Richards at the Palladium from 1988 in the background. But it sounds like something I would like.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    They show in the same font and size as everything else here for me. Curious why you didn’t opt for Notepad or Wordpad (both already included with Windows) for quotidian text composition.

    (I really, really miss Metapad – Notepad on steroids – which has never been updated to work with Win10.)

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    No need to use OneNote. Notepad and Wordpad are resident on the computer and can be used without any kind of account.

    Just now opened each of them on this PC to double check that remains the case.

  27. 27.

    StringOnAStick

    I am thrilled to report that the sale of our prior home closed today, so the stress of being on the hook for two houses during rapidly worsening Covid numbers and an ongoing attempted coup by Papaya Pinochet has finally ended.  After the first buyers bagged out when they couldn’t find any issues to try to knock down the price and left us putting it back in the market during all this and the less popular winter months; to say we were jumpy until it was over is an understatement.  Those first contracted buyers were described by their 20 year veteran real estate agent as “the most unreasonable clients I’ve ever had”, so that’s saying something.

    After breaking the contract they came back 3 weeks later and wanted to submit another offer but we turned it down because these two were the definition of “bad faith actors” and a lower but reliable offer came in and we accepted.  After looking around and finding nothing that compared favorably, they came back again yesterday to see if it was still for sale; no, no it’s not.  Our former neighbours dodged a bullet, the young couple who bought it have friends just a block away and have wanted a house on that street for over two years.  I’m glad we sold to the nice, reasonable young couple instead of the obnoxious, demanding one.  

    Mainly we’re glad that’s over with.  I never mentioned my worries about the deal falling through again because I was afraid I’d jinx it, and I am not a superstitious person.

    We love where we moved to though the house needs paint on every single surface inside (almost done) and out (next year, plus a roof and major landscaping rehab; yes, we’ve been busy and will be for a long time).  We kept 99% of our stuff in storage in order to do all this interior work, and just got it delivered Monday afternoon, so, still very busy.  The kitchen is sorted now though and that’s huge.  The amount of cleaning was insane as was all the pre painting prep but all the newly painted walls, trim, doors and ceilings look great.  Flooring will be completely done by end of day Monday and then we can move into the living room with something other than the collapse -able backpacking chairs we brought with us in the cars 7 weeks ago.

    Cool last story: I found an 1880’s Victorian loveseat at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore that was in quite good shape but could use to have new fabric.  It is now the Victorian cat bed; our two cats love it.  It’s too delicate for much daily human use so it will decorate my office, and the cats will decorate it.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    @Amir Khalid:

    Apparently I do have Notepad and Wordpad, but I still mistrust the Behemoth of Redmond. (he said, to cover up his failing to remember those apps.)

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Will add that Notepad is one of the Things Microsoft Got Right from day one. It’s used multiple times daily at this humble abode.

  31. 31.

    Czar Chasm

    Spotify has lately been a very poor curator of suggested music, so I’ve been devouring a horror podcast, Maeltopia: Multiple storylines all set in a world where a planetary amnesia occurred for the entirety of 1999, after which, all manners of horror and the supernatural became part of America’s landscape.

    When I’m not listening to that, “Night Shift” by Lucy Dacus is on heavy rotation.

  32. 32.

    JanieM

    @StringOnAStick: Great stories. Glad you finally got a good buyer and got past the uncertainties of having the house on the market. And congrats on getting your stuff in time for the holidays!

  35. 35.

    Steeplejack

    @Amir Khalid:

    I think you’re better off trying to figure out how to copy “text only” from LibreOffice, without the formatting. I just Googled it and got a bunch of stuff. Seems to be related to which version of LibreOffice you’re using and some settings therein.

    Maybe check out this video. The description says that it covers it.

  37. 37.

    Splitting Image

    @Amir Khalid: 

    You might consider Notepad++, a useful program for editing plain text. It’s popular for editing code and I’ve found it very helpful whenever I needed to copy and paste text from one program or OS to another without any hidden formatting.

  38. 38.

    patroclus

    The HBO documentary on the Bee Gees is really well done and I highly recommend it.  It covers their early 60’s guitar pop period (first in Australia and then in the U.K.), their ballads, their first break-up, their first decline, their comeback after they moved to Miami, their switch in styles to R&B and funk, their Disco period and Saturday Night Fever (of course), their brother Andy and some of his cocaine travails and is particularly good on the anti-Disco backlash (which, then and especially now, was a racist and homophobic movement that should be remembered poorly).  It also covers their later comeback; writing songs for Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.  Sadly, I went through a “hating the Bee Gees” period (that lasted 39-40 years or so), but with this documentary, I am now over it, and recognize them as the fantastic songwriters they were/are.

  39. 39.

    StringOnAStick

    @JanieM:  6.5 weeks on backpacking pads was ok, but having a bed again is nice.  A couple of neighbours brought over cookies when we first moved in, and another cookie gift tonight as they were going to each house in the loop.  Their comment was “we saw the moving van so we figured you decided to stay”; there’s  quite the sociable group of people here.  We’ve met more neighbours in the last 7 weeks than we’ve ever met anywhere, including 16 years at our old house.

    @Jay: Thanks.  We plan on this being our last move, ever.

  42. 42.

    Splitting Image

    Since this is a music thread, I should mention that I’m listening to the Felt album The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories and the song which came on just now is called Dismantled King is Off the Throne.

    Seems appropriate for the season. I should play it again next month.

  44. 44.

    Peale

    @Amir Khalid: Quotidians are going to be the future 7th branch of the military. Sounds like a grand Roman special forces unit, but really its just the guys who don’t do much but mow the lawn and mock the uniforms of the Space Guardians.

  45. 45.

    Steeplejack

    @Amir Khalid:

    This somewhat cryptic page points to what I think is a better solution: save your LibreOffice document in text-only format (*.txt), with no formatting. You can keep a scratch document for Balloon Juice posting, and when you copy from it (I surmise) there will be no formatting attached, and when you insert it into a Balloon Juice comment it should agree with BJ formatting.

    I compose many of my longer comments in Microsoft Word and copy them over to BJ.

    One other thing that I just thought of: set the BJ comment box to “Text” mode and then copy your comment in. That alone might remove all of the formatting. I always use text mode when copying from Word, but that’s because I put in HTML link and format codes manually in Word. Okay, TMI.

  48. 48.

    piratedan

    whoops, was a music thread, not a respite thread…. edited respitey information…

    ty for the janglepop reference earlier, that brought to mind thoughts of Marshall Crenshaw and Fountains of Wayne and Toad The Wet Sprocket….

    must be time to burn another homemade CD…

  50. 50.

    Punchy

    Can anyone essplane WTF happ’d ‘tween Johnson and Hawley today?  I woke up thinking the deal was for $600/per, then somehow…..that became $1200/per, then all of it bounced was by Johnson?  Or just the extra $600?  Donut undystan.

  53. 53.

    mvr

    @piratedan: Had a Marshall Crenshaw period and a shorter Fountains of Wayne period but I was older by then.  Unfortunately learning about something earlier musicwise made it stickier over time playlistwise.

  55. 55.

    Peale

    Today I learned a few things. That chayote is hard to find in Thailand. That McDonalds is offering a Spam and Oreo sandwich in China, which can’t possibly be a thing. I mean, even this world where I’ve grown up and no longer look at variety of food other people eat around the world as “weird”, that can’t fit any cultural flavor profile and must be some kind of misunderstanding or something McD is serving because they hate their customers.  And that there really isn’t any good explanation as why there haven’t been many new Christmas standards written since the 1950s. There are some, sure, but most of the soundtrack to the season was laid down in a ten year period.

  61. 61.

    Craig

    Oranssi Pazuzu has a new record, and a live video out. I still kind of prefer this one, but probably just because it’s the first thing of theirs I’d heard. Like if Meddle was conceived by a trippy Finnish metal band.

    youtu.be/z4brqp2Y0Fc

  62. 62.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: (I really, really miss Metapad – Notepad on steroids – which has never been updated to work with Win10.)

    Do you know about Notepad++?

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    @Jay

    Piker. Moved here 37 years ago and there’s still a handful of boxes which haven’t been touched since arriving. Two of them doing double duty (under furniture throws) as bases supporting table tops for bedside nightstands.

  67. 67.

    Redshift

    @NotMax:

    Will add that Notepad is one of the Things Microsoft Got Right from day one. It’s used multiple times daily at this humble abode. 

    Heh, well, sort of. I still remember when Windows went from 16-bit to 32-bit, for a year or two, Notepad was the only tool that was still 16-bit, apparently because it had been written by a summer intern or something, and nobody entirely understood the code. At least that’s the story I read. ?

  69. 69.

    StringOnAStick

    @The Fat White Duchess: I’m a lean, mean painting machine these days and I’m damned good with a cut line brush!  My lines are sharp and straight but a few more years of growing farsighted will take care of that.

    Funny, when we bought out last house I had to do the same thing.  That was from a graduate student couple unclear on what a vacuum cleaner was; this was from a quite elderly woman who hadn’t been able to keep up with things as they happened for a number of years.  She chose our offer because of what I said about my passion for landscaping for birds and using native and pollinator plants.

  70. 70.

    Winston

    Same music I always listen to. But I’ve watched some New series and streaming flicks this and the last couple of weeks.

    Finished up the Star Wars “Clone Wars” (7 seasons animated). Fills in some gaps before the “Revenge of the Sith” and adds some characters that now appear in the Mandalorian, which had the season finale today. Yes,

    the pesky kid was rescued, ultimately by Luke Skywalker. ! All on Disney+.

    Watched a new series on Netflix about the 1996 bombing at the Olympic park in Atlanta, which I had thankfully totally forgotten about. Finished season 2 of Virgin River on Netflix, which for some reason I love, although it’s not my usual type.

    Watched Battle Los Angeles again.

    Watched the first three episodes of The Expanse, season five, of 10 episodes on Amazon Prime, the remainder of which will be air weekly. My favorite series currently.

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    @mrmoshpotato

    Yeah, am aware it. Not as versatile as the old Metapad. But as my needs have changed post-retirement, plain old vanilla Notepad is more than adequate. Normally have 3 or 4 Notepad windows biding their time on the taskbar on any given day.

  78. 78.

    Redshift

    @NotMax: I had a friend say once after moving “I won’t feel like I’m really moved in until all the boxes are unpacked.” I guess I’ve never “really” moved into anywhere, then.

    And when I was helping clean out my in-laws’ house, we found a box of papers and stuff dating back to the fifties, that had clearly been moved between houses and apartments at least five times, including once across the country, without ever being opened.

  79. 79.

    Jay

    @StringOnAStick:

    I have a bunch of cutline brushes in various sizes, all with the handles cut down, so that you grip the body of the brush with the handle just extending far enough for a good fit.

    I found that it really cut down on hand cramps and resulted in a cleaner line.

    Frogtape is excellent as well.

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    @Redshift

    One lesson ruefully learned was to never again move to an apartment in the same building but on a different floor.

    Mindset was “why bother packing boxes and then having to unpack when we can just carry stuff in multiple trips over x number of days?” Bad idea. Non-elevator building, too.

    ;)

  82. 82.

    JAFD

    @NotMax: Meself, want to get real office desk for my place, put old desktop PC on it, and fire up XP and run PCWrite again. For getting thoughts in brain to words on screen, nothing to match it.

  84. 84.

    Amir Khalid

    These past few days, I find myself listening to songs about bereavement, like Tears in Heaven or Bruce’s You’re Missing. One of these days, I’ll be able to get through them without tears. Not too long after that, maybe I can think about filling that big Bianca-shaped hole in me.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    @prostratedragon

    There’s an upper tier which allows for streaming on multiple platforms/devices simultaneously and also delivers more content in 4k. No difference in titles available or quality of service with the lower priced basic tier.

  92. 92.

    WaterGirl

    @Amir Khalid: Good morning, Amir.  I put up this thread and went to bed.  :-)

    I will have to look up the font and font size, but…

    If you choose “paste and match style” or whatever your software calls that, it won’t bring your font and font size with it.  However, if you have bolded or done text formatting, it won’t bring the either.

    Let me know if that resolves your problem.  If not, I can look up the font, etc.

  95. 95.

    billcinsd

    @lgerard: I did not. Thank you very much. As befits a blog called Wilfully Obscure, I had only heard of two of the bands (The Libertines (US), and The Reivers) and would have chosen different songs from both bands. The Reivers were not that obscure as they had a write-up in Rolling Stone and were on The Cutting Edge video show

    youtube.com/watch?v=zC45D9-bt_s&t=1s

  96. 96.

    lgerard

    @billcinsd: 

    I would probably agree with you on that
    The Reivers are not unknown to the readers of WO however. if you search the site you will find demo versions of Saturday and End of the Day, as well as a live recording.

    If the links are not live just leave a request in the comments and he will reup them in the future

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