• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

When I was faster i was always behind.

This blog will pay for itself.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

People are complicated. Love is not.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

White supremacy is terrorism.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Political Action / Take Your Inspiration Where You Can Get It

Take Your Inspiration Where You Can Get It

by WaterGirl|  June 22, 20214:26 pm| 109 Comments

This post is in: Political Action, Disinformation is a motherfucker

FacebookTweetEmail

Liberal Redneck – Kyrsten Sinema and the Filibuster pic.twitter.com/K3S4zLIgBY

— Trae Crowder (@traecrowder) June 22, 2021

h/t Quiltingfool

Trae Crowder speaks for me today.  I’m much more of a “Yes We Can” girl than “No We Can’t.”

Republicans are afraid of our power, so they’re doing everything they can to silence our voices & deny our freedom to vote.

We need our U.S. Senators to do everything in their power to protect the right to vote. Senators, we are counting on you to support the #ForThePeopleAct. pic.twitter.com/NtO1AqGl0f

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) June 22, 2021

Where do you find the inspiration to keep going in the face of setbacks, in the face of messaging that’s filled with doom?

 

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « It’s Somebody’s Birthday Today!
Next Post: Step 1 Completed In Chuck Schumer’s Strategy »

Reader Interactions

109Comments

  1. 1.

    Ruckus

    June 22, 2021 at 4:37 pm

    You find it within.

    It all comes from within or you stole it.

    Either way, as long as we protect and improve, like move into the 20th century (no I’m not kidding, I don’t care if that’s over 20 yrs ago), voting now should at least be in the 20th, that will make it possible for us to bring it into the 21century, no matter that those who want to live in the 18th century think that it still is.

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2021 at 4:40 pm

    “Make those motherfuckers claw it back in broad daylight” — exactly. Also, the terrible Republican laws the filibuster-philes imagine passing at some future date are already being passed in red states! Right now! They will govern upcoming elections in real life unless someone stops this bullshit! Arrgh!

  3. 3.

    eclare

    June 22, 2021 at 4:41 pm

    The Civil Rights movement. I’m White and privileged. If Black people can fight through horrific treatment for hundreds of years, I can carry on and endure.

  4. 4.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 22, 2021 at 4:44 pm

    Where do you find the inspiration to keep going in the face of setbacks, in the face of messaging that’s filled with doom?

    At this point I mostly acknowledge that I’m not anything resembling powerful, so I just do my part and move on. There will always be another fight!

    Oh also I just ignore all the doomsaying, life is much easier that way.

  5. 5.

    geg6

    June 22, 2021 at 4:47 pm

    @Betty Cracker: ​
     
    All of THIS.

    Also, this stupid bimbo keeps lying about the origins of the filibuster. Flat out lying about it. Fuck her. Someone needs to primary this idiot. WTeverlovingF, Arizona. I know you can do better than this dummy.

  6. 6.

    Mary G

    June 22, 2021 at 4:51 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I was trying to decide which front pager to ask to cover the tweet thread below and/or its associated academic paper, and thought of you or Adam, but I never get the BJ email addresses right, so since you’re here:

    1. We have a new paper out in PNAS today, in which we address the harm wrought by dramatically restructuring human communication of the span of a decade, with no aim other than selling ads. It might be the most important paper of my career.https://t.co/sBWZtr9ZyE— Carl T. Bergstrom (@CT_Bergstrom) June 21, 2021

     

    7. Aside: The paper has been in the works for over two years. A 2019 draft said something along the lines of "Imagine that pandemic hit and people wouldn't follow public health advice because of misinformation spread online. We'd be *really* screwed then."— Carl T. Bergstrom (@CT_Bergstrom) June 21, 2021

  7. 7.

    Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)

    June 22, 2021 at 4:53 pm

    I don’t know why all Democrats don’t realize that what’s going on with voting in the states is an extinction-level event. Democrats are being relegated to permanent minority status with gerrymandered seats, requirements and restrictions overwhelmingly targeting minorities and Democratic areas, and now there’s even the specter of letting state electors overturn the popular vote result.

    We’re still coasting on the relief and joy of overthrowing trump, but the shockwaves resulting from the 2020 state elections hasn’t even been felt yet and will last for at least a decade. It’s like Wile E. Coyote still happily running on air before realizing he went off the end of the cliff.

    But yes, we must preserve the filibuster because the Senate is a genteel place with norms and traditions! Newsflash to Sinema and Manchin: the filibuster is DOA the moment republicans take back the Senate.

  8. 8.

    Sure Lurkalot

    June 22, 2021 at 4:57 pm

    I’m going to try to live up to eclare’s very fine strategy.

    I’m White and privileged. If Black people can fight through horrific treatment for hundreds of years, I can carry on and endure.

    But (always a but) what really pisses me off is limiting “bipartisanship” to the counting of 100 people’s opinions in a country of 330 million people. Now that’s some white and privileged right there.

  9. 9.

    germy

    June 22, 2021 at 4:58 pm

    Val Demings was on The View today.  She was great, as usual. McCain tried to get her to criticize Biden/Harris but she didn’t take the bait.

    I think Rubio should be very worried.

    Asked about attempts to label her a socialist in her Senate race, Rep. @valdemings tells @TheView: “Desperate people do desperate things … I am offended that Marco Rubio would try to use the pain and suffering of people … who fled communism.”

    “I think that is disgraceful.” pic.twitter.com/FMhAdTI9vN

    — The View (@TheView) June 22, 2021

  10. 10.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 22, 2021 at 4:59 pm

    Inspiration?

    First, I am simply stubborn and bloody-minded.  Tell me no.  Fuck you.  Tell me it can’t be done.  Fuck you.  FIDO.

    Second, Mandela: “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair.”

  11. 11.

    eclare

    June 22, 2021 at 5:04 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot:  And that small states like WY and states like CA get the same number of senators.

  12. 12.

    Chris Johnson

    June 22, 2021 at 5:05 pm

    Where do you find the inspiration to keep going in the face of setbacks, in the face of messaging that’s filled with doom?

    I assume it’s fucking Russia again, as it has been for what, decades now?

    We don’t get to play normal political games under the circumstances, so ignore all the messaging as if it was more QAnon messaging (also from Russia in my opinion, though that is my gut talking) and resolve to turn out and brazenly vote wherever possible. It may never get to the point where I have to turn out marching in the streets or fighting/defending against full-on violent domestic terrorists. If it did, I’d do that too. The Republicans are fascists, and there aren’t any good sources for messaging that can’t be corrupted or disabled by enemy action, so some of my choices are not subject to whether the messaging is encouraging me.

    We kicked out Trump, and now he walks around in shabby pants and will probably die a miserable loser by relatively natural causes.

    We also just made Juneteenth a holiday… which is to say WE MADE JUNETEENTH. A whole bunch of years ago. We won then too.

    Fuck the doomsaying. It’s too tied up with enemy action. Stay on target.

  13. 13.

    Woodrow/asim

    June 22, 2021 at 5:06 pm

    @eclare: The Civil Rights movement.

    Thank you.

    There’s literally centuries of background behind what we’re seeing today — including, yes, the blinkered viewpoints; “Lost Cause” -style anti-history isn’t new nor frankly should be a shock, and is part of what needs dismantling…

    …and why the 1619 Project and Critical Race writings/concepts are being turned, by a set of money-backed interests who have decades of experience (see: Liberal-as-boogyword, or the demonizing of the ACLU) in doing that work. We’re not going to fix it overnight, and the thoughts I see in many that we can is what I, personally, fear is ruinous to building a coalition, a movement, for sustained change.

    People like Murdoch and Koch dont’t fund astroturing to stop things. They fund it because they don’t want to allow the natural progression of Democratic, Liberal/Progressive values, to be allowed to find perch in America. Throwing static into every play is one key way to do so, and when we spend energy trying to play defense, we’re not actually doing the lobbying and activist work that’s needed so that we don’t have to worry, so damn much, about a handful of Senators.

    I mean, I remember people cussin’ up a storm about Blue Dogs. But those Blue Dogs, did, eventually, come thru on the ACA, because (for all the coverage of Town Halls, etc.) it was the Progressive side that pushed hard and often for that legislation to be passed. And those Blue Dogs paid for that vote, with their seats, and that helped set us up for the current situation.

    So I try to be careful, and thoughtful, about who I’m cussin’ out, and why. I try to remember that my Ancestors damn near made a way, for me, out of what looked a lot like no way, out of a literal Dystopia, here on American soil.

    And they did it not just with the famed, but with people like Baynard Rustin, the Black Gay ex-Communist Party of America member who basically built out the March on Washington, and according to some helped settle Dr. King towards getting rid of the guns he bought for defense of his family, and trying himself wholesale to Non-Violence. The road to Civil Rights is deep with people we’ll never know the name of, but by being there and presenting Truth to Power, made all the changes possible.

     

    The thought of those folx — folx, honesty, like my own Dad — keep me strong.

  14. 14.

    germy

    June 22, 2021 at 5:09 pm

    Here’s an article on new restrictive voting laws …  and new expansive voting laws:

    https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-may-2021

  15. 15.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 22, 2021 at 5:11 pm

    @Mary G: I saw that, though I haven’t really processed it yet. I’m not sure I have the bandwidth to do a post on it right now. In general though I’m a lot more sanguine on this topic that most people here and even than the younger generation of infosci types. It’s definitely *a* problem but people tend to get really hyperbolic around information-related things.

  16. 16.

    laura

    June 22, 2021 at 5:12 pm

    Ruckus and Lady Cracker hit all the high notes. The late Southern Dragon comes to mind on the daily -Never Give Up. Find your reason to fight – for yourself, your children or grandchildren, your fellow Americans. Once you’ve found your reason, find joy in the fight. Be a happy warrior and that means celebrating victories no matter how minor. Savor the wins. Losses- note them, rest, regroup and redouble the effort to fight.

  17. 17.

    leeleeFL

    June 22, 2021 at 5:13 pm

    I look at who is living, full of piss, vinegar and grace, in our White House!  Every time I feel my stomach drop thinking about all that we can, and might, lose, I think of Joe and remember that in spite of all the efforts to not nominate him, or elect him, THERE HE IS, calm,competent, sharper than Trump on his best day, and I am calmer immediately.

    We put a good man in the right place, I believe we will survive this crap fest, and build back better, to coin a phrase.

  18. 18.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2021 at 5:13 pm

    @Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):

    I don’t think that folks don’t understand this.

    sinema and her ridiculous self pretending otherwise ?

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    June 22, 2021 at 5:15 pm

    @Ruckus:You find it within.

     

    @Betty Cracker:“Make those motherfuckers claw it back in broad daylight” — exactly.

     

    @eclare:The Civil Rights movement. I’m White and privileged. If Black people can fight through horrific treatment for hundreds of years, I can carry on and endure.

     

    All.  Of.  This.

    I refuse to go quietly and just hand over our country to such a moronic bunch of greedy, malicious, shit-stains who DON’T represent anywhere close to a majority of our citizens.

  20. 20.

    planetjanet

    June 22, 2021 at 5:15 pm

    Repeating from an earlier thread, Fair Fight will connect you to your Senator’s offices if you dial 888-453-3211. I called Senators Warner and Kaine. The staffer for Warner was very friendly. Let them know we are here and we are watching. I let them both know I have been a long time supporter and trust them to fight for this, but I wanted them to hear my voice.

    We don’t just fight when we know we will win. I am going to fight.

  21. 21.

    Jackie

    June 22, 2021 at 5:15 pm

    I’m an optimist and always try to live “Yes, we can!” My Dad always said to try and find the good in people – although he said most republicans were the exception lol.
    I fought all the neigh sayers who said the Democrats couldn’t take Georgia. Had I believed them, my wallet would be fatter! I like to think I helped Warnock and Ossoff win and Trump lose.

  22. 22.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    June 22, 2021 at 5:17 pm

    OT – We met my RWNJ mom and my manipulated dad at a restaurant Sunday. He looked terrible – frail, out of sorts, losing muscle mass. He’s a small man anyway, and had lost a lot of weight (he’s 82, and can’t afford to lose much).

    Anyway, wife and I had a long convo about his condition and how worried we both were, so I called Mom yesterday and chewed her out for about 45 minutes. Turns out that the metformin (a diabetic med) that she was convinced was making him sick a year ago had never been stopped. He’s gone from 176 at the start of the treatment to 145. I told her in no uncertain terms that if he loses another 5 to 10 pounds he’ll be in a nursing home. He’s got near constant diarrhea (worries about being out of the house because of control) reflux and nausea as well. I  encouraged engaging a gerontologist  and firing the internist because the polypharmacy isn’t going well – they’re simply addressing chart test numbers and no actual symptoms of true disease degradation. Reminded her that I told her to ditch that med last year, and that he could probably lose the cholesterol meds as well. I told her I’d be happy to participate in a call with her and the doc today, and that I wouldn’t be pulling punches with the moron.

    To her credit, I shamed her so much on her doctor worship and stethoscope licking that she did reach out – the idiot doc was actually surprised that he didn’t know about these things despite multiple visits, but that he should absolutely cease taking the med.

    I’m super pissed about this. First at her, then at the doc. Dad has lost so much strength and muscle mass that I don’t know if it can rebuild. He’s depressed and embarrassed as well, and it only happened because of her worshipful and sainted “relationship with their doctors”, who parachute in for 3-5 minutes of an appointment that takes place over the course of an hour and costs the public till thousands.

  23. 23.

    Ruckus

    June 22, 2021 at 5:18 pm

    @eclare:

    Were I to have my druthers, the senate would cease to exist, the house would be much larger and it’s growth would not be stopped so as to stop actual representation. Each representative would have approximately the same and there would be enough reps that the smallest state by population would get 2.  The senate is a device to slow or stop actual democracy and the way bitch mcconnell ran it was proof. The fact that this jackass is worth 34 million after spending 35 yrs in the senate, which doesn’t pay anywhere near that amount should tell you all you need to know about him, especially in a state that the average income is $50K and that is rated 45 in the US by state.

  24. 24.

    Geminid

    June 22, 2021 at 5:18 pm

    @germy: I like that “Desperate people do desperate things.” Conjures up a sweaty Rubio. Demings will need to attack Rubio head on, and it seems she knows it.

    I hope we can get candidates nearly as good as Val Demings in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

  25. 25.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2021 at 5:19 pm

    @germy: Great way to turn the idiotic “socialist” charge right back on the craven empty suit who makes it, and I hope Demings’ attitude has Lil’ Marco quaking in his lil’ boots. I bet there’s a whole lot more where that came from too. 

  26. 26.

    TomatoQueen

    June 22, 2021 at 5:23 pm

    Two songs: https://youtu.be/lHukQPyohB8 and https://youtu.be/7-qQsW6pdVM

  27. 27.

    eclare

    June 22, 2021 at 5:24 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:  I hope your dad can regain his strength.  You are right to be concerned, I know from experience.  Best of luck.

  28. 28.

    Mary G

    June 22, 2021 at 5:27 pm

    ? Sen. Murkowski and VP Harris are meeting in Harris’ Senate office, a White House official confirms. It was not a scheduled meeting.— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) June 22, 2021

    Murkowski, coming out of the meeting, is asked if she and Harris discussed voting rights legislation: “I will look you in the eyeball and tell you we didn’t talk about it.” https://t.co/aNqtr5Nsui— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) June 22, 2021

    What up? Who knows?

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2021 at 5:28 pm

    @geg6: She comes across as a self-absorbed flake. You’d think the state could do better — hell, they did do better with Mark Kelly, and I’m sorry he’s up for reelection first since he would be the greater loss should we lose an AZ US senator.

    In an earlier thread, Suzanne (who lived in AZ and knows the state) said Sinema is playing a game that works in that state, so maybe we’re stuck with her. We definitely are over the next several years, so the best strategy is to make her irrelevant, I guess. Pfft.

  30. 30.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    June 22, 2021 at 5:36 pm

    @eclare:

    Thank you. At 82, treatment should be about quality of life and not numbers on a chart that may or may not indicate some future problem that would take years to manifest, if at all.

    He apparently told her today “Why would I want to live to 95 if I feel like this? I’d take 90 instead if I could feel good.”

  31. 31.

    MomSense

    June 22, 2021 at 5:36 pm

    I think I’m just really stubborn and I can’t stand the idea of giving up.

  32. 32.

    VeniceRiley

    June 22, 2021 at 5:38 pm

    Earth needs every one of us to do our best.

  33. 33.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 22, 2021 at 5:39 pm

    @MomSense: I already used that one.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    June 22, 2021 at 5:42 pm

    Here are my thoughts on giving up.

  35. 35.

    Mary G

    June 22, 2021 at 5:42 pm

    NEWS: Senator Murkowski is co-sponsoring the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the first Republican to do so.— United for the People (@people4kam) June 22, 202

    Right after denying she talked to Kamala about it. The biggest mistake Republicans made was letting her get primaried. She holds a grudge and sticks it to them every year or two.

  36. 36.

    CCL

    June 22, 2021 at 5:42 pm

    Not being flip.  I take my inspiration where I can get it.

    “Never give up, never surrender.”

    Also:

    “By Grabthar’s Hammer, by the Sons Of Warvan, you shall be avenged.”

  37. 37.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 22, 2021 at 5:45 pm

    Guess who (from the ’03 Dem primary season)

    “He’s a shame to Democrats,” she told a reporter from the Hartford Courant at the time. “I don’t even know why he’s running. He seems to want to get Republicans voting for him—what kind of strategy is that?” Lieberman, she added, was “pathetic.”

    and from 2010, post-Scott Brown

    At a town hall that year… after the party lost a Senate special election in Massachusetts, she tried to spin the loss of the Democrats’ filibuster-proof supermajority as a positive, in that it would eliminate the need to keep Lieberman on board. They could just come up with a process that netted them 50 votes.

    “So what does that mean? Well, in the Senate, we no longer have 60 votes. Some would argue we never had 60, because one of those was Joseph Lieberman,” [she] said, making a look of disgust, for comic effect. “But that’s—whatever. Yeah, and [Ben] Nelson too, but really”—she lowered her voice and shook her fist—“Lieberman.”

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    June 22, 2021 at 5:48 pm

    @Mary G:

    Waiting interminably in the AT&T store today, I overheard a woman saying that it was proven that masks did no good, and that it was child abuse to make children wear masks. Some mother had their children’s masks analyzed at the end of the school day, and they found “pneumonia and tuberculosis on them.” My husband had to physically restrain me.

  39. 39.

    eclare

    June 22, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    @Baud:  You got me!

  40. 40.

    Baud

    June 22, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Lieberman was pathetic, but losing to a Republican is never a thing to celebrate.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    June 22, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I have no idea. Who?

  42. 42.

    Baud

    June 22, 2021 at 5:50 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I wish he hadn’t.

    ETA: BJ could have had a bail fundraiser with the thermometer and everything!

  43. 43.

    Geminid

    June 22, 2021 at 5:50 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Arizona is an interesting state politically. It’s been pretty red historically, but it has been turning purple these last few years. I once posited that it might be like my state of Virginia was ten years ago, purple on it’s way to blue. But the canny Suzanne set me straight about the differences, and I believed her.

    But, Arizona has at least one good Democratic Senator, and job one for Arizona Democrats is reelecting Mark Kelly in 2022. Sinema is a 2024 problem. She has gone out on the filibuster limb, and I don’t think she will climb down. Maybe Congressman Gregg Stanton (AZ-9) and Arizona Democrats will saw the limb off in a 2024 primary.

    In the meantime, we can do our best to pick up seats next year in FL, PA, WI, OH, and WI, and to hold GA, AZ, and NH. The outcome of those contests could do a lot to make Sinema irrelevant.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2021 at 5:51 pm

     

    A national ID that could be accepted by every polling place, and would be free, so no Poll Tax.
    Hmmm…why ever would they vote against that??

    Jennifer ‘pro-voting’ Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) tweeted at 1:46 PM on Tue, Jun 22, 2021:
    Biggest part: Rs now voting down national voter ID.
    (https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1407409581203017734?s=03)

  45. 45.

    zhena gogolia

    June 22, 2021 at 5:52 pm

    @eclare:

    The Civil Rights movement. I’m White and privileged. If Black people can fight through horrific treatment for hundreds of years, I can carry on and endure.

    Same.

  46. 46.

    Cameron

    June 22, 2021 at 5:54 pm

    Now, if y’all need some negative inspiration (disparation?  desperation? lessparation?):

    https://digbysblog.net/2021/06/kyrsten-the-dim/

  47. 47.

    zhena gogolia

    June 22, 2021 at 5:55 pm

    @Baud:

    Oh, boy!

  48. 48.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 22, 2021 at 5:56 pm

    The cloture vote is underway in the Senate right now. MSNBC carrying it, but not CNN. MVP presiding.

  49. 49.

    raven

    June 22, 2021 at 5:57 pm

    @laura:  HIs birthday still pops up on my FB.

  50. 50.

    raven

    June 22, 2021 at 6:02 pm

    My beautiful bride just gave me a smooch and then patted my right on my incision!!!! Yooowwww!!

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    June 22, 2021 at 6:03 pm

    Where do you find the inspiration to keep going in the face of setbacks, in the face of messaging that’s filled with doom?

    I don’t much care about messaging, especially supposed negative messaging. And I reject the notion which pops up time and again that being exposed to any negative thoughts will inevitably drag us all down into a slough of despair.

    But I guess I am a hard headed optimist.When presented with a problem, my first question is “what is to be done?”

    I think I see a lot of this attitude in my family and my family’s friends. I guess I just grew up around it.

    I am inspired by positive words and even more by positive actions. Obama’s election and later that of Biden filled me with hope. And with Biden, it was not just that a good man beat a foul one, but also just knowing that so many millions of people got out and voted as if it mattered. Because it does.

    And I love protest songs of all kinds, the ones from my own youth, from Dylan on and those from earlier eras. And I love songs that tell it like it is. During the Era of the Great Orange Beast, I would at times have to pull out Les McCann’s mighty, angry challenge, Compared to What?

     

    I love the lie and lie the love

    A-Hangin’ on, with push and shove

    Possession is the motivation

    that is hangin’ up the God-damn nation

    Looks like we always end up in a rut (everybody now!)

    Tryin’ to make it real, compared to what?​

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    June 22, 2021 at 6:07 pm

    @raven:

    Is this going to be one of those S&M videos?

  53. 53.

    Suzanne

    June 22, 2021 at 6:08 pm

    I don’t think I’m prone to the same kind of paralysis when I get despairing. I just continue to do the same stuff because Someone Will Be Mad At Me If I Don’t. And I’m a pleaser.

  54. 54.

    eclare

    June 22, 2021 at 6:10 pm

    @Brachiator: That song has a Ramsey Lewis Wade in the Water vibe to it.

  55. 55.

    bbleh

    June 22, 2021 at 6:11 pm

    Where do you find the inspiration to keep going in the face of setbacks…?

    Beer.  And exercise.   And extra sleep.  Whenever I can get them.

    And I sneer and poke fun at the morans.  But that’s not inspiring so much as simple jollies.

  56. 56.

    raven

    June 22, 2021 at 6:12 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Poor girl was mortified!

  57. 57.

    Suzanne

    June 22, 2021 at 6:13 pm

    @Geminid: Sinema gets primaried every time. She wins every time. That is not the answer. She gets primaried from the left, and wins.

    She appeals to just enough of the other side to win reliably.

    Arizona has a short list of Democrats who have won a statewide race. None of them are much to her left.

    It is critical to recognize that she is probably median for the state. You are highly unlikely to do much better for a while.

    The key is to make her irrelevant by electing leftier senators in other states. She is good for one thing only, and that is counting as a Democrat when determining which party is in the majority.

  58. 58.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 22, 2021 at 6:18 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Sinema’s stance won’t win her more friends among Democrats in Washington or her home state (where activists protested outside her office on Tuesday). But she drew praise from a source that would have once seemed unusual. In a visit to his old office, the former Connecticut Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman told reporters that Sinema was right to defend the filibuster, even if he believed it was a fight she’d lose in the end.

  59. 59.

    gene108

    June 22, 2021 at 6:19 pm

    I like his conclusion. Let’s pass shit that helps people, and let Republicans openly work to undo those laws.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    June 22, 2021 at 6:22 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Huh? How can she possibly lose in the end?

  61. 61.

    zhena gogolia

    June 22, 2021 at 6:24 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    But was it Sinema in your other quotations? What does she have to do with Scott Brown?

  62. 62.

    Kathleen

    June 22, 2021 at 6:24 pm

    @eclare:  There it is.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 22, 2021 at 6:24 pm

    @Baud: my answer is, as Suzanne says above, when she’s made less relevant by more Dem Senators in ’23. I don’t know what Shitbag Joe is thinking of.

  64. 64.

    Chris Johnson

    June 22, 2021 at 6:25 pm

    Regarding Murkowski: here’s a relevant thought.

    The GQP maniacs are more or less on record that they want to murder some of their own RINOs: they were gonna hang Pence. There are ten Republicans in the House who voted for impeachment of Trump. We control the House but it’s now impossible to pressure those Republicans by threatening them because they are already doomed in a fascist Q uprising: they’re RINOs, they’re anti-Trump, they can’t come back.

    The question is, which of the Republican Senate, which McConnell has to keep under total control, is already marked for death by the Q people? Which of them are the GQP equivalent of Manchin and Sinema to us?

    If there were defectors, they would then become the most important (and at-risk) people in the Senate. Just saying. Would they be able to bring enough pork and political favor to their own electorates, that they could stand up against a terrorist Republican contingent? Which of them are already so at risk from that, that they would see nothing more to lose and a lot to gain?

    This calculation can be made BECAUSE the Republicans have sunk so far, not because we hope they won’t sink farther. It assumes the Republicans are only going to get worse.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    June 22, 2021 at 6:25 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Oh sure.  I would love to make her less relevant that way. Still, a strange way to put it.

  66. 66.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 22, 2021 at 6:25 pm

    @zhena gogolia: it was after Scott Brown was elected in 2010 that she was saying the silver lining of losing the super-majority was Dems would figure out how to get around the filibuster and people like Lieberman

    @Baud: I don’t think Joe thinks like I think. About anything. I was surprised to see he’s pessimistic about the future of the filibuster. I think he watches CSPAN with a little “Go Mitch!” pennant in his hand

  67. 67.

    Baud

    June 22, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    That is pretty funny.

  68. 68.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 22, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    I fight because that’s who I am. Rs provide all the inspiration I need in spades with their bigotry and malevolent stupidity

    In other news I got blocked by an insufferable Indian tech CEO of startup on Twitter

    She was deriding affirmative action and bought a meat thermometer to take her own temperature and then tweeted about it.

  69. 69.

    Suzanne

    June 22, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    @Geminid: Arizona is an interesting state politically. It’s been pretty red historically, but it has been turning purple these last few years.

     
    Slow down. There are a few big trends at play.

    1) The Latino population — by which I should say the Mexican population — is relatively new, very unlike New Mexico and the RGV. Many people are undocumented, but their kids are citizens or Dreamers. The under-18 population is majority Latino. And despite stereotypes, AZ is one of the youngest states on average (even counting the snowbirds), because it was for a long time a very affordable place to raise families and buy property.

    2) Over 60% of Arizona is in the Phoenix metro. The PHX East Valley is historically LDS and right wing. (BTW, Sinema is an ex-Mormon.) Phoenix follows the same patterns as everywhere else: blue midtown city, purple suburbs, red rural. PHX is totally hooked on cheap growth. The city has no major iconic employers like Seattle or New York. It is supported by growth and growth only. Undocumented people are the ones who actually do that work.

    3) Housing prices are absolutely skyrocketing there, and I am seeing more and more prognostication of a crash there, because of the lack-of-major-employers-or-industry issue. Growth is the only industry. PHX and Vegas were the two cities in the country most affected by the 2008 housing crash. It was a fucking slaughter. So who is moving to AZ in droves? Mostly Californians who are fleeing taxes and looking for affordability. NOT lefty types.One day, I will tell you about the history of Sun City.

    4) The Native populations are still really, really badly impoverished and underrepresented.

    5) All of this should explain why AZ is not likely to be especially blue any time soon.

  70. 70.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 22, 2021 at 6:29 pm

    @Chris Johnson:

    We also just made Juneteenth a holiday… which is to say WE MADE JUNETEENTH.

    In a tsunami of blood.

    We may need another.

  71. 71.

    Baud

    June 22, 2021 at 6:31 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    There was a tsunami of blood last week?

  72. 72.

    gene108

    June 22, 2021 at 6:31 pm

    @Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):

    Democrats are being relegated to permanent minority status with gerrymandered seats, requirements and restrictions overwhelmingly targeting minorities and Democratic areas

    No Senator really has a boss, other than voters in their state. If a Senator cares more about their seat than what’s going on GA, TX, WI, etc., there’s not much to do to stop them.

    Newsflash to Sinema and Manchin: the filibuster is DOA the moment republicans take back the Senate.

    Other than cut taxes for the rich, which can be done through reconciliation, and maybe take another shot at repealing Obamacare, Republicans do not have a legislative agenda at the federal level.

    Republicans are neither inclined nor capable of writing legislation to push through big things at the federal level.

    The filibuster gives them an out. I doubt they scrap it first.

  73. 73.

    Kathleen

    June 22, 2021 at 6:31 pm

    @MomSense:  I need to constantly be aware of how tired I am of giving these ghouls my power. That clip was a “thanks I needed that” moment.

  74. 74.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 22, 2021 at 6:33 pm

    @Baud: 1861-65.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    June 22, 2021 at 6:34 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Wait until you learn the origins of the Fourth of July. Hot dogs will never taste the same.

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    June 22, 2021 at 6:34 pm

    I should also note that PHX is among the least dense large cities in the US. It is largely built around single-family zoning, and it has pretty weak public transit. It attracts people who want their own space, want their own car, and don’t really want to share a strong public sphere. A very lowercase-L libertarian mindset, even among the leftier people. And one-third of drivers in the state carries a gun in their car. It is not Seattle or New York. It does not have machine politics.

  77. 77.

    Kathleen

    June 22, 2021 at 6:36 pm

    @Brachiator: Have you heard Roberta Flack’s version?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG_RvYTfDk8

  78. 78.

    WaterGirl

    June 22, 2021 at 6:37 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I have faith that you and MomSense can work out a  way to share that one.

  79. 79.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 22, 2021 at 6:37 pm

    @Baud: Wait until you see how hot dogs are made…

  80. 80.

    Baud

    June 22, 2021 at 6:38 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    A tsunami of blood?

  81. 81.

    TheTruffle

    June 22, 2021 at 6:38 pm

    @Johnny Gentle (famous crooner): I don’t see this happening at all. Democrats in Texas walked out of the legislation and killed a voter suppression bill.

  82. 82.

    Brachiator

    June 22, 2021 at 6:38 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Mostly Californians who are fleeing taxes and looking for affordability. NOT lefty types.One day, I will tell you about the history of Sun City.

    A lot of people fleeing California are middle class and lower middle class people pushed out not only by taxes, but by higher living costs. I don’t know how many of these people are ending up in Arizona, but they are not necessarily conservative.

  83. 83.

    Cameron

    June 22, 2021 at 6:39 pm

    So Reuters has reported that Republicans voted to stop Democrats from expanding voting rights.  Would it really have killed them to report that Republicans voted to stop Democrats from preserving voting rights?

  84. 84.

    TheTruffle

    June 22, 2021 at 6:39 pm

    @Cameron: This could provide impetus to finally kill the filibuster.

  85. 85.

    Cameron

    June 22, 2021 at 6:41 pm

    @TheTruffle: I sure hope so.

  86. 86.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 22, 2021 at 6:42 pm

    @Baud: Pretty much.

  87. 87.

    Suzanne

    June 22, 2021 at 6:48 pm

    @Brachiator: Not necessarily conservative, but counting on them to be more liberal than the existing population is unwise, IMO. The low taxes, which are of course resulting in shitty schools and public services, are a big part of the draw.

  88. 88.

    Brachiator

    June 22, 2021 at 6:50 pm

    @Kathleen:

    Have you heard Roberta Flack’s version?

    Oh, yes. All versions of this great song are my jam. Les McCann had recorded the song in 1966, but Flack’s early 1969 version had become more noted (and is wonderful), until McCann and Eddie Harris absolutely lit it up with their June 1969 performance at the Montreux Jazz festival.

    Both versions would get heavy air play on the radio stations I listened to in the late 60s and 70s.

  89. 89.

    Kathleen

    June 22, 2021 at 6:52 pm

    @Brachiator: Right now I’m listening to a second episode of a three part series on A History of Black Music and its influence on social justice sponsored by AARP and RNR Hall of Fame. ETA I forgot how powerful Flack’s recording was. I hadn’t heard it in years though I have it on vinyl.

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    June 22, 2021 at 6:52 pm

    @Suzanne:  I noticed that a former Arizona Attorney General, a Democrat, weighed in on Sinema’s obstructionism, said he would not support her if it denied Democrats crucial progress. Arizona has closed primaries, and Sinema has to win among Arizona Democrats to be nominated for a second term. An OHInsight poll a couple months ago did show her +28% approval among Arizona Democrats. But that may have dropped since. By contrast, Mark Kelly was at +60%.

    I don’t think Sinema can count on being renominated. She easily beat her primary opponent in 2018. But beating Congressman Stanton would be a tougher proposition than beating Ms. Abboud, especially if state Democratic leaders like the former AG turn on her.

    Arizona had a record Democratic turnout last year. But those voters turned out for Mark Kelly and Joe Biden, not Kyrsten Sinema. In 2024, the registered Democrats among those voters may decide that they can win that seat without Sinema, and would do better to.

  91. 91.

    MomSense

    June 22, 2021 at 6:53 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Game on!

  92. 92.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    June 22, 2021 at 6:58 pm

    @Suzanne:

    What can be done to alter this?

  93. 93.

    cckids

    June 22, 2021 at 7:00 pm

    @Suzanne:

    I should also note that PHX is among the least dense large cities in the US. It is largely built around single-family zoning, and it has pretty weak public transit. It attracts people who want their own space, want their own car, and don’t really want to share a strong public sphere. A very lowercase-L libertarian mindset, even among the leftier people. And one-third of drivers in the state carries a gun in their car. It is not Seattle or New York. It does not have machine politics.

    Phoenix also has serious, serious water issues heading their way. From my interactions with my in-laws down in Scottsdale, those issues are being ignored, with fingers-in-the-ears persistence.  Those damn open canals bringing water in running through the desert, all the grass & greenery?  Just insane. Compared to Vegas, they aren’t even trying.

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 22, 2021 at 7:03 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Make her irrelevant.

  95. 95.

    Suzanne

    June 22, 2021 at 7:05 pm

    @Geminid: She easily beat David Schapira, Andrei Cherny, and Deedra Abboud in primaries. She wins primaries because we all do That Calculation and a lot of Dems vote for her knowing that she will be hard to beat in a general. There are a fair amount of righty people who really like her. I think the constituent services and the ex-Mormon thing are good for her there. I also think that state has a specific conception of themselves as “mavericks”, which is bullshit. It’s mostly just obstinance.

    I think she is beatable. But not by most of the people we like, like Ruben Gallego (have to differentiate, because his ex-wife Kate Gallego is the current mayor of Phoenix). I like Greg Stanton and have met him personally, but he was not a super-popular mayor.

  96. 96.

    Suzanne

    June 22, 2021 at 7:06 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Elect more and better Dems in other states, so her temper tantrums are less impactful.

  97. 97.

    Suzanne

    June 22, 2021 at 7:08 pm

    @cckids: Oh fuck yeah. Scottsdale is Rich Republican Douchebag Central. Those people will hang on to their green lawns and swimming pools at all costs.

    I think we should start hitting them with those costs.

  98. 98.

    trollhattan

    June 22, 2021 at 7:12 pm

    You don’t say.

    Joint Chiefs Disapprove of Military Justice Overhaul

    June 22, 2021 at 6:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard

    “The top leaders of the Army, Navy, Marines and other military branches voiced concern about legislation that would make sweeping changes in the military justice system, expressing their views in letters to a leading Republican opponent of the bill,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

    “The legislation, which supporters say will better combat sexual harassment and assault within military ranks, has the support of two-thirds of all senators.”

    My surprised face is at the cleaners. If y’all have a hot mess on your hands you’re unwilling to fix, then your civilian overseers shall do it for you. Did you not get that memo?

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    June 22, 2021 at 7:22 pm

    @Suzanne: ​
     

    Not necessarily conservative, but counting on them to be more liberal than the existing population is unwise, IMO.

    Oh, I totally agree with you. But on talk radio and in some newspapers out here in Southern California, upper income conservatives supposedly fleeing “tax and spend ultra liberal California” get a lot of media coverage, but that is not the reality of why many people feel pushed out.

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    June 22, 2021 at 7:38 pm

    @Kathleen:

    Right now I’m listening to a second episode of a three part series on A History of Black Music and its influence on social justice sponsored by AARP and RNR Hall of Fame.

    Very cool. I found a link for this series. I will try to see if I can register for the June 29 episode.

    Thanks

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    June 22, 2021 at 8:16 pm

    @Suzanne: Considering how close Sinema’s general election was in 2018, I think Democrats made the right choice picking her over Abboud in 2018. The results of next year’s Senate race will condition Democrats’ views on whether Sinema is essential to holding that seat.

    Also, so far Sinema has come through for Democrats on the Covid relief package, and of course, organizing the Senate. Her name is Mudd here, but a lot of the vituperation directed at her is prospective, trashing her for what she might but has not yet cost us. The actual outcomes of the next three years are what will count. So Sinema could still end up popular enough among Arizona Democrats to win her primary, maybe even easily.

    But Sinema could never, ever win a Balloon Juice primary. And they say, as Balloon Juice goes, so goes…Balloon Juice.

  102. 102.

    James E Powell

    June 22, 2021 at 8:23 pm

    Where do you find the inspiration to keep going in the face of setbacks, in the face of messaging that’s filled with doom?

    It’s either my nature or a habit so long standing that I think it’s my nature.

  103. 103.

    Geminid

    June 22, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    @Geminid: The OHInsight poll of Arizona registered voters that showed Sinema +28%, Kelly +60% among Democrats also polled matchups of Kelly and 6 prospective Republican challengers. This was among all registered voters, and showed Kelly leading by 6-8 points over the various Republicans. I guess the big question there is who will show up November 2022, and whose votes will be counted. Neither side will lack for resources, I think.

  104. 104.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 22, 2021 at 8:31 pm

    Also, I won’t call it inspiration but having a perspective from having lived in another country also helps.  When I was growing up India went through an emergency, where the elected leader usurped power for 2 years instead of accepting her electoral defeat, assassination of two of its Prime Ministers and armed insurgencies in at least two states

    ETA: Also the nightmare that the BJP unleashed on India in the late 80s in the form of its agitation to build a temple at the exact location of Babur’s Mosque in Ayodhya is still ongoing.

  105. 105.

    Geminid

    June 22, 2021 at 8:43 pm

    @trollhattan: I just caught a news item on WTOP Washington that reported Defense Secretary Austin has said he supports suggested legal reforms that would take adjudication of sexual assault charges out of the chain of command, and would work with Congress  to effect changes in the military justice code to that effect. So it could be the Joint Chiefs are being overruled.

    This story will be further reported, maybe in a post here.

  106. 106.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 22, 2021 at 8:43 pm

    @Geminid: 23 and Meemaw would have been the nominee if a Balloon Juice had the deciding vote.

  107. 107.

    Richard Guhl

    June 22, 2021 at 8:44 pm

    @Woodrow/asim: Thank you for your deeply personal insight

  108. 108.

    Fair Economist

    June 22, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    @Brachiator:

    But on talk radio and in some newspapers out here in Southern California, upper income conservatives supposedly fleeing “tax and spend ultra liberal California” get a lot of media coverage, but that is not the reality of why many people feel pushed out.

    I don’t know anybody who left because of taxes or liberals.

    I know quite a few who left because of housing prices.

  109. 109.

    Geminid

    June 22, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    @Fair Economist: I think you are right about housing prices. Texas is an attractive place for individuals and companies to relocate, but I think the main attraction is the huge amount of flat, easily built-upon land. Lower taxes are just the cherry on top.

    In ways, California is a victim of it’s own success. It was blessed with a good share of natural resources, and was wealthier than average coming out of the Second World War. Then, shrewd political leaders like Governor Pat Brown made long term investments in higher education, and this set the table for the tech boom of the last few decades. But knowledge is portable, and California’s foresight now benefits other states that don’t have California’s geographical constraints.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Winter Wren - North of Quebec City (part 2 of 3) - Cap Tourmente and on the way to Tadoussac 4
Image by Winter Wren (5/16/25)

Recent Comments

  • Geminid on Lunch Among the Ruins (Open Thread) (May 16, 2025 @ 1:52pm)
  • Paul in KY on Lunch Among the Ruins (Open Thread) (May 16, 2025 @ 1:52pm)
  • chemiclord on Lunch Among the Ruins (Open Thread) (May 16, 2025 @ 1:50pm)
  • Jay on Lunch Among the Ruins (Open Thread) (May 16, 2025 @ 1:50pm)
  • Betty Cracker on Lunch Among the Ruins (Open Thread) (May 16, 2025 @ 1:48pm)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!