Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Everybody saw this coming.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

No one could have predicted…

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

People are weird.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

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

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

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

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Pre-State of the Union Comic Relief

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Pre-State of the Union Comic Relief

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  3. 3.

    debbie

    Jumping to a thread that actually exists.  ?

    Can’t link on iPad, but some GOPers aren’t attending. Has anyone else seen anything about this?

  5. 5.

    steppy

    OK. Still might be worth putting up a SOTU post. In the meantime, hardy har har, weak-ass Trucker Convoy.

  6. 6.

    Ken

    Rally organizer Kyle Sefcik claims he “lost money” setting up today’s event.

    Anyone else hearing “the funding was suddenly withdrawn on Saturday”?

  7. 7.

    mrmoshpotato

    and some stray journalists.

    I see DC’s journalistcatcher is falling down on the job.

  8. 8.

    Another Scott

    Hey, WG pulled the SOTU thread so everyone missed my brilliant comment!!1

    I guess I’ll have to post it again…

    WH.gov – Excerpts (as prepared for delivery):

    Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos. They keep moving. And, the costs and threats to America and the world keep rising.

    That’s why the NATO Alliance was created to secure peace and stability in Europe after World War 2. The United States is a member along with 29 other nations.

    It matters. American diplomacy matters.

    Putin’s war was premeditated and unprovoked. He rejected efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. And, he thought he could divide us here at home.

    Putin was wrong. We were ready.

    —

    We have a choice. One way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make Americans poorer. I have a better plan to fight inflation.

    Lower your costs, not your wages. Make more cars and semiconductors in America. More infrastructure and innovation in America. More goods moving faster and cheaper in America. More jobs where you can earn a good living in America. And, instead of relying on foreign supply chains – let’s make it in America.

    Economists call it “increasing the productive capacity of our economy.” I call it building a better America.

    My plan to fight inflation will lower your costs and lower the deficit.

    ###

    Good, good.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  10. 10.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: How can two Balloon Juice threads be about the same thing?  If two of the front-pagers made identical posts, I guarantee you that within twenty comments one thread would be sharing cat videos and chocolate recipes, and the other would be arguing about what effect COVID is having on the Russian troops.

  12. 12.

    germy

    https://www.thecut.com/2022/03/people-of-color-are-having-a-harder-time-fleeing-ukraine.html#_ga=2.155920059.1467587396.1646184050-2067019405.1646184050

    On Monday, members of the U.N. Security Council representing Kenya, Ghana, and Gabon condemned the discrimination their citizens have faced trying to exit the country. The African Union also released a statement calling the treatment of Africans leaving Ukraine “shockingly racist and in breach of international law.”

    A spokesman for Ukraine’s Border Guard Service denied the allegations, telling CNN that there is “absolutely no division by nation, citizenship, or class at the border.” Meanwhile, the U.N.’s refugee agency addressed the crisis during a press conference Tuesday afternoon, acknowledging that there had been instances of “different treatments with Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians.”

    “There should be absolutely no discrimination between Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians, Europeans and non-Europeans, Filippo Grandi, who heads up the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said Tuesday. “Everyone is fleeing from the same risks.” Per the Independent, Grandi also said that the U.N. is planning to intervene to make sure everyone is treated equally at the border.

  13. 13.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in the House chamber wearing traditional Ukrainian frock (photo)

  14. 14.

    Anne Laurie

    @steppy: Still might be worth putting up a SOTU post.

    I’m prepping one to go up at 8:45pm, Murphy the Trickster God willing.

  16. 16.

    Ken

    @steppy: Where might that lead?

    You have me wondering if forensic accountants have a negative version: “Follow the absence of money.”

  19. 19.

    prostratedragon

    @germy:  Thanks, I have been wondering how this was going. Today I only heard fresh anecdotes about African students not getting onto trains out of Kyiv, but those difficulties are not confined to them.

  20. 20.

    mrmoshpotato

    Rally organizer Kyle Sefcik claims he “lost money” setting up today's event.— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) March 1, 2022

    Cry harder, you whiny ass titty shitstain! Fuck all these Dump-humping, truck trash, plague rats.

  21. 21.

    germy

    Here’s what I think Joe Biden should say tonight

     

     

    Only kidding. I’m avoiding the pundits.    President Biden’s got this.

  22. 22.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I was sorry to see the earlier SOTU thread pulled, and I hope WG will repost it a few minutes before 9:00.

    In the meantime, however, re the Big Patriotic Scary Disruptive Trucker Convoy, here’s a little haiku I wrote:

    HAHAHAHAHA

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    HAHAHAHAHA

  23. 23.

    Cacti

    @Ken: 
    Innit amazing how this “grassroots” right wing movement stopped dead in its tracks once Russia got cut off from the US economy?

  24. 24.

    Baud

    Rally organizer Kyle Sefcik claims he “lost money” setting up today’s event.— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) March 1, 2022

    Dr. King said the same thing about the March on Washington.

  26. 26.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    Let’s put the BJ snark machine to good use!
    In the afternoon thread “Taking-the-w” several people were talking about Rick Scott’s 11-point manifesto for Republicans. Like most of you, I’ve been thinking about some things that Dems need to do to fight back on the culture war crap and one thing we definitely need is a good reply for every lie and for each and every line of the culture war garbage the GQP is spewing.
    I propose we here at BJ come up with pithy 3- or 4-word counter slogans that can be easily remembered and chanted at protests (especially all of you who are better at snark and word-crafting than me) and then focus on getting them into the political discussions on social media etc. not just in use here in our little community.
    I’ve been thinking about schools and the CRT hue and cry. For example Pennsylvania Gov. Wolfe just vetoed a bill from the rethuglican legislature that would have basically required schools to provide every single teacher’s lesson plan to any parent that asks for it. Gov. Wolfe called it burdensome, which is true, but not a good retort. I would have said something like:
    “Republicans want to MICRO-MANAGE OUR SCHOOLS and let any parent however crazy have veto power over every word every teacher says to your kids!” and then we chant “Don’t micromanage schools! Let teachers teach!) over and over.
    With the COVID nonsense, we should Call anti-vaxers “Vax-dodgers” and for mask wearing when needed revive the concept of “good citizenship” in the sense of making a sacrifice for the good of the country even when it may cause you some discomfort, financial loss or even pain.
    I hope all of you will contribute to this effort as most of you are very good at snark and retorts. I’ll be keeping track of this effort and try to keep a summary, maybe Watergirl can fined a place to link it for us.
    Another one is that some many things rethugs accuse Dems of is things they want to or are doing, but calling that “psychological projection” or just projection is woefully inadequate. Calling them out for Self-accusation” is a little better, but there must be a good and pithy way to say it. Especially with their whining about election fraud and how Democrats are afraid of their biased “election audits”.
    The nauseating and in accurate anti-Trans stuff about “boys being boys and girls being girls and that’s science” requires some real scientific discussion that is impossible in a 30 second TV add, or does it? I don’t think talking about parents’ rights and privacy will do the trick. Would calling this “REPUBLICAN FAKE SCIENCE” work? How about say “SCIENCY oversimplifications.”
    I don’t have any real ideas about simple sounding ways to deals with the whining and crying about the “evils of Wokeness” and “Cancel Culture” other than saying it’s all Self-accusation by the GQP.
    Thanks for reading.
    -Mike S (Now with a democratic Congressperson)

  30. 30.

    Jinchi

    @Mallard Filmore: Military bloggers reported that the convoy contained up to 800 vehicles.

    These numbers always seem absurdly high to me, and then I remember reading about the casualty rates during the siege of Stalingrad and I wonder if massive losses are just a part of Russian culture.

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ken:

    If two of the front-pagers made identical posts, I guarantee you that within twenty comments one thread would be sharing cat videos and chocolate recipes, and the other would be arguing about what effect COVID is having on the Russian troops. 

    I don’t see the problem.

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    POTUS and FLOTUS just departed the WH. It’s nice to have a First Lady who is happy to travel to the Capitol in the same vehicle with her husband.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Calouste:

    Apparently the 40 mile one that’s heading to Kyiv has now come to a complete standstill.

    At least someone’s protest was successful.

  34. 34.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Cacti: I understand the sentiment, but most of the soldiers don’t deserve that yet.

    In the SciFi novel “The Black Ship” by Christopher Rowley, something like …

    … And once again, the common ground soldiers were utterly and completely betrayed …

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    Good evening.  Morning here in Germany; woke up at 2 for the SOTU, but it’s not ’til 3 am local time.

    It’s 3:37 am in Kyiv.

  37. 37.

    Elizabelle

    @SiubhanDuinne:   I wonder if Jill Biden is in a sunflower mask again.

    Germans are still masking, and you cannot be seated in a restaurant without showing your covid vaccine status/record.

  38. 38.

    Kent

    @Jinchi: Well, if a convoy stuck in a massive traffic jam is being bombed you’d think soldiers would be hopping out and running for the ditches.  So perhaps more destruction of equipment than people

    But yes, even up until the end of the war, most battles that the Soviets fought and won they had greater losses than the enemy.  It wasn’t until they had absolutely overwhelming superiority and the Germans were down to the dregs that this changed.

  41. 41.

    CROAKER

    Again.  I would be careful about posting things.  There are reasons for trying to create something out of nothing.

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elizabelle:

    I loved that mask!

    Do a lot of Germans/other Europeans stay up late/get up early to follow things like U.S. election returns and SOTU live, or do they just wait until the next morning’s news roundup?

  48. 48.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     .– …. .. -.-. …. / .. … / .– …. -.– / .. / ..- … . / -.-. — -.. . -.. / .-.. .- -. –. ..- .- –. .

  55. 55.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SiubhanDuinne: One year I was in Kyiv during the Super Bowl. *That* made for a long night. I think it was getting light when we finally stepped out. Luckily the concept of “closing time” is kind of flexible…

  57. 57.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Mallard Filmore: In a similar vein, thinking about Russian soldiers looting grocery stores …

    … as an insult, leave food and water packages for advancing columns where there are no plans to defend.

    [ETA] It needs a note like “This is to help you go home.”

  60. 60.

    Kent

    @Mallard Filmore:

    @Mallard Filmore: In a similar vein, thinking about Russian soldiers looting grocery stores …

    … as an insult, leave food and water packages for advancing columns where there are no plans to defend.

    Booby trapped of course.

  62. 62.

    Kent

    @Cameron:@Gin & Tonic: Hey, don’t steal all the credit from Americans – we’ve always been pretty good at the racial-division thing ourselves.

    The German Nazis came to the American south to take notes and learn how things were done.

    Concentration camps were invented by the American army during the Indian wars.

  65. 65.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Kent: 

    Booby trapped of course.

    What I earnestly want to avoid is pushing normal soldiers into rape and murder.

  66. 66.

    Geminid

    @Calouste: I was checking out @Cheryl Rofer’s Twitter feed and someone reported that there had been an error in translation, that the forty mile long convoy was actually a 3-4 mile long supply convoy that was 40 miles from Kyiv. It’s on a road with marshes on either side.

    There was another report that Turkey would supply more TB-2 drones to Ukraine. I hope it’s true.

  67. 67.

    Redshift

    My pet Canadian wingnut (I call him that because I follow him on Twitter to keep an eye on things but don’t engage) had the gall to forward a tweet complaining that “everyone’s talking about Putin’s crimes against humanity, but not about the crimes against humanity here!” The accompanying graphic claims that vaccine mandates violate the Nuremberg Code because it says you can’t be given any medical treatment without your consent. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.)

    It doesn’t matter how horrific any other event is, it cannot be worse than their petty grievances.

  69. 69.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Kent:

     

    And then IBM sold them the data machines to organize the mass murder

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    It is really shocking to see how many Republican seats are vacant. Not that I’ll miss them, but I’m offended by their insulting arrogance.

  80. 80.

    Sebastian

    @Kent:

    The kids have all bailed or will soon. UKR is way better than RU at info war. By now everyone with a smartphone knows what’s going on. UKR civilians should be handing out Androids and chargers to passing Russians.

    Russia has a lot of material but why destroy it and kill those young boys? Sparing their lives has so many advantages, now and later. You save ammo too and you get to keep all that gear undamaged.

    Ukraine just had an influx of 80,000 men, mostly 20-40, majority served because of conscription, many saw combat.

    UKR is offering cash money (almost $50k), the EU is offering amnesty and refugee/asylum status to every defecting Russian soldier if they have not participated in warcrimes (I am not 100% if this was confirmed but I wouldn’t be surprised). This is also a huge incentive not to participate in any bullshit.

     

    I am putting my money on a mega psyops campaign against the folks in the column, offering them a deal without Putin. At the same time, the parents of the kids are being told: your kids are alive and they will live if you stop the war. Every parent is going to climb the walls of the Kremlin. I know I would without a second thought.

    In the meantime, the Russian POS mobster is doing what a Russian POS mobster does. Using the few assholes still loyal to him to inflict damage via artillery and from afar. Same playbook as in Yugoslavia. Next, he will besiege the cities.

    But in the end, he has no soldiers.

  83. 83.

    Sebastian

    @germy:

    Yeah, knowing Eastern Europe I find that very hard to believe. Eastern Poland, the heartland of racial equality? Yeah, right.

    Of course, there was.

  87. 87.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    That quote from from he dumbass going on about fighting a war isn’t true bravery, talk about Mr Effete. I guess if that’s the type of American Putin talks to I can see why Putin convinced himself that we wouldn’t do anything about his Death March Back to Berlin.

  88. 88.

    Ascap_scab

    “The rally, which is scheduled to end at 8pm, has gone off the tracks, as the current speaker is now talking about fences and cows.”

    FREE BIRD!!  PLAY FREE BIRD!!

  89. 89.

    jonas

    A lot of these right-wing astroturf demonstrations, including this bullshit convoy thing, seem to have lost their momentum, as it were, as soon as sanctions were imposed on the Russian financial system. Strange coincidence.

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