Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

I really should read my own blog.

I was promised a recession.

In my day, never was longer.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

T R E 4 5 O N

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

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Come on, man.

The revolution will be supervised.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

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

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Late Night Reprieve Open Thread

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… Nowhere does Camus’s generous attention to the human spirit emanate more brilliantly than in a 1940 essay titled “The Almond Trees” (after the arboreal species that blooms in winter), found in his Lyrical and Critical Essays (public library) — the superb volume that gave us Camus on happiness, despair, and how to amplify our love of life. Penned at the peak of WWII, to the shrill crescendo of humanity’s collective cry for justice and mercy, Camus’s clarion call for reawakening our noblest nature reverberates with newfound poignancy today, amid our present age of shootings and senseless violence.

At only twenty-seven, Camus writes:

We have not overcome our condition, and yet we know it better. We know that we live in contradiction, but we also know that we must refuse this contradiction and do what is needed to reduce it. Our task as [humans] is to find the few principles that will calm the infinite anguish of free souls. We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust, give happiness a meaning once more to peoples poisoned by the misery of the century. Naturally, it is a superhuman task. But superhuman is the term for tasks [we] take a long time to accomplish, that’s all.

Let us know our aims then, holding fast to the mind, even if force puts on a thoughtful or a comfortable face in order to seduce us. The first thing is not to despair. Let us not listen too much to those who proclaim that the world is at an end. Civilizations do not die so easily, and even if our world were to collapse, it would not have been the first. It is indeed true that we live in tragic times. But too many people confuse tragedy with despair. “Tragedy,” [D.H.] Lawrence said, “ought to be a great kick at misery.” This is a healthy and immediately applicable thought. There are many things today deserving such a kick.

Reader Interactions

13Comments

  1. 1.

    HumboldtBlue

    We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust

    Balloon-Juice quilters, seamstresses, front-pagers and comment sages.

    A brilliant fabric, stitched together around a fat man and his herd.

    Bleet.

  4. 4.

    Ten Bears

    That cartoon could have been drawn (written?) for my old hometown: Bend “Beer Drunk Town USA” Oregon, home of the Mad Hatters, poverty with a view, the place to go to get away with murder …

  5. 5.

    satby

    I never realized how young Camus was when he wrote that. But thanks AnneLaurie for the Friday morning inspiration / motivation!

  7. 7.

    debbie

    The first thing is not to despair.

    Probably the hardest thing. Thanks so much AL for this reminder of the power of Camus. I may have to do some rereading.

  8. 8.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Thank you, AL. It’s a long time since I read Camus (egads, high school!). I need to revisit his works.

  9. 9.

    satby

    @O. Felix Culpa: Didn’t appreciate his writing in H.S., but I also need to go back and reread him.

    Overnight our predicted “coating to an inch” of snow morphed into 3 inches already on the ground with snow expected to continue another couple of hours. Frustrating, because I didn’t bother putting my windshield snow cover on last night for just a “coating”. At least I hadn’t put the snowboots away yet. I know better than that!

  10. 10.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby: We’re getting snow too, but not much more than an inch where we are. Santa Fe and parts north might get more. As I recall, snow gear should remain at the ready in the greater Chicago area until mid-April at minimum. Stay warm and dry!

  12. 12.

    prostratedragon

    Thanks for all the thoughts, AL. Must read and re-read Camus. Popova suggests a good list of similar works to start a reading program.

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