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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Oh Look, All the Stupid Shit I said 15-20 Years Ago Is Back

Oh Look, All the Stupid Shit I said 15-20 Years Ago Is Back

by John Cole|  July 21, 202210:55 pm| 57 Comments

This post is in: Balloon Juice

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Fuck.

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Reader Interactions

57Comments

  1. 1.

    planetjanet

    July 21, 2022 at 10:56 pm

    What goes around, comes around.

  2. 2.

    geg6

    July 21, 2022 at 10:58 pm

    Heh.

  3. 3.

    Fair Economist

    July 21, 2022 at 10:59 pm

    That’s why I use a pseudonym.

  4. 4.

    bbleh

    July 21, 2022 at 10:59 pm

    Congratulations!  (Remember what I said about fire and moonshine and destruction of equipment?)

  5. 5.

    Mike E

    July 21, 2022 at 11:03 pm

    Never hit ‘send’.

  6. 6.

    Marmot

    July 21, 2022 at 11:05 pm

    @Fair Economist: Fukkin’ A.

  7. 7.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    July 21, 2022 at 11:05 pm

    It’s just proof of how far you’ve come, John.

  8. 8.

    Ohio Mom

    July 21, 2022 at 11:06 pm

    Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

    Ohio Son had his first cavity ever filled today. He was impressed with how long it takes Novocain to wear off. It took about as long as it did for Balloon Juice to reappear. A long afternoon on both accounts.

  9. 9.

    CaseyL

    July 21, 2022 at 11:07 pm

    A better way to see it is how far you’ve come since then.

    At least, that’s what I tell myself.

  10. 10.

    The Oracle of Solace

    July 21, 2022 at 11:08 pm

    There’s nothing quite like being confronted with yourself from the past.

  11. 11.

    piratedan

    July 21, 2022 at 11:11 pm

    so in short, we learned that DJT is the actual essence of Republican politics…

    1. You can’t tell him what he can do
    2. He tells you what to do…

    wonder how the rest of those GOP spear carriers felt when confronted with that reality… obviously the answer is poorly.

  12. 12.

    JaySinWA

    July 21, 2022 at 11:12 pm

    You could have let sleeping dogs lie, made a clean break. But no, you had to restore the past.

    Congratulations and thanks.

  13. 13.

    Steve in the ATL

    July 21, 2022 at 11:13 pm

    @Fair Economist: me too! I’m actually Yuri in Brighton Beach.

    @Ohio Mom: ha!

  14. 14.

    David Anderson

    July 21, 2022 at 11:14 pm

    Damn good job to WaterGirl and all involved in the migration and integration.

  15. 15.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    July 21, 2022 at 11:14 pm

    It’s okay John. I got drafted into the infantry in Vietnam as an apolitical testosterone fueled youngster and came back as an anti-war hippie. Slowly became a Berkeley Barb (newspaper) radical and border line communist before slowly maturing over the years to a fiscal conservative but social liberal before morphing again into my present progressive being. I’ve studied the Christian Bible both new and old testaments, dabbled in New Age woo woo and swung over to Buddhism before becoming agnostic .

    So yeah, I said a lot of stupid shit and did a few horrible things over my life span. Also too and more, people that say if they had to live their life over they wouldn’t change a thing? I call BS. Yeah, we all carry baggage. But it is how you carry it that shows your mettle. That is what counts and only you know if you have it or not.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    July 21, 2022 at 11:25 pm

    Am I the only one who feels more calm just having all of Balloon Juice under one roof again?

    (Or most of it anyway, there are still some gaps to fill in.)

  17. 17.

    piratedan

    July 21, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    @WaterGirl: nope, but tbh, if we had lost our past in order to preserve our future, I could understand it (not that it was the fault of anyone running the blog).

  18. 18.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 21, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Not at all. And it must feel more so for you and the crew, far more than us rubberneckers.

  19. 19.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 21, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Am I the only one who feels more calm just having all of Balloon Juice under one roof again?

    (Or most of it anyway, there are still some gaps to fill in.)

    No.  It’s great that everything (most?) of it could be recovered.

  20. 20.

    Urza

    July 21, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    @WaterGirl: You’ve been doing most of the maintenance for some time now, of course it makes you feel better to get it all back.  And a well deserved breath of relaxation it should be for you.

  21. 21.

    Steve in the ATL

    July 21, 2022 at 11:32 pm

    @Grumpy Old Railroader:

     

    I said a lot of stupid shit and did a few horrible things

    Rotating tag or all purpose epitaph?

  22. 22.

    LeftCoastYankee

    July 21, 2022 at 11:33 pm

    That is the point of being a jackass as you get older… so you will say stupid shit to the end of your days.  That’s what one of the non-GUNS! amendments says or something….

  23. 23.

    ryan

    July 21, 2022 at 11:37 pm

    I actually found Balloon Juice back in 03 or 04.  I was trying to understand how people could support the Iraq war and I watched you change positions.  It was really fascinating and gave me hope that other republicans might realize what was going on with the GOP.

    I have since lost that hope.

  24. 24.

    CaseyL

    July 21, 2022 at 11:37 pm

    @WaterGirl: I imagine what you may be feeling is overwhelming relief that the merger and migration went off without a hitch… and a fervent prayer to never have to do it again.

  25. 25.

    Misterpuff

    July 21, 2022 at 11:39 pm

    John,

     

    Thanks for getting pissed or full of yourself enough to start this blog. You created a community, that has evolved and changed as you have, as all of us do. I always feel comfortable and respected here.

  26. 26.

    BigJimSlade

    July 21, 2022 at 11:40 pm

    @Marmot:

    Fukkin’ A.

    Now there’s an idea for a nym

  27. 27.

    BigJimSlade

    July 21, 2022 at 11:44 pm

    @WaterGirl: It’s great!

    I think I’ll celebrate by doing an “On the road” post for that missing day from the Dolomites last year (not tonight, but soon). Anyone want to go back to the Dolomites? After all, I have to post that before I go through all my France/Switzerland pictures from the beginning of this month :-) :-)  And, even better, my covid’s almost gone from the flight back!

  28. 28.

    zeecube

    July 21, 2022 at 11:45 pm

    @WaterGirl: Heck.  I’m happy anytime when the lights are on at this place.  Thanks.  You deserve all the chocolate today.

  29. 29.

    Urza

    July 21, 2022 at 11:47 pm

    @ryan: The Terri Schiavo case for me and ditto the rest.  I used to have hope in humanity and Americans even during the Bush years when it started becoming obvious.  LOooooong gone now.

  30. 30.

    prostratedragon

    July 21, 2022 at 11:47 pm

    Can’t get in on my desktop for some reason.  Only now getting in on the android.

  31. 31.

    Ken

    July 21, 2022 at 11:49 pm

    Personally I plan to claim that all of my stupid and/or embarrassing old comments were corrupted when they were restored from the backup.

  32. 32.

    Urza

    July 21, 2022 at 11:50 pm

    @prostratedragon: Probably a caching issue.  Hit CTRL + F5 to force a reload and ignore your cache.

  33. 33.

    JWR

    July 21, 2022 at 11:52 pm

    @ryan: I was directed here by Markos, of GOS fame, when he, Markos, made an “incendiary” comment about the mercs in Iraq being shot, dragged, hung and burned. Markos pointed to John as a “gettable” warmonger. I didn’t stick around here for a while, and then FDL (firedoglake) went batshit over HRC losing to Obama, and I’ve been here ever since. But I’ll never forget Markos’ defense of Mr. Cole.

  34. 34.

    Old School

    July 21, 2022 at 11:53 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Am I the only one who feels more calm just having all of Balloon Juice under one roof again?

    You still deserve two cupcakes tomorrow even if you are calmer,

  35. 35.

    patrick II

    July 21, 2022 at 11:53 pm

    Don’t worry John. We love even more than we love Lynn Cheney.

  36. 36.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    July 21, 2022 at 11:55 pm

    @Urza:

    Probably a caching issue.  Hit CTRL + F5 to force a reload and ignore your cache.

    Mac OS with Chrome browser is cmd+shift+R

  37. 37.

    James E Powell

    July 22, 2022 at 12:01 am

    I have no memory of how or why or when I first came to this blog, but there must have been something about it I liked. I’m thinking it was that there were posts about dogs & cats, food, other things not politics.

  38. 38.

    prostratedragon

    July 22, 2022 at 12:02 am

    @Urza:  Something like that, but it needed more, since I wasn’t getting any site all of a sudden — some kind of interrupt I guess. Cycled both router and machine, and it’s all fine now.​

    ETA: Linux/Mozilla/AMD, if anyone’s wondering.

  39. 39.

    la caterina

    July 22, 2022 at 12:14 am

    Oh thanks Cole, I can go back and reread the Legend of Shitmas again!

  40. 40.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 22, 2022 at 12:16 am

    Oh hell yeah, all the stupid shit I’ve said over the last few years is back!

  41. 41.

    Johannes

    July 22, 2022 at 12:17 am

    @la caterina: But can you, darling? Where’s a search function?

  42. 42.

    glc

    July 22, 2022 at 12:18 am

    Congratulations!

    Mine is still mostly gone but then I never had a blog.

  43. 43.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 22, 2022 at 12:19 am

    @prostratedragon: sounds DNS-y maybe.

  44. 44.

    Steeplejack

    July 22, 2022 at 12:42 am

    @Johannes:

    There’s a search box right above “Balloon Juice Posts” on the desktop site. On the mobile site it’s just below the comment box near the bottom.

    “Let Me Tell You Kids About the Legend of Shitmas 2016.”

  45. 45.

    SFAW

    July 22, 2022 at 12:44 am

    Well, in fairness, John, some of us say stupid shit now, in this joint. If your only “stupid shit” is 15 years old, you’re WAY ahead of the game.

    I, for one, am glad you’ve kept this place open all these years.

    I’m also glad WaterGirl continues to do such an EXCELLENT job.

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    July 22, 2022 at 12:49 am

    @prostratedragon

    There are a multitude of other methods to accomplish the same thing but if Firefox is already open, click on Tools — Settings — Privacy & Security — Cookies and Site Data — Clear Data — press Clear button in the pop-up.

    Just be sure not to accidentally choose clearing the adjacent Logins & Passwords option.

  47. 47.

    Msb

    July 22, 2022 at 3:07 am

    John, that’s why we need records of the past. They provide a trail we can retrace  to find out where we have been stupid, so we can at least try to make new mistakes.

  48. 48.

    weasel

    July 22, 2022 at 3:44 am

    Hooray! Had a pile of bookmarked articles to read I can get back to now.  Thanks for all the work to all of the people that brought this place back to where it belongs

  49. 49.

    MikeField

    July 22, 2022 at 7:19 am

    @JWR: Is this an insight into why folks here seem to hate Daily Kos? After this site came back up, I was surprised by the venom of commenters who ‘were forced to go to DK’ — and those that simply refused to do so. I rely on both and admire both and don’t see a lot of conflict in worldview but perhaps I am not perceptive enough?  That said, if I faced eternity with just one choice I would be BJ forever.

  50. 50.

    Barry

    July 22, 2022 at 7:19 am

    WaterGirl, thank you very much for your work!

  51. 51.

    Argiope

    July 22, 2022 at 7:35 am

    @BigJimSlade: Dead thread, but thanks to you we were in the Dolomites last month. Wowza! Best hikes of my life.  Thank you for your OTR photos and the inspiration.

  52. 52.

    Antonius

    July 22, 2022 at 7:45 am

    @ryan: Amen, brother.

  53. 53.

    Antonius

    July 22, 2022 at 7:46 am

    Many thanks to Watergirl and the whole team. Let the Karmic wheel turn once more.

  54. 54.

    xjmuellerlurks

    July 22, 2022 at 8:12 am

    The past is never dead. It’s not even past.

  55. 55.

    dyspeptic

    July 22, 2022 at 9:52 am

    15 years ago, I  first started reading BJ to piss me off. Now I read it to piss me off, but it in a completely different way. Progress!

  56. 56.

    BigJimSlade

    July 22, 2022 at 11:28 am

    @Argiope: Yay! My pleasure! Aren’t they great?!
    I probably explained this in one of my posts, but my inspiration was the flickr extension in chrome (each new tab/window shows a picture from flickr) – pictures of Tre Cime kept coming up and I decided I have to go there. First trip we stayed in Cortina, 2nd one in Ortisei (Val Gardena). Both were great locations.

  57. 57.

    jnfr

    July 22, 2022 at 1:29 pm

    Yay!

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