Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

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

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

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

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

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

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

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

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Summer Sizzle

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Summer Sizzle

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Omelette from Madeline Sharafian on Vimeo.

After the Great Merge, a Purge. The long-suffering hamsters are still fainting off their little tread-wheels here and there, and I’m trying to cut back the number of drafts I’ve been ‘saving for later’ since (in some cases) 2013. So y’all can expect some ‘historical’ surprises to pop up for the next week or so… Omelette is from, IIRC, 2014, and I don’t think BettyC’s Badger had even been born yet!

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  2. 2.

    zhena gogolia

    Good morning. I’m rewatching all the hearings. Picking up tidbits I missed the first time around.

    TFG is a terrorist and a traitor. And so are all his supporters.

  3. 3.

    Ken

    @zhena gogolia: TFG is a terrorist and a traitor.

    You forgot incompetent, unaware, and childish.

    Excuse me… I’m being informed those are what his defenders are saying.

  6. 6.

    different-church-lady

    I am having a depress at the thought that 2014 is now “a long time ago.”

  7. 7.

    satby

    I think that voting against the contraception bill is going to cost Republicans too; lots of folks who aren’t supportive of pro-choice understand and approve of birth control as a way of reducing the need for abortions. Only the hard core crazees think contraception induces abortion, so I hope that everyone makes sure their friends and family know that Republicans are now officially anti-contraception too.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    Shee-it, why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?

    The [gubernatorial] candidates also answered questions on housing, the environment, the Thirty Meter Telescope and what they would do if hospitals became overwhelmed with covid [sic] patients. Penn says they can have their treatment at home.

    “It’s been two years and they haven’t made any more beds yet. I know they’ve done that. There’s a lot of beds at everybody’s house,” said Penn.

    Penn was asked to clarify.

    “Everybody has a bed at people’s house,” he said.

    “If our hospitals are running out of beds and we haven’t put any more beds in the last two years and it looks like there’s a problem there then we have find beds at people’s houses.” Source

    Penn is one of those running for Hawaii governor as a (surprise, surprise) Republican.

  9. 9.

    Layer8Problem

    I’m optimistic and ignoring all smart-ass deep-thinker op-ed declarations that the Democrats are doing it wrong and that it could all be fixed with this one weird trick (Pelosi hates it!) and all hot takes ending with ” . . . therefore, voting is useless.  Q.E.D.”

  10. 10.

    Layer8Problem

    @NotMax:  That’s some outside-the-envelope thinking there.  If Suzanne’s up perhaps she can weigh in on hospital design vs. home master bedroom treatments.

    Work with me here, this could be a whole new show on HGTV.

  13. 13.

    Geminid

    @satby: Of the eight Republicans voting against FOR the contraception bill, four- Katko, Upton, Gonzales, and Kinzinger are retiring. These four also voted to impeach trump the second time. Cheney was another Impeacher and faces a very tough primary next month.

    There are not very many Congressional districts in play, but there must be a dozen or so Republicans whose no-votes may come back to bite them. It appears that they are hunkering down and trying to keep the Republican Party’s base base behind them. They’ll probably argue that contraception is not actually at risk and they weren’t going to let Nancy Pelosi sucker them into a performative vote. That’s bullshit of course but they need to shovel plenty more anyway.

    edited

  14. 14.

    different-church-lady

    @Layer8Problem:

    That’s some outside-the-envelope asylum thinking there.

    I mean never mind the envelope, that’s outside the entire postal system.

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    Had a perfect summer dinner last night: fresh bluefish on the grill, local sweet corn and tomatoes from my garden. All caught or harvested that day. I could eat that seven days a week.

  17. 17.

    different-church-lady

    @Geminid:

    They’ll probably argue that contraception is not actually at risk and they weren’t going to let Nancy Pelosi sucker them into a performative vote.

    One of the usual suspects already did that very thing. (But I can’t remember which one)

  19. 19.

    satby

    @Gin & Tonic: ok, I will, thanks. I did tell the single guy that “my group” leaned toward sponsoring a family that was in a more urgent situation and he closed the connection with me, so both our instincts were right there.

    I wish I was rich, there’s so much desperation in some of the letters.

  26. 26.

    satby

    Good post from Teri Kanefield about Bannon, and some more on her DOJ FAQs. I really enjoy her writings, which I wouldn’t have discovered without Twitter. Sorry haters, but I 💙 Twitter.

  27. 27.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Medicare kicked my DIL’s father out of the rehab place he was in yesterday. He can’t dress or wash himself. He fell after a rehab session two days ago and it took two people to get him back in his wheelchair. He has infusions periodically. His wife doesn’t drive. My son and DIL live 80 miles away. Usually by this point in the summer, she’d be getting ready for the new kindergarten class she’d be teaching in the fall, but she’s been spending several days a week with them. Her parents are not well off. I don’t know what they’re going to do

  30. 30.

    satby

    @Gin & Tonic: as I said to Baud, only if I can help. Aspiring isn’t doing. And I am concerned about meeting the financial requirement without roping one of my kids into cosigning.😆 Gotta try though!

    And if anyone is interested in sponsoring a refugee family under the humanitarian parole for Ukrainians, info here. The need is desperate for some.

  31. 31.

    Layer8Problem

    We did stage an expedition to far northwest New Jersey yesterday and were gratified to see that there are far fewer TFG flags and signs than on previous visits, and those remaining are tattered.

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @satby: Yeah, once again I’m saying the opposite of what I mean. Dog gone proofreader is laying down on the job again! I’d fire him but he’s family.

  34. 34.

    satby

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: is it too early to consider long term care in a nursing home? Home health care can help, but that’s limited in Medicare too. Just went through this last month with my late friend, who ultimately decided on hospice care, which is not only limited to immediately terminal people, though he turned out to be.

  35. 35.

    satby

    @Geminid: hey, I can’t tell you the number of times my Kindle has me doing random capitalizations that make my comments look like I should be banned from online platforms.

  37. 37.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @satby: I don’t know. Long term care is probably what he needs. I just don’t know how the practicalities would work. My DIL is probably trying to figure that out. I’ll ask my son when we talk to him today. If only his leukemia were the only problem!

  38. 38.

    eclare

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   Would it be worth it to talk to an attorney who specializes in Medicare/Medicaid issues for an hour or so?  I went through this with my parents a few years ago, and I was completely dependent upon what the rehab and long term care facilities told me.  It is very confusing.

  41. 41.

    satby

    @satby: That may have come off as ungracious, I’m sorry. I just don’t want credit for stuff I haven’t done yet, it feels like stolen valor. I think most people are, or try to be “good people”. I’m just more prone to throwing myself into situations and figuring it out later.

  42. 42.

    Phylllis

    @satby: Thanks. Weather has been a crapshoot during the tournament for the past several years. I’ve been doing the ticket lottery for years, mostly on a whim.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    @satby:

    . I think most people are, or try to be “good people”.

     
    Not me! I gave up trying to be good a long time ago.

  47. 47.

    PST

    I’m beginning to think that the most important consequence of Thursday night’s hearing is the spate of Murdoch-press editorials condemning TFG. I didn’t bother trying to get around the pay wall to read the entire WSJ version, but the NY Post ends by saying, “Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.” Obviously large swaths of the great unwashed still venerate the old loser, but this is the best evidence I’ve seen so far that the money boys are ready to take the risk of cutting him loose in favor of a younger model. I do not, of course, think the editorialists are actually shocked or disturbed by what he did, just worried that he will keep losing popular support at the margins beyond the ability of corrupt GQP judges and politicians to corrupt elections.

  49. 49.

    germy shoemangler

    Fox News is replacing Donald Trump with Ron DeSantis. But I’ll be replacing Ron DeSantis as the next governor of Florida.

    — Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) July 23, 2022

  50. 50.

    Layer8Problem

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    They do need information, and it’s astonishingly hard to get.

    Any other industrialized nation almost certainly has it set up better. Here the information balance between the health care edifice we have and the individual is asymmetric; they know the drill, we have to tease out what we can from advertising-weighted Google searches for basic information, paid assistance from elder law specialists, obscure and well-hidden local and state assistance, on-site visits to a number of facilities to make sure things at least look decent, and the occasional inside source like a nurse or physical therapist. Not a lot of people have the time for that kind of work, even with the best will in the world and a loved one in need.

  51. 51.

    Ohio Mom

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I also was going to suggest an Elder Care attorney. Though I might start with a social worker from the hospital where he’s getting his leukemia treatment since lawyers can be costly. Also would look for advice from the local Council on Aging. But an Elder Care lawyer would definitely know if and what help would be available and be the quickest.

    Last week another parent, much further along the road of parenting a disabled adult child than I am, told me one secret to getting more funding for your child is to divorce.

    One underlying assumption the system works on is that the family is supplying “natural supports” (that is, working for free), and divorce probably means the mom has to go back into the workforce.

    I offer this as one example of tne stinginess of the Medicaid system. Maybe if the family had more funding supports to begin with, money that could buy respite and help in caring for the family member, divorce could be prevented?

  54. 54.

    Josie

    @Geminid: ​
    Did you mean to write “eight Republicans voting in favor of the legislation?”

      ETA: Should have read further before commenting. Satby got there before me.

  61. 61.

    Geminid

    @Josie: I saw a news item about a very large crowd that Beto O’Rourke drew for a rally in Lubbock, Texas. Lubbock is known more as the home of Buddy Holly than as a Democratic stronghold. Large crowds don’t neccesarily translate into votes, but Democrats need enthusiasm to win Texas and they appear to have it.

  63. 63.

    different-church-lady

    @Geminid: Margins are thin. If things like this push the the zeitgeist in the right direction we might avoid catastrophe after all.

  64. 64.

    Josie

    @Geminid: ​
     Yes, I saw that article and was happy to read it. I know Beto is still a long shot, but I’m hoping for a miracle. Although I am limited in how much I can give political candidates, I signed up for a little recurring contribution to him. I believe in his ability to make a huge difference in Texas.

  65. 65.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @satby: She left out the best part of that interview though.  Garland reiterated (again) that

    “No person is above the law in this country.  Nothing stops us”

    the interviewer interjected “Even the Former President?” at which point Garland shows visible frustration, putting his hand on his heart and saying

    “I don’t know how to…let me say that again. No person is above the law in this country.  I can’t say it any more clearly than that.  There is nothing in the principles of prosecution, in any other factors that prevents us from prosecuting anyone, ANYONE who is criminally responsible for an attempt to undo a democratic election.”

    You can see it here at the 1:30 mark.

    It should be pretty clear to everyone that prosecuting Trump is in no way off the table.  He can’t come out and name Trump specifically, but this is about as close as he can get without crossing that line.  This really should end any speculation that Garland thinks Trump can’t be prosecuted (a position for which there was never any evidence that he held.). He is answering the nagging question of ‘does DOJ consider former presidents above the law?’  The answer is a crystal-clear, NO.

  66. 66.

    Layer8Problem

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  All one can do is try as best as one can.  Perseverance furthers, but don’t forget to step back occasionally and take care of oneself as well in order to get back to the effort strengthened.

  68. 68.

    sab

    @Geminid: Dave Joyce of Ohio, usually a moderate, voted yes on this bill. The Republicans have lost their minds. Republicans now have to follow Opus Dei dictates apparently

    ETA Per Satby, he voted No on this bill.

  69. 69.

    J R in WV

    I am, somehow, a natural optimist about things working out well, if not for the best at least for better.

    Lately that natural optimism has been more difficult to maintain — no clue as to why!        /s

    .              .               .              ;~)

  70. 70.

    Gary K

    I was curious about the delightful music in the video. It’s “Aguas de Março,” probably being sung by Elis Regina. The words are almost dadaist:

    “It’s the stick, it’s the stone, it’s the end of the road
    It’s a stump rest, it’s a little lonely
    It’s a shard of glass, it’s life, it’s the sun
    It’s the night, it’s death, it’s a noose, it’s the hook… [much omitted]

    …It’s the March waters closing the summer
    It’s the promise of life in your heart.”

    Yesterday I attended the memorial service for an acquaintance in our little Ohio city. A large portion of the town was there. Most of the remarks at the microphone were about the escapades of his youth, uttered by grizzled gents. But he was also the guy who organized the first Earth Day here in 1970. They were displaying a blown-up newspaper photo of the bantam leading a parade down the main street in front of a banner and marching next to classmate Sherrod Brown.

  73. 73.

    Montanareddog

    I am in England for a few weeks and I am currently on a train from Preston (Lancashire) to Leeds (Yorkshire) that crosses the Pennines by weaving its way through various river valleys. This includes Calderdale, the Happy Valley of the famous Sarah Lancashire series, with the towns of Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge often mentioned in the series. I think it was from the railway bridge in Sowerby Bridge that the murderous detective jumped to his death at the end of season 2

    The train also stops at Halifax, as in the other famous Sarah Lancashire series.

    The landscape is fabulous if very damp today

    Dog, I love traveling by train

  75. 75.

    VOR

    @sab: It’s simpler than that. Republicans didn’t vote NO en masse because they disagreed with the contents of the bill. They voted NO because they wanted to deny the Democrats and/or Joe Biden a win. It’s not about policy.

  76. 76.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: That’s a super-stupid argument for them to make, though. Most people use contraception at some point in their life. It would have been an easy way to show that they aren’t as unreasonable as Democrats claim they are. I saw on Twitter that some Republican voters and activists couldn’t figure out why more R’s didn’t vote for it because it didn’t have any “poison pills” in it. So now every Democrat can make the assertion that Republicans don’t want to make sure that you can access contraception when you need it. That could sway some independent and “normie” voters who would think the “it was a Pelosi trap” argument didn’t make any sense.

  78. 78.

    Soprano2

    @Ohio Mom: I had a co-worker who got a divorce so his wife could qualify for Medicaid and get on the transplant list. She finally got the heart and lungs she needed, but she was so weak that when the lungs got an infection it killed her. Our medical system can be cruel and crazy.

  79. 79.

    Soprano2

    @WaterGirl: I can only answer this in general terms. If a patient isn’t “making progress” after a certain period of time (I think it’s 21 days), Medicare quits paying for care under the idea that they don’t pay for long-term care. If you need long-term care like a nursing home they want you to do that rather than stay in a hospital or rehab facility.

  80. 80.

    Ohio Mom

    @WaterGirl: Medicare has a cap on how many days of rehab they will pay for. And since rehab is horribly expensive, it’s not like a family can just shrug their shoulders and say, We’ll pay out of pocket from here on out.

    I’ve said it before, anyone who says, Medicare for All obviously isn’t over 65. Medicare has a lot of not-so-hidden traps and shortcomings. Now Medicaid for all, that I could get behind.

  81. 81.

    Ohio Mom

    @Soprano2: Except, as you probably know, Medicare does not pay for someone to move permantly to a nursing home.

    That doesn’t sound quite like what DW’s son’s FIL needs right now, I just mention that because it’s an example of the Swiss cheese coverage provided by Medicare.

  83. 83.

    Mike in NC

    This morning’s new “This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow” cartoon at Daily Kos is a keeper: a time traveler from 1977 has a bunch of questions, such as ‘Did the lessons of Watergate disqualify anyone as criminally vile as Richard Nixon from ever again ascending to our nation’s highest office?’.

    Time traveler from 1977 — the year I graduated from college — should come back in a couple of years and ask about President Ron DeathSentence and the newest pandemic killing tens of thousands of Idiot-Americans.

  85. 85.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @WaterGirl: The number of days you can get that level of care is limited.

    We just talked to our son. Our DIL took her dad straight back to the ER where they ran tests, decided his blood pressure was unsteady, and admitted him. I guess that’s good.

  86. 86.

    Old School

    I’ve never heard a Dem say this

    I guess Dana Houle doesn’t read the comment section at Balloon-Juice.

  87. 87.

    Geminid

    @Soprano2: I guess the “nos” are hoping that Independents overlook this vote. Republicans in battleground districts have to pray for a lot of indulgence from swing voters anyway, and hope that negative partisanship carries them. As in, “My opponent will try to make this vote sound a little goofy, but at least I’m not going to vote with the WOKE SOCIALIST MOBS that run the Democratic Party these days!”

    I notice that 47 Republicans voted for the legislation regarding marriage equality. I wonder if some of those in swing districts might lose base voters over this. I could see some bible thumpers refusing to support a Republican because of this vote.

    This is a general problem with the radical base for Republicans in purple states and districts. Politicians might not be able to win with the policies radicals demand, but they definitely cannot win without the radicals” votes. They are caught on the horns of a dilemma, so to speak.

  88. 88.

    Feathers

    Águas de Março! Some mentions of the song in the Omelette video above, but it really is such a wonderful song that too few people know. James Fallows of The Atlantic, and many elsewheres, has a long running series of why it is the best song ever, with videos linked of many many wonderful covers. It’s fascinating how it really was written to be sung in Portuguese, with all its soft consonants. It sounds OK in French, but isn’t really the same in English. Fantastic way to spend an afternoon, or save for later when you need cheering up: https://www.theatlantic.com/category/the-worlds-greatest-song-chronicles-aguas-de-marco/

    One of the versions – David Byrne and Marisa Monte:  https://youtu.be/3wi-s8R9Gfc

  95. 95.

    Ohio Mom

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I bet people in the field have a slang term for elderly who cycle between the hospital, rehab, home, the ER, back to a hospital bed, discharged to rehab, etc, etc.

    That was one of my aunts. Spent the last six or seven months of her life on that merry-go-round.

  96. 96.

    Ohio Mom

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I think going back to the hospital is only good if they keep him enough days so he qualifies for rehab again.

    Not sure how many days that is but I know if they discharge you too quickly, Medicare won’t pay for rehab. I’m sure that is easily googeable but I suppose it’s up to the doctors and they certainly know the rules inside and out.

  97. 97.

    germy shoemangler

    @Soprano2:  I had a co-worker who got a divorce so his wife could qualify for Medicaid

    And yet it’s so popular here.  “Medicaid for all!  Transfer your assets, divorce your wife, get rid of your house and you’ll qualify!”

  98. 98.

    germy shoemangler

    @Ohio Mom:  I’ve said it before, anyone who says, Medicare for All obviously isn’t over 65.

    That’s why the slogan is “Improved Medicare For All”

  99. 99.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: The difference between those two votes is a puzzle to me. Contraception is more popular than gay marriage. 🤕🤕

  100. 100.

    Soprano2

    @germy shoemangler: This is a special case; our insurance had a $250,000 cap on transplants, and it was a million dollar procedure then. It was literally the only way she could qualify to be on the list.

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    @Soprano2: Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon voted Yea on the marriage bill and Nay on the contraception bill. He’s defending a district that Joe Biden carried by 6.5% in 2020. Trump tried to knock Bacon out this year because he voted for the Infrastructure bill, but Bacon won his primary. Bacon’s 2nd Nebraska CD is based in Omaha and its suburbs, and it’s hard for me to see how a no vote on the contraceptive bill helps him. Kevin McCarthy and other caucus leaders may be giving bad guidance. But McCarthy is an idiot.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid: It’s hard to remember which bills are which, but I think both of these are attempts to preserve rights, not take them away.  Defense of Marriage should be a yes.  Why no on contraception?  That makes no sense.

  103. 103.

    StringOnAStick

    @satby: Thanks for the link to Terri Kanefield, I read what you linked to and subscribed. She has such a calm and logical writing style, combined with actually knowing what she’s talking about!

  104. 104.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: Republicans have an irrational base, and making sense as we know it may not be a factor with them. Bacon may be hedging his position. This sounds like the kind of goofy plan that McCarthy, Scalise, and Stefanik might come up with.

    Bacon has to attract voters outside his base to win the Nebraska 2nd CD, though. He faces a dynamic 37 year-old opponent who has a fighting chance. State Senator Tony Vargas has been pounding Bacon over his recent votes against two gun safety laws, and Bacon’s contraception vote gives Vargas another hammer.

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