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

Before Header

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

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

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

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Bark louder, little dog.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

Everybody saw this coming.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

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

Let there be snark.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Morning Open Thread: To the Moon!

Friday Morning Open Thread: To the Moon!

by Anne Laurie|  January 20, 20238:58 am| 111 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat, Space

FacebookTweetEmail

Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin is 93 today.

Here, he reflects on his moonwalk and encourages a continued exploration of space: https://t.co/SiAhx932k9 pic.twitter.com/MnWLxOxXRp

— ABC News (@ABC) January 20, 2023

“If anybody doubts climate is changing then they must’ve been asleep last couple years,” Biden tells us in California pic.twitter.com/TfeiD2HuA7

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 19, 2023


White House invited @SpeakerMcCarthy on this trip to California, I’m told; the California Republican wasn’t on Air Force One with us. Biden is here to view storm damage; the US officially hit its $31 trillion debt limit today and it’s unclear when Biden and McCarthy will speak. pic.twitter.com/EHAgSFylDt

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 19, 2023

“I think you're going to find there's nothing there,” President Biden said of the Justice Department inquiry into classified documents and official records found at his home and former office. He said looked forward "to getting this resolved quickly." https://t.co/ArPcQL8FXc

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2023

Today, we’re breaking ground on an energy transmission project that will help accelerate our nation’s transition to a clean energy economy by unlocking renewable resources, creating good-paying jobs, lowering costs, and boosting local economies. pic.twitter.com/BwYnw9aMjA

— Secretary Jennifer Granholm (@SecGranholm) January 20, 2023

Elsewhere…

New: @SecYellen warns congressional leaders that how long the department is able to sustain ‘extraordinary’ measures to avoid a default “is subject to considerable uncertainty.”

As of now, she estimates Treasury will be able to hold off until June. pic.twitter.com/MKPj5QmiVS

— Akayla Gardner (@gardnerakayla) January 19, 2023

Now that the U.S. government has run up against its legal borrowing capacity of $31.381 trillion, the Treasury Department will start implementing "extraordinary measures” to avoid a default.

Here's what you need to know about the debt limit. https://t.co/4ypDfpxWEl pic.twitter.com/1RFsaT8VYW

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2023

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Jan. 19-20
Next Post: Santos: International Man of Mystery »

Reader Interactions

  • Commenters
  • Filtered
  • Settings

Commenters

No commenters available.

  • 2liberal
  • Amir Khalid
  • Another Scott
  • Anyway
  • arrieve
  • Baud
  • BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️
  • Betty Cracker
  • Brachiator
  • Cameron
  • CaseyL
  • catclub
  • cmorenc
  • Dorothy A. Winsor
  • geg6
  • Geminid
  • gene108
  • Gin & Tonic
  • Jeffg166
  • jeffreyw
  • Jim, Foolish Literalist
  • kalakal
  • Ken
  • lowtechcyclist
  • Math Guy
  • Miss Bianca
  • Mr. Bemused Senior
  • mrmoshpotato
  • narya
  • oatler
  • Old School
  • Omnes Omnibus
  • opiejeanne
  • OzarkHillbilly
  • Paul in KY
  • PaulB
  • planetjanet
  • raven
  • rikyrah
  • Scout211
  • SFAW
  • soapdish
  • Soprano2
  • Steve in the ATL
  • StringOnAStick
  • The Lodger
  • The Thin Black Duke
  • Thor Heyerdahl
  • trollhattan
  • UncleEbeneezer
  • WereBear
  • zhena gogolia

Filtered Commenters

No filtered commenters available.

    Settings




    Settings are saved immediately; press X to close the box.

    111Comments

    1. 1.

      Ken

      January 20, 2023 at 9:04 am

      Happy birthday, Mr. Aldrin, though this reminds me of the somewhat sad XKCD “65 years“.

      Reply
    2. 2.

      OzarkHillbilly

      January 20, 2023 at 9:05 am

      Chiewelthap Mariar, a 26-year-old refugee from Sudan, was killed by police officers while working at the Seaboard Foods meatpacking plant in Guymon on 9 January.

      A worker who filmed parts of the incident on his cellphone, and was later fired for doing so, requested to remain anonymous for fear of further retaliation. The worker claimed Mariar was fired from his job by a supervisor but was told by human resources to finish his shift.

      The worker said the supervisor who fired him confronted Mariar on the shop floor after he was fired, and police arrived soon after to escort Mariar from the site. Seaboard Foods did not comment on but did not refute this characterization of the situation.

      “I witnessed the entire thing, from when they started arguing with him until he was shot,” said the worker. “He had a company-issued band-cutter in his hand. When the police got to the plant, the guy was already working, minding his own business.”

      The worker provided cellphone footage leading up to and following the incident, where Mariar can be seen with the band-cutter in his hand working around other employees and being confronted by officers on the shop floor.

      “They made him out to be a danger when they said he had a knife in his hand, when it wasn’t. And that’s wrong on so many levels,” the worker said.
      ………………………..
      The worker also claimed they were asked to sign an incident report, despite not agreeing with what was pre-filled out on the report.

      The company says,

      A spokesperson for Seaboard Corporation, the parent company of Seaboard Foods, said: “Following the incident, operations were ceased for the remainder of the evening and the following day, and we provided in-person counseling services for employees throughout the week, in addition to ongoing phone counseling services available 24 hours, seven days a week.”

      The spokesperson added: “We express our heartfelt sorrow to Chiewelthap Mariar’s family, co-workers, friends and those affected by his death following an incident at our Guymon processing plant involving the Guymon police department on 9 January.

      “Providing our employees with a safe work environment and their wellbeing is extremely important to us. Following repeated attempts to bring calm to the situation, we requested assistance from the Guymon police as we felt it was in the best interest for everyone’s safety.”

      Yes… “heartfelt sorrow” and they are sooo concerned about their employees. FTR, these employees are represented by UFCW local 2. I can only imagine the restrictions they are subject to in Oklahoma.

      Reply
    3. 3.

      Baud

      January 20, 2023 at 9:06 am

      To the Moon!

      One of these days, Alice!

      Reply
    4. 4.

      Jeffg166

      January 20, 2023 at 9:11 am

      In “The Ministry for the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson he had the atmospheric river storm hit Los Angeles flooding it severely. He only got the location wrong.

      Reply
    5. 5.

      gene108

      January 20, 2023 at 9:14 am

      @OzarkHillbilly:

      I wonder how much food they decided to scrap, because of the risk of contamination from a guy being shot on the processing floor and maybe having bits of blood and gore get in the food?

      Reply
    6. 6.

      Dorothy A. Winsor

      January 20, 2023 at 9:16 am

      @gene108: Nonsense. Blood just adds iron

      Reply
    7. 7.

      Baud

      January 20, 2023 at 9:17 am

      @Dorothy A. Winsor: Exactamundo, Iowa Old Vampire.

      Reply
    8. 8.

      Soprano2

      January 20, 2023 at 9:20 am

      Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about background checks a couple of days ago, I appreciate the information. Now to do it…..I’m kind of afraid of what I’ll find out, but I’m also afraid to apply for that estate management thing without knowing if there are things we should know first. All decisions are fraught.

      Reply
    9. 9.

      raven

      January 20, 2023 at 9:20 am

      @Baud: Artemis approves!

      Reply
    10. 10.

      OzarkHillbilly

      January 20, 2023 at 9:26 am

      @gene108: That’s called “seasoning”.

      Reply
    11. 11.

      WereBear

      January 20, 2023 at 9:33 am

      @Soprano2: Knowledge is power. Sad or bad as it may be, always better than a fermenting secret.

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Another Scott

      January 20, 2023 at 9:36 am

      France24 live reporting on the meeting on Ukraine. No announced decision on Leopards yet.

      Cheers,
      Scott.

      Reply
    13. 13.

      WereBear

      January 20, 2023 at 9:36 am

      @OzarkHillbilly: When is the last time it’s been cleaned? And how much human DNA is around, in ways they should not be?

      Why I avoid certain meat producers even if I have to pay more.

      Reply
    14. 14.

      mrmoshpotato

      January 20, 2023 at 9:46 am

      Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin is 93 today.

      May he punch a moon landing denier in celebration today.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      OzarkHillbilly

      January 20, 2023 at 10:01 am

      @WereBear: My wife and I rarely, very rarely, buy beef at the store. I raise my own chickens and take them to a (Fed inspector every day) Mennonite operation for processing. When I pick up the birds at the end of the day, the place is spotless. Hard to believe 2 or 3 thousand birds went thru the place that day. I get my pork (and sometimes lamb) from a buddy who has a Bosnian butcher for that work. I’ve been there and his place is similar at the end of the day.

      I would think the big operations have to be cleaned at least once a day too, but of course I can’t say for sure.

      My main reason for avoiding meat at the store is the prevalence of CAFOs. There is very little good about them.

      Reply
    16. 16.

      rikyrah

      January 20, 2023 at 10:10 am

      Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊

      Reply
    17. 17.

      mrmoshpotato

      January 20, 2023 at 10:13 am

      @rikyrah: Ahoy ahoy, and happy Friday.

      Reply
    18. 18.

      Math Guy

      January 20, 2023 at 10:14 am

      The Apollo 11 moon landing was the day after my birthday (I was still a kid). I was so excited I could barely sleep until the end of the moonwalk and I believed that by the time I was an adult it would be possible to buy a ticket for a trip to the moon. I’m disappointed that I’ll never get to space, but watching the Mars missions, comet rendezvous, Webb telescope, et al, are the rare occasions when I actually feel pride and a touch of optimism about what humans can do.

      Reply
    19. 19.

      narya

      January 20, 2023 at 10:15 am

      @Soprano2: Remember to breathe . . . and as WereBear noted, better to know. Also, breathe.

      Reply
    20. 20.

      Baud

      January 20, 2023 at 10:15 am

      @rikyrah:

      Good morning.

      Reply
    21. 21.

      narya

      January 20, 2023 at 10:19 am

      @OzarkHillbilly: I’m fortunate in that there’s a local producer (Mint Creek Farm, for IL juicers) that seems to do a great job. I’ve never been to the farm, but I’ve had many products. I have so much venison and wild turkey from my friend, and fish from my fish share, that I don’t need a lot of other meat, but anything I get is from Mint Creek. Their heritage breed turkeys are a million dollars but SOOOO good. I also use their bulk ground beef to mix with the ground venison for meatloaf and meatballs and bolognese sauce.

      Reply
    22. 22.

      WereBear

      January 20, 2023 at 10:24 am

      @OzarkHillbilly: I agree, and we do have local organic farmers. Once spring comes I can visit farm stands downtown.

      Reply
    23. 23.

      WereBear

      January 20, 2023 at 10:28 am

      @narya: We had dormant farms in the area revived with families or even communes, who then concentrate on goat cheese, or heirloom leafy greens, or potatoes; we have 70 varieties grown a half hour away.

      Local restaurants list local producers on the menus. It’s a great foodie thing.

      Reply
    24. 24.

      Betty Cracker

      January 20, 2023 at 10:29 am

      On this date 14 years ago, something extraordinary happened: Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th POTUS. I remember feeling proud and hopeful about America back then, sentiments that have been in short supply in the intervening years. Also, it feels like at least 20 years ago, if not 30.

      Le sigh.

      Reply
    25. 25.

      Scout211

      January 20, 2023 at 10:36 am

      AL, thank you for highlighting the damage in California caused by the 9? 10? 11? atmospheric river storms we have had over the past three weeks. The major disaster declaration will help many homeowners and businesses. Thank you, President Biden.

      It’s been a tough 3 weeks, even for those of us who don’t have major damage.  We lost power many times and three of our oak trees fell (no damage to structures) and two pine trees are ready to fall.  But in a nearby town, 20 homes are now red-tagged as uninhabitable and in the rest of the county, 60 more homes and businesses are damaged. And my county isn’t on the major disaster list.

      Today the sun is shining.  😊

      Reply
    26. 26.

      Geminid

      January 20, 2023 at 10:36 am

      @narya: I had not heard of a “fish share” before. What kind of fish do you get? Any walleye?

      Reply
    27. 27.

      narya

      January 20, 2023 at 10:36 am

      @WereBear: Oh, that sounds wonderful! I have a CSA share, too, and they’ve changed their operations–rather than trying to grow everything themselves, they’ve partner with other organic or organic-adjacent family farms in WI and MI and IL, which has been great. And they deliver, which I LOVE–no more schlepping bags and bags of produce on the bus from the farmers’ market.

      Reply
    28. 28.

      oatler

      January 20, 2023 at 10:37 am

      In the spirit of “more ass than a toilet seat”, I used to say “more Tang than Buzz Aldrin”, but kids don’t know “Tang”.

      Reply
    29. 29.

      PaulB

      January 20, 2023 at 10:40 am

      @narya: Their heritage breed turkeys are a million dollars but SOOOO good.

      So, if I give up my retirement account, I can have something like a dozen meals, counting leftovers? Sounds like a bargain!

      Reply
    30. 30.

      narya

      January 20, 2023 at 10:41 am

      @Geminid: I subscribe to Sitka Salmon Shares. What I get is seasonal–this month’s box (I get a premium share) is sockeye salmon and halibut. The other types I’ve received include spot prawns, crab, black cod, cod, rockfish, albacore, and multiple types of salmon (coho, sockeye, king), including some smoked salmon. They’re online (and I can get you a little discount if you decided to sign up). Again, not cheap, but extremely good. It’s flash frozen, in roughly serving-size pieces, so it’s easy to always have some on hand. Check out their website!

      Reply
    31. 31.

      zhena gogolia

      January 20, 2023 at 10:41 am

      @Betty Cracker: The toll the TFG years have taken on us and the country is incalculable.

      Reply
    32. 32.

      Anyway

      January 20, 2023 at 10:42 am

      @Betty Cracker:

      On this date 14 years ago, something extraordinary happened: Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th POTUS. I remember feeling proud and hopeful about America back then, sentiments that have been in short supply in the intervening years. Also, it feels like at least 20 years ago, if not 30.

      OMG, I was there! along with hundreds of thousands of my best friends… It was a bitterly cold January morning and we were so happy and had big smiles all day long …

      Le sigh is right.

      Reply
    33. 33.

      Geminid

      January 20, 2023 at 10:42 am

      @oatler: My family lived in Southern California a few year in the early 1060s. We’d travel back to Wisconsin every year, and I remember drinking Tang in the mornings at motel rooms along the way.

      Reply
    34. 34.

      narya

      January 20, 2023 at 10:43 am

      @PaulB: Okay, I maybe exaggerated . . . . More seriously, I try to warn people when I’m recommending the purveyors I use: small operations are expensive, and good quality is expensive, especially when people are used to the cheap meat they buy in bulk.

      Reply
    35. 35.

      Geminid

      January 20, 2023 at 10:45 am

      @narya: Thanks. But I intend to catch so many yellow perch and crappie this year I’ll be operating a fish share of my own!

      Reply
    36. 36.

      WereBear

      January 20, 2023 at 10:51 am

      @narya: I think one of the detriments of the fast food explosion is how actual food became ridiculously expensive by comparison.

      We actually have overweight and undernourished people. Because they don’t understand they aren’t even getting $1 of nutrition from that dollar menu.

      Reply
    37. 37.

      Mr. Bemused Senior

      January 20, 2023 at 10:52 am

      @Anyway:  I happened to be in New York City and gave a lift home to someone living in Harlem.  You can imagine the feeling.  It still gives me chills.

      Reply
    38. 38.

      Jim, Foolish Literalist

      January 20, 2023 at 10:53 am

      Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego on Monday plans to launch a challenge against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, CBS News has learned.

      Gallego, an outspoken liberal Democrat, has long been critical of Sinema, who dropped her party identification as a Democrat to be an independent just after the party won the Senate last year. The Arizona senator still aligns herself with the Senate Democratic caucus, though.

      Reply
    39. 39.

      narya

      January 20, 2023 at 10:53 am

      @WereBear: And their wages are so low they have to go for the cheap calories. It’s such a vicious cycle.

      Reply
    40. 40.

      Mr. Bemused Senior

      January 20, 2023 at 10:54 am

      @Geminid:

      … in the early 1060s. We’d travel back …

      Time travel?

      Reply
    41. 41.

      Omnes Omnibus

      January 20, 2023 at 10:56 am

      @Geminid: Tang was around longer than I thought.

      Reply
    42. 42.

      Jim, Foolish Literalist

      January 20, 2023 at 10:58 am

      @narya: I thought you were talking about the new proposed SNAP guidelines from the GOP. They were apparently elected on a platform of stopping the undeserving poor from buying the wrong kinds of beans and cheese.

      Reply
    43. 43.

      cmorenc

      January 20, 2023 at 11:00 am

      If anybody doubts climate is changing then they must’ve been asleep last couple years,” Biden tells us in California

      There’s lots of people who stubbornly refuse to be at all a-“woke”.  So no surprise that lots of people are willfully asleep or oblivious with respect to climate change, rationalizing excuses why it ain’t so in the face of nature shouting: SO !

      Reply
    44. 44.

      Mr. Bemused Senior

      January 20, 2023 at 11:01 am

      @Omnes Omnibus:

      Ah, Tang…

      Thanks for the opportunity to post this one.

      Reply
    45. 45.

      oatler

      January 20, 2023 at 11:03 am

      @Geminid:The understood spelling is ‘tang.

      Reply
    46. 46.

      Ken

      January 20, 2023 at 11:04 am

      @WereBear:

      MEALS™ was CHOW™ with added sugar and fat. The theory was that if you ate enough MEALS™ you would a) get very fat, and b) die of malnutrition. The paradox delighted Sable.

      — Good Omens, Gaiman and Pratchett.

      Dr. Raven Sable is Famine, one of the four horsemen, and has been getting involved in the food industry, nouvelle cuisine, diet books, and so forth.

      Reply
    47. 47.

      SFAW

      January 20, 2023 at 11:10 am

      @OzarkHillbilly:

      My wife and I rarely, very rarely, buy beef at the store. I raise my own chickens and take them to a (Fed inspector every day) Mennonite operation for processing.

      Wow, beef from chickens? I never knew that.

      Reply
    48. 48.

      kalakal

      January 20, 2023 at 11:13 am

      @mrmoshpotato:

      May he punch a moon landing denier in celebration today.

      Brilliant!

      I couldn’t stop laughing at that video.

      As well as how obnoxious that creep was I admired Buzz’s restraint. I’d have cracked sooner.

      It was when he called Aldrin a coward, a man who’d ridden a Saturn V, and worked out how to spacewalk

      Reply
    49. 49.

      SFAW

      January 20, 2023 at 11:15 am

      @narya: ​
       

      And their wages are so low they have to go for the cheap calories. It’s such a vicious cycle.

      Fortunately, grocery store chains are making a concerted effort to bring neighborhood grocery stores to poverty-stricken areas, in order to try to fix the problem.
      I was actually able to type that with a straight face.

      Reply
    50. 50.

      Ken

      January 20, 2023 at 11:15 am

      @SFAW: It’s wonderful what they can do with the new 3D printers that use cultured animal cells and/or mechanically reclaimed animal tissue as feedstock.

      Feel free to substitute other adjectives for “wonderful”.

      Reply
    51. 51.

      OzarkHillbilly

      January 20, 2023 at 11:19 am

      A small act of kindness:

      A small town in Alabama is honoring a man who paid off his neighbors’ pharmacy bills for years and kept his generosity a secret until shortly before his recent death by picking up exactly where he left off.

      Hody Childress, a farmer and US air force veteran, began his anonymous charitable campaign when he walked into a drug store in his home town of Geraldine in 2012 and learned from the owner that sometimes families can’t afford to pay for their medicines.

      Childress, moved, responded by handing the owner $100 and telling her to save it for “anyone who can’t afford their prescription”, the local news outlet WVTM reported this month.

      “Do not tell a soul that money came from me,” the owner of Geraldine Drugs, Brooke Walker, recalled Childress saying, according to a Washington Post report on Thursday. “If they ask, just tell them it’s a blessing from the Lord.”

      Childress went back to the pharmacy, which doubles as a meeting place for many of Geraldine’s 900 residents, monthly over the next decade or so, handing Walker a $100 bill each time for the same purpose and again imploring that she tell anyone who asked that it was simply “a blessing from God”.
      …………………….
      Late last year, as he struggled to move around while fighting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health problems, Childress sensed that he was approaching the end of his life. The 80-year-old, who once worked for the aerospace company Lockheed Martin, needed someone to take his customary $100 bill to Geraldine Drugs, and he entrusted the task to his daughter, Tania Nix.
      …………………….
      Childress died on 1 January, leaving behind his second wife, Martha Jo, two children, three stepchildren and 15 grandchildren, among other survivors.

      Nix told those who gathered at his funeral last weekend about what her father would do at Geraldine Drugs. Word of Nix’s revelation spread around town, inspiring Childress’s family, friends and other admirers to start contributing to his fund to allow it to continue.

      Grows.

      Reply
    52. 52.

      Amir Khalid

      January 20, 2023 at 11:21 am

      @Betty Cracker:

      I remember feeling that way when the Berlin Wall fell. The Scorpions’ Wind of Change still makes me nostalgic for those hopeful times, and sad that the hope was not fulfilled.

      Reply
    53. 53.

      CaseyL

      January 20, 2023 at 11:23 am

      Regarding meat, I subscribe to Butcher Box.  It is indeed on the expensive side, but all of their food is certified as organic, raised humanely with sustainable agricultural methods, and clean butchering practices.  They have seafood, chicken, beef, pork; varying cuts; some processed foods like smoked salmon, bacon and sausage.  And they offer specials all the time for subscribers.

      You get a real avalanche of meat with each shipment, and the boxes they ship in are all recyclable (except for the dry ice).

      I’ve been very happy with them, and have not bought any kinds of meat from a supermarket since I signed up with them over a year ago.  (Might be even longer; not sure.)

      Reply
    54. 54.

      Betty Cracker

      January 20, 2023 at 11:24 am

      @Mr. Bemused Senior: North America would have been interesting then, but I’d probably opt for Norman Conquest time travel tourism in that era.

      Reply
    55. 55.

      soapdish

      January 20, 2023 at 11:27 am

      Just mint the damn coin.

      Reply
    56. 56.

      Jim, Foolish Literalist

      January 20, 2023 at 11:29 am

      John Tester finds his hook for ’24 (I think he’s up?): Anti-tax, anti-Feds, anti-GOP

      Senator Jon Tester @SenatorTester
      Montana has no sales tax and we don’t need the federal government imposing one on us. House Republicans’ plan to tack a 30% national sales tax on every good from gas to groceries would skyrocket costs for Montana’s working families.
      I will defeat this awful plan.

      Reply
    57. 57.

      OzarkHillbilly

      January 20, 2023 at 11:30 am

      @SFAW: These new chicken breeds are amazing.

      Reply
    58. 58.

      Betty Cracker

      January 20, 2023 at 11:31 am

      @Amir Khalid: My husband was in the US Air Force Band and stationed in Germany for part of the 1980s. He got out before the wall came down but not-so-fondly recalls playing a lot of the anti-war tunes of the era, including 99 Luftballoons!

      Reply
    59. 59.

      Betty Cracker

      January 20, 2023 at 11:34 am

      @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I firmly believe Sinema is toast, but I hope we can hang onto that seat! Maybe the AZ GOP will give us an assist by recycling a loon like Kari Lake or Blake Masters.

      Reply
    60. 60.

      lowtechcyclist

      January 20, 2023 at 11:34 am

      @OzarkHillbilly:

      US law enforcement killed at least 1,176 people in 2022, making it the deadliest year on record for police violence since 2013 when experts first started tracking the killings nationwide

      How many law enforcement officers die each year as the result of a violent assault?  Between 50 and 60, usually.  (I added up the lines for Shot, Stabbed, Strangled, Beaten, Bomb-Related Incident, and Terrorist Attack.  Before Covid, job-related police deaths had been divided roughly evenly between motor vehicle-related deaths, job-related illnesses, and violent deaths.  For the past three years, Covid’s been far and away the biggest cop-killer.)

      So LEOs kill 20 times as many people as succeed in killing them.

      Incidents like the one you link to especially piss me off.  Suppose he’d actually had a knife?  All you have to do to keep everyone safe is get everyone the hell away from him.  Once that’s done, there’s no urgency.  But so often, cops resort to violence when there’s no need to, when just pulling back and being patient suffices.

      Reply
    61. 61.

      Cameron

      January 20, 2023 at 11:34 am

      I’ve been looking at joining a CSA, but I can’t find anybody to go into it with me and even half a share is way too much food for one person.

      Reply
    62. 62.

      Jim, Foolish Literalist

      January 20, 2023 at 11:36 am

      @Amir Khalid: did you follow the Winds of Change podcast? it doesn’t take itself too seriously and it contains some great story telling

      It’s 1990. The Berlin Wall has just come down. The Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse. A heavy metal band from West Germany, the Scorpions, releases a power ballad, “Wind of Change.” The song becomes the soundtrack to the peaceful revolution sweeping Europe — and one of the biggest rock singles ever. According to some fans, it’s the song that ended the Cold War.
      Decades later, New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe hears a rumor from a source: the Scorpions didn’t actually write “Wind of Change.” The CIA did.
      This is Patrick’s journey to find the truth. Among former operatives and leather-clad rockers, from Moscow to Kyiv to a GI Joe convention in Ohio, it’s a story about spies doing the unthinkable, about propaganda hidden in pop music, and a maze of government secrets. “Wind of Change.” An offbeat eight part investigation

      Reply
    63. 63.

      SFAW

      January 20, 2023 at 11:38 am

      @OzarkHillbilly: ​ Do they moo, cluck, or some combo of the two?​
       
      ETA: You might also consider using them for a new fast-food concept: Chick-Fil-A-Mignon

      Reply
    64. 64.

      trollhattan

      January 20, 2023 at 11:39 am

      @Mr. Bemused Senior: The journey to the nearest other village often took days, and one was greatly concerned with the threat from saber-tooth tigers and the like, along the way.

      Reply
    65. 65.

      Ken

      January 20, 2023 at 11:48 am

      @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I have a couple of relatives in Montana, right-wing on most things, but they are still angry that after Citizens United the Supreme Court struck down Montana’s law prohibiting corporate expenditures in elections.

      (Admittedly this may be because, on the very few occasions I talk to them, I find a way to work it into the conversation.)

      Reply
    66. 66.

      zhena gogolia

      January 20, 2023 at 11:50 am

      @Jim, Foolish Literalist: This sounds like a “scandal” similar to the CIA helping to circulate Doctor Zhivago. If that’s what they’re using my tax dollars to do, I’m fine with it.

      Reply
    67. 67.

      kalakal

      January 20, 2023 at 11:51 am

      @OzarkHillbilly: Suddenly very dusty in here. What a wonderful human being

      Reply
    68. 68.

      OzarkHillbilly

      January 20, 2023 at 11:51 am

      @SFAW: “COK-A-DOODLE-MOOOOOOOOO.

      Reply
    69. 69.

      jeffreyw

      January 20, 2023 at 11:52 am

      Fifty Shades of Hay

      Reply
    70. 70.

      StringOnAStick

      January 20, 2023 at 11:55 am

      @OzarkHillbilly: CAFO’s are hideous in every way and a prime reason for e. Coli. contamination of meat, especially beef.  We are lucky to have a grass fed and finished beef and lamb ranch 7 miles east of us.  The difference is noticeable and regenerative agriculture ranches are one solution to global warming.  We’re more than willing to pay more for all these reasons.

      Reply
    71. 71.

      SFAW

      January 20, 2023 at 11:59 am

      @OzarkHillbilly:

      I wish I had thought of that. NotMax probably does, too.

      Reply
    72. 72.

      Jim, Foolish Literalist

      January 20, 2023 at 12:00 pm

      @zhena gogolia: I think they get into that, but it’s been a while since I listened.

      Reply
    73. 73.

      StringOnAStick

      January 20, 2023 at 12:01 pm

      @WereBear: I realised after we moved a bit over two years ago that I had eaten no fast food since we left Colorado.  Once I noticed it had been a year, the second year was easy and now I have a record to maintain so that keeps me away from it.  It took about a year to completely lose my taste for it, that stuff is engineered to be addictive.

      Reply
    74. 74.

      OzarkHillbilly

      January 20, 2023 at 12:01 pm

      Via commentor daryl and his brother darryl over at OTB, comes this little tidbit:

      Aaron Laigaie co-founder of the Proud Boys, well-known figure in the American far-right, staunch Trump supporter, and well-known anti-vaxxer who insisted he had a “natural resistance” to the Covid virus, has died.
      Yup – of Covid.
      Aaron is now a poster child for Darwinism AND the Dunning Kruger Effect

      Reply
    75. 75.

      OzarkHillbilly

      January 20, 2023 at 12:03 pm

      @SFAW: ​OHB: “Aw, shucks…” looks down and kicks the dirt at his feet…

      Reply
    76. 76.

      mrmoshpotato

      January 20, 2023 at 12:04 pm

      @Cameron:

      I’ve been looking at joining a CSA 

      Sounds like a lost cause.

      Reply
    77. 77.

      mrmoshpotato

      January 20, 2023 at 12:07 pm

      @SFAW: Speaking of cow and chicken…

      Reply
    78. 78.

      Gin & Tonic

      January 20, 2023 at 12:07 pm

      BBC says this cloud looks like a UFO. I think it looks like something else…

      UFO-like cloud forms in Turkey https://t.co/FdNwCR86hH— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 20, 2023

      Reply
    79. 79.

      kalakal

      January 20, 2023 at 12:09 pm

      @zhena gogolia: And I have a balalaika ear worm! Thanks CIA!

      Reply
    80. 80.

      Old School

      January 20, 2023 at 12:10 pm

      @Gin & Tonic: I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords.

      Reply
    81. 81.

      Thor Heyerdahl

      January 20, 2023 at 12:13 pm

      @narya: I subscribed to the Canadian Community Supported Fishery “Skipper Otto” out of Vancouver. You prepay a certain amount and then order per month. They offer what is in season, let you know which fisher caught the item, and use sustainable methods to do so. They flash freeze and deliver all the way to Ottawa.

      skipperotto.com

      Reply
    82. 82.

      Thor Heyerdahl

      January 20, 2023 at 12:16 pm

      @Anyway: I was there too. All the way back by the Washington Monument.

      My favourite comment from the crowd was after Biden took the VP oath and Cheney was no longer VP – “Now watch for some fucking space ship to come down and pick him [Dick] up!”

      Reply
    83. 83.

      Paul in KY

      January 20, 2023 at 12:17 pm

      @Betty Cracker: I was partying that day! Pretty sure I took off from work.  God bless Barak & Michelle!

      Reply
    84. 84.

      trollhattan

      January 20, 2023 at 12:17 pm

      @Gin & Tonic: Seven imams condemned it to death, but it broke up before they could carry out the sentence.

      Reply
    85. 85.

      lowtechcyclist

      January 20, 2023 at 12:18 pm

      @Betty Cracker:

      Also, it feels like at least 20 years ago, if not 30.

      I know what you mean.  Things like 9/11 and the Iraq war feel like they happened in some distant generation.  This business of democracy having been on the ropes for years now is emotionally exhausting.

      Reply
    86. 86.

      Paul in KY

      January 20, 2023 at 12:18 pm

      @Omnes Omnibus: Heard Henry II was famous for spicing his with hippocras!

      Reply
    87. 87.

      UncleEbeneezer

      January 20, 2023 at 12:19 pm

      @lowtechcyclist: Yup.  And all you have to do is look at how police in other countries operate and the (much more sane) results they get.  All it takes is 1.) less guns and 2.) police having more of a public servant mindset and emphasis on safety and deescalation.  But of course, we can’t do either of those because we’re such an incredibly racist, shit-hole country where white voters are paranoid about Slave Revolts crime and insist that police be their proxy force for punishing Black People.

      Reply
    88. 88.

      Ken

      January 20, 2023 at 12:24 pm

      @trollhattan: Seven imams condemned it to death, but it broke up before they could carry out the sentence.

      Oh, the cloud. For a minute I thought you were talking about the cow-chicken hybrid abomination.

      Reply
    89. 89.

      The Thin Black Duke

      January 20, 2023 at 12:26 pm

      @Old School: Nope.

      Reply
    90. 90.

      BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

      January 20, 2023 at 12:28 pm

      @Betty Cracker: Indeed.

      Thanks for that memory. I treasure it greatly.

      Reply
    91. 91.

      Soprano2

      January 20, 2023 at 12:30 pm

      @Paul in KY: I know I took off work so I could watch it on TV. I cried a little bit, then enjoyed watching them be able to walk during the parade. One little bit of history that’s been disappeared is how George W. couldn’t walk any of the parade route because there were so many angry people lining the streets, they were throwing things at the limo and yelling things. The Secret Service was afraid to let George W. get out of the limo until they were past all of the people.

      Reply
    92. 92.

      geg6

      January 20, 2023 at 12:31 pm

      @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

      I looooooooooved that podcast.  Just enjoyed the hell out of it.  Wish he’d do some more.

      Reply
    93. 93.

      Brachiator

      January 20, 2023 at 12:37 pm

      @Betty Cracker:

      On this date 14 years ago, something extraordinary happened: Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th POTUS. I remember feeling proud and hopeful about America back then, sentiments that have been in short supply in the intervening years. Also, it feels like at least 20 years ago, if not 30.

      It was amazing to feel being part of history, and momentous change.

      We had pushback and craziness, but the Biden Administration brings echoes of those earlier warm feelings.

      ETA: For no particular reason, I was recently watching a couple of YouTube videos featuring the Obamas talking about settling into the White House. I was also looking at stories about the layout of the White House and the family accommodations. I didn’t realize that there were bedrooms and family areas on the third floor.

      Reply
    94. 94.

      Miss Bianca

      January 20, 2023 at 12:38 pm

      @OzarkHillbilly: Oh, things suddenly got a little dusty in this room here…

      Reply
    95. 95.

      catclub

      January 20, 2023 at 12:43 pm

      @Soprano2: . I cried a little bit, then enjoyed watching them be able to walk during the parade.

       

      Pete Seeger singing “This Land is Your Land”… all the verses.

      Reply
    96. 96.

      Steve in the ATL

      January 20, 2023 at 12:44 pm

      @Gin & Tonic: Georgia O’Keeffe is doing photography now?

      Reply
    97. 97.

      opiejeanne

      January 20, 2023 at 12:47 pm

      @Soprano2: I missed that at the time, and now I wonder why I never heard that.

      Reply
    98. 98.

      lowtechcyclist

      January 20, 2023 at 12:48 pm

      @Paul in KY:

      @Betty Cracker: I was partying that day! Pretty sure I took off from work.  God bless Barak & Michelle!

      My wife and I were frantically preparing for our first of three trips to Russia to adopt the kiddo, but I’m pretty sure I remember taking a break to watch it on TV.

      Reply
    99. 99.

      Cameron

      January 20, 2023 at 12:56 pm

      @mrmoshpotato: In DeSantis’ Florida many things are possible.

      Reply
    100. 100.

      arrieve

      January 20, 2023 at 1:09 pm

      @Thor Heyerdahl: I was by the Washington Monument too! Maybe you were one of the people I hugged after Obama took the oath of office. It was bitterly cold that day–I ended up standing on a newspaper to keep the cold from leaching into my feet–but so so worth it.

      Reply
    101. 101.

      The Lodger

      January 20, 2023 at 1:14 pm

      @trollhattan: Most of the other imams couldn’t identify it.

      Reply
    102. 102.

      Paul in KY

      January 20, 2023 at 1:40 pm

      @OzarkHillbilly: A kind soul. RIP to him. A good USAF vet! There are many more, of course. You just seem to hear about the crackpots, like the  MAGAwhack that got herself shot on 01/06.

      Reply
    103. 103.

      Paul in KY

      January 20, 2023 at 1:43 pm

      @OzarkHillbilly: Sorry Ani-Vaxxer!!! That brings a smile to my face.

      Reply
    104. 104.

      Paul in KY

      January 20, 2023 at 1:53 pm

      @Soprano2: Good on those giving shit to shrub! He’s way better than TFG…but he’s still a POS AWOLer to me.

      Reply
    105. 105.

      Paul in KY

      January 20, 2023 at 1:53 pm

      @Soprano2: Good on those giving shit to shrub! He’s way better than TFG…but he’s still a POS AWOLer to me.

      Reply
    106. 106.

      Jim, Foolish Literalist

      January 20, 2023 at 2:14 pm

      @Paul in KY: the memory-holing of Bush, especially by some of the more emo of the ex-Republicans and never-trumpers, is one of the under-discussed causes and effects of the trump era

      Reply
    107. 107.

      Soprano2

      January 20, 2023 at 2:19 pm

      @opiejeanne: The press hardly talked about it, but it was talked about a lot on liberal blogs, how he couldn’t walk the route because everyone who was angry about how the Supreme Court appointed him lined the parade route so they could yell at him. You will never hear me say that George W. was elected in 2000 – he was appointed by the Supreme Court. I would never say that he “stole” it, but the court gave him the office.

      Reply
    108. 108.

      Miss Bianca

      January 20, 2023 at 2:40 pm

      @Soprano2: We used to call him “The President Select,” in my lefty circles.

      Reply
    109. 109.

      planetjanet

      January 20, 2023 at 4:23 pm

      Repeat after me: Republicans do not pay their debts.

      Reply
    110. 110.

      Geminid

      January 20, 2023 at 6:41 pm

      @Jim, Foolish Literalist: In political terms, I can see at least two ways the Iraq war hurt the Republican party. I think it accelerated a shift away by middle and upper middle class, college educated Republicans and Independents. In 2004, Albemarle County, Virginia, surrounding Charlottesville was carried by the Democratic Presidential candidate for the first time in decades, and has voted Democratic ever since. This could have been a coincidence but I don’t think so.

      I think the war also discredited the Republican establishment as a class, and that made it easier for the tea-party radicals to shove them aside during the following decade.

      Reply
    111. 111.

      2liberal

      January 20, 2023 at 11:15 pm

      @Betty Cracker:  AZ GOP will give us an assist

       

      I will be the loon primary voters, not the GOP establishment.

      Reply

    Leave a Comment

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    If you don't see both the Visual and the Text tab on the editor, click here to refresh.

    Clear Comment

    To reply to more than one person, click the X to save & close the box.

    Primary Sidebar

    🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

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

    2023 Pet Calendars

    Pet Calendar Preview: A
    Pet Calendar Preview: B

    *Calendars can not be ordered until Cafe Press gets their calendar paper in.

    Recent Comments

    • Spanish Moss on Entertainment Open Thread: Happy Birthday, Mr. Hackman! (Jan 31, 2023 @ 4:46am)
    • opiejeanne on Entertainment Open Thread: Happy Birthday, Mr. Hackman! (Jan 31, 2023 @ 3:55am)
    • Brachiator on Entertainment Open Thread: Happy Birthday, Mr. Hackman! (Jan 31, 2023 @ 3:31am)
    • Chetan Murthy on War for Ukraine Day 340: Just a Brief Update Tonight (Jan 31, 2023 @ 3:26am)
    • AlaskaReader on Entertainment Open Thread: Happy Birthday, Mr. Hackman! (Jan 31, 2023 @ 3:26am)

    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
    We All Need A Little Kindness
    Favorite Dogs & Cats
    Classified Documents: A Primer

    Calling All Jackals

    Site Feedback
    Nominate a Rotating Tag
    Submit Photos to On the Road
    Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup

    Front-pager Twitter

    John Cole
    DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
    Betty Cracker
    Tom Levenson
    TaMara
    David Anderson
    ActualCitizensUnited

    Shop Amazon via this link to support Balloon Juice   

    Join the Fight!

    Join the Fight Signup Form
    All Join the Fight Posts

    Balloon Juice Events

    5/14  The Apocalypse
    5/20  Home Away from Home
    5/29  We’re Back, Baby
    7/21  Merging!

    Balloon Juice for Ukraine

    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 © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

    Insert/edit link

    Enter the destination URL

    Or link to existing content

      No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.
        Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

        Email sent!