Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Bark louder, little dog.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

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

Their freedom requires your slavery.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

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

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Reverse Festivus

Reverse Festivus

by | 148 Comments

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Today seems like a good day for another Reverse Festivus.

John used to say that the site rebuild process was kind of like having a baby together; once the process really got started, it took about 9 months before the “baby” went live on November 13.  Sticking with relationship metaphors, I have also heard that the best test of a relationship is doing a small bathroom remodel together.

Well, John and I got our “bathroom remodel” exactly one one year ago today, right about this time in the afternoon.

Yes, I am referring to THE APOCOLYPSE.  May 14, 2022.  What a stressful time that was for all of us.  Six days later we had our Home Away from Home site, where we lived for 10 days, and then we moved into our new empty house and fixed it up to look pretty much just like the old one.

I was beside myself thinking we had lost 20 years of history.  That hit me really hard, and I know I wasn’t alone in that.  Two months later we combined households and moved all our belongings – nearly all of our 20 years of history that we thought we had lost in the fire – into the new place.

So to get us started with Reverse Festivus, I want to say how grateful I am that we kept our community together, how grateful I am that we got our site back, how grateful I am that we got our history back, and how grateful I am that we did it with all our relationships intact.

Sometimes I take it for granted, but I am also immensely grateful that we don’t have ads on Balloon Juice.  That was a classy move and a leap of faith for Cole, and I’m so grateful for that decision.

Anybody else up for joining in on reverse Festivus?

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  1. 1.

    zhena gogolia

    I’m very grateful for all your hard work, and I love the absence of ads 🥰

  2. 2.

    cain

    Same very grateful for all the work put in this site and yes.. no ads!!

    Thank you John and Watergirl!

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    It was quite a time for all of us, but especially for you and John and the other FPers. I too am very glad this site doesn’t have ads, considering most sites are now drowning in so many damn ads I can barely stand to look at them for more than about 30 seconds.

  4. 4.

    Noname

    I can’t imagine what it takes to run this place on a daily basis, much less what it took to restore it after that fiasco.  Thank you WG.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    So I just read that James Comer told fox news Maria, that they can’t locate the informant who has all the info on the Biden crime family.

    It’s difficult locating a ghost.

  7. 7.

    MattF

    We can be happy that David Farenthold is still uncovering RW grift, now working for the NYT (gift link). Robocalls to small donors, and less than 1% of the money collected actually goes to the causes the ‘callers’ are promoting.  The rest, 99%, goes to… three guys in Wisconsin who, um, coincidentally, worked for Koch-funded organizations in their college years. The NYT article doesn’t mention Koch, but that info is on Twitter.

  8. 8.

    S Cerevisiae

    Very grateful for the work you and John and everyone else who keeps this wonderful asylum going. It really is a community and without it the world would be a poorer place, thanks to all the jackals out there who make it happen.

  9. 9.

    SteveinPHX

    I’m a lurker who stumbled on BJ early in the pandemic. Took me weeks to figure out what this was, but I knew I was on to something – intelligent life!
    I freaked when this crashed. But you guys brought it back!

    I still lurk, but am a happy camper!

    Thank you!!

  10. 10.

    Ann Marie

    Watergirl, and John, and all the front-pagers, thank you for everything you do and all the time you spend with this site. I’m mainly a lurker, but, to the extent possible, this site keeps me sane.  The thought of losing it was frightening!

  11. 11.

    Nukular Biskits

    I have no idea what the traffic stats are for BJ but I suspect there are large # of lurkers and semi-lurkers like me.

    I don’t remember exactly how I stumbled upon Mr. Cole’s rants years ago, but they’re now part of my daily routine.

    And, arguably, THE APOCOLYPSE was just as disruptive to the fly-by folks like me as it was for the regulars and the front-pagers.

    I’m glad that you were able to salvage everything (?).

  12. 12.

    sheila in nc

    I’ve been mostly lurking for over a decade now. I hadn’t thought about the interregnum in a long time but I remember it now — devastating for us, and I can’t even imagine what it was like for Watergirl and JC. You folks are so good at your job, it’s easy to forget how much you do behind the scenes. Thanks for the reminder; I’m endlessly grateful that this site and this community are here.

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    @SteveinPHX:

    Took me weeks to figure out what this was, but I knew I was on to something – intelligent life!

    That made me laugh.  I have been here so long I can’t recall exactly how I pieced together what BJ is.  Since it’s still sort of fresh in your mind, what did you come up with as you were making sense of BJ?

  15. 15.

    JaySinWA

    @Nukular Biskits:

    I don’t remember exactly how I stumbled upon Mr. Cole’s rants years ago, but they’re now part of my daily routine.

    I recall my first exposure came with an “enormous, mendacious, disembodied anus” set to Kokomo.

    Thanks WG for all you do here

    ETA The apocalypse was only a  year ago? Seems like much longer.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    OK OK… Thanx to all the folks who put in so much work at keeping this place going.

    Damn, that was actually kinda painful. ;-)

  18. 18.

    japa21

    BJ was a dream that was alive, then it became a nightmare. Due to the extreme diligence of everyone involved, which undoubtedly involved more than a little bit of yelling at people, the dream is once again alive.
    WaterGirl, I will never forget your kindness to me when I thought I had Covid. You have probably forgotten it but that is because that is the kind of person you are.
    In fact, that is the kind of person almost all the FPers are, even Dr. Silverman who has a heart of gold, even though I would never want to meet him in a dark alleyway.
    A while back, someone called this place a family. That met with some objections, understandably. Yet, I can guarantee you some people here find more warmth on this site than they found in their families growing up.
    So thank you so much.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JaySinWA: ​ I know with absolute certainty how much Love hurts. Some friends found a cave which, for lack of imagination they named the Love cave. It is over a mile long with about 3,000 ft of crawling just to start with. That cave always left a mark.

  20. 20.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    Many thanks to WG and JC for everything!! This place is great and has basically everything needed; I am astounded at the range of topics and expertise from the FPer’s posts, plus all the input (OTR etc.) from the jackels, plus pet pics. Thank you!

  22. 22.

    Josie

    I’m grateful for you, WaterGirl, and for John Cole, plus all the other front pagers. I don’t know how I would have maintained my sanity if I didn’t have this family and my family IRL for the last few years.
    I’m also grateful (and I’m sure my family is) that I am putting the finishing touches on my historical novel in preparation for self publishing on Amazon. It’s taken years, but I’m actually doing this. You never know what you can accomplish until you try.

  23. 23.

    Ken

    Let me unimaginatively add my grateful thanks to Watergirl for keeping things running, and to John for bringing us all together in the first place.

    I think I first found this site around 2005. I was reading Huffington Post to keep up with actual Katrina news — since there was such a difference between what I was hearing from relatives in the area and what I was seeing on TV. Either HuffPost had a link to BJ, or they had a link to some other site (Lawyers-Guns-Money, maybe) that had a link.

    I have also heard that the best test of a relationship is doing a small bathroom remodel together.

    But how much of that is disagreement over threaded comments paint colors for the cabinetry, versus simple stress at losing use of one bathroom?

  24. 24.

    Ken

    @MattF: Generally I’m in favor of stamping out grifting, but reports like that make me wonder just how much of the U.S. economy is based on it.

  27. 27.

    CaseyL

    Ah, yes, I do remember the Apocalypse.  I remember how grateful we were when the Home From Home went live and we could talk to each other again!  And how great it felt to come back “home,” when the mothership returned.

    There are many things to be grateful for, and that I am grateful for on a daily basis.  But a new one occurred to me early today:  the place where I live, and how it is very, very much like a long term relationship.

    I’ve been in this townhouse for nearly 30 years.

    I remember when I first moved in, feeling exactly like I was in a new romance.  Excited, enamored, finding new things about the house that were cute, or weird, or thrilling. Shopping for household items, I would think and say, “Oh, I bet The House would like that.”

    A couple of years ago, when I thought I’d have to retire early, and decided I’d have to move someplace less expensive: actually getting an inspection of this place, and contacting realtors to tour and discuss other houses, seems in retrospect almost like cheating on a partner.  I was flirting, I was going so far as to arrange dates… but never “went all the way.”

    And now, thinking seriously that I will never leave, for all kinds of reasons; developing a mature appreciation for my house and the townhouse community I’m part of.  It’s very much like a long marriage, where things got wobbly for a while but never broke, and now my house and I are happily getting old together.

    So I’m thankful for that as well.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    @CaseyL: Love your telling us about your relationship with your townhouse.

    They laughed at me (with me) at the tile store when I came to look at the Italian tile yet one more time.  The woman at the counter said “still no decision?” and I said “we’re still dating, and I’m pretty sure I want to take it to the next level, but I’m not quite there yet.”

    So I totally get your analogy!

  30. 30.

    gene108

    I’m grateful for Balloon-Juice. It’s like being in a room chatting with other people or just listening to other people chat.

    Makes life less lonely.

  31. 31.

    toine

    I don’t comment often, but I have been here daily since soon after Cole’s conversion. I am grateful to all the front pagers, past and present, that give their time to create great content daily. I am also grateful to our curmudgeonly blog-father who has kept this all going for so long with openness, honesty, the occasional rant, grace, style and panache!

  32. 32.

    KrackenJack

    I occasionally wonder what impact this parasitism has on rural economies. It’s got to be hundreds of millions per year. Even if it is coming mostly from the local business owners, it must have a negative impact on growth. A MAGAt tax with no social return.

  35. 35.

    SteveinPHX

    @WaterGirl: I was idling on the internet one day and stumbled across a reference to Balloon-Juice. Can’t remember where. I googled that. There was your site. You had me at Rotating Tags!

  36. 36.

    JaySinWA

    @KrackenJack:

    Hopefully you are referring to the article @MattF: mentioned and not the BJ phoenix rising from the ashes.

    If so, oh ye of little faith. Holding the line against the rapacious tax man keeps the hinterland strong and allows those local businessmen to give back to their community just like God and the GOP intended. Pay no attention to the potholes and the encroachment of the big box stores.

    Look, there’s the traveling Bible salesman that is delivering the gorgeous Bible your dad ordered COD just before he died. Who could ask for anything more. /reverseFestivus

  37. 37.

    Soprano2

    I appreciate everything the people who run this site do, it keeps me sane knowing there are other people who think like I do, plus I can vent and get advice here.

  38. 38.

    Queen of Lurkers

    Note my nym. Just wanted to chime in and say I appreciate the site and all the work that goes into its upkeep. I particularly like the format of comments posted.

    Also, as someone who knows something about writing/good prose, let me say that I’m frequently blown away by the turns of phrase so many posters come up with. Ah, the snide — it warms the heart.

  39. 39.

    StringOnAStick

    @japa21: No, no, no; Silverman is the guy you want at your side in that dark alley!

    As for the story about the 3 right wing grifters taking 99% of the funds, it looks to me like (1) they learned their grifting craft well by working at Koch sponsored political groups in college, and (2) who am I complain about them taking money from the idiots who fall for their pressure campaigns?  At least they’re just buying another boat or sports car instead of actually supporting RW candidates or issues, and the rubes have given them money that could have better used by less grifty RW groups.  Who am I kidding?  If it’s RW, it’s grifty!

  40. 40.

    raven

    My go-to Georgia football blog mysteriously came to a halt about two months ago. There was an open comment section so people just keep posting there and wonder what happened to the host. Many had his email address and knew the law firm where he worked so folks tried all kinds of ways to ask about him and wish him the best. Finally, after over a month he re-emerged and explained that he had a medical crisis and had to step away. The blog is no BJ (although he does us WP) but it was still cool to see how people responded. StevefromATL know of what I speak.

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    @gene108: But without the awkwardness of having to walk over to a group of people you don’t know.

    Have you seen this?

  42. 42.

    narya

    I am so grateful for this site! ALL of the front pagers–not one but TWO video calls with Adam Schiff; daily help wading through Covid; rescue from THE APOCALYPSE; a wide variety of knowledge bases (I’m still amazed that Dick Mayhew guy apparently got a job through this blog); making election participation easy; and a willingness to take a leap into ad-free. I’m grateful for the commenters, too, even the ones I occasionally pie, and I recognize that it’s the work of Betty and Anne and John and WG and Adam and Tom and David and TaMara and planet eddie and Majorx4 and whoever I’m forgetting.

    I really appreciate the lack of ads!!

    Thank you all.

  43. 43.

    cain

    @JPL: It also seems to infer that something nefarious happened to said informant and possibly the Biden crime family is behind it. These worms…

  45. 45.

    BeautifulPlumage

    I’m grateful for

    1. No ads!
    2. Finding out about news & politics without having to watch the actual shows
    3. The folks who write, comment, add to, and otherwise support this site
    4. Ditto almost every comment above
  47. 47.

    kalakal

    I hadn’t realised how much this place meant to me until suddenly it wasn’t there. From all my years as a contract programmer I have an inkling of how much work it involved to bring it back.

    So, many, many thanks to John, Watergirl, all the frontpagers, and to all the rest of you for making this place what it is

  48. 48.

    StringOnAStick

    There’s been no better source for: Covid information, Russia actions and Ukraine information, learning how to be a better democrat, finding out which political groups give us more bang for our collective buck, advice on just about anything, a place to mourn, to vent, to shoot the breeze, talk about pets, gardens, everyone’s local part of the world, etc, etc, etc.  I used to frequent other blogs and initially I found the non threaded replies hard to follow but now I’m used to it.  No better place on the internet as far as I’m concerned and pretty much my One stop shop thanks to all the front pagers offer, and the commenters too.  If I missed anyone or topic chalk it up to this place being a universe with many planets.

  49. 49.

    Travels with Charley

    I have been (mostly) lurking since 2008, and Balloon Juice is a fixture in my life; I check in daily (usually several times a day), and value all of the expertise I find here.  I wanted to say this now, because I believe that BJ is like an iceberg:  I bet that there are MANY lurkers like me who depend on BJ, but are unknown to the larger community.  The scope of BJ is far greater than is known!  And I am so grateful to all of you who keep BJ alive & a venue for intelligent conversation!

  51. 51.

    eclare

    @CaseyL:

    I have been in my house for eighteen years and feel the same way.  It fits me perfectly.  Never leaving.

  52. 52.

    ema

    Balloon Juice put a spell on me! Before discovering BJ I was indifferent to birds, and I didn’t even own a camera. Now, I accost birders in the Ramble and make them identify birds for me, and I have a YouTube channel. Coincidence? I think not.

    (seriously now, I was lucky to have found BJ, and I’m very thankful for this community)

  53. 53.

    AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team

    WG, John, all the front pagers, my life would be lonelier, less hopeful, and less informed without all of your labors of love.

    This site saves my mental and emotional bacon day after day and I can’t thank all of you enough.

  54. 54.

    Carlo Graziani

    This is the only site I feel I need to visit every day. Thanks for the, er, midwifery.

  56. 56.

    Ruckus

    @JPL:

    It’s difficult locating a ghost.

    It’s difficult locating a ghost that does not and never did exist.

    FIXITFY.

  57. 57.

    Mai Naem mobile

    It seems like the Apocolypse was much longer than a year ago. I guess it’s a good thing I feel that way?  Did anything come of the lawsuit? My memories are vague here so I don’t remember if Cole actually filed a lawsuit or planning to.

    Anyhow, thanks for all the work all you guys put in here.  I don’t think its just organic, I think Cole has the ability of putting people together who meld well together and that’s a real skillset there.

  58. 58.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: Here’s what he said

    I cannot begin to tell you all how much the tidal wave of well wishes I’ve received over the past week plus have meant.  It’s been inspiring.

    But I probably need to make clear that the last few days have been more of a respite than a resolution to my health situation.  In fact, as you read this, I will be undergoing what I hope is a final resolution of that.  It’s pretty substantial and I expect I’ll be out of commission for at least a week afterwards.

    I promise I’ll return to blogging as soon as it’s feasible, so bear with me.  And, thanks again.

  61. 61.

    Ruckus

    I’ve been here for a very long time. I have no actual idea when I first commented but it was a while after I started reading. I believe I started commenting in 07 or 08. I thought we needed a ruckus here and as no one else was being one, I chimed in. This is my home page and has been for a lot of years and computers. The site isn’t old enough to legally drink in CA (still 21) but it is getting close.

    I’ve tried a lot of other sites over the last couple of decades but this one has a style and acceptance of commenters that many seem to lack.

    Come for the politics, stay for the snark has a lot of draw for some/many of us.

  63. 63.

    NotMax

    IIRC correctly renewal of the annual URL certificate thingie comes due in June.

    Just a reminder.     ;)

  65. 65.

    JoyceH

    I don’t know how long I’ve been following Balloon Juice, but I do remember I came over here when Cole was still a Republican, so when was that? Some other blog I was following then (now lost in the sands of time) mentioned Balloon Juice as a sane Republican you can read without screaming, so I came on over. I remember the exciting day when Cole went stomping over to change his registration from Republican to Independent, and then thought heck with it (I cleaned that up a bit) and went full Democrat. Thrilling times!

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    @KrackenJack:

    Some think that their way is the only way, usually small time power mongers. They like that they are big cheeses in their small towns, live in the power/money section and get to hold it over most everyone else. Now I’m sure there are some small towns that don’t have that structure but I can’t recall ever seeing one and I’ve traveled to and through 46 of the states, often out in the sticks and lived in 3 of them, one in the west, one in the middle and one in the south. Big cities often have the same kinds of people living in them, it’s just that they don’t stand out as much.

  67. 67.

    JaySinWA

    @KrackenJack:Even if it is coming mostly from the local business owners, it must have a negative impact on growth.

    The article doesn’t address who the donors are, but a similar scam group of Young Republicans was reported on years ago working from lists of mostly older people who had responded before and milked them over and over again with

    stories of the desperate needs of the politicians they were [not] donating to. They built a rapport with lonely old people. These people were drained of all their reserves and further impoverished by the scam artists.

    I doubt many of the marks here were businessmen.

    ETA

    @StringOnAStick: At least they’re just buying another boat or sports car instead of actually supporting RW candidates or issues, and the rubes have given them money that could have better used by less grifty RW groups.

    The article talks about donors mostly giving less than $200, so not the somewhat big wheel donors.

  69. 69.

    CaseyL

    @WaterGirl: 

    @eclare:

    It’s nice to know others also feel that way about their homes!   The realization that my home is my SO made me laugh.

    Regarding the GOP Grifters (a redundancy if ever there was one), I’m with  @StringOnAStick: the more $$ the grifters peel off, the less $$ there is for actual politicking.  Which suites me just fine. (Although, alas, the oligarchs will more than make up for what the hoi polloi can no longer afford to give.)

  71. 71.

    Quiltingfool

    I love this place.  I think of everyone here as members of my extended family!
    If you think about it, we do act as a family – we care about each other, we give advice, we argue, we commiserate, we laugh, we cry, we get grumpy, we share our lives with each other and so on – just as families do.

    I am very grateful for all the work WaterGirl does; my goodness, she has so much energy and patience!  Not going to leave out all the other frontpagers who keep us informed and enlightened!  I want you to know the work you do is so appreciated and valued.

    Blessings be upon all of you!

  72. 72.

    JaySinWA

    @CaseyL:  Unfortunately these scam artists are most likely preying on people who wouldn’t otherwise donate to a politician. I don’t think they are diverting that much from  the R’s.

    The bigger grift that does hurt both sides are the consultants and professionals that divert campaign funds to personal “business” accounts and shell corporations for “legitimate” expenditures at big mark ups if they deliver at all.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    Turkey is inching (centimetering?) towards booting their turkey Erdogan, or perhaps a runoff. Somehow I think he’s got a scheme to stay in office no matter what, but it would be great to get this Putin-loving chump out of NATO.

    We keep hearing different figures from the main two news agencies in Turkey.

    State news agency Anadolu (AA) says more than 80% of votes have been counted, and, according to them, President Erdogan is ahead with 50.4% of the votes.

    Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu is in second place with 47.7%, the agency says.

    Meanwhile, the privately owned Anka says 78% of the votes around the country have now been counted and, according to them, Erdogan has 48.5% of the votes, while Kilicdaorlgu has 45.7% so far.

    The gap between the two frontrunners is closing slowly as votes in the big cities with large populations are being taken into account.

    So, a possible Good Thing for the weekend.

    ETA, he’s pulling a peremptory “stolen election” gambit because of course he is.

    Writing on Twitter, he said: “While the election was held in such a positive and democratic atmosphere and the vote counting is still going on, trying to announce results hastily means usurping the national will.”

    Darn usurpers.

  80. 80.

    prostratedragon

    My goodness, so much has happened over this year, seems like that was ages ago. I often marvel at the joint efforts that keep this place going. Community in action!

    @cain:  Or/and a projection off the mysterious disappearance of Jenna Ellis just as the Georgia election workers she and Giuliani defamed were trying to serve her. (Last I heard the judge was considering service by DM!)

  81. 81.

    🐾BillinGlendaleCA

    @🐾BillinGlendaleCA: Yesterday, as I’m staging another customer’s order, a customer asks, “Do you have Dickie’s pants”, me “No”, customer “you have it on-line”, me “we don’t carry everything on-line in the store”.  The website says “SHIP TO STORE” or “DELIVERY”.

  82. 82.

    JPL

    @cain: You have to remember that Hillary did single handedly kill a dozen people, some of who were still alive and others who died before she was born.

    It’s possible.

  84. 84.

    Poe Larity

    Being familiar with IT Catastrophes, I have an emergency case of borboun handy.

    But it was a near thing. IDK what happens if I run out.

    So good work all.

  85. 85.

    JPL

    @🐾BillinGlendaleCA: This is my favorite retail story.   I was checking out in the Waterford section of a major retailer and there was a long line because it was the holiday season.   Anyway some asshole said I work for a higher end store and waits like that would never happen there.  I then relayed the story of what happened  to my friend at that high end store.   My friend and I were going to a movie and we stopped there so she could buy two St. John’s suits.  (nice brand)   They held them for her until after the movie.   When she went to pick them up, she was asked if she was picking them up for Mrs. xyz.   Long story short, they then couldn’t find the suits.

    She was black.   The checkout line suddennly grew quiet while listening to my story, and after the gal left, they cracked up.   They didn’t mind the wait at all.

    Oh and xyz store couldn’t fix that problem no hard they tried.  Retail store’s have a hard time winning back a customer after that.

  86. 86.

    randy khan

    I am very thankful for BJ for many reasons, including snark of various kinds, some of which makes me laugh out loud, but more seriously for the information on COVID, Ukraine, and many other things.

    On a non-BJ note, I am grateful, as I am every year at this time, for the annual week or two of lovely weather in the D.C. area before it starts getting really hot.  Everything is green, flowers are blooming and right now the sun is out.  (What am I doing in front of my computer?  Time for a walk!)

  88. 88.

    JPL

    @JaySinWA: Omg   Another thing that I found out from BJ.   There is such a thing as dickie pants.   This morning I learned about blue dick flowers and now dickie pants.   geez

    full service blog

  89. 89.

    MoCaAce

    I’m more of an airing of grievances kinda guy but yeah,  thankful for the site and love not being besieged by ads.

  90. 90.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @CaseyL: I wish I felt this way! Going on 27 years in our duplex and I’m sick of it! Even though it’s not large by today’s standards (1750 sf with a 400 sf basement “rec room”), I feel like it’s too big now and I’m tired of every space.

    There are 68 units and of the residents I know, half of them are good neighbors and the other half are cranks and/or cranky as hell. Complainers can really take over a community! Maybe time to move soon.

  93. 93.

    lefthanded compliment

    Another long-time lurker chiming in to express my thanks for all those–front pagers, commenters, and the Blogfather–who make this a place worth coming back to every day.  I’m really, truly grateful.

  97. 97.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: Sounds like the election may be headed to a runoff on May 28.

    On the question of Erdogan loving Putin, it seems more a “frenemy” relationship to me. If you are interested in more of the story, I suggest you read about the weaponry Turkiye has supplied Ukraine before and since the war started. Stijn Mitzer of Oryx published a good article on this titled “The Stalwart Ally: Turkiye’s Arms Deliveries to Uktraine,” November 24, 2022.

    If you read the Oryx site you’ll see that Mitzer is squarely on Ukraines side, and he knows full well about Turkiye’s continued trade with Russia. Mitzer points out that although Turkiye does not publicize its arms transfers to Ukraine, they’ve been substantial, “ranking as one of the most substantial of NATO members.” He gives an extensive list of them, as well as describing Turkiye’s posture towards Russia, and how they do not require that the weaponry they supply the Ukrainians not be used on Russian territory. Other NATO countries do.

    The Ukrainians know that Turkiye is “dancing at both weddings,” as one official put it. Yet Ukrainian officials including President Zelenskyy do not push back in public because they know the whole story.

    Erdogan also played a critical role in initiating and maintaining the Black Sea Grain Deal whereby Ukraine has sold shipped close to 30 million tons of grain. Russia never wanted it, and Ukraine and the UN would never have commenced it and kept it going without Turkiye’s help.

    Mr. Kilicdaroglu is not expected to curtail his country’s economic relations with Russia and his top advisors say as much. There may be good reasons to want Erdogan to lose, but I don’t think his policy towards Russia counts as one.

  98. 98.

    Gin & Tonic

    I am, as is everyone else, grateful for the site restoration and understand and appreciate the amount of work that was involved. Just wondering if we’ll ever find out what happened with the prior hosting company.

  102. 102.

    NotMax

    @JPL

    Also too, art supply purveyor Dick Blick.

    And then there’s the long running British kiddy show Blue Peter, still airing as it has since 1958.
    :)

  103. 103.

    NeenerNeener

    I don’t remember exactly how I found this place. It must have been around the time of the Schiavo case, because suddenly the liberal blogs I was reading during Dubya’s Reign of Error (Crooks & Liars, Smirking Chimp, Driftglass, TBogg, etc) were talking about Balloon Juice so I came over and never left.

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: Our prior (and still current) hosting company has a lawsuit against the company whose data center was hacked and was the object of a ransomware attack.

    Our prior (and still current) hosting company is obviously using a different data center now and the backups reside yet another completely separate data center.

    Our prior (and current) hosting company filed a major lawsuit nearly a year ago against the original data center – which appears to still be in business.

    if the past few years have taught us anything it’s that lawsuits take a long fucking time  seem to take forever.

  107. 107.

    Madeleine

    I started a message earlier to add my thanks to John and WaterGirl for reviving and improving BJ. I still have home away from home bookmarked just in case.

  110. 110.

    errg

    I only very rarely post, but I read Balloon Juice almost every day. Thanks so much to you and John and to all the FPers who make this such an amazing place.

  112. 112.

    SomeRandomGuy

    I’m not up for celebrations. I never am. Life’s like that sometimes. But I do like knowing people are celebrating good things.

    And I remember the time, and I remember the worry, and I know history better than most, and I know how valued it can be. I’m glad everything came back, and that the place is the way it should be for you all.

  113. 113.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    this place is great. you guys are so well read on so many different topics. it makes the balloon-juice experience a veritable fount of information. i used to comment here as eddie blake but changed the nym a lil while back to something less…cynical.

    also my birthday today, the big 5-0. just watched jayson tatum score 51 while just  stomping on the 76ers. prolly doc rivers’ last game as coach.

    love this site. glad it’s back. thanks for all the heavy lifting, watergirl.

  114. 114.

    BlueGuitarist

    Thanks everybody!

    love all y”all

    Lurkers: comment more!  You don’t have to wait for a welcome lurkers thread!

  118. 118.

    PaulB

    @WaterGirl:  I would say we got back 99.95% of all the posts and comments.

    Alas, my Olympic Peninsula On-the-Road series was not among that number, even after submitting it twice. Such is life.

    That said, it’s impressive just how much you were able to recover, and how you were able to meld the original site with the temporary site.

    The hard work of all of the front-pagers on a regular basis is just stunning. The amount of valuable information presented and discussed here is amazing, making this a must-visit for me every day, even if I don’t choose to comment.

    So thank you to all of you for your hard work. And to the community here for your (mostly) thoughtful comments, along with a lot of fun.

  124. 124.

    WaterGirl

    @PaulB: If you created the info somewhere else you could resubmit and I can set it for the original date so it can take its place in history.  No comments, but the post would still be there.

  125. 125.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: I’m not big on public correcting, but it’s the asshole bastards at 365 Data Centers < even 300 Data Centers who deserve the blame, and I would like to see them get it!  :-)

    I guess if you’re trying to get a monetary settlement, it’s good that they are still in business, but damn, they fucked that up 6 ways to Sunday.  (or whatever the expression is)

  126. 126.

    PaulB

    @Another Scott:  I was able to fairly easily find 1-7/10 (the others may be there too) at the WaybackMachine.

    Huh… I hadn’t even thought to check that. Thanks for the tip. I particularly liked the comments in reply to those posts, as several of the jackals talked about their own visits. It’s nice to see those again.

  127. 127.

    PaulB

    @WaterGirl:  If you created the info somewhere else you could resubmit and I can set it for the original date so it can take its place in history.

    Alas, I did not. Commenter Another Scott above noted that he was able to find most of the posts via the Wayback machine. I’ll leave it up to you as to whether it’s worth the trouble to re-create. Honestly, I’m fine either way, as I’m sure it would be a pain to take on that task.

    I’ve still got my Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, Butchart Gardens, and Moscow posts to comfort me.

  128. 128.

    artem1s

    @JPL:

    they can’t locate the informant who has all the info on the Biden crime family.

    alas, another Killary victim.

  129. 129.

    mvr

    @Sure Lurkalot: & CaseyL:

    27 or 8? years in our 109 year old foursquare. Bought without a functioning kitchen (which we then built ourselves). Rebuilt the bathroom to period appropriate standards 20 years ago. Stripped lots of woodwork. Last year had the basement replaced (yes, while we lived in it).

    That last bit meant we are here for good because the economics didn’t make sense, but economics don’t matter if we don’t sell it.  Red State politics have made me nervous about that, but as long as we are here w have put too much of our own labor into the house to move.

    Much remaining wood to strip and shellac before I die.

  130. 130.

    geg6

    Came here on the recommendation of someone on a reality tv message board (I’m a huge Survivor fan, so sue me) when I asked if there was a sane Republican worth reading.  He told me about Cole and I came and lurked for a couple of years just before and after his conversion.  Haven’t left since.

    I cannot express my gratitude for everyone here, especially the front pages, who have kept me sane from the Shrub years and into the future, I hope.

  131. 131.

    mvr

    @PaulB: Do you know the date that was originally posted?  I was thinking it could be found using the wayback machine, though likely someone tried that already.

  133. 133.

    WaterGirl

    @PaulB: If it’s on the Wayback machine, you should be able to do a copy and paste for the text, which you could submit through the form along with the photos.  And I think you could download the photos, but maybe you have them anyway?

    I imagine you could do a copy and paste with the comments, too, and those could be pasted in comment #1, and then it would all be there.

    We did the with another OTR post – maybe the first haiku one?

    So if it matters to you, go for it!

  134. 134.

    frosty

    I’m late to the thread but it’s important to say thanks to you, WaterGirl, and to John, and the back room for getting the site back again. And for keeping it going, too!!

    That was definitely a puzzling first day when I clicked on my bookmark and got the weird message.

  136. 136.

    RaflW

    As one of my other engagement favorites continues to degrade, I’m so glad Balloon Juice survived and is doing so well.

    re: Ads, my partner will often say “did you see such and such’s update on Le Livre de Façade, to which I often say “nope.” Today when we had this exchange, I said it was because now days my ‘feed’ is like 40% ads, 30% “suggested groups” for things that seem super random and irrelevant, and thus only room for about 30% people I know.

    And even then, do I care that much about their sanitized and overly perky updates? Gimme some cynicism and political grumblings, please. :)

  137. 137.

    frosty

    @mvr: Dead thread, but maybe you’ll read this. One of my neighbors stripped all the woodwork in his 1920s foursquare and it looked great. I started mine 20 years ago using his method (Citrus Strip) and it sucked. I’ve never used a paint stripper that didn’t need sanding to get the last paint off.

    So I’ve had half the entryway stripped for 20 years. I’m going to repaint this year.

  138. 138.

    mvr

    @frosty: I started mine 20 years ago using his method (Citrus Strip) and it sucked. I’ve never used a paint stripper that didn’t need sanding to get the last paint off.

    I’ve used various combinations, including an infrared paint stripper followed by CitrusStrip.  At other times the kind you leave on under paper for half a day.  What has worked best for me was taking the trim down and stripping it, washing it thoroughly, using dental picks to get paint out of the pores and then shellac and putting it back up.

    But some stuff doesn’t come down easily (like our stairs which were boxed in  oak on one side.  Still it all came our looking OK, but there is a lot more to do still. Probably die when we get it finished. (Actuarial tables tell me I have 19.3 years.)

    I also have rebuilt things from combinations of old and new wood and that has taken some work with dyes to make look OK.

     

    @frosty:

  139. 139.

    knittingbull

    I followed Betty Cracker over from Rumproast when she was still writing for both. Never left.

  141. 141.

    frosty

    @mvr: ​ Thanks for describing your work, that sounds like my experience – there’s no One Magic Trick that gets the paint off without a lot of work.
    Our doors were easy, I took them to Baltimore Paint Removal. I took some of the trim there too. We replaced some in the dining room to match the new cherry pass-through cabinets/counter.
    But the in-place stripping basically means emptying out a room while I do it. My actuarial tables are like yours and I get lazier every year! Not gonna happen, so I’ll get started on repainting.​

  143. 143.

    Kayla Rudbek

    I started lurking here in about 2003-2004 thanks to a now deceased friend, and I’ve been here ever since.  Thanks to everyone who wished me well when I was diagnosed with breast cancer!

  145. 145.

    BellyCat

    Out all day today with BellyKitten, but wanted to add my immense gratitude for the heroic rebuild efforts from WaterGirl and everyone else behind the scenes!

    I do miss the ads though. //

  147. 147.

    PaulB

    @WaterGirl:  So if it matters to you, go for it!

    Thanks, WG, but I’m good now that I know I can access it via the archives. What I valued most about those posts was the comments from the other jackals.

    I apologize for posting a Festivus post in a Reverse Festivus thread. I shouldn’t have done that, particularly when I know just how stressed you all were about the outage, and how hard you had to work to put everything back together again. That was inconsiderate of me.

Comments are closed.