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Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

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

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

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It’s a doggy dog world.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

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The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

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Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

Hot air and ill-informed banter

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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Meetups and social events / DC Meetup This Saturday – RSVPs, Venue, Details

DC Meetup This Saturday – RSVPs, Venue, Details

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One last update on the DC Meetup this Friday!

rekoob, who is organizing the meetup, writes:

After a couple of false starts (the first place never got back to me, the hotel wanted me to reserve a private party room), I’ve made a reservation at Clyde’s Gallery Place for 14 people at 12:30p on Saturday, 18 November 2023. For what it’s worth, all DC restaurants are tacking on another 3.5% “pandemic makeup” fee, and Clyde’s will only do two split checks (same as other venues). Clyde’s, as “An American Bar”, may not be to everyone’s liking, but they were willing to take the reservation.

https://www.clydes.com/location/gallery-place/

Clyde’s Gallery Place
707 7th Street NW
Washington DC 20001

It’s literally on top of the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro Station, next to Capital One Stadium.

I propose meeting at around 12:30 pm, which may make it easier for those coming in from farther away to make it. Although I’ll do my best to find a green balloon, I’ll at least wear an obvious green sweater and perhaps we can decide on a word or phrase to direct others.

Of course, there’s nothing stopping the group from migrating elsewhere after 2 pm or so…

In reviewing the previous threads, the following people expressed interest:

Robtrim
Barbara
Lord Fartdaddy (etc., etc.)
lowtechcyclist
Ramona
planetjanet
Sherpatrick
Elizabelle
Shana
boatboy_srq

Today’s additions!

MattF

Others who wished to attend but have a conflict on the 18th:

Redshift
DougL
caphilldcne
frosty
EarthWindFire
tandem

All are welcome!

Please confirm by 5:00p Eastern on Thursday, 16 November 2023, that you plan to attend.

Looks like a great crowd!  If you haven’t already RSVP’d, it’s not too late!  And if you’re on the list as attending, but something has come up, please let rekoob know that, too.

Reader Interactions

69Comments

  1. 1.

    HinTN

    I do wish I could be there but, alas, it’s an 8 – 10 hour drive. Y’all have a big time and hoist a glass to all in absentia.

  11. 11.

    Jeffro

    OT but Biden-Harris 2024 already has up Rep Chip Roy’s “Can someone please tell me ANYTHING that our Republican House majority has actually DONE?” comments up and running as a campaign ad.

    LOLOLOLOLOL

  16. 16.

    piratedan

    @WaterGirl: in these trying times ladies and gentlemen, when there are so many stresses and conflicts and arguments, my fellow elected Representatives in the House GOP membership have endeavored to lighten your lives with our non-stop clown show.  We hope that you have been entertained…. Vote for Me.

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    @WaterGirl: isn’t it?   =)

    There was a clip up just now (not a BH’24 ad) of some Congressman (Casten from Illinois) speaking in the House and noting all the times that the GOP should give thanks for House Democrats saving them from their own idiocy.  It’s great!

    Big finish:

    “So when you gather next week at the Thanksgiving table, don’t be that crazy uncle who won’t stop yappin’ about Hunter Biden – give thanks for Democrats instead”

    I’M DEAD

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    I don’t know why Trump isn’t already locked up in jail.  (Okay, I do know why.)

    But with the latest he said about Jack Smith and family?  He calls Jack Smith deranged (again) and a Trump-hating prosecutor (again).

    Then he said “his wife and family despise me much more than he does, talks about Jack Smith’s wife’s contributions to Biden.  Smith is a 10 out of 10 on ill will, and his family is 15 out of 10.  He is a disgrace to America.”

    If that’s not an invitation for Trump’s goons to go after Smith’s wife and daughter, I don’t know what is.

  24. 24.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: I like how Republican officeholders are trashing each other. Virginia Delegate John McGuire just announced a primary challenge to Rep. Bob Good, and he really ripped the 5th District Congressman.

    Republicans stacked the deck for Good in 2020 by choosing the Caucus/Convention route, but I read in Cardinal News that state law requires a primary this time. Good is a creepy guy, and McGuire just might beat him.

  26. 26.

    Alison Rose

    @WaterGirl: From the few pictures and videos we have of Jack Smith, I’m fairly certain his response to that is I wish a motherfucker would while cracking his knuckles. Honestly, sometimes it seems like Trump is TRYING to get himself thrown in jail, so he can ramp up the martyr bullshit to 11.

  27. 27.

    Almost Retired

    So wish I could be there, especially since my sister lives nearby in the District and I’m going there next month.

    And Clyde’s!   Many, many, many (I could add some more “manys” for further emphasis), I did the usual Poli Sci college major “Junior year in Washington” thing.  I was exploited for free labor by some long-forgotten think-tank which focused on something that required thinking (I’m hazy on the details, but it was close to the Hawk N Dove where I had lunch every time I could afford it. ).

    For actual money, I worked as a bar back/dog’s body at the original Clyde’s on M Street in Georgetown. It sort of had a “Cheers” vibe at the time.

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: Sean Casten represents a district in the Chicago area, and was one of the 40 Democrats who flipped House Districts in 2018. Because of redistricting, Casten had to compete with Rep. Marie Newman in the primary last year.

  35. 35.

    caphilldcne

    Wish I could go! Alas, I’ll be at the concurrent University of Michigan (my undergrad alma mater) vs. University of Maryland (my law school) football game. It’ll be fun but lack crab cakes.

  36. 36.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @WaterGirl: ​Follow that clip with audio of more and more crickets chirping, and finish it off with a clip of Majority Leader Jeffries noting that the Democrats had to provide the votes to keep the government running while the Thuglicans kept slapping one another silly…

    I tells ya, the BH ad creators must be having the time of their lives savaging the Krazy Klown Kaukus…

  37. 37.

    Baud

    Via reddit

     

    Ukraine’s Security Service notified Rudy Giuliani’s top Ukrainian allies on Monday that they are suspects of treason, citing evidence that the officials participated in activities aiding Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    A Ukrainian member of parliament, Oleksandr Dubinsky, ex-Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach, and ex-prosecutor Kostyantyn Kulyk are suspected of joining an organization founded by chief members of Russia’s Military Intelligence while Giuliani worked to dig up dirt on President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in 2019, according to a statement.

    The organization received more than $10 million from the Russian Federation to “discredit” Ukraine on the international stage.

  42. 42.

    Martin

    @WaterGirl: Probably US Marshals, not SS. I don’t think SS is legally allowed to protect a special counsel unless the president designates the trial a national special security event (which, honestly, it should qualify to be).

  45. 45.

    Geminid

    @Baud: There is also a breaking story related to a  Cyprus bank that has implicated a German media figure in a 600,000 Euro bribe from Russia. He has been a conspicuous apologist for Putin. This may turn out to be another Panama Papers-type affair, with a lot more shoes to drop.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: McGuire is probably no less conservative than Good, but I’ll still be rooting for him. There is something about Bob Good that makes my skin crawl.

  48. 48.

    Alison Rose

    @Martin: Uggghhhh. I have often thanked my lucky stars that in my gaming days, I had a group of decent guys to game with and that we rarely encountered incel bigots in the games we played.

  50. 50.

    Scout211

    The leaked proffer video hearing had a confession and now a protective order.

    An attorney for one of former President Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Fulton County district attorney’s 2020 election interference case admitted at a hearing Wednesday that he shared witness proffer videos of key figures in the case with a media outlet, saying he thought it was in his client’s interest to do so.

    Jonathan Miller, an attorney for Misty Hampton, made the confession during an emergency hearing for a protective order that was prompted by the publication of parts of the video statements of Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro and Scott Hall by ABC News and The Washington Post. The judge said he would issue a protective order barring the disclosure of certain discovery information by Thursday morning.

  52. 52.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Geminid: I have a sneaking suspicion that at least one of the Five Eyes intel operations has the goods on at least a dozen Thuglican Congresscritters who’ve knowingly taken fistsful of rubles from the Rooskies – and are just waiting for the right moment to drop the proof to DOJ and major MSM outlets. It probably won’t be our guys (CIA, NSA, FBI crawling with fascist moles) but MI6 or the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure or the Bundesnachrichtendienst….

  53. 53.

    Martin

    @Alison Rose: That’s extremely lucky. I don’t generally play online games because even when it’s just guys, it gets toxic immediately. They’ll always find someone to shit on and bully.

    There are exceptions – certain games are better than others, and certain communities can be quite good. But throw me in a matchmaking lobby? No. Hard pass.

  55. 55.

    Scout211

    So what does it take for the House ethics committee to actually recommend a punishment?

    Ethics Committee will not recommend punishment for embattled Rep. George Santos

    The House Ethics Committee will not recommend any punishment for embattled New York Republican Rep. George Santos in a public report it plans to release later this week after a monthslong investigation, Chairman Michael Guest said Wednesday.

    Instead, the panel will release its evidence and details of its work for members to review and make their own conclusion about whether Santos should be removed from Congress, Guest, a Mississippi Republican, said.
     
    An investigative subcommittee has contacted at least 40 witnesses, reviewed 170,000 pages of documents and authorized more than three dozen subpoenas as part of its investigation into whether Santos “engaged in unlawful activity” in his 2022 House campaign.

  56. 56.

    Martin

    @Uncle Cosmo: Quibble: France and Germany aren’t Five Eyes. Five Eyes is US, UK, NZ, AU, Canada. It’s purely a UK colonial org.

    But my money would be on France.

  58. 58.

    Alison Rose

    @Martin: The main game I played was a fantasy RPG, which doesn’t draw as many hateful jerks as FPS games and such. Plus, we played on a specifically role-playing server, which I think was just so nerdy that it cut down even more. We certainly ran into some awful people, but far less than in other games.

  65. 65.

    Ramona

    I plan on being there. My gmail is full of spam and I haven’t seen an email from you. Is answering here good enough for an rsvp?

  68. 68.

    Primer Gray (formerly yet another Jeff)

    Howdy from Fairfax County, just barely inside the Beltway….

    Can’t do this one, but definitely hope to be at the next. Would love to meet jackals in my area. ;)

Comments are closed.