Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

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

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Republicans do not trust women.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

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

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

So many bastards, so little time.

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

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

You are here: Home / Open Threads / So This Fuckery Is Finally Over

So This Fuckery Is Finally Over

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It simply boggles my mind this went on for so long:

The Senate unanimously confirmed 11 top-ranking military officers late Tuesday, ending a months-long blockade staged by a single Republican, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

Without debate, the Senate swiftly confirmed the military officials, including four-star generals, whose promotions and family livelihoods had been held up by the GOP senator protesting the Defense Department’s policy on abortion.

“That’s good news,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said afterward.

Schumer said other nominees had also been confirmed as the Senate is working to wrap up its work before a holiday recess.

Confirming the 11 remaining high-ranking armed services nominees was a quiet end to Tuberville’s unusual effort after the senator faced pressure from all sides to relent. Critics said his stance, which had left key positions unfilled, threatened national security and left military families with an uncertain path forward.

It came after the Senate two weeks ago suddenly approved about 425 military promotions once Tuberville stood down.

Just the absolute shit Republicans get away with and the shamelessness with which they do it will never not surprise me. Can you imagine if a Democrat did this? My god.

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  2. 2.

    eversor

    We have it because Jesus.  And per Christianity women submit.  And if we are going to have Christianity than this is all fair play and not only should it happen anyone who’s upset about it can go pound sand.

    Shit I’d vote for Tommy now.  If we are going to have Christianity than we need Christianity proper.  Not that limp wristed Rick Santorum and Douthat shit but the proper patriarchy Christ himself demands.

    So fuck it.  If we have Christianity, we should be fascist and embrace it.  I’ll load myself in the carts with a smile and a laugh.

  3. 3.

    Leto

    Can you imagine if a Democrat did this? My god.

    That’s the thing, Dems won’t hold the country hostage. Won’t hold our national security hostage. I can’t imagine it because they’re not traitorous POS.

  12. 12.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    Oh yeah. It was a whole thing that I learned about after the fact. Eversor had a meltdown either the day before or on Election Day this last month where they said they were going to vote Republican where they live in Virginia. There was also something eversor said about a restaurant that was used as a meetup that was completely unhinged

  16. 16.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Eversor had a meltdown either the day before or on Election Day this last month where they said they were going to vote Republican where they live in Virginia.

    “I’m gonna stick it to the Christian oppressors by voting Republican.”

    Yeah, that tracks.

    There was also something eversor said about a restaurant that was used as a meetup that was completely unhinged

    Y’all insisted on saying grace, didn’t you?

  17. 17.

    TS

    If by some weird chance the SCOTUS upheld the Colorado ruling – but millions wrote in trump as their vote, would these be counted as valid votes?

  21. 21.

    Scout211

    Some discussion in the thread downstairs on Tuberville’s hold ending.  Credit to Schumer for pushing this and playing hardball right before the Christmas break!  Oh my.  Keep them in Washington!? Nooooo!

    But I also wonder if the Senate GOP had something to do with this as well. 11 months ago, this hold might have been something that the GOP strategists would see as a winning anti-abortion stance. (Using military promotions is a stretch, though). But in any case, fast forward 11 months and suddenly the GOP doesn’t want to talk anti-abortion anymore, anywhere and in any state.  I imagine that the Senate GOP wanted Tuberville to sit down and shut up and  Schumer may have known this.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: Someone, I forget who (!) made a compelling argument that most of the GOP were complicit in what Tubervllle was doing.

    It was after some of the GOP senators were publicly confronting Tuberville about this and then they had a closed door meeting with Tuberville and then everyone came out and the R senators sort of shrugged with a “whatcha gonna do?” attitude, and dropped the whole thing.

    At that point, I think all the Rs had to own what Tuberville was doing, and they shrugged.  “oh well.”

  23. 23.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Another Scott: If repeated calls for culturally based genocide doesn’t represent a bannable offense, that may be an oversight. One of those “I didn’t think we should need a rule for this, but here we are” situations.

  25. 25.

    Alison Rose

    @WaterGirl: I would say eversor’s constant insistence that Christianity — and thus, Christians — needs to be eradicated and banned ought to fall under “calls for violence” because eradication of a people implies killing or imprisoning them. What they say is not in jest, as the policy excuses.

    I would also say calling all of us on the blog rape enablers — when I’m gonna take a wild guess that I’m not the only one for whom, because of my own experiences, that accusation is intensely personal and offensive — should fall under “We’re not going to put up with personal attacks beyond a joking nature” because telling people “you support rapists” sure sounds like a personal attack to me.

    I’ve asked this before but I don’t know if anyone answered: If eversor’s comments were about any other religion — Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, etc — would that change how they’re viewed? I am honestly curious.

  27. 27.

    Another Scott

    @Alison Rose:

    It’s John’s decision. It’s his blog.

    To Flag a Comment that Violates the Policy

    If you see a comment on Balloon Juice that you believe violates the standards that are set forth below, and you want flag the offending comment for attention, please do both of these things: 1) send email to John Cole and 2) use the Site Feedback form and select Report a Problem. Be sure to include the name of the thread that contained the offensive comment (or a link to the thread) as well as the person’s nym and the date and approximate time of the comments.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    @Alison Rose:

    I don’t read his comments.

    See my reply at #26, when you think a comment is really out of line, let me know. Send me an email with the name of the post and comment number.

    edit: john doesn’t always read him email, but I read mine.  Hell, Cole doesn’t always read email from me! :-)

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: It sounded like the guy thought he was owning the Jackals by voting Republican.

    I know eversor really offends people. I’m more detached about him, like I am about a lot of things. I’m just sorry to see him regress. He has some constructive things to say when he gets past his obsession.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    @twbrandt: Oh, speaking of the pie filter, I forgot to add the Christmas cookies back into the rotation!

    I will fix that now.

    edit: okay, holiday images have been added back in to the pie filter

  35. 35.

    RaflW

    @WaterGirl: As far as I can tell, that strategy worked. What GOP senator besides Potatotown paid any price whatsoever for letting him run roughshod for 11 months. McConnell?

    Hah. Slid off him like wet slush off a mudflap.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @TaMara

    Pie filter not an option the way my system is configured. Even if it was, would not use it. Takes little to no effort to scroll past those comments.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    @twbrandt: The pie filter has all sorts of dessert images in it.  Christmas cookies, peppermint sticks, etc.

    I took out the holiday images after the holidays last year and i forgot to add them back in.

    Have you ever tried the pie filter?  You can pie a bunch of people just to see what it looks like, then you can always un-pie them. :-)

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax: I don’t use it. But this commenter doesn’t bother me as much as he does others. And I’m one of the few professed Christians around here.

  45. 45.

    catfishncod

    @Geminid: They’re attention-seeking, which is better than trolling but only by a millimeter. What concerns me is the Christofascist conceit that they are all Christianity is, ever was, or ever could be. Way too many people have been taken in by that lie, not just eversor.

    Hell, most concepts of liberalism, human rights, and socialism were derived from Christian concepts. A historical truth they are desperate to memory-hole.

  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus:  I have seen Baud post that, and I thought he was riffing off your “bigot says what?”.

    There are worse things than being mistaken for with Baud, right?  I mean, what about Steve in the WTF? :-)

  49. 49.

    Yarrow

    It’s like an anti-Christianity ChatGPT. Words show up in slightly different orders but it’s basically the same every time.

    I’m just so curious how he proposes to get rid of Christianity. Like, how’s that actually going to work? Does he think Congress would or could pass a law banning it? Does he proposes killing anyone who says they’re Christian? Forcing people to convert to another religion or atheism? How is any of that going to work? Who will make it happen? Who enforces it?

    Even if those things worked in the US, Christianity is a global religion. How does he propose getting rid of it in other countries? Bomb any country with even one Christian in it? How exactly would any of this work?

    The screeds are so boring and tiresome and repetitive at this point. I wish he’d tell us how he thinks it will work. At least that would be a change.

  55. 55.

    Geminid

    @Yarrow: I don’t take the comments to be promoting genocide. Adopting the proposed course of action would wipe out a lot of Democratic politicians, though. So I guess my objections relate to practicality.

  57. 57.

    Scout211

    Changing the subject, Minnesota has a new state flag.

    I like it. Very simple but very striking and I love the colors.

    Minnesota unveiled a new state flag Tuesday after the original flag drew criticism for its design and depiction of Native Americans.

    The State Emblems Redesign Commission said it selected a new flag that features a white North star on a dark blue shape of Minnesota. The flag’s light blue background represents the state’s waters, according to the commission.

  58. 58.

    Jackie

    When a thread gets totally derailed AGAIN for the same reason by the same poster time after time after time… that’s when banning needs to be seriously considered. He/she is the only poster I’ve put in the pie filter, yet the majority of responses to them still permeate the posts. When is enough enough?

  59. 59.

    Yarrow

    @Geminid: Well, he wants to get rid of Christianity. And there are a lot of Christians. How does he propose to do it? He’s long on screeching about it and very short on actual practical suggestions about how to do the thing he says he wants to do.

  60. 60.

    Jackie

    @Gin & Tonic:

    52 comments and about half are about this troll. It’s like everybody is new to the Internet.

    Exactly. I stopped reading and pushed the down arrow to post my above comment and will clock out until later/new subject.

  61. 61.

    prostratedragon

    More hallelujiahs:

    A federal judge on Tuesday granted the Justice Department access to nearly 1,700 records recovered from the cellphone of Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) in a long-running legal battle in the criminal investigation of former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

  63. 63.

    Jackie

    Oooh, this perks me up!

    A federal judge on Tuesday granted the Justice Department access to nearly 1,700 records recovered from the cellphone of Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) in a long-running legal battle in the criminal investigation of former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” the Washington Post reports.

    “The FBI seized Perry’s phone in August 2022 under a court order seeking to understand Perry’s involvement in the machinations that were the subject of Trump’s criminal indictment this August for allegedly plotting to prevent President Biden from taking office.”

    Drat! prostratedragon beat me.

  65. 65.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Gin & Tonic: 52 comments and about half are about this troll. It’s like everybody is new to the Internet.

    Right.  If we’re going to have this conversation, there needs to be more dunking.

  67. 67.

    prostratedragon

    @Scout211:  Yep. Boasberg doubled, and then some, the number of excluded messages by Howell, but still left most of the third party stuff where tgere might have been a lot of conspiring. In addition to the expected appeal, the allowed package has to be filtered for what actually may be used at trial.

  68. 68.

    RaflW

    @Scout211: As a Minnesotan, I like the new flag well enough. My favorite comment on it (thought I knew who made it but can’t confirm so won’t name ’em): If the dark blue represents the shape of Minnesota, then Wisconsin is the bigger part of the flag! (It represents our many wonderful waters).

    But I also want one of these “Menacing Loon” flags to fly on the shoreside of our WI family cabin.

  71. 71.

    Jacel

    @Yarrow: Nationalize the few companies that makes thin “Bible Paper”, then shut them down. (Ha! As if the Republican Jesus Christians have read most of Jesus’s words in the Gospels, much less the whole Bible.)

    Decades ago I was an editor on a directory of the pulp and paper industry. I think then only one US company manufactured “Bible Paper”, and only one company made the paper used for US (and many other countries’) currency.

  73. 73.

    RaflW

    @Leto: One’s demeanor must be stone cold courteous to the guy who crashes into your establishment, or you can be arrested and made miserable. Cops have very fragile fee-fees. And probably have immunity from having to pay any sort of insurance claim like any regular bozo who lost control of an SUV.

  74. 74.

    Leto

    @RaflW: ​ You know, I want the owners to take them to the cleaners in the ensuing lawsuit. But even if they do win, it’s going to be the tax-payers footing the bill. Which is just… infuriating.

  76. 76.

    Leto

    @Yarrow: Nah, that might be trying to hold them… what’s the word… tip of the tongue… oh yeah, accountable! But as we know, it’s only a “few bad apples”…

  77. 77.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    I think it would solve a lot of problems if cops were required to be bonded and insured for any damage they do.

  78. 78.

    Mike G

    Fuck the Senate’s precious bullshit “comity” rules that enable roadblocking and grandstanding like this in the first place.

  79. 79.

    Citizen Alan

    @eversor: You’re just embarrassing yourself at this point. The oratorical equivalent of smearing feces all over your face to “make a point.”

  80. 80.

    Citizen Alan

    @Geminid:  I just think at this point he’s too ridiculous to take seriously anymore. I don’t really see him as calling for “genocide” so much as trying to hype up the dominant religion in the country (which is itself comprised of scores and scores of denominations who barely recognize each other as fellow Christians) as some boogieman to be destroyed. Particularly since he offers no meaningful way to oppose the things he’s complaining about. If I had to guess, I would say eversor is a fairly precocious but poorly socialized twelve-year-old who is incensed that his parents still make him go to Sunday school.

  81. 81.

    Citizen Alan

    @catfishncod:  When confronted by “Christians” like that, I like to point out to them that the only people Jesus ever said definitively would go to hell are (a) greedy rich people and (b) people who loudly claim to be Christian but refuse to show compassion to the poor, the sick, the refugees, and the prisoners.

  82. 82.

    Geminid

    @Citizen Alan: There is a backstory here that has to do with church and physical abuse. You may have missed it.

    This person is not the only one here to complain about Christianity and Christians, not by a long shot. What gets people mad is that he complains about us, and our unwillingness to see this matter his way.

    It’s as if one of the many people griping about pickup trucks accused everyone else of not being serious about the environment because we’re not willing to ban pickup trucks. Environmentalists would resent this, not to mention the people who actually drive pickups.

    I’d probably object on pragmatic grounds, that an anti-pickup truck platform could lose the Virginia 7th CD and others like it. But I’d still cut that person some slack on a personal level if I believed they and their brother had been hit by a pickup truck when they were growing up.

  84. 84.

    Paul in KY

    @Yarrow: I think everyone who currently follows it is supposed to collectively come to the conclusion that it’s all BS and then just use that time in more constructive ways.

  85. 85.

    Paul in KY

    @RaflW: It does pay to keep calm. I was t-boned once by a car that came right out from a stop sign & ran smack into side of my car traveling down road with all the right of way in the world. I was a bit perturbed and was in process of letting the driver know what an idiot they were and generally cursing, as I had just had the car all fixed up a month ago.

    The cop turned up & saw that & could see that I was not at fault in any way, yet I was put as ‘vehicle number #2’ on the report.

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