Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

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

The revolution will be supervised.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

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

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Come on, man.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The willow is too close to the house.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Easter Tradition, Slightly Irreverent

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  3. 3.

    Soprano2

    I tried to go to a local greenhouse, and it was closed. Maybe I’ll get my plants at Menards.

  4. 4.

    sab

    Easter is the biggest holiday in the Christian calendar (far bigger than Christmas) and everyone is surprised that businesses are closed.

  6. 6.

    TBone

    @NotMax: I made the pickle soup.  OH MY GOODNESS it is delicious and I haven’t even added the sour cream and fresh dill yet.  I got smart and let the food processor finely chop everything except the 6 gold potatoes, which I finely diced.  I added a big, fresh leek and extra vidalia onion. To DIE for on a chilly, rainy birthday!  Thank you, mmmmmm

  8. 8.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: Christmas a baby was born. Easter a grown man and revolutionary was executed and came back to life to lead us. Which event is bigger?

  9. 9.

    Tom Levenson

    @WaterGirl: Not a Christian here, but Easter is the celebration of the event that is at the heart of the entire faith: that Jesus was the son of God, died as human (partaking of the divine*) and was resurrected as a member of the Trinity having secured absolution for human sins and eternal life for every believer. That’s a lot more important than the happenstance of his birth.

    *I am so not getting into discussions of the true nature of the incarnate Christ, just as I won’t get within shouting distance of the filioque dispute

    ETA: What sab says.

  19. 19.

    Another Scott

    @NotMax: Saw that.  🤪

    A few days ago I saw a comic of people rolling away the stone to reveal a giant chocolate rabbit.  🙊

    I haven’t been able to find it again, of course.

    Happy Easter, everyone.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  20. 20.

    Sister Golden Bear

    To all the reactionary “Christians” screeching about how Transgender Day or Visibility is blaspheming Easter this year, there’s something entirely apropos about a day celebrating resurrection and salvation intersecting with a day about trans people celebrating being able to be their true selves.

    Also for the record, TDOV, has always been March 31. And it’s worth a reminder that TDOV was created 16 years ago because up until that time the only annual “trans day” was Transgender Day of Remembrance, in which we memorialize those killed in trans hate crimes.

    While It is altogether fitting and proper that we should remember our dead, we also need to celebrate our living — especially when Republican reactionaries are trying to eradicate us from public life.

  28. 28.

    pluky

    @Tom Levenson: ὁμοούσιον or ὁμοιούσιον? To filioque or not? I don’t think anyone cares these days, or at least not enough to threaten anathema.

  31. 31.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: Back in my distant youth my junior year abroad in England they had white chocolate Jesus babies. Seriously. We debated how one would eat them.

    Both those rabbits should have had their heads bitten off.

  32. 32.

    TBone

    @NotMax: 💜 hubby’s day today and he had to remind me 🤣😭 thanks for the chef bday card. The soup might make him stop razzing me!  The sour cream and dill gild the lily!

  33. 33.

    scav

    Has Tennessee just (or is just about to) outlawed spray bottles?
    An attack of the vapours: Tennessee bill endorses chemtrails conspiracy theory

    Legislation banning the “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances” swept through the Republican-dominated senate, and will now be considered by the Republican-dominated house, before then being weighed by Tennessee’s Republican governor. There is also a movement to pass a similar law in Pennsylvania.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    @scav:

    Legislation banning the “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances”

     
    Worse. They have outlawed farting.

  42. 42.

    Fake Irishman

    @scav:

    Heck with spray bottles, based on that text, those clowns just outlawed breathing, a lot of medical care, driving and most industrial and agricultural operations.

    On the bright side, they can shut down every coal plant in the state. (Solar is OK, wind power is probably fine too.)

  43. 43.

    Spanky

    Irreverent? How could you be irreverent on the day celebrating when Jesus rose from the dead, rolled back the rock that sealed his tomb,  and saw his shadow, thus ensuring that spring had arrived.

  44. 44.

    sab

    @sab: I completely forgot about those New Orleans cakes with the tiny plastic Jesus inside. We have one sitting in a toy car. We decided not to collect more.

  45. 45.

    WaterGirl

    @WaterGirl: This man is mentally ill, and his attorneys are enabling the destruction be brings.

    Can we get “Trump is mentally ill” to be the first thing google suggests when someone types “trump” into the search box?

  48. 48.

    wjca

    It wouldn’t be Easter without remembering a riddle from my childhood:

    • Who goes hippity-hop thru the mud?
    • The Easter pig!

    We were just so solemn and devout in the 50s, before Those People wrecked everything….

    P.S. And nobody was moved to complain about “Youth today…” over it either.

  50. 50.

    CliosFanBoy

    @TBone:

     
    On day #3, not after three days. I apologize for being pedantic, but that point always irritated me in some irrational way.

  52. 52.

    Cacti

    Easter is the holiday where Jesus rises from his tomb, and if he sees his shadow, then four more weeks of winter, right?

  53. 53.

    wjca

    @scav:

    The part that should be highlighted

    Legislation banning the “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances” swept through the Republican-dominated senate, and will now be considered by the Republican-dominated house, before then being weighed by Tennessee’s Republican governor. There is also a movement to pass a similar law in Pennsylvania.

    If you think about it, not that they would, this bans exhaling.  Let’s hope the legislators voting for it are all promptly arrested for that.  Well, unless they choose to hold their breath until they turn (shudder!) blue.

    EDT Fake Irishman got there first

  54. 54.

    scav

    It also amuses me that those christians thrown to the lions were there basically because they didn’t follow the state religion, and thus endangered the empire by not honoring the national gods.  Their pious descendants are now baying for their sort to be eaten by lions.

     

    and TN probably figures it’s got all its problems licked.  from the bottom of the above

    Should the chemtrails legislation pass in the Tennessee house – intriguingly, members are due to consider it on 1 April – then Bill Lee, the state’s Republican governor, will have the final say as to whether it passes into law.
    That would be a victory for Monty Fritts, a legislator who has championed the bill in the house, in what is gearing up to be a big month for the Republican.
    Fritts introduced a resolution earlier this year calling for Tennesseeans to “join in a 30-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting” in July “to seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee”.
    That motion passed the house on 5 March, and could be adopted around the same time as the chemtrails legislation.

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl: ​
    Has anyone explained the act of crucifixion to Donald Trump? Because if he’s game, I’m game. “We’re gonna need bigger nails.”

  64. 64.

    Peke Daddy

    @wjca: Nah, they will just selectively enforce the law against enemies of the state. You know, the usual suspects.

  65. 65.

    JWR

    Maybe someone should show this to the protesters at Biden events. Not to shut them down, but here right in front of them is why they can NOT support Trump, either by not voting, not voting for Biden, or even worse, by voting for the Orange Menace. From NBC

    Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said this week that the conflict in Gaza should be over quickly “like Nagasaki and Hiroshima,” and the United States should refrain from sending any humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave as Israel’s war with Hamas continues.

    “We shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid,” Walberg said at a town hall meeting on Monday in Dundee, Michigan, according to a video that circulated on social media.

    “It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick,” he continued, referring to the Japanese cities on which the U.S. dropped atomic bombs during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of people died.

    @WaterGirl: Lol thx!

  66. 66.

    JWR

    @WaterGirl:

    Can we get “Trump is mentally ill” to be the first thing google suggests when someone types “trump” into the search box?

    A Google Bomb! I’m game! ;)

  67. 67.

    Fair Economist

    @scav:Legislation banning the “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances”

    No more fracking. Excellent.

  70. 70.

    Cacti

    @JWR: Is this supposed to make people feel better about Joe sending another fresh shipment of bombs for the Gaza genocide campaign?

  75. 75.

    lowtechcyclist

    @JWR:

    I bet that fucker styles himself ‘pro-life.’

    There are eight billion people in this world, and there are maybe a million abortions per year in the U.S.  I keep saying that when evangelicals are as pro-life with respect to the eight billion as the average agnostic liberal is, I’ll take their concern for embryos and fetuses seriously.  But not until.

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    Think our newsmedia have been harsh to Biden before? Just wait until they get this memo.

    Journalists have been told to stop stealing souvenirs from US President Joe Biden’s official aircraft.

    An inventory check on Air Force One after Mr Biden’s visit to the US west coast in February found several items were missing from its press section. Branded pillowcases, glasses and gold-rimmed plates are among the items that have allegedly vanished from the jet.

    The White House Correspondents’ Association warned that taking items from the plane was forbidden.

    Last month, the association sent an email to reporters to say that such behaviour reflected poorly on the press pool – the group of journalists who travel with the president – and must stop. Journalists are sometimes given small packages of M&Ms chocolates decorated with the presidential seal as a souvenir.

    But taking items with an Air Force One logo – including cutlery and towels – has been commonplace for years, reports claim. Misha Komadovsky, White House Correspondent from the Voice of America, has gathered a “subtle” collection of items from his trips on the president’s plane.

    “I didn’t embarrass anyone or commit any wrongdoing to put this collection together,” he told BBC News, as he held up a paper cup with the Air Force One logo he “simply forgot to throw away”.

    Mr Komadovsky also has a box of the presidential M&Ms with Mr Biden’s signature. “Spoiler alert. They are regular M&Ms in a nice box,” he said.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68702982

  78. 78.

    HinTN

    @Peke Daddy: But we can report them and report them and report them. “Sheriff, Senator X’s car is dispersing chemicals and that’s against the law.”

  79. 79.

    WaterGirl

    @Cacti: Since you are not responding to email messages from Cole, and you are no longer responding to mine, I want to let you know that your comments will no longer show up on Balloon Juice until you have had a conversation with John Cole.

    It’s John’s blog; show some respect.

    You have not been banned from Balloon Juice, but if you want anyone to see your comments, you need to communicate with Cole.

  80. 80.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Sister Golden Bear: Yesterday when this came up I was thinking inarticulately about how Easter goes well with renewal, rebirth, and transformation, so I am glad we are thinking along the same lines.

  81. 81.

    lowtechcyclist

    @lowtechcyclist:

    And of course he is:

    “It’s encouraging to see the sanctity of life bring together hundreds of thousands of Americans from across the country to march on Washington year after year. Every life is a precious gift and far too many innocent lives have been robbed of the chance to live a full and successful life. No right given to us is as foundational as the right to life.”

    Except if the lives are of people he doesn’t like. Then bomb them into oblivion.

  83. 83.

    JWR

    @WaterGirl: So that’s why my reply to Cacti sent me instead to the “you’re not allowed to post anything” page?

    ETA here’s my reply to Cacti: Nope. Nothing about it to make anybody feel better. But give the keys to Trump and we’re looking at a Final Solution aimed at the Palestinians.

  85. 85.

    Matt McIrvin

    @zhena gogolia: It’s like I’ve always said about third-party voters: there’s a category of voter who simply does not regard strategic voting to get the best outcome as the right way to do it. They think of that, in fact, as something like cheating or telling a lie.

    They’ve been told that voting is their voice, an expression of principles, so if a candidate does not embody their principles they MUST reject that candidate, though the world burn. And they regard this as a moral imperative.

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    @JWR: I guess that would make sense if you started your reply while the comment was still visible, but by the time you pressed POST COMMENT, the comment was gone.

  87. 87.

    JCJ

    @Spanky: I like the joke combined with Groundhog Day:

    Three guys die in a car crash.  They get to heaven and St Peter says, “Before you get into heaven you have to answer a question.  What is Easter?”

    The first one says – That is on the day you were born, you have a cake and get presents.   He did not get in.

    The second one says – that is in winter, you decorate a tree, and a guy in a red suit brings you presents.  He did not get in.

    The third guy says – that is when Jesus was crucified, buried, and on the third day he rose.  He looked around and saw his shadow and went back in the grave and there were six more weeks of winter.

  89. 89.

    Another Scott

    I see that Sinner is winning the Miami tennis final at the moment.  Today.  On Easter.

    Hmm…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Another Scott: And yesterday Danielle Collins won it on the WTA side.  A pretty big deal as it was her biggest tournament win of her career and she is retiring at the end of this one.  She’s also faced some major health and injury problems over the past year.  Beating Rybakina (last year’s Wimbledon champ) on a fast court that very much suits Rybakina’s style of play, is a pretty amazing achievement.

  93. 93.

    SomeRandomGuy

    If Easter is so all-fired fucking important to these “Christians,” then why didn’t they move it *away* from the National Transgender Day of Visibility or whatever? I mean, if they’re going to be all offended, *they* are the ones who decide when Easter happens! They should have moved their mobile holiday to one that wasn’t already a set-date. They’ve had some 1990 years to prepare for this shit, don’t let Transgender folks and allies take the rap.

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    @Dan B:

    Will there be more whining?

    Magic 8 Ball says “Yes”.

    Teri Kanefield short thread on Mastodon.social:

    Teri Kanefield
    @[email protected]

    A word about all the people I’ve pissed off with this week’s blog post:

    https://mastodon.social/@Teri_Kanefield/112187081021199665

    (When I woke up this morning, I removed about 25 comments !!)

    I wonder if I feel free to write a blog post that I know will anger people because I don’t monetize.

    I have ads, but it pays a tiny fraction of the cost of maintaining a website and using MailChimp. People might be surprised at how much my blogging venture costs.

    A few years ago Substack tried to recruit me . . .

    1/

    . . . they wanted me to use their site instead of my blog.

    The recruiter asked for a video conference and was shocked when I told her that I don’t want to monetize.

    Several people (including a few friends privately) that the MSNBC outrage has gotten worse.

    I offered this theory: During the Trump era these networks thrived because there was an easy target for outrage.

    Since then, they’ve had to rely on baseless rage-inducing speculation.

    2/

    I think another part is that individuals can monetize so easily.

    I remember when I discovered Twitter analytics: It showed me that when I said something disparaging about Trump, my engagement went up.

    I was appalled and never looked at Twitter Analytics again.

    So many factors in this new world of media encourage posts that outrage people or confirm their biases.

    3/

    I just wrote a book on Disinformation and included the election lies, so I don’t say this lightly, but both of these tear at the fabric of a democracy:

    (1) disinformation and misinformation
    (2) the kind of outrage and fury that exacerbates polarization.

    Unfortunately, both of those are profit driven.

    maybe that should be next week’s blog posts and I take off the rest of the week 😉

    I spent an absurd amount of time writing this week’s post because I knew I was going against the current.

    4/

    Teri is a wise woman.

    Follow the money.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Another Scott: She’s caught so much crap for even suggesting that the media outlets that cater to liberals are doing this kind of thing. Basically got people accusing her of trying to help Trump, peddling false balance etc.

  98. 98.

    Ironcity

    Sport didn’t see here is eventing.  Equestrian trifecta of dressage, stsdium jumping and cross country.   Unique things are totally level playi g field male female,no ladies tees, and a mix of the professionals and amatuers at whatever level of competition.   I’ve never ridden a horse in my life, but I’ve stewarded everyplace, jump judged in cross country and timed the jumping.  Dont know another sport where international level and local kids compete on the same discipline and the pros are generally really great with the kids.  Would be like a little league game with guys from the majors mixed with the local kids and some of the umps volunteers.    Youngest is looking at getting out and moving on after a vouple cincussions and a broken shoulder. 3kms cross country in 4 minutes over timber, brush and ditches with some water thrown in  is a real rush I hear.

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