Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

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

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

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

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

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

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Second rate reporter says what?

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

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

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Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    Before I forget, PSA:

    It’s not too late to RSVP for the zoom tonight with the folks from VAAC (Voting Access for All).  Just sent me email if you’re interested, and I’ll reply with the zoom link.

  4. 4.

    The Return of Mo Salad

    The next two Wednesdays, Detroit City FC road trips to Indianapolis and Louisville.

    Same day round-trip bus provided by the club. Day drinking mode enabled.

    I make no guarantees about my productivity the following Thursdays.

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Glad of the reminder, WG. Thanks. I mentioned it in an earlier thread, but little nudges are never a bad idea. Hope to see a nice BJ turnout.

  7. 7.

    MagdaInBlack

    It is my Bday. I took a day off work and gave myself a day of ” no shoulds.”  In 8 months I can retire with full SS. 🤗

  8. 8.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Driving all over town looking for radicchio.  Finally got some at 3rd grocery store, even Whole Effing Foods didn’t have any.

    Double loop wire fencing.  We brought a section with us from Misery to replace the gentrification fence the previous owners erected around the front.  We’ve finally gotten rid of two sides but not the third side.  Problem is that the section we brought with us is 1′ too short and it’s been a bitch finding sections.  You can purchase it new but a 25′ section costs $300, only need half that.  I think somebody in the Buy Nothing FB group here has some as they responded to my plea.

    This is one of those odd things where being back in Central Misery was actually better in a lot of ways for things like architectural salvage.  Places here have either gone out of business or cater to a real high end furniture market.

  9. 9.

    PaulWartenberg

    I’m selling books this afternoon at the Florida Library Conference in Orlando.

    So far no buyers.

    I’m trying to tell people the bookmarks are FREE, as an enticement. Librarians love bookmarks!

  12. 12.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Zoom is too early for me, not home from work until after 5 PT and then Miss Cleo gets the first 20-30 minutes of my time : )

    Otherwise, at work & watching bunnies play in the grass across the street.

  17. 17.

    BretH

    In Melbourne, looking ahead for a day exploring the city while my wife is in a workshop. Going to start with the Queen Victoria Market, then let things happen as they go. Have my public transportation card charged up and the Lime scooter app ready so bring on the town! So strange to see leaves turning and falling when it was spring at home just a week ago

    Any advice in what to see gratefully accepted!

  20. 20.

    Almost Retired

    Looking forward to the VAAC zoom as an antidote to all the nonsense in the news.  Great people doing critical work.  It’s as heartwarming as the Whos celebrating Christmas even after the Grinch swiped their presents.  The last VAAC Zoom lifted my spirits immensely (and I was lifting a glass of spirits during the call).

  21. 21.

    Chris

    A friend of mine is supposed to host an exchange student (high school age) again next year.

    She just found out that her application is currently being slow-walked, delayed, triple-checked, and otherwise red-taped because the powers that be are concerned over the fact that she’s Jewish, and the kid she’d be hosting is Palestinian.

    (For context, the only other kid she’s ever hosted was also an Arab, from Jordan, who was Palestinian by heritage and still had multiple relatives in the West Bank.  That one was enough of a success that they still talk every week and are basically family).

    (Also to be clear, this is not her speculating about the reasons for the delay, or jumping to a worst-case interpretation for it.  They pretty much said point blank “we’re not sure about this cause you’re Jewish.”)

    My friend finds this at least somewhat uncool.

    I’m inclined to say she’s not wrong.

  22. 22.

    Almost Retired

    @BretH:  I am one of those weirdos who liked Melbourne way more than Sydney (just like I’ll take Memphis over Nashville).  St. Kilda was great and not too far from the CBD.  Sort of Melbourne’s Venice Beach, but with penguins.

  23. 23.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    well, I’m watching the Westminster dog agility videos online, thanks to this awesome blog ;-)

  24. 24.

    Gin & Tonic

    @BretH: ​
    Haven’t been to Melbourne in a few years, but I’d say just take your time walking south from the Queen Victoria Market to the Flinders St railway station – lots of streets and alleyways to explore in that area. Once you get to the Flinders St station, walk across the river and go to the National Gallery of Victoria. If you go a few miles further south, the St. Kilda neighborhood is nice and funky – no tourist “sights” but a nice area to walk around on/near the waterfront.

  25. 25.

    Brachiator

    I have been dragging my feet as I slowly work on various projects. Laziness and procrastination keep winning.

    Have not been keeping up with the Internets or threads here. Were there any comments about the rude behavior at the New York to Dublin portal?

     

    Author Alice Munro passed away. Wonderful prose stylist.

  27. 27.

    JWR

    Finally decided to learn Argent’s “Hold You Head Up”, a tune somebody here mentioned, and an early 1970’s favorite of mind.  Argent were mostly the Zombies, (“Time Of The Season”, “She’s Not There”), who were a good, but sort of ’60’s-tinged band. “Hold Your Head Up”, OTOH, is a full on killer early 70’s rocker which is remarkably simple to play. I wonder how it never made it into the early cover bands I was a part of? Go figure. Oh and I’d always thought the singer / guitarist was Rod Argent, but nope, Argent was the keyboardist. The singer / guitarist was a guy named Russ Ballard. I’m just happy that God gave Rock & Roll To Me. ;)

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Almost Retired:

    I stocked up on wine today, so I expect I’ll also be lifting a glass this evening. Look forward to seeing you in a couple of hours.

  30. 30.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Brachiator:

    I subscribe to Margaret Atwood’s Substack. She wrote a wonderful tribute to Munro today. If anyone’s interested in seeing it, I’d be glad to copy and paste it. Not sure whether or not it’s available to non-subscribers.

  31. 31.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @JWR:

    I’ve seen Argent live a couple of times.  Even if the Zombies aren’t one’s thing, it’s worth it just to watch him play.

    Prior to him and Blunstone reforming the Zombies, they did a duo album, Out of the Shadows (2003) which is quite good.

  32. 32.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I have been answering spam calls in different crazy ways. I’m expecting a call but don’t know the phone number of the person so I have to pretty much answer every damned spam call. Still getting solar calls, Medicare pla s and final expense plans(they apparently know something I don’t.)

  34. 34.

    smith

    The judge just turned down Peter Navarro’s request for a reduction in his sentence. It turns out prison has very unpleasant ambience, so he complained to the manager. He’s doing, what? Four months?

  38. 38.

    Chris

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Red staters live in such a total bubble that it’s surprisingly easy to reach some of them with evidence.  I still remember the college friend who studied abroad in Scotland for a whole year, had the NHS fix a ton of medical issues she hadn’t been able to address her whole life, then came back incensed that “they [her family and friends and well everyone back in Texas and South Carolina] lied to me [about things like universal health care and how it worked]!”

    You can’t replicate this across the entire population, but at least some of them are stupid out of pure ignorance and not malice.

  43. 43.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @SiubhanDuinne: haven’t gotten a car warranty one in a while. I did answer one saying I had a 1979 Toyota corolla and the guy hung up on me haha. I tell the Medicare people I’m not on Medicare and they don’t believe me which is funny because I’ve usually been told I have a very young voice.

  44. 44.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Jamie is getting many opportunities recently to school his ignorant GOP (but I repeat myself) colleagues. I ❤️ him so much.

  46. 46.

    Math Guy

    Fixing dinner: braised ribs on thyme infused polenta. Cooking for my family is like a daily devotion.

  52. 52.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Math Guy:

    braised ribs on thyme infused polenta.

    Sitting here laughing to myself because I read that in Ina Garten’s voice, and now I wonder what Jeffrey wants for dinner.

  53. 53.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I subscribe to Margaret Atwood’s Substack. She wrote a wonderful tribute to Munro today. If anyone’s interested in seeing it, I’d be glad to copy and paste it.

    It would be very cool to read it.

  57. 57.

    FastEdD

    Covid shot number 7 today. They say they don’t like my blood pressure, but I’m in good shape for a septuagenarian. Traveling next week to the Midwest. Watching the Indy 500 in person, visiting my hometown near Chicago, and going to my 50th college reunion. The Cicada Tour!

  61. 61.

    MattF

    Got delivery today of a new iPad Air (6th gen). My 6-year old 3rd gen Air was getting spots on the display, and an iPad is all display, so it was time. New iPad is a lot like the old one, spent the morning transferring old info to the new gizmo.

  62. 62.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Brachiator:

    Margaret Atwood on Alice Munro:
    Alice has died, a little short of two months before her 93rd birthday. As her second oldest remaining friend and colleague — Audrey Thomas, author of the excellent Songs my Mother Taught Me among others, is the first, and Jane Urquhart, author of the magic Away, among others, is the third — I have been inundated with requests for “a few sentences,” “a comment,” and so forth. In other words, a sound bite. But Alice does not reduce to a sound bite, so I’m writing this for you, Dear Reader.
    I first met Alice through her work. Dance of the Happy Shades came out in 1968, the year after I’d unexpectedly picked up the Governor General’s Award (Canadian, and pretty much the only award at the time) for poetry. I read Alice’s book with great appreciation — I thought “Dance of the Happy Shades” and “The Peace of Utrecht” were particularly brilliant. The Canadian writing scene was very small at that time, so I didn’t think anything of writing to Alice, saying that myself and my then husband, James Polk, were going to be in Victoria, British Columbia — where Alice was living at the time — and that I loved her book and would like to meet her.
    She knew who I was, thanks to the GG. She invited us to sleep on her floor — writers were always sleeping on one another’s floors, and on floors in general, in those different times – and so we did.
    I have known Alice ever since; that would be fifty-five years. How could that be? Alice would have something to say about it, as one of her perennial subjects was time.
    Jump three years. I was now partnered with Graeme Gibson, and was also working with The House of Anansi, a small Canadian publisher. Graeme had interviewed a number of novelists for C.B.C. Radio —for a program called Anthology,headed by Robert Weaver, who had broadcast some of Alice’s first stories. Anansi was doing a book of the interviews, which would include photos of the authors taken by Graeme. (The one of me has a cable-knit sweater I’d knitted; I did two of them, one for Graeme. It amazes me now that I used to churnout such handicrafts.) This was the first such book about Canadian novelists to appear.
    The interviews existed on reel-to-reel tape, and Anansi had given them to a stenographer to transcribe, not realizing that she was hard of hearing. It was my task to edit the typescript. What the authors had said was obviously not the same as what was on the page — the best typo was “House of Nazis” for “House of Anansi” — but I did my best, including my best guesses.
    I think Graeme’s interview with Alice remains the top one witn her. It’s more relaxed, candid, and unguarded than later intervews. She became wary after she’d become “known” — interviewers could jump out of the shrubbery and try to take you unawares. Alice had a horror of being misquoted, thus appearing to say things she didn’t think. She hated leading questions.
    But also, Graeme and Alice were both from SoWestO — South Western Ontario — had gone to the same university — the University of Western Ontario, where they shared some of the same professors — and were of the same generation — she, 1931, he, 1934. They were Depression babies who’d been fully conscious during World War Two, whereas I was somewhat younger (1939). I rememered the war, though not as well, and had not been present during the Depression at all. So they had more in common, in terms of background, than I had with either of them. Graeme used to say that if he hadn’t run off with me, he would have run off with Alice.
    The next big book by Alice was the spectacular Lives of Girls and Women(1971). You will enjoy this content warning from Super Summary, I think. Alice certainly would have enjoyed it! She loved to laugh.
    “Content Warning: The source text contains references to murder, death by suicide and suicidal ideation, and sexual abuse, including sexual interactions between an adult and a young teenager. The source text also includes outdated and offensive language surrounding race and mental health conditions that are reproduced only via quotations.”
    Yep, it was possible to write more frankly and realistically once upon a time. That’s what writers understood as their artistic job. A little suicidal ideation never came amiss. Anyway, what the heck do people think goes on in small towns, and in life in general? And how the heck do they think other people talk when they aren’t makimg public speeches?
    Alice always said Lives was a novel, although critics tended to treat it as a linked group of stories. In 2015 — after Alice had won the Nobel (2013) and many of us had realized she was somewhat slipping away, which was why she didn’t attend the ceremony – I was asked to do something for the Cambridge Companion, edited by David Staines. I set myself the task of analyzing Lives as a novel —showing how all the parts of it fit together. (Hint: keep your eye on the Wawanash River.) One of the chapters, “Changes and Ceremonies,” centers around a music teacher who ends by drowning herself, though we first see her directing the high school operettas in the town of Jubilee. Alice names a number of these operettas; names more or less like  The Laughing Cavalier in Singing in the Rain. Period-costume romances.
    They all sounded real, but when I tried to locate them I couldn’t find them. Phone call to Alice. Me: “Alice, you invented all those operettas, didn’t you?”
    Alice (slyly): “Yes. Yes, I did.’
    Alice could be quite mischievous, and not only in her writing. Both of us had dark curley hair at one time. We were about the same height.
    Alice: “I was standing on a train platform and a man came up to me and said, ‘You’re Margaret Atwood!’” “Yes,” I said, “I am. Then we had quite an interesting conversation about your working methods and where you get your inspiration.”
    Turn and turn about: After we both had white hair, and after Alice had won the Nobel, people would come up to me and murmur, “Congratulations.” “For what?” “I would say. “You know. Winning that prize.” After a while I stopped trying to explain, and just murmured back, modestly, “Thank you.”
    Though the Thank Yous were really for Alice.

  64. 64.

    Geminid

    @JWR: The Zombies are touring. They’ll play Poole, Exeter and Buxton in the UK next week. They were in the States earlier this spring and played the Jefferson Theatre in Charlottesville on March 29.

  68. 68.

    cain

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I think she fucked around and found out in a completely new way. The entire thing is not about children but almost always about money and power. Projection – basically they want children to be indoctrinated – but in white power culture.

  72. 72.

    Jackie

    Mitt Romney will be on MSNBC’s 11th Hour tonight. I will NOT be watching!😡

    “Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) argued that President Joe Biden should have pardoned Donald Trump after the Justice Department brought indictments against the former president and pressured New York prosecutors not to pursue Trump’s ongoing hush money trial,” NBC News reports.

    Said Romney: “He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward. It was a win-win for Donald Trump.”

    FU, Romney!

  75. 75.

    Scout211

    @eclare: SCOTUS restored LA’s voting map!  WaPo breaking news.

    I was about to post that as a win for Louisiana, but then I read this:

    NBC   The court granted emergency requests filed by an unlikely alliance of Republican state officials and civil rights groups, who were united in asking the high court to block a lower court ruling that invalidated the most recently drawn map. State officials had said they needed to have the map finalized by Wednesday to meet bureaucratic deadlines and avoid “disarray.”
    . . .
    The court’s three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writing that the state still had time to draw a map that would address the various legal questions that have been raised. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority.

    “There is little risk of voter confusion from a new map being imposed this far out from the November election,” Jackson wrote.

    The liberal justices have objected in previous cases when the court has acted to block changes to district maps or election laws in an election year, often in ways that benefited Republicans.

    Then, conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh defended the move, saying it was a “bedrock tenet” of election law that “the rules of the road must be clear and settled in an election year.”

    The majority did not explain in detail its reasoning in Wednesday’s decision.

    So it’s better but not to the liking of the three liberal judges.  I’m not really sure what this means but since the appeal included a group of Republicans, it may not be the win we hoped for.  And it was an emergency appeal so it’s not permanent.  Sigh.

  79. 79.

    Baud

    @Scout211:

    I think everyone was just being consistent. The Republican justices screwed us over in the past based on timing, and the liberals said timing was irrelevant.  They’re just sticking to their positions in an odd situation where it helps us, but is otherwise indistinguishable.

  81. 81.

    JWR

    Just saw a bit on NBC that Led Zeppelin the movie has been sold and is going into theatrical release. Claim is that it covers the band’s early days all the way up to their last show in 2012 at the O2 Arena, which DVD I have. My only complaint about that last being that there are too many quick cuts.

    Anybody wanna hear me play Stairway To Heaven? ;) //s

  82. 82.

    smith

    @Scout211: This is what Marc Elias of Democracy Docket is saying about the decision:

    I’m just enjoying a tall glass of House GOP tears while I practice saying Speaker Jeffries.

    I’ll take that as good news.

  84. 84.

    Quiltingfool

    Let’s see, I finished binding 2 quilts today.  One is a “happy” quilt (makes me smile when I look at it); it’s called Cats!  Don’t have a photo yet, but the colors are blue and yellow.  The other quilt is favored by my husband; very geometric, neutral colors.  I bought the pattern because the borders were awesome, and they are.  When I get photos I’ll post a link.

    Gonna show them to my guild peeps tomorrow.  Oh, I’m also showing a wall hanging I made for a fellow jackal; I made an appliqué from a photo of her kitty and I think it turned out pretty good.  I’ll share a photo of it, too, if she is okay with it.

  89. 89.

    Trollhattan

    @Jackie: “Isn’t this the time for healing?” Worked so well for handling Nixon and Reagan after their criming.

  91. 91.

    2liberal

    @MagdaInBlack:  It is my Bday. I took a day off work and gave myself a day of ” no shoulds.”  In 8 months I can retire with full SS

    I worked a couple of extra years to fill up my 401k and retired last December.  Prediction:  you’re gonna love it!

  92. 92.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Shoulder PT, and more shoulder PT. Plus dealing with the CA EDD to undo a clusterfuck regarding overlapping UI and retroactive short-term disability, which has held up the latter.

    On a happier note, I’m packing to head up to the Russian River Women’s Weekend tomorrow for a four-day getaway. Dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians!

  93. 93.

    Jackie

    How quickly will Gov Abbott be requesting federal emergency assistance?

    A barge has collided with the Pelican Island Causeway in Galveston, Texas, damaging the bridge, closing the roadway to all vehicular traffic and causing an oil spill.

    The collision occurred at around 10 a.m. local time. Galveston officials said in a news release that there had been no reported injuries. Video footage obtained by CBS affiliate KHOU appears to show that part of the train trestle that runs along the bridge has collapsed.

    *snip*

    The collision caused a spill of vacuum gas oil, which can be used to make transportation fuels and other byproducts, according to the Galveston Office of Emergency Management. The agency said that the oil had been visually confirmed in the water and said that about six and a half miles of intracoastal waterway had been closed. The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to the spill, and will determine its extent and initiate “containment and cleanup processes,” officials said.

    The barge has a capacity of about 30,000 gallons, officials said. The amount that has leaked out is unknown, but Freed said a “limited amount of product” spilled into the waterway.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pelican-island-bridge-causeway-galveston-texas-barge-collision/

  95. 95.

    H.E.Wolf

    Sending best wishes to VAAC and all of the Zoom attendees. I’ll be there in spirit! So glad Balloon Juice is supporting their GOTV work.

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Grrr. I seem to be related, by blood or marriage, to a number of … gonna go with obtuse … people. Don’t ever get entangled in one of my family email threads. They start out innocent and they end up laden with snark, sarcasm, and snarling. And stupidity.

  97. 97.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    That’s wonderful! Does she know about Jackals? If so, please convey to her the very best of Jackal good wishes and felicitations!

  100. 100.

    JWR

    @Trollhattan:

    “Isn’t this the time for healing?”

    As if ANY Republican would pardon someone w/out an R after their name. Screw you, Mittens.

  103. 103.

    Redshift

    @Jackie: No shock that Mittens’ understanding of the situation is as shallow as most pundits. The case that the indictments helped TFG is pretty dubious, and to advocate for a pardon without thinking that might help him more is real galaxy brain thinking. The unearned confidence of a mediocre white man…

  104. 104.

    Math Guy

    @cain: @Sure Lurkalot Not sure how to double a reply.

    A wonderful way to bond. We almost always sit together for a meal and share what happened during our day.

  106. 106.

    zeecube

    @Scout211: One of LA’s Republican congressmen pissed off LA’s new maga-infused governor by not endorsing his candicacy: so the new gov and his R legislative buddies punished him by eliminating his district to carve out the new black-majority district.  The appellate ruling would have the effect of re-establishing the old R-majority district for 2024. Republicans appealed to ensure his old district is not revived by judicial fiat.  So, in the end, rather than having an R-majority district for at least one more term, Louisianian Rs would rather lose a safe R district to ensure that there are consequences when other Rs fail to show allegiance.

  107. 107.

    MagdaInBlack

    Thank you all for the birthday wishes ❤️ It was nice to have a day of guilt-free sloth.

  110. 110.

    cain

    I bought desserts for my wife and daughter and it was a big hit. It was all light and less sugar the way I like it

  111. 111.

    SH

    Hi

    We went to the doctor to try to figure out the mystery of not swallowing. I hope it’s not myositis.
    Sharon

  112. 112.

    stinger

    @MagdaInBlack: Happy birthday! It’s likely the next eight months will seem long while they’re happening, but soon after that, you’ll just be in the wonderful life phase called retirement and the last months of your work life won’t matter at all!

  113. 113.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Math Guy: ​Not sure how to double a reply.

    Fairly simple to n-tuple a reply: (1) Find the first post you want to reply to, click “Reply”; (2) Click “X” at the top right of the reply form; (3) Find the next post you want to reply to. click “Reply”; (4) Repeat step 2; (5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all posts you wish to reply to; (6) Return to the comment form and clean it up by deleting all intervening characters and lines; (7) Type your reply; (8) Click “Post Comment.” Not even bottle-rocket science!!

  115. 115.

    Madeleine

    @BretH: The fairy penguins on Phillip Island. It’s some distance from Melbourne—2 hr?—but where else will you see foot-high penguins? They come in from the ocean at sunset.

    eta: or the Melbourne zoo for other Australian animals. And no travel.

  118. 118.

    Chris T.

    @Almost Retired:

    I am one of those weirdos who liked Melbourne way more than Sydney (just like I’ll take Memphis over Nashville).

    They’re both nice, in different ways. Both are too hot and humid for me in general though. Perth, though it’s kind of “too far from everything” in many ways, seemed more tolerable weather-wise. I think Melbourne had the best food scene overall though.

    (Heading north from Sydney it just gets even hotter and more humid, but a lot of the cities along the coast are pretty. Brisbane is huge and sprawling and I didn’t explore it at all, just went to a koala center, then continued north to Cairns for reef-visiting.)

    St. Kilda was great and not too far from the CBD.

    That’s where I stayed for my Melbourne visit, and it was really nice. Hit up Monarch Cakes on Acland St! I went back there night after night for dessert!

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