Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Republicans in disarray!

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

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

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

We still have time to mess this up!

People are weird.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

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What’s on the Agenda for Today?

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Here’s what’s on the agenda Balloon Juice-wise for today.

We have an Artists in Our Midst post from Dan B at 3 pm.  An artist in a different medium!

We have “Take Two” of Jennifer Schiff’s Authors in Our Midst post at 5pm.  Rudely interrupted last week by the golf course incident!  How can that have only been a week ago?

We have Medium Cool at 7 pm.  Song lyrics, I think it could be a good one, but of course you never know.

We have the Double-Angel Matching going on until midnight tonight.  I didn’t want to put up another post, so I linked to yesterday’s post in the sidebar.  I say “midnight”, but anything that’s in there when I get up early on Monday that’s matchable will be matched.

There’s a new comment policy for Balloon Juice.  Everybody please read it.  There will be a quiz.  The comment policy is in the footer of every page.  But here’s a direct link.

And we have car magnets available for order at Cafe Press.  Tunch, Dark Tunch, Steve, Dark Steve, Woke not Weird with a peace sign, Woke not Weird with a raised fist (female!) and Woke not Weird Pride version.  If you don’t find all of them up there, please let me know.

Link

Friday Night Open Thread 20

The Balloon Juice Store looks like crap because Cafe Press took it down, scrambled everything, basically threw all the piece into a box.  So it’s functional enough to purchase but will need a lot of work.

Also note that these designs are available in buttons, golf balls, baby bibs, and (apparently) thongs!  Cafe Press does that automatically, and beth tries to hide the worst of them, but Cafe Press keeps adding them back in.  (We hate Cafe Press.)

What’s on the agenda for you guys?

Open thread!

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Fall Equinox (Open Thread)

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Sunrise in the swamp
Bill was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. It’s brutally cold there in the winter, he says.

He couldn’t wait to get out. When he finished high school and his father was pressuring him to go to college, Bill snuck off one summer day and joined the U.S. Air Force instead.

Next thing he knew, he was on a bus to Texas. A drill sergeant met the bus in a blazing hot parking lot and screamed at and insulted the new recruits for many long minutes after they disembarked.

Bill felt the first pang of homesickness then. With tears in his eyes, Bill wondered if joining up was a mistake.

It wasn’t. He stayed in the USAF for several years and got to live in Europe for most of it, doing cocktail sets at fancy NATO parties, playing keyboard with the USAF rock band at remote outposts in Turkey, town squares in Greece, etc., entertaining fellow troops and the local public with pop songs like 99 Luftballoons. 

When his hitch was up and Bill was trying to figure out what to do next, he knew he couldn’t endure another Buffalo winter. He thought back to a brief trip to a base in Florida that had palm trees and agreeable weather. It was MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, so he moved there.

Bill has lived in Florida ever since, but he retains a Buffalonian’s vestigial fondness for summer. There’s really no excuse for that anymore, in my opinion. He damn well knows Florida summers are to be endured rather than enjoyed, much like Buffalo winters.

Having grown up in a humid swamp, I never had any illusions about summer. I hate it. I’ve always hated it. But this was the worst summer ever for me personally since I was ill for pretty much all of it.

All this to say I am so grateful for the autumnal equinox, which arrived today like a glorious gift. When I carried my cup of coffee to the porch early this morning to watch the swamp come alive, there was a cool breeze. It will get to near 90 F today, but summer is over. Good fucking riddance!

Open thread.

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Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Ozark Hillbilly, Irreplaceable Inspiration

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Originally published on June 21, 2020 (under the title ‘Zenning Out’) if you want to read the comments

Zen Out

From beloved gardening & photograpy master Ozark Hillbilly:

On my first expedition I had the pleasure of spending 6 days underground with Chuck, a Rastafarian smoke jumper from northern NM who was one of the most even tempered people I’ve ever caved with. On our last day his fractious headlamp that had been incessantly arguing with him the entire time just stopped working. Chuck, who had never uttered so much as “darn” or a “dagnabbit” began cursing like a sailor and beating his headlamp in the hopes of improved morale and then, just as suddenly stopped.

“Oh wow man, I need to Zen out. Here in this most beautiful place, I really need to Zen out.”

That’s where I’m at with the murder of George Floyd and all the white people who think protesting for haircuts with AR-15s is the height of resonableness, also thinking they get to lecture black people angrily protesting for their lives on how they are doing it all wrong.

So I am Zenning out…

ZenOut [top photo] shows the all but finished original Zen garden. There are a few more details to be added to the divider such as the “stained glass” my wife is going to do for the windows.

The pics are just the step by step construction of the Zen addition.

Photo Bomb Percy (damn dog tries to get in every damn pic I take)

Spiderwort is added just because this needs a pretty flower picture. They are growing up thru a broken cast iron pot I found while mushroom hunting, no doubt thrown away by a frustrated 1870s iron prospector for whom it was the last straw. That area is pocked with prospect pits including at least one 40′ deep shaft going straight down.

***********

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

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War for Ukraine Day 941: Russia Hits Civilian Targets in Kharkiv, Kryvih Rih, & Nikopol While Ukraine Hits Another Military Target in Russia

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A painting by Ukrainian artist NEIVANMADE. The words "NEVER AGAIN" are repeated over and over, from left to right and top to bottom, in a faded, washed out black against a white background. Red, the color of blood, runs and drips down across 2/3rds of the painting. "WHILE YOU TOLERATE TYRANTS" is written/painted in the bottom white corner below the three rows of "NEVER AGAIN".

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is still doing great. Thank you for all the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, I’ve gotten some sleep. Today’s acupuncture treatment – so far – seems to be making a major difference.

Russian continues to target civilians and civilian infrastructure all over Ukraine:

Russian airstrikes on Kharkiv injured 13 civilians, including three children, who experienced acute stress reactions. Among the victims is a 49-year-old patient at a hospital near the site of the bombing. He had been hospitalized earlier in the day for injuries sustained from a russian strike in another part of the city. Tragically, the man was wounded again during the night attack.

📹place_kharkiv

Kharkiv is currently under attack again. More on that after the jump.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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Saturday Evening Open Thread: An Underrated Miracle Drug

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Seriously!

Per NPR, “U.S. overdose deaths plummet, saving thousands of lives”:

For the first time in decades, public health data shows a sudden and hopeful drop in drug overdose deaths across the U.S.

“This is exciting,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute On Drug Abuse [NIDA], the federal laboratory charged with studying addiction. “This looks real. This looks very, very real.”

National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6 percent. That’s a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages.

Some researchers believe the data will show an even larger decline in drug deaths when federal surveys are updated to reflect improvements being seen at the state level, especially in the eastern U.S.

“In the states that have the most rapid data collection systems, we’re seeing declines of twenty percent, thirty percent,” said Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, an expert on street drugs at the University of North Carolina.

According to Dasgupta’s analysis, which has sparked discussion among addiction and drug policy experts, the drop in state-level mortality numbers corresponds with similar steep declines in emergency room visits linked to overdoses…

It’s a hard stat to brag about, because every story gets bombarded with comments about ‘spending taxpayer dollars to keep worthless addicts alive’ and ‘it wouldn’t be necessary if not for Demon-crat’s open border policy.’ But fewer dead community members is a good thing. And a lot of those ‘worthless eaters’ have family and friends who are also voters, so there’s got to be ways to point that out, yes?

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