Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

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

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

We will not go back.

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

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

“They all knew.”

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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

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On The Road – ema – City Livin’

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ema

Hudson Canyon’s Edge is a posh New York neighborhood teeming with life. Unfortunately for you, even if you had tons of money and impeccable references, you wouldn’t be able to move in. Mostly because you would need gills to live there, but still, it’s an exclusive place.

I found out about this lovely area when I visited the New York Aquarium (NYA link) during my summer Coney Island mermaid adventure (OTR post).

The NY Aquarium opened in 1896 and is the oldest continuously operating aquarium in the country. It’s not very big. It has three main pavilions (fishy fishes, sharks, and invertebrates), several outdoors enclosures for penguins, sea lions, etc., and a performance area. 

I didn’t spend any time outside because of the heat*, but indoors, the place is otherworldly. I almost didn’t mind all the people with their kids running rampant. Almost. (Go during the week, and go early in the day to avoid the crowds.)

Let’s take an enchanted stroll.

*I don’t want the aquarium to feel left out, so here’s some unsolicited advice on how it should be run. A continuous supply of big ice chunks should be provided to all the outdoor pools. Sure, it would melt in a few minutes, but the poor penguins (32s) and company would really appreciate it. They all looked as heat stroke-y as I felt.

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On The Road - ema - City Livin’ 9

For most of my visit I was so taken with these mesmerizing creatures (20s),I forgot to check on their names. Next time.

War for Ukraine Day 1,007: Russia Throws 188 Drones & 4 Iskanders at Ukraine!

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Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is doing great. We did a 1.2 mile walk this evening at a 23 minute per mile pace. There was no lagging or dragging. Thank you for all the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations to help cover the cost of her chemo.

Second, today was a very long day as I try to tie up some loose threads before the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I’m just going to run through the basics tonight.

Russia’s overnight attack last night included 188 drones and at least 4 Iskander missiles.

Ukraine’s air force reporting what must be a record 188 Russian/Iranian Shahed strike drones being launched against targets in Ukraine overnight: 76 shot down, 96 crashed/location lost, and 5 flew to Belarus. 11 others, plus 4 Iskander missiles, presumably hit their targets.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) November 26, 2024 at 2:20 AM

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

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2025 Pets of Balloon Juice Calendars

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Send us your tired, your poor…  Send us your pet pics!

If this isn’t the visual image of how you have been feeling for the past 3 weeks, then you are not me.

2025 Pets of Balloon Juice Calendars 5

In case you missed the previous posts, we are doing the Pets of Balloon Juice calendars again this year.

We’re aiming for an order date of Dec 1.

We are on a short deadline, so we set a limit of 10 pet photos per person this year!

Things you should know:

  • Please send me email to let me know 1) your nym, 2) your name, and 3) the names of your pets.
  • Send the email to [email protected]
  • I will send you the file upload link when you send me the email with the information requested above.
  • Please use the upload link to submit your photos.
  • Please submit the highest resolution version you have.
  • You don’t have time to procrastinate – our deadline is Wednesday, Nov 27.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO ME BY EMAIL.  I am nearly at my quota on my watergirl email and photos are going to put me over the limit – in which case I won’t be able to get any email. :-(

Come on you guys, send us your beauties and your goofballs.  You know they want to be in a calendar.

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Tuesday Night Open Thread

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Quick Update on dad- the bad news is he is cranky and in the hospital. The good news is he is cranky which means he is mentally fine, and they have not found anything after multiple tests and scans and whatnot, and he no longer has afib, but they are keeping him just to make sure.

Other than that, I have nothing. Joelle and I went to the community pool after work and had a nice swim. Only $1.25 to swim as long as you want!

I realized today that Trump has any easy out if Elon starts to become a pain in the dick. Just have Vivek use DOGE to cut all the Tesla and SpaceX subsidies. He’ll be gone in no time.

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Advance Warning: For Multiple Reasons, Milk Is About to Get More Expensive

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Health officials on Friday confirmed bird flu in a California child — the first reported case in a U.S. minor.

The child had mild symptoms, was treated with antiviral medication and is recovering, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in announcing the test results. State officials have said the child attends day care and lives in Alameda County, which includes Oakland and surrounding communities, but released no other details.

The infection brings the reported number of U.S. bird flu cases this year to 55, including 29 in California, the CDC said. Most were farmworkers who tested positive with mild symptoms…

From the NYTimes, “What a Crackdown on Immigration Could Mean for Cheap Milk” [gift link]:

Four-thirty in the morning felt numbingly cold in southern Idaho when it was Rosa’s turn to usher the cows into the milking parlor. Striding through the dairy farm’s open lots, she tried to balance speed with caution. April showers and the hooves of roughly 2,000 cows had transformed whole sections of the lots into a slippery goo of dirt, dung and urine. The muck stuck to her rubber boots; it was treacherous. On at least one occasion, she had fallen in it…

Close to the milking parlor, things got tricky. The goo was thicker here, where hundreds of cows passed every hour, and Rosa needed the animals to squeeze together inside a holding area. She stepped in closer to smack haunches, then darted back before the cows turned in response. She was small, and they were huge. Their backs came up to her shoulders — each of them weighed at least 1,000 pounds. There are a lot of ways to get hurt on a dairy farm, and being crushed by cows is one of them. The animals are languid and gentle, but they startle easily. In a panic, they can move fast.

Rosa’s boss, a man named Peter, allowed me to follow her around the dairy because he believes that more people need to understand how economically precarious America’s production of milk has become. The problem, as Peter sees it, is that the price of everything in America has gone up except the price of milk. In the 1980s, a tractor cost him roughly $60,000, the federal minimum wage was $3.35 and his first hundred pounds of Class III milk — the kind used in making yogurt and cheese — sold to a processing plant for $12.24. Since then, many of his expenses have doubled or tripled. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Peter says, his costs soared, and they still haven’t come down. Fuel-tank fittings that cost him about $2,000 in 2014 now run $13,000. Mechanics who once charged $60 an hour now charge $95.

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Black Friday Deals

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I have seen a couple of comments here and there about good Black Friday deals that people might be interested in, so I thought we could maybe collect them all in one place.

MazeDancer mentioned a couple of good streaming deals, the details of which have fallen right out of my head.  So I hope she’ll chime in, and I’ll bet there are even more.

Anyone have anything to share?  Good deals you have seen?   Good deals you are hoping for on a particular product?

Personally, I’m hoping for a good deal on the Breville countertop oven that’s the size of my current one that is 5 years old and starting to rattle.  It was on sale $100 off a month or two ago, and in the 3 days I spent talking myself out of it because mine isn’t broken yet, I missed the sale.

Does Apple even have Black Friday sales?  Seems like lots of us are thinking of replacing our electronics before Trump takes office.  And I suppose the non-Apple peeps may be in the same boat.

For me, it’s partially about the tariffs, and it’s partially because I would love to do my part in making the coveted “people are spending money, things must be good!” credit unavailable to the orange cretin.

BJ Hive Mind, do your thing!  I’ll link this is in the sidebar this week for easy reference.

THIS POST IS IN THE SIDEBAR UNDER FEATURING.

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How the Opposition Should Oppose

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How the Opposition Should Oppose
Another good idea for opposition…

Kay made a good comment in the last post:

An opposition could simply repeat Trump’s broken promises over and over for two years. They don’t even have to address Trump voters directly at all. Is gas under 2 dollars a gallon? Are interest rates at 2? Is there world peace? Is Trumpcare in place? Are food prices at 2016 levels? Why not?

There was a lot of complaining in the comments a week or two ago when Bernie said that he’d support Trump’s effort to lower credit card interest rates.  There was less noise when Fetterman said this:

“If Dr. Oz is about protecting and preserving Medicare and Medicaid, I’m voting for the dude,” Mr. Fetterman, D-Pa., said on the social media site X.

Neither of those statements really bothered me because I think they’re part of a strategy to hold Trump and his appointees to their word.  Note that I distinguish saying “I’ll vote for some nominee  if they pledge to do (some specific good thing that’s the basis of their appointment)” or “I’ll vote for (some specific good thing Trump wants)” from “Man, RFK Jr. has a few good ideas”.  That’s because the former types of statements are basically the sleeves of a vest in negotiating terms — they are statements about things that will probably never happen with huge amounts of wiggle room. For example, Dr. Oz’  appointment is to oversee Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. There are a million ways Fetterman can say that Oz won’t preserve those two programs and therefore deserves a no vote.  Similarly, Bernie’s statement sets him up to be publicly disappointed when Trump doesn’t follow through on his promise.

Even though I think there’s a positive strategy behind comments like Bernie’s or Fetterman’s, I think we can do better.  On this point, Steve M makes a good observation:

Want to try holding Trump to this [credit card rate] promise? Introduce a bill to lower credit card interest rates — and put Trump’s name on it.

Sanders and Warren should write a bill limit credit card interest rates and call it the Donald Trump Credit Card Sanity Act. They should put Trump’s September quote in a “Whereas” paragraph at the beginning of the bill. They should dare him to oppose a bill with his name on it. Dare Senate Republicans to oppose a bill named after him.

I know, I know — most mainstream economists, across the political spectrum, oppose limits on credit card fees, because they make it less likely that banks will offer cards to poorer people. Last year, when Senator Josh Hawley, of all people, introduced a bill to limit credit card interest rates, the bill went nowhere and had no co-sponsors, not even Sanders or Warren.

But if you want to make the point, don’t sit around waiting for Trump not to act. Actively hold him to his word, and do it in an attention-getting, headline-grabbing way.

Trump didn’t just get elected because of his hateful base.  Low information “vibes voters” who have memories of a goldfish thought that what Trump said about inflation and credit card rates sounded good.  We can shit on those voters all we want, but we need to convince some of them, as well as convince our voters who didn’t turn out, that if/when we have power, we’ll actually do some of the popular things Trump promised.  Proposing legislation and keeping track of broken promises — in a noisy, consistent and sustained fashion — are two ways to do that.

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