Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Books are my comfort food!

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

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

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

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

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

The lights are all blinking red.

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

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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96Comments

  2. 2.

    Walker

    Be thankful you got 10 hours. Most books get 2.

    It does look like they are doing the right thing and splitting ASoS into two seasons.

  4. 4.

    PeakVT

    So, if there are two seasons for ASoS, one season for AFfC, and two for ADwD, Martin needs to produce TWoW by mid 2017 to prevent a break in the series.

  5. 5.

    Mike in NC

    Was hoping for a 90 minute to 2 hour season finale, like many of the regular network shows do. Sniff.

  7. 7.

    gogol's wife

    I believe the Rose Leslie character left Downton at the end of the first season, so make sure you watch that one. (I think she’s the housemaid who learns how to type.)

  8. 8.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    If you read Tbogg, some nut is trying to sell a painting of Andrew Breitbart, in a heroic pose, Andrew’s head Tyrion Lannister’s body.

  9. 9.

    gogol's wife

    @Mr Stagger Lee:

    This explains why Breitbart has foreshortened limbs in the picture. I thought it was just a bad artist (I don’t watch Game of Thrones, but I know that’s the Peter Dinklage character).

  10. 10.

    lamh35

    I’m watching the Adele “live” special (which is basically performances from her Albert Hall DVD and a “new” interview with Matt Lauer), then an hour of not much then Drop Dead Diva back on lifetime and I.can’t.wait.

  11. 11.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Not TV-related, but I do like this: my grandpa’s in the hospital for foot surgery, and he’s kind of being a grump about it. He called my mom today and said “They turned on that damn Republican TV in my room again!” “Fox News?” “No, CNN!”

    I’m so proud of him. He’s done a complete 180 on politics in the last 5 years.

  12. 12.

    lamh35

    I’m still just like WTF is it with the Romney sons tha make them so ugh. His 4 years wants to know if grandpa’s beaten Obama yet. Really, really, the first thing on a damn 4 year old’s mind it Barack freakn’ Obama??? The guy can’t really be writing his own tweets right.

    Oh please. What galls me is that Michelle Obama and POTUS go out of their way to say nothing but nice things about the extended Romney family. Would Michelle or Barack ever say that Malia or Sash asked them when they are gonna beat Romney???

    All the interviews I’ve seen with Michelle, she always says she and Barack try to shield the girls from the nastiness as much as they can while at home I guess the Romney son doesn’t feel the same about his 4 year old????

    Geez, these people.

  13. 13.

    Simon Taverner

    Aaaaand, I tell my wife I’m not quite sure why we should stay together, that I love her very much, and I’ve been waiting for a long time for her to come back to me emotionally, but that I feel like I might be wasting my time.

    Aaaaand, her only response is to scowl, tell me she wants time to go drive around and think about it.

    Oh, and that my timing is inconvenient, because her stomach hurts.

    Ah, good times.

  15. 15.

    muddy

    Dammit, my dvr did not pick up GoT altho it was at the top of the priority list. Yesterday the HW heater shit the bed, I feel there may be gremlins here.

  17. 17.

    butler

    I’m guessing 16 episodes a season just isn’t cost effective for a show like this, where production costs must be sky high. I haven’t seen much of the series, does anyone who has read the books know how much was cut out for TV?

  20. 20.

    Cluttered Mind

    @Spaghetti Lee: That’s a wonderful story. I have a similar (though not as upbeat) one. My grandfather was dying in a hospital in November 2000, and one of the last things he was able to say coherently was to complain loudly and angrily that he was being disenfranchised because he was stuck in a hospital dying on election day. I miss him a lot.

  21. 21.

    khead

    12 Angry Men (1957) – an awesome flick – is on TCM.

    Which juror is still alive? Don’t look it up….

  22. 22.

    Shinobi

    I sortof wish I’d never started watching Downton, or the new Sherlock from the BBC. These year long waits between very short seasons are KILLING ME. I watched the last episode of Sherlock this week and I am FILLED WITH JOY AND REGRET.

    I should have done the thing I do with all book series, and just waited until they are done.

  25. 25.

    Tavism

    JC,judging from your posts we have almost identical taste in TV. If so, you will love the first season of Downton. The second is a soapy wreck, but you like the characters and actors enough where you will sit through it.

  26. 26.

    eric

    @Shinobi: i just watched episode 1 of season 2 and was blown away…tonight is the Hound of Baskervilles online…..cannot recommend enough..loved season one, but this looks even better

  27. 27.

    gogol's wife

    @eric:

    Episode 3 is the greatest.

    If John starts watching Downton, I predict he’ll shift his allegiance from housemaid Gwen to Lady Mary.

  28. 28.

    Keith

    Ygritte is one of the only characters I don’t like on the show (the other being Caitlyn Stark…too much “OF THE LLLLIKES OF YOU!” for my liking). Everyone else on the show needs an Emmy. Bronn, Varys, Littlefinger, Stannis, Sandor…great performances this season. (I think Dinklage needs an accent coach ASAP, but Tyrion is still great)

  29. 29.

    eric

    @gogol’s wife: i cannot wait….i am trying to do this slower than I did with Merlin…..let’s just say my neighbors knew the theme song within two days.

  31. 31.

    Walker

    @butler:

    Quite a bit has been changed from the books, but most of it is for pacing and budgetary constraints. And almost all the changes are good ones.

  37. 37.

    khead

    @NotMax:

    Yup.

    Funny, but when I asked my wife before posting – and before I looked it up – we thought they were all dead. However, if anyone was alive it would be….. Jack Warden.
    Survey says (in honor of Richard Dawson, RIP) – XXX.

    Krugman had the throat cancer issues so we figured he was toast, but not so. He’s the one.

    @piratedan:

    Definitely in my top 5 – which also includes the aforementioned 12 Angry Men and Stalag 17.

  38. 38.

    gogol's wife

    @khead:

    I was going to say Klugman (not Krugman, please!), but I was almost sure he was deceased.

  39. 39.

    Mr Furious

    Downton is definitely worth checking out, John. It’s fantastic. You can stream the first season on Netflix.

  40. 40.

    khead

    @gogol’s wife:

    Heh. Didn’t even catch that typo. Too much politics. Hard to believe Mr. Klugman has made it to 90 years old though.

    BTW, Are my wife and I the only ones out there that watched Quincy with their Mom/parents? C’mon folks…..

  43. 43.

    Simon Taverner

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: You know, I almost wish that was the case! At least it would make sense, then. Then again, I thought the same thing with the first wife, and she WAS sleeping with someone else.

    Kinda sad when that’s what you’re routing for.

  44. 44.

    freelancer

    @C.J.:

    If they drag out the Mary/Matthew stuff any longer I will drive to England and punch the writers. My heart cannot take it.

    Have you seen the Christmas Special yet?

  46. 46.

    Corner Stone

    Call me parochial, but I just have no interest in going to NYC and experiencing some nouveau reimagining of freakin BBQ.

  48. 48.

    Corner Stone

    @Simon Taverner: Well, what would make you sad then?
    That she didn’t really have any opinion on your relationship? That she loved you and wanted to recommit?
    I’m just not getting this. If you’d be happy she was boning some other person then just take your shit, split the commons down the middle, and move on.

  50. 50.

    Keith

    @Chuck Derperton: At the Occupy protest, Breitbart was just yelling the same thing over and over again. It may have been “Hodor!”, I dunno. Sounds about right to me.

  51. 51.

    Sly

    @Keith:

    (I think Dinklage needs an accent coach ASAP, but Tyrion is still great)

    It’s not that bad. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) has had much more difficulty concealing his Danish accent than Dinklage has with his American one, and his trouble only comes through strongly in a few scenes. And those are the only two non-British actors that have been expected to reproduce a British accent, so the contrast makes it more noticeable than it otherwise would be.

  53. 53.

    Simon Taverner

    @Corner Stone: Fair enough response. I guess my problem is just not knowing what I did wrong. If she isn’t attracted to me anymore and she finds someone else more attractive, or if that person fills some urgent need that I just can’t, then JUST TELL ME! Why is that so hard?

    What would make me sad? The whole damned thing makes me sad! I don’t want my marriage to be over (again). I would take just about any step to keep that from happening, but it has to actually lead to a marriage again, not a glorified roommate situation where I pay all the bills and do all the work.

    Eh, whatever, I deserve the criticism.

  56. 56.

    MeDrewNotYou

    Minor spoiler if you haven’t seen the season finale.

    I have a love/hate relationship with GoT. On the one hand, nearly everything is fantastic: the acting, the pacing, they way they jump between stories at just the right rate. But I also loathe the show more than anything I’ve ever experienced because Joffrey still lives.

    I honestly hate the character more than any other I can think of. He has no redeeming qualities, he’s a cruel asshole, and a coward to boot.

    I know that he’ll be taken care of eventually, when George RR Martin decides to (I know its eventually, and apparently in a nice gruesome manner), but dammit I want him dead NOW!

    Martin, the show’s writers, and the actor deserve a ton of credit for making such a loathsome character come to life. I just feel a little sorry for the kid playing him. He’ll end up with half of his face caved in from everyone he meets smacking him.

  58. 58.

    Sly

    @Simon Taverner:

    I guess my problem is just not knowing what I did wrong.

    I rather think your problem is that you’ve immediately jumped to the conclusion that you’ve done anything wrong.

  60. 60.

    MeDrewNotYou

    @The prophet Nostradumbass: Heh. As Wesley Crusher he just annoyed me. The episode the sticks out in my mind is “The Game,” where he’s got a total babe coming on to him, and his response is, “Hey! Let’s go do math homework!” I remember shouting at the screen because of his ineptness.

  62. 62.

    Simon Taverner

    @freelancer: You’re very kind. Even made me smile a little. But, honestly, the first time I could perhaps turn blame outwards. But to have it happen again? Well, I must be responsible somehow. Fool me once, shame on you, etc, etc.

    I once had a wonderful woman who knew me long ago listen to my crap, and she made up a wonderful story to console me: the man who made all the right choices. It was probably one of the most cathartic moments of my life. But she was wrong. I have made all the wrong choices.

    So I should probably just shut up.

  64. 64.

    freelancer

    @Simon Taverner:

    Please don’t. If my memory serves me correctly, just a couple weeks ago, was it you who reached out to Cole? I think it was. You did it once. Do it again. And don’t “shut up”. Don’t go quiet.

  65. 65.

    MeDrewNotYou

    @freelancer: I agree. Even more so after learning from my sister that apparently he’s a really nice guy, and a quiet bookish sort.

  66. 66.

    Brachiator

    @Shinobi:

    I sortof wish I’d never started watching Downton, or the new Sherlock from the BBC. These year long waits between very short seasons are KILLING ME. I watched the last episode of Sherlock this week and I am FILLED WITH JOY AND REGRET.

    What adds to the delays are series creator Moffatt juggling Holmes and Doctor Who duties, the impact of BBC budget cuts, and the lead actors’ movie careers. Cumberbatch is the baddie in the upcoming Star Trek film, and Freeman is in the Hobbit movie.

    But everyone is coming back for Sherlock 3. And Downton 3 should be a hoot with Shirley McClaine as the American grandmother of the Grantham girls.

  67. 67.

    celticdragonchick

    @MeDrewNotYou:

    Joffrey is one of the few characters in a tv series that I have loathed with the kind of intensity you describe. I would really love to see the little shit get fed to Daenerys’ dragons.

    Also, am I alone in thinking Rob just made a serious mistake tonite marrying his healer girlfriend?

    @MeDrewNotYou:

    Wesley Crusher had no fucking business on the bridge of a starship. Ever. That aways annoyed me. The only time I was ever okay with it was in “Yesterday’s Enterprise” where he had a wartime commission on the militarized 1701D fighting the Klingons.

  68. 68.

    MaryRC

    @MeDrewNotYou: There’s a cute interview with the actress who plays Sansa here where she mentions that she’s starting to feel protective of the actor who plays Joffrey now that everyone hates him.

  69. 69.

    Quarks

    @Simon Taverner: A very wise friend once told me that there are three types of relationships: right person, right time; right person, wrong time; wrong person, wrong time.

    It could be something you did. But if she isn’t yelling incentives at you, then it might just be that this is the wrong timing for her, for whatever reason.

    Also, it’s easy to tell a complete jerk, “I’m walking off because you’re a complete jerk, plus, X, Y, Z.” Very cathartic, even. It’s much harder to tell someone you still care about, if not in the right way, about why you’re leaving, and sometimes the words just won’t come.

  70. 70.

    Corner Stone

    @celticdragonchick:

    Wesley Crusher had no fucking business on the bridge of a starship. Ever. That aways annoyed me.

    What the H are you talking about? Dude could travel inter dimensionally all by hisself.
    Kid was special.

  72. 72.

    Brachiator

    @Simon Taverner:

    Fair enough response. I guess my problem is just not knowing what I did wrong

    Who says that you did anything wrong? Sometimes thing fail despite everyone’s best intentions.

    It sounds like a sad situation. I hope you can find a way to determine what might be best for you.

  74. 74.

    Gemina13

    @celticdragonchick:

    Robb has indeed made a serious mistake. Having read the books, I can honestly say I’m going to hate Seasons 5 and 6.

    I love GoT more than I thought I would. It’s fairly true to the books, the actors are great, and the sets are fantastic. I would break down and cry if I were to find the city models shown in the beginning credits for sale in some game or craft/hobby store–and then go broke buying it. In short, I just love this series so much.

    But I’m going to light GRRM on fire for the way A Dance With Dragons ended. Then I’m going to have him healed so he can finish the books, and then set him on fire again. Just sayin’.

    Also, I love Ygritte too. :)

  76. 76.

    Corner Stone

    Alright. I absolutely fucking hate the stupid fucking commercials where the dumass says, “If we could supply fresh water, this would be the perfect site for the new town!”
    Yeah, you dumb iceberg dragging ass idiot. There’s a reason there’s not a fucking town there now. There’s no water.

  78. 78.

    MeDrewNotYou

    @celticdragonchick: Yeah! WTF was up with Robb? Either wait until the war is finished so you aren’t pissing off the Freys, or just bone Talisa and don’t say anything about it. Sure, they probably love each other, but she seems like a smart girl who should’ve told him to wait for a better moment for marriage.

    As for Wesley, I agree. I know that we’re dealing with science fiction, but c’mon! A 15-16yr old brat piloting the Federation’s flagship is pretty hard to believe.

    @MaryRC: That was pretty interesting. I’m kind of neutral about Sansa. She gets treated like shit and I feel sorry for her, but she’s been offered 3 times to get away from Joffrey (Tyrion, the Hound, and Littlefinger), and she turned each one down. How dumb is she? The girl ain’t gonna’ be queen, so why’s she staying?

    ETA- I can kind of understand her turning down Tyrion’s offer of canceling the marriage since she still had a shot at queen. But when she refused the Hound’s offer to take her back North last week and especially Littlefinger’s offer AFTER what Joffrey did for the Tyrells…

  79. 79.

    mclaren

    Here’s a question for those of you who watch Game Of Thrones: I haven’t gotten into it, but it sounds like it might be a neat series. Here’s the thing: I cannot stand extreme gore or torture in movies. At all. Period. That stuff comes on, I shut down the TV.

    Is there enough of that stuff that I can skip past it on the Netflix DVDs? Or is torture and gore such a basic theme of Game of Thrones that I’d better give it a pass?

    (As an example, I was unable to watch the series 24. It was basically “the FOX torture hour,” as far as I could tell. So that’s my baseline.)

  80. 80.

    MeDrewNotYou

    @mclaren: Not much torture, isolated gore. But when there is gore, there can be a lot of it. Fortunately, you can usually see it coming if you need to skip past it. The only really shocking bit I remember is when Gregor Clegane and Loris Tyrell are jousting. That one was a big surprise.

    ETA- More on the torture. There are only two times I recall. One is when Lannister men at Harrenhal put a rat in a helmet or bucket, strap it to someone’s chest, and heat it up. That didn’t really bother me. What Joffrey did to his birthday present prostitutes, though, did. But both of those are easy enough to skip without really missing anything. You’ll already hate Joffrey enough that that scene is fuel to the fire (although the fuel is more like gasoline…).

  81. 81.

    Karen in GA

    @The prophet Nostradumbass:

    @Sly: Michelle Fairley, who plays Caetlyn Stark, is Irish.

    As is Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger). I’ve seen some other stuff he’s done — not sure what I think of him as an actor. “Wildly inconsistent” probably sums it up.

    And isn’t the consistently amazing actor who plays the consistently hateful Joffrey also Irish?

  83. 83.

    mark

    @mclaren:
    @MeDrewNotYou:

    the torture is soooo telecast that you will be able to close your eyes each and every time its about to happen and know when to open a moment later after you hear the sound. its cartoonish in execution, very realistic in the visuals. definitely do NOT skip the show because of it. season 2 was actually much more rare than season 1, although the rare times there was it was more intense.

  84. 84.

    mark

    @Karen in GA:
    Littlefinger is IRISH????????? that explains soooo well why he sounded off in The Wire. i couldn’t ever figure it out. i thought he was trying too hard to hide a boston accent

  85. 85.

    cat

    I can’t stand the stupid british accent bias almost bigotry running through Game of Thrones. Luckily I enjoy the show so much I mostly forget about it, but there have been times where its been galling IMHO.

    Do a search for Rose Leslie and hear her posh public school accent and contrast that with the northern accent she has on game of thrones.

  88. 88.

    dan

    @Simon Taverner: That crack about your timing being inconvenient. I recognize that. That is my wife. What is going on is that you are married to a miserable woman, who will never be happy. You’re problem is that you think that you are responsible for her happiness, or that you can “fix” her.

    Not going to happen. I’m stuck, because if I leave she will just coat my children with her misery. So I stay, as the cliche goes, for the children. If you don’t have any kids, shrug and say “I tried”, then walk away.

    Good luck.

  89. 89.

    JoeK

    @dan and Simon Taverner: this sucks, guys :-( It’s awful to be with someone who can’t love you because they can’t even like themselves — which may or may not be the case for Simon T, I think the “boyfriend” theory can’t be dismissed. But in any case, Simon, you seem like a decent guy just judging from your comments here, so consider the possibility that you’re not the problem. It sucks SO MUCH to have that thought, “This is the rest of my life, right here… what the hell?”

    FWIW, I was in a very similar situation, with kids, and I left. Or rather, I think, we left each other. It was absolutely horrible for a while – couple years. I thought my ex was seriously going to off herself a couple times, and the really hard thing was, I couldn’t do anything about that – me trying to help only made it worse.

    Today she and I are friends, we’re both a lot happier than we were when we were married, and I think we did a right thing (maybe not the right thing) by our kids, who seem to be basically OK. Modelling a fucked-up relationship for children isn’t doing them any favors IMO, even though stability IS important, and a lot of couples with kids give up too early.

    It’s really hard. If you need to split, up it’s hugely important to remain civil with each other and respect one another as humans, even though you might be angry enough to spit acid or sad enough to melt and drain away through the cracks in the floor. It’s important that kids see that relationships can fail, but life goes on and the failure doesn’t necessarily mean the parties are bad people (although sometimes, of course, it does mean that). If you can do those things, maybe things can get better, eventually.

    Professional counselling can be a good way to navigate the path forward, even when the answer is, “Yeah, this is done, let’s move on.”

    Good luck to you both.

  90. 90.

    TheronWare

    Damn that was creepy when Sam got caught out there with the White Walkers! All those zombies, even zombie horses!! When that walker looked directly into his eyes, man that’s when I would have lost my shite!

  91. 91.

    TheronWare

    Damn that was creepy when Sam got caught out there with the White Walkers! All those zombies, even zombie horses!! When that walker looked directly into his eyes, man that’s when I would have lost my shite!

  93. 93.

    muddy

    After my comment last night that there were gremlins breaking things in the house, dvr didn’t pick up GoT, then the power went out, so even if it had started to record it would not have finished.

    I waited up hoping it would come back on, finally gave up and took night time meds. Just as I was getting ultra drowsy it came back on, but by then I was in no shape to look for a re-run.

  94. 94.

    Teresa

    @Gemina13:

    After having read A Dance with Dragons I could not bring myself to watch the series. lol I was peeved for weeks about it. Especially because it took him so many years to get it done.

  95. 95.

    Joe K

    @Teresa:

    Yeah, I almost regret picking up the first book now. I fear Mr Martin won’t survive long enough to bring the series to a conclusion at this rate.

  96. 96.

    whatthefuck

    @cat: What? I don’t understand this comment at all. Bigotry? Do you want them to do it in an American accent because anything else is bigotry?

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