Here’s a pretty bug of some sort:
Just bristling with “Don’t fuck with me!” spikey doodads.
Open thread.
Florida woman, still rocking a punk rock ethos in the 2020s, which is kind of sad. Betty Cracker has been a Balloon Juice writer since 2012.
by Betty Cracker| 161 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
by Betty Cracker| 182 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads
From yesterday’s afternoon thunderstorm:
Clouds are building up for today’s show. Please feel free to discuss whatever.
by Betty Cracker| 146 Comments
This post is in: Dog Blogging, Domestic Politics, Open Threads, General Stupidity
This sad bag illustrates the depth of my interest in current news stories:
I’m just trying to get through the workday, nursing an injury I sustained over the weekend — an injury so embarrassing that even Cole would blush to share such a thing. Don’t even ask, man.
Okay, okay: I semi-crashed a scooter (not a Rascal — like a Vespa, only made in China) while taking evasive maneuvers to avoid an attacking Yorkie. I’ll never live it down.
Open thread!
by Betty Cracker| 119 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Sports
by Betty Cracker| 214 Comments
This post is in: Election 2016, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, General Stupidity
Team ¡Heb! must read Balloon Juice; they’ve incorporated the inverted exclamation mark for his Big Announcement Event, which is taking place right now [CSPAN live stream*]:
So how is the Tampa Bay area’s wingnut daily, The Tampa Tribune, covering the event online? It’s not even above the fold, at least not at this moment.
The Lightning’s Stanley Cup game tonight gets top billing, which is understandable, but even the fake black lady’s resignation from the Spokane NAACP and a viral photo of a raccoon riding an alligator get higher billing than Jeb.
He gets a little more love from the Miami Herald. That makes sense, because when Poppy Bush dispatched his offspring from Kennebunkport, bidding them to go forth and colonize states for political gain, Jeb was released in South Florida, where he multiplied like an Everglades python.
His announcement doesn’t seem to be making a splash in the national press either. Even that feckless whelp Rubio attracted more notice, which has gotta sting. I still predict ¡Heb! will be the last man standing when the clown car throws a rod. What do you think?
* Another burn! CSPAN cut the live feed before Jeb even took the stage and directed viewers to the CSPAN 3 feed, which you can’t even access online in my area without logging in via your cable provider. And who the hell is going to bother with that to hear Jeb’s warmed-over platitudes? Not me!
ETA: The Herald has a live feed here. It’s a pathetic affair. Even Jeb’s handsome son sounded insincere and recycled a single lame joke in a two-minute speech. The crowd sounds like they’ve been sipping Thorazine mimosas.
¡Jeb! Bush Officially Announces His Candidacy (Yawn)Post + Comments (214)
by Betty Cracker| 145 Comments
This post is in: Security Theatre
British spying operations have allegedly been disrupted because the Russians and Chinese cracked codes contained in documents leaked by Edward Snowden:
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has pulled out agents from live operations in “hostile countries” after Russia and China cracked top-secret information contained in files leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, the Sunday Times reported.
Security service MI6, which operates overseas and is tasked with defending British interests, has removed agents from certain countries, the newspaper said, citing unnamed officials at the office of British Prime Minister David Cameron, the Home Office (interior ministry) and security services…
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Snowden had done a huge amount of damage to the West’s ability to protect its citizens.
Others find the timing of these revelations suspicious:
The revelations about the impact of Snowden on intelligence operations comes days after Britain’s terrorism law watchdog said the rules governing the security services’ abilities to spy on the public needed to be overhauled.
Conservative lawmaker and former minister Andrew Mitchell said the timing of the report was “no accident”.
“There is a big debate going on,” he told BBC radio. “We are going to have legislation bought back to parliament (…) about the way in which individual liberty and privacy is invaded in the interest of collective national security.
According to Cameron’s office, there’s no evidence anyone has actually been hurt. But that’s not stopping people from saying Snowden has blood on his hands — and right after his victory lap in the wake of the “USA Freedom Act,” another occasion for partisans to bludgeon each other with nerf clubs and launch marshmallow fusillades.
Looks like the facts and framing of the issue in the UK are as subject to manipulation for political gain as they are here. I’ve finally learned to wait and see before giving credence to any revelations, but feel free to speculate wildly!
by Betty Cracker| 124 Comments
This post is in: Movies, Open Threads
This is the funniest reaction I’ve seen so far to the fake black lady incident: I saw the Mad Max reboot today. Jaysus, it was dreadful. Zero character development. Insipid plot. Grunts and screams excluded, the dialog would fit on half a page. I have no idea why the critics are all gaga over it.