Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Republicans do not trust women.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

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

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Their shamelessness is their super power.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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Early Morning Open Thread

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I miss the Olympics. Not the “sports” part, because I don’t know from sports, but all the political news recently has been of the Giant Sucking Hell-Vortex variety, so I miss the novelty-pictures aspect of the Olympics. Stuff like this, as “borrowed” from Go Fug Yourself:

I might need him to tone it down a notch or three. Do I wish I had his hair? Yes. Did I need to see down to his sternum? Not really. Am I concerned he thinks he’s a cross between Uncle Sam, and Steven Tyler? Extremely. Although I guess those guys get more than their fair share of booty — I mean, come on, Uncle Sam’s whole shtick is “I Want YOU” — so I guess Shaun has chosen his nookie idols wisely. Still, at the very least, I think wrapping one’s junk in these pants could count as desecrating the flag.

(Go Fug Yourself is always a nice little pick-me-up when one needs confirmation that even people with unlimited money and access to the finest professional stylists can’t always avoid the Hot Mess arena.)

And this clip is not from the Olympics per se, but… their loss:


*******
Finally, a question for those who do know from sports: Nomar Garciaparra, sweet sentimentalist or stupid posturing narcissist? The reaction in the Boston area seems to be evenly split, so far.

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Open Thread

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Another beautiful day today- I’m off to rehab the shoulder, then will be out of the loop until later this afternoon. Behave yourselves.

BTW- got a message from commenter Genine that she is out of the hospital, and several of you announced new jobs yesterday, so maybe things are starting to look up around here.

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View From Your Couch

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Haven’t had one of these in a while:

BTW, I read this and all I could think of is that Massa’s office must have been like a congressional Reno 911:

“I’m gonna show you a lot more than tickle fights,” said Massa. He also added: “Can you imagine transporting back to this today? It looks like an orgy in Caligula. And anybody that’s been in the Navy knows it.”

Lt. Dangle.

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The Tylenol Lobby

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Is there some reason doctors all love Tylenol? For several weeks they have been telling me to take it, and it DOES. NOTHING. Today, I got my brace off, and have been in a lot of pain,and I asked if I could take some ibuprofen, they said “sparingly” (they believe it slows bone healing), so I took two, and the pain is gone. Completely.

Why do doctors love tylenol? Do some of you get relief from it, because for me it does nothing? Why do they put it in all the narcotic pain relievers? Why not mix narcotics with ibuprofen? Why not just give the narcotics? And am I the only one who really doesn’t experience much relief from narcotics themselves? They just sort of make me feel groggy and shitty.

And since you can seriously blow out your liver easily with tylenol, why is the preferred drug of physicians? I’m serious. After the last few months, I’ve realized how much we suck at pain relief. You can go on the highly addictive narcotics, which can make you itch, sweat like a champion, and generally feel like shit, you can take tylenol, which does jack shit, or you can do nothing.

Seriously- the best pain relief out there this whole two months? My ice machine and now the advil. And I’m not trashing my doctor, who is great and has really worked with me. It just doesn’t seem like they have much to work with.

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Comments Of The Day

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Another Bruce.

Phoned Congressman Jim McDermott’s office, Washington 7th district (Seattle) the intern was non-commital, saying that McDermott wanted to see the final bill before voting on it. (I’m guessing he wants to see what the possible abortion provisions are going to look like, next time I call I will ask about this.) I told the intern that I strongly supported the bill and mentioned that we might not get another chance at health reform for a long time if this bill fails. She said she would pass on the message.

I really encourage people to do this, it feels good when you make an effort.

Houstonian.

Just got off the phone with Sheila Jackson Lee’s office (D-TX-18). I’ve been calling for weeks now and her office has been a bit vague about where she stands, although it’s been relatively clear she would vote for the Senate bill. Today, however, I got a straight answer. Her staffer told me she’d vote for the bill. Thank goodness!

After I explained to the staffer that I supported the Congresswoman’s vote for the bill, she (the staffer) became rather chatty and admitted that they were getting tons of calls where people were yelling at them about the bill and shouting that Congresswoman Lee shouldn’t vote for it and repeated rightwing talking points and lies. Apparently it gets pretty heated and unpleasant, according to the staffer.

So the staffer was pretty happy to get a call from someone supporting the bill. Said they aren’t getting tons of those calls. And we had a long conversation about why it should be passed, what the ramifications are of not passing it, etc. She really was happy to talk to someone who was for the bill.

I encourage anyone who has a Congressperson out there who is voting for the bill to phone them and let them know you appreciate their vote. If Congresswoman Lee’s office is any indication, the staffers are having to deal with some pretty irate constituents. It’s genuinely appreciated when they get a call in support. Plus, it’s a good idea to let your Congressperson know that those of us who support the bill really are out here.

House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121

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I’ll Sign On To This

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This seems like a worthwhile endeavor, as well as being a complete no-brainer:

Today, FDL launches its Students Not Banks campaign, with a petition calling on Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and members of Congress to pass student loan reform quickly through reconciliation.

One of President Obama’s most ambitious plans for both education and the budget was the transition from a system of government subsidized student loans using bankers as middle men to direct student lending. But as The Hill notes this morning, the Senate can only move one reconciliation bill until they pass a new budget resolution. If they try to “fix” health care and don’t pass student loan reform at the same time, it will be another year until they can take it up.

Colleges across the country that are already slashing programs and hiking tuition in the wake of state budget crises. They desperately need the $4.7 billion that student loan reform will bring to them in 2010 alone.

It just makes no sense to me whatsoever to be basically throwing money at the banksters for, well, no reason at all other than to be throwing money at them. But then again, I’m not a “fiscal conservative” like Ben Nelson or Blanche Lincoln or the majority of the Republican caucus.

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