Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

No one could have predicted…

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

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This Sounds Like An Excellent Plan!

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I see no potential problems with this strategy:

States and companies have started investing very differently when it comes to the billions of dollars they are safeguarding for workers’ retirement.

Companies are quietly and gradually moving their pension funds out of stocks. They want to reduce their investment risk and are buying more long-term bonds.

But states and other bodies of government are seeking higher returns for their pension funds, to make up for ground lost in the last couple of years and to pay all the benefits promised to present and future retirees. Higher returns come with more risk.

It would be nice if our legislators were smart enough to point out that regulatory reform might not be such a bad thing, considering your pension might be at stake. Since that will never happen and spring is around the corner, I’m just going to recommend a little practice gardening, canning, fishing, and learning how to make your own soap.

It’s like Atrios accurately predicted the future and his reward is that now he is damned to live it.

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Either a crackpot or the American Tolstoy

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Catcher In the Rye didn’t make a huge impression on me when I read it in high-school, but I loved the Franny part of Franny and Zooey. James Wolcott has an excellent, short piece on why that’s his favorite part of Salinger’s work.

The New York Times also has a terrific obit of Salinger, emphasizing in particular the varied reactions people had to him (I like the phrase “either a crackpot or the American Tolstoy”, from the obit). I think one of the best illustrations of this varied reaction is dueling reviews the Times published of Catcher In the Rye in 1951. Here’s a bit of the negative one (the entire thing is written in mock Caulfieldese):

That’s the way it sounds to me, Hel said, and away she went with this crazy book. “The Catcher in the Rye.” What did I tell ya, she said next day. This Salinger, he’s a short story guy. And he knows how to write about kids. This book though, it’s too long. Gets kind of monotonous. And he should’ve cut out a lot about these jerks and all at that crumby school. They depress me. They really do. Salinger, he’s best with real children. I mean young ones like old Phoebe, his kid sister. She’s a personality. Holden and little old Phoeb, Hel said, they kill me. This last part about her and Holden and this Mr. Antolini, the only guy Holden ever thought he could trust, who ever took any interest in him, and who turned out queer–that’s terrific. I swear it is.

And the positive one:

Holden’s story is told in Holden’s own strange, wonderful language by J. D. Salinger in an unusually brilliant novel, “The Catcher in the Rye.”

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But can the x-rays penetrate two wet suits?

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Ann Coulter:

“No one credible has asserted that… No they’ll be able to see a container… It was spread throughout the diaper. Unless the bomb is inserted under the foreskin, and by the way, I don’t see a clear angle on the anus. That’s a pretty easy hiding place for this.”

But can the x-rays penetrate two wet suits?Post + Comments (65)