Some catchy music to end the weekend.
Chat about whatever.
Tim was the first person invited by John Cole to join him as a writer at Balloon Juice. That was way back in 2005!
by Tim F| 152 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Their Motto: Apocalypse Now
by Tim F| 12 Comments
This post is in: Photo Blogging
A couple landscape shots for Saturday.
Lake Evans, Victoria, Australia, by Peter Russell:
Castlerigg stone circle, Keswick, UK, by Nancy Koprowski:
If you want to participate, email me a link to a couple of your favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put them up in open threads. Send a short caption if you want and let me know how you want to be identified. If your computer cannot read our email links at top right, my email is (remove the zeroes): portus0jackson0ii at yahoo dot com. There was a good discussion about sharing photos anonymously in another photo thread.
by Tim F| 98 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Josh Marshall was indispensable reading when George Bush tried to privatize Social Security in 2005, and I think he has it right this year as well. Republicans will not take a wrecking ball to Medicare and Obamacare without Democratic support. This has nothing to do with the filibuster or reconciliation. Mitch McConnell will ditch the filibuster five milliseconds after it gets in the way of something Republicans really want to do. But as much as Republicans really, really, REALLY want to garrot the New Deal and burn its corpse in a ditch they simply cannot message their way around the wreckage that would cause to their core voting constituencies. Even if you could find a majority in the House willing to sit in gasoline and light a match, plenty of Senators know the score. But Paul Ryan can’t do anything to taxes unless he accepts a huge deficit hike or cuts something meaningful, which means either defense (ha) or the safety net.
All of this makes wavering Democrats more valuable to the GOP than the last parachute on a burning plane. That is a lot more reassuring today than eleven years ago – districts represented by blue dogs have Republican leadership now. The liberal Senator with his finger on the zeitgeist is not Joe Lieberman but Bernie Sanders. It will be a hard sell for someone – especially Donald Trump – to lure today’s Democrats into betraying what you could fairly describe as the granite core foundation of the modern Democratic party.
Republicans are already feeling some heat over this. That means you have a chance to make a difference here. Pick up the phone and turn it up some more. They have all the majorities so they have no cover left for crazy political statements. Every vote will count. I guarantee that calls about this particular issue will get noted with an exclamation point.
You can count on most Democrats to defend the party’s core principles, but I would keep a special eye on any Democrat who shows the slightest sign of selling out. For me that list has to start with Joe Manchin. Look, WV went for Trump by thirty points. Manchin would be crazy not to give Republican ideas at least a very polite listen. Before the election he let it slip that he could well defect if the Senate came down to a 50-50 split. I would recommend that anyone living in West by god Virginia pick up the phone early and often until Senator Manchin releases a firm and unambiguous statement against molesting or privatizing our social safety net in any way whatsoever.
Find your Senators here.
Find your Representative here.
House/Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Guide for first-timers here.
by Tim F| 16 Comments
This post is in: Photo Blogging
Here are some more great photos taken by readers of the blog. This one took a while because my blogging time is really curtailed right now, but I hope to do two or three of these a week. I thought this time we would go with a couple of critters. Photographers, feel welcome to talk about gear or technique in the comments.
Hoary marmot (William Qually)
A rainy and froggy day (Auntie Beak)
If you want to participate, email me a link to a couple of your favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put them up in open threads. Send a short caption if you want and let me know how you want to be identified. If your computer cannot read our email links at top right, my email is (remove the zeroes): portus0jackson0ii at yahoo dot com. There was a good discussion about sharing photos anonymously in our last photo thread.
***Update***
Looks like I got today’s date wrong. That’s what I get for writing this at 6 am to steal some time before the 3 year old wakes up. If this keeps up I might have to reactivate the old coffee habit…
by Tim F| 313 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
In an earlier thread someone suggested that I should make a bumper sticker of that quote from King. That does does not sound like a bad idea at all. Here is a draft of what I have in mind.
I would appreciate the opinion of any readers with graphic design experience. If people like it and nobody thinks there are copyright restrictions to using the image or quote, I can try to add it to the Balloon Juice store.
by Tim F| 34 Comments
This post is in: Albatrossity, Photo Blogging
Here are a couple great pics sent in by readers in response to my request a week ago.
A view of Kicker Rock through Darwin’s Window, on San Cristobal Island, Galapagos, by valued commenter Albatrossity.
From the North America series, by Steve Jenks.
If you want to participate, email me a link to a couple of your favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put them up in open threads. Send a short caption if you want and let me know how you want to be identified. If your computer cannot read our email links at top right, my email is (remove the zeroes): portus0jackson0ii at yahoo dot com.
by Tim F| 170 Comments
This post is in: Don't Mourn, Organize
The last week has been hard on everyone. I have two ideas that help with that. The first is to get involved in resisting this bullshit. I already put some ideas up, some of which people might have misunderstood. I don’t want you to go hug a Trump voter. Join whatever group you want. Join something. Look for a chance to link up with likeminded groups to defend American values in solidarity. If you are going to those protests, try to make some contacts to build a network. Strengthen your existing networks. The only thing I would add to this general good life advice is to apply some strategic message discipline. Having Steve fucking Bannon work in the White House should horrify my conservative neighbor down the street just as much as my own family. At the same time my neighbor’s reaction will different if I tell him you are horrible and stupid because you voted for this, versus this is NOT you and I know you did NOT vote for this, and I hope you will agree with me that this guy and the behavior he represents is not acceptable in the America we both believe in. Don’t go looking for Trump supporters, but if you can’t avoid it or you meet a reporter or something consider a little message discipline. A little media/communications savvy makes the difference between shouting and tangible progress. This is activism 101, and it basically describes our policy for dealing with restive muslim populations as well (don’t make your problem bigger than it needs to be).
But there’s something even more important – get some sleep. Trump is a chronic problem that we won’t be able to fight without rest. Like a lot of you I had a rough couple of nights last week, until I figured out something that I decided I might as well share. Stress tends to go to my stomach. I already take antacids/antigas once in a while, but this time they were not cutting it. So I tried something that sounds really dumb. I closed my eyes and counted all the things in my bedroom. Then I counted the stuff downstairs. Then I started lumping things into categories. Gradually the panicked thoughts about the end of western civilization gave way to the more important job of naming all the books on my bedstand. After a while my stomach quit turning and I have had decent sleep since. Now a couple times a day I stop and count the random stuff around me. It seems to help me keep a level head. If you think you might need something like this, try it and let me know if it helps.