Political Regrets (Open Thread)

by 11:29 am. It has 315 Comments.

In the morning thread, Kay had a great idea for a conversational hare to set before the baying hounds of Balloon Juice: own your biggest political regret. It doesn’t have to be someone you voted for, though it certainly could be. It could also be someone you used to regard as a credible pundit who you now realize is a blithering idiot, etc.

As I confessed earlier, I was an idiot Nader voter in Florida in 2000, something I’m still kicking myself for 18 years later and will be ashamed of to my last breath. Also, the first time I read something authored by Camille Paglia, I thought she was interesting instead of immediately pegging her as “a crassly egocentric, raving twit,” as the great Molly Ivins did. In my defense, it wasn’t one of her faux-liberal political screeds; it was about literature. But still — stupid, stupid, stupid.

My husband and I dropped $50 on the Bernie Sanders campaign just as the 2016 primary was getting underway. That was mostly my husband’s doing, but I went along, thinking Sanders would drag Clinton to the left — and that she needed dragging. Still metaphorically punching myself in the face for that one (and receiving Our Revolution spam to boot).

How have you brought eternal shame to your family via a political blunder? Or, if you don’t feel like fessing up or haven’t ever made a dumb political choice, feel free to discuss whatever — open thread!


Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Persons of the Year

by 5:56 am. It has 194 Comments.

Per the Washington Post:

… Journalists around the world have been targeted and assaulted for their work. Some have paid with their freedom; others have paid with their lives.

Even the president of the United States — a country that has prided itself on having freedom of the press since its founding — has repeatedly attacked the media as “the enemy of the people.” Other world leaders have echoed this aggressive stance against the media, cracking down on reporters who have tried to hold them accountable.

We are living through nothing short of a “war on truth” — but it is in such a time that “professional truth seekers” are more important than ever, Time magazine declared in its latest issue…
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On the Road and In Your Backyard

by 5:00 am. It has 8 Comments.

Good Morning All,

On The Road and In Your Backyard is a weekday feature spotlighting reader submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, please share your part of the world, whether you’re traveling or just in your locality. Share some photos and a narrative, let us see through your pictures and words. We’re so lucky each and every day to see and appreciate the world around us!

Submissions from commenters are welcome at tools.balloon-juice.com

 

And, for those who use Healthcare.gov or your local state-based Exchange, please ensure that you’re covered for 2019. The Trump fuckheads reduced the sign-up period, so come the 15th, it’s all over, man!

Please, protect yourself and your family by signing up before the 15th. It won’t take much time, and the sooner it’s done, the better.

 

Ok – back on message – Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!

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Late Night Picture Show: Breaking the Wall

by 2:47 am. It has 63 Comments.


2020 Daydreams Open Thread: I Approve This Message

by 10:54 pm. It has 100 Comments.

A vast percentage of even America’s poorest voters now have access to hand-held social media devices supporting a vibrant national conversation. We also have an an experienced & dedicated nationwide postal distribution service that can deliver, and retrieve, ballots that could be prepared and printed with a speed unimaginable even a few decades ago.

Just as we no longer need to vote on Tuesdays because of Sunday travel bans and the limits of horse-drawn transportation, we no longer need melanin-challenged Iowa corporate welfare farmers and flinty-faced NH tourist harvesters to personally inspect our Presidential candidates as they would any other potential livestock purchase…

A little over a year from now, millions of Californians will be mailed their ballots on the same day that Iowans head to their famous first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. They could start mailing them back before New Hampshire holds its first-in-the-nation primary in 2020.

Meanwhile, Texans will likely have a chance to vote early, too — even before Nevada and South Carolina, which typically round out the earliest portion of the primary calendar.

The explosion of early voting and reshuffling of the primary calendar in 2020 could transform the Democratic presidential nominating contest, potentially diminishing the power of the traditional, tiny and homogeneous early states in favor of much larger and more diverse battlegrounds. That would be a boon to the best-known candidates with warchests sizable enough to compete in big states early.

And it would empower black and Hispanic voters in large, multiracial states like California, which was a virtual afterthought at the back of the primary calendar in 2016. Criticism has mounted for years about the primacy of New Hampshire and Iowa, which are both around 90 percent white…

Across the aisle, VSP confuses ‘credible’ and ‘credulous’:


Florida Man or Woman Plans His or Her Escape!

by 9:57 pm. It has 42 Comments.

I am not authorized at this time to confirm or deny that this is my cover letter or BettyC’s…

Open thread.


Iron Lion Brookline

by 8:38 pm. It has 52 Comments.

I live with Nancy Smash’s spirit animal:

Trust me.  You don’t want to mess with this:

And if you were wondering…

No, this is not the laundry you were looking for:

And last, as we knew…

This is not your internet. It is my internet:

Tikka and Nancy agree: there’s more manhood in a fixed feline than in the entire bloated carcass of Dear Hairpiece.

And with that — an alternative to politics open thread.

PS: The original of the title character:

 





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