Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

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

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

The willow is too close to the house.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

‘Forty-two’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

Four legs? good! two legs? we’re not so sure…

Too inconsequential to be sued

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Let there be snark.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Militantly superior in their own minds…

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

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Not all heroes wear capes.

What fresh hell is this?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I really should read my own blog.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

I can’t take this shit today. I just can’t.

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Late Night Open Thread: Little Prince Rand Is DETERMINED To Be Crowned the Worst Person in the Senate

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No matter how stiff the competition, Senator Paul is on it!

Per the Washington Post:

… The argument, which echoed an earlier dust-up, centered on Paul’s claim that the National Institutes of Health awarded a grant that partially funded a project that relied on “gain-of-function” research, a controversial practice that involves enhancing a virus in a lab to try to anticipate future pandemics. This type of experimentation has come under growing scrutiny as U.S. intelligence agencies investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus and the theory that it could have accidentally leaked from a lab.

Officials have repeatedly denied Paul’s allegations, and in a hearing in May, Fauci told the senator that the National Institutes of Health “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research” at the Chinese lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

On Tuesday, Paul suggested that Fauci had lied: “Dr. Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11 where you claimed that the NIH never funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan?” Paul asked.

“Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress, and I do not retract that statement,” Fauci replied, adding that the research had been “judged by qualified staff up and down the chain as not being gain-of-function.”

Paul then accused Fauci of “dancing around this because you are trying to obscure responsibility for four million people dying around the world from a pandemic.”

“I totally resent the lie that you are now propagating, senator,” Fauci shot back…

This is after Sen. Paul’s comments yesterday apparently failed to get him enough traction on social media:

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Our Failed Plutocracy Open Thread: Where Is John Galt’s ‘Flying Dutchman’ ?

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Were I chosen Empress of Everything, one of my first projects — and not just for personal satisfaction — would be selecting the 39 miscreants most deserving of eternal exile on the ‘World’s first ‘yacht liner’’. Zuckerberg and his bro-pack (along with Peter Thiel, Erik Prince, Rebekah Mercer, et al) would certainly be among the top-ranking contenders…

… Measuring an impressive 728 feet, Somnio is to be the largest yacht in the world “by both length and volume” when it launches in 2024.

Somnio, which means “to dream ” in Latin, was devised by Winch Design and Tillberg Design of Sweden, and is to be built by Norwegian ship designer and builder VARD at a cost of around $600 million.

The gigantic vessel will be fitted with 39 apartments across six floors, as well as restaurants, bars and an onboard beach club.

However, the purchasing process is “by invitation or referral only,” with apartment prices starting at over $11 million. A spokesperson for the project confirms to CNN Travel that some have already been snapped up…

Each of the 39 apartments is to include “bespoke features” based on the buyer’s preferences, but a gym, a library, as well as inside and outside dining spaces are likely to be provided, according to a press release from Winch Design.

The designers behind Somnio believe it will offer those who splash out on one of its luxury properties the same level of service as a “seven-star” hotel, along with the huge benefits of owning a superyacht.

Health concerns have also been taken into consideration, particularly in in light of the pandemic, and the team stress that “world class medical care” will be available onboard, while pointing out that those on board will likely be kept “away from pandemics and other global risks.” …

Dr. Ronny Jackson will lead the healthcare service, and all the best sycophants from the political & media worlds — Chris Cillizza, Maggie Haberman, Jason *and* Stephen Miller, Sarah Huckerbee Sanders — will be assigned to provide the culinary, cleaning, and related services. But since the ship will never be allowed to make landfall, an actual trained crew of sailors & engineers will be rotated to the ship by helicopter, for the sake of the rest of us.

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Late Night Weirdness Open Thread

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I asked the Spousal Unit (a professional tech writer, who doesn’t follow the news as closely as I do) whether he’d heard about McAfee’s death. He said Yeah — the man died because he couldn’t stop being a libertarian.

Which made me wonder, as someone who’d been diagnosed with OCD: How many hardcore libertarians got there because they’re neurodivergent? So many of the ones I’ve known (and, as an sf fan, that’s 50 years of more interactions than either side wanted) have built themselves a perfectly cromulent set of mental shelves & boxes, and they are FURIOUS that the rest of us keep wandering through and messing up the Perfect Order…

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Contra A Faux Hillbilly – Fauxbilly? – the Liberal Arts Education Was Created To Train What We Now Call Military Officers

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The other night AL brought the musings of fake hillbilly JD Vance on education for the officer corps of America’s All Volunteer military (AVF for All Volunteer Force) to the blog’s attention. I’d already seen his “jenius” on display earlier in the day.

Ordinarily I’d ignore Vance even as he’s receiving financial backing from Peter Thiel who seems to have a sweet tooth for Holocaust deniers, white supremacists, and neo-fascists and enjoys bankrolling them.

But in this case I just want to point out, as someone who has spent a lot of his career involved in professional military education, that the whole reason the Liberal Arts and the liberal arts education was created was to educate the young men who were destined to become the officer corps of their day. Take it away Professor DeLong (emphasis mine):

But originally the “liberal arts” had the most direct vocational objectives of all:

Wikipedia: The Liberal Arts: The liberal arts… are those subjects or skills that… were considered essential for a free person… participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and most importantly, military service…. Grammar, rhetoric, and logic were the core liberal arts. During medieval times… these subjects (called the Trivium) were extended to include arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy…. Together the Trivium and Quadrivium constituted the seven liberal arts of the medieval university curriculum…

From which I deduce:

  • The original “liberal arts” make up a vocational program–an education suitable for some landlord scion who is going to be a player in civic governance.
  • Timothy Burke, Professor of History at Swarthmore, does not teach one of the seven “liberal arts”–and by calling what he teaches.

Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to present JD Vance: fake hillbilly, funded by a neo-fascist, enlisted Marine Corps Public Affairs* veteran, and someone who apparently paid little to no attention to anything while attending THE Ohio State University and Yale Law School the producer, along with Harvard Law, of America’s worst elites and notables since the 1820s.

Open thread!

* Here is a simple pictorial explainer of Public Affairs.

Contra A Faux Hillbilly - Fauxbilly? - the Liberal Arts Education Was Created To Train What We Now Call Military Officers

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Late Night GOP Clown Car Open Thread: There Are People You Can Count On

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… when it comes to being the Worst of the Worst. Like anyone in the Trump Crime Cartel:

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Late Night Anti-Social Media Open Thread: Who Funds Parler?

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“Interesting“, as far as it goes, which probably isn’t far enough. I can’t see most of the article, because I’m not gonna buy an exorbitantly expensive Wall Street Journal subscription for pap like this:

As Facebook Inc . and Twitter Inc . have taken a harder line against unsubstantiated claims of a stolen presidential election, prominent conservatives on both platforms have responded with anger and a frequent retort: Follow me on Parler.

Launched in 2018, the libertarian-leaning social network was the most downloaded app on both Android and Apple devices for most of last week, according to data from Google and analytics firm App Annie. Its leaders envision it as a free-speech-focused alternative to the giants of Silicon Valley.

The platform also has some deep-pocketed investors. Rebekah Mercer, daughter of hedge-fund investor Robert Mercer, is among the company’s financial backers, according to people familiar with the matter. The Mercers have previously financed a number of conservative causes…

ICYMI (as you probably did, what with all the more pressing news out there), this breathless scoop comes hard on the heels of a widely circulated twitter thread…

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Late Night Open Thread: Not An Election Season for the Childish

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… or the perpetually adolescent.

To quote John Rogers:

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”

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