From Album 5 It’s not the votes that count, it’s who counts the votes. Steve Benen: I’m not sure which is worse: the prospect of Christie making these remarks without thinking them through or Christie making these remarks because he’s already thought this through. Yep. Continue reading Shorter Chris Christie
All of this talk about Watergate has me thinking of E. Howard Hunt: White House plumber, Watergate conspirator, CIA agent, Bay Of Pigs handler and hack novelist. Hunt wrote dozens of pulpy paperbacks under his own name and a variety of pen names, most notably Robert Dietrich. Here are a few books from the man I call the master of disaster: Who among us has forgotten the immortal Steve Bentley? Everyone? I’m not surprised at all. Actually, those spy potboilers were Hunt’s most successful tomes. He had to use a pseudonym because he was a spook and so was Steve … Continue reading Pulp Fiction Thursday: Howard Hunt
It’s time once again for my newish semi-regular feature. Let’s climb aboard the magic omnibus for another magical misery tour of what’s going on in this crazy world.
Gone To The Dogs: I have an admission to make. While I enjoy Stewart and Colbert, I’m not a regular viewer. The main reason is that I don’t want to steal shtick from them. I want to make my own bad jokes about politics. I respect them, it’s *hard* to do what they do, even with a full-blown staff, on a daily basis. I was one of the least shocked people in America when Colbert took the CBS Late Night gig. It’s hard to stay in character for that long and not feel burnt out. Besides, they backed a Brink’s truck up to his house…
Now that I’ve said that, let’s turn to John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. It has many of the virtues of the aforementioned shows and the advantage of being on once a week, which means they can edit out some unfunny bits. He can also say fuck without being fucking bleeped. Fuck yeah.
That was a long way of introducing Oliver’s absolutely brilliant casting of dogs as Supreme Court Justices. Since the Supremes refuse to allow teevee cameras into their stuffily sacred precinct, all we ever hear are audio clips. And it took almost a century after radio came into being for that to happen.
Anyway, Oliver offered footage to any news organzation who wanted to use dogs playing judges and lawyers to spice up their SCOTUS coverage:
Rachel Maddow said that she’d “totally use it” if she were the Goddess of NBC News. I totally hope that she totally uses it on her own show. Totally.
More oddities and sodities after the break.
Continue reading “Odds & Sods: Dogs, Ducks and Populist Balladeer Edition”
Uterus-not-havers, buckle up, cuz we talkin’ ’bout menstruation today. My first period happened when I was 11. Every roughly 20-26 days after that, I got to bleed for another 8. The first two nights I didn’t get to sleep because they did not make feminine hygiene products that could deal with the amount of blood I lost. My cramps were so bad that my choices were “knock self out with Excedrin” or “be screaming in pain” and I’m not actually exaggerating this time. I mention this because if there happened to be a math test on day 1 of “that … Continue reading Parting the Red Sea
We saw Los Lobos at the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival last Saturday. They were spectacular as always. I was too busy bopping to the music to take any snaps of them playing whilst the streetcar rolled behind them. It was an inopportune moment for a photo-op. So it goes.
Los Lobos is on a 40th anniversary tour so they played large chunks of their stellar 1984 debut album How Will The Wolf Survive? It put them on the map and even finished #30 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 100 albums of the 1980’s.
The album’s art design was done by Kav Deluxe, who sounds like a really fancy car and the cover illustration was by Elizabeth Brady.
Continue reading “Album Cover Art Wednesday: How Will The Wolf Survive?”
The Stir lists the “10 Hardest Moments for Working Mothers.” Not among them: Realizing that when you subtract childcare from your salary you make less than minimum wage. And then realizing that even at minimum wage you still need the money too much to quit. I’m not saying the female CEO with kids doesn’t have problems, but for fuck’s sake, I’m just about done pretending every working mother is at an office and her biggest issue is angst over missing the school play. Poor women, poor mothers, have always worked, and always missed school plays or first words, because they were … Continue reading Working Mothers and the Promotion Thereof
Way to teach, assholes. A. Continue reading Profiles in Journalism Education Courage
I carry Kick on my left hip. She’s in this phase where she wants to be held, all the time, and if I want to get anything done at all, I have to do it one-handed while bouncing her, and I’m right-handed. So I carry her on my left hip. Four days ago my lower back started complaining. This isn’t unusual, though it’s generally not bad enough to make me throw up. Iced it, heat-padded it, and shoved some of my leftover C-section painkillers in my face. No relief. (There are very good evolutionary reasons to have children when you … Continue reading Death Without a Theme Song
If you’re like me, you remember one of the silliest and most vapid bits of wingnut anti-Obama tomfoolery from 2009. It was engaged in by people who were not fools named Tom, merely fools, but that’s another story. Enough beating about the bush: it was the right’s obsession with all the so-called “tsars” appointed in various areas by President Obama. I prefer the British spelling to the Americanized czar because it’s closer to the cryillic. I don’t want to offend any dudes named Cyril out there. End of deeply silly linguistic discussion. Most Gopers beat the drums about the so-called tsarist plague, … Continue reading You Say Tsar, I Say Kaiser
Nucky Thompson starts the penultimate episode of Boardwalk Empire fighting a gang war that he has no chance of winning. It’s hard being a fictional gangster up against real world criminals who live long and prosper. Nucky’s empire once looked sold and substantial, but it’s being swept away like sand by someone much more ruthless than he’s ever been: Charlie Lucky Luciano.
Continue reading “Boardwalk Empire Thread: Friendless Child”
It’s all about THE CHILDREN: “I don’t feel comfortable sending my daughter to school with people who could be infected with ebola.” “Really concerns me. I don’t want to keep my boy out of school.” “Tell us when we come into the door. Don’t smile in my face and have a secret like that.” “Anybody from that area should just stay there until all this stuff is resolved. There’s nobody affected here; let’s just keep it that way.” “I think for another couple weeks. I don’t think it would hurt, I mean you have a lot of children that are … Continue reading Ignorant Racist Fucknutted Assholes Credit Kids for Their Racist Ignorant Fucknut Assholery
One of the South’s best prose stylists, Rick Bragg, has written a biography of the crazy rock and roll legend, Jerry Lee Lewis. There’s an excerpt in the Guardian and this paragraph is pure gold: “There was rockabilly. There was Elvis. But there was no pure rock’n’roll before Jerry Lee Lewis kicked in the door,” says Jerry Lee Lewis. Some historians may debate that, but there was no one like him, just the same; even the ones who claimed to be first, who claimed to be progenitors, borrowed it from some ghost who vanished in the haze of a delta … Continue reading Paragraph Of The Day: Rick Bragg Edition
Good morning, all. Well, the iso chamber is usually in use to keep the toxic Freeper sludge in, but we might be better off kicking them out and sealing ourself in. Meanwhile, the Freepers want to pull up the ladder and keep any sanity from getting in.
I do, however, find it amusing that the same Republicans who have been calling President Obama a “Dictator”, a “Tyrant”. etc – are now screaming for him to be one -Shutting down other countries’ flights, sealing up the border like Kim Jung Un.
Amusing, and predictable.
Anyway – don’t say I didn’t warn ya.
Why a travel ban wouldn’t work
Politico ^ | Oct 16th, 2014 | By HEATHER CAYGLE and KATHRYN A. WOLFEPosted on 10/16/2014 9:56:07 PM by Mariner
he political momentum for a travel ban on West African nations continued to swell Thursday, but health and transportation experts were uniform in saying it wouldn’t stem the spread of Ebola — and could do more harm than good.
That hasn’t stopped politicians and pundits — ranging from House Speaker John Boehner to former Obama press secretary Jay Carney — from calling for a travel ban. The appeal is obvious: It sounds like a no-brainer to build an infectious-disease moat around the U.S., blocking some flights and barring people who come from the countries suffering the worst Ebola outbreaks.
But the reality, the experts say, is that those kinds of measures have failed before. And this time, experts inside and outside the administration warned, throttling travel would hammer already devastated West African countries, make it difficult to send relief where it’s needed, and send an unknown number of infected travelers into the shadows, increasing the difficulty of knowing how many were entering the U.S.
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This article demonstrates the last delusional thrashings of a suicidal mental disorder, (Thank you Michael Savage for crystallizing that characterization for us).All their stories on this are transparently BS and they can’t see it themselves.The survivors will deal with these kinds of people before this is over.
To: MarinerWhat have we told people who have colds or the flu to do for the past hundred years or so?
“Work until you die, and if you miss any days we’ll fire you because “Right To Work”. Goddamn Democrats.
“Stay at home, get some rest, and come back to school/work when you are feeling better, i.e. you are asymptomatic.”
Still people pump themselves full of drugs, go to school/work and get other people sick.
How does a travel ban NOT make perfect sense with all of this past history to go by?
To: Marinerhealth and transportation experts were uniform in saying it wouldn’t stem the spread of Ebola — and could do more harm than good.And who the hell said their desires are more important than those of the American people?Its a longstanding progressive fantasy that a group of experts and academics make the decisions for us and it needs to stop.
To: Mariner
Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – “I’m a traveling ban!” edition”
Doc sent this along, and Jesus tits: The June issue of the paper went to print with the white space standing in for the letter, and without the word “Redskins” appearing anywhere. And this was when McGee decided to run around campus in his Quixotic attempt to collect all of the copies. This was also when the elder Pirritano made up his mind that the editors of the Playwickian should be prosecuted for their refusal to print his son’s letter. “This in my opinion also reaches the level of a conspiracy, in any other context except a school environment it would be … Continue reading Prosecute People for Not Being Racist Anymore
Keep pissing off your customers, guys. I’m sure eventually it’ll result in profit: Ken Bilderback writes: “Another reason newspapers are failing. We subscribe to The Oregonian. The good news is that we will get the Thanksgiving and Christmas papers we’re paying for. The bad news is that our subscription will be shortened because of it.” Forget that it’s catastrophically shitty business practice. I don’t understand how this isn’t illegal. “You paid for this thing, with a certain understanding. And because we’re making more money on our ‘special’ papers, we need to gouge you for a few more bucks, in order … Continue reading ‘the real reason newspapers are failing’
Ignore the date on the video. This appearance by the Rainy Day Music band occurred in 2004: Here’s some lagniappe, an audio file of Gary and company on the radio in 2003 with an introduction by Stephen King: Continue reading Sunday Morning Video: The Jayhawks On Austin City Limits
Favorite fall activity? One of the things I’m really enjoying about life with Kick is that it helps me to do things other than lay around on Saturday and watch Netflix. I’m solitary and lazy by default, so having a pint-sized excuse to hit the farmer’s market (on days when she’ll only nap in her stroller) or visit a pumpkin patch (at almost nine months she TOTALLY cares about the petting zoo, I know she does) is keeping me from hibernating early. A. Continue reading Weekend Question Thread
I spent my day in the southern part of the state talking to some high school journalists, so this is a bit late. On the way there, I had to take some of the more rural highways to get from point to point, winding me through the various hills and valleys around the farms and small towns along the way. I used to love these drives, as the farms were idyllic and the occasional “FOR SALE” signs on junky trucks and old muscle cars led to flights of fancy in my mind. I often loved the way in which the … Continue reading Escape Plan
Double headers used to be common in baseball, they’re largely extinct in the 21st Century so I thought I’d give you a double header American Horror Story: Freak Show style. Sorry for that joke but I could not help myself. Does anyone really think I’m sorry? You’ll learn after the break.
Continue reading “AHS Freak Show Thread: You Wouldn’t Know A Real Lady From A Goat’s Ass”
I have a confession. We like to mess with our cats sometimes. Della Street makes an excellent cat pendulum as you can see below. The odd thing is how she goes limp, she’s the squirmiest kitty we’ve ever had. I guess she knows that she looks awesome. We’ll have to shoot some video so y’all can see her swing to and fro: The post title has given me a Creedence earworm. Here’s a tune from (you guessed it) Pendulum: Continue reading Friday Catblogging: Pendulum Cat
THE #SFGIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE #SFGIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! WE’RE GOING BACK TO THE WORLD SERIES!!! pic.twitter.com/Z2YCmJikQs — SFGiants (@SFGiants) October 17, 2014 You know I’m over the moon if I allow exclamation points to appear in one of my posts. Travis Ishikawa is no Bobby Thomson, but we’ll take it. Here’s the immortal 1951 call from Russ Hodges: Continue reading The Giants Win The Pennant
Photo by Matthew Hinton of the Advocate.
Back in my time as a New Orleans neighborhood leader, I helped to organize 3 candidate forums. It was a lot of work but quite rewarding. My former neighbor Linda Walker was a past President of the LWV NOLA chapter so she moderated, once with the help of then Picayune columnist Stephanie Grace. Dr. A was the fascist timekeeper at each event, which is one reason she approves of rigid formats. I’m less of a fan of them myself but what can I say? I’m a wild and crazy guy.
The most interesting forum we were involved in was one for our City Council District in the first post-Katrina/Federal Flood city wide election. It was an interesting group, two of whom have made news since 2006. The combative, mouthy Stacy Head is currently City Council President and the dim Counciltool she ousted, Renee Gill-Pratfall, recently went to prison for her role in a series of elaborate scams perpetrated by the late, unlamented Jefferson machine.
As a result of my past experience as a forum organizer, I’m very interested in the stagecraft of such events. It came in handy with the second debate I’ll be discussing but we begin with the Gret Stet Senate debate, which I live tweeted if you’re bored enough to scroll back on my feed or you can check the hashtag #LaSenateDebate. I am not, however, a hastag activist. I do like hashtag browns with breakfast, had to do something for the pun community…
Continue reading “Debate Season: Colonel Mayonnaise & Charlie Crist’s Fan”
From Album 5 Despite some howling from the nuttier regions of wingnuttia, it’s not exactly news that US soldiers came across old ordnance in Iraq that still had traces, or more, of toxic chemicals…some of which were even designed/manufactured right here in the US (or under US license). Weapons so old the late and much missed Bill Hicks (video link) referred to them a full decade before Junior and Dick launched Operation Mesopotamian Clusterfuck. It IS news that US soldiers were in some cases exposed and injured when faced with the unenviable task of disposing any old shells they came upon, … Continue reading “We Looked At The Receipt”
I’m not only a connoisseur of trashy, sleazy pulp fiction but I’m immediately drawn to anything with swamp in the title. I must admit to not knowing what a hoyden is. Here’s the definition according to Merriam-Webster online: “a girl or woman of saucy, boisterous, or carefree behavior.” Its origin “perhaps from obsolete Dutch heiden country lout, from Middle Dutch, heathen; akin to Old English hǣthen heathen.” I just wanted to be open with y’all and establish once and for all that I’m not hoyden anything, not even from Eric Heiden: Continue reading Pulp Fiction Thursday: Swamp Hoyden
I’m seeing Los Lobos this weekend, so I thought I’d share the official video for this great piece of musical Americana: Continue reading Wednesday Night Music: One Time, One Night
Anyone surprised that open carry mania trumps a serious death threat? I actually was. I should have known better: A feminist speaker has canceled a speech at Utah State University after learning the school would allow concealed firearms despite an anonymous threat against her. Anita Sarkeesian was scheduled to give a presentation on the portrayal of women in video games on Wednesday evening. She made the decision to cancel Tuesday night. University staff members had received a threat earlier Tuesday from an unknown person who vowed to carry out a mass shooting if the event was held. University spokesman Tim … Continue reading Today In Responsible Gun Ownership: Institutional Edition
This post is not about hunchbacks, weed killing, or humping. Sorry to disappoint you. I haven’t written one of these omnibus posts in ages and just felt like doing so. I am an arbitrary and capricious motherfucker sometimes. I may even make it a habit on Wednesdays, butdon’t want it to become a vice, which would make this whole exercise eerily like the title of a Doobie Brothers album, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits. I obviously spend way too much time researching old album covers…
Now that I’ve thoroughly confused you, on with the show this is it:
Shorter Bill-O: CDC honcho should resign because he won’t come on my stupid awesome teevee show. Doesn’t Dr. Frieden know that we live in a Bill-O centric universe and that everything revolves around him? Bow down to Bill-O and kiss his mystic butthole.
Downstairs Willard: Anyone else remember the character of Upstairs John on NYPD Blue? He’s got bupkis to do with this segment. It’s called a teaser in the trade. Feel free to call me a prick. Now where was I? Oh, yeah, this:
In an evolution from his stiff, buttoned-up demeanor that was often lampooned during his previous White House runs, Romney dished in the interview on his favorite television show, his grandchildren and even a leg massage.
On “Downton Abbey”: “I think the show was most enjoyable in the first season. Then when Matthew (Crawley) went off to war, it was a bit of a departure for a few seasons,” Romney said, straight-faced. “I actually like the downstairs part more than the upstairs part, even though I think Mary (Crawley) is an absolutely delightful character and I love watching her.”
I think Willard Mittbot Romney likes the downstairs part better for voyeuristic reasons. He enjoys seeing how his inferiors (aka the 47%) lived in Woody Old England. Now that I think of it, he probably identifies with the stiff and pompous Mr. Bates except for the whole accused murderer thing. Willard would have outsourced that to Bangladesh.
It’s reassuring that the Mittbot still feels the need to prove that he’s a human being, gosh darn it. I wonder if he likes Upstairs Mary because she’s an arrogant and haughty hottie, which is probably how he sees Ann. It’s probably a good thing that Willard is a generation removed from seeking out Mary as a sister wife like dear old grandad might have. This is what comes from my binge watching Big Love this summer…
I’ve had carneys on my mind since the season premiere of AHS: Freak Show. That’s why my thoughts turned to Leon Russell’s 1972 LP, Carney.
Russell’s time as a rock star was brief and this album was his biggest hit by far. Carney got all the way to #2 on the Billboard charts and the single Tightrope hit #11. Not bad for a studio musician turned cult artist. Russell’s rock stardom didn’t last long but his career has been a long and interesting one.
Maybe all of the above: One of the clearest demonstrations of the contradiction came during the Republican National Convention in 2012, when the party gave one night of speeches over to the theme, “We did build that,” a deliberate misinterpretation of something the president had said. Speaker after speaker spoke of how they pulled themselves up and built their success without interference from “government.” By the end of the night, the bootstraps has been pulled up so hard and so long that they must’ve extended from Tampa halfway through Alabama. But there was a curious thing about these speeches. A … Continue reading Chickenshit or Lazy or Evil, Take Your Pick