AHS Freak Show Thread: The U.S. Steel Of Murder

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I’m not a cupcake fan but Pink Cupcakes can be cute, unless, that is, they’re baked and injected by Stanley the con man. Those cupcakes were meant to be lethal but things didn’t go as planned. It did, however, provide a swell title for the latest installment of American Horror Story: Freak Show.

I’m going to try something completely different with this recap. I’m going to channel Buzzfeed and give you a listicle of sorts. My goal is to be short and pithy and not write 1000 words this time. Let’s see how it goes after the break.

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All of It

Thiiiiiis:  Men with big careers don’t spend much time with their kids, either. This should be obvious by now, but there still seems to be a strong strain of “you can do everything if you just try hard enough” in the culture. So, yes, Tuttle is right when she says we need to shake off the second-wave feminist baggage and elevate the work we all do at home. But I don’t think reclaiming the word housewife will be enough to make caregiving a more respected occupation. Tuttle talks about the hit her 401(k) will be taking in her caregiving years and the … Continue reading All of It

Welcome Home: An open letter to LeBron James

Dear LeBron, It took a while, but I finally get it. Four years ago, I wrote about the epic betrayal of your leaving. A year later, I took delight in your loss in the NBA finals. Each win you earned seemed like an indictment of the team I loved and a validation of the move you made to South Beach. I was one of the millions who had cheered you, who bought your jersey and who spent ungodly sums trying to make it to your games. As you noted many times, you were “our son,” like we all raised you … Continue reading Welcome Home: An open letter to LeBron James

Quote Of The Day: Tricky Dick Edition

I'm always thrilled when the politician I love to hate is back in the news with a new set of tape transcripts. The latest group are online and one excerpt makes me think of a certain potty mouthed publisher: Nixon: I mean, you've got to stop at a certain point. Why is it that the girls don't swear? Because a man, when he swears, people can't tolerate a girl who is a— Haldeman: Girls do swear. Nixon: Huh? Haldeman: They do now. Nixon: Oh, they do now? But, nevertheless, it removes something from them. They don't even realize it. A … Continue reading Quote Of The Day: Tricky Dick Edition

Headline Of The Day: Mansplainer Edition

Mansplainer is one of my favorite recent colloquialisms. It's vivid, punchy, and makes a point in an amusing, witty way. That's why I love this headline on a column by the Guardian's Jessica Valenti: Older women don't need mansplaining boner prose in praise of their sexiness. I'm hoping for a rewrite of a certain classic pop tune: Oh, oh, here he comes. Watch out girl, he gonna chew you up. Oh, oh here he comes, he's a mansplainer.   Continue reading Headline Of The Day: Mansplainer Edition

The “Ancient Mating Habits of Whatever”

Shorter Robin Vos to state-based scholars: It’s all about the Benjamins:   The Republican agenda for next year also includes several changes for the University of Wisconsin, according to Vos. He said that he wants to ensure that faculty spend more time teaching, and that research is geared toward helping the state’s economy. “Of course I want research, but I want to have research done in a way that focuses on growing our economy, not on ancient mating habits of whatever,” said Vos. “So we want to try to have priorities that are focused on growing our economy.”   In outlining … Continue reading The “Ancient Mating Habits of Whatever”

‘The Amount of Concern for the Priest’

Archdiocese of Chicago releases files in abuse cases that show they knew for DECADES that priests were abusing children, but never alerted the authorities:  After the archdiocese made the documents public Thursday morning, Pat Navin pored over the 362 pages in the file of Richard Bartz. Navin was 18 when Bartz allegedly abused him in 1976 during a Wisconsin ski trip. At the time, Bartz was associate pastor at Ascension Catholic Church in Oak Park. Bartz was removed from public ministry and resigned as a priest in 2002. He could not be reached for comment. “What is astounding about the … Continue reading ‘The Amount of Concern for the Priest’

Being a Rape Victim is Awesome, By George Will

Are you even serious, right now:  Will offers an anecdote from a student at Swarthmore College, in which a woman reported a rape after a former sexual partner wouldn't take no for an answer. Will implies that because the incident occurred "with a guy with whom she’d been hooking up for three months," she wasn't sexually assaulted. Right. Once you have slept with a guy once, he has unrestricted access to your vagina for life. It is physically impossible for him to rape you. The female body has no way of shutting that down.  "I just kind of laid there … Continue reading Being a Rape Victim is Awesome, By George Will

Album Cover Art Wednesday: Axis Bold As Love

Axis Bold As Love was Jimi Hendrix's followup to his smash hit debut LP Are You Experienced? It wasn't as chock-full-o-hits, but it's a nice piece of work and established the Jimi Hendrix Experience as a force to be reckoned with. My favorite track is the soaring ballad Little Wing, which was later recorded by Derek and the Dominoes and then by Sting. I usually mock Sting but his Bill Evans arranged version of this Hendrix classic is gorgeous. There, I said it. The cover was designed by David King and Roger Law. Hendrix was not entirely pleased with the … Continue reading Album Cover Art Wednesday: Axis Bold As Love

Malaka Of The Week: Luke Russert

Prince Luke

As a broadcaster, Luke Russert has all of his famous father’s flaws and few, if any, of his virtues. It  reminds me of Jim Hightower’s classic zinger at Poppy Bush’s expense: “He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.” That’s Prince Luke in a nutshell. Make that a wingnut shell, since he’s gone hog wild for pig castrating Iowa Senator-elect Joni Ernst. And that is why Prince Luke is malaka of the week.

NBC dispatched Russert to cover the Iowa Senate campaign in the closing days of the race. In the manner peculiar to the MSM, he became an instant expert on Iowa politics and folkways. He also began to swoon over, and croon about, Crazy Joni:

“That’s what Democrats have been trying to push here in the last few hours, that Joni Ernst is against you on the issues. Unfortunately, where she’s beating Bruce Braley, this idea of who cares more about people like you. Joni Ernst’s charisma, her momentum seems to be giving her a little bit of an edge right now as we head into the final day.”

Crazy Joni rode her Russert approved charisma and Big Mo, as Poppy Bush christened it back in 1980, to victory despite views that sound cribbed from the John Birch Society. That’s right, Joni Ernst used to talk about posse comitatus and second amendment solutions. But that  doesn’t matter because she’s a “charismatic” veteran. Perhaps that’s why she’s so damn good at camouflaging her extreme views. Ernst and Cory Gardner ought to form the tea party mole caucus since the MSM  swallowed their spin. My post-election day hangover is returning. I had it even though I only had 2 beers whilst watching the returns. I can be a restrained motherfucker when I want to be.

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Don’t Hurt Me, Mr. Republican, I Promise I’ll Be Good

Will Bunch makes some good sense:  Imagine a party that sold itself as the party of knowledge, and that embraced science — including climate science — instead of running from it.  In both referenda and in exit polls on Tuesday, the exact same voters who established GOP congressional hegemony also endorsed policies from closing the gun-show loophole to stricter regulation of natural gas drilling to sensible immigration reform — the things that only got lip-service, if that, from the Democrats on the ballot. It’s not a matter of moving further to the left, not really. It’s just a question of standing up for the forward-looking and … Continue reading Don’t Hurt Me, Mr. Republican, I Promise I’ll Be Good

Album Cover Art Wednesday: I Am The President

Let me make one thing perfectly clear, bad election results can be good for satire. Impressionist David Frye mined comedy gold with his 1970 LP, I Am The President. Frye didn’t work blue so he couldn’t capture the true essence of Tricky Dick or LBJ but it’s a funny record.

DavidFrye_IAmThePresident

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I Fought The CW & The CW Won

So much for my cautiously optimistic Senate scenario. We were run over by the CW last night. I knew things were going terribly wrong when Ed Gillespie led in Virginia for most of the evening until suffering a narrow defeat. I’m usually pretty good at picking Senate races. Even as a young man, I knew 1980 was going to be a disaster. It was much worse on the Senate side that year as the Democrats lost such distinguished veteran Senators as McGovern, Church, Magnuson, Nelson, and Bayh. I’m sure I’m missing someone but I’d rather riff than consult with Mr. … Continue reading I Fought The CW & The CW Won

We Didn’t Used to be So Mean

There’s work to be done. I’m having a hard time seeing it, because I’m tired right now. I was on the road for work, and it’s getting dark early and I’m having a hard time getting through, in general, right now, to a clear idea of what to write or say. We’ve done a lot, and just because the numbers are the numbers doesn’t mean the work was meaningless. I would a thousand times rather have fought for John Kerry in 2004 and for Obama both goddamn times and for every Democrat I voted for, than be unable to say … Continue reading We Didn’t Used to be So Mean

Sneering at the Internet Never Gets Old, #Election2014 Edition

Ooh, Nate Silver and his nerdy numbers-y things!  Celebrity statistician Nate Silver has cast a Yoda-like spell over the media since achieving for election predictions what Billy Beane did for baseball: He crunched numbers to successfully out-wit the competition, making national headlines and inspiring a disrupt-y, data-geek revolution. Um. Or he was right about a lot of stuff, which gave him a reputation for  being right about stuff. But hey, keep being condescending. It’s true that Quinn is a masterful campaigner who once again defied expectations to catch up with a formidable challenger (this year, it’s Rauner; four years ago, it … Continue reading Sneering at the Internet Never Gets Old, #Election2014 Edition

The Narrative

So on the local news radio, the line was that Republicans had run against Obama, and Democrats had run on their independence from Obama. What a bunch of fucking idiots. See also 2002, 2004 and 2010. You had it, and we worked hard to give it to you, and we see you calling things impossible which are just very hard, and we get fucking annoyed, because we don’t get to get away with that shit. Not at our jobs and not in our lives. Now, I’m not excusing the Party of I Hate You or these teabagging excuses for human … Continue reading The Narrative

Assholes Are All There Is

Jude knows this sort of thing makes me crazy: 5. Set plans are dead. People have options and up-to-the-minute updates on their friends (or other potential romantic interests) whereabouts thanks to texts & social media. If you aren’t the top priority, your invitation to spend time will be given a “Maybe” or “I’ll let you know” and the deciding factor(s) will be if that person has offers more fun/interesting than you on the table. God. Not everyone is from Rich Kids of Instagram, and just because there are high-profile examples of people being trivial assholes does not mean that every … Continue reading Assholes Are All There Is

Quote Of The Day: Another Huck Upchuck Edition

No, this is not a quote from my NOLA friend Jimmy Huck’s blog, it’s just another dumbshit comment from former Arkansas Governor,GOP also-ran, and wingnut insult comedian Mike Huckabee: Because the fact is we don’t like to do things by ourselves. We really don’t. Guys like to go fishing with other men. They like to go hunting with other men. Women like to go to the restroom with other women. I don’t get that. I can tell you this much: if I ever say, ‘I have to go to the restroom’ and some guy says, ‘I’ll go with you,’ he … Continue reading Quote Of The Day: Another Huck Upchuck Edition

The Fog Of History: Nothing Is Written

As a political junkie, I consume way too much media in the run up to any national election. In 2014  the talk is of the inevitability of the Republicans taking the Senate. It *is* possible, it’s a tough map for Democrats, lots of Mittbot-Walnuts red states *are* voting, but it’s not a given. I see a bunch of races that are within the margin of error in the polls: Iowa, Alaska, Georgia, Colorado, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Kansas. And I retain some hope that Mary Landrieu can pull a fourth term rabbit out of her hat in Louisiana. It’s also unclear if the Senate majority will even be decided tomorrow night, between Alaska and the two races that seem headed to a run-off: Louisiana and Georgia. If the GOP does not have 51 seats on Wednesday morning and Mark Begich wins as I think he will, there will be lots of national money flowing to the Gret Stet of Louisiana. Oh joy, more attack ads and more of Cassidybot’s only campaign theme: Me good, Obama bad. The run-off polls have tightened and Cassidybot is merely tolerated by local teabaggers.

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Balls To The Walls, Eh?

ANYBODY FUCKING TIRED? I know everybody is, okay? You’re tired in Texas and you’re tired in Wisconsin and you’re tired right here in Illinois, where we might actually elect a guy who makes Mitt Romney look charming and authentic. But somebody tell me, what’s the alternative? What’s the alternative to voting, to campaigning, to sticking a sign in your yard and a sticker on your car and talking to your neighbors about why it’s important they get off their asses tomorrow? I guess we could all sit home with our ironic detachment and our Amstel Lights and talk about how … Continue reading Balls To The Walls, Eh?

Malaka Of The Week: Pat Garofalo

My late father and I didn’t get along very well. We had very little in common. He was perplexed that he raised a little lefty but between my growing up in the Bay Area and my mother’s quiet liberalism it was inevitable. Basketball was our safe subject. He played college basketball back in its pre-World War II neolithic era, he was a 6’1″ center, which was always something that I had a hard time wrapping my head around. I doubt that he could have dunked but he was too graceful to be a white goon. He coached our church’s youth … Continue reading Malaka Of The Week: Pat Garofalo