I usually write an Oscar wrap-up post. I’m not feeling it this year other than to quote, and praise, Chris Rock: But here’s the real question. The real question everybody wants to know, everybody wants to know, in the world, is Hollywood racist? Is Hollywood racist? You know, that’s — that’s a — you know, you got to go at that at the right way. Is it burning cross racist? No. Is it fetch me some lemonade racist? No, no. It’s a different type of racist. <snip> That’s right. Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right Hollywood’s racist. But it isn’t … Continue reading Quote Of The Day: Chris Rocks The Oscars Edition
When I was a younger smart ass, I had a running joke about wishing I’d been born during a leap year. Who wouldn’t want to be able to claim to be 3/4th younger than they actually are? Unfortunately, it led to people … Continue reading Happy Leap Day
Good Monday morning, constant readers! I was moving some of the newer drums of Freepitude on the loading dock, and I noticed one that had a crystalline blue patina on the top.
Further examination showed it to be crystal meth of astounding purity. I know that meth labs and “the base” go together like Mario and Luigi, but this is a little weird, even for Freepers. I got it into the iso chamber, pried it open, and faster than you can say “Gus Fring skullface”, this popped out:
At least 2 people reportedly killed in Kansas workplace shooting FOXNEWS.COM ^ | 25 FEBRUARY 2016 | FOX NEWS
I swear, we hate no one in the world like we hate female celebrities. The amount of bile spewed at Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift and now Chrissy Tiegen would, if properly directed towards Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney, solve nearly all our country’s moral crises. What did model and actress Tiegen, who happens to be infertile and public about it, do? She chose to have a female embryo implanted in her uterus during an IVF cycle. People are fucking idiots, no thanks to the morning Mommy talk shows, and accused her of “designing” her baby and personally murdering all children … Continue reading Science Babies FTW or, Why Chrissy Tiegen’s Critics Can Suck It
It’ll happen. Nobody’s going to save them: You are not the only one. Whatever Christie’s motives, he knows he is legitimizing Trump big-time right before Super Tuesday. Trump is already doing well in polls of most of the many states voting that day. This will solidify his standing and intensify the panic among those who believe presidents should unite and calm, not divide and inflame. Oh, and should know something about the job. The only people who think the GOP is going to get saved are the people who need it to be saved to preserve the fiction that they’re not … Continue reading It Starts Now: They’ll All Fall in Line Behind Trump
What a shock this bill was authored by two rich white men: “Provides that if the unmarried mother cannot or refuses to name the child’s father, either a father must be conclusively established by DNA evidence or, within 30 days after birth, another family member who will financially provide for the child must be named, in court, on the birth certificate. Provides that absent DNA evidence or a family member’s name, a birth certificate will not be issued and the mother will be ineligible for financial aid from the State for support of the child. Provides an exception for artificially … Continue reading Because What Single Mothers Need is Shame
I always know where it is, unlike almost every other object I own. I rarely, if ever, however, go looking for it. And yet occasionally, you find yourself doing something that you know will evoke a response that you hate because you need to have that response. So, this morning, I opened the door to my night stand and extracted the battered shoe box. Beneath the “Thank You” notes from past students, the love letters my wife wrote me over time and surrounded by the pin-based honorifics I received or inherited throughout the years, I found it where I always … Continue reading Living Life, Chip by Chip
We’re knee-deep in the El Nino season of 2015-16. I have a love-hate relationship with it: I love El Nino during hurricane season and hate it during the winter. The New Orleans metro area had a hellacious storm front last Tuesday. The city wasn’t impacted directly but there were nine confirmed tornadoes in the area that wreaked havoc in the outlying communities of Convent and LaPlace. It was like being an Okie for the day only without Jim Inhofe as your Senator. Of course, I have a whore monger and an empty suit as my Senators. so who am I to judge?
Before being uprooted for six weeks in 2005, the weather wasn’t a frequent topic of conversation in my house. For obvious reasons, I am now obsessed with the weather; so much so that I had twinges of PSTD when the wind was howling outside my door. Unlike Della and Oscar, I can’t hide under the bed when the weather sucks. I wouldn’t fit. Time for a brief meteorological musical interlude from the Brothers Finn:
I don’t really have a dog in the hunt in this year’s Oscar races. I suspect that wearing a beard and looking dirty and smelly will win Leonardo Decaprio his first Oscar. Handsome leading men have to ugly themselves up to be taken seriously viz George Clooney in Syriana. It’s a pity that Leo’s star turns in The Great Gatsby or The Aviator weren’t Oscarworthy but his duel with a bear in Revenant is. Of course, tangling with a bear did wonders for Daniel Boone’s career. Oh well, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Paul Newman won their Oscars for the wrong movies too. It’s a funny old world, y’all.
This week’s theme song, All The Things You Are, was composed in 1939 by Jerome Kern and features lyrics by his Show Boat writing partner, Oscar Hammerstein. It was long a favorite of Jazz musicians because of its melodic and harmonic complexity. Here are four distinctive takes on the song from some Jazz greats:
Now that I’ve provided you with a Kernel of substance, it’s time for the break after which I plan to Hammerstein it up some more.
You’ve got to be kidding me: In late January, over 100 community members attended a meeting to address what the city plans to do repair the library and discuss community suggestions for repairs and upgrades. But the meeting turned contentious when not one city official showed up. Residents expressed their frustration at the city for not attending, with Alderman Brookins saying it was “disappointing and disheartening” that no one from the Chicago Public Library showed up. Chicago Public Library spokesman Patrick Molloy said that the library fully supports the project, but there must have been a misunderstanding and library officials didn’t commit to attending … Continue reading One Library, Two Chicagos
It’s impossible to blog for 10 years and never repeat yourself. The other day I posted four album covers by Jim Flora; one of which was Mambo For Cats. I subsequently regretted not saving that for today since Oscar and Della Street … Continue reading Friday Catblogging: Mambo For Cats
It’s been a busy week on the racist far Right here in the cradle of the Confederacy. Actually, New Orleans surrendered in 1862, so I guess we’re more like a runaway stroller. Anyway, white supremacy continues to rear its ugly head; in part because of the Insult Comedian’s appeal to the “poorly educated,” xenophobes, and morons. We begin with my old nemesis, Gret Stet Fuhrer Wannabe and former Klan leader, David Dukkke. While not formally endorsing Trump, Duke had this to say about two of his GOP rivals: “Voting for these people, voting against Donald Trump at this point is really … Continue reading Today On White Supremacy Theatre
Where are the GOP’s Brutuses, the Cascas, the Longinuses, the Minociuses today? Where are Senators John McCain or Lindsay Graham or Susan Collins? Where is ex-president George W. Bush? Where is ex–presidential candidate Mitt Romney? Where is New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, or California’s ex-governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger?
These men and women know what Trump is. They have to understand what is at stake here. They have to see that Trump and his followers have now crossed fundamental Rubicons, embracing such antidemocratic, such thuggish views—the mindset of the pogrom, the death squad, the race-and-religion war—that they now represent an absolute and existential threat to the Republic.
And yet not one of these political figures have come out and said they will dissociate themselves from a Trump candidacy—that they will vote for, and campaign for, anyone but Trump. Not one of them has said that democracy comes before party. Not one of them has dared to use the “F” word, calling Trump out for the fascist that he so clearly is.
Exactly which George W. Bush are you expecting to show up to denounce Donald Trump? The one who stood by while his campaign and its stooges implied John Kerry shot himself in the leg to give himself a better bio? The one who started two wars just because he could and acted like the dead people were bothering him out of spite? The one who refused to meet with Cindy Sheehan after her son was killed? The one who destroyed John McCain in South Carolina by implying his adopted daughter was conceived out of wedlock with an African-American woman? That one?
Matt Taibbi: The same way Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house, Donald on the stump can see his future. The pundits don’t want to admit it, but it’s sitting there in plain view, 12 moves ahead, like a chess game already won: President Donald Trump. A thousand ridiculous accidents needed to happen in the unlikeliest of sequences for it to be possible, but absent a dramatic turn of events – an early primary catastrophe, Mike Bloomberg ego-crashing the race, etc. – this boorish, monosyllabic TV tyrant with the attention span of an Xbox-playing 11-year-old really is set to … Continue reading Karma’s A…Troll
I was idly searching for a subject this week when I stumbled upon the work of Jim Flora whose family run web site describes him as follows: James (Jim) Flora is best-known for his wild jazz and classical album covers for … Continue reading Album Cover Art Wednesday: Jim Flora
What the hell part nine: So what can moms do to protect themselves from sexually predatory nannies, according to CBS2 News? First, don’t hire anyone too beautiful. Leslie Venokur, co-founder of parenting website Big City Moms, say that moms should screen potential nannies based on how they dress. “If they’re wearing dangling earrings, that to me is a no-no,” she asserts. Then, CBS2 tells moms that surveillance can be necessary. Moms, it is your job to screen all people around your husband to make sure they are not going to trip him so that his dick will land inside them by mistake. … Continue reading Women Need to Hate Other Women to Protect Their Men
This, this, a thousand times this: “Ugh.” With that, Seth Stevenson, writing for Slate, takes a break from saluting Jeb’s “compassion,” “restraint,” “backbone,” “rigor,” “integrity,” and “empathy,” to acknowledge the unconstitutional intervention whereby Jebprolonged the pointless suffering of Terry Schiavo to score some political points with the Christian right: “Oh, and ugh, the Terry Schiavo stuff.” Ah yes, the politics writer’s annoying hard luck, that a politician’s actual behavior in elected office—the use to which he has put the powers won via canny performance of personal traits others will admire—should intrude upon one’s uncritical endorsement of that performance. You see, … Continue reading Politics is So Distasteful to Political Reporters
OK folks, you know the drill – one new thread, and a crapload (literally) of older ones.
New thread has been assigned the First Draft designation:
TRUMP SMASH!!!
We had the chance, and we blew it. FreeRepublic ^ | 2/19/2016 | Washi
Posted on 2/19/2016 11:43:05 PM by Washi
It’s appearing obvious that Trump will win South Carolina, and logic would tend to indicate that that makes him the odds-on favorite to win the Republican nomination (baring any GOPe dirty tricks at the convention).
While I will gladly vote for Trump over Clinton or Sanders, I’m still disheartened.
Ever since the last day of Reagan’s administration, America has been in need of conservative leadership.
GHW Bush’s squishiness gave us Clinton.
GW Bush barely won election. I’m glad he was in office after 9/11 instead of Gore, but he loaded us up with tons of debt and a lot of government growth.
Cognitive dissonance alert!!
He also gave us Obama.
McCain was a squish and got his ass handed to him in Obama’s first term.
Romney was a squish and got his ass handed to him in Obama’s second term. Even Obama was surprised he won that one after the destruction he wrought in his first term.
Now, our chance has come.
On the democrat side, we have a nasty, entitled, corrupt, untrustworthy, unlikable, old hag and a grungy, mooching, old, socialist running for office.
On the republican side, we have a solidly conservative, well spoken, highly informed candidate that isn’t afraid to stand up to the GOPe and fight for conservative causes. It’s what we ALL have been waiting for.
We’ve ALL thought that we could win the presidency and right the wrongs of the past few decades of creeping socialism if we would just put a true conservative up as our nominee in the general.
Well, this is our chance. But, we’re about to piss it away.
I think I understand the appeal of Trump. People are pissed and Trump has tapped into that. But this is a time for thinking, not feeling. Trump is a demagogue. People want to be on “Team Trump” because he’s loud, proud, and unapologetic. But, Trump is also practicing a scorched Earth campaign of character assassination against Cruz in order to win the nomination for himself, and his whipped up supporters are dog-piling on anyone who dares to point out the emperor’s lack of clothes.
Two years from now, when we discover that all of the red flags and warnings being blared by Trump’s past positions and statements really are an accurate representation of Trump, and we find that “campaign” Trump was just that, we will kick ourselves when we realize that we had our chance, perhaps our last, to nominate the true conservative we had all been waiting for, and we screwed it up.
Turning a blind eye to Trump’s liberal leanings just because he says the things we want to hear, and helps us express our dissatisfaction with the status-quo, doesn’t make his leanings any less liberal.
We’ve said that electing a conservative could set us back on the right track.
We have, right now, a chance that we won’t have again for a very, very long time. A chance to prove we were right.
But we’re about to blow it.
1 posted on 2/19/2016 11:43:05 PM by Washi
Well, that was depressing (if you’re a Republican).
Trump-humpers – attack!!
To: Washi
The problems with America cannot be solved by nuance and finesse. Things have been neglected for so long we need a hammer.
Hulk smash.
You know – sometimes I’m tempted to terminate a thread after the first selected reply.
This is one of those times. Hulk smash, indeed.
Mommy has been in charge for so long we all can’t wait for daddy to get home. Asses will sting.
5 posted on 2/19/2016 11:46:39 PM by ghosthost
.
Cruz losers – counterattack!
To: doc1019
I’m going to write Cruz in. I won’t hold my nose again.
To: Just mythoughts
When one plays the Jesus sent me card, then it was absolutely immoral. Some of US will not fall for deception… Bearing false witness is still one of the 10 Commandments…. Christ said you break one you break them all..
What would Jesus say about a man who publishes books with passages where he gloats about engaging in sex with married women while he is also married?
Is your moral outrage selective based upon the target of your outrage?
100 posted on 2/20/2016 12:28:28 AM by Grizzled Bear (No More RINOS!)
Ouch.
Some of the “just want to watch the GOP burn” crowd are even ready to throw The Darnold under the bus :
To: central_va
If Trump can’t deliver we’ll find someone else.
Bingo! He may be a bastard, but he’s out bastard. And if Trump doesn’t deliver, then he’s out too! It’s time for the voters to take charge rather than the uniparty.
141 posted on 2/20/2016 12:56:01 AM by abigkahuna (How can you be at two places at once when you are nowhere at all?)
One more before the jump:
To: Washi
Well said. I cannot believe how many people have decided that Trump’s words don’t matter, his character doesn’t matter, his contradictions don’t matter, his previous positions don’t matter, his history of donations doesn’t matter, his betrayal of spouses and business partners doesn’t’ matter, his hubris doesn’t matter, his ignorance of government and foreign policy doesn’t matter, his mean-spirited approach to non believers in him doesn’t matter, his megalomania doesn’t matter, his liberalism doesn’t matter (youthful indiscretion, after all, he was only 65 then), and his disdain for his own putative party doesn’t matter.
201 posted on 2/20/2016 2:07:52 AM by elhombrelibre (Against Obama. Against Putin. Pro-freedom. Pro-US Constitution. Go Cruz.)
.
(I just love how Kevin Kline passes out after his last verse)
Boss lady: Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime—almost a century ago. But until recently there was no way to observe them. But thanks to the work of Dr. Nergis Mavalvala and her colleagues at MIT, Einstein’s theory is now a proven phenomenon. Last week, the ultrasensitive telescope her team built detected gravitational waves for the first time, created from the collision of two black holes some 1.3 billion years ago. [snip] “Theoretically a consequence of violent cosmic events—the collisions of black holes, the explosive deaths of stars, or even the big bang—gravitational waves could provide a … Continue reading Studying the Universe from the Outside
For the people who did this to Flint: Gail, though, persists in cooking, and she pays its price in water. When she prepares dinner for her daughter, grandchildren, and their other grandma, she goes through two cases, by my count—double the allotment of free water she receives. Then there’s bathing and tooth brushing, cleaning the sink and the counter, watering houseplants. When Felecia describes the work required to bathe her three children in warm bottled water, Tammy counsels her: “I tell myself, ‘Back in the day they just had to go to the creek and take a bath,’” she says. … Continue reading There Is No Prison Dark or Deep Enough
Still here: The results can be seen most every Friday home game. The Wallock kids — Liam and 4-year-old sister Aoife (pronounced Eee-fa) — come wearing T-shirts that reflect their love for the Badgers in general and certain players in particular. Perhaps you’ve seen them at games or via social media? They’re not sold anywhere because that would violate NCAA rules, but also because it was never the Wallocks’ intent to do so. “It turned into a way to kind of support the team,” Matthew said. “Rumpel Saves” was one of the first to create a stir. It shows … Continue reading Wisconsin Hockey Kids are the Best
I pulled a Republican ballot in Illinois in 2000 so I could vote for John McCain over George W. Bush. I was young and in love and so fucking stupid. Granted, I don’t think 200o-era McCain would have been a third the disaster Bush was, but still, McCain. A. Continue reading Weekend Question Thread: Vote You Regret?
It’s been a relatively quiet week in New Orleans. There’s a new gentrification controversy involving changes to an Uptown green space known as the Fly. I’m for the status quo but I’ve decided to keep my fly zipped on this issue. I hereby apologize to everyone for that joke.
Meanwhile in Baton Rouge, the budgetary sky is falling. 8 years of Jindalnomics have left the state in such dire straits that not even Mark Knopfler could fix things. Once again, I need to apologize for that joke, which means I have to take the walk of life in atonement:
The new Governor gave a sort of chicken little speech about the state’s financial woes, which doesn’t seem to have moved many votes in the lege thus far. John Bel Edwards did, however, imply that if there were more budget cuts to higher education, the LSU Tigers might not play football next fall. Now that’s a serious threat here in the Gret Stet of Louisiana: No Leonard Fucking Fournette? Only time will tell if that helps, but the lege is loath to raise taxes on our 1%, which consists mostly of oil tycoons and people named Benson who own sports franchises. I have no idea what’s going to happen but it won’t be pretty. Neither was PBJ now that I think of it…
This week’s theme song was, in part, inspired by the artist who painted the featured image. Walter Inglis Anderson was born in New Orleans but did much of his painting in nearby Ocean Springs, MS. Anderson was plagued with mental health issues and in 1965 rode out a hurricane with his own form of Splendid Isolation:
In 1965, months before his death, he rode through Hurricane Betsy on his beloved Horn Island, tethering his little skiff to his waist, climbing at night to the highest dune, wanting to feel the storm first hand. The water rose to his chest.
“Never has there been a more respectable hurricane,” he wrote, “provided with all the portents, predictions, omens, etc. The awful sunrise — no one could fail to take a warning from it — the hovering black spirit bird, the man of war, just one, comme il faut.”
Warren Zevon also lived life on the edge, but even the most extreme story told about him isn’t as wild as the tale of Walter Anderson and Hurricane Betsy. We grow our eccentrics larger than life here in New Orleans, y’all.
Splendid Isolation is one of my favorite WZ tunes; so much so that I’m posting three radically different versions. We begin with the piano driven studio version from the Tranverse City album:
Next up is a version with David Sanborn and the house band from the, uh, splendid but short-lived teevee show Night Music:
Finally, a live acoustic romp featuring Zevon’s fellow rock eccentric Neil Young:
Instead of putting tin foil on the windows like the character in the song, we’ll pull up our socks and muddle through after the break.
