People are racing dogs across Alaska and other people are raising money for the schools along the way: Watch this, then help us finish funding 20 more @DonorsChoose projects for Alaska school kids before Bler gets to Nome! https://t.co/4P3jGnxBcM https://t.co/JZTP7j2EMS — Beth Mansfield (@BethMansfield) March 17, 2019 A. Continue reading Not Everything Sucks
It’s time for the annual Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day parade. This year it takes place on the day before the holiday but at least we got a wee break from Mardi Gras. Parading is hard work, y’all.
As always we’re going to our friends Greg and Christy’s open house to eat, drink, and be merry. The parade is exuberantly disorganized but the party is more fun than a snake down your trousers. It’s so much fun that one year a Leprechaun attended and posed for a picture with our hosts:
This week’s insidiously catchy theme song was written by Mike Scott and Anthony Thistlethwaite for the Waterboys’ 2007 album Book of Lightning. We have two versions of Everybody Takes A Tumble for your listening pleasure: the studio recording and a live version from Irish teevee:
Now that we’ve filled our tumblers with Tullamore Dew, it’s time to stumble to the break. I’m not sure if I’m capable of jumping.
Continue reading “Saturday Odds & Sods: Everybody Takes A Tumble”
Marina Hyde nails it again. Continue reading Quote Of The Day: Brexit Vote Edition
The only things that are open and shut in this side-by-study are Paul Drake’s eyes. BUT he’s named for a famous fictional detective so he’s always on the case. Continue reading Friday Catblogging: Open & Shut Case
Adrastos on Beto O’Rourke’s Vanity Fair candidacy. Continue reading Beto’s Big Getaway
Rufus King had a long run as a crime fiction writer. 1945’s The Deadly Dove was published smack dab in the middle of that lengthy career. Both editions have a strong tagline game. Continue reading Pulp Fiction Thursday: The Deadly Dove
The curious case of the president* and the panderer. Continue reading The Fog Of Scandal: The Massage Is The Message
Naturally was J.J. Cale’s first album. It was recorded in the wake of Eric Clapton’s hit version of Cale’s After Midnight. Here’s Cale’s description of how the record came about: Cale, who was languishing in obscurity at the time, had … Continue reading Album Cover Art Wednesday: Naturally
The facts about a small paper folding are all right here: In the mid-1990s, when former Daily Guide publisher Tim Berrier was replaced, the newspaper had a news editor, sports editor, photographer and two reporters on staff. Along with traditional community news, the Daily Guide covered the Army’s decision to move its chemical warfare training facility to Fort Leonard Wood in the 1990s, and a flood that swept a mother and son to their deaths in 2013. As recently as 2010, the Daily Guide had four full-time news people, along with a page designer and three ad salespeople. But people … Continue reading GateHouse sucks newspaper dry, AP blames ‘decline in ads, readers’ for suckage
This, this exactly: Media coverage of @AOC‘s Green New Deal has focused on “strategy” over substance: asking “is it popular?” instead of “is it a good policy idea?” That’s called “tactical framing,” and it’s making us more cynical about big policy ideas: pic.twitter.com/BCWtml3X46 — Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) March 11, 2019 It’s also a natural consequence of the pundit-to-journalist-to-pundit pipeline, in which people who can only think tactically are paid to tell other people what to think about a policy. I understand why political strategists are obsessed with where something will play and how well and why. I will never understand … Continue reading Tactical Framing
There was outrage and shock over the light sentence given to Paul Manafort by Judge TS Ellis last week. I was unhappy with the 47 month sentence but not shocked because I followed the trial closely. Judge Ellis was biased … Continue reading The Big Picture
Good morning, all! As The Darnold’s presidency circles the toilet at ever-increasing speed, the Freepers are having more and more trouble simultaneously believing “all is well” and “Holy fucking shit, NOW what??” – with Trump being at the same time infallible and a total fuckup.
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Call it “Schrodinger’s moron”.
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Let’s start with – Glory Be!
North Korea airs film glorifying summit with Trump
The Politico ^ | March 7, 2019 | The Associated PressPosted on 3/7/2019, 6:23:08 PM by 2ndDivisionVet
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s state TV has aired a documentary glorifying leader Kim Jong Un’s recent visit to Vietnam that omitted the failed nuclear negotiations with President Donald Trump.
The footage’s release Wednesday came amid reports that North Korea is restoring some facilities at its long-range rocket launch site that it dismantled last year as part of disarmament steps.
To: 2ndDivisionVetPotemkin Village.
This was doomed to fail even before it began and nine critical, wasted months have passed where they continued to build up their arsenal behind the scenes and de-facto loosened sanctions and continued their horrid human rights abuses.
They are not to be believed. Never. They are dishonest liars and cheats, despite all the optics, flattery, a pretty First Lady parading in European fashions and the like.
…but enough about Trump…
I’d like to hear the argument and see any credible evidence to the contrary.
There can be no doubt now.
2 posted on 3/7/2019, 10:56:47 PM by AmericanInTokyo (tell me again how praising & flattering ruthless commie dictators goes with freedom & conservatism?)
To: 2ndDivisionVetNo doubt now what a hopeless farce this was and is becoming. I hope we will soon return to the Reagan Doctrine. https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/07/politics/carter-north-korea/index.html CNN: Congressman: Jimmy Carter is willing to travel to North Korea to help Trump3 posted on 3/7/2019, 11:09:57 PM by AmericanInTokyo (tell me again how praising & flattering ruthless commie dictators goes with freedom & conservatism?)
Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Darnold duck! edition”
So Tucker Carlson is a piece of shit: Carlson called into the radio show for about an hour a week from 2006 to 2011 (he joined Fox News as contributor in 2009). In the recordings obtained by Media Matters, Carlson defends cult leader and child abuser Warren Jeffs, calls Britney Spears and Paris Hilton “the biggest white whores in America,” questions whether sex workers can really be raped, and describes women in general as “extremely primitive.” Fox knew this. Shit, Tucker used to work for CNN and I wouldn’t doubt CNN knew this. These things were broadcast on the radio … Continue reading Tucker Carlson was hired for the misogyny, not in spite of or in ignorance of it
Kick asked me what the ashes were for. I had them on my forehead, as did my mother who was visiting. They’re somewhat obvious, if done right. “It’s something grownups do to prepare for Easter,” I said, and changed the subject. I’ve always hated this part of the liturgical calendar, the emphasis on death and guilt, the insistence on prioritizing misery, the endurance test that is Passion Sunday, in which we read the entirety of Jesus’s horrific death. LOOK AT IT, with the presumption that if you turn away, you’re not worthy of that sacrifice: After tweeting out a call … Continue reading Faith as an Endurance Test
Sometimes, waiting for the train after a concert, people sing and dance: #Robyn Afterparty at the E train station after the @robynkonichiwa show at MSG pic.twitter.com/qBCSrPuT9N — Triszh Hermogenes (@triszhermogenes) March 9, 2019 A. Continue reading Not Everything Sucks
Carnival was alternately exhausting and exhilarating. I love it but I’m always glad when it’s over, especially when the weather is cold and wet. This year was physically difficult for me as I was in pain for the last week of the season. I ended up on the disabled list and stayed home on Mardi Gras day but I don’t regret not resting on Lundi Gras as you can see from this tweet:
Today is the day we watch Proteus fall off the bus and eventually stagger onto their floats. Out of town guests excited to have the drunken plutocrat experience.
— Shecky (@Adrastosno) March 4, 2019
Proteus is one of the “old line” krewes and their den is around the corner from Adrastos World Headquarters. They were indeed as drunk as plutocratic skunks. Watching them set up to roll is one of the pleasures of life inside the parade box. Where else can you watch three fake kings-Proteus, Comus, and Rex-toast one another on the street?
This week’s first theme song was written by Nick Lowe and Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke for Nick’s 1990 Party Of One album, which reunited him with his musical partner in crime, Dave Edmunds.
It’s disambiguation time: a different tune with the same title. Our other theme song was written by Steve Tilston but I first heard it done by Fairport Convention. We have two versions for your listening pleasure: Fairport live followed by the songwriter.
Now that we’ve traveled down several rocky roads, it’s time to jump to the break.
Another bonus Obsession today, as both Michael F. and Adrastos are indisposed. So today, First Draft is MINE!! ALL MINE!!! BWAHAHAHAHA! …where was I? Oh yes – Blooood in the water – fire in the sky… Russian Choir Sings About Nuking D.C. on Patriotic Holiday in Cathedral Moscow Times ^ | Feb 25 2019 Posted on 2/26/2019, 4:29:32 PM by CondoleezzaProtege The St. Petersburg Concert Choir sang the song in St. Isaac’s Cathedral during a concert celebrating Defender of the Fatherland Day, a holiday that honors Russia’s armed services every Feb. 23. The lyrics translate in part: “On a nuclear-powered … Continue reading Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Duke nuke ’em edition
Della Street and Paul Drake have their issues but most of the time they get along well. One thing they agree on is that the space heater is awesome. Continue reading Friday Catblogging: Buddies
Every once and awhile I like to honor the illustrators of vintage pulp paperbacks. This week, we’re featuring two covers by Lou Marchetti whose daughter Louise has assembled a terrific website in honor of her late father. The tagline for … Continue reading Pulp Fiction Thursday: Lou Marchetti
Can I Get A Witness? Continue reading Lost In The News
It’s Wishbone Ash Wednesday. Continue reading Album Cover Art Wednesday: Strange Affair
This isn’t “Congress,” dude: About 75 percent of Americans favor higher taxes for the ultrawealthy. The idea of a federal law that would guarantee paid maternity leave attracts 67 percent support. Eighty-three percent favor strong net neutrality rules for broadband, and more than 60 percent want stronger privacy laws. Seventy-one percent think we should be able to buy drugs imported from Canada, and 92 percent want Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. The list goes on. [snip] In our era, it is primarily Congress that prevents popular laws from being passed or getting serious consideration. (Holding an occasional hearing does not count as “doing something.”) Entire categories … Continue reading ‘Congress’ Isn’t The Problem. Republicans Are.
Whenever someone asks that, in response to some mild environmental proposal, we should just say that WE ALREADY PAY FOR IT, DIPSHITS: The ponds and landfills used to store coal ash are frequently unlined, allowing toxins to leach into groundwater. The report is based on groundwater monitoring data from more than 4,600 wells. It compared measured levels to drinking water or other standards. Contamination was found in groundwater near 242 of the 265 plants that recently reported data required by the 2015 rule. Fifty-two percent of those sites are contaminated with cancer-causing arsenic, and 60% are polluted with lithium, which is linked to … Continue reading How You Gonna Pay For It?
I have no idea why that chick is riding a walrus in the poster above. To the best of my knowledge, walruses aren’t indigenous to South Louisiana. I’ve partied hurt this Carnival season. I twisted my knee on the route … Continue reading Lundi Gras Odds & Sods
OK, people – a short post FOR REAL this time (the available material always overwhelms my intentions to do a short post). Before we get to the Facebooky stuff, I guess by now, everyone’s seen this : So help me, this was all I could see instead: Eeew. . OK – I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff like this in my Facebook news feed : (A person named David, on the subject of Alexandria Cortez) : “Anyone the Republicans are trying so hard to destroy has got to scare them…badly. I follow her on IG, and she’s doing a … Continue reading Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Book Of Faces edition
Ugh, division and disagreement are so ugly, why can’t we all just get along on important issues like babies in cages and destroying the world? Contempt makes political compromise and progress impossible. It also makes us unhappy as people. According to the American Psychological Association, the feeling of rejection, so often experienced after being treated with contempt, increases anxiety, depression and sadness. It also damages the contemptuous person by stimulating two stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline. In ways both public and personal, contempt causes us deep harm. While we are addicted to contempt, we at the same time hate it, just … Continue reading This ISN’T HELPING, Guys
Let’s talk about this before we have a single additional hearing about Facebook, Twitter and “fake news:” … Digital First Media, controlled by Alden, announced it was laying off a third of the newsroom — leaving fewer than 70 reporters to cover a population of 3m people. According to the Alliance for Audited Media, the circulation of the Denver Post has more than halved from 413,676 in 2013 to about 170,000 today. DFM employees across the country — from San Francisco to New York — protested against their owners. “We wanted to let [the public] know. People were still blaming … Continue reading ‘Ghost Newspapers’
The MERL had a bat in its library: First things first, we gave him rehydration fluid as he was very thirsty, having probably been trapped in the store for a few days at least. Fortunately, he was completely uninjured. We had a look round the outside of the building to try and see how he might have got in but with no windows, no doors to the outside, no louvres or obvious ventilation shafts we couldn’t spot anything. However, as a bat can get through a gap as small as a couple of centimetres and it’s a huge building, it … Continue reading Not Everything Sucks
Live from New Orleans, it’s Saturday Odds & Sods. Continue reading Saturday Odds & Sods: All Down The Line