There are a few people still around who were alive during the 1918 flu epidemic, but they were too young to remember it then and are too old to remember it now.
One of my quarantine entertainments is competitive BBQ shows. It's getting to where I have become a fan of certain repeat competitors, and I can predict what Myron Mixon is going to say. Ask me what my favorite regional style is, and my answer is "Yes." NYC doesn't have a style of its own, but it has in recent years developed many fine BBQ joints in a variety of styles. I haven't found a place that does Alabama style, yet, but I haven't given up.
Back in the day when we had only a few networks, millions of people watched shows that ended up cancelled -- rightly from the network point of view -- for low ratings. With all the channels and networks available now, in a country of 300-odd (some very odd) million potential viewers, millions of people will watch just about anything. There's no accounting for taste, and I don't much care who watches what, but it does mean that, given a critical, but not very large mass of fans, their obsessing and arguing about marginal entertainments that the vast majority of people don't even want to be bothered having an opinion about leach into the culture at large and take up the time of innocent bystanders, unlike, say, the disputes among opera fans, which outsiders can easily ignore.
Quite a few people have a vested interest in finding, and a powerful incentive to find, voter fraud. They've looked. They found bupkis. The solutions proposed -- like er photo ID -- would do next to nothing to prevent voter fraud on a large enough scale to affect elections. Especially if you consider what you would have to do to swing an election.
I can brag about my own blue-collar cred until the cows come home. If anyone looked down on me as human scum for delivering them beer, all I can say is that I never had such an experience. Few people I know among the fancier peer group I now inhabit look down on people who do honest, blue-collar work. Maybe you run in, or imagine from a distance, a snottier crowd than mine.
All of this is true, but, given the choice, would Bill Withers go back to making toilets? Of course he wouldn't. He himself thought his life was better when he no longer made toilets, and in his position, so would we. And we may as well admit it.
Don't bother. With Jaybird, it isn't what's so (lots of people recognized HRC's mistakes and there is little prospect of any 2020 candidate repeating them), but what rolls across his Twitter feed. In the places where Jaybird looks, people didn't say what he wanted said -- relevant or not -- in the way he wanted to hear it said. That in other parts of the world people who cared or had reason to care gave it the attention it deserved and moved on to more relevant matters doesn't register.
Eventually, they'd get used to it. Especially since they won't have a say. Hell, I still want nurses in tight white skirted uniforms, but nobody seems to do that anymore except theme strippers.
I've actually seen the arguments for Biden. I recited the main ones up thread. I pointed out that they look anti-Trump rather than pro-Biden not because they aren't legitimate arguments for Biden but because Trump utterly lacks the qualities that one can attribute to Biden. But that is on Trump, not on Biden or his potential voters. This should not be so hard to understand.
If I thought you were serious, I'd point out that you would be the first to scorn a woman who responded to criticism of her piece that way. But you're not, so I won't.
Why would I want to go through that exercise? All it would do is reintroduce me to some things some people said, even though it might prove my point -- that the positive case for Biden is the same as the negative case against Trump, just rephrased.
So, famously, did Talleyrand. We'd probably all be better off, and certainly more adult, if we didn't expect our candidates to be awesome and get bent out of shape when they aren't.
I don't know anyone who thinks Joe Biden is "awesome," and would be troubled by someone who did. There are, however, plenty of positive arguments for Biden. Unfortunately, Trump is so comprehensively awful that they come across as anti-Trump: humane, serious, adult, empathetic, caring, experienced, knowledgeable....These are great, positive qualities. But given Trump's glaring lack of any of them, they sound more anti-Trump than pro-Biden.
Speaking as someone who has straddled both worlds, it is true that city folk don't understand country folk, but it is also true that country folk don't understand city folk. The difference is that only one of them resents the other.
On “Something Has Got to Give: Law, Liberty, and Coronavirus”
There are a few people still around who were alive during the 1918 flu epidemic, but they were too young to remember it then and are too old to remember it now.
On “Burnt Ends: The Fast History of Low and Slow Life”
The style of not having a style -- a very NYC approach.
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One of my quarantine entertainments is competitive BBQ shows. It's getting to where I have become a fan of certain repeat competitors, and I can predict what Myron Mixon is going to say. Ask me what my favorite regional style is, and my answer is "Yes." NYC doesn't have a style of its own, but it has in recent years developed many fine BBQ joints in a variety of styles. I haven't found a place that does Alabama style, yet, but I haven't given up.
On “Mini-Throughput: Visiting the Neighbors Edition”
Now it's back.
"
For some reason, the first comment is blank and "ignored" appears in a box. I'm not sure what "ignoring" is and wouldn't know how to do it on purpose.
On “Tiger King: America’s Newest Obsession”
Back in the day when we had only a few networks, millions of people watched shows that ended up cancelled -- rightly from the network point of view -- for low ratings. With all the channels and networks available now, in a country of 300-odd (some very odd) million potential viewers, millions of people will watch just about anything. There's no accounting for taste, and I don't much care who watches what, but it does mean that, given a critical, but not very large mass of fans, their obsessing and arguing about marginal entertainments that the vast majority of people don't even want to be bothered having an opinion about leach into the culture at large and take up the time of innocent bystanders, unlike, say, the disputes among opera fans, which outsiders can easily ignore.
On “A Clusterfark in Wisconsin”
Quite a few people have a vested interest in finding, and a powerful incentive to find, voter fraud. They've looked. They found bupkis. The solutions proposed -- like er photo ID -- would do next to nothing to prevent voter fraud on a large enough scale to affect elections. Especially if you consider what you would have to do to swing an election.
On “Hey WaPo, There is Nothing Wrong With Making Toilets”
I can brag about my own blue-collar cred until the cows come home. If anyone looked down on me as human scum for delivering them beer, all I can say is that I never had such an experience. Few people I know among the fancier peer group I now inhabit look down on people who do honest, blue-collar work. Maybe you run in, or imagine from a distance, a snottier crowd than mine.
"
All of this is true, but, given the choice, would Bill Withers go back to making toilets? Of course he wouldn't. He himself thought his life was better when he no longer made toilets, and in his position, so would we. And we may as well admit it.
On “Joe Biden: Staying Alive”
Don't bother. With Jaybird, it isn't what's so (lots of people recognized HRC's mistakes and there is little prospect of any 2020 candidate repeating them), but what rolls across his Twitter feed. In the places where Jaybird looks, people didn't say what he wanted said -- relevant or not -- in the way he wanted to hear it said. That in other parts of the world people who cared or had reason to care gave it the attention it deserved and moved on to more relevant matters doesn't register.
On “Andrew Yang, Bringer of Pestilence”
Which of them is/are "relevant"?
On “Wednesday Writs: Schoolboy Innuendo Edition”
But -- but -- it's the opponents of Citizens United who don't believe in free speech.
On “Carnage: 6.6 Million in Initial Jobless Claims, 10 Million Two Week Total”
Eventually, they'd get used to it. Especially since they won't have a say. Hell, I still want nurses in tight white skirted uniforms, but nobody seems to do that anymore except theme strippers.
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Didn't there used to be a government agency that would have been tasked with looking into just this sort of thing? Whatever happened to it?
On “Joe Biden: Staying Alive”
Need I point out that that's still not a denial?
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That's not a denial.
"
I've actually seen the arguments for Biden. I recited the main ones up thread. I pointed out that they look anti-Trump rather than pro-Biden not because they aren't legitimate arguments for Biden but because Trump utterly lacks the qualities that one can attribute to Biden. But that is on Trump, not on Biden or his potential voters. This should not be so hard to understand.
"
If I thought you were serious, I'd point out that you would be the first to scorn a woman who responded to criticism of her piece that way. But you're not, so I won't.
"
Why would I want to go through that exercise? All it would do is reintroduce me to some things some people said, even though it might prove my point -- that the positive case for Biden is the same as the negative case against Trump, just rephrased.
"
So, famously, did Talleyrand. We'd probably all be better off, and certainly more adult, if we didn't expect our candidates to be awesome and get bent out of shape when they aren't.
"
I don't know anyone who thinks Joe Biden is "awesome," and would be troubled by someone who did. There are, however, plenty of positive arguments for Biden. Unfortunately, Trump is so comprehensively awful that they come across as anti-Trump: humane, serious, adult, empathetic, caring, experienced, knowledgeable....These are great, positive qualities. But given Trump's glaring lack of any of them, they sound more anti-Trump than pro-Biden.
"
Speaking as someone who has straddled both worlds, it is true that city folk don't understand country folk, but it is also true that country folk don't understand city folk. The difference is that only one of them resents the other.
"
"Free speech." You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you seem to think it means.
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A wonderful translation.
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The point is that he mistook something from The Onion for reality. Sometimes it's just that simple.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.