Yea in theory that all makes a kind of sense but in practice there is limited time and resources to hopefully get the GOP to think twice about what is clearly the most questionable nomination now that Gaetz has withdrawn. Maybe I'll be proven wrong this time but fifty bucks says whatever these allegations are will be so murky and difficult to substantiate that they won't change anyone's mind on anything. The fact that there has not been a prosecution indicates that whatever the story is a prosecutor didn't feel able to convict in the extremely deferential to authority environment of the criminal justice system.
Doesn't mean he didn't do something bad but does mean the chances of this avenue uncovering a smoking gun sufficient to flip a few GOP Senators are extraordinarily low. So you take the time to focus on things that might. Unless of course your goal is to be written up as really verbally sticking it to the patriarchy or MAGA or whoever in the papers, as opposed to maybe actually keeping some clown show out of an important position.
The guy seems like the epitome of a lot of what's wrong with the MAGA movement. I'm sympathetic to various criticisms of the administrative state and the permanent brass, including some that come from the right. What I'm not sympathetic to is 'What if we solved those problems by putting a drunken Fox News personality in charge?!'
Of course to me the emphasis by Democrats on the committee of these alleged sexual misdeeds illustrate their own fundamental lack of seriousness and failure to adapt. How many times do we need to trot out some he said she said innuendo that probably can't be proven one way or the other, as if that has ever once worked (to say nothing of backfiring)?
The real questions are about what qualifies a creature of conservative media and think tank activism to run such a massive and important institution, and whether he will be drinking on the job.
The electorate also doesn’t want mass deportations, but we had a president just get elected promising just that.
My dude... what do you think the election was about? Sure there were other issues most notably inflation but the people spoke. I too strongly doubt this is going to go well but I don't know what makes you think people are worked up about deportations of people the law says are to be deported.
Obviously he means self deportation by the nation's DEI officers to the occupied people's freedom zone Justin Trudeau is establishing in the Yukon territory.
I don't think you really believe that because if you did you'd be out in the street and/or taking up arms not debating it on some website.
I would also think really hard about what you're saying about Fetterman. A succesful party that governs more in line with your preferences has a lot more Fettermans and probably even Manchins, because thats what it takes to build strong majorities. You also cannot be succesful in a democracy or even claim the mantle of defender of democratic principles if you're unwilling to ever meet the electorate where it is on completely legitimate questions of public policy, like immigration.
I believe the slide is now the consensus 'correct' play, not (just) a matter of sportsmanship. Even in a game that is almost certainly won you don't want to give the ball back or have someone injured on meaningless plays.
The nice thing about democracy is that nothing is permanent. If the predicted disasters materialize then the answer is to go win an election and change the law to something better. As always the tides will turn and the Democrats will at some point have power again, probably sooner than anyone is predicting in the wake of a defeat.
We also just have to be realistic about the current environment. Ask yourself if we're better off with, I dont know, Fetterman in the Senate or with whatever Republican defeats him.
it all depends on which version of the Democrats we're talking about. If it's Obama era trade of increased security and enforcement for leniency for long settled non felons and/or broader legal pathways to immigrate thats something that can be worked with, and isn't so obviously in stark opposition to the views of the broader electorate. If it's Biden era tolerance of specious asylum claims to backdoor in the mass, unregulated, and indefinite resettlement of millions and millions of illegal aliens then it's not going to work. And the ball has been dropped so badly during the later era that the only path back to the former positions that has any credibility may well be making a bunch of concessions to anti immigration hardliners unrequited. It sucks but it's the predictable consequence of the party giving so much credence to out of touch activist organizations that it turns out don't even represent the views of the people they claim to and true believers in the immigration bar.
The snow sucks. Winter is my least favorite time of year by about 1000 miles. There's just no point in the entire season, not after Christmas and New Years pass. This week was already chaos with my wife and I having to juggle children with remote work through Thursday morning and now a little dusting overnight resulted in my older son's basketball practice canceled. The justification has gone from roads are bad to 'parking lots and sidewalks are unsafe' and my eyes could not roll harder. As a society we have to face up to the fact that people who can't walk around a little snow and/or ice in a parking lot without killing themselves are beyond our help.
Anyway while I'm stuck inside with a couple of feral animals I'll be trying to catch some wild card action. Hoping Jayden Daniels went down to TB with some of this ice in his veins.
Someone has to throw a grenade around here once in awhile!
My dad is a middle boomer which would have made him a little young for the early days of the Beatles but plenty old enough to (I assume) have heard a lot of them in their last few years as an act. I've never gotten the sense he has any nostalgia about them so there was none passed on. He's a huge Ramones fan though.
I do believe in the existence of something called creative energy that sometimes requires the interactions of particular people, and that can come as easily as it can go.
Now, taste is taste, and beyond a certain point you can't dispute it. Maybe my tune would change (no pun intended) if I gave some of their later catalog a revisit. I will say that by the time of Revolver you're getting close to territory inhabited by those, that for me, are the real godfathers of the genre, but who are less universally celebrated, like Tony Iommi.
Heh normally I wouldn't threadjack like this but I feel like this thread is sufficiently lacking in seriousness that it doesn't matter.
Without getting into all the pomo racial baggage around the mainstreaming of rock and roll, the fine line in art between theft, influence, and imitation, etc., my more nuanced take is that they reaped early adopter and consolidation dividends and influence wildly beyond the quality of the contributions themselves. Which isn't to totally deny any and all value in what they did. You can't talk about the history of rock or modern music generally without them.
But it does boggle my mind that in the year of our Lord 2024 there are people who get excited when some lame cover band starts into one of their hits, or is moved to turn up a Beatles song while driving down the highway.
You're reading too deeply into it. Everyone knows Lennon was under a deadline and threw it together after being on the Dick Cavett show with some simple redneck back from a trip to China.
Controversial take: the Beatles suck and the only one of them that kind of has talent is Paul. Double controversial take: the proof of the previous controversial take is the huge piles of suck they all produced in their solo careers.
We were very lucky that one of the doctors at the pediatricians office put a stop to it. Something to the effect of 'yea it's good if it works out but I was formula fed and I turned out to be a doctor sooo...' Sadly that doctor moved to a different practice so we don't see her anymore but I will be forever grateful for finding the perfect way to put a stop to the totally unnecessary guilt and panic my wife was experiencing.
I wrote a similar post here years ago after the shaming my poor wife went through from the breastfeeding uh... enthusiasts.
I do think it's critical at a certain point to let adults be adults. I myself do drink and in my younger days definitely drank more than I should. I've cut back on it of course, due to age and responsibilities, plus the need to set a halfway decent example for my boys. There's a bit of alcoholism in the family and the last thing I need is to fall into all of that mess.
That said it may shock the Surgeon General to learn that no less than 15 feet from me right now is a cabinet full of bourbon and scotch. Down in my basement by the TV is a fridge, and that fridge has *gasp* beer in it. And yet I do not find myself drinking any of it, despite the fact that none of the containers include a warning about cancer.
Yea the most notable thing about the Biden administration in retrospect is the near total absence of the chief executive in Americans' living rooms. It's impossible to succeed in the modern political environment while being so completely MIA. At this point it seems fair to assume he was not there because for much of his term he wasn't capable of it.
It's funny you mention this. Despite my doubts about various moves made by Biden then Harris the reason I kept thinking the Democrats would eke out a win was because I suspected that all policy and other issues aside normie Americans would at the last second balk at spending another 4 years watching The Trump Show. Not because they disagree with him or because they fear him but because of the endless self absorption and melodrama, and the constant hysterical media saturation of all things Trump all the time. What's funny after a few drinks on Saturday night often seems a lot less so Sunday morning with a headache.
My underbaked theory about 2020 is that half the reason he lost had nothing to do with the economy or covid, but that people were just tired of watching him on TV all day, every day. And especially in the early days of covid thats what it was. Everyone in their houses, all day, under constant bombardment by Trump with a brief respite for Joe Exotic.
To me personally that is the worst part of Trump and Trumpism. He is a giant vortex that sucks in the entire universe and through whom everything big and small must be parsed, processed, and shat out.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “No Fighting In the War Room: Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Livestream Edition”
I don't see any integrity in that. Not if they dont have the goods.
"
Yea in theory that all makes a kind of sense but in practice there is limited time and resources to hopefully get the GOP to think twice about what is clearly the most questionable nomination now that Gaetz has withdrawn. Maybe I'll be proven wrong this time but fifty bucks says whatever these allegations are will be so murky and difficult to substantiate that they won't change anyone's mind on anything. The fact that there has not been a prosecution indicates that whatever the story is a prosecutor didn't feel able to convict in the extremely deferential to authority environment of the criminal justice system.
Doesn't mean he didn't do something bad but does mean the chances of this avenue uncovering a smoking gun sufficient to flip a few GOP Senators are extraordinarily low. So you take the time to focus on things that might. Unless of course your goal is to be written up as really verbally sticking it to the patriarchy or MAGA or whoever in the papers, as opposed to maybe actually keeping some clown show out of an important position.
"
The guy seems like the epitome of a lot of what's wrong with the MAGA movement. I'm sympathetic to various criticisms of the administrative state and the permanent brass, including some that come from the right. What I'm not sympathetic to is 'What if we solved those problems by putting a drunken Fox News personality in charge?!'
Of course to me the emphasis by Democrats on the committee of these alleged sexual misdeeds illustrate their own fundamental lack of seriousness and failure to adapt. How many times do we need to trot out some he said she said innuendo that probably can't be proven one way or the other, as if that has ever once worked (to say nothing of backfiring)?
The real questions are about what qualifies a creature of conservative media and think tank activism to run such a massive and important institution, and whether he will be drinking on the job.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/13/2025”
Filed under ideas that seem less outlandish with each passing day.
"
The electorate also doesn’t want mass deportations, but we had a president just get elected promising just that.
My dude... what do you think the election was about? Sure there were other issues most notably inflation but the people spoke. I too strongly doubt this is going to go well but I don't know what makes you think people are worked up about deportations of people the law says are to be deported.
"
Obviously he means self deportation by the nation's DEI officers to the occupied people's freedom zone Justin Trudeau is establishing in the Yukon territory.
"
I don't think you really believe that because if you did you'd be out in the street and/or taking up arms not debating it on some website.
I would also think really hard about what you're saying about Fetterman. A succesful party that governs more in line with your preferences has a lot more Fettermans and probably even Manchins, because thats what it takes to build strong majorities. You also cannot be succesful in a democracy or even claim the mantle of defender of democratic principles if you're unwilling to ever meet the electorate where it is on completely legitimate questions of public policy, like immigration.
"
They will absolutely rue it.
I believe the slide is now the consensus 'correct' play, not (just) a matter of sportsmanship. Even in a game that is almost certainly won you don't want to give the ball back or have someone injured on meaningless plays.
"
The nice thing about democracy is that nothing is permanent. If the predicted disasters materialize then the answer is to go win an election and change the law to something better. As always the tides will turn and the Democrats will at some point have power again, probably sooner than anyone is predicting in the wake of a defeat.
We also just have to be realistic about the current environment. Ask yourself if we're better off with, I dont know, Fetterman in the Senate or with whatever Republican defeats him.
"
it all depends on which version of the Democrats we're talking about. If it's Obama era trade of increased security and enforcement for leniency for long settled non felons and/or broader legal pathways to immigrate thats something that can be worked with, and isn't so obviously in stark opposition to the views of the broader electorate. If it's Biden era tolerance of specious asylum claims to backdoor in the mass, unregulated, and indefinite resettlement of millions and millions of illegal aliens then it's not going to work. And the ball has been dropped so badly during the later era that the only path back to the former positions that has any credibility may well be making a bunch of concessions to anti immigration hardliners unrequited. It sucks but it's the predictable consequence of the party giving so much credence to out of touch activist organizations that it turns out don't even represent the views of the people they claim to and true believers in the immigration bar.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Swing of Things”
The snow sucks. Winter is my least favorite time of year by about 1000 miles. There's just no point in the entire season, not after Christmas and New Years pass. This week was already chaos with my wife and I having to juggle children with remote work through Thursday morning and now a little dusting overnight resulted in my older son's basketball practice canceled. The justification has gone from roads are bad to 'parking lots and sidewalks are unsafe' and my eyes could not roll harder. As a society we have to face up to the fact that people who can't walk around a little snow and/or ice in a parking lot without killing themselves are beyond our help.
Anyway while I'm stuck inside with a couple of feral animals I'll be trying to catch some wild card action. Hoping Jayden Daniels went down to TB with some of this ice in his veins.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/6/2025”
I appreciate it!
On “From NY Times: Popular Populations Potpourri”
Can you bullet and/or summarize the proposals? It is paywalled.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/6/2025”
Someone has to throw a grenade around here once in awhile!
My dad is a middle boomer which would have made him a little young for the early days of the Beatles but plenty old enough to (I assume) have heard a lot of them in their last few years as an act. I've never gotten the sense he has any nostalgia about them so there was none passed on. He's a huge Ramones fan though.
"
I do believe in the existence of something called creative energy that sometimes requires the interactions of particular people, and that can come as easily as it can go.
Now, taste is taste, and beyond a certain point you can't dispute it. Maybe my tune would change (no pun intended) if I gave some of their later catalog a revisit. I will say that by the time of Revolver you're getting close to territory inhabited by those, that for me, are the real godfathers of the genre, but who are less universally celebrated, like Tony Iommi.
"
Are you kidding me? The flip is obviously 'this sucks!'
"
Heh normally I wouldn't threadjack like this but I feel like this thread is sufficiently lacking in seriousness that it doesn't matter.
Without getting into all the pomo racial baggage around the mainstreaming of rock and roll, the fine line in art between theft, influence, and imitation, etc., my more nuanced take is that they reaped early adopter and consolidation dividends and influence wildly beyond the quality of the contributions themselves. Which isn't to totally deny any and all value in what they did. You can't talk about the history of rock or modern music generally without them.
But it does boggle my mind that in the year of our Lord 2024 there are people who get excited when some lame cover band starts into one of their hits, or is moved to turn up a Beatles song while driving down the highway.
"
Come at me!
"
You're reading too deeply into it. Everyone knows Lennon was under a deadline and threw it together after being on the Dick Cavett show with some simple redneck back from a trip to China.
"
Controversial take: the Beatles suck and the only one of them that kind of has talent is Paul. Double controversial take: the proof of the previous controversial take is the huge piles of suck they all produced in their solo careers.
On “A Society of Shame Attached to Everything”
We were very lucky that one of the doctors at the pediatricians office put a stop to it. Something to the effect of 'yea it's good if it works out but I was formula fed and I turned out to be a doctor sooo...' Sadly that doctor moved to a different practice so we don't see her anymore but I will be forever grateful for finding the perfect way to put a stop to the totally unnecessary guilt and panic my wife was experiencing.
"
Perfection is for heaven, on Earth we have beer. And man do we need it.
"
I wrote a similar post here years ago after the shaming my poor wife went through from the breastfeeding uh... enthusiasts.
I do think it's critical at a certain point to let adults be adults. I myself do drink and in my younger days definitely drank more than I should. I've cut back on it of course, due to age and responsibilities, plus the need to set a halfway decent example for my boys. There's a bit of alcoholism in the family and the last thing I need is to fall into all of that mess.
That said it may shock the Surgeon General to learn that no less than 15 feet from me right now is a cabinet full of bourbon and scotch. Down in my basement by the TV is a fridge, and that fridge has *gasp* beer in it. And yet I do not find myself drinking any of it, despite the fact that none of the containers include a warning about cancer.
On “Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago Press Conference: Watch It For Yourself”
Yea the most notable thing about the Biden administration in retrospect is the near total absence of the chief executive in Americans' living rooms. It's impossible to succeed in the modern political environment while being so completely MIA. At this point it seems fair to assume he was not there because for much of his term he wasn't capable of it.
"
It's funny you mention this. Despite my doubts about various moves made by Biden then Harris the reason I kept thinking the Democrats would eke out a win was because I suspected that all policy and other issues aside normie Americans would at the last second balk at spending another 4 years watching The Trump Show. Not because they disagree with him or because they fear him but because of the endless self absorption and melodrama, and the constant hysterical media saturation of all things Trump all the time. What's funny after a few drinks on Saturday night often seems a lot less so Sunday morning with a headache.
My underbaked theory about 2020 is that half the reason he lost had nothing to do with the economy or covid, but that people were just tired of watching him on TV all day, every day. And especially in the early days of covid thats what it was. Everyone in their houses, all day, under constant bombardment by Trump with a brief respite for Joe Exotic.
To me personally that is the worst part of Trump and Trumpism. He is a giant vortex that sucks in the entire universe and through whom everything big and small must be parsed, processed, and shat out.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.