Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

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37Comments

  4. 4.

    HeartlandLiberal

    I played tournament chess for a few years in the 70’s. Not that I was particularly good, but it was fun. Fisher in later life was an absolute nutcake. But his success on the world stage of chess did a lot to attract young players in the United States to the game. He really was one of the most brilliant players ever. It was sad his life devolved into what at times seemed like personal madness in the decades after his celebrity as a chess champion.

    Somebody has written some cool stylesheets for this site. When I started typing, there were only three comments posted, and the box surrounding each was barely as wide as the textarea I am typing this into. As I typed, the box surrounding each of remarks expanded rightward with each keystroke until the number of keystrokes triggered the horizontal float of the frame size for each comment to fill the central column until it almost touched the right sidebar.

    Is that like, a feature?? :)

  5. 5.

    Sensitive Pony Tailed Girly Man

    Fisher was a nutcake in later life? I seem to recall he was a nutcake when he was young. Likely a nutcake right out of the Oven.

    If you’re Jonesing for some Chess stay tuned this Sunday at 3 EST as Grand Master Bill Belichick dismantles the hapless Victim du Jour.

  6. 6.

    Punchy

    Would it kill you to add some thoughts, perspective, his age, and/or presumed reason for death, Mike?

    Otherwise, we ALL jump the queen!

  7. 7.

    Michael D.

    Fisher in later life was an absolute nutcake.

    Yup. He was an anti-Semitic prick.

    wish you were not a frontpage poster, Mike D. You add so little here.

    Ditto.

  8. 8.

    wilson

    Watching the PBS coverage of the Fischer/Spassky match made for a great summer of’72. Shelby Lyman and a world of kibitzers hung on every move. Chess took over my high-school cafeteria.

    And it seems to have been a one-off…

    Sorry that Bobby ended up resigning after what has to have been one of the worst life end games ever.

    I’ll call it a draw after all though. Few people have been able to captivate the world through their sheer ability to bring drama and creativity to a game of pure math and logic.

    That flash will continue to be missed.

  10. 10.

    Bob In Pacifica

    Our elderly Akita, Kirby, keeps pooping in the house overnight. Every morning, getting up before dawn is worrisome, walking with trepidation in the dark, hoping you don’t step on a turd. Last week he fell into the pool.

    Maybe soon, in whatever heaven Bobby Fisher now lives, he’ll get an Akita. And it will shit on his floor.

  11. 11.

    Gus

    Mike D., you take more shit than you deserve. I often disagree with you, but I like having a different perspective. A gay Canadian expat living in Atlanta is definitely different :)
    I remember Fischer-Spassky, but just barely. I do remember playing a lot of chess with my brother around that point. Am I right in remembering Fischer on the cover of Sports Illustrated?

  13. 13.

    PeterJ

    There are 64 squares on a chessboard, Fisher died at 64.

    Also, he lost the World Champion title when he was 32, half way through the chessboard and his life.

  14. 14.

    Bombadil

    There are 64 squares on a chessboard, Fisher died at 64.

    Also, he lost the World Champion title when he was 32, half way through the chessboard and his life.

    A comment worthy of a Michael D. post.

  16. 16.

    JSmith

    “Fisher was a nutcake in later life? I seem to recall he was a nutcake when he was young.’

    True… I recall an article published in the late 70s about the match organuzers’ having to virtually kidnap Fischer to get him on the plane to Reykjavik to play Spassky. He was as wierd as wierd could be – but his chess was beautiful.

  17. 17.

    Bob In Pacifica

    Larisa Alexandrovna, over at at-Largely, talks about chess and Bobby Fisher. I hear he had an IQ of 180. Raw intelligence and theoretical brilliance doesn’t free a mind from prejudice or the kinds of demons that Fisher raged with. He was an anti-Semite, but both of his parents were Jewish.

  18. 18.

    bob

    Bobby Fisher was ALWAYS a little touched. Great genius has frequently been accompanied by bi-polar disorder. Bobby was an incredible genius. And not just at the top end. He wrote the best beginner book on chess ever, in addition to the sublime play against the best in the world. That he couldn’t sustain that level of play is no disgrace. The anti-semitism, if I recall was anti-zionism, which isn’t the same thing. Fisher was Jewish himself, so if he was anti-semitic, he must have hated his mother. I dunno. All I know is he turned the chess world on it’s ear. RIP, Bobby.

  19. 19.

    ThymeZone

    Well, we can scan newsworthy obituaries and run a regular BJ feature every day, the Daily Dead Thread, to talk about famous people who died.

    Over time, the incredible interest in this topic will replace politics as the board theme, and John will get rich.

    Thanks, Michael D!

  20. 20.

    Xenos

    Fischer’s death is pretty notable, because he had a truly singular life. Such beauty and pathology is rare. He made a tremendous contribution to an ancient art, and had the spare time to be a really top-notch asshole, too.

    Now the best crazy celebrity we can manage is Britney. We live in an increasingly fallen world.

  23. 23.

    ThymeZone

    when I do it, there’s something wrong with it?

    Let me give you a little lesson in Internet repartee:

    Lesson One: No whining.. When your opponent knocks you down, get up and kick him in the junk.

    Class disimissed.

  25. 25.

    Mark S.

    The anti-semitism, if I recall was anti-zionism, which isn’t the same thing. Fisher was Jewish himself, so if he was anti-semitic, he must have hated his mother.

    No, he was a hardcore anti-Semite:

    Fischer, whose mother and probable biological father were both Jewish, made occasional hostile comments toward Jews from at least the early 1960s. From the 1980s, however, his hatred for Jews was a major theme of his public remarks. He denied the “Holocaust of the Jews,” announced his desire to make “expos[ing] the Jews for the criminals they are […] the murderers they are” his lifework, and argued that the United States is “a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards.”

    What is with great American chess players and insanity?

  26. 26.

    capelza

    What a crazy, brillant weird man.

    As for being on a political blog, remember this is the guy who was wanted by the US for playing in Yugoslavia when it was under embargo or something. His American passport was revoked, stuff went down in Japan and he was given asylum and citzenship in Iceland, where he died.

    So he IS political…

  27. 27.

    LiberalTarian

    I feel like someone punched me in the stomach.

    “Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess” was one of my best book-friends for a while, and “Chess” is still one of my favorite musical shows.

    I know he wasn’t the Buddha, he probably wasn’t even a nice person. But, he was *Bobby Fischer*. The world should mourn.

    I will be having a drink in his honor.

  28. 28.

    LiberalTarian

    I feel like someone punched me in the stomach.

    “Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess” was one of my best book-friends for a while, and “Chess” is still one of my favorite musical shows.

    He wasn’t the Buddha, he probably wasn’t even anywhere near a nice person. But, he was *Bobby fucking Fischer*. The world should mourn.

    I will be having a drink, or several, in his honor.

  30. 30.

    bob

    Well, Mark, frequently those who come to their senses about the existence of sky fairies to whom we owe the first yearling sheep of the season, go overboard in their dismissal of their former associates. It is further true that Fisher probably suffered from bi-polar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. As has been noted before, genius in one area does not guarantee genius or even sanity in others. Chess might not be football, but it does have a large following, and I bet more 50 year olds play chess than football. I know MY knees and back are a wreck from playing football in my teens. I don’t think I have carpal tunnel from the chess playing. I guess that last is for ThymeZone from the Ernie Holmes thread, but whatever.

  32. 32.

    Bombadil

    I know MY knees and back are a wreck from playing football in my teens. I don’t think I have carpal tunnel from the chess playing. I guess that last is for ThymeZone from the Ernie Holmes thread, but whatever.

    OK, I was pretty deeply involved in the Ernie Holmes thread, but I don’t remember anything about “carpal tunnel” in that thread. Hey, TZ, did I miss something?

  33. 33.

    Hypatia

    As for being on a political blog, remember this is the guy who was wanted by the US for playing in Yugoslavia when it was under embargo or something. His American passport was revoked, stuff went down in Japan and he was given asylum and citzenship in Iceland, where he died.

    So he IS political…

    The Fischer-Spassky match was a major Cold War cultural event.

    Rest in peace, Bobby, you big jerk. And thanks for that link, rilkefan.

  34. 34.

    bob

    no, bombadil, you didn’t miss anything. I was just comparing the relative popularity of chess and football and making a joke about the relative chance of injury.

  35. 35.

    ThymeZone

    but I don’t remember anything about “carpal tunnel” in that thread. Hey, TZ, did I miss something?

    No, I think it was just a smartypants remark.

    Hey, at 61, I don’t sweat the annoying things that just make me miserable all the damn time. I only worry about the big ones that might kill me. I cling to my health insurance like a dog holds onto a bone!

  37. 37.

    Birdzilla

    He was a arogant little snot i was just wanting for someone to kick his rotten backside to the moon

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