Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

This fight is for everything.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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Late Night Open Thread

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Just got home from a football viewing event. There were some pretty amazing games today, including an unbelievable finish in the Michigan – Michigan State matchup. Here´s the final score of the one I was most interested in: LSU 35 – Gators 28.

  
Not the outcome I wanted, but the Gators did well — they were in it until the final second against a tough opponent. Bring it, Jawja!

Open thread!

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57Comments

  1. 1.

    JCJ

    My football viewing today was going to the game between Purdue and Wisconsin. I knew the Boilers were bad, but yeesh. It took until the fourth quarter for them to have 100 yards of offense. Still, I took my nephew to the game. He is also a Purdue alum now living amongst the Cheeseheads.

  2. 2.

    srv

    I think it’s time this blog had a serious discussion about the great merits of that Bernie fellow.

    And oh, and what will that poor Sheriff in Oregon do – people are accusing the hero of faking his five gunshot wounds:

    However, Mintz was upset by conspiracy theorists who — as with many mass shootings in recent years — have claimed that the shooting in Roseburg, Ore., was faked.

    “Just because you don’t believe it’s real doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” Mintz wrote in a follow-up post Saturday. “Some of those that passed were my friends I loved them and your disrespect for them sickens me, instead of spewing your hate bring yourself to our community and see for yourself you don’t believe I am real come talk to me face to face.”

  5. 5.

    ruemara

    I want to go see a sport. Is football a good one to go see? I just want to go to see what it’s about. Not the sport, I know the basics, but the whole watching a game of thing being played in the real world. It’s on my bucket list: “see a sports game of some sort; enjoy it”.

    Just up working on call sheets. Promised I would take a rest, but I can’t stop thinking about things that need doing.

  6. 6.

    J R in WV

    Watched the first 60% of the WVU – Baylor game in Waco. They looked about at parity for the first couple of drives, but then the Baylor O-line started to overcome the WVU D-line, and vice versa.

    I think WVU may have done better than most of the other teams that lost to Baylor, but that’s small beer indeed.

    Then I watched a little of the Penn State / OSU game, which also started out looking like the two teams were about on a par. The refs seemed to make a difference, I don’t know the final yet, OK , now I see that PSU lost big.

    Doesn’t make The OSU number one in my book. Baylor, if they meet in post-season play, will show them a different style of getting beaten badly.

    The computer ranking still has WVU in the top ten… of course garbage in, garbage out. They have played some very good teams, and lost one in OT…

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    @ruemara: I like baseball and football, but I think football is the most fun to watch as a spectator, and college games are more fun to attend than NFL games, IMO. The energy level is just much higher, in my experience, and I’ve been to tons of games for many different teams.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Okay, the guy SNL got to do Bernie Sanders is cracking me up

    edited to not spoil the West Coast

  9. 9.

    redshirt

    @efgoldman: One of the O lineman for the Ravens is a super smart mathematician. So it happens – but the odds are stacked against. Though I’m sure every young man who passes through college even for a year or two is made better for it.

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @ruemara:

    I was going to make the same suggestion as Betty — a college game would be more fun than a pro game. Also, see if you can get a friend who understands but isn’t obsessed with football to go with you. My BFF went to an all-girls high school and played powder puff football, so she was able to explain everything to me without being condescending.

    I’m more of a baseball fan myself — I like the hanging out in the stands relaxation of it. That would be better as a pro game — SF has a very nice ballpark.

  13. 13.

    ruemara

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): Water polo has the lithe young men in tiny panties though. No one ever takes my suggestions regarding what camera angles to shoot.

    kidding aside, maybe I’ll ask some of the males around me if they want to go see a game. It’s going to be like an expedition, but less walking. Very exciting.

  14. 14.

    J R in WV

    @ruemara:

    A big game, in a big stadium, with a big crowd, like the Sugar Bowl, or the Fiesta Bowl, or Michigan-Michigan State, is much like a successful rock and roll show, like the Rolling Stones, or Pink Floyd. There are a lot of emotions generated by the interaction between the players and the crowd.

    Same for a meaningful Baseball game, late in the season, with a big crowd involved with the game. Emotions are conjured up, and flow freely. It is an amazing experience.

    My dad used to invite the whole family to WVU bowl games. Even when they lost, it was an interesting experience. When they won, it was a huge emotional high. After becoming a fan, seeing the team win a big game is an emotional event, tied to my father, going together to games for 40 years or so.

    He took us to games at WVU before I knew what football really was. Now that he’s dead, when I saw WVU beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl a few years ago by 70-not many, with records falling every series the Mountaineers played, was a huge rush. I felt how proud Dad would have been of his team, and it felt really good.

    So I highly recommend doing it. But get good seats, and go to a game where you can care about the playing on the field, with friends you can share the experience with.

    There’s really nothing like it – stadium rock shows come the closest. I saw Pink Floyd with friends in Rupp Arena in Lexington KY, and about a year later with friends at The OSU stadium in Columbus. Those shows were stupendious, the settings were otherworldly. The sound was perfectly controlled, everyone could hear every note, whether a backup singer wailing or a sax screaming, or a tiny percussionist tinkling a tiny set of bells.

    Highly recommended mass experiences. I nearly prefer the stadium rock shows, except for my connection with WVU football from my parents and wife.

  16. 16.

    trollhattan

    @J R in WV:
    I attended one Rose Bowl and have to say, being in that historic stadium with 100k fans is a sight and experience to behold.

    And UW beat Michigan, so the world was a better place for the day.

  17. 17.

    Bruuuuce

    @ruemara: While I am more of a baseball fan than a football fan, I think the other folks suggesting a football game might be right; it’s easier to watch as a total neophyte. Then again, basketball is a fairly easy sport to understand and watch. If climate is an issue, baseball is played in warm weather (mostly), football in cooler weather (mostly), and basketball indoors.

    Mnemosyne is correct about going with a friend familiar with the game. Something always needs explaining at some point in the game. I do disagree on one point: minor league baseball can be the best entertainment in town, because the good seats are more often and more cheaply available, and in some ways they don’t take themselves quite as seriously as the major leagues.

    Whatever you choose, have fun!

  22. 22.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @ruemara:

    I have friends who absolutely hate sports, but get all jazzed up if someone offers tickets to a baseball game. When it comes to offers for tickets to other sports, it’s, “No thanks, keep your boring sportsball tickets.”

  24. 24.

    SoupCatcher

    @trollhattan: Agreed about the Rose Bowl. It’s a singular experience.

    I saw Stanford play Wisconsin twice – separated by thirteen years – and those remain my two favorite sporting events, even if we did lose the first one (shakes fist at Ron Dayne).

  25. 25.

    seaboogie

    Whew! Thank FSM for an open thread. That last one got pretty ugly, and RtR is officially out of here, I am pretty sure – after a giant leap over the line of what anyone in the civilized world deems reasonable.

    If you are bored, though – mclaren and Thoughtful Today are bonding like crazy in trollish fashion downthread.

    Football – aka big men in tight pants bashing into one another and throwing an ovoid ball – seems mighty civilized after that hot mess.

  27. 27.

    redshirt

    Golf is often incredibly beautiful due to landscaping and such. I enjoy just walking these works of art. And losing fucktons of balls.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    @seaboogie:
    I’m still a little dazed after that bit of business with Thoughtful Today. I wonder what kind of troll Voltron we will see being formed by TT and mclaren.

  32. 32.

    seaboogie

    @Amir Khalid: What people get up to in their own heads (and we can see it here in some comment threads) is kind of astonishing, isn’t it?

    I’ve fallen prey to such obsessive thought patterns in my life too in a personal sphere, so I can empathize. But I’ve sought therapy and my mind is my friend now.

    So while it is better now for me to have perspective as I veiw an obsessive thought spiral, it’s kind of concerning to watch it happen, and see the twists and turns that the “sure” logic takes. Sorry that you had to be a target – and you handled it with your characteristic grace. And I’m pretty sure that you treat your slaves well – yes?

  36. 36.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Mandarin Chinese isn’t the hardest language, except for memorizing the characters. The grammar rules are really simple. Russian on the other hand…

  37. 37.

    seaboogie

    @Amir Khalid: Thank you. I wasn’t sure I should write that, given the ones hereabouts, but I figure they are busy in a troll love-fest downstairs, so it was okay to get a bit silly. Obsessive is as obsessive does…

  40. 40.

    Elizabelle

    @Amir Khalid: Rolling Stones ref, for the overnight win.

    My sister and I were browsing a magazine rack this afternoon. Cover of Rolling Stone: Keith Richards. Cover of Guitar World (?): Ron Wood. Cover of another music mag: David Gilmour. …

  42. 42.

    seaboogie

    @Elizabelle: @Amir Khalid: Oh hell – dang it both of you – how am I going to get some sleep? Playing the Stones on youtube through my headphones and remembering…

    My late hubby was an art dept. crew member on the first three seasons of X-Files in Vancouver. Those folks worked themselves to the bone, and a bunch of the art dept. members got skybox tickets to the Stones concert at BC place. Loads of money that they earned with OT and no time to spend it because they just worked and slept (little). So ordering seafood platters in the skybox, with all these middle-aged dudes playing air-guitar while the Stones performed just downstairs. Perfect concert, because
    a) The Stones
    b) Above the crowd ( I don’t like crowds)
    c) It was Keith’s birthday, and we sang Happy Birthday to him

    Great memory – thank you Amir and Elizabelle!

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @seaboogie:

    We recently saw a chunk of a stand-up special with Craig Ferguson where he tells the apparently true story of working on a script with Mick Jagger and the various adventures therein. If I figure out what it was called, I’ll post it.

  45. 45.

    seaboogie

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): Please do! What I remember about the Stones concert is that it was so basic – some fly stages left and right for Mick to strut, but just the quintessential rock band doing their thing without a lot of flash…

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    Worked with a couple of fellas that had just immigrated from the mother country (St Pete) and who spoke very, very, very little English. Four hrs in a car once with the two of them meant I got to listen to a lot of Russian. Learn much? Not so much, but some, all of which I’ve forgotten now as that was 20 yrs ago. But it is an interesting language, one I think is much easier to learn to read than to speak. Much easier than learning to speak Cantonese, which I also tried to learn once. I think I maybe suck at languages. Hell I’ve been speaking this one for decades and still manage to mangle it occasionally.

  49. 49.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Ruckus: I took Russian my last quarter of undergrad, so I got a taste. The summer in between my 1st and 2nd year of grad school I took an accelerated 1 year equivalent of Mandarin Chinese. Heh, I still find it difficult to spell in my native tongue.

  50. 50.

    Duke of Clay

    @Betty Cracker: I thought the Gators did pretty well playing at LSU in our first game without Grier. I’m expecting to see these teams in the SEC Championship game, which Florida will win.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    @seaboogie: Great story. Let’s all cross fingers we see Keif if he goes out on solo tour in support of the new album. Plus, he says the Stones will record again soon.

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): Did see that Craig Ferguson monologue re Mick Jagger and the scriptwriting. It was hilarious. You know Keith snickered and might have it on his iPhone.

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    @ Betty Cracker: Love the gator illustration.

    One of my faves, though, is still the kids in cockroach costumes. That would be worth seeing again. (Can be a BCracker greatest hits; maybe it already is; still haven’t gone through the greatest hits stuff from a week or two ago…)

    Sipping some warm milk with vanilla and hoping to catch a little sleep again. Went out stargazing; clear cold sky and there’s — what, a planet? — out there bright and low. Bright white and big.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    Betty, I love your indignant gator! You are so talented.

    I have this great picture up in my bathroom. A little girl, maybe 8 or 9 years old, in that same indignant pose. She has clearly just arrived at the beach. She is holding her bicycle with one hand, has her beach towel rolled up and tucked under the other arm, and she has her cute little dog on a leash, with the leash looped through the arm with the towel.

    She is standing there, indignant, right next to a sign that says: No Dogs, No Bicycles, No Swimming.

    Sometimes life just feels like that.

  57. 57.

    dp

    Betty, your Gators did well. They made a great decision in hiring McElwain. As an LSU fan, I much prefer Florida coaches like Zook and Muschamp!

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