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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

“woke” is the new caravan.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

People are weird.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The revolution will be supervised.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

I was promised a recession.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / College Football Open Thread

College Football Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  November 21, 201512:15 pm| 105 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Sports

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football green

Watching the Gators take on the mighty Burrowing Owls of FAU and cleaning my house in anticipation of the Thanksgiving hordes. What are y’all up to this rainy Saturday?

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Previous Post: « Saturday Morning Open Thread: Cri de Coeur
Next Post: Open Thread: “Establishment” GOP Has A Cunning Plan… »

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    November 21, 2015 at 12:17 pm

    Cross country skiing in Jotunheimen National Park. You know, the usual.

  2. 2.

    chromeagnomen

    November 21, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    allow me to join the gang in saying how much access to this site now sucks. this is the worst in the dozen or more years i have been reading this site daily.

  3. 3.

    donnah

    November 21, 2015 at 12:21 pm

    Ugh, housecleaning, too. I travel a lot during the year and finish up about ten days before Thanksgiving. Hosting fourteen guests this year, so now I am making up for missing weekly cleaning. It’s not pretty.

  4. 4.

    Bostondreams

    November 21, 2015 at 12:25 pm

    Drinking with friends this afternoon, playing Fallout 4, and currently wondering if the Gators know how to move the ball forward. Damn you Will Grier.

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    November 21, 2015 at 12:29 pm

    Waiting for a two day coldfront to come through. Supposed to be low 40’s tonight and 38 on Sunday night.
    It’s really crushing my head at this point.

  6. 6.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 12:31 pm

    got a nasty scratch on my thumb from the cat. Not sure why she lashed out at me. I think pent up energy.

    I bled profusely. Bandaid now. I spoke harshly to her and now she’s watching me warily. Told her “As good as I been to you,” etc.

  7. 7.

    Phylllis

    November 21, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    Watching the Gamecocks. Because I am a glutton for punishment. Knocked out T-day grocery shopping this morning; will probably save housework for Wednesday when I’m off & hubs is at work.

  8. 8.

    gene108

    November 21, 2015 at 12:35 pm

    @chromeagnomen:

    I like the redesign.

    **************************************

    House cleaning. Grocery shopping. Cooking. Laundry.

    Wishing someone would invent self cleaning dishes, and self-folding clothes.

  9. 9.

    Corner Stone

    November 21, 2015 at 12:36 pm

    @Germy: I suggest you amputate asap. Cat scratch fever is the leading cause of death of caucasians over 40 who have cats and get scratched by them leading to their death.

  10. 10.

    Zinsky

    November 21, 2015 at 12:37 pm

    @BGinCHI: Nice! I’ll bet it is a bit chilly there. It was 25 Farenheit this morning here in Minnesota and you are at even higher latitudes. Bundle up!

  11. 11.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 12:37 pm

    @Corner Stone: I was wondering why everything is going dim here.

  12. 12.

    Zippity

    November 21, 2015 at 12:38 pm

    Watching my Hawkeyes hopefully go to 11-0 against Purdue. Off to a good start, 14-0 at the end of the first, and getting ready to score again. Go Hawks!

  13. 13.

    muddy

    November 21, 2015 at 12:39 pm

    @Corner Stone: Leading to whose death, the cat or the peep?

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    November 21, 2015 at 12:40 pm

    @Germy:
    It was nice knowing you.

  15. 15.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 12:41 pm

    @muddy: The cat will live. She’s fine, on her pillow grooming herself. But I suspect I will succumb any moment now to the fever, per Corner Stone’s statistics.

  16. 16.

    Scout211

    November 21, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    @Zippity:

    Go Hawkeyes!

    My senior year at Iowa was the worst season record in history– 0-11

    So I am enjoying this run right now.

  17. 17.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    @Amir Khalid: And you.

    Please see that my grave is kept clean.

    And make sure the cat is fed. She likes chicken and turkey paté. Two cans a day.

  18. 18.

    Amir Khalid

    November 21, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    Very generous of Manchester City to score a goal on Liverpool’s behalf. My team from The Beatles’ home town now lead.

  19. 19.

    khead

    November 21, 2015 at 12:46 pm

    Parked on the couch for what I hope will be a great weekend of football. Also taking care of the wife. She started barfing around dinner time last night and is now in bed with a fever.

  20. 20.

    Corner Stone

    November 21, 2015 at 12:46 pm

    @muddy: Could be both. From the nym I can only conclude that Germy lives an unclean lifestyle. The cat may have got Germy but in so doing picked up a double-reverse infection after she groomed the germy ridden paw. The ultimate case of “both sides do it”.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    November 21, 2015 at 12:46 pm

    @chromeagnomen: FFS — I tried to leave a reply that said I heard there will be server work this afternoon that will hopefully improve the shitty access. But of course the fucking server decided to shit the bed when I attempted to post it.

  22. 22.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 12:52 pm

    I was making a comment when the site pooped the bed. As soon as I hit “Post Comment” the thing went blank. I remember saying “I broke balloon-juice!”

    Maybe that’s why the cat scratched me.

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    November 21, 2015 at 12:53 pm

    @efgoldman: The Bulls look like they’re for real…unlike the gottdamn Gators at the moment. No way they should be a top 10 team. Bammer is going to beat us like a rented mule in the SEC Championship game. But if we can beat FSU next week, my season will be complete.

  24. 24.

    Another Holocene Human

    November 21, 2015 at 12:55 pm

    Why is there even a “Florida Atlantic University” and why is UF playing them?

    And who told all these people to flood into town yesterday? Traffic was insane.

    I hope the Gators win because god only knows what these people will do if they lose.

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    November 21, 2015 at 12:55 pm

    And Liverpool open up a two-goal lead on City!

  26. 26.

    scav

    November 21, 2015 at 12:56 pm

    @BGinCHI: Oh you lucky man. Keep those candles lit and enjoy the season. (also, Minneapolis 25°F, Oslo 28°F.)

  27. 27.

    benw

    November 21, 2015 at 12:58 pm

    Let’s go, Jackets!

  28. 28.

    Zippity

    November 21, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    @Scout211: I grew up in IC and remember all those horrible seasons when we were thankful for one or two wins.

  29. 29.

    Luthe

    November 21, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    Plenty of people are making the requests. GoFundMe plays host to about 3,300 new personal campaigns (as the company refers to them) each day. The most common category is medical expenses, followed by memorials and funerals, general emergencies and education costs.

    –In Defense of the Personal Crowdfunding Campaign

    A whole article talking about people putting pleas for money on the Internet and not one word about how shameful it is that there are Americans who have to beg strangers for money to cover medical care and educational costs. “The paper of record,” my ass.

  30. 30.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:07 pm

    @Luthe:

    not one word about how shameful it is that there are Americans who have to beg

    I see the same thing on my TV local news. They’ll do breathlessly sentimental stories on some barbecue or raffle held to cover medical costs for a child with cancer, and play up the story as heartwarming human interest, rather than questioning the insanity of a system that requires it.

  31. 31.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:08 pm

    @Betty Cracker: My LSU Tigers did a number on you and then well Bama beat us like a rented mule. Not sure you will have a lot of fun with that game.

    BTW: The only time I ever pull for the Gartors is when you play FSU.

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    November 21, 2015 at 1:09 pm

    Man City 0-3 Liverpool! I am a happy football fan today.

  33. 33.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:12 pm

    @Germy: Amen. It is often hard for me to go into a convenience store and there not be a jar asking for money to cover the medical expenses of a person. Way more often than not children. I think what you just said, why is nobody questioning this!

  34. 34.

    Mike J

    November 21, 2015 at 1:15 pm

    Last season my secondary team was Leicester City. Love to see the scrappy little team that gets promoted into the bigs do well. They now stand atop the Premier League, if Liverpool can hold off Man City. Never bet on a team owned by the Fenway Sports Group to not collapse though.

  35. 35.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:16 pm

    @Tommy: Maybe if people traveled more to other countries, or spoke more to people from other countries (like the UK and Canada, etc.?) and learned about their health systems. If my TV news ran an informational segment on “How Other Countries Do It” maybe that would be educational, but it won’t happen.

    Isn’t that the subject of Michael Moore’s new documentary? But how many people are going to see it, compared to the latest Marvel superhero saga?

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    November 21, 2015 at 1:20 pm

    I’m preparing to leave town for Thanksgiving week. I think Mr. Jake has noticed something is up; he’s trying to sleep in the open suitcase.

  37. 37.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:22 pm

    @Germy: Yes that would clearly help. But we have a system here that could work for us all. My father worked for the military for 30+ years. Civil Service. His health care and that of my mom is provided by the government. Mom was in the ICU a few years ago for a month. Guess what their bill was, zero dollars. They didn’t pay a single penny.

    I often note this to them.

    I know this is one of the reasons my former Republican parents are now voting with us.

  38. 38.

    Amir Khalid

    November 21, 2015 at 1:22 pm

    @Mike J:
    Who would have expected to see Leicester City at the top of the table? They’re doing great, consistently playing above their level. Ranieri’s doing a magnificent job.

  39. 39.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:24 pm

    @efgoldman: As soon as I typed it I realized how silly it was.

  40. 40.

    Mike in NC

    November 21, 2015 at 1:24 pm

    Read a letter to the editor of the local rag where some old folks complained that political correctness prevents them from say “Merry Christmas” to one another. Must have been hidden in one of the tyrant Obama’s executive orders. I wrote back that Bill O’Reilly is a cretin and FOX News a cancer on society, so I don’t expect them to print that.

  41. 41.

    BGinCHI

    November 21, 2015 at 1:24 pm

    @Zinsky: Single digits. Very clear though and no wind. Delightful.

    Looks like winter is hitting the Midwest finally.

  42. 42.

    BGinCHI

    November 21, 2015 at 1:26 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Me too. If Barca also wins El Classico it will be a great day.

  43. 43.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    @BGinCHI: Clearly I think climate change is a reality. I also know climate is not weather. But hard to explain this is the first day this year I might have to put on a coat to go outside. 60s and 70s into late November. That is kind of unusual here in Illinois.

  44. 44.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    November 21, 2015 at 1:34 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I expect this afternoon’s server work will improve access significantly, if not exponentially. All my design issues have been resolved with MBBJ and EBBJ, and all other drama has been resolved.

    I do hope that accessibility is adjusted, however. For all the tiresome bitching we (and I was loudly out front on that) we did about design choices, since (to my knowledge) none of us who bitched have accessibility issues. So I do hope serious design attention is now given to those issues. It was a head smack of perspective to read how difficult the new design is for people using screen readers. I was embarrassed to have been so strident about the aesthetics of readibility.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    November 21, 2015 at 1:35 pm

    @Tommy: In retrospect, the fact that the Gators were in the LSU game until the last minute was the first sign that this year’s Tigers are more paper than rawwrr.

    I generally pull for LSU unless they’re playing the Gators because I have some good friends who went there and I like that madman Les Miles. I can’t believe there’s talk of firing him. Stupidity squared.

  46. 46.

    Mwangangi

    November 21, 2015 at 1:38 pm

    @Betty Cracker

    I couldn’t help but think of you [which likely means you’ve been sent this link 148 times].

    Link here

  47. 47.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    November 21, 2015 at 1:39 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): ETA that I also suspect things could get a bit, um, weird, during the period of server work, which I recall is expected to begin shortly. My resident subject matter authority may be exaggerating, however, by way of insulation from loud noises I might make.

  48. 48.

    dr. luba

    November 21, 2015 at 1:40 pm

    Today is the day (Saturday before Thanksgiving) I go to Eastern Market to buy my roping and wreaths and hang them: wreaths on house and gates, roping on my garage and 200 feet of fence. And lights. Instead we are having a blizzard, after a week of gorgeous 60 degree weather.

    If the market wasn’t Saturday only, and roping a highly seasonal item, I would have done it sooner. Oh, well, I’ve got boots and Yaktrax –symphony tonight.

    Also, too–love the site redesign, except for how close together the quoted text is in the posts (line spacing, appears to be 1.0 or less; the rest seems to be 1.2 and is so much nicer). Too crowded looking and hard to read.

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    November 21, 2015 at 1:42 pm

    @Germy: “We’re Uhmerricans, dammit. Free Market rulz. If you ain’t got money or get healed by the baby Jebus, you deserve whatever you get.”

    Local tv news doesn’t have the budget to travel to foreign countries to report on their health care systems. And they’re lazy. But mainly people are stuck in believing whatever they want about health care systems, and cannot imagine that “America is Number 1” could learn anything from anybody.

    There have been numerous newspaper stories about health care in Canada, France, etc. And with the Internets, info is just a finger tap away, but somehow even people who should know better think that if info is not spoonfed to you by the media, then it doesn’t count.

    True story. I have a friend who is still resentful that she didn’t get a better education, even though we went to the same junior high and high school. But she didn’t ask about AP classes, didn’t challenge her teachers more, and never took time to go to the library unless specifically assigned. Her parents were not super encouraging, and although she made up for her perceived deficits once she went to college, she has never entirely shaken the idea that someone was supposed to hold her hand and make sure she got the education she deserved.

    Her spiritual cousins are the people who say, “I don’t have time to search the Internets, but can someone tell me about health care. And I would appreciate it if you can reinforce my deeply held opinions and prejudices. Because I have a constitutional right to ignorance and bias.”

  50. 50.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:52 pm

    Headline:
    MotherJones: The Leader of the Benghazi Witch Hunt Is Taking on Refugees – Trey Gowdy is afraid Obama’s policy will create more widows and orphans in the United States.

  51. 51.

    WereBear

    November 21, 2015 at 1:52 pm

    Trying to catch up on 3,784 emails. I’m at 1,801, so you can see I have been toiling diligently.

  52. 52.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:54 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Yeah fire Les is just shit all stupid. We are so blessed with a team that has been good pretty much every year the last 15+ years. That wasn’t always the case.

    When I was at LSU in the early 90s we had a senior class that had never had a winning season. I think your Flordia team beat us like 67-3 at home. We were not very good.

  53. 53.

    shell

    November 21, 2015 at 1:55 pm

    For all of you facing cleaning-pocalypse, would it be worth the scratch hiring a one-time cleaning service?
    *************

    Looks like perfect football weather today- 55 degrees crisp, china-blue skies. This autumn has been almost picture postcard perfect. Hope we don’t have to pay for it with a crappy winter.

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    November 21, 2015 at 1:55 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Florida seems more intent on beating themselves than beating the other guys.

  55. 55.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    @WereBear: This cat exercise wheel is getting mixed reviews. Hard to assemble, wobbles, kitty won’t go near it.

    @efgoldman: I wonder if Vitter got a boost from the refugee issue? Isn’t the election today?

  56. 56.

    Dolly Llama

    November 21, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    Betty, what’s up witcha Gators?

  57. 57.

    Germy

    November 21, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    @Corner Stone: Kliban: “Hey Europe, eat my Florida!”

  58. 58.

    max

    November 21, 2015 at 2:00 pm

    @Corner Stone: I suggest you amputate asap. Cat scratch fever is the leading cause of death of caucasians over 40 who have cats and get scratched by them leading to their death.

    Then why isn’t Ted Nugent dead yet?

    max
    [‘Will no kitty rid me of this damned guitar player?’]

  59. 59.

    Corner Stone

    November 21, 2015 at 2:00 pm

    Congressman: Syrian Refugees Are Just Looking For A ‘Paid Vacation’
    “We’re paying them about $15,000 a year in free health care, free food, free shelter, free clothing, free transportation,” Brooks said. “That answers very quickly why so many of them want to come to the United States of America.”
    “We’re paying them to come here,” the Alabama congressman concluded. “It’s a paid vacation!”

  60. 60.

    PurpleGirl

    November 21, 2015 at 2:01 pm

    @Roger Moore: Have a good trip. I was recently out of town for several days — visiting my kitten rescuer friend. I seriously wanted to bring home one of the older kitties who had taken to sleeping with me. Selene would head bonk me.

  61. 61.

    Corner Stone

    November 21, 2015 at 2:03 pm

    Screw you guys, it’s Montana v Montana St all the way for me!

  62. 62.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 2:06 pm

    @Brachiator: On one hand I want to agree with you but I can’t.

    My parents watch CNN for about two hours a day. Watch the evening news, read two newspapers and at least one weekly magazine.

    They are in their late 70s and only recently, by my politely pushing, realized voting Republican wasn’t such a good idea.

    I think most Americans are very low information voters. I don’t think my parents are and they were still, for lack of a better word, “confused.”

  63. 63.

    Brachiator

    November 21, 2015 at 2:09 pm

    @Tommy: It’s rainy and cold in places? it may be in the 80s today in Southern California. But I hear El Nino is building, and preparing a little something special for us this winter. Don’t know if there are also any climate change related aspects, or just the cyclical nature of how The Kid does his thing.

  64. 64.

    Major Major Major Major

    November 21, 2015 at 2:10 pm

    Just hanging out in Tel Aviv. Sure is quiet tonight, wonder why ;)

  65. 65.

    Amir Khalid

    November 21, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    @max:
    I’ve heard the Nooge’s music. I wouldn’t call him a guitar player. (I wouldn’t call him a singer or a songwriter either, for that matter.)

  66. 66.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    @Brachiator: As I said climate is not weather. Just somewhat strange it is this warm.

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    November 21, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    Decision made that, as it ill be T-Day dinner for a small crowd consisting of me, myself and I, that shall be roasting a duck a la orange* this year instead of wrestling with Big Bird.

    *well, a shortcut non-canon version which I actually prefer.

    And a boatload of the known galaxy’s best homemade cranberry sauce (only time of year that fresh cranberries are ever seen on the shelves here).

    Annual note: For those with the extra funds available, try opting for buying a frozen kosher turkey in place of the over-injected mass processed birds. Usually pre-brined too, so saves time in that department. Not only (experience over many years has shown) extremely forgiving of cooking faux pas, but the texture and savoriness of the meat is a revelation as to how turkey should taste.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    November 21, 2015 at 2:14 pm

    Man City1-4 Liverpool. Unless City find four goals in what’s left of the 90 plus injury time, they are not regaining the Premiership lead.

  69. 69.

    JPL

    November 21, 2015 at 2:19 pm

    Every fall for decades, I’ve raked leafs. For those who deny climate change, get your butt outside and recognize, that the summer and fall seasons are longer.
    That is all.

  70. 70.

    WereBear

    November 21, 2015 at 2:19 pm

    @efgoldman: Paid vacation in a “homeland destroyed and fleeing with underwear” kind of way. Yeah.

  71. 71.

    JPL

    November 21, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    @NotMax: I’m getting a bird from the farmer and will brine it.

  72. 72.

    JPL

    November 21, 2015 at 2:22 pm

    @efgoldman: When I saw that earlier, evil bastards, was not the expression I used. You’re polite.

  73. 73.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 2:23 pm

    @efgoldman: They are that and more.

    I can track my family back to the 1500s. We always did one thing, we fought the British. Not sure exactly why my family came to the United States in the 1870s from Scotland, but pretty sure it was partly because of a hatred of the Brits. This was a new start. I want to swing the doors wide for any immigrant that wants to come here.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    November 21, 2015 at 2:23 pm

    @efgoldman

    And he somehow neglected to mention the added cost of the free Obamaphones.

    Maybe the needle skipped a groove on his Learn To Speak Bigot record set.

    /snark

  75. 75.

    PurpleGirl

    November 21, 2015 at 2:24 pm

    @Germy: Thanks for the link about the cat running ring. My rescuer friend has been thinking about getting one for her shelter. (She hasn’t yet because of its cost and other more pressing needs, like vet bills for the kitties care.)

  76. 76.

    max

    November 21, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I’ve heard the Nooge’s music. I wouldn’t call him a guitar player. (I wouldn’t call him a singer or a songwriter either, for that matter.)

    My friend, you are absolutely correct. Let me amend my sentiments.

    max
    [‘Will no kitty rid me of this fucking lousy guitar player?’]

  77. 77.

    Luthe

    November 21, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    @efgoldman: Forget TV news. The Dems and their supporters need to run ads educating people.

    Stuff like “In Sweden, every worker gets paid sick days so they don’t spread germs to customers [shot of food service worker sneezing while preparing food]. Companies shouldn’t punish workers who want to keep customers safe.”

    “In England, new parents get [x] weeks of paid time off to spend with their child [soft focus shot of adorable nuclear family]. American families shouldn’t have to choose between paying the mortgage and bonding with their baby.”

    “In Switzerland, the government prevents drug companies from overcharging for life-saving medicine [picture of Martin Shekli’s smug face and graph of drug prices skyrocketing. Why won’t Congress let Medicare do the same?”

    Plus a few ACA positive spots:

    “[Nice white lady sitting at her kitchen table] Dan’s employer offered health insurance through the company. But it was expensive and didn’t cover our family’s needs. [Kids run through kitchen. One has an arm in a cast] So I went on healthcare.gov (or local equivalent) and found a better (and/or cheaper) plan.”

    This is all wishful thinking, of course. No Dem would actually have the guts to run these sorts of ads.

  78. 78.

    JCJ

    November 21, 2015 at 2:29 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    Congratulations on Liverpool”s big win!

  79. 79.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 2:29 pm

    @PurpleGirl: Good luck with that :). I get my cat expensive toys and she just laughs at me that I’d spent that money.

  80. 80.

    NotMax

    November 21, 2015 at 2:31 pm

    @Amir Khalid – @max

    Missed a bet in not forming a band called The Peter Principles.

  81. 81.

    Brachiator

    November 21, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    @Tommy:

    My parents watch CNN for about two hours a day. Watch the evening news, read two newspapers and at least one weekly magazine.

    Cable news viewership is low and skews old. And your parent don’t seem “confused,” but seem to have been typically guided by the inertia of their biases and conventional wisdom. Kinda like most people.

    Most people in the office I do major business with are in their 30s and younger. Only one person subscribes to a newspaper, the LA Times. Everyone else gets info from the Internets, primarily entertainment and sports news, sometimes interrupted by a breaking news headline. I hear younger tech savvy people insist that they don’t need to read or even watch tv news, but depend on following their friends and hip people on twitter and relying on Facebook. This increasingly seems to be the new Information Age.

    I think most Americans are very low information voters.

    I don’t think there is any such thing as a low information voter. Even the most intense political junkie, like you and me, often are misinformed or uninformed and as reluctant to look beyond their own biases as supposedly “low information voters.” And I think this term was often used by Rush Limbaugh and other right wing buttholes, which underscores how useless it is.

  82. 82.

    Tommy

    November 21, 2015 at 2:37 pm

    @Brachiator: Your last point is telling. I often note I learn something new every day. I think I know this or that but I don’t. This used to upset me, but now not so much. I like to learn.

  83. 83.

    Brachiator

    November 21, 2015 at 2:38 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    “We’re paying them to come here,” the Alabama congressman concluded. “It’s a paid vacation!”

    Barbara Bush on Hurricane Katrina refugees: “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.”

    These people just can’t help themselves.

  84. 84.

    PurpleGirl

    November 21, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    @Tommy: Last weekend there was a housewarming party for Cassie and her new house. There was a lot of packing paper, which we saved cause cats love playing with paper and boxes. (She has a lot of other boxes, we didn’t save the boxes.) I had crocheted some toy thingys. We’ll see how the kitties and cats like them over time.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    November 21, 2015 at 2:40 pm

    @Brachiator

    Nouveau bitch.

  86. 86.

    gene108

    November 21, 2015 at 2:43 pm

    @Germy:

    I see the same thing on my TV local news. They’ll do breathlessly sentimental stories on some barbecue or raffle held to cover medical costs for a child with cancer, and play up the story as heartwarming human interest, rather than questioning the insanity of a system that requires it.

    Americans hate the idea of universal affordable healthcare.

    The Brits, celebrated the NHS, when they had the opening ceremonies for the recent Olympics in London.

    Canada had a poll on their best PM and it was the guy that brought them “socialized medicine”.

    America inched closer to universal healthcare in 2010 and then voted overwhelmingly for the Party that promised to tear it down and has been voting for that Party pretty regularly ever since.

    I’m ready to build a moat around my home and protect what’s mine, because IGMFY seems to be such an overwhelming ideology driving most of this country.

  87. 87.

    raven

    November 21, 2015 at 2:45 pm

    Fished since sunrise, a nice black drum so now I have the big pompano from yesterday and this honker!

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    November 21, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    @gene108

    Piranha do make for unusual pets.

    ;)

  89. 89.

    raven

    November 21, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    @NotMax: I need that fat for a gumbo, send it please!

  90. 90.

    J R in WV

    November 21, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    WVU is ruling the field at Kansas today. The score is 49-0 right now, and WVU is going to play nearly everyone who made the trip. Three guys over 100 yards rushing, including a not-huge Q-back named Skyler.

    Back-up quarterback the last couple of series, no scoring but it’s great to get some game experience for these young men, who may be needed to step up and play when it counts at a moment’s notice. Plus even being a backup in the Big-12 takes one hell of a lot of work and self-discipline, and getting some game time is a great reward.

    Now the WVU defense picked off a pass at the WVU 1 yard-line.

    It is a GREAT day to be a Mountaineer!!

  91. 91.

    Brachiator

    November 21, 2015 at 2:53 pm

    @Tommy:

    Your last point is telling. I often note I learn something new every day. I think I know this or that but I don’t. This used to upset me, but now not so much. I like to learn.

    I have mentioned here once or twice that one of the most electric moments for me as a student was when an anthropology professor admitted during his lecture that the analysis of some recent finds had convinced him that a key part of his research had been rendered irrelevant, and that he was excited to be able to follow the results and see what it might mean.

    Since then I have come to treasure people who truly are willing to think a second time about things, who are willing to abandon deeply held beliefs when they have been shown new information, who are able to re-evaluate their ideological assumptions.

    But I have also seen that the Internets in particular, designed to encourage exploration, research and discovery, is also used by people to deliberately spread lies, and to create havens of ignorance where people can flee to reinforce ignorance and bigotry with other people who are equally determined to cling to “the truth” as they know it. It is amazing that millions have easy access to an amazing truth engine, and yet still can’t get our of the way of their own fuzzy beliefs.

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    November 21, 2015 at 2:54 pm

    @raven

    Pompano en papillote, yummmmm.

    *wipes drool from keyboard*

    (Substitute dry sherry for ‘regular’ white wine and the alcohol cooks off better, IMHO.)

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    November 21, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    @raven

    You’ll have to pry the duck fat from my warm, dead fridge.

    ;)

  94. 94.

    Gator90

    November 21, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    Taking refuge from the rain at the Miami-Gech game and listening to the Gators on my father-in-law’s radio. Which is a break from his never ending lecture about the clash of civilizations and how Syrian refugees will take over America and impose sharia law if we let them in. I’m actually not sure which is worse.

  95. 95.

    NotMax

    November 21, 2015 at 2:58 pm

    Bad linky in #103.

    Fixed.

  96. 96.

    raven

    November 21, 2015 at 2:58 pm

    @NotMax: dang!

  97. 97.

    J R in WV

    November 21, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    @Tommy:

    This! And so often it’s a family, hard working but not prosperous, who has lost everything, everything, in a house fire in the countryside.

    Friends of ours, 3 am after their house burnt to the ground, went to her ex-husband for shelter and a place after losing everything. He was glad to be able to help, and sad for their loss. Science teacher for 20 years, well-loved, because he’s a great guy who would take in his ex-wife and her husband in the middle of the night in a winter storm.

    And smile while doing it.

    I always put some money in for a house fire, anywhere in the country.

  98. 98.

    Betty Cracker

    November 21, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    @efgoldman: Nah, they just suck. Tied up in the 4th now.

  99. 99.

    gene108

    November 21, 2015 at 3:07 pm

    @Gator90:

    impose sharia law

    As a middle aged man being able to marry a couple of young hotties might not be such a bad thing ;-)

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    November 21, 2015 at 3:30 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Definitely not a Republican

    I don’t think I have ever thought about or asked about a scientist’s political leanings.

    OTOH, I remember how many of his peers strongly disapproved of Carl Sagan’s admission that he smoked pot, and many were also convinced that this (along with him becoming distracted by his “vulgar” popularization of science) affected the quality and production of his scientific output. I couldn’t help but snort about this at a celebration of Sagan by the Skeptic Society, that included a cocktail hour social. Alcohol good. Pot bad.

    Even scientists can be dopes.

    Oh yeah, Sagan’s scholarly output: not affected by pot use.

  101. 101.

    Betty Cracker

    November 21, 2015 at 3:38 pm

    Christ, those Burrowing Owls were tough!

  102. 102.

    PaulW

    November 21, 2015 at 4:25 pm

    At least the South Florida Bulls dominated Cincy. That’s a rare one, Cincy (one of the holdovers from the Big East years) tend to be tougher vs. USF than that.

  103. 103.

    Betty Cracker

    November 21, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    Let’s go, Sparty! (I don’t really give a shit about Michigan State; I’d just like to see some team take down Ohio State.)

  104. 104.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 21, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    @Tommy:

    I am so happy to know that you have been successful in bringing both your parents into the light. Especially your dad — I think you had noted that your mother was already kind of inclined this way.

    Now: can you get to work on your brother’s wingnut in-laws?

  105. 105.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 21, 2015 at 8:04 pm

    @Mwangangi:

    Be glad Betty Cracker doesn’t live in Antarctica.

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