NOTE from TaMara: This missed it schedule, I just saw it in the drafts, so have rescued it. Sorry for the delay. Party on Betty.
Scheduling this post ahead of time because I’m tailgating at the University of South Florida-Florida State game this morning. Go Bulls!
Here are the top 25 matchups scheduled for today:
Saw this on Twitter regarding the contest between Florida and Tennessee:
@ESPN_ReceDavis The last time Tennessee beat Florida, these didn’t exist:
YouTube
iPhone
Breaking Bad— GatorbaitButch (@WillieMud) September 23, 2016
Was there really no YouTube in 2004? Damn. The thing I remember most about that year was the four hurricanes that hit Florida. I believe this year is the first since then for a hurricane to make landfall in Florida. An omen? I hope not. But our starting QB got injured last weekend, so this might be the Vols’ year. Or maybe not:
Tennessee fans watched the 4th and 14 play like…. pic.twitter.com/rhx1Zhbl73
— Billy Long (@BillyLong07) September 19, 2016
Have fun and stay safe, everyone!
raven
Dawgs are getting murdered and the Hokies are high!
The Dangerman
WTF Georgia?
James E Powell
My Beloved Buckeyes have the week off after destroying the Sooners. Wisconsin and Ole Miss headed for big wins.
JPL
@raven: I was worried about you.
raven
@JPL: This is no surprise.
raven
Where’s Omes?
trollhattan
Boldly predicting a Tigers win today.
Left Coast Dawgs interesting for the first time in decades. Yay for that.
Eric U.
wow, the Hokies should invoke the mercy rule
Probalby happen to Penn State later, but they seem to have a strong offense
jacy
Will be working 9 hours in the concession stand at the Southeastern Louisiana vs. Northwestern game for my boys’ Boy Scout troop. The kids decided they wanted snorkling in the Bahamas for their summer camping trip next year, which means I’ll be spending every weekend between now and then fundraising…..Whee!
Brachiator
My sister sent an email instructing me that the only college game I’m allowed to care about is Arkansas.
Eric
Cards have to take care of business later to set up the showdown with Clemson for a night game at Death Valley. Jacked!!!
sinnedbackward
Not exactly sports, but about the Volunteers. Years ago in Knoxville, on the old road parallel to I-40, there was a converted motel office housing “Ali Baba’s Jerusalem Lot Pizza Parlor and Delicatessen”, where we would stop on our way back to Lexington from further south.
Among its charms was one of those grooved signboards you pressed letters in to spell out the menu. They managed to spell “sausage” FIVE different incorrect ways!
With such creative spelling, we puzzled over what a “volburger” could possibly be. Involved hot peppers (volt) or perhaps some Middle Eastern small rodent specialty (vole)? It was only after several visits we tumbled to the obvious (for Tennesseans) answer.
Later, when Knoxville got a new area code, it was 865. Serious football fans, there.
Prufrock
Oh Betty! Still think the Noles aren’t a top 25 team?
some guy
GatorBait. Let’make it 12. go Gators!
some guy
that 4th and 14 play was one of the alltime great Gator moments.thanks for sharing, Betty.
msdc
If “Golden Flashes” does not describe some absolutely filthy sexual fetish then Kent State’s rivals are doing it wrong.
raven
@efgoldman: No, his pop played at Notre Dame.
raven
@efgoldman: That was Evander Holyfield’s kid at RB.
Carolina Dave
Last day of summer (91°) in Chapel Hill. Tar Heels host Pittsburgh Panthers.
Villago Delenda Est
Fighting Fashion Nightmares hosting Colorado this afternoon, here in a few hours. No one who is not already baked cares, and the baked don’t care, too.
raven
@efgoldman: So why you wanna dis Champaign Tony? He took the fucking team to the Super Bowl, more than Marino did.
patroclus
TCU got a good 33-3 win over SMU last night. CJK5H! #Remember the Five!
raven
@efgoldman: Nobody could have beaten my Bears that year. Mario actually played in Champaign his sr year and Pitt had a d lineman run a pick back 99 yards!
Pogonip
@James E Powell: Oh, good. When THE Ohio State University was not playing, the citizens of Columbus, of which I used to be one, could actually get their local news.
ThresherK (GPad)
@efgoldman: Not a Pats fan, but weren’t they the only team to score on the 85 Bears in the playoffs?
Hey, does anyone else remember if Ken O’Brien was the last NFLer to run in an extra (single) point? I seem to remember as such, from a bad snap, but cannot find about it.
raven
The gators strike.
raven
@ThresherK (GPad): Skins scored 19 points the playoffs.
Trentrunner
Twitter is saying that Gennifer Flowers has agreed to attend Monday’s debate as Trump’s guest, as Trump’s retaliation for HRC inviting Mark Cuban (and he’s agreed to be there).
I’ve lost all my words.
Maybe we should just put out a general invitation to all the women Trump and Bill Clinton have fucked and hold the debate in Wrigley Field.
Mnemosyne
So, since this is the only available open thread, a question for all of you snarling jackals:
I think I mentioned before that I’ve volunteered to help canvass in Las Vegas next weekend (going from Los Angeles). They will bus me there, and I have two options:
– Single day: Get on the bus at 5 am on Saturday, canvass all day, get back on the bus in the evening and be back in Los Angeles around midnight
– Overnight: Get on the bus at 5 am on Saturday, canvass all day, stay overnight at Circus Circus, canvass more on Sunday, and be back in LA by 8:00 pm Sunday
I’m leaning towards overnight because, frankly, I’m middle-aged and I need my rest, especially since it’s going to be FUCKING HOT in LV and i don’t always do well in the heat. And the advantage of being middle-aged is that I can afford $150 for a room. But only doing the single day means I would have Sunday available for, I don’t know, not having to be around people all the goddamned time since I’m kind of an introvert.
Strong opinion either way?
JPL
@Trentrunner: That’d be pretty funny. Clinton will do fine.
Mnemosyne
@Trentrunner:
I kind of wish Hillary would invite Marla Maples, but only if Maples’ son with Trump is over 18. You never know how that asshole would retaliate.
MattF
@Trentrunner: TPM says so too.
Shell
Say, did you guys know theres a debate Monday night? And Clinton and Trump are both prepping for it..but in DIFFERENT WAYS!
Iowa Old Lady
@Trentrunner: And then point out that Hillary isn’t the one who screwed around. I do not get the logic of this. Trump is a philanderer and he wants to talk about philandering at a presidential debate with a woman.
ThresherK
@raven: That’s the 84 Bears, but the bulk of that playoff season was in 85. The 85 Bears went 21-0 over NYG, 24-0 over LARams, and 46-10 over the Pats. (Cheated: I used the wiki.)
Trentrunner
@Iowa Old Lady: Not sure but suspect Trump lacks the nuanced moral logic of, say, Henry James.
Basically, he’s showing that Hillary was cucked, and thus weak. Period.
raven
@ThresherK: roger
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
I’d take door 1&Done. A grind but one day in Vegas beats two. Door 2 means Monday won’t be fun at all.
MattF
@Trentrunner:
I think this is one of those ‘Sentences that have never previously occurred in the English language’.
Trentrunner
@MattF: I had hundreds of monkeys at typewriters for centuries, and it just came out this morning. :)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan:
Agreed, figured they would be after watching a few of their games(those not on the PAC-12 “network”) last year. But, I’ll be watching by Bruins take their annual(sometimes twice annual) beatdown from the Cardinal from the Rose Bowl.
Doug R
@Trentrunner: Hillz should invite the 13 year old in the Trump rape case, if that’s where you’re going with that.
Doug R
@Mnemosyne: Overnight. Vegas, baby, Vegas. Plus you get some rest before heading back to LA.
Mnemosyne
@Trentrunner:
Ahhh. Very good point. He’s trying to play the same male dominance games that he played with the Republican candidates, and doesn’t seem to have any clue that male dominance games generally don’t work on women, particularly women like Hillary.
Trentrunner
@Mnemosyne: It’s also go-to shot over the bow if Hillary dares to bring up Trump’s infidelities, rapes, herpes, or her child-care policy.
In other words, Trump was ALWAYS going to bring up Bill’s fucking around. He was just waiting for the time.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne: I think I might pick one and done. It would make Sunday a day to go out, or to test and recuperate as needed.
schrodinger's cat
@Trentrunner: That move is going to backfire on him and make Hillary look sympathetic.
SFAW
@Trentrunner:
Hillary at the Debate: “And I want to give a shout-out to Gennifer Flowers! It’s a rare thing that a good-looking 66-year-old woman allows herself to be used by a fat, flabby 70-year-old man with ‘tiny hands’ — if you know what I mean — just so he can say ‘nyah nyah nah nyah nyah.’ It’s so compassionate of you to be nice to someone who’s so insecure. I hope he at least paid for your airfare already — if he didn’t, you might be waiting a long while for reimbursement.”
Yeah, it’s rambling, but it would hit a number of areas where his skin is thinnest.
ThresherK
@MattF: Donald Trump and Henry (Painful Duty) James in the same sentence?
I’ll take “Two men whose books I don’t read, but I’ll acknowledge one of them is important” for $600, Alex.
SFAW
@schrodinger’s cat:
Nice thought, but probably not.
If he brings it up during the debate — meaning, if he actually says something about it, to try to trash her — THAT might backfire on him. But otherwise, probably not, too much inside baseball.
MattF
@SFAW: Someone on Hilz’s staff said “Let’s just see if we can provoke him into doing something stupid.” Give that person a raise!
catclub
@trollhattan:
Not sure about Alabama?
SFAW
@ThresherK:
Is that like “Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?”
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne: I think I might pick one and done. It would make Sunday a day to go out, or to test and recuperate as needed.
@Mnemosyne:
It will work with some Trump supporters, maybe with some potentials and undecided voters. That’s who he’s playing to.
From the leaks, it appears that Trump is trying to turn the debate into an episode of Celebrity Apprentice.
pacem appellant
Hey! The Cal Bears probable loss to ASU today doesn’t qualify as in a top 25 match-up? The indignity!
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
I’m taking Friday off work since my boss is in Europe next week, so I’ll have some time to pre-rest up. My big worry about doing a single day is trying to drive back to SFV from Westchester at midnight on a Saturday night. That is not a good time to be an exhausted zombie.
WaterGirl
How many white republican women do you suppose there are whose white republican husbands have cheated on them? That demographic will not be pleased. Neither will anyone else with any self-respect.
I would love to see polling on that demographic before and after a stunt like this.
hovercraft
@Trentrunner: @Iowa Old Lady:
Hillary was his facilitator/ pimp, and then when the affairs were over she “destroyed” the women. Last time I checked women who stood by their men were not considered evil. But with Clinton, she was supposed to carry out the GOP plan of destroying him by kicking him to the curb. When she didn’t, she was betraying women, because a true feminist would not have stayed with him. She was only willing to betray all women out of lust for power and ambition. So rubbing her face in Gennifer Flowers is standing up for feminism. Obviously convoluted bullshit, but what about any of this is logical?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: On the bright side, you won’t have to worry about traffic on the 405.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne:
And we have your answer! Overnight.
ThresherK
@SFAW: Heehee.
I had to read a Henry James novel for HS literature. Years later I found out about Oscar Wilde’s comment. I have a taste for some novels from that era, especially Edith Wharton. But I admit James is an important literary figure, and I’ll leave it to the English majors to fight over his place.
Conversely, any book by Donald Trump you’d have to prop my eyelids apart like in A Clockwork Orange.
Villago Delenda Est
@Trentrunner: Playing to his barely removed from marmots base.
SFAW
@MattF:
It’s not clear that the Flowers thing is stupid. It’s certainly petty, but he’s been pulling petty shit all campaign, and he hasn’t really suffered for it.
It’s getting to the point where about the only thing(s) that would put the hurt on him would be the “revelation” that he’s not a billionaire — that he’s worth a lot less than Mittens, let’s say — and his tax returns showing all (or most) of the things about which we’ve been speculating for all these months.
I expect that I’m not the first, but one of the things that occurred to me is that, for all of the vile ways that Mittens made his money, he was a pillar of humanity compared to Corrupt Deadbeat Donnie. Were there a sane Republican party, that might be a problem for the ferret-headed shitgibbon. Unfortunately, things being what they are …
I hope I live long enough to see sanity return to politics in this country.
Original Lee
All Cuban has to do is little small things that he knows will drive The Short-Fingered Vulgarian crazy, and he probably knows what they are. There is nothing Flowers can do to drive Hillary crazy.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
You’ve never lived on the Westside, have you? There’s a lot of traffic on the 405 at midnight since the early bar goers are starting to head home. It’s not bumper-to-bumper like rush hour, but it’s usually pretty busy.
Plus that’s when CalTrans loves to do construction.
hovercraft
@MattF:
This.
He already has a problem with women, how many of those suburban white women have had this experience or know someone who has, and stuck it out for the kids, or even if they kicked him to the curb,they made the choice for themselves? It makes him look churlish, and in every story about the debate that will be the first piece of ‘color’ they talk about.
Stupid.
SFAW
@ThresherK:
But at least you’d get to hear Ludwig van.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne:
Eh, you do know where I went to college?
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
Yeah, I’m like 90 percent to “overnight,” and G doesn’t have a strong opinion either way. (He has to work on the weekends, plus riding on a bus for 5-6 hours is his personal version of Hell, so he’s not going.) I’ll probably make the final decision tonight and then book the hotel room.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I think the Westside when you went to college was a bit different. Wasn’t Westwood a little country place back in those days? ;-p
Iowa Old Lady
The thing about Flowers is so stupid that I’ve convinced myself it cannot be true. Trump tweeted that since Clinton had invited Cuban, maybe he should invite Flowers. Flowers read that and said, ok, I accept. Or maybe the assistant is a fraud and doesn’t speak for Flowers. This must be a hoax.
Another Scott
@Mnemosyne: Donnie’s probably too brain damaged to remember Rick Lazio. I’m sure Hillary remembers that quite well…
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Westwood was “The Place” to go back when I was in school, I’m not that old.
WaterGirl
I am guessing this Jennifer Flowers play by Trump has left Hillary seriously pissed off. I am also guessing that pissed off Hillary does not lose control – guessing she turns quiet and icy and stands her ground. I predict this will not go the way Trump thinks it will go.
gene108
@SFAW:
I think Flowers gives the media an old reliable chew toy to talk about instead of the actual debate.
“We’ll start off our debate coverage by talking about the Trump camp’s move of inviting Bill’s former mistress, Gennifer Flowers, to a front row seat.”
And they’d love talking about the optics of having her there. It absolves them of actually having to analyze the drivel coming from Trump.
Mr. Mack
@Mnemosyne: Maybe late to the party…but you’ll be in Vegas! Stay the night, enjoy the crowds (better than fighting them) and take a nice leisurely drive back on Sunday…but leave early. Oh, $150 a night for the Circus? Way, way too much. Lousy place to stay. Also, too, watch out for resort fees, every hotel in Vegas has one now. Have fun and good luck canvassing.
raven
@?BillinGlendaleCA: My SIL went to high school with one of UCLA’s player parents and is going tonight.
SFAW
@Iowa Old Lady:
Whether she shows or doesn’t, I don’t think Hillary will be too bothered by it. “Is THAT the best you got, you punk-ass whiner? You make Beavis and Butthead look like fucking geniuses.”
Skerry
@Mnemosyne: Maples and Trump have a daughter, Tiffany. She is 22-23, recent college grad.
SFAW
@WaterGirl:
I disagree. She’s put up with much worse shit in the last 20-plus years, and a punk-ass move like this — if it really happens — will result in a “yeah, yeah, whatever” response from Hillary.
WaterGirl
@SFAW: How about something like … “Thank you, Mr. Trump, for showing every woman, every person, who watches this debate exactly the kind of man you are.”
Another Scott
@gene108: Bingo.
Donnie knows he can’t win on substance, so he’ll try to create a yooge spectacle.
I don’t think Hillary will have any trouble with it. She did fine on Galifianakis’s show – she’s got this.
Cheers,
Scott.
SFAW
@gene108:
I hope you’re wrong, but, to paraphrase Mencken, “No one has gone broke underestimating the vacuity and stupidity of the MSM during this campaign.”
Mnemosyne
@Mr. Mack:
The Circus is the official hotel, so it’s easiest to stay there because there will be meetings and such. I was already able to find a cheaper rate on the hotel’s website, though.
I’m probably going to take the campaign bus so I don’t have to do the drive myself. The one thing I’m NOT looking forward to is all of the goddamned cigarette smoke. I’ve gotten very spoiled by the smoking ban in California and will need to be sure I have my asthma inhaler close by.
WaterGirl
“A serial philanderer should know better than to think it’s the woman’s fault. Nothing is ever your fault, is it, Mr. Trump? You always blame someone else. That’s not what we need in a President. The buck stops here.”
SFAW
@WaterGirl:
Not bad!
The Dangerman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Another English Sentence never written previously.
hovercraft
@Another Scott:
Kelly O’Donnell interviewed him the other day, and he still is not sure how that happened, apparently they discussed how to deal with debating her before hand and he wanted to be assertive but not aggressive. He thinks that’s the one thing that cost him the election.
Helen
As always, Owen Ellickson is KILLING the Flowers thing on Twitter. Go there now.
SFAW
@WaterGirl:
Call on Line 2 from Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. How quickly can you make it to Long Island?
WaterGirl
I think it’s quite possible that “Donald isn’t doing any debate prep” is just one more lie from Trump.
SFAW
@efgoldman:
Is that Ken O’Brien, savior of the Jets, who led them to three Super Bowl wins?
Mnemosyne
@The Dangerman:
I still remember driving back from Long Beach to West LA well after midnight one Saturday and being forced to detour onto surface streets because of overnight construction. Good times, good times.
Squiregeek
“Party on Betty” might benefit from a comma.
SiubhanDuinne
@Shell:
I had no way of knowing. Maybe next time the cable networks could run some kind of, like, countdown-clock thingy constantly for a full week before the debate.
WaterGirl
@SFAW: Maybe I missed my calling? :-)
Mai.naem.mobile
@Mnemosyne: I thought the kid he had with Marla Maples was just the blonde at the RNC Brittany. I think you’re correct confusing the son he has with Melanoma with Brittany.
Just One More Canuck
Hillary should walk directly over to Flowers after the debate and greet her like an old friend
Villago Delenda Est
@WaterGirl: He’s going to just wing it. Again.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
Also, too, I already have a suitable middle-aged lady hat. I am ready to go.
WaterGirl
@Just One More Canuck: No, when Hillary comes on stage, she should give that little point, smile and wave things she does – right to Flowers.
Pogonip
@Mnemosyne: If you have asthma why not stay home and campaign in California where there’s a smoking ban? Ending up in the hospital won’t do your or your candidate any good. (I’ve been to two parties where ambulances had to be called for asthmatics.)
Mnemosyne
@Mai.naem.mobile:
I think Skerry is right and it’s Tiffany. It would also depend on if Maples is still getting some kind of alimony from Trump. He doesn’t really seem like the kind of guy who was cheerfully paying his child support obligations.
Another Scott
@hovercraft: I think it’s always dangerous to underestimate her. Look at her history. She visited 112 countries as SoS for 4 years. That’s an average of 2-3 a month for 4 years. Donnie whines if he can’t sleep in his own bed.
She had to negotiate with all sorts of people all over the world, countries that view women as delicate flowers to be locked up at home, etc., etc. She’s seen Donnie’s kind before and dealt with it and come out on top.
I don’t remember enough about the circumstances of that election, but I find it hard to believe that it was just the “getting in her face” that won it for her. It certainly was a big part in the narrative. But she won by 34 points in 2006, so she must have done something right in the meantime. ;-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mnemosyne
@Pogonip:
I’m only mildly asthmatic, so it will be more of a nuisance than anything else. It’s more likely that I’ll end up with a pounding migraine, but I’m willing to take that chance.
I live in Southern California, so I feel obligated to go help out somewhere that Hillary is not going to win by 80 percent.
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
Ivanka, Uday, and Qusay are Ivana’s children. Tiffany is Marla’s. John Barron is Melania’s.
WaterGirl
@Pogonip: Because she wants to help where it can really make a difference, I imagine.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Is there such a person?
TriassicSands
@Trentrunner:
Trump wants — no needs — everything about him to be a spectacle. The most depressing thing, in one sense, about Monday’s debate will be all the crowing Trump will do about the size of its audience.
“The most watched (political) event in the history of the universe. And all because they wanted to see ME!!!”
Trentrunner
@TriassicSands: This is true. And I don’t mind of +100M get to see how cool, collected, informed, and unflappable HRC is.
TriassicSands
@Iowa Old Lady:
Long before there was IOKIYAR, there was IOKIYAM (where M = male or a man). There have always (?) been different standards for marital fidelity for men and women. Women who stray are “sluts” and “whores,” while men are probably married to frigid women or are just exercising their “male vigor.”
I’m pretty sure Trump sees his ability to bed women other than his wives as a major plus — my, what a stud am I. And since he admittedly has no respect for women (or human beings), their opinions don’t matter.
SiubhanDuinne
@Original Lee:
Quite so. Hillary came to terms with Flowers a quarter of a century ago.
Pogonip
@Mnemosyne: Well, best of luck to you!
SiubhanDuinne
@Helen:
This is my fave:
Phylllis
@Mnemosyne: Must.not.click.to.order.
Steve in the ATL
@sinnedbackward:
KY or VA?
SFAW
@efgoldman:
I vaguely (as in: probably don’t) remember that. Leahy — if it was Leahy — was a decent kicker. Certainly not a Vinatieri or Gostkowski or Groza, but not a brick by any stretch. I was probably annoyed at Nelson at the time, not that it mattered.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
Amy Fisher! Beautiful.
Villago Delenda Est
@TriassicSands:
He’s half right. It’s because they wanted to see him get beat up by a girl.
TriassicSands
@Villago Delenda Est:
It would be interesting to see a breakdown of the audience. That is, Clinton supporters vs. Trump supporters.
Those watching Clinton will be looking for something very different from what the Trump supporters will want to see. They, I’m quite sure, will thrill to every insult, accusation of criminality, and reference to her “poor health.” The dream of both sides might well be for Trump to lose it and call her a name or apply a disparaging, sexist comment.
I’m not sure, but there might be less reason for these debates than for many in the past. I don’t think, at this point, that Trump supporters can see anything from Trump (or Clinton) that will change their minds. Are there “undecideds” out there who will translate HRC’s unflappability into a vote? I really doubt it. And her command of facts isn’t likely to matter at all. Can she come up with a “zinger” that will make a difference? I wonder if the Clinton team has been scouring the earth for that one retort that will rock Trump, who is anything but unflappable (one of the reasons he is unfit to be president).
I suppose my dream retort from Clinton would be something along the lines of “Fuck you, Donald, you’re a lying pig and anyone with half a brain can see that.” But, I’m pretty sure we can agree that wouldn’t work for the wider audience. An alternative might be for her to kick him in his little mini-junk and watch as he writhes on the stage. (Good thing I’m not an adviser.)
gene108
@Mnemosyne:
Michael Bloomberg’s greatest contribution to humanity was starting off smoking bans.
I remember going to a bar, with my bro, who lives in NYC, shortly after the ban was enacted. I was meeting folks after lunch. After lunch I said “I need to hurry back to your place to change” and he said, “Why?” and I said “I must smell of cigarette smoke” and he said “there’s a smoking ban in NYC, no one can smoke anymore in bars and restaurants”.
I sniffed my clothes and by God! I had spent a good bit of time in the afternoon at a bar and Did. Not. Reek. Of. Cigarette Smoke!!!!
It was a revelatory experience.
Mnemosyne
@gene108:
We went to Vegas for G’s cousin’s wedding five years ago and even though we were in a “non-smoking” room, it still reeked of decades of cigarette smoke. It was disgusting. You really don’t realize how all-pervasive the smell is until you live without it for a while and then get thrown back into it.
Bitter Scribe
Go Cardinal! (Although I will always consider that the silliest name in major college sports.)
Brachiator
@TriassicSands:
I keep hearing variations of this nonsense. It used to be said a lot about potential debates between Obama and Republicans. And even though Republicans insulted Obama in various ways, including racial insinuations, the name calling fantasists were always fixated on one specific word which would be the catalyst of doom.
In the end, this vain hope that the unutterable will be uttered is nothing more than the secret dream of the person making the prediction.
It is a good question to ask whether the debates are necessary, and whether they might change any minds. I think that the first George Bush wanted to avoid debates with Bill Clinton. Trump initially made noise about debates being unnecessary.
Who knows? There are expectations that this first debate will be widely watched. This in itself may be something if large numbers of people watch it.
In any event, the myth of the knockout punch question or incident is another fantasy that needs to be retired.
mellowjohn
Notre Dame lost.
again.
hehehehehe
Bonnie
I flip channels trying to catch a bit of all the games. I am curious if any one but me has noticed that the commercials for every station showing football seem to be closely in sync. Do you suppose the networks have colluded together to keep us from flipping channels? I do.
JR in WV
They banned smoking ciggs here in public spaces long ago, county health boards did it, pretty much on their own authority to protect workers’ health.
When the Reppublicans took over the Lege a couple of years ago, one of their big things was to “stop big government” from interfering with small private businesses. The bar owners and their various associations went to committee meetings and begged them to leave it alone – their business boomed when non-smokers could go have a good burger without dying of smoke inhalation!
When driving out to Arizona the last time, we went west into Missouri, and stopped for lunch. Sat down in a nice spot, fairly empty big place at a truck stop, dozens of tables. No sooner had we ordered than a guy sat down right next to us and lit up.
It was horrible. We almost just threw money down and left, but were really hungry after a long morning driving. We ate, packed it in quickly, and left. Will never drive through MO again – disgusting to expose the public to that, not to mention the workers who have no choice but to breath poisons to keep their jobs.
Won’t go to Las Vegas if they’re allowed to smoke everywhere. Just won’t
Fred Arnold
Go Vols! 10-point Tennessee win, with Florida managing “just 102 yards and five first downs in the last two quarters.”
burnspbesq
@mellowjohn:
Duke took the fourth quarter and beat them over the head with it.
Suck it, Goldman.
JohnMcC
@Fred Arnold: Wasn’t it amazing to see that duck pull a truck right through Gainesville!