Since none of us are members of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, how would you complete this sentence: Can <Member of Congress> Overcome His/Her Prejudice?
I’ll go for the obvious one: Can Steve King Overcome His Prejudice?
by $8 blue check mistermix| 84 Comments
This post is in: Post-racial America
Since none of us are members of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, how would you complete this sentence: Can <Member of Congress> Overcome His/Her Prejudice?
I’ll go for the obvious one: Can Steve King Overcome His Prejudice?
This post is in: Absent Friends, Open Threads, Popular Culture
This su{fold here}upposed news about Mad closing is inevitable in an age where advertisers have so many other choices, and nobody's kids are rushing to the supermarket magazine rack. Which revered publication is next? It's as random as how a bingo machine pi{fold here}cks balls.
— Jason Markusoff (@markusoff) July 4, 2019
I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for MAD Magazine, which my dad started reading when it was still a comic book. (He never forgave my mother for throwing those precious issues away during the divorce.) And I cherish the 1973 ComicCon program I got Sergio Aragonés (and others) to autograph. But it’s been at least 30 years since I bought a copy of the magazine, so…
"To be subversive, however, requires a dominant culture to subvert… a journal of subversive humor is funny only if there’s someone up front attempting to maintain order." https://t.co/DLhGvUIC6r
— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) July 6, 2019
… “Age hits everybody: It hits magazines, it hits the movies, it hits technology,” legendary Mad cartoonist Sergio Aragonés told The Washington Post on Thursday. “It’s been a logical development.”
Mad magazine hit a peak of more than 2 million subscribers in the early ’70s, when it memorably satirized shifting social mores and cultural attitudes. Emblematic of that era — when Mad flexed the most pop-culture muscle as a powerhouse of topical irreverence — was a Watergate-era sendup of President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew in a “big con” spoof of the hit Oscar-winning movie “The Sting.”
But commercial pressures had changed since the ’90s. To try to survive in more recent years, as circulation dwindled precipitously, the magazine owned by Warner Bros.’ DC division shifted to a quarterly publishing schedule and moved its offices from New York to the Los Angeles area. Now, the Mad brand will mostly endure by simply recirculating its classic vintage material, living on through the appeal of what it once was…
PopCult Nostalgia Open Thread: <em>Ave Atque Vale</em>, MAD MagazinePost + Comments (112)
This post is in: Open Threads, Readership Capture
Alcanox in Cookeville, Tennessee: It was a nice event with a little over 100 people in attendance, which is not bad for a small college town.
Omnes Omnibus: Some photos from the Madison WI vigil. We had a good 300+ Sorry for the Cole-esque quality of some of the photos.
Joy in FL: There were a lot more people by the time the event began at 7, probably about 300. After the vigil, Indivisible FL 13 and ACLU had 4 breakout sessions about contacting legislators, protecting immigrants, visiting the Homestead detention center, and Actions to Enforce the Flores Agreement.
Lights for Liberty – Cookeville, Madison, St. PetersburgPost + Comments (23)
This post is in: Open Threads, Readership Capture
RandyG in Tucson, Arizona: About 1,500+ attendees, 98° at game time. Scheduled for 7:00-9:00pm, with a candlelight vigil scheduled for 8:30pm. Sounded great, started on time. Apparently the organizers thought it made sense to keep bringing up more and more people essentially saying the same thing and very little in the way of actually following up with some useful action items. At 9:00pm we (my wife and 2 other friends) left…. more speakers were still being brought up, no candlelight segment in sight, about 3/4 of the crowd had already left. Yes, I give the organizers a lot of credit for doing the heavy lifting of getting this organized, but gee, most left-wing grassroots groups have no feel for effective tactics or strategy. Did I mention that it was hot and late?
esme: These are from the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, MN. A good crowd for a small town. A bunch of us from St. Cloud drove down.
thalarctosMaritimus: About 30 dedicated activists turned out for the vigil on Camano Island, Washington, a community about 65 miles NE of Seattle. We chose it over the Everett vigil because we thought that in a smaller, more rural community, 2 more supporters could have more impact than in a larger city crowd. The weather was warm and sunny, and the Camano Island Democrats chose a location where a lot of Friday rush-hour traffic passed by. We were encouraged by horn-honking and waves from passing drivers, and Mr. thalarctos and I made some contacts to stay in touch with for upcoming events.
More to come…open
Lights for Liberty – Tucson, Elk River, and Camano IslandPost + Comments (15)
This post is in: Open Threads, Readership Capture
The vigil at the New Mexico State Capitol went off extremely well last night, thanks to our own Felix O. Culpa.
Sorry for delay. For some reason, GMail decided, for the first time, to send all Balloon Juice mail to my spam folder. But commenter Noncarborundum asked where his email had gone this morning, encouraging me to check. After my checking a number of emails as not-spam, GMail seems to have gone back to sending B-J mail to my inbox. If you’ve got photos you want posted, send them to me via the “Contact Us” in the upper right-hand corner.
FelonyGovt was at the Manhattan Beach, California, vigil. They had about 200 people.
From Noncarborundum: Here are a few shots I took outside the Hancock Church in Lexington MA last night. There was a brief meeting inside the church with readings, songs and information about ways to help, then we all went outside for the candlelight vigil. Not everyone got a candle; they said they’d been expecting about 50 people, but by my estimate there were at least 150 there.
From Gus diZerega in Taos, New Mexico (Hi, neighbor!):
More to come. I am posting as I receive them.
Lights For Liberty – Manhattan Beach, Lexington, and TaosPost + Comments (55)
by $8 blue check mistermix| 73 Comments
This post is in: Our Failed Media Experiment
Great piece in the Guardian about the one reporter who made the case against Epstein:
When Julie K Brown of the Miami Herald approached a former police chief of Palm Beach, Florida, in 2017, hoping to get him to open up about his investigation of the child sex crimes for which the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein had been fleetingly jailed a decade earlier, she was surprised by how unresponsive he was.
Michael Reiter told Brown he had been down this road many times and was sick of it. As Brown recalled in a WNYC interview last month, Reiter said he had talked to many reporters and told them precisely where to find damning evidence against Epstein. But nothing ever came of it.
“He was convinced that a lot of media had squashed the story and he was fed up,” she said.
Reiter warned Brown what would happen were she to continue digging: “Somebody’s going to call your publisher and the next thing you know you are going to be assigned to the obituaries department.”
Brown did not heed his warning. […]
There’s also a good re-telling of the case against Graydon Carter at Vanity Fair, whose defense for cutting out the testimony of one of Epstein’s victims (“I believe him…I’m Canadian”) is an affront to both Canada and to journalism.
by TaMara| 82 Comments
This post is in: Nature & Respite, Something Good Open Thread
Photo by Deborah Roberston at Mount Washington Hotel NH
Bear just waiting for his party to arrive for tea and honey on the balcony.
Here’s video of what happens at my house when I’m late letting the ducks out in the morning:
And this made my afternoon – Manta Ray asking for help
I am taking a serious break, but did want to offer you some respite. I have started an anger journal – it has been so cathartic. Y’all can have your gratitude journals, I need somewhere to put all this anger so I’m not dumping it on some innocent bystander. It’s surprising how well it actually works. LOL
I hope everyone in the path of Barry is safe and hunkered down.
I’m off to mow the lawn and make sure everything is good and watered before the heat today. Cute Penelope Pearl story – I was outside in the lounge chair reading and she came over and settled down next to me so I could pet her while I read. So freakin’ adorable. I’ve had quite a few ducks, none so puppy like.
What’s everyone else up to today?
Respite open thread
Respite Open Thread: I Was TOLD There Would Be Tea And HoneyPost + Comments (82)