Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

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

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

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

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

In after Baud. Damn.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

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

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

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

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

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

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Counter-Programming

Open Thread: Counter-Programming

by | 134 Comments

This post is in: 

Strong, successful businesswomen ✔

Bilingual ✔

All of TrumpNation’s heads exploded (if twitter is any indication). ✔

I’m happy. Now I’m digging out all my Shakira tracks to listen to on my commute tomorrow.

Also: They had two Great Dane puppies in the puppy bowl who basically got to make an appearance and then leave because the cameras really only could film their legs and they intimidated the other puppies (the life of a Giant Breed). ?

ETA: These were my two (and only) favorite SB ads this year:

Did you have any favorites?

Open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  1. 1.

    PsiFighter37

    I hate it when the refs blatantly tilt the field towards one team. They bet on the chiefs this year. They bet on the Ravens when they played the Niners. The Seahawks got totally screwed when they played the Steelers in the mid-2000s. I don’t know why I bother watching – and I don’t care who wins this game.

  3. 3.

    Suzanne

    There was also a female symbol in the stage set and a moment with J Lo in the Puerto Rican flag singing “Born in the USA” and belly dancing…. plenty to irk the Deplorables.

    No matter who the President is…. the world is not made for their tastes.

  4. 4.

    Major Major Major Major

    I’m in SF and it’s very quiet here on Valencia. Did we lose? Is everybody one block over? I legit forgot the game was today until like an hour ago.

    Gay Twitter is also very pleased with Shakira.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m not a financial expert (so far from it), and this looks like panic, but this is one more bit of news The Beast doesn’t want as he waddles into SOTU week

    Financial Times @ FinancialTimes
    Chinese stocks tumbled 9.1% as markets reopened after an extended holiday despite a central bank promise to boost liquidity to cushion the blow of the coronavirus outbrea

  7. 7.

    PsiFighter37

    @Omnes Omnibus: Thank the refs for the directive from Roger Goodall to hand this trophy to Patrick Mahomes on a plate. Most one-sided officiating since the Steelers-Seahawks SB (I know Cole will disagree, but whatever).

  9. 9.

    Debbie(Aussie)

    That was amazing, what talent!
    Would it be rude to suggest that this was a large middle finger to the trumpists?

  11. 11.

    Kai-two

    How can any thinking person cheer watching people inflict head-injuries on one another?

     

    I mean, the fact that they’re predominantly minority men being maimed and injured for your entertainment is just the fucking cherry on top.

     

    Do better.

  14. 14.

    PsiFighter37

    Honestly the last fucking Super Bowl I spend time on, especially since I have a kid now and really could use the sleep instead. Fuck the refs and fuck Goodall. I hate it when games get ruined by multiple terrible calls, all skewed against the same team no less.

  21. 21.

    clay

    Did I just see Maisie Williams singing a Disney song in an Audi commercial?

     

    This seems very bizarre to me.  Like… how did those three worlds collide?

  22. 22.

    Felanius Kootea

    Reposting from the thread below (fits better in this one):

    I recorded the Shakira and J Lo concert – it was amazing! Had to fast forward through a bunch of guys violently knocking each other about the head to induce brain damage but finally I got to the music.

    Shakira has talent off the charts – she played the guitars, the drums, featured rock, pop, cumbia, champeta (Colombian music with Nigerian, Congolese and South African influences), and my 2nd favorite Cameroonian song, Zangalewa, which she previously covered for the 2010 World Cup. She also knows how to dance. J Lo was good as well – I loved that she had on a Puerto Rican flag cape as she covered “Born in the USA.” Laughed out loud at that one because I know some in that stadium have no clue that Puerto Rico is part of the US (I know J Lo was born in the Bronx).

    50 and 43 and they could pass for women half their ages. They killed it!

  23. 23.

    MazeDancer

    Loved how much of the halftime show was n Spanish. both verbally and musically.

    And yay, JLo, for the Puerto Rican flag coat.

  24. 24.

    p.a.

    @PsiFighter37: That was the game where Roethlisbergererer had a qb rating of 25 and still won.  Horribly reffed game.  I’ve just been occasionally checking in tonight so don’t know what the issues are.  Pick plays?  They almost never get called.  PI’s?

  25. 25.

    Brachiator

    @clay:

    Did I just see Maisie Williams singing a Disney song in an Audi commercial?

    This seems very bizarre to me.  Like… how did those three worlds collide?

    I was waiting for a dragon to show up and eat one of the vehicles.

     

  30. 30.

    ruemara

    JLo’s costume looked like she had silver maxi-pads in her stockings. And half of what they played was stuff I have Zumba choreography in my head for. But, DAMN! – JLo & Shakira look good and danced their asses off. Good half time show. And I made good pizza & wings.

  31. 31.

    PsiFighter37

    @p.a.: Multiple issues:

    1) Offensive PI called on the Niners at the end of first half – the completion meant they would have scored a field goal easily. Instead, no points and took a knee instead. There was no material pushoff that occurred.

    2) No defensive offsides called on the Chiefs on a possession that eventually led to a punt. It was so blatantly obvious that  I assumed it was a free play as soon as the ball was snapped.

    3) When the Niners were clinging to the lead, Garappolo got a clear helmet-to-helmet hit on 3rd down. No penalty thrown and they had to punt. The replay camera very clearly showed that, by today’s NFL rules, it would be a clear 15-yard, automatic 1st down penalty.

    Screw this game. Goodall has some vested interest in handing the trophy to Patrick Mahomes is my takeaway, or the refs had a lot of money riding on what was set as a close-money game in Vegas.

  34. 34.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Wilford Brimley @ RealWilfordB
    Ellie, no. I am the “diabeetus” guy.

     ellie schnitt @ holy_schnitt
    serious question is the chiefs coach the “diabeetus” guy

    And since it’s kind of a theme on the twitter tonight, Wilford Brimley was 50 when he filmed Cocoon. J-Lo was fifty when she did the Super Bowl halftime show tonight.

  37. 37.

    Adam L Silverman

    @OldDave: Considering that when Shakira and JLo do a duet it is officially referred to as a brace of booties, we probably need to do a welfare check on TBogg.

  39. 39.

    Suzanne

    @ruemara: I only watched the halftime show. I enjoyed it very much. Both of those women are among the best in the business at what they do.

  40. 40.

    clay

    You know what I liked best about the halftime show?  I loved how much Shakira loved performing. She had such a big grin on the entire time; it was really infectious.  Hell, she had such a great time that even J. Lo was smiling by the end.

  42. 42.

    different-church-lady

    The best thing about this year’s halftime show is that it was not last year’s halftime show.

  43. 43.

    PsiFighter37

    @West of the Rockies: Regardless of what folks feel about them, the Niners got screwed over hard at every crucial point in this game. I am a J-E-T-S fan (Just Endure The Suffering, baby), but this is the kind of bullshit that kills my general interest in the sport overall – especially since my team shows a special ineptitude in being any good.

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    Here’s the counter-counter programming from Mar a Lago. You may want to remove small children, the aged and infirm, pregnant women, and those with cardiac conditions from the room before you look!

  45. 45.

    danielx

    @OldDave:

    I remember that. And yes, very old Duroc that I am, Shakira’s ass is performance art beyond compare. Also too, she is beloved in Colombia for her charity work.

  49. 49.

    Bruuuuce

    OT: I learned this weekend that a friend of mine who is deaf and an advocate for the deaf is chairing a caucus in Iowa for the deaf, who are, as are so many others, disenfranchised by the normal caucus process. I’ll hear about it afterward, and hope and expect it’ll be a rousing success, as have been her other projects through the years.

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Bruuuuce: Let your friend know that if she’d like us to do a guest post on it, she should feel free to write it up, send it to you, and you can send it to me, and I’ll post it. There’s no pressure here. I won’t be offended if she says no.

  54. 54.

    janesays

    @p.a.: The NFL contracts out production of the halftime show, but you better believe they get the final say over whether or not the routine gets to be performed as arranged. Nothing happens during the broadcast of that game that the NFL didn’t sign off on.

  55. 55.

    oldster

    If you like that Bill Murray ad, and generally like Bill Murray in his retirement phase of beyond caring what anyone thinks, then I highly, highly recommend watching him on the Graham Norton show with Matt Damon and Hugh Bonneville. They are incredibly funny, silly, and beyond caring (and yes, some alcohol is involved). At one point Murray starts laughing so hard that he begins weeping incoherently and cannot explain what he is laughing about.  Matt Damon sums up the hour by saying that it is the most fun that he has had on any talk-show.

  57. 57.

    Bruuuuce

    @PsiFighter37:

    the Niners got screwed over hard at every crucial point in this game.

    Let me rephrase that for you. The Real Murikans From the Heartlands obliterated the Wussy Coastal Elites. [/sarcasm] (I might dispute some of your objections, but not all. It was, at least, one of the better Super Bowls to watch.)

     

    @PsiFighter37:

  59. 59.

    zhena gogolia

    @brantl:

    HAHA, it wasn’t until now that I realized who you were talking about. I thought “Lamarr Alexander” must be the Chiefs’ quarterback.

  60. 60.

    janesays

    Didn’t realize this, but apparently the stars of the halftime show don’t get paid for their performance. The NFL picks up the tab for all of the production costs, but the performers basically do it for the massive publicity – 100 million sets of eyeballs watching them for 10-15 minutes. And their album sales skyrocket in the week immediately following the show.

  61. 61.

    Common Sense

    @Kai-two: Each player  decides  if they play football  or not. They are not FORCED to play football. They definitely get paid for it.

  65. 65.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I know. I try not to, but sometimes I’m afraid I’m saying the wrong thing; that I’m being a terrible person or something. I try to my very best to filter out what I’m saying

  67. 67.

    Mary G

    @Mary G:

     

    @Another Scott:

     

    LOL Senate Republicans passing a “Sense of the Senate Resolution” that the Chiefs belong to Kansas too and then pundits being all “but the city does straddle two states.” And then the NYT editorials being all “Democrats Lack Civility in Kansas Misunderstanding.”— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) February 3, 2020

  68. 68.

    Ken

    @The Dangerman: Doesn’t the Supreme Court has final say over all boundary disputes between states?  I wonder if they’d cave (well, 5 of them, and we know which 5) if Trump started babbling that the whole KC metro area should be in Kansas.

  69. 69.

    zhena gogolia

    @Mary G:

    That is hilarious. Yes, there is a Kansas City in Kansas, but that ain’t the one with the football team.

    I’ve spent my whole life explaining that I’m from Missouri, not Kansas.

  72. 72.

    PsiFighter37

    Also, as for the halftime show – I am not super-familiar with either J-Lo’s or Shakira’s catalog, as I am both too young to remember when they were meaningfully famous, and too old to appreciate whether their music actually is above the meaningless dreck that passes as pop music nowadays. Personal opinion – the folks who decide the halftime performance should be up to speed on contemporary pop culture and invite someone folks younger than my age should recognize, since that is the demographic that is going to be really challenging to hold onto as NFL viewers.

  75. 75.

    randy khan

    @clay:

    You know what I liked best about the halftime show?  I loved how much Shakira loved performing. She had such a big grin on the entire time; it was really infectious.  Hell, she had such a great time that even J. Lo was smiling by the end.

    Yeah, that was great.  She just seemed to exuding happiness on the stage.

  79. 79.

    TomatoQueen

    That was lovely and either those ladies will have arthritis in 20 years or they won’t. The ads were slick and cool and didn’t put a foot wrong and there was my beloved Big Papi (spoiler) and the chirping sounded like Merlin when he wakes up from his mini naps.

  80. 80.

    Jeffro

    @West of the Rockies: Amen.

    1) Great game!

    2) Chiefs came back ONCE AGAIN and for the love of the FSM, if they could just learn to get ahead and play with a lead, the stress on my heart would be totes awesome.

    3) People who whine about ref calls are…probably wishing their team had shown up stronger.  I’m sorry but empirically bad ref calls drop about 50/50 in any given game.

    that said…WHOOOOOOOOO CHIEFS!

  82. 82.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @clay: Arya Stark was from the North.  Winter is coming.  The cold never bothered me anyway.  And that is all I’ve got.

  83. 83.

    minachica

    @zhena gogolia: As a native Wichitan, I wish that Missourians would allow us to be Chiefs fans. They sucked as a team for my entire childhood+ but I still cheered them on. It’s depressing enough to be from Wichita; it would be nice to be allowed a bit of ownership of the Chiefs.

    At least I’m allowed to be a Packer fan now. In fact, it’s kind of impossible not the be one here in WI.

  84. 84.

    Ohio Mom

    Goku @ 65: cut yourself some slack; “reading” emotion is hard to do when it’s just text.

    You’re fine, Omnes is a very smart, and good guy who can be very brusque. To everyone. It’s his style.

    How’s school going? Is graduation within sight?

  86. 86.

    Ohio Mom

    Goku: I may have to look for your answer tomorrow— just looked at the clock and Egads — past my bedtime! Have a big appointment tomorrow.

  90. 90.

    MoCA Ace

    @Mary G:

    Trump congratulated the Chiefs for repping the great state of Kansas. It was deleted, but screenshots live forever:

    I was at a stuper bowl party full of MAGA’ts and one of them got this tweet right after the game.  He laughed about it then shared it and everyone laughed.  Another Trump supporter noted there were no misspellings so Trump probably didn’t right it himself… I noted he only hires the best and everyone laughed along.

    Even his supporters know he’s a joke!  Makes it even more maddening that they still vote for him.

    On a positive note I expected to hear all kinds of racist shit after the add about the NFL players brother getting murdered by the off duty cop but it was crickets until one young MAGA’t broke in and noted that maybe the cops needed to stop shooting unarmed people…. PROGRESS!

  93. 93.

    Kraux Pas

    All of TrumpNation’s heads exploded (if twitter is any indication). ✔

    Omg that explains why my buddy hated it so much when I texted him to say how awesome I thought it was.

    I swear to god, my Trumpist friends are becoming old men way before their time.

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MoCA Ace:

    Rick Wilson @ TheRickWilson
    That thing when you spend millions of dollars on a Super Bowl TV ad and then one tweet blows up your entire investment because you’re a fucking moron.

  95. 95.

    different-church-lady

    @MoCA Ace:

    …there were no misspellings so Trump probably didn’t right it himself…

    Stones. Glass houses. Projectiles therein. All that all that! ;-)

  111. 111.

    ruemara

    @PsiFighter37: Boy, I’m probably older than you by 15 years and I shake my booty to both those ladies on the reg. At least, when I haven’t sidelined myself pushing an SUV.

  115. 115.

    ruemara

    @mrmoshpotato: Getting better. MAnaged a good slow pace on the treadmill. that kinda wiped me out, but I feel the strength returning! I hope, Coulda just been delusions.

  117. 117.

    The Dangerman

    I’ve watched ESPN after the game and the general consensus is that goal line play was a TD. It was obviously really, REALLY close either way (and if it had been called short, it wouldn’t have been reversed, and we would have been treated to the level of balls of Andy Reid, i.e., tie the game or try to get that last inch/foot/whatever). My guess, he kicks the FG, but I haven’t heard him say so.

    What’s fairly surprising is there are a pile of cameras at the Super Bowl and I have yet to see one with a clean look. In the end, one way or the other, play was going to stand as called.

  120. 120.

    Lyrebird

    @PsiFighter37:

     

    Had to chuckle… how far past the biggest part of her career was Janet Jackson when she put Super Bowl halftime shows on the media map anyhow?  And still very beautiful.

    Says someone not that much younger than J Cole who does like tapioca and who will not mind if the concussion scandal ushers pro football into its proper place in history books.  Until that time… well, thanks Anne Laurie for the link, that was an awesome show!

  123. 123.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Amir Khalid: The Missouri side. There is indeed a Kansas City, KS, but it’s much smaller. When people say “Kansas City,” they generally mean the one in Misery.

    ETA: I suppose I should say that the default assumption is that they mean the city in Missouri. If it’s Kansas City, KS, then one specifies that, because it’s the exception.

  125. 125.

    MoCA Ace

    @Amir Khalid:

    Kansas City, Missouri.  There is also a Kansas City, Kansas right across the river.  To be honest I knew the geography but I don’t follow the NFL all that much and I didn’t even catch that the team is from the Missouri side of the river.

    It was interesting to see how little respect the orange shitstain gets from his own voters.  He’s a moron and they know it.  All that matters to them is owning the Libtards.

  128. 128.

    frosty

    @clay: Maisie Williams? It’s like every celebrity no matter how famous no matter what for sez  “Get me in the Super Bowl!!!”

  133. 133.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @PsiFighter37:  Classic Neeners fan whining. Once again the refs hosed you, just like in SB47 with that defensive holding no-call at the goal line because it wasn’t holding, you moron**. Waaah waaah waaaaaaaaaaah. Go follow curling or Liverpool Untied or something & STFU.

    ** Ravens fan here. We took our loss like adults. Yinz Seven-Squared whiners need potty training.

  134. 134.

    Michael Cain

    @PsiFighter37:

    Re the offensive pass interference…  It was one of the league’s “points of emphasis” this year.  Arm extended and elbow locked has been called offensive pass interference all season.  There were a ton of them called the first month while the receivers learned not to do it.  Zero chance that the refs would let this one slide.

Comments are closed.