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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: After the Big Speech

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: After the Big Speech

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From the AP’s live updates:


Pretty much the speech Biden gave!


(Unpaywalled gift link)

Reader Interactions

254Comments

  4. 4.

    Kay

    I’m confident Democrats can save social security and Medicare from Republicans but the idea that Republicans will be dissuaded because “then they will be liars” is laughable.

    They’ll be stopped by an outside force. It will have nothing to do with Republicans worrying about their integrity or credibility.

    Plus they’ll also go after Medicaid so please add “Medicaid” – make it three.

  6. 6.

    Geminid

    Freshman Representative Delia Rodriguez’s response on behalf of the Working Families Party does not seem to have made much of a splash. The Nation tried to build it up yesterday with a story titled “If you want to see the future of Democtatic politics, listen to Delia Rodriguez.”

    Representative Jamaal Bowman gave the WFP response last year. He was on the House floor last night, telling Joe Biden what a great speech he had given. I suspect Mr. Bowman found this to be a more comfortable role.

  10. 10.

    Geminid

    @Baud: No, I did not watch Rodriguez’s speech (I really don’t watch anything). I saw a couple of stories from after her speech.

    The story in The Nation was mercifully paywalled. I thought that a more honest headline would have read, “…what we want to be the future of Democratic politics…”

  13. 13.

    Baud

    @brantl:

    On MJ this morning, they had a clip of an interview with Mike Lee saying Joe lied about the GOP agenda, and then they showed a video of Lee proposing to destroy Social Security and Medicare.

    Lee is beyond shame, but it was funny.

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    It was the FAFO SOTU: the hecklers fucked around, and then they found out. Seriously, that was the best part, watching those loud-mouthed dinguses fall into the traps.

    Possum Queen’s rebuttal was a giant rake-stomp too: “the choice is between normal and crazy.” Yep, it sure is — thanks for providing such an unintentionally appropriate tagline.

    Also, good for Romney for telling lying shit-weasel George Santos to stop impersonating a legitimate congressman. Mittens seemed genuinely offended. Of course, if Santos wasn’t a quarter-wit, he could have responded with justification that it is actually Mittens and his old-fashioned ideas about decorum who doesn’t belong anymore.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    @Ocotillo:

    Medicaid. The wildly successful government health care program for poor people, which Republicans want to gut yet have never offered a single replacement idea of their own.

    Poor people just don’t get health care on the Right. No one even pretends to care about it on that side.

  17. 17.

    Princess

    Get a VP who looks at you like Harris looks at Biden.

    I mean, if you’re going to be president.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Now Republicans will be liars if they follow through.

    They lie all the time, it’s their modus operandi.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: So much babbling about “the left’s culture war” that forced poor Huckleberry to take up arms defensively against (checks notes) the use of the term “Latinx” in state documents.

    Also, wasn’t it weird that she told a dramatic story about sneaking out of her house on Christmas to join “the president” on a visit to Afghanistan without ever uttering the name “Trump”? WTF was that all about? I hope she gets angry letters from constituents for joining Biden on an overseas trip.

  22. 22.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Their “ last idea” on health care was Mitch Daniels in Indiana which was a long time ago

    ”high risk pools!” “Across state lines!”

    it covered like 10 per cent of the uninsured – weirdly you had to be “high risk” so they decided not to cover all the healthy children – they have to be dying

  23. 23.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Yeah, I heard about her not mentioning Trump by name.  Trump has to be miffed, right?

    I’m ok with the left’s culture war.  I like our culture and hate theirs.  It’s a war worth fighting.

  25. 25.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    I don’t know how a bunch of vampires got so good at projecting.

    Not being able to see themselves in the mirror surely helps.

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: Santos’s staking out an aisle seat was a brazen move for sure. I try to interpret the strategy involved, but I’ve heard a simpler explanation that may apply: “That boy ain’t right in the head.”

  29. 29.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty Cracker:

    Possum Queen’s rebuttal was a giant rake-stomp too: “the choice is between normal and crazy.”

    I was gonna bring that up, but you beat me to it!  I think that needs to be a new Dem speech line.

    Oh yeah, it needs to be a rotating tag line here.

    ETA: Duly nominated.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    I also enjoyed the spectacle of McCarthy trying to shush the howler monkeys in his caucus from his elevated perch behind Biden. Real “choir dad telegraphing ‘yer gonna get it!’ to misbehaving children in church” energy there.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Exterminator Nick Castro was inspecting a home for mealworms when he discovered something … nuts. Tens of thousands of acorns came cascading out from behind a bedroom wall.

    “Unreal,” Castro posted on his company’s Facebook page. As he reached behind the wall, the little oak nuts kept spilling out. Castro – who owns Nick’s Extreme Pest Control in Santa Rosa, California – said he filled a total of eight garbage bags with 700lbs of acorns.

    They had been stashed there by acorn woodpeckers – peculiar little birds with a shock of red feathers on their head – who are prodigious acorn collectors. Normally, the birds store thousands of acorns in small holes they drill into dying tree stumps, which they protect with outsize pluck.

    “But that instinct to fit an acorn in a hole and store it is pretty strong with these guys,” explained Angela Brierly, a PhD researcher at Old Dominion University who studies the species at the Hastings Natural History Reservation.

    Acorn woodpeckers:

    Generations of woodpeckers can take up to 100 years to perforate large trees with 50,000 acorn cubby-holes, said Brierly. The birds form polyamorous families with up to seven males and four females, who are joined by other relatives that help them raise their young.

    Sometimes staging spectacular battles, these families defend their granaries in oak forests across coastal Oregon, California and Mexico. “Of course these are acorn woodpeckers,” Brierly said. “So their entire ecosystem, life history and way of living revolves around acorns.”

  35. 35.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty Cracker:

    I also enjoyed the spectacle of McCarthy trying to shush the howler monkeys in his caucus from his elevated perch behind Biden. Real “choir dad telegraphing ‘yer gonna get it!’ to misbehaving children in church” energy there.

    And all the howler monkeys knowing that Kevin is completely toothless, having already given away his manhood to them in order to hold the (empty, in his case) title of Speaker.

  36. 36.

    Gin & Tonic

    While you were all consumed with the Sleepy Joe and Marge show, Lebron James broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s nearly four decade-old NBA scoring record. I thought, when Kareem retired, that his record might stand forever, but he was more than gracious about it.

  37. 37.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Betty Cracker: Yesterday was the first political event in forever where I didn’t hear the name TFG mentioned. Its like he was irrelevant.  And that’s a good thing for the country.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The birds form polyamorous families with up to seven males and four females, who are joined by other relatives that help them raise their young.

     

    The left’s culture war has gone too far!

  40. 40.

    Amir Khalid

    I’m watching Biden’s SOTU address. Very impressive. Maybe we should have our PM give an annual speech like this to Parliament.

  41. 41.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Baud: It helps, of course, that James started in the league out of high school while Abdul-Jabbar spent four years in college. That, and the 3-point basket, which didn’t exist for nearly all of Abdul-Jabbar’s career.

  45. 45.

    JML

    @Gin & Tonic: The one thing I wish would have happened during LeBron’s chase for the NBA scoring record that Kareem has held for so long would have been a little more celebration of was an amazing player Kareem was.  I get why the focus has been on LeBron, and what he’s done is amazing…but it still feels like people never gave Kareem his due for how great he was for so long. And that a lot of fans today don’t really know him like they should.

    But props to Kareem for passing the torch in person with such grace.

    Man, LeBron is something else. What a player.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    Republicans tapped freshman Representative Juan Ciscomani to deliver a Spanish language response to President Biden’s speech. Ciscomani’s district’s population live mostly in the Tuscon suburbs, and he won by less than 7,000 votes out of over 340,000 votes cast. That seat will be a prime target for Democrats in 2024.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JML: Hmmmm… Kareem Kareem Kareem… Where have I heard that name? Wasn’t he in a movie once? Maybe twice?

  49. 49.

    frosty

    @OzarkHillbilly: I love Acorn Woodpeckers. That clown face!

    When we were at Pinnacles NP last year they were all around the campground. Yep, watched them for hours and didn’t get bored.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    @JML:

    LeBron James started a public school in Ohio that takes the bottom quarter of students in an already low performing area – so the most difficult  to bring up-  and SUCCEEDS. The school concept works but it’s expensive. He subsidizes the school – adds to the public funding.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mai Naem mobile: Biden has always made a point of not mentioning Trump, which is awesome. But Trump might think Possum Queen is an ingrate to tell a classic Sir Story without a name-check. He made her, just like he made DeSantis! (The latter of whom Trump is now insinuating is a “groomer,” which is just — mwhah! chef’s kiss!)

  55. 55.

    Ken

    @Burnspbesq: When did the bond markets turn Democratic?

    Reality has a well-known liberal bias.

    In the UK, after the Truss budget caused a huge crisis, a number of Tories did claim it was sabotage by liberals (they may have said “woke remoaners”) in the financial sector.

  56. 56.

    Rusty

    @Baud: Don’t worry, the six reactionaries on the SCOTUS are itching to revisit Lochner, which is what gave us among other things child labor laws.  In Dobbs, Alito said it was ok to take away a woman’s right to an abortion, since in Lochner the court took away another constitutional right.  I guess that was the right for children to work in mines for the glory of the capitalist system. (A “right” that Alito desperately wants to restore.) These really are horrible people.

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    He still has a good many years left in him too.

    He’s 38. And the rigors of an 82-game regular season don’t really allow for players like George Blanda or Satchel Paige (figuratively speaking). I certainly don’t think he’s ready to retire, nor should he, but were he to do so, I don’t think there’d be a lot of “but he’s so young (in NBA terms)!” responses.

  60. 60.

    trnc

    @Kay: Medicaid. The wildly successful government health care program for poor people, which Republicans want to gut yet have never offered a single replacement idea of their own.

    Sure they have. Tax cuts for the wealthy.

  61. 61.

    schrodingers_cat

    After yesterday’s performance if anyone is seriously saying that Biden needs to step down they are not on our side, no matter what label they give themselves. And they should be ignored.

  65. 65.

    Amir Khalid

    Is Kevin going to have a quiet word in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ear about behaving herself at high-profile televised events like the President’s State of the Union address? Will he publicly reprimand her to make the point clear to his conference? In other words, will Kevin sack up and be a proper leader?

    Maybe not.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    SOTU = master class in dealing with the poo-flinging howler monkeys in the House GQP

    Fortunately, most of the mainstream coverage seems to be focusing on how the Rs pretty well

    a) disgraced themselves with the heckling

    b) just agreed they wouldn’t cut Social Security or Medicare

    c) mostly boxed themselves in on the debt ceiling

    d) are…dare we say it…IN DISARRAY

  74. 74.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SFAW: In 1961-62, Wilt *averaged* 48.5 minutes of playing time. He played every minute of all 82 games, including 1 (or 2?) that went into OT. Now healthy players don’t even dress for some games because of “load management.”

    Harrumph.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    Btw I know the NYT is garbage and Ross Douthat especially so, but today his column is about how Biden wins in 2024 with a “What trump Promised, I’m Delivering” theme.

    Hey even a dolt like Ross might have an interesting insight once in a while…

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @barbequebob: ​THAT’S the one!

    Actually, I knew it. I also remember he was in “The Stand.” The others I can’t quite recall. I was just having a little fun with JML’s statement that a lot of fans today don’t really know him like they should.

  79. 79.

    Suzanne

    Joe hit the perfect tone last night, which was a mix of humor and mockery.

    BHO could never do that because he would catch all the shit, and it would have a terrible racist undertone. He always knows he’s the smartest guy in the room.

    But Joey B can, and I love it. Honestly, he was really great and it underscores why people like him. He should get out in front of a crowd more often.

  80. 80.

    James E Powell

    “I don’t want to ruin your reputation, but I look forward to working with you,” Biden told McCarthy with a chuckle.

    In my younger days, my #1 gripe against Joe Biden was that he was always so nice to Republican assholes. Now it’s one of my favorite things about Joe Biden.

  83. 83.

    eddie blake

    @JML:  are you crazypants? dude played until his forties. he had one of the most unstoppable offensive moves in the HISTORY of the game.  his record lasted thirty nine years. it was thought to be unbreakable.

    people didn’t give him props or acknowledge his durability?

    just absurd.

  87. 87.

    eddie blake

    @Kay: lbj is an incredible athlete, but ALSO a great guy.

     

    compare and contrast with the anti-semite flat-earther, kyrie.

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Suzanne: ​BHO could never do that because he would catch all the shit, and it would have a terrible racist undertone. He always knows he’s the smartest guy in the room.

    Yep. Remember when he “ambushed” the GOP at their caucus dinner? The one they invited him to?

  89. 89.

    Betty Cracker

    @trnc: Good point about the intended audience. It’s something I’ve wondered about a lot, this Republican tendency to talk exclusively to their Fox News-addled base.

    My normie husband didn’t watch the SHB rebuttal with me, but if he had, I think he would have needed an interpreter for a lot of what she said because it’s so untethered from reality.

    DeSantis almost never strays outside the Fox News bubble. He conducts state business on Fox, like announcing new policies. That may work in a red state shithole like this, but don’t presidential candidates have to reach people who aren’t in their base?

    On the other hand, maybe the less independents and loosely affiliated Dems see of them, the better. I don’t know how that’s supposed to work.

  91. 91.

    James E Powell

    @JML:

    The one thing I wish would have happened during LeBron’s chase for the NBA scoring record that Kareem has held for so long would have been a little more celebration of was an amazing player Kareem was.

    I think the main reason that doesn’t happen is that Kareem doesn’t seem to want it. Full disclosure: When people ask Jordan or LeBron, I say Kareem.

  92. 92.

    James E Powell

    @Suzanne:

    I liked that comment because I interpret it as not nice to a Republican asshole. I like when they play with their food before they eat it.

    Yes, absolutely. My younger self was not smart enough to see that.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    @Gin & Tonic:

    one of my daughters friends started a business making state t shirts  – so an Ohio t shirt, Arkansas, etc

    she sent the Ohio shirt to James wife when they lived here and his wife wore it to a game

    they went NUTS at our high school – sort of tangentially famous for 20 seconds! :)

  95. 95.

    Geoduck

    @Kay: Sanders was probably trying in her brain-damaged way to thread the needle- the true cultists all “know” that the Shiatgibbon is still really The President, and everybody else doesn’t want to hear about him ever again.

  96. 96.

    eddie blake

    @Gin & Tonic: oh FFS. how high did wilt have to jump to dunk?

    players are MUCH more muscular and massive today

    for ex, zion and lbj weigh 275-300 lbs  lbj is averaging 30 ppg at 38 years old mostly on tomahawks. his knees and body are under SO much more stress.  give me a fucking break.

     

    @zhena gogolia: HA!

  101. 101.

    jonas

    @Jeffro: Yep. Josh Marshall observed in his editor’s column this morning that Biden’s speech was pretty boilerplate in a lot of ways, but then shifted into this series of rhetorical jujitsu moves that left the Republicans looking like jackasses. He knew *exactly* how they’d react to that stuff, and how the media would cover it.

  102. 102.

    zhena gogolia

    @schrodingers_cat: Yes, I did tune in to see her outfit. I mercifully missed Sinema’s.

    I’m slowly making my way through Jewel in the Crown. I had no idea what a good actor Art Malik is. Nowadays he’s mostly a kindly old sidekick on British mysteries.

  106. 106.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Gin & Tonic:

    In 1961-62, Wilt *averaged* 48.5 minutes of playing time. He played every minute of all 82 games, including 1 (or 2?) that went into OT. Now healthy players don’t even dress for some games because of “load management.”

    And I remember when in MLB, “seven-inning pitcher” was a dis, not the max that’s asked of a starting pitcher anymore.

  109. 109.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Memphis police

    “They would allow just pretty much anybody to be a police officer because they just want these numbers,” said Alvin Davis, a former lieutenant in charge of recruiting before he retired last year out of frustration.

    The department offered new recruits $15,000 signing bonuses and $10,000 relocation allowances while phasing out requirements to have either college credits, military service or previous police work. All that’s now required is two years’ work experience – any work experience. The department also sought state waivers to hire applicants with criminal records and the training academy slackened fitness standards.

    “I asked them what made you want to be the police and they’ll be honest – they’ll tell you it’s strictly about the money,” Davis said, adding that many recruits would ask the minimum time they would actually have to serve to keep the bonus money.

    Another former patrol officer turned recruiter who recently left the department told the AP that in addition to drawing from other law enforcement agencies and college campuses, recruits were increasingly coming from jobs at the McDonald’s and Dunkin’ drive-thru outlets. A stripper applied, though didn’t get in.

    “There were red flags,” said the former recruiter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel and hiring. “But we’re so far down the pyramid nobody really hears the little person.”

  110. 110.

    Ken

    @NotMax: When I wanna feel old, I go to the drugstore and look at the Life/Time/People special editions. “Remembering Lucille Ball”, “70 Years of From Here to Eternity”, “Henry Fonda: A Life in Pictures”.  Then I realize that no one under the age of 40 ever buys these magazines, because they’ve never heard of the subjects.

  111. 111.

    Geminid

    Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is addressing the British House of Parliament (although he may have finished speaking by now). The House is packed.

  113. 113.

    eddie blake

    @jonas: no. as it stands lebron has said he can “work with” irving and keep him on a tight leash because irving is a singular talent who can help the lakers win the championship.

    bc he’d done it before. irving really didn’t start acting the ass until he left cleveland for boston

    eta-westbrook coming off the bench is working MUCH better for the lakers than having the two on the floor together for the bulk of the game

    see wilpon’s interview w/james posted yesterday on espn where they discuss the issue.

  114. 114.

    zhena gogolia

    The most annoying part of this clip is the way McQarthy pronounces “Social” in “Social Security” — “SOSUL security”

    After Steve Doocy points out to McCarthy polling showing that independents were turned off by the GOP heckling of Biden last night, McCarthy talks about his members like they're children: "Well, the president was trying to goad the members, & the members are passionate about it" pic.twitter.com/yuY8YJq0Xj— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 8, 2023

  117. 117.

    eddie blake

    @Gin & Tonic: pretty sure you’re missing my point.

    wilt was SO much closer to the basket than lebron. he jumped a MUCH shorter distance. the repeated impact of all that mass coming down on a LITERALLY much smaller footprint has to be taken into account.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    @Geoduck:

    I think it’s great they’re doubling down on culture wars

    Its my favorite thing to fight about – we can win that

    Conservatives are mad that they have lost credibility but that is the cost of lying constantly – they want to lie constantly and suffer no consequences – MTG is a joke not because she’s southern or white but because she’s a crazy liar – they had a hearing last week where she questioned some poor soul using insane invented numbers.” billions” on “wokeness” – it’s all nonsense

  119. 119.

    different-church-lady

    @Ken: I dunno, when I was a kid I was fascinated by what the olds had lying around. And I think I spent more time in art houses watching films from the 40s than doing class work.

  120. 120.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ken:

    When I wanna feel old, I go to the drugstore and look at the Life/Time/People special editions. “Remembering Lucille Ball”, “70 Years of From Here to Eternity”, “Henry Fonda: A Life in Pictures”.  Then I realize that no one under the age of 40 ever buys these magazines, because they’ve never heard of the subjects.

    At our pharmacy, these magazines are right under the counter where you pick up your prescriptions, so you get to look at them awhile while you wait in line.

    They’re like the magazine equivalent of Classic Rock, only it seems like a lot of them are aimed at an even older generation than mine, and I’ll turn 70 next year.

  123. 123.

    zhena gogolia

    @Ken: I’m about to introduce my students to Greta Garbo. They’ve never heard of her. But I think some of them get it.

  124. 124.

    Another Scott

    @Gin & Tonic: Yup, great ones are timeless.

    But sports change (Kareem said as much).  One really sees that in tennis.  Guys and gals hitting the ball as hard as they can for 2-5 hours now, vs something that was more like badminton 40 years ago.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  125. 125.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Baud:

    @barbequebob: He was also in Enter the Dragon starring Bruce Lee. I think Kareem is a legit martial arts practitioner and has been since back then.

  126. 126.

    Ohio Mom

    @Geminid: There is a joke waiting there in the Republicans — a party whose voters are known to chastise immigrants to learn English, you are in the US! — making sure there is a SOU rebuttal delivered in Spanish.

  127. 127.

    Suzanne

    @Ken:

    When I wanna feel old, I go to the drugstore and look at the Life/Time/People special editions. “Remembering Lucille Ball”, “70 Years of From Here to Eternity”, “Henry Fonda: A Life in Pictures”.  Then I realize that no one under the age of 40 ever buys these magazines, because they’ve never heard of the subjects.

     

    I was born in 1980, which makes me 43, and I would never buy these magazines. Those people are firmly in my parents’ age cohort or older. So the target market is at least 70.

  129. 129.

    eddie blake

    @Kay: she said one SINGLE grade school had received five point one BILLION dollars.

    was dr. evil unavailable?

  130. 130.

    Kay

    @different-church-lady:

    im hoping they’re over interpreting Florida

    putting it all on their success in that one state

    Democrats are putting together winning coalitions in wildly different states – all over the map – it’s smarter to diversify

  132. 132.

    Anyway

    @Betty Cracker:

     It’s something I’ve wondered about a lot, this Republican tendency to talk exclusively to their Fox News-addled base.

    It’s what Rove and his ilk used to say – we create our own realty. There’s no empiricism, provable truths etc – it’s all faith-based…

     That may work in a red state shithole like this, but don’t presidential candidates have to reach people who aren’t in their base?

    I guess we’ll find out.  Rs benefit from MSM repeating Faux News lies and forcing Ds to address them.

  133. 133.

    Leslie

    @Gin & Tonic: FTFNYT had some nice coverage, a couple of articles with action shots and quotes from coaches, teammates, opponents. No quote from kaj, but I think that’s because, as James Powell said, he doesn’t seem to want the attention.

    One of the photos was of lbj with his eldest son, and the caption said he wants to stick around long enough for the two of them to play together. What a memory that would be to close out his career, eh?

  135. 135.

    Betty

    @zhena gogolia: I was quite surprised to see my redneck cousin called out MTG for her ignorant behavior. He doesn’t like Biden but said he deserves respect as President. So even the other side disapproved.

  136. 136.

    lowtechcyclist

    @zhena gogolia:

    My high-school friends and I went to see Casablanca every night for its week-long run.

    In DC back in the 1970s and 80s, we had a number of repertory movie theaters – the Circle, the Biograph, the Key (although the Key was mostly current art-film stuff, IIRC).  The Circle showed twin bills of older movies, and published a schedule that told you what movies were coming up over the next several weeks. (The Biograph did that too, I think.) Admission at the Circle was $2, or you could buy a book of ten tickets for $10.  My friends and I in the ‘burbs would plan our trips into town around those schedules.  I watched the King of Hearts and Harold and Maude twin bill more than a few times there.

  137. 137.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Anyway:

    It’s what Rove and his ilk used to say – we create our own realty.

    Big deal, the Dutch have been doing that for eons.

  138. 138.

    Gin & Tonic

    @eddie blake: Pretty sure you’re missing *my* point.

    In that season, Wilt never sat down. Ever. Sure, he was playing against generally smaller guys than are on the court today, but it was still 82 games, in arenas people smoked in, and he played every single minute. *That* record will never be broken, IMO.

  139. 139.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    They sell them in kiosks I think?

    I’ll find out – the business is a success and Casey (the founder) was a great kid with a difficult family background so I was happy for her.

  141. 141.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @NotMax: What makes me feel old…well many things. But like my first cinematic blockbuster touchstones, being a GenXer, were of course Star Wars and Indiana Jones, both of which are now further back in time than Casablanca was when they were released. Hell the John Hughes teen movies – 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty In Pink, that defined GenX cinematically, are now as old as the silver screen classics like Sunset Boulevard were when they came out.

    All the music from that era and even the 90s is now older than what were referred to as “oldies” back then by like a decade. The music made in the 1980s is as old now as big band swing was in the 1980s which is crazy to think about but says a lot about how pop music basically calcified and has made only marginal progress in like 40 years because 80’s era stuff still sounds recognizably pop – i.e. not dramatically different from what is popular today. Whereas, in the 80s, big band swing was thought of as completely and utterly obsolete. NOBODY made music like that. The closest was the Stray Cats trying to bring back 50s rockabilly.

  142. 142.

    Suzanne

    @Anyway:

    That may work in a red state shithole like this, but don’t presidential candidates have to reach people who aren’t in their base? 

    I get so pissy at this question. I recognize that it comes from a reality in which voters approach the entire electoral process as if it is a market and they are making consumer choices….like instead of buying a car or a television, they’re buying a president. I hate that reality.

    In marketing, they talk a lot about making sure people (whomever is in their target market, anyway) feel spoken to directly, that they feel seen, that they see their concerns and aspirations identified and reflected. They do this because they want the consumer to feel really positively and to make an easy call to fork over their money. They want it to be no work at all.

    I wish electoral politics were different in this regard, but it isn’t. The citizenry should put more work into voting….examine your values, listen to opposing good-faith arguments, listen to other citizens’ concerns, weigh policy alternatives.

    But it isn’t. And this kind of butthurt about “Shouldn’t the president speak to everyone?” is just bad-faith misdirection that comes from people who are used to having their concerns/identities/aspirations having prominence in public life and don’t like when they have to share that with other people.

  144. 144.

    evodevo

    @Geminid: I’m betting it was a weird way of trying to look like a white balloon…she was going to bring one to the SOTU and Kev wouldn’t let her LOL

  145. 145.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Suzanne:

    Joe hit the perfect tone last night, which was a mix of humor and mockery.

    Didn’t he? I said to my spouse at the beginning of the speech his was excellent trolling with his congratulatory flattery. By the middle and end I was conversing with the TV…”go Joe”…”tell ‘‘em Joe”…”bring it Joe”…and boy, did he!

  146. 146.

    Burnspbesq

    @SFAW:

    i’ve heard it said that LeBron wants to stick around long enough to play with Bronny. The problem with this take is that Bronny is by no stretch of the imagination a sure-fire one-and-done NBA prospect. He is a legitimate Division 1 prospect, but he would be well-advised to plan to play four years at a school where he might accidentally stumble into an education.

  147. 147.

    Redshift

    @Kay:

    I think it’s great they’re doubling down on culture wars

    Its my favorite thing to fight about – we can win that

    Yeah, I think we can get a lot of mileage out of “you can elect Democrats and we’ll work on solving real problems, or you can elect Republicans and they’ll spend all their time chasing insane conspiracy theories to try to get Fox watchers to support their doomed presidential campaign.”

    (But shorter, I’m not good at slogans…)

  148. 148.

    Belafon

    Have you watched Olympic-level badminton recently?

    Remember when pickleball was just to get people out of the house?

  150. 150.

    Geminid

    @Ohio Mom: Ciscomani was born in Mexico. He had served in Governor Ducey’s administration before he won the 6th CD nomination.

    Ciscomani only 40 years old, and Republicans seem to want to nurture his career. They put him on Ways and Means, an unusual posting for a freshman.

    He will need all the help he can get; Joe Biden would have won the redrawn AZ-6th, and Ciscomani won by less than 7,000 votes last year.

  151. 151.

    Redshift

    @Kay:

    Medicaid. The wildly successful government health care program for poor people, which Republicans want to gut yet have never offered a single replacement idea of their own.

    They never offer a replacement because they’re not against Medicaid, they’re against the idea that government should help poor people.

    It’s kind of the mirror image of the GOP demanding Democrats offer spending cuts, except we don’t lie about our position because it’s not unpopular.

  154. 154.

    eddie blake

    @zhena gogolia: when i was a kid, every time i was in the kitchen w/ my gramma, she was always humming this wordless, haunting and melancholy tune. wasn’t until i saw casablanca at some art-house theatre on the LES in my teens that i realized she was humming, as time goes by.

  156. 156.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @lowtechcyclist: In STL we had the Tivoli and the Hi Pointe. The Tivoli played a different movie every night w/ Rocky Horror for midnight showings every Saturday. Seeing “Freaks” is my favorite Tivoli memory. The Hi Point played art house movies with longer runs of 1 or 2 weeks.

  157. 157.

    eddie blake

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:  and of course, the star wars and indiana jones films are meant to hearken back to the serial films of the 40’s and 50’s. imo, though, they’ve aged MUCH better than those hughes high school movies.

    stray cats were ahead of the curve. they got the jump on both the psychobilly/rockabilly revival AND the big-band swing rebirth in the late eighties and early nineties.

    people were looking forward with hip hop, grunge, industrial and electronica but at the same time grabbin’ onto nostalgia with two fists.

    (also gen xer.)

  158. 158.

    Old School

    @Gin & Tonic:

    In that season, Wilt never sat down. Ever. Sure, he was playing against generally smaller guys than are on the court today, but it was still 82 games, in arenas people smoked in, and he played every single minute. *That* record will never be broken, IMO.

    So LeBron should have broken the scoring record years ago?  He’s resting too much?

  159. 159.

    Amir Khalid

    I was in  court today, testifying against a lawyer who tried to swindle my family, and has almost certainly also swindled many of her other clients. (This was actually a retrial, occasioned by some defect the Appeals Court had found in the original charge. She had been sentenced to 12 years before.) Because her lawyer was newly appointed, the previous one having died of Covid-19, he asked for a one-day postponement to prepare for cross-examining me. So now, instead of wrapping it up in one day, I need to be back in court tomorrow. Grumble.

  160. 160.

    lowtechcyclist

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The Key Theater was where we watched/participated in the midnight showings of RHPS.

    I’ve got the DVD, and it’s still pretty good without the audience partici…….pation, but it does seem incomplete without people yelling, “the man you are about to see has no fucking neck,” “how do you spell ‘urinate,’ Brad?” etc.  Fortunately, my memory can fill a lot of it in.

  161. 161.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Whereas, in the 80s, big band swing was thought of as completely and utterly obsolete. NOBODY made music like that. The closest was the Stray Cats trying to bring back 50s rockabilly.

    Yeah, it had to wait until the ’90s for a revival (Swingers, anyone?).

  162. 162.

    JMG

    @Gin & Tonic: At the Celtics’ practice facility in Brighton (Boston neighborhood) they have the original championship banners from the old Garden up on one wall under glass. The ones from the ’60s and ’70s are absolutely dark yellow from cigarette smoke ascending to the rafters of the old dump.

  165. 165.

    eddie blake

    @Gin & Tonic:  i mean, zion is 6’6″. i’m 6’6″. i fluctuate between 205-210 lbs. zion weighs between 275 and (over) 300 lbs. seven inches shorter than wilt, considerably smaller feet, same game-weight. four years in, his body is ALREADY breaking down.

  168. 168.

    Paul in KY

    @Gin & Tonic: LeBron (mighty player that he is) has had 4 extra years (straight to the NBA) to work on that record. If Kareem had gone straight to NBA, LeBron would have about another 12,000 points to score before getting to it.

  169. 169.

    Alison Rose

    It was a great speech, but I’ve been informed by Very Serious Twitter Liberals that because he only had one mention of LGBTQ and abortion rights, BIDEN IS WORSE THAN TRUMP, HE SOLD US OUT!!!! I swear to fuck, some people are exhausting. I’m a queer abortion-loving feminist, and I was perfectly fine with what he said. It’s like they don’t understand what the fucking speech is supposed to be. He wasn’t at the GLAAD offices or a PP clinic, for God’s sake.

  170. 170.

    Kay

    @Belafon:

    pickkeball was controversial at my husbands tennis club – because they’re snobs and the  pickleballers  wanted more courts  – but they eventually surrendered to the obsessed pickleballers and now he plays both games. Can’t beat ‘em, etc

    Complete victory over the traditionalists :)

  171. 171.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @OzarkHillbilly: They lie all the time, it’s their modus operandi.

    Remember when the Thugs used to say Bill Clinton “never tells the truth when a lie will do**”? Every, every, every accusation is a confession with those clowns…

    ** TBH that may have started with FDR. Most of their slurs do. I don’t think any of them have had a clever or original thought since then…

  175. 175.

    eddie blake

    @Paul in KY:  kareem retired at 42, lebron broke his title at 38, four years younger. you figure it balances out? (also no reason james can’t continue playing for several more years, he’s practically carrying the lakers at the moment, certainly during davis’ absence and shows scarce indication of slowing down.)

  177. 177.

    jonas

    @Alison Rose: ​
     

    It’s like they don’t understand what the fucking speech is supposed to be.

    Exactly — he was giving it for the MSM and political normies who would get a digest of it this morning on the Today Show or whatever. So: mom, apple pie, and bipartisanship. Oh, and clips of Republicans booing all those things.

  181. 181.

    Jackie

    USA’s Rex Huppke: “I’ve never seen anything like it in a State of the Union speech – they ran at him like a pack of lemmings and, with a wink and a grin, he politely directed them to the cliff.”

    Heh

  183. 183.

    Ken

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Another “when I want to feel old” technique is to listen to the ads on “classic rock” radio stations.  Home health care providers, erectile disfunction treatments, gold buyers, and (in season) Medicare plan enrollment.  They know their market demographics.

  184. 184.

    Ohio Mom

    @Geminid: No doubt it is smart strategy for Republicans to nurture Ciscomani and try to appeal to Spanish speaking voters.

    Many of the Republicans I know in my larger circles (Ohio Dad’s old workmates for example) would feel uncomfortable with the Republican Party endorsing bilingualism though.

    They were are bent out of shape when the local public library put up signs in Spanish. They didn’t appreciate the response, Aren’t you glad the library is helping them learn English?

  185. 185.

    Geminid

    @Kay: The Cornhole game is to Horseshoes somewhat like Pickleball is to Tennis. A new variation that requires less strength and practice to enjoy. Cornhole has the additional advantage of being portable and easy to set up. It’s gotten pretty popular around here.

    The serious “Shoes” players are unimpressed by a game that women can play as well as them. The town park at Stuart’s Draft has 12 sets of horseshoe pits and they still get a lot of players, and virtually all are guys.

  186. 186.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s not a record that should be broken.  Athletes are human beings and wear & tear on their bodies is real and irreversible.  No coach should have ever let a top athlete do that.  Luckily we know better now and that is a good thing.

  188. 188.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Amir Khalid: Is Kevin going to have a quiet word in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ear about behaving herself at high-profile televised events like the President’s State of the Union address? Will he publicly reprimand her to make the point clear to his conference? In other words, will Kevin sack up and be a proper leader?

    He’ll march into the conference room with her, hearing in his head the scathing speech he’s going to deliver and imagining the masterful way he’s going to finally take control of the Krazy Kaucus.

    Five minutes later he’ll walk silently, head down, out of the conference room, having never said a word and having instead had the riot act read to him by MTG. If there are reporters there he’ll mumble something about “very productive meeting” and then run for the elevators.

  189. 189.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ken: I’ll bet. Fortunately, it’s been nearly a decade since I stopped listening to classic rock stations altogether.  I got to a point where I’d heard even the really good songs so damn often that I needed some serious time off from them.

  192. 192.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Paul in KY: Half of Kareem’s career didn’t have three pointers as a scoring option, giving him way more touches and scoring opportunities.  “Pass it to Kareem in the post” was the absolute no-brainer strategy for your best bet of getting a bucket.  LeBron is playing at a time when players’ 3-point shooting %’s are downright ridiculous and post-up play is much less the obvious scoring choice.  Kareem (and Wilt too) wouldn’t be putting up the kind of numbers that they did, in today’s NBA.  They would also be defending big men who are much quicker, better ball handlers and shooters than the Centers they typically faced in the old days. I’m sure they’d find ways to be great, but I really doubt Kareem/Wilt’s skill sets would dominate today’s NBA, anywhere near the way they did.

  195. 195.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Ken: Counterexample: One of my daughters had a big “Nick at Night” phase and loved the original Lucy Show. She also watched a lot of Laverne and Shirley, a show I never cared for though I have since adored Penny Marshall in everything I’ve ever seen her in.

    And I’ve personally enjoyed a lot of film from the 1930s and 1940s, which was before my time. For some reason I’ve seen a lot less from the 1950s (my parents young-adulthood) and barely know any stars from that era.

    But speaking of feeling old, when I was a kid in the 60s, occasionally my parents would bring home this creaky magazine called “The Good Old Days” which was full of reminiscences about the era roughly from 1890-1910, with readers who remembered that time. A couple years ago I googled to see if that magazine still exists, since obviously nobody remembers 1900 any more.

    It does. And the creaky “Good Old Days” are now my childhood.

  197. 197.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    One thing that struck me about the speech was Biden’s clear intention to rebuild the blue-collar middle class. He’s always been a strong proponent of unions, which built that middle class and which Reagan destroyed. But he was also talking a lot about “good paying jobs that don’t require a college education”.

    There is a general decline in many areas of our life that started with Reagan policies, and I started to despair at ever seeing that trend reverse. But I think Joe might just manage to set the trajectory going the other way.

  199. 199.

    rikyrah

    I love receipts

     

    Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) tweeted at 9:48 PM on Tue, Feb 07, 2023:
    What Sanders won’t say is how her state benefitted from @POTUS’s agenda:

    $3.9 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

    $2.6 billion from the American Rescue Plan

    222,000 eligible for targeted student loan relief

    Insulin cap at $35/month for 36,000 Medicare beneficiaries
    (https://twitter.com/harrisonjaime/status/1623166871695400960?t=7I948ZIhzPUFXrwJat-Pdw&s=03)

  200. 200.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    Well of course, when the 2 things that most republicans care about is them having money and everyone that doesn’t look like them dies poor, it’s difficult to get them to understand how full of shit they are.

  204. 204.

    Kristine

    @James E Powell:

    In my younger days, my #1 gripe against Joe Biden was that he was always so nice to Republican assholes. Now it’s one of my favorite things about Joe Biden.

    Maybe others have already said this, but Biden undercuts McCarthy’s power and authority over his caucus every time he behaves in an amiable manner and McCarthy responds in kind. Death by a thousand crooked grins.

  205. 205.

    Geminid

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I was interested yesterday to hear an Arizona commenter describe the communication he received from the new Arizona Democratic Party chair. She is a Hispanic lady whose previous job was with the Communications Workers of America.

  206. 206.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Republicans here are trying to pass a literal “Don’t Say Gay” bill for the public schools. From what I heard on the news this morning it would ban any staff member at a public school from discussing anything about gay people with any student. Literally they couldn’t say anything about homosexuals period. There is an exception for mental health professionals, but they would have to have parental permission for the discussion so it’s useless. Yes, they are definitely overinterpreting Florida. Here’s a link to an article about it. https://apnews.com/article/politics-missouri-state-government-sex-education-florida-mike-moon-5f0a24af8e7428e63e59f19560a74d50

  207. 207.

    narya

    @Geminid: Back when I played handball, handball players regularly groused about racquetball players in just that way. When there were limited courts (which there were, where I mostly played) it was a pain.

    And in my home town–near the slate belt–it was quoits, not horseshoes, and some bocce thrown in for good measure. When my dad was younger (he’s 92, so . . . . awhile ago) there were quoits leagues.

  208. 208.

    rikyrah

    Nina Simone was right.

    Mississippi GODDAMN!

    Mississippi Today (@MSTODAYnews) tweeted at 8:50 PM on Tue, Feb 07, 2023:
    Breaking: A white supermajority of the Mississippi House voted to create a separate court system and expanded police force within the city of Jackson — the Blackest city in America — that would be appointed completely by white state officials. https://t.co/XEJOO5ztBv
    (https://twitter.com/MSTODAYnews/status/1623152318035251200?t=S9yyynFVC7HU6kVvYwppNA&s=03)

  209. 209.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Republicans focusing on inflation like a laser beam. The prop blow-up Post headline is a nice throwback to the 90s

    Elizabeth Landers @ElizLanders
    @JamesComer gavels in the Oversight hearing on Twitter & Hunter Biden – there’s a big poster behind him of a NY Post headline: “Biden Secret Emails.”

    The FoxNews chyron says something like “Hunter Biden Laptop Censorship Scandal”. I don’t have much faith in the average American voter, but I just can’t imagine this is going anywhere. It’s like a dead language interpreted through a broken Rosetta Stone.

  210. 210.

    tobie

    I’m in the airport and two white dudes are sitting behind me complaining that Biden lied about the GOP wanting to cut Medicare and Soc Sec. They’re surmising he has Alzheimers and didn’t know the truth and saying how great it was that the GOP called him out.

    Lord, give me the power to bite my tongue.

  212. 212.

    trnc

    @Betty Cracker:

    My normie husband didn’t watch the SHB rebuttal with me, but if he had, I think he would have needed an interpreter for a lot of what she said because it’s so untethered from reality.

    LOL

    DeSantis almost never strays outside the Fox News bubble. He conducts state business on Fox, like announcing new policies. That may work in a red state shithole like this, but don’t presidential candidates have to reach people who aren’t in their base?

    You would think, but sometimes I worry about the inside jobbers – purity ponies who almost entirely support democratic policies but don’t like various ways we get there or whom are desperate to demonstrate their independence from time to time.

  213. 213.

    RaflW

    @Baud: Biden is speaking at the Laborers’ International Union of North America training center in DeForest, Wis.

    Good choice. Union workers (Laborers are the general workforce trade on things like highway heavy construction). And DeForest is minutes from commie Madison/GOP gerrymander h.q.

    I hope to g-d he mentions the WI state Supremes primary!!

  214. 214.

    Kay

     

    It’s not like they haven’t tried it before

    george w bush tried it – he would have destroyed social security if pelosi hadn’t stopped him

    “who,US?” Lol

  215. 215.

    Heidi Mom

    @Ken: Don’t forget metastatic breast cancer.  Given that they also recite the side effects for the drug in question, I can’t imagine that the ad encourages anyone to want to take it.

  217. 217.

    Craig

    @JML: the TNT broadcast has been really good about how amazing Kareem is, even now. Shaq is such a Kareem superfan, they have an interesting relationship.

  220. 220.

    tam1MI

    @rikyrah:
    Here’s to the State of MississippiFor underneath her borders, the devil draws no linesIf you drag her muddy rivers, nameless bodies you will findOh, the fat trees of the forest have hid a thousand crimesThe calendar is lyin’ when it reads the present time
    Oh, here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart ofMississippi, find yourself another country to be part of
    And here’s to the people of MississippiWho say the folks up north, they just don’t understandAnd they tremble in their shadows at the thunder of the KlanOh, the sweating of their souls can’t wash the blood from off their handsOh, they smile and shrug their shoulders at the murder of a man
    Oh, here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart ofMississippi, find yourself another country to be part of
    And here’s to the schools of MississippiWhere they’re teaching all the children that they don’t have to careAll the rudiments of hatred are present everywhereAnd every single classroom is a factory of despairAnd there’s nobody learning such a foreign word as fair
    Oh, here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart ofMississippi, find yourself another country to be part of
    And here’s to the cops of MississippiThey’re chewing their tobacco as they lock the prison doorAnd their bellies bounce inside them when they knock you to the floorNo, they don’t like taking prisoners in their private little warsAnd behind their broken badges there are murderers and more
    Oh, here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart ofMississippi, find yourself another country to be part of
    And here’s to the judges of MississippiWho wear the robe of honor as they crawl into the courtThey’re guarding all the bastions of their phony legal fortOh, justice is a stranger when the prisoners reportWhen the black man stands accused the trial is always short
    Oh, here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart ofMississippi, find yourself another country to be part of
    And here’s to the government of MississippiIn the swamp of their bureaucracy they’re always bogging downAnd criminals are posing as the mayors of the townsAnd they hope that no one sees the sightsAnd no one hears the soundsAnd the speeches of the governor are the ravings of a clown
    Oh, here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart ofMississippi, find yourself another country to be part of
    And here’s to the laws of MississippiCongressmen will gather in a circus of delayWhile the Constitution’s drowning in an ocean of decayUnwed mothers should be sterilized, I’ve even heard them sayYes, corruption can be classic in the Mississippi way
    Oh, here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart ofMississippi, find yourself another country to be part of
    And here’s to the churches of MississippiWhere the cross, once made of silver, now is caked with rustAnd the Sunday morning sermons pander to their lustOh, he fallen face of Jesus is choking in the dustAnd heaven only knows in which God they can trust
    Oh, here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart ofMississippi, find yourself another country to be part of

  221. 221.

    Paul in KY

    @oldgold: In Kareem’s book (one of them) he mentions that when he was young, Wilt sent him a gift of several suits. Problem was the suits stank bad as if they had been sweated in for hours. They had to throw them away.

  223. 223.

    Ruckus

    @different-church-lady:

    These are the people that are always right (not necessarily correct, just always right) and their world view is the only one that counts. It doesn’t matter or concern them that they are full of shit, because they are always right. Their view point is the only one that matters and everyone else is always wrong. If you want any proof – just ask them. They used to be the bane of some small town but now they get on TV and get elected to congress, although there has always been at least one or two of them there, now we have the internet and TV and people have more off time because most people don’t work 50-60 hrs a week, and there are more kinds of work, which gives them more opportunity to fail at everything except bull and shitting on everything that they don’t like or understand. Which is pretty much everything.

  224. 224.

    artem1s

    @Betty: ​ @zhena gogolia:

    I was quite surprised to see my redneck cousin called out MTG for her ignorant behavior. He doesn’t like Biden but said he deserves respect as President. So even the other side disapproved.

    I wonder if he’s more offended because she did it while having a vagina. Acting like a howler monkey in public is reserved for men only in the true ‘Merican Heartland.​​

  225. 225.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolia

    Have a nurse on standby to check the pulse of any students who don’t let at least one chuckle slip out during Ninotchka.

    @Geminid

    No contest deserves to be saddled with the name Cornhole.

  226. 226.

    Paul in KY

    @eddie blake: Good point, tho those 4 extra years Kareem would have had would be when he was at his young giant best, dunking on old white guys. God only knows how many he would have scored.

  227. 227.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @eddie blake: Oh, it’s worse than that. That meme about the one, single grade school getting ONE BILLION dollars to teach woke-ism has been making the rounds all over rightwing media and social media.

    Most of these people are just that fucking stoopid, but the leaders are just fucking evil.

  229. 229.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @eddie blake:

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yes I recall the swing revival of the ’90s which was more of a jump blues revival. I liked the idea of it but never really got into any  of the contemporary bands of the time (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy etc.) but it did lead me to start exploring the jazz artists who invented the genre and THAT stuff I do listen to somewhat regularly to this day. It may have been obsolete in the ’80s in that there wasn’t anything in any part of the pop music landscape that retained any noticeable components of that era but that didn’t make it bad music. Quite the contrary.

    Brian Setzer did jump back on that bandwagon with the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Give the guy credit, he knows what he likes and he’s spend his life trying to make everyone else like it too to keep it alive. Their Nutcracker suite which veers from rockabilly to big band swing to klezmer is pretty great.

  230. 230.

    Paul in KY

    @UncleEbeneezer: I have no doubt that young Kareem (Milwaukee Bucks days) would be a 1st team all-NBAer today. Wilt would be a great player too, but might not be at that level.

  232. 232.

    Paul in KY

    @rikyrah: God, I hate those jakeleg crackers running Mississippi. I lived there for about 8 months (was at Keesler AFB). Made KY look like Monaco. I felt sad for all the black people forced to live under that regime.

  235. 235.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    that nice, polite Chris Hayes sounding like a foul-mouth, vituperative blogger

    Chris Hayes @chrislhayes. 1h

    Biden: “Folks, how bout cheaper prescription drugs? Let’s get it done, folks. Let’s get it done.”

    House GOP Caucus: “WHY CAN’T WE SEE HUNTER BIDEN’S GENITALS !?!?!”

  236. 236.

    Miss Bianca

    @Betty Cracker: And Mittens, for all that I may sympathize with his tut-tuttery about decorum and proper form and all that, can go take a flying fuck at the moon as far I’m concerned. Vulture Capitalist “Mr Quiet Rooms/Corporations are People, My Friend” says what now?

  241. 241.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Rusty: These really are horrible people.

    Scumlito is truly the Ugly Italo-American. My people whined for generations about how oppressed they were, but the minute their greasy, hairy arses got godfathered into Whiteness** the first thing they did was yank the ladder up on everyone else who was trying to climb it & shit on them as they fell. My people, nastiest racists in the visible multiverse, gesummaria…

    ** Right after WW2 IIRC, in return for the assistance of the Mafia in the invasion of Sicily. As a young man my dad (b. 1913) had to deal with being called d*go, w*p, g**nea, greaser, eccetera…

  242. 242.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SFAW: That scene in Airplane! when the kid repeats his dad’s crapping on KAJ for “dogging it” and Kareem grabbing the kid by the shirtfront and reading him the riot act…{chef’s kiss}

  246. 246.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @OzarkHillbilly: I recall sometime in the early 70s going to an n-th run movie theater in Philtydelphia** which IIRC was called TLA Cinema​ with my former GF who was in med school there, to view what was probably the single most inappropriate double-feature in the history of moving pitchers:

    Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet
    followed by
    John Waters’ Pink Flamingos

    (Aieee!)

    ** Go Birds! Fricassee Chefs!

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