Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Not all heroes wear capes.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

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

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Republicans do not pay their debts.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

This blog will pay for itself.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Squishable Morning Thread

Squishable Morning Thread

by | 85 Comments

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Happy First Day or whatever. I’m a bit hungover from partying with the neighbors. We were making merry at the new and improved side-yard bar, and some sumbitch wandered over with schnapps. (Oh right, that was my husband. We’re too old for this nonsense!)

I was reviewing the college bowl game action on tap for today and became aware that Jerry Falwell’s diploma mill has a D1 football team that is playing on New Year’s Day. What the hell? Anyhoo, Go Ducks!

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  2. 2.

    TriassicSands

    Jerry Falwell’s diploma mill has a D1 football team that is playing on New Year’s Day.

    Yes, but if god was really on their side, they would be playing for the national championship, wouldn’t they? It’s a well known fact that god has favorite teams, which is why it’s always so amusing to hear the quarterback thank god for guiding his team to victory.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    Alarmed at the inroads a college founded by a gross money-grubbing charlatan has made into American sports culture, I looked Liberty U up and learned their student enrollment is 96K. No wonder the country is in such a pickle!

  5. 5.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    That’s mammoth. I wonder if they have a bunch of online only students.

    Their big thing used to be the debate team.  Makes sense since righties really focus on performative rather than substantive qualities.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: According to Forbes, it’s “the largest Christian school on the planet,” but there’s no online vs on campus enrollment breakdown.

  8. 8.

    Rusty

    I’m up early so I can drive a couple of hours and spend today and tomorrow helping a friend of 45 years move.  He’s had a really bad year and been forced into an unwanted move.  All of it has been outside of his control,  so I’m hoping his luck turns with the new year.  As crazy as it is, I’m looking forward to the time together.   Sending out prayers for anyone else that needs a turn of fortunes this year too.

  11. 11.

    Wallis Lane

    Liberty won an opening round NCAA BB game as a 12 seed a few years ago. It was the tournament’s first feel-bad Cinderella story.

  18. 18.

    Jeffg166

    Happy New Year’s! 

    Big whoop.

    I woke at 12:06 to hear not much. If there was a  barrage of fireworks at midnight, I missed it. Did hear a couple go off in the distance. No people outside screaming. A good start to the year.

    Today I make the pork and sauerkraut. If anything else gets done it would be extra.

  19. 19.

    David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch

    @Baud: ​  This is the coach who built Liberty’s football program:

    As part of discovery for the lawsuit, Nutt’s attorneys filed a freedom-of-information request for calls [Coach Hugh] Freeze made on his university-issued cell phone during January 2016. While reviewing those records, Nutt’s attorneys discovered a call to a number associated with a female escort service, and alerted Ole Miss officials about it. Freeze claimed it was a misdialed number.[40] School officials investigated, and discovered what they later described as “a concerning pattern” of similar calls dating back to shortly after he arrived in Oxford:[41] at least a dozen calls over 33 months,[7][8] often made while Freeze was traveling on business trips using Ole Miss’ private plane.[28] On July 20, 2017, chancellor Jeff Vitter and athletic director Ross Bjork gave Freeze an ultimatum: resign or be fired for violating the morals clause of his contract.

    When this first emerged he insisted he was being persecuted for being “a good Christian” then Ole Miss released his phone records. Unlike any reputable university, Liberty had no problem with the hookers and hired him.​​

  21. 21.

    lowtechcyclist

    Happy New Year, y’all!

    As expected, my light was out by about 9:45pm, and I’m sure my wife wasn’t far behind.

    Woke up at 2am to go to the bathroom, and the kiddo was downstairs in the kitchen, nuking something to eat. Told him to eat it (just eat it), and then go to bed. When I awoke for good at 4am, his light was out, so I know he got to bed sometime.

  24. 24.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty Cracker:

    According to Forbes, it’s “the largest Christian school on the planet,” but there’s no online vs on campus enrollment breakdown.

    They have to be mostly online. There’s no way Lynchburg could handle a university with half that many students.

  26. 26.

    David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch

    It’s a shame Larry Flynt didnt create a Hustler University with a football program, just to stick it to Liberty

  28. 28.

    Mustang Bobby

    Best wishes for a happy New Year, Friends.  Greetings from a cool (for some) South Florida where it’s 52 F and foggy.  I am hoping for many things, including another trip to Alaska in June for the Valdez Theatre Festival, more writing and more productions, and for whatever way Karma dispatches her comeuppance for those who have so richly earned it.

  29. 29.

    mrmoshpotato

    I was reviewing the college bowl game action on tap for today and became aware that Jerry Falwell’s diploma mill has a D1 football team that is playing on New Year’s Day. What the hell? Anyhoo, Go Ducks!

    Yeah.  What the hell?

    Go Ducks and Go Blue!

    Also, go Hawkeyes and go Badgers!

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    @lowtechcyclist: +1

    Horse’s mouth (from 2022):

    This fall, Libertine University has welcomed more students than ever before in both its residential and online programs, exceeding 130,000 students for the first time. Total on-campus enrollment stands at a record 15,800 students. Libertine’s online programs hit a record 115,000 students pursuing degrees from across the nation and around the globe.

    A longtime leader and pioneer in online education, Libertine is also celebrating a record 18,400 students enrolled in Libertine University Online Academy, which offers Christianist online education for K-12.

    Those poor kids. ☹️

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  34. 34.

    mrmoshpotato

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Woke up at 2am to go to the bathroom, and the kiddo was downstairs in the kitchen, nuking something to eat. Told him to eat it (just eat it), and then go to bed. 

    Glad to hear he’s not a fussy young man.

  36. 36.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mustang Bobby: A few hundred miles further up the peninsula, it’s 10 degrees colder and also foggy. I can barely make out the opposite bank of the river.

    Foggy River

  37. 37.

    bjacques

    Happy New Year all! Amsterdam was its usual fireworks warzone despite the second year of a ban on shooting fireworks here.

    Disclosure: Pre-pandemic, I lit off my share, hosting fireworks parties at my flat in the middle of town, but was glad of the excuse to stop after several years with no injuries or damage.

  38. 38.

    lowtechcyclist

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Glad to hear he’s not a fussy young man.

    Au contraire, he definitely is one.  But he’s been known to get himself an egg and beat it.

  40. 40.

    SteveinPHX

    Happy New Year to all.

    I’ll be rooting for LSU, the Vols, not the Tide (just can’t do it), Longhorns and Go Ducks!

  45. 45.

    raven

    @Betty Cracker: There is a guy a the dog park who was doing his doctorate through their online option but he bailed and took his EsS. He said the student support was nil but they gave almost 50% discount to vets. Our BIL still lives in Appomattox and loves to explain that they give all kinds of break to Virginia and, especially, Lynchburg high school grads. I was also part of a group of institutions who had a yearly meeting a their presentation on “evolution” was fucking hilarious!

     

    Virginia residents who attend Liberty University receive at least $1,500 per year in scholarships ($6,000 total over four years).

    If you have a GPA of 3.4 or higher and live on campus your first year of enrollment, you’ll receive a minimum of $2,300 per year ($9,200 total over four years).

    Lynchburg City high school graduates (E.C. Glass or Heritage High School) who have a GPA of 3.4 or higher will receive $4,300 per year ($17,200 total over four years) for school. Plus, you’ll receive an additional $2,000 per year to help with a meal plan. That’s $25,200 in all.

    Qualify for the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant (VTAG) and you could receive even more. Eligible students received an additional $5,000 in the 2023-24 school year.*

  47. 47.

    Betty Cracker

    @Another Scott: Just now seeing that on TV. From the coverage I’ve seen so far, it looks like there’s damage but not catastrophic devastation, so that’s good news for such a big jolt. Hoping for the best too!

  48. 48.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: I was pulling for them; I despise FSU so was glad to see them humiliated. Especially after listening to ‘Noles whining about the CFS all week.

  53. 53.

    Princess

    @Betty Cracker: I took a close look at their offerings in my field once and I mean it sincerely when I say Liberty U has no business being accredited as a university.

  58. 58.

    Central Planning

    @Another Scott: ​  I do not think libertine means what they think it means.​
     
    ETA: I think that was either an autocorrect or intentional change :D

  59. 59.

    EarthWindFire

    Liberty is an athlete cult with a side hustle in “education”.

    My dad lives just north of Lynchburg and says you can always tell when the Liberty U cross country team is running on nearby trails. They’re the ones running in perfect formation with still the coiffed hair and smiling the whole way.

  60. 60.

    opiejeanne

    @mrmoshpotato: And go Huskies. That was a surprise to us, since we weren’t really following them.

    I always have hope for the other WA team, the Cougars, just out of sheer contrariness, and my hopes for them are crushed almost every time.

  66. 66.

    Citizen Alan

    @Frankensteinbeck: Reasonable people can disagree on whether a college should be justifiably concerned about a high ranking school official hiring prostitutes via a school issued cell phone. It is a much bigger issue, however, when the school official is a football coach in charge of recruiting, and there are legitimate reasons to worry that he’s on the phone hiring hookers for high school-aged blue chip prospects.

  67. 67.

    wenchacha

    @Another Scott: My son and his family are in Japan, but just outside Tokyo. They bought an abandoned house there last year, which will be home for my DIL’s dad. They made this holiday visit with work plans. They felt the shaking, but all are ok. They will get back to California on Wed.

    Also, too: this is gonna be one helluva year. I can feel it.

  70. 70.

    mrmoshpotato

    @opiejeanne:

    And go Huskies. That was a surprise to us, since we weren’t really following them. 

    Ok.  I don’t really care about tonight’s game.  But Washington vs Michigan on Monday?  Ok.

  74. 74.

    Burnspbesq

    @David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch:

    Ross Bjork is the guy who failed upward to Texas A&M, where he gave Jimbo Fisher $75 million to not coach and was turned down by a number of potential successors before finally poaching a head coach from that well-known gridiron powerhouse, Duke.

    When the alums and boosters figure out that not even God Himself could get the Aggies into the upper echelon of the Situational Ethics Conference, Bjork will be toast. Hopefully Mike Elko will survive with his reputation intact. He did a hell of a job in his two seasons in Durham.

  75. 75.

    Bevstersf

    You and I are as one on this. Liberty v Oregon is like some kind of desperately awful crossing of streams.

  76. 76.

    Burnspbesq

    As a resident of the Austin metropolitan area, to the very limited extent I care about handegg, I will be rooting for U-Dub.

  77. 77.

    Burnspbesq

    @raven:

    HOW BOUT THEM DAWGS!!!!

    Would have been more impressive if their opponents had bothered to show up.

    In an unprecedented display of unity, Duke and Carolina fans have joined hands for a rousing chorus of “Fuck off, FSU.” There are rumors of Stanford and Cal fans doing the same, although the Cardinal fans were probably drunk from celebrating their win over Arizona.

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