Trash Talk: Hot January in the D
[NB: note the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
Though 25F and cloudy in the D, it’s hot today where Detroit Lions’ fans are stoked out of their gourds because their beloved Kitties won their first NFL’s playoff game last week and are scheduled to play their second at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon on their own turf.
Michigan newspapers are loaded with helpful pointers about where to eat and drink with one paper in particular offering the recipe for a Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid cocktail, matching the color of the Lions’ uniform. Absolut Citron and blue curacao? I’m game, I’d try it.
Of course there’s the usual bad mouthing about Detroit. Can’t let the Motor City and the Arsenal of Democracy have anything good without a healthy slap, right, WaPo? Let’s not allow Detroiters to have a rare moment of unbridled happiness without picking at all the wounds.
At least WaPo had to get a lot closer to ensure there was a forced both-sides. Ruin porn on which major newspapers have feasted for the last 10-20 years is a lot more difficult to come by these days in the D. One only needs to look at the Michigan Central Station as an example of restoration and innovation replacing one of media’s favorite ruins.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers meet the Detroit Lions at 3:00 p.m. in the D.
Kansas City Chiefs meet the Bills at 6:30 p.m. in Buffalo.
Yesterday the San Francisco 49ers won at home over the Green Bay Packers 24-21.
The Baltimore Ravens likewise won at home over the Texas Longhorns, 34-10.
Let’s see if home field advantage likewise helps the Kitties today.
~ ~ ~
Speaking of the KC Chiefs, some stalkery dude tried to break into Taylor Swift’s place in TriBeca; he’d been skulking around her place for weeks trying to see her. Swift is still dating the Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce which should make the Chiefs’ game in Buffalo more amusing due to the extra star power in the audience.
~ ~ ~
In football – the other football – racist fans have gotten completely out of hand. FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino wants to crack down on the abusive behavior asking teams to forfeit if their fans are disruptively racist.
“The events that took place in Udine and Sheffield on Saturday are totally abhorrent and completely unacceptable,” Infantino added. “The players affected by Saturday’s events have my undivided support. Fifa and football shows full solidarity to victims of racism and any form of discrimination.
“Once and for all: No to racism! No to any form of discrimination!” the head of world football’s governing body added. “We need ALL the relevant stakeholders to take action, starting with education in schools so that future generations understand that this is not part of football or society.”
Yeah. That. Ditto.
Infantino’s demand comes after racist incidents during Coventry City FC at Sheffield FC on January 17 and AC Milan FC at Udinese FC on January 20. Both incidents were aimed at Black players – Coventry’s midfielder Kasey Palmer and AC Milan’s goalkeeper Mike Maignan – with the latter walking off the pitch at one point in protest.
It’s not a good look for FIFA when these incidents happened within days of each other and in different countries in and out of the EU.
~ ~ ~
Damn it. I just realized I made a mistake. My spouse and I agreed I’d cook dinner yesterday and he’d bring home fried chicken for dinner today.
Betting with the Lions’ game he’s ensconced at his favorite watering hole with his friends right now after a couple hours in the office, and getting fried chicken tonight will be a nightmare since so many Michiganders will be ordering takeout to watch the game.
Looks like it’s leftovers tonight.
Treat this like an open thread.
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Thank you.
Here is some real trash, De Santis has ‘suspended’ his campaign.
At least the GOP can see through that fascist fuck. If only they could see through their manufactured Apprentice.
Ah fooey. I’ve really been slow on the uptake lately. This early drop-out might be a long play by DeathSantis but the approach he may use is yucky.
In fanfiction there’s a subgenre called “whump” in which a key character is subjected to a lot of physical/psychological/emotional hurt; that character is often becomes more popular as a result. They call this character a woobie.
I’ll bet DeathSantis is aiming to become the GOP’s woobie. *shudder*
I think he shot his funding wad in Iowa and the donors said nuh-uh when he went back to the well to finance NH.
Trump’s latest brain glitch gave Nikki Haley the justification to take off her gloves and take a swing at Trump. I am sure her campaign smelled blood in the De Santis water yesterday, or she never would have done that as aggressively.
What terrifies me are the Independent and Democrat Biden supporters who said in a man on the street interview with MSNBC this morning, that they were looking at Nikki, because they didn’t like that Biden wasn’t calling for a ceasefire.
Trump trained the country to think that if the President isn’t saying something out loud or on Dead Bird, nothing is happening. Real diplomacy happens in the shadows.
The man on the street interviews reveal media’s gross failing — Biden has been pressuring Netanyahu *indirectly* repeatedly for a ceasefire but media does a shit job of explaining that. The US has been counting on Israel to obtain US and other citizens held hostage so Biden and State Dept can’t be blunt about the demand for a ceasefire, only “express concerns about civilian deaths” repeatedly. Don’t get me started on Netanyahu’s fuck-you to the US rejecting the two-state solution which Biden has been pressing for.
Media’s also doing a shit job explaining how the entire situation holds the US hostage to oil, also failing to draw the links between US military action against the Iran-sponsored Houthi to the ongoing hostility in Palestine where Saudi-friendly Israel is excising any remote link to Hamas which has received funding from Iran and Qatar and more over the last decade. We’re not supposed to know that Netanyahu played a big role in Hamas’ funding. (Funny how Mehdi Hasan got the heave ho at MSNBC when he was one of the earliest journalists to discuss Israel’s role in establishing and funding Hamas and its blowback.)
Nor has the media done an effective job explaining Netanyahu is going as hard as he can right now because he’s still under indictment.
He’s a fucking scofflaw like Trump, even wearing makeup and dying his hair lately emulating his American scofflaw counterpart. But the media here avoids asking why Israel continues to let Netanyahu get away with genocide while under indictment. We should be watching this closely because this is Trump if he should win again.
Powerful summation.
Well said Rayne; the only thing I’d potentially disagree with is the two-state solution. I’ve read some opinions by experts here in Norway that a two-state solution is probably no longer viable. The reasoning is that it would legitimize treating Israelis and Palestinians differently, and a better solution would be to have a single state where both were treated equally. I don’t see any way of that actually happening though.
John Oliver had a pretty good summary of the conflict for those that haven’t seen it.
I can understand the argument against the two-state, but if Palestine is a second sovereign state it as a nation has rights the same as Israel under international law.
The continued theft of Palestinian land could not be condoned if Palestine is fully sovereign any more than Russia’s theft of eastern Ukraine can be condoned.
Early November, Omer Bartov mentioned the (nebulous) possibility of a federation of states post-conflict in a conversation w Amy Goodman. Not sure what he had in mind, though. (Around the same time, he was warning about leaping to use the term “genocide.”)
On the other hand, this just in:
“The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, has suggested that Palestinians could be housed on an artificial island in the Mediterranean, according to sources at the meeting of EU ministers in Brussels.”
(Guardian)
What’s next, projection to the Phantom Zone??
We pushed some Native Americans to Alcatraz, IIRC, then pushed them off that!
Who’s running Jeffrey Epstein’s island these days? Just thinking ahead – a lot of delusional MAGA folks could be enticed there under the guise of it being a retreat (free airfare provided, no RW propaganda media allowed) and a taste of the lifestyle they deserve…and then be met by expertly-trained cult educator/deprogrammers, who might possibly introduce a little logic and seedlings of critical thinking to those who might be open to such qualities, if given half a chance.
(Just dreaming out loud)…
Sounds a bit like Hitler’s early idea of putting Jews on boats—then sinking them.
Cuz you know how “regrettable” things can happen to ‘artificial islands’.
Thank you for that link, I had missed that show. I am going to share this with a lot of people who need background and context, this being the most concise I have seen yet.
I fear the start of a solution lies in a lot of people on a lot of sides admitting they were wrong, a prerequisite I do not see being adopted by any of them, any time soon.
It’s worth adding context that if the 2-state solution is dead, it’s because the Israeli right wing killed it via the border wall and allowing so many settlements that the West Bank is carved up. As far as Likud is concerned, that’s a feature, not a bug.
The English language online version of Likud party platform contains that entity’s version of the “River to the Sea.” Expressly claims Israeli sovereignty over all of that real estate. Frustrating that the MSM uniformly ignores this fact while often characterizing the slightest concern for Palestinian interests as anti-Semitic sympathy for Hamas.
The phrase appeared in the 1977 Likud election platform before the 8th Knesset; it was later dropped. I believe it may also have appeared in a Likud song sung in the late-1940’s but can’t find a source for that this minute.
Likud, by the way, seems to have been an offshoot of the Beitar ultra-nationalist movement in Poland in the late-1920’s. It was founded by Vladimir Jablonsky as a single-issue party with the explicit goal to realize “…the inalienable right of the Jewish people to all of the Land of Israel.”
Menachem Begin became a member in the early 1930’s while at Univ. Warsaw and later a director of Beitar, in charge of organizational development (per Likud official history.)
Biden is doing as well as he can, I think, but he was Vice President during Obama and he was ranking member of Senate Foreign Relations in Clinton and later chaired that committee during Bush II’s first term. He was our guy for foreign policy for a generation, on our side, not challenging the “bipartisan consensus” on policy towards Israel and Palestine for as long as anyone can remember, staying the course, captain of a Ship of Fools.
Seeing current events unfold, how can anyone conclude this “bipartisan consensus” to have been anything other than an abject failure since the Clinton Administration. In the eyes of the world and God too, America is now joined at the hip with whatever Netanyahu’s Israel decides to do to the Palestinians in Gaza. Biden too.
DeSatan’s campaign failed to file in time for the New York state. That’s how badly managed his campaign has been so far. Not surprising with that last ignoble contribution to electioneering-lite he has bowed out.
Ron DeSantis is an exemplar of a Bear of Very Litle Brain: “You find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.”
His wife Casey, an ex-TV presenter, is suspected (probably correctly) as being the impulsion for his campaign.
Perhaps, but the Bear of Very Little Brain was a kind, gentle creature. Sort of the opposite of RdS
He reminds me of Nixon. He’ll be back. Maybe with an improved smile.
I’m a Bucs fan whose sort of pulling for Detroit. Not sure either team could beat the 49ers anyway.
I hope it’s OK to post this brief video of the Daily Show’s “Ron Desantis’s Inner AI Monologue”…it’s pretty funny imho! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8rCFnRnVfU
So Sonnerad Ron resumes his day job full time, pushing anti-science to the health detriment of Floridians. Every silver lining has a cloud.
…and losing court cases to Mickey Mouse.
Mr. “I won’t back down.” Ha!
My favorite part of DeSantis dropping out is that he misquoted a fake Churchill quote and got called out by the Churchill Society.
*Obligatory reminder: Churchill was a truly loathsome politician and if you didn’t know that, I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you.
Two days ago, Politico had knives-out-for-the-consultants opinion piece that was just brutal. Jeff Roe in particular came in for some well-deserved mockery and abuse. Yes, it was written by a rival consultant, but when the consultants are coming for each other, you know that the candidate no longer matters.
So why does Roe get hired at all? He has a take-no-prisoners approach which candidates find attractive. Back in 2015 the MO secretary of state, Tom Schweich, was running for the GOP nomination for Governor. In the midst of the campaign, he shocked Missouri when he committed suicide. The head of the MO GOP had passed along a story he had heard that Schweich was Jewish — which in certain parts of the state is clearly a political slam. While this was never officially attributed to a Roe strategy, in his sermon at the funeral, the Rev Senator Jack Danforth came THIS CLOSE to publicly accusing Roe of being behind it.
This is who Jeff Roe is. The sooner pieces like this drive him out of politics, the better. But I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
NBC had this piece with a hilarious photo of the head of RDS’s Super PAC in their campaign nerve center working on a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/ron-desantis-campaign-doomed-puzzle-rcna132688
Front line people are always willing to spill this stuff
to reporters if they are cultivated, but the political press always thinks it’s beneath them to talk to anyone but the Jeff Roes of the world.
Was Jeff Roe behind the hiring of Nate Hochman for the DeSantis campaign? Interesting article about the advantageous role Catholic allegiance plays in GOP politics- New Republic, “Illiberal Upstarts…”
Speaking of- more news about the lawsuit embroiling Georgetown and Notre Dame (and other schools including ivy leagues). The court case was brought in 2022. Recently, Rice settled for $33.5 mil. The allegation is students on financial aid suffered an, “inflated price of admission,” due to collusion among prestigious private schools. I’m sure there’s much shock at the possibility that the administration of right wing religious /legacy admission schools would do what is alleged.
No idea.
The President of Koch’s Heritage Foundation was formerly the President of Wyoming Catholic College.
The political connection between Koch’s network and the Catholic right wing agenda is the untold story of the decade- two substantial parts are Leonard Leo’s spending and his judges and secondly, the attack against public schools which has the dual aim of benefitting Catholic schools and enriching privateering billionaires through tax dollars.
Wait…Jeff Roe is real? Not a program pitch for a Duck Dynasty sequel?
But, he self-describes as a Howitzer gunman, gums Red Man chewing tobacco, his woman won a beauty pageant – missus Ozark (as in Missouri), he named his kids, Remington, Rockwell and Reagan (note to writers-the story line needs a Honey Boo Boo for pathos). (Btw-in the Axiom photo array of 150 people, only a sprinkling of the national firm’s “family” are Black?)
Media gold- a crossover event- Paula Dean’s cookware and Roe’s Howitzer-themed backyard, bath and bedroom junk.
Churchill’s role as Home Secretary in the Tonypandy miners strike in 1910-11 is particularly notorious in Welsh political history.
The Coal Mine owning cartel had kept wages depressed for years and sought to depress wages further at new workings by setting unrealistic production standards. When the miners refused to agree to the basis for wage calculation, there was a lock out imposed by the owners who brought in strike breakers to work those mines. The strike spread and there were occupations and actions to disable pumping stations.
Churchill assisted the mine owners break the strikes by authorising drafting in police from England, including mounted Metropolitan Police, and further authorised their reinforcement with troops comprising cavalry [18th (Queen Mary’s Own) Hussars] and infantry [Lanashire Fusiliers]. There was extensive rioting. One man died and a large number injured. Trials followed.
He also authorised troops to be used at a railway strike in LLanelli 1911 where two strikers were shot and killed.
In 2010 a proposal to rename a military base in South Wales in honour of Churchill was rescinded after a campaign by Welsh Local Authorities to prevent it because of this history.
He didn’t cover himself in glory during the 1926 General Strike, either. He was a man of his time and class, only more so. His callousness toward people of color, especially regarding South Asians during the Second World War, is scandalous. Then there’s his decades-long hatred of Mahatma Gandhi.
He tried to drive Ireland into famine during WW2, and only relented when they shut down beer exports to conserve grain.
Churchill was also responsible for Gallipoli, not only in its planning but also in letting the SMS Goeben get to Constantinople in the first place without understanding how important that was.
I don’t see how you can blame Churchill for the Goeben’s escape. The British were chasing it with 3 of their battlecruisers and a cruiser squadron. All of them were essentially out of contact with London.
While the Gallipoli campaign was Churchill’s idea, the RN’s execution and especially the poor planning and execution by the RA (and Kemal Ataturk) are generally seen as the main reasons for its failure.
Churchill was First Sea Lord (therefore in charge) and set the policy of allowing the Goeben to go to Turkey. In fact he was so clueless that he rebuffed Turkish overtures (‘sick man of Europe’) and sent a message to go after the Goeben in case it came out of the Dardanelles. That indicated clearly just how blind he was to the fact that Turkey joining the Central Powers would be a strong factor to knocking Russia out of the war by cutting imports by over 90%
And Otto English who in a book he wrote on quotes falsely attributed to Churchill identified the true source as a Budweiser advertisement in 1938.
That Budweiser Advertisement so inspiring to Ron De Santis, in full:
https://images.app.goo.gl/EDZEe8DmrcNEgf7K7
Yep. Dang it, John Lithgow (The crown Season 1)
[Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the same username and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You changed your username to “Queen of the Crone Age” back in September last year; that name complies with the site standard. Thanks. /~Rayne]
Arrggh. My Brownies blew it royally last week, so I now have no interest in watching others move forward. Would you be partaking of TPA v. SFO if that’s on the plate next week?
I’m heading to the hardware store in a couple minutes instead of partaking right now because it dawned on me there will be many fewer persons right now looking for hardware. Better to seize the opportunity during the game than gamble on outcome and next week at SF!
Go Rayne! to the hardware store!
The Packers left my heart broken in San Francisco. Again. Go Bills!
Your comment put Tony Bennett’s masterwork in my head, I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Can you believe that performance/recording is sixty two years old already? The music and lyrics were written by two gentlemen aged only 33 at the time. How do we thank them, and Tony also?
Great music is, to me, one of the wonders of the world; to be able to leave something behind that is still beloved sixty years later, or even longer (Mendelssohn wrote his Overture to a Midsummer’s Night Dream some two hundred years ago, at age 17), is unthinkable yet astonishing.
Ah, that is not the right way to look at it at all…
Remember this was a rebuilding year for the Pack and they played like that! I’m so stoked for next season, I cannot begin to tell you : ) I would have preferred a win, of course, but cast your mind back before Thanksgiving and now look where they are… I’m a happy happy Packer fan ; )
What the what…my old man came home to watch the game. Guess he’s avoiding the ongoing COVID surge!
Spouse said the roads are empty — nobody’s out and about, must be home watching the game.
Which means I am definitely going to the hardware store ASAP. Leave me some liquor in the cabinet, people!
Glad someone is avoiding it . . .
Tested positive this morning before church, and had enough energy to make other arrangements so that worship could go on without me. Then collasped in bed while Mrs Dr Peterr picked up paxlovid.
Wearing a mask while having a runny nose is a bitch. Here’s hoping the paxlovid kicks in quickly.
Oh my. Sorry to hear you got the ‘rona, Peterr. I wish I’d gotten Paxlovid when I got it a year ago, hope it does the trick for you and quickly.
So sorry Petterr – just heard on SF Bay Area KQED the suggestion that two rounds of Paxlovid is beneficial, if you can get it. Ten days vs five reduces rebound risk, and some said even long Covid.
Take care!
Paxlovid worked a champ for me. Sorry to hear you caught it. Good Luck !
So sorry to hear about this, Peter! Hope your recovery is easy.
My sinuses have been on overtime for a year, with coughing *and* sneezing. (Not the Rona, my O2 saturation is fine. I mask every time I go out. and I’m vaxxed.) But damn, it’s rough having all that with a mask on.
Paxlovid is the bomb, if you can get it quickly. My first Covid infection, I was past Day 5 and already improving when I finally got some, so I held on to it. Last October, I tested positive again, started the unexpired course immediately, and by the time I took my last pill, I was already testing negative. It’s amazing, and the metallic-taste side-effect is easily managed with liberal applications of cough drops.
I hope you feel better very soon, Peterr. I assume you were boosted, as I was when I got Covid the fourth time in October. The shots don’t make us impervious to infection (especially those of us with immune deficiencies), but my experience has been that they seem to bring the severity way down.
I’ll be watching for your reappearance here in the comments! Take care of yourself!
Gianni Infantino is in charge of FIFA, which (only) runs the World Cup. The two games you mentioned were championship matches in Italy and England : it’s national FA business, and above that, UEFA territory.
As it happens, UEFA is much richer than FIFA (because of the champions’ league) and this annoys Infantino greatly.
So his stepping into UEFA’s patch is a political long game move hoping for a state level push for a FIFA oversight on UEFA (and with it access to the loot).
In general FIFA is known for its greed: ethics come later.
“In general” is being too generous.
But FIFA does do more than just run the World Cup. They are one of the groups that oversee the Laws of the Game, and they also manage the rules for transfers, the scheduling of international tournaments (not just the World Cup)) and other aspects of the international game.
And Infantino is not doing this to crack down on racism. It’s the First World publicity around it that he hates. He had no problem with the abuse of migrant workers in Qatar ahead of the last world cup.
soccer maybe fun to watch, but the governing interrnational bodies need to be fired and new people take over.
The business in Quatar was disgusting. These governing bodies just appear to be a bunch of old fat white guys from Europe, looking out for themselves and how much power and money they can accumulate.
If the fans are screaming racist comments, simply shut down the game. Every one leaves
Peterr, get rid of the covid soon.
In B.C. we have higher a rate of RVS and influencia than covid, which has been on a slow decline since Nov. according to the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry.. We have a fairly high rate of people getting their covid and booster shots so that helps. Our covid shots are free of charge and you get them at your pharmacy. The Health ministry notifies you by text, “your covid shot is waiting for you” Get a shot every six months for covid. Still need to get my RVS shot though
Ah, yes, Desantos has dropped out of the race and the news reported he is backing Trump. Yikes, is he hoping to make V.P. or a cabinet post???? You wonder where people like that come from. On the other hand I can remember George Wallace and a couple of KKK leaders who were in a “league of their own”, thankfully they went the way of the dodo bird. However their beliefs have remained and expanded.
The U.S.A. survived the first 4 years of Trump and the insurrection. The political system worked. If he is re elected lets hope the system works again.
Hope you all enjoyed the football games.
Barely survived, and much weakened. He’ll do far far more damage this time, his handlers have had time to plan and I’m sure they were able to find a metric ton of weaknesses they’ve been preparing to exploit.
Rayne,
Kitties are amazing. I hope their roar drowns the pirates.
well — what about those feral super-pigs, trash coming down from over the northern border?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5s-nIK2lqc
Go Kitties!
Congrats to Lions fans everywhere!
Congrats to Rayne in MI and Marcy watching in the bar in Ireland!!
(and congrats phred!)
Thanks, ros, all you need is Love ; )
Looking forward to Sunday. Jared Goff is coming home to the Bay Area where he played High School football at Marin Catholic, and college ball at Cal.
It will be a fun game, and the weather is predicted to be 68 and sunny.
Go Niners 8-D !!
Rayne, thanks for the links to the Michigan Central Station. That Guastavino Tile is exquisite. Wonderful to see that restoration!
Detroit is full of beautiful places to see. The art museum is worth a day trip all by itself. I love that city, and as a Bears fan I am happy to adopt the feral Kitties as my home team. (We Chicago-born either learn to do that early or live in a stew of frustrated hope our whole lives.)
I’ve never been to Detroit but I hope to visit. I got into Kahn architecture for a project a couple of years ago and got a crush on the city. I’m for the Chiefs and the kitties. I live in LA and am a fan of Goff. I’d be really happy if either wins the top prize.
Jared Goff. Quick feet.
From Instagram: ” DeSantis should be required to take his campaign to full term.”
*snap!*
Mrs Dr Peterr: “Please no. It has been painful to watch to this point.”
I agree with Mrs Dr Peterr, but there is a wonderful bit of schadenfreude in knowing that a bunch of RW nutjobs gave him $150,000.000 to look that bad.
You know the GOP is a dead political party walking when they’ll throw that much cash at this:
Why they thought that would win over Trump… *smh*
I’m also shaking my head that so much of the DC and NYC pundit class took him seriously, with the opinion pages at the Times and Washington Post larded with lazy think pieces pumping him up.
All they ever did was regurgitate what GOP consultants told them, because the pundits have no idea how to come up with a thesis and then test if it is true.
And of course editors like Charles Lane and Kathleen Kingsbury can’t imagine there’s a problem with how their writers operate. They feel like it was fine when Gerald Ford was president, so why demand anything different from their hires 50 years later?
DeSantis is already performing his required penance before being ignored as old news by Defendant-1. Newsweek is reporting that the Florida CFO is creating a ‘Freedom Fighters Fund’, where taxpayer dollars are going to go to Defendant-1’s legal fees. Here is CFO Patronis’ statement:
https://myfloridacfo.com/news/pressreleases/press-release-details/2024/01/22/cfo-patronis-announces-filing-of-florida-freedom-fighters-fund
How is such a fund even remotely legal, where tax dollars are being used to pay a (self-proclaimed rich) private citizen’s legal bills?
Shrimp boots. A great look.
It’s a great look…for a shrimper.
For a shrimp.
I’ve never seen shrimp wearing white boots before, but maybe all that plastic contamination in our oceans has produced a new mutation.
Shrimpers, on the other hand…
And what was he thinking?
“Compared to my mighty intellect these people are like…crustaceans. Crustaceans, I tell you!”
I think he has a humiliation fetish and was campaigning to humiliate himself. My hypothesis is that he couldn’t find a compatible humiliatrix in Miami, Casey was not quite up to the task, and a national campaign had immense appeal to someone who desires to be flagellated in public. It was a supreme act of self-destruction, played out real time on the biggest stage imaginable, and it seemed it couldn’t get any worse.
Then, Meatball Ron took it one step further—in a final act of self-debasement, he endorses Trump. I have no doubt that Trump will be as thankful for DeSantis’ endorsement as he is with Kevin McCarthy’s groveling. I’m sure he will reward them in the same manner in which he rewarded Jeff Sessions, Mo Brooks, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis…
I know Jason Kelce would much rather still be in the playoffs and getting with his Iggles teammates to prepare for another playoff game, but second best is likely cheering without his shirt on in Buffalo when Travis hauls in a TD pass.
Yeah. Now THAT was an entertaining game!
As the shirtless and hirsute Mr Jason swallowed the unidentified contents of some calabash or another, one of the starlings in the broadcast booth exclaimed, “That there is drunkest man in Buffalo right now!”
Living the dream: getting naked in front of Taylor Swift.
Naw – this was the energy of a football player who found himself not on the field that day, but proud as hell of his little brother who was.
Note, please, this shirt-shredding cheerleading was also in front of his mother. I have no doubt that this was not the first time she had seen him cheering like this, and she rolled her eyes, saying “what can you do?”
Congrats to the Lions and to the Bucs for making a game of it.
Mrs Dr Peterr has resumed breathing.
Kudos to the Bills for the way they played, as they really made the Chefs work for it.
I was checking out at the supermarket this afternoon and there were these three dudes in front of me godamning the poor kicker to hell and back. Pretty weak beer, I thought, to pin the whole blame on a first-year kid, but held my tongue for fear of having my yoghurt emptied over my head.
Yeah. You don’t want to use the words “Wide Right” in Buffalo any time soon. Like in the next 10 years.
Couldn’t help but think of the movie “Buffalo 66” after the failed kick.
“Spotted outside Nikki Haley’s event tonight, RUDY GUILIANI sitting in a parked car with his laptop open.” January 21, 2024
https://nitter.net/JoeKhalilTV/status/1749247741883023678
Photo Credit: our photographer @JCliff_Scoops
[Moderator’s note: replaced link with one to mirrored tweet and not to an image above; comment had been tagged as spam because of the image link used. /~Rayne]
If you look closely his browser is set to pornhub.com… Still trying.
Love me those KC Swifts! After the Buffalo Bros spent entire week trying to trash Taylor they got what they deserved.
Its a secret. She put a hex on the Buffalo place kicker. Wide, wide, wide right and swiftly wide.
It is always “better” in Wyoming when the UW Cowboys or the Bills win. Josh Allen is a heck of a player. With that said I am glad Kelce played a role in taking them out as the conservatives never want anyone to have fun and it drives them crazy when Taylor is at the heart of it.
Go Detroit!
I would love them to honor Barry Sanders if they win and a Taylor/Eminem half time rap show would be fantastic.
Whenever I hear peple say they like Trumps policies but not his personality I always think; What policies? Pulling out of the Nuc deal Iranians were following? Trying to blackmail Ukraine to “open a fake investigation against Biden? Or was it the $38 billion he gave to farmers because of his thoughtless sanctions on China imports caused them their loss of contracts they spent decades making? Or the wall that was never built that Mexico didn’t pay for? Or his tax cuts where 85% went to the 1% permanently? Or bragging about taking reproductive rights away from women?? I just dont get that support of ” his policies”.
He would probably get more votes if he took away social security, medicare, medicaid, welfare, etc.. That’s because they see non-whites as the only ones getting all the benefits.
They also think only whites pay taxes and into Social Security though the wealthy get away with a lot of tax fraud (ahem, Trump) and the map of IRS audits says Black Americans especially in the south are more likely to have the screws put to them for the taxes they pay.
see: https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/eitc-audit
Tax cuts. And lots of “two weeks” promises that these Charlie Browns always fall for. Did I mention tax cuts? Embassy in Jerusalem. Something tax something.
Embassy in Jerusalem was a real disaster. A slap in the face to the Palestines. I expect that is part of reason for the fall out we are seeing.
Don’t forget their policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the border and not bothering to keep the records that would be needed to ever match them up again.
If he gets reelected, they want to do that shit again. Its absolutely unconscionable.
I suppose they think if they abuse migrants hard enough they will stop wanting to come to the U.S., overlooking the fact that even with all the right-wing craziness in the U.S. these days, the situation in their countries of origin is still generally worse. Or maybe its all about kicking some poor brown people in the teeth and who cares if it actually decreases illegal immigration or not.
S.N.A.F.U.
The NFL has the motto “End Racism” on the field and helmets. I would like that changed to “Racists Have Small Privates”.
Would look good in British stadiums also.
Spouse and I watched our first football game since leaving Murica! After two tables left at the half, we were the only ones in the local sports bar watching on the big screen.
You should have taught them all the songs the Kitteh Supporters Group sing during their matches.
Oh, wait . . .
Honestly, one of the best parts of British football (England, Scotland, N Ireland, and especially Wales) is the singing in the stands. I know British pastors who wish they had choirs that good.
I hope this example helps chase the covid blues away
https://youtu.be/kZyPOvppZY8
If you hardware in your injured foot we have something in common. May I presume to call you Marcy henceforward? How is the injury healing?
i ended up in a B&B in London during the 49ers vs. Broncos 1990 Super Bowl in New Orleans. i set my alarm, grabbed my can of wam beer, bag of crisps and blanket and padded down to the sitting area and turned on the small tv. i think i prolly headed back upstairs during the 4th quarter (it was a 55-10 niners blowout…)
I remember that one! It made the previous year’s loser look much better – Cincinnati, as I recall, and it was a close game.
We’re contemplating staying at a hotel next week so we can see the game. 11:30PM start tho.
“Wide right!”
Poor Buffalo; the ghost of Norwood haunts them still. I was actually rooting for the Bills, I really was. Being from New England I can never admit that in polite society, but in the darkness of my own living room I wished them well. *sigh*
Oh the Bills, string of four consecutive trips and losses in the Super Bowl in the 90s.
Well done Lions, this Bears fan is rooting for you!
This Bears fan is also overjoyed that the Packers are done. I won’t have to listen to one more week of Illinois Packer fans, most of whom have never had to experience bad quarterbacking, bleat on about their “next HOF QB”.
This Bears fan too…born into a family where there was no choice! My father and grandfather shot game and training films for Bears and Cubs, so our fandom was predetermined. Maybe why Calvinism made so much sense to me.
I was surprised that the Lions-Bucs game wasn’t a blow out. That interception thrown by Baker Mayfield at the end was such a game killer. I felt sorry for him.
The two NFC teams with a lot of momentum going into the playoffs were the Packers and the Lions. The Packers played a great game against a slightly out of kilter Niners. The Packers will be fearsome next year.
As a Niners fan I was hoping for a Bucs win. But, with all due respect to the Lion’s fans, their game was less than impressive against a weaker team.
It doesn’t matter what NFC team is in the Super Bowl, the Ravens are unbeatable. And they won’t need to turn off the lights mid-game and rely on blown calls by refs.
The Ravens looked pretty killer, once they got the rust out. You’re probably right, RitaRita. But there’s still a week for four teams’ fans to dream. Let them have that, if only just for now!
We get the delightful bonus of Taylor Swift here in Baltimore this Sunday. /s
Ravens-Chiefs should be a helluva game.
They still have to play the game. So anything is possible. I wouldn’t mind a Lions-Ravens game – two teams from blue collar towns.
Hi Rayne,
I’ve been meaning to thank you for fixing whatever it was that causing all of my comments to be held for premoderation.
Speaking of MI, weather.com/storms/winter/video/rough-weather-pushes-back-lake-erie-reveals-massive-boulders
Heard from the Lion’s head coach about three years ago.
“We’re going to kick you in the teeth,” he said. “When you punch us back, we’re going to smile at you. And when you knock us down, we’re going to get up, and on the way up, we’re going to bite a kneecap off, alright, and we’re going to stand up, and it’s going to take two more shots to knock us down, alright, and on the way up, we’re going to take your other kneecap.”
“Before long, we’re going to be the last one standing.”
Quotes from — a neat column on Dan Campbell by Jason Gay/ WSJ sportswriter/comic
A mind boggling statistic from the DeSantis fiasco. According to Midas Touch, DeSantis spent $150M and got only 23,420 votes. $6,400 per vote. Michael Bloomberg only spent $450 per vote.
Today we know – Lions won, KC won. Against each other, the Lions could take it.
They have a sound o-line protecting Goff. The rebuild worked. Good coaching.
Politics – DeSantis goes back to Disney. With it now Biden-Harris vs. Trump-Somebody, the Somebody question looms. The Dem primary early voting in Minnesota is now open; pick one ballot or the other, no mixed voting except by write-in for those inclined. Given an open thread, put my guess as Somebody = Kristi Noem, South Dakota Governor. Tear that apart.
Dean Phillips gets reporting in MN as a MN Rep, and there is noise about No Labels.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Dean+Phillips+no+labels&atb=v383-1&ia=web
Joe Lieberman is one behind No Labels, and MJ has examined the money –
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/no-labels-exposed-heres-a-list-of-donors-funding-its-effort-to-disrupt-the-2024-race/
Is there a general mood elsewhere in the nation that No Labels is irrelevant or could it be a factor?
Last – Back to football. Michigan took the college title. If the Lions take the Super Bowl, where are the rest of us? At least we in Minnesota can say we’re colder than Michigan and people in both states are not dying from the cold snap. Others from other states are not acclimated and they’ve had deaths from the weather. Which proves nothing.
Travis – Taylor? Dear John made in with Dead remnants, drone concerts and all, so the former couple went apart, each finding something new. The question – is anyone here enamored over Taylor’s, music, or is it just looking at a side story?
Going out on a limb. Picking Lions, 28 – 17 over Chiefs; winner losing to the winner of the other conference. Guessing there, Ravens over SF. Detroit and Ravens are on a roll; Both have a defense that could win it all. Lamar is mobile. Goff is not.
I suspect that if Defendant-1 will go for the loyalty test first, followed by the ability to win an election. The complication is that it is likely that the 25th Amendment will come into play one way or another, and the Acting President needs to be a completely controlled cyborg unit (so to speak).
I can’t see the MAGA wing going for a woman, non-white, non-loyal person as VP for that reason. Maybe Hoekstra would fit the bill.
Oh, I think Elise Stefanik is the current front runner to be Trump’s VP. He can lord it over her every day, and model for the Maga crowd how to handle an ambitious woman more talented than he is. She would be a good enforcer and lightning rod, who would take the blame when virtually everything Trump touches turns to ash.
Stefanik, on the other hand, will take anything Trump dishes out, to show her mettle and to stay on the team, as it seems likely that Trump’s mind or his hamburger-laden body will give out before his term ends.
Stefanik might be a good political choice with the NY connection as well, but that is not how Defendant-1 and his campaign team will see it. I think it just as likely he picks Sarah Palin.
Neither Stefanik nor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (who needs to dodge some investigations in Little Rock) will be ‘cute’ enough for VP arm candy role. Speaking of which, I had to spit take when one of the GOP flunkies were apparently floating the ‘winsome’ SHS as VP material.
Noem fits the bill better if that is how Defendant-1 goes.
Noem fits the GOP brand especially well if the allegations about Corey Lewandowski are true.
I doubt Trump will pick a woman as his vp. He seems especially venomous against women in general.
Kari Lake is making a good impression, and has ever since 1/6/2021
But, she hasn’t won anything. Not an election nor a series of court cases. There are also unsubstantiated rumors that Lake has worn out her welcome at M-a-L by being arrogant. Only room for one of those types there.
Not sure Trump wants anyone as a second in line who he thinks may be a challenge to him intellectually, especially one with ambition. Elise is better for Trump in the House. But Trump will dangle the possibility to keep Stefanik loyal.
A Trump VP has a bit of leverage against Trump, which has to make him nervous about picking the wrong person to be VP.
That leverage? As Paul Campos at LGM notes, it’s the 25th amendment.
It will be interesting for the NFC championship, with the subplots to come. Much as I liked Jared at Cal, I also know he can do silly things and the SF defense loves that kind of forcing. Add to that how he is not as mobile as Love is and I can see lots of headaches for the Kitties unless the line steps up. I’m also a little concerned about the Niners’ run D after what GB did Saturday.
What is also not clear is what the Niners expect to do without Deebo at full strength. Saturday is the first time the Niners won without Samuel being available. With the Detroit D, we have the rookie rusher added to the mix which has improved their performance, but I think the Niners can still run a successful scheme against it anyway. The Niners have a full week to plan things out.
I think either of them will have trouble with the Ravens in their current mode of operation in the Super Bowl.
Rugger_9, FYI, Deebo’s x-ray was negative this morning.
I saw that, but I’d like to see the range of motion in the shoulder before I think all is well. I once had the ‘pleasure’ of having my shoulder used as a garden hoe on the pitch. Nothing in the x-ray but I was severely restricted for a couple of weeks for what I could do.
That’s what NFL medical staffs are for. For about four hours, Deebo won’t feel a thing!
Disturbing posting from Occupy Democrats this morning. They say that people in New Hampshire are being called by an AI generated Biden telling them not to ‘waste their vote tomorrow, save it for November” “voting during the primary only enables Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump”.
I saw that and thought that if the feebs don’t have a tracker on Roger Stone they need one now.
Although, Stone is by no means the only rat fornicator in the MAGA orbit.
I saw that too. I think AI is going to play a prominent nasty role in this election, from the right. Trump will de anything to win. He would have before but is even more unhinged this time because of his desperation to avoid convictions, sentences, etc for his multitude of crimes. I hope the Dem’s jump on the back wagon and fight back with their own.
Which of course means: watch Parscale! That kind of stuff is right up his alley and he’s been too quiet lately.
I expect to see a lot of this type of fake electioneering in the general election, and perhaps an order of magnitude more in four years. Especially with the advent of AI. Anyone with a telephone, or a social media account, or a YouTube account, is (and will be) capable of doing this. Talk about “fake news” … .
RIP, Norman Jewison, director of In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck, and Fiddler on the Roof. They called him, Mr. Jewison.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/22/norman-jewison-dead-director-moonstruck
A couple of my favorite movies right there, Moonstruck and Fiddler on the Roof. May his memory be a blessing.
A little more background: “Norman Jewison: a staggering array of work from Hollywood’s master craftsman”
I found the commentary and backstory on the dvd, In the Heat of the Night, riveting.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/22/norman-jewison-a-staggering-array-of-work-from-hollywoods-master-craftsman
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) obit – paywall, waiting for wayback- – https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-acclaimed-director-norman-jewison-dead-at-97-explored-social-issues-in/
contains this quote from his 1999 acceptance of the Academy’s Irving J Thalberg Award:
You cannot have an open thread without a shoutout to bmaz!
He has always called Willis’ RICO case in Georgia a shitshow.
We are now getting details that are uglier by the day.
What details do you think have become “uglier”?
Judge Thompson issued a stay on Willis’s deposition today and unsealed Nathan Wade’s divorce filings. Anna Bower reviewed the unsealed docs and notes “Aside from the credit card statements filed last week, the docs do not appear to provide additional evidence of a relationship between Fani Willis & Nathan Wade. Nor do they provide further evidence supporting the claim that Willis financially benefitted from Wade’s hiring”
For the rest of her thread from the courthouse and about the filings:
https://nitter.net/AnnaBower/status/1749464270935392515
https://nitter.net/AnnaBower/status/1749577483362386368
Mike Luckovitch has this reminder about the trial:
https:// http://www.ajc.com/opinion/mike-luckovich-blog/117-mike-luckovich-not-the-defendant/VUGSVYXDKBDPNCF7AH24BSNLLE/
The judge said over and over that it’s about the numbers. Those numbers he’s referring to are not the ugly Willis 15 or so that are indicted and 4 that have pleaded.
Trump second spot – While still betting Noem, does anyone feel Trump might try to persuade Ron Johnson to take his VP spot? It would be Pence redux, and would balance the ticket geographically. Yet Pence, for all his loyalty did refuse the Jan. 6 mischief, and ended up scorned. Would that likely weigh in a Trump or RJ consideration one for the other?
Interesting idea, but I’m with everyone who thinks he’ll pick a woman. He feels the need to compete with Biden and likes the idea of “his” woman up against “Biden’s.”
No doubt he’s sorry he kept his agreement with the CNP and picked Pence, when he could have been the one who crowned (in his eyes) the first woman VP and gotten all the kudos.
On the well-heeled patrons behind the execrable No Labels political party that pretends it isn’t one – led by the likes of the even more execrable Joe Lieberman:
Those patrons are triangulating. They wouldn’t mind another Trump presidency, but would be annoyed at another Joe Biden one. Even he threatens to upset their financial apple carts, a sign of how fragile and anti-democratic these snowflakes are. Just like the movers and shakers of the Trilateral Commission, to whom Harvard’s Watergate-era Samuel P. Huntington directed his warning about the dangers of an “excess of democracy.”
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a46423805/no-labels-donors/
Thanks for this link, Earl. Charlie Pierce is spot on with this tidbit: “the country’s oligarchs are seeking a safe space in our politics where their interests are protected…” Politico reported this morning that Bill Weld, former Republican governor in the blue state of Massachusetts, has jumped on the No Labels bandwagon. He was interviewed at a NH breakfast featuring Joe Manchin.
http://www.politico.com/newsletters/massachusetts-playbook/2024/01/22/bill-weld-talks-2024-00136908 [?nname=massachusetts-playbook&nid=0000014f-704c-d54c-a1ff-fb6da68f0000&nrid=0000014f-8419-d12f-a1df-dcdf0fca0000&nlid=630384]
[Moderator’s note: all content after the question mark in the original link furnished may be tracking information identifying the original reader and their session. Please remove this from links if it doesn’t affect readers ability to read the content at the link. /~Rayne]
Caution. You don’t need the digits in that url from and after the question mark. It’s probably tracking data you don’t want on your device.
No Labels is a scam. It’s just been sued by two of its early backers because of it. I know that seems redundant, given that it’s a creature of Joe Lieberman and his pals. But it’s a dangerous scam intended to make Democrats lose, Joe Lieberman’s now favorite hobby.
I know it’s Semafor and deserves a bit of a doubt, but today they’re noting that Trump is not generating the kinds of ratings bump that the media are banking on.
https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/01/21/2024/trump-media-bust
I think’s fair to wonder what the implications are for the general election – it’s way too early to say how that plays out for Biden.
But I think it’s also worth wondering what that means for the press. A business sector that was economically competent would realize that the obsessive focus on Trump and GOP talking points was a loser and start looking at the other side for more input, but I’m far from sure media execs are any good at their business. They may be deluded enough to think even more Trump will be the answer to their woes.
Trump’s ratings for The Apprentice were circling the drain by Season 4, but it wasn’t until Season 10 that NBC execs decided to pull the plug. Can the dolts running the news organizations do better?
Grist for the Trash Talk mill [The cover drawing is great!]:
AMERICAN OLIGARCHY
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/01/american-oligarchy/
MOTHER JONES
Took me a minute to recognize Elmo. Excellent artwork!
Aaron Rupar has removed the paywall on his conversation with NYTPitchbot:
https://nitter.net/atrupar/status/1749802687363949012
Jan 23, 2024 · 2:34 PM UTC
THIS is really good:
https://nitter.net/AnnieAgar/status/1749902740526878957
[content creator. NFL correspondent at @stadium.]
Jan 23, 2024 · 9:11 PM UTC
[2] “Stop moving the goal posts.”
[1] “If we were moving the goal posts, the packers might have actually won.”
Don’t miss the last line!
In the 21st century the 49rs & Lions have played 10 football games.
Surprisingly, Detroit won one of them.
Looked for an open thread to share news that NYTimes is reporting singer/songwriter Melanie has died. In Jan 24 NYT online.
Sorry if this has been posted above already – not much of a sports fan so scrolled through quickly – almost thought white boots boy was a pic of Melanie…
Songs of my youth for sure.
Got interrupted – rest in the music Melanie. Her children announced her passing so I’m going to hope she had a full life with loving family. May it be so for all.