When will this year be over already?
“What we really see in Trump’s policy agenda is a list of promised actions that pretty closely follow the very personal grievances he developed during his first presidency. There’s the idea that an American state exists that is not directly controlled by him.”
“The neoliberal obsession with figuring out how to personally lead a life that is free from sin—rather than seeing yourself as part of a polity that counters the forces of capital as a movement that demands systemic changes—means that we spend all our time arguing about whether we’re bad people for being on Meta or worse people for being on Twitter”.
“When it comes to the law, the extent to which a physician can share their views on medical matters is based partly on constitutional free speech protections. But it’s also determined by other legal domains such as contract law, which could impact whether a doctor can be fired for what they say, and tort laws that govern malpractice claims. The issue of questionable medical guidance can come up in numerous contexts, from childhood vaccines to transgender care to conversion therapy for gay patients. But physicians’ problematic advice is particularly concerning when vast numbers of lives are at stake, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, experts say.”
“Similarly, once you ban consensual porn, nudity, or sex work while still allowing Nazism, it isn’t unfair to conclude that you find porn, nudity, and sex work more offensive than Nazism. And it’s perfectly reasonable to conclude that those are some pretty fucked up priorities.”
“If “racism is within my circle of decency and debate” is our point, we should make it openly, not evade it.”
“Gift cards get lost or forgotten, or recipients hang on to them for a special occasion. In a July survey, the consumer finance company Bankrate found that 47% of U.S. adults had at least one unspent gift card or voucher. The average value of unused gift cards is $187 per person, a total of $23 billion.”
RIP, Hall of Stats website. The alternate to the MLB Hall of Fame will still have its archives for your viewing, it just won’t be updated anymore.
RIP, Shecky Greene, standup comedian and longtime Las Vegas headliner. Mark Evanier shares some memories.
“Now [Clarice Schlesinger runs two Moms for Liberty-esque SuperPACs] has been arrested touching children in the form of punching out a sixteen year old at a booze-drenched birthday party she threw for her seventeen year old daughter at the homestead in Doylestown, PA.” I cannot stress to you enough how much you need to read the whole thing.
RIP, Eddie Bernice Johnson, trailblazing former member of Congress, the first Black member from Dallas and the third woman elected to Congress from Texas.
“Mickey and Minnie [entered] the public domain on Jan. 1. From then on, Disney will no longer enjoy an exclusive copyright over the earliest versions of the characters. Underground cartoonists, filmmakers, novelists, songwriters — whoever — will be free to do what they want with them.” Also, Happy Public Domain Day to all who celebrate. You can start by adding the future Steamboat Willie slasher movies to your streaming wish lists.
The dark side of small dollar campaign contributions.
The Cruz Curse is real. And it’s hilarious.
“Some of the rarest vintage baseball cards from the 1920’s were discovered in a closet by a Northern California resident cleaning out his father’s home. The incredible collection of Pre-War baseball cards were found in an early 1900’s Pedro Cut Plug Tobacco tin. The century old collection of rare baseball cards will be sold by Auction Monthly.”
RIP, Frank Ryan, former Cleveland Browns quarterback who led that franchise to their last NFL championship in 1964. He was a graduate of Rice University and earned a PhD in mathematics there as well. Per a post on a Rice fan page on Facebook, Ryan had an Erdős number of 3, which is exactly the sort of thing one of us would highlight about him. Easily one of the most accomplished Owl athletes of all time. Read the obit for more.
“In fact, rejecting the legal order in favor of what seems to be politically safe at a given moment is just about the most dangerous move that can be made. It amounts to advocating that we shift from constitutional government to an insurrectionary regime. Indeed, it amounts to participating in that shift, while not taking responsibility for doing so. Let me try to spell this out. In advising the Court to keep Trump on the ballot, political commentators elevate their own fears about others’ resentment above the Constitution. But the very reason we have a Constitution is to handle fear and resentment. To become a public champion of your own own fears and others’ resentments is to support an insurrectionary regime.”
RIP, Maureen Sweeney, Irish woman whose weather report for the English Channel changed the date of the D-Day invasion.
RIP, David Soul, actor best known for being Hutch on Starsky and Hutch.
RIP, Glynis Johns, Oscar-nominated actor and Disney Legend for her role as Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins.
RIP, Ruth Ellsworth Carter, chef and musician who co-wrote songs for Stevie Ray Vaughan.
“Authorities are still working to identify more than 80 people wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol and to find out who placed pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic national committees’ offices the day before the Capitol attack. And they continue to regularly make new arrests, even as some Jan. 6 defendants are being released from prison after completing their sentences.”
If bad juju assumed a human form, I think it would look just like Ted Cruz.
I’m waiting for the bookies to include a Cruz appearance in all the many things in a sporting event that you can bet on.
“Stop letting wealthy elitists like Jessye Watters claim to be “fighting for you.” They live in Manhattan and can’t stand normal people in red states. They think you’re stupid and feed you bullshit to rile you up .
Losers like Watters grew up with a silver spoon. His family is made up of well connected journalists and politicians. And for some reason, people are fooled into believing he’s some genuine blue collar conservative. Yeah he’s such a “conservative” he cheated on his wife and then left her with twins while he went off with another Fox producer.”
Take the next step Dan. Watters is far, far, far down on the list of silver spoon elites who look down on “normal people in red states”. We all know who the biggest, most egregious fake populist is. He also cheated on THREE wives. Are you man enough to call that guy out?
Narrator: in fact Dan was not man enough.
A recent guest essay in the NYT by Gerard N. Magliocca amplifies Timothy Snyder’s conclusions about the impending US Supreme Court review of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision re: ballot access in that state for DJT, proposing that SCOTUS would best serve the nation’s interests and the rule of law by affirming the right of Colorado to take this action and ruling that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment grants the US Congress, and ONLY the US Congress, the authority to grant a waiver, under defined restraints, to an insurrectionist who is seeking or holding office. The essay is in the Jan. 5, 2024 edition.