Tuco

That seems about right. It was really jarring in Sports Night (1998-2000), but wasn't in The West Wing (1999+). Sports Night demonstrated how poorly the laugh track worked with more styles, like Sorkin. With Friends, you have that pause/react for laughter. But with Sorkin, the dialogue is quick and is meant to be somewhat realistic, with no one pausing to make a funny face in reaction to something clever.

Also add for British panel shows: Would I Lie to You (with team captain, David Mitchell, Vicky's nerdy husband) QI Eight Out of Ten Cats (non-Countdown version) Non-Panel Shows: Geography Now (15 min to 1 hour episodes on every UN-recognized country....took several years to make) Casual Geographic - funny review of weird shit in the animal world Ze Frank (True Facts) - funny review of weird shit in the animal world MAJ (My Analog Journal) - DJ shows with eclectic offerings Every Frame a Painting - film analysis, videos usually under 10 minutes. Were only 14 episodes until recently when he restarted content. Cinefix - film analysis. Recently has gotten stale with "top 100" movie podcasts, but their top 10 lists from years past are excellent. "Top 10 Use of Color" is my favorite. Hiking channels: Kraig Adams, Herman Hoek for international. Outside & Stuff for any hiking in the PNW, although its quality is lower. B1M - construction industry videos Lindsay Nikole - paleontology - kind of annoying metal-nerd delivery, but she has a "History of Life" series that I really like.

There is a combination of a few things for me: 1. So many choices for entertainment means that I get distracted. I don't have the attention span to pay attention to a lengthy setup. I am rewired for the instant gratification of social media and 10 minute youtube vidoes. I find this is true even for classic movies that I still kind of love. I find myself watching Kubrick movies in sections, because no way am I sitting down for three hours straight. 2. So many choices that I get spoiled. When it was three channels, you pretty much took the best of three shitty options. Now, if it's not great, I ain't watching. Probably a good thing. But I don't have the patience to sit through a rough first season, or rough pilot, of anything. 3. I'm old, so it's gotta be weird and pretty. I've watched every classic story line so many time, in so many forms, it just doesn't interest me, regardless of how well it's done. The shows I get into now tend to have interesting cinematography and weird storylines. Mr. Robot is a good example. Peacock has been surprisingly good with Poker Face, Miss Davis, and Hysteria. I'm sure The Bear is "better" than any of those three, when it comes to writing and acting, but I have very little interest in watching brothers argue in the back of the house of a restaurant. I couldn't get past the first two episodes.

My stepdad had a myriad of health issues in his late 80s, including cancer and a hernia. The cancer was the bigger concern, but the hernia was more painful, but he was too frail for them to operate on him to fix it. The dude was in agony despite several different rounds of pain killers. I think the combo of the pain killers and pain kept him pretty delusional through this period, which may have been a blessing. Finally they gave him a Fentanyl patch, and it was miraculous. It blocked the pain and we got our dad back, for a couple of years at least until he passed. On the flip side, my cousin lost her 21 year old son to an OD, heroin likely laced with fentanyl.

His dad thinks the ACA is communism, so fuck em. Next time I sweep the leg.

There was some Christmas event in my building lobby yesterday, complete with carolers decked out in Dickins era costume. I had to repress my impulse to greet them with a scowling “hail Satan.” So fucking sick of 21st century Christianity.

Are you sure you're not a Mexican nightclub?

I like it. I wish the American voter did.

I think as far as skill, her campaign was much that Biden's. But, she is neither white nor a man, so she did not get as many votes. It is an indictment of the American voter.

If the Gaza issue was impactful, it was likely showing up in the (lack of) youth vote. But, yeah, it was always going to be a wedge issue that difficult to navigate.

People need to chill. Harris may lose. It’s not anyone’s fault except for the shitstains who voted for Trump. Have some fucking grace for folks on your side.

But still concerning

I wouldn’t necessarily read that as panic. Having cops at minority-heavy polling locations is a common way of trying to suppress their vote. I don’t know how effective it is anymore, but I think he reading from the script rather. A very shitty script.

We’re not asking some random sampling of what policies the Democratic Party has shifted far to the left on. We are asking you. Do you have an answer that you are willing to share.

I’m not.

They’ll buy the burners and then post pictures of themselves on social media.

The Onion has the best coverage:

My two cents: I think Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are similar in Midwestern Popularism, but most notable in Minnesota. Not only do you get Walz as governor, but Jesse Ventura 20 years ago. The Dems in Minnesota are officially called DFL : “Democratic - farm - labor”. But, a lot of the same feel in parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, then lesser so as you get into Nebraska, Kansas… But over the last 30 years, national politics has preempted state politics. There used to be prolife Dems in Nebraska who could win elections. Now, there aren’t any left and they wouldn’t win elections if they did exist. The Obamacare vote doomed the last Nebraskan Senator. The “all politics is local” isn’t really true anymore in the age of syndicated talk radio and cable news. I think over the last 10 years you are seeing a resurgence of more progressive, common sense movements as a reaction to complete Republican dominance and overreach in places like Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. Hopefully that grows.

You and Morris may be right. But what Selzer is telling me is that under a different set of assumptions-that are realistic and supported by a very respected pollster - Harris wins in a landslide. And yeah, that’s a data point that is aligning with my gut. It aligns with other data points that I admittedly filter for, because it matches my gut. But it’s still a valid, compelling data point. (Worth noting that extrapolating from other IA polls, she still wins the election, but much tighter.)

And this is how the fascists win. Actually, for those who can't/won't make it to a Chili's I recommend restaurants owned by immigrants, women, or POC. They have the biggest jeopardy in this thing, and I know I ain't driving 4 hours to Spokane for a fucking Chilis.

Case in point, it's Milan Kundera.

Yep.

Update on NE-2 (Vargas (D) vs. Bacon(R)), but mostly just venting. I can't find the ad that national Republican PAC ran during the Husker game this week, but it was the head of the police officer association talking about how Vargas "blamed the police for a violent riot" and led attacks on the cops. I did find this one that features Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine saying the same thing, directly from the Bacon campaign. First of all, All Cops Are Bastards. That's the kind of mood this shit puts me in. Secondly, the history on this: during the 2020 George Floyd protests, I went to one of the Black Lives Matters protests. It was along Dodge Street, the busy street in Omaha. It was initially along the road, but the cops then put up barricades to close the road to traffic. Protestors go out onto the carless road. Cops then get into riot gear to clear the protestors, firing pepper balls at them when the highly predictable resistance to that order happens. There is absolutely no indication any protestors attacked the cops, despite thousands of hand held cameras and bodycams. . Later that weekend, there is a protest downtown. Vargas, and some other state senators, go down to observe the major political events happening in the region. Cops fire pepper balls liberally, including one that catches Tony near the eye. (I went down to help clean up the next day, and there were pepper ball marks 10 feet up on building walls; this was not selective use of non-lethal deterrent.) At the same downtown protest, a white bar owner shoots and kills a black protestor. After a brief investigation, Don Kleine announces it is self defense and there will be no charges. He doesn't even get the victim's name correct during the press conference. After the backlash, Kleine agrees to allow a special prosecutor/grand jury investigation, smugly confident that it will come to the same conclusion. But, the special prosecutor finds evidence on the shooter's phone (which was never released) and the grand jury indicts the shooter. Shooter ends up killing himself, thus the public never sees the evidence. Don Kleine switches from Dem to Republican, and thens wins re-election as a Republican. Thirdly: Unfortunately, the "back the blue" shit in Omaha is effective. So, I can see it working here. But they also ran these types of ads last cycle, so hopefully some if it baked into Vargas's polling previously.

Not confident at all. If he wants to be re-elected, I'd say he stays indy for at least four years and then make the calculation if he has better odds in a Republican primary as the incumbent or as a Dem/Indy in the general. My gut is saying he'd tack right and go R, but it's worth noting that while has Fischer held that seat for 12 years, Dems held it for the 24 years prior. It's easy to forget how quickly things can change. But, even if he had an R behind his name, he's a huge step up from Fischer who will rubber stamp literally anything the GOP tells her to. Voting for Party leadership is important, but so are the actual Senators themselves. And she would need to be very wrong for this to be anything short of fantastic for Harris.

I don't think that would help Brown. Because I'd rather have a blowjob. Is this a trick question?