Bobstandard
Bobstandard's JournalThe reach of FTX is longer than you think
I’m having dinner in a modest far Northern California Chinese restaurant The check comes and with it a fortune cookie, fortune peeking out of one of the cookies fold. I pull it out.
The fortune side reads: What does the future hold? Below that, lucky numbers: 2, 7, 19, 39, 62
And on the flip side? The full FTX logotype and stylized logo!
Admit it, you're going to end up at a bar tonight
I tended bar at place with live rock and roll mist every night. We battened down the hatches for thanksgiving night. It seems that at some decent interval after the Thanksgiving meal is completed, many folks decide they just have to get out of the house. A large number of them would end up drinking and dancing at our bar. In fact, we could count on it being as big a night as New Years.
The vibe was different than New Year’s Eve too. New Years revealers have planned their night out and prepared fo it they arrived a little desperate for a good time. The Thanksgiving folks were often surprised to find themselves at a bar. They arrived with a sense of escape and relief from the strictures of their Thanksgiving dinner/day experience. They felt free to cut loose a bit more than on a usual night out. Beer, wine, and spirits flowed like a river. The dance floor never emptied and the tips were the best of the year. Folks had a gas.
So if you find yourself a little restive when dinner concludes and find yourself edging to the door to make your way to a favorite watering hole, don’t feel guilty. Your participating in another-but lesser known-Thanksgiving tradition. And traditions are important.
DU calls Hobbs race just before MSNBC
To be fair, and you know how we are about that around here, the call was from Katie Hobbs' campaign manager via DUer Ocelot got the news up at least a minute before Chris Hayes. Well done! (Were you wearing kahkis Ocelot?)
My guess: Trump REFUSES to run!
I think TFG will announce that not only is he not running, he refuses to run. After all, why would he run since the whole system is broken, corrupt, fixed, blah, blah, blah? He won't run, and he'll blame it on us. Loudly. Hysterically. Think of the bombast, the ego pumping bullshit he'll unleash in that announcement!
It's the perfect out for him. He won't have to risk being humiliated again. Melania won't leave him. He'll continue to be able to fund raise. And he'll have time to work on his defense.
He'll also have time to prep for, and the freedom of movement, to flee the country if he's ever indicted. He'll frame that move as a surprise but long-secretly-planned world tour to raise awareness for how he's been wronged, blah, blah, blah. And just by coincidence if he's ever indicted he'll quickly be ensconced in a luxury suite in a grand hotel in a country that, again, just by coincidence, doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US.
"Where are the commercials?"
Kieth Olbermann, in a recent podcast that I just had a chance to listen to, had a question that many of us here have been asking. Where are the commercials?
Where are the commercials calling out Republicans for:
Their plan to cut Social Security
Their plan to cut Medicare
Their plan to refuse abortion services to any woman, under any condition, everywhere in this country.
Keith Olbermann goes on to list virtually the entire list of issues that will cause actual harm to many in this country. And he's right when he says that the Democratic establishment refuses to flood the airwaves, social media, and other channels in a concerted, focused way that will get people's attention regarding these bread-and-butter, life-and-death issues and, yes, trigger their fear response.
Republicans have been doing this for years using non-existent social issues, issues that cause virtually no harm to anyone, much less the Magats the ads are aimed at. And it works!. Democrats, on the other hand, can point to real, actual, immediate harm, but refuse to do so.
Sure, a few candidates, and a few organizations on are side are doing this. But it's not happening on the scale we need.
Olbermann's podcast on this topic, and the others he's covered in his recent stuff, is full of the fire and anger that this moment demands. Many of us here have been saying the exact same sort of things. I wish the Democratic establishment would pay attention to him, because they sure haven't listened to those of us in the "hair on fire" brigade.
I swear Olbermann is the only "pundit" that has a full grasp of what's going on in this country and he sure seems to be the only one with the brass to tell it like it is.
I just read that Obama's pollister and advisor has said that his research shows that listing Democratic accomplishments doesn't help us win voters. Hell, it seems to hurt! Can we please try something else?
Here's a link to the Olbermannspecific podcast:
[link:https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-countdown-with-keith-olbe-99705496/episode/make-the-commercial-before-its-too-103467900/
Kieth Olberman is right: Trump is America's Hitler
Kieth Olbermann makes the undeniable case that Trump is America’s Hitler in his podcast today. He points out that what Trump and Mastrianno said at their rallies this weekend, and their followers making those Hitlerian sig-heil hand gestures, seals the deal. He also describes how Trump has brought together MAGA world, the Republican Party, Christian Nationalists, and now even Q-anon, and subsumed them to his will.
It’s clear now that Trump doesn’t plan to be re-elected, he plans to be installed. He doesn’t believe in the rule of law and, Kieth points out, the rule of law doesn’t seem to be equal to the challenge Trump represents. Witness the simple fact that Trump’s many in-plain-sight crimes go unpunished, the DOJ seems afraid to indict, and the judiciary seems ready to let Trump slide anyway.
Kieth Olbermann’s hair is on fire, my hair is on fire and if your’s isn’t, it ought to be. Give Kieth’s podcast a listen. It’s at the very least an important perspective that we ignore to our great peril.
[link:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/countdown-with-keith-olbermann/id1633301179?i=1000579883342|
I need a June 6 hearing drinking game!
I need a drinking game to go along with first prime time committe hearing. If I don’t have a game to play I worry I’ll just continuously guzzle until my vision turns cloudy and the TV starts responding to my shouting.
"Fox is Grooming Republicans!"
I think I have my new Magat brain exploding bumper sticker! Turning their memes against them is both fun and effective.
I think this is better than my current one “Brandon is fixing Trumps disasters.” (Which got me a free car wash in Palm Desert, California, a wealthy white Republican bastion except for all the people who actually work there.)
Pipeline surf contest today
If you’re jonesing for sports today you can watch the final day of a pro surf contest at the Pipeline that goes live pretty soon. It’s big and getting bigger, great conditions, really pretty. Mai Tai weather
You can watch by navigating to the World Surf League’s website. They have water cameras, drones, the whole bit.
I don’t work for those guys or anything but I ve been a surfer for a long time and love this particular event because it’s so heavy. There will be carnage and incredible tube rides!
The most incredible sporting event of the weekend wasn't football or tennis
On Saturday a surf contest was held at Pipeline, perhaps the worlds most famous surfspot, located on the north shore of the island of Oahu in Hawaii
The sun was out, the surf was huge, the conditions were perfect, and some of the best surfers in the world were there to compete. When that surf spot is good there are usually 40-60 surfers out in an area where the hot spot is about the size of a basketball half court.
Even the best surfers in those circumstances think getting two or three good waves in an entire day to be a big win. For the contest there we’re just three competitors. They were stoked to be in this prestigious contest but even more to get a shot at these waves with so few in the water
Pipeline is a wave of consequence. Surfers get sent to the hospital every day when the waves are good. Even during this contest competitors got hurt. But for the most part they made it look easy
The contest was put on by the World Surf League. Their website is worldsurfleague.com. They have replays available of the whole day and of individual heats. Check it out!
If you only check heats look for the ones with John John Florence, Jack Robinson, and Kelly Slater. If nothing else you’ll love the colors and beauty of the waves.
I think the sporting performances at the Pipeline on Saturday eclipse those of the NFL and of pro tennis this weekend. Face it, nobody risked death by drowning at any of those events but everyone stroking into a big wave at Pipe did.
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