Random political thought thread.

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Even when Maher says something I agree with, I just find him insufferable. The smug assuredness, the way he's so amused with himself. He just rubs me wrong, and I really don't think he's much different from the talking heads on Fox News. He really does speak condescendingly, particularly when referencing younger generations. No, your advanced age or experience in life doesn't make you an expert or authority, it just makes you a curmudgeonly old dick who doesn't like change. A lot of his jokes and points are made matter-of-factly yet come from pure suppositional foundations. So he creates an illusion of speaking common sense and/or logical truth, when half the time he's not really basing it on reality but rather some cartoonish impression of reality. He's not all that different from Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro, but boomer libs like him so I guess he's alright?

My wife enjoys watching his show and I just cringe the whole time if I'm not wearing my noise cancelling headphones

I'd rather watch endless reruns of Jay Leno's intro bits from old Tonight Show episodes, and I abhorred Leno.

Maher is little more than a failed actor who found a niche riffing on those gosh darned loony lefties behind the guise of mister progressive. Not unlike Dennis Miller before him.

 

[The Cat]

Even when Maher says something I agree with, I just find him insufferable. The smug assuredness, the way he's so amused with himself. He just rubs me wrong, and I really don't think he's much different from the talking heads on Fox News. He really does speak condescendingly, particularly when referencing younger generations. No, your advanced age or experience in life doesn't make you an expert or authority, it just makes you a curmudgeonly old dick who doesn't like change. A lot of his jokes and points are made matter-of-factly yet come from pure suppositional foundations. So he creates an illusion of speaking common sense and/or logical truth, when half the time he's not really basing it on reality but rather some cartoonish impression of reality. He's not all that different from Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro, but boomer libs like him so I guess he's alright?

My wife enjoys watching his show and I just cringe the whole time if I'm not wearing my noise cancelling headphones

I'd rather watch endless reruns of Jay Leno's intro bits from old Tonight Show episodes, and I abhorred Leno.

Maher is little more than a failed actor who found a niche riffing on those gosh darned loony lefties behind the guise of mister progressive. Not unlike Dennis Miller before him.

I tend to think of them as like villainous comedians. Like if comedians and voice actors are super heros and super villains. I feel like Bill Mahar is the nemesis to Bill Burr.

 

[The Cat]

 

[ceecee]

Even when Maher says something I agree with, I just find him insufferable. The smug assuredness, the way he's so amused with himself. He just rubs me wrong, and I really don't think he's much different from the talking heads on Fox News. He really does speak condescendingly, particularly when referencing younger generations. No, your advanced age or experience in life doesn't make you an expert or authority, it just makes you a curmudgeonly old dick who doesn't like change. A lot of his jokes and points are made matter-of-factly yet come from pure suppositional foundations. So he creates an illusion of speaking common sense and/or logical truth, when half the time he's not really basing it on reality but rather some cartoonish impression of reality. He's not all that different from Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro, but boomer libs like him so I guess he's alright?

My wife enjoys watching his show and I just cringe the whole time if I'm not wearing my noise cancelling headphones

I'd rather watch endless reruns of Jay Leno's intro bits from old Tonight Show episodes, and I abhorred Leno.

Maher is little more than a failed actor who found a niche riffing on those gosh darned loony lefties behind the guise of mister progressive. Not unlike Dennis Miller before him.

He is THE embodiment of a smug liberal elite. Wealthy, white and insufferable, making sure no one remembers that they were part of the unwashed masses.

 

[ceecee]

I absolutely can see Sean O'Brien walking into some UPS facility with a baseball bat. Every place has a shop floor leader like this - they should be elevated to union leadership.

 

[The Cat]

I absolutely can see Sean O'Brien walking into some UPS facility with a baseball bat. Every place has a shop floor leader like this - they should be elevated to union leadership.

he's really picked up the pieces Hoffa jr made of the last contract. His daddy would roll over wherever his grave may or may not be, assuming there is a body left to roll. At the very least a bunch of alligators got indigestion that day. But yeah O'Brien has a fire in him and the man is not lazy nor unmotivated. tbh if politicians were like this guy we'd be a lot better off than we are. He's really for his fellow workers. There's a guy at my facility, and he's kinda my hero there. He reminds me of if Bill Burr looked more like Bifur from the hobbit movies. He's really knowledable about the union and has been with the company in the double digits so he knows the score. I wish I had a tenth of his social energy.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I tend to think of them as like villainous comedians. Like if comedians and voice actors are super heros and super villains. I feel like Bill Mahar is the nemesis to Bill Burr.

Yes! And yet some people think Burr is some sort of right wing chauvinist. That shit’s an act and he’s probably more woke than Maher. His podcast is a good glimpse into his real persona and viewpoints. The standup persona is amplified and exaggerated. My favorite of the aging, living stand ups.

 

[The Cat]

Yes! And yet some people think Burr is some sort of right wing chauvinist. That shit’s an act and he’s probably more woke than Maher. His podcast is a good glimpse into his real persona and viewpoints. The standup persona is amplified and exaggerated. My favorite of the aging, living stand ups.

Ive watched Bill Burr be the only person in the room who stands up for new comedians, and mental illness. I refuse to believe he's right wing, his comedy doesnt kick down imo. Bill Burr is the older brother every kid needed in the 80's

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

he's really picked up the pieces Hoffa jr made of the last contract. His daddy would roll over wherever his grave may or may not be, assuming there is a body left to roll. At the very least a bunch of alligators got indigestion that day. But yeah O'Brien has a fire in him and the man is not lazy nor unmotivated. tbh if politicians were like this guy we'd be a lot better off than we are. He's really for his fellow workers. There's a guy at my facility, and he's kinda my hero there. He reminds me of if Bill Burr looked more like Bifur from the hobbit movies. He's really knowledable about the union and has been with the company in the double digits so he knows the score. I wish I had a tenth of his social energy.

Hoffa was probably dissolved in a barrel and dumped in a deep body of water.

 

[The Cat]

Hoffa was probably dissolved in a barrel and dumped in a deep body of water.

"By 1985, an industry was starting to build up to keep fresh stories and theories about Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance in the popular imagination. Even people who were supposed to keep their heads down and shut up for their own safety couldn’t help but get in on the act.

Charlie Allen, a former mob hitman and one-time bodyguard for Hoffa who had been in witness protection for nearly a decade, gave an interview to the Richmond Times-Dispatch claiming that Hoffa was abducted, shot with a stun gun, and then murdered on orders from an unnamed crime boss whom Hoffa had allegedly tried to have killed. “[T]hings got messed up, and he got to Jimmy first,” Allen told the reporter.

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In keeping with the now-familiar formula, Hoffa’s body was ground up at an ironworks, placed into a steel drum, and shipped to the alligator-infested waters of the Florida Everglades, where his remains were subsequently dumped and presumably eaten by the local fauna."

Given that it was the 70's and alligators and swamps were often used for this very purpose, I enjoy this one. Some theories suggest he was removed by federal agents, and that implies a black site. No one's gonna find out. But dissolution in chemicals feels more like a modern thing to me, outside of areas of geological activity and sulpher and acidic springs form. I'll bet a lot of bodies have been dumped in yellowstone over the years. I personally think the Hoffa mythos would find its best most hilarious end, that he just fucked off and died in another country, but given all that's around his disappearance. I doubt he walked out on his own.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

"By 1985, an industry was starting to build up to keep fresh stories and theories about Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance in the popular imagination. Even people who were supposed to keep their heads down and shut up for their own safety couldn’t help but get in on the act.

Charlie Allen, a former mob hitman and one-time bodyguard for Hoffa who had been in witness protection for nearly a decade, gave an interview to the Richmond Times-Dispatch claiming that Hoffa was abducted, shot with a stun gun, and then murdered on orders from an unnamed crime boss whom Hoffa had allegedly tried to have killed. “[T]hings got messed up, and he got to Jimmy first,” Allen told the reporter.

AD

In keeping with the now-familiar formula, Hoffa’s body was ground up at an ironworks, placed into a steel drum, and shipped to the alligator-infested waters of the Florida Everglades, where his remains were subsequently dumped and presumably eaten by the local fauna."

Given that it was the 70's and alligators and swamps were often used for this very purpose, I enjoy this one. Some theories suggest he was removed by federal agents, and that implies a black site. No one's gonna find out. But dissolution in chemicals feels more like a modern thing to me, outside of areas of geological activity and sulpher and acidic springs form. I'll bet a lot of bodies have been dumped in yellowstone over the years. I personally think the Hoffa mythos would find its best most hilarious end, that he just fucked off and died in another country, but given all that's around his disappearance. I doubt he walked out on his own.

So many people with mob ties have disappeared similarly but rarely such a high profile figure. Typically someone that high in status is publicly executed/assassinated to make a point. That’s what makes the Hoffa story so interesting to me. I always liked the buried in cement theory, although it seems less likely

 

[The Cat]

So many people with mob ties have disappeared similarly but rarely such a high profile figure. Typically someone that high in status is publicly executed/assassinated to make a point. That’s what makes the Hoffa story so interesting to me. I always liked the buried in cement theory, although it seems less likely

Ive always found the mob to be more of the mindset of no body no crime or a guy goes to a quiet beach to watch the sunrise and "shoots himself".

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Ive always found the mob to be more of the mindset of no body no crime or a guy goes to a quiet beach to watch the sunrise and "shoots himself".

Or like the running joke in The Sopranos, they just blame every public assassination on shooting by black gangs and claim every disappearance as the guy flipping and going into witsec

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

It's hard to believe that show is still on HBO. I mean how many times can you have people like that blockhead Erick Erickson and spewing verbal diarrhea in the opinions section Megan McArdle on repeatedly and continue to carp about both sides?

Although if anyone is interested in listening to Megan McArdle get run over, older Chapo Trap House episodes are

That article is ridiculous! I thought they were exaggerating.

I think I remember the article about the burning apartment building. But I haven't been exposed to this one yet.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Ive watched Bill Burr be the only person in the room who stands up for new comedians, and mental illness. I refuse to believe he's right wing, his comedy doesnt kick down imo. Bill Burr is the older brother every kid needed in the 80's

I think it's unfortunate that people have tried to appropriate George Carlin when you consider the jokes he made about the pro-life crowd. That's just one example.

People just see the old white guy that yells about stuff and they assume he's one thing, I guess.

But he's another guy that's consistently punched up. I don't remember him doing any jokes about kooky foreigners or homosexuals. By this metric he holds up better than many of the classic comedy shows of the 90s. I can't see anything about his comedy that wouldn't satisfy "woke" people, really. I don't see why he would suddenly hop on the "anti-woke" train.

His complaints about language are about things like people using language to hide the horrors of the world, like for instance comparing "shell shock" to "post traumatic stress disorder." But this dislike of euphemisms is probably what is being taken out of context. I find it very hard to believe he would have thought Trump was great. I imagine as New Yorker there may be some choice quotes available.

Also, he did anti-religion stuff really well. Maher made it kind of annoying.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Biden Says The Economy’s Doing Great. Lots Of His Own Voters Don’t Believe Him.

 

[ceecee]

lol Of course. This is all because of a couple of butthurt Dems.

No Labels Donor Has Financial Ties to Jared Kushner

Why did No Labels, which claims to be nonpartisan, accept money from someone closely tied to a member of Trump’s inner circle?

newrepublic.com

 

[ceecee]

That article is ridiculous! I thought they were exaggerating.

I think I remember the article about the burning apartment building. But I haven't been exposed to this one yet.

From today. Paywalled but all you really need to read is that idiotic headline and the idiotic woman that wrote it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/13/higher-minimum-wages-increase-homelessness

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

From today. Paywalled but all you really need to read is that idiotic headline and the idiotic woman that wrote it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/13/higher-minimum-wages-increase-homelessness

Yup. You're right about the headline.

The talk about Oppenheimer got me thinking about Truman and that made me wonder if there's ever an occasion where Matt Christman discussing Truman. He's said a few things which hint at a take I would really love to hear more of . I've always really liked the episodes that are mostly Matt discussing historical topics at length, but one on Truman would be especially good.

 

[ceecee]

Yup. You're right about the headline.

The talk about Oppenheimer got me thinking about Truman and that made me wonder if there's ever an occasion where Matt Christman discussing Truman. He's said a few things which hint at a take I would really love to hear more of . I've always really liked the episodes that are mostly Matt discussing historical topics at length, but one on Truman would be especially good.

Matt and Chris Wade did a series called Hell of Presidents on all of them. It's on Stitcher and since that's going away I'm not sure where the episodes will end up but the FDR/Truman one is Epi 10. But you might like this.