627 Comments
User's avatar
Martini Glambassador's avatar

Today’s header gif is from a 1979 Barbie commercial by Mattel. More info here on Barbie and her cars and why the girl in overalls looks so familiar to some of you: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/come-on-barbie-lets-ferrari?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Expand full comment
Eva, Iron Goddess of Mercy's avatar

I like the Porn Star Ken look!

Expand full comment
Martini Glambassador's avatar

I think we all pretty much looked like that in the 70's. But we were all porn stars then too.

Expand full comment
YesRepeatNo's avatar

I had this Corvette when I was a kid. In the commercial, it looks great in close-up -- but we don't see much of the frantic child scurrying after the car, tethered by the remarkably short wire for the controller!

Expand full comment
Menotsure's avatar

James Brown's do looks good on Ken.

"HIT ME BAND!"

I'll bet he does splits as well as Barbie.

Expand full comment
Emil Muz's avatar

Ken's Payin' the Cost to be the Boss. Maceo!

Expand full comment
Zap's avatar

He's anatomically prepared for that!

Expand full comment
Thalia Is Not Amused's avatar

His hair does look like James Brown's! Say it loud, Ken!

Expand full comment
Menotsure's avatar

On the scene, like a sex machine!

Expand full comment
Thalia Is Not Amused's avatar

Yeah, I'm not sure Ken is "on the scene" in that way.

Expand full comment
victor kostka's avatar

The idea that pants were banned in imperial Rome is a misconception that likely stems from a misinterpretation of historical sources. The Roman elite often viewed certain foreign clothing styles as uncivilized or barbaric, and this may have influenced their perception of trousers. However, there is no evidence to suggest that pants were officially banned or prohibited by law.

Expand full comment
Queen Méabh's avatar

The #1 way trees kill people is when people run into them with their cars. When I lived in Louisiana, not a week went by that the local newspaper didn't report on someone who died when they "failed to negotiate a curve" and ran off the road and hit a tree. This is "newspaper-speak" for "the driver was drunk and either lost control because they were driving too fast, or they fell asleep at the wheel." I always found this funny in a sick kind of way, because the roads in Louisiana are almost all flat and fairly straight, except for the older roads that run alongside the smaller rivers, so there aren't a lot of what you could call "curves."

Expand full comment
Amezed's avatar

My late Dad, (unfortunately) resided in Shreveport LA in his final years. I've lived in LA since 1983, have witnessed all "styles" of driving here. I NEVER drove with such menaces as there were in Shreveport. Get 'em on a long stretch of road and it's an instant stock-car rally. Terrifying

Expand full comment
Queen Méabh's avatar

I used to take I-55 from Hammond to LaPlace every day to get to and from work. If you've driven that stretch you will know that it is elevated over the western tip of Lake Pontchartrain and very straight. The speed limit was 70mph, of course, but nobody drove that. I regularly drove 75 and was constantly passed by people driving at least 90, or even faster. I tested this once by getting up to 85mph and was still being passed by every single driver.

I'm not familiar with Shreveport, as I lived in Slidell, then Baton Rouge, then Hammond. And yes, everywhere I went it was like driving in a stock-car rally. I'm told it's the same in Texas.

Expand full comment
Queen Méabh's avatar

I had a couple of friends who believed that it was the Jews own fault that they all died in concentration camps. They refused to go see the movie "Schindler's List" because of this, and I was trying to talk them into seeing it.

They said "The Jews just did what they were told and got onto trains like sheep. They didn't fight back. It's their own fault." We were sitting in their comfortable middle-class living room with their two big dogs at the time, and I had to explain reality to them. "Imagine that a dozen strong men in uniforms carrying guns break down your door right now, point the guns at you, and order you to pack a suitcase and come with them. You refuse. They then shoot both your dogs. You hear gunfire outside and look out the window and see more armed men in uniforms shooting some of your neighbors in the street. What would you do, go with them or let them shoot you?" They said "But we have guns and we'd fight back." "Well, most Europeans don't own guns, and in 1938 the Nazis confiscated all guns owned by Jews, so in this scenario you do not own a gun, and if you did own a secret gun and you tried to use it, the cops would simply shoot your whole family."

They couldn't seem to understand this. It contradicted everything they had heard from other conservative white people in their Southern Baptist church. The saddest part is that they were middle-aged lesbians who had been a couple for 30 years, and they would definitely have been targeted by the Nazis and taken away to a concentration camp even though they weren't Jewish. I explained this to them, and they were shocked! They were completely ignorant of real history and would have believed anything they were told about the Nazis.

I don't think I changed their mind even though I debated the subject with them for about an hour. They never did go see "Schindler's List."

Expand full comment
Amezed's avatar

You are a better person than I, QM. After my lovely (not being cynical) 'rents forced me to attend Evangelical services in a MOTEL (!) I don't debate other humans about religion, politics, etc. They won't listen anyway (although I did dissuade a smart young fella from enlisting in the Army in the 2000s. He did thank me years later, which was nice :))

Expand full comment
Wookiee Monster's avatar

1. People are just now coming to realize that the media treats Trump cultists as fragile children that need to be coddled and understood while simultaneously engaging in hippy punching? I’ve been bitching about for years now.

2. Fuck Ted Cruz.

3. It’s not a coincidence that so many rightwingers like Flynn are soft pedaling the Holocaust and blaming the victims. The right has been working to mainstream Nazism for a while now.

4. Reminds me of the time Reagan said trees cause pollution.

Expand full comment
Wookiee Monster's avatar

Obligatory MST3K tribute to pants:

https://youtu.be/UpWOvK-mz7U

Expand full comment
goCatgo's avatar

Good stuffs.

Expand full comment
Crip Dyke's avatar

>> *Shakes fist* SCIENNNNCCCEEE!

I don't think this fully captures it.

Maybe rolling over on the ground until you're lying on your back and screaming SCIENNNNCCCEEE! while you fire your department-issued pistol up into the air?

Expand full comment
Amezed's avatar

I'm thinking that Editrix is referring to the Thomas Dolby video from BITD. His autobiography is surprisingly compelling - a. bookseller :) Damn it, now I have to watch the thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V83JR2IoI8k&ab_channel=ThomasDolby

Expand full comment
Satanic Pancake's avatar

What's this, sketchy email purportedly from YouPorn, and to a special throwaway email account that I created just to deal with spammers? I've uploaded some sexually explicit content to your platform, and you take the security and privacy of your users very seriously, so you want to help me in case the content I uploaded was non-consensual? And to help me, all I have to do is send you some bitcoins in the amounts of $199, $699, or $1399 to help protect me from having my content distributed on your network? Well, sign me up, as surely I must have definitely for real uploaded all of my sexually explicit contents last night while sleeping, oh year for sure! But you're going to have to lend me a bitcoin first.

Expand full comment
defpac's avatar

Too bad Christie didn't talk like that Dec 24 to the PUBLIC.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1691448345422909441

Expand full comment
Sister Artemis's avatar

Rebecca, I added the Missoula WonkMeet to the wonkmeet.com site - if that's not ok, let me know. I should - for posterity - probably add the recent (?) Michigan one too?

Expand full comment
Satanic Pancake's avatar

We sat in the hot tub and watched meteors, satellites, and lightning last night. Only saw one meteor each, but saw plenty of satellites and lightning, until the fog rolled in and hid everything.

Expand full comment
Querolous's avatar

Saw one meteor last night but it wasn't a Perseid. It was in the SE sky

Expand full comment
defpac's avatar

So, the not a country song ... is just another right wing "grassroots" thingy paid for by rich people. Color me surprised.

"lol some MAGA account just exposed the ginger-bearded guy whining about welfare queens and high taxes as a conservative industry plant, astroturfed into existence by all the Daily Wire freaks and some right-wing social media promoter. Dan Bongino then confirms it"

https://nitter.net/zei_squirrel/status/1691212356364226560

Expand full comment
Michael Bowen's avatar

Those nitter.net links always time out for me. I'm guessing it shows Twitter content without actually giving Twitter a click?

Expand full comment
defpac's avatar

Yes. They are somehow rate limited ... worst case, just copy the link and put in twitter.com again, instead of nitter.net

Expand full comment
easelox is on timeout's avatar

Has anyone been brave or stupid enough to wade into the orange blobulous's harbor freight twitter feed to see how he's taking this? I'm too afraid to look.

Expand full comment
carovee's avatar

Nah, let him scream into the void, unheard and unnnoticed.

Expand full comment
Mystery Poster's avatar

TN senators Marcia Blackburn and Chuck Fleishman were in town for some breakfast meeting today. My group held signs protesting outside as people were walking in. Everyone was more pleasant than I would have thought, and we got a few "thanks for being here" comments. Didn't get to see the guests of "honor" though.

Expand full comment