Well, I finally checked my voicemails. I had seventeen new ones and at least that many saved. I responded to one of them and deleted all of them. I don't even feel bad. Most of them were autotranscribed into texts anyway.
'While I usually write about history and art, the Vivek Ramaswamy ad hits very close to home for me as a born-and-bred Clevelander and the child of Indian immigrants. If you know anyone in Ohio who still isn't voting for Amy Acton, I hope this short write-up gives you tools to help them see how Vivek is wrong for Ohio.
'Like Ramaswamy, I was born to a Brahmin family. Unlike him, I largely rejected many of the trappings. Although he is from a very different ethnicity, I recognize many of the traits Brahmin families happily foster in their sons. In the Hindu caste system, some of the earliest writings describe a structured breakdown of society based on occupations. Brahmins were largely associated with worship and held the top position intellectually, above royalty. Wealth and blessedness were on different hierarchical scales. Brahmins are not necessarily the richest in India. They are often the most educated. But this was not about being born special. It’s just about history.'
...
'But just like Trumpism, where DEI is suspect for potentially hiring unqualified Black people, but unqualified white people get a pass, the caste system has also created a culture of telling people they’re special for being born. They often hire people from similar castes rather than looking outside the rigid system for quality.
'In the 1960s, the US had a shortage of engineers and doctors. Immigration allowed foreigners with degrees. While only 4% of Indians in India are Brahmins, 25% of Indians in the US are. And the vast majority of Indian Americans are from the privileged caste. Many of these immigrants moved into communities with other Indians. They found themselves recreating India's caste system here.
'Plus, the patriarchal culture of India made sons like kings. Boys raised to be faultless never realize their mistakes. They can be lawless and hateful without reprecussions. In the States, these types of men became rich, proving what their mothers always told them. They then raised Indian-American sons like them.
'It’s why a man who doesn’t live in Ohio took his company out of Ohio, lied about his residency to run, and still thinks he’s the best candidate. He regularly misunderstands the state's geography, but he’s a Brahmin. He thought the only National Park in the area was near Youngstown, even though it’s near Akron. (I’d wish someone would suggest he take the hike from Youngstown to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.)He was bred to be the best, and his mom told him so. Of course, his mother lied about the result of his dementia medicine, lost millions of hope for a cure, and thousands lost their life savings, but at least her sweet boy got to be a billionaire.'
In the race to crown America's Most Obnoxious Billionaire(C), I give you a dark-horse candidate: James Dolan.
James owns the New York Knicks, as well as the Rangers, Madison Square Garden (where both teams play), Radio City Music Hall, and no doubt a lot of other crap. He's a nepo baby, inheriting much from his father.
He has been well known for his charming tendencies, such as using facial-recognition software to bar all attorneys and support staff representing any of his many opponents in the many lawsuits he's involved in from all his properties. This resulted in a lawyer and her young daughter being turned away from a performance of the Ice Capades one holiday season despite holding tickets.
Now, his latest escapade:
Mid-level employees of the Knicks organization were delighted to get emails from team management informing them that they would receive free replicas of the team's rings from the Knicks' NBA championship last season, if they just clicked a link to register. When they did, it turned out to be a phishing test, subjecting the victim to mandatory cybersecurity training.
When this motherfucker is waiting his turn to board the tumbril, I hope someone tells him his sentence has been commuted, strings him along a bit, then yells in his face, "PSYCH! Your ass face and the rest of your head's coming off after all!"
When they shot "Star Trek The Motion Picture" there were all kinds of script problems, and the last third of the film was still being written as they were on set.
At one point Walter Koenig (RIP) has a line as Chekov that is being recorded as multiple variations: "Device activation in 25 minutes". "in 22 minutes", etc. so that the version that most accurately fits the pacing can be used.
Director Bob Wise calls cut after one take and asks the sound man if he understood the second part of Walter's line? The sound man replies that he didn't even understand the FIRST part and that Koenig "has changed accents on us!" Big laugh from the crew, but Walter blushes in embarrassment.
So the set hairdresser, a sweet, motherly kind of woman and not a Trekkie rushes over to brush Walter's hair and give him encouragement. "Don't you listen to them, Honey. You sound just as Mexican as you ever did."
Nicolle started off the 5:00 hour with the co-founders of The Rule of Law Project.
"WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former federal civil rights and corruption prosecutors and investigators are joining with human rights leaders who spent decades uncovering and documenting rights abuses around the world to launch The Rule of Law Project, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to restoring criminal accountability for public officials and law enforcement who break the law in the United States."
"The Rule of Law Project will investigate and document instances of public corruption and state violence in the United States that go unexamined and unpunished. It will build the criminal cases the Department of Justice would have brought in ordinary times, and then turn over case files to state and local authorities or a future Department of Justice willing to uphold the rule of law."
And then the new Comey charges dropped, and Andrew Weissmann and Lisa Rubin joined in. What a weed-ey legal farce that is, procedurally. Comey & his lawyers knew this thing was brewing (a classified docs case that allegedly occurred in October 2016!?) that was filed as a sealed Information on 10/5, the date of the 10-year statute of limitations expiring. Comey waived the grand jury, filed with the court to have the Information unsealed, and has already filed a motion to dismiss. Hoo boy!! And of course, no career prosecutor has signed off on this garbage.
Nicolle never went to a commercial break for the whole hour.
It was occurring to me, as I was filling out my ballot, that we've become a country so very much divided. The David Brooks of the world tut-tut about this like it is both sides' fault. But it is not. It is almost entirely due to the GOP devolving into a quasi-fascist party, at the head of which is a crude, loudmouthed, anti-democratic, hyper-partisan, and over-the-top racist and bigoted orange-hued Leader. I can't imagine voting for that person, or a member of his party. In particular, every Republican who failed to vote for Trump's impeachment and removal after his attempted coup in 2020 should be mocked and shunned. Or, if you want to talk about indictments, well, nobody's gone to jail for the coup plot: only the poor deluded slobs on the ground did that, and they all were sprung.
It's not "both sides", but there is a valid criticism of liberalism, and particularly now neoliberalism that it does not actually solve people's problems because it is not equipped to deal with inequity so those problems fester and become fascism. Trump's opportunity came from Bill Clinton's failures, not George W. Bush sucesses.
Marissa Mayer Ran Yahoo. She’s Back With A.I. She Thinks Women Will Love.
She made her name as a pioneer at Google, then as chief executive at Yahoo. Now Mayer is entering the crowded marketplace for A.I. assistants — and hoping to draw in more women with a product that tackles the mental load.
Mayer, along with Sheryl Sandberg, are the people I blame for the convention hotels that cover the bed with a shit-ton of useless pillows that can't be possibly ever have been cleaned.
You take them off the bed and pile them up to find the damn bed. You leave for the day and when you come back, housekeeping has rearranged the pillow sculpture, but only replaced the coffee with stale decaf and took the wet towel you'd hung up to reuse, and not replaced them either.
So, you have to take the damn pillows off the bed again, every day, and you can almost hear "I Got You, Babe" in your head. And then call down for towels and coffee, thanks.
Don't let them know there is a third Dan Sullivan.
Former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan is taking sides in Alaska’s unusual same-name Senate fight, endorsing incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan over a third Dan Sullivan.
Oh come on!
No you come on!
Mom!
Well, I finally checked my voicemails. I had seventeen new ones and at least that many saved. I responded to one of them and deleted all of them. I don't even feel bad. Most of them were autotranscribed into texts anyway.
Sometimes I get like that... I really hate having notifications
"Jordan Klepper EXPOSES MAGA echo-chamber and cracks with Trump supporters in 'Red Flags'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6O_AHiOW08
Q: What is communism?
No one knows...
RIP Walter Koenig
Retired rank: ADMIRAL
“ This seems like an obvious and solid solution to us, and we have so low an opinion of the intelligence of Republican voters…”
Apparently, the DoJ is of the same opinion.
I just saw an article entitled "The Shot That Could Keep Melanoma From Coming Back," and at first I thought it was about getting rid of Melania.
A shot of hemlock will do.
Once Donald is out of power, Melania will never come back, to him or, mercifully, to us.
She will finally be free to pursue her passion: making clothing out of children.
"Ees Chreeestmos costume."
I've seen this person on FB Reels; I didn't know she had a Substack.
'Vivek Ramaswamy was Raised to Be Slime. I speak from Experience.'
-- 'Casteism, Ohio Governors Race and the Future of the Soul of the US'
https://artlust.substack.com/p/vivek-ramaswamy-was-raised-to-be
'While I usually write about history and art, the Vivek Ramaswamy ad hits very close to home for me as a born-and-bred Clevelander and the child of Indian immigrants. If you know anyone in Ohio who still isn't voting for Amy Acton, I hope this short write-up gives you tools to help them see how Vivek is wrong for Ohio.
'Like Ramaswamy, I was born to a Brahmin family. Unlike him, I largely rejected many of the trappings. Although he is from a very different ethnicity, I recognize many of the traits Brahmin families happily foster in their sons. In the Hindu caste system, some of the earliest writings describe a structured breakdown of society based on occupations. Brahmins were largely associated with worship and held the top position intellectually, above royalty. Wealth and blessedness were on different hierarchical scales. Brahmins are not necessarily the richest in India. They are often the most educated. But this was not about being born special. It’s just about history.'
...
'But just like Trumpism, where DEI is suspect for potentially hiring unqualified Black people, but unqualified white people get a pass, the caste system has also created a culture of telling people they’re special for being born. They often hire people from similar castes rather than looking outside the rigid system for quality.
'In the 1960s, the US had a shortage of engineers and doctors. Immigration allowed foreigners with degrees. While only 4% of Indians in India are Brahmins, 25% of Indians in the US are. And the vast majority of Indian Americans are from the privileged caste. Many of these immigrants moved into communities with other Indians. They found themselves recreating India's caste system here.
'Plus, the patriarchal culture of India made sons like kings. Boys raised to be faultless never realize their mistakes. They can be lawless and hateful without reprecussions. In the States, these types of men became rich, proving what their mothers always told them. They then raised Indian-American sons like them.
'It’s why a man who doesn’t live in Ohio took his company out of Ohio, lied about his residency to run, and still thinks he’s the best candidate. He regularly misunderstands the state's geography, but he’s a Brahmin. He thought the only National Park in the area was near Youngstown, even though it’s near Akron. (I’d wish someone would suggest he take the hike from Youngstown to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.)He was bred to be the best, and his mom told him so. Of course, his mother lied about the result of his dementia medicine, lost millions of hope for a cure, and thousands lost their life savings, but at least her sweet boy got to be a billionaire.'
She also speaks highly of Acton.
In the race to crown America's Most Obnoxious Billionaire(C), I give you a dark-horse candidate: James Dolan.
James owns the New York Knicks, as well as the Rangers, Madison Square Garden (where both teams play), Radio City Music Hall, and no doubt a lot of other crap. He's a nepo baby, inheriting much from his father.
He has been well known for his charming tendencies, such as using facial-recognition software to bar all attorneys and support staff representing any of his many opponents in the many lawsuits he's involved in from all his properties. This resulted in a lawyer and her young daughter being turned away from a performance of the Ice Capades one holiday season despite holding tickets.
Now, his latest escapade:
Mid-level employees of the Knicks organization were delighted to get emails from team management informing them that they would receive free replicas of the team's rings from the Knicks' NBA championship last season, if they just clicked a link to register. When they did, it turned out to be a phishing test, subjecting the victim to mandatory cybersecurity training.
When this motherfucker is waiting his turn to board the tumbril, I hope someone tells him his sentence has been commuted, strings him along a bit, then yells in his face, "PSYCH! Your ass face and the rest of your head's coming off after all!"
Defector has a good explainer:
https://defector.com/james-dolan-finds-innovative-new-way-to-be-cruel-and-cheap
They should send him an official looking email to that effect and nail him with mandatory cybersecurity training.
When they shot "Star Trek The Motion Picture" there were all kinds of script problems, and the last third of the film was still being written as they were on set.
At one point Walter Koenig (RIP) has a line as Chekov that is being recorded as multiple variations: "Device activation in 25 minutes". "in 22 minutes", etc. so that the version that most accurately fits the pacing can be used.
Director Bob Wise calls cut after one take and asks the sound man if he understood the second part of Walter's line? The sound man replies that he didn't even understand the FIRST part and that Koenig "has changed accents on us!" Big laugh from the crew, but Walter blushes in embarrassment.
So the set hairdresser, a sweet, motherly kind of woman and not a Trekkie rushes over to brush Walter's hair and give him encouragement. "Don't you listen to them, Honey. You sound just as Mexican as you ever did."
~from Walter Koenig's "Chekov's Enterprise".
Yeah, the script of TMP is one of the big reasons why that film is still a mess.
(Not Jerry Goldsmith's score though)
It would help if two of the main characters weren't given so much time just to exit at the end.
RROLLFF!!
In case you didn't hear. I voted today. Please clap.
~golf clap~ Good show, I say.
Well alrighty then. Some legal news.
Nicolle started off the 5:00 hour with the co-founders of The Rule of Law Project.
"WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former federal civil rights and corruption prosecutors and investigators are joining with human rights leaders who spent decades uncovering and documenting rights abuses around the world to launch The Rule of Law Project, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to restoring criminal accountability for public officials and law enforcement who break the law in the United States."
"The Rule of Law Project will investigate and document instances of public corruption and state violence in the United States that go unexamined and unpunished. It will build the criminal cases the Department of Justice would have brought in ordinary times, and then turn over case files to state and local authorities or a future Department of Justice willing to uphold the rule of law."
https://ruleoflawproject.org/news/project-launch/
And then the new Comey charges dropped, and Andrew Weissmann and Lisa Rubin joined in. What a weed-ey legal farce that is, procedurally. Comey & his lawyers knew this thing was brewing (a classified docs case that allegedly occurred in October 2016!?) that was filed as a sealed Information on 10/5, the date of the 10-year statute of limitations expiring. Comey waived the grand jury, filed with the court to have the Information unsealed, and has already filed a motion to dismiss. Hoo boy!! And of course, no career prosecutor has signed off on this garbage.
Nicolle never went to a commercial break for the whole hour.
Took ‘em long enough.
It was occurring to me, as I was filling out my ballot, that we've become a country so very much divided. The David Brooks of the world tut-tut about this like it is both sides' fault. But it is not. It is almost entirely due to the GOP devolving into a quasi-fascist party, at the head of which is a crude, loudmouthed, anti-democratic, hyper-partisan, and over-the-top racist and bigoted orange-hued Leader. I can't imagine voting for that person, or a member of his party. In particular, every Republican who failed to vote for Trump's impeachment and removal after his attempted coup in 2020 should be mocked and shunned. Or, if you want to talk about indictments, well, nobody's gone to jail for the coup plot: only the poor deluded slobs on the ground did that, and they all were sprung.
It's not "both sides", but there is a valid criticism of liberalism, and particularly now neoliberalism that it does not actually solve people's problems because it is not equipped to deal with inequity so those problems fester and become fascism. Trump's opportunity came from Bill Clinton's failures, not George W. Bush sucesses.
Hope our incoming Dem POTUS doesn't wear a tan pants suit.
We'll never hear the fuckin end of it.
Maggie Roche of The Roches was born on this day in 1951. From their self-titled debut album, here is "We":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbgQITWRTbQ
And here is the trio performing Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiwMoW003Fo
@middleageriot
A liar, a coward, and a traitor walk into a bar. The bartender says, "What'll it be, Speaker Johnson?"
AI for the Ladies, LOL
Marissa Mayer Ran Yahoo. She’s Back With A.I. She Thinks Women Will Love.
She made her name as a pioneer at Google, then as chief executive at Yahoo. Now Mayer is entering the crowded marketplace for A.I. assistants — and hoping to draw in more women with a product that tackles the mental load.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/style/marissa-mayer-ai-assistants-women.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Mayer, along with Sheryl Sandberg, are the people I blame for the convention hotels that cover the bed with a shit-ton of useless pillows that can't be possibly ever have been cleaned.
You take them off the bed and pile them up to find the damn bed. You leave for the day and when you come back, housekeeping has rearranged the pillow sculpture, but only replaced the coffee with stale decaf and took the wet towel you'd hung up to reuse, and not replaced them either.
So, you have to take the damn pillows off the bed again, every day, and you can almost hear "I Got You, Babe" in your head. And then call down for towels and coffee, thanks.
I blame those two.
Nope.
Not offloading my cognition to an AI assistant. Ever.
But this one might appeal to your sensitivities as a lady! OMG let’s talk about shoes and pedicures, girlfriend!
Ooh. Needs more pink screens.
I feel a little vindicated I hate pink. I especially HATE just because I'm a woman, people ASSUME I'll get suckered into anything "pink"
That is the stereotype. I know pink women. Few women are into pink.
Also in high school pink was also boys color. We wore pink oxfords on "pink day".
Ha, my coworker is obsessed with pink. It works out well because I usually trade with her if I have anything pink and I'll take any other color
Don't let them know there is a third Dan Sullivan.
Former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan is taking sides in Alaska’s unusual same-name Senate fight, endorsing incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan over a third Dan Sullivan.
I’m waiting to hear what Dan Sullivan has to say.
He’s staying mum about his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl.
Yeah, that happened weeks ago.