Dubbatrubba would like to yield the floor to the gentleman from Michigan. Paul Mitchell is “disaffiliating” himself from the Republican party because of their alleged “leaders” refusal to grow a backbone and, as he calls it, #stopthestupid.
He kept trying to talk some sense into them…
… and to the Cheeto-in-Chief:
Finally, about a week ago, he threw in the towel and walked away from the Republican party, because more clowns kept joining the circus.
Mitchell noted that Republican leaders had been “collectively sit(ting) back and tolerat(ing) unfounded conspiracy theories and ‘stop the steal’ rallies without speaking out for our electoral process,” and the last straw for him seemed to be “the leadership of the Republican Party and our Republican Conference in the House actively participating in at least some of those efforts.”
He got fed up with too many Republicans caring more about power than they do about principles. Here’s a 60-second excerpt from his televised interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
The full article and interview can be found on CNN here.
It’s not just a Republican problem. This quote from Rep. Mitchell really rang true:
“In my opinion, the extremes of both parties are dragging their parties and this country off a cliff. The majority of Americans are in the middle. The majority of Americans want solutions to problems — want us to address them and not see who can have a political win. Not see who can grab political power for all it’s worth and actually do something to solve a problem for the American people. And frankly we haven’t done enough of that — haven’t done enough the last two terms. And this election simply confirms for me that it’s all about power first and that, frankly, is disgusting and demoralizing.”
Representative Paul Mitchell (I, formerly R), Michigan
He’s right. “We The People” want solutions to problems. That sometimes involves compromise, not stonewalling. Good-faith collaboration, not grandstanding. True respect for those with opposing views, not blind allegiance to the party line. Putting the people first, not power.
Paul Mitchell has already announced he won’t run for another term. I hope his parting words to his former party don’t fall on deaf ears, and his appeal to his colleagues in both parties will help them usher in an era of more civility and cooperation. But I’m not holding my breath…
I’d never heard of the website Defector until a few days ago, and didn’t realize that a gentleman named Drew Magary has been creating a hilarious annual “Hater’s Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog” for several years now.
So thanks to my friend Daniele for putting the 2020 Hater’s Guide on my radar.
From the Defector website – Illustration by Jim Cooke
It is, hands down, the funniest piece I’ve read all year. Bitingly sarcastic, and laugh-out-loud (yes, an actual LOL!) funny.
The language is a bit salty, but Williams-Sonoma has earned every curse word with their exorbitantly priced wares.
Look again at that price. Now lemme add a few more gratuitous exclamation points. A H!!!U!!NDRED G!ODD!!!AMN D!!!!OLL!!!ARS!!!!!!! For a box of Hungry Jack, a squeeze bottle, a spatula, an obligatory tartan tchotchke, and some goddamn syrup. Now I’m a pancake enthusiast, so I know that the market for pure maple syrup is highly volatile. But for $100, I could drive to Vermont and tap a maple tree MYSELF to get the goods.
Drew Magary’s comments on the WILLIAMS-SONOMA CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST GIFT CRATE
Read it and weep – because you’ll be laughing so hard you’ll be crying.
BTW, my exhaustive research (i.e. typing “Defector website” into DuckDuckGo’s search box) has revealed that Defector is a bunch of… defectors from Deadspin.
David L. Lander passed away a couple of weeks ago. Name doesn’t ring a bell? How about if I call him “the guy who played ‘Squiggy’ on Laverne & Shirley“? If you’re in my age bracket, that should be all the info you need, because “Lenny” (David’s longtime friend Michael McKean) and “Squiggy” were indelible sitcom characters. They could steal a scene just by entering it:
McKean and Lander met as freshmen in college at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, which is where they created their Lenny and Squiggy characters. Both later became performers in The Credibility Gap, a group that performed satirical comedy sketches on L.A. radio stations. Here’s a video version of one of The Credibility Gap’s most famous bits, featuring David L. Lander and Harry Shearer:
Long after his “Squiggy” heyday, Lander stayed busy with bit parts and voice acting gigs. Which is even more impressive when you consider the fact that he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1984, just a year after Laverne & Shirley concluded its run. He didn’t announce it publicly until 1999. (His 2002 book was entitled Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn’t Tell Nobody.) He later became an ambassador for M.S.
Oh, and he also worked as a baseball scout for the Anaheim Angels and the Seattle Mariners.
Also worth noting that in Hollywood, where marriages have the life cycle of a fruit fly, David and his wife got married in 1979.
Most of us will remember him as Squiggy — and that character was certainly quite memorable — but there was a lot more to David L. Lander.
For the second year in a row, Cincinnati claimed the top spot in SmartAsset’s assessment of the best cities for beer drinkers. Mainly because we have dozens of breweries, a plethora of bars, hundreds of beer varieties, and a decent cost of living.
We compared 384 cities across the following metrics: total number of breweries, breweries per 100,000 residents, average number of beers per brewery, bars per 100,000 residents and the average price of a pint.
The Germans who immigrated to Cincinnati in the 1800s really loved their bier. You couldn’t swing a dead knockwurst without hitting a brewery. Most of these businesses didn’t survive Prohibition. But a new generation of brewmeisters has done a great job reviving the old traditions… and putting a new spin on them, too.
Clip from the Art & Craft video from Leapframe and Neltner Small Batch. Full video is below.
Original artwork by my good friend Keith Neltner, done for an Artworks mural in the Over-the-Rhine area of Cincinnati. Learn more about the mural on Keith’s Neltner Small Batch website.
My wife and I went to our “local” brewery, Big Ash Brewing, last night.
We’re in the process of renovating our kitchen. I blame HGTV. My wife watches all those home improvement shows and thinks it’s easy to just blow out a wall or three, tear out drywall and plaster, and reroute electric and HVAC and plumbing. All of which are in progress right now.
To be clear, when I say “we” are in the process of renovating our kitchen, I’m talking about a sensible division of labor: people who actually know what they’re doing are doing the heavy lifting, and we’re writing a fat check.
This stuff scares me… and I’m not just talking about the exposed electrical wires.
I’m afraid that we’re messing with the home’s “aura.”
Our house was built in 1941. It’s had nearly 80 years to accumulate ghosts. Tearing out a wall might unleash the hounds of hell…
… or worse yet, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
But we moved in 20 years ago, and haven’t done much at all to the kitchen. It was overdue for a “reboot.” And if “Saved by the Bell” can do it, by gosh, so can we!
Once the work crew started tearing things up on “demo day” (thanks HGTV, for that term of endearment) we could see that the previous owner had autographed his updates, which were done waaaay back in 1992.
Our kitchen had a “Blossom” vibe to it.
The other thing that’s revealed in the process is that houses are really just “sticks and bricks.”
And just because things have “always been this way” in your tenure doesn’t mean that they’ve really always been that way. Our sunroom has always been a sunroom to us, but it used to be an outdoor porch. The wall opening between that room and the kitchen used to be a window. Now it’s going to be an entryway. We’re repositioning the stove… but once some of the ceiling was torn down, you can see that the stove actually used to be in that same spot!
A house is pliable. Changing things up doesn’t make it any less of a home. Unless you take out a load-bearing wall! (Don’t worry, we didn’t do that.)
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go wash some dishes in the utility sink by the washing machine in our basement. I can’t wait until the reno is over.
Kevin Sullivan on Life advice from a man who lived it: “A good one Damian. Bring our lens into focus after the long weekend or our long life journey.” Jul 7, 09:38
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