Up with People/Down with Politicians
Wednesday at the Stoplight is a weekly look at the serious and the absurd, the funny and the sweet, with some old-fashioned curmudgeon snark thrown in. These are the stream of consciousness thoughts I have while waiting at the stoplight.
The calendar may say 2016, but we would be right at home watching movies from the early 1960’s that fit the current state of America. The Manchurian Candidate, Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove come immediately to mind.
We sure could use Slim Pickens for some levity right about now. Dr. Strangelove or Blazing Saddles Pickens would do.
Has anyone ever slept out for Up with People concert tickets?
A rite of passage for young people in the 1960's/1970's was sleeping out for concert tickets. In the days before Stubhub you could get front row seats for concerts. In the late 1970’s my friends and I would bring great weed, cheap beer, tons of munchies, and stay up all night talking music while playing transistor radios and waiting for front row tickets.
If you had told me in 1979 that people would camp out for days for a phone I would have thought you were on a bad acid trip.
Senator Susan Collins wins a Profile in Non-Courage Award while joining the Trump exodus. The reasons she stated (mocking disabled reporter and John McCain) are one-year-old. What took ya so long, Susie?
HBO original series from 1997–2007 were the New York Yankees of television. Now they are more like ARod. Living on past glory and either striking out or hitting the odd double. The long ball is gone.
We hear all the time about athletes and the poor role models they make for our kids. That’s true sometimes. But I have a professional athlete your kids can root for no matter what team or sport they follow.
P.K. Subban of the Nashville Predators in the National Hockey League.
Subban’s recent trade from the Montreal Canadiens to Nashville broke a city’s heart. For years Subban has been a force not only on the ice but for local charities. Last fall, P.K. made a $10 million dollar commitment to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Not only did he donate $1 million himself, he committed to raising the remainder of the money over the next seven years. More importantly, he continues to spends countless hours with the kids in the hospital. Subban penned this wonderful letter to all the children that has since been put to the moving video below.
Let’s assume Trump was joking about second amendment people taking care of Hillary and/or the Supreme Court. Who jokes about that? That’s the type of joke one would hear in a redneck bar… not at a highly charged political rally. His rallies are already notorious for a segment of supporters screaming “Kill the Bitch.”
Now you have their leader giving his wink, wink, shrug.
The GOP Civil War is making America a very dangerous place.
When I see smokers pitch cigarettes out car windows I dream of a device that would make their engines automatically stop for 10 minutes… provided they aren’t in front of me.
Speaking of cars, why don’t all new cars come with a kill switch if a certain level of alcohol is detected within the drivers area at start or while moving? Remove manufacturer liability and impose a mandatory 10-year prison sentence for anyone disabling the device. Driving is a privilege, not a right.
Sarah Kendzior is challenging my political thinking. She writes columns for various publications and this week had back-to-back insightful stories: Foreign Policy, “Welcome to Donald Trump’s America” and Quartz, “Donald Trump and his followers could destroy America even if he loses.”
“There She Goes” by The La’s is still one of the great pop songs of all-time.
A woman gets walked down the aisle by the man who received her father’s heart. We need more reminders that life isn’t all political knife-throwing.
With all the serious stuff in the news it’s amusing seeing the reactions of my female friends on Facebook to Orlando Bloom’s penis. This link from The Howard Stern Show of Howard and Seth Rogan talking about his penis is very funny. And yes, it was sent to me by one of my female friends on Facebook.
Thanks, Amy.
More horror from the land of Trump: There’s a plethora of examples showing Trump supporters reacting in hateful ways toward their fellow citizens, but this week the New York Times put out a story with accompanying video taken over the past year, illustrating a particularly venomous side to Trump rallies. The video isn’t unsettling; it’s horrifying. These are Americans acting in a decidedly un-American manner. Espousing the Constitution, while calling for the rights of others to be taken away.
A cursory view shows a white nationalist strain not seen in America since the Father Coughlin and Charles Lindbergh led fascist/isolationist America First movements of the late 1930's.
Hmmm… Donald Trump uses America First as a rallying cry.
I have zero shits to give about Suicide Squad.
Song of the Week: “Million Years” by Alexander. Alexander is Alex Ebert aka Edward Sharpe of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. This is from his first solo album.
“I love you like grave danger”…. is a great opening line.
NBC needs to give male announcers over the age of 50 a refresher course on societal changes before they comment on female athletes. In the first two days of the Olympics, Dan Hicks credited a gold medal to a female swimmers husband who is also her coach and Al Trautwig tweeted that a female gymnast’s adopted parents weren’t “really” her parents.
NBC…… demand better from your staff.
Speaking of the Olympics…. this has to be the Tweet of the Week.
Rex Huppke….. you win the Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
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