Our first conflict was brought forth in part by this morning’s Tank McNamara (AMS) and in part by my having missed the first three weeks of the football season and not feeling all that bad about it.
There was a point at which I would agree with the fellow suggesting a three-concussions-and-you’re-out approach, and I remember watching Steve Young take a succession of concussions and wishing he’d hang it up. But he is now a commentator and mentally sharp, so …
So nothing. Irv Cross also became a commentator after his football career ended, and Alex Karras did that and had a substantial acting career, too, and both ended up with advanced dementia due to CTE.
No amount of money makes that worthwhile.
Yesterday, I heard on NPR that a third of retired players surveyed believe they have the condition, and, while it can only be confirmed post-mortem, studies show there is really no safe level of exposure and that, while it can happen to people in any sport, it is common in American football.
Now how about something a little less grim?
Juxtaposition of the Day
The Tupperware company has filed for bankruptcy, and while Bramhall is closer to the reason for its failure, Heller is right that it will be replaced by less durable plastic containers. If you’ve got Tupperware, even if it was a hand-me-down from your parents, it probably still works, while the cheap containers sold in grocery stores, though a step above plastic bags, become brittle and cracked relatively soon.
“Tupperware Parties” were a thing back when, as Bramhall’s cartoon says, we had housewives. My sense of things is that while a lot of women — and some men — take a few years off from work to be home for young children, both personal ambition and economic necessity see them return to the workforce once the kids are somewhat independent.
During my thankfully brief time selling vacuum cleaners in 1972, we set evening appointments by phone during the day and there were plenty of women home to answer our calls. I don’t know how it’s done now, but that certainly wouldn’t work.
Even a few years later, when I was the at-home parent, there were few enough of us scattered around the neighborhood that we got together for coffee occasionally but only in twos and threes. I know people still had Tupperware and other direct-sales gatherings, but the Avon lady worked one-on-one.
It’s a pity that durable, affordable storage containers are hard to find, but I don’t much miss the culture that Tupperware represented.
Though I once invited Norman Mailer to host a Tupperware Party for a project I was trying to fund. Oh well.
Juxtaposition of the Day #2
I understand that the Secret Service came under a lot of criticism for their failures in the first attempted Trump assassination, though it was obvious at the moment and the report that was recently released didn’t add a lot that wasn’t public at the time.
So far, they’ve followed military protocol in that sh*t rolls uphill rather than down and the director of the agency resigned, just as the captain of a ship takes responsibility for accidents even if he wasn’t on the bridge at the time. And, in the press conference linked above, the acting director promised major changes in procedure.
I suppose continued mockery as seen in Deering and Varvel’s commentary will act to remind them that the nation is watching and that they have to follow through with those unspecified but major changes.
Still, for all of Kelley’s concern that political candidates don’t have the same level of protection as the president, it seems they did a good job at spotting that fellow on the golf course, and what came out of that were reports of Trump refusing their advice not to play on hard-to-secure public courses.
But despite conservative blamecasting at the Biden Administration, it turns out the staffing decision rests with the Speaker of the House, House Minority Leader, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, and one additional member selected by the others, who then “advise” the Secretary of Homeland Security, and I suspect, at this stage, that their advice would be accepted.
Juxtaposition, Part Deux
Well, somebody is sure stirring up division in the country, and perhaps we should argue about that, rather than fussing over the fact that both attempts were made with assault rifles, the second of which was illegally obtained and had its serial number removed.
More critical, perhaps, is the news story about how shocked everyone in Butler, Pa., was at that first attempt, saying “Of all the places …” I think people had better get over the notion that “it can’t happen here” because it can, it has, it will.
The Secret Service pledges to establish a “new paradigm” but the whole country could use a new paradigm and I’m not sure we’ve got the will.
On one hand, we’ve got a contest between “Joy” and “They’re eating the cats” coming up November 5, but we’ve already seen how some people respond to losing an election and it’s not particularly promising.
Mike Peters (AMS) picks up on the bizarre attitude of Ohio’s Republican Governor, who responds to the lies and hatred being spread by Trump and by Ohio’s Republican Senator, condemning the lies but promising to support them anyway.
Perhaps he’s convinced that it can’t happen there, either, no matter how much hatred is sown.
However, we can’t pin it all on Trump and Vance, Matt Wuerker (Politico) reminds us, given how their pal Elon has transformed Xitter from a place where people once exchanged thoughts and opinions into a flowing font of hateful sewage. He claims it’s “free speech” but there seem to be limits on what can be said that contradicts his own troubling beliefs.
His latest innovation is to change the “block” feature so that, while you can block someone, it only means you won’t see what they post; they’ll still be able to monitor your posts.
But he’s also promised to remove blocking entirely in December, perhaps because so many Xitter users have blocked him.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Trump has had the same Secret Service protection that every former president had been given, and even more as a presidential candidate. The problem is Trump, who insists on having outdoor rallies and spends the rest of the time out in the open on golf courses. He’s making himself an easier target, refusing to listen to the SS to make it safer for him. Of course, there are a couple of reasons why his rallies are outdoors. Indoor rallies clearly shows the ever-increasing number of empty seats and many cities have lawsuits against him for not paying for previous rallies. A lot of cities now won’t allow him a venue because he stiffs everybody.
A billionaire should be able to afford his own bodyguards.
Neither “assassin” was a Democrat, and it’s the Republicans who tell people they need an AR-15 so that they can use them on the Government if the Government doesn’t meet with their approval.
Quite a few years back, I had a client who was invited by Trump to an “investment seminar on Trump’s yacht. Also invited was a colleague of his who (although he virtually never talked about it) had been the equivalent of a Navy SEAL / commando during WWII, and had done ultra dangerous work behind German lines. After the “seminar,” he told my client that Trump’s very conspicuous “security force” was laughable, that the men flourishing semiautomatic weapons didn’t even know how to hold them properly, and that it was obvious that Trump was more interested in pretending to be much more important than he really was. He agreed with my analysis of Trump’s “investment opportunities” as bad deals for everybody but Trump, and both he and my client did better elsewhere.
It’s on public record that the second would-be assassin made a number of donations to the DNC.
It’s on public record that the second would-be assassin is deranged.
But was a registered repubtard
Hi Mike. Tupperware filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, not Chapter 7.
https://apnews.com/article/tupperware-bankruptcy-cooking-food-storage-party-0482859639d2f2260fbd6325529034e8
With all the talk of going out of business, I assumed 7. I’ll drop the reference and we’ll see if they genuinely reorganize or not. Thx.
Wonderful laugh.
I had never encountered that song.
There is the classic from 1991, the very first episode of Eerie, Indiana, “Foreverware”, which is available for free online as a fine introduction to a hilarious show. That reminder recently led me to buy the series.
oh wow, I almost totally forgot about “Foreverware”! That really takes me back.
They did such an amazing job capturing the more cult-ish aspects of Tupperware, it really was terrifying.
And ironically, it turns out that Forever Ware is a real product now…
I don’t understand. When the kiddos are little, playgrounds are made super safe, sometimes at the cost of making them boring or not that useful for developing strength and coordination. Then when they get to high school, they are introduced, with almost religious fervour, to a sport with huge potential for brain damage.
America!
“It’s a pity that durable, affordable storage containers are hard to find, but I don’t much miss the culture that Tupperware represented.”
A culture where the family unit can survive on one salary, allowing the other parent to maintain the household, be available to look after the children, perhaps even home-school, prepare meals, maybe write or paint when there’s time, etc? Sounds pretty good to me, and it sure worked out fine when I was a kid back in the 1960s. Now, here in the UK, we have an economy where both parents work full-time, with a sizeable chunk of one salary paying for daycare, assuming you can find it. That’s progress?
I miss the economy, yes, but not the culture.
Regardless of the quality of their product, Tupperware was very much an MLM scheme and a cult. So yeah I don’t miss that either.
And as a gay man, don’t even get me started on Anita Bryant…
Or be the one who builds the family furniture and handles the family investments (which involves a heck of a lot of time to do it right). I had to be a stay at home wife when health concerns involving major surgery, PT, and OT made it impossible for me to hold an outside job. So, instead i doubled our money and made sure i had a lot to invest by saving a great deal of it, too.
The traditional assumptions about stay home spouses are commonly wrong. But i think we ALL have been bitten by stereotypes, haven’t we?
That note on stereotypes was a reply to SG. It seems to not have become attached to his.
I was the at-home parent for about eight years, and then a single dad for another six post-divorce. Cooked nearly all the meals, put the kids to bed, coached their soccer teams, etc. Didn’t seem very stereotypical at the time, but, yes, I miss being able to live on the wife’s salary plus whatever my freelancing brought in. I miss affordable houses with one bathroom and a single-car garage.
I don’t miss everybody being white, straight and middleclass, however, and while anybody could have a Tupperware Party, you have to get pregnant to have a Gender Reveal party, which tends to moderate the performative idiocy a bit.
And I miss Norman Mailer, but I sure don’t miss Anita Bryant. How can I, since her politics have survived her?
That ‘one parent income’ being sufficient for a middle-class lifestyle business only applied to white people. Fun with Dick and Jane. Not with Jemal and Lakisha.
This is such a typical “Facebook boomer” meme it should come with a Minion.
Why are we taxpayers paying for security for ex-presidents? They are no longer in an official role.
Theoretically they serve an important symbolic role as a former leader, even if they were voted out as opposed to hit term limits. In practice, well…
Oh, Gov. DeWine knows damn well it can happen in Ohio. It happened in Dayton a few years ago and when he dithered, and Dayton mayor Nan Whaley ran against him for governor…and lost.
Anita Bryant is still alive. Just sayin’.