Typically one of the least-read Open Threads Of The Year. Will this year be different? I write, you decide.
Every columnist everywhere has weighed in on whether Biden should step down or not, with every imaginable permutation as to what should happen if he does. Haven’t read them. Won’t read them. Won’t link to them. They’re ubiquitous. And omnipresent. Spoiler Alert: If he steps down, it won’t be today.
Looks like the Labour Party, which is even weaker than the Democratic Party, will sweep the Tories out of power in England. Raging centrism will abound:
The trend in Britain can be explained in part by voters being fed up with the center-right Conservatives. But it is also a result of Britain’s first-past-the-post voting system, in which smaller parties are at a disadvantage. For example, the Conservative Party polled at 18 percent and the right-wing Reform U.K. party at 17 percent in the latest survey of likely voters by Survation. But the same pollster predicted that Conservatives would win 64 out of 650 seats in Parliament and Reform would win seven seats — or 10 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
“There’s nothing to suggest that Brits are more left wing, or less populist or love immigrants more; they are very similar” to voters on the European continent, said Sara Hobolt, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics. “The core difference is the electoral system … and it’s translating differently because of a cyclical difference in what they are voting for and against.”
Who’s behind those ‘papertarian’ commercials that are all of a sudden everywhere? :
Comedian and actor Retta might be best known for her role on the TV show Parks and Recreation, but she’s already making waves in her new role: The Paper and Packaging Board’s “papertarian” marketing campaign that launched in April.
P+PB is a commodity checkoff program, a national marketing initiative that promotes and provides information about an agricultural commodity without referencing specific producers or brands.Industry funds the program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees it. The goal is to promote and create public preference for paper, especially by highlighting paper products’ sustainability and recyclability.
I was convinced the Koch Brothers were behind this. Looks like I was wrong.
Been watching a lot of Fernwood 2Nite episodes in the wake of the passing of Martin Mull. I can report that I find them every bit as funny now as back when I was watching them ‘under the influence’. If there is a Smarm Hall Of Fame, Barth Gimble belongs in it. Hey, ya might as well start with Episode 1.
Hey, might as well close by treating you to my two favorite 4th of July songs:
“What a waste of gunpowder and sky”:
“Hey, baby, it’s the Fourth of July”:
What do you want to talk about?