Open Thread - 28 December 2013

Slow news day today.  pl

Comments

[Tyler]

New Dexter bull calf, Pepper.

http://i.imgur.com/8dY8gVD.jpg

Personable little guy.

[Tony]

Report: Kerry offered to free Pollard as part of Palestinian prisoner release. http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.565880

I am simply speechless.

[Fred]

What are the thoughts of the readers about the Duck
Dynasty blow up?

[Charles I]

congrats.

[mac]

it's that time of year again...

http://www.timesofisrael.com/kerry-to-offer-the-release-of-jonathan-pollard/

[turcopolier]

fred

The "duckies" are ridiculous but the latent power of "fly over" America is demonstrated. pl

[John Minnerath]

Duck what?
I've studiously avoided all references to this thing and am happy to say I still don't have a clue what it's all about!

[Fred]

My thought too. it seems only my liberal friends were offended, though none of them have actually seen the show or lived in the South. Lots of others, however, we're quite pissed at the 'suspension'. Most of them pointed out that the press made no mention of the multiple biblical quotes or religious references.

[NancyK]

I think they are ridiculous too but it isn't just the fly over America who likes them. My brother and sister in law and my niece and nephew and his wife love the duckies and were very upset that they had been so discriminated against, and they live in Southern CA. My son in law and his family, who have lived in NC for generations can not stand the show. Go figure.

[Mark Logan]

Fred,

My guess is A&E both appreciated the free publicity, but felt a need to immediately bring something to the cast's attention. In the Big Time you get besieged by "reporters". Some of which have mastered of the art of presenting themselves as your friend. Beware.

[turcopolier]

NancyK

The duckies are an insult to Southerners. pl

[The Twisted Genius]

The duckies aren't the biggest insult on TV. You should see Porter Ridge. Those people make the clowns on Jersey Shore look like wise and cultured geniuses.

[Babak Makkinejad]

All:

I am looking for the title of a science-fiction novel.

In that story, aliens have conquered Earth but the artificially intelligent computer in SAC is still operational but inactive and a group of friends attempt to find SAC, break into it, and reactivate that A.I.-enabled computer.

Does anyone know the title?

[tv]

"Southerners"?

[mike]

North Carolinians can recognize a phony a lot easier than the people from the land of Hollywood.

[turcopolier]

tv

"Southerners?"

What?

- Southerners do not exist? They are merely ignorant inbred Northerners? That is an old idea.

-Immigrants to North Carolina are not Southerners? People become assimilated to surrounding culture. You seem very like a Vermonter.

- The appeal of the duckies is far wider than the South? Agreed.

- What? pl

[Alba Etie]

IMO reality TV has become a pox on our collective civic discourse & good will . Meanwhile my friend David was quite offended by Rev Robertson's view on race relations prior to the Civil Rights movement in These United States . David's maternal grandfather was lynched and killed in SW Louisiana ~ somewhere near Yellow Pine. The murder was never reported nor killers brought to justice.

[John]

Any thoughts on the NYT Benghazi article?
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/benghazi/#/?chapt=0

To me this looks more plausible than the other renditions we have heard.

[The beaver]

Babak

Is it Vampire earth?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Earth

[turcopolier]

John

To survive in a chaos like Benghazi at that time, you have to be a "hard hearted empath" not someone who believes in the goodness of people generally. I have worked with enemies who have been "turned" against their former friends, but their cooperation was always subject to safeguards to keep the Americans in the arrangement alive. In this case, all concerned in Benghazi, Tripoli and main state acted as tough they were actors in a Disney movie. pl

[nick b]

Agreed! My wife and I sat dumbstruck after running across this show. It's a whole new low. You can't pin this one on the South though. These clowns are from Indiana.

[Maureen Lang]

Actually, the case can be made that those who run corporate Hollywood not only recognize phonies but immediately figure out the very best ways to utilize them to make a tidy profit.

And yes, "the duckies," as Pat calls them are a truckload of phonies (before/after photos of the family available on the internet show their clean shaven yuppies to bearded swampers transformation) whose show we could all happily do without. Southerners & all the rest of us are insulted, maligned by such a caricature of the southern inhabitants of our nation. But Duck Dynasty is making a lot of dough for A&E, so they will remain....until the last bit of dough has been had. Then the show will be gone from our tv screens, not a moment before.

[Alba Etie]

correction North West Louisiana

[Alba Etie]

May Pollard rot in jail ..amen

[Babak Makkinejad]

No that was an older book; possibly from 1960s.