BSR

Whatever the chant meant back in the 1960s is irrelevant. All that matters is what it means today. As you point out, the phrase was coined by Hamas, who very clearly states both in word and deed that it calls for the extermination of the Jews. This chant, this call for genocide, is what Gay allowed to be openly and freely expressed at Harvard. Harvard did the right thing when it forced/pressured Gay to resign, although it is a disgrace that it took so long. It's also a disgrace that this nonscholar will be collecting $900,000 as a "professor," but that's another debate.

70% of Palestinians in Gaza support Hamas, the terrorist group that wants to kill all Jews. How selfish of Israeli Jews to shut out people who want to mass-murder them. Any way you cut it, the "From the river to the sea (in other words, the elimination of Israel), Palestine will be free" chant is a call for genocide of Jews.

That is disgustingly disingenuous. The "end of the Israeli state" is a thinly disguised way of calling for the genocide of the Jews because the only way to eliminate the state of Israel would be to kill all the Jews who live there.

"destroying the planet" ... then why do hundreds of climate-change activists always travel to all these environmental conferences on their private jets? Maybe because climate activists care only about control over the world's economies. Climate? meh, not so much. Some people have to choose between heating their homes and buying groceries. The Very Important People who fly private have no idea how painful that is, and they certainly don't care.

Because there is so much to unpack with your post, I'll take on just one point for now. As much as I'd like to respond to all of them, I doubt I'll have the energy or motivation. Elise Stefanik did have a tough question waiting for Gay, but Gay's response to the easy question ("Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard's rules on bullying and harassment?”) left Stefanik so flabbergasted that she never got to ask the "set-up" question: "What are you going to do about it?" That was the question Stefanik expected Gay to fumble because the first question is a no-brainer, as evidenced by Gay's retraction days later. Forget the hearing, Gay's fate was sealed when for much too long she allowed calls for genocide of Jews to be expressed openly and freely at Harvard. The hearing was simply the forum that made very public Gay's failure. Pray tell, in what possible context (it all depends on the context, according to Gay) is the call for mass-murdering all gays/blacks/Muslims/or even redheads protected by free speech? Any university president that allowed such calls for genocide of those other groups would be fired instantly, yet it took a House hearing to hold Gay accountable.

I binged Berlín last week -- loved it! Berlín was my (everyone's?) favorite character from Money Heist, so much so that they gave him his own series. Who knew that a sadistic psychopath could be so lovable?? Berlín is quite different in tone from Money Heist, much more tongue-in-cheek humor, plenty of laugh-out-loud moments before & even during the edge-of-your-seat suspense. Also, the prequel takes place before the protagonist is ¡spoiler alert! diagnosed with his terminal illness and shows a far more human and humane protagonist. The supporting cast is fantastic. Berlín assembles a motley crew to pull off a magnificent jewel heist, €44 million of jewelry from an auction house, and the chemistry of the ensemble cast is simply perfect. A very pleasant surprise was newbie Joel Sanchez, a model turned actor. When I heard this was his first acting gig, I thought, "uh oh, pretty but wooden," but he was terrific, totally held his own against decades-in-the-biz veterans Pedro Alonso, Tristan Ulloa, and Michelle Jenner. Alicia and Raquel are the only other two characters brought in from the Money Heist cast. Because Berlín was made years after MH yet supposedly takes place years before, you have to forgive the cognitive dissonance of the actors looking years older despite playing characters years younger. The ending leaves the door wide open for many more seasons of Berlín. I'm crossing my fingers hard for a Season 2. Maybe they can negotiate a group rate from a good surgeon, LOL

"An ongoing arrangement is ideal, too." Maybe he's quoting a high rate -- $600 sounds high, even for a big market like LA -- more to find a sugardaddy.

I love winter because I get to sleep in the cold, ~50°, huddled under the thickest down comforter I could find on the Internet. I love breathing in the cold air while I'm toasty warm under the covers. While awake, I set the thermostat at 55° and wear a long-sleeve T + sweatshirt. Because winters are relatively mild in Las Vegas, I can get almost all my heat from my downstairs neighbor (I wonder what his heating bill is). The big exception is when I take a shower. I turn on a space heater to make the bathroom nice & toasty so that I don't turn into an icicle upon exiting the shower.

I still can't believe they let you into Yankee Stadium with a full pan of baked ziti. Just how long ago was this? Were the Dodgers still in Brooklyn??

Gotta click on the link because X doesn’t let this tweet be embedded. Trust me, it's worth the bother ... https://twitter.com/AtPhotness/status/1745162666673402220?t=YurGaahslVApvQuMBhovcA&s=19

Unfortunately, this disgrace plagues every level of education, from preschool to university. Narcissists who don't give a sh*t about their students because they care only about themselves ram narratives down kids' throats, and the difference between an A+ & a D- is simply how well the student parrots back what the so-called teacher wants to hear. Sadder still is that society applauds these grotesquely selfish narcissists simply because they are called teachers. We all know people who work in a field totally different from their college major. I know an art history major who works as a transportation consultant, a PhD in anthropology who became a McKinsey partner, a Wharton finance major who ended up as a fine art buying agent, etc. These people succeeded in fields very different from their major because they learned HOW to think. Contrast that with the poor bastard who only learns WHAT to think. Put them in an unfamiliar situation, and they're completely lost because they never learned critical thought. The narratives & ideologies they learned in college might make them feel good (there is no chic like victim chic), but I wouldn't hire them to sharpen pencils.

Not really an analysis, more just telling the whole story. I started noticing that month after month the government would publish a stellar jobs report with great fanfare, only to very quietly revise it downward a week later.

The film sounds great, but intense. I plan on watching at some point, but it might take me a while to ready myself first.

Some facts about that rosey jobs report ... US Labor Market Summarized: 1. 10 out of the last 11 jobs reports revised lower 2. ~25% of jobs gains in 2023 ultimately revised away 3. Government jobs accounted for 25% of December jobs gains 4. Part time jobs UP 762,000, full time jobs DOWN 1.5 million in December 5. Full-time job gains are FLAT for 2023 while part-time is up sharply 6. Inflation adjusted earnings ~3% BELOW 2021 levels But still, the initial jobs number beats expectations and prints headlines before being revised lower. Source: The Kobeissi Letter

Kathy Griffin ridiculed Bristol Palin for being fat.

If the Fresno Olive Garden closes, put me on suicide watch.

Yeah, of course they can both be. I just think that Joan Rivers deserves an extra shiny gold star for being a friend to the gays way back in the Sixties (note that Griffin was born in 1960), before Stonewall when doing so was much riskier. I'm not trying to make things a contest. Just pointing out that the world was far more gay-hostile in the 1960s than in the 1990s, when Griffin began her career.

The 2008 recession was caused by a crisis of subprime lending. Banks lent $billions to unqualified buyers who (surprise!) couldn't make good on the loans. This time, I think the recession will be sparked by a crisis in commercial lending. Left, right & center, real estate companies are giving up on commercial properties, leaving banks with $millions unpaid and commercial properties worth a fraction of their initial selling or development price (sound familiar?). Unlike the 30-year fixed mortgage on the residential side, commercial real estate loans have variable interest. The increases in the prime lending rate have resulted in many foreclosures. The high vacancy rate (work from home, pandemic aftermath) means even more foreclosures. As much as you hear about a "soft landing," I have grave doubts. If the powers-that-be do pull off a soft landing, it'll be a miracle. So here's to praying for a miracle.

Craving another guilty pleasure, I started watching High Heat, a Mexican telenovela about a team of firefighters. Unfortunately, it failed to match the trashy heights (depths?) of Fake Profile, my fave guilty pleasure to date on Netflix. Sure, the firefighters are handsome & sexy, but the series came off like it was written & directed by high school students. The gay storyline in particular annoyed me because it was as predictable as a New Year's Eve countdown. Even worse, the gay couple was limited to a few kisses, no full-on gay sex scenes (plenty of straight sex scenes, mind you) like you see in quality trash (yes, there is such a thing) like Élite seasons 1-5. Maybe the writers knew that a Mexican audience would be OK with a gay couple, but not gay sex. Venezuelan model-turned-actor Antonio Sotillo was my favorite fireman. This guy needs to do a lot more nude scenes in the future. But pretty as he is, even he can't make High Heat worth watching. Well, he does show off his spectacular ass a couple of times, so ...

For me, the pioneer "true friend & advocate" is Joan Rivers, who was a friend of the gays decades before it was fashionable. Not to diminish what Kathy Griffin has done, but I don't think of her as groundbreaking in the same way Joan was.

Average credit card debt hit a 10-year high of $6,088 per consumer as of Nov 10 this year. I'm sure that figure has gone up since because of holiday shopping.

The diversity worshippers got all vehrklempt when Lori Lightfoot was the first black & openly gay woman to become mayor of a major US city. Four years and innumerable failures later when she placed a miserable 3rd & lost reelection, nobody gave a sh*t that she was a black lesbian. All they cared was that she sucked. Cherelle Parker should come out as left-handed and convert to Islam to make all the DEIers cum without touching themselves.

Uh oh, lawsuit coming in 5 ... 4 ... I'm guessing Harvard gave Claudine Gay one helluva golden parachute, on the condition that she not sue the university. The big question is whether she can win more in a lawsuit. Even if she ends up with less by suing, she'll reap more-precious-than-gold victim chic: crying on Oprah, crying on The View, every Hollywood celebrity blowing sunshine up her ass. Maybe she'll get her own Lifetime movie.

Please BTC, don't hold back ... let it ALL out! I hope this doesn't make your head explode, but I think Kathy Griffin is hilarious, or at least she used to be a couple of decades ago. Of course, it's her life and she can do whatever she wants. But for the sake of her career, not to mention her mental well-being, she should forget politics and get back to doing what she does best. This clip gets a lot funnier at the 2:00 mark.

I kept reading that Gay would eventually have to resign, but I had my doubts because some very powerful forces were supporting her (Barack Obama at the top of the list). She hired legal counsel almost from the get-go. Now let's see how she responds to all this.