From one soccer family to another: OH YEAH. And boy, did I love your interviews this week. If Josh T. does not become a senator I will be crying crocodile tears. May the sky be crying crocodile tears as the cage (GOOD GOD!) event begins tomorrow night.
never seen a usa mens team play like that. never. been following since 1990. that said, i think paraguay, which are a decent side, was a bit stunned by the crowd intensity. they had played a friendly here not long ago and i think did not expect the american crowd to be so jacked. qualifying our of south america is tough and they should be no strangers to this kind of thing, but the world cup is different. i hope the usa can make a decent run. took our minds off things for a bit, tonight in the nyc metro we have the knicks, i just happened to be wearing an orange fishing shirt and i am getting all kinds of thumbs up, and brazil is playing morrocco this afternoon at metlife stadium. we are staying away from the turnpike....would you believe in 94 a world cup ticket could be had for 25 bucks? now the complaint is a burger and beer cost 50 bucks in the stadium...plus parking and transport....
The tumble on the White House lawn is facing possible thunder, lightning, rain and a plague of Insects. Happy Birthday Donny.
Meanwhile www.nokings.org has counter programming... Sing Along watch parties for the First Amendment with Bette Midler, Patti Smith, Jane Fonda, and others.
Can you imagine the sweating that man will exhibit tomorrow? Despite his sweating, his medical report claims he's gained weight, not lost weight. During his 2.0 campaign, I thought his face looked thinner, and that he was taking the "fat shot" back then - if he found the side effects intolerable and got off it, that could explain his rebound weight gain.
Also, checking in on the activity of spectators waiting for the vulgar letters to come down from the Kennedy Center, I imagine the celebration that will take place when it's done. And, of course, I think in the back of everyone's mind will be: If you think THIS is CELEBRATING, wait till you see what we do when he finally DIES.
Wonderful to see such strong proof that Football in America has come of age!
(My apologies, but as a European I still insist on calling it *Football* – in contrast to what I sometimes jokingly but descriptively call “American carry-ball”.)
most of the games were loose affairs and weren't codified until the late 19th century. before that it was a free for all; the first basketball game had one guy knocked out and another with a dislocated shoulder. this kind of thing was typical. the first football game, between rutgers and princeton, was played with a round ball and you couldn't use hands.....
remember it was called soccer until around 1980 in england....still called soccer in a lot of places, like australia, the socceroos....football was a term used to describe games the servants played on foot, as opposed to horse back....but call it whatever you want. i like the beautiful game.....most guys my age still hold it in disdain, which is why i did not go to a birthday party yesterday where i would have had to listen to the complaints. i grabbed a big bowl of cookies and cream with chocolate syrup and watched from my couch.....these games are unpredictable and paraguay was considered tougher than australia, but strange things happen on the pitch, and the aussies are talking smack about taking our guys out of the game physically. and they nabbed a kid from italy who switched sides when the italians failed to qualify...he was born in australia.
Us plebs did not say soccer all that much. Not where I was from anyway. It's more of a thing for our private school educated masters!! At least that was the old tale anyway.
I will call it either these days, makes not a bit of difference to me. You still get quite a few Brits who get rather upset when someone says 'soccer' though!! I got told off for it once when I worked in a bookies (betting shop) back in the late noughties.
Yeah, as a Londoner (near enough anyway) it is 'football' or 'footy' to me. But then technically it is 'soccer' because Association Football. But then you also have Rugby Football (League and Union), Aussie Rules Football, oh and Gaelic Football!!
All of which have a foot coming in contact with a ball more than American Football!!
It takes the brain a minute. But I have a lot of friends in Europe. ManU vs. ManCity rivalries are interesting. My friend performed at the PFA (European PFA) Awards in 2008. My friends remind me it's American football vs. what the rest of the world calls football.
A worthwhile read, in my humble opinion – even though Susan J. Demas’ constant use of the term “Far Left” may seem a bit oversimplified and cartoonish.
Yes, but what I have been seeing a lot of is the same accusations being lobbed at the entire Dem party, or at “liberals” or “the left” in general, which I don’t think is true. So I appreciate her specificity.
Oh, my…. This is so good. In particular the paragraph about the overlap between the “far left” and far right. I see it especially in the elevation of machismo and antisemitism.
I saw this overlap between far left and far right during the rise of Bernie Bros in 2016. Although I like a lot of Bernie's policy positions, he is not a good politician. He seriously hurt Hillary by attacking her instead of finding a way to work with her. He clearly later regretted it, but the damage was done. This Platner stuff reeks of the apologetics for Moron Mussolini.
Another thing to add to our "To Do" list: opposing the ridiculous proposed regulations by the US Postal Service regarding mail-in ballots. There's a 30-day public comment period that ends July 2 and the second link below describes how we can comment:
"Mail or deliver written comments to Director, Product Classification, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 4446, Washington, DC 20260-5015. Email comments, containing the name and address of the commenter, may be sent to: PCFederalRegister@usps.gov, with a subject line of 'Ballot Mail.' ”
Here is the response that I sent by email and posted to social media sites.
I oppose the proposed rule “Ballot Mail for Federal Elections” to amend the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service (39 CFR Part 111).
This proposed rule is an assault to the states’ Constitutional authority to administer federal elections, and it is an assault to the political independence of the United States Postal
Service. This proposed rule also appears to be blatantly illegal; therefore, it must be withdrawn.
I only watch soccer during the World Cup and really enjoyed last night’s game. When I looked at the racial composition of the USMNT, I thought to myself Herr Stephen Miller must be hyperventilating. His loss - they were fantastic and adored by the fans.
name off, but giant curtain still in place. probably til monday unless someone goes back to court to get an order to take it down. OMG he just has to ruin everything. what a fragile ego. dont want the boxing clientele to see his embarassment. what a shitshow really. he puts his name above JFK. illegally. sticks it to congress who wrote the law knowing they are supine. gets the DOJ to defend his illegal action in court (thx to rep beatty/ohio) on our taxpayer dime, defending in court something they all know is illegal. then defys the courts by not taking it down on friday as the judge ordered them to do. waiting til the last minute and storms (guess they can read weather reports in the white house), now the letters are gone but they keep up the tarp/curtain so no one at the boxing shitshow will see his name gone. this is the epitome of trumpism at its finest. hope we get to see the bill from the guys who pulled down the sign & put up the giant curtain. must be a whopper!
One thing that I saw recently (and probably didn't follow up to be clear on the details) was that the Republicans would not support a commitment to prevent troops from polling places. I think it must've been stripped in committee because the report was that Wicker was part of it and wouldn't respond to the press. That fucker was supposed to be better than the rest of them but he isn't.
Could we also gave a guillotine and a basket next to the animal cage as a reminder to every one of the fall of a previous authoritarian government in 1789 who thought they were secure. Mmmm.
Behind the shrouded scaffold the old king dwindled.
Not with the clean fall of tyrants sung of in marble halls, but with the slow unraveling of a man who could no longer command reality itself to remain obedient. The wars had gone poorly. Allies bent away from him like reeds fleeing floodwater. His victories, once proclaimed in banners and gold letters, had become lawsuits, whispers, evasions, and desperate ceremonies of self-preservation.
And now the workmen had come.
Not in triumph. Not with drums. Quietly. Mechanically. With harnesses and bolts and tarps.
A canvas curtain hung like funeral cloth across the façade of the great house, shielding the kingdom from the sight of its monarch’s name being unscrewed from stone.
That is the image Shakespeare would have seized upon.
The pathetic human instinct to hide humiliation from the crowd even after the crowd already knows.
Lear raging upon the heath still believed the storm itself acknowledged him. But this modern king has entered the crueler phase of decline: the phase where even the storm has stopped listening. He no longer battles nature or fate, but optics. Cameras. Public relations. Contractors removing letters before sunrise.
One imagines him somewhere inside the palace corridors, sleepless and swollen with grievance, demanding updates from trembling courtiers:
“Can they see it from the plaza?”
“Has the press arrived?”
“Cover it better.”
And outside, beneath gray skies, anonymous laborers loosen the bolts one by one while the tarp flaps like the sail of a sinking dynasty.
The tragedy is not merely political. Shakespeare understood that deeply. The tragedy is existential. A man who built himself into spectacle eventually becomes trapped by spectacle. Every triumph must be visible; therefore every humiliation becomes unbearable. The ego that once required giant gold letters to reassure itself cannot survive the sight of those same letters lowered silently into crates.
In Lear, the king loses power before he loses his mind.
In this version, he loses the illusion that power and selfhood were ever separate things at all.
And so the workers keep climbing.
The scaffold rises.
The tarp billows.
And behind it, piece by piece, the kingdom removes the name while the old king rages unseen at the dark.
For months now, I have imagined Little Marco, schlepping himself around in shoes that don't fit, as Regan; and Chipmunk Cheeks Vance as Goneril, because I really do believe he is evil.
Sometimes you see things in sports that just take your breath away. That third goal, what a beautiful shot. Just perfectly placed. But the whole game was great. I liked the quote from the coach that he wanted his team to play with “joy and focus.” That’s definitely what they showed. And as one writer pointed out, they didn’t let up after scoring the first goal, as they might have in the past. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/12/usa-paraguay-world-cup-2026-group-d-match-report.
Symbolically, the name coming off the Kennedy center just seems huge to me.
Taking a trip to Victoria this week to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Will try to show Canadians our best.
A word of warning - Our west coast cities have suffered particularly in the combination of toxic drug crisis, homelessness and affordability crisis. Things were not exactly as I remembered last time I was there, especially downtown. An engaged population had not given up on finding solutions, but it's a complex challenge.
Lots of beauty and history still to make it a great trip, though. Really hope you have a wonderful time.
From one soccer family to another: OH YEAH. And boy, did I love your interviews this week. If Josh T. does not become a senator I will be crying crocodile tears. May the sky be crying crocodile tears as the cage (GOOD GOD!) event begins tomorrow night.
never seen a usa mens team play like that. never. been following since 1990. that said, i think paraguay, which are a decent side, was a bit stunned by the crowd intensity. they had played a friendly here not long ago and i think did not expect the american crowd to be so jacked. qualifying our of south america is tough and they should be no strangers to this kind of thing, but the world cup is different. i hope the usa can make a decent run. took our minds off things for a bit, tonight in the nyc metro we have the knicks, i just happened to be wearing an orange fishing shirt and i am getting all kinds of thumbs up, and brazil is playing morrocco this afternoon at metlife stadium. we are staying away from the turnpike....would you believe in 94 a world cup ticket could be had for 25 bucks? now the complaint is a burger and beer cost 50 bucks in the stadium...plus parking and transport....
The tumble on the White House lawn is facing possible thunder, lightning, rain and a plague of Insects. Happy Birthday Donny.
Meanwhile www.nokings.org has counter programming... Sing Along watch parties for the First Amendment with Bette Midler, Patti Smith, Jane Fonda, and others.
Can you imagine the sweating that man will exhibit tomorrow? Despite his sweating, his medical report claims he's gained weight, not lost weight. During his 2.0 campaign, I thought his face looked thinner, and that he was taking the "fat shot" back then - if he found the side effects intolerable and got off it, that could explain his rebound weight gain.
Also, checking in on the activity of spectators waiting for the vulgar letters to come down from the Kennedy Center, I imagine the celebration that will take place when it's done. And, of course, I think in the back of everyone's mind will be: If you think THIS is CELEBRATING, wait till you see what we do when he finally DIES.
Who knows how soon the f**ker will die. I'd celebrate like crazy if Dems take the House and Senate, then immediately impeach and remove him!
Tomorrow in DC seems to have all the makings of a Cecil B. DeMille biblical blockbuster.
Or a Passover Seder (Let my people go!!!!)
or some Shakespeare tragedy (Lear).
“The President …said Iran was playing us. The only one being played is President Trump.”
Donald Trump is playing himself. Or as the Brits say: Wanker!
We do, we do say that.
A lot.
And I say it a lot about Donald Trump. At least once a day in fact. And plenty about Elon Musk as well!!
Wonderful to see such strong proof that Football in America has come of age!
(My apologies, but as a European I still insist on calling it *Football* – in contrast to what I sometimes jokingly but descriptively call “American carry-ball”.)
The name for American football is a bit nonsensical.
most of the games were loose affairs and weren't codified until the late 19th century. before that it was a free for all; the first basketball game had one guy knocked out and another with a dislocated shoulder. this kind of thing was typical. the first football game, between rutgers and princeton, was played with a round ball and you couldn't use hands.....
I guess the name didn't evolve with the game!
remember it was called soccer until around 1980 in england....still called soccer in a lot of places, like australia, the socceroos....football was a term used to describe games the servants played on foot, as opposed to horse back....but call it whatever you want. i like the beautiful game.....most guys my age still hold it in disdain, which is why i did not go to a birthday party yesterday where i would have had to listen to the complaints. i grabbed a big bowl of cookies and cream with chocolate syrup and watched from my couch.....these games are unpredictable and paraguay was considered tougher than australia, but strange things happen on the pitch, and the aussies are talking smack about taking our guys out of the game physically. and they nabbed a kid from italy who switched sides when the italians failed to qualify...he was born in australia.
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing.
(Apropos, I’ve heard Rugby players quip about why American Football players “need all that protective gear…”)
Us plebs did not say soccer all that much. Not where I was from anyway. It's more of a thing for our private school educated masters!! At least that was the old tale anyway.
I will call it either these days, makes not a bit of difference to me. You still get quite a few Brits who get rather upset when someone says 'soccer' though!! I got told off for it once when I worked in a bookies (betting shop) back in the late noughties.
Yeah, as a Londoner (near enough anyway) it is 'football' or 'footy' to me. But then technically it is 'soccer' because Association Football. But then you also have Rugby Football (League and Union), Aussie Rules Football, oh and Gaelic Football!!
All of which have a foot coming in contact with a ball more than American Football!!
I had the good fortune to live in London for a year, but never heard “footy” before. I love it :)
No worries Arctic! We're getting there!
It takes the brain a minute. But I have a lot of friends in Europe. ManU vs. ManCity rivalries are interesting. My friend performed at the PFA (European PFA) Awards in 2008. My friends remind me it's American football vs. what the rest of the world calls football.
Why Platner is a liability
https://substack.com/home/post/p-201813583
A worthwhile read, in my humble opinion – even though Susan J. Demas’ constant use of the term “Far Left” may seem a bit oversimplified and cartoonish.
I couldn't figure out what she meant by Far Left. I'm a Progressive and it felt like she meant people like me.
Yes, but what I have been seeing a lot of is the same accusations being lobbed at the entire Dem party, or at “liberals” or “the left” in general, which I don’t think is true. So I appreciate her specificity.
"Far left" uses the terms "establishment" and "corporate" to describe any Dem they don't like.
On the Daily Kos, I sometimes caused a ruckus by pointing out that it was “corporate media” – owned by Kos Media LLC.
It is. But remember that American politics tends to be more conservative than in many countries. Yes, we're more advanced than Iran, etc.
If you haven’t seen this, I found it very educational. It’s written by a MD who is also a Navy Seal combat vet. The comments are also important.
https://dbarkhuff.substack.com/p/on-platner-and-me?utm_source=direct&r=7vxhp&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Thank you. That was a very worthwhile read.
Oh, my…. This is so good. In particular the paragraph about the overlap between the “far left” and far right. I see it especially in the elevation of machismo and antisemitism.
I saw this overlap between far left and far right during the rise of Bernie Bros in 2016. Although I like a lot of Bernie's policy positions, he is not a good politician. He seriously hurt Hillary by attacking her instead of finding a way to work with her. He clearly later regretted it, but the damage was done. This Platner stuff reeks of the apologetics for Moron Mussolini.
Agreed!
Another thing to add to our "To Do" list: opposing the ridiculous proposed regulations by the US Postal Service regarding mail-in ballots. There's a 30-day public comment period that ends July 2 and the second link below describes how we can comment:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/10/politics/postal-service-deliver-mail-in-ballots
https://www.bing.com/search?pglt=393&q=how+do+i+comment+on+the+Postal+Service%27s+proposed+rules+regarding+mail-in+ballots&cvid=609b37803bfc46c28b3e3ee084394e34&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQ6wcYQNIBCTE5Nzk5ajBqN6gCALACAA&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=DCTS
Thanks for this, KBH. I think paying attention to this is really important.
Thank you! Although the link doesn't work for me due to a paywall, I found the proposed rule published in the Federal Register. https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10968.pdf
It gives these ways to respond.
"Mail or deliver written comments to Director, Product Classification, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 4446, Washington, DC 20260-5015. Email comments, containing the name and address of the commenter, may be sent to: PCFederalRegister@usps.gov, with a subject line of 'Ballot Mail.' ”
Here is the response that I sent by email and posted to social media sites.
Email to: PCFederalRegister@usps.gov
Subject: Ballot Mail
Date: June 13, 2026
Comment by: Deborah Potter; address /email [goes here]
Comment:
I oppose the proposed rule “Ballot Mail for Federal Elections” to amend the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service (39 CFR Part 111).
This proposed rule is an assault to the states’ Constitutional authority to administer federal elections, and it is an assault to the political independence of the United States Postal
Service. This proposed rule also appears to be blatantly illegal; therefore, it must be withdrawn.
Thanks for adding that, Deborah. Sorry the link containing that information didn't work.
Thank you for alerting us to this important opportunity to be Information Warriors!!
I hope you don't mind if I borrow your format. I think I'll add something about it being obviously politically motivated.
I only watch soccer during the World Cup and really enjoyed last night’s game. When I looked at the racial composition of the USMNT, I thought to myself Herr Stephen Miller must be hyperventilating. His loss - they were fantastic and adored by the fans.
Go USA 🇺🇸
The Kennedy Center debacle last night was just another cover-up by this administration.
Literally.
Is his name off of it now? I tried to live stream it and it isn't working.
name off, but giant curtain still in place. probably til monday unless someone goes back to court to get an order to take it down. OMG he just has to ruin everything. what a fragile ego. dont want the boxing clientele to see his embarassment. what a shitshow really. he puts his name above JFK. illegally. sticks it to congress who wrote the law knowing they are supine. gets the DOJ to defend his illegal action in court (thx to rep beatty/ohio) on our taxpayer dime, defending in court something they all know is illegal. then defys the courts by not taking it down on friday as the judge ordered them to do. waiting til the last minute and storms (guess they can read weather reports in the white house), now the letters are gone but they keep up the tarp/curtain so no one at the boxing shitshow will see his name gone. this is the epitome of trumpism at its finest. hope we get to see the bill from the guys who pulled down the sign & put up the giant curtain. must be a whopper!
One thing that I saw recently (and probably didn't follow up to be clear on the details) was that the Republicans would not support a commitment to prevent troops from polling places. I think it must've been stripped in committee because the report was that Wicker was part of it and wouldn't respond to the press. That fucker was supposed to be better than the rest of them but he isn't.
Postcarding. As usual.
Could we also gave a guillotine and a basket next to the animal cage as a reminder to every one of the fall of a previous authoritarian government in 1789 who thought they were secure. Mmmm.
Behind the shrouded scaffold the old king dwindled.
Not with the clean fall of tyrants sung of in marble halls, but with the slow unraveling of a man who could no longer command reality itself to remain obedient. The wars had gone poorly. Allies bent away from him like reeds fleeing floodwater. His victories, once proclaimed in banners and gold letters, had become lawsuits, whispers, evasions, and desperate ceremonies of self-preservation.
And now the workmen had come.
Not in triumph. Not with drums. Quietly. Mechanically. With harnesses and bolts and tarps.
A canvas curtain hung like funeral cloth across the façade of the great house, shielding the kingdom from the sight of its monarch’s name being unscrewed from stone.
That is the image Shakespeare would have seized upon.
The pathetic human instinct to hide humiliation from the crowd even after the crowd already knows.
Lear raging upon the heath still believed the storm itself acknowledged him. But this modern king has entered the crueler phase of decline: the phase where even the storm has stopped listening. He no longer battles nature or fate, but optics. Cameras. Public relations. Contractors removing letters before sunrise.
One imagines him somewhere inside the palace corridors, sleepless and swollen with grievance, demanding updates from trembling courtiers:
“Can they see it from the plaza?”
“Has the press arrived?”
“Cover it better.”
And outside, beneath gray skies, anonymous laborers loosen the bolts one by one while the tarp flaps like the sail of a sinking dynasty.
The tragedy is not merely political. Shakespeare understood that deeply. The tragedy is existential. A man who built himself into spectacle eventually becomes trapped by spectacle. Every triumph must be visible; therefore every humiliation becomes unbearable. The ego that once required giant gold letters to reassure itself cannot survive the sight of those same letters lowered silently into crates.
In Lear, the king loses power before he loses his mind.
In this version, he loses the illusion that power and selfhood were ever separate things at all.
And so the workers keep climbing.
The scaffold rises.
The tarp billows.
And behind it, piece by piece, the kingdom removes the name while the old king rages unseen at the dark.
I love this description Tom. His attention to the details of how this was finally accomplished was absolutely insane and Shakespearean.
great to see Mr Wiggin here!
Wowza! Your description of the workmen reminds me of the executioners of old. Instead of axes they bring bolts and tarps. Off with his letters!
For months now, I have imagined Little Marco, schlepping himself around in shoes that don't fit, as Regan; and Chipmunk Cheeks Vance as Goneril, because I really do believe he is evil.
Will he veto either bill? Ukraine or the war powers? Is it veto proof passage in the Senate?
I love it, very Apropos, well done!
Sometimes you see things in sports that just take your breath away. That third goal, what a beautiful shot. Just perfectly placed. But the whole game was great. I liked the quote from the coach that he wanted his team to play with “joy and focus.” That’s definitely what they showed. And as one writer pointed out, they didn’t let up after scoring the first goal, as they might have in the past. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/12/usa-paraguay-world-cup-2026-group-d-match-report.
Symbolically, the name coming off the Kennedy center just seems huge to me.
Taking a trip to Victoria this week to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Will try to show Canadians our best.
i really thought they were going to go into defense mode in the 2nd half, and just knock it around. i'm worried about tim ream, dude is 38.....
Enjoy Victoria! I went a million years ago as a kid. It was gorgeous! I'm sure it still is. Congrats on your 30 years!
Enjoy Victoria!
A word of warning - Our west coast cities have suffered particularly in the combination of toxic drug crisis, homelessness and affordability crisis. Things were not exactly as I remembered last time I was there, especially downtown. An engaged population had not given up on finding solutions, but it's a complex challenge.
Lots of beauty and history still to make it a great trip, though. Really hope you have a wonderful time.
Thanks to the new 95 paying hopium members for joining us in the fight of our lives!!
Thanks to the new 95 paying hopium members for joining us in the fight of our lives!!