Chris Conaton

Vivek doing this in the first place was obviously disgusting. But once Trump and Vance jumped into defend him against most of the rest of the Party, this story gained some real “John McCain is a loser because he got captured” vibes. 

It is October 9th and Christmas has had ENOUGH of all you Halloween people! Taken at an HEB this morning.

TX Republicans have been attempting to stave this off for years, but demographics just keep shifting. 1st it was gerrymandering, then voter ID, then more gerrymandering, then gerrymandering with a side of “Hispanics like us now! We hope,” and of course, closing polling places in minority districts.

Of all the dangling plot points I was hoping the finale of Lanterns would explain, I did not expect “why the hell is Navy one of Noah’s potential college choices?“ to be one of them. But it was on my list and they did explain it, so good for them, I guess.

A familiar story for anyone who follows @volts.wtf. “The Chronicle spoke to more than half a dozen grid experts…to try to understand why Texas’s notoriously unreliable grid had a remarkably reliable summer. The answer was unanimous: solar panels and batteries.”

First time in baseball history a stadium name has gotten a September call-up. I guess the Tigers’ AAA affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens, are gonna have to find a new name for their ballpark now. www.mlive.com/tigers/2026/...

Jason Benetti gets absolutely roasted by his own production crew with the camera cut after his Austro-Turkish War reference. 🤣

So far the Lions seem to have no idea that Josh Allen sometimes runs the ball and is good at it. No one anywhere near him when he takes off.

Driving behind a car with a “Do You Follow Jesus This Close?“ license plate border while listening to Podium by @cheekface.bsky.social

Since becoming president again, Trump has promised: -$5000 stimulus checks via "DOGE dividend" -$2000 stimulus checks via "tariff dividend" -$1000+ checks via "savings" from expiring ACA subsidies -$5000 "dividend" if Rs win midterms No checks have been issued www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-magi...

The latest salvo in Target’s “Stop getting mad at us, we just like money!” campaign has arrived, as a key part of their Halloween sections that are just now going up.

Texans: Make sure you are registered to vote. Being on the voter suspense list does not mean your voter registration has been purged. It simply means that local officials need an updated address before October 5th – the voter registration deadline in Texas.

The refs took that game from Western Michigan and gave Michigan an undeserved second chance to win it. Ridiculous.

Just going to start marking this at this point. Since the last jump exactly 2 weeks ago, gas prices here in Houston had generally fallen about $.20. He and Hegseth started doing dumb shit with Iran again over the weekend, so oil rose on Monday, and gas prices jumped $.30 here overnight. 

Big regrets from Trump’s people here, who decided they needed to find something Presidential for him to do here in Houston so it didn’t look like he just came for a very expensive fundraiser. Which he did.

Oh, wow. Sounds like people really hate data centers and AI right now. This you? futurism.com/future-socie...

Zootopia as an allegory for average Americans discovering our history of discrimination. 1: I knew we gave Carnivores a hard time, but this is BAD! 2: We kicked out Reptiles due to capitalism and racism, WHAT THE FUCK? 3: We also messed with Birds? I hate it here! screenrant.com/zootopia-3-d...

We do not have to watch the wizard bigot show. We do not have to write about the wizard bigot show. We can simply point out that the people making it chose to endorse bigotry. And not reward it with coverage or eyeballs.

@tvisgoodpod.bsky.social @kvanaren.bsky.social @sepinwall.bsky.social When Kathryn said, “We will be talking about Mrs. Davis at some point on this podcast” at the end of the Ted Lasso episode, I unintentionally turned into the Sickos meme in my car.

Will failed US Senate candidate and failed NBA player Royce White also have to take a bus cross-country to play games in his hypothetical WNBA career due to his crippling fear of flying? This is what I would ask them.

The Republican play is always “Appeal to voters’ worst impulses” • Opponent is a woman? Try sexism! • Opponent is a man of color? Try racism! • Opponent is a clean-cut white man? Try homophobia!

In case anyone was unclear as we approach the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Islamophobia is still a HUGE part of the Republican platform. “They’re trying to do Sharia law!” and posting photos of people existing while Muslim in grocery stores are both Republican scare tactics here in Texas right now!

Seems like this was a bad night in Michigan for the people who conduct polls. Did any of them have this as a nail-biting squeaker won by less than 2 points?

@houstonchronicle.com I’m not sure I agree with yours and Carlos Correa’s assessment here.

Houston and Birmingham had different problems in the UFL, but two of them were the same: the teams weren’t good, and the league plays afternoon games outdoors in May. The latter is an issue for attendance in the South when the former is also true. It’s something the UFL needs to think about more.

Finally saw Disclosure Day. It’s like Spielberg decided to direct the action-packed finale of a tv show, and just didn’t bother to make the 50 episodes leading up to it. It’s an audacious concept, but it didn’t quite work for me.

We were SO close to everyone getting to make jokes involving the mostly-forgotten Dreamworks movie Flushed Away, but England took that from us.

Staybridge Suites in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I know the hot breakfast is the draw, but you have cereal, too. “Oh, sorry, we ran out of 2% milk, you’ll have to use the almond milk” with 45 minutes left to go in your breakfast period is unacceptable.

Clarence Thomas taking 90 pages to say, “Fuck Them Kids.”

I know the list is endless but I genuinely think trashing the legitimate congressionally chartered org for celebrating the 250th to instead hijack our national assets and taxpayer funds for his personality cult grifter crap should, in and of itself, be fully sufficient to merit removal from office.

I would never show my face in public again if I was on the receiving end of this burn

Haiti’s players may not be the best team at the World Cup, but they are world class divers.

Not sure if this counts as petty, but I remember opening book 10 of The Wheel of Time only to discover that Robert Jordan had decided to start the book with a 100-page prologue featuring a brand new character and that was it for me, despite all the years and time invested in that series.

Using obvious AI-generated art in advertising can turn off a significant portion of the customers the advertisers are trying to attract. Here’s a corollary. If your company purchases a Cybertruck and wraps it with ads for the company, you are getting a negative return on that investment.

Intentionally or not, The Mandalorian and Grogu followed the course of about 80% of all anime tv-to-film adaptations: Stick to the basic premise, keep the characters to their broad archetypes, and don’t worry about hardly any of the ongoing plotlines from the show. For me, this worked pretty well!

If the actor with British accent is evil then you’re watching Sci fi. If the actor with a British accent is good then it’s Fantasy. If the actor with a British accent knocks something over then it’s a Rom com.

In case you were wondering how the youths are feeling about AI, this clip from a corporate VP doing a commencement speech at the University of Central Florida is worth watching.

@tmbg.bsky.social have a new album out, which means I get to ramble about it for @popmatters.com ! www.popmatters.com/they-might-b...

You guys remember when Charlie Sheen was having a mental breakdown but kept insisting that everything was “Winning!” and everybody laughed and was entertained for a couple of months but then we stopped paying attention and his career tanked? Just thinking about that this morning.