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*koffkoff* Merrick Garland Jack Smith *koffkoff* She did a bit of a publicity tour around various podcasts and shows to promote it, but they were mostly “preaching to the choir” types of venues where I heard her. I hope she was on a few other, more mainstream ones, too.

The last episode of the podcast goes over how important it is to not let anti-American actions slide and get stuffed down the memory hole (“let’s heal and move on”), although that is mostly what happened. It’s a timely warning for today, especially with the special counsel just being named to dig into 1/6. I do listen to both On and Pivot—Kara is great. Different from Rachel, but she does give me that “current events” hit through the week (along with the Crooked Media podcasts).

Same! I loved, “Well it’s not a urinary device.”

What was really.dumb was that he was over at her house. She could have just said, “Let’s make that family comfort food recipe together and have dinner like old times.” Then just watch what he did—even have Frankie taking notes like she was doing anyway. Then Grace could have met the craving right away AND had the recipe.

Unbelievably creepy! That he was awarded an MBE is horrifying. “War crimes eyes” was spot on. I ❤️ Steve Kornacki at the big board 🙂

Okay, the Sexiest Man Alive bit was funny, from the “two finalists” announcement to the pre-recorded tape with the shared title. Especially appreciated the sexy message, “Go vote tomorrow”!

Timely episode this week! It’s so freaking embarrassing that the candidates in my state are the poster children for idiocy across news media warning against future vote theft. Mark Finchem is a cowboy hat-wearing election denier who furnishes his office from Spencer Gifts (and who was actually AT the Capitol on 1/6). Even better, though? The Maricopa County election he wants to toss out (because it’s the biggest county) has been recounted and investigated numerous times. One of those was the infamous Cyber Ninjas clown show that ended up finding that Biden maybe actually had a few more votes. No dead voters. The result was actually accurate. And the guy who ran Maricopa County’s election in 2020? Is Finchem’s opponent. So if people really cared about election integrity, they’d vote for the guy who ran an election proven many times over to be accurate, instead of the guy still insisting it was rigged. But they won’t; THEY’RE the ones who want to steal elections.

Think the Covid sketch is also leaning heavily into the facts that (American) employers have traditionally been very stingy about sick leave and that women have disproportionately been responsible for “second shift” (domestic) work. Regular colds, flu, etc., have not always been an excuse, but suddenly there was this pandemic that people took super seriously and required quarantines… finally people could actually drop the rope when they felt sick.

Whenever Seth comes back from a break I realize how much I missed him! Even if he did spend the whole Closer Look (deservedly) ragging on my poor state, the Florida of the West… But we got a running Wally gag, a Tucker Carlson impression, AND a Trump impression that ended on a callback to the Wally joke!

“Full disclosure, there’s an action figure of me in my office made of fondant.” …. What?

I think for both of them they had some kind of shapewear that specifically flattened down their butts. On Chloe, especially, you could kind of see a band across the middle while just above and below there was more.

Saaaaaame! I’ve told people the same as that student wrestler before—the amount of therapy and difficulty (and often, social condemnation) that people go through coming out as transgender, they’re NOT doing it “just because” they want to win at sports or peep on someone in the bathroom. The fact that it keeps getting regenerated as a talking point to win elections is infuriating, and so harmful to the trans community. I know John was bowled over by the Crimean Bridge movie, but I love the romance between the Ukrainian military and Macron…

Great Chris Hayes podcast interview with Rachel—some about why she changed from daily news (and you really can’t fault her, hearing her talk about it) and a lot diving into the podcast, while trying not to be spoilery. https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-podcast/why-is-this-happening/exclusive-withpod-conversation-rachel-maddow-podcast-transcript-n1299811 I really love their friendship.

Fox News Halloween Fearmongering was top notch! I was laughing out loud at every single one

Well, that’s extra depressing on the night when the fascist candidate actually won the election in Italy. At least Lula is actually well ahead in Brazil, whether or not he actually gets to take office again. ❤️❤️❤️ Bad Bunny

The plotlines in this ep were more about the journey than the destination—not as “in you face” as a run across the border. I really like that they are doing a lot of in-depth stories working on emotional resolution this season, as it’s the last season: Brianna leaving the company to find something for herself, Bud deciding whether divorce law is right for him, Grace facing her fear of losing loved ones, Robert and Sol facing Robert’s memory issues, even Frankie resolving things with Jack. And… What a gut punch the end of this episode was. Coyote has had the most growth as a person out of anyone on the show and it’s been years since he turned his life around and started working on himself. Yes, he should have told his fiancée where the honeymoon money came from, but for Frankie to invalidate him in front of everyone that way was awful.

I was curious about that really gorgeous Death card—the red-cloaked figure with the white rose. Apparently it’s the Robin Wood deck.

I was thinking they did a really good job of making Nick look rough, reflecting his emotional state. He always looks so perfectly handsome / put together, no wonder Jessica was pitying him. At least he pulled his head out of his rear and helped, in the end.

It felt like they were going back and forth to have a mix: here’s biracial family with a blind mom; here’s a church-y family; here’s a gay, married EMT; here’s a church-y family… As if they didn’t want any viewers saying the show was “too woke/anti-Christian.” But they did seem to end up heavier on the church-y side. Maybe because they really wanted the narrative for all of them to clearly be, “these good people deserved it,” and the submissions from pastors more clearly fit that narrative. In the end, the show has a cast of skilled, personable, attractive people, so it was a fine way to spend a few hours.

I think a Friday or Saturday slot. Monday is not generally a big news day, so she is often now repackaging the previous week’s events, which the weekend shows already did. Very much looking forward to these!

The only things I really liked in the s3 designs were the vintage things Shea incorporated from her client’s thrift store (she says she always likes to do this, but she never seems to do it in the other designs?) and the wine room that had woods and dark colors, just as a classical, moody contrast to her usual same-same. I hated when she put a wood and faux beam ceiling in a classic San Francisco Craftsman. Every homeowner in SF is barely preserving exteriors and gutting interiors for these sterile, ahistorical interiors. Syd is admittedly puerile. I imagine they play it up for the edit, though. He is CEO of both companies, but the show is combo design makeover + mommy blog and his day job isn’t photogenic. I actually appreciate, in a way, that he cuts through the staged, Architectural Digest fantasy with his childishness. Sure, this bedroom is fantastically gorgeous, but in 5 minutes, yeah, the kids are going to be throwing water balloons off the balcony, so don’t get too invested in the fantasy. He does seem to genuinely love his family and cooking for them. My guess is that the “babysitting” line was a deliberate provocation for the camera.

I had heard that this was the first time in history that a monarch/Prime Minister meeting would be a first time for both of them. Trust John to state it as a kindness from Queen Liz to distract from PM Liz’s abysmal performance! Guess I don’t have to worry about the fact Sean Hannity doesn’t bathe since I don’t shop at WalMart…

Damn, I missed Seth! I was crying laughing at his impression of Trump talking about Sullenberger and the geese, and the big strong goose with the tear rolling down his bill, beak, whatever. “And he looked at me and he said, ‘HONK.’”

So say we all…

Saw Wes Chatham, Steven Strait, and Chad Coleman at Dragon*Con yesterday. Here is the official writeup: https://www.dragoncon.org/dailydragon/2022/rocinante-forever/ They were even funnier, tons more stories in person.