No more swimsuit competition in the Miss America pageant.
No Rose Garden meeting for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, after nearly all the team sent regrets and the POTUS excoriated them for kneeling during the national anthem, even though none of the team members took a knee during the anthem all season.
Oh, and it’ll be a pardonpalooza in weeks ahead, we’re told:
A White House official who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity said Trump is “obsessed” with pardons, describing them as the president’s new “favorite thing” to talk about. He may sign a dozen or more in the next two months, this person added. …The White House is also now weighing whether to grant a presidential pardon to two ranchers from eastern Oregon, Dwight and Steven Hammond, whose 2016 imprisonment on arson charges inspired the 41 day-armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Ranching and farming groups, as well as some militia adherents, have pushed for clemency to send a signal that federal officials won’t engage in overreach out West.
I don’t know about you, but I read all this and all I want to do is go to bed.
So I’m gonna.
Suzanne said on June 5, 2018 at 9:46 pm
About darn time Miss America pageant! That was always such a strange part of the competition, especially after they made it all about scholarship and accomplishments, but here, while we wait around, why don’t you all don skimpy swimsuits and stiletto heels and parade around the stage so we can get a better look at your “accomplishments”.
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Joe Kobiela said on June 5, 2018 at 9:55 pm
Just thinking of the troopers from the 101 and 82nd airborne that took the jump into the dark night over Normandy 75yrs ago tonight, paving the way for the liberation of Europe.
Currahee!!
Pilot Joe
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Jakash said on June 6, 2018 at 12:52 am
“When I saw Miss America trending my first thought was ‘Yeah I miss America too.'”
https://twitter.com/OhNoSheTwitnt/status/1003997884965183494
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Dexter Friend said on June 6, 2018 at 2:47 am
Miss America bundling up in sweaters and fashionable clothing took a back seat to the real news-flash: the reports on new guidelines on breast cancer , eliminating chemo for many thousands of women has been prominent on the evening newscasts.
Y’know those bright-as-hell LED panels as seen on TV? Well some idiot driving an old open Jeep had one wired-up and was using it as headlights last night. I thought it was a UFO at first…blindingly bright. Legal? I wonder.
The middle daughter Sandi & husband & dogs made it to FLA; the eldest daughter is vacationing at Yellowstone in the big-ass RV they own, and the youngest is going down to Miami in 3 weeks to see the new place of her sister’s. I pleaded with her to not fly Allegiant Airlines. She may take heed, she may not. I tried. I’d have to be dead as Marley’s ghost to ever fly Allegiant.
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alex said on June 6, 2018 at 7:20 am
Dex, I’ve got one of those LED panels on one of my vehicles as a backup light because the windows are tinted so dark that I can’t see behind me at night and I have a long narrow driveway. People keep asking me if I use it to annoy tailgaters or assholes with their brights on, but it only operates when the car is in reverse. I wouldn’t dream of using it on the open road. That’s just an invitation to road ragers and cops and I really don’t care to deal with either.
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basset said on June 6, 2018 at 8:06 am
It does happen, though… saw it myself on I-40 in Nashville. Lifted truck was tailgating me with brights on so I slowed down to let him by then flicked my brights at him, massive LED light on the back bumper went on so I guess he felt like he won.
Been talking with HR about my impending retirement, planning to go this fall and they told me yesterday I’m not eligible in September as I thought I was… I can go end of this month. Not gonna, though, I have stuff to do and a replacement to train. Much more relaxed these last few weeks, takes a lot more to get me stressed at work.
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Suzanne said on June 6, 2018 at 10:08 am
I have to admit when I heard the news about Kate Spade’s suicide, my first reaction was that I had no idea she was a real person. That is what happens when you live in Vera Bradley country. For those of you that don’t live in VB country, she is not a real person.
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Peter said on June 6, 2018 at 10:26 am
Suzanne, I didn’t know she was David Spade’s sister. Sure, it’s obvious now, but I am slow on the uptake.
I just feel bad for her daughter – 13 years old and this happens.
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nancy said on June 6, 2018 at 10:47 am
Sister-in-law. Her husband is David Spade’s brother, too.
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Dave said on June 6, 2018 at 10:32 am
I thought Vera Bradley was actually a real person, mother-in-law to one of the two women who started the company, but a person who didn’t take part.
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Mark P said on June 6, 2018 at 10:47 am
Regarding the state of the country, now we know what a true shitstorm feels like. I have to say, I didn’t really want to know.
Kate Spade was David Spade’s sister in law.
I agree on her daughter. I can hardly imagine how someone must feel if they decide to kill themselves under any circumstances, but especially when they have adolescent children.
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Bitter Scribe said on June 6, 2018 at 10:58 am
Don’t forget, this “reform” to the MA pageant came after a scandal where the pageant proprietors were revealed to be a bunch of jerks who sneered, sometimes obscenely, at the contestants and ordered oppo research on anyone who criticized them.
Gretchen Carlson just annoys me. She worked for years at Fox News, an outfit that has done more to set back progress for women than any other media organization. She only became “woke” when she started getting sexually harassed herself. I have no patience with her, Megyn Kelly, or any other women (or men, for that matter) who never empathize with victims of injustice until it happens to them.
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Suzanne said on June 6, 2018 at 10:59 am
According to their website, Vera Bradley was a real person, the mother of Barbara Baekgaard, one of the founders. So I stand corrected! I would swear, however, years ago I had read that the name was a conglomeration of one of their grandmother’s name and one of their maiden names (or something like that). #FakeNews I guess.
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Sherri said on June 6, 2018 at 11:11 am
The fact that I had a close friend whose mother committed suicide when my friend was 8 was a big factor in my still being here today. I couldn’t see the point in living, but I I decided I couldn’t put my daughter through that kind of pain.
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Jeff Borden said on June 6, 2018 at 12:21 pm
Amen, Bitter Scribe. The stink that comes from years of pushing horse shit and rightwing propaganda doesn’t wash off. It is especially appalling in the case of Carlson, who graduated with honors from Stanford University and was a classical violinist, but played a “dumb blond” for the rubes. Ditto for Kelly. Boo hoo hoo that NBC is paying her a fortune for a show that is tanking in the ratings. If the network execs thought she’d bring along some Faux News cultists, they were badly mistaken.
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Julie Robinson said on June 6, 2018 at 1:27 pm
My heart really goes out to Kate Spade’s daughter, and of course to her husband and other family members also. I have several friends and cousins who lost a parent when they were a child, and all of them still grieve actively, many years later. Lots of counseling,
lots of loving friends and family, but it’s a constant burden.
Sherri, I’m so glad a positive came from your friend’s pain.
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FDChief said on June 6, 2018 at 2:40 pm
Leave it to Orange Foolius to not get the memo that you wait until the final hours of your administration to pardon your sleazy pals. What a maroon.
That said, I’m not sure how every journo outside of FAUX “News” can keep reporting this stuff like it’s some weird Trumpian anomaly. The guy is at 87% approval w Republicans. Klepto-fascism? This IS the GOP today.
If you approve of Trump there’s no hope for you as a citizen. You’re a subject, and for the Republic to survive as such I’m afraid you must be dealt with as the Romans dealt with Carthage; burnt to the ground, plowed under, and the furrows sowed with salt to ensure no stray weed ever grows again.
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Scout said on June 6, 2018 at 3:03 pm
Our ‘president’ is dangerously stupid. So are people who voted for that orange gasbag of ignorance. Sorry, not sorry.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-defends-tariffs-to-trudeau-didnt-you-guys-burn-down-the-white-house
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basset said on June 6, 2018 at 4:06 pm
A brief distraction:
https://mobilitylab.org/2018/05/11/five-reasons-why-fred-flintstone-is-the-grand-poobah-of-transportation-demand-management/
Maybe I have been hanging out with planners too long.
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Ivor The Engine Driver said on June 6, 2018 at 6:06 pm
Celebrating a personal anniversary today. June 6, 1972, United States Army Security Agency Special Activities Detachment-III Specialist 5 Ivor T. E. Driver walked out of the Oakland Separation Center a civilian.
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beb said on June 6, 2018 at 9:19 pm
I guess I’m just an old kind of guy with all those old guy ideas fixed in my head, but I always thought the entire point of Miss America was the swim suit competition. That was why it was held in Atlantic City all those years — to celebrate woman in bathing suit. If they’re going to eliminate that they may as well eliminate the whole competition. And probably will when the TV rating fall off the chart.
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Dexter Friend said on June 7, 2018 at 1:50 am
I had never heard of Kate Spade, a real person indeed. I have heard of Aunt Jemima, Betty Crocker, Friendly Bob Adams (old radio ads), and many more. Some names are real people, some are not. http://mentalfloss.com/article/54071/real-or-fake-names-behind-12-famous-food-brands
I noticed my daughter carried a Soho crossbody-to-clutch.
https://www.coach.com/coach-soho-crossbody-with-tea-rose/21037.html?dwvar_color=OLBLK&src=googleshopping&cid=S_GPLA21037_campaignid=220774522&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs4Tdk-3A2wIVCLbACh30xwOFEAQYByABEgLoBfD_BwE
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Suzanne said on June 7, 2018 at 8:55 am
Speaking of Miss America, Kevin Leininger of the FW News-Sentinel weighs in on the no swimsuit competition rule with the creepy opening line: “OK, I’ll admit it: I’ve watched beauty pageants’ swimsuit competitions — and enjoyed them.”
http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/local-news/2018/06/07/kevin-leininger-there-she-goes-miss-america-and-at-this-point-why-should-anybody-care/
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Ivor The Engine Driver said on June 7, 2018 at 11:57 am
I had heard of Ralph Spoilsport, owner of Ralph Spoilsport Motors in the City of Emphysema. Was stunned to find out he wasn’t real.
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Jakash said on June 7, 2018 at 1:20 pm
Suzanne @ 22:
I realize that this guy is somebody the FWayners love to hate, but I don’t find that line particularly creepy. As he and Beb both note, the contest started out as what Wikipedia says was a “bathing beauty review.” Clearly, times have changed and there’s a lot of stuff that was acceptable or tolerated in 1921 that’s beyond the pale these days. I’ve never watched or cared about it, at all, so I certainly don’t care about this development. It probably should have been relegated to the past quite a while ago, but if men (and a fair number of women, too) didn’t “watch… and enjoy” this nonsense, it would have never existed in the first place.
I’m more interested in this line about a certain magazine: “Founded in 1953 by an obscure University of Illinois psychology graduate named High Heffner” Who’s he callin’ high? My kingdom for a roving band of editors to fill in at the understaffed newspapers in the realm! Or perhaps somebody at the N-S was playing a prank…
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Icarus said on June 7, 2018 at 1:20 pm
The average coyote can run 42 MPH; a roadrunner’s maximum speed is 20 MPH.
My childhood was a lie!
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Suzanne said on June 7, 2018 at 2:18 pm
I dunno Jakash. That Leininger line just gave the heebee jeebies. I guess I can’t think of why a middle aged married man, especially one as conservative as Leininger, would even be remotely interested in watching Miss America. Well, one reason comes to mind. . But maybe that’s just me.
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Jakash said on June 7, 2018 at 3:05 pm
Fair enough, Suzanne, but I’d think middle aged married men, conservative or not, would be one of the target audiences for both the MA swimsuit competition and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. But you’re right; I was more focused on his appreciation of the “accomplishments” you jokingly referred to in your fist comment than about the idea of him actually choosing to watch the show. Perhaps our nn.c buddy Brian will weigh in. ; )
Icarus, that’s gotta be fake news. There is documented evidence of Road Runner’s superior speed within the first 45 seconds of this video, for cryin’ out loud. I suppose next you’ll be telling us that there’s no Santa Claus, when *his* existence was clearly proven in “Miracle on 34th St.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8eP0ntOJ1U
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 7, 2018 at 4:04 pm
“Therefore the Post Office Department, a branch of the Federal Government, recognizes this man Kris Kringle to be the one and only Santa Claus. Since the United States Government declares this man to be Santa Claus, this court will not dispute it.”
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Deborah said on June 7, 2018 at 4:15 pm
Back in the day when I was a sophomore in college, two of my classmates were Miss America contestants, Miss Nebraska and Miss Iowa. My Lutheran college was gaga over it. Both of them played the organ for their talent and Miss Nebraska won the Miss Hospitality title. I had a conversation with Miss Nebraska (I can’t remember her name, this would have been 1969/70) shortly after the tv show, she said she was mortified about the swimsuit competition of the event. She was full figured, quite attractive but she said she felt fat. Miss Iowa could play the organ like a pro, at the time E. power Biggs was considered the best organist in the world and she seemed comparable (to me) it was amazing to watch her play, hands and feet a blur.
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beb said on June 7, 2018 at 4:33 pm
Ralph Spoilsport may be a fake name (and I admire anyone who knows where that came from. My kind of people) but apparently Dick Assman of Dick Assman Motors is real. Had a billboard out Ann Arbor way as I recall.
Icarus@25 — yes, but a coyote running at 42 mph can’t turn on a dime like a road runner can. Also running at 42 mph can’t protect a coyote from boulders falling uphill.
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Deborah said on June 7, 2018 at 4:37 pm
It was Miss Congeniality not Miss Hospitality.
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Bob (not Greene) said on June 7, 2018 at 5:28 pm
Deborah,
There she is … Miss Congeniality
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1969-Press-Photo-Miss-Nebraska-Jane-Briggeman-chosen-as-The-most-congenial-/401476057801?hash=item5d79d67ac9
The photo caption notes that the person to her right is Miss California, a woman named Susan Anton — yes, THAT Susan Anton
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Deborah said on June 7, 2018 at 5:36 pm
Ha ha, thanks Bob no G, isn’t the internet amazing!
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Dexter Friend said on June 7, 2018 at 6:28 pm
40 years ago there was a polio-disabled man who fixed TVs in Auburn, Indiana called Lynn Titler. There was a Nascar driver named Dick Trickle which sounds way-more disgusting than Dick Assman. In what Trump called “locker room talk”, and guys I knew classified themselves as tit-men, ass-men, and so on…I was so fucking lame: I am a face-man.
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Deborah said on June 7, 2018 at 7:45 pm
It’s getting warm in Abiquiu, June is the hottest and driest month of the year. When the monsoons start in July it gets cooler. Highs are in the low 90s now, and lows are in the low 60s high 50s. We slept on the roof last night for the first time this season because the lows at night have been too cool before. We are in the process of trying to reconstitute the area around our cabin that was laid bare during construction. It’s amazing in this fragile desert environment how quickly it can be decimated. I bought sandy soil stabile grass seed, which we started planting, it’s natural grasses not lawn grass. We rake first then sow the seeds quickly followed by spreading straw and then sprinkling with water that we haul in. It’s kind of back breaking which I have to watch since my spine surgery last year, but it’s very satisfying when you can observe success. It helps get my mind off of politics though and makes me sleep well at night, so it’s all good.
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LAMary said on June 7, 2018 at 9:14 pm
I knew a Miss New Jersey (Jeanette Philipuk) and one my son’s childhood friends was the niece of Miss America, Tawny Godin. She used to show up at the little kid birthday parties.
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alex said on June 7, 2018 at 10:49 pm
I guess I can’t think of why a middle aged married man, especially one as conservative as Leininger, would even be remotely interested in watching Miss America.
I can’t either, but I can see why he might be trying to quell speculation that he’s a repressed homosexual.
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Jolene said on June 7, 2018 at 11:05 pm
I guess I can’t think of why a middle aged married man, especially one as conservative as Leininger, would even be remotely interested in watching Miss America.
Really? The idea that men–of whatever age, marital status, or political persuasion–like to look at attractive young women in swimsuits doesn’t seem particularly surprising to me.
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Jakash said on June 8, 2018 at 1:53 am
My Pants at his boot-licking best. Only 6 seconds long and no sound, yet it says so much.
https://twitter.com/jules_su/status/1004475500721401856
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Jerry said on June 8, 2018 at 2:25 am
No Miss America contestants over here but I was at University with a girl who was the first British Playmate of the month – just to say hi to in passing than any sort of friend.
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ROGirl said on June 8, 2018 at 7:46 am
Just saw the news, Anthony Bourdain has killed himself.
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Connie said on June 8, 2018 at 8:23 am
Which made me think, added to the Kate Spade news, happiness has nothing to do with being rich and famous.
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FDChief said on June 8, 2018 at 10:49 am
I’ve always had an odd sort of slantendicular view of the whole “Miss America” thing; http://firedirectioncenter.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-une-mendiante-rousse.html
“In those sleek contestants there seemed to be not a hint of human oddity, not a whisper of offhand intimacy, not a scrap of careless desire. All was taut expectation; poised, controlled, and precise. The contestants, the contest, and the broadcasters had done a perfect job of eliminating any shred of human weakness or imperfection.
And the more I thought about it the more accurate, and the less arousing, that perfection seemed. Although for all I know any number of these women might well be bright, funny, warm, desirable people you couldn’t tell that from what you saw on television. All you saw was perfection.
And it is imperfection – for me, anyway – that fuels desire.
It’s not a perfect ass or perfect breasts or perfect legs or a perfect face; its the ass that belongs to the woman curled up beside me companionably doing a sudoku, or leaning frowsy and warm against a morning countertop, scratching that bottom while she waits for the coffee to brew.”
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