I once read this book in which this man and woman fall in love and a lot of people are opposed to their relationship. Man is a slaveholder and the woman is his slave. And in the book this is framed as a great love story, and this guy is sooo enlightened for getting past ratial prejudice. I was like, “maybe she really…

I suppose a professor could pressure a student to drink. Still, there’s the sinister implication that if a professor could, he’d want to. Why exactly? Oh right—so that he could force her into sex.

Lovecraft Country is a FANTASTIC book - this doesn’t mention it but it is also based on the travel guides for black people, letting them know where it was safe to stay. Definitely read the book, it is so good.

Exactly. I still have Colbert, Samantha Bee, sometimes Jimmy Kimmel, Conan, John Oliver and the Daily Show to keep me happy with pointed political material. I’d never set that expectation for someone like Jimmy Fallon, who’s never been great with political satire (even through his Weekend Update days).

I think of Lovecraft like I think of George Lucas. He created something interesting but really all the best work in the mythos is done by other people.

Cedillo, a liberal Democrat with a reputation as an advocate for immigrants, has been accused of being unresponsive to community needs and defending the interests of developers, billboard companies and oil companies. Bray-Ali, meanwhile, also a liberal Democrat (the seat itself is nonpartisan), was hailed by some as…

I’d suggest that going on social media and holding up a sword to try and bring light to racism is about as effective as trying to stop a rampaging bull with a piece of undercooked spaghetti.

Eh, I get it. It isn’t enough for us to take an idea with merit and carry it forward. We have to turn it into a Statement(TM), preferably #hashtag-ready, that Matters(TM).

His mistake was commenting under a too-simple username. For instance, I cleverly changed only a single letter of my real name to create an impenetrable net identity. No one will ever match the “justice” I mete out online to my real-life...

I dunno. Given all the real stuff that’s going on lately, I just can’t get too upset about a pageant contestant not giving the answer everyone wanted to hear. Nerves, maybe? [shrug] 

The only thing Gideon Yago is burning these days are latte’s when it’s rush hour at coffee bean

This. I agree on paper with his premise. I’m working on something now where only three of the characters are ... “me.” The rest are based on people I know and certain cultural things. But like you said, there’s something more insidious going on that he’s only brushing on: Writers who intentionally present themselves…

And always important to remember that definitions of “bad guys” are fraught with racism, classism, homophobia, and the like. So I honestly don’t believe shit the cops say about “bad guys.” (Just like “good guys” with guns.)

“I don’t care if it’s a good guy or a bad guy—I will never allow that to happen again,” Perez told reporters.

No. She is a gymnast. Not an ice skater. A very good gymnast.

From John Oliver’s show last night (quote copied from WaPo):

Disagree. Your niece told the truth because she is a good-hearted and naively, innocent little girl. She just had to spill her guts and didn’t see the point in evading the truth.

One of the reporters for the piece was just on NPR. The president literally had a script, apparently went off script and began to brag about—I shit you not—how he gets the best intelligence. At which point, you have to assume the Russian ambassador broke out and put on his fake handlebar mustache and began twisting it…