Episode #87 of the Countdown podcast is up. Here’s the summary, with links and an extra dose or two of snark.
(Does Keith have a cold? Did he change the settings on his microphone? He sounds different today.)
A-Block (1:33) SPECIAL COMMENT:
- There is no such thing as being “slightly Nazi”, and that is the reason, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, The House Judiciary Republicans, Tucker Carlson, Paul Gosar, Greg Gutfeld, Benny Johnson, Jeanine Pirro, Will Cain, and Jason Whitlock, you do not excuse and rationalize and defend somebody who had only said relatively minor antisemitic things. Because one day they will announce, “I see good things about Hitler” and “I love Nazis.”
- As a gentile of largely German heritage I learned this lesson when I was a kid, the day my Dad came back having stormed out of a final interview for a great job because the directors really wanted to be reassured he wasn’t Jewish. “It is always there,” he said. “It is always beneath the surface. And often as we think we have gotten rid of it for good, still it is there. And I’ve had to fight it. And I had to fight it today. And YOU’LL have to fight it tomorrow.” Because — there IS no such thing as being “slightly Nazi”.
The spelling of my last name is also due to anti-German sentiment, but the “N” was dropped because of WWI, not WWII.
I also had a relative who was heavily into the genealogy and traced back branches of my family tree as far back as 1515 (and probably further; this was the earliest date in the 1980-ish version). One thing he commented about was that, out of the relatives who stayed in Germany when three brothers emigrated to the United States in 1883, he had yet to find a card-carrying Nazi.
B-Block
Cue the obligatory: CHRIS LICHT EATS PASTE!!!!
BTW, the rail strike was averted. And, as an Amtrak rider, I second Keith’s opinion of Joe Manchin.
(1) “Chaos” is an understatement (and it’s not the good kind). Germany won their game but were eliminated because … Japan beat Spain. Confused? I sure am.
(2) Being a Royals fan, I found out why Perry’s name was especially familiar … He helped hide George Brett’s bat during the Pine Tar Incident, which C. W. “Convoy” McCall wrote a song about. (McCall passed away this year, appropriately enough on April Fools’ Day.)
C-Block (30:24) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER:
- One of the very few times the great humorist dipped a toe in the world of the occult: how Thurber’s imagination turns an accent into a man who “traffics with the devil” in "The Black Magic Of Barney Haller.”
and some post-post-scripts:
Kanye’s quote has shown up here at DK. Here’s one such story (chosen at random).
As Keith says: Well, that’s all the damage I can do here for now. Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck.