Patrick John Gillam

Yeah, that was a tough listen this morning.

Yes, I have enjoyed “Slow Horses” and “The Studio” and other shows with great writing, but nothing has excelled Sharon Horgan’s “Bad Sisters.” Who’s with me here?

As we scroll in search of happiness, let’s remember this cheery thought: Republicans could reopen government anytime. All they have to do is eliminate the filibuster rule, which we have already eliminated for other types of voting, and pass their continuing resolution.

I get it. I subscribe and listen to the podcasts, so I encounter plenty of takes I want to tie in a bag and throw in the river. But I’ve identified some very astute reporters and opinion writers. And the data journalism is very good. But yeah, the socials abound in hate for the New York Times.

One, Wilhoit’s Law, and two, read the replies to the quoted post to laugh at the wisecracks and see how this pastor has a thing for leggings.

This is like hating an entire sports team because it has some poor players.

Decades back I ran across marketing research finding advertisements with Black characters better persuaded Black consumers while having no negative impact on white buyers. I wonder if that was true and is true yet? Regardless, it comes to mind every time I see ads with Black characters.

No big thing. One thousand courtiers is the size of a small Medieval or Byzantine court. As kingly aggrandizement goes, Mr. Trump’s is modest.

Maybe I could get a job tearing down the White House.

A government shutdown, when federal workers are going without pay, might be a good time for a general strike.

Thanks! I enjoy games of “Which of these is not like the others?”

You know conservatism is in a fix when the role of conservative writers is to report threats from that quarter the way journalists on the climate beat report threats in that quarter.

Opinion | How Women Destroyed the West

Don’t let this headline fool you. This opinion writer is not saying women are the problem. He’s reporting on someone who does say so.

What interests me here is that a conservative opinion writer is reporting on conservative nonsense that may escape us otherwise.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/o...

Seems like Apple TV shows set in the present day enact most of their dialogue on phones. I wonder why that would be.

Peterborough demonstrators turn out every Saturday, don’t they? I live a few towns over, so I’m not current.

That the stock market can flourish while jobs shrink suggests capital’s interests run the opposite of labor’s.

Very different vibe this time!

bsky.app/profile/patr...

Quiet demonstration today. The annual Peak into Peterborough events conflicted with No Kings, so we had maybe half the demonstrators we had in June. (We had nowhere to park!) But more notable was the absence of counterprotestors. No flag-flying monster trucks. Just honking supporters.

Also, the silly frogs have co-opted the meme from the black pill crowd.

This video rant mirrors what I’ve been seeing on social media for a long time now, that Baby Boomers as a whole, and not conservatives specifically, are behind the disastrous policies of political era beginning around 1980. Anti-woke folks can enjoy knowing ageism lives on!

Wirecutter, but for buying elections

May I?

“Tuesday, President Trump awarded conservative activist Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously bestowing the United States’ highest civilian honor on a political ally assassinated last month.”

Thanks.

Indulging myself after a surgical procedure has meant a day of eating practically nothing other than breakfast foods. The exception was the popcorn I had for dinner.

The Greasy Strangler throwing the remote at the TV stand and shouting “Don’t insult me with this probable cause bullshit. Where does this story take place, Disneyland?”

One of the visible signs we’re aging is that my spouse and I now have medicines in our medicine cabinets. Move over, cosmetics hair care and essential oils. Make room for prescriptions.

Read the above pretending you’re reading an Isaac Chotiner remark to an interview subject.

It’s important to reply to social media posts because replies make people feel they’re being heard. It helps hold society together.

So many good journalists on Substack now I’m thinking of starting a Substack where we consolidate their work. Maybe call it a Newsstack. You could leaf through it over your coffee in the morning or when you get home at night. Pick the stories that call to you. Maybe include some comics.

“Bad Sisters” season two impressed and delighted me yet again. It’s very hard for complicated, many-charactered plots to resolve so very satisfactorily as writers Sharon Horgan and Dave Finkel do on this show. Thanks to Apple TV for another great series.

Looking forward to Trump negotiating a peace deal in the United States