65 Comments
User's avatar
Richard Alexander's avatar

Here's Cassidy's post on X: "I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning. I want to thank VP JD specifically for his honest counsel. With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes."

The key sentence here is "I want to thank VP JD specifically for his honest counsel." Translation of "honest counsel": "Nice state you got there. Be a shame if federal funds dry out. Oh, and FEMA takes a long walk off a short pier."

Expand full comment
Jane Kidwell's avatar

Well, just a bunch of gobbledegook meaning nothing. Especially if they got ‘honest counsel’ from JD.

Expand full comment
Jim Schaefer's avatar

Military orders can include the command to “stand down” and many a parent has told a child at the dinner table to “sit up,” so their opposites, “stand up” and “sit down,” are not really redundant. (This carification brought to you by the United States Department of Repetition and Redundancy Department of America — soon to be eliminated, no doubt, by the Duke of Musk.)

Expand full comment
Tricia Templeton's avatar

Cassidy's medical license should be revoked.

Expand full comment
John's avatar

Let's rename polio Cassidy's Disease.

Expand full comment
Suzanne S Barnhill's avatar

"Standing up" (as opposed to just standing) is the action of changing from a sitting to a standing position. Similarly, sitting/lying down is changing from standing/sitting to lying.

Expand full comment
Ed B's avatar

Our posts passed each other in the ether.

Expand full comment
Stephen Rockower's avatar

Cassidy is a spineless POS

Expand full comment
Susan's avatar

Regarding “colored” facilities: A friend who moved to the South from Germany in the era of segregation told me that she was puzzled and disappointed when a water fountain spouted ordinary clear water, and not colored water as she had been led to expect by the sign above it.

Expand full comment
yellojkt's avatar

My mother used to tell the story of when as a newly minted teacher in Alabama but from New England she unknowingly went straight to the water fountain with no line. To cover up the faux pas, her principal then took a drink after her lest she be lynched or something.

Expand full comment
Susan's avatar

It’s refreshing to hear of someone normalizing a good transgression rather than a bad one.

Expand full comment
Suzanne S Barnhill's avatar

I had the same experience as a child, in a department store (probably Maison Blanche) in New Orleans. Mother was about equal parts amused and mortified, I think.

Expand full comment
Dale of Green Gables's avatar

Not surprising Cassidy bent the knee and used it to knee the country in the groin. He's up for reelection in two years and almost assuredly will have primary challengers according to the folks who study the life form known as southern members (smirk added) of the party formerly known as Republican.

Expand full comment
Leakie's avatar

With so many lies floating everywhere in the country these days, I need to lie down.

Expand full comment
GAL's avatar

Please tell me I'm not the only person who knows the actual meaning of the phrase "one in the pink, two in the stink" and how wildly wrong the AI response is. It is most definitely not a children's rhyme nor does it have anything to do with shoes. This is hilarious.

Expand full comment
yellojkt's avatar

The actual phrase is "two in the pink and one in the stink" and there is a hand gesture called The Shocker that is associated with it.

Expand full comment
GAL's avatar

Yup!

Expand full comment
Sasquatch's avatar

I'm shocked, shocked to find out you know this!!

Expand full comment
GAL's avatar

Ha, you jest, right? I am not sure if the joke is that most people know what this means, or most do not, it's funny either way though.

Expand full comment
Sasquatch's avatar

Snoop Dog knows what it means.

Expand full comment
Suzanne S Barnhill's avatar

Well, I didn't know, but now I do. Perhaps Gene was testing us?

Expand full comment
Dale of Green Gables's avatar

Please, this is a family newsletter.

Expand full comment
Tom Logan's avatar

One of the main things I learned from my Mother was , "Who am I to judge?" So I chose Awww...

Expand full comment
Ed Rorie's avatar

Gene, regarding your response to UHC: you should be glad the FBI is being dismantled, otherwise you would now be on their watch list. Just in case, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re not being followed by anyone wearing black patent leather shoes.

Expand full comment
Wrong Side of Stupid's avatar

The modern world must be frustrating for people insisting on literalism. How do you decipher "fuck up" and "fuck off"?

Expand full comment
Gregory Dunn's avatar

George Carlin had something to say about that word:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cnDUqof1KoM&pp=ygUSZ2VvcmdlIGNhcmxpbiBmdWNr

Expand full comment
EK's avatar

Well. There's a difference between saying "I was lying down when I spoke to you " and "I was lying when I spoke to you". And also you can tell someone to "sit up". My mom would say it while driving a knuckle into your back between your shoulder blades if you were slouching.

Now "Shrimp Scampi" drives me nuts

Expand full comment
Gary E Masters's avatar

I retired in 2006 and with my federal (FDA) job retired with a supplemental policy with Blue Cross. Since then, my medical bills have been insignificant over my premiums. But my wife (now has the same deal from DoD) and I think we have it made. However, they now push Advantage plans that seem to be good in the short run if a person never gets a serious illness. Since we all die that is a statistical loser. So, I like Supplemental plans and am afraid of the Advantage plans. e

Expand full comment
Dale of Green Gables's avatar

Oh it's a long, long while from May to December,

But when it's Gene and Rachel, it pays to remember,

That when two minds meet, age plays to a draw,

And the relationship goes from eww to awe.

(With apologies to Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson. Yes, that Maxwell Anderson who did the lyrics for "September Song," from the musical "Knickerbocker Holiday")

Expand full comment
Barbara Collier's avatar

Re stand up etc. Any linguist would tell you that natural language should not be expected to be logical and that redundancy is a feature, not a bug.

We may wish to be logical and avoid redundancy in certain types of writing and speech, but that’s a different matter.

Expand full comment