Month: November 2020

Hello, college football fans. If you were unaware, former Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech, and Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville is headed to the United States Senate. As a Senator, not as a tourist or anything. No, seriously!

Tuberville, a Republican, entered the political arena in 2018 when he moved to Alabama with the intention of running for Senate. That race occurred on Tuesday, and based on current projections, Tuberville is going to beat Democratic incumbent Doug Jones, and while there is speculation that Jones may have a role in a potential Joe Biden administration in his future, Tuberville, a vocal Donald Trump supporter, believes that Biden should not make it into the White House.

Tuberville sent out a tweet on Thursday evening that inaccurately described what is occurring as legally cast mail-in votes are counted and show Biden eating into Trump’s lead in two crucial swing states, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

CNN’s Daniel Dale, who is known for his fact checks, called this “the single worst football analogy I’ve ever seen.” One of Dale’s colleagues, Jake Tapper, decided to go a different direction, reminding Tuberville of his final year as the head coach at Auburn — and just to hammer it home, followed with another tweet about an Auburn loss to LSU where they blew an 11-point halftime lead.

The Alabama game in question saw the Tigers lose, 36-0, and saw Auburn gain 170 yards of total offense. Tuberville resigned a little more than a week after the loss.

On the field, the 2020 NFL season has been reasonably kind to Jon Gruden and the Las Vegas Raiders. In the team’s first season in their new home city, the Raiders have a 4-3 record that includes victories over Super Bowl contenders like the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints. However, the Raiders have run into controversy off the field, including an early-season incident in which 10 players were fined for violating COVID-19 protocols and another instance in which Gruden was fined for not wearing a mask on the sideline.

On Thursday, things reportedly escalated for the Raiders, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo reports Las Vegas will be fined and docked a draft pick for further violations.

As Robinson notes, the punishment increases in severity due to the franchise’s situation as a repeat offender. Quite honestly, that makes sense through the prism of the NFL needing to maintain order surrounding the virus and, in advance of Week 9, more than one-third of the league’s franchises faced some sort of COVID-19 roster fallout.

It remains to be seen as to what the impact of these sanctions might be for the Raiders. Still, losing a draft pick is another level from simply taking money out of the pockets of (very) rich individuals, and Las Vegas might also be on increasingly thin ice should additional issues arise.

The longest year on record got longer this week as election day in America did not see a clear winner determined between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the days following the end of voting. Trump’s initial leads in some states seems to be slipping away as mail-in ballots are being counted, and misinformation from the president about the legitimacy of the election has complicated things considerably.

One of the surprise swing states still uncounted as of Thursday evening was Nevada, a state won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 and that initially looked good for Joe Biden on election night. But as Georgia, Pennsylvania Arizona and even Alaska also worked through their ballot backlogs and remained uncalled among most news organizations, people grew increasingly frustrated with the slow progress Nevada made in the hours following election day.

While some counties in Georgia and Pennsylvania worked through the night to count ballots, things seemed to be developing slowly out west. An afternoon press conference revealed things may not be wrapped up in Nevada anytime soon to give anyone clarity on the matter. And with not much else to do other than wait for results and worry, many people took to creating memes poking fun at how slowly Nevada counted its outstanding ballots.

Even The Bachelorette took some heat on Thursday because of Nevada.

Counting ballots in any election is a complicated and deliberate process, especially in a year where a pandemic has made voting increasingly more complicated and potentially dangerous. But the memes certainly came a lot faster than the results on Thursday. At least it was a welcome distraction from refreshing websites and watching TV for the actual results.

Donald Trump finally spoke to the American people on Thursday as his voting leads dwindled in several states and the 2002 presidential election hung in the balance. But what he said was so dishonest and flatly wrong that most television networks either cut in to correct misinformation about the election or stopped airing his statement outright.

Trump addressed the media shortly after 6:30 eastern time on Thursday, the first time he spoke since an early Wednesday morning rally at the White House where he falsely claimed victory in both several states and the election itself well before the result was certain. As of Thursday, it still wasn’t, though as mail-in votes were counted things were trending toward a Joe Biden victory in several states.

Which perhaps is why Trump claimed a vast conspiracy against him and baselessly accused voting fraud in several states like Pennsylvania, while still insisting votes be counted in places like Arizona where he appears to be gaining on Biden’s lead. The press conference was either interrupted or stopped altogether, though notably CNN aired it uninterrupted and in its entirety.

CNN’s Daniel Dale called the press conference the “most dishonest” one Trump had ever given since he announced he was running for president.

And afterward, Jake Tapper called Trump “pathetic” twice and called it a sad day for America, as his White House press conference was deemed a direct attack on democracy and the election process that’s still incomplete and with a winner undetermined.

“What a sad night for the United States of America to hear their president falsely accuse people of trying to steal the election. To try to attack democracy like that with his feast of falsehoods. Lie after lie after lie about the election being stolen. No evidence of what he had to say, just smears of vote counting in state after state,” Tapper said. “When he wins a state, it’s legitimate. When he loses a state, it’s that it’s being stolen from him. It’s not true, it’s ugly. It’s, frankly, pathetic.”

The CNN host continued, but perhaps it was Anderson Cooper who had the most biting line about Trump in the immediate aftermath of his speech.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this from a president of the United States,” Cooper said afterward, noting that Trump had zero evidence of the fraud and offered a misleading and outright incorrect assessment of how elections work.

While he spoke disparagingly about the assembled media and claimed a vast conspiracy against him, this photograph perhaps best captured the mood of the press conference.

As of Thursday night, the election’s results remained unclear. But Trump’s statement sounded like that of a frustrated man unable to come to terms with the reality of the results to come, leaving America in an uncertain place in what’s been an increasingly long year.

Imgur user SunofAbyss is getting a lot of love online for a text exchange he had with his daughter. The exchange proved he’s the king of dad jokes, has excellent taste in cookies, and knows the importance of being in healthy relationships.

Oh yeah, he handled his daughter coming out of the closet perfectly.

Dad began the conversation by bringing up a topic that would be difficult for some fathers — his daughter joined GSA.

Gay–Straight Alliance or Gender-Sexuality Alliance is a student-led or community-based organization found in schools that provides a safe and supportive environment for LGBT children, teenagers, and youth as well as their allies

But instead of having a heavy conversation about sexuality, this dad had fun with the big revelation by confusing it with another organization a younger girl may join.

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

Dad has the perfect response to his daughter being uncomfortable coming out to him.

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

Then, he brings up a simple, but important point about relationships.

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

Finally, the topic returns to what’s really important: cookies.

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

The post received some funny responses, although most people just wanted to talk about their favorite Girl Scout cookies.

“This is absolutely disgusting and these people should both be ashamed of themselves! The peanut butter sandwiches are the best cookies,” — seiken82.

“Honestly, this is my stance as well. Don’t give a damn who you bring home, just don’t date jackasses and jerkwards,” — GCRust.

“If you don’t bring cookies you’re not allowed to lesbian. Got it,” — thedownvotefairyisahorriblespecies.

Now, some people may see the dad’s flippant response as a missed opportunity for an important conversation about sexuality. However, according to Psychology Today, he did a great job at giving both of them space to think about the big revelation and return to it at a later time.

“Ask for time to take the news in before you express anything but love,” Kathy McCoy Ph.D. writes. “If you find yourself grief-stricken and shocked, try to express love for your adult child while asking for time to pull your thoughts together. It’s better to ask for time than to blurt out comments or questions that are hurtful.”

It seems as though this dad wasn’t shocked by the revelation but he gave his daughter, who was clearly uncomfortable, the time to get her head and heart around the news.

The dad also made a great point about relationships by saying he doesn’t mind the gender of who she dates, he just wants to be sure that they aren’t a “jerk.” Because that’s when dads have to step in and do their jobs.

Four years ago, no one would have expected that Georgia would be a battleground state in the 2020 presidential election.

Well, not no one. Stacey Abrams not only saw it coming, she played a big role in making it happen.

The former member of the Georgia state legislature became the first Black American woman to run for governor of a state under a major party in 2018. She lost to Republican Brian Kemp by just 1.5% in a hotly contested election. Kemp, who was Georgia’s Secretary of State at the time, has been accused of engaging in voter suppression, making it harder for minorities in the state exercise their right to vote. Abrams refused to officially concede the election, claiming that Kemp had a conflict of interest as the person in charge of his own election.

After the gubernatorial race came to close, Abrams took the issue of voter suppression on with gusto. She had already spent years advocating for voter rights as a lawyer and lawmaker and continued the effort by founding an organization called Fair Fight that focuses on funding and training people to protect the vote in 20 battleground states, with a special emphasis on her home state of Georgia.

One of the main strategies Abrams has engaged in is getting enough voters registered and motivated to turn out on election days any voter suppression tactics that might be employed would be unsuccessful due to sheer numbers.

“Our goal through Fair Fight and Fair Fight 2020 is to ensure that people know about the obstacles that are being placed in their way, but (are encouraged to) vote in even larger numbers to overwhelm the intention of the system,” Abrams told USA TODAY.

According to USA Today, Democrats had seen potential in Georgia’s changing demographics. The city of Atlanta, in particular, has drawn a more educated workforce from around the country, which also includes potentially younger Asian, Black and Latino voters. Other counties that were once Republican strongholds have also become more diverse, opening the door to Democrats, who tend to draw more non-white support than Republicans.

Abrams’ focus on getting those voters registered and ready to show up at the polls has paid off. A reliably red state for decades, Georgia is now in play. But it’s not just as simple as getting people to the polls. Abrams has a deep pool of historical knowledge and a keen understanding of the systems in place that make it harder for people to exercise their civic duty.

In an interview with Ezra Klein at Vox, Abrams explained that there is no Constitutional right to vote.

“The reality is that the right to vote does not exist as an affirmative opportunity,” she said. “What does exist in the Constitution is the delegation of authority for the administration of elections to states, which sounds very benign until you realize that for most of American history, voter suppression has been almost entirely the construct of states.

What the Voting Rights Act did in 1965 was shatter the impermeable nature of states to say who could and could not vote. The Voting Rights Act said you could not use race — and, by 1975, that you could not use language — as a way to preclude access to the right to vote. It said that states could not take proactive steps to block the right to vote through poll taxes, literacy tests, closing of polling places — any action that would interfere with the right of people of color, or people who spoke English as a second language, to vote. In states that had a long and storied history of blocking the right to vote, no new voting laws could be countenanced without having the Department of Justice approve.”

The Voting Rights Act helped get the U.S. to a place where we elected our first Black president in 2008 and again in 2012. Then, in 2013, it was gutted by a Supreme Court case that essentially removed the rule that states had to get their voter rules approved by the federal government.

“That was essentially a get out of jail free card for states that wanted to discriminate; what was different this time is that it was no longer relegated to those states that participated in voter suppression through Jim Crow,” said Abrams.

“You had a proliferation across the country of voter suppression techniques that had been prohibited clearly by the Voting Rights Act. That’s why you saw the rapid shutdown of polling places. That’s why you saw the expansion of restrictive voter ID laws. That’s why in 2020, we are seeing so many cases that essentially challenge state laws designed to restrict who has access to the right to vote.”

Thanks to Abrams’ efforts—among others—to ensure that more Americans have their voices heard at the ballot box, Georgia may end up turning blue. In the very least, it’s now a solid purple, which is a huge accomplishment for those who have worked so hard to enfranchise voters.

Thank you, Stacey Abrams, and all the other warriors fighting for voter protection, for carrying America to the finish line of this hard-fought race.

You might assume that the chilly November weather, when winter beers start to flourish, isn’t right for the citrus, resinous, floral notes of your favorite IPAs. But beer has always been like Walt Whitman — it contains multitudes. Who says you can’t savor a slightly bitter West Coast IPA or a hazy New England-style juice bomb on a crisp fall day? Not us!

In fact, IPAs might just be the perfect seasonal choice for anyone who isn’t ready to admit that it’s getting dark at 5 p.m. these days. Or those of us who want to wait until at least Thanksgiving before the barrel-aged stouts and rich, chocolatey porters start flowing. And especially the lucky few who live where the temperature never dives below 60.

In our unending quest to make your selection process easier every time you hit the beer aisle, we asked a handful of our favorite bartenders to tell us their go-to IPAs to drink this November. Check out their answers below!

Sierra Nevada Celebration

Seth Falvo, bartender at The Hotel Zamora in St. Pete Beach, Florida

Sierra Nevada Celebration IPA is perfect for fall. Brewed in honor of the hop harvest, the sweet malty base contrasts beautifully with the layers of citrus and pine provided by the hops. Plus, it’s widely available — making it a great last-minute six-pack to pick up from the gas station on your way to Thanksgiving dinner.

Dock Street King Juice

Alex Clark, bartender at Square 1682 in Philadelphia

I definitely recommend the King Juice from Dock Street Brewery. This beer is brewed right up the street from my house in South Philly and it’s one of my favorites to pick up. It’s a hazy double IPA and comes in around 8.5% ABV, so you really only need to have one or two, and the flavors and hops that come out in this beer are truly amazing.

This is about as “juicy” as an IPA can get, so it stays true to the name.

Elysian Contact Haze

De’Ann Wellwerts, beverage director at City Works Eatery & Pour House in Pittsburgh

Elysian Contact Haze. This is a very mild hazy IPA. It has such a refreshing taste with a bright citrus flavor, a pronounced hop scent without being too bitter. This is a year-round beer, but I think this is a great option for the fall, since I enjoy so many heavier darker beers, this can bring some lightness and a summery feel even in the cold winter.

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere

Roberto Berdecia, bartender at La Factoria in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest is a perfect fall beer. It’s brewed in celebration of the seasonal hop harvest. It’s a wet hop IPA, bursting with floral and piney hop flavors perfect for crisp November days.

Earthbound Thai Basil IPA

Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

Earthbound Brewery in St. Louis now has their Thai Basil IPA. It has loads of Thai basil for an herbaceous front that balances out with jaggery date syrup and that dry-hopped goodness.

Darwin Juicy Dayze

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Juicy Dayze is another new classic from Darwin Brewing. The can says it all — with its heady logo and description: fruit juice, citrus, and stone fruit. Just tart enough and the hops make it an easy rider. Perfect for all those moments missing a beer.

Peak Autumn IPA

Can Coskunkal, director of operations at Street Guys Hospitality in Washington, DC

Peak Autumn IPA is pretty good and specially crafted for this time of year. Peachy, citrusy, and easy on the palate in the not-so-cold fall season.

Toppling Goliath King Sue

Michaela Todd-Milner, general manager of Coastal County Brewing Company in Pensacola, Florida

The best new IPA that I’ve had this year is probably — and it is new to my region — Toppling Goliath King Sue. This double IPA is massively citrusy and just delightful. It has a punch in the ABV department but is still crushable or ready to just be enjoyed by a fire.

Writer’s Picks:

Cigar City Fancy Papers

You probably already know that the humid, hot summer days are perfect for hazy IPAs. Well, so are the dry, chilly fall days. Made with Strata, Sabro, and Idaho 7 hops, this pick is a sweet and juicy. A nice respite from the dark winter days ahead.

Founders All Day IPA

If you’re looking for a great, refreshing IPA to drink in between your 12 percent ABV bourbon barrel-aged stouts this fall, make it a Founders All Day IPA. It might only be 4.7 percent ABV, but it’s complex, fresh, and filled with bright hop flavors.

Troegs Perpetual IPA

This 7.5 percent offering checks all of the IPA boxes. It’s dry-hopped and a great mix of fresh, juicy fruit flavors along with bitter, resinous hops. A great back porch sipper on a cool-but-not-bone-cold November night.

We’re two days out from election day and we still don’t know who the next president of the United States will be. There are indications that we might know by the end of today… or maybe not until the weekend. No one knows what the hell is going to happen and, frankly, it’s created a lot of stress.

Granted, we always knew that this election was going to be different — with millions of Americans changing their voting habits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — but we definitely weren’t ready for the stress of having to watch two elderly men slowly box it out over a few thousand votes across Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. That sh*t will exhaust you.

No one in the public eye quite captures the confusion and despair of election week like celebrity chef Alton Brown. Brown’s unique brand of commentary began simply enough, with a tweet that read: “No matter what happens tomorrow, we’ll still have tiny chocolate doughnuts” on the eve of the election. Since that jumping-off point, his tweets have devolved into word salads that are both borderline incomprehensible and also perfectly apt for this strange social/political moment.

Over the past two days, Brown has taken fans on a wild ride — from drinking jaeger in the shower to juicing Slim Jims to a strange tirade about litigation over pineapples.

All we have to say is: we feel for you, Alton. As Kurosawa once said: “In a mad world, only the mad are sane.”

Greta Thunberg may only be 17 years old, but it turns out that she has a long memory and isn’t afraid to bring up the past when it comes to roasting Donald Trump. The environmental activist is often the target of climate change deniers and others on Twitter, including the current president of the United States. But with Trump currently melting down on the social media platform over the continued effort to tally election results in various counties, Thunberg made waves when she parroted a tweet with a message that Trump once sent out criticizing the teenager back in 2019.

As Trump’s early leads in Georgia and Pennsylvania continued to dwindle on Thursday, he tweeted several misleading things about voter fraud and demanded that counting votes stop in the United States. Given the state of races in Arizona and Nevada, however, a full stop of counting legally cast votes would still be enough for Joe Biden to win the electoral votes necessary to keep Trump from a second turn. Which perhaps is why Thunberg tweeted that Trump should “chill” and work on his “anger management.”

The tweet itself was funny, mostly because the concept of going to “a good old fashioned movie with a friend” is a very funny turn of phrase. But eagle-eyed internet denizens realized that Thunberg was actually mirroring something Trump had tweeted about her a year earlier. A quick Twitter search found an exact same text of a tweet, right down to the “so ridiculous” at the start.

Waiting nearly a year to dunk on Trump when he’s most vulnerable is a pretty savvy move from Thunberg, who is no stranger to giving criticism right back to Trump when she gets it. This wasn’t even the first time she shot back over this exact tweet, but she picked as good a time as any to break out the request for Trump to “chill.”

Save Me Too (Peacock Original series) — Lennie James (Morgan from Fear The Walking Dead) returns to his other show (the first season was called Save Me) to continue as Nelly, whose life changed forever when he was accused of kidnapping his daughter. She’s still nowhere to be found, but new suspects and secrets surface, and this is bit of a redemption story inside of a London-set thriller story.

Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta? (Netflix documentary series) — One of the most controversial criminal cases in Argentina gets the spotlight while this show digs into the strange circumstances of the death of María Marta García Belsunce.

Operation Christmas Drop (Netflix film) — Holiday fare is in full swing, this time with service members at a tropical U.S. Air Force base rallying to remain open in the face of semi-nefarious forces.

Paranormal (Netflix series) — A doctor in 1960s Egypt dives into eerie supernatural events while hoping to unravel a series of mysteries behind unusual cases.

Supernatural (CW, 8:00pm EST) — The good of the whole becomes the priority for Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Jack as they fully launch their plan.

The Outpost (CW, 9:00pm EST) — Talon wants answers when Tobin’s clearly got a secret while returning with an army in tow. Meanwhile, a Throne Room fight gets ugly… and deadly.

Star Trek: Discovery (CBS, 10:00pm EST) — An intriguing new addition to the U.S.S. Discovery crew helps rekindle some past memories while Sarek’s looking for assistance elsewhere.

Jimmy Kimmel Live — David Duchovny, Jon Pardi

Late Night With Seth Meyers — David Sedaris

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Christine and the Queens