Tornado Alley (PROG)

[hookrider]

arizona1: It is going to fun watching his mother, when the little one starts get all the flak that is coming!!!

[arizona1]

Barron looks vacant and heartless. I've never seen the kid smile. If you look deep into his eyes, he looks like Kristi Noem should hire him to be the hitman on her farm, killing defenseless animals.



Scary family!

[fuagf]

conix, Of course you have no idea if what you said there is right, or not. Yet again. Oh, and a link in
support could have given a boost to your integrity. If only a tiny one, still it would have been a start.

[arizona1]

After reading about Kristi Noem and her lust for slaughtering innocent animals these last few days, that really is an uplifting reunion between a man and his pet family.

[fuagf]

Will do.

[fuagf]

That's right. Would be good if he is at the convention just for the experience,
while looking forward to being at college and learning more about himself.

[newmedman]

buying votes you say?

Buying votes is always a great strategy

Trump’s response stunned the oil executives: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House…Giving $1 billion would be a ‘deal,’ Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid. https://t.co/K4BNF5zbCP

— John Avlon (@JohnAvlon) May 9, 2024

if anyone has a sub for WaPo please post this article because I'd love to read it. I don't have one and apparently they don't even give free ones per month anymore.

[hookrider]

fuagf : We don't know!!!!!

[hookrider]

arizona1. Love story's like that Thanks for posting it.

[fuagf]

Is Barron a shy, decent kid who likes to put on the tough look like his father.



Or is he as nasty as his father, as nasty as he looks he could be.

[arizona1]

Al Gore actually did win the 2000 election and if the SC hadn't interfered, he would have been the rightful president and there would have never been Bush's useless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan where millions died.

Florida 'recounts' make Gore winner
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/29/uselections2000.usa

[arizona1]

They are nuts, you are the weirdos and thats what the rest of us are stuck with now....

Weirdos? Does this seem weird to you? You're an evangelical, so should we put you in this bucket of deplorable perverts?

Jerry Heflin, 60, Unity Baptist Church in Sylvester deacon, has been charged w 65 charges including rape, felony aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy & sexual battery against a child under 16.https://t.co/zQmaZhCrTL pic.twitter.com/2SxjaeEL20

— 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative) May 8, 2024

pic.twitter.com/Z7oyLWzYls

— 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative) May 8, 2024

Everytime, all the time pic.twitter.com/TJpuBRv8oi

— Ruth🟧🟦 ,💔 (@BoughRuth) May 9, 2024

[arizona1]

Weather channel keeps reporting that climate change is happening,

Flood victim in Brazil is overcome with emotion when he is reunited with his dogs. The rescuers that helped save the animals were moved by the scene and consoled the appreciative man who thought he’d lost his family.pic.twitter.com/RFQMTsmHBH

— GoodNewsCorrespondent (@GoodNewsCorres1) May 8, 2024

The scale of the flooding in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil is unfathomable!!!! pic.twitter.com/pmLpJpTz9C

— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) May 8, 2024

[newmedman]

Not quite as much makeup as pops likes to wear but he'll come around, I'm sure.. The rouge really highlights his cheekbones

The embargo has been lifted. We can make fun of Barron Trump now. pic.twitter.com/TEASgbNy0h

— Evan (@daviddunn177) May 9, 2024

[hookrider]

So does this mean Trumps son is now a open target!!!! IMO, Yes!!!!

https://news.yahoo.com/entertainment/barron-trump-just-made-big-191619586.html

[fuagf]

Aw, why not like in a movie. That aside, neat.

[longrider51]

Facts and proof don't matter to you that is true! LOL, and what was it MTG said that fits you perfectly during a SOTU? Oh, yeah, YOU LIE!

You said: "that doesn't matter it just happens that the trump election is the most recent. but those other people haven't come forward and correct what they said about their elections so it still stands that they are just a much deniers as any republican"

Already dis-proven here and oh, yes they have conceded: https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174389135, but you just keep on making more fodder for history's dustbin.

[hookrider]

zab: Trump is old and has always been weird, IMO!!!!

[blackhawks]

No, actions matter. None of those you mentioned made attempts to reverse the results of their elections much less invite their supporters to come together and be incited to 'fight like hell'. You're spinning like a dreidel. Stop before you make yourself ill.

[longrider51]

Your assertion: "That would be the democrats. Let’s see Al Gore denied the results of his election and almost ended democracy. Let’s see Hillary still won’t accept the 16 results and is hurting democracy every time she bitches about it. Let’s see Stacy Abram’s still thinks she the rightful governor of Georgia. Hmm"

The facts sure are inconvenient things, right? Your assertions dis-proven:

Gore concession
Gore: “I accept the finality of the outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College” he said. “And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.”

Clinton concession
Clinton: Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the 2016 presidential election on Wednesday morning, calling on her supporters to give Donald Trump “an open mind and the chance to lead.”

Abrams concession
"I may no longer be seeking the office of governor, but I will never stop doing everything in my power to ensure that the people of Georgia have a voice," Abrams told supporters at her campaign’s election night party at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta.

And none of them filed and lost 60+ lawsuits or planned and encouraged an armed and deadly insurrection, did they? Tying your brain into a pretzel like Tim Scott never committing to accepting upcoming election results and manufacturing patently false equivalencies, I must admit, you do a wonderful job at that!

EOD

[SoxFan]

And you have the state of West Virginia to set a shining example of what a well run Republican state for the less fortunate blue states should emulate

[rooster]

that doesn't matter it just happens that the trump election is the most recent. but those other people haven't come forward and correct what they said about their elections so it still stands that they are just a much deniers as any republican

[zab]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-latest-second-witness-described-as-trumps-gatekeeper-testifies-in-hush-money-trial/ar-AA1nHVBq?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Trump sure appears old and weird in court.

[blackhawks]

Haven't seen a one talking about their recent elections. GOP election deniers on the other hand.

[rooster]

I named them in that first post you replied to. And it’s still those three currently

[blackhawks]

'Prioritizing'? Load a crap. You idiots hyperbolize everything.

[blackhawks]

Name them and when they said it. The CURRENT election deniers are in the GOP House and in..........court.

[zab]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/stormy-daniels-returns-to-witness-stand-for-more-cross-examination-in-trump-trial/ar-BB1m5S7V?ocid=BingNewsSerp

This what your guy is doing, defending himself in court about actual payments, and checks he signed using campaign funds to pay off a porn star for sex, a few weeks before the 2016 election.

[zab]

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/04/25/key-bridge-collapse-deeper-channel/#:~:text=After%20shutting%20down%20next%20week%2C%20the%2038-foot%20channel,clear%20debris%20from%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20main%20shipping%20channel.

Meanwhile the democrats, thanks to President Biden have accomplished this, where the fuck are the republicans, have not seen anyone in Baltimore doing anything to get this major port open.

Once again, President Biden just keeps getting it done.

[B402]

And many would say its time to send dems to their rooms

[zab]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election

Your polls are actually meaningless, and in the last election over 51 % of America did vote for President Biden.

It is not weird to believe in modern medicine, vaccinations, or even infrastructure to maintain the roads, bridges, and airports of America.

Americans are employed in record numbers, and are getting much higher wages, that is why the American economy is closing in on 28.4 trillion as I type, when trump left office, it was barely at 21 trillion, and he was borrowing trillions to keep the American economy afloat due to his mismanagement of a worldwide pandemic.

Ronald Raegen once stated the business of America is business. You appear to have a real problem with Capitalism, so you do not want to embrace American corporations.

Democrats are responsible for pushing forward the benefits that help the average American worker, along with the constant struggle for healthcare for all Americans, and education for the general public.

The republicans only push tax cuts that befit the wealthy.

[conix]

West Point Teaches Army Recruits About Cross Dressing & Gender Norms

Tierin-Rose Mandelburg

May 7, 2024

Nope, this isn’t satire.

Former Congressman Scott Taylor was recently sent an image of classes given to Army recruits at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. One of the classes was titled “Uniformed Perspectives: The Evolution of Cross-Dressing in the Military and Gender Norms."

The United States Military Academy was founded on March 16, 1802. It’s a four-year college that “builds, educates, trains, and inspires the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and Nation,” its website states.

It’s long been respected as the premiere institution for military and academic training. Now however, I have a feeling that once pristine reputation may be tarnished.

The class, taught by Morten Ender, Professor of Sociology and co-chair for Diversity & Inclusion Studies, is an obvious indicator that our military training strategies are going woke. Other than the cross-dressing/gender norms class, Ender also plans to hold one called “Do My Leaders ‘Get’ Me?: Unpacking the Importance of Representation in the Military.”

In response to Taylor’s post about the classes, users on X were pissed that THIS is what our U.S. Military is prioritizing.

“I expect China and Russia military schools have this up as a motivational poster, no longer fearing the U.S. military” one user wrote. Another user said, “For those that think the military will not be used against us, think again. This is not the military of old. This is the woke military.”

Others called the class “disgusting” and asked “what can we do?”

This isn’t the first indicator that the U.S. Military has been heading down the path of wokeness.

Last month a member of our military posted a TikTok video in his camos shaking his booty for the camera. Last year the Navy appointed a drag queen for help in recruitment in order to attract a “talented” and “diverse workforce.” Similarly, oftentimes around pride month in June, multiple branches share their solidarity with LGBTQ people. In 2022 the U.S. Marines posted a helmet with rainbow pride bullets lodged in it, the U.S. Air Force wrote #CelebratePride in a post and the U.S. Space Force posted a graphic with the words “QUEER SPACE” on it and an astronaut holding a pride flag.

Thing is, when our foreign threats see things like these, see that our eventual troops are learning about queer crap and cross-dressing instead of how to protect our nation, those foreign threats are going to have no fears of coming in and demolishing us.

We need to facilitate a military of strong warriors, not woke social-justice warriors.

Source: https://mrctv.org/blog/tierin-rose-mandelburg/west-point-teaches-army-recruits-about-cross-dressing-gender-norms

[sideeki]

Stormy did VERY well

Trump Attorney Tries Slut-Shaming Stormy Daniels, Gets Zingers In Return
Daniels met the onslaught with polite and unyielding confidence.
By
Sara Boboltz

and

Ryan Grenoble
May 9, 2024, 12:29 PM EDT


Stormy Daniels followed up her first bombshell day of testimony in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial with a second day on the stand Thursday.

The adult film star faced harsher questions today, as Trump lawyer Susan Necheles attempted to discredit Daniels’ earlier testimony in cross examination. She met the onslaught with polite and unyielding confidence.

Necheles cast Daniels as an unconventional anti-Trump cheerleader who was only in it for the money, an accusation Daniels repeatedly swatted down.

At one point Necheles highlighted a $40 “Stormy, Saint of Indictments” prayer candle she sold online, along with assorted other similarly themed items.

Trump’s attorney then accused her of profiting off Trump’s trial by “shilling merchandise,” prompting Daniels to fire back: “Not unlike Mr. Trump.”

The defense also clumsily reminded the jury of Daniels’ pornographic past, accusing her of “selling herself” as an exotic dancer as her anti-Trump stardom grew.

“You have a lot of experience making phony stories about sex,” Necheles said, implying Daniels encounter with Trump was fake.

“Wow. That’s not how I would put it. The sex in the films is very much real, just like what happened to me in that room,” Daniels replied.

She later quipped that if her story about sex with Trump “was untrue, I would have written it to be a lot better.”

Necheles wrapped up her cross examination with a statement-turned-question, saying that Daniels has changed her story “many times” without giving her a chance to respond.

Judge Juan Merchan presides over proceedings as Stormy Daniels, far right, answers questions on direct examination by assistant district attorney Susan Hoffinger in Manhattan criminal court as former President Donald Trump and defense attorney Todd Blanche look on, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in New York.
Judge Juan Merchan presides over proceedings as Stormy Daniels, far right, answers questions on direct examination by assistant district attorney Susan Hoffinger in Manhattan criminal court as former President Donald Trump and defense attorney Todd Blanche look on, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in New York.VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Daniels told the court Tuesday that she found herself in Trump’s penthouse suite after meeting him at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament in the summer of 2006. She went into detail — sometimes too much detail, prompting a rebuke from Judge Juan Merchan — about how he invited her to dinner but wanted to meet beforehand in his hotel room, where ended up sharing a conversation and, she said, had sex.

Trump sat nearby, often closing his eyes. But he became so incensed by Daniels’ testimony that the judge urged his attorneys to warn him against making his feelings so obvious in front of the jury.

“I understand that your client is upset at this point,” Merchan told Trump’s attorneys during a sidebar on Tuesday, “but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that’s contemptuous.”

“It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that,” Merchan went on, according to a transcript viewed by HuffPost. “I am speaking to you here at the bench because I don’t want to embarrass him.”

Daniels spoke in a lighthearted manner with prosecuting attorney Susan Hoffinger, but became more rigid during cross-examination by Trump attorney Susan Necheles, which began Tuesday and continued Thursday, following a break in proceedings Wednesday.

While much of Daniels’ story had already been made public, she gave new details Tuesday that complicate how readily she had consented to the alleged sexual encounter.

Daniels, a porn actor turned writer and director, spoke about “blacking out” during the act, staring up at the ceiling in silence. She felt that because Trump had supposedly offered to land her a spot on “The Apprentice,” she could not refuse his advances.

“There was an imbalance of power for sure,” Daniels said Tuesday on direct examination.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stormy-daniels-testimony-trumps-hush-money-trial_n_663be115e4b0c38baf0ec262

[rooster]

Right any of them. Right or left but those on the left still thinks Russia stole the election that sound likes a threat to democracy

[blackhawks]

Let's see, what wine pairs best with cerebellum?

[DesertDrifter]

Just call the other guys nuts

We already know your MO, no need to reinforce it several times per day. Spamming your repetitive "ideas" over and over does not make your case stronger, it weakens it. Sometimes it seems as though you are just begging to be spanked with a rolled up magazine.

[blackhawks]

'Corporate party' is a meaningless term in light of the disparities in economic performance between the two Parties documented and posted here.

GOP OWNS the recessions, poor job creation, lower GDP and lower stock market performance. Corporations did better under the Dems and SO did the middle and lower classes.

Weirdness is too big an umbrella and smacks of old man 'now back in my day.....' crap.

Weirdness has not ruined the economy, blown a pandemic response, taken away freedom of choice, incited an insurrection nor handed the country a presidential candidate with multiple indictments.

You have neither a high moral ground to stand on nor an economic record to crow about either.

[B402]

They are nuts, you are the weirdos and thats what the rest of us are stuck with now....

Something has to give, once dems sold their souls to the corps the greed people said was unsustainable could only lead to the inevitable out come of inequity run amuck.....Top that off with weirdness, and half the now country chooses nuts and partly just in spite of you

You think weirdness is ok, and being a corporate party now is ok too.....Both parties only play to the middle at election time but just continue the status quo..... But dems are the one who sold out half the country and that's not something people soon forget...

Maybe that's why 70% didn't want either for the election......So just forget about your flaws and guilt for being in this situation and show how weird you can get at what has to be the very worst time in history to do it..Just call the other guys nuts......The last three years shows its the status quo you have chosen and reached new highs on the weirdo meter to boot...

[blackhawks]

No call for insurrection from any of 'em, nor any violent attempt to interfere with certification of election results either, so false equivalence call on you; 15 yards and loss of down.

SCOTUS stopped the vote count in FL and in a partisan GOP vote awarded FL and the presidency to Bush. Thank you SCOTUS for 9/11 and the Great Recession.

[blackhawks]

'Got weird'? Weirder than the conspiracy theory centric GOP? Weider than Margie and Sloebert? Weirder AND more dangerous than 'stop the steal' and the rest of the GOP authoritarian wannabe theocratic crap?

As for the 'corporate Party'? Like so much of what you assert, it doesn't hold up to scrutiny

There’s no longer a business-friendly political party
Rick Newman·Senior Columnist
Updated Mon, May 15, 2023

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/theres-no-longer-a-business-friendly-political-party-195432346.html

For decades, the Republican Party was corporate America’s BFF.

CEOs could count on Republicans to keep taxes low and regulations light—and largely let businesses govern themselves. Businesses returned the favor by filling Republican coffers with millions of dollars in campaign donations.

That cozy relationship tensed up during the Trump administration.

In one sense, President Donald Trump behaved as a traditional Republican, by cutting business taxes and slashing regulation. But he also launched trade wars against China and other economic partners, which gummed up supply chains and raised costs for thousands of US businesses. Trump also mounted unprecedented personal attacks against companies that didn’t do his bidding or somehow failed his loyalty tests.

Trump’s selective hostility to business has now escalated into a Republican broadside against virtually any company that violates the party’s new unwritten code of cultural regression. Republican culture-warriors label this a “war on wokeness,” or pushback against excessive cultural sensitivity. But nobody really knows what wokeness means, and Republicans are using that vagueness to attack any business that threatens their grip on power, or their pathway to it.

The seminal spectacle in the GOP’s breakup with business is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s battle with the Walt Disney Co., which is one of Florida’s largest employers and its single biggest taxpayer. DeSantis went after Disney last year, when it opposed a bill he backed that would restrict what Florida schools can teach young kids about sex and gender. DeSantis could have been a normal politician and let Disney take whatever stance it felt was necessary to appease its customers, employees, and shareholders. The law passed, despite Disney’s objections, so DeSantis got what he wanted.

But DeSantis was a sore winner, and he revoked Disney’s self-governing status near its Orlando theme park. He tried to punish the company in other ways, too. Disney punched back with a legal maneuver to reclaim its municipal independence. DeSantis has vowed a fight to the death, and litigation could go on for years.

For what? Certainly not for any business-related principle. DeSantis is basically trying to use one of the world’s most famous brands as a foil in his campaign to become America’s culture-warrior-in-chief.

DeSantis picked a dumb fight with Disney that he could very well lose. Yet other Republicans seem to think the DeSantis-style war on wokeness is such a winning strategy they’re copying it. Some House Republicans are looking for ways to punish Disney beyond Florida, at the federal level. Republicans also hope to wage a “war on woke capitalism” as a part of their 2024 campaign to seize control of Congress and the White House.

Several Republican-led states, including Florida, Arizona, Louisiana, and North Dakota, have enacted rules or laws restricting state investments in money-managing firms that practice ESG investing, which means they take environmental, sustainability and governance into account when choosing which firms to do business with. That’s meant to punish Wall Street giants such as BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase that are pushing ESG as an ethical and savvy way to invest.

Then there are Republican efforts to break up or dismantle tech firms such as Facebook and Google. Montana recently banned TikTok, making it illegal to download the app as of next January. If the bill survives an inevitable legal challenge, it would fine TikTok, Google, Apple or any business that makes the app available inside Montana at a rate of $10,000 per day.

Republican aren’t taking a stand against profits, per se, or against capitalism writ large, the way the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party does. They’re attacking businesses on an ad hoc basis when it suits some other political goal.

Yet this violates the whole ethos of laissez-faire capitalism, the Republican concept of setting minimalist rules for businesses and then getting out of the way. Republicans are still more or less content to keep taxes low and regulations lean, but it now comes with a hefty price: Businesses, in return, must abide by a retrograde Republican ideology that’s out-of-touch with mainstream Americans.

It would be an overstatement to say the Democrats are seizing the opportunity to buddy up with corporate America. President Biden has trash-talked fossil-fuel companies, proposed a hike in business taxes and ratcheted up regulations. Yet Biden has also eased trade frictions with friendly nations, and it’s Biden’s Democrats who want to raise the federal borrowing limit and avoid a destabilizing threat of default. Plus Biden probably seems quite friendly to green-energy firms and many other businesses that will benefit from billions of dollars in subsidies in bills Biden has backed and signed, such as last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.

There’s no rule that says one of America’s major political parties has to represent the interests of big business. Some Americans think corporate America has had too much sway over public priorities for far too long. More distance between lobbyists and policymakers may even be appropriate. Still, regulating business should be about making the economy as productive as possible — not about scoring points or settling grievances.

[rooster]

That would be the democrats. Let’s see Al Gore denied the results of his election and almost ended democracy. Let’s see Hillary still won’t accept the 16 results and is hurting democracy every time she bitches about it. Let’s see Stacy Abram’s still thinks she the rightful governor of Georgia. Hmm

[B402]

Which party got weird and became a corporate party when they aren't being so..

[blackhawks]

True, but which Party has demonstrated that it is a threat to democracy by not accepting elections results not just because they lost but rather because they ginned themselves up over that bullshit 'stop the steal' crap to point of insurrection?

Which Party's SCOTUS appointees kicked the abortion question to states that they KNEW would would try to outlaw it or restrict it to the point of threatening the reproductive health of women?

Which Party is reaping what they sowed from the electoral results where abortion was on the ballot?

Which Party has a candidate who tells you he will be 'your retribution'?

And then you have abundant evidence posted here many times that The Dems are decidedly better for the economy going as far back as FDR?

Bill's tendency towards false equivalence is increasingly annoying.

[B402]

Both parties see each other as a threat

American dream now costs 150k A year
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/05/05/cost-to-live-american-dream/73543082007/

[Matrix999]

[zab]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/analysis-indiana-vote-shows-trump-still-struggling-with-republican-holdouts/ar-BB1m3Pcb?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=752cd9e4e5dc41bfb17385e666a15462&ei=11

Almost all of America is sick of trump and his daily temper tantrums, but you seem to enjoy that in your president. Like the polls keep stating, it is doubtful trump will get America to vote for him a second time, he just represents chaos, and America has just tired of him.

See you at the polls, Gallup is still the worse poll out there, they are usually off by 7-10 points, and they favor conservatives.

[blackhawks]

Animation showing planned Key Bridge explosive demolition unveiled

By CHRISTINE CONDON | [e-mail]
PUBLISHED: May 8, 2024 at 4:05 p.m. | UPDATED: May 9, 2024 at 6:10 a.m.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/05/08/key-bridge-demolition-explosion-animation/?itm_source=parsely-api

Francis Scott Key Bridge cleanup officials shared a video animation Wednesday depicting how crews plan to deploy small explosive devices to clear a large steel truss resting on the bow of the Dali container ship in the Patapsco River.

[fuagf]

conix, And which all goes to suggest that way down deep in that propagandized, brainwashed conservative heart of yours lies a, struggling for air liberal part of you crying out to be freed. Yes,freed. You know you would feel so much better if only. If only.

"My posting an interesting video that I may not agree with every point is just an example that I do not stay in echo chambers. Galloway' work and opinions has always been interesting to me.
P - His point about too expensive education overlooks the impact of Government Guaranteed student loans on the inflation rate in tuition."

Always hope. Still, i wonder hoe much or it you watched before posting it.

[zab]

Really bad storms last night and today. Weather channel keeps reporting that climate change is happening, then you meet trump supporters, Republicans and they tell you it's fake news, just like vaccinations, and modern medicine.

[blackhawks]

Remember this?


Lee Elia Chicago Cubs manager infamous tirade on April 29,1983

Today in Cubs history: Lee Elia’s famous postgame rant
This was... something, that’s for sure.

By Al Yellon@bleedcubbieblue Apr 29, 2023, 11:30am CDT

Al Yellon
To truly understand Cubs manager Lee Elia’s historic rant in early 1983, it’s important to put things in context.

1983 was the second year of Tribune Co. ownership of the Cubs. They had come off horrendous years in the last years of the Wrigley regime in 1980 (64-98, .395) and 1981 (38-65, .369 and if not for the strike, that team would surely have broken the franchise record for losses). That’s when Tribune and general manager Dallas Green took over. Green made significant moves and the team improved somewhat in 1982 to a 73-89 (.451) mark that included a 33-24 record after August 1, the second-best record in the National League in that span.

So there was some optimism heading into the ‘83 season, but those Cubs got off to an awful start. They lost their first six games and were 5-13 going into a game April 29 at Wrigley Field against the Dodgers.

The details of the 4-3 loss to the Dodgers that day don’t really matter, except for the way L.A. scored the winning run. The Cubs had blown a 3-1 lead and Lee Smith entered with the game tied 3-3 in the eighth. He threw a wild pitch to the first batter he faced with a runner on third, allowing the lead, and eventually winning, run to score.

Just 9,391 people paid to see that game, and some of the few that hung around afterward started heckling Cubs players as they trudged across left field to the clubhouse, which was still located in the left-field corner (it wouldn’t be moved to behind the dugout until the following year). In the Tribune recap of the game, Robert Markus wrote:

[Keith] Moreland had to be restrained from climbing onto the dugout roof to get at three fans who were taunting the Cubs as they walked off the field.

“I saw it,” said [general manager Dallas] Green. “They were drunk. There were three guys with their hands full of beer, and Keith tried to get over the dugout.”

After that was when Elia let loose with this tirade in the clubhouse. I realize it’s Saturday, but... if you’re at work, this is definitely NSFW.

We have the late Chicago radio reporter Les Grobstein to thank for that recording — he was reporting from the Cubs clubhouse that afternoon and dutifully recorded all of Elia’s tirade. If you don’t want to play the video, there’s a full transcript here via Chris Jaffe at Hardball Times, published 10 years ago on the rant’s 30th anniversary.

After that 85 percent — 15 percent remark, someone made up buttons reading “I’m a working Cub Fan.” That’s what you see pictured at the top of this post. The button is mine — I still have it. I was, and still am, a “working Cub fan.”

The Tribune’s Markus reported that Green said Elia’s job was “in jeopardy” after the clubhouse tirade, but in the end Green didn’t dismiss Elia after the rant. The embattled Cubs manager did wind up getting fired later that year, for a different reason — after Braves rookie Gerald Perry had come into Wrigley and led Atlanta to a three-game sweep by going 4-for-9 with a home run and six RBI, Elia was quoted as saying he had “never heard” of Perry.

That was the last straw for Green, who replaced Elia with Charlie Fox for the rest of the season. The Cubs finished two games worse than they had in 1982, at 71-91. Little did we know what we had waiting for us just one year later, the N.L. East title in 1984.

In June 1987, Elia was interviewed by Jerome Holtzman, then a Tribune writer, when he returned to Wrigley Field as the Phillies’ third-base coach:

‘’It sounded like I was cursing the entire Cub kingdom,’’ Elia explained Monday. ‘’But that`s not true. I was only talking about those fans who were harassing Moreland and Bowa.’’

The tirade sure sounded like “cursing the entire Cub kingdom” to me. Elia did get a second chance to manage, taking over the Phillies literally the day after Holtzman spoke to him in Chicago, after the Cubs took the first two games of a three-game set against Philadelphia at Wrigley Field. He managed in Philadelphia until the final week of 1988, when he was fired with a 60-92 record. Elia served as a Yankees coach in 1989 and managed in the Phillies system from 1990-92 before retiring from baseball.

Incidentally, Elia also played briefly for the Cubs, 15 games as a utility infielder in 1968. The following April he was traded to the Yankees for Nate Oliver.

He’s still living, aged 85, with his family in Florida. I wish him well — he was a good baseball man and deserves to be remembered for more than just his clubhouse rant, which happened 40 years ago today, Friday, April 29, 1983.