Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.
Hey, Mom! The Explanation.
Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #4183 - When I am back at the keyboard - xkcd - SoD Reprint from 2019
LOL.
Now that I have Phone Link on both computers, I often prefer to wait to text when I am sitting at the computer keyboard (desktop or laptop) as it is easier to type.
I dislike typing on the little phone keypad.
Yes, I am tech savvy but also "an old," as a favorite author of mine likes to refer to those of us in this advanced state of dotage.
BLOG VACATION ENDING officially Monday the third.
Thanks for tuning in.
LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.
BLOG VACATION #1 - 2026 - Taking a blog vacation for a couple of weeks, until at least June 26th, 2026. But now that it's past June 26, I am not sure when I am resuming normal operations. Mostly reprints. A few simple shares (not that simple shares are out of the norm) and THAT ONE THING. Need time for other things.
This entry was going to use a "random" xkcd (using that random button shown in the image), but the most recent comic, this one, was too perfect not to select.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ - Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1907.27 - 10:10 - Days ago = 1484 days ago - New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2607.31 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 4047 days ago & DAD = 701 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #4181 - CNN's Kaitlan Collins - Focusing on Reporting, Not Trump’s Insults Wins Award
I am a loyal CNN viewer.
Though I am aware that I am not always getting the whole story, I am confident that when news is being reported (as opposed to opinion and commentary) that I am getting FACTS.
Mostly, I like the personalities. I trust that these people mean well and are working to do the right thing.
For example, Kaitlin Collins asks the president tough questions and does not react when he insults her as he does all the time, even when she doesn't ask questions!
And now she has won an award for her excellence in reporting.
“It's really not about me, and I don't want it to be about my reaction. …in those moments it's important to put the reminder back on the work, on the question, and on the non-answers that we get.” Jon Stewart sits down with CNN's award-winning chief White House correspondent and “The Source” anchor Kaitlan Collins to discuss the White House Correspondents’ dinner and how she handles insults from the president. They talk about how the White House press corps has changed in the 10 years since she started covering Trump, reporters’ frustrations with the president’s refusal to answer questions, and the value of asking follow-up questions. Plus, Jon prepares a little roleplay to encourage Collins to give Trump a taste of his own medicine. #DailyShow #KaitlanCollins #Trump #CNN #WHCD
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2607.29 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 4045 days ago & DAD = 699 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #4164 - Creamsicle of Asgard - SoD Reprint from 2018
It was time to reprint the Creamsicle post.
Thanks for tuning in.
LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.
BLOG VACATION #1 - 2026 - Taking a blog vacation for a couple of weeks, until at least June 26th, 2026. But now that it's past June 26, I am not sure when I am resuming normal operations. Mostly reprints. A few simple shares (not that simple shares are out of the norm) and THAT ONE THING. Need time for other things.
From the Graphic Novel "I, Whom the Gods Would Destroy."
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1091 - Creamsicle of ASGARD
Hi Mom,
Good THOR STUFF.
I must confess that the image above and cartoon introduction came from a Fanfare newsletter sometime in 2017, surely the products of the wonderful imagination of newsletter curator and made genius Josh Upson. So I cannot take credit for the creamsicle. It's too good.
Not to make light of it, but the woman wielding the hammer as the Mighty Thor has passed away in the Marvel Comics, and the Odinson is due to take back the mantle of Thor, worthy or not.
The Mighty Thor has been one of Marvels' most consistently well written and visually beautifully rendered comics of the last five years, mainly due to the efforts of Jason Aaron and a legion of artists, including Russell Dauterman and Esad Ribić.
The debut of a woman wielding the hammer of Thor shook the Marvel universe and fandom. It was a great idea and one born for a long term story arc, as we still do not know what Thor was told back in the Original Sin mini series that made him unworthy to lift Mjolnir.
The debut of a woman Thor was also smartly done as it was not revealed for nearly a year who was the human woman in possession of Thor's hammer and transformed to the God of Thunder by wielding the enchanted Uru hammer.
Genius idea!!
When we learned that the human in power was Jane Foster and that she had cancer and was dying, the story took on an even more poignant and powerful pathos.
This panel below shows off one of the best moments in the run.
I could go on and on about what made this run great, but I had promised myself to keep my comments somewhat short. So...
However, I can go quite yet. If I get into a comic book subject, there must be an art and cover gallery!
ART AND COVER GALLERY
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Reflect and connect. Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you. I miss you so very much, Mom. Talk to you tomorrow, Mom. - Days ago = 1093 days ago - Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1807.01 - 10:10 NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2607.12 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 4028 days ago & DAD = 682 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #4066 - Easter Sunday, so Reprint of Hey Mom #224 and Batman on EQUALITY
A friend of mine recently admonished me to not be in "low power mode" on my blog so much. But with THREE homework assignments due today, work-work in the job I am paid to do, and still catch up on many other important things, this reprint.
I am proud to say I live in a town in which this poster of Batman's comments on equality hangs in the window of one of the local comic book shops.
I love and respect my Dad and his beliefs. Same with my sister. Liesel and I both found the sermon we heard to be beautiful and moving. But not much else moved me or us.
I respect the right of others to believe their beliefs, but I just can't swallow a great deal of the dogma of any of the Christian-based faiths.
For one thing sin and the system of being forgiven has always struck me as too much to do with crowd control and enforced morality rather any veracity about how the universe ACTUALLY works. I don't know for sure, but I hope to find out. I think you already know, Mom. And I can hear you re-assuring me and also laughing.
Laughter is good for the soul.
People need to lighten up.
Reflect and connect.
Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1602.16 - 10:10
NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2604.05 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3930 days ago & DAD = 584 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #4040 - Did Alzheimer's Affect Terry Pratchett's Discworld?
This recent video from Rebecca Watson, whom I follow, caught my eye.
I needed a quick share as I am busy this week.
This video is worth your time, but if you'd rather not watch, the full transcript is reprinted below.
Even though I do not always agree with her, Watson is very worth following with a subscription on You Tube or even a Patreon subscription. The links below will guide you to either or both.
I have a variety of techniques I use to deal with the ongoing collapse of everything, most of them different kinds of drugs. But I also have healthy habits, like reading, and when it comes to reading purely for pleasure, I find myself turning back again and again to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
If you aren’t familiar, “Discworld” is a sprawling collection of stories that blend fantasy, adventure, and satire, often with recurring characters popping up here and there. There are guides online to help people decide what order to read them in, with some focusing on starting with the best bangers and others that focus on following one character through the years. When I started reading them a few years ago, I took the completely insane tactic of reading them in the order that they were published and not really thinking too much about them. So far, I have enjoyed this approach and highly recommend it to others.
Now, this is going to get a little sad but it’s old news to most: Pratchett published 41 Discworld novels (and even more one-offs) between 1983 and 2015. In 2007 at the age of 59, he announced that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He died in 2015 at the age of 66 from complications of that disease.
Alzheimer’s and other kinds of dementia can be difficult to diagnose before symptoms become very obvious and life-altering, which leads to worse outcomes for patients who don’t catch it early enough for interventions. And so, a lot of research has been done to figure out new ways to detect dementia as early as possible. One of these research avenues involves identifying very subtle changes in the way a person uses language, and so back in 2005 neuroscientists decided to examine the works of novelist Iris Murdoch to see if they could detect changes in her writing throughout the span of her 40-year career. Murdoch’s final novel was published in 1995 and received uncharacteristically negative reviews. Shortly thereafter, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and died in 1999 at the age of 79. The researchers compared that last novel to her first novel as well as one she wrote at the height of her career, and found that “Whilst there were few disparities at the levels of overall structure and syntax, measures of lexical diversity and the lexical characteristics of these three texts varied markedly and in a consistent fashion.” Her later work displayed a marked decrease in unique word choices relative to the overall word count.
Building on that, in 2011 linguists performed a more robust analysis of Murdoch’s novels and compared them to those of Agatha Christie, who was suspected of having Alzheimer’s, and PD James, who did not experience any cognitive decline over her 94 years. Their results supported the earlier study, and further they seemed to be able to detect a more “impoverished” vocabulary in Murdoch’s novels a full thirty years before her death. They also felt that they had convincing evidence Christie did, in fact, suffer from Alzheimer’s.
So now, it’s not surprising that some researchers would want to perform a similar examination of Terry Pratchett, considering how many novels he produced, especially in the same world, over many decades. They chose 33 out of the 41 Discworld novels, excluding those that were very short or written for young adults, and looked for patterns in the vocabulary used.
They found a “significant decrease in lexical diversity across all word classes” beginning after the publication of The Last Continent in 1998, the 22nd book in the series–9 and a half years before his diagnosis.
So there we go! Pretty good evidence that it may be possible to diagnose Alzheimer’s early using a careful examination of a history of the patient’s writings. Right? Well, no, it’s not quite that simple.
“First,” Burrows writes on Facebook, “the point where this supposed “decline” begins is just before the strongest run of his entire career — a decade of book after book that includes Night Watch and Nation, two of the finest novels Sir Terry ever wrote. To argue that his writing was already deteriorating years before those books appeared just doesn’t stand up.”
Okay, that is not what this study or any of the previous studies have shown. Yes, Murdoch’s final novel was panned but these studies do not have anything to say about the quality of the authors’ work. In fact, they are specifically looking for very subtle changes in word choice that literally require an algorithm to identify. Pratchett could very well have been using less diverse language while continuing to knock it out of the park when it comes to character development, storyline, and humor.
Burrows goes on, “Second, there’s a far simpler explanation for a drop in adjective use: he was getting better. At this point Sir Terry was writing at an astonishing rate — often two or three novels a year. His prose was getting cleaner and more disciplined. He was learning, bit by bit, not to let vocabulary get in the way of character, narrative and theme. That's mastery, not decline. Unless the argument is that Alzheimer’s made him a better writer, which feels… off.”
That is absolutely true, and it actually negates his first point: you do not necessarily need a unique array of words in order to produce a great novel. Yes. Correct. And Pratchett very well may have made a conscious effort to change up his style. So why didn’t the researchers consider that? Simple: they did. In the discussion section of their paper, they include a lengthy list of reasons why this is not a slam dunk case of a decline in cognition: “Age-related changes in writing style are expected, and it is possible that some of the observed changes represent natural stylistic evolution rather than disease-related decline.”
They also point out that after his diagnosis, Pratchett’s language may have changed due to related factors like stress, or having less time to write.
Burrow’s third point is “the big one — Sir Terry had posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), a very rare form of Alzheimer’s that affects visual and spatial processing first. It isn’t a language-led illness in its early stages, and it often doesn’t touch memory or vocabulary for a long time. That’s one reason it’s so hard to diagnose. It doesn't work like other forms of dementia.
“When language problems do show up in PCA, they usually come via visual impairment — difficulty reading, scanning text, processing what’s on the page, that sort of thing. Many of you will have seen the heartbreaking footage of Terry trying to read from Nation onstage at the Discworld con and complaining of "shadows" on the page. It can slow access to words, but it doesn’t shrink vocabulary in this neat, statistical way. Terry himself talked about this a lot. He took great pride in being able to rattle off long lists of words when he was being tested, while being unable to copy simple pictures.
Even later on, when writing genuinely became a struggle, Rob Wilkins has been very clear that the issues were about keeping the shape of a story in his head and the character voices distinct— not about choosing words. And yet the articles making these claims don't mention PCA at all, which is extraordinary when you’re citing scientific research and talking about the effects of a disease. They lump all forms of alzheimers together.”
That’s also a great point: why did the authors lump all forms of Alzheimer’s together? Simple: they didn’t. I’ll give Burrows a break here and assume that he was ONLY reading some popular press about the study instead of reading the study itself (which is available in full for free), but if that’s the case it’s really better to actually point to those articles and criticize them and not the study itself. Because the authors do repeatedly point out that Pratchett had PCA: they cite research that found “that in addition to the well reported degradation of vision, literacy and numeracy, PCA is characterised by progressive oral language dysfunction with prominent word retrieval difficulties.”
And then we’re back to that discussion section, where the authors state plainly that “while PCA and Alzheimer’s disease share some common features and PCA is thought to be in most cases caused by Alzheimer’s disease, they are distinct conditions with different clinical presentations. It is possible that the linguistic markers of PCA may differ from those of Alzheimer’s disease. For example, PCA often causes severe reading impairments and “pure alexia,” which disrupts the writer’s ability to visually scan and review their own text. Writers unable to effectively read their drafts may struggle to detect unwanted lexical repetitions and potentially may contribute to the observed decline in lexical richness.”
So I’m not impressed by these quite common criticisms of the study, seeing as one is just wrong and the others are freely stated by the study authors as limitations. The authors also point out that they could only judge the books based upon their publishing date, with no way to know exactly when in his life Pratchett actually wrote the books. They also point out that unlike the 2011 study, they didn’t have a control author with no known problems with cognition.
Essentially, this was just another case study to add to the data.
That said, I will point out some critical thoughts I had about the idea that research like this will allow earlier detection of conditions like Alzheimer’s. While all of the writers discussed were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or strongly suspected by experts to have had it, these changes in vocabulary do not point to Alzheimer’s specifically: they point to cognitive decline, and that can mean about a zillion different diseases. Alzheimer’s, sure, but also Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s, dementia with Lewy bodies, depression, concussion, or medication side effects. Even if we had a nice little private algorithm running in our email outboxes that can detect declining cognition long before we notice it ourselves, that would be a real “well what the fuck now” situation. There would need to be a serious discussion about whether or not it makes sense to then run every test possible to try to narrow it down immediately, or whether you just have to wait and see what happens, terrified every time you walk into a room and forget what you were going there for.
I’ve talked in the past about the seemingly paradoxical problem of elective full body MRIs and gene sequencing: sometimes more information is actually worse for us, if it stresses us out and puts us through procedures that end up being useless. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.
So, it’s an interesting study just for the sake of scientific inquiry, but I’m not sure it should give anyone a lot of hope for a way to easily detect early Alzheimer’s in the near future. And also, the takeaway absolutely is NOT “study pinpoints when Discworld fell off.” I haven’t even made it to the fan-favorite “golden age” yet but I’m fairly certain that Terry Pratchett could craft an entertaining story with a toddler’s vocabulary so I’m not worried about it.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2603.10 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3904 days ago & DAD = 558 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #4015 - Bad Bunny's Love Conquers All Super Bowl Halftime Show
This is America.
America is not just made up of white people and it never head been.
Critics are complaining that Bad Bunny sang the entire Super Bowl LX show in SPANISH, his native language, the language in which the songs are meant to be heard, and the primary language of at least 20% of Americans.
And yet, critics think the show should be in English.
Why?
In what way is that better, authentic, or necessary?
The show was a reminder of the people and the laborers that built are country, that supply our country, that are the life blood of this country.
And the greatest message of all:
THE ONLY THING MORE POWERFUL THAN HATE IS LOVE
Last year, Kendrick Lamar and another community of non-white Americans: the children of the slaves!
While Ramos was not featured in the Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny has frequently used his platform to speak out about ICE. At the 2026 Grammy Awards last Sunday, during his acceptance speech for best música urbana album, he kicked off his remarks by stating, “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out.”
“We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans,” he continued. “The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people. We love our family, and that’s the way to do it with love. Don’t forget that, please. Thank you.”
Jon Stewart digs into MAGA's outrage over Bad Bunny's all-Spanish Super Bowl halftime show, Turning Point USA's "All-American" halftime alternative, and the president achieving new heights of racism with a social media post dehumanizing the Obamas. Jordan Klepper weighs in on Howard Lutnick's lunch with Jeffrey Epstein, Trump's "more than a million" mentions in the Epstein files, and Pam Bondi's congressional crash-out over Epstein questions. Plus, Jordan comments on Trump winning the inaugural Undisputed Champion of Clean Coal award, and the president's subsequent attack on the EPA's ability to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Over the past 20 years, the Super Bowl halftime show has featured performances by the Rolling Stones, the Who, Coldplay, Shakira, and Rihanna. Unlike Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican pop star who drew a record audience for his performance at Sunday's Super Bowl LX, none of those performers are American citizens.
Yet the conservative outrage machine cranked itself into high gear on social media to denounce Bad Bunny, ostensibly because he is somehow undeserving or insufficiently American.
As is often the case, those efforts took their cues from the man at the top. President Donald Trump called the show "an affront to the Greatness of America" and claimed it "doesn't represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence."
Conservative influencer Jake Paul accused Bad Bunny of being "a fake American citizen."
Others put a finer point on it: "This isn't White enough for me," wrote the right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who claimed she "can't even watch a Super Bowl anymore because immigrants have literally ruined everything."
Again: Bad Bunny is an American, unlike many past Super Bowl halftime show headliners.
And if Loomer can't enjoy the Super Bowl if it isn't white enough, she must be disappointed by most aspects of the game. Most of the guys on the field weren't white. Last night's Most Valuable Player was Kenneth Walker III, a black running back for the Seattle Seahawks.
That's fine, because the Super Bowl is a color-blind celebration of excellence. It is the exact opposite of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts that the Trump coalition opposes. Walker did not win MVP because he's black, and the Seahawks did not win the championship because they had a roster with a bureaucrat-approved mix of races. They won because they are very good at their jobs.
The same is true for Bad Bunny. He's one of the biggest stars in the music industry! And he is wildly successful because people freely choose to spend their money streaming his music and going to his shows.
It makes as much sense to criticize Bad Bunny for being unsuccessful as it does to attack him for being un-American. Both are factually untrue and transparently ridiculous.
That doesn't mean you have to like Bad Bunny's music. I can barely name three of his songs. (Approaching 40 is rough.) You don't have to applaud his halftime performance—although, c'mon, it was pretty cool and quite impressive on a production and technical level, and it told a story that a non-Spanish speaker could follow.
And you don't have to like that he sings in Spanish, which seems to be the real root of most of the complaints about him headlining the Super Bowl. That's a matter of personal taste.
But the right-wing outrage machine takes gripes based on personal taste and extrapolates them into questions of merit. And some, like Loomer, then try to add a racial element.
It's exhausting. It's weird. And outside of Twitter, I suspect it's not very successful.
A political movement that is determined to create unnecessary grievances targeting America's most successful homegrown artists is not upholding meritocracy or other American values. It is demanding conformity and its own version of political correctness. Most of us have had enough of that, and we don't much care whether it is coming from the right or the left.
Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show: All the details and Easter eggs you may have missed
The Puerto Rican superstar's powerful performance was packed with nods to Latino culture.
Bad Bunny delivered an unforgettable performance during his highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, transforming Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., into an unfolding love letter to Puerto Rico and its culture. But there were plenty of tiny details and subtle references packed into the Latino superstar’s 13-minute set that viewers might have missed.
For starters, the grasses that momentarily turned the football field into the Puerto Rican countryside were played by actual people.
“I was one of the 500 bunches of dancing grass at Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show,” Andrew Athias, a 33-year-old digital marketer and content creator from Philadelphia, told Business Insider. “I got paid $18.70 per hour for the gig, but I would've done it for free.”
The wedding was real
Bad Bunny’s halftime performance featured a wedding ceremony, during which a couple, both wearing white, shared a kiss in front of an officiant as they were surrounded by dancers. The crowd then parted to reveal Lady Gaga, in a baby-blue flamenco dress with a flor de maga — Puerto Rico’s national flower — pinned to her bodice. Backed by Los Sobrinos, a Puerto Rican salsa band, Gaga performed “Die With a Smile” before Bad Bunny joined her for “BAILE INoLVIDABLE” at the wedding reception.
According to the Associated Press, a representative for Bad Bunny confirmed that the couple, who was not publicly identified, had actually been married during the show. They had invited Bad Bunny to their planned wedding, but in response, they received an invitation to be part of his halftime show and were married on the field — with Bad Bunny “serving as a witness and signing their marriage certificate.”
Bad Bunny’s Spanish-language introduction
It was the first-ever Super Bowl halftime show to be performed almost entirely in Spanish (Gaga briefly sang in English).
“Mi nombre es Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio,” Bad Bunny said as he introduced himself to the crowd. “Y si hoy estoy aquí en el Super Bowl 60, es porque nunca, nunca dejé de creer en mí y tú también deberías de creer en ti, vales más de lo que piensas.”
Translated to “My name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, and if I’m here today at Super Bowl 60, it’s because I never, ever stopped believing in myself and you should also believe in yourself, you’re worth more than you think.”
Benito gives a Grammy to his younger self
In another scene during the show, a young boy was watching a small television set showing one of Bad Bunny’s acceptance speeches at last week’s Grammy Awards. The singer knelt down and handed a Grammy trophy to the boy, 5-year-old actor Lincoln Fox.
A post on Fox’s Instagram page said that it was his "truest honor" to be part of the halftime show, with hashtags ("#youngbadbunny" and "#littlebadbunny") suggesting he was portraying the singer’s younger self.
Bad Bunny wore Zara
For his performance, Bad Bunny wore a custom cream-colored outfit by Zara, the Spanish high street fashion retailer, designed by his longtime creative director Janthony Olivera. It included a collared shirt and tie, chinos and a jersey with his family name Ocasio and number 64.
Why No. 64?
Online, fans were speculating that it was a reference to 1964, the year in which his mother, Lysaurie Ocasio, was born. But Benito later explained it was to honor his late uncle.
"1964 is the year my Tio Cutito was born. He is my mother's brother. Everything that I know about the NFL is thanks to him," he told Harper’s Bazaar. "He was a big fan of the San Francisco 49ers." The 49ers play their home games in Levi’s Stadium.
"He died two years ago, a short time after the 49ers lost against Kansas City in the 2024 Super Bowl," Bad Bunny continued. "I always dreamed of taking my uncle to a Super Bowl one year, but I couldn't; his death was sudden and without warning. So I decided to bring him on my shirt when I performed at the Super Bowl: Ocasio, his last name, the same as my mom, along with his birth year, '64."
All the celebrities at La Casita
At one point, Bad Bunny made his way over to “La Casita” — the pink, concrete-brick house stage — where a crowd of celebrities, including Jessica Alba, Cardi B, Karol G, Pedro Pascal and Alix Earle, were spotted dancing.
Soon after, the rapper quite literally crashed through La Casita’s roof and into a furnished home, before emerging through the front door.
Toñita made a cameo
Speaking of celebrity cameos, Maria Antonia “Toñita” Cay — the 85-year-old owner of Brooklyn’s Caribbean Social Club — made an appearance during the block party portion of Bad Bunny’s performance, handing him a shot from an outdoor bar.
Bad Bunny’s song “NUEVAYoL” contains references to partying at Toñita’s social club, one of the last surviving Puerto Rican social clubs in New York City.
Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico’s failing power grid
Bad Bunny climbed a sparking utility pole to perform “El Apagón,” a song about Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, killing thousands of people and leaving most of the island without power for nearly a year.
The performance was also symbolic of Puerto Rico’s failing power grid and frequent rolling blackouts.
After the storm, some Puerto Ricans in remote communities frustrated with restored their own power — with their bare hands.
The Puerto Rican independence flag
Near the end of his performance, Bad Bunny held a Puerto Rican flag with a light blue triangle, rather than the dark blue on the island’s officially recognized flag.
The azul clarito, which was on the island’s original flag before Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory, has become a symbol of Puerto Rican independence.
Bad Bunny concluded the halftime show by calling out the names of more than a dozen Latin and North American countries.
He then held up a football for the camera. On it was a message: "Together, we are America."
The president shared his outrage at the Puerto Rican superstar's set at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., in a Truth Social post on Sunday night.
"The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!" the president opined. "It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn't represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence." (Bad Bunny and every other Puerto Rican is an American citizen, as the island is a U.S. territory.)
Trump continued, "Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World."
Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl 2026 halftime show performance in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026.
Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty
The president also took the opportunity to change the subject to the economy. "This 'Show' is just a 'slap in the face' to our Country, which is setting new standards and records every single day — including the Best Stock Market and 401(k)s in History!" he wrote.
Trump added, "There is nothing inspirational about this mess of a Halftime Show and watch, it will get great reviews from the Fake News Media, because they haven't got a clue of what is going on in the REAL WORLD."
The former Apprentice host concluded his remarks with a complaint about a new football rule, "And, by the way, the NFL should immediately replace its ridiculous new Kickoff Rule," he said, echoing his rant from last year.
Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl 2026 halftime show performance in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026.
"I've never heard of him," Trump said of the Puerto Rican musician at the time. "I don't know who he is."
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Trump added, "I don't know why they're doing it. It's crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment — I think it's absolutely ridiculous."
That last jab may have been in reference to the fact that the NFL's partner, Jay-Z's Roc Nation, selected Bad Bunny as the performer rather than the league itself.
Trump became the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl in 2025, but said that he was skipping this year's game in January.
"It's just too far away," he told the New York Post. "I would. I've [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me."
Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7, 2025; Bad Bunny in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2026.
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Phil McCarten/CBS via Getty
Trump also took the opportunity to slam Bad Bunny again, and also criticized Green Day, who played at the game's opening ceremony.
"I'm anti-them," Trump said of the musicians. "I think it's a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible."
The Super Bowl isn't the only pop cultural spectacle that Trump has addressed this month. The president previously slammed the Grammy Awards on Feb. 1, calling the show “virtually unwatchable” and opining that host Trevor Noah was “almost as bad as Jimmy Kimmel at the Low Ratings Academy Awards.”
Trump was particularly upset by the host's joke about the president's connection to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, which came after Billie Eilish won the Song of the Year award.
"That is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland," Noah said. "Which makes sense, I mean, because Epstein’s island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out on with Bill Clinton."
Donald Trump and Melania Trump in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29.
Taylor Hill/WireImage
"Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!” Trump responded. "I can't speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight's false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media."
Trump later threatened Noah with legal action. "It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$," he wrote.
Bad Bunny's selection as the halftime show performer led to so much conservative backlash that the right-wing organization Turning Point USA, which was founded by the late Charlie Kirk, organized its own counterprogramming music extravaganza. The show featured Trump supporter Kid Rock flanked by country artists Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett.
Turning Point's "All-American Halftime Show" was promoted as a celebration promoting "faith, family and freedom." The initial announcement of the event linked to a survey asking viewers which genres the hoped to hear represented, with options including "Pop," "Worship,""Americana," and "Anything in English." That last option echoes conservatives' repeated insistence that Bad Bunny is unfit to perform at the Super Bowl because his music is predominantly in Spanish.
NBC announced on Tuesday night that this year's Super Bowl averaged 124.9 million viewers on their network, which made it the second-most-watched Super Bowl ever. That trails only last year's Super Bowl — when the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs — which averaged 127.7 million viewers on Fox.
The halftime show caused a slight surge in viewership, too. NBC said Bad Bunny's performance at Levi's Stadium averaged 128.2 million viewers over the 15 minute window. That's down slightly from the more than 133 million that tuned in for Kendrick Lamar's halftime show at the Super Bowl last year in New Orleans.
By comparison, Turning Point USA's "All-American Halftime Show" drew about 6.1 million concurrent viewers on YouTube on Sunday, according to The Athletic. That alternative halftime show, which was pre-recorded, featured Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett.
Two days out, Bad Bunny's epic Super Bowl halftime show, which featured cameos from stars such as Lady Gaga, Pedro Pascal, and Ricky Martin, is still getting a lot of attention, especially from Republican lawmakers. They were not entertained.
By Monday, one of the detractors, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), asked officials to look into the performance, which he called "pure smut" that he claimed was "illegal to be displayed on public airways."
Ogles cited "choreography featuring overtly sexualized movements, including widespread twerking, grinding, pelvic thrusts and other sexually suggestive conduct."
He is, therefore, "requesting that the Energy and Commerce Committee launch a formal congressional inquiry into the National Football League and NBC immediately for their prior knowledge, deliberate approval, and facilitation of this indecent broadcast. American culture will not be mocked or corrupted without consequence."
Ogles' colleague Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) said Tuesday that he and his Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives have already embarked on an investigation into the event.
"On the Bad Bunny bad performance at the Super Bowl — we're still investigating this," he said on TV's Real America's Voice, per The Wrap. "There's a lot of information that has come out about the lyrics."
Alford referenced the halftime show held by conservative organization Turning Point USA, which was meant as an alternative to the official Super Bowl halftime that President Donald Trump and others had spoken against well before it took place.
"I saw the halftime show — we were switching back and forth with the [Turning Point USA] halftime show," Alford said. "The lyrics from what we've seen from Bad Bunny are very disturbing. And if it holds true — I don't speak fluent Spanish, okay, I know how to ask where the bathroom is — but if it's true what was said on national television, we have a lot of questions for the entities that broadcast this and we'll be talking with Brendan Carr from the [Federal Communications Commission]."
He added, "This could be much worse than the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction," in a reference to the 2004 event in which more of Jackson's breasts showed than had been expected.
Trump himself called Sunday's show "absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!" and "an affront to the Greatness of America." He deemed the dancing "disgusting."
The preemptive criticism of Bad Bunny's halftime show was not enough to keep more than 128 million people from watching.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2602.13 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3879 days ago & DAD = 533 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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