Post New Article

I miss the TV dads – and my own too

Original Article

Posted By: Big Bopper, 12/24/2024 5:19:36 PM

You know them. They were in your living room and part of your family conversations every night, especially during those 60-second breaks. Before America was siloed into warring tribes by ratings-hungry cable TV and, later, by click-hungry internet sites, these men defined fatherhood for two generations. They were uncool before uncool was cool. I’m aware this isn’t Fathers Day, other than in a specific religious sense. But Christmas always bring back family memories for me, particularly of my dad, which gets me thinking about the role of dads everywhere.

Post Reply

Reminder: “WE ARE A SALON AND NOT A SALOON”

Your thoughts, comments, and ideas are always welcome here. But we ask you to please be mindful and respectful. Threatening or crude language doesn't persuade anybody and makes the conversation less enjoyable for fellow L.Dotters.


Reply 1 - Posted by: WWIIDaughter 12/24/2024 6:40:01 PM (No. 1860726)
A Christmas Story is our family tradition movie. Darren McGavin was the perfect father, absolutely manly, tender-hearted towards his wife and children, completely reliable and willing to battle the vicious furnace in the basement with energy(!).
8 people like this.

Reply 2 - Posted by: Timber Queen 12/24/2024 7:54:40 PM (No. 1860735)
Andy Taylor gets my vote for favorite TV dad. Last summer I visited my life-long best friend, and she brought out her DVD set of the "Andy Griffith Show". We binged. We both noted the moral message that was delivered in each particular show, but with humor and humanity. A show that reflected the daily life of most Americans, or those who aspired to such a life. The jokes were still funny after all these years because they were based on the everyday man. The biggest difference is back then people respected each other, and gave a lot slack for differences.
7 people like this.

Reply 3 - Posted by: Catherine 12/24/2024 8:11:13 PM (No. 1860741)
I miss children not being smart mouthed to their parents. The line I hated most was "......and you can't make me." Oh yeah, my parents could have made you.
13 people like this.

Reply 4 - Posted by: JimBob 12/24/2024 8:48:28 PM (No. 1860756)
"– and my own too." When this girl I was dating (now my wife of 38 years) first came into the old house ("the Shack") that I was renting, she asked: "Why do you have a picture of John Wayne in your living room?" ... and I answered her "That's not John Wayne. That's my Dad." My Dad was not John Wayne's twin, but he could have been his brother or a close cousin. My Dad didn't dwell on it, but he would occasionally tell a story about his time as a staff sergeant in the US Marines, out on Kwajalein in WWII. It was not until just a few years ago that it occurred to me. John Wayne PLAYED a Marine Sergeant out in the Pacific. My Dad WAS a Marine Sergeant out in the Pacific. I met Lydia, the girl who would become my wife in June of 1985. She missed meeting him by less than six months. My dad passed away in February 1985.... and I still miss him. I have a shirt that reads: WWII VETERAN SON Some people never meet their heroes. I was raised by mine.
24 people like this.

Reply 5 - Posted by: Jesuslover54 12/24/2024 8:50:26 PM (No. 1860757)
Main thing is, just be there, and let your kids know you'll be there.
3 people like this.

Reply 6 - Posted by: enemyofthestate 12/24/2024 9:21:08 PM (No. 1860762)
The ideal dad for the past four years of the Biden regime would be none other than aging reprobate Hunter Biden.
1 person likes this.

Reply 7 - Posted by: anniebc 12/24/2024 9:34:12 PM (No. 1860766)
Hollywood is doing their best to make black people think they don't have families anymore. It's hard to find a black family presented in commercials anymore; what you get is a black man with anything but a black woman. When the truth is most black men prefer and marry black women. They also portray white dads as especially stupid. To their children and their wives.
8 people like this.

Reply 8 - Posted by: SweetPea3 12/25/2024 6:56:23 AM (No. 1860860)
This portrayal of fathers, especially white ones, demeaning them as being buffoons has been going since before All in the Family days. But the most offensive commercial was by Toyota a few years ago. It opens with a black woman in a very opulent home with her two mixed race kids. The white father, who keeps this luxurious roof over their heads, buys a Lexus as a surprise for his family. There it sits, gleaming in the driveway with a big red bow on its roof. He holds up a set of keys, smiles, opens the door and steps out to the driveway. Mom and kids jump up, run past him totally ignoring him, snatch the keys from his hand jump in the Toyota and drive away. The dad is left standing in the driveway in his PJ'S and housecoat, forlornly staring after them. Disgusting. I will never buy a car from woke Toyota.
4 people like this.

Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Big Bopper"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Most Recent Articles posted by Big Bopper"
I miss the TV dads – and my own too 8 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 12/24/2024 5:19:36 PM Post Reply
You know them. They were in your living room and part of your family conversations every night, especially during those 60-second breaks. Before America was siloed into warring tribes by ratings-hungry cable TV and, later, by click-hungry internet sites, these men defined fatherhood for two generations. They were uncool before uncool was cool. I’m aware this isn’t Fathers Day, other than in a specific religious sense. But Christmas always bring back family memories for me, particularly of my dad, which gets me thinking about the role of dads everywhere.
AI “thinks” hospital gowns make sense 6 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 12/20/2024 4:47:48 PM Post Reply
Marc Andreessen is a very successful Silicon Valley venture capitalist. In picking and investing in early-stage tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook years ago, you could say he swims with the sharks, and swims very well. His firm has over $45 billion under management. He was recently the subject of a wide-ranging interview by Bari Weise, the intrepid founder of The Free Press. The hottest thing in Silicon Valley these days is AI – the acronym for Artificial Intelligence.
Trump’s powerful America will produce
a safer world
2 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 12/8/2024 1:36:01 PM Post Reply
Henry Kissinger argued that geopolitical negotiations are successful only if they are backed by an implicit or explicit threat of force. In that argument, he echoed Teddy Roosevelt’s quip a century earlier that America should “speak softly and carry a big stick.” The contention that adversarial negotiations are successful only if you have some leverage to exert is an obvious truism. But American leaders need to re-learn this truism every so often. They naively – and sometimes malevolently – come to believe that the way to get along with the bad guys is to kowtow to them.
“Transgender Miners at the Supreme Court
. . .”
7 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 12/4/2024 1:17:14 PM Post Reply
. . . Is how a headline reads in today’s Wall Street Journal. To which my reaction was, what next? First, the trannies were in the closet. Then they came out, apparently just to go to the bathroom. The one for girls. Then they were in the Cabinet of the future former President and current organized crime boss who both commits and pardons family criminal acts. (One stop shopping, is he.) The next thing we knew, they were competing in athletic contests against real women – or, as much of the media dubs them, “birthing persons” or “menstruating persons” or “persons with a bonus hole” or (my personal favorite) “non-transgender women.”
This was predicted by me – at least twice 2 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 12/1/2024 8:20:00 PM Post Reply
The news tonight is that Worst President Ever (hereinafter “WPE”) has pardoned his son. You know the one – the crack-smoking, drug-addicted, whore-mongering, influence-peddling, gun-toting, tax-evading, lie-teller. After stating time and again – but that was in the past, so it doesn’t count – that he wouldn’t, WPE proved himself to be as big a liar as the miscreant son. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I explicitly warned that WPE would do this, but for obvious reasons he would wait till after the election. I also proposed that the pardon would seal the judgment of historians on WPE – that he is indeed the WPE. So there we are. WPE has
This was predicted by me – at least twice 1 reply
Posted by Big Bopper 12/1/2024 8:10:52 PM Post Reply
The news tonight is that Worst President Ever (hereinafter “WPE”) has pardoned his son. You know the one – the crack-smoking, drug-addicted, whore-mongering, influence-peddling, gun-toting, tax-evading, lie-teller. After stating time and again – but that was in the past, so it doesn’t count – that he wouldn’t, WPE proved himself to be as big a liar as the miscreant son. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I explicitly warned that WPE would do this, but for obvious reasons he would wait till after the election. I also proposed that the pardon would seal the judgment of historians on WPE – that he is indeed the WPE.
The Denver mayor is an illegal unrepentant insurrectionist 9 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 11/25/2024 10:33:06 AM Post Reply
Resistance 2.0 is upon us, and it’s getting ugly. The latest is from the formerly-mediocre and now-failed city of Denver, of which I am an embarrassed alum. The mayor promises to forcibly thwart the United States government’s enforcement of the United States immigration laws. He says he’ll send Denver police and 50,000 moms to head the feds off at the pass. This valiantly woke mayor even promises to personally break laws and go to prison if necessary. Here’s the back story:
Aspen newspapers bury Aspen Skiing Company’s
hateful diatribe against Trump
11 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 11/21/2024 11:26:33 AM Post Reply
Right after the election, the CEO of Aspen Skiing Company, which runs Aspen and Snowmass resorts (known as “SkiCo” locally), was grieving. And he wanted everyone to know. He sent a memo to all 1,500-some employees instructing them on “the gravity of what just occurred.” (This is all he knows about gravity, believe me – I’ve seen this guy ski.) The memo CEO-splained that the election decision made by over half the nation was “openly at odds” with SkiCo’s values of: “Equality, democracy, civility, compassion, tolerance, sustainability, open-mindedness, gratitude, freedom, integrity, and justice.”
Why do American Jews vote against Israel? 12 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 11/16/2024 1:07:43 PM Post Reply
For a hundred years, American Jews have overwhelmingly voted for the Democrat candidate. Franklin Roosevelt received about 80% of the Jewish vote each time. This dramatic tilt toward the Democrats continued up through the turn of the century, when they gave Al Gore about 79%. They gave Obama 78% in his first election, and even gave him 69% in his second – after Obama’s antipathy toward Israel became impossible to overlook. Some of this Jewish support for Democrats is understandable.
Aspen Skiing Company joins “The Resistance” 11 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 11/10/2024 6:09:33 PM Post Reply
Your correspondent has reviewed a memo labelled “For Internal Distribution Only” from the CEO of the company that owns and operates the skiing operations at Aspen and Snowmass (referred to locally as “SkiCo”). It’s a doozy. Everyone knows that Aspen is rich and liberal. The billionaires crowded out the millionaires decades ago. What passes for “thinking” by think-tanks like the Aspen Institute is the notion that “balance” means hard-leftists like Madeline Albright and Jonathan Capehart on one side and soft-leftists like David Brooks and Liz Cheney on the other.
In the land of Anne Frank, they’re chasing
and beating the Jews
4 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 11/8/2024 4:31:41 PM Post Reply
Anne Frank famously kept a diary describing her life as a Jewish girl during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. She and her family lived in a concealed room behind a bookcase for two years. The Nazis eventually discovered the family and sent them to concentration camps including Auschwitz. She died in Bergen-Belsen at age 15. Anne’s father, Otto, was the only one of the family to survive the Holocaust. He was instrumental in publishing his daughter’s diary after the war. The rest is history. Key to Anne’s survival were the efforts of Otto’s secretary, a Catholic woman named Miep Gies.
Democrats’ final humiliation: The stock
market loves Trump
2 replies
Posted by Big Bopper 11/6/2024 11:42:39 AM Post Reply
Democrats like to pretend that financial markets are politically agnostic, or perhaps are even fellow Democrats. “After all,” they caress themselves lovingly, “Financial people are smart, and smart people vote for us.” This election put the lie to that. The market rocketed this morning on news of Donald Trump’s re-election to the Presidency and the Republican re-take of the Senate. Ordinary Americans are extraordinary people. Today’s market shows that finance gurus on Wall Street and Harvard MBAs running investment funds have joined Pennsylvania hard-hats, Cuban immigrants, Montana ranchers
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom considering ways
to help illegal migrants dodge Trump’s
planned mass deportation
31 replies
Posted by 4250Luis 12/25/2024 7:20:46 AM Post Reply
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is drawing up plans to help illegal migrants dodge deportation when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. An internal memo being circulated within Newsom’s administration calls for the “creation of an Immigrant Support Network comprised of regional ‘hubs’ to connect at-risk individuals, their families, and communities with community systems — such as legal services, schools, labor unions, local governments, etc,” according to Politico. The outlet notes that the memo is light on details, including the cost to taxpayers for such a programs,
‘Christianity is Paganism’: Florida
Imam Warns Muslims Against Wishing ‘Happy
Holidays’ to ‘Pagan’ Christians
29 replies
Posted by Imright 12/24/2024 2:19:14 PM Post Reply
Christianity today is “paganism” and Christians are “pagans” and “not believers,” according to Florida Imam Abu Usama At-Thahabi, who urged Muslims to reject Western cultural influences and warned them against wishing others a “merry Christmas” or even “happy holidays.” In his Friday, December 20, sermon at the Masjid As-Sunnah mosque and Islamic center serving the Orlando, Florida, area, the American-born Abu Usama delivered a scathing critique of Christianity, declaring it polluted with pagan practices, while urging Muslims to remain steadfast in their identity.
Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ Star Mark Hamill’s
Unhinged Anti-Trump Rant Sparks Concern:
‘I was devastated’ When He Won
28 replies
Posted by Dreadnought 12/24/2024 8:13:50 PM Post Reply
Some fans were shocked upon seeing the unhinged, anti-Trump diatribe delivered by Star Wars star Mark Hamill who went into a spittle-specked rage over Trump while defiantly claiming he does not care how many fans he upsets with his hate for the President-elect. Hamill cemented himself into pop culture fame with his role as Like Skywalker in Star Wars and later as the voice of Batman’s The Joker in a series of hit animated movies. But in his interview on a recent episode of the Politickin Podcast hosted by extremist Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom, Hamill seemed more like a crazed Joker than a serene
Former defense official makes earth-shattering
revelation as mystery drones cause concern:
‘We are not alone’
22 replies
Posted by Imright 12/25/2024 10:44:28 AM Post Reply
Testimony and several reports have exposed unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings across the country amid the national attention on apparent drone observations over recent weeks. Luiz Elizondo, the former head of the Defense Department’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, and other witnesses testified before Congress last month about an alleged government group “hid[ing] the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos.” “I believe that we as Americans can handle the truth. And I also believe the world deserves the truth,” Elizondo said, urging Congress to enact legislation protecting whistleblowers too afraid to come forward.
Gay couple who showed off picture-perfect
family gets 100 years in prison for horrific
rape of adopted sons
22 replies
Posted by ladydawgfan 12/24/2024 7:45:33 PM Post Reply
A gay Georgia couple convicted of sickening sexually abuse of their two adopted sons will spend the rest of the lives behind bars. William and Zachary Zulock, 34 and 36, were each sentenced last week to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole, the Walton County District Attorney’s office announced. “These two Defendants truly created a house of horrors and put their extremely dark desires above everything and everyone else,” said District Attorney Randy McGinley, according to WSB-TV.
‘Squad’ Rep. Ayanna Pressley praises
Biden for controversial commutations:
‘Death penalty is racist’
22 replies
Posted by Imright 12/24/2024 12:31:36 AM Post Reply
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) commended President Biden Monday for commuting the sentences of 37 federal inmates on death row, arguing that capital punishment is “racist.” “There is no action more powerful or righteous than sparing someone’s life, and today President Biden is doing just that,” the member of the far-left “Squad” of liberal lawmakers said in a statement. Pressley, 50, described the 82-year-old commander in chief’s decision to spare dozens of convicted murderers and rapists from death as a “historic and groundbreaking act of compassion that will save lives, address the deep racial disparities in our criminal legal system, and send a powerful message about redemption, decency, and humanity.”
Let the spirit of Christmas heal our wounds
after a bruising political year
20 replies
Posted by 4250Luis 12/25/2024 7:23:55 AM Post Reply
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year — especially in an election year. After eleven months of war between Democrats and Republicans, including weeks for the defeated side to mourn the results, Christmas is a season when everyone can rejoice. For Christians, Jesus’ birth is more important than any political battle.The Christmas spirit has something for people of every belief and background, however: It’s a time to cherish family and reflect on peace and goodwill toward all. Our politics, and the world, needs that spirit more than ever.Letting go of the hatreds built up over a bruising election cycle isn’t easy,
A Daily Wire Investigation: Are There
Really 15K Trans Military Members?
18 replies
Posted by Imright 12/24/2024 3:52:17 PM Post Reply
When the London Times published a late November report claiming that Donald Trump plans to “kick transgender troops out of the military,” leftist groups and media outlets clamored against the idea, warning that an estimated 15,000 transgender troops would be impacted. There’s no evidence this figure is even close to accurate. That startlingly high figure of 15,000 trans-identifying troops has been pushed, without sourcing, by major news outlets including the London Times, Military.com, and Newsweek. Rachel Branaman, a spokeswoman for the pro-LGBTQ Modern Military Association of America, used the number to suggest that any future Trump administration action to remove these troops would imperil the country’s war-fighting ability
Anthony Fauci loses $15-million taxpayer-funded
security detail
17 replies
Posted by DW626 12/24/2024 3:16:27 PM Post Reply
Jon Michael Raasch at the Daily Mail just reported that the U.S. Marshals Service “quietly dropped” a two-year, fifteen-million-dollar deal to protect Anthony Fauci, all covered by the U.S. taxpayers of course. My initial thought? It’s about darn time, and I want to be reimbursed NOW. (I myself had no idea that on top of his outrageous “highest-ever” federal pension, he was receiving private security on my dime.) Per Raasch: Dr. Fauci, who has an estimated $11 million net worth, was constantly surrounded by U.S. Marshals at the time whether he was at home or going to TV studios to film interviews.
Why did no one help her? Fatal subway
burning exposes New York City’s sad
disconnect to humanity
17 replies
Posted by Mercedes44 12/24/2024 1:14:02 PM Post Reply
No one helped. The bystanders were too busy filming. The cops? Well, instead of wrapping their jackets around a burning woman in an F train stopped at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station on Sunday morning, they walked by.Sebastian Zapeta-Calil was charged with murder for allegedly setting a sleeping straphanger on fire in Brooklyn. G.N.Miller/NYPost Then there was Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, the animal charged with lighting the match that set the innocent subway rider on fire — thus igniting a hellscape that feels like a metaphor for New York City’s decaying underground. The footage itself is a dystopian horror show:
Illegal Alien, Accused of Killing 12-Year-Old
Travis Wolfe, Freed from Jail to Spend
Holidays with Family
15 replies
Posted by ladydawgfan 12/24/2024 8:56:30 PM Post Reply
An illegal alien accused of causing the crash that killed 12-year-old Travis Wolfe in Hazelwood, Missouri, last year is now out of jail without paying any bail. Endrina Bracho, an illegal alien from Venezuela, was charged in March with one count of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of child endangerment, and one count of driving without a license after allegedly causing a December 2023 crash that left Wolfe dead and his parents, Timothy and Stephanie Wolfe, injured.
Disney withdraws from ‘culture wars’
amid bruising encounters with Trump and DeSantis
15 replies
Posted by Dreadnought 12/24/2024 1:42:32 PM Post Reply
Disney’s recent decision to pull a transgender storyline from one of its upcoming movies appears to be its latest attempt to avoid generating political controversy after the company became the center of a debate over “wokeism” last year. The company, run by Bob Iger, has found itself in the midst of several “culture wars” over the last few years after pledging to “further strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion everywhere” in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Disney chose to make its theme parks more inclusive, such as adopting more gender-neutral greetings, and has made a conscious effort to include more diverse characters, for example, introducing its first
Post New Article