I can't speak for Cracker Barrel now, but 30 years ago, it was far superior than "real southern food." Maybe North Carolina was different, but in Georgia, "real southern food" consisted of Crisco biscuits, margarine, and fake syrup. Cracker Barrel used real butter and served real maple syrup. Their country fried steak and sawmill gravy were fantastic, and if you ordered over easy eggs, they came over easy. When I worked at a concept restaurant called Sweet Peas, one of the cooks lamented how shitty our ingredients were compared to his old job a Cracker Barrel. And, since you said you never went there, I'm not sure where you got such strong opinions about it's quality.
I had to pause when she said industrial slop and come to the comments. I am also from the south. We raised our own beef for years, grow, pick, and preserve our own vegetables, and make our jellies. I am saying this to establish ny southern food roots. Every single time we ever took a road trip, we ate at Cracker Barrel because we knew the food was great. Until they took the roast beef off the menu, it was one of my favorite chains.
Also, Georgian southern food is a hell of a lot better than you describe. Baby, ain't you never had cane syrup?
I can't agree with the Caro Syrup part, but you're right that there is a lot of great Georgia food. Athens had some of the best food I've ever eaten: Five Star Day Cafe, Weaver D's, Clocked. But it was not easy to find in most places in the 80s and 90s. You could barely find butter in the supermarket, but they had 30 brands of spreadable flavored trans fats. I just found that most places that claimed to be southern cooking just weren't very good. But I loved me some Cracker Barrel. I haven't lived there for a while. Maybe there's been a resurgence of real southern cooking. And I imagine Cracker Barrel sucks now.
In the UK there is something called golden syrup which is a byproduct of making sugar cane into sugar. It’s more popular than maple syrup. They are not going to get me to try it!
Is the like a Savannah thing? I don't think I ever tried it. My friends from Tampa kept trying to get me to put Karo Syrup on my pancakes, but I see now that that's just corn syrup.
It is more common below the gnat line if that is what you mean. It is carried as a condiment in any catfish house worth its salt so you can pour it on your hushpuppies.
I'm going to visit my new grand niece on Johns Island and take my daughter on a tour of the University of Charleston in November, so I'll make sure I give it a try then.
The theme tune change was AWFUL and JARRING and WE WERE RIGHT.
It wouldn't be the same without the feem tune fading in and deafening me each and every time.
edit: probably the most boring episode in a long time, but I still love you. I remain devoted and waiting for an episode about Sophie LaBelle. DO AN EPISODE ABOUT SOPHIE LABELLE. Drag he...him!
Wow, I was so sick of this dumb dust-up about Cracker Barrel that I didn't think there could be anything interesting to say about it, but I was wrong! The details Katie dug up about the history of racial discrimination and the newer corporate initiatives were fascinating.
Yeah, I wasn’t looking forward to this one but I did enjoy that aspect of it as well!! I’m also liking the mild rebuke that Katie’s dismissive description of Cracker Barrel food quality has started.
There are no Cracker Barrels close to me but my parents used to go when they traveled, they said the food was “okay”.
I feel compelled to defend Cracker Barrel here. There aren't many in my area anymore (though there used to be one in BELLEVUE Square, if you know that place you'll understand how kind of mind-blowing that is). But my mom and nephews like to go to the one near Andover, Mass. My Dad used to go with them too, before he died. It is an easy place to take kids, has stuff for the kids to do and is and not expensive. Now that my Dad is gone, they still go there and it's kind of their special place where they go just with my mom. I have received more than one birthday gift from my nephews purchased at the gift shop! They got me a wrap from there that I wear all the time and get compliments on. Also a purse, very cute makeup bag, cute navy top, and more. I love to think of them picking out these gifts and I treasure them.
I wore the wrap to pick them up from the ferry last week and my sister was like "oh I love that, is it Eileen Fisher?" The boys were thrilled to announce they had bought it at Cracker Barrel! 😄
There was a girl on Instagram who used to make videos showing different clothing items, and people had to guess if they came from Cracker Barrel or overpriced pretentious brands like Anthropologie and Free People. As you might expect, the game was surprisingly challenging.
We used to go from time to time (and I still would). My sister loved the chicken and dumplings (I like it too). I love the breakfast (and the cool little bottle of syrup. And of course the golf tee game! The anti-Cracker Barrel tone of this episode was off base lol.
Another double comment (sorry) but Taylor is not automatically "self-made" just because she writes her own songs. Her dad is a rich hedge fund manager who bought a shitload of shares in the company where Swift later got her first record deal. He relocated his whole family to Nashville just for Taylor's sake, then he bought thousands of copies of her first album to juice the sales. It's no wonder Taylor behaves the way she does given how absurdly spoiled she was as a child.
Contrast her to somebody like Dolly Parton, who truly is self-made. She grew up in poverty; her father didn't run around stuffing money in the pockets of whoever he thought would give his special little princess a career. She started off by singing at her local church, then on the local radio station, and then signed with a small record label in Tennessee. Taylor is talented, sure, but she had a LOT of help from daddy's money. I have a lot more respect for people like Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, Freddie Mercury, and Jay-Z, who all came from humble or even troubled backgrounds.
Look, some musicians, like David Lee Roth, can pull off being assholes as part of their stage persona. Swift tried to lean into the Regina George reputation she acquired, but fell flat on her face because she's not a queen bee, she's a crybully who perpetually frames herself as the victim. That's not a fun, stage-friendly kind of assholery in the way that being the heel in wrestling is, it's just obnoxious and reminds us all of the worst people we went to high school with. In true narcissist fashion, Taylor couldn't even write a song about fighting homophobia without inserting her petty grievances about her haters online. She also helped launch Sabrina Carpenter specifically to get revenge on Olivia Rodrigo, like the overgrown middle schooler she is. Beyonce doesn't catch the same level of shit because she's not as messy, vindictive, or immature as Swift.
Her Folklore and Evermore albums are wonderful. Red is pretty great also.
Her grandmother was an opera singer, and Taylor grew up playing instruments and singing. She’s a musician. Her music touches millions of people.
People like what they like. The tears that co e to my eyes and the goosebumps I get when I listen to some of her songs are an utterly natural response. It doesn’t happen because she has a rich daddy or because corporate America has foisted her upon me.
If her music doesn’t touch you, that’s fine! I find Bruce Springsteen kind of meh, and the Grateful Dead leave me cold. But I get that their music really speaks to people, and I love that.
I said that she was talented, and I never said it was bad to like her. Some of the musicians whose songs I like are worse people than she is. It is specifically the idea of her being "better" than Beyonce because she "writes her own music" that I chafe against. I'd say that they're on-par with each other; Taylor is more creative, but Beyonce has a better voice.
Swift's music is better when she's just channeling her creativity, and Evermore is a good example of that. Her song with Bon Iver was nice. The songs made to be hits, however, are often her worst work, probably because she compromises some of her vision in favor of whatever market research tells her to do. "Shake It Off," "Look What You Made Me Do," "Me," "Bad Blood" and "You Need to Calm Down" radiate such strong "Hello fellow kids," energy, in addition to having ugly, obnoxious production. It practically gives me hives. I'm also just not fond of her voice for the same lizard-brain reason I dislike Robert Plant or Peter Cetera's voices.
Most of the time, I can overlook a musician's public persona. But in Taylor's case, the combination of how annoying that persona is and how deeply she embeds it in her music just repels me. I understand some people can overlook that, and that for some, it's a feature and not a bug.
No one is really self-made. Anyone who achieves any kind of career success does so with the help of many many people. There’s no recording of Swift or Parton where they are performing unaccompanied, as just an obvious example.
I think “self-made” is a faulty premise. No one can really live up to it.
I don't really care what she's like as a person or how she got her break. She makes great music, has a great voice, and is a brilliant stage performer.
Needing to believe that every person whose music we listen to is someone we'd also like to be best friends with is exactly the problem identified in this episode. I don't need Taylor Swift to be my moral compass or my best buddy. I just enjoy listening to her stuff. We shouldn't need pop stars to be more than that.
I have no idea how you read my comment, where I included examples of asshole-ish stage personas as a positive thing, and walked away with the assumption that I "believe that every person whose music we listen to is someone we'd also like to be best friends with." That's such a wildly incorrect interpretation of what I said that it feels like a deliberate attempt to strawman me.
Weird way to admit that you misinterpreted my comment because you got distracted by my (in your opinion) "over the top" phrasing.
In any case, she's going to continue to be fabulously wealthy and famous regardless of what random people like me say about her online. There is no need to defend her honor, seriously.
Gronk actually scored a 32 on the wonderlic test, which is 87th percentile for IQ. Brady got a 33. So the dumb thing is a bit of an act. I’m a Gronk IQ truther.
TBF, Gronk pre-NFL and post NFL might have very different IQs. But don't hate the guy for wanting to spend his retirement shirtless at a pool party chugging beers.
I’m bat_straight! I wanna free thing for my find. Can I have your book, Jesse? Also, I came up with bat_straight when I first joined Reddit, then 10 years passed and I didn’t go on Reddit, and now I don’t remember what it means. But the only thing I can think of is “Signs” by M. Night, when all of earth is saved by the dying vision of the wife saying, “swing away”. I honestly don’t remember tho. No need to talk shit, Jesse!
That was such a good find and also pretty cool to be immortalized as a (good) subject on BarPod. How did you happen to find that movie? I never heard of it!
the fact that Katie assumed Youngblut was trans is a perfect example of how the whole pronoun nonsense in these stories confuses the reality of the situation. i remember when first reading and hearing about the Zizians it was very unclear
The leader, Jack la Sota aka Ziz, is always referred to with female pronouns, and so are the rest of the gang, who are all trans-identified males. In some cases like Michelle Zaiko it isn't even mentioned anywhere in many stories that he's male.
It's absolutely not Katie's fault that she thought Youngblut was male. The blame lies squarely with the press.
She should have fact-checked it more deeply, but if you can't actually rely on press articles reporting reality accurately, fact-checking itself becomes that much more difficult.
But this was reported accurately. As have the articles about the shooter in Minnesota. I’ve seen or heard no one trying to obfuscate that that shooter was trans.
Katie just assumed that the Vermont shooter was trans due to her pre-existing biases. We wouldn’t accept this sort of carelessness from our political opponents so we shouldn’t do it ourselves.
Cracker Barrel isn’t the best food, but when you’re on the road, you can get fried catfish with a couple sides for like five dollars less than you pay for a big Mac meal.
The whole trend of trying to pressure celebs to speak out on geopolitical issues is a really interesting subject, cuz I genuinely don't understand the idea behind it. I've pushed people online in the past about what it could ever accomplish, and all you get are these sorts of vague answers, like spreading awareness, or using their platform to normalize a position, or x cliche, or y platitude, and none of it really ever amounts to any material outcome in the real world. So maybe it's as simple as random civilians trying to have some small power over their infinitely more powerful celeb overlords? I dunno. Pretty sad if so.
Also funny to me how these people doing the pressuring are always on the left, but most times don't explicitly say what position they want celebs to take. Like how "rock the vote" was very much a left-coded slogan, but kinda pretended to be bipartisan. The contrarian in me always wants whoever the target is to play dumb, take the right-wing position, and act surprised when it gets an aggressively negative response. But maybe that's just me.
I was also thinking about this. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t remember a time I’ve ever been really swayed to anything by some random celebrity with no real knowledge of an issue or product.
It just seems like people are sheep? But if you’re gonna be a sheep, find a good shepherd. Not some random bitch with a guitar.
I think Katie has been giving Jesse a hard time about Taylor Lorenz since forever. The fact that Lorenz is (or maybe was) a friend of his has made him reluctant to publicly criticize her. Lorenz has been in the middle of several online incidents that are exactly the kind of thing that BarPod runs on so Katie's critiques have been apt but I understand Jesse's reluctance. It speaks well of him as a human being.
To be fair most people I follow in media have started to hate Taylor. I listen to people from all over the political spectrum, most people I follow hate the other people I follow but they so seem united in hating Taylor.
In much the same way anyone who criticizes youth gender medicine in any way is inevitably called a bigot, anyone who expresses any sympathy for Palestinians, even children who are definitionally innocent, is inevitably called an anti-Semite or accused of something something Hamas. As a Jewish American with conflicted views about the conflict (none of which are within light years of "Israel shouldn't exist"), I find it pretty gross, to be honest.
It's foolish to believe there's any non corrupt, and non Hamas associated organization of any kind operating in Gaza.
I can also link you to others sites with critical positions on that group and especially the people running it, who are philosophically aligned with Hamas.
Re your "as a Jew" comment, I'm a veteran listener of bar pod, and a live show attendee. The janitor at my synagogue seems to know more about Judaism than you. You either know zilch, or even worse, you are embarrassed to exhibit jewishness on the show, so save me the "as a jew" nonsense. The way you run away from seeming too Jewish on the show reminds me of Adam freedland on his old podcast.
I will give you credit that you gave to an organization after checking it's rating, even if ignoring the bigger picture mentioned above.
Absolutely, we need more identity policing on this podcast. Really disappointed in both the hosts. Now that Katie got sober, how are we supposed to know that she has any Irish heritage? Why is she trying to hide it????
"The janitor at my synagogue seems to know more about Judaism than you..."
Whoah. The "Woke Right" manifest!
Unsure if you're being serious, but if so, do you realize how this comes across? You sound exactly like the woke, scolding leftoids, the mockery of which this show was somewhat built on!
The problem with Jesse’s Gaza revisionism is that he continually berates people for a lack of nuance but when it comes to Israel he is incredibly quick to condemn.
A quick Google also shows ample Hamas/terrorist/antisemtic connections for his charity or choice.
Jesse admitted in a post-Oct 7 episode that he only recently discovered what the definition of Zionism is. Now he wants to earnestly give us his opinion on Palestine. No thanks. I will listen to people who actually were assed to learn and educate themselves before it became fashionable.
I think you have to make your best call. But you also have to consider that your money may go straight to Hamas. And lack of money has never really been an issue for Gaza. It's always been who is stealing the money good people (and good countries) with good intentions donated. But yeah, calling that antisemitism is a dick move.
Good for you Jesse. You settled on the same organization as I did when figuring out where to donate.
I have to say... when you answered the Gaza question on the Live Stream (kudos for not just ignoring it) it was quite hard to parse initially. At one point you said "I'm gonna get us cancelled now" after having said that you think "actions there may have contributed to man-made famine there" (immediately followed by a big "BUT..."). In that instant it was hard for me to reconcile a "fear of being cancelled" with an acknowledgment of something that literally all institutions and nations (other than the US and Israel itself) now consider factual.
As a paid subscriber (for 4 years now) listening to a genuinely funny and thoughtful show (which in spite of the often bizarre subject matter I really do consider good journalism) it's very easy to forget how Free Press (of Israel) adjacent a lot of your listenership is. So I do understand the reluctance to speak your mind on issues where your livelihood is at stake.
I've come close to cancelling my membership a number of times (I get that that sounds pompous and it's just one sub but it's true). So it's nice to know that in light of your donations I can continue to enjoy with a somewhat clearer conscience.
Being critical of Israel's actions and policy does not equal anti-semitism. Nobody here is racist. Take a leaf out of the Friedland book. Peace.
The problem is that a lot of donations, money, food, supplies, ends up being directly sent to or stolen by terrorists.
So it seems like “Hey, he cares, which is cool, but he’s not actually helping.”
Although as much as I personally disagree with Jesse on a lot of things, he seems smarter than that, so I hope it’s a reputable charity that actually gets the job done. I just doubt that.
You know the way to solve this problem? Flood the entire area with food and bare necessities and nothing will get stolen. This is the straightforward solution that many have already put forward but of course the state controlling the borders of Gaza doesn't allow it.
It's my understanding that that is exactly what Israel has done - the largest transfer of aid during war time in world history. But once it gets there, people on the ground with guns steal it.
"Since then, Israel has allowed an average of about 70 trucks a day, compared to the 500-600 the U.N. says are needed. The military said Saturday it would allow more trucks in — 180 entered Sunday — and international airdrops have resumed, which aid organizations say are largely ineffective."
So they're dropping off food and supplies from the air (the thing you suggested, which aid groups say is ineffective... Because Hamas and affiliated gangs steal the supplies), and they're dropping off trucks of food, less since the Palestinian gangs attack the convoys to resell the food and prevent it from getting to the people it's supposed to... What should Israel do? Send more trucks for more headlines that portray the looters and gangs attacking the convoys as civilians? Send fewer trucks so commenters can say they're being stingy? It seems like a no win situation, and a pretty strange set of demands for a country engaged in a defensive war against a decades old enemy.
Children are starving. If some funds are misused, it is still essential to do what we can to help. I invite you to consider whether ideas like all groups being basically Hamas there, and most funds being misused, might be simplifications to avoid the discomfort of acknowledging that this is a morally complex issue. I don’t trust assertions on the topic as simple as “don’t give any money at all.”
Whatever is wrong with Israel, there is nothing particularly fascist about it (if you have some information about what is fascist about it, I think we are all happy to listen). They aren't socialist and I don't think they own large parts of their private industry (again unless you know something I don't). In fact they have been moving in the opposite direction of fascism since the 80s, much like the US until this year. Ethnic minorities have full rights and serve in the kinesit, even if bigotry and mistrust remain (if only they could be like ever other country that has conquered that). If you want them to be held accountable for whatever crimes they commit as a country, using accurate language will help your cause. Using inaccurate language makes it seem like you don't know what you are talking about. Israel is a parliamentary democracy and an illegal expansionist. And, since they are a democracy, they have an opportunity to end the illegal expansionist element. And just like in the US, the only way to stop their bad behavior is likely going to be political. And if they can dismiss critics like you because you throw around unrelated monikers, they will, making all of us who want it to stop weaker.
I was talking about the settler movement as fascist, maybe I should have thrown in millenarian and dominionst for good measure. The settler movement has enough support from fascist-to-the-core Christian Zionists here in America, so I stand by my point and invite you to read my comment again.
And the reason the settler movement apart from the government does not come through in your comment is because the original poster was making unclear comparisons among tthe government of Gaza, the government of Israel, and the settler movement which is a keystone of the current government of Israel. In addition you bring up support from Christian Nationalists which I'm unclear how you separate from the US government. Are you saying Christian Nationalists are sending money directly to settlements? Are you saying Christian Nationalists are sending money directly to the Israeli government? I don't really understand how you separate the movement from the country. I believe the movement is an illegal expansionist movement but I still don't see how it is fascist, particularly because the settlers are not a separate government body. If a policy of a government is fascism, then the government is fascist.
Right. So I think it's a stretch that Christian Nationalists in the US are fascists, but they at least arguably have some fascist tendencies. But, are you saying that Christian Nationalists have some kind of voting rights or government positions in Israel? Is Ireland a terrorist state because it supports a country that voted in a genocidal death cult? Is Germany a totalitarian state because it relies on Russian oil? When does guilt by association end? Also, Christian Nationalists support Israel because Jesus won't kill all the Jews if they don't have Israel. If someone who wanted you dead just started throwing money at you, would you burn it or use it? My broader point is calling Israel fascist, even if they are worse than fascists, is inaccurate. Calling JK Rowling a transohobe because she doesn't support all gender ideology is inaccurate. Calling you illiterate because you don't understand a word is inaccurate. We need to be able to describe our arguments accurately if we don't want to remain in the wilderness for a generation, and if we actually want Israel to behave in the future. I invite you to read the elements of fascism again.
When I heard that I went straight to https://www.fidf.org/ and donated an amount equal to my BARPod annual subscription. Like a "carbon offset" but to offset terrorism.
“Blue Haired” progressives definitely eat at Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel is a good road trip place and if you are a small-town progressive, you probably go on a lot of road trips. I mean the ren faire, comic con, SCA meeting is not coming to you.
I am sure what really is killing Cracker Barrel is the rise in eating at home.
Is Hassan Piker being unfair? He did start by saying "I don't think it's unfair of me". Usually question comes before the answer but he's just saying. It's not like, "I'm not expecting her to fucking carry the banner over here". Sure, he's not asking her to literally carry the banner or wave the Palestinian flag at her concerts after a land acknowledgment. But... he's really asking she figuratively carry the flag by denouncing Israel and talking about genocide on a Jason Kelce podcast. Really, I'm sure it's the best time and place for Taylor fucking Swift to hit on all of Hassan Piker's not unfair requests. She's got a huge audience and influence, so Hassan needs to shame her somehow.
I can't speak for Cracker Barrel now, but 30 years ago, it was far superior than "real southern food." Maybe North Carolina was different, but in Georgia, "real southern food" consisted of Crisco biscuits, margarine, and fake syrup. Cracker Barrel used real butter and served real maple syrup. Their country fried steak and sawmill gravy were fantastic, and if you ordered over easy eggs, they came over easy. When I worked at a concept restaurant called Sweet Peas, one of the cooks lamented how shitty our ingredients were compared to his old job a Cracker Barrel. And, since you said you never went there, I'm not sure where you got such strong opinions about it's quality.
I had to pause when she said industrial slop and come to the comments. I am also from the south. We raised our own beef for years, grow, pick, and preserve our own vegetables, and make our jellies. I am saying this to establish ny southern food roots. Every single time we ever took a road trip, we ate at Cracker Barrel because we knew the food was great. Until they took the roast beef off the menu, it was one of my favorite chains.
Also, Georgian southern food is a hell of a lot better than you describe. Baby, ain't you never had cane syrup?
I can't agree with the Caro Syrup part, but you're right that there is a lot of great Georgia food. Athens had some of the best food I've ever eaten: Five Star Day Cafe, Weaver D's, Clocked. But it was not easy to find in most places in the 80s and 90s. You could barely find butter in the supermarket, but they had 30 brands of spreadable flavored trans fats. I just found that most places that claimed to be southern cooking just weren't very good. But I loved me some Cracker Barrel. I haven't lived there for a while. Maybe there's been a resurgence of real southern cooking. And I imagine Cracker Barrel sucks now.
Not Caro, Cane Syrup! Like the syrup made from sugar cane that your neighbor invites you over to make in a huge vat.
In the UK there is something called golden syrup which is a byproduct of making sugar cane into sugar. It’s more popular than maple syrup. They are not going to get me to try it!
Is the like a Savannah thing? I don't think I ever tried it. My friends from Tampa kept trying to get me to put Karo Syrup on my pancakes, but I see now that that's just corn syrup.
It is more common below the gnat line if that is what you mean. It is carried as a condiment in any catfish house worth its salt so you can pour it on your hushpuppies.
I'm going to visit my new grand niece on Johns Island and take my daughter on a tour of the University of Charleston in November, so I'll make sure I give it a try then.
Katy admitted that she had never ate there and that’s my only understanding of how she could be so wrong.
“Sawmill gravy” sounds like the reason the FDA was established
The theme tune change was AWFUL and JARRING and WE WERE RIGHT.
It wouldn't be the same without the feem tune fading in and deafening me each and every time.
edit: probably the most boring episode in a long time, but I still love you. I remain devoted and waiting for an episode about Sophie LaBelle. DO AN EPISODE ABOUT SOPHIE LABELLE. Drag he...him!
I think the podcast hosts do not understand the hit of excitement the podcast theme gives listeners
This is also why if they wanted three months with the new podcast we would have loved that too.
It is not about the Theme (sonic logo) it is about the product. Maybe that is what's really going on with Cracker Barrel
Maybe it was the barrels we crackered along the way.
The theme tune makes me think of white-people-dancing jokes, AND I LIKE IT THAT WAY.
Wow, I was so sick of this dumb dust-up about Cracker Barrel that I didn't think there could be anything interesting to say about it, but I was wrong! The details Katie dug up about the history of racial discrimination and the newer corporate initiatives were fascinating.
Yeah, I wasn’t looking forward to this one but I did enjoy that aspect of it as well!! I’m also liking the mild rebuke that Katie’s dismissive description of Cracker Barrel food quality has started.
There are no Cracker Barrels close to me but my parents used to go when they traveled, they said the food was “okay”.
I feel compelled to defend Cracker Barrel here. There aren't many in my area anymore (though there used to be one in BELLEVUE Square, if you know that place you'll understand how kind of mind-blowing that is). But my mom and nephews like to go to the one near Andover, Mass. My Dad used to go with them too, before he died. It is an easy place to take kids, has stuff for the kids to do and is and not expensive. Now that my Dad is gone, they still go there and it's kind of their special place where they go just with my mom. I have received more than one birthday gift from my nephews purchased at the gift shop! They got me a wrap from there that I wear all the time and get compliments on. Also a purse, very cute makeup bag, cute navy top, and more. I love to think of them picking out these gifts and I treasure them.
I wore the wrap to pick them up from the ferry last week and my sister was like "oh I love that, is it Eileen Fisher?" The boys were thrilled to announce they had bought it at Cracker Barrel! 😄
That’s hilarious about the wrap!
I be been to Cracker Barrel a handful of times- it IS a great place to go with little kids, and it’s reasonably priced.
When I lived in Chicago I was such a snob about chain restaurants. Then I moved to Pittsburgh and got over myself.
I gotta say a Cracker Barrel would really improve Bellevue ,Wa . I haven’t had a good Chicken friend steak since moving out here
There was a girl on Instagram who used to make videos showing different clothing items, and people had to guess if they came from Cracker Barrel or overpriced pretentious brands like Anthropologie and Free People. As you might expect, the game was surprisingly challenging.
Maybe Bill Gates liked Cracker Barrel
We used to go from time to time (and I still would). My sister loved the chicken and dumplings (I like it too). I love the breakfast (and the cool little bottle of syrup. And of course the golf tee game! The anti-Cracker Barrel tone of this episode was off base lol.
Another double comment (sorry) but Taylor is not automatically "self-made" just because she writes her own songs. Her dad is a rich hedge fund manager who bought a shitload of shares in the company where Swift later got her first record deal. He relocated his whole family to Nashville just for Taylor's sake, then he bought thousands of copies of her first album to juice the sales. It's no wonder Taylor behaves the way she does given how absurdly spoiled she was as a child.
Contrast her to somebody like Dolly Parton, who truly is self-made. She grew up in poverty; her father didn't run around stuffing money in the pockets of whoever he thought would give his special little princess a career. She started off by singing at her local church, then on the local radio station, and then signed with a small record label in Tennessee. Taylor is talented, sure, but she had a LOT of help from daddy's money. I have a lot more respect for people like Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, Freddie Mercury, and Jay-Z, who all came from humble or even troubled backgrounds.
Look, some musicians, like David Lee Roth, can pull off being assholes as part of their stage persona. Swift tried to lean into the Regina George reputation she acquired, but fell flat on her face because she's not a queen bee, she's a crybully who perpetually frames herself as the victim. That's not a fun, stage-friendly kind of assholery in the way that being the heel in wrestling is, it's just obnoxious and reminds us all of the worst people we went to high school with. In true narcissist fashion, Taylor couldn't even write a song about fighting homophobia without inserting her petty grievances about her haters online. She also helped launch Sabrina Carpenter specifically to get revenge on Olivia Rodrigo, like the overgrown middle schooler she is. Beyonce doesn't catch the same level of shit because she's not as messy, vindictive, or immature as Swift.
Liked solely for the level of detail and vitriol.
Minor anecdote: about 10 years ago I was making small talk with customer service rep in a local bank (waiting for some paperwork to print).
She said she was from Wyomissing, PA which is about 45 minutes away. I joked " do you know Taylor Swift?" (the only famous person from Wyomissing)
The lady responded "I don't really know Taylor but her younger brother was in my high school class. From what I can tell, she wasnt very nice."
Take that for what it's worth.
"Liked solely for the level of detail and vitriol" - I truly have found my people here.
Well, even rich people can be talented.
Her Folklore and Evermore albums are wonderful. Red is pretty great also.
Her grandmother was an opera singer, and Taylor grew up playing instruments and singing. She’s a musician. Her music touches millions of people.
People like what they like. The tears that co e to my eyes and the goosebumps I get when I listen to some of her songs are an utterly natural response. It doesn’t happen because she has a rich daddy or because corporate America has foisted her upon me.
If her music doesn’t touch you, that’s fine! I find Bruce Springsteen kind of meh, and the Grateful Dead leave me cold. But I get that their music really speaks to people, and I love that.
Different strokes and all that.
I said that she was talented, and I never said it was bad to like her. Some of the musicians whose songs I like are worse people than she is. It is specifically the idea of her being "better" than Beyonce because she "writes her own music" that I chafe against. I'd say that they're on-par with each other; Taylor is more creative, but Beyonce has a better voice.
Swift's music is better when she's just channeling her creativity, and Evermore is a good example of that. Her song with Bon Iver was nice. The songs made to be hits, however, are often her worst work, probably because she compromises some of her vision in favor of whatever market research tells her to do. "Shake It Off," "Look What You Made Me Do," "Me," "Bad Blood" and "You Need to Calm Down" radiate such strong "Hello fellow kids," energy, in addition to having ugly, obnoxious production. It practically gives me hives. I'm also just not fond of her voice for the same lizard-brain reason I dislike Robert Plant or Peter Cetera's voices.
Most of the time, I can overlook a musician's public persona. But in Taylor's case, the combination of how annoying that persona is and how deeply she embeds it in her music just repels me. I understand some people can overlook that, and that for some, it's a feature and not a bug.
"she's a crybully who perpetually frames herself as the victim."
That is why she is so reliable to so many fans.
No one is really self-made. Anyone who achieves any kind of career success does so with the help of many many people. There’s no recording of Swift or Parton where they are performing unaccompanied, as just an obvious example.
I think “self-made” is a faulty premise. No one can really live up to it.
I don't really care what she's like as a person or how she got her break. She makes great music, has a great voice, and is a brilliant stage performer.
Needing to believe that every person whose music we listen to is someone we'd also like to be best friends with is exactly the problem identified in this episode. I don't need Taylor Swift to be my moral compass or my best buddy. I just enjoy listening to her stuff. We shouldn't need pop stars to be more than that.
See my reply to Midwest Molly.
I have no idea how you read my comment, where I included examples of asshole-ish stage personas as a positive thing, and walked away with the assumption that I "believe that every person whose music we listen to is someone we'd also like to be best friends with." That's such a wildly incorrect interpretation of what I said that it feels like a deliberate attempt to strawman me.
Your original comment, and the one to Molly, just come off as very bitter and OTT. If you've no idea how that happened, try reading them again.
Weird way to admit that you misinterpreted my comment because you got distracted by my (in your opinion) "over the top" phrasing.
In any case, she's going to continue to be fabulously wealthy and famous regardless of what random people like me say about her online. There is no need to defend her honor, seriously.
I am impressed how ready you were to regurgitate all of these grievances with her and not actually mention music.
I did, see my reply to Midwest Molly.
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Gronk actually scored a 32 on the wonderlic test, which is 87th percentile for IQ. Brady got a 33. So the dumb thing is a bit of an act. I’m a Gronk IQ truther.
Extremely embarrassed I didn't know this crucial fact about my native culture
Still I like him even if he’s smart!
Gronk has cultivated a goofy public persona.
TBF, Gronk pre-NFL and post NFL might have very different IQs. But don't hate the guy for wanting to spend his retirement shirtless at a pool party chugging beers.
You are saying that Gronk was the guy at the frat that everyone thought was a dumb party guy, but was hiding how good his grades were. That scans.
I’m bat_straight! I wanna free thing for my find. Can I have your book, Jesse? Also, I came up with bat_straight when I first joined Reddit, then 10 years passed and I didn’t go on Reddit, and now I don’t remember what it means. But the only thing I can think of is “Signs” by M. Night, when all of earth is saved by the dying vision of the wife saying, “swing away”. I honestly don’t remember tho. No need to talk shit, Jesse!
That was such a good find and also pretty cool to be immortalized as a (good) subject on BarPod. How did you happen to find that movie? I never heard of it!
I really liked Signs, but I understand that some would say it doesn't hold up.
the fact that Katie assumed Youngblut was trans is a perfect example of how the whole pronoun nonsense in these stories confuses the reality of the situation. i remember when first reading and hearing about the Zizians it was very unclear
The leader, Jack la Sota aka Ziz, is always referred to with female pronouns, and so are the rest of the gang, who are all trans-identified males. In some cases like Michelle Zaiko it isn't even mentioned anywhere in many stories that he's male.
It's absolutely not Katie's fault that she thought Youngblut was male. The blame lies squarely with the press.
Katie *is* the press. She’s quite literally a journalist reporting on the story. She should have fact checked this.
She should have fact-checked it more deeply, but if you can't actually rely on press articles reporting reality accurately, fact-checking itself becomes that much more difficult.
But this was reported accurately. As have the articles about the shooter in Minnesota. I’ve seen or heard no one trying to obfuscate that that shooter was trans.
Katie just assumed that the Vermont shooter was trans due to her pre-existing biases. We wouldn’t accept this sort of carelessness from our political opponents so we shouldn’t do it ourselves.
Cracker Barrel isn’t the best food, but when you’re on the road, you can get fried catfish with a couple sides for like five dollars less than you pay for a big Mac meal.
The whole trend of trying to pressure celebs to speak out on geopolitical issues is a really interesting subject, cuz I genuinely don't understand the idea behind it. I've pushed people online in the past about what it could ever accomplish, and all you get are these sorts of vague answers, like spreading awareness, or using their platform to normalize a position, or x cliche, or y platitude, and none of it really ever amounts to any material outcome in the real world. So maybe it's as simple as random civilians trying to have some small power over their infinitely more powerful celeb overlords? I dunno. Pretty sad if so.
Also funny to me how these people doing the pressuring are always on the left, but most times don't explicitly say what position they want celebs to take. Like how "rock the vote" was very much a left-coded slogan, but kinda pretended to be bipartisan. The contrarian in me always wants whoever the target is to play dumb, take the right-wing position, and act surprised when it gets an aggressively negative response. But maybe that's just me.
I was also thinking about this. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t remember a time I’ve ever been really swayed to anything by some random celebrity with no real knowledge of an issue or product.
It just seems like people are sheep? But if you’re gonna be a sheep, find a good shepherd. Not some random bitch with a guitar.
Hey if you guys are willing to cave to primo feedback then can we bring back the sign offs? Just asking for a friend.
You know, barpod turned into a hardcore Taylor Lorenz snarkpod so gradually, I didn't even notice.
I think Katie has been giving Jesse a hard time about Taylor Lorenz since forever. The fact that Lorenz is (or maybe was) a friend of his has made him reluctant to publicly criticize her. Lorenz has been in the middle of several online incidents that are exactly the kind of thing that BarPod runs on so Katie's critiques have been apt but I understand Jesse's reluctance. It speaks well of him as a human being.
To be fair most people I follow in media have started to hate Taylor. I listen to people from all over the political spectrum, most people I follow hate the other people I follow but they so seem united in hating Taylor.
Jesse cut himself off while admitting he's "donated to Gaza".
I'm other words, he's given subscription money to Hamas, cleaned through a Western looking front group.
Talk about suicidal empathy and clueless leftism.
I donated to the Palestinine Children's Relief fund. Here's their Charity Navigator page:
https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/931057665
In much the same way anyone who criticizes youth gender medicine in any way is inevitably called a bigot, anyone who expresses any sympathy for Palestinians, even children who are definitionally innocent, is inevitably called an anti-Semite or accused of something something Hamas. As a Jewish American with conflicted views about the conflict (none of which are within light years of "Israel shouldn't exist"), I find it pretty gross, to be honest.
Nowhere did I call you an anti Semite.
It's foolish to believe there's any non corrupt, and non Hamas associated organization of any kind operating in Gaza.
I can also link you to others sites with critical positions on that group and especially the people running it, who are philosophically aligned with Hamas.
Re your "as a Jew" comment, I'm a veteran listener of bar pod, and a live show attendee. The janitor at my synagogue seems to know more about Judaism than you. You either know zilch, or even worse, you are embarrassed to exhibit jewishness on the show, so save me the "as a jew" nonsense. The way you run away from seeming too Jewish on the show reminds me of Adam freedland on his old podcast.
I will give you credit that you gave to an organization after checking it's rating, even if ignoring the bigger picture mentioned above.
I was thinking maybe Jesse could blow the shofar at the beginning of every housekeeping segment to better ‘exhibit his Jewishness.’
Absolutely, we need more identity policing on this podcast. Really disappointed in both the hosts. Now that Katie got sober, how are we supposed to know that she has any Irish heritage? Why is she trying to hide it????
"The janitor at my synagogue seems to know more about Judaism than you..."
Whoah. The "Woke Right" manifest!
Unsure if you're being serious, but if so, do you realize how this comes across? You sound exactly like the woke, scolding leftoids, the mockery of which this show was somewhat built on!
"Jesse's lived experience insufficiently embodies Judaism!"
"Guys let's cancel Jesse for not being Zionist enough in his charitable donations!"
Sad!
Keep aggressively acosting Jesse like this though please. It is sure to bring him firmly back into the fold of psychotic genocide denying zionists!
The problem with Jesse’s Gaza revisionism is that he continually berates people for a lack of nuance but when it comes to Israel he is incredibly quick to condemn.
A quick Google also shows ample Hamas/terrorist/antisemtic connections for his charity or choice.
Damn. I mean I agree but damn.
I hope the money Jesse makes from this podcast makes the shit he gets from the listeners worth it.
Jesse admitted in a post-Oct 7 episode that he only recently discovered what the definition of Zionism is. Now he wants to earnestly give us his opinion on Palestine. No thanks. I will listen to people who actually were assed to learn and educate themselves before it became fashionable.
I think you have to make your best call. But you also have to consider that your money may go straight to Hamas. And lack of money has never really been an issue for Gaza. It's always been who is stealing the money good people (and good countries) with good intentions donated. But yeah, calling that antisemitism is a dick move.
Your audience is so far to the right of you one day some of them will be around to arrest you.
Good for you Jesse. You settled on the same organization as I did when figuring out where to donate.
I have to say... when you answered the Gaza question on the Live Stream (kudos for not just ignoring it) it was quite hard to parse initially. At one point you said "I'm gonna get us cancelled now" after having said that you think "actions there may have contributed to man-made famine there" (immediately followed by a big "BUT..."). In that instant it was hard for me to reconcile a "fear of being cancelled" with an acknowledgment of something that literally all institutions and nations (other than the US and Israel itself) now consider factual.
As a paid subscriber (for 4 years now) listening to a genuinely funny and thoughtful show (which in spite of the often bizarre subject matter I really do consider good journalism) it's very easy to forget how Free Press (of Israel) adjacent a lot of your listenership is. So I do understand the reluctance to speak your mind on issues where your livelihood is at stake.
I've come close to cancelling my membership a number of times (I get that that sounds pompous and it's just one sub but it's true). So it's nice to know that in light of your donations I can continue to enjoy with a somewhat clearer conscience.
Being critical of Israel's actions and policy does not equal anti-semitism. Nobody here is racist. Take a leaf out of the Friedland book. Peace.
Yeah, how dare he try to help people caught up in a heinous war and man-made famine. How terrible of him.
The problem is that a lot of donations, money, food, supplies, ends up being directly sent to or stolen by terrorists.
So it seems like “Hey, he cares, which is cool, but he’s not actually helping.”
Although as much as I personally disagree with Jesse on a lot of things, he seems smarter than that, so I hope it’s a reputable charity that actually gets the job done. I just doubt that.
You know the way to solve this problem? Flood the entire area with food and bare necessities and nothing will get stolen. This is the straightforward solution that many have already put forward but of course the state controlling the borders of Gaza doesn't allow it.
Re: the state controlling the borders of Gaza, do you mean Egypt?
No I meant Israel. Rafah border is controlled by Israel.
It's my understanding that that is exactly what Israel has done - the largest transfer of aid during war time in world history. But once it gets there, people on the ground with guns steal it.
https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-aid-un-ghf-567c5bffd5d7ae4cc54ea0816a159f8f
This from the article you linked in your comment:
"Since then, Israel has allowed an average of about 70 trucks a day, compared to the 500-600 the U.N. says are needed. The military said Saturday it would allow more trucks in — 180 entered Sunday — and international airdrops have resumed, which aid organizations say are largely ineffective."
So they're dropping off food and supplies from the air (the thing you suggested, which aid groups say is ineffective... Because Hamas and affiliated gangs steal the supplies), and they're dropping off trucks of food, less since the Palestinian gangs attack the convoys to resell the food and prevent it from getting to the people it's supposed to... What should Israel do? Send more trucks for more headlines that portray the looters and gangs attacking the convoys as civilians? Send fewer trucks so commenters can say they're being stingy? It seems like a no win situation, and a pretty strange set of demands for a country engaged in a defensive war against a decades old enemy.
Children are starving. If some funds are misused, it is still essential to do what we can to help. I invite you to consider whether ideas like all groups being basically Hamas there, and most funds being misused, might be simplifications to avoid the discomfort of acknowledging that this is a morally complex issue. I don’t trust assertions on the topic as simple as “don’t give any money at all.”
Do we likewise need to wonder if we buy anything from Israel that maybe we're supporting the fascist settler movement?
Everything I don't like is fascism...
Not everything. Just particularly fascist movements as indicated above.
Whatever is wrong with Israel, there is nothing particularly fascist about it (if you have some information about what is fascist about it, I think we are all happy to listen). They aren't socialist and I don't think they own large parts of their private industry (again unless you know something I don't). In fact they have been moving in the opposite direction of fascism since the 80s, much like the US until this year. Ethnic minorities have full rights and serve in the kinesit, even if bigotry and mistrust remain (if only they could be like ever other country that has conquered that). If you want them to be held accountable for whatever crimes they commit as a country, using accurate language will help your cause. Using inaccurate language makes it seem like you don't know what you are talking about. Israel is a parliamentary democracy and an illegal expansionist. And, since they are a democracy, they have an opportunity to end the illegal expansionist element. And just like in the US, the only way to stop their bad behavior is likely going to be political. And if they can dismiss critics like you because you throw around unrelated monikers, they will, making all of us who want it to stop weaker.
I was talking about the settler movement as fascist, maybe I should have thrown in millenarian and dominionst for good measure. The settler movement has enough support from fascist-to-the-core Christian Zionists here in America, so I stand by my point and invite you to read my comment again.
And the reason the settler movement apart from the government does not come through in your comment is because the original poster was making unclear comparisons among tthe government of Gaza, the government of Israel, and the settler movement which is a keystone of the current government of Israel. In addition you bring up support from Christian Nationalists which I'm unclear how you separate from the US government. Are you saying Christian Nationalists are sending money directly to settlements? Are you saying Christian Nationalists are sending money directly to the Israeli government? I don't really understand how you separate the movement from the country. I believe the movement is an illegal expansionist movement but I still don't see how it is fascist, particularly because the settlers are not a separate government body. If a policy of a government is fascism, then the government is fascist.
Right. So I think it's a stretch that Christian Nationalists in the US are fascists, but they at least arguably have some fascist tendencies. But, are you saying that Christian Nationalists have some kind of voting rights or government positions in Israel? Is Ireland a terrorist state because it supports a country that voted in a genocidal death cult? Is Germany a totalitarian state because it relies on Russian oil? When does guilt by association end? Also, Christian Nationalists support Israel because Jesus won't kill all the Jews if they don't have Israel. If someone who wanted you dead just started throwing money at you, would you burn it or use it? My broader point is calling Israel fascist, even if they are worse than fascists, is inaccurate. Calling JK Rowling a transohobe because she doesn't support all gender ideology is inaccurate. Calling you illiterate because you don't understand a word is inaccurate. We need to be able to describe our arguments accurately if we don't want to remain in the wilderness for a generation, and if we actually want Israel to behave in the future. I invite you to read the elements of fascism again.
This is not a good faith judgment of the specific charity Jesse has donated to.
When I heard that I went straight to https://www.fidf.org/ and donated an amount equal to my BARPod annual subscription. Like a "carbon offset" but to offset terrorism.
“Blue Haired” progressives definitely eat at Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel is a good road trip place and if you are a small-town progressive, you probably go on a lot of road trips. I mean the ren faire, comic con, SCA meeting is not coming to you.
I am sure what really is killing Cracker Barrel is the rise in eating at home.
Cracker Barrel is genuinely diverse. Everyone eats there.
Agree 💯
Is Hassan Piker being unfair? He did start by saying "I don't think it's unfair of me". Usually question comes before the answer but he's just saying. It's not like, "I'm not expecting her to fucking carry the banner over here". Sure, he's not asking her to literally carry the banner or wave the Palestinian flag at her concerts after a land acknowledgment. But... he's really asking she figuratively carry the flag by denouncing Israel and talking about genocide on a Jason Kelce podcast. Really, I'm sure it's the best time and place for Taylor fucking Swift to hit on all of Hassan Piker's not unfair requests. She's got a huge audience and influence, so Hassan needs to shame her somehow.
"What actually takes courage here is not speaking out, it's not speaking out."