Missing texts, meet missing transcripts!

THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022

Cable star, heal thyself: Lawrence O'Donnell is very upset about those missing Secret Service text messages. 

Lawrence has been ranting for several months about an array of topics. He's done this in several major situations where it would seem he can't possibly know what the facts actually are. 

In the past few nights, he's been ranting—and ranting hard—about those missing texts. You'd almost think, as you watch him rant, that he knows what he's talking about!

For ourselves, we don't know how many text messages are missing. We still can't say, with absolute certainty, that any texts are missing. 

Assuming that some texts are missing—perhaps a whole lot of texts—we can't say how that happened. Did 24 different Secret Service agents all fail to save their text messages? Or is it possible that some central authority saw to their erasure?

In short, we don't know what actually happened. At this point, neither does anyone else.

We can tell you this:

There's a certain irony involved in watching Lawrence complain about missing texts. We say that because of the missing transcripts which have been protecting Lawrence over the past several months. 

His corporate owner, MSNBC, has been slow-walking transcript production for a long time now. This very day, as we type, it's Thursday, July 21. But at MSNBC's transcript site, the most recent transcripts  involve the programs which aired on Thursday, June 30! 

Three weeks of transcripts are missing, for all MSNBC shows! This makes it very hard to discuss this corporate channel's relentlessly underfed work.

The motive behind this slow-walk procedure strikes us as fairly obvious. When the corporate owner delays transcript production for two or three weeks, it becomes much less likely that the channel's various crackpot performers will be subject to public criticism. 

It's hard to imagine some other reason for this slow-walk regime.

Lawrence O'Donnell is very upset about those missing texts. At this early point, he has no apparent way of knowing what actually happened in this matter, but he just keeps talking louder, and making wilder claims.

As he does, he hides behind his owner's slow-walk procedures.

A few weeks back, we couldn't discuss the way he seemed to be out over his skis concerning events in Uvalde. Today, it's hard to discuss the things he's been saying about this new point of concern.

Lawrence is very, very upset about the missing Secret Service texts. Meanwhile, his own transcripts are missing in action, and his corporate owners will keep it that way.

In our view, there were large volumes of low-grade work on last evening's Last Word. For now, though, we're going to leave it right here, in part because no record exists of what Lawrence and his guests said.

The One True Channel now plays it like that. In our view, problems abounded on last night's show. But due to last night's missing transcript, these problems are hard to discuss!

(For CNN's transcripts, click here.)


68 comments:


  1. "Lawrence has been ranting for several months about an array of topics."

    That's his job, dear Bob, his dembot job.

    ...and especially during a show-trial, the ongoing show-trial, any media dembot not ranting, not acting deranged and hysterical, would not be tolerated by your liberal tribe's bosses.

    Is this really complicated, dear Bob?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not once but twice you call it a "show trial." Personally, I think it was wrong not to allow Trump supporting Republicans chosen by Rep. McCarthy, like Jim Jordan to serve on the committee. they are not presenting both sides. But how is any of the evidence presented incorrect? Most of it is from Trump's own staff and appointees? what is the argument that what is being presented unfair? Show trials took place in places like Stalinist Russia. This isn't even a trial. They're making their case. Other than characterizing it a "show trial" what substance do you have to contradict any of the testimony and other evidence? Seems kind of obvious what happened, they're just bringing it out.

      Delete
    2. "This isn't even a trial."

      Precisely. It's a show-trial.
      ...if you don't understand it, what kind of lawyer are you?

      Delete
    3. Gym Jordan was potentially a subject of the investigation. McCarthy could've chosen some else, but he decided to throw a hissy fit. It's not a trial; it's an inquiry -- and a damn good one at that.

      Delete
  2. "For ourselves, we don't know how many text messages are missing. We still can't say, with absolute certainty, that any texts are missing."

    Somerby is being disingenuous. How many are missing? All but 1, since only 1 was turned over to the 1/6 Committee, according to the Committee itself. Are any missing? That depends on whether you believe that ALL Secret Service agents on 1/5 & 1/6 sent NO text messages whatsoever. If they sent even a few, then yes, there are text messages missing.

    And how much certainty is "absolute certainty"? Somerby appears to be completely unwilling to deal in probabilities of any sort. He doesn't deal in likelihoods. There is not absolute certainty that the sun will come up tomorrow -- just a very high probability, so high as to be certain. But not absolutely certain. But this is a game Somerby plays, when he does not wish to acknowledge some inconvenient truth (thank you Al Gore for making that phrase famous in the context of political denial).

    Somerby's denial that any texts are missing "with aboslute certainty" is ludicrous today, and it will not make this issue go away. Nor is O'Donnell at fault for discussing the possibilities in a reasonable way, which he has done. The public should be outraged about this situation. Most of us Democrats feel that way (and no, this is a shared reaction but not a dictated political narrative). All but Somerby, that is, since his reactions to news are not those of any sane liberal.

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  3. "The motive behind this slow-walk procedure strikes us as fairly obvious. When the corporate owner delays transcript production for two or three weeks, it becomes much less likely that the channel's various crackpot performers will be subject to public criticism."

    And here, Somerby engages in the kind of speculation about motive that he usually decries. Perhaps he has done this on purpose, to illustrate his admonitions, but more likely, he doesn't see the similarity between his own complaints and those of various political commentators he regularly criticizes.

    How likely is it that MSNBC is withholding transcripts simply to spite Somerby? Highly unlikely -- they most likely don't know he exists. Are they trying to evade criticism by others? Who? Liberals don't agree with Somerby's whining, and who else watches their shows? And if you disagree with a political cable news host, most likely you shrug it off as another person in this world who has different beliefes, rather than insisting that the host clean up his act to conform with your personal views. Somerby thereby defines himself as the standard and arbiter of proper journalistic practice, when he has no training, no background, no standing to proclaim himself expert, beyond being the neighborhood crank.

    Meanwhile, the cable hosts who are discussing this issue are helping to put pressure on the investigators and the wrong-doers, to clarify the situation and to make progress in figuring out what happened. How is Somerby aiding any of that? Not at all, since he would like to say that 1/6 never happened (with absolute certainty) except it would become absolutely clear that he belongs in assisted living if he were to make such a claim. This one is pretty damned close to absolute denial though.

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    1. Poor little Bob Somerby, narcissistically playing the victim, while slanting his views to protect Conservatives.
      And to think, some people still deny he’s a Right-winger.

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    2. Hanlon's razor is an adage or rule of thumb that states "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

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    3. It doesn’t apply in this situation because we are talking about treason, not some prank.

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    4. Are you saying the Director of the Secret Service appointed by Donald J Chickenshit is stupid, David?

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    5. David, when we’re talking Federales, I’m starting out with the suspicion of malice, every time.

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    6. Yeah, agreed with Cecelia @5:16 PM. It's either malice and stupidity, or straight up malice. Especially among the politicians.

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    7. malice definition: the desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another.

      That is not what the Secret Service is accused of doing by cable news hosts. They are aiding a coup whose goal is to keep Trump in office. This is treason and sedition, not malice or stupidity.

      Delete
    8. Right. Treason and sedition are malice free.

      You’d rather scold folks than win the Powerball. Your index finger must look like a gorilla’s from years of wagging.

      Delete
    9. Cecelia, do you believe Trump's goal was to hurt people rather than to stay in power for his own benefit?

      Words have meanings. If you don't respect them, then you don't communicate well with other people.

      Delete
    10. Words do have meaning and to humor you by arguing, you can have malice toward people who you feel have cheated you, even as you think you are righting a wrong.

      That’s not a defense of Trump, it’s an example of the ability to harbor more than one motive at a time.

      No one should have to explain that to anyone older ten.

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    11. Did you catch that last bit of scolding you like you’re the child?

      Delete
    12. I love this anon that attempts to police word definitions and consistently fails to look at the full definition of the word or acknowledge other common forms of usage, they're like the keystone cop of grammar.

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    13. Use context to identify the appropriate meaning. They do not all apply.

      Delete
  4. "Lawrence is very, very upset about the missing Secret Service texts. Meanwhile, his own transcripts are missing in action, and his corporate owners will keep it that way."

    O'Donnell's transcripts haven't been subpoenaed or requested by any governmental investigatory body, and not by the 1/6 Committee. There is no official requirement for transcripts -- Fox does not provide them much. So, this demand that O'Donnell produce transcripts (or Maddow or anyone else on MSNBC) is Somerby's invention. And Somerby is far from an archivist or media historian or anyone with a legitimate need for transcripts, other than to pass off himself as a media blogger (as opposed to a crank or Republican propagandist). So it is very hard to whip up any sense of outrage about O'Donnell's omission, nor is he being hypocritical, in my opinion. Somerby is being majorly unreasonable with this complaint. But more importantly, there is no parallel between O'Donnell and the withholding of texts by the Secret Service in response to the DHS Inspector General's request and the 1/6 Committee's need for them to further its investigation.

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  5. I keep demanding transcripts of South Park. The just keep ignoring me. What are they up to?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://imsdb.com/TV%20Transcripts/South%20Park%20-%20Cartman%20gets%20an%20anal%20probe%20Script.html

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    2. Oh wow... I thought Green Anon was a liberal. They're comparing O'Donnell to a satirical cartoon, was that a mistake or a tell?

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  6. You are way, way too kind. Bob refuses to get TiVo or a tape recorder to transcribe shows that are run twice a night for all to see. He compares this to government material that has completely
    vanished in a wildly suspicious fashion.
    Bob is using the transcript nonsense to
    avoid the fact he had nothing to answer
    O”Donnell with because, as with Drum,
    he’s pretty hard to answer.
    He should give his real answer, which
    is…”I give all those who seem to be
    Defending Trump a hundred percent
    benefit of the doubt forever.”

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hillary Clinton preserved all her work related emails and immediately produced them when asked, for the phony Benghazi investigation Part VIII. Yet she was put thru the tortures of the damned for two years, right up to her presidential nomination convention.

    I would like to see these agents text messages from last week, right after the shit started hitting the fan.

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  8. Bob has a good analytical mind, but when he writes "we don't know what actually happened," I wonder about his sanity.

    Evidence is disappeared. We do know what happened.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, you don’t know what happened.

      You may highly suspect something illegal happened, but you do not know as yet.

      I don’t think it’s untoward for Drum to throw out his opinion, like kitty cat pictures on his blog, but Bob is correct.

      Delete
    2. It’s like suspecting the Republican Party isn’t fascists.
      You can speculate they aren’t, but from what we know, you can’t rule it out.

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    3. Should be “ you can’t rule it out, without questioning them under oath.”

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    4. Nothing of significance happened.

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    5. We know the messages were not retained after the Secret Service was requested twice to retain them. That is illegal. How do we know? The DHS told the 1/6 Committee that only 1 message had been kept. And that is of considerable significance.

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    6. Not really. Nothing will come of the issue.

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    7. That nothing will come of the issue, may be true, but that the Secret Service broke the law and should be disbanded is also true.

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    8. No. Not really. Maybe to you. Not in the real world.

      Delete
  9. Looks like evangelicals are abandoning the Republican party and Trump:

    "In the wake of Donald Trump's presidency, strains within the evangelical community, especially among people of color, have resulted in significant numbers of people defecting from the right and opening themselves to social justice stances on issues of race, immigration, climate and economic fairness. Should the trend escalate, it could send tremors that extend well beyond the religious community and reverberate throughout U.S. politics."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, whoa, tremors! Reverberate!

      Is Tremors 6 being filmed finally? Perfect. It's about time, we'd say.

      Delete
    2. If evangelicals are leaving, why would religious Hispanics suddenly switch?

      Delete
  10. “The motive behind this slow-walk procedure strikes us as fairly obvious. When the corporate owner delays transcript production for two or three weeks, it becomes much less likely that the channel's various crackpot performers will be subject to public criticism. “

    Who the f reads transcripts, when the videos are available the next day on YouTube and at the MSNBC website?

    Yeah, they’re really trying to hide their content. What a maroon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Still, Bob Somerby is the deepest thinker the Right can cough up.

      Delete
  11. Like most Americans, I couldn’t care less what the SS did with their texts or emails.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know any Right-wingers who shouldn't be exterminated for the good of the country.
      Nor do I know what the hold-up is.

      Delete
    2. "I couldn’t care less what the SS did with their texts or emails."

      Fact checked and found to be "True".
      The January 6th hearings were not about bigotry and white supremacy, so 9:41 couldn't care less.
      No pinocchios.

      Delete
    3. We can always get them to admit (7:35) they want to commit even more mass killing than they already do at Planned Parenthood clinics.

      Delete
  12. I don’t know anyone other than extreme Democrats who are watching any of this stuff and have a sick feeling Trump will win in 2024 by a margin created by it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Polling is changing in favor of Dems as a result of the hearings, so someone is watching them.

      Delete
    2. 11:53,
      Bullshit. You don't know any extreme Democrats, you lying bigot.

      Delete
    3. The hearings are over now and nothing will become of them and they will be forgotten. It was always just a desperate publicity stunt. Biden and the Democrats have one of the lowest approval ratings in world history.

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    4. One of the giveaways early on was the trying to pin some sort of conspiracy on the congressman who was giving a tour. The Democrats and their far right wing pet with whom they share a love of war and eternal war and the largest war budgets in world history, tried to make their ignorant followers think the people on the tour were taking pictures of stairwells as some sort of recognizance for the riot that would take place less than 24 hours later. The Democrats really treat their supporters like idiots. And you know, they are.

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    5. Can you imagine how stupid you would have to be to believe that they would take reconnaissance pictures of stairwells and hallways less than 24 hours before the riot, especially since maps of the stairwells and hallways were available online to anyone who wanted to see them? You have to be so stupid and so invested and biased into trying to achieve a political outcome with legal proceedings.

      Delete
    6. Bottom line crazy evil folk:,the ratings are pretty good.

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    7. That Right-wingers threw a childish temper tantrum because black peoples votes counted in an election was never going to mean anything to the Right.
      Everyone in the world knows, if it's not about bigotry and white supremacy, Republican voters couldn't care less.

      Delete
    8. I tried talking to a Republican voter last week about how the Democrats were in the pocket of corporations, but they ignored me because it wasn't about bigotry and/ or white supremacy.

      Delete
    9. The January 6th Insurrection hearings were never going to get Right-wing buy-in, because the Democrats didn't make it about bigotry and white supremacy.
      Democrats may as well have talked about inflation, or something else the Right doesn't care about.

      Delete
    10. January 6th is an actual thing, it's on the calendar and everything. Unlike a Right-winger who knows something about economics, which isn't a thing at all.

      Delete
    11. The January 6th insurrection hearings were led and run by a right winger. With nothing of substance to say you're left with just acting like a fool.

      Delete
    12. Well, dumb guy, the reason you want to talk a bout Dems and corporations and not Republicans and corporations may indeed be because you are racist.

      Delete
    13. 11:53,
      Trump?
      You mean Donald J. Trump, the guy economically anxious Republican voters assassinated when he gave corporations and the rich a HUGE tax break? Or am I misremembering a time when Republican voters were economically anxious?

      Delete
    14. You're going a bit off the rails, I think the propaganda mindset has rendered you partially insane. Happy Friday though.

      Delete
  13. Nobody voted for Trump to be President.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Did you hear the one about the Republican voter who cared about something other than bigotry and white supremacy?
    Me neither.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I miss Rationalist's imaginary friend, who cares about something other than bigotry and white supremacy, but I'm excited about what that non-existent person will think of next.

    ReplyDelete
  16. We shouldn't need hearings to see the Right has the disposition of toddlers who missed their nap time, but the corporate media's denial forced our hand.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Abortion should be legal on demand.
    Just like leaded or unleaded.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, someone's inhaled some fumes I think.

      Delete
  18. Slow to post today, Bob must be going nuts trying to find something trivial to jump on.😄

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  19. Yeah I'm sure that's it. And he also reads all your comments, and really cares what you think.

    ReplyDelete
  20. In comparison to Republican voters caring about something other than bigotry and white supremacy, Bob is downright obsessed with whatever 11:53 thinks.

    ReplyDelete