THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2023
Life in our two different worlds: Anthropological lessons are everywhere, but we're an impervious species.
This brings us to the deathless pop music hit, the mellifluous Two Different Worlds. We think of it as a Jerry Vale smash, but according to the leading authority on the topic, that impression seems to be wrong:
Two Different Worlds (1956 song)
The biggest U.S. hit version was recorded by Don Rondo. It reached number 19 on the Billboard chart and number 12 on the Cashbox chart [in 1956].
[...]
A recording by Jerry Vale in 1963, appeared on the original Columbia album, The Language of Love.
"We live in two different worlds!" So Don Rondo gloomily claimed, late in the summer of '56.
Rondo presented his anthropological finding in the guise of a romantic ballad. Today, we all can see what Rondo was secretly singing about. We can see that by reviewing the three hours of yesterday morning's Fox & Friends.
The friends appeared in impeccable raiment, and they were eager to serve. Atop the front page of the New York Times, this news report had already appeared, triple headline included:
FRAUD BY TRUMP FOUND AS JUDGE ISSUES PENALTIES
ASSET VALUES INFLATED
James’s Win in New York May Wrest Control of Key Properties
A New York judge ruled on Tuesday that Donald J. Trump persistently committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets, and stripped the former president of control over some of his signature New York properties.
The surprising decision by Justice Arthur F. Engoron is a major victory for Attorney General Letitia James in her lawsuit against Mr. Trump, effectively deciding that no trial was needed to determine that he had fraudulently secured favorable terms on loans and insurance deals.
Ms. James has argued that Mr. Trump inflated the value of his properties by as much as $2.2 billion and is seeking a penalty of about $250 million in a trial scheduled to begin as early as Monday.
Justice Engoron wrote that the annual financial statements that Mr. Trump submitted to banks and insurance companies “clearly contain fraudulent valuations that defendants used in business.”
[...]
Mr. Trump, for his part, noted that Justice Engoron was a Democrat and called him “deranged.”
In print editions, this report appeared atop the front page of the blue tribe's paper of record. But because we're living in two different worlds, this news event wasn't mentioned, not even once, during the three hours of the red tribe's Fox & Friends show.
And no, we aren't making that up! You can check this claim for yourself, all thanks to the Internet Archive.
To review the 6 o'clock hour of yesterday's broadcast, you can just click here. (You'll be exposed to transcript of the program's first hour, as well as to videotape.) You can search on such terms as "Trump" and "fraud" in search of some fleeting mention of the previous day's legal finding.
(All times will be Eastern Standard.)
We find no mention of the fraud trial during the 6 o'clock hour. Beyond that, we find no such mention during the program's 7 o'clock hour. To conduct a search of the 8 o'clock hour, you can just click this.
Three hours went by on yesterday's Fox & Friends program. We find no sign that the finding of fraud was ever mentioned, not even once.
Instead, it was as we told you yesterday. The friends began their show with a lengthy discussion of the claim that President Biden had almost slipped (had "nearly stumbled") as he left Air Force One.
The friends went on, then on and on, about that perceived "near-slip." They began their 7 o'clock hour with a lengthy discussion of the fact that the president's latest German shepherd has now apparently bitten or nipped eleven (11) different people on the White House grounds.
(By the way, who lets their dog do that?)
The friends began their 7 o'clock hour with the eleven documented bites or nips. From there, it was on to Taylor Swift and her newly documented affection for Travis Kelce's mother.
The friends went on and on, then on and on, about these particular topics. As best we can tell, the finding in the New York fraud trial was never mentioned, at any point, during the program's three hours.
Full disclosure! During this morning's 8 o'clock hour, we've now seen one of the friends mention Tuesday's judicial finding. Tomorrow (Internet Archive willing), we'll show you the words with which this latest act of derangement by a New York judge was dismissed on this morning's show.
That said, it's important to call attention to the anthropological finding involved in these basic facts. It's a finding which was first announced by Rondo, way back in 1956:
As Americans, we now live in (at least) two remarkably different worlds! The New York Times and other blue organs do amazingly little reporting on this deeply consequential fact. But a modern nation can't expect to function this way—can't expect to survive this arrangement.
A modern nation can't expect to survive this remarkable "journalistic" arrangement. If you doubt that, we offer our usual heartfelt advice:
Go ahead! Take a good look around!
Tomorrow: President Trump condemns General Milley! Also, our own tribe spins the Stop W.O.K.E Act
In '65 tension was running highAt my high school.There was a lot of fightsBetween black and whiteThere was nothing you could do.Two cars at a light on a Saturday nightIn the back seat there was a gun.Words were passed, a shotgun blastTroubled times they had comeTo my hometown...
People don't watch Fox News to be informed.
ReplyDeleteYet Bob will still trot out his hobby horse that there is some Lefty in the world who treats Republican voters with more condescension than Fox News.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been reading the daily howler for several years now and I don’t understand how the judge could have ruled that Trump committed fraud. Somerby tells us that Trump is deranged, and we can’t say if he’s lying, so he must have really believed his properties were worth what he said. The judge must hate the Others and just wants to put them in jail.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Bob has a ghost writer today?
DeleteOne example was that he said his condo has 30,000 sq ft when it actually has 10,000. Another is that he valued Mar a Lago at over $260 million when it was assessed at $18 million. Then he told the judge the differences didn’t matter because could get a Saudi to pay whatever he wanted for his property.
DeleteI haven't been following this civil case against Trump closely at all. However, as I understand it, the judge granted summary judgment as to liability in favor of the NY AG -and that the fraud was overstating the value of assets in financial statements submitted with applications for bank loans. As I understand it, Trump or his companies didn't default on the loans - so, if that is true, the banks weren't harmed. Sometimes, someone makes fraudulent statements in a loan application, and defaults on the loan - the consequences for the lender are more serious when that happens. Usually, banks require professional appraisals of collateral given for a loan. It seems here that the over-valued valuations here were of properties that were not collateral for the loans. My understanding is that fraudulent valuations are crimes even if the lenders weren't harmed. There will be a trial to determine the penalty, then most likely an appeal. I'm sure the facts are complex.
DeleteHe also undervalued his properties for tax and other purposes. This isn’t only about loans. Maybe money laundering and bribery if he was selling property at hugely overvalued prices to Saudis, as Trump himself mentioned.
DeleteYou guys need a primer in sarcasm. Lord.
DeleteWithout tone of voice or facial expression as cues, sarcasm needs to be signaled by the author. Otherwise you risk that people will take you at face value. It is your responsibility to do that, not your readers' job to guess whether you are serious or not.
DeleteLet’s hope this fraud ruling destroys Trump and his evil legacy. Seems to me Bob has been berating what the Justice Department in New York has been doing regarding Trump for years, that White Collar crime was just too complicated or whatever. Whatever.
ReplyDeleteThat Fox, who paid our close to a billion dollars (more to come?) for lying about the 2020 election results, is still covering for Trump could only amaze a very silly person.
Some years back Neil Young recorded a bunch of songs including “My Hometown” on one of those old fashioned “make your own record” machines. This produced a very haunting version of “My Hometown.” Indeed, a great song.
One huge disconnect between the two “worlds” was the way Fox spread lies about the 2020 election and was made to pay a huge legal settlement. That was heavily reported on by the mainstream media, but Fox barely mentioned it.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I think Somerby thinks:
Delete1. Fox (and other right-wing media) is a deranged clown circus.
2. Once in a while, like a stopped clock, Fox gets something right.
3. MSNBC (and other left-wing media) is better than Fox, but not by that much. And not by enough to save our democracy.
4. The topics pushed by Fox and the topics pushed by MSNBC rarely overlap by much.
5. The topics pushed by Fox and the topics pushed by MSNBC are rarely the topics that genuinely matter.
6. The reporting on the topics pushed by Fox and by MSNBC is atrocious. Rarely are basic facts reported comprehensively and accurately.
I disagree with #5. Mainstream media do report puff and human interest but the also report the local, national and global news reliably and promptly, unlike Fox.
DeleteI also disagree with #6. The quality of immediate reporting is as good as it has ever been, and somewhat faster due to faster communication. Reports have always been based on first news gathering that is revised as better info emerges. That id the nature of current events reporting. MSNBC is better at this than Fox because it is less biased.
I get it that you are mind-reading Somerby, not stating your own opinions. Somerby is wrong, if that is what he thinks.
@Dogface George
DeleteThere are standard state media: NYT, WaPo, CNN, all flavors of NBC, ABC, CBS, NPR, etc. They have nothing whatsoever to do with any "left-wing" (as it simply doesn't exist). They produce standard establishment propaganda.
But some people (who are smarter than you and Bob Somerby), which is about half of the population, realize that standard state propaganda is crap. For them, the state organizes one fake anti-establishment state channel: Fox News.
It's fake, because any real journalist (like Tucker Carlson) get cancelled.
State media refers to govt funnded media. We don’t have that.
DeleteFirst let’s note the ugly, craven buffoonery of the former Mao claiming Carlson’s coverage of Jan 6 was “real journalism.”
DeleteYou get it about right, Dogface, and now that you have been lightly contradicted, consider the depth of the foolishness you are noting, and I think defending. The rape of the the Capitol, the legitimization of Trump’s attack on the legitimacy of free elections doesn’t genuinely matter (indeed, they are so irrelevant the matter must be treated with constant (if childish),contempt. In a broader sense, Bob contents race doesn’t matter, school shootings don’t matter, voting rights don’t matter, etc.
Earlier years of the blog suggest that Bob knows this is horseshit, and that Bob’s real problem is that in a world where human faults get all to evenly distributed, it drives Bob to near insanity tha one side has emerged as flawed by sane and well intentioned, one has revealed themselves to be a snake pit rolling around in slime. That goodie two shoe side must be made to pay! They must be slimed. I’d be interested in knowing some of the other things MSNBC report on that you think Bob thinks are unimportant. Or is it all just that Nichole Wallace treats he guests with respect and affection?
"In a broader sense, Bob contents race doesn’t matter, school shootings don’t matter, voting rights don’t matter, etc."
DeleteThis is just batshit nuts.
I wish you had a nym so I could avoid reading you.
DeleteMao is dead. Long live Mao.
DeleteThe people you perhaps want to avoid reading are the ones who will confront your ideas and keep you thinking, looking for facts, and being taken in by demagogues. You should read everyone, even the people you think are wrong.
DeleteFox viewers will find out about the ruling via the lens of Trump’s grievance, which was reported by the New York Times…isn’t that what Somerby quoted here?
ReplyDeleteI assume, based upon today’s post, that Fox viewers cannot read the New York Times.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the mainstream media isn’t that it doesn’t tell us how red and blue live in different worlds, but that it gives too much importance to things like Hillary’s emails in its search for “balance.”
ReplyDelete“As Americans, we now live in (at least) two remarkably different worlds! The New York Times and other blue organs do amazingly little reporting on this deeply consequential fact.”
ReplyDeleteLeaving aside the word “now”, how would Somerby envision such reporting? “Fox viewers are told that Democrats are groomers and pedophiles who want to turn all little boys into gay transgender mass shooters whereas mainstream viewers are told to be kind and welcoming to kids who are gay.” Knowing the New York Times, the writer would add “opinions differ.” Hasn’t Somerby urged his readers to consider the viewpoints of anti-trans and anti-gay voters?
Or: “Fox viewers are told that the DOJ is corrupt and only targets republicans in political vendettas whereas mainstream viewers are told the charges filed and how the cases proceed. Opinions differ.” Hasn’t Somerby himself accused the left of targeting the Others and wanting to put them in jail? Yes, he has.
Without some kind of clear judgment about the rightness and wrongness of certain views pushed by one side, the reporting is practically meaningless.
"Without some kind of clear judgment about the rightness and wrongness of certain views pushed by one side, the reporting is practically meaningless."
DeleteWhy?
Agree with mh. Once upon a time the New York Times provided a clear judgment about the rightness and wrongness of certain views. They were also nearly error-free. Alas, that version of the NYT is gone, and no organ has taken their place.
DeleteDoes it make sense that no reporting can be done without a clear definition of the rightness or wrongness of the claims of subjects in the report? I don't understand. How does that make sense? Why?
DeleteI guess it's not that important. Just curious.
DeleteIsn't the "news" that the two sets of information are different, not the merits of each?
DeleteLOL, yeah that's exactly what Ben Bradley used to lecture to his reporters. Get 3 different sources all saying different things, don't worry about who is accurate and who is a bullshitter.
DeleteThe story is different sources are saying different things to two different groups of people. That is the story.
DeleteThe question Bradley would be asking is is that story accurate or is it bullshit?
Not the merit of what each group is being told.
No, that is not how reporting works @5:33. Reporters seek truth and evaluating what is true or not is part of that job. They do not take dictation for groups and then print whatever anyone says, carefully attributing the statements to each source. The bothsiderist approach to journalism where each side must be balanced with something from the other side, is outrageous.
DeleteI had a feeling it was going to be difficult for you to understand.
DeleteBob: Unconditionally critiques Trump and Fox News
ReplyDeleteInsane commenters: Continue to pout
Wipe that drool off your face, it's unbecoming...
Should be: Bob unconditionally critiques Trump and Fox News, almost kinda sorta, for once.
DeleteThe Trump family claims that the judge was corrupt:
ReplyDelete“In an attempt to destroy my father and kick him out of New York, a judge just ruled that Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach Florida, is only worth approximate ’18 Million dollars’…Mar-a-Lago is speculated to be worth we’ll over a billion dollars making it arguably the most valuable residential property in the country. It is all so corrupt and coordinated,” Eric Trump wrote Tuesday
I have no idea what the true value of Mar-a-Lago is. Even if the judge did wildly undervalue Trump's property, I don't know what recourse Trump has. IMO if Eric Trump is right, then Trump's lawyers must have done a poor job.
Why would you not believe a tax assessor? The higher their asssessment the more taxes they can collect. And this is a huge disparity! The judge made a summary judgement because the fraud is so obvious. There’s no benefit of doubt.
DeleteYou're using Eric Trump as your source, David. Are you fucking kidding me.
DeleteThe judge made no such ruling. The judge noted that between 2011 and 2021 the "appraised" value of the property, which is not a home, went from 11 million to 28 million. It is interesting that you have chosen to fixate on this one element of the multiple elements of fraud the court found to be indisputable.
Yeah Dave, you gotta take Eric Trump seriously, fine objective take that he is likely to have.
DeleteA bone simple description of Trump fraud for @12:54 PM (courtesy of Southpaw): "Trump uses artificially low valuations for tax purposes and artificially high valuations for purposes of getting loans and generally puffing himself up."
DeleteSome think it is ok to give disturbed teens (such as Rittenhouse) guns. Others don’t. Two worlds. Why does Somerby never talk about guns directly?
ReplyDeleteIf Trump would commit fewer crimes, the NYTimes could talk more about different worlds, as Somerby demands.
ReplyDeleteThere are blue voters in small home towns too.
I wonder how common it is to prosecute someone for mis-stating the value of his assets. When I applied for a mortgage, I put down approximate values for my assets. I knew that I might be turned down by the bank, but it never occurred to me that I might be committing a felony.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless IMO this is a big deal. One can argue that Trump is innocent of all the charges in GA. Innocent until proven guilty. However, in this case, Trump is convicted. Unfortunately, I see no way that Trump can be denied the nomination.
But there is a way he can be denied the election. David in Cal, do your civic duty. Endorse President Biden today. A grateful nation will honor you forever.
Delete@2:37 PM: Drink!
DeleteThe Trump family had a very clever approach to presiding over their Queens low rent properties. And I am talking about Donald. They ran expenses through a shell company. If an oven went bad and needed replacement, it was bought through the shell company at a markedly inflated price above retail. This went for repairs, painting etc. So what's the point, since the Trumps were charging themselves inflated prices for goods and work? The New York Housing Authority monitored and protected low income renters from price gauging, a process that took into account the landlord's expenses for upkeep. The Trumps used the receipts from their phoney billings to argue for rent increases on their properties based upon the so called costs they were incurring. Of course, taking advantage of the neediest. This was well detailed before he was elected in an investigative piece in the NYT. Nasty crooked people.
ReplyDeleteA fair question would be why did it take Trump becoming President for the Times to seriously investigate him? Hands full will years of the fruitless Clinton Hunt, perhaps?
DeleteThe info was available before the election, but conservatives don't read anything negative about their guy. It was also in Mary Trump's book about DJT.
Delete9:03: exactly. Trump University, stealing from his charity, etc. etc. etc. makes no difference. At some point if you consistently support a fraud with no morals, where are yours?
DeleteIncidentally the clown show last night orchestrated by Fox included a large number of alternative facts, all to the benefit of DJT, who was off elsewhere propagating lies about Biden, as well documented in the media, and making an ass out of himself as well regarding the type of farming done in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteSomerby could have discussed the court judgment yesterday, when it occurred, but he had to talk about Biden’s dog instead. Today he acknowledges that Fox “disappeared” the court news and makes that their fault, not his, when the story was all over mainstream news.
ReplyDeleteToday Somerby repeats the error by ignoring the Republican debate. The debate analysis is all over mainstream news. Is Fox ignoring it?
Meanwhile, the real news was that Biden walked a picket line with the UAW, the first president ever to side with labor like that. Meanwhile Trump tried to pretend solidarity with the working class (his record as pres was terrible) by visiting a non-union shop and complaining about EVs. Biden is trying to keep EV manufacturing in the US instead of sending it to China. Crickets from Somerby on the most important news.
FYI, the NY Times interviewed 13 Republicans about why they no longer support Trump. Is that the difference he wants to see explored?
You’re damn right, Karen. Bob was 24 hours late on a story.
ReplyDeleteThe point Somerby raised is who does and who doesn’t discuss what. It makes this a fair point. If your reaction weren’t so knee jerk you might see that.
DeleteEveryone knows that Fox and Friends is a pretend news and information show and it’s still ridiculous that they didn’t bother to mention the latest Trump drama.
DeleteBob isn’t even a pretend news and information show. He’s a blogger focusing on his own interests and discussing them in the manner that he wishes to discuss things.
He graciously allows anonymices to hang out and insult him with the same insults and harangues annonymices issue daily, rather than booting you off so that you could then put your self-avowed scholarship and boundless humanity to better use.
Thanks a lot, Bob.
Booting off the comments you dislike is counter to ideals of free speech. Both conservatives and liberals claim to value that important guarantee in our Constitution. Granted that Somerby is not a govt publication, but many of us nevertheless value the free speech that is essential to our democracy.
DeleteMaybe you, not so much, judging by your idea that anyone who writes something disagreeable should be banished. That's the kind of thing someone says when they are having trouble defending their own ideas.
You speak the truth.
DeleteAnonymouse 9:00pm, I’ll take that as anonymices saying “Bob should tolerate my constant and often highly personal disparagement because we are a people who cherish free speech.
DeleteOf course this sentiment from anonymices is nothing but self-serving and opportunistic, but you are correct in your statement, despite your intent.
Bob’s way IS certainly the right thing to do.
And we do tolerate you. That isn't the same as letting your garbage go uncontested.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:57pm, you don’t tolerate me, you’re just another commenter on a blogboard along with me.
DeleteCecelia,
DeleteNo worries.
I don't tolerate you.
From Political Wire:
ReplyDelete"“Donald Trump has sought to discredit a New York judge’s blockbuster ruling threatening his business empire by arguing that Mar-a-Lago alone is worth more than a billion dollars,” The Messenger reports.
“But fewer than three years ago, his tax representative told Palm Beach County officials that Trump ‘agrees’ his private club in South Florida is worth just $26.6 million.”
Fair market value of a property, and its assessed value (calculated by the local government) are two completely different things. Anyone who owned a house knows it.
ReplyDeleteMine were much closer than Trump’s.
Delete