CLAN: Wallace, O'Donnell keep pouring it on!

SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024

Can you believe these clans? Can you believe the factual claims you hear from our warring clans?

You can if you love the "novelization of news." You can believe what you hear if you love soap operas or pro wrestling—if you love Storyline.

Yesterday afternoon, Nicolle Wallace kept pouring it on concerning the release of the original Juror #2 from jury duty in the Trump "hush money" trial.

On Tuesday, the person in question had been selected for duty. She was listed as Juror #2. 

On Thursday, she returned to court and asked to be excused from duty.

She said that her family and friends had discerned her identity from detailed news reports. She said this was creating a pressure which would affect her ability to serve.

How did this juror's family and friends know she'd been picked as a juror? In various news reports, she had been described as a highly specific type of nurse. The Manhattan neighborhood in which she lived had also been reported. 

On that basis, family and friends had called to ask if she was Juror #2. She told Judge Merchan that pressure from family and freidns would make it hard for her to perform as an unbaised juror, and she was released from duty.

Yesterday afternoon, Wallace continued to beat this drum on her two-hour daily program. Also, she kept maintaining that this problem had been caused by the Fox News Channel.

She offered no evidence in support of that claim. We know of zero reason to believe that the claim is accurate.

That was Wallace, on Day Two, continuing with a pleasing though unsupported claim. The previous evening, an eruption had happened on Lawrence O'Donnell's nightly program, The Last Word.

O'Donnell is experienced, and he's smart, at least by human standards. He also tends toward a bit of an anger problem. (No one is perfect.)

Beyond that, he has a bizarre attraction to the claim that the people with whom he disagrees are "lying" all the time. 

There are few misstatements, mistakes or speculations in O'Donnell's world. At the start of Thursday night's program, he offered an aggressive claim, one which has yet to be adjudicated:

He claimed that Defendant Trump had violated a prevailing gag order in the more egregious way possible, Along the way, he extended some of the claims which Wallace had pushed that afternoon. 

He made some factual claims which were accurate. He made other claims which were not.  Everyone was lying, of course. 

We'll join his screed in progress:

O'DONNELL (4/18/24): ...The Trump lawyers insisted that the gag order did not prevent, quote, "reposting statements that are already in public by others."

That is, of course, another lie told by a Trump lawyer in court directly to a judge. 

The gag order prevents Donald Trump from, quote, "making or directing others to make public statements about any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding."

Here is the lie that Jesse Watters told on Fox yesterday at 5:28 p.m., when Donald Trump was watching.

WATTERS (videotape): They are trying to rig this jury. They are catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge.

O'DONNELL: Jesse Watters is the newest liar to occupy the 8:00 p.m. slot on Fox, the lying channel, a network that has been adjudicated to have told $787.5 million worth of lies in a defamation case. 

The previous occupant of the 8 p.m. slot had told so many of those lies, that even Fox decided they had to let him go.

[...]

Jesse Watters was taught how to lie on TV by his mentor, the now banished Bill O'Reilly.

Jesse Watters said they are trying to rig the jury. That is a lie. 

Jesse Watters said they are catching underground liberal activists. That is a lie. There has not been a single liberal activist or conservative activist revealed in the jury selection process, not one. 

And Jesse Watters said that they are lying to the judge, and that is a lie. That is a pure Bill O'Reilly, Jesse Watters-style lie, invented from absolutely nothing. 

And eighteen minutes after Jesse Watters extemporaneously delivered that lie on the Fox Lying Channel, Donald Trump wrote this lie:

"They are catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge in order to get on the Trump jury." 

And Donald Trump assigned that lie, in quotation marks, to Jesse Watters.

You're getting the general idea. We return to our basic question:

Can you believe the factual claims you hear from our warring clans? We'll focus here on the claims by O'Donnell.

We'll start with an obvious misstatement:

Jesse Watters didn't make the statement in question at 5:28 on Wednesday afternoon. Nor did Donald Trump see him do so.

In fact, Watters made the statement in question at 5:06 that day, soon after the start of The Five. Someone tweeted the comment and the tape at 5:28 p.m., and it was soon retweeted by Trump, or by someone retweeting for him.

That was a minor misstatement of fact. Everybody makes such mistakes. We know of zero reason to regard it as a lie.

That said, O'Donnell's bombast became harder to defend as his screed went on. Let's move on to this:

Plainly, the gag order in question does involve several possible elements of ambiguity. 

In at least two different ways, it could have been written more clearly. It makes little sense to accuse the defendant's attorneys of lying to the judge in that matter when they're simply observing the obligation to provide their client with a vigorous defense. 

Beyond that, we soon reach the more comical part of what O'Donnell aggressively said.

Too funny! By the time of O'Donnell's screed, the original Juror #4 had been removed from the jury by Judge Merchan. To appearances, the juror had been removed because he'd been untruthful with the judge in filling out his original questionnaire.

What was the backstory here? Two reporters for Fox News seem to have asked one of the prosecutors. Headline included, this is what the pair reported early Thursday afternoon:

Trump juror previously arrested for ripping down right-leaning political ads dismissed from trial

A second juror was excused from the jury in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Thursday after it was revealed the man was once arrested for tearing down right-leaning political advertisements. 

Juror #4, who was selected and sworn in on Tuesday, was excused by Judge Juan Merchan on Thursday morning. 

The man had been arrested in Westchester, New York, for tearing town political advertisements, according to a prosecutor from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. 

"I actually believe the propaganda that was being ripped down was political posters that were on the right—the political right," prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said Thursday. 

Steinglass said that after additional research, it also appeared that the juror’s wife had been previously accused of, or involved in a "corruption inquiry" that needed a "deferred prosecution agreement with the district attorney’s office." 

Jurors are asked on a questionnaire to list whether they or someone close to them have ever been arrested.

Did Steinglass actually make those statements? It's very, very hard to believe that a pair of Fox reporters simply made that up.

(Did members of Blue America's clan ask about the backstory? Or did our own clan members somehow know that we'd rather hear Lawrence's declamations?)

To appearances, Juror #4 had been arrested at one time for destroying Republican campaign materials. He had failed to report this matter on his questionnaire, as had been required.

Did that mean that Juror #4 was "a liberal activist?" Did that mean he was "trying to get on the jury" in order to take Trump down?

We have no way of answering those questions—and neither did Watters or O'Donnell. But as O'Donnell ranted and railed about the way everybody else was lying, he was failing to offer his viewers a full and forthright account of that day's events.

He was selling an angry novelization to Blue America's voters. The night before, Watters had sold the latest of his speculative tales to their Red America counterparts.

In certain obvious ways, O'Donnell and Watters are different types. In another way, they're pretty much peas in a pod. You can't believe the things they say, unless you love Storyline. 

Meanwhile, back to Wallace: 

On Friday afternoon, she continued to claim that it was the Fox News Channel which had revealed so much information about Juror #2 that she had to be relieved from service on the jury.

Wallace had made that claim on Thursday's show, directly blaming Watters while offering zero evidence in support of her accusation. On Friday's show, she repeated her unsupported claim. This time, she restricted her accusation to unnamed players at Fox.

Given a day to rethink her case, Wallace still offered zero evidence in support of that claim. For ourselves, we know of zero reason to believe those claims are true.

Did Juror #2's family and friends see Watters describe this juror? Are they big viewers of Fox?

In fact, Watters did describe Juror #2 when he spoke with a jury consultant / "body language expert" on Wednesday evening's show.

On that occasion, he did describe Juror #4 as a nurse. He didn't cite the highly specific type of nursing which helped her family and friends suspect that she was the juror in question.

Also, Watters did name the Manhattan neighborhood in which Juror #2 resides. But as we noted yesterday, that sort of information had been reported by an array of major news orgs as jury selection began.

That was a fairly common type of move.  For example, the New York Times filed this report on Thursday afternoon, even after Jurors #2 and #4 had been relieved of duty:

What We Know About Why Two Trump Jurors Were Dismissed

A woman selected for the jury told the judge overseeing the case—the first criminal trial of a former president—that she had developed concerns about her identity being revealed. That, she said, might compromise her fairness and “decision-making in the courtroom.”

The other juror, a man from the Lower East Side, was excused after he arrived to court later Thursday morning. The precise reason for his dismissal was not immediately clear, but prosecutors had raised concerns early in the day about the credibility of answers he gave to questions about himself.

As late as Thursday afternoon, the Times was still reporting neighborhoods of residence. We know of no reason to believe that Jurur #2's family and friends heard her described by Watters—and in two straight days of accusation, Wallace presented zero reason to believe her tribally pleasing claim.

Clans have always behaved this way. They've always behaved like clans.

Our clans are behaving this way right now, Blue and Red alike.

Judged by standard journalistic norms, Jesse Watters is, on balance, a flyweight, dissembler and clown. But O'Donnell is a Vesuvius with a weirdly one-track mind and little skill at using his words. 

Wallace is long, long gone.

This is Babel by way of clan. These people are narrating soap operas and reality shows. 

On the brighter side, they're being paid millions of dollars per year for providing this prehuman work. Can you believe the things you hear? 

Survey says the obvious. No, you pretty much can't.


65 comments:

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  2. "Also, she kept maintaining that this problem had been caused by the Fox News Channel.

    She offered no evidence in support of that claim. We know of zero reason to believe that the claim is accurate."

    How about this:

    "Trump, for example, quoted the Fox News host Jesse Waters in a social media post, claiming, “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.” That’s despite the fact that there’s a gag order that prohibits Trump from publicly talking about the jurors.

    It’s just one window into how Trump plans to delegitimize the cases brought against him. In fact, since he was indicted, Trump has been preemptively undermining the legitimacy of his potential jury, arguing that it will be impossible to get a fair trial in jurisdictions where residents vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. In a recent Truth Social post, he called Manhattan — where he received 12 percent of the vote in 2020 — “the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country.”

    “Don’t worry, we have the First Worst also, as the Witch Hunt continues!” Trump continued. “ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” (The First Worst venue, naturally, is Washington, DC, a favorite Trump target where only 5 percent of voters cast their ballots for him in the last presidential election.)"

    https://www.vox.com/24135181/trump-hush-money-jury-impartial-fair-trial

    Trump and Fox and clearly working together to portray the possibility of selecting a fair jury as impossible, which will be the basis of Trump's appeal.

    https://www.vox.com/24135181/trump-hush-money-jury-impartial-fair-trial

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  3. "In a new motion filed Friday morning, Trump's lawyers once again asked an appeals court to temporarily halt the trial until they ruled on Trump's appeal to move the venue of the hush money trial out of Manhattan. The motion was denied."

    This is why Trump (working with Watters and Fox) has been trying to portray the jury as biased. Trump is doing everything he can to stop this trial.

    Somerby's pretense that this is about whether Wallace should say that Watters lied ignores the entire context of Trump's efforts to stop his trial by claiming juror bias.

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    1. Somerby will never tire from humping the fascist 2025 agenda to end American Democracy.

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    2. Adding this context doesn't negate the post's critique of media tactics that contribute to a polarized and misinformed public.

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    3. The public is better informed by MSNBC than by Fox.

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    4. @5:23 One is better informed by a combination of liberal and news organs. Both sides tend to ignore news that makes their side look bad.

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    5. There is a tendency for the mainstream news to spin or minimize news that makes the left look bad (it is not accurate to refer to the left as "their side" when talking about CNN or MSNBC). Only Fox absolutely disappears news that it considers unfavorable to Trump or right wing politicians. This has been demonstrated quantitatively by media monitoring studies. So, David's bothsiderist approach is not accurate and media observers at universities show the imbalance in right wing coverage.

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    6. For example, if you Google Fart and Fox News, you find mentions of Ivanka farting in 2020, and the new FART group formed in the House, and something about Biden farting on an overseas visit, but nothing about Trump farting in the courtroom.

      If you do the same and Google fart and MSNBC, you get the same House organization news, but also the story about Trump's lawyers being overcome by his flatulence.

      Snopes says the accusation is unproven, because it is sourced back to two reporters: Meidas and George Conway, who both claim others told them about it:

      "Snopes performed its own investigation into whether this rumor passed the smell test but came up short — everything we found could be traced back to either Meiselas or Conway. Because neither of them shared who their sources were, and no major news outlet had covered the supposed flatulence, we have rated this claim as "Unproven."

      Note that "unproven" does not mean false.

      So, obviously, it is Fox disappearing that story, not MSNBC.

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    7. The public is better informed by MSNBC about "stories" of Trump farting in the courtroom? Why is that story relevant to anyone except 13 year olds?

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    8. It may indicate dementia.

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    9. Fox is disappearing the farting story. But MSNBC is not. This idiot thinks that's an admirable thing I guess but it proves Somerby's point these media whores sensationalize narratives for the dunces that make up their audiences.

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    10. No news should be disappeared for political reasons. Trump’s farting is like his aphasia, s possible symptom of dementia, another way in which he cannot control himself. That matters because he is running for president, not 13 years old.

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    11. Oh. Thanks for explaining the relevance of the important dementia-induced farts story that Fox News deceitfully buried and for 'noting' MSNBC decided to breathlessly report an unsubstantiated, uncorroborated story that has no basis.

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    12. It was sourced to two unrelated people by name but that wasn’t enough for Snopes. Plenty of people have noticed Trump’s putrid smell before.

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    13. Trump himself proudly admits he's a mess down there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWDg1HS8Ghw

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  4. "He was selling an angry novelization to Blue America's voters."

    It's not "novelization", Bob. A smear campaign is not novelization.

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  5. "Jesse Watters didn't make the statement in question at 5:28 on Wednesday afternoon. Nor did Donald Trump see him do so.

    In fact, Watters made the statement in question at 5:06 that day, soon after the start of The Five. Someone tweeted the comment and the tape at 5:28 p.m., and it was soon retweeted by Trump, or by someone retweeting for him."

    Who tweeted what, when, is irrelevant if the Fox programming and the Trump defense have been discussed and coordinated in advance of the day's show, or even in advance of the trial. Trump has been complaining and demanding a change of venue for a long time. This is a transparent attempt to impugn the jury's fairness that doesn't depend at all on what any juror said or did, but on the Trump defense's strategy for derailing or delaying the trial.

    If you follow the trial, you will be aware of the many delaying tactics, continual requests for dismissal, and repeated motions to have the trial stopped, slowed, or moved. Note the judge's admonition to Trump's defense on Friday to stop filing challenges to previously dismissed motions, one by one, clogging the court with paperwork in order to delay proceedings.

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  6. I would believe O'Donnell and Wallace because they are trying to get things right and seriously concerned with reporting news. I would never believe Watters, Gutfeld or anyone else on Fox because they exist for the sole purpose of propagating disinformation, in this case in support of Trump's legal defense.

    Now it is clear, from Somerby's own statements, that he is busy attacking the mainstream media (MSNBC) in support of Trump's defense too. It has been a decade since I trusted Somerby on any matter of fact, but today makes his dishonesty more obvious.

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    1. Member this:

      https://abc7chicago.com/amp/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-kenosha-police-nbc-producer-following-jury/11294769/

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    2. Why is this relevant?

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    3. Anonymouse 2:59pm, that’s what anonymices said at the time too.

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    4. Reminder that Rittenhouse went to Kenosha to protect racial hierarchies.
      He may be a homely little runt, but he's beautiful to the bigots on the Right for his actions, not his looks.

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    5. Anonymouse 3:35pm, white guy shooting white guys. If the guys he shot weren’t protesters with records you’d have applauded.

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    6. A mother gets her boy a long arm and drives him to an active protest to play cop. Why does the right keep treating this insanity as a good thing? Should left leaning mom's retaliate and open up a shooting battle? Dumb. Nasty. bigots.

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    7. https://www.factcheck.org/2021/11/rittenhouse-testified-he-drove-himself-to-kenosha-without-weapon/

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    8. He also testified that he drove to a friend's house to pick up his weapon. The friend was keeping the gun for him. So what?

      No one on the left applauds shootings. Note that the Crumbley's bought their son a gun, he took it to school and shot people with it, then they were tried and sentenced to jail for enabling his crime when they should have known he was mentally ill. Our society is starting to hold people accountable in such situations.

      Meanwhile, Cecelia only brings up Rittenhouse to "own the libs." She has no empathy for any victims of gun violence.

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    9. Anonymouse 5:22pm, I suppose it doesn’t much matter that you’re a garden of misinformation via the mainstream media. The same media that sought to follow Rittenhouse jurors to their sleeping quarters.

      What else is new.

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    10. Objectively, the right is more distorted in its coverage than the left (or mainstream media as we prefer to call it).

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    11. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/man-who-bought-gun-for-kenosha-shooter-kyle-rittenhouse-avoids-prison-with-plea-deal

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  7. It seems more likely that the putrid smell coming from Trump is not farting but from his adult diapers. When he sleeps, his bowels relax. There ought to be something he can do about that, if only via a trip to the bathroom, but he may not care. He may see it as another way to disrespect the court.

    Of course, even accusation by the right is actually a confession. When Gutfeld calls Biden poopypants, he is attack Biden, but he is also neutralizing the same comment made against Trump, suggesting it is just childish "I'm no puppet, you're the puppet." Because that is how Republicans operate.

    Here are some internet suggestions:

    "How to Prevent Odours While Using Incontinence Pads
    Stay Well Hydrated. Staying well-hydrated and consuming sufficient water can dilute urine, potentially reducing how strong it smells. ...
    Change Pads Frequently. ...
    Opt for Pads with Odour Control. ...
    Maintain Good Hygiene. ...
    Consider Diet Choices. ...
    Keep Active."

    Some of these may not be easy to accomplish in court.

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    1. "Why Does Incontinence Affect Dementia Patients?
      Dementia is a condition that affects the brain. Due to various dementias, like Alzheimer’s disease, connections between the brain and bladder or bowel fail to function correctly. As a result, dementia patients may be unable to recognize when they have a full bladder.

      Along with failing to recognize that they are having a bowel movement, dementia patients are more likely to experience issues with communicating to caregivers that they need to use the bathroom. Or, dementia patients with memory issues will have trouble remembering where the bathroom is located.

      Medical conditions, like a urinary tract infection, enlarged prostate, or constipation, can cause incontinence. Diabetes or Parkinson’s disease are also known to create symptoms of incontinence. Elderly individuals with mobility issues may be unable to reach the bathroom in time.

      As a result of experiencing incontinence symptoms, seniors will benefit from wearing disposable underwear. Out of shame or embarrassment, some older individuals may be resistant to wearing adult diapers. "

      Later it says:

      "A senior who tries to cover up an incontinence issue should be informed of the offensive smells of urine in the home. Respectfully let the individual know that the problem is obvious. A gentle yet upfront approach can be enough to convince the senior to wear disposable undergarments."

      This may be an elephant in Trump's room that no one is willing to talk to him about.

      https://www.assistinghands-il-wi.com/blog/how-to-keep-diapers-on-elderly/

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    2. Gutfield learned that trick from Right-wing megaphones, like the NY Times and NPR, who felt they need to accuse Trump's opponents of corruption, in order to make it fair to Trump when they were forced to report Trump's corruption.

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    3. This goes back to swift boating Kerry.

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  8. I truly believe that MSNBC and CNN aspire to get it right. I don't believe it of Bob, who wastes so much space and time trying to be cute or polar in his approach.

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  9. Hey Sommerby, keep humping for the fascist 2025 agenda, you sick American Democracy hating bastard...

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  10. "On that occasion, he did describe Juror #4 as a nurse."

    Juror #2.

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  11. Quaker in a BasementApril 20, 2024 at 3:06 PM

    In his Wednesday segment with the "body language expert," Watters noted that juror #2 got her news, in part, by watching CNN. Following this observation, Watters grinned into the camera, laughed, and said: "Good-bye." To which his expert guest replied: "Automatic strike."

    Does this constitute evidence that Watters was responsible for juror #2's sudden reluctance to serve? No. It is, by far, the most egregious commentary offered by any news outlet in their analysis of the first seven jury selections.

    Could Watters's mocking commentary have played a role? Our Host has offered no evidence that wasn't the case.

    Meanwhile, in the same segment, Watters and his guest loved them some juror #4. The pair singled him out as one of the most defendant-friendly picks from the first day. Was juror #4 the liberal activist plant Watters alluded to earlier? Not by Watters's own conduct on Wednesday.

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  12. I don’t trust retired actuaries.

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  13. Does Bob believe Trump and Fox News are not
    attempting to tamper with Jury, and corrupt
    the integrity of the trial? It’s virtually impossible
    to believe that. Bob displayed his anger problem
    when journalists mocked the Republicans
    claiming that January 6th was “legitimate
    political discourse.” You almost had to give
    Bob a little credit on that one because no
    one else agreed with Bob’s idiotic claim.
    Bob’s readers would have to believe this
    entire trial was “legal trivia” if they agreed
    with his approach to his poor, disordered
    friend. But you can add intimating
    potential jurors and relatives of the judge
    as more from Trump Bob is quite happy
    to sign off on.
    Tuesday should be very interesting.
    Will being a billionare with many stupid
    and excitable followers spare Trump from
    cooling his heels in jail for a few days
    on a contempt charge which he had
    literally asked to do? Well shall see.
    Bob wants an intimidation solution
    for a legal problem. Bob is being driven
    crazy because his good friends and
    neighbors have proven to be stupid and
    amoral people, crazy really. What will
    Bob say when Trump finallly had the
    public meltdown we all now cannot
    avoid?

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  14. "Can you believe the things you hear?"

    Yes, you will go far less astray believing even the mistaken trivialities on MSNBC than believing anything at all heard on Fox News.

    Here is an example of Somerby's dishonesty. He pretends that the mistakes are equal when there is frothing at the mouth outright disinformation on Fox and an occasional trivial mistake (in good faith) on MSNBC, and most often not even that -- that is because MSNBC tries to get things right whereas Fox is only working for Trump and the alt-right and Russia. Somerby knows this, so he is part of the problem.

    I hate the sound of the word "clan" in Somerby's mouth. My clan is made up of relatives and family members -- those are people I care about. Somerby's USE of my family to undermine Democrats for political gain is an abomination. He shows how low the right will go to achieve its self-serving mercenary goals. Next Somerby will be selling Trump endorsed MAGA teddy bears to my grandkids and that is unacceptable in our clan.

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  15. Today is 4/20. For all we know, Somerby mistakenly smoked what was offered in a pipe and wound up accidentally making peace between tribes. So he cannot refer to the red and bue tribes any more, because they are now allied, but clans can still engage in feuds and vendettas. So now it all makes perfect sense why he has switched words.

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  16. Somerby is using the word clan because he is disparaging Wallace and Wallace was a famous Scotsman important in Scottish history, so why not misuse such a word when referring to someone he dislikes?

    "William Wallace is remembered for leading the Scottish resistance forces during the struggle to free Scotland from English rule. Many of the popular stories about Wallace—which are not supported by documentary evidence—have been traced to a late 15th-century romance ascribed to Harry the Minstrel, or “Blind Harry.”

    "William Wallace was a knight and a resistance leader. He is most famous for his part in the First Scottish War of Independence. We know very little about Wallace's early life. His rebellion is first recorded in May 1297."

    "Scottish clans are thought to date back to the beginning of the 12th century. They seemed to develop as a way for the monarch to maintain order in the Scottish Highlands. This area had experienced much social unrest with northern rebellions, and fierce battles against Norsemen."

    "Clan Gunn is one of the oldest Scottish Clans, being descended from the Norse Jarls of Orkney and the Pictish Mormaers of Caithness."

    Later clans were powerful because they included wealthy landowners who were granted power to rule by British occupiers.

    Needless to say, Somerby is not Scottish and neither is Wallace on MSNBC. "Her grandfather, Thomas Devenish, was a Manhattan antiques dealer, part of "Devenish and Company". He was born in England to vaudevillian parents and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1947. Nicolle is also of Greek descent."

    But that doesn't bother Somerby. He thinks this sort of thing is cute, regardless of how others who are Scottish might feel about it. It is another one of his stupid conceits that obscure more than they make clear, which is ultimately his goal.

    Lawrence O'Donnell's name is Irish. There is not a friendly relationship, even today, between Scotts and Irish. Visiting Belfast makes this clear. So, if Somerby was thinking about lumping the two MSNBC hosts together, he is on the wrong foot.

    It might be that Somerby is trying to mock identity and ethnicity in general, but he isn't going to get rid of family pride anywhere on the planet. I don't know why he would try, since it is usually a benign social force. And this whole theme is sounding kind of grinchy.

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    1. This is another creepy example of Somerby's recent fascination with war and war poems. Somerby will perhaps get around to quoting this one:

      "Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
      Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
      Welcome to your gory bed,
      Or to victory!

      Now's the day, and now's the hour;
      See the front o' battle lour;
      See approach proud Edward's power—
      Chains and slavery!

      Wha will be a traitor knave?
      Wha can fill a coward's grave!
      Wha sae base as be a slave?
      Let him turn and flee!

      Wha for Scotland's king and law
      Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
      Freeman stand, or freeman fa',
      Let him follow me!

      By oppression's woes and pains!
      By your sons in servile chains!
      We will drain our dearest veins,
      But they shall be free!

      Lay the proud usurpers low!
      Tyrants fall in every foe!
      Liberty's in every blow!—
      Let us do or die!"

      Robert Burns

      "Your average viewer would assume that Wallace himself was known as Braveheart. Unfortunately, if anybody is the “real” Braveheart then that would be King Robert the Bruce. After Robert died, his friend James Douglas took the King's heart on crusade to honour his dying wish.Jul 28, 2021"

      Robert the Bruce changed sides early in the war for Scottish Independence, going from Scots to England. He did not betray Wallace directly by doing so.

      As in the Iliad, there is a whole lot of romanticization of war with details shrouded in the mist of time, since this all took place nearly 1000 years ago. Robert Burns wrote very recently about it (like Homer) and is reporting legends imbued with a lot of emotion.

      But, as usual, Somerby is using other people's songs and stories to advance his own agenda. He is not crediting anyone, and so far, not even admitting that these are his intended allusions. Coy is too weak a word for that behavior. This is why I dislike Somerby so much (among other reasons, including his dishonesty, support for Trump, calumny against people who don't deserve it, and inability to be straight with anyone about anything). Somerby and Al Gore deserve each other.

      Delete
    2. "The lyrics were written by Robert Burns in 1793, in the form of a speech given by Robert the Bruce before the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 during the Scottish Wars of Independence. Although the lyrics are by Burns, he wrote them to the traditional Scottish tune "Hey Tuttie Tatie", which according to tradition, was played by Bruce's army at the Battle of Bannockburn.[1] According to tradition, the same theme was played in 1429 by the Franco-Scots army at the siege of OrlΓ©ans in front of Joan of Arc.[citation needed] The song, called "Marche des soldats de Robert Bruce" in France, belongs to the traditional list of military music, and commemorates the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland. As for the Battle of Bannockburn, the theme really played was probably a traditional Scottish theme such as "Hey Tuttie Tatie". The tune tends to be played as a slow air, but certain arrangements put it at a faster tempo, as in the Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch, the concert overture Rob Roy by Hector Berlioz, and the Real McKenzies' punk rock rendition on their 1998 album Clash of the Tartans."

      Delete
    3. 7:02 - “This is why I dislike Somerby so much”

      Yet somehow you just can’t tear yourself away from reading him day after day after day! How very sad for you!

      Delete
    4. It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it. I notice you have no comment other than to attack someone else here, as usual.

      Delete
    5. Oh! I’m sorry! Did I hurt your feelings? Please don’t cry!

      Delete
    6. Broken record 8:12 and 9:05 breaks his/her own wind.

      Delete
    7. Pied, you are sounding a little childish.
      One doesn’t have to like Bob to read him
      every day; is that the best counter you
      got? Reading Bob every day now explains
      a lot, and is quite enlighting, about the
      nature of,
      for lack of a better word, evil.
      It has to do, broad strokes, with how
      a human being (Bob) with enjoy another
      human being (Trump) inflicting pain on
      other specific human beings and on
      society as a whole. And the great
      lengths that human being (Bob) will
      go in trying to deceive himself and
      others about it.
      Granted, it’s not why one started
      to read “The Daily Howler” it’s just
      where its lead. Most of the people,
      I believe, who started reading Bob
      for conventionally useful reasons
      are long gone.
      One way or another, it will all be
      over by the end of the year. Trump is
      the sewer Bob has hitched his wagon
      to. From there, it will be off limits, or Bob will dive in to swim the narrow
      channel.

      Delete
    8. Whoa! You may need some therapy!

      Delete
    9. I manage a fantasy baseball team.

      Delete
    10. Pied Piper, like he said, childish.

      Delete
    11. 9:52 says Somerby is “evil” because he enjoys watching the infliction of pain. This is sick stuff. And you’re supporting it?

      Delete
  17. Here is a column written by Digby on 4/20/2020. It details Trump's complete and utter failure to deal competently with covid at the height of the pandemic, before there was a vaccine. Especially for those of you who have forgotten what it was like, who are tending to glass Trump's failures, please read this and remember what happened:

    https://digbysblog.net/2024/04/20/four-years-ago-today-15/

    "President Trump’s daily coronavirus briefing rallies aren’t even attempting to be relevant to the ongoing pandemic anymore. To the extent it even comes up, it’s entirely Trump bragging about anything that’s gone right and blaming others for everything that’s gone wrong. If you want to know the latest information about the emergency, you’ll need to look elsewhere. These are Trump campaign rallies done for the strict purpose of energizing his base."

    And then she gives specifics and details. Anyone thinking of voting for Trump -- this is what you are signing up for again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A politician boasted about his accomplishments?OMG!

      BTW the accomplishment Trump boasted about most was speeding the development of a vaccine. AFAIK that was a valid boast.

      Delete
    2. Read the article

      Delete
    3. 8:34 - I thought it was overturning Roe.

      Delete
    4. Pfizer's vaccine was not supported by Operation Warp Speed and came to market simultaneous with the first Warp Speed funded vaccine, using German money for its development. So to say that Trump's efforts resulted in a faster vaccine to market is false.

      Delete
  18. Does anyone on either end of the political spectrum trust our legal process?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do, because Trump was convicted of massive business fraud (which he did) and of sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll (which he did), and because those grand juries brought back indictments so his other crimes will be tried. Alsso because so many of the perpetrators of the 1/6 insurrection violence have been sentenced to jail. We all saw what they did and now they are serving time. Given the power of the wealthy right wing, this tells me our process works.

      Delete
  19. AnonymousApril 20, 2024 at 12:43 PM

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    ReplyDelete
    Replies
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  20. My uncle was eaten by cannibals. Somerby is an ass.

    I am Corby.

    ReplyDelete