WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2025
Human behavior ignored: It's an amazing time for the observation of human behavior.
Within the realm of journalism, it's also an amazing time to see human behavior ignored.
We start with last night's Gutfeld! program. All in all, the program wasn't as coarse or as misogynistic as it more typically is, but its first two segments involved a stunning, five-person performance of human mental shortcomings.
It's hard to critique such Gutfeld! segments on a rapid-fire basis. A lot of transcribing would be required, along with a fair amount of backstory.
Briefly:
In last night's first segment (start here), the relentlessly astonishing host kicked things off by launching one of his astonishing generalizations about what "liberals" are actually like. After his monologue on this topic—lately, this has basically become his only monologue topic—four baboons politely took turns topping what he had just said.
Full disclosure! Until not very long ago, we wouldn't have known that you could get waves of people to stage such dumb, though poisonous, conversations on a TV program.
Plainly, it's extremely possible to engineer this outcome. The task is accomplished on the Gutfeld! show every night of the week.
(The Five is merely a warm-up.)
In last evening's second segment, the troops took turns assailing Jake Tapper for failing to report President Biden's apparent cognitive decline during his term in office—or for doing something like that.
For the record, a perfectly valid question was plainly lurking there:
To what extent (if any) did Democratic politicians and mainstream journalists engage in some sort of "cover-up" regarding this apparent problem? The question is perfectly valid—and Tapper has now published a book which is said to explore that very topic! (We haven't read it.)
The question is perfectly valid! That said:
From the anthropological perspective, the Gutfeld! show is an invaluable resource. It's an invaluable resource in the way it presents groups of people who can't or won't explore valid questions without instantly turning to tribal invective and abandoning anything resembling coherent analytical procedures.
(Professor Brabender's famous thesis: "Where I come from, we only talk so long. After that, we start to hit.")
During last evening's second segment, the baboons proceeded to savage Tapper without explaining the basis on which they were claiming that he had engaged in some such cover-up. One small glimmer did emerge when one of the helpers offered a slender reference.
For a reason you'll have to discern by watching the tape of the full segment, at issue was a basic question: Who was more at fault in this cover-up, Tapper or Tim Walz? In the following comment, we were given our only glimpse of what Tapper is specifically alleged to have done:
COMPAGNO (4/8/25): Respectfully to Governor Walz, he's not that smart. I mean, that's the whole point.
[LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE]
COMPAGNO: This is why—this is why my answer to the game is, Jake Tapper's worse, a million percent. Because Walz has always been that way. What you see is what you get.
But Jake Tapper—we watched when he excoriated poor Lara Trump, who was incredible at defending what we all knew, which was seeing President Biden's mental acuity totally decline right before our very eyes, and he sat there [on] his high horse and just skewered her—tried to—and anyone else who came on.
And now he thinks he has the wherewithal to be able to question the cover-up? The cover-up was him!
The cover-up was Jake Tapper! He's a million percent worse than Walz—but what had Tapper done?
According to the Fox New Channel's routinely irate Emily Compagno, he had excoriated Lara Trump for having asserted "what we all knew" about President Biden's decline. He had tried to skewer her, along with "anyone else who came on."
So read the indictment concerning the one slender charge. When we sat down and googled it up, this is what we found:
Somewhat surprisingly, the (very brief) incident in question occurred during the 2020 campaign! At that time, did everyone think that "President Biden" was in some obvious cognitive decline?
We'd be surprised to learn that the answer is yes. Given the trivial nature of the incident in question, we aren't going to try to google that.
The background to the attempted skewering incident was this:
Back in 2020, Lara Trump had made a somewhat snarky remark about Candidate Biden's public speaking. Tapper apparently thought she'd been making fun of Biden's lifelong stutter, which had started being discussed in 2019.
When Tapper challenged the comment, Lara Trump said that she'd actually been talking about what she believed to be a mental decline. Tapper didn't seem to believe her. With that, the skewering ended
(For ourselves, we'd assume that actually was what Lara Trump had meant.)
This was a very minor event, from a time when Biden's possible or apparent cognitive decline wasn't anything like the widespread topic it would later become. That said, such minor offenses never die at times of heartfelt tribal warfare, especially among the perpetually furious.
And so it came to pass that when the topic of Tapper's book was announced in late February, Lara Trump swung into action, recalling the 2020 incident all over again. For one news report, click here.
Last night, the children pounded away at Tapper for his abhorrent behavior. A basic anthropological finding came into view:
Some people can't explore a valid question without going straight for the tribal jugular.
Simply put, they don't seem to have what it takes. Also, they're being paid.
As of the 2024 campaign, what did Tapper know, if anything, about Joe Biden's apparent or alleged decline? It would be interesting to see that question asked and answered.
That said, Homie don't play it that way on the Gutfeld! program. The Gutfeld! show is human dumbness all the way down, plus dimwitted tribal aggression.
On most nights, it's also a cesspool of sexual insult and undisguised misogyny.
We never knew that you could pay people to go on TV and be so remarkably dumb. As it turns out, it's an easily accomplished task. This show is a lesson every night—one other orgs won't discuss.
The Dow is up 2900. Trump is a stable genius.
ReplyDeleteIt is still way below Biden’s high.
DeleteThe arsonist puts out the fire. Pure genius.
DeleteIt isn’t out.
DeleteIt's a pump and dump, moron. Ask MTG.
DeleteIn a "pump and dump" only the wealthy benefit. Those with investments and pensions do not. The market is still way below its high under Biden. That means a lot of people have still lost money. If you are pumping and dumping, I would keep that to yourself, since the animosity directed toward people like you might be dangerous if people lose a lot of their savings.
DeleteLook, Trump has the ability to single-handedly manipulate the stock market. You think he’s not monetizing that ability?
DeleteBrabender was not a professor.
ReplyDeleteAre you a bot? There's dumb, there's dumber, and then there's you.
DeleteProfessors are not baseball players either. It takes a lot of work to be a professor. Somerby’s disrespect for Brabender is tiresome.
DeleteWait a minute. It takes a lot of work to become a professor. Sounds like Somerby is overly respecting Brabender by calling him a professor.
DeleteStraighten out the logic of your complaint.
It arguably takes more hours of practice to become a pro baseball player than a professor, but Somerby uses the word professor as if it meant nothing in terms of expertise. He similarly disrespects Brabender by suggesting he means that baseball players fight each other, when that is not what Brabender himself would ever do, being a non-violent person. Somerby's casual insults distributed only to support his own agenda, are annoying to those of us who care about Brabender, care about baseball, care about professors (who generally teach in universities for way less money than baseball players) and those of us who think knowledge is valuable.
DeleteSomerby repeats his slanders so often than he no doubt believes no one will challenge them. That's primarily why I think it is important to object to these throw-away remarks every time he makes them. It isn't fair to Brabender's memory or to the important work done by professors, now under increasingly difficult conditions.
You’re joking, right?
DeleteSomerby is a lesson on dumbness.
ReplyDeleteTrump places seventy kajillion % tariffs on China and the Belgian Congo. Master strategy.
ReplyDelete"As of the 2024 campaign, what did Tapper know, if anything, about Joe Biden's apparent or alleged decline? It would be interesting to see that question asked and answered."
ReplyDeleteSomerby admits that he has not read Tapper's book. Why does he think anyone on a talk show is going to answer that question? Once again, Somerby shows his laziness.
You had a tough breakup with Somerby, didn't you? There's still some bitterness and it shows.
DeleteSomerby only likes Anne Frank.
DeleteWas that the core issue?
Delete"Yes, men who struggle with unresolved issues stemming from their relationship with their mother, often referred to as "mommy issues," may face challenges in forming healthy, intimate relationships with adult women, potentially leading to insecure attachment styles or other relational difficulties. "
Delete"Mommy issues in men refer to emotional and behavioral patterns stemming from a complex or problematic relationship with their mother. This can manifest as difficulties in adult relationships, including excessive dependence, fear of abandonment, idealization of women, or trouble with intimacy and commitment."
Idealizing Anne Frank, for example. Men who focus on young teens or girls below the age of consent are suspect of being sexually incompetent, hence their preference for sexual relationships in which the girl is naive and more easily controlled, manipulated, impressed, dependent (lacking income of her own) with lower sexual expectations.
Implying that some woman had a tough breakup with Somerby begs the question of his contribution to such an outcome. He has never married (by his own account). His highly critical comments about a wide variety of women over the years would suggest he might have trouble in a relationship with any adult woman.
"President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, cast a ballot in Hawaii, even though she had declared her state of residence as Texas and filed an under-oath certification of a homestead in Travis County, reported CNN — potentially running afoul of state voting laws."
ReplyDeleteThese people have no respect for law, not even voting laws.
Deport her.
DeleteBob asks (rhetorically, I think) "At that time (2020), did everyone think that "President Biden" was in some obvious cognitive decline?"
ReplyDeleteMany conservatives did think so. They observed Biden's bizarre campaign -- avoiding TV appearances, not appearing live before large crowds, and avoiding press conferences. These are things that candidates normally do lots of. Biden offered the lame excuse that he couldn't do these things because of covid.
Go fuck yourself, Dickhead. Biden wasn't trying to gaslight a global pandemic - resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths of Americans - like that asshole you crawled naked thru the gutter to vote for.
DeleteTrump was gaslighting? But President Trump kept boasting about how he speeded up the development of mRNA covid vaccines.
DeleteYou speak of Trump's 'boasts'. Relevance?
DeleteTrump wasn't hiding covid. On the contrary he focused on a vaccine, which means he acknowledged covid.
DeleteDavid, don't be silly. Trump told his people not to count the cases via testing because if they didn't test they could act as if they wouldn't have as much covid. He told the public that covid would just go away and that it would be gone by Easter. He tried to do away with isolation procedures so that he could pretend that life was still normal, regardless of the cost in increased infections. Of course Trump hid covid. He even tried to pretend that he didn't have covid until he was taken to the hospital with it. He refused to be tested himself or allow his family and guests to be tested for covid before the debate with Biden, because he was himself infected and hoped to transmit covid to Biden and his staff and family. He didn't tell his own people that covid was dangerous and held a party attended by Amy Coney Barrett (in her honor) who caught covid there. Herschel Walker also caught it and died of it. So, Trump's failure to acknowledge and deal with covid personally, instead hiding it, hurt his own people, not just the nation as a whole.
Delete"It's going to disappear. One day — it's like a miracle — it will disappear," Trump said. "And from our shores, we — you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens. Nobody really knows."
DeleteTrump literally killed Herman Cain, Dickhead. Sure, he wasn't hiding Covid. We all just imagined the daily bullshit he told the American public. Go fuck yourself, Dickhead. Go play with your maggot friends, they might like you.
Delete"Herschel Walker also caught it and died of it."
DeleteAre you thinking of Herman Cain?
It is silly to suggest that Biden was shirking public appearances in the year after he won the election, defeating Trump. Obviously, Biden had the cognitive ability to beat Trump. There was no need for him to expose himself to covid in 2020-21, the lockdown period.
DeleteThe best indicator of Biden's mental competence is the success of his term in office. Speeches are not as important as negotiations with other countries, obtaining cooperation of Congress to pass the legislation that kept our economy and recovery going after covid, and the many large and small efforts that made life better for people up until the final days of his administration. His many accomplishments are what make the claims about his incompetence so ridiculous, whether you agree with his policies or not.
Quaker, yes Herman Cain, sorry. Herschel Walker claimed he had a spray that could kill covid (before the vaccine was available).
Deletehttps://www.reuters.com/article/world/herman-cain-ex-presidential-candidate-who-refused-to-wear-mask-dies-after-covi-idUSKCN24V2OH/
Thanks for the Trump quote, Quaker. I don't know the date Trump said that, but there was indeed a long period when nobody really knew what was goin to happen.
DeleteDavid, epidemiologists knew what was going to happen. Why do you think they were working on a vaccine? It was already happening elsewhere at the point when it started to appear in the USA. Trump doesn't have any excuse for the way he responded, except incompetence and denial (as a psychological response). He also failed to support the experts who were trying to help cope with covid, undermining them and promoting ineffective alternatives because his pals were financially benefitting from them.
Delete"there was indeed a long period when nobody really knew what was goin to happen."
DeleteCome on now, don't keep be playing that you are that uninformed. You know your dear leader knew exactly what was going down before it exploded, and literally ran away from the bad news. He could have saved so many lives with the truth.
"Mr Trump indicated that he knew more about the severity of the illness than he had said publicly.
"According to a tape of the call, Mr Trump told Woodward in February that the coronavirus was deadlier than the flu."
"It goes through the air," Mr Trump told the author on 7 February.
"That's always tougher than the touch. You don't have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that's how it's passed.
"And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flus."
Later that month, Mr Trump promised the virus was "very much under control", and that the case count would soon be close to zero. He also publicly implied the flu was more dangerous than Covid-19.
I mean screw Woodward for sitting on this to sell more books, but your boy is either a monster or derelict in his duties, more likely both. This was early and mid February, national shut down was mid-March. Conservatives have the memory of a gnat. And you need to stop lying to yourself all the time.
Thank you, Arty. Notice only from Dickhead in Cal.
Deletecrickets from Dickhead. that is his M.O.
DeleteAll the money in the world can't make Elon Musk cool:
ReplyDelete"Elon Musk Rage Quits Livestream After Being Cyberbullied by Gamers:
While attempting to show off Starlink’s in-flight WiFi capabilities while onboard his private jet over the weekend, Musk streamed himself playing some PoE2 [Path of Exile 2] on the hardest difficulty, which was broadcast live on X.
The DOGE chief was, predictably, terrible at the game, but that was the least of his problems—Less than five minutes into the stream, a player logged on and asked Musk if he could “please jerk off mr trump so he dies of a heart attack.” It only got worse from there.
For the next hour and a half, Musk sat in stony-faced silence and blasted techno music while dozens of users with names such as ELON_IS_A_PEEDOPHILE and ELON_MUSK_IS_PATHETIC repeatedly spammed the chat to tell him “YOU HAVE NO FRIENDS AND YOU WILL DIE ALONE” and “YOU WILL ALWAYS FEEL INSECURE AND IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY.”"
"They had no water to put out the fires. Water is very good for putting out fires, you know, they just didn't learn it, but we now have millions of gallons, billions actually they say of gallons of water pouring into, into California from the Pacific Northwest... I guess I would say mostly Pacific Northwest, but other parts of of the northern sections of California and beyond and it's a beautiful thing to see."
ReplyDeleteThe felon has been pining for that reserved crop water for over a year. It was so weird hearing him talking about this giant valve, and four very strong men taking 24 hours to open it, and turning central valley green, and all because of a little fish, and on and on and all the press had to say was Biden is old. Well, when it is choosing between a shark or a battery, what can the press do but bitch about Biden?
DeleteI'm not in interested in who was worse. Hiding Biden's mental decline was hugely a important lie Most of the White House press corp and all those who met regularly with President knew (or should have known) that he was mentally impaired. The 25th Amendment should have been invoked and Kamala Harris should have become President.
ReplyDeleteSome disastrous things were done during that period. The way the withdrawal from Afghanistan was handled. The virtually open border. The enormous spending. A huge deficit or $2 trillion, even though the country had re-opened from covid, there was not war, and the economy was good in terms of GNP and unemployment. The other big disaster, if you're a Dem, is that Trump got elected.
Biden's team was more concerned with protecting the president and their own careers than with making the best decision for the country. They were in denial about his deteriorating mental condition and refused to believe that he was unfit to run for a second term, even as he wandered off from photo ops and made statements in a debate that were incomprehensible and bizarre. Independent liberal media was afraid to leave the herd and gaslit their readers about his alarming decline. This led to a political disaster, with Kamala Harris being thrown into the race at the last minute against an emboldened Donald Trump. Biden's inner circle and the media that was blindly loyal to them (and the toadies that lapped up their lies) are responsible for Trump being president.
DeleteAnd yet the achievements of Biden’s term are regarded as the best since FDR.
DeleteYes, of course! Clearly, he was the best president since FDR. It's just that he got Trump re-elected alongside all of his magnificent achievements. Which is a net negative for some.
DeleteI love how Trump gets no credit for winning in 10::00pm’s scenario. It all revolved around Biden. Poor Donnie, can’t get no respect.
DeleteIt seems likely that had Biden stepped aside prior to the primaries in 2020 that the Democratic nominee would have been… Wait for it… Kamala Harris.
DeleteShould have typed “2024” primaries, not 2020.
DeleteBiden's decision to run in 2024 is hard to explain, given his very clear infirmities at that time. Why would he run again and make an ass of himself?
DeleteMy guess FWIW is that some Biden aids were virtually acting as President and they wanted to keep the job.
As I recall, the Democratic establishment arranged the primaries to help Biden win. That turned out badly. Had a different Dem been nominated, I think the Dems would have defeated Trump. Trump only won by a point over a dreadful candidate who was also stuck with Biden's baggage. One can perhaps argue that Harris would have made a good President, but we all saw that she was terrible at being a candidate.
Stupid fantasy.
DeleteI hated it when she handed the Convicted Felon his ass in the debate. I felt so bad for the man in the orange paint. What a freak show that man is. I hope he gets some help soon so he stops taking his loss out on us. At least after a year of bitching about smelly rich people in Beverly Hills, the sexual assaulter was finally able to overcome Newscum and send water stored for crop irrigation to a dry lake in the desert. I feel so happy for him. Getting so much good for nothing. Next he will strip health care for poor people, but good for him, cause fuck poor people, hurry and and die you leeches on society. Yea Jesus!!! Yea MAGA!!!
DeleteWhy is David in Cal continuing too hide the Felon's obvious mental decline?
DeleteBiden's decision to run in 2024 isn't that hard to understand. He won in 2020. His advisors were in charge and running things. Donors were happy. The DNC thought they were burying Trump in lawfare (another huge mistake). They were able to hide his decline up until 2022 although the signs were there. It was too difficult to stop and do the right thing. They couldn't stop the momentum. It was easier to just go for it. And it brought us Trump.
DeleteAnd there is a culture in liberal media that does not allow any dissent at all. Anyone who wanted to point out the obvious about Biden would be attacked and gaslit relentlessly. It was probably even worse in Biden's inner circle. One was not allowed to speak the obvious and visible truth about Biden's obvious decline into senility. And we have all of them to thank for Trump. Thanks sheep!! Great job!
Some people think Biden didn't do enough about illegal immigrants totally out-classing white people on the job market.
DeleteIn the sense that Biden didn't name me as the person to tell corporations what they could and couldn't do, I agree.
11:24,
DeleteBiden's a white male. I know you love your identity politics, but even you have to admit a white male hasn't done any good for this country since John Brown.
11:24: I still find it amusing that you’re saying that Trump is such a loser that he only got elected because of Biden. Are you claiming that any other Democrat would have beaten Trump? I still contend, as I did above, that had Biden stepped down prior to the 2024 primaries, that Kamala Harris would have been the likely nominee, so it still would’ve been a matchup between Trump and Harris.
Delete12:49
DeleteThank you for reiterating your interesting contention. I would prefer to just let it speak for itself.
For some reason, in America they like bullies. The MAGAS who tune into Fox and watch that shit, especially. Elsewhere, such behavior is frowned upon. When Trump states that the people he is planning on negotiating with over tariffs are lining up to kiss his ass, I'm not betting that those people are happy to hear that. It's a good day for the markets when Trump rescinds even temporarily his dumbass plans. As for the ass kissing: consumers in places that used to like us won't be buying it, or our products.
Delete11:24 Remarking about how the political machine on the left was more than willing to line up and support a declining Biden, while absolutely true, is not to say that the Republicans are blameless of the same, I assume. No one outside of Trump's inner circle knows how he has done on two dementia screens, one that was taken at a Saturday unscheduled visit to Walter Reed Hospital roughly 6 years ago.
DeleteI agree @11:49 that Harris would have won the nomination if Biden hadn’t run.
DeleteYes I think Trump is a big loser, but only because of overwhelming media bias. One small example . The PBS Newshour has a “balanced” debate on Friday between an anti- Trump liberal and an anti -Trump conservative. Can you imagine a balanced debate between two Trump supporters?
Dishonest anti-Trump bias became particularly flagrant in the days before the election. One popular trick was to pretend not to understand Trump was using a metaphor and then show that it wasn't literally true.
DeleteRambling incoherently at rallies was a metaphor.
Delete"...groceries. It's a bag with different things in it..."
DeleteThe brain that pieced together that gem could not a distinguish metaphor from a meatball.
He was weaving together all his lies and ignorance on various topics into one long boring incoherent metaphor and Dickhead in Cal, Trump-whisperer, was there to interpret.
DeleteIn the Right-wing world they either flex or whine they are the victim. There is no middle ground.
DeleteDavid Duke in Cal is correct.
DeleteI distinctly remember the media ignoring Trump's long history of ripping off his contractors, in the last few years before the election.
Don't knock thinking white people are as moral or industrious as illegal immigrants, until you too are a ketamine addict.
ReplyDeleteIf we let Trump renegotiate tariff rates, we'll end up paying twice the current rates, in exchange for Trump being called "a genius" many, many times.
ReplyDelete