TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2026
Silence from the press: How good a film was Crazy/Beautiful? We can't say we remember.
It had been mentioned to us (as the director's predecessor to Blue Crush) by [WE NO LONGER MENTION NAMES], a film critic for the Washington Post and a good and decent person.
It was "an unusually observant film about adolescence," Roger Ebert said in his three-star review. Having said that, whatever!
As we noted yesterday, we thought of the film's unusual title when we read Mediaite's account of what Senator Cassidy told Jake Tapper this weekend.
On Sunday, Cassidy had appeared on CNN's State of the Union. This exchange had occurred:
TAPPER (8/16/26): President Trump also claimed that the combined MMR vaccine could be, quote, "quite lethal." He referred to it as sort of like a nuclear weapon.
He said he's seen proof that the size of combined vaccines are comparable to what he called a bottle of soda, a large vat, or what seemingly looks like gallons being pumped into a child's body.
You said someone needs to stand up to, quote, "crazy/stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization," unquote. Is President Trump saying some of these, quote, "crazy/stupid things?"
CASSIDY: Yes. That's a crazy/stupid thing.
We've replaced the comma with a slash. Cassidy spoke of statements about an important vaccine which were "crazy/stupid."
At this site, we prefer to avoid the insulting term "stupid." For obvious reasons, we'd also avoid the colloquial term "crazy" when real issues of possible mental illness seemed to be involved.
That said, the nation continues to drive at high speed toward a cliff, with its journalists refusing to report or discuss what seems to be right there before them.
We've run out of things to say about that unyielding silence on the part of the upper-end press corps. But as for the president, we learn today that the world has now been gifted with this:
Trump Declares Strait of Hormuz as ‘NEW US Territory’ in Bonkers Truth Social Post
President Donald Trump proclaimed on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz is a “new U.S. territory,” as the war in Iran nears the six-month mark.
An image shared to Trump’s Truth Social account showed the crucial waterway and strategic oil pipeline circled on a map and emblazoned with the words “NEW U.S. Territory.”
Tom Durante's report for Mediaite continues from there. To visit the president's Truth Social post, you can just click this.
Over at Mediaite, the headline writer went with the jangly term "bonkers." We'd describe the president's declaration as HIGHLY DISTURBING / PRESUMABLY VERY DANGEROUS.
We repeat the point we've made before. The president will remain in office for more than two years after November's elections. There's no way of knowing what he might decide to do in those two-plus years.
The silence continues within the press. They simply won't tell you about it.
As frequently noted: We regard a severe mental illness as an actual illness. We regard any such illness as a tragic human event.
This coy teasing is annoying:
ReplyDelete"It had been mentioned to us (as the director's predecessor to Blue Crush) by [WE NO LONGER MENTION NAMES], a film critic for the Washington Post and a good and decent person."
If you don't want to mention someone's name you write the sentence like this:
"It had been mentioned to us as the director's predecessor to Blue Crush."
See how easy that is?
There’s something wrong with Bob. But is he mentally ill?
DeleteMaybe dementia? He is as old as Trump.
DeleteSpeaking of coy teasing, Somerby used to gush over the film Blue Crush as one of his all-time favorites.
ReplyDelete"In the 2002 sports drama Blue Crush, hard-core surfer Anne Marie Chadwick (Kate Bosworth) trains for the prestigious Pipeline Masters competition in Hawaii while raising her younger sister and working as a hotel maid. She must overcome past trauma from a near-fatal wipeout and balance her intense training with an unexpected romance with an NFL quarterback."
Lots of young girls in bathing suits. Nothing else that would recommend such a film to a middle aged man. It seemed odd at the time that this would be a Somerby favorite. Not so odd in retrospect.
It’s PG-13.
DeleteSo was Anne Frank.
Delete“Lots of girls in bathing suits.”
DeleteIn a movie about a surfing competition would you expect them to wear burkas?
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say either the OP is the gayest man in the history of gayness, or he's never seen Kate Bosworth in a bikini.
DeleteShe has a younger sister in the film.
Delete@11:29 It isn't how the girls are dressed that is the problem, it is that Somerby calls this his favorite film, as he has for years now. Just like My Antonia seems to be his favorite novel. I once speculated that Somerby might be gay, but that explanation doesn't touch many of the bases.
DeleteI watched the film based on one of Somerby's prior mentions of it, but I couldn't see why he would find it interesting, even with Roger Ebert's endorsement.
DeleteBlue Crush, not Crazy/Beautiful (which Somerby has not mentioned previously).
DeleteThis isn't a particularly unusual word to appear in a movie title (crazy):
DeleteCrazy Rich Asians, Crazy Stupid Love, Crazy Heart, Stir Crazy, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Like Crazy, Drive Me Crazy, Eight Crazy Nights, Blonde Crazy, Crazy Eights, Crazy in Alabama, Crazy on the Outside, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Girl Crazy, One Crazy Summer, Cool and the Crazy, Crazy, GunCrazy, Kill Crazy
There is not a slash in the title of Crazy Beautiful. Why does Somerby add one? Seems like a liberty.
It’s crazy/beautiful. With a slash and without capital letters.
DeleteI've seen it both ways.
DeleteSomerby's infatuation with young females is creepy, but at least today he isn't whining about Gutfeld being bad for Republican branding....oh wait, nevermind.
Delete"At this site, we prefer to avoid the insulting term "stupid." For obvious reasons, we'd also avoid the colloquial term "crazy" when real issues of possible mental illness seemed to be involved. "
ReplyDeleteThese are words that describe the speaker, not the content of their speech. Why not say that the statement itself is wrong, incorrect, misleading, harmful to the public? Dangerous because the president is giving out misinformation that may harm children, leading to higher incidences of dangerous diseases?
It is better to say this is scientifically incorrect than to call anyone stupid over it. What matters is whether the kids get their shots.
ReplyDeleteObviously, combining several dangerous chemicals in one shot is a bad idea. You'd have to be a disturbed idiot-Dumbocrat not to see it.
See, this is where "common sense" leads people astray. You don't just decide the chemicals are dangerous without testing them, and if they are not dangerous but helpful, then why would combining them make them worse? Cooks combine chemicals all the time when making food, and it often makes them better, not worse. Vaccines are tested to (1) make sure they aren't dangerous, and (2) make sure they work to prevent diseases.
DeleteWhy don't you go get another booster, Dumbocrat.
DeleteHere is where it is OK to call someone stupid. Unless this guy is mocking right-wing ignorance and I am too dumb to realize he is being satirical. The clue is referring to Dumbo-crats when the elephant is the symbol of the Republican party, not Democrats. Or wait, maybe he is making a fat insult against liberal cat ladies (would that be a mixed metaphor?).
DeleteInsult bots are perhaps cheaper than troll farm staff.
DeleteThis fucking idiot is pissing our troll farm off. Everyone here knows there is no "B" in dum.
DeleteIt will take up to ten years to develop and test the three MMR shots individually. This after billions of combined shots have been safely administered for over 50 years. Magats are unhinged imbeciles. End of conversation.
DeleteThe military and the pharmaceutical industry have both taken the wise policy of waiting Trump out.
DeleteVaccine combos were thoroughly tested before the protocol became part of public health.
DeleteVaccines are not just safe, they save millions of lives.
Republicans hand-wave science because science makes them feel inferior and emotionally uncomfortable; most Republicans claim to not believe in human caused climate change, or even evolution. They also believe that Israel should be a nation of Jewish people and then with rising conflicts there will be Armageddon and then....the Second Coming of Jesus. Praise the Lord, Amen!
Anyhoo, the world is anxiously anticipating Trump's passing, it is likely the most eagerly awaited Celebration Day in history; when that day comes there will be much rejoicing throughout the world, and that includes his own family.
"That said, the nation continues to drive at high speed toward a cliff, with its journalists refusing to report or discuss what seems to be right there before them."
ReplyDeleteAnd yet Somerby's own essay today is full of media quotes about the things he tells us are not being reported. Once again, Somerby is pushing Mediaite. Mediaite, unfortunately, has been putting more of its reports behind a paywall. I assume Somerby has paid the toll, but chasing clickbait at sites that won't share info without a fee is not my idea of a free press. It creates a situation where only those with extra money can be informed, and that is not in the best interests of a democracy. Influencers don't get to be choosy about what they promote, unless they too have more income, but then they might choose not to be influencers at all.
There is nothing wonderful about Mediaite compared to other media. I suppose it is an improvement that Somerby is not shilling for Gutfeld and Fox today, or maybe he is saving that for the afternoon.
Trump is posting maps indicating Strait of Hormuz as US territory
ReplyDeleteHow much longer, dear Lord
The Strait of Hormuz is international waters, except for a few miles near the shore of Iran (and near Oman on the other shore.). There's no legal basis for Iran to claim ownership. Trump's ridiculous assertion illustrates that Iran's claim of ownership is also ridiculous.
DeleteThe Strait of Hormuz is NOT international waters. It's national territorial waters of Iran and Oman.
DeleteTrump plays 5d chess. Like your cousin's uncle's nephew's cousin's (3 times removed), second grade art teacher, who moonlights as an international law professor.
DeleteIf there is no legal basis for Iran to claim ownership, there is definitely no basis for Trump to do so. Trump was not sending a clever message. He was saying "mine, mine, mine," like the seagulls in Finding Nemo.
DeleteTrump is not clever and everything he says is surface, not deep. It takes some frontal lobe functioning to be indirect and that is gone due to his dementia. It is also why he cannot stand up straight or walk properly or speak coherently.
It's "The Straight of America" now Dimbulbcrats. USA! USA! USA! Go Trump go! Blow more shit up. So much winning!!!
Delete"the nation continues to drive at high speed toward a cliff..."
ReplyDeleteBut, what is the metaphorical "cliff"? A great depression? Nuclear annihilation? Mass starvation?
Fuck you, David, fascist freak
DeleteDavid makes a good point. Economists are predicting a depression, with data to support their prediction. Krugman is attributing it to the immigrant persecution that has reduced the workforce, and he says it may last for a while.
DeleteThe threats of nuclear annihilation and mass starvation (global warming-related?) are the traditional fear-mongering by the right wing right before another election. Republicans always motivate their voters with fear.
That doesn't mean our nation is driving towards a cliff. That is Somerby's trolling. He has been saying such things for a long time, without any cliff coming into view. On the other hand, Trump will die soon, the Democrats are going to win a bunch of elections later this year, and we are not going to acquire Greenland. Perhaps that is what Somerby means? It can't be anything related to Democratic prospects because things are looking up for us in Blue America.
DiC, the only things VonShitzhisPantz is committed to (other than participation trophies and golden doodads) is creating a great depression, nuclear annihilation, and mass starvation. For once you got it!
DeleteSpot on 11:45.
DeleteThe cliff to Somerby is Dems taking back control of the House and possibly the Senate.
"what is the metaphorical "cliff"?
DeleteVance wins in '28.
Tiedrich points out that the response to Ossof's mention of Natalie Harp was a bit disproportionate:
ReplyDelete"on Sunday, Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff delivered a barn-burner of a speech, in which he ripped Preznit Fuckwit several new ones, for being the incompetent imbecile who lied our country into an unwinnable war against Iran, and for being the callous toad who is ignoring the plight of the five thousand sailors trapped aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
but all that was lost on the MAGAverse, because there were three words toward the end of Ossoff’s speech that caused every Republican to immediately shit a massive, white-hot brick and explode into paroxysms of performative outrage.
“he wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
that’s right, Jon Ossoff went there. he brought up the weird stalker-slash-diaper-nurse who is now Dear Leader’s constant companion.
once those three words — ‘travel with Natalie’ — escaped Ossoff’s lips, the entire Donnyverse clutched their pearls and collapsed onto their fainting couches."
It really does seem like Ossof struck a nerve. That makes it harder to shrug off, for both the right and left.
It is time for Trump to come clean about what is going on with him. Is she a nurse and his health problems are worse than admitted, or is she a super-sycophant, in which case Trump's mental health is even more of an issue, or is she a paid dolly, a comfort-object, or a gatekeeper (with what qualifications)? The public has the right to know.
As AOC says, the more aggressively Dems attack Pubs and call out their racism, sexism, and xenophobia, the more Dems will win.
DeleteExactly, Somerby doesn't like it when Democrats call out Republican bad behavior. The point is that the targets of such criticisms do not have to agree and they don't have to like being labeled either. The point is for voters to know what their candidates are really like. No more Max Millers creeping into office by imitating good decent human beings. No more Ken Paxtons who will steal anything not nailed down.
DeleteWho benefits from encouraging Dems to downplay their criticisms of Republican opponents? Only the Republican wrongdoers. Voters gain nothing.
Trump doesn't own the Strait of Hormuz. This is more trolling. Someone helped him create that map. Who? He didn't do it by himself.
ReplyDeleteHey Dumbosocrass, it's now called the "Straight of America!!!"
Delete"The silence continues within the press. They simply won't tell you about it."
ReplyDeleteWhat is the press talking about? Perhaps Somerby needs to consider what news is more important than the president's mental health. The press is talking about the treatment of troops on under-supplied and poorly maintained ships. It is talking about Trump's claim to Hormuz Strait, it is talking about the FL and Alaska primaries. It is talking about AI lawsuits. It is talking a lot about financial news, such as bond yields, Canadian tariffs, and ABC's lawsuit against the FCC. That all seems pretty important to me -- much more important than more empty speculation about Trump's mental status (which no one is willing to test).
This seems like just another day of blaming the press in a way that seems aimed at undermining public trust in our media, with a bit of blue bashing on the side. To its credit, the mainstream press has been discussing the increase in measles and the need to vaccinate children, opposing Trump's message with facts, in a way that Somerby does not do here.
Why does it matter whether Trump is crazy or not when no one is going to stand up to him, the Dems don't have sufficient power to remove him, and the right is too busy being corrupt? Somerby doesn't address that question, ever, his silence is complete.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. Soon you will be able to deposit all your money in the Trump family bank. Lord have mercy on the stoopid.
DeleteToday is another good day to ask the question: what the fuck is Jared Kushner doing negotiating war and peace when he is not a member of the US government?
ReplyDeleteJared has also too been gifted over $10B from the warring parties. What the ever loving fuck is wrong with our disgusting leadership in this country?
DeleteI’m going to ask the same question the next time senators Warner and Kaine ask me for donations to their campaigns
DeleteSo the powerless opposition to the corruption is the target, not removing the powerfully corrupt. So now I get 3- dimensional chess, it's for cranks and jaggoffs. You know, Maga.
DeleteThey’re not powerless, just fucking cowards. Dems don’t know how to play hardball
DeleteOssof does. Dems attack Trump all the time. It doesn't get media coverage.
DeleteThe 2nd Amendment is just lying there out in the open.
DeleteAnd when Ossoff does it, somerby is there to label him “angry”.
DeleteHow can you play hardball when you don't hold any cards? You seem to be a simple lib or a dumb maga. Annoyingly so.
DeleteI am not maga. What the fuck is Jared Kushner doing? Dems give up every time. They fucking created an ICE gestapo with more funding than the fucking Marines. Don't fucking tell me republicans would have allowed Dems to deny a repub president a Supreme Court appointment without raining fire and hell on the country until the got the appointment. Just don't.
DeleteRepublicans have many unpleasant traits. Do we want to turn Democrats into Republicans by imitating them, including their ugly brutality?
DeleteNo, I would much rather have Alito and Roberts rape me continually and guarantee it will continue for another half a century. But at least I can claim the moral high ground.
DeleteDemocrats don't remove Republicans because we believe in the rule of law. The alternative is not Alito and Roberts but civil war, authoritarian govt on both sides, a free for all of corruption, and people hunkering down or becoming refugees. That only half of our nation is corrupt makes this a better country.
DeleteThat "high ground" means something in terms of quality of life in our society.
DeleteThanks guys. So, how's the negotiations to end the fucking war in Iran going? Any word from the slumlord, Jared?
DeleteThe "when they go low we go high" strategy was a disaster for Dems. Dems have moved on and are better for it.
DeleteDems are saying good riddance to the old school Third Way neoliberal mealy-mouthed nonsense the Dems were mired in for decades.
Jared will bring about peace in Iran on Day One.
DeleteIf Trump is crazy, then some of his dangerous talk may slide under the radar. Somerby praises Mediaite today, but they pretended to be clueless when Trump dished out racist white supremacist garbage yesterday. Somerby talks about what the press keeps missing, but Mediaite whiffed on this, and so did Somerby. Thom Hartmann explains:
ReplyDelete"Yesterday at the White House, Trump held a photo op with a 16-year-old lifeguard, Ryder Williams, who’d pulled a drowning ten-year-old out of a dangerous surf in Santa Cruz. For any other president, it would have been a sweet, feel-good moment. Trump, though, turned it into something dark and most of our press either missed it or politely pretended to.
After giving the award, Trump looked at the blonde boy’s parents and said:
“You did a good job. It’s good genetics. When you look at him, you can see, really good.”
People in the room chuckled nervously as some probably realized what Trump was really saying. Others seemed clueless. Mediaite wrote the story up and wondered out loud if Trump was trying to invoke the infamous Sydney Sweeney “great jeans” commercial.
But Trump wasn’t riffing on the jeans ad. He was sharing, in the Oval office and on camera, something he’s been saying for forty years, his racist “racehorse genetics” theory of human evolution, and it’s something that when it comes out of other people’s mouths has ended careers.
For example, back in 1988 on Martin Luther King Day, CBS’s sports commentator Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder was asked by a reporter about the progress that Black people were making in the field of sports.
Snyder told the reporter that Black athletes were doing well because “the slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so that he could have a big black kid,” and that a Black athlete was better that most whites “because he’s been bred to be that way.” CBS fired him the next day because everybody in America understood instantly what he had said and where it came from.
Thirty-eight years later, the President of the United States says essentially the same thing about human beings in the White House and gets laughs and a write-up about denim.
This was not a slip of the tongue. The same year Jimmy The Greek was fired, Trump told Oprah on her show that his success was the result of being “born lucky in the sense that you have to have the right genes.” (Forget the fact that his father gave him ~$400 million.) He told a rally audience in 2016 that with him “winning is innate” and some people just “have the winning gene.”
https://hartmannreport.com/p/trump-drops-good-genetics-bomb-and-bed
The only gene the Felon inherited from daddy is the dementia gene.
DeleteWith Trump's filter fading, aside from his racism, he can no longer withhold his exuberant attraction to males.
DeleteWhat a fucking creep.
Somerby asks: "How good a film was Crazy/Beautiful? We can't say we remember." It sounds like he has never seen it and just mentions it because it has the word "crazy" in the title. Somerby has this habit of grabbing phrases out of context because they fit something unrelated that he is thinking about. Psychiatrists call that "loose associations" and it is a symptom of schizophrenic and manic thinking.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia summarizes the plot:
"The romance runs into obstacles that arise from their different backgrounds, as when [Hispanic] Carlos invites [wealthy, privileged] Nicole to a family party and she feels out-of-place as the only white person there. She pulls a stunt that lands them both in detention; and when she tells him to lighten up, he angrily points out that she does not appreciate the privileges she has. Despite the obstacles, their relationship blossoms. Carlos tries to steer Nicole away from her drug and alcohol abuse, and she arranges a flying lesson for him, who dreams of being a pilot but has never been in a plane."
No young girls in bathing suits romping in the surf. Social problems that Somerby will not empathize with, given his feelings about immigrants. No wonder he doesn't want to talk about it, assuming he ever watched the film. No wonder Ebert like it. This film is irrelevant to Trump and mental illness both, since the teen in question is troubled, not crazy. She gets better, as Trump will not.
Somerby does not bother crediting the guy who made the film. Too lazy to look up his name, disrespectful of other people's creative work, as always.
Also tangentiality as a thought disorder.
Delete"We repeat the point we've made before. The president will remain in office for more than two years after November's elections." Somerby says.
ReplyDeleteWe don't know how long the president will live or how long he will be permitted to remain in office, at his current rate of doing batshit crazy things. Even the Republicans might wake up and impeach him at some point. Maybe when he fines every American citizen $1 million to pay for his widened war effort and his solid gold "White House" renovations.
At first it was $200 million privately financed, now we are looking at a $900+ million bill on OUR dime.
DeleteFuck Republicans.
This is what real media analysis looks like:
ReplyDeletehttps://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2026/08/has-jon-ossoff-found-sweet-spot-where.html
Genes are overrated.
ReplyDeleteThat's what Ebert kept saying.
Delete"As frequently noted: We regard a severe mental illness as an actual illness. We regard any such illness as a tragic human event."
ReplyDeleteThis is irrelevant. Incompetence in a president would be tragic too. So would corruption. So would bad luck. And no, it doesn't matter whether mental illness is an actual illness, except if it were like an actual illness it would be easier to diagnose and treat and Trump might be ruled incompetent to serve as president more readily -- so in that sense it is tragic that it is not more like actual illnesses. Except look at Mitch McConnell -- he likely has an actual illness and yet he won't step down and isn't capable of serving either. This may finally raise the need for any actual policy on how to deal with mental illness in political officeholders.
But why does Somerby add these sentences. It shows he knows absolutely nothing about mental illness and is unwilling to think about the consequences of Trump being mentally ill -- because he will not contemplate the damage Trump is continuing to do to our nation. Trump needs to be removed from office, ASAP. Somerby claims Trump is mentally ill, but will not take the step of dealing with that reality.
Are there any non-severe mental illnesses? Generally, one would refer to severity of symptoms, not illness.
DeleteWhenever Somerby says this, it reminds me of that "heartbreak of psoriasis" ad. Tragedy seems an over-statement, depending on a person's circumstances. There are plenty of people with mental illness who are leading normal lives. Is that tragic or fortuitous?
When it comes to Trump, I have a hard time considering him a "poor little rich boy," the way Somerby keeps urging. He is evil and it is unfair to blame any illness when most mentally ill people are suffering but not evil. There is more wrong with Trump than mental illness and it isn't fair to lump him in with the good decent mentally ill people.
I wonder if Somerby considers alcoholism to be a mental illness. When it comes to disorders, many therapists dislike working with alcoholics and prefer not to treat them. Trump says he doesn't drink, but I would bet money that therapists would dislike working with him too, for many of the same reasons.
DeleteIt is widely known that Trump is addicted to Adderall or something similar.
DeleteThere is still no proof of life for Mitch McConnell.