ROCKMAKERS: The Nazis liked to call people dogs!

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2018

Part 3—Hitler, Trump and us:
Lawrence opened Monday night's show with an admonition from an intelligent viewer.

His viewer has seen through the "cable news" game. Here's the way Lawrence started:
LAWRENCE (8/13/18): Well today, one of the people who follows me on Twitter, Patricia McClary, tweeted, "If you talk about Omarosa tonight, when there are still 700 children separated from their parents. then I will turn you off."
McClary wanted Lawrence to talk about a matter of substance. She wanted him to attend to suffering children, victims of an astonishing crime by Donald J. Trump and them.

Lawrence proceeded to explain why he was going to talk and talk, then talk and talk, about Omarosa instead.

Needless to say, Lawrence's judgment has prevailed all over anti-Trump cable. Last night, the analysts groaned as we forced them to watch Erin Burnett at 7 PM Eastern, then Anderson Cooper at 8.

These clowning clowns of cable news clowned and clowned about Omarosa. At 9, the biggest clowning clown of them all finally appeared on our screen.

She barely mentioned Omarosa. Instead, the biggest narcissist on cable mugged and clowned through her whole hour, not just about the Manafort trial, but about silly piddle like this:
MADDOW (8/14/18): Prosecutors submitted this item into evidence, document number 452, in which the bank's CEO, Steve Calk, gave Manafort what amounted to his job application to join the Trump organization. It was his statement of qualifications. It was his full list of all the jobs he wanted to be considered for in the Trump administration.

The list of jobs he wanted to be considered for was titled, by Steve Calk, quote, "perspective rolls" in the Trump administration. Not "prospective" but "perspective." Not "roles," r-o-l-e-s, as in jobs, but "rolls," r-o-l-l-s, like dinner rolls or somersaults. "Perspective rolls."
Maddow went on and on, then on and on, about this highly amusing trivia—about Steve Calk's entertaining and tribally pleasing but highly pointless misspellings. She mooned the wretched of the earth as she entertained, amused and fluffed her narcissistic self.

Calk, of course, is not on trial, nor is he a particularly important figure in the Manafort trial. He's a shlub who was somehow dumb enough to believe that he might be named Secretary of the Army if he loaned money to Manafort.

Calk, like Maddow, is one of those people who makes a sane person shake his or her head. Over the course of the past three weeks, Maddow has very much enjoyed herself, and entertained us, by ridiculing this insignificant figure.

Last night, lost in her self-involvement, she went on and on, then on and on, ignoring the wretched of the earth as she stroked herself about Calk's amusing misspellings. Suffering children rarely appear on the Maddow Show.

Millions of liberal viewers can't seem to see who Maddow is. That said, the occasional liberal—the Patricia McClary's of the earth—are apparently able to see through the "cable news" game.

McClary wanted Lawrence to talk about those suffering children, not about the latest entertaining circus clown. Needless to say, they won't be doing that on cable. Maddow takes us deepest into the circus, thus garnering the highest ratings from our own Homo sapiens band.

Has the so-called "Harari heuristic" ever been more valuable than it has been this week? According to the internationally-acclaimed heuristic, chance mutations long ago made us who we are.

That said, these chance mutations didn't make us more "rational," per Aristotle's dying assumption, or even more intelligent. According to the Harari heuristic, these chance mutations left us just as dumb as before, but they gave us two new abilities—the ability to engage in "gossip," and the ability to invent and affirm extremely potent group "fictions."

These new abilities let our ancestors cooperate in larger groups, driving other human populations to extinction. But they left us just as dumb as before. This explains why Brian's viewers saw the Washington Post's Philip Rucker talk about Hitler's dogs last night.

Brian brought Rucker on late in his show. Incredibly, Rucker and Williams said these things about Donald Trump, Hitler and dogs:
WILLIAMS (8/14/18): We launched an extensive web search that took us at least a few minutes and we could only find one photo extent in all the land of Donald Trump with a dog...Phil, the fact is, he's been a germaphobe a lot of his life. There was a period of time people here in New York, remember when he did not bring himself to shake hands when he met people. So maybe this is all of a piece. I don't know.

RUCKER: Well, clearly he's not comfortable living with animals in the house. He doesn't have any pets. And he uses "dog" as if it's a sort of like a negative thing.

In American culture, you know, a lot of Americans love dogs. They're loyal. They will love you back. A lot of people have dogs as pets in other cultures.

In the Middle East, for example, dogs are seen as dirty. It's a more effective attack line. But Trump clearly doesn't seem to care much for dogs as animals in the house.

WILLIAMS: Full disclosure, dogs are easily 80% of our family text thread...

I guess [Trump] will continue to use it as kind of the ultimate put-down. It was bracing for Americans to read that word in relation to this woman we've come to know on television and who was until recently a White House aide.

RUCKER: Yes, I that's right, Brian, and we've been making light, a little bit, of the president not wanting to have a dog in the house. But it's deadly serious what he does with that word, using it as an attack.

He's dehumanizing his enemies. That's the goal there. And there's a long history actually of authoritarian leaders who have used animalistic slurs as insults to dehumanize individuals or groups of people. We remember in—during the Holocaust, the Nazis would call Jews "rats."

I interviewed a philosophy professor who explained the history and how it's become—it's a very useful image for leaders to use to try to stir up resentments between Us and Them in a society. So there's a pattern here through history. I think Donald Trump is smart enough and strategic enough to know what he's doing by repeatedly using the dog, the imagery of a dog, as a slur to attack his perceived political enemies.
Given the role played by "Aristotle's assumption" in our basic cultural frameworks—he cast us as the rational animal!—it's very, very hard to believe that the stars of cable news can really be this dumb. But these people actually are this dumb, as they've been proving for at least thirty years.

In turn, we liberal masses are so dumb that we've been unable to see who and what these people are, and what they've been doing along the way.

The occasional Patricia McClary complains. The rest of us swallow the product we're served and cheer these idiots on.

Like Trump, Adolf Hitler didn't care for dogs! Plus, the Nazis would call the Jews "rats!" Completely seriously, Rucker explained that he'd spoken to a philosophy professor, from whom he'd learned the way this sort of thing works.

According to the newly enlightened Rucker, there's a long history of authoritarian leaders who have used animalistic slurs as insults to dehumanize individuals or groups of people! Incredibly, this silly piddle was served on cable last night.

Before we offer a blast from the past, let's review that heuristic:

According to Professor Harari, our ancestors came by some chance mutations 70,000 years ago. These chance mutations didn't make us smarter or wiser. Indeed, it could be argued that they made us that much more dumb.

According to the widely acclaimed Harari, these chance mutations gave us two new abilities—the ability to gossip and the ability to invent and affirm sweeping tribal group "fictions."

These new abilities, which didn't make us smarter, gave us the ability to cooperate in much larger groups. Our ancestors used these new skills to commit the first "ethnic cleansing," driving all other human species into extinction.

We didn't get any smarter. Instead, we learned to gossip and to affirm group fictions. So it was that the New York Times' slippery new columnist jumped on the Omarosa gossip train yesterday morning:
GOLDBERG (8/14/18): Of course, just because Manigault Newman is telling the truth about some things doesn’t prove that she’s telling the truth about everything, including the alleged existence of outtakes from “The Apprentice” in which Trump uses racial slurs. “Unhinged” has lots of evidence-free gossip, including speculation that Trump was sleeping with Paula White, the pretty blond prosperity-gospel preacher who gave the invocation at his inauguration. My opinion of Trump could scarcely be lower, but I won’t be convinced that he floated the idea of being sworn in on “The Art of the Deal” instead of the Bible, as Manigault Newman claims, until I hear it myself. (Lordy, I hope there are tapes.)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Mainly, though, the slippery climber couldn't wait to pass on the "evidence-free gossip" about Trump's delicious alleged affair with the pretty blond preacher.

Needless to say, the New York Times was only too happy to put this gossip about the pretty preacher in print. Elsewhere, waves of liberal cable stars pretended to be offended by the fact that Trump had called someone "lovely."

Deliciously, Goldberg passed on the gossip. This is the way these idiots think. This is what they are.

As we close this morning's report, let's return to Rucker, writhing about what he learned from the philosophy professor.

Had Trump called Omarosa a dog? "There's a long history actually of authoritarian leaders who have used animalistic slurs as insults to dehumanize individuals or groups of people," the thoughtful scribe had learned. Indeed, "it's a very useful image for leaders to use to try to stir up resentments between Us and Them in a society."

Inside our spartan Cable Viewing Chamber, the youthful analysts roared. They remembered one of the most heavily plagiarized posts in the history of the Net, Jacob Weisberg's memorable post from the 2000 White House campaign.

Candidates Gore and Bradley had staged their first debate, an erudite affair which focused on the nation's health care. That said, an ugly war was on, so when Weisberg posted his instant review, other major "journalists" began to copy-and-paste.

Candidate Gore wasn't simply an animal. He had been "feral" this night!
WEISBERG (10/28/99): Al Gore performed this evening on a stage at Dartmouth College. He told jokes, blasted his rival's proposed health-care reform proposal as too costly, expressed disappointment and anger at President Clinton, and kissed up shamelessly to members of the audience. Bill Bradley was also present at the event.

Gore arrived on stage like some sort of feral animal who had been locked in a small cage and fed on nothing but focus groups for several days. Upon release, he began to scamper furiously in every direction at once. Assuming his stool 20 minutes before showtime, he volunteered to take extra questions from the audience. At the end of the hour-long non-debate, he promised to stay and answer even more. As of this writing (10:30 p.m.) he's still at it, sitting on the edge of the stage with his wife,talking about human rights in Africa and offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico with a few dozen New Hampshirites.

Gore came across as a kind of manic political vaudevillian. He oozed empathy from every pore, getting all over every questioner like a cheap suit...
Candidate Gore wasn't just an animal; he was a "feral" animal. Upon release from his cage, he had begun to scamper furiously in every direction at once. He oozed from every pore!

(Note the way Gore was criticized for answering citizens' questions. This is what our highly "rational" species is actually like.)

Rucker seems to have been a sophomore in high school at this time. Astonishingly, he graduated from Yale in 2006, after prepping at St. Andrew's (Savannah).

Rucker didn't plagiarize Weisberg's animalistic script, but many big pundits did. It was all part of the ugly, ongoing gossip war which eventually sent George W. Bush to the White House, sending large numbers of people all over the world to their deaths.

Were children separated at the border this year? It has probably occurred to Patricia McClary that thousands of children were "separated from their parents" by all those deaths in Iraq—the deaths for which our tribe's new favorite, the star of Dateline: Cocktail Hour, served as President Bush's large-toothed "pin-up girl." That's what Rucker's predecessors accomplished with their twenty-month war, which included this remarkable instance of "animalistic imagery." Just like the professor said!

Rucker seems like the nicest guy in the world. That said, a pair of genuine idiots were on cable last night, discussing Hitler, Trump and dogs.

Williams' past lunacies are legion; they take several forms. But because, like Burnett, he's highly telegenic, no amount of idiocy could keep him off the air.

Insult was dded to injury as Brian signed off. Believe it or not, this is what the "Harari hunk" said as he ended last evening's entertainment:
WILLIAMS: Last thing before we go here tonight, a couple of numbers in the news tonight that come from two different ongoing stories, neither of which will be judged by history as our proudest moment as a country.

First number is 328. That's the number of days some people in Puerto Rico went without power since Hurricane Maria. 328 days until today when the last customer was put back online.

We've said this before. While Puerto Ricans are American citizens, it's difficult to imagine storm victims in Miami or Virginia Beach or Nantucket living in the dark without power to their home for 328 days.

Our second number is 559. That's the number of children who remain separated from their families as a result of the administration's so-called zero tolerance policy...
In other words, Williams ended by citing the kinds of topics he and his "cable news" colleagues have been almost completely ignoring for the past millions of weeks.

McClary begged Lawrence to cover such serious topics. Lawrence said thank, but no thanks. That's the way cable works with lovers of gossip in charge.

For the past two decades, we've searched for ways to describe these puzzling life forms. It seems to us that Harari's heuristic starts to explain the weird behavior these life forms dearly love.

Way back in 1968, Bally tried to warn us about this gang with its highly prophetic RockMakers pinball machine. They showed us an extremely limited humanoid species:

As it turns out, Bally's rock-makers were us!

Tomorrow: On to the professors

Caging the feral animal: Gore and Bradley discussed health care for the bulk of that debate. Here's what the repellent Mary McGrory had to say in the Washington Post about their discussion:
MCGRORY (10/31/99): Vice President Albert Gore came to his fateful encounter with newly menacing challenger Bill Bradley carrying heavy baggage. He was wearing an outfit that added to his problems when he stepped onstage at Dartmouth College: a brown suit, a gunmetal blue shirt, a red tie—and black boots.

Was it part of his reinvention strategy? Perhaps it was meant to be a ground-leveling statement—"I am not a well-dressed man." It is hard to imagine that he thought to ingratiate himself with the nation's earliest primary voters by trying to look like someone seeking employment at a country music radio station. Maybe it was the first step in shedding his Prince Albert image.
That's how Mary McGrory's poisonous column began. That standard gossip about Gore's clothing was all she had to offer.

By that time, Williams had spent the better part of a month lodging bizarre nightly complaints about Gore's unremarkable wardrobe and the nefarious motives behind it. This is the way these idiots acted for a solid two years.

This was the debate, by the way, where the press corps, locked in a press room at Dartmouth, hissed, booed, hooted and jeered at everything Gore said. (On-the-record sources: Tapper, Mortman and Pooley.)

Rucker seems like a very nice person. We'll guess he's never heard about that. What happens in those brain-dead press rooms quickly gets disappeared.

50 comments:

  1. The length of today's post is overwhelming -- it wanders all over town, with so many objectionable remarks.

    First, Somerby says:

    McClary wanted Lawrence to talk about a matter of substance. She wanted him to attend to suffering children, victims of an astonishing crime by Donald J. Trump and them."

    Omarosa is a joke to Somerby. With that attitude, he denies her basic humanity as a person. She may be a grasping narcissist, akin to Trump, but she is a real human being. And she has been successfully attacking our President, who is not only well worthy of attack but difficult to damage with his base. But Omarosa has the potential to convince other Trump supporters that he is not such a wonderful leader after all. And she is doing it. But Somerby thinks she is not worth talking about.

    McClary urges Lawrence O'Donnell to talk about something of substance and not Trump's treatment of Omarosa. However, McClary doesn't understand that the reason Trump can harm 700 children separated from parents is the same as the reason he can call Omarosa a dog. He doesn't see others as people either. Like Somerby, he considers people only in relation to himself. Those 700 kids are pawns. Omarosa either reflects his glory or she is an enemy and a dog. Our president has no empathy, and neither does Somerby when it comes to women who he considers inappropriate in some way.

    Omarosa's brutal firing and her revenge are not worthy of Somerby's consideration, even though she is the only one who has managed to seriously embarrass this President. The only one who has thrown the administration's lies back in its face. The only one to damage his credibility by being a Trump supporter who has recanted, who was mistreated as a consequence, who has shown others what they can expect from Dear Leader. And she is not a joke, but a savvy self-promoter in the same genre as Trump himself, getting the better of him. That is worth some respect. But Somerby cannot see that because he has a loathing for con artists, perhaps going back to some gentile revulsion about the embarrassment his grandfather caused his own lace curtain Irish family pretensions. So he cannot see Omarosa as a person, but only as a time-wasting joke. What an ass Somerby is. If Omarosa had bigger boobs he'd be talking about her body parts, but as it is, he thinks she shouldn't be talked about at all, invisible on cable.

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    1. Thank you for your comment. May I ask, what is your basis for saying Omarosa is convincing other Trump supporters he is not such a wonderful leader after all? Blessings,

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    2. @12:44 Look how Trump and his people are scrambling, they are trying to sue her. They want her to shut up — that’s the best evidence she is hurting them.

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    3. That's the best evidence? Was the same not said of Stormy Daniels who hurt him not really much, if at all? One would think thinking Omarosa some kind of significant Trump spoiler may be another Lucy/Charlie Brown scenario with the liberal media consumers once again, seemingly forever now, playing the chump. Time will tell. Best regards,

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    4. Trump hired Omarosa, who is now lashing out. He unleashed her on the world. He did that. Now she is being...Omarosa. Thanks, Trump. And yet, somehow, it is liberals who are the chumps.

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    5. Serious people are saying she may take him down. Trump's base didn't care about Stormy -- younger women care about her and they already aren't voting for him. The racist portion of Trump's base will like the way he has mistreated her and won't care either. But those who liked Omarosa will be upset about this discord within the household. They will be upset at his lack of loyalty to her and see him as a bully toward her. And all the tapes contradicting his lies may wake some people up. The ones who aren't vicariously enjoying his lying, that is.

      But more dangerous is the fact that she has already testified to Mueller's investigation about her knowledge, and she knows some things that can damage Trump. And she isn't as readily silenced as Stormy Daniels, who knows only about an affair.

      Those who like Trump because he is a strongman will recognize his weakness in this situation. He isn't able to keep her under control. That may cause them to lose respect for Trump and that will undermine their support. I would expect to see people abandon him as he starts to appear more helpless, especially as Mueller's findings begin to be revealed in more trials.

      A big weakling cannot MAGA. Omarosa is making him look weak.

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    6. She has not taken him down yet and she has not had a demonstrable effect on his base as of yet. It all remains to be seen. People said, many commented here, that Daniels was going to take him down, that she had some kind of power to expose him for what he truly is blah blah blah and therefore her ubiquity on cable at the expense of more important topics was justified but that didn't turn out to be the case at all as it was indeed in the end a masturbatory waste of everyone's time and exactly as Somerby described which suggests that this case with Omarosa, while offering a temporary self indulgent and satifying release, may in the end leave us feeling a little alone, a little hollow, a little none for the better and that those that are hoping and rationalizing that this will be the one, this will be the golden ticket, the winning arrow, the silver bullet, the womp rat bull's-eye that explodes Trump may be, well ... a little blinded by the light.

      We will see. I'll check in with you on it. Peace and God's blessings.

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    7. I don't think anyone here said that Daniels was going to "take him down." Daniels is still pursuing her lawsuit and Avenatti, in the meantime, has been making life difficult for Michael Cohen, who is deciding whether to become a witness for Mueller (in exchange for plea bargain and sentence reduction). So that isn't over yet.

      Speak for yourself about that hollowness and masturbation. Please also stop trying to bless everyone. Some of us just don't deserve it.

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    8. Daniel's ubiquity on cable and in the press wasn't justified because it was about sex and ratings from the beginning and was never a serious challenge to Trump's presidency as Somerby properly pointed out from the beginning. Nor will it ever have any impact on Trump. Expect the same from this Omarosa side show, to have gotten all lathered up and hot and bothered after repeatedly stroking a fantasy scenario that feels so good and would be so wonderful but in reality is only wishful thinking that brings you nothing but a mess on your hands. You'll see. I don't want to stop you from having fun though.

      May the blessing of God our Lord fill your life today and always,

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    9. What does the Lord think about all your lathering and fantasy?

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    10. Well done. Right when we expect Bob to make some passing negative comment about Trump, he goes back to the mistreatment of Gore. A pathetic performance today from a sad and crazy old coot.

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    11. "Daniel's ubiquity on cable and in the press wasn't justified because it was about sex and ratings from the beginning and was never a serious challenge to Trump's presidency..."

      This entire Presidency, and the election itself, has been about sex and ratings since the beginning.

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    12. Actually it's been about trade policy.

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  2. Is the Manafort trial important? Manafort comes across as scum. I expect him to be convicted of multiple felonies. But, his crimes were committed long ago. They had nothing to do with Trump.

    IMHO a more important story than the separation of illegal immigrants from their children is the huge number of black Americans being murdered. The number of black murder victims jumped by about 2,000 per year during Obama's second term. I think the increase in murders was due to the Ferguson Effect. But, even if you disagree about the cause, high attention should be paid to this bloodbath and how to deal with it.

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    1. Once again Comrade DinC, we agree.

      I want to see Donny Chickenshit's tax returns also.

      Thanks.

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    2. Here, here, David.
      Let's start by dealing with the abject poverty, the systemic racism, the PTSD (and other mental health issues), and the flooding of our streets with guns.
      We might have to rescind those corporate tax cuts to pay for it, but as you mentioned it's an important story which needs to be dealt with.
      It should be easy to convince liberals to do something about poverty, guns, and mental health issues. I'll let you convince corporate America to kick-up the $$ to make it happen.
      Pro tip: mention how it's the least they could do since we bailed them out when their perpetration of fraud crashed the world's economy.
      Good luck.

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    3. "The Ferguson Effect" is also a very important matter, which should be dealt with.
      Fire any police officer who tries to blackmail society by threatening to not do their job, just because citizens believe they should be held accountable for their actions. Letting them get away with that shit will only encourage them.

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    4. AnonymousAugust 15, 2018 at 1:57 PM
      The great number of blacks being murdered is by other blacks, not the police. Do your research.

      What's your point 1:57? The Ferguson Effect says that police are doing their jobs less aggressively, thus allowing more inner city blacks to be murdered, mostly by other blacks. It's a paradox to some that the police, to some degree, are the enemy of inner city blacks, but to a greater degree the police are the best friends of inner city blacks.

      2:29, I congratulate you for taking the Ferguson Effect seriously, but I don't think your approach would work. The Ferguson Effect hasn't led police to threatening or blackmail society. It simply has led them to do their jobs less well.

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    5. The police's hissy fit over being held accountable for their actions, is duly noted.

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    6. "They're just quietly doing a less effective job. "

      Fuck those clowns. Maybe we should quietly pay them a small percentage of their paychecks.

      Also, a hardy "Fuck You" to your claim that I don't care about black americans being murdered. at 2:20, i laid it out for you. Have you convinced the fuck-faces who crashed the world's economy through their fraud, to kick back their huge tax break to help? If not, shut the fuck up, and get to work.

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    7. Didn't Ronald Reagan outlaw the Ferguson Effect when the air traffic controllers tried it?

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    8. AnonymousAugust 15, 2018 at 10:06 PM -- How can we know that you're also Anon 2:20? Why don't you select a name for your comments?

      None of the factors you listed at 2:20 changed for the worse during Obama's second term. Thus, none of them were the cause of the jump in black murder victims that occurred during that period.

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    9. Leroy's Pickled LiverAugust 16, 2018 at 10:53 PM

      "Why don't you select a name for your comments?"
      Yeah, something like "Beancounter in Utah."

      Delete
  3. I would add that the Manafort and Omarosa stories do have one thing in common, which relates to Trump. Both show him making a bad hiring decision.

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    1. Leroy's Stay At The Betty Ford ClinicAugust 15, 2018 at 1:35 PM

      I trust your expertise in bad decisionmaking, but that's about all.

      Delete
  4. (1) Somerby's post today is much better today than usual, and (2) the above two comments are much worse than usual. (2) is more notable than (1).

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    1. How or Why is today's post better than usual?

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  5. Hitler liked dogs and had a German Shepard named Blondi.

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  6. "Lawrence proceeded to explain why he was going to talk and talk, then talk and talk, about Omarosa instead."

    Somerby dismisses O'Donnell's explanation. Did O'Donnell make a valid case or not? Apparently, in Somerby's view, it doesn't matter. Somerby has already decided that the subject is unworthy of discussion.

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  7. To begin with, it is important to remember that Somerby has judged Trump to be mentally ill, or possibly so, and also a sociopath. A search of his archives reveals this.

    That said:

    The separation of children at the border....has been frequently and often intensively discussed on MSNBC. When Somerby labels the separation policy an "astonishing crime", is that his true opinion, or is he simply characterizing (and subtly mocking) the liberal view of what's going on? Hard to tell. But pretending that MSNBC doesn't cover this is absurd. It's dishonest, too, because Somerby watches them every night and sees the coverage. He chooses to tell us only when he doesn't see the coverage.

    As far as Trump's mental state:

    O'Donnell just last night used his opening monologue to discuss Trump's mental state. Isn't that what Somerby has urged pundits to do? Do Trump's tweets about Omarosa reveal anything about Trump's mental state? Does his hiring of her reveal something about his judgment?

    Since Trump is responsible for the family separation policy, and he is deranged (according to Somerby, and Omarosa), it makes sense to focus on Trump's words and behavior. That is a legitimate approach to dealing with his policies. Maddow focuses on the legal and operational details of the Trump campaign and administration. Other presenters discuss the ongoing situation at the border. Both things are worthy of discussion. One does not preclude the other. Indeed, the criminality and venality of the Trump administration are an essential topic to cover. Since these proceed from the flawed or depraved or "mentally ill" Trump, discussing them is equivalent to discussing Trump's mental illness and/or sociopathy. Indeed, they are evidence of that. You can't have a discussion about someone's mental illness or sociopathy without providing examples. You can't assert it to be true, as Somerby does, without providing evidence. The three-ring circus that Trump runs, including his tweets, are evidence of his mental state and his character flaws.

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  8. I wish Somerby had cared about the truly awful things that biased writers said about Hillary during the 2016 election. If he had written passionate columns about how unfairly she was being treated by those on the right, she might have been able to overcome the tampering with our election process. But Somerby, for some unaccountable reason, is still writing about how they slimed Gore, centuries ago.

    If I read an article that talked about a candidate's clothing choices or compared him to a feral animal, I would assume the author was biased and I would stop reading. I assume many people do the same. It isn't actually necessary to point this stuff out to anyone as examples of anything. The actual assassinations are more subtle. As when reporters assiduously investigate those emails over and over, pretending there is some substance to that attack on Hillary. Unflattering remarks about her pantsuits do far less damage. They didn't do that to Gore. (Why not?)

    Somerby's inability to let the past go, when it comes to Gore, and his inability to consider any woman an actual person, up to the present, add up to a picture that would lend itself to juicy gossip. Meanwhile, Somerby creates his own narrative fictions, pretending that journalists aren't doing their jobs because their present stories don't fit his personal mood swings. And he goes on hating Maddow. What buttons does she push for Somerby?

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    1. What buttons does she push...if you put a picture of Maddow side-by-side with a picture of the young Al Gore, I'll bet you'd see a striking resemblance. I would imagine this makes Somerby feel kind of confused inside. So this is a rejection of the psychological threat arising from his strong attraction to Gore, awakened whenever he sees Maddow. Maybe it is her haircut?

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  9. Here is a nice analysis of Omarosa's importance. I wish Somerby wrote media criticism the way this guy does.

    http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2018/08/hyperreality-tv.html

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    1. I've read it twice, and I have no idea why you think this is cogent analysis. Even if I ignore the misuse of the word tergiversation -- and I'm not that kind of guy -- I still can't figure out how and why Omarosa presents a threat to Trump. Can you enlighten me?

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    2. Thanks for the link, 3:28

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    3. She poses a threat because she has inside information, the animosity to use it, and she is playing her game within the hyperreality Trump has created.

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    4. Thanks @8:02. I understand your general point, but specifically what makes you think she has significant inside information? Something she didn’t put in her book? That Trump called someone a nigger? I think the important insider information is about the Russian funding of the Trump family’s grifting empire. I somehow doubt Trump let Omarosa in on anything like that.

      I don’t really understand the whole hyperreality argument except as a metaphor. Do you think there are a large number of voters who see the Trump administration as a reality TV show? Do you suppose that the female grotesques wearing “Trump Can Grab My Pussy
      Anytime” sweatshirts at rallies are really going to ditch Trump because of Omarosa? Are white evangelical fetusolators who haven’t abandoned Trump over Stormy Daniels going to say, “Enough is enough! I won’t vote for someone who calls a black woman a dog”?

      If you’ve got better insights than mine, do tell.

      Delete
    5. There are people who will pay attention to Omarosa when they don't to Mueller. Omarosa has said Trump knew about the emails before they appeared on Wikileaks, and she may have tapes to back that up. She has been interviewed by Mueller. I don't plan to read her book, any more than I ever watched The Apprentice. But people who care about Trump also care about Omarosa because it is a narrative they understand and relate to.

      Delete
    6. "...and she is playing her game..." Yes indeed, there are books to sell. I'm sure there are people who can't wait to shuck that oyster, now that she's on the circus. My bad, circuit.

      Delete
    7. 8:59,
      Where do these people get off trying to make money in a capitalist society? There ought to be a law, I tell ya.

      Delete
    8. "But people who care about Trump also care about Omarosa because it is a narrative they understand and relate to."

      What is your basis for this claim?

      Delete
    9. @2:33 -- have you ever met a Trump supporter?

      Delete
    10. 10:42 - Yes, literally thousands of them.

      Delete
  10. Hey,
    Trump believes Nazis are "nice people".

    ReplyDelete
  11. No just society punishes children for the acts of their parents. We have laws specifically to protect children against that...that's why so many are horrified by Trump's actions.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yet many more are extremely pleased by Donald The Excellent eating poor deeeply suffering children for breakfast. Mmm-mmm good.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Did you hear the one about Trump not being the greatest thing to ever happen to the establishment?
    Me neither.

    ReplyDelete
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