BREAKING: All the president's monologues!

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2020

Plus, the press corps' walking dead:
Yesterday, our long day's journey into brain cell death lasted well over two hours.

It represents a new advance in our nation's unfolding experiment with North Korean TV. Under this model, Dear Leader will eventually be on every screen, twenty-four hours each day.

We're now up to two hours plus. This raises a basic question:

How can so much time get filled?

Simple! During yesterday's long day's journey, Commander Donald J. Trump performed all the president's monologues. Some were even performed more than once, but very few were missed:
A few of yesterday's monologues:
The president performed the monologue about his (alleged) older, heavier friend who is now in a coma. (This monologue was performed twice.)

He performed the monologue about the way he grew up near Elmhurst Hospital in Elmhurst, Queens. (Performed twice.)

He performed the monologue about the way 5th Avenue doesn't have "anybody walking on the street" and doesn't have any traffic when he sees it on TV.

He performed the monologue about the amazing decision he made concerning closing our borders to China.
Yesterday, he even performed a new variant of the monologue in which unnamed people call him up and tell him he's done an incredible job.

In yesterday's performance, three unnamed governors "that truly have disliked me over the years" were said to have done that. (Two of these unnamed governors were said to be "very respected.")

You're getting the basic idea. That said, we'll focus below on the way the press corps' walking dead handled the latest performance(s) of the president's Ventilator Monologues. But good God!

They asked so many useless questions in the course of yesterday's journey that the president even got to perform his Impeachment Monologue! At stupefying length, the performance went like this:
QUESTION (3/31/20): Mitch McConnell said that impeachment diverted the attention of the government. Do you think that in any way, this was happening in Italy at the same time. Did it divert your attention or your team’s attention or the vice president’s attention?

TRUMP: Well, I don’t like to think I did. I think I handled it very well, but I guess it probably did. I mean, I got impeached. I think I certainly devoted a little time to thinking about it, Right?

But think of it. It was a hoax. It was a total hoax.
And when you think that I got impeached only because they had a majority in the House. They didn’t get one Republican vote. 196 to nothing. Not one Republican. I don’t think it’s ever happened. The Republicans stuck together, and they stuck together in the Senate. 52 to a half. A half!

So when you say that, yeah, I think it took a lot of, I see them going and saying about speed. Well, they probably illegally impeached me in the sense that, if you look at the FBI today with what happened, the horrible things, nobody cares about that now, because all they’re thinking about is the virus. And that’s okay with me.

But you look at the report that came out from IG Horowitz, it’s disgraceful what went on. It’s disgraceful. It’s a total disgrace. They got caught in the act, but you know what? We won’t talk about that now.

Did it divert my attention? I think I’m getting A-pluses for the way I handled myself during a phony impeachment, OK? It was a hoax. But certainly, I guess I thought of it. And I think I probably acted—I don’t think I would have done any better had I not been impeached, OK? And I think that’s a great tribute to something. Maybe it’s a tribute to me. But I don’t think I would have acted any differently, or I don’t think I would have acted any faster.

But the Democrats, their whole life, their whole being, their whole existence was to try and get me out of office any way they can. Even if it was a phony deal. And it was a phony deal. And it turned out, and all you have to do is look today at the FBI reports. Take a look at what the FBI did. Take a look at the people. Take a look at Comey’s report. Seven and eight pages of total kill. Take a look at that. Take a look at the report on McCabe. Just read it. And you’ll see how horrible it was. And you know what? I don’t think this country is going to take it if you want to know the truth.
With that, plus test kits and ventilators, you could save somebody's life!

At any rate, the president is getting A-plus grades for the way he handled impeachment. His performance was a great tribute to something, quite possibly to himself.

So it went as a nation's Dear Leader staged a long march into the night. Sitting before him, arrayed in chairs, were the nation's Walking Dead.

Has there ever been a group of humans who found it harder to focus on basic questions? Who found it harder to insist on getting actual answers? Consider a remarkable part of yesterday's "briefing"—The Governors Who Didn't Bark.

Try to imagine! Late Tuesday, the audiotape of the president's phone call was laid out for all to hear. In this phone call, Governor Bullock told Dear Leader, in great detail, about the difficulty Montana is having in making testing available.

On the tape of that remarkable phone call, Dear Leader responded to Bullock's statement as shown:
TRUMP (3/30/20): Tony, you can answer if you want, but I haven’t heard about testing in weeks. We’ve tested more now than any nation in the world. We’ve got these great tests and we’re coming out with another one tomorrow, where it's almost instantaneous testing. But I haven’t heard about testing being a problem.
He hadn't heard about testing being a problem in weeks! Meanwhile, at Tuesday's briefing, he told the dead that people had been very happy with him during that phone call.

After the audiotape was released, other governors—Republicans and Democrats—stepped up to voice support for Bullock's presentation. Tuesday night, and then yesterday, this had been widely discussed on cable.

That said, the audiotape hadn't been mentioned at Tuesday's "briefing," possibly because of the timing of its release. Late yesterday afternoon, enter The Walking Dead.

During yesterday's endless performance, they put their inability to focus on full public display. During more than two hours of rambling, disjointed questions, Dear Leader's bizarre remark about testing went unmentioned again!

No one asked about the weird remark the commander had made the previous day! Instead, the commander added a crazy new wrinkle to his Testing Monologue:
QUESTION (3/31/20): We were told yesterday that your accomplishment of the U.S., at least is accomplishing 100,000 tests per day, but we’re still hearing difficult stories from the front lines, some of the first responders that you praised so appropriately a little while ago, that they can’t test all of the people that they need to test. Do you have any kind of projection as to when everyone who needs a test will be able to receive one?

TRUMP: I can only say that we’re doing more than anybody in the world by far. We are testing highly accurate tests. These are tests that work, as you know, many tests are being sent to countries that are broken.

QUESTION: But it’s still not enough.

TRUMP: Well, every day we get, and the word is exponential, we are getting more and more and more, and now we have the new tests that you saw yesterday. That’s going to be rolled out, I think, tomorrow or the next day, and that’s going to take only a few minutes, literally a few minutes to see the result and it’s a highly accurate result.

I mean, the tests were given out, not by us, by other countries, where there was a 50/50 chance that it was wrong. What kind of a test is that? These are highly accurate tests, but the new tests that are coming out are very quick and they were just developed. Abbott Labs did the one yesterday. So we’re doing more than anybody in the world by far and they’re very accurate tests, and we’re getting a lot of information from those tests.
In the president's Testing Monologue, our tests have always been best. Yesterday, though, a new hook appeared:

The tests the other countries performed were, in essence, a coin flip! There was a 50/50 chance they were wrong. What kind of testing was that?

This ludicrous statement went flying by without press corps objection. Meanwhile, no one asked about Dear Leader's remarkable statement, the day before, in response to Bullock.

Of all the president's monologues, yesterday's Ventilator Monologue may have been most striking. At one point, Dr. Birx gave the dead a chance to ask an obvious question:
BIRX: I mean, I don’t know if you heard the report this morning. There’s 8,000 ventilators in the UK. If you translate that to the United states, that would be like the United states having less than 40,000 ventilators. We have five times that amount. So I mean, these are the things that everybody is having to face, and I think the United States is in an excellent position from our medical care position, but we don’t want to have to test that system. We want this to be a much smaller epidemic with much smaller mortality.
Interesting! In that statement, Dr. Birx seemed to say that the United States has 200,000 ventilators.

That may sound like a very large number. But the recitation of such numbers constitutes an obvious gong show unless you make the essential comparison:
The U.S. has 200,000 ventilators? How many ventilators are we projected to need?
None of the walking dead asked that obvious question. Instead, the president kept performing a monologue in which he said he has control of 10,000 ventilators to be distributed later.

He has a stockpile of 10,000? How many is that compared to projected need?

None of the walking dead asked! They very rarely show any ability to work with numbers, no matter how basic the context.

So it goes with our nation's Dead. They live by night, in scattershot fashion. As we've noted many times through the years, these life forms seem to possess almost no analytical skills.

Kids who are 9 years old today will have to address this remarkable history as they rebuild our culture. In our afternoon posts, we're leaving them messages in a bottle. These messages identify one direction they would be wise to pursue.

Yesterday, though, we saw the way we all got to this place:

Donald J. Trump was performing All The President's Monologues, the rambling stories he now performs every day at that time. And as he burned the hours away, The Walking Dead just sat there.

We've often wondered, in recent years, about the rise of Hollywood zombie drama. Why are people drawn to such tedious story lines, we have sometimes asked.

A speculative psychiatrist might advance a possibility. Perhaps we sense that we, as a people, have long been intellectually and morally dead. We find ourselves drawn to dramatic portrayals of this state of affairs.

At any rate, the commander floated some new ideas during yesterday's journey. Cuomo wants to run for president. Nancy Pelosi may not care about the homeless.

New York and New Jersey were being floated as the nation's scapegoats. New York and New Jersey got a very late start, but Florid's brilliant Ron DeSantis knows just what he's doing:
QUESTION: I wanted to ask you about individual states issuing stay-at-home orders. What do you think, for instance, in Florida, Ron DeSantis has resisted urges to issue one of those, but he said moments ago that if you and the rest of the task force recommended one, that would weigh on him heavily. What sort of circumstances need to be in place for you to make that call and say this is something you should consider?

TRUMP: Different kind of a state, also a great governor, knows exactly what he’s doing, has a very strong view on it, and we have spoken to Ron. Mike, you want to just to tell him a little bit about that?

PENCE: Well, let me echo our appreciation for Governor DeSantis’ leadership in Florida. He’s been taking decisive steps from early on and working closely with our team at the federal level.
New York and New Jersey were very late. Elsewhere, DeSantis has taken decisive steps from early on. He knows exactly what he's doing.

The bilge crawled past the two-hour mark. No one asked a well-formed question about the basic blocking and tackling of our dilemma while insisting on a response:

If we have 200,000 ventilators, how many are we going to need? Once again, here's what happened when someone tried to ask an obvious question about testing:
QUESTION: ...Do you have any kind of projection as to when everyone who needs a test will be able to receive one?

TRUMP: I can only say that we’re doing more than anybody in the world by far. We are testing highly accurate tests. These are tests that work, as you know, many tests are being sent to countries that are broken.

QUESTION: But it’s still not enough.

TRUMP: Well, every day we get, and the word is exponential, we are getting more and more and more, and now we have the new tests that you saw yesterday. That’s going to be rolled out, I think, tomorrow or the next day, and that’s going to take only a few minutes, literally a few minutes to see the result and it’s a highly accurate result.
The commander didn't answer the question, and no one followed up. Meanwhile, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in Dear Leader's amazing testing, upon which the monologue is based.

As the journey crept past the two-hour mark, we were deeper in North Korea than we've ever been. But if Dear Leader was a key player, so were the Walking Dead, arrayed in chairs before him.

The exchange with Bullock went unmentioned. There was no attempt to drive basic questions about the availability of testing and equipment.

By the end, Trump and Acosta droned on and on. They're a fairly perfect matched set, dating back to the days when Acosta was grandstanding and showboating at Obama's expense.

In future years, today's 9-year-old kids are going to have to address this cultural breakdown. Unfortunately, our species may just be wired this way, no matter what Wittgenstein found.

A very large number of tests: In the current context, it makes no sense to cite large numbers of available ventilators or test kits without comparing those numbers to the projected volume of need.

We're now doing 100,000 tests a day, the commander said. This morning, on Morning Joe, Ezekiel Emanuel said we probably need to be doing a million.

Is that right? We don't know. Yesterday, with Fauci and Birx right there, none of the walking dead asked!

Our journalists have almost no analytical skills. They've performed this way for a very long time, leaving us as the walking wounded.

82 comments:

  1. From Political Wire today (Taegan Goddard):

    "Mulvaney Suggested Trump Was Mentally Ill
    April 1, 2020 at 10:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 39 Comments

    The best scoop from Jon Karl’s Front Row at the Trump Show which is out today:

    Former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told his staff to read the book A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness, which argues that in “times of crisis, we are better off being led by mentally ill leaders than by mentally normal ones.”

    Mulvaney apparently believed that Trump was mentally ill and that it might actually be a good thing."

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Is that right? We don't know. Yesterday, with Fauci and Birx right there, none of the walking dead asked!

    Our journalists have almost no analytical skills. They've performed this way for a very long time, leaving us as the walking wounded."

    Somerby almost seems to think that the reporters who are asking questions are performing for him and other viewers as an audience. He criticizes them for not asking about the things he thinks we (the audience) need to know about, for not putting Trump on the spot.

    It is true that Trump is playing to the viewing audience, but the reporters may have other goals. They may be trying to elicit quotes for a story they have mostly already written. They may be trying to fill gaps in such a story. Some may be trying to curry favor with Trump by giving him softballs. I doubt that any are thinking of their own questions as performances to inform the viewers of that press conference about important issues. That is what their own stories are supposed to do -- the ones they will write later, based on research, not anything Trump says (unless he puts his foot in it during his own remarks).

    These kinds of press briefings were not usually available to the public, except on C-span. It is only because this is a national crisis that it is being televised at all. The press need not become Somerby's performing monkeys just because Trump decided to make these briefings his substitute rallies. The press has its own podium, and it is NOT Trump's briefings.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The IG Horowitz reference by the president was to another thing had been on a lot of minds.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/opinion/articles/2020-03-31/fbi-inspector-general-report-shows-agency-cannot-be-trusted

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think Dr. Birx addressed the problem/disconnect with test kits in these statements:


    https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-coronavirus-task-force-briefing-transcript-march-31-painful-weeks-ahead


    Dr. Birx : (51:00)
    So even today, which is I have to say, coming out of laboratories and develop tests, and worked on vaccines and then gone to the field to actually combat epidemics, it is disappointing to me right now that we have about 500,000 capacity of avid tests that are not being utilized. So they are out there in the states, they’re not being run and not utilized. So now we have to figure out how do we create awareness? Because sometimes when you put an early platform out, like our first platform out in the high speed was Roche, so you get that out, people get dependent on that and then don’t see that there’s availability of other tests. So right now there’s over a half a million tests sitting capacity that are not being utilized. So we’re trying to figure how do we inform states about where these all are? How do we work through every laboratory association so they’re aware? And how do we raise awareness so people know that there’s point of care, there’s Thermo Fisher, there’s Abbott testing, and there’s Roche.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is nonsense. The FDA just announced that the test would be available on Tuesday. There hasn't been enough time for people to have been ignoring it. It may be that testing sites were waiting for the FDA approval.

      Delete
    2. I am referring to the Avid test, which Birx says was not being utilized.

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    3. Doesn’t mean that they hadn’t been shipped and as of yesterday could be used.

      Delete
    4. "it is disappointing to me right now that we have about 500,000 capacity of avid tests that are not being utilized. So they are out there in the states, they’re not being run and not utilized. "

      It doesn't sound like they've been neglected less than 24 hours, from her statement. I think she might have lost track of the fact that they weren't approved for use yet. Or maybe she is making this up in order to make it appear that there isn't a supply problem -- that the states are messing up. In other words, she is lying.

      Delete
    5. Perhaps, Avid Bioservices had been marketing a test that takes longer too.

      Delete
  5. We need testing for Trump Derangement Syndrome. Trump's daily pressers are disturbing to Democrats because 60% of independents are watching and giving him and his team high ratings. And no one is going to want a Democrat in office, responsible for bringing back the economy, in the aftermath.

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    1. I think singular most ironic and symbolic moment was the treatment of Mike Lindell.

      Here you have a guy who isn’t the politic upper-crust looking head of Apple or Nike. Who actually doesn’t have factories in China, he makes things here. Who’s gauche enough to thank God for a president he likes and tell people to read the Bible, and to convert his facilities into making masks.

      Hold your nose! Overt your eyes! Cover your ears!

      Can we stand such a thing in the Rose Garden?! Why didn’t they cut away?!

      Oh, well.

      Where’ is Biden? His handlers have determined that he has more to risk by appearing and talking right now, than he has to gain. Irony.

      It’s a circus, but not the one Somerby thinks.

      Delete
    2. Biden is at home, where everyone else should be too.

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    3. Unless this is an April Fools, RBG says that she’s not having that.

      https://www.law360.com/articles/1259086

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    4. "Hold your nose! Overt your eyes! Cover your ears! "

      Cries for political correctness from a Conservative?
      Must be a day of the week that ends in "y".

      Delete
    5. "Who’s gauche enough to thank God for a president he likes and tell people to read the Bible, and to convert his facilities into making masks."

      First off, the man is a fucking criminal con man. No wonder he loves Chickenshit, birds of a feather. Second, not in a fucking press briefing about a major crisis the country is dealing with, go do it at his fucking Nuremberg rallies when they start up again. Third, he fucking insulted the majority in this Nation who didn't think our nation had "turned its back on God.". Just love these republiCON assholes who wear their religion on their sleeves while they con the rubes 24/7/365, and seem to imagine they have a special right to lecture the rest of us about what God thinks and wants for our country. Fuck off, ok. Let him and pussygrabber go in business together selling their snake oil miracle cures to the rubes. Not on my dime.

      Delete
    6. mm, it doesn’t make sense for you to post two comments about the one comment I made and then tell me to f-off.

      Tell that to whoever is holding the gun to your head and making you read them. Please.

      Delete
    7. "one comment"

      Bwahahaha!

      Hey, he "took a gamble" and we lost. Eh. Big deal, at least he's "number one on Facebook", so there's that.

      Delete
  6. Dr. Birx : (52:10)
    So those are the all [crosstalk 00:18:10], or they’re not even being used, so that’s what we’re working on.
    Speaker 6: (52:16)
    What’s the reason they’re being used?
    Dr. Birx : (52:18)
    Because when people get used to a single platform, they keep sending it back to that lab, so it’s getting an acute way to get on a Roche machine, rather being moved to this other lab that may have Abbott capacity, because they’re all in different laboratories. [inaudible 00:52:33] So I think, well actually, Admiral Giroir is figuring it out to really create some kind of visual, so that every governor and every health commissioner can see all of their capacity in their countries, I mean, in their states, county by county, so that they know where the tests are. So we pushed a lot of tests out, but they’re not all being utilized

    ReplyDelete
  7. Democrat Cuomo's ventilator failure. Solar panels.

    "It’s a little late. Several years ago, after learning that the Empire State’s stockpile of medical equipment had 16,000 fewer ventilators than the 18,000 New Yorkers would need in a severe pandemic, state public-health leaders came to a fork in the road.

    They could have chosen to buy more ventilators to back up the supplies hospitals maintain. ­Instead, the health commissioner, Howard Zucker, assembled a task force for rationing the ventilators they already had.

    In 2015, that task force came up with rules that will be imposed when ventilators run short. ­Patients assigned a red code will have highest access, and other ­patients will be assigned green, yellow or blue (the worst), ­depending on a “triage officer’s” decision.

    In truth, a death officer. Let’s not sugar-coat it. It won’t be up to your own doctor.

    In 2015, the state could have purchased the additional 16,000 needed ventilators for $36,000 apiece, or a total of $576 million. It’s a lot of money, but in hindsight, spending half a percent of the budget to prepare for pandemic was the right thing to do."

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    Replies
    1. That triage system was abandoned yesterday. Doctors were advised to use their judgment. There isn't time enough to get a triage officier or committee to make these decisions.

      Hindsight is wonderful. DiBlasio was, like Trump, downplaying the seriousness of the virus, more recently than 2015. If he had introduced mitigation sooner, then the number of ventilators would have been correct.

      These recriminations strike me as a waste of time. There are any number of similar contingencies that money could be spent on. Choose the right one and you are a hero. Choose the wrong one and you're a jerk.

      Delete
    2. You gotta process failure to learn from failure.

      Delete
    3. Agree the post mortems when no one knew this would blow up are a waste of time. The best move made early was closing off the borders to China and Europe and the rest was playing catch up with data.

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    4. “No one knew this would blow up”

      Riiiiight.

      Delete
    5. "..closing off the borders to China and Europe.."

      Bullshit. Never happened.

      Delete
    6. "Agree the post mortems when no one knew this would blow up are a waste of time."

      Gaslight this, bot.

      https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-all-the-times-trump-was-warned-about-pandemic-2020-3?

      Delete
  8. Somerby asks: “The U.S. has 200,000 ventilators? How many ventilators are we projected to need?”

    Birx made the remarks quoted by Somerby at around minute 47 of the press conference.

    Somerby, being his usual selective self, fails to inform his readers that Birx said this, at around minute 18:

    “there was a modeler out of the University of Washington that modeled from cases up, utilizing the experience around the globe to really understand how this information that we have from Italy and Spain and South Korea and China could really help us give insight into the hospital needs, the ventilator needs, and really the number of people who potentially could succumb to this illness. It is this model that we are looking at now that provides us the most detail of the time course that is possible, but this model assumes full mitigation.”

    For those paying attention, Birx was saying that she is still trying to figure out the number of ventilators that will be needed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For those not paying attention, like you, Birx should be fired for incompetence or mendacity or both. There are models in use right now that allow anyone with a spreadsheet program to make reasonable predictions about the course of the Trumpandemic, including how many critical cases will happen and when.

      Delete
  9. If Hillary were president, and this pandemic had happened on her watch, she would probably also be giving daily press briefings, which the press would likely air live and in their entirety.

    Would that also lead to charges of “North Korean TV” by Somerby? If not, why not?

    You could argue that Hillary would be less “crazy” (Somerby’s word, not mine) than Trump, or she would be more factual, but it doesn’t change the fact that Trump is the president, and he is giving briefings during a national emergency, briefings where we hear from experts like Birx and Fauci, and from Pence, who is coordinating the response.

    We also get to see how Trump handles himself. I would much rather see that with my own eyes than disappeared or filtered through the lens of somebody else in the media.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd rather have low IQ typists employed by legacy news media restating what happened so I won't think the wrong thoughts.

      Delete
    2. Watching the daily press briefings is exciting.
      I'm on the edge of my seat wondering who President Pass the Buck will blame his criminal negligence on next.

      Delete
  10. "Plus, the press corps' walking dead: Yesterday, our long day's journey into brain cell death lasted well over two hours."

    Heh. You have managed to avoid noticing it for the whole last 4 years, dear Bob, but now, when Our Beloved Commander successfully turned the tables on your liberal zombie cult, using the panic they created against your high priests - now you notice it!

    Nice. How loyal-zombie of you, dear Bob.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There seems to be some alarm over these events where viewers get to see their president firsthand without information selected and restated by failed news media.

      Delete
    2. Well, yeah, any cult needs totalitarian censorship. Infidels must be silenced, or - if silencing is not possible - smeared and vilified.

      Liberal zombie cult is no exception.

      Delete
    3. Sho nuff.

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/donald-trump-coronavirus-response-us-advertisement

      Delete
  11. A scene from Fargo 1996:

    JERRY: Yah, like I told ya, we haven't had any vehicles go missing.
    MARGE: Okay, are you sure, cause, I mean, how do you know? Because, see, the crime I'm investigating, the perpetrators were driving a car with dealer plates. And they called someone who works here, so it'd be quite a coincidence if they weren't, ya know, connected.
    JERRY: Yah, I see.
    MARGE: So how do you - have you done any kind of inventory recently?
    JERRY: The car's not from our lot, ma'am.
    MARGE: but do you know that for sure without -
    JERRY: Well, I would know. I'm the Executive Sales Manager.
    MARGE: Yah, but -
    JERRY: We run a pretty tight ship here.
    MARGE: I know, but - well, how do you establish that, sir? Are the cars, uh, counted daily or what kind of -
    JERRY: Ma'am, I answered your question.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A bit of agreement here with Cecelia.

    Somerby is...weird.

    He spent years attacking liberals for insulting Trump voters by (he says) calling them all a bunch of racists and misogynists, and that liberals and the media ought to find out why they really voted for him.

    Point taken.

    But then, yesterday, Somerby said this about Mike Lindell, MyPillow CEO:

    “Ron Popeil is no longer active, so Lindell appeared in his stead.”

    This was clearly meant as snark.

    But Lindell was expressing sentiments shared by a fair number of Trump voters as to why they supported him. I don’t agree with it, but I have no reason to doubt their sincerity, or that of Lindell.

    And, on top of that, Lindell was announcing something that is a good thing, it seems to me: turning much of his production over to face masks. Rather than snark about it, shouldn’t “we liberals” like Somerby try to appreciate what Lindell is doing? Isn’t Somerby just displaying the same kind of contempt that he attacks in liberals?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mh, I didn’t say Somerby was weird. I’m quite a fan of his.

      My take is if you don’t have to carpool with him, share a dorm room, or pick him out in a police lineup (we couldn’t), why get bothered about any quirks he may have. He’s brilliant.

      That said, I very much appreciate your comments on Mr. Lindell.

      Delete
    2. It seems pretty inappropriate to me for Lindell to use an official government press briefing to talk about his God. People in the US have agreed to a secular government in order to permit freedom of religion to the diverse people of this country, many of whom are not Christian. Trump went out of his way to say that he didn't know Lindell was going to say that stuff, so at least Trump seems to understand that it is inappropriate to do that.

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    3. Lindell should not be permitted to turn out 50,000 masks per day because he said "God" in public. They would be the equivalent of forced gay conversion therapy.

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    4. Trump did a pre-emptive disavowing of the accusation that he had planned that scene.

      It’s perfectly fine for a private citizen to invoke God and it’s also appropriate during a time of crisis.

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    5. Anonymouse2:09am, I was wondering the other day why sexuality conversion therapy can get practitioners and patients in trouble, but gender is supposedly as fluid as rain.

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    6. A little reading would help you understand that better.

      https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Gender-Vicki-S-Helgeson/dp/1138186872

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    7. It was also a big deal because he said that God has blessed us with Trump's leadership. A fact-checker should correct that to say that we have been cursed with Trump.

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    8. Your not agreeing with a sentiment doesn't make it inappropriate to state in public.

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    9. Thank you for the link, Corby.

      Delete
    10. Cut the shit, Cec. He also told us that God blessed us with Chickenshit because "our country had turned our back away from God".

      "God gave us grace on November 8, 2016, to change the course we were on",

      Right, God chose Pussygrabber, because he was mad at the black guy.

      You see nothing inappropriate and fucking offensive there, Cec? Really? At a press briefing to ostensibly inform the American public about a major pandemic, that Dear Leader turned into a fucking raging dumpster fire?

      Delete
    11. Cecelia conversion therapy from straight to gay is OK. Conversion to anything from heterosexual or white or male is acceptable.

      Delete
    12. mm, I do not. I wouldn’t see it as inappropriate, if in a Rose Garden ceremony for some “wonderful” policy or something... a guest expressed the same sentiment about 2008 being a blessing of God and a light at the end of the tunnel, because of the election of Pres. Obama. Especially in a crisis situation.

      The media sure wouldn't either.

      It’s not my opinion, but go ahead...whoever... Get all teary-eyed at a White House ceremony/presser with a president you support and intimate he’s a merciful do-over from that Republican formerly in the office.

      Hallelujah, sister! This is America!

      Delete
    13. Separation of church and state -- it is in the American Constitution. It doesn't matter whether the president says it or some stooge he invited says it -- that stuff isn't permitted at government functions. Government functions are supposed to be secular, not religious.

      Delete
    14. Jeez. Some perfessor you are.

      Delete
    15. Right. So you find the law that would impose any sort of civil penalty on an invited private citizen guest for involving God in a speech.

      Show me one that would get the president in trouble or a world leader invitee for referencing divine blessing on our counties or for uttering “With God’s help” or “With thanks to God”.

      An argument that it’s offensive to some people is different from saying that this sort of reference to a deity is a governmental establishment of a religion.

      Delete
    16. Could you type opinions like this in Latin? They’d at least look salient.

      Delete
    17. I'm not offended, mostly because I don't have feelings. Did any of my tax dollars fund these Trumpandemic Follies? I think the answer is yes. If so, why am I paying for the dissemination of MyPillow's and your mythology? I'm not saying it's actionable, but still, don't pretend this is matter of taste.

      Delete
    18. Of course it’s a matter of taste.

      I paid for Beau Bergdahl’s return to be celebrated in the Rise Garden, and for HRC to be motorcaded to all the media outlets to say her husband was telling the truth.

      Worse of all, I paid for the WH soirée for this:

      https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-appearances/the-shifting-perspective-in-kehinde-wileys-portrait-of-barack-obama/amp

      Delete
    19. The “Rise Garden”? Are you going to make a habit out of this? (I realize that I may be hoisted on this petard.)

      There was no “WH soirée” for the portrait, which was shown at the National Portrait Gallery and which was commissioned with private funds.

      What “motorcades”?

      You’re approaching Corby levels of cluelessness.

      We all have things we’d rather the gov didn’t spend money on. Some things may be a matter of taste; others the Constitution says are off limits. and one of the latter is promoting your mythology with public money.

      If you can’t tell which is which, you’re now nearing David in Cal’s orbit. I’d hate to think this is a symptom of quarantine fever, ‘cause otherwise it’s gonna be a long month. Or two.

      Delete
    20. It’s not that I don’t understand your point, it’s that I don’t agree with it.

      I don’t think that Lindell’s remarks approached being an infraction to the Constitution. Which would not be a matter of taste.

      I like David in Cal. I often appreciate what he says.

      Toward people with nyms, if I don’t have frank admiration for their gifts, I tend to feel the vague collegiality you have toward the person you’ve never met, but speak with over the phone while conducting some business. Corby, mm, others. Mao is a hoot. Leroy is a doll.

      Their politics don’t effect that. That’s how it is with people. I don’t mind a comparison with folks, even if I think it’s bunk.

      Delete
    21. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    22. The Constitution says my money shouldn’t support your mythology. It’s that easy to understand.
      Does that mean every violation of that principle is actionable? No. That’s not so easy to understand, which is why there are lawyers.

      David in Cal is a toxic idiot, morally and intellectually. In fact, as I am fond of pointing out, he’s this comment section’s Village Idiot. Everything he posts is regurgitated right-wing bilge. What exactly is there to appreciate?

      I tend to feel the vague collegiality you have toward the person you’ve never met.

      Yeah, the kind of collegiality that’s reflected in your response to Corby: “Hey, I know you’re hurting, but I find that so funny I just can’t help laughing at you, and I invite everyone else to do the same.” Kumbaya.

      Mao is a hoot. Leroy is a doll. Their politics don’t effect that.

      Ferfucksake, now you’re just trolling me, right?
      Mao is a troll, and you don’t know any more about Leroy than you know about Mao.

      That’s how it is with people.

      You mean that’s how it is with you.

      I don’t mind a comparison with folks, even if I think it’s bunk.

      I’m not even sure what that means, but there are no “folks” here, only text, some bits of it more idiotic than others.

      Delete
    23. deadrat, I don’t know anyone on this board. I likened it to the vague friendliness you feel when habitually speaking off and on to some contact on the phone. My response is far more moderated toward that fact that this just text than the more emotional one you’re voicing over strangers.

      The wounded thing was sarcasm. That’s the risk in kvetching over a blogger in every post. It makes it more difficult to believe and to sympathize with squeamishness and the regularly scheduled affront and lecture that stems from an analogy using the walking dead as a symbol of a cultural virus that has threatened another sort of deadness.

      If you do, then she has good support in this, indeed.

      Not me.

      Delete
    24. Ah, it was sarcasm.

      Well that makes it OK then because you didn't actually believe here.

      Brava!

      Delete
  13. “Has there ever been a group of humans who found it harder to focus on basic questions? Who found it harder to insist on getting actual answers?”

    Since Trump is, according to Somerby, the “craziest person in the whole country”, it seems a little crazy to expect actual answers from him.

    If only Bob were there, though. He’d get those answers, no doubt.

    ReplyDelete
  14. It seems in very poor taste for Somerby to be referring to the press as "the walking dead" when we are in the midst of a pandemic during which hundreds of thousands of people are expected to die. Aren't there other metaphors a creative guy like Somerby could be using?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well,Mao has already taken zombie.

      Delete
    2. You are so sensitive, my dear Corby. Such a delicate creature, full of innocence, sweetness and beauty.

      I can't help but feel humbled and blessed.

      Delete
    3. Wait until someone close to you dies, Mao. It won't seem so funny to you then.

      Delete
    4. "Wait until someone close to you dies, Mao. It won't seem so funny to you then."

      I''m still waiting to hear what your point is.

      Delete
    5. Only the heavenly creatures like yourself, dear Corby, live forever. Ascended onto a higher plane; usually a comet.

      The rest of us, mere humyn beings, we all die, I'm afraid.

      There's a flu epidemic every year. People die. We say a few words, put them into the ground, and keep living. There's nothing sacrilegious about any of this.

      Delete
    6. Mao says, "I'm afraid."

      As if everyone here didn't already know that.

      Delete
    7. ""Wait until someone close to you dies, Mao. It won't seem so funny to you then."

      I''m still waiting to hear what your point is."

      My point is that the dead, the dying, and their families and loved ones deserve respect. That means that you don't forget that these are human beings who had lives and people who care about them. Out of respect for the grief and loss that accompanies death, Somerby should not be using callous language in the midst of a pandemic. He should take some care not to trample on raw feelings of people who are directly involved in this widespread illness and fatality. Jokes or political metaphors about "the walking dead" are inappropriate and as sociopathic as our president, when there are people now literally walking around, who won't be with us any more in two weeks. Take a breath and show some respect, if you have an ounce of humanity. Trump won't do it, and neither will Somerby, judging by his attitude, but you have a chance to be a real person and remember that these aren't numbers we're talking about, they are people.

      Delete
    8. I know you’re so wounded, Corby, but it’s impossible to read this without dissolving into laughter. I dare anybody to try it.

      Delete
    9. 10:18,
      I haven't laughed this hard since some comedian tried to tell me the Republican Party isn't a criminal enterprise.

      Delete
    10. I’m not having any trouble with compelled laughter.

      Corby appears to have a case of misplaced emotional investment — how do metaphors rise to the level of sociopathy? how does anything written on a blog nobody reads torment the grieving? — but I don’t see how a plea for a heightened sense of the humane triggers uncontrolled laughter.

      Delete
    11. Don't try to kid a kidder, Anonymous @12:00N, nobody has ever told you that the Republican Party isn't a criminal enterprise. Even feral Trumpers don't deny it; they just say, "So what?"

      Delete
    12. “ but I don’t see how a plea for a heightened sense of the humane triggers uncontrolled laughter.”

      You can blame or credit a heightened sense of the absurd.

      Delete
    13. I'm sorry, but I think you're going to have to look deeper than your "heightened sense of the absurd."

      Delete
  15. One reason yesterday's presser ran so long was that the reporters kept asking questions. Many of the questions were useless. Also, as Bob rightly pointed out, Trump gave long, rambling answers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Many of the questions were useless."

      Asking a Republican any question is useless. Better to ask Establishment elites, and get it straight from the source.

      Delete
    2. How can you tell if mm has cabin fever from lockdown? Kidding mm, love ya man.

      Delete
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