Some of the things we heard Wednesday night!

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2021

Sharks and Jets, Montagues / Capulets: We almost never watch the Hannity show on Fox. 

We don't recall (exactly) why, but this past Wednesday night, we briefly flipped over to Hannity. We did so shortly after the start of the 9 P.M. show. 

When we flipped over, Hannity was beating up on President Biden for being too soft on Putin. Here's part of what we heard:

HANNITY (12/8/21): Today the pathetic, weak Joe Biden accidentally actually revealed his strategy to deal with the hostile actor Vladimir Putin and his hostile regime and his hostile activity. And the way is to accommodate them, pretty much kiss their ass in any way possible.

"Joe, you're the president," Hannity said. "You're not a concierge at a 5-star hotel. You don't need to accommodate Vladimir Putin."

Hannity felt that Biden was being too soft on the hostile Putin and his hostile regime. He went on to warn American citizens to get any relatives out of Ukraine—reason being, the pathetic Biden will never protect them against Putin's hostile behavior.

This was early in the 9 P.M. hour. When Hannity began beating up on Biden in earnest, we flipped back to the Maddow Show:

Within minutes, we were being told, by Rachel Maddow, that the prime-time hosts on the Fox News Channel simply adore this very same Vladimir Putin.

We still can't show you exactly what Maddow said. As of this morning, her slacker channel was four days behind in the provision of transcripts.

That said, her sweeping statement about those Fox hosts wasn't even the stupidest thing she said during the segment in question. Her stupidest, least excusable statement concerned a new cover report in Newsmax magazine.

At this point, we still can't show you exactly what she said about that report. Her slacker channel hasn't presented its transcript yet, and we've changed our mind about doing the scut-work ourselves.

At any rate, Maddow was telling her viewers that Newsmax magazine simply adores the vile tyrant Putin. She "proved" her point by showing viewers the cover of the magazine's new edition, without quoting a single word the cover report inside the magazine actually said.

What does the Newsmax report actually say? We haven't read the report. But according to Newsweek, here's what the actual report apparently actually says:

PALMER (12/8/21): In a statement to promote its December issue, Newsmax said: "He's evil, he's cunning, and he's the most powerful man in the world." The magazine also promised to present the Russian president as "you've never seen him before—and it will change the way you look at one of the world's most feared superpowers."

The cover story, written by investigative reporter Kenneth R. Timmerman, would describe Putin's goal of "exploiting every opportunity to weaken the United States and its allies," as well as discussing his private life and alleged love children, according to the statement.

Speaking to Newsweek, a spokesperson for Newsmax, which operates the monthly magazine as well as a cable news channel and website, said: "Newsmax Magazine's December feature story is entitled 'Putin's War on the West: the Russian leader exploits every opportunity to weaken the U.S. and it's allies.' This investigative report paints a disturbing portrait of a dangerous leader and regime.

"Newsmax's cover portrays 'Vlad the Great' as a modern Russian Czar, who, after Trump, finds no world leaders to hold him in check."

Based on the eye-catching "Vlad the Great" cover hook—and based on nothing else at all—Rachel was telling the world that Newsmax magazine, like Fox News, was pimping its love for the great Russkie leader.

There was no sign that she'd looked at the Newsmax report itself. She was working off that eye-catching, excitingly ambiguous "Vlad the Great" cover hook.

If Maddow's owners ever post their transcript, we'll show you the exact words she said. That said, we haven't even told you about the stupidest thing she said during the segment in question.

That involved her claim that Fox News is constantly running fawning photos of the shirtless Putin. To establish this ridiculous claim, she flashed three or four photos of the shirtless Russkie strongman. 

As seemed clear from the standard chyron they all bore, they all track back to a single, 24-second report in the summer of 2017, when MSNBC and Fox News were each running such photos as filler. 

(Based on this analysis from 538.com, CNN ran such shirtless photos much less often during the general period in question.)

Maddow has been phoning it in for a very long time now. That said, it would be hard to behave in a more contemptuous, deceptive manner than she did on this occasion.

Who knows? Maybe she was just reading copy one of her staffers had written. Maybe she actually thought that what she was saying was accurate.

Given Maddow's frequent strange conduct, such possibilities are endless! But it's time to get this strange person off the air. It's time for this person to go.

Seriously, it actually happened! Two minutes after we watched Hannity savaging the hostile actions of the hostile Putin, we flipped over and saw this nutcase disinforming millions of viewers.

This is the way the Jets and the Sharks played the time-honored game. This was the Montagues, and this was also the Capulets.

This was standard tribal disinformation, wrapped up in a crowd-pleasing bow. Increasingly, we live to hate the other tribe, and to do nothing else. The basic thinking is perfectly clear:

It's no stupidity left behind! All stupidity goes!

Maddow's been like this for a long time. When will her irresponsible, profit-based owners get her off the air?

This just in from experts: Your lizard is saying that this has to be wrong. It's time for your lizard to go!

53 comments:


  1. Yeah, dear Bob, Hannity is a blowhard. That's common knowledge. You can ignore him exactly the same way you ignore Maddow... Oh, wait... Sorry, never mind.

    Tucker Carlson, on the other hand, had this, recently:
    https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/tucker-carlson-us-would-gain-nothing-in-confrontation-with-russia

    A perfectly reasonable, meaningful, responsible performance.

    Why don't you, dear Bob, watch that, instead of raw bullshit propaganda you seem to prefer?

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    1. The US is a member of NATO. Russia didn't want Ukraine to join NATO because that would bring the rest of Europe into the situation to protect the Ukraine. Biden is showing that he is willing to pledge American support to protecting Ukraine from Russian invasion. Despite Trump's efforts to undermine and weaken NATO, it still stands as a deterrent to Russian aggression.

      The US supports its allies once again. Trump, alone among presidents, spurned historic allies and embraced Russia. Biden has restored those longtime relationships with European allies and NATO, strengthening the forces against Russian aggression.

      Mao doesn't appear to understand treaty relationships among allies. Trump deliberately abrogated treaties, embarrassing the US and dismaying European nations. Biden has been restoring those relationships. So, when Biden stands up to Putin, the US benefits by restoring the good relations held with Europe and the rest of the world, important buffers against China, North Korea, Iran and Russia, all nations that tend to behave in ways that threaten their neighbors. The US benefits when we stand together with our allies. Trump never understood that (or pretended not to).

      This attack on Biden is two-pronged. Some Republicans are expressing support for Putin. Others are blaming Biden for not getting along with him. Both of these are bullshit. Putin is an authoritarian dictator of a nation that wants to take over the Ukraine, an independent country. This is akin to what Hitler did to Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and adjacent areas of France, before abandoning pretense and just invading the rest of Europe. If you don't know why Germany did that, read Mein Kampf. The goal was for the rest of Europe to be enslaved labor to supply Germans with a comfy lifestyle, while eliminating undesirables (old people, disabled, Jews, gays, gypsies, communists) and repatriating races to their countries (Poles to Poland, Italians to Italy etc). The trains moved those immigrants out of German areas, before they were used to move people to labor camps, and then Jews to extermination camps. Read Hitler's larger plan -- the one you probably weren't taught about in school. It might make you less eager to follow guys like Trump and Putin -- assuming you have any brain cells left to think about the lessons of history.

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    2. From Political Wire:

      "“The top diplomats for the world’s wealthiest large democracies warned Russia on Sunday of ‘massive consequences’ and ‘severe costs’ should it invade Ukraine or continue military aggressions near its border,” the New York Times reports.

      “The foreign ministers for the Group of 7 urged Russia to pull back from the tense border standoff and made clear that any effort to negotiate or otherwise avoid confrontation would be welcome.”

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    3. We find it refreshing that liberal scum now merged into one with neocon scum. Openly, completely, and unequivocally.

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    4. I am surprised that Mao has not yet praised President Biden for his strong and uncompromising decision to end our occupation of Afghanistan in the face of strong pushback and opposition from the military/media industrial complex. President Biden finally accomplished what the phony coward Trump had promised to do.

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    5. Sorry, dear dembot, but we don't praise vegetables.

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    6. Mao isn't praising anyone who doesn't wear his bigotry on his sleeve.

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  2. The Democratic establishment and the media aligned with them have been playing for fools their rank and file regarding Russia for a long time now. The completely false Russiagate narrative that they foisted on their moronic rank and file was the solid proof of how gullible and stupid that rank and file are. So they will press it and use it forever. Or until the rank and file wake up and realize they've been played for fools about the so-called machinations of what is only a marginal regional power that is not even in the top 10 of the world economies. Yet these morons think they are some kind of big bad scary boogeyman. You just cannot get any dumber than these morons like Corby.

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    1. Corby is not to blame. She's just a human. A victim of the insane.

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    2. Meh. There's no chance Corby and other bots here are humyn. It's just computer-generated drivel. Produced by GPT-3 software.

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    3. Why has the West paid so much attention to Russia? Part of it goes back to WWII, when Russia used its Eastern Front against Germany to occupy and take over what became the Eastern Block countries (e.g., Poland, Hungary, etc) and to incorporate Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia into the Soviet Union (against their will). Then they partitioned Germany and took over the portions occupied by Russian troops at the end of the war, making it too part of the Eastern Bloc. That showed Russia's intent to expand its territory and control of Europe.

      Next, Russia recruited scientists from Germany at the end of the war and gave them the resources to work on nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them (missiles). They planted these missles along the edges of the nations they controlled, aimed at Europe, and ultimately developed long range missiles capable of targeting parts of the USA, resulting in the Cuban missile crisis, which was considered an act of war, not simply intimidation. NATO was formed to protect the remaining countries in Europe from Russian predation. That's why Putin encouraged Trump to weaken, if not remove NATO. It took decades of work to negotiate a stand-down over nuclear weapons.

      Meanwhile, Russia recruited and planted spies in the USA and other countries, to steal technology needed to advance its military programs from US defense contractors, and to plant spies in government positions to steer policy their way. Alger Hiss was an example, as were the Rosenbergs. The Red Scare was the reaction to those efforts, but the release of Russian documents since those years have shown that the threat from espionage was real. Today, Russia has been using hackers and troll farms and developers of malware to infiltrate and steal information and spread disinformation via the internet and by disrupting software that controls our infrastructure and large corporations. This is highly destructive and has been proven to have been sponsored by Russia. This cyberwarfare is also considered an act of war by many in the military and government.

      It is likely that the use of money provided by oligarchs connected to Putin to bribe and buy support from members of Congress and other government officials, channeled via the NRA and untraceable contributions to campaigns or laundered funds, has been part of another recent effort to subvert the USA. Some have suggested that Trump has been courted and groomed by Russia for years, following his vulnerability due to his mismanagement of credit and failure of his casinos put him into massive debt. He may also be compromised in other ways, but he has had ties to Russian finance sources since well before he decided to run for president. Buying him the presidency is only an extension of that effort to subvert the American government using money and kompromat.

      So, this is why many sane people consider Russia to be an ongoing threat to the USA. Republicans who set aside these concerns in favor of their personal and financial interests are in danger of committing treason, in my opinion.

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    4. 1:34,
      If it’s what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer.

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    5. You see, 1:48 PM? Can you imagine an actual humyn being typing 11:47 grammatically correct word-salad, eh? Me neither. And it's not copy-paste.

      It's typical computer-generated drivel. This is exactly what 'natural language processing' soft does.

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    6. Read,

      The Making of Donald Trump Hardcover – August 2, 2016 by David Cay Johnston (Author)

      and

      The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family Hardcover – November 30, 2021

      everything in these books is documented and in the public record.

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    7. Since you obviously enjoy this sort of stuff, dear dembot @8:14 AM, may we recommend a few more similar titles for you?

      Guilty as Sin: Uncovering New Evidence of Corruption and How Hillary Clinton and the Democrats Derailed the FBI Investigation

      Hillary (And Bill) The Murder Volume: Part Three of the Clinton Trilogy by Victor Thorn (2008-05-03)

      Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party

      Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate

      Obama's Big Secrecy, Big Corruption, and Big Government

      How Barack Obama Intimidated America and Stole the Election

      Obama's Corrupt Legacy of Lies, Deceit, Guns and Murder

      ...and there's many, many more for you to read, if you like those.

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    8. Maybe Corby is a Homunculus in the vein of Goethe. Whatever she is she's a fool. Worried about Russian oligarchs tinkering with our elections when they are virtually openly purchased by American oligarchs.

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    9. If it’s what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer.

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    10. Once they get you to believe in supply-side economics, getting you to believe Republican voters aren't all bigots is child's play.

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    11. "...virtually openly purchased by American oligarchs."

      Realistically, American oligarchs would be the best-case scenario.

      American oligarchs at least have the incentive to preserve the country, long-term. To provide at least some sort of well-being, and stability.

      But no, it's purchased by multinational financial entities. The entities that operate world-wide and have no attachment to any particular country whatsoever.

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  3. It's simple (liberal) logic
    1. Conservatives are evil
    2. Putin is evil
    3. Therefore Conservatives and Putin are allies

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    1. No, it goes like this:

      1. Conservatives are evil
      2. Putin is evil
      3. Collaborating with Putin seems likely to be evil too.

      Trump himself said that he and Putin were allies. His actions toward Putin and Russia confirmed that. For Republicans to now pretend that they didn't cozy up to Russia during Trump's term defies reality. Biden explicitly told Putin not to expect the same treatment from him and our government now. Hannity pretends that is being "soft" on Russia, as if Trump didn't give away the store to Putin while in office.

      But the weirdest thing in today's essay is Somerby's ignorance of what happened both before Trump was elected, during his term, and now afterwards. Somerby seems to have amnesia about Russia. How convenient given his current admiration for Fox News and its hosts, who he admits to watching (something no liberal would do unless forced).

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    2. When did you first derive this bizarre syllogism, David? Cause I don't remember this equation ever being applied before the current leader of your party came on the scene.

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    3. Is David trying to gaslight us into thinking Conservatives aren't evil?
      Good luck shoveling that bullshit, Davey.

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    4. @11:54 - I am trying to account for Maddow reporting that conservatives were favorably disposed to Putin, when the glaring fact was was that conservatives were hostile toward Putin. How do you account for this anomaly?

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    5. What David says is borne out by the fact that Putin's guy lost by a landslide in the 2020 Presidential election, and there were some conservatives who didn't try to overthrow the United States Capitol because of it.

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    6. I am old enough to remember when every criticism of Trump's sycophancy towards his pal Putin by democrats was met with howls of derision from trumplicans accusing them of trying to start a new Cold War and WW3.
      I wonder why trump met secretly with Putin and destroyed the translator's notes of the odd meeting.

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    7. "@11:54 - I am trying to account for Maddow reporting that conservatives were favorably disposed to Putin, when the glaring fact was was that conservatives were hostile toward Putin. How do you account for this anomaly?"

      There may be some old-style Republicans who remember when Putin and Russia were the enemy for both Republicans and Democrats, but after Trump made his deal with the Devil, Trump supporters blessed whatever he did, up to and including the treasons of his behavior toward Russia while president (and before, as Russia secured election for him). Everything Trump has done for Russia makes sense if you consider that Trump is wholly owned by Putin. The Republican reactions all make sense when you consider that they are wholly owned by Trump AND Russia. There were even Republican jokes about which Republicans were most beholden to Putin. Remember those?

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  4. "Joe, you're the president," Hannity said. "You're not a concierge at a 5-star hotel. You don't need to accommodate Vladimir Putin."

    This advice doesn't need to be addressed to Biden, but should be addressed to Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump. Biden was tough with Putin when he stated that there would be strong consequences if he entered Ukraine.

    Meanwhile, quite a few Republicans have been expressing admiration and support for Putin, not to mention the many favors Trump did for Putin while he was president. This pretense that Biden is soft on Putin is the exact opposite of what is happening. Again, the Republican weakness toward Russia is being attributed to Biden, when Biden is far from the Putin-admirer and collaborator that Trump was.

    This is a great example of conservative misinformation and disinformation. And once again, Somerby seems to believe what Hannity said, doing nothing to challenge its basis in fact.

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  5. Every day Somerby finds a way to write an essay that is more disgusting and shocking than the day before. Today, using Hannity's disingenuous mistaken words, Somerby attacks Biden and tries to portray him as incapable of controlling Putin (the man who controlled Trump and is still pulling his strings). That is a despicable slur against a president who is the opposite of Trump with respect to his firmness in drawing the line over invasion of Ukraine.

    No liberal uses a Fox news host to slur a Democratic president like that. This is a bald attack on the president made by a conservative mouthpiece expressing today's talking points in concert with all the rest of the Republican stooges. Somerby's pretense about being liberal is surely blown by now.

    If you want to see real media criticism, see Peter Hamby on Snapchat.

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  6. "There was no sign that she'd looked at the Newsmax report itself. "

    Somerby confidently says this, several times, without having read the Newsmax report himself. How can he know that Maddow didn't read it if he doesn't know what was in the article himself? This is what bias looks like.

    Reprinting Putin's glamor shots is a form of flattery. It isn't what you would do if you were being critical of him. 2017 was during Trump's love affair with Putin. If Fox ran such a shot to flatter Putin, while MSNBC ran the same shot to ridicule him, those photos would mean different things in their different contexts.

    When Somerby leaves out Maddow's words and doesn't tell us what Newsmax said (or even what exactly was on that cover), he doesn't provide any context for the actions he describes. With Somerby, you really need to track down the info he omits, because it frequently undermines his claims and reveals his dishonest and attempts at manipulation. Just because he pretends to be a media critic doesn't mean he is above using the same propaganda techniques he decries in others. I think Maddow is way more honest than Somerby.

    I will not waste my time looking up Newsmax, because that may be what he wants his readers to do, and because it would be a waste of time. The burden of proof for his criticisms of Maddow rest with Somerby, not his readers. She remains innocent of Somerby's accusations as long as he provides no evidence whatsoever to support his claims, except his own namecalling.

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  7. 538[dot]com is not the correct link.

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  8. “we were being told, by Rachel Maddow, that the prime-time hosts on the Fox News Channel simply adore this very same Vladimir Putin.”

    Notice what Somerby is doing here.

    1. He claims (without proof) that Maddow said something about (unspecified) “hosts on the Fox News channel.”
    2. He copies and pastes something that Hannity said (magically “accidentally” tuning in to this one presentation. Curious, isn’t it? He hardly ever watches Hannity. But I digress.)
    3. Nowhere does Somerby quote Maddow specifically saying anything about Hannity. Perhaps she was talking about other Fox News hosts.

    Otherwise, apparently, for Somerby, Maddow calling out “Fox News hosts” for their hypocrisy about Putin, and *possibly* being wrong about Hannity (although the jury is still out on that one) is worse than Fox News’ hypocrisy about Putin.

    Somerby is surely well aware of Trump’s cozy relationship with Putin (Putin is a “great guy”, a “terrific person”, when told that Putin is a killer, Trump’s response: “You think our country's so innocent?") and what fawning sycophancy Hannity and others at Fox lavished on Trump.

    What a set of twisted priorities Somerby has here.

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    1. Mh, you have to remember not everyone is as stupid as you.

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    2. Another drive-by conservative troll with nothing to say except name-calling.

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  9. Hannity said:
    “the hostile actor Vladimir Putin and his hostile regime and his hostile activity. “

    It’s ironic (lol) that Somerby didn’t happen to tune into Hannity’s colleague, Tucker Carlson, when he was saying this about Putin:

    “The only question that matters is how does intervening in Ukraine help the core interests of the United States. Vladimir Putin does not want Belgium. He just wants to keep his western borders secure. That’s why he doesn’t want Ukraine to join NATO, and that makes sense.”

    Nice, isn’t it? Fox News hosts and Bob Somerby get to have it both ways in order to find some way of criticizing Maddow.

    Bad faith, anyone?

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    Replies
    1. What about her using a Newsmax article to pro pro-Putinism, when the article was anti-Putin? was that ok, MH?

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    2. What does "pro pro-Putinism" mean? Somerby admits that he hasn't seen the article himself. Have you read it?

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    3. See what I mean about MH being stupid? What a stupid original comment and reply.

      Mh, not everyone in the world is stupid like you are. That may be the source of some of your neuroticism.

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    4. a typo - to "prove" pro-Putinism. I haven't read it, but please show me how TDH's characterization is inaccurate or misleading.

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  10. Somerby enables the gaslighting from people like Trump and Hannity by demanding that everyone disregard all context and all behavior over time of these shitheads.

    He did the same with Trump’s response to Charlottesville. “Trump said he condemned white supremacists. Checkmate libs.”

    And this is how propaganda works. The propagandist denies today what he said yesterday or what his actions clearly show.

    And Somerby plays their cynical game.

    The ultimate comeuppance for Somerby would be if all of his critics abandoned his blog. That would leave only fanboy Mao. Notice that Somerby’s “fans” never initiate any discussion. They only respond to the critics with derision. It’s as if the Somerby fans have nothing to say independent of the critics’ responses and live for these critical comments.

    I have never seen a blog that generates zero discussion from its admirers, but only from its critics.

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    1. This blog has no fans. Only partisan trolls.

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    2. I'm a fan. He's constantly been right for years and years about practically everything.

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    3. I will pray for you.

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  11. "208 House Republicans voted against the Protecting Our Democracy Act which would require candidates to report foreign election interference to the FBI."

    This is where the Republican party stands on Russia's interference in the last two elections.

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  12. MH - most of the discussion from TDH's critics is stupid to the point of lunacy. And you constantly mistake TDH's critical thinking and rational criticism as support for the right wing.

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    Replies
    1. You are excusing Somerby's bigotry for critical thinking. Mh gets it right.

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    2. Meh. Dear mh does not make mistakes. Dear mh is a bot.

      Dear mh righteously declared recently that the liberal cult hasn't incited blm riots. No humyn being with two functioning brain cells would type drivel so absurd and click 'publish'. Only a brainless bot would.

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    3. Relax, Mao.
      Trump gave your Establishment bosses a HUGE tax break.

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  13. Bob,
    Anxiously waiting for your take on your asshole pal Carlson declaring that "liberals" are fighting against "Christmas".

    How stupid are you?

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  14. Or maybe you are just a liar?

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  15. نحن افضل شركات تنظيف كنب في العين ,عجمان ,ام القيوين لدينا خبرة في مجال تنظيف الكنب بالبخار والسجاد لدينا فريق عمل مميز يتميز الاحترافية والالتزام في العمل رضاء العميل هو اوليات الشركة نسعي دائما علي تحقيق الافضل

    شركة تنظيف كنب في العين

    شركة تنظيف كنب العين

    ReplyDelete
  16. نتميز افضل شركات تنظيف كنب وسجاد في أبوظبي ,العين,دبي ، ممتميز الامانة خدمات تنظيف الكنب في ابوظبي لجميع السكنية تنظيف الكنب والمجالس ،لا تكتفى شركتنا للتنظيف باعمال التنظيف الكنب والمجالس بالبخار

    شركة تنظيف كنب في ابوظبي

    شركة تنظيف كنب ابوظبي

    ReplyDelete
  17. نتميز افضل شركات تنظيف منازل في أبوظبي ,العين,دبي ، محترفون ومتخصيين نتميز الامانة خدمات تنظيف المنازل والفلل في ابوظبي في جميع الامارات تنظيف المنازل ،لا تكتفى شركتنا للتنظيف باعمال التنظيف

    شركات تنظيف المنازل في ابوظبي


    شركة تنظيف منازل ابوظبي

    ReplyDelete