MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2024
So had the pitiful Musk: Some of the western world's most treasured stories are told at this time of the year.
We humans are said to love our stories. It's said that we're inclined to gravitate to pleasing stores more than to verified facts.
So it can go with our stories! Yesterday morning, Paul from Cornwall, New York recited a newer story—a story many people across the fruited plain have now been condemned to hear.
Last week, to cite one example, celebrity circus clown Elon Musk recited this new (and inaccurate) story on the vehicle he purchased and renamed as X. For the background to that bit of storytelling, see Saturday's report.
Musk is widely said to be the richest person in the world. He often seems determined to reinforce an ancient claim—a statement drawn from one of the culture's oldest stories:
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
David French repeats that ancient statement right in today's New York Times! The aforementioned clown frequently seems to be determined to reinforce this claim.
Back to Paul in Cornwall, New York, on the western shore of the Hudson! Yesterday morning, at 7:15, he spoke by phone with the moderator of C-Span's Washington Journal.
Responding to the morning's key question, he said he was "very optimistic" about Donald J. Trump's second term. To watch the videotape of this call, you can just click here.
Paul from Cornwall is "very optimistic" about Trump's second term. He has every right to "think that a-way"—but along the way, he said this about the recent budget bill which averted a government shutdown:
PAUL IN CORNWALL (12/22/24): ...I want to thank [Trump] very much for noticing that 40 percent pay raise Congress wanted to give itself, and they put the kibosh on that. No way to a 40 percent increase! I mean—
These members of Congress today! According to the C-Span caller, they had initially tried to give themselves a 40 percent pay increase!
Trump had put the kibosh on that unholy attempt. So the widely told, and wildly inaccurate, political story now goes.
At any rate, so said Paul in Cornwall, New York on a chilly Sunday morning. C-Span moderators rarely challenge their callers' claims, but in this instance, the statement by Paul in Cornwall produced this initial response:
PAUL IN CORNWALL (12/22/24): ...I want to thank [Trump] very much for noticing that 40 percent pay raise Congress wanted to give itself, and he put the kibosh on that. No way to a 40 percent increase! I mean—
MODERATOR: I don't believe it was a 40 percent pay raise. If I'm not mistaken, I believe it was six. But let me pull up the exact detail so we can get that number right. But continue your point while I look for that.
Paul did in fact continue his point. Soon, though, the moderator spoke again.
As it turned out, she had been mistaken in her initial statement. She was now correcting even herself! This is the way she started:
MODERATOR: So Paul, before I let you go—before I let you go, Paul, I just want to read about that 40 percent number. So there is a fact-check on that in Reuters, saying that the bipartisan stopgap spending bill did not include a 40% pay raise for Congress.
Uh-oh! She now read from the Reuters fact-check, which was visible on the screen. This is the part of the fact-check which she read.
A temporary spending bill scuttled by opposition from President-elect Donald Trump would have made U.S. Congress members eligible for a 3.8% salary increase, not 40%, as suggested in posts online that misinterpret a report on congressional salaries. The bill would have ended a longtime pay freeze, allowing lawmakers to be eligible for a 3.8% salary increase in January, which would have been equal to $6,600.
Oof! In fact, the proposed pay raise had been killed—but it had actually been a 3.8 percent pay increase. That would have been substantially less than Paul from Cornwall's 40 percent.
In short, Paul from Cornwall had been way off. Here's how the colloquy ended:
MODERATOR: So that is the detail on that there, Paul. Did you have any other points before I let you go?
PAUL FROM CORNWALL: No, and I'm glad you fact-checked me on that. I do appreciate that, But still, they don't even deserve that, because the working class in America isn't even getting that. So—have a merry Christmas, everybody and [indecipherable] next year!
Paul's factual claim had been crazily off. But as is said to be a common practice among us humans, his Storyline remained.
We'll advance several guesses about that exchange:
Paul from Cornwall is a good, decent person. When he called C-Span yesterday, he didn't know that the story he had heard was crazily, wildly inaccurate.
As we noted on Saturday, the circus clown Musk was one of the people who had blared that bullroar to the waiting world. Millions of people—not just Paul—had thereby been misinformed by what this badly bloated designer of clown-cars had said.
Long lay the world! In ancient times, the world in question was overrun with conquering Roman legions. The world in which we live today is overrun with wealthy people who have agreed to cast themselves in the role of the conquering clown.
The aforementioned fellow is one of those people. Or it may just be that "something is wrong" inside the fellow's head.
In the ancient story, an occupied people sought a way to deal with their occupation. Today, our clown-car drivers include major industrialists. Increasingly, they're assisted by a healthy assortment of D-list comedians staging an assault from below.
Tomorrow, we'll review the recent work of Rob Schneider, who we knew a tiny tad way back in the summer of 85. As a general matter, we disagree with Rob's political assessments at this point in time. In fairness, that of course means that he disagrees with ours.
For today, we'll close with one last part of Sunday's story. That's the part where the Reuters fact-check amazingly says this:
Fact Check: Bipartisan stopgap spending bill did not include 40% pay raise for Congress
[...]
VERDICT
Misleading. The bipartisan temporary spending bill, if approved, would have given members of Congress a 3.8% pay raise in January 2025, not a 40% pay increase.
No, we aren't making that up! Reuters could have delivered a verdict of "False." Delivering the coup de grace within our own tale, it went with "Misleading" instead!
(Long lay the world, the story says, in sin and error pining!)
Cornwall, New YorkCornwall is a town in Orange County, New York, United States, approximately 50 miles north of New York City on the western shore of the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was at 12,884. Cornwall has become a bedroom community for area towns and cities including New York City...Cornwall's Main Street includes gift shops, taverns, restaurants, coffeehouses, yoga studios and boutiques. Government offices, churches, parks, the riverfront, and St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital, a part of the Montefiore Health System, are situated within walking distance of downtown. The town is a designated Tree City.Cornwall was the top selection to represent New York State in "The Best Places to Raise Kids 2013" by Bloomberg Business Week magazine.
ReplyDeleteBut of course 40% salary increase was there, from $174,000 to $243,000. The number, $243,000, it was in there, and why else would they put this number -- Into.The.Bill?
Anyhow. We all are long familiar with Trump derangement syndrome. Hello, Musk derangement syndrome!
It's great, it's perfect. We Democrats must produce at least one anti-Musk smear every day! This is how we win!
What are you babbling about?
DeleteTrump Derangement Syndrome was eaten by Haitian immigrants.
Try to keep up.
Here is where the $243,000 figure comes from (according to Factcheck.org):
Delete"A law passed in 1989 sought to make it easier, politically, by including an automatic annual cost-of-living pay raise tied to the Employment Cost Index (and limited by the percentage base pay increase for white-collar federal employees).
But as the Congressional Research Service explains, Congress for years has blocked those automatic pay increases from taking effect. Indeed, the pay for rank-and-file members of Congress has been frozen at $174,000 a year since 2009. (Those in leadership positions earn more.)
“If Members of Congress had received every adjustment prescribed by the ECI formula since 1992, and the statutory limitation … regarding the percentage base pay increase for [General Schedule federal] employees remained unchanged, the 2024 salary would be $243,300,” the CRS report said. (Had the automatic cost-of-living adjustments taken effect just since 2009, pay would now be $217,900, the report states.)
That is presumably where the $243,000 figure cited in the X post comes from.
But that’s not how much the continuing resolution would raise congressional pay.
As the CRS report notes, “The maximum potential January 2025 adjustment is 3.8%, which would result in a salary of $180,600, an increase of $6,600.”
Musk should have understood that, but he instead distorted that discussion into a proposed raise of 40%. That had to be deliberate, which suggessts dishonesty, not stupidity.
There are news stories that answer your question about the $243k figure. It was used for comparison, to describe how much iCongressional salaries would be if they hadn’t forgone pay raises for so long.
DeleteThe number $243,000 was NOT in the bill, it was in a CRS report, and it was in reference to the salary of congress if cost of living adjustments had been accumulating since 1992.
Delete9:22 is all hat and no cattle, smugly posting with bluster, but completely wrong on the facts.
According to Musk, folks in congress make $16,500/year.
Yeah, Musk is a moron, he did not bother to even read the bill, he just shot off his mouth without knowing anything or bothering to learn anything.
This is why Musk has quickly lost Twitter 80% of its value; Musk is just yet another nepo-baby know nothing billionaire sexual predator that Trump is filling his administration with as he brings the swamp.
@10:27 AM,
DeleteOne can use something "for comparison, to describe" blah, blah, blah in an opinion article. In a speech. In a public release.
But not in a statute. It's just not being done, as far as I know.
Regardless of whatever your point is, Musk was wrong, and there was no $243k mentioned in the bill, so the commenter was also wrong, which is why neither have any credibility.
DeleteAs noted, it wasn't in the statute.
DeleteYes, it was not in the bill, so Musk got it wrong, and so did the commenter. Both are wrong, both have zero credibility.
DeleteRight wing ignorance isn’t going to manufacture itself.
DeleteDidn’t Bob point out this error before? Why does he keep harping on it?
ReplyDeleteBecause it wasn't an "error". It was a deliberate untruth told by Musk to justify blowing up a spending bill negotiation that Trump himself had worked out with Johnson and the rest of Congress. The reasons are no doubt related to political advantage. Perhaps they wanted to portray Biden as inept again, or maybe Musk wanted to undermine Trump. You'd have to be them to know. Somerby tries to blame "narrative" but a narrative doesn't know whether it is true or false. It is the product of people's actions, in this case Musk. Maybe Musk was trying to embarrass Trump. Somerby offers no explanation for Musk's behavior. Maybe Musk is somehow related to those ancient Romans.
DeleteIn the words of Monty Python, "What have the Romans ever given us?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9foi342LXQE
Somerby's own purposes are always murky. Perhaps his point is that even lies come in narrative form, but Somerby never uses the word "lie." Perhaps he wishes to spare Musk's feelings (or Paul's from upstate NY). Perhaps he wants us to distrust all narratives, since those ancient Romans told stories, just as cavemen did before them. Who knows why Somerby writes what he writes.
This is fake David mocking how the real David is ruled by hypocrisy, never complaining when Bob harps on Dems, but turning into a crybaby when the harping is applied to his side.
Deletethis error
DeleteBwahahaha. "Error" Go take a flying fuck, Dickhead, you fascist prick.
A C-Span caller (no doubt on the Republican or Independent call-in line) repeats a lie deliberately told by the right wing to justify blowing up the funding resolution negotiated by Johnson, at Musk/Trump's behest.
ReplyDeleteSomerby calls that narrative or story-telling and laments that people have done this Roman times. The problem isn't that people think in narratives and tell stories in chronological order (because that is how we live our lives). It is that political manipulators tell lies to sway voters against their political enemies.
Somerby keeps identifying the wrong causes, the wrong villains, blaming the wrong people. This isn't a problem because we are human beings who think the way humans think (as part of the evolution of our species). This is a problem because politicians tell lies to gain political advantage. Musk did it too. Like others on the right, Musk and Trump use lying to advance their own interests, and this is another example of their untrustworthiness.
Paul on C-Span could have fact-checked for himself. He didn't do that. Most people wouldn't, because these guys are too old to have been in school when computer fact-checking skills were being taught. They are now, especially at the college level. Somerby does not advocate that people become college educated. He calls that elitism, like the rest of the right does. Meanwhile, the press attempts fact-checking for its readers. Somerby dislikes the press too. He doesn't praise Reuters for getting this right and correcting the record, fact-checking Musk and Trump. Instead, he blames we the people for thinking from the past to the present, which is what a narrative or a story does. It arranges facts in chronological order with a beginning and end. And that makes it bad, according to Somerby. Somerby's attempts to undermine trust in the mainstream press (such as Reuters) do no one any good. They mainly prevent people from accessing the corrections to the lies told by the right wing in our country. That is to no one's benefit.
Agree. It is interesting that Paul did not change his view in light of being corrected.
DeleteIt is important to be aware, that Paul is a typical Republican voter, stuck in a mode (survival mode as Dr Bandy Lee puts it), his views and his vote, implacable.
I voted for Trump because he was willing to demonstrate, even in front of children, how to fellate a man.
ReplyDeleteI voted for President Musk because he was willing to ask for sexual favors from a flight attendant, and then was willing to pay the flight attendant off ($250k) when they complained.
DeleteWomen find Musk repulsive so he has to pay for any attention, including sex; as a Republican voter, I can relate to that.
As a Republican, I own lots of guns, but do not fear, I only use bullet ballots for ammo.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans polled the day before the election: the economy is in ruin, society is in decline
ReplyDeleteRepublicans polled the day after the election: the economy is booming, everything is fine
In a blind poll, a majority of Republicans prefer Harris’ policies over Trump’s.
DeleteTypical of Republicans, lacking integrity is a feature, not a bug.
DeleteIn an official blind poll, namely the election, Trump got more votes.
DeleteNCAA Commissioner grilled by Republicans in a hearing, but uh oh:
ReplyDeleteQ - how many athletes in the NCAA? A - 510,000
Q - how many trans? A - less than 10
Oof!
The faux moral panic over cultural issues like transgender people is a distraction so you don’t notice as Republicans pick your pocket.
In The Plague by Camus, a work of fiction, the city of Oran was overrun by the bubonic plague. Obviously, the bubonic plague was more devastating than covid, but because of the book, inevitable parallels were drawn, as this BBC story describes:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53946103
Somerby's borrowing of this metaphor, original to Camus, strikes me as in very poor taste, given that we successfully addressed covid under Biden (unlike Oran with the much worse plague), and given that Camus himself was drawing parallels with the Nazi takeover in WWII, whereas Somerby is talking about the inept and deteriorating Trump and his goon squad, who have not even taken office yet.
Somerby doom and gloom is old, but he is yet again applying it to a situation in which we are far from helpless (unlike plagues). The priest in Camus's "story" tells everyone they deserve their horrible fate. Somerby seems to be saying the same thing, as he rants here daily against Democrats for being Democrats. I find it disrespectful to those who suffer real plagues (as Oran did in the 3rd worst afflicted country in Africa under covid) when Somerby uses Oran for political purposes, as he has taken to doing lately. Camus wrote fiction but the experience of plague under covid was real. It is not cute for Somerby to pin that label back on those people in Oran, who didn't deserve it in the first place.
This is just another way in which Somerby shows himself to be an asshole. Musk and Trump are not plague. They are people who can be resisted and kept from harming others by the concerted efforts of those who oppose them. That is what happened in Congress and it should give hope, not be decried as "plague" by right wing operatives like Somerby.
Trump is gearing up to cut Social Security, the effort headed by Musk, an unelected bureaucrat and infamous snake oil salesman, but the Dems will block it, per usual.
ReplyDeleteTrump to the Palestinians: there will be hell to pay
ReplyDeleteTrump to Netanyahu: finish the job
Trump to Putin: do as you will, I will do your bidding
America elected a psychotic war hawk.
President Musk is angling to be the self appointed czar of a new government agency: The Department of Men Ashamed of Their Undersized Penis, the DMATUP.
ReplyDeleteVP Trump approves.
Inflation is primarily caused by corporations acquiring enough power to arbitrarily raise prices.
ReplyDeleteTariffs, though wisely rarely used, is another cause of inflation.
Trump supports both, forcing the Fed to diminish the predicted amount of future cuts to interest rates, causing in large part the worst slump in the stock market in 50 years.
Trump’s ability to navigate a healthy economy is limited, at best, unsurprising considering his disastrous record as a businessman.