TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2024
Then, Judge Jeanine cited Van Jones: Yesterday afternoon, during the 5 o'clock Eastern hour, we enjoyed a good solid laugh.
More precisely, we may have enjoyed a bit of a mordant chuckle. It happened as we were watching The Five, the highest rated program in this nation's "cable news" firmament.
Millions of citizens were watching the Fox News Channel as the five panelists stood in line to praise President-elect Donald J. Trump for his brilliance at yesterday's Mar-a-Lago news event. Politely, each performer waited his or her turn to say how brilliant the incoming commander had been in his answers to every question.
Thanks to the sometimes invaluable Rev, a transcript exists of the press event, along with videotape. For the record, the event lasted for an hour and ten minutes, with the first question coming at the 25-minute mark.
Below, we'll link you to the comment from Judge Jeanine on The Five, the comment at which we chuckled. For now, let's look at some of the answers the incoming president offered the press—and let's recall the questions Blue America has been asking:
How did we ever lose to this guy? How did it get this far?
If our view, those are perfectly sensible questions. In our view, it's Blue America's inability to answer these questions which is the problem at hand.
What did the incoming president say at his first post-election presser? At one point, he reverted to a familiar theme as he spoke about Lara Trump, his daughter in law.
We were back in the high life again. No push-back or follow-up occurred:
TRUMP (12/16/24): When the election started getting closer, I asked her would she go to Washington and work on as chairman of the [RNC] along with Michael Whatley. And they did such an unbelievable job, especially on cheating.
They stopped it. Or at least they stymied it. Too big to rig. And we won in a landslide. We won tremendously. She did an amazing job.
Say what? As an aside, the landslide to which he referred was actually a win of less than 1.5 points—a rather slender win against an opponent who was only able to campaign for a bit more than three months.
That's a mere aside. More significant was the commander's claim about cheating—the never-ending, unexplained claim which flows all through his orations, with no one in the mainstream press knowing how to question, challenge or address the allegation at hand.
In this case, did "cheating" occur in the recent campaign? What form did this cheating take?
Did Lara Trump lessen the cheating, or did she "stop it" outright? None of the journalists at yesterday's freewheeling event questioned what the commander had said as this unsupported message continued to spread out to the world.
Yesterday, no one mentioned this supported claim on The Five. Also, none of the program's performers ever will.
Many of the commander's answers went on and on, and then they went on a bit more. We were intrigued by this statement about his nominee for Secretary of Defense:
TRUMP: So many [nominees] have been just unbelievably received. I think Pete Hegseth is making tremendous strides over the last week. He's going to be great.
Look, he went to Princeton. He went to Harvard. He was a great student there. But he really was, from the first day I met him, all he wanted to talk about was military. He's just a military guy. I think it's a natural.
This was my idea. And Pete Hegseth gave up a lot because he was going big places in Fox. Big, big places. A lot of money. And he didn't even hesitate when I said, "Do you want to do this?" He said, "Absolutely."
I said, "If it doesn't work out, you'll never have the opportunity that you have right now in terms of the world of entertainment or business, whatever you want to call it. You'll never have that opportunity again." In fact, it could be just the opposite, because it's nasty out there.
He said, "I don't care. I have to do it for my country." He gave up a tremendous amount. If this didn't work, it would be a tragedy, but that's what he loves. He loves the military. I never talked to him about anything else. He'd talk about the military.
Oof! Hegseth left his role as co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend to accept the nomination. But in the commander's lexicon, Hegseth agreed to leave "the world of entertainment or business, whatever you want to call it."
They forgot to play that piece of tape yesterday on The Five! For ourselves, we were intrigued by the commander's reference to the "tremendous amount" of money Hegseth abandoned when he left the Fox News Channel.
Question! How much money does a person make for eight hours of work per week? Also, what kind of tribal obedience is being purchased when those giant salaries are paid?
We've been posing this question for decades with respect to all the news channels. Also, why isn't the public simply told what these important public figures t paid?
Back at Mar-a-Lago, the random questions kept being thrown, with rambling answers provided. Eventually, the commander offered these unexplained statements about New Jersey's drones:
TRUMP: The government knows what is happening. Look, our military knows where they took off from. If it's a garage, they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went, and for some reason they don't want to comment. And I think they'd be better off saying what it is.
Our military knows and our president knows, and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense. I can't imagine it's the enemy because if it was the enemy, they'd blast it out. Even if they were late, they'd blast it.
Something strange is going on. For some reason they don't want to tell the people, and they should because the people are really—I mean, they happen to be over Bedminster, if you want to know the truth.
They're very close to Bedminster. I think maybe I won't spend the weekend in Bedminster. I've decided to cancel my trip.
What makes the incoming commander think he knows any of that? Also, will he really cancel his weekend plans because of his fear of the drones?
The commander refused to say if he's been briefed on this matter. So it endlessly goes.
Eventually, we got to these remarks about an erroneous poll in Iowa. Also, about the many lawsuits against media figures to come:
TRUMP: I'm doing this, not because I want to, I'm doing this because I feel I have an obligation to.
I'm going to be bringing [a lawsuit] against the people in Iowa, their newspaper, which had a very, very good pollster who got me right all the time and then just before the election, she said I was going to lose by three or four points and it became the biggest story all over the world, because I was going to win Iowa by 20 points.
The farmers loved me and I love the farmers. And it was interesting the way she did it, she brought it down two weeks before, she said I was going to only win by four. That was a big story. But that was good, because she brought it down from 22 points to four, or whatever the number was. Way up, way up. Easy win. Never even thought to go there. I respect them, I love them, and they understand there's no reason to go there, because she brought it from way up, walk away, which it was, and it turned out to be in the election too, by the way. It was a win by many, many points. And then she brought it down very smartly to four a couple of weeks before, and everyone said, "Wow, that's amazing. He's only up by four points." Then she brought it down to where I was down by three or four, whatever the number she used, and that was the Des Moines Register, and it was their parent, and in my opinion it was fraud and it was election interference.
She's gotten me right always. She's a very good pollster. She knows what she was doing, and she then quit before and we'll probably be filing a major lawsuit against them today or tomorrow.
We're filing one on 60 Minutes. You know about that. Where they took Kamala's answer, which was a crazy answer, a horrible answer, and they took the whole answer out and they replaced it with something else she said later on in the interview, which wasn't a great answer, but it wasn't like the first one.
The first was grossly incompetent. It was weird. And that was fraud and election interference by their news magazine, a big part of CBS News. So as you know, we're involved in that one.
We're involved in one which has been going on for a while, and very successfully, against Bob Woodward, where he didn't quote me properly from the tapes. And then on top of everything else, he sold the tapes, which he wasn't allowed to do. He could only use them for reporting purposes, not for sale purposes, and he admits that, and I think we'll be successful on that one.
And we have one very interestingly on Pulitzer, because reporters at the New York Times, Washington Post got Pulitzer Prizes for their wonderful, accurate and highly professional reporting on the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. Well, it turned out to be a hoax, and they were exactly wrong. People, like many people, John Solomon, Sean Hannity is not for Pulitzer, but Sean Hannity got it right. Many people got it right. Tucker got it right. Jesse got it right. Laura got it right. Jeanine got it right. A lot of people got it right. They didn't get anything. They gave it to reporters that got it absolutely wrong, and now everybody admits it was a hoax, and I want them to take back the Pulitzer Prizes and pay big damages.
And I think we're doing very well on that one. They have no excuse for it. They gave a Pulitzer Prize to writers that got Russia, Russia, Russia wrong. And so, I think we're doing well. And I feel I have to do this. I shouldn't really be the one to do it, it should have been the Justice Department or somebody else, but I have to do it. It costs a lot of money to do it, but we have to straighten out the press. Our press is very corrupt. Almost as corrupt as our elections.
Those corrupt elections again!
At any rate, on and on the fellow went. He's going to sue the Pulitzer Prizes. He's going to sue Bob Woodward.
He's going to sue CBS News because of 60 Minutes. He's going to sue the Des Moines Register because they bungled a poll.
As he listed the sugarplum lawsuits to come, the commander recited some golden oldy assertions, for example about the time Tucker Carlson allegedly got something right. But so it now goes, as part of the sprawling cultural breakdown which has largely resulted from "the democratization of media," a genie which will be very hard to get back in the bottle.
In the face of all this confusion, the performers hung tough at The Five. For ourselves, we enjoyed a chuckle at 5:09 when Judge Jeanine offered the following as part of her praise oration:
JUDGE JEANINE (12/16/24): I mean, you realize that he has the capacity to deliver. He has the capacity to unite the country. He has the capacity to unite the party. And I don't think there is any greater example of that than there was at the Army-Navy game.
Because it's not—it is not just the Army-Navy game, when they went crazy with chants of USA! USA! But think about who he was in that box with.
I mean, he's got Elon and JD Vance, and he's got Vivek and Mike Johnson, and Danny Penny. And he's got all these people to show that the Republican Part is uni— No more RINOs. You're a RINO, get lost! You don't matter any more!
What he's got is a united party, a united country.
Too funny! The president has a united the country—except for all the RINOs! You RINO's can just get lost!
What about all the Democrats who may not favor the incoming president? Such people weren't mentioned at this point. But so it goes, day after day, on this clown-car "cable news" program. In this classic bit of Judge Jeanine framing, the country is fully united, except for those people who aren't Us.
So it goes, day after day, as this imitation of intelligent life rolls merrily along. And then, just like that, the tough-talking judge said this:
JUDGE JEANINE (continuing directly): And then you got a guy like Van Jones, who said, "Hey Dude! This guy is smarter than me and you."
So you've now got the left saying, "This guy is really smart. He will deliver for us."
Is that what Van Jones actually said when he spoke with Chris Cillizza? Tomorrow, we'll return to the contents of the interview we discussed in yesterday's report.
Like Thoreau and the fictional Binx Bolling, Van Jones is involved in a search. He wants to know how those of us in Blue America ever managed to lose to this guy.
It's a perfectly valid question! In our view, the problem lies in the fact that many of us in Blue America can't seem to come up with an answer.
In our view, the answers go on and on and on and on, and then they go on some more. In our view, the fact that we're unaware of this is an unfortunate fact about Us.
Tomorrow: Back to what Jones said
You may not like his answers, but Trump answered more questions from the press yesterday than both Biden & Kamala have done all year.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's why you lost to him. At least, he's got the mental dexterity to answer questions on the fly without collapsing into gibberish ala Biden or a delicious word salad ala Kamala. lol
This is a lie.
DeleteWeirdo Mao paraphrased: "Sure, WHAT Trump says is bat-shit insane. But at least he said a LOT of bat-shit insane things."
DeleteMike:
DeleteAlways remember one man's bat-shit insane thing is another man's sound public policy.
Self-impressed Anonymous: Always remember, everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to their own facts.
DeleteMike, you haven't shown yourself to be a very bright or interesting commenter.
DeleteMore name-calling.
Delete@6:32, you haven't either. So I guess we're even.
Delete
ReplyDelete"How did we ever lose to this guy?"
That's because you're pathetic losers.
Both your slimeball leaders, and your pencil-pushing, utterly useless, retarded rank and file comrades. All pathetic losers, believe it or not.
What is wrong with pushing pencils? Are Republicans against literacy now?
DeleteWhen Musk was waiting for government approval for a launch, he had a great quip. That he could build a rocket in less time than the government could move paper from desk to desk.
DeleteHow much has Musk benefited from the US government? Will he soon be in a position to steer government largesse his way?
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteIt's funny, because the Capitalists, like Musk, refuse to insure Florida homeowners due to the climate change hoax.
Anonymouse 12:35pm, during the Biden Admin, Musk received billions via contracts with NASA.
DeleteDickhead in Cal is in love with Musk. Dickhead, the ultimate paper pusher who spent his career counting mortality rates.
DeleteMusk wants to remove requirements for reporting crashes to the govt. How is that going to help improve the quality of Teslas, especially the self-driving ones?
DeleteCecelia, no one is against govt contracts to do important work. The point is that there needs to be oversight to make sure the money is being spent on the work proposed, and that the work meets quality standards. All govt contracts now have monitoring because of abuses in the past. In particular, Musk should not be in the position of awarding himself contracts, nor should he be deciding whether he has performed on them.
Republicans are in the process of removing accountability to the American people, since our taxes fund the government contracts awarded to people like Musk (who clearly resents being held to any standard for doing his work using public money).
Why is any of the stuff Somerby is focused on today worth discussing?
ReplyDeleteKevin Drum is also discussing why Democrats lost and he does not list the two most important reasons anywhere on his list:
1. Biden was pushed off the ticket at the last minute due to a bad debate and Kamala Harris entered the race with only 3 months to campaign.
2. There was a relentlessly negative campaign against Biden based on age that then transferred to Harris based on a false claim that she was avoiding interviews and couldn't do them well. That was largely due to her last minute efforts to rev up a campaign and prepare her policy ideas. Her interviewing increased as the campaign went on, giving the lie to press complaints.
3. Harris was both black and female, two groups who have never won the presidency before. Race and sex were not addressed directly during the campaign except by Republicans, who used both to attack Harris. Without a positive defense, bigotry was allowed full sway and affected both white voters and Hispanic voters (especially men). Trump ran with a strong appeal to bros and an attack on women's rights, especially abortion but also women's right to work.
4. Many Democratic voters were angered and confused by the last minute attack on Biden, someone who they perceived as doing an exceptional job under difficult circumstances. The failure of the Democratic Party to stick by Biden was regarded as an abandonment of values and bowing to fear.
5. Some progressive voters disliked the stance of Biden and Harris in dealing with the Palestinian crisis. A last minute campaign urging them to stay home or vote for a protest candidate had an impact in blue wall states that Trump won. This was not explicitly addressed before the election.
6. Voter suppression had an impact on Democrats, as intended by Republicans.
7. The last minute reporting that Harris had a healthy lead encouraged Democrats who were unenthusiastic about Harris to stay home, just as occurred with Hillary Clinton in 2016.
8. Trump's deficiencies were normalized and downplayed by the media. Billionaires stepped up to replace his lagging campaign donations and make him appear to be a viable candidate. This huge influence of money on the campaign should not be permitted under our campaign laws. Further, Trump should have been held accountable for his ongoing lawbreaking before the election. Democrats have seemed afraid to attack Trump directly and with full disclosure of his wrongdoing.
Harris failed to differentiate herself from Biden - who was the most unpopular President of modern times. She was asked what she would do different from him - a softball - and she said "nothing", which was a mistake given Biden was so roundly disliked and unwanted by such a historic margin.
Deletehttps://www.snopes.com/fact-check/joe-biden-least-popular-president/
DeleteNot only most unpopular, but also most people believe: illegitimate.
How can a president be the most effective in decades and yet the most unpopular? Biden was more popular than Harris in polling before dropping out of the race. Had he had full support of his party and a fair press, he would likely have done better than Harris in the election. The smear job on Biden needs to be acknowledged.
Delete"How can a president be the most effective in decades and yet the most unpopular?"
DeleteEasily. If, for example, he's the most effective in decades in hiring perverts and airport luggage thieves.
People really didn't like Biden. They hated him. Maybe it was ageism. He had a bad debate that indicated a cognitive decline and then his people had their propagandists try to tell the public it was because he had a cold. That was so stupidly offensive and such obvious bullshit, it may have turned people against Biden even more.
DeleteFor some reason, a majority of American voters demand their leaders to be able to form sentences when they are speaking in public.
DeleteBiden's record:
Delete12.6% GDP GROWTH
16 MILLION JOBS CREATED
LOWEST AVE. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN 50 YEARS
STOCK MARKET SETTING RECORDS
MANUFACTURING BOOM
20 MILLION NEW BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
It is no wonder he was hated. He didn't try to bullshit the American people like the world class horse's ass bullshitter before him.
People can see through your bullshit, 11:54 AM.
DeleteYou have to include in the list that he was the most unpopular president in our lifetimes, that people didn't like him, didn't want him and had thoroughly rejected him. And that he had problems speaking sentences and would do things like confuse the Prime Minister of Israel with the President of Mexico. Also, he was caught lying multiple times about his son's business dealings.
DeleteIt didn't matter his statistical achievements, people hated him and people thought the country was on the wrong track. For all the people knew, those statistics were bullshit. After all, he tried to tell people his debate performance was due to having a cold. So he was obviously a liar. You lose people's respect when you tell them blatant lies to their face. Harris failed to distinguish herself from all that.
JFK and Bill Clinton and Obama gave us reason to like and admire them. They were out there traveling, giving interviews and showing leadership every day. Biden not so much.
Delete@12:16 PM,
DeleteNo, I don't think so. I don't think confusing the Prime Minister of Israel with the President of Mexico makes any difference.
It's just that their standard of living has fallen, significantly. That's all.
That's not all. Trying to start a nuclear war is kind of serious, and can't be all that popular.
DeleteYes, it didn't help Biden that he started World War III.
DeleteYes. Plus the genocide in Palestine. Most of the American students seemed unhappy about it.
DeletePresident Biden led a coalition of nations to oppose Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and weakened Russia to the point that they couldn't back Bashar al-Assad any longer, who escaped to Moscow while his country celebrates the end of tyranny. go fuck yourself, Boris.
DeleteWhatever you say, Mr. Soros.
DeleteWhat was that you said, Mr Putin, I mean, anon 12:46?
DeleteI said, 12:52 PM, that the students in America hated the genocide in Palestine, facilitated by the Biden administration.
DeleteWould you prefer it in simplified English?
The majority of Trump voters love the ethnic cleansing being carried out by the extreme rightwing Netanyahu, that is why they voted for the orange abomination who told Netanyahu to finish the job, and who took a cool $100 million from Adelson's widow with a promise to allow Israel to annex the west bank. But yeah, Biden surely lost some of the educated youth vote.
DeleteI know I’d like to see Israel annex the West Bank. A two-state solution hasn’t worked out and Israel will never be allowed to live in peace with a country run by Hamas and other enemy proxies.
DeleteAnnex-schmanex, I'm sure the days of the Nazi-style European settler colony in the middle of the Arab world are numbered. Too expensive, too damaging for the prestige. Will need to be disposed of, sooner of later.
DeleteI know, Cec. What's a little ethnic cleansing anyway?
DeleteAnonymouse 1:53pm, good luck with that.
DeleteAnonymouse 2:00pm, I meant resettled, your fellow anonymouse talked about Israel being disposed of. I take it that term will not cause a sweat-fest from you.
DeleteDemocrats need to regroup and come up with a better platform and candidate for next time.
DeleteDisposing of a Nazi-style settler-colonial regime doesn't entail any violence. Just giving the indigenous population the right of return and to their property, and the right to vote.
DeleteAnonymouse 2:18pm, yeah, that would be as peaceful as a Hamas hang-gliding party.
DeleteI don't see why it can't be peaceful. Of course the settler-colonial Nazi-Zionist organizations might decide to resist by violent means, but that's their own problem, and it's not likely to take long: everybody hates them.
DeleteAh, yes, the good old classic forced resettlement of the indigenous population solution. Would that be the final solution? (and little Jared will finally get his Mediterranean resort investment property)
DeleteCecilia, maybe you don't read publications that describe how the Palestinian's are bullied and persecuted by the Israeli government and by the zealots who illegally set up settlements throughout the occupied territory. The accounts are credible. There are 2 sides to it. It's a mess.
DeleteHow do you know when you're in a cult of personality?
DeleteWhen your leaders fail, can you criticize them or did everyone fail to see how amazing and messianic they are?
Somerby finds something funny in our current national political disaster. That makes him a moron -- the right is dangerous, not humorous.
ReplyDeleteThis is funny -- The Borowitz Report:
"NEW JERSEY (The Borowitz Report)—The unidentified drones spotted over New Jersey pose a significantly smaller risk to public safety than Pete Hegseth does, a prominent drone expert said on Tuesday.
Davis Logsdon, a researcher at the University of Minnesota who studies drones of unknown origin, said that “on a scale of one to ten, with ten being most threatening, I would give these drones a three, and Hegseth a ten.”
“To put it in layman’s terms, if I could choose whether the next Defense Secretary was Pete Hegseth or an unidentified drone, I’d go with the drone,” he said.
Quantifying the threat of Hegseth further, the researcher said that the former “Fox & Friends” host was “more dangerous than a drone, but less dangerous than RFK, Jr.”
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/unidentified-drones-pose-smaller
Next, Somerby will be calling Gutfeld funny. This is what happens when you sell your soul -- you lose track of your sense of humor. Corby is right, Somerby is an asshole. To the rest of us who have to live in this country under Trump, none of this is funny and most of it is tragic. Somerby has the poor taste to treat this like it is a big fat fucking joke!
"THE SEARCH: We enjoyed a good solid laugh!"
Somerby should be ashamed of himself and his role in putting Trump back into office. He owes us all an apology.
Even CBS Radio Headline News pointed out the government’s inconsistent public position: We don’t know what the drones are, but we know that they’re not a threat.
DeleteSomerby has written countless critical blogs about Hegseth, with anonymices criticizing Bob for spending time in voicing his strong opinions and criticisms against the guy.
DeleteJust yesterday, to anonymouse chiding, Bob blogged on Fox and Friends’ take on Hegseth and the general media’s inattention to him and FNC coverage.
Now 11:14am, is suggesting that Bob has spent little time talking about Hegseth’s appointment and has ignored or merely made lame jokes as to the “dangers” which Borowitz seriously expresses thru effective gallows humor. Anonymices are such malign liars.
Please cite a post where Somerby was critical of Hegseth.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteIt's like Trump disagreeing with Project 2025, which he never heard of.
Do you think his inconsistencies should disqualify him from the Presidency?
Soros-bots are scared of "Project 2025". Boo.
DeleteI wouldn't worry about it. Who is going to enforce it?
DeleteMy twelve-year old niece could whip any Republican's ass with one hand tied behind her back.
I am a Soros-bot, and I am scared shitless of "Project 2025". I'm quaking in my boots. I scream in my sleep. Help me, please.
DeleteNah.
DeleteYou're a Right-winger who only cares about bigotry and white supremacy, but thanks for trying.
Soros-bots are an actual thing.
DeleteUnlike a Republican voter who cares about something other than bigotry and white supremacy.
I am a fellow Soros-trained monkey, I swear.
DeleteThe Right doesn’t call the Left “snowflakes” for nothing. They call the Left “snowflakes”, because every Right-wing accusation is really a confession.
DeleteThere's no such thing as a Republican voter who cares about something other than bigotry and white supremacy. I swear.
DeleteAnonymouse 12:50pm, you could start by scrolling up. There’s several other days of blogging on him too. Bob hasn’t called Hegseth a gay Oedipal pedophile Confederate-wannabe, but that’s only because Bob is sane.
DeleteYou seem to be confusing Gaetz with Hegseth, but you are correct that Somerby doesn't criticize Republicans.
Delete"Please cite a post where Somerby was critical of Hegseth."
DeleteCrickets...
"Somerby has written countless critical blogs about Hegseth, with anonymices criticizing Bob for spending time in voicing his strong opinions and criticisms against the guy.
DeleteJust yesterday, to anonymouse chiding, Bob blogged on Fox and Friends’ take on Hegseth and the general media’s inattention to him and FNC coverage."
Criticizing other people who have mentioned Hegseth's name, is not the same as criticizing Hegseth himself.
If Somerby is claiming that the mainstream media has been ignoring Hegseth, he is wrong.
But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Somerby to discuss the sexual assault accusations against Hegseth. Somerby doesn't believe that sexual assault against women is possible. Everyone knows from The Illiad that women are property, sex slaves, owned by men and thus cannot be assaulted or have any opinions about what men do to them (short of wading into the ocean to avoid becoming a man's sex object). This is Somerby's stated idea of sexual politics and he has said several times that he believes our culture is returning to those ancient mores described by Homer (or maybe he just hopes this is true).
ReplyDeleteI've been a bad girl. Bad, bad girl. I sniffed my fingers. My finger smelled funny.
My my supplies of delicious word-salads are endless. Endless, I tell ya! Somerby is an ass.
I am Corby.
This poor schizophrenic person needs some help. Reappearance here means their symptoms are not well controlled.
DeleteHallucinations involving smell are a symptom of schizophrenia. Schizophrenic voices typically tell the sufferer that they are bad, unworthy. This person isn't funny or cute, they are sad.
Corby is just retarded. No need to exaggerate.
DeleteCorby is satire
DeleteCorby is the commenter responsible for at least 85% of comments, and at least 95% of characters in every comment thread here.
DeleteCorby left this blog a long time ago (not sure exactly when). Trolls here are referring to Corby as a generic name for leftist commenters. I don't believe using Corby's name irritates anyone here (least of all Corby) but the smelling fingers part is weird.
DeleteThere are several left wing commenters here, expressing divergent views about such things as economics, Palestine, whether Somerby is mentally ill, whether Trump's or right wingers' problems arise from childhood trauma, whether Cecelia is a man pretending to be female online, whether Somerby voted for Harris, and so on. The main person using a nym these days is Quaker and he/she also appears on Drum's blog using that nym and is not Corby (expresses different views than the old Corby) and even criticizes some of the other lefties commenting here. AC/MA and DG and PP (who has been gone lately) are all right wing despite their claims to have voted Democratic. I believe this because none of them ever supported Harris or any of the left wingers here who were making a case for her candidacy.
These references to Corby are just more trolling by right wingers. The several people who write longer comments here are not Corby and not each other. You could tell that if you paid attention to writing style, content and ideas.
On the other hand, I believe there are several different Cecelias all using the same nym, again because they vary in language use, style and type of insult. Some are barely literate in English. Some make lots of uncorrected typing errors. Some attempt wit (failing miserably). Some display that famous Republican cruelty. The variation is so obvious that I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it.
There's no way you could know if Corby left or not.
DeleteAnonymouse 3:20pm, excuse me, but all the Cecelias make uncorrected typing errors and sound more or less coherent at times. We Cecelias can be that way. We don’t have a Soros supervisor breathing down our necks and we don’t have to worry about a pay check. And we all display that terrible Republican cruelty as defined by you humanitarians as making fun of anonymices. And we always will.
Delete3:20 - "DG [is] right-wing."
DeleteLiar!
DG, is there a changing of the guard going on with you and PP?
Deleteanonymouse 3:20, ah what a world you live in, where you can simply make things up with no evidence and no logic and spout it off all the time, holding yourself out as a "liberal" - Liberals don't express views in the counter-rational way you do - I voted for Harris, and I am a registered democrat. That I wasn't thrilled with Harris doesn't mean I am "right wing." And you claim "there are several left-wing commenters here" - how can anyone tell when they, he, or she is anonymous?
DeleteYour expression of right wing views here is what makes you right wing. Republicans did vote for Harris in the past election, but that didn't make them Democrats.
DeleteAs I stated before, the way you can tell whether someone is a left-wing or a right-wing commenter is by what they say. It is not their claim to an identity that cannot be verified (such as "I've been a lifelong Democrat") but their current expression of support for Democratic issues and values, the concerns they express when thinking about a topic, and empathy (which is a trait lacking on the right but important to the left).
You didn't have to be "thrilled" about Harris in order to vote for her. You could be repelled by Trump. I don't recall you being so at all, while most lefties in real life are appalled by him, horrified by his statements and plans, and cannot imagine anyone voting for Trump, much less themselves. I didn't see any of that coming from Somerby either. I saw him excusing Trump and suggesting that reasonable people could have good reason for voting for Trump, and claiming that he was damaged as a child and should be pitied. Somerby occasionally said Trump should not be reelected, but he never explored the strong reasons why he shouldn't have been running, never said anything to urge people to support Harris, as the most moderate of Democrats would have done. Even Republicans were talking against Trump but not Somerby.
Use your intelligence and read the comments. That is how you can tell where they are coming from (left vs right). The two parties are the most polarized they have ever been. If you cannot tell by the ideas expressed, you are dumber than a rock.
When you join the pressure to force commenters to use nyms, you ally yourself with Cecelia and PP and other right wingers here. They want to know who said what so they can punish people for their thoughts. That isn't how democracy works, although it is what Trump wants to do. Think this through and decide whether you can say you don't support Trump when you are avid about making commenters "come out" so you can attack them. There is no other reason for knowing who someone is here. We all have the right to express our own beliefs in comments here, without reprisal. You should perhaps focus more on stating your own opinions and let others have their beliefs without interference and harassment. Look at the fuss being made to suppress Corby, someone who used a nym in good faith until driven away by the right wingers who were attacking him, not discussing anything said. You are part of that crowd, not on the side of those who think free expression is a good thing.
anon :18, I'm appalled by Trump, and appalled by you For example, calling PP a "rightwinger' is beyond stupid.
DeleteThis is what Somerby might better discuss about Trump's interview:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-time-person-of-the-year-interview-2024
No one is compelling Somerby to waste his time in the sewer of Fox News. No sane person would do it for free, so we must ask why Somerby spends his time there and does nothing to promote the growing independent media. I think he is receiving money for his propaganda efforts, because that is the explanation that avoids considering him something worse, a nutcase bigot who thinks Richard Spencer makes sense.
"Richard Bertrand Spencer is an American political commentator mostly known for his neo-Nazi, antisemitic and white supremacist views. Spencer claimed to have coined the term "alt-right" and was the most prominent advocate of the alt-right movement from its earliest days." Wikipedia
actually, when bob focuses on blue media, everyone comes to the comments to bash him for not focusing on fox news instead, then when he focuses on fox, he gets bashed for that.
DeleteAnonymouse 11:47am, they’re part of an organization. Anonymices are hired political operatives.
DeleteApparently you’re including 11:47.
DeleteAnonymouse 12:45pm, see my comment at 1:19pm.
Deleteanon 11:22 - no one is compelling you to waste your time reading TDH daily, and managing to come up with the darndest absurdities on such a consistent basis, e.g., that he is being paid for publishing propaganda. You have the insight of a clam.
DeleteTwo fake criticisms invented by right wing trolls:
Delete1. Anonymous commenters call for Somerby to criticize Fox and when he does they complain about it.
2. Anonymous commenters get paid for trolling this blog.
First, anonymous commenters say a variety of things here and are not the same person expressing a single coherent and organized view. They do not all agree with each other or agree about what is wrong with Somerby. Some anonymous commenters support Somerby and are clearly themselves right wing.
Second, the tactic of turning a lefty criticism around and applying it to the left is something Republicans do routinely. So, claiming that the left is paid for trolling, when commenters have suggested that Somerby is being paid for advancing right wing talking points and propaganda, is a long-standing right wing tactic used to invalidate whatever the left says or does.
There is evidence that formerly left wing bloggers, stand-up comics, podcasters have changed their politics and are receiving money from Russia (via cut-outs) or Republicans (PACs, donors). That makes it not as far-fetched that Somerby might be another such person. There is no evidence of widespread bots and trolls on behalf of the left. There is evidence of such activity, especially on social media, paid for by Russia and perpetrated by troll farms and "Internet Research".
Attacks on left wing commenters are rarely substantive (related to meaning or incuding facts and evidence or even discussing a topic from the essay of the day). Right wing trolling is mainly name-calling and not worth any response. That includes what Cecelia and David in Cal write.
These right wing trolls fill up the comments with too many empty messages that interfere with actual discussion, if there were anyone left who is interested in discussion real topics.
As with other right wing disinformation and political interference, this happens disproportionately on the right and there is no equivalence between what left wing commenters do here and what "Cecelia" claims is happening. It is just noise on the right.
I would love to see Somerby moderate his comments so that there could be actual discussions, as occur in sites like Drum's, for example. That he doesn't do this is yet another clue that his purpose here is aided by the right wing trolls, which suggests that guesses about Somerby's motives are on target.
Somerby himself said that he watches Fox 24/7 because MSNBC had become "unwatchable." No one thinks that except a right winger. Somerby's own statement about why he watches Fox contradicts the idea that anonymous commenters here asked him to do it.
DeleteI am the original commenter re: somerby's criticism of fox, and believe me I am anything but a right wing troll. I have been a registered democrat my entire life, which is many more years that i'd like to admit. i have been reading this blog since the al gore days and believe me, in recent years many commenters like you, who seem to know everything, have trashed bob for going after msnbc and the like while not discussing fox news. so recently bob starts to quote fox news, and then there are still a ton of know it all commenters that bash him for that. you may not want to believe it, but it absolutely has gone on. and you can dismiss me as a right wing troll if you'd like, but perhaps you should look at yourself in the mirror before throwing stones. have a good day sir or madam.
DeleteAnonymouse 3:23pm, they get paid for writing these awful accusations that contradict themselves from one day to the next. Most of anonymices’ posts are written the day or night before Bob blogs. They scan the new essay and adjust accordingly.
Deleteanon 3:10 TDH has never said he watched Fox "24-7." (for one thing, if he did, he would never sleep). Why do you feel justified in making things up? For years TDH was focusing on the failings mostly on the "blue" media, MSNBC and the like, and was castigated by the same zany troll(s) who now castigate him for describing Fox News (bizarrely claiming that TDH, by harshly criticizing the right-wing news, demonstrates that he is in league with them). He was castigated by you for attacking the "blue" side news outlets, instead of going after the "red" side media.
DeleteAnonymouse 3:08pm, there’s zero evidence that Bob works for Russia. The organized anonymouse onslaught here is far more organized and indicative of an operation.
DeleteBob blogs on the media. He had temerity to go after mainstream and blue media due to the disappointments he felt over their coverage of Clinton and Gore. Bob focused on his own house. This angered the right people,
For years anonymices have beefed about Bob’s lack of attention on red media. For years they used his critiquing of blue media to call him a traitor to his entire country. But wouldn’t you know it… when Bob recently devoted attention to the red side of things, anonymices were no less critical than before. Suddenly after years of complaints, Bob’s new focus was a… waste of time..,
Anonymices NEVER compliment, Bob. Comments saying he did a good job on such and such day are rare as hens teeth and usually a setup as to a broader complaint. I can feel that Bob did a great job in expressing his points even when he’s dissing media that I support. Not so with anonymices. Their every take is negative.That’s not normal. That’s not “just folks”. That’s an operation.
Somerby doesn't merit compliments. He is embarrassing these days. I wish he would quit and use his remaining time more productively, such as with friends and family and activities in real life. It is very sad that this is what he is putting his time into.
DeleteCecelia, should Somerby quote some more Illiad or tell us again that Einstein was a dummy? Do you really need any of that?
DeleteAnonymouse 7:06pm, let me give you the obvious answer to your question.
DeleteYes, I do need more of that. Yes, I find it interesting and enjoyable even when I don’t agree with every point.
Now here’s the $10,000,000 question. Why the hell are YOU here?
Cecelia, no one is ever going to say that they are here because of you.
DeleteIf you find the Iliad interesting, I suggest that you read it for yourself. Somerby only quotes from books about the Iliad (not so much the poem itself) or from the beginning. You will want to read the whole thing and not the excerpts that happen to support some unrelated point Somerby wishes to make, such as that women are objects or cassandra was doomed to have her prophecies ignored, just like Somerby himself. What you get here does not do the Iliad justice (that is an Engish language idiom that means the book itself is better than Somerby's presentation of it).
Someone who wasn't a Russian troll farm employee would know that the phrase is $100,000 question, not 10 million. It refers to an old quiz show that is famous because it was fixed by giving contestants the answers ahead of time. That makes it not a very appropriate phrase for you to use if you actually want to know the answer instead of supplying it yourself.
No, that is wrong. I misremember the title of the show. It was the $64,000 Question:
Delete"The $64,000 Question is an American game show broadcast in primetime on CBS-TV from 1955 to 1958, which became embroiled in the 1950s quiz show scandals."
There was no $100,000 Question let alone a $10,000,000 Question. But the part about being fixed was true, as was later admitted by one of the contestants. His life is depicted in the film Quiz Show.
Anonymouse 8:32pm, no, the pertinence of the question of why you’re here asking me why I’m here is far more valuable than any question on an old game show. It’s the intrinsic question that springs from everything anonymices utter.
DeleteWhy are you here? You’re paid to hate and it’s all you’re good at.
I have read the Iliad. Aloud. Several years ago. And I’ve had it read aloud to me.
DeleteWhy don’t I believe you. Do you know how long that would take?
DeleteAnonymouse 9:06pm, sure do. We had the time.
Delete15 hours reciting the Iliad? You are such a liar.
DeleteAnonymouse 9:36pm, yeah, with a little meth you can do it all in one night.
DeleteThere’s a pretty picture. This is why there are more drug deaths in red America.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:01pm, all the peyote and casinos.
DeleteNo, that’s not it. It’s the stupidity.
DeleteToo many people, including Somerby readers, do not understand the extent to which The Illiad and Homer and ancient history have been co-opted by white supremacists and the alt-right. When Somerby talks about Sacred Homer and the Sacred Illiad, it is with a wink and a nod to that white supremacist extremist fringe:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2022/09/19/its-time-to-knock-the-iliad-off-its-pedestal/#:~:text=Starting%20not%20with%20the%20Iliad,itself%20to%20great%20classical%20works.
"During the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017, white supremacists marched through Charlottesville, Virginia with ancient Roman symbols emblazoned on their flags. Due to this pattern of right-wing groups co-opting the imagery of classical antiquity and claiming it as their own, there have been calls within the academic community to reform the study of classics. "
Somerby's endless repetition of excerpts from The Illiad (never The Odyssey) and his extolling of warrior culture while claiming that Troy (The Democrats) must fall, are code speak to white supremacists of today, thinly veiled, while Somerby and Cecelia tell us we can learn a lot from them, while never saying what exactly.
Somerby is no liberal, but there are other aspects of his belief that he has been concealing from his readers too.
It is really imbecilic to reason because one group misuses a concept (The Iliad), it follows that everyone referencing it is aligned with that group or its ideology. You're stupid.
DeleteI don't know about gay pedophile, but this post (as well as most of other posts recently) give the impression of something utterly sophomoric.
DeleteCould it be that, sadly, the election last month has damaged Democrat party loyalists' brains again?
Anonymices are in a class by themselves. Every gland in their body is the Wiccan Bible.
DeleteApparently you’re including 11:38.
DeleteAnonymouse 11:38am, yes, but I also address what she actually says. Novel concept to you.
DeleteSomerby's discussion of the Illiad and "sexual politics" for example is available for anyone to read here. So are his discussions of the evils of desegregation (from busing in Boston to more balanced admissions in NYC's science high schools), the inability of black kids to improve their NAEP scores, the failure of black improvement in reading in MS and AL, the idea that racism is over and black students are exaggerating "microaggressions" because they have no real racism to talk about, the lack of qualifications of the latest black appointment to the Supreme Court, defense of Trump's statement about the Unite the Right marchers being good people, his unstated criticisms of the 1619 Project (he said it was flawed by cited no flaws), his defense of banning of books by black authors in libraries and schools, his tendency to single out Don Lemon and Charles Blow and Ta-Nehisi Coates for extra criticism -- these are a few examples of a bias against black people over the years. The other pillar of white supremacism is a desire to return women to subservient roles in order to protect their purity against romantic relationships with men of color. All of this is straight out of Birth of a Nation.
DeleteSomerby has condemned himself with his own words. I am reasoning from what he has written, not from his love of Homer, when I note that he shares a bunch of racist and sexist views with other Homer-loving neo-Nazis who have crawled out of the woodwork under Trump's encouragement.
If someone were to come along, never having read much else that Somerby has written, it might make sense to conclude that I have reasoned from his admiration of Homer to his admiration of Spencer and other alt-right cretins. I have reasoned from his own expression of alt-right views to his similarity with Spencer and others, some of whom Somerby even cited here in a lapse of judgment.
Van Jones is right. Blue Tribers identify as good, decent, caring and smart. They think the other side is stupid, racist, sexist and 50 shades of phobic.
ReplyDeleteExcept, Red Tribers don’t care about what you guys say anymore. You will have no power. All your vaunted institutions (aka leftist cabals) will soon be subjugated, and they will toe the line. After Jan 20, NYT can write all the “Trump is a menace” stories they want, quoting anonymous “senior administration officials” – we won’t give a shit. There will be no congressional investigations. There will be no special counsels. There will be no media inspired hysteria. Dems need to invent a new bag of dirty tricks, beyond looting, pillaging and burning their own Blue cities. We Normals are going to have good 4 years!
There is a congressional election 2 years from now.
Delete11:50,
DeleteRed Tribers no longer care that we have been challenging them to find a Republican voter who isn't a bigot. Believe them. They could find one, if they cared to.
Similarly, I no longer care to accept any date requests from Miss America.
Anonymouse 1:04pm, not since you transitioned, huh?
Delete"They think the other side is stupid, racist, sexist and 50 shades of phobic."
DeleteAnd then Cecelia comes along and demonstrates all of those red tribe traits.
2:13,
DeleteBe careful. Someone might think you're trying to be funny.
Anonymouse 2:33pm, an anonymouse just wrote a screed that called Bob a homosexual who had the hots for his college roommates. The anonymouse received kudos for that post. Take your selective concern and put it where the sun don’t shine.
DeleteI didn't see kudos.
DeleteSomerby had a one-man stand-up comedy show that revolved around his problems with his mother. It isn't as if any commenters are making up his ambivalent feelings about his mother.
DeleteCecelia has perhaps never gone to college and hasn't experienced for herself the difficulties of establishing a new identity among strangers after having been a high school senior with friends and a place in the social hierarchy. She lacks empathy and thus cannot imagine what it must have been like for Somerby to leave egalitarian CA and try to find a way to fit in with privileged young men at Harvard. He doesn't seem to have adjusted well academically (based on his own stories) and I suspect he was that snotty youth who gave the cafeteria lady a hard time by refusing to dress appropriately for admission to dinner. Cecelia translates that into "had the hots for his college roomates," ignoring Somerby's lifelong attachment to Al Gore, someone he couldn't stop talking about for decades and founded this blog to defend. That doesn't amount to calling Somerby "homosexual" but is a lot more than a gender orientation identity crisis.
It must be very hard to be Cecelia and understand so little about the world or what makes other people tick.
Anonymouse 8:24pm, right. No one called Bob a homosexual, but now you’re merely calling him a homosexual. You have a human being orientation identity crisis. Rightfully so. You are correct in suspecting that you are not a homo. As in sapiens. You’re not even close.
DeleteNo one called Somerby a homosexual, Cecelia.
DeleteThat’s a lie.
DeleteNo, you’re a lie.
DeleteAnonymouse 9;35pm, you’re anonymous.
DeleteLet Cecelia get to 4th Grade, then we can start discussing her possibility of making it to Junior High.
DeleteCollege? Give me a break.
Our Host today points to a behavior Trump has displayed in the past and one I think we'll see more of in the years ahead.
ReplyDeleteWhen he had his daughter-in-law installed as director of the RNC, he (and she) claimed that she would be on the lookout for "cheating" in the election. Now that he has won, he declares that the cheating was thwarted--but without ever showing that it existed in the first place.
This is much like Trump's claim that he "gave us back Christmas." The entire "War on Christmas" was entirely imaginary. Trump did exactly nothing to change anyone's attitude or behavior about Christmas. Then he gave himself a big, public pat on the back for "bringing it back."
Just watch. You're going to see this play run over and over again in the years ahead. Start with Musk's ridiculous Department of Government Efficiency. They'll scrap a program or two, then declare fantastic gains in "efficiency." The savings from a few paltry actions will be extended out over years (even decades if necessary) so they can claim they have met Musk's promise to slash TWO TRILLION DOLLARS from the bloated budget.
And what will Fox viewers hear? That's where Our Host is on point today. The personalities at Fox will gush over Trump's great leadership and declare that nothing like it has ever been seen in the history of the world.
Judging by the number of angry words typed by Soros-bots, and aggravated activity of Soros-trained monkeys, The Donald is on the the right track.
Deleteanonymouse 2:36, over and over you taunt non-MAGA's as "Soros-bots" or "pathetic losers.". You sound like an obnoxious nine-year-old, except not a smart.
DeleteAnd you, 2:46 PM, sound like a typical idiot Soros-bot.
DeleteI'm glad we had this chat.
Why can't we ever chat about Republican voters who aren't bigots, or unicorns on the Supreme Court of the United States.
DeleteAnonymouse 2:50, you prove my point.
DeleteIn England, they say "Happy Christmas" instead of "Merry Christmas". Does anyone know why? Is it part of a plot?
Delete
DeleteThe only way I prove your point, 4:55 PM, is if your point is being a typical idiot Soros-bot.
I am happy we are in agreement.
Whatever you say Soros-bot at 7:53.
DeleteYou are lucky to have a smart man like Soros run your life, Sir.
Remember when liberals were mocking the alleged gang takeover of apartment houses in Aurora CO?
ReplyDelete14 detained in armed Aurora, Colorado home invasion are likely illegal gang members: police
https://instapundit.com/690924/
Liberals were mocking that to make a bigger point.
DeleteLike when the Right lied about Haitian immigrants eating pet cats and dogs. You remember that point, don't you David?
First of all, this happened yesterday, not previously when Trump was claiming that Aurora was being run by gangs. Second, two people were taken captive by a gang (13-15 people) who were their own ethnicity, as part of a gang activity. All areas of the country have gang activity. Third, they did not take over the apartment building and they do not run the city of Aurora. These were criminals engaged in criminal activity, but not a bunch of immigrants threatening whole neighborhoods or even buildings, in an area that is not primarily an immigrant suburb of Denver. I know this because I live there.
DeleteUsing this as proof of the exaggerations made by Trump during the campaign is ludicrous. It is like claiming that NYC was run by the mafia back when the film The Godfather was made.
And, of course, David doesn't notice that these criminals were caught and held, which is what the word "detained" means. They don't run anything. They are in jail. And this incident does not support any "alleged gang takeover of apartment houses in Aurora CO" at all.
Home invasion is when someone knocks on your front door and then strongarms their way into your house in order to confront or steal from you. It even happens in wealthy areas of Los Angeles like Bel Aire, where criminals were following people home from restaurants in order to threaten and steal from them as they left their cars to enter their homes.
DeleteThis is crime but it is not the big scary issue David and the right wing media wish to make of it. Calling a single incident of home invasion a gang takeover is typical Republican hyperbole and it does not fit the facts at David's own link.
David in Ca is not a fool. He's a bigot. That, not his idiocy, is the reason he repeats Right-wing nonsense.
DeleteRepublican voters, like David are not dumb. They just play dumb on the internet, because it is in service to their bigotry, which they cling to like a child clinging to their blankie.
Trolls keep asking why other commenters are here because their goal is to drive left wing commenters away from this blog. The answer would be obvious to anyone who wasn't a paid troll or conservative operative.
ReplyDeleteAnonymouse 8:37pm, we know why you’re here AND we’ll keep asking you why you’re here.
DeleteYou’re very hostle tonight. Doing some drinking?
DeleteAnonymouse 10:00pm, you’re spelling hostile like you’re currently slurring it.
DeleteSeriously, being mean to other people isn’t normal.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:08pm, so stop, dummy.
DeleteSorry Cecelia.
DeleteThe Anonymouses will leave TDH the day a Republican voter who cares about something other than bigotry and white supremacy is discovered.
Better hunker down, no one is going anywhere.