FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2025
Dylan nails it again: What was the gentleman talking about when he spoke of "American carnage?"
You're asking an excellent question!
The speech in question can be read here. Eight years later, as a new year began, we were lost in American squalor:
DONALD TRUMP JUNIOR (1/1/25): Biden’s parting gift to America—migrant terrorists.
We refer to moral and intellectual squalor. The gentleman included a photo of the New Orleans assailant's white truck.
Minutes later, a flyweight followed suit:
REP. GREENE (1/1/25): New Orleans terrorist attacker is said to have come across the border in Eagle Pass TWO DAYS AGO!!!
Shut the border down!!!
Who did our government bomb lately that is taking it out on innocent Americans?
For the record, we don't even know what that last question meant. And no—instant shouting about what "is said" to the side, the New Orleans perpetrator didn't come across the border at all!
In fairness, Rep. Greene's one suggestion—"Shut the border down!!!"—isn't the worst idea in the world, taken on its own. (Though that of course would depend on what is meant by the familiar suggestion.)
How did it [ever] get this far? You're asking an excellent question! This morning, watching Fox & Friends, we thought about a few of the Fox News Channel's collection of broken toys:
Fox News Channel journalists:
Emily Campagno: Former head cheerleader, Oakland Raiders
Tyrus: Former professional "wrestler"
Kennedy: Former VJ, MTV
Greg Gutfeld: Fellow who asked, on (at least) three prime time programs this summer, if Hunter Biden has started "banging" or "[BLEEP]ing" Jill Biden yet
He asked and he asked, then he asked again. As he did, the people who went to the finest schools agreed to avert their gaze.
At the age of 60, Gutfeld serves as monarch of a stream of flyweight D-list comedians on our most-watched "cable news" channel.
Gutfeld handles the broken toys. Bob Dylan, who's back in the news again, once referred to such an assembly in the following manner:
Like A Rolling Stone
[...]
Ah, you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you.
You never understood that it ain't no good
To let other people get your kicks for you.
"Jugglers and clowns," the younger man said. Today, such types are ascendant.
The sheer stupidity on the Fox News Channel this morning was matched by the sheer stupidity on the Fox News Channel last night. Then again, have there occasionally been jugglers and clowns supplying kicks for us over here in our own Blue America?
Briefly, let's be clear! There's no reason why a former "wrestler" couldn't be an insightful news analyst. There's no reason why a D-list comedian couldn't be able to offer insightful analysis.
There's no reason why commentators of the Fox News Channel kind couldn't offer insightful analysis. That said:
As a general matter, the Fox News Channel has established one basic fact. As a general matter, selection of people like these to serve as a nation's major tribunes will quite likely turn out to be an extremely bad idea.
For the record, the jugglers and clowns will be keeping it up as the new year proceeds.
Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly and jugglers and clowns gotta juggle. That, of course, is especially true when the jugglers and the clowns are being paid large sums to perform that service.
That said, though our major news orgs have agreed not to try, it has always been relatively easy to spot the juggling being conducted by the other tribe.
How about our own Blue tribe? Have we had our own jugglers and clowns in recent years?
The latest column by Clarence Page raised that question for us once again. Page writes for Tribune Content Agency—for the Chicago Tribune. He's a good and smart and decent person. We once sat next to him, all evening long, during a charity dinner event.
His column was published on December 30. Headline included, his column started like this:
Behind the “Lie of the Year,” some bitter truths
As it has been doing yearly since 2009, the fact-checking organization PolitiFact has chosen the Lie of the Year. There was an abundance of nominees.
And, it turns out, they chose the same whopper I identified as a top contender months ago: President-elect Donald Trump’s unfounded claim that Haitian migrants were eating the household pets of Springfield, Ohio.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” said the former and now future Republican president during his Sept. 10 debate with his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The people that came in,” he continued to a TV audience of an estimated 67 million viewers. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”
Make no mistake! That repeated claim, by Trump and by incoming second banana Vance, was an unmistakable example of modern American squalor. But given the profusion of bogus claims within our failed American discourse—given the "abundance of nominees"—certain questions may seem to arise:
Should a major fact-checking site be picking one single "Lie of the Year?" Also, should a major fact-checking site be trafficking in the difficult term "lie" at all?
To be honest, it seems a bit flyweight to us when PolitiFact adopts such practices. That said, a nation has essentially ceased to exist when a high-profile pair of jugglers and clowns can traffic in statements about the eating of pets in the way Trump and Vance repeatedly did.
There and elsewhere, Trump and Vance did engage in the ultimate act of squalor. But Page goes on in his piece to roll his eyes about a different view—about an alternate view advanced from within the ranks of the other tribe.
Let's be clear! The complaint in question is largely dumb—but that may not be all it is. In our view, Page makes it a bit too easy when he brushes that pushback aside.
Have we Blues had our own jugglers and clowns? Have we allowed ourselves to be misled by ridiculous statements and by absurd, unexplained behaviors by major figures within our own flailing tribe?
Like the citizens of the fictional Oran, have we failed to see the unmistakable signs of the plague all around us? "Like everybody else," have we been "wrapped up in [our]selves?" Did we "forget to be modest?"
The younger Dylan may perhaps have seen our cadre coming. Again and again, our tribunes "went to the finest schools," but do we now sometimes resemble this group?
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal.
We didn't lose by much this year. But we did manage to lose, and the results could turn out to be catastrophic.
Many of us still can't imagine why any decent person wouldn't have voted the same way we did. The answer starts with the complaint Page brushes aside, but it dates back much farther than that.
The car ride starts with President Biden. But then again, it also starts in the autumn of 65.
American squalor is now in the saddle. How should we Blues react?
Next week: Your question answered at last
Bob Dylan wasn't talking about Greg Gutfeld or Fox News, neither of which were performing when he wrote his famous song lyrics.
ReplyDelete"How about our own Blue tribe? Have we had our own jugglers and clowns in recent years? "
No, we do not have anything like Fox News on our side. Somerby knows that and yet he keeps suggesting we are the same as the unnamed person in Dylan's song, the rich person who used to let other people get their kicks for her, before suffering a come down that required her to get her own kicks after becoming a rolling stone.
None of that fits any current situation on the blue side. Dylan's scorn was evident but his lyrics made no sense, not even in the context of his life (which was not really shared in the recent film, given the many falsifications and lack of insight into any aspect of his life). Dylan is as opaque as Somerby, while presenting vague generalities that allow readers to superimpose whatever they want onto his meaningless images.
Is Musk a juggler or a clown? Is Trump? But he is president and not suffering any come down. Is it Johnson? No, can't be, since Somerby never discusses any actual political current events like today's House speaker vote. It must be Don Jr., but he isn't really important enough to write a song about. He must be talking about JD Vance!
Somerby is mumbling about 65 again. He never got around to telling us what that was a reference to last time either. Where does Somerby get his meals?
On the nose, per usual.
DeleteTrump was right about everything...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVQeBxuXhws
"Many of us still can't imagine why any decent person wouldn't have voted the same way we did."
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for that list of reasons. Promises, promises.
"The car ride starts with President Biden. But then again, it also starts in the autumn of 65."
ReplyDeleteWhat car ride? Is this a crass reference to the guy who drove his truck into a crowd in New Orleans? No car involved there -- it was a pickup truck. As was the cybertruck in Las Vegas. JFK's car ride ended in 1963 not 1965. So what the hell is Somerby talking about?
"He's a good and smart and decent person. We once sat next to him, all evening long, during a charity dinner event."
ReplyDeleteAnd none of that goodness and smartness and decency rubbed off on Somerby? Too bad.
ReplyDelete"For the record, we don't even know what that last question meant."
Seriously? It's perfectly clear, what it meant.
Page is rolling his eyes at something. Somerby never says what. What did Page say that Somerby disagrees with? You cannot tell from Somerby's essay today. Somerby instead quotes the lie of the year but not the part of Page's essay that he is criticizing. We learn that Page is good and decent and that Somerby sat next to him at a public function, but Somerby doesn't quote what made him focus on Page today at all.
ReplyDeleteMysteries abound. Just as Dylan never said who was that famous rolling stone, Somerby never tells us what Page did to become clownlike, much less jugglar-like in his eyes. And that makes reading Somerby a huge waste of time. We learn nothing except that we libs are just as bad as Gutfeld and there are clowns and jugglars everywhere we look, and it is all because of how we voted, except that Somerby never closes that loop, never tells us what we did that was as wrong as JD Vance's lying about those pets.
I thought Somerby might turn over a new leaf now that it is New Year's and the time for resolutions. He has instead gotten worse. And quoting Bob Dylan sheds light on absolutely nothing.
You seem compelled to tell us every single day that reading Somerby is a waste of your time. Seems weird. Why do you keep reading him? Why do you keep bragging that you are incapable of learning anything from him?
DeleteYou seem compelled to read our comments about how Somerby is a waste of time. Seems weird. Why do you keep reading us? Why do you keep bragging that you are incapable of learning anything from us and asking us why we don't leave?
DeleteAccording to Somerby, it is jugglers and clowns all the way down.
ReplyDeleteI think he meant to say "Juggalos in gowns."
DeleteIt's hard not to see the hand of God in sparing Trump from assassination, by millimeters, and his election victory. It took something shocking to make voters clearly see the Democrat corruption and persecution of Trump, and set America on the right course.
ReplyDeleteanon, it is hard to see something that doesn't exist. There's something of a contradiction here. You seem to be saying that the shocking attempted assassination of the of the imminent POTUS was the thing that enabled voters (about 49.5 of the voters) to see "Democrat [sic] corruption and persecution" of God's preferred candidate, and set the US on the right course - seems almost like you're saying that God staged the whole event, including the shooting that nicked his ear (but allowing the firefighter to die though)
DeleteTrump's a bigot. That's good enough for Republican voters.
DeleteThere is a big difference between 49.5 voters and 49.5 percent of voters.
Delete
DeleteIf we ignore -- as we should -- all the votes allegedly cast in the states without the voter id law, Donald Trump won more than 80% of the total.
No state wants a Voter ID law.
DeleteIt's too expensive for the state to track down each and every eligible voter and provide them a free Voter ID, and raising taxes to pay for it makes rich people sad.
Trump has demonstrated that it is not disqualifying to be a serial rapist, corrupt to the core, and completely incompetent in order to become president. That is something shocking.
ReplyDeleteIs Trump a juggler or a clown, or both?
DeleteTrump is a demon.
DeleteGod has left the building; we have spoiled our nest to such a degree, God is deeply disappointed and has left us to our own devices.
Now our country will be ruled by demons and ghouls until we can find our way back to the light.
God is a figment of dim-witted imaginations.
DeleteA Republican voter who isn't a bigot is a product of a very strong imagination.
You’re a figment of God’s imagination.
DeleteToo bad the hand of god couldn’t spare him from committing sexual assault, cheating on his wife with a porn star, stealing from a charity, fulminating an insurrection and telling over 30,000 lies in 4 years, including some that led to thousands of unnecessary Covid deaths. To name only a few.
ReplyDeletefomenting makes more sense, fulminating means something else, unless you are claiming that 1/6 was a protest and not an insurrection.
DeleteSpell check.
DeleteNow we see what kind of a guy God really is.
ReplyDeleteHa!
DeleteIt’d be disappointing, finding out who God really is, were God to actually exist, but in reality, God is a goofy character in a poorly written book, authored by elites that weaponized ignorance to maintain dominance over others.
Of course it is the same hand of god that had Catholic priests sexually abusing altar boys, so it makes perfect sense. What rubbish.
ReplyDeleteI was an altar boy, and I was never abused.
DeleteBut many were abused. What the fuck is wrong with you, you fucking sicko?
DeleteI was not abused, the priests I knew were not sickos, and I am not a sicko.
DeleteOur president-elect said this awhile back (quoted by Jeff Tiedrich):
ReplyDelete"“and the reason you have no water, you have the canals, the reason you have no water is because Gavin ‘Newscum’ didn’t want to do it. I had it all done. I had the Department of Commerce at the time, believe it or not, they’re the ones that rule on this particular issue. so you have millions of gallons of water pouring down from the north, with the snow caps in Canada, and it all pouring down. and they have essentially a very large faucet. and you turn the faucet, and it takes a day to turn it. it takes one day to turn it, it’s massive. it’s as big as the wall of that building right there behind you. and you turn that, and all of the water goes into the— aimlessly into the Pacific. and if they turned it back, all of that water would come right down here and right into Los Angeles. they wouldn’t have to have people not use more than 30 gallons and 32 gallons. they want to do that, you know. they’re trying to do that. and you have so much water. and all those fields that are right now barren, the farmers would have all the water they needed. and you could revert water up into the hills, where you have all the dead forests, where the forests are so brittle.”
this fucking idiot isn’t just wrong, he’s deranged.
if your own grandfather started blithering about some immense faucet in Canada, you’d confiscate his car keys and start googling for a top-notch memory care center."
But Somerby thinks our nation's problem is blue voters who voted for Harris because how could they vote for a clown like this guy?
The reason we lost is because too many red voters voted for Trump, when it should be obvious to them that he has no idea what he is talking about. But Somerby pretends we are all clowns, when most of us on the left can read gibberish and identify it for what it is, gibberish. That applies to Somerby's gibberish too.
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/elderly-golfer-is-wrong-about-everything
I have been asking DiC for months to tell me where that giant faucet is in CA but he refuses to answer me.
DeleteHe is perhaps confusing CA California with CA Canada and can't find the handle.
DeleteUm, Tiedrich, it’s an analogy or metaphor. Trump made that clear when he used the word “essentially”.
DeleteTrump is dumb as shit.
DeleteTrump referenced details about this faux faucet, so it’s not likely to be a metaphor; furthermore, only 10% of Canada’s water flows to the Pacific, Canada has its own issues with water supply, and Canada has various treaties that prevent the bulk exportation of water.
Again, Trump, and his followers, are dumb as shit.
“…it’s as big as that wall right there behind you…” DiC is either a liar or an idiot.
DeleteGavin ‘Newscum’ didn’t want to do it. I had it all done. I had the Department of Commerce at the time, believe it or not, they’re the ones that rule on this particular issue.
Delete"Newscum" didn't want to do what, DiC?
"I had it all done." - What is that a metaphor for, DiC?
"it takes a day to turn it" - What is that a metaphor for, DiC?
@12:32 - they aren't mutually exclusive.
DeleteAgree, lying idiot seems fairly apt in this case.
DeleteThe analogy or metaphor is consistent. It really would take a day to turn a faucet that big. So I’m changing my mind. I now agree with David, and I support Trump.
DeleteAnon@11:58: He can't find it because vandals stole the handle.
DeleteAn illegal alien stole the handle.
DeleteMore likely, the faucet was blown up by right wing Republican extremists.
DeleteIt's been going around.
Yes, right-wing Republican extremists blew up the handle. But I’m going to keep saying an illegal alien did it, and that will be widely believed.
DeleteIf you read down to the bottom of Page's article you find that he thinks a bigger lie than Trump's was the Democratic lie that Biden was doing a competent job as president and was fit to run for another term. He then joined those saying that this is why those who voted for Trump don't trust Democrats.
ReplyDeleteThat is ridiculous given that so many actual voters were surprised to find that Biden wasn't even on the ballot for president. Many people do not follow politics closely enough to distrust anyone, except as a gut response learned at their daddy's knees. This FACT supports the "Harris had insufficient time to campaign" theory of why Dems lost. It undermines the "Dems are untrustworthy" theory, that I suspect Somerby will be pushing next week. It supports the "the only name I recognize on this ballot is Trump, so I think I'll vote for him" theory of voter ignorance.
I voted for Harris because I consider it my duty as a citizen to educate myself before voting. It appears that very few voters feel the same way, which perhaps reflects the decline in civics education in our public schools. It irritates me when Somerby dismisses so many public servants as "jugglers and clowns" without being specific or providing any evidence. Yes, Vance and Trump and ALL of their supporters and appointees and fellow-travelers (such as Musk) are jugglers and clowns, but Somerby refers to Dems too, without mentioning any names. Are we supposed to think Biden was a clown. There is way too much evidence showing that is not true. Same for Harris. So who is Somerby talking about.
It would be unkind for Somerby to call Dylan a juggler or clown, after they gave him a nobel prize for his song lyrics. It takes talent to write something as vacuous and empty as Dylan, igniting the imagination of children everywhere.
Dylan, that sell out born again Christian, is a bore, his music is weak, mostly appealing only to those bit by the nostalgia bug - it’s nursery rhymes for the elderly toddlers that pine for their glory days.
DeleteSomerby drops his mask briefly today, saying about shutting the border: “isn't the worst idea in the world, taken on its own”.
Somerby is an anti immigrant right winger, who also routinely engages with racism and sexism denialism.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that the rate of homeless in the US was the highest on record in 2024, 18% increase from 2023. That's because millions of illegal migrants get free housing.
But I do realize that it doesn't matter that the rate of homeless in the US was the highest on record in 2024, because we still have a Democrat administration now.
But, thank God, only three weeks from now, the highest on record rate of homeless in the US will become an emergency!
Trump to Netanyahu: finish the job
ReplyDeleteIsrael continues its genocide, indiscriminately killing innocent Palestinians, many of whom are children.
Trump is Manifest Evil.
“Indiscriminately” could not be more false. Israel is taking more care to avoid killing innocent civilians than in any urban war before. This is confirmed by a record low percentage of civilians killed.
DeleteFake David mocking the real David for how he spreads misinformation.
DeleteAnd if those admitted civilian casualties occur because they just happen to be in the vicinity of a so-called "combatant," well, it couldn't be avoided, right Davey?
DeleteQuaker
Delete1. Every war has civilian casualties. This one has unusually few, thanks to Israel.
2. This war was entirely started by Hamas with a disgusting unprovoked brutal attack on civilians during a ceasefire, including rape, murder, torture, and kidnapping.
3. Hamas routinely commits war crimes by intentionally putting military installations in civilian areas. E.g. recently Israel attacked a Hamas stronghold that Hamas put in a hospital.
That is all false. Most of the casualties have been innocent civilians. It is one of the worst cases of genocide in history. It was started by Israel - who btw helped create and prop up Hamas, which is an unpopular organization among Palestinians. Hamas using hospitals as bases has long since been debunked, along with Israel's fake evidence.
DeleteTo be fair, this is fake David, mocking how psychotic the real David is.
@5:01 -- "Most of the casualties have been innocent civilians."
DeleteAside from the fact that Hamas's numbers are unreliable, Hamas does not separate civilian and military casualty figures in their reports. So, there is no source for this claim.
David, your reply says nothing to obviate my point. You regularly claim the IDF is taking great care to avoid civilian casualties--except when they don't.
DeleteQuaker- I am not clear what your precise point is. I get that your comment at 11:42 indicates dissatisfaction with Israel’s conduct vis a vis protecting Palestinian civilians. But I don’t know what you want Israel to do instead.
DeleteDershowitz points out, “Critics of Israel almost never cite comparable data from other military encounters. This omission creates the false impression that the civilian death tolls in Gaza are among the highest in history, when they are in fact among the lowest.”
Deletehttps://www.jewishexponent.com/civilian-deaths-in-gaza-relatively-low/
DeleteDavid - Dershowitz says "Critics of Israel almost never cite comparable data from other military encounters." Yet - he doesn't cite comparable data from other military encounters either. (????)
DeleteHe introduces the idea of death totals "This omission creates the false impression that the civilian death tolls in Gaza are among the highest in history, when they are in fact among the lowest.” Then doesn't back up the claim with any data but follows with claims about ratios: "well below 2:1" but a low civilian-to-combatant ratio (e.g., <2:1) does not necessarily mean the total civilian deaths are low.
Is the article from Dershowitz not a subjective mess? Ie. advocacy rather than balanced analysis?
David - you have repeated the claim many times that Israel "is taking more care to avoid killing innocent civilians than in any urban war before."
DeleteThere is no evidence to support this claim. We can see with our own eyes that this is fantasy, a bold deciption to excuse its own cavalier treatment of civilian lives.
The IDF has been in complete control of Gaza for for 15 months and has chased the civilian population from one end of the zone to the other. They have destroyed every piece of civilian infrastructure. There is literally nothing else to be accomplished.
It's a shame what's happening over there.
DeleteJews make the best ethnic cleansers.
DeleteTrump was right!
ReplyDeleteThere is an enemy within.
Yeah, it’s American right wingers radicalized and militarized by the Republican Party, going around terrorizing our own country.
It’s almost like Trump has insider information…
Mad dogs turn on their owners all the time.
DeleteWhatever our problems, President Musk will fix them, just like how he “fixed” Twitter.
ReplyDeleteBwahahahahahahaha
ReplyDeleteQuestion, to resident Soros-bots:
is Dementia Joe, the head of the Biden Family, the leader of the Democrat party now?
And if he isn't, who is?
J.D. Vance.
Delete
ReplyDeleteWhat jugglers and clowns have been running the country in the past four years?
Do you know their names, Bob? Do you know anything about them? Or is it like a black-box to you? Has a black-box been running the country?
Remember how you were scared about the nuclear codes, Bob? Who has the nuclear codes now? Are you not concerned, Bob? Are you concerned but afraid to express your concern? Please tell.
Yes, Bob. Name names. Who had the temerity to give the country the lowest unemployment rate in over half a century?
Delete@9:07 AM,
DeleteYes. Whoever they are, people inside that black-box, lying is 90% of what they do.
Lying about jobs, about inflation, sending hundreds of billions to clowns in Eastern Europe (with major kick-backs, obviously), starting WWIII, etc, etc, etc.
1:08,
DeleteWhat are you going to do? Not vote for a rapist who stole money from a children's cancer charity?
LOL. I'll take my chances.
Reminds me of the times Trump lied about Haitian immigrants eating pet cats and dogs, and Republican voters believed it, because they're nothing but a bunch of bigots.
ReplyDeleteSmart move by Trump. He really knows what gets the vote out for Republicans.
Bob is dumb.
ReplyDelete