FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2025
...really got to clown around: Believe it or not, Merle Haggard's band was actually called The Strangers. That was the name of his band!
Haggard emerged from a challenging, rather hardscrabble childhood in Bakersfield (not his fault). Later in life, The Strangers helped him create the Bakersfield sound:
Bakersfield sound
The Bakersfield sound is a sub-genre of country music developed in the mid-to-late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. Bakersfield is defined by its influences of rock and roll and honky-tonk style country, and its heavy use of electric instrumentation and backbeats. It was also a reaction against the slickly produced, orchestra-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s. The Bakersfield sound became one of the most popular and influential country genres of the 1960s, initiating a revival of honky-tonk music and influencing later country rock and outlaw country musicians, as well as progressive country.
Wynn Stewart pioneered the Bakersfield sound, while performing artists Buck Owens and Merle Haggard became two of the most successful artists of the original Bakersfield era while performing with the Buckaroos and the Strangers respectively.
History
The Bakersfield sound was developed at honky-tonk bars such as The Blackboard, and on local television stations in Bakersfield and throughout California in the 1950s and 1960s. The town, known mainly for agriculture and oil production, was the destination for many Dust Bowl migrants and others from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and parts of the Midwest. The mass migration of "Okies" to California also meant their music would follow and thrive, finding an audience in California's Central Valley.
Bakersfield country was a reaction to the slickly produced, string orchestra-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s.
The Bakersfield sound "was developed at honky-tonk bars such as The Blackboard?" These elements of cultural history may all be strangers to thee—more broadly, to those of us from the finer regions of Blue America, blockaded from such watering holes.
For the record, Haggard's most famous hit was Okie from Muskogee, "with lyrics ostensibly reflecting the singer's pride in being from Middle America, where people are conventionally patriotic and traditionally conservative."
The song was released in 1969. "In the ensuing years, Haggard gave varying statements regarding whether he intended the song as a humorous satire or a serious political statement in support of conservative values," the leading authority says.
Was the song just humorous satire? We'll suggest that the song predated the Tea Party movement and therefore the current Trump era.
The revolt has been building all along, perhaps in untraveled locations. In its gruesome corporate manifestation, the sheer stupidity of the way it's presented was perfectly captured—indeed, went over the top—in the gonzo performance staged by Greg Gutfeld and four back-up singers on Thursday, July 24.
Could human conduct ever get dumber? We aren't sure, but the bosses at the Fox News Channel will always be willing to try, and mainstream journalism lacks an established language for describing dumbness like this.
Helped along—enabled—by the silence of the lambs, the dumbness never stops. Yesterday afternoon, starting at 5 p.m. Eastern, we marveled at the sheer stupidity staged by this summer replacement quintet of Fox News Channel performers:
The Five: August 7, 2025
Rosanna Scotto: co-host, Good Day New York (Fox 5)
Kennedy: former VJ
Jesse Watters: co-host, The Five
Dana Perino: co-host, The Five
Tyrus: former professional "wrestler"
Scotto seems like a nice person. She should perhaps stay away from that crowd. (She was sitting in the abandoned Judge Jeanine chair during yesterday's program.)
This program being The Five, you may be asking a question:
Yesterday afternoon, who was sitting in "the liberal seat"—in the seat which is normally occupied by former congressman Harold Ford or by Jessica Tarlov?
Sad! As you can see by our carefully ordered listing of guests, yesterday's program had "Kennedy," the former VJ, in the liberal chair!
Full disclosure! Kennedy isn't a liberal, and she isn't a Democrat. To her credit, she managed to make it all the way through yesterday's show without behaving the way she did on the aforementioned Gutfeld! debacle.
Back on July 24, an astounding segment was nearing its end. Once a VJ, always a VJ? The aforementioned stranger in our midst threw in this subhuman performance:
GUTFELD (7/24/25): Where are we, Kennedy? Finish it up!
KENNEDY: You know, and I think—
[Gesturing to audience]
I think you guys are going to like this:
[Loudly chanting and clapping her hands]
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!
AUDIENCE: LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!
KENNEDY: [Delighted laughter]
GUTFELD (ironically): You're so craven!
That's who and what these performers are. The question of how they got that way lingers as a bit of a mystery.
Regular people in Bakersfield are much, much better than that. But at this point—it can always change—the former VJ isn't. She knew what the audience was going to like, and she dumped it on a platter.
The sheer stupidity of the Fox News Channel is it distinguishing characteristic. One of the distinguishing characteristics of our own Blue America is our studied refusal to report or discuss what happens on the Fox News Channel.
Every one of our finer people agrees that we mustn't report or discuss what the other people do and say on their "cable news" programs. And by the way, these were the numbers from last Thursday night's "cable new" TV shows.
From the Blue American point of view, these numbers just aren't very good:
Thursday, July 31 Evening Cable News Ratings: MSNBC Missing Key Anchors
The absence of Nicolle Wallace and Lawrence O’Donnell from MSNBC’s Thursday night lineup saw the network finish below the million total viewer mark during the evening hours. MSNBC’s most-watched program was the 4 p.m. ET edition of Deadline: White House, which was anchored by Stephanie Ruhle. The Five remained on top for Fox News, while Erin Burnett OutFront was CNN’s top show of the night.
[...]
Total Viewers
Total Day: FNC: 1.646 | CNN: 335 | MSNBC: 552
Prime time: FNC: 2.849 | CNN: 479 | MSNBC: 858
It's true that Wallace and O'Donnell weren't on the job that day. Still, while the Fox News Channel massacred MSNBC in prime time, the keister-whipping was almost as bad on a "Total Day" basis.
"The Five remained on top for Fox News?" As usual, The Five was the most watched "cable news" program of all. Yesterday, the strangers really got to clown around, given the fact that its assembly of message purveyors formed a perfect 5-0 split.
On this glorious day, no liberal co-host would need to be interrupted and overtalked! The strangers could really enjoy themselves—and indulge themselves they did.
The dumbness of what those performers did represents a cancer on the possibility of maintaining something like an American nation. In fairness, so does the dumbness of our own Blue America's corporate cable contingent.
We refer to the stars who refuse to discuss what happens on Fox News Channel programs. For the record, they also spent the past several years pretending there was no problem at the southern border, or with President Biden, or with the cost of living.
Especially on Deadline: White House, they also devoted the past several years to this generally unhelpful battle cry directed at Candidate Trump:
LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!
Did the candidate have (consensual) sex, on one occasion, back in 2006? According to our Blue savants, we the voters needed to know! On Deadline, they talked and talked and talked about that while ignoring everything else!
Thanks to our finer group of strangers, the Fox News Channel's group of strangers are never far from getting it right. No matter how dumb their performances get, they can always fall back on the cosmic deceptions our own Blue America dumped on the public's heads.
Over the course of the past few years, people in Bakersfield knew a bit more than our Blue stars were allowed to let on. It's a cancer on the people of Bakerfield that the Fox News Channel is willing to offer them "cable news" programs of the type which get performed by flyweight assemblies like this:
The Five: August 7, 2025
Rosanna Scotto: co-host, Good Day New York (Fox 5)
Kennedy: former VJ
Jesse Watters: co-host, The Five
Dana Perino: co-host, The Five
Tyrus: former professional "wrestler"
For the record, Perino is there to convey the dubious impression that these players aren't all completely nuts.
What did those players do and say during yesterday's goony performance? We may be starting with that next week, as we possibly build our week around this terrible topic:
The Revolt of the C-Minus Students
Would it be fair to see our current dilemma through that unflattering lens? And if the Fox News employees are C-minus students, what does that say about our own stars, who went to the finest schools but don't dare say the names of the players who have long since left them for dead?
A final thought about that Gutfeld! program, and about that primetime show in general:
A few weeks back, Colby Hall—a good, decent person—offered this profile of the Gutfeld! show. Back in February, Variety offered a much longer profile of that show and its star.
Our question:
Is the host of that program really a "prankster" who's offering "fun, smart comedy?" Setting surface appearances off to the side, is he actually staging a "comedy" show at all?
Is Gutfeld! a fun, smart comedy show? As with Hans Christian Anderson's fable, so too in our own failing nation:
We humans are often unable—or unwilling—to see what's right there before us.
The Gutfeld! show is an astonishingly stupid assault on the American experiment. For whatever reason, Lawrence and Nicolle and Rachel and Stephanie have agreed not to tell you that.
Joe and Mika won't tell you either. This is the surrender we've chosen.
The Bakersfield sound is blaring from the Fox News Channel from morning till night. Our finer cadre goes "La La La La" as they cover their ears!
Try as he might, Somerby can't distract his readers from the fact that the Republican Party is a global pedophile ring.
ReplyDeleteThank you, O Omniscient One.
DeleteYou don't have to be omniscient: just follow the news.
Delete
ReplyDeleteKeep watching, Bob, keep watching. The Fox New, the only sensible mainstream cable news channel in America might cure your disastrous TDS infection yet.
And that would be SPECTACULAR! Let's wait and see; who knows.
And as usual: keep draining the swamp, Mr. President; keep draining the swamp. So help you God.
When individual companies each come begging to Washington to get relief from tariffs, that's when the real swamp draining starts!
DeleteAll the deals, all the tradeoffs and favors, you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours. Yes siree, that is some real swamp-draining there, friend.
Thank you for making it 100% obvious that the Republican Party is a global pedophile ring, Mr. President
DeleteNow only bots deny it.
Exceptions, exemptions, meetings at Don Jr.'s private club, maybe a foursome on the links to talk things over. No better way to drain the swamp!
DeleteOr how 'bout this? Invest millions of your own money in bitcoin, then sign an executive order for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a US Digital Asset Stockpile, thus forcing up the price of Bitcoin.
DeleteWhat's the gurgling, swirling sound? Is that our democracy going down the toilet? No sirrreeee! It's the swamp draining!
This crypto currency grift scam was entirely predictable. Anyone paying attention to the felon and his cretinous offspring could see the scam coming from a far distance. Watch carefully as all these crooks vacuum up all the cash. This will end up causing a crash worse than the Crash of 2008 and Donny McRapey will have cashed out long before.
DeleteKeep in mind the Trump family is not allowed to operate ANY charity in New York because they stole from a kids cancer charity.
DeleteWhat does Merle Haggard have to do with The Five?
ReplyDeleteSomerby assumes no one is familiar with the Bakersfield sound, because he himself lives in Baltimore and perhaps never heard of it himself. But Bakersfield is in CA, a populous blue state where people not only heard of Haggard himself but also the existence of the city and its country tradition. The TV show Baskets (written by Zach Galifianakis) is a tribute to Bakersfield CA. But none of that has anything to do with The View or anything else in Somerby's essay today.
Or perhaps Somerby plans to knock Gavin Newsom some more? That is what purported liberals do -- knock popular Democratic governors engaged in resisting Trump's half-assed tyranny.
How does Somerby write about the history of the Bakersfield sound, even excerpting from Wikipedia, without ever mentioning Buck Owens?
ReplyDeleteYes, the excerpt mentions Buck Owens, but Somerby doesn't, even though Buck Owens was far more influential in creating the Bakersfield sound, while Haggard is representative of it but didn't create it.
DeleteOkie from Muskogee was originally written as a joke while the band members were smoking weed on their tour bus.
Haggard was born in Oildale, a part of Bakersfield but Buck Owens moved to Bakersfield during the dustbowl and so was a refugee and immigrant to the area. He was not an Okie either, but from TX.
Putting the census in the hands of people who know nothing about basic mathematics, is why we elected Trump.
ReplyDelete"Trump Cracks Down on Renewable Energy"
ReplyDeleteAt last. Someone is finally addressing this problem which has been bedeviling this country for years.
Somerby seems to be assigning The View to Bakersfield, where regular people lap up right wing programming. Maybe so, but does Somerby know about the very large Hispanic population in Bakersfield, 55.3% of the city? Bakersfield voted for Trump, but also voted for Hillary in 2016 and Biden in 2020, and has elected quite a few Democrats to state offices. Voters there rejected Harris but that doesn't make Bakersfield a MAGA stronghold, far from it.
ReplyDeleteSomerby has arbitrarily assigned Bakersfield to red America without the slightest clue what the area is like.
Somerby slides from hillbilly bluegrass songs about strangers to country music simply because Merle Haggard once had a band called The Strangers. Way to ignore the cultural traditions that are important to everyday people! Did it escape Somerby that Okie from Muskogee (which is a real place) is not written about Bakersfield? I'm sure there are Okies living in Bakersfield, but that isn't what the song is about either. Does Somerby not listen to the lyrics he painfully transcribes into his daily essays?
ReplyDelete"And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse
And white lightning's still the biggest thrill of all
And white lightning's still the biggest thrill of all
(In Muskogee Oklahoma USA)"
I don't see Bakersfield mentioned anywhere in that song. And no, even the rural areas of CA are not at all like OK.
Somerby is taking a shortcut to presenting some icon of what he imagines to be rural America, without doing any actual listening or reading about the places whose names he grabs without regard for the actual people living there. It is lazy but also disrespectful of those folks. After all, Baskets the Rodeo Clown studied miming in Paris, France. Not at all Somerby's stereotype of the hicks he thinks live in Bakersfield.
Interesting that Somerby considers Bakersfield typical of Gutfeld's audience when there is such a strong history of climate-related migration to the area during the great dustbowl migration:
Delete"While precise numbers are difficult to pinpoint, a significant number of Dust Bowl refugees ended up in Bakersfield, California. According to a 1936 photograph from the Library of Congress, a large community, estimated at "approximately one thousand people", lived in a Hooverville (a type of makeshift settlement) on the edge of the town dump. This community, along with many others in the San Joaquin Valley, included families seeking work and a better life. Approximately 40% of migrant farmers from the Dust Bowl ended up in the San Joaquin Valley, including Bakersfield, which was a major agricultural area at the time."
Bakersfield is more urban than rural these days, but the songs that were part of the Bakersfield sound surely originated from the traditions brought by the influx of displaced people due to climate-related natural disaster (coupled with poor farming techniques to adjust to the drought). See the film The Grapes of Wrath with Henry Fonda (from the John Steinbeck book, Steinbeck lived in CA himself).
It is hard to reconcile Somerby's apparent lack of empathy for modern-day refugees given his previous writing about the dustbowl here. Both the songs about strangers sung by Emmy Lou Harris and the Seegers and the country music written by Merle Haggard reflect the struggles of displaced people, the strangers who Somerby now wants to see as Republican Trump supporters, fans of Gutfeld, when that is not their origin at all. But then, the Trojans in the Iliad likely did not vote Democratic either. Somerby grabs and misuses these references as a substitute for thinking, in my opinion.
Today, the residents of Bakersfield are not Okies or Arkies but Hispanics and they are the majority in the city. Theirs is not the outlaw country music tradition but reflects the people there:
"In Bakersfield, a variety of Hispanic and Latin music styles are popular, including Tejano, Mariachi, Cumbia, and Regional Mexican. Bakersfield's Latin music scene is vibrant, with artists and bands playing everything from traditional genres to more modern Latin fusion styles." Trump never plays this stuff at his own rallies, so how then is it likely Bakersfield luvs Gutfeld?
Gutfeld was on Jimmy Fallon. He was hilarious. So much funnier than the angry screaming banshees of the fired Colbert and his audience.
ReplyDeleteNotice how quickly Bill Maher trotted on down to Mar a Lago to secure his own job in advance of this late-night purge? What did he know and who told him to kow-tow or else? How sad that the bold "politically incorrect" truth-teller should have fallen so low, when Colbert at least has the integrity to stand firm on his views. And now Fallon is on his knees too. Did you happen to catch the first South Park episode? Comedians have a role to play in the resistance and the South Park boys are doing a great job at it. Tune into the next episode to see Kristi Noem shoot a few more puppies.
DeleteGod, I'll bet he was. Did he do the bit where he eats his own shit? He is just so funny!
DeleteIf Colbert had been fired, he would no longer be on the air, but his show is still running. It would be great if Colbert lasted on air longer than Trump lasts in the presidency, but that would take Congress growing a pair and removing the demented old fart from office.
DeleteI loved the part where Dear Kristie wrote in her book that not being satisfied splattering her boys puppy brains all over the gravel pit; she grabbed the family goat ('cause it smelled bad) and bagged her second big game kill of the day.
DeleteI counted 21 "faggots" the last time I saw South Park, and one "Life begins at conception and abortion is murder."
DeleteThe point of the show is that woke is dead so all the objectionable words can be used at will. Context matters. South Park is not on Trump’s side.
Delete"Gutfeld was on Jimmy Fallon. He was hilarious. So much funnier than the angry screaming banshees of the fired Colbert and his audience."
DeleteHilarious if you're a fifth grader and really into sophomoric humor.
Whoa. A whole bunch of idiot-Democrats are owned by simple "Gutfeld was hilarious"! This has to be some sort of record.
DeleteOdd that Somerby ascribes Gutfeld to Bakersfield, then quotes his Lock her Up refrain, when Bakersfield voted for Hillary, not Trump in 2016.
ReplyDeleteI have been to Bakersfield and didn't see a single horse while I was there. I'll bet Somerby has never been there himself, not even when he lived in San Mateo (Northern CA).
ReplyDeleteNatives Getting Restless
ReplyDelete"Number of tweets President Trump & his team have sent about arresting Russia Hoax traitors: 275,322. Number of arrests President Trump & his team have made of Russia Hoax traitors: 0.”
- Emerald Robinson, prominent pro-Trump broadcaster.
0?
DeleteIsn't that the same number of Republican voters who aren't bigots?
Someone ask Emerald how to spell "sucker" in Russian.
DeleteFucking traitor Gabbard replaying all the hits (read misses) by Durham just a few years ago who came up nearly completely empty. This is the advantage Trump has by his voters being so fucking stupid. They can't remember dancing down the exact same hall of mirrors six years ago and never getting any proofs or real convictions. Morons and weirdos, the whole lot of you.
DeleteYes.
DeleteIt is wrong for Somerby to malign Bakersfield by saying this:
ReplyDelete"The Bakersfield sound is blaring from the Fox News Channel from morning till night."
Okie from Muskogee is only one Waylon Jennings song. He wrote and sang many others about the struggles of the working class and prison life. Gutfeld doesn't talk about any of that stuff and ironically, Biden championed the working class more than Trump and his billionaires ever have. So, on what basis does Somerby assign Bakersfield to Gutfeld (as a proxy for Trump)?
The la-la-la that Somerby cannot hear is the backlash by white men against Kamala Harris because she is black and female. That isn't necessarily a right wing reaction although Trump surely played the race card to the hilt and denigrates women (as does Gutfeld) on a regular basis. Even so, Bakersfield went for Trump by 9%, not the 20% of Kern County. And Bakersfield voted for Biden in 2020. Somerby will not impress Bakersfield voters by claiming they are ignorant Gutfeld fans coming into the midterms. CA will be leading a huge repudiation of Trump and his agenda, and yes, even Bakersfield will be part of it.
Meanwhile, Sinclair Broadcasting is a conservative owned propaganda outlet that dominates areas outside large cities (where there are more viewing choices):
"Although specific viewership data for Bakersfield is unavailable, Bakersfield viewers can access Fox programming, including Gutfeld!, through Fox affiliate KBFX-CD (channel 58). KBFX-CD is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which also owns CBS affiliate KBAK-TV (channel 29). "
That is hardly Bakersfield's choice.
Correction: Not Waylon Jennings but Merle Haggard
Delete"The Gutfeld! show is an astonishingly stupid assault on the American experiment. For whatever reason, Lawrence and Nicolle and Rachel and Stephanie have agreed not to tell you that."
ReplyDeleteHow stupid does Somerby think we all are, that we would have to be told by someone else that Gutfeld is stupid and assaulting the American experiment?
I doubt that Lawrence and Nicolle and Rachel and Stephanie all held a Vance-style meeting to get their stories straight about never mentioning how stupid Gutfeld is, as Somerby claims they have done.
Quote of Somerby's claim for DG & QIB:
"For whatever reason, Lawrence and Nicolle and Rachel and Stephanie have agreed not to tell you that."
See guys, Somerby really said this shit about Lawrence and Nicolle and Rachel and Stephanie and I am not making up a story about Somerby but QUOTING what he said today, which is itself astonishingly stupid, and no one should have to tell anyone that truth about Somerby's daily attacks on Lawrence and Nicolle and Rachel and Stephanie, who most likely aren't avoiding talking about Epstein or the economy or anything else that is actually news (Gutfeld's IQ is not news).
Good for you! At least you’re criticizing Somerby for what he actually wrote, rather than making up shit to criticize.
Delete(In my reading, I don’t think Somerby meant they literally agreed not to discuss Gutfield, but that’s just my reading.)
I don't ever make stuff up to criticize. That you cannot follow the explanations I always provide is on you. I am just spelling it out more explicitly for you given your disabilities.
DeleteWhen Somerby makes up collusion that does not exist, HE is the one maligning others. Poetic license does not allow him to accuse his shortlist of enemies of colluding to rig the news, in violation of journalistic ethics. Your reading is excessively generous to Somerby, but what else is new?
"Poetic license does not allow him to accuse his shortlist of enemies of colluding to rig the news, in violation of journalistic ethics."
DeleteBut aren't you being excessively literal here?
You're correct that, in isolation, Somerby's use of 'agreed to' implies some sort of collusive arrangement among the four pundits.
But this 'agreement' is something Somerby has been harping on for years and in doing so he's never seriously advanced a case for collusion. He's simply not using the right descriptor.
There is no real accusation here and it's dishonest of you to pretend there is.
"I don't ever make stuff up to criticize."
DeleteI have no idea if this is true or not because I don't have the slightest idea who you are. You're just some rando Anon.
Actually, I'm persuaded by Hector. Since you appear from your comments be a long-time reader, you surely know that Somerby's thrust was not that these four pundits got in a room and made a formal agreement to keep silent about Gutfield, but merely that in reality they have maintained a radio silence about Gutfield's stupid and smutty shenanigans. And so I agree with Hector that it is dishonest of you to pretend otherwise.
DeleteI was originally prompted to give your comment a charitable reading, however, because you actually quoted the thing that you were attacking. I give you props for that.
DeleteGet your own blog, if you want to post about the media remaining silent about the Republican Party running a global pedophile ring.
DeletePutting aside our petty squabbles, however, the more important issue is this: Why don't Rachel et al. comment on and condemn the Fox clown show? What are the institutional restraints that prevents any substantial discussion in any standard media of what seems to me (and also seemed to Kevin Drum and to Somerby) to be the predominant cause of the current unraveling of the American experiment?
DeleteWhere is that cancel culture?
DeleteIt is not the job of cable news journalists to comment on other journalists because the journalists are not the news. Rewatch the film Broadcast News for an explanation of this concept. This has been explained here many times yet Somerby never gets a clue about it.
Deleteanon 5:17, Maybe it's not their "job" - but they could do it. TDH thinks they should. You say these journalists are "not the news." Why not? They are watched by millions - seems that they are "news." I'm not sure what good it would do. But certainly the "Red" tribe media commonly criticizes "Blue" media pundits/news figures. Just because you or some other anon has "explained" this several times, doesn't mean that the issue is case closed.
DeleteNo, it is against journalistic ethics. Journalists are objective non-partisan observers, not hit men targeting other journalists. Fox hosts are propagandists for the right. That doesn’t mean non-Fox journalists should become attack dogs against them, abandoning their own job and its norms.
DeleteAC/MA, go watch the film. There are ideals and rules governing the profession. Your “why not” is akin to asking an accountant why he cannot make a loan to himself out of petty cash, just until payday.
DeleteTrump tells lots of lies and breaks lots of rules. That doesn’t mean blue politicians should do the same. If unbiased reporting means nothing to you, I can’t force you to believe that truth is worth defending and integrity matters. Same goes for Somerby.
"It is not the job of cable news journalists to comment on other journalists because the journalists are not the news."
DeleteNews is in the eye of the beholder.
Anything is possible, nothing means anything. Nihilism leads to authoritarian mind control.
DeleteBut Fox “journalism” IS the news. It is propaganda poisoning the minds of millions. That, to my way of thinking, is the most important news story of the day.
Deleteanon 7:00, I don't get your point. the issue is whether the "propaganda" that goes on at Fox is newsworthy. Is it a significant phenomenon? TDH says it should be covered by the "blue tribe" news to bring what goes on there into wider consciousness. That could be done by "unbiased" reporters without becoming "attack dogs." And opinion writers certainly could "attack" the propaganda. You don't make sense.
DeleteHow Gutfeld can distract anyone from realizing the Republican Party is a global pedophile ring is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteSomerby is going to have egg on his face, when it's revealed Gutfeld is the only Republican who hasn't raped a child.
ReplyDeleteBakersfield is a university town. Cal State Bakersfield is there.
ReplyDelete"Some Trump allies still believe that the president, even as a lame duck, will keep Republicans in line. “Having survived Russiagate, Hillary Clinton, two impeachments, four trials designed to put him in jail, and two assassination attempts,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told me, “it’s unlikely the current situation will be much of a problem.”"
ReplyDeleteThis is the fuck stain child raping weirdo you chose to be dear leader. Good job morons.
The next statement Newt Gingrich makes in good faith will be his first.
DeleteWhat would you expect a pro-child rape Republican to say, that Gingrich didn't?
DeleteRemember that time jagoff Gingrich said Biden lending, and his son repaying $7,200 for a truck was the crime of the century? And these people are still giving bullshit for reporters to scoop up. Fuck this shit already.
DeleteThe WH reporters are just playing along with the felon. Lawence O'Donnell just the other night reamed the reporters real good for failing to do their job.
DeleteReminder that the piece of shit, Gingrich, never apologized for blaming "liberal values" for Susan Smith killing her children, even after she testified that her religious, Conservative Father raped her as a child.
DeleteYesterday more purges by the FBI: the orange felon had more senior FBI officials, including a former acting director, fired by the vindictive sonofawhore orange felon.
ReplyDeleteToday the DOJ announced opening a grand jury investigation into Letitia James tied to Trump civil case.
How does everybody like living under Sadam Hussein? This is not going to end well.
Saddam Hussein never raped a 13-year old, because she reminded him of his own daughter, Soros-bot.
DeleteSecret no more. The NY Times reports
ReplyDeletePresident Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations.
I guess it's legal to use the military against terrorist organizations. And, the cartels are pretty clearly terrorists, with their innumerable murders. What does concern me is whether our military can succeed in this effort.
The Times also reports, "Mexico’s President Denies U.S. Will Use Military in Her Country"
DeleteEvery fucking day dear orange felon leader wipes his ass with our Constitution.
DeleteGo fuck yourself, Dickhead in Cal. Scram, troll boy.
Go play with your maggot fascist friends, fucking fascist freak.
That's legal, because the Supreme Court knows they can't push back on the child rapist, because he can have them killed.
DeleteSame reason they let him kidnap Americans and cheat on his taxes.
When you're a Right-wing bigot, they let you get away with anything (including child rape).
DeleteJust how big are they if you can't even say how many of them there are? Easiest way to end drug cartels? Shoot every person taking opiods and all opioid producers to death. Problem solved libtards.
DeleteStart with conservatives who are abusing adderall and ketamine. Look at Limbaugh’s drug abuse.
Delete"Shoot every person taking opiods and all opioid producers to death."
DeleteAllah be praised!
The Right are anti-drug, except for the molly they slip to twelve-year olds.
DeleteDo increases in corporate income tax cause inflation? Tariffs are a cost to businesses. Businesses need to make up the extra costs, so the pass costs on to consumers. Corporate income tax is also a cost to businesses. So, would they also get passed on to consumers?
ReplyDeleteYes.
DeleteAs would any fine levied against a business when they break the law.
Trump's move was to give businesses which break the law by hiring illegal immigrants, for example, huge tax breaks.
I guess that's what we voted for.
Go fuck yourself fascist dichead.
DeleteYour analysis is incorrect, David. Tariffs and corporate income taxes are applied at very different points in the pipeline. Tariffs for a lot of companies, manufacturing in particular, would affect their BOM (Build of Materials) costs; it makes goods more expensive to manufacture. They will have to mitigate those increases either by raising prices, layoff workers, or reducing their profit margins.
DeleteCorporate income tax is a tax on the profits. Companies don't need profits. Some choose to grow their businesses instead of generating profits.
You got here ahead of me, Ilya.
DeleteApples and pineapples, David. Competition is the engine that drives a capitalist economy. If two companies producing the same product are hit with tariffs on their component materials, they're hit equally and can pass their increased cost to consumers without hurting their competitive positions.
Taxes on profits don't work the same way. For starters, the two companies are likely different in the profitability from the start. The company with higher profits will be hit harder. If that company wants to avoid the tax, the logical strategy is to lower prices to reduce profits.
Here's another way to look at it. An entrepreneur wants a certain profit after taxes to reward him for putting in the effort and taking the risk. A corporate income tax increase reduces his net profit. He needs to raise prices to earn his required profit. If he doesn't get the required profit, he will get out of the business.
DeleteTaxes are a business expense. Other expenses increase too and businesses adapt. If a business is well run, it stays in business despite the costs.
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DeleteWhen corporate taxes are high, business moves abroad, away from the US.
When tariffs are high, business moves inside the US.
And that's all there is to it.
As for the prices, high tariffs develop domestic industries, leading to high levels of competition, which makes the prices lower than ever. As was empirically proven by Abraham Lincoln.
Delete"When corporate taxes are high, business moves abroad..."
DeleteIf only. I'd love to see it happen. Not only for the savings we'd get from not having to use our military to protect their global assets and profits. I also love the idea of these "business masters" asking the Cayman Islands to step up for them, like the sucker U.S. government did.
High tariffs caused the Great Depression. All these armchair economists are embarrassing themselves, Trump included.
DeleteTrump administration seeking $1 billion settlement from UCLA
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck is happening to my country? Why doesn't somebody punch this felon crook in the mouth?
Isn't that what you are supposed to do to fucking Nazis?
DeleteYou mean the fucking nazi Christian Nationalists marching in Charlottesville chanting "Jews will not replace us"? The ones that orange chickenshit said were very fine people?
DeleteYesterday Somerby was talking about D-minus students but today their grades have improved to C-minus. How did that happen?
ReplyDeleteYou would think liberals haven't noticed the rot of nearly all entertainment media over the last half century the way they go on about Gutfeld.
ReplyDeleteMusic and television and other entertainment consumption is homogenized now. The difference is that conservatives are still more moral than liberals.
Somerby doesn’t speak for any liberals.
Deleteanon 5:32, TDH goes on about Gutfield, not really true that "liberals" do. That's what TDH is complaining about. Conservatives are "more moral???" In what way? You don't explain. There are certainly arguments to the contrary.
DeleteThere's rot and then there's Gutfeld. He deserves every disparaging remark that comes his way.
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