SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2025
Telling this story is hard: At one point, the Harvard Law School graduate said it, though only perhaps in a dream:
I was never a D-minus student, but I play one on cable TV.
At one point, she may have said it. Last night, we were stunned by the manifest dumbness of the first twenty minutes of the Jesse Watters Primetime show. Then, this very morning, Fox & Friends Weekend offered a bit of self-revelation of an extraordinary sort.
As we told you long ago, it's all anthropology now. And as we've told you again and again, the major news orgs of Blue America refuse to report, discuss or critique the very strange behavior which occurs on Fox News Channel programs.
Also this:
Even after he demolished one part of the White House, those heralded news orgs refused to ask this obvious question:
Is something wrong with this man? Why does he do these things?
If something is wrong with the person in question, that is, of course, a personal tragedy—a loss of human capability. And the evidence suggests that there isn't quite as much of that capability floating around as a person might once have thought.
We're going to stop to ponder now. Telling this story is very hard. Come Monday, where should we start?
ReplyDeleteAsking "Is something wrong with this man?" is the easiest thing on Earth to do. You pharisees love doing it.
Instead, why wouldn't you, Bob, ask, at least occasionally: "is something wrong with me?"
Nah, never mind, too unlikely. Carry on, and we'll see what happens.
"You pharisees".
DeleteThat would put either you or Trump in the role of Jesus, trumptard. Which is it?
I’m Pontius Pilate.
DeleteBob just discovered that TV provides low IQ entertainment. The rest of us made this discovery 75 years ago and called it an “Idiot Box.”
ReplyDelete“”idiot box" is a slang term for a television set, used to suggest that television is a mindless and passive form of entertainment. The term originated in the mid-20th century…”
Nope. Wrong again.
DeleteBob's complaint today is not about the quality of TV entertainment, but about the quality of TV news reporting/analysis. Two very distinct items.
Fox is not news, it is entertainment.
DeleteThey don't brand as "not news" so fuck off with the stupid.
DeleteThey don't brand as misinformation and propaganda either. Are we supposed to fuck off with claims like that too?
DeleteThat is just a stupid comment. Tune in for misinformation and propaganda is not corporate branding, but a critics accurate assessment. Such children.
DeleteYour focus on branding to the exclusion of other descriptors is kind of childish.
DeleteThe smartest Congresswoman of all time.
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2025/11/08/us-news/nancy-pelosi-made-130-million-in-stock-profits-in-her-37-years-in-congress-a-profit-of-16930/
Nancy Pelosi has a husband who also contributes to their joint income. It takes money to run for office in CA, so she most likely came from a family with wealth before entering politics. The Republican implication (without looking any of her background up) is that she engaged in insider trading, but that is a crime that could and would have been investigated if she were as criminal as Trump or any of his cronies. Her enemies would have prosecuted her if she were doing anything illegal during her tenure as a powerful Democrat.
DeleteDems keep trying to pass legislation banning stock trading for Congress (with over 70% support from the public), but outside a small handful, Republicans keep blocking it.
DeleteThe Dow Jones Industrial Average has grown 23x in the years that Pelosi held office. It doesn't take any particular smarts or insider information to invest and hold.
DeleteQuaker -- Thanks for pointing out the DJ growth of 23 times. According to the article, Pelosi's stocks grew 169 times.
Delete
DeleteQuaker in a Basement at 1:19 PM wins "the most idiotic Soros-monkey comment of the week" competition.
Nancy Pelosi’s father, Thomas D’Alessandro Jr, was a congressman from Maryland and then the mayor of Baltimore. Later still, he served on the Federal Renegotiation Board.
Delete"According to the article, Pelosi's stocks grew 169 times."
DeleteAssuming quarterly compounding and re-investing, Pelosi would have had to average just over a 14% annual return to turn the $785k into $133.7 million in 37 years.
The S&P 500's average annual return over the last 50 years is 10.5%. So with her husband the venture capitalist running her portfolio, how unreasonable is the 14%?
"According to the article, Pelosi's stocks grew 169 times."
DeleteWhat Hector said. Also, the Post acts as if all of the growth in Pelosi's portfolio came from investment returns. Over the course of 37 years, that is an unlikely assumption. It is more likely that she and her husband made additions to their invested capital.
Sez me.
DeleteAlso, the Post's reporter only tells half the story about the $NANC ETF fund--or maybe less than half.
DeleteThe fund doesn't track Pelosi's trades alone. It tracks all trades made by congressional Democrats.
The Post also neglects to mention that there's a companion fund, $GOP that tracks stock trades made by Republicans.
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/2-etfs-that-track-congressional-stock-trades
Trump crime family literally pardoning criminals for stuffing billions in their pockets and you fucking idiots are bitching about a women doing well with investments who is out of government in 13 months. Got it. How's those 12 steps to fascism going you clueless fucking buffoons doing the hard work to make sure billionaires don't pay taxes and rape children without jail time.?
Delete"So with her husband the venture capitalist running her portfolio, how unreasonable is the 14%?"
DeleteSounds like Pelosi has already taken care of producing a talking point and distributing it to DNC bots. The best talking point money can buy, yet still somehow not quite satisfactory.
Sadly.
There ought to be a law proposed to keep politicians from making a fortune in the stock market they control, that Republicans do everything in there power to keep from taking effect.
Delete"...that Republicans do everything in there power to keep from taking effect."
DeletePoor Pelosi. She had to steal $150 million because of 'em horrible Republicans.
Minutes before Trump made another tariff adjusting statement someone shorted bitcoin and made 213 million dollars. Coincidences happen.
DeleteI understand Baron Drumpf is a billionaire many times over already. Pelosi is a piker compared the Drumpf crime family
DeleteYou don't have to be a politician to notice the stock market goes up in value, when employment goes down.
DeleteDonald Trump's open disdain for Republican voters is something all great Americans should emulate.
DeletePoliticians do not control the stock market.
DeleteI've heard of coincidences, I just never have seen one.
DeleteWhen a smart person has spare cash to invest and they take the time to do it wisely, they make money. That doesn't mean Pelosi did anything illegal or unethical or different than others in Congress have done. When a woman has a job that is separate from her husband's, there are two contributors to the family income.
DeleteHillary was accused of influence peddling when people contributed to Bill Clinton's Global Initiative (a charity operating outside the USA), even though there was no connection between the two (none existing and none proven). It was a smear against her as Secretary of State. The same thing is coming from the right wing now, because Pelosi was good at her job and their family made money, but there is no corruption existing much less proven. The right wing doesn't know how to think about it when women make money in a household from a job that is distinct from their husband's income.
AI says: "Nancy Pelosi's wealth primarily comes from her husband's business and investment success, particularly in real estate and venture capital, rather than her congressional salary. "
Other than in broad strokes (such as during the real estate recession in 2009), Congress has nothing to do with real estate or venture capital investments. It isn't as if she is Elon Musk or Peter Thiel.
"the major news orgs of Blue America refuse to report, discuss or critique the very strange behavior which occurs on Fox News Channel programs. "
ReplyDeleteThat isn't their job.
Even worse, there is an entire industry that does call out the loony shenanigans of operations like Fox News, and they have a greater audience than the fading "Blue America" corporate media - which is notably right wing (neoliberal), making Bob's misnomer an embarrassment.
DeleteBob is not ignorant of this circumstance, so him willfully clinging to that bit of misinformation, demonstrates that his agenda is different than the one that he puts forth.
BROADVIEW – Federal authorities told demonstrators Friday that there would be “no more prayer” in front of or inside the Broadview ICE facility, in a move that mystified local leaders and raised legal questions.
ReplyDeleteA federal representative delivered the news to a huddle of faith leaders and activists standing outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Friday, speaking after faith leaders were denied entry to the building for the third time Friday.
Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills, whose department helped facilitate the phone call, said that he was “trying to figure out” in discussions with Mayor Katrina Thompson and an attorney if a federal agency could legally ban religious gatherings on land owned by the village. Religious groups previously have been allowed to practice outside the facility, he said.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/feds-tell-faith-leaders-no-more-prayer-outside-broadview-facility/
Thanks for the link, Quaker. The federal authorities are objecting more to the location, than the prayer itself. I assume that they believe that the these prayer groups are interfering with ICE's work. I have little doubt that this is the intention of the demonstrators.
DeleteBTW there are pro-choice precedents that could affect this case. E.g., see Pro-life activist jailed for praying silently outside Michigan abortion clinic appeals to Supreme Court
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pro-life-activist-jailed-for-praying-silently-outside-michigan-abortion-clinic-appeals-to-supreme-court/ar-AA1JJiY5
Supreme Court turns back challenges to laws keeping abortion opponents away from clinics, patients
https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/post/supreme-court-turns-back-challenges-to-laws-keeping-abortion-opponents-away-from-clinics-patients/
Delete"faith leaders and activists standing outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility"
What is stupider:
-- the struggle for women trapped in men's bodies being able to use women's bathrooms
OR
-- the struggle for letting foreigners to come into the country without visas, and stay indefinitely?
Oh, never mind. More, more exciting crusades, idiot-Democrats, please!
You a fucking idjit still Mao.
DeleteIt’s too easy to signal one’s virtue with ordinary good deeds, like donating food or contributing to a hospital. Anyone can do that.
DeleteTo get big-time Virtue Signaling points, one must do something difficult, like putting rapists in women’s prisons or preventing murderers from being deported.
Praying to God for something is the ultimate in virtue-signaling.
DeleteGod already gave us free will.
6:04 That is certainly a mouthful coming from a fucking Trump supporter.
DeleteDavid: The religious groups are not praying on federal property. The groups are exercising their rights as US citizens.
DeleteSo you support any child rapist in the Epstein files going to jail, right fascist fuck face David?
DeleteDavid, since Ice is shooting bullets and chemicals (banned by the Geneva convention) at US citizens don't we have a duty to defend ourselves from an out of control tyrannical government? Ain't that what the 2nd Amendment is all about you fascist ghoul?
DeleteDavid: Your anti-abortion activist wasn't arrested for "praying outside an abortion clinic." He was arrested and sentenced for "trespassing, obstructing/resisting a police officer and disorderly conduct."
Deletehttps://www.theoaklandpress.com/2023/03/31/pro-lifers-jailed-for-misdemeanors-at-southfield-abortion-clinic/.
@10:15, you're wrong about the Geneva Convention
Delete"Tear gas is not banned by the Geneva Convention for use in domestic law enforcement, but its use in warfare is prohibited under international treaties like the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Geneva Protocol. "
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tear+gas+banned+by+geneva+convention&atb=v426-1&ia=web
It’s not the Convention, it’s the Protocol.
DeleteI have little doubt that this is the intention of the demonstrators.
DeleteWell fuck you very much, Dickhead in Cal, you atheist cunt fascist. What the fuck do you know about prayer?
The Geneva Convention did not ban the media (or anyone else) from identifying the Republican voter who isn't a bigot.
DeleteReality did that.
Imagine how different things would be if gun owners hadn't sold their guns to criminals on the black market.
DeleteThere is nothing in the Geneva Convention that says you have to starve poor children so you can give huge tax breaks to billionaires.
Delete...but its use in warfare is prohibited under international treaties
DeleteGood point, Dickhead in Cal. Tear gas is a little bit too much for actual warfare, but if you need to keep your domestic population in line by haphazardly spraying it on women and children, well that is just the price of living in a democracy under the protections of a Constitution. Christ almighty, you are such a fucking asshole, you fascist freak.
Mamdani's landslide victory:
DeleteMake David in Cal pretend to care about fiscal policy again.
No better indicator that everyone calling David in Cal a fascist freak is too weak for the sick fuck than his promoting the use of a gas prohibited in war on your own citizens, including children. I don't think I could live with myself.
Delete"Long-term effects and risk of death
DeleteIf a person leaves the area where tear gas is present, and their symptoms go away soon afterward, their risk of long-term injury is low. However, scientists still do not know enough about the lingering effects of tear gas on the body.
Exposure to tear gas indoors, or in large amounts, may have serious health effects. These include:
glaucoma
blindness
chemical burns
respiratory failure
A 2017 study of data collected over 25 years looked at tear gas effects on the body. The chemicals and canisters used to release them have caused severe injuries, permanent disability, and death.
There were two recorded fatalities out of 5,910 people in this study. In the first, the release of tear gas in a person’s home caused death by respiratory failure. The second death involved a tear gas canister impact that caused a fatal head injury.
In this study, 58 people reported a permanent disability after tear gas exposure. These disabilities included:
respiratory problems
mental health effects
blindness
brain injury
loss of the use of limbs
limb amputation
skin conditions
"People with respiratory conditions have a higher risk of serious symptoms after tear gas exposure. These conditions include asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. There is also a risk that it could cause someone to stop breathing.
DeleteThe risk of injury from tear gas is greater indoors than outside. Tear gas that becomes trapped inside can increase a person’s exposure to these chemicals.
Firing multiple tear gas canisters can increase the concentration of tear gas in the air. This may cause more severe symptoms."
Those using tear gas to disperse crowds need training in how to prevent serious injury and death. It does not appear they are receiving such training or that they care that this stuff is being used on innocent people exercising their 1st amendment rights. These people are not combatants but citizens.
Like how these sick fucks always have some angle they think justifies their sickness but really only reinforces their depravity to normies. Sick fucks and weirdos, the whole lot of them.
Delete
DeleteSounds good, to repel various unruly, disorderly violators.
Is there a bad side to it?
Not at all, please proceed to gas children you sick fucks.
DeleteI don't gas myself, but I'd like the police to use more and stronger gas on idiots like yourself, when you idiots get disorderly.
DeleteIt's nothing personal, mind you.
they are gassing to be dicks, not to restore order you sick fuck.
DeleteYou sound disturbed, fella. You may need to be gassed, to quiet you down.
DeleteHere is another example of that famous lack of empathy on the right. They think these gas jokes are funny.
Delete
DeleteHere is another example of finger-sniffing Democrats being severely retarded.
Tuesday was a big embarrassment for Somerby, it nullified the agenda he tries to push here.
ReplyDeleteIt has been entertaining observing how Somerby has been twisting around trying to find the right way to save face this week.
Please give an example.
DeleteI make assertions. I don’t give examples.
DeleteFair enough.
DeleteRepublicans are incapable of governing: Day 40
ReplyDeleteStarving poor children is a small price to pay, to protect child rapists from being embarrassed by the release of the Epstein Files.
DeleteTiedrich is spot on again today:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/republican-conundrum-how-much-nazi
None of us should be tolerating Nazis and yes, Trump and Elon and Noem and Hegseth and their cronies are all Nazis promoting Nazism and Nazi wrongdoing from the highest levels in our country. And it needs to be stopped early, so that less force is required than another world war.
Trump has dementia, but he used to admire Hitler (out loud) to John Kelly, who told him that was politically incorrect. He has always been a Nazi and Nazis are scum. If there are any non-Nazi Republicans left, they need to admit they made a big mistake and correct it ASAP. We will help them do it at the polls and via protest and resistance, but given that Nazis are willing to use force, we will be unable to change things that way if we all wait too much longer.
Somerby is on the wrong side. He is not part of the solution but just another gung ho supporter of the master race, trying to pretend his racism and sexism are polite. It is time to stop pretending.
Andy Borowitz compares his predictions about Trump's first term to current events of this second term. He also gives us some perspective on how we survived Nixon and Reagan's corruption. He concludes:
ReplyDelete"How This Shitshow Ends
But let’s say Trump somehow survives his various ailments, and that JD Vance doesn’t smother him with a MyPillow. The Trump shitshow could still come to an end as early as next year. And I’m betting it will.
In my original post, I pointed out how the 1986 midterms brought Reagan’s agenda to a crashing halt and turned him into a lame duck overnight. With each passing day, it becomes likelier that the same fate awaits our wannabe autocrat and his sniveling toadies.
Why do I say that? The Republican majority in the House of Representatives is historically minuscule. They can’t afford to lose more than a handful of seats, and, given the party’s heinous poll numbers, they stand to lose a shit-ton. The Democrats’ breathtaking sweep of Tuesday’s elections is a sneak preview of the horrors that await Johnson & Co. in 2026. The Republicans, of course, are trying to gerrymander their way out of this mess, but Democrats are onto them and fighting back.
Let me end this piece the way I ended the original post, because the same message still applies: If we want to stem the tide of autocracy and kleptocracy, restore women’s rights and protect the most vulnerable, we don’t have the luxury of despair. The midterms are less than a year away. Let’s get to work."
By get to work, he is referring to the election work of getting out enough people to the polls to sweep the midterms. This is likely to happen, but still requires that the voters come to the polls to change the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. That is where our effort needs to go.
What is Somerby doing? Sometimes he wallows in the doomsaying and despair that Borowitz warns against. The rest of the time, he is promoting Republican interests and criticizing the left. That didn't work in 2016 or 2024, so why is it a good idea now? Obviously, it isn't, which is again why Somerby is on the wrong side, not a liberal, not a Democrat, but someone advancing Trump and his corruption.
The rest of us need to keep the faith and do the work to kick these bad Congress guys out of office in 2026, so that checks and balances can operate until Trump's lame duck term ends. That is how we can save our country.
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/how-this-shitshow-ends
Delete"The rest of the time, he is promoting Republican interests and criticizing the left."
Q1: How does he promote Republican interests other than criticizing the left?
Q2: Is it verboten for the left to criticize the left?
He unfailingly promotes at least one Republican talking point of the day, per essay. He also recites Gutfeld and others from Fox verbatim instead of summarizing their misinformation. He never rebuts anything the Republicans he quotes have to say. At the end of each essay, he repeats a critism of the left without specifics and without evidence, claiming that the left is worse than whatever he has pretended to criticize about the right (bothsiderism).
DeleteThere is a qualitative difference when the left criticizes the left. First, it is in terms of specifics. Second, there is usually some evidence in support of the criticism. Third, the criticism often deals with ideas or statements by others on the left, not some nebulous terms such as "blue America" or "the blue media" or "Democrats". That criticism is usually the point of an essay, not a whining aside at the end of some lengthy point being made by Republicans.
Also, Somerby routinely attacks Democratic Party candidates, including Hillary, Harris, Biden (of course), Newsom (whose name he has spelled in the Republican misspelling), Swalwell (yesterday) and the leaders of the investigations and impeachment efforts, and the various left-leaning cable hosts. I don't know of any liberals who do this to the same extent as Somerby does.
Beyond that, Somerby violates principles and ideal of the left, including support for diversity, equity and inclusion. He often has sexist and racist things and does stuff like criticizing black men for being shot by police, supporting Kyle Rittenhouse and George Zimmerman and the cop who killed George Floyd. He was against impeaching Trump or trying and convicting him for his crimes. He called Stormy Daniels a con artist and extortionist. He supports ICE and deportation efforts and is against immigration. He tends to join the Republican side of issues arguing against Democratic and left wing positions. He even said he was against the efforts in Boston to desegregate the schools when he was a kid, and has argued against efforts to desegregate New York and other big city schools.
You can call this comment a criticism of the left except there is no evidence Somerby is what he claims to be, a Democrat or liberal.
Is it worth the effort of rebutting David in Cal, Mao, and the other trolls here? It depends on whether you believe any actual voters (on either side) are still reading this blog. If you think there are lurkers, then commenting may still make sense. Otherwise, it is like asking whether right wing grafitti needs to be painted over in your neighborhood. If you still have free time, it makes the community a better place to live. I personally think that every sign that not everyone has capitulated to the forces of evil is heartening to those still resisting. YMMV
ReplyDeleteYes.
DeleteNever gonna happen, were gonna continue tearing apart everything the Democrats have built over the last 40 years.
Delete"tearing apart everything the Democrats have built over the last 40 years"
DeleteThe Swamp?
Robert Reich says this today, which is very relevant to Somerby's essay on Friday, where is doesn't understand what democracy means:
ReplyDelete"Many people tell me they hadn’t really appreciated democracy until the last nine and a half horrible months. Or the rule of law. Or due process.
Many hadn’t fully understood the meaning of tyranny and the critical importance of standing up against it.
People who never paid much attention to America’s widening inequalities of income and wealth are now seeing its devastating effects — and understanding why it’s crucial to foster a fairer system.
The last nine and a half months have been frightening — but they have also opened our eyes.
To view what occurred Tuesday only as as a reaction against Trump, or as a demand for “affordability,” misses this essential reality.
What occurred Tuesday is, I hope, the beginning of America’s reassertion of its founding ideals — which for too long we had taken for granted."
Forgetting our founding ideals is one thing but distorting them in order to institute autocracy is another. Somerby has chosen a different path than we blues (as he fondly refers to us). He is not one of us now, if he ever was.
If Somerby is really concerned that something might be wrong with Trump, why isn't he calling for Trump to be tested for dementia? Why doesn't he insist that the public be fully informed about Trump's health?
ReplyDeleteBandy Lee was interviewed by David Pakman on his podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCDwI4mmqSs
Crickets from Somerby, who doesn't follow left wing media and doesn't really want an answer to his question about what is wrong with Trump. An answer would require someone to do something about Trump, such as Article 25 or impeachment, or pressuring Trump to resign. Somerby loves to ask his vague question and blame the left for not doing so, except we have been the ones pressing this issue.
Part of the problem is there's nothing you can do about it.
DeleteMy point is that Somerby's demand that the press ask what is wrong with Trump, is itself useless because there is no next step beyond that, such as doing something about the harm Trump is causing us all.
DeleteI can do a lot of things to address Trump as a problem for this country and I am doing plenty. Somerby's daily attacks on the press do nothing useful.
Somerby’s attack on the press show us how bad the press is. (even thoug, contrary to him, the press is not blue.)
DeleteIt is also not bad.
DeleteKamala Harris's friends say that's how she acts normally.
Delete“ Crickets from Somerby.” You got that part right. Bob will never address any of your daily complaints, accusations, and distortions. Not only that, they’ll have carried every anonymices out feet first and he’ll still be here blogging.
ReplyDeleteRight, and he won't address any of your comments either.
DeleteWhy do you think Somerby will live longer than us anonymice?
DeleteCecelia is making things up. Somerby is the same age as Trump and also in poor health. AI could do his job, but why would anyone bother?
DeleteAnonymouse 2:43pm, he’ll still be kicking when you’ve stopped ticking.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a threat, the way you phrase it.
DeleteOr pathetic wishful thinking. Maybe this is how you MAGAs think about Trump too. He is having major problems in everyday living and his MAGA followers apparently can't see it (obviously, his staff is hiding his decline). Health issues are bad when you can't go down the steps of an airplane to the car below without being exhausted. Trump is sleeping through press briefings.
When you spend some time around elderly people, you find that most are open and acknowledge that they will be dying in a matter of years. It is young people who pretend they will live forever. Somerby has his "medical missions". So does Trump, I'm sure. If you cannot see the signs, you should talk to a shrink. It isn't healthy to be out of touch with reality.
There are studies showing that Republicans have a stronger fear of death than Democrats. Republicans also have a larger amygdala (the brain area that processes fear). There are also stats showing that red areas of the country have higher mortality and lower longevity rates than blue areas. That means that on average people in red counties die sooner and have lower life expectancy than blue counties.
DeleteApplied to the readership of this blog, that suggests that liberal commenters will live longer than conservative trolls or Trump or Somerby. Who dies before whom is, of course, related to what their current age is. Somerby and Trump are very old (79). Cecelia and others here can be any age. David in Cal says he is in his late 70s. There are some 12 year olds here, based on the content of their comments.
I’m twelve years old, and my dick is bigger than Cecelia’s clit.
DeleteBob has got that sort of will and focus. He’ll outlive all of us.
DeleteAnonymouse 4:04pm, that’s one question you’ll pass on your anatomy test.
DeleteI’m cognitively more advanced than you, too.
DeleteAnonymouse 4:50pm, not with those jokes.
DeleteI understand the relativity of simultaneity.
DeleteAt your age?
DeleteIt’s elementary.
DeleteThis ad popped up at Powerline, a conservative political site
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ice.gov/join
Although the ad doesn’t mention NYC, I wonder whether the recruitment campaign might not be partially aimed at NYC police officers. Fl and Tx are recruiting them. Why not ICE?
DeleteAs you can see, Dickhead in Cal is fucking trolling. Don't bite, ignore the motherfucking fascist freak.
DeleteNot only NYC; any defund-the-police idiot-Democrat place has excellent potentials.
Delete