THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2025
A road map for "brilliant writing:" Yesterday afternoon, on The Five, Jessica Tarlov, the designated non-MAGA co-host, was making a decent point.
That, of course, was the problem. This imitation of a discussion show isn't designed for outcomes like that.
Inevitably, Jesse Watters knew what to do. He's one of the four pro-MAGA hosts whose job is to overtalk Tarlov.
Order was quickly restored! Applying the principles of Tarlov Interruptus, Watters broke in on what she was saying, He successfully overtalked the lady as only he and Greg Gutfeld can do.
We wish we could link you to videotape, but the invaluable Internet Archive is a bit behind on its postings today. But with respect to this week's search for those elusive examples of "brilliant writing," any such writing may have to address itself to such points as these:
- How is it possible that a four-on-one pig-pile show of this type could possibly be this flailing nation's most-watched "cable news" program?
- How is it possible that any such imitation of public discourse could seem like a legitimate "news show" to millions of fellow citizens?
That said, also this:
3) How is it possible that the clowning which dominates the programs ruled by Watters and Gutfeld goes unreported and undiscussed within the vast realm of Blue America?
What explains the failure of news orgs like the New York Times to report and discuss the foolishness—and even the apparent misogyny—so widespread on these three (3) primetime "cable news" propaganda programs?
Our nation has been sliding into the sea over the past quite a few years. Over at the New York Times, they've barely said a word.
("Wouldn't be prudent," as George H. W. Bush often said.)
We'll try to provide a link, and a fuller discussion, when the invaluable if little-used Internet Archive gets its postings back on track.
The US Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika as a hate symbol.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/20/coast-guard-swastika-noose/
LOL, King Orange Chickenshit cracks another barrier.
DeleteHow do you like them apples, Dickhead in Cal, good Jew that you claim to be?
"We wish we could link you to videotape, but the invaluable Internet Archive is a bit behind on its postings today. But with respect to this week's search for those elusive examples of "brilliant writing," any such writing may have to address itself to such points as these: " [he lists irrelevant questions about why anyone watches Tarlov be interrupted by Watters]
ReplyDeleteSomerby asks why anyone watches such a performance, but that has nothing to do with brilliant writing, the topic at hand. Does Somerby really think this abrupt segue onto a different topic makes any sense. It is stream-of-consciousness meandering, just like Trump does in his own senility.
Comparing Watters/Tarlov to pieces of political analysis by competent writers (his focus on brilliance yesterday) pretends that brilliant writing may be the same as brilliant talking on a talk show. These talk shows are not capable of brilliance because they occur in real time or are scripted for performance by a writing staff, not the product of thoughtful analysis by an author. Further, they exist to advance right wing talking points not to seriously explore anything, because this is a propaganda show.
There is no reason Somerby should say the word brilliance in the same breath with anything else about Fox shows. Here Somerby has merely grabbed the word brilliant without thinking about its meaning in order to connect today's essay with yesterday's, but without any sense of how the word is used. He does that all the time with words he fancies, but doesn't actually think about at all. This is some kind of pathology, as when Trump's mind leaps from immigrants to Hannibal Lecter and having dinner.
It is time for Somerby to stop writing. His mind isn't working well and he has nothing to say. It would be better for him to visit his local senior center and have lunch with the others who come to watch TV and play bingo.
"Our nation has been sliding into the sea over the past quite a few years."
ReplyDeleteNo, it has not.
I see the ridiculous remarks of Jesse Watters reported by Rawstory (which aggregates other sources reporting) and Mediaite and various left wing blogs and substacks.
If Somerby wants to wonder why the NY Times and cable news do not report right wing atrocities, it may be because billionaires are gobbling them up and trying to tailor content to please Trump. This is obvious to most sentient beings these days.
https://www.rawstory.com/larry-ellison-2674313436/
Also this from Meyerson, The American Prospect:
"If the Saudi crown prince owns a piece of CNN and CBS News, how will they cover No Kings Days?
The list of CEOs who donned black tie to attend President Trump’s White House dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday night is in no way surprising. The tech company oligarchs were there in flocks (Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Jensen Huang), as were the leaders of Blackstone, Citigroup, GM, and Ford, all of whom have either sought Saudi capital for one reason or another, or want to market their product in Saudi Arabia and its Middle Eastern allies.
Also in attendance, suitably duded up, was new Paramount CEO David Ellison, who now controls not only Hollywood’s oldest studio and CBS, but is contesting with Comcast and Netflix to see which of them will buy Warner Bros., whose many properties include CNN. His attendance came one day after the story broke that Ellison has met with leaders of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund to persuade them to chip in on his offer to buy Warners, as the bidding war grows steadily more costly. Ellison’s people denied such an effort was under way, but TheWrap reported yesterday that not only is his offer to the Saudis under way, but that he’s made similar offers to the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. TheWrap further reported that these offers were due less to Ellison’s need for more funding—his father is the fourth-richest human on the planet—and more to Ellison’s desire to impress Trump, whose own family financial fortunes are increasingly linked to bin Salman’s and other Middle Eastern oilster oligarchs. (CNN reports that Papa Ellison has discussed with Trump how Paramount will axe CNN hosts whom Trump doesn’t like if the deal goes through.)"
https://prospect.org/2025/11/20/ellisons-tap-saudis-to-fund-news-media-takeover/
This is why no major media are covering Gutfeld's misogyny or Watters' rudeness to Tarlov. They like it because they are right wing media, not Blue American press.
What was the decent point that Tarlov was making? Somerby doesn't tell us. Instead he tells us she was interrupted. This gives priority to the interruption, not the piece of wisdom being shared by Tarlov.
ReplyDeleteHow are women going to be taken seriously when men like Somerby focus on Watters' interruption instead of reporting what she said?
Was what Tarlov said less important than Watters talking? It would seem so, judging by Somerby's reaction.
And Somerby has the nerve to call Gutfeld a misogynist while he commits subtle misogyny of his own while pretending to defend Tarlov. A real defense would repeat her point so that she isn't successfully buried by her right wing overlord. It would also portray her as a competent and accomplished person (like men are routinely considered to be, unless proven otherwise), instead of a weak sister who cannot interrupt back because she doesn't want to lose hre job. I am 100% sure that if Watters interrupted a male speaker on that show, the man would tolerate the interruption too. That begs the question of whether Tarlov's interruptin is misogyny or dominance by the alpha star.
Natalie Greene, a member of a Republican congressman’s staff, said she was violently attacked for being MAGA. It looks like she was lying.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thehandbasket.co/p/rep-jeff-van-drew-natalie-greene-nj-staged-attack
Most political violence comes from the right. By far.
Simon Rosenberg has a video and transcript of a discussion of the complicity of JP Morgan Chase bank in failing to notify banking authorities of suspicious transactions during the 15 years he operated his sex trafficking ring.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/rep-robert-garcia-on-the-epstein
"This morning, in a related move, Senator Ron Wyden released a report calling for an investigation into JP Morgan Chase’s role in enabling Epstein illegal activities. Here’s an excerpt from a new NYT story about Wyden’s report:
The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee issued a report on Thursday calling for an investigation into whether JPMorgan Chase deliberately underreported more than $1 billion in suspicious transactions by Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
The report from the senator, Ron Wyden of Oregon, said the compliance failures by the nation’s largest bank during its nearly 15-year relationship with Mr. Epstein were “alarming” and impeded law enforcement’s ability to examine the “financial infrastructure that enabled Epstein’s cross-border sex trafficking organization.”
The report, based on recently unsealed court records that shed more light on JPMorgan’s financial dealings with Mr. Epstein, focuses on suspicious activity reports, or SARs, which banks are required to file with the Treasury Department when they suspect a financial transaction may be involved in an illicit activity such as money laundering, terrorism or sex trafficking.
The report said JPMorgan filed suspicious activity reports covering $4.3 million in transactions by Mr. Epstein from 2002 to 2016. But it waited until after Mr. Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019 and subsequent death to file reports that described some $1.3 billion in transactions as suspicious.
Internal bank emails suggest JPMorgan may have waited to file those reports because it wanted “to continue working with Epstein” as a source of referrals for business even after firing him as a client in 2013, the report found..."
Follow the link for more details. This is how billionaires help each other engage in wrongdoing and grifting, as Epstein was doing (in addition to the sex ring).
Thom Hartmann makes a decent point today about Marjorie Taylor Greene:
ReplyDelete"Marjorie Taylor Greene has been dissed and ridiculed by the Left for years. Progressives mocked her lies, shredded her conspiracies, exposed her QAnon nonsense, and denounced her cruelty. And through it all she never once feared for her life.
She fundraised. She smirked. She gave speeches, traveled the country, and strutted through Congress like she owned the place.
But the second she angered the Republican base, barely forty-eight hours after she resisted Donald Trump’s demands and broke from the MAGA line, she suddenly feared for her life and needed private security.
She told reporters and the world on Twitter that she’d been warned about threats to her safety coming from Trump’s supporters. Death threats. Serious ones. The man she once called her political soulmate — Trump — had turned on her instantly, publicly labeling her a “traitor” and mocking her fear.
For years she thought she was part of the mob. Now she’s discovering Trump and his followers only ever thought of her as their useful idiot.
This is the difference that America and our mainstream media refuses to say out loud:
When you cross Democrats, you get a political argument. When you cross the MAGA right, today’s GOP, you get threats of violence. And not metaphorical threats: real ones. The kind of threats that force a sitting member of Congress to hire armed guards because she dared anger their god-king.
So let’s stop pretending this is random.
What Greene is experiencing now is the inevitable consequence of what’s known as “stochastic terrorism,” the weapon of choice for Trump and the modern GOP."
https://hartmannreport.com/p/marjorie-taylor-greene-thought-the-c75
It may not be brilliant but its true. Is it really necessary to raise the bar to brilliance in order to follow the various people writing from a left wing perspective about current politics? I will settle for clarity and coherence.
DeleteBy the way, Somerby has neither.