TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2026
Watters whips it out: It may be time to seek a diagnosis for our failing society as a whole. We'll start with something from yesterday—something we didn't see in real time.
In a rare act of self-indulgence, we skipped yesterday's edition of The Five, this nation's most-watched "cable news" program.
Yesterday, as the program began, occasional co-host Harold Ford sat in the Jessica Tarlov chair. Also, comedian Tom Shillue sat in the chair of regular co-host Greg Gutfeld.
There would be little point in watching, we incorrectly mused. At any rate, the line-up this day went exactly like this:
The Five: Monday, April 13, 2026
Emily Compagno: co-host, Outnumbered
Harold Ford Jr.: former congressman
Jesse Watters: anchor, Jesse Watters Primetime
Dana Perino: co-host, America's Newsroom
Tom Shillue: comedian; occasional guest, Gutfeld!
There would be nothing to see there, we surmised. But that assessment was wrong.
In the program's second segment, the panel discussed Rep. Swalwell's announcement that he would be dropping his gubernatorial bid.
There was no reason why they shouldn't have been discussing, or at least pretending to discuss, this significant topic. But when moderator Dana Perino threw to Watters, the most-watched star in the Fox News Channel firmament offered these typical comments:
WATTERS (4/13/26): It's a "He said, she said," Dana. And then I read a lot more, and it's like a "He said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said." Because there are a lo-o-ot of women coming forward here, and it's not all pretty.
One of the allegations was that he sucked on a girl's toes, OK? I just want to say, I mean, guys—do not do that? Ever? OK?
And also, don't just whip it out!
Allegedly, he was just whipping it out—in a car, In broad daylight. In front of the intern.
[Covers his eyes in horror]
Like, that's not the moment you do it! It has to be done in the moment of maybe some passion.
PERINO: Never with an intern!
WATTERS (laughing): Never with an intern!
PERINO: [Rolls her eyes, smirks at the camera]
WATTERS: And also, sending cock-a doodle pics...
As you can see by clicking the link, the superstar halfwit continued from there, at significant length. He did so on the American nation's most-watched "cable news" program, as four co-hosts gazed on.
We aren't going to try explain the problems with Watters' extended advice to the fellas. We'll only say this:
Each evening. on the10 p.m. Gutfeld! show, the presentations tend to get dumber and substantially uglier.
Question One:
Is something wrong with a Red American nation which has made idiocy of this familiar kind the heart and soul of primetime "cable news" coverage?
We'd have to say that there is! But then, we turn to this:
Question Two:
Is something wrong with a Blue America whose journalistic elites refuse to report or discuss the ugliness and the sheer inanity of the Fox News Channel's broadcasts?
Again, we're forced to say that there is! Something is badly wrong with the moral and intellectual profile of our own Blue elites.
With respect to those elites, we call your attention to the lengthy piece by Peter Baker which appears in today's New York Times.
In print editions, it appears above the fold on the paper's front page. Online, Baker's piece appears under this intriguing dual headline:
Trump’s Erratic Behavior and Extreme Comments Revive Mental Health Debate
As the president threatens to wipe out Iran and attacks the pope, even some former allies and advisers are questioning whether he has grown increasingly unbalanced, describing him as “lunatic” and “clearly insane.”
Is something wrong with President Trump? More specifically is something wrong with his mental health in a way which is actively dangerous and which is likely to get even worse?
If Somerby's target for improvement is the blue press, why wouldn't he be watching it instead of the red Fox shows he routinely watches?
ReplyDeleteTwo of the main notions Bob tries to push with this right wing vanity blog are that the issues of Trump’s mental issues and Fox News lunacy are ignored by “blues”, both of these are false, which is why Bob never bothers to offer credible evidence to substantiate his weak analysis.
DeleteBob also wants society generally to sweep sexual improprieties under the rug, particularly when it involves older men and younger females.
That’s just gross.
Part of Bob’s warped warnings is that if we go after their sexual predators they’ll come after ours because look they keep making the trivial mistake of saying Lewinsky was an intern when in fact she had just completed her internship, and she wasn’t 21 she was 22.
Bob fails to understand, we don’t care if they come after “our” sexual predators, we don’t want those types representing us either, so good riddance.
Bob brings his personal issues with subjects like racism, sexism, xenophobia, and older men preying on youngsters and tries to externalize them onto the rest us.
If Bob had a better way to cope with his own demons, his content would likely vastly improve, focusing on things that are more pertinent.
But since this is his own right wing vanity blog, and the circumstances that brought Bob to this place are likely so traumatic that his condition is baked in - as is the case with most right wingers - this swill will be all that is on offer from Bob.
anon 12:33, what a nitwit you are, lying that this is a "right-wing" blog.
DeleteAgree. This is a “right wing” blog, that’s the general consensus.
DeleteThe notion that this is a “right wing” blog ridiculous, as are most of the comments and commenters.
Delete1:19
DeleteYou sound like the blogger “only I can see things, everyone else is blind”.
Mmmm, indeed. Do tell.
AC/MA, do you mean 12:13? I can't find a 12:33 above.
DeleteWas Jessica Tarlov absent because of Trump's harsh criticisms of her? Why wouldn't Somerby mention Trump's attacks on Tarlov, coupled with her absence?
ReplyDeleteIs The Five really a show that provides "prime time news coverage" or is it a silly talk show that emphasizes right wing talking points in an entertaining format (to Republicans)? Watters was clearly attacking Swalwell and Democrats, not reporting any news developments. Why can't Somerby tell the difference between reporting and propaganda?
ReplyDelete"Is something wrong with a Blue America whose journalistic elites refuse to report or discuss the ugliness and the sheer inanity of the Fox News Channel's broadcasts?"
ReplyDeleteFirst, journalistic elites are not media critics but reporters of hard news. Second, what occurs on Fox is not any kind of news, so why would journalistic elites be interested in covering it? Third, there is plenty of real news to occupy those blue journalistic elites way beyond the limits of their resources, without distracting themselves with Fox nonsense. Fourth, why does Somerby himself not criticize Fox for avoiding the major news stories of each day to focus on Swalwell's sexual misbehavior -- the details of which are surely not news either?
Good comment.
DeleteShould elite Blue journalists investigate concerns about a president’s mental health? Not can they or can they not, should they? If not, why not?
DeleteThey do investigate the subject.
DeleteShould you read it?
That’s your choice.
"If the president is so afflicted, that is of course a human tragedy. It's also a very dangerous state of affairs—a state of affairs which should be explored through interviews with (carefully selected) medical specialists."
ReplyDeleteNo, this is wrong. If Trump is dangerous, he needs to be removed via interviews with both Democratic and Republican House and Senate leaders, who should be asked why they have not moved ahead to impeach and remove this dangerous president. Medical doctors cannot do that, no matter what their diagnosis of Trump. Only our political leadership can remove Trump and they need to be held accountable for their inaction, while prices rise and our country is attacked by Trump's stormtroopers.
Somerby is fixated, obsessed with this single stupid theme. When will he wake up and recognize that criticizing Fox News isn't going to cause anyone to medically examine Trump, much less remove him from office -- as needs to happen, ASAP.
ReplyDeleteIt is heartening that Swalwell and others are resigning due to pressure over their misdeeds. The same can happen with the corrupt men who surround Trump, profiting off his insanity. Swalwell resigned largely because of the public uproar over Epstein, showing that sexual misbehavior is no longer acceptable and the public will not tolerate it. We could show the same responses to corruption, greed, and grifting, cleaning house of those who use insider info to make money off the manufactured attacks and tariffs Trump has implemented, jerking the stock market around and providing betting opportunities. That is worse than whipping it out in a limo (or wherever). The public can turn on guys like Hegseth who use religion for self-aggrandizement too. The worm turned on Orban and it is now turning against Trump. Instead of begging us to pity Trump, Somerby should be calling for his removal and the cleaning house of all of his incompetent and greedy accomplices.
Today, there is an article about the possibility that Ivanka was involved with Epstein's model agencies at age 15 and that Epstein himself introduced Melania to Trump. If so, Ivanka was a victim too, and Melania was no better. These people are not fit to occupy the White House and it is time for them to go. Why does Somerby protect them with his cries for pity, his claims that Democrats are not focusing on Watters instead of trying to gain a House/Senate majority to get rid of Trump, crazy or not.
Meanwhile, Trump wants Dershowitz to introduce motions to expunge his previous impeachments. Dershowitz was a good buddy of Epstein as well as Trump, another man with mentions throughout the Epstein files. Why doesn't Somerby focus on these Epstein connections, the ongoing evasion by Trump of consequences for doing Swalwell-type stunts throughout his career?
Somerby is busy covering up for Trump. That is unacceptable to blue America. That's why our elite journalists are following the news and writing the truth about Trump, not bothering to call Trump crazy when his crimes are so much worse, evil, destructive, harmful to our nation. Trump belongs in jail, not a hospital. Blue America understands this, even if Somerby does not.
People like Dershowitz and Pinker are non serious people in serious fields, which is why they focus more on publicity instead of substantive content, although they shun any publicity revealing their usage of Epstein’s services.
DeleteWeakly Dershowitz whimpers that he left his underwear on; that could be technically accurate, with them down around his ankles.
"Dearest darlings, use your heads! Such things simply aren't done!" This is Somerby's mocking imitation of how he imagines journalistic elites talk. Has anyone ever heard ANY blue American elite talk like that?
ReplyDeleteThe only person I recall ever speaking like that was Zsa Zsa Gabor and she was never a journalist or an elite, but a minor celebrity who got in a row with a police officer in Santa Monica CA, sort of like a precursor to Kim Kardashian. Who does Somerby think writes the news in blue America? I don't think he knows.
In Republican-speak, an elite is someone who went to college, someone who knows things about the world, who can evaluate truth and facts and not just accept and believe whatever someone wealthy tells him to believe. An elite is the opposite of a Republican true believer, and especially of a Q-Anon member or MAGA diehard or billionaire's flunky (like JD Vance is).
How did Somerby come to define an elite as a bad thing? Over a series of years, he relentlessly attacked female journalists for being youngist and attending top universities, calling them elites while suggesting they had made some heinous mistake in reporting (which was usually easily debunked in comments). The right wing dislikes education (Trump said so) and especially what happens at higher levels, those who are professors and researchers, who can present data and explain why things are happening with our economy or climate or in other nations. Somerby has derided those people ever since he began blogging, because they didn't like Gore, and then for no good reason except he perhaps had a hard time making friends at Harvard.
Now we see the long term effects of Somerby's ongoing disdain for people who know stuff. Our country is in decline (not the way Somerby suggests but because of Trump's undoing of Biden's financial successes, his help for working families, and his creation of jobs). We are heading into a major recession, if not a depression, because of Trump and his know-nothing opportunism at the expense of the people. We need to change course FAST, but Somerby doesn't call for that. He is calling for pity, because being fat, lazy, stupid and greedy, as Trump obviously is, is to be pitied, not prevented from harming our nation.
Somerby helped put Trump in office by echoing right wing talking points and pretending liberals were failing on the border or too old to run the nation (despite Biden's obvious success). So Somerby now owns Trump -- I hold him responsible.
Somerby helped put Trump in office? You may have legitimate complaints about this blog, but I highly doubt that its host has any of the power you attribute to him. From the comments here, it appears that his audience is 1) limited, and 2) dug in.
DeleteThe word "helped" means he contributed to Trump's victory. It doesn't mean he had "power" or did much beyond his own influencing. As I documented every day, he attacked Democrats and blue America and advanced right wing talking points. How much of an effect it had is not the point. He did his bit.
DeleteHere are some of the complaints Somerby launched against Harris, after his own highly vocal campaign against Biden as too old, even to the point of accepting the deep fakes of Biden as reall after they were debunked.
1. He claimed Biden and Harris had no effective border policy and were letting illegals in. He even cited Laken Riley's murder, like Republicans did.
2. He claimed Harris was avoiding interviews because she was not good at them. He said this immediately after Biden withdrew, without allowing Harris to formulate her policy before more actively campaigning. That was a right wing talking point.
3. He said her main virtue was she had a nice smile.
4. He repeated talking points that Harris slept her way to the top in CA and didn't have the skills to be president.
5. He ignored Harris's success as Border Czar and repeated complaints that Biden/Harris did nothing to stop illegal immigration, which is factually untrue. He was still saying that after Trump was elected.
6. He attacked Harris for claiming there was a gender pay gap (using stats from the Dept of Labor's own webpage) calling her a liar.
7. He expressed a lack of enthusiasm for her campaign and repeatedly suggested Trump could win, without urging anyone to vote for her. He has claimed he did vote for her after the election, but that is not the same as actively supporting a candidate. He spent far more time attacking Dems and repeating right wing talking points.
When the MS reading score improvement was being discussed by Morning Joe, Somerby attacked their claims. Kevin Drum picked up his crtiticisms in his own blog, then Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times echoed them in his own column. A commenter here showed that Somerby's criticisms were undercut by a study showing that Somerby's claims could not be true, causing Drum to retract his own agreement with Somerby. Hiltzik moved on.
That was a fairly recent controversy showing that there were important readers following Somerby's blog and that substantive discussion in comments could change minds even when Somerby was advancing wrong hypotheses about academic progress. That is the latest but not the only time such a series of events occurred with this blog.
Somerby made an abrupt shift in 2015 to support Trump and criticize Clinton. That was noted by other more prominent bloggers, including Digby (who has won awards for her political analysis). Commenters here are far from the only ones who noticed Somerby's shift. But Somerby continues to claim to be a liberal who has voted for Democrats. That is inconsistent with his current content.
It may be hard to figure out how much influence Somerby still has, but it cannot be said he has no influence.
I don’t disagree with much of what you say here. Describing himself as “one of us” has been disingenuous for quite some time. I but I do not think he can be described as significantly influential for the two reasons I gave. I have always had questions about what propels this blog.
DeleteSome of what likely drives this blog is that Bob used to have more influence, and Bob’s bitterness over that.
DeleteEven so, voices ripple.
The powerful are clever in how they use media, so educating people on how to navigate those with hidden agendas is highly pertinent.
There’s a slew of content creators and influencers that have pretended to take liberal stances when in reality they were hard core right wingers. And they often took money to do it.
Me too. My working hypothesis is that this blog is propelled by payments to an influencer (Somerby) as part of efforts to elect and then reelect Trump, advancing right wing talking points and undermining Democrats and the press. Somerby was not the only standup comedian to make such an abrupt political shift in 2015. He strikes me as someone cynical enough to not care whose money he takes. He may discount his own ability to influence anyone and use that to excuse what he does here daily.
DeleteIt is hard to see what content-related motive he might have that would keep him blogging so frequently despite having nothing to say. His posts are often full of filler and nonsensical words, and why would he keep quoting Gutfeld like that when there is no useful purpose served by it?
Somerby can't even persuade Right-wing assholes on his blog, like David in Cal, to grow-up. What makes you think he could persuade someone to vote for a fucking moron to be President, just because the candidate is a bigot?
DeleteTrump is the Andrew Tate of politicians.
DeleteWe need to end the perception that Democrats are always in disarray and cannot field a viable presidential candidate in 2028. The NY Times continues pitching that idea, echoed by pundits. We have a moment of opportunity and need to stop attacking our own party and get behind whoever we think can do the job, whether it is Newsom, Harris, Buttigieg or someone else. Our process exists to help us narrow down a field to a single ticket. We should have faith that will happen and stop calling our own party defective, when Biden was an excellent president and did a great job helping the American people.
ReplyDeleteDigby ran a column a few days ago explaining that whatever you think about Newsom, he has done an excellent job running the state of California, a difficult place to run, especially given the lack of support and attacks by Trump. I lived for a while in CA when Newsom was Governor and I agree with her assessment. I don't like his attempts to placate the right, but I would happily vote for him. Same with Harris, who got an unfair shake last time. I am less enthusiastic about Buttigieg but would support him because the worst Democrat is a million times better than the best Republican and no one is as bad as Trump.
There was an article today about Bernie as liberal kingmaker, knocking Democrats for being unable to run their own party. Bernie is 84 and thus too old to run, but he is not even a Democrat (by party affiliation), undermined HIllary when she defeated him for the nomination, and is not the arbiter of whether Democrats are viable, just an old man saying snotty things about Dems at a time when we need to pull together and defeat the right.
https://digbysblog.net/2026/04/13/dispatch-from-our-west-coast-hellhole/
DeleteQuoting from a Bloomberg.com article:
Delete"Of all the prevailing media narratives around Gavin Newsom, the one that is most conspicuous by its absence is how under its two-term governor California became the top performing economy not just among its 49 siblings but also any developed nation…
Amid the thousands of headlines referencing California failings with wildfires, droughts, floods, mass transportation, aging roads, education, homelessness, unaffordable housing, widening inequality and poverty along with the exodus of billionaires, corporate headquarters and longtime residents — never mind the “slick” label whenever the betting favorite for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination is mentioned in the press – the Golden State (population 39 million people), just supplanted Japan (123 million) as the fourth-largest economy.
Gross domestic product surged 40% to more than $4 trillion, accounting for more than 14% of US output, after Newsom took office in January 2019. China’s, the world’s second-largest economy, expanded 32% and No. 3 Germany increased 16%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (The US dollar’s appreciation was as little as 1.6% since the end of 2018 as measured by the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, so the currency wasn’t a primary factor behind California’s performance.)
The US is an also-ran competing with California’s prosperity, based on indexes compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia that take state level nonfarm payroll employment, average hours worked in manufacturing by production employees, the unemployment rate and wage and salary disbursements that are then deflated by the consumer price index."
This might be the right person to put America back on course economically and to address wealth inequality. Bernie Sanders likes progressives, but Newsom has shown that he can actually do the job well.
Generally, blue states provide the labor and gdp that red states feed off of.
DeleteRed states are also less safe and fare poorly on most social metrics compared to blue states.
Those of us in CA, which does not include our resident troll who constantly lies about himself, are proud to contribute to our state but aren’t too keen to loudly tout the attributes of CA because it is a bit overcrowded in the cities as is.
Indeed, even as many recently moved out of CA, our gdp actually increased. That’s because most of those that left were do-nothing right wingers. Good riddance.
Newsom is flawed. But if he shifted a bit on his stances, by supporting some kind of universal healthcare, livable wages, more acutely addressed affordability issues, taxing wealth not work, and by recognizing the toxicity of Israel, Newsom would waltz into the presidency.
Even though most red states are takers and blue states are givers, red states do worse than blue states, which means they are poorly governed, with the powerful in red states taking what blue states give, instead of more evenly distributing the wealth that blue states generate.
DeleteThe media were during the years when Swalwell was doing these things? Did they know about it and cover it up, or were they so inept that they failed to learn about it? Either way, it tells me that I cannot count on the media for news. Instead I get the Narrative of the Day. And this Narrative will be slanted in favor of the Democratic Party.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot count on the media to provide an accurate picture of people. That's OK when some celebrity is portrayed as different from what they really are. But, it's important when our political leaders aren't being accurately describe. E.g., (slightly paraphrasing) a few days ago, Newsom told a black audience that they should like him because he is as stupid as they are. He provided objective evidence for his stupidity, "boasting" that that his SATs added up to 960.
Looking at his public record, I believe him. He made stupid decisions as Governor that harmed the populace unneccesarily. But, until he made this comment, the media didn't tell the public about his lack of intelligence. OTOH the media repeatedly told the public about the alleged lack of intelligence of Eisenhower, Reagan, GW Bush, Trump. Bush was portrayed as stupid because his SATs totalled only 1206. But, we never heard about Newsom's 960 until he himself let the cat out of the bag.
"The media were remiss..."
DeleteBy all means, DiC. Let the media stop being remiss and fully investigate the Epstein files, which, by the way, haven’t all been released yet. Heaven knows the DOJ won’t do it.
DeleteEisenhower was an avid bridge player. Stupid people cannot play bridge well.
DeleteNewsom's dyslexia caused him to test poorly. That doesn't make him stupid, as Trump has claimed (and now David).
It is odd that David complains about the press while misquoting what Newsom said to black students, using Trump's paraphrasing and missing Newsom's point. Black students can test poorly despite being smart and capable as students. One reason is a phenomenon called "Stereotype Threat" (Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson) which means that fear of doing poorly instilled by negative stereotypes leads to test anxiety, which consumes cognitive resources and prevents concentration needed for peak performance. Fear of underperforming would exist for both black students and someone with a disability like Newsom's dyslexia.
Trump's stupidity reduced this to David's idea that Newsom said he was stupid like blacks, which is such a ludicrously racist statement that Newsom would never mean that. Context is, of course, omitted.
Amen 11:56. Great example. The media were remiss all the years Epstein was committing these atrocities. The media were remiss when Biden sat on the files for four years doing nothing with them.
DeleteDiC, the current DOJ is breaking the law by not releasing all the files, MAGA demanded their release and prosecutions in the campaign of 2024, but Trump’s DOJ is hiding them to protect Trump. By the way, when did Epstein die? What was going on with the files back during that time, and who was president then?
DeleteBiden couldn’t release files because Maxwell was still going through trial and appeals, dickhead, you fucking imbecile
DeleteYou raise an interesting question, @12:08: if someone is mediocre at reading and mathematics on a test, does that mean s/he will be mediocre at reading and mathematics in a job requiring those skills? I think the answer is "yes." Newsom made some foolish policy choices. Even is the problem was due to dyslexia, Californians still have to live with the consequences of bad policy.
DeleteThe idea of "Stereotype Threat" is interesting, but it's probably bogus. Some studies have found null results. The single largest experimental test of stereotype threat (N = 2064), conducted on Dutch high school students, found no effect.
Biden did not release the Epstein files for two main reasons: there were ongoing investigations and prosecutions that legally prevented the files from being released, and Biden did not view the DOJ has his personal tool of revenge.
DeleteUnlike Trump, Biden believed in an independent DOJ.
Republicans could have passed a law to release the files, but they didn’t. That took the Dems, which they did once there were no longer legal constraints.
As it turns out, the Epstein files primarily implicate prominent Republicans, mainly Trump and his creepy cronies.
It is wild that MAGA is animated by Salwell, the accusations against Trump are far more insidious and credible. Trump raped minors, for Christ’s sake.
Trump has taken note of this odd circumstances, he is aware he can get away with anything and maintain his support….except MAGA is now crumbling.
Due to right wingers, all good things must come to an end; sometimes bad things come to an end too.
Did MAGA express any outrage about Rep. Gonzales? Just wondering.
DeleteDavid, the main character in the TV show Will Trent (based on a series of novels by Karen Slaughter) shows how dyslexic people work around their disability to perform careers involving reading. It is fiction, but there are so many people performing well despite being dyslexic that your suggestion about it being too limiting is ridiculous. Another form of bigotry.
Delete"The idea of "Stereotype Threat" is interesting, but it's probably bogus. Some studies have found null results. The single largest experimental test of stereotype threat (N = 2064), conducted on Dutch high school students, found no effect."
DeleteThis is wrong. There is a large literature demonstrating the presence of stereotype threat in a variety of contexts. A null finding does not overturn a result because the most likely possibility is that they didn't perform the experiment properly. A null finding is inconclusive because we do not know whether there is no effect to be found or the methodology was incapable of demonstrating the effect. Thus a null finding is not capable of overturning other established findings.
Research reviews have listed over 300 studies confirming stereotype threat effects. Danish students may not have shown such an effect because they do not hold the same negative stereotypes as in more racist/sexist countries. Or Danish students have higher self esteem. They are currently rated as the happiest nation in the world and thus may not have enough anxiety to interfere with performance.
“ Asian Americans experience a specific, high-pressure form of stereotype threat—often called the "model minority myth"—which creates intense anxiety, mental health struggles, and pressure to excel in STEM and academics. ”
DeleteI hear this often from my Asian friends.
Regardless of the cause, Newsom's poor mathematical skills probably contributed to his wasting $15.7 billion on the High Speed Rail.
DeleteBTW liberals have a weakness. They're manipulated by the nose for fear of being called a "racist" or "bigot." That's one reason why conservatives do a better job of governing.
Republicans are incapable of governing
DeleteI believe it @1:05. That's a problem for Asians who are not as happy as they would otherwise be.
DeleteBut, for me as a user, I am grateful that Asians ON AVERAGE are particularly effective at professions requiring high intellectual ability, such as high tech.
Students in the Netherlands do not face the same stereotype threats as students in multicultural countries. I’m guessing that study was focused on gender, which is something educators have been working on for decades, so finding diminished impact is hardly dispositive.
DeleteFurthermore, most jobs’ basic literacy/numeracy demands are modest, and even most white‑collar roles often rely more on interpersonal and noncognitive skills than on advanced reading/math.
97% of job growth has been from Democratic administrations.
DeleteGood for you, dickhead, the Asians are taking care you don’t blow yourself up
Delete“Newsom sucks because he made CA an even stronger economic powerhouse.”
DeleteThat’s pretty rich, sounds like someone’s a little jealous.
High speed rail was enacted as a project long before Newsom took office. Early studies were done in 1981-1996. It is funded by Proposition 1A which was approved in 2008 with federal stimulus funds added in 2010. Groundbreaking occurred in 2015.
DeleteGavin Newsom was first elected in 2019. Delays and cost overruns were not within Newsom's control. "The original plan to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles by 2020 has been hampered by funding gaps, land acquisition issues, and permitting delays." Note that Newsom took office during covid.
Odd how David never looks behind the propaganda statements dished out by the right wing.
I saw an interesting documentary recently about how the large majority of essays written for pay and submitted for credit by students in England and globally are written by black people in Kenya. The Shadow Scholars (2025). Based on this, David needs to revise his stereotypes about the verbal skills of black people, to align with those he holds about Asians in high tech.
Delete“Newsom’s poor mathematical skills” hahaha. Trump and his tariff minions were told that the denominator of their tariff equation was incorrect, resulting in massive overcharges for some countries. Instead of correcting it ( the originators of the equation pointed the error out), like the petulant infants they are, they left the error intact and applied it across the board.
DeleteO’Donnell was not embarrassing last night. He questioned Trump’s mental health starting in 2016, and has continued to do so. Somerby is just embarrassed with straight hard hitting and accurate opinions. And o’Donnell has always pointed out the dangerous aspect of Trump, as have many commenters. People like Tim Snyder, who was a guest on O’Donnell last night, have for years pointed out the dangers of Trump’s authoritarianism, as have many others. And being a fascist doesn’t imply insanity. Ask Orbán or Putin.
ReplyDelete"If the president is so afflicted, that is of course a human tragedy. It's also a very dangerous state of affairs—a state of affairs which should be explored through interviews with (carefully selected) medical specialists."
ReplyDeleteNo, if the president is so afflicted that even the press is referring to his insanity, the CONGRESS needs to act to protect that nation from his insanity. Interviews with "carefully selected" medical specialists aren't going to help anything.
What is a "carefully selected" medical specialist? One that agrees with Somerby's opinion of Trump's sanity? One that has the right political leanings? One that doesn't work for the president? Somerby never says. Why not have a panel of such specialists evaluate him jointly and then issue a decision, the way courts do? Or have a specialist evaluate him and then let a judge decide how to act, as occurs in competency hearings when a person is too demented to manage their own finances. Somerby is clearly not serious about his call to evaluate Trump.
And what the hell is a medical specialist? Does Somerby not even know the job titles involved in assessing mental competence? A podiatrist is a medical specialist (in foot problems) and would be no help at all in diagnosing Trump, but he or she would be board certified in a medical specialty, just not the right one. But we would finally get the truth about Trump's bone spurs.
Medical ethics prevent what Somerby keeps calling for. He knows that yet he persists in this obsession with getting Trump properly labeled. No mention of getting him properly treated, not by Somerby or anyone else. Is it healthy or normal to never sleep at night and doze during important meetings during the day? Is that effective functioning for a president. Of course not. But Somerby and others look the other way on Trump's insomnia and sleep issues, something that undermines all other aspects of his health and can complicate heart problems. No one can think clearly without sleeping properly, not even if they've been suffering for years. At a minimum, a specialist in sleep disorders should have evaluated Trump and prescribed treatment. But Somerby wants someone to call Trump insane (a legal term specifying lack of responsibility for crimes).
I think Trump should be evaluated by a neurological specialist. I believe he has been already, but the results are not being made public. Trump is most likely to have had a stroke or dementia than to be crazy. Treatment for those would be drugs and blood thinners (hence his hand bruises). But the problem is not lack of medical evaluation but unwillingness to declare Trump unable to function as president. That is a non-medical decision that needs to be made by those around Trump.
Somerby should be calling for those with the responsibility to oversee Trump's functioning and warn of potential problems to do their damned jobs. That is not the press, not the doctors, but the politicians elected to high office who have the responsibility to safeguard the people by warning when the president is off his rocker (regardless of the reason). They are refusing to do that. History will blame them for their failure. They are Republicans and most are placing their own self interest ahead of the welfare of the nation.
Democrats will get back into office in sufficient numbers to bring this matter to the forefront, after the midterms. They have shown before that they are willing to hold the president accountable. They will do it again, and the people of the world will breathe a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Trump is suffering and no one seems to be willing to insist he get help for his obvious problems. Not even Somerby.
"Medical ethics prevent what Somerby keeps calling for. He knows that yet he persists in this obsession with getting Trump properly labeled."
DeleteWhat Epstein Files?
"On its face, that may seem like the very sort of analysis piece we've been repeatedly requesting. But in its actual execution, the essay strikes us as the latest bit of coloring inside the lines from Baker's front page coloring book."
ReplyDeleteOur Host is a hard guy to agree with. Even when you agree, somehow you're doing it wrong.
Yep. I read Baker's analysis. While it lacks the colorful language of, say, Jeff Tiedrich, it still covers the same ground. Again, this is the NY Times, so it follows an old and stodgy formula. Perhaps, that's what Bob is complaining about.
DeleteAgree. It’s hard to agree with someone like Bob who routinely puts their thumb on the scale. When someone clearly has an agenda, like in Bob’s case, you can’t take his word at face value.
DeleteBob depends on people lacking media literacy, which was a much easier position to be in prior to the democratization of media.
Poor Bob, what a pity.
"Again, this is the NY Times, so it follows an old and stodgy formula. Perhaps, that's what Bob is complaining about."
DeleteNo need to speculate, Somerby whisperer:
"If the president is so afflicted, that is of course a human tragedy. It's also a very dangerous state of affairs—a state of affairs which should be explored through interviews with (carefully selected) medical specialists."
If you don't color within the lines of a coloring book, doctors might wonder about your sanity (or your vision or motor control). Odd that Somerby would use that metaphor. The more extreme statements made by someone in an editorial, the less likely readers are to accept what was said, in my opinion. So it is hard for me to figure out whether Baker saying what Somerby wants would be coloring outside the lines, and why Somerby thinks that would be a good approach.
DeleteMost artists start by sketching an outline of a figure before filling it in. Is that supposed to be a bad thing?
DeleteI posted a gift link to Baker's analysis yesterday. Here it is: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/us/politics/trump-mental-fitness-25th-amendment.html?unlocked_article_code=1.alA.2rLd.iU4RvUDyXxPT&smid=url-share
DeleteDavid asks why it took a while for Swalwell's victims to come forward. Here is one reason -- the threats men make against women after abusing them:
ReplyDelete"We can’t know what [Andrew] Tate is publishing on his Substack, as it is for paid subscribers only (unlike Wonkette, which will always be free), but we do know he has a long and storied habit of encouraging violence against women — who are, in fact, a protected class.
He has bragged about breaking a woman’s jaw. Once, when describing how he would react if a woman complained about him cheating on her, he said, “It’s bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up bitch.” He has said that women should “bear some responsibility” for being raped. He’s also been accused of raping and strangling at least two women he’s dated.
In fact, he directly told one of these women “I love raping you.”
On top of that, for several years now teachers have said that they and their female students now have to deal with sexual harassment and bullying from boys as young as 11 who idolize Tate. That might not directly be “violence” but it seems highly unlikely that it won’t get to that level eventually, as these boys grow up. Even when he’s not actively encouraging violence against women, he’s promoting hatred of them in a world in which nearly 9 out of 10 women who are murdered by men are murdered by men that they know, in which we’ve seen myriad men go on mass murder sprees simply because they hate women. Indeed, an Andrew Tate admirer in the UK was sentenced to six years in prison a couple years ago after plotting an attack on his university."
Men in power not only assault women but they use threats of violence and retribution to keep women quiet after the fact. Trump did that to Stormy Daniels and other women he assaulted. Lawsuits are no different than threats of physical violence, or threatening to ruin a woman's career if she complains. Some of the circumstances involved being assaulted while passed out and having no memory of the details. That means the woman has too few details to press charges against a man threatening retribution if she speaks up. This is part of the assault, the inability to defend oneself during or afterwards.
In Swalwell's case, there were a whole bunch of women who had similar experiences with him. That in itself becomes a form of evidence against him that will make each of their complaints believable in the aggregate. But it may also be that his attempt to run for governor gave some of his victims the courage to prevent him from attaining higher office, so they were willing to take the risk by accusing him.
Andrew Tate is a sex trafficker and abuser who is now very popular with men who use his substack as a guide to their own behavior. The rise of this toxic manosphere contributes to behavior like Swalwell's and that of the various men in Trump's administration committing similar acts against women (Hegseth for example). This kind of misbehavior clearly crosses party lines but it is also not limited to a few warped individuals but gaining traction among certain kinds of men.
I doubt this is what Somerby is calling for, but it sounds like progress to me:
ReplyDelete"Fifty House Democrats led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) have sponsored a bill that would form a commission to assess President Donald Trump’s mental fitness for office, pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Earlier this month, Raskin sent a letter formally requesting Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, physician to the president, to “conduct a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment” of Trump and send the results to Congress. In the letter, Raskin mentioned multiple examples of recent “incoherent, volatile, profane, deranged, and threatening” comments by Trump that he argued exhibited what experts said were “signs consistent with dementia and cognitive decline.”
Among the incidents Raskin cited were recent Truth Social posts that made alarming threats about Iran and the White House Easter Egg Roll, during wheich he talked about the war in front of the children." [Mediaite]
You mean railing against the autopen with children at a picnic table isn’t normal??The MAGA like to explain to us with their certainty about how Trump’s mind works that he uses exaggeration for effect or humor but somehow is otherwise competent. Railing against the autopen with children on Easter at a picnic table is a clear indication that such arguments are complete garbage. And of course they know that.
DeleteIt could be that Trump is just a narcissistic moron, elected as President because the Right loves his bigotry.
Delete