tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post3621175397893972763..comments2024-03-28T08:17:14.194-04:00Comments on the daily howler: BLUE SKILL LEVELS VERY LOW: Blow explains why he writes...<b>bob somerby</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02963464534685954436noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-87803941207788254272021-09-30T23:33:03.659-04:002021-09-30T23:33:03.659-04:00Mobile phone is capable of making millions if you ...Mobile phone is capable of making millions if you are smart enough to invest in Stock/bitcoin through the help of an Expert, Mrs Mary, she will help you on how to invest and make good profits. I invested $5,000 with her help and I was able to make $32,000 within the period of intensive trading. How many hours a day do you spend on your phone and how productive are those hours? Contact her today to gain financial freedom. Email: maryreeltradings@gmail.com<br />helenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07194917616398987142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-27637461486210866042021-09-30T23:32:50.172-04:002021-09-30T23:32:50.172-04:00Mobile phone is capable of making millions if you ...Mobile phone is capable of making millions if you are smart enough to invest in Stock/bitcoin through the help of an Expert, Mrs Mary, she will help you on how to invest and make good profits. I invested $5,000 with her help and I was able to make $32,000 within the period of intensive trading. How many hours a day do you spend on your phone and how productive are those hours? Contact her today to gain financial freedom. Email: maryreeltradings@gmail.com<br />helenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07194917616398987142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-13955565001755972402021-09-18T08:52:01.573-04:002021-09-18T08:52:01.573-04:00"Who does he think he is fooling with this sh..."Who does he think he is fooling with this shit?"<br /><br />Mao, Leroy, Cecelia, AC/ MA, David in Cal.<br />You know, the ones who desperately want to be fooled.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-87983598404987017192021-09-17T22:22:50.829-04:002021-09-17T22:22:50.829-04:00'Damned if you do, damned if you don't, in...'Damned if you do, damned if you don't, in Somerby's world.'<br /><br />Unless you are Trump or a minion like Roy Moore, Ron Johnson, Devin Nunes, Matt Gaetz. In that case, Somerby will defend you his entire ability (fortunately, that ability is pathetic). <br /><br />Centristnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-50102223911192884192021-09-17T22:12:08.845-04:002021-09-17T22:12:08.845-04:00'Nor does he write about the kids who attend l...'Nor does he write about the kids who attend low-income schools right there in New York City. In fairness, no one in the upper-class press corps writes about such topics either. '<br /><br />Actually, the NYT writes about NYT schools all the time. Somerby is a liar, a fabulist so moronic that he thinks people will believe him, when he is obviously a Trumptard. Centristnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-38178464646872842982021-09-17T22:05:50.713-04:002021-09-17T22:05:50.713-04:00'Given that the Republican base is both less e...'Given that the Republican base is both less educated and less supportive of education, while right-wing pundits attack higher education and are now storming school boards over both covid and CRT, how can Somerby argue that it is the left who doesn't care about rural education?'<br /><br />Because Somerby is a lying, hypocritical Trumptard. Centristnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-74756200953351073622021-09-17T22:04:31.805-04:002021-09-17T22:04:31.805-04:00'At any rate, no one has written about Parks&#...'At any rate, no one has written about Parks' report, and no one ever will. Manifestly, no one cares about the kids who attend those horrific Holmes County schools, or about their parents and aunts, some of whom, to this day, are struggling with rural deep poverty.'<br /><br />And Somerby only mentioned the report to bash it for a claimed statistical flaw. Somerby, of course, doesn't understand %ages, let alone stats. Somerby doesn't care about rural poverty either. <br /><br />Somerby complains that Blow doesn't write about rural poverty. But why doesn't Somerby write about it if he cares that much ? I know -- Somerby is too busy defending Donald Trump, Roy Moore, Ron Johnson, Devin Nunes and Matt Gaetz. <br /><br />In short, Somerby is a hard core, malevolent, hypocritical, lying Trumptard. Centristnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-14395275109629398832021-09-17T21:04:58.823-04:002021-09-17T21:04:58.823-04:00Blow is too young for those drills.Blow is too young for those drills.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-36444157961969092112021-09-17T20:39:02.568-04:002021-09-17T20:39:02.568-04:00Yes, me too, but that attack never came.Yes, me too, but that attack never came.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-62790613309631839502021-09-17T18:27:14.975-04:002021-09-17T18:27:14.975-04:00A new loss of innocence? I don't think so.
...A new loss of innocence? I don't think so. <br /><br />In first grade, I was taught to get under my desk in case of a Russian nuclear attack?David in Calhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10222355423128534221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-78791885777319601612021-09-17T16:13:15.191-04:002021-09-17T16:13:15.191-04:00Blow says this: “I had not grown up with wealth an...Blow says this: “I had not grown up with wealth and privilege.”<br /><br />Somerby says “Apparently, if there's one person who hates the wealth and the privilege, it has to be Charles Blow. “<br /><br />Then, the “hate” magically migrates inside quote marks: ‘For the record, it may well be that Blow does "hate the wealth and the privilege" in some manner or other. ‘<br /><br />Does Somerby think this a quote of what Blow said? Because it isn’t. <br /><br />He clearly says that he is making music with his Ivy League colleagues:<br />“columnists should be like an orchestra, each playing a different instrument, but together making music.”<br /><br />He rather plainly doesn’t hate them for their privilege. mhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08937133532381705347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-77278699483181083362021-09-17T15:44:55.548-04:002021-09-17T15:44:55.548-04:00This book review is a good analysis of your libera...This book review is a good analysis of your liberal cult, dear Bob, and how it relates to the so-called 'poor' - the working class:<br />https://taibbi.substack.com/p/does-america-hate-the-poorly-educated<br /><br />But you should read the whole thing, dear Bob, so send him 50 bucks, will ya? You are not 'poor', dear Bob, right? Of course aren't, dear Bob, otherwise you wouldn't be a liberal...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-18428966707171483882021-09-17T14:31:19.446-04:002021-09-17T14:31:19.446-04:00And these words from Orwell can be used to defend ...And these words from Orwell can be used to defend Blow:<br /><br />"I give all this background information because I do not think one can assess a writer’s motives without knowing something of his early development. His subject-matter will be determined by the age he lives in...but if he escapes from his early influences altogether, he will have killed his impulse to write."<br /><br />Orwell lists four reasons for writing: (1) egoism, (2) aesthetic enthusiasm, (3) historical impulse, (4) political purpose – "using the word ‘political’ in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. "<br /><br />Blow claims 1 and 4. It is difficult to see how Somerby might condemn Blow on the basis of Orwell's essay, but perhaps he will tell us tomorrow. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-72395264597900339352021-09-17T13:48:33.070-04:002021-09-17T13:48:33.070-04:00"We'll only say that he doesn't seem ..."We'll only say that he doesn't seem to write about institutional disasters like those which Journalist Casey described in the Holmes County schools."<br /><br />Somerby again demonstrates his ignorance of journalism. Blows job is different than Casey's. Casey, an investigative journalist, wrote a feature article. Blow is a columnist -- that is a different role. If Blow were a reporter, he would not be musing about the impact of 9/11 or writing essays on "why I write." He would be giving facts and figures, as Casey does. <br /><br />This is like blaming Kamala Harris because she is not Secretary of the Treasury or a school principal for not knowing the details of algebra. You evaluate a performance against a worker's job description. Blow's job is not the same as Casey's.Not a rodenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216459357112547141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-74798532244145823992021-09-17T13:46:50.193-04:002021-09-17T13:46:50.193-04:00"Anthropologists say that we humans tend to b..."Anthropologists say that we humans tend to be like that—that we tend to believe the things our anointed tribal leaders tell us, especially at times of partisan war."<br /><br />No, dear Bob, we humyns are NOT like that. Not at all. In fact, we humyns don't have any "tribal leaders". <br /><br />Anyhow: as always, thank you for documenting liberal cult's atrocities. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-29216519521753718712021-09-17T13:41:55.895-04:002021-09-17T13:41:55.895-04:00"I had not gone to fancy prep schools or Ivy ..."I had not gone to fancy prep schools or Ivy League colleges..." like Somerby did, with his incessant talk of Wittgenstein. How dare Blow talk about his own poverty!Not a rodenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216459357112547141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-49367999840789372452021-09-17T13:38:08.635-04:002021-09-17T13:38:08.635-04:00These acts are called terrorism for a reason.
It ...These acts are called terrorism for a reason.<br /><br />It isn't wrong to resume normal life after a tragedy. Somerby doesn't get to dictate how much fear is right to feel, how long someone must grieve.<br /><br />He seems too eager to tell us what we do and do not feel, what we do and do not care about.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-9430107283443413542021-09-17T13:35:15.077-04:002021-09-17T13:35:15.077-04:00In the US, Americans had not previously had the ex...In the US, Americans had not previously had the experience of being frightened of terrorists while engaging in routine activities in public places. That happened in Great Britain during the Troubles, or in Israel, and now in France and the Netherlands, but it hadn't happened here.<br /><br />Any fool knows that this is what Blow means. It happened most recently for me in my own neighborhood, at the KingSoopers market where shoppers were targeted. And I think of it every time I visit that store, but I still have to buy my groceries. If Somerby doesn't get it, perhaps he has been fortunate but perhaps he is also lacking in the empathy or imagination to understand what this is like for the rest of us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-59612511656538815442021-09-17T13:29:37.978-04:002021-09-17T13:29:37.978-04:00"...he never writes about the type of deep ru..."...he never writes about the type of deep rural poverty which afflicts the Holmes County schools."<br /><br />And yet, we wouldn't know that Blow has a poor aunt living in rural Louisiana, if Blow hadn't written about it.<br /><br />Somerby writes the words that contradict his own assertion within his own essay. But he finds Blow inconsistent because he ate out weeks after 9/11. Does Somerby know that there are New Yorkers whose kitchens have never been used? Not everyone cooks at home and Somerby, or course, has no idea what Blow's lifestyle is like (or was like 20 years ago). But he is ever willing to judge others for trivial deviations from his own expectations. His not very subtle insinuation that Blow should have rescued all of his poor relations from poverty or he has no business caring about it, is ridiculous and stinks. It is unfair to in one breath complain that Blow never mentions poverty, then blame him for not giving away his own salary when he does write about it. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, in Somerby's world.<br /><br />Somerby, who gave up teaching to become a stand-up comedian on TV. He is no saint and that gives him no standing to accuse Blow of hypocrisy (or whatever). Why as Somerby not plucked those pears from his backyard tree and handed them out to the kids with no lunches in Baltimore's desperately poor schools? He must not care much himself. Perhaps that is why he assumes no one else does, especially not the notoriously do-gooders on the left who, like Blow, seem to embarrass him with their efforts to address society's ills.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-31878939320110555202021-09-17T13:13:46.754-04:002021-09-17T13:13:46.754-04:00"As he continued, the song of self became mor..."As he continued, the song of self became more explicit..."<br /><br />The essay is entitled "Why I Write". Who else would it be about but himself? This is like blaming someone because their autobiography is excessively personal. Or blaming a political candidate for talking about himself during an election speech. Somerby is being ridiculous.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-24059360761637451162021-09-17T13:10:35.477-04:002021-09-17T13:10:35.477-04:00"Already, Blow was working for the Times. He ..."Already, Blow was working for the Times. He was no longer poor, but he wanted to remain connected to that desperate poverty, so that he could write about it from a genuine place. "<br /><br />Here Somerby repeats what Blow had said, immediately following the quote in which he said it. Why? Is he mocking Blow? Does Somerby find something wrong with what Blow said? I get it that he wishes to emphasize Blow's words, but for what purpose? It seems like an entirely reasonable thing to say.<br /><br />In the 60s, as many of us moved from poverty into high paying jobs requiring an education that put distance between us and our relatives, we too vowed not to forget our early circumstances and to try to work for better conditions for others. It was a time of the War on Poverty, among other movements. We did care then and many of us still do. But Somerby mocks Blow for holding those same values? This makes Somerby a huge asshole, in my opinion.<br /><br />There are many non-profit organizations and agencies working to help improve people's lives. Who does Somerby think supports them? Not Republicans. Their charitable giving is confined to church, alma maters, and sometimes health research. <br /><br />Somerby's attempt to recast the left as uncaring is a massive lie without any empirical support. Who does he think he is fooling with this shit?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-20039859963526122062021-09-17T12:58:09.646-04:002021-09-17T12:58:09.646-04:00"No one has cared about that topic for a good..."No one has cared about that topic for a good long time. More specifically, no one has cared about that topic here in our own blue towns."<br /><br />Biden cares: https://joebiden.com/rural-plan/<br /><br />The Clinton Foundation cares about such schools globally: <br />https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/commitments/1001-schools-rural-community-program<br /><br />Hillary Clinton cared and this was her plan: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/k-12-education/<br /><br />"In cities and rural communities across America, there are public schools that are falling apart—schools where students are learning in classrooms with rodents and mold. That’s unacceptable, and it has to change. That’s why Hillary will build on the highly successful Build America Bonds program to provide cities and towns the capital they need to rebuild their schools. These “Modernize Every School Bonds” will double the Build America Bonds subsidy for efforts to fix and modernize America’s classrooms—from increasing energy efficiency and tackling asbestos to upgrading science labs and high-speed broadband."<br /><br />But Somerby didn't support Hillary.<br /><br />The Connected Rural Schools Act had bipartisan support. Apparently Manchin (D) cares about rural schools:<br /><br />https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cortez-masto-romney-boozman-manchin-introduce-legislation-to-improve-broadband-access-for-rural-students-<br /><br />The gap between urban and rural schools closed between 2000 and 2015. I'm sure Somerby knows what happened under Betsy DeVos:<br /><br />https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/07/education-deserts-across-rural-america/593071/<br /><br />Given that the Republican base is both less educated and less supportive of education, while right-wing pundits attack higher education and are now storming school boards over both covid and CRT, how can Somerby argue that it is the left who doesn't care about rural education? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com