tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post8679657471062934486..comments2024-03-28T15:28:56.510-04:00Comments on the daily howler: We've never understood the term "McGuffin!"<b>bob somerby</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02963464534685954436noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-18375347814256348972022-07-30T10:14:59.349-04:002022-07-30T10:14:59.349-04:00Somerby keeps claiming that if Democrats don't...Somerby keeps claiming that if Democrats don't change, we will lose elections, but the polling suggests that voters do care about Republican wrongdoing and are shifting away from Republican candidates.Not a rodenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216459357112547141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-86699486862424669882022-07-30T10:13:10.363-04:002022-07-30T10:13:10.363-04:00Meanwhile, the Republicans voted against a bill to...Meanwhile, the Republicans voted against a bill to help sick veterans (from Digby):<br /><br />"We know why they did it. It was a temper tantrum over the Democrats outmaneuvering McConnell with the big Inflation Reduction Act. This is what it’s come to. The “why do you hate the troops so much” Republicans impulsively voted against funding for wounded Veterans out of pique.<br /><br />Republican Sen. John Cornyn said overnight that he expects the bill will ultimately pass “in some form or another.” For the sake of veterans and their families, we can certainly hope so.<br /><br />But for today, it looks like a whole lot of GOP lawmakers turned a cold shoulder — for no good reason — to veterans who deserved better. As the editorial board of The Kansas City Star put it, Republicans “betrayed sick veterans” with a move that “boggles the mind.”<br /><br />It shouldn’t boggle the mind. The entire Republican Party has the emotional maturity of a nine year old."Not a rodenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216459357112547141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-91653261081137174752022-07-30T09:12:29.443-04:002022-07-30T09:12:29.443-04:00"“Federal authorities charged a Russian man F..."“Federal authorities charged a Russian man Friday with a years-long malign influence campaign targeting American politics — alleging that he used American groups in Florida, Georgia and California to sow discord and push pro-Russia propaganda,” the Washington Post reports.<br /><br />“Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, who lives in Moscow, worked for nearly eight years with Russian officials to fund and direct the U.S. groups, according to the indictment filed in Florida.”Not a rodenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216459357112547141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-49515319705773847962022-07-29T21:32:23.559-04:002022-07-29T21:32:23.559-04:00Thanks, Bob, for the timely reminder of media gone...Thanks, Bob, for the timely reminder of media gone bad in the recent past. I'm off thread here, but who cares.<br /><br />It's become much worse, of course. You might have read this<br /><br />https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/08/patrick-lawrence-the-casualties-of-empire/<br /><br />Quite alarming - to say the least. Sliding towards the sea, indeed.<br /><br />LeroyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-78675054387259916422022-07-29T18:57:26.940-04:002022-07-29T18:57:26.940-04:00Really? You are impressed with Mao’s insight? You ...Really? You are impressed with Mao’s insight? You live in the basement of your Mom’s house? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-41063985760340298082022-07-29T18:02:26.561-04:002022-07-29T18:02:26.561-04:00I doubt Hitchcock understood the relativity of sim...I doubt Hitchcock understood the relativity of simultaneity. I understand it. David either understands it or can understand it if he studies Einstein’s explanation. I think Mao can understand it, too. I invite other commenters to study it.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-30247404688450429902022-07-29T17:25:34.352-04:002022-07-29T17:25:34.352-04:00It’s not that hard.
Hitch used it to explain th...It’s not that hard. <br /> Hitch used it to explain the plot element <br />that sets the action of the story in<br />mention. We care about if Cary Grant<br />is in love with the woman. We have <br />only gotten to this issue because of <br />what James Mason is doing with the<br />the microfilm. Do we really care about<br />what Mason is doing with the microfilm? <br />Is it really interesting or credible? <br />No. It explains, just barely, what all <br />the fuss is about. If we found out <br />Grant was really indifferent to the <br />woman ( no lions in Scotland) then <br />we would see the microfilm didn’t <br />motivate anything and was <br />meaningless (no Muguffin) Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-78974681259558972492022-07-29T16:20:40.200-04:002022-07-29T16:20:40.200-04:00Heh, lookie here, dear Bob:
https://twitter.com/Ce...<br />Heh, lookie here, dear Bob:<br />https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/155279386482128484<br /><br />"Wikipedia changed the definition of recession to favor the Biden regime, and then locked the page."<br /><br />Quelle surprise...<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-87124755555578029072022-07-29T16:19:23.642-04:002022-07-29T16:19:23.642-04:00The reason why economists are hesitant to apply th...The reason why economists are hesitant to apply the old terms to today's economy is because there are some unusual circumstances that make the old standards less relevant. One is the pandemic. The other is global climate change. Some economists are unsure whether reliable standards will ever apply again to economies that are upended by changes never before exerienced on our planet. Can you call it a recession when drought changes patterns of agriculture in ways never before seen and it is unclear how farmers will adjust? Can you call it a recession when supply chain problems become permanent and interfere with consumer spending? The past indicators will perhaps need to be redefined and new, better predictors identified. <br /><br />Somerby claims not to understand things that turn out to be easy to understand. For example, a McGuffin is:<br /><br />"an object or device in a movie or a book that serves merely as a trigger for the plot.<br />"the McGuffin in this intriguing comedy is an unpublished novel by a young writer killed in the war"<br /><br />Economics is hard to understand, especially when our planet is changing. What would be the benefit of telling the public we are in a recession when there is no decrease in public spending and the typical behavior during a recession is not present, even though the gdp has decreased for two quarters due to the Ukraine war? Would that be a meaningful descriptor or would it be a propaganda stick to beat up Biden with? It depends on who is wielding it -- and we all know that Somerby has been no fan of Biden.<br /><br />Or maybe he just wants to pretend that journalists are lying when they fail to call this a recession because economists disagree about what is happening with the economy now.Not a rodenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216459357112547141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-75400480079225569602022-07-29T15:57:03.743-04:002022-07-29T15:57:03.743-04:00Ah, wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone c...<br />Ah, wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. <br /><br />Does it call The Commander "sociopath" yet? Oh, and does it know what "womyn" is?<br /><br />Just repeat after us, dear Bob: THERE IS NO RECESSION. That's all. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-78656915107688702672022-07-29T15:30:57.434-04:002022-07-29T15:30:57.434-04:00“It was all about Trump's "pathological n...“It was all about Trump's "pathological narcissism," Conway heatedly said. <br />As far as we know, that might be the actual clinical case. But we were struck by the emptiness of a psychiatric / mental health / medical analysis coming from a multimillionaire tobacco lawyer.”<br /><br />Somerby is a (insert net worth) vanity blogger. He constantly engages in this kind of armchair diagnosis. <br /><br />Sure, Somerby says he’s just asking questions, <i>if</i> Trump might be mentally ill, but then proceeds to act as if it’s a settled matter, offering “pity” and “sorrow” and “there but for the grace of God”, etc. <br /><br />Meanwhile, the expert Somerby most often cites, Bandy Lee, continues to urge that Trump should be prosecuted. mhnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-3913485968285746082022-07-29T15:11:02.070-04:002022-07-29T15:11:02.070-04:00This recession has felt very British thus far.This recession has felt very British thus far.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com