Saturday, April 30, 2022
Why Did Everybody Pretend To Believe Them
Are We Noticing These Things Now
If anything Fox has become more independent, becoming more in charge. Setting the agenda.
Friday, April 29, 2022
Freak Show
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert reportedly almost came to blows over Greene’s appearance at a white nationalist event in February, to the point that someone had to step in between them to de-escalate the confrontation. Three people close to the Freedom Caucus confirmed the spat to Politico, which took place during a meeting of the caucus’ board of directors.
America's Worst Press Corps
The White House press corps.
Send some zoning board beat reporters instead of these narcissistic buffoons there to become celebrities.
"Culture War"
If You Knew Him Like I Know Him
Don't have to be an particularly lefty person to know how absurd - and dangerous - this is, but, yes, sure, the billionaire is good, have your cookies, boys.
This is actually view being pushed by all the sensible centrists - the Matts, the Nates, the other Nates, Shor, - that it was good we elected moderate Joe Biden but his administration was taken over by a bunch of extreme left wingers like [[[they never name them but they are there]]]. Center and extreme right agree! Quite often, and increasingly.I strongly supported Obama for President, but today’s Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Gonna Be Bold Here And Say ELON IS GOOD, ACTUALLY
incredibly common trap for the too-online columnist to find yourself writing "in defense of [x]" for an audience that didn't even know anyone disliked [x] because they've never even been exposed to the views you're cheekily pushing back against https://t.co/ObXhKKW38l
— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) April 28, 2022
Mean Jean Schmidt
OH Rep. Schmidt (R) on her abortion ban bill: "Rape is a difficult issue... but if a baby is created, it's human life. Whether that mother ends that pregnancy... the scars won't go away. It's a shame it happens, but there's an opportunity for women no matter how young or old..." pic.twitter.com/PVOHWlFvPq
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) April 27, 2022
Yes He Can, Man
Don't Arse It Up
Who knows what will happen, but if you do it at all it'll anger the usual suspects, and if you do it without making the benefit as broad based as possible, you'll anger even more. If you make it complicated, you'll tend to exclude the people who are least able to navigate those complexities.
Basing debt cancellation on an income formula based on the odd pandemic years makes no sense either!Looks like means testing broad student-loan forgiveness is under consideration https://t.co/cDBMIm0Zgf
— Ayelet Sheffey (@arsheffey) April 27, 2022
Just give everyone a big haircut and move on.
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Freedum of Speech
I hate even writing this stuff because I think people to understand this, but lots of people like pretending not to understand when some rich asshole either doesn't or pretends not to understand it.
Anyway, journalists, instead of taking Musk's claims about TWITTER CENSORSHIP seriously, talk to anyone, anyone at all with any experience doing this, from 1990s USENET to reddit or facebook moderators to people who run the comments sections of very fine blogs.
Musky
Hardly a novel observation, but the existence of billionaires is actually a great threat to civilization, especially as our legal system can barely deal with millionaires.
Don't Arse It Up
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
A Lifetime Of Failure
I do think more people know he's a dumbass, at least. That used to be a more mocked opinion.
And The Press's Is To Pretend They Don't Know This
Manchin’s go-to method for killing things is to act like a stone-cold moron and pretend he’s gonna find 10 Republicans to vote for something. https://t.co/oDYQEhyvqv
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) April 26, 2022
We Can See You
Now that they are basically enacting laws making absurd restrictions on teaching which can only lead to the firing of minority and gay/lesbian teachers, these same geniuses have concluded the greatest problem the country faces is Illiberal Wokes threatening free speech.
I dunno, guys, it's pretty obvious what your real issues are.
Contra the New York Times, these people should be shunned for the horrible bigots they are, as should people who pretend not to notice what they are.
Everything Is Fine
Monday, April 25, 2022
RIP DWD
Not The Onion
Aside from some other obvious points, the median age of California is ranked 42 out of 56 states/territories. Someone tell Susan Collins she's waaay too young for Maine (#1).
Don't See How Donnie Two Scoops Wriggles Out Of this One
(CNN)A New York judge is holding Donald Trump in civil contempt after the state's attorney general's office said he did not comply with a subpoena for documents as part of its investigation into the former President's company.Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump failed to abide by his order to comply with the subpoena, and that his attorneys failed to show how a search of materials held by Trump was conducted. Engoron said Trump would be fined $10,000 a day until he complies.
America's Dumbest Man To Buy Twitter
London (for example) is completely filled tunnels. Most of them are rail, but the important thing is that you would have a very hard time digging car tunnels in London because of all of the existing tunnels.
The Freedom To Be Free From Criticism
First it was going to be advertising, partly inspired by her mother who became a copywriter the same year as the fictional Peggy Olsen did in “Mad Men.” Then it was teaching and library work on a sojourn in Asia. Then children’s book publishing at Scholastic, having applied on “a whim.” Then business development for documentary films and what was then Turner Broadcasting and Time Inc. Then it was following “a guy” to London. Then, finally, she got some freelance work there for The Economist. That eventually led to her first book deal for The Starter Marriage, which was something of a sensation upon its 2002 release.This is the career path of a person with infinite connections, the kinds of connections that let white ladies get paid lots of money write books from the perspective of Mexican immigrants, but she did the rice thing so she knows the struggle is real.“It was kind of a novel idea for people at the time,” Paul said of the book, which looked at the budding phenomenon of short-lived and childless first marriages, inspired in part by her own to Bret Stephens.
But a career writing was always the one she wanted, Paul says over Zoom, sitting in front of appropriately book-filled shelves.
Even after moving to Thailand in an effort to put herself through something uncomfortable, then traveling through some of China having decided to stop eating anything but one serving of rice a day for weeks because she hadn’t suffered enough in life to “appreciate” things appropriately, Paul didn’t let herself try writing for a living. Eventually she succumbed, just as she did to proper food after almost a month without.
Tell Us What You Really Think
The issue is one of her friends wrote a book and people pointed out that it sucked and now this is the most important thing in the world.
And no one was cancelled, obviously!Did I mention she's Bretbug's ex?
NYT just turning into White Grievance Daily.
Sunday, April 24, 2022
Happy Hour Thread
Gentlemanly
NYT Orrin Hatch obit is wild. pic.twitter.com/wGtrQ8c8Pm
— Jonathan Larsen (@jtlarsen) April 24, 2022
Saturday, April 23, 2022
No They're The Defunders/Tax Raisers/Troop Haters/UnChristians
And there are just some narratives that are so baked into our politics, how people perceive the parties, and how the press covers things (often deserving of criticism!), that you can't overturn it in one election cycle or several.
Mostly it's just saying "they're right about this thing" and, well, there's a party for that if that's what voters want.
Don't See How Kevin McCarthy Wriggles Out Of This One
Republicans face a new reckoning over what GOP House leader McCarthy said about Trump https://t.co/drp3WOk0t4
— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) April 23, 2022
Power
Friday, April 22, 2022
Friday Night (For Real, I Think)
I gave up meat when I was in my late teens and completely after a bad acid experience I had I went to Disneyland and someone had spiked me and we went into a dennys on the way back and someone gave me some chicken and I thought I was eating a relative and I didn’t eat meat after https://t.co/212SyELyfU
— Dave Davies (@davedavieskinks) April 22, 2022
Might Be Going Home Early, Boss!
Oh, Elon
lol someone tried to summon their Tesla via autopilot at an aviation trade show and it crashed into a 3 million dollar jet pic.twitter.com/ae1Th49YsG
— waffle party planner (@Phylan) April 22, 2022
One Big Grift
The co-founder of the “We Build The Wall” project aimed at raising money for a border wall pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in a case that once included Donald Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon.Brian Kolfage admitted to pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars while promising all donations would pay for the wall. His plea came a month before a trial in a case that began in dramatic fashion in August 2020, when Bannon was pulled from a luxury yacht off the coast of Connecticut and arrested on allegations that he and three others ripped off donors trying to fund a southern border wall.
Withholding Information For The Book
A defense for these things is that sources will give the information with the agreement that it won't be shared for a year, but not otherwise. And, ok, sure, but it also means that the journalist spends a year doing stories on the same subject having to, at best, carefully maneuver around the contradictions.
It isn't just failing to report it in real time. It corrupts the reporting of everything. Maybe the contemporaneous stories they write are done responsibly, but all of these people go on cable news and chat and they can't avoid participating in a dishonest conversation, even if they are personally not being dishonest.
Welcome Back To Meet The Press, Kevin McCarthy
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s latest denial fell apart in record time.The lie is discovered here, but by Sunday he will be treated as a good faith actor again.McCarthy on Thursday denied a New York Times report that said he told other lawmakers he would call on then-President Donald Trump to resign in the days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which had been carried out by his supporters.
But audio released shortly afterward by the Times shows otherwise.
McCarthy lied, lost his credibility, can never be trusted to tell the truth and should be banned from being quoted in the press unless he can provide proof
— Matt Negrin, HOST OF HARDBALL AT 7PM ON MSNBC (@MattNegrin) April 22, 2022
Or, if you’re Politico Playbook, what happened was actually just something “making McCarthy look silly in the process” 🤪 pic.twitter.com/QCBVniItnL
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Area Reporter (That Fucking Newspaper) Doesn't Understand What "News" Is
This is a "subtweet" defense of people criticizing his colleagues for holding back important information for their books.If Darwin had published On the Origin of Species today, people on this website would be like “Way to hang on to it for your book”
— Mike McIntire (@mmcintire) April 21, 2022
Alternate Realities
EXCLUSIVE: In a leaked video call, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz begged managers to increase their union busting.
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) April 21, 2022
The billionaire CEO blasted unionizing, hourly employees as “so-called workers” and “some outside force that’s going to dictate or disrupt who we are and what we do.” pic.twitter.com/KIFI5FzDxr
Probably Should Be A Plan
I don't have a solution, but all those YLS degrees have be good for something.
Use It Before You Lose It
Democrats Against Democrats
Basically, there can be one or two politicians who run around saying "I'm A Different Kind of Democrat," but if more than that are doing it, if every ghoulish political consultant tells their candidates to do it, if the DCCC demands all their candidates do it, you basically have an entire election campaign of, "Democrats suck, vote for me, a Democrat."
Maybe it is great swing district messaging! If I'm the one guy who does it, +5 for me. But when two people do it, only +4. Three people +3. Every additional candidate who does it pulls down the vote by a point across the board. A dozen Democrats running against Democrats, and everybody loses. (Of course I am making up these numbers).
I'm not convinced it is good messaging, and certainly not across the board. Maybe if you're the genuine weirdo outsider who was an HVAC repairman until a month ago and are now running for Congress, you can do the Independent guy schtick with conviction. But "Hi I went to Harvard and Yale and spent 12 years in the CIA and 6 working for McKinsey, vote for me, a guy who is Not Like Other Democrats, for an independent voice in Congress" is not especially convincing!
Press The Green Button, Man
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
The Smartest Politicians
Everything is Politics
The Bad Orange Man
There's something much worse than losing the House, and possibly the Senate, that's rattling top Democrats who are studying polling and election trends:Can't believe The Squad did this.The big picture: It's the possibility of a re-elected President Trump with a compliant, filibuster-proof Senate majority in January 2025.
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Finally An End To The Woke Baquet Era
New York (CNN Business)Joe Kahn, the managing editor of The New York Times, will succeed Dean Baquet as executive editor in June.
With What Army
Bush (and Obama, some) regularly did signing statements which were basically, "I get to ignore Congress because I said so" and that seems to be less defensible.
Covid
Anyway, the 'all mitigation is dumb' people have won and hopefully the reaping is as good as the sowing.
Savvy Neutral Observers
Are they the marks of Manchin, or are "you" their marks?
Monday, April 18, 2022
How About
There are options, both of the doing variety and the communicating variety, and these are not distinct options, but seeming like you're taking charge of things rather than being pummeled by a bunch of judges and idiot governors constantly might help.
That's vague, I know, as I try to avoid pretending like I can micromanage things, but...
Sunday, April 17, 2022
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - THE ONE TRUE WANKER Tom Friedman
Probably the perfect end to clarify the theme of this activity: once upon a time these people mattered, and now they don't. Once upon a time Tom Friedman would drop a column like, "The Banh Mi Princple Of Energy Independence" and people would struggle to convince themselves that this meant something, because it was Tom Friedman, and he was smart.
Everything is pretty much shit, but contrary to my prediction a decade ago, this has not actually been a second Tom Friedman decade. It's debatable whether a world in which The Discourse is a couple of dozen rich weirdo white people guiding us with their wisdom is better than the bizarre fractured reality we have now, but those people were given great powers and they absolutely completely fucked everything up.
I, too, don't matter much anymore. Nobody does! Various people have their moments, but no one is given the lifetime Wise Man card anymore, and for that you can most blame the people who had them and told us all to Suck On this.
Under the white clouds, snow is falling.Happy anniversary to Eschaton World Industries!
You can't see the white clouds, or the snow.
Or the cold, or the white glow of the earth.
A solitary man glides downhill on his skis.
The snow is falling.
It falls until the man disappears back into the
landscape.My friend Serge, who's one of my oldest friends,
has bought a painting.
It's a canvas about five feet by four.
It represents a man who moves across a space
then disappears.
Paypal or Patreon are your options!
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Maybe Somebody Should Do Something
That's largely true, but I have more power than most people, even if it isn't a lot of power, so I actually take these complaints seriously.
But there are certainly people with more power than me. And people with a lot of power. And the Secretary of the Treasury! And the President of the United States!
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - RUNNER UP NUMBER 1 - Fred Hiatt
When he died there were a lot of tributes from people who genuinely like Fred, but the rest of us aren't his friends.
I don't have much patience for the DC practice of not accurately describing powerful public figures when they die because they were at my kid's birthday party, or whatever.
Considering a contribution for the COUNTDOWN TO TWENTY YEARS OF ESCHATON FUNDRAISING EXTRAVAGANZA?
Paypal or Patreon are your options!
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all! 20 year anniversary tomorrow!
Scam Calls
Friday, April 15, 2022
Is Debt Cancellation Good now
I don't know what the secret sauce to winning elections is. Nobody does. But use your power for good when you have it because no matter what you won't always have that power.At @PodSaveAmerica live podcast, @PressSec says canceling student debt is still on the table, and @POTUS will either cancel debt or do another extension before end of August. Raises, like @WHCOS, that no one has to had to pay a cent in direct fed loans since Biden took office. pic.twitter.com/7fEzrzxqCn
— Stephen Spaulding (@SteveESpaulding) April 15, 2022
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - RUNNER UP NUMBER 2 ANDREW SULLIVAN
Andy learned the easiest con you can pull on earnest liberals is tricking them into thinking they can persuade you. One more reader email and he'll come around!
He raised a bunch of money, shut down his blog (i am not doing that), moved to New York to work at New York Magazine, hated it, fled, and somehow managed to stay at New York Magazine forever. Flounced out because everyone at the magazine not signing his paycheck fucking hated him. Now he's 40% skull and dick measuring, 40% a cancel culture grifter, and 20% "oh no the transes are ruining everything." It's slowly dawning on him - slow because he has the sloping brow and shallow brainpain of an Irishman - that the anti-trans people hate him just as much, if not more, and they can't wait to exterminate him as well.
As I said I tried to warn you, and his schtick and career were maintained by well-meaning liberals for wayyyy too long.
Considering a contribution for the COUNTDOWN TO TWENTY YEARS OF ESCHATON FUNDRAISING EXTRAVAGANZA?
Paypal or Patreon are your options!
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Welcome Back To Meet The Press, Constitution Lover, Mike Lee
The messages reveal how two GOP allies of then-President Donald Trump lobbied and encouraged the White House in its efforts to overturn the election. The text messages were obtained by the House select committee and reviewed by CNN.You know, one reason these guys were so desperate to pull it off was that they had to be worried they were fucked if they didn't and, ah, well, nevertheless.
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Vibes
Lots of people are very convinced this is an incredibly unpopular thing. Really quite amazed at the number of people (a very large number) who argue intensely against it! If I were a paranoid man I'd wonder if it was a paid thing.Politico-Morning Consult poll:
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 14, 2022
By a 2-to-1 margin, voters support federal forgiveness of at least some student loan debt: 64% support, just 29% oppose.
53% back Biden's move to extend the payment suspension through the end of August. 36% oppose.
In economics there's a concept of "Pareto improving" which basically means making some people better off without making anybody else worse off. And, well, this is a Pareto improving thing! Except for some loan servicers, I guess, but we haven't yet elevated them to Patriotic Troop status.
I Want You All To Sing Along
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - 3RD RUNNER UP JOE KLEIN
A good slacker Thursday entry, because the man basically disappeared, I think? Just ceased to be a presence in THE DISCOURSE.
Considering a contribution for the COUNTDOWN TO TWENTY YEARS OF ESCHATON FUNDRAISING EXTRAVAGANZA. Paypal or Patreon are your options!
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
2+2=5
I have good brain shields, but not always good enough.
Elder Care
Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and the California Democratic member of Congress told The Chronicle in recent interviews that her memory is rapidly deteriorating. They said it appears she can no longer fulfill her job duties without her staff doing much of the work required to represent the nearly 40 million people of California.
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
When I Think Too Much About it I Can't Breathe
I Don't Really Want To Stop The Show
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Your Liberal Media
In the letter to the publisher in August 2020, Commercial employees similarly cited instances where hiring and promotion by White managers heavily favored White employees and excluded Black staffers — what they called a “textbook case of affinity bias.”The slights toward Black employees have existed in more explicit forms as well. In the newsroom, a journalist who worked as an editor and reporter at The Post described the racially insensitive comments he endured on the National desk. “I replaced [a senior Black reporter], who had moved on to a new position, and some people referred to my position as ‘the Black position’ on National,” he said.
His issue highlights the complexity of being Black at The Post, where employees are often “the only,” if they are visible at all.
Not only did this employee feel he was viewed merely as a diversity hire, but he also said there were a number of people who refused to even acknowledge his existence.
“I worked on National for four years, and [an award-winning senior journalist], on those rare occasions he was in the newsroom, would look at me and visibly frown every time he saw me. Never so much as a hello, even if I said ‘hi’ first,” he said.
Don't See How America's Mayor Wriggles Out Of This One
(CNN)Federal prosecutors may soon reach a charging decision regarding Rudy Giuliani's foreign lobbying efforts involving Ukraine, after he helped investigators unlock several electronic devices that were seized by the FBI, according to multiple sources familiar with the probe.
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - 4TH RUNNER UP MARK HALPERIN
Don't have more to add, really, other than that he's found a home at Newsmax.
Your liberal media!
Considering a contribution for the COUNTDOWN TO TWENTY YEARS OF ESCHATON FUNDRAISING EXTRAVAGANZA. Paypal or Patreon are your options!
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
I Guess We Should Double Their Budget
This is the fault of The Left, for reasons.
Explaining to people who live outside of NYC who reached out to me today that police are literally omnipresent here and yet they mostly just stand around on their phones unless they're trying to catch someone jumping a turnstile sounds so insane to say out-loud but it's reality
— Julia Claire (@ohJuliatweets) April 12, 2022
The in-ground pool business on Long Island is about to flourish off all the overtime NYPD is about to get for not stopping the shooting
— Stavros Halkias (@stavvybaby) April 12, 2022
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
My Liberal Friend
I have a liberal friend who went to a state school (because that’s what her family could reasonably afford) and who quietly seethes when her friends demand cancellation of debts they incurred at expensive private colleges.
— Will Saletan (@saletan) April 12, 2022
Moral feelings about financial responsibility run deep.
You're Such A Lovely Audience
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - 5TH RUNNER UP WILL SALETAN
And that’s what worries me about the online world we’re living in. I don’t see people learning from, or even recognizing, their mistakes. I see them caricaturing and gloating over the mistakes of others. In the old days, there was a lot of hope that the information age would make us smarter. It didn’t. Instead, high-speed communication, combined with algorithms that discern our biases and feed us what we want, helped us sort ourselves into echo chambers. On Twitter, Facebook, Slack, and other platforms, we’ve formed like-minded battalions that quickly spot the other side’s sins and falsehoods but are largely blind to our own.My man, I don't think the twitters existed when you supported killing Iraqis or pulled out your caliper set or wrote piece after piece advocating for some mythical compromise on abortion, the details of which you left unsaid. The world of the Slate Bro was peak circle jerk in the self-isolation phantom zone.
The idea that the algorithm is only feeding us "what we want" is totally made up. The algorithms feed us things to piss us off! That's engagement, baby! The people complaining about "echo chambers" are generally the people who are hearing something from the outside for first time.
When he said "we’ve formed like-minded battalions" he means a lot of people call him a shithead on twitter. I've been calling Will a shithead for a long time, and not because I wasn't exposed to his original ideas about caliper sets. Because I was!
Perhaps Will is the perfect example of my Grand Unified Theory Of The Takes Industry which is, basically, everyone who mattered was high on their own farts when they were at the peak of their own influence and fucked thing up royally. It's hard to look at the decline of their influence - individually and as a class - as a negative thing when what they gifted us were horrible wars and repeated field trips to the Center For Advanced Minority Brain Pan Studies.
Tearing down the influence of people who had no reason to have it in the first place, and abused the shit out of it when they had it, has been an immensely positive development. Slate helped convinced a generation of writers that a supposedly clever way to support the status quo was "contrarian" and "brave," that bong hit dorm conversations were "serious debate," that there was never a baby that couldn't be split on the altar of grand centrist compromise. Clowns to our left, jokers to our right, nothing but wankers' wisdom in the middle.
I am very brave for supporting the wars of the US government, acknowledging the never spoken truth that racism is good, and asserting that the failures of the Right can always be, somehow, blamed on the Left. Why are pro-choice activists so extreeeeeme?
I understand you miss the days when you were paid a bunch of money to crank out destructive bullshit for a giggle without people calling you a dumb asshole on twitter, but I don't think those were obviously better days!
You had your shot, and you fucked up!
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
THIS IS A SUBTWEET
I don't object to coordinated communication, but yelling at people for being stupid for not recognizing how awesome things are is perhaps not the best coordinated communication.
This is probably not the intention, but when your talking points go to people who love to yell at people for being stupid, that's how they're going to come out! Get some better messengers.
Monday, April 11, 2022
Happy Hour Thread
It's Wonderful To Be Here
That's a joke, but bad takes pay a lot better than good ones.
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Grand Bargaining
Tell me what the 'X' is in, 'I like Democrats for X, but I want them to torture trans kids more enthusiastically' for these imaginary voters.
Perhaps making clear who the baddies are would help!
Looking forward to the midterms, when Republicans will carpetbomb us with ads about Democrats being evil commie pedophiles & the Democrats respond with ads about how their "good friends in the GOP" should join their bipartisan plan for means-tested tax rebates for veterans.
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) April 6, 2022
Chipped
Patrick Paumen causes a stir whenever he pays for something in a shop or restaurant.This is because the 37-year-old doesn't need to use a bank card or his mobile phone to pay. Instead, he simply places his left hand near the contactless card reader.
A small LED light under his skin then immediately glows, and the payment goes through.
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - 6TH RUNNER UP JONAH GOLDBERG
I suspsect Jonah Goldberg got a little tired of being Jonah Goldberg, perhaps realizing that Rich Lowry was not someone worth aspiring to be or please. He left the National Review with great fanfare because he become anti-Trump, though he didn't go full Lincoln Project grifter, more both anti-Trump and anti-anti-Trump. He also flounced away from Fox News.
Because the activities of professional conservatives are obsessively convered by our liberal media, his new media publication was given the full treatment. The Dispatch, have you heard of it? New York Times readers, have, of course. It's basically a site with some blogs, not that there's anything wrong with that of course, it's just always funny how these things are always promoted prominently when conservatives do them while similar endeavors by liberals never get touched (no I don't mean this very fine blog).
I'm not going to hand it to Jonah. There's never any need to clap for people who occasionally do the bare minimum, and "not being a Trump supporter" is about as low a bar as you can get.
Roy still notices Jonah's emissions sometimes, but there isn't much to say other than "wow, Jonah is being dumb again, because he's Jonah." No one needs to care what Jonah thinks, and if you do for some reason enjoy his 10th grade conservative club perspective, you can get it from dozens of other people. We can wonder why Jonah ever mattered, and be thankful that he certainly no longer does.
He never made serious, thoughtful, arguments that had never been made in such detail or with such care before, and fortunately people have mostly stopped pretending he does now.
Considering a contribution for the COUNTDOWN TO TWENTY YEARS OF ESCHATON FUNDRAISING EXTRAVAGANZA. Paypal or Patreon are your options!
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Nobody Named Jared Could Ever Be Bad
Six months after leaving the White House, Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince, a close ally during the Trump administration, despite objections from the fund’s advisers about the merits of the deal.The existence of billionaires, or people who control billions, and their slightly less rich fellow travelers, is an existential threat that no campaign finance or anti-corruption laws can deal with. Except MacKenzie Scott, who is good, though she still needs to make small contribution to the very fine activities of this very fine blog. Call me, MacKenzie.
I Haz A Thought
Curious as to what folks think is going to happen in December if the GOP regains control of legislature? What do we think is going to happen in 2024? Are they just bluffing? Do u think things are going to get better for marginalized groups in the US if we stay on this path?
— Patrick Sharkey (@patrick_sharkey) April 11, 2022
Have we tried getting more racist, say the people who pushed Ferraro on Mondale and then blamed his loss for him being TOO LIBERAL.
Dukakis was also too liberal, as soon as he won the nomination, though 5 seconds previously he was the sensible moderate choice.
Meanwhile Biden approval numbers are plummeting among younger (which means like under 40 now, hilariously) people and nobody has any idea how that is happening.
We can all get behind making tenure protections illegal, I think.
You can choose your own villains, but Biden's numbers started to tank when the reconciliation bill started to flounder and they increasingly started obeying the centrist pundits on a variety of issues (getting rid of covid restrictions, screaming FUND THE POLICE every five seconds, etc.). Now I have no idea how to fix that, and don't claim I have all the answers generally, but I do think the evidence for BLAMING THE LEFT for the decline and GOTTA GET MORE RACIST as the necessary response is a bit limited.
A lot of politics really does boil down to, "is that guy on my side," and constantly trying to side with the other team, especially when the other team is filled with genocidal monsters, doesn't seem to me, a dumb blogger, to be a particularly helpful strategy.
Sunday, April 10, 2022
Two Great Tastes
And this stuff isn't "they're doing racisms for the politics, it's the savvy way to win." They obviously believe it!What do you call it when a Macron-led government even goes as far as forcing Europe's top human rights organisation to pull posters from a campaign to respect Muslim women who choose to wear headscarves.https://t.co/B9S2k1N81R
— Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) April 10, 2022
Racism+raising the retirement age versus racism+lowering the retirement age! Tough one, especially for the voters that don't like racism!
Again, if you believe there are an ummovable block of people who like Macron/Trump/etc that are an insurmountable majority, that every possible voter for these people can only be appealed to with MOOOAR FASCISM, and no other possible voters can be swayed or mobilized, then, you know, we're done. Time to go get new hobbies as it all falls apart.
Macron and Le Pen go to the run-off, as predicted by polls.
The Act You've Known For All These Years
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Can't Investigate Crimes In An Election Season
The people who run the government are leaning on their tried and tested, "maybe somebody else should do something" strategy.
The shift in the committee’s perspective on making a referral was prompted in part by a ruling two weeks ago by Judge David O. Carter of the Federal District Court for Central California. Deciding a civil case in which the committee had sought access to more than 100 emails written by John C. Eastman, a lawyer who advised Mr. Trump on efforts to derail certification of the Electoral College outcome, Judge Carter found that it was “more likely than not” that Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman had committed federal crimes.The ruling led some committee and staff members to argue that even though they felt they had amassed enough evidence to justify calling for a prosecution for obstructing a congressional proceeding and conspiring to defraud the American people, the judge’s decision would carry far greater weight with Mr. Garland than any referral letter they could write, according to people with knowledge of the conversations.
I'm not sure why the bipartisan committee thinks the Dem-appointed Attorney General has more legitimacy even in the bizarre logical structure they've constructed in which only people who are beings of pure light can act.
To be clear, Garland has the real power here, of course, I'm just responding to the weird notion that doing an entirely appropriate thing for the committee to do would somehow jeopardize Garland doing the right thing.
Maybe somebody else should do something, says everybody who can do something. Hopefully somebody does something and then I will be owned and you can all mock me.
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - 7TH RUNNER UP DIANE SAWYER
But that era has passed somewhat. Celebrities are no longer driven by the same PR forces they once were, the "bombshell interview" with a few designated gatekeepers is no longer a necessary step on the path to fame or salvation. For better or for worse, there are other ways to reach the people, and the ritual of the much promoted prime time interview, a Sawyer specialty, has lost its relevance.
She also anchored the nightly news for awhile during Eschaton's Number 2 Decade, though I couldn't find evidence of anything I got mad about at the time! Generally, the role Sawyer filled in the media ecosystem, both by her personally and the approach specifically, has faded in importance, and that's a good thing whatever one thinks of her! Times change, and eventually we all stop changing with them.
Considering a contribution for the COUNTDOWN TO TWENTY YEARS OF ESCHATON FUNDRAISING EXTRAVAGANZA. Paypal or Patreon are your options!
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Fatalism
Surely there must be something that can be offered to voters - policies, personalities, something - other than racist fascism? If not, guess it's time to give up.
Saturday, April 09, 2022
Urban Cars
Especially when the fight is over on street parking, just do the math and count the spots. When 1-2 cars fit in front of every storefront in a commercial corridor, and the owners/managers of each store are taking up many of those spots, there is no way your business relies on those spots! Put a bike rack out.
Sounds Bad
I'm Guaranteed To Raise A Smile
WASHINGTON—Touting the increasing share of residents with enough disposable income to save a cultural institution, a new economic report from the Zweibel Research Institute issued Friday found that the majority of Americans could afford to toss a couple of bucks our way to keep us from going under.COUNTDOWN TO TWENTY YEARS OF ESCHATON FUNDRAISING EXTRAVAGANZA
Paypal:
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Don't See How Donnie Half A Scoop Wriggles Out Of This One
Washington (CNN)Two days after the 2020 presidential election, as votes were still being tallied, Donald Trump's eldest son texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that "we have operational control" to ensure his father would get a second term, with Republican majorities in the US Senate and swing state legislatures, CNN has learned.
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - 8TH RUNNER UP RICHARD COHEN
Who? He retired, so perhaps The Kids Today are unaware of who he is. Shame, he's a funny guy, just ask him.
Let's start with where he was 10 years ago
Like many of our top 10 wankers from the last decade, Cohen slowly faded from relevance. So much so that I wondered if he had said much of anything worth remarking on during this decade. I grabbed the trusty google and OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT the man kept wanking all the way through to the end of his career. Deserves some credit for stamina, at least.
A running theme through all of these is how most of these people mattered way too much until, well, they didn't. Still cranking out their column per week, but mostly just farting in the wind. One could get outraged at Maureen Dowd, for example, from 1999-2009 or so, because for reasons too horrific to comprehend, what she wrote mattered. Cohen, too, once upon a time. Extra troubling for those two in particular because in the taxonomy of The Discourse, those two are/were "liberals."But back to Cohen. He didn't stop wanking, and searching through my blog archives, I realize I didn't entirely stop paying attention.
A reminder, from 2013, that "we" keep having the same racism-advertised-as-realism and fact free "urban" crime scares over and over.
I don’t like what George Zimmerman did, and I hate that Trayvon Martin is dead. But I also can understand why Zimmerman was suspicious and why he thought Martin was wearing a uniform we all recognize. I don’t know whether Zimmerman is a racist. But I’m tired of politicians and others who have donned hoodies in solidarity with Martin and who essentially suggest that, for recognizing the reality of urban crime in the United States, I am a racist. The hoodie blinds them as much as it did Zimmerman.Cohen has a long history of arguing that people are perfectly correct to be scared of black people and to react violently because black people are, after all, black.
Then there was the time that our great philosoper of race discovered that slavery was bad after seeing a movie.
I sometimes think I have spent years unlearning what I learned earlier in my life. For instance…slavery was not a benign institution in which mostly benevolent whites owned innocent and grateful blacks. Slavery was a lifetime’s condemnation to an often violent hell in which people were deprived of life, liberty and, too often, their own children."For instance…slavery was not a benign institution in which mostly benevolent whites owned innocent and grateful blacks." Cohen was about 72 years old when he wrote that. Have to go with the "christ his editor fucking hates him" theory for that actually getting into print.
He also gave us this:
Today’s GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled—about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York—a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts—but not all—of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all.Though that was 9 years, and people are trotting out the same arguments now about the current LGBT backlash, so perhaps our funny man is just a product of his class, mostly bigoted conservatives wearing liberal smiley face hats. Racist more in sorry than in anger. They made me be racist.
One of the final contributions from this great liberal lion was defending the Central Park 5 prosecutor arguing, essentially, sure they might not have done it but they were black and they probably did something! For "liberal" white guys of a certain age, from Trump to Cohen, the Central Park 5 story is sort of their founding mythology and you will not take that away from them. It was their permission slip to go full racist again after holding back just a tiny bit.
As I said recently, I don't know how you be a responsible employer when the guy at one desk is looking over at his black colleague at the next desk while writing columns about how if black people don't want to get arrested for crimes they didn't commit, they should just stop going where white people can see them.
Similarly, you can't have a nondiscriminatory workplace when you're pushing out columns like "Are trans people even people?" and "Are gay people all filthy grooming perverts? It's complicated."
Just asking kweschins!
Pareene had some more, in 2013, if you can't get enough!
Also, fuck you, Richard Cohen, for actually making me do some work for this entry! Why did you have to keep on wanking for almost a whole extra decade!
Paypal:Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Time For A Twitter Ethics Panel
A funny thing is at the time the consensus was David Brooks is a journalist and Paul Krugman is not, and really you all have more problems than bloggers if this is your concept of journalism. I would happily exclude them both from the "who is a journalist club" but that club also includes Chris Cillizza so shruggy.
Still blogging was somewhat finite, in that one could still point to some set of bloggers. Now it's basically everyone calling them shitheads on twitter nonstop, and they can't try to impose some mental order, even a ridiculous one, on all of that. "We must collectively band together to stand against our critics" is a funny and not entirely consistent view of Objective Truth To Power Speaking Journalism, but I suppose it is an understandable human response for people who failed to put on their brain shields before being confronted with the fact that people don't actually Respect Their Authoritah.
Friday, April 08, 2022
I've Been Going In And Out Of Style
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!
Speaking Truth To Power
Big media organizations of all types are some of the most powerful actors in society, and they are certainly major players within the realm of politics. That's true even if you assume (absurdly) all journalists are operating according to some pure form of objective journalism."[I]t’s a trickier line, you know, criticizing peer news organizations. I do not like it when somebody at The New York Times criticizes somebody at The Washington Post."
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) April 8, 2022
I find this circle-the-wagons approach misguided. Isn't a journalist's job to tell the truth?
"Us against the world" is not really a healthy approach from our papers of record.
WHERE ARE THE WANKERS OF YORE NOW - #9 RUNNER UP MEGAN MCARDLE
The theme of Megan's life has been failing upwards. She wrote a whole book about how it's great that she failed upwards, and how wonderful a society we have that lets people like Megan fail upwards (the original title was Permission to Suck), and how wonderful it would be if all people like Megan could fail upwards, because what a grand life it is if you are absolutely useless and stupid and horrible and cruel and everything just works out for you anyway as long as you are born rich!
All of these horrible, awful, stupid people somehow manage to make the rounds of all of our elite publications. Checking Wikipedia, it seems that 10 years ago, Megan was at The Atlantic. She then moved to Newsweek/Daily Beast. Then Bloomberg View. Then, where all the worst columnists go to die, The Washington Post (they have good people, too). The last time I remember anyone having a strong reaction to anything Megan wrote was *almost* 10 years ago, but just after the start of the SECOND ESCHATON DECADE so it just makes the cut. It was for this:
I'd also like us to encourage people to gang rush shooters, rather than following their instincts to hide; if we drilled it into young people that the correct thing to do is for everyone to instantly run at the guy with the gun, these sorts of mass shootings would be less deadly, because even a guy with a very powerful weapon can be brought down by 8-12 unarmed bodies piling on him at once. Would it work? Would people do it? I have no idea; all I can say is that both these things would be more effective than banning rifles with pistol grips.That was in response to the Sandy Hook shooting, where 20 of the victims were 6-7 years old, and all the victims were big pussies for not gang rushing the shooter.
Turning the evils of conservatism into a warning, somehow, about liberalism is a standard column from her, usually of one of the following flavors:
1) Don't be like us, liberals, you'll regret it, even as we keep doing it!As I said, it's been almost 10 years since she's inspired much of a reaction other than giggling. She still gets paid lots of money to write nonsense in service of the rich because we have a wonderful society that lets people like Megan fail upwards forever, and she'll suggest others club you with a 2x4, or should gang rush you, if you argue it should be any other way.2) Look at what you made us do, liberals.
3) Sure powerful conservatives are bad, but have you seen some liberal guy with a sign somewhere, like the one in my head, even worse.
Patreon:
Become a Patron!
Thanks to all!